Tale of the Red Hat Gnomes - Part 2

(In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --Time has passed. Spring outside the Fire Lotus Tavern warms into early Summer. A small group gathers around an old bard, listening as he tells songs and sings stories. Mingo has droned on for 20 pages in "Tale of the Red Hat Gnomes - Part I" and now it is time to drone on for even more pages

PROLOGUE TO PART 2 --There are many zones within the Metaverse. Ancient and obliquely viewed worlds of old give way to existences seemingly more solid, but perhaps more illusory. Those who inhabit these worlds, those we today refer to as Avatars, live, love, and adventure in ways that we here can only imagine. In fact we DO imagine. There is also a Twilight Zone, but we aren't going there....
--Our cast of characters in the story line include:
*Mingo TheBard - yours truly, who was there in the time of this tale of long ago. A long lived, white bearded player of tinwhistles (to annoy the birds) and sometime singer (when solitude is desired, and folksies won't leave). Mingo once existed in the land of Lord British, and resided on Moonglow Island....but has been dormant for long years since then.
*Krisskar the Mage - Although he never adventured with Mingo, only visiting Mingo's former world via a backstory, Krisskar has seen two versions of the Metaverse. Once he was mayor of Tuskn Flats, on a dry dusty planet a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Then Krisskar found himself in a world of sword and sorcery; first as a Warlock, then a Death Knight. In Part I we read the Dreams of Krisskar which went into his background. In his current guise Krisskar is a wielder of Water and Air magic.
*Jeb Stuart - Guildmaster of the Raiders of Valor, Jeb adventured with Mingo. Later by other names, he and the Raiders of Valor founded the town of Tuskn Flats, Later in the lands of Azeroth, and then for a short while fought amongst the stars in an Old Republic somewhere....Heavily armored, Jeb's current nickname is "tank."
*Shania Twain - wife of Jeb, who also traveled the metaverse in many guises, typically a warrior, with sidelines in crafting. Currently Shania pursues the Rogue life.
*Lyra - Captain of the good ship PossumRose, Lyra is a Healer. Also she is a cook, famous even before the Internet for her Rose Petal Koffee Kake. She is a part time pastry chef for Katya's Koffee Klutch in the fishing village of Writer's Ink, in the small land of Prodigy....or was at the time of this tale. She was also a Raider of Valor in Britain long ago, and briefly was on that dry dusty planet, as well as very briefly on Azeroth.
*Ed and Terra, the bounty hunters of Tampa - Brother and sister, Ed is an off tank, armored more lightly but somewhat more agile therefore than a Heavy Tank. Terra wields ranged weapons. They also are Raiders of Valor from Britain, then Tuskn Flats, and have played many roles in the Metaverse.
*Hamster Fizzimix -A new main character, recently introduced. Hamster previously existed in Azaroth as a gnome mage and alchemist. In our story he plays the part of a Blue Hat Gnome mage, and alchemist. His specialties are Earth and Sun magic. Hamster knew Krisskar quite well in Azeroth. It is Hamster more than any other who remembers that particular time.
*BlueBell - also recently introduced toward the end of Part I, BlueBell is a Blue Hat Gnome, daughter of King Dohlar. She is a mage apprenticed to Hamster. Her father is overprotective of her, and although she is of age having finally reached her 300th birthday, she has not seen the big wide world of which she dreams.
--Our Tale has three separate parts, much like an old episode of Love Boat, that weave and mix together, often one part influencing the other. First is the main story being told by Mingo, set long ago. Second is an even older part, just after the shattering of the moon, which is the setting for Krisskar's back story. Finally the third part, which is set in today's current Fire Lotus Tavern
--In this third part, you the reader are invited to join us around the fire! You can see in Part I there are discussions amongst the patrons, sometimes leading to odd tangential offshoots. You are welcome to contribute in the setting of the Fire Lotus Tavern as you "listen" and you, and others, comment.
--And so good gentles, in closing this Prologue, if perchance I should offend in the telling of my story... deal with it; I ain't Shakespeare!

 

(In Fire Lotus Tavern)

Gabriel, Time Lord and Chariya have returned to Fire Lotus Tavern to listen to Mingo's Tale of The Red Hat Gnomes - Part II. Sadly, their friends, Carlin and Amber Raine, are off on personal missions, but they hope that their two friends will rejoin them at some later point.

