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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Enk&amp;D'Shai" data-source="post: 1430162" data-attributes="member: 7569">Have Halfling will travelUm, hello. My name is D'shai....and...I'm ...well... I'm a procrastinator. Wow that wasn't too hard. Your turn.No, that's OK. You go ahead. I'll do it later.Your blocking Enk. Deep breath. Come on you can do it.My name... My name is Enk, and .I just can't do this.YOU"LL DO IT AND YOU"LL LIKE IT OR I"LL CUT YOUR HEART OUT!Did we end up at Anger Management class instead?No, thats next wednesday. Let me check the palm pilotLook I keep telling you, just because you take your mini-etch a sketch and sharpie "Palm Pilot" on it doesn't make it state of the art.Ohh look we're missing the Flash Gordon and Clash of the Titans double feature down at the IMAX. Hurry up!Obviously we should have attended the ADD group instead.Flying blind on a rocket cycle! D I V E!Just give the Tip of' the Day - otherwise we might miss the previews for the new remake of Jason and the ArgonautsTip O da Day - Never set a deadline, when death is on the line!Shut it, Vizzini, and push the button.*****Small Beginnings Part III"The Beginning of the End of the Beginning" or "Making Enk Cry"The Hunter watched as the surfacer woodsman placed a hand on the feloine’s shoulder. “Don’t do it, Ash – we’re outnumbered two-hundred to one down here,” he murmured, “put it away.” Balsag doubted that any of the other patrons of the Bloody Foot heard as the slightly built feloine let his short sword quietly rasp back into its scabbard. It had quickly become apparent to the bugbear that what little leadership this rag-tag group of surfacers had came from the brown and green garbed woodsman named Ander.“I can still smell the blood of men on them, Ander.” Balsag sniffed as the gaggle of goblins passed by the table. The kitten was right, they’d been hunting the surface recently by the look of it, and the still wet stains on their armor had the odor of man. The feloine had a keen sense of smell – he’d have to remember that if things went sour between the Hunter and his new employersThe bugbear thought for a moment; it wasn’t as if he ever thought he’d be working with a group so untested, so green. When he first saw them in the underground fortress, the group of surfacers – a feloine, a halfling, and three humans, two male and a female – had looked almost laughable: easy prey for the Hunter and his pack. They looked even more hopeless when they added the kobold’s favorite whipping post, Meepo. But something had stayed his hand when they looked at their worst, and when they later defeated his previous employer, the druid Belak, he found himself giving them a sort of grudging respect. The feloine and woodsman, Ashrem and Ander as he now knew them, had proven to be competent enough scouts, while the other two humans, Theo and Aurora, were potent enough spellcasters to put Balsag’s teeth on edge. Even the runt had surprised the bugbear, driving such a hard bargain for Balsag’s services that the Hunter was still unsure if he’d been outfoxed. Separately, Balsag was sure they would provide no match for him should they break their deal, but together… “Balsag?” The bugbear turned to look at the be-backpacked halfling tapping him on this side. “Who’s that?” The runt pointed toward a tall, lean human entering the tavern common room. Balsag recognized him immediately.“That’s Captain Vithseer. I wouldn’t cross him. He’s even more dangerous than I am.” “Is he friendly?”“Master Pack, the long answer is that I am not well enough informed about your ends, nor those of you comrades, to answer that question.”“What’s the short answer?”“No.”The halfling looked about to say something else when he was interrupted by the woman, Aurora, “Isn’t that Erth?”“Who?” the older man, Theo, rumbled.“Erth. The gnome we found when we freed Meepo’s clanmates. Remember?”Ashrem growled softly, “How I wish I could forget.”“Ash, let it drop for now,” Ander’s voice had a note of finality, “it’s not the time or the place.” The bugbear heard the annoyance in the woodsman’s voice and knew it for what it was – suppressed fear. If the woodsman truly wanted to avoid a fight, though, he’d have to keep better control of his baser instincts. One slip – even in the relatively peaceful underdark trading town of Tradesway – could mean painful death.Balsag joined the conversation, “It wouldn’t be a good idea to draw too much attention to yourself down here, so I’d keep it a little quieter if I were you. Now who is this person you’re so concerned about?”The woman – the sorceress – continued, “Erth Snydenose. We rescued him when we freed some kobolds captured by the goblins.” She raised her arm and waved before her companions could stop her. Balsag followed her gaze to see an unkempt and apparently unarmed gnome working his way through the crowd. Erth looked up at the woman, and then at the Hunter, and made an arrowline for Vithseer, where he began whispering in the Captain’s ear.“I know Erth,” Balsag said, “He was once part of Belak’s men. Came down from the north with Belak and a few others to find out why the kobolds were behind schedule in getting their master sap from the demon tree. When Belak decided to stay, Erth left. Truthfully, I thought he was dead.”