Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Air-Castle (TS) - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Gwydion noticed a small clamour where Brink had gone, and wandered near to investigate. He found Brink waving about a sword that glowed bright green, chopping to bits an odd beast that looked as though it was made of metal.

"Brink, what -IS- that thing you're waving around??" he asked quickly.

Brink responded by spewing nonsense words of delight.

Obviously, he's having fun... Gwydion thought. He suddenly noticed on the ground another one of the glowing swords. He picked it up cautiously by the hilt and clicked the button. The red blade disappeared and retracted into the hilt. Gwydion nearly dropped the sword in surprise, but he suddenly realised how useful this weapon could become. He tested it out by cutting a chunk out of the beast, which appeared to be full of wires for some reason.* He felt extremely little resistance.**

Thinking quickly, he said to Brink, "Should we turn these weapons to Talm?"

Brink thought faster. "No! We should keep them! Imagine the possibilities of us having the most powerful weapons in Cythera!"

Gwydion was slightly skeptical, but noted to himself that Brink would know more about this expedition and the mainland of Cythera than he. Gwydion decided to keep these weapons concealed, and put the hilt after opening the blade and retracting it again into his bag of equipment that he always kept with him (small dagger, grimoire, flask of whisky, et cetera) and made sure that it couldn't be seen.

Perhaps he's right, thought Gwydion, Maybe these weapons will prove to be -very- useful in the future...


*Gwydion hasn't discovered science yet, so the robot would look like a beast to him.

**Lightsabres are in fact resisted by matter that they are cutting somewhat, however small amount it may be.

------------------
YakKa Foob MoG. GRuG
PubbuWuP ZiNk WattooM
GaZoRK. CHuMBLE SpuZz.

"I'll show you where the library is," Flynn said to Leandra. He set off toward the mansion; Leandra and Wolmark followed. Trinias looked around a moment, then decided to tag along.

Flynn raised an arm to the bird, which obligingly hopped onto his hand. He absently smoothed its feathers as they walked.

"You're not taking the bird inside, are you?" Leandra asked, as they reached the door.

"Oh, I forgot. I think she'd prefer to fly, anyway." He extended his arm again, and the falcon flew up and around the central spire. The Ronin entered the mansion.

They hadn't gone far, when they discovered Ferazel lying on the floor, gasping in agony. "What happened," Flynn asked, as Leandra began examining his broken ankle.

"I was trying out a flying spell, and ran out of mana!" Ferazel replied.

"It's not too severe a fracture," Leandra commented, "but I'm going to have to straighten it out - it'll hurt, a lot!"

"OK, go ahead."

Leandra took hold of Ferazel's foot, and pulled; Ferazel didn't make a sound - he'd passed out. Once the ankle was straight, she cast a healing spell.

"That should do it, just let him sleep it off."

The Ronin continued up to the library.

------------------
There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

Velcarn held the strange metal in his hands. In good light he could see that it was unlike any metal he'd seen before - it was inscribed with the Cytherian word for Titan. Indeed - the metal seemed to have the trademark durability for which Titans are known. Velcarn decided to take another look in the forge.

--------------

On his way there, Velcarn took a detour into the mansion. He looked at the ceiling of the entry way as he entered. It was painted with a mural of a strange, blue humanoid. A Seldane? No... to unearthly. The being had elongated, rounded ears, and large, bright eyes. Behind it stood two humans, and one human held a large crystal in his hand - odd, he should have needed both hands to hold it, but then again there was probably no significance to a old mural anyway. Velcarn moved along, still looking upwards at the painting. It stretched from the entry hall clear to the grand hall that formed the locus of the structure. Velcarn looked down, and headed to the library to research his mystery metal.

------------------
Ec, y'r Bmiih
Any Cryptographers out there?

Gwydion wandered over to the forge, too, and also found one of the strange bars of metal. He lifted it slightly off of the table and found that it was very light. He began to look closely at it, but decided that there were probably magnifying glasses at the library.

