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Messages - Stug3
21
« on: December 21, 2008, 01:26:53 am »
Good to see you back!
22
« on: December 17, 2008, 04:19:56 pm »
I have lost count of how many times I have returned to chronicling in these pages after a long spell of non-documentation. A smart man would have left dates with any entry he made, I have been called many things but that is not one of them.
I did discover another Troll-provided product that has proven itself useful. After dusting off this book and settling in to do a bit of inking I found all my ink had dried up, I was left with nothing but tiny bottles of pretty colored powders. Water would have been just dandy to reconstitute the ink but I got to wondering about its longevity and the possible damage the water-based ink might cause. I know scrolls are scribed using egg but I can't even look at eggs anymore, let alone carry them around in my pack. I'd just assume hand a sack full of my 'Improved Fire/Fragmentation Bombs' to a pie-inebriated Brownie in a hammer factory. The water question and the no-question about egg left me in a bit of a quandary and once again those big bumbling Trolls came through in fine fashion. I really need to move them up on the most useful creatures in the land list, tasty AND now even more useful! I wonder about the possibility of domestication... (Would have to circumvent their tendency towards violence, stampeding cows and insane chickens are one thing. Insane and stampeding Trolls is another entirely, I can see trouble with neighbors arising quickly. Cows kick and chickens do whatever it is they do but neither is likely to wear your skin as a hat, unlike Trolls)...
My latest discovery... Troll urine. I'm not going into just how I came to this conclusion or how I acquired the aforementioned component but if you have read any of these pages then you will know that things just "tend to happen". Troll urine is oddly lacking in smell, much to my surprise and contrary to the source from which it springs. Slightly thicker than water and available in several shades ranging from clear to deep orange; the color does not seem to affect the ink except for perhaps white ink, is there white ink? A small note of caution; it should be kept away from an open flame for at least an hour, my eye brow will grow back...it always does.
Who would think that a seemingly useless creature was such a well of usefulness? The rendered fat keeps my armor from rusting solid and relatively squeak free, it does however have a bit of a stink to it. The head-cheese alone makes the trouble and resulting mess of dealing with them worthwhile. If boiled the eyes are quite good and I have for many years substituted them for boiled eggs but they are even better in stews... (just keep it quiet or I'll never have dinner guests!)... Properly cured and suitably softened the skins make excellent garments; I have in fact retired my Giant-skin traveling jacket for a new and much better Troll material. The water-repelling ability alone more than makes up for the fact that hair continues to grow from the garment for a rather lengthy period of time (I only have to shave the coat once a month now). The hair however is of little use; I wove a rough blanket out of it but it was like sleeping in a thorn bush and smelled like a bear had just...(well you know what they do in the woods) in the bush.
The amount of 'meat' is not as large as say a Giant but for the un-experienced it can be a daunting task to properly clean and separate the carcass before it draws other opportunistic feeders. A properly motivated individual can with a bit of practice fell the Troll and strip the carcass in 2-4 hours, unlike Giants which really need a group to properly process... (all this is discussed in earlier notes)...Nothing worse then being knee-deep in Troll when something with a equally bad attitude and an empty belly strolls out of the trees. Meat preparation can be conducted in several ways, some better than others. Smoking and stews are my personal preferences. The meat smokes easily and can be done as any fish, cutting the meat thin like a fish fillet makes for the best portion size, takes the smoke better and reduces the gameness. Once smoked it may be stored for months if kept dry and can be reconstituted in a stew or gruel if boiled. As for stewing either smoked or un-smoked meat may be used, I would suggest stewing un-smoked meat first before it tries to crawl away. The smoked meat stays put. Who can tell what's in a stew anyhow so get creative...
Life goes on weather you are there to see it or not and returning from a long ramble is a mixed bag of pleasant surprises (marriages and births...not necessarily in that order) and regrets. People have come and people have gone friends have vanished without trace while others have achieved immortality through duty or deed. Old haunts are full of new faces and the few I recognize have new comrades and ambitions. I'm too old and too set in my ways to fit in much of anywhere these days perhaps that is for the best. There are places I do remember, though some have changed, some forever, not for better...
Perhaps I will pick up my adventuring again. Finding a new group or reacquainting myself with old companions? Maybe a little of both...Making friends is not one of my strongest suits and a nice lady once said that perhaps I am missing a filter between my brain and my mouth. How should I know, she's much smarter than I will ever be so I'll just have to take her word on it. I do like my solitude, free of any drama or squabbling over loot and tactics I can go where the wind blows me. I guess I am a curmudgeon and that's why I dislike what was once explained to me as "group dynamics" BAH! I find it difficult to listen to self-important children bicker over the simplest of plans, go unprepared into battle or are too sensitive to do what is required...
'Over prepared is never Overwhelmed' ... you can chisel THAT on my headstone.
