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Meshelic
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Bringer of Peace, Destroyer of Worlds
Sep 2002
time: 21:24
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The sun was beginning to set over the mountain range west of Eye of the Storm, the glorious capital city of the Gathering Storm. As the darkness began to cover the land, a low wind made the long grass wave like the seas, and the desert sands blew the dust and sand around, creating miniature tornadoes here and there.
Meshelic was tired, exhausted from his one-year trek across mountains, hills, through forests and deserts. He had not been to his home near the palace for over a year now, and was looking forward to resting in his own bed. The journey had been succesful, after being commissioned by the Grand Poobah Notyoueither to make contact with the other nations that scattered the globe, Meshelic and the ambassadors that accompanied him had been received well by their foreign counterparts.
Looking back, Meshelic was relieved that his mission was now over, but aware that his job was now going to require all the more of him. He would have to make his report to the Grand Poobah before he could relax in his luxurius home for the night with the female companions that followed him and his entourage back to Gathering Storm territory.  But these women would have to wait. There was still much business to attend to.
"If only we knew how to write and draw!" Meshelic spoke to Zeit, the ambassador to Glory of War who also accompanied the Foreign Minister on his diplomatic journey abroad, "Then we could have drawn a map to make the voyage quicker and easier!" Zeit nodded in agreement.
Upon entry into the palace at Eye of the Storm, Meshelic bowed to the statue of a Storm Wraith, the most feared deity in the Gathering Storm religious history. The Storm Wraith had guided the ambassadors to their desired location through lightning storms and flash floods that made the party change direction numerous times, although in the end they were always on the path they were supposed to be.
Thanking the wraith for a safe journey, Meshelic continued to the throne room, where NYE, nbarclay and alexman were, apparently discussing building plans. General Arrian was there also, and greeted Meshelic upon entry. "Theseus is out in the dark training our warriors," Arrian told him, " they are learning to hunt in the dark."
"Impressive," Meshelic replied,"perhaps I shall see them from my roof when I return home."
The Grand Poobah glanced away from nbarclay, who was trying to explain to NYE his build plans using only his hands, as neither of them could read, write or count yet. He immediately noticed Meshelic, Zeit, DeepO, Alva848, Dominae and ManicStarSeed, who stood waiting at the entrance. "My Great Embassy! Welcome home! How are things abroad?" NYE embraced his fellow Stormians.
And the Great Embassy sat down with their Grand Poobah, the Builders and the Warriors, and told them the tales of their journeys to the other nations....
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zeit
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Meet my blade!
Sep 2002
time: 06:24
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... And so Meshelic and the ambassadors sat for dinner at the great dining hall at the Poobah Palace, as well as other respected officials who welcomed the diplomats. On the table where many plates of the palace finest dishes, the scent stiked Zeit's nose and a feeling of joy filled him. "So good to be back home, having to eat squirrel jerky and foraged berries for a whole year was almost too hard to bear!" Zeit exclaimed, which was soon followed by a bursting laughter from the envoys, and then by all of those around the table, who were until then busy trying to grab their meal by their hands.
As the second dish was served, a band of drumers entered the hall, and the Grand Poobah himself stood up and introduced them: "These that now perform for us are equiped with a new weapon devloped by our trusted wise-men, which will be used to instill the fear of the Storm Wraith of our enemies". "Indeed, a fine use for those poor squirrels' pelts, Meshelic added, but i carry a message of peace and partnership from AdmiralPJ of those who call themselves the Lux Invictia, which i'd bring to our tribal council for discussion" Silence fell over the table as rumbling sounds of drums began to fill the hall. The awkwards silence was finnally broken by alva, "I wouldn't trust those luxians, they show no respect for the Great Storm, It might be a ploy against us Grand Poobah..." He says in a sharp tone, only to be broken by notyoueither himelf: "Silence!, this will be discussed tommorow at the the council, and not here at this dinning hall..."
