<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/65/Zazy_2.jpg)</div><strong>Zazy</strong>(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bwdMFigp6DaNJmGQGPAxjHbvMprlhKT9QQwNToop8ng/edit)<br/><br/>The latter that drew them all here had been the same.<br/><br/><em>Please join me at the Round Table of the Eight Legged Mug Inn in the village of Eledsford on Oathday, the third of the coming month.  I offer profitable and righteous adventure, but most of all I sincerely beg you aid.</em><br/><br/>Rather than a signature a small lock of amethyst hair was folded into the parchment.<br/><br/>For whatever reason each of them came, they found a shapely young gnome awaiting them at the round table by the fire come dinner time, her hair exactly like that she'd sent, greeting them with a smile and by the name they were best known by in these parts.  The girl was hard bodied and curvy.  She wore a black loincloth skirt, leather boots and pouches, golden belt and headband, and for a top a black silk band that joined between her breasts in a golden ring.<br/><br/>“Thank you for coming," she began when all were assembled.  "I'd like to tell you a story."<br/><br/>“Once, in the village of Vree, there lived a little girl named Zazy.  Her father Zarzuket was the master alchemist and her mother Fijit was a beauty loved by all.<br/><br/>“Kraetos, king of the goblins, sent a great army against Vree.  Though the gnomes fought with all their cunning and all their strength the goblins soon had them all in chains.<br/><br/>“Zarzuket and his family were taken to the castle of the goblin king as slaves.  Zazy and Fijit had to work as scullery maids, but were spared the worst suffering the goblins could inflict so long as Zarzuket used his alchemical skills to arm the goblins with fire and poison.<br/><br/>“When little Zazy discovered what her father had too do, she whispered, ‘Defy him, father.  Defy the goblin king.  The black angel will protect mother and I.’<br/><br/>“Her father smiled fondly and asked her, ‘Why is your angle black?’<br/><br/>“Zazy giggled, ‘So the goblins can't see her when the candles are out silly.’<br/><br/>“For many years Zarzuket never did as his daughter asked.  Sometimes, she forgot about her angel, but in her dreams, the dark skinned woman held her while she cried.<br/><br/>“As Zazy grew closer to womanhood, her father was so fatigued by thought of the suffering his work caused that his orange hair faded 'til it was white as snow.  He groused and grumbled 'til Fezle the Overseer dragged his wife and daughter before him to teach him the price of defiance.  Fezle bound Zazy's hands over her head and laid open her back with a whip.<br/><br/>“Zazy clenched her teeth and made no sound.<br/><br/>“The vile bugbear stroked her back again, and Zazy bit her lower lip 'til it bled.<br/><br/>“A third time the white hot pain caressed her back and Zazy screamed her mother's name.<br/><br/>“The gnome girl knew another stroke was coming and pledged before the gods that she would not cry out for her father, would not give the goblins any more power over him.  As the agony scorched across her a very different name ripped form her soul.<br/><br/>“‘Ater Angelus!’<br/><br/>“Then it was Fezle's turn to scream as the black angel ripped out his right eye with her claws.  Ater Angelus slashed Zazy and her mother free and fled through a window with a gnome in each arm.  She had no wings yet, but magic enough to jump the wall.<br/><br/>“In a free city far from goblin lands, Fijit gained the aid of a friend of her husbands.  Zazy and Aeter Angelus studied together, learning alchemy, magic and the arts of war, pledging to one day cast down the goblin king and free Zarzuket.<br/><br/>The tiny woman young woman closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her self control.  She spoke again without closed eyes.  “That was five years ago.  The goblin’s are now at the border of this nation, and my father is still their slave.”  When her eyes opened, the black angel appeared behind her.  She wore the same garb as her summoner, but was talll and shapely as a buxom human maiden with inhuman beautiy.  Her dark golden skin faded subtly when she was in shadow.  “Ater Angelus and I have grown strong and are ready to take the fight to them.  Will you help me?”<br/>