A/N: This story was written in 2006 and is part of the Interdimensional Bridge Saga. This is another entry point into the saga, introducing some new characters.
This story is based on the World of Darkness setting from White Wolf, the tabletop roleplaying game "Dungeons and Dragons" from Wizards of the Coast, along with mentions of the tabletop wargame "Warhammer 40,000" from Games Workshop, among possibly others.
Prologue: Fox Hunt
Such a lovely world he'd found himself in, so much untasted and untested potential lurking about in the dark corners where no one might suspect it. There was something to be said for the workings of madness in a land only recently escaped from it, and while he had arrived during and thoroughly enjoyed the Slaaneshi pageantry, he supposed it was time to move on and see what other wonders this universe had to offer.
Known to others, in distant lands, as Jez'kai, Arkadi Stark, or simply 'you crazy, sick, motherfucking bastard!', he strolled casually along the streets of Torn Elkandu with an eye turned toward the next angle, the next meal, or merely the next turning of the dark card. Clad conservatively in a business suit which had once cost him more than most of his enemies were worth, certainly after their demises.
There was entertainment afoot, though, and he munched merrily on a handful of popcorn from a bag he'd acquired from a street vendor. A lovely lady, that one, perhaps he'd invite her to dinner later.
Sindri and Manasa were hanging around Torn Elkandu when a wonderful poster had just popped into existence near Sindri informing everyone of an upcoming tournament. The Eighth Septennial Grand Elkandu Magic Competition.
Sindri was curious about it since he hasn't seen many "mages" around, or if there were, they weren't showing off.
"Oh, another competition," Manasa said. "Those are always amusing, to watch if nothing else... People are always pulling crazy stunts at them..."
"Strange though, I don't see many people walking around hurling fireballs or lightning bolts."
Manasa raised an eyebrow. "Why would they need to? The town isn't under attack or anything."
"Well, they don't all practice in private, do they?" Sindri said. "I'm sure people must like to show off... I mean, don't these people play with their magic? It can't all be serious business..."
"Well, sure," Manasa said. "They're just so used to it by now that they tend to use it without even really thinking about it and don't do it randomly for no reason anymore than a dancer just randomly dances around all the time..."
Sindri shrugged.
"A lot of it is more subtle than that anyway," Manasa said. "Skimming, shields, telekinesis... I don't think anyone at all trained in Mind or Seeking really goes without using it all the time."
Arkadi walked casually along the street, listening here and there to those whose conversations have the least bit of interest or potential for entertainment, settling at last into a walk behind two who seemed intent to wonder upon the nature of power gone missing in this place. Intriguing.
"I remember, back on the Bringer of the Word, when the Sorcerers got bored we'd play 'fireball tennis'," Sindri said. "Four played; one of us would create a fireball and hurl it at the other two. The other two would use telekinetics to throw it back and so it went... One of the few truly entertaining memories I've got from those days."
A gnome presently flew screaming overhead. Manasa smirked up at him and said, "Around here, they play Gnome Tennis."
Ah yes, the joys of expanded potential available in this world, it was a subject Arkadi had pursued at some length at one of the local institutions. Anyone with the gift to do so could learn such fascinating things, and he was nothing if not long-versed in such pursuits.
"Gnome Tennis?" Sindri said. "Wasn't there another planet where they played something similar with goblins? The trolls would see how far they could kick one or some such..."
"Lezaria," Manasa said. "They play Goblin Toss there. The object seemed to be who could throw the goblin furthest..."
"Yes. Rather similar here, apparently."
Arkadi rolls his eyes in distaste as the conversation swung to the abuse of minor creatures, the nature of minions and underlings ever a dull topic. He turned his tread to go around them, considering implications and applications even now of ideas long held as static. Fools, they were all fools.
Manasa stopped outside one of the many taverns in Torn Elkandu and glanced up at the sign that showed some animal which was not its normal color doing something strange with a bottle. "That's one interesting sign," she commented.
Sindri eyed it. It was impossible to determine just what sort of animal it was supposed to be, but its present activity appears to be fairly obscene.
