From aaron@atlantis.uucp Wed Jan 13 23:45:25 1993
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [R][MI] Mages Emerging


Moriarty Investigations had been quiet for several days when Nijorik
appeared in their offices.

Queriche, who had been the first to meet the Enforcer Mage, was behind the
desk.  Nijorik nodded at him and said, "Where is Moriarty, or this other
fellow...Alfvaen?"

"Moriarty be in his lab," Queriche said, reverting in his nervousness to
his native accent, "and Alfvaen be downstairs.  Alfvaen be easier to
disturb, I think...Moriarty get het up sometimes."

Nijorik smiled wearily.  "Yes, I do detect something mildly delicate in
process that I would be loath to interrupt.  Perhaps, then, if you could
summon Alfvaen?  It's business."

***

Alfvaen was idly doodling on his sketch-pad, taking a break from a
half-finished sketch of 'Raelf that was giving him problems.  If only
Delmara didn't take her mission to help the former Joystix addicts so
seriously...it was taking up far too much of her time lately.

<Well, if you'd let me go join her, it wouldn't take so much time...and you
could be with her, in a sense.>  Elstree.

<True, my dear, but not practical.  Moriarty doesn't like me taking off too
much personal time, and it seems you're included in that for some reason.> 
Alfvaen.

He heard a faint buzzer sound.  He was being called to the front desk.  He
stood up, hoping he would get something to do...

***

Alfvaen walked with Moriarty(whose experiment had been cut short, and hence
who was not in the greatest of moods)and Nijorik to the docks.  "I still
can't see why we have to walk," he said, absently fending fingers off from
his purse.  "Okay, so this place is crowded and you can't just teleport us
into the middle of it.  But what about flight, or levitation or >something<
to get us ahead of all these crowds?  If this ship's docked already, then we
want to get there as soon as possible so nothing happens to this Amaan guy,
right?"

Nijorik shook his head.  "On the other hand, we don't want to appear too
ostentatious, or too obvious targets.  Remember, floating mages can attract
arrows faster than cursed shields.  Also, I don't think we have that much
to worry about.  This Karl brought an impressive escort with him--I think
they'd be enough to keep Amaan safe."

***

In a dimension overlooking Nexus through a one-way membrance, Supreme
Archmage Delalle surveyed the docks.  The Guild representative was almost
there with his companions.  He paused a moment to assess those companions. 
Moriarty was low on magic, but very shrewd.  Alfvaen was similarly shrewd,
and had the additional surprises of his amulet.  Urcohea had chosen well,
indeed.  Mages too used to each other's company tend to underestimate those
who use nonmagical means as well.  Pity about that fellow Choir of Vidmar,
but one couldn't have everything.

He moved his window forward until it hovered over the Arcas.  Yes.  There
it was, the Herald from his vision.  The mage Amaan was cleverly hidden by
that 3-D Paradox Object, but Delalle managed to pick him out.  He hoped the
Herald would not prove hostile, but if his interactions with others from
the Arcas were an indication, he shouldn't be problematic.

Delalle suddenly realized he was excited.  It had been years since he had
retreated to study this problem, and now he was going to be able to pursue
his researches much closer to the source.

***

Finally the Arcas was in sight.  Most of the passengers had already left,
but the ship was still teeming with Seaguard.  The ship looked like it had
been attacked en route.  Nijorik picked out the Captain and made his way
through the crowds, Alfvaen and Moriarty hurrying to keep up, getting dirty
looks from the Seaguards they squeezed past.  The Captain and the Seaguard
officer he was talking to looked up as Nijorik approached.  "Can I help
you?" the Captain said.

"Greetings, Captain Jadiman," Nijorik said.  "I am Mage Nijorik, a
representative of the Mage Guild, and these two are my associates, Alfvaen
and Moriarty.  Is the mage Amaan still on board?"

"Pleased to meet you, Mage," Captain Jadiman said, shaking Nijorik's hand. 
"As for the mage Amaan--well, the situation is a bit strange.  It seems
that during the attack on the ship he ended trapped in a strange way. 
Perhaps you should talk to Thraemis about this.  Thraemis!" he bellowed.

"Hold on, Captain, be there in a sec," a voice said.  Then a youngish
figure dashed up the gangplank, another trailing behind.  "Yes, sir?"
Thraemis said.

"This is Mage Nijorik, from the Guild, and these two are his associates. 
Show them the mage Amaan and his...well, whatever that Dariel fellow is. 
Understood?"

Thraemis bowed perfunctorily at Nijorik.  "Be a pleasure, sir.  I've been
itching to talk to Dariel myself, in fact.  May Ornigan join us?  He was an
acquaintance, I guess a former apprentice, of Amaan's in Rameshan."

Nijorik sighed.  "He may as well.  Now, what exactly >is< going on with
this Amaan fellow?"

"Perhaps I can explain that," a voice said.

