From: bfish@sequent.com (Brett Fishburne)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 11:04:34 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [KQ] Thk [Orc-dogs/Kennel/Piranah]: Slip Sliding Away

Characters: Kron Questors

[ADMIN: I'm posting this on behalf of Michael Rigler.  I have made one
editorial change in response to a comment from Tanya Olsen regarding the
behaviors of piranah.  Hope you don't mind Mike!]

JOYSTIX FACTORY:

Thk scoots through the acid pool room on the yellow-dyed surface,
using his Trident and tail for balance, and bounds out into the dimly 
lit hallway after the other KronQuestors.  There is a hushed conversation
at the front of the party, then a loud * KER-THUNK! *  followed by a 
grating noise and then the all-too-familiar yapping and snarling which
signals the arrival of that Bane of Every Good KronQuestor:  Orcus Caninus.

The hallway erupts into a frenzy of leaping twisting bodies -- humanoid 
and canine -- and the whirling dance of steel.  There is not enough space 
to use the Trident effectively.  Thk plunges the haft deep into the stone
floor at his feet and draws the paired oily blades which once graced the
tall form of the Last of the Elvish Sea Kings, just in time to meet the 
onrushing blur of teeth and fur that has him marked for a tasty meal of
lizard meat.

Height being a disadvantage here, Thk crouches low in a stable tripod stance
and weaves a tapestry of steel -- a variant of the Cuisinart Defence -- 
and the lead dog is diced and scattered.  The three dogs behind the first 
skid to a stop and begin slinking and probing for a way in.  But they 
are half-mad with starvation -- far beyond the point of fear -- and the 
smell of blood pushes them over the edge.  Acting almost with one mind,
they dart into the shredder from three directions at once.  Two die 
almost instantly, but manage to tie up Thk's blades long enough for the
third to strike home -- * SNAP * -- and close its jaws on the throat 
piece of Thk's shell armor.  The impact shatters the orc dog's canines
and bowls the lizardman over into a backwards sommersault.  The dog's
momentum takes it * SPLASH * into the acid pool.  Ssssssss -- *

As Thk moves his jaw and reaches to feels his throat for damage, strong
arms grip him and haul him upwards.  It is Maleiu.  "Sss...What Generica 
needsss iss fewer and better orc dogsss!"  The Dark Hunter grins. 

The KronQuestors slip through a side doorway, leaving a hallway littered
with Puree de Dog L'Orc.  Thk and Maleiu follow, entering a dark smelly 
room whose function is clearly to kennel the dogs.  Captain appears to be
messing around with an orc dog pup.  Orc dogs...fed rarely, but fed how?   
Thk looks up.  Sure enough, there is a trap door on the ceiling, and it 
begins to slide open.

"Crosss the room quickly!  There are no trapsss here!" 

An anxious face appears in the trap door.  Maleiu draws back his spear
to cast and feels it yanked out of his arm!!!  He is gripped by his
belt and the seat of his pants and jerked upwards to within arm's reach
of the trap door.  "Sss..Capture him!"  Before the startled observer can 
withdraw, Maleiu grips him by the collar and yanks hard.  Both men fall 
into a heap on top of the lizardman.

Maleiu's ears burn.  He is not accustomed to being used like a gaff hook.  
But the lizardman is already up and crossing the room to join the others 
at the door.  So he twists his stunned prisoner into a half-nelson and 
hauls him to his feet.  There is angry shouting from above.  More faces 
appear in the trapdoor, and a crossbow is aimed at Maleiu, but the archer
holds his fire for fear of hitting the hostage.  He drags the man towards
the doorway where Thk is hissing urgently at Kron.

"SSss--Wait!  There isss water behind that door.  Look at my ssssword."

The Elven blades are glowing faintly.  As the door is opened, the blades
flair brightly, illuminating the rippling surface of water at floor level 
just across the threshhold.  The sounds of booted running feet can now be 
clearly heard through the stone ceiling of the upper level.  

