Date sent:      	Mon, 12 Feb 2001 08:06:21 -0500 (EST)
From:           	"Philip J. Moyer" <pmoyer@jurai.net>
To:             	John Biles <ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>,
       	"Amy \"General Chaos\" Borden" <aborden@soltec.net>,
       	Chris Angelini <frobozz@eyrie.org>
Subject:        	[Amber/TAMD] Hiko, Shaft -- Hellriding... For...
JUSTICE!!

Keiko says, "OOC:  We don't exactly have leisure time right now."

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Only if you want it to be"

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "'S right..."

Corrine OOCly waves to all, and plays catchup and whatnot.

===============================
===============================

Shaft hellrides, just knowing something stupid is going to happen.

Foxtrot stops prodding inn--- guilty authors and says, "In a nutshell,
Ramon, Shaft, Keiko and I are riding towards Justice as quickly as we
can." (to you)

Shaft draws his sword, knowing this.

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Well, with that attitude..."
Ivan OOCly says, "More like 'with that amount of Bad Stuff'"
Shaft OOCly's eye twitches.
Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Hey, I couldn't say that ICly you
know..."

Hiko the Firechilde sees Ota draw his sword, then switches Juri's ring
into crossbow form.

Hiko the Firechilde calls out, "What is it, Ota?"

You jump through a series of shadows, flickering every few minutes.  The
forest becomes more softwoods as you go, and thins out.

Keiko, who does not have a sword, just looks alert.

You page, "Ahhhhh. *nod* Well, luck to you... *wl* You left on the same
day of all the other stuff in amber, like retrieving Miki, etc?" to
Foxtrot. Foxtrot stops prodding inn--- guilty authors and says, "After
that." (to you) You page, "Ah, day 71, then?" to Foxtrot.

After about twenty minutes, the trees suddenly all whip out pies and begin
pelting Shaft with them.

Shaft replies.  "I'm paranoi- OW!  GA-DAMMIT!"

Hiko the Firechilde dodges pies and rides through, urging her horse
onwards.

The rest of you are caught in the inaccurate crossfire.

Ramon says, "Bloody..."  *SPLAT*  "Hmm, raspberry."

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "Shift out the pies!"

Keiko dodges pies as best she can and starts weaving a pie-parrying spell
for herself.

Shaft parries pies with sword

After a few minutes, you jump out of pie land, but now you're all somewhat
sticky and goey.

Eudial OOCly coughs

Unfortunately, you now land in the shadow where all trees have large
hornet nests.

Shaft exclaims, "AH SHIT!"

And like sugar.

Hiko the Firechilde magicks herself clean, and whips up a spell for Ota
and Ramon as well.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Keiko sighs and begins making an insect repellent spell.

Between Hiko and Keiko, you get everyone clean and insect free without too
many stings.

Keiko says, "OOC:  Which, with quick casting, hopefully won't take that
long.  :)"

Hiko the Firechilde does the same, but more quickly, as she has a Spikard
that does neat things like that.

Keiko says, "OOC:  Hey, Hiko and Keiko.  That rhymes."
Shaft says, "OOCly Shaft's Angels"

Ramon . o O (We must be riding to the land where life sucks)

Keiko exclaims, "OOC:  Oooooooh, you think you're _soooooo_ big with your
'spikard' and your 'blood of Amber', and you 'larger Psyche'... but one
day, one day I'll show you all!"

Your next hour of jumps is a lot more pleasant.

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "Onward, Ota!"

Shaft says, "OOOCly don't blame me for the shadows of naked babes with
spears."

However, the forest starts to turn damp, and soon, you're splashing
through swamp.

And then the screaming in the distance begins.

Shaft says, "okay, okay, think positive, good hellride, nice hellride...."

Shaft says, "Shit."

Keiko says, "OOC:  Rod, if this is naked babes with spears..."

The screaming vanishes.

Shaft asks, "hey, everybody okay?"

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Real screaming, or ooc screaming?"
Drake says, "OOC That was real screaming."

Hiko the Firechilde checks herself.  "I'm good."

Shaft says, "OOCly real."
Drake says, "OOC Which vanished in an equally real manner."

Keiko, who isn't used to hellriding, is looking a little shaken.

Hiko the Firechilde says, "It's in front of us."

Ramon leans over to whisper to Keiko.

Shaft shakes his head.  "Good hellridin', easy hellridin'...."

Shaft says, "then again, they wouldn't call it hellriding if...."

Shaft says, "ah shit."

Corrine OOCly says, "Hellride != Easy Or Safe."

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "What is it, Ota?"

The swamp turns hotter and more oppressive.

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "It's behind us, back in that other shadow...
what the--?"

And there's a strange greenish sheen over the sun in the sky.

Shaft says, "We're short on time, an'the last thing I need right now is a
side quest for a babe in distress...."

Hiko the Firechilde whips up anti-heat spells for everyone.

You can now see the plantlife around you is visibly growing.

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Ota, let's move, okay?"

Keiko says, "From what I understand of the physics of Shadow, Prince Ota,
there are infinite 'babes' in infinite distress in the universe.  You
can't save them all."

Shaft says, "we're goin, we're goin....."

Hiko the Firechilde spurs her horse onwards.

There is a sudden shift, and now rain pours down on you.

Shaft says, "Yeah, don't mean I don't havta like it...."

The ground turns to clinging mud, making progress slow.

Hiko the Firechilde says, "What I wouldn't give for conjuration..."

And then, off in the distance, you hear something like drums...or a
heartbeat.

Corrine OOCly says, "Conversely, by saving the universe from Annadil and
the Outsiders, you've saved ALL the Babes, so then they all owe you."

Keiko hrms.  "This also means that there are infinite shadows where I'm
being endlessly tortured to death with rusty butter knives..."  She trails
off, blanching.  "I've never really thought of the implications before..."

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "MOVE NOW!"

Keiko exclaims, "OOC:  THE SAVAGE JUNGLE DRUMS!"

Shaft exclaims, "HEADS UP!"

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "Go, quickly!"

Shaft holds his sword ready

Shaft exclaims, "I'm goin! I'm goin!"

Hiko the Firechilde whips up basic fire defense spells, and uses her Fire
Shield to clear the way in front of them.

As Shaft begins to focus, a huge ass tentacle made out of vines and flesh
melded together erupts out of a nearby pool, grabbing Hiko's horse and
dragging it towards the pool.

Meanwhile, the heavy rain douses Hiko's fire.

Hiko the Firechilde aims at the tentacle.  "Deep Freeze!"

Hiko the Firechilde also switches ring to sword and hacks at tentacles, if
that doesn't work.

The tentacle freezes.  There is a huge scream.  More tentacles erupt from
the ground, coming towards everyone.

Shaft looks around, frowninng. "Let's GO!"

And in the distance, you can make out little bobbing lights approaching
from the right, at about a foot off the ground.

Keiko raises her hand and cries out sharply, casting a lightning bolt at
any threatening tentacles.

Ramon begins desperately hacking at tentacles.

Hiko the Firechilde hacks and slices her way free.  "GO, Pepper!"

You spur your horses forward, slashing and firing spells...and then the
rain stops, and the tentacles stop coming, and the sun is a healthy shade
of red as it drops towards an unseen horizon.

Hiko the Firechilde sighs with relief, and checks for injuries.

Keiko gasps.  "A trap?"

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Not sure... didn't have time to check."

Pepper has bad leg bruises.  The rest of you are mostly unhurt.

Shaft mutters, "Yeah, okay, let's keep it nice'n calm.... nice calm
hellride..."

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "How much closer are we?"

Hiko the Firechilde dismounts and treats her horse with a healing spell.

Shaft focuses on the Sword....

Hiko the Firechilde remounts up once she's done.

Shaft scowls.  "The bond between  me'n the sword... I know we're closer,
but I can't tell how close."

Ramon says, "There's some nasty stuff in Shadow.  I once stumbled into the
middle of some perpetual World War I one time."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Any thing you can imagine is in Shadow, I've
heard."

The next hour again is peaceful as you jump through swampy shadows.

And then there is a jolt, and you're standing on a major interstate
running through a swamp, with large quantities of traffic rushing at you.

Shaft exclaims, "sheeeeit!"

Hiko the Firechilde reins her horse in, and tries to get out of the way of
traffic.

Shaft reins his horse in, or tries to anyway....

