Subject: [Dagger] [porc] The odd animosity Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 14:35:54 -0400 From: "Jim Davis" To: Though I had personally taken a liking to the dashing Princess, I could feel the obvious dislike Mea held. I was not about to ask why, but figured that I would let it go, as she was tolerant enough to let me visit with her alone. We went to a local inn and began gathering supplies. Food, torches, metal polish (sewers are reknowned for their ability to decay metal), and other various tools. After several days of preparation, we entered the sewers through the northern entrance, just outside the hedge maze of Castle Wayrest. We had several small fights, a pack of rats here, an imp or two there, a couple of giant bats, but nothing we could not handle with a quick weapon stroke. I noticed that Adeline had brought along a mace this time instead of her longsword and bow. Odd. We followed the map to the letter, passing through several unmanned guard posts. In the last though, we found some of their uniforms. We hastily put these on. I was able to stomach it, but I noticed the ladies turning up their noses at the smell left by the former occupants. Blood surged through me, carrying with it the exhiliration of adventuring. It had been so long since I had to sneak in anywhere. I wanted to charge in and, as Zarth would put it, slice and dice, I knew that my companions were more in favor of sneaking in. We finally found the solid daedric marking the entrance. We moved past the guards with a grunt, trying to mimic the inelliquence of common. The door ground open. We entered the dark compound, ready for a surgical strike. We were going to kill the leader and sneak out. Hopefully. Alex was very anxious. She wanted to be the one to kill the leader for his spell ensnarement of her loyalty. I held her back, as she was making a lot of noise. We searched through the dingy passages, deducing that we should rest after 18 hours of wandering about the complex. We found an abandoned closet, and set up camp in there. As I was on first watch, I grew bored defending the closet. I reached into my bag and pulled out a sordid little item. It was a headband, made of folds of humanoid skin. I had not made the item, but knew it could be useful. I put the morbid headband on, after removing my helmet. I first concentrated on Catris' mind. Waves of images rolled over me as I entered her dream. I flitted through Catris' dreams as though I were a cloud, not wanting to intrude on her fond rememberance of Kalisis. I moved on. Alex and Zarth were dreaming of some fight, not much interesting there. I read Mea's dreams, but made a mistake. As I gleaned her dreams, I grew careless and her mind noticed the alien presence. Her mind was still set for combat in this dungeon, so she was on the offensive, even in her dreams. Waves of terror rolled and crashed into me, terrifying my mind. Images of extreme horror rose past me, chilling me to the bone. Finally her assault ended when I drew up the willpower to tear the handband off my head. I collapsed with a sigh, writhing in a fetal position as the terror replayed themselves for several hours. The others, upon seeing me in such a state.......... ~Lord Jemalas Tamislane, Ruler of Kalisis, High Lord of Thornwood jrdavis@penn.com