MagiStream

This is my entry for the contest!!! So here goes...

It was a dark and stormy night, and you are having trouble remembering what you are doing here. But every flash of lightning reminds you of the note left to you from a- well, associate. As soon as you finished reading the note, your mind began thinking up the most bizarre of things. Who set him up? Why? Was it the centaurs? Or the nagas? You went home to your Keep, and seeing your eagle Hippogryph, you remember an old friend. So here you are, waiting for him. You shiver in the cold. Suddenly something taps your shoulder, and you nearly jump out of your skin! You were not even allowed to bring along protection. When you notice your old ally, you clap him on the back. "Forkins! How is life in retirement, old friend?" he responds with a boom of his special throaty laugh/roar, "Oh, it's been as good as it can be, I suppose. Now what is the 'important' reason for this meeting?" You blush as you say that the matter is not all that important, "Ah, well, I have a friend who is in a bit of a splinch. Perhaps you can help? I know of your experience in the whole conspiracy thing." You go on to explain the problem while avoiding saying Alethin's name directly. General Amadeus Forkins's face momentarily morons into a look of utter disbelief and sorrow, much to your surprise, but turns back into his normal poker face so fast that you MUST have imagined it. "Erm...well..I ah... I have
to go. Let me know of any updates on this whole thing so I can... You know, help out and stuff. Good luck and bye!" he proceeds to fly away upon his trusty winged steed, Buckly the Hippogryph, and leaves you alone in the cold.
"OK", you say to yourself as you examine last night's work. After the night a week ago with Forkins, you were feeling a bit uncomfortable. The chart and it's leads all seem to point to your BFF, Forkins, and your all-time least-favorite person in the world, Sigurd. After the slime found in the workroom next to the alley Alethin hangs out at, you got one step further. Sigurd is wiped off the list. "But that leaves...."

"no....surely..." you murmur as you review all the data and evidence you've collected. "no..." you hear a swish of fabric and smell a musky slime, and suddenly everything goes black.

"Wake up."
"ugnhhh"
"Wake. Up."
"nghhh"
A rough, calloused hand slaps the back of your head and you here a harsh shout,"WAKE UP!" You slowly open your eyes to a man in all black, wearing a black mask shaped like a - horse. A horse. What? "who...who are you?" you ask. The man rumbles his throaty laugh. Your eyes widen, as you could recognize that funny laugh anywhere. "F...Forkins?"

"Aaaaaaand that concludes my tale. I escaped by loosing my ropes with a spell, and then teleporting with another. REALLY, it was quite easy. Forkins never understud the whole Magic thing. Well, ah, here's my evidence," you hand Alethin the stacked papers," And the person you are looking for is General Cornelius Forkins. His most obscure 'spots' are on the last page. Now. My payment?" you said, as you were quite ready to make the whole thing worth it. "Yes, yes, thank you, yes, here you go." He throws a small pouch of clinky stuff into your lap, and then disappears into a particularily dark shadow at your right. As you count the money, you see that only 5,000 is in the package. "THATS IT?!?" That's barely worth two eggs at any store!!! You will be having a VERY lengthy chat with him on his prices the next time you meet.

"well. So THAT'S who it is", you say to yourself. "Alethin, how could you be so ignorant? You scold as you remember exactly WHAT happened that night..
It was a beautiful sunset by the beach. One of the only pretty ones this close to the tundra reaches of Arkene. Nothing, however, was quite like the only beautiful sunsets that occured in your favorite spot. No one knew about it. It was your little secret. WAS. A figure in black sauntered up to you. He was wearing a black mask, like the rest of his clothing, but you did not worry about this as there was a fancy masquerade ball going on at the museum a few minutes away. You were suddenly kicked from behind and punched in the stomach by the black clothes guy, when a sharp pain raced through your head, and you were out.
You wake up to a bright light and a dark room. The man was staring at you, which made you jump in fright, only to find your wrists and ankles were tied to the table underneath you. If this was an interrogation, you had some startling secrets to keep. You hoped it wasn't an interrogation. You offer money for them to let you go, and they accept it. And then they laughed in your face and dumped it into the lake. They kept a bit, though. " He's ready", you hear him say,"Bring him under." A needle is slid into your skin. Truth serum. And, you guess, a sedative.
You wake up in the same position as last time. The man asked a whole lotta questions, and you unwillingly gave him a whole lotta answers. However, he was forgetting that sedatives wore off, and you could perform magic. With a word, you were gone, but the answers were his. Darned truth serum! You HAVE to figure out who this guy was, and what he asked you. You already forgot. You do know some friends that can help with that, though...