Random Ramblings

Luckless Jake pt 2

2009-12-06T08:52:00.001+10:00

Jake was no fool and could read between the lines, 'heartbreaking' meant Jakes heart would quite literally be broken if he refused. He looked at the courier and nodded his acceptance. Without a word the man withdrew his foot and left, quickly and silently. As he turned around Jake slammed the door shut in frustration, he hoped to leave the miserable mudball of a planet before he had come to the attention of the nefarious under element that worked in the city. Apparently he'd overstayed his welcome. He knew who'A.C' was, it was Allan Croft and you didn't say no to him even without threats. You also didn't run. Mr Croft would have you followed, he would find you, he would have you brought back, either in one piece or many, but still alive, and then you would wish you had not been alive when you were brought back.

Still, Jake thought, the note was worded as a polite invitation, he hadn't been jumped in the street or had strange men burst him into the apartment and drag him to a more secluded meeting place, so maybe there was still a chance he could walk away after Thursday night. To be on the safe side he called the travel company and booked the earliest flight no Friday morning that he could. Four AM was it, which would leave him enough time to play the game till about three in the morning, make his excuses and run. Hoping he could get far enough away, quickly enough, to bury himself somewhere should things go sour. With that done he grabbed his card and headed out the door, he had two days to do some shopping and he had to find just the right clothes. Nondescript, but classy, short sleeved but elegant enough for a dinner with people who dressed in the very best. It was going to cost him a bit, but for the game he was expecting it would be well worth the investment.

That was two days ago and it was now eleven pm on Thursday night and Jake glanced idly at his timepiece. Across from him Allan raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, “Watching the time Jake? Do you have something else on tonight? A pressing engagement elsewhere? Don't fret my good man you'll have plenty of time to fly out of here once our game has been finished.”

Jake's heart skipped a beat. Allan knew about the flight. There was nowhere he could run if things went south. He was fairly certain that Allan had enough clout to be able to hold the flight should Jake attempt to leave early. That left Jake's only option to start losing a bit, if he could.

More Jake

2009-12-02T20:44:00.002+10:00

I fleshed out my jake story a bit. I'll end up reposting the whole thing as it has some before and after. I'm not sure where I want to take it, so I am open to suggestions.

I'll also need to do a proper vampire story at some point because all these new vampire crap things are crap and crapping me.

Anyways - Enjoy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jake sat down at the table at the Jittery Bug night club. He was in the private room out the back and so far things were going well. He was up by fifty thousand credits and they had only been playing for about two hours. Of course he thought he might have to start trying to lose some soon otherwise the men around the table might take offence at his luck. Already he was starting to get some dirty glances in his direction and every know and then he heard them muttering about the luck of the new guy at the table. It was something he was used to and he'd purposefully worn a nondescript short sleeved shirt to try and allay some suspicion. It was a classy top of the line shirt, but the important thing was that it didn't stand out in a crowd and the sleeves were short. It was harder for them to accuse him of having an ace up his sleeve if he didn't have a sleeve to keep an ace up.

There were five others at the table with Jake tonight and most of them were a little on the shady side. It was a rather exclusive game he had managed to get himself invited into and he hoped to make a fair bit of credit at the end of the night. On his left was Little Timmy and Big John. With typical gangster acumen they had been named for the opposite of what they were. Little Timmy was a dark skinned man almost seven feet tall and the rest of him matched his large frame. He was definitely a person who worked out and kept in shape. Jake was intimidated just looking at his bulging biceps. Big John again was a bit of a misnomer. He was only around five feet six high fairly average in build. With flashing blue eyes and short dark hair he was able to ladle around the charisma though. He was dressed immaculetly in a tailored black suit with a blue tie. To the right of Jake sat Mack, he was a bulky asiatic looking man and he got his nickname from the trucks he used to drive. He started out in life as a simple truck driving man and managed to successful smuggle enough contraband past customs that he was able to buy his own truck driving business. Not to mention the contacts he made during that time let him expand his influence ten fold once he owned the trucking company. He was now head of a minor crime syndicate in the city that was rumoured to be far larger than anyone knew.

To the right of Mack sat Sally-Anne, no-one knew a lot about Sally-Anne, the only things that were common knowledge was the fact that she was rich, powerful and beautiful. Long silky black hair hung to her waist and she had brilliant emerald eyes, a perky smile and cute dimples completed her face and she had a long sinuous body shape that drew the eye of every male when she gracefully made her way through a room. Tonight she was wearing a long dark emerald silk dress which must have cost her a fortune, with silk having to be imported especially from halfway across the galaxy. On the far side of the table across from Jake sat Allan Croft, the instigator of this nights little game. He was nondescript in the extreme, plain brown hair, that to be fair, was extremely well styled, dark brown eyes and a build that belied his internal strength. All Jake knew about Allan Croft was that he was not to be crossed. He'd heard rumours of other people who had attended these games and generally, anyone who'd tried to cheat had never been heard from again. Except for maybe a short brief scream in some dingy back alley.

Jake had received his invite earlier in the week. A representative had knocked on his apartment door and handed him a note, Jake had tried asking questions but the deliverer of the note simply said nothing and pointed at the note, patiently waiting. Shrugging Jake had tried to close the door, but the man had put his foot in the way and gestured at the note again. Rolling his eyes at the dramatics Jake had sighed and opened the note.

Mister Jake,

It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance at last. I have heard much about you from my sources at various clubs and places around and it is with great joy that I wish to ask you to attend a little social gathering I have arranged this Thursday night. It will just be a couple of close friends having a little game and we would appreciate it if you could attend.

Formal attire, the man who delivered the note will take your acceptance or denial, but I sincerely hope you accept. I would be devastated were you to refuse, it would be... heartbreaking.

9 pm – Back room of the Jittery Bug, show the envelope to the man at the door when you arrive and he will show you in.

