Bungleau's Missy Hissy Adventures (all in one thread!)

[Bungleau]

Chapter 31: Of Leprechauns and Loons

As Missy Hissy appeared in the central park in Brimloch Roon, she heard a rumble of thunder. "Strange," she muttered to herself. "I thought the wizardmagic around here kept nature out..." Collecting her thoughts and possessions, she turned and headed for the pawn shop.

Her thoughts ran back to Kerah in the undersea temple. She had appeared strangely angry when the teleporter broke, but Missy wasn’t quite sure why. Certainly it hadn’t been her method of entering and exiting that temple – it clearly hadn’t been used in ages. And the platform through which Missy entered... that hadn’t moved in an eternity as well, judging by the algae slime which had grown on the top of it. Kerah must have her own special control of moon magic, able to set portals in places like the undersea temple. Missy knew she could only create one portal; perhaps Kerah’s skills allowed her to create more of them.

As she pushed open the door to Miruth’s pawn shop, a brief smile crossed Missy’s face. Soon she’d be done with Miruth’s endless prattle about the leprechaun. Between him and Sebastio, the beeswax earplugs from Strumbold were getting quite a workout.

Miruth looked up as she came in. "What’s that you’ve brought? I can sense the energy."

Missy took out the clover stone. "This? Why, it’s a little trinket picked up at a fair, sold by a huckster..."

"No, you lie," screeched Miruth. "I can feel it – it’s a clover stone. There really is a leprechaun!"

"Was," Missy corrected. "Was. As in pushing up daisies, looking at the grass from the other side, moved into the pine bedroom, done. Was a leprechaun. And you’ve now got the proof he existed. Right?" She glared at Miruth.

"Yeah, I’ve got it." Miruth eyed Missy. "Oh, you’re wanting your reward. Here’s some gold, and I’ll put a word in for you with the guild. You can consider yourself a full guild member now."

"Anything else you need done?"

"Naw," said Miruth, fondling the clover necklace. "Nothin’ else needs doin’."

Missy stepped out of the shop, then realized she’d forgotten to off-load some of her newly found gear. As she stepped back in, Miruth looked up at her. "You’re too late," he said. "Someone else already returned the necklace. But to thank you for your effort, I’ll put a word in for you with the guild. You can consider yourself a full guild member now."

Missy stopped and stared. "I am the someone else," she said in a low voice. "You already rewarded me, remember?"

Miruth ignored her. "Whatcha want?"

Missy sold off the swords and shields she’d picked up, wondering what had happened to Miruth’s mental abilities. True, he was an older rattkin, but he shouldn’t be that bad off... leastways, not if he was supposed to be running a shop like that. Missy collected her gold and headed out once again.

On a lark, she stepped back in. "You’re too late," barked Miruth. "Someone else..." Missy turned around quickly and headed out. Some things you just don’t want to deal with.

Muttering aloud, causing passers-by to glance at her nervously, Missy strode to the edge of town, then through the gates. Looking over the waters of the Enchanted Sea, she took a deep breath, inhaling their salty spray. No sign of the thunderclouds she’d heard inside the town. Interesting, she thought, as she teleported back to Kerah’s underwater temple.

[Bungleau]

Chapter 32: Loose Ends

As Missy Hissy arrived at the underwater temple, she realized she'd forgotten a couple of things in Brimloch Roon. Before she could teleport back, she heard the rumbling of the underwater door. Curious, she looked as a group of adventurers climbed up from the watery depths and looked around the temple, taking in the white pearl columns, the magical light, and the beautiful Kerah. As their eyes fell upon her, one - a mighty warrior, by appearances, asked her name. "Missy Hissy," she replied. "And who be you?"

The newcomers stepped back, one (apparently a valkyrie by trade) almost falling back into the pool. The great warrior, Danish by background, looked at her with strange eyes. "We've heard tales of you, but thought they were merely mother's prattle, destined to keep her children in order. We are the emissaries of the great and wondrous Stackman, sent to fulfill his wishes yet again, in yet another glorious and highly-piled adventure."

Missy looked over the group. "I've heard of you as well," she said. "The mighty troupe that can go where few others dare. You have my respect." She looked over the six adventurers - the Great Dane who first spoke to her; the Dane-Tee warlock wearing little but a T-shirt; Dane Fogelberg, the bard; Sous-Dane Mouvement, the zenmaster; Oxy Dane-t, the assassin who was never convicted; and Pry-Dane Defence, the mighty valkyrie. She hoped Stackman would forgive her instant nicknames for his adventurers; while the worlds often collided, one god usually left the others' charges behind.

They chatted of adventure, and Missy noted that the spinning obelisk thing had been repaired in her brief absence, but unfortunately, not well; as soon as the Great Dane set it aspin, it crumbled once again. She bid the adventurers adieu to return to Brimloch Roon for her forgotten errands.

