h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Ecg opens the door to an empty room that has a few sets of bookshelves.*

Thinks: This'll be perfect for dad to put things he is working on.

*Hauls one trunk, then another and another over, a suitcase and some barrels.*

...
*He then pants and takes a little bit of a break*

"next..."
*brings in several boxes.*

"Now to begin the monumental task of unpacking."

A ticking clock hangs from the wall. Also there seems to be a small barometer put on the center of a coffee table.

Two cutlasses crossing each other are set on pegs and a large ragged map gets tacked up on another wall.
Beneath it there is a compass.

*Ecg puts up a few pictures on the other wall.*

Mostly they are of Kraken's family and friends. There is one of Ecg's mother.

*He leaves the room trying not to feel homesick*

The woman in the picture is pretty, although her hair is blue.
Naturally blue, and that's kind of strange.

: Kraken's hair is brownish-blonde, and apparently somehow that is an explanation given as to why Ecg has hair that is green.

Also, some boxes and crates have arrived which had been shipped.
A number of them are labelled with the words "Careful: fragile" on the sides and "This side up" in at least three or four languages on each.

There is little doubt that some of those contain demon skeletons which would need to be assembled and set up on stands or in display cases.

[Kraken II]: *Opens the door using a key on a string*
The knob ihas a lever*

"Now, a good share of this stuff I am yet to finish packing. Over on the far wall there is a map where I have stuck colored pins on some of the places where I have been to."

*Near the door, just against a wall to the entranceway is an umbrella/cane rack. Kraken pulls a crowbar from there and starts working at prying open a nearby crate*

The crate is longer than it appears wide.

"The carapace to a bone armor demon. When reassembled it's something to look at, all those little parts off the main pieces that interlock just so in order to make click-click noises near the joints and extremeties."

*He takes out a crystal with writing engraved onto it and filled in with a yellow ink or a paint of a dusty consistency*

There is a bit of a hum as Kraken holds the tip of the crystal grasped between two fingertips and into the light.
Then there is a dimunitive little blue fellow with fins on his head and arms standing on top of where the shadows and the light cast through the crystal swirl a little on a spot in the ground. It also has blinking black eyes.

"Meet Hydros, a water imp. Careful, he licks people and can be a little overfriendly when not fighting. When he is though, then he means business. You should see the adult to that variety, they are something fierce."

*follows in behind, his eyes wander around the room trying to take it all in*

I have seen something close to these crystals before, there was once a caretaker that used it, he wasn't too powerful without them... but with them...

Only problem is they corrupted his soul and now he is with them.... I saw him when I was in Yurick and like everything else that enters there he is now a twisted and evil being thirsting for power and would killl whole cities just to gain hold of more power and especially something like this...

LEt us hope he doesn't hear of anything like this

[Kraken II]: "Oh. Well... there's a stronger kind than those for sealing and summoning lesser imps... for sealing something caught as a lesser demon, you would need ... well, it's only theoretical, I hope... but you would need to combine things to make a crystal at least three times as large as that one and probably more. Hydros isn't evil. I guess it depends on who it is that does the etchings and what it would be they have to gain."

*He covers his forehead with one hand*

"That caretaker I think, he must of had loads of them. Dark crystals and light crystals... everything is so gray... could give the sea fog a run for its money."

*He pauses to look up at something*
It is a mechanical fan that has blades of stretched canvas with wood supports and held there to the center by bamboo. It rotates slowly.

*Looks back towards Lord Lycan & knits and unknits his eyebrows*

"This is only an introductory course I am going to teach. It will be further along that a student would be given one crystal... upon completion of all the required tasks and proper training and techniques for raising a fighting imp. Sort of as a token for graduation from it. What each chooses to do from that point on with what they have learned though, I suppose is for each to decide to his or herself. Higher demons such as myself and your wife's 'cat', we're differnet from the ones I am talking of the students handling and raising. Sort of like the difference between gnomes and dwarves, or goblins and orcs... well, lesser demons aren't as... 'sentient' or, well... to give them their credit they can be a bit uncanny at times, but... well, they aren't civilized and they don't, well, you get what I mean kind of. No, most of those are empty and don't have loaded charges. Only six or so... alright, since that one I have for Hydros counts, make that five. The students though... unless they were found worthy, my default decision if they do pass along high enough to receive one,... shall be that they have to learn how to seal an imp into one on their own for themselves. If it was the other way around they would be lazy; I think it to be better that they first learn in with and have to deal with the live imp first... well, Hydros is alive too, but... you know, what I am trying to say? There is much more to learn through feeding and caring for something and observing it, than simply summoning it and pocketing it away to have it fulfil orders. That one you see before you I had raised myself first. That's the only way to get them to even want to obey... loyalty has to be built."

