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Steel Dragon's "Tales of Orea"
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<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5921693" data-attributes="member: 92511"><p>Some time later, after Alaria's awakening, the gate to their pen opened and two lizrdmen entered, dragging a badly beaten Braddok between them.</p><p></p><p>The warrior was not unconscious, as his looked through his left eye (the right being badly bruised and swollen shut) at Alaria and felt a pang of sorrow as the magess gasped at this appearance.</p><p></p><p>"It's not as bad as it looks, magess. Do not worry." Braddok huffed through broken and swollen lips.</p><p></p><p>"No talkssss!" said one of the reptilians dragging the swordsman and struck him, hard, in his back with the butt of the spear he carried in his free hand.</p><p></p><p>After the two had retied Braddok to the last, unoccupied pole in the chamber, four more lizardmen entered.</p><p></p><p>Two were obviously guards, armed with bone-tipped spears and what looked like some kind of claw or other bone-carved curved short swords hanging from the simple leather belts they wore around their midsection. </p><p></p><p>It was then, Alaria noticed with some embarrassment, that they wore no loincloths or pants or anything below the waist, their heavy scaled skins being the only thing that somehow contained any organs of reproduction they might possess. Some corner of Alaria's mind realized the sense this made, allowing full range of movement to the three-to-four foot tails that swung and coiled behind each of them. They were broadly muscled and all stood as tall, if not a few inches taller, than Braddok, himself.</p><p></p><p>The other two were different.</p><p></p><p>One, obviously their leader, was larger than any of the others. Whether this indicated it was older, Alaria could not tell,, but it too was broadly muscled and wore a thick girdle of leather set with smoothly polished, multi-colored stones about his waist. A metal sword also hung from the bejeweled girdle. Upon one forearm and extended down over his naturally clawed hand was a monstrous gauntlet of steel that reflected the torchlight, ending in long curved metal claws over the hand. This lizardman, be he chieftain or warlord or just some captain, also wore a long heavy cloak of coarse fur.</p><p></p><p>If this lizardman were not cause for enough concern by the companions, the other was a smaller, hunched figure. He wore a headdress that sported long curving horns and an array of multi-colored feathers. One of the feathers was obviously cracked/broken, hanging limply to the side.This lizardman's snout seemed a bit longer than the others, slight dropping at the end, and its scaley hide appeared almost "wrinkled" if such a thing were possible. Its belt was barely visible beneath the multitude of strips of leather with colored beads, various bones, skulls of small animals and birds, assorted pouches and various sized gourds. A long staff, similarly adorned with bits of feather, bone, tufts of fur and more than a couple of animal tails streamed off it. The various beads, bones and other accoutrements rattled and clinked with every movement it made. </p><p></p><p>The obvious "shaman" picked a long gourd with a bulbous end from his belt and began to shake it. It rattled with some hidden beans or something. As the shaman began to hiss in a rhythmic fashion, dull grey smoke that stank of some unknown incense began to seep out of the gourd's head and encircle the room.</p><p></p><p>Alaria wondered at the phenomenon and mentally disdained this monster's back-swamp spirit magic. She wondered if this was the time to mount their escape, but thought better to see what might happen.</p><p></p><p>When the grey smoke had formed a ring about the perimeter of the chamber, the shaman turned to the large leader-looking lizardmen and bowed slightly.</p><p></p><p>"You may ssspeak, my thief." the shaman said. To Alaria, and the others' surprise, they understood the reptilian, though wondered about this great, apparent warrior's title of "thief."</p><p></p><p>"The prey are the onesss who have ssslain my people, yesss. The prey travel with treatherousss green-ed cloak-ed one. Where isss he? And where isss the sssatyr? I thall have jussssthissss." the 'thief' bellowed (Alaria now realized the creatures' lizard like snouts precluded the possibility of pronouncing certain sounds, like "ch.") </p><p></p><p>Alaria looked at her other companions. Braddok seemed to have slipped into unconsciousness. The others were looking at her. Behind her, though she could not see, Erevan scowled at the reptilians in the doorway.