Aisla

What? Eddie Munt is coming back to protect his beloved statue of Galaxy Girl??? Wearing spandex??!?

-deleted as it was really not the right thing to say. It's early and I have been without my coffee for days :s-

A damn good reason; It allows us to play our unplayable characters again. Yay!

I'm beginning to see a pattern here, guys... *Looks at Z, Wordy and Birdy.* When one of us starts writing, -all- of us start writing... *Glances at Z* Tag, you're it!

I did on my story a page or so back, and I never got much *sniff* Asking therefor has no real reason, so there.

Time allowing, and RL allowing, tonight. :-)

Yep, agreed here, I vote; Stop the contest aspect, keep the creative forum. Just hand out surprise prizes if/when you feel you can, but take the pressure off yourselves guys at NCSoft, and please just scrap the contest. :-)

Cruel? Why cruel? :-)

((I decided to kick some more of Liz's background/plot off, and here, is part one of the story to introduce/accompany it. More will follow over the next few days. As alway, constructive criticism is always welcome. :-)))


The night felt particularly cold in the Midlands in the United Kingdom that morning, the weak sun about to push the darkness of the night away. It had been only minutes to Elizabeth, since she had left Paragon, where it had been midnight, and the protective embrace of her Sebastian. That thought, more then anything, now chilled her to the bone. She had made a promise, to all of them, to return to them soon, safely. Though she intended to keep that promise, she wished she could have told him, could have told all of them. Their disappointment, their worry for her, had been obvious, she had seen it in their eyes, and it had very nearly broken her. Minako and Sara, her sisters, had both offered her their assistance. Jared probably wouldn’t even have let her go. Now, though, she used it as a focus, she had something to fight for again, something to live for, and she would damn well see to it she made it back to them, her family.

From her post atop a hill, overlooking the awakening countryside, Liz looked out at the faint light at the southern part of the sky, letting out a breath, which in the lingering darkness formed a stream of silvery mist leaving her lips. She remembered the last time she fought ‘Him’, which caused a shiver to run through her even more then the cold did. He had grown significantly stronger then the time before, and He had had more time to prepare this time, which made her wonder, doubt, fear.
Nearly two hundred years had passed since the last time she fought Him, and the last time, the fight had left her near death, it had also killed the man she loved, and some of their companions. This time, Scathach had made it clear to her that she wasn’t allowed to inform her new-found family. The goddess had not want to discuss it, called them both her strength and her weakness. Liz’s jaw set as she grit her teeth, her expression hardening with resolution.

The sound of a twig snapping on a leaf-littered floor made her turn sharply to the cluster of deciduous trees behind her. There were very little leaves still on the branches, and those that were still hanging on, had turned a deep red, verging on hazel-brown. In the shadows of dawn, though, they were all just shades of grey.
Two silver eyes looked at her from a semi-sheltered place in the shadows, about eight inches off the ground, it’s shape, though distorted by the surrounding shadows, appeared to be that of a fox. “So you have returned…” It spoke softly, with an oddly humanoid voice, slightly crackling, which was probably due to lack of use. People generally do not react well to an animal that speaks in the human tongue.

A faint smile came to her lips as Liz knelt down on her right knee, leaning her heand on her bent left knee. Her long, black coat pooling around her, on the floor littered with dead vegetation. “I have, Tobias, my friend… It’s good to see you again. It’s been a while”

Allowing the shadows to unmask him properly, Tobias the fox stepped forward, his eyes carefully watching the surroundings, sniffing the air as he approached. “It has been one-hundred and ninety-eight years, ten months, two weeks, four days and a few hours.” He halted a couple of steps and sat down before her. “Your scent changed too.” The fox tilted its head slightly to the left, looking at her almost questioningly. “Where is your new family?” He asked.

Elizabeth’s expression turned a little sour. “-She- would not let them come along.”

“And I bet she let you do the explaining to them.” There was a soft growl, followed by a yelp as the fox jumped to its feet as if stung by a bee, half-turning.

“That wasn’t a nice thing to say Tobias Johanson.” Spoke a voice in a scolding manner from the shadows surrounding the pair.

