Assallya

The Hallows Inn

Assallya was in the midst of inspecting her wagon for damage and assessing what remained of her supplies. The six months she'd spent in kobold captivity had not been kind. Apparently the kobolds had slashed away the two chickens she'd had hanging which, come to think of it, was probably a blessing since six month old chicken would be quite horrible to behold. The sack of potatoes was little more than mold inside the canvas as were the rest of her vegetables but most of her spices were unscathed. Apparently kobolds didn't know what to do with them. They also didn't know what to do with most of her clothes, Most importantly, they hadn't found her hidden compartment with the trade bars of gold, nor did they seem to realize the value of the magic summoning rug. Her collection of daggers was missing unfortunately, She'd had them specially made, one of gold, one of silver, a couple of different types of wood, one blessed by a priest and another by a druid. Generally, a weapon to kill just about any supernatural creature one could come across. Not that she would wield them herself but it was amazing how much one could demand in treasure shares when one was the only one with a weapon that would win the day.

She was cheering the survival of various commodities and lamenting the loss of others when the lizard like thing came barrelling into the open field from out of the dark wood. What was astride the noble looking knight, err... Did the man have a lizard's head? What was astride the knight was what she identified from her readings as a "corpse hound" though that name varied by region. The lizard was punching it- ineffectually and Assallya couldn't blame the momentary lapse considering he was being chewed upon. Only silver or perhaps a blessed weapon could harm such a being. Which made Assallya wonder if a priest, cleric or paladin counted as being blessed when engaged in fisticuffs like the being before her. Then he struck out with the mace to disastrous effect causing one of the beasts grievous punishment.

Assallya then had to consider.. Why should she care? Then again, it was always nice to have adventurers in your debt and if she could somehow help the beleaguered soul with little danger to herself, why not?

Thinking quickly, Assallya considered her selection of spells. She wasn't much of a combatant, eschewing spells of grandiose destruction. She was more subtle and engaged in ploys of confidence. Normally she learned what she could of an enemy and played against its weaknesses. A corpse dog had only the simplest of desires, to feed on living flesh. There was little else that concerned them save a larger and more intimidating creature or perhaps easier prey.

...easier prey

"By Myrkul's shriveled black testicles," she said as she realized the most obvious and simplest of ruses and then switched over to the yipping language of the kobold, "Char. Get inside the wagon!"

Her new kobold companion, a black scaled two foot tall lizard immediately complied. Assallya then bent over and grasped some of the rotting, six month dried meat that she'd been throwing away when the incursion into the inn's field happened and hurled some of the putrid substance in the direction of the corpse dogs.

"Hey zombie dogs!" she called out in the common tongue, rubbing some of the rotting jerky around her navel, "Succulent soft elf flesh over here! It's a lot better than the lizard in a can!"

The Hallows Inn [Character Sheets]

NAME : Assa'Alliyeh Kressanthar, called Assallya Kressair by just about everyone
RACE : High Elf
AGE : 87
GENDER : Female
SEXUALITY: Omnisexual:
CLASS: Sorceress

WEAPONS: Jambiya dagger, light crossbow
ARMOR: None

PERSONAL TRINKETS: Ring of the Unshod: a magical ring that protects one's feet as if they were wearing soft riding boots, Comb of Comeliness: Salon quality hair is only a few strokes of this comb away, a small selection of semi-precious jewelry that will suffice until she can get some real wealth, Vardo wagon: A portable home!

SHORT HISTORY: Assallya Kressair was born in the autumn in a small village on the outskirts of Evereska. At the young age of 26 (aprox. 11 or 12 in human years) Zhentish slavers attacked and killed her entire village except for those taken as slaves. Assallya, her sister Saeliah, and several others were transported far across Faerun in order to avoid the elven wrath sure to follow. In the city of Calimshan Assallya and Saeliah were separated when Assallya was purchased be Pasha Alkiel. Head of a powerful group of rogues, Alkiel purchased her as a dancer and concubine for both personal use and for information gathering and blackmail. She then served in Alkiel's bedchamber for the next eight years while being trained in dance, seduction and other roguish arts in order to perform her duties.

