Rancid Chronicles: part 4

There is a little Sun Tzu in all of us.
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Lo Ki
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:24 am
Location: Michigan

Rancid Chronicles: part 4

Post by Lo Ki » Tue Sep 23, 2003 8:26 am

A cold draft caused me to look up in time to see my small patron closing the door. Rancid pulled his earthenware bottle from his pack as he settled into the overstuffed chair by the fire. Though a little dusty and travelworn he did not quite live up to his present alias. The bottle in his hands has to be enchanted; the ale I have seen it dispense is rich and dark and apparently endless. Rancid uncorked the bottle and drank deeply. I quickly set aside the letter I was drafting and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment.

"Most people think paladins are mystical paragons of virtue;" the little traveler began, "but, I know better. I have traveled many miles in the company of various 'holy warriors' and know they are only men with the same faults as everyone else.

"Take Kellan, for instance. Right here in this city, the group I was with was tracking some members of the Dragon cult. One evening Kellan apparently had his pocket picked by some guy in a long, dark, hooded cloak. A few night later we were heading to a suspected cult meeting when we saw a figure wrapped in a long, dark, hooded cloak hurrying down the street ahead of us. Kellan pulled out this outlandish weapon consisting of lead weights on leather thongs; a bola I think he called it. Anyway he held one end and got the thing spinning over his head and hurled it at the figure. The contraption wrapped around the figure's neck two or three times before the weights whacked him in the head. He dropped like a sack of rocks.

Our kind and virtuous paladin let out a whoop and cried 'That had to do something to him!' Indeed it had. We closed on the prone figure and drug the limp form into an alley. There we pulled back the hood to reveal the lovely face of a young lady who was obviously of gentle birth. She was probably returning home from a secret tryst with some lucky lover. The bola's weights had crushed the back of her skull. She was quite dead.

Our good and merciful paladin gasped in horror and prayed for forgiveness before he started to remove her purse and jewels. It was then I opened my big mouth. 'All right! You're my kind of paladin!' I said. Poor Kellan suddenly realized just what he was doing. He abruptly decided that he had to set things right. He put the jewels in her purse and picked up her body and carried it to a nearby temple; it was not to late for magic to heal her body and recall her spirit.

Unfortunately priests are often worse than paladins. They wanted an outrageous sum to perform the necessary magics. Kellan agreed and set out to gather the funds. He had nowhere near enough and even after the more generous of our companions chipped in, he was way short. Fortunately I knew a loan shark who could easily handle that kind of cash. Our dimwitted paladin agreed to repay twice what he borrowed.

After he took the cash and paid the priests, he went back to our villa to mope. While he was there he realized he did have something of value. He had an amulet made of precious metals and stones. It was a magical family heirloom or some such guff. The next day he found a buyer and paid off the loan shark who gave me a generous commission for bringing him the business.

The young lady’s body was healed and her spirit recalled; but, her secret was revealed and her rich husband tossed her out on her ear. We missed the meeting of the cultists where another young lady was sacrificed. All this because a paladin was ticked off about losing a few coins to a pickpocket. Well, at least I came out ahead."

Rancid took another long drink from his bottle before corking it and rising. He placed another of those gold coins on my desk as he headed to the door.
Lo Ki Level 80 sword
Brion Level 46 spear
Ahn Lo Level 49 four school mage
K'tellen Level 52 trade mule

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