DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 09/09/2020 Duedate: 10/06/2020
STORMCROWE ARENA
DM-45 TURN-428
This Weeks Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
USKURNTAI
GOING BERSERK (527)
(45-4886) [14-9-0,159]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
USKURNTAI PANIC ROOM
GOING BERSERK (527) YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
(45-4886) [14-9-0,159] (45-5561) [6-2-0,53]
Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite
URBAN LEGEND CHOPPER
BOOK OF THOMAS (528) THE MENTORS RIDE (550)
(45-4836) [16-25-0,77] (45-5044) [9-9-1,108]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
BASH BROS CARS (562)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. LEGENDS (574) 54
2. SHEWISH BUFFET (520) 45 INTERNATIONAL (554)
3. HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563) 38 Unchartered Team
4. DARQUE FORCES (428) 35
5. BASH BROS CARS (562) 32 FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 2 INTERNATIONAL (554) 119 65 14 64.7 1/ 2 BASH BROS CARS (562) 12 1 0
2/ 3 RAT PAK (79) 38 22 2 63.3 2/ 6 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563) 11 4 0
3/ 5 CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561) 106 67 3 61.3 3/13*LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573) 11 4 0
4/ 6 DARQUE FORCES (428) 608 393 36 60.7 4/ 3 CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561) 10 5 1
5/ 7 BASH BROS CARS (562) 100 65 5 60.6 5/20*LEGENDS (574) 10 5 0
6/ 8 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563) 48 32 2 60.0 6/ 1 GOING BERSERK (527) 10 5 0
7/ 1*FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569) 12 8 0 60.0 7/10 THE MENTORS RIDE (550) 10 5 0
8/11*LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573) 14 10 0 58.3 8/19 WOB AFW (556) 9 6 0
9/ 9 GOING BERSERK (527) 121 88 8 57.9 9/ 8 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) 9 6 0
10/ 4*YUPPIE SHELTER (576) 23 17 0 57.5 10/11 FORCE OF FIVE (539) 8 6 3
11/10 CANDY CRUSHERS (534) 54 45 8 54.5 11/ 7 AVID FANS (65) 8 7 0
12/13 FORCE OF FIVE (539) 42 37 4 53.2 12/ 9*YUPPIE SHELTER (576) 7 8 0
13/12 AVID FANS (65) 245 222 23 52.5 13/21*FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569) 7 8 0
14/17 SHEWISH BUFFET (520) 152 143 10 51.5 14-15*DRAGON'S TOOTH (570) 6 3 0
15/14 IMA BUBBA 2 (541) 43 41 1 51.2 15/24 SHADOW LEGION (575) 6 8 0
16/15 BOOK OF THOMAS (528) 86 84 4 50.6 16/14 CANDY CRUSHERS (534) 6 9 2
17/16 OTIS LIKES LUNGERS (565) 37 38 3 49.3 17/ 5 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535) 6 9 1
18/18 WOB AFW (556) 70 73 4 49.0 18/25 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551) 6 9 1
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
19-19*DRAGON'S TOOTH (570) 9 10 0 47.4 19/16 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) 6 9 1
20/25*LEGENDS (574) 12 14 0 46.2 20/22 BOOK OF THOMAS (528) 6 9 1
21/20 MAIDEN JAPAN (504) 92 109 4 45.8 21/ 4 INTERNATIONAL (554) 6 9 0
22/21 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551) 49 60 6 45.0 22/17 OTIS LIKES LUNGERS (565) 5 10 1
23/22 THE MENTORS RIDE (550) 53 65 1 44.9 23/12 IMA BUBBA 2 (541) 5 10 0
24/23 SHADOW LEGION (575) 55 78 3 41.4 24/18 RAT PAK (79) 5 10 0
25/24 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535) 31 59 2 34.4 25/23*SYFY (568) 4 9 1
26/26*SYFY (568) 8 20 1 28.6 26/27 DARQUE FORCES (428) 3 11 0
27/27*GODS OF WAR (572) 5 20 0 20.0 27/26*GODS OF WAR (572) 2 13 0
'*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn
(###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank
TEAM SPOTLIGHT
Wheel of Misfortune
Turn 4 Scoring Spotlight
It was a low-scoring Turn 4, but that did not stop La Guillotine from slightly
expanding his lead over Floyd and OAB. This turn used the Morya Madness scoring,
which tends to favor established teams with warriors high in the ranks. The next TWO
(2) turns will use TOGS scoring. Along with offering points for spotlights, the
scoring greatly rewards challenging up and winning!
NOTE: Be mindful of the spotlight requirements if you choose to send one for +5
points. Also, be sure [for the EDITOR'S SANITY] to send your personal ads and
spotlights in using PLAIN TEXT. Rules for the next 3 turns are listed below. Feel
free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
-- Master Darque
Wheel of Misfortune Moderator
**********************
Rank--Manager--Team--Turn 4 Score--Overall Score
1. La Guillotine--Going Berserk--9--52
2. Floyd--CSU College Radio--6--39
3. OAB--Shewish Buffet--4 -- 32
4. Howlin Wolf--Howlin Slaughter--5--27
T5. Assur--Bash Bros Cars--0--24
T5. Presstoe--Force of Five--10 -- 24
6. Khisanth--WOB AFW--3--18
7. Street Legal--Maiden Japan--0--17
8. Hammer -- Abattior 5 Blades--3--16
T9. U.N. --International--0--15
T9. Queen Artemis--Dragon's Tooth--0--15
T9. Otis--Otis Likes Lungers--0--15
10. Den--Big Lake Killers--4--13
11. Dr. Feelgood--The Mentors Ride--0--12
T12. Dr. Trump Jr. --Yuppie Shelter--2--11
T12. Madwand--Favorite Sayings 7--5--11
T13. Bubba--Ima Bubba 2--0--9
T13. The Greek Guy--Lurocian Outkasts--0--9
T13. Papaiz--Book of Thomas--3--9
T14. Dameon Darkheart--Candy Crushers--(-2)--7
T14. Paradox--Legends--0--7
T15. Channel Master--SYFY--0--6
T15. Crip--Avid Fans--5--6
16. Shadowthrone--Shadow Legion--2--0
17. Master Darque--Darque Forces--0--(-9)
18. Scorpio--Gods of War--0--(-14)
19. Boss Rat--Rat Pak--0--(-16)
**********************
*Turn 5 & 6 Scoring--TOGS
+10 points for winning on your upchallenge against another WoM warrior.
+7 points for winning on your even challenge of another WoM warrior.
+7 points for winning on another WoM warrior's challenge.
+7 points for winning a random matchup against another WoM warrior.
+4 points for winning a random matchup against a non-WoM warrior.
Do not fight your teammate, you will not get any points. Also, you will not get any
points if you challenge a non-WoM team (this includes the Dark Arena).
+5 points for a spotlight written by any team member, 1 per manager per turn. The
minimum length of a spotlight to receive points is 1/2 column in the newsletter
(that's 31 lines--each line 86 characters across). In addition to the length
criteria, spotlights will not be given any points if they are in any way
plagiarized or if they are not Duelmasters or fantasy related. If in doubt about
the content, email me before the turn and I will be happy to verify it for you.
-5 points per manager who does not write at least one (1) personal ad.
-5 points for being the team that avoided the most.
*Turn 7 Scoring--Slaughter Priest Memorial
No Challenges
+3 points for winning
+3 points for killing (giving 6 in total, 3 for the win and 3 for the kill)
+3 points for at least one of your warriors writing a personal (regardless of number
of personals beyond one you still only get three points). Make sure it is written
from one of your team's warriors and not simply the manager entity or you will not
get the points.
-3 points for losing
-3 points for being killed (giving -6 in total, -3 for losing and -3 for being killed)
NOTE: Challenging during this turn will result in disqualification
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Greetings from the GOING BERSERK stable,
After the thrills of the Wheel of Misfortune contest held in Kolact (DM 10), we have
been very much looking forward to this new version in Stormcrowe.
Unlike DM 10, where there were 5 teams of 4 managers and where the top 3 teams were
offered prizes for all their members (twelve stables out of twenty eventually earned
great prizes), we are in for a much more contested event: 28 teams fighting for
themselves with similar prizes offered only in the end to the top 3 stables!
So it definitely will be harder for all of us, having no teammates to make up for our
failings. In any case, there is no doubt that after ten intense turns the three
winners will definitely have deserved their prizes. By the way, we also can have a
thought for Master Darque who has been organizing the contest and now has a huge task
in hand to keep track of everyone's results and scores with rules changing every turn!
At this point, after 4 turns already, we can think the contest is well underway. I am
firmly convinced however that the TOGS rules not only are a pain for all the stuff we
have to write (but which fortunately you don't have to read), but can also be game
changers. A team can score up to 55 points, which is more than the current top team
(yeah, that's us!) has cumulated in 4 rounds, so after turn 5, the standings may look
completely different. And then, we go again for turn 6, to shake things up once more!
So it's all good, as we will all have chances to make up for a possible unsatisfying
start to the contest or a bad turn 5, or on the contrary, either be far down in the
rankings after these two turns or have created a big gap ahead... It definitely should
be fun!
As for our own team, now, we certainly have been doing well up to now, before the
uncertainty of the next two turns. We currently have some great veterans, with
Uskurntai and Undk, who have been patiently saved for such events since we last took
part in the Stormcrowe Slaughterhouse 5, which was held 3 years ago. Yak who also took
part in the SS 5 and Kurr, who arrived slightly after, I think, have had more or less
time to develop and also have shown some very interesting things already. As for our
latest addition, Swaum, it is hard to tell at this point, but he certainly has done
relatively well. If he could keep such a W/L record over the contest, we certainly
would be happy with him.
