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Ye Olde DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ELSEWORLDS FAN FICTION CORNER!

Featured in this issue's Elseworlds Fan Fiction Corner is Part 2 of the X-
Files inspired "Players" story, as well as Part 3 of "Henry Hood: Prince of
Thieves".  Enjoy!

                                                        *

This story is rated either G or PG-13. It begins in 1997; Scully has
recently learned she has cancer. Hope you like it!
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Part Two: The Rulebook.
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Power swirled around Scully. If lightning could
be taught to dance, disciplined and joyous, it
would have felt like this. She breathed in the
ozone it left in its wake.

The power touched her. And suddenly, her navy
trenchcoat turned into a dark blue tabard, and
her tan suit to shining gold-colored mail.
Underneath,  she could feel her blouse become an
undertunic and her sensible shoes high soft boots.
Her cross necklace gleamed bright about her
throat -- it had grown larger and longer. And
her faithful Sig Sauer and holster had turned
into a dark sword and scabbard. She tested the
sword's edge with a bit of her hair. It was as
sharp as the truth.

Scully turned to Mulder. The last remnants of
the power still swirled around him. But his
trench had become a dark cloak, his suit a
well-tailored black tunic and breeches, each
with silver trim. The power fled, leaving him
holding a lute.

The red-robed man looked on in amusement as
Scully turned her appalled gaze back to herself.
"I don't believe this. A Paladin! Who knows how
many character classes, and I get stuck as the
goody-goody!" She sheathed her sword with a
disgusted hiss. "At least I'm not a Cleric."

"Paladins can be fun, too," Mulder argued.
"Didn't you read Moon's Paksenarrion series?"
Then he stopped short. "You're a gamer?"

The green-robed kid interrupted. "You're
adults, and you're both gamers?"

Scully rolled her eyes, only glad that neither
question had included the word 'woman'. "You
know I was a physics major, Mulder. Think
about it." She turned to the kid. "And plenty
of adults are gamers."

"Where do you live that there's plenty of
gamers?"

"Washington DC."

"Oh."

"Scully." Mulder's voice was low. "These are
the first kids to disappear. The ones who
never came back."

Scully concentrated, trying to call back the
faces that Mulder, with his eidetic memory,
recalled so easily. "You're right. They're a
little older, but...."

"The ones who never came back?" The kid with
the red cloak and shield -- Eric was his name,
she thought -- sounded torn between outrage and
disbelief. "What are they talking about? Say it
ain't so, DM!"

Mulder jumped in, quick to reveal a truth that
authority seemed to have hidden. "Ten years ago,
six children -- you six -- were last seen at a
certain amusement park. They were never found,
despite intensive searches of the grounds and
surrounding area. Other children disappeared
briefly at about the same time, but returned
afterwards with stories of strange dreams and
the like. The FBI was called in when a ransom
note -- which later proved to be a hoax -- was
sent to your father, Eric. The case remained
unsolved. However, the strange dreams and some
unusual atmospheric phenomena, as well as a
sighting of some kind of froglike humanoid in
a pond at the park, routed the case to the
X-Files."

One girl -- What's her name? Right. Diana --
was giggling. "Looks like somebody saw you as
a bogbeast, Eric!"

Scully's fellow redhead, Sheila, jumped in. "I hope
they got pictures!"

Eric wasn't paying attention. "Ten years? It's
been ten yea...."

"What's the X-Files?" The blond kid with the bow --
Hank, Scully reminded herself -- cut through
the chatter.

"A very small department in the FBI," Scully
explained. "Agent Mulder and I -- I'm Agent
Scully -- are the only employees. We investigate
unsolved cases with apparently paranormal
involvement. Mulder's a psychologist, by the
way, and I'm a pathologist."

The youngest kid, Bobby, looked up at this.
"What's a pathologist?"

The greenrobed kid -- Preston, nicknamed Presto
-- leaned over. "Remember those Quincy reruns?
That's what."

"Neat! Do you get to cut up people a lot? Do you
see a lot of gross stuff?"

Sheila looked embarrassed. "Bobby...."

"Occasionally." Scully had to smile at Bobby's
enthusiasm. "If you hang around Mulder, you get
to see lots of gross stuff. Sewers, killer fungi,
two or three _supposedly_ alien corpses, the
contents of his refrigerator...."

Mulder bore this with apparent patience. "She's
the skeptic and I'm the believer," Mulder said.
He turned to take in her paladin outfit. "Usually."

