By Quamp
It was a pretty normal day in the life of Piffany. She had just finished taping up Nodwick again. This time, however, it was personal. A messenger came to Piffany with an order from the high matron of her cleric's guild. "Guys, can you not kill Nodwick while I'm gone?" she asked. "Sure thing." Yager responded, knowing full well Nodwick would be dead as a doornail when she got back. Well, preparations were almost complete for their journey into the cavern of the 7 corners. "We're going to have a lot of gold when we come back!" Yager said. Piffany headed out to her guild and arrived there. Once there, the high matron talked to her. "Piffany, one of the children you once taught wants to talk to you." She said. "Wonderful." She thought. Sure enough, Kayla the lightning mistress entered the room. "Miss Piffany? Thank you for showing me the ways of good." She said. "Well, that's sweet of you." Piffany replied. "We've set things up with her parents. She's going to spend the week with you. Kayla has decided to become an adventurer like you." This shocked Piffany. "The… whole week?" Piffany choked. "But… my friends and I are about to leave for the cavern of the 7 corners! It's going to be dangerous! There are a lot of not-nice things there!" Piffany said. "Well, then you should take her along. Who knows? Her lighting powers could be useful." The High Matron replied. Piffany put her hand over her face. "This has lawsuit written all over it." She muttered in vain.
Well, with Kayla in tow, Piffany headed back to the team. "A KID?!" Yager shouted. "We've been preparing for this for weeks! We can't get our deposits back! We have to go now or lose a fortune!" Kayla stepped up to Yager. "I wanna go with you to the dungeon! It sounds like fun!" Nodwick tried in vain to inject some sanity into this. "Young lady, the place we're going into is very dangerous. We don't want to see you get hurt." He said. Kayla started getting upset. "I wanna go!" She shouted. She started throwing sparks. "LET ME GO!!" She let out a large burst of lightning, turning Nodwick into a pile of ashes as the others dove for cover. "O.k., you can go." Yager said sheepishly. Piffany pulled out her duct tape again. "And the High Matron wonders why I go through so much of this stuff." She noted as she started taping Nodwick's tiny ashes back together…
Well, several hours later, they set off for the cavern of the 7 corners. "Legend has it that Porteros the greed-grabber stored a vast treasury there." Piffany told Kayla. "Cool! I want some treasure." Kayla said. "We'll see about that later." Piffany said. While on the way there, however, a farmer stopped them. "Wizard! We need your help! He said. "What's wrong?" Artax asked. "An evil wizard has cursed my land! It is overrun with snakes! I need you to remove the curse!" He then led Artax over to a multi-acre field. There the team saw the field was filled with poisonous snakes. They were pretty big and very menacing-looking as well. "Well? Can you help me? He turned my crop into snakes!" Artax cast a simple spell on one of the snakes. "Hmm… Well, to undo the spell, I'm going to need several things…" He replied. So they had to set out for the ingredients. The first one was a piece of Ogre dandruff. They left Kayla at the farmer's house and set off. Good thing an ogre lived in a nearby cave. Unfortunately, it didn't have dandruff. "What? You want me dandruff?" It asked. "Me no have dandruff. Me Ogre with speech problem!" it replied. "I don't suppose you know where an ogre with dandruff lives." Artax said. "Me know. You help me, me help you." So they taught the ogre how to speak normally. It took about 3 days of lessons. "Thanks. The ogre with dandruff is down the road in the cave marked "Danger!! Death ray."
Upon arriving at the cave of the ogre with dandruff, they found the place blocked by a giant white boulder. Try as they might, they couldn't budge it. Then they found out Yager could hack it to pieces with his sword. After doing so, they realized what it was: a giant flake of dandruff. "Icky poo. This is sooo not-nice." Piffany said. The ogre came out of his cave and thanked them. "I've been trying to move that for weeks. Thanks, everyone!" He said. "Just how many more ingredients do we have?" Nodwick asked Artax. "Only three more. Next I need the twig of an ash tree." He said. Going back to the farm, they found an ash tree, and snapped a twig off of it. "Ow! Hey! What do you think you're doing?" It shouted. "What's going on here?" Nodwick asked. The tree showed it was a sentient tree. "I don't go snapping limbs off of you, now do I?" It asked. "We need this to help someone out. His field is covered in snakes. We just need this twig, and we'll bring it right back." Artax said. "Well, if you don't, I'll be forced to cast a spell on you." They went on their way to the last ingredient.
