I am constantly reminded in the town of Puddleby
how incredbly inept some people are at their profession. On one exetremely
lethal day (it didnžt have to be, though), it was shown to the world
how poor leadership skills, and poor team skills some of the residents
have.
To start it all off, I had just popped into town
when an Orga Warrior attacked the town. I almost knew this was going
to be an Orga raid, and I was wondering if I should help our denizens out
during the fight or not (Read my theory about the Orgas to understand).
But then, I was surprised when a single green Arachnoid showed up in the
middle of town.
In our last exciting episode, Lord Krake wrote:
<SOME VERY INTERESTING COMMENTS>
If you think about it, he is right. We have been
murdering Orga with little or no consideration or remorse. And not just
Orgas either. We feel we have a right to live, and yet we also seem to
have a right to butcher those in our path. It's a very interesting moral
conflict.
However, I need to make an observation. The Orga
have no reason to attack us simply because we have settled here on this
island. We are animals the same as them, and saying they have a right to
settle here while we do not is just stupid. Everyone needs a place to live
(I say 'everyone' because the Orga are humanoid).
The reason they have been attacking us (and I mentioned
this awhile back in "The Puddleby Post") is because we have been attacking
them. While it may be true that many of our citizens do die while on raids
to the Orga camp, so do many of the Orga, keeping in mind it is THEIR settlement.
It is not difficult to imagine the Orgas attacking us back, either for
reasons of fear, revenge, or motivation by higher powers.
Indeed, we (as Humans, Dwarves, Ghorak Zo, Thoom
etc.) are not as tall as Greymyr, and do not all have the strength of a
Tree Spirit, and don't have the bite of a Cougar or the claws of a Maha
Ruknee. We don't even have any magic like the Spriggins. None of those
advantages are ours, yet we pose the greatest threat to the Orgas out of
all else. No wonder we are at the top of their hit list.
Immortal Soul.
Dear friends, There is much controversey over if the Orga are good or
evil. My theory? Neither.
You see, WE did come storming
into THEIR land, whether we wanted to or not. I believe that it is
technicly our own fault that Orga's have been attacking our town.
They want to send us on our merry way, because we have intruded upon their
space.
Another thing, we all act
like that the Orga are so horrible because they raid our town. If
you say that you are a Hipocrit! We've been raiding their towns and
area's long before they even touched Puddleby! We've been killing
their kind for fun and profit since we arrived on this rock! And
still, there are some Orga out there that will heal us, but what do we
do? We butcher them like the rest! Don't you all see?
The Orga are not monsters. WE ARE THE MONSTERS!
Sincerely,
Lord Krake
[Note: The times mentioned in this article have been altered to GMT].
It all started with this seemingly innocent and uninteresting entry in the message log:
8/16/98 07:19:17 highlander has fallen to a Darshak Blade in Puddleby.
However, pretty soon, more and more entries of similar caliber started flooding the message panes of clanners all around the land.
8/16/98 07:19:34 Kellwin has fallen to
a Darshak Blade in Puddleby.
8/16/98 07:19:35 Rutabaga has fallen to
a Darshak Blade in Puddleby.
8/16/98 07:19:41 Cycloptia has fallen
to a Darshak Marine in Puddleby.
8/16/98 07:19:45 Pugsly has fallen to
a Darshak Marine in Puddleby.
8/16/98 07:20:19 Gonae iii has fallen
to a Darshak Blade in Puddleby.
I was not able to record the opening battle scene, or find out where they came from, due to some technical problems...
8/16/98 07:18:08 Immortal Soul has fallen to a Maha Ruknee in the South Forest.
...however, I soon was able to investigate this and found that Puddleby had been invaded by an assortment of Darshaks, including Acolytes, Blades, Marines and Priests. Headed by these was the mysterious "Dark Stalker", which we believe was controlled by a higher force, due to its intelligence among the seemingly simple-minded Darshaks and its superior strength. 'It' also told tell Rutabaga to "play nice", something which he resented deeply (just ask him). The Dark Stalker was eventually killed by Dude, and we were informed that:
8/16/98 07:35:01 The Dark Stalker's body is consumed in black fire.
Other than that, the invasion caused total mayhem. People were dead all over the town, from the beaches right next to our town to just beyond the three gates into Puddleby. Thankfully, the combined force of all our wills and the sheer weight of our numbers meant we were able to repulse the invaders and heal everyone.
