ENTERING THE GAME
Chapter Twelve
"Out of the Frying Pan..."
Again Linda found herself in the dark cave. How had she gotten here again? Why? Where was everybody? It was warm in there, warmer than it had been before. Why was this happening to her? She wanted to run, but again there was no place to go.
Once more she found herself in front of the door. Once more she prayed for it not to open. And once more, it did open.
COME IN, LINDA! The echoing voice called again. JOIN US!
Why are you doing this to me? she thought. Why me?
YOU KNOW WHY, LINDA…
What? But I don't know…The organ. She had played the organ. Was it cursed? Had she lost her soul by playing it?
COME IN LINDA! YOU KNOW YOU MUST COME IN!
Again she felt horrible heat, hot enough that she felt she might melt or burst into flames. Again she saw the dark room with the flickering fires. Again she could vaguely see the huge horned thing coming towards her. And again she covered her eyes and screamed until her burning throat choked her.
…
"Hey!" Penny cried, jumping up at the scream. In the dim glow of the fire she could see Linda sit up, her eyes shut, her hands shaking.
"Help!" Linda cried. She let out another ear-piercing scream.
"What's the matter?" Penny asked, kneeling beside her.
Not fully awake, Linda saw the dim figure of Penny leaning over her and backed away with another shriek. "No! Stay away from me! Help!" She turned away. In the faint glow she saw several more figures coming toward her. She screamed and jumped up, backing away from them.
"What the heck?" Greg said. "She's gone screwy!"
"Linda!" Andy cried. "What's wrong with you?!"
"Oh!" Linda gasped. "Oh! It's you!"
"Who did you think we were, Dracula?" Greg demanded.
"I…I don't know," Linda admitted. She buried her head in her hands. "I don't know! But I wish they'd go away and stop calling me!"
"That dream sure must have seemed real," Tom said.
"It did," Linda agreed, shivering. "Awfully real. And it was worse this time!"
"You've had it before?" Andy asked, starting to put his arm around her, then scratching the back of his neck instead.
"Twice now," she said, looking at the floor of the cave. "I…I think it's because I played that horrible organ!"
"Hey, I played it too, and I haven't had any nightmares," Greg pointed out.
Everyone looked at David. He looked uncomfortable. "Uh…well, as I remember, the keys and stops and everything have different effects, depending on what you pushed or played."
"How do we make it stop?" Andy demanded.
"Unfortunately, the effects of major artifacts can only be removed by beings of great power," David admitted. "Gods or demigods. I don't remember nightmares beings one of the effects, though. Are you sure you're not just having bad dreams because you're upset about being in this place? You, um, seem like you're…more sensitive than the rest of us."
"I'm not crazy!" Linda sobbed.
"I don't mean that," David assured her. "But some people can take crazy things happening to them better than others. Also, you're a nature priestess. If something's wrong with nature around here then you might be picking up on it somehow. The game doesn't explain much about druids. Or any other character class, really."
"I'm not getting any weird feelings or anything like that," Linda said. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She still felt somewhat stiff, like her skin was made of leather or something. "I mean, nothing about the wind or the ground being strange or anything. I may be a druid, but I don't feel anything but regular dirt or grass or rocks under my feet." She sighed. "Maybe I'm dreaming a demon's coming to get me because I think I've cursed myself playing that darned organ."
"Probably," David agreed. "Are you very religious?"
"Kind of," Linda said. "I haven't gone to church for a long time though. I don't know why I picked pagan priestess for my character. I think I haven't tried to cast any spells because I'm starting to worry, since this is all real, is it Satanic?"
Penny gasped. "Is that why my familiar was a demon?" she asked. "I just wanted to have fun and hang out with my brother. I didn't want to get into witchcraft!"
"Where's the other familiar?" her brother asked. "How do we know we can trust that one?"
"There she is," Penny said after looking around a bit. "Why are you hiding in that corner? She looks scared."
"Why would she be scared?" Andy demanded. "Nothing happened around here."
"Something did," David corrected him. He was standing by the entrance to the cave. The others hurried to see what he was talking about.
At the entrance were several footsteps. They looked about the same size as Linda's feet, but showed only two toes, shaped something like a goat's hoof.
"Something's been in here!" Andy said. "Who was on watch? Nobody ever called me!"
"Me either," Tom said.
Everyone turned to glare at Greg. "Hey! Don't look at me!" he said.
"You were supposed to be on watch!" Andy reminded him.
"We're lucky we weren't killed in our sleep!" Tom said.
"No wonder Linda dreamed a demon was coming to get her!" Penny added. "There was one here!"
"Back off!" Greg yelled, backing out of the cave. "I didn't do anything!"
"No, you didn't!" Andy said. "That's the whole problem!"
"This isn't getting us anywhere, guys," David said. "We need to search the area and see if whatever it is is still lurking around someplace."
