Subject: D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club Newsletter #7, Part 5 Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 11:04:19 EDT ****************************************************************************** ******** D&D CARTOON...?WHAT IF?? What if -- we came up with some D&D ?What Ifs?? What is a ?What If??, you say? Well, for those of you who are not comic aficionados, ?What If?? is a comic book series that picks up at key events within the characters? universe, and puts a slight twist on the events that happened at any key juncture, to see what might have happened next. Patrick Drazen?s adaptation of ?Time Lost? on his page is a great example of a ?What If?? story. To use some more D&D Cartoon examples: What if Eric HAD ended up marrying Queen Zinn before the spell reversed itself, leaving her unchanged and Eric a King? What if Diana had decided to heal Kosar and that it was best and safest to leave him to recover in the Realm, for fear that he might not survive otherwise, so that SHE ended up journeying to the stars? And what if Hank had aimed at Venger at the climax of ?Dragon?s Graveyard?, and not at the magic shackles that held him prisoner? You get the idea. So, whattya waitin? for? Send in your D&D Cartoon ?What Ifs? -- they don?t have to be the entire story, you can send in your ideas, story outlines, even ?trailers? previewing what your story would be like -- to me at IllyanaAM@aol.com by August 31st, 1998. And yes, you can send them in later if you want -- I?ll post any and all of the ones I get in upcoming issues of the newsletter. ****************************************************************************** D&D ELSEWORLDS FAN FICTION CORNER Submitted for your approval -- here?s an all-new Elseworlds story by Victoria Bishop, as well as Part 4 of Maureen?s O?Brien?s awesome ?Players?, and Part 4 of Henry Hood: Prince of Thieves! Elseworlds: The Dollmaker Part I Victoria Bishop These characters are based on those of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, owned by TSR, Marvel, etc. Don't bother suing--I have no money. Rated: PG-13 Note: I tried to be as historically accurate as possible, but there are some facts I had to ignore for the sake of the story and some I probably didn't even notice. Please put down any such inaccuracies to artistic license. :) London, December, 1819 Vincent Gerald frowned at the various invitations that littered the salver in his front hall. He had stopped attending Society's functions years ago yet the invitations continued to pour into his fashionable St. James home. There had been a brief lull three years before when word went around that he had been forced to spend some time in the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, but it hadn't been long before the invitations began flowing in again. Apparently a stay in Bedlam wasn't enough to tarnish his good name in Society, especially considering the factors he had in his favour. First and foremost among these was the honorary title of Baron Vengrave. The title was granted to him at the age of 27 by King George III after he had completed a portrait doll of the Princess Royal. After establishing such a connection with royalty, Gerald was constantly in demand--everyone who was anyone _had_ to have a portrait doll done by young Lord Vengrave. Within seven years, he had amassed a fortune to rival that of any Earl's. His friendship with the Prince Regent meant that the haute ton was willing to overlook the fact that he was--technically--_in trade_ and that he was a mere commoner by birth. Ten years after completing his first portrait doll, he was frequenting the same clubs as Earls and Dukes and could usually be seen in the company of Lord Byron and his set. Experiments with opium and alchemy in addition to regular visits to the worst hells London had to offer first turned the handsome and talented young man into a handsome and talented young rake and eventually into a talented but debauched old man. As far as Society knew, Lord Vengrave's last portrait doll had gone uncompleted. The Duke and Duchess of Hardcastle had commissioned him to create a doll of their only child--a little girl who was of a rather weak constitution. The child fell ill and died before Vengrave could complete the doll. When he announced that he would no longer accept commissions for portrait dolls, the ton assumed that the child's death had touched him deeply. Especially when he was sent to Bedlam shortly afterward; after creating a disturbance on the Pall Mall. Unbeknownst to anyone but himself, Vengrave _did_ manage to complete the doll of the Hardcastle child by viewing the corpse every day that it was on display. The result was a pale doll with dark smudges under sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, a bloated stomach and tiny fingers clenched in death throes. Anyone who saw it would have seen a thoroughly grotesque creation. Vengrave saw his best work ever. His search for a second "work of art" was the incident that led to his being hospitalized. When Vengrave finally emerged from Bedlam he was free from his craving for opium and much wiser in the means of acquiring a model. He never ventured into Society after leaving Bedlam and lived in seclusion. The aura of mystery surrounding his withdrawal only made him more sought after and every hostess longed for him to return to Society by appearing at her ball, thereby granting her the coup of the Season. Londoners rarely pay attention when a child from the East End disappears. A youth missing from St. Giles meant one less pickpocket on the street and a woman missing from Covent Garden meant one less "unfortunate" to spread disease. So it was that Vengrave had all the models he could want and happily created portrait after portrait.