From: jcp@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu (Jonathan Petersen) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: [Ga] Aftermath Message-ID: Date: 15 Feb 93 05:07:22 GMT References: v124jw4y@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Benjamin R Pierce) writes: >Garriot staggered to his feat wearily. His hands were covered in blood; at >his feet, one of the weretigers lay dead, windpipe crushed. Garriot himself >had several nasty claw wounds. In a gravelly voice, he croaked, "That was >perhaps the most timely spell I've ever seen, Zebron. Is everyone all >right?" The drow turned at the sound of his name to face the one called Garriot, for that was all that was known of him. The dark elf's eyebrows went up when he saw that the man without a past had killed, barehanded, a beast only able to be slain with enchantments. "Nice kill, Garriot. You and Alaric see to the wounded. Brent, as soon as you and Mathew are well, take him and show him how to 'appropriate' items from a kill. Kyleen and Mardan, you two have the watch. Khisanth -" Zebron could not continue, for Khisanth was down. Not to worry, for Alaric was tending to her at the moment. And if he ran out of healing magics before he finished tending to the wounds, well, Zebron would have to come up with a distraction so that Kyleen could take his place while maintaining her secrets. Keeping secrets. A dirty business, the dark elf thought as he turned to Mathew, Dusk noisily agreeing. Helping the future paladin to his feet, Zebron extracted him from underneath a charred and blackened corpse. Then the drow calmly and coldly beheaded the body. He had beheaded three more when he noticed Mathew looking strangely at him. "I read a tome of necromancy in my youth," the dark elf offered, "and while I had no desire to continue my studies in that branch of magics, I did learn some of the fundamentals. A beheaded corpse is a bit more difficult to animate, and I don't like having to kill anything twice." "Does it work?" "Well, I've never been attacked by a corpse I've killed, but then again, I don't know if anyone tried to get one to attack me. It seems to be easier to send people I haven't already killed." Gesturing to the amulet that once belonged to Mathew's father, the drow said, "Nice trinket. Mine is probably a little more powerful, though," as he pulled a good-sized emerald on a chain from inside his armor. He placed the gem in Mathew's hands, and covered them with his own as the magic stone worked its powers, burning out the remaining poison in the boy's system. "But, you are fortunate to have had a father who loved you. Never forget that you were, for a brief time, so blessed," replacing his gem inside his armor, the drow rose to his feet and walked to the next corpse to behead it. "Habit," was his excuse to Brent as the half-elf passed him. Motioning to Mathew, who was inspecting his horse, "Dusk says that Mathew charged bravely, but faltered due to the reality of the battlefield. The bird thinks that this might have been his first real battle with real kills. Go easy on him, but don't let him go soft." Zebron knew that Brent had grown fond of the boy, and that Mathew had turned to the half-elf as a mentor figure. The two needed to talk if the paladin was going to be able to continue. Finishing with the corpses, Zebron stood. Dusk crowed. "I know, Dusk. But it was not a time to talk, it was a time for action." "True, I was not elected leader, but still, these were my enemies. My friends. My responsibility. If I wasn't along, this would never have happened. I'd never forgive myself if one of them had been killed by mercenaries after me." The bird cawed. Dusk was a raven, a bird thought by many peoples to be a creature of ill omen; a bird that fortold misfortune. Maybe this was true. Dusk did tend to get 'feelings' when something bad was going to happen, like some sort of avian intuition. The bird had one of those feelings now. Looking around, the raven and drow saw their friends resting amid a bloody battlefield. That is, all but one. A chill ran down Zebron's spine. Dusk ruffled his feathers. One of their friends was not getting up. -jak jcp@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu