https://wayneoconner.com/carnival-world-book-one-all-chapters/

 

Copyright 2025 (TXu002497745)

 

Carnival World, Chapter 25

Before they arrived, they passed the haunted house square. “We don’t want to go in there, Mystica,” moaned Latraya. All of them agreed that they would skip the spook house. Passing the Spook House exit, several fair goers came running out squealing and screaming, dropping pockets full of $5 bills and miscellaneous tokens, as well as blue and white tickets. The little Elven princess ran into the exit square and scooped up a treasure trove of money, tokens and small prizes.
They walked across a nearby Carnival Chance square. Mystica rolled a two and a four and then a frantic mom ran up to her, dressed up with the loud Hawaiian shirt and jean combo favored by many earth tourists. Two whiney children, a boy and girl, fraternal twins, with chocolate ice cream smeared faces, eyes red from crying, bawled, “Mommie! Mommie! I want! I want! I want! Carnival things!”
The mother offered Mystica $15 for each of her tokens and $50 each for her Golden Penny Dollar small prizes. The little princess was torn as she did not want to part with any of her treasures, but she was overwhelmed by the human earth mother’s mental break down. The mother became even more frantic. Faerune and Latraya were just about to call for a Paladin, when Mystica handed her several small prizes and a fist full of colored tokens and one large prize certificate. The frantic mom had offered her a $100 bill just for the large prize certificate and more than a few hundred more dollars for the other Carnival items!
When the mother tried to pay her cash, Mystica pushed the money away. The mother just thanked Mystica profusely, then dropped a large roll of bills at her feet and ran away with her children to the prize exchange booth.
After picking up the thick rubber banded wad of American green backs and a few coins, Mystica and her parents paused at the Balloon Dart Toss Game but strolled by it to the next game.
A five-foot tall gray and black tabby purred, “This cool cat…suggests…that…you should…toss this dart…and win a prize, fine little elf princess!” His grin faded, as the royal family waved, but did not stop. A sudden movement caught Smokes attention. The Catling deftly clawed the squeaking mouse that had just ran into his booth, bounced off a green balloon, and jumped down onto the wooden floor. “Alas fine mouse…this cool cat…would…prefer you in a fine carrot stew…but this is not…the time and place.” Following a noisy gulp, the little white mouse disappeared, never to be seen again.
Mystica squealed with delight, when, as they stopped in front of the Ring Toss Game, the Page appeared and sat the two, green, kick dice in front of her.
The High Elf princess was disappointed as she kick-rolled one of the lowest rolls a player could roll. “Hi, I am Juno Piccolo, but the other carnies call me Picc!” squeaked the young half elf boy dressed in a white St. Patrick’s robe, the colors of an acolyte, or zero level cleric.
He nervously adjusted his mace and small horse head shield. Then as he grinned happily and shyly, Picc handed Mystica a few plastic tokens. “Good luck, Elf girl!” said the boy, turning pink, when the High Elf princess squinted at him curiously. She tipped the boy, before he stepped to the back of his booth, even redder than moments before.
If it weren’t for earning her +3 certificate of Master Skill Game skill, she would only have won a few white tokens. She lost one white token as she tipped the carny but kept the three small prizes.
“Uhhm…Let’s try that game over there!” exclaimed Mystica, to her parents, as she sprinted to the red token booth. It was a shooting range. “What is a rifle?”
The carny, another earth human, had reddish brown skin. He was about thirty years old, with long, straight, greasy black hair. The plump man’s thick black plastic glasses kept sliding, as they constantly fogged, and slipped down his nose in the year-round, consistently warm, air of Carnival World. The man was wearing old jeans, a turquoise and silver string tie, a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, double six-guns, and a big buck knife, over a black shirt. The shirt, a bit faded, had white American English lettering, “EXPERT COUCH POTATO GAMER/PROGRAMMER.”
He took a bite from a paper plate of Indian Fry Bread, then burped loudly. After pulling a hefty sip of orange soda from a jumbo paper cup with a bent plastic straw, the plump and nerdy man, fiddled with his vinyl slide-rule pen carrier. The organizer pocket, clipped to his lanyard name tag, covered up his name. The portly geek cowpoke said, with a fake drawl, “Why little lady, these are wild west guns from Earth. Cowboys and Indians and all that, you know.”
Mystica, mystified, furrowed her brow, looked at her parents, and grunted, “Huhh?”
Faerune answered Mystica’s unspoken question, “They are like the firesticks the Dwarves make. Much more elegant and lighter in design, though.”
Mystica watched a few carnival goers shoot the pop guns, wrinkled up her nose, and fired the rifle. The plump carny pushed his heavy plastic thick lensed glasses, up onto his nose again, and exclaimed, “Good shot, elf girl, but as the Page didn’t bring you the foam kick dice, use the little bubble model by your gun. Then we’ll add the bonus. Do you have any skill game certificates?”
Mystica pulled out her Master Gamer skill card. “You go girl! You rolled double threes, and that Master Gamer card adds three to each die! You get credit for double sixes. Double sixes and you get a jumbo prize. I even have one right here, so you don’t have to go to the prize exchange booth!”
Mystica beamed from ear to ear, as Faerune and Latraya clapped. The she-elf princess smiled as the carny, true to his word, lifted a jumbo prize, a huge red dragon, off the prize harness. The dragon was over a yard tall, and over two feet plus wide and long – the largest prize at the carnival. The Fire Dragon was even bigger than the green T-Rex and Diplodocus dinosaurs.
After hugging her new pet, almost half her height, feeling its plush softness, Mystica exclaimed, “Uhhm. Sorry! Almost forgot!” She handed the plump Geek Gamer Cowboy Dude a few small prize coins, five dollars, and three extra white game tokens as a tip.
“Wow! Thanks for the big tip, Elf girl!” said the First Nations earth man. “Just to show my appreciation, little lady. I will tell you a secret. It only works if you play the actual Carnival Game. If you pay a carny five tickets, instead of one, you can reroll any bad rolls while you are in his booth. And he or she will toss you a big bag of mixed tokens, and Golden Penny Dollars, after you tip him or her! By the way, my name is Jimmy RedOwl TwoBears. Glad to meet you.”
Turning to Faerune and Latraya again, she gave her thumbs up victory signal and laughed happily. Mystica danced the Leprechaun Dance she’d seen a few waitresses, and a polaroid leprechaun perform earlier in the afternoon.
Latraya said, “We’ve got all week to play games and ride rides. I am a might peckish and I am tired. Let’s go back to our room, Faerune, order room service, and then take a long nap.”
Faerune nodded, then asked, “Mystica honey, is that all right with you?”
“Uhhm. O.K., but we are coming back to the bleachers tonight, just north of the fairground Carnival Board, to watch the Carnival Game?”
“Yes,” replied Faerune as Latraya nodded, “But remember, when the sun goes down, you must stay in the bleachers and watch the game. Your mother and I are going to have a romantic stroll through the northwest park, next to the economy hotel. Don’t leave the bleachers. You should only have to be alone there for a little while. Then we will return for you.”

