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Lizard Bait Updated 10/27/06
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<blockquote data-quote="DM-Rocco" data-source="post: 1672944" data-attributes="member: 14451"><p><strong>Lizard Bait (Part 3: Filthy Scum)</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Lizard Bait</strong></p><p></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>(Part 3: Filthy Scum)</strong></p><p></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>By </strong></p><p></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>C.E.Rocco</strong></p><p></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">“Who she be,” said E, his small filthy hands clutching a dead lizard in one hand and a small branch in the other that he used to hold back a mass of thick vines.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">“Me not know,” replied Filth as she bumped Scum in the ribs to get a better look. Scum did not talk all that much, in fact, he never said more than a few words in his entire life that the others could remember. Most of the Dragon men never thought much of it, but in the Gully Dwarf circles, it was considered rude to not speak when spoken to. Some say it was because of the fact that he saw his father murdered from a young age and the trauma was too much for him to handle, some just say it is because it is the fact that he is a gully dwarf, but most who know of such matters suggest a different reason, it was his name. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Gully Dwarfs are not the brightest race of creatures on Krynn, but they take pride in their names. Scum was not his birth name, as most would have you believe, it was a name that the Draconians had given him as part of their round up effort. Krothan had named these three unwittingly one day when he called one of them filthy scum. Gully dwarfs, not to proficient in the use of words with more than one syllable, came to the conclusion that Krothan was naming them. What’s more, they had thought that Filthy Scum was the new names of the three, one of them Filth, the other E and the last Scum. Scum had never spoken after that, whether because he was a mute, as the Draconians had suspected, or because he understood, more than any of the others, what the Draconians had done by naming them. By naming them, the draconian had done two things. First, they removed their connection to the past and second, they dehumanized them to nothing so much as a word, most hurt full, they had chosen words that did not reflect well on others.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">All of the Draconians had thought him a mute, and a dumb mute at that, all except Krothan. Krothan had spent days watching the dwarf he had inadvertently named Scum, as he went about his chores. Unlike most of his kin, Scum was what most would consider normal, but amongst Gully Dwarfs, he showed a promise that the others did not. It did not take him five threats and ten explanations to understand that Draconians do not eat mud, he understood when told once. The other Draconians thought this a result of their supreme intimidation tactics, but Krothan had always thought of another conclusion, Scum could count past two.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">He had heard from the other Gully Dwarfs that Scum had been a most talkative type before the Draconian occupation, but ever since he had been named, he had remain silent. Most thought out of fear, some out of trauma, but Krothan thought more likely out of shame.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">E and Filth stared out from behind the tree, their short fat greasy fingers making a hole in the curtain of vines. In the distance they saw her striding down a path, towards the village. The village was still several miles away, but she headed that way none the less, as if She knew where it was. She stopped for a moment and held Her hand to Her heart and closed her eyes for a moment. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">“She talk to self,” said E and Scum peeked his head from behind the two to get a better look. She had long lean features that made the Dwarfs seem that much smaller and squat by comparison. Long golden strands of thick locks of hair were masterfully braided in thick rope-like strands that flowed freely down her chest, past her lithe waist. Two tiny pointed ears and her framed face were all that could be seen through her head of hair. Her skin was soft and when the moonlight hit it just right, it glistened with a slightly silver sheen, or perhaps it was just an illusion, as the woman was, for why would such a creature of beauty be walking through such place of filth. In deed, her soft elegant features and graceful limbs were a stark contrast to the thick Iron Claw trees, jagged rocks and slime covered vines. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">She paused speaking to herself for a moment as if she had heard something in the distance, and then, whether thinking better of an idea or just determined to not spend any further time in the confines of the swamp then she needed to, the woman continued down the game trail.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">She moved with a swift stride that the three Gully Dwarfs found hard to keep pace with. Were it not for the fact that they knew every inch of the swamp like the back of their filthy little hands, they surely would have been out paced. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">She paused again some time later, and peered around a thick tree that the Gully Dwarfs knew well, for it was hollow and the Gully Dwarfs had used it many times. Gully Dwarfs were forbidden to wander the swamp, with the exception of doing errands for their masters, which seldom involved going beyond the borders of the village. After years of servitude to the Draconians they had managed to find ways to explore their old haunts, but when one was found to be wondering in the swamp without permission, they were denied food. This seldom mattered to the Gully Dwarf since they would eat anything without thought or care for their digestive track, so the Draconians later forbad them to carry dead lizards and such, something that worked much better than depriving them of food.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Once in the swamp, they could hide from the Draconians, for the most part, without being seen. They had developed a series of places in the swamp to hind from the Draconians and with their natural filth and dirt; they were mostly camouflaged from the prying eyes of their Draconian masters. The tree was just one of their favorite hideouts from the tyranny of the Draconians.