Unfortunately, Uskurntai's time here seems very limited at this point and he may get
his invite pretty soon, now. Too bad, we really would have benefitted from him being
around for a few more turns, but winning the throne certainly will have accelerated
things for him. Should he graduate, we definitely will run him in Advanced Duelmasters
and are quite looking forward to it, actually. On his end, Undk has already started to
earn some PPs and is in a position right now where he can only be challenged. He
should have more time anyway than Uskurntai, so this is all good for our team,
fortunately!
Anyway, it's time for me to go, if I am to have a few more things left to write for
next turn's spotlight.
Looking forward to facing you guys, and good luck to all! (and don't take your eyes
off Floyd's CSU College Radio and OAB's Shewish Buffet, we don't want them to fly to
high too quickly, do we?)
-- La Guillotine--GOING BERSERK
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
INTERNATIONAL DISGUST
Can I say it? Can I? Dang right I can! And I am going to. Right now! I am terribly mad
and disappointed with the death of two, I say TWO, warriors this past round in the
arena. It hurts! It makes things difficult on a manager. It should not have happened
to me! No! No, no, no!
Perhaps it was some sort of collusive action? Probably. The managers in this arena and
in this competition are just plain cut-throat and would easily collude and gang up on
another. Some, actually probably all are just plain jerks! They are. They would do
anything to win. They know that if they can cripple top competition like my
Internationals, they have a much better chance. The cretins! The dung heaps! No way I
should have had two deaths in one turn! No way!
And they were beauties too. Not godlings, but real close. They were winners. Before
their untimely and uncalled for deaths, they were a combines 12-8-1 for the
International Team. Winners! Now they are dead winners.
Shanghai was the senior of the two. A great warrior with known faves. Yes, indeed;
known faves. Shanghai was an 18(+1)-10-13-17-9-7-11 Basher with normal endurance and
great damage. His faves were MA, HI/Vlo, learns Decise. He learned a lot of attack and
decise, just right for a basher.
The younger warrior, New Zealand was an interesting Aimer. At 9-9-15-9-9-12-21, his
quad nines were something special and he could hit hard. His normal endurance and
great damage were gifts of the gods, unusual for an aimed-blow.
But they are both gone, The sadness, anger, and disappointment will remain in the air
for some time. There are international rumors that the Chinese are consulting New
Zealand to consider a formidable alliance. Experiments on covid-like responses are in
the works. The world should beware. Clearly the double deaths have gone international.
Oh, my!
So how will I, U.N., the manager of Internationals combat this death and collusion? I
have gone to the ends of the earth looking for talent worthy and formidable enough to
be considered an International. In the north, sent by the Russians, who have proposed
joining the Chinese/New Zealand alliance, I now have Siberia, a cold and fierce
fighter, willing to give his all for the Internationals. And searching in Africa I
have solicited Nile, a long, flowing, voluptuous, deceitful warrior said to be a
descendant of Queen Cleopatra. Her wary, strategic methodology will be a great asset
to the Internationals. (Not to mention the basket full of asps she has had delivered
to the International headquarters.)
So I say fie to all my competitors! Kill an International, and better and more
formidable warriors come forward from all around the world to avenge. And avenge we
shall. Be leery. Be wary. Be very, very careful. We know no friends. And all opponents
are in the headlights.
Yes, indeed,
-- U.N., International Manager
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
The 7 DF Slasher
by One Armed Bandit
People's obsession with high DF Slashers can probably be traced back to the Red Book,
which stated about the Slashing Attack style:
"The technique of slashing can be very unforgiving when it comes to a lack
of Deftness.
The classic weapon employed by Slashers is the scimitar."
These lines in the RSI strategy guide planted the seed. What really caused it to
flourish was the early discovery that the Scimitar is an amazing weapon. It is
reasonably fast, very versatile, and has the highest damage critical attacks in the
game. People went so Scimitar crazy that they used prizes to give perfectly good
Longsword favorite Lungers the Scimitar as a favorite weapon, and some have even gone
so far as to give the weapon to Bashers. To this day, there are managers that insist
on using the Scimitar when they lack the stats for it, as if there are no other
weapons in the game. When you compound the piece of misinformation about Slashers and
Deftness with the widely held view that the Scimitar is the best weapon in the game,
you have the making for decades of bad Slasher design.
In my first go around at Duelmasters, back in the 1990s, I thought that the more DF on
a Slasher, the better. At the very least, I wanted 11 DF for the all powerful
Scimitar. These types of Slashers worked fine in the arena, where you could pick and
choose your opponents. Avoiding the fast warriors and the scum and focusing on the
slow hybrid warriors could maximize the value of your high Initiative and Attack and
ignore your shortcomings, mainly your mediocre Decise, your lack of any defensive
capability, and your high endurance burn. People were understandably confused when
their high performing arena Slashers did poorly in tournaments. Maybe they chalked it
up to bad luck at first, but over time, it became a pattern and Slashers fell out of
favor as tourney warriors.
There were, in fact, two big problems facing Slasher design.
Problem #1: Because Strikers are well suited to the Decise tactic and have a higher
natural propensity to learn Decise skills, they tend to beat Slashers to the jump.
There is a lot of randomness with the opening Decise roll, but all else being equal,
Strikers have the edge.
Problem #2: Almost every set-up that can make a good 11+ DF Slasher can make a better
Striker. Not only does the Striker have an advantage in the head to head match-up
with Slashers, but the much lower endurance burn of the style gives it an additional
advantage against parry styles.
It turns out that there is one solution that addresses both of these problems. If you
exclusively use 7 DF designs for Slashers, then you aren't cannibalizing your good
Striker set-ups, and you can allocate more points to WT, WL, and SP to pick up extra
Decise on the Slashers that you do end up making. Most 7 DF designs suffer from low
Attack when paired with the Striking Attack style. On the other hand, the Slashing
Attack style still provides reasonable Attack skills with 7 DF. Even without Scimitar
suitability, 11 ST and 7 DF gives the Slasher a great fast weapon (the Hatchet, with
requirements of 7 ST/5 WT/7 DF), and a good heavy weapon (the Broadsword, with
requirements of 11 ST/9 WT/7 DF). This package of HA against light armor and BS
against heavy armor gives you a weapon for every possible match-up in basic and it is
all any Slasher really needs. What you end up with is a small subset of roll-ups that
make an inadequate Striker, but a more than adequate Slasher.
A theory is all well and good, but it needs to be tested. I have had plenty of
theories that didn't pan out.
My first attempt at a 7 DF Slasher was in the Bloodgames, a little over a year after
returning to the game following a hiatus of over a decade. The Bloodgames had just
switched to a 10 DYO format for July 2005, and my SL was SUSHI SLINGER of SEA DOGS,
with a 17-3-3-21-21-12-7 design. It was incredibly lucky that this was my first test
of the 7 DF SL concept, because it was a success. If it had been a failure, would I
have continued trying 7 DF SL designs for years after? I have no way to know for
sure, but probably not. SUSHI SLINGER went 10-0-3 in the July 2005 FtF Bloodgames and
earned passage to ADM. Two years later, in July 2007, he earned an ADM runner-up on
his bust-out. There was still some doubt about whether it was just this particular
warrior that was knacky, or whether it was repeatable, but it was enough to inspire me
to continue the experiments.
Over the years, I have carefully examined replacements and team roll-ups and looked
for set-ups where an 11 ST/7 DF Slasher set-up would be a superior option to a
Striker, and have had good results. My successful designs since SUSHI SLINGER:
ANDORIAN SMOOTHIE of SHEWISH BUFFET, an 11-7-9-21-15-14-7 SL, made it to the Adepts
finals in July 2012. He later was augmented with a Zombie potion and went on to
runner-up Challengers in April 2014 and TC Contenders in January 2020.
ORC TENDERLOIN of SHEWISH BUFFET, a 12-9-8-21-17-10-7 SL, earned an Initiates runner-
up in January 2013.
FINGER SANDWICH of SHEWISH PICNIC, an 11-9-5-21-17-14-7 SL, earned a Champions TC in
October 2015.
DELTA CANCRI of CANCER, an 11-9-9-21-17-10-7 SL, earned an Initiates runner-up in
April 2017.
ETA ANDROMEDAE of ANDROMEDA, a 17-3-3-21-21-12-7 SL, earned a 6-4-4 Bloodgames TV in
the July 2017 MI Bloodgames.
Many managers struggle to do well with SLs in tournaments, with some even rating them
as one of the worst tourney styles. I'm not going to claim that they are the best
style, but over the years they have been my 5th most successful, after AB, LU, ST, and
TP. That is not bad company.
Have you been struggling with your addiction to Deftness? Are you tired of your
Scimitar dependency? Don't be embarrassed, Slasher performance issues happen to lots
of managers. If any of this describes you, I urge you to try the 7 DF Slasher. It
could change your next tourney around.
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
TOGS Spotlight (Avid Fans)
Chapter 1 -- The quest for the Freshmen Crown
Early May 2020
Crip was beating his head against a brick wall. Between coaching hockey and teaching
undergrad structural engineering courses, he hadn't really found the time to squeeze
in his DM activities since the Tampa FtF. While Tampa was fun, the subsequent real-
life activities kept him tied up, and he wasn't even able to put together his
traditional horde for the dead tourney in October. And then January came around, and
while a close ally offered to run some warriors in Tempe (traditionally referred to as
Tempt Me in DM related considerations), time still did not permit Crip's focus to turn
to the battles on the sands. Then the social-distancing phenomenon hit mid-March,
right around the time he starts to put together entrants for the April tournament.
