The Alumnus Adventure: The Story Behind the Story

[jpholding]

"Have at ye!" screamed Brandalf85, brandishing his Sears brand sword as he plunged into the Toon Camp below. Tim, seeing many he recognized as friends below, hesitated. At last he walked slowly up to a green-hooded figure standing on the outskirts of the camp, watching Brandalf85 with something between curiosity and amusment.

"Immortal Eidolon?" Tim queried.

The hooded one smiled. "I am at your service, friend Tim. What is it of this companion you have brought us? Is his armor cinched too tightly, perhaps?"

"Nay. He hath declared war upon you."

The hooded one raised an eyebrow. "Doth he know our lore?"

At about the same time, Brandalf85 came running up behind the hooded one and dealt him a blow upon his neck. A sound effect in bright red letters appeared above his head ("BOING!") and at once the knight was thrown backwards to the ground.

Eidolon glanced behind him at the fallen knight and shrugged. "Evidently not. Your friend should be more cautious. Doth not your own oracles say that one should assess an enemy before attacking? The last who encountered us without knowing our lore ended up married to the Sanslorian Princess Narina; and it is a grave hazard to attack those who, in your own world, have the power to materialize two ton weights over the heads of others or produce large wooden mallets from behind their backs. What is his name?"

"Brandalf85," Tim replied.

"Ah," Eidolon replied sagely. "I know of this one. I expect his bloodlust is brought on by his prior victory."

There was a moment's silence while Brandalf85 shook his head, got up, then ran to attack a nearly Hearthstonian that looked something like a giant Elmo.

"Erm, is your liege here?" Tim asked.

"Nay. He hath lately departed for war upon the forces of the Flemming Consortium, and hath left us with his discretion."

"Ah. Well, you see, Brandalf85 had me put on this armor, of our God...."

Eidolon raised his eyebrow again. "Doth this Brandalf think the uses of the armor of the One are unknown among us?"

Tim chuckled sheepishly. "Well, he said he'd never even heard of you guys until now."

"Indeed," Eidolon muttered. "A quick instruction if I may. Do you see yon red giant whom he battles in vain?"

[attachment=1]

"I do," Tim said.

"The embossment you see upon his chestplate represents that which we call the Sacred Fire, which you know as the Holy Spirit. Our oracles are not the same as yours, of course, for what you call your Atonment event has yet to occur. But we know of the ways of the One; indeed I am his chief prophet in our world, as you know. Your friend is as one who steps into the dimension of Narnia and thinks that the fauns are agents of he whom you call Satan."

"Have YOU been to Narnia?" Tim gasped.

"The gates of Almanor did once allow me such a visit," Eidolon replied. "In any event, please inform him on these matters. We would not have him harmed."

"Well...." Tim said. "He wants to fight for the Alumnus of the Month."

Eidolon shrugged. "That is at his discretion. Nevertheless, at our discretion I give you the pledge that should my own liege achieve victory, he shall tender a nomination for you again in your month of June and throw the full weight of our power behind you."

As this was spoken, Brandalf85 continued to swing at the red giant, who seemed taken aback by the display as Brandalf85 sang a war song that went something like this:

I was walkin' to the kitchen for some Golden Grahams
When I accidentally stepped into a alternate dimension
And soon I was abducted by some aliens from space
Who kinda looked like Jamie Farr
They sucked out my internal organs
And they took some polaroids and said I was a darn good sport
And as a way of saying thank you
They offered to transport me back to any point in history that I would care to go

And so I had them send me back to last Thursday night
So I could pay my phone bill on time
Just then the disembodied head of Colonel Sanders started yelling

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so important doesn't matter
Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong

"We are in for an interesting time, I see," Eidolon observed. "In the meantime, how about some root tea?"

[Brandalf85]

Hmmm.....fantasy I see. It's up to {Tim}, if he agrees, then a truce is declared, however, how do we know you'll actually nominate him in June??

[jpholding]

Hmmm.....fantasy I see. It's up to {Tim}, if he agrees, then a truce is declared, however, how do we know you'll actually nominate him in June??

How about I announce it (the current campaign and the plan for the June nomination) on my What's New page http://www.tektonics.org/newstuff.html that is seen by literally thousands of people every month?

Nothing like thousands of witnesses to secure an agreement. If you guys agree, it shall be done next upload after notice.

Yes, fantasy....when I'm ready to promote Hearthstone a little more, one of the points will be that it will appeal to those who find Narnia a pleasure.

[Brandalf85]

I shall get back to you with an answer JPholding...I normally wouldn't give up but honestly, I'm worn out from last months stuff. Still, I need to talk to some....people about it.....

[Faramir]

I'm worn out from last months stuff.