Hank cut in again. "And we never got home?" His
face turned stern. "Dungeonmaster, I think it's
time you leveled with us. Are we _ever_ getting
home?"

The kids turned to look at the little red-robed
man. He faced Hank's gaze calmly. "You will go
home," he promised. "The agents come from a time
when you have not yet returned. But time is like
a stream," he said quietly, walking over towards
a small creek that ran through the meadow. He
picked up a rock. "Throw in a rock upstream," he
said, doing so, "and the ripples will run down."
The rock plopped into the water, and a tiny wave
from its fall lapped onto a sandbar. A bird who'd
been sitting there flew up, squawking. A rabbit
with a jewel in its brow startled off the bank
and disappeared into thin air. A diving falcon
failed to catch the rabbit in its talons, and
veered off toward the meadow behind them.

Scully turned, and saw the falcon climb into the
air -- almost in the face of a dozing white
unicorn filly with an orange mane. The surprised
unicorn bleated "Meh!" and jumped to her feet.

Leaving two orcs, who had snuck up behind her,
with empty arms.

Bobby yelled desperately, "Uni!" and smashed his
club on the ground. Instantly, it glowed. He
smashed it again, and a small ravine opened up
between the little unicorn and her porcine
pursuers.

Hank pantomimed drawing his unstrung bow.
Suddenly he held an arrow of light nocked on a
golden string. He released it, and it sped
between the orcs. "Leave the unicorn alone!" he
commanded.

The orcs looked at each other. Then they ran away.

Uni ran up to Bobby, who hugged her desperately.
"You gotta be more careful, girl!"

Dungeonmaster smiled as he turned back to the
eight. "When you Young Ones return, you will
return to the time you left. The ripple created
will be large for your friends and family, but
small by the time it reaches the Bard and the
Paladin."

"Will we remember all this? When will Scully and
I return?" Mulder asked, clearly not sure what he
was hoping to hear. "Could we come back to, say,
1973?"

"Yes, Bard, you will remember your deeds here.
What use otherwise? But you two will also return
to your own time." The Dungeonmaster was definite.
"Your sister's disappearance was a very large rock
indeed. Without it, your enemies would have no
true opposition, and you and the Paladin would
never have met. The consequences would splash
across the stars."

Mulder looked stunned. Scully knew she was. But
if she hadn't played Dungeons and Dragons all
those years without learning to ask questions
while answers were forthcoming.

"Let me be blunt, sir. If our presence is crucial
there, why are we here? This party's been
sufficient to your needs until now. Suddenly you
summon two new party members, one of whom is a
doctor, and whose character class includes
healing powers. That leads me to believe the
adventure ahead of us will be more dangerous
than those before."

The party went silent. Except for Eric. "More
dangerous?" he demanded. "Weren't things
dangerous enough?"

Dungeonmaster sighed. "Paladin, your reasoning
is impeccable. You do indeed travel toward great
danger -- all the greater, perhaps, since the
magical weapons you and the Young Ones carry
will cease to aid you, if you use them to kill."

Mulder jumped back into the discussion. "While
I am no more eager to kill than the next man, or
teenager, I don't feel particularly sanguine
about our chances if we have no capability to
cause fatalities and our enemies do."

"Death is not always the best way to rid
yourself of enemies, Bard. Your lute will teach
you that. And should your enemies harm you, the
Paladin's sword can heal the damage they have
done.

"But be wary. For you two will both face your
greatest fears and your greatest joys before
you can return home."

Dungeonmaster stepped over to Bobby and Uni.
Uni gave the Dungeonmaster a dirty look. The
DM gave her an apologetic look and presented
her with a carrot that somehow was suddenly
in his hand.

"You all have a great journey before you. But
beyond the Forest of Nightwinds, in the land
of the Flaming Plain, the Mirror of Ages shows
the road to all lands. Venger wants the Mirror
for his use. But those who control it are far
more dangerous than Venger. Be wary of both."

"But who are they?" Mulder asked desperately.
"What does the Mirror of Ages do? What does
my lute do, for that matter?" Mulder looked
down at the strange stringed instrument and
brandished it at Dungeonmaster.

Or he would have, if the little man hadn't
vanished while Mulder's eyes were on the lute.

"What kind of fortune cookie briefing was
that?" Mulder muttered, disgusted.

"That's DM for ya," Eric declared cheerfully.
"We'll find out what it all means, but only
when it's time."

"And that's only at the last second," Presto
chimed in.

