Posted by Malaglen on August 1, 2000 at 07:02:10:
Your role is: Malaglen awakened from his dream of childhood. "What brought that on?" he pondered. "I haven't gone swimming "Quiet, young Malaglen. This is prayer-time." Malaglen grimaced as he came fully to his senses. He was, "And yea, let our Gods, mighty in their wrath, yet wise beyond Added Mon Feb 28 14:56:42 2000 at level 4: "Calm yourself, Kallenthemal. The twisted one will be dealt with soon." As Malaglen continued his preparations, he silently His camouflage completed, Malaglen smiled, very satisfied. "Malaglen? HELLO?? Are you still here????" the elf As usual, the dwarf stood steadfastly, though his hands "Yes, Kallenthemal, I am still here. I will not leave you." "Dropped out? You got kicked out! And keep your comments As Malaglen realized he'd given his thoughts voice and As if to give his words emphasis, just then two lumbering trolls about trying to hack the elf and dwarf to pieces. Malaglen "GIT YERSELVES OUTTA HERE!" the dwarf bellowed. And Malaglen did. The trolls began to bash his two friends into the ground, and Added Mon Feb 28 21:24:27 2000 at level 8: Waking with a start, Malaglen realized he'd had the dream again. Shaking his head, Malaglen woke up and set out towards the swamp again. Added Wed Mar 1 16:11:58 2000 at level 18: Malaglen slid out of his slinky red dress and laid back on the bed. Malaglen sat upright on his bed of leaves. "Whoring myself out like that seems to have more lasting consequences," Unable to contain the vomit any longer, Malaglen spewed the chunky mess Added Sat Mar 4 13:15:26 2000 at level 28: Sitting up, smacking his lips to get the morning film off his tongue, Added Fri Mar 24 21:03:49 2000 at level 41: Starting out of his slumber, Malaglen looked at his hands. "No blood there," Malaglen rose and began prowling the forest again, fully comfortable as the hunter. Added Tue May 9 21:08:17 2000 at level 51: Malaglen awoke with a groan, clutching his head. "The nightmare again. Added Sun May 21 21:30:41 2000 at level 51: Leaping from the trees, the huge jungle cat could smell Malaglen woke from another dream of the hunt. "Prey."
Added Mon Feb 28 14:42:38 2000 at level 4:
Swirling Lights, greens, browns. Shadows of the trees.
Bark. Fresh air. Breeze through the grass.
Canopy of trees. Blue sky peeking through. Cool.
Hot day. Summer pond. Swimming. Laughing, splashing.
in ages."
(to his everlasting woe), still in the Academy's Paladin training.
measure, bless us this day, and keep our sparring safe..."
The abbot continued to drone on and on, and Malaglen felt himself
drifting off further.
"Come on, COME ON! Hurry it up, or we're all going to die!"
The once-arrogant elf seemed a bit less arrogant now. It pleased
Malaglen, probably a bit too much. He felt a pang of guilt,
taking pleasure in his group-mate and ally's panic.
prayed "Let me be speaking the truth."
whined. "Don't leave us!"
anxiously clutched his axe.
"(Damn, if finishing the Paladin courses in the Academy makes you
like that, I'm glad I dropped out)" Malaglen thought.
to yourself, if you please!" the elf spat.
began to sputter an apology, the dwarf spoke up in a
low rumble. "You two keep yer jabberin' up, an' we'll
have more'n just two o' them buggers on us."
burst through the hedge. Yelling out in glee, they set
and his party fought well, and had nearly slain one of the beasts,
when three more entered the fray from the other side!
He fled, came back in, and again camouflaged himself.
neither could flee. Before Malaglen's eyes, they died.
Falling. Black pit. Sharp spike at the bottom.
Hurtling faster. Shiny spike. Headfirst toward spike.
Faster and faster. About to hit.
He found himself wondering why he kept having the dream.
In the dream, there was no panic at the impending death,
simply a feeling that it was deserved. Malaglen wondered
why he felt he deserved to die, but deep down, he knew
exactly why he felt that way. He found himself thinking
about a paladin in a swamp, and a grievous error. He found
himself thinking about his friends, in that forest, and the trolls.
"You just sit tight, sailor, and I'll be right with you."
"Ok, big boy, come and get me."
The sailor took of his pants, and climbed on top of -
he thought, remembering his episode with the warrior. Bile rose up in his
throat. "He was eating BROWNIES! Gaug-"
behind a nearby tree. Wiping his mouth, drinking from his skin, he silently
vowed "never again."
"EVERYONE! FOLLOW ME!!!" Malaglen charged through the underbrush,
holding his sword (axe!) high, shouting a battlecry, and calling
forth the wrath of the gods upon the evil shadowy creatures.
He was surrounded by friends, and the night receded from his
almighty paladin powers. His shiny suit of armor reflected
his clean-cut face, with sparkling white teeth and-
Malaglen broke camp and set out hacking down greater and lesser trolls.
Vague memories of his dream came back to him, and he felt, for the first
time he could remember in a long while, at peace with himself.
The blood ran down the back of Malaglen's hand, smeared where he had
wiped his forehead. Glancing at his other hand, he saw that it, too,
was covered in blood. All of Malaglen's body seemed drenched with blood.
Strangely enough, Malaglen did not feel uncomfortable with this. Glancing
around, he saw he was standing at the front of a large pack of wolves.
Slowly, the wolves' features turned from wolves to dryads, nymphs, and
other assorted peaceful forest creatures. Yet the gentle beings had names,
names of people that Malaglen knew. Kamal...Sasha...Magnamara...Saldarito...
Glancing to his left, Malaglen saw another blood-drenched figure. Huge in
stature, a polar bear...no, a giant...Qeli.
he thought. "What a strange dream."
"FLONTINOT! MOVE!!! GET OUT!!! GEETTTT OUTTTTT!!!!"
Malaglen watched helplessly as Flontinot was torn apart by
Simka, Peroleth, elementals, archons, and other assorted slaves
of the Empire. Flontinot stood there, taking all of the punishment,
the victim of some bad fish and worse timing.
Why won't it stop?" Rolling to another spot under the tree, Malaglen
closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep once more.
"FLONTINOT! MOVE!!! GET OUT!!! GEETTTT OUTTTTT!!!!"...
Sneaking through the underbrush with great stealth,
the thief crept from tree to tree, attempting to stay
in the shadows of the trees. With keen eyesight,
he checked his surroundings for any danger. Seeing none,
he proceeded with his mission.
the complacency of the thief. With utter contempt, the
Malaglen-tiger tore out the thief's throat.