Rancid Chronicles: part 17

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 17

Post by Lo Ki » Wed Dec 31, 2003 11:07 am

I was tutoring my new student when Rancid arrived. I had worked a deal with a local grocer. I would teach his son to read and write and he would keep us supplied with milk, butter, eggs, sugar, honey, and molasses. Several days ago the ladies had indulged themselves and bought sugar and eggs and baked some sweet pastries. I was determined this would become regular table fare and was making sure they always had the fixings.

The boy gawked at the small thief who appeared silently in my shop; Halflings are not that common in the city. He must have come in the back way because I would certainly have noticed if the door had opened, even without the bell. I quickly ended the lesson and sent my pupil on his way for the day.

Rancid settled in his usual spot and pulled out his usual bottle. It had been a week since his last visit but he picked up his tale as if it had only been an hour or so.

“That final time I awoke, I found myself by the edge of a large lake; only I wasn’t quite myself. It was as though I were dreaming. I was helpless to act and could only observe the events that followed.

I awoke with a tremendous thirst so naturally I crawled to the lake to drink. As I bent over the water, I saw a horrendous beast in the water. I recoiled at first but then a terrible rage consumed me and I threw myself at the beast. I thrashed the water into a muddy froth before I calmed down enough to remember my thirst. I bent to drink; the beast was already forgotten. My thirst slaked, I was suddenly consumed by hunger and set off in search of food. I floundered through the underbrush, making enough noise to wake the dead. I found nothing until I came across a small village on the lakeshore. The first person I saw was an elvish woman hanging wet clothes on a line.”

Rancid paused to take a long pull from his bottle. When he continued, his voice was flat and dead.

“I launched my self at her and brought her down easily. My claws ripped open her belly and I began to feast on her entrails. It was not long before one of her children discovered us and ran screaming down the street. I barely noticed. I was enjoying my meal. Soon several elvish men arrived and attacked me with axes, pitchforks, and clubs. They could not seem to land a telling blow on me. I wounded several of them, some badly, before the pain of their blows finally drove me away. This went on for several weeks. I never seemed to find any food in the forests and the sheep and cattle in the fields ran too fast for me. The only food was the elves I found in scattered villages. At first I would boldly march in and attack the first person I saw, male, female, or child. But others would always arrive and drive me away before I could sate my hunger. So I grew stealthy. I learned to ambush people outside the village; and later, to kill them silently in their beds and drag them off. Of course the area wardens were hunting for me. I learned to avoid them as they hurt worse than the villagers. At least the various knights in the area had an interesting quest; find and kill the demon beast that was plaguing their villages. The knights were actually a blessing. They usually traveled with only a squire for company. Once I killed the squire, it was usually easy to hurt the knight enough to force him to retreat or die. Then I could enjoy my meal in peace.”

Rancid paused to take another long drink.

“In the end, it was a common gamekeeper who ended my reign of terror. He set a very simple trap which I walked straight into. He had me caged and got the cage onto a cart. Being used to dealing with wild animals, he was careful to stay out of my reach. He carted his prize to the main city in the area where I was transferred to an iron cage and put on display.

Fortunately, elves are a curious people. Humans would have simply kept me caged as an oddity until I died or they grew tired of feeding me and killed and stuffed me for some rich nobles trophy room. Elves, on the other hand, wanted to know what I was and where I came from. Eventually, through their magics, they learned what I truly was.

Fortunately, elves are a compassionate people. Even knowing what I was, humans would have kept me caged and on display. Instead, the elves researched ways to restore me to my true self. When they figured it out, they mercifully drugged me so that I slept through the transformation. When I awoke, I was myself again.

Of course, now they wanted to know why that had been done to me. I was brought before the ruler of the city, the lady Astryin. I dared not lie to her. I had no doubts they had magics in place to detect any attempts at deception.

Now she had to decide what to do with me. She knew my actions in her realm were beyond my control; but, still, I was a confessed thief. However, since I had not stolen anything within her territory, she decided to simply escort me to her borders and ban me from ever returning upon pain of death. They supplied me with clothes and food and sent me on my way to my next adventure.”

Rancid took another long drink from his bottle.

“All in all, a very sobering experience,” the little thief said as he proceeded to get thoroughly soused. I put him to bed on a couch in the parlor. In the morning he was gone.
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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