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08-19-2003, 10:13 PM

Thanx Rezdude, will register. Now, I'll deliver the second part of chapter one ASAP. Its too big, and I need to make some edits and finish it.

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Chapter I: Mercenaries for Hire?

I looked at the 5’8 plated man in front of me. In his arms was a fairly young looking lady and her beautiful body was bruised, cut, and blood trickling down her right cheek, and I along with everyone else, was still shaking a bit. The man was starting to breathe heavily, and I could understand why as I looked up at the scorching sun above my head.
“I-I can’t take this anymore. Somebody take off this blasted helmet. SareClaw, since you can’t possibly be stealing right now take this thing off.” He was now panting and starting to slow his pace.
A rather slim but tall catlike person responded. “Ah sure, always gotta pick me. If you can’t see me you always suspect I’m rifling through some pockets. Besides, I told you to keep the helmet off.”
“Well it was safe to keep it on just incase some Rattkin decide that we are their next target. But now that we are in New City, we couldn’t possibly be attacked.”
“And just why is that Mr. Goody-goody?” SareClaw responded coolly. I must admit, he never seemed to get angry; he was slick and always knew what to say.
“Because I thought you were the *king*, remember. If I do recall correctly, it was you who said you had everyone in this city wrapped around your one of your paws, and the other one was backup.” Jorlon was also good. He was very different for a paladin.
“Well I-I-I… Oh forget about it. You win.” I watched SareClaw walk in front of me, and from what I could see, he was trying to take off the helmet. “Why won’t this damn thing come off!? Oh I see, these little metal things are strapped to your platemail.”
“Very good SareClaw, now if you would be willing to un-strap those things off, I could have my helmet off. Be careful too, those straps can break easily and you have to slide them off of the things they are attached to and then unclip it.”
SareClaw seemed to be having trouble even after what Jorlon said. I chuckled, “Man, this part will be great for my book.”
“You still got that book idea going Zaxmar? When I find out where you keep it, I’m gonna publish it and sell it to everyone so I get the profits. Now Jorlon, hold still I think I’ve got this thing-” SNAP.
Jorlon froze it his tracks, along with everyone else. “Did you, did you just snap one of those buckles?” Jorlon said. His voice was calm, but everyone could sense the anger in his voice.
“No no Jorlon. Ya got it all wrong, that was my nail, um yeah my nail scrapping that buckle. I’ll just finish the rest of the back ones real quick. Hold on uh here we go. See, piece of ca-” SNAP, SNAP, SNAP! SareClaw with his hands shaking had obviously forgotten about the front buckles, as he hastily lifted the helm off. Everyone else (including me were cracking up inside). CZZZZ!
Jorlon’s helm flew off and above his head was SareClaw’s hands, holding the helmet. Jorlon whirled around, the girl’s feet smacking the Felpurr’s frail chest. “Three, two, one…” I counted.
“YOU BLUNDERING IMBECILE. HONESTLY, IS IT THAT HARD TO TAKE OFF THIS HELM WITHOUT BREAKING IT? IT’S BAD ENOUGH YOU STILL FROM EVERY PERSON YOU SEE IN SIGHT INCLUDING ME BUT THEN YOU BREAK THE MOST EXPENSIVE STUFF! I OUGHTA SEND YOU STRAIGHT THROUGH THE UMPANI LAW SYSTEM!” Jorlon’s voice ringed through the empty streets, and it lasted for at least thirty seconds. No doubt the storekeepers could here…
SareClaw, looking dumbfounded, slowly backed away from Jorlon, and ran around the corner yelling, “I’ll be at Rossarian’s!”
Felpurrs really are quick and silent, I could barely hear SareClaw running. When you think about it, it is remarkable.
Jorlon’s eyes widened. “Hey, he took my helm!” One thing about Jorlon is that he always notices something after the person disappears. And all of us could have sworn we heard a distinct voice go “sucker”.
I walked passed Jorlon and put my hand on his shoulder. “Sigh, c’mon, we gotta get Vi to the Inn. Then we gotta go to Paluke, he has to fix the string on my bow.”
“I guess your right. But before that we’ll get SareClaw so I can fix my helm; that is if he hasn’t sold it for some useless junk. Thieves.” Jorlon muttered.