Regards,

A.C

Luckless Jake

2009-11-27T07:26:00.000+10:00

Jake leapt backwards, the sonic sword barely missing his left arm as it sliced through the metal handrail with an ear agonising screech of grinding pain. He dropped to the catwalk and rolled backwards as his assailant thrust at him again. It was a desperate situation and things didn't look good for our hero. He'd been caught out at cards, called a cheat and then thrust out of the building into the darkness. He was ok with that, it wasn't the first time it had happened and he'd be the first to admit that it wasn't true. He'd never been a cheat, he was just gifted.

Born on Mars had left him one of the talented few who'd benefited from the increased radiation. He was what in common parlance was known as God's Gift. He was exceptionally lucky. Everything seemed to go his way in things of chance and fortune. Of course what this meant was that whenever he ended up in a place of chance and fortune, people generally took exception to his natural luck and believed he was a cheater. How else could he consistently win, even when he was trying to lose.

All that was beside the point though. This particular outfit had then had the temerity to send their trained assassin after him. The unfortunate thing was, Jake wasn't really skilled with weapons. They were something he'd always tried to stay away from as they made him nervous. He'd always been able to run and if he followed his rules, which he did, then he could outrun most people. Rule number one was Cardio. Make sue you stay fit and then you can stay running. Which is what he was trying to do now, but it seemed his attacker, the Sonic Sword Slasher also had Cardio somewhere in his list of rules.

The assassin had chased Jake for ten minutes before pinning him own on a catwalk and now his exceptionally rare sonic sword was seconds away from turning Jake's luck around.

Jake looked down, it was only five metres to he ground, barely a stretch for someone with his gift, he rolled and dropped off the catwalk, the assassin watching to see if he broke an ankle. Luckily though, Jake landed on a pile of discarded laundry. Not even straining his ankle. The assassin growled and jumped after him. Training allowing the masked warrior to land perfectly and go on the offence straight away. Jake backed away and looked around, groaning in dismay, it seemed his luck had finally run out after all. He had jumped into a dead end alley.

Th assassin smiled and advanced, his sword at the ready as Jake desperately looked around for a way out or for some kind of defence or for anything at all. The only option to present itself was a piece of lead pipe that lay discarded to the side. He shrugged, it was no defence against a sonic sword but he refused to lie down and take it, he would t least try to go out fighting. He made a grab for he lead pipe and brought it around to block the assassins swing. The assassin smirked, knowing that his sword would easily carve through the lead pipe as if it was butter and finish Jake off.

As Jake brought the pipe around though, he clipped one of the metal disposal bins that lay in the alley. It sounded as if a gong had been rung and his arm wobbled as the pipe vibrated from the impact. By some strange twist of fate, some extremely luckily coincidence, the kind of luck that defined Jake's life, the noise from the vibration was exactly the right form of sound to short circuit the assassins sword. The chances of the right sound being emitted were lower than one in a million, less than one in a billion. The assassin stumbled as he overbalanced with his sword sparking and he tripped over Jake's prone form falling forward to bang his head on the metal dumpster and knock himself unconscious, collapsing to the ground with a look of shock on his face.

Jake looked around the now quiet alley way and took a few breaths to calm his racing heart, then he got to his feet and looked around, it seemed no-one else had come chasing or caught up to them. He smiled and beaned the assassin over the back of his head with the lead pipe just for good measure.

“That's for making me run halfway across the city”, he said with a certain degree of satisfaction. Then he bent over and picked up the handle of the sonic sword. They were worth a fortune and even though he didn't personally like carrying weapons, he certainly did enjoy a tidy profit to be made from chance when it placed something valuable in his hands. With a final look around the alley and a last kick into the assassin's prone body, Jake whistled jauntily as he headed out of the alley and into the big city.

* * * * * *

Up above, high above the cloud line General Lee Penwynn flicked off the monitor with a small smile on his face.

“It seems our friend Jake is still pushing his luck to it's limit”, he said.

“Yes sir,” replied his aide, “Did you want us to pick him up tonight?”

“No not yet, his luck is still very strong and the containment chamber is not quite ready yet. But soon, we'll take him soon, then project Galileo can begin in earnest.”

Replay

2009-11-21T16:54:00.003+10:00

Finally worked out how I wanted to end the ninja vs suits show-off (pirates are SO over done these days). Also changed the name to Replay.

I've edited the post below to include the new ending so if you've already read the post below, just jump to the bottom and read the extra, it's only a new paragraph and a half.

Also does anyone know why you can't copy and paste from an openoffice document into a blog post? I can copy from an openoffice doc into a txt document, then I can copy from the txt document into the blog post. But I can't go straight from openoffice into the blog post. I find it strange and otherworldly.

Ninjas Vs Suits

2009-11-16T07:01:00.004+10:00

Again, this was a result of a word war - 10 minutes off the cuff, writing in a hurry to get as many words down as possible. Which is why there are some typo's and bad grammar.

Enjoy :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The coffee shop was peaceful and tranquil,the businessmen sipping their coffee and eating their bacon and eggs while reading the paper. Twelve men in all. The morning light filtering in through the window. Which exploded outwards in a glorious hail of glass and flame. Ninjas swung in on ropes, smoke grenades and throwing stars flying everyhere.

Rodrigo Martinez rolled up his newspaper in a second and battered away two smoke grenades, knoking them back out of the shop. Ducking and weaving he caught three ninja stars in the paper as he made his way behind one of the ninja. Pulling a ninja star out of the newspaper, he drew it across the ninja's neck with a vicios twist, a fountain of blood spewing forth as the ninja fell to the grond. Ducking quickly he pulled forth the ninja's sword and plunged into the fray.

Across the room two business men fell to the ground,the front of their suits riddled with stars and blood, pained expressions on their faces as the poison infiltrated their bodies and wracked them with agony.

Donald Moon stood up calmly and pulled forth two glock 15' from inside his jacket. Two shots and two ninja's were down, holes right in the middle of their foreheads. A third business man was not so quick however and he lost his hand to a sword swipe from a ninja who followed it up with a business like thrust at the suited man's throat. He went down in a fountain of blood. Donald looked over and pulled his triggers, sending forth a hail of gunfire at the ninja, riddling the black clad body with holes.

George Taband looked up calmly as a ninja landed on the table he had been sitting at. He smiled as he reached under the table and pulled the trigger on the sawn off shotgun he had hidden there. It was hard to tell, but he was pretty sure the ninja looked surprised as the table exploded out from under him, dropping the ninja's body to the ground in a spray of blood and splinters. After that it was an all out brawl, guns, swords, ninja stars and smoke grenades going off all over the place as the businessmen fought for their very lives.

Eventually there was only two ninja and three businessmen left standing. The two ninja looked at the three blood soaked businessmen, their torn and bloody suits hanging in shreds as one wall of the coffee shop collapsed behind them, sending sunlight streaking through the clouds of smoke and dust. There was a pause as ninja and businessmen looked eye to eye.

Two gunshots rang out as the ninja dived sideways, the two stars that had been flying towards the suits were shot clean out of the air as a loud shogun blast rang out, there was a clang of swords and more gunshots followed by ninja stars getting shot out of the air. A sound like tearing silk tore the combat as Rodrigo impaled one of the ninja on his borrowed sword. The other ninja suddenly missed a step, his head getting blown off his shoulders as another shotgun blast tore the coffee shop.

The three surviving business men looked at each. "Nice work guys," said George as he slumped to the ground. Rodrigo and Donald looked in shock as they saw three ninja stars lodged in George's left am. George's eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped into unconsciousness soon to be followed by death as the poison took effect.

A soft clinking noise echoed throughout the stillness and as the two surviving businessmen looked a small round object bounced onto the floor from out of the hand of one of the ninja. There was a blur in the air and if you blinked you would have missed it and suddenly, the coffee shop was in perfect condition, businessmen sitting at their tables having coffee and reading the paper. Morning light streaming through the window before it exploded inwards with a shattering boom. Ninjas swung in through the window and as you looked you saw the faces of Rodrigo and Donald freeze in horror as they swung into action, repeating the motions they had performed not ten minutes ago, everything that happened exactly the same except for the agonised look on their faces as they realised they had been caught in a timeweb. The grenade that exploded was specifically designed to capture the last ten minutes or so, it's hard to be accurate when trapping time. It was a kamikaze grenade. Anyone caught in it's affect was doomed to repeat the last ten minutes of their life for eternity.

Rodrigo and Donald would spent eternity watching their comrades die without any hope of surcease.

Space Whales (search google if you don't believe they are real)

2009-11-14T23:35:00.003+10:00

This story was written as part of a word war for nanowrimo. Apologies for the lack of formatting and grammatical correctness. It was written in 15 minutes completely off the cuff.

Enjoy.

