The Gambling Pawn

[jmecha]

The pawn has its origins in the oldest version of Lance Board and it is present in all other significant versions of the game as well. In Lance Board, this piece moved directly forward, capturing to the sides, one square diagonally forward to the left or right.

In Cormyr, an attempt was made to make the pieces more interesting, each file's pawn being given the name of a commoner's occupation. On the board, from left to right, those titles were:

Gambler and other "lowlifes", also messengers in the left-most file, that direction being literally sinister.

City guard or policeman, in front of a knight, as they trained city guards.

Innkeeper bishop.

Doctor always the queen's pawn.

Merchant/Moneychanger, always before the king, whether or not he is to the left or right of the queen, which depends on the color of the pieces.

Weaver/Clerk in front of the bishop, for whom they wove or clerked.

Blacksmith in front of a knight, as they care for the horses.

Worker/Farmer in front of a castle, for which they worked.

The most famous example of this is found in the second book ever printed in the Chondathan language, The Game and Player of the Lanceboard. Purportedly, this book, printed by William Caxton, was viewed to be as much a political commentary on society as a book on Lanceboard.



The sputtering candle light made the hard and soft shadows dance playfully with grace as they raced and retreated across the surfaces of the subterranean chamber, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan softly uttered a hard vulgarity as he opened his eyes for the first time in days.

"SIR! ARE YOU NOT DEAD!?!"

The enthusiasm of the youth had not been beaten, battered, nor tempered by age, and the sheer volume of his positivity sent an almost sickening bolt of pain through Pawn Klaxxan's head as he worked himself up into a sitting position on the floor. Why was he laying on the floor beside his cot? What day was it? Why in the name of all the Gods of War was every individual piece of his assorted kit neatly laid out across the floor of his small chamber as if ready to be inspected?

"SIR! DRINK WATER SIR! YOU MUST BE VERY THIRSTY SIR!"

The child moved across the room with far more urgency then grace, as his bare feet chanced several potentially catastrophic missteps as he hurried with ungainly strides nearly kicking over fire bombs and crushing acid flasks under foot. Still waking from a restless slumber Klaxxan's only response was to wince and squint with equal parts horror and disgust as the boy raced the water skin over to him. Silently thankful for the water, Klaxxan asked what day it was before working to quench his thirst.

"IT IS TODAY SIR!"

Slowly shaking his head, Klaxxan coughed heavily from having been overly greedy in his thirst and lowered the waterskin.

"No, Danny Lu.....what is today's date?"

The child look at him with eyes of innocence and blinked twice while exuding an aura of ignorance, and shook his head no with a joyful smile. Pawn Klaxxan made a mental note to teach his Ward how to use a Calendar, and then set about carefully stepping through the display case of ordnance that was his bed chamber floor as he made his way towards the Northern Board. His Ward of course was hot on his heels the entire time yapping.

"SIR! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD FOR SURE SIR! Oh! I AM HAPPY YOU ARE NOT! Oh! I STARTED CLEANING AND POLISHING ALL OF YOUR KIT LIKE SIR RAVAK THULE TAUGHT ME TO DO LIKE A GOOD SQUIRE!"

Sore from having slept on the floor for who knows how long, his head pounding from dehydration and restless fits, Pawn Klaxxan was not at the very moment his personal best, and the child's voice and choice of words, made him cringe so hard the sound of his bones cracking was audible. He pressed on towards the Northern Board with determined strides and offered the boy some clear and simply guidance in hopes it might silence him long enough in a moment of introspection to give Klaxxan some time to collect himself.

"Stop calling me Sir, I am a Pawn, Stop saying Oh as some sort of moronic place holder when you speak, and for the love of all that is holy.....Stop talking for a moment kid and let me get right."

A letter written in neat but elegantly flowing script pinned to the Northern Board caught Klaxxan's immediate attention because the handwriting certainly was not his, it almost had a playful whimsical quality to it.

Marpenoth 26, 1400 Dale Reckoning
A dire warning to the adventuring groups of Waterdeep.

My comrades in Arms,

A new evil and deadly foe has appeared in the Westwood. Heed the following observances and details and use them to your advantage before venturing into the Westwood.

Early this morning while patrolling the Westwood near the Unicorn I came across Caliope Dirtpaw, Xandos Klaxxon and Rako Ca'tra. While we were conversing in front of the Inn, a noble man stumbled up the road from the east and informed us that his bloody tunic and ice covered beard were a result of the icy riders that a few of us have encountered in recent weeks.

As we set up to investigate, the ground beneath each of our boots appeared to freeze; an ill omen indeed. We journeyed bit a little while east and encountered a pack of the riders. The only description In all my studies that matched their appearance was in children's tales. According to these tales, they are called Cold Riders and they ride in on the northern wind and freeze naughty children in their beds on a cold winter's night. As we dispatched the vile creatures their bodies melted away as an ice flow in a river on a warm spring morning.

We continued our search and were suddenly beset by all matter of beasts and monsters in waves . . . bugbears, wolves and worgs, devil dogs and finally a large force of Zartruss Hobgoblins including several shamans and beserkers and one dragon claw. After a hard one victory against the hordes, my companions and I were puzzled as to why these factions should now somehow unite when before they were in constant conflict. Only upon later reflection did I realize that this was not a coordinated attack but a mass exodus. It never occurred to me at the time because I could not fathom a threat so powerful or fearsome that it could rout such a diverse host.

I now know better. s the last hobgoblin fell and our group gathered it was as if night suddenly fell. The darkest moonless blackness that can only be achieved by the Art. I immediately reached for my Ultravision scroll to penetrate the darkness and immediately wished I did not. The beasts description is again out of children's tales. The writings refer to it only as the Bogeyman. I can only describe it as a nightmare.

The battle was joined, already Caliope and Klaxxon were attacking it with Rako firing bolts into it. I sent a volley of Arcane projectiles into it and I shivered as the missles impacted and had no effect whatsoever on the beast. Resistance to the arcane then. Another shiver hit my spine as I recognized the spell that the beast was casting. It pointed a claw at Pawn Klaxxon and I saw his eyes go wide and could almost feel his heart stop as the fiend visible only in his own mind made contact with his flesh and his still healthy body crumpled to the forest floor, lifeless. Caliope danced around and tried to find weak spots, her daggers whirling in the dim light and Rako shouted and redoubled his efforts to down the beast. Then the bogeyman turned his eyes to me.

It cast and I knew the spell from the first Arcane syllable. I had used this spell many times before, I knew its power was in the belief of the victim. His own fears would literally stop his heart and there was only one defense, disbelief, Gnomes pride themselves as understanding the nature of illusions like no other race in Faerun. i have experienced illusionary magics for three centuries and have studied well to become a master of the illusionary Art. I do not tell you this not out of pride my comrades only to warn you that despite all of my experience with Illusion and my Will steeled against the onslaught, my phantasm seemed real to me though the horror of it I will not tell. My Mental defenses breached, it reached out and touched my chest, my heart skipped a beat and I only barely resisted due to my gnomish health. Even so, the apparition still gave me a grievous physical injury but not a fatal one.

As I recovered, I looked up to see that Rako's and Caliope's physical and elemental onslaught on the beast was taking its toll but was still not fatal. I decided to try another barrage of missles at the same time it started to cast that dreaded spell at me again. My fingers flew as fast as they could and the arcane words tore from my lips faster than they ever had fueled by my rising fear. As I pointed my hand at the beast and the five missles flew toward him I saw his finger pointed at me as his own spell completed. As the horror of my own making slowly approached, my missles struck home and this time to full effect, finishing the grisly work almost completed by Rako and Caliope alone. The light of the mini explosions shone through my illusionary terror, my mind locked on that tiny flaw in the image, allowing my psyche to resist it.

