From alt.pub.dragons-inn Fri Apr 7 23:09:20 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8269 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!emory!darwin.sura.net!news.larc.nasa.gov!xanth.cs.odu.edu!snapdragon!ignacio From: ignacio@snapdragon.cs.odu.edu (Anthony Ignacio) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [Merc] Date: 6 Apr 1995 12:55:00 GMT Organization: Old Dominion University, Department of Computer Science Lines: 54 Message-ID: <3m0ob4$7q7@xanth.cs.odu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: snapdragon.cs.odu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Morning sunlight filtered its way past drawn window curtains to rest insistently on Kelanen's face. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up in bed and glanced around. His tunic and pants still lay on the paneled floor where he had discarded it carelessly the night before. Yawn- ing, he got up and quickly dressed and snatched up his sheathed sword blade from beside the washbin where it had been left to lean. Slipping silently out of his rented room, Kelanen headed downstairs to the main floor to catch what tidbits of news and gossip circulat- ed about this new day. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wisps of conversations drifted about the hiring hall... "I'm tellin' ya, that wily ol' trader is makin' one last run up Teliron's Pass to make a profit sellin' wools in Mirathe. I hear he be lookin' fer mercenaries to help guard his goods! Ten gold coins per head!" "He's crazy to try to reach Mirathe. The winter Wyverns are waking this time of year. No amount of money is worth losing your life for by having monsters eat you alive!" ... "Have you heard? Lord Fallon's daughter has run away. They say she's mageborn..." "Aye, they say her mother was mageborn as well. Why Lord Fallon ever took her as his wife I'll never know. Damned are the souls of the mageborn, so says the Church." "Bah! They're people just like us. I met one once, a mage. Scrawny little bugger, was a healer for his village...sure didn't look like no hellspawn to me." "These mageborn, they make a pact with the Devil trading their im- mortal souls for Power! It ain't natural I tell ya." ... "Looks like good weather today, eh? Not a cloud in the sky!" "Trust me, lad...there be a big storm a brewin'. I can tell by the ache in my bones. It''ll be nasty one and I'm willing to wager on that too." "A wager, eh? So how much you ready to part with ol' timer?" -- Anthony