“Bones!” Ander growled. “All this time and he’s been working for the kobolds’ master! I can’t believe it!” The woodsman seemed ready to get up from the table, and for a half second, Balsag wasn’t sure his new employers would live beyond the next hour. Now it seemed to the bugbear that it was Aurora’s turn to quiet the woodsman. She took his hand and squeezed, and he calmed visibly, until he looked at the hand holding his and nearly jerked it away with a start. Humans always acted like they were in heat.“Time enough for that talk later, lad,” the old man rumbled, “I can feel the sun setting. We should get some sleep soon, if we can find somewhere safe.”“You should be able to find a place on the outskirts of town. There are a dozen empty buildings that you could use. You might have to kill the current occupants to get a good one.”“I’d rather us not kill anyone we don’t have to,” said Ander.“Suit yourself. As for me, I’ll take my leave. As I have already fulfilled my end of our bargain, I will consider it concluded when you deliver 300 gold coins to me.”“As we agreed – 300 King’s Crowns delivered to the Icemist barbarians right after spring thaw. Payment in full for misdirecting the goblins and safe passage through the gnoll caves to the undercity of Tradesway.” “Payment in full,” the bugbear said.*    *    *Balsag crept along the side of the building and peered around the corner just in time to see the back of the ogre stomping toward the shelter the surfacers had selected. The hulking beast bellowed as he closed on the ramshackle hovel, “Who is in me home! Little runts in me home! Stomp ‘em! Mash ‘em! Smash ‘em good!” He repeated his refrain in giantish, in goblin, and even in broken Torian as he kept time by thudding his great club into the stone wall, “Stomp ‘em! Mash ‘em! Smash ‘em good! Stomp ‘em! Mash ‘em! Smash ‘em good!” The brute rounded the corner, still bellowing in what might have been a sing song voice for an ogre, while the Hunter followed, staying in shadows when he could. When the ogre reached the opening of the surfacer’s hut, he roared in his native tongue, “You in me home! YOU GET OUT!” As Balsag drew nearer, he heard Ander shout, but the woodsman’s voice was drowned out by the ogre’s yells, “YOU GET OUT!” The bugbear scuttled into an alcove that sheltered him from sight while giving him a good view of the front of the building.The Hunter settled into his spot just in time to see the ogre clamp a hand on its thigh, blood trickling out from between its beefy fingers. The feloine that had stuck him dodged nimbly aside as the ogre batted at him with his club, and took up position on his left, while Ander flanked the brute. A flash of bright light smacked the ogre in its chest, and Balsag heard both chanting and singing from within the ramshackle building. The beast roared in pain and struck the woodsman with a backhanded blow that staggered the woodsman. He rolled with the blow, and spit blood, but returned one blow with another as he swung his staff into the back of the ogre’s knee, buckling one leg just enough to allow the feloine on the other side to bury his black short sword in the ogre’s other leg. More flashes of light burst in its face, and then a bolt of lightning struck the beast full in the belly. Over all the noise, Balsag heard the distinct sound of the runt’s thin, reedy voice as he exhorted his comrades.Ten seconds later, Balsag watched the ogre topple to the ground, one more gaping wound in its back from the feloine. The thud of the brute’s corpse on the stone floor reverberated throughout the tightly packed buildings. Balsag strained to hear the surfacers as they filed out of their shelter to stand around the body.The Hunter watched as the old man checked over the woodsman – from the way he moved, Balsag could tell he had at least a pair of cracked ribs – and began healing his hurts. Meanwhile, Pack and Aurora looked over the ogre’s remains. “What should we do about this?” the girl asked.“Leave it as a warning,” the woodsman said, “and get inside to get some rest.”Satisifed with Ander’s statement, the bugbear moved silently away from the group, carefully picking his way through the streets and alleys of Tradesway until he was out of both eye and earshot of his latest employers. As he moved his pack closed in around him, the dire rats nuzzling his legs for attention. He bent down to roughly ruffle their fur and scratch them behind their dirty ears.Watching the surfacers fight had been instructive. They had handled the ogre with ease. He had expected they would – Balsag had chosen the ogre carefully from his many contacts – but he needed to be sure. And the surface dwellers had passed his test easily, showing both the prowess and ruthlessness required to go where they were going and come back alive: important things for an employer a mercenary expected to work with many times in the future.“Yes my friends,” the Hunter sighed, “I believe our Hanover’s Pig has finally come.”*****Next Time:"This Space for Rent," or "It's Good to be Back!"</blockquote>

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