From: Mike Whitaker <MIKEW@SDL.MDCBBS.COM>
Subject: STORY: Midnight's Bane - part 20
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 21:49:25 GMT

	Anya sat down on a bed, dumping her pack on the floor.
	"I think we're safe - they all seem reasonable people." She frowned.
"But all this talk of dopplegangers is making me very wary of any
strangers." Angron nodded. "I'm not saying we need to be concerned about
them," she added hastily, "Only that, as always, I think we need to be on
guard."
	The foursome unpacked, each claiming one of the four beds. After
about an hour, once each had had a warm bath (Angron conceding wryly that there
were some advantages to staying in a temple to Heslor) and changed into fresh
clothes, there was a light tap on the door.
	"Who is it?" Hawk's hand strayed to the hilt of Midnight's Bane.
	"Tanya. Are you decent? It's dinnertime." Drax, nearest the door, got
up from where he had been stretched out on the bed and opened it. Tanya was
leaning against a doorpost, grinning, wearing a close fitting one piece red
leather garment which left her arms and legs bare, long red boots and
another of the deep red fur cloaks. Round her neck, in addition to the cloth
wrapped chain they remembered, was a slender gold chain from which an
apparently burning pendant shaped like a bird hung, although it didn't seem
to be harming her. Hawk swallowed.
	"Isn't that a bit excessive?"
	"You've seen me in less." She tossed him the bundle of clothes she had
brought with her, wrapped in his cloak. "The whole lot is about two and a half
milennia old. It was found along with all kinds of other stuff, like Valgoth's
armour, in a hidden room here in the temple - apparently this was one of the
ways they made fashionable enchanted armour back then. It protects me about as
well as a full chain hauberk." She grinned. "And I'm not cold - the cloak is
enchanted to stop that. Horrible waste of magic. Coming to dinner?"

	Dinner was an excellent and welcome change from the trail rations
they had been sharing of late, and was served in the lower hall to the best
part of two hundred people. Afterwards everyone made their way to the great
hall on the floor above, where drinks were served and people gathered in
small groups and talked. Cherri, who had not been visible at dinner, appeared
along with a group of other priests of the various gods, collected a glass of
wine and greeted them with a smile.
	"Feeling better?" Angron grinned.
	"Much." The High Priestess, looking somewhat tired, sipped at her wine,
then ran a hand through her hair.
	"You were going to tell me your story." She sighed. "You'll have to
tell it again sometime to all these people, but I'd like to hear it first."
Hawk, with assistance from everyone else, explained to her all that had
happened since last they met, including showing her the new scabbard they
had acquired from the priest of Kerila. "I also think you could use some
better spies," he concluded wryly. "I've been in countries with less people
in them than Irongate! And they weren't exactly pleased to see us, which
really annoyed me as they made no attempt to get to know us!" Cherri smiled,
a little sadly.
	"Please forgive me for the things I kept hidden from you: I believed
they were necessary." She shrugged. "The information from Irongate was the best
we had - remember we are dealing with people whose speciality is deception."
Hawk nodded.
	"Who is or was the Firewitch?" he asked.
	"She is.. she was a very powerful sorceress from around two to three
thousand years ago - many of the items that are holy to Heslor, and a number
of others like Midnight's Bane, were enchanted by her hand. You'll her more
about her tomorrow, but I think it's important you hear it in context, and
that will take a little time." She looked across past Hawk to the far side
of the room, and her eyes opened wide in surprise. "Excuse me." Hawk's eyes
followed her slim black-clad figure as she practically ran across the hall
through the gathering towards Brigid, the warrior of the White Company they
had met aboard the ship, and a man to whom she had been talking for a while.
Cherri, heedless of a High Priestess's dignity, hugged the dark-haired man
fiercly, laughing.
	"A reunion, perhaps?" mused Drax as he turned away. Looking about the
hall, there were a number of small knots of people, some grouped by race
like the cluster of dwarves, or the two groups of elves, other obviously by
ties of comradeship, like Tanya's friends, or the small contingent of women
of the White Company, keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings. There was a
voice behind them.
	"Did I not say we would meet again?" Nasreen, his olive-skinned face
wreathed in smiles, greeted each of them with a handshake.
	"Where's everyone else?" enquired Drax
	"Robyn and the twins are flying watch over the city at present.
Raverna... is elsewhere." The paladin of Tal made polite conversation for a
while. After a few moments, Brigid and the man she had been talking to began
to move among the gathering, having brief conversations with a number of
people. Eventually she came over to the four of them
        "If I could trouble you for a little of your time?" Drax bowed.
        "Certainly." She indicated one of the side rooms off the great hall.
        "If you'd gather in there in around half a candlemark.". With that, she
moved on to talk to a couple of priests who were nearby.