Panting in the darkness, the three comrades gathered their fallen companion and returned to the House of Heroes.

Wyk Whitehorn
Seeker of the Font of Knowledge
Loremaster of the Adventurer's Guild

Post Script: The bogeyman physical body was dispelled but it will reform. I will scour the libraries of Waterdeep to learn what I can that may be useful in the fight ahead. The enemy is powerful. It resists magical attacks and can cast illusionary magicks more powerful than mine. Be wary when venturing out in the Westwood for a great evil lurks there.

[jmecha]

"1018 Dale Reckoning, Year of the Dracorage, is the year in which the great unifier Tchazzar alone rode into battle against the Sahuagin raiders and slaughtered them to their last. So mighty was the victory, images of him standing atop a piles of Sahuagin corpses appearedwithin the throne and council chambers of all Chessentan cities. All knew Tchazzar to have been the greatest of Chessenta's War Heroes and not a child is raised without hearing this tale told to them."



Wyk Whitehorn's letter was a reminder, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan remembered.

He remembered the Cold Rider's attacking the four of them with pummeling bursts of solid ice that could break bones and carried upon frosty winds capable of flash freezing flesh. He remembered they had been prepared for such, the wardings allowed their lives to weathered the brutal storm.

He remembered the mounted horsemen being ill suited for nimble maneuvers between the trees of the West Wood as Calipe Dirtpaw moved to work her knives while Rako's steady support from behind his Crossbow kept the riders harried. He remembered shouting orders at the wizard to identify the Riders even as they melted into puddles of so much slush upon the forest floor.

"They are the stuff of nightmares and children's tales! They are the Cold Riders who take the naughty children away upon frozen winds. They are Fey."

He remembered thinking naughty is a silly word for a grown man to use, but Wyk was a Gnomish Wizard.

He remembered just as he begin to feel vindicated for his prior suspension of Fey, and congratulate his comrades on their efficient fighting against them, the storm of goblin steel and Bugbear fur erupted out of the trees directly north of them with all the speed and force of a stampede of Rothe.



"ATTACK!"

He yelled as both a warning of what was coming, and a command to his comrades. Without hesitation, they obliged. Together they moved in concert, to not only keep each other protected, but to leverage their personal prowess and the capabilities of the team to deliver swift death to the enemy ranks like a well swung long handled heavy headed hammer brought down with an unerroring arc that ended with brutal impact. The Bugbears had out numbered them several to one, but the Bugbears had been disorganized and ill prepared for the small team of Heroes whose blood was already warmed fresh from battle and whose potent arcane wardings and enhancements were near humming with energy.

When another horde of Bugbears erupted through the forest from the West, there was no need for shouting. Everyone of the Four knew what was to be done and moved to do their part. The fighting was no less fierce, and puddles of slush had been washed away in floods of blood. Wounded and haggard Pawn Xandos Klaxxan took to quickly field tending the wounds of his comrades while Rako Ca'tra tened the Pawn's wounds using a magical wand of divine healing that the Crossbowman wielded with all the tender care and gentle touch of an Orderly wielding a Blackjack.



Next came the Zartruss and over their corpses came the cover of night and blanket of fog. He remembered a lone hollow laugher emerging from the fog and the sound of Rako's armor clicking and clanking as it does when the man unfurled his whip for the attack. Rako was fighting something or someone and it was unleashing arcana potent enough to make the the dense fog ripple with the motion of unseen energy. Whatever it was Rako would not face it alone and Pawn Klaxxan raced to join the fight.

[jmecha]

"Shhhhh! You all will scare the frogs. I like their legs the best, but the trick is to sun'em after you spear'em. You need to let the sun lick'em a little bit, helps seal the slime into the skin so it don't boil or fry off when you cook'em. You need to let the sun lick'em I say....not so much that they spoil through and through, but I do likes them gamey and soft so I don't need to use my teeths to much when I put'em in my mouth. You sun lick'em just a little bit and you can make them pop with flavor just by smashing them with where your teeth use to be...smash'em down between your gums and let that flavor pop out of them filling you with that warm gamey taste."
~Old Man Paris Voxmyre Frog Hunter of the Stump Bogs East of Rasslanter



Whatever it was Rako was fighting, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan only caught a glimpse of it before his charge was broken.

The crossbow bolts streaked out through the fog from an unexpectedly low angle of approach finding their intended mark in Pawn Klaxxan's legs. The impact and pain sent him crashing hard to the blood stained wet autumn leaves of the forest floor. From where he laid he could almost make out the details of the battle his companions were fighting without him. Laying upon his back he reached down with the fingers of his right hand to feel the damage the bolts had done to his legs while he arched his neck and tilted his head to try and make out the footwork of his companions from the small window of visibility he had available to him in the empty darkness beneath where the fog hung and the above where the blood stain leaves laid.

Whatever they are fighting, there are several of them and they are fast moving and impossibly light upon their feet. They landed with their small feet spread wide apart, likely with a well developed base of balance, before they effortlessly and powerfully leapt up into the fog outside his field of vision.

Rako Ca'tra's steel plated boots were easy to recognize as they moved in unison with thunderous rhythmic click clacking of the whip. Even though Rako's torso was obfuscated by the fog, Klaxxan knew very well that his arms were working in a manic unison of motion to keep his buckler defending his flank and the whip lashing out in lethal arcs out towards any enemy within it's reaching radius. Whatever they were, they had Rako fighting defensively as they leaped about through the fog probing and testing him from seemingly random angles of attack.

The pain was temporarily blinding as his fingers wrapped tight around the shaft of the bolt embedded in his leg. He strained to tear it from where it was buried deep in his thigh. As his vision cleared Klaxxan briefly moved the slippery blood covered bolt into his field of view while his eyes worked to regain focus in their search for feet and ankles of his companions beneath the blanket of fog. With urgency upon him, his heart raced and every second was divided into smaller slivers of time that passed slowly allowing his mind to process every event as it happened no matter how frantic things had become.

He saw clearly the bolt he had pulled from his leg was not only one of his from the Foundry, but also it was child sized as if made for the warrens folk or as a training aid for his students.

He saw clearly the lifeless armored corpse of Rako Ca'tra where it laid prone.

He heard clearly the breaking voice of the panicked old gnomish wizard as he chanted to himself.

"No children you are being Naughty! No children you are being Naughty! No children you are being Naughty!"

He heard clearly the half dozen crossbow strings release their tension and the slick wet impact of the bolts that silenced the gnome's mantra.

His mind raced to answer the questions as quickly as it asked them.

Despite his wounded legs, his arms still had strength and when he heard the pitter patter of small feet racing towards him through the fog, his right hand dropped the bolt in hand to fetch the blade from his belt, and he lashed out like a striking serpent burying his steel to the hilt.

Still prone he twisting his torso to leverage his left hand against his attacker in an effort to push them off his sword while he worked to pull it free, he saw it had been none other Caliope Dirtpaw who had been running at him from his blind side. He had ran through the wrong little one.

The silence was a deafening exclamation upon the horror of the error he had made, and the silence lasted only one long moment before it was broken by the haunting chanting of voices he had come to know so well.

They formed a large circle around him, hidden by the darkness and fog.


"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"

With each step they chanted a marching cadence while moving inwards, tightening the loop they had made around him.


"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"

Releasing his hold on the sword buried deep in Caliope's chest, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan began crawling backwards using his elbows to propel him along the forest floor in a stubborn gesture of futility and unwillingness to accept what was to come.


