-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.. ..
.||. ||.. ...
|| || || ||.||
`|.. || || `|.. ..|'''.| '|| || '||
'|' ' .... . .... ..||.. ... ..., || ....
|| '' .|| || || || || .| ' || .|...||
'|. | .|' || || || || || || || ||
''|...'| '|..'|' ||. ||. '|..' .||. '|..| ||. '|...'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 1 Coin
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to a new issue of the Canticle.
Thaddeus is still missing, but I have received a clue about the messenger
he met before disappearing, and will be going to follow up on it. In the
meanwhile, the remaining Canticle staff will arrange for the paper to go
to print.
In this issue, Scarecrazy and Bazhi are interviewed, and Dubanka tells a
story about his earlier years. We also present entrepreneurship in the
renovated Nepeth, report on activity in the far south and present poetry.
Many thanks to Tarott, Lorien, Theryn, Scarecrazy, Dubanka, Bazhi,
Scarecrazy, Tlachtgae, Sylwen, Alisyia, Gary, Otter, Levek and Barbarian
for their input in the paper, and special thanks to Quita for help with
sneaking a reporter into the Retreat when they stood beating the gates in
vain.
Enjoy the new issue!
Fir
Acting Editor
The Canticle
In the interests of getting the truth out, we have appended in pre-print a
non-censored interview exposing Fir's heavy-handed methods! Free the press!
Erin and Lorien
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
<*> CANTICLE INDEX <*>
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
An Orderly Retreat.................2 Meet Prince Bazhi.................10
Power Struggles....................2 Poetry Corner'd...................11
Lullingstone Bridge Guarded........3 Innovative Training: Coin Tag.....13
See Me In A Bottle.................3 Meet Fey Scarecrazy...............14
Local News: Nepeth Entrepreneurs...4 Expose: Interview With Fir........16
The Ancient But Mobile Anguish.....6 Lawstorming.......................18
Dubanka: The Early Years...........8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Orderly Retreat
We paid a visit to the Knights' Retreat, working undercover since we failed
to recruit any high-ranking officers for the task. It was a thrilling
visit, not any less so from the tendency of the locals to greet people with
a nice slap on the shoulder, which we without fail first interpreted as our
cover having been blown and expected a "You're coming with me!" to follow.
Marquis Jush is a busy man, but he agreed to tell us a bit about the place
anyway. King Drin opened the place for the relaxation of noble officers,
and currently it houses a handful of Knights. After we were politely
driven outside again, we had a talk with Allain, the Senior Knight of the
Rose. Despite his humble background, he has reached his relatively high
position by hard work and devotion. His enthusiasm was catching, even made
us consider joining the Knights.
The only person apparently not getting along well with him was Earl
Yarbreaux. We did not quite find out what caused the friction between
the two Knights, as the Earl was considerably more interested in offering
us advice on war tactics than discussing the matter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Power Struggles In The Geographic Society
It would seem that Ewani's approach to "recruiting by growling" is
surprisingly effective, as the Black Bear guild has become prominent in
both the number of players and the position in the Geographic Society.
We asked Levek, a long-time Bear, for his view on the matter. He agreed to
that the Bear population has gone up, but suspected it had many reasons.
While knapsacks lured some new opportunistic members, also other people
have found solace in the shamanistic guild.
From Scythe, Barbarian estimated that his guild's decline in Geo has been
caused by a combination of the Bear activity and cooperation, and some
Scythe members migrating elsewhere. The ones remaining have grown less
interested in keeping up the the guild's reputation in the Society. Some
have even defected to the competitor side to upkeep their knapsack habit.
Barbarian estimated the most dominant guild of the Society overall to be
the "black horse", Eldar, as a group of active tree-huggers getting serious
about claiming would soon convince everyone that resisting would be futile.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lullingstone Bridge Guarded By Scythe
The Scythe has set up a guard post to stop any elvish and Knight
traffic over the Lullingstone river southwest of Tantallon. This has
not caused much distress for the residents, as the troops left in
charge of the camp seem to be rather sorry excuses for Scythe warriors.