Mystica Knorn and her family walked briskly back to their hotel room. Mystica gave the world a thumbs up, her victory sign, hugged her new red dragon plush pet, and leaped happily into the Conner’s Inns and Suites elevator. Entering their room, Mystica sat her jumbo fire dragon toy on her bed and said, “Father, I want four fried chicken drumsticks, French Fries with no salt, and one of those Cherry Cola drinks. Those are so good Father! Why don’t they have those at the castle?”
“I believe dear Mystica,” replied Faerune, “that the beverage you are referring to is an earth drink. We people of this world do not make it. We don’t even know the ingredients or the process.”
Faerune laughed, “Give it time. That drink was so good I might just change my mind about ordering a fine wine and going for …it doesn’t say Cherry Cola in the menu, it says Cherry Pepsi.”
“I’ll order one of those too, instead of wine,” said Latraya, “But I want a salad with little red tomatoes, fancy bread cubes, halved boiled eggs, and prawn, with some kind of white dressing.”
Faerune looked at the black plastic device on the writing desk and after a bit of trepidation, “I think I want a roast, with baked potatoes and a side salad and golden rye toast with jam. How do you work this contraption?”
He read the directions taped onto the desk again, “Pick up the handle and dial zero… Okey Dokey.” Ringggg! “Hello, I’d like to order room service for three…”
***
“Well boys and girls, kitties and doggies, it is time for a little history lesson. Just a friendly warning, I am afraid that this will be an instance where the contrarian scholars are on the right track. Too many historians, while never for a minute admitting it, know that there are some truths that are not accepted, and it is academic suicide not to embrace the lie!
“On earth there is a rare word spelled Quetzalcoatl, with an a after the z, but here on Carnival World, it is spelled with a small letter i, after the z.
“The White Naga princess’s family name is named for a feathered flying serpent. Quetzi chose to take human form, and serve Creator and His Son, rather than grow into the hybrid form of the snake on the bottom, human on top form of a Naga.
“Every Naga has that choice. As a toddler they have a snake tail, but the rest of their body is human, and they grow feathers. Just before puberty they decide if they want to go full Naga or lose their tail and feathers and take on a human form with microscopic scales.
“Of course, they cannot change the color of their skin. Either it will be snowy white or ebony, depending on whether they are of White or Dark Naga heritage. Only if they are a cross between a white and dark snake, can they change skin color, adding chocolate or gray coloration, and they can do that at will.
“And once a human form Naga takes the human form, it is a permanent change, unless they willfully decide to worship one of the Snake gods. Shortly after that, they become half human, half snake, and grow feathers for hair, and along their back, down to within a few inches of their tail. And rather than sweating normal perspiration, their sweat becomes snake oil.
“However, a true Naga, half human and half snake, whether white or black, if they are sick or dying, can change into their opposite form in as little as a few minutes, to gain total restoration. The change is so painful, however, that only those with the strongest wills and heartiest constitutions can endure that change. And once they change, and are totally healed, once again they must endure the pain, usually for a few hours, but less intense, just longer in duration, to change back. They can make this change three times per day, but unless there is an emergency, few do.
“On earth Quetzalcoatl refers to a deity that could appear as a small, bearded man, the trickster of Native Earth American Lore, the humpbacked Kokopelli, who played a magical flute, or, in his animal form, as a feathered snake.
“Those same contrarian scholars say that the real form of Ameruca, his fallen angel form, is that of a tall muscular man, with very little body fat.The letter e in the middle is pronounced ahh or ehh. Ahhm-ahh-roo-kah. Or Ahhm-ehh-roo-kah. The true form of Ameruca has full black, almond shaped eyes, and with dark hair and a beard. Like saints or paintings of the divine Christ child have white halos, Ameruca has a shadowy dark halo that surrounds his head like a nimbus of translucent smoke.
“Some say that to change form, for Ameruca, there is no pain. They, the contrarian scholars propose that like with the Naga, it is a supernatural spiritual gifting. Others opine that the change is produced by advanced technology, a one-size fits all, light but dense metal harness, with an AI crystal about the size of a goose egg, that hangs about chest level. The harness extends from neck to shins. The device doesn’t really change your shape but effects the way others see you. About one percent of humans and humanoids may see random shakes, like a holographic courier, with a bad projector, but to most people the display seems genuine, down to smell, appearance, sound and touch.
“Some say Ameruca was a deity in Earth’s ancient Peru, but later moved his capital northwards to the land of the relocated Nephilim, who fled from the middle east, in the time of Joshua and Caleb, to join an already resident colony of giants. Ameruca along with his change of venue, took on a new vocation. He became the fallen angel responsible to resist Creator and His Son, in the America’s of Earth. His new capital lay in the heart of the Western United States, in a desert land, with a miniature inland sea.
“While the desert lands contained Ameruca’s capital, the whole of the Earth land of Conner brothers, now called the United States, was called in ancient times, “the Land of the Plumed Serpent,” or Ameruca Land. It was America before that, but just pronounced a bit differently.
In some of the dialects here, in Carnival World, Ameruca has also been called America, long before Conner Corp stepped foot here. For that reason, many residents of Carnival World, when they find out that Conner Corp hails from a place called America, suspicions run high! And once the Nazi influence took over the Ameruca mystery religion, they were all told that America in the Star Portal Edifices were enemies, not friends, of Ameruca or Am-eri-ca Mor-o-nee-i! Of course, in other realms and times, on Earth, Ameruca had many other names such as Loki, Eris, Wisakedjak, Monkey, Hermes, Veles, and Set. To the Egyptians in Egypt and in Little Egypt of the Grand Canyon, for example, he was called Set.
What makes things more confusing is that Amaruka Kokapelli, a fallen angel lieutenant, of the Satan who tempted Yesu, or Christ Jesus, had minions who ruled his lands in his stead, while he was busy with other dark kingdom business.
That rulership had become much lighter when Creator had drawn a line in the sands, so to speak. If you wish to look further into this hot topic issue, read the book of Deuteronomy in the thirty-second chapter, and the eighty second Psalm. Although many Christian teachers demand that such verses are merely poetic symbolism, contrarian Bible scholars posit that such verses allow small g gods to rule certain people groups but limit that authority and promise to punish discretions when those evils became too audacious.
“My apologies to any Earth visitors, who were told in high school, or by college history professors, that America was named for the Italian explorer, cartographer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci of the late fourteen hundreds! Very interesting coincidence, though. As one of my favorite Christian lecturers, Chuck Missler, who was introduced to me by Patrick Conner, was wont to say, “Coincidence is not a kosher word.”
“Ameruca was known to travel freely between Earth and Carnival World, according to ancient scrolls I have read. Where is Ameruca now? Here or on Earth? Or does that small g god still roam freely? Or is he here on Carnival World, but an imposter reigns in his absence on Earth? Or vice versa? I do not know. Creator knows.
“Some have said that the American Ameruca, like the one on Carnival World, is a chaotic being, and that you never know, from one day to the next, whether he will hurt you or help you. While one day dispensing knowledge and technology and useful wisdom, with a warm smile, on the next he may glare ominously, then give you twisted manna seeds that bring future harm and destruction.
“Either way he is a minion – well technically a prince of The Great Satan -THE REAL ONE- and in the original language, The Sa’tan, is an office, not a person. The Great Satan is not a country, as some contemporary Sons of Ishmael scream and rant. More pointedly, the Great Satan, Commander in Chief of the Dark Fallen One, Ameruca, is not the former residence of the Conner brothers, Zales, and the Ranger Teams and their support staff, but merely small g gods in conflict with Creator and His Son, both here and on Earth.
“Those same contrarian scholars say that Ameruca here, much the same as the one on Earth, favors using false religion, and secret teachings, in ways that especially mock Creator.
“Ameruca was known to use trickery and deceit, to torment his followers, especially women, by degrading them, and forcing them into bondage and depression. While with the males, he might give them power and fortune, and then, later in life, in the worst-case scenario, madness would begin to grow, culminating in debauchery or the joy of controlling or sentencing those under their influence, to death, torture, or imprisonment.
“Using false memories to blind followers or anyone who could be bent to his purposes was Ameruca’s favorite trick. His greater goal was to blind them to the true Creator and His Son, anything extra was just frosting on the cake. Ameruca was known to promote himself as a false messiah and a tainted version of Creator’s only Son.
“Because of this, Creator and His Son, while obeying their own laws concerning free will, bend over backwards, and offer the opportunity to escape the spiritual bondage of Ameruca. All of those blinded by Ameruca, receive, following a willing change of allegiance, entrance into the Divine Kingdom of Light.
“But it is the choice of the man, woman, or child, human or humanoid, as to whether they will accept the lifebuoy, when it is thrown. Countless opportunities for escape will be offered, by Creator and His Son, but it is always a free will choice. Ignorance or obstinacy, or fear of shunning by friends and family, or simple pride, can easily negate the rescue until it is too late to make the wise choice. And some, like the Death Clowns of Carnival World, know the truth, but in their twisted minds, they just don’t care. The Jesters of Chaos will never repent of their evil, unless, and only maybe, when their reward is not a reward, and it is much too late.
“If any of you want more specific information, on making things right with Creator and His Son, for any reason, find my friend Padre, at St. Patrick’s guild, or even St. Patrick, the Cool Man, Sir Blarney himself; ask either of them to tell you about “the Roman’s Road.” Or just stop in at the St. Patrick’s gift shop and buy one of his KJV/RSV Parallel Bibles and read the book of Romans.