This time, however, things would not be easy. "We have to gather the breath of the dreaded cerulean dragon." Artax said. "Cerulean dragon?" Nodwick said. "Great. I'm going to be dragon fodder again." He thought. "I'm sure there's one around here somewhere." Artax said. They walked over to the next cave, and saw a cerulean dragon inside it. Then they found out why the cerulean dragon was so feared: its breath is the smell of rotting eggs, burning rubber, and skunk oil. "O.k., Nodwick, just have the dragon breathe into this jug." Artax said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who made me the victim? Why can't you do it, Artax?" Nodwick asked. "I need to be around to actually cast the spell." Artax replied. "Enough chit-chat! Get in there and get that breath!" Yager then shoved the jug into Nodwick's hands, picked up our henchman hero and threw him into the cave.
Once inside, Nodwick barely missed hitting the cerulean dragon. "AAH!" Nodwick said as he hit the wall. "Oh God, not another one." The dragon said. "You know, I am getting very sick of you heroes coming in and trying to slay me. Just what did I to hurt you? I've tried my best to avoid humans. Now, do I come barging into your home with a sword and try to kill you?" It asked. "Uh…" Nodwick said, dazed because he hit the wall. "No I don't! And I'd appreciate it if you didn't either! Why can't you humans leave dragons alone? I've tried to be nice to you humans, but all you want to do with us dragons is kill us. Why? We're all living in the same world, so what is it about us dragons that makes you hate us so much?" Nodwick finally gained his senses. "I'm not… here to kill… you…" He started. "Oh sure, now that I've told you this, you're going to back down. Well mister, I'm still not happy that you've come in to kill me!" "I just wanted some of your breath for a spell!" Nodwick gasped. "Some of my breath? What kind of trick is this?" The dragon boomed. "No trick. We met a farmer whose field is overrun with snakes by a spell." Nodwick replied. "Oh, that. Well, I tell you what. You want that, you should help me out." The dragon said. "How?" Nodwick asked, fearing the answer. The dragon then produced a large scroll. "Post this in your town's square. It explains our side of the story." The dragon said. The dragon breathed into the jug, and then corked it. "Now go, I want to wallow in my loneliness for a while." Nodwick was confused. "Loneliness?" Nodwick asked. "Cerulean dragons are very lonely creatures. I haven't had a date in years ." He said. "Well, if I run into any other cerulean dragons, I'll send them your way."
Well, scroll in hand and breath in jug, Nodwick went back to his friends. "So what's the last ingredient?" Yager asked. "The scale of a fire salamander." Artax said. "Fire salamander? There aren't any fire salamanders around here! The nearest one is 6 weeks journey away!" Nodwick said. "Actually, I've been working on a spell that should bring something to us." Artax said. "Well, why didn't you use it beforehand!?" Nodwick asked. "It's somewhat unreliable." Nodwick could see what was coming from a mile away. "All right, cast it and let's get this over with." He said. Sure enough, the Fire salamander that appeared was very angry about being taken from its lava-ridden home. It felt cold, so it warmed the place up by breathing fire everywhere. Oddly enough, Nodwick and Piffany weren't hurt; Nodwick raced behind a boulder as Artax cast the spell. Piffany, taking a cue from Nodwick, followed him. Yager managed to slice a small chunk off of its hide before the fire salamander heated his sword up so hot that it could not be held. Yager dropped his sword and pulled back. "PUT IT BACK, ARTAX!" He shouted. "Erm... I haven't quite acquired the return spell yet…" Strangely enough, Nodwick found a well, and loaded up on water. He managed to throw a lot of water on the fire salamander, and caused it to die. "Get the scale now, guys." Nodwick said. "Sure, no problem." Yager said as he picked up his red-hot sword. "YEOW!" Yager screamed in pain as he dropped it again. "This is a nice change of pace. Piffany's having to duct tape you instead of me." Nodwick said.
Ragged and in a tenuous state of health, our heroes returned to the farm to find that Kayla had killed all the snakes, and when they died, they turned back to plants. "What took you so long?" She asked. "I think I'm going to cry." Yager said. "Now, now. Kayla did something good! That's very nice of you, Kayla." The farmer stopped Piffany in her tracks. "I had to pay her 300 gold pieces for it." He told Piffany. "300 gold pieces? Kayla…" Piffany admonished. Believe me, you do not want to be on the receiving end of Piffany's admonishments. "All right, I'll return the farmer his gold." Kayla said.
