The maroon sun was casting a maroon glow upon the now-maroon horizon. Everything seemed a strange hue of maroon tonight. Even the dust kicked up on the dry road along which Relfgar Morllek now walked was maroon, as though the road were filled with maroon-hued iron. The maroon glow was reaching to the walls of a nearby tavern from which laughter and cheers were coming.

As Relfgar entered the maroon-themed inn, he was astonished at how maroon the place was. Maroon curtains and maroon banners hung everywhere, maroon table cloths filled the place, everyone was drinking huge maroon-stained flagons of some kind of maroon-coloured wine, and even most of the patrons here were wearing maroon. Fortunately, though, they all seemed to think the maroon-clad Relfgar was part of the celebration, for his garb was maroon in colour this evening and matched his maroon hair and maroon beard very well indeed. Apparently, it was some duke's birthday party. He received a free maroon flagon of maroon wine and was told that all the maroon wine or ale he could drink was on the house tonight, though he'd still have to pay for a meal. The seemingly maroon-themed party apparently didn't extend to maroon meals - not that Relfgar minded, considering what that might mean for the contents of his plate. He did settle down to a maroon-stained table and order up a plate, though. The plate, too, was maroon in colour. Strange. Anyway, it was a good steak and some good potatoes. He ate well enough and finally sat back with his maroon flagon in hand to enjoy his maroon wine.

As he was sitting there enjoying his maroon wine, Relfgar noticed someone else entering the tavern. It was a half-Orc, and a particularly ugly one at that. Relfgar raised his maroon eyebrows in interest, observing through the maroon obstacles of maroon-coloured men and women the ugly half-Orc who seemed to have wandered aimlessly into this maroon-themed party of maroon-coloured people and maroon-coloured things. He wondered where he would sit in this maroon tavern on this lovely maroon evening. It seemed, though, that he wouldn't have much of a problem, as the half-Orc was wearing even more maroon than the maroon-themed Dwarf now staring across the maroon-themed room at him.

Merenwen was a bit confused and very unsure of what was going on. It was as if the whole world was enchanted by some spell and whoever cast it must have had some obsession with the color maroon. Everywhere she looked a maroon hue was over everything and it seemed to even be affecting her. Her blonde hair seemed to have a maroon hue surrounding it and her skin even seemed to be tinted to a maroon color. The air had a maroon tint and even the sun seemed to have a maroon cover hanging over it. The amount of maroon coloring surrounding her was a little dizzying and nearly sent Merenwen running back to the Grasslands where everything had been natural and there had been no maroon color rushing at her.

She decided to stay in what she had decided to call the maroon city, a place she knew wasn’t normally so overwhelmingly maroon in color. She wanted to know why the maroon hue was over everything and who had turned the city maroon. If nothing else, she wanted to see if the whole area was invaded with the maroon color and if everyone else seemed to be glowing maroon. She feared that having entered the area she would not be able to get rid of her own maroon hue until she had found some answers and she definitely didn’t want to spend the rest of her life being maroon.

One thought that came to her mind was that it may have been done by someone who had spent a lot of time on a ship and whose crew had chosen to maroon him at some point. Maybe some of the men who had chosen to maroon him were in the area and he had gained power since the day they chose to maroon him. He could have turned the world maroon as a warning to the men that their choice to maroon him was leading to bad things for them. Maybe he was giving them warning that something bad was about to happen to them and had thought it would be funny to turn the world maroon as a warning. The idea seemed rather ludicrous to her but she really didn’t know why the world was maroon and that idea was as good as any other that she could think of.

She continued to walk along the maroon street and looked at all the buildings that had mysteriously turned maroon. The doors were maroon, the roofs were maroon, the walls were maroon, everything was maroon. No one seemed to be on the street so she decided to go into the pub and see if everything inside had turned maroon as well. When she pushed through the maroon pub doors she saw that everything inside had a maroon hue as well. The tables were maroon, the chairs were maroon, the mugs were maroon, and even people’s clothes had turned maroon. It seemed to her as whatever was turning everything maroon was even stronger in the pub then it had been outside.

