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This is a really hard decision. I think the medium spear is the best weapon here. It has a lot going for it. It is versatile. It is the explorer's weapon, and we want to be explorers. It is an adequate weapon for hunting. It can be thrown. The different styles of fighting with a spear would provide a good base for learning the staff, long spear, short spear and javelin later in life, allowing easy diversification and strengthening our medium spear skills as we could incorporate techniques from other weapons easily. It would also help our reputation a little, a minor point, but still a point in its favor. Unfortunately, the Bow is leading by a landslide, and if we are using a bow we need to be realllly good. At least the bow will help make our upper body really buff. Since with our height will probably have a 100+ pound draw bow so it'll be kinda like doing bench presses for hours while we practice. Maybe we can practice running away too  For all those times when shoddy arrows or a damp bowstring mean we miss and we have to "bravely bravely run away." Ultimately, I think actually being decent with the bow is more important than being marginal with the spear and bow. A sling would have been a much better weapon for the goonmind to fixate on. Bows are stupidly fiddly.
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Sep 22, 2013 15:25
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Nettle Soup posted:You guys do realise that the vote is probably going to be split between bow and spear, so even your 4 Ms are only going to count for roughly 1/2 of our time? That's 1/2 of our time to learn shooting, arrow making (fletching, straightening the arrows, hardening the points and/or buying them in), stringing it properly without breaking it, general maintenance and convincing Tudiya to fund us, as we are a slave and own nothing... Seems an arrow probably costs about 50p, so even at a conservative estimate, 10 arrows is equivalent to a solid meal for most people. Wisdom. Well, I've been exploring the wilderness for a while now and only have one arrow left! Sure hope I don't have to use it and be left defenseless! ShotgunWillie fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 15:26
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Guys you all need to realize that the best course of action is to become a huge buff cannibal axe viking who eats demon/monster hearts for power. A vote for axe is a vote for prosperty. That way we are guaranteed drinking buddy status with Ishamal. Its even good for the economy.
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Sep 22, 2013 15:28
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LLSix posted:A sling would have been a much better weapon for the goonmind to fixate on. Bows are stupidly fiddly. So vote for the sling! If nobody votes for it, nobody else will! Get the ball rolling!
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Sep 22, 2013 15:32
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Voting on questions 1 through 4 is closed, anyone do a final tally? Question 5 remains open. I am traveling today and will have time to answer the other questions asked in about two hours. The update goes up this afternoon.
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Sep 22, 2013 15:39
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I vote we spend all this time learning how to make friends and defuse hostile situations 
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Sep 22, 2013 15:40
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It is a little early, but in light of the fact most of the votes are for one weapon, it will likely be winner take all on one weapon.
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Sep 22, 2013 15:56
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This weapon choice thing wouldn't be an issue if you guys would just sit down and learn to play that drat flute already.
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Sep 22, 2013 16:11
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I've gotta vote 5: E,E,E,E. Greatsword
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Sep 22, 2013 16:11
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Well, I guess there are worse weapons we could learn than the bow. vv
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Sep 22, 2013 16:11
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I guess my only true apprehension about the bow is when we run out of ammunition and a big ol' monster comes raging at us. I've play too much Dwarf fortress to know that beating people with crossbows, let alone regular bows. Can we at least get a medium spear to spar with Danal? I am fine with these two years going to get good with a bow, but we are only 16, and can learn to fight with the spear later. We aren't going to become a person that charges into battles, but someone who tries to stop the fight before it gets close for comfort. Other people in the city will not see that as being masculine. Also note that how muscular we are going to become is how much we train, and probably with what weapon we train with. We certainly aren't going to be swole enough to take on Lollypop by just slinging arrows. That being said, I like the idea of having ranged weapons. I just want to have an option to fight up close other than "OH poo poo! Out of ammo!"
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Sep 22, 2013 16:21
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If we do go the bow route can we learn how to fire it ambidexterously?
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Sep 22, 2013 16:24
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Nettle Soup posted:We managed to cut ourselves on it. It's wood and string. God help us if we ever take up guitar. That is pretty telling, actually, we're apparently really bad. I do a fair amount of archery, and I've never even met a little kid who can't at least figure out how to get the arrow to hop off the string a couple of feet. Maybe he brought us out one of those giant gently caress-off bows he was talking about, and we simply couldn't pull it back. People are overestimating the difficulty of fletching though. Yeah, making real, professional quality arrows that will sail for ages, straight and true, with potent arrowheads and the like is a skill, but it's really not that difficult to whittle down something that will fly relatively straight, with a pointy end that'll stick in things. It's not an arrow for shooting across battlefields in a military campaign, but it'll see you alright over short distances.
