The Board (1)

JilaCosa -- Jila notices the open door and enters,

or exits as the case may be since the door leads outside, and crosses the bridge to the Treehouse. There are foot prints in the dust on the floor and Jila follows these into the open living room area where IQ is setting up a chess board and pieces.

"Hey, IQ" Jila says, noticing the layer of dust on everything (Mental note: tell the cleaning crew or the DRD's to get out here more often) "What'cha got?"

"Interesting isn't it?" IQ says as he places the last pawn on the board. "I found it in that hole in the floor under that chair. Do you play?"

"Honestly, no." Jila grabs a towel out of the closet and cleans the seat of one of the other chairs at the table. "I guess I never had the patience to sit and think four and five moves ahead like other people. If you don't mind that I'll give it a go. These pieces are quite interesting" Jila picks up the Queen on her side of the board. "Where do you suppose they came from?" She puts the piece back on the board and looks at IQ. "Your first move or mine?"

IQ120 -- “I’ll go first.”

said IQ moving a pawn. "As for where the pieces came from, I found them in that little hole over there."

Jila moved a pawn. IQ concentrated on his next move when suddenly...

"Why are the pieces glowing?"

IQ had been paying so much attention to the game he hadn't noticed. The board seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, until it seemed like they were standing on it...but then they were standing on it, and it wasn't a board anymore. They suddenly found themselves standing in the middle of a grassy field. Behind IQ and Jila stood stall statues that resembled the remainder of the chess pieces.

"This is Highly out of the ordinary!" IQ stated the obvious "I hope no one finishes off our game..."

JilaCosa -- “Okay..... this is interesting.”

Jila looks down one side of the field and then the other at the chess piece statues. Then she looks down at the grass she is standing on.

*Alice Through The Looking Glass???*

"I just have a couple of questions for you IQ." Jila says with a sigh. The nice thing is that the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the chess piece statues are Not moving. "Why do you hope that nobody finishes our game, and would anything happen to us if they did?"

"Oh I didn't really mean anything by that." IQ says with a smile. "I just wanted to finish the game when we get back. And even if the pieces are moved they should move slowly enough here so that we can get out of the way."

"Another thing." Jila points to the blue pieces which are closer. "They're not glowing anymore. Do you think it's because nobody is sitting next to them anymore, or do you suppose we just can't see the glow from here?"

"That's a tough one." IQ tilts his head up so that he's looking at the top of the pieces, and then starts walking toward the blue set. "I would suspect it's because nobody is sitting next to the board. I'd say that when somebody else comes into the Treehouse and sits down by the board they'll start glowing again." The two stop by the single blue pawn that was played first. IQ studies it for a couple of minutes. "Hmmm, this is interesting. Look at this Jila."

"What did you find?" Jila knows that if there's anything to be found out from studying the pieces IQ will find it.

IQ120 -- IQ was looking at one side of one of....

...the pawns. Someone had carved a map, and some odd looking heiroglyphics on it's side. Most of the heiroglyphics were unrecognizable, except for the last one. The last heiroglyphic was what looked like a jester's hat.

"I wonder what that could mean." Said IQ.

He then looked at the map. In the middle of it was what looked like a chess board.

"I guess that means we are here." Said Jila pointing at the map. The rest of the map was looked fairly normal. It had a curving line drawn from the chess board downward until it ended at a dot.

"This is probably supposed to be some sort of path." Said IQ pointing at the line.

"Like that one." said Jila pointing at a path leading away from the chess board.

IQ thought for a few moments. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that the chess board is some sort of transdimentional portal, and the positions of the pieces is some sort of way to distinguish between coordinants."

"So how do you suppose we could get home?" asked Jila

IQ ponderd this for a little while. "There would have to be another chess board somewhere..."

IQ looked around, then back at the pawn. "These must be directions to it." He said poining at the map and heiroglyphics.

JilaCosa -- “There’s only one path...”

