Chapter 33, in which there is a lot of tea is drank and the half-dwarf is captured by angry women

Narudin
The crash sent Narudin flying into the air.

"Damn" he thought. "I'm going to have to learn how to secure myself properly one of these days."

The flight would have been much more graceful if he hadn't trashed his arms and legs around like he did. Amazingly, instead of crashing into the wall with neck-breaking force, he crashed into a wide viewport, with what was glass-breaking force. For a moment Narudin enjoyed the panorama, a lovely beach with an gaping man on it, until his perspective suddenly tilted and he had the distinct sensation of falling.

"Damn it" he swore, but his heart wasn't into it. Besides, the rushing air was pushing the words back into his mouth, so instead be observed what passed under him.

"Rocks... more rocks... hard terrain... snow drift... SNOW DRIFT?!"

The impact was brutal, but not as final as, for example, in the case of a rock. He laid there for a moment, dazed and then got out of the snow drift. He looked at the destruction in front of him, raised his hands into the air and shouted:

"I am immortal!"

At this moment a dwarven beer mug, which had been tumbling through the air, decided to hit Narudin on his head, which quite definitely knocked him out cold. A small cat got out of one of his pouches, licked his face, meowed and walked towards the wreckage. After a few seconds two shortswords fell from the sky and quite impressively imbedded themselves in the snow on his right-hand side.

Narudin stirred, looked at the swords and muttered: "Oh. Drama. I really have to learn how to secure myself better..."

Unsteadily he got to his feet, sheathed the swords and made his way to the stricken Naughty-less, seeing Red Un clamber out of the wreckage.

Red Un
"Snow? Why is it snowin' 'round Carlin?"

Indeed, the great city of women could be seen on the horizon to the west. White flakes were falling from the sky.

"Hmmh... there seems to be some sort of change in the weather. Maybe it's 'cause of the storm? It might've moved the cool winds down 'ere?"

Red Un climbed down from the remains of the once proud submarine.

"Man, I need a beer..."

Then he noticed that a barrel had rolled out from the remains of the bar.

"All right!"

Narudin
"That’s my luck" Narudin said, approaching Red Un, "I get shipwrecked on a bunch of rocks near Carlin, fly a few dozen metres into the air, and then fall on a snow drift. I should start gambling."

He looked at the guy on the beach, who was still staring at the remains of The Naughty-less.

"Ho there, greetings fellow adventurer! Don't You worry about a thing, we'll just gather all the survivors and leave as soon as possible."

He entered the wreckage to see what the situation looked like inside.

Marshall william golden
Artemis stood up, looked around for Tranquillity and tried to walk to her. When he ended up five feet to the left of her, he decided to crawl.

"I'm going to check for internal damage ok?"
He then pushed his hand through her arm and after pausing at a moan from her, he continued to search her arm for sealed blood vessels and shortened tendons.

Artemis wasn't sure if Katherine had time to fix Tranquillity's arm but since he couldn't...

"Umm excuse me," Artemis asked after crawling over and standing up before Katherine, "can you please look after Tranquillity, her arm is fine on the outside but her main artery is partially sealed over and she could lose it. And all the people I've met before thought their arm a great tool to have."

Artios
As Artios saw that the "thing" was coming closer and closer, he decided to draw his sword and pointed it towards the sea. "Now, what might this..." was all he got to say before the "thing" jumped out from the sea and missed him just by a few meters. Artios fell on his back when he saw what was coming out of the sea, never did he expect that THIS was what were coming towards him. Artios rose up again as quickly as possible and somewhat stared at the survivors. He approached the man who obviously was a sorcerer. "Well done, not many would have had survived that crash." Artios smiled, and said "My name is Artios. Now, could someone, or something possibly tell me how this... thing ended up here?"

Red Un
Red Un finished drinking a whole barrel of beer with one hand (the other was broken, remember?). It eased the pain somewhat.

"Yeah, there's a pretty long, thrilling and insane story 'bout all this, but it's far too complicated to take now. Suffice to say that these..."

He waved his hand in the general direction of the remains.

"...are the last things left of a once-proud submarine, and just 'cause I went lookin' for th' Library o' Legends..."

The beer started to kick in.

"...it'sch all... y'know... crashed an' stuff..."

Then he fell over and lay on the ground, mumbling incoherently.

Meanwhile, several dwarves emerged from the wreckage. One of them started running as fast as he could, and after several meters, he turned around and looked back at the others. Then he ran some more. Then he jumped and shouted "YEEHOOO!" and then he returned to the ship, and started to talk excitedly with the other dwarves.

"The curse is broken!"

"So's the ship!"

"An' several 'o us!"

Marshall william golden
Artemis had told her about Tranquillity's arm and then hurried to find Diamond. After scanning the beach, he saw her sitting near the wreckage eating something.

"Hey Diamond come here, what's that you got?"

'Muhw' came the muffled reply.

Artemis walked over to find the kitten chewing on a piece of a leather jacket. He took it away from her earning a begrudged look... from a cat!

After drying the sopping animal with a towel he retrieved from a water-proof container in his coat, Diamond dashed to the dying fire.

Artemis poked the coals with a stick and then snapped the stick and threw it in after some blowing the stick caught.
Diamond started to purr as she felt the warmth wash over her.

Narudin
Narudin doubled-backed as he saw Red Un topple over. Quickly walking to the half-dwarf, he examined him for any life threatening wounds. Instead he saw an empty cask of beer, which he would swear was full a few minutes ago.

"Dwarves" he muttered, shaking his head, and then corrected himself, "Half-dwarves" with a little more of head shaking. He stopped shaking his head quickly, though, as a pang of pain coursed from his neck.

"Yeah, I thought I could make a fall like that and still be unharmed. Here we go..."

He took Red Un by his shoulders and half-dragged him towards the fire. Despite his slender form, there was some strength in his arms. You had to be fit to hang by one hand over large falls, when, for example, a group of guards were in hot pursuit over the roof tops etc. etc.

Putting Red Un near the fire to dry out, Narudin turned to the beach's original occupier and said:

"Be greeted, Sir Artios. I am Narudin of Venore, currently a companion of this here" he prodded Red Un with his toe. "Sir Redwick Undersoor, with whom I and a few other companions are completing a quest of great dangers and riches, though I've yet to see the riches" Narudin muttered under his breath. Aloud, he said, "We were searching for the Library of Legends, where all the books of the past, present" Narudin stopped and waited until the crash of thunder died down "and future are stored, and entered this dwarven underwater vessel to reach the Island of Vega, but once again we have been repelled from the island, although fortunately uninjured." He winced as his bruises decided to throw in their two cents. "Almost uninjured."

"Basically, Sir Redwick has been all around Tibia, chased by assassins, the undead, orcs, minotaurs, trolls, fire elementals, cyclopses, even a few dragons and a couple of demons, he was sent to a Dream World, and now we have just added being shipwrecked from underwater to our personal list of Bad-Things-That-Happened-To-Us-On-Our-Quest. If You could help us with taking care of the survivors, we would be grateful. And he's only drunk, I believe, so don't worry" Narudin said, pointing to Red Un, "I've got a dwarven ring in case he doesn't wake up for too long, but gods themselves know, I think a rest would do good for us all."

With that he bowed and went to the wreckage, passing Artemis going to the fire, and gave him a short nod. The first person he stumbled on was Tranquillity, whom he took and carried to the fire. Carefully he examined her wounds, but they were all just bruises except for the clean, closed cut on her arm. With a glance at the sword in her scabbard, Narudin did what was needed to mend the wound. He chuckled as he remembered one of his Medicine Master's sayings: "When in doubt, always stitch the red to the red, the blue to the blue and the white to the white and it will probably be alright." After treating to the wound, Narudin used a Intense Healing Rune on it, which nicely sealed it.

"Not even a scar" he said happily. "And You will still be able to use the arm. How lucky." He turned to Artemis. "You should watch it with this sword, I've only seen blades like this in the hands of powerful people, who can afford them, or had them in their possession as a heirloom for generations."

He gave Artemis a calculating stare, then shrugged and returned to the stricken underwater ship, to search for the rest.

Red Un
Red Un rolled around, onto his broken arm.

Bad move.

"YARGHUGBHLE..."

He rolled back to his original position, and decided to use it for the rest of the drunken stupor.

The surviving dwarves started to search through the wreck for any more survivors.

"Hey look, 'eres the cap'n!"

"He looks sorta... dead."

"Aye. Let's give 'im a proper burial..."

They pulled out the broken body that had belonged to Numo and started to dig a grave for it.

Marshall william golden
Realizing that he had forgot his sword, Artemis went over to Tranquillity's side and carefully removed it and replaced it in his own sheath.

He then put the pieces of the puzzle together, the sub, the dwarves, the inscriptions, and the captain himself.

"Is that who I think it is?! That's Captain Numo!!! But he isn't... he can't be... is he??

Artemis had heard of the dwarven captain that sailed the bottom of the ocean, but he was supposed to live forever.

Red Un
"Yup, 'es dead as mead" said one of the dwarves cheerily. They finished digging the grave and dumped Numo into it. Then they took a piece of metal from the wreck and laid it on top of him and filled the grave again. Finally, they took the barrel lying next to Red Un and put it on the grave.

"He'd 'ave wanted it with 'im..."

Then the dwarves stood around the grave silently. The snow kept falling...

Marshall william golden
Artemis went over to the sleeping Red Un and carefully reached into his arm and painlessly set Red's arm bone.


Artemis decided that sleep sounded pretty good, so he lay down by the fire and drifted to sleep within moments.

