From: phyllis@amc.com (Phyllis Rostykus)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: STORY : Much Ado About Nothing (part 1 of 6)
Date: 3 May 91 22:41:48 GMT
Reply-To: phyllis@eld.amc.com (Phyllis Rostykus)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA

This is a write up of a game at the last DunDraCon.  Not everything that
happened in the game happened in this story and not everything that
happened in this story happened in the game; but it's a fairly close
approximation.  Chuckle.

MUCH thanks go to Carl Rigney for not only running the game but doing a
wonderful job working this thing over as an editor.  And thanks to Bruce
(Hachiman) Harlick, Mark (Kilroy) Bailey, and Kathy (Catskill) Fugitt for
giving me solid feedback on their characters.   Plus the countless folks
that helped with editing detail.  It *all* helped.

The game was run on Carl's particular varient of Shadowrun, and I hope that
the story pleases.

Phyllis

-------

	Saraquael watched with narrowed eyes as Ben Ali strode quietly into
the Highlands Graveyard, a rent-a-rack.  Saraquael was curled up in the
back seat of Renowyn's little sports car, her delicate face impassive, her
tiny body comfortably relaxed.  Part of her wanted to flinch as a squat,
heavily bearded man in leathers with an arrowhead through his cheek came
by and whistled at them.  Renowyn smoothly got out of the car and the
go-ganger narrowed his eyes at the speed with which Renowyn moved.
Renowyn's hand flashed quicksilver under the neon from the Graveyard's
sign.  The ganger moved away.  Saraquael only blinked her mismatched blue
and yellow eyes, following Catskill's lead.

	Catskill watched the goings on with quick interest, utterly at ease
in the front seat.  Much of her interest was focused on the quiet
efficiency and exquisitely dressed form of Renowyn.  Cat's ease was all
the more striking for the fact that she wore only a silver-grey spandex
bodysuit.  The bodysuit showed every muscular inch of her short, slender
length and her beauty was as much a product of the evident power in her
body as the striking features of her Eurasian heritage.  

	Catskill ran her hands through her short black hair in 
frustration as she frowned at the list in her hand.  She turned to
Saraquael, "Looks like we have everything we need, except for a square of
pure, virgin silk.  Any ideas as to where to pick that up?"

	Saraquael frowned a bit, "Maybe Pierre?  He made that silk blouse for
you a little while back.  He might have some more of it."

	Catskill grinned and got on the phone.

	Renowyn got back into the car and Catskill's body relaxed into his
long length.  He smiled and accomodated Cat's body while she continued to
speak.   Cat bantered and bartered with the same ease that she had dug out
all the other information that they had needed for all their other jobs.

	Ben's bulk showed up under the lights and he made his way back to
Renowyn's car.  His movements were slow, solid, but graceful for all his
bulk.  When Saraquael could see him under the street lights his normally
generous mouth was set in a hard line and his brown eyes were dark.
"Thanks..." his voice was so soft Saraquael could barely hear it, the drawl
almost incomprehensibly thick, "Thanks for waiting for me.  Y'all have
been extraordinarily kind." 

	"Did you get everything?"  Saraquael's voice was quiet.

	"Yeah.  Everythin' Lady Sabre said would be there was there." The
accent slowly dissipated with his tension.   Catskill finished her
conversation on the phone and Renowyn started the car.  Ben continued, "Got
replacements for just about everything the muggers took at SeaTac.  Even a
phone.  I really do appreciate you lettin' me use your phone, Miss
Catskill."  

	"No problem, Ben.  I think we're more than even." Cat smiled,
"Sabre got us the information we needed for this run.  Some of it I wasn't
able to get from any of my other sources.  Hittin' a magical target can be
hazardous to the health without the right information.  Besides, it means
that we will have your... capabilities to help back us up."

	Saraquael sighed softly and played with the slender braid of the
tail off her flat-topped hair.  Ben had told Sabre his specialty in the bar
when he had borrowed Catskill's phone for the call.  Saraquael wasn't sure
how she felt having another shaman in on a job; but what the Spirits
provide one would be foolish to refuse.

	Ben was very quiet during the ride to the dressmaker's house.  
Catskill and Renowyn went in to get it and came out with a several square
yards of cream colored fabric folded in a packet small enough to fit in
one hand.

	As they made their way to the target, Catskill quietly said, "I
think I'd like the guys to stay as backup in case we need them.  Sara and
I can probably handle it, but if we holler, come runnin'."  There was only
quiet agreement in the darkness of the car.

