Sudden progress

[DoS Archive]

From: lunarmask@aol.com (Lunar Mask)
Date: 23 Oct 2003 09:25:01 EDT

Vince sat around on the beach, scratching his thoughts into the sand. He had managed to run into Raven again, and had a new set of clothes made for her. Hopefully these wouldn't get torn so fast. He also had a rather large pouch, more of a knapsack really, filled with 3,720 gold coins in case she needed some spending money. If his line of reasoning was right, he wouldn't be needing it anyways. Money...so worthless compared to other things in the world. Just a bunch of pretty metal. Still, while he didn't have much use for it, it was an excellent tool to further his aims.
He called his penguins over, gathering them in a circle so they could speak of what they had been learning. For the past few days, they had been bribing, questioning, and listening in on as much as they could about the disappearance of PJ. And after all that, they had managed to find not one single piece of hard fact. Sure, plenty of bits and pieces. A rumor here, a partially overheard conversation there, ect. "Just what do I pay you guys for anyways? I need something bigger than this."
One of the penguins coughed and then spoke up. "Well boss, does this help any?" He pulled out a copy of a notice of Shakira's challenge to Max and handed it to him.
"Hmmmm....fine. You're all dismissed. Keep your ears open for more if you hear it, and let me know as soon as you do. Oh, and keep up the good work with Raven. I think she's enjoying her stay here." Looking out at the waves, he went back to scratching things out. He knew that Shakira, and possibly that Anubis guy were involved somehow. If only he had more background on them. He had also heard that Tareth might know something, possibly more than he let on.
He sighed, making a few more scratches in the sand before it hit him. "Wait a second...this may actually make sense. Max becomes Overlord. Everybody hates that and starts gunning after him. He makes a successful defense and shows that taking him out of the top spot won't be easy. Shakira, who has made a public stink about beating Max for the title, sees this and feels that she needs a little edge. She arranges, or actually does, the kidnapping of the one thing Max cares about more than anything else, PJ. Max goes nuts, his mind isn't where it should be. Shakira makes her challenge and because Max is so worried about PJ, his mind isn't on the duel and he loses the title. Or worse, he has to forfeit the title to her if he wants to see PJ again. I gotta let him know about this..."
Getting up, he had a small smile on his face. Sometimes it paid to make a fool of himself in front of everybody. After all, who would suspect that the village idiot knew anything? Now if only he could manage to reach Max in time, before it was too late.