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<blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 1281829" data-attributes="member: 5834"><p><strong>Life for Meat...</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Eleasis 23, 1372…</em></p><p></p><p> Morn yawned and bit into a piece of salty beef. “I could use a haunch of venison cooked over an open fire and smothered with honey. This dry beef is good enough for the road, but I prefer fresh meat.”</p><p></p><p>“Me too…” said Holly grimacing at the salty beef, “we’ll have fresh meat and more once we reach Shaundakul’s Throne and that should only be a few more days.”</p><p></p><p>“What are we going to do when we reach the Throne?” said Vaevictus, “My business is not with Shaundakul’s followers, but with the followers of the Spider Queen. Will they have word of the drow? We’ve not seen hide nor hair of those accursed spider elves and have only the eyes of a greedy merchant to assure us they are here.”</p><p></p><p>“They should. There are more than a few good scouts at the Throne” said Morn remembering that his father and brothers had gone to the Throne more than two tenday’s ago. If he hadn’t been away harrying some Malarite’s, he and his friends who had been slain by the drow would have been at the Throne as well.</p><p></p><p>“Good. Let us set to then. I tire of this cellar” said Vaevictus. He stood up and strode to the stairs sheathing the greatsword he had spent the last hour sharpening. </p><p></p><p>The other seven companions followed.</p><p></p><p>They left the confines of the manse’s cellar and set off for Shaundakul’s Throne moving in a Northeasterly direction through the ruined city as Emrock had bid them do. It was a quiet warm day with the sun’s light covering the city like a blanket. </p><p></p><p>After an hour of travel, Morn passed in front of a wide and tall polished oak door with thick iron bands and a large door knob shaped like a wolf’s head with ruby eyes set into a wall of white sandstone that was part of a well-built manse. Ahead the stone of a shattered tower lay in a heap upon the ground.</p><p></p><p>Morn took little notice of the door, but the door did not fail to take notice of Morn. The iron band highest on the door snapped like a taut rope pulled too tightly striking Morn on the back. He stuck to it like an insect caught in the sap of a tree.</p><p></p><p>The mouth upon the wolf’s head door knob moved, and surprisingly, spoke, “Greetings…a pleasure to meet you. You’re just in time for lunch.”</p><p></p><p>Morn groaned as he was drawn against the door held fast to the iron band that had struck him. He drew a dagger reflexively from his belt. One of the oak planks that seemingly made up the door loomed over him at an unnatural angle like a hammer waiting to fall. </p><p></p><p>“I wouldn’t put that dagger to use if I were you. I don’t want to have to kill you.” The wolf’s head door knob stretched a few feet out from the door, the handle connecting the door and the knob bending like a piece of wire as it looked about. “I see there are quite a few of you,” it said while watching the other companions hustle forward. </p><p></p><p>Holly’s eyes were wide with surprise. “Let him go” she said drawing her greatsword, “Let him go now or you will taste steel.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m quite sure I could pound your friend into a messy pile of flesh before you could slay me my dear. I hear dying is quite an unpleasant experience, one that I would prefer to share if given no other choice. Please, for your friend’s sake, lower your blade.”</p><p></p><p>“Morn, are you ok?” said Holly concernedly.</p><p></p><p>“My head aches a bit, but I’m not done in. Don’t worry about me, just kill this thing” said Morn. He did not fear death and refused to be used like a coin in a gambling game.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t listen to him, Holly. He is quite dazed. I only want to parley. Can we not at least talk first? Perhaps an equitable bargain can be reached” said the wolf’s head door knob.</p><p></p><p>“You’re probably a liar. Let Morn go, then we can talk” said Holly.</p><p></p><p>“Well, if I am, you can most certainly slay me after we talk. There is no harm in talking” said the wolf’s head door knob.</p><p></p><p>The other companions now stood in a half-circle about the door with readied blades and spells on the tips of tongues. </p><p></p><p>“What is going on?” said Vaevictus “Are you stuck Morn?”</p><p></p><p>“No, I ‘m resting” said Morn irritably, “Of course I’m stuck. This door’s surface is like glue.”</p><p></p><p>“We will cut you free” said Vaevictus raising his sword, “I don’t know what manner of creature you are, but you had best let him go lest I cleave him free.”