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Lews sat on his pig, Blinky, as they slowly walked down the long road to Viroeth. Lews could hardly wait; there had to be something he could kill down there. In a city with almost 50 people, there just had to be! compared to all the villages of 1, or, MAYBE, 2 or (this almost NEVER happened) 3 people!

Blinky moved his snout into the ground. "* snort, snort-snort, SNORT!*"
Lews sighed with exasperation as Blinky playfully licked up a dead snail and some mud. Lews rolled his eyes, and grabbed onto the reins, "kiddy up Blinky." He said non-enthusiastically, then he sighed again and got up.

He cracked his back, picked up a random bone that had fallen out of his cloak, and started pulling Blinky along by the halter. No go. Lews was forced to go behind Blinky and start pushing him as he moved forward. Something went plop. Then a few more plops.
"[nocando]," moaned Lews as he started (finally) pulling Blinky along.

As we were walking towards Viroeth on this muddy road I was thinking back to the times back in the emperors army. Oh I miss those days, I miss my men. No you don't you like this life of ease, why would you miss work? Leave me alone, you ruined my life you "[nocando]" ?? Who's that? not me! Neither me!? I looked back to see a silouette strugling with a pig a hundred meters behind me. Couldn't make oout really who or what was going on, as sun was setting just behind the scene. We should go and offer help, We should indeed but you won't why would you care about others, your life is allready a missery no need to add the missery of others. I guess your right. You know I am.

Rythok was in the inn of Viroeth, gathering information on the evil he had heard was plaguing the lands. Maybe, just maybe, this evil would the one that killed his love. Hayley... he couldnt stop thinking of her... He couldnt gather any reliable info so he sat at table in the corner and started drinking. He thought that if he gets drunk he'd stop thinking about it all. He stayed there for hours.

Evening was falling and Verghax walked through the town gates of what seemed to be 'Viroeth'.
Finally I've arrived. I hope my contact isn't in the Inn yet, I could use some pints on my own first.

I was going to meet a former soldier of the emperor's army because he had an assignment for me, but he didn't want to go further in details when he wrote me that letter. I had a strange feeling in my guts that this was't going to be a solo mission either.

I entered the inn, took of my black cloak with red markings on it and put it on a table in a corner. I placed my crossbow near me, just in case... I always kept 1 poison dart on it, so I could fire it very fast. I ordered a nice mug of ale and enjoyed it greatly. Then I ordered another one and payed the nice looking waitress a few gold coins.

After a few months of travellign through unknown land, Joliekiller arrived at a small farmers village a few miles from Viroeth.

He was hoping for a place to spend the night and eat something, but all he found were destroyed houses and pieces of corpses all around.

What on earth happend here???
Jolie could see that the destruction was pretty new, so the one(s) responsable for it might still be in the neighbourhood.
He looked around carefully to see if anyone was stille here.

Suddenly he heared a small cry of help, coming from a shed on the north side of the village. Jolie went up there and opend it and saw a little boy, heavly wounded on the floor.
He's still alive... I have to help him.
"Hold on little boy, i'll help you. Just lay still." Jolie cast lay on hands on the boy, but in vain. It was to late already.
All the boy could say before he died was "Demons..." and something about an artifact of some kind.
The boy died in his hands. Jolie buried the boy properly and then went on for Viroeth, maybe he could find more about what happend here or about the artifact.

As Viroeth came insight i was thinking about the feel of evil clinging in the air. Allthough it wasn't my concern anymore i thought about Arissal and this evil...(I can't be there to protect you Aris..i'm sorry..) It's been 2 years since i left her and my duty behind....I have lived out my duty..but i can't let this evil be..it might put her in danger...it's the least that i can do...As Viroeth came closer i put my thought in the suplies i had to buy there...

"That's the third ace in a row!" Yelled Broderik Retchgut. My luck was clearly aggrivating him.
"Hand it over, 2 more copper pieces." I replied, trying not to laugh.
"Choke on it!" Broderik muttered and left the table. With the card game over I decided to get another cup of mead and return to glorious oblivion for the rest of the evening.
"Good business tonight!" Smiled Robert Tilley the barman.
"Yup, 60/40 split as always?" I grinned.
"Indeed." Bob said, "Your reputation has spread, people come from all over town to play you."
"You spread it well, Handy, pay the man!" I said. Handy's quick digits sorted out 10 copper peices.
"Do you have to bring that.... thing in here?" Bob said frowning.
"Sure, he's my bookeeper. He keeps an eye on things when I get too drunk too!"
Bob muttered under his breath a wandered off to serve another customer. I liked old Bob, he was about the only one in town who didn't hate or fear me. His brothers, Seth and Frederick offered me good protection in my card games too. If someone got out of hand, they got out of the bar. The Flaming Dragon pub had been open peacefully for many years under this arrangement. Most of the time....