Well, back to my Bard’s tale!

“Here on Carnival World, one of the Snake gods, the one worshiped by the former Dark Naga Queen, and probably her daughter, and some of the Dark Feathered Serpent Naga, and Dark Clown Assassins, is called Ame-ru-ca (or Am-eri-ca) Mor-o-nee-i. Although, it is rumored that a century or more ago, something happened that fused the Ameruca mystery religion, in Carnival World, with Aryan White Supremacist, Nazi mythology, and Madam Helena Blavatsky occultism.
“Back to the feathered serpents of Carnival World. Here on Carnival World, any mountainous area with groves of fruit trees, are well populated with these absolutely captivating and beautiful feathered snakes, with wings more gorgeous than peacocks, that glisten like rainbow diamonds.
“Flying Serpents can talk and whistle like parrots; some of them are just great mimics. Others are highly intelligent. They love shiny objects and will trade the fruit they guard for gold, gems and even cheap plastic penny dollars.
“Well, boys and girls, kitties and doggies, it is time for first break. Take about twenty minutes. Go to the restroom. Get some snacks or order your own meal from one of our waitresses. Today’s special meal is glazed ham, topped with a pineapple slice and red cherry. We have boiled red potatoes and carrots, homemade biscuits with freshly ground peanut butter and grape jam, or honeyed butter, and a slice of crumb topped, cinnamon brown sugar, apple pie.
“And, just a moment of comic relief, following our recent and intense history lesson and proselytizing!
I’ll have you know that I won a bake-off with that recipe recently, although Ghordo claims that it is, o.k., as far as pie, but he’s done better. In his opinion, it will never win any contests, but that something is most certainly missing and that it is too bland. If anyone wants to see my first prize and the certificate, with the judges and me, with an after-show photo, it is hanging on the wall not too far from the Cervidae family display. And it is a real photo. Ghordo says the photo is fake. Well enough about that, folks! No need to trounce a dead horse!
“When you return, the tale will continue. And quiet as possible, please. Pretend we are in a library or at St. Patrick’s chapel. When you get back, fine folks, I will regale you with the tale of Princess Quetzi Quetzicoatl’s rescue…”

