Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) Define Infinity

Call me Dragh or Carp that's easier, and yes that would be nice. likking my fingers, drying them on the table sheets, and shake BeeGee's hand.

Since Nero was late getting there and therefore late to dinner...he was way behind on the drinking. "Bartender double of mister cuervo please and a couple bottles of Killians..." With that Nero pounds the double shot down winces and chases it with a nice long swig of Killians...after twenty minutes and another double shot Nero is a far along as any of his new friends and breaks out his own highly coveted stash of horrifyingly bad jokes that are only funny to drunks and dentists..."So what do you call a boomerang that doesnt work?" He smiles a giant smile across the room and finally shouts "A STICK" with that he falls drunkenly onto the floor spilling his beer on DQueens shoes..."ooops sorry" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohh.gif" alt="" />

"yes, thank you DQueene, it's nice to finally meet you as well. Say, do you know how long this meeting is gonna take because if I drink a bit more I'm sleeping before the first words have been said"

then I went over to BG to shake his hand

i'll take a jupiler thank you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />, i said, trying not make any blond jokes <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

I looked at Nero reclining on the floor, he was smiling up at Viper and me sheepishly. "I know," I said. "You were practicing your carrier landings, right? And let me guess, my shoes got in the way?" I raised my eyebrows and asked, "Do you think you can get up on your own? Or do you need some help?"

'Squish, squish, squish' my shoes were making sucky sounds and sticking to the floor as I took Kiya and BG their drinks. "Hold on, let me get these off. BG would you and jvb see if Nero needs some help? I think jet lag, and too many beers may have hit him pretty hard."

I put my shoes under the chair and went to ask for a mop before Lynn or Lar showed up and saw the mess. On my way, I saw another young lady rush in the door out of breath. I smiled at her: "Don't worry you're just in time. Lar and Lynn haven't shown up yet and I've got to go get a mop to clean up a mess on the floor." I pointed at Kiya, "That's Kiya, in case you didn't know. She'll help introduce you to everyone."

I rushed off, found a mop and cleaned up the mess just in the nick of time! It was time for the meeting to start ...

And finally there she was... Slowly walking towards the crowd and very pleased to see so many people, most of them unknown faces, but not for long anymore...

*a nervous cough*

"Greetings, everyone. If you will kindly be seated, we will begin. We will be closing the doors now, so I hope everyone who is going to attend is already here."

As I said this, the caterers and bartender left the room. I nodded to the man in the Larian Studios T-Shirt, and he closed the doors and locked them from the inside. Then he dimmed the room lights, except for a reading lamp on the lecturn.

As the small crowd settled into their seats, I felt a little nervous. I've read speeches before and hosted parties before, but tonight's gathering was special. I bit my lip and took a deep breath to calm my nerves, while unfolding the paper that held my over-rehearsed words. Then I found the button on the lecturn that controlled the slide projector, and showed the audience my first slide.

Slide One - Welcome to the Special Conference. "All of you know me as Lynn, the administrator of the Larian Studios forums, and ...". I was briefly interupted by a spontaneous applause, which embarassed me more than a little and didn't do anything to calm my nerves.

"... and, on behalf of LarianStudios I welcome you to this special conference on Future Game Concepts."

Slide Two - A picture of a name tag. "By now, I hope each of you has written your name on your name tags, and introduced yourself to your fellow attendees. If you have, then you may have already guessed that you have at least one thing in common: you visit and participate in the discussions on our internet forums."

Slide Three



A picture of Lar holding a Larian Studios T-Shirt covered with autographs of every Larian employee. "Lar will be joining us shortly. He will ... ." Again, the audience applaused unexpectedly.

Note to myself: Next time I write a speech, try to anticipate interuptions by applause.

"He will make some introductory remarks. Then, we will give you all a ten minute break while we rearrange the furniture for a seminar discussion between all of us. We will also plan a fifteen minute break halfway through the discussions. Then, and 22:30 (that's 10:30 pm for our western friends) we will present some special awards and give each of you one of these ..." I gestured toward the T-Shirt on the projection screen. This time I was expecting the applause, and was not disappointed.

However, someone in the back of the room asked a question that didn't quite make sense to me. It was something like: "Do you mean we get to take Lar home?" Of course, I graciously ignored the comment, as I have practiced doing so on the forum numerous times.

I was preparing to show my fourth slide when Lar abruptly appeared from one of the darkened corners of the room saying, "Pardon me, Lynn. There has been a slight change in plans." He walked to a point directly in front of the group and addressed them. "Please look underneath each of your seats. You should find a small golden book, tied with a purple ribbon. I must apologize, but there is no time to explain further details until you have been transported ... "

I suddenly felt very drowsy. The last thing I remember as I fell asleep was the sight of every person in the room (except Lar) falling into a deep sleep. When we awoke, I knew we weren't in Belgium anymore...

