PBEM Game: Yarnspinners 2 (Running)

[The_Tauren13]

Sorry, but because I havent had a chance to get on during the last 30 hours, we are behind schedule.

Here is a screenshot of the map as seen by the eyes of god.

[The Panther]

The Kingdom of Man, Turn 3

I was royally pissed.

Hmm… I kind of like that word royally. It makes me feel special.

But enough of that. One thing about being the Queen of Man is that people instantly respond to your every command. I might actually get used to this! So…

“GET RALPH IN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!”

I even managed to keep a stern face until AFTER my handsome young attendant ran off to obey me!

It did not take him long. Of course, I started on Ralph the instant he arrived inside my huge field tent in the mountains of Gryphon Spires.
“Uncle Ralph”, I said, using my iciest voice. “You told me they would bow before me. You said that my dominion already controlled this land. You even said your preaching is paying dividends inside all the borders of our so-called friendly neighbors. SO WHY ARE THERE 28 CORPSES ON THIS BATTLEFIELD?”

That darn man. He is always so very glib. He knows the proper words in any situation. I was therefore totally unable to faze him in the slightest. “Twenty eight, huh? That many…” he replied evenly.
“Yes, I personally counted them. Furthermore one of my own loyal spearmen is dead and three axemen are over in the medical tent being treated for injuries. Two of them have even lost an eye!”

Ralph paused for just a tiny moment before continuing, “Well, my dear niece,” he said lightly, “I did not expect to find the local Lord with such a large army. I suppose he took affront when I asked him to contribute gold to the rise of the Age of Man in your honor.”
“Asked, smasked, you slippery man you. I am sure it was more like you ordered him to pay up or else.”
“Perhaps, my dear, perhaps I did. You could be right.”
“I AM right.”
“Yes, my queen, your word is gospel.”
I stared at him in silence, letting him squirm under my glare.

But he was not squirming at all! In fact, he seemed highly amused. Darn that man! Why did my father have to die while Uncle Ralph continued to live?

I sighed deeply and said, “Well, uncle, I do admit I am very happy that I came along with you. That flying shard spell taught to me by the Royal Library was most effective indeed. I did not know I could do such things.” The memory of stones being conjured out of my hands and landing on the heads of the enemy was still fresh in my mind.

Ralph eventually replied, “Oh, I knew you could do many things, Selena. I have always known that you inherited much of the gypsy ways of my mother, your grandam. You have far more magic ability than your fair share, my young enchantress. Of that I am totally certain.”
“As do you, my dear uncle. What was that spell you kept casting to keep our axemen from running away when they engaged the enemy? Can you teach me that?”
Uncle Ralph answered, “I call it the ‘Sermon of Courage’. But I think you are not holy enough to try it as yet. I think you are better off attempting some other spells more suited to your style.”
“Like?”
“Well, I have heard of a splendid spell called ‘Quickness’. We will try to discover how it is done and teach it to you.”
“What would this new spell do for me?”
“It makes you move at twice the speed of most mortals.”
“Could I cast my spells faster?”
“Yes, twice as fast!”
“I see. Do it then.”
“Yes, my Queen. I hear and obey.”
And with that, Uncle Ralph turned and left my royal field tent without even a goodbye.

Darn that man!

[PashaDawg]

My recollection is that yarns are due every Monday. Right? I hope so!! Now, let me see where I left my muse.

[djo]

It's not exactly a school assignment, but that was the vague guideline. However, we never put a firm deadline on it, and there was some discussion about awarding the pearls no matter when the yarns came in (an idea I agree with strongly).

I say, get 'em done when you get 'em done, and I hope people will worry about fun and quality before what the calendar says. I'm a slow writer, and I need to rewrite a lot, so I expect I will lag at some point in the future myself.

[PashaDawg]

So, you won't send Dusty after me if I am late? [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Hammer.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Hammer.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Target.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/PointRight.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/PointRight.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon44.gif[/img]

[Sedna]

996 A.P.P.M
To his Lord, the Archbishop of Polgrave,

Dominus Vobiscum. I trust the new year finds you well, and that the recent murder in your househould has not proved too great a burden. I understand that the attacker was caught, and as a personal favor to you I will see that she is tried as a witch and barred from paradise.

