The Escape from Death – Part 4

The ‘Steel Wool Sheeps’ Adventure Group made their way along the wall of the Tower on Black Hill. Brian and Daniel led the way, followed closely by Storm Wizard and Laraby, with Isabella, her warrior Ferdinando, Morgana and Juliette following up in the rear. Storm Wizard was thinking to himself that the Locust Ambassador would not be so easy to subdue. He was armored with a copper vest, metalic looking skin, and from his impression it was likely that he had mystical protections as well.

“I think I could subdue the Locust Ambassador with my Stun Beam. We could tie him up, I suppose and take him back with us.”

“It would be much easier to persuade him to come with us somehow than to try to battle him,” said Juliette.

Isabella looked at her with a dubious gaze, raising one eyebrow.

“The Locust Ambassador is extremely fierce. He can jump fast and far, he’s armored, and skilled with his weapons. He possesses a copper vest that shields him from magic”, she stated.

“What if we get him drunk?” suggested Juliette.

“That could work. It’s an intriguing idea,” replied Isabella.

“Perhaps we could convince him to take a drink as part of the meeting with the Wise Aphid. We could make it part of the ceremony of alliance between the Aphids and the Locust people. But I was thinking of something stronger than alcohol,” offered Storm Wizard.

“We could ask the Aphids to produce such a concoction that would surely deprive him of his senses,” said Juliette. Morgana agreed, and explained that the Aphids were adept at creating potions of every concievable kind. The party then walked along in silence for a a while as they approached an area next to the wall well concealed by bushes.

"Do you happen to know where the Locust Ambassador is at this moment?" asked Storm Wizard of Isabella.

“Presently, he is battling ants along the Great Ivy Highway,” Isabella replied. “Unfortunately the ants do not stand much of a chance against him.”

“Yes, so we noticed,” said Storm Wizard ruefully.

“If we can find him now, would we be able to capture him in his tiny size?”

“Well, if it were easy then grasshoppers would always be caught by humans when they go out looking for them. But they aren’t, are they?” asked Isabella.

“Now that I recall, when we were tiny-sized all of the large beings seemed to move more slowly than normal, so I suppose it is a general rule that the insect people find it easier to leap away from large animals than we would think,” commented Juliette, half to herself.

“That is exactly how it is,” replied Isabella. “We insects at our tiny-size have that slight advantage over you giants. It makes life bearable for us, otherwise I fear we would never survive in a world of such enormous creatures."

“What magic is he protected against with his vest?” asked Storm Wizard.

“I do not know,” replied Isabella. “It would be unlikely for it to resist all forms of magic specifically, though it is possible that it is focused on one type of magic only. However, it is also possible that it improves his magical resistance in a general sense, but if so then it would not be a very strong protection. Such shields tend to either provide strong protection verses something specific, or a much weaker resistance against all forms of magic. It would be exceedingly rare for it to do both.”

“So my Stun Beam might hit him, but not necessarily,” considered Storm Wizard. Finally they came to the concealing bushes and everyone hoped that they had not been seen. Laraby, who had a keen eye for this sort of thing, thought they they remained undetected thus far.

“So our plan is that we offer him a drugged goblet of wine at the meeting with the Holy Aphid, and once he’s knocked out we tie him up and take him with us. Are we agreed?” asked Juliette. And all were agreed that it seemed like a good plan.

Having rummaged around toward the back of the bushes next to the wall, Laraby said, “I think it would be a good idea to slip into the Tower through a secret door that I found behind a rock near the ramp that you originally entered the Tower over. I found it while I was investigating the strange stone I found along the wall. It was this that caused me to lose track of where you were earlier, for which I again apologize.”

And so they crept along the side of the Tower in order to find their way inside. With her stone-eye Juliette saw that there was a secret door with a tunnel leading through the wall. She was able to see through the stone to look at the secret latch that held the hidden door closed, and watched as Laraby flipped the switch with a small metal pin he had taken out from his pocket. Within moments they passed through a narrow corridor into the open passage way between the outer wall and the inner Tower. They could see the tower rising three stories over head, and from where they were they could see both the portaclace and the door into the tower that lead up the stairs to the parapet. No guards were in sight.

Juliette looked around and saw that inside the Tower the men there were milling around, and that on the top of the tower there were two men standing watch, one at the top on the parapet and one at a window overlooking over the main gate into the courtyard. She noticed that now that the eye-stone was in her head the range of her vision had increased over what it was when she merely held it in her hand. The seeing-stone is a wonderful thing, she thought.