So the rest of us continued along, Lorka the Mook Bishop, Arxite the human ninja. For a ninja he was quite odd. He had so many theories, and his mood changed. Sometimes he would want praise or be happy when he happened to kill a monster with one blow; other times when we did applaud him he’d scowl or give us a deadly glare. Then there was Kaldrea, our female bard. She was quite something, and when Jorlon couldn’t negotiate, she would go, and personally, she was a better talker than Jorlon was. Then there is me, I’m a ranger with deadly aim not to boast. We made quite a team.
We had arrived at the inn, and entered hastily for we spotted some troopers, they actually were Kui’sa-ka, really powerful minions of the Dark Savant. First, we purchased a room and put Vi on the bed. Then after a long and tiring day, we all sat down to some drinks and meat. When all was said and done, we headed out.
“Alright, so where to now? I think we should go find SareClaw, plus I need to talk to Rossarian about my money theory.” Arxite waited eagerly for a reply, while the rest of us rolled our eyes about his theories.
Jorlon cleared his throat and spoke, “Arxite is right, it is imperative that we find SareClaw, finish what we need to do in New City, and find a way off this planet. Even as we speak the Dark Savant is becoming close to achieving his goal.”
Everyone looked around and checked that they had everything. Jorlon had spoken in such a manner that everyone knew he was serious, and that was the path we would be taking. So we carefully made our way to Rossarian’s Shop, dodging some Umpani Renegades, demented Munks, and the occasional band of sinister looking Gorn. As we approached the door, we could here SareClaw talking, and the way he was talking meant trouble.
“Listen Rossarian, this helmet is at least worth 15000, you know that. And you could sell this thing for more. You know it’s a good deal.”
We heard a loud bang from a table. “Listen, I’ll give you 9000, that’s my final offer. Take it, or get out of my shop before you have a bullet through your head. Besides, you’ll probably steal it from me once you get the chance.”
Deciding that this was probably a good time to enter the shop, Jorlon hastily turned the knob and opened the door. We saw Jorlon’s helm on a counter, a burly Umpani behind the counter, and SareClaw pacing back and forth.
“Hello Rossarian, what is new today?” Jorlon was speaking in a calm voice.
“Nothing much, oh but I did fix your Blunderbuss, perfectly fine now. It’s all loaded and ready for you. And I got the order of powder&shot for you, enough to last about 120 shots.” Rossarian pulled something from one of the counter cabinets. He placed a large box on the counter, along with a nicely finished and polished Blunderbuss.
“Thanks Rossarian, it needed repair badly. Now then, I’m assuming this won’t come cheap.”
“9,758. You were right, it was in terrible condition and I have no clue how you managed to use it when it was that bad.”
Jorlon pulled something out from his pack. It was a tiny rectangular hinged box, about 6 inches wide, 8 inches long, and its height was about 2 inches. Jorlon opened it, revealing many pieces of fine paper. He took one out and handed it to Rossarian.
“Mighty me, since when did you start paying in credit?” Rossarian was surprised, he usually expected gold, and usually took only gold.
“Well, gold has been bogging us down, so we traded gold for credit in the bank.”
“The bank!? That has been closed for *holidays* for ages. How did you get it to open? I mean seriously, this is incredible!”
“Well, we convinced some Gorn to run the bank. I mean, I know they are warriors but these Gorn knew money. So they fixed the bank up, and now it’s running fine. Of course not too many people are going there. But I can assure you that this credit is backed up, it’s not fake or forged or whatever.”
This is where we’d need a vote to see who is a better diplomat, Kaldrea or Jorlon, because both could really convince people.
“Fine then and I trust you Jorlon. However, if it was this thief over here, I wouldn’t be so sure…”
“Same here Rossarian. Say, can I have my helm back. This idiot broke the straps, and now Paluke will have to fix it.” Jorlon glared at SareClaw, and SareClaw walked back slowly. Fortunately, Arxite prevented him from leaving by blocking the doorway.
“You mean you tried to sell me a broken helm! Why I oughta beat you to a pulp! You should be lucky that your companions are here!”
SareClaw laughed, “Heh, you’re the one who is supposed to be the merchant, if you can’t tell if it’s broken, why we are buying from you makes no sense to me.”
I elbowed SareClaw hard in the chest, extremely hard. Then I signaled Jorlon that it was time for us to leave. “Sorry about him Rossarian, he just can’t keep his mouth shut sometimes.”
Rossarian grunted and by now he was furious. It was so funny watching Rossarian straining to keep a normal face. “Its- it’s okay. Come back if you need anything.”

