The Great Library of Palanthas
An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.
Stories of Ansalon from the view of Dakath.
A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Eyes hurt? Turn Color OFF!! (regular story dates)
Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a book on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Dakath' scribed in dark grey ink.
Author: Dakath Date: Tue Jan 9 14:36:21 2024 Subject Dakath's approach
It was hard to tell if it was midday or near days end with how grey the sky was. The road through the winding Khalkist Mountains was small, almost just a animal trail, but useful enough for walk. A man, with a long beard greying beard approached the lonely one floor inn on this very trail. He was dressed in tattered tattered, indistict robes. His frame is wirey and his long ashen hair fell out of the meager hood, whipped around by the light, but incredibly cold breeze. He entered the meager inn through the protesting wooden door, barely able to keep the cold from the road. An unkempt, short, ugly man looked up from his work and with a splitting grin welcomed the man. "Welcome, welcome!" he said as the thin man walked in and looked around the inn's receiving room. The room was small as expected, with a low bar and a couple stools for serving drinks to patrons who were unlucky enough to be here. There were two other tables in the place, the wood worn and slightly rotted. The chairs creaked as one sat in them. A small hearth was situated near the far end opposite of the bar to heat the room. It did little to stave away the cold. "Make yourself at home, sir! Would you be needing accomodations or just something to eat or drink? We have stew on the menu for today. Not the most filling, but it'll get you back to where you need to be. We also have ale on tap," every word dripped with over abundance and exageration of the worth of the inn. Indeed, it was the only place in miles from any city, so it was completely untrue. "I will take the stew and ale," the wirey man stated as he sat at one of the two tables near the hearth, trying to shake off some of the roads bitterness. "Coming up!" exclaimed the owner, as he moved to fetch the requested items. The owner's gate was definitely off, as if his legs were two different lengths. A step thump could be heard as he moved across the taverns floor. After a few minutes, the owner served what appeared to be boiled water with a few weak pieces of vegetables of questionable freshness and a mug of what could only be described as 'ale.' It at least had a bitter taste to it. It could very well have been dunked in a fetid lake for all anyone knew. "Thanks," the patron stated with a weariness that would wear down the earth itself. "Are you heading north or south, sir?" asked the inn keeper as he step thumped his way back around the bar. "North," replied the thin man, shortly. However, not curtly. More of matter of fact. "Ah, yes, anywhere particular?" continued the inn keeper. "It is my bussiness." stated the thin man, not looking up from his bowl. "I meant no offense, sir! None at all! It's just the way of being an inn keep. Got to know all the coming and goings on the road!" he stated as he continued his work behind the bar. After a while, the thin man stared intently into the embers of the hearth. After an uncertain amount of time, others entered the inn. Smelling awful, the sound of flip flap feet hitting the wooden floor, the inn keeper turned with the same grin that instantly turned in a grin of fear, "We-welcome sirs! I am so glad we-e can accomodate you!" The three figures, all around three feet of height, confidently strode into the inn, the front figure glaring around, while the others two spoke amongst themselves. The front figure, armored in make shift armor of all sorts of pieces looked at the inn keeper with a scowl, "Shut up! You know what we want!" "Yes sir, right away sir!" the inn keep replied. "And don't keep us waiting long!" grumbled the front figure. These three were small, wirey themselves, with flat faces and dark stringy hair. The leader had dull red eyes as the other two were a flat yellow. They had sharp maw of teeth each and all dressed in make shift armor of leather and scavenged pieces. (to be continued)
As the inn keeper ran off to the only room in the back, the leader of the three figures turned, saw the thin man, and sneared with a toothy grin. Confidently approaching him, the front leader approached and stated with the same snear, "That's our table." The other two behind him jabbered and jeared at the man. The man turned his tattered hooded head towards them, his steel grey eyes not even flinching or showing a speck of emotion. In fact, they had a fatigued, shadowed look. "Didn't you hear me! I said that is our table. Move or you'll have to deal with us," he said with a threatened edge, as the others started to reach for shortswords, "and I don't think you want to deal with us." After a few moments of no action from the man, the leader grumbles at the thin man. The man watched calmly as the leader stepped forward and started to unsheath his weapon. In quick motion, the thin man was on his feet and grabbed the leader's arm before he could completely unsheath it, pinning the blade in place. With a quick elbow down on the exposed arm, a sickening snab of bone is heard and a howl of pain as the leader stumbled back out of range, nursing his now broken arm. The other two looked at each other for the briefest of moments before unsheathing their weapons and attacking. Another quick blur of motion from the thin man came as the second assailant attempted to slice at him with his shortsword. A quick maneuver easily put the man out of the attack. As this was happening, the third tried to get into flanking position around him. However, a quick, but measured back kick to from the thin man repeated the sickening crunch of someones nose being broken and the body being thrown into the hearth's meager flame. Screaming now erupted from the burnt third figure as he lept and yowlled out the front of the inn trying to put out his flaming body. The second, seeing one of his companions fleeing and the other holding a broken arm started to break and start eying the same door. Before he could react, the thin man's attack came. A quick heel came down, landing on his head with a thunk, rattling whatever brains he had. The second slumped to the ground in a pile. At this time, the thin man approached the remaining assailant, looking down as he backed slowly to the bar until he could go no further. "Who....who are you?" stumbled the leader. "No one." he replied as he quickly grasped the poor creatures head and snapped it to the side with one quick motion. Another stinking body scattering the small inn floor. The inn keeper, whom this whole time, had been looking through a worn hole in the bar, snapped out from behind the bar, nervous, hands up in the air to show himself to be as harmless as he could be. "P,p,please sir, I had nothing to do with those three! In fact, I am but a simple humble inn keeper," he stated as what appeared to be a pouch fumble from his belt to the floor. The thin man approached, looked down at the pouch and back at the inn keeper, "Th,th,this was m-my payment to the Dr-dragon armies for operating on th-their roads." "I needn't your coin," said the thin man flatly, "But you have crossed more than just the dragon army." With a sigh, the thin man shook his head, pulled out a small vial and tossed it to the inn keeper. The inn keeper, completely befuddled at this action, look upon the vial with question, "yWhat is this f...." he couldn't finish the sentence. With a swift kick and an umph from the inn keeper, the vial shattered in his hands as he was sent into the bar. A small greyish-green vapor rose and instantly disappated. Looking up from his sitting postion, the inn keep seemed unharmed, but stammerring, "What did you do? What was that!?" (to be continued)
Approaching the door calmly and opening it with ease, the thin man stated over his shoulder, "You'll get a choice soon. Everyone always does," shaking his head. As the door could be heard closing shut, the inn keeper shrieked as multitued of boils and pus erupted from his body. His already ugly looks were pocked and his wretched form was twisted further. A solo figure, wrapped in tattered brown robes walked north on the road away from the inn.
The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD
Astinus points to the massive wall of books behind him and bids you to make a selection.
Authors: All|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z
Astinus mentions 'We have had over 869 storytellers on Ansalon pen their epic stories here for all to read.'
\n