[Mkguild] Re: MKGuild Digest, Vol 6, Issue 25

[Mark Ewing]

sorry about the repeated sentence. I just caught it myself as I was doing a
little read through. In future copies that problem will be rectified.

On 9/29/07, mkguild-request at lists.integral.org <
mkguild-request at lists.integral.org> wrote:
>
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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Re: mk guild race populkarity (C. Matthias)
>   2. Lucky number 13 (Mark Ewing)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "C. Matthias" <jagille3 at vt.edu>
> To: jerethdalion <jerethdagryphon at noodleninja.com>,
> mkguild at lists.integral.org
> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:48:25 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Mkguild] mk guild race populkarity
>  At 09:18 AM 9/29/2007, jerethdalion wrote:
>
> matty is the most callus individual i hav ever met
> hes evil pure evil
> or is that good and kind im always mixing the two up
>
> ;)
>
>
> Shhh!  You'll ruin my reputation! ;-)
>
> May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
>
> Charles Matthias
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Mark Ewing" <mk.ewing2553 at gmail.com>
> To: mkguild at lists.integral.org
> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 07:23:53 -0700
> Subject: [Mkguild] Lucky number 13
> Here's my thirteenth tale for you guy's perusal, I hope you all enjoy it.
>
> The Raid
>
>
>  Oberon Snowcat
>
>
>  The trial of Sir Guy DeHarancourt had taken five days, but in the end
> that particular fanatic had been sentenced to stay in the keep had been
> sentenced to stay in the keep under the supervision of Father Francis Hough,
> the local priest of the Ecclesia. The reason for the Duke's apparent mercy
> was because of the form that Sir DeHarancourt had been given by the Curse of
> the Keep. He was now in the form of a age regressed wildcat morph, he had
> also lost his mind in the transformation, he was reduced to the mental state
> of a child, which I had learned was quite rare here at the keep. I was now
> free to focus my attention on my work as a member of the Metamor Keep Army
> Scouting Command. Although during the trial I had managed to repair my
> battle armour, ensuring that I would be adequately protected when my patrol
> encountered the enemy, and that was something that was inevitable
> considering what George had told me when he had assigned me to my current
> unit. Basically he had told me that he would test the limits of my
> abilities, so far he had learned of my weakness against magic, other than
> that I believe that he already knew just how dangerous I really was.
>
> This morning I was able to sleep in because my unit was leaving in the
> afternoon for our next assignment. When I finally did wake up I had to get
> ready ready for work. As soon as I had stretched my muscles, tended to my
> hand and foot claws, and groomed my fur I began to pull on my work clothes.
>
> An hour later I was standing with the rest of the unit while Jonah told us
> of the mission that we were taking part in.
>
> "Tonight we will be taking part in a combined raid with a squadron of
> cavalry and a team of Long Scouts. Our target is a lutin encampment that
> lies only half a days ride from here. The reason we must attack together is
> because this encampment is larger than any one of our units alone can
> handle, but together our units will be able to destroy this threat against
> our people." I was glad that I had decided that I would only take my light
> raiders pack. It contained only the barest of essentials, four days rations,
> a field medicine kit, and a few odds and ends. In my side pouch on my belt I
> carried two spare bowstrings for my monster of a longbow, and my tinderbox.
> When I was involved in raiding I preferred to pack light so that I could
> move fast. I was talking with Trent, the bison morph, about a battle that he
> had fought in more than ten years ago, when there was a clatter of horse
> hooves as the cavalry detachment that was to take part in the raid joined
> us. The leader of the squad was none other than the Knight Sir Edmund
> Delacote, though he was riding a lighter horse than was normal for a knight.
> Then again that was to be expected considering the fact that he now
> possessed the slender figure of a cheetah morph. He looked around at the
> people gathered in the courtyard before he asked Jonah something about our
> unit. Jonah laughed before he replied, even with my sensitive hearing I
> wasn't able to pick up what he had said. After several more minutes Jonah
> finally turned and said "OK everyone lets move out, we've got a lot of
> terrain to cover and only a few hours to cover it before darkness comes."
> Almost as soon as I got under way Jonah asked me why I was moving so quickly
>
> "Sir in the past when I've conducted raiding operations the imperative was
> to hit the enemy by moving as fast as possible."