She was treated as an object and was given to allies and employees of the Pasha who performed exceptional services. Soon enough, she learned about the many different types of power and discovered that even as a slave she was far from powerless. Succeeding in seducing one of the Pasha's magicians she bid him teach her magic. At first he balked until Assallya cast for him the only thing her father had taught her at that young age, a cantrip. A small thing, it changed the colour of his fingernails, but it was magic none the less. He agreed then, for he was a lonely uncomely man who rarely received a woman to his bed. However, he placed conditions on his tutorial; refusing to train her in combative magics and warning her that should he ever target him with her spells it would mean her death. She surprised all of them by inventing an inferior version of the invisibility spell which allowed her to sneak away from the Pasha's clutches and return undetected. In this way, by filching jewels and prostituting herself she built up savings with a money lender.

It was with the aide of the Pasha's son that she succeeded in poisoning the Pasha, planning on becoming a partner to the successor instead of a slave. With her manipulative mind behind him to advise his passionate power they were sure to bring their competitors to their knees. What she was not expecting was the Pasha's extended family to hire a necromancer to speak with their departed kinsman. He quickly named his murderer and Assallya regretted bragging as he died.

She ran, the Pasha's son giving her a few moments to escape, fearing that she would claim his involvement which would lead to his family asking him uncomfortable questions. The next few months she moved slowly north, the sands left behind her and the lands becoming more lush and green.

Other: Assallya has recently picked up a new companion, a black scaled kobold by the name of Char

Transformers

That does sound good. Continue the story on Cybertron after the Ark and Nemesis depart for Earth. No pesky humans, just robots.

The Hallows Inn

The kobold escape took decidedly longer than I anticipated. I keep forgetting that my short stories tend to grow out of control. I was supposed to write a ten page short story in college. Culling that down was an exercise in murder. Chase, battle scenes and dialogue, I've noticed have a tendency to fill up pages very, very quickly.

Transformers

There's an idea. Why not simply continue on from War and Fall of Cybertron. Start with the ark finally awakening on the Earth and work your GM magic to retell the story any way you like? Maybe the humans are going to attack both sides? Maybe the Transformers will team up with GI Joe (not my preference to be honest)?

The Hallows Inn

Yay! Finally made it to the inn!

The Hallows Inn

Trunks of ancient trees, perhaps thousands of years old, forced the vardo wagon to take a circuitous path throughout the confines of the Drakenwald forest. They had not made the time that Assallya would have liked. Char was driving the weasels hard, the forest canopy, unlike the entrance to the kobold mines, providing his sensitive eyes some protection from the burning sun overhead. Unfortunately, it did the same for those giving chase.

Behind them she heard a horn, several long blasts that reverberated between the ancient trees and through the leaves of the forest canopy overhead. It startled her. The very air seemed heavy with the sound, the blasts all encompassing. She knew what the blasts meant. One of their pursuers must have spotted the fleeing wagon. The horn was to lead the others to the wagon. It wasn’t surprising. She just hadn’t known the kobolds to use them. Looking behind her she caught a glimpse of a red scaled kobold as he crested a ridge, urging his weasel forwards with a flexible leather crop.

“Char,” she yipped in the kobold tongue, “problem!”

Char didn’t even look backwards. Just snapped the reins to take advantage of a rare straight section of the path they had been following and spurred the weasels forward. One hissed in response, something that reminded Assallya of a cornered rat defiantly facing down a group of adventurers in a dungeon. It was the “cornered” aspect that bothered her. She was beginning to feel that way herself.

“Very well,” Assallya stated in the common tongue despite Char’s inability to understand it, “If that is the way they wish it.”

The blonde elf twisted in her seat, glaring at the pursuing kobold with eyes that had gone cold. She began incanting, a string of arcane syllables flowing from her tongue. Invisible streamers of energy curled backwards behind the wagon and ensnared the weasel riding warrior. It was a simple spell, the simplest of magics, but in this particular instance was quite useful. The kobold suddenly found himself dizzy, confused, and bereft of equilibrium. Unprepared the small lizard slid from the weasel’s back. The last Assallya saw of him, he had caught hold of the leather harness in one claw and was being dragged across the uneven terrain. Slammed against a tree, the kobold lost his grip and fell away, tumbling through the brush.

“That should slow them down.”

Then another horn blasted.

“By Myrkul’s shriveled black balls!” she cried, small fist slamming into the bench.

There was a snap against the wagon’s side. Assallya jumped and Char made a small yip of surprise. Something impacting against the wood. Searching for the source the sorceress caught sight of another kobold, somehow folding another bullet into his sling while guiding his weasel with his knees. Gods be damned, she was truly beginning to despise kobolds.