Embarrased faces looked around the table, until the Grand Poobah raised his cup and heartedly exclaimed: "I propose a toast for this fine assembly of diplomats, may they continue to represent us in good light, and strengthen our standing". Voices of agreement and relief were heard across the table, mixed with the sounds of cups hitting each other, drumers banging their drums, and waiters running around, filling empty cups of ale.
And so the feast continuned well into the late hours of the night...
Last edited by zeit on 07-12-2002 at 23:22
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Meshelic
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Bringer of Peace, Destroyer of Worlds
Sep 2002
time: 21:24
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The days following the banquet for the heads of state of the Gathering Storm were just what Meshelic needed. To sleep in his own bed, albeit covered in female admirers from his journeys, was truly satisfying to the tired Foreign Minister.
Awoken early in the morning the next day by the inspiring beats of the new drummer squads that were raised in his absence, Meshelic rose to greet the new day. It was a beautiful Eye of the Storm morning, the birds chirping and the dew glistening on the soft grass. Off in the distance he noticed a small band of warriors, about eight of them, walking out the gates into the outside world. Leading the pack was none other than General Arrian himself, who strode confidentely in front of the rest.
Meshelic was about to rush out the door to greet them when he remembered to pay the proper respect to the Wraith, who's statue stood not far from his front door where people may pay homage going in and out. Doing several quick bows to the storm god, Meshelic raced out to greet the leaving warriors.
General Arrian stopped and looked back when he heard the distant shouts of Meshelic, the Foreign Minister. "Hold up Arrian!" The band of warriors stopped in their tracks.
"Hello there my friend, where are you going with our noble warriors?" Meshelic asked, breathing slightly heavy from running the last hundred yards, (he was renown for smoking the dried leaves of some of the local herbs and plants, a hobby he picked up on his journeys from some small, friendly barbarian tribes.
"I am leading this reconnaisance unit to survey the lands surrounding our city. Direct orders from the Grand Poobah himself!" Arrian looked proud to be given the command, albeit a small one. "Look at these warriors! They are the pride of our tribe! These men can disappear from sight before you can blink your eyes!"
Meshelic was impressed. The warriors looked more like trees, he noted. Their coverings helped them to blend very well with the surrounding environment. "Could do very well in battle against any vicious barbarians out there." Meshelic spoke.
"We are hoping for that. I'm sorry sir, but I must be back with these men four nights from now so I may report to NYE our findings." Arrian said, with both regret and anxiety in his voice. He was obviously excited to be on this first mission with the trained warriors.
"Well then I shall not keep you."
The two said their goodbye's and Meshelic looked at the sun quickly to tell the time. He still had a few moments before he must appear before the Grand Poobah. He walked quickly, nonetheless.
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Meshelic
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Bringer of Peace, Destroyer of Worlds
Sep 2002
time: 21:24
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The Grand Poobah's palace was a grand site. Though it was little more than rocks and giant boulders rolled together, it was much larger and much more livable than Meshelic's own quarters.
The winds had begun to blow gently, and a soft rain began sprinkling down on the rock path leading to the palace. Meshelic nearly stumbled after his foot slipped on an especially slippery rock, but he regained his balance and looked either way to make sure no one noticed. Sure enough, no one did.
There was a guard posted, standing in front of the giant palace of boulders, who nodded towards Meshelic as he entered inside, where the wind no longer blew and the rain no longer sprinkled down his forehead. The air inside was always dark, but NotYouEither had insisted on someone carving a giant hole in the top of the palace where the sun may still shine in, or be covered to his preference.
The throne room of the palace was even more impressive than the outside. Laborers had carved out a giant room in the center of the largest boulder, which must have weighed several hundred thousand pounds. (This was no small rock, that's for sure). Several bearskins were spread out on the floor, their heads staring into space, some in the same facial expression they must have had before they died. In the center of the room was a long wooden table that could seat all the heads of state at once. The servants entered and left through passages to the right and left of the table.