Talk has it that the feared Glock the Massacrator, a battle veteran with
the tactical skills to give the Knights of Drin and the Elven Defence
Force a fierce headache for years now, cannot have been serious to populate
the camp with such incompetent guards.
By the analysis of the honourable Earl Yarbreaux, the entire operation
simply has to be a fool's errand, while the main force of Scythe is
directed at another target altogether. Our undercover reporters have
found tentative evidence that the errand probably does relieve the camp
of some workforce which is best kept as far away from real business as
possible. We will investigate the matter further.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See Me In A Bottle
As we travelled in the south, we met with Kezziah, the glass blower. She
was busy finishing an order for the Golden Ducat in Tantallon, but agreed
to tell us a bit about her work nevertheless. Kezziah provides bottles for
the bars in most main villages.
She describes her profession as hard work, especially since she has been
running the shop alone after the death of her father, also a master glass
blower. The job involves some travelling, and she especially likes the
delivery trips that take her to visit her cousin in the north. Otherwise,
she is not interested in moving away from Drakhiya despite her different
cultural heritage, as the finest sand and therefore her job remains in the
far south.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local news: Nepeth Entrepreneurs
After the Nepeth renovation, the town has been bustling with commerce.
We introduce some of the shopkeepers in support of King Drin's program
to boost Nepeth commerce.
Morag runs the Nepeth Sweet Shop on Merchants Row. Having lived most
of her life in Nepeth, she states she knows almost everyone in the
town. She eagerly advertises her daughter's flower shop in the
marketplace, and admits to being very impressed by the Castle of
Nepeth, which can easily be seen almost anywhere from Nepeth. She is
very fond of her work: "I love working in the sweetshop. It's my life."
In the Nepeth lottery hall, near the west end of Merchants Row, we
find a man named Patches selling tickets. He advertises the current
pot to be as much as 31820 coins! While he is not very interested in
discussing personal matters in general, he is proud to have been
appointed in his current job by Prince Gilbert himself. The Prince has
instituted the lottery to raise funds for improvements.
Manni, brother of Shanni, has recently moved into Nepeth to put up his
own potion shop on Knights Road. This earnest man aims to take potion
selling away from its old "cranky crone" image and to build a whole
new concept around the business. Shanni was unwilling to comment on
this new development, mumbling about aching limbs as she passed. The
new potions do seem rather potent, and we wish the best of luck to
Manni in his business.
* .
' + ___ @ . Feeling lucky?
.-" __"-. +
* /:.'`__`'.\ ' Buy a lottery ticket! If you win, you
. |:: .'_ `. :| * gain easy money, and if you don't, you
@ |:: '._' : :| . are supporting important projects such
+ \:'.__.' :/ ' as the upkeep of important roads and the
/`-...-'\ ' + planned extension to the Nepeth Castle!
' jgs / \ . @ The lottery hall can be found in Nepeth,
* `-.,___,.-' on Merchants Row.
Local News continued on page 5 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local News, continued from page 4 ...
Garomia, the owner of the flower shop on Royal Street, is a charming
half-elf girl who immediately stunned our reportership by her
extensive knowledge on the symbolic value of different flowers. Vygie,
the delivery girl, is somewhat more shy, but her deliveries are fast
as lightning. When asked about whether there are any difficulties in
running the business, Garomia tensed visibly, but did not wish to
elaborate on what she called the mundane challenges of flower-selling.
Trent runs a pet shop on the eastern part of Royal Street. This
retired falconer is obviously very fond of the animals in his care.
We even got detailed instructions on how to care for a pet rock, which
is the perfect companion for a busy reporter.
The town butcher, located on the other side of the street from Trent's,
is a man of few words. He sells sausages, and ensures us that "They're
good stuff," and definitely will not make people sick. Having been
stuffed with a fair dose of sweets earlier in the day, we were forced
to decline.