</p><p></p><p>"The prey will anssswer the thief!" the shaman shouted. "Or the prey diesss. Where isss the prey'sss othersss?"</p><p></p><p>For this, the shaman received a sound blow across his shoulder from the "thief", presumably for interrupting. </p><p></p><p>Alaria, it seemed, would be foisted into the role of spokesperson again. Better, she thought, to try to glean as much information as possible. More knowledge was, of course, always preferable to less.</p><p></p><p>"We do not know." the R'Hathi said, raising herself as tall and proud looking as she could, on her knees with her hands tied to a pole behind her back. "Why have you brought us here?"</p><p></p><p>"Why?! WHYYYY???!!!" the chieftain roared as it stomped toward the lady. </p><p></p><p>Alaria feared the creature might bite her head off, quite literally as its face and flickered tongue came very near her own.</p><p></p><p>"The prey sssslain my thampion, invade MY ssswamp and k-k-(the lizardman was making the unfamiliar "k" sound from back down in his throat)-kill my offsssspringsss and the prey wondersss WHY?!" the chief elaborated.</p><p></p><p>Bollux, Alaria thought to herself. They were, obviously, on the wrong side of whatever law this chief's clan held...any law of any land, for that matter.</p><p></p><p>"Our apologies, good chief of lizards. We were, but, protecting ourselves. We seek only to enter Nor Gorthok...the, uh, the mountain, here." dare she attempt to extrapolate...she dared, "Is it not the right of any creature of the swamp to protect itself?" </p><p></p><p>"The prey issss not a k-k-kreature of the sssswamp. The prey thinkssss it k-k-lever?" he turned with a flourish of his great furred cloak and it more "banged" than washed over the magess' face. It seemed to reek, simultaneously, of all of the awful odors they had encountered throughout their time in the Feldmere. Alaria felt a wave of nausea.</p><p></p><p>The shaman held out a book for the chief who all but ripped it out of the shaman's claws before turning to Alaria and shaking it at her.</p><p></p><p>"The prey isss a sssss-ahman. We have ssseen the prey's magic books." he continued to rant.</p><p></p><p>"The prey will return my offssspringss...my ssssonsss...to ussss, yessss. And the prey will live here and makesss magicsss for usss." the chieftain said quietly.</p><p></p><p>"I will do no such thing!" Alaria protested in indignation.</p><p></p><p>Again the monstrous chieftain leaned in close to Alaria, "The prey willssss. It willssss. Or the prey doesss not livesss...at all."</p><p></p><p>The monster now walked away from Alaria and circled about the room, slowly, staring down each of the other companions in turn.</p><p></p><p>"The prey likesss itsss...friennndsss, yesss? The prey will do thisss for usss or I killsss...and EATSSS...itsss friendsss. Yesss." the chieftain turned back to Alaria. The chief's eyes narrowed to almost imperceptible slits. If a lizard's eyes could be said to look conniving, these were. "We startsss with the elf-prey. Yesss." he said at least and raised his metal-clawed-gauntlet arm.</p><p></p><p>Two of the lizardmen guards began to move toward Alaria and Erevan.</p><p></p><p>The shaman frantically interrupted, again, knowing the possible risk, "My thief. The elfsss isss magicsss alssso." he held up the slimmer smaller bound book that contained Erevan's spells before continuing.</p><p></p><p>"If the prey-sss-ahman doesss not make the magicsss, the elf-prey cansss....perhapssss." the shaman cowered slightly at the expected reprisal.</p><p></p><p>The chieftain held up his gauntleted arm again and waved the guards back to their positions near the door.</p><p></p><p>He turned and flicked his tongue down toward Haelan and Duor.</p><p></p><p>"Then, perhapsss, we ssstartsss with a sssnack." the chief said.</p><p></p><p>"Aw bugger." Duor said to the floor.</p><p></p><p>"What?! No! No, Alaria! Tell him...I dunno, tell him something!" the daelvar priest practically cried in panic. </p><p></p><p>"My good chief," Alaria began as he again waved the approaching guards off and looked sidelong at the wizard, "the daelvar is a priest of great power. You do not want to eat him. His goddess is powerful and would extract retribution."</p><p></p><p>The lizard-chief looked at the magess now and then back at Haelan and back at Alaria with a look of clear disbelief.</p><p></p><p>Alaria thought for a moment before continuing with an attempt at a ruse. She shook her head in the affirmative. "Yes. He is very powerful, this priest. Be nice to us and his goddess might return your sons with his help."</p><p></p><p>Haelan stared agape in horror across the room at the wizardess.