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Story Hour
Dear Mom - Mishap Adventures of a Mommy's Elf
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<blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 5829278" data-attributes="member: 53286"><p>Glad you like them <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />. Uthas' player sure has a talent for those letters. </p><p></p><p></p><p>And now... Interludes You Would Not Write Home to Mom About, Part 1</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p></p><p>Flip tried his best to stare the group of orcs down who were assembled around him on the so-called Vulture's Nest of their favorite tavern's upper level. He did not quite fail, but he did not succeed either. </p><p></p><p>"So as I was saying, the council increased the security around the courts, and I heard someone mention that Drac had it in for a judge or the other. If your boys and girls could make a presence in the area and check every delivery beforehand, chances are you might recover one of the bombs."</p><p></p><p>The boss of the orcs, Captain Klarr, looked with a mixture of interest and amusement at the halfling. His eyes were on the jewel topped jar bomb in front of him. "What's in it for you?" he asked. </p><p></p><p>"For one, I would not have to fear that the nobles I'm in charge to protect want to study those things and blow themselves up. Also, if it all works out, our reputation will still be good. And to top it all off, we know you are going to sell these things to someone who is an enemy to an enemy of the Realm and wants to blow up some of their ships. Oh yeah, and I don't have to worry about you believing we were trying to destroy a business opportunity for you."</p><p></p><p>Some of the orcs laughed, but their leader just scratched his chin. "So, you stole this bomb from the council, and you say you are pretty sure where 2 of the others will show up ad want us to secure one of them while you take care of the other? That still leaves 3 others."</p><p></p><p>Flip barely stopped himself from making a sarcastic comment congratulating the orc on his math skills. "Exactly. I'm working on it, but ou may have to settle for 3 of the bombs."</p><p></p><p>Now even Klarr laughed. "That's more than I was hoping for by now. There must be some orc blood in you. We have a deal, then!" </p><p></p><p>Flip managed to hide his relief. "If the city catches the terrorist, I'm fairly sure the rest of the bombs will find their way to you as well, captain." </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>At the same time of night, Uthas was making his way back to their city house. He was not especially fast, which was partly due to the fact that he had to use walls and lantern posts for support. His gait was rather instable, as he would later play it down, and following a straight line was not exactly the way he went about it, either. The world had a definite tendency to revolve around him, which was not the nature of things. Usually, everything revolved around Orlath and Nev, if in a different manner. </p><p></p><p>He had planned to spend the evening with Scarbelly and his crew, but they were off on some plunder or the other. So he had just found a table down at the docks, at the Vengeful Seagull. That inn was a good distance from their house, though, and while he had no issue walking, and relatively quick at that, when not intoxicated, in his current state he tended to find himself in a more horizontal position than usual, and it made walking really difficult. Not even thinking about the spinning scenery. </p><p></p><p>Usually, Uthas carried a soberize potion in one of his many pockets or pouches. But after the fight with the summoned monster, he had found it necessary to invest into a new coat and set of pants, as the smell of the crawly thing didn't go away even with soap or magic. Not all of his usual carry-ons had found their way into the new equipment yet. </p><p></p><p>Scratching his head and simultaneously trying to steady himself on one of the lamp posts at a crossroad, he tried to remember which way he had to go. He had managed to get past the walls of the Old City, but by then the fog had crept up worse than usual. It was not as pronounced up here, but bad enough to confuse a poor, intoxicated half-orc. </p><p></p><p>Looking to the left and right, Uthas rotated around the lamp post without noticing it. His keep ears had picked up a sound somewhere to his left... well, no, now right... that didn't seem to belong in a city at night. First it was like a growl from a giant stomach, then like a slurping noise, or as if someone was trying to blow his nose. Uthas shook his head and was about to ignore it when a scream followed. The half-orc's head went up and around, making him dizzy all the more. It was about impossible to tell where the scream had come from, the fog seemed to obscure all direction even for sound. </p><p></p><p>Stumbling away from his support, the half-orc rounded a corner that seemed vaguely familiar. When he saw the doors of the Temple of the Warrior God, he knew he was in the wrong part of town. He had not, as he had thought, entered the Old City, he was clearly in the temple district. His sense of direction had not been off too badly, though, as he would only have to march straight on and into the right district and then...