        At the appointed time, they made their way to the side room.
Gathered in there were around two dozen people, several of whom they had
seen before, and a considerable number seemed to be armed. Brigid noticed
them arrive, nodded, and resumed her study of a sheet of parchment with the
dark haired man she had been talking with earlier. After another few moments
in which a couple more people slipped into the room, the man scanned the
room, glanced at Brigid, who nodded, and called for silence.
        "Right. For those who don't know me, my name's Alaric." His voice
was cheerfully friendly, and he grinned ruefully before continuing. "Brigid
and I seem to have been given responsibility for keeping this place secure
at night. For this, we need your help." He scanned the assembled group.
"Now, I appreciate that there are upwards of a hundred guards here, not
including the private bodyguards that the various dignitaries have brought
with them, whose job this is supposed to be, but... " He let the sentence
trail off. "Most of you are probably aware of the possible range of things
that could happen - nearly all of you are experienced adventurers of one
sort or another, and I believe you all know at least a little about Dark
Hunters and Lifestealers." Brigid handed him the parchment they had been
studying. "We want a team of around eight of you available, armed and ready
all through the night, in addition to the normal guards. We've picked four
groups, both for familiarity with each other, and for a balance of skills -
I'll try and explain the reasons behind the choices as I go." He grined,
obviously enjoying himself. "Right - watch leaders are Brigid, myself,
Valgoth and Blaize." Blaize, the only one none of the four had met, squeezed
through to the front to join the others. "Now, there are four people
with weapons of particular use: Alisande and "Light" and "Life", with
Brigid's group, please; Hawk and "Midnight's Bane" with me; Shandril and the
Sword of the Phoenix with Blaize..." He stopped for a moment and grinned.
""Daylight" is, of course, already with Valgoth."
        "Naturally." It dawned on Hawk after a couple of seconds that the voice
emanated from the hand-and-half sword at the tall paladin's waist.
        The assignment of people to groups went on, the somewhat tedious task
enlivened by Alaric's open and cheerful manner and wry humour. The four
of them were kept together with Alaric, along with Tanya, a tall and slim ranger
named Martin, Gareth, a priest of Heslor, dark-haired and stocky, and Jan, a
long-legged blonde with hair in tumbling waves down her back, tall enough to
look Drax and Hawk in the eye. She extended a hand to Anya with a warm and
genuine smile that reached her grey eyes, the three bracelets on her wrist
jingling softly against each other.
        "Hiya. They tell me you're another bard." Her accent was definitely odd,
but her handshake was firm and her manner friendly.
        "The major area we need to ensure is secure is the guest rooms
here." Alaric unrolled a plan of the temple complex and indicated a three
floor wing on the landward side of the large building. "Now at the last
count, we had three kings, a queen, a prince, four dukes and twelve high
priests in there." Jan chuckled. "I'm serious. And their own bodyguards." He
indicated the dormitories on the lakeward side. "You and most of the troops
are sleeping here - there'll be White Company guards there overnight. What
we'll be doing is patrolling the corridors of the guest wing - in pairs -
looking for anything, anything at all, out of the ordinary. Anyone walking
those corridors should be, or be with, someone who knows the password and
countersign for tonight. And no-one should be walking around alone." He
grinned. "OK so far? Fine. The password is this, and the countersign this."
As he spoke he wrote the words "Tanquil" and "Tanahil" on a scrap of
parchment. "Got those? OK." He tossed the parchment into the fireplace and
watched it burn to ashes. "We're on last watch, because I gather some of
you," he flashed Anya a smile, "need some rest. That's around an hour before
sunrise. Now let's go back into the main hall and get another drink, and
I'll answer any more questions."
	Hawk introduced the party to the others in their group. The tall and
lanky Martin seemed friendly and affable, with a ready smile and wit, whereas
Gareth, shorter and stockier of build with brown hair and the beginnings of
a beard, was more quiet and withdrawn, speaking in a soft Mearan accent.
	Before everyone moved away Hawk indicated to Drax, Anya, Angron
and Tanya that he wished to talk to them.
	"It would be unwise to believe that the forces of Irongate will
not use dopplegangers again. In a gathering such as this, it would be
simple to slip either a doppleganger or an assassin in without being
noticed. In such a situation it's extremely important that we know who
to trust, and that comes down to we five. We've got to come up with a
way to always tell that we are who we say we are, and I think the
password we had before is still good enough. What do you say?" Angron
nodded.
	"Seems ok. That reminds me - I know the one you mean, but you
never did tell me where it came from." Drax smiled grimly.
	"Just someone we met." Hawk glanced around and frowned.
	"I hate situations like this." His voice had a worried tone. "A
dagger or a sword could come from any one of a dozen directions before
the assailant could be seen or heard!" He headed after Alaric towards
the Great Hall, followed by the rest, Anya picking up a glass of fruit
cup from one of the servants to drink, then smiling at Alaric.
   	"More than sleep, though, I'd like some more information.  You
mentioned Dark Hunters and Lifestealers in there; Lifestealers I
understand, but who or what are Dark Hunters?" Alaric glanced at
Angron and raised an eyebrow.
	"First off - are you familiar with the Lady we do not name?"