Despite the fact that one season has passed, Gabriel has noticed that Time Lord is still acting very much like a ten year old boy, much to Chariya's chagrin. Gabriel wonders if this has anything to do with the fact that Time Lord consciously halted his regeneration part way through the process (rather than allowing it to run through to completion and young adulthood) for Chariya's benefit.

Despite his child-like behavior, young Time Lord has somehow managed to continue to focus on their task - the recovery of the nine fragments of the Amulet of Vazur. So far they have recovered three of the fragments - those pertaining to the black, gold, and red dragons. Now, it was time to rest a bit before continuing on with their mission. Looking around at these familiar faces seated next to them brought them great joy, for they were battle weary and in need of companionship.

The barmaid Gerta brought them glasses of nice, cold iced tea with lemon, as well as plates filled with orange slices. These helped quench their thirst, for it was a blistering 98 degrees Fahrenheit outside!

Mingo began his tale...

 

(On the Isle of Feinantz) --"Hurray!!" BlueBell jubiliantly cried as she danced around the tulip garden. "At LAST we are in Part 2!!! Look out world, the Blue Hat Gnomes are coming!"
--"You must excuse my apprentice," Hamster said shaking his head. "Sometimes her youthful exuberance gets the better of her. By the way, who are all you folks these days?"
--I made introductions, but Hamster only seemed to recognize Jeb from an earlier place in the metaverse. "Didn't you have a wife, Jeb?" he asked.
--"Yes, and I am concerned about Shania. She was scouting ahead of us."
--BlueBell stopped hopping about like a caffeinated bunny rabbit and said, "Oh! Do you want us to find her?" then she yelled with an unexpectedly loud voice, "BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON!!!" Suddenly around our group of adventurers a dozen Blue Hat Gnomes, their hats so darkly blue they seemed almost black, appeared. "These are my bodyguard," BlueBell sighed. "Daddy is soooo tiresome sometimes."
--"Moon magic," Krisskar muttered. "Sstealthy....."
--The captain of the bodyguard now spoke, "Princess, I had two of my men tracking the rogue, but she has been captured by the Kobolds."
--

 

"Oh no, not the Kobolds!", exclaimed Chariya, with a shudder, "They have a craving for human flesh, especially tender, young children's flesh!"

"There, there dear!", said Time Lord reassuringly, as he gave his wife a hug, "I know that was a pretty close call in King Ugrod's fortress, but everything's OK now... I promise you, no harm will every come to you. I lost you once already, I will not let that ever happen again, my love!"

Young Time Lord and Chariya gazed into each other's eyes. Chariya calmed down as Time Lord stroked her right cheek and said some words to her in Thai with a soothing voice.

Gabriel felt reassured that, when the situation demanded it, Time Lord could still display some brief flashes of maturity.

 