</p><p></p><p>He stumbled over something other than his own feet. At first, he thought it was just a pile of garbage, even if this rarely happened in the temple district. But then he could vaguely make out a face frozen in eternal fear staring up at him from the ground. An elf, he thought. Blood came from several stab wounds in his belly, and here and there, strangely enough, his skin was smoking, a fact Uithas had almost missed thanks to the fog. Something vaguely purple was moving next to the victim's body – at least Uthas thought it was. It might just have been his intoxicated state because the next moment, nothing stirred. </p><p></p><p>Uthas thought for a good long moment. In his momentary lapse of body control – not to talk of his mental facilities – he could do little to find a possible killer, and probably he would not even be able to defend himself properly should he be attacked. Knowing the guard was prominent in this area, he did what anyone not totally stupid would do in this situation. "Help!" he called. "Guards! Murderers! There is a body here!" </p><p></p><p>The guards arrived just in time to see a tall half-orc fall on his behind with a loud belch. "That," one of them said waving his hand in front of his nose, "must have been at least 10 or 15 ale."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Nevukh couldn't sleep, and he envied Flip and Uthak, who he assumed to be together, their night in town. It was not as easy for nobility to go out and amuse themselves, not even in Freeport, not with all that was going on, all who were looking to them. And especially not if you were about to fail big time.</p><p></p><p>From the balcony, the city and the foggy night seemed like something out of a children's tale. The fog was getting thicker by the minute, it seemed, in parts of the area, you could hardly see the rooftops. This meant autumn was coming. Nev was not so sure how he would like autumn and winter in a port city like this one, but he was not worried to find out. With any luck, they would only have to be here one winter to have done enough studying to return to the Realm. Unless, he remembered, they kept messing things up. </p><p></p><p>He lifted the glass in his hands and took a big sip of warm wine. Once more he racked his brain for an idea where to look for the missing bombs and the terrorist. And once more, nothing came up. He had tried divination again, but his magic had basically told him to stick it where the sun won't shine. </p><p></p><p>Where the sun won't shine... Drac the evil priest.... sewer temple.... sun won't shine... He blinked a few times, trying to get the slight daze from the wine out of his head. Could it be that the terrorist was hiding in the sewers? From what the high priestess had said, none of the known associates of Zelkema had seen him since he had vanished, leaving dead orcs and golems behind. And it could be reasoned that Freeport's underworld would know the truth behind the explosions, which likely meant they wouldn't back the guy any longer. Or would they know? He would have loved to ask Flip, but of course, Flip was not back yet.</p><p></p><p>The sewer temple was their best bet, though. Who would, after clearing it out, think of going there again, especially now that the serpent folk was somewhat in charge down there? But would Zelkema know about the temple at all? Nev's head started hurting from so many desperate questions. Nev went back to the living room and searched among the many papers lying around everywhere. Among them was the crude drawing of the city sewers they had taken from one of the cultists. From their current place, it would not be too far to that sewer temple. They could go and check it out and be back before dawn. They would be able to rest during the day, if needed. If it was the wine, or lack of sleep, or just desperation, Nev would not be able to say later on. He rushed into Orlath's room and shook him awake in a rough manner. "Hey, prince!" he shouted, as so often when he was about to get his friend into something not so well thought through. "We're going down into the sewers, catching us some terrorist."