From alt.pub.dragons-inn Sat Aug 19 13:11:34 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8632 Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!in2.uu.net!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!bbnews!eanews1!unislc.slc.unisys.com!stv From: stv@unislc.slc.unisys.com (Steve Spencer) Subject: [Jester and Kierian] Face to Face with the enemy X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0] Message-ID: <1995Aug16.165253.16970@unislc.slc.unisys.com> Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 16:52:53 GMT Lines: 94 The door to the Dragon's Inn swung slowly open. A pale, travel-worn man trod in laboredly, the dust flitting off his nearly worn through boots. A blank, thoughtless expression was on his drawn face, and the redness of his eyes as well as the heavy bags below them bespoke hard, driven travel. "Eorik," the barmaid called to him half in pleasure at seeing him, and half in concern at his haggard appearance. She crossed the room quickly, and took him gently by the arm. "Good Gerios, Eorik. What's happened to you? Here, sit down, let me get you something to drink." But Eorik was unmoving. He was not yet ready to rest, he had business. His eyes slowly swept the throng of laughing, crying, talking, and skulking inhabitants of the inn, and he posed a question to the barmaid in a soft, strained voice, "Which one of them is the Jester?" ****************************************************************************** Jester smiled broadly as he laid down his five cards face up on the big round table, "Full house!" A moan of displeasure came from the other five men currently seated with him, and his arms reached out greedily, and scooped up the fruit of his toils. "C'mon now Jester," cackled an an old, trailhardened goldpanner that had just lost a portion of his workings to yet another hand with this overly lucky, gaudily dressed little imp, "Tell us how you pulled that trick on the sweet little warrior lady." The old man cackled again, remembering the scene in the street, as his fat little tongue played absently with the gap where one of his lower front teeth was missing. "Now Trellmore," Jester replied somewhat reprovingly, " I told you before that I just can't go spilling the beans on all of my tricks, or where would be the excitement?" "He he he he!" sputtered the old coot once more, "I tell'ya though, I ain't never seen nuthin' so damned funny b'fore in all my life!" "So tell me Jester," piped in one of the other players in the card game who seemed a bit less pleased than the old miner at being taken for yet another small fortune, "Are you planning on staying in town long?" "Well," jester replied as he nimbly shuffled the deck of cards in his quick little hands, "I really don't think so. There are so many places in this world you know, so many things to do. I really think that I'll be moving on within the next day or so, after I manage to get together some supplies and things." *************************************************************************** "Eorik no!" Screamed the barmaid as the pale skinned, ragged looking young warrior slowly pulled his bow from his back. "The inn won't let you! Eorik no!" She gasped, and stumbled back away from him. Eorik lined his bow toward the small framed, brightly dressed little man playing cards at the far side of the main chamber, and slowly reached back for an arrow. But his hand never made it back to the quiver. A loud *pop* was heard as the first of the inn's magical protectants kicked in to action, and bright blue arcs of electrical energy leapt and danced across the warriors body. But Eorik's dull, unemotional expression did not change. His hand strained and reached and twisted and jerked under the increasing pulses of mystical energies. A second sound was heard then, a low pitched hum, as bolts of green energy shot from above and below the helpless Eorik, and pierced through his smouldering flesh. Then a truely strange thing happened; A massive, powerfully taloned hand tore through the flesh of Eorik's arm, FROM THE INSIDE! It's huge, tick boned bulk dwarfed his own limb, and split and rent it in every direction as it flailed and trashed. Then gargantuan legs tore through the flesh of what used to be Eorik's legs, splitting, crushing, obliterating his former body as they rent him from within. By the time Eorik's ribcage began to separate under the strain of this beast within, and his bulging skull finally opened up, the new, gnashing, wailing monster stood a good nine feet tall, and was easily twelve-hundred pounds. Skin and flesh seared and smoked from the huge, white skinned demon that stood now in the common room, as magical energies still ripped and arced at it from the very walls and floor of the inn. Slowly, willing itself to control through its pain, it turned its massive head to gaze at its intended target, the slack jawed, wide eyed Jester across the room. A booming, hellish voice echoed through the very bricks and boards of the building as the huge behemoth spoke, "Look well upon me Jester, that you will know your killer when we meet again!" And with that the huge creature lunged out the door of the inn, and was gone. "As I was saying," Jester commented as he began to deal the cards, his eyes still staring the gruesome remains of Eorik all over the floor, "I do believe that I might be sticking around here for a while."