"That's better than most of our cases,"
Scully said dryly. "Usually, we don't find
out what's going on at all."

"We'd better get going," Hank said. "We've
got a long trip ahead of us, and we need
to get out of here before those orcs bring
Venger down on us."

Bobby started calling "Uni! Come on, girl!"
Uni finished her carrot, meh'd, and trotted
back daintily to Bobby's side.

Mulder started to mumble something.

Scully gave him a look. "No unicorn jokes
around kids, Mulder."

"When I was their age, I would have made
jokes about it. Didn't you, Scully?"

"Well, yes. But now we're supposed to be
setting a good example."

"I'm part of the Military-Industrial
Entertainment Complex now," he replied,
lifting his lute. "I have to corrupt
young minds. It's in my contract."

"Do you even know how to play that
thing?"

"What's the order of march?" Diana asked
up ahead.

"Same as always," said Hank. "Dana,
Mulder? Why don't you walk in the middle?
Tonight we'll start practicing how to
use your magic weapons to our best
advantage, but for now we just need to
get out of here."

The two agents shrugged and did so.
It was strange to be protected by
kids instead of the other way around.
But they were strangers here, and
the kids the experienced ones.

The group walked off at a brisk pace.
Mulder, towering above his companions,
started trying to tune his new toy and
found out it was in tune already. He
tried a few guitar chords. The party
soon learned how long it had been
since Mulder had touched a guitar.
Groaning at the noises he made, they
passed into the distance.

And behind a tree, a creature
separated from the shadow of its
branches. "The Young Ones have two new
allies from their world," mused Shadow
Demon. "Interesting. Should I tell
my master now, or let him wait?"

What did he owe his master, anyway?
Shadow Demon only served Venger
because he was bound by spells. But
the wording of those spells allowed
Shadow Demon a certain amount of
leeway in how he obeyed. As long as
Venger didn't know that, he could
turn events a bit to his own liking.

Shadow Demon smiled. "I think I will
follow the Young Ones for a while.
After all, I would not want to give
Venger an incomplete report."

                                                *
  *
As you can tell from the title, my "D&D Elseworlds" story places our favorite
group members in a world very similar to that of Robin Hood's -- with, of
course, a few little changes.  I didn't take any one interpretation of the
Robin Hood story as my reference -- it's kind of an amalgam of all of them --
but most of it is derived from the storyline of the 1991 movie, with my own
little changes here and there, of course.
This story is rated RBPOTM (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Movie), as it has
the equivalent level of action, references, and language, etc., as the movie
does.  (It was rated PG-13 for those of you who didn't see it).  But unlike
the movie, my Robin Hood actually keeps his English accent throughout the
story!  (Sorry, I like Kevin Costner too, but I couldn't help myself on that
one).  If you didn't like the movie, don't read the story.  If you don't like
PG-13 level action-adventure movies, don't read the story.  If you don't like
to read stories where people rarely use contractions and speak all fancy-
schmancy-like, don't read the story!  So there.
So, without further adieu, here is Part 3 of:

