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2005-10-26

Lydin's Story Part 6

Continued from Lydin's Story Part 5

Day 86
It seems like it has been forever since I have been able to rest. It seems the days just blend together into one long nightmare. Each day is a constant battle from wake until sleep to fight and destroy these creatures.

We have lost Lex and Slee... I do not remember when. I can barely remember anything. I can scarcely remember the last time we left the safety of town. We fought our way throughout the woods to a cave. Then battled through the caves to here.

I am surely going mad. I have even dreamed of fighting myself. The walls seems to close in on me at night and the air becomes thick with death during the day. I tire of battle, I tire of death, I am sick of killing.

Day 87
Finally a day without the constant pressure from the undead. We have found Lex. He is badly injured. We find a sanctuary we can rest in. I feel strange. New forces are at work here that I do not understand. I feel the awakening of powers within me that I do not understand.

I can no longer fully trust my companions. Especially Gworeth. Hawber has sworn never to harm Scratch again but can I trust him? Even Scratch seems strange. He no longer seems to answer my call when I need him. If I can not trust Scratch who can I trust. Andarymar openly mocks me and Pandarus seems distant to me. Are these my friends or my foes...

I try to sleep but I can not sleep without worry form these thieves and cowards. I feel a burning in my soul that will not go out. Finally I feel the release of sleep taking over but will I awake the same man?

2005-08-16

Seraphim Guard

"You got your Seraphim Guard in my Domibia Games!"

According to a news item from Tim at Seraphim Guard, Seraphim Guard and Domibia Games have merged into a single company Seraphim Guard LLC.

The new company will now be publishing the Gatecrasher and Heart Quest Fudge games as well as other game lines developed by Seraphim Guard.

2005-06-19

Space Seed - Version #2

MacKenzie "Mac-Koi" Koi wasn't a rocket jockey. He was an artist. He merged with his ship, he felt the ship in ways that the regular pilots thought was just a myth. As he skimmed the surface of Venus using the planets Gravity to accelerate his one seat cruiser to incredible speeds. He thought about his choices for what seemed like the hundredth time. The warning alarms had seemed much louder and brighter than any he had ever seen. After a moment of shock spent verifying the hull breach he had started running to the launch bay. The dull metal of the ships deck clanged in staccato rhythm as he sped to his ship. The dim halls and hatches were barely visible in the minimal lighting of the aging freighter. He reached his cruiser and leaped into the cockpit. He fired up the engines as his friend Milo started opening the hanger doors. As the engines started to hum he noticed several canisters and containers get sucked into space. Things were a lot worse than he thought if Milo was venting rather than pumping the air back into the ship. He finished strapping himself into his seat and launched his ship as soon as the hanger doors were opened wide enough to allow him to pass through.

He squinted as he burst from the darkness of the aging ships hanger into the brightness of the sun. He low flew along the hull and took a good look at the damage. A three hundred meter gash lead to a 20 meter hole in the forward port cargo bay. As he banked away from the ship two of his crew-mates joined him in formation. Grunting in disgust at their presence he barked into his communicator to Milo that he could nudge the ship but would need a lot more speed. He dove his ship towards Venus to sling shot around the planet and use its gravity well to accelerate his ship.

He looked over his shoulder at the two pilots that were flying with him. He did not know them well and he did not like them but they all worked for the same man. Milo. The pilots were not human, or at least not of a pure strain. They were water mutants, or squids. Mac hated squids, built from human stock to live in salt water communes and produce food for the surface dwellers. After a few generations they had developed a grey green skin hue, and a dark green patch under their gills.

Bred to be slaves, the surface dwellers were shocked when the squid revolt hit. The water mutants had surprised the surface by not only cutting off a valuable food supply but also striking with massive military force into the mega cities of the surface. Mac-Koi had been just a child when the attacks had started, and had served two tours during the second water war. When the water war was all over there were only three governing bodies left. First was the last national government, if you could call it that. The government of India was the last vestige of the old governments. The water mutants were another world power. They called them selves the Seabren. Mac just called them squids, as did a lot of the surface dwellers. They had become the biggest military force in the world, and except for one force they would have conquered the planet.

The force that stopped them was the consortium. The consortium was made up of the biggest companies in the world. They saw that the water mutants would simply over power the surface forces, so they stepped in. They purchased the militaries of the United States, Russia, Britian, and China. Other governments just assigned their military forces to the command of this growing corporate group. Only India and Japan remained separate from the consortium. The water mutants completely and utterly destroyed the island of Japan. That was what allowed the consortium to make their move. They moved a massive military force into place and moved towards the main home cities of the water mutants. This forced the water mutants to retreat from Japan and defend or risk having their own cities destroyed.

It was a solid counter attack plan, but the consortium was smarter than that. The military forces were just a decoy. They had thousands of scientists working on the perfect weapon. When the water mutants had moved to defend their homes they unleashed a gene virus. It made the water mutants change. They could still breathe water but they could no longer survive for long outside of it. The surface forces retreated in front of the advancing water mutant forces. It was a massacre. Thousands of the water mutants died without the surface forces having to fire a single shot. However, the virus was not perfect, or maybe the scientists did not think the consortium was the best choice to rule the planet. In either case a balance was struck. The water mutants were a power but they now knew that the consortium could destroy them on the surface. The consortium knew they needed the water mutants to produce the massive amounts of food the surface dwellers required to survive. In the twenty years since the end of the second water war the consortium, the sovereign government of India, and the Seabren formed an alliance to manage and govern the planet.

The bubbling and popping noises that passed for squid language brought Mac-Koi back to the present. "Okay you water bastards, none of that bubble crap, we have a job to do." Mac-Koi was selected to be part of the first unit to release the virus into the massed squid troops and as far as he was concerned they didn't finish the job. "The consortium isn't paying us to lose this cargo."

"I know that Koi. We are prepared to save the ship. Just lead us into position." Jiliat blurted. "Maybe you aren't the pilot the consortium thought you were." A gurggle-pop-slurp came over the communicator as Tacoum laughed at Jillat's comments.

"A little more of that and I might have to roast me a little fish." Mac-Koi barked. "Milo! Milo! Are you there, what are our options."

Back on the bridge of the cargo freighter the alarms were getting louder. Milo Besin looked into the scanner and he was pretty certain he was about to die. It had been almost five minutes since he last heard form his crew. He spent a moment feeling sorry for himself and then started to plan his next move. He didn't think we would live if he lost his cargo, but it was looking like he would not live if he kept it either. Moving along the console he vented cargo holds into space. He grimaced as he mentally calculated the value of the goods he was ejecting into space. The freighter lurched as the cargo was sucked into the void. He was about to vent the second bay when the communicator burst to life.

"Milo! Milo! Are you there, what are our options." MacKenzie's voice crackled over the aging cargo hulks speakers. "Milo, what the hell are you doing! We can still salvage the hulk if you give us a chance! I'm not risking my ass for nothing, and I am not letting the consortium think I let their cargo get dragged into the sun."

"Mac, I was starting to think you had left for good." He let out a long breath, he know this was a dire straits.

"It crossed my mind. I would have left already if I knew you were out here dumping cargo." Mac-Koi shouted into his communicator. "You know as well as I do that we either save that cargo or we might as well all free fall into the sun."

"I'll keep that in mind. "Are the twins with you?" Milo asked.

"We are still here. We are ready to move this ship to safety" Tacoum slurred, "we need to act now or move on."

Milo shook his head. He didn't know how he was going to keep this crew from killing each other. He started to wonder how he could drop the cargo and not have the consortium kill him. This was his last job, he had made a deal with his bosses. This cargo was his ticket on a transport to Alpha Centauri. He could leave Earth and retire but only if he salvaged this last cargo. Jillat and Tacoum came back towards the ship. They passed as close as they dared and Milo was knocked to the deck as the Seabren used the gravity drives on there ships to drag at the cargo hulk and pull it out of its decaying orbit. Milo was just getting to his feet when he was knocked down again. This time it was Mac-Koi. He got a lot closer and he had a bigger ship. Milo got to his feet and checked the console. The silence on the bridge was surreal after the alarms. Milo checked the orbit, it had stabilized and he knew he could now get back to the rendezvous point and collect form the consortium.

"Okay, this think is back on track. Get back here. We have two hours to assess the damage before we need to meet with our sponsors." He shouted into the communicator. He turned off the communicator and quickly put the course corrections into the navigation computer. He watched for a second to make sure the corrections were enough and that the orbit would not start to decay again. He turned off any inessential systems to reserve more power for the engines.

Once he was confident that the freighter would start the long trip to its lunar destination he needed to assess the damage. It wouldn't do to arrive at the delivery point without the artifacts the consortium was looking for. He walked slowly towards the cargo hold. The flickering lights in the hallways were not the friendliest light to walk towards your doom. After a few moments Milo started to run to the cargo hold and hoped he was going to find enough to salvage his deal with the consortium.

In only a moment Milo was at the damaged cargo hold. Milo looked at the artifacts the consortium had them hauling to the delivery point on the dark side of the Moon. The cargo hold that was damaged held the most expensive artifacts, of course. This cargo was officially owned by the consortium, of course. The hold was huge it contained 32 square sections each 32 meters to a side. Milo made his way to the damaged section. He almost fell over when he found that it was two complete sections that had been lost. The emergency bulkheads had sealed off the damage before it spread. Milo started to go through the rows and rows and rows of items. Many of the rows near the damaged area were knocked over. Milo started looking for a cause for the blast that had ripped a 20 meter hole into the hull of the ship. All this cargo were artifacts that had been harvested off Venus. It was a big shock to the people of Earth when the terraforming of Venus started that massive sites and machines began to be found.