As she appeared back in the central square, she slipped on evidence of a recent gathering. Scraps of paper that wrapped blackened turkey legs, hawked by local merchants, fluttered all over the square. Bits and pieces of gossip that she heard as she hurried along led her to believe that the god Stackman had recently appeared, and she had missed it. Cursing her luck, she turned into the Bushi Dojo.

Sensei Asami looked up from the workbench, where he was sharpening another wakizashi. Under his expert care, the blade could slice the skin off an orange without cutting into the flesh of a single wedge. "You've returned, and the Darkened One is no more," he said.

Missy growled, noticing a long, skinny piece of paper that had stuck to the bottom of her plate mail boots. "Correct, he is no more," she said.

"The guild appreciates your service and recognizes your skills," said the Sensei. "Here is but a token of our appreciation."

"Anything else you need done?" Missy asked.

Sensei Asami looked at her in the flickering light. "There is one more thing that I would ask of you, esteemed warrior of the night. A pirate, Bloodbeard by name, has been causing problems for us. Find him, and eliminate the problem. That should not be hard for one such as you."

Missy glanced up. Was he making light of her work as an assassin? True, her heart was not always in it, but she was still one of the best. No, he meant no disrespect. "I will take care of this," she said. "He shall be a problem no more."

Missy headed out of the Bushi Dojo and went over to the temple, where long lines of townspeople were asking for healing. One of the lesser clerics recognized her, and ushered her into the back rooms. Guild rank did have its privileges...

"Greetings, Malakai. What caused all the traffic?"

Malakai smiled wearily. "The god Stackman was he-"

"Yes, I know," said Missy. "I stepped in some of the leftovers in the square."

Malakai continued. "The god Stackman was here, and there was a great celebration at the death of the leprechaun."

At this, Missy looked around carefully. She thought that only Miruth knew about the leprechaun's demise.

"Great celebration," said Malakai, "and great drinking, and feasting, and dancing... but the drinking was too much for many of the townsfolk, and they have been coming in here non-stop, looking for something to take the throbbing pain away. We're almost out of ash twigs, and the willow bark is running low as well. Still, we have ample supplies of feverfew, so the townspeople should be safe.

"All right then. Here," said Missy, offering up the Relic of Isis. "I believe this is what you were looking for."

Malakai inhaled suddenly, scarce believing what was before his eyes. "The relic! You've found it!" He took it gently in his hands, and then clutched it to his breast. "At long last..." He rocked back and forth gently, swept up in emotion.

Missy cleared her throat. "That's nice. Anything else you need doing?"

Malakai looked up, his eyes moist. "I wouldn't ask this, but there is one more holy symbol that has been lost, the monk's ward. For those who follow the monk's path, it is a symbol of greatness. If you could find that, your place in the heavens will be assured."

"Okay," said Missy. "I'll look for it." She looked at Malakai again. "No... erm... reward... for the relic?"

Malakai tore his attention from the relic again. "There is little I could do," he said. "You are already well-revered within the temple. A small sum of gold is yours for the asking."

"Keep it," said Missy. "You have more need of it than I do."

Missy walked out of the temple, heading toward the wizard's guild, scarce believing that she had just turned down payment for a job. If word got back to the assassin's guild...

[ 11-24-2003, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Wyvern ]

[Bungleau]

Chapter 33: Salve Sebastio

The late morning sun rose high in the wizard-created sky as Missy Hissy left the temple, turning west toward the wizard's guild. Checking her pockets for Strumbold's earplugs, Missy decided to stop in to let Sebastio know she had managed to open Anephas' shrine.

The bell jingled on the shop door as Missy walked through, the smell of burnt potion mixes assaulting her senses. Sebastio straightened as she approached. "Greetings. I sense there is news in you."

"I opened that shrine you were looking for," she said. "The ward resembled this staff I found, and the touch of the staff broke the seal."

"An amazing staff, then," said Sebastio. "You would do well to keep it with you. The thanks and appreciation of the guild go with you, noble one."

"Yeah, yeah," said Missy. "That and a couple of gold will get me a cup of nymph coffee... if they haven't raised the prices. Anything else you need done?"

Sebastio shook his head. "Silence... there is only silence..."

Missy's blood began to boil. She'd had enough of his long-windedness. Who knew you needed words to say nothing? "Are you sure there's nothing else? If you recall, I do have a rendezvous scheduled with a living tree shortly... with a seed or with your head. Makes no difference to me."

Sebastio seemed to shake his head mentally. "The living tree - of course! The seed - it should be done by now, if my calculations were correct."

"Can the calculations," snapped Missy. "Is the seed ready to go back?"

"Yes... and no," replied Sebastio with a grin. He bade her to come to the back of the guild store, and she followed him, suppressing an urge to rip out his devil-spawned tongue.

Brushing aside the heavy curtains, she was amazed at the collection of tubes, burners, tubing, and beakers that were set up. Last time she was here, there was naught but a small collection of potion bottles. "What's all this?" she asked.

