Messages

I will be retiring in about a week.  At that time my email account which I use to access Battlemaster will be shut down.  Is there a way to change the email account or will I need to start up anew?

Roland

Well, scavenging may be boring and frustrating but it can also be quite lucrative without much risk.  After 6 more encounters with militia and peasants, Damian found a small diamond in a heap of discarded scraps in a decaying jewelry shop.  Worth a couple of gold on the open market so not a bad days work.  If only there was some way to distract the peasants.  Maybe a fire would do the trick, but where to set one without risking burning down the whole town?

Having nothing better to do, Damian sat down and sorted through his inventory of items.  Then he got out his list made by the great Sage Wiki.  Comparing his inventory to Wiki's list, Damian found that he was still eight items short of having all the know items.  Of course there was one small problem.  Damain had an item that Wiki had not discovered as yet.  Perhaps he should send a note to Sage Wiki to tell him about the book on Monster Hunting.  But then everone would want one.  So perhaps it was not such a good idea.  Looking through the list of missing items, it quickly became obvious that four of the items Damian needed could be found in and around cities, so instead of moving to another region, Damian gritted his teeth and set out for more scavanging. After 6 encounters with peasants and militia in a bad mood and three more hours of finding nothing, Damian began to get discouraged.  Looking didn't cost anything and one did not run the risk of getting hurt, so one more try and then if nothing turned up, time to move on.

So the next moring Damain set out for more scavanging.  As noon approached, Damian sat down to eat his lunch.  Across from him two drunken peasants were having an arguement over the remains of a jug of spirits. Suddenly one pulled a knife and stabbed the other in the throat.  Realizing he was in trouble if caught he threw the knife in some bushes and ran.  Damian, being a good citizen, called the guard and pointed the way the drunken peasent had fled.  Having done his duty, he then wandered over to the bushes and retreived the bloody murder knife.  One less item missing from his list.  Wizards wanted some of the strangest things.

After a couple more drinks, Damian had finally imbibed enough courage to take out a dagger, one of many that he carried on his person, and carefully dislodge the seal.  The dialect was a bit different than what he was used to but he was able to make out some of the words.  It seemed that it was an invitation to either imigrate to some Eastern continent or get one of his many relatives who barely spoke to him to do so.  Something about needing good story teller.

His two half brothers in Atamara were well settled in and modestly successful so it was not likely that they would be interested.  The third half brother was a better prospect.  Still it was better to ask than not do anything.  So he hired a scribe and had him make copies of the document and then sent it off to his less than hospitable relatives.

Having done his duty as he saw it, after a suitable rest Damain returned to earning a living.  While monster hunting was always more lucrative, he had effectively reduced the local population so much that it was not an effective use of his time.  So undead slaying, if one could call it that, was the order for the day.  After three encounters and collecting the bounties, Damian had earned his daily quota of at least one gold, although the last encounter was touch and go and produced only some cuts and abrasions.

With the undead suitably suppressed, the only other thing to do was go scavanging.  This was not Damain's prefered activity as his collection was already quite extensive and he had not seen hide nor hair of a wizard in months.  Still there were a couple of items that he did not have yet so time to risk the peasents wrath.  Sure enough the first days searching only turned up 6 groups of irrate peasants.  Sometimes Damain wished peasant slaying was an option but that would just make him even less welcome.  The second day was better until the very end and then it turned really good.  Searching through a pile of religious discards he found a staff that had been used by the heritic Adrian who had been executed by SA zealots.  This was a real stroke of luck as it was one of the items that he did not have.  Only a portal stone or Book would have been more useful. 

Having had a good day, Damian retired to the inn for some well deserved rest.  He was starting to feel some of the aches and pains of adventuring these days.  Thoughts of buying an inn and leaving the adventuring life occurred but then he would have to put up with crowds, smoke filled rooms, and occasionally need to knock some heads together to keep the place from being broken up in fights.  Better to get paid for the effort with monsters and undead than  people who he could not kill and that were likely to carry grudges.

Damian had just settled in for a bit of the local finest ale, when the door to the inn opened and a garishly garbed individual stepped in .  You could tell he was a messenger because he wore the usual name tag with the standard notation - Please don't kill the messenger.  He strode over to Damian's table and dropped an expensive looking piece of sealed parchment on the table.  Before Damian could react he said, "No reply is possible." and promptly disappeared in a cloud of colorful smoke.

Now Damian had gotten used to unusual occurances while in Limbo but this one definitely put him on edge.  Grabbing the parchment, Damian chugged the remaining ale and left the inn.  The last thing he wanted was to be noticed and right now he definitely was.  He headed over to one of the less respectable inns and settled in at a quiet table in the corner where he could watch all the doors.  Pulling the parchment out, he examined it carefully.  The not so attractive barmaid slouched over and asked what he wanted.  "Just a pint for now.  Perhaps more when I have had a few," he replied.  Turning back to the parchment, Damian examined the seal.  Immediately his usually quiet brain went into overdrive.  It was a Royal seal.  Now he was in for it.

Upon further examination, it became clear that the seal was not from any local ruler.  In fact he did not ever recall seeing the seal anywhere in Dwilight. 