Milo and his crew had been selected to make this delivery along with a lot of the items from Earth because they were not weighed down by the legality or morality of leaving behind people to haul away artifacts of questionable merit. Milo found another section that had been damaged very severely. The destroyed crates had been sucked into the damaged section. It looked like something from this section had punched a hole in the hull and took nearly seventy thousand cubic meters of cargo with it. He looked at the massive crates and calculated the number of people this ship could carry to safety. Shaking his head he thought about the two hundred and ten thousand cubic meters of cargo he had vented into space.

Alone in the darkness of the cargo hold he started to feel very alone in the world. His spirits got a good lift when he heard footfalls on the cold metal floor of the cargo bay.

"About time," he called to them , "we will have to do an inventory. I've recalculated the escape vectors and I think we may will be able to make the delivery schedule. If we still have enough to satisfy our customers, that we will have to..." Milo trailed off as turned to face the crew and there was no one there. He took a step towards a wall communicator and froze. A large crate was open and in the middle of the cargo hold. The crate wasn't there when he had crossed that section of the hold less than ten minutes ago.

Milo felt his last meal rise into his throat. Swallowing hard. He lurched over to the wall and punched a communicator panel. "Where the hell are you guys! Get down here now." No one responded. "Mac-Koi!" More silence. Milo spun around as a echoing crash rang through the cargo hold. Milo started to think that his crew had abandoned him. Milo pulled out his personal communicator and turned it on. It didn't have a lot of range but if Mac and the Twins were in the ship and near by he could communicate with them without using the ancient and apparently faulty communications of the cargo freighter.

"Mac! Jillat! Tacoum! I need you in the cargo hold now!" Milo snapped into his communicator.

"Milo? Is that you I can barely hear you." Mac voice cracked over the small device. "You dropped the ball buddy, Tacoum's ship is badly damaged. Drop the Magnetic shields, we can't get into the ship."

"What? The shields are down. I haven't put them up since we left the moon for Venus." Milo ran out of the cargo hold to a mini console. There were a lot of lights on that console. "Dammit, Mac I don't know whats going on but the weapons systems are powering up. Get away from the ship. Get away from the ship." Milo was started to get very nervous. He turned and took two running strides towards the bridge and ran straight into two of the strangest creatures he had ever seen.

They were about 7 and a half feet tall and had a metallic quality to their skin. Milo was struck by how fragile they looked, but judging from the swelling in his lip where he had contacted one, it was only appearance. They reached out and grasped Milo by the neck and shoulders. A high pitched squeal rang out from the creatures as they moved Milo back into the cargo hold. It seemed like quite some time to Milo that they sat there as they made those noises at him. Finally they led him away from the crates as several of the creatures converged from multiple locations. They each had peaces that Milo guessed were from the cargo. Milo started to yell at the creatures holding him and they released their grip on him. The items they were carrying started to melt and merge into larger items. Milo started to worry that he would not make his retirement.

The items started to grow and Milo suspected that the creatures were building a ship. Milo started to crawl backwards towards the main portal out of the hold. The creatures started to melt into the ship as the ship started to spin. The lower portions of the ship started to glow. The floor of the hold seemed to bend and warp away from the ship. Milo got up and ran. He leapt through the portal and slammed into the wall beyond. A brilliant light started to glow in the cargo hold. The entire ship shuddered as the things in the cargo hold broke through the first layer of the hull of the ship. The thing they had created started to arc up into the air crashing into rows of crates. Milo reached the control panel and hit the seal controls to close the bulkheads around the cargo hold.

Milo did not wait until the cargo hold was sealed, he started to sprint to the bridge. The lights in the halls were flickering badly. The was a lot of smoke in the main hall leading from the cargo hold. The dull sound of his footfalls were drowned out by the crashing sound of the creatures ship smashing through massive crates. Milo hoped he could get to the bridge before something really bad happened. He didn't make it.

The ship shuddered as the creatures ship ripped through the hull and escaped. Milo was thrown to the floor by the force of the hull breach. This was much worse than the first explosion. Milo was on his hands and knees trying to clear his head when a second blast rocked the cargo freighter. Milo was starting to get very nervous. He got to his feet and wiped the blood from his eyes. He must have hit his head when he hit the floor.

Once on the bridge he assessed the damage. It wasn't good. Alarms and warning lights accompanied nearly have the displays. Two massive holes had been ripped open along the side of the ship. This immediately noticed three significant problems that this had caused. First the freighter had resumed its near free fall into the sun. Second the port engines were offline, and judging from the massive damage on the port side of the ship they would not be back online prior to the freighter was drawn into the sun. Third, one of the holes in the ship had cut off Milo's path to the landing bay on the port side of the ship. Unfortunately that was where Milo's ship was, and right now it looked like that was his best chance to survive.

Milo started to punch commands into the control panel. He turned off the weapons systems, dropped the magnetic shields, and opened communications channels. "Mac you still out there?" Milo screamed. "I think I might be in trouble."

"We are not in the best of shape either." Mac-Koi's voice was shaky, "Why is the weapons system on? You nearly took Jillat out with the last volley of EM Disruption missiles. And Tacoum is down an engine. When those things blew out of the ship, it really made a mess. There is a lot debris out here. Fire up those engines, we can make another acceleration run past Venus. I think we can drag you out of this orbit again."

"Don't bother Mac, the port engines are out and I think the thrust from the starboard engines just isn't enough to break the gravity pull now. I am going to try to drop some mass and maybe gain escape velocity that way." Milo barked.

"That will take time, lose the freighter. Jump into your cruiser and get the hell out of there." Jillat's voice was crisp and clear.

"Sorry boys the path to my ship seems to have a rather large hole in it right now." Milo said. "I either get this ship going or I don't make it out."

"Okay, you start dropping cargo we'll see what we can do from here." Jillat said. Some bubbling an gurgling followed as he spoke with Tacoum. "Tacoum has a really good idea. Don't jettison the cargo from the starboard cargo bays. Tacoum is going to blast it. If you rotate 70 degrees to starboard the blast should give you the equivalent of a 2 minute engine burn."

Milo ran the calculation and Tacoum was right. "sounds good, rotating now."

It took a few moment for the bulky ship to complete the rotation. The alarms in the bridge started to sound like chanting to Milo. Twice during the maneuver the ship shuddered as the damaged sections reacted to the force of the engines.

"Rotation complete. Fire away Tacoum." Milo spoke into the communicator and started to shut down alarms.

Tacoum made a single pass past the freighter and blasted starboard cargo holds. The blast sent the freighter spinning, but spinning away from the Sun. The ship shuddered as the force of the explosions ripped large portions of the ships structure away. Milo gripped the console as the ship spun faster and shook more and groaned again. Looking at the console Milo started to to see that the blast was good not enough. He need to get the mass of the ship down and have a good long burn from the engines.

Smoke started to fill the room as Milo struggled to make calculations in the spinning console screen. He ran the calculations twice. He shouted into the communicator. "Okay guys, I need to drop 100 tons in order to have the starboard engines reach escape velocity. I can drop 60 or 70 tons on cargo but that's it. I am really interested in any ideas you have."

"Start dropping cargo, I think we can help you with the rest of the mass." Tacoum said.

Milo started opening cargo holds and watched as his last chance at escaping the Earth spun into space into an eventual impact with the Sun. Milo silently calculated the amount of fuel he would save as each hold vented into space.

"Cargo dropped. I am read for burn but I need another 30 tons gone." Milo was watching one of the few operational screens as Tacoum and Jillat ran the length of the ship. The ship jerked and shuddered as the blasted away at pieces of the superstructures. Milo hoped they were only taking pieces that were not necessary. More smoke started filling the bridge, and small fires started to flare up around the bridge. "This better work, you guys aren't leaving me a lot of choices or second chances."

"We'll get you out of there!" Mac shouted as he blasted the port bays off the ship. "That about all we can take off the ship! How your mass?"

Milo watched as the hold containing his cruiser floated off into space. He started running the calculations.

"That's ninety eight tons down. Mac take the twins and get clear. If this doesn't work its going to be a real short trip." Milo told his crew, he turned off the communicator and added "It's been great working with you."

Milo fired the starboard engines and the ship rocketed away from the sun. Views screens on the bridge showed the smaller ships speed away from the cargo freighter. Milo watched the sensors he had left and hoped that they would show him breaking free and moving towards the Moon. As the fuel ran out the sensors did not give him good news. As the ship shook and started to fall towards the sun again Milo sat by the console and started to go over the things they had tried looking for something that they could try. Mac-Koi's voice was crackling over the communicator, but Milo wasn't listening. He knew that this was his last shipment, just as he planned, but he wasn't going to retire according to plan. He reached up to turn off the console and something dropped out of his pocket.

It was a small shard, no longer than a seed. It looked like it was made of the same strange material that the creatures in the cargo bay was made of. Milo stared at this thing the space seed as it grew and expanded in size. Milo backed away as the thing grew.

