NationStates Jolt Archive

It had been at least fifty years since they had performed a raid on the elves and humans above. The Drow of Sch'naggio had a history of having long, violent battles with the elvin and humans who coexsist in the Valley of the Giant. The Drow were wicked versions of their surface cousins, worshipping Lloth, the Spider Queen, and Shar, the Goddess of Darkness. To them, the 'faeries' of teh surface were the evil ones, those who had banished them to a cursed life in the Underdark...But among the spiders they began to flourish and grow. Sch'naggio was recent compared to teh other Drow cities, but all ready they had burst to a popultion over 8 million, where the combined numbers of the other cities barely reached two million. The only reason Sch'naggio never became a major power in the world was the constant in-fighting between the feudal Noble Houses.

But every few years, the Drow emerged from the Underdark and fought their common foe: The surface dwellers. But little did any of them know that their world had changed to the point that night was no longer their friend in these raids...
--*--*--
Kologk was a nation of constant warfare. Civil war had created a state no so much unlike the Drow Elves, with factions constantly fighting for control. The Dark Elves emerged from their caves, unaware at the fact they were about to be slaughtered...Nobles, clerics, mercenaries...They all worked together to fight. Their armor and weapons were protected under the cover of night, or so they thought. They were surprised to see no small wodden homes or campfires with humans and elves dancing and singing around them, but a city (Or what looked like one to them). The buildings were well-lit and strange machines zoomed around its streets. It was a peaceful town, though, away from the fighting that consumed the rest of Kologk. Worried at the level of advancement that the humans and elves had in their absence, they made their way down the rocky mountain, and hour before midnight, and walked into town. They walked the roads. It was quiet, but the light...The light burned their skin. They began moving from shadow to shadow. They soon realized there were but a few on the street and they would have to begin destroying, pillaging, and setting ablaze the buildings around them to get any sport out of this raid. They burst into a tavern, knowing that taverns often had Dwarves and Dwarves usually had large sums of gold on them and gave some sort of sport, which Drow thoroughly enjoyed. But instead, they came across a room full of drunken men and a fat bartender with, unknown to them, a loaded civilian shotgun under the counter. The Drow screamed war cries to their goddesses and started to cut down the drunkards. None of them realized there wasn't a dwarf or elf among them.

"What the f*** are you f***ers?" Shouted the bartender, pulling the shotgun out from under the bar and firing at the closest Drow. Meanwhile, almost every drunk in the bar drew guns or knives and began attacking the Drows. People outside took no notice of the noise. It was business as usual on the Waterfront.

The drow hit with the shotgun flew across the room. Guns began to go off, tearing through the Drow armor and causing many casualties. Teh Priestesses tried to summon their minions, but their prayers did not reach Shar. The priestesses were terrified! The fearless leaders of the party began to retreat and while the other warriors tried to follow suit, the drunkards made chase and shot down the anachronic warriors. When the fighting calmed, only three Drow remained, who were more than willing to throw their weapons down.

Casualties-
Original: 50
Killed: 44
Escaped: 3
Captured: 3

"What the hell are you, anyways?" Asked one of the less drunk costumers of the bar, poking a Drow. "I now I didn't have that much to drink."

One of the other costumers said, "I say, we just kill them."

"Huh," said the Bartender, "No. Let's see if we can't get some profit out of them, hmm? After all, I'm gonna have to pay for this damage."

The others rapidly agreed. Money worked wonders on the Waterfront.

"I'm Halgloth, at your mercy," one said, bowing and removing his rather large blue hat, brushing the man along the front of his face, "And these faithful warriors are my mercenaries. Your skill with your new weapon is quite remarkable. Never have I seen so many Drow be killed in such a short time. Save for that wizard..."

The men looked at each other, a little confused. "New weapon? You mean Bessie?" Asked the bartender, hoisting the shotgun. "I've had her for years. But I didn't ask who the hell you were, I asked what the hell you were. You sure ain't human, and you ain't anthro, so...?"

