Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Alfvaen)
Subject: Nirvan: [Outside the inn]
Message-ID: <1992Jun2.170159.20313@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1992 17:01:59 GMT


Nirvan broke away gratefully from Maleiu's grip as soon as the big black man  
allowed him to.  He scrambled back into the darkness of Low City and watched  
as Maleiu walked up to the door, stood outside it for a while, and then  
entered.  Nirvan's sharp hearing caught a few words being shouted inside the  
inn just as the door swung shut..."Kron murdered Creft!"

Who was Kron?  Nirvan wondered.  He wasn't a Low City resident, but he'd  
heard the name somewhere...he left that thought to the back of his brain to  
worry at.  He needed to find out more of what was going on.  He looked up  
and down the street, but it was temporarily clear.  He dashed across the  
street, keeping low to be out of sight from the Inn's windows.  Once he made  
it to the inn, he slid up against the wall.  Yes, that window had a pane  
broken.  He crouched down beneath it and listened.

He recognized the voice of Panarchus, a Guardsman who had harrassed Nirvan  
more than once.  He was talking more about this Kron, and others in the inn  
were leaping to his defense.  Kron was a friend to people in the Dragon's  
Inn?  Then his mind clicked.  A Guardsman!  Kron was a Guardsman!  He'd been  
in Low City not that long ago, he remembered somebody telling somebody else  
in one of the Low City bars.  He'd been seen with Creft, too.

Panarchus was saying something about having found a locket with Kron's  
initials on it.  Nirvan almost giggled.  Silly Guards.  He'd done that  
himself, once or twice.  He didn't like to kill people, and certainly didn't  
like to get caught.  But when he had, he'd been sure to plant some other  
evidence on it.

Somebody in Low Town had done it, then.  And set it up so that the Guards  
would have to arrest one of their own.

That set him to thinking.  Who would murder Creft, in Low Town?  Everybody  
there was so scared of him, and Creft himself was so paranoid that he  
wouldn't let anybody get close enough to do the kinds of things Panarchus  
described.  It had to have been somebody who wasn't afraid of Creft and the  
retribution that would be coming if they failed.  So someone who had nothing  
to lose, or who was sure of success.  Or who wasn't scared of Creft.

Nirvan's mind whirled with possibilities.  He would have to be careful with  
this one.  Whoever murdered Creft would have no compunctions on offing a  
nobody like Nirvan.  He'd have to take extra precautions.  He thought about  
even approaching the Guard, but dismissed that swiftly.  Much too dangerous  
if any other Low Towner found out.  He'd just need to be careful, moreso  
than usual.

He checked the street again.  This time he had to wait for an ugly Guard to  
go past.  Then he scampered back into Low Town.  The night was still young,  
and people would be drinking and talking more than usual.  Somebody was sure  
to have seen who had dumped Creft's body, if nothing else.

ADMIN:  Go ahead if you want, Andrew.  You probably know more about Creft's  
murders than I do.  If you want me to do Nirvan, then send me some  
information about the murderers.  I know something about The Seer and Blink  
et al., but not enough...and if you want to do the Low Town stuff, go ahead.

Whee!  This could be fun.

--
---Alfvaen(a.k.a. Aaron V. Humphrey)
Canadian Network For Space Research, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Her hair spilled out like rootbeer...
Current Album--Comedy Classics