Tale of the Red Hat Gnomes - Part 2

Discussion in 'The Library' started by Mingo, May 16, 2014.

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  1. Mingo

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    (On the porch of the Fire Lotus Tavern) Gerta, bless her heart, emerged with a pitcher of sweet iced tea and two glasses which she set on the small table between the rocking chairs. "I suspect," Gerta said to me, "you have missed this!"
    --"Indeed my dear!" I said with a smile, "Thanks muchly!."
    --"How can you drink that stuff?" Bov said as he emerged onto the porch. "It's an abomination!"
    --"So say my Russian friends also, although they drink some horrible concoction called 'mulled tea' which I find repulsive."
    --The sun had set by now. We all gazed Eastward as the shattered moon began to rise; its light obliterating the dimmer of the stars. I pulled out my flute and began to play "Stones" by Master Iolo. "Ah, Time Lord," said Bov, "That brings back memories eh?"
    --One of the local cats meowed plaintively, and abandoned the porch to hunt mice. Cats are notorious critics of musical endeavors. Ariela came out onto the porch and joined us as the Fireflies rose from the grassy lawn across the street and flashed their secret signals in the dark shadow of the house there.
    --"I know what they are saying," Ariela commented......
     
  2. Bodhbh Dearg

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    Bodhbh listens to Mingo's music and is transported to a different time and place, he stands in the Zen garden on the roof of the house he designed and built from the ground up near Vesper. An Ettin is grunting outside, but it is too stupid to realize there is another living being inside the house. Life is good...
    Bodhbh winces at the painful memory... Last time "he" was there, there was nothing but some rubble... The entire house, and all it's contents had gone, carried off by others, memories and emotional items and all gone! It was shorty thereafter his live suddenly changed, and he awoke in a new world with a new name!
    "Yes Mingo, that song definitely brings back memories!", while he nods at Time Lord again, "Good ones and bad ones..."
     
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  3. Ariella Shadowdancer

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    After listening for awhile to the fireflies Ariella tells Mingo, " its a song and dance they do hoping to find their one true love".

    In the light of the moon we dance,
    across the valley shining bright and free,
    nothing is as it seem,
    so we dance for those two or three.
    As we dance, floating hopes aspire,
    all the while looking down below.
    As a whole we dance to inspire,
    hoping to dance that one last dance below.
     
  4. Gabriel Nightshadow

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    "That was wonderful, Ariella!", said Gabriel, with a wistful look on his face, " It conjured up memories of my first dance with my late wife, Shannon, at our wedding reception five years ago..."
     
  5. Ariella Shadowdancer

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    Ariella looks at Gabriel with warm affection. I hope it warms your heart and not sorrow for I would never want to cause you pain.
     
  6. Gabriel Nightshadow

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    "Do not worry yourself, Ariella!", replies Gabriel, "Time Lord has told me that I will be reunited with my beloved Shannon in this realm. I just have to find her...."
     
  7. Ariella Shadowdancer

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    and shall you will......
     
  8. Mingo

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    (On the porch of the Fire Lotus Tavern) --"a nice poem, nice indeed!" I tell Ariella. "Did you come up with that yourself?"
    --The evening chill drifts over the town as the shattered moon rises higher in the clear sky. Our little group retires to an indoor corner around a large table where Gerta brings to us some Rose Petal Koffee Kake, and Kafe. Munching his cake, Gabriel asks, "will you continue the story now, oh Bard of the Stringing out the Story fame?"
    --"I need to catch up on the logs," grumbles FireAngel. "I've lost track of the story."
    --"Ah yes," I state, lighting my pipe, immersed in the non PC world of SOTA and sipping some Kafe. "Our adventurers are sitting around a stone table in the guest quarters of the Blue Hat Gnomes. King Dohlar, and Princess BlueBell, with the Captain of their bodyguard standing behind them, have used Earth Magic to create small thrones atop the table. Hamster stands near them."
    --"Princess," Jeb says. "You were going to explain the schools of magic that we might face in our coming confrontation."
    --"Ah, yes, Battlemaster," BlueBell begins. "Some in this world, like Krisskar there, and Lyra, have mastered two of the eight schools of magic. We Gnomes, however, not only learn magic, we ARE magic. Thus we all, not just the mages, have Earth Magic abilities. Any Gnome for example, can tunnel, although some cannot tunnel very far. Most of us can manipulate stone, as I have done for this table and the thrones."
    --"So," Jeb observes. "All your enemies, the Red Hat Gnomes will have at least Earth Magic also?"
    --King Dohlar objected at this, "They are not our enemies, my friend. Just cousins who take a different monetary path. Actually we have no disputes between us. And yes, they all have Earth Magic abilities."
     
  9. Ariella Shadowdancer

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    Ariella looks at Mingo, yes they are my words, I did my best translating their song into your language. I hope I have done them justice.
     