***

Dariel had been waiting patiently for someone to show up for Amaan.  He
knew it would be pretty much a given, and it was easier than going to them
on his own.

When he noticed an aura of magic stronger than that of Thraemis and Ornigan,
his ears pricked up.  This would be the emissary he was waiting for.  He
picked up Amaan's Klein bottle and went above decks to see for sure.

He grinned when he saw them--Ornigan, Thraemis and three other mages.  One
of them had the strong magical aura, and Dariel assumed him to be the leader.
Another -- how interesting!  A soul construct...  None of the others seemed
to notice.  Perhaps they were common here.  At any rate, they were talking
about Amaan.

"Now, what exactly >is< going on with this Amaan fellow?" the leader said.

"Perhaps I can explain that," Dariel said.

All eyes turned to face him.  Thraemis brightened.  "Ah, this is Dariel. 
Dariel, this is Nijorik, from the Generica Mage Guild, and these two are
his associates, Alfvaen and Moriarty."

Dariel bowed.  "Pleased to meet all of you."

He was about to say more when Nijorik pointed to the bottle he held.  "What
is that?"

"A container.  Amaan is woven into it.  Or it's woven into Amaan.  It depends
on your point of view," he said.  "I put him there after escaping from the
prison >he< put me in.  Is he yours?"  He proffered the bottle to Nijorik.  "I
took away his magical talent, so he's perfectly harmless, but I wanted an extra
precaution."

Nijorik looked shocked.  "Took away?!  That's a little extreme.  In fact,
it's worse than that--I'm afraid you've removed the main reason for Amaan
to come to Generica in the first place."

"On the contrary," said a voice from behind them.  They turned to see an
old gentleman dressed in a simple white robe step out of...somewhere.  

Nijorik immediately dropped to his knees.  "Supreme Archmage," he murmured.

"Oh, get up, Nijorik," Delalle said with a twinkle in his eye.  "Really,
all that kowtowing gets to me after a while.  A little respect is fine, but
that should go both ways.  Anyways, as I was saying--the main reason Amaan
was important to me, and came to Generica, was because he had Dariel.  Now
that Dariel is free, Amaan's importance is negligible.

"Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself.  I am Supreme Archmage Delalle. 
I know all of you--except perhaps for you, Ornigan.  You'll have to come to
the Guild and have a chat with Rivy.  I may want to talk to you about Amaan
later, if that should prove necessary.

"Now, Dariel, I'm very honoured to have you on my plane.  I'm prepared to
offer you every hospitality I can.  In return, I'm afraid I'll have to ask
you a lot of questions.  You see, your presence on this plane may put us
all in a lot of danger.  Not really your fault, of course, but I feel that
if we pool our knowledge we can stave things off a little while.  What do
you say?"

Dariel grinned.  "I'd be honoured, Supreme Archmage Delalle.  It seems that
you already know a fair bit about me."

"Yes, but it's all hypothesis and guesswork.  Amaan knows more, but you
should know more still!  Anyway, I must say that I'm honoured.  Would you
prefer to return directly with me, or take a more circuitous route within
this plane?  Your choice, of course."

Dariel shrugged.  "I'm not fussy.  Perhaps I should see some of this plane,
while I'm here."  He paused a moment.  Mages were usually a little touchy about
these things.  "I'd like to see an oracle, too, if there's one around here."

Delalle nodded.  "All right.  There are a number of oracles in the city."

"Sir?  What do we do about Amaan?" Nijorik asked.

"Hmmm...good question," Delalle said.  He pondered, then said, "Dariel,
could you release him into the custody of Nijorik and his friends?  He
should go to the Guild as well, but perhaps with some modicum of respect. 
He is, after all, a foreign emissary of sorts."

Dariel shrugged again.  "As you wish.  I think you should know that he was
planning to betray you."

Delalle chuckled.  "Oh, I know that.  At least, there's no other reason why
Thorn would be so eager to get him here in the first place.  But hopefully
you've thrown a wrench into the works."

Dariel took the Klein bottle and FOLDED it somehow and then Amaan was
standing there, looking slightly dazed.  Nijorik slipped a bracelet around
Amaan's wrist and said, "All right.  Follow me, or you'll find out just
what that bracelet can do.  You'll be well-treated if you play straight
with us."  He looked up at the others.  "Well, shall we be off?"

Thraemis apologized that he still had to stay aboard the ship, but Ornigan
said, "Well, I might as well go to the Guild now as later.  I'll just go
tell Bronwen on my way down."

Delalle waited until they all were gone and then slipped back into his
pocket dimension.  That Dariel fellow did look nice.  And so polite!

He just wished he knew what Thorn was >really< up to...

-- 
---Alfvaen(Still looking for "October's Baby")
"I'm gonna follow my feelings...I'm gonna follow my senses...I'm gonna follow   my compass!"  --Lone Justice
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