From: andrea@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Andrea)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [DQ] Kadrys pilots a Garglider and does some sculptural remodelling
Summary: The street sweepers in the Plaza will be working overtime tomorrow
Date: 19 Aug 92 00:18:08 GMT

Kadrys stands and moves away from the rubble and mess that is all that remains
of his most recent meeting with a gargoyle. He casts round hastily, scanning
the swirling aerial melee for any new threat.

Kadrys spots a gargoyle plunging earthwards. Eyestab is staring at his target,
which from this angle seems to be Valgar, with demented concentration. In an
instant Kadrys changes to bat form. Moving with the same arrowswift directness
as a falcon, the bat rises straight into the path of the plummeting monster.
There is a moment's flurry of black pinions at the gargoyle's face, and then
the bat backwings, hovering in front of eyestab with an eye clutched in its
talons. Eyestab gives a long scream and halts his dive, the softthing on the
ground forgotten as he claws viciously at the bat. Stony talons whistle through
the air, and close on nothingness, as the bat flips aside from the gargoyle's
clutches and arcs away, striving for height. Eyestab Gargles a savage string of
curses as he follows the bat higher into the air. When they are high over the
square, the bat hovers for a moment above eyestab, who hisses gleefully at the
nearness of his prey. The next moment, the human form of Kadrys reappears and
he crashes onto the gargoyle's back, wrapping his legs round eyestab's waist and
hanging on, very much like grim death. As eyestab yowls and writhes, Kadrys
grabs frantically, and snares first one wing then the other. Eyestab struggles
like a maniac, but his flight muscles are unable to wrench his wings out of
the vampire's grasp. Kadrys grits his teeth in a preoccupied grimace as he
strives to keep his balance on the gargoyle's twisting back. He tilts eyestab's
wings, and the helpless gargoyle is steered into a plummeting dive. Kadrys
looks down over the gargoyle's shoulder, searching for a place to crashland
this bizarre glider. Below him, screwrocks is moving towards Valgar, totally
intent on his attack. "You'll do..." Kadrys mutters aloud, and corrects the
tilt of eyestab's wings, locking them into a precise angle. He cries "Run!" to
Valgar in the common human speech, counting on the moment it would take the
gargoyle attacking Valgar to translate the cry. Valgar sprints out of the way
only just in time as, with a crash that seems almost to rattle the Plaza's
famous steel plates out of their sockets, eyestab cannons into screwrocks. The
meeting was not their most comfortable one. Eyestab's fall was not particularly
softened by screwrocks' stony body, and screwrocks' day was not improved by the
other's precipitous arrival. Kadrys stays with eyestab until the last moment to
prevent him from dodging aside. As they collide Kadrys hurls himself clear,
landing hard and rolling some distance away. He climbs to his feet, favouring
the leg which was broken under him as he landed. He stands still for the moment
it takes him to heal, smilingly surveying the wreckage of the two gargoyles,
before turning away.

Turning, to face two more gargoyles stalking towards him from opposite sides
of the square. They had evidently decided to try to rush him together, since
as he sees them they both snarl and hiss with particular viciousness, coming
to a sudden halt. Kadrys takes advantage of the moment to assess these new
foes. They both seem to be in fairly poor shape. Both of them are grounded,
their wing membranes shredded as if by a large number of barbs and hooks. The
fluid leaking from the many rips in their wings smells not only of blood but
also of something else. Some sort of drug or poison, judging by the
unsteadiness of their stance. Then, the pieces fall into place and Kadrys
remembers glimpsing the two of them fighting with each other in midair, as
those nets were being brought out against 'Raelf. They must have been
entangled together. He grins sharply as a plan forms.

Kadrys draws himself up and bares his fangs in a contemptuous sneer. "Well,
what're you two waiting for?" he snaps. The gargoyles look confused at hearing
their own language from the mouth of a foodthing. Kadrys' sneer widens at
their expression. "Yes, I know all about _your_ kind, you pathetic pieces of
pavingstone! The only thing any gargoyle is ever good for, is giving pigeons
something to shit on!" Gnawflesh and biteface simultaneously snarl and stalk
closer, talons extended to slash should Kadrys try to dodge out from between
them. Kadrys chuckles derisively at their reaction. "Yesss, come on, come on,
you depressing descendants of drainpipes! Yooou miserable sons of slimechoked
gutterspouts!" With a united shriek of sheer maddened rage, the two gargoyles
charge Kadrys, to trap him and crush him between their stony bodies, slice him
with their claws. Kadrys simply stands, still smiling with utter contempt, as
unmoving as if he were himself a statue, as they rush together, talons
extended, jaws gaping wide.