P.s it is to be continued with some point with pirates and aliens and all sorts of fun stuff

~~~~~~

The whale drifted through space, it' epic journey long and uncountable by mortal man. It was a massive thing, easily kilometres, nay thousands of kilometres long, it's massive form hardened against the vaccuum of space, it traveresed the empty blackness seeking something, something only the Lord in the heavens above could know. Certainly it was not something that I was wont to be able to discern, I merely wished to view the gargantuan beast with my own eyes, marvel at the mere fact of it's existence and put to doubt my fears of the existence of the Creator. I knew in my heart he or perhaps it was she, existed, after all, I was alive was I not? Surely such a thing as the world and humanity and from there, the galaxy and all the myriad races and cultures could not merely have come into existence as mere happenstance? No it could not be. I had faith as I was taught, not merely in my teachings, but the faith itself had come to be my own.

That was why I stood here on the deck of the Celestial Dawn. Not a captain of such a magnificent vessel, no that was not my place, I was here as chaplain. Chaplain and explorer. We were here on a mission of peace to bring proof of such a thing to the misguided masses. To reignite the fervour that should exist in the hearts of all mortal man. The captain stood to attention at the helm,his eyes on the massive window that did give the view of space before us. This craft was specially designed to give us the widest possible window with which to view the heavens. Such sights had we seen! The forming of supernova, the collapse of stars. The birth of comets and meteors and such wonders as I had never dreamed of before my feet left my native soil.

Our craft was also crewed by the most stalwart men and women of the fatih. Each one a believer all there to support our sacred mission. Not one of them shared a doubt that we would cmoplete our mission. Surely even now we had gathered enough evidence to prove to the heathens that no mere chance could bring such wonders into play.

"Sir!", cried the third officer, "I have contact, bearng six-one-nine two-three-eight. It's large sir, easily two thousand kilometres long and Sir, it doesn't register as any known metal or material."

The captain smiled and said "Bring it up on the main screen please, it's still too far away to see with the naked eye I gather?"

"Correct captain, briniging up on screen now"

I held my breath in suspense as the image resolved, it looked nothing so much as a long tube gliding through space, it's shape delineated more the stars it blocked than by actually seeing the creature itself'.

"YES" i cried with exultant fervour. "We have found it, there is your proof of God! Surely none other could hav created such a massive, such a fantastic, such a wondrous beast!", in my religious excitement I mistook the captain's smile for joy, I too believed he shared the same faith as I did, in my innoncent naivete did I doom that poor beast. Why did I not see the truth? Surely God ould have guided me to realise that these people did notshare the same goal as I? Or was I blinded by arrogance? My own pride causing me to doom such a magnificent lonely creature.

I looked on in shock at the next words out of the captains mouth, " Ready the laser harpoons", he called. It took a few seconds for it to sink in. Harpoons? Laser harpoons? Surely not!

"Captain?" I asked tentatively.

"Relax Father," he replied, and truly did I see his evil smile at that point," It is in the name of God that we are hunters, and that is the bigest prize any captain could hope to claim."

I must admit I saw red, I threw my teachings out of the metaphorical window. Blinded by my emotions did I charge at the captain in a furious rage. I raised my hand to strike him down when my forward momentem was halted in a crushing grip.

The first mate was ready and had grabbed my wrist as I raised it, he was a young man, strong and burly and I could no more hope to wrest free, than I could hope to spare the beautful space whale that was about to be captured and killed for mere sport. Another of the crew came forward to hold me and together with the fist mate they did lok to the captain.

"Shall we take him to the brig captain?" asked the irst mate.

"No, I want the old fool to watch" replied the captain as he turned to look out the window.

"Fire."

New dragon time!

2009-10-25T18:24:00.000+10:00

Hi ho Hi ho..

2009-10-22T07:19:00.002+10:00

The crew of the Devil Ray were essential miners, but they had designed their ship to make their life as easy as possible. One of the many dangers of mining in space was accidentally tearing open your suit. The tools, rocks and space junk that would be floating around a mining operation were common causes of casualties. In fact most large mining ships would carry extra crew because injuries and fatalities were so common. Matthias Lelange had been worried about this when he went into the mining business as his ship was crewed by family. Not just some nameless employees. He'd started the mining business after he had originally found a solid asteroid of Tungsten. It was a rare element these days and especially valuable for when it was used to craft the superalloys that went into a spacecraft's hull. There were few places to collect Tungsten on planets these days so it had become rather valuable.

Essentially it allowed Matthias enough capital and enough raw material to have his own vessel built. So he took some and designed the Devil Ray. Shaped like a manta ray it was able to glide through space or atmosphere with ease. The tail helped with gliding through atmosphere by stabilising the craft. On the front where the manta has it's two 'horns', he placed two industrial strength lasers. Strong enough to blast through an asteroid the size of the earth's moon they were both a working tool and a defensive weapon. After the ship had blasted an asteroid into more manageable sized chunks the 'mouth' would open and the 'Ray would glide through the debris of the rock inhaling it into the inside of the ship where there was machinery and furnaces set up to sort through the debris and shift junk from valuable metals and minerals. Once it had finished seperating the worthless from the valuable a hatch near the rear of the ship would open up and the 'Ray would dump the worthless rock back into space. Then the ship would glide on to find more asteroids to dismantle and eat. The process allowed the crew a luxury that no other mining ship in the galaxy could claim as they were on the initial flight and test run. Matthias wanted to make sure it was all working before selling the design to the big mining companies. The sale of the plans would make him enough so that his children's children would never have to work in their lives and spend their entire time exploring the oddities of the galaxy.

Spiralling Insanity

2009-10-17T10:17:00.002+10:00

Tick.

The man stared at the clock as seconds of his life slowly ticked away.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The room started to spiral as he focused on the clock, the world blurring and falling away as the wall vanished, the clock hanging in mid-air above a field of green clovers. A lamb came up and butted the man in the knee as he stood up and started to walk. A rainbow sprang forth over the hill as he followed the trail onwards, the lamb gambolling along at his side. Blue birds chirped prettily as they circled around his head before flying off into the distance as he reached a river and stepped into a small rowboat. The current gently took him downstream as some sparrows flew over to him, one landing on his hand and the other on the lamb's head, both of them chirping cheerily. He smiled happily as the boat continued on its merry way.

Finally the boat came to a dock at the base of a giant palm tree, the man started walking up the tree as the gravity reasserted itself to spin the world askew, the lamb still happily following him. Reaching the top of the tree he leapt forth and started flying through the air, drifting through the clouds and trailing wisps after him as he twirled and swooped and twisted around, surrounded by birds doing the same and his ever faithful lamb following him. With a happy smile he drifted serenely through the clouds.

"Sir... Sir... Sir...", came a female voice, intruding on his world, "Sir, are you ok? can you hear me?" asked the receptionist. He blinked as the room spiralled back into view and he saw the receptionist at the desk calling at him. "Sir, the doctor will see you now," she said as he pulled a gun out of his coat and shot her in the head. Blood and brains spraying against the wall behind as the girl slumped onto the desk, a crimson stain pooling around her head. The other patrons waiting for the doctor looked in shock as the man stood up and walked into the doctor's room.

"What...?", they heard the doctor say, followed a gun shot and then a thump, as if something heavy had fallen to the floor.

A few seconds later a third gunshot rang out and then all was silent. Except for the clock, the seconds marching endlessly onward.

Tick.

Dragon egg Ho!

2009-10-14T15:43:00.000+10:00

Crystal Apotheosis

2009-10-13T18:34:00.003+10:00

The light fractured into a thousand particles as the vessel decelerated to livable velocities, or LiVo as it was called in slang parlance. Jets of gas hissed through the containment quarters as the liquid gel drained out of the safety chambers. The crew blinked and slowly began to move as the oxygen masks uncoupled and retracted into the walls. IV tubes shot out from the wall and hit each crew member in the left arm, injecting them with vitamins and nutrients and rousing them from the state of near slumber. Spacers called it The Edge. The thin line between waking and sleeping. You didn't dream on the Edge, but nor were you conscious. Sometimes people would crack- would go insane, try to turn on their crew- but those cases were rare, perhaps even myth. Everyone knew someone who crewed with someone who heard tell of someone that had 'crossed the edge'. The stories were generally told after a few drinks around the low light of a bar. After a story everyone would be jumpy for a few hours after resuming LiVo. Of course, no-one ever knew someone that it had happened to personally.

Captain Matthias Lelange emerged from his chamber, he pulled a robe from the cupboard and slipped it on before making his way to the bridge. Captain of a small trading ship, the Devil Ray, he stared up at the screens, catching up on data and working out exactly where in space they had stopped. He assumed it all was on target as when he had stepped back from the edge there had been no warning sirens or lights flashing. He frowned as he tapped one of the screens.

"Charlotte", he spoke into his wrist mic, "Can you come to the bridge please? I want to run some numbers past you." He looked at the screen again and shrugged. It was probably just a random anomaly, but best to be sure. While he waited for Charlotte to arrive he pulled up the outside camera and proceeded to do a visual check on his ship to make sure there was nothing clinging from the voyage, or that they had sustained no tears that needed to be fixed sooner rather than later.

The camera panned across the ship, it looked like a gigantic manta ray gliding serenely through space, the outer skin was still in good condition, several minor tears from micrometeorites, but no major damage that required someone to space walk. The light from the distant star glinted from the the underside of the 'Ray. She was a beauty to behold and the captain always took great pleasure in doing his visual inspection.

"Captain?", Charlotte asked as she stepped onto the bridge.

"Greetings to you", the captain replied as he looked over fondly at his daughter, "Can you confirm the data on monitor three?" he asked.

Charlotte looked up at the data and blinked, she waved her hand and a keyboard appeared. A few quick keystrokes later and the screen refreshed, looking exactly the same as before.

"Father, the computer calculations are correct, the star in the center of this system is no natural sun. It's an artificial object, I've never seen anything like it before."

Water Sports

2009-10-04T10:37:00.002+10:00

Mgurlgrl Grglllrrrll (translation: Ellasandra Coralia) was trying to find her ball in the kelp on the tenth. She had tee'd off just as a strong current had swung through and it had carried her ball off into the rough. The Royal championships were coming up in a few weeks and she couldn't let the elves down. Spying her ball she swam over to it and looked down in dismay, it was buried deep in the kelp. That left her only one option. She tilted her head to the side and listened to the currents, waiting, waiting for the right one. After a minute or two she smiled and swung her pitching wedge, chipping the ball straight up, just higher than the kelp itself and then whoosh, the ocean current came through and grabbed the ball carrying it over to the smooth fairway and running it down close to the green.

"Good shot my lady," her caddy called as he took the club, made from still living coral from her. "It's a shame you won't be able to make the championships", he said calmly as put the club in her bag and pulled out a small cylindrical shell which he pointed at her. Ellasandra's eyes widened as she recognised the Conelius Infatalis or Fatal Cone Shell. It was exceptionally rare and possessing one was a sentence for death. The Conelius Infatalis had a mortality rate of 100%. It would kill someone stung within two heartbeats. There was no cure for the poison because there was simply no time to administer a cure.

The caddy pointed the shell at her and with a puff of air bubbles it fired it's deadly needle.

"Aquaticus Shieldus!", yelled the princess, making a motion with her hand and in the split second it took the needle to travel to her, the water in front of the princess solidified into a wall, as hard as steel just as the needle slammed into it and bounced away. As it bounced away the Ellasandra's hands were already moving into a second spell, "Let's see how you handle being a fish out of water," she said grimly as her spellcast finished and she made a yanking motion with her hand.

The caddy looked around horrified as the water was sucked away from him, leaving him standing in a perfect air bubble, his gills working overtime as they struggled to draw in water which wasn't there. Ellasandra watched as he struggled, trying to find a way out, but every way he moved the air bubble moved with him. Eventually he collapsed, purple in the face, eyes bulging from his head, twitching on the bottom of the bubble, until finally the life faded from his eyes. Upon his death the sea elf form melted away, leaving a human corpse lying on the bottom of the ocean.

Ellasandra held her wrist up to her mouth, "Security, another assassin, that's the third one this month, come and collect the body so we can try and find anything leading back to who hired him would you? I have a game to finish."

Game on

2009-09-29T21:20:00.004+10:00

Short bedtime story I came up with - the lady made me post it. I think it loses something in translation, but it's still ok :).

