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> The New World (Recruiting)
Carrinas walked through the trees of the new world, slicing plantlife out of the way with his axe and keeping an eye on the jungle about him. His yellow, piggy eyes squinted in the dim light of the forest and he turned to his companions.
"Who has the compass?" he asked in guttural orc tones.
A young human handed the orc one and he looked at it. The North arrow spun lazily and pointed to the orc's left. So they were currently heading East then, the orc grunted and shoved the compas back into the human whelp's hands before pressing on. He wanted to get this trek over and done quickly before the bugs out here ate him alive so he made his journey swiftly. He slapped his neck, crushing a flying insect under his palm. Why all the bugs? There must be a source of water nearby. Gritting his molars, Carrinas made a mental note to bring something to keep the insects away next time he was sent away from the [i]Siren[/i].
Suri was the one to hand Carrinas the compass, and noted his discomfort at the biting insects. "Sir, perhaps a mud mixture against the back of your neck could help until we return to the ship... it's not exactly sightly, but it should keep the pests away."
Suri however wasn't bothered by the insects, she had thought ahead, and used some salve before disembarking theSiren. Unfortunately, she had not thought to bring the salve with her... not that she had much of it anyway. She didn't wait to see whatever Carrinas' response was, and instead returned to surveying the land around her. Her eyes were quick to pick out movement in the dense brush and so far, had only spotted several animals that she had never seen before.
Meanwhile, deeper into the brush, hidden well and unmoving, a lone man watched the approaching group. Fakir frowned, noting the differences not only between himself and the approaching strangers, but between the strangers themselves.
Hmmmm... Verrry Differentts arre Theyy... Came a soft thought in the back of his mind. While the dragon was not in sight, probably flying high above the jungle canopy, his mind was forever linked with Fakir's. Little effort could be expended for either to see through the other's eyes, though while Mythos was in flight, it was dizzying for Fakir, and that wasn't advisable at this point...
We wait. Came Fakir's firm thought, and he sensed only acceptance from Mythos as he contented himself to only watch and wait.
"I hereby claim this new land a territory of the Britainian Crown." The Tall lavish explorer smiled as he looked down to his coterie of soldiers.
These Conquistadors had arrived three days ago on the [i]HMS New Horizons[/i]. It had been a long and rugged journey across the unknown seas. Many had died in the name of the crown and it's glorious cause of Manifest Destiny.
Below less than a mile away, down the mountain slope, Marcello Laroche could vividly make out his crew unloading the boxes they had brought to sure the day prior. To the West and East of the Action pickets of soldiers monitored the erecting of palisade fortifications. At the bottom of the Steep slope, trees fell to the ground as workers went to town on the wooden stocks building planks.
"My friends, you are all witnessing the monumental occasion, of the first settlement of Britainia on this new land. It will be rightfully Named New Horizon in recognition to our ship and it's crew."
The soldiers let out a cry of approval, and bowed to there knees as Marcello began reciting their countries Anthem. His voice was exceptionally well, especially for a soldier as himself. As He got to the chorus the remaining men joined in with proud passion.
Smiling at the true loyalty he had just witnessed, Marcello cut through the crowd down the slope once again. Times would be hard. And He knew such a loyalty would be needed as they continued the Crowns Cause.
"Oh damn it! Where is that blasted orc?" asked Isaac, apparently to himself.
He had wandered away from the expedition, hoping he could find a babbling brook or a gushing stream. Instead of being able to claim that he had found a running source of the very basic element of survival, it looked as though his survival was in danger.
"Right, looks like I will have to find my own way back to the ship," he said as he withdrew a brass coloured pocket watch shaped object. He opened it, revealing that it was not a watch, but in fact a homemade compass. This was no ordinary compass though, as it pointed south, not the usual north, a manifestation of its creator's backwards nature.
Isaac headed in the direction of which he believed was correct. He moved a snail's pace through the scrub; partly due to the weight of the various tools he was carrying, not to mention Eleanor, his custom-made rifled-musket.
"Well at least it's a nice day ..." Isaac gazed up through a clearing in the canopy, seeing the bright blue skies and the white fluffy clouds. ".. Actually no, it isn't." It was too hot for him to be outside in his dark coloured tunic.
The gentle murmur of waves rolling onto shore gradually filled Isaac's ears and cleared his mind of any doubts he had about the new world, his new home. He knew it was better here, so why was he worrying about his safety?
Isaac thought back to his downfall. He was once the top man in the country when it came to technology. Now though, he has to keep on his toes, just in case [i]they[/i] followed him here.
"No, no, no ... don't think about it!" he shouted to himself, just as he reached the shoreline, and seeing the vessel that has been his home for the last couple of months, the [i]Siren[/i].
Darl sniffed as Carrinas swatted the bug on his neck. So disgusting. The insect's guts were all over his hands and neck now. Darl waited a second before further following Carrinas and Suri so as to put a little more distance between him and the foul orc. Darl had expected to have to put up with filth on the way here, but never in his wildest dreams could he have conjured up images that had awaited him with an orc for a captain.
Darl placed such thoughts out of his mind as he noted some animal in the bushes ahead of them. Darl wasn't about to draw attention to themselves by pointing it out, as it very well could be just a fox or something. Best not to get too involved here, Darl thought. Another insect buzzed about Darl's face. He dare not swat at it, though, as it may dislodge his headband and reveal his true nature. He had kept secret his half-elven identity thus far. So far the others just think him a very pretty young lad. A very effiminate one, at that. If he could keep this up until he finds someplace here he could stay, that would be just peachy.
Ignoring the girl's advice (she was a girl after all, and a human at that), Carrinas got on with the hike, the hot afternoon sun gleaming through the thick foliage and making the party uncomfortable. Surrounding them, beyond the cloud of midges and mosquitoes, the forest eventually began to thin out a little and a long river lined with bullrushes and an assortment of other water weeds came into view. It was here that Carrinas called the party to a halt and did a head count. He then noticed that someone was missing; that oddball human with the funny musket. The noble orc cursed and gritted his teeth before barking out an order for someone to scout the area in case he was still close by. Allowing the rest of the group to stand down and take a quick breather, he then settled down by the river and splashed some water on his face to cool himself down. The boy, and Carrinas expected he was a eunoch, appeared to be rather disgusted by the whole affair and this at least made the orc captain feel that the whole journey wasn't a total loss after all. Settling down for a quick nap, Carrinas kept his hatchet close at hand and waited for the scouts to return. Hopefully the missing human will find some common sense and return to the ship, because the mercenary wanted to personally kick his arse for getting lost.
Suri took it upon herself to search for Issac. She followed her intuition, and turned back towards the beach where the Siren was anchored. She was quick, and so focused on her task that she failed to notice that she was being followed.
Fakir followed the woman, curiousity aroused at a woman among an obvious invading force to his people. The women of his people weren't leaders, or fighters. The only one with any real power was the chance that a Woman had Shamanistic abilities.
::What iss sso sspecial about herr?:: Mythos intoned softly, breaking Fakir's stride.
Freezing so completely that he easily blended with his surroundings, Fakir responded in kind.
::I Don't know... I've never seen anyone like her...::
Night set in swiftly across the tropical land. The warm salty sweet fragrance engulfed Marcello's senses as he looked hopefully across the blackened swells of ocean waves. He was a country man, a noble man of the crown. Being so far from home prided him yet left him empty inside.
The gentle clang of armor rattled close behind as Marcello remained transfixed on the unending expanse known as the sea. Reaching out the form put his hand on his shoulders in a comforting manner.
"Marcello, the men beckon you at the feasting table."
"Oh yes, forgive me Bathazar. I just long for home, it has been so long since we set sail from Port Hope Harbor."
"We all miss home sir, many more than you and I combined. You must stay strong for the men. Moral is what will ensure we make it through the hardships of settling here."
"Yes, to dinner than. Tomorrow we will set out further into this land to explore and see if any life is present."
Isaac's head was swimming. The endless throbbing of his brain was torture. He had drunk way too much at dinner, and now he couldn't sleep.
Of course, he hardly ever slept, anyway.
"For goodness sake ..." he mumbled as he sat up in bed. "When will all of this be over? When is the end?"
Isaac was annoyed with himself for thinking such thoughts immediately after saying them. He was safe. Yes, safe-
There was a knock on the door. "Isaac? Are you awake?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm coming." Isaac replied. He opened the door. It was the thin, long-haired young man that Isaac had taken aboard as his protégé, William something or other. "Ah, William, what is it?"
"Well, sir, I have ... I have spotted something ... in the woods. It's heading our way ..."
"Well, alert the ship, then. I have no authority on this ship, I'm just a passenger."
Isaac slammed the door in his face. Maybe he had been too harsh on the young man. After all, everyone is scared in this new world.
Sylvia had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed the engineer's disappearance until just now. "Where's Isaac?" she asked Darl.
Meanwhile, two lizardfolk sneaked through the jungle to get back to their camp. "We must see Chief." one of them said. "We have found Warmbloods. They do not seem to belong to any tribe we have seen before." Then, Scar-Eye noticed them and walked out of his tent.
"Tell me about these Warmbloods."
Then, the scouts said "Very strange. There are six of them so far, one large, dark-skinned one, one pale-skinned one, both with bodies covered in metal. There were also two small, pale-skinned ones, one male, one female. Then there was a female with a strange hat and long metal spike. Strangest one of all had a large metal tube, carried on his back."
Darl had been so wrapped up in thinking how this new place was all muggy and dirty that he didn't recognize he had been addressed immediately. After a second Darl realized it was he who had been addressed and replied, "Isaac? Huh?" Darl looked around and noticed that, indeed, Isaac was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm not sure?" Darl said inquisitively, as if he had been the one to ask the question in the first place. He then turned to address Carridas, "Uh, boss, this may be out of line for me to suggest, but maybe we should head back to the ship to re-evaluate things. People seem to be missing. I've been having the feeling that we're being watched. I don't like it. Not one bit. I think we should do a head count and organize ourselves. Like buddy up or something?"
Darl took a half step backwards. He knew that orcs didn't always like being criticized. He hoped, however, that being a captain, Carridas would at least have enough sense to see logic in helping his crew. Darl didn't particularly like the idea of being counted amongst the foliage to be cut down just because it happened to be in the orc's way.
Then, Sylvia said "Yeah, Darl's right. Something doesn't feel right about this place. We should find Isaac and get back to the ship to regroup."
[Edited by Murloc_Hugger on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 7:34 PM]
Carrinas felt his lips curl as the effeminate human addressed him, why exactly Carrinas wasn't really warming up to the boy the orc wasn't too sure of, but since orcs generally hated everyone there wasn't much point in trying to find out. Still, he had a point even if the orc wasn't going to admit it out loud and looked around. He also had a gut feeling that they weren't the only sentient life roaming this jungle, and being a veteran of many battles and expeditions he knew to trust his instincts.
"I think it's time to be heading back," he said gruffly, "Draco Hernandez wants a full report on what we've found and seen. You two," the orc pointed a green sausage-like finger at Darl and Sylvia, "Can make that report."
Carrinas addresed the group and gave the order to start making tracks back to the ship. Suddenly he noticed [i]another[/i] person was missing. "Where's Suri?" he barked.
"Dunno, sir," someone replied, "Haven't seen her since the river/"
Cursing in orcish, Carrinas added her name to his list of people who are going to recieve a bollocking when he got back to the ship. Walking back, sounds of felling could be heard from the beach and the cries of voices. It seemed that Draco was striking camp on dry land early.
Sylvia said "Guess we'd better go find Draco..." She froze. "Wait a minute, what's that?" She pointed to some bushes, which started rustling.
Darl was relieved that Carrinas didn't refuse to see others' imput. He almost relaxed until he was told he would have to participate in making the report. Darl never liked giving reports. He always managed to leave some important detail out that got him yelled at later. At least this time he wouldn't have to be alone. Perhaps Sylvia could remember the things that he couldn't.
Darl looked where Sylvia pointed. He wanted to get this report over and done with. He didn't need more details to have to remember. "Probably just a forest creature." He said as he took one step towards it. Then he stopped. He noticed that the movement of the bush was too high to be a small animal, whatever it was. Darl took a few steps back, "Whatever it is, it's too big for me to like it."
[Edited by teutonicknight on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 6:26 PM]
Suddenly, a Lizardfolk Shaman stepped out of the bushes, followed by four warriors and two archers. "Greetings, Warmbloods. I am Chieftan Scar-Eye, of the Greenblood tribe. I do not seek to fight. Tell me, why are you here?"
Nearly jumping out of his armour, Carinas spun round with his braodsword and hatchet in hand and faced their unexpected visitors. Uttering an oath under his breath Carrinas looked at these creatures warily, trying to figure out the hells they were. They stood at around six or seven feet in height and muscles could be clearly seen underneath their scales of varying tones and colours. Their leader seemed to be the one who just spoke and Carrinas regarded him with suspicion. He whispered a soft command to his soldiers to keep their weapons in hand just in case and spoke to the lizardman, surprised that he spoke their language.
"I am Carrinas the orc, stranger," said Carrinas, adopting the polite 'Diplomat's Speech', "And I am here under orders from Captain Hernandez. We were looking for food and water. Who and what might you be?"
"We are Lizardfolk of the Greenblood tribe. I am Scar-Eye the Peacemaker, the tribe's shaman and chieftan. What tribe do you hail from, Orc?"
"I have no tribe, I'm a mercenary under the employment of Draco Hernandez," replied the orc plainly, he had left his tribe years ago as a young warrior seeking his fortune and has never since regretted that decision.
"Who is this Draco Her-nan-dez you speak of?" The shaman was obviously having a hard time pronouncing Draco's name.
"Our captain." Sylvia blurted out.
"So he is your leader?" said Scar-Eye.
"I see. So, as I asked before, why are you here?"
"Our ship was blown off course by a storm." Then, she finally realized she should stop talking. She just hoped Carrinas wouldn't be too angry about that.
Carrinas felt his molars grind themselves in anger, why not tell them how many of us there are and where are ship is anchored as well? Why not clap our hands and feet in chains now to save these cold blooded savages the bother? Mentally, the orc added her anme to his ever growing hit list. Today was definately not his day for trying to keep his temper. Despite this, Carrinas kept himself quiet; this was a sensitive situation and he knew that an orcish temper would not help things.
"May we speak with your leader?" said Scar-Eye.
Sylvia noticed that Carrinas was getting angry. "Uh...I have to get back to camp." She ran off towards camp.
Shrugging his shoulders, as the girl ran off behind him like a headless chicken, Carrinas said, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt, when would you like to speak with him? Now or later?"
Darl nearly burst out in tears. This was [i]not[/i] what he had expected. He could feel tension in the air emanating from Carrinas. Things weren't going to be pleasant in the near future. Even though Darl hoped otherwise. Though, perhaps this was just what he needed to get Caridas to forget about making him give that report to Draco.
"Carrinas, I'm sure there are many things back at the camp you must oversee. I humbly submit myself as a guide to bring Scar-Eye to Draco." Darl slightly bowed to Carrinas as he said this. He hoped the orc was smart enough to gather that he was implying that he should gather the camp and be ready if anything should start between this "peacemaker" and Draco.
(edit: Caridas -> Carrinas)
[Edited by teutonicknight on Sunday, February 11, 2007 5:24 PM]
Seeing the boy's intention, the orc nodded.
"If you must, human," said the orc, waving a hand dismissivly. He turned to face the lizardman and tilted his toward Darl. "This young man will take you to Captain Draco, so if you'll just follow him he'll take to where we're setting up camp."
Darl affected his best smile for the occasion, "Gentlem...people, if you would be so kind as to follow me?" Darl swept them a bow and gestured towards the camp with his arm. He waited to make sure that they were moving to follow him before he set out, though.
"Of course. Thank you." said Scar-Eye, who started following.
Meanwhile, a small closet in the Siren's lower decks rustled from inside. A guard noticed, and walked over. The closet opened and a blurred figure came out, whacking the guard on the head. The guard fell over, and a human in leather armor stood over him. Suddenly, a small noise came from his pocket. "Arnar...come in, Arnar..." He pulled a small crystal sphere out of his pocket. "Yes, Aziz?"
"Have you reached the island yet?"
"Yes, I have."
"Shall we meet at the rendezvous point?"
"Of course. We have much to discuss."
Arnar put the sphere away and walked over to the window. He quietly scaled the wall down into the water and swam away.
Darl noticed the lizardfolke start to follow him, so he turned to head down into the under-construction camp. "You'll have to forgive any lack of accomodation, we've recently arrived and haven't had time to set everything up." Darl assumed that the largest tent erected would be where they could find Draco. He moved with confidence, though. It was best not to show any signs of weakness or confusion in these sorts of situations.
Confident that the Lizardman meeting has been taken care of by the human boy, Darl (and the boy has certainly improved his standing with the orc), Carrinas turned to the rest of his group.
"Well. There's no point in us hanging around now is there? Go on then, you're dismissed for now. Perhaps if we're lucky then the alchohol has been unloaded somewhere and needs drinking."
The men all fell out leaving Carrinas alone to watch the jungle with an air of dislike that was more due to his than anything else; orcs were not forest dwellers, they were a race that lived in the plains and the deserts. Orcs had no love for trees, and they were sure the feeling was mutual. Shaking his head, looking forward to the day when it all would be pulled down, Carrinas tightened his belt and made for the ship. It was then that a soldier from his group suddenly popped up. Carrinas jumped; he hated it when halflings sneaked up on you.
"[i]Mein gott[/i]! What are you doing?" asked Carrinas, snarling.
The halfling, his blue eyes, rosy cheeks and fluffy hair the colour of ripe corn causing unprovoked affront to the orc, gestured towards the camp.
"I've asked around," he squeaked, "And it turns out Isaac is hanging around the ship. We still aren't sure where Suri is, but she should be around somewhere. Probably lost in the woods or something."
Eyes narrowing, remembering his imaginary hitlist suddenly materialising before him, Carrinas grunted a quick thanks and made for the ship. Anyone who got in his ways practically jumped clear to avoid the orc's anger and he hammered on the human's cabin door angrily.
"Isaac! Isaac you chimp's nephew, get your pink rear out here now! Don't make me break this door down!" he roared, his voice echoing down the corridor.
Meanwhile, deep in the jungle, a dark-skinned man in simple clothing stood near a small pond. "Aaaah!" he sceamed.
"That must have been embarassing, Aziz," said Arnar, who came out of the jungle behind him, "to scream like that in front of your leader."
"Sorry, boss."
"Anyway, have you landed where I told you to?"
"Yes, boss. The cape 15 miles south of where the Siren landed. Anyway, what have you learned?"
"The Siren has many weaknesses. For example, the captain is heavily gaurded most of the time, but every Wednesday, for one hour, he is alone in his chambers. I also know all the best hiding spots, when everyone goes to bed, where their rooms are, their jobs and schedules, everything..."
"When shall we strike?"
"Patience, Aziz, patience. I will contact you when I am ready. For now, get back to the ship. I have more spying to do."
"Yes, boss."
[Edited by Murloc_Hugger on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 5:40 PM]
Isaac could hear the distinctive roar of an orc barrelling down the corridor.
"Shit!" he shouted.
He panicked, searching desperately for a hiding place or an escape route. An idea struck him like a brick wall.
"The floorboards!"
He began ripping up the floorboards in the corner. Boredom came quickly to him on the journey to the new world, and he often needed some alcohol from the storage area below his room.
He was at the last one, when a relentless thumping started from the door.
"Oh, no."
"Issac! Open this door or with the gods as my witness I'll rip it off it hinges! I know you're in there you worm! I can hear you ripping up the floorboards!" roared the orc, pleased of his acute hearing. Sometimes it was handy having a distant relation with elves.
Isaac needed a different strategy, lest he be mauled by that orc.
"Shit, shit, shit ... aha!"
Isaac left the floorboards where they were. He was eyeing up the armoire he had in his room.
He took a gulp of whiskey from a bottle on his desk, and threw it down the hole. He wanted to make sure Carrinas thought he had made a run for freedom.
Quietly, he opened one of the doors of the armoire, and then slipped inside. He held his breath.
Finally the door gave up and burst off its hinges and fell onto the wooden floorboards with a loud thud. Barging into the room, eyes glowing red with bloodlust, Carrinas gazed at the rather obvious hole in the middle of the cabin and gnashed his teeth before poking his head down it. There was rather a lot of hidden liquour (Carrinas had to sympathise with the human for trying to keep it hidden) but if there was anyone hiding down here they were rather good at it.
Assuming Isaac had run underneath the floorboards like the rat he was, Carrinas barged out of the room, barking out orcish swear words that practically turned the air about him blue.
Then, Carrinas noticed one of the ship's guards running towards him, clutching his head as if in pain. "Carrinas!" he shouted. "I was walking down the hallway, and I heard a closet door open. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain, as if I had been hit in the back of the head, and then I blacked out! I woke up in the closet..." Then, he looked around and said, "Hey, is that window open?" He pointed to a window that was, indeed, open.
[Edited by Murloc_Hugger on Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:16 PM]
[Edited by Murloc_Hugger on Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:20 PM]
Looking to where the guard pointed, Carrinas examined the area. The handle to the porthole was indeed broken and there was a lot of disturbance around the area as well.
"What do you think this is all about then?" he asked of the guard.
"I--I don't know, sir. A break in, maybe?" Clearly, this particular guard was not the sharpest sword in the weapon rack.
Sylvia sat alone in her room. She remembered being born into a famous and powerful house of nobles. Eventually, she had gotten sick of sitting around in a castle all day, so she ran away to become an adventurer. The crew of the Siren was just another adventuring party to her, albeit a large one. She wondered about this new island. There was something suspicious about it, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Meanwhile, Scar-Eye and his Lizardfolk followed Darl to the camp. When they got there, he looked around and said, "Which one is your leader?"
Darl walked up to a man in his mid-twenties standing just outside the tent. A few soft words were exchanged between the two before he slipped inside. A short moment later he popped back out and said, "Draco will see you immediately." He held the tent flap open for Darl and the lizardfolke to enter.
"If you would please follow me?" Darl said. He stepped into the tent, "Draco, may I present Scar-Eye. Scar-Eye, this is our leader, Draco."
"Greetings. I am Chieftan Scar-Eye the Peacemaker, of the Greenblood Tribe of Lizardfolk. Tell me, why are you here?"
"Our ship crashed in the middle of a storm." Draco was hesitant to reveal too much, especially to a freaking lizard.
"What tribe do you hail from?"
"Tribe?" Draco was clearly confused.
"Shit," thought Arnar, "I've been discovered." He looked through the window at Carrinas, who was talking to the guard about the closet incedent. "Guess I'll need to find another way in." He quietly climbed past more windows until he was a good distance away from the Orc. He pulled the sphere out of his pocket and said, "Aziz, come in, Aziz."
"What, boss?" said Aziz.
"I've been discovered. Looks like we won't have as much time to take the Siren."
"Should I notify Vicente, boss?"
"Of course. We'll need to take care of Draco as soon as possible. Bring Vicente and some of our best men to the rendezvous point. We need to discuss the plan."
"Yes, boss."
Arnar put the sphere away, jumped out into the water, and swam away quietly.
Satisfied that he was safe, Isaac exhaled. He had started turning blue from the lack of air. He climbed out of the armoire, pleased with himself that he, technically, survived an attack by an orc.
Now, drinking time!
He jumped down through the floorboards, landing amidst his vast collection of fine liquor. He decided on a bottle of powerful whiskey.
The liquid was warm in his throat. The familiar feeling of worries washing away passed over him. Isaac sighed in relief.
Safe for another day.
To make sure he was completely safe, Isaac sat down under the floorboards. Now, he couldn't be spotted from the doorway.
Carrinas grunted, suspicious of this recent finding and clamly scratched the side of his nose with a sharp finger nail.
"Go inform Captain Hernandez about this," he told the guard, "I don't like this..."
"Yessir," said the guard, saluting smartly, before turning and running off down the corridor to meet Draco. Meanwhile, Carrinas continued watching the porthole for a while longer, before turning and walking back down to deck, shaking his head and wondering whether or not this was something he should start sharpening his sword for.
Sylvia noticed Carrinas talking to the guard and walked up to him. "What just happened?" she asked. "I heard something about a break-in."
"What do you mean 'tribe?'" said Draco.
"Your people. The ones that you lead." said Scar-Eye.
"This is the crew of our ship, the Siren."
"Ship?" Now Scar-Eye was the confused one.
Arnar stood at the rendezvous point after sunset with several humanoids of various races, wearing extremely disparate clothing. "So, let's discuss the plan." said Arnar.
"Yes, boss." they all said.
"So, we need to take the Siren before they discover us."
"Yes, boss."
"You can stop saying 'yes, boss' now."
"Yes b-uhhhhh... sorry, boss."
"Good. So, if we're to take it by the day after tomorrow, which happens to be the Wednesday that Draco is alone, we'll need a distraction. I trust that Aziz has told you what team you all are on."
"Yes, boss."
"I said stop saying that!"
"Sorry, boss."
"Anyway, team 1, raise your hand. You will be responsible for distracting the crew long enough for team 2 to board the ship. You will need to disguise yourselves as 'natives' and convince some of the crew to follow you back to your 'camp,' where team 3 will help finish them off. Team 2, raise your hand. You will scale the side of the ship when everyone is distracted. Knock out anyone who gets in your way and prepare to steer the ship away to our landing point. Team 3, when part of team 1 gets to your 'camp,' you will attack the crew members lured by them. Team 4, you will hide near the ship and attack when we are ready to leave. I will be personally leading team 2. Any questions?"
"What about Draco?"
"Vicente will have that covered. Vicente, step forward."
A gaunt, red-eyed human with long, pointed fangs and pale skin stepped forward. He wore a pitch black outfit. "Yes, Arnar?"
"For everyone who doesn't know, Vicente will sneak on board tomorrow night and stow away until morning. He will then sneak into Draco's cabin while team 2 boards the ship. And Vicente, just so you know, you may kill him in any way you like. ANY way..."
Vicente smiled and showed his huge fangs. "Exxxxxcellent..."
"Everyone, get back to the ship. We have to prepare."
"Yes, boss."
"Stop that!"
[Edited by Murloc_Hugger on Monday, February 19, 2007 9:33 PM]
"[i]Ich kenne nicht[/i]..." said Carrinas in Orcish, turning to face Sylvia and this time addressing her in Trade Speak, "But I have a bad feeling in my gut and I don't think it's cook's meals." Suddenly, Carrinas's brow furowed in irritation. "And where did you run off to when the lizardfolk showed up anyway?"
Sylvia could tell Carrinas was getting angry, so she tried to change the subject. "So, I heard you mentioned a closet. Did you try investigating that?"
Darl tried his best to sink into the background. He didn't want to be called upon to try to explain things. These two people he was with intimidated him enough that he thought he might not even be able to speak if he was called upon. He was quite content to let the two talk between themselves.
Knowing that the human was merely trying to change the subject so she wouldn't get bollocked, Carrinas answered anyway. He had too many names on his personal hitlist to remember anymore.
"No, I was just going to."
A lie of course, but Carrinas couldn't be expected to think of everything all the time, now could he? Moving over to the closet and looked inside. The closet was just like any other closet in any universe or multiverse, it was a small square room inside of which lay a rather sad bunch of cleaning materials and tools, a crusty mop sat in a bucket that hadn't seen water since it was first brought aboard some twelves years prior and it was accompanied by a broom that had less bristles on it than Carrinas' shaven dome. There were a number of dusty boxes on the shelves and it wasn't these that caught the orc's yellow eyes. The focus of the orc's attention was stuffed away in the corner, seemingly innocent and insignificant and yet as soon as Carrinas saw it a single word formed in his head.
[Edited by Tetrius on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 9:11 AM]
It was a journal. Sylvia looked at it curiously, picked it up, opened it to the first page, and read it:
"I have finally managed to stow away on the Siren. Soon it will leave port. With the Lucky and its crew following me, I plan to take this ship as my own. Why am I writing this, you may ask? It is because I know that by the time the idiots on the Siren discover it, (if they ever do,) it will be too late to save them. I will now write down the plan, simple enough that even Carrinas could understand it. Yes, Carrinas, I know who you are. I know who you all are. Sylvia, Isaac, even puny Darl. Anyway, here is the plan:"
It went on to detail how the storm that brought them to the new world was the result of a spell engineered by a powerful wizard, who predicted the exact spot where they would land. Then, it said how the writer intends to find out when Draco is alone, what everyone's schedule is, their combat capabilities, and everything else he could find. It talked about the plan for attacking the ship. One line was of particular interest: "I have hired a Vampire assassin named Vicente, who will be tasked with eliminating Draco."
Sylvia continued reading with horror, reading everyone's day-to-day activities, combat abilities, tactics, and more. Finally, she dropped the book, shaking.
Picking up the fallen volume and flicking through the pages, Carrinas snorted with contempt and tossed the diary aside.
"Sounds like something you'd find in a chessy fantasy novel you humans read," he said, completely ruining the atmosphere. "I mean, come on! Names of crew members, a detailed plan of the scheme, combat training, assassins that have been hired, what idiot writes all this down in a journal, that doesn't even have a lock or enchantment on it, and then drops it in a broom cupboard. It sounds fishy to me..."
He turned to Sylvia and rubbed his jaw, unsure of what to make of it. Chances are that finding this journal was no accident and that by believing what was written the two were somehow being manipulated. But then, what sort of reasonable person would ignore something like this? Carrinas swore again, picking up the book and reading through it a second time before placing it in a leather pouch at his belt.
"I'm not sure, it looks too convenient to me. Do you think we should bother Draco with this?"
Sylvia looked at Carrinas. "It may be our only chance. If what this book says is true, we need to prepare. If he wrote it all down and left it here, chances are he expects us to know his plan. We have to."
Suddenly, the window creaked, and Sylvia noticed a dark figure climbing through in the moonlight. "Ah. You must be working for Draco. Excellent. More food for me!" He lunged at Sylvia.
