Chapter #288
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic II +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and +
+ other terms used in these stories are the property of TSR, Inc. +
+ However, this does not mean that TSR in any way endorses or +
+ authorizes their use, and any such items contained within these +
+ stories should not be considered representative of TSR in any +
+ way, shape, or form. +
+ The player characters contained in these writings are copy- +
+ right 1995 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these tales is permissible only +
+ under the sole condition that no part of them will be used or +
+ sold for profit. In that case, I hope you enjoy them... +
+ +
+ Thomas Miller +
+ tmiller@cimmeria.oit.gatech.edu +
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+ Alindyar 16th level dark elven mage (N) +
+ Lyra 12th level female dark elven mage (N) +
+ Peldor 19th level human thief (N) +
+ Tanya 5th/11th level female human warrior/thief (LN) +
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+ Date: 2/9/575 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: early evening +
+ Place: the Free City of Dyvers +
+ Climate: cold +
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+ "What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect +
+ for the law." +
+ - from _Smokey and the Bandit_ +
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CCLXXXVIII. Aftermath
Three days have passed since Peldor and Tanya appropriated the
priceless jeweled crown, the centerpiece of the Dyvers exhibit.
Try as they might, the local authorities have been unable to
locate the crown - which essentially means that the two thieves
have gotten away scot-free.
Peldor: (fairly drunk, he and Tanya ride along the streets in a
horse-and-carriage) Yaa-hah!
Tanya: (tipsy, but not quite as far along as Peldor) Is this
your idea of keeping a low <hic> profile?
Peldor: N- Yep! Yes, ma'am, it is! (he screams out the small
window of the carriage) Yayayayaaaa...
Tanya: Well, you're crazy! Do you hear me, Peldor? Crazy!
Peldor: Crazy is...as crazy does...(he leans out the window, a
tight fit, and yells to the carriage's driver) Yo! Driver!
driver: (slows down, looking back) Yes?
Peldor: Take us home, wouldja?
driver: Eh? Home?
Peldor: Home!
driver: Yes, sir. (he looks around) Sir...
Peldor: (irritated) Yeah?
driver: Where _is_ your home?
Peldor: (looking around himself now) Err...go north on South
Street!
driver: (being a Dyvers native, he of course knows that neither of
those streets exist) Pardon?
Peldor: Don't play dumb with me, cabbie!
Tanya: (giggles)
driver: (sighs to himself) How is it that I always get the drunken
ones?
Eventually, they tipped the driver extravagantly, and made it back
to the Gold Crown Inn, where a warm, safe bed waited. While the two
thieves celebrated and slept, their two drow companions had been
keeping to themselves, in their own room at the Gold Crown.
Alindyar: ...and then I shall invent a spell to keep all steel at
bay in a sphere approximately-
Lyra: (frowns) Shh.
Alindyar: -twenty feet...eh?
Lyra: Shh, listen. (she puts one ear to the wall)
Alindyar: (intrigued, he does so too)
Lyra: (giggles)
Alindyar: It would seem that Peldor and Tanya are keeping...busy.
Lyra: Yep, I'd say so.
Alindyar: 'Tis indeed unfortunate that we have so much to work on,
you and I...(he stands up, near Lyra)
Lyra: Really. Spells...spellbooks...(she edges closer)
Alindyar: Scrolls...items...
Lyra: Yes, it's a real shame we're so busy with all of that...
nonsense! (she kicks a pile of scrolls off of the bed)
Alindyar: (tackled, he falls back onto the bed) Whoullllf!
Truly, this was the four's last night in Dyvers, for tomorrow,
they were to ride back to Greyhawk. Vacation was, after all, no
place to be working.
The next morning saw Peldor very much hung over, Tanya with just
a headache, and both drow highly amused.
Peldor: (pays some kid to bring his bag down) Ungh...
Lyra: Long night, eh?
Tanya: Longer for some than others...
Peldor: (leaning on a column) Ugh.
baggage boy: (to Tanya) What's his problem?
Tanya: He's not feeling very well, that's all.
baggage boy: (a fresh young lad indeed) Well, hey, if he's leaving
now, maybe you're free for lunch?
Tanya: Oh, no thanks. (grabs Peldor's arm and smiles sweetly) I'm
leaving with him, you see.
baggage boy: (taken aback) Oh. (he puts Peldor's bag down next to
Peldor, and leaves)
Lyra: Heh.
Alindyar: (to Peldor) Mayhap your illness will teach you a valuable
lesson?
Peldor: (shrugs)
Tanya: (to Alindyar) Not likely.
Alindyar: Hmm.
Moments later, their horses were brought around, and they were
on their way. Well, almost...
Peldor: (holds up his hand) I need to go by the market district.
Alindyar: Why?
Peldor: A little unfinished business.
Lyra: (to Tanya) Something he forgot to steal?
Tanya: No such thing.
Peldor: Just trust me on this one.
Soon, they were riding through Dyver's markets, intermittently
spotted with restaurants. Peldor stopped at several of both types
of establishments, to chat with people.
Peldor: (talking with a fish merchant) Fine sir, I am told that
your fish are the freshest...the rarest...the best.
merchant: True! It's true!
Peldor: Well, then. You have a wagon to Greyhawk, yes?
merchant: Yes, we do. A daily wagon, full of the freshest catch.
It's mostly fish they can't catch in Greyhawk's area of the Nyr
Dyv.
Peldor: Perfect. And this wagon...it delivers the fish to certain
places in Greyhawk?
merchant: Indeed it does, sir.
Peldor: (shaking hands with the man) Peldor, owner of the Green
Dragon Inn, at your service. And I'd like to propose a deal.
merchant: I'm listening.
Peldor: I want four crates each day - the finest fish you have!
