The Tail of Lord Frederigo D'Honaire: As the Fur Flies..... (Book 2, part 3)

(From episode 17293) All the participants in this drama, both human and dragon, are to a greater or lesser extent unsure as to what is going on. In case the reader is also confused, here is a brief explanation of the background.

The dead female dragon and the dead mage referred to at the start of the last episode were those whom the "original" Fred, Thessamar ix'latl, and Velus had faced so long ago, the mage being none other than the infamous Sir John. It was a strange coincidence that the current Fred, Thessamar and Velus had had close counterparts, if not quite analogues, in the past of their world. (In fact although the Thessamars had been physically very much alike, if less so mentally, the "original" Fred had looked somewhat different from his modern-day counterpart.)

That earlier dragon had allied itself with Sir John, but was killed along with the mage before the Cardassi could be summoned/brought under control... whatever. The original Fred and Thessamar had apparently died in the battle, only Velus living long enough to tell the tale. But they had gone down with the blood of their enemies on them. The blood of Sir John, and more significantly that of the female dragon, was on them both.

The downed heroes of the distant past had transformed into evil dragons. Fred was now Minestus and Thessamar ix'latl was Moreau. However, this blood curse was a bit different in that the original personalities of Fred and Thessamar remained in the background of the dragons' minds, asleep for centuries as the dominant centres of the dragon brains unknowingly suppressed them.

With the destruction of certain parts of Moreau's brain when Minestus had put the dragon in a coma, there had been potential for the original "owner" to regain control. With Astra calling out the secret names of both dragons, it was like a fey's true name in that it acted like a psychic slap to the mind. It was enough in Moreau's case to awaken the original personality from its slumber. Thessamar ix'ltal now found herself in the body of a dragonness. She recognized Minestus as "her" Fred too, for Minestus upon becoming a wyrm had subconsciously chosen a human form just like his original one.

Through a quirk of fate, the events that had created these two dragons were unwittingly being replayed by one of the dragons who had been created by those very events. Minestus had wanted to create his new mate, Thessamar, through an elaborate method and that was how it was going to happen, based on the story that the original Velus had told -until the intervention of the Book had interfered with the script.

If the reader wonders how Astra 9 managed to recognise Minestus, given that he is in his human form, she had - when aged ten - seen from in hiding an analog of Minestus change into his human form [9546]. That human form had been imprinted on her memory, and what was in front of her now was an almost perfect duplicate. Ironically, as Astra had only discovered long after the event, that Minestus had actually been good rather than evil. She is in no doubt from what she has learnt about this Minestus that his character is very different.

As you may have guessed, things broke down into battle between adventurers and Minestus. The evil dragon had several strikes against him in this battle. He kept having to concentrate on keeping the dragoness asleep AND dealing with the dire distraction of the adventurers keep calling his name (which, due it it's special nature, was alike getting repeatedly slapped hard in the face). With all that, the dragon had to fight without magic because he couldn't muster up the concentration to use it. Then he's facing foes who are knowledgeable about fighting his kind. Then there is the fact that the adventurers hadn't turned in the phasors they'd been issued while on a side quest with the Voyager folks.. Needless to say, Minestus was defeated rather quickly....but the adventurers took him alive instead of killing him. In the course of things, the submerged elder "Fred" within Minestus regained control of his body and Minestus neutralized. When the dragonness Thessamar ix'ltal looked into Fred the Dragon's eyes, nature took over and any feelings the two had been hiding from each other got laid bear...and the two fell for each other HARD! Soon after it was determined who was who and what was what (and Minestus' lingering presence was put to rest). The dragons (having adjusted to being dragons) decided to make a home on Nantucket Earth. Fred and Thessamer made contact with relatives on their world and settled down there (only 50 years had gone by so the relatives still knew of them).

So we move onto the next person they adventures were going to help. That person was Belinda Thessamer. She, a daughter of a minor noble Allarian house rumored to have been descended from an obscure group of warrior women, had been riding Silver hear the latest news about the still missing Dragon Slayer (a business that she'd only heard of in passing after recently returning with her uncle on a diplomatic mission and wanted to learn more).