(In the cave of the kobolds) --"(This is another fine mess I've gotten me into.)" Shania thought as she was dragged through a cavern on a rough travois. "(I reckon I'm to be the guest of honor at tonight's dinner party.)
--"You no take candle!" shouted a Kobold at her, revealing the mental ability and cognizance for which Kobolds are famous.
--"(Sheesh)" thought Shania, not wasting her energy with a snappy reply. A short way into the cave she was dropped on the floor of a wide place in the tunnel; not quite cavern size. The Kobolds left her there, and with a smile Shania went into stealth mode, making the travois appear empty.
--"In Lor!" I shouted at the mouth of the tunnel, which did not have the effect I remembered. "Damn, things have changed," I muttered. Then a voice near the floor chanted something, and above Hamster's head a small light began to glow.
--"I can't do much sun magic when I'm not in the sunlight, but I can light the way." Hamster said.
--"We really don't need that, but thanks," said the Captain of BlueBell's bodyguard as he and his shadowy squad lead the way into the Kobold tunnel. The rest of us followed Hamster, Jeb first, Lyra and Terra shepherding Krisskar at the rear.
--"I really must learn about all these schools of magic," Jeb thought out loud. "One needs to know the abilities of the group to fight well."
--"Oh! I'll explain it all once we rescue Shania!" BlueBell said in a perky, upbeat way.
--"How....." Krisskar mumbled, "How in the world doess ssomeone as cheerful as you get along with that ssour, irasscible Hamsster?" BlueBell wisely made no answer, knowing it isn't good to talk about the boss, no matter what you have to say.
--Suddenly down a side tunnel a light appeared above the head of a Kobold. Simultaneously the light above Hamster disappeared. "Only one light at a time dang it!" Hamster complained. The Kobold, using all of its intellect, decided that the odds were in its favor and rushed the group. With a swing of his sword, Jeb separated its head (including candle helmet) from its neck. "Finally!" Jeb said jubilantly, "Some action!" Then from ahead of us came the sound of battle.
--We rushed forward into the wide place in the tunnel where the seemingly empty travois lay to find Bluebell's bodyguard squad fiercely attacking the knees and shins of a half dozen Kobolds, who hopped around with wild abandon. Some of the Kobolds made the mistake of kicking the rock hard gnomes, suffering broken toes. "Cut me loose!!" Shania yelled, making an appearance tied up on the travois. BlueBell was first to her aid and severed the bonds with a small, but obviously sharp, knife. "Thanks sweetheart!" Shania said as she lept to her feet and drew out a hidden dagger, dispatching those few Kobolds still standing after Jeb and Ed had gone at them.
--"We should leave," advised the Captain of the bodyguard wisely.
--"I want my daggers back!" snarled Shania, beginning to head deeper down the tunnel. Suddenly she was hit in the face by a mudpie, which stopped her in her tracks. Sputtering and wiping mud from her eyes Shania was oddly less beserk.
--"Sorry about that," said the diminutive BlueBell. "Here." and a bucketful of water dumped out over Shania's head. "that should help! So many things you can do with Earth and Water magic!"
--Mud washed from her face, Shania looked down in the dim light. "You and I are going to be great friends!" she grinned evilly at the gnome. "Someday I will return the favor in kind!"
--"We should leave, really," Advised the Captain of the bodyguard, still giving wise, if unheeded advice.
--"That way," directed Jeb, taking Shania by the arm and urging her toward the egress. "Go around that egress to the exit, and don't make it mad!"
--Our group successfully made our way out, and as the squad of protective gnomes once again seemingly disappeared into the shadows, we followed Hamster and BlueBell to the hidden entrance of an access tunnel to the realm of the Blue Hat Gnomes.

 

*sits swinging his legs and listening for his favorite parts about BlueBell and Hamster*
~Time Lord~

 

"I'm traveling", spoke Bodhbh,in a trancelike voice "near to the ultimate source of *this* reality, but I'm still present here in the FireLotus Inn as well"

A few of the group pondered the remark, and decided Bodhbh was dreaming again.

Mingo nodded, seemingly knowing what Bodhbh meant, and drew a lone five-pointed star in the air with his index finger...

"Man, I'm tired" Bodhbh confided, before nodding off for a bit....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

 

(In a Red Hat tunnel between Feinantz and the Guaca desert) --SingleMind was a good apprentice, well liked by his master Chester, the metal smith. SingleMind had constructed for himself a contraption he called a "bicycle" which enabled him to travel faster than running, and with less energy. Never the less It took him most of a day to find the Red Hat Gnome mage who labored to push a chest containing five gold acorns along.
--"There you are!" called SingleMind cheerfully. "I was sent to check on you!"
--"About time," grumbled Shader the mage. "I can really use some help."
--"I was told there were more of you, as this was a simple retrieval mission."
--Spluttering curses filled the tunnel as Shader expounded on the intelligence of his bosses, the level of competance of the Negotiator department, the remarkable performance of his former and now crumbled associate, JackBoot the negotiator, the fighting skills of his squad, the opacity of his rogue....and the general traits of Squirrels. "At least," he said finally calming a bit, "I have someone to help me push this thing now. Hello? Are you there?"
--But no one was there. SingleMind, having found the information he was sent to find, had already pedalled off back down the tunnel. Shader slumped down and sat with his back against the chest of gold acorns, contemplating his fate. "If only I had not hated punch cards so much!" he wailed mysteriously.
--A day later SingleMind reported to his boss, who sent word to A.P.Pointed, with an estimate of several more days until the acorns arrived, unless perchance some aid was sent. The message was taken by the inter office message service, and promptly routed to the wrong address; to the desk of a gnome on two weeks vacation.

 

(In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --Tying his purple llama to the hitching post outside, Eriador joins the group in the story telling nook near the fireplace. "Hail and well met!" I call out.
--"Thank you," the newly de-lurked liker says."
--"Oh, M'Lord Mingo," Gerta says blinking furiously. "Will there be more of Katya's Koffee Klutch in Part II? I have some new puns, but they only work with Krisskar."
--My mind reels. "Puns? They aren't uncouth are they?"
--"Oh no! Certainly not at Katya's! Shania would be crying 'cuthosity is my domain!' no end!" Gerta explains. "And I don't use dingbats to fill in for letters, either."
--"Good girl," FireAngel says approvingly.
--"As for Katya's in Part 2," I continue the thought, not yet deciding whether to use roman numerals or regular digits, "We will see some of our adventurers return there......"

 

(On the Isle of Feinantz) --The Island of Feinantz, home of the Red Hat and Blue Hat Gnomes, is not a natural volcanic island. True, one of the two mountains contains a caldera of molten rock, but the lava comes not from a source within the earth.
--Rather, the molten rock is generated by the displacement of different kinds of rock, pugnacious, loquacious and outrageous, that are magically removed by gnomes to make their tunnels. The stone is melted in this transport displacement.
--Gnomes don't just DO magic, they ARE magic. All gnomes have Earth Magic of a high order, even those who are principally crafters or fighters. . All Gnomes have other 'natural' abilities related to their basic magical existence, that are manifested in their physical selves.
--Gnome bodies are very dense. Their bones, stronger than any metal, are as dense as gold. Their silicone based flesh is extremely dense as well, and their muscles have ten times the power per cubic inch as human fleshy muscles. (This is why they can hop many many times their own height, lift heavy objects, and strike blows that will crack bone, or even stone). Their skin is too tough to be cut with any blade.
--Although basically crush-proof, Gnomes are susceptible to blows, and can literally be cracked. This is very difficult and requires that something harder than themselves strike them. There is only one substance which is harder than a Gnome; Adamantite, a very rare mineral.
--Being magical creatures, Gnomes are long-lived. They have the capability of entering a 'rest' state however, that can last a century. In this rest state the Gnome hardens into an impervious condition, which is uncrackable even with a blow from an Adamantite weapon. Magically the Gnomes clothing also hardens as well. In this rest state Gnomes can contemplate and observe in safety, even in dangerous locations.
--This hardening is not a quick, instantaneous way to avoid danger, rather a more involved transition entered into with deliberation and intent. The Gnome determines the duration of the rest state prior to entering it, and cannot be "waked" by outside forces, although awareness remains.
--Gnomes are insane; by human standards. Their thought processes are quite alien, especially to humans. Whoever thought up such beings had a very odd sense of humor indeed.
--The other mountain on the Isle of Feinantz is capped by snow and ice. The magical counterpart to melting of rock to fill the caldera, requires taking heat from somewhere (conservation of energy, don't you know). The heat needed to melt the rock is taken from the top of the blue mountain, and the air around it, generating snow and ice. With time, the ice has turned a blue colour. There is a limit, however, to what the gnomes can do in tunnelling.
--Magic is not infinite. Magical Entropy increases with every magic act and there is a limitation imposed on the quantity of entropy that can be produced in a given amount of time. If the limit is reached, magical acts just do not work. Cognizant of this, Gnomic Mages are hesitant to overuse magic. The law of Magical Entropy Resistance affects their own personal "reservoir" of magical power.
--Think of it like this: a gnome's personal magical reservoir might be considered like a balloon. Magical Entropy might be thought of as the atmosphere outside the balloon. An increase in Magical Entropy is analogous to an increase in atmospheric air pressure, making it more difficult to blow up the balloon. A Gnome Mage is limited to the "pressure" he can use in regenerating his own magical reservoir .....so when much Magic is used in the world, and the environmental "air pressure" of the Magical Entropy atmosphere is high, the mage cannot put very much "air" into his own personal reservoir.
--Gnomes are also hard headed.
--As for the "blue hat / red hat" differentiation; the basic physical makeup of gnomes differs, and one could consider them to be two related, but physically differentiated groups within the gnome species. The differentiation is manifested physically by the make up of their "Flesh" so to speak. Red Hat Gnomes are composed of a material that most closely resembles Pugnacious rock. Blue Hat Gnomes on the other hand, are composed of a material that more closely resembles Loquacious rock.
--Having a wider vocabulary, Blue Hat Gnomes are fond of referring to their Red Hat cousins as "dumb as rocks."

 

*Time Lord's eyes widen as Mingo's story intensity grows*
~Time Lord~

 

Captivated by the story, Ariella moves in a little closer so she may hear the tale a little better.

 

(In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --"What is that purple animal tethered outside?" asks a newcomer with notably pointed ears.
--"It is Eriador's llama," I answer, wondering whether to add "Live long and prosper" with that funny hand gesture. Introducing the group I inquire, "by what moniker are you called?"
--"I don't have a cell phone number," she answers. "Oh, sorry. If you are asking my name, I am Ariella."
--"Immersion dear," FireAngel chides. "Mingo slips often, try to do better than he!"
--Rolling my eyes at the ceiling I invite Ariella to add her backstory if she wishes to the conversation in the Fire Lotus Tavern. "I hope you are caught up on Part 1 of the tale."
--"You have a tail?" Eriador asks suspiciously. FireAngel throws a cracker at me.
--"Say Mingo," Time Lord asks. "What kind of rock is Hamster made from?"
--"Hamster is composed of a totally unique substance," I answer with a grin. "It is known as Obnoxious rock."

 

Obnoxious rock! I've been alive almost forever and I have never heard tell of that!
*Time Lord and Chariya both lay on the rug at Mingo's feet holding their heads in their hands listening intently waving their little feet in the air*
~Time Lord~

 

Just then the Tavern Door opens.. and in Walks Blaquerogue he nods over at the table and asks for an ale from the barkeep. Close on his heels and holding his cape, a small elf with blue hair peaks out around him. "oh yeah and um lets see.. a Shirley Temple for my young friend here."
"Well met friends, i figured i would stop by and see how everyone is doing, in between this adventure that my friend and i are on!"
"I would like to introduce Kiru to you all. Don't let her innocent looks fool you, she is quite powerful compared to her size!"
Kiru spoke up in an excited child's way and said "I can also turn blue!" The table all looked at Blaquerogue, and he replied "shes absolutely right!"
"I have been telling her the story thus far of the "Red Hat Gnomes" although i do admit I've had to re - read some of the story over, to try an understand whats going on, I have been lost in it a few times! I think we are all caught up on it now though.
"This is Kiru's first adventure since she was dropped off in the wilderness by her family, which is just one of the things the Druidic Elves do where i am from, it is quite the norm. They have to learn how to live on their own and uphold their Drudic ways."
Kiru chimed in "yeah i was just wandering the woods and i heard battle! so i ran to a place where i could get a better view of what was going on just to see Torniquet, i mean 'er "Blaquerogue" cut down this bandit and his group, and help the travelers out with safe passage!"
Blaquerogue spoke up " Yes that is how we met, in my lands there are corrupt Priests and apparently they are in cahoots with the Orcs and bandits, and i have been assigned to put a stop to it with a help from a few friends. But that is another story" I will only be here for a little while, then i must return to the adventure we are on, so how is everyone?"
"Barkeep can we get a round of Mutten for our meat eating friends and some veggies for the others"?
Kiru smiled and tucked a napkin in her collar.

 

(In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --Trend smiles approvingly at the blue colour with which Kiru speaks, as well as the hmm, no, this? no that's not it..apparently some "customized" text colour chosen by Blaquerogue.
--I welcome our newest addition, "Hail and well met, Kiru!" I finally say after many backspaces and corrections. "I know the pile of firewood here is vast," I indicate a copious amount of logs, "but some have found Part I to be amusing. So far however I have not heard from anyone who read it using text-to-speech....I wonder how that would work?"
--then turning to Blaquerogue I commiserate, "I have heard sad tidings about the disavowing of the Chiurgeon positions throughout the Known World. I suspect lawyers are behind it."
--FireAngel smiles at Kiru then turns to me. "You see why you need to watch your language?" she says wisely. "Who knows what children will be exposed to this in years to come? Wondering about the odd things that we find humerous but which will not stand the test of time due to contemporary references."
--"Yes yes I understand," I acknowledge. "But I am trying to avoid that in my autobiography:
99% Failure and 1% Catastrophe."
--"What a terrible title!" Gerta objects. "You must come up with a better title!"
--"I like Gnomes," Chariya says. "Tell us more about them!"

