Author: Agravaine (and many others); January 2003
Sometimes, we begin copperative storylines on the messageboard, letting the story go wherever the forum members take it. With each post addition there will be a horizontal line and the member's name above it.
A Crate Arrives
Agravaine
Oli McMarrin enters the great hall and heads towards a chair by the fireplace. Without having to look, he knows the dwarf is there.
"Agra, there be a crate for ye outside, from Qeynos."
The dwarf looks lover the arm of the chair at the barbarian, excitement clear on his face and a glimmer of evilness in his eyes.
"Wonderful news Oli, can I help ye carry it ta my room?"
With a slightly evil grin of his own, Oli says, "Naw Agra, I wouldn't want ya to strain yerself, the crate is might nigh as big as ye are, nearly two feet high."
Agra and Oli share a chuckle as Oli walks away to move the crate. Once he is out of sight, the evil glint is back in Agra's eyes. Let them have their laughs, soon it would be his turn....
The crate was nothing special, inside was a collection of fine brews from all over Norrath. Every city was represented in an assortment of fine alcohol, there were even a few bottles of milk for the monks. It had taken weeks to get the order filled, and it had finally come.
"The next time we gather as a family, it's time to make a toast to MacLear, a toast for the good times and the bad, old friends and friends yet to come, a toast of teh greatness of Clan MacLear, a toast not to soon be forgotten."
As happens every so often, the Clan was assembled in the Great Hall to feast and share often overblown stories of their exploits in lands distant. Lana had prepared a feast fit for any noble house, with the aid of Brut and Neillen of course. Ravnanger and Sequi were talking together about some sort of shaman business or other while Lana, being the social guru she is, laughed loud and long at some tale or other from Kurilya. Braitha sat with her bird on her shoulder, feeding it small bits of this and that while Brut tried to explain the subtle art of advanced fletching to her. Neillen and Timo, in booster seats so as to fit right with the table, whispered about lockpicks and what brand was best for the trade. Furiel, Ravenar, and Demona jurked somewhere within the hall; it was no small secret that the three of them spent almost as much time in the Great Hall as did the rest of the Clan. Nosferum, devoted monk that he was, had refused anything save for a bowl of white rice and a flask of water. Geodon and Prodox discussed what druid rings were most traveled to and why. Agravaine and Crakken sat discussing the ways of healing. Soon it would come time for everyone to stand in turn and tell a tale of great feats they had done (or not done as the case sometimes was) and Agra saw that the time had some. Standing up in his raised seat, he clinked an iron spoon against the special mug he had been given by Kurilya. Once near-silence had set in and eyes were upon him, he spoke.
"Friends old and new, even you slinky dark elves, I know your there! we gather as a family far too seldom for my liking, but when we do, tis always a special time, and one to be cherished and remembered for long yeard to come. To that end, I had ordered an entire crate of brew from all the corners of the earth to be sent here. It arrived here a few days ago, containing the finest drink from each of our cities, I even got a few bottles of milk for the cats and the Nos. If ye please, I'd like ta hand it out now and propose a toast after."
He looked to Lana for approval and then waved to Oli to help him bring the crate. They returned after a while with the big wooden box and between them, managed to pry the top off. True to his word, there was Dwarven Ale and Elvish Wine, Halas Stout and drink from every city represented this night. He passed out to everyone seated the ale from their hometown. As a test to the balding monk, he tossed the bottle of milk through the air. Nosferum, without looking up from his rice bowl, deftly grabbed the spinning bottle from the air and set it beside him. Nodding to himself, Agra boured some milk from another bottle into 4 saucers, one for the tiger warder and one for each kitten. Seing everyone served, he spoke again. Okay Furiel, Demmona, Ravenar, I have ale for ye as well if ye chose to come from the shadows and act civilized, it wasnae easy to get this from Neriak I assure ye. After a pause, Furiel appeared right next to the dwarf, his sneaking skills still as sharp as they ever had been, Demmona and Ravenal soon followed suit and once everyone was served, Agra spoke again.
"To friends old, new, and even hidden is shadows, may your winters be warmer, summers be cooler, friends be dearer, travels be safer, kills be swifter, and endeavors luckier. May your tales be grander and audiences foolish enough to believe you! Above all, may we all remain a family, together in all, Clan MacLear. Present Dark Elves grudgingly accepted."
With a loud cheer, mugs and bottles clinked together and the entire company took a long and healthy drink, even the warder and kittend. After the toast, people began to tell their grand tales. About an hour into it, a few people began to taste acid in their throats. Soon after, the entire assembled company began to feel queasy and weak. Agra, pained though he was, wore a wide grin from ear to ear. Hobbling over to Neillen, Timo, and Crakken, he told them not to fear, the fun was just about to begin...
Ravenar Kuronin
Ravenar being accustomed to his liquor knew some sort of trick was up... Looking about the room, he knew others felt the same way... Was it poison he thought... Summoning his discipline he up-righted himself with a defiant look upon his face.
Seems ye let the liquor spoil, stuntie!