23
« on: December 17, 2008, 12:24:21 pm »
Volga chest all loked ups...Volga gotts no stuffs...Mebbe Volga sit nekked outside town wif big doors and beg fers stuffs...Mebbe Volga make dem wuns dat nott big as Volga gives him stuffs dem Volga trows dems back ovur walls fur funs...
24
« on: August 18, 2008, 05:35:54 pm »
Eighty-three
25
« on: August 14, 2008, 09:12:40 pm »
I will deliver the coin as soon as I can.
Bal
26
« on: August 13, 2008, 12:53:13 pm »
I'll look for it....don't recall selling it already.
27
« on: August 11, 2008, 02:24:11 pm »
Muhk is still incarcerated and I continue to wander without any real direction...
I have had some fine outings lately; stormed through the mountain passes with its rock tossing giants, took the head of the lizard leader and presented it as requested, made an incursion on the forest giants camp and on into the cave for some opals, wandered the desert for a few days, stalked the Sinister Forest and the Ore Hills (carrying seven hundred pounds of ore for Sein), all with good companions; I count myself lucky to have these good friends and companions. I have had the good fortune to have Ell, Caer and Amanda on all of my latest adventures. They are as excellent in the attack as they are in the defense, and I know I can count on these three to get me out of trouble faster than I got into it. To have such friends is truly a gift...
28
« on: August 11, 2008, 01:38:37 pm »
You know me...anytime, anywhere.
Bal.
29
« on: August 10, 2008, 03:07:09 pm »
45 for both, the lint and I may have a dried booger or two around somewhere.
30
« on: August 09, 2008, 03:06:07 pm »
40....and some bellybutton lint.
31
« on: August 09, 2008, 01:53:36 am »
30,000 for both.
Balthazar Woll
32
« on: August 09, 2008, 01:52:36 am »
seems I'm not the only one who noticed.
33
« on: August 03, 2008, 01:49:36 am »
I have one as well.
Balthazar Woll
34
« on: July 29, 2008, 05:04:11 pm »
It does seem kind of silly that a char that can make poison (Volga is 17th lvl) and knows how to handle it well enough to make it can't properly apply it to a weapon.
35
« on: July 29, 2008, 04:37:59 pm »
I was unable to sleep last night and I wandered the streets of Hemp for several hours. I had no particular destination in mind and went where my feet took me.
The streets were eerily quite and the air itself seemed heavy and expectant. It was as if the city itself if it were waiting with its breath held for something to happen. I was not the only one to notice as both Polly and Tuggs commented on it... 'Calm before the storm' came to mind. I'm not sure that is accurate but there is defiantly something on the wind. We'll just have to wait and see what blows in...
Tuggs and I talked for a time about him being the most unobservant, sharp-eyed joker in town. He can spot traps a league away with ease but missed some very telling signs that if any closer would have been in his shirt. That's the way we are as men...we think with our stomachs and only see with our eyes...or eye in some cases...
Hindsight is 20-20...what if you only have one eye...
36
« on: July 29, 2008, 03:51:31 pm »
Never thought that poisoning myself might be the reason for the Dex check. I know you don't get poisoned if you fail; Volga can make any poisons out there but has only so far successfully poisoned his ax once...go figure. :\
37
« on: July 28, 2008, 05:31:17 pm »
I woke this morning bathed in sweat from an unsettling dream...
Bad dreams should be no surprise and I should suffer many more than I have. The ambush of my youth, the 'Vymetal affair' and scores of other things that should keep me awake at night but don't...
I dreamed of smoke and fighting...
At the gates of Hempstead stood an army; Half-Giants, Half-Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, Humans, Elves and Dwarves. When hailed to bring the name of their General the reply was given. "We are legion...for we are many."
As I stood on the wall braced for the fight a voice boomed up from the ranks, a familiar voice...my voice. Called up to me were four simple words "Where will you stand?"
I already stood on the wall; I had friends along the wall. Tegan stood less then twenty feet away with fire dancing in her hands, Caerwyn with bow ready stood next to Amanda, I could see Iellwyn further down as well. There were many I have traveled with, spilled blood with and all stood along that wall...
Then I stood in ranks looking up at the walls. Here too I stood among friends; Gloom shifted from foot to foot two ranks ahead. Off to my left Warsinger wiped his hands on the Half-Giant ahead of him. Farther along the rank I stood in was Volga who stood with his finger jammed up his nose, searching for that elusive booger he seems to be always searching for. I could see Raven quietly looking down the shafts of her arrows, her scared face half hidden by her shoulder as she looked at the sky down the shaft of the arrow in her hand. Arkenon muttered wordlessly as he prepared, his great furs a calming shade of blue in the sunlight. I heard a well-known snort and looked to see Muhk leaning out from our rank, helmet-less and grinning that big toothy grin of his at me.... I removed my helmet to give him a smile back but when I looked again he was gone...