Things were starting to move far too quickly for Carrinas's liking as the undead human jumped in through the porthole with a flashy display of agility that reminded Carrinas bitterly of elves. Snooty, uptight bastards the lot of them. Vampires were just as bad.
Snarling and drawing his axe, Carrinas faced the vampire and bellowed an orcish cry, before saying to the Vampire, "Oi! Dead beat! Ready to die again? I'll send you straight back to Hell, you corpse!"
Sylvia drew her rapier just in time to impale him on it. "Hisssssssss!" he shrieked. Then, he pulled himself off the rapier and stood up. "You'll have to do better than that, meat!" He started clawing at Carrinas.
Sylvia yelled "Help! Somebody!"
Darl thought he heard a scream from the ship, but since he was still in the middle of a meeting with the other two, he decided to pretend he didn't hear anything.
Scar-Eye noticed the scream, and said, "What was that?"
Draco responded, "I don't know, but we'd better investigate." Draco drew his sword and ran out of the tent, towards the noise. Scar-Eye took out his goblin skull staff and did the same.
When they got there, they saw Carrinas and Sylvia battling a Vampire, along with several guards, and the Vampire was winning...
Darl had followed the two into the ship. What he saw suprised and scared him. He had always heard of stories of vampyres, but never in his life had he imagined that he would actually see one.
Darl went through his list of spells that he knew in his head. None of them would make a mite of difference in this situation, he thought. So instead Darl said, "I'll go inform the rest of the crew." With that, Darl spun back around and raced through the ship, telling everyone he saw that there was a vampyre on board. He made suggestions on where to pull security to restrict its movements about the ship and even asked a few of the better fighters of the crew to assist in the fight.
Isaac could hear the tussle in the corridor, and shouts of a vampyre aboard the ship, but was too drunk to do anything. Or care.
He supposed it would be best to see who was fighting who, and maybe place a few wagers.
Isaac climbed up from the hole beneath the floor boards. He staggered towards the door, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. He managed to keep his balance well enough to reach the door.
Pale skin, sharp teeth; looked like a vampyre, but Isaac's mind could be pulling tricks on him. How could he be positive?
Hobbling into his room, he found his musket, Eleanor, rather quickly.
"Aim for the heart," he reminded himself.
He flipped out the stand which would steady his aim, and tried to lock on to the creature's chest. He wobbled, and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened.
"Damn! A dud," shouted Isaac.
Back into his room he went, searching for some ammunition. He felt slightly dizzy, and started seeing double. He sat down, and rested his eyes ... just... for a few ... minutes...
Carrinas was p'd off. Now, orcs were not known for having the best of tempers, in fact next to certain dragons and ogres they had the worst tempers amongst all the Sentients. Getting beaten up by a vampire could do that to s person; no one liked being bexted by an undead parasite after all. But Carrinas was better at keeping himself under control than most of his kind and calmly waited until the vampire's attention was diverted before making his move. It was during such a move however that he caught a glimpse of Isaac staggering out of his room waving that confounded boomstick of his and suddenly Carrinas remembered that he was only in this mess because he was looking for the arsehole in the first place. Carrinas was already p'd off.
Seeing the human made him ballistic. So he did what all orcs did when upset. He went into a battle rage and began screaming curses, all while swinging his broadsword like a child's toy and hacking away at the vampire; who suddenly found himself right in front of a moody orc. Not the best place to be....
The Vampire noticed Draco run up, and said, "YOU!!!" He ran at Draco, knocking him down and grappling with him. He bared his fangs, and started to suck the life right out of him...
Hooves puncturing the sand of the beach with each pace. Her long tail lazily flicking left to right with each step. Taking a deep breath through her nostrils, the salt from the ocean hitting her with an overwhelming force. Her mind drifting over nothing in particular. Just enjoying the silence, which only lasted so long.
Screams coming from the strange wooden thing confused and scared her. But what if someone was in trouble? Taking a deep breath she tried to combat her fears. Debating with her own mind she decided to risk it. Her curiosity was overwhelming now at why the strange thing that seemed to be made of trees would be sitting on the beach and screaming. Perhaps it was injured.
The centenarian women galloped with speed along the sand. Muscles rippling underneath her black pelt. her arms taking the bow and arrow from her back, just in case. as she approached the wooden thing it became apparent that it wasn't alive and that the screams were comming from inside.
Her long black hair danced around her the slender nape of her neck. Her emerald eyes focused in front of her. Hooves hitting the ground in a rhythmic patten. Confusion overcoming her more so when she got to the ship and couldn't find the way in. she walked around the edges on the sand. before going into the water to swim around the other sides and have a look.
"Let me in,I'll help you!" she said in her own slurred tongue. Knowing that this might be perceived as a threat unless there was someone with language skills to understand her. With the gift of healing perhaps her skills could mean the difference between life and death.
Hearing an odd cry from the porthole, Carrinas was momentarily distracted from his initial target and thrust his head out to spot the source of the noise. Looking down, the orc spotted what at first he thought was a female human human with black hair. Then he saw the equine hindquarters behind her.
[i]Was die Hölle? [/i] thought the orc, his rage sizzling under his confusion, before reaching down and hoisting her from the water.
In normal circumstances he would have been crazy to do such a thing, yet his current state of orcish rage has given him almost godly strength and thus the centaur weighed no more than the average human infant. Setting her on the inside, Carrinas was just about to calm down when he suddenly saw the vampire draining the boy. Despite his dislike for the womanish human, who kept to himself and was about as interesting as watching dragon dry in the sun, the boy was still a part of the orc's party, essentially all the orc had for a warband. Thus Carrinas felt a sort storge, a sort of family tie with the human. Seeing the vampire endangering the life of one his party sent Carrinas back into a emotional meltdown and he charged the undead bastard, roaring at the top of his lungs. Using his shoulder as a sort of battering ram, Carrinas barged into the vampire and hopefully broke the vamp away from Darl.
Seeing the vampire get knocked off of Darl, Sylvia held up her rapier and brought it down, pinning the vampire to the floor. "Somebody help!" she screamed.
[Edited by Murloc_Hugger on Friday, March 2, 2007 4:36 PM]
Shocked By Orc's Strength she was glad that he hadn't tried to put an arrow through her. Taking her bow and arrow, she drew the bow an arrow now ready to be shot. Looking side-on at her vamperic target, she aimed the bow with precision before letting the arrow fly from the bow. Taking another arrow from her quiver She let another one at the vampire. A smile now creeping to her lips. Closer to the vampire now her hooves noisy on the wooden floor.
Beside were the vampire and Sylvia were locked. She moved both her front hooves towards the vampires chest with speed hoping to pin him to the ground and perhaps deal quite some damage. After all Centaurs are heavy creatures. [b]"If you around the other side and get some help with holding his arms down we should be able to take him easily[/b] Sayth said with strength. She may not be emotionally stable but in the heat of battle she was quite useful..providing she wasn't mislead by the wrong people.
It was this open kindness she possesses that makes her vulnerable to being mislead.
The vampire could sense the fact that this Centaur was a healer, and recoiled with fear at that fact. "HhhraaAAAAAH!" he screamed. "No! NO!!!" If she could 'heal' him with a powerful enough spell, he would be doomed for sure.
Sylvia heard the Centaur's shout, and helped to hold him down, leaving her rapier to help keep him pinned.
[b]"quit your cowardice boy, Whats got you so afraid Mr.undead?"[/b] she chuckled slightly digging her hoof in further into the vampire. Her heavy form looking down upon him. Her half naked body slender but strong, she held the vampire. Putting more arrows in his chest using her bow. It wasn't a normal thing for a Centaur to be walking around in clothes and it wasn't something Sayth intended on doing ether.
As it has been said before she isn't the brightest character of all time and hasn't really a grasp on how powerful she actually is. She has no idea that the way to defeat the vampire is in her skills. she merely thinks he is afraid of her because of her strength.
[Edited by deaths_crucifix on Saturday, March 3, 2007 9:28 PM]
Sylvia noticed that the sun was coming up. "Everyone stall him!" she yelled.
another chuckle escaping her lips. Noticing the sun rising it would be good to feel warmth upon her slender form again as they finally bid goodnight tot he moon and darkness. And along with the night they would be removing another darkness from the world, assuming of course that nothing went wrong within the next short moments.
Sayth's dark eyes focused on still on the vampire. [b] "I asked you a question boy, What are you so afraid of?[/b]" Her voice harsh and demanding. Her hooves still firmly implanted upon his body. [b]"you may as well answer, your not going anywhere anytime soon."[/b] she let another chuckle from her now curved lips.
[Edited by deaths_crucifix on Monday, March 5, 2007 2:20 AM]
The sun came up, and the vampire sreamed at the top of his undead lungs. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" His flesh began to burn away, and once the resulting smoke cleared, only the skeleton was left.
Darl moaned a bit. What was wrong? His neck ached a bit, like he had been hit with a bat. Darl sat upright, and the sudden movement caused blood to rush out of his head. He nearly fell over in the dizzy spell that followed. What was going on? Last thing he remembered, he had been running around the ship trying to inform everyone of a vampyre. Vampyre? What happened to the vampyre?
Darl looked around in search of the vampyre. It didn't seem to be around anymore. Though, his gaze did fall on something else unexpected. A girl. Naked. Well, half a girl, anyhow. Darl blinked at the girl a couple of times before falling back again, fainting.
Carrinas moved over to the boy, kneeled by him and checked the side of his neck, feeling for a pulse to ensure he was still alive. His pulse was steady and quite strong; he would live. Carrinas then turned his attention to the horsewoman, who was standing about the boat with a smug expression on her face as she surveyed what remained of the undead blood-sucker.
"So then, stranger," he said gruffly, his temper cooling and his sword returned to its scabbard, "What the heck are you and what are you doing here?"
she lifted an eyebrow at her words. [b]"the Word would be centaur, I am Sayth. Excuse me for having a heart. I heard the cries for help and I came running."[/b] she said gently before adding. [b]" I have the gift of healing. May it be more a curse sometimes then a gift."[/b]
A curve still at the edges of her lips. Her black pelt lustering in the now risen sun. running her hands through her hair. she bore no shame over her revealed upper half.