Milo crawled over the communicator link. Mac was organizing another run at the ship calculating what parts of the ship could be blasted off without destroying it. "Mac get clear, really strange things are going on here. This freighter isn't going to make it." Mac started to reply but Milo powered down the freighter and walked over to the tear shaped growth that had grown from the space seed.

Milo reached out to touch the thing and was shocked that his arm passed into the mass. Milo was so shocked he took several steps back and fell into another one of the aliens. Milo started to scream as he realized that the bridge had more than a dozen of the creatures merging with the new ship in the center of the bridge. These sleek creatures ignored Milo and entered this new ship. The ship started to spin and Milo began to scream. He saw in the last functioning view screen hundreds of these ships burst from the long line of debris the freighter had produced.

Milo was thrown into the wall as the ship tore through the first bulkhead. The force was enough to knock him cold. This was probably best as only moments later the bridge emptied into space as the new ship broke free of the shattered remains of the aging space freighter.

Mac-Koi saw the freighter disintegrate. He knew his friend had not made it out. He watch for about a half hour until a massive solar flare consumed the the remains of the old ship. The twins were already a good distance towards the moon. MacKenzine waited just a few moments longer and turned his cruiser towards the moon and hoped he could convince the consortium that the loss of the cargo is not a breach of contract.

2005-05-10

Fire, Friend or Foe

Yuegarian has some how managed to light the bridge and burn to would be assailants to ashes. He is being quite stupid because he lit the bridge from the wrong side, trapping himself, but at least he singed Hawber. While our instructions were to make sure no evil got across, I assumed that we would do so by slaying our foes, but burning the bridge is okay as well. While I am enjoying the fire show, two new wanderers show up from the direction of town but don't appear menacing until one of them casts a spell on the bridge and Gworeth attacks. The sound of steel clashing echoes thru my ears, I watch and see the other members of my party attack the two new interlopers, and with one of them engaged with Hawber, I take my shot....the voices daring me to fire with out taking time to make sure Hawber is clear, instead I try to fire fast and low....not particular about which I hit.

It ends quickly, when get ensnared by Lydin, as the whole battle was a misunderstanding and the two new foes are allies of Lex. But now I notice that we are not out of the woods just yet, for a real danger has emerged....Tugwyn has come to taunt us with his new undead minions. While we dispatch the undead Tugwyn escapes again. After this battle, Cedric appears to let us know of the battles that ragged thru the night, and that we should now advance on the cemetary and kill the evil that resides there.

We rest and then begin the long journey, tracking our way thru multiple battles until we reach the cemetary. When we arrive a trap is sprung and once again Hawber is hurt along with our new ally Adrymar. The injuries our minor but cause us to be more careful. We follow a path thru the woods and discover another trap, this one a warning mechanism. With no way to disable it, we gird ourselves for battle and press on. We are not disappointed, for the battle begins with dead creatures and living alike, giants, wolfves and men. We dispatch the giants (I myself take one down in hand to hand combat, despite no help from our new mage.....he is busy protecting the cowards in the back), the wolves are scarred off and the archers are slaughtered. During the fierce battle the coward Tugwyn emerges once again to taunt us, but seeing our inevitible victory runs away yet again with his tail between his legs. Although the undead wolves are an abomination against nature, Tugwyn's cowardice and traitorous behaviour have the voices and myself agreeing.....TUGWYN MUST DIE.

2005-04-26

Space Seed

Space Seed is an experiment in improv writing. I have kind of fallen away from regular posting again. Hopefully this will give me a chance to get back on track. I asked several questions on the HARP IRC Channel using the answers I will attempt to write a short story.

Here it goes...

MacKenzie "Mac-Koi" Koi wasn't a rocket jockey. He was an artist. He merged with his ship, he felt the ship in ways that the regular pilots thought was just a myth. He left the cargo ship's bridge at a dead run. It felt as though he started holding his breath when he saw the warning lights on the bridge console and didn't stop until he was skimming the surface of Mercury using the planet as a acceleration sling shot.

He looked over his shoulder at the two pilots that were flying with him. He did not know them and he did not like them but they all worked for the same man, Milo. The pilots were not human, or at least not of a pure strain. They were water mutants, or squids. Mac hated squids, built from human stock to live in salt water communes and produce food for the surface dwellers. After a few generations they had developed a grey green skin hue, and a dark green patch under their gills.

Bred to be slaves, the surface dwellers were shocked when the squid revolt hit. The water mutants had surprised the surface by not only cutting off a valuable food supply but also striking with massive military force into the mega cities of the surface. Mac-Koi had been just a child when the attacks had started, and had served two tours during the second water war. When the water war was all over there were only three governing bodies left. First was the last national government, if you could call it that. The government of India was the last vestige of the old governments. The water mutants were another world power. They called them selves the Seabren. Mac just called them squids. They had become the biggest military force in the world, and except for one force they would have conquered the planet.

The force that stopped them was the consortium. The consortium was made up of the biggest companies in the world. They saw that the water mutants would simply over power the surface forces, so they stepped in. They purchased the militaries of the United States, Russia, Britian, and China. Other governments just assigned their military forces to the command of this growing corporate group. Only India and Japan remained separate from the consortium. The water mutants completely and utterly destroyed the island of Japan. That was what allowed the consortium to make their move. They moved a massive military force into place and moved towards the main home cities of the water mutants. This forced the water mutants to retreat from Japan and defend or risk having their own cities destroyed.

It was a solid counter attack plan, but the consortium was smarter than that. The military forces were just a feint. They had thousands of scientists working on the perfect weapon. When the water mutants had moved to defend their homes they unleashed a gene virus. It made the water mutants change. They could still breathe water but they could no longer survive for long outside of it. The surface forces retreated in front of the advancing water mutant forces. It was a massacre. Thousands of the water mutants died without the surface forces having to fire a single shot. However, the virus was not perfect, or maybe the scientists did not think the consortium was the best choice to rule the planet. In either case a balance was struck. The water mutants were a power but they now knew that the consortium could destroy them on the surface. The consortium knew they needed the water mutants to produce the massive amounts of food the surface dwellers required to survive. So in the twenty years since the end of the second water war the consortium, the sovereign government of India, and the Seabren formed an alliance to manage and govern the planet.

The bubbling and popping noises that passed for squid language brought Mac-Koi back to the present. "Okay you water bastards, none of that bubble crap, we have a job to do." Mac-Koi was selected to be part of the first unit to release the virus into the massed squid troops and as far as he was concerned they didn't finish the job. "The consortium isn't paying us to lose cargos."

"I know that Koi. We are prepared to save the ship. Just get us into position." Jiliat blurted. "Maybe you aren't the pilot the consortium thought you were." A gurggle-pop-slurp came over the comm as Tacoum laughed at Jillat's comments.

"A little more of that and I might have to roast me a little fish." Mac-Koi barked. "Milo! Milo! Are you there, what are our options."

Milo Besin looked into the scanner he was pretty certain he was about to die. It had been almost five minutes since he last heard form his crew. He spent a moment feeling sorry for himself and then started to plan his next move. He didn't think we would live if he lost his cargo, but it was looking like he would not live if he kept it either. Moving along the console he vented cargo holds into space. He grimaced as he mentally calculated the value of the goods he was ejecting into space. The freighter lurched as the cargo was sucked into the void. He was about to vent the second bay when the communicator burst to life.

"Milo! Milo! Are you there, what are our options." MacKenzie's voice crackled over the aging cargo hulk's speakers. "Milo, what the hell are you doing! We can still salvage the hulk if you give us a chance! I'm not risking my ass for nothing, and I am not letting the consortium think I let their cargo get dragged into the sun."

"Mac, I was starting to think you had left for good." He let out a long breath, he know this was a dire straits. "Are the twins with you?"

"We are still here. We are ready to move this ship to safety" Tacoum slurred, "we need to act now or move on."

Milo shook his head. He didn't know how he was going to keep this crew from killing each other. He started to wonder how he could drop the cargo and not have the consortium kill him. This was his last job, he could make the jump to alpha-centauri and retire but only if he salvaged this last cargo. Jillat and Tacoum came back towards the ship. They passed as close as they dared and Milo was knocked to the deck as the Seabren used the gravity drives on there ships to drag at the cargo hulk and pull it out of its decaying orbit. Milo was just getting to his feet when he was knocked down again. This time it was Mac-Koi. He got a lot closer and he had a bigger ship. Milo got to his feet and checked the console.

"Okay, get back here. We have two hours before we need to have this thing back on track." He shouted into the communicator. Milo started to run to the cargo hold to assess the damage and find out what the hell is going on.

It only took a moment to get to the cargo hold, and Milo looked at the artifacts the consortium had them hauling to the jump points in orbit around Saturn. The cargo hold in question was the most expensive, of course. This was the one cargo that was officially owned by the consortium, of course. Milo started to go through the rows and rows and of items, looking for whatever had caused the blast. It was all some type of artifacts that had been harvested off Venus. It was a big shock to the people of Earth when the terraforming of Venus started and massive sites and machines began to be found.

Milo and his crew had been selected to make this delivery along with a lot of the items from Earth because they were not weighed down by the legality or morality of leaving behind people to haul away artifacts of questionable merit. Milo found the section that had been damaged, he looked at the now sealed hole in the bulk head. The crates that had exploded had been sucked into the void. Along with about seventy of the two or three thousand crates that had been in this hold. The damage was minor and the bulk heads had closed to seal the hole.