It was the next day when they arrived at the cavern of the 7 corners. They found that there was a henchman encased in clear Obsidian at the entrance. There was a warning scratched into the volcanic glass: "Beware! Enter here and you too shall die!" Nodwick was stunned. "Hoodwick! Everybody thought he was lost forever!" He said in his astonishment. "I'll set him free!" Yager replied. Naturally, Yager's method of freeing Hoodwick was to shatter the obsidian with his sword. Unfortunately, this also shattered Hoodwick as well. Piffany pulled out her duct tape again. "Say, Miss Piffany, how much of that stuff do you use?" Kayla asked. "On average, about five rolls a day." Piffany responded. "Five rolls? Isn't that quite a lot?" Kayla asked. "Oh no, some clerics use as many as 12." Piffany responded. "The one that goes with your uncle Farlane the blood-drinker often has to use 20 a day." Piffany added.
Well, later on they were walking down a pathway. Artax cast a detect trap spell. "Find anything?" Yager asked. "Nope. Nothing." Artax responded. They proceeded cautiously, and then they saw a faint glow from the floor. "Wait! This floor is trapped!" Artax said. Yager picked up Nodwick and said "Stand back, I know what to do!" Kayla stopped him. "Let me try this one." Kayla then shot a bolt of lightning down the way, hitting the trap, and causing it to trip. A spiked metal grating came crashing down in front of them. It impaled itself onto the floor, rendering it harmless. "I wish that we had the kid to disarms traps like that all the time." Nodwick thought. They continued down the pathway and then ran into a gelatinous cube with a golden statue inside it. "How do we get that?" Piffany asked. "Allow me." Kayla said. She then blasted the gelatinous cube with lightning, causing the dangerous gelatin to spray everywhere. A quick shield spell from Artax prevented everyone from getting splattered with it. Nodwick would have gotten a full dose had he not dove behind Piffany. "Kayla, think before you act." Piffany said. "We could have been showered with a powerful acid." Kayla was taken aback. "Oops." She said. They picked up the statue and gave it to Nodwick. Kayla wanted to have the statue for her own. "I wanna hold it!" She whined. Nodwick and Piffany wanted to give her the statue, but Artax and Yager wouldn't hear of it. "Carrying things is what we have Nodwick for." Yager said. "Yager, remember what happened last time that you didn't give her what she wanted?" Piffany asked. They very reluctantly gave the statue over to Kayla. She put it into her bag of holding. "Yea!" She squealed in delight.
Later on, our heroes came to the first corner. This corner basically tested their ability to see in the dark. All light was extinguished. Even Kayla's lightning spells failed to produce any light, albeit it produced enough electricity to fry Nodwick again. A bunch of duct tape later, they got out of the place by feeling their way around the dark. "Hey! Get your hand out of my ear!" Artax shouted at Yager at one point. "That's not my hand." Yager replied. "Oops. Sorry." Kayla responded. There was a brief pause, then Artax asked: "Wait a minute. How were you able to put your hand in my ear?" He asked. "I'm standing on a rock." Kayla replied. To make a long story short, it took them quite a while to get out of the first corner.
Next they came to the second corner. This trap easily ensnared Yager; it was baited with several barrels of skull-whomper ale. He immediately took a drink, and became stinking drunk. "Wow! Thish ish p-powerful schtuff." He slurred. "Wonderful. Yager is drunk again." Nodwick said. "Is he always like this?" Kayla asked. "Sadly, yes. I think it stems from his denial that he's really not the smartest of the group." Piffany said. Kayla was very uneasy about this. "Miss Piffany, do we really have to be subservient to men, especially men like this?" Piffany smiled. "Of course not. We just have to make them think they're superior." She replied. "Oh." Kayla replied. "Well, when I start adventuring, do I really have to be with a bunch of incompetent idiots like these two?" Kayla asked. "Hey! Who are you challing inchomp-inchompetent?" Yager slurred. "Why, I -" Piffany had enough of this behavior, and hit him with a sobriety spell. "Aw, come on! I was feeling really good!" Yager said. "Yager, we are in the presence of a minor. Behave or I'll invoke the hangover side of the spell." Piffany said. "Sorry." Yager replied.