The thoughts buzzing through her head a million miles an hour. Wondering why the hell he was speaking in such a manner when she had assisted in battle. With no indication to wanting to harm any of them. She stretched her muscular arms now enjoying the warmth of the risen sun.
Nodding curtly to the centaur, Carrinas waved a hand dismissively.
"Forgive me if I sound impolite, but courtesy are traits us orcs don't really hold in high regard. But I'm grateful for your aid anyway, I don't think we could have beaten off the corpse without your help. I am also suspicious of your intentions, centaur, since I know nothing of you as of yet. Just your race, your name and your occupation. What did you intend to do for us in the long run? Or were you just passing by and decided that it was time for your daily dose of altruism?"
Carrinas was quite aware that he was being very rude to one who had aided them, something considered the height of bad manners even by orc standards, yet he was still simmering from the battle and was feeling ratty. The centaur, Sayth, also puzzled him somewhat, just standing there with her human torso exposed to the sun as proud as you pleased. That was definately going to cause some interest amongst the sailors.
Darl's eyes fluttered as he returned to consciousness. The world swam in his vision. Darl seemed to remember something about a vampyre, being bitten, and this strange horse-girl (nekkid horse-girl at that). Darl blinked a few times to clear his vision. He saw Carrinas confronting the horse-girl. Not good, that, likely. Darl tried to sit up, but he nearly fainted again. So he took a deep breath and slowly raised himself quasiupright.
Darl hoped things weren't already too bad between the two. Orcs are generally a very difficult race to get along with, no matter who/what you are. Admittedly, Carrinas was much better than the rest of his kin, but that's like an ogre being less stupid than other ogres. Just because there's less of a bad trait, doesn't mean it's inherently become a good trait.
Darl listened in on the conversation to see how things had developed during his lapse of consciousness.
she sighed gently her eyes still focused on the orc. "I was passing by, and excuse me by how corny this is going to sound" A chuckle escaping her lips before she continued "I Enjoy adventure..I was bored rather. I'm always on the look out for adventure. I'm sure you'd have fought them of anyway" She replied gently not a hint of emotion clear in her voice. Trying to perhaps make him feel better about the whole situation. Knowing what some orcs are like with there victories and loses.
Her long black hair dancing around her slender nape as she looked to the sky watching the birds fly across its blue vastness. She ran her fingers through her hair before looking back down to the orc. She didn't want a fight. She had came to help them not cause chaos.
Sylvia said, "Don't forget about that journal, Carrinas." She pulled her rapier out of the floor and sheathed it. She was glad that this fight was finally over.
Grunting, Carrinas picked up the tome and looked at its leather binding before grunting again and looking at Sylvia. "I think we better get this to Captain I'm-So-Better-Than-Thou, don't you?" he said referring to Hernandez. He turned his attention to Darl, who lying semi-conscious on the floor. Carrinas kicked his foot slightly.
"You all right, boy?" he asked.
"I'll be all right, sir. I just, uh, need to sleep for a bit." Darl staggered upright. "And maybe some water." Darl leaned back against the wall to keep him upright. It was a fight of will to remain standing and conscious, but Darl stayed upright.
"So if you'll excuse me, sir, I think I'll be going back to my room?" Darl stumbled a step and clutched the wall for balance. It would be a long, rough trip back to his room, but the bed sounded so absolutely wonderful right now, and the sun was really starting to hurt his eyes.
"What's this about a journal?" asked Draco. He looked at the book Carrinas was holding. "Let me see that."
Carrinas jerked his towards the end of the corridor. "off you go then," he said to Darl, "I don't you fainting or anything."
He then turned his attention to the lizardman and handed him the journal. "Sylvia and I found this journal in a closet here on the ship. It's suspiscious looking as I'm sure you'll see."
Draco read the journal. "Oh, what a bunch of dragon crap. Okay, who's prank is this? Come on, did you really expect me to believe this?" He looked at Carrinas. "Was it you?"
Raising his brows and crossing his arms over his broad chest, the orc inclined his head slightly. "That was exactly my impression. It appears not to be a prank on our part, but it may certainly be a ploy. I somehow get the feeling that the vampire attack and this diary may be linked in some way. In either case, caution is not unwise."
He looked to Sylvia, who was the other discoverer of the tome, "What do you make of it?" he asked.
"I think we should be ready to defend the ship, just in case it IS real." Sylvia said.
A bunch of humans dressed in stereotyped 'indian' outfits walked over to the ship. One of them asked, "May we speak with you leader?"
(OOC: could someone acknowledge my OOC posts please?)
"Thanks...." Darl barely managed to say. He stumbled through the ship, using the wall as support. Eventually he made it to his room where he promptly fell on the bed and let unconsciousness wash over him.
Nodding, Carrinas requested permission from Draco to fall out and go to his cabin. The Captain was more interested in what else the journal might contain than one orc mercenary, so he agreed and waved Carrinas away. The orc grunted in response, leaving the group behind, and moved down the corridor, placing a hand on his scratches that were already healing. First he decided to see how the camp was coming along and so went outside onto the deck to see. It was then that he spotted a new group of red-skinned humans dressed in furs and feathers standing around on the coast, talking to one of the guards. The orc groaned and walked back inside, pretending he didn't see anything.
He's had enough trouble for one day. Let Hernandez deal with it.
[Edited by Tetrius on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 7:08 AM]
As the sun began to grace the land with its warm embrace Swiftwind returned back to the ship. He had silently left the vessel hours ago only mere moments after it had landed. There was no need in his mind to ask permission from the captain or any other members of the expedition. If he had they would have wanted to come along and the shifter was far more accustomed to working alone.
Moving silently through the growth of the surrounding area he stealthily climbed back aboard the ship and began searching for the captain in order to make his report. As his clawed feet silently moved along the wooden boards he began to notice that something had happened while he was gone. Several different people had raced along the deck since his first departure, the orc, several of the crew and something that appeared to be a horse even though the animals surely would be unloaded through the side hatch and never allowed on the deck.
Curious at these observations the shifter began a quick search of the ship to ensure everything was alright. Things seemed to be in order until he came across the site where the others had battle the vampire. Searching the ground he was able to read the slight traces of footsteps the others had left in the moist wood and could even see holes where rapiers and arrows and once been.
Continuing his search he finally noted where the vampire had been once the sun had reared its head from behind the horizon and burned the undead monster into little more then ash. While the scent caused his nostrils to flare he felt relief none the less. For the most part at least. Vampires where dangerous creatures and where there had been one more would be sure to follow. The shifter realized that he would first need to speak to the captain to figure out what happened.
As he turned to leave however he noticed something else on the floor. Drops of blood. Too few to be a wound from one of the crew members and vampire's didnt bleed even when they where injured. Someone had been bitten. This was bad.
Swiftwind returned to the maindeck as he searched for the captain.
Darl's excursion into unconsciousness was interrupted by an itching feeling. Darl woke up and noticed that there was plenty of sunlight comming in through the port hole. For some reason this really irritated him. So Darl wrestled himself up and went to close the porthole. With the porthole closed and the light diminished, Darl felt much better. Now he could go back and resume his rest. Darl fell back down on his bed and pulled the sheet up over his head. Nice and dark, that's the way he liked it. What? Had he always enjoyed darkness so much? .... Well, never that mind. It was dark now, and Darl liked it. That was enough for now.
A half empty bottle of gin was left on a side table to the right hand side of Carrinas's bed and the said orc reached over and took a swig of the amber liquid as he polished his broad sword, after several failed attempts to get some sleep. Carrinas had the porthole and curtains closed and the room was in twilight, not for any sort of heliophobia but simply because he found the red tinted dim light that shone through the curtains relaxing. Carrins was about to start with the hilt and pommel when Hernandez barged in as he often did, a habit that led Carrinas to ensure he was constantly decent whenever he was within his cabin. He hadn't been caught undressed, yet he had more than enough close calls. And you know what was often said about sailors and explorers...
"Captain Carrinas!" exclaimed the human, barging in as the said greenskin stood to attention, "News from an agent of ours who had just returned! I'd like you to hear this one out, being a seasoned veteran and all. By the way, how's the boy?"
Carrinas stood at ease of his own accord. "He seems to be fine, sir. I didn't notice anything funny, but it would be wise to have the chaplain take a look at him and see what he thinks."
Draco nodded. "Hmmm. I shouldn't think it's anything [i]too[/i] serious, after all he's one of MY men! He'll pull through! Anyway, the Shifter awaits."
Grunting, Carrinas followed the human out of his cabin to meet with the Shifter. Carrinas knew that there was a lot of hype surounding Shifters and that, as a race in general, they were not all that well trusted. Carrinas himself had no argument with them and so he didn't see what all the fuss was about. So what if they could change shape? So can gods and yet every fawns over them like the latest gladiator or poet. Regardless, Carrinas made sure he brought his sword with him; sometimes rumours held true.
Swiftwind awaited the captain up on deck. He hated being inside the ship. After their time spent out at sea he simply couldn't force himself to dwell within the confines of the wooden vessel any longer. He has a shifter, part man part beast, and would never do well with being confined.
As he waited for Draco he took a moment to reflect on the events that had brought him to his current juncture in his life. It seemed like little time had past since he was just a young pup being raised out in the wilds with his clansmen. He had spent nearly the first half of his life without even seeing another race besides his own. Shifter's by nature where distrustful of others almost as much as they where distrustful of them. Of course it was understandable from both sides of course.
Shifters where the offspring of generations of cross breeding with the creatures carrying the curse of lycanthropy. While his fore fathers may have been able to change their shape entirely into animals of the wild Swiftwind's blood had been deluted through the generations and so a new race had been made. While unable to call upon the full strength of the wild beasts as his anscestors could he was still more animal then man. A fact very few would ever let him truly forget.
"Hail Scout!" he heard from behind. He slowly turned to view a pair headed for him and it was obvious these where the two he needed to speak with. The human was average enough for the race and dressed well enough that even if he hadn't known him already Swiftwind could have easily guessed him to be the captain. With him however was another figure entirely. An orc. An Orc armed as the scout instantly noticed the sword the beast carried with it. Shifters and Orcs did not normally get along and he felt his hand drift down to the machete sheated at his hip. Despite their time together onboard there was no way to be certain things wouldn't go awry at a moments notice.