“We need to get small,” said Storm Wizard. “Climbing down the vine made us big, I don’t know however if that implies that climbing up the vine will make us small again.”

No one thought that was very likely, least of all Lady Isabella.

“You remember the red pearl I gave you?” she asked Storm Wizard. "It has many powers. It may be able to return to the Insect Kingdom again. You must hold it in your left hand and everyone must hold hands. Wish to be small and chant this song with me.”

As he sang the song with Isabella and wished as hard as he possibly could, the entire group got smaller and smaller until the grasses on which they stood became a towering forest of waving green blades rising high over their heads. They sky was a distant smattering of blue above the huge green blades swaying in the breeze. All around them shaded shapes were moving among the shifting shadows. Here an antenni poked out from behind a huge swaying leaf. There an ant, quite a bit larger than themselves, went marching along a path. Over there high up a crowd of mites were munching on a brown glob attached to the stem of a huge dandelion. A honey bee buzzed among the grasses passing overhead. Scores of insects could be seen. None took any notice of the tiny-sized visitors. Storm Wizard cast a flying spell on himself and began to fly upward.

“hmm… that’s good for him,” said Juliette. “But what about us?”

Isabella made a sound that was half way between a hum and a whistle, or a whistling hum as it were. Over the edge of a great green leaf waving in the gentle breeze came a rather large ladybug and lit into the air with her red and black dotted shell spread wide. Down she came and landed before the group in what amounted to a small glade of mossy ground between the grass blades. The ladybug was much larger than the tiny-sized adventurers, and they were able, at Isabella’s bidding, to take positions on each of the ladybug’s legs. With a single swift motion the ladybug launched into the air and they were aloft. At one point they almost hit a swaying blade of grass (to them the size of a fifty story barn) but the ladybug was adept at navigating her way through the hazards and suddenly they were above the grass-line and heading toward the Great Ivy Way. Up and up they flew in a spiraling zigzag course that seemed to swirl with the breeses, yet maintain a steady course toward the top of the Tower. To the top of the tower they flew. Most of them declined to look down, for the distance to the ground was, relative to their size, many thousands of feet. Brian grew quite sea sick, but managed to keep himself from swooning. The ladybug landed on a leaf at the top of the tower. Storm Wizard joined them there.

From that place it was a short walk to the entrance to the temple. Isabella and her warrior remained behind as the young adventurers entered the Temple by way of the outer arches, as they recalled that the doorway on the side of the stone was menaced by a great and terrible centipede. And who knew what else. So to the arches they went, and climbing down from the leaf they entered the the elegantly proportioned arches of outer promenade where they met Ben. He had been told that tiny people were riding a ladybug up from the bottom of the tower, and so he had quickly made his way to the promenade.

“John! Morgana! Juliette! Brian! Daniel! Laraby! It is good to see you!” exclaimed Ben, who was astonished, and delighted to see his friends. There were greetings and hugs all around, and everyone was happy to have found Ben waiting for them.

“I have learned such a great deal since you’ve been away. It is really quite astonishing what the Aphids are up to. You’d never guess it in a million years!” Ben was saying. “But that would be a long story. What is it that brings you back to the Temple, my friends?”

“We need to speak with the Holy Aphid, and we have little time to waste. Can you take us to him?”

“Certainly," said Ben. "He will be in the Great Hall.”

To the Great Hall they made their way, down the long corridors, around the bends and into the Hall they entered. There they saw the old Holy Aphid on his stone chair in the center of the Hall. He was sitting quietly meditating.

“Ahem,” said Storm Wizard when he deemed he had come close enough. The old Aphid opened his eyes.

“John Bellowick,” said the old Aphid, “welcome to you, and your friends.”

“Thank you. We haven’t much time, so I will be brief,” he said. “We understand that the Locust Ambassador is soon to arrive. We wish to take him back to the human lands to prove to our fellow men that there is a great danger afoot. We want to trap him in the Great Hall, and offer him a drink of such powerful elixir that it will cause him to fall into a deep sleep. We will then take him away and you will not need worry about him ever again.”

There was a long pause.

“We could do that,” said the old Aphid. “I have spoken with the King of the Insects, and told him what the Locust Ambassador has said. The King was wroth. I explained to him that the Locust Ambassador wished for me to side with the Locusts against the Ants and falsely accuse them of stealing the Locust's food and articulated the threat of a Great Swarm that he made. The King was very wroth. He will help us against the Locusts. He approved our plan. When the Ambassador comes he will demand an answer. I can equivocate if it may help, but I will not tell any lies. But I do have a question. If you take him away, what will you do with him after you have introduced him to your fellow men?”