Jila looks over the map. "so if we want to get somewhere I guess we have to take it. On the other hand, those heiroglyphs, whatever they represent, look to be pretty close." IQ nods his head, having come to the same conclusions already. "Should we try to find out if the heiroglyphs are just words or if the actually represent something?"

"Yes, we probably could," IQ says thoughtfully "though I don't think we'll find anything. I think they're just instructions on what this dot is and what to do when we get there."

"You're probably right." Jila looks especially at the jester hat icon. What could That possibly stand for? "Should we leave a note just in case one of the gang shows up while we're gone?"

"We shouldn't need to right now." IQ points to the King and Queen statues "If they come through like we did those will glow and we'll see it since we're going to be right around the area. Then we can come back and let them know what we've found."

"Oh, of course, I forgot about that!" Jila chuckles and sighs "So, should we try this side first and work our way around the board?"

"Sounds like a good place to start to me." IQ takes a notepad out of his pocket, checks the map one more time, scribbles some notes on the first sheets, then tucks the notepad back in his pocket. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

IQ120 -- After a few seconds of discussion....

...IQ and Jila headed off down the path. It was indeed a beautiful day. The wind brushed the long grass on either side of the path, causing it to move in waves making it seem like a giant green sea waving back and forth. Not many geographical features were noticable. There were mountains in the distance on the left, and a wide expanse of grass on the right, behind were the tall statues, and ahead was what looked like a small old fashon village way off in the distance. A few birds flew overhead. Some circled to see what the two people were doing, before flying onward again.

IQ pointed toward the villiage, "I guess we know what the village is." He said.

"Of course, we still don't know what the heiroglyphics were for." added Jila.

The two walked on until they came to a stream which they transversed by means of a small rope bridge. They kept walking the path until suddenly...

Both scoobies ducked quickly.

"What was that?" Asked Jila

"Sounds like something stept on a stick." Answered IQ

"Well I know that, what was it that stept on the stick?"

JilaCosa -- “I was hoping we wouldn’t meet anybody

quite this soon." Jila whispers to IQ. "Do you think we've been seen?"

"We can only assume we have." IQ answers, trying to peer up over their minimul hiding place to see what made the noise. "You know it could just be an animal that stepped on that twig."

"A non-aggressive type, I hope." Jila whispers a quick prayer to whatever God or Gods might be listening and then joins IQ in trying to discover the noise maker. As their eyes clear the top of the grass line...

*zzziiinnnnnggggggg*

a projectile flyes just over their heads and then...

as the projectile hits a solid but not extremely hard surface. Jila and IQ duck back into their hiding place and wait.

"aaaaaiiiIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!" a joyous cry rings through the air as if a prize has been taken.

IQ and Jila wait but they hear no other sound. No footsteps, no dragging noises, Nothing. After a few more minutes they peek out of their hiding place again to find.....

Nothing. Not even a sign to explain the noises that they heard a short time before. IQ and Jila look at each other and shrug as if to say *We've got to do something*, then slowly stand up to see if anybody or anything notices them. While they wait a Large, Black cloud rolls in. The rain comes slowly at first, as does the sounds of thunder in the distance. Except for the distant thunder there is no other sign of life once again.

"I was going to ask you if we should go to the village or go around it, but I guess that's has made our decision for us." Jila says looking at the storm cloud that is getting closer by the minute to where she and IQ are standing.

"You're right." IQ scans the area on either side of the path. "There are no rocky areas that might have caves, and no dense growth forest areas where the rain wouldn't penetrate. And not knowing what kind of weather this place gets, we'll definitely want to be inside when we find out."

"The village it is." The two say simultaneously as they start down the path toward the village at a less leisurely pace.

IQ120 -- They quickly reached the village..

...it hadn't been as far away as they had thought, because all of the buildings were increadably small. Once they got there they found two old (but unusually short) men.

After a few minutes of listening to the mens' conversation IQ said, "I think I can comunicate with them." He then turned to the two locals, "Balawalashmalatotalamangbangtangscoobiedooandbritneyspearstoo."

The two men conversed for a moment before responding and pointing to a beaten down old hut at the far end of the village.