As Merenwen looked about the room she noticed a half-orc that looked even more grotesque with the maroon hue. She also saw a Dwarf with maroon hair and maroon clothing. Looking at her own clothing she saw that rather then its being its normal green and blue it had in fact turned to different shades of maroon. When she was handed one of the maroon mugs with maroon ale in it she at first thought it must be red wine as that would have been natural but when she tasted it and found it to be ale she couldn’t help but go a little crazy.

Holding up the maroon mug with the maroon ale over her head in the maroon lighting she said, “What’s happening? Why is the world MAROON?” She had caught the attention of many maroon creatures wearing maroon clothes and even the half-orc turned to look at her. The maroon hued half-orc seemed angry at her loud speech and she was suddenly worried that she would die in the maroon pub with her whole body glowing maroon.

Alberich stepped down onto the dirt road, stopping instantly to watch the small cloud of dirt that had been thrown into the air. Oddly enough, the dirt was maroon. Looking up, Alberich saw that everything was maroon in color. The houses, the signs, the roads, the clouds in the sky, all maroon. Personally, Alberich had never found maroon an attractive color, so why any all powerful being would want everything in this place to be colored maroon was beyond him. Looking down at his clothes, Alberich was shocked to see that they too were becoming maroon. Since most of his clothing was white in color, it made him appear to be covered in maroon blood. His metal gauntlets that he wore on his hands appeared to be dripping in the stuff. Sighing slightly, Alberich resigned himself to a stop in this maroon village. Maybe he could get a meal while he was here, although he was doubtful about eating anything that was maroon in color.

Walking swiftly down the street, Alberich looked at all of the maroon signs, hoping to find one that would tell him where an inn was. Even if the inn was maroon, it would still have meals. All of this maroon was beginning to spread to him. Maroon made it appear as though he had spent hours out under the maroon sun. Hopefully no one in the maroon inn would kid him about how young he was. It was true that he was only 17, but he appeared to be younger, and he doubted that maroon skin would change that. Hopefully he wouldn't have to hurt anyone. Maroon clothing and maroon skin would make it so hard to tell if or where a person was bleeding. Silently, Alberich wondered if his spells would also generate maroon colored enchantments. With fire it would be difficult to tell if it was maroon or just red, but maroon ice, maroon lightning, and maroon stone would be easy to spot. Alberich really hoped that all of this maroon would vanish after he left the area. He really didn't want to spend the rest of his life as a maroon person.

Finally, Alberich was able to read a maroon sign with maroon lettes that said "Kaima Inn". Pushing open the maroon door, Alberich entered another world filled with maroon. All of the patrons in the inn wore maroon clothing, all of the silverware, plates, mugs, tables, and chairs were maroon. Even the people's hair was maroon! What in the world was going on?!?! Why was everything maroon? Apparently, another maroon patron was having the exact same thoughts he was, and she was verbalizing them. She stood in the middle of the maroon room, demanding to know why the world was maroon. Several of the maroon patrons seemed to take offense at her question about maroon. One, a maroon half-orc appeared very disgruntled. Normally, Alberich would try to stay out of other people's business, but he felt a connection with this maroon woman, as his thoughts were running in the exact same direction.

Stepping forward swiftly on the maroon floor, Alberich raised a maroon hand up in a pacifying gesture, hoping that the maroon half-orc would not get up and try to send Alberich's maroon head flying. Stopping at that thought, Alberich whispered quietly to himself, hoping that none of the other maroon patrons heard him. Watching his gloves carefully, he slowly saw maroon ice begin forming on them. Luckily, the maroon ice blended in with his maroon gauntlets, so it was hard to spot unless you looked closely. Glancing up once again at the maroon half-orc, Alberich whispered another spell. With the pretext of adjusting his maroon gauntlets, Alberich glanced at his maroon hands. They had turned to maroon colored stone, meaning that any punches he dealt out would hurt a lot more than anyone suspected. Taking a deep breath, Alberich turned to look at the maroon woman while still watching the maroon half-orc out of the corner of his eye. "I think you had better go sit down. You can worry about the maroon color of the world later."