I did not see a place to comment so I will start one here.

Looked at the map.  It was most helpful.  A pointer somewhere to the map function might be useful.  Not sure how I will use sea travel yet but it is a welcome addition to the game in my opinion.  Will it be open to use for advenurers?  Mine is not in a place to check at the moment.

Time to get back to work.  First Damian hit the local market and bought two dozen cabbages to replace the ones that were rotting in his wheel barrow.  Then he changed into his ragged clothing .  When traveling in civilized areas it paid to not stand out and who stood out less than a poor farmer taking a load of cabbages to the market.

After a couple of days of limping along the roads, Damian heard some good news.  Along the road ahead a city had gone rogue.  Music to Damian's ears.  After a short conversation with the local toll taker, had to get something for the money, it was clear that the city was set on governing itself and no one was likely to try to change that for a while.  And the bounties were still being paid.

Arriving in the city, which like locations in Limbo, was best left unnamed, Damian took up residence in a common room and scouted out the area.  Plenty of monsters and some undead.  It looked promising.  First he dealt with a couple of groups of undead and collected the bounty.  It always paid to look like one was doing good while doing well.

Then off to the paying job.  After three groups of monster, Damian was ahead by just over 3 gold.  But today was a special day so no more of that.  Carefully removing the cabbages from his wheel barrow, Damian got out the 3 magic items that were hidden below and sat them against a wall. Not a bad colletion. The +6 Aegis was due to self distruct today and Damian wanted to watch.  Thinking back to the offers he had had for the item reminded him why it was as it was.  The offer to lock him up if he did not give it up was probably the most arrogant he remembered.  The fact that Damian could outrun the noble who tried that made him smile.  Then there was the offer of 50 gold.  Pocket change for Damaina, but then how was the noble to know that given the way he dressed.  Another reason to move on.  Finally the grand offer of a reccomendation for noble status.  Damaina already had three so not so valuable but at least an honest offer.  Right on schedule the Aegis crumbled to dust.  Examining the remaining two items showed that they would not last much longer.  Perhaps it was time to do a bit of scavenging, if just to have potential trading material.  Too bad that most nobles had no idea what an experienced adventurer really needed.

DArlor was really getting tired of a steady diet of rat on a stick.  Looking up he noticed the food vendor approaching from, well maybe it was the west.  Hard to tell when the sun was always hidden behind clouds in Limbo.  Strange, he seems to have forgotten to bring his food cart.  That did not bode well.

"Hey you, Damian.  I have a travel script for you," he shouted.

Now this sounded like really good news, uh maybe.  One never really knew in Limbo.

Taking the script from the vendor, Damian examined it carefully.  It looked like it would take him anywhere he wanted on Dwilight except Zuma.  Downer!  Damian was really hoping to settle back in Zuma since the collecting and monster hunting was good there and they seemed much more tolerant than most nobles.  Oh well, someplace close then.  It should not take too long to get back in rogue regions. 

Zappo, sizzle, a gate opened and Damian stepped through into the end of a dead end alley.  Sunshine even if it was stained by smoke felt very good to Damain.  Now to find out were he was.


Thanks very much for all your efforts Tom.  Looks like I am back in Dwilight.

Sorry but I am not very computer literate.  IRC?  I use email - donnawaltzes@hotmail.com - for communiction.

Damian slowly became aware that he was awake.  Darn it.  Happened again.  Those books must have a sleep spell on them, he thought as he pushed the books back into his pack.  No sign of the food vendor yet.  He was running late, at least his stomach thought it was late.

Time to check up on the nobles.  Cautiously sneeking up the ridge, Damian slipped in behind a bush that overlooked the nobles campsite.  Ah, that was why the food vendor was late.  He was doing a brisk business in the nobles camp.  That was a bit odd as he had never seen a nob eat rat on a stick.  They must be really hungry.

Damian quietly returned to his campsite and patiently waited for the food vendor to show up.  He didn't know how they knew where to go but like the message delivers, they always managed to find a paying customer.  Sure enough, in just a few minutes the vendor appeared.

" The usual today?" the vendor asked.  "Yup, 5 rats on a stick for 1 silver will hold me for today."
The vendor took the coin and handed over the rats.  "Those nobs must really be hungry.  Looked like you were doing a brisk business in their camp."  "You saw that?" the vendor asked?  "Sure, I see everything that goes on around me," Damian bragged.  "But I never saw nobs eating rat on a stick before."

"Oh, they don't.  I sell them squirrel on a stick."  Squirrel on a stick sounded pretty good to Damian.  "How much are they," he asked.  "3 for a gold.  Real tasty too," the vendor replied.  "A bit too pricey for me right now," Damain replied.  " Maybe next time."

While Damian sat gnawing on his first rat on a stick, the vendor took out a knife and proceeded to start cutting the heads, tails, and paws off of some of the rats on a stick.  "Why are you doing that," Damian asked.  "The nobs are going to be hungry again soon and I need some more squirrel on a stick."

