[EM Fiction]A chill in the air…

Asurti looked at the line of books in his small library the farmer let him keep at his home. He had been staying in the one farm houses near Britain while the farmer regained his strength after an apparent injury during the Piped Piper episode of his story nights.  The farmer’s wife, Jill, though didn’t seem very happy to have him here what with all the other incidents. But she allowed him to stay in the cottage for the moment.

 

Asurti thought about the stories he had told in the past few months. Yes, he had the gift of bringing them to life for people, but what was going wrong? Why was his brother involved? Asurti had traveled to Yew to visit his brother only to find an empty house. His brother, Itrusa, had been a bit bitter when their father chose Asurti to take on the generations old tradition of Story Weaving; bringing the stories to life for people.  But he had gone on with his life to become a fantastic tradesman. Itrusa could navigate the seas, trade with anyone he met and usually come out on top, but with a fair hand. He seemed to have gotten over the bitterness years ago. They were close to each other, keeping in contact, meeting for holidays, the like.

Asurti shook his head and returned to the present. He picked up a book of Ghost Stories and flipped through it, given the time of year it seemed appropriate. And yet, given the past events he wondered if that was wise. Still… couldn’t hurt to read a few himself and enjoy the season. Asurti sat back in his chair as he settled on a story. He began to read it to himself enjoying the twists and scares. As he finished he realized it wasn’t something he should read aloud. Since that’s what brings the stories to life was him reading and performing his spell weaving to the crowd. He closed the book and placed it back on the shelf and began to look for another. Yes, something with a bit less scares and perhaps something tamer would be more appropriate. Although he had thought the same thing about the Princess and the Frog and look what happened.

Asurti sighed and continued to look for an appropriate selection.

********

The head baker at the Mage’s Bread was busy finishing up the days chores when he thought he heard something outside. He ignored it for a moment thinking perhaps it was the wind. Then he heard it again… almost a moaning sound. He washed his hands and didn’t hear it again for a few moments then heard it again. Curious he stepped outside, but saw nothing unusual.  But heard it yet again.

“Curious”, he mumbled. He looked over towards the provisioners shop and saw the proprietor of the Scholar’s Goods stepped around the side of the building. The men exchanged greeting and asked if the other had heard anything unusual. Both sort of laughed as the noise seemed to be gone now and went back into their shops to finish the days works. Both unaware of something that seemed to be happening right under their noses.

Once again the inhabitants of Origin gathered at The Cat’s Lair for another night of story-telling by Asurti, our very own storyteller.

In the recent past, his stories didn’t come out quite the way they were written. Most recently was his adaptation of The Three Little Kittens, which unfortunatly did not have a happy ending.

Upon his arrival…he did not waste any time…

*As you all know, in the past my readings have been…well…they have been inturrupted…*

Tonights Tale was The Princess and the Frog, and Asurti knew, as well as the rest of us did, that something was not quite right with his readings. Our plans for this evening were to try to figure out what was going wrong with his stories…and so he began…

*One Day a Princess was playing with her ball.* He read.

*The princess loved her ball very much, and as she was tossing it up into the air, she missed and it fell into the pond. She knelt down at the edge of the water, but no matter how hard she looked, she could not find it, and laid her head down in her hands and wept.*

*Suddenly, a Frog appeared before her and asked “My dear child, why are you crying?”

“I..I lost my ball in the pond, and I cannot find it, can you help me?”

“Why of course, do not fret, I shall help you…”

Before Asurti could continue with the story, however, an Evil Princess appeared out of thin air and began to attack the crowd.

*Oh No!* Asurti gasped *Not Again!*

Once we had dispatched the Evil Clone, Asurti discovered a note on her body…

*You have only begun to read your full potential, come to these coords if you dare, I will reveal more of my plan*

*Asurti blinked* Well…shall we??

He opened a magic portal to the location and we all followed him through to see what awaited us on the other side.

Stepping through to the other side, we were met by a very large frog…*Please help me, my Princess has been captured and she’s trapped!*

*She was supposed to kiss me…but…this evil man took her prisoner and I was attacked by clones! They looked just like her! Please help me free my Princess!*

Then a deafening roar was heard and we all rushed outside, only to be bombarded on all sides by these evil clones. We fought long and hard to vanquish every last one of them…

and as the last one fell, a brillant flash of light emitted from the Princess’s prison.

*Oh thank….* She took one look at Asurti and cried out *YOU! You..stay away from me! You did this to me!*

Asurti blinked…confused…*M’lady..I don’t know what you’re talking about, I have never seen you before in my life!*

*It was you! You put me in this prison and…*

Asurti inturrupted *What makes you think it was me?*

*He…looked just like you…his name..started with an I…Itrusa…that was his name..he kidnapped me and brought me to this awful place*

Asurti blinked…then shook his head…*No..it couldn’t be…he doesn’t have the gift….*

*Who Asurti?* The crowd demanded *What gift?*

*The gift of reading…I…can bring stories to life before my listeners eyes…it was handed down to me by my father…but my brother…* He looked to the Princess sadly *My twin brother…but he doesn’t have the gift, our Father said he couldn’t….*

*So you knew all along that your stories would come to life?* Demanded the crowd.

*Yes…I knew but not like this! My stories have happy endings!*

Just then the frog, Prince Charming started laughing and jumped outside. We all gave chase and stopped outside.

*I knew you’d fall for my plan…I knew you would come to save her..FOOLS!*

He transformed into an Evil Prince and attacked! We fought long and hard and suffered many casulties but finally defeated him.