…
Prudence sighed as she cooked Hepzibah's breakfast. She yawned and rubbed her back. The old witch had woke her from her little spot on the floor by kicking her in the butt at dawn, and told her to make her something to eat "and be quick about it!" She might as well have just stayed where she was if this was how she was going to get treated!
After Hepzibah ate, she tossed the leftovers at Prudence, then told her to eat fast and fetch some water from the creek.
"Uh...but where is the creek?" Prudence asked. "I've never been here before."
The witch pointed. "And don't get lost, either! There are more wild creatures in the forest than just a few overgrown puppy dogs, you know!
Prudence ate quickly then started out with two empty buckets that she knew were going to be backbreakingly heavy once they were full of water. Well, she was trapped now. All she could hope for was to learn enough magic that she'd be able to handle any wild life that might attack her out here in the woods, then run away from the old witch and hope she didn't track her down. She wondered how long learning magic spells would take.
It was cold in the woods. She wished she had a coat or a blanket. Probably would have frozen to death sleeping on the floor if the old woman hadn't had a fire going in the little shack.
After awhile, Prudence heard voices up ahead and stopped. It sounded like two young girls like herself. Why would they be in the woods? More runaways? She hoped they didn't show up begging Hepzibah to take them in. As much as she hated working for the hag, she didn't want to get tossed out now. The ground was still wet from the rain the previous day, and Hepzibah had said it would rain again tonight.
…
After exploring the area for a bit, the boys returned to tell Linda and Penny that there was nothing around as far as the eye could see but the mountain, some trees and bushes, and a creek.
"We should use the creek to wash our clothes," Linda said. "We don't know if we'll have a chance for days to clean up after we leave here."
"Yeah, and you guys still stink!" Penny said.
"You don't smell so great yourself," Andy told his sister.
"Laundry's girls' work!" Greg said.
"Forget it!" Penny told him. "I ain't washing your stinky ol' underwear! You can wash your own clothes or just keep on stinking!"
"Just because Penny and I are girls doesn't make us your maids," Linda pointed out.
"So what do you want, money?" Greg demanded
"How much you got?" Penny asked.
"I'm not paying you anything, squirt!" Greg said.
"Good!" Penny told him, putting her hands on her hips. "'Cause I'm still not touching your stinky ol' underwear!"
"You know you could drive a guy crazy!" Greg yelled at her.
"Too late! Somebody beat me to it!" she yelled back.
"You two fight like an old married couple," Tom said.
"If she was my wife I'd give her poison!" Greg said.
"If you were my husband I'd take it!" Penny told him.
"That's enough, Penny!" Linda cried, grabbing her arm. She glared at Greg. "Stop picking on her! She's just a little girl!"
"I'd say she was winning that argument," Tom said. He looked like he'd been really enjoying their fight.
"Oh shut up!" Greg told him.
"You shut up!" Penny said, sticking her tongue out at Greg.
"Stop that!" Linda cried, pulling Penny in the direction the guys had said the creek was in. "We're going to wash our clothes now. You guys stay away!"
"Yell if you run into any trouble!" Andy told her.
"Don't forget those hoofprints!" David added.
"We're not helpless!" Penny said. "I can zap anybody that comes by…" She glared at Greg. "Like peeping toms!"
"I'd rather poke my eyes out than peep at you!" Greg yelled.
"Good!" Penny yelled back. "I'll make you a nice sharp pointy stick!"
"Great!" Greg yelled louder as they were further away now. "Then you can stick it up your nose!"
"Nah, might hurt my brain and get as dumb as you!" Penny practically screamed back to make sure he heard her.
"So where do we go next?" Andy asked David once the girls were out of sight. "You must have some idea!"
"Yeah," Greg added. "You're sure some lousy DM."
"Well…if we go…east about…a hundred miles we'll eventually come to the city of Greyhawk," David said.
"A hundred miles?!" the other guys all said.
"It won't take too long on horseback," David assured them.
"The food we bought for the horses will be gone by tomorrow," Tom pointed out.
"Not to mention the food we got for us!" Greg piped up.
"Which way is east?" Andy asked, looking around.
"One of us should have gotten a compass," David said.
"Are you kidding?" Greg demanded. "Did you see the prices for everything?"
"Is there any way to make money in this world besides killing monsters?" Andy asked.
"Same way as in our world," David said. "Get a job and work."
"Job?!" Greg repeated. "Work?! Stop talking dirty!"
"What kind of jobs could we get?" Tom asked. "Anybody know how to do anything?"
"I'm afraid the only kind of job we could get would be manual labor," David said.
"Oh no!" Greg said. "No way! I ain't working like a horse! We'll just have to find some rich monsters and rob them!"
"You should have picked thief instead of monk," Andy told him.
"You wanted to kill monsters and steal their gold too you know," Greg pointed out. "Otherwise you wouldn't have wanted to play this game. 'cause that's all you do in it."