The Ancient Inn offers rooms at very reasonable prices, and advertises
itself fit even for the most famous of sages. The bar serves a decent
drink, and Pipit the singing bard is more than willing to perform
samples of his fine repertoire of both drinking songs and love songs
for a price. Just the thing to take your date to! We realise we forgot
to ask Pipit what made him decide to become a bard, since we were too
busy getting thoroughly charmed. Better luck next time...
_.-.-._ Garomia's Horticultural Haven _.-.-._
(_\_|_/_) (_\_|_/_)
(__>(@)<__) We have a wide assortment of fragrant, (__>(@)<__)
(_/^|^\_) beautiful flowers - a nice present for (_/^|^\_)
/\_ ,#'-'-' that special someone. Each flower comes '-'-'#, _/\
\_ \ # with a card to convey your important `# / _/
\_\|#, _/| message. We will also advise you on |\_ ,#|/_/
'#|/ / choosing the right flower for it and \ \|#'
|\ '#-/ offer reasonably-priced delivery. `-#' /|
_\ | #_/\ You can find us by the Ancient Inn, /\_# | /_
\__,#|._/ on Royal Street of Nepeth. \_.|#,__/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ancient But Mobile Anguish
To respond to changing tides, Ancient Anguish needed a move from Inreach,
our home of eight and half years.
Jerusulum researched a number of hosting options, and found Locallink.
Bytre coordinated the purchase of new hardware and shipping it to our new
location, organising the other administrative details with Jerusulum.
Paldin worked on the new machine, changing our operating system with Bytre,
debugging the driver, restoring backups and a ton of other work. After the
move, he brought the FTP server and the testmud back online.
When the new machine reached Locallink and we made sure it was working, we
took one final backup from the Inreach mud and transferred it to the new
site over a 1.5-2 hour reboot. When the mud came back up, we were in
Anarchy Mode. During Anarchy Mode, no rules applied (although the wizards
had a couple). Player killing, multiplaying, triggers, stacks, etc were all
legal.
Anarchy Mode was a great deal of fun for everyone who participated. It had
some areas that could have been improved, but overall it was fantastic.
I personally had a great deal of fun running free purges (everyone needed
them after Jerusulum spammed Tantallon with potions!). The 'tell theryn
EXP!' service was interesting, too. I've never been so spammed! Random
Senate members kept running the healer for everyone, and that was usually
followed by a number of deaths.
Speaking of deaths, I lost track of the number of player kills, but Machine
and Hydro were a very close first and second place while I was online.
The wizards weren't allowed in at first, to give the mortals time to mess
around by themselves. When they came in, things became very interesting.
Uniques started popping up everywhere, potions materialised, every man and
his dog had a dozen hunga-mungas, and a few players had too many class
objects. Bytre applied itching powder and made all the residents of
Tantallon go mad. To match the madness in the main village, there were a
million Shannis and frogs flooding the mud.
Mobile Anguish continued on page 7 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 7
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mobile Anguish, continued from page 6 ...
The first player kill took a while. That might be because every NPC in the
game was suddenly a hard-hitting, aggressive, following maniac bent on the
destruction of every player. After a few hours, teams of Drudges were
spotted in Tantallon, and there were reports of Jush and Ceranyx reading
the boards in the Adventurer's Guild. Much merriment ensued when Gaius
chased a player into the inn, struck a fatal blow, and proceeded to loot
the corpse.
The highest killed NPCs (in no particular order) seemed to be: Drudge,
Gaius, Namril, Ewani, Growle, Boki, Decker, Papergirl and Drin.
Dubanka and Malire helped with various tasks and with the anarchy fun,
although Malire was happily ignoring the expanding law logs. Brog loved
anarchy. He was bountying anyone from Guest to a Senator, for any reason
that popped into his head.
Meanwhile, on the new machine, Paldin was busily restoring the backup. A
few wizards eventually migrated over to the new machine and started testing
the mud, to make sure everything worked before the anguish.org address
starting sending mortals there. Thanks to Bytre for coordinating this and
to Llanfear, Fir, Lungarrii, Kasmune, Mendebar and other wizards and
mortals for testing! Thanks also to Arpeggio for picking up the old machine
and finalising the administrative stuff at the old site.
