>>>>>[SOLUNUS *and* NECROMANCER: Cut out the idle banter, guys, it lags the node, and pisses me, and I'm sure a dozen or more other people off.]<<<<< -- CyberWraith (18:10.09/03.14.55) >>>>>[I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to get this out to all of you, but I only got back into Seattle two days ago and I'm still recovering from Europe(only partly the jet lag). Well, after we rescued(hopefully...any word from Doomsday and/or Shadowfox?) Blitzkrieg, we all boarded Lister's chopper and escaped. It was a little hairy there for a while, with those choppers and the ACV chasing us, but we got away eventually. Max and I, along with most everybody, had been hurt pretty bad, and Claw was, at this point, too tired to try and heal us too. Besides, I had told Lister to let Max and I off}I could have left anytime, Rox. It was YOU that needed the rope to get out{ Oh, shut up, Max...where was I... Oh, he was going to let us off near the Swiss border and we could heal ourselves up when we found the caving gear Berlin was supposed to leave for us near the border. Well, we got to the drop point, but Lister was still too worried about possible tails that he wouldn't land. Not that there were any clearings large enough in that thick forest for his rotors to clear the trees, but that wasn't the reason he gave. So we dropped a line, and with Max's help }Yes, the esteemed Foxey Roxey, rough tough slitch that she is, needed help down a rope{ Max, shut the Frag UP! }snicker{ With Max's help I made it down the rope, as I was still wounded, you fragger Max. }Awwwwww Pity party....{ It was really kinda surprising to find Val waiting not too far outside the drop zone, waiting with some food, medical supplies, and a map to the caving gear and the nearest and safest border crossing. As soon as Lister and the chopper took off, really silently for a chopper, we took off too, not really wanting to be caught by the BIS or the MET2000. After a couple of kilometers the three of us settled down and Val healed Max and I up }Yes, they needed a rest. You normals get tired so easily{ I'm warning you, Max... Sorry, I'll try to keep him under control, but ever since he went free he's been, well... Upitty }Like I never was even when I was under you yoke{ You never complained }like I could have{ I treated you well, and if I hadn't, you and I wouldn't still be like this }true enough{ Thank you. Sorry again. Well, Val was rather appalled at the wounds we had, most of which were magical in origin, and he cursed several times. I've never seen him angry, or frustrated, but does anyone know what "fubar" means? He seemed to use it alot...}Valentine is not all he appears to be, and more{ Spirit, speak English, fragit! }Snicker chuckle gloat{ But anyway, he seemed to know exactly how to treat the wounds. The burns, bruises, acid blisters, even some schrapnel damage and my fractured forearm were all tended to with more skill than I thought Val had. He's not quite as good magically as DragonEyes, but I'd wager that he's got more paramedical experience than he does, not that I really care one way or another. He even has some knowledge of the local plants that let him make a really strong pain killer, non-addictive he says, that worked well on the soreness. After about an hour Max and I were both back to near full strength and several hours of sleep took care of the rest. The next morning I woke about noon, sore and with my interminable ache in the gut. Max and V }nice going, Rox. Where'd you learn how to type? Brian's school for the Hunt and Peck"?{ Shut the frag up, Max! Max and Val were gone, but he and I still have that kinda connection that we had when he was my ally, and I started seeing through his eyes and hearing through his ears. Val and he were about a half-hour away, and astrally it was an unpleasant scene. Val was in the cemetary of a small hamlet, all ruined and overgrown. Max's double mundane/astral vision showed me that the background count showed this place to be an old battleground, with lots of pain and hatred. Max told Val that I was awake and seeing through his eyes, and that I was sore but fine, and asked him to explain the count. Val explained, rather passionately I thought, that this was the place that he lost his best friends in war, a battle he was involved in when he was young. And that he had buried the dead of not only his entire platoon and the German platoon too, but the innocent residents of the hamlet. He said that only he and a single German soldier survived, and that the two of them buried over 50 of thier friends and enemies in the cemetary, and that later on the german died of a gunshot wound that Val himself had caused, Gangreen, and that the German didn't even blame him for his death, as he would have done the same thing. Val choked up some