>
> "Oberon we also must hit them while we are strong and fresh, therefore we
> must try and conserve our strength." I nodded and scaled back my speed of
> movement a little, but I was still moving pretty quickly. Our unit moved
> quickly and quietly through the trees towards the enemy encampment for
> several hours, the cavalry was following behind us on previously established
> paths while we made our own paths into the wilderness. Of course we knew
> that we were preceded by at least two Long Scouts who were conducting
> reconnaissance of the enemy camp and determine what direction that we would
> attack from. We marched through most of the night to at a point fairly close
> to the camp. When we stopped I crouched down and pulled off my raiding pack
> and placed it under a tree, but not before I took out two of my large trail
> rations from the pack. Once I was happy that it was properly concealed I
> consumed the rations with a little water from a water-skin before I hid that
> item as well. As I checked over my equipment a Long Scout that I recognized
> came over to Jonah and said softly, though not softly enough for my
> sensitive ears to pick up
>
> "We've managed to take out most of their sentries, especially on the side
> where the cavalry will be hitting them but you could be in for a tough
> fight, I thought I smelled a troll out here."
>
> "A troll, that wasn't exactly in the plan."
>
> "Well then I guess that we will have to alter the plan."
>
> "I've never faced a troll before other than back at the Battle of Three
> Gates and during the Winter Assault, and that was when I was comfortably
> behind a good sized wall."
>
> "Well we'll just have to make due under the circumstances."
>
>  "It won't be easy to kill that."
>
>  "Well I have a couple big guys in my unit who might be able to do the
> job, one is especially dangerous."
>
> "The troll will be the big problem. the rest we can kill easy enough. We
> can try and lure him into an ambush." Jonah pointed over to me and Kent
> before he replied
>
> "In case ambushing the troll doesn't work those two are going to take care
> of it."
>
> "Oberon can handle it." Finbar jokes. "He's as big as a troll!"
>
> "And twice as quick." Interjects Jonah with a chuckle. At that commend
> Finbar laughed before he regained his composure and spread a map out onto
> the ground and began to point out a few salient features in the camp that
> was our objective. While they were taking care of those little details I
> checked my bow and pulled an arrow out of my quiver and nocked it without
> drawing the bow. I wanted to be ready in case we were expected by the lutins
> even though that was highly unlikely. We slowly made our way through the
> bushes for the next hour, being very careful in our movements, we didn't
> want to tip this encampment off that we were about to attack until the
> moment came when we actually hit them.
>
> A short time later I positioned myself in a small hedge of bushes and
> pulled my quiver off an placed in on the ground in a position that would
> allow we to grab arrows as quickly as I could. The signal for the attack had
> been agreed upon earlier was a single blast on a horn, this was something
> that Sir Edmund Delacote would do. I took my nocked bow and raised it up
> into the air and pointed it at the camp and waited for the signal. I didn't
> have long to wait, the sun was just cresting the ridge behind us when the
> horn called out its cry of death. I acted automatically pulling the bow back
> to its maximum and releasing the arrow into the morning sky. My hand flashed
> down to the quiver almost as soon as it released the string to grab the next
> arrow. I kept this rate of fire up until I reached my hand down to find that
> there were no more arrows in the quiver. I had fired off twenty-five arrows
> in roughly three and a half minutes and now I had to drop my bow and head
> down to the encampment where some members of the raiding party were already
> engaged in combat with the lutins. As I ran down into the encampment I drew
> both the Claw of the Dragon and my broadsword, getting them ready for
> action. As soon as I cleared the trees on the perimeter I found myself
> almost surrounded by lutins. I grinned at the test to my skills that this
> provided and began to move through the enemy force in a whirlwind of steel
> and white fur. After a several moments I sheathed my broadsword grabbed a
> lutin behind me with my left hand, claws fully extended and wrenched his
> neck around until it snapped with a dry sounding crack. Now that I had only
> one sword I began to dance around my own pattern of 'Sung Dranatk ek Grect',
> or in common tongue; The Dance of Death. Each Kelmar Bladelord had his own
> version of this dance and each one was very lethal to those who were coming
> up against it. I moved through the horde of lutins in a flowing pattern that
> left nothing but corpses behind me and blood on my left arm whenever I used
> it as a weapon in my fight. I was just rising from a crouch after
> dispatching four lutins with a sweep of my blade when I heard a loud roar
> sound out, this wasn't a roar from a member of the raiding party but a roar
> from the enemy. The sound was full of malice and mindless hatred that even I
> could detect. I laid my ears back and replied with my own roar. There was a
> loud thumping sound of footsteps before I finally was able to see what had
> roared. It was an ugly man shaped beast that was roughly eight and a half