~~~~~~

Dirkpitt Thundergutt grabbed his clubs and headed down for the course. He stepped up to the first tee and placed a mithril tee into the ground and put a shining mithril ball ontop. He pulled out his driver and smiled, the mithril club gleamed in the darkness. Some days it was hard being a dwarf king. Dirkpitt lined up on the ball and swung. With a loud crack the gold ball shot off into the darkness like a shining mithril star. The mithril golf clubs had been a king day gift from the low king of the undermountain dwarves. They had a game scheduled next week and Dirkpitt needed to practice.

It was all going well up until the fourth tee. It was a long vicious dogleg to the left. Lava lakes on the right and a stalactite forest on the corner. Hardest hole on the course. Dirkpitt looked down the hole by the orange glow of the lava and stepped up to the tee. He wound up and let fly, just as the club head connected with the ball there was an explosion of smoke and flame at the end of the tee and a massive demon burst into view, all gleaming claws and dripping flames.

The mithril driver connected with the ball and it took off straight towards the foul demon that had just appeared. With a clink it bounced off the muscled arm and shot into the darkness of the cavern

"Muhahah", laughed the demon, "Your puny dwarf balls cannot hurt me. Prepare to die Dirkpitt!" the demon screamed in rage and launched himself at the dwarf king.

Dirkpitt watched the massive demon launching at him down the tee, smiled and tossed his cigar to the side. He wound back and let fly with his mithril driver. The head bashed throughthe demon's face and driving through it's skull. The demon's death scream revereberated through the caverns as Dirkpitt smiled, "How'd ye like me +5 driver demon?", he looked at the hole that the dissolving demon had burned into the end of the tee. "Gonna need a big sandbucket for this divot boys", he called out as he turned to look out in the darkness for where his ball had bounced, "Damn demons, i'll have an extra stroke on me card now."

Leaves in the Wind II Vs The Monstrous Regiment

2009-06-30T11:07:00.001+10:00

In the event that I've now played a few games and don't quite have the same level of Rememberance I'll just do the highlights. This was an online game Vs another guy who was fairly new as well.

Summary at the end for those who don't want to read the massive wall. Sorry I got carried away.
------------------------------------

"Well Jim, here we are again at Mittendorf Madness".
"Certainly are Max, up today we have Leaves in the Wind II playing off against The Monstrous Regiment".
"That's right, after the tragic events of the first match of Leaves in the Wind the successors to their name came out really strong in the first game. So strong they scared the Skaven right off the pitch before half time."
"Yes they did, an early hit with the fans, it seems to just be a lucky roll of the dice on that first one, the next three games were all downhill, a string of minor casualties, bad wind and I swear in one game, the elves were all drunk. No other way to account for the fact they didn't make a successful dodge the entire match."
"You have the right of it, here's hoping the their luck's changing, they certainly need it if they want to keep their fan base. Although from the look of the Orcs on the other side of the pitch... Well I just hope some elves live to see the team name carry on."

The fans cheer as the two teams make their way onto the pitch. The ferocious hulking Orcs and the casual, carefree elves. The ref tosses the coin, the Elves win and choose to recieve.

