The second one concerns the village. Trader's Nest is a small Toridar trading village with a canoe dock, an inn, and a trading post. I've been there before and no Drog has ever set foot there; so you have nothing to fear in the village. The village people hate Drogs, as they hate any evil enemy. The people are Human, and a few Dwarves live there also. As I explained before, the Drogs are to the West on the other side of the Baldor mountains; hence, my words: `Beware of the folk of the western side,'who have dealings with the Coastal Barbarians." "I will know tell you a true tale: In the time when the world was new, the Lords of the Towers sent their Knights to secure the holds. One of these knights was a huge Armsman named Starfighter. He had four great weapons: A Staff of Sound, A Sword of Emaril, A Wandstone of Fire, and a Diamond of Lightning. With these weapons, he once single-handedly defeated a tribe of Hill Bandits in a southern battle. While he lived, he was a ferocious fighter for the Lords. Because no one defeated him; however, he soon became obsessed with pride. Often, when the Knights joined together in battle, he broke off on his own. Although sometimes out-numbered, his reputation generated enough fear in the enemy that they surrendered to him; and that fear kept him from harm. It was on the last of these fateful sorties in a battle for Baldor, that he met his match and his undoing:" Elkin paused while two glimmering lights formed above the fire. There, a holograph displayed as the fire burned low to the ground. In the holograph, were two figures talking. One was a wizard dressed in purple cloth. He held an ornate staff. The other was clearly a Knight with a winged helm and a glowing sword. They faced each other on opposite sides of the fire as the wizard spoke: "I have been waiting for you Starfighter," he said as he raised his staff. "You are no match for me Endor," stated the Knight, "So yield to me without resistance!" The wizard just smiled and countered, "No match with arms; tis true, but now that you have foolishly come here ahead of your grimy friends, feel my power!" The wizard lowered his staff. A green glow flowed from it and surrounded Starfighter. Every energy device on Starfighter's armor shimmered green in color. Starfighter valiantly threw his sword at the wizard. The wizard had time to say only, "What!," because as Starfighter passed out, the sword rolled over once and hit the wizard in the his stomach. It passed completely through and stuck out of his back. The wizard coughed once, fell on his back, and dropped the staff; stopping the glow. Both lay there dead for a time. Suddenly, other figures entered the holograph. They were Drog Barbarians. One spoke happily to the other: "Well, well; that ugly wizard has caught us a Knight!" "Wait!," said the other while bent over to look at the bodies, "They're both dead!" "Quick!," said a third, "Grab the pickings and make haste!" They stripped the two of them, and ran out of the room. The holograph faded. For a long time, no one spoke. Fast Rollvag broke the silence and blurted out, "Well, at least he got his man!" Kuros spoke next: "Yes, but it seems we have been shown a lesson on pride; and that pride, if left to roam ahead of good sense, leads to one's un-doing." "Quite well spoken!," said Longsilver. Cher spoke next: "Elkin, dear, what happened to those objects?" "Elfin, let me be clear: The drogs found out that the objects were of no value to them. They melted down the objects and hid them in a cave. Now, of course, they are very, very near..." "Let me guess," said Kuros empathetically, "The red rock is the fire stone, the yellow rock is the sword, the black rock is the staff, and that leaves -- the diamond!" Kuros stood up, bent over, and smashed the gray rock on a stone. It broke into pieces -- and inside? He held up a bright, white, and glowing diamond. "How about that!" cheered Byc. Kuros said excitedly, "I suggest that Cher make something out of the yellow rock, a jeweler flake out the red stone, and someone else; the staff? Hmm, I don't know..." Arveta Supplement: the Uri Plainspeople Back to Arveta Table of Contents Back to Arveta List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Abram Paradies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com