Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: taz@media.mit.edu (Brian Shea)
Subject: [Roger] [A] Jacob
Message-ID: <1993Jul14.114417.987@news.media.mit.edu>
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 11:44:17 GMT

ADMIN:  The [Roger] thread is going to now be known as the [A] thread, 
	standing for Amaliza, the name of the Sylvan Elf Kingdom.  
	Enjoy !


Jacob turned the orc's slash with his longsword and thrusted with the 
shortsword wielded in his left hand.  His thrust struck home, driving
up between the orcs ribs and into his heart.  Jacob slipped the shortsword
from the body, and moved to put the body between him and the remaing
two orcs.  The two orcs moved towards him warily and started to circle.
Jacob didn't wait for them to get ready.

With a snap of his wrist, he launched the shortsword at one of the
orcs and lunged at the second one, the blade of his longsword parallel
to the ground.  The first orc flinched and dodged, and the second one was
distracted enough that he couldn't effectively block the lunge.  As a
result, the longsword fatally wounded the orc but was caught between
his ribs.  As the orc fell, the longsword was wrenched from Jacob's grasp.

Jacob, now unarmed, turned his attention back to the first orc in time
to see his mace start to came whistling down.  Jacob quickly lowered
a shoulder and launched himself at the orc and within the range of the
overhand strike.  The breath was knocked out of the orc, and the mace
went flying.  

Jacob stepped back and smiled.  "Tough break, eh?"  He then drew the bowie
knife from his boot with a flourish, and lunged at the orc.  The orc
stepped to the side and barely had time to notice that he had avoided
an empty hand before the knife in Jacob's other hand ended his life.

"Works every time," Jacob thought to himself.  He then quickly searched
the bodies and put the few coins he found into one of the pouches on his
belt.  "I'm sure these will do someone some good."  Jacob then set of
through the Great Forest, leaving the bodies and the rest of their
possessions for the scavengers, both natural and otherwise.

Jacob was a ranger, and a damn good one.  He knew these woods as well as
anyone; he had practically grown up in them.  His father had been a trapper,
working out of Specifica of Furs, and he had taken Jacob with him since
he was very young.  When his father had been killed by thieves, Jacob
had become determined to avenge his death.  He had long since done so,
and had dedicated his life to preventing the same thing from happening
to others.  Over the years, he had definitely had an impact.

Lately, though, things had been changing.  The woods were becoming hostile.
It had been a gradual thing, and even Jacob hadn't noticed at first.  
It started as grumbles by the trappers that the animals were getting to
be meaner, trying to kill the trappers instead of escape from them.  Then, 
the goblins and orcs started to become more numerous.  It took a while before 
Jacob was able to learn that they were moving away from the center of the 
forest because they were afraid of something there.  

Finally, the Sleepless had appeared.  They were as big as ogres, but had 
mottled grey skin and were hairless.  The thing that made them unusual, 
though, was that they never slept.  Or at least not much that Jacob had seen.
He had trailed one for nearly three days until he had finally had to give 
up due to exhaustion.  The creature seemed to get tired if it exerted itself 
and would then rest, but it never seemed to get fatigued due to being awake 
and alert for a long time.  The other thing about them was that they killed 
anything they encountered, with the sole exception of other Sleepless, and
take the bodies off towards the center of the forest.  The center of the
forest was a dangerous place, and Jacob had never been willing to follow
them long enough to see what they did with the bodies.  He suspected they
ate them.  Jacob had started to kill Sleepless whenever he could, but they 
had started to travel in small packs.  Now, he killed them whenever he found 
them alone or in pairs.

Things had continued to get worse, and Jacob had finally decided to travel to
the center of the forest and see what he could learn.  The situation had to
be dealt with, and Jacob wasn't one to shirk what he perceived as his duty.

-----
Jacob Greenfeet
aka The Jolly Roger
aka Brian Shea
aka taz@athena.mit.edu
Hello, comments more than welcomed - responed to!
:)