"What is there to report good sir?" The title was almost an insult to Swiftwind's sense of pride. No one had ever considered him good at anything but his abilities as a tracker and scout and never had they referred to him as sir. Letting the comment slide he faced his companions and began to belay his report.
"As soon as the ship came aground I immdeatly disembarked and began searching the surrounding area to gain a lay of the land." he started. His voice sounded more like a combination of speech and growls but there was nothing he could do about it. He had been amongst civilized folk enough that his common was easily understandable and they would simply have to get used to his quirks as far as language was conscerned.
"We could not have chosen a better spot on the island to set up camp as near as I can tell. Several fresh water rivers and springs are less then half a days journey from here," he gestured in the direction of the water supply as he spoke, " with game trails apparent both near them and crossing the areas in between here and there in abundance." He continued his report about the various wild life he found and gave indications of where several of the nearby tribes where currently residing. He had found some of the natives but had known well enough to keep his distance. He was a scout, not a leader and dealing with the locals was not part of his job.
"There was one thing that seemed to catch my eye though." As he spoke he pointed far towards the mountains in the distance.
"While I wasn't unable to travel close enough I believe there are ruins of some sort set at the base of one of those mountains. It seemed odd from a distance because large amounts of engineering went into what I could make out but obviously none of the locls I noticed seemed to be capable of having built it."
With his report finished Swiftwind simply waited for a response. He had no idea what the next plan of action was and simply waited for a new assignment. Hopefully it would come soon. An anxious shifter was not something anybody wanted onboard the ship.
Just beneath the water, several shapes could be seen. They jumped out, scaling the side of the ship. Once all of them were on board, it could be seen that Arnar was with them. He noticed the scorch marks and ashes on the floor, and said, "So, Vicente has failed. I guess I'll have to kill Draco myself." As the crew began their silent seige of the ship, Arnar snuck towards Draco's quarters.
Outside the ship, the "indians" were trying to convince the crew to come with them. however, a scout stumbled onto a group of pirates hidden in the bushes. He screamed as he was cut down, alerting everyone to their prescence. The "natives" brandished weapons and started attacking, calling for help from the "camp" just off to the east. Soon the entire crew was trying, unsuccessfully, to fend off the invaders.
Hernandez's eyes gleamed at the mention of ruins and Carrinas, having been around this human for a long time now, recognised what exactly the gleam meant. He graoned silently and rolled his eyes, knowing what the captain was going to suggest.
"This ruin," he said, licking his lips, "Do you happen to know whether or not it might have anything valuable within it?"
Carrinas recalled hearing about the last expedition Draco went on to a country south from his homeland and coming across an ancient temple dedicated to an old moon god had long since been forgotten. Rumour had it that the captain, gredy for gold and fame, sent all the men under him and some of crew to retrieve anything valuable had it. Only five out the thirty sent came out alive, yet laden with artefacts that fetched a high price back home. Hernandez reputedly disregarded the lost men as 'neccessary casualties'.
The orc cast an eye over the Shifter and saw him with a hand on his machete, his eyes giving Carrinas a dark look. This made him chuckle somewhat; if Carrinas to fend off a blood-thirsty vampire then a Shifter should be of little concern. There appeared to be a slight ruckus coming from the shore, but Carrinas paid it no heed for now. It was probably a slight scuffle between the men or something, he smack their heads together later.
Sylvia was alone in her room again. She heard a banging on the door, and it broke down. Three humans stood in the doorway, one wielding a dagger, the other two with cutlasses. One of them said, "Eh, this isn't Draco's room either. Let's move on."
"Wait," said the one with the dagger, "there's a live one in here!"
"Sweet! More fighting for me! I mean, us!" said the third one. He charged Sylvia.
Sylvia drew her rapier just in time to impale the third one, dropping him to the floor. She then ran off to find Carrinas or Draco, skillfully parrying the attacks of the other two as she ran.
"Draco! Carrinas! Someone's attacking the ship!" said Sylvia.
"Hey, we found Draco! Thanks, woman! Now let's kill him so we can get that reward Arnar promised!" They rushed up to him and attacked.
Sylvia recognized the name Arnar from the journal earlier. "Oh. Well, shit." she said.
Darl's rest seemed to be interrupted quite a bit. Sun earlier, now a ruckus. Darl got up off his bed and opened his door. He was barely quick enough to duck a sword swing that would have made him a head shorter. Darl took a few steps back and realized this guy wasn't part of the crew. The intruder smirked at Darl and lunged forward to impale Darl with his sword. Darl sidestepped and palmed the guy in the side of the head. Amazing, that. Darl had never really been the athletic type before. His reflexes and speed were better than they were the previous day. No matter that, what was important was that the ship was under attack. Darl stepped out of the doorway into the hall. What Darl saw was chaos.
Men were fighting all around with hardly a clue as to what was going on. The invaders seemed to have a clear target, but the crew didn't seem to know what it was. They just fought for their own lives. Darl decided that the best place to be was somewhere safe. Where was the safest place on the ship, though? While Darl was thinking another assailant charged towards him. With barely a thought Darl raised his hand and a flash of fire burst from his palm into the assailant's face. The assailant dropped his sword and screamed in pain. Darl took the opportunity to crush the man's wind pipe with a swift palm strike.
"Maybe there isn't any safe place on the ship." Darl thought to himself. "Perhaps I should find out what's going on." With that thought in mind, Darl started to make his way towards the captain's quarters.
A lone rowboat drifted across the sea. In it, there was a kobold and a half-orc, both in the loose clothing that pirates are known to wear.
"This is just great. No, really, fantastic!" said the kobold, who was rowing.
"You gonna eat dat?" said the half-orc, who apparently wasn't rowing, and was instead eating some sort of gruel out of a bowl.
"Get back to rowing, Spizzak. It's YOUR fault we got kicked off in the first place."
"Is dat a no?" said Spizzak.
"Wait, is that what I think it is?"
"A no?"
"No, you idiot, it's land!" True enough, the rowboat was approaching a large landmass of some sort.
"Land? Dat don't sound like very good food."
"[i]Sigh[/i]... fine. If you start rowing, I'll let you eat my gruel."
"Hey, tanks, Deeks!" He immediately grabbed the bowl and started eating.
"Wait, what? No, I said start rowing, you idiot!" said Deeks. "Ugh, nevermind." He started rowing towards the shore.
The orc's first impression when he got up that morning was that today would just be one of those days when everything would just go wrong. You'd stub your little toe against the side of the door, you'd forget to address an officer properly, you'd loose some vital equipment and all that hoo-hah. Reflecting on this morning's premonition Carrians realised that he was being horribly optmistic about what today would bring.
"Join the navy they said!" he muttered, clashing swords with one of the ship's assailants, "Make a name for yourself, they said! Make your fortune they said! And here I am babysitting a human captain who's only value in life is as a fresh corpse for a medical school!"
The said captain was currently hiding behind the orc, occasionally lashing out with his rapier but otherwise letting Carrinas do most of the work. He made a slight noise of indignation but otherwise let the comment pass unheeded; in many ways it could be held to be true. The orc smashed his fist into his opponent's face, hearing the satisfying crunch of breaking teeth, and finished him with a sharp stab at the chest. The mercenary fought his way to cabins, where he eventually saw Darl finishing a fallen attacker with a sharp jab to the windpipe. Carrinas paused slightly, impressed by the boy's kill, and then pressed on, calling out his name.
"Darl! Get your skinny arse here, boy!" he bellowed, the fight making him testy.
Darl heard a bellowing voice call his name. In an instant he knew that it was Carrinas. Darl wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad. Hoping for the best, Darl quickly turned in the direction of the voice and jogged towards him. A marauder tried to intercept him, but right as he thrust his sword at Darl, Darl spun to his side and around the intruder with a grace that could only be described as beautiful. Darl left the confused attacker there and took a few more swift steps towards an assailant facing Carrinas. Darl took the attacker's head in his two hands and in a deft motion twisted his head 180 degrees.
Darl took up a the guy's sword as his body crumpled to the ground and stood next to the orc, "Looks to me we're in a mite of trouble." Darl readied himself for another attacker. At least now he had a veteran warrior by his side and someone at his back. Perhaps this was indeed the safest place on the ship for now. For now. Once the attackers were fought off, it might be the worst.
The orc watched Darl practically dance about his opponent with all the grace and skill of a dancer, swiftly dispatching opponents as they came. Carrinas frowned slightly, he had seen beings who thought like that before and he did nothave many fond memories of them. He looked at the boy's face, and saw suddenly that he was looking a little pale. In Darl's defense he was pretty pale to begin with, but now his face looked like finely sculpted snow.
"I thought you were having a lie down," Carrinas said loudly, "You still look a bit faint actually, judging by your complexion. How do you feel?"
The orc roughly pushed Hernandez between the two, wedged safely between the orc and the boy as they kept the intruders at bay. Or at least as safe as you could get given the two and the situation anyway.
"Ah, I've finally gotten to the deck." said Arnar as he burst out of a trapdoor. "Now to take the ship." Now that all the crew members on deck had been dispatched, he went for the steering wheel. "You there," he said, pointing to a group of his men, "Man the sails. The rest of you, keep the soldiers off the ship until we're far enough away from land." They raised the sails and the ship began to move.
Meanwhile, below deck...
"Hey, what's that?" said Sylvia as she was skillfully parrying the blows of one of the pirates. She looked out the window and said, "Uhhhhh... Carrinas, the ship is moving..."
Darl quizzically raised an eyebrow at the orc for a second at the question. Darl had felt light-headed earlier, but he was feeling just fine now. Almost as if to prove the point he deftly lunged at an attacker and thrust his sword through his eye. "I'm quite fine, really. A little thirsty, though." With that out of his mouth he began to say something else, but closed his mouth before he said it. He had been about to say 'I could really go for a bit of blood.'
Darl took a half a second to glance down at his hands. They were much more pale than they should have been. Almost as if he were were hypothermic or dying. Darl then remembered that it had been a vampyre that bit him. Couple all those together and he thought he might be himself turning into one. Darl didn't really want to test the theory, though. He continued dispatching foes. He felt the boat start to move and heard Sylvia's comment. "Yeah, boss, the ship does seem to be moving. We need to make our way to the deck to see what's going on."
