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Newsletters
June 6, 2001
In this week's issue:
The Darkstone Newsletter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vol. 4 Issue No. 6 Part II
June 6, 2001
A Darkstone Carol
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caperea wandered the streets of Windy Bluff. He stopped in the Town Square for a rest. As he drank cool lemonade from an ornate fountain, he noticed something a bit odd. Drakan, Ahirent, and Tianman were all in Town Square; this could not be good. "Hmm," thought Caperea, "this is a little more than just suspicious. I wonder what is going on in Drakan's head right now..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Drakan wandered down the road, searching for new victims. "Damn!" he yelled, "No Guardians in the realm!" "No problem, I'll just get their puny relatives, the Dawnbringers." And with that, he began to track any member of the light he could find.
~~~~~~
[AFK] Sandoz is standing here, minding his own business
~~
"I'm sure that a man of such generosity wouldn't mind giving some of his gold to a charitable cause." Drakan grinned evilly. "Hmm, 25,000 coins...good enough for right now." So, he moved on to better prey. Suddenly Draegar slapped Drakan on the back through a metaphysical force. Drakan lunged at the opportunity, tracking the vampire like a jungle cat hunting his prey. Drakan rambled loudly, "What's up, Drae?" "Nothing much" replied Draegar. "Meet me in TS," the thief rambled. "What for?" inquired Draegar. "I want to identify something" lied Drakan.
~~~~
Drakan's stab annihilated a rough looking dwarf. "Excellent," the thief hissed. Draegar arrived from a flash of bright light, causing Drakan's evil eyes to glimmer for a moment. Drakan looked at Draegar. "Nice equipment," Drakan said with a smile. "You too," the trusting vampire answered. Drakan took out a magical scroll of identify from his pouch. "May I see your ankh?" "Certainly," Draegar said.
~~~
Drakan recited a magical scroll of identify. "This will look great on me," the thief said nastily.
~~~
"What?" was all Draegar could say before being attacked by the thief. Drakan's backstab caused Draegar to bleed freely. Just as the vampire was about to magically recall to his clanhall, a town guard strided in from the west. "PROTECT THE INNOCENT! BANZAII!" the guard yelled.
~~
With the combination of the thief's powerful circlet, and the bashes of the guard, Draegar could not last. The beast within him stirred, but to no avail. There, in Town Square, he died. Drakan quickly removed a large leather backpack from his corpse before the deities returned it to him. Drakan cackled evilly and went in search of another victim.
~~
At the same time, a mage by the name of Xanoman entered into the realm through a hole in the space-time continuum. "Greetings!" the mage declared for all the world to hear. Drakan's eyes lit up when he heard the words. "Payback time."
~~
Drakan snickered softly at the thought. Xanoman had entered into Aina, and was preparing to board a vessel on its way to the beaches of Barude. It was a long wait and the sun was unbearably hot today. Xanoman applied a jar of sunblock salve, and relaxed. Meanwhile, Drakan was tramping over foliage through the paths of Erinswood, and skimming over the lake with the gracefulness of a swan. Xanoman had fallen asleep after consuming several mugs of mead, which a small halfling upon a stone had shared with him. As Drakan arrived, a dark cloud covered the sun. Xanoman felt a presence over his eyes, but remained at rest. Drakan stopped using a filleting knife and withdrew a dark shiny piece of metal from his pouch. As he wore it, an intense light shined about him momentarily, causing the weapon to glow briefly. Then Drakan began to chant: "Those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers will be executed with great vengeance. They shall know who I am when I lay my wrath upon them!"
~~
Drakan thrust his weapon straight into the back of Xanoman. Xanoman bolted out of his state of rest, completely shocked by what was happening. It came all too soon for the unprepared mage. Drakan killed him swiftly, removing from his corpse the very best items. Xanoman tried to comprehend such a deed. "What was that??" Xanoman shouted. "Revenge," the thief replied coolly.
~~
Having had a full day, Drakan placed his new items in a special spot in the Shadows clanhall. Drakan took out a fine goblet of lemonade from a festival. "Drink?" Drakan asked himself. "Don't mind if I do. I do deserve it after all."
Drakan grinned evilly.
~~
After a while, Drakan drifted off to sleep on top of his pile of loot. Suddenly someone thundered, "Drakan!"
~~
"Show yourself!" Drakan proclaimed.
~~
Drakan used his metaphysical powers to see who was in the realm currently. But it was just him. Consfused, Drakan prayed for guidance, to determine who it was that was thundering in such a way. Alas, there was no response. Drakan shrugged it off, and turned back to his bed of loot. However, as he turned, a very large figure stood, blocking his way. The great bard, Nema himself, stood before Drakan, a look of pure anger in his eyes.
