An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Shadowind.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap is at 65. You change? 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 massive tome lined with fake jewels on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Shadowind' scribed in earth-colored grey ink.

Author:  Shadowind
Date    Sat Jan 19 08:20:40 2002


Subject  Everyday Hunting



Feeling the adrenaline begin to flow into his body, Shadowind
dropped silently
into the shadows beneath him. Silently thanking the people of
this town for
building their buildings so close together, he stalked from one
shadow to the
next. An alert watchdog wouldnt have been able to see him. A
small smile
touched his lips, hidden under the shadow of the night. These
pathetic
townsfolk looked more like drooling pig rats than alert dogs to
Shadowind.
They had no idea what was about to happen. That made his job even
better.

Turning to his left he saw a young woman walk by who looked to be
in her human
middle 30s. She had tanned skin with short brown hair and a
knowing look in
her eyes. She walked with a stride that spoke of purpose and
intelligence.

Shadowinds smile deepened. She was perfect.

The members of his clan always tried to do things in secret more
often than
not.

Why storm a town and kill everyone when a silent attack can
preserve the
anonymity of the organization? His clan had survived this long
because they
didnt come out into the open often, and then only for a short
time before
anyone could start to suspect anything about them. Perhaps the
world would
learn of his clan someday and perhaps not. Not that any of this
mattered to
Shadowind. He was getting paid well for this job and he would not
ruin it by
becoming arrogant or careless.

With a flash of his arm he caught the girl and dragged her close
to him
putting the tip of his knife between the second and third
vertebrae on her
neck. She had no time to even grunt at suddenly being taken
hostage. You
scream, you die, Shadowind whispered into her ear applying slight
pressure on
the knife. She stiffened and tried to nod, most likely finding it
difficult
with a six inch blade pressed to the back of her neck, nothing
that worried
Shadowind any.

You will tell me where Argon Slander is or you will not live to
see your next
sunrise. He turned the blade slightly clockwise and a trickle of
blood ran
down her neck. Again she stiffened, this time for the pain.
Shadowind
carefully eased the pressure from his hand on her mouth and nose.

S-S-Slander is in his house. H-H-He is going to tell the men
where they are
going to r-raid tomorrow. Tears started to drip from her eyes
onto the sleeve
of his black leather jacket. She was trying not to sob and her
breathing was
sporadic, almost to the point of hyperventilation.

Good girl, Shadowind said soothingly, putting less pressure on
the knife, See
what happens to good girls who do what theyre told? She nodded
slightly,
plainly still fearing the blade just touching her skin. Now where
is his
house?

H-He lives just north of here. The house just smaller than the
M-Meeting
H-Hall over there, she breathed as carefully as possible. The
girl was doing
her best not to bawl. She had much more self-control than had
been expected.
Shadowind nodded slightly, maybe he would have been impressed if
not for the
circumstances. Maybe.

Im very proud of you, girl. Ill see you- with a quick flash of
movement,
Shadowind recovered the girls mouth and nose as tightly as
possible while
silently driving the blade in and out in one fluid motion.
Instantly she
crumpled with her spinal cord severed. Her gaping mouth gasped
for air as her
windpipe was cut beyond mending. In Hell, the assassin finished.

Shadowind pulled her body deeper into the shadows and wiped his
blade clean on
the rags of her shirt. She wouldnt warn anyone or say anything
about him.
Slipping into the shadows of the next building, Shadowind didnt
look back. All
in a days work for the Clans finest assassin. And now for
Slander, he
whispered to the shadows.

Maybe the shadows were his only friends.

Moving like black lightning from one shadow to the next,
Shadowind darted
toward his ultimate goal.



Author:  Shadowind
Date    Tue May 14 19:17:49 2002


Subject  unusual




He was wearing a pair of black pants, black combat boots worn on
feet, a pair
of black leather thieves patches on hands, his face was covered
by the black
assassins mask with a sacractic grin frozen on it with only the
eyes being a
cold grey, calloused by having seen many deaths, mostly caused by
his blades
... Shadowind has finished dressing up prepearing for yet another
night sneak
out. He put a blowgun into the sleeves, a dagger into the inner
loop under his
right hand, another one in his back pocket, a dagger into the
loop on his
boots, tiger claws behind his back on a belt, a silk rope to
strangulate his
victims into the belt pouch, set of poisoned needles under his
cloak, another
one under the armbands, a potion of poison, throwing stars, and
alot of more
useful things into his toolkit worn on his back.

