Organization: Penn State University
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 16:19:14 EDT
From: <ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [L] A Meeting with an Assassin (Part II)

ADMIN:  For the newer members of this group, I should explain something.
        Luthor is being stalked by Sharella the Half-Doppleganger
        (aka Helen the Grey, Draaken Rasp).

>"I sees dem Grik.  If dey is smart, dey will give us da jangles now.  If dey
>is dumb...which dey is, dey is gonna fight us den give up the jangles anyway."
>This from another ruffian in his late teens.  He wore an impressive array of
>daggers that Luthor hoped he didn't know how to use.
>
>'Uh Oh' thought Luthor.
>
>'heh heh heh,' thought Helen.
>
>"We got work to do boy," said their leader.  The gang closed its circle on
>their two victims.

     Seeing that he was totally outnumbered, Luthor saw no other choice.  He
would have to get help from the Dragons Inn.  It was only a few hundred yards
away.  He just hoped that Draaken could hold them off until he returned.
     Luthor charged one of the sides of the closing circle.  The boys on that
side prepared to tacled him, but instead, he jumped behind one of the statues.
There, in its shadow, Luthor's form became indistinct.  Like smoke being
blown away by a gentle breeze, he faded out of existance....

     ...in a particularly deep shadow on the top of the Dragons Inn, something
stirred.  It took shape and the shape was that of a half-elf.  Luthor emerged
from this shadow and walked to the edge of the roof.  He was about to start
climbing down the rain gutter to get to the entrance of the inn, but he
paused.  He saw the gang in the distance, but instead of tearing Draaken to
pieces, they seemed to be following his orders.  The gang was spread out
across the Arcade of Unforgotten Heroes and the Plaza of Glittering Steel
now.
     'Treachery!' Luthor thought, 'I should have expected this.  You don't
kill a monarch and make many friends.  But who is he?'

     Helen approached the Dragons Inn.  'Oh what a fool! I should have expected
him to use magic.  I should have poisoned his drink and gotten it over with.
I should have stabbed him in the back why we were all sitting happily at his
table.  I would have been killed trying to escape, but at least I would have
succeeded in my mission.  The disgrace!'
     One of the gang members saw Luthor on the roof of the inn and pointed him
out to Helen.  "Luthor, you coward, come down here and face me!" she screamed.

"Send away your little friends and I would happily spill your life all over
the Plaza," Luthor answered the challenge.  Without waiting for a response,
he began to climb down the drain pipe.

"Leave me," she commanded the gang.  They agreed without pause.  The last thing
they wanted was to have to fight a mage especailly so close to the Dragons Inn.

Now on the ground, Luthor and Helen squared off, each looked for the advantage,
each waiting for the other to strike first.  A crowd had gathered.  Some people
from the Inn were outside too.  They would not interfere.  This was a combat
of honor.

'What is he going to do?'
'When is he going to make his move?'
'How shall I defeat him?'
'What is he thinking?'

Both of them reached out with their minds, Helen with her racially inhanced
psionics and Luthor with his with his latent ability.

'MY GOD, HE'S READING ME!'  They both thought together, their thoughts were
echoed back to them through the reading abilities of the other.  Like
feedback, it grew on itself, going back and forth between the two in a
painful cycle.  Helen, thinking that she was under attack, instinctively
decided to fight back.  She PSI-Blasted Luthor..........which was about the
worst thing she could have done.  The mental scream echoed back and forth
damaging both of their minds until they were too weak to stay conscious.

--------
Grik stayed to watch the fight.  He thought it would be interesting to find
out the result.  The one called Draaken had come to his gang and paid them
a huge sum of money to take out this lone mage, but it seemed that he was
more than Draaken expected.

Tension mounted as they squared off.  Draaken had a longsword and a dagger
out.  The mage had a short sword.  They made a few false attacks, then the
strangest thing happened.  They both got a worried look on their faces and
then fell over.  Oh well, he could always lie about it and sell something
more spectacular to the newspaper.

--------
Luthor and Helen (now in her true form) were crumpled on the street.  One
firgure was a grey-green hairless scaly woman and the other was a man in
BLACK.  Both looked like they could use a little help.

In the midst of the crowd is a purple-skinned creature who is having
Flashbacks.

      Love and Peace and Death?,
            -The Dreamer-
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn