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Chapter 4 Frozen Reception: Excerpted From the Diary of Al'Kabor
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Entry 5 of April 3127
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I find myself in a bad mood of late, my recent experiments have turned sour. Fortunately
luck has been on my side in some respects, the gathering of components and the actual
testing has been rather easy and swift. My companions, the last of aged Icing Clan of
Brownies have been stalwart in there aid to me and I do owe them much..For the first
time, in quite some many years I have begun to enjoy some companionshipeven
though Sprinkles won't
-----
"STOP GROWING FLOWERS ON MY JOURNALS!!!!"

The little brownie looked sad and about to cry.

"I just thought you would like itsniff"

"There, there Sprinkles. I do like the flowers, but please not on my journals. But they are
too pretty and detract from the knowledge within. So please, grow them someplace
else. Hmm."

The little Brownie girl smiled. "Okay Boss" and jumped off the table and danced away to
another part of the cave.

"And not on my wardrobe either Sprinkles!" He called after her

-----------------

Aside, from the minor inconviences, my time with the Icing Clan has been memorable. I
wonder if they would accompany when I depart from Everfrost once my experiments are
completed here?

Hmm..well it is thought. Ahh, I hear the beaker-beginning whistle, my next test is almost
complete. My research continues.
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Entry 6 of April 3127
---------------------

Setbacks and more setbacks, last night experiments where a failure. I am now out of
testing supplies, I have sent the Brownies out to go search for some more . My research
continues.

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Entry 7 of April 3127
--------------------


A most interesting development has occurred. As the brownies searched the Frozen
Tundra for more supplies for my experiments, they found a very young wood elf laying in
the snow, half frozen, half dead, most likely due to that flash blizzard last night. Being
the gentle creatures they are, they brought the elf back here to save him. At the
moment, he is fine, but he seems to have a broken arm, but when Nutmeg inspected
him, it seems that the broken bone was caused earlier and not by the blizzard.

For right now, he sleeps in my bed of all placeswell, I shouldn't hold it against the
Brownies, they care for just about everyone. Well any way, their care has allowed me to
inspect the items he had upon his person. It's that this young child, is an officer of
Faydwer, though only a lowly Chroito. He also seems to be of the Rogue guild, which
suggests I keep a close I upon him.

He also was carrying two amulets both bearing the mark I have never seen before and a
scroll with a chocolate smudge and the Royal Seal. If, I am to make a guess, I suppose
that Tearis is calling in a marker and desires for me to research these amulets. Hmm, but
why dispatch a child to deliver this to me, and an injured one at that? My research
continues
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Entry 8 of April 3127
--------------------------

The boy woke up this morning, scaring himself and poor Sprinkles half to death.
--------------------------

Sprinkles walked on top of the sleeping Fry, she walked up to his head and stared at his
dormant face. She smiled him and preceded to play with him, making various faces,
smiley face, grumpy face, boogie-boogie face. After I while she got bored and decided
to liven Al'Kabor's room up a bit and began to toss some Flower dust around on the bed,
pretty flowers instantly began to grow, at that moment one of Fry's eyes opened
groggily and saw a little tiny thing standing on his chest.


'AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!"

His cry scared poor Sprinkles and she screamed too

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!" Flower dust went every where as she hopped off Fry and went
running away, flowers sprouting behind her.

All the commotion woke up the other brownies and Al'kabor who came charging toward
the sound. Al'kabor stormed in the room, in a grumpy mood, he hadn't gotten much sleep
and was just dozing off when this all started.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE!!!"

"Monster!"

"Where?" as he panned around the room, he noticed the flowers. "Sprinkles!!!"

The timid little brownie stuck her head around the corner. "Yes boss?"

"What where you doing?"

