From: kring@efes.physik.uni-kl.de (Thomas Kettenring)
Subject: Bakr: [Low City] Warning Felchek Of The Foul Odors
Organization: FB Physik, Universitaet Kaiserslautern, Germany
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 12:20:27 GMT

Characters used: Bakr; Felchek; Guby and Fett (Shadow Falcons); Trawm
Characters mentioned: Denriqa, 'Raelf, Bob Littlefair, Blade, Miggung,
	Luthor, Queen Shana, Gishweer the Enchanter, Yusmi, Conan

ADMIN:  I had a lot of things to do (among them reading loads of a.p.d-i
	postings), therefore the long pause.
	Thanks to Stephen Hutchison for help with Felchek and Denriqa.

  Bakr had just told Bob Littlefair the story of the fight with the lizardmen
at the farm when he emptied his glass of milk and said, "Now I have a thing
or two to do in the city.  I'll return soon."  He waved goodbye to Luthor and
the others and left the inn.

  Traces of destruction, traces of Blade the Motherspawn were still visible
on the west part of Dragons Lane.  Guards were returning from there, and
their faces showed relief.  The thing must have gone.

  The mage played with the thought of visiting Miggung's magic shop and buy
everything he wanted, now he had that much money, but he decided that Felchek
of the Foul Odors was more important.  Bakr's imprudent reply to 'Raelf's
question (about an alchemist and and astrologer) before he left with Luthor
to kill Queen Shana had possibly placed Felchek and Denriqa in danger.  He
may have blown their cover.

[A paragraph for those amnesiacs who don't remember the details :-)]
  Felchek was from Bakr's home world Midgard, where he had to leave because
of an explosion he had inadvertantly caused.  A relative of the victims, a
famous adventurer, was on his heels there, and now Felchek, who had married
Denriqa Barradein - an astrologer from Rameshan - posed as a Rameshander in
Generica.  Bakr had recognized him on Town Square, he had been a guest at
his house, and he had told 'Raelf that Felchek was a relative of his, Bakr's,
master.

  Bakr first followed the Arcade of Unforgotten Heroes, then the stench would
lead him along the Street of Knackers to the alchemist's lab.  That was how
Felchek had described the way.  When he was already deep into Low City, the
thought occured to him that perhaps he shouldn't have come here without
first depositing his money at the Bank... he certainly would be robbed.
Those ragged teenagers over there were already eyeing him as if he were their
next meal.

-----------------

  "Guby!  Look at dat Rammyshander slob."
  Guby Zulkims turned around, and his eyes lit.
  "Ey, man, dat's our next meal."
  This guy must be easy prey.  He was large but he looked around
anxiously.  The ideal victim mentality.  And he had to be rich, since he was
fat.  When they would be finished with him, he wouldn't be so rich any more,
but he would at least live.  The Shadow Falcons were not as indifferent to
others' lifes as the average mugger.
  "Our next ten meals!  He must have loads o'dough to grow dat belly!"
  Fett Coss jumped down from the barrel on which he was sitting.  Guby was
already strolling in the direction of their customer, who stopped in his
tracks, turned around, and tried to flee into a blind alley.

  Guby slowly walked round the corner with a smile on his lips when a very
deformed half-troll came out of the alley.  Guby was a bit surprised.
He had seen Trawm strolling through the city before, but who would stroll
through a blind alley?  Besides, he and Fett had been there for at least an
hour, and they had not seen him go in.

  "Why you goggle like fish?" the half-troll asked testily.
  "Sorry Trawm, didn't expect ya.  I just want to go in there.  Just ignore
me, okay?"  Guby didn't want to do Trawm the favor of a fight, for he
probably wouldn't survive it.
  "Grrgnm."  Trawm gave him a contemptuous look and went on.  Guby proceeded
into the alley, followed by Fett.  They looked around, but their customer
was nowhere to be seen.  Guby guarded the entrance while Fett paced off the
heaps of garbage.  Fett returned and shrugged his shoulders.
  "He's gone."

-----------------

  Bakr's knees were still trying to shake, but he didn't let them.
Half-trolls' knees didn't shake.
He decided to use the disguise spell every time he entered the Low City, and
the half-troll he had seen in the Dragons Inn seemed to be a good choice.
If he met him again, he'd study him more intensively.

  The stench was very strong now, and there was it:  A silver statue of a
thief stood in front of a house.  Once it had been a real thief that had
made the mistake of attempting to mug Felchek.  Ever since he had put the
statue outside his lab, Felchek had never had any problems with muggers.

  When Bakr raised his hand to knock at the door, it opened, and Felchek
smiled at him.  "Hello Bakr.  I have been expecting you."
  Bakr didn't in any way try to look like a sheep confronted with a barrel
of Catamount Amber teleporting into its breakfast grass, but succeeded in
doing it anyway.
  "My wife's a very good astrologer, you know."
  "Oh, ah."
  "Come in."  He followed the alchemist into a lab filled with flasks, bowls,
stones, retorts, spiral tubes, mortars, beakers, pails, and a large oven.

  "Very wise of you to use that disguise.  This is not the best quarter of
Generica.  Well, I don't have much time.  I'm trying to improve my
Philosophers' Stone, and I have to watch this blend permanently."  Felchek
pointed to a bowl with liquid metal standing on the oven - mercury?  lead?
Bakr didn't know.  The alchemist shook it using a long pincer, staring at
it in the process.

  "So you have told that Traveller mage that I'm from Meknesh, and now you
want to warn me that Yusmi may find me more easily now.  I can ease your
fears:  If Yusmi finds me, Denriqa will know it before.  That is what you
wanted to tell me, isn't it?"

  Bakr closed his mouth, then re-opened it to speak.  "Yes, essentially.
Did Denriqa tell you all this?  Does she really know *everything*?  The
whole future?"

"Well, it takes time to find it out, and first she has to know where to look
for important things.  That mage you gave our address told her it was you who
recommended us, so she compared my chart with the chart she made of you when
you visited us.  The rest was simple."

  Bakr left the lab even more impressed than he had been when Geashwire the
Enchanter had constantly changed his name.  The disguise spell began to wear
off, and he renewed it.  Finally he reached the Arcade of Unforgotten Heroes,
dropped the disguise when nobody was watching him, and walked north.

  He got a fresh haircut from Conan the Barber on Dragons Lane, and then he
finally bought an armful of magic at Miggung's.

ADMIN:  OK, Trawm should have come under "Characters mentioned", so sue me.

Bakr ibn Ja'far ibn Musa al Mekneshi, apprentice mage.

--
thomas kettenring, 2 dan, kaiserslautern, germany
...and then the dragon ate the princess and the knight, and he lived happily
ever after.   -- Grandma Addams telling Wednesday a story (paraphrased)