as he explained that his platoon had run into the Germans in the hamlet. His platoon had rifles, grenades, and two SMGs while the germans had an MG and a few rifles. Enough to pin down Val's platoon and force them to call for "Allied" artillery. The artillery came down and not only wiped out the germans but the civilians and Val's platoon too. You know, that place hadn't seen humanity in years, but Val knew it better than he knows his own face. He was quietly crying as he went around and pointed out where the bodies of all his friends and enemies were found. Max and I didn't think it wise to probe. I kinda wish I remembered the name of the hamlet, or at least where it was, so I could figure out just what Val was remembering... }as I said earlier, Valentine is not what he appears to be, and more than he appears to be{ Yeah, you're probably right... But the two of them came back and be began to trek toward Switzerland. 4 or 5 hours later we came across the cashe of caving gear the Berlin outlet had put there for us. Come nightfall we came up to the border, waited for the patrolls to pass, and then crossed. We didn't even run into any paranormals, which was probably Val's influence and particular druidic abilities and magic. And the ongoing German history lesson as we walked, mostly about last century's wars, battle sites, and atrocities(not that we haven't had our share this century). He's definately a WWI and WWII history buff }snicker{ Oh, shut up already. We made it to within about 10km of the cave and the swiss camp by the end of the day, but were too tired }limitations of the flesh, Rox?{ Wouldn't you like to know? }I'll go ask Nex...{ Ha ha ha...Like he'd tell you anyway! We were too tired to deal with the swiss or make the climb...(yaaaaawwwwnnnnnnn) }you are getting tired. Please, go. Get some sleep and food. You can come back and finish your story after you get some rest. Valentine would be very upset if I were to let you injure yourself, as would Nightfox. And you wouldn't want to get them angry, would you.{ No, I suppose not. Well, as per Doctor's orders, I'm off to get some sleep. I'll be back in a few hours to finish this off...(yawn)]<<<<< -- Foxey Roxey(19:12:22/03-14-55) >>>>>[ Hey, CW! Still waiting for most of your crew to come by. ]<<<<< -- HellSpawn <16:28:43/03-14-55> >>>>>[Ya ar' alrea'y in. Goo' Luck.]<<<<< -- STREETWOLF(Fire is an Elf's Best Friend)(20:20:35/03:14:55) >>>>>[Dammit, top ten is the same as top in the field. And I don't believe it, got it? Ah, who cares. It doesn't matter, and this discussion is just getting dumb. Oh well. See ya around, Necromancer.]<<<<< -- Solonus <20:17:52/03-14-55> >>>>>[Uh, yeah, I iced her last night, with an Attack-2 program Icepick, if MONICA is gone, wouldn't we be getting a little less traffic on some of these other channels such as <<>> and <<>>? If she were gone, someone would mention it...]<<<<< -- Solonus <20:33:17/03-14-55> >>>>>[No problem, CyberWraith. I've been trying to get it stopped for a while, hopefully I'll have some better things to do...]<<<<< -- Solonus <20:34:19/03-14-55> >>>>>[ Yeah... just before I left, Morgue mentioned that he was getting a tad bit paranoid. If you haven't had any trouble with Aztech, Jac, then I doubt that Morgue has anything to fear, since he was with you. All the Azzies that got a good look at me, are now dead, so I have no idea how they got an ID on me, except for maybe at the concert. Nonetheless, I'd keep your eyes peeled, and your backs to the wall. Unless of course your backs are as sunburned as mine, in which case, being shot in that area would be a welcome diversion. Fragging depleted ozone layer... ]<<<<< -- Warped Warlock <18:30:29/03-14-55> >>>>>[ Oh my what a tangled web we weave... Chairman Hirisoto?!? At Aztech HQ?!? You're slotting me, right? This is truly the definition of the word "droll". Where'd you guys dig up that info? And would one of you tell me what the drek's been goin' on since my absence? At any rate, I think I'll be taking the bullet-train to SF, and then grab a jet to Atzlan. After my previous run-in with the Azzies, I don't quite trust the local airports... I'll see ya in 24, at >>Encrypted<<, a private airfield in Atzlan. ]<<<<< -- Warped Warlock <19:03:34/03-14-55> >>>>>[Well, I finally got around to helping her out, sending her the instruct- ions on how to get her. That ought to help all around. Shadowland, meet Quickling.]<<<<< -- Solonus <20:49:48/03-14-55> >>>>>[Hi there (Solonus, thanks a lot for FINALLY telling me the damn address, I was getting tired of waiting and waiting and waiting), glad I can be here (FINALLY!!). I'm not from Seattle, but I'm here for a week...then I'll be head- ing back to Chicago. Of course, I'll also have the way to get BACK here, and I can always visit again. And yes, I'm actually a decker. Anyway, name's Quickling, I'm pretty much always in the market for work, and I'm pretty strapped for cash at the moment. Deck's a Fuchi Cyber-6 if you're wondering. Contact me here if you need me. Of course, now I have to meet all you people (and learn about this Necromancer person that Solonus seems to hate, and such other people. Gotta figure out why.) See ya around...]