ELRIC short story / scenario

[Traz]

An exceptional number of moons ago...

I was asked by the folks at CHAOSIUM to help edit the original set of ELRIC RPG rules. It was great fun - and it got me excited enough to start writing a short story that could possibly be used as a simple beginner's scenario. I got about halfway through the project when I discovered that I wasn't into RPGing as much as I thought I was [I'm a boardgamer], and the story was never finished as I moved on to greener pastures [ahhh... the short-sighted visions of youth...].

Flashfoward 28 years [criminy! time flies!]... I get an email from the son of an old friend who used to publish stories of mine in his S-F fanzine who wants to do a 30 year Reunion edition and asks me if I have anything. Sure, I tell him. I've got an old story from that era that I never finished, but still have the first half somewhere... would he like that finished? Great he says... After three hours of digging in the shed, I find the original and get to work. I finish the story [with a few edits] and contact him... he's not sure if he's even going to publish. Poop!

So, I got this great Elric story and no place to pitch it. Any suggestions on where I might take a story like that? Does the new ELRIC RPG here by Mongoose have a fanbase where such stuff might be appreciated?

 

[Da Boss]

Well I sure want to read it - I'd also post this in teh Runequest forum as until recently that was described as RQ+Elric etc and the new Elric system is going to be RQ based.

S+P is another possibility

look forward to it.

 

[Traz]

You mean post the whole thing right here in the forum? It's about 5000 words. Will that much fit here?

I'm going to guess that you - DA BOSS - are one of the Moderators here. If so, please email me direct, and I will be happy to email it directly to you - I don't feel comfortable posting an entire short story here without a moderator's oversight.

cehendrix@sbcglobal.net

 

[Traz]

Well - I dropped a PM to the Moderator, but I haven't heard back from him yet. Not all that surprising. This is the busiest time of year for everybody.

I was asked to at least post a tease, so here is the opening of the story...

TOWER OF BLOOD

It was late afternoon when Elric’s horse turned a bend in the dusty road atop a dense ridgetop. In the hazy distance, below in the valley to his left, he spied a curious, tall tower. It was vertically straight but had an odd shape to it. He was high enough above it to tell that if he were astride a dragon from the air, it would have the appearance of some sort of teardrop shape. The waning sun glinted off the top with twinkles of light that separated into sparks of rainbow colors. When he squinted his eyes he could see there was some sort of dome on the top – perhaps glass or crystal of some sort.

Suddenly the world exploded in motion as Elric was thrown from his squealing horse. He cursed as he noted the beast had stepped into a covered hole in the trail. It’s leg had gone down up to the knee. Bone pierced the struggling foreleg as it cried with an intense voice of pain and fear. Elric struggled to right himself when he heard a thrashing noise that carried even above the sound of the dying animal. His turning head barely had a split-second to glimpse the violent motion of a gnarled tree branch rushing at his head. The last Prince of Melnibone didn’t even have time to hope his helm would save his skull as everything went black…

The Prince awoke sluggishly, mentally swimming with heavy strokes to the surface of consciousness. Just as he was about to stop struggling and abandon himself to the blackness again, a dull ache sharpened into a stabbing pain at the base of his skull. He winced as he lifted a weak arm to gingerly massage the welt on his temple.

Cold flagstones pressed up against his flaccid flesh. Opening his now dull crimson eyes, Elric’s memory haltingly merged with his consciousness and he vaguely recognized that he must be inside the odd-shaped tower he had seen only moments before. Moments? No. It must have been hours, perhaps days. The deficient blood that cursed his fragile, white-skinned frame no longer flowed along his veins with the stolen vitality from his runesword STORMBRINGER.

THE SWORD! His fingers scratched blindly at his side, but the black blade wasn’t there.