As Gwydion approached the library, he noticed a strange patch of flowers. They appeared to be reflecting the sunlight into their petals to absorb more chlorophyll -- about half of their leaves were practically flexible mirrors that moved around slightly. Gwydion decided to take no notice of them for now, but to possibly take a sample of them to study...

Gwydion entered the immense library and found the section in which books on metals were found. He discovered Velcarn studying the same books, with the same kind of rod. He sat down near Velcarn quietly, nearly scaring Velcarn out of his skin.

"Whoa, sorry, didn't see you there!" Velcarn said, surprised.

"Ah, no problem," Gwydion replied, "I seem to be wondering what you are wondering, too! Right now would be a perfect example of the statement 'great minds think alike!'"

Velcarn was still a little startled, but recovered fairly quickly.

"Well," he began, "I suppose I could tell you what I've found so far..."

"Oh, don't bother -- I'd not mind looking it up for yourself while you continued your research."

"Please, let me tell you; I don't think there is another book in the library, or another copy of this one, that contains the information."

"Well, all right, if you insist."

And Velcarn began to explain what he'd learned so far from the book...

------------------
YakKa Foob MoG. GRuG
PubbuWuP ZiNk WattooM
GaZoRK. CHuMBLE SpuZz.

Leandra had browsed the shelves for some time before finding a book on her new found interest - textiles. A quick browse through the index turned up only one material like that she'd found, something the people of the castle had called 'Kefron'. It had even more unusual properties than she'd discovered; resistance to heat she already knew about, but it seemed the multi-layered weave gave it some ability to drain the force from a blow, particularly the type of impact caused by an arrow.

The source material was unfortunately rare, so it seemed unlikely that there would any more than the one bolt she'd found, any time soon.

Flynn had found an armchair, and sat down with his book of history. It was fascinating reading, and he became totally absorbed.

"...'great minds think alike!'" he heard Gwydion say. He looked up briefly and grinned.

Trinias had never been much of a reader, so he was just browsing the shelves, filling in time. It was with some surprise, then, that he discovered what appeared to be the structural drawings of the castle.

"Hey, Wolmark, is this what I think it is?"

Wolmark hurried over. "Yes! That's what I've been looking for! Thanks, Trinias."

Wolmark took the plans, and hurried out to find Talm.

------------------
There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

Brink meanwhile had been staring into space pondering about his new sword. He realized it would be better to show it to Talm or Wolmark and to tell them about the strange golem. He walked slowly, having mixed feeling about the sword. After all , the room he had ransacked looked like at some point it had been the quarters of a wealthy person. Would that mean that only wealthy people had them? Brink wondered. He touched the sword again and felt a general uneasyness and a sense of wrongness too. I got to get to Talm, thought Brink as he fastened his pace.He found Talm taking a nap, which wasn't that surprising as the sun was going down. Talm woke up hearing Brink approach. Though tired, Talm got up and examied it. " Where is the power source" wondered Talm out loud. Brink explained about the appearing blade. Talm tried it out by himself and was impressed. "Wow, thats some sword. But where is it getting its power……?"

------------------
How do men that have beards play the flute?
When I'm bored, my post number goes up.

*OoC*
Okay... this is a bit akward...
*BiC*

Earlier... (In reply to Ronin)
Talm looked at the map.
"Well, here's the spire." Talm said, pointing to a circle near the center.
he turned the map over and examined the vertical elevation. The spire was divided into three stories - a bottom entry hall with a twenty foot ceiling, a tall middle section, and the dome at the top.
"I think I see the crystal!" Talm exclaimed, gesturing to a symbol in the dome.
They decided to begin their effort to enter the tower tomorrow morning.

Now... (In reply to idiot savant)
Talm examined the sword. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship. It was inscribed with the name "Salmaris", evidently the former owner.

"Where did you find this?" Talm asked.

"In a room in the mansion, would you like to see?" Brink replied.

Though weary, Talm couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
He called Wolmark over and the three of them went into the mansion.

------------------------

“...And there was a beast of some kind, covered in metal, guarding the room.” Brink finished, as the small group entered into the room. The mechanoid still lay lifeless, if indeed it had ever had a life, on the ground. Talm bent down to examine it while Wolmark and Brink continued discussing the swords.