Artios
"Ah, the Library of Legends you say?" Artios said.
"I come from a clan far to the north, of course there is a small village there as well, we call it Hardenshagen." Artios smiled. "I doubt you've heard about it though, hehe... However, once every man in Hardenshagen turn 20 he is sent out from the village for 10 years. He is supposed to bring any kind of treasures back to the village, it might seem to be a rather odd tradition, however we're very wealthy. So it seems like it works. I've been hunting for any kind of treasures for nearly 3 years now. I've not gotten my hands on any great treasure though. Most of what I have found is some gems and money. The most expensive thing I've got right now is these Boots of Haste, my wife gave them to me when I left the village." Artios sighed. "It's not really that easy to be so far away from the one you love." Artios looked at the ship. "Ah, sorry, I have not been talking to any living thing for the last year. Most living things I've encountered proved hostile and they were mostly slain before they got to open their mouth."
Artios laughed and went to the ship, just as he was going to enter the ship as he saw a cat just nearby. "Ooh, a cat, I love those" he said. Since he was not looking where he was going he slipped on some seaweed and landed on his back.

Marshall william golden
Artemis was awoken by a loud thud, and saw Artios lying on his back.
"Umm watch out for the sea weed?"

Artemis went over to see what the cat was doing by the sub. He had just got to the kitten when he heard something that didn't sound to good. Rats, hundreds of rats, storming from the sub. The rats had a bloodthirsty sheen to them. Kinda like they were sleeping but then how were they walking?

Just then he was bitten and a shooting pain spread out through his leg. Artemis grabbed his cat and rushed to the fire and drew his sword.

"Uh a little help please?" he called out to other travellers.


Artios
Artios quickly rose up as he saw all those rats approaching him and the boy with the cat. "Ah, some rats eh? Well, even the weak enemies are strong in great numbers. At moments like this I think a Great Fire ball rune will be quiet effective." Artios picked up a Great Fire ball rune from his backpack. He aimed the rune at the rats as they were speeding towards him. He concentrated. "Dang. I forgot about all the people in there, I would most likely hurt them with my rune." Artios decided to draw his sword before the rats got too close. "Hm, charging at them might not be a very good idea, maybe I should wait for them for a little while, or maybe use one of my Fire Wall runes?" The rats were very close by now, so Artios decided to quickly fetch a Fire Wall rune and shot it just in front of him. Some of the rats were running too fast and ran right through the fire. "Hehe, this was the first time in a long while I got any use of these Fire Wall runes."

Marshall william golden
As the rats were incinerated in the fire wall, it seemed as though ten more appeared.
Artemis reached into a nearby backpack and pulled out an Ultimate healing rune and quickly shoved it at Red Un's arm, meanwhile shaking him awake.

"Red, we are in trouble! Please wake up. NOW!"

Artemis turned around in time to see a rat flying through the air. He was just able to hit it away with the flat of his sword when another and another jumped at him. There just doesn't seem a way to kill them all.

"There's too many, we're going to be overwhelmed!" Yelled Artemis as he was encircled by twenty rats.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine was lucky enough to cast a forcefield around her just as the submarine crashed into the shore rock, and managed to levitate out from a crack. But the backwing of the submarine miraculously pierced into Katherine's protective shield, sending her falling onto the shores.

What seemed like an eternal rest to Katherine was abruptly interrupted when she felt a horde of tiny legs running past her legs. Slowly opening her eyes, Katherine was dumbfounded to see rats, so many that it could be described as a sea of rats. Trying not to trigger an attack on her, Katherine slowly pulled herself to a low-hanging tree that was about ten feet away from her and levitated above to have a better view of where her fellow group mates were.

Master, I've finally found you! Whisky suddenly descended onto her right shoulder, it flapped its wings a little as it made its landing. Katherine gave it a light pat and smile to Whisky.

Yucky isn't it... So much rats... Whisky joked.

Narudin
Narudin was just about to enter the wreckage when a horde of rats emerged from inside, swarming towards the group. A couple went for him, but they met only the steel of his twin swords that suddenly appeared in his hands. The rest ran past, heading for the others. Thinking quickly, Narudin sheathed his swords, held his hands outspread in front of him and intoned: "Exevo flam hur."

A wave of fire rushed from his fingers, incinerating a large number of rats, but still more were emerging from the remains of underwater ship. He used the small opening he made to run into the inside and, whilst slaughtering rats with his swords, found what he was looking for. Kai Sakamada was lying in the wreckage, the rats trying to get a bite out of him. Without wasting time, Narudin flung him over his shoulder and ran out, discharging a Great Fireball Rune behind him for good measure.

As he emerged from inside, he heard sounds of fighting and saw that the rats had engaged the group in combat. The one called Artios had erected a fire wall which stopped quite a few of the oncoming rats. Narudin grinned.

"So simple" he laughed, taking out a number of fire, energy and magic walls. Firstly, he shot a magic wall in front of Artemis, who seemed to have been overwhelmed by the sudden attack. The wall having stopped the leading rats, and buying Artemis a few seconds, Narudin turned to The Naughty-less and erected a few well-placed walls of energy and fire, which quite effectively stopped the swarm of rats. Satisfied with his handiwork, Narudin proceeded to take out his Great Fireball Runes to take care of the ones inside.

"Take this" he said, just on the general principle of saying something cool before wrecking havoc and causing mass destruction.

The runes discharged.

Red Un
Red Un was dreaming that he was eating a big, tasty steak. But then it felt like it was growing hairs and legs on it, and...

"PWMRGHLURPH!"

He spit out the rat and stumbled onto his feet.

"Hey...wha'...wazgoin'on?"

He saw the hordes of rats coming from the ship.

"Y'... Y'li'll buggers!"

He started to stomp rats with his feet. The other dwarves drew their axes and joined in the fray.

"I told ya t'set out mousetraps!"

"Must be all that rotten bread..."

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood looked on curiously.

"Rats, eh?"

"Hmm... but it isn't our doing, is it?"

"I don't think it is..."

Narudin
The Great Fireballs hit in the middle of the trapped rats with a glorious explosion, which sent the rats flying everywhere. All kinds of rats, at that: fried, baked, burned, crispy, crunchy, charcoaled - You name it. Narudin cried "Utamo Vita~!" as they began to fall all around him. His forcefield shimmered as it deflected the falling rodents, the invisible sphere protecting him from the gruesome rain.

Even if there still were some rats inside the wreckage who survived the blast, they would take a few minutes to get out, as the walls Narudin had set were still intact. Gripping his swords, he ran to the battle taking place further down the beach.


Marshall william golden
Artemis was wondering how so many rats could fit in such a small ship. So he decided to hack a path through the sea of filthy rodents to take a look.

As he got near where the flow of rats started he saw a greenish shimmering field on a floor-turned-wall.

"Hmmm, what's it look like to you Diamond? Not a normal portal as there is in the Temples."

'Grrrrounw. Hssssss."

"Uhh yeah, I remember. It's from that book on mythical magical miracles. Uhh, I think it said something like 'Item Duplicator, USE ONLY ON INANIMATE OBJECTS!!!!'"

"ANYONE KNOW HOW TO TURN THIS THING OFF????!!!!" Yelled Artemis desperately running from the submarine.

Kai Sakamada
Kai stood up, dusting himself off, and thinking,
"Wow, it’s a miracle I didn’t get launched off considering I was outside the hull of the ship!
Maybe my luck’s finally starting to be good!"

About that time, Narudins firespell hit him head on, knocking him back into the wreckage.

"Why me?"

He stood back up, and charged some energy into his hand. In an instant, most of the rats near him had died, and he walked away from the wreckage, Giving Narudin an odd look.

"Uhh... Thanks." he said, in a half confused sounding remark.
He looked around, looking at the dwarves, and Red Un, in his drunken state.

He raised an eyebrow to the situation and walked over to the fire, and sat down, still keeping his eyes peeled.
He hardly knew anyone around, besides Katherine, whom he still did not know very well.

He sighed and looked up some, watching a swiff of clouds move across the sky.

"Well at least they’re not treating me like a kid." he said, halfway to himself.

Narudin
Narudin stopped when he heard Artemis scream. Now he was really confused. Go on and help the others? Or should he return where the remains of the ship lay and see why Artemis was shouting "ANYONE KNOW HOW TO TURN THIS THING OFF????!!!!" And what was "this" referring to? As far as he could tell, the battle on the beach was going alright for them, so he finally decided to double back.

"What seems to be the problem?" He asked Artemis and immediately saw what he hadn't noticed earlier.

"Damn, an Item Duplicator. I remember these, The Brotherhood has a few. I wonder how this one ended up in The Naughty-less? Oh well, not important now. I believe it can duplicate a nearly infinite number if flung into overdrive. The only way I know of to stop it is to overload it, preferably with magic."

Narudin sighed, opening his rune pouches.

"If anyone knows a better way, then please speak up, I hate using up all my runes, and I hate destroying such powerful magic objects, for surely the Duplicator will explode when overloaded."

Red Un
The dwarves started to talk among themselves again.

"I told ya that thing was trouble!"

"Yeah, but Numo insisted we'd take it along!"

Red Un kept stomping, but slipped on the goo produced by stomped rats and fell into the snow. He got on his feet again and ran over to the wreckage, where the rats seemed to come from.

"Wha'...whazzistha'?"

He saw the strange item that seemed to duplicate the rats at tremendous speed.

"Oh...so thazzit!"

Before anyone could stop him, he drew his sword and thrust it into the machine. The sword started to glow green.

"Wha'...what's 'appenin'?"

Red Un started to shiver as the duplicator sent its energy pumping through him. Then it exploded, sending the half-dwarf flying trough the air and (fortunately) landing in a snowdrift.

He got up.

"Woa...I feel...sober!"

Narudin
Narudin was mightily surprised when Red Un suddenly ran past him an thrust his sword into the Duplicator.

"You, You, You unreasonable Half-Dwarf!" he screamed, as the glowing oval started cracking and then exploded, sending a live projectile in the form of a half-dwarf soaring into a snow drift.