Smoke caused my eye to water and the acrid taste was in my mouth. I could see burning embers floating along on the wind but there was no sound. Figures flitted through the smoke and as it cleared I could see the battle that raged just beyond its edge...
Friends fighting friends, such a terrible sight to behold...
Familiar faces fighting and killing other's they had stood should to shoulder with before. I watched as Tegan let fly with her spell that engulfed Gloom in fire; burning and shrieking soundlessly he continued to attack as the flames danced on his flesh. Warsinger sat cross-legged looking confusedly at the stump where his arm had been. Amanda was dragging a limp Caeryn by the shoulders, tears streaming down her face. Using what appeared to be a dead Kobold as a weapon I saw Volga with at least a dozen arrows in him battling on, his door sized shield held dozens more. In the midst of all this I remember wonderering to myself just how he had lost his ax and acquired that Kobold? A great pressure in my head caused me to look up and on the wall I could see Ell perched on the edge casting in to the throng of combatants, arrows sliced by so close that her clothes had been shredded and blew in strips out behind her. Following the storm of arrows to their source I found Raven, working her bow so fast I could hardly see her hands as she was so intent on picking Ell from the wall...
A hand spun me around and I was lifted off my feet by the throat. Muhk had come; just as he always did and just as I knew he must. It was inevetable that I would face him, I knew this would come...how could it not?
Over his shoulder I could see me...I was fighting behind him, keeping his back clear as I had done so many times before, holding his back to free him to do what he does best. Hanging helplessly at the end of his arm in the middle of this silent battle of friends I could hear one thing...the words that drifted up to me on the wall. This time they did not drift, they were bellowed into my face as Muhk had changed into me. This other Balthazar was screaming "Where will you stand!" as he plunged a dagger through the vision slot of my helm....
I woke screaming, drenched in sweat and feeling like I needed to be sick...the words still pounding in my ears... "Where will you stand?"....
Where would I stand...
With my friends against my friends or against my friends with my friends...
38
« on: July 27, 2008, 05:51:14 pm »
Got the chance to vist Muhk...
He looks pretty good and the cell seems to have suffered little. As for the guards I can only begin to guess what they have been going through with one such as Muhk in residence...I wish I could say I fell pity for them....but I don't, so I won't. Infact I had a hard time keeping a civil toung in my mouth while we were there.
Although he did'nt say anything I doubt for a second thet he does not know what is going to come from this...'hearing'. I am under no illusions that anything justice like will come from it. I am certian it will be little more than a "dog and pony show" to allow those in charge to say "we had a fair hearing and he was found guilty..." No trial...just on to the hearing; you're guilty..and here is your punishment.
How could there be true justice? Justice is about balance...and if this hearing is not to find that balance but only assign blame and punishment than how can it be justice? I feel the balance has already been maintained...they attacked us...they died...the books look pretty balanced to me.
Mistakes were made on both sides...now one side continues to make the same mistake of pushing those inclined to push back. You can push the lawful around, those of less stringent moral fiber?...we'll just have to wait and see what happens....
39
« on: July 26, 2008, 07:44:35 pm »
I know it is probably not the case but since Muhk's incarceration I seem to be having difficulty finding anyone to do a bit of adventuring with. I see plenty of people out and about but I just...just...well I don't know. I've not seen Raven or Ell for quite awhile and that seems to be bothering me more than it should.
I have seen Caer and Amanda about as I often do but I always feel like I'm intruding. I feel like horse number three in a two horse show. Not that they have ever said anything or probably ever would...but nonetheless.
Where am I going to find a large and smelly compainon with a foul temper, who is shockingly uncouth, completely unrestrained, extremely ill-mannered, likes brawling, biting and spitting, who is completely un-housebroken, an astonishingly deep pit when it comes to food with a certian amount of moral flexibilitiy, who likes to wander and who says little?
So I bought a horse, maybe I can teach it to spit...?
40
« on: July 25, 2008, 04:31:29 pm »
Well now...oddly quiet even with the recent events.
Muhk being in prison as he is, that must be fun for any turnkey within earshot. I can just imagine the ruckus he's raising in there and the amount of food they must go through to keep him from eating the stonework...wonder if it comes in by cart?
Benn keeping my distance for the most part...this whole thing has raised some hackles and just seems to be getting bigger...
I will speak if instructed to do so at Muhk's trial but I of course will be in attendance. I am curious and concerned to see what direction the trial takes and with the worst possible outcome being a death sentence, what ramifications such a sentence would carry...and not just for Muhk that being obvious...
I hope Muhk comes out of this ok. I know many see him as an annoyance, a brute, or even as 'the criminal type'...That he very well maybe...No one can say what Muhk is, I don't think even he truly knows. I know him as a stalwart companion who has never left me in battle and many times accompanied me to the void rather than run from the struggle...He likes his coins, he drives a hard bargain, he gets in your face, he tells you where you can go if you disagree with him and he might even help you get there.
Muhk is Muhk and a Leopard can't change his spots...
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