Scuttle the Rogue

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Everyone in the tavern heard the rapid, staccato pounding of small legs running towards the entrance. The door burst open and an excited halfling ran in. Every eye in the tavern seemed to roll in the air. Every expression in the room said "Oh no. Scuttle is here." Halfway through the entrance, he stopped and yelled "Hey everybody! I finally figured out how..." WHAP! His words were cut off as the door he had just thrown open came back and smacked him in the face. Uproarious laughter filled the room. One of the serving wenches bent over the dazed halfling.
"Ahh Scuttle. The same as always, aren't you? Are you okay little one?"
Scuttle shook his head to clear the stars and held a hand up to his throbbing forehead. "I'm okay Talia...TALIA! Hi!! Actually, I'm GREAT!" His body language transformed as he remembered what he was saying before the sneak attack by the front door. "As I was saying," he turned and glared at the offending door, "I just figured out how to poison a blade! Look!"
Talia deftly jumped back as Scuttle whipped out a small dagger, the length of the blade covered with a stain of viscous green liquid. "Whoa! Careful, Little One," Talia said as she patted him lightly on the head. "You can hurt someone with that thing." She smiled at him, turned around, and walked towards the bar.
"Wait Talia, look!" Scuttle ran towards her to show her his handiwork. His leg caught an end of a patron's chair, and sent him sprawling. As the ground came to meet him, he realized that he really should have put the blade away before running.
"Owie!" he yelped as he pierced himself in the shoulder while falling on the blade. "Oh no!" He crawled to his feet with a look of terror in his eye. "I'm gonna die now...I'm gonna die now! Oh no! Oh NO!"
Talia bent down to try and help the injured halfling. "Settle down Scuttle...settle down. Tell me where you got the poison."
"Oh the pain...the pain! I can feel the poison in my veins already!" Scuttle whimpered to his friend. "Oh Talia...I'm going to miss you!"
Talia grabbed his chin and looked him in the eye. "Scuttle, where did you get the poison?"
Scuttle seemed to forget where he was for a moment, his eyes unfocused as he looked around the room. He then looked directly at Talia and whispered something to her. He then fell back on the floor moaning in pain. He reached for a pouch on his belt and handed it to her. She ripped open the package and looked at the vial of green fluid. There were words written on the vial. "Sugar Poison"
Talia stood up and looked at him glaringly, with her hands on her hips. "You got it form the Candy vendor?!?! Scuttle, this isn't poison! It's a drink for children!"
Scuttle moaned again. "Oh, I can feel the poison in my veins. Ooooh!" His eyes clenched shut, he moaned and rolled on the floor, beginning to convulse, when suddenly he opened one eye and looked at Talia. "Candy? No. It's real, I KNOW it is." He crawled to his feet with some effort, careful not to injure his wounded shoulder. Suddenly his face lit up. "Hrmm. Well, that is odd. The poison has stopped working. Wow! I must be immune to it or something! Well, I better go to the healer for my shoulder! Bye now!" He walked out the door, glaring at the door as he walked out of the tavern.
"Same ol' Scuttle," Talia muttered as she began cleaning up after the whirlwind of chaos that the little halfling always seemed to create.



I swear, this is the type of thing that must happen to Scuttle when I am not playing him, considering all the things that happen when I DO play him.

Let me know what you think of this or if you are interested in hearing any more about Scuttle...it was my first attempt at writing anything like this. Thanks! Edited by: Kaibutsu Edited by: 9/15/00 9:06:03 am

[EZ_Sorowen]

Loved it! Definitely would love to hear (read) more! Sorowen
Rogue of the Shadows (Bertoxxulous Server)
"Years I've spent learning just how to feel. No more can I tell what is or is not real..."

[EZ_scaevola]

Excellent! Scaevola Fallenangel
41st Level
Bertoxxulous

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

The story continues...

A patron watched the disastrous rogue leave the tavern. A small, barely audible breath of laughter escaped from beneath the dark cowl hood of the patron’s cloak. This job was going to be ridiculously easy. He didn’t know why the dwarf wanted this little halfling dead, but he paid half in advance, and the cloaked patron wasn’t prone to ask questions. He drained the rest of his drink, threw a coin on the table, and rose from the chair in the back of the room. The chair groaned in relief as the huge figure lifted his weight from the tortured wood. He moved towards the door, towering over the other patrons, with a fluid grace that was not expected from a frame of his size.

He stepped out into the crowded street. People busily hustled around him. He looked back and forth, trying to locate the little halfling. He saw the rogue across the street, walking away from him, oblivious that anyone would be looking for him. Scuttle stood at the door of a blacksmith’s shop, staring longingly at the assortment of shields. The man reached towards his belt with a small movement that verified that his dagger was easily within reach and loose in the sheath. He moved towards the small rogue, looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to him, or the halfling.

Scuttle’s injured shoulder pulled him out of his fascination with the blacksmith’s shields. He started walking again towards the healer’s hut. He scooted along the street, deftly avoiding being stepped on by all the larger city travelers.

In his peripheral vision, something caught his eye…something glittering on the ground in the alley. Always curious, he quickly moved to inspect. It was a small stone. Probably worthless, he thought to himself, but still picked it up and examined it as he continued on his journey to the healer’s.

The dark man looked around. There was no one watching either him or the halfling. In a one deft, quick movement, the dagger came out of the sheath and was sent flying towards the targeted rogue. The halfling, was still looking at the small, glittering stone, not paying attention to where he was walking. He walked across another tavern entrance, only to be bowled over by a flying gnome. The gnome had the unfortunate timing of being thrown into the path of the dagger. The blade sunk deep into his shoulder and he howled in agony. The projectile flying gnome was immediately followed out of the tavern by a huge ogre, obviously carrying on an argument that began inside the tavern. He was yelling something at the gnome when he walked out the door and noticed the screaming gnome and the dagger stuck in his shoulder. He looked around the street and his eyes fell on the cloaked assassin.

“You not kill Gnome! ME kill gnome! You try to kill him before he give me money? Me kill YOU!” The ogre charged the cloaked man, and they both went down in a cloud of dust.

The gnome began convulsing, as the poison began tearing through his veins. Scuttle crawled out from under the gnome, shaking his head in dismay. “Wow Mr. Gnome. You made someone really mad at you, didn’t you? You should be more careful! I’m going to the healer’s hut. Want to come along?”

The gnome continued to convulse, and began to choke on his own tongue.

“Hello? Are you listening to me?” Scuttle lightly tapped the twitching, convulsing gnome with his boot. “I guess he doesn’t want to go,” he said to no one in particular. He continued on his way to the healer’s hut without a second glance at the dying gnome.

When the dust settled, there was a groaning sound, and a large thud as the dark man rolled the ogre corpse from on top of him. He looked around to locate the mark. The halfling was gone. He shook his head in disgust, and began dusting off the dirt from his dark cloak. He reached down and pulled two dripping blades from the neck of the ogre’s corpse, and quickly disappeared down an alley, amidst stares from many curious, but un-surprised citizens. This was a violent city, and very little shocked the townsfolk. Still, there was no reason to have the town guard snooping around and finding him here.

The dark man cursed his poor luck, and the insane amount of luck of the halfling rogue. There is plenty of time, he thought to himself. The dwarf gave him a week to take out the mark. He had more than enough time to set up a precise hit. A hit that, this time, would not fail.

[EZ_Halen]

*clap*

The only story in this forum that's actually ever been entertaining for me. Cripes, who'd have though it :-)

more!

Halen

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Okay, this one isn't quite about Scuttle, but it will be soon.


Talia wiped the table with the stained bar rag. She contemplated the little halfling rogue that had left hours earlier. She didn’t know what it was, but something always made her want to check on the little troublemaker. She almost felt like a big sister to him. She laughed to herself. He really did try hard. She didn’t know if he would ever be able to successfully be the rogue he wanted to be, but he sure put a lot of effort into it.

She tossed the bar rag at the tavern keeper and bid him goodnight. He grumbled a farewell and waved her off. “Be back early tomorrow. We have a busy day with the new batch of brew!”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she remarked with a sarcastic grin.

He gave her a mock scowl and made shooing motions with his hands. “Get outta here girl.”

She smirked and waved goodbye as she walked out the door.

Once outside, she thought she ought to check on her friend, see how he had faired at the healer hut. The streets were still bustling, even at this time of night, and the ruckus seemed even worse as the alcohol ran even more freely at night. There was the usual bar fights that ended up in the streets, and the occasional stumbling drunk, weaving their way down the street. Talia often thought about leaving this vermin-hole, but it was home to her, and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

She rounded the corner on the row of small houses where Scuttle lived. Her mind drifted and she wondered how on Norrath Scuttle was able to afford a house, even as small as the one he had. She struggled just to keep the small room above the tavern. Her thoughts occupied her mind a little too completely, and she ran head long into a tall man as she came around the corner. She looked up into a toothless, malevolent grin. The man wore solid black leather armor with small silver insignias on the shoulder. Two other similarly clad men looked around the man from behind. Both men were short and scrawny, almost rat-like in appearance.

“What do we have here Sergeant?” one of the rodent looking men asked the hulk in front of Talia. They peeked from around him like vipers, malice in their eyes.

“Where you shink yer goin’ little girl?” The man’s slurred speech reeked with alcohol.

Great, Talia thought to herself, the town guard on a drinking spree, and she has to run into them. “I’m going to check on a friend. They were injured today, I am sure you already know about the fight. I can see you are some of the city’s most diligent protectors.”

The weasel-like man on the left snapped forward and grabbed Talia by the collar. “What is that supposed to mean, huh? Are you mocking us wench?” Talia thought she might pass out from the stench of alcohol on the small man’s breath. Unlike the tall brute towering above her, there was intelligence in this man’s eyes.

Uh oh, she thought, this could be trouble. “No milord, I was just commenting on the fine job that you do in this city. How safe we all feel strolling around at night because of you.” She beamed a smile at the little guard holding her collar.

“Just how stupid do you think we are, girl?” His eyes flashed in anger. He spun Talia around and threw her against the wall. “Sergeant, I think we need to take this criminal in for…questioning.”

“Yesh, she is kinda purty. I think I should go…uhh…question her.” He turned towards her, looking her up and down. “Yes, definitely some…questioning…is in order.”

Talia realized that this had gone way too far. The rat-like guard had a tight hold on her collar, but had left her arms free. The man had assumed that she was defenseless because she was small, or more likely, because she was a woman.
“Questioning milord? Why I don’t see why you would want to question an innocent citizen like…” her left hand shot out, smashing in the nose of the man holding her collar. He went down screaming and holding his hands over his nose. She aimed a kick at the tall guard’s head, while reaching behind her to draw a small, thin blade from her belt. She slid the spinning kick in front of the tall man’s face, which succeeded in doing what she wanted. The man threw his hands up to protect his face, and lost his balance, stumbling backwards to get away from the kick. She continued with the momentum, crouching down as she spun. Her blade came around and she threw her arm up piercing the last guard in the front of the throat. His eyes widened in shock. He put his hands to his throat. He tried to scream, and fell down on his knees, a choking, gurgling sound the only noise he could make.

The large man had recovered and tried to come after her, charging at her like an angry bull. She side stepped his charge and brought the pommel of the dagger on the back of his skull. The behemoth guard collapsed to the ground with a thud. She turned back to deal with the remaining guard. He was on his feet running away, screaming for the guards.

“Murderer! Murderer! There is a murderer attacking the guards! Help! Guards!” The nasally scream could barely carry. His nose had been shattered by her strike to his face.

Talia muttered a curse. She better catch him before he could summon any more of the guards. She shot after the man, intent on catching him before he could slip away. She came within a few feet of the running guard, and pounced on him from behind. She slammed the dagger deep into the man’s back. He collapsed in a heap, a weak scream of agony stopping suddenly as he struck the ground.

She heard running feet from directly in front of her. Three more guardsmen had seen her strike down the man. In a moment’s thought she thought about explaining what had happened, why she had attacked the guards, but no one would believe her. She was merely a barmaid who was obviously something more than just a barmaid. She didn’t stand a chance of convincing anyone that she was the victim.

She threw the dagger towards the approaching guards. They scattered as the blade went flying over their heads. Talia wasn’t trying to kill them. They had done nothing to her, and she saw no reason to take them out. She just needed a distraction. She bolted as they hit the ground, falling for the feint. The guards jumped to their feet and resumed the chase, Talia already with a huge lead.

The guards saw her turn and disappear into an alley and quickly followed. They rounded the corner moments later, only to barrel into a wandering drunk coming out of the alley. They all went down in a pile. The guards immediately tossed the drunk off of them and started down the alley again, but they stopped. There was no sound of fleeing, and the woman was nowhere in sight. All the shuttered windows along the alley were shut tight. The alley ended just ahead of them, and there didn’t appear any way for the woman to escape. The walked side by side, trying to flush out their suspect. They continued to the end of the alleyway, and found no sign of the woman. Confused, they gave up on finding the woman, and went to question the drunk. He had been knocked unconscious by the impact, and was useless for interrigation. They quickly moved to check on their fallen comrades.

Talia watched them leave from the roof of the building that created one side of the alley, sure they had no suspicion that she could just about climb a sheer face if necessary. She had bounded around the corner, deftly avoiding the drunk. She had grabbed a window edge, leaping to the window above and throwing herself face down on the roof of the building.

She quietly leapt to the building across the alley, and stealthily made her way to her home above the tavern, using the rooftops of the close knit buildings. It was time to collect her things and leave the town she loved so much.


Sounding okay so far? Should I continue?

[Sneaking Uponya]

very nice so far i would love to hear a bit more of this rogue sounds like someone i knew in my early days =-) I think that maybe I will be a little surer of being a little nearer thats all. Eternity is in the understanding that a little is more than enough.

[EZ_Halen]

Aw, I was convinced she'd disguised herself as the drunk, then run off when they went past her :-)

Halen

[EZ_Malia]

/cheer Scuttle

hahaa, I love it!!

More please. More!!


PS: Hiya you scoundrel

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Hehe!! Hiya!!!

Thank you! Tons!!!!

I just spent way too much time working on the real Scuttle instead of writing about him. Heh!!

More defintely coming!

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Hehe! Good point Halen!! I actually did think about doing that. That is why the drunk was there in the first place. But then I thought...you know...there was no way she could pull that off so quickly, guards chasing her, and where would she get the different clothes? So...I didn't do it.

But if you have an alley, you gotta have a drunk, so I left 'im in there! Hehe!

Thanks all! More coming soon!

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Talia carefully made her way towards her home. She knew it was time to leave her home town that she loved so much. It was one thing to kill someone. It was entirely something else to kill a guard – let alone multiple guards. Even worse, she knew there was something strangely familiar about the two men that she had killed. In her heart, she knew that she should recognize the faces. She had seen them somewhere before, but her mind was racing too quickly to clarify her thoughts.

She quickly rounded a corner and made her way into an alley that contained the stairway to her tiny room above the tavern she worked at. If she was leaving this town, she wasn’t going empty handed. Being a fugitive was bad enough. Being a fugitive with no money was unthinkable.

The noise from the tavern below her drifted up as she unlocked the door at the top of the stairs and hurried into the room to gather her possessions, not even bothering to close the door behind her. She ran to her bed and shoved it out of the way. Reaching for the small knife she kept at the nightstand next to her bed. She began prying at the floorboards and removed panels from the floor that covered a gap between the floor and the ceiling of the tavern below her. Purposefully she grabbed a belt from the niche that had two wicked looking daggers in sheaths attached to it. She strapped on the belt and reached into the floor again. A small coin purse was pulled from the darkness. She quickly shoved that inside her jerkin and stuck her hand deep inside the floor for the final possession.

She quietly grunted and she heaved the pack out of the gaping hole in the floor. The items rattled against each other as she unlatched the buckles on the pack. Inside the huge pack was a collection of dark, flexible armor and a travelling cloak with a deep hood. She began strapping on the armor, the metal making small shifting noises as she strapped it on.

Perhaps the noise of the armor, and the cacophony from the busy tavern below dulled her senses, but she snapped a sharp intake of breath as the cool metal touched the tender skin of her neck. She stiffened and did not flinch. She could feel the hot breath of the attacker on the back of her neck.

“Going somewhere?” The voice was a harsh whisper in the common tongue. It was an accent she didn’t recognize.

She choked down the lump in her throat and took a small calming breath. “What’s it to you? Who are you?” she snapped, despite the blade pressing against her neck.

She felt the blade bite into her flesh as the intruder pressed the blade harder against her skin. He whispered to her again in a raspy, venomous breath, “Who I am means nothing to you. Nothing will have any meaning to you unless you tell me what I want to know.” He twisted around and whispered into her other ear. “I know you know where he is. I saw you talking to him in the tavern. Where is Scuttle?” He increased the pressure of the razor sharp blade against her skin.

Scuttle? Oh gods…what has he done now? She was afraid to swallow, for fear that the blade would cut deeper into her skin. She could lie, trying to protect him, but what good would it do. He apparently had seen her helping the little halfling at the tavern. “Look, I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him since he left the tavern. He’s probably running around the town somewhere.”