:yeahthat:

Ever since I nominated Bill the Cat and ran a very agressive campagne (he won ), I have back out of Alumni politics, it is draining. Heck I was even nominated once after that and it was like the third or fourth day of the next month before I realized I had lost and I did not keep up with the vote count either AND I WAS THE CANDIDATE.

[Faramir]

:yeahthat:

Ever since I nominated Bill the Cat and ran a very agressive campagne (he won ), I have back out of Alumni politics, it is draining. Heck I was even nominated once after that and it was like the third or fourth day of the next month before I realized I had lost and I did not keep up with the vote count either AND I WAS THE CANDIDATE.

But.....











I have decided to come out of political retirement to endorse JPH this month. Just endorse, not campagne for (though I may, I make no promises), just endorse.

Having TWeb linked from his his website has brought a large number of quality posters to this forum. He really does deserve this.


(Like merit has anything to do with AOM anymore )

[jpholding]

I shall get back to you with an answer JPholding...I normally wouldn't give up but honestly, I'm worn out from last months stuff. Still, I need to talk to some....people about it.....

I'll stand by for now then. Well, not literally. I'm sitting down. Um. Never mind.

[Ishmael]

Where's my custom avatar Holding!

[jpholding]

Where's my custom avatar Holding!

You voted for me, huh? OK. Pearls in a moment. I need info from you on what sort of avatar you want; send me a PM with animal type (or whatever) and what you want it doing. I can get it to you tomorrow. If you want anything else there's some instructions in a thread in my Tektonics.org section here.

[Ishmael]

You voted for me, huh? OK. Pearls in a moment. I need info from you on what sort of avatar you want; send me a PM with animal type (or whatever) and what you want it doing. I can get it to you tomorrow. If you want anything else there's some instructions in a thread in my Tektonics.org section here.

The avatar thing is easy. I want a White Whale, anything else would be simply irreligious.

[jpholding]

The avatar thing is easy. I want a White Whale, anything else would be simply irreligious.

One white whale on order. See ya tomorrow with it.

[{Tim}]

But.....


I have decided to come out of political retirement to endorse JPH this month. Just endorse, not campagne for (though I may, I make no promises), just endorse.

Having TWeb linked from his his website has brought a large number of quality posters to this forum. He really does deserve this.


(Like merit has anything to do with AOM anymore )