</p><p></p><p> The chief seemed to think for a moment and then looked at his shaman. "Whatsss isss duh-hale-gar prrriesstsss?"</p><p></p><p>The shaman silently nodded in the direction of the cleric. "The hairfootsss-prey, my thief. Worshipsss the ssspiritsss of prey."</p><p></p><p>The shaman reached to his belt, behind him, and withdrew Haelan's pinecone-shape headed mace. "Isss that what thisss isss for?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes!" Alaria said quickly.</p><p></p><p>Haelan said nothing, still in utter shock at the magess' assertion. The raising of the dead was strictly against Faeranthean teachings...Hells, the cleric thought, he didn't even know if it was possible! He'd never heard of any Hillmother, let alone a Hilltender, <em>attempting</em> such a feat, let alone succeeding. </p><p></p><p>"Then you, hairfootsss-prey, will bring our offspringsss back. Or we eatsss <em>your</em> friendsss." the chieftain said snidely to the daelvar.</p><p></p><p>"My thief," the shaman again dared to interject, "the time comes when Hrrr'athssssaaaah demands tributessss." the shaman said looking at the bound companions. "Perhapsss the prey will sssserve and I can perform the ssssseremony you sssseek. Yesss?" the shaman concluded.</p><p></p><p>Receiving no swat to his unseen ears, the shaman continued, hissing in malice toward Alaria. "We have ssspiritsss too."</p><p></p><p>"Release us and we will do whatever we can to bring back your sons." Alaria quickly stated, understanding the shaman's motives most acutely.</p><p></p><p>"Alaria!" Haelan objected before getting a swift "klok!" from the lizardman cheiftain. Thankfully, it was not the hand with the spikey clawed metal gauntlet.</p><p></p><p>"The prey will bring usss the green-ed cloak-ed onesss and the sssatyr." he nodded at the guards.</p><p></p><p>To everyone's surprise, a single guard came and began to untie Alaria.</p><p></p><p>"My chief! The prey is a sss-ahmansss! Keep its handsss bound! Sssend the beard-prey." the shaman protested.</p><p></p><p>The guard paused momentarily, concerned by the shaman's warning (and begin able to understand it in the magical zone of translation).</p><p></p><p>The chief looked at Alaria calmly. "The prey will not do anything ssstupid, yesss? Itsss friends ssstay here. If the prey runsss or triesss treathery, itss friendsss die."</p><p></p><p>Alaria understood all too well, but thought the opportunity was all too enticing to pass up. Besides, the magess lamentably reasoned, if they freed Duor instead, there was no guarantee the dwarf would return at all.</p><p></p><p>"No, my chief." Alaria said, attempting to sound defeated. "Nothing stupid."</p><p></p><p>"The prey will return with itsss othersss by next moonrise, or it will sssee itsss friendsss in our belliesss...And the other prey will not try anything ssstupid, as they love their femalesss. Yessss?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, my chief." Alaria repeated.</p><p></p><p>"No tricks. We promise." Haelan piped up.</p><p></p><p>"Yesss?" the cheiftain said menacingly to the others.</p><p></p><p>Erevan and Duor nodded their heads in defeat.</p><p></p><p>"Yessss." the chief smirked, if a lizard's face could be said to smirk.</p><p></p><p>He left the chamber with another wave of his furred cloak, shouting hissing and rumbling orders from his belly. The shaman looked about the chamber to see his ring of magic smoke dissipating.</p><p></p><p>The shaman bowed as the chief passed and when he'd exited, looked with malice at Alaria as she, stiffly, rose to her feet. The guard gripped her hard by the arm and began to walk her out. The shaman halted their exit and hissed something in the lizard folks' tonguey tongue. When the guard gave the shaman a question glance, he shook his rattle-gourd at the guard.</p><p></p><p>The lizard-warrior conceded and left the two alone in the chamber.</p><p></p><p>"No tricksss wisssard." the shaman said softly to Alaria, in Common!</p><p></p><p>Alaria's surprised look garnered a nod and chuckling smirk from the aged lizardman.</p><p></p><p>"Yesss. I know your k-k-ind. You do as the thief bids and you may yet live to leave thisss plassse. Perhapsss some of thessse prey alssso." he jerked his head in the direction of the other bound companions.</p><p></p><p>"If you...treathery, to my lord Hrrr'athsssa will you all. I promissse. Yesss." the elderly lizardman finished.</p><p></p><p>Before Alaria could reply, the shaman hissed another curt command and the guard returned and grabbed her again. She was half-led half-dragged through multiple corridors, passed several other lizardmen warriors and others that seemed to be unarmed. She even caught sight of a few younglings peeking around corners or out of archways in the earthern carved lair.