He grabbed the back of her hair with his free hand and spun her towards the door. “You are taking me to where he lives,” he glanced at the remainder of the armor and the cloak she had not yet donned, “then you can continue with your...travel plans. Don’t try anything either. You are obviously more than a serving wench, but whatever you are, you aren’t fast enough to stop me from sticking this blade in your spine. So be a good girl and take me to where the halfling lives.”

He stepped up behind her and they started to move towards the open door. From the street came the sound of someone quickly climbing the stairway to her apartment. He shoved her towards the door, “Greet your visitor, and remember that I’m watching you.” She still had not had a good look at the man. He followed close behind her and stood just to the side of the door as she stood in the open doorway.

She peeked around the corner to see who was coming up the stairs. Oh no...

“HI TALIA!!!” Scuttle came bounding up the last few stairs. “What are you doing out here? Hey your door’s open! You really should close that so all the cold air doesn’t get in! Here, let me get that for you!” Scuttle reached for the door and Talia grabbed his arm. Suddenly Talia was pulled backwards into the room by a strong grasp on her shoulder. She tumbled into her room as the dark man stepped into the doorway.

A high-pitched squeal came from the doorway and a sound of something tumbling down the stairs while Talia tried to find her feet as she fell backwards into the room. She curled into a ball and rolled to her feet, immediately bounding towards the door. The man was not standing at the doorway.

She reached the doorway and quickly stepped onto the landing. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a small groaning sound coming from a sprawling pile of tall cloaked figure and small halfling. She bolted down the stairs to check on the little rogue.

At the bottom of the stairs, a clearly unconscious man was sprawled on top a small halfling struggling to crawl out from under him. Talia shoved the man off of Scuttle and helped the groaning halfling to his feet. He put a hand on his head and flinched.

“Ow! I hit my head coming down those stairs! Boy Talia, your friend is sure clumsy. He really should be more careful! I think he’s an assassin too! Did you know your friend is an assassin? I saw him kill a gnome earlier today. I wonder what that silly gnome did. You really gotta be careful around here. It’s easy to get people mad at you! So, what is with your clumsy friend here?”

“My friend?! Scuttle...I...oh nevermind! Get up the stairs and talk to me while I get a few things. We have to talk. First though, what happened to him?” She nodded at the unconscious man lying at the bottom of the stairs. She quickly made her way back to her room above the tavern with Scuttle following quickly at her feet.

“I dunno really. I think he was trying to introduce himself to me. He jumped out to say “hi,” and he startled me. Then I think he wanted to shake my hand, but he must have forgotten that he had a dagger in his hand. When he reached to shake my hand, that dagger almost hit me. So I fell back, and lost my balance. I think he realized he scared me and was going to try and help, because he threw his hand out again for me to catch it. He still must have forgotten that he had that dagger in his hand, because he almost stabbed me when he was trying to reach out and save me from falling. Fortunately, I grabbed his wrist, which slowed me down a bit, but then he fell right behind me! Boy was he lucky he didn’t stab himself on the way down!”

Talia was strapping on the remainder of her armor as Scuttle continued his recap of what happened on the stairway. She stopped what she was doing for a moment, and gaped at him. “Scuttle, I have no idea how you get so lucky.” She shook her head and strapped the last piece of armor on, and put the dark cloak about her shoulders and grabbing the pack from the floor.

“Lucky?? What do you mean lucky? I just fell down some stairs with your clumsy friend back there. That is hardly good luck if you ask me. HEY! Where did you get all that armor. Wait a minute. Are you going some where? Where are you going? Can I come? I wanna come! Please!”

“Scuttle,” Talia sighed exasperatedly, “listen, you don’t want to come with me. I have to leave. I have to. I don’t want to, but there was some trouble with the guards, and I have to leave now.”

“But you need me Talia! You know how much trouble you will get into without me! You need me to watch your back!”

Talia headed towards the door and then down the stairway to the alley below. “No Scuttle you can’t come with me.” She stopped short. She saw the still unconscious man at the bottom of the stairs. Whoever he was, he was sure to try and get to Scuttle again, for whatever reason. She couldn’t leave the little halfling to his own devices. She was sure Scuttle would be dead by the next day. He seemed to have incredible luck, but someday that luck would run out.

With a sigh, she turned to the halfling and got down on one knee to talk to him at eye level. “Scuttle, listen to me. I have to go now. It will be dangerous to come with me, but you can come. You are right. I need you to watch my back.”

Scuttle did a small bouncing movement of enthusiasm. “That is best! Yes! You definitely need me Talia! Okay, I have to go get my pack and my cloak and my weapons, but I will meet you at the front gates, okay?!” His eyes widened enthusiastically as he nodded his head, waiting for her response.

“No Scuttle, meet me half a league beyond the north gates at the twisted oak tree at the top of the hill. I can’t let the guards at the gate question me. It is a long story and I will tell you later. Now GO! And hurry! I can’t waste another moment. You know where to meet me now, right?”

Scuttle nodded his agreement and bounded down the alleyway. She left the alleyway and made her way to the city walls. She couldn’t leave through the main gate because of the guards. She couldn’t risk showing her face. What have I done? I can not believe I am taking Scuttle with me! Ah well. I can’t leave him here.

Talia melted into the shadows of the buildings, slowly making her way out of the city.

EDIT: Corrected a missing word.
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Tarew MarrEdited by: Kaibutsu at: 10/18/00 1:33:52 pm

[EZ_Halen]

As always, brilliant =)

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

The small man angrily slapped the burly guardsman that sat in the chair cowering in front of the desk of the official. It was a strange sight to see. A short, rotund man, not much taller than a halfling, glowered at the gigantic guardsmen that sat in the chair in front of him. The guardsman was obviously terrified of the man, despite the difference in stature.

“What exactly are you telling me sergeant? And stop babbling. I can still smell the alcohol on you, you sorry excuse for a guardsman. I trust you have sobered up since then. You will be sorely punished if you have come here for no reason. For your sake, you have come here, I assume, to tell me something highly important, considering the hour. Let me just say that it had better be -very- important to have bothered me at this time of night.”

The tall man winced and looked directly at the small man, his hand rubbing the growing red mark on his face from the slap he received. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to find his voice. “I-I-I came to tell y-y-you about your nephews Mr. M-M-Mayor.”

“Oh grand. What have the little miscreants done now? I have told my sister repeatedly that I would take care of them, but honestly, those two are more criminals than anything. Placing them in the guards was certainly more than they deserved. What have they done? Where are they? Sober up and stop dribbling! Speak!”

The sergeant grimaced and continued with the story. “Well, your Honor, the three of us w-w-were looking into a brawl that was happening over at Thulak’s Tavern. We broke up the fight, but…uhh…some alcohol got spilled on me, so…uhh…that is why I smell like alcohol sir.”

The Mayor scowled at the man. Almost seeming to look down upon him, though he still had to look up at the man seated in front of him. “Do NOT insult my intelligence, you driveling monkey! Tell me why you are here!”

The guardsman flinched, visibly terrified. “Y-yes sir. The reason I came to you is about your nephews.” He paused again, trying to find the words.

The Mayor’s eyes narrowed to small slits. “Sergeant…we have been over this. What have they done?”

“Sir, it’s not that they have done anything…it’s that…that…they are dead sir.” The sergeant’s shoulders collapsed, and he looked towards the mayor with apprehension.

The Mayor stared at him for a moment. His expression was shocked, and then he turned white. He reached back for the chair, fumbling with his hands to try and find the chair behind him before he fell onto the ground. “They are dead?”

“Y-y-yes sir.”

The mayor pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes and rubbed. This can’t be happening. No. Oh gods. What am I going to do? Theophilia is going to have me strung up for this...or probably worse. He sobered quickly, with the skill of a seasoned politician. “All right sergeant. They are dead. Tell me what happened. Leave nothing out. I want every detail. Remember who they are…or more accurately were, and remember who will be here questioning YOU if she is unhappy enough to come out here herself.”

The guardsman looked directly at the Mayor and then his shoulders collapsed even further. He put his head to his knees, and began sobbing. “I know sir! I know! It wasn’t my fault I tell you! Please! I was watching them like you told me to! I was! Please don’t let her question me! Please!”

The Mayor knew of the rumors that flowed about his sister. He knew that her name was well known among the city…the entire continent in fact. The rumors were that his sister dealt in things that were best not to talk about. The rumors were in fact true, and probably worse than most even guessed. Theophilia dealt in the dark arts of necromancy. No one wanted to have to talk to her. The Mayor purposely came to a city as far away from her as possible. He was highly annoyed when Theophilia told him that he was to watch her two sons while she continued her studies. It was no wonder that those two ended up being such monsters, considering their mother. The Mayor never knew who the father was, and certainly didn’t care to know.

“All right sergeant,” the Mayor began, “there is nothing that can be done about it now. Either she will come here or she won’t. It will depend on what else you have to tell me. What happened.”

“Well, your Honor, we were walking the streets, keeping an eye out for the troublemakers, when suddenly, out of nowhere, this woman jumped us. She was all over us like a banshee. She attacked us completely unprovoked. I quickly drew my sword and fought her off as well as I could. Your nephews tried to fend her off, but we were no match for her. As she struck one of them down, I tried to throw myself in front of her, but she knocked me away. I don’t know what she hit me with…perhaps she was one of those vile Shadowknights. She might have cast a spell on me. All I know, is when I woke up, I was laying on the ground with a pain in my head like I have never felt, and one of your nephews was lying dead next to me. Some of the other guards saw the woman kill the other by driving a knife in his back. Apparently she attacked them as well, and somehow escaped. We have been scouring the entire city but we can’t find her anywhere.”

“You think she was a Shadowknight?” The Mayor thought pondered this new information for a moment. “No sergeant, that is not likely. You would have seen her casting something on you, providing you weren’t too inebriated to truly see anything.” The Mayor stood up and walked over to the guardsman, inches from his face, the Mayor asked the man, “Sergeant, do you think I am stupid?”

The guardsman looked shocked. “No sir! No! Not at all!”

The Mayor c ocked an eyebrow at the guard. “Look, I know that is not exactly what happened. I am not one of the moron subordinates that you have cowering under your bully-like iron fist. I know better than that, you cowering troglodyte.”

The sergeant’s eyes widened in terror. He tried to swallow, knowing that something terrible was about to happen to him.

“However, sergeant, the story is good enough that we will use that as what really happened. Do not deceive yourself sergeant. I know that is not what happened, but that is what we will tell Theophilia. I emphasize ‘we’ sergeant, because if she comes here, you will talk to her as well. I told you to keep them safe, and you get them killed on one of your drunken sprees.”

All the blood drained from the sergeant’s face, he started to stammer a response, but swallowed hard and sat there, waiting for the Mayor to continue. He knew there was nothing he could say to say the Mayor’s mind, once it had been made up. “Yes sir,” he said as he looked at the ground in resolve.

“Now,” the Mayor continued, “I want you to go see the scribe right now...” The guardsman looked at the Mayor uneasily. “Yes sergeant, I know what time it is, and I know how pompous that scrawny little fool can be, but you go now and have him make bounty posters of this woman. I want them posted over the entire city, and I want every guard, bounty hunter, every common street thug, I want them all looking for this woman. If the little worm of a scribe has any complaints, tell him to come talk to me.”

The guardsman nodded, visibly relieved. The Mayor wondered how this pitiful bully was ever able to make his way to the top of the ranks of guardsmen when he was terrified of anyone with a smattering of intelligence. Ahh well. Sometimes bullying the criminals will do the same job as a real town guard.

The guardsman scurried out of the Mayor’s office and made his way to the scribe. He knew he had better find this woman. He couldn’t remember exactly what happened with the Mayor’s nephews. He assembled the story from the pieces of the story he got from the other town guards that found him lying on the street, unconscious, with a nasty knot on the back of his head. He knew his headache was more than the crack on the skull he assumed he had received. His head was pounding with the hangover from that nasty stuff he had drank at the tavern…he couldn’t even remember which tavern anymore. All he knew was that there was no way he wanted the Mayor’s sister to talk to him directly. He knew if he caught the woman then they could publicly execute her and hopefully appease Theophilia from a distance. The only thing he knew, was that he did not want to face that woman alone. Not again.

Edit: I noticed that the mayor actually "@#%$ed an eyebrow" due to the filter...so added a space. I couldn't figure out what I had used that would set off the filter until I looked at the original text. Ahh...language filters are so silly sometimes.
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Tarew MarrEdited by: Kaibutsu at: 12/14/00 12:39:33 pm

[EZ_Auli]

This is excellent! Keep writing.

Auli

[EZ_Nircon101]

MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!! WOHOO IT ROCKS

[EZ_Halen]

oy! write some more, or, or, I'll er, beg, or summat.

please? ;-)

Halen Sleet,
Kiltless Rogue,
Bristlebane and Tholuxe Paells

[EZ_whycantIusedren]

MOOOORRRRRE WE WANT MORE WE WANT MORE WE WANT MORE-ORE /EM BOUNCES UP AND DOWN LIKE A CRAZED LUNATIC, MORE OR I WILL POST THE LIFE STORY OF A CAT THAT I HAD IN MY CHILDHOOD ON EVERY PAGE HERE!!!!!!! Oh wait, you could just not read... Never mind, WE WANT MORE WE WANT MORE... Dren, Level 14 Halfling rogueInny serverSoon to be guild master of " the denizens of death"The greatest truth in the world of norrath is that it is #### or be killed. Thats where I step in and **** up the order of things. Peace of mind for profit, I quote from Zato, I shall deliver death, and make a coin or two as well.

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Dark clouds, heavy with rain, moved over the city’s night sky. Stark white flashes of lighting lit every dark corner. The city’s usual plague of vermin scurried into gaps in doors and walls of the buildings to find shelter, their instincts telling them to take cover from the storm that pressed it’s way overhead. The downpour that hit the town came in a sudden explosion of water, the rumble of the rain so heavy that it covered the bursts of thunder as the storm slowly took siege of the city’s inhabitants.

Rain poured off the roofs of the buildings, sending small waterfalls cascading to the streets and alleys below. The water splashing down onto the street revived the unconscious man lying in a heap at the bottom of a stairwell. He groaned and put his hand to his head. There was a huge lump on the back of his head, but he was not bleeding. He crawled up and made his way up the stairs in front of him. The door was still open and the room was dark. Well, at least he could see if there was any clue in the woman’s room as to where the halfling might live while he waited out the storm.

He shook his head in mild disgust and he closed the door behind him, shutting out the barrage of rain and stopping the pool of water that was creeping its way into the room. He was in utter awe that the halfling could have escaped him once, let alone twice. He certainly could use that kind of luck at the gambling tables. Still, he had time. The dwarf’s deadline for the job still gave him three days to complete the assassination. He wondered if the dwarf had actually lost at the gambling tables against that damnable halfling, and that was the reason for the contract.

He wandered through the room, looking through the small closet. Finding nothing, he continued the search, examining the hole in the floorboards and still coming up with nothing. He had to find something about the halfling. He had never had so much trouble with a mark. This was starting to get annoying.

As he continued to search the room, the cascade of rain slowly began to dwindle.

Resolved that he would find nothing of use in the room, he walked out to the landing and closed the door behind him. He couldn’t lock the door, but he had no intention of making it look as if the room had been examined. His search was not one of the typical burgler. Anyone that came into the room would never know he had been there. He knew not to leave any mark of his passing. You never knew when someone might notice that an item had been moved. That could make a person more cautious, and the man preferred his marks to be as careless as possible.

Pulling his cloak tighter around him, and burying his head deeper inside the hood, be trudged his way into the city streets. He took an immediate left out of the alley, and went into the noisy tavern below the room he was just searching. As he walked in the door, a few heads turned to look at the new patron in the tavern, but all turned away disinterestedly, continuing their conversations or staring into their glasses.

He saw a couple getting up to leave, and he moved to take their table. Ah good. The table was in the back corner of the room. He preferred to be against the walls. It was a lot easier to watch your back when a nice solid wall was against it.

He ordered a meal and ale from the roving serving girl and glanced around at the patrons. He didn’t recognize any of them from his earlier visit when he was first following the halfling, but he was sure he would find what information he needed.

The girl brought him his food and stared at him for a moment. He glanced up at her and handed her a few gold coins. She never took his eyes from his as she absently stuffed the coins in her apron. She backed away from the table, still watching him and started as she clumsily backed into the bar. She looked back and forth embarrassed, and made her way into the kitchen, blushing.

Great, he thought. I don’t need a serving girl with a crush on me to get in my way tonight. I don’t want any other distractions. I have got to find where that halfling lives. He continued his meal, with the serving girl repeatedly coming to check on him.

He watched her as she tripped over a patron’s chair as she backed away from his table again. He glanced at her as she bustled her way into the kitchen, trying to steal glances at him as she worked.

On second thought, this could be advantageous after all.


* * *

Hours later, the tall man silently closed the door of the serving girl’s small room. He let out a breath of relief to have escaped. He gave a mild shudder and walked down the stairs to the now empty tavern. The girl had been somewhat annoying with her relentless, ongoing talking. It was a wonder he was able to ask her any questions at all. But eventually, he was finally able to get the information that he needed from her. She had offered to take him up to her room. He accepted and ordered a bottle of elven wine and two glasses. He fell in behind her as they made their way to her room. While out of her view, the man deftly reached into a small pouch at his belt, dipped his finger into the pouch, and ran it across the edge of the girl’s glass. The girl turned back and shyly smiled at him as they went into her room. There, the conversation was far from interesting, and much too much for the quiet assassin. It was all he could take to occasionally nod and smile as she continued to talk to him about everything under the sun. Oh, I pity the poor soul that marries that girl. They will be deaf in no time…probably on purpose.

