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The smell of rot, smoke, sewage, decay, and something more indistinct that one could only describe as the smell of poverty, filled the air. Angry shouts, the pleading of panhandlers, and the coughs of the sick mingled with the malodorous air to make the back streets of the town fell overwhelmingly destitute and devoid of hope. So, in other words, a normal day in the low district of Greyport, thought a tiny woman as she stepped lightly through a back alley, trying in vain to avoid the filth from covering her thick soled boots. The smell was very much like the wet fur of your favorite pet dog; absolutely foul, but somehow familiar and perversely comfortable, at least to Aliyah.

Aliyah continued to weave through the back alleys, using her tiny stature to slip through the legs of the "tallfolk," her hand firmly on her coin purse, though for a much different reason than a few short months before. As she passed a panhandler, she slipped her hand inside and surreptitiously dropped in 5 gold coins. The man looked at her suspiciously and also incredulously at the gold in his pan,. He knew he could eat for weeks with this. Aliyah just smiled and put her fingers to her lips. She then moved on to the next beggar and did the same thing, receiving the same suspicious and incredulous look that she got from the previous beggar.

Aliyah couldn't blame their suspicion, if she was to be entirely honest with herself. If someone came to this armpit of a city a year ago, everyone in the poor district would have said the name Aliyah with fear in their voice and an eye over their shoulder. "the most dangerous three foot woman in the city.," people had said. The most deadly sorceress in the poor district was now roaming the streets giving enormous sums of money to every beggar she met, and healing the sick and wounded for free to boot. Everyone thought something was up. Everyone wondered why in the 9 Hells would that volatile halfling mage start being so openhanded? Surely this was a ruse, no matter how openly she wore that sunlight holy symbol.

But despite the suspicion, Aliyah kept it up. Yes, the rumors were true. Aliyah was at one time the most dangerous halflings on the streets. A hot headed sorceress up to her pointy hair in volatile magic and an itchy wand finger: never a good combination, especially if that little sorceress wasn't too picky about who she incinerated.

An explosion rocked the ground beneath her as the choking stink of brimstone mixed with the appalling cocktail of scents that normally laced Greyport. Aliyah's sharp ears perked up, and she smelled something more than the stench of the city's poor district. She smelled trouble. At one time she would have felt the thrill of excitement, but now it was only trepidation. Aliyah sprinted down the alley, hopping an top of the decrepit stalls along the street and tumbling between the legs of the Tallfolk who were inconveniently running away from the explosion.

She didn't need to go far, fortunately. Skidding around a corner, Aliyah saw a gaping maw of fiery energy close. She swore as four large, spiked, and foul creatures locked eyes with her, filling the tight street with their hulking, pointed forms. Unfortunately for the monsters that was a mistake. An arrow whizzed from nowhere as a tall elf garbed in green stepped from around a corner, another arrow knocked and released in the blink of an eye. There was a satisfying schnick as the arrowhead slid into the thorny flesh of each of the monsters.

Then there was an explosion of green viscera as another halfling stepped from the shadows and, with but the slightest pause, deftly placed two short blades behind the knees of the monsters. Aliyah gaped in awe as the beast fell to the ground, but shook herself. Snapping the chain of the Sunlight Holy Symbol around her neck, she invoked in a rapturous voice, "begone beast, or suffer the wrath of the sun!"

A burst of white-gold light erupted from nowhere, and the spike-clad creatures screeched in harsh voices, clutching their heads or their eyes. Aliyah smiled, her suspicions confirmed. If she blinded one of them, then she was definitely fighting a demon. Or devil. Same difference to her really.

Quickly taking advantage of Aliyah's distraction, the other halfling tumbled around the dirty street, avoiding the swipes of the thorned monsters with quick side-steps and swift somersaults. As he pulled himself out of a final flip, he neatly hamstringed the blinded demon. Again, Aliyah could only gape at how much damage was wreaked by a single knife blow. The Beast fell to the ground, the short man hopping to his feet and lightly brushing dirt of his cloak, utterly unfettered by his impressive display of acrobatics and intense stabbing.

The elf behind Aliyah hopped onto the top of an abandoned shop stall, releasing four arrows as he did. two went off target, but two more found their mark, and Aliyah saw the elf smile as they both heard the dull thunk of arrowheads in hardened monster flesh.

However the smiles quickly washed from their faces as the devils pulled the arrowheads from their flesh, the wound resealing itself. One of the demons smiled and invoked words in foul tongue known only in the depths of the hells. A miasma of evil washed over all three of the fighters. The male halfling was unfazed completely. The elf coughed and spluttered, but Aliyah fell to her knees, retching as the blight began to consume her. Through the depths of the pain and sickness, a spark of interest crossed her brain. "_I've fought demons and devils before, but their unholy blights had never been this potent,"_thought Aliyah, her brain still clouded with sickness.

However, this magical oddity was soon the least of her worries as the second devil picked up the tiny woman in its thorny hands, it's claws raking into her flesh and ripping her green robes. Aliyah weighed less than 40 pounds; she was barely a burden to this 10 foot tall devil. Struggling in its grasp, Aliyah slipped a mechanism in the toe of her left boot, and a silver blade slid from the toe with a soft _shink._She then viciously kicked the wrist of the horned monster holding her. Aliyah soon realized this was a terrible life decision, as the monster's thorns ripped through the top of her boot, lodging themselves firmly in the top of her foot. Aliyah would have sworn, but the devil closed its grip even tighter, forcing any remaining breath from her chest.

Meanwhile, the elf was shaking his head, the worst of the devil's spell gone. Taking time to line up a perfect shot, his patience and discipline were rewarded with a shot between the eyes of the Devil holding the tiny halfling woman.

The devil was legitimately surprised. This shot actually hurt him. It wasn't often mortal weapons did that. But then all thought and feeling was wiped from his brain as the other halfling leaped onto his back and dug his two short blades right into his neck. The little man winced as the thorns dug into his body, but he didn't stop his ruthless stabbing until he was sure that the devil was unconscious. Removing his blades soundlessly from the flesh of the monster, he wiped them nonchalantly on the legs of creature he had ruthlessly terminated.

Landing heavily on her feet, Aliyah locked eyes with the final thorned monster and smiled. An arc of lightning shot from her finger tips, so bright that those nearby shielded their eyes from the radiant energy, a vivid gold tinged with green. In a flash, Aliyah disappeared, slipping inside the brilliant energy that incinerated the horned devil, feeling the warmth of the electricity crackle up her body as she flew up the arc of lightning through the devil, jumping out 20 feet behind it. A warm tingling filled up Aliyah's body as the aftereffects of the spell dissipated around her tiny frame, making her appear almost angelic within the green glow. The last devil fell to the ground behind Aliyah, dissolving into a gray ash that scattered along the already gray and dirty street.