Another Fine Myth

Another Fine Myth is a 1978 novel written by Robert Lynn Asprin, and is the first book in the Myth Adventures series.

Plot Synopsis

Skeeve is a magician's apprentice and wannabe thief on the backwater dimension of Klah. At the beginning of the story Skeeve's master, the Master Magician Garkin, has been attempting to teach his apprentice the basics of how to tap and control magical energies for several months but to no avail. Despite Garkin's best efforts Skeeve can do little more than float a feather or light a candle using magic. Believing that it is Skeeve's desire to become a thief that is keeping him from mastering the basics of magical control, Garkin attempts to show his apprentice what magic can really do and so he decides to show him by summoning a demon.

During the summoning an assassin barges into the hut. Garkin and the assassin manage to kill each other leaving an unfortunate Skeeve alone with the now summoned demon, a humanoid creature with golden eyes, green scales, long talons, and a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. To Skeeve's surprise the demon politely introduces himself as Aahz. Aahz explains that demon is slang for Dimension Traveler. He further explains that there are thousands of dimensions with different races in them, and that he is from the dimension of Perv, making Aahz a Pervect, while Skeeve is from the dimension of Klah, and would be called a Klahd. Aahz, who is a master magician like Garkin, somehow lost his magical powers during the summoning ritual so now he's stranded in the dimension of Klah with Skeeve. Stuck on a backwater dimension with no way off and realizing that whoever sent the Imp Assassin after Gaskin is coming to get Skeeve next, Aahz volunteers to take Skeeve on as his apprentice and teach him magic.

The pair then embark on a series of misadventures as they attempt to evade the Imp assassin duo trailing Skeeve and work out a plan to confront Isstvan, a dangerous master magician who plans to conquer all the other dimensions starting with Klah. Along the way the meet, and swindle, a demon hunter named Quigley. They encounter the Imp assassins, Higgins and Brockhurst, and are only saved by Skeeve's mastery of a disguise spell taught to him by Aahz. With information from the Imps they manage to locate a deveel merchant named Frumple in the town of Twist. Although the encounter with Frumple doesn't go exactly as planned, he nearly gets them killed, they do manage to get him to arrange transport to the dimension of Deva (where the Deveels live) so they can visit the Bazaar in hopes of finding something to use against Isstvan.

On Deva Aahz abandons Skeeve while he searches for a solution to their Isstvan problem. Skeeve in the meantime manages to get into all kinds of trouble. First Skeeve accidentally feeds a baby dragon (Gleep) thus bonding with him. The infuriated dragon master forces Skeeve to purchase the baby dragon explaining that Skeeve has ruined him for anyone else. The second encounter in the Bazaar is with Tananda. Tananda is a Trollop from Trollia. She's strikingly beautiful with green hair, cat's eyes, and curves in all the right places. She's also a former assassin and con artist working with a pack of ruffians to shake down tourists in the Bazaar. Unfortunately for Skeeve he's been chosen as their next target, and although things don't go quite as planned (Skeeve actually manages to beat back the ruffians using magic and his dragon Gleep), all works out in the end as Tananda and Aahz are old buddies. Aahz has found the solution to their Isstvan problem in the Bazaar and the four of them, five with the dragon Gleep, go back to Klah to confront the insane master magician.

Back on Klah they add Quigley, the demon hunter, to their troupe and move on to the Inn that Isstvan is using as his base of operations. The five would be heroes, seven including Gleep and Quigley's war unicorn Buttercup, confront Isstvan and even manage to defeat him. Though not as one might suspect. The group attacks Isstvan but to no avail as his power is too great for any of them to overcome. Confronted with defeat Aahz asks Isstvan to join him in a drink and so Aahz, Isstvan, Frumple, and the Imp assassins all drink a toast to Isstvan's success. That is when Aahz explains that Isstvan has in fact lost. The wine they all drank was laced with a magic joke powder that Aahz got back on Deva. This powder, when ingested or inhaled as it's burned, robs the victim of their magical abilities. Although it's only temporary - lasting about 100 years.

The defeated Isstvan and his now powerless allies leave Klah for greener pastures using a D-Hopper, a device that allows the user(s) to hop between dimensions. Tananda and Quigley leave too, Tananda because she feels its time to move on and Quigley the demon hunter because he wants to learn more about the demons he's been hunting and the world of magic as well. Skeeve and Aahz remain at the Inn, and Aahz begins teaching his new apprentice more of the mastery of Magic.

Characters

*Skeeve: Apprentice to the magician Garkin and a wannabe thief. He becomes the apprentice to the demon Aahz after his original master (Garkin) is killed by an Imp Assassin known as Throckwoddle.
*Aahz: A master magician from the dimension Perv who lost his powers after Garkin summoned him into his shack on the dimension of Klah. It turns out that during the summoning ritual Aahz inhaled the smoke from Garkin's brazier which was filled with magic joke powder. The joke powder is a novelty item that prevents anyone who ingests it or inhales any smoke produced in its combustion from using magic for "about a century or so." Aahz takes Skeeve on as his apprentice and begins teachings him magic.
*Tananda: Former professional assassin who targeted Skeeve for a con before realizing he had no money at all. A friend of Aahz's, Tananda is an alluring and curvaceous beauty with green hair, cat like eyes, and a tendency to dress in revealing clothes.
*Frumple: A Deveel merchant who has been banned from his home dimension of Deva for reasons unknown. Goes by the alias of "Abdul the rug merchant" in the town of Twixt in the dimension of Klah. Eventually he teams up with Isstvan to defeat Aahz and Skeeve.
*Quigley: A gullible, but successful, demon-hunter who encounters Aahz and Skeeve as they are trying to avoid the Imp assassins on their trail. He is easily duped out of his magic sword and most of his money by Aahz. He eventually joins them in their fight against Isstvan.
*Isstvan: An exceedingly powerful master magician who plans to conquer all of the dimensions starting with Klah. Although he looks and acts like a cheerful old innkeeper, he in fact is extremely evil, quite unstable, very sadistic and totally insane.
*Gleep: The baby dragon that Skeeve was forced to purchase at the Bazaar after the former ate his sleeve and bonded to him. Has a one word vocabulary of "Gleep," thus the name.
*Brockhurst and Higgens: Two Imp assassins who accompanied Throckwoddle as his backup on the mission to assassinate Garkin. They're both rather gullible and neither one seems too bright, thought Brockhurst does appear to be the smarter of the two. Like all Imps they're snappy dressers.