“It depends on how angry he gets.”

“He is likely to be wroth,” said the old Aphid.

“If he can be safely let go, then fine. If not then I have no qualms about squashing him.”

“That may be more difficult than you think,” said the old Aphid.

“Not if I am 10,000 times his size,” said Storm Wizard confidently.

“What if he too can be 10,000 times his size?” asked the wise old Aphid.

“Ah… he can?”

“The Nobles among the Insects can take on a human appearance. They can if they wish be very much the normal size of humans. The Locust Princes are quite capable of that, I can assure you. If the humans are unaware of it, it is because the Noble Insects have hitherto avoided the circumstances wherein it would be advantageous for them to expose this secret, finding other more subtle means to their ends. The Insects are more powerful than you may realize,” concluded the old Aphid.

“Well, when he is unconscious we can take off his armor. He may still be dangerous, but less so, I should think,” said Juliette.

“Yes, that is true. However, it will still be dangerous. So you ought to think carefully as to what your plan is. That is my advice to you young people,” said the Holy Aphid with an air of great wisdom about him.

“Yes, well disarming and tying him up goes without saying,” said Storm Wizard. “As long as he serves his purpose then after that we have no need of him either way.”

“What makes you think he will be agreeable to your plan?” asked the wise Aphid.

“Hmm… what does it matter if he is?”, responded Storm Wizard. “He will have Locust features as we’ve seen. He will in all likelihood be wrathful, and declare his intentions. That should be evidence enough for my fellow men that the threat of the Locust Swarm is real. It will be easy to gain their support after that.”

“Presuming everything goes according to your plan. But then what?”

“I suppose I could untie him. He will probably attack us, and there will be guards who will help me to defeat him,” said Storm Wizard optimistically. He didn’t really think he had what it would take in him to kill a man who was bound and had not yet committed any crime. An Ambassador no less.

“I suspect it is at this time that you will be in the greatest danger,” commented the wise old Aphid with a foreboding tone.

“Yes. I’m sure you are right about that!”, said Storm Wizard. “Perhaps stabbing him while he is bound is not the worst choice after all.”

“Perhaps. It sounds like you’ve thought it through as best you can. Is there anything else you wish to tell me?”

“Not that I can think of,” said Storm Wizard a bit nonplused at the turn in the conversation. He hadn’t really thought of everything. It troubled him.

“Well, then, I imagine you all must be quite hungry. Bring the food!”, the old Aphid commanded. “Bring the drink!” And so a great feast was prepared and everyone ate heartily. It would not be long before the Locust Ambassador arrived at the Temple of the Aphids, in the center of a stone block along the parapet of the Tower on Black Hill. It would not be long at all.

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Previous Episode: Escape from Death - Part 3
Next Episode: Battle of Aphid Temple - Part 1

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The Escape from Death – Part 3

When Pamela awoke she was in the Monastery with Juliette, both of whom awoke on the slab of stone in the Womb of Minvar. Pamela felt she had awoken from a dreadful nightmare, and Juliette explained as best she could that the dream was over, and that they were safe and sound.

Penelope was overwhelmed with relief to see Juliette awaken after so long a trial. Next to her she saw Pamela, but she knew not who it was. Juliette, rising from the table feebly introduced her young friend. There was a great deal of joy in the Womb of Minvar that day.

All three of the young ladies were famished after their long ordeal, and so they summoned assistance and were richly fed, and then they went off to sleep in the Monastery chambers where they were laid down upon beds of straw and woolen blankets. They all fell into a dreamless slumber.

Meanwhile, a day’s journey away, Storm Wizard was contemplating contacting Lady Isabella after all. He was fingering the card she had given him. Tapping it three times, she’d told him, would summon her to him. He was thinking it could be helpful to confer with her.

In the distance the bell of the Monastery chimed 8 times. It was getting dark. They came upon the outer wall of the Estates, where Clarence and Storm Wizard were stopped by two guards at the gate.

It seemed quite improbable that the guards would allow Storm Wizard and Clarence into the exclusive township. The Estates were for nobles, and few others were allowed there. But in particular the most exclusive place of all were the Manors, where no one was allowed at all who was not invited. Clarence attempted to persuade the guards by explaining that he was on important business from the Monastery, but the guards were unimpressed, and barred their path.

