(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

prattling...
"One day, she encountered a slaadi on his way to the spawning stone. She
hastily erected a wall of chaos matter, which even the ravenous slaadi found
difficult to break down. Hungrily, it waited, and spoke to her through the
wall. She asked it questions, and as she became more absorbed in her
pointless queries and the slaadi's answers, her own wall decayed and
collapsed upon her... and thus she drowned in the matter of Limbo."
Dak'kon was silent, mulling those words over carefully.
I grinned at Morte, "Your turn."
"Me?" he groaned, "Why do I have to tell a story?"
I sighed, "Forget it, then."
"No, no, I'll do it... I just thought I'd complain a little out of convention.
'Sides, I love the attention."
I stuck my tongue out, "No way, Morte. I don't want to hear it."
"Please! Come on? Pleeeease? It's a great story! Lots of characters, action,
foreshadowing and a startling denouement!"
"What's a denouement?"
"Beats me! But it sure sounds impressive!"
I rolled my eyes, "Fine, go ahead."
He grinned cheerfully, then sank his voice down to sound as serious as he
could be, "An elderly man was sitting alone on a dark path, right? He wasn't
certain of which direction to go, and he'd forgotten both where he was
traveling to and who he was. He'd sat down for a moment to rest his weary
legs, and suddenly looked up to see an elderly woman before him. She
grinned toothlessly and with a cackle, spoke: 'Now your third wish. What will
it be?'
"'Third wish?' The man was baffled. 'How can it be a third wish if I haven't
had a first and second wish?'
547