Narudin was second closest apart from Red Un, but most of the blast’s force was deflected by his still active Magic Shield, which shattered from the explosions power. All in all, it didn't go too bad for him, as he only stumbled a few steps back. It's better to be manaless and alive than full of mana and baked to a crisp.

Narudin walked a bit dazedly to Red Un and said:

"You could have at least yelled something like "I'm gonna do something really stupid in a drunken stupor, so ya better watch out!" I'd've happily made way for You and backed away, oh, lets say 100 meters to see what happens."

Narudin took out a piece of baked fish from one of his pouches and started eating it.

"Anyone care for some fish?" he asked. "I've also got some white mushrooms, apples and grapes. Very good for You, grapes, they contain a lot of glucose."

With that he took out a bunch of grapes, which were amazingly unscathed after being bumped, exploded, crushed and flung into the air so many times.

"Anyone?" Narudin asked again, taking one grape and carefully peeling the skin off.

Red Un
The last of the rats realised that they couldn't win, so they sneaked away to wherever rats sneak away. Red Un rubbed his head.

"Ow...shouldn't've drank all that beer..."

He sat down over at the fire.

"I guess we could stay 'ere for the night, and tomorrow we'll go to Carlin and...well, I guess something will happen. Gimmie some 'o that fish..."

The other dwarves gathered together.

"We're gonna go back to Kazordoon now."

Red Un looked up at them.

"Oh, you're not immortal anymore, eh?"

"Nope, and it's a damn good thing. Now we're gonna go home, get drunk and some day die in peace."

"Have fun!"

And thus the last of Numo's crew left, singing merrily as they walked trough the snow.

"No, nay, never
No nay never no more
Shall we go
Outside Kazzy!
No never, no more!"

Narudin
"Help Yourself" said Narudin, taking out his food reserves on a piece of cloth he neatly put on the snow (the cloth which he had in one of his pouches, of course).

"I sure would need some rest, a night's sleep would us good. I will also need to restock my equipment and runes. Fortunately, I've got some hidden stash in and near Carlin." Saying that, Narudin took out an empty rune and intoned "adevo grav flam". Then he piled some branches and shot all of the charges onto them, making a second fire near the first one. He took out his tea mug, put some snow into it and placed it near the fire.

"I'll go and see if I can catch something more concrete to eat. Maybe some rabbits..."

Narudin disappeared into the gloom of the fast-coming night and all that was heard was the hiss of snowflakes falling on the fire.

Darkness Fall-ll
Just before the last of the rats managed to run away, Katherine struck her Serpent Staff among the horde of Rats and managed to knock a few rats unconscious.

"Well, here's a few rats for you... Your dinner..." Katherine said to Whisky as she slowly landed just beside the prized rats for Whisky, picked one up by its tail and waved it slightly in front of Whisky.

Whisky's tummy couldn't resist the temptation provided by Katherine and very soon, its tummy was making sounds...

"Seems like my old pal's tummy is hungry..." Katherine jokingly laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make a nice small meal for you..." Katherine added as she walked over to the fire and sat by Narudin.

Red Un
Red Un chewed on the fish and looked at Narudin as he disappeared again.

"Hmmh, there's something strange 'bout that Narudin fellow. Well, there's a lot o' things strange 'bout him, but there's something particularly strange. Whenever he's 'round, it feels like we're being watched by someone."

He finished his fish.

"I ain't implying that 'es a traitor or anythin', but... well, there's something strange 'bout that Narudin fellow."

Narudin
The small rabbit heard a rustle. Cautiously, it stopped, and stared intently at the gloom in front of it. After a few seconds of silence, it relaxed and moved on. Narudin, seeing his prey come into a convenient position, dislodged a throwing dagger which caught the poor creature totally by surprise.

"Five should do it" he whispered, jumping down from a tree. He opened the rabbit took out two drumsticks from it and a carrot... ...from a tree. He skilfully skinned it and removed the meat, adding it to his previous kills.

Slowly, he made his way back to where they made their camp. As he got closer, his step got slower and Narudin fell into a contemplative state of being.

Ever since he joined Red Un and his group he began having this strange feeling of not being alone. This was not a very good trait for a person hunted by a deadly organisation, as You had to see the real dangers, not the imaginary ones. Sensing a presence was a skill You gained quickly when being an assassin, because Your chances of survival dimmed quite radically without it.

He had tried everything he knew short of exorcism to get rid of the nagging sensation in the back of his head, but still it seemed to stay there, lingering at the back of his consciousness. Narudin didn't like it, but didn't know how to cope with it. So he kept persuading himself that it was nothing important, or at least nothing important enough at this time. Nevertheless...

His thoughts were interrupted when Narudin arrived at the groups resting place. Out of habit he silently floated towards the fire, seeming to appear right beside it without ever entering the circle of light. Narudin neatly put down the meat he was burdened with.

"I'm afraid I found only this" he said apologetically. "There was a stag, but the wind changed when I was stalking it and my smell alarmed it too fast. I've also found some nuts."

Narudin sat down and sullenly looked into the fire. The mug of snow had become a mug of water, and soon became a mug of boiling water. Narudin then took a few tea leaves, which were a bit on the yellowish side now, to tell the truth, and put them into the boiling water. Yep, it was Narudins Tea Time Break again.

"I can take first watch, if nobody minds" ventured Narudin, sipping his tea. "I don't feel in the mood for sleeping."

Tujex
Tujex listened as Narudin announced how he would take watch tonight. "I'm not complaining," Tujex said as he began to look around for a nice place he could take up rest.


Johnathan Hopefire
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" yelled Johnathan. He thought he must have been having one of his dreams again, as he was falling through the sky, headfirst towards the ground. This time it was not a dream.

He fell, faster and faster, screaming the whole way, and finally, he struck the ground. Luckily for him, his fall was broken by something soft. He tried to roll over, but he must have broken a few of his ribs.

From underneath him he heard a moan, and suddenly a man (Narudin), gasping for breath, heaved Johnathan off of himself.

"Who are you!?" exclaimed the bewildered, and shocked man, who had just moments before been driven into the ground by something very heavy.

"I....I..." stammered Johnathan, looking at his surroundings, but all he could say was "where am I?"

Narudin
Narudin was bloody well surprised when someone crashed on him, seemingly falling from above. The stranger got off him quickly, but Narudin was annoyed anyway.

"Who the hell are You?" He asked, but then quickly continued, "No, I don't think I want to know. We aren't in a submarine, So You can't say You just sort of went in and fell to sleep, so it's the ol' "I don't know how I got here, suddenly I was falling from the sky", eh?"

He looked under his feet.

"And You spilled my tea. You spilled my tea. You spilled my tea. You spilled my tea. You spilled my tea. You spilled my tea."

Narudin looked at the newcomer with murder in his eyes, suddenly turned away and walked to the nearest snow-covered tree. He thrust his hands in front of him and screamed "Exevo mort hur!" The poor tree and a couple which had the misfortune of standing too near it were disintegrated, leaving no more than dust, which quickly dispersed in the air.

Then he calmly walked back, dusted a speck off his shoulder and put another mug of snow near the fire.

"I was really looking forward to that tea, You know" he said wistfully and then turned to the sky-faller. "So, Kind Sir, will You join our camp and tell us what happened to You that You suddenly fell out of the sky and onto my back? Please forgive my lack of hospitality, I had quite a stressful day. I am Narudin of Venore, and my companions can introduce themselves. Care to tell us Your name?"

Red Un
Red Un didn't seem at all surprised by someone falling out from the sky. He took a nut and swallowed it whole.

"Heh, don't mind Narudin, he's a little bit odd, just as th'rest of us. Me name's Redwick Undersoor, but call me Red like everyone else does. I've fallen out o' the sky quite some times meself. Never gets used to it, I tell ya. And who might you be, and how did you come to fall out of the sky this night?"

Darkness Fall-ll
All Katherine heard was an "AHHHHhhhHH!!!", then something big that seems like a human crashed upon Narudin all of a sudden. Too surprised by that kinda entrance, Katherine almost spit her drink when she saw someone falling down from the sky outta nowhere.

Well well well Master, that's a very neat way to make an entrance and introduction to people... Why didn't I do that thirty years ago??? Whisky joked to Katherine about that mysterious person's entrance.

Marshall william golden
Artemis, over the initial shock of having someone fall from the sky, went over and put out his hand.

"My name is Artemis Silverstone, of .. umm.. Thais. I must warn you, in the time I have been with this group, I have had more of an adventure then in my whole life."

A small form silently stalked through the snow crouched low to the ground and pounced on Artemis' foot. "Oh yeah, this is my cat Diamond."

The kitten stopped mulling the foot and started winding through his legs, purring as though there were no tomorrow.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity searched around the wreckage for her dagger, found it, mumbled a bit in disappointment over the destroyed magical device (which would have been a great addition to her collection), and sat around the campfire.

A man fell out of the sky and after she recovered from her surprise borrowed some tealeaves from Narudin while he was away. She pulled out a flask, stuffed it with snow and set it over the fire to heat.

"By the way, neat entrance." She held out her hand to the newcomer. "I'm Tranquillity, nice to meet you."

Just as her water started to boil Narudin returned from his deforestation adventure. "Mind if I borrow some tealeaves? Thanks." she said without waiting for a response. She dropped the tealeaves she had already taken into the flask and moved it away from the fire to cool down.

Turning back to the new arrival she asked, "So, how did you manage to fall from the sky? Must be quite a story."

Narudin
"Yes, that’s right, I absolutely don't mind You taking my tea leaves. Please help Yourselves" Narudin said after Tranquillity had already took them. "No problem at all. My pleasure, really. That’s what they are for, after all. To use them. Ehem. Glad to see You up and about again, Lady Tranquillity. You missed a lot of excitement: rat infestations, Red Un blowing up a powerful magical artefact…”

Narudin looked at the wreckage.