 

(In the tunnel leading to Blue Hat Gnome territory beneath the blue mountain of the Isle of Feinantz) --Only one of Princess Bluebell's bodyguard stayed with us once we entered the safety of the tunnel. The others saluted and turned off into a side chamber, apparently a ready room for defenders should the need arise. Our remaining bodyguard stayed visible and lead the way.
--Shania groaned. "The music, the......music...." as indeed soft music, entirely instrumental, filled the environment. Incessant, perky, upbeat music. BlueBell hummed along with it.
--Hamster gritted his teeth and agreed. "If you can endure it," he informed us, "it is only played in the conveyance tunnels. Once we arrive at our designated exit from the conveyance tunnels it can be heard no more."
--"Here dear," Lyra hands something to Shania. "I had one pair in my bag."
--Shania puts the earplugs in and signs with relief. "thank you! sooo much!"
--Unfortunately, I had left my earplugs aboard PossumRose. The rest of our party endured the torture, although Terra actually seemed to like it. "Soothing," she said.
--Krisskar trundled along. He had been here before, and something about the soft blue lighting seemed to help him recover from his ordeal. I wondered at the change in him, and hoped he would regain his former confident self. Then I asked Princess BlueBell about something that bothered me. "Why," I began, "are these tunnels ten feet high? Gnomes after all are only a foot high....well with another six inches for the hat."
--"The tunneling spell is what it is," BlueBell shrugged. "When a gnome uses it, this is the size tunnel that appears. Earth Magic is rather set in its ways, and not very malleable. Some among us postulate that we might have been larger at some time; or perhaps the spell was designed by larger beings long forgotten."
--"Do you have a theory, Hamster?" Jeb asked.
--"Don't know and have no opinion," Hamster replied in a rather cowboy beebop way; much to the confusion of future, and perhaps even current, followers of the tale.
--"We don't have tails!" Princess BlueBell angrily chided the narrator. "what do you think we are? Smurfs?"
--"Oops, sorry," our guiding bodyguard said as he stopped suddenly. "We have gone off on a tangent, let's backtrack to the previous fork."
--Turning about, our party retraced our steps, passing first a spoon, then a knife, until finding the fork where the tale had gone off track.
--The music continued in it's cheery way; slowly driving us all into madness...

 

The lady smiled at Blaquerogue, and his friend. "Nice to see you in better spirits, Blaquerogue. Merry met, Kiru. If you don't mind Mingo constantly pushing the fourth wall, you'll enjoy him thoroughly. Just stand back a bit when you see it shake, and you'll be all right." She leaned forward and turned off 'the music'. "Carry on, Mingo. Please do carry on, dear hedge bard."

 

(In the Fire Lotus Tavern) --"I know that song," Gabriel says. "It is typical of the type of music played in conveyance....tunnels."
--"Do tell," I say encouragingly.
--"It is by Eliot Corley, and is called Mystic Gnome," says Gabriel who pulls out an odd little box which simulates musical instruments. "Here, Listen."
http://opengameart.org/sites/default/files/Mystic Gnome.mp3
--I withstand the duration of the song, at least one loop and comment, "Yes, yes, that is it. Shania was right."
--Ariella, newly joined to our circle, shudders. "There isn't going to be a lot of this is there?"

 

(In Fire Lotus Tavern)

"Probably not.", replied Gabriel, with a sly grin on his face, "As Mingo said, most humanoids usually find gnome music to be quite annoying I actually like this little tune. Maybe that is why that female Blue Hat gnome gave me this little music box as a present? "

Time Lord scolded Gabriel.

"You know better than to accept gifts from strangers, Gabriel, even if they do happen to be cute female gnomes!"

Time Lord cast a spell and the little music box vanished in a puff of white smoke!

"Problem solved!", said Time Lord, as he smiled.

"Where did you send that music box to?", asked Gabriel.

"To someone who will really appreciate it.", replied a smirking Time Lord.
************************************************************************************
Lord DarkStarr was sitting on his throne in his castle plotting his next move against Lord British when suddenly the little music box appeared on his right armrest. The card accompanying it said, "From your good friend, Time Lord "

"What is this?", asked Lord DarkStarr, as the music box suddenly began to play!

"Arrgh!", screamed Lord DarkStarr, as he hurled the little music box against the nearest wall.

The music box was undamaged and continued to play.

Lord DarkStarr fired a Chaos Bolt at the box, but it had no effect

He unsheathed his mighty black sword and tried cleaving the music box in two, but the sword simply bounced off the surface of the box!

"Guards!", screamed Lord DarkStarr, as he dropped his sword and covered his ears with his hands.

"I'll get you for this, Time Lord!", shouted Lord DarkStarr.

The cheerfully, annoying music droned on and on, causing all of Lord DarkStarr's men to flee his castle...