"There should be something else you can do in a fantasy world besides fight monsters," Tom said. "Rescue princesses or something."
"And how do you rescue them?" Greg pointed out. "By killing whoever kidnapped them!"
"What would we be doing in our own world?" Andy asked. "Watching TV? 'Exploring' trails we'd 'explored' a hundred times already?"
"We could ride around, mapping the area," David suggested. "Maps in this world probably aren't very accurate."
"Do you know how to make an accurate map?" Greg demanded. "And what good would that do us? Can you sell maps?"
"In the game you usually find maps as a piece of treasure," David said. "Sometimes lost for many years."
"You mean the guys that made the maps get killed in the dungeons," Greg told him.
"Sometimes mapmakers sell their maps to people," Andy said.
"Yeah, when they're old goats about to croak," Greg pointed out.
"Not much else to do unless you want to buy a farm, plow, feed chickens, and all that stuff," Tom added.
…
Once they reached the river, Linda looked back towards where they'd left the boys. "I hope they don't decide to follow us and peek," she said. "I really want to wash off all the dust I've gotten from that wild ride away from the village. The rain just made it all muddy."
"They'd better not!" Penny said. She started climbing up a tree. "I'll go check and see!"
"Be careful!" Linda called up to her. "We can't go back and ask that priest to heal you if you fall again!"
"I didn't fall," Penny said. "The branch broke under my feet. I'm not gonna let that happen again! There! I can see them now! Looks like they're talking, but they're not heading this way. I don't see whatever it was that got in the cave when Stupid was snoozing either. I think we're safe." She started climbing down.
By the time she was on solid ground again, Linda had laid her clothes on a rock and was standing waist deep in the creek splashing water on herself.
"How is it?" Penny asked, tossing her dress over a tree branch. She grumbled as she fiddled with the ties on her underwear. Stupid things! If they had magic in this world, why hadn't they invented elastic?
"Cold," Linda said.
"Brrr! You're right!" Penny said as she waded into the water.
"And it's going to rain again tonight," Linda said, looking up at the sky. "I don't know how to explain it, but I can 'feel' that a much bigger storm than yesterday's is coming."
"All I feel is that I'm freezing my tookis off," Penny said, untying the ribbons from her pigtails so she could wash her hair. She dunked the ribbons in the water a few times then went back on land to lay them on the same branch her underwear was on. "Dang! I'm freezing now!" she cried, shivering as she ran back into the water. She took a deep breath then dropped completely underwater to get her hair wet. She came up with her hair over her eyes. "Ah! C-c-cold!"
Linda laughed. "Tookis? Where did you hear that word?" she asked, shivering as she leaned back in the water washing her own hair.
"Brrr!" Penny gasped as she pulled her wet hair out of her eyes and it dripped down her back. "Dang that's cold! Some movie I think. We watch a lot of movies, Andy and me. And Mom and Dad." Her thin, pointy face fell. "I really miss them," she added.
"Yeah," Linda said with a sigh. "I miss my mom and dad too."
"Do you think they're searching for us?" Penny asked.
"I'm sure they are," Linda said. "They must be very worried about us." She started out of the water. "Oh! You're right! It is freezing!"
"Told ya!" Penny said. "It's warmer in the water."
"But you can't stay in there," Linda said, taking the towel she'd bought from her backpack and drying herself. "Ugh! This towel is so rough! Feels like I'm scraping my skin off!" She finished drying off, then took out another piece of underwear (she'd gotten four in all) and tied it on. "Come on, Penny!" she called. "The sooner you get out of the water, the sooner you'll get used to the cold air." Actually, she was still cold, and intended to wrap herself in the blanket she'd bought as soon as she finished cleaning her clothes. She put on her robe, which was a dull blue, then took her dress and walked back to the water's edge. She dropped down to her knees and started washing her dress, trying to keep her robe from getting wet.
Penny came out of the water shivering. "Dang! Heck! And fudge!" she cried. "I ain't never felt this cold before!"
"Watch your language please," Linda told her. "And ain't isn't a word."
"Is too!" Penny said, drying off. "Dang! These towels really are awful! And dang and heck and fudge ain't bad words!"
"I know what they're supposed to mean," Linda said seriously. "And the last one is really bad! I don't want to hear you say that one again, okay?" She hung her dress back on the branch to dry then washed her underwear.
"Okay already," Penny said, tying on her spare underwear (she'd gotten three.) She pulled her dull red cloak out of her backpack and tied it around her neck. She'd hoped it would be brighter, but she guessed good color dyeing was saved for expensive stuff. She'd seen some clothes at the marketplace that had looked a lot better than what they had or could afford. She pulled up the hood. "Brrr! I'm still cold!"
