From: Mike Whitaker <MIKEW@SDL.MDCBBS.COM>
Subject: STORY: Midnight's Bane - part 13
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 21:45:42 GMT

	Bidding the others farewell Hawk, Drax, and Anya left the warm temple
for the biting cold winds outside. Noticing Anya shiver, Hawk removed his cloak
and draped it around her shoulders. "As I said back in there, this does seem
urgent. However, I am more than a little concerned about the lost boy." Drax
and Anya exchanged glances. "I would not like to have to leave with this on my
mind."
      	Drax nodded. "I agree. However, something that Cherri said still sticks
in my mind: perhaps this is a means to prevent us from taking up this mission."
"Yes, I'd been considering that possibility too," Anya agreed, pulling the
cloak around her.
	"The thought had crossed my mind too, but I would prefer not to take
the chance that we were wrong," Hawk moved ahead of Drax and then stopped
abruptly and turned to face his friends. "We are caught in a situation which
requires caution. We have less than a day, and the chances of us resolving it
in that time are very slim. The way I see it we have two choices: we either
leave it to Raverna to solve, or Anya could possibly use some of her
connections to set up a meeting with this Eliz Naul. What do you think ? I
would be prepared to trust in Raverna as long as we could return here at some
later date." Drax reached out and grasped him by the shoulder.
	"I think that you will probably never forgive yourself if we do not at
least give it a try." There was the soft crunch of a footstep on the snow as
Angron, tall and grey-cloaked, moved with surprising grace to join them.
	"If we are to work together, it would seem sensible to start now." He
surveyed the assembled group before continuing. "I haven't met Raverna before,
but if Cherri says she can be relied on, I am sure she can - though I get that
impression about her anyway. I certainly intend to return here - and while I
understand your concern for the child, anything that might prevent us is likely
to be more important."
	Drax nodded, acknowledging the priest, and continued, "Sooo, this Eliz
Nual likes to make children steal for him, eh?  Do you think that we can find
out the area where his operation works?". Anya shrugged. 	
	"Probably." The grey-clad priest twitched his cloak tighter around him
before speaking.
	"He's one of the petty crimelords in the Thieves' Quarter near the
Street of the Red Lanterns - fences the stuff that's easy to get rid of, hires
out thugs, that kind of thing - based around the Snake's Tongue and Winged Man
taverns. Using children sounds at about his level." Anya raised an eyebrow and
looked inquiringly at Drax.
	"You have a plan?"
	"Remember that cantrip I taught you the other night...?"

	By this time, the four had wandered over to the water fountain
dedicated to Kerila, the Goddess of Life in Temple Square, still flowing
despite the temperature hovering around freezing. Brushing the snow off the
edge of the fountain wall, Drax sat, and turned to his companions. "So what do
you think?  If it doesn't work, we will at least know that we have tried."
Angron nodded.
	"We might at least find information that will help Raverna if we do
have to leave the problem with her".
	"I'm game if you are," Anya agreed, and looked at her companions. "Let
me do a little - research - and I'll find out what I can about his territory.
I'd also like to stop somewhere and pick up something a little more drab and
serviceable. The better to blend in to the crowd, you understand; and with
winter coming on this fiercely and this early, I can equip myself for the
miserable cold weather in the process."
	"A good idea." remarked the priest. "The Iron mountains will be colder
than here - and so will the pegasus-back flight out there."
	"Fine," said Drax. "Anya, we'll meet you back at the Raven's Eyrie
around lunchtime."

	The party had been sat around the warm fire in the Raven's Eyrie for
around an hour before Anya returned, during which the soft-spoken Angron asked
for a few more details of the abduction of the child, about which he seemed to
be genuinely concerned.
	At last the door opened to admit the bard, who peeled off a heavy grey
woolen cloak and came over to join them in front of the blazing logs. Drax
looked at her enquiringly.
	"Well?" Anya shrugged.
	"Not a lot. Angron seems to be right about his base of operations,
anyway. One thing, though. There's rumour he's moved up recently into fencing
jewellry as well as the stuff that's easier to dispose of." Angron raised an
eyebrow.
	"Riskier, but potentially more lucrative." He smiled. "Convenient,
too."

