kodoz

I've been warning you about the evil snowmen for years, but noone paid heed...

She hadn't slept at all. The cycling in and out of people kept her alert and paranoid. A praetorian and a templar centurion were there at one point. Then it was just the two guards hired for the door. Of course, the two healers, Enoch and Burgess, kept wandering in and out. They were the ones that worried her. But was it both of them, or just the one? She didn't know. She normally could've figured it out in seconds, but with all the pain she was having to work on blocking out, it was impossible to concentrate hard on anything else. It wouldn't take long to end her. A simple potion, claim it to be a miscalculation, and there goes that problem. He'd be handsomely rewarded for his work with whatever he wanted. And the best part was, he could always blame the other healer for the fault. She had no idea what time it was. All she knew was they were going to make their move now, or not at all. The elder healer had left with the guards to go eat, and she knew it was going to happen. They'd missed their only good chance, when she was unconscious. She'd already narrowed it down to a very few things they could even try to use, if they weren't bold enough to just slash her throat. Of course, they couldn't do that, unless they thought they could evade the Guardians forever. They were going to have to make it look like a mistake. Which meant that the potion that the healer at the desk was making would be it. She heard the door open, and her hand twitched just the slightest bit. It was going to take every ounce of her energy to kill him when he tried to give her the potion, and any outsiders would only get in the way. She heard a ridiculous sounding fake accent, pinpointing the real voice behind it and had to suppress a smile. She never would learn to stay in her own business. How she got along with her, she'd never figure out; all she knew was that the one person she trusted was here. She might actually make it out of this alive. Piper carried on a conversation with the healer who was mixing the potion...make that poison, rather. She then came over and touched her a bit, trying to rouse her. She opened her one good eye once, but Piper wasn't looking. She waited, and they spoke very quietly for a moment. "....hades....ridiculous....clothes..." Her head swam in and out as they spoke, because she was focusing her concentration on that healer. Then she heard the door open again, and heard a few snippets of the two healers arguing with each other, a familiar sound. But one line of dialog caught her ear. "Have you finished that potion yet? You must be the slowest healer on the planet." "Sir, I was interrupted, sir. And also, some of the ingredients..." "What have I told you about questioning me?!" Her entire body shivered in pain, but she now knew who she had to kill. She saw Piper's gaze move over to the healers, then back. "What are they about to give you?" "......poison....." she replied in a whisper that was barely audible, without moving her lips. "Are you sure?" "....yes...Do Nothing." She gave as good a serious glare as she could with her one eye. "Can you get out of here?" "...this is how...it has to be..." And then she closed her eye. She went completely still, as if still unconscious. She mentally willed with every fiber of herself to ignore the pain she was about to have to endure. And she hoped against hope that the one friend she had didn't try to interfere. Burgess, Assistant to Master Enoch, walked over to the patient's bed and sighed. "Unconscious. Great. It's so much easier when they can do it on their own..." He lifted her head up, and moved the bottle to her lips. She sprang into action quickly forming a fist in her left hand, ignoring the pain shooting through her body, and hit him square in the right eye. He dropped the bottle and it shattered, and she almost screamed from the pain exploding across her like an immolating furnace. Master Enoch rushed over and quickly knelt next to his assistant, who was clutching his eye. This whole time, she'd heard no reaction from Piper, likely stunned at how quickly things were moving along. "What happened, Burgess?" Lily tensed up, braced herself mentally and physically, and kicked off just as she said two words. "I happened." Her dagger falling from her sleeve into her hand, finding it's place so perfectly in her grip, the dagger that was as much a part of her as her own two legs, and it cleaved the air as easily as it did the elder healer's neck. Blood sprayed out as he collapsed with a gurgle, clutching his throat, and Lily felt her feet hit the floor, and it was an exhilirating moment to be able to stand again. Everything stopped for a few seconds in time, Burgess on the floor in disbelief, Piper stunned and staring at what had just happened, and Lily standing over the dying healer, her dagger gleaming. Then time came back to life as she felt her legs buckle, heard the frantic kicking of Burgess, and Piper rushing over to her, and Enoch gave out his last noise. She gave one harsh glare at Burgess, and the man pleaded with her to spare him. She'd already planned on it, or he would've died with her still in the bed. She asked Piper to get her kryss, and Burgess was practically trying to bury himself in the corner of the wall, he was pressed so tightly against it. Lily thought of all the things she should be doing. Searching Enoch for information. Trying to find out just who else knew where she was, or who had come and watched her at the healers. But right now, it was all she could do not to pass out. She weakly asked Piper if she could carry her, and Piper lifted Lily's seemingly frail form and carried her outside to her Cu, laying her gently on it's back. Lily stared up at the blue sky, and the pain from her wounds was now impossible to contain. She'd used every last bit of energy in that final attack. They heard the call for guards, and Piper quickly opened a gate, breaking several laws and safety codes in the city by doing so. They vanished through the gate.