> feet tall. As it got closer it swung its club at a nearby lutin, sending the
> unfortunate creature flying up into the air. He then swung his club at one
> of the members of the other squad that was involved in the raid smashing the
> poor fellow flatter than a skillet cake. As he swung his club for the third
> time, this time at me, I dodged out of the way and struck out at him with my
> own blade. He was bigger than I was but he was also surprisingly quick, he
> dodged my own strike and swung with his monstrous club again. I just managed
> to duck underneath the blow at the same time I stabbed upwards with my sword
> catching the giant man on his thigh, but the sword didn't penetrate all that
> far. This was unreal, the Claw of the Dragon had never failed to penetrate
> anything and yet here it had only managed to create a superficial wound. I
> rolled out from my dangerous position and came to my feet just out of range
> of the monster. This was going to take me a little more effort than I had
> originally planned. The monster didn't give me all that much time to
> consider what I should do next as he charged me swinging that huge club over
> his head. I managed to dodge his next few blows, each time he attacked I
> would avoid his attacks and counterattack with a slash of my sword. We
> tramped our way through the encampment fighting our own private fight, while
> at the same time the forces from the Keep were making quick work of the
> lutins in the camp. Every so often I had to either ward off a lutin with my
> free hand or kill it. I found out there that my left hand, with its claw
> tipped fingers, was very effective in ripping the throats out of a lutin's
> neck. Finally after dodging a particularly vicious blow from the monster's
> club that hit the ground with a dull thud I swung my sword with both hands
> at his wrists as he tried to pick the club up again. I was well pleased when
> the when the blade sheered through both wrists leaving the monster with
> nothing but stumps on the end of his arms. He roared and then dashed at me
> bearing me to the ground with his weight. I was concerned now because in
> this position this monster could do with me what it wanted to. However, I
> still had a few tricks up my sleeve, I opened my mouth and clamped my jaws
> on his throat. All I can say about that is yuck, this guy tasted worse than
> nine day old moldy porridge. At the same time I kicked his belly with my
> feet, claws fully extended so that I scored eight long gashes in his belly.
> They weren't serious injuries but they were painful, the most dangerous of
> my actions was definitely my flicking my wrists to unsheathe the stilettos
> that I had strapped to my bracers. Once those knives were unsheathed I
> stabbed into the monster with a stiletto in each hand, trying to hit
> something vital. The monster yowled in pain, even though his throat was now
> restricted because of my teeth on his neck. Finally it attempted to stand up
> and I let go and retreated, the monster was bleeding from several different
> places and it was clearly on its last legs. I managed to sheath my two
> slender stilettos and picked my sword up off of the ground, where it was
> covered in gore. Then I dashed in under the monster's arms and swung the
> sword once, there was a heavy jerk on my arms followed by a heavy thump. I
> stepped back as the now headless body staggered once and then hit the ground
> with its knees before falling onto it chest with a pathetic wheeze. I shook
> my head panting to clear my vision before I looked around for more lutins,
> but it appeared that the encampment was empty of the enemy. I leaned on my
> sword for a moment before I slowly made my way to the nearby creek where the
> camp had been getting its fresh water and began trying to get the sticky
> blood out of my fur, I was covered in gore form the top of my head to my
> feet. Just as I put my hands into the water when someone came up beside me
> and said
>
> "Good Lord Oberon, you're covered in blood are you all right?" I looked at
> the person and was able to recognize that it was Caroline, Misha's
> companion, and one of the four Long Scouts who had been involved in the
> raid. I grinned slightly
>
> "It;s all mostly from those lutins and that huge monster that I had to
> fight with. I have a few scratches but nothing really serious." I commented
> before I dipped my head into the water and tried to get the blood out of my
> head-fur.
>
> "You fought a troll?" She asked in surprise. "And won!" I lifted my head
> up to look her in the eyes before I replied
>
> "It was a hard fight, that thing was faster than I expected with that
> club. The gods only know how dangerous it wouldn've been if it had possessed
> a sword. It was even tougher when I had disarmed it, since it decided to
> tackle me and try and fight me at very close quarters. In the end though I
> managed to remove its head, once that happened the fight was over." She
> shook her head while I ran some water through my face-fur and finally
> managed to say
>
> "That was a troll Oberon. They've been known to kill ogres easily and you
> killed one single-handed. Amazing!"
>
> "Well my sword," I indicated the weapon with its glowing ruby pommel-stone
> at my side ", gave me a little assistance when it mattered."
>
> "Your sword may have helped but I think that you were the one that did
> most of the fighting." I chuckled and ran my claws through my throat ruff
> before I conceded that I would probably need a good bath at the keep to get
> the stains out of my fur.