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Sep 22, 2013 16:32
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Diogines posted:Voting on questions 1 through 4 is closed, anyone do a final tally? Think 1-4 is up to date. No new votes since I added the last couple. Everyone's mind went to Stabby though. I will update my percentage spreadsheet in a minute in case anyone is interested in seeing it as percentage. I'm going to say that if we do bow we need to really master it. Normal arrows in most of the things we've seen (including people) are just going to irritate them. We will need to be able to shoot out eyes and such. Good for feeding ourselves though and the teacher is likely to be a hunter. This means their is at least a chance we will learn a bit about knives, wood working and skinning and such. (Minotaur horns would be nice to use for a bow.) In terms of character, we have been practicing looking ahead to consequences of madcap plans for some time now. At the battle we sought the heights. We seem to have unusually good vision. These sorts of things might make the bow 'feel' right. I think the axe or maul would be the most fun and make us the strongest from practice honestly, but not going to get the votes. The Labaras connection with the Medium Spear is great. Eventually we will need some way to fight up close as well as range. Sogol fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 16:42
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4x C! I hate the idea of us being limited by the number of arrows we have at any one time. The medium spear seems to be the most versatile choice right now.
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Sep 22, 2013 17:32
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The medium spear would be good to learn eventually. Or some other melee weapon. But we can learn to use those weapons later, since they are common and probably cheap. We have the best chance to learn to use the bow now. I am sure Danal will give us all the arrows we will ever need. And unlike most people in the city, we have the luxury of time for learning the bow.
Deadly Ham Sandwich fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 17:35
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A. Iron shod staff 04.00% B. Long spear 00.00% C. Medium spear 28.00% D. Sword 04.00% E. Greatsword 03.00% F. Club 02.00% G. Axe 04.00% H. Maul 02.00% I. Short Spear 02.00% J. Javelins 01.00% K. Sling 05.00% L. Other 00.00% M. Bow 45.00% Through Unassembly Requred vote. If this is how it plays out we should start learning to run long distances. Sogol fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 18:01
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Good thing we got our sandals 
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Sep 22, 2013 18:36
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will blow your mind.
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WhiteOutMouse posted:Good thing we got our sandals We can walk forever in our sandals. Running still tires us.
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Sep 22, 2013 18:41
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I am changing my vote to reallocate my two sling votes to medium spear, if this is allowed. I am now voting 4x C.
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Sep 22, 2013 18:47
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That would mean we could run until we are tired, and then walk, and then run again. The best traveler.
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Sep 22, 2013 18:48
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Clarifying my votes for 3 maul 1 javelin.
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Sep 22, 2013 18:49
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Currently with changes included: Bow= 44% Medium Spear= 28% All others at 5% or less. Check the sheet to make sure your votes are recorded accurately. (Or you can just trust me in which case we will probably end up cross training Axe and Maul.) Sogol fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 19:00
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I am going to start on the update, but it will take me a bit.
Diogines fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 19:04
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So in fact, a completely unknown quantity as a teacher.
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Sep 22, 2013 19:08
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A bit late, but if I'm still in time, I vote Cx4: A medium spear. It's a reliable and effective weapon, by drat!
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Sep 22, 2013 19:37
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Since the sling and sword aren't working out, please take my two votes for K and two votes towards D and put all four towards the short spear. Cross train that bitch.
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Sep 22, 2013 19:38
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As for this update we now have these skills Law, spear fishing (similar to javelin), swimming, literacy, flute, literacy, staff fighting, and now bow We are not very good at any of these. Middling at best.
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Sep 22, 2013 19:45
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Lanky Coconut Tree posted:As for this update we now have these skills We are a good spear fisher and swimmer 
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Sep 22, 2013 19:46
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I think Shotgun probably meant Medium Spear. Even so with those two votes that way it is still: Bow = 42% Med. Spear = 31% Makes scouting with Paebel a more attractive option, but I doubt we will have a vote change there.
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Sep 22, 2013 19:49
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SerSpook posted:We are a good spear fisher and swimmer Were. 6 years ago.
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Sep 22, 2013 20:05
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Bow fishing. We know what the end of a fishing spear looks like and have a rudimentary idea of how to make one so we can make or get fishing arrows. Woodworking is going to be handy to learn too (and math). We need to make a boat (a pretty big one) and begin stocking it with provisions because 'a storm is still coming' and 'save for hard times'.
