home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- "Kender to the Rescue?!"
-
- by Brian Elias
-
- PRELUDE
-
-
- The War of the Lance has been over for ten years, and there now
- is a greater number of adventure seekers than ever before. With wealth
- rushing back into the towns, it seems almost predictable that their
- would be people trying to get a piece of these riches.The dragon
- armies are still around, even with th death of their highlord, Kitiara,
- they continue fighting. They try to carry on the plans of Takhisis, the
- Queen of Darkness, to no avail. The adventurers almost always seem to
- defeat the forces of evil no matter what the odds. Mostly, this occurs
- by the skills, talents, power, intellegence, or resourcefulness of the
- hero's.
- There was one case, however, of a group of companions who relied
- on none of those qualities. They saved the world by totally ignoring
- the odds against them. People would prbably think that this was a
- strange practice. But, when they hear that this group consisted of
- only five kender, they realize their mistake.
-
-
-
- Chapter 1
- Party? Did someone mention PARTY?!?!
-
- Dawn was coming upon Solamnia, and the smell of the spring flowers
- flowed to all in the village of Glenher. Preperationswere being made
- for the festival of spring harvest, which would start at nightfall.
- Five small figures appearedon the road coming to town, but were not
- noticed because the townspeople were too busy making sure everything
- for the upcoming feast was perfect. So, the figures went by unnoticed
- for a short time.
- That time was ended when many of townsfolks found that they were
- missing some of their items. Normally, they would think that they
- misplaced the things, but with the coincidence of many people missing
- items brought them to the conclusion that something was amiss.
- One of the town guard solved the mystery quite quickly, however,
- by spoting five small figures sitting the back of the tavern he was in.
- He decided to check out the situation before causing any alarm. He
- took one last gulp of the Dwarvenspirits he was drinking, and got up.
- As he walked up to the table, he was intercepted by the one
- individual who seemed to be the leader,"Hi, I'm Tarin Lightfoot",
- the leader beemed. "This is Valaryie Goldenmane," Tarin directed
- the guard toward young womanwith blonde hair sitting next to him,
- "that's Landen Quickfingers," he continued with less enthusiasm,
- pointing at the young man with the short sword harnessed on his back,
- "Calamon Darkpouch," pointing to the one holding the hand ax, "and
- Dara Windwalker, er...I mean Reverend Dara.. or is that Reverend
- Windwalker...NO, I got it Reverend Daughter Dara Windwalker!" he
- finished and pointed to the last of the group, a woman wearing a
- small mace on her belt.
-
-
- The guard, hoping thathe had been wrong about the strangers, let
- out a depressed sigh. The five strangers before him were indeed of
- the prankisk and trouble-making race known as Kender. Kender are
- short statured and only grow to about three and a half foot tall.
- They are extremely curious, which gets them into no end of trouble, but
- are absolutely fearless, so you can't scare them away from anything.
- Kender are always looking for a new and interesting experience, and even
- deathis viewed as a gateway to a new adventure.
- True to form, all five kender had their trusty hoopak staves with
- them. A hoopak staff is a weapon almost exclusively used by kender
- (because most races view them as useless as a weapon). It is a small
- staff that is "V" shaped at the top where a leather thong put. This
- thong is used to hurl small stones as a weapon. It also makes a high
- screaching sound whenswung around. Only one of the kender in the
- group did not hve his in hand, and that was Calamon Darkpouch. His was
- strped to his back by a short length of rope.
- The guard had delt with kender before, and decide, this time,
- to be diplomatic. "Excuse me, my friends," he started," I believe
- that you may haveaccidentally picked up, or found some items that
- belong to the townspeople."
- "By Fizban!", Dara exclaimed,"I think you might be right", she
- said as she looked through her pouches. "I don't seem to remember
- owning this time-piece, small pouch, or this dagger, especially the
- dagger, I'm not allowed to use one!" she continued.
- "Gee, Dara, what do you think we should do? Think we should give
- it back?", Tarin questioned. Landen paled at the sound of the words
- 'give back'.
- "You're kiddin', right?", Landen asked. "I mean, we will never
- find out whose stuff this is. We might as well keep it."
- "I think your behavior on this matter is atrocious, Landen!!",
- Dara scolded. "Maybe this good man," she said, pointing to the guard,
- "will know the stuff belongs."
- Before the guard could reply, however, Calamon said, "They might
- not be grateful, though! Last town we were in thought that we actually
- tried to st...st...steal their belongings, and arrested us!"
- "Thank Fizban that they really didn't really want to put usaway.
- Those locks were much too simple for them to have meant it", added
- Val. "What do you think?", she suddenly asked the guard.
- The guard had been so caught up in the spectacle that almost didn't
- raelize that he was being talked to."Oh, I'm sure that I can take
- care of that," he answered. "Give me the items, and I will make sure
- that the people get what is theirs", he said with a slight smile. He
- was suprised that he was enjoying the company of these kender, most
- of the time, all people want to with a kender is strangle them because
- they are so annoying.
- "That would be great!", Tarin exclaimed. "You are a really nice
- guy. Most people treat us like we are some sort of bad joke", he
- continued. "If I may ask, what is your name?"
- "My name is Soren, good sir. If you need anything during your
- stay, come to the town hall, and you will find me there", he offered.
- "Hey," Calamon said,"that's teriffic. Could you tell us what is
- going on outside. It was so busy, that it was boring, if you know what
- I mean."
- "Well," Soren started, "they are setting up for the spring harvest
- feast.......", he regreted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
- Landen, started looking even more devious, Tarun smiled broadly, Val's
- eyes light up, Dara mumbled a small prayer of thanks to Fizban, and
- Calamon, who was taking a drink from a wineskin (probably not his own),
- choked slightly.
- "Wow!", they cried in unison.
- "Thanks for the information, Soren. We'll be there!", Tarin said
- cheerfully as he shook Soren's hand vigorously. Before Soren could
- respond, Tarin yelled, "Come on, people, lets go get a room and
- prepare for the party."
- When Soren finally found his voice, the group had rented a room and
- was up the tavern stairs. 'Damn', Soren thought, ' I forgot to get the
- things they "borrowed"'. He gave another sigh, and wondered hoe much
- of the town would be left standing when those kender left.
-
-