Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: rigler@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Michael Rigler) Subject: Thk [Low City] Encounter at Ratty's Message-ID: <1992Jun19.043220.4223@news.Hawaii.Edu> Keywords: Thk and NPC's, Kron and Co., The Wasters... References: <1992Jun18.134654.5997@rice.edu> Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1992 04:32:20 GMT The oversized lizardman shuffles through the streets in the direction (he hopes) of the Dragon's Inn. He *must* recover his Silver Trident, for the Minion of the Sea God has commissioned him to do so. He pushes thoughts of his other goals (Kron, revenge, food...etc.) into the back of his limited reptilian mind. But he quickly loses the direction the blacksmith gave him, and becomes lost in the maze of deserted Low City streets. Give him a tangled jungle or swamp and he can find his way around, but to the lizardman this...this... metropolis of stone, mud and metal is both unnatural and unholy. There is no one left to ask for directions, either, for all have joined the departing rabble. Or have they? Is that not the sound of humans feasting up ahead, around the corner? Perhaps it is the Dragon's Phfft [Guest Hut]. He rounds the corner expectantly, and is dissapointed to see a smaller, dingier hut than he was expecting to find. A sign hangs above the doorway, but instead of a dragon, it bears a grimy rendition of rampant grinning rat. To Thk's limited knowledge of written common, the word carved beneath defies translation. Ah well, perhaps the humans inside will help him... As he strides forward into the lamplight, the door of the establishment opens, and a small thin human literally flies out into the street towards him. Thk realizes the man was thrown by...by... ...WHAT IS THIS??!? Thk staggers as he finds himself gazing into the eyes of the most beautiful creature he has ever seen in his...his...unknown decades of life. Until this point in his life, Thk had always found human beings hideously ugly, with their repulsive flat faces and their soft pink-colored skins. But while the creature who faces him in the doorway is undeniably human, she is positively radiant. An Angel in human guise! Thk realizes with chagrin that his two-chambered heart is pounding audibly. This is true love! This is no time to be acting like a tongue-tied teenage lizard! Yet he is too flustered to recite a proper love poem to this Siren of the Sea God. Thinking fast, the giant lizardman opts for a display of machismo: He scoops up the scrawny human at his feet by the scruff of its neck just as it tries to crawl away. "Ssss...Wasss thisss human male bothering you, My Lady?" Mungragg can only nod. No one has ever addressed her as 'My Lady' before. "What isss your name, human?" "Z-z-zanthar, F-f-first M-mate of the B-b-black S-swan" he answers, squirming. "Sss...The B-b-black S-swan. Isss that your sshhip?" "Yes it is! Better let me go! My mates will come looking for me!" "Very well, Z-z-zanthar, I will let you go. But we sshhall meet again -- on the high ssseas! You and your crew have an appointment to meet Sssiliith! Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh..." Zanthar the Smuggler races down the alleyway to escape the sound of the laughing lizardman, which is like a combination of sandpaper on dry skin and fingernails drawn across a chalkboard. He heads towards the wharf. The Captain must be appraised of this development. Perhaps this visit to Generica must be cut short... Meanwhile, hoping that his display of machismo has impressed Mungragg, Thk crosses the street and kneels before her. "Lady...lady --" "-- Mungragg --" "--Lady Mungragg, I, Thk, Prince of the United Shyandrith Tribes, would be honored if you would become one of my wives -- " "--One of your wives?!?! Just how many wives do you have?!?" Just at that moment, this tender scene of courtship is interrupted by a series of sounds emanating from the alleyway behind Ratty's. Thk cocks his sensitive ears. What he at first takes to be the sound of two felines mating, eventually resolves itself into a singing duet, struggling through some horrid verse without any regard for rhythm. Thk winces. Then, there is a gruesome sound: unmistakeably a death rattle. Someone deciding to silence the duet, Thk thinks with approval. Finally, there is a sibillant hissing voice -- not unlike his own -- which states: "Good friendsssss, it isssss sssso nice to ssssee you all, but I fearsss that only Kron isssss to be our guesssst today. Ssssso will you all be sssso good asssss to leave ussssss to a small dissssscusssssion....." * KRON! * Thk's head snaps up, alert. Here is an opportunity to achieve one of his goals -- revenge against Kron, the butcher his people. But he must not kill Kron. He must gain his trust and lure him into the Low City so that...so that... He shakes his reptilian head in confusion and stands. He can only hear the echo of the hypnotic words implanted in his drugged by Panarchus: "...bring him HERE." "My Princess...wait for me...I will come for you soon..." Mungragg stamps her foot in frustration as the lizardman clomps around the corner towards the back of Ratty's. "Hmmph! Some Prince _he_ turns out to be..." She feels Thurg's strong hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong, Mungragg?" "Nothing...it was nothing...nobody..." As they turn to reenter the tavern, she realizes she is crying... ------------- Rigler (aka 'Thk') --