</p><p></p><p></p><p>Flip made his way back over the rooftops, as so often by night. Not only did the world look very different from up here, especially for a halfling, there were many things to be learned in regards to who else, and for what purposes, picked this way, and who, not looking upwards at all, was talking about what in the quiet corners of the wealthy districts. </p><p></p><p>Tonight, he was diverted from a direct road by the appearance of a young girl that vaguely seemed familiar. She moved like a thief, making sure not to be seen – something the rooftop couriers, a legitimate business as he had learned, would not do. A bag was secured on her back, and it looked heavy. Flip followed her carefully and with some distance, but making sure he would not lose her. Finally, he saw her stopping at the corner of a roof, removing her eye mask and putting it away. Then she jumped over to a balcony tail on the next street with surprising ease. </p><p></p><p>Both her full face and where she ended her journey made Flip remember where he had seen her before. At the party of the Sea Lord. Maybe this information would come in handy one day. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With disgust, Uthas stared at the amount of discarded furniture and old carpets littering the basement of the temple. There were cobwebs everywhere. Obviously, the basement had been in disuse for some time, and as the captain of the guard had explained, they had not even been aware this temple had one until just now, when they followed that wormy killer thing the guard had called a wormwraith, to the grates of a destroyed cellar window. The stairway to their left was full of rubble and probably had not been used in decades. There were two more doors leading from this central storage though. The half-orc was waiting for the guard captain, who had invited him, the hero of Freeport, to come along, to decide where to go next when one of the elf guards shouted and held his bleeding hand. A giant centipede was just fleeing through one of the open doors. Uthas had to chuckle. "Has your mom not told you not to stick your had where it is not wanted?"</p><p></p><p>The guard glowered at him but then shrugged when he saw his captain was also shaking his head. Seeing the head shake made Uthas somewhat dizzy, and his head was starting to hurt a little. The herbal potion the guard had given him was nowhere near as good as a soberize, but it would have to do. </p><p></p><p>The captain held his lantern into the nearest room. It proved to be an old store room, but the boxes and barrels were mostly empty. Otherwise, they would have been rotten anyway, the half-orc guessed. The next room was an abandoned mini-library. "Funeral texts for warriors," one of the guards said when reading the few moldy but still readable volumes. "So this was an official part of the temple once." </p><p></p><p>The only room going off from there was a remarkably well preserved crypt and proved the theory. Rows of stone coffins lined the walls, each inscribed with a name and the seal of the Warrior God. It did not even small stale, Uthas noted. Again, there was only one door to the left, leading deeper into who-knew-where. </p><p></p><p>"Is this a good idea?" Uthas asked. "This worm thingy you described is intelligent and dangerous, yes? Mayhap we should get some magical back up." </p><p></p><p>"This is... or was... part of the Temple of the Warrior God," the guard who had been bitten snorted. "We are all warriors, and we need not cheap magic tricks for our aid." </p><p></p><p>No sooner had he said that when from behind each coffin came a clattering sound, and a moment later, several skeletons bared their way to the next room. Uthas heard shouts of panic around him as several of the younger, inexperienced guard members fled. He was left alone with an equally panic stricken but unable to move captain, the bitten elf guard and a stone faced dwarf. Uthas barely noticed, as his face lit up. "Skeletons," he cried in joy and started hacking at them with his already readied weapon. "Oh I so missed training with skeletons!" Only a few minutes later, the bony animations were utterly scattered. Uthas struggled to count the skulls. "5," he finally concluded. "Too bad there were no more. What?" he asked as he noticed the other 3 staring at him. The still stone faced dwarf pointed to the half-orc's head. Carefully, Uthas checked what the issue was and found the upper half of a skull lodged on his leather helmet. "Oh," he grinned. "6, then. Not too bad. Now, are we going to search for those babies or do we continue alone?" </p><p></p><p></p><p>A sleepy eyed Orthas walked behind Nev and wondered why he had let himself pulled from his bed to sneak around in stinky, dirty, cold and wet sewers. He had not been quite awake when he was coerced into following Nev – not that he was much more awake now – which was how their adventures resulting in bad press for their Clan always started. Sometimes it was Nev, sometimes Orlath starting such nightly endeavors, but at least half of them ended badly, so both of them should really know better by now. </p><p></p><p>Except this time, Nev was claiming it was all about fixing their failures and saving the city. Orlath, as usual, just had to hear about something supposedly heroic and he was in.