Sogol fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 20:10
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Sogol posted:I think Shotgun probably meant Medium Spear. Even so with those two votes that way it is still: Should be four votes for the Medium Spear, yes. Two from the sword, two from the sling.
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Sep 22, 2013 20:32
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Oh good job everyone, gonna feel real stupid when all the upcoming puzzles require a staff for poking buttons down deep holes or something.
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Sep 22, 2013 21:08
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Theglavwen posted:Oh good job everyone, gonna feel real stupid when all the upcoming puzzles require a staff for poking buttons down deep holes or something. A medium spear would have worked just as well
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Sep 22, 2013 21:10
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Theglavwen posted:Oh good job everyone, gonna feel real stupid when all the upcoming puzzles require a staff for poking buttons down deep holes or something. If Legend of Zelda has taught me anything, it's that bows solve many more puzzles than staffs. Still think we should have gotten a spear.
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Sep 22, 2013 21:12
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Just keep firing arrows at our target. Problem solved! I really wanted us to use a great sword
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Sep 22, 2013 21:12
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Time passes. Two more years. Danal is now 10. In a few days you will be 16 and a man according to the customs of Zepath though, still a slave. Naomi is 18 or 19. Birthdays were not remember or celebrated in Athar and you do not know the date of your birth, so, at Danals insistence, the day of your arrival to Zepath has been celebrated as your birthday. You learned that Naomi's marriage was pushed away several times and then, cancelled altogether. Perhaps Lullaya's increasingly foul temper was to blame, or the whistling noise which comes from his splayed nose when he breathes? To remain unmarried at her age is odd, but not entirely unheard of and and she will probably be married off within a year or so. As the youngest daughter of man with many married daughters, her marriage is of a lesser importance. The feelings you had for her, and indeed you did have such, you kept to yourself. You are now rather tall, coming in 7'3. Tall for Zepath and taller than most men, but not freakishly so and well below Mighty Man who is anywhere from seven and a half to eight feet, or Tudiya at a whopping eight and a half feet. You did not spend much time creatively loafing with Danal, but he is highly enthusiastic for all things related to combat and gleefully joined you as you trained with Chait in the use of a bow. Chait is one of Ishamal's regular drinking buddies, the same man who yelled "Shwarma!"(Gyros!) as his battlecry in the battle with the minotaurs. On the first day that you appear for training, Chait instructs you to run around the wall of the city. As you finish your running, exhausted, Chait gives you a bow with no string and tells you that you will sleep with it each night. The next day, he has you carrying heavy stones from the rubble of an old building, to clear the area. The next day, you carry heavy buckets of water to help a farmer. Each day when you ask if he will finally show you how to use a bow, he says "perhaps tomorrow". Chait continues to have you perform tiring manual labor in this matter for a full month till in frustration you demand he finally show you how to use damned bow! To which he says "Fine, fine, all you had to do was ask... we shall do so... tomorrow. Come to my home in the morning." The next morning, you meet Chait behind his home and see that he has set up a straw target, several bows rest upon a table.  He lifts one of the bows, places an arrow in the string, pulls it back, closes his eyes and hits the straw target dead center. He hands you the bow, another arrow and says "Do that." You attempt to shoot the arrow and fail to do so properly, snapping the string on your finger in the process. Chait provides very little guidance, he simply watches, mostly quietly. Several more draws produce no more success. You angrily storm off. You return the next day at Danal's insistence and after nearly a full day, successfully shoot an arrow into a straw target.  The following day, Danal gives you a necklace, made from the arrow you shot, broken in half, each of the ends tied to a string, Danal keeping the end with the fletching and giving you, the arrowhead tied to a string. You continue to train every day with Chait, though you may only spend one day in four actually using the bow and spend the other days running, moving heavy stones away from old buildings and performing grueling manual labor. Once you seem to get the basics of figuring out how to properly shoot an arrow at all, before you get any good sense of accuracy, Chait stands beside you with a stick and taps you with it to frustrate and distract you as you aim, sometimes he pulls one of your legs aside or slams it hard into the ground just as you are about to release. One day Chait insists you wear a blindfold. You do so. Chait changes his mind about that bit when one of your shots goes wide, over the outer wall of his home and hits an ox cart in the street behind. You continue to train with Chait. After you score your first bullseye, Chait comment that you have "natural talent" for the bow. By the end of two years, you can fairly confidently hit a stationary man sized target at forty paces. While you spent most of your adolescence skinny, your six daily meals and regular training with Chait have added muscle to your wirey frame. You are putting on more muscle every day and some days sneak in a seventh meal. Your patchy facial hair is now a bushy but neatly trimmed beard any man of Zepath would be proud to call his own. Every person in Zepath knows who you are, your dark skin alone marks you as different, but if you did not have it you might be mistaken for a fit man in his early 20s.  