Milo heard the crew approaching him from behind. "About time. We will have to do an inventory, recalculate the escape vectors and maybe even jettison some more cargo." Milo turned to face the crew and there was no one there. He walked over to the wall and punched a communicator. "Where are you guys, get down here now." No one responded. Milo started to think that his crew had abandoned him. Milo pulled out his personal communicator and turned it on. It didn't have a lot of range but if Mac and the twins were in the ship and near by he could communicate with them without using the ancient and apparently faulty communications of the cargo freighter.

"Mac! Jillat! Tacoum! Where the hell are you guys. I need you in the cargo hold now." Milo snapped into his communicator.

"Milo? Is that you I can barely hear you." Mac voice cracked over the small device. "You dropped the ball buddy, Tacoum's ship is badly damaged. Drop the Magnetic shields, we can't get into the ship."

"What? The shields are down. I dropped them after we left Venus." Milo moved over to the mini console. "Dammit, Mac I don't know whats going on but the weapons systems are powering up. Get away from the ship. Get away from the ship." Milo was started to get very nervous. He turned to return to the bridge and ran straight into two of the strangest creatures he had ever seen.

They were about 7 and a half feet tall and had a metallic quality to their skin. Milo was struck by how fragile they looked, but judging from the swelling in his lip where he had contacted one, it was only appearance. They reached out and grasped Milo by the neck and shoulders. A high pitched squeal rang out from the creatures as they moved Milo over to the crates. It seemed like quite some time to Milo that they sat there as they made those noises at him. Finally they led him away from the crates as several of the creates converged from multiple locations. They each had peaces that Milo recognized from the inventory. Items that his contact at the consortium had mentioned as critical to the completion of the contract. Milo started to yell at the creatures holding him and they released their grip on him. The items they were carrying started to melt and merge into larger items. Milo could not identify the purpose for these items.

Milo started to worry that he would not make his retirement. The items started to grow and Milo suspected that the creatures were building a ship. He moved towards the main portal out of the hold. The creatures started to melt into the ship as the ship started to spin. The lower portions of the ship started to glow. The floor of the hold seemed to bend and warp away from the ship. Milo ran. He leapt through the portal and slammed into the wall beyond. The entire ship shuddered as the things in the cargo hold broke through the first layer of the hull of the ship. Milo reached the control panel and hit the seal controls to close the bulkheads around the cargo hold.

Milo did not wait until the cargo hold was sealed, he sprinted to the bridge. Before he got there the ship shuddered as the creatures ship ripped through the hull and escaped. Once on the bridge he assessed the damage. It wasn't good. A massive hole had been ripped open along the side of the ship. This immediately noticed three significant problems that this had caused. First the freighter had resumed its near free fall into the sun. Second the port engines were offline, and judging from the massive damage on the port side of the ship they would not be back online prior to the freighter was drawn into the sun. Third, the hole in the ship had cut off Milo's path to the landing bay on the port side of the ship. Unfortunately that was where Milo's ship was, and right now it looked like that was his best chance to survive.

Milo started to punch commands into the control panel. He turned off the weapons systems, dropped the magnetic shields, and opened communications channels. "Mac you still out there?" Milo screamed. "I think I might be in trouble."

"We are not in the best of shape either." Mac-Koi's voice was shaky, "Why is the weapons system on? You nearly took Jillat out with the last volley of EM Disruption missiles. And Tacoum is down an engine. When that thing blew out of the ship, it really made a mess. There is a lot debris out here. Fore up those engines we'll start another acceleration run past Mercury."

"Don't bother Mac, the port engines are out and I think the thrust from the starboard engines just isn't enough to break the gravity pull now. I am going to try to drop some mass and maybe gain escape velocity that way." Milo barked.

"That will take time, lose the freighter. Jump into you single seater and get the hell out of there." Jillat's voice was crisp and clear.

"Sorry boys the path to my ship seems to have a rather large whole in it right now." Milo said. "I either get this ship going or I don't make it out."

"Okay, you start dropping cargo Milo we'll see what we can do from here." Jillat said. Some bubbling an gurgling followed as he spoke with Tacoum. "Tacoum has a really good idea. Don't jettison the cargo from the starboard cargo bays. Tacoum is going to blast it. If you rotate 70 degrees the blast should give you the equivalent of a 2 minute engine burn."

Milo ran the calculation and Tacoum was right. "sounds good, rotating now... landing bay and port cargo bay beta and gamma are emptied. Fire away Tacoum."

Tacoum made a single pass past the freighter and blasted the beta and gamma cargo holds. The blast sent the freighter spinning, but spinning away from Venus. Milo gripped the console as the ship spun and shook and groaned. Looking at the console Milo started to to see that the blast was not enough. He need to get the mass of the ship down and have a good long burn from the engines.

"Okay guys, I need to drop 100 tons in order to have the starboard engines reach escape velocity. I can drop 70 tons on cargo but that's it. I am really interested in any ideas you have."

"Start dropping cargo, I think we can help you with the other 30 tons." Tacoum said.

"Cargo dropped. I am read for burn but I need another 30 tons gone." Milo was watching the screen as Tacoum and Jillat ran the length of the ship. The ship jerked and shuddered as the blasted off any super structures that were not necessary. "This better work, you arne't leaving me a lot of second chances."

"We'll get you out of there!" Mac shouted as he blasted the landing bays off the ship. "That's it how your mass?"

"98 tons down, get clear if this doesn't work its going to be a real short trip." Milo told his crew. "It's been great working with you."

Milo fired the engines and the ship rocketed away from the sun. He watched the sensors he had left and hoped that they would show him breaking free and moving towards Saturn. As the fuel ran out the sensors did not give him good news. The ship slowly started to fall back towards the sun. Milo sat by the consoel and started to go over the things they had tried, something that he could try. Mac-Koi's voice was crackling over the comm, but Milo wasn't listening. He knew that this was his last shipment, just as he planned, but he wasn't going to retire according to plan. He reached up to turn off the console and something dropped out of his pocket.

It was a small shard, no longer than a seed. It looked like it was made of the same strange material that the creatures in the cargo bay was made of. Milo stared at this thing the space seed as it grew and expanded in size. Milo backed away as the thing grew.

Milo crawled over the comm link. "Mac get clear, really strange things are going on here. I am not sure but I think I might have a way out, but the freighter isn't going to make it." Mac started to reply but Milo povered down the freighter and walked over to the tear shaped growth that had grown from the space seed.

Milo reached out to touch the thing and was shocked that his arm passed into the mass. He steped completely into it and found himself in a small cockpit with strange screens and controls. The seed ship lurched off the deck as Milo started to learn the controls. Milo started to get an idea why the consortium wanted thses artifacts. The ship was sleek and judging from the small motions he had mastered it was monster powerful. Milo smiled and started to move back from the freighters hull. He started the thrusters of the seed and rammed into the hull. he backed up and rammed again. It took him three tries to get through the hull. Then he was free of the freighter and he stopped and watched as the aging hulk slid into the suns gravity well. He watch for about a half hour until a massive solar flare consumed the old ship.

Milo turned his new ship towards Saturn and openned up. he caught up with his crew after only a few minutes. They were travelling slowly as Jallit had badly damiged his vessel trying to save the freighter.

"Well boys, we lost the cargo but I did manage to grab something for us." Milo spoke over his personal communicator.

"What in hell is that?" Mackenzie blurted. "And where did it come from?"

"Good to see you boss." Tacoum said.

"Let's get to the jump point. After that we'll see what we have here. I have a feeling that the consortium has a good idea what this thing is, but they are paying us to evacuate the Earth before the sun fails. I think we earned our pay today, we'll see what they will pay for this little gem once we get to alpha-centari."

okay that's it.
I hope it passable.
Please leave a comment to let me know what you think of the story.

2005-04-18

The heat of battle

Kom was an old veteran of the arena. He know that winning in the arena took skill. Winning took took cunning. Winning took planning. Above all these winning took luck.

Kom looked over the clearing and saw three bodies. One of the bodies was that of Hugan. Hugan was a giant of a man and had been one of the first friends Kom made when he joined the academy. It was blind luck that had placed them on opposite sides in this battle. Hugan's body was smoking from the last blast that had struck the man. The other two bodies were those of Kom's team mates. Grek and Wol were the two men that were part of Kom's team. Looking at there bodies lying motionless made Kom shudder. They had already lost the rookie Kyrn to the trip mine. Kom didn't like the math, he was alone against three opponents somewhere in the arena.

Kom new that with a three to one advantage his opponents could bait him into an action of their choosing. He would have to make them make a mistake if he wanted to have a chance at defeating them.

Kom started to formulate a plan, he knew it was a long shot but it was the only show he had. He looked for a defensible position. He moved to the position and looked for a spot that he could set his trap. He quickly placed a few demolition charges on the ground next to a small rock. He carefully covered the charges with sand and leaves. Now if he could just draw them out. He was backing away from his trap wen he caught the first flicker of movement.

Jak was the youngest of his opponents and obviously was looking to make the kill. Kom made a quick move into the bush and drew his pistol. He waited. He didn't wait long. Suz stuck her head out of cover just a few feet from the demolition packs. Kom slowed his breathing, and every so gently drew the action back on the pistol. He just needed Jak to get a few steps closer. He could hear the rasping breath of Jak as he stepped into the brush just a few paces to the east of Kom.