Angron and Anya nodded. "Fine - they are her chief servants - I suppose
you could call them demons. They're ..." he searched for the right way
to describe them "...half female human, half reptillian - apparently
created by some sacrifice." Anya frowned as Angron nodded.
	"I don't know which would be worse - them or the Lifestealers."
	"Also, a function of Midnight's Bane has been explained; do the
other weapons you mention have similar functions, or do they work
differently?"  Anya tilted her head to the side, interested in any
explanation which might add to her bardic lore. Alaric smiled.
	"They're all different, actually. Let's see..." he counted off
the weapons on his fingers. "Daylight is holy to Heslor, and hates
undead and especially Dark Hunters; The Sword of the Phoenix is a
flame blade - good against Lifestealers, or so I gather, and Light and
Life are a matched pair - one is enchanted against servants of the
Lady, one against Lifestealers." Hawk, flagon of ale in hand, joined
the conversation.
	"How far ranging are your scouts? If the pegasi are it, then I'd
recommend sending people out much further, with a magic-user to enable
quicker communication." Alaric nodded approvingly.
	"Good point - but no need to worry. We do have a co-operative
dragon overflying the Black Plain regularly." Jan, grey eyes
sparkling, chuckled at the expression on Anya's face.
	"He's serious...." Alaric grinned.
	"His name's Kelleth and he's actually an old friend -
introductions tomorrow if you like?" He treated the two bards to
another of his impish smiles. "That's if Karla doesn't monopolise you
to show you round the ships, or Jan make you teach her everything you
know..." Hawk caught his eye.
	"What did you do with Tanya's doppleganger?"
	"Me, personally? - nothing. I believe Valgoth and his group
jumped on it very hard when it tried to kill Ros," he indicated the
paladin and the visibly pregnant woman around whose shoulders he had a
protective arm, "and then burnt it."
	"It was obviously a doppleganger?" asked Angron.
	"By then, yes." He glanced round the hall. "Did you manage to
put names to all the faces in there?" Drax shook his head.
	"We tried, but..." Alaric grinned.
	"I'll try and point out a few more for you." He indicated the
group of women a few yards away with Brigid, an odd note of pride in
his voice. "You might have noticed that Brigid's group is all women -
the tall red-blonde with the two longswords and the black leathers
like Tanya's is Cheetah, and the girl beside her in the red is Lynx -
they're sisters." Lynx turned at mention of her name, golden hair
aswirl, and winked at Alaric. She was of short to medium height and
stunningly beautiful, with a thoroughly wicked grin. Alaric waved a
hand at her, then indicated a tall, almost white haired, young man
talking to Ewan. "That's Wolf - he's Lynx and Cheetah's brother, and a
priest of Verdana, and the other member of the family is Fox, over
there with Cherri. He's an enchanter." Fox was fair-haired, with the
same intense blue eyes that characterised his siblings.
	"Odd names," remarked Angron.
	"Hardly," said Hawk, drily. Alaric supressed a chuckle and pointed out
two dark-haired men deep in conversation over in a corner. "That's Stefan
and Teril - the taller one, without the mail, is Teril - they are both
extremely handy scouts. The redhead with the two-hander," he indicated a
tall red-blonde haired woman in earnest conversation with the dark-haired
Blaize and a dark and well-built woman garbed as a priestess of Sarak,
"that's Lisa, and the priestess is Miriam." He shrugged his shoulders
helplessly. "I give up - you'll get to know people as you go along -
basically anyone in the side hall earlier can be trusted." Cherri, who had
joined them during the course of the introductions, stifled a yawn.
	"Before I turn in for the night," she said to Drax, "I spoke to
Karla about the books, and she intends to learn an Erase spell in the
morning." The High Priestess was obviously tired, but managed a smile
for Alaric as she turned to go. "I leave this place in your capable
hands - try not to have me disturbed before morning. Goodnight."
Hawk smiled at Anya.
	"How about one or two of your songs? It's been a while and I
think we could all benefit from hearing them again."
	"Yes, it's good to have time for such things. And some new
ones from Jan?" enquired Angron. The tall blonde smiled at Anya.
	"My stuff is in my room."
	"Mine too. Let's go fetch it."
	"Stay together," said Alaric firmly.
	While the two bards were away, Hawk talked to Tanya about her
fiery pendant and enquired as to when she would be attempting to get
the chain removed. The sorceress smiled sheepishly.
	"Karla suggested something earlier we never tried - now that
we've got the chain wrapped so it doesn't affect my magic, why doesn't
someone just cast Reduce on me and slip it over my head?" Drax groaned.
	"Obvious... We can try it in the morning."
	"It may possess other powers of which we know nothing...yet."
remarked Hawk.
	The two bards returned, Anya carrying her lyre and Jan a soft hide
case from which she produced a Madrian guitar. After a moment to tune up,
the two bards exchanged looks, each waiting for the other to start something,
then Jan burst out laughing.
	"We probably don't know any of the same songs. You start and
I'll follow." Anya struck up a familiar tune, her hands dancing
across the lyre's strings, and Jan bit her lip and frowned for a
moment before setting her long fingers to the guitar's neck and deftly
picking out a series of complementary chords. Her instrumental and
improvisational skill was considerable, but she seemed for the most part
content to let Anya play while she listened and occasionally added
countermelodies or chords. Half an hour later, Anya set her lyre
down.
	"Time to stop - I need some sleep." Jan smiled.
	"Thanks - I enjoyed that."