The maroon crowd suddenly turned and laughed uproariously at the newly maroon Elf that had just walked into the maroon tavern amidst all of these maroon people eating and drinking from their maroon dishes. One maroon person shouted out that it was maroon day, so a maroon-wearing mage had turned everything maroon as a joke. Now the village was a maroon village and the people were all maroon people and even the ground and sky looked maroon. But the maroon apparently wouldn't last more than a few hours. Still, maroon was maroon and that was that. The maroon was just a little too maroon even for the maroon-haired and maroon-bearded (even maroon-wearing) Dwarf's tastes. He liked maroon as much as the next guy, but this level of maroon was ridiculous.

Regardless, it wasn't the maroon people or the maroon city that peaked his interest in this maroon tavern. It was the maroon half-Orc that suddenly rushed at the maroon Elf maiden with his maroon battle axe - and a massive one, at that. The maroon Dwarf couldn't allow that. After all, some maroon just shouldn't be showed - like maroon blood, for example. He was on his maroon feet, maroon warhammer in hand and rushing for the maroon half-Orc with his maroon axe, in an instant. Despite Relfgar's short stature, he covered the length of the maroon tavern's maroon floor relatively quickly and was on the maroon half-Orc in an instant. Relfgar swung his maroon warhammer hard and crumpled the maroon half-Orc by totally destroying his maroon knee with one devastating blow. This sent the maroon half-Orc flying to the maroon ground and howling in pain. His maroon battle axe fell to the maroon ground with a loud clang as the maroon half-Orc grasped his maroon knee, still howling. Just to shut the maroon half-Orc up, and because Relfgar didn't want the maroon half-Orc getting up to attack again, he slammed his maroon warhammer into the maroon head of the maroon half-Orc lying on the maroon tavern's maroon floor - hard. The effect was almost instant. The maroon half-Orc slumped onto the maroon floor and didn't move one single maroon muscle of his maroon body.

Relfgar raised himself to his full maroon height, which wasn't that impressive considering he was only 4' 7" tall. He then turned to the maroon Elf.

"Well, ye're okay it seems. 'Cept maybe a little angry at bein' maroon and living' in a maroon world. Don' worry, though. From the sound o' thin's, this maroon world'll on'y be maroon for a few more hours. Then the maroon'll be gone an' everythin'll be back ter normal."

He stretched his maroon body a bit before hefting his maroon warhammer onto his maroon shoulder and placing a maroon hand on his maroon left hip. He shifted the weight of his maroon body to settle into a comfortable standing position as he looked up into the maroon Elf maiden's maroon face, and that of the other maroon man.

"Name's Relfgar. You been here before? Either one of ye?"

Merenwen was annoyed at having the half-orc charge at her and was preparing to use a spell when a Dwarf attacked the half-orc for her. She thought it was ridiculous that the area celebrated maroon day and was ready to leave when an odd smell invaded her nose. She didn't know what the smell was right off but what she did know was that it was a bad smell and likely meant something bad had happened. She thought she may have smelt the smell before but hoped that what she thought the smell was from was not in fact the truth. If the smell was what she thought it was then there was a dead body nearby, but then the smell could also have been from a dead animal or the smell of rotting garbage. She would be very angry if the smell was caused by either a dead person or a dead animal and if it was a smell caused by rotting garbage then she would become very disgusted.

Glancing at the Dwarf she said, "Thank you for that but I don't think I'll sit just now. There is a disturbing smell in the air and I want to figure out what it is. Do you smell it?"

