Adventuring in Limbo

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[Tom]

I'm half tempted to leave you in limbo, just to keep reading this...

[Velax]

Nice, I'm enjoying reading this.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[Penchant]

Nice, I'm enjoying reading this.

+1 I too am liking the roleplay.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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."

[Tom]

Hm, we were hoping the cleanup script would sort you out. :-(

[Tom]

Can you come to IRC or something so we can finally figure this out? I don't understand why the cleanup script doesn't put you back into the game.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

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.