[ 08-19-2003, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: SecretMaster ]

08-19-2003, 10:13 PM	#3
SecretMaster Guest Posts: n/a	Thanx Rezdude, will register. Now, I'll deliver the second part of chapter one ASAP. Its too big, and I need to make some edits and finish it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter I: Mercenaries for Hire? I looked at the 5’8 plated man in front of me. In his arms was a fairly young looking lady and her beautiful body was bruised, cut, and blood trickling down her right cheek, and I along with everyone else, was still shaking a bit. The man was starting to breathe heavily, and I could understand why as I looked up at the scorching sun above my head. “I-I can’t take this anymore. Somebody take off this blasted helmet. SareClaw, since you can’t possibly be stealing right now take this thing off.” He was now panting and starting to slow his pace. A rather slim but tall catlike person responded. “Ah sure, always gotta pick me. If you can’t see me you always suspect I’m rifling through some pockets. Besides, I told you to keep the helmet off.” “Well it was safe to keep it on just incase some Rattkin decide that we are their next target. But now that we are in New City, we couldn’t possibly be attacked.” “And just why is that Mr. Goody-goody?” SareClaw responded coolly. I must admit, he never seemed to get angry; he was slick and always knew what to say. “Because I thought you were the king, remember. If I do recall correctly, it was you who said you had everyone in this city wrapped around your one of your paws, and the other one was backup.” Jorlon was also good. He was very different for a paladin. “Well I-I-I… Oh forget about it. You win.” I watched SareClaw walk in front of me, and from what I could see, he was trying to take off the helmet. “Why won’t this damn thing come off!? Oh I see, these little metal things are strapped to your platemail.” “Very good SareClaw, now if you would be willing to un-strap those things off, I could have my helmet off. Be careful too, those straps can break easily and you have to slide them off of the things they are attached to and then unclip it.” SareClaw seemed to be having trouble even after what Jorlon said. I chuckled, “Man, this part will be great for my book.” “You still got that book idea going Zaxmar? When I find out where you keep it, I’m gonna publish it and sell it to everyone so I get the profits. Now Jorlon, hold still I think I’ve got this thing-” SNAP. Jorlon froze it his tracks, along with everyone else. “Did you, did you just snap one of those buckles?” Jorlon said. His voice was calm, but everyone could sense the anger in his voice. “No no Jorlon. Ya got it all wrong, that was my nail, um yeah my nail scrapping that buckle. I’ll just finish the rest of the back ones real quick. Hold on uh here we go. See, piece of ca-” SNAP, SNAP, SNAP! SareClaw with his hands shaking had obviously forgotten about the front buckles, as he hastily lifted the helm off. Everyone else (including me were cracking up inside). CZZZZ! Jorlon’s helm flew off and above his head was SareClaw’s hands, holding the helmet. Jorlon whirled around, the girl’s feet smacking the Felpurr’s frail chest. “Three, two, one…” I counted. “YOU BLUNDERING IMBECILE. HONESTLY, IS IT THAT HARD TO TAKE OFF THIS HELM WITHOUT BREAKING IT? IT’S BAD ENOUGH YOU STILL FROM EVERY PERSON YOU SEE IN SIGHT INCLUDING ME BUT THEN YOU BREAK THE MOST EXPENSIVE STUFF! I OUGHTA SEND YOU STRAIGHT THROUGH THE UMPANI LAW SYSTEM!” Jorlon’s voice ringed through the empty streets, and it lasted for at least thirty seconds. No doubt the storekeepers could here… SareClaw, looking dumbfounded, slowly backed away from Jorlon, and ran around the corner yelling, “I’ll be at Rossarian’s!” Felpurrs really are quick and silent, I could barely hear SareClaw running. When you think about it, it is remarkable. Jorlon’s eyes widened. “Hey, he took my helm!” One thing about Jorlon is that he always notices something after the person disappears. And all of us could have sworn we heard a distinct voice go “sucker”. I walked passed Jorlon and put my hand on his shoulder. “Sigh, c’mon, we gotta get Vi to the Inn. Then we gotta go to Paluke, he has to fix the string on my bow.” “I guess your right. But before that we’ll get SareClaw so I can fix my helm; that is if he hasn’t sold it for some useless junk. Thieves.” Jorlon muttered. So the rest of us continued along, Lorka the Mook Bishop, Arxite the human ninja. For a ninja he was quite odd. He had so many theories, and his mood changed. Sometimes he would want praise or be happy when he happened to kill a monster with one blow; other times when we did applaud him he’d scowl or give us a deadly