Storm Wizard tried his wit against the guards, but they took little interest in the peasant boy. He tried to persuade them that he was baring a warning of a great threat to the land, but the guards looked mockingly upon him. They rolled their eyes and were entirely unconvinced. And so Clarence resorted to inquiring about the location of the Hunting Lodge, where they might be able to stay for the night, as that was a public Inn.

“The Hunting Lodge is down the road,” said the burly guard on the left and he pointed in the direction.

And so Storm Wizard and Clarence walked off in that direction, perceiving that they would not get past the guards without an invitation. Storm Wizard contemplated flying over the wall, as he had that power, but it would not do. Such an act would be more likely to invite derision than cooperation.

And so they came to the Hunting Lodge, and standing outside in the dark, they considered their options. Storm Wizard, taking a chance, took out the card again, and tapped it three times.

“John, you’ve called!”, said a lovely twinkling voice behind Storm Wizard.

“I have,” he said.

Nearby stood Isabella and her blue haired warrior, with his black vest and thin silver sword. Storm Wizard spoke to Isabella with a detectable note of affection in his voice, though he tried to hide it by stating things as factually as he could. He explained the whole of their circumstances to the Lady Bug Princess, and she listened attentively.

“I was hoping that with help from you, we might be able to convince the wealthy among my people that they ought to help to ward off the Locust plague.”

“What if you capture the locust Ambassador and brought him here?” she suggested.

“That is an interesting idea,” he said, “but isn’t he this tall?”, asked Storm Wizard making a gesture with his fore finger and thumb indicating the tiny size of their quarry.

“Aren’t I?” she replied. She had been quite tiny the last time they met, but now she was as tall as he.

“Good point,” he said. “Do you know where he is?”

“I do. We have been keeping an eye on him.”

“A wise precaution,” said Storm Wizard.

“We hope so,” she said.

And so it was decided that Lady Isabella would transport them all back to the Monastery through the roots of the plant kingdom, which was a very fast journey beneath the soil of the land, as the roots touch one another and transmit ideas and observations throughout their kingdom in this fashion. Upon those waves of thought and idea, far too complex for an ordinary human to imagine, the small group of people flew along until in a few moments they arrived through a doorway in a tree outside of the Monastery.

“Well done!” said Storm Wizard, and Lady Isabella smiled at him, gaving a little curtsey. She found herself happy to receive the praise of this young man. It was unlike her to care what any man thought, yet this boy was quite different than other men she knew. For one thing, he did not kowtow to her, but instead was often quite brutally honest. She admired that in him.

It wasn’t long before the entire ‘Steel Wool Sheeps’ was gathered together in the main hall inside the Monastery. Juliette’s return to the land of the living was a matter of great relief and joy for one and all, not least of all Ember who sat purring on her lap as everyone conversed and caught up with each other’s adventures thus far.

Pamela McFearson remained sound asleep, and was left in the care of Abbess Penelope while the rest of the Adventure Group took off for the far away Temple of the Aphids in the Tower on Black Hill as quickly as possible. There was no time to waste, as Lady Isabella explained there were but a few scant hours remaining before the Locust Ambassador was due to arrive at the Temple of the Aphids and demand an answer from The Wise Aphid.

And so they all ventured into a hole in an old oak tree and down through the roots they sped, and across the world they flickered, from vine to root, to branch, and through the dazzling myriad of ways that the plants have for communicating. In a few moments they came to a door in the flashing darkness, and going through exited a young elm tree at the base of the Tower on Black Hill. All the while, Juliette was astonished at the passage through the plant kingdom, as it afforded her views of things she had hitherto scarcely imagined. None of the others were able to see what she saw with her sacred eye-stone, but she kept her observations to herself. With it she could see the vast network of flashing ideas by which the plants communicated. It was a green network of electric-fire that covered the world across almost every region. It seemed to her that there were many species of plants, and the kings of the plants were the trees, and the trees had many races, and each race had it’s own way of seeing things, and that some trees were great and kind, and fruitful like the apple trees, while others, like the Holly trees, were rooted in darkness, quite dismal, and gave her a deep shiver for all the malice they held in their dark hearts.

“We are here,” said Lady Isabella stepping out into the light at the base of the Tower on Black Hill.

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Previous Episode: Escape from Death - Part 2
Next Episode: Escape from Death - Part 4

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The Escape from Death – Part 2

Meanwhile Storm Wizard and Clarence were heading off into the Estates, towards the Manors, where the wealthy denizens of the region lived. It was due east from the Monastery, over the long fields, passing the farmers, about a day’s journey by foot. As they walked, they came to the edge of the long fields. They were covered with a thin layer of dull gray dust.