</p><p></p><p>“Sir, you will accomplish nothing but a hasty death for your friend should that blade fall. I am quite capable of smashing him to pulp as I have told young Holly here. Please, let us speak first, words before blood I always say.”</p><p></p><p>“Why should we parley with the likes of you? A dishonorable layer of traps who bargains with lives he does not own” said Vaevictus with a hint of a growl in his voice.</p><p></p><p>The plank of wood hovering over Morn’s head swayed back and forth, “Because I have your friend between the hammer and the anvil, if I might be so blunt. If he would like to keep the contents of his skull intact, it would behoove his companions to talk before they strike.”</p><p></p><p>“Speak” said Vaevictus brusquely.</p><p></p><p>“Excellent…now my proposition is simple: his life for a bit of fresh meat” said the wolf’s head door knob.</p><p></p><p>“Fresh meat…that is it?” said Uthar’zen incredulously, his left brow arched.</p><p></p><p>“Well, I have developed a fondness for a particular type of meat. It has an unusual flavor that I adore… and given your great number, I’m quite sure you could acquire it for me. I would be most grateful.”</p><p></p><p>“What type of meat would that be?” inquired Thourne.</p><p></p><p>“Gnoll meat…there is a particularly strange breed of gnolls that reside not far from here. They have a reddish tinge to their fur and are quite tasty. I am rarely able to find any alone and if there is more than one it is quite dangerous to hunt them, especially if one of the Minotaurs is with them.”</p><p></p><p>“Minotaurs…” said Phallon, “…great giants with the heads of bulls? This hunt sounds more dangerous the more you tell of it.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes…yes…quite dangerous, but you look most capable. I’m quite sure if you found a small group of them, you would have no trouble bringing me back a few good haunches of meat. You can of course keep a few of the choicest pieces for yourselves.”</p><p></p><p>Holly blanched, “I don’t eat gnoll…yech.”</p><p></p><p>“Personal choices to the contrary, I’m sure your friend’s life is worth a bit of fresh meat” said the wolf’s head door knob, a friendly grin stretched across its face from ear to ear, “And you look like you enjoy slaying evil, foul folk and these gnolls and Minotaurs are quite evil and foul.”</p><p></p><p>“As are you” said Vaevictus thought he detected no evil taint from the creature, “Why should we not slay you now and save us the trouble of a tougher fight? Morn has taken more than his share of blows. I doubt you could kill him faster than I could kill you.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, shall we put that theory to the test?” said the wolf’s head door knob “Is your friend’s life worth the gamble? I have certainly survived in these ruins longer than any of you. It hasn’t all been through trickery, I can assure you of that. And I’m not really evil, just hungry.”</p><p></p><p>“We’ve killed gnolls before Vaevictus. I don’t want this thing to hurt Morn” said Holly, “Let’s hunt the gnolls, but only if it lets Morn go first. We need him for the hunt. He’s our best tracker.”</p><p></p><p>“That would put me in a rather precarious situation were I to let my bargaining power go” said the wolf’s head door knob, “What assurances can you give me that you will return with the meat and not kill me right now?”</p><p></p><p>Vaevictus grimaced, “I’ll give you my word as a true knight of Torm that if you let Morn go, I will bring you back meat from these gnolls and whatever else is with them.”</p><p></p><p>“I swear upon Shaundakul that I will do the same” said Holly.</p><p></p><p>“And we upon Eilistraee” said the twins.</p><p></p><p>“Oaths to gods are worth much, or so I would believe” said the wolf’s head door knob, “I will accept these oaths and release this man. When you return drop the meat in front of that pile of rubble” the wolf’s head door knob pointed towards the rubble of the shattered tower “I will see to eating it at my leisure.” </p><p></p><p>The gluey substance holding Morn dissolved. He stepped quickly away from the door giving it a menacing look. “I should slay you now. I swore no oaths.”</p><p></p><p>“Morn, I swore an oath to Shaundakul. He is your god as well, so my oath is yours” said Holly, “Let’s hunt some gnoll.”</p><p></p><p>“So be it. I will not forget you door or whatever you are” said Morn vengefully.</p><p></p><p>The wolf’s head door knob smiled, “Nor I you, at least not until I savor the taste of gnoll meat.”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> The eight companions didn’t have much trouble locating a patrol of the red-furred gnolls. There were five of them dressed in studded leather and armed with halberds and longbows. </p><p></p><p> Amongst them walked a huge hulking Minotaur covered in red-tinged fur with fierce red eyes that glowed like coal embers. It carried a greataxe larger than a man and had a huge horn not unlike the ones upon its head stuck in its thick leather belt, a trophy taken from a rival most likely.