"Scheiße!" Carrinas snarled, reverting to his native tongue, "Follow me. That means you too Hernandez!"
Ignoring the said captain's cries of outrage at being addressed in such a manner (and by an orc of all beings), Carrinas made his way back to the deck, the fighting approaching its finish as the invaders began to gain control of the ship. Muskets had been brought into play by some of the sailors, the sharp cracks and the smell of gunpowder attesting to their presence. One lead bullet whizzed passed Carrinas's head and thudded into the woodwork next to him, causing him to duck down low.
"Watch out!" he called to the others, "Muskets!"
Sylvia followed them up to the deck, kicked the trap door open, and jumped up. The deck was swarming with pirates.
"Ah, Sylvia. I suspected that you would be the first one up here. You always were one of the smartest. I'm only surprised that you didn't figure out that I was spying on you. Too bad for you!" said Arnar. He looked to his men. "Seize her!"
"Spizzak, would you just shut up and row already? We're almost there." said Deeks.
"Mmmmmm..." Spizzak grunted as he ate still more gruel, apparently not hearing him.
"Hey, look! Ship! Wait, is that fighting? Hey, [b]PAY ATTENTION, YOU IDIOT!!![/b]"
"Oooh! Fightin'! Can we go? Can we go?"
"Yes, Spizzak, I was [b]JUST ABOUT TO SAY THAT.[/b] Now start rowing so we can get there!"
The RPG Consortium - http://www.rpgconsortium.com


text:
West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is ready to fast-track Dean Ashton's return if his strikers fail to fire.
"Dean needs games but not situations like this one when I have to put him on with half an hour to go and tell him to get on with it," observed Curbishley after their defeat to Manchester City on Saturday.
"We should give him more time but he is desperate to play and if we don't do better than that, he will be starting, that is for sure.
"The whole day was just a massive disappointment. I can't take any positives from it whatsoever and I am just as disappointment with myself as anybody.
"I should have done something about the shape of the side before City scored and when I did try to find a spark I ended up switching too many players around."

subset: commoncrawl


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Pune: After remaining dormant for a couple of days, the monsoon finally got active in the city as it witnessed some spells of rain showers on Wednesday. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city is likely to receive light rains in the next couple of days.
On Wednesday, Pune's sky
was covered with clouds since morning and at around 12 in the noon, the city received some spells of the rain. Since, then there was intermittent rain throughout the day in most parts of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The intermittent rain, however, slowed down the pace of the traffic.
Predicting the forecast for the next couple of days, IMD said that parts of Mumbai and Pune are likely to get light rain showers in next 24 hours to 48 hours. Konkan, Sangli and Satara are areas where good amount of rainfall is being recorded but the monsoon in Mumbai and Pune is still not fully active yet.
On the other hand, it has made some advancement in the north and east parts of the country.
IMD experts stated that southwest monsoon made some
advancement in last 24 hours where it covered further parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, some parts of Orisa, Jharkhand, Bihar and remaining parts of Bay of Bengal.


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NEW DELHI: RP Cricket Academy (RPCA) beat Mukesh Yadav Cricket Academy by 22 runs in the Sahibzada Ajit Singh cricket tournament here on Friday.
The scores: RP Cricket Academy 158 in 40 overs (Puneet Bisht 32, Rajesh Kumar 31 not out, Nikhil Mehta four for 22) bt Mukesh Yadav Cricket Academy 136 in 38.3 overs (Akhil Mehta 37, Manav Sharma 34, Sachin Rana three for 20).
More In: SPORT | Today's Paper


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Staff Reporter
KOCHI: Phillips Carbon Black Ltd at Karimugal near here has plans to invest Rs. 160 crore as part of its expansion in the State.
The company, which is part of the RPG Group of Companies, will expand the capacity of its Kochi plant from the present 40,000 tonnes to 90,000 tonnes, S. K. Ghosh, Chief of Operations at the Kochi unit, said here on Wednesday.


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Streetcars in Tacoma, Washington
|This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014)
Streetcars were the primary mode of public transportation in Tacoma, Washington from the late 1800s until their discontinuance in 1938. Operated together with a network of interurbans, streetcars provided transportation within Tacoma and throughout the Puget Sound region. Buses replaced the last streetcars in 1938. Streetcar-type transportation returned to Tacoma in 2003 with the opening of the Tacoma Link, a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) light rail line in Downtown Tacoma. There are proposals both to expand this system and to construct a new heritage streetcar system.
A century ago Tacoma, like many American cities, had an extensive rail transit system. The first two streetcar lines in Tacoma were constructed in 1888 along the lengths of Pacific Avenue and Tacoma Avenue. A pair of horses pulled each of the yellow streetcars. The lines were a success from the start, carrying many passengers, and were very soon thereafter extended. From these few lines others sprang up, each emanating from Downtown Tacoma into the surrounding areas, allowing for houses and business areas to develop.
By around 1912 the city boasted 125 miles of streetcar trackage (much of it electrified) and almost 30 streetcar lines as well as an electric interurban rail connection to Seattle. Tacoma also had a simple cable car loop running from South 11th and 'A' St. to what is known now as Martin Luther King Jr. Way, down South 13th St. back to 11th and 'A'. This simple and frequent line helped to integrate trolley lines that served each street elevation. It also helped to ferry passengers up Tacoma's steep hills which assisted in integrating the eastern and western sections of Downtown Tacoma.
The streetcar lines individually had experienced many troubles over their 50-year lifetime, including many buyouts, defaults, takeovers, worker strikes and one notable tragedy. On a rainy July 4, 1900, a trolley jumped the tracks, plunging into a ravine and killing 43 passengers.
At its peak the Tacoma Railway and Power Company was transporting in the range of 30,000,000 passengers a year, a number still not reached by the modern Pierce Transit.[citation needed] Because of increasing road construction the trolleys became difficult to operate in an environment increasingly dominated by personal automobiles and taxis. The year that US 99 was completed commuter traffic between Tacoma and Seattle via the electric Interurban fell off nearly 40%, signaling the end of the trolley era.[citation needed] The last streetcars in Tacoma ran on June 11, 1938. The day was marked by a citywide public holiday, with excursions over part of the route and a "Gay Nineties" dance at the Winthrop Hotel.[1] The system was replaced with brand new rubber tired buses that could more easily move in and out of the growing amounts of traffic in downtown. However, the system failed again and was eventually acquired by the City of Tacoma – becoming the precursor of Pierce Transit.[citation needed]
In the mid-1990s the Puget Sound region was dealing with increasing traffic. Voters approved Sound Move, a tri-county transportation package that formed Sound Transit. One of the major projects for the Pierce County/Tacoma area was Tacoma Link light rail line, which has helped to reinvigorate local interest in streetcars in the City of Tacoma.
Tacoma Link[edit]
The Tacoma Link is a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) light rail line located in Tacoma, Washington. The line was completed in 2003 and serves the downtown area, and primarily functions to transport commuters between a combined parking garage/transit hub and the downtown core.
Heritage streetcar[edit]
A grassroots movement has proposed to construct a heritage streetcar system which would interchange with the existing Tacoma Link but be operationally distinct. The system would serve Downtown Tacoma, Portland Avenue, 6th Avenue, North Downtown, and the Stadium District. In 2008 a committee of the Tacoma City Council accepted the findings of feasibility study concerning this proposal, which did not include cost estimates.[2]
See also[edit]
- ^ "Life Goes to a Party". LIFE. July 11, 1938.
- ^ "City Council committee onboard with streetcar feasibility results". pnwlocalnews.com. April 25, 2008. Retrieved June 17, 2014.


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Lunar Module Ascends from the Moon
April 28, 2003
The Apollo 11 Lunar Module ascent stage, with Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. aboard, is photographed from the Command and Service Modules in lunar orbit. Astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command/Service Module in lunar orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Moon. The Lunar Module is approaching from below. The coordinates of the center of the lunar terrain seen below are 102 degrees east longitude and 1 degree north latitude.
Topics: Technology Internet, Apollo Lunar Module, Apollo 11, Apollo program, Service module, Luna programme, Michael Collins, Moon landing, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Apollo spacecraft, Lunar orbit, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Neil A. Armstrong


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Motor City thrashers Battlecross have just returned home from a successful trip to Bogota, CO, and nearly immediately upon returning, have launched a brand new song from their forthcoming album, 'Rise to Power'!Read More
Culture Killer
Florida natives, Culture Killer, have signed with Metal Blade Records and are preparing to record their full length debut! Previously, the band had released the 'Denial' EP in 2014, and a single 'Exterminate Filth' earlier this year.Read More
Multi-national metal maestro's DragonForce have announced the worldwide release of their debut DVD entitled 'In the Line of Fire.' The release is scheduled for July 10th.Read More
In celebration of their tour dates, Revocation have prepared a series of lyric videos with fellow guitarist and director-animator Nick Hipa. Now, 'Madness Opus' has been unveiled and is streaming HERE.Read More
Cattle Decapitation
Cattle Decapitation to release 'The Anthropocene Extinction' this August via Metal Blade Records - first single unveiled and special record release show announced.Read More
The Great Discord
Today, the band further expands upon their intriguing and mystifying visuals with a new video for the song 'The Aging Man'. The video was directed by Philip Kullgren and edited by Joakim Sjoholm.Read More
Between the Buried and Me
Progressive metal band Between the Buried and Me have premiered a music video for 'The Coma Machine' today! 'The Coma Machine' is the second single off of the band's upcoming, highly anticipated album, 'Coma Ecliptic'!Read More
Armored Saint
Los Angeles, California's Armored Saint are set to release their seventh studio album this summer. The group have partnered with the LA Weekly to debut the new track, 'An Exercise In Debauchery.'Read More
New Releases
Upcoming Releases
Latest News
RIVERS OF NIHIL launch new music and pre-orders for "The Conscious Seed of Light"
- August 19th, 2013 – Rivers of Nihil have released the first single...Read More
GYPSYHAWK announce early fall tour with Scorpion Child, Kadavar, Wilson and Mothership!
