Dark Sun (tm) Campaign

While the commander was holding his speech, I examined my surroundings. Next to me stood a half-giant, while a human and a small mul stood before me. A bit further away some idiot was wearing heavy clothing. Though early in the morning, it was already uncomfortably warm and it probably was going to be another hot day. For some reason however, that strange fighter didn't sweat at all.

As I looked to my other side, I was amazed at the nerve of another man, for clearly he was an ex-templar. And since templars hadn't done much about their public relations before Kalahk died. Thereafter, they soon found out that they were easy prey for upset citizens without their borrowed powers. So why on Athas this man had joined the city guards was anyone's guess, but I doubted whether he would return that evening.

The commander devided us, that is, all new recrutes, up into several groups. My companions for that day were a human, who introduced himself as Cyrx. He looked like a joyful fellow, and I noticed he was carrying a flute. Maybe this now would be enlightened by a song or a frivole tune played on his flute.

Amongst my other companions there was the mul. This halfdwarven baldheaded creature looked mighty dangerous. He seemed a likeable chap, but you never know with muls. So I decided not to let my guard down while he was around. He introduced himself as "Balor".

As I turned to look to my final patrol companion, I had some trouble seeing him entirely. Being a halfgiant, he stood above the crowd. With this fellow on our side we needn't worry about fighting.

Our group was assigned to keep an eye on the elven market. I had a bad feeling about this. I know what my own tribe might do on those markets, and there are more dangerous things happening on an elven market than an honest citizen should want to know about. Though busy, it became evident that wherever we went, a hush fell and some merchants took off. Behind us, the merchants came back as quick as they took off. Though I too had been taught many ways to bypass the law, I didn't actively search for illegal storage. One would have to be very quick to discover illegal goods on the market. That is, as a city guard. Possible clients looking for illegal goods could get pretty much anything they wanted, though they too vanished with the merchants.

Just as we decided to take a closer look at a stand that sold waterskins, we heard a crie coming from near the circus. Since we were the only city guards in the neighborhood, we ran immediately towards the circus. When we arrived, a noble was having an argument with a juggler. Balor and Cyrx went off checking something out, leaving me and the halfgiant. I told the noble to calm down and explain what had happened.
The noble replied: "That idiot almost killed me ! If I hadn't jumpt right on time, he would have hit me with one of his torches !"
The juggler explained his side of the story: He had never had any trouble juggling before, but it was as though one of his torches was blown away towards the noble when in mid-air. Of course, this was highly improbable, since it was a windless day. And surely a gust of wind strong enough to blow a torch towards someone would be noticed by others.

Although the rather poor explanation offered by the juggler, I didn't think he did it on purpose. You had to be a fool to attack a noble when he is surrounded by four halfgiants, serving as bodyguards. It still wasn't clear to me what had happened, but I decided that the noble would be safer elsewhere. So I told him, that it wasn't wise to stir up a fight with an elf on the elven market. After all, if it would come to a physical fight, it wouldn't be unlikely that all elves in the neighborhood would join in to help their comerad. And since there are quite a lot of elves on the elven market, it is probably wiser to let the matter rest for the time being.

The noble agreed, though grudgingly, and winked his half-giants and left. But not before saying: "That juggler shall here more from this !" In the mean time, my half-giant companion had talked to the juggler, explaining there are smarter things in life than causing trouble for a mighty noble. The juggler left too, probably agreeing with my collegue.

As there was little else to do, the half-giant and I went searching for our comrades. I walked towards the elven stall at which I last noticed them. The elven trader gave us some vague directions about which way to go. Since I was getting more and more irritated (after all, this wasn't exactly what I expected when I took this job), I jumped over the stall and ran off in the direction the elven trader had pointed at. Some screams of protest came from my back, but were suddenly silenced. Probably the half-giant "calmed" the trader in his own way. Since the half-giant seemed like at least a half-decent fellow, I was assured, he wouldn't break too many bones. So I ran on, around the corner of a tent.

There I saw our lost companions. Balor took over a woman who was held by Cyrx. They then came walking towards me. Since there was little else to do around here, I decided to follow them. When we came around the back of the tent, we once again met Kalidor. Even though I had been standing next to him for quite some time, the guy remains impressively big. As we began to stumble back towards the market, a group of humans dressed similary to the captive female suddenly rounded a corner and hasted themselves towards us. Clearly, they were looking for trouble. Since we were supposed to uphold law and order in this area, I suggested that we would give them a piece of our own mind.

As the strange group came closer, it was evident that this fight wouldn't be easy. All our opponents looked healthily and strong. Of course, with the half-giant on our side, we had an advantage. But the fight wouldn't be only physical, for I felt some tiny twinkling inside my mind. As I looked at the others, they seemed to have similar experiences. The half-giant was now standing in the first line, and next to him stood Cyrx. Clearly my companions had yet to develop their common sense. What idiot human would stand in front if there was a mul to do it for him ?

It was quite obvious that I wouldn't be of much use in this fight, I could only get myself hurt. At that moment, the other group had nearly reached us. Two of the four changed into some sort of great black cats, while the respectable one and another retained their original forms. At this moment, the half-giant swiped at one of the pooma-creature's. He hit it rather hard, I heard the crushing of bones. The devious animal stood his ground, nevertheless. This fellow made this now more enjoyable.
Cyrx then lashed his whip backward, preparing to whip the shit out of those pooma's. Unfortunately, the whip got stuck on Balor's backpack. It was a good thing at least the half-giant was a decent fighter, it was evident that the others would learn much from this fight.

It didn't take long for my companions to figure out, that their places weren't exactly tactically wise. So I took over the woman prisoner from Balor, and he and Cyrx switched places. Now things started to look very bad for our opponents. But suddenly, one swiftly pulled a small knife from under his skirtsa and threw it with deadly precision at the female prisoner. I had already stepped back, for she had spoken to me. She had told me (in an accent I couldn't place): "It is too late, I have failed." This was reason enough to fear, that our advisaries might not want this woman alive in our hands. So I had stepped back and put my sword in front of her. Even though I was prepared for the enemy to strike the woman, this attack came so fast, I could not prevent it. Unfortunately, the woman died instantly. This caused an extreme outrage to rise in me, since I had tried to prevent her death. I jumped forward and grabbed my knife to throw it back. Balor, whose eyes had followed the thrown knife, shouted swiftly "No knives in my back, please !".

I calmed down and stepped back to examine the body of the woman. I found some coins and a very interesting paper with a symbol on it. The symbol was the exact same symbol as the symbol of the noble, who had an argument with a juggler earlier on. Interesting...

When I looked back, my companions had defeated the attackers. We picked up the bodies and carried them back to the commandant, who then gave us instructions to inform the noble about what had happened. So we ventured to his house, a large estate in the Noble's quarters. By the door stood a guard, who could only inform us that his master was out and would not return for several hours. We instructed the guard to ask his master if he would want to receive us the next day. After this, we returned to the elven market, where nothing much happened.