"They've agreed to give us shelter in the vacant hut." said IQ.

"Well, at least it will keep us dry." said Jila.

JilaCosa -- The storm is almost on top of them....

by the time they reach the old hut. The door is quite a lot larger than they expect but then again, so is the hut. It stands about as tall as the average mobile home and looks to be about 20 feet square. The two enter the building just as the rain gets there. The windows are pretty dirty but there is still enough light to see by. Looking around, Jila and IQ see a great many things that have been stored here over the years, broken hand-made furniture, moth eaten rugs, old kettles, and other household items, all very small, the perfect fit for the two men they met at the outskirts of the village. Hoping to find something useful Jila and IQ begin looking through the things on the various shelves, and moving things that are stacked against the walls. Luckily one of the first things they find are some beeswax candles and some dry matches. IQ lights a few candles while Jila finds cups to place the candles in and some safe spots to leave them. It is at this point that they find doors that open up to cupboards and closets, and who knows what they'll find in there. They also find a fireplace but decide not to try and start a fire as the chimney may be clogged. Jila starts with a closet on one wall while IQ starts with a closet on another.

"IQ!" Jila yells, after pulling open a drawer in her closet. "You're not going to believe this!"

"What did you find?" IQ peers over Jila's shoulder as she pulls out a large, Plastic storage bag with a self-stick closure on it. Carefully unsticking the bag , Jila pulls out.............. a single bed size Blanket.

"Hmm. I wonder..." IQ goes back to the closet he was looking in and pulls open one of the drawers in it. Pulling out a similar bag, IQ opens it and "Aah, I thought so" he says with a smile, then pulls a thin, homemade mattress out of the bag. "This used to be a resting place for travelers."

"Do you think these villagers know that?" Jila asks.

"I doubt it." IQ rolls the thin mattress back up and puts it back into the bag. "Look at some of this stuff, and the amount of dust on everything. Some of this stuff has been here for ages. I think the only reason we were directed to this hut was because it was the biggest shelter there is. We couldn't have fit into any of their homes."

As Jila thinks about it she can only agree. The two men stood only as high as her hips. They weren't dwarves, they were more like miniatures. Their arms, legs, and bodies were in direct proportion to their height. She was starting to feel like Gulliver in Lilliputt. Jila puts the blanket back in the bag so that it doesn't get dirty. The noise of the rain pounding on the roof of the hut gets louder and louder. "I hope the roof doesn't spring a leak."

"There are no water rings in the dust so I think we'll be okay." IQ says reassuringly. "But it does sound like we're going to be here for a while. I guess we should try make a place to sit down." IQ and Jila look through a few more of the closets and find a clean tarp on one of the upper shelves. Carefully, so that they don't make the dust on the floor fly, they unfold the tarp and lay it out on the floor. As they sit down on the tarp and try to make themselves comfortable there is a knock at the door. Jila runs to the door and opens it to find the two old men with six younger men and women behind them (these could be the children of each of the men). The group comes in quickly and places on the tarp the kettles and dishes they carry with them. The old men sit down on one side of the dishes, the group of younger men and women sit down at an angle from them leaving a Large space for Jila and IQ to sit finishing off a shape that is vaguely triangular. The smell emanating from the dishes is incredible. Jila can't imagine what it could be.

One of the old men looks at Jila and asks "...................." (ok, lol so I have no idea how to write this language)

Jila looks at IQ nervously "uh, I have no idea what he just said. How do I answer him?"

KaraS -- KaraS wandered into the Treehouse

because she saw that the door from the mansion was standing ajar.

"What's this?" she said to herself as she saw the chess set.

She sat down to examine it and picked up one of the green peices. She turned the intricately carved knight over in her hand, then put it back on the square she had taken it from. The pieces began to glow. Kara leaned closer to observe.

Suddenly Kara felt like she was falling. She landed on her face next to a giant chess piece. It was pouring down rain.

"Wonderful." Kara sighed. "What happens now?"

In the distance she heard wolves howl...

IQ120 -- IQ turned to the little man...