"Many years ago," began Sebastio, "I studied the time of bloodshed, and the rise and fall of Oakenmir, the greatest of the living trees. He was betrayed by a goddess, and fought valiantly to defend his charge as keeper of the Mavin, falling only when his children were all slaughtered and he himself heavily wounded, burnt scarcely beyond recognition."

Missy put her hand in her tunic pocket, rolling Strumbold's beeswax cylinders between her fingers to warm them up. "He told me about that. What's the point?"

Sebastio continued. "The sacrifice he gave, the challenges he went through, have always been an inspiration to me. Selflessly giving one's present and future to defend one's oath... that has always been the hallmark of the champions, but seldom the guardians. I have often thought that were Oakenmir able to actually move, he would have been the greatest champion ever."

Missy slipped one of the warmed wax cylinders into her ear. "But he can't, so he didn't. So what?"

Sebastio's eyes caught fire. "I also said 'so what'. So what, for this noble creature who gave all. But then... then... I heard of something. A sorcerer in the south, near Valeia, was working on bringing things back from the dead."

Missy nodded. "Scabban. Yeah, he was... but not any more. He went a little too far with it."

Sebastio smiled sadly. "Poor Scabban," he said. "He learned a great truth, but applied it foolishly. Trying to bring dead humans to life again... that is something for the gods and the temples to do. But bringing other things to life... that is something else indeed."

Missy's hand stopped short of her other ear, the wax cylinder slightly expanding. "Bringing what to life?"

Sebastio smiled. "Scabban's mistake was in trying to bring it all back to life. Had he looked deeper, he would have seen that life requires life to exist. If life has left, there is little to keep the ghost here. But if there is even a brief flicker of life remaining, then... oh, then the flicker of life can be nurtured to a flame, to a roaring bonfire of the joyous celebration of existence, to -"

"Cork it, Sebastio," Missy said. "I know life is good. What are you trying to say?"

Sebastio's grin stretched across his face, and indeed, seemed to spread across another one yet. "With the seed of the living tree, and with the knowledge of Scabban's experiments, properly applied... I have been able to create a second seed, fertile and vibrant, full of life. Look there!"

Missy turned. There, in the corner of the room, was a good-sized pot, filled with soil and with shoots of green poking up from the rich earth. "What is that?"

Sebastio practically glowed. "That, my dear child, is the seed of the living tree... culled to maturity and fruition, and growing... oh, growing, yes, yes, yes... Oakenmir gave up his future to protect us, and nine hundred years later, I have found the secrets to give his future back to him. In another two weeks, these will be old enough to travel, to move back to the darkened glen where Oakenmir lies in despair. Then they will grow, yes, yes, grow and become strong, bringing comfort to the sacred tree that his sacrifice was not in vain, and that his race will continue, yes, yes, yes...

Missy eyed the wizard carefully. Last time someone had babbled like this, steel was stained with blood. Yet today, Sebastio seemed much calmer than Scabban had appeared. And there were indeed small plants growing, and she could see them moving, and waving. And unless her ears were playing tricks on her, some tiny voice was calling out for its mommy.

"You're serious, Sebastio? You've managed to split that seed without destroying it, and soon, there will be more seedling to take back to Oakenmir?"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes," cried Sebastio. "In my most glorious hour, this has happened. And you thought I'd never amount to anything, Mommy... you always liked him best. Well it didn't do him much good, did it, now? Yes, yes, yes!"

Missy backed out of the guild area slowly. She'd head back in a week or two, pick up the seedlings, and take them back to Oakenmir, to give him the good news. Still, she wondered... Scabban had gone too far with his experiments and paid the ultimate price. Perhaps Sebastio was not quite the same, but what would be the ultimate price for his experiments?

Settling her gear, she left the mossy gates of Brimloch Roon once again, and prepared to teleport to Kerah's undersea temple.

[ 11-24-2003, 11:36 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

[Bungleau]

Chapter 34: Rebirth
Once again, Missy Hissy crossed dimensions and ended up in Kerah's underwater temple. This time, with her pack empty and no further minor tasks to complete, Kerah's words rang in her ears. "Anephas was a champion, but a magical champion. He knew little of battle and war, and the best battle he could plan was a tragic draw. You know more of arms and militia than most, and with your help, there can be no other result."

Missy took a breath of air and descended into the depths, to ride the giant column back into the shrine. As it reached bottom, she jumped off, water dripping from her armor and leaving puddles on the floor. She took the strange obelisk with her and continued exploring, discovering strange markings on the floor throughout the shrine and finally finding a beam of light coming from the ceiling. She placed the obelisk on a stand, and it reflected light down the near corridor until it hit a wall.

Missy stared at it for a moment until she realized that the light was passing over some of the strange floor markings. Nearby was another obelisk with markings similar to those on the floor, and when Missy moved the obelisk onto the marks, it too changed the light beam's path.

Walking along, moving obelisks onto squares, Missy followed the light path through the temple until it came to a giant stone slab, an altar of sorts. No more markings were present on the floor, and Missy soon realized that she needed to find something to put on the altar. Wheeling around, Missy began searching for something to put on the altar.