The door creaked open and 4 men walked in.
"Aw hell!" Bob moaned, "Toenailers!"
"Hey Billy! Where the hell..."
"Down here!" I whispered from under the bar. "I'm not playing with those buggers!"
"They're gonna ba annoyed..." Bob replied.
"Tough! I've had it with them. Remember what happened last time I fleeced them?"
"Yeah, that fight cost a fortune."

The 'toenail gang' were aptly named. They were the closest thing to organised crime in the town. Thieves and cutthroats to a man. They took great delight in pulling off thier victim's toenails with pliers to get information on where their money was. After the screaming victim told them they'd just pull out the rest for kicks. Every memeber was ranked on how many big toenails they had in their collection. Their leader, Herman Thossik, was rumoured to have a collection of over 350! Some with the toe still attached.....

"Where's weirdo Will?" yelled one of the toenailers, "I want to play him again!"
"Who knows?" Stammered Bob. A noticible sweat was building on his forehead.
"Well how about you find 'im then? Before we get bored and er... redecorate this pit!"
"Crap!" Whispered Bob to me. "They'll tear this place apart! The customers are already leaving."
Heaving a great sigh I got up and went over to the card table to the jeers and laughter of the toenailers. I had to protect my livelihood too. If these idiots burned the pub down I would be out on the streets.
One thing, I would have to lose. I didn't like losing very much but it would make them happy. Bob would reimburse me for the losses anyway. And saving the bar of course. The toenailers would slip back off into the night and we'd all be fine. The world worked like that I guess.

I seated myself at the card table. Bob plonked down a bug mug of mead next to me and gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Then he ran.
I took a LARGE swig of mead to steady myself.
"Allright boys. Step up!" I called to them. Another evening down the toilet....

(switching to first person story-telling, is a little easier)

Heh, those thugs might cause trouble....

I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword in case things would turn out ugly, you never know with this kind of people around here. The one that worried me the most though was that weirdo Will, what kind of person would keep a hand as a pet? I didnt want to attract attention so I stayed in my corner, watching them play.

Our shadow was only half the length since we started the argument, Time has passed and only now I noticed were only few paces away from the gates of Viroeth. "Finnaly, were here. Tell me something I don't know. Argh! can't you ever stop moaning? I can moan whenever I want. Sigh" You could tell Viroeth apart from any other city, by the 3 gates it had. Was it to keep the scum out, or to keep it in? Anyway I doesn't matter we are here to settle the deal. This will give us Aid we'll need to set this right once and for all.

"Show me yer password travelar"
We reached in my shoulderbag and fiddled out a worn peice of paper.
"Hurrey up, your not teh onley one to pass old man"
We looked up to the guard, he was badly dressed, not that armor could ever look good, but it was just slapped on there. His beard had still some soup in it and his cap wasn't even fastened. A little breeze would knock it of. We quickly glanced around to see we were the only ones here except for the pig and his master on the horizon. We grinned and handed the peice of paper to the guard. He took a look at it, sighed and stretched his arms, his vision wasn't the best either. That would explain calling us old men.
"Its ollraight" He said tossing the password in a barrel
"You can pass, but behave, we dont like trouble hare. OPEN TEH GATE!"

The second guard opened the gate and we walked in.
"Gooday" he greeted us, and looked much better than soupbeard over there
"Morning" we replied
"what are you here for traveller"
"Business"
"What kind of business? If I may ask or not" The guard reached for his sword, showing he won't be played with.
"I'm here to meet some poeple"
"Whom? if I may ask"
"Future travelling partners"
"Enjoy your stay traveller."

The third gate opened and we walked inside. We noticed a large poeple grouped in an alley. Walking closer we saw the sign of the inn, We can't read but the symbol was just as they told us. We worked our way trough the crowd and entered the inn.

"It's none of your bussines stranger, you better leave"
"We do what we wish" We said as I noticed a lone soul in dark corner, I bet he's one of the contacts.
"We? I don't see anyone else, you might have forgotten you ladyfriend outside hahahaha" The two other standing individuals were luaghing along. "You might go back out before I kick your [nocando] out!"
"You can try if you wish, we will play this game fair"
"WHAT! I'll do more to your [nocando] than kicking it, maggot!"
"SHHH" The man sitting at the table, facing the necromancer, commanded his men "Leave him be, I have to concentrate on this game"
"But? allright as you wish cap"

We walked towards the dark corner and seated ourselves infront of what clearly seemed a drunk man. "Morning, ain't it a bit early to be drinking like that sir?"