<<<<< -- Quickling <20:55:49/03-14-55> >>>>>[He might tell me, Roxey. Not that I'd ask. Having him and/or you drekking mad at me would ruin my day...for a couple of years and kids I'd assume...not counting what Max might do.]<<<<< -Harlequin >>>>>[Well, I feel much better }and you look and sound better as well{ Thanks Max. So, I'll see if I can finish this before Max again decides I'm too tired to continue. Max, using his ability to manifest in any shape he wants, and masking his aura, tried to sneak into the camp as a harmless animal, a small rabbit. Until he ran into a Swiss guard who was hungry for normal food instead of rations. The guard up and tried to shoot Max, and he escaped only to set the camp on edge when the guard complained about a disappearing rabbit. Nice one, Max. }I said I was sorry{ Yeah, you did, but it still didn't help later }so near and yet so far...{ So we slept until the next morning. Max finally woke me at about 0900 and I found the small glade we were in to be surrounded by animals, many more than ususal. And Val was talking to the European version of a Piasma. The funny thing is that it seemed to understand, and didn't mind when Val reached out and scratched the back of its neck. I've never heard the sound of a content bear, but this one sure sounded that way. And the other animals were acting kinda strange too. There were deer, elk, birds, squirells, and a couple of wolves too. And all of them were behaving as if they were totally unafraid of us and each other. The predators weren't even attacking and eating their normal prey. And one by one they went up to talk with Val and then took off. All in the direction of the Swiss camp and the cave's entrance. It was about noon, as the animals began to return, that I noticed a tall human figure walking in such a way that he was sure to be noticed. If I hadn't recognized him as Nightfox I would have blasted him immediately. He seemed to totally enjoy all the animals about, smiling and seemingly forgetting the whole reason for being here as he laughed at the birds wheeling about his and our heads. He said something like this: "I'm glad I was watching the camp, Valentine. Your sacred grove here was hiding your position and auras wonder- fully, until some of your friends, and that elk you sent out looking for me, led me back here." Val laughed and explained that they were doing our recon for us. And as the day wore on the animals returned and we got an idea, from thier minds mostly, as well as their pitifully small memories, of the layout of the camp, the numberof guards, and when N'Ralen added what he had been watching since last night, we were able to plan our stealthing through the camp to the cave. Unfortunately, about this time my pain, which had reduced to a dull ache in my gut for most of the trip, returned gradually. Partially it was due to N'Ralen being close by as he's magically very powerful and that seems to be one of the things that triggered my pain. But he wasn't the main reason, and neither he nor Val(Or Max, as far as I know) could figure out the main reason besides that the area is more magical than usual. So Val gave me some of that pain- killer he had made up from local plants and that took care of it for a while. But as dusk came and we moved out to the cave, the pain got worse again, even through the pain-killer. So Val and N'Ralen began to cast spells to counter the pain. But sometimes the pain was still almost crippling. Max showed me my own aura, through his astral eyes, and I began to understand why I was in so much pain. My aura was in a state of fantastic flux, sometimes arcing like electricty to the earth or the Astral plane, sometimes creating a channel direct to a metaplane or just bubbling. It was awesome, and terrifying. I'm lucky that it's settled down now, more or less }tell them why, Rox{ In good time. The rest of the story must be told first, and the'll likely figure it out by then if they haven't already. Well, we got to the edge of the camp and Val and N'Ralen cast some really powerful illusion spells that kept us hidden from the guards and scientists. There was one point where Max had to use his manifesting ability to distract a magical guard scanning astrally before he could spot our otherwise hidden bodies. And there was one point where something really nasty happened to my aura }her entire aura went solid black, a black that seemed to suck in the mana in a totally unnatural manner, or at least in a way I have never seen before, but I am still young...