However, the phenomenon meant the time commitment to Crip's academic workload nearly
doubled, and thus he had been unable to put together stuff for the April mail-in.
Never before had he missed 3 tournaments in a row, and the phenomenon made it appear
as if there would be no traditional summer gathering.
But Green Eyes, the almighty administrative goddess of Alastari, decided that she
couldn't deprive the demonic spirit of Sandy's Wrath the opportunity to harass,
harangue and launch curses of otherworldly power toward the collection of Duelmaster's
managers that normally gather for such occasions. Like always, the traditional summer
gathering would be held, but like everything else these days, by forcing everyone to
social distance over even larger separations. A special gathering with extra
recognition going towards the style masters in each bracket.
What would Crip do about this as there has been no opportunity to prepare any warriors
since the gathering under the Tampa thunderclouds. He would have to make due with his
second stringers, those who hadn't been able to make the roster cut the previous year,
so there were no real expectations as to any memorable results. In fact, perusing the
list of Crip's Crap that were sitting at 4/10/20/30 FE yielding plenty of comments
like "that's an 0-3!" or "Hopefully someone will kill it on Round 1 so it doesn't tack
2 more losses on to the record". But it was enough to put together a list of warriors
who would at least enjoy getting to appear on the sands, so of whom had been inactive
for 7+ years. But were there any hopefuls? Well, there's a nice double-21 lunger in
the initiates. And nice lunger in the apprentices, along with a handful of 21 Wit
strikers scattered throughout the lower-end non-rookie classes. But while hopeful,
there were no real wingmen to help them along. Some of the challengers look OK, but
this one at 99 FE that would normally get sent, Crip thinks he'll hold that back for
now. Weird set of priorities to cut something like that, but let the rest of the crap
run.
And in late May, the fabled miniature overviews arrive in electronic format. Running
through them, FE's are confirmed. "Hey!" Crip notices, this nice "Slasher that I
thought was at 10FE is really only at 9. Better run it once in the arena before the
summer gathering to improve it's odds." But everything else lined up with
expectations. "Might as well check the miniature overviews for 101/106/102 in case
anything has changed there". But not having participated since Tampa, everything
should have remained unchanged as no deep busts had been attempted at that time. And
sure enough, it appeared to be so. But what does Crip see before his eyes, but a
warrior in ADM106 who appears to be listed as "Freshmen" eligible. Was this a grad
from the previous summer that he failed to send to Home Guard with an Arena selection
sheet. He had to look closer. "Hairy Monster of Open Sesame". No, the name was
quite familiar. It had previously obtained Tournament Victor status on 3 separate
occasions, but had lost its Freshmen eligibility due to those successes. Ah, maybe
this would be a good warrior to attempt a fabled 'bust' on.
Crip had only attempted genuine busts on 3 prior occasions. The first was an 5'1"
Aimed Blow named Juninho of Imported Footballers who rode the strategy to an ADM
championship many years ago. A wall-of-steel attempted a similar feat a few years
later, but failed so miserably with a 2-3 ADM performance, that his name is no longer
uttered in tournament preparations due to his extreme crispiness and underwhelming
levels of achievement. The third was another Aim Blow, this one even shorter, a 4'11"
fashionably created warrior from a previous tournament prize named Wednesday Addams,
who busted out some expensive wit and will trains and overcame some notable strikers
to take home the Freshmen Championship. Could this be another busting opportunity to
take advantage of? Couldn't hurt to try, and Hairy Monster was a striker, so its not
like he'd be impairing winning opportunities at later stages in his career.
But first things first, is figuring out just how hairy this monster is. He started
out as a 9-8-9-21-17-11-9 Striker. Who wouldn't like those numbers through basic?
But after some unsuccessful tournament appearances in Rookies and Apprentices, he
found him self on the wrong end of a weapon in round 4 of an initiate's tournament,
and discovered that the consequences of this would be requiring his participation in
Dead tournaments for the foreseeable future. Even after 4 appearances in the dead
Adepts, he was still expected appear as a dead Adept again, and this time, he did
better, going 5-3, but still a long way from succeeding. And by now, it had been
revealed that one of the reasons for his utter lack of success due to his decisiveness
rating being significantly worse than normal for one of this style (-3). And it
appears that his dodging ability also suffered a similar fate, although it wasn't
quantifiable at this stage.
However, after Dead Adepts, comes Dead Champions, and at this stage, the hairy one
seemed to find his groove, dropping out of his first Dead Champions tournament at 5-3,
but then exceeding expectations the next time around by pulling out a 10-3-1 Dead
Champions Tournament Victory! This meant he got to come back to life, and return to
Snowbound to continue his dueling career. He received his invitation to ADM with a
13-6 record (after going 0-3 in his only challengers' tournament) and took his
traditional last basic fight in the Dark Arena, where he was promptly killed by a
Stone Golem. It really showed that he had to upgrade his physical characteristics to
continue duelling. It turns out, Hairy had lots of skills (estimated at 150 if mode
in Defence and Parry), but he didn't have ratings in those. But he had learned 20
skills in each of Attack, Decisiveness, Initiative and Riposte before being invited to
Advanced Duelmasters. The Gladiatorial Commission informed him that his favourite
weapon was the Battle Axe, with a Moderate/Very Low Rhythm, no preferred tactic with a
tendency to learn Riposte. These favourites seem quite reasonably for taking on the
high Con/low skill beasts that can dominate the Freshmen class. After his first
freeze in ADM, the commission said he could be in the Freshmen tournament. Crip noted
that if he trained skills, he wouldn't be a freshman long, and his dueling days might
quickly come to an end above this.
So, his Will was increased to 20, but not a change in physicals from this. But he was
still freshmen classed. Time to train his Strength next. Boosting up to 12, he
achieved the ability to do good damage, and improved his endurance to Good as well.
He then ended his first Freshmen tournament at a mere 2-3, but improved his STR up to
14, bringing him up to normal carrying capacity. Good thing he didn't hit 15, as
those extra skills might have pushed him over the Freshmen/ADM line. Back to Home
Guard to train the Constitution. 3 Con raises brough him up to a Normal ability to
take damage, and then it was time to go back into the Freshmen tournament again. This
time, the results were significantly better, succeeding with an 8-3-1 showing, and 2
more increases to his Constitution to Bring him to Great Endurance. But the next
tournament (without returning to Home Guard), was not as easy, producing another Con
raise (and the ability to take a Lot of Punishment and carry a Good amount of weight)
while going 4-3. A return to Home Guard produced no changes, and a return to freshmen
brought another increase to his constitution and another Tournament Victor, this time
9-3-1, but more importantly, a demonstration of an ability to take on some of the high
physical Bashers, Total Parries and Wall of Steels. Another freshmen tournament
produced another Con raise, but this time, a close but no cigar 6-3 result. A return
to Home Guard was disappointing, with more losses than wins (including losses to those
physical total parries), no training. Another trip to the Freshmen, and even worse
performance at 4-3, but a Con raise resulted in taking a Tremendous amount of damage.
This would be useful in a long bout. Crip also notes that Hairy is 1-5 vs PRs in the
Freshmen (only win is vs the renowned Ruth, a physical PR, rather than the traditional
type of PR).
A couple of split fights in Home Guard, and back to Freshmen for a sub-standard 0-2,
only to be followed by an 8-3 (manhandling 5 Abs, but losing to a couple of Howlin'
physical beasts. But that TV also brough one more con raise (and Tremendous
Endurance). Four more fights back in Home Guard, then back for a 4-3 Freshmen (which
included two losses to PRs and one to a Howlin' physical beast.). But his 11th con
raise to 19 also brought notice that he was no longer classified as a Freshmen
warrior, so he was transferred to ADM106 for retirement. 3 Freshmen TV is a pretty
good career for a striker hosed in Decise. But now he's allowed to return to
Freshmen. If he trains anything else, he'll surely be permanently pushed to the ADM
class, so might as well see if he can bust that wit. But Crip decides to take it
cautiously. First fight after the freeze will be an attempt to raise will from 20 to
21. If it works, the game will be afoot. If not, it can be paused for another
attempt at another tournament.
Mid-Jun 2020
Hairy Monster's fight comes back, not only does he take out a Total Parry in Home
Guard in 17 minutes, but he gets the Will raise to 21, which includes an expert rating
in Defence. (Further studies reveal that this means he is either -3 or -4 in
Defence). But there's no going back, time to bust the Wit and create a tournament
strategy. The agonizing part of the strategy creation is how many attempts to spend
training Wit. You want to get to 25, but not keep training wit after this point.
Busts are much more controllable at an in-person gathering. Finally, decise on 5
rounds of wit training. Should have a 23 Wit at the start of the tournament, and this
should be enough to get to a 25 wit. But what to train after that. Will gives some
nice skills, but a 5th or more raise will be much harder to come by, so it will have
to be speed and deftness. But in what order and for how long. Since physical beasts
in freshmen can be such an issue, Deftness trains for Rounds 6-9 to improve his attach
rating, then Speed in the hope of quicker jumps against the strikers that seem to hang
around in the late rounds of Freshmen.
