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Old 08-05-2003, 03:45 PM   #33
Mithadan
Spirit of Mist
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Tol Eressea
Posts: 3,310
Mithadan is a guest at the Prancing Pony.Mithadan is a guest at the Prancing Pony.
Sting

Grrralph, however, walked over and sat on a log at the edge of the camp. He fiddled with his morningstar for a moment, trying to pry a dragon scale from one of its points. When it finally came loose, he tossed the scale over to the two geckos who immediately began fighting over it. Then he stowed his weapon under his cloak.

Merisu glared at him with annoyance. "Well?" she demanded. "Aren't you going too?"

Grrralph looked up at her. If his face was visible, it would have evidenced confusion, assuming that he actually had a face. "Where?" he asked. These one word questions are going to get old very quickly, thought the Elf.

"To the Bacon-Binge, like everyone else," she answered with exasperation. "Aren't you hungry too?"

Grrralph shook his cowl. "Uh, no," he answered. "Not hungry."

Merisu allowed her annoyance at the other members of the Gallowship to seep through a bit. "Fine!" she snapped. "Just sit there!" He nodded his cowl in answer. "Thanks. I will."

The heat of the day, as well as her aggravation had caused her face to turn red. She fanned herself in a vain attempt to abate the heat. Then she looked over to Grrralph and her curiosity overwhelmed her annoyance. "Aren't you hot?" she asked. His burning red eyes did not waver. "I suppose it's rather warm," he responded.

She shook her head at what she viewed as another demonstration of Grrralph's rapidly-becoming-legendary stupidity. "Then why don't you take your cloak off?" she suggested.

His response was unexpected. He tilted his cowl back and emitted one of his rapidly-becoming-legendary (and truly annoying) wails. Then he brought his cowl back down and, to her surprise, steam and a hissing noise came from his burning eyes as they were apparently met by a hidden stream of tears. He wiped at the nothingness that was his face with a sleeve, before speaking.

"I can't!" he cried both figuratively and literally. "My cloak and armor were bound upon me by the spells of my former...employer. I cannot remove them! I wish I could. While they provide me with great physical prowess on the battlefield, they also weigh upon me, numbing my mind. I cannot really recall but before I wore this stuff, I wasn't so..." He paused, searching for the right word.

"Dumb?" suggested Merisu helpfully. "Yes!" he responded as steam again rose from beneath his hood.

"That's rough," observed Merisu. Then they sat together in silence for a moment. The Elf scowled as an obvious question entered her mind. However, her sense of politeness strove with her curiosity for a moment, causing her frown to deepen. Her curiosity won. "Uh, Grrralph," she asked quietly. "If you can't remove your cloak and your armor, then how do you...uh...you know?"

Grrralph shuffled his feet in embarrasment before answering and sighed. "Have you ever seen me eat or drink?" he answered.
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