{ and all the spells on me and the painkiller didn't seem enough and I cried out softly, but still loud enough to attract the attention of two guards even through the illusions. Luckily N'Ralen clamped his hand over my mouth as the pain got worse and then backed off to the level it had been at for a while, and Val used his illusion skill to distract the guards and "fly" a little bird that made the same kind of noise I had. Really a beatiful solution to an unplanned for problem. But after this we made it into the cave without incident. Once inside we avoided the few Swiss that were inside as scientists. Most of them were in side tunnels anyway and I knew exactly which tunnels we needed to follow. We donned our caving gear, switched over to astral sight for ease of seeing, and then began our trek. We went up and down and walked and climbed and levitated and even swam once(I hate blind cave fish, and icy cold water) }just because the innocent fist swam up your pant leg is no reason for you to hate the fish on general principles{ and once we were out of the water we literally dried ourselves with magic and sat and ate our, well... Breakfast. We had gone about 6km and had about another 12 to go, most of it under the German side. We got a little sleep and got up later and took off again. This is when our near total reliance on astral vision almost cost us our lives. Somehow, the original...builders isn't quite the right term, but close enough for now...had placed traps here. And all of them looked like they were from the Fourth World. Or maybe from around 0 AD in this case. Well, we came up on a deadfall trap concealed with mundane but living rock. N'Ralen was leading at this point and he triggered the trap and about 40m of cave roof collapsed on us. With max's help, and some magic too, we were able to dig our way out. We were lucky that the magic was still working normally as the background count was going higher and higher as we went further in. That's when we all donned the caving lamps and the leading person went with normal senses, looking for more traps. And traps we found in abundance. Arrow traps, dart traps, covered pits, anchored hellblasts, swinging pendulums, collapsing walls, spears, you name it we ran into it. Hundreds of them. It took us hours longer than it would have otherwise just to get around the fraggin traps! Then we ran into the new ones. Like the monowire falling grid. Had it not been for Max pointing out the tripwire a weighted grid of monowire would have turned your's truly into long square columns of flesh. Not the way I want to go... This was the first indication that there were enemies before us still. It was about this point that the cave took on a new aspect, more like a tunnel than a cave. And that's when stairs began to appear, as well as notches in the walls that were lit with what looked like natural gas torches. The looked like they'd been lit recently, like within the last week. And the background count went higher even, and the pain I had been feeling disappeared almost totally. }yes, her aura settled down to what it was naturally. But I must describe the beaty of the tunnel. The mana flows were...human terms are hardly sufficient'todescribe the sensation. Beautiful and awe-inspiring don't do them justice as they were also terrible and horrific and...well, I just can't describe it{ And neither can I. I saw all that Max did and he's right. You just have to experience it yourself, although that's not very likely now with all the heat that we are responsible for(oops). And we ran into Smith, Klien, and French. Those three.... Again. Those fraggers...drekheads, sons-of-a-slitch.... They had decided to attack us in the tunnel. Oh, almost forgot. The tunnel has a small stream running down one side, ice cold as from a glacier, and the air had been getting signifigantly colder. And the three started blasting away at us, using SMGs and grenades and spells and an earth elemental. It would have been funny, that earth elemental. Val summoned up a Cavern spirit that appeared like a moving stalagmite. I had thought that they would be a form of Mountain spirit, but apparently Val knows more about them than I do. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place }aargh...{ And seeing N'Ralen bottle up a grenade inside a physical barrier until it had exploded and disappated harmlessly was great. After a while, with lots of little illusions and a small hellblast that sent all three diving into the stream to quench the fires I started on thier clothing, they retreated. Well, we went on, but Max is telling me(again) to take off. I'll try to sneak on later, but if not... I'll finish when I get up tomorrow.]