Eventually, the anguish.org address starting sending players over to the
new machine, and Anarchy began to die down. Impressively, only one person
thought we were still on anarchy, but no harm was done and the attacked
player was very understanding about it.
I'd like to personally thank every wizard and mortal involved in any part
of the move or Anarchy. I had a BLAST, and it was great seeing people
having fun and old players logging in.
For further details on the machine and the move, see 'help machine' and
'help aahistory'.
***************************************************************************
* Do you have a mesmerising story from the Anarchy Days to share?
* Let us know! Especially stories containing more jolly than bloodshed
* are welcome. ;)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dubanka, the Early Years: When Vampirates Attack
The Eldar Guild Master, Dubanka, is known for his fascinating war stories
told to the youth of the guild in the warmth of the fireplace, as Namril
dozes off in the background. He has agreed to share a story with The
Canticle readership.
Lorien: Okay! Welcome to Dubs Story Time.
Lorien pulls up a chair and gets comfy.
Dubanka: Starring me! As Dubs.
Lorien: And Lachy as. Lachy.
Tlachtgae: Ta daaa!
Lorien: War stories. Tell us, Dubs. Some good stories.
Dubanka: Did I ever tell you about the time I was in Drin's navy? This
was way back, in the 20's. We had 3 ships, all named Earl
after Drin's famous cousin, Earl Trueheart.
He could smoke 4 pipes at once, two in his mouth.
I was stationed on board the Earl VII, which was the flagship
in those days. The uniform was a spangenhelm, full platemail,
fine hide shield, and steel-toed boots. There were about 3
drownings a month, of course. I had an onion in my belt, which
was part of the uniform in those days. We all wore onions
because of pirates.
Dubanka: Do you know why pirates are so pathetic these days?
Lorien: No, I don't! Why?
Dubanka: I don't know, they just arrrrrrrr!
Dubanka: Anyway, we wore onions because most of the pirates back then
were actually vampirates. And Drin wouldn't shell out for
garlic. So we'd chase down this vampirate crew for 3 days, and
before the onions, most of our crew would be either vampires,
drowned, or drowned vampires after the fight.
But with the onions, the vampirates would stop and say 'Arr,
matey, what be that smell? Be that... GARLIC?'
And then we'd say 'No, it's an onion!' and stab them in the
neck. For despite all the rumours, a good neck stabbing is very
effective against vampires. Even still, there was a good chance
that after we defeated the vampirate crew that some of our crew
would have been turned into vampirates themselves.
Dubanka, The Early Years continued on page 9 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dubanka, The Early Years, continued from page 8 ...
Tlachtgae: Did anyone interview them?
Dubanka: Well, we had to interview every crewmember to determine whether
they were a vampirate or not. Which was pretty easy because
pirates, especially vampirates, are occupationally unable to
conjugate the verb 'to be'. Plus, for some reason, they always
suddenly had black capes.
Well, it's tough to see one of your shipmates become a
vampirate because they looks the same, modulo the cape and
patch. And the bat that sits on their shoulder and repeats
random phrases in a frequency so high nobody can hear it.
Except for other bats, of course, so we always kept a spare
bat as a translator.
The code was: 1 tap for 'rrawk', 2 taps for 'man it's bright
out here', and 3 taps for 'Polly want a swarm of insects'. But
every once in a while the bat would tap 5 times.
Lorien: Is that bad?
Dubanka: For the longest time we didn't know! So one day when in port we
checked the manual. And it turned out that 5 taps meant 'run
for it, that's a vampirate in bat form'. Which I suppose we
should have figured out by then, but sailors are not the kings
of inductive reasoning. After that, we also had the handy
discovery that 6 taps was 'Arr, matey, what be that smell? Be
that... GARLIC?' So the problem pretty much solved itself.
Lorien claps happily.