The creature was full of wires, strange objects, shafts, and green pieces of a material Talm couldn’t identify. These boards were drilled with holes and stuck full of an odd asortment of clynders, rectangles, and wires. Clearly, the mechine was more advanced than most of the technology exibited here, exept the swords.

Talm cautiously yanked one board from the machine and held it in his hands. He could clearly see a menagerie of little components, though he didn’t know how any of it worked. He stuck the board between Wolmark and Brink and asked:
“What do you make of this?”

------------------
Ein weasel hat Sie Gehirn!
Those online traslators just don't live up to the hype.

[This message has been edited by Talm (edited 12-07-2001).]

Moonshadow circled the castle, enjoying to feel the wind beneath her wings. It had been pretty amusing, watching everyone while they weren't supecting anything. What did they think she had gone to, anyways? She spotted the mansion far below, and decided to pay Flynn a visit. She swept down into the library through an open window.
Leandra heard the rustle of feathers and looked up, seeing the white falcon perch down on Flynn's shoulder. She frowned. What had Flynn done to tame that bird in such a short time? It definately wasn't normal.
Flynn raised his head in surprise as he felt its talons, carefully trying not to hurt him. Then he heard, or more like felt, a familiar voice in his head. 'What are you reading?' The bird bent down its head, and Flynn raised the book so that the title was visible. 'Oh.'
'How does she do this?' Flynn wondered, and, to his surprise, he even got an answer. 'Magic.' He gave the bird a startled look. 'Telepathic magic. I'm not a natural, much unlike my sister.' The message was accompanied by a mental grimace. 'She has a tendency to stick her nose into everything.'
Flynn smiled. 'You never told me you had a sister.'
The bird tilted its head. 'Oh.... I'm sorry.'
Flynn shook his head. 'Don't be... You really ought to do that some time, though.'
The bird rustled its wings, gazing at him intently.
'Are you trying to read my mind?' Flynn asked.
'How else do you think I'd know what you're saying?'
She had a point there.
'I'm not reading anything but your replies, though. The spell doesn't allow it!' She added hastily.
Flynn nodded. 'I believe you, don't worry.'
The falcon emanated relief. 'I'm sorry if I'm disturbing your reading. May I have a look at it, too?'
Flynn shifted the book's position, and the falcon hopped down onto the armrest to get a better view as Flynn turned the pages back to the beginning. 'Thank you. Oh, by the way... if you ever get around to it, can you teach me how to use a quarterstaff like that?'

------------------
As l lay in my bed staring at the sky I asked myself:
Where the hell did the roof go?

Sure, Flynn thought, but not until after you change back! He couldn't control his thoughts the same way he could control his expression; for once Moonshadow realised he was teasing her, as a feeling of amusement bled into the telepathic connection. She pecked playfully at his arm in response.

Flynn fished the silver ring out of his pocket and slipped over one of the bird's talons, where it contracted to fit.

Hey, Moonshadow thought, it'll end up on my toe!

Well, you can always put it back on your hand later, and I feel safer with you wearing it.

Oh, all right.

----------------------

"I've never seen anything like it," Wolmark said as he turned the board over and over in his hands. "It's clearly far more advanced than anything else we've seen here."

He looked over at the remains of the mechanoid. "We should warn the others to be careful; there might be more of these things around."



------------------
There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

As Velcarn described what he'd learned about the strange metal from the book, Gwydion suddenly looked up at the door to the library. A large splinter of wood was falling out of it and a metallic rod was slightly poking through. Gwydion tapped Velcarn on the shoulder and pointed at the door. Velcarn immediately saw it.

A few moments later, the door was splintered to sawdust in a violent flurry of metal blades cutting through it. A mechanoid stepped through, its blades whirring and buzzing. Everyone froze.

Gwydion was the most decided as to what to do. He reached into his bag and grabbed the strange energy-sword and pressed the button. The glowing red rod of light extended outwards. Gwydion jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a spinning blade as the mechanoid had come closer to him. Instantly Gwydion thrust the blade through the mechanoid's neck-thing, impaling it right in the middle. Sparks flew, nearly igniting several books on the floor. But the mechanoid was still running.

