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The goblin guards dove to the side as h the curtain and exited the cave coood to the barghest, better still when Ulgulu thought of the task before him He looked to the scimitar that Tephanis had delivered, the crafted weapon appearing tiny in Ulgulu’s huge, dark-skinned hand

Ulgulu unconsciously dropped the weapon to the ground He didn’t want to use it this night; the barghest wanted to put his own deadly weapons - claws and teeth - to use, to taste his victims and devour their life essence so that he could becoh, and his rationale quickly overruled the base instincts that so desired the taste of blood There was purpose in this night’s work, a ains and the elimination of the very real threat that the dark elf’s unexpected appearance posed

With a guttural snarl, a srabbed the sci distances with each stride The beast stopped on the edge of a ravine, where a single narrow trail wound down along the sheer facing of the cliff It would take hierous trail

But Ulgulu was hungry

Ulgulu’s consciousness fell back into itself, focusing on that spot of his being that fluctuated with y He was not a creature of the Material Plane, and extra-planar creatures inevitably brought with theical to creatures of the host plane Ulgulu’s eyes glowed orange with exciteed from his trance just a fewa spot on the flat ground below, perhaps a quarter of a ,in the air beyond the lip of the ravine His laughter sounding ulu pushed open the door and found, just beyond its threshold, the spot he had visualized Hethe le extradiulu ran on, down the erly to set the gears of his cruel plan turning

As the barghest approached the lowest ical corner of his ulu’s strides slowed, then the creature stopped altogether, jerking spasether with popping noises, skin ripped and reforulu started away again, his strides - the strides of a dark elf - were not so long

Bartholemew Thistledown sat with his father, Markhe, and his oldest son that evening in the kitchen of the lone farmhouse on the western outskirts of Maldobar Bartholeone out to the barn to settle the aniest children were safely tucked into their beds in the sht the rest of the Thistledown fa in their beds, but Bartholehts would pass before any semblance of normalcy returned to the quiet farm A dark elf had been spotted in the area, and while Bartholeer meant harm - the drow easily could have killed Connor and the other children - he knew that the drow’s appearance would cause a stir in Maldobar for quite soet back to the town proper," Connor offered "They’d find us a place, and all of Maldobar’d stand behind us then"

"Stand behind us?" Barthole their farms each day to come out here and help us keep up with our work? Which of theht to tend to the animals?"

Connor’s head drooped at his father’s berating He slipped one hand to the hilt of his sword, re hirateful for the supporting hand his grandfather casually dropped on his shoulder

"Ye’ve got to think, boy, before yeas he began to realize the profound effect his harsh words had on his son "The far that matters"

"We could send the little ones," Markhe put in "The boy’s got a right to be fearing, with a dark elf about and all"

Bartholenedly dropped his chin into his pal apart the fath, as it had been through five generations of Thistledowns and beyond Yet, here Bartholeh the boy had spoken only for the good of the faht better, Dad," he heard Connor whisper, and he knew that his own pride could not hold out against the realization of Connor’s pain "I am sorry"

"Ye needn’t be," Barthole back to the others "I’ot our neck hairs up with this dark elf about Ye’re right in yer thinking, Connor We’re too far out here to be safe"

As if in answer ca wood and a muffled cry from outside the house, frole horrible moment, Bartholemew Thistledown realized that he should have coht of day still offered his family some measure of protection

Connor reacted first, running to the door and throwing it open The farmyard was deathly quiet; not the chirp of a cricket disturbed the surrealistic scene A silentand devious shadows fro to breathe, through the passing of a second that seemed like an hour

The barn door creaked and toppled froes A dark elf walked out into the farainst it, needing its tangible support "Ma," he breathed to the startled faces of his father and grandfather "Drow"

The older Thistledown h the tumult of a thousand horrible notions They si for a weapon and Markhetoward Connor and the door