</p><p></p><p>After a time, they were moving through a long corridor, dotted with torches in the walls and stuck in the floor. Alaria mentally noted and recalled Fen's several assertions about the lizardmen and the cold.</p><p></p><p>As they came around a bend, Alaria was met with a most unexpected sight.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next time..."In the Belly of the Beast"...</strong></em><strong>or</strong><em><strong>..."A Hrrr'athsssa by Any Other Name Twould Still Smell Like Swamp."</strong></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 5921693, member: 92511"] Some time later, after Alaria's awakening, the gate to their pen opened and two lizrdmen entered, dragging a badly beaten Braddok between them. The warrior was not unconscious, as his looked through his left eye (the right being badly bruised and swollen shut) at Alaria and felt a pang of sorrow as the magess gasped at this appearance. "It's not as bad as it looks, magess. Do not worry." Braddok huffed through broken and swollen lips. "No talkssss!" said one of the reptilians dragging the swordsman and struck him, hard, in his back with the butt of the spear he carried in his free hand. After the two had retied Braddok to the last, unoccupied pole in the chamber, four more lizardmen entered. Two were obviously guards, armed with bone-tipped spears and what looked like some kind of claw or other bone-carved curved short swords hanging from the simple leather belts they wore around their midsection. It was then, Alaria noticed with some embarrassment, that they wore no loincloths or pants or anything below the waist, their heavy scaled skins being the only thing that somehow contained any organs of reproduction they might possess. Some corner of Alaria's mind realized the sense this made, allowing full range of movement to the three-to-four foot tails that swung and coiled behind each of them. They were broadly muscled and all stood as tall, if not a few inches taller, than Braddok, himself. The other two were different. One, obviously their leader, was larger than any of the others. Whether this indicated it was older, Alaria could not tell,, but it too was broadly muscled and wore a thick girdle of leather set with smoothly polished, multi-colored stones about his waist. A metal sword also hung from the bejeweled girdle. Upon one forearm and extended down over his naturally clawed hand was a monstrous gauntlet of steel that reflected the torchlight, ending in long curved metal claws over the hand. This lizardman, be he chieftain or warlord or just some captain, also wore a long heavy cloak of coarse fur. If this lizardman were not cause for enough concern by the companions, the other was a smaller, hunched figure. He wore a headdress that sported long curving horns and an array of multi-colored feathers. One of the feathers was obviously cracked/broken, hanging limply to the side.This lizardman's snout seemed a bit longer than the others, slight dropping at the end, and its scaley hide appeared almost "wrinkled" if such a thing were possible. Its belt was barely visible beneath the multitude of strips of leather with colored beads, various bones, skulls of small animals and birds, assorted pouches and various sized gourds. A long staff, similarly adorned with bits of feather, bone, tufts of fur and more than a couple of animal tails streamed off it. The various beads, bones and other accoutrements rattled and clinked with every movement it made. The obvious "shaman" picked a long gourd with a bulbous end from his belt and began to shake it. It rattled with some hidden beans or something. As the shaman began to hiss in a rhythmic fashion, dull grey smoke that stank of some unknown incense began to seep out of the gourd's head and encircle the room. Alaria wondered at the phenomenon and mentally disdained this monster's back-swamp spirit magic. She wondered if this was the time to mount their escape, but thought better to see what might happen. When the grey smoke had formed a ring about the perimeter of the chamber, the shaman turned to the large leader-looking lizardmen and bowed slightly. "You may ssspeak, my thief." the shaman said. To Alaria, and the others' surprise, they understood the reptilian, though wondered about this great, apparent warrior's title of "thief." "The prey are the onesss who have ssslain my people, yesss. The prey travel with treatherousss green-ed cloak-ed one. Where isss he? And where isss the sssatyr? I thall have jussssthissss." the 'thief' bellowed (Alaria now realized the creatures' lizard like snouts