"Pity about the Duplicator, though. But I suppose there was no other way."

The man who had fallen from the sky was still standing a bit bewildered, which was understandable after, well, falling from the sky.

With a sigh, Narudin spoke to him "You are currently on a beach near the town of Carlin, to answer Your initial question. The snow is a phenomena caused most probably by the storm raging around the Ice Islands. We are a party of adventurers. I hope that cleared things up. By the way, You didn't bring any friends with You, did You?" Narudin glanced at the sky. "Because I dislike it when it rains just water, raining humans are possibly even worse.”

"In my Life I've been stabbed, bludgeoned, cut, burned, bitten, poisoned and many more, but I've never been fallen on" said Narudin, preparing his new cup of tea. "You live and learn, I suppose."

Darkness Fall-ll
The snow was falling even though it was close to summertime now. It was indeed a phenomenon.

Like how each new member that joined the group, Katherine didn't pay much attention to the newcomer as well, she paid more attention to making some warm tea and soup for the rest of the group and Whisky.

"Well, there better be no more of such a drastical entrance made by anyone, it's enough to make someone be struck by a heart attack..." Katherine sarcastically joked about it. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a small mug.

"Narudin, may I?!" Katherine asked Narudin, as she pointed her finger at the tea leaves which Narudin has taken out.

"Well, now that we're stuck in Carlin, we might as well explore the Famous City of Females, and ask around for directions to the Ice Isles?!" Karherine continued.

Red Un
"Well, I've been fallen on some times." Red Un said to Narudin. "I don't get used th'that either."

Then he turned to Katherine.

"Yes, I suppose we oughta go to Carlin in the mornin' and see what's to be seen. Just remember that this certainly ain't no vacation, so I'll prefer t'keep the exploring as limited as possible."

Artios
As soon as all the rats escaped Artios decided to sit next to the campfire amongst the others. "Well, you're heading for Carlin tomorrow, are you not?" He asked. "Hmm, you do not mind if I join you in this quest sir Redwick? As I already told, I need to find some kind of treasure." Artios had almost forgotten his cooked meat. Surprisingly, he still had it in his hand.
He took a large chunk of the meat, just as someone fell from the sky and landed on Narudin. Artios grinned "More people from the submarine?"

Red Un
"Treasure? Sure, I guess it's valuable an' all, but I'm startin' to doubt that any treasure in the world is worth all this trouble..."

Red Un took out his trusty blanket, rolled it around a rock, and thus had a good pillow. He laid down.

"If ya don't mind, I'm gonna sleep now. We have to take your story in the mornin', man-who-fell-from-the-sky. G'night."

Narudin
"By all means, help Yourself" said Narudin, pushing the tealeaves pouch towards Katherine. As Red Un prepared himself for sleep he said: "As I said, I can take first watch, if nobody minds. I'm leaving the tealeaves so anyone can use them. I'll go find myself a comfortable route. You can decide who takes the next watch, and send him up after midnight. Goodnight to You all."

With a bow, Narudin faded into the darkness, seemingly without ever moving from the place in which he stood.

Narudin silently scouted the perimeter of the their camp, the effect of silent foreboding dimmed a bit by the occasional sip which could be heard coming from the darkness. Finishing his tea (Finally!), Narudin put the mug back into one of his pouches. Then he found a convenient tree with a good view on the surroundings.

"There's nothing like a good cuppa and a tree to sit in" he thought, looking at the gloom surrounding the camp. He settled himself comfortably and began his silent vigil.

Red Un
Meanwhile, a white-skinned man with red eyes, dressed in purple robes, walked around, looking sort of confused. As he passed the tree Narudin was sitting in, he stopped.

"It, I say, it feels like someone is watching me. But with my amazing senses, no villainous spy can hide from me, Melrod, carpet-flyer extraordinaire!"

He kept talking to himself as he leaned against the tree, totally unaware that is was already occupied.

"This, I say, this snowstorm was as surprising as a rain cloud in Darama. Unexpected, that is."

Narudin
Narudin had been watching the figure for some time. He vaguely remembered the reports saying something about the carpet-flyer Melrod, quite a shifty person, as a side note stated, who was to fly the Red Un and his group to Vega. The Brotherhood secretly stole his carpet and planted another one in a passing minotaur tribe. The whole plot sent the party into deep sleep and their consciousness was transported to the Dream World of the strange planet "Earth". Fortunately, they escaped then, spoiling the Brotherhoods dark plans once again.

Narudin listened with amusement to the ranting carpet-flyer, knowing he was trying to keep his courage in the dark forest. He was probably heading towards the fire, like a moth to light. Narudin grinned widely. And suddenly disappeared from his place in the tree.

Melrod was resting with his back to the trunk of the tree, when suddenly it seemed to grow hands, both of them holding identical, slender and, most importantly, sharp swords. The swords positioned themselves under his chin, with pressure which was just under the point of drawing blood, but with a promise that they can do much more.

"I'd advise You didn't yell" said a voice behind him conversationally. "It may just be that You'll drown before You suffocate. We're friends here, am I right? Don't nod." The swords pressure was slightly reduced, "Now nod. Slightly."

Nod.

"And I think You'd be glad to join me for a stroll to that fireplace there, right? Just nod."

Nod.

"And I don't think You'll try anything fancy, will You? Just nod."

Nod.

"That’s good, because I bet You're very much attached to your outlying parts, aren't You? Just nod."

Nod.

"Now I'm going to take these nasty sharp objects from Your throat and You'll slowly walk towards the fire without turning around like a good boy, won't You? Just nod."

Nod. The swords disappeared and Melrod slowly raised one hand and massaged his throat. A small prod sent him walking to the party’s camp. With a cheerful smile, Narudin for once entered the field of light openly, prodding Melrod along with a sword.

"I brought us a guest for a late supper, he seemed a bit lost, so I invited him here. I hope nobody minds?" Narudin asked, finally sheathing his sword. "Please be seated, Good Sir, and enjoy the hospitality of our small camp." He put a piece of roasted rabbit meat into Melrods unresisting hand.

Kai Sakamada
Kai was still sitting some ways off, keeping a sharp eye on the horizon.

"Any of you mind telling me, what the hell that demon thing was?"
He asked.

After a few minutes, he realized they hadn’t heard him, and dropped the issue.
He had his sword out, and was just studying the hilt, and polishing it with his shirt.
As of the last few days, the jewel on the end of its handle had been showing some odd images within it.
It had always reflected his memory and thoughts, however the most recent images displayed where of something he had never dreamed.

"Well, never travelled with a group quite like this one." he said to himself, placing the sword back into its sheath that was strapped on his back.

"If that ancient library or whatever is real, I may be able to find a way home..."

He crossed his arms, and shuddered some.
His vest and shirt didn’t provide much protection from the snow, and knowing that it was no time near winter sent another chill down his spine.

His cheeks were already turning red, and he tried to ignore the cold.
He stood up, and walked over to the tree, looking at Narudin in the branches, and the other man babbling on up under it.

He decided to avoid the man for now, and went over to the camp fire, to try and stay warmed.


Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine reached three fingers into the tealeaves pouch and slightly clamped her fingers together and gripped some tealeaves out from the pouch. Gently gripping onto the leaves, trying not to crush such delicate things, Katherine gently dropped them into her small mug and poured hot water into the mug. Immediately, a sweet aroma of the tealeaves rose from the mug and filled the air around her.

"MMMmm... Nice..." Katherine smiled brightly, as she brought the mug slightly closer to her nose and sniffed a little before slowly bringing her lips to the brim of the mug and took a sip.

From the darkness, Narudin came back to the temporary camp with someone, Katherine shifted her eyes slightly from her mug to the direction of Narudin and was surprised to see Melrod.

"Melrod, what are you doing here in Carlin?" Katherine asked, shaking Red Un to wake up. "Er.. Red Un, we have a new guest, Melrod's here..."

Red Un
Red Un just grumbled.

"Mrhnmh...lemme 'lone...I wanna sleep..."

Melrod just ate his food at first, but finally spoke again.

"This, I say, this is highly irregular. I was merely on my way to Carlin to pick up my new carpet when it starts to snow, and then some fiendish devil..."

He looked at Narudin.

"...sneaks up on me and threatens my very life with his sharp instruments. Swords, that is."

He finished his food.

"But do not think that such a dishonest attack on me shall happen again. I have senses bordering on the supernatural, and skills far above any normal man..."

Red Un suddenly arose and hit Melrod in the head. Melrod heroically responded by falling down, unconscious.

"Damn braggin' albino... Can't gimmie a good nights sleep..."

The half-dwarf went back to sleep.

Narudin
Narudin listened to Melrod's rambling with that extremely irritating, slightly amused expression and genuinely smiled when Red Un sent him to the realm of Morpheus. He took some of the leftover meat and a few nuts for a quick snack and evaporated from sight, resuming his vigil in the trees.

He also used the time to replenish his depleted rune stock, muttering "adori gran flam" or "adori gran" from time to time. Every 10 minutes or so he slipped from the tree's branches and walked around the camp, checking for unwanted presence.

"Watch duty may be an important task, but it sure is boring" Narudin sighed. Suddenly a wolf leapt at him from behind, but Narudin thrust his sword behind him in a lightning-fast movement, skewering the creature. "Boring. At least we have some more provisions."

Expertly skinning the wolf and cutting out the most tender meat, Narudin tied the wolf skin around his neck, cape style, and took the meat to the camp.

"This should give us a supply of meat for the next few days" said the bipedal wolf in a Narudin-like voice to the surprised party members, at least those who were not yet sleeping. "Goodnight" he said, disappearing into the night once again.