After speaking with Joan 2 she'd learned that this very Dragonslayer was none other than Joan! They'd found their respective tales within books from the Red Pyramid and the coordinates of the world that Belinda was from and the one that Joan were from were the same.

So in addition to getting Belinda back home, there still was that Dragon...and Belboz....

Telling this to the others, Joan smiles a slow, broad smile. See, the neat thing was that when the Rules brought Joan 2 and the others Champions duplicated by the Book had garnered one boon in compensation for coming back into the Championhood status...Joan 2 had been nice and had given Joan for this one visit back home. This gave Joan the perfect opportunity to finish up her old quest to slay her dragon AND take care of Belboz. Naturally, when Belinda heard this, nobody was able to talk her out of going along and helping! She wouldn't be getting in the way, really, for while it wasn't the custom of Joan's old homeland on training woman as warriors she had gotten some warrior training secretly anyway (harkening back to the olden days). After she and the others returning to a village inn Joan had visited earlier before finally getting to the Southern Caverns.

The thing here is that there had been a war between the humans and dragons, ending with a treaty that basically legitimized the position of dragonslayer. It was now a job where a designated human being went out to kill those rogue dragons who'd break the peace treaty and plunge dragon and human back into war. The dragons, in return, had stipulated that no other humans would go out to merrily slay the dragons, otherwise. If Joan didn't set up things to prove that she was a legitimate dragonslayer by calling attention to herself and her party, then the adventurers would find themselves being hunted and killed by their fellow human beings in order to advert war!

So she does and so it goes, setting the stage for several things which will become clear in a moment.

The adventurers are able to reach the Southern Caverns and enter. They capture Belboz and determine that he had been unaware of the war between dragon and man, nor the treaty afterwards (he'd been in the caverns too long). He had been ambushing dragonslayers a long time now, sending them to similar fates that Joan had been sent to (and would have been still until a strange twist of fate). Before they could extract from Belboz where those other unfortunates were, the dragon (through a blood signed contract) forced Belboz to attack the adventurers. The adventurers had to kill him, but in the process the fates of those other dragonslayers were sealed.

The adventurers did succeed in their endevours. They eventually were able to go and kill the dragon. They were able to rescue the unexpected Princess Exotica (though the dragon had been playing with her and had changed her coloration to a coal black coloration). They were able to prove that Joan was, despite the gender change, the Fred who'd been sanctioned to kill the Dragon of the Southern Caverns. That done, Joan's parents (stunned by the change in Joan) found that their long lost son was back (but….) That an…

..and by a woman killing a dragon, the woman's lot in life will perhaps improve, gaining more rights. See, the Allaria that Joan haled from was mostly man dominated…..

Well, that aside, that particular quest was over. Belinda finally got back safely to her home and thus things were done.

The next Red Pyramid victims they help turn out to be most unexpected!

The next Red Pyramid victims they help turn out to be most unexpected!

Like many from the Red Pyramid, their names are Fred and Astra. What makes them unexpected is that they had been thought lost and gone, thought to be a victim of the creature (a magical Atlantian artifact) called the Book. Indeed, they had been turned into some kind of animalistic monster, devoid of human intelligence. That the others had known. What wasn't known was the blobs of flesh the Book had transformed this Fred and Astra into was spawning all the young creatures of fantasy that kept popping up all over Nantucket Earth all of the sudden! Nearing the end of their designated useful lives, they were to spawn one last batch of children and then go off somewhere and expire. The blobs spawned a bunch of satyr children well enough, but instead of dying the blobs changed into adult satyres! The spirits of Fred and Astra had been able to hang around and finally regain control of their old bodies, forcing them to reform as closely to their old forms as possible. They don't remember just how they came to be there nor what had happened (beyond vague and disturbing fragments of memory), but they were now back! Back and the found the child satyres looking to them for leadership! In return, this Fred and Astra began to see the others as their people (so it's a wash). That said, when the adventurers offered to aid Fred the satyre and Astra the satyre, the offer had been gladly accepted....but only until the facts about the adventurers having access to a TARDIS (a vehicle capable of time travel) did the satyrs go with the adventurers on that quest.