...and said, "jalawadingdongdailykukukachuyokoonoyoyoma tweaksmeagoleagleredgreenhiphopmchammercanada?"

The little man nodded.

"apperantly they want us to have dinner with them... some old custom of their's." The little man lifted the lid off a pot and the increadible smell of lasagne.

During dinner IQ launched into a lengthy conversation with the two elders.

"They say a hunting party had an unusually good day today. There is going to be some sort of festival later."

The conversation went on for a little while longer.

"The statues have been unused for a long time." Said IQ, "walawalabingbangbettyboop?"

One of the little men responded "Jollyhollywollytrollyscifi."

"They say according to legend all of the mysterious visitors were from a place called... scifi!"

IQ120 -- Suddenly, a loud howl was heard..

...and it was followed by a loud horn blowing. One of the little men said something to IQ.

"The horn means someone else came through the portal thingy." Said IQ.

"We should go see who it is." Said Jila

IQ said something to one of the little men, who then ran to one of the closets and pulled out a few ponchos.

"Let's go!" Said IQ grabbing a poncho.

JilaCosa -- Grabbing a poncho for herself,

and a couple more just in case, Jila runs out the door right behind IQ.

"You did tell them we'd be right back and to not go anywhere?" Jila pulls her hood up for the third time but it keeps falling down.

"Yes" IQ slows down a little so that he doesn't have to yell. "That was the last thing I told the Elder before we left. I told him that it must be one of our friends who just came through the transdimension thingy and that we would be bringing them back with us."

When they get to the chess board area, Jila and IQ start calling out the names of the gang to see if it was one of their friends who came through.

"Rae?" "Mouse?" "Kay?" "Spyral?"

"IQ?" Kara's voice comes from behind one of the chess pieces. "Jila? What are you guys doing here?"

"Did you sit at the table in the Treehouse where the chess board is set up?" IQ asks

"You did, didn't you?" Jila chuckles, helping Kara put on one of the ponchos she brought with her. Not that it makes much difference, Kara is soaking wet by now.

"Yes." Kara says, trying to recall everything that she did back at the Treehouse. "I sat down at the table, and picked up the green Queen. I put the piece back down and the next thing I know I'm here lying face down in the grass getting rained on. How did you two get here. Oh, and thanks for the poncho, by the way."

"C'mon, we'll talk about it on the way back to the village." IQ points out to the small village. "There's shelter there and a hot meal. You should dry out in no time."

In a short time the three are back at the hut, and IQ introduces Kara to the two Elders and what turns out are the village leaders.

"I have no idea what language they speak here," Jila says to Kara after the three sit down and the meal resumes, "but IQ knows it and he's been translating for me. Seems this hut was a resting place for travelers generations ago. For some reason the travelers stopped coming and this hut was turned into a storage shed. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff we found. Oh yes, and this meal is traditional. The Elders and the village leaders always had a meal with the travelers."

One of the Elders stands up and goes over to the door of the hut. Beside the door is another "map" like the one on the blue pawn. The only difference being the the chess board icon is moved off to the side and a picture of a hut is now the center piece.

IQ moves over beside the Elder, takes out his notepad, and makes a quick drawing of this map.

"Interesting." IQ mumbles. "I wish I could figure out what this jester hat symbol is."

"Oh that smells good." Kara said, wringing water out of her hair.

"It's the traditional meal they share with travelers." IQ explained.

One of the little old men handed Kara a plate of Lasagne and a fork.

"Mmmm. This is delecious." Kara said. She dug in hungrily and soon finished her Lasagne.

IQ and Jila also ate their pasta. The little old man handed out seconds.

"Boogiwoogioogie." the little old man said. "Bringalottamoola. Donnamonnazees."

All the other little people filed out of the hut, into the rain.

"Drannamannabobanna." he said to IQ.

"He says it's time for us to sleep." IQ translated.

So they all lay down on the portable mattresses and went to sleep...

Mouse2000 -- “Jila!! Kara!! IQ!!”

