From alt.pub.dragons-inn Sat May 13 11:59:32 1995
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From: stiltman@teleport.com (Stilt Man)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Y't] Embarking
Date: 12 May 1995 17:32:07 -0700
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[ADMIN:  Well, this took a bit longer than it should have to get posted, but
this thread is still going faster than my other one (the partnership has more
time on this one), and it was mostly me being the slowpoke on this one anyhow,
so I guess I'm not in a position to complain.  Azzar is the hallucination of
Tanya Olsen, while Kalirya and Thrud were the result of my own acid trips.
Cheers, and roll tape.]


Kalirya watched Azzar eat for a precious few seconds before
commenting. "Are you ready to get down to business or do you need to
finish stuffing your face first?"

"Very well, since you're so impatient."  Azzar moved her stew aside
and spread out the parchment on the table.  It contained a simple map
with a record of which villages had been raided.  All the villages
appeared to be within an area of a slowly expanding circle of
destruction.  Although the initial area was surprisingly small, each
new raid appeared to bring about an expansion of the grove of trees
which had initially occupied the center.  Soon, it would encompass a
region suitable for a small hunting reserve.  But Kryalla was right,
the numbers of elves and black unicorns that witnesses had reported
would never live in such a small area even after its expansion.

"I think we'll find whatever's causing this there."  Azzar pointed to
the center of the raided area.

"Brilliant!"  Kalirya clapped.  "I think even Thrud had that one
figured out.  The real question is what are we going to do about it
and more specifically what you can contribute to this little venture.
At this point, I'm not convinced you can help even your own pretty
little derriere, let alone ours."

Azzar was taken aback.  This woman spouted enough venom to put a
spitting cobra to shame.  She studied this odd couple that fate, or
rather, the Shrouded One, had teamed her up with, debating how to
answer and wondering why Kalirya would take someone like Thrud under
her wing in the first place.

She finally replied, very quietly and deadly serious, "If you can't
trust that someone like the Shrouded One could pick people suitable
for a task and even then you allow appearances to deceive you, I don't
believe you'll survive much longer.  In fact, I can probably handle
this little job myself; you obviously don't want to be bothered."  She
started to re-fold the parchment that Kryalla had given her.  "Thrud 
I'd expect to be gullible.  You, on the other hand, should know
better.  I only hope Thrud doesn't suffer because of it.  God only
knows why the Shrouded One thought we could work together."  Azzar left
the table. 

Thrud started to rise, but was stopped by a restraining hand from Kalirya.
He looked down at her, hurt that she would let Azzar get away.  "She'll be
back," said Kalirya.  "I don't think the Shrouded One would set us together
without some sort of assurance that we'd stay that way."

--Darn it!  I can't make her itch here, either!  There's something in this
place that's keeping me from laying a hand on her!-- came the grumbling
from Sornulakh.

True to Kalirya's prediction, Azzar sat back down across from them
after only a short time.  She shook her head, sighed, and spoke in an
angry tone.  "I don't know what your problem is, or even why I'm
even coming back to sit with you again," said Azzar.  "But as long as
we're supposed to be working together, we should at least try to get
along."

"Why?" asked Kalirya with a half smile on her face.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Azzar, eyes narrow as
knife-edges.

Kalirya motioned the other woman closer.  "Let me tell you something.  I'm
not fond of the ranger type, and I'm less fond of women who act as though
their bodies are for sale like a hunk of freshly-slaughtered meat."  Azzar
colored somewhat.  "I've dealt with the former on friendly terms before, but
I've little tolerance for the latter.  You can either act as though you're a
human being deserving of some respect, or you can act like a trull and be
treated like one."  At that, Kalirya sat back and stretched out her slender
fingertips together, waiting patiently with an eye on Azzar.

Azzar stared back at her, finally deciding that candor would be the
best way to start this relationship.  "Imagine waking up one day to
find that your body had been drastically changed, and your companions
tell you that your most recent memories were actually months past.
Suddenly, it seems that every little muscle twitch you make is
programmed to entice men."

Her voice started to quaver.  "Even your companions are having trouble
resisting your unwitting advances.  It takes so much sheer
concentration to avoid the flirting, that you finally realize it's
pointless to try to resist the urges.  But what's worst of all, is that
one day you realize that you actually *like* the flirting and what
usually follows and that you've become something you used to abhor."

She looked Kalirya straight in the eyes.  Her voice became steady, all
hints of her momentary emotional relapse gone, "I am still adjusting
to this change.  If you cannot deal with what I have become, I have
no solution for us ever being able to work together." 

Kalirya seemed to consider this for a short time, then rose and left the
table without a word.  Azzar started to stand, only to be stopped by a
restraining hand from Thrud.  It was gentle, and Azzar found a certain
pleading in his vacant eyes.

"She be back," said Thrud.  "Wait.  Give K'lirya time."

Azzar was not sure what he meant, but suspected that he probably knew Kalirya
better than anyone alive, and that if he suggested to wait, to give her time,
that it was probably a good idea.

Sure enough, Kalirya returned after only a few moments, acting as though she
had never left.  She sat back at the table and spoke.

