Tomos, the Divided Land
Fantasy Planehopping for GURPS
by William J. Keith
Shadows twisted along unseen dimensions, and the sorceress stepped out of a pool of darkness. Her green eyes flashed with anger. "Utrecht you old bookworm, aren't you ready yet? I walk across three worlds to take you to dinner for your birthday and here I find you still hunched over that oddity we picked up."
"Patience, Vail," said the balding sage studying his crystal ball. "Anyway, you say that as if it was more than 10 minutes from your place to mine. . . here we are." Vail watched the crystal pick up an aura from the rune-incised blade of strange blue metal. Images of its history formed in the crystal. The blade pierced flesh, withdrew; the holder shuddered from some blow and dropped it. Utrecht paused the vision and skillfully turned the viewpoint.
Fleeing comrades. A tall female archer looking distraught. A mage tracing out a banishing. And the enemy the weapon had bitten -- Vail gasped. "Void Below. . . it's him. Or a double of him." But no, that one didn't have doubles. He'd eaten them. "We have to alert the Academy, get the containment spell worked up."
Utrecht nodded. "I'll do that. You and Ks'sik need to coordinate with the folk of the latest planet he's invaded. Take the blade and use it to track down a gate to their world. Every enemy of that one is a friend of ours."
He glanced at the blade and winced. "Though you may want to warn them that metal . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 22, 2006
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