He still couldn’t figure out why the drug had not knocked the girl out. She apparently had some immunity to it. Regardless, the elven wine worked where the drug had not. She eventually drunkenly answered all of his questions to the best of her inebriated ability, as she slowly made her way to an alcohol-induced sleep. That was when he made his way out of her room.

He left the tavern and stepped out into the freezing drizzle of the stormy night. He pulled his dark cloak tightly about his shoulders and made his way to the merchant district. From the girl, he had found out that Scuttle had a house somewhere in that area. That was all she knew, but at least it was a start. Now he was even more curious about the relation between the dwarf and this halfling. The halfling had seemed like a bumbling, clumsy oaf, but to have a home in the wealthiest part of the town… Ahh well, it hardly mattered. He had a job to do and couldn’t spend time wondering about the social status of his target.

EDIT: Corrected a missing word.
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction for over 16 seasons. - Tarew MarrEdited by: Kaibutsu at: 12/15/00 9:24:58 am

[EZ_Sinlao]

holy crap this is better than most of the books i read.. i wish you were my d&d gm. plz post more.

oh and you should set up a mailing list to let all of us know when you write more.. just a thought


Sinlao Surestab
more useless
info
that everyone types

[EZ_Pickk Pockkets]

Amazing Story! I would love to hear more about Scuttles, keep on writing

Pickk Pockkets
Halfling Pocket Examiner
Tallon Zek

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Aww! Thanks Sinlao! ...and thanks to everyone who has posted responses! They are greatly appreciated!

Sure! I'll be glad to set up a list if anyone wants to be notified of new posts. Rather than posting it here, just send me an e-mail (harts@jm.com) and I will create a group.

Thanks all! Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction for over 19 seasons. - Tarew Marr

[EZ_Malvagita]

Keep it coming! Cleaner
Rogue of Fennin Ro
Brotherhood of Crimson Knights
www.bck.org

[EZ_Akrifay Sithennen]

Excellent Story, Reminds me of the Immortal story of Artemis Enteri chasing Regis in The IcewindDale Trilogy.

Do you write profressionally? If not you should.
Excellent work please post more!!!

You Shout, "Anyone got any extra food and water?"

nooch |- Akrifay Sithennen -|
|- Humble Servant of Bristlebane -|
|- 38th Ranked Strategic Piercer -|
|- Lanys T'Vyl Server -|

[Peregin Falcon]

Very nice, you have a real skill

[EZ_BackStabElite]

OMG!! these are great!!

keep it up, you are a natural talent my friend


Alborland
Female rogue of the 8th shadow

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Talia tried to stop herself from constantly watching the road where Scuttle should be appearing. “He is fine” she told herself. “He will be here soon. Probably found a lightning bug that he had to follow.” She shook her head, amazed at the child-like nature of her halfling friend, but she was nonetheless getting more concerned as the night went on.

It had been over three hours since she left Scuttle inside the town, which she thought was more than enough time to gather whatever belongings he needed and meet her here. He wouldn’t have mistaken the place either. He knew the place where they were supposed to meet. It was three years ago that they had met in this very spot.

That particular day, Talia had traveled to a nearby village to buy some supplies for the owner of the tavern she worked at. She had taken her time enjoying the travel through the mild climate and warm breeze that tossed her hair gently. She meandered along, reveling in the sights and sounds of the wilderness that the well traveled road cut through.

Her peaceful stroll had been shattered when an excited, high-pitched yelp came from just over the next hill. A small boy, who she would eventually come to find out was no boy at all, but a barely adult halfling named Scuttle, had just fallen out of a tree and was backing away from a monstrous, highly angered forest spider. Scuttle had inadvertently annoyed the spider when his curiosity had prompted him to climb a tree to examine the glistening, bag-like object hanging from a high branch. However, the spider that put the object of Scuttle’s curiosity in the tree did not much care for a nosy halfling poking around her eggs. The spider aggressively attacked again and again, forcing him towards the same tree he had just fallen from. He was desperately trying to fend off the huge eight-legged menace with a battered shield and a woefully inadequate dagger when Talia arrived at the scene. She sneaked up and drove two hands full of gleaming dagger into the spider’s backside. The spider screamed in agony at the tremendous wound she had inflicted and spun to face the new threat. Talia saw the small halfling run up behind the spider trying to emulate the stabbing motion with his own small weapon. The spider had turned again towards the halfling, then collapsed in front of him as Talia had plunged the twin daggers deep into the spider’s bleeding rear. A horrible piercing scream bit through the air as the arachnid’s life left its body.

Scuttle wouldn’t quit thanking her once she had rescued the curious little man. He followed her all the way into town, bouncing around her like an excited puppy. He begged and pleaded with her to teach him how to fight like she did. He excitedly continued to relive the incident, dancing around Talia and mimicking what he perceived as her fighting style. Try as she might, she could not fend off the excited young halfling. He followed her all the way to her small room above the tavern where she worked. She told him that she could not teach him anything and that he should go home. He stood, looking forlornly at her as she gently closed the door on him.

The next morning, Talia opened the door to go down the stairs to the small tavern where she worked. She grabbed the pack of supplies from the village and backed out of her apartment, pulling the door closed behind her. Her heel caught on a somewhat squishy obstacle that gave a startled grunt, and she nearly fell over the rickety railing on the stairway to her room trying to avoid tripping on the whatever-it-was. She caught her balance and looked down on a groggy, half-asleep halfling.

“Scuttle! What do you think you are doing?” She put her hands on her hips and scowled at the little man.

He rubbed his eyes sleepily and looked up at her. Scuttle grinned drowsily, with a childlike grin. “Hi Talia! I was just guarding your door. I owe you my life and all, so I am doing what I can to repay it back.”

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and laughed. “Scuttle, I can handle myself quite well, and you don’t owe me anything. It was my pleasure to help you. I really don’t need a bodyguard little one.” She smiled and patted him on the head. “Run along now. I have to go to work. Take care young one.” She waved goodbye and purposely ignored him as he hurriedly tried to gather his things into his small backpack, as she walked down the stairs to the streets below.

She spent a hectic day with the tavern owner, using the new supplies to make a new batch of brew. She was so busy that she completely forgot about the little halfling until she started walked out of the door of the tavern. Scuttle was marching back and forth across the entrance of the building. He had a deep scowl on his face, a look of stone-faced concentration. He walked with his chest puffed out and swung his arms like a palace guard would march in a parade. Talia did her best not to burst out in laughter at the solemn face on the little halfling. It was like seeing a stuffed toy with a look of seriousness beyond anything the facial features could ever show. Scuttle had such a round, jovial face, that the steadfast, serious expression was more comical than imposing.

“Scuttle! You silly halfling!” Talia put an open palm to her forehead in exclamation. “What do you think you are doing?”

Scuttle snapped to attention and saluted Talia, then visibly relaxed his posture and smiled happily. “Talia!” His face beamed with recognition. “I was hoping you would come out soon! When would you like to start teaching me how to fight like you do? Tonight maybe?” He hopped up and down excitedly.

Talia got down on one knee, grinned lopsidedly, and looked directly into the halfling’s face and whispered conspiratorially to him. “I don’t remember telling you that I would teach you how to fight. Did I really say that?” She raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

“Uhmm…well…maybe you didn’t say it EXACTLY like that,” he gulped down the lump in his throat “but I am SURE that is what you meant!”

She stood up, put her hands on her hips, and looked down at the little halfling, trying to keep some semblance of a scowl. “You’re ‘sure’ that is what I ‘meant,’ eh?”

Scuttle looked up at her, his head was tilted as far back as it would go, and he nodded his head back and forth with such enthusiasm that she burst out laughing. “Oh all right little one. Come up to my room and I will show you a few things.”

He whooped excitedly and bounced around her with a childlike frenzy while they made their way to her small room above the tavern.

Her reverie was cut short as a familiar, but far away sound reached her ears. There were many, many booted feet walking along the road, but it was coming from the wrong direction. It was coming towards the city from the wilderness, and directly towards her little hiding spot on the hill next to the tree.
Scuttle - Elipsis addict and Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction for over 19 seasons. - Tarew Marr --- Me likes dots...Likes 'em lots...

[EZ_ThaIin]

great story. keep it up.

[EZ_Laenaya]

Love it, keep going. Its making the work day go faster .


Laenaya Siliconenhanced <Myths and Legends>
51st Level Rake
The Rathe

[EZ_Halen]

Alas, scuttle has quit EQ, no more scuttle the rogue story :-(

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Scuttle has quit? This is the work of Inoruuk! These stories were some of the best I have ever read in my entire life! In my opinion they even rank up there with Tolkien, of course not at the same epic level but they were extremely good nonetheless. I am sad to see such a fine author leave. Hopefully, with a little help from Bristlebane, he will see his fault and return. These were much better than anything my feeble pasttime could come up with. We shall miss you Scuttle! And we shall wait for your return, for EQ never lets someone go. It shall live on for the rest of your life.

Halfling rogue of the 18th keg, proud resident of Xev

"If there's a better invention than the spork, I don't want to know about it."

[EZ_Raziel EomBrn]

I am an author for 3 years and have published MANY books in the states about EQ(with the permission and credit to Verant )and these add up to mine! Hehe probably better!
You can view some of my work in the stories section of eq.castersrealm.com they are called The Shadows Falls by Raziel. This little halfling is a very good writer! I only wish my Gnome butt could figure out how to aply poison to a dagger!(even if it is candy) so even if Scuttle doesn't play EQ anymore...can he still post his tories?? Thanks.


Raziel

[EZ_ThaIin]

personally, I'd love to hear more of Scuttle. By far the best story I've read here.

Thalin
56 rogue Xegony

[EZ_Raziel EomBrn]

I have a feeling he will be coming back...he recently recieved an email that expressed all of our feelings. =)

[EZ_Stealerr]

I LOVE IT WRITE MORE PLZZZZZZZ!!!! you should become an author Kaibutsu, i would buy every single one of your books!

[EZ_Gullen Shadowwalker]

Ok when are we going to get more scuttle I want more!!!









Please.

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

Where has Kaibutsu gone? He has got to keep this story going. I feel like I have read the first chapter and I want to finish the book, NOW.

Please come back Kaibutsu or tell me where to go to get....THE REST OF THE STORY!

You cannot start something like this and leave us all hanging. It is criminal.

HALLAD

[EZ_Halen]

LOL Edited by: Halen at: 5/3/01 8:48:43 am

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Talia shrank back, crouching into the shadows of the dense trees, blending into the mist and darkness of the cold mist still hanging in the air from the earlier storm. She gently unclasped the chin brace on her helmet and slipped it off her head, quietly placing it on the ground in front of her. She leaned towards the direction of the booted feet, listening carefully to the approaching steps, trying to discern how many sets of feet were closing on her hiding spot. The woods had gone completely silent. There wasn’t a single sound in the forest, save the sounds of the mud slurping and sucking at the boots of the travelers, and the ping of small stones being crushed and kicked by iron shod boots.

Iron shod boots…

That could only mean two things. Dwarves possibly. She listened again and decided it was definitely not dwarves. There were multiple travelers coming towards her. Were it a band of dwarves, they would most likely singing some sort of marching song. Dwarves tended to do such things. That would certainly be a good reason for the silence of the forest. Even were there no song, dwarves naturally tended to march in sync with each other. These sounds were a ragged and unorganized group, definitely not the strict, precise travel of the dwarves.

Yes, it had to be. Orcs!

She could hear them now. Grunting back and forth. One of the orcs shouted over the noise the others were making. It seemed cursing at something or someone. What was a band of orcs doing this close to the city? The city had a militia that regularly patrolled the wilderness surrounding the city. It was almost unheard of to find even a large band of orcs this near the city. The orcs had learned quickly that the organized militia would lay waste to the disorganized pack of greenskins.

She listened again to them. It sounded like a small group. Maybe seven or eight of them. They laughed in a typical grunting fashion of the orcs, and from the way the footsteps varied it seemed like they were pushing each other around as they walked, very typical of orcs. There was another shouted grunt from one of them, and the orcs quieted down and continued marching in Talia’s direction.

She peered into the gloom of the dark, wet night. Yes, the shadows were becoming clearer now. She could just make them out in the dim light of the waning moon. There were eight of them. One was much larger than the others, he was quite obviously the leader. They looked back and forth to the sides of the road, and seemed to be doing their best to be stealthy. This, of course, was completely impossible for orcs. Halflings, gnomes, and elves naturally made no noise when travelling. Dwarves could do the same when they decided they didn’t want their presence known. A typical, untrained human made an unearthly cacophony in comparison to the other races, but even humans were all but silent compared to the noise that orcs make when on the move. The noise of a band of travelling orcs can be likened to the amount of noise you would hear if a very large rhino decided to go meandering through an elven pottery shop.

The orcs closed in on her hidden position. They wouldn’t see her here. They clambered up the road and gained the hill with the large tree where she was supposed to meet Scuttle. Again she wondered what such a small group of orcs was doing so close to the city. She glanced back to the road in the direction of her old home. She could just make out the torches of the city guard at the front gates. Apparently so could the orcs. The orc leader threw out his hands in a quieting motion, and the orcs settled down again. He grunted a command, and one of the orcs turned and ran back they way they had come at a very fast pace.

The leader gathered and herded the remaining orcs to the side of the road, directly opposite Talia. She gave a small sigh of relief and thanked whatever gods were paying attention to her since the orcs had chosen the other side of the road. Talia didn’t dare make a move. She was almost afraid to breathe. The grunts in the group didn’t look like anything to be concerned about, but the leader was a huge monstrosity. One of the largest orcs she had ever seen. She didn’t know if she could take him or not, but she knew that if the orc had an additional six attackers on her, she could not fend them all off, so she remained where she was, silent and motionless.

Talia wasn’t sure how long she sat there unmoving, but it seemed like hours. She noticed a slight rumbling sound coming from the opposite direction of the city. What on Norrath was that? She looked away from the city towards the direction the orcs had come. She could just make out a dull, flickering glow in the distance. As she waited and watched, the slight rumble, grew to a steady thunder, then to a chaotic roar. The noise almost deafened her as it got closer. It was the sound of hundreds, if not thousands of the same booted feet moving her direction at a very fast pace. The same grunting and growling accompanied the footsteps, but there were so many of them, so much snorting, and growling and grunting, she couldn’t begin to make out how many there were.

The small band of orcs came out of their hiding place and gathered in the middle of the road. Talia could just see the light of torches coming through the trees now. Gods! She had never seen so many orcs at one time. The leader moved his troop to join the rest of the orcs, and the mass all continued towards the city. She continued to watch the army or orcs, feeling completely helpless. She realized that the first group of orcs must have been a scouting party of some kind. Had she figured this out sooner, she could have tried to warn the city. There was no hope of doing so now. She could not hope to outrun the orcs without being detected first. The city would just have to fend for itself.

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind, a warning horn went off in the direction of the city. A huge signal fire went off in the gate tower, and other horns echoed from the city in the distance. The orcs realized that stealth, such as it was from an orc army, was no longer needed, and a war cry echoed throughout the valley as the orcs charged the walled city. Still the orcs kept coming down the road. How many of them were there? She couldn’t imagine what power could have mustered such an army, and what kept this many orcs from fighting amongst themselves. There had been other orc armies, but certainly none the size of this one. This had to be a hundred clans gathered together.

She saw the ranks thinning out now. The stragglers were still trying to get to the battle. Occasionally, a single orc would cross near her. There were just too many of them to all fit on the road. But so far, her luck still held, and she remained undetected. The last of the orcs passed her, and she noticed another sound from the road. It was a coach following the orcs. The coach was black, blacker than the night sky. Every piece of metal, every smoothly painted wood plank was the color of midnight. Even the horses that pulled the coach were black. She looked again. They looked like horses but they were just wrong somehow. They seemed to almost smolder in the cool mist of the night. Their eyes were a burning red that flickered like a dull fire. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Yes, as the horses walked, sparks lit the ground with every contact of the hooves. There was a cloaked driver huddled down and holding reins that writhed like serpents, seemingly alive. Talia could not see inside the coach. The black curtains hid the passenger from view. Talia shuddered as the coach passed her. She had never felt anything so wrong before. It was almost as if the coach radiated evil. She rubbed her hands together quietly to warm them as the coach rolled out of sight. Her whole body was shuddering with a chill that had nothing to do with the weather.

That was what was holding the orcs together and stopping them from their typical internal squabbles. Being near whatever that was would be enough to chill anything to the bone. She understood what was keeping the orcs from their infighting, absolute terror.

She looked toward the city again. The screams of the injured and dying carried to her ears. Oh Scuttle, where are you? Are you even alive now? Did you make it out of the city, and if you did, were you slaughtered by the orcs? Talia gathered her helmet and began to strap it on. She stopped moving and turned her head slightly. There was something near her in the trees…something was watching her and she didn’t know what it was.

