From alt.pub.dragons-inn Thu Mar 10 15:39:33 1994
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Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 09:57:29 EST
From: The Dreamer <ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu>
Message-ID: <94069.095729ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Kidnap] Oracle of the Sewers
Lines: 88

The echoing sound of splashing water could easily be heard several seconds
before the victim entered the passage.  This gave the waiting T-crocs
plenty of time to position themselves for a propper ambush here in the
deep sewers of Generica.  Here, they were the masters of the land.  Here,
no army could match their sharp teeth and deadly speed.

As he stepped between the first two reptiles, they launched their attack,
but instead of the usual screams and cries, their prey simply sighed and gave
in to their razor-filled jaws.  A few seconds later, their victim was torn
into several hundred disconnected pieces.  The crocs began their bountiful
feast, but noticed that something was wrong, horribly wrong.

Their stomaches churned and rumbled, unable to digest the oily meat.
Their eyes bulged from their heads as the prey's blood mixed with their
own.  They tried desperately to get rid of the cause of their suffering,
but lacking a gag reflex, they could not.

Finally, after several minutes of convulsions, their pain was ended.
Their blood oozed from several openings in their thick hides and drained
into a thick black pool in the center of the passage where it mixed with
the sewage water.  Slowly, it stirred and re-formed into a large misshapen
humanoid.

As his brain cells began reforming their network, Trawm thought, "Damn
T-crocs.  Dey ain't never gonna learn dat trolls ain't good eatin'."

-=-=-=-=-=-

After walking through several miles of tunnels with enough twists and
turns to make a Dwarf lose his sense of direction, Trawm found the person
that he was looking for.  Her name was Lil.

She was a strange looking woman, made even more so by her manner of dress.
Currently, her hair was bright green.  Her dress was the same shade and
it was hard to tell if someone had died the hair to match the dress or
vice versa.

Although Lil never spoke, it was said that she knew everything
about these sewers, you just had to know how to listen to her.

Trawm approached her slowly with his arms stretched out to the side.
"How ya doin' Lil?" he grumbled, trying to sound as non-threatening as
possible.

Lil lifted her dress up past her knees and splashed her right foot in
the mucky water.  Her mouth opened into a grimace of chattering teeth.

"If da floodin' gets dat bad, come up to da Cobra an' I letcha have
a dry corner, 'kay?"

Lil squeezed her eyes tight and puckered her mouth.  She stretched out
both of her arms and made grabbing motions.  Her legs were squeezed
tightly together.

"No, I got me a fem.  I need ya for some idears 'bout snachin' a walker
from da Rich Folk.  How's da use down here?"

Lil splashed a foot in the water, took it out, and then walked around
the passage on her toes with her hair drooping over her face.

"Da guild's usin' da roofs with the moons out and shinin'?  It ain't
notin' but a little water an' a few angry crocs."

Lil shrugged, pretended to draw a weapon, and marched around the water
with her head high in the air and one finger crossing her shoulder.
Then she hugged herself tightly and rolled around in the water.

"Gotcha.  Thanks Lil.  I'll see ya in a couple a weeks.  Keep an eye out
for dem floods."  Trawm illustrated by pulling one of his own recently
re-grown eyes from its socket.  The pain made him grimace, but after
hearing Lil's squeal of delight, his twisted smile returned.

-=-=-=-=-=-

After several hours of exploration far beneath Merchant's Hill and another
run-in with some unfortunate T-crocs, Trawm made his way back to the Cobra.
As soon as he entered his basement, he grabbed a piece of cloth and a
grease pen and began making a rough map.

Satisfied, he washed in a barrel of rain water and dressed in his usual
loose patchwork clothes.  Before leaving the basement, he checked himself
in a shard of cracked mirror, fixed his collar, and re-broke his nose to
make it rest relatively straight on his crooked face.

After all, he had to look his best for Shannon.

     Love and Peace and Personal Hygene,
               -The Dreamer-