"Ahm, anyone awake here...? I feel so lonely... so tied up.... would anyone please untie me? I need to get that book... If it isn't too much of a bother..."

I woke up feeling rested. I remembered dreaming that I heard Kiya's voice asking me something, but I wasn't able to answer her. But when I tried to stretch and yawn, I discovered that I couldn't move. My arms were stuck and my legs seemed stiff. When my eyes were finally able to focus, I saw that I was tied with sturdy hemp ropes that strapped me to a tree, standing up, facing more trees with other "people" similarly tied up.

I have always carried several knives. Not because I am a violent person, but because I like tools and a knife is the universal tool. As luck would have it, one of my knives was near enough to my hand that I could reach it and begin sawing at my ropes. It took several minutes, and created two nasty blisters on my fingers, but I was able to free myself from the ropes. That's when I realized that the knife wasn't one of mine. It looked older somehow, a strange dagger-shaped thing.

That's when I heard Kiya's voice again. But this time I wasn't dreaming. She was tied to the nearest tree, but I think she may have been talking in her sleep. For some reason she thought she was tied to a chair and needed a book.

"Or maybe", I reflected, "I am still asleep and I'm dreaming all of this. After all, I should still be in the conference room listening to Lar telling us about the 'change in plans.'"

Kiya started to wake up as I began cutting her ropes.

Slowly the haze lifted from my eyes, and I looked around to see numerous 'creatures' tied to trees all around me. I could only conclude that these were my companions from before...I felt different somehow, stronger, and I had claws...trying to grasp what was going on I let out a loud "RRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! and with all my strength broke free of my bonds...there were others around me that were still asleep and needed my help...I proceeded to cut my neighbors down one by one...having claws was helpful...after most were cut down I scouted around for water and found a soft stream close by...thats when I saw myself and gasped... http://personal2.stthomas.edu/jebeins/inuyasha5.gif

I opened my eyes, must've dreaming, the last thing I remembered what this guy Nero tying me to my chair, people laughing about a smudge in my face, me feeling drunk and sick...
Someone had freed me from my ropes and I staggered.
"Oh, my head... that barkeeper should be beheaded and quartered... but I'm not sure of the correct sequence... Ah, thank you, feeling much better now. Who are you, rescuer of a lady in distress?"
Huh? Since when did I use these words? So old-fashioned? Andandand, how did I look? Yuck, wearing a long coat and some funny looking leggings underneath... And in green! Uhh, I hate green, doesn't fit my eyes. Yuck!
"I'm BeeGee, don't you know me?" The guy looked at me with twinkling eyes full of impish amusement. My mind was still bloated, I shook my head and focused on him. "Hmmm, yes, I recall someone with your name, but, ahm, I don't know exactly from where..." I looked around for help and saw several other people tied to a tree.
"No time for this, BeeGee, we'll settle it another time. As you've got a knife, could you please free the others here? I'll go and take a look where we are and what's going on in here. I knew the Larians can't be trusted..."
"Shriek, every one wake, quick, there's a demon, or something of the kind in here, quick...

I was too busy staring at how tall Kiya was. At least twice my height. That's when I realized that I was short, round, and had long pointed ears.

That's when I heard a monsterous scream and the sound of ropes breaking.

"Trix Plix!" I replied, "What was that noise!"

As I was waking up, I noticed all the noises were so loud that they hurt my ears. I heard someone say their name was BG, wait I knew that name... didn't I? I tried to open my eyes and just as quickly I shut them - it hurt.

I started thinking to myself, I have to make the sounds get softer so I can understand what's happening. It was almost magical it worked so fast, it felt just like I'd turned the volume down on a radio. Hey, maybe that'd work with my eyes too. I was concentrating on that when I heard a shriek, which almost sent my hearing right over the edge again. Okay, so I didn't have it under control yet.

I managed to get my eyes open and looked around and saw a little guy and a young lady staring at something. I jumped to my feet and turned to look at what they were staring at and sort of squeaked "Eek!"

Wow, how druk was I? I don't seem to remember anything after Lar talking, and my bed feel kinda hard, I must have fel out of bed.

Oh, It's not dark at all, I've got a hood covering my eyes. As I moved mu hood up I saw I xas laying on a patch of grass surrounded by dried mud. I tried to get up, but my back felt heavy, I rolled over and something pinched in my back.

Finnaly I mannaged to get up, I grasped for the thinng that was apparantly tied to my back while looking around seeing poeple and creaturs that spoke what I couldn't understand. I couldn't reach my back so I let whatever it was loose and it fell behind me, I turned around and there it was, a crossbow. A crossbow?? what am I doing with a crossbow? Picked it up and tied it to my back, I noticed some where still sleeping so I went to wake them, tapping on there back saying "hello, wake up" but it sounded something as "Ha, unar go". No matter what I tried they seemed not to waken.

