Post by Paragon on Oct 16, 2006 23:43:11 GMT -5
The Sorrows of Muri Oshu
as penned by the the minstrel Fenri (now deceased)
"No one crosses the Shadow Thieves and lives!" Muri yelled as he gutted the sewer rat. "Ehm...sorry force of habit," he chuckled, and took a swig of ale.
"No harm done, my diminutive friend," I smiled at him reassuringly. "Now that that unpleasantness is over with, please go on with your story." I found a slightly less offensively colored spot to sit on the pile of ragged and tatty cushions that decorated his sewer hideout.
He held up the guild wanted filer and looked admiringly at the 5000 gold reward. "For this amount, I'm tempted to collect on myself. Let's see...where was I?" He scratched his chin with the hilt of his dagger thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, right! It's like this, right? I'm a lookout man, nothing more. My job is to spot without being spotted, yeah? So Ol' Gaelan tells me that this job is a big deal and I can't sleep through it like I did on the last job, or the boss will have my eyes...you can imagine that was incentive for me to keep them open."
"So I'm just sitting there, and all the boys, (maybe 40 of them, like I said, big job,) start filing in all quiet-like into this one door, heh, like it wasn't obvious even in the wee morning hours. I don't know how long exactly I was waiting there, all alert like, when this guardsman snuck up on me and shouted, 'NO SLEEPING IN PUBLIC PLACES!' or some such thing."
"I made a rude gesture at the guard's back, but I jumped down off of my perch on top of the circus tent and started making my way toward the door of the mark. It was bright daylight out now, and there was no sign of the boys, so I was considering going back and reporting this as a botched job, when everyone came running out tripping over each other in their haste to escape. ...And by everyone I mean about a quarter of the guys who went in."
"Seconds later there was an explosion, and when I recovered my feet an elf was standing in front of us waggling his fingers and making loud proclamations about suffering. At that point Kitlip, who was standing right next to me charged, (just like we're trained to when we see spellchuckers to get our knives in before they can react,) and was turned to stone in his tracks. At that point I began running and didn't even turn around when little stoney bits of Kitlip began pelting me all over my backside."
"So I reported back to the guild hall, and told the boss what happened. I expected him to be mad, but I didn't expect him to stiff me. I was promised 5 gold for the job, and that's what I should have been paid! On the way out of the room I snagged this," At this point Muri took a loose rock out of the sewer wall, pulled out the dagger and held it out for me to examine. It was a fine looking blade, but not quite as wonderful as I had expected. I nodded nonchalantly, and he replaced it carefully.
"How was I to know what it was? It's not my fault he left something like this laying around! ...And you know what the real rub of all this is? I can't even sell it to buy passage out of here!"
"Sometimes I think you're the only friend I have left in this world, Fen." His eyes welled up with tears, making me feel a bit embarrassed.
"This is some good ale, the expensive stuff, not like I usually drink..." At this point he began babbling and continued to drink for about a half-hour before nodding off into a drunken stupor. I secured the dagger and re-hid it where I can easily recover it after I've finished the job.
as penned by the the minstrel Fenri (now deceased)
"No one crosses the Shadow Thieves and lives!" Muri yelled as he gutted the sewer rat. "Ehm...sorry force of habit," he chuckled, and took a swig of ale.
"No harm done, my diminutive friend," I smiled at him reassuringly. "Now that that unpleasantness is over with, please go on with your story." I found a slightly less offensively colored spot to sit on the pile of ragged and tatty cushions that decorated his sewer hideout.
He held up the guild wanted filer and looked admiringly at the 5000 gold reward. "For this amount, I'm tempted to collect on myself. Let's see...where was I?" He scratched his chin with the hilt of his dagger thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, right! It's like this, right? I'm a lookout man, nothing more. My job is to spot without being spotted, yeah? So Ol' Gaelan tells me that this job is a big deal and I can't sleep through it like I did on the last job, or the boss will have my eyes...you can imagine that was incentive for me to keep them open."
"So I'm just sitting there, and all the boys, (maybe 40 of them, like I said, big job,) start filing in all quiet-like into this one door, heh, like it wasn't obvious even in the wee morning hours. I don't know how long exactly I was waiting there, all alert like, when this guardsman snuck up on me and shouted, 'NO SLEEPING IN PUBLIC PLACES!' or some such thing."
"I made a rude gesture at the guard's back, but I jumped down off of my perch on top of the circus tent and started making my way toward the door of the mark. It was bright daylight out now, and there was no sign of the boys, so I was considering going back and reporting this as a botched job, when everyone came running out tripping over each other in their haste to escape. ...And by everyone I mean about a quarter of the guys who went in."
"Seconds later there was an explosion, and when I recovered my feet an elf was standing in front of us waggling his fingers and making loud proclamations about suffering. At that point Kitlip, who was standing right next to me charged, (just like we're trained to when we see spellchuckers to get our knives in before they can react,) and was turned to stone in his tracks. At that point I began running and didn't even turn around when little stoney bits of Kitlip began pelting me all over my backside."
"So I reported back to the guild hall, and told the boss what happened. I expected him to be mad, but I didn't expect him to stiff me. I was promised 5 gold for the job, and that's what I should have been paid! On the way out of the room I snagged this," At this point Muri took a loose rock out of the sewer wall, pulled out the dagger and held it out for me to examine. It was a fine looking blade, but not quite as wonderful as I had expected. I nodded nonchalantly, and he replaced it carefully.
"How was I to know what it was? It's not my fault he left something like this laying around! ...And you know what the real rub of all this is? I can't even sell it to buy passage out of here!"
"Sometimes I think you're the only friend I have left in this world, Fen." His eyes welled up with tears, making me feel a bit embarrassed.
"This is some good ale, the expensive stuff, not like I usually drink..." At this point he began babbling and continued to drink for about a half-hour before nodding off into a drunken stupor. I secured the dagger and re-hid it where I can easily recover it after I've finished the job.