Drake says, "OOC Umm...you're on one of the lanes.  Reining your horse in
will stop you on the highway..." Shaft says, "OOCly whoops" Keiko asks,
"OOC:  Can we jump onto the lip of the highway, out of the way of the
cars?" Drake says, "OOC Yes, you can try and race to the median." Hiko the
Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Cool, we do thta..." Drake says, "OOC So you'll
be out of the way.  Check"

Shaft tries to guide his horse through traffic. "JUMP!  JUMP!  LEFT!
RIGHT! GOGOGO!"

Hiko the Firechilde guides Pepper as well.

Corrine OOCly watches the characters play Frogger.

Keiko screws her eyes shut and wishes she was back on the damn fishing
boat.

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Oh, so THAT'S what it is..."

Keiko, Ramon, and Hiko bolt successfully onto the median.  Shaft comes
within about an inch of being hit by a car.

Drake says, "OOC To be precise, this is the major highway that heads to
New Orleans :)" Corrine OOCly says, "Oh My. :)" Keiko asks, "OOC:  Son of
a gun, we're gonna have big fun, on the bayou?"

You're now stuck inside the median as traffic zips back and forth past
you.

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Wide enough for one horse to move
forward?"

Shaft says, "um.... well."

Keiko asks, "Ota-san, could you please shift shadow so that we aren't
being menaced by these... whatever they are?"

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "One at a time?"

Shaft concentrates

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "YOu need to be moving to shift
shadow..."

Shaft shuffles forward slightly and concentrates

Ramon says, "They're called cars.  People ride around in them in high tech
shadows."

Keiko says, "They're very ugly."

As Shaft paces, the sun goes down, and traffic gradually thins out until
finally it vanishes.

And then you head on along your way again.

Shaft says, "OOCly so theoretically you can tap-dance and hellride like a
freak...."

Back down into the swamp.

The sun is down now, and it's cold and humid.

Hiko the Firechilde whips up miniature heating spells.

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Boy, am I handy, or what??"
Shaft says, "OOCly oooooh yeah"

This helps.  Gradually, the humidity drops, and the ground dries, and it
starts turning into forest again.

Shaft asks, "everybody ready?"

Shaft rides on....

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Not to sound trite, but are we there yet?"

Hiko the Firechilde rides.

Keiko rides hunched down low on her horse, looking pretty miserable. 
First hellride is not a fun experience.

Then the forest begins to thin out, and there are many rock outcroppings.

Ramon offers Keiko a donut.

He says, "Eating takes your mind off the miserable landscape, Mom always
says."

Keiko takes the donut and munches on it.  "Mmm... custard.  Nanami-sama is
very wise."

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Closer still?"

Shaft takes a moment to get in touch with the Sword again

You're getting warmer... :)

Even though it's night, the shadow gradually gets hotter, and more barren.
 Soon, there is sand and rock everywhere, and lots of outcroppings, and
only a few scraggly bushes.

Shaft says, "Yeah, closer... s'all I know...."

Shaft says, "long freakin' hellride...."

Hiko the Firechilde uses her Ice magicks to make everyone popsicles.

Keiko sucks on the popsicle after finishing her donut.

Keiko says, "Mmm... lemon."

Now you ride through canyons and arroyos, under the sparkling stars.

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Very pretty..."

The desert gives up its heat to the night, and you can feel it baking your
legs.

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Well... no magic here..."

Shaft says, "as if I ain't dark enough already....."

Shaft says, "HEADS UP"

Ramon looks about nervously.

Shaft continues to ride but draws his sword

Hiko the Firechilde takes off her cloak and slings it across her horse,
alert.

Hiko the Firechilde shifts sword back to crossbow.

Keiko draws her dagger with the hand that isn't holding the popsicle and
looks around.

An Apache warcry echoes down as Ramon pulls his crossbow.

Shaft says, "ga'dang.  Injuns."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Great... more Indians."

Shaft points to the right side of the canyon

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Safety, or where they're coming from?"

Shaft says, "s'where they're at"

Shaft exclaims, "Keep on ridin!"

"Injuns?" Keiko asks, having no idea what Shaft is talking about.

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "Let's go, then!"

Hiko the Firechilde gets her crossbow at the ready, as she rides.

Arrows begin to rain down on you.

Shaft exclaims, "shields would be good!"

Keiko whips up a shielding spell.

Ramon begins firing back, doing his best to try to cover Keiko.

Hiko the Firechilde spurs her horse onwards.  "Not again... NO MAGIC!"