"I am a Drow. I'm rather surprsed you have no knowledge of us. Usually in our raids, humans run and cower in fear. And we were expecting dwarves here..."

"Dwarves? What the hell are you smoking? And what kind of pansy ass runs from you?" Asked the bartender.

"Can I have some of what your smoking?" Asked a drunk.

"Ain't the politickally coorect teerm vertically challenged people?" Asked a very drunk man.

"I'Vertically Challenged'?" Halgolth asked, thoroughly confused. Sirens could be heard approaching the bar as the police arrived after several complaints of gunfire and large quantities of dead bodies.
"And good sir, may I inquire about your name, as I have given you yours?"
((They DO have some form of Police, right?))

"I'Vertically Challenged'?" Halgolth asked, thoroughly confused. Sirens could be heard approaching the bar as the police arrived after several complaints of gunfire and large quantities of dead bodies.
"And good sir, may I inquire about your name, as I have given you yours?"
((They DO have some form of Police, right?))

OOC: Not the waterfront. One law there. If you can do it, you can do it. Oddly enough, the waterfront is the name for all of the areas that aren't controlled by any government, not just those along the water. *shrug*

IC: The bartended thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "I'm Murph. Now suppose you tell me why you busted in here? It was Georgie, right? Just because I don't water down my beer like him, he's always trying to cut off my business."

((Ignore that part, then.))
"Well, Murph, I assure you it has nothing to do with your competition in the beverage department. We Drow usually despise surface-dwellers. My warriors just like the wealth and plunder we can acquire from teh raids. We haven't had one in fifty years, and I was getting bored with getting the Houses to fight each other. I figured some gold from teh surface would entice me for a bit, but I'm willing to make a different deal this time: How much for your Bessy weapon?"

The man considered for a moment. "Bessy? I couldn't let her go. But..." he pulled another shotgun from under the bar. He considered a moment longer. "Something tells me you're not carrying paper money. What've you got?"

((I gotta go again. Dunno when I'll be back. I might be able to give another reply before I go, I can't be sure.

Oh, and for reference, Drow elves are generally 4'6" to 5'6".))
Halgloth pulled out a bag of gold coins and placed it on teh table, which teh other two Drow did, as well. Halgloth pulled all sorts of gems and gold figures, many of which he simply put back in his clothing, which contained a remarkable amount of space and probably weighed more than the elf wearing it.

(('Kay I'm back.))

((I gotta go again. Dunno when I'll be back. I might be able to give another reply before I go, I can't be sure.

Oh, and for reference, Drow elves are generally 4'6" to 5'6".))
Halgloth pulled out a bag of gold coins and placed it on teh table, which teh other two Drow did, as well. Halgloth pulled all sorts of gems and gold figures, many of which he simply put back in his clothing, which contained a remarkable amount of space and probably weighed more than the elf wearing it.

Murph picked up a medium sized ruby, held it up to the light, squinted, and nodded. "That'll do it," he said, setting the shotgun on the table. "Now get out of here. Next time you come into my bar, just buy a drink, huh?" He laughed.

Halgolth picked up the shotgun and studied it. He was familiar with crossbows, but this contraption was unlike anything he had ever seen. Five shells were in the slots to the side of the gun, which he presumed was the required ammunition. He took one out and held it up and asked,
"Do you have any more of these?"

"Nah. I've been meaning to pick some up for a while. There's a shop a little ways down the street, called, 'My Cold Dead Hand'. Blaine will sell you some, and any other type of gun you want, come to that.

Halgolth smiled and nodded, replying,
"Thank you anyways, good sir. I believe it's entirely possible I'll see you again."
Halgolth and his men turned and left the tavern, leaving one of the bags of gold on the counter.
---
Matron Vasryn Melith was growing impatient. Two of the priestesses were her own daughters, and tehy returned with news of being forsaken by Lloth and Shar and the raiding party being slaughtered by twenty men. Further reports told that Halgolth and his two warriors were still very much alive. She was the one who had offered to let them go along with the raiding party, and should they have gotten captured, it would mean the reputation of House Melith. Finally, she recieved news of Halgolth and his men. They ahd returned, one ruby and a bag of gold poorer and a shotgun richer. Melith, a long-time employer of him and his men, was to be the first to see the new weapon in action.