“In the name of Minvar, greetings”, said a farmer as they passed.

“We haven’t time for the farmers today, I doubt they have anything important to tell us,” commented Storm Wizard as they passed by with barely a wave.

“You never know who might have something important to tell you until you ask, but I understand. Let me not deter you from your very important quest. We should head straight away to the Hunting Lodge, where you will have your best chance of meeting those who may be able to help you. But let me ask you a question. What is it you plan to say when you do meet the people you are seeking?”

“That… if they don’t want their farms to be devoured by locusts next summer they need to help.”

“I think they will ask, ‘How do you know this?’,” pointed out Clarence affably enough, yet with a piercing gaze.

“Ahhh… good point,” replied Storm Wizard. “I don’t suppose I can explain how I was informed of this in the temple of the Aphids when we were tiny-sized. I doubt they would believe it.”

“Indeed,” said Clarence.

Meanwhile, far away in the other world, Juliette was searching her pockets. She seemed to have everything she had left on the adventure with. She took some fabric and ripped it into a long wide piece that could go around her face. A makeshift eye patch. She then took a smaller piece, and she took out the dagger and shouted,

“Ok I’m going to do this!”

She then crouched down and pretended to cut out her eye out. Instead she covered the smaller cloth with the blood from her hand, and then the rest of her face as well.

“Ok!”, she shouted up at the bird. “I have an eye, come and get it!”

She was unlucky. The bird took no notice hardly at all, and gave a small caw. It then went back to pecking at the feather doll.

“Marriage, eh?” said Juliette to herself.

“And I will be able to go back to the land of the living and be your queen?”, she asked the black haired man despairingly.

“Yes, that is so,” he said.

“I think I’d rather give my eye. I am not ready for marriage,” she said grimly.

“Ok black bird, you can take my eye. Come down and get it,” she called.

And so the black bird dropped the feather doll and swooped down to Juliette and with his red talons plucked out her right eye and carried it off into the dark sky cawing. Juliette tried to catch the bird as it flew off, but the pain was great, and her luck was poor, and she was unable.

Juliette was utterly dejected. She wandered over to the doll. When she reached down to pick up the doll she noticed that it was not a doll after all, but a girl. A young child who opened her eyes as if from a terrible nightmare.

“Thank you,” she said finally.

“How did you get here?”

“All I remember is that I was in our house, and it was on fire. And felt a knock on my head as something fell, and then I was in the clutches of the terrible bird, and it seemed forever that he held me in his claws and pecked at my face!”, she sobbed suddenly.

“There, there, dear, it’s ok now. The bird is gone, and he won’t be back,” said Juliette looking wistfully up into the dark vault over head. “What is your name, little one?”

“My name is Pamela McFearson,” she replied finally. “What happened to your eye?”

“The bird took it, and flew away with it,” said Juliette.

“How horrible. It was forever starving, and it wanted an eye, I know. An eye for the sacred place. I think it had lost his eye at some time earlier, and he said it belonged in the Place of the Sun. But I could never understand what it was cawing on about. It seemed he was filled with hunger always,” said Pamela. “Where are we?” she asked.

“I hate to say it, but we’re kind of dead, and I’m trying to find a way back. If I can I will bring you too, but I don’t know if either of us can make it.”

“Look!” said Pamela, and looking Juliette saw the black bird land in the tree nearby.

“I shall attack it!”, declared Juliette. And with a deep solemn prayer to Minvar, she invoked the great power within her, striking upward at the bird with the palm of her hand. There was a tremor, and the tree shook, and the bird fell out of the tree. Juliette quickly ran over to the stunned creature, and covered it with her bag. The bird rigged inside the bag, and Juliette took Pamela to the salmon.

“Throw the bird in the river,” said the salmon. And so Juliette threw the bird into the dark waters and it floated down stream in the bag, and vanished over the edge of the roaring waterfalls.

“You have done well,” said the Salmon. “Behold, take the stone from your bag, and hold it over your missing eye.” And so Juliette took the sacred stone that she had obtained from Storm Wizard at the Tower on Black Hill, and held it over her lost eye. And through the stone she could see with great depth into the gloom, and saw for the first time all of the six stones clearly. The spiral design shone with a silvery light.

“This is a great stone!”, said Juliette. Each stone she looked at had a pattern. And the patterns represented constellations, and the signs of the Elkron who pertained to them. Against one was a sword. Against another was a man standing. Upon another stood a white crane on one leg. There was one that had the scorpion. Another had the golden Sun-Lion, and the last had the symbol of the salmon.