  10. Mingo

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    (In the Demesnes of the Blue Hat Gnomes) "I'm confused," said Ed. "Are you going to help us against the Red Hat Gnomes?"
    --"No," King Dohlar pontificated. "But we will aid you in getting the golden acorns back."
    --"All will be made clear in time," Hamster chimed in in an obscure tone.
    --"Never heard an obscure tone before," Terra whispered to Lyra. "Obscure toMes, yes...."
    --"I did not realizzee you could chime, rodent," Krisskar added out of the blue, shocking everyone who had pretty much given up on having him speak.
    --"Many skills have I grasshopper," Hamster said with a grin. "And I caught that ironic 'out of the blue' reference, too!"
    --"He didn't say anything about the blue...." Lyra asked in puzzlement, then added, "Oh, never mind," as she read the words that mysteriously appended themselves to her spoken conversation. ("It's that sneaky narrator again,") Lyra grumbled in a whisper.
    --"Friends!" I called out in a slightly raised voice, "For the moment let us ignore any commentary or additions to our spoken prose."
    --"Okay," said Shania, "But first tell me how you got your words up there on the ceiling."
    --"No," I answered flatly. "Let us hear Princess BlueBell expound on the schools of magic."
    --"Thank you Master Bard," the princess said graciously. "I shall give a short explanation of the schools of magic."
    --Hamster groaned at the pun, which merely grinned at him and wagged its tail.
    --"It's a puN, not a puG you idiot narrator!" Shania growled.
    --"Moving right along...." BlueBell continued. "Life Magic concerns itself with Life and Healing. Death Magic, Vampiric draining of life. Sun Magic has uses in attack, and buffing comrades. Moon Magic deals with Stealth and buffs. Earth Magic is for damage and crowd control. Air Magic has ranged attacks. Water Magic is for damage and various uses of ice. Fire Magic uses Damage Over Time attacks.
    --"Each school has other attributes, such as canceling some of its opposite school.....Sun for example can break Moon Stealth. And there are various thingies that can be summoned. I personally, besides my inherent Earth Magic, am schooled in Moon and Water Magic."
    --"I see," Jeb Stuart nodded gravely. "And you Master Hamster what are your skills?"
    --Hamster laughed maniacally "I'm something of an oddity dear sir."
    --"GrandMaster Hamster," BlueBell explained. "Comes from .... somewhere... else in the Metaverse. He has the innate Earth Magic of all Gnomes, and also Death and Sun Magic....but he has something else."
    --"Insssanity is a form of magic?" Krisskar said with a raised eyebrow, except he didn't have eyebrows.
    --"Chaos my friend," Hamster said with a bow. "The ability to sabotage an opponents magical skills, steal their spells, and alter their plan of attack!"
    --"Sometimes," BlueBell said with a grimace, "Chaos magic doesn't work as intended; it can randomly backfire."
    --After that joint statement the grimace wandered off in search of a hamburger.
     
  11. Mingo

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    (Blue Hat Territory still) "Hmmm," pondered Jeb ponderously. "So there are opposite schools of magic that can, to some extent, cancel each other?"
    --"Basically, yes," agreed Princess BlueBell.
    --"Well, Krisskar has Water and Air, Lyra has Life and.....cooking?'
    --"Fire dear boy," Lyra chuckled. "Although some say my cooking IS magical!"
    --"Hamster," Jeb continued "Has Sun and Death magic, as well as Earth," Jeb stopped and peered quizzically at GrandMaster Hamster. "That is, if you wish to join us?"
    --With his patented Maniacal Laugh Hamster winked, "Indubitably my dear fellow!"
    --"Me too!" BlueBell joined in, causing her father to roll his eyes and wisely stay silent.
    --"So with the Earth, Moon and Water Magic of BlueBell all eight schools are covered," Jeb surmised. "Not to forget, the Chaos Magic of Hamster. I am much relieved. We have a good chance it seems."
    --I thought this the time to bring up my original purpose that started this quest. "If I may, yer majesty, I would like to tell you how all this started; and ask your advice." With the King's permission I then recounted my story of the initial meeting with Thomas and his own tale of the Red Hat Gnome statue gracing his lawn.
    --Princess BlueBell and her father looked at each other then burst out into insane laughter which rivaled the cackling howls of Hamster. "Statue?" King Dohlar guffawed. "That was no statue dear boy. It was an actual Red Hat Gnome in Observation Phase!"
     