As they collide with a thud and a loud crunch of splitting stony hide, Kadrys
vanishes without warning. The two gargoyles rebound stunned from the impact,
surrounded by a cloud of dust kicked up by their collision. Dust, or a stray
wisp of night mist. Gnawflesh shakes his head to clear it. BAD move. The pain
worsens. He presses his fingers to his aching head, and finds his muzzle is
crushed. He spits a mouthful of broken teeth at biteface. "My noshe!" he moans.
"You broke my noshe, you shtupid bashtich!" Biteface glares dizzily at
gnawflesh out of a mask of blood and ocular fragments. "ME stupid! You
wingcrumpled eggrotted tailsucker! You cost me an eye!" The recent wounds make
their old hatred for each other flare, and soon their insults have escalated
into vicious, bitter fighting. The monsters' struggle eventually slows and
falls into stillness, biteface eviscerated by gnawflesh's talons, his tusks
still meeting in gnawflesh's neck.

A short distance away, a tendril of mist swirls, catching the light. A moment
later, it is replaced by Kadrys' familiar form. He surveys the two corpses
locked together in their mutual spite, and smirks with mock-sentimentality at
the sight, thinking 'Togetherness; isn't it wonderful...'

He shrugs, and turns his back on them. They had been ridiculously easy to
dupe. "Gargoyles. They're always sooo predictable..." he drawls aloud.

And at that moment, tonguerot spends the last of his sanity to utter an Unholy
Word. To do the unpredictable.

The air around and above Kadrys rocks to the reverberations of that word, but
he is insensible to it all. The effects on him are, perhaps, unique. He is the
battleground of two extreme influences. Since he is a vampire, the Unholy
Word's physical effects are actually beneficial, (just as a Holy Word would be
a serious danger to him). The weariness, the aching thirst, all the residue of
his exertions begin to ebb away. But the mental effects are a very different
matter. The intent, both of the speaker of the Word, and of the source of the
Word's power, is profoundly malicious toward him. Torn agonisingly between
physical healing and mental assault, Kadrys collapses as if the cords of his
life have been cut.

Toothcrack does not feel good at all. Still dizzy and sick from the net's
venom, he staggers round a square that seems to him to be filled with nothing
but the mangled corpses of other gargoyles. He wonders to himself whether the
poison might not have already killed him, and this might be the start of
gargoyle hell. Then his eyes fall on the foodbeast lying in the square, and he
decides that this might not be hell after all. Drool starts to run from his
jaws as he shambles closer, thinking 'Maybe I gonna be dead soon like the
rest, but at least I gonna die with a bellyful of fresh meat!' He bends over
the sprawled body of Kadrys, and snorts scornfully, prodding at the wiry arms
and legs. 'Skinnybony softthing. I like more muscles to bite.' toothcrack
thinks, before shrugging. 'Still got richsoft slippery gutmeat. Eat that.'
Toothcrack stretches out a massive hand and extends a single razor talon. He
stabs it into Kadrys' flesh at the base of his breastbone and opens his torso
to below the navel in a single slow stroke. He starts to bend his head low,
jaws agape to eat, but freezes in mid-movement, eyes wide with disbelief. As
toothcrack watches, the edges of the open wound draw together, sealing
themselves rapidly, until within moments the skin is whole, unmarked by even a
scar. "Huhhh?" Toothcrack blinks and scrubs the back of one arm across his
eyes. He pouts stubbornly and extends all the talons of his hand, digging them
all in the foodbeast's side and ripping them across the width of the belly. As
he boggles, the five gaping slashes close upon themselves, healing with the
same frightening speed as the single wound. As toothcrack leans over a moment
to puzzle at this weird behaviour from his meal, an even stranger thing
happens: he hears his dinner speak. "MY turn!" Kadrys snaps, bending his knees
to his chest and lashing out with both feet at the exposed torso of the
gargoyle bending over him. Toothcrack sails backwards into the air, crashing to
the pavement on the other side of the square, the stony armour over his chest
and abdomen splintered inwards.

Kadrys' eyes finish tracking toothcrack's last flight, and unfocus for an
instant. That gargoyle's claws had _not_ been the most pleasant way to be
awakened from his spell-induced coma. Then, Kadrys lies where he is while his
eyes search the skies restlessly. Nothing. He gets to his feet and scans the
gargoyles in the square for signs of life. None. He heaves a convulsive sigh of
relief. Though the Unholy Word has alleviated the physical aftereffects of the
battle, he has an air of weariness, perhaps an aftermath of the mental malice
behind the Word. There is a sense of ashes in his expression as he looks around
for the other DragonQuestors.
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