Lorien: But. Did you die?
Dubanka: No, I'm immortal, remember?
Lorien: Oh good! That would suck if you died.
Dubanka: Though it's a terrible feeling to walk all the way home
underwater in full platemail.
Tlachtgae: I don't think I'm going to let you suck my blood anymore.
I mean. It was all well and good when you were just a
creep. But a vampirate? I can't deal with that.
Dubanka: I'm not a pirate! be am is are was were been! That was our
motto, actually: beamisarewaswerebeen. Before the vampirates the
motto was: 'A Navy of One'. But that's only because the navy was
just Earl floating around in a raft.
In the next issue, Dubanka has promised to tell us a story about the 23rd
Mooseriders' Brigade.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet Prince Bazhi, The Chancellor
This is Tarott special correspondent for the Canticle, reporting stories
YOU want to hear. I have received words a bit of a celebrity would be in
our town and of course I tracked him down for our readers. That is right,
the one and only Prince Bazhi the chancellor.
After a few days of stalkin.. er, camping out, I located the hero gearing
up with some other legends for a long and worthy adventure. He was
sharpening his glittering longsword. For all his reputation the man is a
quiet sort. You could not miss him standing out in the crowd. Not just for
his unusual light appearance, but for the gleam of his massive amount of
platemail and gems.
In the middle of the busy crossroads, while packing up, he agreed to be
interviewed. I asked him what brings him to these lands? The mighty one
responds, "My brother used to play a lot. I was 9-10 years old at the time
and wanted to do stuff with him but he'd always be on. Eventually he just
finally taught me the game." "Your brother? The legendary hero Dazhi?" I
ask. Bazhi nods in agreement.
"When you got here what was travelling like? What kept you exploring the
realms of this continent and encouraged you to set such high goals?" I
asked as he strapped his Belt of the Giant over his waist and shoulder. He
replied slowly, almost cautiously, "My brother for teaching me and keeping
me motivated, and the different ways he played from a lot of other people
kind of inspired me to do some of the crazy things I've attempted."
"When you first came here then did you know you would become what you would
and who are your heroes?" I further question the man. He shrugs modestly
as if he does not care so much about all the hype that surrounds him. He
replies as he is counting his smokes and medicine packets, "The combination
of the brother, the top xp players when I started, and Defarge who later
became #1 xp before me and starting the cleric skilling all motivated me to
do what I do."
Meet Bazhi continued on page 11 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 11
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet Bazhi, continued from page 10 ...
I move on to the last few questions. "What keeps you motivated and what are
your favourite lands in this realm?" He ties his boots, "Basically that
it's all about having goals to motivate you to get what you want out of the
game to keep it interesting. Whether it be a certain xp or skills or
abilities or something HoH or coding or anything. Bazhi's favourite area
has to be Fub's, people even call it Bazhi's Fortress." HoH, or Hall of
Heroes, is an extraordinary place listing countless achievements in these
lands, and many adventurers have lost lives, riches, spouses and homes
seeking a place in those halls.
He shrugs his shoulders one last time, giving me grin, and waves his
longsword at me as a goodbye. His partners give a sigh of relief, as they
are eager to once again make the journey to see what treasures they will
find.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * * * * * * Poetry Corner'd * * * * * * * * * * *
'Night'
Endless sky above
Infinity stretches on
Darkness blankets all Pillows soft and white
Float serenely through the air
Giant clouds above
--Sylwen
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
My poems are dark and about dismal pain
I write about black souls and miasmic rain
But now I am happy and rightfully so
I'm full of delight and a bright shiny glow
Because I can't gloom with a frown or a pout
I have simply nothing now to write about
--Alisyia
Poetry Corner'd continued on page 12 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 12
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poetry Corner'd, continued from page 11 ...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
While I was wandering one day,
A bobcat came to play.
His teeth really hurt,
and my blood they did spurt.
Because bobcats are really quite gay.
Gary
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
An Opossum's Day
Morning:
Hello, mistress Sun! Welcome back!