CARNIVAL WORLD CHAPTER 26

When I entered the new Flying Serpent Guild’s Crystal Castle, the rooms were mostly bare. When I arrived at the basement of the guild, I could see there was a secret door. I could not for the life of me figure out how to open it. I thought for a while and then there was a revelation. When I said that the guild was empty…technically that is not accurate. It was mostly empty. I remembered a painting with candles on either side on the first floor.
When I went back up to the entry room, I examined the painting in the main entrance. The painting was a large oil work of the original White Naga Castle, beautiful snowy ivory stonework, with gleaming gemstones embedded in the scale-like walls, that glinted like rainbows in the sunlight.
Red, blue and green minarets waved from the tops of the two towers. The picturesque White Naga Mountains, misty blue and topped with snow were the backdrop. I lifted the painting. Behind it was a round black metal device mounted into the wall. In the center was a convex circle that jutted outward. I pushed the center metal piece and was rewarded with a clicking sound. I tested the candles, but they were stationary.
I decided to check out the two towers that I had not examined before going to the basement. The scholar had informed me that the basement is where I would locate the tunnel entrance.
At the top of the tower, I found a small room with that same painting and the same candle sconces. I looked behind the painting. Nothing. I examined the candle sconce carefully.
Did I tell you I hate puzzles? Well, guys and girls, doggies and kitties, that is an understatement. I really, really detest puzzles like this. I usually figure them out, but I find them distracting, infuriating, and a waste of time. Give me a joystick or a gaming mouse and I can power my way through most video games. I am good at figuring out tricks or learning quickly what skill sets or items might be needed to successfully advance in the games.
Anyway, I discovered that you could move the candle sconces sideways. One to the right and one to the left. Once again, after moving each sconce, I was awarded with a clicking sound. I went to the other tower. At the top, once again, was a painting and two candles. I examined and toyed with the candles. Nothing. I looked behind the painting. Nothing.
I paced the room for several minutes and then it hit me. I was just about to run to the Conner’s Inns and Suites front desk and ask Sakki Nayana Zazazi to help me. Following the lead of my new insight, I said to myself, Maybe I need to light the candles. Click. Rasp.
It sounded like the secret door on my cave near the Goblin Cave Mountains. A door slid sideways under the painting revealing a small room. I had to stoop to enter and could not stand fully upright. I smelled a lavender scent, and I could hear the humming that I had heard when Nayana Zazazi had earlier presented the Conners, Zales and myself with the glowing, humming, purple crystal!
There was a white crystal statue that looked like a birdbath with a matrix, kind of like the ones in the Sleestak Tunnels of the “Land of the Lost” Saturday morning series. However, each grid, rather than containing glowing crystals, had white squares like Mahjong runes.
Each tiny square of the grid contained pictograms of birds, plants and animals drawn onto the tiles. There were red dragons, green palm trees, blue eggs, black eggs, teal eggs, brown eggs, pink apples, gray mushrooms, white unicorns, purple flowers, green dinosaurs, yellow pineapples, black double axes, silver double sided dire maces, white wands with blue crystals, black staves with black crystals, white flying serpents and black flying serpents. I found that the tiles were moveable.
Cold chills ran down my neck. It was four P.M., and I still hadn’t made it into the tunnel. I had the feeling that the more time I wasted, the less likely that I would be able to complete my mission in time.
No worries, I grumped sarcastically to myself, just the fate of two princesses, the High Elf Race, and the destiny of the world turning dark, when Zales confronted the next black Naga attempt, to take over the planet.
Then a thought struck me. She, Quetzi Quetzicoatl, is a white Naga. I saw icons for both white Nagas and Black Nagas. I moved pieces up and down and back and forth until I had moved the five white Naga to the center. I moved the icons into the ten empty spaces in the center, then I moved the far-left white Naga. I noticed that one on the far left had clicked and could not be moved. I tried to put another white naga in position, but nothing happened, and it did not click into place and settle.
After a few minutes of frustration, I found out that there were two kinds of White Flying Serpents with rainbow feathers, and diamond scales, males and females. The first one that had clicked into place was a female.
Moving the male white Naga to the side, I tried to place a white female beside the first one. To my chagrin nothing happened, frustrated I moved it one space to the left, and once again it clicked into place and became solid. Trying that tack once again, I left a blank space and tried another female White Flying Serpent.
Finally, I had five female Flying Serpents and five alternate white spaces. I began trying everything in the first blank space. A blue egg clicked into place and became stationary. That makes sense, White Naga produce one to several sky-blue eggs each hatching. I tried another blue egg. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
I kept trying items in the next empty space. A white speckled blue wand with a blue crystal snapped into place. Ahh, the weapon of a white Naga Queen. A frost rod of stunning!
Then, with the next blank square, I thought, flying serpents in the mountains guard fruit orchards. Hmmm. What kind of fruits do I have? Pink Apples and Yellow Pineapples!
Hmmm. Pineapples don’t grow on trees, but pink apples do! Zing!!! I was able to get a pink apple to work.
Then I tried everything. Nothing worked. And then I remembered I had moved the male White Flying Serpents with the double-sided maces out of the way. I had been close, when, as my second to last attempt, I had placed the double mace rune in the last empty square. Close, but no cigar. The last rune puzzle piece was the White Flying Serpent Male holding the Double-sided two-handed mace!
Click. Then all pieces scrambled. Ahh, you idiot, Orlando, Leaping White Buffalo, Bard!
How long is it going to take to get it all back in place and then do the correct rune? But then I heard a trumpet sound. Reminded me of the old “Warlord of Xeen Four” game where, when I successfully opened a locked or puzzle guarded chest, and then the sound of a midi music trumpet blast would be my audible reward. Yes, that old primitive “Warlord of Xeen” computer game, where, just before my eyes would see the gems, gold, and artifacts, that would be revealed, the treasure chest lid would open with an audible creak! Followed by instrumental midi victory music.
A little box opened, with barely a whisper, on the column under the bird bath statue. Inside on a white foam cutout was a glowing purple crystal key. A white flying female serpent, in human form, was on the crown of the key. I grabbed the key, stuck it in my pocket, then eyed my wristwatch. She was a shapely little human key fob with snow white hair and fairy dust freckles of colorful Christmas glitter!
It was almost five o’clock. Several hours until first moon, but I didn’t even have the secret basement door open.
When I retraced my steps down to the basement, the secret door, which I hadn’t been able to open, contained a glowing outline of a keyhole. I inserted the crystal key into the keyhole and opened the door into the tunnel. The tunnel was an iron mole type tunnel, layered with dust, over glass slag. Putting a footprint trail onto the dust, I wondered if I should sweep the dust and hide the trail. Why bother? I don’t have a broom or pine branch, and it would be a waste of time if I did!
Listening carefully as I walked quickly up the tunnel, my augmented eyes, thanks to Nayana Zazazi’s AI Med Bed, I gazed into the lighted darkness, and advanced along the tunnel. Just as Nayana Zazazi had promised, about three hours later, I found the room with the concealed door. Almost walked past it, but thought I felt a breeze. I pulled out one of Cigar Man’s cigars that I had pocketed upon leaving the meeting, a little before fifteen hundred hours. I puffed my cigar, watching the smoke with my Half Elf eyes, following the trail left by the slight breeze that passed back and forth between the tunnel and secret room. I pressed firmly but gently up against the inner cracks that formed the door frame. I was rewarded with a whisking sound as the door traveled inward and sideways.
I walked around the coffin shaped wood, metal, and glass device. Dials, buttons, toggle-switches and levers, labeled with icons, and old Enochian script, filled the switch panel. Here we are again, Bard! Zandar obviously figured it out. You were just getting cocky about deciphering the rune puzzle, Orlando, and now you are bamboozled by a new one. Time is growing short bucko! Are you going to pull this off or is it going to be “the end of the world as we know it?” I am not feeling fine! Just so you know that!
I stopped berating myself as a Vox Box female voice came over the loudspeaker, “If you wish to deactivate the unit, Orlando the Caretaker, please place the red toggle in the downward position.”
“Oowa!” I just about jumped out of my moccasins! Well, at least I still remember my first nation’s native tongue after all of these years!
How did it know my name?
Well, Bard, let’s get on with it. Flick the red toggle switch.
When I did there was a hiss, and the lid of the coffin opened. There were several sky-blue and a few teal eggs ensconced around the sides of the sleeping Naga princess.
I was wondering if something had gone wrong, as I waited anxiously, worried that I had done something incorrectly, or the advanced technology machine had stopped working hundreds of years ago.
Her beautiful white tresses, sparkling and just slightly glowing a faint pale blue, hung about her lovely oval face. But then Princess Quetzi Quetzicoatl began to breathe. Her skin was soft and silky and looked as if she had been crafting with glitter, that had tickled her skin, blown here and there by a gentle breeze. It took a few minutes for her to open her eyes. They were sky blue and brilliant. She tried to speak, struggled and asked, with a hoarse whisper, “Are you Orlando Bard the Caretaker?”
I nodded as she arose into sitting position and flexed her legs, arms and feet carefully. Quetzi adjusted her fine white robe, open in a v at the base of the neck, that ran from her shoulders to her knees but was sleeveless. It resembled a snowy white kimono, sans arm sleeves, of the finest silk. The Naga princess looked at me expectantly.
Beneath the robe, she seemed to be wearing a light, airy, sleeveless coverall that was clasped under her neck like a high clerical collar and had fitted leggings, but slightly loose at the knees, that ended at her calf muscles. She had double soled camel brown slippers and gemmed star and moon ankle bracelets.
While the under coverall glowed a pale blue, the kimono was snowy white. Quetzi’s long, shoulder length hair, that was tied back practically in a ponytail, glowed the same pale blue as her inner coverall.
“Uhh.Yes, I am Bard the Caretaker. But you may call me Orlando or Bard, that will do fine.”
I pulled my canteen from my belt, removed the cap and offered it to her. Quetzi sniffed the opening, doubtfully, then slowly drank a mouthful or two. Then pushed it away. “Thank you. I cannot drink too much too soon, or I will be ill. But I will need more later.”
She smiled a beautiful smile. Quetzi looked so human that it was hard to believe she had been born a Naga! Except for the light blue glow to her hair and her eyes and the faint glittery sparkle of her skin, I would have thought she was just a woman – exotic somehow – but just a human lady. Although she was several hundred years old and had been in stasis for over three hundred years, she appeared to be about thirty years in age. “I am Quetzi the Protector.
“I just need to shut the coffin and reactivate the device. My egg, the eggs of the royal family, and the eggs of our servants, the teal ones, must be protected, until I know that I have a home, and some kind of income to provide for them when they hatch.
“It is rare, but we, the Naga females, without the help of a male, can hatch one egg. The process is called Parthenogenesis. We give birth to an egg if we do not have a male Naga to help us. The one egg that is mine is almost azure, rather than sky-blue. It is mine, from shortly before I ended my adventuring days. To hatch several eggs, we need the assistance of a Naga male.
“Quetzi spoke an English that was like Hindi accented colonial British English, with subdued hisses and rattlings in her throat. Her vocal aberrations were very subtle compared to those of the half human and half snake form of Naga.
“It will only take a few minutes, I have a leather bag with gold, gems and some important items stashed in a room a few minutes away. Would you help me retrieve them, please?”
“Yes,” I replied, “Princess Quetzi, but we must make it out of here and be with the family of the princess we are supposed to protect, about an hour after sundown. That is about 2300 hours military time and about 11. P.M. Just an hour before midnight.
“We have only a few minutes to spare and according to Ayneegh the First’s prophecy, if we are late for our meeting or don’t show up, there will be dire consequences for the royal family, and Princess Mystica, as well as the fate of this world, hanging in the balance, as the next uprising of the Dark Naga begins tonight!”
“Just call me Quetzi.” The White Naga princess stretched and shook her head as if clearing cobwebs. After a yawn she added, “Let’s get going then, Bard. The storeroom with the Holographic Training Simulator is only about one minute away. It has my bug out bag. Quaint terminology. My father was very eccentric and that is what he called it. Don’t know why. The phrase is not in any of our dictionaries. Just a name my father made up.”
When she stepped forward, Quetzi fell, and I caught her.
“Sorry, Bard,” she said, “this is a normal after effect of awakening from a suspended animation chamber. It works like Cryo Sleep, but different. I don’t have time to explain.”
Quetzi leaned against me as we walked to the door. The new door worked just like the first door. When she leaned against it, the door slid inward with a subdued grinding sound. As soon as Quetzi entered the room, another female Vox Box voice asked, “Hello, Princess Quetzi. Are you ready for another holographic exercise. Give me the parameters of the story line and I will instantly design it for you.”
Quetzi said, “No, Miss Computer, just rest until I call for you.” She continued, “I am only here to collect my bug out bag and my Atlanticean Frost Rod of Stunning vs Cryptids, Trolls and Giants.”
The White Naga princess shouldered her bag and firmly grasped her blue chrome rod with snowflake designs etched into the shaft. She hefted the staff with its glowing blue gem, about an inch thick and shaped like an elm leaf about as big and thick as her delicate, but long fingered hands. Princess Quetzi pulled the Atlanticean Elemental Rod from its leaning spot against the wall. Disengaging herself from me, she leaned on her staff and said, “Let’s go!”
“We are running short of time. I hope there are no more delays,” I said. “We are going to have a difficult time making it back to the meeting place in time as it is—”
Suddenly a roar filled the tunnel. “What can that be?” groaned Quetzi.
“It sounds distinctly reptilian,” I grumbled, with a scowl for the lateness of the time and the looming combat.
The words were slurred, guttural, full of loud clicks, raspings and hisses. I could not understand them.
Quetzi said, “It is not a reptile or dinosaur animal. It said, ‘Fools! I am hungry! Serve my needs!’”
“Oh, wonderful!” I exclaimed. I don’t speak Old, Full Snake, Ophidian. Although I can understand your Hindi British English, New Ophidian. Sounds like we are about to battle a cryptid.” I pulled out my bow and felt for one of my full copper arrows. As I stepped to the right of Quetzi, and readied my bow, the Gator Man leaped from the tunnel, claws outstretched and charged us. “Alone and a cryptid. Great. Just great.”
Quetzi laughed, then yawned again, before saying, “You are not alone, Bard. And this is not the first cryptid I have killed. This one is not a giant and it is weak from hunger. Zandar and I killed many such creatures, as independent bounty hunters, for the Shire Reeves. Do you know about them?”
“Yes, I know two, Bo and Rufus. And I have killed cryptids, giants and trolls before, Lady Quetzi. I am not afraid of them. They are just hard to kill, regenerate health and some of them move with the speed of a Cheetah!”
“Hmm,” replied Quetzi as she pointed her rod at the beast. Concentration furrowed her brow as a bright blue beam of light leaped from the rod and nailed it full in its broad, rough and bumpy, alligator chest. It gave half a scream and turned white as frost. She continued; “I knew a Bo-regard. Just an eager-to-please juvenile Cyno. But I sensed great potential in him. Never heard of a Shire Reeve named Rufus.”
With time to spare, I shot that Gator Man with my cryptid slayer arrow. He wasn’t a giant. Those were long dead, but at over six feet tall, with long arms and legs, much longer and bent differently than a real alligator, he was still a formidable cryptid.
Well, between me and Ice Princess, not so tough after all. With a swift twang my missile had pierced the armored hide of the saurian. Copper is soft, but this copper had an armor piercing meteor ore core, that forced it through the hide. The copper stopped the regenerative power of the beast. Its heart pierced, rather than roaring, it toppled to the floor of glazed glass-like slag and died with a rattle and a whimper.
I removed its head with a cleaving of my mottled Green Orc Star Metal axe, just in case retrieving my arrow would allow its regeneration ability to kick back into gear. The head rolled lifelessly across the floor, and I kicked it far away from the body.
Then I cleaned the axe blade, and placed it in my fighter’s harness, across my back. I retrieved my arrow and wiped it off, as well, on the creature’s ragged leather, fur side up, hide armor, until the blood and gore were rubbed away. As I finished that task I belatedly replied, “Oh. I forgot. Rufus is Boregard’s son. His father was training him to be a Cyno Shire Reeve.”
The princess, nodded, in response to my explanation, then promptly staggered and fell. I caught her. “What is wrong? Were you injured?”
“No, Bard. Not by the Gator Man. It takes mental power for me to activate the rod. Too much energy use, too soon, after being in suspended animation. Are you still up to carrying me? I think I am going to pass out. Now don’t be doing any man things to me!”
“That is not my style, Ice Princess,” I said, but I don’t know if she heard me, as I held her with one arm, then finished securing my weapons with the other. After placing the princess in a fireman’s carry, I hefted her rod in my left hand and began running as fast as I could, gulping the cool, stale, dusty air and stared, scowling, at my watch. It was dark, but if you remember I can see in the dark just fine. Not as good as a full Elf, but much better than a human, an Orc or a Dwarf. Quetzi seems to have that ability, too.