"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"

As they tightened the loop, their forms became visible to see even through the dense fog. They were his students, or they had been before the Fey twisted and corrupted them into the savages he saw before him. They had been stripped of decency, their small wiry frames bare and naked except for the strange ritual scarring covering their bodies, the blood stains of their enemies, and the small skirts of frog skins they wore to conceal their genitalia. They marched towards him wearing wicked smiles as their small hands worked with well practiced precision to rearm and load their crossbows.


"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"
"Ooda"

He could not scurry away on his backside fast enough and his legs were so much dead meat, yet in vain he struggled and strained digging deep in the filth of the forest floor with his elbows to propel himself along his retreat. There was no reasoning with these mad eyed children. It became ever easier to see as they marched closer that they were lost in mind body and soul to whatever had been made of them. These were not his students any longer, these were the Naughty Ones the gnomish wizard had spoken of before.

The half a dozen crossbows were brought to bear upon him and in unison they released their child sized bolts. Klaxxan gave every ounce of what he had left like a spring released from compression, he rolled over onto his side. Several of the bolts found their mark regardless of his efforts that did little more then to hurl himself into one of the fast running cold creeks of the Westwood. The horrible pain throbbing across his many wounds slowly faded as the biting pain of the cold waters eventually made everything uncomfortably numb, and then black. The last of his sense to fade from him was his sense of betrayal, as he heard the children chanting their nonsense.

When his senses returned the intense heat and putrid smells were sickening in their overwhelming potency. Slowly he opened his eyes to find the relentless burning of Lathander's light beating down from above; and beneath him thousands of corpses twisted and torn, intermingled like a grotesquely woven blanket of bodies across the full length of beach in both directions.

Here they laid dead and slain, every one of them laid there upon that beach.

There were Plague Rats corpses intermingled with Zartruss corpses, some of which were missing their heads.
There lied Attalus with his wounds left bare to be licked a little by the sun.

Beneath his right hand he felt a thick matted mess of hair that made him recoil. With his hand withdrawn he found the lifeless face of Faenor Grok Brightblade half rotten and made little soft and gamey from to much sun.

All around him lay the corpses of those he had fought beside and those he had fought against.

They were legion and sprawled out haphazardly in a dizzying sickening display.
There was no escaping the sights and smells, for the sight had been branded deep into his mind and the heat from Lathander's light above kept the corpses pungent.

None of this made any sense, none of this could be real.
How could any of this be?

His unanswerable questions caused a panic that made his heart race to near bursting.

His panic and frightonly amplified as the corpse of Rako Ca'tra animated to stand tall above him with a booming voice echoing out from beneath a battered helmet.


"Are you hungry, Klaxxan? You want something to eat?"

What? What? No! his mind reeled and his fingers clawed through the spoiled flesh of his fallen friends and enemies and tried to drag his still crippled body and his useless bolt riddled lower half away from this Rako reanimated. Progress was slow and unsteady as his fingers slipped across the sun spoiled rotting meat of thousands of corpses and the monstrous Rako scooped up the torn out intestines of the dead and hurled it at him like so much offered chum.

Slipping and sliding out of control down a hill of the slaughtered and spoiled, his hands grasping at any perch they could find and tearing at the flesh of dead friends and enemies alike, his tumble did not break or end until he reached the bottom where he laid shattered and spent.

Atop the mound of gory corpses, Rako Ca'tra reanimated stood tall and taunting, with a woman's corpse dangling, a limp lifeless rag doll from his skeletal right hand. She was still encased in Her crimson platemail as Rako held Her aloft and throttled Her about like She was nothing more then a rattling noise maker to be waved about during a feast day a parade. The wet slapping sound of Her dead flesh impacting against the interior of the metal suit was almost as foul as the sight of the fluids sprayed out from the joints of Her armor at each internal impact within.

"How about a Whore!"

These were the last words his shattering mind could process. Rako yelled taunting and simultaneously hurled the defiled corpse of the Red Knight atop him.

Afterwards there was only burrowing panic as Pawn Xandos Klaxxan retreated to a safe place deep within.

[jmecha]

"There is only one sort of discipline, Perfect Discipline."
~King Azoun Obarskyr IV of Cormyr

Their shoulders were pinched and raised up tight with their backs slightly hunched as they quietly muttered their cacophony of hushed complaints amongst themselves, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan nodded with grim approval. As the rain began to fall from the predawn Waterhavian sky upon the assembling children on the grasses of the Field of Triumph, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan pushed Danny Lu forward and told him join the assembling ranks and files.

"PRAWNS, ASSEMBLE!"

The muttering complaints all fell away as the children moved to their positions while shouting in unison.

"YES, PAWN!"

Everyone knew their place and their was no jostling or wasted movements, other then the brief wanderings of a lost and disoriented Danny Lu who did not know where to stand. Second Street Sara who had developed into a bit of a mother hen moved to show Danny where to stand in the rear ranks where he could observe those before him as he attempted participation.

"WHAT ARE WE ON, PRAWNS?"

"THE WAR PATH, PAWN!"

"WHAT ARE WE AT WAR WITH, PRAWNS?"

"WEAKNESS, PAWN!"

"WHAT WILL VICTORY BRING US PRAWNS?"

"STRENGTH, PAWN!"

"WHAT ARE WE AT WAR WITH PRAWNS?"

"CONFUSION, PAWN!"

"WHAT WILL VICTORY BRING US?"

"UNDERSTANDING, PAWN!"

"WHAT DO WE DEVELOP PRAWNS?"

"DISIPLINE, PAWN!"

Pawn Klaxxan smiled as the rain began to fall harder and faster then the grass could absorb it and puddles began to form beneath the feet of his students. They were cold wet and miserable wretches this morning, but he knew it was temporary. He knew that in a few minutes time they would be warmed up enough, steam would be rising off their bodies as they worked through their opening calisthenics. He knew that the short term pains they were suffering now in this moment, were the price paid for longer lasting rewards. The War Path of blood and sweat, of cold and wet, of suffering and overcoming adversity, these were steps needed to develop the discipline needed to defeat one's enemies, external and internal. In time they would know as he did that only through discipline over themselves, through perfect discipline, might they know freedom and perhaps someday....even peace.

[jmecha]

"The military of the Flaming Fist mercenaries organization today bears little relation to that known by any of it's predecessors.

Until the latest, Baldur's Gate had no Ruler with a Mercenary Company and that profited from our conflicts. Baldurian wielders of plowshares could, with time and as required, wield swords as well. Now we have a Duke who personally profits from the military conflicts and contracts of our defenders. How long before his greed and lust for power compels him to create a permanent armed conflicts of vast proportions? We have always been a city of merchants, traders, and innovators, now we as a city annually spend more on military security than anything else.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is a new Baldurian experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual is felt by every Baldurian. We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger us. We should take nothing for granted."

~Clergy Ivek Divenhour of Waukeen
last seen speaking out against against Grand Duke Eltan of Baldur's Gate 1357 Dale Reckoning, the year of the Prince




The Masked Lord and City Watch Civilar Captain Severen waited outside the Foundry Foreman's office, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan marched towards them.

"Ahh are you Xandos?" asked the capable looking warrior wearing the armor of the city watch as well as the rank of Captain Civilar.

Klaxxan offered the Captain and his masked companion both a single respectful nod they could share before replying.
"I am Pawn Xandos Klaxxan of the House of Heroes."

"May I introduce myself and my companion." Stated the Watch Captain, and Klaxxan knew it was not a question, and so he nodded without argurment or protest.

"He is one of our city's very own Masked Lord." said the Watch Captain a few moments before the toe tapping began, and the frown crawled across his features.

"I aplogize..." Klaxxan stated more formally then sincerely, provoking the Captain to feign a cough as if clearing his throat. " I have never had the honor, and I am unaware of the custome...am I to bow or take a knee?"

Klaxxan silently looked between the pair for a moment before the Watch Captain spoke. "I am Civilar Watch Captain of the guard Severn."

Now that the introductions were finished, Klaxxan and the Masked Lord exchanged small inclinations of the head towards each other as a show of some measure of mutual respect. Pawn Klaxxan unlocked the foreman's office and welcomed them inside and to take seats. They entered the office and declined the offered chairs.

"We will stand." stated the Watch Captain.

"How may I be of service?" Klaxxan asked after taking his seat.

"Xandos correct?" Asked the Masked Lord with a voice as smooth as silk coming out from behind his mask, while the Captain stood firm wearing a frown.

Before Klaxxan could reply the Masked Lord continued with his silky voice."It has come to my attention you run this forge quite successfully. Your arms output is impressive."

Waiting to hear the Masked Lord out Klaxxan remained silent, and then it became obvious the Masked Lord was awaiting a response. The Watch Captain looked at the pair of them, and maintained his frown.

"Thank you for the compliment, I will let the workers know their efforts have earned your attention." Klaxxan truly believed any compliments to the Foundry's success was due to the work ethic of the staff and Sixteen's inovations.

"Here's the rub for both of us Xandos. We have an iron shortage. The fey have blocked caravans leading to the mines. The only ones that do pass are defended by sell swords, mercenaries and adventurers." The Masked Lord announced in his impossibly silky voice.

"How can the Foundry be of service?" Klaxxan asked with a slight bow of his head.

"Right now a majority of our Iron has to be purchased from Amn. They know of our dilemma and have raised the price of iron three fold." The Masked Lord confessed in his silky manner while Klaxxan's stern features expressed visable disappoval of the news with a frown that boarded on a scowl capable of rivaling the one the Watch Captain wore.

"To beat this I and other nobles are forced to hire ships to go to other markets just to find a better price. I'll cut to the chase. I have heard of one who runs this forge also is quite an accomplished adventuer-soldier of the likes. I take it you are an honored citizen of Waterdeep. We wish to offer you a deal." The Masked Lord's silky words were greeted with a neutral expression of Klaxxan while he waited for the other shoe to drop.

"You help end this Fey Menace, and you will be the main supplier of weapons to the cities militia." This time the words of silk were emphasized with a raised fist shaking at mention of the Fey.

There was just enough time for Klaxxan to glance to the still frowning Watch Captain and back to the Masked Lord before the silk continued to be spun.

"How does that sound?" Asked the Masked Lord as he placed his hands upon the desk between them and leaned closer, while the Captain nodded in affirmation.

"A quite lucrative contract Xandos." Said the Watch Captain, with all the unshakable confidence and authority of a man speaking the obvious.

"I would like there to be no...confusion about my accepting your offer. I am here in service to the Red Knight, and as such it is my place to serve my fellow man, especially in safeguarding them from threats such as the likes of these Fey." Said the Pawn with the sincere truth of a zealot twice blessed, calmly speaking the facts of the matter.

"But of course." Said the Masked Lord with his hands still flat upon the desk and leaning in.

"I have every intention of doing everything I can to rally and organize the Adventurers I can, to find a means to defeat these Fey, and drive them back from the region." Klaxxan had just been asked to do the duty he had already sworn to do and had every intention of performing, and felt it would be dishonest to allude to anything less then his previously existing intentions to do as he was being asked or even rewarded to do.

"It's good to have friends in this city as well. Trust me you would make many by putting an end to this horrible fairy tale. Do you have any questions?" Asked the Masked Lord with his silken voice.

"As for the Foundry providing the City it's Arms and Armors, we here would be honored.....and in the interm, in an effort to see the City's war time efforts better supported.....any Ores you bring here to be refined will be done so without charge to the City." Klaxxan offered in a sincere effort to let them know he and the Foundry were there to help Waterdeep and did not require monetary incentives to do so.

"Hmm I'm sure the cities coffers will thank you. If there is nothing else to discuss we will find our way out?" Said the Silk.

"I do have two questions.....First and foremost, are there any specfic requests or demands of the City other then to see the Fey stopped....and Secondly, should I need to reach out to the City, should I do so through Civilar Captain Severen?" They had made the trip to him, and Klaxxan thought it best to make sure that if they wanted something more then he already intended, such be made clear before they leave.

"Yes once the menace is quelled, we will see to our promise." Said the Watch Captain, not answering either question Klaxxan asked.

Rising to his feet to show his guests out the door of the small office, Klaxxan stopped to accept the Watch Captain's offered hand. After the exchange of a firm shake, Klaxxan thought best to thank these two for their surface and the opportunity to serve they had provided to him and all of the Foundry.

"If there is nothing else then, I thank you both for your time and service to the City as well as the opportunity you have granted us here to serve." To which the Watch Captain who had previously replied with some measure of enthusiasm. "Splendid."

The Watch Captain continued on. "Good luck to you and your other's who embark on this."

Pawn Klaxxan opened the office door for his guests to take their leave, and the Watch Captain deferred to the Masked Lord to leave first. Once the Masked Lord was down the hall and descending the stairs the Watch Captain released a sigh and spoke.

"Nothing bodes well when you arrive in your office and a masked lord wishes to speak with you. This time however...." And with that the Watch Captain began to take his leave.

"If there is anything else that can be done to aid the city during these trying times...anything perhaps inappropriate for a Lord of the City to speak of....my door is always open to you Civilar." Klaxxan offered as the Watch Captain was departing.

"Splendid!" Declared the Watch Captain once more with even more enthusiasm.

Once the pair were out of sight, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan closed the door and retook his seat behind the desk to consider the gravity of the exchange and examine once more what was said, and that which was not said. He wanted to take nothing for granted.

[jmecha]

"It is a blessing. There is nothing to cure. Her touch is upon you, a call to you, if you will."
~Priestess Naneatha Suaril of the House of the Moon



*Pawn Argos Klaxxan stood before the rank and file of the children he had come to reffer to as the Red Prawns. An intentional degrading term of affection meant to remind them of the Dock Ward from which they had come, to remind them they were not yet even Pawns, and to inspire them to work to become more then they currently were, more then most believed they could be.*

"You all reek with the odor of yesterday's catch! Make sure each of you finds some soap and water to wash yourselves, after you are dismissed. I will not have the Foundry smelling of sweat and Sahuagin!"

*Pawn Klaxxan looked over the young men and women before him, as they did their damnest to stand tall and striaght while fighting the urge to smile or snicker at his verbal abuse.*

"I am not one for hearing the sound of my own voice and from what I have seen of most of you Prawns listen about as well as you smell, and so I will keep this brief."

"I will be leaving with Rako Ca'tra and several others to investigate the far side of the Feywild Portal of the Bogs. This maybe a one way trip and I want to leave you bastards and whoresons some simple to follow marching orders so you are not idle useless twits in my absence."

"You are to continue to report to duty in the Foundry for your shifts, where you will be overseen by Foreman Sixteen. Your pay will be steady so long as your put in your work, and so long as the Foundry remains operational you all will have employment regardless of my presence."

"Highsword Bloodhelm, will have the Acolytes over see your training in my absence. I expect each and everyone of you to be here ready and waiting for their arrival every day, and should they fail to appear......do not fail yourselves. Your continued education and refinement is the responsablity of each and everyone of you here. I have taught you all you need to know to stay upon the path, and it will be your responsibility to walk it in my absence."

"Last but not least I want to briefly speak of your futures."

*Pawn Klaxxan stopped to take a deep breath as his features grew from that of both jovial and stern, to sincerely concerned.*

"Some of you may experience changes....and I am not talking about your stiffening short sword, moon blood, or the like."

*Pawn Klaxxan grit his teeth and then pressed on.*

"Recently a friend of mine displayed symptoms of Lycanthropy, and when I say displayed.....I mean they lost all control of themselves and turned into a violent wererat upon the streets of Waterdeep. The incident was contained and no one was harmed, but afterwards I watched as the Clergy of Selune tried to explain in plain and simple terms the reality of the situation....while my friend greeted their wise console with all the maturity of a poorly raised child."

*Pawn Klaxxan released an audible sigh of defeat and briefly shook his lowered head before he raised his glare to once more focus upon the students before him.*

"Each of you has known hardships. Each of you will face more in the years to come, and there will be pain and suffering in your lives. Some of you may even carry within you the strain of Lycanthropy that runs strong through those of this City's Dockward. Do not let the things you can not control be your undoing."

"Each and everyone of you is here because you have survived long enough to be here, and have decided for yourselves you would become more then you were. So long as you choose to put in the sincere effort, focus upon what can be done and do it, and deny yourselves the insidious indulgence of self pity and denial...I will be proud to have known you."

*Pawn Klaxxan sighed once more and then stood straighter, while resting his hand upon the hilt of the Cold Iron Blade Rako Ca'tra had recently finished for him.*

"Stay to the Path you Prawns, and if any of you start to sprout whiskers where you shouldn't report to the Temple of Selune......DISMISSED!"

[jmecha]

"I had a ....dream.... a vision really. It could be from no other than the Foehammer.The streets of waterdeep were filled with darkened smoke, barely light could be seen.....The sounds of battle though were all around. War is coming."
~Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloodhelm, Hammer 8th, 1401 Dale Reckoning, the Year of Sheltered Viper



Wind was uncaring of the men and dwarf who ascended the mountain, cold and ruthlessly, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan kept his measured pace while marching upward and onwards. They had been tasked with making preparations for the war Highsword Bloodhelm believed was coming, and even though they had just returned from the Feywild only a day earlier, neither Rako Ca'tra nor Pawn Xandos Klaxxan were men suited for leisure.

Their assignment was a simple one. They were to ascend the Sword Mountains and make contact with the Sky Pony Tribe, work to form an alliance with the fierce warriors, and if possible learn their herbal secrets for making a potent combat enhancing drug. Simple though did not necessarily imply nor mean it would be easy. The Sky Pony Tribe was as dangerous as the Sword Mountains they roamed, and about as welcoming. Despite the offerings of a Magical Amulet and a large enchanted double bladed sword, the party from the House of Heroes was spurned as outsiders, degraded as weak little men of the soft city, and their offerings were laughed at and unwanted.



There was a Warrior amongst the Sky Ponies, Frauzoth Em, who was to undertake his ritual ascension to a tribal elder, if he could lead a band of warriors to hunt Basilisks. The Tribe was lite on unproven warriors for Frauzoth Em to lead, and so he accepted the challenge of leading the small men from the soft city on the hunt.

The small men from the soft city known as Pawn Xandos Klaxxan, Rako Ca'tra, and Dwarven Clergy Raldin Thunderbeard, became reduced to being called Rock Farmer, Metal Head, and the Fat Gnome. Regardless of cultural differences, encountering Orcs, Umber Hulks, and Frauzoth Em charging head long into the gaze of a pack of a dozen Basilisks...the hunt was a success.

The heart's blood of a Basilisk was drank, and the head of one of the beasts was brought back to the tribe as proof of the hunting band's prowess and Frauzoth Em's leadership. The small men from the soft city were even recognized as children of the tribe, recognized as daughters of the tribe in fact, awarded traditional tribal garb, and invited back to someday make themselves men by climbing to the highest peaks to find the coveted Fur Flower.

[jmecha]

The Prawns worked through their morning calisthenics, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan made an effort to observe without interrupting. They had established a rotation in which each of them would lead the class through a series of exercises and techniques before calling another to the front to lead the class for a time. Each of them taking upon the mantle and responsablity of being a leader, and each of them knowing the importance of actively listening and following instructions as a member of the class. He had only experienced a few days absence from his students, yet they had carried on for nearly a month without him. They appeared to have stayed well on the path. In time some of them may even be worthy and willing of becoming Pawns themselves, though how much time was left was unknown.

The last sparing match of the class ended with Nadia Knuckles laying Danny Lu flat on his back with a series of well placed body blows finishing with a hip toss. Pawn Xandos Klaxxan then addressed the class.

"ON YOUR FEET AND FALL IN!"

With an offered hand from Nadia Knuckles, the winded and weezing Danny Lu got to his feet and fell into formation with the rest of Prawns. They moved with precision and efficiency, and Pawn Klaxxan allowed himself a smile wide enough for them to see.

"PRAWN CHARLIE! WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TACTICS AND STRATEGY?"

Without hesitation Kitchen Chair Charlie the once notorious thief of countless cooling baked goods from the window sills of Waterdeep, sounded off with confidence.

"Tactics are the means and methods of battle, and Strategy is the long term planning used to win wars consisting of multiple battles!"

Slowly Pawn Xandos Klaxxan offered a nod of acceptance at the rote answer, before offering an analogy.

"Think of the Lanceboard and how each individual piece moves and how they maybe moved to take other pieces or to be taken as Tactics. Think of how you decide where to place the pieces in an effort to sacrifice what you are willing to lose to take what you desire to take across the course of the entirety of the game or a series of games as Strategy."

Pawn Xandos Klaxxan paused for a moment to see how many of the pairs of eyes showed the spark of understanding and how many were glazed over with dull look of confusion.

"The Lanceboard though is only an example. The rules by which the pieces of the Lanceboard move and the well defined conditions of victory upon the Lanceboard are there to gives us an example of how to make use of what is available to us to overcome challenges in an effort to achieve our well defined goal."

Pawn Xandos Klaxxan looked around the Field of Triumph for a moment before looking back to his students and resuming his lecture.

"Even here upon the Field of Truimph there are well defined rules and clearly determined conditions for victory, allowing those who participate to work as they will towards achieving them. Off the Lanceboard, and beyond the Field of Triumph though what the pieces can do.....the rules of the game.....and the conditions for victory are far from well defined. Which leads me to what I wanted to share with you all today."

"In your lives you may come to master an understanding of how the pieces move, come to understand the Rules of the Game, and mastery of both will fail to serve you if you are incapable of defining your Victory. Without understanding what your Victory is, all your moves, tactics, and strategies will be nothing more then rolling bones with fingers crossed on an unknown wager."

"It is not always obvious what a Victory should be or could be, nor what conditions are needed to achieve it. In Lanceboard, Victory and Defeat are clearly defined, and so one can apply their understanding of Tactics and Strategy to set the conditions needed for said Victory or at a minimal to prevent Defeat. In your own life times though you have seen examples of how much more complex the defining of Victory can be and how difficult it can be to determine the conditions needed to achieve it."

"Now.....I do not expect any of you to know and define what Victory for your individual lives should be, nor do I expect any of you to now be capable of providing well defined Victories and the Conditions needed to achieve them no matter the conflict that arises....I though am charging each and everyone of you with the duty and responsibility for giving such things the deep thought and consideration such matters deserve."

"To give said subject matters the the thought they deserve, you will need time, and your next assignment will be buying time. You see children, perhaps the only thing less thoughtful and less capable then understanding the great secrets of the Lanceboard of Life then a Prawn, is a dead Prawn. So keeping yourself and your fellows alive is a solid opening move."

"The conditions of this game will be as follows, within your homes, the Foundry, and during our Classes together you will be safe from death. Every where else though you will be subject to swift and violent ends with minimal warnings. Your objective will be to maneuver through the city undetected by myself or Rako Ca'tra, delivering yourselves safely to your homes, work, and learning. Now.....be warned, We know where you live, we know where you work, and we know where you learn. It will be your responsablity to change what you can about your patterns to make yourselves hard targets."