Ah, but what is this quest? Unlike the other Freds and Astras, these two had been able to kill their Dragon of the Southern Caverns. That said, they had found that the rightful king of Allaria had been the dragon's captive, given over to it by none other than by King Emry himself! It was decided that this must be put to right and the rightful man, Cederick, should be put onto the throne! They had exited away from the caverns, having freed Cederick. They'd retired for the night at a village only to have Fred and Astra (now satyrs) swept up into the Red Pyramid. Jarlath's group arrived back on that world and, after a bit of confusion, to continue interrupted business.

Well, as always, things weren't as straight forward as it should have been.

Now, a contingent of Emry's men (along with his magic using daughter) had been sent out on a bit of business. The plan had been to, after getting some magic spell components that only the Dragon possessed, was to send a contingent of soldiers to a place called called Thunderclap on a world called Midworld. Those soldiers were to stop the one called Roland. Stop him from reaching a place called the Dark Tower.

.....

See, Emry had this one close advisor. Called himself Flagg, a powerful mage. Had swayed and deluded Emry into believing that the best thing for all would be to take the throne and to stop Roland (a man who Flagg painted as a monster) from reaching the Dark Tower (where, according to Flagg, Roland would destroy everything). Emry was so swayed by Flagg that he'd do anything, ANYTHING, in order to prevent this. No matter what means it meant. No matter how dark or low, Emry would do it.

Emry hadn't heard from Flagg in quiet a while and fearing that his advisor was dead (or neutralized) instead decided to use his daughter's magical ability. While not as powerful as his court mage, Emry would keep Exotica (his daughter) in check. If Exotica sought to betray Emry, her mother's life would be forfeit.

A contingent of warriors who'd gone out to get the magical ingredient from the dragon found it dead and had been out to make a sweep for Fred, figuring correctly that the knight had accomplished his task (despite the diddled map). They'd been out to silence Fred and any other witnesses, making it look to be the work of a Dragon raiding party. Long story short, Jarlath's group either captured or killed these warriors instead. Those captured didn't have enough information for Jarlath's and Cederick's needs, so someone was needed to go into the enemy's camp and spy.

Andrea got the task. She would go in her fox form and spy amongst the people, hiding out of sight, to gather information to show what their opponents wanted. Jarlath's groups eventually did find out what the plan was, and in addition to that was able to recruit Exotica's aid!

See, Exotica wasn't a willing puppet of Emry for reason's already given. She couldn't confide in other people her troubles, so instead elected to cast a spell to find an animal of the forest so she could have a familiar (and a pet of sorts so she could talk with, even if the listener really couldn't understand). Exotica's spell had touched Andrea but not effected the demifox. However, the demifox was able to play the part of an enthralled fox, gaining Exotica's confidence. She learned a bit about Exotica's character, as we shall see here (re: 17538).

"Reyna," she said sadly, "Do you know what it's like to live with a secret that could cost you your life?"

Andrea

"I'm tired," she continues on, not waiting (or expecting) an answer from me, "Tired of this clandestine business that my father has with the Dragon. Tired of the lies he tells the people. Tired of the lies he told me...."

"See, it all started at a young age for me," she sighs, looking at something out there only she can see, "I remember catching my father and his men carrying out what I now know should be the rightful King. Father said that he'd found out that Cederick was the one who'd....grabbed me and....touched me......"

Her eyes close and I feel her shudder as she hugs me close.

It's just as well that she isn't watching me. The look of utter shock on my vulpine face just would totally blow my cover as a mere dumb animal.

I had no idea that something like this.......

I feel.....like I shouldn't be listening in on this...

"I remember believing him at the time....believing that my father was doing good and all that," she whispers bitterly, "But years later I learned that my father had one of his soldiers quietly killed for....that.... and that meant that when I silently cheered that the Dragon was to tear to pieces Cederick I was wrong. That my father had lied to me....as he kept doing year after year....

"The man doesn't love me...but just uses me as yet another tool," she finishes up. "I can not run....for I fear for my mother. I can not reveal the truth....for I shall be run up on a rope along with him....."

"I only can tell you, little one." she finishes up, kissing me on my nose, "I know that I can at least trust you."