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">E and Filth were about to spring from the brush to get a better view when something grabbed them from behind. A quick yelp from Filth and then a hand covered her mouth. She looked up in a frantic state and saw Scum atop her, one hand covering her mouth and the other held to his lips, indicating shhh. What most would call birdcalls or cricket clicks was more commonly known as, to those who knew, Draconian speak. The sound of a high-pitched chirp echoed off of the Iron Claw trees, bouncing across the swamp. A lower, more sustaining called replied back. As the Draconian speak continued to crescendo the Orchestra of the swamp fell to silence. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Scum dared a look to the Lady through the thick vines, she was still there, but apparently not aware that anything was amiss. To his right, just a few feet away, he heard the most unlikely sound in the swamp, unlikely coming from this source anyway, he heard a branch breaking. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the form of the Baaz Draconian, clawing with stealth towards the Lady. He had to warn her, he felt the need to say something. He turned her way, about to speak for the first time in quite awhile. No, he tried to scream, but his voice, not accustomed to speaking, failed him. With a burst of speed that surprised even himself he crashed through the underbrush and screamed.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">“No,” he shouted, and just as quickly as he burst through the brush he was hit full in the face by the Draconians tail, knocking him back into a nearby tree. Something inside of the normally docile Filth looking at the fallen form of Scum snapped in that moment and Filth screamed and charged the Draconian, jumping onto his back and began clawing out the Dragon man’s eyes with her dirty little finger nails. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">“Leave Scum be,“ she yelled. The first swing succeeded beyond her hopes and the eye of the Baaz was ripped from its socket, but she lacked the remainder of the strength to tear it out, so it dangled down its cheek. She got in one or two more quick swings when her body went flying through the air hitting the same tree that Scum had hit. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Scum looked at her, her neck twisted at an impossible angle, she did not move. He looked back towards the Baaz who was now consumed with rage and a man who stood next to him who held a bloodied club. The Baaz flailed about wildly, striking blindly at anything that he could see move with his one good eye. He stepped on E as he ran away from his hiding spot. The clawed foot of the Baaz ripped into E’s flesh and E screamed like nothing Scum had ever heard before. The Baaz, then reached for E’s head and with both claws he dug into E’s throat, under his skull and then began to pull. E stopped screaming when Scum heard his neck snap, but that didn’t stop the Baaz, he continued to pull, the sickening snapping and crunching of bone brought bile to the back of Scum’s throat. The Baaz roared in pain and protest and then triumph as he pulled the Gully Dwarf’s head from its body. The Baaz was quickly joined be a few other Draconian’s and the man with the bloody club, all delighting in the scene of the filthy head deprived of its body.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Scum felt more alone now than any other time in his life. In a matter of minutes his two best friends had died and he knew he was to be next. He looked towards the tree to see to the Lady, but she was no where to be seen. He closed his eyes as he began to cry for he had just seen Death and he was about to die, and he did not wish to see it coming.</span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DM-Rocco, post: 1672944, member: 14451"] [b]Lizard Bait (Part 3: Filthy Scum)[/b] [size=2][center][b]Lizard Bait[/b][/center] [center][b](Part 3: Filthy Scum)[/b][/center] [center][b]By [/b][/center] [center][b]C.E.Rocco[/b][/center] “Who she be,” said E, his small filthy hands clutching a dead lizard in one hand and a small branch in the other that he used to hold back a mass of thick vines. “Me not know,” replied Filth as she bumped Scum in the ribs to get a better look. Scum did not talk all that much, in fact, he never said more than a few words in his entire life that the others could remember. Most of the Dragon men never thought much of it, but in the Gully Dwarf circles, it was considered rude to not speak when spoken to. Some say it was because of the fact that he saw his father murdered from a young age and the trauma was too much for him to handle, some just say it is because it is the fact that he is a gully dwarf, but most who know of such matters suggest a different reason, it was his name. Gully Dwarfs are not the brightest race of creatures on Krynn, but they take pride in their names. Scum was not his birth name, as most would have you believe, it was a name that the Draconians had given him as part of their round up effort. Krothan had named these three unwittingly one day when he called one of them filthy scum. Gully dwarfs, not to proficient in the use of words with more than one syllable, came to the conclusion that Krothan was naming them. What’s more, they had thought that Filthy Scum was the new names of the three, one of them Filth, the other E and the last Scum. Scum had never spoken after that, whether because he was a mute, as the Draconians had suspected, or because he understood, more than any of the others, what the Draconians had done by naming them. By naming them, the draconian had done two things. First, they removed their connection to the past and second, they dehumanized them to nothing so much as a word, most hurt full, they had chosen words that did not reflect well on others. All of the Draconians had thought him a mute, and a dumb mute at that, all except Krothan. Krothan had spent days watching the dwarf he had inadvertently named Scum, as he went about his chores. Unlike most of his kin, Scum was what most would consider normal, but amongst Gully Dwarfs, he showed a promise that the others did not. It did not take him five threats and ten explanations to understand that Draconians do not eat mud, he understood when told once. The other Draconians thought this a result of their supreme intimidation tactics, but Krothan had always thought of another conclusion, Scum could count past two. He had heard from the