"Well, I'm not going to do your laundry for you," Linda told her, setting her underwear on a branch to dry. Shivering, she got her blanket and wrapped it around herself. "You look like Little Red Riding Hood."
"In one version of the story I read, the wolf made her throw her clothes in the fireplace before he ate her," Penny said, trying not to get her cloak wet as she washed her dress. "At least she was warm when she died. Wish we had a fireplace."
"Wish we had a house to put one in," Linda said. "Soon as you're finished we should take our wet clothes back to the cave. It's too gloomy today for the sun to dry them. We'll be here all day, and it'll start raining soon."
"Guess your druid powers are working," Penny told her.
"What?" Linda said, confused. "Wait a minute! I shouldn't be able to tell what the weather's going to be like unless..."
"Unless what?" Penny asked. "What's wrong?"
"Unless I cast a spell!" Linda said. "Predict weather, I think it's called. But I didn't try to cast it like you and Tom did. It just...happened!"
"That's weird," Penny said. "But except for that first shocking grasp I had to read my magic book to learn to use it again, and to learn find familiar, and they didn't really make much sense to me. Should the spells have worked if I didn't understand them?"
"I don't know," Linda said, shivering again, but this time not from the cold. "It's like everything we should have studied to learn but didn't is getting stuffed in our heads, like cramming for a test, or something. It seems to work, but we're not actually learning anything."
"I'm done," Penny said, putting her wet underwear next to her dress. She got her own blanket and wrapped it around herself. "How could you cast a spell without learning it?"
"Druids and clerics don't study spells," Linda explained, getting her dress and underwear. "They...pray to their gods." She gasped. "Oh...I hope some pagan god isn't giving me these spells? This is so scary! I should have been a fighter! Even a ranger! They don't learn spells until they're high level. Maybe we'd be home before then."
"Let's get back to the cave," Penny said, looking up. "The sky's all black and spooky looking." She got her dress and underwear, then started to leave.
"We'd better hurry," Linda told her. "It's going to start raining very soon. Ohh...I wish I didn't know this! Stop! Stupid spell! Get out of my brain! Or...soul!"
Shivering only partly because of the cold, the two girls hurried back to where they'd left the boys. They didn't see them. "Maybe after I came down they went and spied on us anyway?" Penny wondered.
"I don't even care any more," Linda said. "Let's just get back to the cave."
Penny looked around. "Um...you do know where it is, right?" she asked.
"This way," Linda said. She sighed. "I really wish I didn't have druid abilities!"
As the girls walked away, they didn't notice the figure in the bushes watching them. Prudence wondered what they were talking about. It didn't make sense. They were somehow casting spells without knowing how? She wished she could do that!
She continued on to the creek and filled the buckets. She groaned as she lifted the now full and very heavy buckets. If she could cast spells like they could, she could escape from old Hepzibah. She set the buckets down. She'd follow them and see where they went, then hurry back and take the water to the old witch. Maybe she could find and steal whatever strange secrets the girls had! Before leaving, she noticed Penny's hair ribbons where she'd forgotten and left them, and picked them up. What were they, she wondered. Well, maybe she'd find some use for them later. She began following the strange girls.
...
S're-tal'gis the alu-demon had been searching for the gang half the night. It had been her that had crept up into their cave the night before, and, moving like a ghost, looked them over before deciding to leave and wait for morning. She hadn't seen anything special about any of them, although she had sensed a faint diabolic influence on the older girl. She hadn't looked evil. Why had she been touched by a devil? The cat familiar had nearly given her away, but she'd glared at it and the feline had backed away and then hidden behind the little elf girl. She had sensed a slight demonic tinge about that one, no doubt the elf the quasit had tried to influence. Where was he? She left the cave and began to search for him. Never send a quasit to do a real demon's job!
After searching for a couple of hours, S're-tal'gis decided to take a nap. Being half-demon, she didn't need to sleep much, but being half-succubus, she didn't like work. She laid down under a tree and shut her eyes. Ahhh...this was really nice. After a lifetime of being mocked, threatened, and much worse, it was wonderful to not have to do anything but relax. She yawned. If Oerth was such a great place, she wished she'd been able to come here sooner. She hoped she didn't get ordered to come back to the Abyss any time soon. The grass was still damp and it was cold, but at least she didn't have to worry about any demons coming by and attacking her or trying to have their way with her.
She yawned again. She'd just lay here for a little while longer. The sun was out now and it was starting to get warm. Before she knew it she was sound asleep.
...
When the girls had left to bathe, the guys had looked at each other. Tom asked, "So what do we do while we wait for them to get back?"
Greg smirked. "We could peek at Linda," he suggested.
"I'll knock your head off if you try!" Andy proclaimed.
"You and what army?" Greg demanded.
"Me, myself, and I!" Andy replied.
"Come on, guys," David said as he stepped between them, hoping his armor would protect him from any sudden attacks. "This isn't getting us anywhere."
