From: rigler@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Protean Godstuff)
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 17:50:33 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [KQ] Thk [Nestor's] Paranoia

>As they leave the Inn, Kron says, "That Illithid, Quruuminias, somehow gave me
>all the information about this place directly into my head.  I think that this
>place is right by the Shunned Center--what better place for such a hideout?
>There's one less direction they have to worry about people sneaking up on them
>from.  I have no idea how many of them will be there--we may have another big
>fight on our hands.  If we do--remember, we need Seer alive."

Thk pauses when he hears the words "Shunned Center" and lags a few paces
behind the party, lost in thought.  Earlier that day, when the humans and
half-elf became emotional, the great lizard too, had been affected, though
not in the same way.  The waves of mental influence emanating from their 
enemy had hit his mind at some lower level, down, down, deep in his R-complex,
in the place where the most primitive impulses arise:  aggression, lust, 
territoriality...

One by one he had suppressed those emotions as they arose.  For one of his
species, he has become relatively accomplished at the use of reason and the
suppression of baser emotions.  Still, it was difficult not to kill Marcel
when he handled the ring (which is Thk's property) and even more difficult 
to restrain himself from answering Lady Azzar's mating dance with a dance
of his own.  Thk shakes his head.  *That* was just crazy.  Reptiles and mammals
cannot mate.  Or can they?  Who would guard the clutch of eggs?  Suddenly,
Thk thinks of his true love, Mungragg, and his dorsal fins flush blue as
renewed waves of lust wash over him.

"SSSSsssss-CHA!"  This is ridiculous.  There is a battle ahead.  Somehow,
something has tapped into his store of emotions and turned them loose.  He
will have to keep a tight grip if he is to serve Kron in upcoming struggle.
He glances at Kron, and is surprised to feel his talons pop out of their 
sheathes!  He quickly hides his hands in embarrasment.

He recalls with strange clarity the demands of that subliminal voice, whispers 
to him in the Shunned Center, "...Bring Kron back here!..."  But why?  Kron, 
Kron, butcher of the lizardpeople.  He must be brought back for justice.  The
Gods were demanding it, and it would be done today.  If only Thk could build 
up some enthusiasm for the grim task.   Kron was also his friend, his battle-
comrade, and had even saved his life back in the Factory.  How can he kill
Kron?  Cannot those past battles be forgotten?  During the prolonged Marsh War
conflict, atrocities were committed on both sides.  Hasn't enough time passed?

What, exactly, was Kron guilty of anyway?  Thk probes his memories...and comes
up with....nothing!  No memory of Kron!  Thk's military intelligence was far-
reaching and extremely accurate, and to the best of Thk's knowledge, no high-
ranking officer of the Generican Army was named Kron.  Maybe he mistook the
God's command.   After all, the regenerative power did come back to him.  And
it was in the ring all the time, not some devine reward and punishment as he 
once believed....

Thk shakes his head in confusion.  "Ssss...one must follow the path with 
heart."  The reptile's two-chambered heart tells him to follow Kron, to defend
him and his other new friends to the death if necessary.  But when he looks
up at Kron and the others, his talons spring out again!

He hastens to catch up.  And the party marches on to Waster Headquarters...

---
Rigler (aka 'Thk')
--