Agravaine
Pained though he was, Agra's eyes glowed and looked more than half mad as a gleeful and equally mad sounding laughrose from the dwarf, drowning out the moans of the assembled company. "Your words aren't too far off Ravenar, though soon enough you'll see just how.. prophetic your words are!"
With a final twinge, the nausea and pain subsides. People catch breath for a moment before every eye glares at the cleric. Voices raise to shouts demanding what was in the ale and what Agra was thinking by doing this. Lana, Ravnanger, and Sequi hadn't joined the others in demanding an answer from the dwarf for they had noticed something strange happening. Seemingly, the plates and goblets had gotten larger, and the table a little taller. Their chairs stood a few inches higher off the ground than they had a minute ago, and were a little wider and deeper. Agravaine also looked different, taller than before, now as high as their shoulder rather than their waist. A gleam of understanding flashed on Lana's face and she held up a hand for silence. By now everyone had noticed the growing table and chairs and the room had all but fallen silent on its own. Giving the cleric a very sharp look, she said calmly, "There was shrinking draught in that ale wasn't there?"
With a heartfelt chuckle, Agra nodded and spoke. "Aye, and not just any shrinking potion either, I meant it when I said it came at great expense. The time delay was especially difficult to find, but necessary to ensure everyone drank. The enchantress who helped me thought it would be a grand idea and imbued them with a special enchantment to hold ye to this size, dispite any other spells, for the better part of a day. However, not all of them had shrinking in them, a few had growth. I drank one of them myself, the others went to Neillen, Timo, Crakken, and Lylah. Actually I can't take full credit for this, it was Lana's idea. She said something a few weeks gone by about me 'trying to bring her down to my level' I just decided to do a little better."
As he spoke, the potions in the ale had finished their workings. Lana stood no more than 3 feet tall, and the others had shrunk the same, by proportion. Elves were a scant two feet and eight inches. Meanwhile, Agra had grown to six feet six along with Crakken, Neillen was close behind at six feet two and Timo brung up the rear at six feet.
"Long have I endured taunts and prods about my height and now the tables are reversed! Though it will wear down by morning, I intend to milk this for all it's worth. (casting a glance back at Crakken, Neillen, and Time) I'm sure the others feel the same way."
On his way towards Lana, Agravaine reached down to ruffle Ravenar's hair. As he passed, he chuckled loudly enough to be heard, "Stuntie indeed.." As he passed Kurilya (he hadn't thought cats could go flush, but if they could, she surely would be) and knealt down beside the 3 foot Val'Shir and dropped a ball of yarn. "A toy for the kitten" he said as he walked away. Nearing Lanadena, now standing in her chair to look him in the eye, he asked with a grin, "What do ye think of this change of events Lana?"
Demmona
Demmona giggled from the shadows, watching the assemblage dwarf before her eyes. "Beware of dwarves bearin gifts", she chuckled, everything growing larger and larger. Eyeing a dish of strawberries she squealed and scrambled up to the table top, grabbing the hefty berry with two hands! "Nay as bad as all that!"
Kurilya
Looking around her, Kurilya felt a moment of uneasiness as the world assumed its new proportions. At first she felt uneasy, but then started chuckling as she looked around and saw her family trying to adjust to their predicament. Walking over to Agravaine, she stood with her hands on her hips and looked up at him.
"Very cute noble cleric, but with larger size comes larger responsibility. Since I can't reach the upper shelves now, I guess you can dust them for me, as it was my turn to do so. Oh, and I'll just keep your chair warm while you take care of that."
With a grin Kurilya pulled herself up into the large stuffed chair before the fire that Agravaine favored and settled down into the cushion, doing her best to impersonate a dwarf who was sometimes too clever, but who never failed to bring a smile to her face, no matter what her day had wrought.
Lanadena
"Well, Agra... it would seem that this time you may have gotten the better of me, but not for long."
Lana grins and mumbles a few words that turn her into a bear. Larger than she was before, she steps on Agra's foot and winds her limbs around his ankle.
"You can now be my transport, Agra. Surely I would fall off the back of my mare in this condition. Will you fetch me some salmon or shall I wait here while you travel to get it? With those long legs, you can surely travel the distance much more swiftly than I can."
Braitha
"Agra!!! I'm almost as short as you before you did this, now look at me! Do you not know I feel just as dwarfed as you around these Barbarians? Grrr...how am I too get arrows made like this?"
Grumbling to herself, Braitha looks about for her frighted hawk, spying her in a corner of the rafters squawking to herself, Braitha decides to let her be. She turns about in her chair, and climbs her scant two foot self down to the floor. She marches over to Agra, who is currently being held down by Lana, and steps on his toe, as she undignitly stomps from the room only to have to crawl up the stairs to her room.
Oh, he thinks he's gotten the better of us does he... well, we'll just see about that. And since when were there so many stairs? She thinks to herself as she climbs.
Ravenar Kuronin
"By Innorruk stuntie! This be in me mind a violation of the pact. The magiks ye cast upon me or neither wanted nor appreciated." Ravenar reaches to break the peace bond upon his Reaver. Thinking better of it. He stops and awaits. The ineffable Dwarf better have some good news soon or a personal pennace he shall pay, thought Ravenar.