"Perhaps instead of staying in your homes you pool resources to rent a different place of shelter together each night, though if such is found all within might become easy marks....so perhaps there is some advantage to keeping yourselves divided into smaller cells?"

"I suggest you learn to live with your lives on your backs, carry only what you need and carry it with you wherever you go, because you may not have the opportunity to return to the same place twice to retrieve that which you left behind."

"There will only be the pair of us hunting the lot of you initially, and you will have the advantage of using the crowds and the myriad streets of this city to mask your movements. I suggest you take full advantage of your advantages and do not allow yourselves to become complacent easy prey."

"Now remember.....the Goal for now.....your current Victory is to not get caught by us....if any of you survive long enough, you may learn enough to realize there exist a Victory beyond mere survival.....though you will first need to survive long enough to learn of such things."

"DISMISSED!"

Pawn Xandos Klaxxan watched with a smile as the questions his students had all faded from their puzzled faces in response to the crossbow bolts Rako Ca'tra began plunging into their ranks from his position in the elevated benches surrounding the arena. As the realization set in, they scrambled as fast as thier Prawn legs would carry them towards the exits, some even remembered to not run in a straight line to make themselves more difficult to hit.

[jmecha]

"Behold we have climbed the highest peaks! Fought bird men, and giants.... topless woman that was ugly."
~Elder Frauzoth Em of the Sky Pony Tribe




Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloodhelm listened with stony reserve as Pawn Xandos Klaxxan reported the team's successfully being accepted by the Sky Pony Tribe before offering a sample of herbs for inspection.

"Ephedra is the herb's name and this is what the Sky Ponies use with the administrations of a skilled Shaman to provoke a devastating state of battle readiness and rage amongst their warriors. I am not completely unfamiliar with it because a similar variant was known in Chessenta as a popular weight loss tea for those who had out grown their wrappings, as well a drink athletes would imbibe before important competitions, and more practically it was used as a medicine to help those those who suffered chronic breathing difficulty, fevers, chills, and congestion of the nose."

Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloohelm remained silent as he examined the herbs presented, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan looked down to refference the notes he had prepared.

"Some have complained that it is not without side effects such as Nausea, headache; dizziness,Irritation of the stomach; diarrhea, anxiety; psychosis, kidney stones, tremors, dry mouth, irregular or rapid heart rhythms; heart damage, high blood pressure, restlessness; nervousness; sleeping problems, decreased appetite, flushing; sweating, and last but not least....increased urination."

The look the Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloohelm offered, told Pawn Xandos Klaxxan that he had heard more then he wanted to about the potential side effects.

"It was also said that with the right knowledge the herb could be used to make a potent potion that warriors could carry into battle and imbibe without the aid of shaman to instantly provoke themselves to this enhanced state of battle prowess. I will provide samples to the Gondsman Sixteen and see what he can deduce from further study."

Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloodhelm set the hard stick like tubular ephedra upon the altar and raised the Fur Flower to his nose and deeply inhaled.

"Edelweiss, or as the Sky Pony call it, the Fur Flower, which is as much a euphemism as it is a description of the woolley fibers of the flower, is a symbol of bravery. It is used in traditional medicine as a remedy against abdominal and respiratory diseases, the Fur Flower....I mean Edelweiss seems to only grow at incredibly heights. For our purposes though it is more then a symbol of bravery, for when properly administered it can make a warrior incapable of experiencing fear. This of course has the draw back of fearless warriors being more reckless with their lives then they would be if tempered by fear.....but there is something to be said for unbreakable and unflinching bravery."

Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloohelm lowered the Fur Flower and placed it upon the altar before turning his gaze upon Pawn Xandos Klaxxan.

"Not only are the mountains where the herbs can be found extremely dangerous, but the herbs themselves can be difficult to properly harvest without training. Between the Kenku Archers being extremely capable of springing a deadly ambush upon even the most vigilant of patrols, Frost Giants traversing the mountain terrain jumping from elevation to elevation with powerful leaps and bounds wading into battle wielding their weapons with devastating effect, the Harpies literally rupturing the organs and flesh of a men with their screams, and the particular skill sets needed to reach the flowers and harvest them......I do not currently see a means of making these rare herbs readily available for soldiers."

Highsword of Tempus Turik Bloodhelm nodded in acknowledgement, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan lowered his head respectfully to signal his report had come to a close.

"Now if you will excuse me Highsword, I have some Prawns to catch."

[jmecha]

The Prawns worked to clean the Field of Truimph, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan worked with them. Each collected trash from a different aisle between the seats. Working to stuff their sacks with garbage. They worked to see the Field of Triumph made clean and ready, in the same manner a soldier would his own arms and armor after a battle, knowing they would be needed for the next.

It was no easy task clearing all the litter the crowds left in their wake, but it was a task the Prawns and Pawn had made their own. This here was where they trained, this here place was where they gathered together, and together they would work to see it maintained. Despite the significance of the place and the spiritual and symbolic importance of their working to maintain it, there was no opening ceremony or group prayer rite invoked before the trash was collected. There was no group chant as burlap sacks were filled with shattered remains from broken drinking mugs, there was no vow of silence taken for the duration of the work. They simply worked together aisle after aisle, row after row, doing their best to see the job done as best they could.

Occasionally a pair of Prawns working in parallel with each other would banter back and forth about the earlier fighting they had seen upon the Field. Often though these conversations were short and simple exchanges of excited opinions made in passing, an effort to remember every bit of their favorite parts of the battle in vivid detail while the memory was still freash. Rarely, but occasionally there would be a friendly argument over what should have happened or a hypothetical about what could have happened if things went differently. Mostly though the Prawns and Pawn worked in silence, using the mindless labor of picking up trash as an opportunity to reflect on their own thoughts.

Tonight was different though because there was a clear divide amoungst the Prawns. For more then a Ride, Klaxxan and Rako had been engaging the Prawns in a training exercise in which the Prawns were hunted and captured. Those that got captured were issued a helmet they were forced to wear everywhere they went, as well as a crossbow they were expected to never be caught without, as well as an offical membership token proving their place within Rako's Rock Rangers. The offical token of membership was a stone about the size of a small child's head. When the token was issued, there were always questions, and the answer was always the same.

"It is good training."

Most of the work force this evening consisted of Rako's Rock Rangers as they awkwardly tried to not lose their helms bending over to pick up trash, or drop their crossbows, while occasionally grumbling over how heavy their rocks were. There were only a small handful of Prawns left, and it was easy to see they were avoiding the Rock Rangers. There was an understandable wedge driven between them over the last several days, some may even say an intentional wedge.

Whenever there were duties to be tended to of variable degrees of effort, difficulty, or misery, the worst of said duties were given to the Prawns. Whenever meals were served, the Prawns were given noticeably smaller portions or less quality fare. This night would be no different. This night would not only be no different, but it would end in an ugly exclamation mark to give the unfairness some potent punctuation.

Once all the trash had been gathered the Prawns were to carry it to the Rat Hills, while Rako's Rock Rangers provided them security and torch light. This meant the last three Prawns would need to make several trips to and from the Rat Hills carrying trash sacks slung over both shoulders, while several Rock Rangers leisurely strolled along side them carrying torches aloft.

In the pre-dawn light the last sacks of trash were carried into the Rat Hills. The Prawns were covered in the wet filth and and slop that leaked from their trash sacks, their backs and legs were both tired and sore. On the other hand the Rock Rangers were relatively freash, seeing how whenever one arm got a little tired of holding a torch aloft, they would just switch hands.

As the Prawns heaved the last trash sack over the fence, Rako's Rock Rangers tossed their torches aside in unison and shouldered their crossbows. The Prawns mustered enough effort to give the Rock Rangers a look that exclaimed that this was not only ridiculously unfair, but they did not approve of the crossbows being leveled at them.