"Except old really fast," Tom added.
David looked over at him. "You're not helping," he said. "We have to work together if we're going to survive in this world. That means no fighting each other. And it definitely means no peeking at the girls. You wouldn't want them peeking at you, would you?"
"They wouldn't peek at him," Andy insisted. "It's not Halloween!"
"I've had it with you!" Greg yelled, taking a swing at Andy. Clang! His hand hit David's armor. Ouch! Okay, definitely didn't have Iron Fist power.
"Hey! Cut it out!" David cried. "We still don't know what that thing was that came in the cave last night! It might be lurking about somewhere, watching us!"
This got the others all looking around nervously.
"Maybe it was just a goat or something?" Tom suggested.
"Ever been around goats?" Andy asked. "They're loud and smelly. And they probably would have made a mess or eaten some of our equipment or something." He looked at David. "Could it have been a satyr?"
David shrugged. "I didn't plan for any in the woods," he said. "But it's possible. They're too high level for us to fight though."
"Hey," Greg said. "Aren't there more monsters in the wilderness than in dungeons? Tougher ones too?"
"You shouldn't have been reading the Dungeon Masters' Guide," David told him.
"Somebody needed to," Greg argued. "You sure don't seem to remember much of it!"
"In the game you don't meet monsters until you're high enough level to fight them," Andy pointed out. "But in real life monsters wouldn't be waiting for us to get that powerful! What if we run into giants or dragons or something?"
"We should have bought garlic while we were in that town," Tom said. "Nobody would want to eat us if we smelled bad. And it would keep away vampires."
"You'd better not have put any vampires anywhere around here!" Greg told David.
"I didn't," Greg assured him. "Those are for like 9th or 10th level characters or something."
"What if one shows up anyway?" Greg demanded. "What could be worse?"
"Well..." David said, thinking, "Demogorgon...Orcus...Asmodeus...Baalzebul..."
"Isn't Baalzebub the devil?!" Andy asked him.
"He's one of the archdevils," David explained. "There's no Satan in the game. Asmodeus is the main ruler of the Nine Hells."
"One Hell ain't enough, there's nine of them?!" Greg cried.
"And the 666 layers of the Abyss..." David added. "And some other evil planes like Hades."
"666?!" Andy repeated. "I didn't know this game was that Satanic!"
"There's no Satan in the game!" David assured him. "Asmodeus and Dis look like him but they're not."
"If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck..." Greg said.
"Isn't Dis another name for Pluto or Hades?" Andy asked.
"Pluto isn't Satan," David said.
"Didn't they leave out Satan so they wouldn't get in too much trouble with religious groups?" Andy asked.
"Isn't that why your sister is a magic-user, not a witch or sorceress?" Tom said.
"I knew I should have made her just be a fighter like me," Andy said. "And why'd she have to be an elf? Aren't they some kind of monster, really?"
"Well..." David started to say.
"Spit it out!" Andy told him. "Every time you start to say something then stop it's always bad news! What is it?"
"Well..." David repeated. "In the game, elves aren't affected by things that harm humans or dwarves or gnomes or halflings. Um...one explanation is that they have...spirits...while humans have...souls. I...never could find what the difference was supposed to be."
"Are you saying Penny doesn't have a soul now?!" Andy demanded.
"I-I'm sure she must," David assured him. "I-I mean...she had one when she got brought here, so..."
"We've got to find out how we got here and get out fast!" Tom said. "I think the longer we're here the more we become like our characters. You guys were lousy fighters at first but now you're getting too good at it considering your only practice was those bugs and rats. And I cast that fog spell without really trying. Like I'd been studying magic for months or something."
"Maybe Penny fell out of that tree because she wasn't used to 19 dexterity yet," Andy said.
"And how'd she know how to cast that lightning spell, or call that cat?" Greg added. He turned to Tom. "Let me see your spellbook."
"You're a monk," Tom reminded him. "You can't use spells."
"Where is it?" Greg demanded.
"It's mine!" Tom cried, backing away from him.
"I'm not going to steal it, stupid!" Greg said. "This is important!"
Tom finally got his book and held it up.
"Where's the spell you cast?" Greg asked. "Turn to that page."
Tom did. "Okay. Now what?" he asked.
"Read it," Greg instructed him.
Tom started saying weird words that none of the others had ever heard before.
"What the heck does that mean?" Andy asked.
"Huh?" Tom said. "What do you mean?"
"Let's see that page," Greg ordered.
Tom begrudgingly showed them the page. The other boys stared at what looked like weird doodles and geometric symbols.
"You...can read that?" David asked.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Tom asked. "Of course I can!" His eyes grew wide. "Wait. Can't you?"
"Looks kind of like Spirographs," Andy said. "You know, those circles with the holes in them that you draw weird designs with?"