Tobias growled softly, barely audible, before turning his attention back to Liz. “What matters for me, my lady, is that you have a new family. I was worried for you when....” He fell silent, hanging his head a little.

Using her right hand, Liz reached out, stroking the fox’s course fur on its head. “It’s alright, my old friend, it’s alright… I have found some people, who knocked some sense into me. Arthur would not have wanted me to react like I did in the first place. I should have known better. I guess one is never too old to learn.” She smiled at the irony of her own words as she sat back, placing her hand back on her knee. “I am sorry if I have given you reason for concern.”

The fox shook its head. “You must follow your own path, Elizabeth, there is nothing those around you can do, but hope that you listen to good advise when given, and land on your feet. I’m pleased to see you have yet again managed. Though next time, try not to take nearly two centuries.” After a short pause, he added. “Now that pleasantries have been taken care of, we both know our paths crossed for a reason. I wish the reason was as pleasant as seeing your face again, but alas, we both know it is not.”

Liz nodded, getting to her feet. “And I bet you’ve done your usual ‘sniffing out’?”

At her words, the fox’s eyes seem to narrow a little. “Very funny, Elizabeth, very funny… Actually, yes, I have, and it wasn’t a nice task at all. He isn’t far from here, in a cave. I’d say about fifteen minutes away, for clumsy human feet.” Tobias seemed to snigger, which for a fox, is quite an achievement. “He has not yet reached full power.”

“Then we had best not be wasting time, any advantage we can get over him is better then none. Lead the way, my friend.”

Tobias complied by turning back to the cluster of trees and set out, his nimble paws hardly causing any sound on the leaf-littered ground, nor as he began his decent on the other side of the hill, towards what looked like a small forest at the foot of the hill. The hillside was littered with small rocks and holes in the ground, making it difficult for Liz to keep up. Halfway down the slope she slipped and slid down a few feet, some of the sharper rocks tearing at her coat and jeans. As she passed a sapling whilst sliding, she managed to grab a hold of it with her left hand and established her balance and control, until she reached the edge of the forest, where the fox was sat, waiting for her with its back turned to her, keeping its eyes on the forest.

As she approached, carefully, he whispered. “Can you feel His presence?”

“Yes.” She whispered back. This was it, this was the place. She recognised the feel of death, destruction, hate and the unmistakable sense of evil looming in every corner, every shadow. Involuntarily, her mind went over the previous times she had come face to face with Him, from the first time, only days after she had finalised her powers, to the last time, when He had left her for dead, when He was responsible for Arthur’s death. It had been Him, who had summoned the demon. Skilled in many areas of the occult, He had hoped that by breaking her, He would be able to destroy her. Instead, she had used the excuse that she had been declared dead as a cover to lay low and prepare. A few days after the incident, she had tracked Him down and put things right. Apparently, it was not right enough. “Let’s go.” She said, and without awaiting Tobias’ reply, she set out into the forest towards the source.

Fully agreed there, Weasel, it is getting a little ridiculous, I was thinking the ae myself the other day.

Aluria, or Stargazer, is 28.
Elizabeth, or Shadow's Grace, is 898 now.
Sam, or Mindblank, is 17.
And Rose, or Areulder, is 25.

Well, he was at GG a week or so ago, I think.

Well, he was at GG a week or so ago, I think.

It's amazing how many of the GG-ers jump on this, and so fast... Worrying, that.

Anyway, come on, non-GG-ers, there -must- be more roleplayers out there!

Count me in, I am sure we can get a few of the others in on this as well. The GG crowd, amongst many others, play together on a regular basis. I am certain that like Z and me, they will be game to do this.

Also, I have a suspicion that the Precision Rangers might be game, and Statis' and Silver Weasel's lot. :-) (Keep forgetting your SG's name... sowwy :s)

Sorry, mate, but you're contradicting yourself here. You say you want it to stop, yet you continue to put your comments in on the matter...

I am going to drop it now, I have tried to put my thoughts across, if people continue to misunderstand, there is either something wrong with my English (Hey, I am only Dutch, after all...) or something with the receivers' English, since all my posts seem to be taken the wrong way.

