Valdar and Astralis

Auleri Height: 5'3" Weight: 120 lbs Hair: Platinum Blonde Eyes: Grey Caste: Dawn Concept: Disgraced Exalted Again she dreamed. It was the third time tonight. Half blinded by the dazzling light, she stared defiantly into the heavans. Her anima swirled around her, blazing wings of white and gold triumphant over her fallen foe. A voice from the sky spoke in terrible anger, words obscured by it's volume. She recalled shouting back in defiance, before raising her hands against the terrible visage before her. * A rough kick to the ribs brought Auleri awake. She muttered a few choice curses and rolled over, covering her eyes with one hand. The corpse collector grunted and kicked one of the others she was sharing the gutter with. Finding no response, he gleefully seized the body by it's legs and dragged it towards his cart. An apprentice quickly hopped down to strip anything of value from the corpse before marking it. The two of them then piled the dead woman atop the dozen other corpses before driving away. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Auleri rose slowly and staggered over to a nearby water through. She paused and gazed at her scattered reflection - a mortal woman in bare rags, Caste Sigil, nor Anima to mark her kind. Mentally, she counted off another day, the sixty seventh since she was exiled to this forsaken mortality. After cleaning herself the best she could Auleri turned to find four women standing by the alley mouth. Sensing slim pickings, she picked up a small bundle of belongings and set out for Market Street. Market Street was crowded by the time she arrived, with the sun about to crest noon. Auleri made her way through the crowd of beggars and street vendors, hitching her ragged skirt up to the waist to reveal the guild tattoo on her thigh. Quite suddenly, she felt a knife at her back. It was all she could do to freeze. A rough voice crooned over her shoulders. "You and I are going to take a side trip, lass - down the next side street." The skinny man guided her off the main street and into the twisting maze of alleys and out of sight. Roughly, he prodded her towards three other men loitering in the dim streets. Auleri's heart sank as she spied a limp foot sticking out behind piles of rubbish. These were not thieves. Sensing her realization the largest of the trio grinned, showing decayed teeth. "Ya want to strip first whore? Bloody clothes are hard to sell aye." The knife moved up to her throat, and Auleri tensed. Just as the gang leader was about to nod, the air turned unnaturally still, and her eyes widened at a glorious visage that floated down the narrow street. "Hail, fallen one. Run into a spot of trouble, have we?" Falling to one knee, Auleri placed one fist over heart and touched her forehead to the ground. "Lord." "When I heard the betrayer of the White Circle was working in the poor quarter of the Nexus, I could scarsely believe it. How fare ye, captain?" She grimaced. How like the gods to mock her before she died. "I fare well, lord. Soon it will be over." "I think not." Bitterly, she said; "Pardon lord, but you seemed to think so." " I had nothing to do with your pride Auleri. Nor the madness that made you slay your circle members, but I have use for you yet." Eyes smouldering, Auleri raised here head to look at the embodiment of Sol in the eye. "But why, lord?" "You have work left undone, Captain, and your penance is complete. Finish what you have started, and you shall be free." She paused a moment to reflect, then nodded. "Very well, m'lord. "Then be touched, again." A tendril of light detached itself from the shapeless apparition, snaked it's way down to the woman's forehead. Auleri gasped as she felt new power infusing her body, filling it with light. Tears of joy ran openly down her face as she embraced the fammiliar spirit pulsing through her body. "Thank you, m'lord"

Valdar, definatley interested Seems so complicated though, still have a question or two

Name: Kitanue Talesia Concept: Budding pornstar Race: Elf Gender: Female Eyes: Green Hair: Platinum Blonde Height: 5'1'' (+1' with ears) Weight: 82 lbs. One could almost say that Kitanue was born to whore. Kicked out of home at an early age by her conservative elders, the young elf drifted across the world, relying on good looks and a curvatous body to survive. For decades she travelled, rising from coarse street girl, to skilled brothel worker, to mistress courtesan. She knew every role like the back of her hand, never hesitating to learn more. It was in the great city of Freeport that she discovered her true call, dancing. Torn between passion and trade Kitanue melded the two - giving birth to the art of exotic dances. Encouraged by the success, Kitanue set off around the world again to spread her "art" as well as new ways to improve her dance. Her adventures had mixed results. In the first town she visited, Kitanue was driven out by a mob of enraged pitchfork wielding wives (an occupational hazard). In the next, she endured nearly five years as a temple dancer before the temple (and town) was struck down by a wrathful god, crushed by a landslide before being incinerated by a volcano. Undaunted, she's on the road again in her slightly charred dancing dress, drifting from town to village with a firm set to her ears and the light of an angry volcano at her back.