>
> "Well when you're fighting for you life you can exceed even what you know
> that you can do. Besides that there is the fact that I've either been
> training to fight or fighting for sixty-five years." Caroline shook her head
>
> "Still it's incredible that you managed to kill a troll single-handed!" I
> was cleaning as much blood as I could from my left arm while she spoke
> before I finally had to concede that even that blood was something that I
> needed a serious bath to take care of. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with
> my impromptu washing here I stood up to my full height before I responded
>
> "That monster was the first really serious challenge to my abilities that
> I've had out here while in the service to the keep, other than that dumb
> lutin mage a week and a half ago."
>
> "If a troll is a challenge I don't want to what would be able to beat you
> in a fight. A dragon?" I laughed before I interjected
>
> "I have yet to experience their type in battle, though they may be similar
> to the Night Gryphons from my homeland. Now those are a serious threat to a
> warrior, no matter how good that warrior is. If you are able to beat one in
> single combat you are really something special."
>
> "Up here we thankfully have dragons on our side. Several members of the
> Keep's population are dragons, but there are a few dragons that serve our
> enemies up north." I nodded my head before rubbing a spot just behind my
> left ear before I finally said.
>
> "Right now I really wouldn't appreciate getting into another fight. All I
> really need is to simply return home to the Keep so that I can get some
> rest." She nodded in understanding
>
> "We should be home by nightfall, but don't let your guard down, we can
> still be ambushed on the way back to the keep."
>
> "Oh joy, joy, well at least I can go back to our staging point to pick up
> my raiding pack with my rations. With some food in my stomach I should be ok
> for a little while longer."
>
> "Trail rations may not be tasty but at least they are filling. Though I
> suspect that a big guy like yourself probably needs at least a dozen of them
> to begin feeling full." I smiled at her comment
>
> "I've had the cooks at the keep make up triple sized rations for me.
> That's better than carrying around a hundred of the bloody things. However,
> if we are lucky I should be able to track down something that is
> considerably fresher." She laughed
>
> "I eat one and I'm full but you need at least a dozen of the standard
> sized rations to even begin to feel it."
>
> "I guess that's the price that a I've got to pay for getting a form that
> is so ideally suited for my profession."
>
> "Just be glad I don't share my fish flavoured ones. Misha HATES those with
> a passion."
>
> "Fish isn't all THAT bad is it?"
>
> "Try telling Misha that. He can't even stand the smell of them. He makes
> me eat them down wind of him!" I tilted my head back and gave a gruff shout
> of laughter before I managed to say
>
> "You mean he will actually turn down food?"
>
> "There are certain things even HE won't eat."
>
> "Well I know that I can't touch vegetables, they give me the worst
> stomachaches and worse. On the other hand if it is a type of meat I can
> pretty well eat it without too much trouble."
>
> "Well Misha can eat fish. He just can't stand the taste of it. All he'll
> say on the matter is that he grew up in landlocked country where you simply
> couldn't get fish."
>
> "He wouldn't have like my home town, I remember that there was a fish
> market in the central square. Our town was located on the shore of the
> largest lake in the entire Clanlands."
>
> "Here at the keep the only fish that we have access to are small river
> fish or what can be imported from the south!"
>
> "I think I understand." I commented before I began to walk towards the
> place where I had concealed my longbow and my quiver. When I reached the
> bush where I had shot my arrows from I pulled it all from its concealment
> and placed it on my body, though I still had to go back and retrieve my
> pack. As I was about to un-string my bow I heard Caroline comment in an
> interested voice
>
> "That bow is beautiful, can I hold it?"
>
> "Sure thing, though Misha said it was a little on the large side for his
> taste." I told her before I handed it to her. She took the bow into her
> hands and and then exclaimed,
>
> "This thing is huge, its taller than I am! How heavy of a does it have?"
> as she examined it with a professional eye.
>
> "That bow there has a pull of two hundred and fifty pounds, though the
> runes on the metal parts make it so that the arrows leave the string as if
> it had the equivalent force of a bow with a pull resistance of five hundred
> pounds."
>
> "FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS?" she exclaimed. "You could put an arrow through
> several people with that much power." I shrugged my shoulders before I
> slowly replied
>
> "I think that I saw several arrows that had gone through more than one
> lutin back there in the encampment, or at least I think I saw some like
> that." She laughed
>
> "Impressive! I've never seen a bow this powerful before."
>
> "Didn't Misha tell you about this monster of a bow?" She nodded
>
> "He mentioned it but he didn't tell me that it was this powerful."
>
> "Well I can't demonstrate it right now, I used up all of my arrows in the
> assault on that encampment and I'll have to make some more when I get back
> to the keep."
>
> "Plenty of time back at the keep to shoot arrows." She commented "After we
> get a meal and a good night's sleep."
>
> "Well before I shoot any arrows I'll have to make some more because your
> standard arrows don't work in that bow."
>
> "Standard arrows don't work? She asked in surprise "Why?"