When the night has fall upon the lands of Krynn a silent shadow
sneaked out of
the window, silently descedning down the wall like a huge black
rain drop.
Shadowind had no intentions to kill this night.

He was just enjoing to be a night hunter whos territory is a
night city.

Silently sliding from a shadow to another he was grinning looking
at the
people who were walking so close he could hear their heartbeat
being
completely unaware of the danger hiding in the darkness.

He stopped for awhile before a mirror window of the magic shop
looking at his
reflection obviously enjoying it. He was perfect standing in the
darkness
being the darkness himself.

After a moment he was running on the roofs like a cat jumping
from one to
another. The feeling of a freedom was complete. And since he was
free and able
to do anything - he just run like a wind in the darkness. Several
times he
crawled silently behind the citizens, standing behind the backs
of the wealthy
merchants who were gathering their stuff to close the shops at
the
marketplace... He was tracking without having a clear target,
approaching
people so close that he could kill them by one lightning move,
then run away
without being even noticed. Never before Shadowind felt such a
reunion with
the dark shadows which seem let him in as their brother.

At the one of the street turns he stopped to relax a bit but a
sudden scream
just broke the silence killing his enjoyment of the night:

- Please, dont, I want to go home!

The voice was unfamiliar, belonging to a girl, begging. The one
to reply was a
drunk voice of a man: - Of course we'll let you go - after we
have a little
fun with you...

*laugh* - No! Stop it! Let me go!

*sounds of a fight* - Stop it bitch! You want it! - barked the
voice.

*a sound of a slap, then man's roar then another slap much
stronger, girl's
scream from the pain* - Enough! NO! HEeeelp!

Only a cloud of dust left at the spot where Shadowind was
standing a second
ago. He was standing at the window looking inside the building
being city
guard's barrack. His blood was boiling with the hatred since he
knew that kind
of the people very well, and even he was evil in heart and killed
more men
then years you may live, he never excused anyone who tried to
rape the
innocent girl... Noone knows for sure any details of his
childhood but
something happened and it could be the source of all hatred he
had now.

Sneaking in thru the open window he appeared in the big room with
the open
door to the corridor with side doors, at the end of which was a
heavy door
with the screams coming from it. As a tornado he open the door
crashed it out
to find himself standing against a huge drunk human guard.
Meanwhile a girl
dressed in a blue dress run away thru the open door. The guard
tried to reach
the sword but Shadowind was faster to leave him dead in the pool
of blood.
Falling, the guard hit the table producing enormous noise and
breaking the
lamp which went out putting the room in the darkness. The way out
was blocking
by the guards running to the sound of a fight so there was only
one way to
save - to hide under the bed. It was dull, dusty and very
uncomfortable there.



Author:  Shadowind
Date    Tue May 14 19:19:59 2002


Subject  unusual (ending)




Shadowind groupped himself tried to become invisible - not by the
way mages
do.

Every assassing like almoust every thief is using special skills
which make
the work easier: black cloths, special breathing and even mental
tuning help
them to dissolve in the shadows becoming no invisible but
undetectable. But
this time Shadowind was really trapped - a group of six guards
were
approaching. Someone was holding a torch, others were about to
light the lamps
on the walls. One more minute and they discover the one who was
hiding under
the bed. In a hatred Shadowind was falling deeper in the darkness
as his mind
blurs and the colors around become losing intensity. One to one
assassin can
kill almoust anyone, personally Shadowind was thinking he could
manage tree or
four guards but to fight in a small room with one exit against
six guards
would be a suicide.

Concentrating he was falling deeper in the shadows the colors dim
and when he
opened his eyes everything was grey he used his ability of
shadowwalking and
the guard who looked under the bed couldnt see anyone there. But
Shadowind
knew the hatred and the rage will take his mind completely soon
and he will
jump off the shadows in a blind berserk, fighting to death.

Soon the battle was over. Six dead bodies were lying all around
and the silent
shadow leaving trail of blood drops was sliding away in the
darkness.

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.'