Somewhere in Edgekeep....

        Darkness  is the keepsake of skulkers, lurkers, and general sneaker
aboutsers.  Prying eyes into their devious works are usually fast asleep
with the secret desires of somehow being able to wake up and feel great in
the morning.  So the skulkers and lurkers go about their business as usual.
Well, most of them, anyway.

        Over in the eastern part of Edgekeep is a small establishment
called Tremaine's Investigations.  Through this a person could find their
lost cat, or  locate the lost jewels that suddenly disappeared one evening
when lurkers were curiously active.  One would imagine quite correctly that
some lurkers hold a grudge against one Laslo Tremaine, the owner and head
investigator of the Tremaine's Investigations.

        So, one evening, a particularly dark and nasty evening, a lurker
happened upon the shop of Laslo.  With an evil  grin of rotting teeth and
putrid breath, the lurker breaks the various locks on the lesser seen side
windows and nearly climbs in before he is stopped.  Turning around
slightly, the lurker laughs as he sees a dapper swashbuckling man in black
with an eyepatch.  This man is of course Laslo Tremaine himself.

        The lurker nods in a tired sort of way and jumps down to the alley,
pulling out a long knife in the process.  Almost as if it were sheer habit,
the lurker advances upon Laslo with the obvious intent of cutting his
throat out.  Laslo smiles and in a flash his thin bladed sword is out.  In
another flash the lurker's cheek is bleeding.  Another flash and the
lurker's knife drops.  One more flash as so do his pants.

        The lurker is quite taken aback.  Then grins and reaches into his
pocket and retrieves a small leather sack.  He reaches into the sack and
pulls out three gems.  He says, "Take these three gems... I shall leave
never to return.  Your shop isn't worth the trouble anyway."  Laslo looks
quite evenly at the lurker and says, "I would leave you with the three, and
I'll take the bag, please."

        At that the lurker laughs and suddenly from behind his head another
knife flashes and like an arrow is thrown at Laslo.  Snapping his head to
the side, Laslo watches the knife whiz past him and makes a swift cut with
his blade.  The lurker then turns pale and runs screaming and tripping up
the alley.

        Laslo bends down and picks up two twisted ojects.  He pries the
dead fingers apart of the hands and retrives the gems, then deposits the
hands in the nearest rainbarrel.  "He gave me a hand... heh heh.."  Laslo
chuckles at this and can't seem to control himself as he wanders into his
shop.  One could hear him say, "Must be about 10,000 gp worth of gems
here... heh heh heh..."


pale, screams