“Can you bring me back now?” she asked the salmon.

“Climb to the top most branch of the tree and find your way home,” he said.

“And Pamela?” asked Juliette, but the salmon remained silent and then with a 'plunk' disappeared into the black waters.

Juliette then took the sacred seeing stone and with her bandage tried to affix it to her where her eye had been so that she could see through it. However, when she did the stone fell into her eye, and took its place where her old eye used to be, and the silvery glyph faced outward and shone. With the eye she could see deeply into things clearly.

“My lady,” said the man with the black hair, “You can still marry me.”

“I’m too young,” said Juliette.

“I will wait for you,” he said.

“I don’t wish to marry you… I don’t know you,” she replied.

“You should reconsider before you leave this place,” he stated in a low tone.

“Is that a threat, good sir?”, she inquired.

“No it is advice. You will learn that great responsibility requires great power.”

“No thank you,” said Juliette and turned away with an inner shudder. What did he mean about great responsibility?

"As you wish. I will not forget my young queen by the River of Death," said he. And so he turned away and left that place.

Wishing very much to be gone from that grim precinct, Juliette carried Pamela on her back up the branches of the tree until they came to the branch on which the bird had been sitting. And there Juliette saw a script that had been pecked into the branch of the tree. And it said the following.

The land is without a king,
beset by many woes.
The sun and the moon
must be taken home
to their father’s kingdom.
When the champion of sovereignty
quests for the hollows,
And founds the Throne
Of the White Crane.

Juliette read this, and wondered what it might portend. She then continued upward until they achieved the highest branch and from that place they shone in the solitary ray of light, and fell upward and flew into the light.

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Previous Episode: Escape from Death - Part 1
Next Episode: Escape from Death - Part 3

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The Escape from Death - Part 1

Having left the Golden Sheaf Monastery to find backers for their daring plan against the Locusts, Storm Wizard and Clarence departed across the long fields towards The Estates, where the wealthy people live.

Meanwhile within the Monastery, inside the Womb of Minvar, Juliette was laying inert on a slab of stone in the dark silence. The Abbess Penelope then returned and chanted an ancient Earth-Song as she placed six candles, six sticks of incense and and six sacred gems around the body of the dead girl.

Juliette, her eyes fixed firmly in the other world, saw sacred stones appear along the shores of the cold black River of Death, which lapped around her ankles. On each stone she saw a fire. And off of each stone stepped a man. And the men came to her over the waters and entered the boat. And they took up the oars. At her command the silent oars men rowed her to the golden shield with the lion’s face on it.

“I’m not ready to die”, said Juliette, and at this the Sun-Lion smiled.

Juliette thought of the symbols of Minvar, but around the river none of the six stones seemed to have any correspondences to the Earth. She saw that there was a mist around the river in which were many dead trees. However, the tree that the Sun-Lion stood near was a living tree. The only living tree. When Juliette began to walk toward the Sun-Lion, she found that one of the oars men, a youth with blond hair and blue eyes, came with her.

“Can you help me to get to the other side?”, asked Juliette of the Sun-Lion.

“As there is night and there is day, I can offer two ways to return to the land from whence you came”, said the Sun-Lion.

“What are the two ways?” asked Juliette, mystified. As she waited patiently for an answer, she noticed a shadow fly over head and land on a branch in the tree. It was a black bird with a red beak and red talons holding a small feather doll. After it settled, ruffled it's feathers and cocked its head to one side for a moment, it began to peck at the little white feather doll.

As that happened Juliette heard splashing in the water, and turned around to see that on the other side of the river a rowboat-sized scorpion was manuvering into the cold black waters with a man standing on its back. The man had long black hair, an elegant purple cape with gold fringe, and beautiful silver sword. He was looking imperiously at Juliette. The scorpion made its way through the strong black currents of the river.

Then Juliette, heard another splash not far from where she was standing, and turning around she saw that this was made by a salmon swimming in the dark waters near the shore. It swam around and around a gray stone that was just below the surface. She thought she could see a symbol engraved on the stone, and it appeared to be a glyph of the constellation of the Fish, whom she knew to be Pisces.

“Do these represent my choices?” she asked of the Sun-Lion.

“Yes and no”, replied the Sun-Lion enigmatically.

Not wishing to be rude, Juliette remained quiet.

“As there is night and there is day, I can offer two ways to return to the land from whence you came”, repeated the Sun-Lion. “The right hand way, or the left hand way. Both of them require a sacrifice”, he added sternly.

“What sacrifice?”, she asked.