So why am I posting this relatively minor event among many? To highlight the growth in intelligence among several humanoid species (including orgas). Although it is obvious that the Dark Stalker was an exception, by being controlled by higher powers, what happens if these higher powers are able to imbue this intelligence upon the relatively mindless legions of darshaks? We only overcame this invasion through teamwork & intelligence, as we always do. If the darshaks gain this power too, despite their brainwashing, we may suddenly find ourselves faced with a far greater threat, and this time, we may not be able to stop them annihilating Puddleby...
Immortal Soul.
Every exile to Puddleby has had a run in with someone they believe to be the true spawn of the unholy one. Most folk seem to have settled on Teioh as their choice of most evil exile in town. I have to tell you that this is not so.
Many of you have met me and know me as a helpful but solitary individual. I would like to think that I have earned your respect and good wishes, so I am at a loss to explain what has happened.
Here is my tale of woe and misfortune.
Late last night and early this morning I made my usual run through the Tanglewood. As always I hunted Orga, I hunted Death Vermine, I hunted wood.
After a particularly tiring battle with some larger Vermine specimens I decided to retreat to the meadow for a well earned rest.
In the meadow I found an Orga Anger. For some reason I was posessed by the strong desire to kill it. If you had seen my physical state at that time you would have thought: "Has he lost his mind? Well, that is one soon-to-be-dead exile." Needless to say, I attacked it immediatly! I dodged. I attacked. I dodged some more. Eventually I had the Anger near the point of death and he had me there as well.
Sanity returned.
I knew that one more attack would be enough to slay the Anger. I also knew that one more attack would slay me. In all prudence I decided to retreat to the tunnel in the meadow to rest before finishing off the Anger.
Misfortune.
As I ran towards the tunnel entrance I tripped. The Anger had me! With one blow he slew me and my body tumbled down into the tunnel.
Evil.
As I lay in the tunnel cursing my mistake and preparing to yell I could hear somebody outside slaying the Anger! I had only been dead for moments and rescue was here! I immediatly started to yell: "I'm dead in here!" ....Silence...."Hello?!"......."Come on, there has to be somebody out there!"........"You just killed the Anger! I know you're there!"
Nobody responded.
I know somebody was there. I know they heard my yells.
This is the true evil we face. It isn't Teioh with his nightly broadcasts. It isn't somebody thoughtlessly taking you kill. Somewhere amongst us is a truly evil soul plotting all of our deaths. That is what we must guard against.
Thank you for your time. May the Spirit Lords guide your steps.
In our last exciting episode, Elkhorn wrote:
> Is strange how twisted yer tale be, in the arena, you should not curse,
> and should not curse continually. That is what happened when I would
not
> allow the exile to be healed.
I agree with you on this point. It only annoys people further. If they don't want to die they should only fight those they know they beat, accept that they may become slain from time to time, or else avoid the arena entirely.
> And as far as blatantly killing healers? You should pay more attention
> to your memory than your emotions. One healer tried to heal the bad
> loser AFTER my warning, then he recieved a warning attack, a single
blow
> (not fatal by any means) So how do I be doing wrongly? Others actions
> dictated my REACTIONS.
This is still as bad however. The healer is only doing his/her primary job, and that is to heal. Who are you to decide who should and who should not be healed? Even if they are a crybaby? I agree that it may teach them a lesson, but they are more likely to cause trouble for you in the long run. The best way of changing peoples attitudes is to tarnish their image by reporting what they are doing to the general public. If they suddenly see that they won't get support or sympathy unless they mend their ways, you can trust they will become a pillar of society overnight, simply because of their need to fit in socially.
> Constant cursing for getting killed in arena or any other reason is
> similar to a small child crying for not getting piece of candy. Which
> is exactly what that person is, a baby.
Perhaps. For this particular incident I wouldn't know; you didn't outline the situation to me.
> So before you be getting all uptight over someone solving common arena
> problem(cursing for getting killed) Maybe you should think about
both
> sides of the coin.
Although it is true I encountered Elkhorn in the arena, in the situation described above, he was NOT the basis for my article. The person in question is someone else, and I was astonished at the evil people that can live among us. I didn't publish the person's name, primarily because I've forgotten, but also because that would most likely cause the Clan Lord equivalent of a "witch-hunt", where the person themselves is not burned at the stake, just their reputation. And if I made a mistake and named the wrong person, an innocent bystander would suddenly find themselves laden with all the bad karma, hate & mistrust that they could handle.
Elkhorns' deeds pale in comparison.
Immortal Soul.