</p><p></p><p>It became clearer by the minute that they had lost their way, though. They might have been able to backtrack their steps, had Nev not lost their crude map when he had attempted to light a torch to preserve his magic energies. The smoke from the torch was now burning their eyes, making it hard to see anything down here. </p><p></p><p>"I think... I think we need to go left, now," Nev suggested. </p><p></p><p>"You said that the last few times. You know, we should really get around learning teleports, we could just go back home now and forget about this mess." </p><p></p><p>"No, really, I mean, we could save the city..."</p><p></p><p>"By getting lost? I doubt it." Orlath had taken on his 'I'm the prince' tone. "Let's find the next exit and get out. With our bad luck – or rather your map reading skills – we'll probably find ourselves in Scurvytown."</p><p></p><p>"Impossible. We have not walked that far and... look!" Nev pointed excitedly. "There's the slope leading down to the temple."</p><p></p><p>There was indeed a narrow slope to their left, going down at a steep angle just like the way to the temple had done. "Nice. Let's hurry up, then, I doubt the terrorist is expecting anyone if he is really here." Orlath was suddenly full of enthusiasm. With their combined magic, they could certainly best a criminal. </p><p></p><p>The rough hewn passage led down several 100 meters, which was more than both of them remembered. It lead to an open archway in front of a small, well constructed room, which none of them remembered. Two stout wooden doors were leading from this room, one was straight ahead and one to their right. </p><p></p><p>"Uh, Nev..." started Orlath. </p><p></p><p>"Yeah, I know," the other wizard sighed. "We are not at all on track anymore."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Flip came in through the normal door and sneaked into the upstairs hall. No snoring from Uthas' room and no carelessly dropped in the hall clothings, which meant he was not back home yet. No snoring from Nev, which was good as it meant the elf had not had too much of wine tonight. no snoring from Orthas either, but Orthas always slept like a baby. Overslept like a teenager, too. </p><p></p><p>It was just when Flip was already covered and close to refreshing sleep when he understood why something had seemed to be off. Orthas slept like a baby, alright, but he snored like an orc with a hangover. All the time. </p><p></p><p>In a panic, the halfling jumped up again and, naked as he was, rushed to Orlath's room, banging the door open. The bed had obviously been used but was now empty. He repeated his entry in Nev's room, where the bed had been completely unused. </p><p></p><p>Flip slapped his head and moaned in despair. He had not only lost the prince, but the prince-cousin as well. No telling what rouble the two wizarding fools had gotten themselves into this time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lwaxy, post: 5829278, member: 53286"] Glad you like them ;). Uthas' player sure has a talent for those letters. And now... Interludes You Would Not Write Home to Mom About, Part 1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Flip tried his best to stare the group of orcs down who were assembled around him on the so-called Vulture's Nest of their favorite tavern's upper level. He did not quite fail, but he did not succeed either. "So as I was saying, the council increased the security around the courts, and I heard someone mention that Drac had it in for a judge or the other. If your boys and girls could make a presence in the area and check every delivery beforehand, chances are you might recover one of the bombs." The boss of the orcs, Captain Klarr, looked with a mixture of interest and amusement at the halfling. His eyes were on the jewel topped jar bomb in front of him. "What's in it for you?" he asked. "For one, I would not have to fear that the nobles I'm in charge to protect want to study those things and blow themselves up. Also, if it all works out, our reputation will still be good. And to top it all off, we know you are going to sell these things to someone who is an enemy to an enemy of the Realm and wants to blow up some of their ships. Oh yeah, and I don't have to worry about you believing we were trying to destroy a business opportunity for you." Some of the orcs laughed, but their leader just scratched his chin. "So, you stole this bomb from the council, and you say you are pretty sure where 2 of the others will show up ad want us to secure one of them while you take care of the other? That still leaves 3 others." Flip barely stopped himself from making a sarcastic comment congratulating the orc on his math skills. "Exactly. I'm working on it, but ou may have to settle for 3 of the bombs." Now even Klarr laughed. "That's more than I was hoping for by now. There