Article: 261854 of talk.bizarre
From: Greyr@leland.Stanford.Edu (Greyr@leland.Stanford.Edu)
Date: 01 Dec 95 07:11:00 -0500
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: 02:Laws
Message-ID: <72a_9512050515@sunshine.com>
X-Mail-Agent: GIGO+ sn 164 at sunshine vsn 0.99 pl1
Organization: Sunshine's Mail Only Node
Lines: 70
Status: O
X-Status: 


AREA:TALK.BIZARRE
From: greyr@leland.Stanford.EDU (Greg Rapawy)
Date: 1 Dec 1995 04:11:02 -0800

link to him -- the mask that had been used against Coranis.  Channeling
that much mystic power through something is enough to forge a connection
not easily broken!  And it so happened that the mask itself also had both
Sympathetic and Contagious links to someone else who was present --
Coranis, of course.  So Vercel diverted enough power to those pathways to
transport the mask within the circle.

	Once Urvax saw that, he redoubled his assault, and it looked grim
for a few minutes, but Coranis managed to pull out a few reserves of
power and hold him off while Vercel constructed the new spell they needed.

	Of course, anything which they did to the mask would rebound on 
Coranis with at least twice the force with which it struck Urvax, because 
two Great Laws bound it to him, and only one bound it to Urvax.  But that 
wasn't what Vercel had in mind.  Instead, he worked the link entirely 
backwards... and then struck Coranis as hard as he could in the face, 
backing it with all the energy both of them had together.

	Coranis fell, unconscious.

	The force of that stroke hit the mask from two sources -- the two 
links, and of course as you are aware the nature of such a link is to 
amplify the effects of action on the one end by the amount of magic 
applied.  The mask shattered.

	The force of that shattering then rushed down the Contagious link 
to Urvax, amplified still more, and what became of him I once again 
refuse to go into.  Suffice it to say that, had it not been for what he 
had done to Coranis, there would have been some feelings of pity for him 
among those present.  Of course, the Witnesses would have saved him, 
since the Challenge was not to the death -- but the blow was so 
unexpected that neither of them moved until it was far too late.  The 
circle of the Challenge did, however, prevent any of the blood from 
spattering outside, for which I suspect Sinalia was greatly thankful.

	And that was the second mistake, when Urvax underestimated Contagion.

	Vercel later tried to cede his seat to Coranis, who eventually 
recovered from his ordeal.  Hah.  Coranis had learned his lesson, believe 
me, and wanted no more of it.  Vercel wound up serving twenty-four years 
before he talked his friend into taking it back...

                               * * *

	Now.  All still awake?  Good.  You do seem to be paying a bit 
more attention at the moment.  Could it be I've actually impressed some 
knowledge of how vital these Laws are into your thick skulls?

	We'll have to see.  If you want to leave now, you may.  
Otherwise, I'm going to keep you another hour and start explaining some 
of the specifics.

	No departures?  What a pleasant surprise.  (No, I won't tell 
you whether I was Coranis.  Hah.  For all you know, I was Vercel, or 
Orden, or Sinalia, in the good prophetic tradition.  I definitely wasn't 
Urvax, though.)  Now, let us begin again with Sympathy...

__ 
Greg Rapawy, greyr@leland.Stanford.EDU; virtual wanderer
--
|Fidonet:  Greyr@leland.Stanford.Edu 1:135/292.1
|Internet: Greyr@leland.Stanford.Edu
|
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his/her own.