Continuing onward with only the barest glance at the overheard indication, Arkadi pursued the road onward, checking the watch at his wrist idly with a dry chuckle. Time really was irrelevant, yet somehow it still held a fascination for him. Especially in Torn Elkandu, which only tended to bother with day and night cycles for the benefit of those who disliked sunlight.
"Could be a leftover from the Chaos days," Sindri said.
Manasa glanced absently at the man passing, thinking him fairly strangely dressed for this locale, but shrugging it off as all sorts of strange types seemed to pass through Torn Elkandu.
Manasa snorted. "Do you think Chaos really had that much of an affect on them? They were having orgies in the streets before Chaos showed up on the scene. That was really more of a cause than an effect, probably. I'm surprised we haven't had to step around naked bodies so far here."
Sindri chuckled and shrugged. "I suppose so."
Chaos, Arkadi mused, they had held such potential if they had simply managed to gather their scattered wits and look past the utter dedication to a single aspect of what could be. A pity, really, but he supposed that there truly was little in life which was perfect. The thought brought him beyond the range of their conversation, his path wending into an alleyway in hopes of finding someone foolish enough to consider him easy prey.
Manasa said, "Let's go get something to eat or drink here, shall we?" She turned for the door.
People in Torn Elkandu weren't normally inclined to randomly attack one another. At least when not involved with Khorne.
"Sure, I'm a bit hungry," Sindri said.
Manasa headed inside and ordered a nice steak and some wine. Sindri followed, a beer in place of the wine.
"Been awhile since we've had a meal together in a fine establ...er...it's been awhile since we've had a meal together," Sindri said.
Manasa leaned back in the chair in the corner table and glanced over the dimly lit room. "Hmm. This place isn't so bad. Although the strippers are a bit much."
Said strippers appeared to be various, well, anthropomorphic animals. And being naked probably wasn't all that much considering they were covered in fur anyway.
Sindri looked at them and smirked. "Explains the sign outside..."
Their food and drinks arrived shortly and Manasa poked at the steak with a fork. "Mmm, this is good..." Manasa murmured.
One of the naked furries started playing a flute.
"Ah, some dinner music," Sindri said.
"So, what do you suppose we'll do after this?" Manasa said. "You gonna enter the competition?"
"I don't know... I'm not sure of how I would fare against the mages here."
"Well, it's not for a couple months, you could practice in the meanwhile."
"Are there certain categories?" Sindri asked. "How does the system work?"
"I'm sure you'd do just fine," Manasa said. "Normally there's different events that focus on different talents. For instance, there might be one for telepathy, one for telekinetics, etc. Then more general events where anything goes."
The kitsune knew he'd gotten away and was around here someplace, but half the fun of the game was chasing someone down to deliver the punch line of the joke they were just dying for. Fantasia cast a half-lidded gaze across the audience, knowing he wasn't here but feeling a hint of his stink someplace, the fluffed tips of her tails swaying gently to the rhythm of the flute. Always loved music.
Crooning softly at first, then rising to accompany the flute in a melodic counterpart, she sways across the stage in prancing steps. Her multiple tails swing in hypnotic rhythm, never allowing their number to be counted and more often than not concealing more than the earlier stripping had revealed. Somewhere nearby, she could almost taste it, but where? The crooning emerged into a soft song.
"Appears we have someone that likes the music," Sindri said, eying the fox.
"Hmm, that one looks like she's met Harmony," Manasa commented, observing over a bite of steak.
Who, who, who? Fantasia wondered to herself, the questing note melding inevitably into the seemingly meaningless song, and she walked slowly down the stairs from the stage to wend her way through the tables with a playful flirt here and there.
Manasa leaned back, taking a sip of her wine and listening to the music and watching the people (and various beings that might only be loosely called "people") milling about the establishment.
A snow-white tail slapped lightly at the hands of an overly exuberant patron, though the mirthful, foxish grin which followed took the sting from it. She continued through the crowd, ears perked alertly and whiskers twitching as she scented at the air.