"What is that?" Matron Vasryn asked, eying the shotgun.
"I don't know. The man I bought it from had another named Bessy, but I've known humans to name their cattle Bessy, so it's probably what he named his weapon. I call it a Boomstick, as it makes a very loud boom and creates a large flame. Observe," Halgolth said. He raised teh shotgun to his shoulder like Murpoh had with Bessy during the fight and fired at one of the Melith gaurds. The pellets chewed through his armor as if it were paper and created a large gap in his stomach. Unphased by the death of one of her warriors, Matron Vasryn was impressed.
"With a weapon like this, we can conquer the whole city! We must buy more from this man! Who is he? Where is his weapons store?"
"Matron, I bought it from a bartender. This was his spare boomstick. He didn't even have extra ammunition to sell me. He did tell me, however, of a man named Blaine who operated such a store called 'The Cold, Dead Hand'. SOunds like a bandit group. Perhaps he can sell us the proper weaponry to conquer the city."
The Matron nodded.
"I want this 'Blaine', and I want him here now."
The remaining Gaurd stood at attention, saluted, and left.

Halgolth smiled and nodded, replying,
"Thank you anyways, good sir. I believe it's entirely possible I'll see you again."
Halgolth and his men turned and left the tavern, leaving one of the bags of gold on the counter.
---
Matron Vasryn Melith was growing impatient. Two of the priestesses were her own daughters, and tehy returned with news of being forsaken by Lloth and Shar and the raiding party being slaughtered by twenty men. Further reports told that Halgolth and his two warriors were still very much alive. She was the one who had offered to let them go along with the raiding party, and should they have gotten captured, it would mean the reputation of House Melith. Finally, she recieved news of Halgolth and his men. They ahd returned, one ruby and a bag of gold poorer and a shotgun richer. Melith, a long-time employer of him and his men, was to be the first to see the new weapon in action.

"What is that?" Matron Vasryn asked, eying the shotgun.
"I don't know. The man I bought it from had another named Bessy, but I've known humans to name their cattle Bessy, so it's probably what he named his weapon. I call it a Boomstick, as it makes a very loud boom and creates a large flame. Observe," Halgolth said. He raised teh shotgun to his shoulder like Murpoh had with Bessy during the fight and fired at one of the Melith gaurds. The pellets chewed through his armor as if it were paper and created a large gap in his stomach. Unphased by the death of one of her warriors, Matron Vasryn was impressed.
"With a weapon like this, we can conquer the whole city! We must buy more from this man! Who is he? Where is his weapons store?"
"Matron, I bought it from a bartender. This was his spare boomstick. He didn't even have extra ammunition to sell me. He did tell me, however, of a man named Blaine who operated such a store called 'The Cold, Dead Hand'. SOunds like a bandit group. Perhaps he can sell us the proper weaponry to conquer the city."
The Matron nodded.
"I want this 'Blaine', and I want him here now."
The remaining Gaurd stood at attention, saluted, and left. They returned an hour later with a large sack and a kicking and screaming man and they emptied the contents onto the floor.

OOC: Please redo that. Consider that Blaine owns a gunshop in a city where the only law is 'If you can do it, you can do it." I refuse to have him captured without at least RPing it.