</p><p></p><p> “By the gods” said Holly as she and the other seven companions watched the gnolls and the Minotaur from a small copse of trees about a mile east of where the door had captured Morn, “I’ve never seen anything so big and fierce looking.”</p><p></p><p> “Nor I” said Kaela.</p><p></p><p> “You know what they say” said Morn stone-faced.</p><p></p><p> “What?” asked Holly and Kaela.</p><p></p><p> “The bigger they are, the harder they fall” Morn replied breaking into a grin.</p><p></p><p> Holly and Kaela rolled their eyes.</p><p></p><p> “I’ll take the Minotaur” said Vaevictus without an ounce of doubt, “it will fall before Torm’s might.”</p><p></p><p> “Are you sure Vaevictus?” said Holly.</p><p></p><p> “Yes, I have fought a giant, this bull-headed beast will fall just as easily” assured Vaevictus.</p><p></p><p> “I saw that dead giant. This Minotaur looks tougher than that giant. But you’re pretty darn tough, so I’ll trust you’re up to the task” said Holly pausing and looking over the faces of her companions, “Everyone ready?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes” said the others. They set forth to battle with arrows knocked, fingers in spell pouches, and swords drawn.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> The fight did not last long. The Minotaur fell to Vaevictus’s blade just as he had foretold. Killing the gnolls was child’s play for the other companions, one of the easier battles they faced together so far.</p><p></p><p>They stripped the gnolls and Minotaur of their armor and weapons to make them easier to carry. </p><p></p><p>Kaela noticed the Minotaur’s great horn. “I like this horn” said Kaela lifting the huge horn with some effort. The Minotaur had tried to sound the horn, but Vaevictus ended his life prior to a note being blown. “Here Vaevictus, put this in your bag.”</p><p></p><p>Vaevictus grumbled, “Stop wasting time Kaela.”</p><p></p><p>“Vaevictus, I want this horn. Now put it in the bag” said Kaela. She carried the huge horn holding it with both arms in the nooks of her elbows to where Vaevictus stood. “Open the bag.”</p><p></p><p>Morn chuckled, “You better do as she says.”</p><p></p><p>Vaevictus glared at Morn, then opened the mouth of the bag, “Put it in. Hurry.”</p><p></p><p>Kaela slid the horn into the bag. It disappeared and the bag showed not a trace of it through its leather exterior.</p><p></p><p>“Now I’m ready to go. Should I help you carry one of these gnolls? The Minotaur is far too big for me to carry” said Kaela.</p><p></p><p>“No. I’ll carry a gnoll. I’m sure Uthar’zen and Morn can carry one each. Unless you have magic to make the load lighter” said Vaevictus.</p><p></p><p>“No. I have no spell make the trip easier.”</p><p></p><p>Vaevictus looked to Celtavian, “You?”</p><p></p><p>Celtavian shook his head, “I am sorry. My Art is limited and I have no spell to lighten the load.”</p><p></p><p>Morn sighed, “We’ll do it the hard way.” He hefted a gnoll onto his back. It was heavy and unwieldy and smelled like a dead dog. </p><p></p><p>Holly pulled some rope from her magic haversack, “I’ve a better way to carry’em Morn. Set that one down.”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Vaevictus and Uthar’zen stumbled along each carrying a single gnoll. Holly and Morn and Phallon and Thourne had tied the gnolls legs together and arms to their bodies, each duo carried a gnoll on their shoulders like lumberjacks carrying a log. They marched through the ruins.</p><p></p><p>“We should kill the door when we return” said Morn.</p><p></p><p>“No. We give it the meat and leave. It was not evil. It should be no surprise to us that others hunt in ways that seem strange to us” said Vaevictus, “We have kept our word and it has kept its word. But if it should cross our path again, we will finish it.”</p><p></p><p>It took over an hour to travel the mile back to where the door told them to leave the meat. They dropped the dead gnolls near the rubble of the shattered tower. All who had carried a gnoll were soaked with sweat and fatigued from the effort.</p><p></p><p>Morn looked around, “I do not see the door. It is gone.” Where the door had once been was now an empty hole in the sandstone wall. </p><p></p><p>“It is probably hiding thinking we mean to betray it” said Vaevictus, “Let us just leave the meat and go.”</p><p></p><p>“I need to rest for a bit. Let’s find somewhere to eat and maybe take a little shower. That decanter we took from the drow provides limitless water. It can be used like a shower as well. I don’t like smelling like gnoll. Let’s find a quiet building to rest and clean up” said Holly.</p><p></p><p>“Sounds good to me” said the twins.</p><p></p><p>“And me, though I just want the rest and food. I always smell nice” said Kaela who used her Art to keep herself perfumed and cleaned.