Cats in the Marketplace--or--Why DonZAbel really should have embraced pacifism this time around

Prolth's keen senses were tingling. Something was very wrong with the woman standing by the stall and the man lounging near the deck adjoining a well kept-up building behind him. After all, how could they not be enjoying his dancing and Pan pipe playing?

Once again Prolth's superior intelligence had assessed the situation and he had immediately taken the action necessary. He, Madak, and Ydenzyk had just been joyously reunited with a resurrected DonZAbel and the gnome that had made that possible, good Aleska. Prolth knew that a conference was in order, there were topics that needed to be discussed and plans that needed to be made, but that would be hard to do with far too many ears around them. And so Prolth danced. He danced a jig that far out-jigged the kinds of jigs these somber Sombarians were used to, and topped it all off with his ever-charming Pan pipe playing. This of course gathered a crowd and not a small number of coins at his feet--these Prolth entrusted to a somewhat slow man that was eager to speak with an entertainer of Prolth's caliber. Sent on his mission to provide ale and bread for all those gathered, the man set off to the sound of Prolth's clapping and heartfelt proclamation of his new mayorship--we all need to feel good about ourselves from time to time--followed by nearly all of the other villagers who had been gathered in the marketplace. They now had the privacy they needed.

Yet for some reason his comrades failed to follow Prolth behind the building where he wished to speak with them and remained in the center of the market, gawking lamely and milling about. Ydenzyk had the good sense to go and hide himself, keeping his eyes on the suspicious layabout near the deck, but Madak, DonZAbel, and Aleska stood there with their hands in their metaphoric pockets, chewing the cud as it were. Realizing that only his superior leadership could salvage the situation, Prolth quietly moved back towards the group; it was then that Fortune smiled on him as she often does on her favored creatures, the satyrs. Prolth noticed that the woman standing near the stall was nodding in a conspiratorial way at the man near the deck, in a way that indicated to him that she was not at all what she seemed. Wasting no time, Prolth reached for his magically baned mace and swung through the air near her with enough force to make his point but not enough to hurt the woman should the blow have landed. Startled, she cried out in a falsetto so false that Prolth's worst doubts were confirmed.

Madak, seeing what had happened, called out to Prolth asking what was going on. Prolth informed him that the woman and the man were evil spies and ne'er-do-wells, information which sent Madak into a howling rage and caused him to charge at the woman, swinging wildly with his greataxe. Yet even the mighty Madak missed his mark, this was a foe indeed. Battle had been joined.

The lounger near the deck now started lopping towards the group still in the center of the marketplace, joined by what appeared to be a little girl, heading straight towards DonZAbel, his wolf Gorak, and Aleska. Hedging his bets, DonZAbel turned himself into a canary and took flight, chirping happily in an apparent bid to amuse his attackers, and ordering Gorak to stand his ground should he be attacked. Aleska, on the other hand, reached into his magical bag and produced out of it a creature of awesome skills and power, a mechanical Xill that he called Igor and that looked like its four arms could slice through just about anything. Ydenzyk, quietly watching all this from his hiding place near the building with the deck, waited for his chance to strike.

The woman flanked by Madak and Prolth squealed some nonsense about being innocent and rushed to the other side of the stall, getting a taste of Madak's potent greataxe as she went. The blade cut deep but seemed to not do the damage it might. Prolth, ready once more to defend his allies and promote justice for the downtrodden as he wrought havoc on evil oppressors everywhere, fearlessly and without heed for his own safety drew his bow and struck the little girl with an arrow that pierced deep into her flesh. He was not afraid of this female child.

Aleska took to the air, flying above the now bright yellow DonZAbel, and ordered Igor into the combat. Gorak growled and prepared to bite as the man and girl in front of him suddenly metamorphosed into hissing cat-men armed with swords and wearing shields. The woman near the stall changed into a similar creature, hideous to behold in her feline frenzy, unarmed but blistering with magic. She pulled a scroll from her bag and cast a mighty fireball on the group in the market, scorching a helpless civilian along with the party, and then moved to crouch behind a nearby building.

DonZAbel, Gorak, and Igor took the brunt of the damage, while Aleska managed to dodge most of it and Madak elegantly avoided all of the blast. DonZAbel struck back with a lightning storm on the wretched sorceress, doing mighty natural damage to her. Madak moved in to strike at one of the cat-men, his axe's sharp edge finding home but then somehow, inexplicably, dropped to the ground. Gorak lay unconscious on the ground, his soft breathing reminding DonZAbel of how he looked in sleep, and his canary heart filled with affection for his animal lover. Igor too struck out at a cat-man, but the damage done was not what one would expect it to be, and Prolth's arrow too failed to find its mark this time. Aleska's magic missiles, however, did not, and burned into one of the cat-men.

Ydenzyk then acted with the ferocity common to his kind, unleashing a flurry of arrows into the sorceress and doing terrible harm to her. She answered with another raging fireball that consumed DonZAbel, Gorak, and Igor completely. A pair of tears rolled from Prolth's eyes as he saw DonZAbel, only just brought back to life a mere week ago, once more slain in the midst of battle. At least this time he died with his beloved, though not, unfortunately, snuggled amidst Gorak's legs. Madak struck out, bringing down a cat-man with the terrible might of his vegenance, Aleska once more hit back with his magic missiles, and Ydenzyk let loose another storm of arrows that sent the sorceress cat-woman to her goddess. Prolth, taking careful aim from a hidden position to make the most of his stunning marksmanship, drew and released an arrow that was shot so skillfully one could easily have mistaken it for magic. Prolth's arrow splintered through the remaining cat-man's shield, entered through his eye and came to a stop deep in his head, bringing down the last remaining foe.

Satisfied with the sound of the approaching city guard, whom Prolth had been calling on the remaining stunned villagers to summon, the party looted the bodies of the dead and then informed the newly arrived guardsmen of Prolth's heroism in discovering such vile evil-doers who had somehow infiltrated the good city of Sombar, and the party's prowess in dispatching them. The day had once more been won, but the party mourned the loss of their druid friend, his wolven life partner, and Aleska's latest creation. A bittersweet sensation filled Prolth, and he knew that this would not be the last they saw of these cat-like creatures.