"I have heard that Bottleneck Pass has grown much safer after some Dark Lord
or another chose to exterminate the bulk of the goblinish population in that
part of the hills," said Kalirya.  "We should be able to investigate this
grove within a few weeks."  Azzar started to speak, but she was cut off.
"I, too, am tired with the wear of the journey here.  I will see you here at
dawn."  Without another word, indeed, without even waiting for a reply, she
rose and began to walk away.

Azzar turned, not sure what this meant but hoping that it meant that Kalirya
was accepting her.  Sighing, she spoke up, "Kalirya?"  The ebon-clad form
stopped, but did not turn around.  "Thanks."  A nod seemed to bend the hood,
and the other woman continued on.  Thrud turned to Azzar with that pleading
look once again, then rose to follow Kalirya.

Azzar stared at the table for several minutes, her eyes unfocused
though moving as she appeared to re-live old memories.  She shook her
head and sighed.  She suddenly realized that most of her meal was
still there waiting.  She dug in; Mistress Littlefair's food cold was
better than trail rations in any situation.  As she ate, she noticed a
room key on the table.  She smiled.  Trust Bob to take care of all the
details.

When she finished her meal, she sat back in her chair, sipping her ale
and studying the other patrons of the inn.  She regretted taking off
her cloak and letting Bob put it in her room.  Already, she had refused
several requests to be joined at her table; she was not in the mood to
be polite about it much longer.  Sighing again, she set her half-empty
mug on the table and picked up the key.  She went to the stairs,
trying desperately to walk normally.  She tossed Bob a gold piece for
the room and meal and disappeared up the stairs.

                     *******************************

Azzar came back to the commons room the next morning during the gray
of the false dawn.  Few people were up and about that early.
Kalirya's favorite table was again empty, so she sat down at it.  She
was cloaked with the hood up and seemed to blend into the woodwork.

A keen-eyed waitress noticed her pack suddenly appear on the table as
she set it down and hurried over with some porridge, bread and hot
tea.  "Can I interest you in breakfast, ma'am?" she asked.  Azzar
simply nodded.  The girl set down the food and hurried away.

She ate, and then waited for Kalirya and Thrud, sipping her tea.  They
came in several minutes later.  Thrud's expression brightened as he
realized that Azzar would be travelling with them for sure.  The
waitress brought more of the same for Kalirya and Thrud.

"Good morning!" Azzar greeted them quite cheerily.  "I'm ready
whenever you are."

Thrud replied, "G'morning."  He then sat down and proceeded to polish
off his, Kalirya's and what was left of Azzar's meal.  Kalirya said
nothing and sipped at the tea.

After Thrud had eaten for a while, Kalirya stood and began to leave.

"Now, where are we going?" asked Azzar.

"To the stables," replied Kalirya.  "I think it best if we remove Thrud's
mount from there ere he eats us all out of our wallets."

Azzar wasn't sure what she meant, but followed as Thrud rose to do the same.

Kalirya took her own mount, a pale gray riding stallion, while Thrud moved
toward what, to Azzar's surprise, appeared to be a rhinoceros, no less.
It was not just a simple creature, either.  The huge beast was bedecked in
mithril armor that covered most of its body.  Thrud added a huge lance made
of the same stuff, completing his inventory of mithril weapons and other
equipment.  Azzar was amazed to wonder where he might have gotten such
expensive stuff, moreover how he managed to let it all out of his sight
without it getting stolen.  She saw the weight of the lance, however, and
realized that Thrud was having to heft it even with his enormous muscle, which
probably meant that other men would have to carry it between two people.  And
after all, how did one conceal a mithril-armored rhinoceros where Thrud and
Kalirya couldn't catch them?  The beast seemed to bear Thrud's weight only
grudgingly, and Azzar suspected that it would likely sooner kill anyone
unfamiliar to it rather than let them ride it.  Else, Kalirya wouldn't let
it out of her sight with all that stuff on it.  Whatever her faults, Kalirya
was no fool.

Kalirya noticed Azzar simply standing there watching, and finally spoke up.
"Are you without a mount?" Azzar affirmed that she was.  "Very well, you can
ride with Thrud.  He'll like that."

Azzar replied, "That won't be necessary.  I'll keep up."  She started
off in an easy jog down the road.

Kalirya just stared at Azzar as if she had nothing but rocks in her
head.  She motioned to Thrud to follow and went after Azzar.  At first
the distance between them narrowed quickly, but as the horse and the
rhino settled into their accustomed travelling gait, Kalirya realized
that Azzar was quite easily maintaining the pace, just ahead of them.
Azzar was only slightly less amazed to note that the rhinoceros was also
having little trouble keeping the pace with what should have been the
faster horse.

Kalirya, for her part, seemed to quietly watch the road now as the travelling
went on.  Azzar was just happy that the woman was finally holding her tongue.
Thrud was holding his lance over his wide shoulder, whistling some tune that
sounded like a child's song of some form or another.  Kalirya had her scythe
back in view, and looked the part of a grim reaper with it, her black cloak,
and the gray horse.  Azzar wondered what might have happened to drive this
woman to half-madness.

However, it was none of her business, and she wished not to strain the already-
difficult relations with the other woman by asking about it, so she simply
thought about the trip ahead, and little else.


+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
+     The [Y't] thread (who or what is "Y't"????  Who knows??)    +
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
+       . . . scribed by the Stilt Man and Tanya Olsen,		  +
+      stiltman@teleport.com or tolsen@leland.stanford.edu	  +
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+