Interestingly, that's how I first found TWeb. So, now...

~~~

It was light brown, and made out of what would have been pine, if there were any pine trees on Hearthstone.

"So you're saying it's a... wardrobe?" asked the blonde anthropomorphic rabbit-woman.

"Well, yes, it does appear to be. But I have no idea why..." began her small green-skinned companion.

"Oh, hey Sheila," interrupted Tim, stepping out of the wardrobe. "What's up?"

"Oh! Er, we were just wondering what this wardrobe thing was doing appearing outside our camp..." she replied.

"Um..." Tim blushed slightly as the wardobe went transparent and began to fade out of existence. "um, I think I still had that comment about Narnia stuck in my head... well, anyway. Is, er, is Eidolon around?"

"Oh, no, he left shortly after that 'Brandalf' fellow ran off screaming 'I'll be baack!'... say, what was with the funny accent he did there, anyway?"

"Oh, it's a kind of, humorous reference to someone on our world... or at least it's supposed to be humorous... um, so he's not here?"

"No." Sheila shook her head, her hair flicking attractively in the early morning light.

"Well, could you just let him know, Brandalf came and had a chat with me, and he's sworn off attacking you. He said he's rather tired... not entirely surprising after waving that sword at Bimf like that. Anyway, he's going to have a rest for the rest of this month, and then next month we'll take Eidolon up on his offer to join forces. That is, if you don't mind joining forces with a bloke who charged up and attacked you in a rather comical manner." said Tim, grinning slightly as he delivered the last bit.

"Yeah, ok." smiled Sheila. "I'll pass that along, and I doubt there'll be a problem. Are you going to head off again now?"

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to hang around and maybe meet a few people, and check out some of your tech stuff..."

"Oooh yes!" piped up Beamer suddenly. "Come with me! I've got a bit I can show you, then we can compare notes on how you do things on your world..." his voice faded as he skittered off down into the camp, beckoning Tim after him.

"Um, bye!" Tim threw over his shoulder as he hurried off after Beamer. "See y' around, Sheila!"

[jpholding]

"If you don't mind me asking," Tim said after Sheila was well out of earshot.

Beamer drew up short and smiled, thereby indicating his permission.

"We've read your latest adventures on my world...the one where you three original Range Patrol members defeated that Cartel robot."

"Heh," Beamer chuckled. "That was a good one, wasn't it? The big rock, and - "

"You realize we can read your thoughts when we read the stories," Tim said with some trepidation.

Beamer's smile didn't quite vanish at once. It took a few moments for him to grasp the implications of Tim's comment. All at once he looked away and sat down on the ground.

"So you know..." he said bleakly.

"We know, and we understand. Some of us have even asked for a date with her. You're not the only one to have fallen in love with Sheila, you know."

"At first glance?" Beamer replied bitterly.

"More or less. At first glance, you say? That wasn't in the latest stories. Maybe it'll be in the next one."

Beamer rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully. "I see. Well, here's the thing. Our liege has our futures in mind. Like you, we catch glimpses of it through what he calls Concept Pieces. I'm vaguely aware, you might say, that in the end Sheila will NOT be my destiny. There's another who will be. But it's like being in a desert and seeing an oasis from afar. You thrist and must travel to it, with no certainty as to all that's there. And so I remain in my misery until all is revealed. You understand?"

"It's like prophecy in a way," Tim observed.

"Precisely." Beamer jerked his head to the side. "Shall we continue? Perhaps you'd be interested in a little marvel I have in mind which I'll present to Sheila in a few weeks. Probably in what you'll see as our next story. Have you noticed in one of those Concept Pieces that she has an unusual wrap on her left arm, with a circuitry design?"

"Yes, I think so," Tim replied as he followed Beamer's lead.

"I can tell you about that if you like. Or, something else...whatever interests you."

[{Tim}]

Tim's eyes glazed over as he walked along trying to recall.

"Whoa, watch it!" said Beamer, as Tim almost tripped over a thick rubber-like cable lying on the ground.

"Um, sorry." Tim blushed. "I was just sending my thoughts back to my world to review that concept art. I think maybe I'm not really here, or something? But, yeah, I know which one you're talking about now."

"Right. Well, just come in here - " he pushed aside a flap and entered the smallish tent that the thick cable went to. "This is my workshop while we're here. Wherever here is. I think brandalf somehow summoned us here, by writing his story. Anyway, come inside, you'll find it quite roomy."

Roomy was an understatement. Tim entered what appeared to be a large warehouse, lit by scores of flourescent lights hanging from the ceiling 30 feet above, and mostly empty but for a small area near the door, where several workbenches and some sort of computer had been set up.

"What's this? I didn't know you had dimensionally transcendental technology on hearthstone!" exclaimed Tim.

"Oh, we don't." Beamer informed him. "It's just this place. From what I can make out, it's a sort of intermediate world, created by the interaction of the creative imaginations of you, Brandalf and our leige. So don't expect everything to be what you expect it to be." He paused. "Er, you know what I mean." he added, after replaying his last sentence in his head.

"Yeah, sure. I'll try. So, where's this techno-wristlet thing of yours? What does it do? And how does it work? Ooh wait, is this a .... " he picked up a device from one of the benches and turned it over in his hands, examining the large red button on the side, and the foreign characters printed beside it. Then he paused, eyeing a scorched target dummy a few meters away. "Um. On second thoughts, maybe I better not touch this after all." he added, putting it carefully down again.

Beamer had apparently missed the last part, as he snapped the last two pieces back together and straightened up again. "Here we go." he said. "This is..."

[jpholding]

"...the blueprint for the wristlet," Beamer said as he handed Tim some rumpled paper than smelled faintly of ink.

Tim politely marvelled at the technical aspects of the drawing but could not help allowing a sense of befuddlement to hang about him. He looked to Beamer inquiringly.

Beamer grinned. "My fault, sorry. You aren't a hobbyist when it comes to quantum circuitry, I take it?"

"I've been known to split an atom or two," Tim laughed.

"Good one, heh. Well, as of this moment I haven't built it yet. I have these plans worked up and I'm using a lab in Alabaster Springs to put it together. In between trying to solve that missile mystery, which is a doozy. Anyway, some of the parts for the wristlet are still on order, but as for what it does..."

Beamer leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered.

"I'm combining my weapons technology and the technology of my own wristlet couter with the Ketterling's Met-Pan technology. This will be a first. Sheila will not only have her own interactive wristlet computer, but she'll be able to use it to call up any one of her 'rangs at ANY time."

"You mean...."

"Yes. It will store templates for all of them inside it. Any time she wants one, boom -- no more carrying them around on her back. And no more limiting to just two or three."

Tim drew back in astonishment. "And you'll give this to her -- when?"

"I hope to time it with the opening of our new building. You'll see that in our next story."

Tim shook his head in awe. What wonders indeed there were here!

Beamer interrupted his reverie after a moment. "Anything else you want to see?"