Now to arrange fur until it is just perfect.
Mesmerise everyone with large, beady eyes.
Day:
Brutally scratching the hide of small mouse.
Scamper around in the woods, make collector's finds.
Oh, what's that? A hill giant? Run, run, RUN!
Evening:
Prowling the wood, looking for prey.
Ow ow ow! Not quite tough enough for orcs yet.
Curl up into a ball, nighty-night!
_ . , . .
* / \_ * / \_ _ * * /\'__ *
/ \ / \, (( . _/ / \ *'.
. /\/\ /\/ :' __ \_ ` _^/ ^/ `--.
/ \/ \ _/ \-'\ * /.' ^_ \_ .'\ *
/\ .- `. \/ \ /==~=-=~=-=-;. _/ \ -. `_/ \
/ `-.__ ^ / .-'.--\ =-=~_=-=~=^/ _ `--./ .-' `-
/jgs `. / / `.~-^=-=~=^=.-' '-._ `._
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 13
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Innovative Training: Coin Tag
The Knights of Drin have discovered new innovative and nonviolent training
methods for squires and younger officers. As the enemy tactics have grown
wiser, also the Knights have been forced to take on more sophisticated
approaches. While a direct charge is still considered the most honourful
method for disposing of the enemy, stealth and perseverance are also needed
to succeed in a changing world.
Princess Suze, a former Elder Knight of the Rose, is acting as an elusive
target, while the trainees' task is to tag her: give her a single coin, and
leave before she can give it back. Wok, the Apprentice Squire, assures us
this is not an easy task. "I once even waited in the dark, dangerous cavern
with the Red Dragon to give Suze a coin." The quest of coin tag has also
encouraged Knights to learn skills suited for the task.
Team spirits are rising in the Knights also as a result of the retreat King
Drin has recently opened in southern Anguish. The most worthy of the
Knights have also now have new powers at their disposal.
---===> Do you consider yourself brave & chivalrous? <===---
______ _______
| \ / | If the answer is yes, you will be pleased to hear that |...|+++|
|\ \/ /| King Drin is recruiting new Knights for his army at this | * |+++|
| \ / | very moment! All humans, elves and half-elves will be | I |+++|
| / \ | accepted. Being a Knight means upholding law and order, | I |+++|
|/ /\ \| and being part of a splendid group of people. King Drin |-------|
\/ \/ has even proclaimed to be willing to handle out noble \^ ^ ^/
\ / titles to those Knights who, through deed and manner, \^ ^/
\/ deserve such a reward. \_/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 14
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet Fey Scarecrazy, the Knight Ranger
This is Tarott, reporter for the Canticle. Well, folks, after multiple
requests I've managed to secure a interview from the infamous
Scarecrazy as she was boarding the Atlantis to visit her dear friends
in the South-Eastern Isle. Upon setting sail I sat down beside her and
asked her questions our readers have been dying to get answered.
Scarecrazy was extremely embarassed, stammering a few words of what
Hazelwood and myself were sure must have been "Thanks for bestowing
such an honour."
Some of the first questions were about what brought her to these lands
of Anguish, and how long she has been here. Scarecrazy's trembling
frame looks over the rails of the ship, as though she might just jump
in terror before answering with a sigh, "Ah... I blame it all on
one of my lecturers. He went in class: 'There's this thing called the
Internet. Go find out what you can do on it.' My RL friend Kyle (aka
Danann) went alphabetically down the MUDlist and... voila. Still here
after uh... 12 years."
Next I asked what would make her want to become a wizard then an arch
and back again along with who are her heroes. She responds in a soft,
slow manner which seems to make her more endearing still with just a
touch of excitement now. "Hmm. I can blame THAT one on Katarina. She
went and wizzed, and suddenly Jerusulum and Mert wanted to wiz too.
After Katarina first showed me how easy it was to code a room, I
couldn't wait to wiz and build some areas myself! Becoming an arch
was just... they needed someone to do the work, and I had the time to
do it. Buxley actually pulled quite a dirty one on me there - asked me
to join World, and the next thing I knew..."