>
> "They aren't long enough for my bow." I took the bow back from her and
> then pulled the string back to my ear. She looked at the distance between
> the string and the arch of the bow before she finally managed to say
>
> "I've never seen arrows that have to by THAT long! They're more like a
> javelin than a arrow."
>
> "So you see why I need to make more. I wasn't able to recover any of my
> spent arrows either. Most of them are broken or too deeply embedded in their
> victims to be pulled out." I replied before I unstrung the bow and placed it
> in its soft leather case. While we were walking she said
>
> "You'd best make a lot of arrows Oberon. From what I've experienced as a
> scout and a Long Scout we usually prefer to use bows to pick off our enemies
> at a distance. Its less of a risk for us that way." I nodded my head as I
> headed up to the original launch point of the raid and located my raiding
> pack and picked it up. I pulled out two trail rations and offered on to
> Caroline as a simple courtesy. She took the proffered food into her hand and
> then said
>
> "Thank you Oberon. This thing is huge, I could eat this thing for a week."
>
> "Your welcome." I said before I polished off my own ration in four bites.
> I took a swig of water from my canteen before I mentioned "I guess that we
> had better be getting back down there, my commander, Lieutenant Jonah will
> be wondering where I am." Caroline nibbled at a corner of the ration in her
> hand. Hmm, beef. Not as good as fish but still good."
>
> "Sorry I don't usually request fish in my diet." Then a brainwave came to
> me because I remembered something that George had told me about locating
> something that I needed for making his sword. "By the way Caroline I was
> wondering if you could ask Misha where he gets his coal from? George tells
> me that he can get his hands on some antracite coal and I need some for my
> own uses."
>
> "Anthracite coal? The hard coal he used to fix Madog? He has a merchant
> that brings it in from the Midlands. I can find his name out for you if you
> would like it."
>
> "Thank you. I would much appreciate it, I don't like working with second
> rate materials when I am making weapons, I absolutely despise cheap
> materials." Caroline laughed softly
>
> "Misha prefers it too, even for heating his apartment. He says that it
> burns longer and hotter than normal coal." I laughed along with her as we
> rejoined the rest of the contingent in the center of the clearing where the
> lutin encampment had been. I looked at her for a moment before I drew my
> broadsword and held it out to Caroline hilt first.
>
> "Here is an example of what I can do when it comes to creating weapons."
> She took the weapon carefully and glanced along the blade.
>
> "This is beautiful. I've never seen a sword quite like this. Are you sure
> that you made this weapon? I've never seen a sword this finely made before."
> I laughed at her question before I responded
>
> "Would you like me to make a sword like this for you Caroline?" She looked
> up at me before she managed to reply.
>
> "I would like a new sword, but nothin so big! Can you make something a
> little more my size? A nice short sword perhaps?"
>
> "I certainly can make one for you fine lady. You will get a fine
> short-sword and scabbard with a by knife, a sword-belt, and a dagger with a
> scabbard, they come as a set, like all of my weapons." She handed my
> broadsword back to me and said
>
> "All right. Whatever the cost is to make them I am willing to pay for a
> weapon as fine as that sword of yours."
>
> "Ok I'll try and make your order as soon as I'm finished George's set.
> Your set will not be cheap though. I estimate the cost for it to be in the
> area of sixty garrets and furthermore I will need you to drop by my forge as
> soon as you can tomorrow so that I can take my measurements to make sure
> that your new weapons are perfectly suited to you."
>
> "All right. I have the coins, and a little to spare, though I don't have
> them here with me right now." I nodded in understanding
>
> "That's perfectly ok Caroline. If you wouldn't mind could you please drop
> by my forge at nine-o-clock tomorrow morning so that we can get everything
> worked out." I told her just before Jonah called out to me
>
> "Oberon get your stripped white tail over here, we're moving out."
>
> "I'll do that. You'd better get going you don't want to annoy Jonah any
> more than he already is." I nodded my head and joined the rest of the squad.
> Each member of the squad had a few scratches and Jonah had his arm in a
> sling, though I don't really think it was really all that serious
>
> "A nice little fight eh Oberon." I chuckled before I replied
>
> "You can say that again Jonah." He looked me up and down before he said
>
> "I heard that you had more fun than the rest of us."
>
> "If you consider troll wrestling to be fun, then I guess that I did have
> more fun." He shook his head slightly and sighed before he turned and
> focussed his attention on the trail ahead of his feet. I looked at the rest
> of the members of the squad and then settled myself to my own marching
> rythm. I was looking forward to a good bath at the bath-house and a full
> night's sleep in my own bed tonight.
>
>
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