Marshall william golden
Artemis went over to where Narudin had set down his burden. He bent down to the freshly killed wolf, and sliced a thin piece of meat off with his slim belt knife.

"Nothing like fresh meat" Artemis said as he stuck it on a thin stick and held it near the coals.

Diamond had returned from hunting snowflakes and curled up by the fire to sleep.

After his small meal Artemis lay down next to the kitten. Just as he was drifting off he thought, I wonder how many servants have been fired today?

Tranquillity
Tranquillity curled up close to the fire and pulled a thick cloak around her. She closed her eyes and called out sleepily. "Wake me up later and I'll take the second watch." Soon after she was fast asleep dreaming sweet thoughts of friends, family, and home.

Red Un
Red Un dreamed of strange cities and tall castles, fantastic shapes and odd creatures, pale men and people with pumpkins for heads. The usual stuff really. Somewhere, there might have been the girl he loved that was now dead, but dreams are so easy to forget, so who knows?

He woke up with a sneeze.

"AAACHOOO! Darn, I must've catched a cold from all this snow an' stuff."

He wiped his nose and sat up. The sun was shining, reflecting on the snow and making the whole landscape shine with a strange light.

"Well, I guess it's time to...sniff...get goin'."

Narudin
Narudin watched the rising sun from his observation point on the tree. No, he didn't fall asleep on watch, nor was he trying to be unnecessarily chivalrous by not letting everyone sleep. He simply hadn't felt like sleeping.

"Rise and shine, fellow adventurers!" he yelled, appearing in the camp, despite no one being able to admire his stealthy entry. Force of habit. "We have a bright, new day in which we may find out many ingenious and gruesome ways of dying! Hurry, hurry, the last one to get up will probably miss today's first attack, assassination attempt or some other interesting start-of-the-day attraction."

Then Narudin revived the fire with a firefield, took out his mug and, surprisingly, made himself some tea.

Red Un
Red Un got on his feet and sneezed again.

"AACHOO! Hurm... gimmie some 'o that... sniff... tea, will ya? I need somethin' warm to... sniff... drink."

Narudin
"Why certainly, here You go" said Narudin, passing the steaming mug. He, in turn, pulled closer to the fire, drawing in the warmth. A night in a cold tree can kill a man, and even a half-elf, especially his age... Not his age! Definitely not his age!

"Bah, I'm too young for being so solemn and grumbling all the time." Narudin tried smiling, but found it wasted effort, because everyone was too groggy after waking up to notice. In the face of such indifference, Narudin decided that using all that energy just to keep his lips up was a totally unnecessary, and let his mimical muscles drop back to their usual, sullen position.

"What a magnificent change I had for five seconds there" he thought. He shivered and got even closer to the fire.

Artios
Artios did not sleep this night, one shouldn’t trust someone that much after just a few hours. However he did pretend to be sleeping. As Narudin yelled, he was quiet tired. "Aah, good morning everyone." he said, and noticed that not everyone was fully awake yet.
He noticed that Red Un was sneezing. "Ah, sir Redwick, caught a cold did you? I believe I got some herbs in my backpack that is supposed to cure this kind of cold. Maybe you'd like some of it?" Artios reached his backpack and picked up a bag containing some green herbs with red spots on it. "I think they are supposed to be boiled before you drink them, it might take a day or two before your cold will be gone."


Marshall william golden
Artemis was jolted awake at a yell from Narudin.
Man the ground isn't near as comfortable as feathers.

As he walked over to the fire, Artemis called out.

"Does anyone have a liniment-salve? My back is killing me...figuratively speaking of coarse."

Artemis decided that when he got the rub, he would ask Tranquillity if she would work with him on his sword skills. Or my lack of skills.

Narudin
"You don't know dwarves, Sir Artios. Or half-dwarves at that. He will probably be over it after breakfast."

Turning to Artemis, he said:

"I gather You haven't been on many adventures, hmm? The ground usually gives the newer travellers some problems. Fortunately, I have just the salve." He produced a small vial from one of his many pouches "…which will help You quite quickly. Here You go" he said, handing the salve over, and then returned to the fire.

Red Un
"Hurm. Say what y'want 'bout the Brotherhood...sniff...but they sure got some neat stuff."

Red Un walked over to the snoring Melrod and kicked him.

"Oi, wake up, y'darn albino! I've got stuff t'ask ya!"

Melrod quickly sat up.

"Ah! I wasn't sleeping, just...uh...resting my eyes! My senses are as keen as always!"

Red Un pulled Melrod up on his feet.

"Ah, shaddup will ya. I'm gonna drink me tea, and when I'm finished, I'll get to the questions. Make yourself useful in some way in the meantime."

Meanwhile, the city of Carlin was awaking. But the queen had been up all night. She stood in the meeting-room of the castle. At the other end of the table sat a man in black robes.

"And the Brotherhood will forget all past debts for this? All of them?"

The robed man smiled.

"Of course."

"Consider him as good as captured."

"Don't underestimate him, nor his band of followers."

"Of course not. We shall take every precaution."

"I hope so. For your city's sake..."

Tranquillity
Tranquillity smiled at the group as she approached the fire, already dressed and with a sack slung over her shoulder.

"I went into Carlin and picked up some food while you were all resting. I had a bit of extra time on my hands since I was relieved of my sentry duty." she flashed a grin at Narudin.

She reached into the sack and pulled out a frying pan. "I don't usually carry a frying pan with me so I had to borrow one in town. Nobody mess around with it, I have to return it in the same condition or pay for it."

She set the bag down and went off into the trees; returning a few seconds later with a few choice branches and set up a spit.

She examined her handiwork then, apparently satisfied it wouldn't fall apart, skewed a few bits of ham from the sack and placed the skewer over the fire.

"I figured we could do with a good breakfast after our landing yesterday."

Quickly she unloaded some more bits of pork and began frying them in the pan. "How was your first night Artemis?" she asked without looking at him.

Marshall william golden
"I feel horrible," he said as he awkwardly applied the salve.

Artemis gasped as the salve started to increase in temperature, and sighed as it seeped in to his sore back.

"Ohh that feels much better."

Artemis went over to the fire and prodded it with a stick, until it was a level surface of red-hot coals.

"What's for breakfast?" he said as he rubbed his stomach.

Darkness Fall-ll
Waking up from all the rumble made by her fellow friends, she slowly dragged herself down from the tree and landed softly on the snow-covered ground.

Melrod was still unconscious from Red Un's Sneak Attack, but there were more pressing matters, the aroma of the tea made by Narudin were slowly drifting towards Katherine's sharp nose and quickly her nose picked up the sense.

"TEA! HA! Nothing like a good cup of tea to start off the day!" Katherine smiled as she grabbed for the boiling pot of water and poured some into her mug. The tealeaves quickly dyed the water light brown colour, as the water gushed down on the leaves.


Red Un
Red Un finished his tea.

"So, Mr. Melrod."

"What, I say, what do you want to know?"

"Well, start with what happened after we... slipped off the carpet?"

"Yes, that you did. And so did I. I do not know where that bogus carpet went, and frankly, I was more concerned by the fact that I would at any moment drown. Fortunately, we were quite close to the coast, so after a quick swim, I found myself in Thais. After some incidents involving a short man dressed as a bunny, a capture and a heroic escape, I decided to get my spare carpet, which I keep in Carlin. For I'm a clever, ingenious person. Smart, that is."

Red Un looked quite surprised.

"Amazing!"

"Well, I say, well, it was quite an adventure, and..."

"No, I don't mean your stupid story. I mean my cold! It's gone! That's some pretty neat tea!"

Meanwhile, the queen assembled her most elite soldiers.

"You know your orders. Make no mistake, or... there will be consequences."

Marshall william golden
Artemis, just finishing a couple slices of meat, walked over to Tranquillity.

"Excuse me. I was wondering if you would teach me to use a sword? You did say that you would."

Artemis, not knowing that real swords are not used in practice, but straight, thin long sticks bound together loosely, drew his sword and took what he thought to be a good fighting stance.

Now please don't let her kill me he thought to himself. Out loud he said, "Ok, I'm ready."

Narudin
"Well, Sir Redwick, You'll be pleased to hear, that it is a special tea leaf which I gather in the Venore marsh, and not an elven one at that" said Narudin, recalling his mistake in The Naughty-less what seemed like long ago. In fact no more than a day had passed.

"It must have been that demon chasing us, being shipwrecked, infested by rats and having my tea spilt that makes it seem so long" he mused.

Snapping back into reality, he said. "Maybe I should go ahead into Carlin and scout a bit? Yes, that’s exactly what I'll do. Help Yourselves to the tea, please."

With that, Narudin disappeared from view. He stealthily made his way to Carlin. On the way he found one of his equipment storage hideouts and re-stocked himself with throwing stars, daggers and a few other items. As he was entering Carlin a body of armed women were departing through the gate, heading towards the beach. He hid in the shadows on a roof overlooking the departing column of soldiers. He gave them a close look, and saw they were of the Carlin Elite Corps. "Nothing to worry about, then" he thought.

He went into a shadowy alley of Carlin and quickly located one of his Brotherhood spies. After a small moment and a large amount of money, Narudin ran out of the alley and quickly tried to gain with the soldiers who had just left.

"Bloody Hellfire, not another fight for our lives " he thought.

Red Un
A number of robed men suddenly appeared from the shadows around Narudin.

"Going somewhere, traitor?"

"Yes, perhaps to warn your friends?"

"We cannot have that. You have failed the Brotherhood, and now you shall pay!"

The drew their long, thin swords and all charged at Narudin.

Meanwhile, Red Un saw something on the horizon.

"Hum. It seems like there's people coming. Hum."

He put his hand on his sword, wondering if this was friends or foes.