Among the dusty rooms of the shrine, she soon found a small altar apparently dedicated to the worship of the simple baboon. Placing the small baboon statue she had found earlier on the altar, she heard a grinding noise behind her. The stairway, which she had noticed before and failed to jump across, looked different, and she was able to cross it now. Ascending, she found three treasure chests, and inside one of them, a small urn with ashes in it and the mark of the mavin on it.

Breaking into a run, she headed back to the altar room and placed the urn expectantly on the altar to see... nothing. It just sat there like it had in the treasure chest, and as frustration rose in her throat, she noticed that the beam of light was nowhere to be seen. Backtracking, she discovered that she had accidentally knocked several of the obelisks off the floor markings. She began moving them back, paying careful attention to the obelisks behind her, and as she moved the last one in place, she heard a great commotion.

Turning, she saw that the urn of ashes had heated up from the light until it exploded, and the ashes swirled into a wraithlike form, becoming more solid until it became human, or something like it. She recognized the tall body, the golden face, the wispy beard... it was Anephas, just like she had seen in the paintings throughout the shrine.

"I am back... but who has brought me back?" asked Anephas, gazing around in wonder.

"I did, Anephas, with Kerah's help," responded Missy.

"Kerah?" he spoke. "She is still here... there is still hope. But if I am here, Cet is also still here. I cannot leave, lest he know it. You must open the pathway for me to do battle with him."

"About the pathway..." Missy said. "The teleporter's apparently broken in the temple under the water, so -"

"It matters not," interrupted Anephas. "I sense the black pearl on you... go to Cet's pyramid, and I shall meet you there."

"Black pearl? You mean this?" Missy held up the black pearl ring.

Anephas gave a start as he looked at it. "She - no, it couldn't be. She would never - Go. Leave here while I think about what this means. Such treachery after all these years... it could not be. I will open the door to let you access the Lost Sea."

Anephas remained still with his thoughts as Missy headed toward the ruined room she had traversed earlier. She found the pathway open now, and climbed up toward the surface. Treachery? From who?

[Bungleau]

Chapter 35: Of Kings and Crowns

Missy Hissy pulled the lever hidden behind the fallen statue and slowly rode the grinding elevator to the surface. The sun shone bright after the dim light of the shrine, and she paused for several moments to let her eyes adjust. There was sand, just as there was at the entrance to the shrine, but more vegetation, and she could smell the salty tang of a nearby sea in the air.

She released her daggers from their sheaths to make sure they were working smoothly, then resheathed them and headed toward the smell of the ocean. The thud of rope on boxes and the tang of steel hitting steel reached her ears, and as she stepped into a clearing, a party of seafaring travelers greeted her. After a brief discussion, during which they wanted more than she was willing to give, steel flashed in the sunlight, and in a few moments, with balls of fire and ice raining down from the sky, she was surrounded by disintegrating corpses. Interesting... Jathil's mind tricks seemed to be so effective now that she could cast a firestorm on herself, and suffer no ill effects.

She realized that the giant body of water in front of her must be the fabled Lost Sea, unviewed by sentient eyes for centuries. How the pirate group had arrived there surprised her... perhaps they had surfed through the trees, as rumors abounded, or perhaps a miscast Vanish had done them in. In either case, those who operated outside the law were often found in strange places, and they were no longer a concern for her.

Wading into the shallow salt water, she stretched out her arms and began swimming. Following the shore, looking for items of interest, she soon found an island with a small opening. She was confronted by an old samurai, whom she promptly slew, and retrieved an ancient sword from a giant boulder. Thoughts of an old legend of a boy who became king by withdrawing a sword from a similar stone crossed her mind, causing her to laugh. What would she want with kingship? To be beholden to all those below her, to be in fear for her life, lest she upset one of them? To sleep every night, not knowing if she would wake up in the morning? To eat a meal, not knowing for sure if the food was good or poisoned until it was too late? That was not the life for her, to be sure.

Heading west, she found a clearing with the remains of a wooden cart. This must be the marker for Talrik's treasure, she thought. Inventorying the two chests that had fallen from the cart, she found little of interest. Pulling out the map Talrik had given her, she studied the words. Nineteen measures due south... but there was naught but the wild sea in front of her! Stepping back into the water, she swam out, diving periodically to check the bottom of the sea.

At long last, she saw something in the depths, and diving deeply, defending herself from several crabs, she found more treasure chests. These must have fallen from the ship, while those on shore had been salvaged.

As she opened the last treasure chest and scoured its contents, she looked around before heading to the surface, and nearly lost her air. Before her, in the depths of the sea, was the remains of a lost city... it must be the fabled city of Collaseum!

[Bungleau]

Chapter 36: Treasure Beneath the Sea
Switching her helmet and bow for the underwater helm and breather she'd purchased from Buckley at the shipyard, Missy took a deep breath and dove back down to the chests. Searching around, she found a doorway into the underwater city, but after a few moments' search, she was blocked. Taking another breath from a bubble of air in the ceiling, she dove down and swam back out. After a few more minutes, she found another entrance, and this one led to something more interesting.