Meshelic was walking, minding his own business when a great jungle cat jumped out of the corner and bared it's teeth at him. Jumping back, startled, Meshelic quickly looked around for a giant spear.
"Meshelic!" a voice called out. Meshelic looked around and caught the figure. He knew the voice. "Alva, there's a giant beast waiting to eat me here!" The giant cat was still staring intently at Meshelic, probably imagining the poor Foreign Minister as his lunchtime snack. To say the least, being in the presence of such a large cat as this was a little unnerving for Meshelic, although he had personally hunted many a giant cat in the wild.
"Ah, do not be nervous my friend! Did you not know? They are called lions, and this one is one of my personal favorites." Alva stepped forward and knelt in front of the lion. "Here kitty kitty!" Alva spoke to the cat. It glanced at Meshelic one more time, licked it's chops, and then stood up to rub up against Alva's outstretched arms.
"Notyoueither has a few of his own as well! They are incredibly good security, and are quite beautiful animals. Don't you agree?" Alva spoke, scratching the lion's mane and patting it on the back.
"Uh yes of course. Very umm...beautiful animals," Meshelic said, still a little startled. Going to battle with barbarians was one thing, at least they were human. Being the prey of a giant jungle cat in the palace was not enticing to him. Knowing there were more didn't help much. "I did not know they could be domesticated." Meshelic spoke.
"Oh yes, we've been training them for awhile. I happened to stumble upon their litter when you were out playing ambassador out there. I of course had to kill the mother, or else she may have killed me first! But I looked at the cubs and took pity on them, and decided I would raise them. I gave many to NYE, he loves the creatures."
Meshelic was silent, waiting. "The Grand Poobah has been waiting for you, though." Alva said. "Not too long I hope?" Meshelic asked. "No, he has just risen. I would not have known had he not called me in to ask more about the lions."
Meshelic and Alva both walked across the throne room, where NYE sat, surrounded by two lionesses and one great giant lion male. "Ah, Meshelic, Alva! Come sit with me! We have much to discuss." NotYouEither waved to his servant, "Go fetch the rest of the ambassadors, and have them come here. Tell them we are discussing important things and if they want to take part in it, they must be here very shortly from now!"
The servant fled.
"Come now, we have much to discuss!" NYE spoke, his hand resting on the head of one of the lionesses.
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Meshelic
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Bringer of Peace, Destroyer of Worlds
Sep 2002
time: 21:24
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It was night. The citizens of Eye of the Storm had long gone to bed, and all was quiet throughout the city. Off in the distance, a lone wolf howled a lonely song, and a dog barked in response before settling down to his own bed. The only lights to see by were the two tall torches that rose out of the ground near the front gate, illuminating a majestically carved statue of the storm Wraith, who seemed to look out on the surrounding lands with an all-knowing and contemplative look upon it's face.
A lone guard sleepily stood by the main gate, occasionally running his fingers over the tops of the flames eminating from the torches to try and keep his hands warm. Sentry duty was not exciting to say the least, and the guard was soon snoring loudly, leaning against the large walls that surrounded the city.
One other was awake. In his stone quarters, located in the west wing of the palace, Shiber stared out into the darkness. Watching silently out his single window, he listened to the fading barks of the dog, and the howl of the wolf in the distance. The Chief of Security was restless. He had been hard at work ensuring that everything was in order for the return of the Great Embassy, and though he was cold and worn out, he continued to restlessly stare out into the distance, unmoving. The moments passed slowly, and Shiber decided to retire to the night.
He had just laid down on his bed of grass when he heard the dog bark again. Dismissing it as nothing unusual, he closed his eyes. Only to hear something different. A slow, steady sound that only seemed to get louder the longer he laid. This was most unusual. Shiber knew something was not right.