Next turn in Home Guard, he raises his wit to 22, and takes out some basher named
Fezzik in a minute. Plan is going well.
Early July
Crip receives Home Guard turn in the mail, last turn before the tournament... But no
fights! He missed the turn. Crip spends much of the week beating himself up mentally
for not putting Hairy Monster on Maintenance in case a strategy sheet got waylaid on
the way to the southwestern land of RSI. Baaaah. This was definitely not in the
plans.
Time warp forward to mid July, the tournament has been run.
Another Home Guard turn comes in the mail for Crip. This is the one with the strategy
sheets that were supposed to run on the last turn before the tournament, but got
missed, and now these fights are actually after the tournament. Rifle through, no
noteworthy training. But look, it says that Hairy Monster can no longer train Wit in
the Arena! I take that as a good sign, as it means he at least got his Wit to 25
during the tournament, and maybe I can tell how many rounds he would have gone at a
minimum. Let's see, missed the turn before the tournament, so in the tourney, he
raised his Wit from 22 to 25, so that's 3 successful wit raises, which means he could
have gone 0-3 with 3 raises. So much for spoiling me with useful information. Curse
you gods of Alastari.
Time warp back to the start of the tournament, which actually arrives a few days later
than the Home Guard turn which ran after the tournament. Crip's mind is boggled by the
time paradox.
Time to read through. No real hopefuls in Contenders/Eligibles/ADM. Crip's 5th seed
on the King Of Primus team picks up 5 Deftness trains going 2-3 as his only contender.
It probably pushes him over the Contenders line, but not worried about that. The more
trains the better for that guy.
ADM -- It's never a good result when your ADM-classed basher ties for your best W/L
record in the tournament and isn't even close to a style master award.
Freshmen -- Ah yes, let's look for Hairy Monster in this one, as he's the only one
that has a realistic shot of doing anything.
Turn 1 -- Hairy Monster is matched up against a C.Canary of Carnage Canaries. Crip
knows nothing of this warrior/team. Turns out it is another striker, and the fight
opens with a clash. But then Hairy land two attacks, and the Canary is dead. The
clash tells me that Hairy is vulnerable to fast strikers. But he has a win. And now,
that can longer train WIT statement means he went at least 1-3-1. Well, again, so
much for useful information. Hairy's -3 decise hurts him in that head to head matchup
of strikers, but he squeaked through that one. But what's the old miner's adage? If
the canary dies as you are getting deeper in to the mine, get out, and get out fast.
It is not a good sign.
(End of Part 1 -- To Be Continued Next TOGS turn)
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Fifteen years.
Fifteen years since I'd last seen the sun rise on these shores. Fifteen years since
I'd set foot on the arena sands. Fifteen years since I'd heard the roar of the crowd.
Fifteen years I'd been away from my homeland.
If you'd asked me at any point during those fifteen years, I'd have told you that I
never thought to see these shores again. Yet here we are.
Thinking back to my youth, I'd always dreamt of seeking fame, fortune, and glory,
spilling blood on the sands before the cheering masses.
Being the firstborn son of a wealthy alchemist, I was afforded every opportunity for
just that.
I was trained in the arts of combat by the most skilled duelists. Learned strategy
under the tutelage of triumphant warlords and generals. Lettered by the greatest
scholars from the four corners of the world. Outfitted with the finest steel and
armor.
I couldn't have been more ready when I first stepped into the arena of Aruak City. For
three glorious minutes, I fought brilliantly, effortlessly, trusting my training to
guide my hand. Intoxicated by the emotions of the crowd. Riding a wave of passion with
every blow. Embracing the the mortal struggle. Forgetting all else.
After what felt both like an eternity and the blink of an eye, I stood over my
vanquished foe, and let the cheers wash over me like crashing waves. Screaming with a
primal ecstasy, the rest of existence seemed to blur and fade, eclipsed by the
singular joy of the moment.
As the bloodlust and rage washed away, I reached down, lifting up my fallen adversary,
now returned to respected peer. It was then, with the adrenaline fading, that I first
truly noticed the wound to my thigh. The muscle torn. The bone exposed. Too deep to
ever fully heal. In the very moment of my greatest joy, I found myself suddenly filled
with the greatest dread that I could know.
My recovery was slow, and I knew that I would never fight again. Nearly an entire
lifetime of training to be a master duelist, gone in the blink of an eye.
No. That would be a selfish and pitiful way to look at life, focusing only on the pain
and failures. Instead I chose to look at the blessings of my education and my
experience. I took that knowledge and I offered it up to other young fighters, looking
to make a name for themselves.
For fifteen years I did just that.
Starting in Aruak City, then over the course of the next five years, opened up
academies all across the Andorian League and the cities of the Free Blades. Even
enjoying some success in the Grand Tournaments of Alastari. For the following five
years, life, family, financial affairs, and other interests slowly drew my attention
away from managing gladiators, before leaving the sport all together. Yet I was to
return again briefly four years later to find a sport and commission far different
from when I'd left.
I knew the game had left me behind. So after a decade of training and fifteen
scattered years of managing warriors, I had moved on as well.
I spent the next fifteen years exploring distant lands. Finding fortune and glory in
ways I'd never imagined. Building a new life.
After fifteen years of adventure and wonder, one day I received a summons to return to
my ancestral home in Kovan Selah to claim an inheritance. So many things had changed,
but I was happy to find that some of my old holdings and most trusted disciples still
as I'd remembered them.
At the great remembrance fete for my ancestors, I was approached by a stable of young
fighters looking for a sponsor to help them make a name for themselves in the
exhibition tournament.
It did not take long before the intoxication of the arena drew me back in.
After a great showing at Kovan Saleh, we received an invite to continue training at
Noblish Island. It was an offer I could not refuse.
As word of my return spread to other cities, I was contacted to manage stables in
Zukal, Zuwayza, Jhans, and Tobir. Following up their success with stables in Seam and
Stormcrowe. Now expanding to Ardivent, Solven, and Rocanis as we leave Noblish Island.
And finally the great honor of managing warriors on the Isle of Eye.
Though the road to this moment was winding and unpredictable, the path ahead seems
clear. It's time to settle down and grow some root. Rejoin the community that has
given me so much and find a way to give back.
So, it is my honor and pleasure to announce today, the grand opening of the Paradox
Academy. A home for both beginners and old fools. A training ground for dummies to
learn the finer points of dueling from a dummy. Where misery can always find company.
And free advice comes at a modest fee.
Humbly yours,
Master Paradox
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
An Interview with Boss Rat, Part 1
The lone man sat at the corner table in the local tavern. He was young, possibly just
out of basic schooling. He nervously toyed with the ink bottle in front of him, then
fiddled with a stack of parchment.
"I wonder where he is", he muttered to himself, as be bent over to pick up his quill,
that had fallen to the floor at his feet.
He did not relish meeting this strange creature alone. Even though it was still early
in the day, at this drinking establishment. He'd heard many stories and some were not
so, well shall I dare say it, very complimentary. Then again, he is a gladiator
manager. Not the most honorable of professions.
"Still, he thought, this story should get me recognition and a good scribes job."
Just then, a tall figure walked through the open doorway. He stopped for a second to
look around and adjust his eyes to the darkness within the room. He cast a silhouette
in the door frame, as the sun shone brightly behind the outline of his physique. All
the young scribe could see was someone in a dark cloak with a cowl pulled down low
over his face. Likely to keep the sun from his eyes.
The creature walked up to his table. While pulling back the cowl, exposing his face.
He asked, "Are you the scribe seeking to interview a fight manager?"
An audible gasp escaped from the young scribe. Before him stood a tall Human with a
somewhat handsome, but rugged and scarred face. He had shoulder length dark brown
hair, tossled about yet vaguely parted down the center, and streaked with a good
mixture of grey. The man sported a short stubble of whiskers giving him that five
o'clock shadow look, he'd heard was all the rage in fashion, some years ago. He
appeared lean and athletic. His hands were large, strong and weathered.
Looking up at the man, he stammered. "Why... why, yes. Yes, I am seeking to interview
a fight manager. But,... but you can't be who I was expecting".
A knowing smile slowly spread across the mans face. "And who might that be, my young
inquisitor?" spoke the man.
"I was expecting the gladiator manager who calls himself, Boss Rat. I heard tell he is
as fierce as the toughest of those creatures he brings into the arena." The scribe
visably shuddered at the mere thought of facing one of those,.... rat things.
"Well then, my young friend, you are in luck. I am that very fight manager you seek."
A noticable look of relief spread over the young scribes face. "I thought,... I mean,
errr,... what I am trying....."
Boss Rat cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about it. Happens all the
time. I would think, however, that an aspiriring scribe, such as yourself, would have
done your research and known what to expect?"
Boss Rat pulled a chair out away from the table and as he sat down. Looking the young
scribe square in the eye, his own blue eyes fixed in an intense steely gaze, then
spoke, "Let's get on with these questions you are so keen to ask. I haven't got all
day. I've got business to attend to."
The young scribe looked quite pleased that his interview of a real gladiator manager,
was finally going to happen. Visions of fame and riches danced in his mind, when Boss
Rat's voice intruded on his fanciful daydream.
"What are you doing with that silly grin on your face? We haven't even started yet?"
Boss Rat did not seem amused the scribe was so easily distracted.
"Sorry,... sorry. Umm, I have my notes right here, and I umm..."
Boss Rat looked around and spotting a serving wench at the end of the bar, called out
to gain her attention.
"You! Serving wench! Come over here, I wish for some food and ale."
