So I hit level 6 in the hills hunting giant rats & wolves. (Skeletons,
though they con white, are still too tough for me) Not an exciting way of
leveling, but hey, everytime a rabid wolf would bite me I'd get rabies and
have an excuse to go fishing for a while. :-) Incidently, I could be
wrong, but I do believe they nerfed fishing. Bastards. Anyway, so I'm
making decent loot off the wolves at least. It's a bit like Christmas when
I hit the vendors actually, because I never check the quality of a pelt when
I loot it (to busy switching to Selo's in case Cros or Holly are about to
attack). Got quite a few low's & mediums. But then somewhere around the
first bubble of level 6 healthy wolves become green to me. Grrr. OK, I
figure at this point I'll go hunt frogloks in the sewers.

Just before leaving I see the guy running around in circles and hear someone
shout "A gold for whoever finds my corpse!" I click on the headless-chicken
impersonator & sure enough, it's him. So I do a who all, figuring it's
some newbie who wants his guild robe back & discover he's a 6th level druid.
And I'm thinking "no way! A 6th level druid lost his corpse in the hills?
Shameful!" So OK, I hit Lyssa's to see, purely out of curiousity, where
this guy bought it. His corpse beckons me in the direction of the pond.
And I'm thinking "no way! He lost his corpse this close to surefall?
Disgraceful!" But then I half run, half slide down this one steep hill and
suddenly the beckoning of his corpse spins me round. "Hmm," I think, "don't
recall running by a corpse" I look up, still don't see it. I take a few
steps and...what's this? A foot and the letters "pse" sticking out of the
side of the hill? Dang! So, ok, take back everything I was thinking about
the guy. That one would have been a ball-buster for anyone other than a
bard or necro.

I tell him I've found it and, having pity on the guy & not wanting to take
his money, offer to just give him the LOC. But he says he doesn't really
understand how LOC works & wants to meet me somewhere. So I figure OK, for
leading him to his corpse and giving him a brief course on how LOC works I'd
feel OK about taking a gold. Suddenly two rabid wolves attack me. Now,
mind you, rabid wolves are still white to me, as are skeletons. I took down
both of them, had a bubble & a half left, then a skeleton wacks me. I died
with barely a dent in the sketeton's HP. Somehow I don't think those bones
are con-ing quite right.

Anyway, I tell this druid my corpse is now 10 feet from his & to meet me at
the cottage. I get there, hit Lyssa's and we're off. I slide down the same
hill - past his corpse again, and right into the waiting jaws of another
wolf. Grrr. I say to the druid "Got any weapons?" as I bitch-slap the pup
for one point a turn. He slides down and pulls the thing off of me. I
thank him. He thanks me and gives me a gold. "Now to find your corpse," he
says. So I run back up the hill & start looting, thanking him again for
watching over me while I loot.

We part company and it occurs to me I never explained LOC to him. I turn
around to see if he's still in the area and WHACK, a skeleton hits me.
What's more, it's armed. Reflexively, I hit auto-run, Shift-2, Selo's,
Shift-1, Axe in the pocket, Drum in the hand, sheild on the cursor, and this
little bard went pee pee pee all the way home! :-) Well actually I
stopped at the cottage & turned to make sure I wasn't training this thing
into the newbyish area. Have to laugh though. Any bard that frets over
out-running a skeleton ought to hang up his drum and go buy a damned memory
upgrade!

More on my adventures in the sewers after I get some coffee.

Oh, and I suppose I ought to get some work done too, huh? :-)

L8R
Kingbird, flaming bard of Qeynos