Shiber jumped up and silently grabbed his black cloak that rendered him nearly invisible in the night. Pulling the hood over his head, and grabbing his axe, Shiber slowly moved over to the window again, looking out cautiously.
The sound stopped, only briefly. Shiber could hear his own breath in the silence, and then it began again. Footsteps! This was very unusual. He silently opened his door and crept outside, heading towards the distant light of the main gate.
It was only a few moments before he reached the gate, and when he arrived he whispered silently, "Guard! Where are you?" There was no answer. Silence. Again he called out, and again no answer. Shiber walked forward and looked out towards the road leading up to the gate, though he saw nothing. Except one thing.
Leaning against the wall on the outside of the town, lay the sentry guard. Shiber ran over to him. "Guard what are you doing? Get up you worthless piece of..." and his voice trailed off. The guard was dead, blood running from a fatal neck wound. The seconds suddenly seemed like hours, and Shiber immediately blew out the torches that illuminated the gate. There was an intruder.
His eyes still adjusting to the darkness, Shiber focused his attention on the corpse that lay before him. Reaching down and grabbing the dagger that the guard had never been able to use to save himself, Shiber grabbed the legs of his fallen cohort and pulled him around the wall. Someone would find him later. Thinking quickly, his thoughts raced to the palace. "Someone is trying to kill NYE!" he spoke silently to himself as he rushed to the palace.
It was a good hundred yard dash to the palace, but Shiber took the high road, climbing atop one of the roofs of a laborer's house, he silently crept along towards the palace, scanning the horizon for any movement. The dog began barking again, this time exactly forward of his location. He ran now, fearing he may be too late and hoping he wouldn't cave one of the straw-thatched roofs in.
Despite his lack of energy, Shiber was running off adrenaline now, and his thoughts focused towards the walls that seperated the palace from the homes of the townsfolk. Leaping off of the roof and landing in a bale of hay, Shiber pulled himself out of the pile and slunk into the shadows. No one anywhere could see him, one would think.
Out of breath and trying to not give away his position, Shiber kept scanning the grounds, the walls, the skyline. Just before he was about to ask himself where the intruder was, the intruder made himself known by sending off a lone arrow that howled through the air and just barely missed Shiber's head. Leaping out from the spot that he knew was no longer safe, Shiber rolled on the ground a few times and hid behind a giant wooden beer keg that stood several feet tall. But this was no safer, for another arrow struck again just passed his head, striking the keg and sending a small stream of beer out onto the ground.
It was now or never. Judging that the mysterious intruder was only thirty feet away, Shiber rolled around the other side of the keg and began running straight towards the dark figure that stood in the shadow against another wall. Letting loose a loud war cry, Shiber swung his mighty axe, but his blow was deflected by what looked like a long staff that was apparently strong enough to deflect the axe. The intruder was very strong, and the two began circling each other, exchanging blows, Shiber swinging valiantly with his axe and the intruder parrying every attack. Both were grunting and breathing heavy, and though Shiber was still out of breath he continued to fight.
The intruder, who was becoming weakened every other blow, pulled out a long blade and began attacking along with the long staff that he had. A swipe here, a swipe there; each dodged each other's swings.
Tiring of this, Shiber tried one last blow of his axe, though he swung so hard that when he missed, the blade seperated from his axe-handle, and went flying into the darkness. Without a weapon, Shiber dove into the intruder, who let out a cry as they both crashed to the ground. They exchanged a series of punches, Shiber connecting a few times against the jaw of the intruder, and the intruder getting in a few good ones himself. But the intruder's arms were longer, and he pushed Shiber away far enough to clutch the Chief of Security by the neck. His neck being squeezed tightly, Shiber could feel the blood rushing to his head. He didn't have long. Reaching down into his cloak he clutched the knife he had taken off the dead sentry, and in one last motion he shoved the blade into the heart of the intruder who was choking the life out of him.
