From: ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [MI] Little Rat at Yirma's (part 1)
Date: 6 Oct 92 15:04:26 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

Like so many other times in her life, Little Rat was alone.  She didn't mind
it because she knew that Prince Elfman, 'Mara, and Keeresh were close.  They
were going into the house of the Pretty Ladies to look for Princess Mud-Lady
who was captured by Bad Men.

She approached the rear entrance to the Brothel saw that there were no guards
around.  She stepped over the piles of trash, being careful not to disturb the
rats, and arrived at the door.  It was an old wooden door with a simple latch.
She checked the handle and found that the door was locked, but that would only
delay her.  Ten seconds later, *Click*, the door was open.  Little Rat slipped
the precious pieces of wire back up her sleeve and walked through, quickly
closing the door behind her.

When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found herself in a tiny room.  The
walls were lined with shelves in some places, and light marks where shelves
used to hang.  The items on the shelves were covered with cobb webs and dust.
A wooden chair with a short leg was also in this room, perhaps where a guard
might sit while on duty, but none was here now.

Little Rat moved foreward a few steps and then froze when she heard a nearby
groan.  Moving as quietly as possible, she moved to the doorway leading out
of the room and saw a man lying on the floor.  His uniform was covered in
vomit and beside him was a liquor bottle and a few empty joystix containers.
Apparently, he had jsut had a wonderful party of one.  As Little Rat approached
him, all he could do was raise a finger in protest, but then the pain from
his vices caused him to pass out (again).  Little Rat, by force of habit,
took the guard's small pouch of coins and his dagger.  She hid these in the
loose folds of her new clothes and continued down the hall.

This hallway ahd three other openings, one to the left, one to the right, and
one at the end.  Little Rat could see that this final opening had stairs
leading up.  She made her way to those stairs, but before she could get to the
first doorway, she heard some noises.  Her heart lept in her chest.  She
thought about fleeing the building, but pushed that asside.  Prince Elfman
needed her help.

She cautiously stepped to the doorway and peeked around the corner.  There, she
saw another guard and one of the dressed up ladies, but she wasn't dressed at
all now.  The two were in the midst of doing the Bad Thing, so Little Rat
turned her eyes away and lept across the doorway...and right onto a rusty nail.

Pain jolted her body and a brief screech of pain escaped her lips before she
could control it (after all, she's only eight).

"What da Hell was dat?" shouted the startled guard.
"Wrekky, leave it be.  It's just Marshal watching us again," said the woman,
enticing him stay with her a while.
"Dat didn't sound like Marshal, sounded like your kid.  I'll skin him alive."
he said pulling on his pants and buckling his sword.

Little Rat had an instant to react.  She knew that she couldn't outrun this
man with a nail in her foot, so she dove into the other side room and began
climbing the crated that were stacked to the ceiling.  Once at the top, she
climbed on the ceiling beams and hid in the darkest corner.  Luckily, the
guard had gone toward the exit of the building first and found his friend
wasted on the floor.  This gave Little Rat enough time to hide propperly.

"Marshal is passed out again," he called back to the woman, "he's gonna
get us kicked out of this job."

"Just let him sleep it off and come back.  I'm getting cold."

"I'll come back after I kill your son.  That little rat has pissed me off for
the last time," he said while entering the room that Little Rat was hiding in.

She almost passed out.  The guard knew her name somehow and now he was going
to find and kill her.  She couldn't even jump down because of the thing in
her foot.  Little Rat pulled out the dagger she had stolen as the guard walked
directly under her hiding place...

     Love and Peace and Tetnus,
           -The Dreamer-