~~~
"Drakan!" Nema thundered.
~~
A wave of nausea overcame Drakan as the words were uttered. The thief gulped.
"Uh... what is it, your greatness?"
~~
Nema hissed spitefully at Drakan. "You know damn well what it is! Don't play games with me," roared the deity.
~~
"What do you mean??" Drakan said, baffled. With that, Nema roared again and aimed his hands in Drakan's direction. Drakan was speechless. In fact, he was motionless as well. The great bard had frozen him in his tracks. "Now listen up, you scum. Three spirits will visit you on The Day of the Wolf. You had better well do as they tell you, or I won't be so gentle with you."
Nema then vanished, leaving a shockwave of incredible sound in his wake.
~~
Drakan's frozen state wore off as the ice began to melt. Drakan broke down on his knees. Mortals were a piece of cake, but, the afterlife? They were none to be messed with. Drakan examined his calender. Day of the Dragon. "I don't have much time," Drakan said, worriedly.
~~
Panicked, the thief called out to the mighty god Seluctruh to aid him in his time of need. Hours later, a titanic voice boomed from the cracks in the sky, "You're on your own."
~~
For the first time in his life, Drakan felt fear. As the day progressed, Drakan's anxiety ate him up inside. When darkness fell, he was unable to sleep. Day of the Wolf, his calendar read. Drakan gulped hard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12 o'clock noon came, and there was no sign of any spirit. Drakan smirked, "It was all a big hoax." But before he finished the last word of his sentence, a blast of cold air rushed by him and a translucent apparition appeared before his very eyes. Drakan shrieked in terror and drew his blade.
~~
"That won't do you much good," the ghost chuckled. "I'm a ghost. I'm already dead, moron."
~~
"W-w-who are you?" the bewildered thief stammered.
~~
In a very deep and loud voice, the apparition boomed, "I AM THE GHOST OF AIRCHIOS! FIRST OF THE GHOSTS OF THIEVES PAST!"
~~
Drakan scratched his head. "What are you doing here?" he inquired. "What? Didn't you get the message? Geez, can't Nema deliver a simple -- I have been sent here to inform you of your wrong doings." (All the while,Airchios carefully subtracted several thousand coins from Drakan's purse)
~~~
"Come with me, Drakan." In a flash they were gone.
~~
"Where are we??" questioned Drakan.
~~
"The question is not where, but when." replied the phantasm.
~~
They were in Phatep, 70 years ago, when Drakan was just a young thief. Suddenly a large guard came tramping down the street, a look of madness in his eyes. Drakan quickly hid out of instinct. "Relax, Drakan," the ghost calmly spoke. "We can see and hear them, but they can't see or hear us."
~~
Drakan nodded. Then Airchios' ghost said slyly, "look familiar?" Drakan gasped, and a smile slowly formed on his face; a smile from ear to ear.
~~
"That's me, just a boy!" Drakan exclaimed. "It's...it's my first robbery." Drakan became wistful, and wiped a tear from his cheek as he witnessed his childhood from afar.
"I'm...stealing a loaf of bread from that merchant," chuckled Drakan.
~~
Suddenly, two large guards approached. "That's the boy! Attack!" Young Drakan slipped away from the guards and ran as fast as he could to the Kithan mines, crumbs falling from his mouth.
~~
"You were never on the right side of the law, were you?" said Airchios' ghost. They both smiled. Suddenly the scenery changed. The room they stood in now appeared to be a prison cell. "Where are we?" inquired Drakan.
~~
Airchios raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember?" Drakan thought deeply for a moment and then answered, "Yes, yes I do. I recall now. I was thrown in prison for stealing from a wealthy knight. Bah! As if he needed it anyway."
~~
Drakan watched the image of him in great fascination. "It's like looking into a mirror..." The younger Drakan was middle-aged, but still had a lot of life in him. He shared a cell with a poisonous tarantula, and an old dryad, who both sat dejectedly at the end of their bunks.
~~
Suddenly it seemed as if the younger Drakan got an idea. He picked up the tarantula, and extracted its venom into a vial that he wore around his neck.
~~
"Feedin' time!" called the prison guard. The obese guard opened the cell grate.
~~
Younger Drakan gasped, "is that Tarin!?!?"
~~
"What??" the guard said as he spun around to look. As the guard pivoted, younger Drakan emptied the contents of the vial into a mug of brew that the guard had been drinking.
~~
"Tarin isn't out there! I should've known not to be so foolish," scowled the guard. A few hours later, the guard was out cold.
~~
"Let me borrow your cane" younger Drakan asked the old dryad. The dryad handed younger Drakan a smooth wooden walking stick. Carefully and gracefully, younger Drakan removed the keys from the prison guard's belt with the cane. Both Drakan and younger Drakan grinned as the young thief escaped prison
~~
Just then, there was an intense flash of light, and once again Drakan was at his clanhall. "Wow...what a trip," Drakan said in awe.
~~
But before Drakan could collect his thoughts, he arrived in a dark room, with a single ray of light shining in from the roof.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A dark figure stood in the corner of the room, masked by shadows. "Hello?" Drakan said. The figure stepped out of the shadows, and revealed himself. "Great jumpin Judicus... Jonesy!?" exclaimed Drakan.
~~~
"Yes, yes. It is I, Jonesy." Drakan blinked in utter disbelief. "Are you the second ghost?" "Yes, yes I am. I am the second ghost of thieves present. Grovelling is accepted and encouraged."
~~
Drakan bowed deeply before the ghost of Jonesy.
~~
"Yes, yes, Jonesy is pleased. Now, come! We must be going. I have a pineapple upside-down cake cooking."
~~
In a puff of purple smoke and what sounded like barnyard animals, they were gone. They arrived in the streets of Windy Bluff, where Sandoz stood. "I have been sent to inform you of your wrong-doings, Drakan," said Jonesy's ghost. "You must see the effects of your actions."
~~
Just then, an image of Drakan from just one day ago appeared. "Hmmm, 25,000 coins... good enough for right now," said the image of Drakan.
Then the image slinked off, and the two remained in the room with Sandoz. After an hour or two, Sandoz seemed to be back in the right state of mind.
~~
"Oh...no... my gold! Someone has stolen my gold!" cried Sandoz. "What am I going to give the orphan children in Varin?" Sandoz buried his face in his hands. "Oh, what have I done to deserve such a punishment? I'll have to take out another loan from Bianmayl."
~~
Sandoz looked at his bandaged-up foot. "He'll definitely break my toe again if I can't pay him. Woe is me... Woe is me!"
~~
Drakan had been silent up to this point, but could stand it no longer. He stifled a laugh, then just let it all out. Drakan laughed so hard he cried.
Jonesy was watching a rabbit intently, and didn't notice this. "Learned your lesson yet, Drakan?" the ghost said.
~~
The scenery changed to Town Square, where Draegar and the image of Drakan were standing. "Certainly," Draegar said, and gave an ankh to the image of Drakan, who then recited a magical scroll of identify. "This will look great on me," said the image of Drakan. "What?" Draegar said. Drakan then stabbed Draegar until he was dead. The scenery faded to the Guardian clanhall, where Draegar removed all the items from his corpse.
~~
"Where's my backpack?" said the confused Draegar. "No..he stole my backpack!" Drakan grinned. Draegar began to weep. "My gift from Tatianna...gone."
~~~
"Fool," said Drakan. "Serves him right for leaving it in his backpack." Draegar then compiled what dignity he had, and went to the donation hall to try to reassemble the contents of his backpack. Drakan shrugged.
~~
"If you're tryin to guilt me out, you aren't doing a very good job." The ghost of Jonesy quietly removed 100,000 coins from Drakan's purse. He then grunted, and the scenery changed. They arrived in Aina, where a small halfling was merrily drinking mug after mug of mead with Xanoman. Xanoman and the halfling soon fell asleep under the hot sun. In a matter of minutes, the image of Drakan came tearing down the street. He drew a blade from a pouch, and chanted some words at Xanoman. Drakan then watched as the image of himself violently killed Xanoman and robbed him of his equipment. "That'll teach him to betray the Shadows," Drakan spoke with not an ounce of remorse in his voice. As the image of Drakan retreated to his clanhall, Xanoman sat up in the Temple of Tarin. Xanoman's eyes were gray, and his face was pale. "I've had it with the people in the realm... I've had it deities..."
~~
Xanoman reached into a black bag and pulled out a folded red cloth. He unfolded the cloth, and there stood two herbs which came from the highest peak in the realm. "Goodbye cruel world," were Xanoman's last words, as he solemnly ate the herbs. A day later his body was crawling with maggots. "Well... I never meant for that to happen..." admitted Drakan. "I just wanted to teach him a lesson."
~~
Jonesy stared at Drakan with cold eyes for what seemed like days. "You better not have ruined my cake," the ghost said, grimly. There was a purple puff of smoke, and Drakan returned to his clanhall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Drakan rubbed his eyes...it seemed as if he had been gone for weeks. "How much more of this?" he whined. Just then a bolt of white lightning sliced into the room. A sitar played as the image of Aserak stood before Drakan.
