--- Adventure 1 ---

Thorn landed like a cat, rousing a small white cloud of snow powder. He had sat on a boulder that the road went around, as it wound its way among the hills. He had strayed from the group after the turmoil caused by Drogo's fall and had scouted a bit the hills around them.

"Don't you think it smells like death?" he said uncaring, without looking at them, playing with a small dagger. He bent and wiped it on the snow, which remained stained red, then straightened and facing them. "And that it is quiet... too quiet?"

Drogo was popping his eyeballs out staring at the dagger and thus managed to stumble again. He nearly fell with his nose in the horse's butt, as he managed to steady himself in the last minute, but putting a hand on his croup. He blushed again. "I am sorry... forgive me" he muttered towards Ias. He had no idea what he was more scared of: Ias' possible reaction, or the glimmer in the Elf's eyes.

Angy a rămas blocată pentru c

Thorn smirked seeing the girl frown.

"Hideous creatures, these ra'azacs, aren't they? They stink even when dead..."

He glanced meaningfully behind the boulder. A creature was lying there... it looked like a bird, about as a goose in size, but only its strong wings were covered in dull black feathers. It had a powerful beak, with fangs portruding from it. As for the rest of its body... the neck and back were covered with black scales, while on the belly it had partially overlapping rings, forming something like the chitinous armour of a bug, only on a larger scale. Its legs were stong, giving the impression that the creature could run as well as fly, while the claws in which they ended didn't forecast anything good. What was striking though, were the huge, faceted eyes. From a cut on the neck, right before the rings covering the belly started, a dark red blood flowed that gave off a nauseating stench, as stinking vapours rose from the snow melted by the warm blood.

Having finished cleaning his dagger, Thorn inspected his leather bracers. He squirmed his nose seeing two scratches on the right arm bracer, where the ra'azac's claws had slipped off the mithril spikes. However, they hadn't scratched deep, so all in all he was content. He turned to Drogo.

"Pals of your master's?"

Drogo turned white as a sheet. He had only seen ra'azacs in his master's bestiaries. He knew that the old man was off the hook, but he didn't think him capable of taking such creatures into his service. He shook his head slowly and stammered in whispers "I d-do-don't th-think so."

"Aww, cute. So we have other friends as well. This sounds like fun." He turned to the others. "About two miles around, there is no living animal with fur or feathers. Not a single one, unless you count three dead deer in that grove over there", said he, pointing somewhere behind his back. "Not even scavangers have gone near them. The entire area smells of fear and death. And this fellow (he poked the dead ra'azac with the tip of his boot) wasn't the only one here. But he was the only one to have seen me". He gave off a wolfish grin for a couple of moments and then turned dead serious.

Si uite ca avusese dreptate. E bine de stiut ca elful nu sta degeaba.

"Ce creatura dezgustatoare. Frumos pumnal ai, zise catre Thorn. Te superi daca te intreb de unde l-ai ....luat? "

Pana sa raspunda elful, se mai uita odata la lesul de pe jos. Era tanar dar ca barbar avusese parte de destul carnagiu si nu asta il nelinistea.Simtea rautatea emanata din acea creatura si mai ca-i intelegea pe infumuratii de paladini care vedeau totul in alb si negru. Anumite creaturi sunt atat de perfide incat numai moartea foloseste la ceva.

"This one?" asked Thorn, throwing the dagger in the air to catch it and make it disappear up his sleeve. "Errrm. From a friend of mine. Former friend of mine." He smirked. "I have pretty errrrm... flexible moral standards. But I can't stand traitors". He frowned in disgust.

"Ok... suggestions?"

Felina-i aruncă o privire ciudată , apoi spuse :

- Propuneri? Ce propuneri? Ideea e să scăpăm c

Thorn raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Terrible? You haven't quite put your nose out there into the world, little girl... It was pal with whom I... worked in Calimport. Some cover-up break-ins and then our actual target. An act of vengeance of a client... he wanted a particular item from a stinking rich merchant and artifact collector. He had a darn well guarded house. Harder to break in than in the governor's mansion." He gave a short laugh. "We had agreed to split the spoils according to the number of guards each had taken care of. By the time we got to the merchant's private chambers, the poor guy gladlt gave us everything we wanted just to have us gone. After giving our client the artifact, my pal decided he didn't like the sharing method. I finally agreed to make it fifty-fifty because we worked well together... though he took this dagger i wanted. The he went on spending like mad, got caught and tried turning me in to the guards to escape the noose. Well... he didn't escape his own dagger." He smirked again.

"

Vazand privirea socata a lui Angy, Duro'than isi retinu un ras usor si se multumi sa zambeasca discret in barba. Spera ca ea sa-si revina repede deoarece grozaviile de-abia acum incepeau si era nevoie de toata trupa ca sa reuseasca. De asemena spera ca pumnalul ala sa ramana de partea lor. Ar fi pacat sa-i rupa gatul elfului. Si mai pacat ar fi sa se trezeasca cu pumnalul infipt in spate

"Propuneri? Mergem inainte si stam cu ochii in patru. N-are rost sa stam pe loc. orice ar fi pe urmele noastre va veni sigur la noi asa ca mai bine sa ne apropiem de tinta"