<<<<< -- Foxey Roxey(22:45:17/03-14-55) >>>>>[Ahem....and if she was around, would she be tormenting all of us, Solonus? I haven't seen her 'round the Seattle Matrix in a while anyway. Do any of the _real_ runners out there know what is going on with her?]<<<<< - Icepick <21:46:23/03-14-55> ***Incoming SatLink Transmission >>>>>[Pretty wiz, eh? Friend of mine got me some satellite uplink equipment straight from the stores of the ol' Russian space program....Sure it's a little bulky....ok, it takes up most of my building's roof....but it's great! Lags me a little more, but it's better than a relocate program! Anyway....on to more important matters. Durandal, I'll take those rounds over to your place tomorrow morning....be forewarned. *snicker* She-Devil, I have that new module done, I'll bring it over with the ammo. *static* Frag. Gotta run. I think NBS just figued out I was hitchin' a ride on their satellite.]<<<<< - Necromancer <22:20:11/03-14-55> >>>>>[Pretty wiz, Ded-boy, but your landlord might not like that 3 meter antenna on his roof....]<<<<< - Icepick <22:21:30/03-14-55> >>>>>[Who'll notice? I'll look forward to interfacing with you again, Jer. I have something special planned I cooked up just for you.]<<<<< - She-Devil <22:23:12/03-14-55> >>>>>[That sounds rather....interesting....]<<<<< - Icepick <22:24:37/03-14-55> >>>>>[ So, you have returned from your faraway sojourn now, Warped Warlock. Well, my patience is infinite, but I would like a meeting, quite soon. ]<<<<< -- Vilya >>>>>[ Jacamus, yes, I have referenced the files and read your account. But I need a few more details, could you send a small resume to ***** LTG NUMBER ***** and I shall consult a few experts in the field for their opinions. (This might cost you either a some nuyen or a favour for later collection, your choice.) Let me know if you are interested in further investigations. (From your recollections I would strongly recommend it.)]<<<<< -- Vilya >>>>>[Icepick: No, MONICA's not doing anything. The flood of data into AI is still going, if a little less. I'm keeping an eye on the place.]<<<<< -- Raven <**:**:**/**-**-**> >>>>>[Piper, I'll be there.]<<<<< Dendayar <14:22:13/03-15-55> >>>>>[Ok, thanks, Raven. Can you tell what kind of data is going in?]<<<<< - Icepick <07:40:43/03-15-55> >>>>>[She wouldn't be tormenting ALL of us, probably just people like you that deserve it (just kidding, I refuse to start up the flame war again). And she might not be in Seattle. Fine by me. My guess is she's hanging a- round in Chicago, since that's where I saw her last (only a quick glimpse, lucky me).]<<<<< -- Solonus <07:41:09/03-15-55> >>>>>[Worped Worlock, It`s public knowledge down here about Hirisoto. It's some kind of a "Major Business Negotiations" type dreck with Aztechnology. If you are wondering why we are her, it`s pretty simple. We followed Bloodfist! I`ll see you at the meet.]<<<<< -- Frosty >>>>>[Well, now that I'm awake again, MAX! }I take it you didn't like the time- delayed sleep spell?{ NO! }grin!{ Let's see, I was just going over the battle with the three BASTARDS!!!!! }calm down, Rox, and you were done with that part. You had just got to thier retreat down the tunnel{ Oh. Ok. So they put out the fires on their clothing by jumping into the stream, and then they ran back, stopping after about a hundred yards and regrouping. We all followed, carefully watching for traps and other goodies like the tripwire grenade we found and the monowire set at neck height. Well, we saw them disappear around a corner and we carefully came up to the corner ourselves.What we saw was beautiful as we stuck our heads around the corner. It was an entry cavern, just before our goal, and it was lit. Not by fire, though. The walls glowed in an almost prismatic manner, casting light throughout the entryway. And while Val disarmed the claymore set at the corner(I wonder where he learned to do that?), N'Ralen and I looked around. The cavern was vaulted, with almost gothic looking columns set along the walls for support. But they had not been placed there--they looked to be cut from the heart of the mountain itself. The walls were of clear crystal quartz, and the columns went from clear to a deep purple. The vaulted roof of the cavern was covered in sigils and runes of an old language that I do not understand, but N'Ralen seemed to. He was most impressed, and he told me what the runes meant. "This, the Vault of Time, shall stand till the Old One who guards it falls. Honor him in death and life and thee shall know the honor we did him and the honor he shows us. This place, created by him for the Vault of Time at our request and with his assent and aid, shall be a place of peace until such time as he deems it necessary for battle to be joined and the old ones return to claim thier birthright." Max and N'Ralen were