Lews pushed and pulled, and FINALLY got Blinky to start going down the road again. As they went, Lews tried killing the flies in the air, and once almost made one pass out! Now he was getting some REAL sucsess with his project.

As Blinky walked through the gates, Lews sensed people laughing. He hated people laughing at 'im. And officer cried out, "You must stable your pig in the butchery!" As Lews rode by, and Lews tried using his power to kill the insolent man. A flower fell from a roof top, and Blinky went to eat it. Everybody in the street laughed and Lews sighed and pulled Blinky along to an inn were alot of people seemed to be arguing.

"I drink whenever I want, and you wont stop me"

I looked away from the man. What did he want anyway? Well, he did look like an adventurer, so I thought I could get some information about the evil around here.

<Sigh> "I saw you talk to those thugs, you better watch out. I'm sure you're a capable fighter, but a fight would scare those with information and I dont want them to leave"

I looked at weirdo Will for a sec to see if everything was still peaceful. When I saw everything was normal, I looked back at the man in front of me.

"You wouldn't know anything about some kind of evil plaguing the lands now would you?"

I saw the faint glow from the distant town... go there for help?, or suffer on
my own. Orchidale was still 3 days travel, and i need to address these wounds
pronto... Thinking back, there was really nothing i could have done to prevent
it... besides, they asked for it...
Never creep up on an Orc in the middle of the forest and scare him... the
results could be catastrophic, and what is a band of Gypsies and Drifters
(or whatever they are)doing out here anyway? And why did they keep calling me
Sasquatch? ..., when i drew my sword and yelled...they all ran away,
and i only yelled that loud, because i gashed my side whilst drawing my own
sword... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" />
If they wouldn't have scared the piss out of me,
none of this would have happened.
I'd better make up a better story than that, or i'll be laughed out of
town....the people are funny around here, and i better keep a keen eye,
it's my last one!
It looks like......owwiiee! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" />...i'll never make it three more days...
i need some rest and food... and that town looks big enough to have both,
and more...

"Great! idiot you picked the wrong person. I didn't you say otherwise so shut up!" "we're sorry, We've mistaken you from someone else, we won't be bothering you again. You did not I. No, we did!" I stood up from the table with the drunk walking up to the bar where we found a shaking and sweating man angstly following the game of cards"

"Give us the strongest you got!"
He turned his head and seemingly didn't realise we entered his inn, "come again? what did you want?"
"Give us the strongest you got!"
"Ok, but I think that fellow over there should drink much more"
"Not him, us!"
"But?" He seemed very confused
"Its for me, and I" we replied
he raised his shoulders and went under the bar and took a dusty bottle with a clear colorless substance. And poored out 2 glasses. And he focussed back on the game.
"Excuse me, but what does this cost?"
"Oh I'm sorry" He replied still watching the game, "its 2 goldpeices"
"Only 2?"
"each"
We payed the man 4 goldpeices and poored the drinks in our throat, turned our back to lean against the bar and observed the game.

After i finally made it through the three gates of viroeth, i sighed with a relief...(Now at least i can have some decent food other then wildlife) I decided to go to the inn first for a room and a meal. It seems i came in a bad time..(Well it never stopped me before..it sure won't stop me now) I took a quick glance through the inn and stepped up to the bartender...as he seemed to be watchhing the cardgame that was going on nervously i actually didn't want to bother him...but i was quite hungry and wanted a good drink! When i tapped his shoulder to get his attention he jumped up scared..(geuss he didn't notice me coming in) I calmed him down a bit and asked for a bottle of his strongest liqour and a meal if possible. He went and got me a bottle but told me that a meal was not possible at the moment. (Argh i geuss i must eat my last bit of supplies...wich is only bread! oh well..)I gave the man the money for the bottle and settled myself at a table...i've gotten a few glances from a few of the guys at the tables..but nothing more..(good they don't seem interested in me, wich means i can drink and eat me last piece of bread in peace) i opened the bottle and drank...keeping an eye on the current event.....

I was happy that it was daytime again, so I could leave the crappy inn I had spent the night in. There had been all sorts of vermin’s in my room, and still the owner dared to ask a huge sum of gold for it.
Í did pay though.. I feel unhappy when I have the feeling people are mad at me, which I consider to be a big weakness of me..
I seem to be one of the few people left who still care about other people, and not just the money they make..
Sometimes I wish that my dreams would come true; that I would have real life friends, which looked after me just as I would look after them..