Just briefly- I'm sure most of you already heard this. At 19:37 GMT, Pope John Paul II passed away after a long and faithful service to the church aged 84. It's a sad day for many, yet tinged with gladness that his suffering was not overly prolonged. Karol Jozef Wojtyla without doubt touched the hearts of many with his message of peace and reconcilation. Personally, I feel this was his most significant achievement, even so far as to forgive the man who tried to assasinate him. May his reward be great in heaven.

You could also try fiddling with the port number. 6667 dosn't connect occationaly for me, but 6669 usually works.

As Deg posted in the Minstrell Hall: Just change the username to your name, and the server to:

Yeah, think most of us miss Rune And er. . .I messed up - The year is 2005 now. It's the _second_ pen website aniversary, not first Sorry for the confusion.

Does THIS look fammiliar? It's been just over a year since we officialy moved from the dim recesses of ezboard to our sparkly website. Firstly I'd like to take the time to give the Elders, Ancients, and all other adminy people who worked to bring about this change a big THANK YOU!! for their work in making this come about. Without your foresight and efforts in guiding the pen, we would not be half the community we are today. Secondly, a (second) huge welcome to those who have joined our ranks this year. Your contributions have truly vitalized the Pen, and we cherish your presence greatly. Finnaly, for those who have drifted away, lost or left us - we do hope these halls will one day again be graced with your presence. Happy Birthday www.themightypen.net!

I'm really impressed someone put a lot of thought and effort into that, including the 3D animation. At first I thought it was all ripped off sprites, but some of the scenes really show it. A for plot and presentation, B for sound. Definatley bookmarked. Edit: And still Ninjas! Stupid pirates had to blow up the moon!

Bring it!

Pirates. . .until the nearest gnome ninja flips out and kills everything around them!!!

Does Trillian as a whole not work, or is it just not connecting to IRC? (that's the only medium I've seen you on) If it's just IRC, the servers may be acting up, or some settings got goofed when upgrading. If it's more than that, such as Trillian not starting at all, or not connecting to any medium, we need more infos! PM one of the irc crowd if it's just IRC acting up

Eep. . .*hugs*

When this happens, if I'm not online, someone contact via some other means, such as telephone, carrier pigeon, or psychic powers. So you're a samurai now? Every time we hear from you, you just get cooler and cooler. I tried sending a pshycic message to you Tam, but it got bounced back. Take off your tinfoil hat.

*Eeps and pretends to be at work* Good to read you're still around, and have a happy thanksgiving as well! . . .and yes boss, working on it \X_X/

Youza-thanks whoeveer it was who edited my original post to add the early entries! I've been busy playing everquest playing WoW studying! Well, amoung other things Will try to keep on top of it, but as previously mentioned, excpect long delays *hops off to another past exam*

Almost like Zadown, I spend long periods with nothing but the computer fan in my ears -- Deafness, I'd say. Besides, deafness does not necessarily lead to a degradement of lifestyle -- Hearing aids are common. Technology to remedy the lack of hearing is far more complete (sadly) than that to sight.

Without throwing in my views on the actual political parties and candidates, as I'm not a citizen of the United States. . . I'm just praying that voters realize that what the United States does today _will_ have reprocussions in the future, and you should be concerned instead of just shrugging it off.

And clean up your room! bwahahahahaha! \^_^/ Happy Birthday

*Imagines some distant day when the HUGE hump in the 20-30 reigon moves up to the 40+ reigon* Think of the stories we could tell!

Hmm, interesting ressurected topic. After some consideration, I would say Judgement. Or divine judgement. I've been a bit err. . .naughty. That, and the prospect that Armageddon is close. . .YES it's silly.