"The kick is up! It lands on the back half of the pitch and the Elves send #7 down to pick it up, a quick pass to the catcher and one of the 'dancers blitz's the only orc in the way.. Oh my god did you see that hit! If that orc was any softer he'd be eating a lot more than grass that's for sure..."
"You have that right Jim"
"Two other lineman head on over and quickly escort the catcher and the ball halfway down the pitch, those elves certainly know how to move when they need to, that's a nice little play isn't Max?"
"Certainly is, a few more knocks on the front line from the Elves, but nothing else of note from their side"
"WOW! Did you see the hit from the Orc? They're striking back with a vengeance, that's one Elf who won't be back on the pitch this game. One minute in and already this promises to be a brutal match."
"Yes it's certainly going to be bloody from the looks of things, but while the orcs stood around hooting and cheering at the fallen Elf, the elves catcher has ducked in for a touchdown. Good to see they seem to be back on the game, although I see a little fear on a few faces".
"That fear is definately there, that brutal hit so early in the game has certainly got a couple of them worried."

"The Elves kick off, a short drop just past the half line, the Orcs ignore the ball for a second to get a bit more blood in and OHMYGOD JIM JIM Did you see that Jim?"
"Yes I did Max, I'll wager that's one orc who's feeling mightily embarrassed at the moment, or at least he will when he comes too. That orc went to headbutt an Elf on the middle line, misjudged and stunned them both."
"Look at that Max, the elves have pounced on the orcs error and ducked across the half line to nab the ball that's just sitting there, and streaked off again for another touchdown it looks like"

"Ooh those Orcs look fercious, a quarter of the way through the match and they are already two touchdowns down. It looks like Leaves in the Wind II seem to have appeased whatever Gods they offended".
"Certainly does Max, here they go, the kick is up, oh dear it's gone wide and there's a mob in the stands as the crowd fights for the ball."
"The ref brings on a new one and hands it over to the down near the end and the orcs upon up on the elves"
"Wooow! Two knockout's and what looks like a twisted ankle, that's one player not coming back, looking at the attrition rate the elves really need to score a couple more touchdowns before there's none of them left to play!"
"Well Jim they seem to have heard you, look at that 'dancer go! Streaking down the pitch after the ball carrier. Oo that's one orc who's regretting he had the ball. A few more elves head down the pitch to support and the orcs take off after them."
"Seems to be a bit of a bruhaha happening on the center line as well, the Big Tree the elves have is flat on his back again, you know what they say about the bigger they are?"
"Certainly do!"
"Some fumbling around the ball, deep in the orcs end zone, oh look an orcs come up with the ball, he passes! and INTERCEPTION! Crazy, that elf just lazily reached up and grabbed the ball!"
"A quick pass back down to the Orcs end, and a quick dash and leap and TOUCHDOWN!"
"3-0 to the elves with 4 minutes left in the half"
"The elves seem to be racking up a quick total, but I hope it's enough looking at those furious orcs".
"They kick off again, there's a bit of a fight around the center half and.... wait for it! yes there's the whistle signalling the end of the half".

-------------------------

"Leaves in the Wind II is ahead 3-0 coming into this crucial second half."
"They certainly are, but let's not forget they're fighting a war of attrition on the pitch today."
"You're certainly right, it looks like they'll have to do their best just to hold off the orcs as long as possible. But starting the second half with only eight players on the pitch to the orcs eleven does not bode well."
"That it does not Max, there is definate boding and it is definately not good for the Elves"
"Here we go, the kick is up! And Wham! The orcs come out bashing, one unconscious Elf and one badly hurt, thirty seconds into the second half, seems the orc had a good pep talk during the half time break."
"Heh heh break is right Max. They seem intent on breaking the elves today."
"Oh it's dirty on the pitch, fights breaking out all over and the crowd is going wild!"
"They are loving it that's for sure. Oh check it out, looks like there's an elf chick over there selling Big Moot sandwhiches, I'm off to get one."
"I didn't think you liked Big Moot sandwhiches Jim?"
"I don't. But I do like elf women."
"Well while Jim is off trying to get a touchdown of his own the orcs have stepped it up a notch. Three more elves are face down on the pitch and they have five orcs taking the ball down to the line. The elves however are not giving up, the catcher a lineman and a wardancer have made a break for the carrier and oh! oh! oh no! what a blow for the elves, the lineman blitzed the carrier and ran straight into the orc fist. What a show stopper!"
"Not to mention Max, that the Wardancer got surrounded by orcs and pummeled into the ground."
"That's true, how was your sandwhich? Get the tuna?"
"Oh haha Max, haha. Look look! What a play! The wardancer has jumped up, leaped over an orc and bashed the ball carrier right to the ground, carrying on she's grabbed the ball and tried to duck in behind her two teammates and WHAM! Fell face first on the ground, what a blow, they almost had recovery."
"That's true, but now the orcs have the ball and TOUCHHHDOWN!"
"3-1 to the elves!"
"The orcs are certainly looking ferocious, that's a big lead they've got to catch though"
"Ohhh did you see that hit, true to form the Orcs look like they are going to catch up the traditional way, if there's no opponents left, there's no one to stop them scoring a touchdown."
"They've kicked off, the elves have sent a man.."
"Elf Jim"
.. Elf down to pick up the ball and oh, slippery fingers it seems, the Orcs have pounced on the slip, moving into position all around the few remaining elves, knocking a few to the pitch in the meantime."
"The Elf lineman is desperate, he picks up the ball - successfully this time and goes the long pass to a wardancer down the far end and it's up and .. OOOOOO a orc has leapt up and nabbed the ball, that's crazy have you ever seen anything like it Jim?"
"Certainly haven't Max, talk about a comeback by the orcs."
"While everyone was watching the ball it looks like a group of orcs took the opportunity to put the boot, that's another elf off the pitch."
"Five elves left and the orcs start making their way down the pitch with the ball. It does not look good."
"I think this is a bit inevitable Jim certainly looks like the orcs will score on this drive."
"You have the right of it, but that's not stopping them dishing out some more pain to the few elves left. No more casualties this drive but a lot of black eyes and stunned elves lying around and SCOORRRREEEEE!"
"That's 3-2 to the orcs, four minutes left to play and five elves to play defence."
"Based on the time I think the elves will eek out a win here, but the moral victory is definately going to go to the orcs."
"The ball is up! A lineman grabs it and makes a quick pass, I don't think the elves can make it down to their end zone, but they are gamely making an effort."
"Would you look at those orcs Max? They look enraged that they aren't going to be able to pull out a win on this one."
"OW! Did you see that! I heard his neck snap from here, that's one orc who's not a happy chappy. He's certainly not going to be as spry as he used to be that's for sure."
"Oh and I just got word from our man on the side - Apparently the elves apothecary says he's a deader for sure, but they seem to be keeping him away from the apothecary at the moment after that, can't say I OH MY GOD! DID YOU SEE THAT DOWN AND OUT OH WHAT A HIT, THE ORC BRUTALISED HIM."
"Yes what a magnificent hit, the ref is over and yes! Dead at the scene, just as the whistle blows to finish the match."
"I think that's an important lesson to all teams playing against The Monstrous Regiment, they don't take defeat lightly, that's the most brutal last minutes of a match I've seen in a long time."
"It certainly is, I might just pop off and see if I can get a shower room interview with those wardancers, mmhmmm..."
"Good luck Jim, good luck."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TL;DR
Wood Elves vs Orcs
3-2
7 Casualties on the wood elf side - 1 dead, 1 broken neck (-1AG) both of those (dead+broken neck) on the orcs last turn., the rest just badly hurt, I count myself lucky really. Especially since the deader was a str 2 line (he'd been hurt before) that I wanted to kill off.
1 Casualty on the orc side.