Meet Scarecrazy continued on page 15 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 15
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet Scarecrazy, continued from page 14 ...
"As far as my heroes," she says, smiling brightly. "There's different
categories of heroes - I've always worshipped his Dawginess, and both
his and Greyson's sense of humour has been one of the most endearing
things about AA for me. On a more practical level, my heroes number
Kosh, Elrond, Toshina, Mop and Paldin (and I think I'm forgetting one,
which is going to make me VERY sad when I remember him/her)... for the
reason that they were always willing to help me with coding problems,
always willing to teach me. When I first wizzed there were a bunch of
really sarcastic wizards around, and it if it weren't for these guys
helping me, I guess I'd be a level 13 ranger by now (never could get
out of the dying habit).
Scarecrazy seems to grow more comfortable by the minute, her sweet
demeanor becoming as warm as her tanned skin. Does she have any
favourite activities on the Mainland, I prodded, and asked about her
favourite areas as well. "As for favourite pastimes - playing a mortal,
period :) Fishing... Pelting... Making medicine... (i.e. Rangering).
Also rogue-ing, mage-ing, clericing, paladining and uh... My prowess (or
lack thereof) with the other classes shall remain a state secret." "As
for my favourite areas, there's quite a few, but for wildly different
reasons. Greyson's ruins, Elad's Cyrano, Dawg's Drakhiya and Puck's
Hopkins to name but a few."
What advice would Scarecrazy give to mortals and friends all over
Anguish, I inquire. Scarecrazy replies brightly, "I'd ask them to be
friendly to newbies and help out where they could. I once discovered,
about 2 years after it happened, that one thoughtless act of kindness
from my side convinced a player to stay here on AA. Interestingly
enough, we became friends as totally different characters, and then
one day he went "YOU are So-and-so?!?" She adds, "You never know when
the guy you help today is going to turn into one of your best friends."
As we enter the dock, she edges towards the exit gate, eager, I'm
sure, to see her friends. Carefully I ask one last question: "Are the
rumours true?" Her disheveled hair suddenly seems to hide her green
eyes as she looks down murmuring. "Nono, that was uh... MrKrinkle!
Yeah. MrKrinkle." Waving good-bye she bolts for the door. This has
been Tarott for the Canticle, You heard it here first!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 16
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expose: Interview with Fir
Fir has returned after a break of several years to pick up the job of
acting editor again. Lorien has "interviewed" Fir on her return, and
despite some editorial disagreements got the result in the press as Fir
left to seek out Thaddeus.
Lorien: Let me be the first, perhaps not the first, but one anyway! To
say that I think you've done a wonderful job with it.
Fir purrs contentedly.
Fir: It's a good thing to know I'm paying you for the interview.
Lorien: Now. I've heard some unsettling rumours as of late. I've heard
there was a bit of a rivalry with the Dalairi press.
Fir: Those no-good fish-wrap writers!
Lorien: And that you in fact had paid some people off to hush it up. Is
this true?
Fir: Of course not! I never *paid* Erin to do anything like sabotage
Clark's scandal paper.
Lorien: And you've never tried to use your heavy handed ways to quash the
freedom of the paper??
Fir: Oh, so they're *my* heavy-handed ways now? I deny everything!
Lorien: Of course you do! I've heard about sabotage! Trying to burn the
presses of the DFP! Deny that! We have several sources that want
to remain nameless who say its true!
Fir: Hey, who are you working for anyway? I'll pay you twice as much
Clark's paying you!
Lorien: I'm just reporting the unbiased facts!
Fir: Unbiased? You have not even mentioned my beautiful gardening
skills and donations to the Tantallon Tourism Council like we
agreed!
Lorien: (As you can see, folks, she's trying to bribe me. So sadly really.)
Lorien: I was getting to that!
Fir: Oh, ok. I still deny everything.