Corner number three had the team facing a female Cerulean dragon. The smell of rotting eggs, rotting fish, burning rubber and old socks was everywhere. Yager immediately picked up Nodwick and threw him at the dragon. Nodwick barely missed hitting the dragon. "Jeez, can't you humans stop attacking us for once?" The dragon said. Nodwick uneasily stood up, dazed and hurt. "Uh…" He started. "Cripes, another freaking henchman. Listen henchman, you tell your party out there I don't deal with lackeys." The dragon started to throw Nodwick back at Yager, but Nodwick stopped her. "Wait! Don't hurt me! I didn't want to get thrown into you." He said. "The Cerulean Dragon merely rolled her eyes. "Look henchman, if I had a gold piece for every henchman that was thrown at me, I'd have more wealth than I'd know what to do with. I'm really sick of having henchmen thrown at me. Now you go tell your people that if they want to fight me, they're going to have to come in here and fight me." Nodwick remembered the lonely male Cerulean dragon. "I tell you what, don't throw me, and I'll tell you about a very lonely male Cerulean dragon who's looking for a mate." The female Cerulean dragon perked up with apprehension. "Where is this dragon?" She asked. "If you are lying to me, I will make sure you die and stay dead!" Nodwick gave the location of the other dragon. "Fine. Go. I will be back." The dragon spread her wings and flew out. Nodwick then went back to his friends. "All clear, gang. Come on in." He said. They did so and passed through the wide cave.
Corner #4 consisted of a bunch of comfy chairs. "Oh man, my feet are killing me." Yager said. He sat down in the chair, and relaxed. "Wow… this is wonderful. You should try it." Nodwick realized what was going on here. "Wait! Don't sit down! That's a comfy chair!" He said. "Comfy chair?" Yager asked. "It's so wonderful and comfortable you can't stand up again." "Now you tell me." Yager responded. "This is not-nice! What can we do?" Piffany asked. "I have an idea." Kayla responded. She then electrocuted Yager's chair, and caused him to disintegrate as well. "Oops. I guess I used a little too much electricity." Kayla said. "Well, some duct tape should put him back to normal." Piffany said. Naturally, it took her quite a long time to tape the tiny pieces of Yager back together…
After getting healed well enough to travel, Yager was not in a pleasant mood. "That's it! That brat stays here!" He shouted. "I'm sick of her killing me over and over!" Nodwick smiled slightly. "Now you know what I go through every adventure." He said. "I think we should all raise our hands now." Artax said. "What on earth for?" Yager asked. "We're surrounded by some very mean looking red skeletons." Our heroes looked around to see that, in fact, several well-armed red skeletons surrounded them. The red variety, as we know, are on fire as are their weaponry. "Go away, you not-nice creatures!" Piffany shouted, casting her turn undead spell. The red skeletons started dissolving. "Aw man, the boss is gonna be hacked!" One of the skeletons said as he turned to dust. Our heroes went off, now more than halfway through their quest.
Once they arrived at corner #5, they found boxes of food. Naturally, Piffany made a b-line for the one marked chocolate. "Uh-oh. We just lost Piffany." Artax said. Piffany opened the box to find a chocolate monster in it. The monster came out and started menacing Piffany. "Uh-oh." Piffany said. Yager readied his sword to fight, but Kayla immediately shot the monster with electricity. This turned the monster into a bunch of chocolate bars. "Oh, I just can't stop myself!" Piffany said as she grabbed a bar and gobbled it down. Kayla did the same, and then Nodwick put the rest into a treasure chest. "Better keep them out of sight for now." Nodwick said. "Good thinking." Yager replied.
Our heroes walked along the pathway, with Artax occasionally checking for traps. Just before they came to corner #6, spider webs blocked the way. Kayla immediately shot them with lightning, but this only served to anger the giant lightning spider that was on the webs. "Uh-oh." Kayla said. "This is why you need a diversification of powers, Kayla. You'll never know what you'll run into." The spider bore down on them, and Yager was trying to hack at it with his sword. Unfortunately, this only served to get him electrocuted, and turn into tiny little ashes. "Yager's down again! Artax, do something!" Piffany said. Artax cast an arctic wind spell on the spider, covering it in frost and ice. Piffany pulled out her duct tape again. "You know, if this keeps up, I'm going to have to ask the high matron for more duct tape." After healing up Yager again, the team slashed though the webs to corner #6. "I'd better not get killed again." Nodwick smiled. "It's only karma." He said. Well, upon arriving at corner #6, our heroes were confronted with 5 doors. "Which one should we choose?" Piffany asked. "Well, there's a sign here… let's see… it says: Choose wisely, for opening the wrong door will lead to certain death." The gang thought for a moment. "Well, let's try examining the doors." Nodwick said. He went up to one and put his ear to the door. "It feels very hot" He said as he took his ear away from the door. He then put his ear to the next door; he heard hissing sounds. "Bad idea on this one." He said. Going through all the doors, he stopped at the last one. "I don't feel anything or hear anything." He said. "Then let's try this one!" Yager said, and then promptly pushed Nodwick aside and threw the door wide open.