"You're...kidding...right?" Tom asked nervously. "Come on, guys! Not funny!"
"We're not joking," David said. "It looks like a weird mix of a weird foreign language and some drawings like Ancient Egyptian or something."
"Some of those squiggles kind of look like shorthand," Andy said. "I saw something like that in the origin of Doctor Strange. And Penny can read that weird stuff too?"
"Hey, Linda hasn't cast any spells yet, has she?" Greg asked.
"I don't think so," David said.
"She's a druid," Andy pointed out. "They don't have magic books, do they?"
David shook his head. "No," he agreed. "They...call on spirits of nature or...nature...gods..."
"Listen, guys," Andy told the others. "I don't think we should tell the girls. I don't want to scare them."
"Yeah, girls get scared too easy," Greg agreed. "But we gotta find a way out of here! I don't want to really turn into some ing monk!"
"We need to go to the city of Greyhawk," David said. "Try to find a wizard powerful enough to help us. Like Mordenkainen."
"You think a super powerful wizard would even talk to a bunch of first level nobodies?" Andy asked.
"If he's so powerful maybe he'll be able to sense we're from another dimension or something," Tom suggested.
"We've got to at least try," David assured him. "If he can't or won't help us..."
He didn't finished that sentence. He didn't have to. If the most powerful wizard in the known world couldn't help them to get back home, who could?
...
Russet grumbled as she walked to the creak to fetch water. One failure in battle and she was back to being Bronze and Copper's idiot baby sister! She noticed footprints near the water's edge. Bare feet. Hadn't that stupid human girl been barefoot? She hoped she wasn't going to run into her again! But no doubt most people in the wilderness didn't have shoes. Shepherds and the like.
A few feet further she came across two old buckets, already full of water. She considered taking them and leaving her empties, but most of the work was carrying the water back to her brothers, and she may have been poor, but she was no thief.
Russet sat down at the water's edge. She'd thought after the destruction of her village and the death of everyone she knew except her brothers, that she'd never cry again, but she had found herself sobbing after the wolf attack. Her brothers had been out hunting when the orcs had invaded, and she was only alive because she'd followed them. They'd only returned home when they'd seen the smoke, and stepped into a nightmare. Houses were still burning, and the dead and dying had been everywhere. She found herself starting to remember her family, and, as she had all these past three years, forced the memories away. She would not remember what they found in the ruins of their own house. She would not!
"Damn you...you dirty stinking orcs!" she whispered, clenching her fists. "I'll get you! Somehow, I'll make myself stronger, and I'll get you all!"
After awhile she got up, filled her buckets, then headed back to her brothers. She'd seen in the water that her eyes were now a bit red from crying, but she could tell them she'd gotten something in her eyes and stopped to wash it out.
...
"Good, the guys aren't here," Linda said when she and Penny reached the cave. They started draping their clothing across the big rock. "Hopefully our clothes will be dry enough by the time they get back that we'll be able to take them down."
"Yeah," Penny agreed. "Wish we had some chairs or a couch or something. Those chairs in that temple weren't very comfortable, but better than sleeping on the floor."
"I know," Linda agreed, sitting down beside her. "I don't think we'd be 'roughing it" this much back home even if we'd gone camping."
"No way," Penny said, laying down on the floor. "We'd have tents and sleeping bags with pillows and flashlights and a radio and everything. Not to mention food!" She looked up at Linda. "What are we going to do when the little bit of food we bought back home runs out? I haven't seen any wild berries or anything growing around here!"
"I don't know," Linda sighed. "I'd be afraid to eat anything I found growing. I might be a druid now, but I can't tell what's poisonous and what isn't. And I don't want to learn! I wonder if there's some way to switch my class to fighter?"
"So...if we go back home, we'll be like we were before, won't we?" Penny asked, struggling to get comfortable on the stone floor and wishing she'd at least bought a pillow back in town.
"I hope so," Linda said, staring at her feet, which were already dirty again from walking back to the cave. "I want to just be plain old boring Linda Potter again!"
Penny muttered something unintelligible.
"What was that?" Linda asked.
"You're so pretty," Penny said sadly. "You look the same as you did back home. You were pretty on Earth, and you're pretty here. And boys all like you. All of the guys like looking at you." She looked away. "Nobody ever looks at..." She clamped her mouth shut with an audible clack of her teeth.
"Penny..." Linda said, stroking the younger girl's hair. "You'll be popular with boys when you get older."
"Not like you are," Penny said, picking up her cat and cuddling her. "You look the same," she repeated. "I don't. I'm thin now. But when I get back home...if I get back home..."
"Oh, Penny," Linda said sadly. "You weren't fat." Well, not exactly...