Pain. The rough, scratchy feel of the wool underneath her. The ruffling of robes, and the sounds of mortar and pestle clinking together. The smell of burning herbs. The coppery taste of blood in her mouth. From her one eye, harsh torchlight illuminating the mostly quiet healers room. She closed her eye and began to take a deep breath to concentrate, and it felt as if she was going to pass out from the pain. Red spots appeared behind her lids from the force of it, but she took a completely deep breath and let it out silently and slowly. She carefully began to test what she could move. Her limbs functioned properly, though both her arms hurt; the right, tingling and somewhat numb, while the left was throbbing intensely from her shoulder. She opened her eye once more, and surveyed the room. A few sleeping figures. A few watching the door. One of the healers mixing something up. She looked down to see her tunic and shroud had been ripped open, baring her chest; lightly bloodstained bandages wrapping her from shoulder to waist, preserving what little modesty there was to be had. She saw where her sash lay, and she quietly and slowly moved her left hand down, and took hold of her dagger. She carefully passed it to her right hand, and tucked it into her sleeve where she could let it fall to her hand if necessary. She took another deep breath, and she mentally willed it away. Pain was manageable enough, as long as she refused to let it bother her. Mind over matter. She opened her eye once more, and she tried to focus. It looked like two guards were stationed there, along with the healer. Her vision blurred but she could make out two other figures in the room. She wondered how many she'd have to kill if she had to get out of here. She wished that would be as manageable as the pain from her wounds... He swore as he made out the letter. He should've burned it as soon as he saw it. The symbol was unmistakable, and obviously this wounded woman had been a target. It was a problem, though, because he didn't know if blowing his cover was worth the cost. Not to mention the presence of the guards and those other interlopers. It'd still be easy enough, but there's no way he would be able to maintain his cover if he dealt with her. It would be difficult to sneak it past the real healer, but he believed he could do it... It still hurt with every breath, but it wasn't incapacitating. She needed to rest, but at the same time she knew she was going to die if she did. This place was by no means safe. She remained as still and normal as she could, feigning sleep, while listening to every sound around her. If anyone here figured out how she got her wounds, the information would get out to them. And she knew they weren't going to give up. She just hoped that she could end up killing them before they got her...