Mouse called from the door of the treehouse. She had been looking around for the missing Scoobs for a while and then remembered the treehouse. The footprints in the dust verified that someone had indeed been here, so she went out and saw the chessboard.

Examining the board, Mouse wondered who was playing. And was the light deceiving her, or was the board glowing? She leaned closer in and...

JilaCosa -- Once again the wolves howl, and the..

sound of horns fills the air. Jila nearly jumps off her mattress in fright. Suddenly there is a knock at the door.

"Dren!" Jila quickly crawls off her mattress and hurries to open the door.

"Doowalawalabingbangrah." The village leader says.

"I have no idea what you just said," Jila says with a bow, hoping this will tell the person *thank you*. "but thank you. We'll be out in just a minute." Jila bows again and turns back into the small room. The night sky is awash with blue and green light and she knows that another Scoob has found the chess board. "Kara. IQ. Somebody else just came through."

Jila walks quickly out the door, followed closely by IQ and Kara.

As they reach the edge of the village they are met by a man holding three torches. The night is dark and the light from the chess piece statues already begins to fade. Kara, IQ, and Jila accept the torches with gratitude even though what is considered a great torch in the village is more like burning paint brush when held by these three. But the light suffices and they make their way back to the chess board area.

"Helloooo. Helloooo. Is anybody out there?" The voice belongs to Mouse.

"Yes, Mouse. We're here." Kara hollers

"We'll be there in just a minute." Jila also yells.

"Where the heck are we?" Mouse asks as the group approaches. "And why are you carrying such tiny lights?"

"We haven't quite figured out the where yet," IQ says, "except that this area turns out to be a transdimensional transportation device. This area being the arrival point. The lights...." IQ gives a slight shrug "are actually large torches where we just came from."

"Let's get back to the hut." Jila suggests "At least we can be comfortable while we tell her everything that's happened so far." So back to the hut they go, dropping off the torches with the man at the edge of the village. Even with the minimal light from the small torches Kara can see Mouse's eyebrows lift in curiosity. Digging out another mattress and blanket, and laying it out on the tarp for Mouse, IQ, Jila, and Kara take turns telling her everything they know about this place.

With that done, the group lays back down on their mattress hoping for just a little more sleep before the sun comes up.

Chryse74 -- Back at the Mansion

Chryse was looking for IQ.

"Dren, that doohicky keeps breaking on me and the warranty ran out yesterday! I really hope IQ can fix it without making it sentient. I don't want it to criticize my taste in music."

Wandering about, she saw 4 pairs of footsteps leading to the treehouse. *Hmm, I wonder if he's there, we haven't used the treehouse in a while* she thought. "AH-CHOOO! We gotta get the DRD's up here more often. It's so dusty!"

She entered the treehouse with her cd player and saw the chessboard but no people. *I could've sworn that was Mouse, Kara, Jila,and IQ's footsteps... where are they?* she wondered. "well, first things, first." and she called down for the DRD's to clean up the treehouse as she wandered around the Mansion some more looking for her wayward friends.

IQ120 -- IQ lay awake in bed

after Jila, Kara, and Mouse had gone to sleep. He had to many things to think about. IQ heard something outside. He sat straight up on his mattress. Someone was having a conversation outside.

"How many appeared?"

"And they were larger than the locals?"

There was a moments pause."Organize a group of hunters loyal to me. I want to be able to ambush them on the main road tomorow."

"What if Alpha won't aprove it?"

"Then we do it without his approval!" Said the voice who sounded more like he was in charge. The voices began to get more distant. IQ quietly got off his mattress and snuck out the door. He was going to follow them, he wanted to know who they were. IQ found a trail but it had not been what he had expected. It was the trail of two wolves.

*If they're wolves, how can I understand them?* Thought IQ, but then he remembered the trip to horrorland. He had been bitten by a were-wolf.

*If I can still understand their speech what else can I still do?*

IQ made sure that the wind was blowing the right way so that the wolves would not be able to smell him.

Eventually IQ came to a clearing in the grass. There was a large pond, with a boulder on one side and a tree on the other. IQ snuck over to the tree, and climbed up. The wolves were having a council around the big tree and he began to listen...