both suitably impressed, and the runes were definately of Fourth World origin. This was about the time that not only did I notice its shape of an ellipse, but a lone figure standing at the far point, looking at the entrance door, away from us. And as we carefully entered, we noticed that the three had taken up positions along the wall, perfect for crossfire, but were not firing for some reason. Perhaps the fact that the Old One, whoever he was, had imprisoned hundreds of individuals, all armed and in combat with each other, in the crystalline walls and columns of the cavern. }it is beautiful, Rox, that the Old One, the spirit of the mountain itself, would honor a bargain from so long ago, even through the dead time of the Fifth World when mana was low. No looter ever damaged the Vault, and even the battle{ NOT NOW! I'm getting to that, Max! }oops. I'm sorry{ No, you're not }grin{ Well, as Max has partly ruined the story, I'll hurry it up. The runes showed that this was a sanctuary from battle until the Old One decided that the old ones, in this case us and the lone figure, returned. We wandered around, even walked right past Smith and French, but they didn't attack as they knew it would mean their imprisonment forever in the crystal walls. Max disappeared for a while, and when he returned }I told them that the people in the walls were still alive, after eons, and even conscious. They knew how much time had passed and were aware of everything, including the amount of time the Old One had imprisoned them for. Some of them will be in that cavern until the Old One dies...{ Thank you Max! LET ME TELL IT!!!! }pout{ Well, we four found our way up to the closed doorway on the far side of the and N'Ralen again read the sigils. It was funny. We still coldn }snicker...{ Oh, shut up about my typing... We still couldn't see the features of the figure. "Before you lies the inner sanctum, the home of the source. Only those who know the way may pass" No riddle to solve, no nothing. Just a mention that we could get in, but not how to do it. N'Ralen said this aloud, and that's when we heard behind us the voice of the figure say, in his strange language and along with N'Ralen, the exact words of the vault door. N'Ralen was rather surprised, and an intense look of pain and anger appeared on his face. For behind him was his parent's killer, and my parent's killer, and the elf who still vowed to kill me as the end of a family line and a blood oath. Etsy, who's real name I still don't know for sure, stood there, with his goatee and blond hair and elven ears, laughing as I readied to blast him out of existance with a spell. "Come, come now my dear Elissadril. You wouldn't want to become one with the walls of the Vault of Time, would you? And N'Ralen, I am so glad we meet again. It has been quite some time since we spoke face to face like this, although my agents tell me you are doing excellently in your studies at college. And how is Seraphylanjalijigusnort these days? Still up to his old tricks on my lawn while I am not around? I certainly hope so." "Don't even bother trying to enter the sanctum. I've been here three days myself and have yet to find 'the way' in. Perhaps because I've been inside before, with your father, Elissadril. But then again, perhaps not. You, however, are known to the sanctum, and will be my guide and aid that lets me inside." I laughed and proceeded to tell him exactly what I thought of his idea, parentage, clan, and sexual relations in not so nice terms. And all the while he was laughing, until the outer vault literally rumbled. It seemed that the Old One had decided the old ones had returned, and it was time. And the drek hit the fan. Bullets started flying from the three, and spells began to fly from everyone. Val wasn't even fighting, just standing there keeping all of us encased in anti-bullet barriers. Grenades were thrown and for the next several minutes the three, but not Etsy, just poured out leaden death. But to no avail. They literally ran out of ammo. And the vault seemed to laugh at them as the realized that not only had they not hurt us in any way, but the vault was totally undamaged. The magic of the Vault of Time had somehow managed to ignore the bullets and explosions that should have chipped the walls and columns at least, if not shattered them. And there was nothing damaged, not even any scorch marks. Etsy just smiled at us, motioned the three to leave him alone, and then turned around, facing the other focus of the ellipse. Somehow, N'Ralen had disappeared from near us and reappeared at the far point, facing Etsy. That's when the most intricate hermetic...ellipse appeared and r began to light the floor. All sound from within the circle was cut off as a fantastically powerful ward and multiple barriers rose in an arc, meeting