Xavori
Rogue Sanctuary
I have been most busy lately teaching my two pupils the in's
and out's of instilling chaos in our would-be virtuous
land. However, last night, they were both doing just fine
on their own so I took the opportunity to have some of my own
fun.
I returned to my forest and found many heroes wandering about
and many rogues "borrowing" from those heroes.
After wandering nearly to Cove, I came upon a young rogue
standing over his dead body.
"Young rogue, what hath befallen thee?"
"I was killed by some punk named BULLY BOY," he
replied.
"Did he give any reason for his foul transgression?"
"Ya. He said since I was a rogue I deserved to
die."
Apparently, this knave that had attacked an innocent rogue had
not been taught proper etiquette. I decided that since I
was having so much fun teaching, I would take on another
pupil. However, I did think he would be a very willing
student.
I continued moving through the forest and started practicing
the tracking skill a ranger in Skara Brae had taught me.
After multiple failed attempts at picking up a trail, I found
his. 'Tis most useful the ranger taught me how to identify
the trails of complete strangers whilst tracking. Within
moments I came upon BULLY BOY, Journeyman Swordman.
"Hail, milord," I called out.
"Hello," he replied.
"Art thou a betting man?" I asked.
"Sure."
"Doth thou wish to bet that I can slay thee before thou
canst run to Cove?" I asked. "Or doth thou wish to
simply hand over thy gold peacefully?"
I had no expectations at all that he would do the smart
thing. First off, he was a pure fighter, and they are not
the brightest of individuals. Also, he hadn't taken off running
yet, which usually is a good indicator of a person's intellect.
"Ummm...." he thought out loud. Then he took
of running...back towards Vesper.
We were much closer to Cove than Vesper. In fact, I had my
doubts that I would be able to kill him without paralyzing him if
he had taken off in the right direction. He was obviously
not very familiar with the landscape, for he had great difficulty
moving through the undergrowth. I quickly caught up and
tickled his backside with my war fork. This seemed to
improve his running ability greatly.
We continued running through the woods, and even though I was
in full plate armor and had been mysteriously slowed weeks
before, I was easily able to outrun him. He saw a group of
adventurerers and ran towards them.
"GUARDS! HELP!" he screamed out.
I recognized the group as one I had seen previously, two
novice fighters and one master mage. I quickly dug in my
pack and readied my supply of purple potions in case the mage was
feeling noble. I had spell reflect up and was sure that it
would give me the time I needed to seperate his soul and body in
case he was feeling noble. He wasn't.
I finally got around the murderer and cut him off. He
paused for a moment and took off back towards to Cove. He
obviously had no idea where he was since Vesper was mere moments
away. He then turned northwest and found the road towards
Britain. He turned back towards Vesper and followed the
road. I got a good shot in on his yellow backside, and
wounded him grievously. I smiled knowing this race was
nearing its end. Moments later, he faultered, too exhausted
to continue running.
"Poor knave, thou art dead and doth not know it
yet." I said as I moved closer. "If thou ever harm
another rogue, not only will you again pay the price, but I will
make sure that every rogue from Skara Brae to Moonglow pays
special attention to thee and thy purse."
He didn't say anything, just turned towards me and prepared to
fight. A moment later, he completed his lesson.
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