"Nah, if she'd met Harmony, she'd be waving thirty tentacles around and have six sets of antlers," Sindri said.
"You have a point there," Manasa said with a chuckle.
No, not that one, Fantasia knew, a few tables away now and knowing she was closer, that bringing a rising crescendo to the song. Quick eyes darted in their direction questioningly as the scent seemed to crystallize, and her velvet voice falls silent as she approached their table and offered a tilt of her elegant muzzle.
"Good evening," the kitsune said.
Manasa waved absently with a hand. "Hiya." She put down her wine glass.
"Evening," Sindri replied.
"Forgive the intrusion and my state of undress," Fantasia offered courteously. "The second is readily corrected." Her form melted away from the elegance of the fox to the equally sleek form of a young-seeming oriental woman, fully clothed in a close-fitting dress of red and green. "Enjoying your meal?"
"Oh, certainly, and I don't really mind," Manasa said offhandedly. "Though the steak is a little rare, I don't imagine there are any troubles with mad cow disease in this part of the universe." She smirked.
"Only the barkeeper's wife, if you call her one," Fantasia replied with a ready grin.
"I've seen worse places," Sindri agreed with a mouth half-full.
Without awaiting an invitation or asking one, Fantasia borrowed a chair from a nearby table and settled into it casually. "Introductions are needed all around before I ask the question that I'm dying to. I'm Fantasia, at least that's the only name I tend to go by. In public. Or when wanting to be anonymous. Heh."
Manasa chuckled softly. "No, I will refrain from addressing the barkeeper's spouse as a bovine. Well, unless, of course, she actually is a bovine, which is not beyond reason considering some of the others here apparently."
Sindri chuckled and took a swig of his beer. "Anything is possible around here..."
"My name's Manasa, from Edron," she said. She most probably did have a last name, and also very probably had a good reason for not stating it.
"The name's Sindri." He extended his hand. "Former Chaos Sorcerer turned ne'er-do-well." He smirked.
"A pleasure to meet you both," Fantasia replied, extending a hand to accept Sindri's without qualm, either unknowing or uncaring what the affiliation meant.
"So what brings you here?" Manasa wondered.
"Ah, now there's a tail or three to tell!" Fantasia answered with bright enthusiasm. "Though it'd probably bore you to tears if you weren't the sort who was able to take a joke, or enjoy one at someone else's expense." She chuckled. "Short version, though, I'm looking for someone that you've brushed up against. He's an... old friend of mine." Her jade eyes flashed merry hell at that, giving question to the use of the term.
"A 'friend'?" Sindri repeated.
"Well yes," Fantasia nodded once, grinning slyly. "You know the type, common interests, shared entertainments, bodies to hide. The usual."
Manasa chuckled softly. "I'm sure I'm not likely to be too easily bored... I'm a former telemarketer after all."
It was open to question which of Manasa's and Sindri's former occupations was the more evil.
Fantasia made a face at that, looking at Manasa, "Ew, now that's evil. Seriously. Eek. And you admit to this? In public?"
"Not normally. These days I prefer necromancy," she said lightly.
"As if Chaos wasn't bad enough..." Sindri remarked at the telemarketer comment.
Fantasia laughed gaily, amusement seeming a common enough state for her. "Oh, that's a good one, better the dead than telemarketing."
"I must say I'm not particularly good at raising the dead just yet, and can only animate the lesser forms of undead such as zombies, and they have a habit of collapsing and falling apart on me," Manasa said. "But I'm getting better."
"Sounds like you'd be a natural at a Republican fund raiser," Fantasia replied.
"Oh, I'm sure they'd have wished I was there when they kept having to prop up Dick Cheney," Manasa said.
Sindri looked confused at the both of them.
"One stiff or another," Fantasia retorted with a smirk. "Personally I'd rather do the stripping gig."
"Indeed," Manasa said. "It's less demeaning."
"And at least they're honest about wanting to screw you over," Fantasia said.
"Or just screw you, be it the case..." Sindri rolled his eyes and finished his steak.
Manasa poured herself some more wine.