After speaking she walked past the dwarf in the direction from which she believed the smell to be coming. She stopped beside the half-orc and though it didn't smell good she didn't think the most disturbing smell was coming from it. She continued to follow her nose on the path to finding what was making the smell and came to a door in the inn. Opening it she came to stairs that led to the upstairs where people stayed and with the door open the smell was even greater. She went up the stairs and took a left at the top. At the end of the hallway she saw a door that was cracked open and she could tell that the smell was coming from that door.

She had totally forgotten about the maroon state of things as she walked down the hall. She came to the door and was sure that the smell was coming from inside as well as of the fact that it was from something dead. She rested her hand on the edge of her sword and gently pushed the door in. What she saw was one of the grossest things she had ever seen and something she didn't know if she would ever be able to get out of her head. Hanging upside down from the ceiling was a headless body. Below it was a bucket that was catching the blood as it drained and next to the bucket was a head. The smell was so strong that even had the sight now been grotesque her stomach would have still curled. She was very close to throwing up but she knew that she would have to put that aside. She needed to find out who had killed the person but first she needed to open a window so that the smell would disperse more.

She didn't think she would be able to solve the murder on her own as she had never done such a thing and was surprised that with how bad the smell was that the body had not been found sooner. Her eyes traveled to the head one more time and then she turned and yelled, "Can someone please come up here and help me? We seem to have a serious problem up here."

Indeed, Relfgard could smell the smell all too well. The smell was most definitely a foul smell that the Dwarf wished he did not smell. He did not want to smell the bad smell that he could now smell. So he followed the girl to find out what the smell that he could smell was so that he would no longer have to smell the vile smell that he could now smell. The bartender apparently could also smell the foul smell, and so had decided to investigate the smell that he could smell with the others that could smell the foul smell. The smell that they could smell seemed to be coming from the second floor.

It was dark, of course, but Relfgar - being a Dwarf - could see perfectly. The light blinded him momentarily, but then he realized almost immediately what the smell was that he had been able to smell without really wanting to smell the smell that he could smell. There was a corpse up here that gave of a very vile smell that all three who could smell could most certainly smell very strongly up here, where the smell had originated from and where the foul smell still sat, ready to make those who could smell able to smell it whether they wanted to smell the foul smell or not smell the foul smell. And Relfgar most definitely did not want to smell the foul smell any longer.

But almost as bad a smell as the smell coming from the corpse that all three had been able to smell from upstairs was a smell coming from a half-Orc that was eating the corpses that the trio could smell. The half-Orc had a smell much like the smell of rotting food and the smell of old rags and the smell of rotten eggs all rolled into one smell that they could not help but smell even though they didn't really want to smell the smell at all. The half-Orc that they could smell a bad smell coming from jumped up, surprised, only to be put down with a hammer to the face. A second hammer blow to the head finished off the half-Orc that they could smell a foul smell coming from.

"Well," Relfgar proclaimed, "Guess we'll no longer 'ave ter smell a foul smell comin' from th' half-Orc that we can smell a foul smell comin' from, eh? Now somebody get rid o' these damn corpses, 'cause I don' wanna smell the smell that I can smell that's comin' from these corpses that smell bad any more."

Except that he then noticed something other than the foul smell that he could smell. The half-Orc was gone. So was the corpse. It was a completely empty hallway.

"Wh...what in the..."

He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't about to disappear himself. Not like that anyway. And besides, the smell was getting to him.

"Sorry, folks. Ye're on yer own."

With that, Relfgar headed back downstairs to get as far away from the bad smell that he could smell coming from the corpses. He headed outside the tavern to get away from the smell that he could smell and get some fresh air that had a fragrant smell to it, like the smell of spring-time flowers that he could smell and that had a very nice smell, especially compared to the smell that he could smell that was coming from the corpses down in the cellar. He set off in search of the smell that he could smell on the wind, so that he could properly smell and enjoy this newfound and lovely smell.

What he didn't realize was that the smell got stronger the further they went down the hall. Something else was causing the smell, but Relfgar couldn't handle any more of that.