The Three of Three will not be happy at the next conclave. AFTIAL has declared that, in honor of Her arrival, the period of peace for Carrofactum should be extended to two months. The Three Above believe AFTIAL's arrival to be a sign that we are supposed to establish God's Kingdom on earth by military conquest, so they will be frustrated by this period of waiting and prayer.

Yet I believe we see eye-to-eye on this matter: AFTIAL comes to cleanse not the exterior world, but to renew the LORD's church from within. She comes to purge the last vestiges of death-worship from our lands, to drive the devil-worshipers and druids out of the Church, and to restore doctrinal purity. Unfortunately, our view will not carry the Church, despite my close ties to AFTIAL. The Three Between are also enamored of conquest, and so we will have war with the neighboring barons to bring them more closely in line with the church, but let us pledge never to lose sight of this true goal:

For nothing that comes from without a man can defile him.
It enters him and leaves him, and does not change him.
Yet as each man dies, so death waits within each of us.
And this is the corruption of man."

Cum flammae et fidei et gladiis,
Father Muszinger

* * * * * * * * *

On the first day or Carrofactum I rose early and wandered the twisted halls of the library in search of The Map of Jerovia, reputed to be "Thee most trvest and accvrate portrayle of the lands hereabovts, with propre notes to gvide the faithfvl pilgrim". I was skeptical, and rightly so, for the tattered shard of map I found hidden within a tome contained precious little information not commonly known throughout the kingdom. I was on my way out when I saw her, sitting by herself on the floor, quietly turning the pages of a ancient volume. The dawn sun had just crept high enough to pour in through the nearest window, and it sparkled off the dust in the air, providing her with a halo. She was dressed all in purest white, and I for a moment I could hear chanting from the choir below.

Since then I have seen her every morning. I admit that I seek out the library now, in the hopes of seeing her. I have not yet worked up the nerve to speak to her and ask how a woman gets access to the inmost library in the House of Just Fires. Her choice of books is decidedly esoteric. After she departs for morningsong I have gone to her place of study and easily located the books she has been readings as the ones without a fine layer of dust. Many a time she has been reading a work in one of the Lost Tongues, but I cannot imagine what she hopes to gain therein. But, ah, my heart beats fast every morning when I catch a glimpse of her, my goddess of the morning (forgive, oh LORD, your servant for this small blasphemy).

* * * * * * * * *

I hate priests with a passion above all else. If there is a god anywhere I hope there is an eternal lake for fire for these vermin to swim in. After three weeks the food stops; the cell changes; torture begins. For hours they ply me with fire and blade and ask me to recant my allegiance to She Who Loves Not The Light. From what I can understand through the pain and the smell of my own smoldering flesh I am accused of having sold my soul to acquire the skill and strength to become an assassin, despite the handicaps of the female body and mind. I will not give them the confession they want which is further proof of my guilt. They cut the sun from my skin, condemn my soul in stern, solemn voices that betray none of the joy they took in my trial.

The crowd is in a frenzy at my burning. No longer a member of the church, I am an animal to be sported with. The wood is stacked, and lit. The heat begins to curl my hairs and itch my skin. Then the heavens open and the rain comes down. Lightning strikes amongst the blood-thirsty vulture-peasants. The smoke and steam overpower me.

I am in my mother's arms, on the verge of sleep as she sings to me. I am awake, and seeing the very living face of light. She tells me I am safe now, that I should be at peace. The evil men who did this to me will face justice, not just in the world to come but in the here and now, and I am to be the instrument for this justice. She will guide and protect me as I walk the dangerous road of my life. When I can no longer walk, she will help me crawl. When I can no longer crawl, she will carry me home.

[quantum_mechani]

djo said:
It's not exactly a school assignment, but that was the vague guideline. However, we never put a firm deadline on it, and there was some discussion about awarding the pearls no matter when the yarns came in (an idea I agree with strongly).

I say, get 'em done when you get 'em done, and I hope people will worry about fun and quality before what the calendar says. I'm a slow writer, and I need to rewrite a lot, so I expect I will lag at some point in the future myself.

That's good, as I will probably not be adding onto my yarn for about a month, but I anticipate filling in all the missed ones.