She ripped her two daggers from their sheaths and bent in a fighting stance, carefully looking around. There was a searing flash of light, and a moaning sort of sound from the right. She turned in that direction, just in time to see a huge Shaman casting on her. Pain ripped into her flesh. She stumbled slightly and moved towards the Shaman, who was already casting again. She staggered as the magic hit her again, but continued at the creature. Again the Shaman cast at her, the bright lights of the energy converting to magic surrounding him. The spell smashed into her chest. She crumbled and fell in agony. She could feel the poison tearing through her veins from his first spell. She crawled to her feet and stepped in front of the towering Shaman, swiftly stabbing with her twin daggers. The Shaman grunted and tried to cast again, but was having difficulty continuing the motions while fending off Talia’s stabbing blades. The two danced around each other. The Shaman continuously trying to cast a spell on Talia, while Talia desperately tried to puncture the Shaman with a fatal wound. The Shaman was able to cast another spell, and Talia found herself frozen in place. The orc stepped back and looked at her malevolently. A wicked grin came across his face, and he began casting again. Talia was paralyzed and couldn’t even wince at the next spell. The orc seemed to know this, and was pulling the energy into the spell slowly and torturously. The energy built up more and more, the cast becoming brighter and brighter. She had never seen magic like this before. She couldn’t even close her eyes to shield them from the painful brightness in front of her.

She could feel the spell that was holding her in place start to weaken slightly, but she was still pinned in the same position. Talia tried again to close her eyes from the brightness of the spell and tried to move in any direction to get out of the way. What was the Shaman doing? Why doesn’t he just kill me rather than torturing me like this? She managed to move a small amount and close her eyes from the searing brightness.

Then the light that was even tearing through her eyelids went completely black and a hideous scream echoed throughout the forest. She opened her eyes and blinked to clear the bright aura that still seemed to burn in her vision. She saw the orc in front of her still. Its eyes were wide with fear and pain. It stumbled forward, dead where it lay, and from behind the orc stepped a small man with two dripping daggers in his hands.

“Talia! Why are you just standing there?! Don’t you know that orc was going to cast a spell on you? Why weren’t you fighting him? That’s no way to fight a Shaman! You know that!” Scuttle stepped over the dead Shaman walking towards Talia. She closed her eyes just as the spell gave out, and Talia collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

“Talia get up! You can’t just lie down here! There’s orcs all over the place! I’m surprised you didn’t see any of them! Talia! Talia!” He shook her unconcious body, trying to rouse her.
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction for over 19 seasons. - Tarew Marr -

[EZ_Hidswel]

Tis a very good day when Scuttle has returned to The Safehouse.

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

WOOT!!! I have the luck of a rogue. At least, no less than the luck of Scuttle. One day after my plea for more, Kaibutsu has satisfied my desire (at least for today), even after being gone for over two months. Wow!!

You MUST keep going. When I first started reading this story I did not give you much of a chance to keep my attention past your first post, but I was dead wrong. I feel like I am addicted to a very good book, but I must beg for more pages from the author. This is quite a strange feeling. When I have had it in the past, I finished the book that night. I must be honest and tell you that I am fearful that I will be left hanging. Do not let that come to fruition.

Please keep writing, if only for my sake, if not for all the others here who seem to enjoy it as much as I do.

I am confident that this will be published someday if you are able to complete about ten to fifteen more chapters. In fact, I would be willing to do what I can to see that happen for you.

HALLAD

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

The small, rotund man brushed his dark hair back from his eyes, and nervously stared out his third story window. He stood on a short stool, which allowed him to clearly see over the buildings to the walls around the perimeter of the city. The room had been an office for much taller men than he so he had the stools placed at every window, so he could look upon his demesne from a higher vantage than his natural height would allow. His shoulders sank and he looked at the ground. He let out a small sigh and shook his head in a sad swaying of his downward looking head, and looked up again at the flames as they closed on his lavish office in the center of town. As they got closer, his heart sunk more deeply.

How did she find out so quickly? He wondered to himself. It hasn’t even been four hours since he had heard the news of the demise of his two nephews. He knew it had been a huge mistake to agree to keep the two overgrown brats in his town, but there was no denying Theophilia. She wanted them out of the way during something she was working on, and assigned him to be their nursemaid. Pah! She made him a nursemaid to a pair of eighteen year old miscreants! She told him to keep them in the city and teach them how to deal with people. He had thought putting them in the charge of the town guard might discipline them. He was wrong. He hadn’t wanted the two anywhere near him at all, but when she said to do something, no sane person would deny her. He could do no better, though now he wondered whether or not he could fit into the category of the sane any longer.

An hour earlier, he had been wakened by the screeching sound of the alarms echoing across the city. Horns were baying all throughout the town. He had thrown off his covers, dashing out of bed. He ran to the window of his bedroom, ripped off the nightcap that had fallen across his face at an odd angle, and quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes to try and clearly identify all the bright flickering lights in the city.

The city was on fire. He saw the flames tearing across the city, like an avalanche of flame, tumbling across the town one building at a time. The roofs of houses and shops all along the walled city were ablaze, flames angrily reaching higher and higher towards the sky. The cold mist in the air, and the still wet wood and ***** did nothing to restrain the punishment that was coming from the other side of the wall. Hundreds of arrows lit the night sky in a constant stream, their flaming points pouring over the walls from every side of the city. The river of arrows continuously cascaded over the walls, peppering the roofs of the buildings, even those that were already lighting up the night sky with their burning.

‘What on Norrath?’ He thought to himself. “Mistletoe! Get in here! Now!”

Eventually, an obese halfling girl had come to his bedroom door, rubbing sleepy eyes and stretching, trying to talk while restraining a yawn. “How on Norrath is a halfling to get any sleep around here with all this horn-wailing and boss-screaming-at-me-to-get-up and…what is THAT?” She pointed out the window. The mayor looked out another window in the direction she was pointing. Outside the walls, there was a monstrous oak tree, seemingly floating in the air dancing side to side, up and down, searing the sky with flames. Squinting their eyes, they could just make out the glowing orange figure wielding the tree, swinging and smashing it back and forth. The hill giant’s gnarled hand, impervious to the fire, could just barely be seen grasping the broken roots of the tree reaching over the walls to set in flames anything and anyone it could reach. When everything within reach was immersed in crackling flames, the giant started lighting the wooden palisade that surrounded the city. Many of the poorer houses and shops sat between the wooden palisade and the stone wall surrounding the city. Every one of the buildings between the wall and the palisade appeared to be on fire.

“Wh-wh-what is going on sir?” The frightened halfling girl hugged her arms around herself and trembled.

“That is why I called you Mistletoe. I need you to get a messenger to the city guard and find out what’s happening. I don’t know why I haven’t already been informed of what is going on! Somebody’s head will definitely roll for thi…” A loud banging on his front door cut him off in mid sentence. “Go see who it is girl!” She still sat there, unmoving, staring open mouthed out the window at the giant, mercilessly destroying the outer edge of the city.

“MISTLETOE!” She let out a startled squeak, flinching from the window and looked up at the mayor. “Go…see…who…is…at…the…DOOR! NOW!” She had squealed and bolted, running from the room to the front door. Moments later, an out of breath messenger stumbled into his office with the frightened halfling girl trailing behind him. His blonde hair and guard’s uniform were singed, his face was black with soot. He was cut and bruised, and looked about to collapse from exhaustion.

“Milord! Orcs! Everywhere! Palisade…gone! At…the…main…walls!” He tried desperately to speak, though obviously every word was a struggle, his chest heaving, his voice wheezing from the lack of oxygen.

“Catch your breath boy, and then tell me everything.” The young man nodded and crouched down, put his hands on his knees and tried to slow down his pumping lungs. He took two very deep breaths, and continued with his report brokenly between gasps.

The messenger reported that the captain had sent him to report of what the mayor could already see, that the city was under heavy attack. Only that it was orcs completely surrounding the city was new information that the mayor hadn’t already surmised.

The messenger shuddered and continued. “Sir, that is not all. We have been fighting them off. We were holding them back, though they severely outnumbered us. They continued to attack the walls, climbing upon their own comrades in an effort to reach the top. Not that they needed much help with that giant out there. Still, we kept them back somehow. Then…” the messenger shuddered, “a coach came to the back of the orc lines. It was so black. Huge it was. I have no doubt that a person could stand up in it! There was something just wrong about it. It seemed to suck the very night into its depths. Then suddenly a green aura started building around the coach. The light started pulsing, and all of the orcs started to back away from the walls. Suddenly, the green light shot away from the coach in an arc, directly at the walls. It came at the walls like a wave in the ocean, only it was made of lighting. The wave passed through the orc lines, and we all tried to take cover behind the walls. The light never hit the walls. As soon as it hit the orc corpses piled against the wall, the wave stopped, and that green lightning started bouncing around all the dead orcs. Then the pile started moving. Every one of those dead orcs came back again and now they are attacking the walls. They’ve destroyed the outer palisade, and as you can see, the stone walls are being slowly torn apart by that giant. We tried everything but the catapults on the giant. But the undead orcs…those are awful milord…an abomination to be sure! Every one of them that we killed is fighting us yet again, and now they seem to be twice as strong as before. The burning oil and metal does nothing to them. They just shrug it off. We take off a limb, and they keep crawling towards us. We are all actually afraid to kill the giant. Anything that can create so many undead with a single spell, we were afraid that the giant would cause more damage than it already is. Who could have done such a thing Milord? Who is out there?”

“Don’t be an idiot boy. You know who it is.” The mayor scowled at the messenger. “It’s Theophilia, and she is here to take vengeance on the death of her two sons. “

“Her sons? You mean, the two guardsmen who were killed this evening? How? How could she have gotten an army here in that amount of time? It’s impossible Milord! There is no way it could be done.”

Again the mayor shot a dark look at the messenger. “Impossible, eh? Well, regardless of whether or not you think it’s a possibility, there is an army besieging and destroying this town, and you are standing here dribbling about whether or not it’s a possibility that they are here. Get back to your captain and tell him that you have given your message. Tell him that he needs to place a white flag at the gates.” The messenger’s eyes widened in surprise. “Yes boy, there will be no stopping her. She will kill all of you until she gets to me, or I will go there and accept the consequences. Maybe I can calm her down. I was always able to talk to her when we were younger. She listened to me then. Maybe she will accept my surrender and spare the city.” The messenger’s face almost showed a trace of hope in the mayor’s words. “Do not count on it, boy. Theophilia is very close to the brink of insanity, if she isn’t already there. All the dark arts that she has studied. I can’t even imagine some of the places she has gone to, and the things she has seen. We are most likely dead, every one of us, but I can only try.”

The messenger ran off to pass the mayor’s words to the commander of the guard. An hour later, the mayor, now dressed in his robes of office, sat in his office and continued to watch the orc army decimate the city. There was a parlay, and the message was given that the mayor had surrendered himself to his sister requesting that she take him and leave the city. It was not that he was a strong man, or even an especially noble person. He could just not live with the fact, that somewhere in history, his name would live forever as the man who caused an entire city to be destroyed. His pride would just not allow it, and surrendering himself to her was the only thing he could do.

He had received another messenger, advising him that his terms had been accepted, and the coach had rolled towards the walls in an agonizingly slow advance. The gates were opened, and the coach rolled forward. As soon as the coach cleared the inside of the gate, the air started rippling around the black coach. The wicked looking horses stomped and threw their heads back, snorting and growling, more than neighing. The night went completely silent. The invading army and defenders both seemed afraid to move as the coach took on a mirage-like shimmering.

A loud explosion ripped from the coach and all who looked upon it shut their eyes at the blinding purple light that burst from the coach. When the light died out, the gate, and a huge section of the wall was completely missing. No broken stone, no dust, not even a hole in the ground. The wall just stopped, leaving a gaping wound in the defenses of the city where the gate and the guard towers used to stand. There was no sign of the defenders that were just manning the wall and the gate. The tower’s defenders were completely missing along with the towers themselves.

The black horses lurched forward again, towards the center of town. A green tide of orcs flowed past the slow moving coach. A roaring echoed throughout the city with the battle cries of the orcs and the attacking army surged forward, intent on pillaging, looting, and destroying anything in their path. Guard and townperson alike scattered into the inner city to hide or organize for a stand. All were terrified, and all praying to whatever gods they worshipped that the orcs would overlook them.

The small man stared below into the courtyard of the town center. He watched the coach roll to the front of the building that housed his office. He nervously ran a hand through his hair again and tried to swallow the growing lump in his throat as the door of the coach creaked open.

EDIT: Ack, typo!
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.Edited by: Kaibutsu at: 5/8/01 7:33:50 am

[EZ_Sestihaculas]

Brilliant!
Go on please.

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Sorry to the mailing list that I haven't sent a message about the new post. Our mail server has been down for two days now.

I will say that I find it slightly more difficult to write about Scuttle since I have stopped playing EQ, but I have to mention that Scuttle is probably a bit more like me than I care to admit, so I'm still able to get some ideas.

I apologize for the length of time this is taking to continue the adventures of Scuttle. I should just do what Koz2 does, and make sure I set aside time to write. What is taking so long is that I am still trying to figure out exactly what I intend to have happen in this story and how to bring the additional characters I have planned into Scuttle's life. So, honestly, you are really reading the rough draft. The story is writing itself as I go along. I will complete it, put it in final form when the story is finished, and of course, tidy things up a lot.

I wanted to thank everyone again for all the feedback and enthusiasm. It was a complete surprise that there was an interest in my writing at all. I fully expected the story to have 3 views, and be somewhere on one of the last pages of the By the Fireplace forum by now. I would have not continued beyond the second post had I not received such kind words. I am glad that you are enjoying my meager writing skills. You are the only reason that I continue with this. Again, thank you for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.

[EZ_Haleorm Bonechiller]

exellent story bro! plz keep it comming =) and its sad to hear u quit =( but i want to thank u for the story so far! i must say out of all the books ive read this must be one of the greatest stories =) keep it up bro




-Haleorm Bonechiller
(wanabe) Assassin of the Tunare server

[EZ_Nluamin]

It is certainly not meager. Very good story. Looking forward to more.

I am glad that you decided to come back for more. Nluamin Wildwood
Scout of Tunare
Saryrn
Because I am a rogue. Because it fits who I am.

[EZ_Sinlao]

WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!! I must say that the wait was worth it.. Thank you so much for finally continuing the story. Cant wait for more

[EZ_Pieksy Kenderkin]

I love it :)

Please keep adding to it!
...black orchid, red velvet... a coffin for all I leave behind.

Pieksy Kenderkin
...a shadow near you
Namenlose Bruderschaft
The Nameless

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

Kaibutsu, come back and give us another bone.

HALLAD <------Salivating.

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

A dark cloaked man made his way deeper into the merchant's quadrant of the city. A cursory inspection of Scuttle's home had left him all but sure that the halfling had left the town, but he was without a clue as to where. The search of that bar wench's room, he ground his teeth remembering the last encounter with his target, hadn't given him any clue where she had been going either, but the man was sure that if he found that woman, he would find Scuttle. This job was going to be more difficult than the dwarf had originally contracted him for. It was one thing to take out a target that was inside of a city. It was a whole other issue to track down a target over an entire continent...maybe multiple continents. He was obviously going to need more time to kill that lucky little runt, but he was definitely making the dwarf pay him more money for the job as well. He thought about charging the dwarf even more, purely for the level of frustration that he had to deal with when attempting to assassinate the obnoxiously lucky little halfling.

He cut through the center of two deep buildings. Alleys held no fear for the man, not even in such a well populated city such as this. He spent a decent amount of his youth wandering and scavenging in a city that was far larger than this one. He doubted that he was going to find anything in the alley that gave him the slightest concern.

In the middle of the two buildings, he heard a sort of yelling from some distance, many voices. He wondered. It was much too far away, and far too many voices to understand if there were even discernable words coming from, but it sounded like hundreds of voices...almost like the sounds of many battle cries. Then the horns of the city guard echoed from everywhere around him.

"What the...?"

He ran through the remainder of the alley and whipped his head in both directions to see what was happening. Nothing. This was a minor avenue, and he couldn't see to the city walls from here. He turned left and quickly bound to the next intersection. That was a main road, and he was sure he could see what was happening from there. He glanced up as he ran, and noticed an orange flickering glow reflecting off of the low clouds hanging over the city. Turning his head to both sides, he saw that the glow came from all directions. The riotous yelling got louder as well. Damn these tall buildings he muttered to himself.

He hit the intersection and looked to the right. He could see all the way to the end of the road. There was a minor gate here, and the gate was swarming with city guard and militia that had arrived at the sound of the warning horns. They were fending off something, many somethings, but it was too far away for him to tell what it was. He looked the other direction, and was able to see far across the city, almost to the other side. Flames reached towards the sky in an angry dance. It looked like the entire outer palisade was ablaze, and small fires were starting in many of the buildings near the wall.

Great, the tall man thought to himself. Of all the places for me to be, I have to pick a city that falls under attack only two weeks after I arrive. He cursed his lack of fortune. He wondered if that little halfling was so lucky because he somehow stole the luck from of everything and everyone he came into contact with, leaving a trail of victims with the equivalent of a man crossing the path of a black cat, while simultaneously walking under a ladder and smashing an armload of mirrors.