</p><p></p><p>Vaevictus stood and said loudly to no one in particular, “The meat is here. Our bargain is complete. Do not cross our path again or you will be the one hunted.”</p><p></p><p>With that said, the eight companions sought for shelter. </p><p></p><p>A particularly large piece of stone amongst the rubble of the shattered tower sprouted arms and a mouth “Well, I’m glad their gone. They were most testy.” It pulled itself forward along the ground. “This is more than enough meat to last me quite a number of days. Why would I even think of bothering them again? I’m not that rude.” Its mouth opened wide and bit into a delicious, bloody gnoll.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celtavian, post: 1281829, member: 5834"] [b]Life for Meat...[/b] [i]Eleasis 23, 1372…[/i] Morn yawned and bit into a piece of salty beef. “I could use a haunch of venison cooked over an open fire and smothered with honey. This dry beef is good enough for the road, but I prefer fresh meat.” “Me too…” said Holly grimacing at the salty beef, “we’ll have fresh meat and more once we reach Shaundakul’s Throne and that should only be a few more days.” “What are we going to do when we reach the Throne?” said Vaevictus, “My business is not with Shaundakul’s followers, but with the followers of the Spider Queen. Will they have word of the drow? We’ve not seen hide nor hair of those accursed spider elves and have only the eyes of a greedy merchant to assure us they are here.” “They should. There are more than a few good scouts at the Throne” said Morn remembering that his father and brothers had gone to the Throne more than two tenday’s ago. If he hadn’t been away harrying some Malarite’s, he and his friends who had been slain by the drow would have been at the Throne as well. “Good. Let us set to then. I tire of this cellar” said Vaevictus. He stood up and strode to the stairs sheathing the greatsword he had spent the last hour sharpening. The other seven companions followed. They left the confines of the manse’s cellar and set off for Shaundakul’s Throne moving in a Northeasterly direction through the ruined city as Emrock had bid them do. It was a quiet warm day with the sun’s light covering the city like a blanket. After an hour of travel, Morn passed in front of a wide and tall polished oak door with thick iron bands and a large door knob shaped like a wolf’s head with ruby eyes set into a wall of white sandstone that was part of a well-built manse. Ahead the stone of a shattered tower lay in a heap upon the ground. Morn took little notice of the door, but the door did not fail to take notice of Morn. The iron band highest on the door snapped like a taut rope pulled too tightly striking Morn on the back. He stuck to it like an insect caught in the sap of a tree. The mouth upon the wolf’s head door knob moved, and surprisingly, spoke, “Greetings…a pleasure to meet you. You’re just in time for lunch.” Morn groaned as he was drawn against the door held fast to the iron band that had struck him. He drew a dagger reflexively from his belt. One of the oak planks that seemingly made up the door loomed over him at an unnatural angle like a hammer waiting to fall. “I wouldn’t put that dagger to use if I were you. I don’t want to have to kill you.” The wolf’s head door knob stretched a few feet out from the door, the handle connecting the door and the knob bending like a piece of wire as it looked about. “I see there are quite a few of you,” it said while watching the other companions hustle forward. Holly’s eyes were wide with surprise. “Let him go” she said drawing her greatsword, “Let him go now or you will taste steel.” “I’m quite sure I could pound your friend into a messy pile of flesh before you could slay me my dear. I hear dying is quite an unpleasant experience, one that I would prefer to share if given no other choice. Please, for your friend’s sake, lower your blade.” “Morn, are you ok?” said Holly concernedly. “My head aches a bit, but I’m not done in. Don’t worry about me, just kill this thing” said Morn. He did not fear death and refused to be used like a coin in a gambling game. “Don’t listen to him, Holly. He is quite dazed. I only want to parley. Can we not at least talk first? Perhaps an equitable bargain can be reached” said the wolf’s head door knob. “You’re probably a liar. Let Morn go, then we can talk” said Holly. “Well, if I am, you can most certainly slay me after we talk. There is no harm in talking” said the wolf’s head door knob. The other companions now stood in a half-circle about the door with readied blades and spells on the tips of tongues. “What is going on?” said Vaevictus “Are you stuck Morn?” “No, I ‘m resting” said Morn irritably, “Of course I’m stuck. This door’s surface is like glue.” “We will cut you free” said Vaevictus raising his sword, “I