Missy swam in the eerily glowing water, illuminated by some deep-sea plankton or other glowing plant life. As she swam, she saw where time had taken its toll, with pillars crashing down and fish swimming in and out of holes in the walls and ceilings. She saw another painting with the flying mermaid, but the head was gone, algae growing on the edges of the hole in the wall where it used to be. Heading through one small room, she surprised a beautiful woman relaxing in the water.

"Oh, no, go away!" she shrieked, and tried to swim away.

"Wait, wait," called Missy. "I mean you no harm. Why do you swim away?"

The mermaid turned around. "All air breather hate water breathers. That's how it has always been. You're an air breather. So you must hate me, even though I think I'm nice. And now I'll get in trouble for talking to you..."

Missy smiled as best she could with the strange-looking water helmet on. "It's true that I'm an air breather, but that doesn't mean I hate water breathers. Even sharks... I don't hate them. If they went their own way, I'd leave them alone. If they bother me, then I defend myself, but I don't hate them."

The mermaid looked curious. "You don't?"

Missy shook her head. "No, I don't. And I've only met you...why would I hate you?"

The mermaid looked perplexed. "I don't know why you would hate me. Perhaps what I've been told all these years isn't so true."

"Perhaps not." Missy extended a hand in friendship. "My name's Missy. What's yours?"

"Sarellia," said the mermaid, touching Missy's hand gingerly, as if she expected it to bite her. "What are you doing down here?"

"Exploring," said Missy. "And looking for some tablets."

"Tablets?" said Sarellita. "The Oracle knows about tablets. You can find her through here," she pointed, opening a large grate. "And here. This stone may help you. You seem nice for an air-breather, not like they told us in the stories growing up."

"Stories, huh?" said Missy. "Those stories about air-breathers... did they include stories about winged mermaids?"

Sarellia shook her head. "Everyone knows the stories of the goddess aren't real. That air and water could exist together... preposterous, they used to tell us. They said that the winged mermaid was the most evil person in the land, that she killed her lover because it suited her. They never told us what a lover was, but they told us that if we didn't behave, we'd be left for her to catch and do with us what she pleased. And it never pleased her to do nice things, either."

"Did this goddess have a name?" asked Missy. "What else can you tell me about her?"

"She never had a name, just the goddess. It was because of her that the city went into the sea. She forced air and water together to beat earth, but it didn't work. Then she added fire, and she beat earth, but air joined with fire and water ran away. That's what they always told us."

Missy could see that the mermaid would be of little more help, so she took the glowing stone and headed down the opened passageway, stopping to take a breath at a pocket of ancient air. It was stale, tasting of years gone by. She wondered who might have breathed there before; she wondered if someone may have passed gas there, that floated and remained, stored for centuries until one such as her needed a breath.

Continuing on, she found her way to a library of sorts, where she met the Oracle, who told her of the need to collect all the stone tablets to fulfill the prophecy and battle Cet. Missy found the first tablet in the library, and swimming around, found more air pockets and a second glowstone. She soon found the second tablet, and en route to a third glowstone, found the largest crab she had ever seen. Truly the size of a room, the crab was worthy of the title inscribed in the golden tile near her... the mother of all crabs. Perhaps the person-sized crabs she had been battling in the depths of the Lost Sea were but this crab's offspring... even so, the mother was not happy, and Missy fought a furious battle, being wounded near unto death before finally slaying the mother crab. She paused for a moment, her hand upon the pendant passed down from her mother, and thought of her, wondering what she would be doing now, if she were alive, and what she would think of her daughter's activities. Shaking her head, Missy buried the thought in the back of her mind with the dagger blow that she was certain had ended her father's life, and continued down the passageways.

She found a blank wall with a slot near it, and placing one of the glowstones in the slot, saw the wall move, opening up a rotating room. Entering in, she continued to search the underwater city, soon finding a spy serving Cet, whom she quickly dispatched to another life. She finally found her way to the third glowstone, and then made her way to another room where she could sense treasure, but couldn't see it. Looking around, she found slots that appeared to match the glowstones, and with glowstones inserted and levers flipped, soon opened a hidden room with the third tablet. Collecting all the tablets, she retrieved the glowstones and headed back, to head up to the surface and find Cet's final resting place.

[Bungleau]

Chapter 37: Of Lizards and Locks

As she broke the surface of the Lost Sea, Missy Hissy felt tired. All the fighting and the killing... and now she floated in a deep sea, far from any civilization and any other creature. Except the occasional sea shark, that is... and she dispatched the two that swum up to investigate her with little more than a pair of dagger swipes. Kill often enough, and you know where to strike to kill quickly. Part of the assassin’s trade that she had learned, though its learning weighed heavily on her.