If that wagon could just stop by the Green Dragon...
merchant: It could.
Peldor: (hands the man a heavy pouch) It could indeed. Make me
a daily part of your delivery route, would you?
merchant: It shall be done.
Peldor: Good day to you, then. (he bows, and mounts his horse,
rejoining the others)
Tanya: Expanding the business, eh?
Peldor: I kinda thought our fish selection at the inn was getting
boring anyway.
This continued, Peldor talking with a half-dozen merchants of
various types, arranging for goods to be shipped his way. Some
were daily, some weekly, others incidental (like the eight huge
tapestries he bought and ordered delivered to the inn) but all
were useful in some way. However, the thief-turned-innkeeper-
turned-thief wasn't done there. He next turned his attention to
certain restaurants...
Peldor: (strolls in the kitchen of one fine restaurant, after
disguising himself as a busboy) Ho-hum. (looking around, he
spies the head cook, and approaches the man, changing back to
his real self) Excuse me, sir.
head cook: (stops stirring his soup) Who are you?
Peldor: Don't worry about that. How much do you pull in a week?
head cook: What?
Peldor: I'm offering you another job, in Greyhawk. How much?
head cook: Err...about three gold. A week.
Peldor: Come to Greyhawk and work for me, and I'll make it five.
Plus a one-time bonus of ten. Plus I'll find you a nice place
to live.
head cook: Greyhawk? The city of Greyhawk?
Peldor: Yep.
head cook: Um...I'll need to think about it.
Peldor: Fine. If you accept, you can find me at the Green Dragon
Inn, in Greyhawk.
head cook: But...why?
Peldor: (shrugs) I ate here this week. Twice, in fact - the food
was that good. I need cooks like you working for me.
head cook: I shall consider it - I must talk to my wife too.
Peldor: Sure. Heck, I might be able to employ her, too, depending
on her skills. Let me know, would you?
head cook: I will, thank you.
Outside the tavern...
Lyra: Why didn't you do all of this yesterday? Why wait until we
were here with you?
Peldor: Hey, I figured you'd want one last look at the markets.
The thief made two more stops at local taverns, and then the group
was ready to leave Dyvers for good.
Lyra: Well, all in all, that was an excellent vacation.
Alindyar: Agreed.
Peldor: Quite an excellent vacation...
Tanya: (smirks)
They rode out to the east, toward Greyhawk - toward home.
next: Belphanior, Otto, and a new direction for Helgate
ftp: ftp.digex.net in /pub/access/dpm/rpg/stories/adventurers
www: http://www.gatech.edu/oit/staff/ns/thomas.miller/adv.html
notes: The recent trilogy of Peldor stories was so much fun, I
wrote this epilogue.
Over the weekend (10/13-14-15) when this (and 287) was written,
the Braves did something mighty indeed - the first sweep in NLCS
history. My condolences to you Reds fans, but you guys won it
all in 1990, so...
We're almost there...just one more series.
Did I forget something? Oh, yeah. I sure did. Another origin...
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Tanya
Tanya was born in 548 C.Y. in a small village within the Gran
March. Her parents were of nearly untainted Sueloise blood, for
they had descended from the original Suel migrants into the area.
Unfortunately for the infant Tanya, her parents were very poor.
Although she was an only child, they sold her to a visiting noble
from the hold of the Sea Princes. She was only nine years old;
though this might seem like a strange thing for parents to do,
one must understand that Tanya's father was a stupid and cruel
man. He drank constantly, bullied the other peasants, beat his
wife, and even slapped his daughter around upon occasion. When
the young noble from the southern kingdom made him an offer he
couldn't refuse, Tanya's father jumped at the chance to gain some
money. After all, one could always have more children. However,
it was not to be; the father was killed in a fight a year later,
and his wife died, sickly and bedridden, two years after that.
By that time, though, the young Tanya was long gone. Her new
master was a well-off lad, but facts are facts: when one is a
slave, one doesn't have the rights and respect of a free person.
The trials and tribulations that Tanya went through as she grew
from a skinny waif to a young woman aren't important; what is
important is that she escaped at age seventeen, breaking out of
her room one night. Behind her, she left a dead nobleman in a
burning house, and she never looked back.
From the day of her escape, Tanya decided that she would never
again be imprisoned, subjugated, or humiliated. She fled to the
northern kingdoms, surviving by use of her wits and her sword.
Possessed of a natural aptitude for fighting, Tanya honed these
skills in her travels, eventually becoming a swordswoman to be
reckoned with. At some point, though, she grew tired of the
martial profession, and tried something new: the fine arts of
thievery. It was here that her true calling lay, for as fine
a warrior as she might have been, she was an even better rogue.
For more than five years, Tanya roamed the western Flanaess,
having adventures, pulling heists, and generally getting into
and out of trouble. In 573 C.Y. she arrived in the Free City of
Greyhawk, and soon after, she made a decision that would change
the course of her destiny. She took a job at the Green Dragon
Inn, as head bartender, in the process meeting Peldor, owner of
the tavern and a mighty adventurer in his own right. The rest,
as they say, is history...
As a result of her lineage, Tanya has light skin and red hair.
Her hair is perhaps her most striking feature, for the reddish
locks turn many a head and heart. Though petite, Tanya still
has the strength of a warrior and the lean litheness of a thief.
As can be inferred from the above history, Tanya is a woman
who's been around the block a few times. She has a childhood
that she'd rather forget - instead, she lives for the future,
for a chance to lead a stable life, to have children and raise
them the way she never was. Essentially retired, Tanya has yet
been known to dabble in the affairs of thieves, though nowadays
this only happens if her lover Peldor is involved. In any case,
Tanya is a woman worthy of respect, for she has done more than
enough to earn it.
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