From: Paul, Brett Subject: Bamf [28] Face Value As I said in post #27, welcome back to Bamf. From post #27, I got a response from Greg, Brady, Dana, John, Marshall and Saif. Good to hear from all of you. I did not hear from Jeff, and will proceed without his input now, and without him later if I don't hear his answer to 27 or 28. I hope to keep the game going better now that my life has been smoothed out again. Marriage is such a wrinkle! :) (A nice wrinkle, but a wrinkle nonetheless.) Once again, anyone know where I got the subject line for this post? The time: early morning. You are in the general store. Storekeeper: "Darfish een..." At the sight of you all, however, his mouth seems to dry up, and he stammers for a moment. Finally, very slowly and uncertainly, he says, "Ah, uhm, can... I... hell... pew? Wha... chew... want?" The rest of you speak nearly simultaneously, somewhat overwhelming the storekeeper. Dana: "Good morning, sir. How are you today? We wish to purchase a few supplies." Saif: "You speak this language, this tongue? We are strangers here. Will you please help us? Will you please answer some questions for us?" Greg: (whispers) "Ummm, guys, we don't have any dinero..." Dana: (whispers) "Yes, we do. A lady in a carriage threw some at us as me, Saif and Marshall. How else do you think we paid for room and board last night?" Brady, who was considering trading his equipment for other equipment, keeps quiet for the time being. Everyone watches and listens closely as Saif begins a conversation with the man. Saif gestures to the paper and the pen. The shopkeeper offers them to Saif, and Saif draws a map of the world. He shows his drawing to the shopkeeper, who hesitantly takes the pen and paper back from Saif. The shopkeeper looks around, looks over his shoulder, and calls into a back room, "Dana, shlees dee ture." The then moves over to the front door of the shop, closes it and locks it, looking out into the street as he does so. He walks towards his back room, and gestures for the rest of you to follow. While he walks, he says, "Please forgif my speech, I haf not used English in years." The back room resembles a closed-in porch in many respects. The wooden floor seems weathered, and creaks beneath your feet. There are two windows on the west wall (the door was in the east wall), a window in the north wall, and one in the south wall. The light in this room is provided by a pair of oil lamps, as most of the shades on the windows are closed. A young woman, perhaps 16, is closing the remaining window shade. Upon seeing the woman, Dana is stunned for a moment, and can only stare. Noticing her stare, you see that the resemblance between the two is striking. The man sets a wooden crate down in the middle of the room, and stacks a second one on top of it. Upon the crate, he places the map that Saif drew. He asks, "You come from dis place, yes?" Saif nods. "*I* come from dis place. I am American." He stabs his finger at the North American continent shown in the map. "I come from Maine. You know off Maine?" (I assume you all do know of the state. :) "Oh, and allow me to introdoos myself. I am Steff... er, Steven." When he says his own name in English, you can tell he hasn't pronounced it that way in a long time. "You can name me Steve. And dis is my tosht.. um, daughter, Dana." Saif: "Are there any books with both of our languages in them? Dictionaries or books to learn your language or mine?" Steve: "Sadly, no. This strange world knows nothing of English. If you meet an English-speaker, you might want to get to know them. Except, of course, Medizar. He is one to avoid. But don't be misled. Dere aren't many off us." Saif: "Who else in this pretty town speaks this language? We wish to avoid trouble, so we need to speak with people to explain our presence here." Steve: "Around hier, you will find Medizar, and you will find myself. Dere are two more on the coast island, living at the lighthouse, and three or four living on the next island north from there. Not many. But beware Medizar. He is an evil man." - Brett ---------- From: Paul, Brett Subject: Bamf [28] Read "Face Value" first, then this, please. The girl in the back room, Dana, is you when you were 16. - Brett ---------- From: Adequis[SMTP:Adequis@mindspring.com] Subject: RE: Bamf [28] Face Value "The ones on the Island with the lighthouse seem to have disappeared", states Brady entering the conversation "Did you know them? Do you maybe think you know where they went?" "That is where we.... started here and they we not there? (All in conversation with Steve) Brady ---------- From: Saif[SMTP:saif@xmission.com] Subject: Re: Bamf [28] Face Value >When he says his own name in English, you can tell he hasn't pronounced it >that way in a long time. "You can name me Steve. And dis is my tosht.. um, >daughter, Dana." Saif reaches out to shake Steve's hand. "You have no idea how pleased we are to meet you, Steve." He looks over and nods at Dana, doing a quick double take when he realizes that more than the names are the same. Turning back to Steve he asks "I take it then, that this is not Earth? We just arrived here a few days ago, each of us individually brought here by strange flashes of light. We are lost, confused, and, I believe, caught up in some kind of huge and dangerous game. Anything you can tells us about this place, this world, would be much appreciated." >Steve: "Sadly, no. This strange world knows nothing of English. If you >meet an English-speaker, you might want to get to know them. Except, of >course, Medizar. He is one to avoid. But don't be misled. Dere aren't >many off us." Saif grimaces at the mention of Medizar. "Yes, we have already ran into that one... twice. He mentioned something about us traveling to his fortress across a great desert. Is he from Earth? What can you tell us about him? We noticed his image on several coins we were given." If Steven hesitates at all Saif says "Don't worry about that now. We still need to get the basics of this world down before we worry about specific threats." Finally, once Steven has told us about this world Saif asks "Steven, when you arrived here did you develop any strange... abilities? Things that on Earth would be considered magical powers?" (if the answer is yes) "Does everybody here develop those powers? What can you do? That is, if that is not a very personal question." Saif