Lorien: Of course you do. Now. You disappeared for a while. And I'd heard
you were off taking over other papers across the realm. Is this
true? Using your power to squash the little papers out of existence
is what I've heard.
Fir: Um, I was actually just hiding from Thaddeus, who was slightly
miffed at the time. But only slightly.
Lorien: And why would he be miffed?
Fir: Disagreements over... printing matters, yeah.
Interview with Fir continued on page 17 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 17
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interview with Fir, continued from page 16 ...
Lorien: Uh huh. You sure you weren't trying to direct his stories too?
Fir: I never directed anyone's stories! I only edited them to be more
fit for the paper and our sponsors' wishes!
Lorien: What ARE your goals Fir? Are you planning to wrestle the power from
everyone and be Queen Fir?
Fir: Mmmm, Queen Fir. I like the sound of that.
Fir snaps out of it.
Fir: I mean, I am just trying to make a paper profitable here, lest our
sponsors withdraw their money.
Lorien: Uhuh.
Fir: These are financially unstable times.
Lorien: I'm sure.
Fir: We must think of our investors.
Lorien: Of course we should. Yes. I see now.
Lorien: (Power hungry Fir, wants to take over! Oh yeah.)
Lorien: So uh. How're those gardening skills coming?
Fir: Oh, I learned so many things while I was travelling in the more
northern parts of Anguish. I have learned the mystical ways of how
to get carrots to stay alive until they are ripe! I also tried
gardening some other herbal remedies, but making salad out of them
gave me such a headache and strange dreams.
Lorien: Unfortunately they can do that. I see you've made Creator recently.
Who did you pay off for that? Er. Did you have to work very hard?
Fir: It took hard work something like four years ago, then lots of
gossipping and a bit of work in the betweens.
Lorien: And much cash?
Fir: Much sweet-talking.
Fir grins mischievously.
Lorien: So now that you are a Creator, what's next for you?
Fir: I've been getting to see the mud like I never saw it before. I've
gaped at the cuteness of shapeshifters, tried my first mage
spells... And killing! I have been killing things like mad after a
five-year break.
Fir cracks her knuckles.
Lorien: What would you LIKE to see as an addition to the mud?
Fir: I like things that connect existing things in new fancy ways. But
it's a huge topic, lots of things fall in that category.
Interview with Fir continued on page 18 ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 21.0 20 Icemonth, 585 Page 18
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interview with Fir, continued from page 17 ...
Lorien: Anything you are actively working on? That you care to share?
Fir thinks carefully.
Fir: The Canticle is my biggest project, but I was also recently
appointed guild master of the Monks of Antana. I'm still trying to
get the thought to fit in my head. I'll aim to be at least half
the GM Dubanka is in the Eldar. I've at least managed to achieve
becoming a Monk GM while simultaneously remaining an Eldar - so
far so good.
Fir: Otherwise, I've got my Creator project waiting to be installed
as a part of a larger bundle once the rest is ready, and I'm
working on some more class hall trashcans and an estate that has
ties to the human noble houses history. Before my break I was
working on an auctioneer update, and shapeshifter games - but my
board gaming area plan did not pass the World check so the project
was transferred to another drawing board. I also get urges to fix
all kinds of funkinesses I manage to run into, but I need to
prioritise them down a bit since I want to play these days too. :)
Lorien: Okay, thanks so much for your time Fir.
Fir: You do realise we will edit all of those unrelated questions out!
Lorien: We'll see about that!
Lorien: (The truth is out there. Just not published most of the time.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lawstorming
In Moonset 585, a mighty storm gathered and Arah's Wild Hunt returned
to Anguish. Poppy and a group of her offspring were banished for
continued harassment, and the ruling was put to force by a brood of
crimson dragons. Researchers of rare species from the Academy are
pleased to note that Arah's dragon seems to have been keeping busy
during the peace. The new brood will be needing lots of food...
Arah was also spotted feeding Ravenlock and his gang to Duplicitous, a
bewildering dragon with two faces. Ravenlock was banished for a drunken
player killing spree.