Gwydion attempted to swing the blade around to defend himself against the enormous cutting blades, but only managed to cut them off, letting them sail towards him at exactly the same speed. Finally Gwydion found his moment and swung the blade in a wide arc, cutting the mechanoid's head-thing clean off of its body as several spells hit it, blasting its armour into charred chunks. The remaining blades, however, were still spinning franticly, seemingly trying to continue to attack Gwydion. And some of them fell out of their sockets in a flurry of sparks -- as Gwydion's energy-sword sputtered and died.

At the moment the mechanoid finally stopped moving completely, Talm and Wolmark dashed through the door to see the last spark fly out of the mechanoid.

"Looks like you got him," Talm said to Gwydion.

Gwydion looked, puzzled, at Talm.

"You see," said Talm, "we saw the mechanoid just as we were examining the one Brink destroyed. We rushed after it and heard a commotion in the library, where it had gone into. And now here we are."

Talm suddenly noticed the metal object Gwydion was holding in his hand.

"What is that that you're holding?" he asked.

Gwydion pointed at his energy-sword, and asked, "This?"

"Yes, that."

"Well, I don't know the technical name for it, but it was producing a strange glowing rod of pure energy or light...and it seems to have lost whatever powered it when I killed the mechanoid."

Talm offered to try to fix it and find the power source, and noticed when he opened it to take a small peek at the insides that the design and architecture of it was very different from Brink's energy-sword. Talm took it and Gwydion followed him to the laboratory. At a simple request of Talm, first, though, Wolmark, Flynn, and Velcarn helped carry the mechanoid's parts to the laboratory, too.

------------------
YakKa Foob MoG. GRuG
PubbuWuP ZiNk WattooM
GaZoRK. CHuMBLE SpuZz.

[This message has been edited by Lord Gwydion (edited 12-08-2001).]

As Wolmark, Flynn, Talm and the others left the library, carrying parts of the mechanoid, Trinias watched as the falcon hopped over to the window and flew out. He noticed a silver gleam on one talon, as it disappeared; he filed it away in his memory for future reference.

He turned to Leandra. "It's getting late. We'll have to decide soon, if we're staying here, or on the balloon, overnight." He looked over at the demolished door. "I'd have said here, but now I'm not so sure."

Leandra marked her place, and put the book into her bag. "OK, let's go and find the others, and see what they think."

Reaching the door of the mansion, they found Ferazel just waking up. "How do you feel?" Leandra asked.

"Fine - thanks for fixing me up!"

Trinias headed out the door. "Come on, we've got to find the others."

---------------

Moonshadow swooped down into an isolated spot in the garden, and changed back to her normal form. She kicked off her shoe, slipped the ring off her toe - fortunately, it had expanded to fit - and back onto the middle finger of her right hand.

When Trinias, Leandra and Ferazel arrived at the zeppelin, they found Moonshadow waiting for them. "Where did you get to?" Leandra asked, curiously.

Moonshadow made a sweeping gesture with her hand, and smiled. "Oh, around."

The others, exiting the laboratory, saw the four of them beneath the zeppelin, and wandered over. Flynn took a quick head count.

"Nine. Where're Brink and Dell?"

"I'm... here..." Brink panted, running up from the direction of the laboratory. Flynn nodded.

"That's ten. Where's Dell?" Everyone looked questioningly at everone else.

Flynn began to worry. "When was the last time anybody saw him?"

------------------
There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

[This message has been edited by Ronin (edited 12-08-2001).]

Brink meet them at the lab. Talm at once compared the two swords. "Hmm" said Talm " They were clearly made by different smiths but seem to have the same basic idea behind it. " Talm than tried to open Brinks and failed. "Ugh, there's something evil about these swords" Brink moved forward suddenly and looked at the inside of Gwy’s sword. It was empty. He quickly asked Talm "Was this empty before?" "Hmm?" asked Talm distracted for he was supervising where to put the creatures pieces. " No it wasn't" answer Talm looking surprised. "There was something in it but I didn't get a good look." Brink's face turned ashen. "I think I know what's powering them" The group focused there attention on him. Brink led them to a small room near where he found the saber. There was a dark feel to the room. Inside of it there was a strange piece of machinery “What they needed to power the sabers was something that would last a long time as we saw. So they took life force. They fetched life force out of the air. They used a spell like fetch, modified it so it would fetch life force and put it into the sabers. It would take away life force until released when the sword is broken"

------------------
How do men that have beards play the flute?
When I'm bored, my post number goes up.