...She wondered if she had figured it out. It was risky, but it was the only way to convey it without everyone knowing. She'd not even believed she would have encountered her there, but luck takes strange twists. Stumbling half blinded by the blood streaking through her matted hair, she'd hardly even recognized the one person she actually trusted in those wierd clothes. Her wounds hurt, but it was nothing compared to her rage at their audacity... She'd been contacted by one of her informants around the lands that something big was going down. She had better stay away, or at least not be seen. Of course, that was her specialty, wasn't it? It was supposed to be a huge information swap between several of the shadow organizations, and it was something she had to find out about, so she could help bring them down. She had snuck into the old dungeon in Ilshenar, and had been successful at evading the denizens of the area, and had come upon it. "These things have to be dealt with. If not..." A loud, boisterous voice. "Yes, Mikhail, we all know your tired old rant..." An exasperated, weary voice. Call him one for now. "What I'm trying to say is if we don't do something..." The yelling again. Obviously, Mikhail, she thought. "Then it will all fall apart." A calm, strong voice. Hm...Call him Leader. "But...you agree with him?" One said. "Of course. Mikhail, though a bit paranoid, is indeed at this point correct. Unless the proper people are silenced and records destroyed, many things we have done could come out into the light. And of course...speaking of such things coming out to the light, we have another guest, don't we?" Leader said. She snapped upright as she felt the cold steel of a blade pressed against her bare face, and a hand grabbed her kryss from her. She wisely let it go. DAMN! How had she let someone sneak up on her?! "Bring her here." Leader said. The person who she still hadn't seen nudged her towards the room with the blade. She followed quickly, waiting for an opening. The Leader took a look at her. "Who are you with, little spy?" She answered with silence. "I asked you a question. Who sent you?" Once again, her answer was silence. The man reared back and hit her, causing her hood to fall completely off now. The man stared at her for a moment, and then began to laugh. The one who had snuck up on her kept his weapon trained on her. "Well if that doesn't beat everything." ...She clutched her kryss tightly in her hand, perched atop the castle parapet. Her left arm, still useless. Blood slowly running down her face from what felt like huge gashes on her head. Her one good eye trained intently, watching over one person. She wouldn't let it happen. Her head began to spin a bit, as she felt dizzy. She'd lost a lot of blood last night, and she'd barely managed to get away from the tavern. It was a wonder she hadn't broken anything on her less than graceful landing. All those wounds... "Can you believe this? Here we are after her, and she comes right to us." She felt her eye starting to swell already, on the floor as she was. She turned her leg deftly to appear broken. "Get up." She made no move, and remained in silence. "I said get up!" The leader motioned to the man with her kryss, and he tucked it under one arm and grabbed her left arm and started to heft her up, and she yanked as hard as she could and kicked off as well. The momentum allowed her to use his grip like a pendulum, smash into his leg, and break his kneecap. She grabbed her kryss from his hand with her right as she followed through, and the man didnt let go, and she felt something pop. She slashed down once, putting a gurgling bloody end to his life. Something slammed into her hard, pinning her against the wall for a moment. "Did you really think you were going to leave alive? This dungeon and all that live in it are ours." She looked over to see her left arm dangling uselessly, and she quickly bit into the executioner's arm, then whipped her hair at his arm, causing the poison crystals to come in touch with his blood, and he began to spasm. She leapt back, but not before a solid cut hit her limp arm, causing it to start bleeding profusely. She looked up to see the important people already gone or fleeing, and she heard them shouting orders. Damn. She quickly started to head out of the dungeon, and by the time she got to the entrance she grimaced. This wouldn't be easy. ..Her arm had stopped throbbing. Good. She wondered idly if she was going to die. Probably. She snapped to alert as someone quietly and quickly made their way along the castle perimeter. She looked down to make sure she wasn't dripping blood over the edge, and then observed. She saw the man draw a blade, painted black as night, and could tell from the sheen it was poisoned. She quietly moved to just above him, and positioned herself, and leapt... She charged past the skeletons, not even bothering to break them to pieces. She felt their brittle bones snap, cutting into her shroud and her flesh more than once as she broke through them without a glance back. She ran and she ran, not paying heed to if she was seen. She made her way for the gate, hoping and praying she could elude them and get to safety, or something, when she stopped dead in her tracks. The gate, lying directly ahead of her. The shambling corpses and skeletons behind her. And two armed men and a woman in front of her. "Welcome. This is where you die." She gritted her teeth, grasped her kryss, and ran full force straight for them. ...She flew through the air, hurtling towards the target from above when her shroud caught on the castle wall, tearing and causing him to look up. He raised his weapon and blocked hers barely, as her kryss impacted hard with the steel of her opponent. He moved up and turned into a round house kick, hitting her into the wall. She quickly positioned her feet, and dodged the next six strikes with the barest of minimum clearances, and she turned and went for a piercing attack meant to gut him, and he blocked it with his bare hand, her kryss impaling his hand on it. She looked up in time to see a wide grin on his face as the sword came hurtling down at her... She tensed as if to leap, and then quickly pivoted and dove towards the one on the right, the woman. They all turned and instead of striking the woman, she brought her kryss up to block, and used a devastating kick to shatter the farthest mans ankle. She sprung back away, taking a slight cut from the second man, and she stood quickly, blood streaming down her face. So the woman had been able to read most of her block, and still add enough force to make a cut. She faced the woman head on, and started to swing at her, then let her legs go out from under her on purpose. The woman casually dodged, but that wasn't Lily's target. Lily slashed the downed man across the throat, killing him, and brought the slash back up to cleave off the other mans leg. The man blocked the kryss, but not the blowdart she shot into his face. He immediately hit the ground, spasming in his death throes. She spit the now useless blowgun out of her mouth, and grinned ferally at the woman. She'd long since realized the most effective intimidation is never saying a word. She hurled the kryss towards the woman, and the woman blocked it with her sword, and Lily had just enough time to smirk as the dagger she'd thrown immediately after found it's mark in the targets sternum. With a slight little 'Oh.' The woman hit the ground, and began to spasm from the same poison. Adrenaline making her heart hammer in her ears. and with only one good eye now that the other was completely swollen, she stumbled towards the gate after gathering her kryss. She noticed something odd about the man's dagger, and she went over and picked it up, and the handle came off with a note on it. She read it, and she furiously resealed it and tucked it into her shroud. This had to be dealt with. She vanished through the gate. ...The sword sang as it parted the air, but before he could even follow through, she'd already let go of her kryss and drawn her dagger. With a quick flick of her wrist, his throat was eviscerated. She had thought she was dead there for a minute. He had her dead to rights, but obviously she still...She went to put the dagger back in it's sheath in her sash, and her hand came away warm and sticky. She grabbed her kryss and she quickly started to stumble off, as her entire body felt numb. Was this death? Could this be it? She felt nothing but the slickness of blood, and heard nothing but her own ragged breathing. Pain was no longer even there; she looked down to her hand as it clenched tighter, and she held onto the castle wall for support, leaving a trail of blood from the gaping wound. It wasn't fair...She was better...She was....she pondered idly for but a moment why the ground had decided to leap up and hit her in the face, but it didn't last long. Then it was all black.

