From: ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu (The Dreamer)
Date: 29 Jun 93 15:53:18 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [MG] Trawma Team

Trawm lay headless in a darkened corner of the Spitting Cobra.  He had
been the first to find the hole in reality.  Its paradoxical nature caused
a marked lapse in his sanity, driving him to rip off his own head.  His
troll blood was already working to grow a new head, but for now, he was
blessed with unconsciousness.

Around him, his tavern was anything but quiet.  These were not his normal
customers; they would be home looking after a hangover or passed out in
some shaded alley.  No, these folks were a strange assortment of people
from all walks of life.  Several appeared to be holy men and women, told
by their brightly colored robes and "My god is better than yours" attitude.

Luthor sighed.  He just hoped that they could work together when they
were needed most.  Serene brushed past him rolling a small keg of
Catamount Porter.  Luthor helped her put it upon a table.

"I could only find a couple of these.  'Raelf drank the Inn's supply this
morning.  I had to get this one from Brycur."  She wiped the sweat from
her brow.

"How much did it cost."  Luthor reached inside his cloak for some money.

"Nothing.  He gave it to me as a belated house warming gift.  There's
another outside.  Give me a hand?"

"Sure," Luthor agreed.

On their way out of the inn, they passed Erik.  He had gone back to
ShadeHaven to retrieve their model of Generica.  Now, it was set up near
the front of the bar, supported at its corners by four empty beer mugs.
Above the top of the model floated the normal probability field of Generica;
a red fog that dipped and bobbed with the turning of luck and fortune.
Erik, however, was more concerned with the bottom of the model.
There was a anomaly in the field so severe that it went through the
model and out again from the bottom.  Beneath the model, the anomoly
shaped itself into a bubble...a pocket in reality.

After checking the readings of the model a few more times, Erik stepped
outside the inn.  Through his Mage Sight he could see lines of power
criss-crossing Generica, being bounced, curved, and redirected into
the Spitting Cobra.  He wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't
like the looks of it.

"I'll bet 'Raelf's involved in all this," he said to himself aloud.

"Luthor told me long ago that I should never make a bet with a
ShadowMaker."  Serene smiled, "Now if you will be so kind, move out
of the doorway.  This keg is heavy."

Erik looked down to see that she held one end of a dark wooden keg;
Luthor was at the other end.  He stepped asside and made an exaggerated
immitation of one of Luthor's bows.  "Your pardon my lady," he said
sweetly.  Serene laughed at the pantomime, Luthor scowled at his
teacher's teasing.

After they passed, Erik's thoughts again returned to 'Raelf.  For one
reason or another, he needed to talk to the 'kan - soon.

Luthor and Serene set the second keg beside the first, then sat down
for a short rest.  Luthor took out a blue silk handkerchief and wiped
his brow, "It's hot enough in this place to roast a devil.  I have
half a mind to tap one of these kegs now."

"No, if 'Raelf is involved in all of this, he'll need them both.  You
should see him gulp the beer down.  He must have hollow legs or something."

"Maybe he does.  I've seen stranger things in Generica."  Luthor thought
about the friends he had made in the past year...a Vampire, a Drow,
a Gnome who was sometimes a burning cat, a Halfling ghost...  Hollow
legs would be quite normal in comparison.

Erik re-entered the inn and walked through the barroom to the kitchen.
There, suspended in the air, was the shimmering hole that connected
the "pocket reality" to this one.  This was the focus point for the
lines of power.

He turned quickly.  For a moment, he could have sworn that there was
someone else in the kitchen.  He had seen a humanoid shape out of the
corner of his eye, but now it was gone.  Convinced that his eyes were
playing tricks on his fatigued mind, he turned away from the floating
sphere and left the kitchen.

Inside the main barroom, Luthor was in the middle of addressing the
group he had gathered, "I know it's hot and you have other things to
do Mother Ardessa, but I assure you that this is important.  If you
will all have patience, I think we can do a lot of good here today.
Whatever is going on now is going to affect Generica's future - Oh,
I see that Erik has returned.  Perhaps he will have some more answers
for us - Erik?"

"Well, first of all, lets get the heat problem fixed..." a look of
concentration crossed his face.  His GREY cloak began moving as if
moved by an unseen breeze.  Erik spread his hands wide and said with
the ressonance of ShadowMagic, "THE WIND COULD BLOW!"

A rush of cool air filled the Spitting Cobra.  The group inside let
out a small sigh of relief; more than one face grinned.

Then the wind blew a little harder...and harder.  The group in the
'Cobra looked at eachother as if to ask "Did he mean for this to
happen?"

Erik mentally slapped himself.  He decided to act quickly before the
Spitting Cobra became Nexus's first high velocity wind tunnel permanently.
"THE WIND COULD STOP!"  An instant later, it did.

Overall, conditions had improved.  The inn would stay cool for a while -
perhaps keeping the clergy satisfied and inside the inn for a few more
minutes.

Luthor set the group back to their assigned tasks, preparing for the
return of whatever was in the reality pocket.  He walked over to Erik
and asked quietly, "What was that all about?  A breeze would have been
nice.  I wasn't asking for a recurrence of the Great Storm."

"I shouldn't have tried to manipulate the wind while so close to
that pocket.  It's drawing in so much power that anything we try
to do will be amplified.  I don't think we can do much else but
sit here and wait."

"Do you think I should send Serene back to ShadeHaven?  If something
goes wrong, I wouldn't want Mista to be an orphan."

A look of concern crossed Erik's young face making him look much older
than his normal early-twenties appearance.  He leaned close to one of
Luthor's pointed ears and said something that would echo in his soul:
"Luthor, if something goes wrong, it won't matter where Serene is.
No one in Generica will be safe."

     Love and Peace and The TRUTH,
            -The Dreamer-