From: gusar@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Sean A Reith)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [G] Kordane gets equipped.
Date: 3 Oct 1992 08:57:23 +0800
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: uniwa.uwa.edu.au

ADMIN: Forgot to mention in my last post, the characters created
       therein (Flack, Rienler) are generally available NPCs.
       Rienler is a guild mage (who is rather mentally unstable at
       the moment), and is unlikely to be in the Low Town coven very
       often.  Feel free to add covens whereever you feel necessary.
       I haven't finished writing up the thieves' guild, but I _will_
       mail you, Aaron, when it's done :)

It had been one hell of a long night, but there was still a couple of
hours 'till first light, and if Kordane was going to get a horse before
dawn, he would have to get it soon.  He looked around his room, there
wasn't much that would be useful beyond what he was wearing.  He put on
short leg and arm greaves under his clothing, they were extremely
uncomfortable, but he had a bad feeling that all too much combat was in
the future.  He also grabbed his blanket, tying it diagonally across his
body.  He would have to buy some food at that inn before they left.

He considered stealing a horse from the stables of one of the inns
around town, but decided the stables of a horse merchant would yield
something less likely to be recognised.  He knew of one such stable, now
all he needed was a suitable bribe.  He silently thanked Freesha the coven
never closed...

Ten minutes later he was outside the stable, carrots in hand.  The damn
horse had better like them, they were the most expensive carrots in all
Generica.  It took him a moment to phyche himself up, then he dashed to
the door, quickly getting inside and closing it behind him.  He let his
eyes adjust, he needed more than blobs of heat.  Seven of the stables
were occupied, Kordane examined the occupant of each from a distance,
and found the one which suited him perfectly, a black beast, with dark
grey markings, which would blend in nicely with the darkness between
here and that inn.  Now came the hard bit, getting it out of the
stables.

Kordane carefully crept up to the beast, carrot extended, the beast
snorted, and he jerked his hand back.  After a pause to slow his pulse,
while the horse got to his feet, Kordane again held the carrot out,
"Good horsy, come on boy, have a carrot.".  The beast opened it's mouth
and it took all Kordane's courage to keep his hand out as it bit the
carrot, and he quickly jerked his hand back again.  He finally reached
out and patted the beast on the head, and it snorted again, with the
expected reaction from Kordane.  At least it had a bridle on.  To avoid
having to pat or feed it again, Kordane looked around for a saddle, and
spotted one on trestle in the corner.  He grabbed it with a grunt,
surprised at the weight, and hauled it over to the stable of 'his'
horse.  Unable to avoid it, he approached the beast again, with another
of his precious supply of carrots, "Come on boy, good boy.", he dared to
stroke the beast on the neck, it quivered slightly, but didn't have any
other reaction.  Kordane couldn't risk much more time, light was about
an hour away, so one more carrot later, more stroking and pointless
conversation, Kordane grabbed the saddle and dropped in on the beast's
back, over the blanket it had on.  The horse whinned, and snorted
several times, causing Kordane no end of stress, but it eventually
calmed down, and with one more carrot for good luck, he led the beast to
the door, slowly opening it and sticking his head through, seeing no
one around.  Several deep breaths later, and a short prayer to Freesha,
Kordane opened the door wide, and led the horse across to the gate of
the small paddock, every second feeling like he was walking on glass,
and expecting a shout, or a crossbow bolt from behind.  He made it.

Horses were altogether too loud, couldn't they tread gently?  Once out
of the stable, Low Town was easy, the guard didn't have the manpower to
patrol the streets effectively, but getting to the inn was going to be a
nightmare on his already abused nerves.  He wished he could ride, it would
make the whole process much easier.  He reached the edge of Low Town, from
where he would have to get onto the Arcade of Fountains to get to the
inn, he lent against the wall, waiting both the get courage up, and let
the guard pass, maximising his time to get across.
"Your purse, NOW, and don't try anything stupid, me mate's got a
crossbow trained on you."

