Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) Subject: [No Thread Yet] Gathering... Message-ID: Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 03:13:38 GMT References: <16BC9FECB.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu> [ADMIN: Apologies for misusing the Spitting Cobra. Oh, and Jorma, I left a good jumping-in place. 'Supose we should decide on a thread name.] Palandun found himself talking to one of the 'Buffer children, Ja'nis insisting on guarding him against this dangerous foe. She stood tall and imposing over the pair of them, Palandun was squatting so he could talk on more equal terms. "Neg." The child said, answering Palandun's 'Do you understand?" "He means no." Ja'nis said. "I gathered that." Palandun said, then turned his attention to his informant. "You know what a rat is, don't you? Furry things this long to this long, with hairless tails and a tendancy to squeak?" "You mean Biters? Like that?" He pointed to an alley where a Big rat was waddling off on an errand. The child's name told Palandun more about the socioeconomic conditions of this part of the city than the largest treatise would. "Yes, I mean Biters. Where can I find them?" "Know loc pos biters?" Ja'nis translated. "Yeah. Loc classed, tho. Got vals? How 'bout those 'jects?" "Hooey. That place isn't classified and you know it." Palandun said. "Neg bought." Ja'nis said. "Paladin, you want to speak his language?" "Loc classed!" The child said emphatically, "Mats neg want fils bit!" "Fer cryin out loud." Palandun said to himself. "Here y'go." He pitched a few sheckels at the child. "Now lead on." He did so, and soon enough the three of them found themselves at a garbage dump, where the little organic material the 'buffers did throw away in the nearest blocks found itself. Old signs saying 'Beware the rats' and 'No Children Allowed.' Still stood. Palandun theorized that they couldn't date from much later than the formation of the Buffer zone itself, before the last educated people pulled out. The dump itself was a large pile of dead and rotting refuse in a square completely enclosed by buildings. An adult buffer was seen entering across the way, dumping his bucket, and swiftly beating a retreat. Where the newfound trash landed, a swarm of rats the size of small to medium-sized cats descended upon the pile. There were more rats than there was food, though, and soon a small scuffle broke out. Two rats were wounded and the rest stayed away while the victor, a grey one the size of a half loaf of bread, took his fill. Then the others descended, there was another scuffle, and the process repeated. "Lets get outta here." Ja'nis said, her voice cracking. "Sure." Palandun said, "I've seen what I want. Good work, kid." and he handed the young one some more sheckels. "You're not going to go back to that place, are you?" Ja'nis said, finding herself once again in the more familiar terrors of the regular low city. "Of course." Palandun said, "It's a perfect Rat City. There was this experiment-" "Don't tell me, please." She said, covering her ears. "I need a drink." She said, entering the nearest bar. 'Hmmm. 'The Spitting Cobra.'' Palandun thought, 'Cheerful name.' Ja'nis ordered a Rum Surprise and Palandun asked what was on the menu. Being told 'Grakma,' he decided on a Rum Surprise himself. On tasting the R.S., Palandun was surprised, the drink's diviancy being completely different from what he had expected. "There's no rum in this!" Ja'nis exclaimed, pegging what Palandun had not been able to pin down. "That the Surprise." the...er...one tending the bar replied. Palandun thought it comical, and pitched in a couple-sheckel tip. Ja'nis wasn't so lighthearted. "I want some real rum you pipsqueak!" She said, grabbing the barkeep from across the bar. "Now serve it up." "I Sugob, not pipsqueak, and I in charge here!" The barkeep said. Ja'nis just snarled. "Hey, chill!" Palandun said, intervening. "'Tell you what. I'll buy this drink. Sugob, would you please get the lady a Rum without the surprise?" Neither took their eyes off the other, but both resumed a more barlike attitude. "Lady, we don't let people muscle the help in here." A voice said. Palandun turned to find a man, fully as tall as Ja'nis and rather bulkier. "It's okay." Palandun said, "Just a little misunderstanding." "I don't want to hear it outta you, pipsqueak." The man said. "You are going to let him call that you?" Sugob asked. "Yes." Palandun said. "Don't worry about what people call me, worry about tending bar or I'll take my tip back." Sugob hurridly pocketed the sheckles and served up the rum. Ja'nis quaffed it ('twas rum this time) and stood up. Orclike beings moved to cover the door, the man didn't move. "Apologize to my friend." The man said. A hurried conference with Palandun got her to do so, but hope of a peaceful exit was dashed when he told her to kiss Sugob. "Oh, c'mon!" Palandun said, making a last hopeless stab. "Isn't an apology enough?" This caused the large man to sieze Palandun, and imediately drop him to cover his ribs. Palandun dropped his eyes and socked the man a good one in the nose. The nearest Orc chose that moment to advance with a drawn dagger. "Blade!" Palandun shouted, abandoning the man for Ja'nis to deal with. The orc, with typical orcish stupidity chose to make a direct stabbing attack. Palandun diverted the blade into the wood of the bar. A kick and a forarm-jab sent the Orc sprawling. The other two advanced drawing shortswords. You may have read somewhere in a biography of Palandun that he spent time in the Bismanian army, fighting in two of the Orc Wars. He had been leaning on the skills he picked up there so far in this fight. You may also have read that Palandun owned a sword, Gynsoo, which he picked up in the army. This he proceeded to draw, and then drop to one knee as the two Orcs made overhand swings at his head. Palandun parried with his sword, stood up, and made a grand sweeping parry of their next stabs. He pinked the left one in the hand, causing him to drop his sword, then turned his whole attention on the right hand orc, blocking another slice and stabbing him in the thigh. The injured orc was carried off by his two companions. Palandun turned to see Ja'nis finishing off the man, using a one-two combination that brought him crashing to the floor. "Let's bail." Palandun advised, wiping Gynsoo off and restoring it to it's sheath. (Later that evening, the four would report to the covenman, who would tell them they were lucky to be alive, then refuse to go into how he knew, merely staring at his missing left foot and fingering his empty scabbard.) "You're not going through with this, are you?" Ja'nis asked for the fifteenth time that day. The two were walking along the arcade of unforgotten heros, "Yes, I am. I just wonder how I'm going to handle all the... Dangit, I need an assistant!"