“I am forbidden to say”, replied the Sun-Lion.

Perplexed, Juliette answered, “I must think about this.”

Juliette decided to find out what the other stones had in store for her, and so she walked to the stone where the salmon was swimming. The blond hair youth, who had said nothing at all, returned to the boat, and another oars man stepped out of the boat and went to her. He had brown hair and gray eyes. She deduced that each of the youths in the boat were somehow associated to each stone along the sides of the river. But who they were, and what they were doing there was a great mystery. Where they her servants? Guides? Guards?
The salmon stuck its head out of the water and looked at her. She returned its gaze.

“What sacrifice must there be for you to help me return to the land of the living?”, she inquired of the salmon.

“If I help you, you will learn wisdom,” replied the salmon in a high burbling voice.

“That does not seem like a sacrifice to me,” replied Juliette, mystified.

“All roads back require a sacrifice.”

“Do you mean that someone else must die for me to return?” she asked.

“I am forbidden to say,” said the salmon.

Juliette returned to the oars men and asked them if they had any insight into the matter. But none of the handsome youths spoke.

At that time the scorpion arrived on the shore not far away, and the man with the black hair leapt off the back of the fearsome creature. He walked briskly toward Juliette with a powerful gait, and when he got to where she was he stopped and gazed at her appreciatively.

“You have come a long way,” he said.

“Yes, I have,” she replied. “And I wish to return.”

“I understand you wish to return. I can help you,” he said.

“You don’t happen to be a black bird of death?” she asked.

“Do I look like a black bird of death?” he asked.

“Not necessarily.”

“I can help you.”

“At what cost can you help me?” she inquired of the dark man with trepidation in her voice.

“At a very small cost,” he replied.

“Such as?”

“I shall give you power, and you shall be my queen.”

“I do not wish to be a queen”, responded Juliette. And so Juliette returned to the salmon and asked him for his help.

“Capture the bird”, said the salmon.

Juliette looked at the black bird that was in the tree. It was pecking at the feather doll on a high branch. There was one single ray of light in the entire dark cavern, and that ray of light landed on the tree, and in particular it landed on the feather doll that was in the grim clutches of the black bird.

“Hey, you, bird. Why are you eating that doll? It doesn’t look very tasty,” called Juliette. It cocked its head for a moment and stared at her. It then returned pecking at its prey.

Juliette then took out her knife and cut her hand so that the blood flowed freely down her arm.

“Hey bird, this is much tastier,” called up Juilette, holding up her bloody hand, trying to coax it down from the tree so that she could capture it.

“An eye,” croaked the bird, and then went back to pecking at the small white fluffy feather doll in it’s red talon.

“An eye?! If I give you my eye will you let me take you to the salmon?”, she asked.

“An eye,” it croaked.

It was the man with the black hair and the elegant cape who spoke next.

“I will give you one of my eyes.”

“You will? In exchange for what?”

“You will be my queen. I will give you power over men. I will be your champion. We will conquer the realm and rule together. With this power you can effect all of the great good in the world that you wish,” he replied in regal tones.

"I am too young to be your queen," replied Juliette firmly, and she turned away from the man with the black hair to look around the gloomy cavern again. The mists shrouded thousands of dead trees. There was no wind. No sound, except for the roar of the waterfalls in the distance, and the pecking of the black bird on the living tree.

Juliette looked around for a rock. There was black sand along the river’s shore, but in the river she saw that there were many smooth stones. But she didn’t wish to enter the river again. And so Juliette tried instead to climb the tree to gain a hold on the black bird with the feather doll. She climbed up the tree and found herself at the end of the branch on which the bird was perched, still pecking at the feathery white doll. She then remembered something, and pulled out a smooth stone that she had in her pouch. It was the stone with the strange spiral glyph that she had gotten from Storm Wizard at the Tower on Black Hill, with which she could see through walls.

“This is better than my eye,” she said. “You will see a lot better with this than with my eye,” and he held out the stone in her hand.

The black bird cocked his head, and then went back to pecking.

Juliette wished to take the doll. But the bird was too far out on the branch for her to reach it. She tried shaking the limb of the tree to free the doll, but she was not strong enough. She tried to coax the bird to her, but it didn’t come.

“The bird can not eat the stone”, commented the man with black hair wryly, and reiterated the offer of his own eye. Juliette felt that she was not ready for marriage, and so slowly made her way out onto the branch. The bird hopped further out along the branch away from her, with the doll in his beak. She stretched herself to reach further, and the branch began to bend. The bird was still out of her grasp.