The girl, who had been idly filing her nails, quickly gathered her wits about herself
and brushing the front of her apron, walked to the table occupied by two very dis-
similar men. "Very strange, these two." She thought.
As she approached the table, Boss Rat wasted no time in speaking up.
"I'll have a hearty serving of that roasted beef from yon firepit over there. A fresh
roll, or three with some butter and a tall flagon of ale. Also, young lady, be sure
to keep the ale flowing." With a wave of his hand toward the scribe, he then
contimued. "See what my young friend here wants as well. And be sure to present our
bill to him."
With that loud and bousterous suggestion, the scribe nearly choked and stammering,
"But, but I cannot, err, what I mean to say, Oh dear, I cannot afford...." Boss Rat
again put a stop to the scribe's feeble attempts to talk.
"Sweetie," the fight manager said to the waitress. "The bill is on me. You may still
take his order. He is allowed to eat." The Boss bellowed out a hearty laugh at his own
mirth.
"I'm good, no,... no, nothing for me, please. Thank you. I'm fine." the scribe said,
in a rather meek voice.
The server girl wandered off to work on filling the order. In the meantime, Boss just
sat and stared at the scribe. The poor boy was about to sink into the grain of his
wooden chair, when the waitress returned with Boss Rat's food.
With a stab of his fork into a slice of roasted beef, he spoke up. "I know what your
first question is and you will not like the answer." Boss Rat said, as he shoved the
forkful of meat into his mouth.
"Umm, really? Well, I was going to ask you first..." He was cut off from finishing his
words by Boss Rat's declaration.
"You want to know why I am called Boss Rat and what is my real name." Boss continued
to eat more of the beef and wash it down with a huge gulp of ale.
"I will tell you this, young man. No one! No one knows my real name. You don't get to
know. You don't need to know. And it's going to stay that way."
The scribe was stunned and sat silent, fearing he was losing control of the interview.
Silence did not last long, as Boss Rat spoke, "And what do folks call you, young
scribe?"
And with that, we fade to black.
~ The End to Part 1 of the Interview With Boss Rat ~
(Note: Is this a cliffhanger, or what? Hahaha! What are the scribes questions and what
will Boss Rat have to say? Stay tuned and maybe some burning questions will be
answered. Or not, only the fates know what lies ahead, for all.)
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
SuperTogs Stereophonical, the Darque
A Fantasy Novel
by Assur
In a dungeon there lived a green-skinned, DA bound Darque named SuperTogs
Stereophonical. Not a dark dew-filled, rich dungeon, filled with shields and a shady
smell, nor yet a wizardly, fist-fave, magical dungeon with nothing in it to sit down
on or to eat: it was a Darque-dungeon, and that means despair. One day, after a
troubling visit from the Arenamaster Blabbermouth Jones, SuperTogs leaves his dungeon
and sets out in search of three powerful political points. A quest undertaken in the
company of Invisibles, Phase Dragons and boisterous Jaguar Warriors.
In the search for the Arenamaster-guarded political points, SuperTogs Stereophonical
surprises even himself with his defense skill and skill as a aimer.
During his travels, SuperTogs rescues a Whiffle, an heirloom belonging to
Blabbermouth. But when Blabbermouth refuses to try losing, their friendship is over.
However, Blabbermouth is wounded at the Battle of Gate Closing and the two reconcile
just before SuperTogs engages in some serious losing.
SuperTogs accepts one of the three powerful political points and returns home to his
dungeon a very wealthy Darque.
Personally I think I would have preferred to write a story of Darque going completely
broke because he included TOGs. But the story is what the story is.
It is not clear if the random generator saved me work or not, but it was something.
Next time I know better. Any contest that requires writing gets skipped. Not that I
dislike writing. I dislike being forced to write. If I wanted to be forced to write,
I could go back to school. PASS!!!
As we come to the end of this spotlight, I feel sorry for everyone who has to create
the drivel. Even worse those who proofread it. And finally, it is a sadness to all
of us who have to receive it in the mail. I know I don't read the TOGs spotlights. I
question if anyone does. I should put something in my spotlight to see if the proof
readers would censor my spotlight. A four letter word would be too easy. Politics
and religion aren't my style.
AHA! I will put in a slightly defamatory statement about Darque. Not that I will
notice, since I won't read this.
Here we go... Darque has Ebola!
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
YUPPIE SHELTER--
"That One Time My Rookie AB died at 12-3"
Normally, when you have the last Rookie AB standing in a tournament, that's a good
thing. In fact, looking at the last 4 tourneys (pre-July 2020) in 4 of 4 cases an AB
either TC'd Rookies or was Runner-Up. So, historically speaking, I was looking pretty
good.
Which brings us to the tragic tale of Uesugi Kenshin of Hatchets at Dawn, dead at 12-
3.When I first met Uesugi Kenshin he was a non-descript recruit: 7-9-11-9-7-6-21. He
was just a kid with a fascination with Samurai culture and a dream to fight on the
sands of Alastari one day.
The first time I saw UK he was juggling 2 Morning Stars and a War Flail. When he
added a flaming Epee I thought, why not? I mean, the Dark Arena monsters need work,
too. Right? Besides, I'd found a SL I liked who would be on the same team, and my
"good" warrior needed a buddy.
So I sent Uesugi Kenshin to Gladiator Boot Camp, and he came back as an 11-11-11-15-9-
6-21 AB. In addition to the juggling trick, he'd added another tool to his AB tool
belt: Great damage. I thought "huh!" and filed his name away as a tourney
possibility. Then I put him to work in the salt mines, because even a generic AB
needs something to do.
In Chatzy one day, I was idly lurking, amused at the "does this deserve a Rookies
run?" banter. Most got a yes, which I've always attributed to the fact that the more
chaff that gets run in Rookies, the better the odds of the well-designed, bonused, and
knacky warriors getting to round 10 and a chance at a TC. You know, the ones NOBODY
asks if they should run because they're trying to hold their cards close to their
vest. I realize you don't want to face only Rainbows, 21/21's, and other
'good'
rollups starting in Round 1, so yeah! Run that 11/7 WS. See how it does! (and
sometimes, maybe out of spite, they even TV). But my Ironic Self also tells me, "In
Chatzy, no one gets convicted of having a conflict of interest."
But something that Assur said caught my eye. "If it says AB, it is probably Rookies
runnable."
Never having experienced much tourney success myself, I decided to take another look
at my Rookie AB's and see if anyone looked like a Very Last Entry Into Rookies
candidate. Sorting by DF, then Damage brought up Uesugi Kenshin. So off he went! I
will admit I didn't spend a lot of time on strategy. Basically I ran him hot vs
offensives, and slow vs TPs.
Turn 1, Uesugi beat a Wrathman AB, which is ironic because not only did Kharadmon's
2019 Tempe Rookies TC Mesea inspire me to design more AB's, but K literally taught me
the strategy that Uegusi fought with. I seem to recall that Kharadmon wasn't very
happy with the result, but honestly he's so even keeled that even a "that sucks" can
register as white hot rage. So who knows?
After that, it was FI AB (W), TP (W), SL (W), AB (L). Okay, this is where my tourneys
generally start to fall apart. 4-0 quickly turns into 4-3. Turn 6 it was another FI
AB (W), then LU (L) and UK was at 5-2. Without a loss to give, my hopes of even
TV'ing were slim to none. Still, we must carry on!
Turn 8 and UK beat a Wrathman ST (K is probably tired of this guy by now, although he
didn't know it was me because it wasn't a Yuppie / Trump team theme), then an unlikely
run through a gantlet of some of Howlin Wolf, DMob, Doc Steele and Mgrr's warriors: 2
LU's, 2 TP's, WS, AB, and then that fateful turn 15 matchup where the eventual TC
radically eliminated the AB Threat.
Honestly, the highlight of my tournament was Howlin Wolf stating he wished he'd killed
Uesugi Kenshin himself. Small victories, I know, but my guys are usually in the pile
of bodies left behind by the Mega's Super Hero Rookies. It felt good to cause some
mayhem.
Uesugi's success started in January 2020, in a conversation with Managerr and Assur at
the bar in Tempe. Assur told me, "Ask more questions. Other managers will help you."
Managerr gave me some very useful advice on AB strategy, and contributions from Vlad,
Kharadmon, Jerman, TUM, Doc Steele, Floyd, OAB, Howlin Wolf, Assur, Darque, Papaiz and
many others helped me. I asked about everything: Design, Strategy, Tactics, Weapons,
Armor, Training, and much more. That's what I enjoy most about the Duelmasters
Culture: we share knowledge and help each other. Of course, after this write-up, I
may get less help than before!
In the end, Uesugi ended up completely mode. He finished his run with only an Expert
in Attack, and didn't learn a single Defensive Action. Positives: He learned well for
a 15 WT (14 skills in 7 FE); seemed to like the SC; and did well with the strategy I
gave him, going past Minute 1 only twice in the entire tourney. I had "better"
designs that performed worse; there wasn't anything here to explain his success other
than good fortune. Which is why his eventual demise seemed fitting. His luck simply
ran out.
At the end of the day, Uesugi Kenshin was in the right place at the right time. My
only regret was the run happened in a Mail-In and not at the Face because, as Floyd
told me, it's great to see the look on their face when they see what they just lost
to!
