Rancid Chronicles: part 12

[Lo Ki]

I was working on reading and writing in elvish when he came in. I had left the door open to air out the place a bit now that the weather permitted. It’s not that the street smells any better; it’s more like a mental illusion. Rancid strolled in and turned to look back out the door. He stood there with his head cocked to one side. After a couple of moments, he shrugged and went to the chair by the hearth and settled in. By then I had put away my elvish writings and gotten out fresh paper.

“As I was saying,” he began, “I had to move to a new town. I had adopted an alias in the last town so that my former companions could not find me too easily. I now had to take a new name once again to avoid any inquiries by my ex-guildmates from the town I had fled.

This time, being aware of such things, I sought out the local thieves guild. I found them without too much trouble; but joining proved to be another matter. I had to pass a test, of course. However, where in the last town the tests were done ‘in house’, here the test was to be a ‘real life’ scenario. There was a certain mage in town who ran a small shop. All I had to do was steal a magical ring he was known to carry in his pocket. No one knew what it did; but he was known to take it out and toy with it while dickering with customers.

The mage proved to be uncooperative. He never left his shop. He had a servant who ran all his errands for him. There would be no ‘chance’ encounters on the street. I had no choice but to visit his shop. The guild was kind enough to warn me that the shop had various enchantments to prevent break-ins, so I decided to pose as a potential customer. I had not started my ‘disgusting’ phase yet, so I cleaned up and bought the best clothes I could afford. I filled my coin purse with copper pennies so it would weigh heavily on my belt and give the impression that I could actually afford his wares.

Once inside I told him I was looking for some kind of protective charm. He collected several from around his shop and laid them on the counter. He pulled up a stool for me to stand on so I could see the items as he described their various properties. Fortunately, by holding up an item for examination in a certain way I was able to maneuver him to where I could reach his pocket. I deftly reached in and found the ring. However, as I was taking my hand from his pocket, I felt something grab my hand. I glanced down and saw a small demon clinging to the mage’s belt with its feet and to me with its hands. I would later find out that it was actually a small devil, not that it matters.

I snatched my hand from it’s grasp as it cried out, ‘THIEF!’ The mage gave a wave of his hand and a shimmering field of magic appeared around me. I was in trouble and I knew I was hopelessly outclassed. In an act of desperation, I slipped the ring on my finger.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in a large room with a man in clerical robes standing on one side of me and on the other was a man wearing chainmail covered by a surcoat. I glanced around me wildly. There were a few monkish and priestly types scattered around the room, some kneeling, some performing mundane tasks such as sweeping or dusting. I surmised I was in a temple as there was an alter behind me.

Since I was not sure of what was what, and since no one seemed to be threatening me, I hesitated. Still, I was on the verge of bolting when the man in chainmail spoke.

‘You’re safe now,’ he said.

Hearing that I decided to wait. The man in chainmail turned out to be a paladin named Jerome. We would later become friends and I think I may have mentioned him before. The other man was a priest.

It turns out the ring I stole turned the person and his accoutrements into stone when they when put on. The mage had then put me on display in his shop window. I had been there for about a year when Jerome took notice of me. The great detail in the ‘statue’ had gained his attention. He had had previous experience with similar enchantments and guessed I had been stoned. He purchased me from the mage and had brought me to the temple where the priest had restored me. I still had the ring on my finger. I quickly took it off. The priest cautioned me not to put it back on as it still had its power and would turn me to stone again. Thus I came into possession of my very first magical item; however, I would not keep it for long. But that is a story for another day.”

Rancid sat gazing out the door with a bemused smile on his face. As he had apparently finished his tale for this visit, I spoke up. “I’ve been thinking about your question,” I said. The small traveler turned his gaze to me. “I think I am ready to move to some place better,” I continued tentatively.

“Excellent,” he replied, “I know just the place.” I’ll take you there tomorrow. With that he slipped out of the chair and headed to the door. “I’ll be here about mid-morning,” he said as he stepped out into the street.

[nyfin yurbak]

One of the best ones yet, I can see my DM pulling something like that