IQ120 -- The wolven council

On the boulder next to the pond sat the leader of the wolves, and the largest. On his right sat the second largest wolf, who was easily identifiable as the oldest of the wolves. On the leader's left sat the third largest, he was cross-eyed and his tongue hung out of the side of his mouth and drooled all over the ground. To the right of the older wolf sat the fourth largest wolf, who was younger and looked very angry.

IQ began to listen to their council.

The angry one began, "We should ambush them on the main road tomorow."

"Absolutely not!" Growled the leader, "They have just come to this land, and we do not know whether they are foes or not."

"Then shouldn't we asume that they are." Said the Younger wolf.

"Absolutely not!" Said IQ from his hiding place in the tree.

The wolves were shocked to find that a human had interupted their council.

"Who, sir, are you?" Asked the oldest wolf, "and how is it you speak our tongue?"

"I am IQ120, and I have come to take part in your council. As to how I speak your tongue, that is a long story."

"What council do you have to give?" Asked the leader of the wolves. IQ then told him everything he had heard outside the hut.

"That is ill news indeed." Said leader of the wolves. He stopped to think for a moment in order to think. "IQ120, I am Alpha, leader of the wolves of the plain. These are my generals:"

He then pointed to the older wolf. "This is Beta"

The cross-eyed wolf."Charlie"

The angry wolf. "Delta"

Alpha then pointed to a wolf that IQ had not noticed, because he had been sitting in the shadow of the rock. "Echo."

The last wolf had been watching IQ for a long time with a pair of large green eyes.

Alpha continued, "I will send Echo with you and your companions, as a guide. He will meet you on the main road..." He stopped for a second to think. "Whoever plans to attack you is obviously not loyal to me, he will have to be weeded out."

IQ thanked the large wolf, climbed out of the tree and headed back to the hut.

KaraS -- Kara moaned and rolled over

She was having a terrible dream. She opened her eyes. There was Jila. There was Mouse. Where was IQ?

The rain seemed to have stopped. Perhaps he went out to find the outhouse.

Kara yawned and sat up, pulling her blanket closer around her to wait for IQ's return.

Raven-Kat -- Rae strode through the mansion,

arguing vehemently with the IQs #4 and #7. "I am telling you..." she repeated firmly, "If you bend space to that degree it WILL break. You can be sure that the time-continuum would suffer as well. Make no mistake, your plan is not feasible."

"But," IQ #4 began, "Couldn't the impact be softened by--"

"Are you not listening?" Rae demanded of him. "You can reduce the impact of a WRINKLE. An actual bend would be too much. It's Scharshan's third law of imaginary metaphysics! Humans!"

"I think we should ask IQ #1 about this." #7 told #4.

"I agree." Rae said. "Where is he?"

"I think he was going towards the tree-house last I saw him." #4 said.

"But that was days ago." #7 added.

"It's a start." Rae headed towards the tree-house, closely followed by the two IQ clones. She stopped a DRD. "Fluffy, where's IQ?"

"BEEP-CHIRP/BEEP... WHIRRRR"

"Thanks. Treehouse." The three entered the treehouse. "Frell, Fluffy! It's empty!" Rae sighed. "I am going to have to do something about him."

"Ooh, a chess board." IQ #7 said.

Rae stared curiously. "Lovely. I've never seen one quite like it. Shall we have a game, gentlemen?"

"There are three of us." IQ #4 pointed out. "How shall we play?"

"Raegun and I will play against the two of you as a team." Rae offered, knowing that since the two thought exactly alike (as all the IQ clones did) that it would be exactly like playing against a single IQ. "I call blue."

"Let them go first, Rae." Raegun advised softly. "Figure out their strategy."

"Right. After you gentlemen, then."

The two IQs confered in whispers for a moment before reaching for a piece. Rae was fiddling idly with Raegun's saftey, and so it took her a moment to notice that the pieces had begun to glow.

"Frell..." she had time to mutter before the four of them were caught in the same field that had caught the others.