7/21/96
                       THE COMING OF THE ZIOTH
                              TURN FIVE


   The night before, Ardith spoke to the party in the campsite. The
camp had been chosen for its proximity to a large tree that grew up
close to the town's unguarded wall, and had a few sturdy boughs that
overhung it. She kept her friends awake with trivial talk, signing
inconspicuously to the others to stay with her. Soon, the burgher
excused himself, went to his tent, and fell asleep.
   When Ardith was sure the burgher was in a deep enough sleep that
their talk would not wake him, she spoke.
   "My friends," she said in a quiet voice, "I do not know what to make
of our client.  He may be the embodiment of Evil come to subjugate this
town, or the rightful Lord of it, returned to claim his fiefdom.  I,
for one, do not wish to side with evil, if such be the case.
   "I believe that we need to send a spy into this town.  Brinn, your
people are reputed to be hardy and not need as much sleep as we humans.
If you would, climb yonder tree and use it to gain access into the
town.  Use your ears and your wiles to gain information.  Assume the
role of a merchant looking to trade.  Do not endanger yourself --  at
this point we need not heroics, but information.  Return before the
dawn and whistle three low calls. We will lower a rope for you.
   "In any case, we need to set a watch.  Kay, you are only recently
healed of serious injuries.  Please take the first watch.  Waken Ziedon
before the mid of night, then Ziedon waken Sahlman (or Brinn)
   "In any case, I wish to be wakened before the sky is light to hear
the words of our spy, and to assist in recovering him from the town.
   "Whoever the watch, at first sign of trouble, waken the rest of the
party quietly.  If there be a sudden attack, waken us loudly.  We must
be careful not to be taken by surprise."
   Ardith looked at Sahlman, who was scouling in the burgher's
direction, and spoke to him in a persuasive tone. "Sahl, I too find our
client's taciturn nature offensive. However, we are, to him, merely
hirelings, and he does not owe us explanations, merely our pay. I would
think that a person of higher intent would explain, but it is possible
after all, that he may not be free to explain -- or that he not trust
us sufficiently.
   "In any case, we need information.  That is why I have asked for a
spy to go into the city without our burgher knowing of it -- there to
see, or better said to hear, what is the talk in the town.  We know
that the vandals who guard the city do not hold the citizens in high
regard, and also we know that they oppose our client's return to the
city.  That is enough for me to give him the benefit of doubt.  Yet,
his lack of answers bodes ill.  Thus, I say, we must find out what we
can of matters, then make the choice for ourselves as to what is right,
whatever that may be."

   Brinn accepted the job, and, with some difficulty, managed to climb
the tree they were camping near, and go over the wall.
   Hours passed.
   Ardith's watch had begun. She and Sahlman were about to scale the
walls themselves to search for the dwarf, when they heard the whistled
call. Brinn was pulled over the wall, back to the camp. He had several
small scrapes and cuts, so Ardith brewed him some restorative tea. Once
he caught his breath, he told the story of his spying.
   When he had climbed over the wall, the entire town was dark. If not
for a dim light in the distance, Brinn would have had to return as soon
as he landed on his feet. Aparently, there were no guards on the inside
of the walls either, as no fires could be seen. Brinn set his eyes on
the light, and, with the aid of his dwarven vision, walked toward it.
The light was that of several small fires lit in the local tavern. Most
of those in the tavern were drunks. Brinn merely passed by them, as
they were too deep in their stupor to give meaningful answers to any
questions. There was also a group of four conversing at a table. Brinn
ignored them for the time and walked over to the bartender.
   "I'm new here," began Brinn.
   The bartender glanced over his counter down at Brinn. "I can see
that."
   Brinn ignored the commend and continued. "Who, may I ask, are the
leaders of this town?"
   "Ah, a master of small talk. The local townsmen, of corse. Don't ask
me what their names are; I couldn't tell ya."
   "Why is the town so poorly guarded everywhere but at the entrances?"
   "What are you, a spy or something? I'm loyal to the townsmen. Don't
expect to get anything useful from me."
   His line of questioning ended rather abruptly and unexpectedly,
Brinn, casually and inconspicuously, listeded in on the conversation of
the four at the table. A luckier find he could not have hoped for.
These were apparently four wealthy burghers discussing the town's
current situation. Grenzig had never been well-guarded. It seemed that,
all too suddenly, the town needed to be guarded. There was no
exploitable militia, so the townsmen were forced to hire some of the
less respectable members of society as guards. These, apparently, were
the thieves at the town's gate.
   When Brinn had learned that much, one of the townsmen looked up and
saw him. He signaled discreetly to his companions, who fell into small
talk. Brinn took his que and left the tavern. By then, only a couple
hours had passed since he had entered the town. He would have been back
long before the end of Kay's watch, but a thief surprized him in the
dark and robbed him of all his money. It took the rest of the night to
find the thief and recover his pouch. Unfortunately, the thief escaped
after the gold was retrieved.

   Before dawn, Sahlman proposed a plan for entry into the town the
next day. The group, including the Burgher, could infiltrate in
subgroups of two. Hopefully, by going in small groups, their chances of
going unnoticed would improve, and the detection of one pair will not
compromise any of the others. Ideally, the points of entry would be at
places where a portion of the wall was obscured from direct view by a
building on the other side. Finally, Sahlman volunteered to personally
escort the Burgher himself, being accustomed to dealing with such folk
in the desert. "Amazing, it is, that people from lands so diverse can
be so similar." It was left unclear as to just what sort of person Sahl
refered.


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   For your next turn, agree or disagree with Sahlman's plan, add your
own plans, discuss Brinn's findings, tell what you do in the town, etc.
I know this will be a difficult turn to give a detailed response to,
but do the best you can.

   Also, it seems that Ardith has consistantly been ending up the
leader of the party. Therefore, she will remain the leader for a few
turns (you don't have to vote every turn for a while). If, at any time,
Ardith's skills as leader come into question, or if one of you wants to
become leader or strongly disagrees with Ardith being leader, you can
tell me (by Echomail or private netmail at 1:101/264), so I'll know to
call a vote for the next turn.

   Sahlman: Sorry for not including a lot of the stuff you wrote. It
was very good, but much of it was included in what Ardith said, and
some of it I just couldn't find a good place to put. :(


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


Experience:
Salhman: 100 (Raised for great writing and ideas)
Brinn:   70  (Raised for good writing and ideas)
Kay:     30  (Nothing to base exp raise on)
Ziedon:  30  (Nothing to base exp raise on)
Ardith:  110 (Raised for good leadership and ideas, and excellent
              writing)