Groups of young maidens sometimes go silent when you are close to them in the market, then giggle when you have passed. You have realized that your hearing is rather good at this point and you have overheard a number of inquiries among them, wondering if you are big all over, sometimes they also make comments that they wish they were Batshiba. Batshiba, as you know, being the temple slave that Labaras uses to "gentle" Enkidu. You are a looker. Children no longer mock you or call you a cannibal. With your excellent hearing, several times you overheard very young children, upon seeing you for the first time, ask their mothers if you are Enkidu and you have overheard foreign merchants say the same in jest. Barkof is not openly hostile to you, but you mutilated his nephew Lullaya and justified or not, he is no longer friendly to you. Zepath is only a city of a few thousand and Lullaya has poisoned his peers, the sons of the wealthy and powerful against you. Keza still hates you and is cruel to you in small ways but no longer leaves dog poo poo in your bed. With your rather excellent hearing you once overheard her tell Tudiyah that a slave merchant from another city offered a high price, indeed, a ludicrously excessive price for you, she attempted to convince him. Tudiya denied her saying "I have other plans for him." Yet with those few notable exceptions, things are going well. You speak with an obviously foreign accent but you have mastered the language of the men of Ur and are fluent in it. You no longer need your constant companion, Danal, to help translate for you. Men laugh readily at your jokes and are otherwise friendly to you. You spent a fair amount of time with Ishamal and it would seem to have helped to improve your social graces. You spent a fair amount of time with Ishamal. Most mornings he spent with a group of friends in a tavern, drinking. The friends varied, not simply those who partied with him on the battlefield but many other friends throughout the city and quite frequently, widowers or men whom have otherwise lost loved ones and whom Ishamal and his friends get quite drunk. You learned quite a few drinking games and how to hold your wine. You are sometimes called Enkitzstat in Ishamal's favorite taverns, joking term of endearment from the Old Tongue which you are told translates roughly to "Little Enkidu". Everyone in Zepath seems to know Ishamal and count him as the great and cherished friend of their grandfathers and a long time family friend. It becomes obvious to you he is the most loved man in the city. Ishamal has a somewhat regular daily schedule, something you were not aware of prior. Partying most mornings, often with the begrieved. In the early afternoons, you helped Ishamal bring meals to old widows or visit the sick and tell them a story or two, a joke or just to convey well wishes. For the rest of the afternoon, off to the market to chat with trade folk, planting tips to farmers and a few suggestions to craftsmen as they work on their wares. Ishamal's advice is generally highly regarded in seemingly every profession. He seems to know the intricate details of every trade. In the evenings, whatever tavern Ishamal went to each evening would see a tidy trade as men pack in to hear Ishamal tell the Old Tales, it generally being agreed that he tells the stories better than anyone. You have learned more of these stories from Ishamal. On occasion, rather late at night, as others stumbled home drunk Ishamal would visit the Temple of El, you were politely told to go home the one time you followed him. Ishamal still disappears, sometime for a week or more with little or no warning and no hint at all as to where he goes. Ishamal went on a few hunts with his friends and you joined them, enjoying the activity but probably not learning a whole lot about hunting in the process, though you did successfully take down a deer on one occasion in a forest near the city!  Danal was beside you for most of the time you spent with Ishamal and on the whole, rather enjoyed it. Tudiya seemed to approve as well. As much time as you spent with Ishamal, you spent slightly more with Rathal, an old woman who seemed to rather enjoy your youthful company, as well as that of her much, much, much younger brother, Danal. You learned more of writing, reading and math from her. One day she commented that "I misjudged you, you do have a head for numbers after all." There was no grand revelation, perhaps from the increased effort, but you can now read one day it all started to come easy to you. You can now read and write better than most and are rather good at numbers, capable of multiplication and simple division. Danal has, groaningly, at requests from you and upon orders from his father, joined you in your time with Rathal. He has learned the basics of literacy and struggles with numbers, deriding it as "donkey riders work, not for heroes!" implying that it was only for