Once the Evil Prince was dead, Princess Buttercup breathed a sigh of relief..*Oh my…thank you all…thank you so much…I will never look at a Frog quite the same way again*

Asurti offered a weak smile *I am sorry for this Princess, I don’t understand why my brother would do this..I will find him and get some answers. I am glad you are well..please be safe.*

Turning to the crowd, he sighed deeply. *I am sorry for all of this…my brother…I will find him and get some answers..until then, rest well and be prepared, for I will call upon you all again very soon*

Rosemerry Needs a Bakery!

Now that a location has been found, Rosemerry finds herself in dire need of a designer for her new bakery. The idea of having a whole place of her own to bake and share her goodies with has simply overwhelmed her! Rosemerry’s needs are simple. She needs an area to grind her ingredients and bake her delectable treats, an area to display the wondrous concoctions she will be creating and a cozy place for people to pass the time while they share in the scrumptious goodness on offer. Rosemerry would also like a small sitting room where she can catalog her recipes when time permits.

All interested interior designers are invited to submit their plans no later than November 14th for consideration by EM’s from other shards. The winning entry will be selected by November 18th and it is hoped that construction will be completed in time for the holidays. Submit your entries to emfainemorgan@gmail.com and fiorella@uoem.net no later than midnight Pacific time on November 14th.

Asurti looked over the items spread before him on the table and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. In all his years of travels, he had never encountered the type of situation that faced him now. He was a master at bringing stories to life and weaving spells that left the listeners enthralled or amused. Never before had his stories gone so wrong. He glanced sadly at the mother cat curled up morosely by the fire and vowed silently to get to the bottom of the madness.

“I must assume that any story I tell will go off course,” Asurti mused into his mug of ale. “The trick it to pick a story where the deaths of innocents would not be a factor but yet allow us to learn more of what is happening.”

Asurti wandered over to the bookcase against the wall and ran his fingers lightly over several ancient tomes, considering and discarding each in turn. Finally, his hand landed on a book bound in royal shades of blue with inlaid gold lettering.

“Ahhh, yes,” he thought to himself, “this might do very well. We must at least try.”

——————————————————————
Please meet Asurti the Storyteller at the Cat’s Lair Inn in Britain at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern on Friday, October 20th. The Cat’s Lair is the tavern just south of the West Brit Bank. Come prepared for anything!

Origin gathered this evening at The Cat’s Lair. A night of story-telling was on the menu and we all welcomed Asurti when he arrived.

Settling in, we sat in silence as Asurti started his tale;

“Three little kittens, they lost their mittens, and they began to cry..Oh Mother dear we sadly fear our mittens we have lost!”

Before he could continue, a large brown cat walked into the Cat’s Lair meowing loudly *Please…my kittens are lost!*

Everyone stared at the Mommy Cat, and Asurti got a very strange, worried look on his face..glancing at his book, then at the Mommy cat..”Excuse me..I am trying to tell a story here”

*but..but..* she meowed…

Asurti continued his story…
“What? Lost your mittens,
You naughty kittens.
Then you shall have no pie.”

The Mommy Cat once again inturrupted *But…please my kittens, they are lost!*

Asurti cleared his throat and again looked distraught, looking from his book to the Mommy Cat before continuing…
“The three little kittens,
They found their mittens,
And they began to cry,
“Oh, Mother dear,
See here, see here,
Our mittens we have found.”

The Mommy Cat again inturrupted, howling loudly “PLEASE sir, I beg of you, my babies! It’s just a game we play…they didn’t REALLY lose thier mittens, they know exactly where they are! They are usually only gone a few moments! But today…they…they never came home!”

Asurti looked very disturbed and stared at the Mommy Cat for a moment.

*Please I will show you! Please come!* the Mommy Cat said. Asurti sighed and closed his book and we all followed the Mommy Cat to the Blue Boar, which is where Mommy Cat and her kittens lived.

There was a bowl half full of cream and a slightly nibbled on fish fillet..but no sign of her kittens. Mommy Cat was very upset and begged us to help find her lost kittens.

We followed a trail of tasty kitty treats past The Blue Boar all the way to the entrance into Britians underground sewer system. It seemed someone had lured the kittens down into the tunnels! Quickly we all scrambled down into the sewers and were immediately confronted by hordes of feral cats.

I heard someone shout “I FOUND THE KITTENS!” but by the time we all made it through it was too late. We emerged into the bog and were confronted by a Deranged Evil Mommy Cat. She cackled loudly *I knew you would come..he said you would..you all fell into my trap! Just like those pathetic little kittens did*
A Trap? HE? He who? We stood around bewildered, the Mommy Cat whimpering softly *My babies…who did this to my babies!*

The Deranged Mommy Cat called her minions and the fight was on! She threatened us with a painful death.

Tainted Catnip and Twisted Yarn surrounded our party!


Once the fight was over and the swamp was littered with corpses, the Deranged Mommy Cat was nowhere to be found. Mommy Cat cried softly as we all travelled back to The Blue Boar.
“We will seek revenge on whoever did this to your kittens!” the crowd cried out, and MommyCat curled up into a little ball and wept.

Tonight was Origins Labor Day Festivities! EM’s Faine and Fiorella had an exciting and dangerous night planned for us. A nice crowd gathered at the top of Luna bank while we waited for our EM’s.

Faine and Fiorella showed up sporting fancy beachware!

Once they arrived it was off to the beach for a bit of surf and turf. Faine and Fiorella seemed to have a bit of a quarrel going on between them, something about seeing a sea creature come up onto the beach…Fiorella grinned evily as she flashed her white nets and stepped nimbly into the water…INCOMING! She shouted and the fight was on!

After many MANY deaths, Faine and Fiorella felt that they had put us through enough and had us all gather around to wish our favorite Dark Lady a very happy birthday!

Overall a VERY fun Labor Day event! Thank you to EM’s Faine and Fiorella for showing us a good time!

Have a Happy Labor Day Origin!