Marshall william golden
As the men came into view Artemis let out a frightened gasp.

Not realizing he spoke aloud, Artemis said, "Oh no! Not Aunt Eloise's Elite Corps. They will definitely recognize me! What if they bring me back home?"

He quickly sheathed his sword and hid behind a nearby tree. "Psst, Diamond come here right away."

Artemis picked the kitten up and snuggled her to his chest.

Narudin
An irritated expression flashed across Narudin's face as the cultist members came from the shadows. He counted seven in total. The odds weren't very good for him, but he'd handled worse. He acted too carelessly after hearing the news. Well, now he would have to pay for his mistake. His swords almost magically appeared in his hands.

"Damn, I don't have time for this" he muttered as the first cultist swung his sword at him. Narudin deflected the blow with one sword, the attacker's momentum pushing him off balance, and finished him off with the other. Three more approached him cautiously, whilst another started circling to get behind him. What worried Narudin the most, though, were the two figures in the back who had taken out what seemed to be Sudden Death Runes.

"I can't afford being hit by one of those" Narudin thought. Suddenly he charged forward, surprising the three approaching assailants. He scored a minor hit across one and threw himself into a tumble, as two swords harmlessly swished above him. Rolling to his feet, Narudin ran towards the two mages as they frantically took aim at him.

Just as they were about to discharge their runes, Narudins arms suddenly blurred, and two swords sailed through the air, hitting both unlucky sorcerers in the stomach. Narudin chuckled in his mind, becase it was the Brotherhood which taught him to aim at the stomach when fighting magic-users, as it effectively disrupted their concentration. Nonetheless, one managed to shoot his rune. A shame it hit his colleague, though. Narudin covered the remaining distance, pulled out the sword imbedded in the still-living mage and turned his momentum into a spin. Completing a 360 degree angle, he decapitated the not-so-alive-now sorcerer, in an effective, if gruesome, way.

Turning around quickly, Narudin saw a warhammer coming down at him. At the last possible moment, he brought up his single sword with both hands and caught it near the hilt, his legs buckling under the blow. Instead of resisting further, Narudin let himself fall to the ground and then rolled under the cultists feet, tripping him. Making a wide backslash, he felt his sword bite into flesh and heard the fallen man scream. Quickly he sprang to his feet and backed against the wall, the tip of his lone sword trailing figure eights in the air. The three remaining assailants hesitated.

"Well, I reckon three to one is much better than seven to one" he said conversationally. "What do You think Your chances are?"

Artemis of Luna
Artemis ran over to Red Un. "Please you have to hide me, I can't let them find me. Please. They will send me back home."

Artemis just didn't know what to do.

Red Un
The robed men grinned.

"We might not defeat you, but we'll win nonetheless..."

Meanwhile, Red Un had drawn his sword as the warriors approached.

"Kid, ya gotta learn to stand up to your mother..."

Artemis of Luna
Artemis, figuring that his secret was out said "If I was any other boy, I would stand up to her until I was black and blue. The problem is, I am heir to the throne and my coronation is in two months."

Artemis hung his head and waited to be either adored and praised or to be cast out and sent home.

"I really am sorry for lying to you. You people have been kind to me for the last day or so and I feel ashamed at thinking I had to lie to you."

Narudin
Narudin shrugged at the Brotherhood member's strange remark.

"You'll win nonetheless? Why do You care? You'll be dead anyway. Not only is such fanatism sheer stupidity, but You found the wrong cause to die for."

The three men charged and Narudin's free hand shot into a special holster fixed to his belt. It came out with three odd-looking throwing knives, each having a ring instead of a standard hilt. Narudin held the knives by the rings, using his three middle fingers, brought them behind his head and then snapped his hand forward, releasing them. All of them hit the leading man, the one who spoke to him a while before. As he fell to the ground the remaining two jumped over him and closed on Narudin.

The half-elf brought up his sword and took a dagger from his boot with his other hand. He was a duel wielder, a shadowdancer and never felt properly balanced without some counterweight. When the robed figures got near enough, Narudin kicked up his foot, sending a spray of sand into one of the attackers face. One of the oldest tricks in the book, but still effective.

The sand-covered figure backed away, cursing, and tried to get the sand from his eyes. Too slowly. Narudin avoided his companion's sword and came up right beside the blinded cultist, unceremoniously slitting his throat. He stood opposite to the lone robed man.

"One to one now" he said matter-of-factly.


Narudin
The robed man didn't say anything, but charged at Narudin, executing the same run-at-him-directly-with-no-strategy tactic which got his colleagues killed. The half-elf sighed at this sign of stupidity. Fanatism really did degrade the brain.

This cultist was smarter, though. As Narudin was sighing, he whipped out a Rune of Heavy Magic Missiles and started shooting the charges at Narudin. The former assassin's sigh turned to a curse when the first missile missed him by a hair's breadth, sailing over his shoulder and exploding on the wall behind him. The air was soon filled with sparks, bricks and dust, obscuring vision. The robed man ran straight into the cloud of dust, wildly hacking at the place where Narudin had been standing a moment ago. After a moment, he stopped his senseless action. When the dust subsided, the half-elf was nowhere to be seen. The cultist stood all alone in the middle of the alley.

Or maybe not quite alone.

"A good try, shame it didn't work" said a voice by his ear. The next feeling was one of excruciating pain, and then only darkness.

"Damn, he did get me after all" Narudin cursed. He tried moving his left arm and grimaced in pain. "Damn" he cursed a second time, "dislocated shoulder. Bloody cultists and their bloody runes..."

Muttering, Narudin positioned himself in front of a wall which was still intact. After a moment of hesitation, he rammed his shoulder against the wall, a hiss escaping his lips. He stumbled back with more muttering of "Damn, damn, damn, why do I never get it right the first time around?" and then charged again, once more brutally putting his shoulder in contact with the wall.

The half-elf moved his left arm again and, satisfied with his treatment, patched it up with an Ultimate Healing Rune. Then he retrieved his second sword from the corpse of the other Brotherhood sorcerer and paused to think.

"Let's see now, what was I doing when those cultists attacked me?" he mused out loud. He snapped his fingers and continued, "Ah, Yes, That's right. I was going to warn Red Un about the Carlin army wanting to capture him."

Narudin glanced at the sun.

"Noon... well, perhaps I can come to their rescue" Narudin chuckled as he imagined Red Un and the rest of the group fighting the Carlin soldiers "or at least get there in time to stop them from slaughtering everyone. We need a few soldiers for questioning."

With that, Narudin disappeared into the shadows, leaving a very surprised mugger with a club raised over his head all alone in the middle of the alley.

Red Un
The elite soldiers (women one and all) arrived at the camp. Their swords were not drawn, but they were wearing thick armour and were ready to react at any second. The leader, Bambi Bonecrusher, stepped forward.

"My queen has ordered me to capture you, master half-dwarf. I see not why this is necessary, but she is my queen and her orders are to be followed. You could fight us, and spill many lives of soldiers who only do what they've been told to by the person they trust the most. Or you could surrender, and we shall make sure that no harm is done to your companions, and that they shall go free wherever they want."

She looked at Artemis, with some contempt.

"And I shall not tell the queen of any... special persons you might have among you."

Red Un fingered on his sword.

"Oh yeah? Well..."

He sighed deeply. Too many innocent people had already died, and these were not members of the Brotherhood, just people misled by them. He drew his sword. The soldiers did the same.

Then he dropped it on the ground.

"I shall accompany you, if you swear on the blood of the dead warriors of Carlin that you shall let my companions go free."

Bambi bowed.

"I swear on everything I hold dear, my queen, my city and the people I love that no harm shall befall them."

Red Un held out his hands.

"Right. Um. Do you need to tie my hands?"

"Yes, that would be necessary."

"Go ahead then."

And thus, Red Un's hands were tied and he was brought along with the elite soldiers to Carlin. He looked back one final time.

"Don't come for me! It's over!"

Melrod shook his head in confusion.

"This, I say, this is quite odd."

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine just could not believe her very own eyes what Red Un had just did. He did not put up any amount of resistance to these guards, instead he quietly submitted to them, which was totally unlike his style as said by Melrod.

Narudin
Narudin quickly made his way back to the camp, keeping to the shadows, but stopped when he heard a noise in front of him. He jumped into a nearby tree, thickly covered in snow and hid as best he could, which was pretty well, I might add. He waited for the oncoming people to pass him.

To his amazement, it was the Carlin Elite Corps, the same column which he had passed on his way to Carlin. He saw Red Un, his hands tied, being marched to Carlin.

"Are the rest dead?" Narudin thought. Deciding to get to the bottom of this, Narudin stealthily followed the soldiers, keeping his distance and looking out for scouts. He wouldn't take action, not in the face of such odds, but he would follow them and see where they went. Then he would see what next.

Red Un
Red Un got the strange feeling of being watched by someone that he always got when Naurdin was near. But he kept his head bowed down.

I hope he doesn't interfere... I can't take it anymore... I'm tired... too tired...

He walked on apathetically. The group finally arrived at the Carlin prison.

"Here's your cell, half-dwarf. You will stay here until the queen has decided about your future. It doesn't look bright."

The door shut, and Red Un was alone. He sat down on the bunk serving as bed.

So this is it then? I will probably be executed, and the Brotherhood will finally win...

He shook his head slowly, then more rapidly.

What's wrong with me? This isn't the Red Un I know I am...

He tried to think a bit, but all he could think of was the hopelessness of the situation.

It's too late...it's over...so many deaths...

Meanwhile, Melrod had started to walk towards the city.

"I'm off to find my carpet now, but don't expect me to perform any daring deed. Braver thing, that is."

