Path: usenet.ee.pdx.edu!cs.uoregon.edu!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!psgrain!library.ucla.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!bt!uknet!EU.net!uunet!not-for-mail From: guido@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (guido roessling) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: STORY: Qelrik 28 Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Date: 12 May 1994 11:17:24 -0400 Organization: UUNET Technologies Inc, Falls Church, VA, USA Lines: 171 Sender: smm@uunet.uu.net Approved: smm@uunet.uu.net Message-ID: <2qtha4$89c@rodan.UU.NET> NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net *************************************************************************** This story is a collaboration of seven people: one German, two Canadians and four Americans. Comments about particular characters should be forwarded to their character's "owners": Finn Ambrose - Sheryl Ann Galchutt* - fi48@sol.acs.unt.edu Gernodt - Guido Roessling - guido@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de Dahlarin - Brent Hughes - bhughes@student.business.uwo.ca Kyle - J.E. Mason - jempci@borg.cis.rit.edu Fox - Barbara French - bcfrench@mailbox.syr.edu Will appear in future chapters: Gladrial - Jennifer Immel - bhughes@julian.uwo.ca Sir Percy - Bret Rudnick - rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu For missing chapters etc., send a mail to guido@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de *************************************************************************** What to do with Kyle ? ====================== Kyle glowered, "I am _not_ a boy!", he said indignantly, "And I am quite able to take care of myself!" Dahlarin chuckled, "He's right Gernodt. When I was his age, I was already on my own, trying to scrape up enough money to feed myself. Besides, one of the first signs of growing up is the denial of your youth. The second stage is when you try and prove it, and I think Kyle is planning on trying." Kyle cooled his temper a bit. It looked like Dahlarin was on his side of this, and he was already trying to convince Gernodt. That left persuading Finn. "I'm sure I could help", he said confidently, "I know how to take care of horses, and I can set up camp, too. I've been on a couple of hunts for deer, and I survived a weekend on my own in the forest outside of town." Kyle found himself rapidly running out of impressive accomplishments, so he stopped talking and fixed Finn with a pleading gaze. The stakes on this had just gone up even more. Not only did he stand a chance of spending time with Finn, he now had a chance to prove himself to her, and to the others. Finn looked away from him, and locked eyes with Dahlarin. "It's not worth the risk.", she said firmly. "He is much too young to risk his life. I don't care how foolish you chose to be in your childhood. Unless you have some means to keep him from getting hurt, I suggest we refrain from getting his hopes up on high and heroic adventure. We all know that only happens in the stories. Real life means lots of hardship, lots of hurting, and a lot of being afraid." Dahlarin looked thoughtful. He hadn't meant to take sides with Kyle, it just sort of happened. Maybe he was being too nostalgic over his youth. Finn was right about the hardship part. It's just that one tends to gloss over the bad parts and remember the fun stuff. Dahlarin looked at Kyle, and saw the hope in his eyes. It was hard to disappoint him, but it would be even harder to watch him die trying to fight a mage powerful enough to destroy even the most experienced of adventurers. "I do have means of protecting him, though it doesn't guarantee anything. Do you have any way of verifying your reading Finn? I have seen too many unlikely prophecies come true to let this one slide. I would hate to meet Qelrik face to face and find out that Kyle really is the key. We have too much struggling ahead of us to handicap ourselves right from the start." Finn was about to retort but held back. She did have a way of verifying it to a certain extent. She looked back at Kyle. Dahlarin was right. It was at least worth a try. Concentrating, she shifted her senses to use her Sight. The Inn faded to the background as she concentrated. Nearby, she sensed Dahlarin stiffen, as if he detected her power. She concentrated on Kyle's aura. On the surface, she saw what she expected. The worries and fears of youth, the excitement at possibly seeing adventure, and a surprising amount of emotion directed at her. Looking deeper, she saw what she hoped not to see. The inner strength and resolve of a survivor, and the unmistakable sign of what adventurers know as fate. The elusive something that shows up in so few heroes-to- be, but shows up so strongly in those it touches. Beside her, she felt Dahlarin's aura strengthen as he cast a spell. Willpower and concentration radiated from him as he cast, threatening to distract her from her reading. Curious, she watched as Dahlarin gathered magical energy and focuses it around Kyle. His aura responded for a moment and held until Dahlarin dropped the spell. Finn returned to her normal sight and looked at Dahlarin. Dahlarin shrugged, "You saw something. I saw it on your face. I tried a couple of detection spells on him, but didn't see much. The most I saw was some residue magic on him, probably a result of whatever you just did. I take it you just confirmed the reading." Finn nodded slowly, and Gernodt looked perplexed. "Well, if you two are set on this," Gernodt said as he shook his head, "I want to see how you plan on keeping him alive. You both know who we face, and how dangerous it will be... Hell, we don't even know if _we_ will survive it, so how do you think that Kyle should manage ? Or do you wish to have his death on your hands ? _I_ certainly don't - and he's surely bound to die, mark my words !" Gernodt said. While this didn't sound promising at all, Kyle was quick to notice that, despite his gruffness and seeming irritation, Gernodt did not seem to be as opposed to this idea than he seemed - at least that's what Kyle convinced himself of. It really seemed as if Gernodt protested against his joining, but from certain nuances in his speech, it also seemed that he actually wanted to provoke the others to contradict him. Kyle didn't manage to make much sense of this, but didn't really mind - as long as someone as tough as this person seemed to encourage him, he certainly didn't plan to forfeit his chances and give up all hope ! The speech, meanwhile, seemed to have the effect it had intended - Dahlarin was talking with Gernodt right now, seemingly reminding him of how he had set out adventuring himself, and that he hadn't been any older, while Finn was just sitting there, looking thoughtfully at Kyle all the while. It really was quite interesting to listen to the discussion between Dahlarin and Gernodt - Kyle was by now quite sure that Gernodt only argued against his joining in order to force the others to actually try to convince him that he might join them... and it seemed to have some success ! When he forced himself to concentrate on the discussion, he just heard the last words from Dahlarin about how safe he would be with them, and Gernodt's seemingly grudging acceptance of this. However, Gernodt made his acceptance dependent on one condition - that he would only take Kyle with him if he proved capable of travelling, and surviving, in the forest without aid... Before Dahlarin could reply to this last 'resistance' of Gernodt, Finn joined in and said, "That's a really good idea, you know... We all know that we'll have to journey through the forest for some lengths, and if Kyle doesn't know how to behave inside a forest, than he'd be more hindrance than anything else. I agree with you - he may join us, but only if he proves his mettle inside the forest with you." Kyle was completely astounded. In such a short time, He had actually been allowed to join them, and on the single condition that he were capable to travelling in forests ! A wave of elation swept through him. 'This condition isn't really much of a problem', he thought. 'I have traversed this forest so often that I feel I know every single root on the main forest path...'. However, a small part of his brain took careful note of how cleverly Gernodt had steered the others to accepting this compromise by simply disagreeing (although in a very reasonable way) with Dahlarin, thus provoking him to come to Kyle's defense. And by giving in in the end, he had effectively undercut any objections that Finn might have raised. And to prevent her from simply refusing to let him join, he had posed his condition, so that Kyle now had the chance to prove his mettle... It seemed he had made a mistake when he had judged Gernodt by his appearance, and taken him for a barbarian with much brawn but little brain... It now seemed that Gernodt was a much more dangerous man than he had seemed till now, since he seemed to be both strong and dextrous, and even quite shrewd - making him a man to be very careful of... *************************************************************************** Next Time: Another complication... ***************************************************************************