Sir Guy then chooses this moment to bellow for Princess Exotica to attend him.

Somehow I think that this fellow enjoys his positional authority, I think as Exotica mutters something vile, Getting to lord around those of higher station than he is.....especially a woman!

Exotica turns, remembering that she hasn't put that blasted leash on me...only to blink in surprise as she sees me wiggling underneath the tent flap and scamper off towards the woods.

Now, while I do plan on passing on the information I've learned of in this camp, I shall try my best to keep the trust Exotica has in me...by at least arguing for mercy upon her here soon....

Contacting Exotica secretly, the adventurers make arrangements for it to appear that the Dragon of the Southern Caverns (actually Dragon Synizn impersonating the now dead dragon) has betrayed Emry, and the beast had kidnaped Exotica (and eaten her). Then, after contacting Fred's parents (Duke Dred) to get his support behind Cederick (and tell him of the changes in Fred), they would go out to rescue Exotica's mother from Emry. While Jarlath's group snuck into the castle to rescue Exotica's mother, Exotica would cause a distraction. She'd use a holo-graphic rig to control a ghostly, ghastly image of herself to foment fear and doubt amongst Emry's guards. Being that the image was actually science based (and not magic), spells of illusion detection would ring negative, making the image appear truly the ghost of Exotica (returned from the grave).

Well, the plan went according to plan, mostly. Jarlath's group was able to get to Exotica's mother fine and well. However, that's where things got interesting. Emry, having decided that since Exotica was now dead, was going to have his wife killed quietly since she no longer was of use to him. He, his court mage, and a contingent of guards were on their way to do just that! In the course of things Exotica's mother got seriously injured by a grazing fireball. In the course of things Emry was killed, leaving the path for the rightful ruler, Cederick, much easier. Much happened in the course of things.

To save the life of Exotica's mother, the heroes had to evac her back to the nearest world with the medical means to do that (Nantucket Earth). The Voyager's Doctor was able to stabilize Exotica's mother, but due to the special nature of what had caused her injuries, she would be wheelchair bound and horribly scared for the rest of her life. Various means of healing had been contemplated (conventional and otherwise), to get to those means would entail using some sort of reality hoping (something that could well be too much of a shock to the system of Exotica's mother...who'd barely survived coming to Nantucket Earh. That is...all but one. There was, one last option that the Doctor suggested. In the end, Exotica's mother became a demifox via the Crystallic, and the regenerative nature of her new species healed her. The former owner Minestus of the Crystallic, however, put into effect a security measure that whoever besides him using the Crystallic in any manner relating to demifoxes....would themselves (and those too near them) be transformed into demifoxes as well. Well, you might think that if a Champion (who wouldn't be transformed) used it we'd have no problem, right? Wrong! If the user didn't transform, then Exotica's mother woudn't either! Such was the nature of the security measur.

Sigh....

Well, Exotica was the one who used the Crystallic to heal her mother, and did it in such a way which sent it to the Rules and Agents for them to neutralize it (was too risky for it to be about in mortal hands).

They adjusted well enough, the new demifoxs. Finding their best bet at a good life on Nantucket Earth, they set up shop in Nantucket (instead of going home or such).

Next folks they decided to help was the one Fred and Astra couple where Astra's primary husband, Sir JH, had been abducted by the Witch of the White House....

The mission had originally been planned as something quick and comparatively straightforward to fit in before going to the Doctor's and Inquirer's wedding, so we'd turn up feeling relatively rested and relaxed. All we had to do was to free this Sir JH from the Witch of the White House. With three mages in our party, that should have been easy.

But then Slith (a AD&D Draconian) had had his vision, and things became much more complex. A dragon had moved in from somewhere unknown, had overthrown the Witch, and presumably had inherited custody of Sir JH. Much worse, this dragon was protected by a legion of fanatically loyal creatures that were a cross between dragon and woman. Worse still, these dragon-women had originally been dragon-slayers whom the dragon had pulled in from various realities and then transformed. At least one, now called Frozh, had originally been a Fred; we rather suspected that all of them had been. That meant that we must try to avoid bloodshed amongst the dragon-women, but of course the dragon-women would have no such inhibitions about spilling our blood. The wish spell that Morgana had provided us with would only work on someone whose transformation had been very recent, so whilst we hoped it would work on Frozh it wouldn't work on the others.

