i just got to read that this morning, i really enjoyed reading it and grats
on your 2 new pieces =)
your alter egos,
Shada Powa, L50 Wood Elf Bard
Tyria Sarkin, L45 High Elf Wizard
<Afterlife> Mithaniel Marr Server
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Melaniel [mailto:everquest@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 29, 2000 8:13 AM
> To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Subject: [eqbards] A tale of some boots
>
>
> From: Melaniel <everquest@...>
>
>
> In the spirit of bardic excesses ... a long tale of a brave band of
> adventurers fighting against the odds to seek treasure and fame. With
> apologies for the length and quality ;-)
>
>
> An epic tale of boots
> by Melaniel
> (Currently entertaining a small but loyal audience in Freeport)
>
>
> It was a cold and wet Saturday evening as our heroine, Mel, stepped
> off the stage in Freeport. The set had gone down well with the locals
> and soon she was quenching her thirst with the latest local brew.
> Later, as she donned her armour to leave the city she looked down at
> the boots and vambraces ... bronze. Sighing, she picked them up
> disdainfully with her fingertips before adding them to her lambent
> ensemble. Closing her eyes she stood in front of the mirror and
> imagined herself all in blue, a striking figure streaming across the
> landscape turning heads as she drummed by, hearing the sighs of
> delight as she walked through the city gates, rather than the silent
> laughter as they saw her sickly yellow pieces. This was going to
> change.
>
> "Tonight is the night," she shouted to no one in particular.
>
> A few miles away, some fire goblins awoke with a shiver.
>
> Out came Mel's diary ... hmmm, some firewalker boots and some fiery
> vambraces. Fire goblins. Solusek. "I know where that is!!" she
> exclaimed. "North of the bad elves, near Cryssia and her crew!"
>
> Waving to her loyal groupies in Freeport, she left the guildhouse and
> wandered to the western gate to say farewell to the city for a while.
> A strange young man walked up to her. "Can I have a sow please?" he
> asked. Smirking, Mel closed her eyes and began to speak the words she
> had heard the wolfy ones speak many times before. Dramatically waving
> her arms she pointed at the feet of the stranger and commanded them to
> be filled with a wolf spirit. Breathing out slowly, she settled down
> and resumed her song. The young man looked pleased, thanked her
> kindly and ran off. A nearby halfling giggled as he watched the
> scene, patted Mel on the rear and ran off. Pleased with herself, she
> headed out to enter the dank depths of the Nektulos Forest.
>
> Her first piece of luck, the guards had abandoned their bridge posts.
> Beginning her beat, she felt the music deep inside her body and
> stepped up her pace speeding through the forest along the path,
> pausing only when a feared Dragoon came into view guarding the
> Northern valley into Lavastorm. Taking a deep breath she stepped
> forward and sped past the guard leaving him dizzy at the blue and
> sickly yellow blur that knocked his helmet off on her way past.
>
> Nearby, the fire goblins chanted and prayed to their gods for help.
>
> Finally, she arrived at the entrance to the caverns of Solusek. Her
> first time. Taking a brave step she wandered inside.
>
> A wave of heat greeted her, with echoes of weapons and shouts from
> deep down in the cavern depths. Mel struck up a light melody
> distracting the guards at the entrance area while she surveyed her
> surroundings. It was warm. Very warm. Hot in fact. The smell of
> the lava filled the air. Her backpack full of water for her long
> quest ahead, she looked around her and saw a lone ranger resting his
> wounds. He was looking for adventure himself and they agreed to fight
> together. A quick skirmish with the forward guards followed and they
> were victorious together. As they rested more brave souls entered and
> soon a band of adventurers was formed. An experienced ranger, from
> Mel's home of Kelethin no less, knew the location of the boots and
> vambraces. The group had to face the goblin King and his subjects!!!
>
> Not to be dismayed, Mel resolved to remain until she could lift the
> boots and vambraces from the goblins herself and be rid of the rotten
> bronze. Together, they began to fight their way inside.
>
> After only a couple of brief skirmishes, the group found a quiet base
> from which to conduct their raids into the King's throne area. The
> goblins would never find them, although an escape would be dangerous
> and likely difficult. A high risk strategy, but by this time Mel
> could taste the pieces of lambent armour and knew she could not turn
> back.
>
> Sitting down, the group began to organise themselves, preparing for
> the fight ahead. They could hear the goblins nearby, the magic was
> heard, the grunting, the little scuffles they would all have. And so
> the fighting began.
>
> The rangers began to make small raids, luring away the weak goblins
> from their posts, there were many of them, but together the
> adventurers fought bravely and successfully. And then a goblin
> champion appeared, news of the outsiders had begun to spread. It
> roared a war cry, and hurtled into the group, fists flying. A music
> critic, it picked on Mel in spite of the others. Trying to silence
> the song, it fought with all its might, finally falling to the loudest
> shout Mel could muster.
>
> Mel bent over the goblin's corpse and examined it. "YES!!!" she
> shouted, and then shut up quickly as the rest of the group glared at
> her for making so much noise. Happily, she picked up the goblin's
> vambraces. These are just what I need for my new armour, the night
> was starting to be a success already!
>
> Prepared again, the group stood ready to invade further towards the
> throne, when a shout went up! The rangers had been surprised by the
> King and his guard. Rapidly they returned to the group to face them
> together. Mel stood awaiting the onrush. In the distance she could
> just make out a few shapes running at them. The bright haze of lava
> that hung in the air made seeing difficult, but the sound was
> unmistakable. The goblins came toward them, there must have been five
> or six all at once. They began their vicious assault on the rangers
> who held them back bravely. And then the King came. A fearsome sight
> indeed, but this was no time for fear.