glare. Then there was Kaldrea, our female bard. She was quite something, and when Jorlon couldn’t negotiate, she would go, and personally, she was a better talker than Jorlon was. Then there is me, I’m a ranger with deadly aim not to boast. We made quite a team. We had arrived at the inn, and entered hastily for we spotted some troopers, they actually were Kui’sa-ka, really powerful minions of the Dark Savant. First, we purchased a room and put Vi on the bed. Then after a long and tiring day, we all sat down to some drinks and meat. When all was said and done, we headed out. “Alright, so where to now? I think we should go find SareClaw, plus I need to talk to Rossarian about my money theory.” Arxite waited eagerly for a reply, while the rest of us rolled our eyes about his theories. Jorlon cleared his throat and spoke, “Arxite is right, it is imperative that we find SareClaw, finish what we need to do in New City, and find a way off this planet. Even as we speak the Dark Savant is becoming close to achieving his goal.” Everyone looked around and checked that they had everything. Jorlon had spoken in such a manner that everyone knew he was serious, and that was the path we would be taking. So we carefully made our way to Rossarian’s Shop, dodging some Umpani Renegades, demented Munks, and the occasional band of sinister looking Gorn. As we approached the door, we could here SareClaw talking, and the way he was talking meant trouble. “Listen Rossarian, this helmet is at least worth 15000, you know that. And you could sell this thing for more. You know it’s a good deal.” We heard a loud bang from a table. “Listen, I’ll give you 9000, that’s my final offer. Take it, or get out of my shop before you have a bullet through your head. Besides, you’ll probably steal it from me once you get the chance.” Deciding that this was probably a good time to enter the shop, Jorlon hastily turned the knob and opened the door. We saw Jorlon’s helm on a counter, a burly Umpani behind the counter, and SareClaw pacing back and forth. “Hello Rossarian, what is new today?” Jorlon was speaking in a calm voice. “Nothing much, oh but I did fix your Blunderbuss, perfectly fine now. It’s all loaded and ready for you. And I got the order of powder&shot for you, enough to last about 120 shots.” Rossarian pulled something from one of the counter cabinets. He placed a large box on the counter, along with a nicely finished and polished Blunderbuss. “Thanks Rossarian, it needed repair badly. Now then, I’m assuming this won’t come cheap.” “9,758. You were right, it was in terrible condition and I have no clue how you managed to use it when it was that bad.” Jorlon pulled something out from his pack. It was a tiny rectangular hinged box, about 6 inches wide, 8 inches long, and its height was about 2 inches. Jorlon opened it, revealing many pieces of fine paper. He took one out and handed it to Rossarian. “Mighty me, since when did you start paying in credit?” Rossarian was surprised, he usually expected gold, and usually took only gold. “Well, gold has been bogging us down, so we traded gold for credit in the bank.” “The bank!? That has been closed for holidays for ages. How did you get it to open? I mean seriously, this is incredible!” “Well, we convinced some Gorn to run the bank. I mean, I know they are warriors but these Gorn knew money. So they fixed the bank up, and now it’s running fine. Of course not too many people are going there. But I can assure you that this credit is backed up, it’s not fake or forged or whatever.” This is where we’d need a vote to see who is a better diplomat, Kaldrea or Jorlon, because both could really convince people. “Fine then and I trust you Jorlon. However, if it was this thief over here, I wouldn’t be so sure…” “Same here Rossarian. Say, can I have my helm back. This idiot broke the straps, and now Paluke will have to fix it.” Jorlon glared at SareClaw, and SareClaw walked back slowly. Fortunately, Arxite prevented him from leaving by blocking the doorway. “You mean you tried to sell me a broken helm! Why I oughta beat you to a pulp! You should be lucky that your companions are here!” SareClaw laughed, “Heh, you’re the one who is supposed to be the merchant, if you can’t tell if it’s broken, why we are buying from you makes no sense to me.” I elbowed SareClaw hard in the chest, extremely hard. Then I signaled Jorlon that it was time for us to leave. “Sorry about him Rossarian, he just can’t keep his mouth shut sometimes.” Rossarian grunted and by now he was furious. It was so funny watching Rossarian straining to keep a normal face. “Its- it’s okay. Come back if you need anything.” [ 08-19-2003, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: SecretMaster ]