Sarra Zoldan
Seemingly walking out from nowhere, a black-cloaked figure appeared in front of Narudin, her fist connecting with the upper part of his chest, sending him down on his back.
"Well, well, well... what do we have here? A Sha'Kran in the bushes, hm?" Blazing red reptilian eyes surveyed Narudin from the insides of the robe. Pulling out a short sword made of a purple material with golden runes etched along the blade, the female voice spoke again.
"You were trailing the Carlin elite... why?"
The feeling of a smile devoid of mirth emanated from the figure cloaked in robes.
"And just how important was their... ah... escorted guest, to you?"

Red Un
Red Un grabbed his head.

I must've been infected by something... something’s eating up my courage...must...focus...

He couldn't sit up anymore, so he lay down.

Oh...what's the use...no... must fight it...

Then another thought got into his mind.

Wait a minute...what the heck was...in that...tea...?

Narudin
Narudin flew back, the blow made to his slight form propelling him a good ten feet back. As he fell into another snowdrift he thought "Why me?"

It seemed that the stranger wasn't going to try to kill him in a hurry if she was asking questions. Slowly, he stood up and dusted the snow off his shoulders with dignity.

"Where I come from, people use to shout "Hey, You!" when they want to stop someone." He thought about this for a moment. "No, actually, where I come from people use to kill the person they want to stop, so You're probably being very polite."

Narudin sighed very deeply.

"This isn't about money, because I don't own anything to anyone. You may be sent by the Brotherhood of the Dark Star, but somehow I'd expect You to use a sword first, then kick my corpse. Clearly You mean business, because You haven't laughed yet. Hmm, You really have me at a loss. Are You a celestial being? I don't believe You’re from Tibia, though I might be mistaken. You see strange things here."

The half-elf shrugged.

"Not important. I am following those soldiers because they have a person who I call friend with them. I shall do what I can to rescue him, in any limited way I can. Now, I admit You’re good, very good indeed to spot me when I don't want to be seen, and even better to lay a punch on me that I wasn't expecting. But if You continue obstructing my path I'm afraid it will have to come to combat."

Casually, Narudin rested his hands on the pommels of his swords.

"But where are my manners? I am Narudin of Venore, former assassin, currently a passionate gatherer of all knowledge." Narudin gave a short bow, keeping his eyes on the stranger. "You may or may not give me Your name, but I would appreciate if You told me now whether You just want to kill me. I hate making pleasant conversation which ends in people telling me "OK, now You have to die!" Strange? Believe me, I've had such situations before."

Red Un
The Brotherhood member reported back to his superiors.

"It is done. The half-dwarf is captured, and awaits execution. But I still can't see how he could so easily be captured. He tends to put up a fight, and a pretty good one to."

The other robed men around the table smiled.

"Ah, but before he didn't have a former member of ours, who thinks he's escaped our influence. The traitor is very useful to us, even if he doesn't know it..."

Red Un had dozed of into unconsciousness now.

He dreamed.

There she was again!

"Jenna? But I thought you left my mind?"

"I did, little half-dwarf. This might just be a dream, or it might be me revisiting you. Who knows? But please, don't give up. Don't give in to the poison they've put in you."

Red Un woke up.

Must...not...fall...asleep...


Sarra Zoldan
Once again the feeling of a mirthless smile emanated from the robed figure. Only the red reptilian eyes were visible inside the hood, making it hard to ascertain exactly WHAT the female voice belonged to.
"The question is not whether I intend to kill your or not. The question is, what the freedom of this... friend?... is worth to you."
A chuckle, like the rasping of stone on stone came from inside the hood. A gust of wind swept up snow against the cloaked figure, but it took no notice.
"My name...? No, I will not give you my name. But in case you decide you need help, and you are willing to pay for it... Call for me. Call for Kish."
Another cold chuckle came from the hood, and then the figure was gone, just as suddenly as it had appeared.

Narudin
Narudin stood still for a moment after the strange figure had disappeared and then relaxed. Slightly.

"That was the..." He calculated quickly. "Ninth strangest thing that ever happened to me. And I thought I was the mysterious figure who disappears suddenly and appears in unexpected places. Some kind of inter-celestial mercenary? I've read about them somewhere. Was... she implying that she would help for a price? Kish, eh? Hmm, I think this calls for a quick tea."

Absentmindedly, he took out his tea bag and started twirling it around.

"But why did Sir Redwick give in without a fight? From what I know about that wild half-dwarf, he should have been chopping away with that sword of his, or at least struggling against those bonds. Perhaps he has some fiendish plan in mind? Nah, he's not one to go around thinking about plans when there's a good possibility for a little fighting..."

The half-elf took a leaf out of the bag and nibbled on it thoughtfully. Then he grimaced and spat it out, looking at the leaf with surprise.

"What in the name of the Nine Hells is this!?"

He examined the leaf closely.

"A leaf from the Atropa Belladonna? How could this have gotten into my bag? And I gave this batch to Red Un..."

A sudden realization came to him and he quickly set out to Carlin, stopping on the way at a few locations, where he dug out some roots, found a few herbs and picked a couple mushrooms.

Narudin arrived at the town and keeping to the shadows very good, and headed for the only place he knew where prisoners were kept - To sheriff Shauna's Jail house.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity looked around her. The group seemed more than a little empty with Red Un missing. "Soo... let's go break him out" she said.

She set off after the Carlin elite, a plan forming in her mind. "Well, we can't bust in and fight our way in and out, some of those guards are good." she thought to herself. She grinned, this was going to be easier than she had at first thought.

Tujex
Tujex wanted nothing more than for someone to give the command. He was ready to rush into the jail and free Red Un. No one in this group had seen what destruction he could cause as he kept his true self tightly under wraps this whole journey. Everyone seemed sad and dull, as if they had all given up hope. "So what, we're just gonna sit here and hope for the best?" he asked sarcastically. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to rush into the city smashing anyone and everyone who steps in our way!"

Darkness Fall-ll
Though without a clear rescue plan in mind, the group set out to break Red Un free from his imprisonment, as the group headed towards the famous City of Ladies, Carlin.

Katherine was quick enough to catch up with the rest of the group that seemed to have lost a little of their vigilance after Red Un was captured, but everyone did a good job in trying to keep everyone and everything together.

Going up to Tranquillity, Katherine questioned how they were gonna rescue Red Un. "So, Tranquillity. Any idea on how to rescue him?" Narudin was still right in front, phasing in and out of his shadows to avoid detection from enemy spies and also from the Brotherhood.

Artemis of Luna
Artemis had had enough! Although he was only with him for not even two days, Artemis knew that Red Un didn't do anything wrong!

"I have an idea." Artemis said in a low voice.

It appeared no one had heard him. "I said I have an idea! If I go into the castle and claim the throne right then and there, then absolutely every single order given today would be neglected and everyone in the castle would be in the throne room… And I mean EVERYONE! Then one of you could open his cell and sneak away."

Artemis was all smiles, but then his spirits plunged. "But then I'll be trapped here for training. And mom'll never let me skimp on training at all especially after sleeping in sword class... Maybe one of you could talk to her or something. You all seem like trustworthy people?"

Red Un
Melrod walked through the city, ignoring the soldier marching back to the castle and making his way to the depot.

And Red Un, well, he really wanted to get whatever was poisoning him out of his system. He managed to get up in sitting position.

"Can't...fall...asleep..."

It would be tasteless to tell how he did it, but he managed to get himself to throw up.

"Ah...that's a little better..."

But he still felt that there was poison in him. He had to muster all his willpower to break the depression he felt and stand up.

"There's...still hope...there's always hope..."


Tranquillity
"I doubt that will be necessary Artemis. I'm on good terms with many people in this city. If Red Un is being kept where I think he is, and if he is being guarded by who I think he is then it should not be to difficult to get him out."

She continued walking towards Carlin, the gate was growing larger before her.

"While I doubt that the jail-keeper will go so far as to disobey the queen and release him for me, I can at least keep her occupied long enough for one of you to sneak in and get him out of his cell. Once he's out then she won't really have choice but to let him go free."

Narudin
Narudin quietly crept along the rooftops, the best way of travelling when You didn't want to be spotted. Not much time passed before he was on a roof overlooking the jailhouse.

"Hmm..." started Narudin. "What do we have here? They tripled the guards to watch Sir Redwick? You'd think he's a homicidal maniac, mass killer type."

Narudin mashed the last of the ingredients he collected on his way to Carlin in a mortar. Then he carefully poured the liquids squashed out of them into a small vial. The antidote was ready.

"Great" said Narudin to himself, "Now I just have to get this past a multitude of guards and Shauna's keen eyes into the small cell at the end of the prison with no windows. Simple."

Narudin thought for a moment, snapped his fingers and jumped down from the roof, landing lightly on the ground. Then he stealthily made his way to a place which wasn't guarded as heavily as the rest of the jailhouse - The prison kitchen.

A guarding woman saw a shadow flicker at the edge of her vision, turned her head and saw nothing. Shrugging, she went back to her previous activity - observing the cook prepare the meal for the next group who would go off-duty.

"Take this to the new prisoner, will you? The half-dwarf" said the cook to one of the guards, giving her a tray. The guard proceeded to the door and heard a noise behind her. Turning her head around, she saw nothing. Narudin was already in front of her, having previously intoned the words of the invisibility spell, and dumped half of the contents of the vial into the mug of water. The guard woman felt only a breeze as she turned back. Shaking her head, she started off to the half-dwarfs cell.

"Here's some food for you, criminal" she said, putting the tray in under the bars the bars and the mug of water between the bars. "Not that you look like you’re going to eat it" she said, seeing the miserable Red Un.
With a shrug, she left Red Un alone.

Narudin now made his way to the gate, thinking. He had done all he could alone, now it was time to see what happened to the others. Maybe, if he could locate them, together they could think of a plan to break Red Un out. As he got to the gate, he stepped into the shadows to contemplate the situation some more.