>
> Mel unloosed her lute, this was a time to distract as many as she
> could. A soothing lullaby filled the air, a couple of goblins began
> to snooze. Switching to her prized flute, Mel played to her limit and
> found a champion still chewing on her friends. She charmed it to her
> will and it fought by her side keeping the younger goblins busy while
> her group began to take down the King, hoping to weaken the morale of
> the others with their beloved King dead. It was a difficult fight,
> the goblins began to hate the music, the lullaby had its effect, the
> champion remained loyal to Mel and protected her to its ability,
> dispatching one, then two of the younger goblins. As the enemy
> numbers reduced Mel began to boost the morale of her group, their
> weapons hit more, they attacked faster, the chains on the King began
> to have their effect, and then it happened. The killing blow took the
> King down with a scream, the remaining goblins lost their nerve, the
> group turned to them and now the advantage had switched. With
> fearsome speed the group tore through the enemy and soon stood
> victorious atop the corpses.
>
> The group stood in silence. Stunned at their success, relieved at
> their survival, but triumphant in victory. The King was dead.
>
> As the word spread among the goblins, it seemed they began to throw
> themselves at the brave adventurers in increasing numbers, fighting to
> their last. Warriors, champions, wizards, priests, the whole
> ensemble. And then came the Solusek Mages.
>
> One came to investigate and was quickly dispatched. Mel recognised
> it. This creature was where her new boots were to come from. And so
> the group began again to invade into the newly departed throne room.
> The mages came to investigate their disappeared comrade.
>
> Another appeared, this time with warrior support. As a pair they were
> very dangerous, but Mel had learned from her fight with the King. She
> charmed the mage, made it bend to her will and it rapidly destroyed
> its recent warrior friend. Depleted of its magic pool, Mel turned on
> the mage and the group finished it quickly by hand. Alas, it had been
> fighting barefoot.
>
> And then it began. Wave after wave of mages hurled themselves at the
> group. With growing frustration, Mel found them all fighting
> barefoot. As one fell to the floor Mel grabbed it, screaming at it.
> "Where are the boots, give me the boots! Are you coming out here
> deliberately barefoot or what you stupid thing!!" It simply smiled
> and went limp.
>
> The hours passed, the mages continued to come. All were barefoot.
> The group found the recently departed King's son had become the new
> King. Again, in a frantic battle the group were victorious as the new
> King fell. There were more mages, more champions.
>
> And then finally, many hours after the first entrance to the caverns,
> the mages became impatient. Instead of handing the boots to its
> comrades before heading out to assault the invaders, a single careless
> goblin mage attacked. The group again fought bravely and finished it.
> As Mel examined its corpse she saw some boots. Unable to look at
> first, her hands trembling, her breathing short, she finally got the
> courage to touch them. To look at them closely she sensed immediately
> what they were. And fainted.
>
> The healers brought out their smelling salts and brought her back to
> consciousness. This time she picked up the boots without fainting.
> And hugged them to her chest, her prized possessions now! The group
> cheered, genuinely happy to see their member gain the item she had
> been looking for.
>
> Buoyed by this success, the group again fought their way through to
> the throne room, but the royal family line had not recovered and there
> was to be no more Kings.
>
> And finally as Mel put the finishing touches to her 30th composition,
> the group withdrew from the caverns and departed. Mel returned to
> Freeport, happy from her excitement, happy to have made some new
> friends, and happy to have gained the treasures she had earned.
>
> And the next day's task was to look up a couple of cyclops who had
> some runes. Mel was sure they would be kind enough to just hand the
> runes over. Wouldn't they?
>
> ====
>
> And now the translation :-) After 7 hours in Solusek, having never
> been there before, I was delighted to finally get some of those damn
> boots!! Honestly, there must have been 30 mages over that time until
> finally a pair of boots appeared. And then as luck would have it, the
> next 2 mages that appeared each had a pair! *sigh* Tons of vambraces
> kept appearing, I could have had enough to make many many pairs of
> Lambent ones!
>
> But it's at times and fights like this that I really enjoy this game.
> When you're in a good group, it is difficult to leave, and the group I
> had with me on Saturday was excellent. Great support, everyone knew
> their role, and there were only 5 of us for most of the night after
> the second ranger left! Monk, ranger, bard (me, obviously!), cleric
> and cleric. No zap-style finger wagglers ;-)
>
> The group worked well, and I learned how to use charm very effectively
> in that situation. Pull a wizard and some warrior types, charm the
> wizard and use its mana ;-) Worked every time!!
>
> Strangely, after trying out Another Game(tm) which has a lot going for
> it, I find myself bizarrely drawn back to EverQuest and moments like
> this seem to make me think I made the right decision in spite of the
> many many annoying things it has! Oh well.
>
> To complete the story, sunday morning I got the 2 runes off the
> cyclops in West Karana, still using charm to good effect ;-) And now
> all I need are the lambent gloves, although I'm not sure I'll give up
> the Elf Hide Gloves I'm already wearing because they have some
> sentimental value! But it's time to return to Mistmoore anyway and
> try to complete the lambent set.
>
> Anyway, just a little (long!) story that I wanted to put in print
> because I came away from Solusek feeling good that night, made the
> whole of level 29 around the King room, learned a few things about how
> effective a bard can actually be, especially when a group appreciates
> and understands what you can do *and supports you doing it*, and
> perhaps most importantly met some good people who I hope to meet again
> and fight alongside.
>
> Safe travels to you all, and happy entertaining!!!
>
> --
> Melaniel, Wood Elf Bard (30)
> Jilanna, Barbarian Shaman (9)
> High Elf Wizard (30 retired)
> ... and a host of others
> Mith Marr server
>
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