I decided that before I ventured on, I would pay a visit to the pub, for an ale never hurts..
I walked in, sat down and ordered a drink.
When I had payed the bartender, who should have washed himself better since I could smell his sweat even before I saw it, I turned around and saw 5 man playing cards.

I was feeling lucky that day, so I walked up to the table and asked if I could join.

Lews pushed himself into the inn and saw a bunch of people hudled around a table. AHH! Cards! Something Lews was really good at for once!
He started inwards, but some man with abunch of toenails hanging from his neck blocked the way.
"I'm sorry, its a private party, go away, piggy boy." He sneered and took out a long long knife. I looked at it.
"ohhh, shiny!" And tried to pull it out if his hands. He rolled his eyes <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> and suddenly flung the knife at my head. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />
gBut unfourtinently for him, the only way to kill me, being a skeleton, would be to take all my bones away, and boil 'em in lava, then freeze 'em. So it went tright through. He stared.
"Ok, well, maybe your pig will get some stabbing, I love sasage."
and now that was too much! Blinky was the only thing in my life (besides that useless frog) that i had, and loved. I stared at the man in anger, and pointed at him. He fell to the floor; either unconcious, or dead.
"MY FIRST VICTIM!" People stared at Lews, but a few moved to the sides to let Lews in the room, and he made sure Blinky took a few craps on this toenail dude.


Lews walked right up the table with Blinky, eager to play, for he almost always did moderatly <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> well at games. He walked up right as another fellow coming from the bar came, so Lews felt encouraged, maybe they'd let 2 people play rather then one.

I was just a bit halfway through me bottle...till some guy came in with a piggy....and killed one of the weird guys with toenails...by just pointing at him....(interesting power...and he's not the only one. some very interesting guys have gathered here...good thing that hardly any1 ever notices a wanderer..)
I took a quick feel at my equipment and builded up a bit of my magic(fools playing with their power...are more dangerous then ones with full control of theirs...) I decided to see what this event shall bring...and went to order a new bottle in advance....

I saw the spectacle of some weird looking guy in black cloathes pointing at someone else who immediately fell to the ground. Was he dead? who knows, and more importantly: who CARES? I for sure don't, but the finger pointing action triggered more magic power in the room than only that guy had in him. It was at that moment that I knew that a very exclusive group of men were in this room. were we all drawn to meet in this place.. I don't know. I only needed to find my contact.

I saw a man standing at the bar that seemed aggravated about something and looked angry at someone on another table. Maybe he was my contact, maybe it was someone else... I don't know

I ordered another good Ale and drank

That piggy boy didnt look dangerous, but when I saw him put down a man only by pointing at him I remembered that I can't judge people by looks. There were still many interesting people here, but I didnt want to get involved in a fight here, so I got up and went towards the exit. A man with toenails intercepted me and said:

"Sorry buddy, but I can't let'cha outta here until we leave. I'm sure ya know why."

I looked at him calmly.

"Yeah I know, what if someone alerted the authorities eh? Let me assure you, I have no intention of doing that"

I tried to walk past him but he pushed me back. I smiled at him and threw a few gold pieces at his feet. He quickly bent himself to pick them up and I walked past him. I should have left faster though, because the same guy stabbed me in the back as I went through the doorway.

"Ya thought ya could get away so easily did'ya? I'll show you what happens to those who annoy me"

I turned back to face the man and grabbed his arm before he could punch me. I looked at him angrily and broke his arm. He cried out in pain.

"Will you let me pass now?"

Almost instantly I found myself surrounded by the toenail gang. I quickly drew my sword. I had started what I wanted to avoid, what irony...

After a few hours walking, Jolie finaly arrived at the city. After convincing the guards to open the gates, Jolie goes for the inn for a drink and a good night sleep.

When he entered the inn, the first thing he saw was a group of all sorts of people playing cards at one end of the inn and a few people drinking on the other side.

One thing was for sure, this looked awfully femilar. Reminds me of the coppor corronet, thought Jolie

He went over to the bar and ordered a drink.
"Bartender, a drink please."
"Coming right up."
The barman brought the drink and Jolie asked if he had a room available for the night.

While he was talking to the barman he heard noise in the back, seemed like a fight was beginning.

Jolie turned around and went right over.
"Hold on, What is going on here??"
"Who the hell are you?" Yelled an obviously dronk man. It looked like a soldier of the king.
The others, obviously very suspisious men, turned to me.

"I'm Joliekiller, a paladin at you service. Can anybody tell me what is going on?"
The gang started laughing.
"A paladin, hahahah. Been long since we saw one. And he didnt survive, nor will you."
They drew there swords, a fight seemed inevidable....