OOC: Okay. I just wanted to warp-time it to save time.
IC:
Twenty Drow warriors went down the mountain and back into the town. It was now about three in the morning, so there were, of course, more lights on and more people in the street. But teh Drow were the masters of shadows, and when there were no shadows to lurk in, they created their own. Summoning globes of darkness around them as they made their way through the town, the lights of the shops and brothels did nothing to exterminate the shroud of darkness that hid their steps. A bright neon light stated "My Cold Dead Hand". While only one of the twenty warriors could read Human common (English), they still knew this was teh palce because of the shotguns on display. They spotted a man behind a counter through the darkness, as their infravision illuminated warm things in the dark to them. Summoning another globe, they walked into the store to see a rather surprised Blaine to find he could no longer see out his front door.

Blaine was ex-millitary. After serving four years in the Kologkian Civil War, there wasn't much that could unnerve him. He picked up the AK-47 he had been cleaning, confident that there was a large amount of titanium wire between him and the darkness, with the holes just large enough for the barrel of his weapon to poke through.

"Whoever's there, turn those things off before I start shooting." He demanded.

One of the Drow shook his head.
"It'll be gone by morning. There's no way to get rid of it. Besides, don't you think that we'll need them to get back? And it would be a good idea to close for the night. My Matron has a deal for you, Blaine, and I suspect that you would be thoroughly interested with what we're to pay it with."
He tossed a bag of gold onto the counter. It spilled all over so the contents could be observed.
"For your potential profit loss of not attending to your shop tonight. If you're interested, come with us. If not, contact Murph if you change your mind. We'll know through him."

One of the Drow shook his head.
"It'll be gone by morning. There's no way to get rid of it. Besides, don't you think that we'll need them to get back? And it would be a good idea to close for the night. My Matron has a deal for you, Blaine, and I suspect that you would be thoroughly interested with what we're to pay it with."
He tossed a bag of gold onto the counter. It spilled all over so the contents could be observed.
"For your potential profit loss of not attending to your shop tonight. If you're interested, come with us. If not, contact Murph if you change your mind. We'll know through him."

Blaine's eyes widened at the sight of the gold, and then narrowed. He picked a piece up and bit it. Nodding thoughtfully he said, "All right, just let me lock up."

Doing so was the work of a few moments, and Blaine still carried his AK-47, as well as a few pistols. "Now, Matron? As in nurse? Damn weird ass gang names."

He shook his head.
"More like a queen. In our language she is called an Ill'harress. Matron Mother is just a title given to them by...Humans."
The Drow warrior nearly spat after he said 'humans'.
"You are to meet with Ill'harress Vasryn Melith," the Drow told Blaine as they retraced their steps through the town, "She is the most powerful person in the city and you, being a human as well as a male, are a worm with powerful weapons, which is the only reason you haven't been killed, along with the rest of this place and its inhabitants. You will treat her with respect and will only reply when spoken to. Do not touch anything during your visit, as it is likely to rip your arm off. And mind the Dueregar, they're three feet shorter than you are."

Blaine shrugged.

"If you have more like what you showed me back there," he gestured at the store, "Won't be a problem. Huh. First time I met royalty,"

The Drow didn't reply. They soon made their way to the mountains and the road became dark, rocky, and hard to walk on. While Blaine had a hard time seeing and following the Drow warriors, the others were making a beeline to the mountains. Every time Blaine started to go astray, a Drow would pull him back into the line. Eventually they reached a big, yet well-hidden cave and entered it. Surprisingly, the cave was better lit than the sky outside, but very dimly, and Blaine had less of a hard time seeing and staying on course. Eventually, he saw the most amazing sight: The Great Drow City of Sch'Naggio.
"Over eight million Drow Elves," the Drow that had spoke with him earlier said, "And if you this this is amazing, this is only Mid-Sch'Naggio. This is the grandest of it all, though, where the Three Great Schools are, not to mention the Temples of Lloth and Shar. On the other side is House Melith. It had the largest army with one and a half million Drow Elves. Directly across is the second, House Arkenep with seven hundred fifty thousand Drow and the best mages in the city. Absorb it well, Blaine, as this could very well be your last time gazing apon it. Come, we're going to get our steeds."
They led Blaine to teh Greater Marketplace, which was like Times Square only twice as big. Shops, taverns, merchants, and hotels could be seen all along the walls of the Greater Marketplace, each very clean and of very high quality. Blaine saw merchants selling almost everything except food. Street performers were gathering small crowds as Halflings did trick and Deep Gnomes showed their latest contraption.
"The Greater Marketplace is where you would buy weapons of any quality. Rich visitors to the city stay here to have a quality stay. The Common marketplace is a bit bigger, but it's also cheaper, but it's also the only place where you can buy food in Mid-Sch'Naggio."
They stopped at very unusual stables. Instead of horses, giant lizards were ripping apart chunks of meat. One of the Dark Elves approached the stable keeper and talked to her in an unusual tongue. The woman stood up and opened teh gates and twenty lizards walked out, with saddles already on them. One had a double saddle. The woman who spoke with teh stable keeper motioned to Blaine to sit on the second saddle.

Blaine shrugged and climbed onto it. "Whole day of firsts," he muttered. Gesturing towards the market, he grinned. "Not any weapon, apparentally, or you wouldn't need me, now would you? And I'm sure that wouldn't break your hearts." He thought for a moment. "Have you even got hearts?"

"In a physical sense, we do," the human-speaking Drow said, mounting the lizard next to Blaine's. An attractive female Drow took the reins of Blaine's lizard and they took off, "But most surface-dwellers describe Drow as heartless, so in an emotional sense, no. We're self-driven. Entire houses have fallen to feuding sister for the position fo Matron Mother. Each house is ruled by a Matron Mother and while having daughters is a blessing from our Goddesses, having a son is a nuisance. Females are bigger, stronger, and usually better educated, but it always seems to be the males who plans the attack on other houses."
The woman driving Blaine's lizard shot him an angry glance. The drow smiled and laughed. Blaine realized that the one he had been talking with wasn't the only one who spoke human, but the only who could read it.
"The Houses go to war with each other in order to get their enemies resources, slaves, warriors, or simply to go up in rank in the city and gain respect. In matters of honor, the only honor we have is towards the house, and even then, it's sparce. And these feuds are where you come in, Blaine. House Melith is the strongest of them all, but it is not without its enemies. The Matron wants to buy these new weapons and conquer the City. It will be the first time in history a single House has ruled any Drow City, and it will be a glorious day!"

OOC: Taking this opportunity.

IC:The Waterfront was the perfect opportunity for the HOA to make money and recruit young men. They were well established in the area, even though, as typical, nobody outside of the organisation knew exactly where their main base of operations was.

Reconpuppets were the HOAs 'eyes and ears', they are voluntary recruits that are sent in ahead of the puppetmakers to prospective areas to see what you can do, what you cannot, and so-on and so-forth. They are also used on undercover missions, most of which consist getting to know the local populace.

This particular Reconpuppet was on that exact mission. He walked into the bar he went to daily, heck, he was even a good buddy with the bartender(who knew him as James Brown) and immediatly noted the place looked trashed.

Walking over to the bar, he smiled friendly and asked, "Hey, Murph. The place looks trashed, did Georgie try and send another gang of ruffians down your throat?"

"Nah," said Murph, wiping a bloodstain off of the counter. "Couple of druggies. Busted in here, tried killing everyone." He grinned, displaying a collection of oddly good teeth. "You can imagine how that went over with the usuals. Then I sold my spare shotgun to one of them, and off they went. Looked like nothing I'd seen before, but that'd probably be the drug. Kept talking about dwarves and the suchlike. What can I get you, Jamieboy?"
***
Blaine held up a hand. "Second rule. I don't want to know what you need the weapons for. That makes it personal. First rule is don't make it personal. Now, am I going to see this Matron of yours or not?"

"I feel like having a Vodka Martini." The Reconpuppet said, then went back to friendly conversation had said, "What were they packing? Must not have been very impressive."