That was a close as Kom could hope for, he let out a long breath and squeezed the trigger. The blast from his pistol set off the demolition packs. Kom didn't think he would have caught Peet on the blast but he just saw Suz as the blast caught her and threw her into the air. As the blast quickly shot towards him he quickly shifted his weight and fired twice more. The first shot hit Jak in the leg, the second in the throat. Jak dropped immediately after the second shot.

Kom was excited he had managed to even the odds. All he had to do was... Suddenly his world exploded in fire. Looking down Kom saw a large black scorch across his chest. He looked to his wrist monitor just in time to see the lights dim. So this was it. He finally caught sight of Peet. Standing from a crouching position and bringing his weapon up and firing into Kom's chest again. Kom sucked in a painful breath and slowly everything went black.

With a slow whir the power on the battle suits came back on. Kom stretched and probed his chest. He didn't think any of the blast had gotten through. Peet was helping Suz to her feet. Behind her Hugan was laughing with Grek and Wol. Jak was stomping through the brush swearing loudly. Kyrn would be around soon. Kom looked a Peet. Peet had won he had the right to call for terms. That was the was of the arena, that was how Hugan had become part of Peet's team. Kom was already starting to think about the recruits he had seen when he had picked up Kyrn. Maybe he would be able to pick up a veteran rather than a rookie but with a losing record it became harder to get the talented players to commit.

Peet and Kom started walking towards the locker room.

"You know I was a little shocked at the demo packs, but it almost worked. I was less than a meter out of the blast radius. " Peet growled. "I am going to call for a forfeit."

Kom was sick. He had just lost Hugan, he didn't want to lose Wol or Grek.

"Rematch?" Kom offered.

"You lost to me twice in a row. No. I am going to trust in your recruiting. I will claim Kyrn."

"Peet, are you serious? You picking up a rookie? why would you do that? Claim a veteran and trade for a younger player, why pick up a rookie?" Kom barked. " Don't think I will play you easier next time we enter the arena."

"I have no doubt. But you should know I have made a deal. I am releasing Hugan." He must have seen the glint in Kom eyes. "Don't get any ideas. Hugan I will release but only because I think he needs to start recruiting his own team. I will give him one year to recruit his own team."

"He deserves it, I wish it was me who had given him the chance. " Kom looked at Peet.

As they entered the locker room Kom was already thinking about some of the recruits he needed to interview. Some to grab for his team, some to keep from joining Hugan. Kom had three days until he had to bring a team back into the arena. He wanted to be ready.

2005-03-17

One departs, one joins

After Lydin was finished checking Scratch's wounds, he moved on to check the wounds of the remaining party members. The five some and Scratch were of again. Tugwyn's mind is racing over the possible outcomes and when should he leave. There is a voice inside his head now talking to him. , telling him to wait. Tugwyn knows this voice is real being not like the voices Paradarus hears.

The party is moving again. They are under attack again. The undead came from behind them. It must have been ambush. The party is in trouble. Tugwyn's is running of in to the woods- laughing. Lydin calls but there are no response.

Gworeth is fighting to his life. Hawber manages to turn around to get in to fray. Paradarus is left behinds wait for a chance. Yue and Lydin decide to go the forest to go around the fight and flank the undead.

Paradarus manages to get into the battle, by reaching over Scratch Around three of them have take some hit but are still stands. Scratch is tearing to the undead, now his natural instincts have kick in. Lydin comes out of the forest and instantly is hit.

Yue in his rush to join the battle gets tangled up by a tree. Yue panic?s thinks it is the undead. Then he realizes it was just a tree and he needs to get into the battle. He knows the party needs him. He manages to get untangled, just to get tanked up in a down tree. Because of his fear for his friend?s life and the embarrassment of getting tangled up in his playground, blood starts rushing to his head. He manages to get free again and there is the clearing.

He sees a clear and starting running for it, hoping it is not too late

The party is getting hurting. There are too many of them. Scratch is bleeding, Paradarus is bleeding, Hawber is bleeding, Gworeth is bleeding, and Lydin is bleeding. They are all bleeding, badly except Yue who is lost in the woods. Lydin is scared, and does no what to do. In his moment of desperation he calls upon is cleric ability and received an inherited evil spell dead watch. He needs to save his friends. He casts the spell, hoping there are no ill effects.

Yue runs out into the clearing ready for battle, but the clearing is empty. Listening he hears the battle behind him. He runs back in the forest, fearful of what he will find and shamed the skills he is so pride of fail him.

Lydin is able to see how close is friends are to dead, scratch is hurting bad, he is running to heal scratch. Hawber, Gworeth, Paradarus are fighting a good fight, but are slow losing.

Out of the forest burst Lex,? Die you all unholy scrum, die? and takes on the nearest creature to him. Lydin is move over to heal Paradarus who is whooping o his feet. A number of undead have fallen, but there are many more standing.

Yue finally appears and takes no time to engage and kill an undead. Lydin is healing Hawber, and notices two creature watch the fight. One alive creature, one undead creature; the battle is stating to turn around there are only a couple of undead left.

There is laughter as a magical light hits Hawber. It was Tugwyn, Hawber suppress the urge to go running after him. Lydin notices the one life creature he now knows is Tugwyn leaving with the other Undead Creature.

With the Help of Lex and Yue they party finishes the reaming undead of. Lydin?s Gods grant him power of evil to use for good. Lydin understands what happens, but will remember the reason, why?

The party takes little time to composite itself, has darkness approaches and the forest comes alive, to run back to the Fletcher house. Arrows rain down on the party has they run back to safety.

When they reach the Fletchers house the greeting is not pleasant, but he lets them in. The Fletcher was upset that they return before the task was complete, Lex does not go in, he as business to take care of.

After Lydin was finished checking Scratch's wounds, he moved on to check the wounds of the remaining party members. The five some and Scratch were of again. Tugwyn's mind is racing over the possible outcomes and when should he leave. There is a voice inside his head now talking to him. , telling him to wait. Tugwyn knows this voice is real being not like the voices Paradarus hears.

The party is moving again. They are under attack again. The undead came from behind them. It must have been ambush. The party is in trouble. Tugwyn's is running of in to the woods- laughing. Lydin calls but there are no response.

Gworeth is fighting to his life. Hawber manages to turn around to get in to fray. Paradarus is left behinds wait for a chance. Yue and Lydin decide to go the forest to go around the fight and flank the undead.

Paradarus manages to get into the battle, by reaching over Scratch Around three of them have take some hit but are still stands. Scratch is tearing to the undead, now his natural instincts have kick in. Lydin comes out of the forest and instantly is hit.

Yue in his rush to join the battle gets tangled up by a tree. Yue panic?s thinks it is the undead. Then he realizes it was just a tree and he needs to get into the battle. He knows the party needs him. He manages to get untangled, just to get tanked up in a down tree. Because of his fear for his friend?s life and the embarrassment of getting tangled up in his playground, blood starts rushing to his head. He manages to get free again and there is the clearing.

He sees a clear and starting running for it, hoping it is not too late

The party is getting hurting. There are too many of them. Scratch is bleeding, Paradarus is bleeding, Hawber is bleeding, Gworeth is bleeding, and Lydin is bleeding. They are all bleeding, badly except Yue who is lost in the woods. Lydin is scared, and does no what to do. In his moment of desperation he calls upon is cleric ability and received an inherited evil spell dead watch. He needs to save his friends. He casts the spell, hoping there are no ill effects.

Yue runs out into the clearing ready for battle, but the clearing is empty. Listening he hears the battle behind him. He runs back in the forest, fearful of what he will find and shamed the skills he is so pride of fail him.

Lydin is able to see how close is friends are to dead, scratch is hurting bad, he is running to heal scratch. Hawber, Gworeth, Paradarus are fighting a good fight, but are slow losing.

Out of the forest burst Lex,? Die you all unholy scrum, die? and takes on the nearest creature to him. Lydin is move over to heal Paradarus who is whooping o his feet. A number of undead have fallen, but there are many more standing.

Yue finally appears and takes no time to engage and kill an undead. Lydin is healing Hawber, and notices two creature watch the fight. One alive creature, one undead creature; the battle is stating to turn around there are only a couple of undead left.

There is laughter as a magical light hits Hawber. It was Tugwyn, Hawber suppress the urge to go running after him. Lydin notices the one life creature he now knows is Tugwyn leaving with the other Undead Creature.

With the Help of Lex and Yue they party finishes the reaming undead of. Lydin?s Gods grant him power of evil to use for good. Lydin understands what happens, but will remember the reason, why?

The party takes little time to composite itself, has darkness approaches and the forest comes alive, to run back to the Fletcher house. Arrows rain down on the party has they run back to safety.

When they reach the Fletchers house the greeting is not pleasant, but he lets them in. The Fletcher was upset that they return before the task was complete, Lex does not go in, he as business to take care of.

2005-03-14

Church of the Game... A New Hope :)

Greetings All,

As you are no doubt aware I have made several changes to this blog over the last week or so. I added ad sense to the site as well as a Google search. Both of these changes are to see if this blog can become self sufficient. I am starting to see more traffic (a feeble amount to be sure) but I am seeing a bit of traffic and getting a some comments (both online and offline).