"sniff..I was just checking on him, when he stared hooting and hollering and scared
meI dropped my dust pouch because of himsniff"

"I see." Al'kabor turnedback to Fry who was puzzled by all of this. "I expect you to have
all of this mess cleaned up and since you are awake now..GET OUT OF MY BED!!!" he
boomed

Fry did so nearly falling in the process. Al'Kabor fumed a bit and left the room to get
back to his work. Fry still completely baffled by everything, put his uniform back on and
proceeded to clean up the large array of flowers strewn across the room.

"I'm sorry I scared you" said Sprinkles still warily peering around the corner.

"It's okay, I guess I scared you well too."

"Yeahoh, my name is Sprinkles of the Icing Brownie clan. What is your name?"

"Fry."

"oooh nice name."

Another Brownie peered around the cornor just above Sprinkles. "Heeeello" another
popped above the previous. "Helllo!" and yet another popped up "Helllooooo!" and
another "heeeellooooo!" and yet another "Heeeeeeelllllloo!" And then all six of them
together in a chorus "Helllllo!"

Sprinkles giggled "I love that, this are my brothers and sisters The Last of Icing
Brownies" she cart wheeled out into the open

"Sprinkles!" another one cart wheeled out beside her "Nutmeg!" another beside Nutmeg
"Chocolate!" The fourth hopped upon the previous threes shoulders. "Butter!" the next
did the same standing beside Butter. The last leapt into the air and landed on top of
Butter and Chocolate, finishing the Brownie triangle "BOB!" Then they all cheered, "We
are Clan Icing!! TADA!!!"


Fry giggled and applauded the acrobatic brownies, but was interrupted by Al'kabor.

"QUIT THAT MESS AND YOU BOY GET OUT HERE!!"

The brownies quickly got out of the triangle and muttered amongst themselves.

"Boss, is grumpy."
"We should hide"
"He is scary when he is grumpy"

All six vanished.

Fry timidly walked out of the room and found Al'Kabor staring at some beakers obviously
in a bad mood.

"Now, tell me why are you here boy?"

"I was sent here sir, by King Tearis Thex to ask you to looked at some amulets we
recovered in our territories, and to see if you could analyze them and possibly tell us
anything you know about a God named Kaiyan'Wang."

"Hmm. Just as I thought, he was calling in a marker.Well, boy, you certainly have
proven to be a disruption this morning. So, take this note and go bring me these
materials I need for my experiments and maybe I will consider honoring this. Now go!"

Fry was somewhat stunned..but complied, taking his cloak and the note he set off out
into the Tundra for Al'kabors suppliesand it would not be the last time either..

---------------------

Well, at least now I have him out of my hairIf I had any, well any way. With him out of
my home, I can continue my work undisturbedor so I thought. I am an honorable
person, so while he was off , I looked into those amulets. The metal is ordinary gold and
platinum, and the gem is mostly ordinary as well. It does seem to have some magical
properties but at the moment, I have not discerned it. Oh well, I will shortly. My library
and my knowledge will crack this rapidly as it does all problems. My research continues..

Entry 23 of April 3127
----------------------------

For the first time in my life, I am completely befuddled by these amulets and this recluse
god Kaiyan'wang. My searched have turned up empty and in vain, unbelievable..O well,
at least things have been running smoothly with the boy. He complies with my orders
well enough and does a fair enough job in completing them. But unfortunately this
damned marker is cutting into my other research! I have never been so clueless until
nowbut luck was on my side today, for a new wealth of information cam from a
surprising and small package

----------------------------

Al'kabor scratched his head as his last test on the amulets came negative. He sat down
and held them in his hands, wondering what he should try next.

"Boss..can I come in?" Sprinkles asked shyly. Over last several weeks aside from going
out to bark orders at Fry or to eat, Al'kabor had been in his lab and isolated himself from
even his companions the Brownies. Until today, they hadn't attempted to talk to him;
they knew how he could be when he was concentrating on his research.

Al'kabor sighed heavily still befuddled and leaned back in his chair "Yes, come in
Sprinkles." Tiny feet shuffled across the floor and then he could feel the addition of her
miniscule weight on the back of his chair, and then his back and then the top of his
head. He rolled his eyes up to look at the brownie, that was now lying on the top of his
head.