I think the orcs definately had the moral win. But I ended up with only 1 guy with a major drama (not counting the dead guy) so I'm feeling lucky.

Also my catcher got a skillup and got + 1 MA for 10 move which is hot.

And now for something completely different...

2009-06-26T09:37:00.003+10:00

Edit: Eee - I just realised it's been almost two weeks, apologies to the two people who still stop by :)

A Blood Bowl write up...

I decided to break into the royal treasury and steal some loot, coming away with a million gold pieces, what more can I do I thought, but make my own team. I went and conscripted some elves, they're fast, agile, can jump and throw, what more do you need? Straight onto the pitch, humans first, this will be easy I thought, chuckling with glee.

Three minutes into the match they killed my Star Wardancer, sent the other Wardancer off with a broken knee and had half my team flattened on the pitch. Not a good start to my coaching career. We managed to make it through the game with the team intact and had a restful week recuperating. To face up to a full team of dwarfs...

Needless to say I ran away a quarter of the way into the much with my hat pulled low to hide my face. Luckily, I passed the gate on the way out and 'borrowed' some financing. After lay lowing for a bit, I considered what i could do next - it'd have to be goblins, they'd be the only ones stupid enough to let me coach after that disastrous start. So I went and bribed some goblins. This was going to be much better.

Chainsaw? Check.
Pogo Stick? Check.
Ball and Chain? Check.

The match started off awesome, the first thing was the ref getting creamed by the fans, hello chainsaw for a full half. I lost but at least we got to chop some stuff. And a word of warning goblin apothecaries are not, what's the word? Reliable. Twice I had badly injured players who with apothecary treatment would have died. Suffice to say I kept the Apothecaries well away from my players after that.

Then it was dwarfs again...

Scrub goblins, back to Wood Elves I think, at the least the women are hot and they don't keep trying to pee on your leg.

This started out much better, no casualties in the first game and a win!

Then it was Dwarfs, my achilles heel if you will. I managed to eek out a draw but had two deaths and a smashed knee on a Wardancer. Painful.

Game three was Skaven and it started out well, half the opposing team was flat on their back after turn one, but then they did some tricky rat stuff and tripped everyone I sent in to blitz their ball carrier, Score 1 to the rats.

On the receiving end it was much better, I sent a couple of their players off the pitch, broke through their lines and scored! Just before halftime. 1-1 Going into the second half with half the rats were off the pitch either stunned or injured, a breeze I thought, (hoho that's a funny pun when you know my team is called Leaves in the wind) but they still managed to hobnail my catcher with the ball and blitz him through three tackle zones, thankfully some quick passing between my lineman saw one of them dive over into the end zone just four minutes to the end of the match... Victory 2-1 to the Wood Elf's

Day 5 - Furbolg?

2009-06-12T19:17:00.003+10:00

What... in God's name is a 'Furbolg'? Sure Fur makes sense, the bloody things are furrier than the weird males that dress up as cat's. But bolg? Is that like a play on bulge? They are a bit pudgy in the belly region. I honestly can't think of where in the hell they came up with that name. Was it a racial thing? Elders gathering around a campfire with a hat, "What shall we name our people? Everyone write a suggestion down and we will pick the most suitable."

"Nirvana"

"Feromen"

"Cuddly-Fuzzlies"

"Ball-lickers.... Do I need to say anything or should my glare suffice. This is serious people."

"Bearpeople"

"Ewokius Gigantius! What the hell? What in the star's name is a giant ewok?"

"Furbolg".

"Well it's better than the bloody rest that's for sure!"

"Hands up for furbolg?" 80% of hands go up in the air...

I mean seriously Furbolgs.. No wonder the bloody things went insane. Anyway they're paying well, yes that's right. My priestly devotion has caused me to be a mercenary for hire. Yay for God (lit: naaru).

Priestly Orders - Day 4 - New Home

2009-06-09T10:47:00.002+10:00

Only get up early two days a week they said!

Free meals and clothing and accommodation they said!

Sure you have to wear a dress, but it's worth it for a life of ease!

Life of ease my butt. Can I un-enroll? Denounce my faith? Take up the life of a merchant banker and just hang around in the ruins of my once loved home selling junk to strangers and making a tidy profit from each and every listed auction?

No? Damn this world.