don’t know what manner of creature you are, but you had best let him go lest I cleave him free.” “Sir, you will accomplish nothing but a hasty death for your friend should that blade fall. I am quite capable of smashing him to pulp as I have told young Holly here. Please, let us speak first, words before blood I always say.” “Why should we parley with the likes of you? A dishonorable layer of traps who bargains with lives he does not own” said Vaevictus with a hint of a growl in his voice. The plank of wood hovering over Morn’s head swayed back and forth, “Because I have your friend between the hammer and the anvil, if I might be so blunt. If he would like to keep the contents of his skull intact, it would behoove his companions to talk before they strike.” “Speak” said Vaevictus brusquely. “Excellent…now my proposition is simple: his life for a bit of fresh meat” said the wolf’s head door knob. “Fresh meat…that is it?” said Uthar’zen incredulously, his left brow arched. “Well, I have developed a fondness for a particular type of meat. It has an unusual flavor that I adore… and given your great number, I’m quite sure you could acquire it for me. I would be most grateful.” “What type of meat would that be?” inquired Thourne. “Gnoll meat…there is a particularly strange breed of gnolls that reside not far from here. They have a reddish tinge to their fur and are quite tasty. I am rarely able to find any alone and if there is more than one it is quite dangerous to hunt them, especially if one of the Minotaurs is with them.” “Minotaurs…” said Phallon, “…great giants with the heads of bulls? This hunt sounds more dangerous the more you tell of it.” “Yes…yes…quite dangerous, but you look most capable. I’m quite sure if you found a small group of them, you would have no trouble bringing me back a few good haunches of meat. You can of course keep a few of the choicest pieces for yourselves.” Holly blanched, “I don’t eat gnoll…yech.” “Personal choices to the contrary, I’m sure your friend’s life is worth a bit of fresh meat” said the wolf’s head door knob, a friendly grin stretched across its face from ear to ear, “And you look like you enjoy slaying evil, foul folk and these gnolls and Minotaurs are quite evil and foul.” “As are you” said Vaevictus thought he detected no evil taint from the creature, “Why should we not slay you now and save us the trouble of a tougher fight? Morn has taken more than his share of blows. I doubt you could kill him faster than I could kill you.” “Well, shall we put that theory to the test?” said the wolf’s head door knob “Is your friend’s life worth the gamble? I have certainly survived in these ruins longer than any of you. It hasn’t all been through trickery, I can assure you of that. And I’m not really evil, just hungry.” “We’ve killed gnolls before Vaevictus. I don’t want this thing to hurt Morn” said Holly, “Let’s hunt the gnolls, but only if it lets Morn go first. We need him for the hunt. He’s our best tracker.” “That would put me in a rather precarious situation were I to let my bargaining power go” said the wolf’s head door knob, “What assurances can you give me that you will return with the meat and not kill me right now?” Vaevictus grimaced, “I’ll give you my word as a true knight of Torm that if you let Morn go, I will bring you back meat from these gnolls and whatever else is with them.” “I swear upon Shaundakul that I will do the same” said Holly. “And we upon Eilistraee” said the twins. “Oaths to gods are worth much, or so I would believe” said the wolf’s head door knob, “I will accept these oaths and release this man. When you return drop the meat in front of that pile of rubble” the wolf’s head door knob pointed towards the rubble of the shattered tower “I will see to eating it at my leisure.” The gluey substance holding Morn dissolved. He stepped quickly away from the door giving it a menacing look. “I should slay you now. I swore no oaths.” “Morn, I swore an oath to Shaundakul. He is your god as well, so my oath is yours” said Holly, “Let’s hunt some gnoll.” “So be it. I will not forget you door or whatever you are” said Morn vengefully. The wolf’s head door knob smiled, “Nor I you, at least not until I savor the taste of gnoll meat.” The eight companions didn’t have much trouble locating a patrol of the red-furred gnolls. There were five of them dressed in studded leather and armed with halberds and longbows. Amongst them walked a huge hulking Minotaur covered in red-tinged fur with fierce red eyes that glowed like coal embers. It carried a greataxe larger than a man and had a huge horn not unlike the ones upon its head stuck in its thick leather belt, a trophy taken from a rival most likely. “By the gods” said Holly as she and the other seven companions watched the gnolls and the Minotaur from a small copse of trees about a mile east of where the door had captured Morn, “I’ve never seen anything so big and fierce looking.” “Nor I” said Kaela. “You know what they say” said Morn stone-faced. “What?” asked Holly and Kaela. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall” Morn replied breaking into a grin. Holly and Kaela rolled their eyes. “I’ll take the Minotaur” said Vaevictus without an ounce of doubt, “it will fall before Torm’s might.” “Are you sure Vaevictus?” said Holly. “Yes, I have fought a giant, this bull-headed beast will fall just as easily” assured Vaevictus. “I saw that dead giant. This Minotaur looks tougher than that giant. But you’re pretty darn tough, so I’ll trust you’re up to the task” said Holly pausing and looking over the faces of her companions, “Everyone ready?” “Yes” said the others. They set forth to battle with arrows knocked, fingers in spell pouches, and swords drawn. The fight did not last long. The Minotaur fell to Vaevictus’s blade just as he had foretold. Killing the gnolls was child’s play for the other companions, one of the easier battles they faced together so far. They stripped the gnolls and Minotaur of their armor and weapons to make them easier to carry. Kaela noticed the Minotaur’s great horn. “I like this horn” said Kaela lifting the huge horn with some effort. The Minotaur had tried to sound the horn, but Vaevictus ended his life prior to a note being blown. “Here Vaevictus, put this in your bag.” Vaevictus grumbled, “Stop wasting time Kaela.” “Vaevictus, I want this horn. Now put it in the bag” said Kaela. She carried the huge horn holding it with both arms in the nooks of her elbows to where Vaevictus stood. “Open the bag.” Morn chuckled, “You better do as she says.” Vaevictus glared at Morn, then opened the mouth of the bag, “Put it in. Hurry.” Kaela slid the horn into the bag. It disappeared and the bag showed not a trace of it through its leather exterior. “Now I’m ready to go. Should I help you carry one of these gnolls? The Minotaur is far too big for me to carry” said Kaela. “No. I’ll carry a gnoll. I’m sure Uthar’zen and Morn can carry one each. Unless you have magic to make the load lighter” said Vaevictus. “No. I have no spell make the trip easier.” Vaevictus looked to Celtavian, “You?” Celtavian shook his head, “I am sorry. My Art is limited and I have no spell to lighten the load.” Morn sighed, “We’ll do it the hard way.” He hefted a gnoll onto his back. It was heavy and unwieldy and smelled like a dead dog. Holly pulled some rope from her magic haversack, “I’ve a better way to carry’em Morn. Set that one down.” Vaevictus and Uthar’zen stumbled along each carrying a single gnoll. Holly and Morn and Phallon and Thourne had tied the gnolls legs together and arms to their bodies, each duo carried a gnoll on their shoulders like lumberjacks carrying a log. They marched through the ruins. “We should kill the door when we return” said Morn. “No. We give it the meat and leave. It was not evil. It should be no surprise to us that others hunt in ways that seem strange to us” said Vaevictus, “We have kept our word and it has kept its word. But if it should cross our path again, we will finish it.” It took over an hour to travel the mile back to where the door told them to leave the meat. They dropped the dead gnolls near the rubble of the shattered tower. All who had carried a gnoll were soaked with sweat and fatigued from the effort. Morn looked around, “I do not see the door. It is gone.” Where the door had once been was now an empty hole in the sandstone wall. “It is probably hiding thinking we mean to betray it” said Vaevictus, “Let us just leave the meat and go.” “I need to rest for a bit. Let’s find somewhere to eat and maybe take a little shower. That decanter we took from the drow provides limitless water. It can be used like a shower as well. I don’t like smelling like gnoll. Let’s find a quiet building to rest and clean up” said Holly. “Sounds good to me” said the twins. “And me, though I just want the rest and food. I always smell nice” said Kaela who used her Art to keep herself perfumed and cleaned. Vaevictus stood and said loudly to no one in particular, “The meat is here. Our bargain is complete. Do not cross our path again or you will be the one hunted.” With that said, the eight companions sought for shelter. A particularly large piece of stone amongst the rubble of the shattered tower sprouted arms and a mouth “Well, I’m glad their gone. They were most testy.” It pulled itself forward along the ground. “This is more than enough meat to last me quite a number of days. Why would I even think of bothering them again? I’m not that rude.” Its mouth opened wide and bit into a delicious, bloody gnoll. [/QUOTE]
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[FR] Seven Swords of Myth Drannor...[Updated 2-4...A Mother's Lullaby]
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