	After some more discussion of the plan, the party set off, Drax
carrying with him a cheap brooch which Anya picked up in the Market on her way
back to the Raven's Eyrie. The four headed through the streets, snow turning to
slush under many feet and carts, towards the Street of the Red Lanterns. As
they entered the Thieves' Quarter, they instinctively grouped a little closer
together, careful of the many shadowed alleyways and doorways. Just after they
had turned down a fairly wide street leading to the Winged Man, a woman's voice
from a dark alleyway on the left said clearly "That's them."   	
	Angron glanced round. taking in the situation - the woman who had spoken
and a crossbow armed man in the alleyway, a fair haired man casually propping
up a doorway on the right, a merchant and a prostitue on opposite sides near
the mouth of the street and a man and an urchin further up the street - and
pulled out his goddess's symbol from the front of his tunic.
	 Hawk whipped out his longsword and dagger and dived for the alleyway,
calling "Cover my back!" over his shoulder to Drax, who had begun to murmur the
words of a spell, and Anya. The crossbow in the man's hands jerked as he fired
it, obviously shaken by the speed of Hawk's approach, and the bolt passed
harmlessly over Hawk's shoulder and impacted on the far wall. He barely had
time to drop the crossbow and draw the sword at his belt before Hawk was on
him, the blued-steel blade nicking at his bare sword arm and leaving a shallow
cut that dripped red. Drax, now surrounded by a number of shifting images of
himself, drew a dagger and advanced, smiling grimly, down the alley towards the
woman, standing seemingly rooted to the spot.
	"Hmmm, you claim to know us, eh? Well if you do, then you should also
know that you have endangered yourself by attempting to detain us." He began to
spellcast again, and a glowing ball of energy formed in his left palm. Behind
them, Angron's voice rose in a chant, ending in a ringing cry of "Hold!".
Hawk's opponent, in the middle of drawing a dagger with his off-hand, slowed
momentarily, then recovered, bringing the dagger up in a combination parry
which barely foiled the ranger's attempt to disarm him. The blue-cloaked woman,
however, eyes staring wide at the crackling sphere of power in Drax's hand,
turned to run from him down the alley, but was caught by Angron's spell and
frozen motionless in mid-stride.

	Back in the main street, Angron's quiet but carrying "Trouble!" and
Anya's urgent "Drax!" were overlaid by the rumble of wheels, as a cart moved to
block the end of the street. The two men by the cart ducked under the horse's
neck and advanced, drawing swords, and ignoring the prostitute as she ran
across to the merchant, crying out for protection. The blond, leather-clad man
propping up the wall slowly straightened and produced two deadly-looking long
knives from his belt. As the urchin stood up and hared off towards the tavern,
the man who had been talking to him strode purposefully towards the slender
bard, dagger glittering wickedly in his right hand.
	Drax whirled, his mirror images dancing wildly about him, and Hawk's
blade licked out at his adversary, leaving a much deeper cut across his forearm
and causing him to drop his sword with a grunt of pain. Hawk changed his grip
slightly and swung up to hit him with the pommel of his sword, catching him on
the point of the jaw as he doubled up over his wounded arm. There was a
sickening crack, his head snapped back, and he fell to the ground and lay
motionless. The black-clad ranger froze for an instant, staring down at the
body, then spun round and back out of the alley, face grim, eyes glittering
dangerously, to face the slowly advancing men.
	 "Watch, ho! Watch!" came a shout from the merchant, cut off with a cry
and a gasp as he slipped to the ground, and the girl straightened up, blood
dripping from a slim knife gripped in one hand. The fair-haired man looked at
her for the merest second, then shrugged and indicated the party with a wave of
one of his knives.
	"Get them. Roxanne, spoil the mage." Angron dropped his sling and
unhooked a mace from his belt as the carter and his companion closed. From over
the priest's shoulder, Drax murmured the short incantations for a spell, as the
girl hurled her knife at him with surprising accuracy. One of the shifting
images surrounding Drax winked out as two blue darts of light shot from his
outstretched fingers at the carter, who stumbled, then fell heavily to the
ground.
	Anya threw the dagger in her hand at the advancing cutthroat, who
stepped a half pace nimbly sideways: it caught in the folds of his cloak and
fell to the ground with a clatter. The Tabalin girl drew a short sword and
stood her ground as he closed, grinning, and cut fast and savagely at her face,
the blade passing mere inches from her eyes as she jerked her head back...
	The leader of the band of ruffians closed with Hawk, his two long
knives matched against the ranger's dagger and intricately worked longsword.
Their blades met in a ring of metal and a whirl of strike and counter-strike,
cut and parry, then Hawk took a quick step back to avoid a vicious slashing
blow, and cut down with his longsword at his over-extended opponent. Somehow,
the blond man blocked with his other knife, but the dagger in Hawk's left hand
flashed out and cut deeply into his shoulder, and as he jerked back the ranger
thrust hard with his longsword. The ruffian collapsed, limp, and Hawk stood for
a second over the limp form, holding a blade that slowly dripped red...
	Angron's opponent, wiry and fast, aimed a low cut which, despite the
priest's attempt to dodge the blow, left a shallow wound in his thigh. The two
circled for a few seconds, Angron apparently limping slightly, and then the
cutthroat struck again for the same leg. His blade bit deep, and Angron half
stumbled, but recovered and brought his mace down in a blow which crushed his
antagonist's shoulder, and forced him to his knees, weapon clattering to the
ground...
	"Nice face," remarked Anya's adversary. "Be a shame to spoil it." He
slashed again at her face: this time the tip of the dagger just grazed her
forehead, leaving a cut which, like all head wounds, began to bleed profusely.
Unfortunately, it also left him open to an underhand thrust from the girl's
shortsword which dropped him dead in his tracks, the mocking smile frozen on
his face.
	Drax began to spellcast, his eyes fixed on the girl. Panicked, she
hurled a second dagger, which missed, and a third, which took down another of
his images, and he calmly continued making passes with his hands and intoning
the magical syllables, still watching her intently. The girl turned to flee, but
Hawk covered the few yards that separated then in an instant and grabbed her,
pinioning her arms behind her. She struggled and cursed briefly and then fell
sullenly silent. The wiry mage shrugged, stopped casting and grinned at her...	
	Angron grimaced in pain and eased himself down against the wall for a
moment, before reaching inside his tunic for the crecent moon symbol of Lyra
and chanting a few mords to his goddess. Trying to staunch the flow of blood
from her forehead, Anya walked over and rested a hand on his shoulder for a
monemt, looking concerned.
	"You ok?" Angron looked up when he had finished, the edges of the sword
wound in his thigh now closed.
	"Fine. Now lets have a look at that cut..."
	Looking intently at the remains of the attacking force, Hawk turned to
the others, a grim expression on his face and one hand resting purposefully on
the hilt of his dagger. "I wouldn't mind talking to some, or all, of these
prisoners... alone." Angron, having healed Anya, looked up from where he was
working on the ruffian's broken shoulder and frowned.