As I finally accepted that I had somehow changed after hitting myself many times and realized that I was not sleeping...at least in the normal way...I found some incredibly large leaves growing next to the riverbank and fashioned several crude devices to carry water...After filling them all I stumbled still dazed back to the rest of the 'people' that had been tied up...one by one I began giving them water...then I saw a strange little creature that spoke with many x's and z's and had missed the lesson on vowels..."what is your name..." I asked...he replied "BG...and thank you for the water..." Then I told him that my name was Nero and asked if he would help me distribute the water...

I thought, "I wonder what was in the buffet, or was it the wine? Now, I'm looking at a huge, ... something ..., and it is asking me to give water in leaves to these other creatures."

I said, "Zrx!" but I'm not sure what that meant. So I helped distribute the water and noticed that each creature was wearing a nametag. The four sleeping ones were Polgara, Hypatia, jvb, Viper. They must have had more wine than I did.

"What are you? Who are you?... And thanks for the water... but be a bit careful with those claws of yours, you just pierced my cloak and scratched my hand, you Somethingorother... I'm kiya or Kiya, if you know what capital letters are" I said, sucking at the scratch and wondering if this adventure is going to cause me more blood, first my finger and now my hand. The creature was apparently too busy to answer.
I looked on the ground and found a small satchel which I opened curiosly, breaking a fingernail whilst fumbling with the fastener. In it were a few nifty little things - and a book. My eyes lightened up, I took it into my hand and read the cover: The Beginnere's Booke fore the Magi. Wow, doublewow, I started to browse it, and forgot everything around me.
"Let the others do the work, I'll sit down and read - no need for me to get busy and interfere," I mumbled and started to draw runes into the air, the one I had found on page 1.
"Ouch, would you mind and watch what you're doing?"
I looked up - the little imp was holding his ear and obviously trying to quench a small fire flame.

when I woke up I was in a completely different place, my ears were pointy, I felt very vital and bonded with nature and I had a superb bow in my hands and a nice looking dagger hanging on my belt.

My coat felt strangely unfitting and too small so I took it out. Then I saw the strange look on the faces of everybody staring at my back. "what? what is it? Is there a beast on my back?"

Kiya said: "I don't know how to tell you this but...."
ME: "Yes, please tell me!!"
Kiya: "Well you have wings on your back."
me: "WHAT!!"

I was minding my own business, trying to help revive our sleeping comrades, when suddenly my right ear caught on fire!

I panicked. I ran around in circles, hitting my ear with my hand (complete with a thumb and three fingers). By the time I put the flames out, I realized that I had been running in circles approximately one meter above the ground.

"I can fly!" I yelped.

I had the sudden urge to do a back sumersault flip in mid-air. It worked! This was better than swimming upside down under water. I wondered if I could do anything else magical.

That's when I got a case of the hiccups. As everyone around me pointed and laughed, my hiccups got worse and worse until ... "Poof!" I disappeared.

I turned around to look at everything, we were in a large clearing surrounded by huge, and obviously ancient trees. The sun was high in the sky, but it wasn't the color I was used to - it was - bluish, sort of.

As I looked at the spot I had been lying just moments before I noticed a bag ... My backpack? Even the word seemed strange to me now! Why?

I rushed over, picked my backpack up and unzipped it. I immediatel found three books - one was a little gold book that I remember - Lar ... (Was it Lar?) had given us. There was another one, with runes on it that just said DQueene, that I wanted to wait to open. For some reason, I felt that if I opened either of those two books I had taken steps that I could never take back.

The last book was just a journal with blank pages. "I must write down everything I remember of 'before'." My past life was assuming the feeling of a dream - and I knew if I didn't write it down I would forget it, and I didn't want to forget. I sat down by the girl Kiya and started scribbling frantically.

As I was seeing to what was now all of my friends from the conference who had also 'changed' I heard a strange sounding miniature scream come from behind me DQueen and I both turned to look and saw our little imp friend BG running around with his ear apparently on fire...the strange thing(stranger than an imp with his ear on fire) was that he was doing this several feet off the ground...once I broke my mental block, I started running over to him with my water...then he stopped running apparently realizing that he was floating...the he said...something I couldn't quite hear and suddenly vanished in a dark blue cloud of smoke....I stopped running suddenly and dropped the water and just stood there stareing...into what was now empty space. As I turned to continue helping those that were still recovering...I caught my foot on something and did a faceplant into the ground...when I had shaken it off I looked for what I had fallen on I saw nothing and then I heard a snicker, and a giggle...BG