6/12/96
                       THE COMING OF THE ZIOTH
                              TURN TWO


   Brinn climbed out cursing. "Damn that roads! Som..." He stopped in
mid-sentence surprised to see that they weren't alone. Brinn looked at
the men surrounding the wagon and clutched his warhammer.
   Ardith spent a few moments blessing the group as the thieves turned
their heads.
   Cursing himself for being caught so utterly off-guard, Sahlman
quickly worked to make the best of an obviously bad situation. He
looked to Brinn for assistance, but recieved no suggestion from him, so
he used the rear of the wagon as a shield and shouted to Kay to cover
his back. Two of the thieves charged Sahlman, who made quick work of
one of them with his scimitar, but was cut accross the shoulder by the
other.
   Standing on the wagon, behind Sahlman, Kay strung and arrow and shot
at one of the thieves, killing him. One thief attempted to swipe Kay
with a long sword, but was clubbed from behind by Brinn.
   Ziedon recited a short incantation, and then stared the largest of
the thieves in the eye. "Help me, my friend, they intend to kill me,"
he said while pointing to the other thieves. He then mumbled again, and
touched one of the thieves. The thief screamed in pain, and died, an
icy mess. Ziedon then proceded to make his way to the back of the
wagon.
   Ardith swung her quarterstaff at a thief, but missed wildly. Sahlman
then stabbed him from behind.
   Kay jumped off the wagon, and, silmultaneously with Brinn, killed
another thief. Four of the remaining thieves then charged at them. One
thief did not survive the charge, but the others seriously wounded Kay
and cut into Brinn signifigantly.
   The two non-charging thieves gathered pouches from their dead
companions, and then, with the three that survived the charge, ran. Kay
and Brinn chaced them, but never found them.
   Two thieves were lying on the ground in pain, and five were dead.


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   I had to improvise a lot of this fight. For future reference, here's
the kind of combat message I expect. I doesn't have to be exactly in
this style, but it sbould cover most of the possibilities, so I can run
a fight based on what you want, and not on what I happen to think up:
   Combat works in the following way: When you encounter a creature or
creatures, list all the things you want to do during combat. For
example: "I swing at the ogre with my two-handed sword each round. If I
go below 50% hit points, I attack only every other round and parry the
rest of the time. If I go below 20% hit points, I cast darkness on him
and then run. If, during the battle, the ogre turns his back on me, I
attempt to trip him. If that fails once, I don't try it again."

   Sahlman has 6/8 HP Brinn has   4/7 HP Kay has     2/6 HP

   You each have 20 exp

   Go ahead and send your third turn (along with more votes for
leader). Ardith, please vote this time. I intend to let all of you vote
each turn so you'll always have the leader you want (unless the
particular adventurer calls for a special leader).