"Shaken, not stirred, right?" Chuckled Murp as he fixed the drink. "No, swords and the like. They went down pretty quick. Say, I've still got the bodies in the back, you want one of them?" He handed James the drink.

"I think Ill take one, as long as they havent started to rot yet." 'James' said as he downed the drink.

"Nah. Least, they haven't started to smell yet. Here, I'll give you a hand. You got a truck or something?"

Murph went into the back room and dragged out one of the Drows.

The Drow laughed.
"Fair enough, Blaine."
They came up to a long road with many Drow walking on it. The road was so busy they had to time moving across, one at a time. Blaine's lizard nearly flipped its riders over as it nearly ran into several strange-looking cows. All of the Drow and the lizards made it past the busy road, however.
"Drow Road," the elf explained, "The most travelled road in all of the Realms. Well, I suppose you've got something in your world that beats it, but..."
They travelled a bit longer and came across a magnificeint natural structure. It was made of cliffs, stalagmites, stalactites, columns, and, rather surprisingly, metal and spider webs. Drow were moving all over the place, from cave to cave. Duels were being fought on the cliffside, most of them ending in the death of one or both fighters.
"Welcome, Blaine, to House Melith," the woman driving his lizard said. The Elves began to dismount their lizards and walked to the front gate, which opened and them all in.

Blaine followed, still holding the AK-47. He glanced about and whistled appreciatively. "Nice place," he said conversationally.

"Not near as nice as some of the other Houses, we must admit, but it's magnificeint enough to strike fear in slave-warriors."
Blaine soon realized the other Drow had disappeared after they entered teh House. They went deeper into the building, but they were stopped by a huge spider with swordlike forelegs. It raised its weapons threateningly at Blaine and almost struck him when a female Drow came and started shouting at it in a strange language. The spider stood down and went on its way, turning back to hiss at Blaine.
"Yes, do be careful of the giant spiders, they only trust female Drow," Blaine' sguiding Drow told him. They came up to a small platform and three disks swooped down and the other two remaining Drow stepped onto the disks, which lifted them up. The third remained, waiting for Blaine to step on it.

Blaine shook his head as he stepped on and muttered, "Couldn't just be stairs, could it? Got to show off for the warrior slaves or whatever the hell he said."

The disk raised Blaine higher and higher up to what seemed to be an impossible height when it stopped and arrived at the largest balcony he had ever seen. It went into a covered area where a throne made from bones was being occupied by a beautiful Drow woman. She had rings on every one of her fingers and wore a black robe. A spider-shaped headpiece covered most of her head. She turned to the man who Blaine had been talking to during the trip and she spoke to him in the anguage the woman had used o shoo away the spider earlier. The man nodded and another Drow, this one dressed in very long robes, walked out and began to mutter words. A small ball of light formed in his hand, which charged towards Blaine. After it hit him ((Feel free to have him try to run)) the woman on the throne spoke, and he could understand her.
"So, Blaine, I hear you are the man to ask in the town for these weapons?" she asked, holding up Halgolth's shotgun.

Blaine nodded. Finally, here was something he was comfortable talking about. "Shotguns, pistols, submachine guns, rifles, snipers, you name it, I'm your man. What do you need?"

"I want to know the general term for these weapons, as I don't want to go around calling them as stupid as what Halgolth named them. Don't ask what it was either," she said with a smile, which gave Blaine shivers down his spine.

"That's the third rule," replied Blaine, smiling, "Don't ask questions that you don't have to. The general term would be guns. Firearms if you want to be fancy. Now, if you don't know much about guns, I would recommend the AK-47. Most guns, you have to know how to take care of them. An AK-47 though, that's still true, but less so then with most."

"Please, explain the different kinds of guns, so I have some sort of an idea of what I'm buying here," the Matron Mother told Blaine.
((You don't have to go into detail with that.))

Blaine shrugged.

"All right. Pistols are the smallest of the weapons. They can be easily carried." He displayed his pistol.