 	After Hawk, Drax, Anya and Angron returned to their room, Anya
suggested some kind of barricade on the door. "Yes, I know; I'm being
paranoid. But if anyone tries to get in, I'd like some kind of
warning. Any ideas?" Angron indicated a heavy high-backed chair.
	"That, under the door handle. It's traditional, but still
effective."

	What seemed all too short a time later, there was a tap at the
door. Outside were Alaric, Jan and Tanya, and they made their way across
the temple complex by way of Martin and Gareth's rooms and the Great
Hall. At the back of the little group, Drax turned to Anya and enquired
as to how she was able to charm the male prisoner back in Irongate,
muttering something about how SHE could probably do more magic than he
could and ending with a sigh.
	"I don't see anything surprising about it, even without magic use",
grinned Angron, glancing back over his shoulder. By now, they had
reached the lowest floor of the guests' wing, and a voice out of the
darkess enquired "Tanquil?".
	"Tanahil, actually," responded Alaric, as Valgoth and Karla
stepped out of the shadows. "Any problems?" The half-elven mage grinned.
	"Three Dark Hunters, a sorceress and a couple of dozen thugs -
nothing we couldn't handle." Alaric glared at her.
	"Be serious."
	"We are." The voice was Daylight's.
	"Someone created some kind of gate to the lower hall," explained
Valgoth. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, we happened to be changing
watch at the time, so both my watch and Brigid's were around to deal
with it. It was touch and go for a bit..."
	"Everything cleared up?" asked Alaric.
	"Except for the debris and the bodies, yes." Karla grinned
infuriatingly.
	"They're all thoroughly dead, bar..." she glanced at Drax,
"...a mage by the name of Sirina, who teleported away at the end." She
tossed an oddly familiar crystal wand in one hand. Alaric raised a
hand to quieten Drax, as he realised what the item was.
	"Argue about it in the morning. If there's nothing else we
need to know..." Valgoth shook his head.
---
This story is a compilation of a PBeM campaign, by:

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

	Phil Allcock .................. Valgoth, Karla
	Lissa Blackburn ............... Alysande, Kerydd
	Anne Rundle ................... Ewan, Shandril, Fox, Wolf,
					Lynx, Cheetah
	Mike Whitaker ................. Alaric, Bryony, Teril, Stefan,
					Cherri, Duncan, Brigid, Beth,
					Lisa, Blaize, Nasreen, Robyn,
					Miriam, Tanya... oh, and the GM

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