CARNIVAL WORLD CHAPTER 27

The sun, well visible from the Carnival bleachers, was setting on Carnival World. Mystica, and her father and mother were sitting in the bleachers looking down on the game board. The game had been delayed as they couldn’t find anyone to take the Barbarian role. Finally, as it was free, the young Barbarian father that she had met earlier, Santiago, took the position, free and with the promise of one hundred gold, following the tourney. Win or lose, following the game, he would get gold and a jumbo prize apiece of each color for his three children and his wife.
Santiago Quijada had been correct. The Barbarian character was strong, and easily won any battle, alone, except with the most powerful of opponents. But battles were far and few between and without the expensive Pepper Jack Energy drink, he moved only at half the rate of all the other players, and used his special, one square forward and backward Barbarian leap ability, whenever he could.
Santiago was definitely the underdog of the game, even though the Peasant character, was a close second. The indigo blue Feyhoomon, with long prick ears under his curly mass of black, dandruff and straw coated hair and food-stained bird’s nest of a beard were as foul as his mouth. The foul mouthed male Feyhoomon, wore a long burlap sack that was ripped, dirty and stank like urine and sweat. Blue-Boy, the Feyhoomon, wouldn’t do badly in a fight, though, if he could make a hit. He would be a zero-level character in the game, and the game computer of the announcer’s would compute the stat scores, penalties and bonus damage or abilities. Even if he is a high-level fighter, that zero level base will pull down his scores. He would have an elemental damage bonus added to his double damage fist or claw attacks, if he could hit an opponent.
Santiago the Barbarian, although cheered on by his family, and the royal family, and everyone who knew him, had one of the hardest classes to play.

Ghordo even joined him in a fight when a group of wandering monster holographic Hob Goblins appeared. Santiago had rolled high on the wandering monster roll. Hob Goblins were about as nasty as an Elder Fire Dragon.
Ghordo was in the adjoining square, and according to the rules, had the right to join in the fight or stand back and watch. Ghordo was betwixt and between as far as motives. He was selfish enough just to stand back and watch, even though Santiago was Chief Orlando’s personal friend, but he was greedy enough to want to be part of the divvy for winning tokens and treasure that would be awarded for victory over the battle. Greed finally won out for the young Half Orc, just before it was too late to join the battle.
A female Half Elf paladin from just north of the Red Dwarf mountains, had exclaimed, “Oh Dordi,” which is common slang for, “Oh Dear,” among Southern Barbarians. So, she, dressed in plate armor, and wielding a kite shield and spiked mace, had joined the fray as well, even praying for a lightning strike, and according to her roll, received it.
Ghordo, dressed only in reinforced leather over a quilted armor chest piece, and wearing a horned steel helm, battled with his clan gift, the green Star Metal Mace, given to him when he left the Orc Stronghold to join my Bounty Hunter’s Guild.
Cheers had rung, from the bleachers, when the artificial lightning strike had hit, with a resounding peal; the berserker screams of the two-meter-tall Hob Gobs made several watchers and players jump with alarm.
Both Santiago, with his clan spear, and Ghordo with his mace, had also gotten in some good hits, during several other melee intervals during the battle.
There were four Hob Gobs, but between Ghordo, the Paladin and the slow but magnificently powerful Santiago, once all of their bonuses were factored in, they competed quite well.
All of them needed a visit from the Dwarven Cleric, a lady named Rossi Redgems, who although across the board away from them, was, according to the rules, allowed to pray to Creator for their healing and then use her medical kit, when she walked over, to complete the job. Padre had played in the practice game, as the Dwarf Cleric, but had opted out of playing in the real game.
Each victor, Santiago the Barbarian, Ghordo the Warrior, and Lady Darcy the Paladin received a wandering monster treasure bonus of two hundred gold each, and nine purple gems and three blue gems split.
And then they rolled lots for the special helm armor of augmented defense, jeweled long dagger of acid and the Long Sword of Bashing, which gave double damage verses undead. And on any hit of more than five points beyond the amount necessary to hit, and undead would be instantly banished, and, if it ever reformed, would not do so for at least thirty days, years even for a Skel. Maybe a month or two for a Wight or Liche.
Santiago won the sword but traded it straight up to Lady Darcy, who according to the game rules, received special bonuses when wielding a long sword and shield or mace and shield combo.
Darcy, being a Paladin, also carried Cool Man’s St. Patrick’s relic – a King James/RSV fine print Bible, red letter edition, that provided bonuses, enhanced about five percent per player level, against Dark Naga, Dark Atlanticeans, Undead and Imps. And bonuses to armor class and for praying to Creator for wounded players or Lightning Strikes. Anyone who served Creator could use a St. Patric’s Relic, but unless the character was a Cleric or a Paladin, the bonuses were very limited.
The sword was a Black Chrome Atlanticean Sword. Very rare. Must have been some treasure found by Cigar Man’s ranger teams, in some forgotten cave or castle ruin, as they had been methodically exploring the planet once the Bounty Hunter guilds, like mine, had sprung up, and Cullen’s Paladin’s had finally taken over security for Carnival City.
After Santiago traded it to her for the helm, Darcy threw in her two hundred gold loot, as a gift, as well, because she was so happy and the sword so powerful.
Ghordo won the jeweled long dagger and was strutting around like a peacock, having already won the red and green jumbo prizes, and was well on his way with the other token colors.
Not long afterwards though, he was sneak attacked by a real Sanguineous Leprechaun thief, who snuck up behind him, popped him over the head with his blackjack, and cutting the leather of his gem and coin pouch, absconded and disappeared from the board.
Head hurting and dizzy, to boot, Ghordo yelled some colorful curses at the long-gone robber, but then smiled as he realized that he still had a jeweled long dagger and a pocket full of tickets, his jumbo prizes, and another pocket with several blue tokens, four large blue prizes and five penny dollar gold coins, (small prizes and enough for an upgrade), that could be traded in for a large blue prize. Only the eastern facility, the Irish Pub Theme Park, had medium prizes and black tokens.
His large blue prize could be added to his four blue large prize certificates, and then he would have a blue jumbo. That left only the jumbo white prize for the win!
The pick pocket had cut his purse full of tokens but didn’t get any of his pocket loot. Lucky for him, there wasn’t time enough for the sneak thief to empty his pockets and cut his game purse, too. So, his gold was gone, over $200 worth and seven purple gems.
And then, after that, Ghordo kicked his movement dice, and the result landed him on the Food Carny Square.
“Dumb stupid dice! That’s my second penalty!” Ghordo yelled. However, he didn’t curse anywhere near as much as when he’d been robbed by the Sanguineous Leprechaun Rogue!
Ghordo no longer had the $25 fee needed for that square and could not afford the thirty dollars for each Game player and there were eight players. Although a new rule was soon going to be added that allowed the game to be played without filling all role positions, but you had to rent the board, for $100 for each player (minimum of two) and ten percent of any end game winnings would be paid to your guild or donated as charity to St. Patrick’s Hospital.
Just going to the fair, could be cheaper, unless you had a big family or many friends in your group, but for the actual game, landing on the Food Court square could be extremely costly.
Not long after starting the official games, an option was presented, for beginner level games that had only a basic $25 fee and excused paying $30 for every player to get a Carnival Burger Combo.
Ghordo didn’t have enough money to buy every player a free meal and the fee, so he lost his turn.
The Food Court Food, except for Paladins, (or a female Feyhoomon, who had a high Charisma bonus) was a money thief for most players. Only the Peasant class ignored this square as a part of their perks. Paladins and female Feyhoomon often paid as little as ten cents on the dollar or even won free meals and drinks. $15 for a burger. $10.00 for fries. $5.00 for a small soda. Quite expensive. I’m glad they dropped it to a twenty-five-dollar fee shortly after the games began.
The cost is bad enough for families, but with up to eight players, landing on that square during an actual game was quite the penalty and could wipe out a player worse than a snatch and grab visit from the Sanguineous Leprechaun gang!
Twilight was still a way off when it was Santiago’s turn again. He rolled his one movement dice from the tent, which he had declined to visit and rolled a two, landing on the wandering monster icon, just before the Wolf Den Overlook square. He was not in the game to win, and didn’t really care whether he rolled a fifteen or higher on the green twenty-sided die, so he used his leap ability to jump over the green dice icon, onto the Wolf’s Den.
The Page sat the yard wide twenty-sided dice in front of him. He rolled a thirteen, way less than the nineteen needed to provide a real or holographic wolf combat event. Striding his long leisurely strides, Santiago walked over the paving stone painted with the image of an antique earth car to the swinging wooden benches. As soon as he stepped on the painted auto image, the milky quartz paving stone caused a life size holographic image of a black model t car to appear. Thirty seconds after Santiago strode through the hologram it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Santiago sat down and rocked gently as he peered through the fallen rock opening of the deteriorated Cyclopean wall, at the steep valley below, and watched the young wolf kits play a rough and tumble rolling tag, each yipping and yapping playfully.
One lone wolf, an older male, stood by on guard duty, as the pack was away on a hunt. Suddenly the kits dashed into the cave inside of the hill and continued their game of tag. Santiago rested and continued to gaze down into the valley of the wolf den, then up at the high rocky hill behind and above the cave, that ended with a dim view of scattered granite rocks and a sprinkling of gnarled bonsai trees.
Santiago decided to do his best wolf call. The kits all ran out of the cave, expectantly, as several adult wolves yipped and howled a response that echoed along the base of the craggy hillock and rushed like a zephyr, echoing into the Carnival Game Board area. A few players jumped, thinking wolves had jumped from the valley, into the gaming area, which happened occasionally.
Cedric, the Alchemist Gadgeteer, was up on the turn roster. The Hobbit rolled a white one and a four, exiting the spook house exit square, where he had picked up a few American Lincolns and a handful of blue and red tokens, that had been laying on the ground as a few American Tourists, and a blue Feyhoomon lady, came screaming and squealing from the spook house. None of them had been players. Just extras actors. All part of the show.
Cedric Kerlyn landed on the green twenty-sided dice icon and rolled a successful wandering monster roll. It was a basic game, so he didn’t have to worry about rolling an aquatic enemy. When that happened, a forcefield would suddenly appear. Trapped in a ten-by-ten cube, with an octopus, water dragon, shark or swordfish, the player would need to use an air bubbler apparatus if he or she couldn’t hold their breath long enough to win the battle. Thankfully a rare roll. Not only would that short out his techno-robe of static-electricity balls, but the water would have hindered his ability to breathe and slow his combat.
Three small to medium sized spiders clicked and chittered their way through the archway that exited into the game board from the exterior. They weren’t the real exits, just theatre sets at the edge of the board game built by Dwarf carpenters. The radio announcers issued their running commentary as the crowd called out and eagerly awaited the battle.
The exoskeleton armored black spiders would probably be low to medium in strength and hit points. The Page placed his large foam initiative roll dice. Cedric just barely beat them, even on his bonus Hobbit roll.
Neither of them, Cedric or the enemy monsters, had rolled critical misses either.
Cedric Kerlyn with a practiced manner, ran the palm grindstone of his right hand over the static generator plates on his left arm. His static techno robe looked like Brillo pads, covered by a harness of wires, over a leather chest armor piece.