Oddly, the spell fails.

Shaft exclaims, "SHIT!"

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "Ride!"

Shaft exclaims, "GOGOGO!"

Hiko the Firechilde fires back as well.

Keiko rides, muttering something about never, ever leaving Avalon ever
again.

Keiko says, "OOC:  Er... Amber."
Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Avalon?"

You dash forward.  Hiko and Ramon both take a half-dozen arrows into their
flesh.  Many Indians die from crossbow shots.

Corrine OOCly says, "Keiko and JuriAv swapped brains for a moment."

Shaft is unhurt, but his horse takes a good six or so arrows as well.

Shaft pulls his horse next to Hiko's and parries as many arrows as he can

Shaft says, "Aw... shit"

And then you manage to finally jump out of range of the indians.

Foxtrot stops prodding inn--- guilty authors and says, "Ring doesn't have
a shield property,does it?" (to you)

Still no magic, though.

Shaft says, "whoa...."

Shaft says, "damn."

Ramon winces.  "Pain."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "I hate shadows with no magic."

You page, "The manifestation?  Nope. You could have gaby try to cast
spells THROUGH it, but that only works in shadows that allow magic. *fwl*"
to Foxtrot.

Keiko begins giving Ramon first aid, even though healing spells don't
work.

Hiko the Firechilde winces, and tries to take the arrows out.

Shaft asks, "OOCly what's the penalty for slamming the brakes on a
hellride?" Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "2 min. in the penalty box,
and then there's a power play." Corrine OOCly rimshots. Shaft exclaims,
"OOCly oh no!" Shaft OOCly sits it out for the duration....

Hiko the Firechilde finishes pulling the arrows out as best she can and
assesses her injuries.

Shaft says, "OOCly i assume we've come to a stop o.o"
Drake says, "OOC Heh."
Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Well, if we're trying to stem bleeding,
yes." Drake says, "OOC You just stop moving through shadow." Shaft says,
"OOCLy ah."

Shaft tends to his horse as best he can... veteranarian Shaft that he
is....

Ramon looks grateful for the help from Keiko, and quietly grits his teeth
as arrows come out.

Hiko the Firechilde pulls out a roll of bandages and binds her wounds,
then tosses the roll to Keiko when she's sone.

Shaft takes a tenative step forward. "How'bout a little magic here."

Hiko the Firechilde checks.

No magic.

Shaft concentrates, takes another step.  "Now?"

Shaft vanishes from everyone else's sight.

To Shaft, everyone else vanishes.

Shaft hangs his head in shame

Hiko the Firechilde groans....

Shaft says, "I hate this shit."

Shaft trumps Ramon

Keiko begins bandaging up Ramon, looking concerned.  "Thank you.  You
protected me from the arrows."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "First rule of shadow walking... always move
WITH the people you're traveling with."

Ramon smiles.  "It's something I'm good at."  He then takes a trump call.

Hiko the Firechilde calls upon her sword to power a basic healing spell
for herself and Ramon.

Shaft says, "Ahehe... oops"

"Yo, Shaft, ya gotta wait until we can move with you."  He offers you a
hand.

Shaft takes Ramon's hand

He pulls Shaft back.

Shaft mutteres, "Yeah, this proves it, my mojo is _dead_"

Shaft asks, "okay, guys, how we doin?"

Ramon says, "I'll be fine.  But we might want to find somewhere Hiko can
rest.  And I'm damn hungry."

Keiko says, "I feel naked without my magic."

Shaft asks, "let's all taek one trot forward and see if we can get some
magic, yeah?"

Hiko the Firechilde sags in her seat.  "Good news is that I used a healing
spell to take care of the minor wounds.  Bad news is I'm exhausted and
can't ride further."

Hiko the Firechilde grins at Keiko.  "I feel the same."

Hiko the Firechilde taps her sword.  "Always carry a power source with
you..."

Shaft grins weakly. "Just one little trot?"

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Oh... alright... search for a shadow with
magic."

Ramon says, "I'm good to go, but then, I hardly ever get tired.  How are
you holding up, Keiko?"

Shaft saddles up.  "Just say when, guys"

Keiko says, "Well, I didn't get hit by any arrows, so I should be all
right."

Hiko the Firechilde nods to Ota.

You press onwards.  About twenty minutes later, magic clicks back in.