Finally arriving, Jarlath's group and they have an encounter with these two Astras (as it seems), which can surely only make things more complex still. If we are surprised to see them, they are naturally stunned to see us, not being familiar with the concept of parallel worlds. There is something odd about the naked Astra, though. She seems highly embarrassed by her nudity, and embarrassment is something that we Astras don't normally suffer from very much.

Turns out that the one Astra dressed as a genie is an Astra, alright. She's an Astra who's been transformed into a real genie! The other Astra was actually a Fred who had been transformed by an mischievous Belboz into an exact duplicate of Astra the Djinn. The mages couldn't do anything to change them back, but proper equipment and clothing they could provide. They all went on to stop the dragon and his followers before more dragonslayers from other realities could be dragged in.

They had a plan. After ambushing and subduing Frozh, Jarlath put it best in episode 18899:

"As you know," I say softly as we sneak about, "The plan is a rather simple one. Basically, we try to manage to avoid Frozh's 'sisters' who are looking for us (Astra the Djinn's abilities right now will make that much easier). We must enter into the Dragon's Lair, rescue Sir JH....and probably have to slay that dragon. Even friendly dragons aren't very fond of total strangers entering without welcome, and as we can gather.....he ain't friendly!"

After getting and rescuing Sir JH (and perhaps facing the Dragon if we're unlucky), we get the heck out of here and let Probe and the others of his family (all "heavy hitters" as Betty put them) handle the dragon- women (who'll be rather....displeased at their gods death). The Golems at least will be able to capture all the dragon-women alive than we could.....

Mirthless chuckles greet me with that one (of course)....only to be interrupted as Astrid gasps....turns vapory and.....get's sucked into the lamp she's holding.

As if they hadn't enough problems!

See, the former master of this bottle had been turned into completely and as thoroughly into a woman as Astrid had been by Belboz. Like Astra the Djinn, the former slave of the lamp became like Astra the Djinn is now (a genie without a Master). As like now, the feminized human got sucked into the lamp....and a concerned human travel companion, while in a market had reached out and touched the lamp.....causing a magical surge that snuffed out all life in the surrounding area.....

That and it killed the masterless djinn (what Astra the Djinn had become when Fred became Astrid) in the backlash......

Well, the only thing would be was for Astra the Djinn to rub that lamp, causing Astrid to eventually become a masterless djinn herself. That would free her from the lamp, and destroy the lamp in the process (thus neutralizing it's threat).

Finally, they are able to get to the dragon's lair. Seeing something odd about the Hoard (what are steel coins doing here). They see, that the dragon is some kind of AD&D blue dragon. They also note that there is some kind of cage that looks like something large had burst out of its confines, but not much more than that! See, they don't have much time before the dragon begins to fight them!

Later, after a great battle....

Bloody but victorious, the Champions now stand over the slain dragon. Fierce the battle was, but the arrogant reptile faced forces skilled in battling dragon's after all. That and he almost seemed....awkward in battle.....as if still not used to his own body?!

Later, scientific measurments of quantum signatures from Krynn and the Hoard here would prove matching. That and a pile of golden dust prove to show signs of a weak, lingering traces of alteration magic. On it and the....

On the body of Sir JH, who's body the dead mystery Dragon has morphed back into now upon death! Astra the Djinn almost stops rubbing her Lamp (bad idea at this juncture), until Synizn catches her and reminds her......

"We don't need more deaths today," the demifox whispers softly, tail drooping a bit in shock still at the scene before him. "No," the Astra of this reality whispers.....

The Fred of this world, seeing what is coming, moves closer to....help her any way he can....

What happens next is rather anticlimatic, but realistic enough (given the odd situation).