"Whatcha working on Boss."

"Trying to determine the magical properties in the gems of these amulets and the
relation if any to a god named Kaiyan'wang."

"EEEEK!!!" The brownie screamed and cowered slightly.

"What? What is it Sprinkles?"

"That nameHE is evilif those amulets are related to HIM..get rid of them
please boss."

"What is wrong?"

She remained silent for a few moments,deciding on whether or not to tell him, but finally
relented and told him the brownie Legend of Creation.

"Eternities ago, the divine being Overbeast created the universe, and bestowed life to
countless planets, including Norrath, but where there is a creature of light, there is one
of darkness, where there is a god..there is a devil..that devil is Kaiyan'wang.
Kaiyan'wang was fiercly jealous of the Overbeast for it's ability of creation and started a
war with her for many thousands of years, but luckily the Overbeast triumphed, but
sadly the war had drained her and could not destroy Kaiyan'wang. So she imprisoned
HIM in stone and cast HIM to the cosmos until her power was restored and she could
get rid of HIM forever. It is said among the brownie clans, that the statue containing
Kaiyan'wang eventually crashed here on Norrath thousands of years ago and the coming
of HIM heralded the end of the greatest light of Norrath in that time, the Combine
Kingdom.

The coming of HIM, also was the herald of the creation.of us.the Brownies. It is said
that back then, the Brownies where of one clan, all loyal to serving HIM, but for some
reason they broke up into the many clans of today, each with a legend of HIM..passed
down through each generation..some still worship the dark power, others like Clan Icing
do not and fear the return of HIM so please Boss get rid of those Amulets!"

Al'Kabor could feel her tremble as she told the tale, and usually did not pay attention to
such silly tales, but for some reason he believed Sprinkles and would get rid of them as
soon as possible. Just as soon as was done compiling everything into a letter for the boy
to take back to Tearis.
--------------------------

An amazing revelation, so much I did not know about the brownies, so interesting ..well
I must work on that letter to Tearis. My work continues

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Entry 24 of April 3127
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The letter is compiled and ready to be delivered but unfortunately a little bit too late, I
think my anger over the interruption in my work and my incessant demands has finally
worn the last of the boy's patience.

----------------------------


"Boy, come here!"

"No.."

"!?! COME HERE WHEN I CALL YOU BOY!!!"

"NO!!!! Why don't you go polish your head or something chrome dome!!!!"
---------------------

Normally, I do not let myself be pulled down into name calling, but I fear; I am rather
sensitive about my hair or lack there of.

---------------------

"You insolent whelp!!!!"

"You geeky conehead!!!"

The brownies heard the shouting and listened in gasping as the two called each other
names.

"You obnoxious pointy ear!!!!"

"YOUR MAMA WAS A GNOME!!!!"

The brownies gasped as Al'Kabor began to fumeand then he smiled and began to roar
with laughter, Fry began to snicker and then joined in as they both laughed at the
complete silliness of there insults.
----------------------
Interesting how insulting each other, finally broke the barrier of annoyance between us.
As we talk, really for the first time . I learned a lot of interesting things about this young
child Fry. Also learned something startling, he was the child of Augustas Menlore! I felt
ashamed at this revelation, my poor treatment of this child, the son of the man who
saved my life during the War of Heroes. I would hope to make it up to himone daybut
I was yearning to get back to my research and he wanted to return to Felwithe to make
his report. So I gave him the scroll and the amulets..much to Sprinkles relief and set off
into the cold snow, and wasn't 6 minutes later that I got another visitor, a dark elf girl.
She was wearing a cloak, with an amulet acting as button to hold together.
---------------------
"No visitors!"

"I am not here to visit, I am here to worn you Al'Kabor. Stop your meddling with the
affairs of Kaiyan'wang!"

"I do not know what you are talking about, so be gone from my home!"