"Hurry Thk!"  Kron spits,  "The defenders are fully alerted and mobil-
izing."

Colin peers into the depths of the room with his infravision.  "I can
make out a wooden doorway on the other side.  Let's swim for it."

Captain feels his nape hairs prick at the thought, and the pup squirms 
and whines in his grasp.  "Why is the water rippling?!?"

Thk turns to Kron.  "SSShould I neutralize the pirahnass or part the water?"

A quarrel strikes the stonework near the feet of Maleiu and his hostage.

>From the ceiling:  "Shoot him!  Their all dead anyway!"

>From the hostage:  "No!  No!  Arrrgh!"

Kron: "PART THE WATER!  PART THE WATER!"

Thk kneels and hisses out arcane sequence of sounds.  There is a rush,
and the water parts, leaving a four foot wide dry corridor in which a
few happles piranhas search desperatly for a meal.  Though the pirnahs are
vicious, even out of water, it is much harder for them to reach their prey
outside of their natural element.  Thk remains kneeling in concentration.
He murmurs, "Sss...ceiling....feed...fishhh...hurry..."

Captain stares at the lizardman, his brow furrowed with the depth of his
doubt.  He places an arm on the Lady Azzar to restrain her.

"Come along Captain!"  She laughs.  "I trust him.  You trust me."

She takes his hand and they climbs down to cross with the others.  Maleiu
hesitates in his shielding position, torn.  If he moves, the crossbowman 
will surely open fire at Thk's back.  There is a grating noise from the 
ceiling of the pirahna room -- more trapdoors!  The others are climbing
up and fumbling with the far door.  What to do?  What to do?

The Dark Hunter grins, and shoves his hostage out into the into the channel.  
*THUD*  Instantly, a quarrel strikes the doorjam.  He looks up and sees 
another loaded crossbow being handed down.  He aims a kick at the back of 
Thk's head *CLUD* and jumps after him as the waters slap back together
on the three of them.

Maleiu breaks above the churning surface and swims towards the far door
with powerful strokes -- swimming for all he his worth.  He can't help
noticing that this is one of the weirdest scenes of his life:  To one 
side, he glimpses the screaming thrashing form of his former hostage.  
Above him, crossbows are opening fire * twang - zip - ploop * and missing 
him by inches. From below him, the pool is lit with the dazzling light of
Thk's blades, and ....oh oh!  Several small shapes dart up to him and begin
nipping chunks of skin from his legs and torso!  He looks up and sees the
outstretched hands of his comrades.  Only a few more yards to go...

"Youch!  Youch!  Youch!  OW!!!"

Suddenly it is over, and he finds himself dripping blood and water onto
a stone floor.  Did Kron and Captain reach down to pull him out, or did 
he jump out by himself?  Perhaps he will never know.  He grins, comparing 
the gaffing hook maneover vs the kick in the head, and decides he has 
settled his score with the lizardman.  The lizardman!!!

"Thk!  Did he make it?"  He asks.

Kron whispers.  "Yeah, but he's trapped in the pool by the crossbows."

Maleiu crawls back to the doorway, which is peppered by quarrels.  For 
a fleeting moment, he glimpses the lizardman in the depths of the pool,
surrounded by an orderly phalanx of piranhas, each facing away from him
and slowly moving in a precise geometric dance.  A skeleton rests nearby.
As Malieu watches, the lizardman appears to scratch his head, then shrugs 
and bends down to a grating in the floor of the pool.  The piranhas dart
into a new configuration:  spelling out the word "BYE."  Then, the lights 
go out as he sheaths his blades, and *TCHUNK* a quarrel embeds itself in
the door, mere inches from Maleiu's head, which The Dark Hunter withdraws 
hastily.

"I think he's okay.  He's found another way out of the pool.  Let's keep 
going."


    \========C\                Rigler...
              \\ 
  <===========C ]==|[///////////////////]|==========|[////////////]D>
              //  
    /========C/                 ...Thk