Calling on the powers of the moon, Missy cast a spell to call her back to the civilized confines of Brimloch Roon. She thought of the group of adventurers she had seen in Collasium... followers of Stackman, she wondered if they had also spoken to Kerah, as had she, the now-dead Kol, and probably many others. How could so many people be the chosen ones, the saviors of the Gael Serran, the protectors against Cet Ude D’ua Kahn and his evildoings? It was too much for her mind to fathom, so she pushed it to the back and stopped in to see if Miruth had regained his sanity.

He hadn’t.

Missy cleared her pack of the things she’d collected. Funny... her tastes were changing. Why, it was but a week or two ago, and she would have collected every sword and staff, saved every spear and shield. Now, she’d as soon be rid of them as anything else, leaving them behind as scraps for another.

Heading out from Brimloch Roon, she teleported back to the area of Collasium and swam north. As she approached dry land, she suddenly sensed a jungle lily. One, perhaps more... they always liked to travel in packs. Knowing that the overgrown salads were deadly, even to one as skilled as her, Missy set out at breakneck speed to try to find it. Kill or be killed, yes, but always eat your salad before you become dinner...

Missy ran in circles, battling more of the wild longtooths (and leaving their hides on the desert ground), but could not find a trace of the lilies. She did come across a many headed beast... this must be the Hydra that Lord Brinsly had asked her about. Several firestorms later, the hydra was no more.

Walking past where the hydra’s body had decayed into mush, she found herself at the edge of a vast desert. Knowing the dangers of getting lost in the desert, she set her eyes on a distant point and marched forward, keeping always to a straight line. Strange and deadly creatures approached her, from vicious sand crawlers to two-headed Dumdee Oleohs.

At one point, she thought she saw a group of adventurers in the distance, but it turned out to be her eyes playing tricks on her... although she did appear to see footprints in the blowing sand. And there seemed to be a weeping or sobbing sound coming from somewhere near by, but she couldn’t find exactly where it was coming from.

She found an opening in the woods on the eastern edge of the desert, and dispatching another band of desert raptors, she soon found a guarded chest with the most complex lock she had ever seen. Even though she had learned from the best, it still appeared to be beyond her skill to pick easily. Fortunately, she had been saving a level-four lockpick that she’d found in Skull Castle for just such an occasion, and with a flourish, she opened the chest and removed a green-stoned amulet. A quick examination revealed that it was inscribed with the name of the first monk of the temple, Morris the Meek. He had tried to go by Morris the Magnificent, according to legend, but he never lived up to his billing. Still, he uncovered quite a bit of knowledge about the workings of the body, and monks to this day owed him a debt.

Pocketing the stone, she created another portal and teleported back to Brimloch Roon, to regroup for the adventures in front of her and to take the stone back to the temple.

(minor edit done by Wyv)

[ 01-01-2004, 03:18 PM: Message edited by: Wyvern ]

[Bungleau]

Chapter 38: That's the Stack, Jack

Having fulfilled the final quest for Malakai at the temple, Missy Hissy returned to the desert by magical means, where desert raptors, among others, tried to have her for dinner. ‘Twas the last meal they ever tried to eat... and she left their eggs to rot on the desert sand. Pity... at one time, she would have treasured the piece of the future they contained, but today... there was only death. Bleak, grey, despairing death. If not someone else’s, then hers... so she passed death along to all who bothered her. And sometimes merely breathing was enough to be a bother.

Wandering around the desert more, she encountered more Dumdee Oleohs. Sturdy creatures... it took a lot of effort to bring one down, and if enough of them were to surround her... well, perhaps it would be her turn to partake of death. But not today, at least, not yet.

As Missy continued her passage through the desert, she spied something a distance away. Upon approaching, it soon became a giant pyramid, and the sounds she had heard the other day were now more evident. The mythical Stackman was at the base of the pyramid, gently caressing one of the sand-worn stones that made up the bottom ring of the stack. He looked up as she approached.

“Another of you, to test the Stack?” he asked.

“Another? You mean, there are more?” she replied.

“Yes, more,” he responded, looking off into the deepening dusk for a moment. “A group I have been shepherding, though they need little of my assistance. They have already entered the Holy Stack, and it is here that I fear I must leave them. But you... are you alone? Have you had assistance?”

Missy’s heart rose into her throat. “I... am... alone. In many ways. There is no other with me, and there is no other like me. I do not know why I journey on, but I do. I just pray there is something of an answer - no, wait. I do know why I journey. I journey to find the coward who killed my father.”

“Coward?” Stackman asked. “But --”

“A coward,” declared Missy. “One can kill with honor, or without it. If she were not a coward, she would have killed him herself, taken the chance in direct combat. But no, she paid for his death in trinkets... and mine, too.”

“But you’re not dead, at least as far as I can tell,” continued Stackman. “Or if you are, this is the most pleasant conversation I can recall having with a corpse.”

“On the outside I’m alive,” said Missy, gritting her teeth. “Inside... inside, I’m not quite sure. I used to be alive, but I don’t think I am any more. Something is missing.”