	All of Saraquael's impatience, her tension and her anticipation,
she held back until the last ten minutes of the car ride.  Then, soothed
by the white sound of the wheels on the pavement, which sounded so much
like a soft Seattle drizzle upon a roof, Sara softly cried to the world
her heart's desire in the soft croon of a mother cat.

	She called gently and sweetly, enticing the spell with her love of
stealth, her need for hiding, her delight in the trickery's possible, and
her desire to keep Catskill safe.  Gently laying her emotions upon the
True World, she called for the shadow of invisibility and the spell came,
born of her desires and the womb of the world.  {Strong, so strong,} Sara
smiled as the spell lived and walked, to gently embrace her friend.

	Catskill disappeared and, for a second, the air laughed.

	The guys let them off a little ways away from the main gate.
Saraquael had fun watching the car door open by itself, but once outside, 
she shut it so that the cameras wouldn't have anything to balk at.

	Sara waited, pacing along one section of the wire fence that
surrounded the exclusive complex that was Merlin's Court. It was a
neighborhood rumored to have the highest concentration of methodical
magicians in the city.  The place made Sara's skin crawl at the cold,
hard, forced shapes in the life around her.  The ruthlessly shaped trees
and bushes, the bright barreness of the gene-tampered flowers, and the
machine cut flatness of the grass were reflections of what these people
did to their lives and the power of their living.

	She paced before the fence, impatient for Catskill's return but
knowing that the job would take time.  The spirit of the spell that she
gave to Catskill coiled from her, one slow coil at a time, irritating her,
calling her like a small child needing attention or appreciation.

	Out of the night, an old, ragged tom cat came yowling to the fence,
a battle-scarred warrior demanding an audience.  He looked at her, called
her commandingly and then stalked off into the darkness.  Sara froze in
indecision.  Catskill had said that there were probably motion sensors on
the fence and, besides, Sara knew that she wasn't strong enough to go
over.  For a second longer she hesitated and then ran back to the car.

	The dark window of Renowyn's car slid down at her approach.
"I...  I think she's in trouble," Sara said, worriedly, "I'm not exactly
sure what to do, but something tells me that Catskill is in real trouble."

	"Get in."  

	She got in and they drove up to the section of fence that they
knew was close to the address of the house that Catskill had gone into.
As they got out Sara saw a fire bloom from the roof of a house, flowing
unnaturally DOWN the roof and wall.  Suddenly the fire broke around
something that was wildly running towards them.  It screamed, high pitched
and shrill, and smoke bloomed off it.

	{Thank you}, Sara caressed the living sorcery with her pleasure at 
its work and she let loose of it like tossing a bird back to the winds.  
Catskill abruptly appeared.

	Saraquael reached out and hissed in confusion at the white hot edge
of pure flame.  Not living, seperated, it was a creature of abomination.
No balance, no tolerance of anything that it could not transform or change,
the Flame sought simply to consume.  So very different from the living
desire and concerns of the Spirits, she was confused by it, baffled by its
strangeness.  Then the Fire licked at Catskill and Cat screamed again.

	Driven by that sound, Saraquael squalled a battle call and put 
every sharp, bloody edged bit of her anger and terror into trying to hurt
that unnatural creature of seperation.  The Fire wailed and spat in pain
and tried to hit her back.  Exhilarated by its pain, knowing now that it
could be touched as the Spirits could be touched, Saraquael slashed at it
again with her will that the Fire return to its place.  The Fire
flickered.  Before she could loose another attack, something that tasted
of tree-shadowed waters, inhuman patience, and immense strength snapped
dripping jaws of power and snuffed the Fire out.

	She turned to find Ben Ali.   She stared at him for a long 
moment, but Catskill's sobs brought her attention back to her friend.
Catskill swarmed up the fence and set off alarms that made Sara just want
to put her hands over her ears; but she and Renowyn helped Catskill off
the fence on their side.

	The alarms called to the uncaring night as they all piled into the 
car and drove off.

	Catskill was sobbing in pain.  Ben started chanting in his deep soft 
voice and Sara felt the air thicken with his call.  The hair on the back
of her neck prickled and danced, and she felt the spirits come swirling in
at his beckoning.  Sara pulled out the medical kit, knowing that after his
call all the surrounding spirits of healing would be exhausted.  All she
could do was rely on the physical medicines.

	Catskill sighed and relaxed as the healing spirits flickered and
dimmed.  Ben collapsed back into a corner of the car.  Sara gently worked
on the light burns that were left with the medkit, spraying and spreading
and bandaging as she went.  Catskill's voice was shaking slightly as she
said, "Thanks."

	Ben's soft voice answered, even as his eyes remained closed, "You're 
quite welcome, lady."  