~~
"What's up" the ghost said.
~~
"Aserak? What are you doing here?" said Drakan.
Aserak rolled his eyes and took out a card from his back pocket. He held the card close to his face and said in a monotonous voice: "I am the ghost of thieves future. I have come to show you the error of your ways." The ghost of Aserak scoffed at this, apparently unsatisfied, and tore it up.
~~
"Oh," said Drakan. "But why you?"
~~
"Court order," replied Aserak. "It was either this or....community service," he said, as if he had just swallowed a bug. "Let's get this over with," the ghost said. In another flash of lightning, and another sitar, they were gone. They arrived in a prison cell. "Haven't we already been here?" asked Drakan.
~~
"This is where you'll end up if you don't 'change your ways'," Aserak said sarcastically.
~~
"No big deal, I've served time before," said Drakan. Just then Drakan noticed a future image of himself. The image had sunken eyes, gray hair, and he was so skinny you could count all his bones. Drakan was shocked for a moment, but soon shrugged it off. The lightning flashed and they found themselves at the undead cemetery. "What are we doing here?" Drakan asked.
~~
Aserak simply kicked a tombstone. A patch of moss and ivy was covering the name.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew the ivy out of the way and the name was revealed.
~
Drakan D. Ripper
~
Here lies the remains of Drakan Ripper, penniless and friendless
~
Drakan was blown away by the tombstone. "No.. this isn't real.. you're just trying to scare me." "
~~
Who, me? I don't do that, I leave that to big brother. I'm just doin' my job," the ghost of Aserak responded.
~~
Then the scenery changed and the arrived in the Windy Bluff Town Square. Tatianna and Tarin were here, serving drinks. There were at least a dozen people drinking, dancing and being merry. "What are they doing?" asked Drakan.
~~
Just then, Tatianna proclaimed "May the lands celebrate, for the one they call Drakan is no longer alive!" Drakan's jaw dropped.
"They're...celebrating my DEATH?"
~
Aserak nodded as he withdrew a small flask from a pocket and emptied it into the punch bowl. Tatianna then proclaimed "On this joyous occasion, I shall re-open the Festival of Light, where everyone is invited!" "Wasn't...ANYONE...saddened by my death?" Drakan asked desperately. Aserak thought for a moment, taking out a pipe and inserting some exotic-looking herbs into it. As he drew on the pipe his eyes twitched and a look of pleasure spread across his face. "Nope," he said, but then he paused and gave the matter a little more thought.
~~
"Hey, can you loan me a little cash? I'm runnin' kind of low, and things are really pricey in the underworld."
~~
Drakan rolled his eyes and gave Aserak 250,000 coins, which was nothing compared to what he had left. "Now wait a minute," Aserak said, stroking his goatee. "There was a person that was sad when you died...yes..."
~~
The smoke that his pipe caused formed several rings around Drakan, and a massive bolt of lightning struck the ground, cracking ferociously as it hit.
They arrived in the plains of Gorud, where the sun was shining brightly, and several dozen people were seated in chairs. A band was playing the lyre, pan pipes, and bongo drums on one side. Galdren was at the top of this arrangement, wearing very nice clothing, and holding a bible in his hands. Two figures stood joining hands, both dressed elegantly. Drakan couldn't make out everything that was said, but he caught some. "...do you take Drakan to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and cherish him as long as you both shall live?" "I do." "How is this supposed to make me 'change my ways' - This seems like a joyous occasion."
Aserak solemnly pointed at the bride and groom. "Drakan, do you take Seria to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish her until death do you part?" "I do." Drakan's eyes bugged out and he started to hyperventilate. "No...no...NOOOO! I'll do anything, I'll give everything I stole back, please, anything but this!!" "
~~
Peace," said Aserak, and a tremendous flash of lightning struck the ground. Drakan awoke in a cold sweat, perspiration trickling down his forehead. He still had all his loot underneath him, and the time hadn't changed at all.
~~
"Hmm...that must've all been a dream," laughed Drakan. "Give up my gold and equipment, what a silly thing to do." Drakan chuckled once more, feeling as if a great burden had been lifted from his chest. Hmm... I think I'll try on some of my new equipment. Drakan stepped into a changing room with mirrored glass. He reached in his gold pouch to feel his new found wealth. "What the...??" His pouch was empty. Then he noticed it; on his right hand, shining intensely...was a golden wedding ring.
~~~~~~~~~
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