"It's definitely better to have a strong and healthy Red Un in a prison instead of a depressed and poisoned Red Un in a prison. I hope he drinks that water... that antidotum is pretty foul." Narudin smiled slightly, "Perhaps he'll take the hint. With a little something I added that water stinks now of mouldy bread..."

Red Un
Red Un simply stood there at first, since it took so much of him just to stand up.

"Water...food...must eat..."

Finally, he mustered up enough strength to walk over to the bars and get the tray and eat its contents.

"Hmm... Too salty..."

He grabbed the mug and took a sip.

"Hmm... Tastes like the beer that Snakeye makes... Oh well, I've had worse..."

He emptied the mug.

"Urk! That was some damn tasteless water! I oughta tell that cook a thing or two, she can't even make water right! Where's me damn sword?!"

"Quiet you!" yelled the guard.

"Hey, I can talk if I wanna! Or is there some law 'gainst that too, just like there's against just walking towards you damn stupid idiotic no-good city of damn women who oughta know their damn place?!"

"Okay, that's it!"

The guard had heard enough, and not even her training could stop her from throwing the door open to give that insulting half-dwarf a well-deserved beating.

After the dust settled, Red Un was standing over an unconscious guard. He took her sword.

"Oh well, I guess this'll do for the time being."

He peered outside.

"Hmmh... Seems like there's no more guards around..."

He tiptoed to the front door.

"Heh. I'll just have to open this door and walk out as a..."

He opened the door. Five heavily armed guards who didn't like males, especially smelly males with uncut beards, and especially smelly males with uncut beards who tried to escape from their prison, looked at him.

"...dead man..."

Tranquillity
"I wish we had Narudin here." Tranquillity muttered to herself right before she opened the door to the jailhouse.

She didn't know quite what she was expecting to see but this most certainly wasn't it. Instead of Shauna sitting in a chair inside the jail-house there was Shauna plus at least four heavily armed guards all with their attention focused on Red Un.

"I don't suppose you’re just going to let us take him away are you?" Tranquillity asked a bit dejected. She looked around at the look on their faces. "No, I didn't think so" she muttered as she drew her sword and tried to think of a way to get out of this without permanently harming any of the guards.

Red Un
Red Un didn't want to harm the guards either. They were just doing their job after all.

That was when the guard he had knocked out before woke up. She got on her feet and ran outside the cell.

"The half-dwarf's escaped!"

The other guards turned to look at her, and the next second Red Un made a run for it, out of the building. The angry guards followed him. As they kept running, more guards joined in the chase.

"Well, this is a fine mess..."

Darkness Fall-ll
Suddenly the jail siren was sounded. Katherine raised her head up and looked around, her vision dashed from left to right to see what has caused the Siren to be activated. "BREAKOUT!" one of the jail guards roared from a window on the third floor.

Someone has escaped the jail, and immediately Katherine wished that person was Red Un. She saw Tranquillity pulling out her sword and ready for a battle, or perhaps a bloody one.

She went behind her, gently placing one hand on her blade and gently pushed it down. Signalling to her that they might wanna wait to see who's the jail-breaker, before making a scene.

"Tranquillity, maybe we could wait?" Katherine whispered to her.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity jumped out of the doorway as Red Un barrelled past her. "Let's go!" she shouted to Katherine as she set off at a sprint after Red Un.

"Well that was easy!" she thought to herself.

Red Un
Red Un ran down the street, angry guards following. After a while he realised that there weren't many places to run.

"Dammit (huff), where'd Naurdin (puff) go? I've got (huff) t'ask him a thing (puff) or two 'bout that (huff) tea of (puff) his..."

Narudin
Narudin was still standing in front of the gate when he heard a commotion behind him, from inside of the city. The Carlin jail alarm had been sounded!

"What the hell is happening there?" he cursed under his breath. Taking to the rooftops, his usual route when in cities, he made his way towards the prison. Suddenly he stopped, gaping at the scene unfolding in front of him.

From his vantage point, he saw Red Un run from around the corner, followed closely by the rest of the group, with quite a lot of Carlin guards close on their heels.

"How did they get into the city without passing me?" he wondered. "Maybe they entered via the west gate..."

This wasn't the time for questions, though. Narudin took out a couple of smokebombs and ignited them using the Flame strike spell. He lobbed them just in front of the escaping party. The air immediately was filled with thick, white smoke.

"Keep running!" yelled the half-elf. He waited for all of the party members to pass him, distinguishing the figures with his half-elven sight. The guards hesitated for a moment before entering the smoke. Using that moment of hesitation, Narudin took out two Magic Wall spells and launched them simultaneously into the cloud of smoke.

"That will surprise them alright" he chuckled, and then ran to the end of the roof, jumping to the ground just in front of Red Un.

"Quickly, we must escape from this city of woman-law" he said. "Those walls won't hold them for long."

Red Un
"Narudin! If we weren't in big trouble, I'd have some well-chosen words to say about your tea. But for now, let's get outta here!"

Suddenly, a voice was heard from above.

"Do, I say, do you need a ride?"

Red Un looked up, and sure enough, there was Melrod on his (pretty large) carpet.

"Well waddya know, the albino's usefull for somethin' after all. Get up everyone!"

Tujex
Tujex was one of the first to climb aboard the carpet. He sighed. "They always have to do everything the safe way...." he mumbled in a nearly inaudible tone. He looked over the side, looking to see if anyone needed assistance in getting on the flying carpet.

Kai Sakamada
Kai was already on the carpet.
He had been sitting there for some time actually, trying to figure WHY Carlin was still there.
He didn’t feel like thinking to much about the subject, and was ready to go when Red Un, and the others arrived.

"You guys got everything?" he asked, looking to the city, which still baffled him to this day.


Red Un
Red Un jumped up on the carpet.

"C'mon everyone, hurry up!"

The guards were slowly pushing their way through the magic defences. They were very angry now.

Rakinos
A cloaked ranger appeared on the rooftop over from them and started firing arrows into the guards midst.

He turned to the carpet of adventurers.

"You do not know me, but I know of you and your quest, go now, escape, I will hold them while I can..."

He turned back to the battle just as he was hit in the knee with a spear, luckily absorbing the damage with his knight legs, but still making him buckle to the ground.

"GO!"

Artemis of Luna
Artemis dashed through the streets and back allies hoping not to be sighted. There's Red Un! Lucky guy! Not many people have ever been able to set off those alarms... Let alone escape.

Artemis dodged a guard and leapt through the air.
He made a soft THUMPTH as he landed on the large carpet.

"Nice to see you Red. Have any good tea lately? Just kidding. Just kidding. Has anyone seen my cat?"

A muffled 'meew' radiated from a nearby backpack, and a very proud Diamond came strutting out carrying a small mouse. A green mouse?! How did it get into in there?

Diamond dropped the mouse down at Artemis' feet and started to purr, while holding it down with a slim white paw.

"Why thank you, Diamond. But if it's ok with you, I want you to keep it."

Red Un
Red Un looked up at the cloaked ranger.

"We can't just leave you here!"

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine made a big jump and managed to grip the loose fabrics of the Carpet. Tranquillity reached out and pulled Katherine onto the Carpet, as the carpet kept hovering up and down in mid-air.

"Thanks sister..." Katherine catching her breath after she managed to get onto the carpet.

The cloaked ranger stood firm against the Elite Guards as he kept firing arrows at guards that managed to break through the magic wall. But his firing rate was not fast enough for the increasing number of guards charging towards him. A spear nabbed him straight at his knees, but was lucky that his knight's legs were strong enough to deflect the attack.

"Quick! Just grab onto Red Un's hand!!!!" Katherine cried at the ranger, as he was slowly being overwhelmed.

"Hmmm, I must say. We can't stay here for long. Those guards might damage my precious carpet." Melrod said.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity reached out over the side of the carpet and grabbed the man as they were passing him. "You’re lucky that there are magic walls between your arrows and those guards else you’d be receiving a stern lesson from the flat of my blade!" she grabbed him and pulled him onto the carpet.

Narudin
Narudin stood dazed for a while. Red Un's words had hit him quite hard, as the thought that he could be seen as a double traitor hadn't even crossed his mind. The more he thought about it, the more it became clear to him how he was being used to cripple the Quest in search for the Library of Legends. For one dangerous moment, bitter thoughts swept through his mind, threatening to overcome him...

A spear from the oncoming guards whistled past his head, nicking him on the ear. Shaking his head, Narudin snapped out of his trance. A glint of steely determination returned to his eyes. If he was a burden or a danger, he would leave the party. But now was the time for action, not the time for unnecessary thinking.

To the half-elf's horror, he saw a newcomer shooting arrows at the guards who had broken through his Magic Walls.

"We'll never be forgiven if we even hurt anyone, not to mention what will happen if we kill someone. Damn" Narudin swore, but saw that Tranquillity had swept the archer off his feet. Looking at the backs of his companions, who were flying over the heads of the angry guards, Narudin smiled. Taking something out of his bag he shouted: "Have You forgotten about me, dear ladies?"

The guards turned around in time to see Narudin detonate a flash-bang. As their hands flew to their hurt eyes, a shadowy figure ran past them, leaping onto the shoulders of the last guard and making a flying jump towards the carpet, his hands outstretched...

Red Un
Narudin almost missed the carpet, but Red Un held out his hand and grabbed him.

"I don't care if you've poisoned me intentionally or if it was just yet another stroke of bad luck which seems to follow me that made me drink that tea, I ain't leavin' ya behind."

With everyone aboard, Melrod took the carpet up high.

"Where, I say, where to, master half-dwarf? I still haven't provided the service you paid me for."

"To Vega, Mr. Albino! And watch out for any storms in the area!"