Nothing to do about it now. He shrugged slightly and continued on to his original destination. The battle didn't concern him, unless it was right in front of him. He had no particular affinity for this city or its denizens. He was only concerned with his own welfare, and getting paid to complete this job. Occasionally, he slowed and listened to the sounds of the battle around him. Were the sounds getting closer? He wasn't worried or scared, merely annoyed that he had ended up in the middle of this conflict. Was that a hill giant's voice reverberating from beyond the dwarf's home? What on Norrath was going on here?

He took one more turn, and finally reached the home of his employer. Considering the fact that the dwarf was, well, a dwarf, the home was gargantuan. Including the walls, the gardens inside, and the home itself, it sprawled across an entire city block. The man shook his head in amazement every time he saw the place. The amount of platinum it must have cost to build the place must have been phenomenal. The thick marble walls that surrounded the estate towered twenty feet, and appeared to be one solid piece of stone. Only close inspection by a dwarf craftsman could see where the marble was joined together. The walls were completely covered in hand carved scenes depicting great battles and adventures, all with a greatly exaggerated image of his employer as the center and hero of all the adventures. The gates were solid iron, banded with even more iron. They hung open at the moment, but guards stood on either side of the gates, ready to swing them shut. The massive house behind the walls was still visible over the marble palisade, and would have put many a lord to shame. It was a small castle in the exact center of the estate. Towers rose from every corner, and small mobile ballistas sat on the top of each. The walls and towers swarmed with the dwarf's personal guard. The home was truly formidable, and looked absolutely impregnable.

The man still wondered why, with such a force at his command, why the dwarf would even bother hiring him to assassinate the halfling. It seemed that it would be so much easier to send a small company of his own little army after that lucky little rodent half man. However, he was not one to question, and as long as he got paid, he couldn't care less why the dwarf wanted him to kill the halfling instead of one, or many, of the dwarf's own lackeys.

There were people running in and out of the gates. It looked like an anthill that had just been kicked apart, only servants, messengers, and people dressed for combat took place of the scurrying ants.

He took a step towards the home and paused. The sounds of the battle were very close now, just beyond the dwarf's home. The ballistas on the far towers released with a loud crack and the screams of pain echoed on the other side of the wall. He could not see beyond the small castle, but the voices that carried over the walls were definitely orcish. Arrows arced over the wall, and the defenders fell in agonizing screams as the orc archers took their toll on the inhabitants of the dwarf's home.

A steady pounding rhythm made it's way closer to him. Even over the sounds of battle, the rumbling rhythm got louder, overpowering the war cries of the orcs and defenders alike. The ground trembled and shook with the loud, thumping beats. At the edge of his field of vision, a hill giant's head manifested itself over one of the castle towers. Archers he could not see were firing volleys of arrows at the massive creature, but seemed to phase the giant less than a swarm of gnats would bother a troll. The man heard the ballistas fire again with a crack-whoosh sound, that only a giant crossbow could make. The huge bolts pierced the giant, one in his shoulder, the other just under his collarbone. Where the arrows were completely ineffective, the spear sized bolts definitely phased the giant, but still failed to stop him. Surprisingly, it only seemed to enrage him more. He angrily brandished the smoldering remains of an oak tree as a club. He whirled the 50 foot trunk over his head, the wind howling in protest at the momentum of the powerful swings. Easily stepping over the marble walls, the giant slammed the club against the nearest tower. It shattered like a stack of children's wooden blocks. Screams of dying soldiers reached the tall man as he watched the carnage. The giant turned on another tower, and sent many more soldiers tumbling to their death amidst stone and ballista wreckage.

Well, the man decided, there would be no use trying to get to the dwarf now. He was fairly certain that the dwarf would have to have a substantial amount of luck, even greater than that little halfling vermin, to get out of his own castle alive. He turned the direction he had come, and decided he had better find a way out of the city. There was obviously no reason to stay in the city any longer. He had no wish to be a hero and help these people fight. He fought and killed for money, and nothing else would motivate him to take any action.

A thunderous crumbling sound came from behind him. He turned just in time to see the dwarf's personal castle being ripped apart by the furious hill giant. Walls tumbled in on the stone structure, screams of pain and death carried into the still damp night air. Uninterested, the man turned away to find an escape from the city.

As he looked for a safe path out of the city, he decided that he would still try to find Scuttle. He was certain that the dwarf was gone, and he would never collect his second half of the payment, but he was very curious about the halfling. He was going to find him, and maybe, just maybe, he would let the little rogue die without suffering. Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.Edited by: Kaibutsu at: 5/17/01 10:34:15 am

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

OK, there is no way this is your first attempt at writing something like this. If so, you really have stumbled on to something you are very good at.

Encore.

HALLAD

[EZ_Talamani QuickBlade]

WoW!!

After reading the first half of the first page I had to leave work, but i had to save the page to disc as i couldnt go the evening without finishing it... but of course i only got the first page so was left with wanting more from the other 2 pages... so intreiged to read more... i cant hardly wait.

Looking forward to find how Scuttle gets on with Talia and wether the cloak'd man gets to Scuttle again or looses him.

Keep it up, you surly do have a great talent.

You spine tingles as the atmosphere makes you shudder
As you glance towards the window you hear a rustling in the corner
You spin around, and become face to face with... My Blade

[EZ_LordTrevor]

Truly, an amazing piece of work. I am greatly looking forward to reading more. Reads nearly as good as published books. You have quite a talent, and could perhaps make a career of writing fiction. All this story needs is an editor to polish the details, and to do some MINOR work on grammar and repetitious wording. Very nice! Kudos to you, my friend.

[EZ_Gullen Shadowwalker]

Want more, need more. PLEASE WRITE MORE!!!.
Great story I like it like it alot. Gullen ShadowWalker, Halfing rogue of the 28th season on Quelious. Currently reaking havok in Crystal cavernes.

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

I am going to try to start a chant.


MORE!!!!

MORE!!!!

MORE!!!!!

Hallad

[EZ_Clehpto]

MORE!!!

MORE!!!

MORE!!!


-Clehpto-
-Clehpto-16 Shemale Rogue of Saryrn"Yes I know I have a beard and breasts....I'm a gambler my nature, sometimes I win sometimes I lose....I just lost this time"

[EZ_Gullen Shadowwalker]

MORE!!!!

MORE!!!!

MORE!!!!

MORE!!!!

MORE!!!! Gullen ShadowWalker, Halfing rogue of the 29th season on Quelious. Currently reaking havok every where he goes.

[EZ_Rethul]

I thinkl that the assassain dude rocks! He has skill! GO ASSASSAIN! YAY!

-Luthair
Dark Elf Rouge
16th rank
Lords of the Dark Realm
Bristlebane Server

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

Come on Kaibutsu!!

Throw us another bone please. Can't you see you have a den of ravenous dogs here now?

We need scheduled sustenance(sp?).

Hallad

[EZ_Laenaya]

MORE!
MORE!
MORE!
PLEASE .


Laenaya

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Hehe. You all are great! Here ya' go...

A throbbing pain in Talia’s head was her first greeting with consciousness. Orange flickering light beat against her eyelids, lighting them with a dull glow. She slowly opened her eyes, squinting painfully at the bright light in front of her. Her vision was covered with a gauzy, translucent substance. She blinked, trying to clear her vision. Still in a dazed semi-conscious state, she sleepily raised her hands to her eyes to rub clear her hindered sight. As her arms moved, she could feel a light, silk-like material falling from her. She reached her eyes, and felt some soft material lying across her face. She quickly pulled off the cloth and sat up painfully. She felt more of the soft movements of material falling away from her arms and torso as she raised herself from the ground. Excruciating pain lanced through every muscle as she moved. She looked at the handful of material she had pulled away from her face. It was a bundle of fine strips of cloth. Beyond the material clenched in her hand, she noticed she had been completely covered in hundred of these strips of cloth, loosely lying across her entire body from head to toe.

The flickering light was a tiny smokeless campfire. She tensed, looking around fearfully, remembering the orc attack, worried that one of them could see the fire. Obviously she was not a captive. Those strips of cloth certainly weren’t meant to detain her in any way. Taking in her environment, she noticed she was in a deep bowl, walled in by earth on all sides, huge trees majestically standing guard over her little campsite. It was well into the night, and the cold mist from the earlier storm turned into a light fog which drifted in opaque patches all around the edges of the recessed encampment. Well, she thought, unless they come to the edge of this bowl, the fire should be almost invisible. She visibly relaxed.

She brushed off the rest of the strips of cloth and crawled to her feet. Wincing in agony with every movement.

“TALIA! You’re awake!” The bright, high-pitched voice came from behind her. She nearly screamed in surprise and turned around. The stealthy little halfling had entered the camp without her hearing him at all. Halflings were notoriously silent creatures, especially ones that fancied themselves rogues. Scuttle happily bounced around her and reached down to pick up one of the pieces of cloth that had covered her. “Since you seem to get in so much trouble,” he held up the piece of cloth to her, “I figured I had better learn how to heal people with bandages. I must be better than I thought, because you’re already up and moving. You were unconscious just a few minutes ago, and now you’re much better. Wow, I am really good at healing!”

Talia remembered the bandage blanket that she had been covered in just moments ago. She laughed in spite of the pain racking through her body. “Yes Scuttle,” she diplomatically agreed, “I am much better thanks to you.” She looked down at the little rogue and noticed two large rabbits tied to a leather strap hanging from his shoulder. “Are those for us?” She realized that it had been hours since she had eaten, and the hunger merely added another small pain to her aching body.

“Yep! I shot them myself. With this, look!”

He dropped the rabbits on the ground, and slipped out of the large pack on his shoulders. He unclasped the latches, and pulled out a black, hardened leather case. The case was about the length of Scuttle’s arm and covered in silver symbols, possibly even script of a language Talia didn’t recognize. He opened the case and fished out a few miscellaneous pieces of wood. He sat down and began assembling the pieces together, occasionally sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth while he concentrated on his task.

Talia took charge of the cooking during Scuttle’s construction project. In due course, the two rabbits were roasting over the open campfire.

While he assembled the weapon, he described the past few hours, explaining what happened to Talia’s after losing consciousness following the fight with the orc shaman. “Well, after you fell asleep, and that was a most inopportune time to take a nap, if you don’t mind me saying. All those orcs running around like that. You really should pay more attention to where you fall asleep Talia. Anyway, I tried and tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t budge, so I dragged you all the way here. Boy are you a heavy sleeper! Sheesh! I would think that you would have to be a lighter sleeper since you are a rogue!”
She smirked and glanced up at him. “Scuttle, I never said I was a rogue.”

He glanced up from his work, looking at her doubtfully. “That’s true…I guess. Anyway, we’re still pretty…OW!…it’s really hard getting the prods in place at the same time. I always seem to pinch myself.” He tenderly massaged his injured finger. “We’re still pretty close to the city, but I don’t think we’re near enough that the orcs will find us here.”

When he was through, he held up a string-less crossbow for her to inspect. She took it in her hands turning it over. It was a small weapon, but it would be huge for a halfling. It was heavy, felt well balanced, and finely crafted. However, to her it still looked somewhat like a child’s toy, as there were no places to string the crossbow, there was no channel for launching a bolt, and no catch to hold a projectile in the weapon. While it did have a trigger assembly, it was flat and level across the top, and the trigger did not appear to be attached to anything.

She handed the small crossbow back to Scuttle, eyeing him skeptically. “You got those rabbits with this, eh?”

“I sure did! See, watch!” He brought the crossbow up, pointing it at a head-sized rock sitting on the ground. He took close aim and brought his finger to the trigger. As he touched the trigger, a low, pulsing hum came from the crossbow. The short prods on either side of the stock bent back on their own accord, and a shimmering gold line drew itself from one end of the bow to the other. Scuttle pulled the trigger on the crossbow and the string snapped forward. As the bowstring completed its movement, a stark white bolt of electricity the length of Scuttle’s forearm shot out from the end of the bow. The electrified projectile hit the rock, and arcs of lighting danced back and forth across the surface. He pulled the trigger again. As the second bolt shot from the crossbow, Talia followed it with her eyes. It looked like a short burst of lightning leaving the front of the weapon, surging forward with an angry blast. The weapon made very little noise when it discharged, but the effect was devastating. Sparks of white-hot energy still danced along the surface of the rock from Scuttle’s first shot. As the second bolt struck the stone, it shattered, sending shards in every direction. Talia and Scuttle both flinched, turning away from the burst of stone. Small fragments bounced off of their turned backs.

Scuttle looked towards Talia, his eyes wide with surprise. “Wow! I never shot anything twice in a row like that! That was fun!! What else can I shoot?” He turned in a circle, looking for another inanimate target. He leveled the crossbow at a tree and started to pull the trigger.

“Uhh, Scuttle. Do you really think it’s a good idea to set a tree on fire with all those orcs so close?” She really had no idea where she was in relation to the city, but she was sure that one of these massive trees bursting into flame would draw some unwanted orc attention.

“Hrmm, I suppose you are right. Well, I should start on these rabbits! I think they’re ready to eat, and I’m hungry! Let me take this bow down first though.” He sat down next to his pack and started to disassemble the weapon.

“Scuttle, may I see it before you put it back in its case?”

“Sure!” He jumped up enthusiastically and held the crossbow up for her.

Talia gently took the weapon, inspecting its every detail. There was a small sense of the weapon pulsing in her hands, almost as if it had a very soft heartbeat. The stock was carved from a wood she didn’t recognize. It was black and unfinished, the same symbols that lined the leather case also ran along both sides of the crossbow in mercury-like metal. The prod was made of the same wood, and also had the silver script. In the past, Talia held magic weapons. The two daggers on her belt were magic. The magic in this bow felt almost alive, almost wrong. …and that writing. She knew she had seen that somewhere before. The surety that it was something familiar nagged at her memory, but she was unable to trigger what it was she thought she should remember.

“Scuttle, where did you get this? I don’t remember you ever telling me about anything like that before.”

“Oh, you know. I think it was lying around my house somewhere.” He turned to the rabbits, removing them from the fire.

“Scuttle, I know about the things ‘lying around your house.’ Where did you get this?”

He looked up at Talia. She watched him intensely, waiting for an answer. “Wow Talia, you look really serious. Okay, okay…let me think.” He sat down and concentrated for a moment. “Oh yeah! I remember! There was this interesting guy that came into the inn, you know the one next to the tavern you work at. I was there practicing sneaking around, and not having a very good time of it. People kept stepping on me. It was very annoying!” He shook his head in exasperation. “Anyway, there was this guy, he was all huddled in a corner. He had on this really fascinating robe that looked really similar to the case for the bow. All the same symbols and things. He was eating some stew I think, a bowl of something, and he kept hovering over this box. Well, I thought, I bet there is something really fun in the case, so I walked over to take a look at it. I’m not sure how it happened, but suddenly his bowl of stew just jumped off the table, and fell all over him.”

As Scuttle described the animated soup bowl, Talia noticed that he made an unconscious gesture with his hands. Oddly enough it looked like the exact motion a person would do were they to tip a bowl off a table. “Suddenly the bowl ‘jumped off the table,’ eh Scuttle?” She grinned at him lopsidedly.

He nodded vigorously. “Yeah, it was really amazing! He jumped around squealing, I guess that stew was still pretty hot. He looked kind of silly too. He was a huge guy, and he was jumping up and down knocking over his chair almost knocking over the table and, fanning at the soup that spilled in his lap. He almost knocked that case on the floor while he was flailing around like that, so I picked it up off the table for him, so he wouldn’t hurt it. When he finally calmed down, he noticed that I had moved the case, and he started screaming and yelling. I think it had to do with something about him he really appreciating someone taking such good care of his stuff like that. Though I think he probably had too much to drink, because he suddenly started yelling some nonsense about someone stealing it from him. He was running around the inn, cursing and swearing, and literally throwing people around the room trying to find his case. Well, he seemed pretty mad at the time, so I figured I would bring it back to him later when he had a chance to calm down, maybe even when he fell asleep. I thought it could be a nice surprise for him to find it in his room when he woke up. I sneaked out of the Inn and set the box in the bottom of my closet at home, just to keep it safe until I took it back to him. I guess I forgot about it though, because when I was getting my pack to come meet you, I saw it on the floor of my closet. I figured that tall man might be looking for it, so I grabbed all my things, and ran to the Inn on the way here. He wasn’t there though, so I just brought it along. Maybe we will see him while we are wandering around! I’ll give it to him then.”

Something suddenly occurred to her. “Scuttle, exactly how long ago did this all take place?”

“Hrmm. I think it was about two years ago. As upset as that guy was, I was sure he would still be there looking for it, so I thought I could give it back to him. I wonder where he went.” Scuttle became briefly lost in thought as he imagined what adventures the man might have had after he left the Inn.

Talia smiled. She knew Scuttle, at the moment, meant every word he said. However, she also knew, that if by some incredible chance, the little rogue did actually come across this man that owned the crossbow, Scuttle would ‘forget’ that he had it. Scuttle was not malicious or devious in any way. Just a typical halfling that seemed to suddenly ‘find’ things in his possession, things that the previous owner somehow ‘lost.’