-- Riff-Raff, Sept 2020
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
'The Emerald Orb of ElseWhen' by Hammer the WordSmith
[a Special TOGS Presentation: Chapter the First]
For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical
opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master
spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces
of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere. --- Ephesians 6:12 Amplified
Classic
There is a Place in the Space/Time/Dimension/Continuum where Dreams mingle and flow in
No Particular Order in the Vortex where ElseWhere and ElseWhen intersect in the Grand
Scheme of Things that are Both Real and Unreal.
There is a Delicate Balance wherein Some Dimensions and Realms are Unaffected by the
Disruptions Beyond ElseWhere and ElseWhen--No Matter What Takes Place in the Dreams of
the Space/Time/Dimension/Continuum by Any Being Large or Small.
However, there are Those Places, Both Real and Imagined, where the Slightest
Disturbance in the Flow of Dreams will not only Disrupt the Order of Things in their
own Contained Reality, but Chaos and Destruction may also be Released from the
Slightest Tear or Disruption in the Space/Time/Dimension/Continuum both Known and
Unknown.
There is a Call that Goes Forth Upon the Breeze of the Unease of Disturbing Dreams
that Filter Their Way Randomly to the Unsuspecting Denizens of the
Space/Time/Dimension/Continuum who May have a Part to Play in the Grand Scheme of
Things--Whether They Choose To or Not.
Such was the Case with the Emerarld Orb of ElseWhen--when an Evil Entity and Its
Minions Sought to Usurp Its Untapped Power for Its Own Sinister Purposes in the Midst
of an Unsuspecting Set of Circumstances--Linked Ever So Slightly--to Untold Realms
that were Randomly Scattered Throughout the Space/Time/Dimension/Continuum of Both the
Real and Unreal Realities in Existence.
Storm Crow was Troubled in His Deepest of Sleeps--so much so that He Wrote a Message
to His Old Friend and Comrade in Adventure--Hammer--Describing an Ominous Presence
that Sought to Purloin the Emerald Orb of ElseWhen--and that a Call had Gone Forth for
an Assembly of Protectors to Thwart the Evil Schemes that were Forcing Their Will Upon
Unsuspecting Humanoids and Other Varieties of Denizens of the
Space/Time/Dimension/Continuum.
"Meet Me Beyond the Realm of ElseWhere and ElseWhen!" was the Essence of the Message
to Hammer that was Transported via the Vibrations of the Elven Orbs of Transport that
Both Friends had in Their Possession--Because Storm Crow had No Idea Where the Veteran
Manager had Traveled To or Resided--Since It Had Been Many Long Years Ago Since the
Two Adventurers Had Seen One Another!
[TIME JUMP]
Hammer was immersed off-world, that is off-world from Alastari and far removed from
the Arena Management Lifestyle, where the Veteran Manager was diligently studying the
Ancient Manuscripts of Spiritual Enlightenment and Power for use in 'This Life' and
for the Promised Benefits that were Awaiting the True Believers in the 'Life to Come!'
Along the way something had transpired that had disconnected the Veteran Manager from
the Arena Sands of Alastari--although there were memories like faint dreams that would
speak to Hammer in disjointed waves of distorted paintings upon the landscape of the
deep recesses of his managerial mind--calling to the Veteran Manager to return to a
place of competition that he had seemingly forgotten or ignored--in favor of pursuing
the paths of a more realistic reality that had grounded the Veteran Manager in recent
times to a more purposeful pursuit of his spiritual life.
He had hidden away in his wardrobe a cloak that contained a mysterious object that he
barely remembered--except for the whispers on the wind that were intermittently
billowing along the corridors of his clouded memories--sparking a hidden desire to
activate what had become known as an Elven Orb of Transport--that would propel the
Veteran Manager named Hammer along the myriad streams of the unknown and mysterious
Time/Space/Dimension/Continuum that led to a multitude of adventurous possibilities--
if only the Veteran Manager would heed the lure and call that would tug at his heart
and pull at the hidden recesses of his mind... to flow where both the familiar and the
unknown voices on the whispering wind wanted him to go!
Hammer had been drawn to his cloak--and especially the mysterious orb that was hidden
within the folds of his cloak--repeatedly in the dark of night as he tried to sleep--
hearing a long ago but familiar voice mingled in the whispering wind--calling to the
Veteran Manager from a place both unknown and eerily familiar--a call to adventure!
"Meet Me Beyond the Realm of ElseWhere and ElseWhen!" was the Essence of the Message
to Hammer that was Transported via the Vibrations of the Elven Orbs of Transport that
Both Friends had in Their Possession--then the veil had that hung over his memories of
Alastari and Beyond--was lifted for the briefest of moments--long enough for Hammer to
discard the clothes of his recent reality--in favor of the accoutrements that served
as the attire for an adventurer born to do battle in the unseen realms well Beyond the
Realm of ElseWhere and ElseWhen--alongside his old long-time-friend--Storm Crow--as
Hammer partially remembered... while holding the glowing orb aloft--activating the
power within--to transport the Veteran Manager--wherever the rendezvous of the two
Elven Orbs of Transport would take Hammer....
~ To Be Continued ~
"May Your Blades Be Sharp and Your Wits Sharper!"
-- Hammer the WordSmith
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Thump, thump, thump. Artemis ran swiftly through the woods, her wolves at her
side. Artemis grinned at her two companions running beside her. Hearing the refreshing
sound of water, the young Queen decided to grab a drink from the shallow stream. After
drinking her fill, along with her wolves, Tooth and Fang.
Artemis heard a faint rustle in the trees. Cocking her head toward the sound, she
motioned for her wolves to follow her toward the sound. Not wanting to hurt whatever
was hiding, Artemis put away her bow and arrows. Finding out that the sound was coming
from the trees, she told her wolves to be on guard while she climbed a tall, dark oak
tree. Seeing a small hollow hole she peeked in, and saw a runty, and surprisingly
albino falcon shivering in the corner. Speaking in soft tones, Artemis was able to
draw out the terrified creature. It was, no doubt about it, albino. With its (or his,
as Artemis concluded) red eyes, observing everything, and his pure white body
shivering, not so much now.
Gently taking the animal to her simple hut, Artemis made a simple but comfortable
living space for the creature. She inspected him, and soon found a broken wing.
"Easy there little guy. Just have to pop this bone back in place." she said,
preparing some sort of paste to ease the pain. "Now hold still," Artemis gently
ordered. The bird gave a soft cooing noise, as if understanding. (Which he did,
because Artemis IS Queen of the animals.) "3..2...1!" Artemis said, and hearing the
pop! of the bone fitting in place. She wrapped the wing and sighed. "What next?"
As if on cue, Artemis heard her own warrior, Harleyzilla, (H. Zilla for short)
calling her name.
"Queen Artemis! Your father sends for you!" Artemis looked up and saw H. Zilla
cursing when her foot got caught in the mud. Artemis, still holding her position as
Queen of eye-rolling, you guessed it folks, rolled her eyes. Artemis quickly gathered
her small pack, and stuck her back-up dagger in her boot. As soon as she was finished,
H. Zilla had gotten her foot unstuck.
Insisting on riding on horseback, Artemis soon arrived at her father's estate.
Leviticus "greeted" them at the door. "All right, move along now," he would say. H.
Zilla muttered under her breath how she missed her left shoe, and Artemis kept a
watchful eye on her new little falcon friend. Soon they arrived at her father's study
and Artemis gasped in wonder, like a small child.
No matter how many times she visited her Father's study, Artemis always felt like
she was seeing it for the first time. The study had tall, wide bookshelves with
research on almost anything.
"Ah, welcome my child. I have decided to teach you a minor healing spell, simple
to master. Count on Father to get straight to the point, Artemis thought, nodding
eagerly. A healing spell? PERFECT! Just right for the small falcon.
"So," her father said, interrupting her train of thought. "This spell is easy,
but yet..." He thought for a moment, looking for the right word. "Practical. Very
practical. Now, here is how you do it." The sorcerer said some words, and a small
splinter Artemis never knew she had gotten drew out of her finger.
"Now, you do it," he ordered, showing her a simple papercut. Artemis muttered the
strange words, and the skin sealed together.
"There," Master Darque said, "you may go."
Artemis stood there on the spot, baffled. All of that for a simple spell?
"Okay...bye then?" she said, not bothering to hide her confusion.
Her father nodded, returning to some old spellbook.
"Oh," Darque said looking up. "Who might that bird be?" Artemis shrugged and
said: "Cloud." she said not turning around, "His name is Cloud."
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Channel Master was running, from what, he did not know. All he wanted was to be able to have one adventure where something wasn't trying to kill him. So far he hadn't gotten his wish. He kept up his fast paced for two miles as far as he could tell.
"Why didn't I bring my gladiators here of all the god forbidden places." he thought aloud. He took them to the tavern, he took them to his father's estate, he even took them to his own home. But now when I knew there would be some life threatening da
Until then he had to get provisions to last the next 12 hours judging by where the sun was in the sky. "Where's a good stream when you need one?" he wondered.
Slowly but surely he calmed his breathing and listened for the soft ripple of a water source. 1 hour gone, nothing. 2 hours the same. Finally 3 hours later he heard a soft flow of a tiny brook barely audible. He ran in that direction fueled by thirst
When he reached the brook about half a mile away he drank until he couldn't drink any more. Then he heard the monstrous roar that about made him spit up all the water he just drank, but instead of running this time he stood his ground, not that it wa
"I got it!", he said aloud seconds later wishing he hadn't. The monster ran straight at the young manager it's face filled with rage. At the last possible second he summoned a longsword and a small shield which the monster turned to splinters. "Now I
* * *
Channel Master woke with a start. "It was all a dream," he said, "That was a dream to remember maybe I should write it down. Also I should probably ask dad if that magic is possible, if it is, sign me up for that lesson!" Just then his sister, Queen
"What?!" Channel Master exclaimed. He immediately stopped writing, "Why didn't you wake me up! I have to be at the arena in 30 minutes! And it takes 40 to get there! Also, why are you still here? You should be there too!d
"Fine, you were right, he fell for it," she sighed sadly.