merchants. Danal was right insofar as writing is used almost exclusively for matters of commerce, yet Tudiya's kingly duties include quite a bit of time handling merchant disputes. Danal seems resentful of the fact that it came so easily to you, eventually, though it is not a sore spot in your relationship as long as you dont bring too much attention to it. You continue to shadow Tudiya and your relationship with him remains strong, though you do spend less time with him now. A few months ago, as your literacy and math skills have improved, he even had you prepare a new contract that he dictated to you! A true sign of trust! Exactly how much time you spent on what with who, varied day to day. Roughly half of your time was spent with Chait in training, and the rest roughly evenly split between Rathal, Ishamal and Tudiya. You did not spend all that much time with Ephat, beyond bringing him a meal here and there from the kitchens. When you declined the invitation of the witch Indor, she shook her head and said "Such a shame child, you have such natural talent for magic." Zebanetha remained friendly to you, as he has been since you first arrived, though you still saw him at religious ceremonies and when you joined Danal to help in cleaning the Temple. You did not see your friend Paebel as much, who you saw regularly as you trained with a staff at the Temple of the Melachim. He has been busy with his own job, but he remains a good friend and promised to repay you for freeing his father, some day. As to Snarls Barkley...  There is no other way to put it. By now, it is obvious to you that Snarls Barkley can understand you. Whether or not he can understand all speech or just you is unclear. When you tried to test this with Danal, Snarls fell onto his side for tummy rub rubs, a laughing Danal obliged, commenting that "he did not need to talk to get what he wants!" Danals Kennel of Many Dogs remains vibrant. Monkey has passed away, it seemed, from old age. You found Keza carrying him to the kitchens, "it made a mess for years, but it will make good soup now" she said. 1. You.... A. Let her do it. You told Danal that Monkey ran off. You knew he would be upset. B. Let her do it. You said nothing to Danal. C. Asked for Monkey, buried him but did not tell Danal. D. Asked for Monkey and told Danal, then the two of you buried Monkey together. E. You were angry. You did not ask, you simply took Monkey from her and then buried him yourself, you did not tell Danal. F. You were angry. You did not ask, you simply took Monkey from her and then buried him with Danal. G. Something else. Fill in. And last of all... your mother, since she was an afterthought. Your mother misses you and wishes you would spend more time with her, but she does not nag you and you have other priorities. You have asked her who your father is, but she denied you, telling you it was unimportant. Perhaps if you had spent more time with her, you might have gotten it out of her? Or perhaps not. Still, you have nothing to worry about, mothers live forever and she will always be waiting for you here even if you plan to explore the far corners of the world, right? It is the dead of night, the night before your sixteenth birthday. You are awoken by Tudiyah, who stands beside your bed. You rub your eyes groggily. He says in a stern tone "Get up". You rise, hastily put on your sandals and are lead outside by Tudiyah, who tells you to hurry. The moon is high and bright and the city is quiet.  In the glimmering moonlight, you see that Tudiyah is dressed in his armor and has a spear in one hand. He leads you into the market in the middle of the city and to the platform which he stood when he first came to zepath with you, years ago. Tudiya hands you a cloak and motions to the platform, upon which you now see a number of objects in the moonlight. A wine skin with some sort of liquid in it  A small stone knife  An ornately carved box of valuable incense  A short bow and a single arrow tied to it.  A large coil of rope  A medium length spear  A small, golden statue of an unidentified Melachim  A javelin  Snarls Barkley, sleeping, apparently unharmed A sack filled with rice  A piece of flint, a small scrap of metal tied to it  "We are leaving the city and will not return soon. Pick one and only one, we depart immediately" Tudiya says. 2. You pick... A. The wine skin, with an unknown liquid in it B. The small stone knife C. The ornately carved box of valuable incense D. The a short bow with a single arrow tied to it E. The large coil of rope F. The medium length spear. G. The small, golden statue of an unidentified Melachim H. The javelin I. Snarls Barkley, sleeping, apparently unharmed. J. The sack filled with rice K. The piece of flint, a small scrap of iron tied to it L. None of these things. You pick nothing. M. You have another reaction. Fill in. Diogines fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Apr 26, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2013 21:16
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1. D. She may be a bitch, but we are so much above her now. 2. There can be only one answer to that question.
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Sep 22, 2013 21:29
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1: D. No need to get angry, just be insistant, Keza is unimportant. Danal will appreciate that we shared our grief with him, and gave him the opportunity to do the same. 2: I. Oh come on, that's not even a contest.
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Sep 22, 2013 21:31
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