The Rock Rangers offered a small nod of agreement to the remaining Prawns, then let fly their soft tipped cork head bolts from their crossbows. The Prawn hunt that had lasted several days was now over, the last three Prawns had been put down.

The fight that would have followed would not have been good natured. Pawn Klaxxan stepped between the last three Prawns who were seething with rage as they curled thier filthy fingers into fists, while the Rock Rangers laughed and congratulated each other for their successful hunt. Pawn Klaxxan's intervention though was only enough to turn what would have been a grand melee, into a cacophony of complaints.

"What sort of chamber pot slop you trying to serve us as soup, Pawn?"

"Yeah! That was about as fair as Kitchen Chair Charlie's teeth are straight!"

"Take back what you said about my teeth!"

"Foul play, bad form Pawn!"

"Fuck this!

"What kinda test was that?"

With his hands raised in surrender to their bitching, gripes, and complaints, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan let them wear themselves out before he even tried to offer an explanation. It took awhile.

[jmecha]

"THAT WAS NOT FAIR!"
~Upset Prawns


The complaints of the Prawns were coming to a close, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan waved them over to gather close. They came begrudgingly, with the reluctant steps of rebellious children who wanted to show their defiance. They did come though, and once they gathered round, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan agreed with them.

"You are absolutely right. Nothing about that was fair."

Some of their faces wore looks of confusion at his agreement, others seemed to only have their fires of angst reignited. Some of Rako's Rangers appeared they wanted to disagree, due to a desire to claim their victory was fairly won. They gathered though, wanting to hear where this was going next. They wanted an explanation.

"Listen.....nothing about that was fair....it was never meant to be fair. It was always intended to be unfair. There are no fair fights."

Pawn Xandos Klaxxan pointed towards Lathander cresting over the eastern horizon.

"Nothing is fair. Everyday Lathander rises in the East and sets in the West. The sun rise does not alternate days so both East and West get their fair share of them. Have you ever heard of the cardinal directions complaining that they do not get their fair share of opportunities to host the sunrise? Have you ever heard of the Eastern sky complaining it has to burden the responsablity of hosting each day break?"

In the breaking light of dawn it was easy to see most of his students wore expressions of thinly veiled rage, and his words were of no comfort.

"If the day ever comes that your forces have fallen and you are being hunted by supieor numbers, you will be at every disadvantage. They will search for you in shifts with freash well rested and feed patrols, while you grow both tired and hungry. The more elusive you are, the more creative they will become in their efforts to find you."

"They will hound you at every turn, and when you have been run down to next to nothing, they will apply new pressures. They will publicly begin executing your fellows, promising only your total surrender will stop the killings. They will offer to you fair treatment , food, and shelter, if only you surrender. There will even be special treatment to those that turn upon their fellows, and tortures for those who do not."

As the expressions of the Pawns began to show understanding, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan's stern features began to hint at disgust.

"The fight is never fair. It never has been, and it never will be. I wanted all of you to learn that lesson.....and that is what this exercise has been about from the start. This was never a test to see which of you would last the longest or be the quickest to get themselves caught."

Pawn Xandos Klaxxan paused his words, and slowly shook his head.

"This was never a test, this was meant as training and the intentional unfairness and mistreatment done to teach each of you a hint of how it can be."

Pawn Xandos Klaxxan hesitated for a moment before resuming.

"Soldiers fight as they train....and if I allowed your Prawns to merely train on a fair and level playing field....I would be remiss in my responsablity to not only you but to the Lady of the Lanceboard. It can always get worse kids, the fight is never fair, and it is all of our responsibility to not only be prepared for the worst, but to work to make the best of it no matter how bad it gets."

The disgust faded from his features and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan began to smile.

"Now those of you who want to stay here in the rat hills and wallow in your tears are welcome to do so. Though....for those of you who have any fight left in you....well this little lecture has made us all late to today's training.....time to form up and hustle back to the field and get started."

The Prawns and Rock Rangers did not dilly nor dally long before forming up to begin the run back to the Field of Truimph. Cadence was called and the pace was an enjoyable one intended to ward off the chill of a frosty Waterhavian dawn. The racket they made running and singing through the streets was not fair to anyone trying to sleep in.


"I wanna be a Rako Ranger.
Living life of Crossbows and Anger.

Rako Ranger,
Crossbow Anger!

I wanna escape the docks,
Running with a life sized rock!

Escape the docks,
Life sized rocks!

I wanna have a platemail bed.
Live my life with a helmet head.

Platemail bed,
Helmet head!

Gonna kill me fairy before I'm done.
Putting bolts in Red Caps for fun.

Fairy's are done,
Red Cap fun!

I wanna be a Rako Ranger.
Living for Crossbows and Anger.

Rako Ranger,
Crossbow Anger!"

[jmecha]

"In short, we are looking to outsource some of our work that doesn't require a high degree of skill or guile."
~Righteous Brother Hronkil Elgredsson of the Sun Soul




The large pot of water came to a simmer and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan gave the Prawns permission to remove it from the fire. Each of the Prawns then poured a small cup of sugar into the heated water while Pawn Klaxxan stirred the solution with an arrow shift.

"Look here you Prawns. Watch as the surgar you pour in appears to vanish within the water without a trace. This is because the water, especially when well heated has the ablity absorb that which is added to it. This is no different then using an ox tail or fish bones to give flavor to a broth or soup."

The Prawns poured their rations of sugar into the pot and watched the sweet grainy partials vanish into the solution as it was stirred. They then looked to Pawn Klaxxan with impatience and expectation in their eyes, asking him without words where this lesson was going.

"Now that all the rations have been added, look deep to the bottom of our pot and behold the spiraling swirling patterns of the sugar that was more then the water could absorb. Even water has it's limitations....limitations we have expanded by first heating the water, but limitations remain all the same."

The Prawns glanced deep into the pot as Klaxxan continued to stir the heated solution, and then looked to him silently demanding he get to the point.

"Now I ask each of you stick your unfinished arrow shafts into the pot. In time as the water cools it will lose its ability to successfully absorb as much sugar as it had while well heated. The former limitations will return at a uniformed rate, and the previously absorbed sugar will be forced to find a new place for it's self. As birds of a feather flock together, the sugar partials will unite to find a place together.....but just as Waterdeep was not built in a night.....it will take the sugar sometime to crystalize."

The Prawns stuck the arrow shafts they had brought with them from the Foundry into the solution with mixed expressions of disinterest, curiosity, and confusion scattered across their faces. Once they had dropped the last of the arrow shafts into the pot Pawn Xandos Klaxxan gestured for them to follow as he lead them towards the altar of the the Red Knight.

"Does this have something to do with that big blue gem with the sparkles?" Asked Wrong Way Robbie.

"I do not know that is a gem Robbie, but it is a crystal." Klaxxan replied while gesturing to the sparking blue crystal that sat on display upon the altar.

"What is the difference between a gem and a crystal?" Second Street Sara asked.

"Semantics, mostly. Gems are hardened durable, valuable, and often described as aesthetically pleasing. Gems stones can be made of Amber which is not a Crystal, or Quartz which is a Crystal. Think of Gems as precious stones, a rather generic term....where as Crystals are solid structures created in a reoccurring pattern with uniformity."

The look on their faces told him that not all of them were really sure what exactly he just explained.

"Let me put it this way....All Gems are considered valuable, but not all Gems are Crystals. Where as all Crystals are made in uniformed and recognizable patterns, not all of them are durable or aesthetically pleasing enough to be considered valuable....and so they are not considered Gems."

Nadia Knuckles raised her right hand and then spoke up after being acknowledged with a nod from Pawn Klaxxan.