must be some orc blood in you. We have a deal, then!" Flip managed to hide his relief. "If the city catches the terrorist, I'm fairly sure the rest of the bombs will find their way to you as well, captain." At the same time of night, Uthas was making his way back to their city house. He was not especially fast, which was partly due to the fact that he had to use walls and lantern posts for support. His gait was rather instable, as he would later play it down, and following a straight line was not exactly the way he went about it, either. The world had a definite tendency to revolve around him, which was not the nature of things. Usually, everything revolved around Orlath and Nev, if in a different manner. He had planned to spend the evening with Scarbelly and his crew, but they were off on some plunder or the other. So he had just found a table down at the docks, at the Vengeful Seagull. That inn was a good distance from their house, though, and while he had no issue walking, and relatively quick at that, when not intoxicated, in his current state he tended to find himself in a more horizontal position than usual, and it made walking really difficult. Not even thinking about the spinning scenery. Usually, Uthas carried a soberize potion in one of his many pockets or pouches. But after the fight with the summoned monster, he had found it necessary to invest into a new coat and set of pants, as the smell of the crawly thing didn't go away even with soap or magic. Not all of his usual carry-ons had found their way into the new equipment yet. Scratching his head and simultaneously trying to steady himself on one of the lamp posts at a crossroad, he tried to remember which way he had to go. He had managed to get past the walls of the Old City, but by then the fog had crept up worse than usual. It was not as pronounced up here, but bad enough to confuse a poor, intoxicated half-orc. Looking to the left and right, Uthas rotated around the lamp post without noticing it. His keep ears had picked up a sound somewhere to his left... well, no, now right... that didn't seem to belong in a city at night. First it was like a growl from a giant stomach, then like a slurping noise, or as if someone was trying to blow his nose. Uthas shook his head and was about to ignore it when a scream followed. The half-orc's head went up and around, making him dizzy all the more. It was about impossible to tell where the scream had come from, the fog seemed to obscure all direction even for sound. Stumbling away from his support, the half-orc rounded a corner that seemed vaguely familiar. When he saw the doors of the Temple of the Warrior God, he knew he was in the wrong part of town. He had not, as he had thought, entered the Old City, he was clearly in the temple district. His sense of direction had not been off too badly, though, as he would only have to march straight on and into the right district and then... He stumbled over something other than his own feet. At first, he thought it was just a pile of garbage, even if this rarely happened in the temple district. But then he could vaguely make out a face frozen in eternal fear staring up at him from the ground. An elf, he thought. Blood came from several stab wounds in his belly, and here and there, strangely enough, his skin was smoking, a fact Uithas had almost missed thanks to the fog. Something vaguely purple was moving next to the victim's body – at least Uthas thought it was. It might just have been his intoxicated state because the next moment, nothing stirred. Uthas thought for a good long moment. In his momentary lapse of body control – not to talk of his mental facilities – he could do little to find a possible killer, and probably he would not even be able to defend himself properly should he be attacked. Knowing the guard was prominent in this area, he did what anyone not totally stupid would do in this situation. "Help!" he called. "Guards! Murderers! There is a body here!" The guards arrived just in time to see a tall half-orc fall on his behind with a loud belch. "That," one of them said waving his hand in front of his nose, "must have been at least 10 or 15 ale." Nevukh couldn't sleep, and he envied Flip and Uthak, who he assumed to be together, their night in town. It was not as easy for nobility to go out and amuse themselves, not even in Freeport, not with all that was going on, all who were looking to them. And especially not if you were about to fail big time. From the balcony, the city and the foggy night seemed like something out of a children's tale. The fog was getting thicker by the minute, it seemed, in parts of the area, you could hardly see the rooftops. This meant autumn was coming. Nev was not so sure how he would like autumn and winter in a port city like this one, but he was not worried to find out. With any luck, they would only have to be here one winter to have done enough studying to