"My looks were only cute," Penny pointed out. "I didn't get a good score in come-come-whatever it was called. But you did. You got a great score! We might have gotten stronger or able to do circus things better, but I think we got our real looks when we rolled that last time. I only look different because I picked elf, and elves aren't fat. I looked at my face in the water, and it looks the same, except my chin is pointier and I've got these big dumb ears. I look like that underwater guy with the wings on his feet in my brother's comics."
"I wasn't much to look at when I was your age," Linda told her.
"Stop kidding me," Penny said. "I remember when you were my age. You were already pretty and my brother was already checking you out."
"He was?" Linda asked. Was she really that unobservant?
Prudence, hiding at the mouth of the cave, had listened to the other girls in confusion. "Earth?" "Back home?" "Couch?" "Score?" "Comics?" "Checking you out?" What where they talking about? She shook her head. Well, if they were staying here for awhile, she should probably let Hepzibah know about them. She turned and hurried away.
...
The guys had searched the area again, then, realizing they were hungry, and had bought very little food back when they were on Earth, had decided to try hunting. The problem was, none of them had been Boy Scouts, so they knew nothing about tracks or how to find animal burrows. Or how to get the animals out if they found a burrow.
"Maybe we should try fishing," Tom suggested.
"Know how to make a fishing pole, or find bait?" Greg demanded.
"In some old movies they just use a stick and a piece of string," Tom said.
"You still need bait," David told him. "And a hook. And we don't have any of those."
"Maybe if we found a big fish, we could hit it with a rock or something," Andy suggested.
"Probably just drop it on your foot," Greg said. "But let's check and see if there's any fish."
Andy turned towards the lake, then looked back at him. "Wait a minute," he said. "You just want to check out Linda!"
"And you don't?" Greg demanded.
"I...that's beside the point!" Andy said.
Greg laughed. "Gotcha!" he said.
"If the girls went wading, they probably scared away any fish in the stream anyway," David said. "We'll check in the morning. Today we'll just have to get along with whatever we bought before we got into this game."
"Those biscuits we got are going to break all our teeth out!" Greg complained. "The game didn't explain what the heck 'rations' were! Did you see the prices for meat at the marketplace?! Maybe we should have bought some chickens or pigs or something."
"We would have lost them when we had to run out of town," Tom reminded him. "Are all priests of this sun god like that, or did we pick a really bad group to run into?"
"We must have been brought to this world for some reason," David said, seriously. "Maybe we're supposed to stop guys from conning people like that old priest conned us."
"But why us?" Andy demanded. "Lots of people play D&D. Why did we get pulled into the game? Why not older gamers. Somebody that could do something? That had been to college and knew how to solve serious problems like that?"
They were walking around as they talked, and Greg tripped over something, falling over with an "oof!" "What the heck?" he demanded. His next words froze as he saw what he had just tripped over.
"It's a girl!" David cried.
"A girl with wings?" Andy said.
"Who kicked me?!" S're-tal'gis demanded, sitting up.
"I-I-I..." Greg stammered.
Realizing these were the odd children she was supposed to be observing, the alu-demon tried to calm down. If she attacked them, they'd avoid her from then on, and her shape changing abilities were limited so far. Her mother could look like any female from a goblin to an ogress, but she could so far do little more than change her hair and eye color and make her cheeks either plump or thin.
"Who are you?" David finally asked.
"I...I'm..." Good question. What should she say? If she admitted she was a half-demon sent to spy on them, they'd avoid her like she was the plague. Wait. Were her wings and horns and hooves visible? Damn it! They were! "I'm...I'm a...a princess. Yes! I'm a princess under a spell by an evil enchantress. She turned me into...into a monster!" She made herself cry, a trick she'd been taught when she was very young to deceive stupid mortals into feeling sorry for her.
"D-don't worry," David told her. "We'll...we'll find some way to change you back."
"Oh, thank you!" S're-tal'gis said. She threw her arms around him and kissed him. If she wanted to, she could drain a mortal's strength from their bodies with a kiss, like her mother. But that would warn them to stay away from her, and she wasn't ready to act against them yet.
"Uh...y-y-you're w-w-welcome..." David said, staggering as if she'd drained his energy anyway.
S're-tal'gis turned away and threw her arms around Greg, who was still staring bug-eyed at her. She planted a kiss on him. When she let go, he fell over with a weird grin on his face. Males were so easy to manipulate!"
She gave Tom a big smooch, then turned towards Andy, who had taken a step back. Sure, she was beautiful, and she wasn't wearing much of anything. But she had wings and horns and hooves and...and then there was Linda. But when she put her arms around him, he was unable to force himself to push her away. "N-no, wait..." he said as she started to kiss him.
But he didn't stop her. But then...Linda didn't need to know...did she?
She giggled. These four were such fools! She could see she'd have no trouble deceiving them. Now she only had to worry about tricking the two girls into trusting her. They wouldn't be affected by her feminine wiles, of course, but she could always cry and tell them how much she'd always wanted sisters.
"I-I-I think it's st-starting to rain again," David stammered.