When Yager opened the door, a demon stepped out. This demon was the brother of the real estate demon Nodwick and friends encountered a few months back. He was similarly dressed as well. "Congratulations! You guessed wrong! Now you've got to choose between two candidates!" Two Hispanic males stepped out, attired in suits and ties. "This doesn't look too bad." Piffany said. The demon continued: "Now, you'll have to choose between them, and here are the facts about them:"
Candidate A is an ardent supporter of the death penalty. He's also advocated executing the mentally retarded. He's not going to support a critical test to determine how well our children are educated. He's advocating a very expensive technological constant monitoring, somewhat akin to 1984. He's an oil baron that's been cited for poor environmental handling of an area. He was on the wildlife commission, and pulled strings to get the rights to oil in a state park. He was CEO of a savings and loan that was guilty of laundering $25,000 of drug money. When this S&L failed, taxpayers had to pick up the $161 million tab. He accused his opponent of having denied educational opportunities for minority candidates, which was not true. When talking in Spanish, he made a few mistakes.
Candidate B has said debating in Spanish was "not as critical" as debating in English, thus being hypocritical to his origin. He did say, however, "I'm proud to be Hispanic." He did a very poor job with child support, and almost had the program taken away from him. He collected 2 out of 10 child support cases. He pulled strings to allow a phone company to allow them to compete in local long distance service while having a vested interest in them. He's being investigated by a grand jury for abuse of power. It seems he channeled $500,000 out of the tobacco settlement to a lawyer friend of his who had nothing to do with the case. He has advocated new taxes. He accused his opponent of trying to buy the election, while spending an equal amount of money from his own pocket. He supports a moment of silence for prayer in schools.*
Nodwick and his friends recoiled in horror. "Gee, these two are really not-nice." Piffany said. Nodwick examined both of them carefully. "Choose between these two?" He asked. "Oh yes. You'll have a hellish time here." The five of them contemplated for a little. "I don't see a difference between the two of them. They're both very hellish." Artax said. "I agree. These two are very foul indeed." Nodwick replied. "Ah, to heck with this. We'll take candidate A." Yager said. "Well, now that you've decided, now you'll have that candidate recite verbatim a speech from Pat Buchanan!" Our heroes recoiled in horror. "NO! Not being bored to death!" Piffany said. Candidate A started talking, but then Yager started carving both candidate A and the demon up with his sword. "Bah! Can the balloon juice and let us pass!" He said. Well, once the demon and candidate A were hacked into tiny pieces, they went past the door and on their merry way.
It was a considerable time later that our heroes made it to corner #7. There was a magical barrier in the way, one that covered the path with a golden light. Artax and Yager knew the drill. Artax distracted Piffany while Yager threw Nodwick at the light. "AAH!" Nodwick shouted as he passed harmlessly through the light. He landed on the other side with a thud, headfirst. "Hey… you didn't throw Nodwick at that icky trap, did you?" Piffany said. "Oh no, Piffany." Yager replied. "I believe you." She added. Nodwick uneasily stood up and nursed his head. "Ooh…" He moaned in pain. "Well, this is obviously an illusion, so let's go." Yager said as he stepped into the light. This time, however, he was thrown backwards right into Artax. The two of them crashed onto the ground with a sickening thud. "Oh my…" Piffany said. "I don't get it, Miss Piffany. How could Nodwick pass through unharmed while Yager gets thrown back?" Kayla asked. "Hmm… I really don't know." Piffany answered. Artax and Yager stood up and brushed themselves off. "Nodwick, look for something around there to turn that barrier off." Artax said. Nodwick looked around the place. "I don't see anything over here." He replied. Yager rushed the portal again, and Piffany and Artax dove for cover as Yager got stopped dead in his tracks, and thrown back into a wall, narrowly missing Kayla. "Hmm… let's try someone else, shall we?" Artax said. He cautiously approached the portal, and stepped into it. He too was thrown back into the wall. "OOF!" Artax then nursed his head as he stood up. "Why don't you try it, Piffany?" He said. Piffany nervously stepped up to the portal. She cautiously stepped into it… then went through unharmed. "Whew. But how could I step through this unharmed?" She asked. "Ah-ha! It's a morality gate." Nodwick said. "A what gate?" Yager asked. "Prestwick told me about this. It seems that it will let through only those of high moral quality." He said. "So Yager and I can't get through." Artax responded. "Doesn't surprise me." Kayla said. She then took a step up to the portal. Then there was a pause. "Error! Error! Person of equal moral and immoral aptitude in the portal! Error! Error!" The portal starting growing red-hot. "Kayla, get out of there!!" Nodwick said. "I can't! I'm stuck!" She responded. The others dove for cover as the portal exploded.