"As long as you understand."And the girl precede to through bag containing some
explosives into the cave, the bag burst open and small beads began to fly everywhere,
but because of the shape of the cave, most of them rolled downward into the
laboratory. There was a loud explosion and the lab was nearly totaled.

Al'kabor was stunnedand then furious..the only thing that upset him more then
interrupting his work was the destruction of knowledge. His eyes flashes with power a
lightning bolt leapt from his hands and streaked toward the girl and was promptly
deflected by barrier.
----------------------------

I didn't notice until then when my bolt was deflected, that the amulet was just like the
one Fry had brought to me. It was protecting her from my magic, which put me in a bad
situation, or so I thought, the brownies, my friends saw what happened and surprised
me yet again.

-----------------------------

The Brownies leapt upon each other's shoulders, forming the Brownie triangle. Bob ontop
held out his tiny arms and shouted. "BROWNIE POWER!!"

The six brownies began to glow and then there was a flash and the six tiny brownies
where replaced by a large 12 foot brownie. The dark elf girl stepped back, surprised by
this, this was new to her and to Al'Kabor..a 12 foot Brownie?

The large Brownie made a war cry and charged at the girl and promptly whacked it's
head on the low ceiling a the entrance, it crashed to the ground and disappeared,
replaced by the six tiny brownies that made up Clan icing..


"" said Bob
"Next time, Im on top" said Butter

Al'Kabor shocked his head and the dark elf girl just giggled at this development.
---------------------------

They tried, I guess in the heat of the moment they forgot how tall they where, but even
so it provided the distraction needed..
---------------------------

The Dark elf Girl tried to dodge but was unsuccessful leapt out of nowhere with his
daggers at bear and sliced off the amulet she was wearing. At that moment, Al'Kabor
launched another spell at the girl.

"Now you die meddler!!"

"NO!!" Fry bounded in front of the bolt and at the last second Al'kabor canceled the
lethal spell, Fry stared at the girl who was once again surprised. Again the two met..Fry
stared at Sevet unsure of what to do..she was so prettywhy couldn't he let any harm
come to herwhy did he feel so attracted to her? A dark elf?

Sevet also wondered this, but came out of her daze quicker and leapt above Fry and
began to rapidly scale the mountain with the deftness and precision that only a Scout
could do.

------------------------
I don't know what that boy was thinking, why did he jump in my way to protect that
dark elf? And a servant of Kaiyan'wang on top of that? I don't know, I will have to ask
him when he wakes up later. He went charging after the girl and I was too downcast
about the destruction of my lab to go after them, but the Brownies when they woke up
followed their trail up the mountain face and found Fry at the scene of mighty duel
unconscious in the snow. Well, I guess I will have to start cleaningMy work continues

-------------------------
Hi!!! It's me, I don't have much ink and unfortunately I don't have Al'Kabor's journal
discussing what happened to Fry after he went after Sevet. So I will, let's just hope my
ink doesn't run outdarn that merchant.
----------------------------

Sevet ran as fast as she could, up the mountain face and came across a patch of flat
land, she rushed as fast as he could, but she could her footfalls behind her in the snow.

"You aren't getting away!" Fry called after her. Sevet turned around and charged him
and they locked dagger-to-dagger testing each others strength trying to out power
each other, trying to make the other fallWho would make the fatal lapse? It was
Sevet..Fry was strong and he knocked away her left dagger and pushed her too the
ground, he pounced on top of her, keeping her right away from him and he held up his
left to make the kill..but he couldn't.he couldn't killno oneFry just could not take a lifeespecially her

He relaxed and let her go and stood to walk away, she was not as forgiving. She
crashed into him sending him skidding in the cold snow his daggers going in a different
direction, as he came to a stop she pounced upon him. She rolled him over so she could
look in his eyes and held her dagger up to take his life.but instead she put the dagger
down and kissed Fry passionately. When she broke the kiss, she smiled and clocked him
upside the head sending Fry's world into darkness.
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End of Chapter 4