Do you have any idea how taxing it is to need to put down the tormented creatures of this world constantly using the powers of my mind? Sure it seems less strenuous than bashing them with a sword, but the headaches you get are really not worth it sometimes. Besides which the stupid sword swingers ending looking buff like pie and they keep stealing all these new night elf women. Sure tails and horns are sexy, but those elf women have the floppy ears...

Mmm... floppy ears.

Where was I? Oh yes. I got to finally see our home today - three and a half days of trekking across monster filled woodlands to get to the original impact site. Suprisingly it was still in good shape. Had walls - people - commerce - art. But the sense of life it had is completely missing, it's now a cold dead place. The thrum of the engines is missing, the movement, the sense that it wasn't just a 'ship'. It was our home. It looked after us and cared for us and in return we looked after and cared for it.

Now I can barely bare to set foot in there. I don't know how the others can stand it...

Day 3 - Life from the eyes of a tree...

2009-06-04T13:39:00.003+10:00

Is unbelievably boring. And it's cold. And my tail is bent at an odd angle. And I look stupid on this stupid beach.

Wait is that him? No! Just a stupid crab. I hate waiting on this misbegotten stretch of land. There are weird creatures making hooting noises in the trees (i don't think they're owls) and I'm wet from swimming over here. Honest to god you'd think these people have never heard of a bridge. I can't believe I got roped into this deal, some weird alien stranger asks me to catch a spy for him and I say "Sure!". I must have been drunk.

I suppose it is for the greater good..

for the greater good...

but really sometimes I feel like I need my head examined. The first one to arrive was one of the short green things, mental note, find out what they're called. I hope it doesn't notice I'm not a real tree. Then the spy arrived. I couldn't believe it! The one that was running back and forth on the beach, what were they called again? Gnums? Gnoms? Gnorms? Who cares, the sneaky little bastard is betraying all of his friends to someone called the 'Venture Co'. Must remember to never trust the Gnoums. Evil blight they are.

After they had gone away I explored the island a bit more, just in case there was buried pirate treasure, I've heard stories about strange islands. Sadly all I found was some voracious bear-owl-deer creatures. I have named them Berowlder's until I know what they are. Ugly beasts that's for sure.

In the afternoon I swam back to the larger island. They also wanted me to kill some 'warlord' sea-snake thing. It was barely worth the effort of walking down into his cave. The creatures on this world are a bit weak I must say. After doing in the warlord I made my way back to the Admiral on the beach. He was pretty shocked at the discover of the spy and asked me to recover information from the spy. I can read between the words, the people on this planet are bloodthirsty things.

The spy didn't put up much of a fight either.

Should I feel guilty? I'm a priest! A holy being and all I seem to be doing is killing things, either wild animals or strange races. Still I do seem to be growing more powerful. Maybe it's the air. Or Maybe it's the Naaru way of showing approval for my actions. Maybe we should have been killing each other to appease the Naaru. This is something I will have to ponder. I may need to declare war on my fellow Draenei.

Priestly burdens - Day 2 on Planet Mud

2009-06-01T16:28:00.005+10:00

Dear Diary,

Where I am finding ink to write in you and paper to write on? Well suffice to say I found a use for the moth blood we were collecting early on and the blood elves didn't really have a use for their maps anymore.

Anyway, I have to admit, this place can be pretty, there's a lovely stream here (why don't we have a damn bridge? I'll get my hooves wet). Oh and I have to catch fish, in the water. With weird little aggresive creatures that keep trying to hump my leg. They remind me of some frogs we met in space. That was hilarious, there's nothing like a frog trying to lay it's eggs in your chest to make you really appreciate how tasty they are. Thank god the frogs couldn't resurrect people. Imagine that, implant egg, host die, host get resurrected, implant egg, that would suck.

Mental note - world domination plan, catch space-frog, brainwash space-frog, breed army of brainwashed frogs.

On the plus I've hooked up with a sexy mage, cute horns, cute tail and she can sling a mean fireball. Cons - she does have a distressing tendency to brutalise the corpses of anything we kill that has a skin. I don't know how she fits them all in her backpack, but hey I'm not looking in there to find out, gross.

And apparently we met some more 'elves', these ones are 'night' elves. Their eyes glow - it's cool. They stop when they die though. Yeah I was hoping for some night lights too.

Oh crap gotta go, we need to make friends with these 'night elves' and 'humans' and well, how do I put it, foot-rests? There was this short hairy smelly thing.

Oh yeah 'Dwarf' they called it. Don't ask me what the difference is between these folks and the blood elves except these ones seem more willing to talk.

Funnily enough though the first words they said were go kill some things for us, but hey, a priest's gotta do what a priest's gotta do.

PS Short stumpy green things are NOT edible.

Journey of a priest - Day 1 - The Awakening

2009-05-30T14:38:00.001+10:00

Dear Diary,

Woke up after an all night kegger, my head feels like we smashed into a planet.

Oh.

We did.

Damn I knew we shouldn't have got the helmsman down for the strippers and Tequila shots.

Well the view is nice here, let's see what we can do. Ah sprained ankle. No problem, little Gift of the Naaru action fixed that one up straight away. I went down the hill, saw some people, asked what I could do to help.

You have got to be kidding me, they want me to heal other Draenei? Geez, lazy buggers. Every Draenei can heal themselves. I don't know what world we crashed into, but honestly.

Ok what's next on my list? Go and murder some 'blood elves' what the bloody hell is a 'blood elf'? Oh that must be them over there. Hrm a race of women? Nice I like it. Wait... that's a ma... oh god my eyes. I tried talking to them but apparently they weren't in the mood to recieve visitors. Forward shield to full power R2-D2.

Hrm ok, so killing their leader didn't really help the race relations I guess, but it's a bit late to make amends now, I don't have resurrection yet and the last time we killed someone just to ressurrect them it just pissed them off (sorry Captain).

Ok so I went back to the headman and he says they're all good for the moment. I think I'll walk over the hill, see what's on the other side, maybe I can find a boat off this mudball of a planet we're on.

~ Serenas

First

2009-05-29T13:25:00.000+10:00

Hahah First Post.

I win.

Fox