As if on cue his and his sister's gladiator filed into the room they were all saying something along the lines of, "Hahaha he did, he fell for it!"
Channel Master Felt like a complete fool, he was so wrapped up in his awesome adventure dream he forgot that arena day was yesterday, and he had nothing to worry about. "Well you got me, good joke guys! Now if you don't mind I have a story to write s
-- Channel Master
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Hi, my name is Floyd , I run CSU College Radio. I am going to do a little primer on
running a Bloodgames team.
I really like that you can make all 10 styles now vs the older version. I generally
make my guys a bit more on the physical side as I think its important not to die. It
can be tempting to go all trip 21's but as good as those overviews look when you get
them back, they rarely make it to round 10 alive. Bloodgames tends to throw curveballs
in the later rounds and having guys left alive and ready to comepete can win you a
few.
Let's look at the styles:
1) Aimed Blow. My go to design nowadays is the Jalon. 17-16-3-3-21-3-21. The guy is
the cat's meow and the one everyone hopes to graduate. I have also graduated a few 9-
3-3-21-21-6-21 ABs in the past but have largely given up on them nowadays. I like to
load up my Jalon's with APA/F to suck up that early damage. I typically run them
FI/SC. I usually run hot mins 1-2 and slow down to a MO/MO type strat 3-6th, in desp
back to something fast-ish ( my usual is 7-10 )
2) Basher. I have had decent success with this BA design and its gotten me a few out
recently. 17-3-3-21-21-12-7. I have also gone 21-3-3-21-21-8-7 but like to roll the
dice on dmg and use the 4 pts for extra dec and init skills. With a BA its all about
killing them quickly. I usually just run 10-10 for mins 1 and 2.
3) Lunger. I have been using 17-7-3-21-21-4-11 recently. There is nothing wrong with
the standard 17-8-3-21-21-3-11. I only go 4 speed for the voodoo that SP may be a luck
stat. As far as how to run these guys, I have been going 9-10 for mins 1 and 2 then
slowing down to a MO/MO for mins 3-6. I again go 7-10 in desp.
4) Parry Lunge. I usually go 17-16-3-13-21-3-11. The thinking here is that the APA/F
I'll be wearing will help me suck up the early damage and come back for the victory. I
make sure to get that 13 wit so I can have access to the Longsword. If you look luck
into a riposte learner you will be very happy!! As for a strat... I go 7-10 min 1,
then try and slow down a bit each minute until 6th. Desp is my usual 7-10 again.
5) Parry Riposte. I have only ever graduated one PR from the BG and I keep going back
to the well for its design: 17-8-3-11-21-3-21. I get the 11 wit for the SC and pray
that it is knacky enough to make it out. Again I try and plate up my guy to survive
the initial assault, hoping that I come back for the kill in later minutes. I usually
run my 6-8 for mins 1-3 and work down to LO/LO for 4-6. Desp its back to the 6-8 for
me.
6) Parry Strike. I have not found a design that works for me yet. This is the last
style I need to have graduated all 10 BG styles. Recently I have just copied my PL
design. 17-16-3-13-21-3-11. Again I am using the 13 wit to give me access to the
Longsword. You never know when a knockdown might make the difference. I have been
trying to keep them on something similar to my PR's. 6-8 in mins 1-3 and LO/LO for the
rest.
7) Slasher. I have a few of these out and they are great fun in ADM tournaments. I
usually go 17-3-3-21-21-12-7. You miss out on the SC but still get to use BS and HA
which work just fine in my experience. No real thought on how to run them. 10-10 is
the way to go. I guess you could decide to go decise tactic or not. I usually skip it
myself.
8) Striker. I use the cookie cutter 17-3-3-21-21-8-11. Nothing exciting or though
provoking about this style or design. It's 10-10 decise tactic out of the gate.
9) Total Parry. I have been going heavy physicals on this style. 17-18-3-11-21-3-11.
11 wit gets us the SC. Again we are hoping the APA/F plus our physicals will get us
through the initial assualt. Sometimes its hard to get these guys to swing back. If
you get a knacky one that likes to swing back going 4-4 or something you could be in
for a real treat. I try and run LO/LO mins 1-2, then MO/MO 4-5... back to LO/LO for
6th on. I try and go fast in desp. 7-10 to the rescue again.
10) Wall of Steel. Again we are gonna load up on pysicals again. 17-18-3-11-21-3-11.
We are using the same thought process as with our PL and TP. Wear APA/F and try and
live past that first attack. I typically go LO/LO min 1... usually coupled with a
PARRY tactic. I then go hot, something like 8-8 or 9-9 mins 2-3 hoping for the kill.
Well, that's about it for my Bloodgames primer. Hopefully this helps a bit and someone
got something out of it.
-- Floyd mgr CSU College Radio
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Manager Jeopardy
HUARD: Welcome back to Stormcrowe and our special edition of Jeopardy this week. All
throughout this week, we will have managers from all over Alastari competing for their
favorite charities. I am Huard DePriest and I am swimming in debts to loan sharks and
made a snide comment about Sheila Greywand's backside, so I have been "selected" to
host this travesty. :::Sigh:::: Let's meet today's contestants. Our first guest
hails from . . . everywhere. I cannot think of an arena where I have not seen this
manager or one of his multiple personalities. Being older than dirt means he has seen
it all, so maybe that will help him win today's competition. Ladies and gentlemen,
let's welcome The Consortium.
CONSORTIUM (waking up): Whuh, huh . . . is it time for my pills?
HUARD: Awesome, can't wait to see how this is going to work out. Our next contestant
can usually be found in the slow arenas. He is known for his odd hiring practices on
his gladiatorial teams. We would typically call such people mad and put them in a
special home, but since he has won a few tournament classes we just tag him as
eccentric. Please help me welcome Assur to the game.
ASSUR: Thanks, I think.
HUARD: Our final contestant is . . . what language is this? I don't speak Shew, or
is this Karragit? Umm, let's welcome Lou Gullytime.
LA GUILLOTINE: Je m'appelle La Guillotine, toi idiot.
HUARD: Right, right. Okay, let's start playing because we have a time limit. This
is Manager Jeopardy, so we have dumbed down the categories a bit. Today's categories
are:
THINGS ONLY HOWLIN' WOLF WOULD KNOW
CAN FLOYD TC WITH THIS?
ANIMALS
UNRELATED TO D2
WILL THIS MAKE SANDY YELL AT YOU
A little heads up for that final category, the answer is always yes. Now, Consortium
you have the first selection. What do you choose?
CONSORTIUM: What?
HUARD (raising voice): PICK A CATEGORY! We do not have time for this, you know what,
I'll pick for you. You'll take CAN FLOYD TC WITH THIS? for $100. The answer is 14-
15-9-17-15-3-11 WS.
CONSORTIUM (buzzing in): Can I have some juice?
HUARD: Thanks for putting it into the form of a question, but that is incorrect.
ASSUR (buzzing in): Yes! I mean, what is yes?
HUARD: Correct, you now have control of the board.
ASSUR: I'll take UNRELATED TO D2 for $500.
HUARD: Admiral James Stockdale opened the 1992 VP debates with this now infamous
line.
CONSORTIUM (waking up and buzzing in): Who am I? Why am I here?
HUARD (surprised): You are correct! You get to pick, and he is asleep again.
:::sigh::: Animals for $300 and here is the clue: Pinnipeds are known by this more
common name.
LA GUILLOTINE (buzzing in): Qu'est ce que c'est un phoque?
HUARD: Hey, now! Sir! Assuming someone, anyone is watching this train wreck, this
is a family show! We can't say such things!
LA GUILLOTINE (rubbing his temples): Tu as le QI d'une huitre.
HUARD: No one? What is a seal? A seal. Consortium, you still have . . . you know
what, I'll pick from here on out. THINGS ONLY HW KNOWS for $200. And the clue is
HHFN.
ASSUR (lookng at his phone then buzzing in): What is the Holy Grail?
HUARD: That is correct! I don't even care that you are accessing your database.
Let's get this over with quick. WILL THIS MAKE SANDY YELL AT YOU? for $300.
CONSORTIUM (buzzes in before question is asked and wakes self up): Yes?
HUARD: That is correct! WILL THIS MAKE SANDY YELL AT YOU? for $100. The clue is:
Handwriting like TUM?
Assur (buzzing in): What is yes?
HUARD: That is correct! WILL THIS MAKE SANDY YELL AT YOU? for $200. The clue is:
Stats did not add up to 84.
Assur (buzzing in): What is yes?
HUARD: That is correct! WILL THIS MAKE SANDY YELL AT YOU? for $400. The clue is...
Assur (buzzing in): What is yes?
HUARD: That is correct! WILL THIS MAKE SANDY YELL AT YOU? for $500. The . . .
Assur (buzzing in): What is yes?