[PashaDawg]

Here is T'ien Ch'i's yarn for turn 3.



Late Spring in the Year of Good Fortune’s Coming

The cherry trees are in full celebration.
The white pines dance in the breeze.

I, X’ing Gao, take it upon myself to provide a written record of the tremendous events that are unfolding in our lands. Chi Chi Tzu, the Venerable Sage, foretold in his masterpiece, the Mou Mou Ching, of the Coming of Good Fortune, and it appears that all is happening as he foresaw.

I humbly offer myself as the perfect choice to write such a record, for I am the scribe of a country lord of T’ien Ch’i. I have withstood the rigorous training by our wise calligraphy masters, and my brush and ink has been blessed by Heaven. I am not boasting. I cannot. Indeed, the rigors inflicted upon me by the Masters has changed me ontologically. Any ink I use... any brush I touch... through me is blessed by Heaven... and the blessings worked through my skills are such that I am absolutely incapable of exaggeration or even writing falsehoods. (Now, I will admit this “blessing” is not always the most convenient of benefits. Once I was asked to write a poem praising the beauty of my former lord’s wife. Alas! To my distress and the demise of my then employed position, I could only write about the beauty of her shadow, the charm of her silence, and the elegance of her absence.)

So it should be that I am now the honored scribe of a young, impoverished country lord by the name of Zhaung Li Lou. His ancestors were great warlords, but the family’s holdings have been greatly diminished through eternal squabbles in T’ien Ch’i’s courts. So far as I can tell, he will treat me respectfully, and he wishes to do well by all those within his influence. But, he has been my lord for only 6 days. It was his acrimonious father, Zhaung Cow Jo, whom I served for the past two years, but this leads well to present events.

In the Mou Mou Ching (The Way of the Way), the venerable sage Chi Chi Tzu wrote that when the People follow the Way, Heaven will bless them, Fortune will walk the land, and the Warlords will unite. Well, reports had been coming to our village since early Spring that fortunate events were popping up in the Great City with impressive regularity. Common people found gold coins in their pockets after doing the laundry! Long lost pets suddenly found their way home! Even the street astrologers were popular because they read nothing but happy predictions.

Then suddenly She appeared out of the sky... the Goddess. Taller than the Temple of Heaven with an unnerving mixture of beauty and ferocity only found in the divine. She stood in the Park of the Eternal Ancestors by the Pool of Celestial Reflection and declared to His Majesty, the Highest Lord of T’ien Ch’i, “I bring you BLESSINGS and GOOD FORTUNE. YOU shall FOLLOW me. It is the will of HEAVEN that T’ien Ch’i shall rule the world THROUGH ME!” Then She stomped her foot and thereby shook the ground so insistently that everyone in the park fell to their knees, including His Majesty, the Highest Lord! Well... what else does one say to that but “Ok”?

Next She persuaded to His Majesty to call all the warlords to the Great City. And so it was, except for my master’s father, who saw this as an opportunity to wage war against his neighbors while they were away. My master pleaded with his father to stop bringing disgrace on the family. He would have none of it. Zhaung Cow Jo rampaged across the countryside, burning fields and taking booty. His son cried up to Heaven every night for two months wondering how such disaster could befall his family!

Ah... but Heaven was listening, and good fortune struck our little village right where it counts... or maybe I should write that good fortune struck Zhaung Cow Jo right were it counts! One evening while my master’s father was eating his dinner in his chariot, a mischievous breeze took it upon itself to waft an innocent silk worm into the ear of Zhaung Cow Jo’s horse. The horse squealed in surprise and leapt back right as my master’s father was taking his last bite of rice. He fell forward and somehow managed to choke on one chopstick while the other stabbed him in the greatest source of his pride. It happened exactly like that. I was there and cannot write a lie.

And so it was. With his father dead, my master became the lord of our village and swiftly made plans to leave for the Great City. We have been riding for two days. My Lord expects to reach the City by noon tomorrow. There is word that war has already begun.

May Heaven bless my master! May he find his way through the Way.

Humbly and truthfully,

X’ing Gao,
Honored Scribe of Lord Zhaung Li Lou

[PashaDawg]

Hey Panther!

I notice that your turn 3 yarn is not on the Wikki.

Pasha