EDIT: Corrected a couple inconsistencies and overusage of a word or two.




Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.Edited by: Kaibutsu at: 6/14/01 12:37:12 pm

[EZ_Talamani QuickBlade]

Ahhhhahaahhahaah, Classical... esspecially the "how long ago" "oh, 2 years " hehehehe.

And his bind wound, thats damn hilarious!!

[EZ_Gullen Shadowwalker]

Thank you thank you thank you..........And can i have some more please Gullen ShadowWalker, Halfing rogue of the 30th season on Quelious. Currently reaking havok every where he goes.

[EZ_Sinlao]

Please sir may i have some more??????


Oh wait this isnt Dickens... its too captivating and exciting to read.

[EZ_Shaikthemonk]

PLEASE keep adding, cant get enough, do it as much as possible plz *****Shaik Rattlenroll
Disciple Of Valiant Hearts

[EZ_Sneakster the Halfling Rogue]

Wow, make a frikkin book already, I'd buy 2, one to read and one to keed in good condition )

Sneakster Shenanigans
Halfling Rogue, who wishes he knew Scuttle

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

OK kaibutsu, you are starting to tick me off. You have been slacking bad. You have to give us a tidbit at least once a week. I would say a better goal would be twice a week. Really, you cannot create this much just to slowly fade away. You have a good thing going here, NOW FINISH IT, AND GET IT PUBLISHED!!! The way I see it, you have about ten more chapters to go. It may seem like alot but you could crank it out if you wanted and then you would have something to shop to a publisher.

Hallad

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Hehe! Sorry Hallad. I've been on tour for a little over three weeks. I was thinking I would have all this time to write, but lugging music equipment all over the country just wears a person out. I will get right on it again today actually. So there should be something out in a day or two.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. My intention is to start writing a bit every day, so there should be a lot more to read. I have been editing the original as well (the only thing I was really able to do writing-wise while I was gone), and once everything is finished, the whole story, I will send it completed with the revisions to anyone who wants it.

Take care all!
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

Cool!!

Now don't get lazy and cut it short. There is still plenty of development to be had here not to mention building climax and all that. I'm thinking nothing less of ten more chapters, 15 pages each. Sorry, to put this all on you but you really have a good thing going here and I want to see you get it published.

Hallad

[EZ_Khezmyr The Dastardly]

Very cool! I'd love to read some more! Very well written
Level 40 Rogue of Bristlebane

[EZ_NtLBASS]

i want mooooooore They dont call me a master of the dead just cause I die a lot, Maelie "any one know where this little hole leads to?"

[EZ_Dikamin Shadowassasin]

I want moooore also.

Dikamin Shadowassasin
Dwarven rogue of the 54th season
Rodcet Nife

[EZ_Sneakster the Halfling Rogue]

<taps foot> We're wating Kaibutsu. = )

Sneakster the Halfling Rogue

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

I think this story is dead. My interest was peaked but time has made it fade. I no longer check this thread on a regular basis because I know my time will be wasted.

It's sad that this has ended.

Hallad Edited by: Hallad Hiddenstab at: 8/19/01 12:26:35 pm

[EZ_Yabbado]

I like it a lot =)

[EZ_kuppy bj]

I really enjoyed reading this, i think it would make a great book, there is some real talent there, i hope you keep updating it. If you plan on turning it into a book i hope you keep us updated on that.

[EZ_Cynic Slicemdicem]

GRRRRRR get back here Kaibutsu Yrion
theif
CA
The world is not as bad as you think.
It is as bad as I think.

[EZ_Phoenix Zorn]

All this reading just to be stopped short. Just when it was getting REALLY interesting. It is keeping my awake at 5AM... Great stuff. It must be continued. If not by Kaibutsu, by another writer in the house... that however may spoil the whole thing.


My friends on another board used to write a single passage and have someone else continue. We had a story of about 30 pages when we were done with it... quite a fun read.

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Talia lay down next to the fire. Scuttle offered to take first watch, for which Talia was grateful. She was exhausted from the brutal combat with the orc Shaman. She was asleep within moments.

Scuttle poked a small stick in the embers of the small campfire, the crossbow resting on his lap. He lost himself in the thoughts and child-like fascination of a typical halfling. Fireflies danced in the darkness beyond the firelight. He listened to the sounds of the forest the insect’s chirping and creaking echoed in the night. It seemed that the forest had forgotten the lumbering Orc army that marched through it only hours ago.

Scuttle suddenly sat very still and cocked his head to one side, listening intently, trying to ignore the sounds of the forest. Something was moving beyond the light. It was moving slowly and steadily towards him. He stood up and brought the crossbow to his shoulder, and stepped towards the sounds, positioning the fire behind him. He decided it was definitely not a predator. No predator made stalked prey with that much noise and commotion. It was moving closer. Scuttle lowered his head at an angle, and eyed the sight on the crossbow. He could now see an occasional branch from a bush being pushed or moved by the approaching creature. He followed the movement with the crossbow, keeping careful aim as the unidentified beast moved towards the light.

Scuttle saw some sort of yellowish-red fur between the branches of one of the bushes. He touched the trigger on the weapon, and the weapon charged, pulling the prod back, a glowing bolt appearing in the nock. Scuttle steadied the weapon and prepared to fire.

Into the firelight, from behind the last bush that blocked Scuttle’s vision, a large canine head poked its way into the clearing. The dog hobbled its way towards the halfling, limping from a wound on its rear leg. The dog whined softly, lay down on the ground, and painfully inched its way towards Scuttle. Shaggy red fur painted with it’s own blood covered the dog. It’s tail swished back and forth slowly as it approached Scuttle. It was obviously in a lot of pain from the wound, and thought that the halfling could help it.

Scuttle looked back at the still sleeping Talia, who obliviously slept through the dog’s approach. He decided that Talia must be severely exhausted. She would have immediately woken to the slightest sound. That fight with the Shaman must have really taken a toll on her. He shook his head sadly and turned back to the dog. It sat at the edge of the firelight, whimpering quietly, its tail brushing back and forth across the forest floor. Intelligent eyes watched the halfling closely, seeming to beg him to help.

Scuttle placed the crossbow carefully on the ground next to him and pulled a piece of rabbit from the remainder of their unfinished meal. He held the scrap of meat in front of him and sympathetically made his way towards the dog.

“Good puppy,” he whispered quietly. The dog’s long, floppy ears perked up at the high pitched sound of the halfling’s voice. It tilted its head to the side curiously. “That’s a good dog. Come here.” He bent down and held the scrap out to the dog, gently tapping an open hand against his thigh. The dog slowly scrambled its way to Scuttle, tail wagging in earnest.

It came within reach of the food, and put its head down on the ground, whining and gazing longingly at the food, but too wary to take it from the halfling’s outstretched hand. Scuttle placed the food on the ground in front of the dog, and gently rubbed the dog’s head. The canine still kept its head on the ground, but followed the halfling’s movements with the strangely intelligent eyes. Scuttle cautiously ran his hands across the dog’s flanks, unsure of what the dog’s reaction would be to nearing the wounded leg. He continued to pet the dog’s flank and examined the wounded leg. A jagged slash ran across the dog’s right rear leg. Scuttle could see torn muscle and exposed bone in the wound. It looked bad, but not fatal. He watched the dog expectantly and examined the wound closer. The dog flinched slightly, but did not snap at the little rogue. Scuttle decided that the dog trusted him enough for him to try to bandage up the wound. He went to get his pack to retrieve some strips of cloth and some salve.

He grabbed his supplies and returned to the injured dog. Its head lying across its front paws, it watched the halfling draw near. The dog still had not touched the scrap of rabbit sitting in front of his nose.

“Go on puppy. Eat it. I’ll bet you’re hungry.” The dog scooted forward, and delicately nipped at the food. Scuttle stared at the dog. A dog with manners? What kind of dog nibbles food? Most dogs just swallow food whole! I’ve never heard of such a thing! Scuttle shrugged at the oddity, and began his version of bandaging wounds. Fortunately, for the dog, Scuttle applied the salve, relieving the pain, and doing more to heal the wound than the halfling’s meager skill would possibly heal.

“What’s going on Scuttle?” Talia’s sleepy voice nearly scared the little rogue out of his skin.

“Talia,” Scuttle scolded, “you really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that! This vicious creature could have taken my hands off!” The dog continued to rest its head on its front paws, watching Talia now, its tail sweeping leaves and pine needles back and forth while it slowly wagged its tail.

“Ahh, sorry about that Scuttle. I can see you barely have control. Keep up the good work, and be careful.” Talia smirked and shook her head, laughing to herself at her friend. She went back to the fire, sat down facing the halfling, and watched him trying desperately to bind the wound of his patient. She wondered at the dog. The animal seemed so patient, more so than any normal dog. She knew of no animal that would put up with the inept healing that Scuttle was trying to inflict upon the poor creature. Despite the blundering healing, the dog only flinched occasionally, looking back not with annoyance at the halfling, but almost amusement. Amusement? What am I talking about? It’s a dog! She laughed at herself, and turned back to the fire, placing in another small piece of wood.

Scuttle finished with his healing, and came back to the fire. The dog rose to its feet, standing nearly as tall as the halfling, and hobbled after him. Talia watched the dog follow Scuttle to the fire. Despite the injury, the dog moved with a fluid grace. Even as the dog moved the few steps towards the fire, the bandages fell away from the wound. “Looks like you made a new friend, eh Scuttle?”

“I guess so. I wonder where he came from.” Scuttle sat next to Talia, the dog immediately lay next to him. Scuttle absently scratched the dog behind the ears.

Talia leaned back against a large rounded boulder, teasing the fire with a broken branch. Scuttle desperately tried to stifle a yawn. “Scuttle, go ahead and sleep. I’ll take the next watch.”

“Oh, I’m okay Talia. I will just kind of rest my head on my pack.” He shifted around, placing his pack as a pillow. “I’ll just lay here and talk to you. Just to keep you awake.”

Talia smiled at the little halfling, noting the small snoring sound and closed eyes that indicated he was already well on his way to sleeping through the night.

[EZ_Phoenix Zorn]

Outstanding... only a few hours after I ask for more, and a month or more after the last episode, we see the true imagination of this awesome writer come into the light. I see an Enchanter or Druid entering the story soon, since this "dog" is "smarter then the average bear, hey hey Boo Boo."

Good show, old bean... and no I'm not british, just thought it fit for the moment.

[EZ_Cynic Slicemdicem]

woot prance cheer frollick!
made a horrible day all better
thank you

Yrion
55 theif
Brell

[EZ_Burglar]

Nice writing, just started the story, i cant wait to read the end!! could someone collect all this to one document that we can spread around? =)

[EZ_kuppy bj]

again, Great Job kaibitsu, i really enjoy reading this, keep it up, plz. And Glad to see you back posting

[EZ_Sinlao]

just go read all the other compliments you have gotten..
i really cant say much more than what has been said already..



keep it coming

[EZ_Smushu]

Very well planned and written. This has a very tight plot and very good characterization. Kudos to you Kaib.

Smushu stonearm of the clan Stonearm
60th Warrior - Innoruuk Server

[EZ_Zavion]

Aye, very good read. I find meself looking forward to future installmets. =)


DaBlade the Rogue

[EZ_Sadelia]

wow what a story. *sigh* I wish I could write like this. Sadelia BlacknovaClan Icewind 60 CrusaderZebuxoruk

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Well, I have to admit there is a reason why I haven't been posting all that often. I have been having a hard time figuring out where I want to go with this story. I know how it will end, and I know what I want to have the characters go through, but unfortunately, I don't feel that it's enough to write a whole story. It seemed so simple when I was playing...my daily adventures with Scuttle left me ideas right and left for what I could have him do. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of those ideas. So, in pursuit of those oh-so-elusive Scuttle story ideas, I decided that I will be playing Everquest again. Now I just hope that Scuttle wasn't deleted. If so, I always had the most fun at the lower levels anyway, so it will be no loss to start over. My intention is to figure out some sub-adventures for Scuttle and Talia (and others that will join the two) so I can actually have the story continue.

Again, thank you all again for the response. I truly appreciate it! I really hope to have the next story done soon. It's already started, so just some finishing touches on it and it'll be submitted.

Take care all!
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.

[EZ_Zavion]

Tis a good day,

Glad to hear that Ol Scuttle will be putting down his ale and coming outta retirement!

DaBlade the Rogue

[EZ_Carlainy]

Ok Scuttle i am very angry with you! You kept me up about 3 hours longer than i realy wanted. I cant stop reading this, its a great story that anyone who has or does play EQ would love. The whole time i readin it im hopin i found the site after you finshed the story so i could read it all and not half to check the site day after day waitin to find out what happens. Thanks so very much for givin me somthing to Read. I can Honestly say this is one of the best stories i have read in along time. Again thanks

Carlainy The Evil Monk
lvl 52 Sacred Soul
The Namless server

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Battered and bleeding, a tall figure stumbled out of a broken gap in the city walls. Never before had the man feared for his life. Never had he fought so hard against so many creatures. It was a testament to the skill of the lone man that he was still alive, despite his decrepit condition. He staggered past the shadows cast by the walls, making his way towards what he hoped was the sanctuary of the shadowed forest. His dark clothing, now stained with blood, a good amount of it his own, was shredded and torn. He wrapped the useless cloak about him and dove for the shelter of the forest.

He leaned his back against the cool bark of a tree and listened intently. He could hear the sounds of the battle, if you wanted to call it a battle, still raging in the city. It was more of a massacre. The city guard had broken hours ago. There was no one left to defend the city, and the invaders stalked the streets like hungry predators. Though, he felt no pity for the people being systematically slaughtered by the monstrosities that wandered the streets. It wouldn’t have occurred to him to actually think about the citizens of the city. They had nothing to do with him.

He inwardly shuddered, remembering the fight to escape the city. He had never felt the revulsion and sickness that he felt now. The orcs… Well, orcs were normal opponents, these weren’t normal orcs he was remembering. He didn’t have any fear of the orcs he had battled in the past. In fact, every orc he passed during his escape from the city had pointedly ignored him, apparently afraid of the tall cloaked man. The other orcs…the ones that had been brought back to life…no, not back to life. It was some horrible parody of life. Those shambling orc corpses that attacked him…the orcs that he was only able to escape by ripping a cutlass from a guardsman’s dead fingers and hacking at the legs of the creatures, reducing their pursuit of the man to a ungainly crawl. His daggers were all but useless against such creatures. With the guard’s cutlass, he had left a small parade of enemies creeping slowly forward towards him, relentlessly pursuing him. He thought that he had finally lost them in the frantic dash that he had just made, but one could never be sure. He had never seen anything like this. Skeletons...yes. It's one thing to know that a necromancer is raising the long forgotten bones of some even longer forgotten body. But to think that there was some necromancer out there that was not only immediately raising the dead orcs into those zombie-like creatures, but was raising so many of them at once. What kind of power does it take for that kind of control? No, there was no way that it was just one necromancer. There must have been hundreds of them. Hundreds of necromancers of that caliber? That didn’t seem likely. Besides, where were they? You almost never see a necromancer’s pet wandering around without a necromancer very near, and he had not seen one creature that even vaguely resembled a necromancer during his flight from the city.

He realized that he had been lost in thought for way too long. What is happening to me? I’ve never lost my concentration like this! It must be the orc-things. He slammed both fists into the tree on which he was leaning. Clenching his teeth, he shook his head briefly and commanded his mind to concentrate on the things at hand, such as surviving, not on these odd speculations about the undead orcs. He listened to the sounds around him. All the fighting within the city was distant. The forest was preternaturally silent. All the creatures, all the typical sounds of the forest night were deathly still. Even the wind seemed afraid to blow through the trees as it might make noise as it passed through the trees. Hearing nothing from the inside of the forest, he made his way deeper into the sheltering darkness. Away from the gods forsaken city.

All the fear and terror and exhaustion just about made the tall man forget about Scuttle for a few moments. The steady pace that he followed through the trees while escaping the city slowly allowed his previous intentions to coalesce and he remembered the halfling rogue. As far as he was concerned, it was the halfling’s fault that he ever had to feel the fear he just lived through. If that damned halfling had died like he was supposed to…like the man’s marks always did in the past…then none of this would have happened to him, as the man would have left the little rat hole city as soon as the contract was fulfilled. He fully intended to take the suffering he just had to live through out of the halflings furry footed little hide. He clenched his jaw tightly, and made his way deeper into the forest, contemplating the things he would do to the halfling, once he got his hands on him.
Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.

[EZ_Sadelia]

YAY more scuttle!!!! Sadelia BlacknovaClan Icewind 60 CrusaderZebuxoruk

[EZ_LarsEQ]

Keep it comming. I love scuttle stories. Glad to hear you are back in the game Kaibutsu

[EZ_kuppy bj]

good to see you writing again kai, and playing again, that means good ideas for the story...