Kordane realised some thug has mistaken him for someone wealthy,
probably due to the damn horse, he also knew the thug was bluffing,
there was only one heat source besides himself and the horse.  In his
best high class accent, Kordane replied,
"Oh god, please don't hurt me, here, take it."

Kordane withdrew a small bag of coins from behind his belt, and held it
out towards the thug, who reached and and grabbed it.  Kordane kicked
him in the knee, hard.
"You bastard, you'll pay for that."

Kordane lept backwards, as the thug swiped at him, who managed to scrape
Kordane's thigh, but causing his own knee to flare in pain.  Kordane flicked
a dagger towards him, which managed to hit at the wrong angle and bounce off.
Remembering the guards he had been waiting to pass, Kordane started shouting,
"Help, guards, HELP."

The thug tryed to get up and run, but Kordane kicked him in the knee
again, sending him to the floor in pain.  Kordane went over to the horse,
which was standing surprisingly calmly to one side, and threw the saddle
off, and then collected his knife, continuing to shout for help.

The guardsmen arrived at a sprint a minute later, regulation short
swords drawn, and Kordane limped over, pointing to the slowly retreating
thug, which one of the guards charged after, apprehending him without
too much trouble.  Kordane turned to the other guard, who was asking if
he was alright,
"Thank god you got here so fast, if you hadn't arrived, he would have
killed me."

The second guard returned with the thug,
G2: "This the man that assaulted you?"
K: "Yes officer, he's the villian."
G1: "So what exactly happened here, looks like you may have been
     getting the better of him."
K: "Well, I was just riding back to the Dragon's Inn, when this madman
    jumps out and pulls me off my horse, I'm just lucky that Charcoal
    didn't run off.  Thank god for the guardsmen I say, unfortunately
    I only carry this sword for show, hoping to avoid this sort of thing.
    Arrived in the nick of time, you did, if you guys hadn't arrived when
    you did, scaring him off and allowing me to trip him up, I'd be dead
    man right now.  I can't tell you how grateful I am."
   (pausing for a breath, Kordane reachs down and retrieves his purse)
G1: "Well, that's our job sir..."
K: "And a damn fine job you do, if you gentlemen wouldn't mind, could
    I impose on you for an escort to yonder inn, I'm a bit shaken up
    after this trauma."
G2: (nodding to the first guard)
    "You escort the gentleman, I can take this one in, meet me back
     at the guardhouse." (so saying he leaves with the thug).
G1: (placing the saddle back on the horse, and taking it's reins)
    "My pleasure sir.  So you'll be staying at the Dragon's Inn?
     How long will you be in town for?"
K: "To be honest I couldn't say, I'm meeting an old friend there,
    funny thing, I wouldn't be out at this time of night if I hadn't
    forgotten about it until the last minute, guess that'll teach me
    to be punctual in the future."
G1: "Here we are sir, I'll take your horse around to the stable in the
     back, and be on my way."
K: "Thank you so much for all your help, could I buy you a drink, I owe
    you that at least, for saving my life."
G1: "Thank you sir, no, I'm on duty, and I must get back to the
     guardhouse."
K: "Well, thank you again officer."
G1: "Night sir."

Before entering the inn, Kordane took a deep breath, and rested a moment
against the door.  Pushing it open, he went to the bar and ordered an
ale.
"Barkeep, could I have a bandage with that, and is it possible to buy
some dry food for a couple of days on the road?"
Kordane is surprised when the barkeep doesn't threaten him in response,
rather giving him a CLEAN bandage, and indicating to see the cook about
supplies.  He could get used to this side of town.  After arranging some
food, and bandaging his wound, Kordane returns to the table from whence
this all started.

(... continued)
-- 
Sean A Reith aka Lynscar             | gusar@uniwa.uwa.edu.au
C programmer and net.addict at large | sean@gu.uwa.edu.au
Obquote:                             | reith_s@kultarr.cs.uwa.edu.au
 "I have a cunning Plan" - Baldrick  | sean@his.own.really.fast.machine (RSN)