So I would like to be able to do more things with this blog, like host pictures, files, etc. I can not as long as I am on the Blogspot free hosting service. I added ad sense and the Google search to see if ads will bring in enough money to pay for hosting services. I am also going to add a donation button. 100% of the funds donated will go to site upkeep.

So if you like this site and would like to support us, click on the donate link located in the sidebar.

Lex

The forest is quiet exceptfor the heavy breathing from Lex. The last round battle with the undead was long and hard. He hasn't got idea what happens to his brothers. They got separated during the fury of the last battle. Lex's companions are not relative through a blood line but by cause, to rid the world of the living dead.

Lex took on the cause at an every young age, of seven, when he watched his parents get kill by a couple of zombies. His parents were simple folk living a simple live. They had a small farm where they raised some livestock and vegetables.

During that faithful night, Lex had just finished washing up for supper and was waiting at the kitchen table with his father discussion the Minnie the cow and how she could give birth any day now. The Zombies came crashing in from all sides. Two zombies crashed through the kitchen window and the rest broke down the porch door just of the kitchen. The family had no chance, a skilled fighter would have little, but Lex senior was fast on to his feet grabbing his son, opening the latch door under the table and closing it. Then he heard the two distinct sounds, which will haunt him for the rest of his live thump, thump. His family was gone in an instinct.

Lex was found crying the next day still in is hiding placing, by two priest. The priest has heard there was trouble in the area and came to investigate. The two priests instantly took a likely to the sad seven year and one of the priests became surrogate father to the boy and the priest's order become his family.

The first few days after that dreadful night, it seems like a one long nightmare to Lex. That all changed on the third when the priests took Lex with them on one of there hunting trips. Lex was so happy he saw his parents, but they were not his parents. They did not know him. The priest has brought Lex to kill his parent corpse. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

The two priests held his parent's corpses and gave Lex an axe. While tears rooled downs his faces Lex killed his parent's corpse by chopping of their head and pouring holy water over them. Lex understood the priest reason for doing what they did, but he has never slept the same since. His dreams are haunted by his parent's corpses.

Omgen the Priest, who became Lex's surrogate father, taught Lex everything he could about the order. The order name "Church against the Undead" was given to the order by the pleasant they helped. In the beginning, the church was a couple of priest who were brothers dedicated their lives to fighting their undead. Those two brother helped many common folk fight the undead and was start it to get a loyal following who called the two brothers the Church against the undead. When "Kildren" a god appear and took up the cause of the priest, the religion was born and Kildren become Known has Kildren the God against the darkness.

Omgen talks about power of the church and explained many of the things that was done through the Power of Kildren. Many sound it like the tale tells, but Lex could recite them all.

Omgen want it Lex to be a Priest, but Lex had to much angry inside of him to be a priest. But Lex found away to make Omgen proud, he start it the first order of paladin's "Knight against the undead" for the Church. Kildren gave his blessing to the "Knight against the Undead" and Lex was able to take up a noble cause, while being true to the Order.

Every ten year the church held a meeting for all member of the church to come. The senior priest set up portals for those priests who were to far away to travel by horse. If a priest from a certain church didn't appear or send word an embassy was sent to see what was wrong. It was been along time since anybody has heard word form Elderage the head priest in this area. Elderage was one of the more powerful priests in the order if not the most powerful priest. He held a seat in the high council in this land, and the King was a trusted ally of his.

Lex volunteered to lead a small party to go see what happen. Originally the party was of five, but after the last battle he stood alone in the forest clearing. There would be time to mourn later. Sounds of battle ring out in the forest. Fight on my brothers, fight on I am coming.

Lex was running

2005-03-11

Lydin's Story Part 5

continued from Lydin's Story Part 4

Day 76
I awake in the morning and treat the wounds of Scratch and Yue. Afterwards I return to sleep and rest. The battles in the preceding days seem to have taken a toll on my mind and my spirit as well as my body.

I awake again and realize with a start that it is approaching noon. Yue is awake, he is quietly cleaning and oiling he crossbow. He has not said much since he lost himself in the woods. I get the feeling he is hurt that even with his woodland skills he was lost for so long. There is a hurt in his eyes that I can not heal. I wonder if I have the same look in my eyes.

I go to look for food for myself and for Scratch. Yue looks up from his task but makes no move to follow or to speak.

I trail down the hallway towards the Fletcher's kitchen. I hear voices form the kitchen. One voice is the Fletcher's. The other is a familiar voice, but one I can not immediately place. This voice is angry. The Fletcher argues that the time is past, "It is too late!" he cries. The other voice snaps back at the Fletcher. Admonishing him.
"Remember your place, remember your duty, remember your destiny."

I move closer to the kitchen I see a flash of light. I enter the kitchen to see the residue of a transportation portal spell. The Fletcher is alone.

I ask him about the other voice I heard in the kitchen. The Fetcher seems to think I have been spying on him. "That was the voice of out master, Lord Cedric." the Fletcher growls. "Were you listening to our private conversation?"

I don't remember what I said to him, but it convinces him that I was just traveling to the kitchen. I gather some food to return to Yue, but turn to find him already in the kitchen. We eat with the Fletcher. He reminds us of our duty. As if the horrors of the past days could be forgotten. Our host tells us of Lord Cedric's plan. He has a massive force gathered to the east. He will strike tonight.

Our orders are to hold the bridge and protect the town. I am only half listening. I make the correct sounds to show the Fletcher that I am listening to his instructions but I am drifting into deeper thoughts. "Yes, I understand. We must protect the bridge at all costs." I tell him. He nods, as if to tell me that I had better follow his instructions. My mind drifts to the events of yesterday, what happened to me when I cast my spirit at these beasts and they fled form me like leaves before the wind. The Fetcher is staring at me. I search for what he was saying. "Of course, we would destroy the bridge rather than let the lifeless monsters use it." He starts to wave his arms and shout. "Of course, we would never allow the bridge to fall." That seems to calm him again.

Yue also stares at me. I search his eyes, for some sign of what he plans. Our group was so unified when we first left our sinking prison, but now we are more and more separated by our own mistrust. Especially since we were betrayed by Tugwyn. What secrets does Yue keep from me? What secrets do I keep from him?

Again I notice that the Fletcher has stopped talking and is waiting for an answer. I am at a loss. I do not recall what instructions he was pressing when last he spoke. Thankfully Yue speaks for me. "We will wait for the signal, and strike into the heart of the forest. We will kill these undead lords, vampires, or whatever they are. We will not fail."

"Yes, yes." I murmur. Is this our fate, to become the victims of the undead? To be killed and return as these monsters? Not for the first time I think about releasing Scratch. Allowing him to make his way back our natural homes. I again do not, knowing that even if Scratch knew the way home I need him too badly to release him. Maybe later I can free him.

"Is there a temple in this town?" I ask. I am not sure why I ask this, I need no temples. My temple is the forest, the plain, the lake, the mountain. Wherever the spirit of nature resides is where I worship. My now I feel a pull to a temple of man.

"As I have told you every time you have asked of the temple," replies the Fletcher, "we had a temple, near the guard house. The temple disappeared shortly after the creatures started attacking the town. I start to think you are ill, the way your eyes stare off. You look at me, but you do not see me, you look through me. What do you see druid? Do you see me? Or do you see only death, as I see only death. I spoke in haste yester-eve, you may return to my home for as long as you serve Lord Cedric." The Fletcher slowly and deliberately meets my gaze, then gives Yue the same piercing look. He stands from the table and stalks out of the room.

"We should find the others." Yue barks at me as he stands also.

I nearly send him to go himself, but Scratch bites my hand and pulls towards the door. "Yes, " I answer, " we must find our allies and return to the forest."

As we leave the Fletcher's I see the crazed beggar that always predicts my death. Hawber is following the beggar, for once staring at something other than his reflection. I walk up to the beggar, awaiting his proclamation of my doom. He smells of illness, at times it is almost like I can see something in his soul that is fractured. I try to give him a fresh Logan berry. I earlier prepared the berries, such that they have the power to supply a full meal in just a single bite. The beggar pulls away from me.

I notice a medallion around this beggars neck. It is a symbol I half recognize. I grasp the medallion and fire and pain shoot down my arm. I spy our new companion Lex watching me. Lex comes over to me and pulls me away from the beggar, and he runs off.

We follow the beggar to the guard house. Once inside the beggar just disappeared. We find a concealed trap door in the floor. Following the stairs under the floor takes us to a small underground cathedral. The same symbol that the beggar wore, the same symbol that burned my hand and arm adorn the walls.

Pandarus, Yue, and Hawber are collecting holy water from a case on the north wall. I ask Lex about the symbol. He laughs and pulls out a medallion of his own. "Like this one?"

"What does it mean?" I ask.

"It is the symbol of my faith. We are dedicated to eradicating the undead menace. I did not believe that it was true but now that I see it, I can not deny my own eyes." He points to my hand. "You should not grab the symbol of a powerful cleric, they have protections that you can not comprehend. This homeless beggar is the high priest Elderage. Years ago I studied under him. When our church first sent Elderage here he was but an alcolyte, sent to establish a mission house.
This he did. Eventually more of the faithful revealed here. Including my brother. Recently the undead started to win the battles against Elderage. " Lex paused, looking deep within himself as if knowing the answer but not knowing if the answer is the one he wants.
"In rare cases, very rare cases, " Lex continued, "a high priest will give himself up to protect his followers and his church. Elderage must have made this sacrifice, although I do not know how. He has caused his own insanity to save his church and only the defeat of the threat will allow him to return to health."

