Payback..and a departure

[dergon darkhelm]

The man's face was fully covered in dark soot, a black cowl drawn tight over his eyes. He made his way through the foul dank of the sewers thinking hard on a conversation long ago with a companion now long dead.

He turned a corner and saw the simple stone door, tucked deep in recess off the main sewer route. He surveyed the area a long while, making sure he not been watched or followed.

He stepped forward to the door. Now he would find out whether that pouch of keys he had purchased was worth it's price. He studied the lock and then looked into the pouch, trying to find one of the right size and shape.

The first didn't fit. Nor did the second....or third.....or the fourth. The man was starting to silently curse the halfling salesman when the fifth key slipped in and rolled the tumbler.

The man's heart pounded. Despite years of experiences similar, none had ever been as personal as this. He again said a light prayer, then drank an elixer, and acitvated a small steel rod. He was as prepared as he could be.

He slid the door open. A training room. Various implements of torture and holding cells lined the walls. The places had been used recently.

The man glided across the floor silently, his form seeming disappear and become one with the very shadows of the dark place. A ladder led up to a trap door above. The man moved up the ladder unheard and opened the trap door just a crack.

An empty room.....wooden....perhaps a warehouse somewhere near the docks. The man hoisted himself up. A door exiting the room was open just a crack. He peered in.

Three men talking in hushed tones. All dressed in black cloaks. The hooded man wasn't absolutely positive that these men were deserving of retribution, but he was sure *enough*.

A look of lustful vengeance crossed the man's face as he smiled from deep beneath his hood. He summoned forth an ally and in but a moment lept upon the unsuspecting men, blades flying.

It was bloody and brief.

Quickly, the man moved to a safe in the corner, taking whatever of import he could find.

Then something else caught his eye...a posting board. This was a safe house. The man allowed himself a moment to look over the papers stuck to the board. He smiled droopily as he made recognition of many of the names on the papers. He ripped them down and placed them in his pack.



Within a minute's time, the hooded man was readied to leave. He looked down at his salin foes and chuckled lightly......

"Now I can leave this city", he said to himself as he slipped back down the ladder and disappeared into the darkness of the sewers as silently as he had come.

By the time the sun rose the next day, the man would be well on his way south and toward a new beginning.

[NESchampion]

I miss Sarge. Come visit me!