"Y-yeah," Andy said. "We should get back to the cave."
"Uh...y-you have a place to stay?" Greg asked her.
"No," she admitted. It was actually the truth. "It's getting cold." She grinned as Greg put his arm around her. "Oh...you're such a gentleman!" she said.
"That's me!" he bragged.
"It is?" Tom asked him. Greg gave him a dirty look.
"Which way is the cave?" Andy asked, looking around.
"That way!" the half-demon said, pointing. David, Andy, and Tom all stared at her, especially at her feet. Realizing this, she quickly added, "I...I'm sorry. I...I found the cave last night, but...but you were all asleep, and...and I was afraid to wake you up...because of the way I look."
"You look really good to me!" Greg said with a grin.
She giggled. "You look nice to me as well," she said. "All of you are so handsome!"
And so the boys headed back to the cave, not realizing they were bringing a demonic monster with them. What could possibly go wrong?
...
Many miles away, a group in plate armor stood about a very handsome young man. Cold blue eyes glared about him from under golden locks. He would have struck out or ran if he hadn't been held by a huge hulking man with a wild red beard.
"Danar Silverthorn," the leader of this group, an old man in glistening armor that actually glowed in the sunlight, demanded. "You are accused of betraying the Brotherhood of the Rose. How do you plead?"
"I have done nothing wrong," the young man said, holding up his hands. "This is a miscarriage of justice!"
"Don't profane the word justice by speaking it from your filthy lips!" the bear like man holding him said, tightening his grip.
"Enough, Brother Forbiri," the old man said. "Danar Silverthorn, it is the judgment of this court that you be stripped of all rights and privileges as a holy paladin, and excommunicated from the sacred order of Heironeous, god of chivalry, justice, honor, war, daring, and valor!"
"You can't do this to me!" Danar cried, struggling to get free. "I will not be treated in this way! Do you hear me?!"
"Forbiri hears you," the great bear of a man said, pushing the younger man to his knees. "Forbiri don't care!"
The old man gestured towards one paladin that held a sword in his hand. The other walked up to him, presenting the sword. The old man nodded. The younger cavalier brought up his knee and snapped the sword in half, then tossed it at Danar.
"You'll die for that, Tranidorus!" Danar hissed.
"Once I called you brother," Danar said in a cold, quiet voice. "Now I call you devil! May Heironeous, god of justice and valor smite you from the face of Oerth!"
"I'll smite you myself one day for betraying me!" Danar cried.
"Please stop, Brother!" a young woman, scarcely more than a girl, cried. "Haven't you done enough to shame your family?"
"And you're no better! You are no longer my sister!" Danar yelled, turning towards a beautiful woman in plate armor.
Deborah Silverthorn turned away. There were tears in her eyes. How could her own brother do all these terrible things? Deep down, she wondered, if the boy she had grown up with, whose blood flowed in her own veins, could turn against what was right, then was there a chance the same could happen to her? "Do not speak to me ever again!" she sobbed. "I don't know you!" She hurried away, unable to watch the excommunication of her own flesh and blood any further.
The paladins took Danar's armor and other weapons, as well as his warhorse. He was dragged to the entrance to the large temple of Hieronomous, which was much bigger and more regal looking than small temple of Pelor in the little village that our heroes had been to, and driven away. He shook his fist and cursed, vowing revenge, then rode away on the old plowhorse he'd been given. His only possessions now were a dagger, a bag of food, and a bag of meal for his horse. "If it is Hieronomous' will that you live, so be it!" the old man had said as he'd started on his way.
Danar didn't know where he should go now, but he knew he would survive. Yes, he would most definitely live. Live to get his revenge! Especially against Tranidorus! How dare he turn against him, and tell the Council of the Rose about his transgressions! Not to mention his own family! So he had beaten someone in a drunken brawl. The pig had dared to not show respect for his status as a paladin! And what of the foolish girl that had thought he would actually wed her? What was it to him if she was now with child? She was only a cheap commoner, little more than a strumpet!
What really angered him wasn't losing his weapons and armor, or even the warhorse that he had called for some time ago, or the excommunication. It was the unfairness of stripping him of his rank and paladin hood after all the years he'd wasted as a page and then a squire, dealing with a fat, lazy, violent knight. Scrub the floors! Sew up the holes in my stockings! Run miles in the middle of the night on foolish errands! Curse him, and curse them all! He'd find a way to bring down the Brotherhood of the Rose!
While he didn't know it, eyes followed him. Eyes belonging to creatures that, as a paladin, he was once sworn to fight and destroy. Perhaps, the owner of the eyes thought, this fool could be useful!
.
Originally the anti-paladin was chaotic evil, the exact opposite of lawful good, the alignment of the paladin. But evil knights would probably be lawful just like good knights.
We'll be seeing more of Danar and Deborah later.