Stackman nodded. As one of the gods, he often saw things beyond mortal ken. “I suggest you move forward, into the Stack. I believe you will find the answers to many things within the Holy Stack, and perhaps many more questions as well.” He gestured towards a central opening.

Missy nodded and bade farewell. It wasn’t often you talked to a god, and you never wanted to make that conversation your last one. Gathering her equipment one last time, she trudged toward the opening.

[Bungleau]

Chapter 39: To Boldly Go... or Not

As Missy Hissy approached, she noticed that some of the walls seemed to shimmer and fade. Stepping up, she saw three holes, each similar in shape to the stone tablets she had picked up under the sea in Collaseum. Curious... who would have brought the tablets to that underwater city? As she fitted the tablets into the holes, they grew strangely warm, and stuck in place. Fitting the last, she looked around and saw a lever, just like she had seen so long ago in the crypt. Pulling it, she watched the giant doors grind closed, and another pair open.

Missy’s eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she followed the narrow tunnel until it opened to a large room, where half a dozen mummies suddenly appeared. Dispatching them to dust and bone with dual daggers, she soon saw another doorway. Following it, she came upon another room with chests and within those chests, a number of empty flasks. Grabbing a couple, she moved onward to another battle, this time with giant pit fiends. Steel again showed the way, and to the far west, she found a pool of strange water. She filled two of the flasks in case they proved useful, or simply to sell to the next blithering city fool whose idea of adventure was going out to drink without permission.

She found a hidden room with the final Tome of Creation; sticking it in her pack, she made the note to stop and visit Sensei Asami when she got back to Brimloch Roon. They might be of interest to him.

She found more creatures, all of whom fell to her blade, and more chests, but little of interest. She passed a triple-trapped floor, her reflexes saving her from falling through all three traps. She passed it by walking across a narrow beam, dispatching the pit fiend who was waiting on the other side.

Along the way, she kept seeing signs of fresh movement in the pyramid, but not from anything specific. Dust was cleared away here; cobwebs brushed aside there; an occasional bloodstain spattered the floor, as if someone else had recently done battle. Still, there were plenty of beasties to taste her steel.

She made her way past a sliding wall, again regretting that she had not set a portal at the entry of the pyramid. One of these days, she’d remember to do that... She passed a small library, in which she found a small treasure hidden away, but nothing that truly interested her. Then a low moan whispered through the air, and unsheathing her wizard blade, she crept forward.

She found the ancient lich G’Ezzered Ra, his chest ripped open with his ribs sticking out, a gaping maw where his heart should have been. Or whatever cold, pitiless organ fueled his black magic-powered body.

“Help me,” he wheezed.

“Why?” asked Missy, putting away her blade. It was clear that he was no danger to her.

“Lord Cet tricked me to eternal life,”rasped the lich, “and now he has tricked me to eternal death. He needed the spot of black fire in the relic, and he has rekindled the black fire here. But to * cough * show his displeasure with me, he has ripped my heart out and hidden it here. I cannot die while it beats, and I cannot live, now that I see how he used my own greed against me.”

Missy looked him up and down. “So? Looks like you’re getting some of what’s coming to you.”

G’Ezzered Ra spat on the ground. “Do you think I’m his only pawn? Pfaugh! Others, including you, are his playthings. Would you stop him in his game? Or shall that contract be fulfilled?”

Missy whirled close, her wizard blade out and a hair’s breadth from the lich’s throat. “What do you know about the contract?”

“Little, except that it was written some hundred years ago. I wrote it, at her request. As usual, the victims didn’t exist yet. That came later, when the contract was given. It was the sixth contract she’d had me write... the other five were fulfilled. You,” he said, as he raised his ghastly head, “you were different. You survived. That gave them hope.”

“Hope for what? And who is ‘them’?” Missy was getting angry. So close to the truth, yet so far away.

“I will tell you the rest when you bring my heart back and throw it in the black fire over there. Part of his cruelty... chaining me here, in sight of the only thing that can release me.”

“You tell me now, or-“

“Or what?” sneered the lich. “Killing me would be a blessing, if you could do it. And once I tell you, you may leave, leaving me here for eternity. No, bring my heart back and put me out of my misery, and I will tell you. No need to hurry... I have plenty of time! Ah-hah-hah-hah-hah....”

Missy left the cackling lich and retreated to Brimloch Roon for a brief respite. Somehow, she felt the next bit of her life would be very interesting.

[Bungleau]

Chapter 40: Outer Peace, Inner Fury

While in Brimloch Roon, Sensei Asami stood in amazement at Missy’s collection of the four Tomes of Creation, and offered to train her as a Zenmaster. While she’d been an assassin far longer than many who have plied that trade, Missy felt ready for a change, for a different purpose in life, and accepted. After the usual few minutes of practice, she was soon fairly skilled, and returned to the pyramid.