Damian stealthfully moved away from the camping nobles and back to his previous location.   At least it looked like the last location, but with Limbo one never really knows.  Still no wizards around and an attempt to search for rumors of one were fruitless, as all the peasants that showed up at inconvient times had now all quite inconviently disappeared again. 

Time for some deep thinking.  Not something that Damian spent a lot of time doing but there were not a lot of other things to do so time to get on with it.  After a few minutes a small trickle of steam could be detected rising from Damian's scalp.  Deep thinking had that effect on him.  Then a flash of light apppeared above his head.  Too good an idea for a candle but the light bulb was not yet invented.

Digging into his pack, he carefully removed his cach of portal stones.  Carefully placing them on the ground in a circle, he then stepped inside the ring.  Nothing happened.  Oh, wait, there needs to be 8 and he only had 5.  Rats.  Perhaps one of the many books he had gathered would provide inspiration.  Digging through his pack again, Damian retreived two books on Monster slaying which he had not read because one needed the full set to get much out of them.  But unconventional circumstances called for desperate actions.  He set aside the Book of Daimon Slaying as it seemed a bit too dangerous a topic to try in Limbo.  Time for a little heavy reading.  Moving into a bushy hollow, Damian curled up in one of his many sleeping bags.  It took him a little time to decide which sleeping bag since had  one for each day of the week and he had lost track of what day it was. Everyone knew that the  the best way to get the most out of a good read was lieing down in a relaxed position.  Damian took out the first Monster slaying book.   After 5 or so minutes the sound of snoring could be heard throughout the hollow. 

Perhaps a few more days in Limbo would not be too bad.

After a couple of hours of waiting, Damian noticed the smell of smoke.  Now that is not unusual in normal circumstances, but was a first for Limbo.  Carefully rising, Damian stealthfully moved upwind to find the source of the smoke.  Peering out from behind a bush on a low ridge, he was delighted to see other people.  Before he could shout out to them, his brain kicked in to gear.  These were nobles!  And several of them all together.  Given his past history with nobles, Damain decided they looked pretty disheveled and were likely not in the best of mood.  That probably meant a beating at best, although getting arrested might be a way out of Limbo.  Still, not worth the risk right now.  Maybe if he got more desperate.  For now he would just keep an eye on them from afar and try to stay out of sight.

Where was a wizard when you needed one?  Same as always, somewhere else.

After pondering the possibilty of magic leaking in here, Damian decided to explore for lost items.  Sure enough, as soon as he started, a mob of irate peasants appeared and got in the way.  Well, another thing that does not change. 

Moving to a new location, Damian tried again and found nothing.  Not that unusual.  The third try yielded a piece of parchment with a note to report bugs.  Now that was odd.  After finding the same note several times, it occurred to Damian that this might be a magicians quest.  So he quietly sat in one place for a while and took note of all the insect life in the area.  After writing down at least 23 different types, he patiently sat waiting for a magician to appear to collect the list, wondering what kind of reward would be forthcoming for his efforts.  Much easier that collecting the third molar of an extinct Moa bird.

A day in Limbo passed quite slowly.  Damian had gone though his items three times to reassure himself that nothing was disappearing.  At first he was shocked that a food vendor had wandered in allowing him to spend his usual 1 silver for food.  But some things never change, death, taxes, and the need to eat.  The roast rat on a stick was a bit gamey but since there did not appear to be any other source of food, it would suffice. 

Damian counted his coins again.  Good thing he had held out for the fine to be reduced.  At this rate he could last for several months.  To releive the boredom, he tried marking his path as he attempted to find a way out of Limbo.  The usual trail of bread crumbs failed in the usual way.  Seems there are rats everywhere.  Marks made on the few trees healed with amazing speed so that did not work.  Stones laid out on the ground pointing the way had a nasty way of rearranging themselves.  Damian began to suspect that he had found where all the missing magic was going.

It had been a rough week for Damian.  First he learned that his homeland was no more.  Not that big of a loss as he had not been back since he was threaten and had all his possessions and gold taken by the local banker.   As he was relaxing under a shady oak tree from a hard but successful day of monster hunting, he also heard from an another passing adventurer  that the region that Damian was working so hard to wrest from the local monsters was now part of a theocracy.  Time to saddle up an move to less civilized territory.

Just as Damian started to get up to leave, he felt a sharp pain in his head and then nothing.

Awaking some time later, he found himself confined to a small windowless room with only straw for bedding and a smelly chamber pot for company.  After a day of stale bread and sulfur laden water, a voice informed him that bail had been set to 356 gold, every coin that he had.  At least they didn't also demand the 3 magic items he had.

Waiting a couple of days so he would have a stake when he was released, saw the bail dropped significantly.  Rather that face execution, Damian counted out the required coins and was shown to a door which was surrounded with arcane symbols and the words: Abandon hope all ye who enter.

Being given no other choice, Damian openned the door and stepped through to freedom.  Looking back he was astonished to see the door had disappeared.  Feeling a bit disconserted, Damian began to travel towards the east to get to, hmm now where was he going?  Looking around it did not even appear that he had moved.  In fact any travel in any direction resulted in him appearing back at his starting point. 

To be continued:  and yes the bug has been reported.  I just wanted to make an advernure out of it.