We climb the stairs and leave for the bridge. We cross to the far side and take up positions to defend the bridge. I start to question why we have all our strongest warriors north of the bridge when a group of skeletal undead breach the clearing from the north. Hawber, Pandarus and Gworeth smash these enemies as the close within reach. Only two get through, and of those one turns north along the river and one head directly for the bridge. Scratch and I bring down the beast heading to the bridge and Yue chases after the one flees north.

Another group breaks free of the trees. These again are repelled. A third wave engages us. This group includes Orcs! Hawber and Pandarus are killing the Orcs as well as the undead. More and more are breaking through. Yue returns just in time to slay a monster as it approaches the bridge.

Another group is chased into the clearing around the bridge. Again Orcs are with the undead. The orcs seem to be attacking the undead, but they also attack Hawber. Pandarus is swathing through the Orcs like a sythe through winter wheat.

Another group steps into the clearing. These are men! Several men accompanied by these foul abominations surge towards the bridge. Gworeth and Pandarus attack form the North. Yue fires his bow again and again. Hawber, Lex and I attack from the South. We are being over taken.

I call out to the forest for assistance and a badger breaks from the bushes and attacks my assailant. Sinking his claws into the warriors leg he distracts the warrior so that Hawber can crush him entirely.

When the next beast enters the clearing my heart stops. A rotting giant of a man. Is this a troll? Or maybe was this a troll would be more accurate. Obviously dead the shambling giant moves towards Pandarus. Gworeth and Yue start firing missiles at the beast. Hawber falls before me, as does Scratch! They killed Scratch! I fly at my enemies slashing with my sword. One after another falls before me. Gworeth and Yue have engaged the giant. I check Hawber and advance towards Scratch. The giant falls to Lex.

I look around our enemies are dead or fleeing but at what cause. I go to Scratch and bind his wounds. I use prayer and magic to revive him. I do the same for Pandarus and Hawber. Looking at the gashes, bites and bruises I wonder if we won or lost.

We retreat to the very edge of the bridge, to rest and prepare for the next assault. It has only been moments since the first beast appeared but I feel like it has been hours. My heartbeat is pounding in my chest, sweat coats my arms and chest, fatigue drags at my legs as I pull Scratch to the safety of the bridge. I know the night has just begun but I wish that I could just let the night take me, let sleep erase my memories and my pain.

Bones the Role Playing Game

I purchased Bones the Role Playing Game at RPGNow because I was curious and because it was on sale.

The PDF is 51 pages total with 49 pages of rules and information. The art is fair to good. The layout is fairly standard with the body text expanded by examples in the side bar. The "icons" used to customize dice are very simple but I think that lends to being hand drawn by the players onto the dice.

The book has the expected sections. Character creation and basic rules are up from, magic is also in this section. A simple bestiary and sample adventure are also included. Finally a sample campaign setting is also included.

The big divergence for Bones is the base game mechanic. You construct your character as a set of customized six sided dice. Task resolution consists of rolling these dice. If you roll enough successes, you succeed, if not you don't. I have to admit that the concept does appeal to me. It is a very tactical mechanic and I think that might be why I like it so much.

The character creation rules are described in clear terms and the game mechanic is well described. The examples make any difficult points easy to understand.

The bestiary is where the simplicity of the system starts to shine through. Monsters and NPC are simply described by a combination of standard dice types. So the GM can easily construct an enemy by selected a series of dice. Equipment is also represented by custom made dice.

I would not use the campaign setting, but that is because I don't use a lot of published campaign settings. I just feel more comfortable with my own than with published ones. I would have no concerns about stealing borrowing from this setting though...

Bones seems to be a very tactical game, but to me that is not a weakness. This makes the game ideal for a table top battle royale where is it everyman for himself and the last one alive wins. It also means that for a role playing game, the role is in the Players mind, not defined on the character sheet.

I don't know if Bones would ever become my system of choice but I have already started planning an adventure so the group can give it a try. Overall Vincent K. Raven has done a good job with this game, and at the sale price of $5 USD it was a bargain.

New Logos!!!

A HUGE thank you to Ernesto Di Timoteo for the logos.

Here are the new logos:
Banner
Church of the Game Banner

2005-03-10

Lydin's Story Part 4

continued from Lydin's Story Part 3

Day 74
We retreat again to the Fletcher's house. He takes us in but warns that we have a job to do and can not continue to come back to his house whenever we want. He encourages us to rest and return to the forest.
"Our common master has tasks for us all." He says, "You should complete your tasks as soon a possible."

We return to the room we have used in the past. I sink into a deep slumber, trying to forget the horrors of recent days. During my rest I start to question my dedication to the forest. Is it enough? After a long and restless night I awake and start my morning prayers. I start to beseech not just the forest but all of nature, reaching out for help in my battle against these abominations.

I receive no answer.

Day 75
With fear in my heart I prepare for another trip into the cursed forest. I hardly notice my companions. Scratch comes and gently paws me. I am amazed at his size, he seems 6 months old, not a dozen days. I feed and groom him, it makes me feel better that I am making a difference, even if it just my cat.

I am starting to get more and more leery of Pandarus he seems more and more blood thirsty everyday. I watch him as we move towards the forest. He walks next to Yue, as the walk the seem to be having a conversation but it is almost like Pandarus is having a conversation but it is not with Yue.

Hawber as usual is more concerned with his reflection that the reflection of this dying forest in the river we are crossing. Gworeth is joking with Tugwyn, and as we go into the forest Gworeth stops joking, and Tugwyn starts smiling. The little gnome scares me, he seems more at home within this perverted landscape than with us.

We start traveling into the forest, following the paths we have taken before. Striking deeper into the woods. I take Scratch and show him signs of passage. He smells the woods, he tracks that smell. He learns quickly. I have asked the forest for a powerful spell for Scratch. When these beasts attack today they will find his bite bigger than his bark.

Hawber yells that creatures are coming from the right. The group tightens up and prepares for the assault. Scratch starts for growl to the left. I feel the bile rising in my throat. "They come from the Left as well!" I yell.
"And the front!" Adds Pandaurus.
"and behind!" Giggles Tugwyn.

I lose my focus, I feel Scratch heading to the front to assist with the battle. I grasp Scratch and whisper a spell over him. "Go, my friend. Rend the monsters. Cleanse the land." As he lopes off to the battle the creatures break into the open. I move to the front, but I start to find it harder to breath. The forest starts to close in on me. The creatures are closing in, they are all around us. I have to gain space, I have to escape, these creatures must leave.

I feel a warmth inside myself. I feel like I am more alive than before, power fills me, the very earth seems to be feeding my strength. "Begone from my presence foul creatures, lest you face my wrath!" It seems to be me speaking but it sounds unlike me, the forest, no the land itself is speaking through me. The foul beasts attacking Hawber start to flee. I am exalted, the power to defeat these beasts is within me. This power is terrifying, is this the answer to my prayers, or is this the terrible path that Tugwyn has taken.

Gworeth and Hawber are attacking the beast that have not fled. But they are being overwhelmed. We can not get past to help. Yue grabs my arm and leads me into the woods. 'We can circle around, I will strike with my bow as you take these monsters from behind." Almost immediately we are separated. I hear him cursing, but I can not see him through the underbrush. I break through into the trees into the clearing. I am not where I anticipated. The creatures tear into my arm.

I slash the creature and it drops at my feet. I start to feel like we can defeat any of these creatures. The last of these beasts is defeated. Scratch returns to me and is looking smug. I ruffle his fur and look around for my sword. In the melee I dropped it to free up my hands for spells. I finally feel like we are making a difference.

Suddenly a mass of creatures steps onto the path. My heart sinks, the feeling of power I had only a moment ago is starting to retreat. I start to feel the despair rising again. These creatures are too numerous. We will be overwhelmed and destroyed. Scratch is fighting bravely, he is dragging these creatures down and killing them. Pandarus and Hawber are striking them down but are being slowly weakened. I feel the warmth filling me again, I call forth this power again, but it has no effect.

Once again I am filled with horror and fear. Scratch is hurt. I strike out to him and call forth the
power of the forest to heal him. Hawber is hurt as well, as is Pandarus. I heal them as well. Another wave of these foul beasts stalk down the path towards us. Yue finally reappears from the forest ready for battle. The tide of battle seems finally to be in our favor. The creatures are being overpowered.

This is when Tugwyn finally snaps and flees into the woods. I call after him, but his only answer is laughter. Fiery blasts we have seen strike our enemies are now striking us. Hawber is the first to feel there burn , then Yue. Now the undead start to overcome us again. Only the arrival of a mysterious warrior saves us. He helps slay the last of the creatures and heal our wounds. This warrior is named Lex, and he has agreed to accompany us back to town.

We limp back to town fearful of another attack. We arrive back in town and go directly to the Fletcher's house. He is not happy to see us. He tells us that we can rest and recuperate but this will be the last time we will be welcome in his house. I am a bit surprised that Lex will not join us in the Fletcher's home.

I again retreat to our room and collapse. It has only been a few hours but it feels like days since I awoke in this very room. Scratch senses my mood and curls up by the door, being my guard, allowing me to sleep.