return to the Realm. Unless, he remembered, they kept messing things up. He lifted the glass in his hands and took a big sip of warm wine. Once more he racked his brain for an idea where to look for the missing bombs and the terrorist. And once more, nothing came up. He had tried divination again, but his magic had basically told him to stick it where the sun won't shine. Where the sun won't shine... Drac the evil priest.... sewer temple.... sun won't shine... He blinked a few times, trying to get the slight daze from the wine out of his head. Could it be that the terrorist was hiding in the sewers? From what the high priestess had said, none of the known associates of Zelkema had seen him since he had vanished, leaving dead orcs and golems behind. And it could be reasoned that Freeport's underworld would know the truth behind the explosions, which likely meant they wouldn't back the guy any longer. Or would they know? He would have loved to ask Flip, but of course, Flip was not back yet. The sewer temple was their best bet, though. Who would, after clearing it out, think of going there again, especially now that the serpent folk was somewhat in charge down there? But would Zelkema know about the temple at all? Nev's head started hurting from so many desperate questions. Nev went back to the living room and searched among the many papers lying around everywhere. Among them was the crude drawing of the city sewers they had taken from one of the cultists. From their current place, it would not be too far to that sewer temple. They could go and check it out and be back before dawn. They would be able to rest during the day, if needed. If it was the wine, or lack of sleep, or just desperation, Nev would not be able to say later on. He rushed into Orlath's room and shook him awake in a rough manner. "Hey, prince!" he shouted, as so often when he was about to get his friend into something not so well thought through. "We're going down into the sewers, catching us some terrorist." Flip made his way back over the rooftops, as so often by night. Not only did the world look very different from up here, especially for a halfling, there were many things to be learned in regards to who else, and for what purposes, picked this way, and who, not looking upwards at all, was talking about what in the quiet corners of the wealthy districts. Tonight, he was diverted from a direct road by the appearance of a young girl that vaguely seemed familiar. She moved like a thief, making sure not to be seen – something the rooftop couriers, a legitimate business as he had learned, would not do. A bag was secured on her back, and it looked heavy. Flip followed her carefully and with some distance, but making sure he would not lose her. Finally, he saw her stopping at the corner of a roof, removing her eye mask and putting it away. Then she jumped over to a balcony tail on the next street with surprising ease. Both her full face and where she ended her journey made Flip remember where he had seen her before. At the party of the Sea Lord. Maybe this information would come in handy one day. With disgust, Uthas stared at the amount of discarded furniture and old carpets littering the basement of the temple. There were cobwebs everywhere. Obviously, the basement had been in disuse for some time, and as the captain of the guard had explained, they had not even been aware this temple had one until just now, when they followed that wormy killer thing the guard had called a wormwraith, to the grates of a destroyed cellar window. The stairway to their left was full of rubble and probably had not been used in decades. There were two more doors leading from this central storage though. The half-orc was waiting for the guard captain, who had invited him, the hero of Freeport, to come along, to decide where to go next when one of the elf guards shouted and held his bleeding hand. A giant centipede was just fleeing through one of the open doors. Uthas had to chuckle. "Has your mom not told you not to stick your had where it is not wanted?" The guard glowered at him but then shrugged when he saw his captain was also shaking his head. Seeing the head shake made Uthas somewhat dizzy, and his head was starting to hurt a little. The herbal potion the guard had given him was nowhere near as good as a soberize, but it would have to do. The captain held his lantern into the nearest room. It proved to be an old store room, but the boxes and barrels were mostly empty. Otherwise, they would have been rotten anyway, the half-orc guessed. The next room was an abandoned mini-library. "Funeral texts for warriors," one of the guards said when reading the few moldy but still readable volumes. "So this was an official part of the temple once." The only room going off from there was a remarkably well preserved crypt and proved the theory. Rows of stone coffins lined the walls, each inscribed with a name and the seal