precluded the possibility of pronouncing certain sounds, like "ch.") Alaria looked at her other companions. Braddok seemed to have slipped into unconsciousness. The others were looking at her. Behind her, though she could not see, Erevan scowled at the reptilians in the doorway. "The prey will anssswer the thief!" the shaman shouted. "Or the prey diesss. Where isss the prey'sss othersss?" For this, the shaman received a sound blow across his shoulder from the "thief", presumably for interrupting. Alaria, it seemed, would be foisted into the role of spokesperson again. Better, she thought, to try to glean as much information as possible. More knowledge was, of course, always preferable to less. "We do not know." the R'Hathi said, raising herself as tall and proud looking as she could, on her knees with her hands tied to a pole behind her back. "Why have you brought us here?" "Why?! WHYYYY???!!!" the chieftain roared as it stomped toward the lady. Alaria feared the creature might bite her head off, quite literally as its face and flickered tongue came very near her own. "The prey sssslain my thampion, invade MY ssswamp and k-k-(the lizardman was making the unfamiliar "k" sound from back down in his throat)-kill my offsssspringsss and the prey wondersss WHY?!" the chief elaborated. Bollux, Alaria thought to herself. They were, obviously, on the wrong side of whatever law this chief's clan held...any law of any land, for that matter. "Our apologies, good chief of lizards. We were, but, protecting ourselves. We seek only to enter Nor Gorthok...the, uh, the mountain, here." dare she attempt to extrapolate...she dared, "Is it not the right of any creature of the swamp to protect itself?" "The prey issss not a k-k-kreature of the sssswamp. The prey thinkssss it k-k-lever?" he turned with a flourish of his great furred cloak and it more "banged" than washed over the magess' face. It seemed to reek, simultaneously, of all of the awful odors they had encountered throughout their time in the Feldmere. Alaria felt a wave of nausea. The shaman held out a book for the chief who all but ripped it out of the shaman's claws before turning to Alaria and shaking it at her. "The prey isss a sssss-ahman. We have ssseen the prey's magic books." he continued to rant. "The prey will return my offssspringss...my ssssonsss...to ussss, yessss. And the prey will live here and makesss magicsss for usss." the chieftain said quietly. "I will do no such thing!" Alaria protested in indignation. Again the monstrous chieftain leaned in close to Alaria, "The prey willssss. It willssss. Or the prey doesss not livesss...at all." The monster now walked away from Alaria and circled about the room, slowly, staring down each of the other companions in turn. "The prey likesss itsss...friennndsss, yesss? The prey will do thisss for usss or I killsss...and EATSSS...itsss friendsss. Yesss." the chieftain turned back to Alaria. The chief's eyes narrowed to almost imperceptible slits. If a lizard's eyes could be said to look conniving, these were. "We startsss with the elf-prey. Yesss." he said at least and raised his metal-clawed-gauntlet arm. Two of the lizardmen guards began to move toward Alaria and Erevan. The shaman frantically interrupted, again, knowing the possible risk, "My thief. The elfsss isss magicsss alssso." he held up the slimmer smaller bound book that contained Erevan's spells before continuing. "If the prey-sss-ahman doesss not make the magicsss, the elf-prey cansss....perhapssss." the shaman cowered slightly at the expected reprisal. The chieftain held up his gauntleted arm again and waved the guards back to their positions near the door. He turned and flicked his tongue down toward Haelan and Duor. "Then, perhapsss, we ssstartsss with a sssnack." the chief said. "Aw bugger." Duor said to the floor. "What?! No! No, Alaria! Tell him...I dunno, tell him something!" the daelvar priest practically cried in panic. "My good chief," Alaria began as he again waved the approaching guards off and looked sidelong at the wizard, "the daelvar is a priest of great power. You do not want to eat him. His goddess is powerful and would extract retribution." The lizard-chief looked at the magess now and then back at Haelan and back at Alaria with a look of clear disbelief. Alaria thought for a moment before continuing with an attempt at a ruse. She shook her head in the affirmative. "Yes. He is very powerful, this priest. Be nice to us and his goddess might return your sons with his help." Haelan stared agape in horror across the room at the wizardess. The chief seemed to think for a moment and then looked at his shaman. "Whatsss isss duh-hale-gar prrriesstsss?" The