2005-03-09

Back to the woods

The sun was well in the sky, when they left the Fletcher's house. Their mood was almost jovial. They have new weapons designed to fight the undead, the party of ex- slaves were feeling safe. He did not care or know that it was a false sense of security. They were off with a skip in their steps. Their memories of the two nights ago are dull and pushed back to the furthest reaches of their minds. Were the party over overconfident? Only time knew.

The band of ex-slaves traveled along high river banks towards the bridge that crossed the river. By the groove made into the rock this was an ancient river, which was quite powerful at one time. Now it was a slow moving river had hinted at it previous glory days. It would have been a beautiful scene if the "Band of ex-slaves", had taken the time to enjoy it. The sun was high in the sky, causing the river to reflect back the sun rays, giving the river a bluish haze. Making the river almost seemed alive.

Hawber was spending his time looking at himself, try to convinces himself it was o.k. to be bald. I am a rebel dwarf, I do not need hair I am quite the sexy dwarf. Still he wonder why he as still a virgin. Must be women are afraid of a dwarf who is so sexy. Lydin was traveling the grasslands with Screech and Scratches. Pandarus was having a discussion with Pandarus about what to do about those talking voices. Gworeth is daydreaming about his old master, what fun they had playing pranks on each other. Yue was dreaming about running in a dew soak meadow, naked.

Everybody was to busy daydreaming to see the look of uneasiness in Tugwyn's face. He was not in a happy place. He was in emotional turmoil. He as utterly confused and ashamed about his feelings towards the undead. The undead we calling him, he could not resisted anymore. He was not sure it wants it to. These were his friends, well all except Hawber, but still they shared a common bond. He could not turn his back on them, but the undead. That were he belonged. If I could just talk to someone, maybe Lydin, but how would he feel now since Lydin has found faith. I am alone among friends; no, we are going to my friends. I am losing no - I am finding myself, yes my friends I am coming; tell me went the time is right HEEEEEE.

The "Band of Ex-slaves" marched on, to the bridge, over the bridge, to the forest. , stopping just short of the forest edge. Everyone had a skirmish grin on their face, except Tugwyn, who had beads of sweat rolling down side of his face. Paradarus got a little suspense of everyone smiling, could they hear what he hear? What did they know? Why haven't they told me? Wait, I can make them tell me.

All daydreaming stopped at the sight of forest. A cone of silent was placed over the Group; it was Tugwyn's turn to smile. It was time, for Tugwyn to faces his destiny and take what was rightfully his.


The "Band o f Ex-slaves" begin there search for death, by marching to the forest during daylight. They had enough smarts or luck to keep searching during the day. Nobody knew or talk about what they were looking for. They just searched, hoping to find something, and death itself would come out to play.


Lydin was working with Scratch to track these undead creatures, but Scratch was all ready the trail. Scratch was taking them to a clearing where these unnatural breast would cross there path. Every inch of Scratches being hate it these creature.


Walking threw the small clearing in the forest, the forest comes becomes undead. Creatures of the night came pouring out of the bush. Lydin was quick on his feet fire a magical stone he had prepared earlier, which was always true to it target. Then, the fighters step up and took the lead; Yue, Hawber, and Paradarus , with the rest of the party falling in behind.


The undead creature varied in size and type. Some have meat on there bones and other just bones. One of the skeletons was huge. Twice or three time the normal size of a human. There was also a four legged skeleton beast, which might have been a wolf before.

Hawber and the Giant skeleton square in a dance for life and Scratch becomes total enraged at seeing the abomination of nature and ignore his companion and takes off towards this creature. Tugwyn from the rear fire magically lights at the Giant to help Hawber, but he is in aw. Yue and Paradarus each are fighting multiply enemies try to hold the line.

Paradarus and Yue are managing to take care of a couple of creature, but there are so many. Hawber got a couple of hit on the giant, before the giant managed to hit him - a couple of times form the giant and Hawber is knocked down. He is mortally wounds it. Lydin rushes to his aid and Gworeth seeing the situation step into Hawber places.

Scratch breaks out of the tree to fight the undead wolf, Lydin was thinking quickly, he bandages Hawber and then he gives Hawber one of his special potion they got from the Fletcher place.

Yue falls in battles, Lydin is a busy person. But Yue managed to take out a couple of creature and Paradarus is doing well, but he is wonder why the voice have not spoken?

Gworeth steps into battle,"punt" Gworeth falls in battle. He is nothing more then a speed bump to the giant skeleton, but it was enough of a bump to allow Hawber to back to his feet and Paradarus to step into battle with the Giant.

Hawber as takes on a couple of the undead creature to the left of the Giant. Lydin manages to get Yue back to his feet, but down goes Paradarus. Lydin was on his way. The giant Skeleton is killing them. The party has to take the giant out. Tugwyn is preparing a spell watching Yue his jail mate go down bought some humanity to him. These creatures are trying to kill my friends


Hawber seeing Paradarus fall and wants to redeem him, disengages the creatures he was facing to fight the giant. Yue step into Hawber places to fight the creatures he was facings. Paradarus is back on his feet. Those potion has keep the party alive to this point

Scratch is victories over the skeleton wolf, taken only minor damage. He is onto his next target. Now Scratches natural instinct has taken over and he wants to rid the world of unnatural, fowl tasting abomination.

Hawber and Tugwyn engages the giant, Hawber hand to hand and Tugwyn with magic, down fall the mighty creature. The remaining creature were easy work after that.

The party looks like dead warm over, but not dead or undead. It was a hard fought battle but the "Bands of Ex-slaves" were victories. They almost die, but Lydin loses this memory very quickly. To the rest of party it was sobering experience.

2005-02-15

Reading in Chronological Order

Because the posts appear whenever they are added I am going to maintain a post of the different stories in chronological order so you can read the stories in order.

Jason's Campaign
Dream State

A Ships Voyage
Lydin's Story (Part 1)

A Helping Hand
Lydins Story (Part 2)
Pandarus Voices of Battle

Meeting Place
Lydins Story (Part 3)

Mystanamyr's Cat
Mystanamyrs Cat
Cast of Characters
Act 1
Scene 1 To Take Up the Chase
Scene 2 Taking To the Hunt
Scene 3 The Chase Begins
Into the Market (Draft... coming soon)

2005-02-14

HARP

World background:
The main campaign area is the Mysa plain. This is known as the land of five rivers. Several rivers including five main tributaries (Kordick, Thysel, White, Anryhl, and Bhod) run south across this plain and join the mighty grey river. In the north of the plain is the Thistle Wood, an old growth forest the borders the Lyrod Mountains. To the west lies the old kingdoms. South of the Grey River is a wilderness that is not mapped or visited except by the heartiest of adventurers. The Grey river runs east to the Sun Source Sea.

This is a harsh place. Orcs raid deep into the plain, warring factions and city states are everywhere. Your skills are what are going to make you rise from the mundane and become an adventurer.

In game terms:
This is a world similar in size to the earth, the area of Mysa is about the size and climate of the American Midwest. The game offers several base races: Dwarves, Elves, Gnome, Gryx, Halfling, and Human. Humans are the dominant race comprising of between 73% of the population of the area. Dwarves and Elves are 8% each, Halflings comprise 5%, Gnomes a mere 3%, various cross and half breeds 2%, and the bestial Gryx* only 1%.

* Gryx: a large, hairy, somewhat bestial biped. Very scholarly culture. Think of Robert Jordan's Ogier.

HARP has several professions similar to Dungeon and Dragon's classes.
spell casters -
Cleric, Mage, Harper

warriors -
Fighter, Monk

semi-spell casters -
Ranger, Warrior Mage

other -
Rogue, Thief
a note on spell casting, I am only 50% through the rules and this is the area where I will be making some changes. If you want top play a spell caster I need you to be willing to allow for some changes. The first change is allowing spell casters to use armor WITHOUT penalty. There are others contact me if you want more information.

And As is the case for almost all my worlds:
COMBAT IS DANGEROUS - think before you attack, you can die.
Magic is abundant, for you and your enemies.
Magic is potent.
There are no snakes, several mammalian type creatures have taken there ecological place.
The rules are mutable. I will make changes to the rules and I will ask your opinion and assistance in this.

Dream State

I left home at the young age of 116 because the forests no longer held an interest for me but I found that making my way in the world of men and other races wasn't quite as easy as I thought.

My father would be ashamed but I have found that my natural abilities have given me an aptitude as a thief, something spotted by my mentor Jaxtor. For a time I have found a companion in this lonely city in the way of a gnome with a quick wit and even quicker hands. He is a good little fellow, given to laughter and we really only take from those who can afford it and deserve it.

Months have passed while Jaxtor and I have done our best to take what we can, use what we take and give away what we can't. I couldn't have imagined that my life could be this fun and rewarding at the same time as there are many children living as urchins on the streets, I'm glad I can help them even a little.

I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or if this is a nightmare. Foul beasts, the likes I have never known, broke into the small warehouse I've shared with Jaxtor and some of the children for the past couple of years. Why am I bound?? The children's screams are terrible as they are cut down like wheat and one of the creatures threw something towards me... small and round and wet! ... His laughter is cruel, where is Jaxtor?

A few of us have been dragged away to a ship and we set sail and time has flowed like water, mixing with blood and pain. I don't like this dream/nightmare ... why can't I wake up?

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.