The captain was angry. Which was not new. He was angry at the White Serpent. Which was also not new. In fact, very little was new about the captain, except for his latest Naga trap. This one was sure to work, he assured himself. He had worked so hard on it, it'd damn better! The captain laughed evilly (and loudly). The birds in the nearby tree immediatly grabbed their nest with their beaks and flew off to somewhere quieter. --- Torr sat at the bar, thinking. He needed help. Cheap help. He'd take care of it himself, but he still needed time to recover... a few days, he guessed. He had to keep Naga and her group from entering Elmekia as long as he could. But how...? He sipped his drink. Maybe he could enlist the help of some wandering bandits. After all, they'll usually do ANYTHING for money... and knowing bandits, some should show up any time now, this being a fairly nice inn. *SMASH!* The door of the inn burst inward, and bandits swarmed in. "Give us the all your money and jewels, and maybe you we won't use your inn for firewood!" the leader said, in the traditional bandit tone of voice. {They'll work.} Torr thought, walking toward the leader. --- Slayers Glorious #11 - Suprise! Return of an Old Enemy! This part by Jeff Reed --- Our heroes walked along the road. So far, going had been pretty good since they left town. They hadn't encountered a single monster the whole time. Getehl thought that very odd. ĻI've heard tales of this place. They say it's crawling with monsters. Trolls, mostly. I'm getting worried..." he said. "Maybe someone dealt with them?" Mariposa suggested. "Who would bother with such a task?" Getehl responded. "Hmm..." "Be on your guard," Getehl said. "If someone did deal with them, we may be up for some rough going." They continued, now a bit slower and cautiously, being careful to not make much noise. They creept along, up to the edge of the hill. "Hey, look! It's those bandits from the winery!" Mari chirped. Unfortunatly, Mariposa didn't chirp _quietly_, thus alerting the bandits. Their leader, Borlas, stood up and walked towards to the hill overlooking his camp. "Well, well, well. It's been a while, White Serpent. I didn't expect to see you so soon," he said, biting off a chunk of his drumstick. He wasn't a paticularly ugly bandit, but that's not saying very much. His fellow bandits were about the same. "Ooohhohoh! If I recall correctly I defeated you most spectacuarly! You were not even a minor challenge for the great White Serpant!" Naga laughed. "Well then, why don't we have a rematch, then?" Borlas suggested, drawing his sword and signaling the other bandits. "Ready?" "Anytime." The bandits charged the party, running straight at them, swinging their swords wildly. It looked pretty glum for our heroes... "Ray Wing!" Actinaea and Naga grabbed Getehl and Mariposa and flew up in the air. Then they hovered over the bandits, and down to the bandits' camp. It took a few seconds for this to register for the bandits, some of whom collided with nearby trees. "That way! That way!" Borlas bellowed, pointing the other way. Naga had taken this opportunity to munch on one of the spare drumsticks. It wasn't bad, actually. She finished the drumstick and grabbed Mari again just in time to dodge the bandits a second time. They all flew up, the bandits swinging blindly at the party. "So... we're just going to hover here?" Getehl asked. "Why not? It's not like they can reach us," Naga asked, biting a chunk off another drumstick. "Why not just use some spell and stop them?" Getehl said. Naga stopped eating for a second and thought. "That's a good idea. I'm going to put you down now, Mari-chan." "Hai, Naga!" Mari replied. Naga flew lower and dropped Mari away from the bandits, and Mari proceeded to run away from them. Naga landed behind them and started charging... Terror ran through the minds of all the bandits as... "Sleeping!" Naga finished. The bandits decided that now was a good time for a nap. Actinaea just stood there, stunned that Naga went so easy on them. Naga finished the drumstick and threw the bone next to the other ones. "Help yourself to the food. They should be like that for a while." --- The captain continued to laugh evilly, waiting for them to get close enough to get caught in his trap. He was sure they would get there soon. He chuckled, then chortled a bit, and threw in a giggle or two just for variety. The sun started to set. He kept waiting. He was sure they would come here soon. Yes! They would! Hahahaha! --- The captain fell asleep shortly before Naga saw the captain's trap. She took a good look, with the help of a Lighting spell. Maybe he was hoping they'd wander on it in the darkness. Even so, he expected them to fall for THIS? It was several of the oldest tricks in the book, second edition, combined. It was a tiger trap which hit a rope trap which would fling them up into a bunch of spikes attached loosly to the brances above. And it was baited with the most clearly fake chicken anyone had ever seen. "Just pathetic. Let's step around." Actinaea commented. While they carefully stepped around the trap, Getehl dropped a bone from a drumstick down into it. It fell through and tripped the rope trap which threw it up at the spikes. It missed the spike and bounced off the tree toward the captain, nailing him in the side and knocking him off his perch on a branch and onto the ground. "That was unexpected," Getehl commented. They continued on their way, looking for a good spot to rest for the night. "Curse you, White Serpent..." the captain moaned, and decided now was a good time for a little nap. The droning of his snores could be heard for miles. ------------ Authors note: This was done at the last minute. Thus, it's not as good as one would hope. But I think it's okay. Big thanks to Ardweden and ravi, who helped me IMMENSELY with prereading. Especially the grammar and spelling. Jeff