Fantasia grinned lightly and reached out to snag a spare napkin which she began to fold idly. "Ooh, the conversation killer strikes again. Well anyway, back to the question of the moment. Now, don't get me wrong, but you guys stink..."
"Why, thank you," Manasa said. "I don't believe we properly bathed after the last time we had sex."
Fantasia looked at the other woman blankly, then worked at stifling a bout of giggles. "Oh, that's bad," she said, "but then where I left off was bad too, right?"
Sindri thought about it a moment. "No, because we wound up having sex in the shower afterwards as well." He shrugged and drank some more beer.
Manasa chuckled softly. "So what was it you wanted to ask about then?"
Fantasia snickered, shaking her head at the pair, then grinned. "See, it's like you stepped through the path of a skunk without realizing it. Most aren't even gonna pay attention to it, but this particular one is someone I've been looking for. Happen to see a guy lately in an oh-so-spiffy suit that screams 'I'm better than thou' and a perpetually-smug look?"
"Yeah, I think I saw him pass us on the street before we came in here," Manasa said.
"I do recall a fellow in a tailored suit," Sindri said. "I would've said he stuck out, but, well..."
"Oooh, he's here and near," Fantasia replied with glee. "Not that I'm going to leap up and go chasing after him, he always hangs around the same place for a while, looking for this, that, and the other thing. Real sweetie. If you're into the soul-sucking bastard type anyway."
"Yeah, it's kind of hard to say that when people are wearing any variety of T-shirts, robes, jeans, tunics, etcetera," Manasa said.
Fantasia chuckled. "It's all in the 'tude, or what passes for it with him. I offered him a one-way ticket to the center of the universe he wanted to be at one point, but he rudely ducked out halfway there. Tsk, tsk. Shameful."
Of course the fact that he'd been trapped on a ship headed for the sun might have had some effect on his decision.
"Well, Torn Elkandu is the center of the universe," Manasa said. "Or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof."
"No matter," Fantasia replied with a faint shrug. "I'll catch up with him soon enough, and then it'll be just like old times." She chuckled lightly and set the folded napkin on the table in two pieces, one appearing to be a wolf standing proud... the other being its head laying on the ground beside it. "Sorry to take so much of your time."
Manasa chuckled softly. "Oh, don't worry. Time is something I imagine we have quite plenty of."
"All the time in the world," Fantasia agreed, body shifting fluidly to return to its werefoxish state as she stood. "But I'll leave you to your meal with my thanks."
Sindri said, "Not much goes on around here that can't be solved with the combined minds of plenty of intelligent, wise mages...or a fireball or ten."
"If it's intelligent, wise mages you're looking for, you've come to the wrong place," Manasa said. "The ones around here tend to be batshit."
"Uh-oh, it's the fuzz!" Fantasia muttered, ears pricking forward as she looked toward the far side of the tavern to see a rather irate-looking barkeep's wife sailing their way. With a yip, she shifted once more to a small, four-legged version of herself and darted under their table, vanishing from sight.
Sindri looked at Manasa and quirked an eyebrow.
The barkeep's wife, face brick red in her fury, stopped at their table and glared at both of them, then remembering she was addressing customers drew a deep calming breath. "Pardon the intrusion," she said, "But did you see where a certain..." she edited out a few choice expletives in favor of courtesy, "werefox made off to?"
"Can't say that I did," Manasa said lightly, munching absently on a bit of steak.
Sindri looked up at her with a mouth full of potato and said something unintelligible.
The portly woman looked down at the table, making note of the origami figure, and clenched her teeth. "Thank you anyway," she grated and turned to stalk away. As she did, a black button-like nose and coal eyes glinting merrily could be seen lurking in the folds of her apron.
Manasa sniggered silently.
"Well, that was... interesting," Manasa observed once that was done with.
"Indeed," Sindri said. "Wonder what sort of problem she has with that fellow?"
Manasa finished up her meal and stretched a bit.
"I suppose if one caught the other with someone else or something..." He shrugged, polishing off his beer.
From the kitchen, there came an inevitable shriek of surprise and a round of violent cursing.