Firstly, let me apolagise for the long delay between posts. I did mean to cliffhang a few days, but 2 weeks was a bit silly. Blame it on everquest study! The next portion of Shiny is complete-the assault on the fortress. Next comes the shortest, but hopefully most enlightening journey into deep Hellwind. On to my thoughts on this part. 1. Some people may not get some of the EQ references I stuck in, for which I apolagise. Valdar really hates asshalflings. Halflings are probably the most disliked race in EQ, as they have several innate advantages that were never removed from the early days. 2. Another EQ reference is the enchanter club. In some harder adventures, enchanters typically charm a monster to add, or take damage (Tpit, for example half-requires it, the monster damage there is/was absolutley overwhelming). When charm breaks (it's random duration) the chanter (in the words of several clerics) "explodes". 3. Call me necrophilic, but the last two posts sort of wrote themselves. The original plan for Shiny was to have Kitanue injured but not killed. Or at least healed by the wards I wrote off as completley broken. The demon was then to step up to attempt a killing blow, but Valdar shoots him through the Astral. As time went by however, it felt like that would be 'cheating' in some obscure manner. Deliberatley misleading the audience into a particularly gut wrenching moment (hopefully it was) then saying "oh, it's not what it seemed!" seems a bit cheap or something. I can't say that the "oh but he reversed time and so it never happened!" way works better (and as Valdar has not graduated at this point in the storyline, somewhat implausible). It almost sounds like one of those budget science fiction movie plots. Had more fun writing it than the 'injured' version though. I guess that's what made it stick. Lastly, I must thank Wyvern and Gyrfalcon for their help. The two of you all but wrote the fourth big paragraph from the bottom on the current second last post. (mouthful, ya?) Comments and thoughts on this section welcome

"Kitanue NO!" The angel fell of the blade in a trail of fire and crashed to the floor limply. Howling in delight, the hellspawn swung his blade at the elf. Valdar was too angry to even block, and the sword glanced off a hidden ear blade. The Balrog blinked a flaming eye in surprise. Kitanue lay in a puddle of blood and magic, glazed eyes obscured by a veil of pale hair and surrounded by ancient wards shattered by the blow. Even as he watched, her corpse twitched, feeling the touch of necromancy. The Planewalker tore his gaze away from the angel's body and focused on his foe. His eyes boiled a hellish red behind the mask. Reality flickered ominously as his mind tapped the dangerous flow of primal energy. Again the blade fell, crushing wards and carved a bloodless wound in the illusion. Time slowed for the demon and Planewalker. The world around them grew flat, two dimensional and monochrome. Light spilled from the empty wound in Valdar's illusion, unable to contain the wild surge of magic he had held in check until now. Within the dislocation of reality, the Demon perceived him for an instant. The brown clad ranger faded together with the irrelevant reality, replaced with an almost complete Planewalker close to his final change. Lines of magic framed his diminutive form, converging in a blazing orb of light that represented the sum of isolated space and time. The elf let his bloody eyes speak for him. He released the bubble and vanished in an onyx sphere before the Balrog could react. "NO!" The compressed bubble of space and time pulsed once, and the chamber faded in a shockwave of cause and effect. Torn out of time, the Balrog staggered backwards, leaving a ghostly outline gaping in horror. Pervasive reality crushed the bubble a moment later. The Demon had but a moment to behold its own spectre before being torn apart by the time rift. * Normality rushed in to fill the gap. Kitanue shouted something in the language of high Angels and charged. She flew directly into the rampaging Balrog, her Katana slicing deep into burning flesh. The Hellspawn turned to face the new attack, and Kitanue was driven back blow by blow, dodging or blocking with inhuman speed. She struck again in a spray of demon blood, overextending herself. The demon's roar of triumph turned into a distant wail of horror, before it's body tore apart. The angel struck again but encountered no resistance, stumbled through a fine mist of demon blood. * Deep underground, mindless demons howled in confusion and directionless rage, forgetting what never happened. Valdar blinked a few times as the onyx shield dissolved, fixing the memory of what was in his mind.

The subject of your exchange is Gyrfalcon, Vanessa Peredhil will be writing about you.

Ack, MIssed it even with my timezone advantage! I'm shamed! \\(;O_O;)// Happy Birthday big P!