The note vanished again in a puff of silver smoke, at which Lori grinned. Ehlonna always did her magic well! The smile soon vanished, however, as Lori concentrated on the problem at hand. Dragons. Er- hang on. A gold and bronze, they were good, metallic dragons always were, but why was there a brown one, and why were a pair of metallics (who normally wouldn't even associate with each other, if her memory held) hanging around with a trio of chromatics? Lori stared for a moment, and that was long enough for something else to happen.
Lyrai arrived. A medium-sized (therefore, very, very large) silver dragon, she and her mate Koly swooped in over the forest and landed next to Lori and Eiema. "We have a problem, Lori, Hextor joined with-"
Lori interrupted her friend. "Lyrai, um, we have a problem too, there's dragons- and they're both kinds. And there's a brown one, don't know how that happened, and-"
"Lori..! What are you talking about?"
"Don't ask me," Lori said grimly. "But we may have some serious trouble on our hands."
"Well I am bloody well going to ask you!" snapped a voice from behind them. Lori spun around and found that the woman who had been riding the gold dragon was standing behind her, hands on hips. Behind her were the other five, and the six dragons were lying down calmly, though their eyes all seemed to be yellow. Odd.
Talia continued. "I just fell through bloody between to fight Thread and now I'm here and don't have a sharding idea why! Will one of you weird people tell me why I just landed in what looks like Medieval Earth, with dragons who are the wrong color?"
Lori stared. "Medieval earth? What are you talking about? Why are you here!"
"Don't ask me!"
"Well don't ask me then!"
"I bloody well already did!"
"Well don't ask again, because I haven't the faintest idea!"
"I wasn't planning to, you rude little girl!"
"I am not-"
"Shut up, will you two?" someone yelled. Both spun around to see a tall elf with flowing green hair, dressed in similar clothes to Eiema, with a longbow and quiver on her back. It was Ehlonna. "We have a serious problem here, only one part of which is you dragonriders from some place called Monaco Bay! We do not have time for petty argument!"
Everyone stared. For the six Pernese, it was astonishment that this woman had appeared out of nowhere, and knew who they were and where they were from. For Lori and Eiema, it was shock: neither had ever seen Ehlonna, normally a very happy and friendly sort of deity (though very busy), this angry- and worried.
Ehlonna continued, with no time for anything else. "You six- Talia, Jelian, Gehray, Hajan, Rerit, Izzia- you are stuck for the time being, we have no time nor ability to assemble a full council and send you home. Please wait. Eiema, Lori- here is the problem. Hextor has taken control of the Evil Deities. He, Erythnul, Grummsh, Nerull, Vecna. Nerull got Wee Jas to join them, and they're halfway convincing Farlanghn and Olidammara. That's eight of the nineteen if they succeed, and Wee Jas is after Boccob, though he's firmly against her. Hextor has declared war on the Immortal Council. And eleven isn't enough to vote them out. We are about to have a War of the Gods."
And Lori stared. Eiema gasped. "Is.. is there anything we can do?" Lori asked haltingly. "I don't know what, but- um."
"I do not know," said Ehlonna gravely. "Corellon has gone to the elves, Garl to the gnomes, Moradin to the dwarves, and Yondalla to the halflings, but we are likely to not get them all. Boccob will speak to the Archmages, and Heironeous and Kord are going to rouse the churches. But even so, we may have a serious problem."
"Have you roused the forests? The rangers? The dru- Oh damn that's my job, isn't it.." Lori blinked once. Ehlonna nodded, and before Lori could say a word, her griffons were here. Her twin griffons, Choco and Shadow, flew in over the trees, hooting like owls. As a Good druid, before that was accepted on the whole, Lori had had no chance to acquire an animal companion; instead she had Shadow and Choco, whom she had at some point charmed with a permanent spell. Lori did not ask how they had heard. She simply swung onto Shadow, and they left at full speed to rouse the druid society for war. Some would go to the evil gods they worshiped, but hopefully at least half the druids should be on their side.
Ehlonna spoke to her daughter. "Eiema, dear, us remaining have made a decision. You will become a Goddess. Though eleven cannot throw the Evil Deities from the Council, we can bring you in. You are Eiema, Goddess of Druids. Use your title well." A green glow suffused the girl, and she realized that it was true. Eiema smiled weakly, and asked her mother: "What do I do?"
"Well, to start, I believe that these riders from whatyoucallit- Pern- need some help."
"Okay." As Eiema turned to speak to the six riders, Ehlonna of the Forests vanished in a puff of green to rouse the rangers, the unicorns, and all the good creatures of the forests. Though she was no species Goddess, praised by most of a race, or having many high and mighty titles like Moradin, the Soul-Forger, Ehlonna was, subtly, a very powerful goddess. The creatures of the woodlands were her friends, like any druid, but infinitely more so. Unicorns, couatl, rocs, wolves. Evil and wrong this war might be, but it would be the most stunningly huge battle of the ages and planes.
Ehlonna blinked. The planes. That was it! How could she forget? Maybe the gods all lived in Limbo, but there were others. Hextor would undoubtedly go to the devils of the Nine Hells, and Erythnul to the demons of Pandemonium. She must get on that right away! Corellon to Ysgard, or perhaps Kord- yes, Kord. Ehlonna blinked, realizing she had just arrived. She'd landed in the middle of the temple near Amarylla. Ah, yes. Where was that confounded cleric..? Ah!
Ehlonna spotted Tarria, the high priest at this temple, sitting with the two local druids, Ara and Lina, who were sisters. They was discussing the growing of food for the temple and for Ara and Lina's animal companions, who were sitting nearby. Ehlonna cleared her throat. "Ahem."
All three were instantly on their feet, looking at their deity. "Is there a problem, Goddess?" inquired Ara, curious.
"Yes. The evil deities- that is, Erythnul, Grummsh, Nerull, Vecna, and Hextor- have declared war on the Immortal Council. Not only that, Wee Jas is on their side and maybe Olidammara and Farlanghn- I really need to talk to them. We've made Eiema a full Goddess, and Lori's already out to rouse the druids since I'm busy. Corellon, Moradin, Yondalla, and Garl are off to their respective races, and Boccob's speaking to the Archmages- Lindsay, Xena, Aeril. Heironeous is off to his churches and Kord's gone to his. I need you to help. Eiema's busy with something at the moment. Ara, Lina, rouse the woodlands. Tarria, the temple. Send messages to the other temples. Someone tell Aster to collect all the good rangers he knows. I have more to do.. Clear?"
All three nodded. Ara and Lina mounted their tiger and lion, respectively, and galloped out to search the woods for allies. Tarria spun on her heel, robe flapping, and started yelling for the priests. Ehlonna, for her part, vanished again, this time back to the council room. She sat down in her ivy-covered wood chair and rubbed her temples. Even deities could get seriously stressed in such situations. And besides, even the immortals had faults. Ehlonna's, if it could be counted a fault, was her elven-ness. She was, in all respects save her immortality, an elf with a lot of authority, magic, and responsibility.
Sigh. Ehlonna got down to work. She conjured a piece of paper and green pen and began to write.
Celestia
Bytopia
Elysium
Beastlands
Arborea
Ysgard
Arcadia
Outlands
Alright. The 8 planes to which they must send people to fetch creatures and help. Sigh again. Ehlonna though for a moment before filling in two:
Celestia
Bytopia
Elysium
Beastlands Ehlonna
Arborea
Ysgard Kord
Arcadia
Outlands
This might well take a while. She'd already decided on Kord to Ysgard, and herself to the Beastlands was pure common sense.