With a dramatic up swinging of his arm, palming the white whizzing ball of static electricity, Cedric the Gadgeteer adroitly hurled three static balls at the skittering spiders. Except for the big one, they became instant crispy critters. The medium size spider faltered but leaped onto him.
“Not enough time to get out my hand crossbow!” muttered Cedric. Barely slipping to the side, the hobbit spun defensively, avoiding a nasty knock down and a follow up free bonus damage attack by the quaking spider. “Good! It is weak!” exclaimed Cedric Kerlyn.
Next, he pummeled the spider with two punches. He rolled only average damage hits with his leather gloved fists. But his blows were enough to finish the arachnid.
The crowd roared as the announcers excitedly provided the play-by-play replay of the Hobbit Gadgeteer’s battle.
Being one of the few hobbits trained in boxing was right handy for the athletic little hobbit. He was, like all hobbits, just born lucky, and he hit with his fists or any weapon, standard, or advanced technology, more than not. Some of his rolls had been soft, and one had been a critical miss, but because of his racial lucky ability, he had been able to ignore the worst rolls and use the best!
The Page brought the thirty-sided dice, and he rolled it twice. Jettisoning his low roll and keeping the best roll. Still only an average roll, but…He did the same with the next sets of rolls.
Cedric rolled twice, using his standard and bonus roll. with the six-sided general weapon and gem find.
The Game computer instantly made the computations and Cedric smiled as the announcers informed every one of his reward. The Page brought him his loot. There were several cheers as Cedric bowed to the audience, the spiders disappeared, and the Page gifted him with a 300 experience point certificate, a plain short sword, a yellow gem, a purple gem and twenty gold pieces. Not much treasure, but the monsters had not been very challenging either.
All players made it around the board a few times, but nothing spectacular happened. The obnoxious little Feyhoomon, Blue Boy, did a castle move, and forced the Sanguineous Leprechaun player to help him attack a stink bug.
Not a great fight, and Blue Boy hung back, letting the rogue melee for the combat attacks. The rogue soaked up some damage, including ingesting the toxic fumes of the insect, too. But they split fifty gold, and five small prizes, a broken bow and arrows, plus two gems and they split fifty experience points.
However, Blue Bell was fined, but not disqualified, and lost the twenty-five gold pieces for cussing too loudly in the presence of minors and genteel women. They are much fussier about cussing at the Simple Sundays game park out east.
Male Feyhoomons always played in the adult Irish Pub Park just because the strict obscenity rules over there were usually ignored in the adult gaming facility. Feyhoomon males, because of their constant profanity and lewd behavior, tended to travel to the eastern theme park. Rather than one game park, The Irish Pub Theme Park had two facilities. One for those over twenty-one (or any age for a male Feyhoomon) and a second where only soda was served and children and families played in that pub.
Any rough Sanguineous Leprechaun activity, lewd behavior, or swearing in the children’s park meant instant disqualification, fines and more. Assault and battery or assassination, anywhere inside Irish Pub City often ended up in deportation, long incarceration, and even hanging or the firing squad.
By the time the game play came around in the Carnival Game, to Darcy the Paladin, the game was now about three hours in. The Half Elf Paladin, (she was actually a Human Mountain Barbarian by race) Lady Darcy, was neck and neck with the Wood Elf Ranger named Horn Bow, who hailed from the Western Sea Woodlands, of the Sequoia Forest, south and west of White Dwarf Mountain. It was ten fifteen P.M., and the sun was just beginning to set.
Elfred, dressed in his purple hat and shimmering green gown walked into his alchemist tent, just after Horn Bow passed.
When Lady Darcy rolled for her turn, she was near enough to the alchemist tent – the one in the game – not the one in front of the Advanced Technology and Alchemical Engineer’s college in the town square – and Darcy stopped.
Elfred’s in-game tent is behind and a bit north of the ticket booth. She bought a few of the red Quick Heal potions, just in case, but her real motive was to buy the Wandering Merchant Card! She, like the other players, had started with four hundred and seventy-five American dollars and four blue carnival tickets. Having carefully used her money, even after gifting $200 to Santiago, after exchanging the black Atlanticean sword for the exceptionally crafted helm, Darcy had enough gold to risk an expenditure at the Alchemist’s tent.
The Card could only be used once and costs $25 in American bills. The Conner’s Bank traded American money to those wishing to trade gold, silver or gems for use at the Carnival during fair times and during the Game times. The wandering alchemist, Elfred Conner, may be eccentric and reclusive, but he also has a penchant for patrolling the Carnival grounds, looking to rescue those suffering from bad luck. If a player had three game penalties in a row, he would change their dice roll, and the players penalty markers would be placed back at zero. He does so free of charge.
Darcy and Horn Bow were neck and neck with three out of four of the prize sizes and token combinations that gave them a jumbo prize category in all but one color.
Most of the time players had to trade up small and large prizes or sets of 25 of each of the colors, red, white, blue, and green to win large prizes. Golden Penny Dollars were plastic gold coins that were small prizes. Golden coins were wild, and if you had five of them, you could trade them in for a large prize of any color. It took five large prizes, and unless you happened to win a wild large, you needed five large tokens of red, blue, green or white to upgrade to a jumbo prize toy of that color.
If a player had all the colors of the jumbo prizes and passed the start position that counted as a tourney win. Or if a player had all of the jumbo tokens and traded up to at least one jumbo stuffed toy, they could win without passing the ticket booth. Carny game booth operators unless you bribed them, or they felt generous, were not likely to take a jumbo toy from their stock. Most players had to make it back to the Upgrade Tent behind the ticket booth before they won the Carnival Game Tourney, even if they had collected all four jumbo tokens. And jumbo tokens, once you won one, could not be stolen from a player. All other tokens and prize certificates, if stolen were considered lost, but the gaming computer recorded which characters had won a jumbo token, so even if it were successfully pick pocketed, that token could only count for the actual player who had won it previously
One of the exceptions to the rule, where you had to use the upgrade tent to officially win the tourney is called the Ben Franklin Option. If you give any ride or game Carny, $100 and five game or ride tickets, the Carny will give a jumbo prize of his color in return. If you already have three jumbo tokens, let’s say that a player has a jumbo red token, a jumbo blue token and a jumbo green token, you can score an instant game victory.
If you bribe the Ring Toss Carny, or the Tilt-a-Whirl Carny, using the Ben Franklin option, since both have white tokens, you will instantly win a jumbo token of that color. Since you have all the jumbo colors now, you don’t need to go to a ticket booth and exchange up to win.
Because you have all four jumbo color tokens, you immediately win the game and at your leisure you may go to the Prize Exchange booth, behind the ticket booth and get your jumbo stuffed animal or animals. If you win the red jumbo your prize is a plush red dragon. If you win a blue jumbo token, you may trade the token for a giant blue cat. If you win the white token, you may trade it in for a giant white rainbow-horned unicorn. If you win a green jumbo token, you may trade it in for a green dinosaur- either a carnivorous T – Rex or an herbivorous Diplodocus. These were the second largest jumbo prizes in the game.
When checking under seats, or under the Roller Coaster exit, or outside the spook house, you may find any color token under the seat, even a black one, which is only used at the Irish Pub Theme Park. The black tokens won’t do you any good at Carnival World, but you can save them for visits to the other theme park.
Another small print rule that a player might use for a quick win to end the game, and win the tourney, was the St. Pat’s Square rule combined with the Master Gamer Card rule. If you landed on the St. Pat’s Square a player had three options: 1) Advance to any Square. 2) Win $25 or five blue tickets. 3) Win five penny dollar tokens. Penny dollar tokens are wild and can be traded in for any large color prize. Five large prizes of that color, for example green, can be traded for a green jumbo. Five red won’t get you a green jumbo prize, only a red jumbo prize.
Darcy already had a Master Gamer certificate. Horn Bow only possessed an Expert Gamer certificate holder, which conferred a + two bonus to skill game dice rolls. He had missed the tent twice, trying to make his way to it around the board, and had not succeeded in paying the training fee for a Master Gamer’s Certificate.
If a player is a Master Gamer, on any game skill check, they receive a plus three bonus to skill game rolls. Each time they land on the training tent, they get one large gift certificate for each prize color, if they have a Master Gamer Certificate.
Darcy had every jumbo but green. Horn Bow had every jumbo except white. Ghordo had the jumbo blue token and the jumbo green token and had decided not to use the training tent to improve his odds, considering it a waste of good money, and unnecessary for someone of his talents and abilities.
However, Darcy changed her mind about using her Wandering Alchemist Card to change her die roll, and instead used it to get to St. Patrick’s Square, on her turn.
She advanced to St. Patrick’s Hat Square and then chose the “advance to any square” option and then called out, “I am going to the Dart Toss Game.”
The time was 10:30 P.M. The moon was low in the sky, but darkness, lit well by a full moon, covered Carnival City like an ebony blanket.
Faerune and Latraya quietly left the bleachers and walked quickly to northwest park. Since they were not familiar with the game rules, they figured that it would take at least thirty minutes if not an hour to finish the Carnival Game. Plenty of time for a short face to face chat with the Scholar and make it back to their daughter – or so they thought.
Mystica fixated on the Carnival Game. She remembered the sign that was located on the Ring Toss Booth (white prizes) and the Shooting Gallery (red prizes).
STANDARD PRIZE CHART (Always win 4 basic tokens of that Carny’s color. Pay 1 basic token of color as a tip.