Henry Hood: Prince of Thieves
by Amy Elizabeth Hodman
Part 3: Discoveries

                                                *

"When I returned from the Holy Lands with Diana and Preston, the first thing I
did was head for home --  the Gray family has had a tremendous estate to the
East for hundreds of years, of which I was to be Lord of someday."
Sheila's eyes widened.  She had suspected that Henry was indeed Lord Gray's
son, but she had not been certain until now.  It was common knowledge in the
kingdom through Venge's monthly reports that Lord Gray's son was one of
several who had died in battle in the Holy Lands -- but Sheila knew better
than anyone that Venge's word was not to be trusted.  She held back her
questions and nodded at Henry, sensing that the worst of the story was about
to come.
"All I found was our family's castle demolished -- and everything around it
burned to the ground," Henry said as his entire expression seemed to cloud
over like the sky during a terrible thunderstorm.  "Alfred -- my father's main
groundskeeper -- was the only one left -- and he was barely alive."
Sheila leaned over towards him and took his hand.  "You do not have to tell me
the rest if you do not want to."
Henry covered her hand with his own and patted it reassuringly.  "It is all
right, Sheila, I can continue."  Henry took a deep breath.
"Alfred told me that Venge had come to the estate not two nights before,
demanding my father's allegiance to him while King Daniel Matthew was away.
When my father refused, Venge decided to make an example out of him and my
family, and he....and he...."  Henry put his head in his hands as he
remembered that horrible day.
Sheila didn't need to ask what had happened.   His voice told her everything
she needed to know, and her heart sank with his.  "Henry, I am so very sorry.
How terrible it must have been for you."
"I vowed that day that Venge would pay for what he did to my family and those
living on our lands," Henry said as he stood up from the fallen tree log they
had been sitting on.  "I am tired of him doing whatever he wishes to whomever
he likes, just because they are not as powerful as he is."
Henry continued as he took Sheila's arm and helped her up.  "Preston was a
ward of my father's since his parents died when he was but four, so he had no
one else to return to, and Diana most certainly would not return to her home.
So, after summarily disposing of the small unit that Venge had left behind at
our estate, we headed for the Forest."
Henry and Sheila slowly began making their way back to the village.  "When we
got here, we found others hiding here who also lost much to Venge -- loved
ones, their homes, their livelihoods.  Diana and I taught the stronger ones
the ways of battle, and we decided to start hitting Venge where it would hurt
most -- his treasury.  We started with knights that passed through, small
bands of Venge's warriors.  They did not carry large amounts of money with
them, but it was enough to feed and clothe those who lived in our small
woodland village.  As news traveled about us, more and more people who had
been made homeless or penniless by Venge began arriving at the Forest's
perimeters. And our army began to grow.  And so did the prestige and wealth of
our targets."
A silent understanding hung between the two of them as they continued their
walk towards the village.  Just as they reached the perimeter of the small
village, Henry stopped and took both her hands.
"Sheila, had I been able to keep my nobleman's title, I would be certain that
I would be deserving of you.  I do not know for certain that I still am, but
there is something I must ask you nonetheless."
Henry took a deep breath, and just as he was about to say something, a
familiar man's voice interrupted him in loud declarations.  "Let go of me, you
unwashed mass of filth!  Do you know who I am?"
Sheila's face crumbled as she looked in the direction of the village.  "Sir
Eric.  I knew it,  I knew it," she repeated gravely.
Henry looked at her with concern.  "It does not mean that Venge knows that you
are here.  Do not worry, Sheila. We shall find out why he is here soon
enough."
Spotting them from across the village square, Robert ran up to Sheila and
Henry.  "Did you hear the news, Sheila?"  He looked over at Eric, whose
struggle against the guards was surpassed only by the amount of his
complaining.  "What are we going to do about him?"
Henry interjected as he put a reassuring arm around Sheila's shoulder.  "Let
me and my men take care of Sir Eric and his business right now.  You both need
to start settling into your new home here."  He smiled at Robert.  "Tonight we
are celebrating the completion of training of several of our young army
members.  We would be honored if you both would join us."
Robert smiled.  "If Marion is cooking, I will most definitely be there!"
Sheila looked over at Eric.  "But if he does not return to the castle by
nightfall, then surely Venge will know that...."
"Sir Eric's presence here is our problem, and not yours," he smiled as he
directed Sheila over towards a group of his men who were attaching a wooden
stairwell to a new treetop cottage.  "Sheila, yours is the lower level
compartment, and Robert," he said with a grin, "gets the top level -- complete
with swing rope to get down."
"Really?" Robert could barely contain his excitement.  "Sheila, may I go try
it now?  Please?  Please?"
Sheila sighed.  "I...."  she trailed off as she continued to look worriedly in
Eric's direction.
Suddenly Marion appeared behind Sheila and took her arm. "M'lady, if it's not
too much trouble, my daughters were hoping that you could show them how you
wrap your hair...for the celebration tonight."  Sheila looked over at a group
of young girls, no older than her brother, who were smiling shyly and
gesturing in her direction.  "They have wanted to ask you all day, but they've
been too embarrassed."
Sheila smiled at the woman as she gave a sidelong glance to Robert, who looked
as if he were about to explode with excitement.  "I have always wanted
sisters," she smiled at her brother.
"Hey!" Robert snorted indignantly.
"Yes, Robert, you may go try it out," Sheila was barely able to finish as
Robert raced away a millisecond after hearing her first word.  "And yes,
Marion, I would be very happy to help your daughters." As Marion walked away
to retrieve her young daughters, Sheila looked back at Henry, hands on her
hips.  "I suppose you've gotten your way now, then, haven't you?"
Henry smiled.  "I always do."
"Don't be so sure of that," Sheila said with a small grin. "I'll be right
beside you with my own questions for Sir Eric as soon as I'm done."  With
that, she turned and walked away.
Henry shook his head.  This was going to take some getting used to.