You know this because dozens of undead indians are riding down the canyon
towards you, shouting war cries.

Hiko the Firechilde fires up the spells again, healing Ota's horse.

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Oh great."

Hiko the Firechilde exclaims, "RINGS OF FIRE!"

They burn nicely.

Hiko the Firechilde rides through.

And then there is silence.

Eudial OOCly looks for Johnny Cash.
Drake says, "OOC Hehe."
Drake asks, "OOC Okay, gonna press on further, or stop and get some
sleep?" Shaft scowls. "Okay, FINE, we'll trot a little MORE." Shaft says,
"whoa" Shaft asks, "OOCLy the injuns be gone?" Drake says, "OOC Hiko fried
them." Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Go me!"

Shaft looks around 

You're in a wide canyon of the kind found in the Southwestern US.

=====================================
=====================================

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Can we call a break?  I need to get
offline for a bit, appease the 'rents, you know."

Shaft OOCLy nods

Drake says, "OOC Okay, we can stop here, and I can do my work."

Drake says, "OOC That I need ta do today."

Shaft asks, "OOCly brea-   stop?"

Eudial OOC Shaft still jonesing for adventure.

Shaft says, "OOCly well... at least it's progress"

Drake asks, "OOC We'll all be on tommorow night, right?"

Hiko the Firechilde OOCLY says,  "Yeah... I can be online tomorrow and
Tuesday night."

Shaft says, "yeah, I will"

Corrine OOCly says, "Oh?  Later John, then...."

*** Foxtrot goes OOC. ***

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "What time?"

Corrine is good from home, as usual.

Drake says, "I'll be on around my usual 9 pm CST."

Shaft says, "well, hiko came in handy"

Shaft says, "disappointed about Shinobu but them's the breaks"

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Heh... I'm better at fighting now..."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "I'll be on after eight."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "My time.."

Corrine OOCly says, "This gives me more time to figure out just What The
Hoek Corrine is doing now. *wl*"

Shaft says, "the original plan was just to walk pattern and get to the
sword."

Keiko says, "I'll be around 10:30ish EST, but probably won't be able to
stay more than an hour or so."

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Well, why didn't you?"

Drake says, "Righto, Alan."

Keiko says, "But since Keiko is an NPC, I'm not really necessary."

Shaft says, "pray i'm not in the middle of a death trap or up annadil's
ass, and trump out. if I can"

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "So why didn't you?"

Corrine asks, "What happened to Shinobu?  And what day is this, gamewise?"

Drake says, "They're now edging into day 71"

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Um... late 70?"

Shaft says, "then i realized that when it comes to pattern things, i have
double-barrels of bad stuff.  between hellriding and jumping.. I took
jumping"

Shaft says, "er, hellriding"

Corrine says, "Okidoke.  Just keeping my mental calendar straight."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Ah, right..."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "I left notes with Nanami and Yuriko, telling
where we went and why/"

Drake says, "Which is good :)"

Corrine says, "Coolness.  Corrine would grok that things are getting split
anyway."

Hiko the Firechilde waves.  "That was fun.  Go to work, John.  Rod, get
some rest when you're done with work, and NO sleeping on the road."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Phil, draw more.  Alan?  I need another
verstion of 'Her Tragedy'."

Shaft asks, "who me?"

Corrine says, "Sincshe's going to focus more on getting Amber defensible
again, and getting the Ember troops headded Keepwards."

Hiko the Firechilde asks, "Anyone else I miss?"

Eudial says, "Bai, Foxy."

Drake asks, "Oh, how close are you to finishing off the GK, Phil?"

Shaft says, "take care, dearie"

Corrine says, "Putting in sunbeams now."

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Oh, Sean?  No more goatse.cx for you."

Corrine says, "After that, I go to makign the trump.  So should finish
tonight."

Eudial was wise enough not to click on the link.

Hiko the Firechilde says, "Everyone else, goodnight."

Corrine says, "The BG render came out NICE."

Foxtrot has disconnected.

>> Byeeee!  It was really fun!

Corrine says, "12 hours, but nice."

Drake says, "Cool. Email me the URL when you finish, as I'll be working on
my computer, so though I won't be on here, I'll be able to get mail."

Drake says, "And I wanna see it."

Corrine says, "Righto."

Akemi has disconnected.