[This message has been edited by idiotSavant (edited 12-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by idiotSavant (edited 12-08-2001).]

Gwydion took his energy-sword after the spell had been cast. The group decided to look for Dell, and spent the next hour looking. They looked from 7:30 to 8:30 to no avail. Finally, they walked to the mansion. Leandra and Talm found some ingredients in the pantry and decided to make some lentil stew* with these ingredients. They spent ten minutes cooking, and then it was ready to eat. Gwydion ate as quickly as he could, for he was ravenously hungry. Dinner took ten minutes.

After eating, they set up small makeshift beds. Gwydion laid down in his makeshift bed in the mansion and began to feel sick. He didn't know why, though. He got a headache and major stomach pains. Perhaps it was simply because he had too much excitement lately. He decided that he'd just go to sleep and hope that he got better tomorrow. Right before he went to sleep, he was told that he'd take the last watch, with Ferazel. It would begin at 5:00 in the morning and end at 7:00 in the morning.

The watches were as following:

9:00 - 11:00: Brink and Velcarn.
11:00 - 1:00: Brink, Trinias, and Wolmark.
1:00 - 3:00: Talm and Leandra.
3:00 - 5:00: Flynn and Moonshadow.
5:00 - 7:00: Gwydion and Ferazel.


*OoC*

* Hey, I couldn't think of anything else. Lentil stew just sounds nice.

*BiC*

------------------
YakKa Foob MoG. GRuG
PubbuWuP ZiNk WattooM
GaZoRK. CHuMBLE SpuZz.

[This message has been edited by Lord Gwydion (edited 12-09-2001).]

Just on 1 o'clock, Wolmark woke Talm and Leandra while Trinias and Brink turned in.

Wolmark and Talm spent a few minutes examining the castle blueprints, trying to determine how the various doors and mechanisms worked, so as to be ready for the morning. After a while, Wolmark walked over and sat down next to Leandra.

"I've been wondering..." he began, hesitantly.

"Go on," she said, when his resolve seemed to falter.

"Uh, your attitude about Flynn - it seems to have changed so suddenly. I was wondering what happened."

"Well," she began, looking wistfully over at Flynn's sleeping form, "it occurred to me that I've never seen him happier than he's been the last few days; and whether he realises it or not, it's because of Moonshadow."

"I see. Yes, I'd noticed they were spending a lot of time together," Wolmark murmured.

"Everyone has, except them," Leandra chuckled. "Besides, I really like her too, so I couldn't stay jealous for long. I just have to get over it, and that's all there is to it."

"I'm impressed," Wolmark said. "I can't really see how, but you know if there's anything I can do to help - you know, to take your mind off things, that sort of thing..."

Leandra patted his hand. "I'll let you know. Thanks Wolmark, you're a good friend."

Wolmark nodded, then got up and went back to his bedroll.

Talm and Leandra hadn't had much opportunity to talk before, but since she was something of a chemist, they managed to find some common ground; they spent the remainder of their watch discussing their respective homes, and a sampling of simple concoctions and herbal remedies.

At 3 o'clock, Talm and Leandra woke Flynn and Moonshadow. Leandra smiled at Flynn, winked at Moonshadow, and went back to bed.

------------------
There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

[This message has been edited by Ronin (edited 12-09-2001).]

After Moonshadow and Flynn's watch, they awoke Ferazel and Gwydion. With a smile at each other, they left for their beds. Ferazel and Gwydion then went to their watch duties. They chatted for a bit, until the watch was over. Bored, Ferazel toyed around with a spell. Suddenly, small tree was conjured, 10 feet above his head. *CRUNCH* "Ouch..", and then Ferazel fainted.