"What does aesthetically pleasing mean?"

Pawn Klaxxan cleared his throat and forced a polite smile in response to the remedial question before answering.

"When something is aesthetically pleasing....it means it appeals to or is beautiful to the senses. Currently your collective pungent aroma is Not aesthetically pleasing.....class is over you are all dismissed to go home and tend to your personal hygiene."

[jmecha]

"Do not think there is anything that you can hide from Shar. She IS the secret herself."
~Lord Vanrak Moonstar



The candles were burning low, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan strained his eyes and mind organizing the collected map fragments of Shadowdeep in the dying light. His cup of ginkgo tea had long since gone cold and he drank down the bitter remains of it with a brief grimace. He had been here before, he was no stranger to having more questions then answers. It was all familiar terrain in the sense that Klaxxan had had a lifetime of experience, not having all the answers. In this particular case though familiarity did not breed fondness, nor complacency, it bred contempt.

Often he used it as fuel, the contempt and disgust was burnt slowly away like lantern oil to produce the desired glow. In this late hour though he was exhausted enough that not even his discomfort, disgust, nor anger could provide him the energy and focus needed to push on through the notes and sketches to work productively. It was time to pack it in for the night, and so Pawn Xandos Klaxxan stoppered his vial of ink, set his quills aside, organized his notes and sketches and carefully began stowing away what moments ago was a cacophony of chaos he had been struggling to condense into concise and comprehendible information.

One of the last slips of paper to be stowed away was the written letter Sarenna had sent him detailing an account of Lady Moonstar's request to see her army resupplied, and the fall out within the chamber of the Masked Lords in which Vanrak Moonstar demanded his title be reinstated or that he would reveal the identity of the Masked Lords and finish the war his sister had started. Reflexively Pawn Xandos Klaxxan reviewed it one last time before making an effort not to crumple the report up and throw it into a fire. There was so very much about this page that bothered him, haunted him almost. He felt an almost physical compulsion to rend it, to ruin it, and have it cast away. Instead though his practiced fingers saw it carefully and pristinely sealed away inside the large water proof box he was storing the other sensitive documents in for the night. One must not let their feelings interfere with the work, he needed to remain dethatched and capable.

After seeing everything stowed away properly in it's place he washed his face and hands in preparation to rest for the few hours that remained before the coming dawn. Laying there he closed his eyes and let his mind wander unfettered as he let the exhaustion of the previous days lull him into unconsciousness. For a brief time his mind pondered the folly of Lady Alathene Moonstar's plan to stage a host of soldiers inside of Shadowdeep for extended amounts of time. The slow and inevitable decay of mind and body as the negative energy of the very place drove those who dared to occupy it to inevitably physical infirmity and literal insanity? If you had the Jupiter Stone, capable of opening doors from her to there and back again, why not just house your army here on the material plane where they could train hard, eat well, and grow healthy in preparation for the confrontation to come? What did Lady Moonstar know that he did not? The thought plagued him for a short time that there must be some reason for what she did, then though the heavy and inevitable darkness of sweet blissful slumber began to wash over him.

His final thoughts before fading to black were upon Vanrak's words that Shar was the secret, and perhaps that meant Selune was Revelation? Perhaps Lady Moonstar staged that doomed army in a position they could not win and exposed them to seamlessly needless hardships and dangers because she knew that by doing so, her brother would see their frailty and infringement upon his domain as an opportunity, a call to arms, and justification for public demands he could not pass up. Had Lady Moonstar intentionally sacrificed all those soldiers in a effort to give Vanrak provocation to expose himself publicly and start a War? Did she sentence those men to their deaths, just so numerous others would be forced into a position to fight against her sworn enemy that has for so very long managed to always elude her?

Despite the grim realizations and possible implications of these lines of thought, Pawn Xandos Klaxxan could not help but sigh with relief as the darkness overtook him and he slept like the dead deep beneath the House of Heroes.

[jmecha]

"Lead us to safety for we have strayed."
~A Prayer fragment hastily written across a torn sheet of paper inside the abandoned barracks of Torm's Champions within Shadowdeep

The fires within the Foundry had been quenched cold for more then a Ten-Day, and the fires ignited within Pawn Xandos Klaxxan burnt brighter and hotter with each passing day. His students had been made victims. Those who were not murdered where they stood, were dragged through Void Doors to Shadowdeep where they would be used. Even his Ward Danny Lu was made a bannerman to further the War effort of Sharran Forces. They were being indoctrinated and used, who they were was being stripped of themselves. Every piece of themselves lost, replaced with the numbing nothingness of the Darkness of Shadowdeep, the Darkness of Shar.

The darkness was invasive and penetrated everything with it's numbing cold slowly sapping the strength and sanity of those it enveloped, and Pawn Xandos Klaxxan moved through it with a singular sense of purpose. There was a war being fought unlike any other he had every known, and his ignorance would serve no one other then the enemy, and so Pawn Xandos Klaxxan strived towards understanding. Understanding both when and where the mysterious Moon Doors opened and closed were his first and foremost priority. There could be no exit strategy from Shadowdeep without a complete understanding of the Moon Doors. Without an exit strategy every attack launched into Shadowdeep is one launched without a plan in place for the withdrawal and survival of the forces used during the attack. Vanrak Moonstar's forces had only swelled in number and size while the number of those capable of effectively allying against him have continued to dwindle.

Learning how to effectively strike against Vanrak Moonstar's larger forces and escaping without retribution would be needed to make fighting this war sustainable. An exit strategy was needed not only for those still fighting this war, but for those who have been made prisoners by it. Understanding the mystery of the Moon Doors was the first step towards rescuing any surviving Prawns from continued indoctrination into and servitude under Sharran forces.

Initially he was frustrated with the seeming randomness of the Moon Doors. Resentful that Selune had granted a blessings so cryptic that they could not be effectively used in any strategic manner. In time though he began to see patterns emerge, and the truth was he needed the mystery of the Moon Doors. Without the work required to understand them to focus upon during his darkest hour, he may have become lost.

While reviewing his notes within one of the few safe havens discovered within Shadowdeep, he remembered one of his earliest lessons from the Citadel.



"Each time one prematurely teaches a cadet something they could have discovered for themselves, that future officer is kept from inventing it and consequently from understanding it completely. That is why it is important we as Pawns here at the Citadel of Strategic Militancy remain humble and strive to serve those who come here to learn, learn for themselves."
~Grand Pawn

[jmecha]

The gathering upon the Field of Triumph was smaller then it had been in the past, but they trained with a violent focus and ferocity. The attack upon the Foundry, their time as prisoners within the Nightsinger's Spires, and the fight they fought for their freedom left a mark upon them. It would be naive to say it forced them to grow up, or that it matured them. Pawn Xandos Klaxxan looking over the remaining Prawns knew that they were still children. Children that knew violence with an intimacy that if not properly directed could mislead them down paths of wanton destruction for the rest of their lives.

There was an addictive quality to violence for those who had learned to effectively wield it as a tool. Without great care it could easily become the preferred means of solving one problem after another. It was important that he instill in them that there was more to strategy and life then fighting.

"The object in war is to attain a better peace even if only from your own point of view. This makes it essential to conduct war with constant regard towards your desired peace."

"While the Lords of Waterdeep have remained silent upon this issue, it remains our responsibility as followers of the Red Knight to not just win this war, but to insure that winning this war leads towards a more desirable peace. Now ideally we would want any war fought to lead to a better state of peace then what existed before the war, though we must always adjust our aims to our means. For Strategy begins with us developing the wisdom to see what is possible and determining the steps needed to achieve it."

"I ask each of you to give this thought before we gather next dawn, for I would hear what ideas you all may have for our desired end state to this war."