2 – 9: YOU WIN 4 TOKENS of that Carny’s Color.
10 – 12: YOU WIN 1 penny token +1 golden penny per skill point and one large prize of that Carny’s color.
13 – 14: YOU WIN 1 LARGE PRIZE CERTIFICATE FOR EACH EXPERT LEVEL + 1 golden penny per skill point.
15 : YOU WIN A JUMBO TOKEN (YELLOW CENTERED CHIP) OF THAT CARNIE’S COLOR +1 golden penny per skill point.

DOUBLES PRIZE CHART (Always win 4 basic tokens of that Carny’s color + # rolled.) Pay 1 basic token of color as a tip.

Snake Eyes: 2 Penny Tokens +1 golden penny per skill point.
Double Deuces: 4 Penny Tokens +1 golden penny per skill point.
Double Threes: 6 Penny Tokens +1 golden penny per skill point.
Double Fours: 8 Penny Tokens +1 golden penny per skill point.
Double Fives: 10 Penny Tokens +1 golden penny per skill point.
DOUBLE SIXES: JUMBO TOKEN OF THAT CARNIE’S COLOR! No matter what your skill level.
Plus, one 1 penny token per skill point!

On the Ring Toss, Mystica had rolled a one and a three, which, after her master gamer bonus, was added, became a seven. A very low roll, so she had only collected four white tokens. It takes five white tokens to trade up to a small prize Golden Penny Dollar. And, whenever you play a game or ride a ride, unless you are playing a Peasant, you are expected to give a tip of at least one colored token or a small amount of American cash to the Carny.

However, when playing the shooting gallery game, Mystica had rolled a pair of threes, which after her bonus was added, became box cars and an instant jumbo red token, which she traded in for a giant stuffed red dragon!

Mystica watched, sitting on the edge of her seat, hunched forward, peering intently, as Darcy the Paladin continued her move, and walked to the Dart Toss Game booth.
To win a Jumbo Green Prize the natural way, she would need to roll a double six or better, after kicking the two six-sided dice.
If you remember, folks, the six-sided dice are used for game board movement and some skill rolls.
Also, each game booth carny has a small bubble top pop and shake device, with small plastic dice, that you may use to make a skill roll if you prefer, or a page does not bring your giant foam kick dice.
However, movement is not the only function of the six-sided dice. Those dice are also used for skill bonuses on the games. As a Master Gamer a player may add +3 to each die roll for the skill game roll. If she rolls a pair of threes or better, she will win a Jumbo Green.
Upon arriving at the Balloon Toss booth Darcy shouted, “I am using the Ben Franklin Option!” Giving the Carny $100 and five tickets, she instantly won the green jumbo. Not only that, but because she bribed the Carny, she received the actual prize, a giant green T – Rex! With three Jumbo prizes of each color and a green T- Rex, Lady Darcy made her bow, and won the first ever official Carnival Game, at the Carnival City Theme Park!
Mystica stood and clapped as the fans roared. Everyone clapped for Darcy, except Ghordo the Warrior and Blue-Boy the Feyhoomon Peasant, a short prick-eared indigo-skinned man, with a big beer gut. Both Ghordo and Blue-Boy stood glowering, arms across their chests, but they both bowed to the game announcers and the audience, as the second bow, the joint team bow, following the winner only bow, was made.
And Ghordo couldn’t help it, after bouncing his head from side to side, like a mad bull, for a few seconds. Suddenly the Half Orc grinned from ear to ear. Lifting his muscular green arms, holding aloft his jeweled dagger in one hand, and his two jumbo tokens in the other, Ghordo pumped his legs like a Russian Dancer, and screamed a victory shout at the cheering, screaming audience.
Technically, even though Ghordo and the other contestants had not won first place, the other contestants, having “survived” and not having been disqualified, were considered secondary tournament victors. Photographers dashed out and started snapping photos and recording sound bites of Darcy the Paladin, and the other contestants, as well as the pages and radio announcers. One of the pages released a barrage of balloons and another popped a champagne bottle, while another passed out plastic cups, as everyone shared in the victory toast, and more photos were snapped and videos captured.
As everyone filed out of the bleachers, Mystica looked around for her mother and father. Her eagle eyes spotted them nearing the park bench with the pink blossomed oriental tree. The she-elf with the copper-colored eyes whispered to herself, “The Game is done, and I didn’t actually promise that I would stay here and wait for them. I think I am going to practice my Ranger skills and sneak up on them. Maybe I will catch them kissing like I did on Krampus day a few years ago!”
Mystica Knorn contained many polar opposites of emotional conflicts that railed within her young mind, struggling behind the scenes. Most of those pernicious maladies had assembled into heady fruition following the predations of the male tutor whose dark cravings had ruined her young childhood. Her life-long love-hate relationship with all things intimate and romantic was a result of the despicable actions of teacher Filiai. Events that would occur this night would take that faint autistic malady, possessed by the young she-elf, both magnifying and twisting it, into a soulish ball and chain which would torment her for centuries to come. While healing would one day come for Mystica Knorn, for that specific issue and her general autistic tendencies, her conflicts and the malady itself, would never fully enter peaceful remission.
Mystica leaped like a mountain goat over the bleachers and dropped into the exit, then walked quietly through the bleacher doors out into the lawns east of the Carnival Game Quadrant or as it was sometimes called Carnival Theme Park Game Square. Walking northwest a few minutes, Mystica crouched and blended into the grassy lawn and flower gardens and stealthily made her way to the park bench.
Still a few minutes away, Mystica’s keen eyes noticed that a small thin man, with a dark robe and a quill and bead vest and a white turban, quietly waited and then, smiled and greeted her parents. Mystica was trying hard to determine whether the man’s smile was nice or crafty.
Nayana Zazazi excitedly chatted and even shook hands with Faerune and Latraya.
“One!” mumbled Mystica, “A quaint custom. Shaking hands. I am surprised my parents are going for that.
“Especially Mother.
“Basically, she usually has a hissy fit worse than our three cats, Buffy, Rogue and Akasha. Buffy is an orange tabby. Rogue and Akasha are much younger, and they are gray and black tabbies.
Mystica quietly made her way to another pink oriental tree, then crouched in the flower garden beneath the low hanging branches, that looked like pink blossomed willow, listening intently to their plan to save the High Elves from extinction and give the Knorn Royal Family guardianship of two ancient Atlanticean machine artifacts.
Mystica heard but did not understand Sakki’s technical explanation. The ancient artifact was unique. The device produced a resonance of electromagnetic energy that promotes quickened healing, damaged DNA cleaning, and fertility enhancement, as well as regressing a humans age. It could not age regress elves. The advanced technology could however, clone elves or humans and increase their …
“What is that word…fertility?” exclaimed Mystica with an irritated whisper. “There are so many gobbledygook words the little man is spouting!” mumbled Mystica as she listened to Nayana Zazazi explain the powerful machine artifact.