of the Warrior God. It did not even small stale, Uthas noted. Again, there was only one door to the left, leading deeper into who-knew-where. "Is this a good idea?" Uthas asked. "This worm thingy you described is intelligent and dangerous, yes? Mayhap we should get some magical back up." "This is... or was... part of the Temple of the Warrior God," the guard who had been bitten snorted. "We are all warriors, and we need not cheap magic tricks for our aid." No sooner had he said that when from behind each coffin came a clattering sound, and a moment later, several skeletons bared their way to the next room. Uthas heard shouts of panic around him as several of the younger, inexperienced guard members fled. He was left alone with an equally panic stricken but unable to move captain, the bitten elf guard and a stone faced dwarf. Uthas barely noticed, as his face lit up. "Skeletons," he cried in joy and started hacking at them with his already readied weapon. "Oh I so missed training with skeletons!" Only a few minutes later, the bony animations were utterly scattered. Uthas struggled to count the skulls. "5," he finally concluded. "Too bad there were no more. What?" he asked as he noticed the other 3 staring at him. The still stone faced dwarf pointed to the half-orc's head. Carefully, Uthas checked what the issue was and found the upper half of a skull lodged on his leather helmet. "Oh," he grinned. "6, then. Not too bad. Now, are we going to search for those babies or do we continue alone?" A sleepy eyed Orthas walked behind Nev and wondered why he had let himself pulled from his bed to sneak around in stinky, dirty, cold and wet sewers. He had not been quite awake when he was coerced into following Nev – not that he was much more awake now – which was how their adventures resulting in bad press for their Clan always started. Sometimes it was Nev, sometimes Orlath starting such nightly endeavors, but at least half of them ended badly, so both of them should really know better by now. Except this time, Nev was claiming it was all about fixing their failures and saving the city. Orlath, as usual, just had to hear about something supposedly heroic and he was in. It became clearer by the minute that they had lost their way, though. They might have been able to backtrack their steps, had Nev not lost their crude map when he had attempted to light a torch to preserve his magic energies. The smoke from the torch was now burning their eyes, making it hard to see anything down here. "I think... I think we need to go left, now," Nev suggested. "You said that the last few times. You know, we should really get around learning teleports, we could just go back home now and forget about this mess." "No, really, I mean, we could save the city..." "By getting lost? I doubt it." Orlath had taken on his 'I'm the prince' tone. "Let's find the next exit and get out. With our bad luck – or rather your map reading skills – we'll probably find ourselves in Scurvytown." "Impossible. We have not walked that far and... look!" Nev pointed excitedly. "There's the slope leading down to the temple." There was indeed a narrow slope to their left, going down at a steep angle just like the way to the temple had done. "Nice. Let's hurry up, then, I doubt the terrorist is expecting anyone if he is really here." Orlath was suddenly full of enthusiasm. With their combined magic, they could certainly best a criminal. The rough hewn passage led down several 100 meters, which was more than both of them remembered. It lead to an open archway in front of a small, well constructed room, which none of them remembered. Two stout wooden doors were leading from this room, one was straight ahead and one to their right. "Uh, Nev..." started Orlath. "Yeah, I know," the other wizard sighed. "We are not at all on track anymore." Flip came in through the normal door and sneaked into the upstairs hall. No snoring from Uthas' room and no carelessly dropped in the hall clothings, which meant he was not back home yet. No snoring from Nev, which was good as it meant the elf had not had too much of wine tonight. no snoring from Orthas either, but Orthas always slept like a baby. Overslept like a teenager, too. It was just when Flip was already covered and close to refreshing sleep when he understood why something had seemed to be off. Orthas slept like a baby, alright, but he snored like an orc with a hangover. All the time. In a panic, the halfling jumped up again and, naked as he was, rushed to Orlath's room, banging the door open. The bed had obviously been used but was now empty. He repeated his entry in Nev's room, where the bed had been completely unused. Flip slapped his head and moaned in despair. He had not only lost the prince, but the prince-cousin as well. No telling what rouble the two wizarding fools had gotten themselves into this time. [/QUOTE]
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