- August 16th, 2013 – Gypsyhawk will be hitting the road again next...Read More
Shai Hulud announce October tour dates with Madball, The Overseer
- August 15th, 2013 – Shai Hulud will return to the road this Fall for...Read More
GWAR Gears up for the "Bloodbath" at This Weekend's GWAR-B-Q With New Song Premiere
- August 15th, 2013 – Latest Opus Battle Maximus Available September...Read More
WHITECHAPEL launch new lyric video and contest to win signed ESP guitar on GuitarWorld.com
- August 15th, 2013 – North American tour with GWAR kicks off in...Read More
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER announce Fall North American headlining tour
- August 14th, 2013 – The Black Dahlia Murder will be embarking on a...Read More
TÝR release new single, "Mare Of My Night," on MetalInsider.net
- August 12th, 2013 – Valkyrja, the seventh full-length album from the...Read More
RIVERS OF NIHIL announce debut full length album "The Conscious Seed of Light"
- August 12th, 2013 – On tour now with Wretched, Abiotic,...Read More


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This property allows you to book online with a credit card. After submitting a reservation request, the owner or manager has 24 hours to accept, at which time your card will be charged and you will receive an email confirmation
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"Really enjoyed our stay. No fuss reservation, house was clean and fully stocked (I won't take as much next year) Public boat ramp was close to house and private dock was an added bonus. Minutes from town for gas groceries and boat repair. Would Highly recommend this rental property."Guest: Jennifer K. Date of Stay: June 2014 Review Submitted: June 24, 2014View listing
"Myself & a few of my closest friends took a long weekend trip away and stayed at Sanctuary at Two Bear and it was amazing!! The cabin was very homey and was decorated beautifully! The amenities were great and really helped us cut down on having to travel with a lot of stuff. The fire pit, kayaks and canoes were awesome to have on site and we definitely used them plenty! The cabin is located on a smaller, quiet lake which was great for us to relax on with our water loungers! Overall, the cabin was a perfect fit for what we needed and we would definitely stay again!"Guest: Liz Date of Stay: August 2014 Review Submitted: August 20, 2014View listing
"Rented this cabin for a family getaway to celebrate our Mom's 75th birthday. Lots of room for everyone with large gathering spaces and separate spaces to get away from it all. The view of the lake was fantastic. Deer in the front yard every morning."Guest: Sheryle C. Date of Stay: September 2014 Review Submitted: September 24, 2014View listing
"This is the perfect getaway, so relaxing and enjoyable and right on the lake with the best view from the cozy porch. This is the cutest cottge cabin I've ever seen so clean and perfect. Best relaxing weekend ever!"Guest: Nat Date of Stay: July 2014 Review Submitted: July 7, 2014View listing
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nforce4 friendly distro?
Check my sig for system specs
ive tried installing fc4 and the latest ubuntu but i keep having some problems w/ my nic. the primary is detected but hangs on dhcp aquisition of ip and the secondary isnt recognized at all. ive been out of the linux thing for a while (since i went the nforce4 route back in feb or march) so im not really proficient enough to get this back up and running w/ ease.
anyone know of a 32 bit distro that should install everything during initial install?
(p.s. dont say gentoo i cant really tie up my pc for 6 hours as im completley unfamiliar with that distro, something rpm or .deb based is preferred in my case i think)
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
Hmm, K8NXP-SLI?
Have you flashed the BIOS?
Or do you still have the original one?
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
tried both the f6 and latest f9 bios so far i believe my board shipped w/ the f6 bios
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
Hardware support is not distro specific. Install the latest kernel and wham you have the best support for your hardware.
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
and if i dont have a working nic to get it once i have it installed?
see the problem here?
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
Hey there :D
What are you NICs chipsets? I'm betting you've got one gigabit and one standard 10/100 ethernets, you can always resort to installing the latest version of forceware for Linux to install at least the NIC part. You'll at least have one running. Then you can install the latest kernel.
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
thetargos heh
ygpm bro =p
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
the installer with the latest kernel update.
Re: nforce4 friendly distro?
Yes, but being an nForce4 based board, he can resort to install nvnet to get his NIC to work in his current kernel, so he can connect to the Internet and download the new one ;) Or he could get either the .rpm or the .deb (for Fedora or Ubuntu) from Windows (assuming dual-boot here) and then install it under Linux.
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The Frozen Rabbi: Week 1, Part 2
As pond waters deepen, so too does our mystery
When the holy man Rabbi Eliezer ben Zephyr, the Boibiczer Prodigy, wished to get closer to God, he would sit, or rather lie, by a certain pond in the woods outside his village. There, using techniques described in Gedaliah Ibn Yahya's Girdle of Abimelech, he would meditate on the letters of the Tetragrammaton until he entered a trance. In his youth he had been acclaimed for his public demonstrations of memory, his ability to recite passages of Talmud both forward and backward, and his feats of what the uninitiated called magic. But now in his twilight years he was far beyond such exhibitions, and preferred to exercise his powers in solitude. He would lie upon his back on the mossy bank of the pond, his clasped hands cradling his head as the Girdle prescribed, while his neshomah, his soul, ascended to the Upper Eden. There his soul sat in bliss among the archons studying Torah. Once, however, during one of his more intensive meditations—this was in the blustery month of Sivan, just after Shavuot—there came a mighty storm. With his soul aloft, his body, frail as it was, remained insensible to the moods of the terrestrial world; and so, while the storm raged and the torrents battered his meager frame, Rabbi Eliezer continued his meditations in peace. The drenched earth on which he lay turned to mud and the water of the shallow pond began to rise, inundating his legs to the waist, creeping over his chest and chin and ultimately submerging his hoary head.
Previously the sage had depended on the shulklapper summoning the faithful to prayer to signal the reunification of his body and soul, but the deluge had muted any noises from above the surface of what was quickly becoming a lake.
As their rebbe's retreats were fairly routine, Eliezer's small band of disciples had grown accustomed to the old man's frequent absences, but that he should stay away for so long in the wake of such a terrible storm seemed to them a distinct cause for worry. After several days, a party of Rabbi Eliezer's Chasidim, their earlocks streaming, gabardines flapping like crows' wings, began combing the pastures and thickets known to be the tzaddik's special haunts. Deracinated trees with roots like hydra heads, the bloated carcasses of drowned hogs, and roofless peasant huts were what they found, but no Rabbi Eliezer. Some of his followers even passed in the vicinity of the pond that had overnight turned into a considerable body of water, under-neath which lay the Prodigy in his mystical transports. When weeks had passed without a rumor of their leader's whereabouts, the Chasids reluctantly called off the search; they tore their garments, beat their pigeon breasts, and sprinkled ashes over their heads but refused to say Kaddish, contending one and all that their rebbe would one day return.
The seasons changed, the russet and gold autumn supplanted by an alabaster winter, while Rabbi Eliezer continued his submarine meditations. The ground was blanketed, the trees stooped like peddlers under haversacks of heavy snow, and still the rebbe's body remained impervious to decomposition. It was the time of year when the industrious widower Yosl King of Cholera, accompanied by his feckless son, Salo, dragged his sledge across the snowfields to the banks of the Lower Bug to harvest ice. (He'd been an orphan, Yosl, whom the town had married off to another orphan during a plague in the hope of assuaging God's wrath—hence his name.) This year, however, Yosl had heard from the cheder boys, who skated the horse pond on Baron Jagiello's estate, that summer storms had increased the pond to the size of an inland sea. After investigating, Yosl went hat in hand to the baron and begged permission to carve ice from his lake in exchange for replenishing the estate's own supply free of charge. An agreeable man when it served his interests, the baron gave Yosl the go-ahead, and the ice mensch set out across the fields, trailed by his son.
When they arrived at the swollen pond, a few truant Talmud Torah boys were already there, their wooden skates describing wobbly spirals and arabesques on the jade green surface of the ice. Abandoning his sledge, Yosl trod the ice in his hob-nailed boots to test its thickness and then, satisfied, began to cut a trench with his axe. He called to his son to bring him the double-handled ice saw, but Salo, as timid as he was lazy, ventured only to the edge of the lake to hand his father the tool.
"Amoretz!" Yosl complained to the iron gray sky. "He puts his shoes on back-wards and gets from walking into himself a bloody nose." But that was the extent of his indictment, since Yosl had long since abandoned any real expectations of his son's usefulness. The boy's fear of almost everything in existence seemed to exempt him from life itself, let alone work, and sometimes his father wondered if Salo, whose mother had died in childbirth, had ever been entirely born.
While his father labored, Salo dawdled at the margin of the lake, ashamed as always to be hanging back but convinced that the ice would not support his lumpish weight. Occasionally, however, he might dare himself to rest the ball of a foot on the crusted surface, rubbing a circle as smooth as glass with the sole of his shoe. But rather than steal a glance through the polished porthole, lest it reveal something unpleasant, Salo usually turned away without even looking. At one point he did catch sight of a fish like a monarch's wing suspended in a sunless world where time stood still. And again, unable to resist a peek after rubbing another circle, he saw the face of an old man with a yellow beard.
"Papa!" cried Salo in terror.
Check back tomorrow for the next installment of The Frozen Rabbi. Or, to get each day's installment of The Frozen Rabbi in your inbox, sign up for the Tablet Magazine Daily Digest, and tell your friends.
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The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Sunday said it would lead the fight for the rights of the lower riparian States in sharing of river waters, and rejected the charge that its campaign against Babli project was linked to by-elections in Andhra Pradesh.
Ahead of a meeting of an all-party delegation from the State with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu charged the Union government with not safeguarding the interests of the State even after the award of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal, orders of the Central Water Commission and an agreement between the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh of not going ahead with the construction of Babli and 13 other "illegal projects.''
The Maharashtra government did not follow the interim order of the Supreme Court against 13 proposed gates, he said at a press conference here.
While advocating a national debate on the rights of the lower riparian States, he said the TDP would launch a campaign against the upper riparian States impinging on these rights and to ensure peaceful co-existence of all States.
Keywords: Babli project, river water sharing, inter-state disputes, Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra row, Telugu Desam, Chandrababu Naidu