When the dust settled, Kayla was on the side with Nodwick and Piffany. She had several bruises and cuts, and her arm was broken, but she was still alive. Unfortunately, where the portal once stood was a solid steelstone boulder. It looked extremely heavy and not something that would move by man or machine. "Oh my…" Piffany said. "Nodwick, are you all right?" She asked. "Just fine. I think we should look after Kayla, however." Piffany taped up Kayla so she was as good as new. After they fixed up Kayla, she stood up uneasily. "Ooh… I never thought I was so ambiguous morally." She said. "Artax, Yager, can you hear us!?" Nodwick shouted to the wall. Silence answered back. "Whoa… look at that!" Kayla said. Nodwick and Piffany turned around to see the walls were covered in precious gems, mostly diamonds and emeralds. "Wow…." Piffany said. "These look wonderful…" Nodwick went up to the diamond and emerald wall and touched it. Some of the gems fell on the ground. "This is not a wall. This place is paced from floor to ceiling with these gems." Nodwick said. "Who knows how much is here?" He added. "About 550 million carats." A voice from nowhere responded. "Gosh, that's a lot of gems." Piffany said. "I'll thank you not to touch my stash of gems." The voice boomed back. Piffany, Nodwick and Kayla turned around to see a large, menacing group of ogre skeletons. "We've guarded those gemstones for our boss for 2000 years now." One of them said. "Sounds like you need to rest." Piffany replied. She then cast her turn undead spell again. "Aw man, not a turn undead spell. The boss is gonna be mighty peeved." The skeletons then fell into their bony components, the force of animation drained from then. Then a nearby wall broke down. It was Artax and Yager. "Artax! Yager!" Piffany shouted in excitement. "See what we found!" Dollar signs filled the eyes of Artax and Yager. "Oh my…" Artax said. They did their best to gather the treasure. Kayla's bag of holding was filled to capacity, and they still had a lot more treasure to gather. Unfortunately, once they had all the treasure in hand, a large orange demon appeared. "Hey you! >ACHOO!< Don't take my >HACK!< Stuff!" They looked at this menacing sight: it was 100 feet tall, large leather wings, large, sharp claws, and a nasty smell. "Surrender or >COUGH!< Die!" It said. "Say, you don't sound too well." Piffany said. "I caught a >HACK!< cold!" It replied. "I have a cure for that!" Yager shouted as he plunged his sword into the Demon's chest, right in the center. "Aw man, I hate it when >COUGH!< people try to take advantage of me when >WHEEZE!< I'm down." The demon managed to slash Yager into 4 pieces before dying. "This is >HACK!< a really >COUGH!< bad day for me…" The demon said as it died. Piffany rolled out the duct tape. "Guys, keep the injuries to a minimum. I'm running low on duct tape." Piffany said. The demon started to rise again. "I'm not quite dead yet." It said. A lightning blast from Kayla turned it into tiny ashes.
After taping up Yager for the third time, they made their way back to the cleric's monastery. "You've been very useful on this trip, Kayla. Someday, you'll make a great adventurer. But for now, we'd better get you back to your parents." Artax told her. "Aw, I was having so much fun!" She said. "Maybe. But your fun nearly cost us our lives. You should be more careful with life because it's precious." Piffany said. "But Yager was really careless with Nodwick's life." Kayla said. "Yes, and Yager is going to have a refresher course in the sanctity of life from me." Piffany responded. They brought her to the high matron. "So, was everything all right with Kayla?" She asked. "Fine, just fine." Artax said. "Good, because her parents have been called away on business. She's going to stay with you for two whole weeks!" Each member of our heroes got a very sick feeling in their stomachs….
--To be Continued??--
*Sadly, these are TRUE facts taken from the Texas gubernatorial democratic debates in 2002. Candidate A is Tony Sanchez, and candidate B is Dan Morales.