*He snuffs a candle where it has been lit on top of a horned skull resting at the base of the one horn that it has*

"Or ... of lizards and lizard men, yes? There, that fits better in comparison sort of. Although, an imp may be cleverer than a lizard. It probably depends on what kind though. Here, it's a bit heavy... That's my manuscript. Well, okay- a copy of it. Divided it up into sections so as to make a lighter series of reads than one enormous read... to be taken i a bit at a time... with room for sorrections and or rectifying errors."

*He throws Hydros a fish to eat*

So like looking after a horse then for a human

thank you *slings it over his shoulder*

[KrakenII]: "Yes, in a way. Er,- I did not say you could have my water imp and its crystal. If you would like one though we can talk. I shall take you to the chest. Hopefully they haven't all beaten eachother up too much in there; I had to put things inside to keep them asleep."

*Leads Lycan to the back of the room, where there lies a huge oaken chest with iron-reinforcement and an oversized lock.*

"Well,"

*He looks at a key on the table, then over at Lord Wolsey, back at the key again and just shrugs a little*

"If you see anything in there that you like, or looks the most promising... um, you get the idea."

[Kraken II]: "Ah, I misunderstand. You're welcome. Um,- my mistake."

[KrakenII]: *Indicates the iron-reinforced chest of sleeping lesser imps*

"See?"

*strokes his chin* yes I see...

*seems distracted*Did you sense a strange life force just now?

[KrakenII]: *Pauses to sniff the box*

"Nothing over here besides just sleeping imps... perhaps something passing through?"

}Sigh{
"You might want to look out the window where one of those soul eaters back in your room... had a window at one point. Um, the other one I think I am pretty sure you had disintegrated."

*Pauses to think for a moment and try to feel something about what it is that Lord Lycan is referring to*

"Um,... bit of something outside maybe I think."

[KrakenII]: "I had pushed one out the window... but usually then they just sort of belch out some of the not quite as digested yet stuff. SOmething outside maybe."

*shakes his head ans shrugs* sorry it must be nothing... we must just have elf visitors

[KrakenII]: "wee folk? Eh, alright, so then... the key... it fits right here... one that is right for you will awaken a little when you open the box and well, just something about it will make it stand out from the others and cause you to pause a bit... it may react to you, but probably not in too fierce a way." *Gestures towards the chest*


: I almost put like : Wii(TM/R) folk...

No not wee folk the full sized type...

*picks up the key and approaches the chest*

*slides the key into the lock and slowly turning it until it clicks*

*Lifting the lid back there is a white flash of light from all of the crystals except one which glows faintly red and Lycan's hand is drawn towards the red one even though he can't see it, his hand hovers over it*

*suddenly he snatches it and shuts the lid of the box sealing the light back inside*

Sorry my spirit must still be letting lots of energy seep out, it has been a problem for a while... like I said I'm not quite a complete being

[Kraken]: "You aren't? But, you are able to distinguish your soul from your body and separate the two if need be. Demons can't do that very well. We can force stuff to bend to doing things our way through possession sometimes, but usually it's the not so nice ones who exploit doing that sort of thing the most. Er, no- there's noting wrong in that."

*The shape to the head of the key has loops and holes in it. When you hold it up to the light it has a symbol reflect out of each, almost-honeycombed-like cell that each sandwich a different colored piece of glass. The key itself must be pewter or something. It isn't gold, and it isn't silver or brass*

"Yeah, it's that one"
*points to it*

"Can you do me a favor and practice with the imp a little? I think it might be nice to be able to give the students a demonstration of what it is like to see one of their imp battles going on. You'll find they adapt well, but don't exactly turn into any sort of really dangerous (& I mean like, _really_ dangerous) things until later, sometimes with some of them in the adult form."

"You have to meditate with your crystal for a little to help the imp determine itself a name. It's alot easier to summon one if you give it a name first. But, I am talking to a master-caretaker, you probably already know tons more on how to bring forth creatures and summoning things than this old-seadog may ever begin to surmise, eh?"

"Thanks. I gave your wife an imp too, but I forgot to unpack the rest of the crystals until now,... you may want to see that she manages to get a hold of this black one at some point sooner or later..."

*He covers a part of his face*

"Elstwise be having a little mischievous untrained creature roaming about on the loose. Indoors that can be rather a bad thing."

Just between you and me, even though it's alot better deal than a PS3 $ wise & it's going to have LoZ: Twilight Princess to play on it, I still think I would rather save up for a new computer instead then, myself. This one I am on right now is starting to get kinda ancient. .