Spell after spell she flung back in the direction of their pursuers, conservative magics wherever possible. The weasel riders simply did not clump together enough to hit them all with the slumbering mists. They were like a wolf pack, or at least for one as her that had read about wolves but never seen them in action, what she supposed the wolf pack would be like. Two of them had begun flanking twenty paces to their left and right while the others were spread out behind at a distance and made no attempt to climb aboard. They had seen what she’d done to them when they tried. Once she had paralyzed one completely, and the limp form had fallen from the weasel like it was dead. Another she had turned against his own fellows with a charm spell. That had caused them some significant trouble while they dealt with the traitor in their midst. She supposed they were now waiting for the wagon to lose a wheel or break an axle. At this rate they could simply hold back and casually launch slung bullets at their leisure.

“Slow. Slow.” Assallya yipped at Char now that she saw the problem.

For hours the mobile siege continued. The elf and her kobold protector racing aimlessly. The kobolds too timid to make the final push, occasionally flinging a sling bullet. Assallya discouraged that behavior with a spell each time until they gave that up as well. Finally, instead of murky forest ahead there was a curtain of golden light spread across horizon. The forest’s edge was upon them.

“Char no understand,” the black scaled kobold keened loudly over his shoulder, “forest not end here. Forest end further.”

“You complain?”

“Meh.” Char acquiesced with a shrug in what Assallya, bemused by the expression, thought was very human.

Sudden determination ushered the kobolds into one final attempt. Assallya finally managed her slumbering mists on those to the rear and she succeeded in felling three of their number but the two at flanks pressed in tight, leaping from their weasels and catching hold against the wagon. One grasped the brass pole, and began to shimmy up it. Another caught hold of the window sill one side.

Grasping her light crossbow Assallya stood up and then immediately stumbled forwards over the supplies tied to the vardo’s roof. She fired her bolt at the kobold that was climbing the wall but she was a horrible shot. The kobold yapped in surprise as the bolt missed his snout by inches and then his beady small black eyes furrowed beneath the kobold’s brow ridge. He drew a small blade, barely the length of her longest finger, and moved onto the wagon like a gecko scaling a tree.

Despite the terror filling her Assallya moved almost by instinct. She stomped on him as if he were a bug, her bare foot slamming down on his skull. The kobold’s eyes were unfocused, stunned by the blow. The elf found herself surprised as well. She wasn’t the sort that engaged in such activities. Still, that didn’t stop her from revelling in her accomplishment.

“Get off my wagon!” she said, kicking out again, her foot catching the small figure beneath his chin and launching him off into empty air.

To her left she caught sight of the other kobold attacking Char. The small creatures were both quick and slender. She’d never seen a kobold fight another. She’d seen them duck, weave and dodge warriors with remarkable nimbleness. This was different. Of similar size they fought more like humans only with more speed. They were currently fighting over a knife.

Assallya took the opportunity to reload the crossbow in her hands from the quiver next to the bench, kneel, and tried to find an opportunity. There really wasn’t one. Char had let go of the weasels, letting them follow the path on their own. They rolled about on the bench like a pair of wild cats and Assallya couldn’t see how to shoot one without risking the other.

Beginning to despair, the elven woman, was about to take her chances with the butt end of the crossbow. That was when they emerged from the forest into some sort of clearing. Both elf and kobolds were blinded by the unrestrained sunlight but Assallya lived on the surface. She adjusted far more quickly. Both kobold were blind, eyelids clenched against the light, and still struggling for the knife. What had happened was that they had both stopped thrashing. Assallya loosed her bolt, catching the red skinned kobold in the ribs, transfixing their opponent.

“Is it over?” Assallya asked in the common tongue, peering about and forgetting for the moment that Char didn’t understand it.

It took the pair several minutes to recover their wits, to look about and see where they were. Adrealin was still coursing through their bodies. Their breathing was ragged. They were in a clearing, in the middle of the forest and before them stretched a rather expansive inn.

Finally, after several minutes, Assallya looked at Char.

“Why resting place here? No smarts be here.” she said, totally confused.

“You complain?”

Assallya chuckled mirthfully at the answer to that.

“Meh.”

The Hallows Inn

*pssst* The attic is where Lazarus summons the demons that keep him young. The cellar is where he extracts the souls of the innocent for payment in return for his longevity.

Mwah hah hah hah hah!

Also, I would needless comment that Leopold, Muttonhawk's character, is nothing more than a human. The curse is completely flavor and really tasty flavor at that.

Pirate RP: Ever-Changing Seas

I think we're waiting on Alexi

The Hallows Inn

Hunh... A kobold companion. I hadn't planned on that when I started posting. This could be interesting.