Agravaine
Gingerly clasping both hands around the now fuzzy Lana's midsection, he manages to pry her claws from his boots and set her atop the table near a plate of some sort of fish, as big as a whale to the miniature bear. That takes care of that, he thought to himself. He spies Demmona happily devouring a gigantic strawberry, not seemingly not caring that she has made a complete mess of herself in the giant fruit. Kurilya has usurped his favorite chair by the fire, though in this condition he didn't think he'd fit in it anyway. Braitha had some something he couldn't see from his vantage high above her and had stalked off up the stairs. Stalked wasn't the right word exactly, but he couldn't place what she had done, climbed maybe? He heard a high pitched voice behind him and ws a little suprised to see a red faced Ravenar giving him the once over about what he had done. Trying very hard to supress a gleeful chuckle, he crouched down beside the miniature dark elf, who only stood as high as his chest, even in crouch.
"Why Ravenar, I didn't think anyone with blue skin could look so red, maybe it's more purple than red. I dun see what the problem is. You are unharmed in any way, and despite what ye seem ta think, this will only last.. maybe 10 hours. (Catching Ravenar glancing to his reaver) Aye, ye best not draw that wee dagger in here, lest Oli get the wrong idea an' step on ya. In this condition, even the best of fighters wouldnae be a challenge for Oli or his brothers. Ye look a might parched, would ye like another ale?"
With a booming laugh, the dwarf rose to his feet and ruffled Ravenar's hair again. As he walked away, the hate Knight's entire head went dark purple, weather in rage or embarassment, no one could tell. Agra suspected more embarassment than anything else. He walked over to where the others who had grown still stood, apparently shocked at the change.
"Well my friends, what do ye think of the new situation, brief though it may be?" Turning around to face the others again, "Well my.. wee friend, I guess this is a nice... little adventure for us all now isn't it?!"
Color flushed Agra's cheeks as he let out another booming belly laugh and stood smiling, looking out over the multitude of tiny people and thinking about what a complete success his little trick had been.
Furiel (Dark Elf Rogue friend of Lear)
Still perched in his now outsized chair, Furiel is grinning and shaking his head, initially incapable of finding words for the situation. Finally, he manages, "Goranga musk is not nearly enough to make up for this one. Agra, you're so gonna get it... Gods, this is ridiculous, I feel like a pixie!"
Lanadena
Lanadena looks around, wondering how Agravaine got himself out of that so easily. She has a thought that will bring Agravaine back to his rightful size. She mumbles a few words and the bear skin that enveloped her is gone. She wonders what Neillen and Crakken think of this turn of events. She points at Agra and begins to chant an incantation that Rav and Sequi both recognize... the one of nullify magic. It that doesn't work, Lana will have to buy some pumice stones and start rubbing them on him.
Neillen Begg
Neillen stands dumbfounded, just looking at the spectacle before him. "This is funny indeed, Agra, but it better be temporary. Where as I, too, tire of the "wee one" pokes, I am, by nae means, interested in bein' one of these, ehhhh.... LARGE ONES!!" He grins as he speaks and walks into the kitchen. His voice rises so that he may be heard from there, "Where will I find the largest mug in the keep? Oh, and one of those Ten Pounder pies....."
Agravaine
As Agra was explaining to Furiel that this was his revenge for the gorilla musk incident, and that he rather fancies Furiel in pixie size, Lana's spell smacked him dead center in the back of the head. Sparks surrounded the dwarf and slowly faded away into his clothes. As everyone watched in anticipation, he began to shrink very slowly. He lost a foot of height before he stopped shrinking entirely and started growing again, completing the full cycle back to where he was in about a minute. Scratching the back of his head, he turned around to face his attacker. "Honestly now! I dun see what about this is so abrasive to ye. I told ye this was temporary, and I also told ye that no spells could alter it during it's duration. *Sigh* I guess I better explain things. A few weeks I approached a gnome enchanter in the Plane of Knowledge. He was grumbling to himself about always being called short and reading an old book furiously. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was reading about almost forgotten enchantments. Almost forgotten because they were for the most part useless. He and I got to talking and we finally decided this was the thing to do. Because I thought it would be funny as anything, and because he wanted to test his newly created spell. I had him enchant some ale with a slow acting, time release formula that would wear off after a few hours, just like regular alcohol. Ye can try to grow yerselves or shrink me, and it'll work for a wee bit, but soon the drink will take hold again. As for you, Lana, that really stung. I put ye by that fish, be happy."
With a wink, he went back to arguing with Furiel about how he deserved this in spades while glancing around occasionally to be ready for more attacks.
Lanadena
Lanadena giggles at a wicked thought she has as Agra is reduced to normal height and then made tall again. She wonders if the kittens are about and if they'd like to play with a yo-yo named Agra. She hides behind Demmona and the strawberry before casting another nullify magic spell on Agra.
Ravenar Kuronin
After hearing Agravaine's story, Ravenar looks for the height ales... Oh yes this is gonna be grand! A evil grin crosses Ravenar's face