Juliette climbed back down the tree, and looked around her. What should she do, she wondered bleakly.

---

Previous Episode: The River of Death
Next Episode: Escape from Death - Part 2

---

The Windmills of the Gods...

... grind slowly but surely.

Latest update on the technical front: I finally got the Elthos RPG Web Application switched over to the new hosting service. Hopefully this will vastly improve the site's performance. It will probably be a couple of days before I have all of the configuration work finished and the site back up and running, but for now, I'm OK with the switch. It was a bit more complicated to do than I expected, and the regestrar for the domain is still not switched over. For that I will have to wait two more months and try again. Not the most efficient infrastructure I've ever seen, but that's the Internet for ya.

On other news, I went to the Small Business Administration and found out some interesting stuff. My question was: What do I need a Patent for? This conversation went on for an hour. The upshot is that there are no clear answers. Making such decisions are the equivalent of being a commander in the middle of an ongoing war. You have to quickly size up the terrain, make a decision, run with it, adjust as you go, hope you didn't make a business-killing mistake. It's fun.

The questions around patenting Elthos RPG boil down to two things:

1) is it worth trying to protect the application from copy-cats?
2) is it essential to have a patent in order to partner with other companies later on?

In both cases the answer is (predictable enough): it depends.

For example, it depends on who you are trying to protect from copying your application. Is it a small company that could be deterred with a few legal notifications? Or is it Microsoft or Google, who have infinite resources to crush you in court?

The same "it depends" applies to the second question. Of course.

The problem with the Patent is that it can be enormously expensive ($200,000+) to go through the process of applying for it, it can take years, and it can in the end be denied by the Patent Office anyway - in which case you spent a fortune for nothing. On the other hand it could possibly cost as little as $3000. How do you know what the cost will be? You don't. Why? Because - it depends. How many times does your lawyer have to go back and forth with the Patent Office? It depends. How many billable hours will it take to create the documentation for the Patent? It depends. Etc.

Then there is the question of "What does a Patent do for me exactly?" ... Again... it depends. In some cases it might help to deter a small company from trying to copy your product, or it might encourage a mid-sized company to negotiate a deal with you. On the other hand, if the company copying your product is large and doesn't give a damn, then the Patent is only as good as the amount of money you have to spend in court trying to sue the offending behemoth. Others have tried to do the same, and died in the process. So, it depends.

Another irksome issue is the question of International Patents... you can get a Patent in America, but in the case of an Internet application... if the copy-cat is in China, then forget being protected by your American Patent. They won't care. And then again, if you do have a (much more expensive and time consuming to obtain) International Patent, which is really getting an individual patent in every country on earth that allows it (not all do), they still may not care. And when you go to sue the copy-cat in Bangladesh, their Authorities may just laugh you off the phone. So what protection does a Patent afford you? It depends.

Overall, the setup is fraught with perils. It's a war out there, and if you're going to head in that direction, you better be prepared to take your chances.

Which gives some idea why Entrepreneurship in the Capitalist world is so exciting, and so risky. You *can* make it big - but you are definitely spending your resources on a risky venture in which there are never clear answers. You just have to try it, and be prepared to be destroyed by the competition, and lose everything you put into it, and then be galled to watch others make their fortunes having stolen your idea. If you feel that you could not possibly stomach that outcome, then according to the powers that be - just stick with your day job, and forget about inventing anything and bringing it to market.

For me, I'm in the process of evaluating the options, and trying, like any good wargammer, to maximize my chances of success. Unfortunately, time is also a factor. The longer it takes for me to sort through all of this and learn the ropes, the more chance there is that someone else with better connections and understand will produce something close enough to what I'm doing to make all of my efforts in vain.

There is risk in every direction. Of course.

Cross-Post: Big List of RPG Plots

This is a pretty great list of RPG Plots, and some good thoughts / advice at the bottom, too.

What follows is a scrap of trivia . . . my collection of RPG plots, in abstract form. I built this by examining the premises of hundreds of published adventures for all systems (including those systems dear and departed from print), trying to boil them down to common denominators. The results are presented here: arbitrary, and sometimes redundant. Nevertheless, I turn to this list when I'm stuck for a fresh premise for next week's session of my campaign, whatever that campaign might happen to be about at the time. It helps me keep from falling into thematic ruts (my least favorite kind). With any luck, it might serve a similar function for you.

Big List of RPG Plots

Worth a gander. :)

Tablet of Celestial Correspondences

The Cosmological Order of Elthos



A picture is worth a thousand words they say.