No, I haven't forgotten about you all, and I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, and I'm still here if you need me; my time's been cut a LOT lately due to my work schedule, especially since I've been having to deliver medicine a lot more with some of the new patients we've gotten, and problems to do with FedEx and UPS. I've also got a girlfriend, and so I've been spending all the time I can with her before we both have to start school again. However, if you see me online, that means I'm at least able to talk, and should be able to help with anything you need. I'd like to apologize for my notable absence lately, but RL comes first, as everyone knows. I'll try to be around more as I'm able, and hope to see you all on.

This Sunday we will be running bard's night in conjunction with the Dragons Claw Guild, VvV. I encourage all of you to make it, and they also are still looking for signups for their chess game. Details can be found here. More information as it comes available.

Charlie at the moment is having PC problems again, and will not be able to be on for some time. Her ICQ may or may not be working from time to time, so please bear with us. I also will be gone for about a week and a half.

Very good on ya, and congrats

This was already posted elsewhere, but needed to be reposted. Several peoples icqs have been hacked and are sending virus links. If you get a link, never use it and then download something. Right now, Thorax's ICQ is infected. if you know any others please post them.

Busy lately...planning my trips that will have me away for most of may, trying to get some things running, and I'm going to leave a lot of stuff with charlie to keep you guys busy if you'll show up for things. Also been working on acquirng houses outside of olympus

If its just resists, catch me on icq. I have an entire secure container (125 items) of barbed runic armor.

Update: Okay, I got through to the hospital a few minutes ago, and talked to her, everything went fine with the surgery and she'll be back home tonight, but likely will not be online. So happily everything went fine and our Empress is returning posthaste.

One of the reasons for atlanta is that its usually easy to get cheap airfare to atlanta, since it's a delta hub. Also, it'll be the week of dragon con, so that for those of you who want to you can go to the eastern seaboards largest anime/scifi/fantasy/gaming convention.

Duping the Pipers. Underlined ones are ones ive experienced. You Know You're From Georgia When... If someone says "What'll Ya have" at a restaurant, you automatically know they worked at the Varsity. When someone asks you where the Varsity is, You know because no good Georgia boy would be caught dead without having eaten at one at least once. You see fast-food joints devoted entirely to hot dogs. On the road, other drivers wave at you for no apparent reason. While driving through a random tiny town, you see a sign that reads: "Home of the Wild Hog Festival". You see scraggly cotton plants on the side of the road that look so pathetic you think they might have survived being stomped on by the Union Army. Ironically, you only crave Chik-Fil-A on Sundays..when it’s closed. You pass through small town after small town that looks like an abandoned horror movie set. Sweet tea is THE drink. No questions. When a waitress asks what you want to drink and you say Coke, she asks "What kind?" "Ya'll" is a word. Atlanta is known as "The City." You know the difference between a hillbilly, a redneck, and a Southerner. The one way to be killed in .5 seconds is to talk about somebody's mama or talk bad to somebody's mama. Krispy Kreme dounuts are the only kind of dounuts you eat. Fried chicken is a major part of your diet. On one side of the road there's Wal-Mart and on the other is a cotton field You greet people with"Howdy, Whachu doin?" You know what a 'dawg' is. You know people who consider a six pack and a bug zapper quality entertainment. The directions to your house include "turn off the paved road." Your dog and your wallet are both on chains. You still call the refrigerator the "icebox". You call it a cold Christmas if you don't break out in a sweat in your new sweater. When a single snowflake falls, the entire state shuts down, even if it doesn’t stick. The radio and TV news will make snowstorm reports every 10 minutes and the grocery store will be completely sold out of bread, milk, bottled water, toilet paper, and beer. You know at least three streets named "Peachtree" You don't know anyone who drinks Pepsi. It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy. People actually grow, eat and like okra! Your last words might be, “Y’all watch this.” Herschel Walker, Larry Munson, Sid Bream, Hank Aaron are legends.