By this time, the populace had awoken to the ruckus, and had begun running towards the two men who fought on the ground. DeepO and Nbarclay arrived first, but by the time they had arrived Shiber had already defeated the unknown assailant.
"Shiber are you alright?!" DeepO asked.
Breathing deeply, Shiber nodded and looked towards man whom he had just slain.
"Who was he?" nbarclay, the Chief Economist asked.
"I do not know," Shiber said between breaths, "he murdered the gate guard, and almost took me with him."
The three men looked down on the intruder's body. "I think he was here for the Grand Poobah, thank the Wraith that he didn't make it."
A crowd had gathered. Men with their torches investigating the area, making sure there were no more would-be killers inside the city walls. And the dog barked, and the wolf howled, and the statue of the storm Wraith stared out into the vast emptiness that surrounded the Eye of the Storm.
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Meshelic
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Bringer of Peace, Destroyer of Worlds
Sep 2002
time: 21:24
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The next day, NYE called together his advisors, ministers and warriors. As he sat in his throne room, idly watching his giant cats pace here and there, NYE looked as though he had slept throughout the whole night fine, while some of the others, namely Shiber, DeepO, nbarclay, and Meshelic who had stayed up throughout the night trying to decide the origins of their late-night intruder, looked tired and weary.
Sir Ralph, sitting beside NotYouEither was busying himself with trying to figure out how to write down various symbols into an alphabet they could read and write, although he himself was having troubles with it.
Zeit and Conqueror were eyeballing the giant cats, looking slightly more worried than the others, although the rest of the cabinet also seemed to share in their caution, besides Alva who always seemed to get along with the giant cats. Randolph, Dominae and Theseus were deeply involved in a conversation; nobody could overhear though, and so left them be in the far end of the throne room.
"Your Grand Poobah-ness," AsleepAtTheWheel began. "There is a concern throughout our capitol, concern that this "intruder" last night will be followed by many more to come. Shall we evacuate the capitol for a safer place?"
NYE turned his attention away from his favorite black-striped orange cat, whom he had decided to call a "tiger", acknowledging AsleepAtTheWheel.
"No of course not, we are perfectly safe here..." he replied.
"Your Poobah-ness," ManicStarSeed spoke. "Our concern is not for ourselves but for your grand um...Poohah-ness."
"I appreciate your concern, men." NYE spoke, motioning to Shiber and NYE's assortment of giant cats,"but as you can see, I have some of the best security a ruler could ask for, I do not wish to leave here. Besides, what about the people? If more come I will not leave them here to be captured or die!"
Silence.
nbarclay spoke up. "Perhaps you would like to go over our plans for further construction, your Poobah-ness?"
The tension was stifled, and NYE, who took great interest in the expansion of his tiny nation, nodded with approval.
* * * * *
Elsewhere.....far away from Eye of the Storm, General Arrian and his band of warriors had scaled the mountain in the west of the Gathering Storm capitol and were now looking out on the unexplored land before them. Straining their eyes to see as far as they could, it seemed that in the distance Arrian could see the smoke rising from an encampment, many many miles away.
"Barbarians!" he spoke to himself, although his lead warrior Grog overheard him. "Barbarians, sir?"
"Yes over there, do you see that rising trail of black smoke?"
"Ugh, I do now General!" the warrior replied.
"Come then, let us go out and meet them." Arrian ordered.
"Meet them? Do you think they'll be nice to us?"
"I do not know, but in due time Grog, we shall find out. The Grand Poobah expects us in two days time, we must not go back empty-handed."
Grog gripped his axe tightly in his hands. "Grog want tank....Grog want tank..."
"What is that nonsense you are muttering?" Arrian scolded. "Now follow me, enough of this "tank" talk, whatever it is."
And the warrior party began their journey down the mountain, led by their commander, Arrian.
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06-12-2002 04:18
This is open to all members by the way, although I'm hoping it won't be just me interested in posting here. 
, but I guess I should be happy I can stay at our castle. 
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