------------------
Those who know the truth are not up to those who love it; those who love the truth are not up to those who delight in it.
-- Confucius (a.k.a. Kong Fuzi)

[edit] I'm -really- absent minded today [/edit]

[This message has been edited by ferazel_09 (edited 12-10-2001).]

Brink awoke at the loud crash. He got up at once and pulled out his strange blade, ready to attack. He than saw Ferazel lying on the floor and asked Gwydion "What happened?!" Gwy had fallen into a bit of doze and told Brink "He was doing some spell and than this tree came and hit him" Brink checked Ferazel's pulse. "He's alive. But when he's awake I got some questions for him. Go get Moonshadow" Gwydion awoke up Moonshadow who was not amused. "Who does he think he is, getting himself injured for no reason." she said grumpy at having been awoken roughly. Her mood only got worse when Brink offered her a cup of coffee. She quickly cast a healing spell. Ferazel got up and brushed himself up. "What did you think you were doing?" asked Brink. Ferazel replied "The spell went wrong" "Why were you doing it in the first place" yelled Brink waking everyone up. "If a creature who lived here didn't know we were here, they know now" Ferazel started getting mad "I said it was a MISTAKE! And like there's anything alive here! And if there was your stealing that stupid sword would have let them know we were here" Tempers grew and Brink hadn't put his sowrd down. "WHAT did you call my sword?!" Wolmark quickly told both to calm down. "Lets relax. We'll discuss this after breakfast." Brink put away his sword and both Ferazel and Brink went to the breakfast glaring at each other.

------------------
How do men that have beards play the flute?
When I'm bored, my post number goes up.

[This message has been edited by idiotSavant (edited 12-10-2001).]

[This message has been edited by idiotSavant (edited 12-10-2001).]

The next morning, the group enjoyed a excellent breakfast of flat bread and titan steak. After their meal, they set out to the castle. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, even Frezel. They looked into the castle courtyard. There was no sign of mechanoids or others. The group walked over to the tower, and began to look for possible means by which they could enter.

-------

Suddenly, Brink called out. The rest of them came running to him. He'd found a lever!
Before any consideration was made on the matter, Brink pulled the lever. And... Nothing happened. Depressed, they continued around the castle, looking for another way to open the doors.

Velcarn, however, did not join the others. Instead, he stood near the leaver, thinking. Why should they give up on the lever so quickly? He turned towards the lever and pushed it back. From somewhere below him, the sound of clanking metal could be heard. Velcarn looked up just in time to see the doors sliding out on the tracks. He jumped out of the way as the door slid to a stop where he had been standing. By now, the others had noted the noise, and began to gather one by one in front of the monolith. As Velcarn joined them, he gazed into the tower. It's inside was inlaid with a strange blue mineral, and the place seemed very light and radiant with pure, clean, air.

--------------

Leandra was the first to walk into the tower. She looked up the spire's core, and saw no obvious way of reaching the top. A puzzle - unless the top, and the Atmosphere Shard, were not ment to be reached.

Soon the entire group was in the tower base, looking around. In the exact center of the spire stood a pedestal, about two feet around.

Soon, curiosity got the best of Talm, and he stepped onto the pedestal.

The others took no note of this until they heard Talm yelp. Looking up, they saw he was being lifted into the air! Frezel jumped up and grabbed Talm's ankles, but he was caught in the gravity tunnel and also started to rise up as well. Realizing that this was their key to get to the top the tower, the others stepped up on to the platform and ascended to the top of the spire...

------------------
Ein weasel hat Sie Gehirn!
Those online traslators just don't live up to the hype.

Quote

......

**BiC**

Ferazel get go of Talm's ankles, to drop sligtly. After a few more seconds of rising, the tower shook gently. Up a little further, it trembled sligtly harder. Nearing about one half of the way up, it shook and a chunk of debris fell on Talm's head. "Ouch!" he said, rubbing his head, "Hmm, the Shard seems to be tremoring like the Solar Shard did."