over thier heads and totally encasing them in mana. They seemed to perform a rather long ritual ceremony of some kind, a naming of names and clans, and then they actually began to fight. Magically, of course. Etsy was rather surprised at the beginning. As N'Ralen had said before, they had met and fought once before but he was much better now. Apparently Etsy agreed as he smiled and the mana began to flow, lighting the barrier and wards with the energies of two fantastically powerful magicians weilding the strands of life with finesse. That's when the pain hit me again. It had gone away when I entered the tunnel like part of the cave, but it returned with a vengence. I literally passed out for a few minutes there until it came under control again. And when it did, there was a picture in my mind of exactly what needed to be done to enter the inner sanctum, and how I would have to do it, and what would happen to me when I did. Somehow, I generated a magical lift under my feet and rose along the ward to the vertex of the vaulted roof. There were sigils, older even than the the other ones, in a language dating, the Old One said, to before the cycles. And I pressed them and understood thier meaning, and the great door opened. I settled myself down again before the door, ignoring the raging battle behind me, and stared forward into the sanctum. It was the Cave of Lights, the true Vault of Time. An ice cave, lit by mana, a cave of mirrors, perfectly spherical, and the actual source of the mana spike that started the whole thing in the first place. And with it opening the mountain rumbled again, and the battle came to an abrupt end. Etsy, slowly beating down N'Ralen, was most glad for the opening, and N'Ralen smiled at Val and I. It appears that neither of them wanted to fight at the time, but somehow the magic and the spirit of the Old One entered them and forced them too as part of the requirements for my entrance into the sanctum. Why he allowed me to enter I don't know, except that my father somehow had something to do with it. Etsy cursed, tried to pass me as I entered the sanctum, and was stopped by a barrier at the door, and then the door closed behind me. This is where things got interesting for me. The sanctum turned out to be some kind of storage device for mana, tied in directly to the cycles of the Worlds and the spirit that the Great Ghost Dance taps. And it had allowed me into it, as it felt honorbound to help me when it couldn't help my imprisoned father.And my life as it was came to an end. When I finally realized where I was, I had already been removed from the sanctum by Val and N'Ralen. Etsy had left and I was told that he had tried to kill me. }I'll take over now, Rox, as you don't remember what happened. The mana within the sanctum, as she calls it, was concentrated and poured into her in a way that essentially woke her to the true potential of her own magic, and it drained away the mana for kilometers around, causing a reverse mana spike and a temporarily mundane area of Germany to occur, a dead zone that is now returning to normal. And when she left, Etsy realiszed what she had become and tried to kill her. The Vault and the Old One, recognizing him as one of the old ones, didn't try to stop it in any way, and it caught N'Ralen off guard. Valentine too was surprised, but not Rox. The spell he threw at her should have destroyed her atom by mundane atom, and yet it did nothing. It washed over her like a cool mountain breeze and she just smiled. She then looked him right in the eyes and told him this: "Because of you I am created. I am Mistress to the Cycles and beyond your power here in this place. Leave and beware when again we meet." Etsy was surprised, looked rather worried, and then faded out as he left. When I looked at Rox again, her hair was rising as if lifted by a wind, her eyes were on fire, her skin almost glowing, and her aura perfectly stable and more powerful than I had ever seen it. That's when she fell over, passed out, and we woke her{ Thanks, Max. So, anyone know what I meant when I said "I am Mistress to the Cycles?" I sure don t(and no typing comments, Max!) }Who, Me?{ and I wish I did. And Val just smiled when I asked him and said he'd tell me eventually. Probably after I already know the answer... We got out of the cave the same way we got in, minus N'Ralen who left the same way Etsy did as he had a quiz the next day and wanted to make sure he didn't miss it. And we had to again sneak through the Swiss. We made it to Paris and then returned here. And I have a question: does anyone know what a mana spike, focused on me, would do to...an unborn child?]<<<<< -- Foxey Roxey(11:38:45/03-15-55) >>>>>[Dendayar: I'm on my way. My transport leaves in... Oh, FRAG!!!!.... *****CONNECTION INTERRUPT*****]<<<<< -- Piper