	"I'd prefer it if we took them back to the temple - priests of Tal are
very helpful in determining truth. Also," he said, indicating the blue-cloaked
woman, "I'm sure I've seen her around the temple somewhere - I'd like to find
out what she was doing, and someone else might be able to identify her." The
woman paled and bit her lip. "Besides that, there will be more healing
available," he raised his voice a little, "and while asking a priest of Sarak
to speak with their shade is always available as a last resort, I find you tend
to get more useful information from a healthy co-operative subject." Hawk
shrugged and turned to the woman, saying nothing but with a dangerous glint in
his dark eyes. She paled even more under his scrutiny, then looked away from
his unrelenting gaze before speaking in a low, unsteady voice.
	"Alright. I'll talk, but only to the High Priestess."
	"Good enough for me," said Angron. The red-haired prostitute's head
jerked up at this, and she spat at the woman.
	"Bitch! I told the priest we shouldn't trust you..."
	"Priest?" enquired Drax, smoothly. "What priest?" Roxanne fell silent,
her cheeks burning.
	"Never mind," Anya soothed, "I'm sure your friend'll tell us."

	After a brief discussion with the captain of a small and nervous
looking contingent of the city watch, who seemdd relieved to hand the entire
problem over to the church in the person of Angron, the foursome returned to
the temple, escorting the prisoners. There, the ruffian and Roxanne were hauled
off by four grim looking temple guards, leaving them waiting with the woman.
After a few moments, the chestnut-haired high Priestess entered, noticeably
displaying a light mace at her belt. She relaxed visibly at the sight of the
woman.
	"Stars, Myra, you might have warned me, and them!" The woman reddened.
	"I'm sorry - I haven't been able to get in touch. They don't completely
trust me." Cherri turned to Angron, looking faintly embarrassed.
	"Myra has been working in the Thieves' Quarter, trying to infiltrate a
cult that has been causing us problems. I'm sorry - it was foolish of me not to
spot the likely connection."
	"What about the child?" asked Hawk. Myra shook her head.
	"That was part of the setup - he never existed."
	"What happens now?" enquired Drax.
	"Now?" said Cherri. "Now, I think it's the temple's problem. We'll talk
to the prisoners and see what we can find out." She smiled at the brooding
Hawk. "Rest assured, it'll be dealt with thouroughly. Both Myra and I have
personal reasons for wanting it done..."
--
This story is a compilation of a PBeM campaign, by:

	Mark Little ...................	Hawk
	Janet Huss .................... Anya
	Rob Holden .................... Drax
        Alan Braggins ................. Angron

	Mike Whitaker ................. GM and mindless violence

Back episodes of Midnight's Bane are available by anonymous ftp from:
Machine name: 		quayle.mu.wvnet.edu	
Internet address:  	129.71.32.151