shaman silently nodded in the direction of the cleric. "The hairfootsss-prey, my thief. Worshipsss the ssspiritsss of prey." The shaman reached to his belt, behind him, and withdrew Haelan's pinecone-shape headed mace. "Isss that what thisss isss for?" "Yes!" Alaria said quickly. Haelan said nothing, still in utter shock at the magess' assertion. The raising of the dead was strictly against Faeranthean teachings...Hells, the cleric thought, he didn't even know if it was possible! He'd never heard of any Hillmother, let alone a Hilltender, [I]attempting[/I] such a feat, let alone succeeding. "Then you, hairfootsss-prey, will bring our offspringsss back. Or we eatsss [I]your[/I] friendsss." the chieftain said snidely to the daelvar. "My thief," the shaman again dared to interject, "the time comes when Hrrr'athssssaaaah demands tributessss." the shaman said looking at the bound companions. "Perhapsss the prey will sssserve and I can perform the ssssseremony you sssseek. Yesss?" the shaman concluded. Receiving no swat to his unseen ears, the shaman continued, hissing in malice toward Alaria. "We have ssspiritsss too." "Release us and we will do whatever we can to bring back your sons." Alaria quickly stated, understanding the shaman's motives most acutely. "Alaria!" Haelan objected before getting a swift "klok!" from the lizardman cheiftain. Thankfully, it was not the hand with the spikey clawed metal gauntlet. "The prey will bring usss the green-ed cloak-ed onesss and the sssatyr." he nodded at the guards. To everyone's surprise, a single guard came and began to untie Alaria. "My chief! The prey is a sss-ahmansss! Keep its handsss bound! Sssend the beard-prey." the shaman protested. The guard paused momentarily, concerned by the shaman's warning (and begin able to understand it in the magical zone of translation). The chief looked at Alaria calmly. "The prey will not do anything ssstupid, yesss? Itsss friends ssstay here. If the prey runsss or triesss treathery, itss friendsss die." Alaria understood all too well, but thought the opportunity was all too enticing to pass up. Besides, the magess lamentably reasoned, if they freed Duor instead, there was no guarantee the dwarf would return at all. "No, my chief." Alaria said, attempting to sound defeated. "Nothing stupid." "The prey will return with itsss othersss by next moonrise, or it will sssee itsss friendsss in our belliesss...And the other prey will not try anything ssstupid, as they love their femalesss. Yessss?" "Yes, my chief." Alaria repeated. "No tricks. We promise." Haelan piped up. "Yesss?" the cheiftain said menacingly to the others. Erevan and Duor nodded their heads in defeat. "Yessss." the chief smirked, if a lizard's face could be said to smirk. He left the chamber with another wave of his furred cloak, shouting hissing and rumbling orders from his belly. The shaman looked about the chamber to see his ring of magic smoke dissipating. The shaman bowed as the chief passed and when he'd exited, looked with malice at Alaria as she, stiffly, rose to her feet. The guard gripped her hard by the arm and began to walk her out. The shaman halted their exit and hissed something in the lizard folks' tonguey tongue. When the guard gave the shaman a question glance, he shook his rattle-gourd at the guard. The lizard-warrior conceded and left the two alone in the chamber. "No tricksss wisssard." the shaman said softly to Alaria, in Common! Alaria's surprised look garnered a nod and chuckling smirk from the aged lizardman. "Yesss. I know your k-k-ind. You do as the thief bids and you may yet live to leave thisss plassse. Perhapsss some of thessse prey alssso." he jerked his head in the direction of the other bound companions. "If you...treathery, to my lord Hrrr'athsssa will you all. I promissse. Yesss." the elderly lizardman finished. Before Alaria could reply, the shaman hissed another curt command and the guard returned and grabbed her again. She was half-led half-dragged through multiple corridors, passed several other lizardmen warriors and others that seemed to be unarmed. She even caught sight of a few younglings peeking around corners or out of archways in the earthern carved lair. After a time, they were moving through a long corridor, dotted with torches in the walls and stuck in the floor. Alaria mentally noted and recalled Fen's several assertions about the lizardmen and the cold. As they came around a bend, Alaria was met with a most unexpected sight. [I][B]Next time..."In the Belly of the Beast"...[/B][/I][B]or[/B][I][B]..."A Hrrr'athsssa by Any Other Name Twould Still Smell Like Swamp."[/B][/I] [/QUOTE]
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