Probe and several fellow Golems go in and "round up" the remaining dragon-women and "put them on ice" until Morgana can look at them. Funny thing is when they actually get the dragon-woman to Nantucket Earth, something odd happens to the unconscious dragon-women. While somewhat like Draconians before due to their maker's having some lingering touch to Krynn, they hadn't been proper draconians, until now. Seems that the Dragon had taken shortcuts in creating their Matrixes, and the presence of "real" Draconians in the vicinity caused them to mutate into either female Sivak or Bozak Draconians!

That one floored both Slith and Kang, let me tell you!

The body of Sir JH is buried in a fine ceremony in a church in Nantucket. The Astra of his world wants him to have a decent burial as soon as possible, period.

That done and goodbyes said, she and his Fred soon depart back to their home reality. Duty called, you see....

Astrid is soon released from her Lamp prison, transformed into a masterless djinn just like her "sister", Astra the Djinn. The Lamp disintegrates as Synizn hoped, releasing the two djinn from any further dangers posed by it. Both find the world of Nantucket Earth fascinating and decide to set down roots here for now. Later, they would come and visit Terra Prime, but right now they had some exploring to do here....and there are family members here as well.....so why not?

Jarlath's group, still distraught at not having a total "win", comfort themselves with the fact that they did the best they could. Did outstandingly, despite the fact that some objects of their quest proved impossible to achieve due to it being too late when they'd began.

The remaining question now was:

"So, how's the final results of your labors?" Slith asked anxiously, looking down at the weary elfin woman named Morgana.

The Sivak would have laughed at the blinks he gets from the newlyweds (who'd been isolated during the time in question here) if it hadn't been so serious....

She'd been in and out of a hastily set up mage lab, looking over her patients.....and had managed to break away long enough to attend the great event!

"It was a success," Morgana said simply, "Both the Fred in question and Frozh are sleeping it off."

At least this time I didn't fail, she thinks to herself as the others quietly congratulate her (cheering loudly in church didn't seem.....right), No causality loops like I had with Triakoth with the last wish spell.... (re: 16701)

That still left a bad taste in her mouth, that business.....

The other Champions, by this time, are now helping those of the Red Pyramid, so there was only one or two more quests in it for Jarlath's group before duty called for Astra 9 to do some diplomacy out in the non-magical realms....

Their next quest was for Demifox Fred and Demifox Astra (who wouldn't be coming along due to Champions not being able to go home)

As for what exactly still needed to be done there, Demifox Astra put it this way in episode 18953:

Now, one may ask oneself just what remains to be done, right? After all, the dragon we'd gone out to slay is dead enough (no ghostly green fire even, thank God). Both I, my Fred, and my children are now free and clear from the fearful demifox folk of my world. Indeed, I now have "my" Fred's hand in marriage as well as my lovely children (funny, never pictured myself as the mothering type). While we didn't really accomplish what we set out to do when we got interrupted in Wallants to see "my" Synizn (now sworn to our hand), I and my love find ourselves...comfortable with being demifoxes (love my tail and the ability to shift form to run on all fours as a fox)!

Now, the thing left to do is to somehow get word to our family left behind that we are alive and well. Basically, the message must by needs be vague, else serious repercussions could result. One mustn't blurt out that a son of an Allarian Duke impregnated an Aqualarian warrior princess out of wedlock, right? Never mind that at the time I had been under the sway of instinct and Fred (my Fred) had mistaken me for a one tailed female kitsune (who even the Vixen admits the best kitsune wouldn't take well to the word "no" to sexual advances). Wars have broken out over lesser issues, folks.

No, the message to the family will be vague but reassuring, telling our respective parents that we've found the love of our lives and now have gone off to far away lands to live...well...happily ever after without outside interference or objection! No mention of the fact that we now stand at three feet tall we (and our children) have fox tails. Names will not be named and lands not revealed, for who could believe the truth? That and it wouldn't do if they did find out.

How best to do that? Well, they say that in the Wallants I was going to anything can be found, if one had enough money. Now, who would be the best person of this gathering here to give pointers?

"Synizn 3, who'd be the best one in your old town to accomplish this task?" I ask the dragon mage.

"The best person I'd recommend would be a female thief named Moondancer," the dragonmage begins, noting that the name seems to be recognized by some present.

And the adventurers went on to the demifox's world trying to do just that....and then onto yet another adventure....