Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: kinsman@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (Aphoriel/Kinsman)
Subject: [Kal & Co] Sudden Siege, Part I
Message-ID: <1993Mar18.154201.2194@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca>
References: <1993Mar18.154101.2009@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1993 15:42:01 GMT


Scott rolled over inside his tent, unable to sleep.  The wind was keeping
him from doing so:  partly from the noise the wind made flapping the tent
cloth, and partly from the fact that it was bothering him that he couldn't
hear properly anything going on outside of the tent, what with the wind
drowning out everything.  The mercenary decided to stop bothering with
trying to sleep.

"What is it?" Meran's voice came from outside.  Scott sounded like he was
shuffling around in there.

"I'm taking over the watch.  You can go to bed now if you want."

Meran hmmed. "Don't concern yourself with me.  I'm not sleepy."

Scott stumbled out into the moonlit beach, wrapping his blanket around
himself as shield against the wind. "I'm not sleepy either.  I'm taking
over the watch for my own sake.  Fine, then, we can keep watch together."

Fifteen minutes passed as Scott and Meran looked out across the beach and
coutryside in silence.

"Lady Ivy's finally gotten to bed." Scott observed as the last light in
the windows of the keep went out.

"Mm-hm.  Do you think Denner was able to convince to her to come along?"

Scott shook his head. "Actually, I doubt it.  Lady Ivy seemed taken aback
to see us, and if Denner told her all that happened, I wouldn't blame her
if she didn't come along."

Meran thought a bit. "Let's hope that we didn't need her."  Quicksilver
turned his head towards the third tent. "Say, where's E'Karam? His tent's
empty."

Scott turned around to look at the flayer's tent.  Meran was right; the 
entrance flap had come loose in the wind, and had flipped up to lodge   
against the front tent pole, revealing nobody inside.

Scott looked around in consternation, then put his hands to his mouth and
called "EEEE'KAA-"

"Yes! What is it?"  The unforgettable form of the purple creature appeared
from behind one of the large boulders that littered the beach, far away and
behind the other two.

"E'Karam! What are you doing over there?"

"Me? I'm just keeping watch, like you two.  Meran, you missed a real 
important spot to look out for..."


"What?!" Scott cursed himself for missing a guard vantage, and ran over
to where E'Karam was, followed closely by Meran.

"There! See?" As the two ran around the boulder.  E'Karam pointed to what
he was overlooking.

"A five foot pool with tadpoles in it." Scott remarked dryly. "E'Karam, what
is the point of guarding this?"

"Hey, you never know! The Wyeriun is supposed to be a sea mage.  You have
to watch out in case these tadpoles mutate into a hideous man-eating monster!
Or something..."

Meran rubbed his chin and pondered. "Well, the pool is at the bottom of some
hills..."

"No, no, we can overlook the top of these hills from where we were standing."

"Still, not the bottom of the hills.."

"Meran, if anything comes overland from that direction, they'd have to cross
the hills over the top to get to the beach.  They can't, say, walk around 
the bottom of the hills or they'd be trudging through about six feet of 
water..."

"Hmm, you're right.  E'Karam, we don't need to guard here, it's covered 
already."

"What? Aw, c'mon!  This tadpole here looks really vicious.  If the Wyeriun
laid eyes on it, why, it'd be smashing the keep in ten minutes..."

"We *don't need* to guard this place, E'Karam."

"Ok, ok..."  E'Karam gave in.  Scott and Meran walked back around the boulder
to return to their posts.

As the two arrived, Meran pointed out to sea.  "Hey, did you see something
moving out there..."

Scott peered out into the dark clouds over the water.  Yes, there was some
sort of movement out there.  Big, and it didn't move the same way as the
clouds or the waves.

"Yes, I see it." Scott turned and walked briskly to his pack, and started
unpacking his weapons. "It's coming towards us."

"Scott, it's coming in *quick*!"

Scott looked over his shoulder.

The thing was over fifty feet tall and made of living, pulsing seawater,
black and foul as the sea itself merely appeared in the middle of the
night.  It resembled a mound, with vaguely humanoid arms and a head.
In the time Scott had trotted to his pack, the thing had crossed the 
entire length of the visible sea, and was now (standing?) at the edge
of the shore, only fifteen feet of shore distancing it from the two
adventurers.

Scott swore and instinctively rolled behind a rock.  His head peered above
it as he eyed warily the water elemental which towered far above him.
Meanwhile, Meran stared the water-thing full in the face in abject horror,
taking slow and careful steps backward to no particular purpose.

E'Karam rounded the rock, and pointed at the elemental, his tentacled face
smirking at the other two. "HA! I knew it! A mutated tadpole!"

-Aphoriel/Kinsman
Sean Givan