Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com (Darvos Metnar) Subject: [Party] Arienne, Darvos, and Lancos meet Message-ID: Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1993 14:47:22 GMT [Thanks to Mike Sander and Jill Thomas for their contribution and use of their characters] >"Could I get something for you drink my lady?" "Why yes you could, a sweet wine would be nice. I like sweet" Arienne said as she stared alluringly into the middle aged man's eyes. `This is too easy' she thought. Darvos was pleased with the attention the woman was show him and as he started to move off to get the beautiful lady a drink, she said "Who's your friend here?" Actually, Arienne knew very well about Lancos, but she wanted to get the ranger's attention: he seemed distracted. And so Lancos was. In addition to the normal thoughts clustering his brain, he was busy watching some unwanted guests get tossed out in unusual manners. Lancos couldn't help but find it a bit amusing. 'Heh.' Lancos thought to himself. 'And people wonder why I don't claim to be a ranger...' Darvos was a little flustered and looked at the man she was indicating. It was the ranger fellow he had been talking to just a moment ago. The beauty of this woman was intoxicating and he couldn't remember the man's name. Darvos stopped and collected his thoughts. To the others it looked as if he were about to introduce the man and was searching for a proper introduction. Darvos smiled as the rangers name came back to him. "May I introduce Lancos Erredan" he said with a slight bow. The rolling of Darvos' "r"s made the rangers name sound very foreign. "Lancos, I'd like you to meet ... " That's when Darvos realized he didn't know the beautiful womans name. The mention of his own name brought Lancos to the events at hand. For the first time he got a full look at the person Darvos was talking to. From the description he had received from others, and from the way she seemed to be carrying on right now, there was only one person it _could_ be. So, Lancos spoke up before the Darvos' mistake was even noticed. "That's all right Darvos, we already know each other. Don't we Arienne?" Darvos felt like a cad, he had missed the signals being sent by the lady. They were intended for the much younger and better looking Lancos. Feeling a little uncomfortable at the way the two of them stared at each other, Darvos spoke up softly "I can see you have a lot of catching up to do. Perhaps we will met some other time?" Darvos excused himself and headed for the door. *** The long walk home was a lonely one for Darvos as he remembered what it was like to be young and in love again. Before he could dwell on the past, he was at his home. It was a medium sized mansion just east of the great library. He had acquired it about 12 years ago when he had first come to Generica. When his fathers Barony was captured 25 years ago, he had been able to recover some of the wealth hidden away for emergencies. What was left of his wealth was going towards magical research now. Darvos was well on his way to become a sage of great knowledge. He stepped up to the door and could feel the wards hum their warning to those that could feel the magic. He waved his hand in front of the door and uttered some strange words that could never be understood by someone listening. The throb of the warding changed pitch and allowed Darvos to open the door. Once inside, the power of the wards was practically nothing, it was meant to keep things out not in. He went upstairs to check on the little girl Lissa that he had rescued from a vampire recently. She had been bitten and drained severely but Darvos had showed up in time to scare the foul beast off, if it hadn't been so sated, it might of put up more of a fight. The vampire had once been of elven lineage too, which was all the more heinous. She was asleep in the four poster bed of the room he had set aside for her while she recovered. For the past week she had recovered enough that she could get out of bed and fed herself. The magical servants Darvos had put in place in the room took good care of her while he worked on his studies. Darvos had asked if she had any family he should contact to let them know she was okay, but she had said she had no one. That tugged at Darvos' heart because he too knew what it was like to have no one. So he was doing the best he could to take care of her. At first Darvos was more interested in making sure she didn't die and return as a vampire, slaved to the foul elven beast, but now he was growing fond of the 14 year olds smile. She was going to be an attractive young lady when she grew up. Perhaps I could give her a better life? She could be raised as a proper young lady and be given an education and, ... I would like the company. Darvos closed the door with that thought and headed off to bed. *** Lissa rolled over in bed and watched the door shut behind Darvos. She had never been happier in all her life. She hadn't know where she was when she had first awoke, the last thing she remembered had been humming a lullaby on her street corner at night, she had just finished her nightly scrounging for food and was ready to settle down for the night in her hide out. She had thought she was dreaming when she first awoke, especially when the invisible servants had brought her food and drink. But the questions that Darvos had asked made her think she was in a nightmare instead. She had been bitten by a vampire, she still had the wounds on her neck to prove it. Darvos had said she should stay here for at least 2 months to make sure she was safe from a second attack, which was fine with her. This place was hundreds of times better than her hide out in the low city. Wait to the others got a look at her now. She smiled at that thought, rolled over and went back to sleep. -- Joe Carl Jr. "It ain't what a man don't know that makes him a jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com fool, but what he does know that ain't so." -- Josh Billings