  12. Mingo

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    (Around the table with Blue Hat Gnomes) --As I sat there blinking in perplexity Krisskar spoke up. "Lonin. Lonin wanted to obsserve gardenss, rosess in particular."
    --I looked at our mage, still addled by his experience with the water nymph, or whatever she was (have to go back and read my own logs I reckon). "Who is Lonin?" I asked confused.
    --"Confused iss not here," Krisskar responded, "Ssoo I sshall respond insstead. You have met Lonin, in my backyard where he watchess the rosess grow and the garden phase in and out over the sseasonss."
    --"He was in a fog!" Shania interjected. "How could he see?"
    --"Oh," Krisskar made a small smile, a good sign that he might be returning to his old self. "I did that fog thing only temporarily; for dramatic effect."
    --King Dohlar elucidated on this point for us. "Every year, about five percent of us choose to go into a kind of rejuvenating rest mode. As we are still aware during this phase many of us choose to be stationed somewhere to observe things that interest us."
    --"Like LunchLady in the HardRock Cafe for 20 years!" Terra said brightly.
    --"Yes," King Dohlar acknowledged, blinking in the brightness. "The time duration is selected in advance by the Gnome in question, and they encase themselves in a kind of chrysalis, which to you outsiders looks like a casting mold."
    --I nodded as this revelation explained some of my past experiences with Thomas. "So the Red Hat Gnomes gave one such Gnome to Thomas. But he said he kept pouring molten metal into the mold! How do you explain that?"
    --BlueBell chuckled. "The molten metal goes by magical transportation into the cauldera on Feinantz same as the rock that is melted and transported when we make a magical tunnel. It didn't go into the "mold" at all. The casing does not crack open until the time set by its Gnome, and is impervious to anything Thomas could have done."
    --"I remember Lonin, from another place in the Metaverse," Hamster said in a reminescent way. "Always wondered what happened to him."
    --"We knew Krisskar was coming," King Dohlar revealed, "When he rapped Lonin on the hat with his staff in a particular way. It caused a bell to ring. There is a bit more to it than that, but you were expected. So..... what shall we do now to aid you on your way?"
    --Lyra, our group diplomat, immediately picked up the subtle cue that our host expected us to depart soon.
    --"The pool table is down the hall," Hamster said. "But it is Gnome sized; don't think you would like it much."
     
  13. Mingo

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    (In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --I tied some bells onto a fresh log and tossed it onto the stack for those who would need to read them in the future. "See here, Mingo," BlaqueRogue harumphed, "you see to be embellishing the logs with verbiage you do not actually recount in the telling of the tale to us here in the Tavern."
    --"Me?" I blinked innocently, "Embellishing the written account?" Just then the latest log rolled a bit making the bell jingle loudly. "Could be," I admitted with a wry grin.
    --"Never drink rye meself," Bov mumbled. "Makes me grin in a silly way."
    --"I do like the paragraph style you have," said the deceptively young version of the Time Lord. "It gives me a clearer path through the confusion."
    --"Paragraphs!" BlaqueRogue exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that!"
    --"It's not hard to do," Ariella said.
     
  14. Mingo

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    (In the office of A.P.Pointed, Chief of the Tackzers aka the Red Hat Gnomes) --Holding a crumpled and dirty memo in his hands A.P.Pointed began to shake with rage. "This was written WEEKS ago!" he screeched. "Those real gold acorns are probably buried in a caved in tunnel by now!"
    --For he had just learned about the obliteration of all but one member of the retrieval squad, who by now probably sat in a bubble of a tunnel, both ends having caved in from unuse. Although he was loathe to do it, the Chief Gnome called for the leader of a squad he hated to use. Fearless, calm, adult, and not overly impressed with the Chief was RockSide.
    --RockSide had retired but had his own squad of volunteers willing to aid the Red Hats when someone with sense needed to be put on the task. Of coarse the bureaucrats hated him for that. They knew he knew they would only call him when straits were dire, and their posturing pontificating power games did not work on him.
    --Unlike a usual bureaucrat, RockSide showed up within 15 minutes and stood in front of the Chief, staring with a glare that silently said "Unlike you, I am competent."
    --Pointy outlined the problem and the goal, to retrieve the five gold acorns. "I am aware," RockSide said following the brief, "that others are on the trail, and have sought the aid of the Blue Hats. You might be too late."
    --The Chief sat back hard in his chair.....unlike RockSide, he never attended Security Briefings, and rarely read the daily report. "Do what you can," he said with resignation.
    --"Now THERE's an idea," mumbled RockSide as he walked out to gather his team.
     
  15. Fireangel

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    The lady watched with mild amusement and genuine joy from the earthly realm as Mingo mused ( aka narrated, which was a debatable point ). Much of the joy came from spent time with her ( expected gasps from many -- grandson, who will be two in a few months ) *heard the gasps* *shrugged with a smile* "I'm old." She turned to Mingo, and her dimples deepened beside her smile. "I do enjoy these posts, whatever they are, my hedge bard friend. Thank you!"
     
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  16. Mingo

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    (Pre-Dawn hours at the FireLotus Tavern) --I slept well, but little that night, in one of the rooms on the second floor of FireLotus Tavern. When I heard the first stirrings on the floor below I got up and dressed and went down to the kitchen where the morning cook and his assistant were beginning the day.
    --With gratitude I accepted a cup of strong black koffeee, with a little milk, and asked for a piece of sausage and some toast be prepared for my breakfast. Then I went out into the darkness of the main room, sparsely lit by a single lantern and took a seat.
    --It was near the Fall Equinox, and the mornings began to have a bit of chill. I had left my window open the previous night, it wasn't that cold, but the cool temperature had ended the chorus of singing June bugs that seranaded in the night all summer long. The Koffee was good; its warmth appreciated. Softly I began to play "The parting Glass" on my deep keyless flute, not as a portent to any pending travel, just because it was easy to play and I liked the tune.
    --The cook's assistant brought my breakfast, refilled my mug, and then unlocked the front door for any passing patrons in need of breakfast.
     
  17. Mingo

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    (Under the volcano on the isle of Feinantz) --RockSide stood before the shambles of a caved in tunnel, which had once lead to the Guaca Desert. Somewhere between here and there a lone Red Hat mage sat in a bubble of a cavern with a large (by Gnome standards) chest containing five gold acorns.
    --RockSide was not a mage, but a melee fighter of a special class.
    --Most Gnomes used no armor, as only blunt force weapons of Adamantite could crack their bodies, and armor does not usually protect against magic. RockSide, however, had crafted for himself over many hundreds of years a suit of Adamantite armor. Derided as overly cautious by the other Red Hats, RockSide kept his armor covered by his tunic and his cape. He turned and spoke to the small squad which stood respectfully awaiting his words.
    --"I abhor wastefulness," RockSide said with disgust. "It would be one thing if we could just reopen the tunnel, but the rules of magic do not allow that. Tunnels should be made more sparingly and only when they are going to be used enough to keep them open, in my opinion."
    --"Your opinions are not widely respected by the powers that be," opined MrsPeel his second in command. "Do you suggest we walk along the ocean floor and then overland to find these acorns?"
    --RockSide made a resigned grimace and replied, "No, no, we will tunnel wastefully and hope we get there first."
    --His squad stood ready and RockSide looked on them fondly. Their dedication to the Red Hats over the years was largely unrecognized and certainly unrewarded. Being right, and being successful didn't count for much when their orders usually ended with the phrase "Don't have problems, and if you do DON'T bring them to me! I don't want to know....."
     
  18. Mingo

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    (In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --From my pocket I took a newly given present; a duplicate of a present given to my RL Avatar. It was a large, heavy coin of bronze (or perhaps brass). Both sides were slickly black with some kind of enameling, save for raised letters in bronze. One side read "I wasn't here". With a smile I contemplated the many possible meanings of that simple phrase; not only its RL meaning but the possible meaning as related to the MetaVerse.
     
  19. Mingo

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    (Blue Hat Gnome territory) --Krisskar stood and said to King Dohlar, "The shorter beard sstyle lookss good on you, yer Majesty."
    --"Makes him look 200 years younger!" Princess BlueBell said. "Guess whose idea it was?"
    --King Dohlar sighed and looked at Krisskar, "Be forewarned, Warlock of the Ruins, a daughter can wrap you around her little finger!"
    --"As I will find out I am ssure," Krisskar nodded knowingly.
    --"Warlock of the Ruins?" Jeb asked. "Why do you call him that, yer Majesty?"
    --"Hamster will tell you after Krisskar goes on his separate path," Replied Dohlar, "No need to trouble his mind now." King Dohlar then stood, and the rest of those in the room as well. "Fare well. I entrust the safety of my daughter to you all" said Dohlar as he left the chamber, after receiving a kiss from his daughter. The bodyguard of princess BlueBell however, remained in the room, and made themselves visible, all six of them."
    --"We have a gift for Shania," announced the Captain as a large package was brought to the table.
    --"My daggers!!" Shania squealed. "Oh, thank you Captain!"
    --To the princess the Captain said, "I regret we cannot accompany you. I wish you well in the Big World and hope to see you again in a century or two."
    --Then to Jeb the Captain handed a bag, as big as himself. "This might prove useful in battling Red Hat Gnomes, although it is not lethal it will allow you to bowl them over, at least once."
    --Jeb pulled from the bag a round blue rock with three holes in it. "I'll figure it out I suppose," he said, putting the bag in his larger knapsack. "thanks." But the guard had vanished, stealthily and may or may not have still been in the room. "Before we leave," Jeb said to the group, "Perhaps we should visit those little rooms back there."
     
  20. Fireangel

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    Fireangel makes a poor imitation of Krisskar, quietly saying, "sstyle lookss good on you," before she catches herself. She blushes, and the dimples deepen her embarrassed smile.
     
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