[EZ_Sinlao]

Ahhhhhh I need more

keep it coming

[EZ_Kitono]

i just spent hours reading the posts from beginning to end
*shudder* im soooo sleepy
great writing! im hoping that enough of us get togetha we can make this into an eqmovie!!! wouldnt that be SWEEEET?!!?! im POSITIVE gms will cooperate!
KEEP GOING SCUTTLE MAYBE YOU WILL MAKE A MOVIE OUTTA THIS AND VERANT PAYS YOU MILLIONS!
shadowspirit kleyshavar'dreamweaver
40 rogue
RZ server

[EZ_Shaikthemonk]

I started a rogue because of this story, he'd be 50+ but he wants to level with the story. MORE MORE MORE. Shaik Rattlenroll
55 Master

[EZ_zanther420]

Very good read.

Keep it up Kai! Zanther - 51 StackbabberThe Rathe

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Kai, you have an incredible talent. You can evoke emotions, you can make us laugh, you can make us curious, you can make us see the scene, in short, you can entertain. Even if you don't finish Scuttle (DON'T DO THAT) you have to work this talent into your life. It would be a shame if the world never got to see your works. Set time aside each day for you to brainstorm and write and finish this story, don't worry about posting it too much, just make sure you write it then post it. Then get that work to a publisher and see if they like it (I'm sure they will) and you'll be on your way to be coming a writer. I'm not sure that's what you want to do with your life but I'm suggesting you do because you sure have the talent to!

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Thank you. I just looked and noticed that it's been over a year since I started this and I hardly have 2 chapters worth of actual story. Jeesh. I really have to spend some time writing every day.

I started playing EQ again in the hopes that it would give me some more ideas for writing. Now I find that it's distracted me more than anything. I've contemplated quitting again because it is *such* a distraction.

Anyway, I do intend to keep working on this, just not sure when I will get much of a chance to write. I really should just walk away from EQ again I think. Too time consuming. Anyway, thanks again everyone for all the support and encouragement. Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now with new and improved Redemption.

[EZ_Zavion]

3 Cheer for the thief!

/Cheers at Scuttle
/Cheers at Scuttle
/Cheers at Scuttle


Woohoo, You made my day!

Thanks
Dablade the Rogue

[EZ_Zavion]

you know what would make a great Xmas present? A new scuttle chapter! *hint hint* *grin*

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Hear hear!

[EZ_Carlainy]

Still no scuttle this makes me very sad.

Carlainy The Evil One

[EZ_Blik Quikksilver]

Nothing but good can come from this, Kai. You've got another fan (and another, and another, and another...). I can't see a publisher turning this kind of work down, and if they did, it would be their loss. So, all you really have to do is finish it now, but I know that's easier said than done. Here's hoping.

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

He didn’t see his sister climb out of the coach. As the door of the coach opened, the mayor was in the process of running out of his study and barreling over Mistletoe, who shrieked in surprise. He took the stairs two at a time, somehow making the bottom without completely losing his balance. He stopped with his hand on the front door. He couldn’t breathe. His heart pounded in his chest, he could feel the pulse thumping in his throat. He could barely swallow, but tried desperately to gulp down his fear. This is ridiculous he thought to himself. This is my sister. There is no reason to be afraid. I warned her that it would be a bad idea to send her sons here. I knew what kind of trouble they would get into. The fact that they died is her fault, not mine! Angrily, annoyed at his terror of a confrontation with his sister, he swung the door open. He started, stumbling backwards in surprise. Theophilia was not two feet from him, standing on the entryway, waiting for him to come out.

No one would have mistaken them for siblings. Where the Mayor was short and stubby, Theophila was tall, extremely tall, and thin to the point of emaciation. The skin seemed to cling to her bones like some parasitic organism trying to suck the life from her skeleton. Yet, despite her extreme thinness, she was beautiful beyond comparison. Her dark hair hung thickly about her shoulders, a stark white lock ran along the left side of her hair. A shimmering black robe hung from her shoulders, and a matching hooded cloak fell behind her. Dim red and purple colors rippled along the material, as if the cloak and robe were made of a thick, liquid-like substance.

She took a small breath before speaking, and made a slight motion with a long thin finger. The mayor felt as if that breath was pulling the life directly from his chest. A cold shudder passed through him. His knees gave out and he collapsed on the ground in front of his sister. He looked up at Theophilia, shoulders quivering, knowing if he wasn’t going to die in the immediate future, he was in for an awful lot of pain.

“So Bardemus, you can’t keep track of two boys long enough to keep them alive?” Her voice was musical, like wind chimes singing in the wind, but there was a venomous undertone to it, as if a serpent was speaking. “I specifically told you to keep them under your wing. Only you could fail such a miserably simplistic task.”

The mayor choked and tried to speak, “Theophila, listen…” He couldn’t breathe again. He grasped at his neck, struggling for a breath that wouldn’t pass his constricted throat. His sister glared at him, a malevolent grin etched across her face.

“You will not speak unless I tell you to do so fool! Where is their father? Get him here now! If you will not do what I tell you to do, perhaps that sniveling worm can do it instead.” She made another small motion with her hands, and Bardemus went sailing across the street, landing in a heap next to his sister’s coach. “Get him NOW!”

The mayor collapsed when his sister made a shooing motion with her hands. She released the magical hold that was strangling him. He fell backwards, landing on his hands. He worked his way forward, crawling to his knees. Shifting his feet underneath him, he almost made it upright, but a slap to the back of his head sent him careening to the ground again, planting him face first in the gravel and dirt. Bardemus looked up to see what had sent him sprawling to the ground.

A giant of a man stood next to the coach. He was covered head to toe in a suit of armor. A huge two- handed sword was strapped to his back. He took a step towards Bardemus, reached for the mayor, and picked him up by the front of his shirt. He held the small man up to his plate helmet holding him at eye level. The mayor’s feet dangled in the air as he struggled in the man’s grasp. A slight putrid stench emanated from the armored figure, nearly gagging Bardemus. He tried to look into the eyes of his captor, but the torchlight was too dim to see behind the helmet. What was visible, however, was the armor itself. The metal of the armor seemed to twist and writhe like some mercurial source. Images formed in the armor, images of faces in their death throes. Bodies twisting in torture. Images of people in agony.

“Ahh Bardemus, let me introduce you to my companion. This in Paen.” Bardemus closed his eyes to shut out the horrible visions gleaming in the tall man’s armor. “Paen and I have been discussing the situation here Bardemus. We both feel that he would be a good addition to your staff. Especially since you seem to be unable to handle simple tasks on your own.”

The tall man never moved, didn’t make a sound. He just held the mayor in front of him. Bardemus’s only indication that the man was even alive, was the fact that he grabbed him in the first place. Right now, Bardemus could be held by a statue, the man was so rigid. He again saw the deadly images dancing within the man’s armor, and turned his head away, shutting his eyes from the sight.

“I’m sure by now, my brother, you have noticed his armor. All those images you see, they are the souls that tried to cross my companion. The soul of every opponent he has slain now suffers in eternal torment, they are bound to his armor, and those that are able to land a stroke against Paen in combat, the souls in the armor will all feel the strike.”

The mayor turned to look at his sister. “So you see Bardemus, my companion thrives in the knowledge that he can cause suffering. How would you like to live forever Bardemus? It can be arranged.”

The huge man threw the mayor to the ground, and in one fluid motion, drew the sword from behind his back, pointing it under the chin of the fallen Bardemus. The effort should have been awkward, considering the heavy plate-like armor the man wore, but he moved as if he were wearing silk. The clanking and shifting you would expect to hear on such a suit of armor was missing. The man in the armor was completely silent.

Bardemus crawled backwards, away from the sword pointing at his throat. “I’ll go find Remus right away Theophilia.” The mayor started to run off. “I may not be able to get to him with your troops running around the city like this. I probably won’t make it one block.”

His sister made another motion with her hands. A ball of shimmering green and purple light surrounded Bardemus. The mayor fell to the ground, screaming and holding the sides of his face. The light dissipated and Bardemus struggled to his feet. Hot pain shot through his face on both sides. He reached to touch the sides of his face, and winced. He moved hands away from his cheeks, examining what he thought was blood dripping from two wounds on either side of his face. The left hand was covered in a green, glowing substance, and the right, an iridescent purple. The fluid dripped from his face like an open wound, burning him as if it were slightly acidic.

“None of them will bother you now Bardemus. I must advise brother, that you should not even think about not returning with Remus, and don’t even consider trying to leave the city now. Those wounds on your face will protect you from my minions for now, but should you choose to not come back within an hour, you will become one of them. You will serve me either way Bardemus, it is up to you how you choose to do so.”

His face filled with horror, the mayor started backing up, scurrying away from his sister.

“Run Bardemus, you haven’t much time.”

He turned and bolted for the officer’s barracks, praying that Remus would be there, and not lying drunk and unconscious in some alley, or dead from the city invaders. An hour was very little time to find one man in an entire city in ruin.
Edited by: Kaibutsu at: 12/19/01 8:52:06 am

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Bravo! Yet another great addition to an already brilliant story! GREAT work!

[EZ_Carlainy]

WOOT! It is a Merry X-mas after all. Thanks for the new chapter. Will it be a Happy new year? I love the story so far. I Hope you enjoy wrighting this as much as i love to read it.

Carlainy The Evil One

[EZ_Zavion]

Woot, Thanks! Heh.


Zav

[EZ_Jammermon]

Aye , this shows REAL talent.

I encourage you to clip an paste what you have do so far and email a publisher or two.

With a wee break I look foreward to reading your first book soon.

Mean time ; keep posting here.

Jammer of Hibernia/Palomides/DAoC

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Talia sat with her back against a rock, poking a twig at the campfire. She looked towards the sleeping Scuttle, and laughed silently. He was sprawled out, legs and arms everywhere, just as if he was sleeping in his own bed. His blanket was on the other side of the fire (she had no idea how he was able to do that), and the backpack on which he had been resting his head, was pushed to the side an arm’s length away. The dog was lying next to him, his head on his paws, but was looking directly at Talia with a pitiful expression. He was covered in sloppily applied bandages that hung loosely from his head to his tail. Talia shook her head and laughed quietly.

“Come here hound,” she whispered. She lightly tapped her open hand against her thigh. The dog glanced at the sleeping Scuttle, then hobbled his way towards Talia. He still was limping. The salve that Scuttle had applied to the wounds probably helped a bit, but the bandages seemed to hinder him more than the injured leg. She shook her head again at the poor mummified dog and smiled. “Let’s see what we can do for you here. I think our little friend has made things a bit worse for you, despite his intentions, eh?” As she talked to the dog, she scratched the dog behind the ear with one hand, and cupped his chin with the other. The dog looked directly in her eyes as she talked to him. With a final pet, she reached for her pack to get some bandages. As she pulled out the cloth, she looked back at the dog. It continued to watch her with those strangely intelligent eyes.

“There’s something odd about you dog. I wish I knew what to think of you.” She shrugged. “Ahh well, let’s see what we can do about those bandages.” She removed Scuttle’s handiwork and applied a salve and bandages on the dog’s wounds, dressing them so that the dog would actually be able to walk.

“All done” she said when she was finished. The dog climbed to its paws. It tested the leg by walking back and forth a couple times. It turned its head to look at the bandages, almost as it was approving of her work. The dog turned back to Talia, licked her hand briefly and padded back to lay next to the sprawled out Scuttle. The dog sighed contently, looked once more at Talia, then lay its head on its paws and went to sleep.

Talia watched the dog for a while. It only moved when Scuttle flailed a little more in his sleep. Presumably to escape an errant halfling hand or foot. Then it would settle right back down next to Scuttle. It seemed perfectly content, just as if the dog and Scuttle had spent their whole lives together.

Talia grabbed another twig, poked it distractedly into the fire, and wondered again about the mystery of Scuttle’s new adopted companion.

[EZ_Zavion]

More more more! *grin*

Thanks again.

Zav Edited by: Zavion at: 1/10/02 6:39:36 pm

[EZ_Maevenniia]

Excelllent work

Now I'm hooked too....eeep.

MORE PLEASE

Maevennia
Trigger happy level 52 Wizard, Rodcet Nife

"One Fireball Special, coming right up! Whoooosh!
Um, sorry, those eyebrows will grow back. "


<twitches with withdrawal symptoms>

This is worse than having C2 run out when you are OOM and your friendly neighbourhood Enchanter just logged off ! Where's my fix?! Edited by: Maevenniia at: 2/6/02 6:12:03 pm

[EZ_Stina1701]

Wow. This is a great story. Thank you. Please dont leave it like this.

Stina1701

[EZ_Hudson Dawnweaver]

SHEESH its about time! Thank you. If you do not soon write more ill have to send one of my... "Associates" over to .. chat with you...


Hudson Dawnweaver.
52 Rake.

[EZ_Fari Stormfyre]

I love this story Scuttle reminds me of Tasselhoph from some of the Dragonlance series books. Come on keep it coming. You can't stop now. )

MORE!!

MORE!!

MORE!!

Trying the chant thing. 8 ) Fari Stormfyre
Druid of the 45th season
"If all the beast were gone,
Man would die from lonliness of spirit.
For whatever happens to the beast,
Happens to the man."
Chief Seattle

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

MORE!!!!

MORE!!!

MORE!!!

It's been a while since I have visited and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there is much more since my last visit. I was wondering if you ever have taken what you have so far to a publisher? I would like to know what success you have had if any. I'm sure its just a matter of finding the right one. Hallad Hiddenstab 60AssassinOfficer of Iratus Lepus

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Over a month since our last update Kai. /scowl

:">





I just can't stay mad at you! More!

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Hehe Pedric. That was cool! lol!

Halad, nope I haven't turned anything in to a publisher. I think it would be pretty cool to do, but I just can't see submitting anything that is half finished...not that I would know what to do to submit it in the first place. I've never really looked into it because I never really tried writing anything before this. In addition, I've been so busy at work that I haven't even *had* a personal life lately, and therefore have had no time to write (or play!!).

I wrote to an author that is somewhat well known, asking them if they knew where I could get a good professional critique from someone in the business to see if they thought I had a chance at getting published. The author could not think of anything that was legitimate, so he offered to take a look at my writing. Now this scares the bejeezus outta me because I really respect this author's work. Do you guys really think this story is something that could be published, and something that a professional writer might look at and think was good enough to be published? I know it still needs work. A lot of editing for certain. I am so spooked about sending it, I guess, because this author is fairly good about helping out unknown authors and getting them in touch with people that can get them published...if their work is good enough. I would hate to blow that chance, ya' know?

So opinions would be *greatly* appreciated right now.

[EZ_Dihce]

no offense, but if you look at all the replies....I'm pretty sure it's easy to see everyone thinks you should go with it.

I have been reading this since the first day you posted and have loved every minute of it.




Dihce
The Stylish Northern Rogue.
'Don't bother Turning around, I won't be there'

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Heh! None taken. I fully admit that I am being a spaz. Just looking for a bit of affirmation I suppose.

[EZ_Maevenniia]

I have read it all and it's great Kai, go for it.

If it helps boost your confidence any, I read a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and in my opinion your writings are just as entertaining to me, and rank among some of my favourites.

Out of curiousity, who is the author? That was a very nice offer he made, authors tend to get flooded with requests to review material from wannabes, that he (or she) actually makes a point of doing so, is pretty cool.

BTW, we want MORE!

~Maevenniia Fateweaver
lev 53 Wizardess
Carpe Nocturnus
Rodcet Nife

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

I will tell you after the fact. Okay, yes, I am being silly and superstitious, but I don't want to jinx anything...and yes, I am still being a spaz.

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. Okay, wish me luck. Going to send it this weekend to him.

[EZ_Fari Stormfyre]

I have been reading Sci-fi and Fantasy for as long as I can remember and I would rate this up there with some of the best of them.
I think you'll do fine in the biz. That was a big step tho and I can understand the hate of waiting, but just send him here if he wants real people's reactions to a work in progress.
Now when did you say the next part was coming? Fari Stormfyre
Druidess of the 48th Ring of Nature

Karpet
Kitty Shammy Extrodinare
Lvl 10

"If all the beast were gone,
Man would die from lonliness of spirit.
For whatever happens to the beast,
Happens to the man."
Chief Seattle

[EZ_Carlainy]

If you send him a copy and they do pay you to finish the story. We would get to read the rest of it alot sooner, so i think. With work geting in your way and all takes to much time away from your wrighting. So i vote yes please send him a copy! I would like to see how this story goes. I have read it a few times...now and would like to see the end or just a few more pages =)

Carlainy The Evil One

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Good Luck Kai! I'm positive you'll do just fine!

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

Good luck Kai!!! I suppose you have already sent it by now, so he is probably at home getting all worked up like the rest of us now. AND, if he isn't, or for some reason does not like it. I say take his critique as only one person's opinion, no matter how much you respect him. Fact is he may not like that type of material. If so, learn from him what you can and move on. Submit it again, and again, and again, until you get a bite and something to move it to the next level. GOOD LUCK!! Hallad Hiddenstab 60AssassinOfficer of Iratus Lepus

[EZ_Bintu Damoon]

Amazing. I finally finished reading all the parts of the story so far. How old are you? Simply curious. I'm only 15 and have some writing talent but it doesn't come close to yours. I once wrote a story about my Paladin. I couldn't think of an ending so I gave up. =( Anyways, Good job. I know it takes alot of effort to write all this, especially with your busy lifesyle. Good luck to you. I want to see you go public with this story. It's definetely worth it if you can pull off a nice clencher for the ending and maybe side plots like you were talking about. Just wanted to let ya know that the fans here at the post are probably all wishing you luck just like me and want to read more about Scuttle, Just like me. Thanks for inspiring and sparking curiosity in people's minds.

-Bintu Damoon.
35th Lvl Rogue of Drinal.

[EZ_Thefty Lootstealer]

I've been reading your stuff from the very beginning Kai. And I'm glad you sent it iin. Had you not sent it in millions would of died. hehe j/k, not that you need the pressure to send it in . I myself tried to write a story once... I didn't get very far.. BUT, I know a good sci-fi / fantasy when I read one, and Kai you are good. Anyways... when they say its good... it will be more emphasis for you to finish. Oh and one more thing... I think your going to have lots of people hitting the book store when ur book comes out hehe.

[EZ_Cynic Slicemdicem]

I've been reading fantasy and sci-fi for 15 years or so, playing roleplaying games for 10. To me, your work ranks right up there with Feist's Daughter of the Empire trilogy. Great suspense!
now give us some more! Yrion
killer of stuff

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

WELL?!!!!!!!!

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Hehe! I sent it. Haven't heard anything yet. I can't describe how much I was flinching when I hit that "Send" button on that e-mail. As soon as I know something, I will let you know. Also, should have a new posting tomorrow.

[EZ_Maevenniia]

Dare we hope for a new installment in the Scuttle saga???

/em crosses her fingers and waits with 'bated breath.

(4 minutes pass...)

/em lets out and explosive "whoooosh" and gasps for breath.

Alright already, I can't hold my breath that long, where's that installment?

Maevenniia Fateweaver
Trigger-Happy Wizardess
Carpe Nocturnus

"Manage my agro? Why should tanks have all the fun?"

LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Talia felt something wet and cold run across her face. She started, and rubbed at her eyes. She had fallen asleep. She was still recovering from the fight with the shaman. She was healing quickly, but she had been very close to dead before Scuttle had arrived. The dog whined and licked her face again, swishing it’s tail back and forth.

“I’m okay now. Thanks for keeping an eye on me.” She held the dog’s face cupped between her two open palms and lightly kissed the dog on the top of its muzzle. She rubbed at her eyes again and crawled to her feet. She was going to have to wake Scuttle soon for his turn at watch. Then they had to get moving. There was no telling when a patrol could come across them. She thought they were far enough away from the city that it was unlikely to be a patrol, but sitting in one place seemed like a very bad idea right now.

She thought about the events of the past few hours, and how her life and taken such an upheaval in so short a time. She came back to the three men that attacked her, just before her flight from her beloved home. She knew she should remember where she had seen their faces before. Of the three, the big man she had no problem recalling. He was one of the officers in the guard, and liked throwing around his muscle. She had seen him roaming the streets like a predator, ready to pounce on anyone that committed the most minor of offences. He had even come into the tavern when she was at work. He demanded inspections and proclaimed that if he were not served a meal and drink to verify the cleanliness of the establishment, then there would be most unfortunate penalties. All the tavern owners knew this, and if they didn’t, they learned quickly. She still remembered poor Tavris. The old man had taken all his savings and opened a little meikla shop, meikla being a strong drink of the southerners fermented from a plant that grew only in the southern climate. She shuddered at the recollection of her one and only taste of meikla. The poor man had refused to serve the sergeant. He refused to be pushed around by someone purely because they wore a uniform of the city guard. The next day, the little shop was a smoking ruin. The sergeant was not one to mess with.

She had seen the two smaller men stalking the streets as well, but only from afar. She tried to remember every time she had seen them in the past, hoping to trigger her memory. Recognition still eluded her. Something was important about them, but she could not remember.

She gave up in frustration. She was certain she would figure it out in time. Right now, the important thing was trying to stay awake long enough for her watch to end, and in the morning, getting out of here as quickly as possible. She got to her feet and tried pacing around the fire, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake Scuttle. Waking the halfling seemed fairly unlikely. Snores reverberated from him loud enough to occasionally startle the dog to his feet. The dog would then sniff at Scuttle’s face, seemingly trying to figure out how such a loud noise could come from such a small creature. The dog’s cold nose didn’t seem to bother Scuttle’s sleep however, and once the dog decided that the sound was down to a normal volume, he would lay down next to the sleeping halfling and go to sleep along side him again.

Finally her watch ended. She woke Scuttle, took his place next to the fire and fell asleep instantly. Scuttle sat on a flat rock near the fire, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked up, to see the dog sitting beside him, diligently keeping watch along with his new master. Scuttle reached out and scratched the dog behind the ears. The dog cocked his head and leaned into the scratching.

“You are a good dog, aren’t you?” Scuttle whispered out loud.

The dog turned to look at Scuttle. Its deep brown eyes took in the little halfling. It closed one eye and turned back to his self-appointed watch. Scuttle’s mouth hung open for a second, and rubbed his eyes again.

“Did you just wink at me puppy? No, I must still be tired… Well, I know I saw it though. Did you wink at me boy?” The dog kept a watchful eye on the camp, but didn’t seem to be doing anything more than a normal dog would do. “You’re right puppy. I must be seeing things still. But hey! That is what I will call you! Wink! Do you like that? Do you like that name boy?”

The dog faced Scuttle and gave his face sloppy dog kissed and wagged its tail, swishing pine needles out of the way.

“I guess that’s okay for you then. Wink it is!” He petted the dog with both hands and put his arms around its neck, giving it a short hug. “Well Wink, let’s get to watching here. It’s our job, and poor Talia had her watch while we slept, so we better…”

The dog started forward, cutting Scuttle’s sentence off in the middle. Its ears perked up. The tail, that was usually wagging back and forth, now hung down, no motion to be seen. It sniffed the air, moving his head back and forth, apparently trying to find something.

“What is it Wink? What do you smell?”

A snap of a twig, far from the camp, but not far enough for the sharp ears of a halfling or dog. Another twig snapped. Something was making its way through the forest, and didn’t seem to be concerned about how much noise it was making. The dog turned towards the sound, its hackles raised. It sniffed again, and chuffed quietly, but just enough to wake up Talia. She rolled over and sat up.

“What’s going on Scuttle?”

“Someone’s just outside of the camp,” he whispered “and they’re coming this way. They probably saw the light from the fire.”

Talia climbed to her feet and drew both daggers from her belt. “Stay here in the camp, and I will sneak around behind whoever is coming our way. You gonna be okay?”

Scuttle nodded and grabbed his pack, breaking out the crossbow. Talia grinned and moved out of the campfire’s light, disappearing into the gloom of the forest.

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Well, I got my response from the author, and I won't post it verbatim what they said, but I will give my condensed synopsis of what they told me. While they told me things that I expected to hear, and things not so positive, I did tell you that I would let you know what they told me, so here it is:

They said that I lack style or specifically that my style is not great. They mentioned that I misuse coincidence far too often. They also note that the story sort of plods along. They said that 'lack of style' is one of the hardest things to fix, but it *is* eventually possible to do so, with lots of practice and studying other authors.

That is basically what they told me in a nutshell. I broke down the detail to a few sentences. I really appreciated them taking the time to tell me what I needed to work on and what I was lacking skill-wise. They did say that they hated telling people they weren't ready for publishing yet, but that's okay. I wasn't insulted in the least bit, and appreciated their candor with me, and the time they took from their busy schedule to deal with the newb writer.

Nonetheless, I will continue writing, and hopefully learn some things about style in the future.

I also wanted to say again that I really appreciate all of your support. Every book I have read about writing has said that I need to write, write some more, and keep writing. The author even mentioned that I need to keep writing. So, I will do so. Expect more posts much more often than they have been in the past. Thanks again for all the support everyone. It's very, very much appreciated.

Take care!

[EZ_Fuzzyfeet246]

Well I hope that wit practice you can get some of your work published. The fact that you will be posting more often makes me jump for joy.

[EZ_Maevenniia]

#1 - while not the most positive of comments, it is CONTRUCTIVE criticism, and I see you aren't going to be discouraged .... GOOD FOR YOU!

#2 - More posting? WOOT!

Maevenniia Fateweaver
Trigger-Happy Wizardess
Carpe Nocturnus

"Manage my agro? Why should tanks have all the fun?"

LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

Yes, I'm very glad that they gave you constructive criticism, and it shows a lot about your personality how well you took it Kai. I know I couldn't have taken it so well. More posting you say?

All I can say in response is, WOOTETH!!!

[EZ_Jammermon]

Hoi Kai

Keep up the chin...

Ernest Hemingway himself was told by many a critic how "bad" he was...

And I LOVE the story have this hot linked... keep 'em coming

Jammer
50 y/o demos

"Ya hafta grow old, they can't make ya Grow Up!"

[EZ_Hallad Hiddenstab]

Bump.

C'mon Kai, get to work!!!

Also, let me add. Critics BAHHHH!!!.... just take what they say with a grain of salt. Use it to grow and move on. Besides, the only GOOD critic is one that likes your work IMO. Hallad Hiddenstab 60AssassinOfficer of Iratus Lepus Edited by: Hallad Hiddenstab at: 5/20/02 1:21:15 pm

[EZ_Pedric Cuf]

/tap

We're waiting!

[EZ_Belph]

Hurry!

[EZ_Rebels Rogue]

I just recently started reading this. I'm hooked. Personally, I'm quite happy with your style. Post again soon please. Like everyone else, I need my fix.

[EZ_Dihce]

who is it? who is it?

[EZ_Metropolia]

Outstanding! I have been highly entertained...the true mission of the Internet!

[EZ_Pieksy Kenderkin]

Please, keep writing

[EZ_Retkin Shadowwolf]

Some one put a sticky on this story! Its to good to fall off the page accidentaly





Retkin ShadowWolf
53rd Rake of Bertoxxulous

[EZ_Dihce]

*taps foot* Come on!!!
Leader Extraordinaire of Tribulation
Still the Stylin' Northern Rogue you've come to love,
now Married and with more filling!

BINARY SMILEY!
001110100010100100000000

[EZ_Blurring]

Incredible story, keep up the good work and give us more!

[EZ_Dihce]

UGH! it's been over 4 months !!!

[EZ_Emberglow3412]

I just started reading this recently... its excellent!!! Just killed an hour reading all this =D MORE i say... MORE!

[EZ_Blurring]

Like 5 months now :/

[EZ_Blurring]

Like a year now? Wonder what happened to this guy?

[EZ_recopat]

must...have....more....story.....


hava greyhelm
emarr /em Hava looks around for someone to smack with da shovel!

[EZ_Muertissimo]

Well, I sincerely hope you haven't permanently shelved this wonderful story! I just happened upon it from a link Hava above made and I'm now hooked The ability to tell a story and capture the hearts and minds of the readers is the greatest skill of all, one which you clearly posess regardless of what that "author" says!

To me a good story is one you pick up and can't put down until you've read every last page, one where every character keeps you intrigued and wanting to know what they'll do next. This you have most definitely accomplished and like everyone else here I find myself wanting more more more! Having read plenty of fantasy novels (some of which I loved, some I couldn't make it past the first chapter), I think I can safely say you have what it takes to write an excellent story and to say you don't have style is just...well...stupid

Frankly, I think you would do better to have an actual publisher take a look at your work than an author. I would think they'd be more objective and open to different styles of writing than some other author would. For all you know the "author" may even be jealous of your skills and not want the competition Not saying this is the case, but just something to keep in mind hehe.

So I really hope you do pick this project back up soon. Your story telling skill is obviously maxed and your fan base has just increased! Muertissimo Drachmarr
Grave Lord
Midnight Fury

Look at my superman underoos!

[EZ_Cideous]

more plz thx, i hope you dont mind but im gonna write my own rest of the story for myself (not sharing with any human person ) but this story is great and u disapeared hehe

[EZ_Kaibutsu]

Well, apparently I took what that author told me a little too seriously and let it effect me and continuing to write. I have tried to continue with the story and have never been able to find anything to drive me to post any additional stories. I also took quite a leave of absence from Scuttle for a bit as well.

I come back here and read a few of the posts, and...wow. You guys are great. Just reading all the positive feedback actually makes me want to start writing again, even though I had all but given up on my ability with writing.

Thanks everyone! Just reading the little things you have responded to has made me want to even start writing again. I will do my best to see where this story will go. More than letting someone tell me I didn't have the skills to write, I think I needed people to say how much they are enjoying it.

[EZ_Belph]

Finally! A lifesign!

Now hurry up. Okok, I will say it. PLEASE.

[EZ_Cideous]

kaibitsu please email me at fyse0@yahoo.com .. for my own pleasure ive done some writing on this - thought you might like to see it.. AIM is fyse0 as well. I have no clue where you planned to go with the story - how what etc. but for myself i've written like 10 pages+ i think it's real good

[EZ_Rebels Rogue]

YAY !!!! What wonderful news to start the new year with I can't wait for your next installment Kaibutsu. As long as it's your work, it will be perfect. Edited by: Rebels Rogue at: 1/1/03 8:57:40 am

[EZ_Arcis]

I stumbled upon this while trolling the Forums I frequent while at work... I work in a Call Center environment and waiting for calls can sometimes be very boaring... On the day I found this the phones happened to be ringing alot. I couldnt wait to get done with a call so I could come back and read the next portion of the story. Great story, please continue to post new portions.

Keep it up. Thanks for the fun read!

[EZ_Loxmyf]

Just read all the Scuttle posts. This story is awesome. Please come back and continue!!!

[EZ_Roze by no other Name]

A new fan has been added!! I have just spent an afternoon at home from work sick and enjoyed every moment reading this story. Please don't stop Kai . . .

Rozie Healingroze Stonecatcher
Templar 55th Season
Gladius Libertatis

Briarrose Darkheart
Rake 51st Season
Gladius Libertatis

Rozepetals
Druid 31st Season
Gladius Libertatis

Solusek Ro

[EZ_Slyy Daugg]

I first read some of your stories long ago. I must tell you I was only mildly impressed. It has been close to two years now, I think, and I have revisited your writings to explore your progress.

I am overwhelmingly impressed.

Your writing skill has improved to a truly professional level.

Bravo.

SD

[EZ_AphtarShoc]

i just now have read your writings and i am truly amazed! i want to know the rest of this story! I NEED you to finish it! cuz if my imagination has to finish the job, your story will turn out to be horrible! cuz my imagintation sucks! so PLEASE! finish this story! it really intrigued me!


Aphtar Shoc
63rd Assassian of Rallos Zek
Comet Nosce

[EZ_AphtarShoc]

go scuttle its your birthday go scuttle! GO plz ! i still wanna read the rest of your story :P Aphtar Shoc
65 suc rog!
<Spirit of the Bamboo>
"seguire ScuriLeetah o il perish una morte orrida!"

<A HREF="http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=412249">OMG KOS! DONT INSPECT WITHOUT ASKING!</A>

[EZ_Burglar]

Damn you for leaving so many unanswered questions! =)

I wanna know the end!!! =D

[EZ_Mythous]

Well first off I just spent 3 hrs reading this post (I am a slow reader ) and I have to say I am very impressed. Your writing has improved MUCH since you started. The story is great and I hope to see more soon. I too am an inspiring writer and I am working to be published. I also have researched the steps into it. It takes time and determination. Both of which you seem to have since you have kept this post going so long.

I know it is hard sometimes. When you can't think of anything. I had a 4 month dry spell it sucked. But I was able to get over it. I have also gotten some negitive feedback on my work, but I took it for what it was worth and moved on. Keep up the good work and please what ever you do don't stop the ride till it is finished


P.S. If ya wanna chat or talk about writing Email me at soullessheart@hotmail.com put in the subject "SCUTTLE" so I don't accidently delete it. Also check out a short story of mine "Tavern Tales: Deja Vu" its one of my favorites ;P

[EZ_tc706]

More scuttle please! Very good story.

Krinj
43 Rogue Of Lanys

[recopat]

This Story is simply amazing, need more..!!!!!!
Lunoth Xegony Server

[Amaranth]

Well, I'm glad this got bumped otherwise I would never have found it. It was an excellent read even though it's not done. Sadly, I would vanture a guess that Kai has moved on and we are left to our own devices now. What a shame.

[ibdrunk]

well sense he isnt writing anymore anyone mind guessing at maybe whats going to happen i for one think the dog that finds them in teh wilderness is maybe a great shamans pet that was slained in battle and the dog got away wounded but thats just what i think he was going with it

[halelorm]

I dont know if you ever look at these boards anymore but I posted in here 5 years ago..unfortunately I don't remember my password. Anyways its been five years and I still love this story. When it comes down to it I like everyone else believe that you should finish this story, regardless of what some author had to tell you. Yes, he is a professional, yes, he gave you his his professional advice on what he believed you were doing wrong. But this is art, and lets face it when it comes down to it there are no real rules and regulations to follow. Regardless of what the author said you have tons of readers here who have replied throughout the years telling you to keep going. In my opinion thats what matters most, because when it comes down to it who is your general audience? professional writers? or the common people like us here on the safehouse boards who love your story. Don't let that author's words get you down, keep writing please, I like anyone else would buy this if it were ever turned into a book. Anyways I know I'm years late, but I do hope you still check this board occasionaly and I hope you do continue to write about scuttle. Thanks for taking the time to read this.