other Gully Dwarfs that Scum had been a most talkative type before the Draconian occupation, but ever since he had been named, he had remain silent. Most thought out of fear, some out of trauma, but Krothan thought more likely out of shame. E and Filth stared out from behind the tree, their short fat greasy fingers making a hole in the curtain of vines. In the distance they saw her striding down a path, towards the village. The village was still several miles away, but she headed that way none the less, as if She knew where it was. She stopped for a moment and held Her hand to Her heart and closed her eyes for a moment. “She talk to self,” said E and Scum peeked his head from behind the two to get a better look. She had long lean features that made the Dwarfs seem that much smaller and squat by comparison. Long golden strands of thick locks of hair were masterfully braided in thick rope-like strands that flowed freely down her chest, past her lithe waist. Two tiny pointed ears and her framed face were all that could be seen through her head of hair. Her skin was soft and when the moonlight hit it just right, it glistened with a slightly silver sheen, or perhaps it was just an illusion, as the woman was, for why would such a creature of beauty be walking through such place of filth. In deed, her soft elegant features and graceful limbs were a stark contrast to the thick Iron Claw trees, jagged rocks and slime covered vines. She paused speaking to herself for a moment as if she had heard something in the distance, and then, whether thinking better of an idea or just determined to not spend any further time in the confines of the swamp then she needed to, the woman continued down the game trail. She moved with a swift stride that the three Gully Dwarfs found hard to keep pace with. Were it not for the fact that they knew every inch of the swamp like the back of their filthy little hands, they surely would have been out paced. She paused again some time later, and peered around a thick tree that the Gully Dwarfs knew well, for it was hollow and the Gully Dwarfs had used it many times. Gully Dwarfs were forbidden to wander the swamp, with the exception of doing errands for their masters, which seldom involved going beyond the borders of the village. After years of servitude to the Draconians they had managed to find ways to explore their old haunts, but when one was found to be wondering in the swamp without permission, they were denied food. This seldom mattered to the Gully Dwarf since they would eat anything without thought or care for their digestive track, so the Draconians later forbad them to carry dead lizards and such, something that worked much better than depriving them of food. Once in the swamp, they could hide from the Draconians, for the most part, without being seen. They had developed a series of places in the swamp to hind from the Draconians and with their natural filth and dirt; they were mostly camouflaged from the prying eyes of their Draconian masters. The tree was just one of their favorite hideouts from the tyranny of the Draconians. E and Filth were about to spring from the brush to get a better view when something grabbed them from behind. A quick yelp from Filth and then a hand covered her mouth. She looked up in a frantic state and saw Scum atop her, one hand covering her mouth and the other held to his lips, indicating shhh. What most would call birdcalls or cricket clicks was more commonly known as, to those who knew, Draconian speak. The sound of a high-pitched chirp echoed off of the Iron Claw trees, bouncing across the swamp. A lower, more sustaining called replied back. As the Draconian speak continued to crescendo the Orchestra of the swamp fell to silence. Scum dared a look to the Lady through the thick vines, she was still there, but apparently not aware that anything was amiss. To his right, just a few feet away, he heard the most unlikely sound in the swamp, unlikely coming from this source anyway, he heard a branch breaking. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the form of the Baaz Draconian, clawing with stealth towards the Lady. He had to warn her, he felt the need to say something. He turned her way, about to speak for the first time in quite awhile. No, he tried to scream, but his voice, not accustomed to speaking, failed him. With a burst of speed that surprised even himself he crashed through the underbrush and screamed. “No,” he shouted, and just as quickly as he burst through the brush he was hit full in the face by the Draconians tail, knocking him back into a nearby tree. Something inside of the normally docile Filth looking at the fallen form of Scum snapped in that moment and Filth screamed and charged the Draconian, jumping onto his back and began clawing out the Dragon man’s eyes with her dirty little finger nails. “Leave Scum be,“ she yelled. The first swing succeeded beyond her hopes and the eye of the Baaz was ripped from its socket, but she lacked the remainder of the strength to tear it out, so it dangled down its cheek. She got in one or two more quick swings when her body went flying through the air hitting the same tree that Scum had hit. Scum looked at her, her neck twisted at an impossible angle, she did not move. He looked back towards the Baaz who was now consumed with rage and a man who stood next to him who held a bloodied club. The Baaz flailed about wildly, striking blindly at anything that he could see move with his one good eye. He stepped on E as he ran away from his hiding spot. The clawed foot of the Baaz ripped into E’s flesh and E screamed like nothing Scum had ever heard before. The Baaz, then reached for E’s head and with both claws he dug into E’s throat, under his skull and then began to pull. E stopped screaming when Scum heard his neck snap, but that didn’t stop the Baaz, he continued to pull, the sickening snapping and crunching of bone brought bile to the back of Scum’s throat. The Baaz roared in pain and protest and then triumph as he pulled the Gully Dwarf’s head from its body. The Baaz was quickly joined be a few other Draconian’s and the man with the bloody club, all delighting in the scene of the filthy head deprived of its body. Scum felt more alone now than any other time in his life. In a matter of minutes his two best friends had died and he knew he was to be next. He looked towards the tree to see to the Lady, but she was no where to be seen. He closed his eyes as he began to cry for he had just seen Death and he was about to die, and he did not wish to see it coming. [/size] [/QUOTE]
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