After speaking with Pitr of GRI, we were given a very generous offer. They are doing lots of champion hunts, and are wanting to know if anyone in PGoH needs any powerscrolls of various strengths. So far, I can start off the list with what I'm looking for. 120 Archery 115 fencing 105 ninjitsu Please post desired powerscrolls here, and I'll let GRI know, and they'll see what they can do. Thanks!

We are currently in the process of Allying with the Kingdom of Inethria, and until we have it finished we are blue to everyone. This will change very soon and we will be rewarring with all the guilds we were warred with, and more, including EKoC, Onyx, and Und/LICH. Please be aware this means that most every rp guild SHOULD be orange to us again, but KoI will be green, and won't be hit by our area effects or summons. This will be helpful for the peerless, champion, and other major hunts we often run with KoI. Also, there will be other IC ramifications, and those will be explained in due time. Anyone who is confused about this should please direct any questions to myself at ICQ 84763321. Thank you.

Was good fun, and we hope to be able to get back into the swing of doing at least one of these a week. Next week, it's a tossup between Mel and Travesty.

Harken all ye bards, troubadours, poets and grandmasters of the yarn the Eighth Monthly Bard’s Night will be held this coming Saturday the 24th of February at 9:30 PM EST at the Galehaven Tavern in Malas. Do you think you have the skills to hold an audiences attention with your original poems or tales? Do you think you can touch their hearts or make them laugh? Do you think yourself the next William Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lord Byron, or Emily Dickinson and want to show it to the world? Then here is your chance. Come compete with your best Original tale, poem or song not longer then five minutes and with no vulgarities in it. The subject of your entry must be about “Romance and Compassion” and three judges will decide if your finest effort is worthy of being called the best of the month. The top three entries will split a purse of one Million gold crowns, and that’s not too shabby for 5 minutes work and the fame and accolades that come from entertaining others. So compose, write or dig up something you have compiled before on the subject matter, and enter the Bards Night Competition and see if you can win.

Evening Y'all. -Kodoz

The foundations of Galehaven have been restored, and the structure is almost ready to go to construction, but we are still short on materials. We will be running another expedition tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th, at 7 PM EST. Following this, we will be attending the art exhibition by the Freehold of Roses. Please meet at Olympus Castle no later than 6:45 PM if possible. *stamped with the Seal of the Emperor and Empress*

Jin suppressed a pleasant grin after reading Laurana's report. It seemed that handicapping her didn't faze her in the least, or stop her from completing any tasks. He picked up his cup and sipped some more of his sake as he flipped through the various pages of her report. All in all, she seemed to be exceeding his expectations, and even better than that, she wasn't getting cocky about it either. He already had another task ready for her if she needed it, but he would have to figure that out. He really just had to judge whether or not she was truly ready for her final test to become a praetorian or not. He looked up and smiled as he saw Shar'lee come in and he set aside the report for now. It could wait a while, he thought. He was off duty, after all...

With the new year, we've been forced to change our schedule around quite a bit due to school, and So our peerless hunts will be moved to Tuesday nights from now on. Tentatively, we're scheduling Travesty for this tuesday at 9 PM EST. Hope to see you there!

Jin looked over the reports that he had recieved both from Marcarious and Laurana. It appeared she was up to her first task, and performed it admirably. Jin wondered though if she would make it past all of her tasks. She seemed to have the fire in her, but Jin had seen several candidates falter in the later stages, and most quit outright. Jin checked some of the tasks he'd given other potential candidates, and tried to select one for Laurana. She'd done well with a novice task, now it was time for something a bit more serious. He'd already figured out her final task, but she would have to earn the right to even attempt that. Jin found it a bit hard to concentrate on his duty with thinking about what Shar'lee had brought up. Although he'd already made his decision, he still kept thinking about it. Well, He would give Laurana her next task the next time he was able to speak with her. She'd quickly learn to work with the unexpected, or they may be short a dragoon knight...

Over the holidays, most of you probably noticed we lacked a lot of activity in PGoH. This was partially due to poor attendance, but also due to lots of RL problems I've been dealing with, and am still having a lot of things going on. However, with the start of school things should get a lot more normal for me. So, this is really mostly an apology for a slow time lately, but thing are going to pick back up quickly. Thanks for understanding.

Good to hear, and we are all waiting your return. Come back soon Also From the Senator Piper My computer is seriously messed up as of last night. It won't even start in safe mode and locks up constantly, even if Windows loads (which alone takes 20 minutes). I'm going to have my brother look at it, but I have a feeling it may be done for. Just a heads-up that chances are, I won't be around until I can get a hold of Matt's laptop. Oh, and Happy New Year to you and all the others. - Blair