Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: hibschmn@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Johann Allen Hibschman)
Subject: Reaffirmation of Faith
Message-ID: <1993May7.211604.5576@Princeton.EDU>
Date: Fri, 7 May 1993 21:16:04 GMT

	Just before dawn, Quaeros left the campsite, walking into the
woods with barely a nod to the others.  Picking his way through the
underbrush, he investigated the snares that surrounded the campsite
until he found one had been tripped.  A small grey rabbit lay
entangled in the snare, struggling as it heard him crunching through
the leaves.

	He carefully picked up the ensnared rabbit and carried it,
still struggling weakly, into the forest.  He walked for a few
minutes, enjoying the peace and silence of the dimly-lit wood.  Soon
he spied a large fallen tree which would serve his purposes and hiked
out towards it.  The tree had fallen against the trunk of another,
creating a gently-sloped rise of wood.  Quaeros lay the rabbit across
the tree and tied it down securely.  He then unsheathed his
sacrificial dagger and began to chant

	As he chanted and wove the ceremonial patterns in the air
above the rabbit, he saw the rabbit struggle more and more desperately
against its bonds as the chant neared completion.  The ceremony was
extensive, nearly an hour in length, and only at the climax of the
ritual did he plunge the dagger down into the helpless rabbit.
Quaeros could feel the blessing of Ronkel enter him and the
sacrificial knife.  He suddenly _knew_ the answer to his doubts; he
had been right, his faith was strong, and his god was with him.  The
demon was wrong; healing others with stolen lifeforce was at least a
neutral action, and it was his duty to return the unholy perversion of
undead lifeforce to the true cycle of life and death.

	Feeling renewed an at peace, Quaeros returned to the camp,
carrying the carcass of the rabbit.  As he approached, he knew
something was wrong.  There was far too much activity for the early
hour, and he warily hustled the remaining few hundred feet to the
camp.  Elanon lay on the ground, sweating profusely and babbling
nonsense.  Aleric looked up to him as he approached.

	"Poison.  Can you do anything?"

	"I can do nothing for him, except possibly give him a quick
death.  My god is the poisoner, not the healer.  Perhaps his time has
finally come to be free from the strife of living."

	At this, Aleric glared and returned his attention to the
prone Elanon.


[ADMIN: Just for general information, I'll have net access over the
summer, so I'll be available.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Johann Hibschman                 |  When in trouble, or in doubt,
hibschmn@phoenix.princeton.edu   |  Run in circles, scream and shout.
---------------------------------------------------------------------