From alt.pub.dragons-inn Mon May 1 23:01:53 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8394 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!homer07.u.washington.edu!sirjohn From: 'Sir John' J T Calkins Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [Chaos and Co.] Complications (expanded) Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 11:36:01 -0700 Organization: University of Washington Lines: 84 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: nntp4.u.washington.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Impatiently the companions stare at the stranger. Finally Samuel says "Look, we have somewhere to be and we're not going to be late. If you deciede that you want to talk to us, we will be at the new inn the third night after it opens until about three hours before dawn." As the shadows begin to lengthen, Sara starts putting everything back into the pack which she had shoved under the table. Samuel and Freya quickly collect their gear, and Samuel drops several gold and a few copper coins onto the table. Shrugging bags onto shoulders they quietly file out the door of the Inn and enter the twilight of the city. Standing out front is Grimlock and a bedragled young woman. Grimlock is standing stock still, the only sign of life is the forked tongue flickering in and out of his mouth. The young woman is dressed in leather fighting gear and has a sword sheathed across her back. Around her waist is an utility belt full of various small tools. Her legs are covered in drying mud and the rest of her looks like she had just had a thorough soaking. Seeing the Company exiting the Inn, she starts nervously looking over her shoulder as if hoping somebody would help her, but Grimlock's broad hand on her shoulder keeps her from sprinting down the street. Samuel looks at the two of them with a frown on his face. Waving Freya over to watch the woman, he and Sara step aside to talk with Grimlock. They talk to quietly to hear, but it is obvious that Grimlock is highly adjitated. Finally Sara and Samuel both seem to have gotten the information they needed out of him, because they turn back to look at the girl. Sara frowns at the woman, "What is your name and why were you trying to sneak into our rooms?" Nervously the young woman bites her lip and figgets under the hard stares of the companions. "My name is Aura and look I wasn't going to steal nothin'. I was hired to get a copy of the keys to the inn from you and he said he would pay me forty gold." Samuel looks up with a mischevious look on his face. "Forty gold...That's it! For that kind of job you should be pulling in at least one fifty or so." Startled the girl looks up with widened eyes and a pale face, "A hundred and fifty gold!" Sara laughes "This is your first real job isn't it?" After a nod from Aura, Samuel and Sara glance over at the Freya and Grimlock. Both of them nod although Grimlock's seems a little more reluctant. Turning back their attention to the girl, they smile. With that mischeveous look once again, Samuel addresses the girl. "Look, we'll give you to choices. One we can take you down to the city jail and they can punish you by the laws of this town." At this the Aura's face turns even paler. "Or two, you can join us on the condition that you act as an even partner for the life of the Company. What is your decision?" Looking at the companions in suprise, Aura, her voice quavering, asks "Do you really mean that?" As each of the companions nods in turn, tears start running down her face leaving wet tracks in the drying mud. Shyly she looks back at Sara and Samuel "I would like that!" Sara looks her up and down, smiles warmly, and then says "Then repeat after me. Hereby I agree to follow the dictates of the Commanders of the Chaos Company, for the duration of its existence, whether I disagree or agree with the way that they are to be done. I also agree to uphold good in its various manifestations, although not being required to follow a law that I feel encroaches either freedom or this good. This I vow before the Lady, goddess of luck and love, and the Lord, god of honor and war, and hereby ask for them to bless this Company. So be it." Haltingly at first and then picking up speed Aura recites this vow before the assembled members of the company. Freya steps forward and places a palm on Aura's upper arm, near the shouler. Flickering flames, in all colors of the spectrum, surround Freya's hand and Aura'd arm. Pulling her hand away Freya reveals a burnt hole in the arm of Aura's tunic, and tattooed to the arm, a chaos dragon, formed of many colors and shifting around slightly in the pale light flickering out the door of the inn. Freya smiles at Aura "This tattoo is the sign of the Company. If someone claims to be of the Company, ask to see the tattoo, and then press your palm against their arm. If you don't see the fire, that person is not a true member and you should do your best to rid the world of her. Now we better or we'll be late for dinner." The Company, now five strong, moves into the dark byways of the city on their way to a new adventure. (TBC) (ie To Be Continued) Questions/Comments anybody? "Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never ever cut a deal with a dragon." Copyright, 1995, Johnathon Calkins. All Rights Reserved. Sir John