	 Catskill's emerald eyes questioned Sara.  Sara shrugged and laughed,
softly, "I'm a better hunter than healer."  Even as she thought, it's
always good to accept what the Spirits provide.

	Renowyn's arm went around Catskill, but he immediately withdrew it as
she winced at the touch.  "Sorry." he mumbled.  

	"It's O.K." she said as she carefully leaned up against him, and he
let her arrange his arm for her comfort.  Catskill sighed as she relaxed.

	"What happened, Cat?"

	"It was spooky.  Real spooky.  Getting into the neighborhood was
easy, I just slipped through the gate when a car went by. It was so dark I
couldn't see the house numbers.  'ventually I found it, but couldn't find
a way in.  There were weird faces on the knockers and doorknobs.  I swear
the faces actually changed their expressions in the time I scoped front
and back.  All the windows were dead black.  But there was an air vent on
the roof, so I went for it.  Sick thing about it was, when I was halfway
into it, I suddenly realized the frame looked like one big mouth.

	"It was a weird vent, all lined with wood, real wood, sorta like
panelling.  At the bottom of the shaft was a mirror and I didn't want to
land on it, so I swung wide.  The walls were all brick.  There was a tiny
metal door on one side..."  Catskill's voice turned wry, "That's when I
realized that I was in a furnace.  Got me to scat, fast, outta there,
After I let go of the door, though, it started to close on me so I just
grabbed the nearest thing to stick in there to hold it open.  Turned out
to be a skull..."  Cat's voice was thick with her disgust.

	"Down there it was as dark as I've never seen it before. I 
actually had to turn on a bit of light to see by.  There were all sorts of
weird things down there.  The bookshelves were all locked up, and it felt
so creepy in there that I didn't want to stick around any longer than I
had to.

	"The box was right where they said it'd be, with two candlesticks 
and a funky wavy dagger next to it.  The wrap worked like a charm.  It was
easy to tuck into the carry-all.  Soon as I was done I went back to the
furnace and pulled the skull out.   When I put it down the slottin' skull
started to flame... So I just got out of there as fast as I could." her
voice started to shake.

	"Raced it up the damned chimney and just jumped from the roof; but
it just kept coming and coming after me."  She shivered, "I thought it had
me dead." 

	Renowyn sighed and said, ever so softly, "You're safe, Cat, you're
safe now."  Catskill soundlessly relaxed into Renowyn and they were quiet
as they drove back to Catskill's apartment.  As they went, Saraquael
watched the sky blush and brighten and she saw the clear moment when the
sky was divided into night on the west and day in the east.  Then the sun
hauled itself into the sky and it was morning.

	They all crashed at Catskill's plush townhouse.  Sara found a 
corner of a windowseat in the sunshine and happily napped in the warmth.
Seattle sunshine was infrequent enough that it was best to take advantage
of it when it happened.

	After her nap, Sara took a shower and found a change of clothes. 
It turned out that they were clothes that Catskill had borrowed from her.
Nothing is ever a coincidence, she thought smiling, as she slipped into a
bright red tunic.  She belted it with silver and then pulled on black and
silver spandex pants.  The black hightops of her working clothes went on
top of purple socks.  The neatly tailored, heavy black armored coat that
she had worn last night provided the finishing touch.

	Catskill was on the phone again, Renowyn's phone, as hers was
a smoking ruin.  The Flame had eaten everything it had touched.  "Tell 
Jerry we have his package, and we'll deliver it at the pre-arranged point."

	Once they arrived in front of the bagel shop near the park by
the Space Needle, Sara chose to stay in the car, up in the driver's seat,
while Renowyn and Catskill went into the shop.  She was fascinated by all
the dials and knobs, buttons and lights, and proceeded to play with them.
In the back seat, Ben softly muttered a light chant with his eyes closed
and relaxed into a corner of the seat.  She raised one eyebrow at the
activity and went back to playing with the video controls.

	Eventually, a man slipped out of the shop and leaned against the
wall.  He looked around, pulled out a cigarette and lit it.  Catskill and
Renowyn came charging out of the shop and stopped abruptly when they saw
him.  Looking utterly nonchalant he spoke to them. Catskill's eyes narrowed
but she handed him the bag.  He handed her a couple of credsticks.  Sara saw
Catskill tense in anger and got out of the car.  The man handed Catskill
another 'stick and took off down the street.

	Two motorcycles growled at her as they passed by...

------
Phyllis Rostykus     | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are 
..!sumax!polari!li   |  the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real."
phyllis@eld.amc.com  |  - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel