From alt.pub.dragons-inn Mon May 8 15:07:33 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8407 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!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.] Saving "People" Date: Fri, 5 May 1995 13:21:20 -0700 Organization: University of Washington Lines: 78 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: nntp5.u.washington.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Out of the darkness come a series of muffled screams. The companions stop and look around cautiously. Slowly the screams start growing louder as if the screamer is moving towards them. Samuel turns to glance at Sara and at the nod of her head, shrugs off his pack and tosses it to the ground. The rest of the companions toss their packs on top of it, making a small pile of gear in the center of the street. Sara then lifts the furred snake from around her neck and sets it on the pile. The snake elongates and curls itself around the packs, quietly hissing at anything that moves. At a gesture from the Samuel, the companions fade quietly into shadows on either side of the street. Out of a dark alley comes fifteen men and a woman. Ten of the men are dressed in worn chainmail and carrying a variety of weapons, while remaining five are wearing the brown robes of priests or monks. The woman seems to have a noose around her neck, metallic chains around her hands and waist, and one of the men is trying to stuff a gag in her mouth. It's to dark to tell for sure, but it almost seems as if she is covered in some kind of fur. They move into the deserted street and shove the woman to her knees on the ground. One of the warriors steps forward and puts his sword against her neck, but before he can do anything else Grimlock steps out of the darkness, blocking the path up the street while Samuel drops lightly of a roof into the alley blocking any retreat. Freya and Sara move to block the remaining passage. Sara looks at the situation and in an icy tone of voice, "Hurt not that woman or we shall return those hurts a hundred fold upon you." Three of the monks start chanting, while the remaining two throw back their cowls revealing the tattoos and sigils of the assasin guilds. The taller of the two, looks over the comapnions and laughs. "This kill is ours and the few of you shall not stop us." With this the two assasins reach for their weapons, as the soldiers split up and charge at the companions, knocking the woman unconcious and leaving her unguarded for a moment. As the battle begins a shadowy form slips down the wall and starts undoing the bonds. Two of the soldiers are quickly removed from the battle as arrows rip through their armored torsos, but Samuel is forced to drop his bow and pull out a plain and well worn short sword to defend himself as the third soldier attacks. Grimlock wades through the soldiers facing him, ignoring the blows bouncing off of his thick hide and decapitating the soldiers with broad strokes of his stone axe. The remaining four soldiers rush forward to attack Sara and Freya, while the two assasins turn their attention towards Grimlock. As they turn their backs on the two women, Freya pulls a rune stick out of her pouch and throws it at the assasins and their priests. It cracks open upon hitting the ground and a swarm of wasps and hornets swirls up, viscously stinging the priests to death yet curling up and dieing upon contact with the two assasins. As the swarm breaks apart it becomes apparent that the woman has disappeared, leaving only her bonds in a pile upon the ground. Slowly music starts filling the street and the remaining soldiers stop in suprise. Sara has started dancing and the music seems to be both caused by the dance and also the music to which she is dancing. Sparkling colored lights swarm around her, growing brighter and more numerous as the dance progresses. Suddenly they swirl away from her and surround both the soldiers and the assasins. Agonizing screams and the sounds of burning flesh are heard for a moment, before the lights disappear, leaving several piles of ash and the two assasin who are beginning to look extremely annoyed. The taller one looks at the devestation wrought by these two young ladies and pulls out a black crystal amulet. He crushes it in his hand and the two assasins are surrounded by the rippling effects of a gate, which quietly carries them from the battle. After they disappear Aura and the now revived woman drop down into the street. Samuel looks her over "Hopefully you can explain what just happened, and then we'll take you back to get your friends who are most probably going to be running this same unpleasentness rather soon. We have a safe place wear we can put you up for a couple of weeks, but first we need some explanations." "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