If people do not -wish- to listen, I see no reason why I should try and continue to explain myself to deaf ears. Have a good one.

All nice and dandy saying people should stop whining and the like, and in a way, I agree, however, I would like to point out the following. I have yet to meet a roleplayer who actively goes out to harass other players, makes them feel inferior and cusses them to kingdom come.

PvP -does- have a fair number of rotten apples who -do- actively go out to make people's lives a living hell in game.

Nuff said, really.

Everything has ups and downs, real life certainly does, so why shouldn't roleplay life? :-)

As been said by the others, glad to hear you enjoyed yourself, and if the fancy takes you, by all means, join us again when you come back!

Not really what I meant, and I do stay out of the zones, because I know it annoys me to have the stress of people out there trying to kill whatever is moving about. Besides which, my pc lags too much for me to make it feasable. I will admit the exp is nice, and we have found a way for me to actually mission there from time to time, but in general, I avoid them.

I was simply giving my opinion on the question of the OP, though I will not deny that my reply may have been somewhat acid due to my experiences. However, even then, I do admit I can understand PvP could be a fun concept.

Okay, my pvp experience so far from the games I have played that had pvp content (Diablo II, DaoC T4C, NwN, CoH/CoV), there is no such thing as PvP etiquette. I hate to say it, but so far, all I have incountered, in all these games, are pratts that go out with either a character that is many levels higher then many and slaughter everything that is lower leveled in their path. They revel in it, brag about it and rub it in their victim's faces as though the only purpose they have in life, is to destroy the game fun of others.

Now, DoaC (Dark age of Camelot) and CoH are slightly different, you can actually avoid PvP. In DoaC there are specific raids that are set up in special zones, where you can 'invade' a different country. In CoH you have the arenas and the 'PvP'-zones (In all honesty, I think CoH's devs have looked very closely at the DoaC design, it's very similar in many ways.).
The reason I prefer this, is simply because, and I make no show of hiding it, I strongly dislike PvP. This is due to years of bad experiences, not simply one or two incidents in CoH/CoV.

In Diablo you could set the level cap if you opened your own game instead of joining another, that wasn't too bad either.

However, NwN and T4C really set my mind in the fact that there is no etiquette what so ever. In most cases, PvP comes down PK-ing people. (Player Killing)
There is no rule of honour, there are no rules of consideration, it is simply; If it moves, kill it, if it's lower level then you, even better as it won't try and resist.

Then the comments would follow: Lolz i pwned u, you stoopid n00b, ZOMG, i killed u again, you n00b. (In T4C this was done in French, which doesn't make it more romantic, I assure you.) Other comments of the more intelligable nature (sorry, I am too old for leet, I do not understand it and have trouble using most of it when typing.) include: You weak little gimp, why did I kill you? Because you exist.

Nice, really, very nice. Hear that enough on a daily basis and a game rapidly becomes less and less fun. (Whether it is intended for you or someone else, IMHO.)

I could go on for hours about this kind of behavour and examples, but I fear my post has already gone into rant mode and I don't want to make it worse.

Yes, despite my experiences and seeing those of others happen before my eyes, I still think that PvP could potentially be fun, but under rules, and that is what you can use the Arena for, there are rules in place. Warburg, siren's call and Bloody Bay, despite the auto-exemp, are places where those that have no honour and are true-blooded pk-ers will soon prevail.

Congratulations, Stasis, just goes to show the bikini thing -does- work apparently. Perhaps I should try it. ;-)

Quick reply from the hotelroom in the hotel the Con was held. Had a great time meeting everyone, I think I was a lot more nervous then I had liked to admit, but it's the truth.

I gor only a piccy done of Liz, but they had some trouble locating half the artists on sunday... Rockjaw had a solution for that, though, which I am sure he will post about later.

A more detailed report will follow. :-)

Most memorable CoH roleplay moment... Hmmm... That's a difficult one. I have had the pleasure of playing with some remarkable roleplayers, some of whom have moved me to tears behind my pc, most of them have caused me to have stomach ache from laughing too much.

I'll have to think this one over...

You're a depraved bunch...
Oh wait... nevermind that.

I shall ring them tonight, hun. :-)