------------------
Those who know the truth are not up to those who love it; those who love the truth are not up to those who delight in it.
-- Confucius (a.k.a. Kong Fuzi)

*** OoC ***
I apologise for the brief post, I'm worn out from installing Win2k on 60-odd PC's at work. (What a relief to get back to my Mac! ) More to do in the next few days, I'm afraid
*** BiC ***

Wolmark looked around, trying to see where the debris had fallen from.

"This looks bad," he murmured in Talm's ear. "The structural integrity of this place has been severely compromised - probably by years of tremors like that. I can't even guess how much longer it will stay up!"

------------------
Nothing is foolproof to a talented fool.

"That makes sense," Flynn commented. "That history book said that the occupant's had some kind of prophecy that the castle would fall."

"Really?" Talm asked.

"Yes. None of them really believed it, though - until the tremors started. Then they abondoned the castle, setting out in their fleet of airships. They planned to come back to check on the place, but they don't seem to have made it."

"I wonder what happened to them?" Moonshadow asked of no-one in particular.

------------------
The only substitute for good manners, is fast reflexes.

"Perhaps" Talm answered "They left the Cytherian World? Which direction did they travel?"

"It says they planned to head west." Flynn replied.

"Then i'd guess that's what happened. After all, we traveled quite a ways already to get here, the etheral void couldn't be to far away!" Talm concluded.




------------------
Ein weasel hat Sie Gehirn!
Those online traslators just don't live up to the hype.

"Um, that's all very well, guys," Leandra interupted, "but how do we get down?"

------------------
He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

Velcarn pondered for a moment.

"Oh, if only we hadn't all came up here..."
Velcarn lamented.

"Are you on to something?" Leandra asked.

"Yes - If even just one of us were down there, he or she could come up atop
the tower in the zephlin, and we could enlarge one of these vent slots so we could come through... alias, we are up here - and need to be down there.” Velcarn explained.

The group sifted through various plans for exit, ranging from plausible to almost ridiculous.
Suddenly, a noise broke their plotting.
Another Tremor! The Air shard glowed with abnormally great intensity, and a few of the party’s number were briefly picked up by smaller gravitic tremors and thrown into one another. A chuck of the ceiling fell, almost flattening Brink.

Then, out of the blue, they heard shout from the tower’s base. At the base was Dell!

“Could I lend a hand?” Dell shouted, at the top of his lungs.

“Don’t step on the central pedestal!” warned Frez.

The tremor had calmed considerably, and Wolmark gave more detailed instructions to Dell - how to fly the zephlin over the top of the spire. The tremor had provided them with a large enough hole in the roof, it would be easy enough to evacuate the people and get the shard if they took a couple trips.

------------------
Ec, y'r Bmiih
Any Cryptographers out there?

The wave of discomfort that was visible as a tremor to the corporal world
passed over the Air-Shard. Renewed, the Shard felt the need to communicate.

Closer, Brother. We are almost together!
Thought the Air Shard to it's fiery sibling aboard the balloon.

We shall be together, and join the others will we too!
Replied the Solar-Shard, silently.

They will come for me, when?
Thought the Water shard, her voice clear to all of them.

Soon... and Soon also for you, Earth. We will be reunited!
Answered the Time-Shard, ending the discussion for the moment.


------------------
I'll just put a random number at 0008EC and see what happens.
(Famous Last Words #-32767)
 
Where do you want to teleport today?

Dell untethered the rope, ands climbed up the rope ladder into the zeppelin. With a bit of deft manouvering, he managed to free the anchor and reel it in, then he made for the top of the shard tower. It took two trips, and Wolmark took over the piloting for the second; within twenty minutes they were all on the ground.

"Well Talm," Wolmark began, "I guess we've found what you were looking for; what do we do now?"

Before Talm could reply, the ground beneath them began to shake noticeably. "Wow, that was the worst one yet! We'd better start moving the things we've found back to the balloon." Flynn commented.

"If it keeps getting worse at this rate, I doubt the castle will stay aloft much more than a few days, or weeks at most," Wolmark mused. Everyone looked at Talm, waiting for a decision.

------------------
There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

[This message has been edited by Slayer (edited 01-01-2002).]