"Shotguns you already know. Semi automatic shoot faster, but they're less accurate." He raised the AK-47. "A rifle is more accurate, shoots slower, and the individual bullets usually have more stopping power. A sniper rifle is the most accurate, it wil have a scope so you can get a better view at the target."

The Matron Mother thought for a moment until she asked,
"How many of the weapons do you have? Just sell us the lot and we'll pay for every bit."

Blaine blinked. "Well, I haven't done an inventory in a while. Usually I just sell what people want. Tell you what though, since you're not using the type of money I price my weapons in, say, about ten times what your men gave me back in the shop should do it."

One of the gaurds looked at a golden statue of a giant spider, which was far more than ten times the amount given to him earlier, pointed to it, and said,
"Would this suffice?"
The Matron raised the shotgun she was still holding and blew the man's head off with it.
"Would the giant golden spider do for your payment?"

Blaine thought for a moment and then shook his head. "Sorry, but no. Gold is one thing, but there's just no market for something like that. I've also got to warn you, that," he gestured to the shotgun, "Is bad for accuracy. It's best used at very low range, as it shoots a large amount of shells, which do not all go in a straight line."

She looked at the weapon and handed it to the Drow from earlier.
"Nasty device. I like it. As for your money, we'll have it at your home before you get there."
The wizard from earlier left the room.
"Do you require assistance moving your products?"

"No, I've got a truck. I can move them. Do you want them here, or delivered somewhere else?"

"Bring them to the front of the cave. We'll handle it from there."

"Dont have a truck, but you could put it in the back of my car." 'James' said, looking over the creature.

'Ill definantly have to report this.' The Reconpuppet thought simultaneously.

"Here, give me a hand with it," said Murph, picking up the creature's arms. He whistled as he did so, apparentally oblivious to the fact that he was selling the corpse of a mythical creature to a bar patron.

((Can we warp-time the deal or are you planning to connect your bit with HOA with the shipment?))

OOC: Nah, we can warp time.

IC: Blaine pulled up at the mouth of the cave, his truck loaded with all sorts of weaponry goodness. He got out, holding an AK-47, and looked about for the Drows he was supposed to meet here.

A familiar face appeared as only four Drow elves appeared at the cave, followed by several piglike creatures, bigger than Blaine.
"Greetings once again, Blaine," the Drow who had explained their society to him said, appearing from the shadows, "I see you have a hrdy collection there. Tell me, did you bring ammunition for them? We neglected to mention taht in the deal."

"Everything in the shop," replied Blaine, "But you're going to need someone to show you how to take care of them. You sure you just want to take them and leave?"

"We'll contact you later for that. We plan to use them very soon, so we haven't the time."
He motioned to the pig creatures, who grabbed the weapons by the armful. Soon, the creatures were carrying all of the guns except the smaller ones and went back into the caves. The Drow elves picked up the boxes of ammunition and smaller weapons and stuffed it all into bags, which didn't seem to get heavier or bulkier. They put the bags on their backs and turned to leave.

A ragged man in an equally ragged battle dress uniform with the patches and such removed walked into the bar. He was obviously armed, with a handgun in a holster to his side.

After a second, he walked to the counter.

"Hey, how's it going? Could you get me a beer?"

He took his wallet out of his pocket and placed some money on the counter.

Murph shrugged, and poured the man a beer. "If you're here for the war," he said casually, "You picked the one place where it ain't going on."

"Naw, man, i'm taking a vacation here. If I wanted a fight, I could go to the old country."

He took a drink of the beer.

"This is the only place where I can get some rest, 'cause I don't have to worry about the law or people who don't really like me."

"Naw, man, i'm taking a vacation here. If I wanted a fight, I could go to the old country."

He took a drink of the beer.

"This is the only place where I can get some rest, 'cause I don't have to worry about the law or people who don't really like me."

Murph shrugged. "Well, suit yourself. Not exactly where I'd go for peace and quiet, but there you are."

He went back to cleaning the bloodstains off of the bar.