She soon passed the lich again, who merely raised his head and cackled. A part of her felt no pity for him, but her recent passage as a zenmaster helped her realize that life truly is a circle, and all that one does comes back... again and again. Ending the lich’s misery would change her own karma for the better, or at least that’s what she thought. Ultimately, time would tell.

She swept past, a woman on a mission: finding the heart and finding out the more about this winged mermaid who plotted to have her killed before she was born.

Stone fiends, ice fiends, and tiny fire fiends blocked her way more than once, but they fell to a stroke or two of her blade. The treasure they dropped was worth nothing to her, and she left it behind. She soon rounded a corner, beset by a demon lord who sought to curry favor with Cet... in short order, he was currying naught but a place to rest up before his next life began.

Heading again, she soon found herself at an inner pyramid... a stack within the stack. Gazing up, she saw that it reached deep within the heights of the pyramid... if she saw Stackman again, she’d mention this wonder of wonders. She decided that the best way to proceed would be to head to the top of this inner pyramid, and then work her way down. Her ears detected the sound of stone rubbing against stone, a grinding sound that seemed to resonate through the chamber.

Dispatching a pair of pit fiends and a mummy who had wandered across her path, she began wandering around in search of the source of the noise. She soon narrowed the grinding down to a small area, but elevated higher than she could reach. She realized with a smirk that the fabled Stackman would have saved some of his adversaries, to be stacked and raised as a primitive ladder, but she had no such patience... and an appetite for the unusual.

She circled around, eliminating fiend after fiend and climbing on narrow ledge after fiery lava bowl, until she found herself across from the area where the grinding was coming from. Reciting the mystical mantra of “Save early, save often” yet again, she coiled and leapt out towards the wall on the other side, landing with cat-like agility.

Searching around, she saw nothing but a wall of stone. The noise seemed to come from there. Approaching, she saw that it was in fact moving... when it arrived, she stepped forward gingerly and rode it to the top, where she saw a platform and stepped off. As the giant wall dropped back down, she reflected for a moment... it was similar to the giant elevator she’d seen in the area underneath Anephas’ Shrine. Perhaps the same architect was responsible for both of them.

Another wall slid down, and she realized that it was a double-elevator. Jumping forward, she missed her opportunity as the second lift went upwards. Waiting a couple of minutes, it returned and she hopped on.

As the elevator reached its zenith, she stepped forward and saw a raised platform with a small dish on it. Just the place to store a heart, she thought, and stepped forward...

... to a blinding flash of magic and swirling steel! Cursing her own foolishness at being so caught up in her goal that she forgot the world around her, Missy rolled forward and to the side in one of the new moves she’d learned from Sensei Asami. The magic just bounced off harmlessly, thanks in part to Jathil’s Gezurite mind tricks and the protective enchantments she’d added to her jewelry. As she prepared to lay waste to the enemy that attacked her, a voice bellowed out from the shadows.

“HOLD!”

Missy stopped for a moment, calling on the assassin’s tricks of hiding in the shadows while her eyes adjusted. She saw the Great Dane in front of her, the giant barbarian who was the lead meat shield for Stackman’s group of adventurers. Swiveling her head, she saw the rest of the Danes.

“We meet again,” said Oxy Dane-t, the assassin. His hands were never clearly in sight, but she recognized their placement near sources of hidden weapons.

“So we do,” said Missy, standing up and sheathing her blade quite visibly. No sense in alarming the whole party; she meant them no harm. “I am looking for something; perhaps you’ve seen it?”

“What might that be?” asked Dane Fogelberg, the bard. “We’ve seen many glories and wonders... perhaps I can regale you with their tales.”

“I’m looking for a heart,” said Missy, eyes beaconing from side to side to cover the entire party. She hadn’t missed the assassin’s attempt to slide behind her. “A lich’s heart, to be specific.”

At this, the Danes seemed to draw protectively together. “What you want with heart?” asked the Great Dane.

Missy looked up at him. “It’s simple, really. There’s a lich who needs to tell me something, but he won’t unless he’s about to die. And I need him to die, so I can punish she who killed my father.”

Pry-Dane Defense, the valkyrie, strode forward. “We have found this heart. But easing the pain of a soul is a valkyrie’s mission. I don’t know that we can let you just have it.”

Missy eyed the valkyrie, then stepped sideways. Bloody assassin was still trying to sneak behind her, and she definitely didn’t want him there right now. “I would not take your duty lightly, nor would I keep you from it. But I need information from that lich. And he will not give it up until he is about to die. And I’d rather that he be the only one to die in this discussion.” Her eyes flicked knowingly toward the assassin.

The valkyrie nodded. “You have a great need, I can see. As long as the lich is put out of his misery, my vows will be maintained.” She reached into her pack and pulled a slimy bag, dripping with black ichor. “Here is the lich’s heart. End his misery, and find your answers.”

Missy accepted the heart. “I will end his misery and keep your vows. After that... my father’s death will be repaid.” She headed toward the elevator, and Stackman’s party followed behind.

[ 01-02-2004, 12:33 AM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]