HUARD: Right again! And now let's look at . . . BEEP-BEEP . . . The round and game
is nearly over, thank the gods. There is no double Jeopardy, we are just going to
jump straight to Final Jeopardy. The final clue today is (looks at card and looks up
to his contestants. Looks back to card and sighs deeply). The final clue today is
name a style. That is it, just name a style. It seems rather broad and I can only
imagine how you will mess this up, but you have 30 seconds. (Music plays, Consortium
sleeps, Assur stares blankly for 29 seconds and as time expires scribbles something
down quickly, La Guillotine has left).
CONSORTIUM (waking up as the music ends): That was a nice par 4!
HUARD (looking at Consortium): Okay, we know he didn't write anything. Assur, what
is your final answer?
ASSUR (reveals card): What is Greek Revival?
HUARD (squinting at the card): :::Sigh::: Yes, that is a style . . . of architecture,
but expected. Judges? We have no judges or an audience or a reason to continue this!
ASSUR: So, I win?
HUARD: And the winner is . . . no one. No one has won here today. Please don't join
us next time. Please don't make me do this again. Please make it stop. Next turn is
a TOGS turn too? Well then, I guess :::sobbing::: I will see you :::sobbing::: again
next turn :::uncontrollable sobbing:::.
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Madwand's Travel Itinerary
What was Master Darque thinking? First he has us all travel as far West as we possibly
can without actually crossing the the Trier Sea. And then, has that contest ends, he
asks us all to travel as far East as we can all the way across Alastari almost to the
Storm Sea. The man must have someway to teleport! If I wasn't able to travel by sea
to North Fork, I may not have made it in time. As it was, it was quite the adventure.
First, the journey by sea from Kolact to North Fork was fraught with peril. Never
have I wished so much for the land, to feel the solid earth beneath my feet. The ocean
relentlessly pounded us, reminding us of the power of nature. It is a gale that
screams under dark and serious clouds. Yet we sailed across this, determined to not
let it slow our journey.
As we rounded the coast near Amen Tei, the storms relented. We had a reprieve from
the relentless pounding we had faced since the beginning. But it wasn't time to relax
just yet. These shores were know for piracy, and as we enjoyed the calm waters, and
blue skies we couldn't let our guard down.
It was late at night, at the start of the third week since our journey began, the sky
was filled with clouds obscuring the stars and moon and the sea was like glass when it
happened. The pirate was twenty and he knew he'd be lucky to see thirty. His hair was
a mass of dreadlocks and his scalp itched constantly. His muscles were sinewy but
strong. His stunted height was common place, lack of nutrition in childhood can do
that. But for what he lacked in stature he made up for in aggression and cunning. He
could wield a sword or a dagger with the deftness of a circus act and he sharpened his
weapons every morning at sunrise. His speech was little more than a series of grunts.
Everything was quiet as he slipped aboard, hidden in the shadows and nearly invisible.
First one,then two and then several more followed him. They had thoughts of riches and
plunder in their heads but they made one mistake. This ship wasn't carrying treasure,
it was carrying gladiators.
To be continued...
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Stormcrowe please welcome Edmund Kemper, the most highly ranked Basher in all the
arena. I am sure many of you wonder why Kemper is such a great Basher, but then
again, maybe some of you are scared to ask. Luckily for you, I am a gifted
storyteller and am happy to relate why Mr. Kemper is so awesome at what he does.
You see kiddies, every Basher must have a killing instinct, and it just so happens
that as a member of the Big Lake Killers you must already have a killing instinct.
Edmund started killing at a young age, he killed his paternal grandparents at the
young age of 15. Obviously this was far too young to kill his grandparents,
especially the paternal, he may of gotten away with killing the fraternal at this
young age, but for killing the paternal he was sent away for a few years. But, young
Edmund is highly intelligent, so by the age of 21 he convinced everyone that he was
just fine and promised not to kill anyone, especially grandparents.
Once a free man, Edmund did his best to control his killing instinct, but his
overbearing mother was just too much, so he started killing again and once he started
killing, he found it hard to stop for a few years. He probably would have killed
forever, but he finally killed the one person that drove him clinically insane, his
mother. One the authorities had him, they knew there was only one place he could be
sent and only one man that could control him. So, they sent him to the arenas and
under the guidance of the only manager that could control such a killing maniac, Den
the High Priest of the mighty Allied Axis.
Edmund's career in the arena has fulfilled his need for violence and certainly his
killing desires. Already topping the charts with two kills, Edmund has dreams of one
day killing everyone he fights. The arena shudders thinking about the impact his need
to kill will have on the contest. There are a lot of Total Parry's ranked high in
this contest and Edmund's killing ways could have a profound impact on the contest.
It is no doubt there will be substantial movement in the rankings very soon as Edmund
learns to use other weapons instead of the hammer he enjoyed so much before coming to
the arena.
The real scary part about this story is that Edmund is just one professional killer on
the Big Lake Killers team. Young Bruce Brenizer is no stranger to mom-killing either.
This little psychopath took out his entire family and still went to school. Not to be
outdone by killing loved ones, Mary Krueger took out her husband before coming to the
arena. But, none of them killed as many times as the prestigious H.H. Holmes. We
still don't know what the exact body count is in that crazy man's closet. He killed
more people than Dorkio's breath, and that is a lot.
I hope you enjoyed learning a little about the Big Lake Killers, now don't forget to
tip your hat.
-- Den, manager of the Big Lake Killers
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Candy Crusher Adventure Log -- Chapter 8
Misidentification?
While partaking of the evening activities, Kit Kat Katana spies someone familiar. As
she approaches and the person turns, she sees right away that she was mistaken for it
was not her lifelong Pez Pulverizer but rather a distant approximation of him.
Emboldened by her smile, the man approached Kit Kat Katana and attempted to embrace
her with a "hug". Kit Kat Katana easily forced the individual to the floor and he
scurried back to his table. If any of the bar patrons noticed they didn't give a
sign, save one. A small waif of a girl in haggard clothing approached Kit Kat Katana.
She clearly identified Kit Kat Katana as the leader of a great adventuring company and
asked Kit Kat Katana to talk to her elders who needed their help.
Eventually the party made their way to the corner table of the Kraken Heads where they
met three elders of the village of Karvolia (Tanner Grimm, Olan Forn and Lady Bestin).
The trio explained that this year, as part of the Festival of the Verdant Tower,
Sister Alkava collected the requisite tribute of blood from the people of the village
of Karvolia. Unlike in previous years, however, none of the blood donors returned from
the donation site. Moreover, the village elders had been informed that a second
tribute is required, and they have been commanded by the priestess of the Red Goddess
to send another dozen young men and women to the edifice of stone that looms on the
cliffs overlooking the village.
"Our initial tribute was accepted," Lady Bestin explained, "but none of the donors
returned from the Blood Vaults. When Sister Alkava demanded a second tribute, we knew
drastic measures had become necessary. Save our young men and women, and a coffer of
rare gems will be yours."
Whether loot-hungry or following a desire to rid the world of evil, the party accepted
after some discussion. The elders indicated that they had wagons and would leave in
the morning for the two day ride back to Karvolia. Caramel Cudgel made his excuses
and went to his room immediately. Peppermint Pugil followed and watched over Caramel
Cudgel's room for a several hours while the rest of the party, well, partied. Some
perhaps a little too much, eh Gummi Bear Gavel?
In the morning the party made their way downstairs. The village elders were already
loading and preparing to leave. Hershey Hammer drug Gummi Bear Gavel from the bar,
where he had apparently spent the whole night, and out to the wagons. Nearly ready to
leave, the party noticed that Caramel Cudgel had not come downstairs. Peppermint
Pugil went up to his room, finding the door locked. After a few attempts to rouse
Caramel Cudgel, Peppermint Pugil picked the lock and entered. Caramel Cudgel was
nowhere to be seen! His belongings were strewn about the room. The bed was not slept
in but Peppermint Pugil's eye was drawn to a small object near the pillow. A shard of
obsidian lay where Peppermint Pugil had last seen his companion the night before.
Peppermint Pugil collected Caramel Cudgel's gear (and the shard) and went down to
report his findings to the party. While distraught over the potential loss of another
party member the group agreed that they were committed to the village of Karvolia and
would return to search for Caramel Cudgel later. No one was getting out of Port
during the winter, they reasoned.
The first day's travel was uneventful. The party stayed at a way-station where they
met a member of the garrison of Prince Redgrave, ruler of the principality in which
Karvolia lay. The garrison seemed to show some deference to the elders and their
constituents and the evening passed uneventfully.
Most of the second day was spent traveling to Karvolia. The town was reached near
dusk. The elders went in to The Bleeding Crow tavern (which Olan Forn owns) to hear
the latest news as they had been away for some time. The party followed shortly
thereafter where they were informed that the twelve additional young people had
already been taken to the temple. Figuring there wasn't much time to lose, the party
struck out immediately for the old Sanguine Shrine on the cliffs overlooking the
village. It was not hard to find as the stone edifice of stone resembling a mausoleum
seemed to watch the village from the cliff like a malevolent gargoyle.
The party followed the well worn path to the entrance to discover a zombified ogre
guarding the gates. It seemed to swing wildly as the group approached but as they
neared the stone doors its swings became intentional. Combat ensued and the party
proved too much for the ogre zombie and dispatched it.
Afterward the party took a closer look at the shrine. Gothic flourishes decorated the
walls, but the bas relief of the Red Goddess carved into the doors was both impressive
and disturbing in its details. Peppermint Pugil picked the locks but in their haste
the party triggered a trap. Fortunately those closest to the doors were able to avoid
the poisonous darts as they shot from the doors. Having so cleverly identified and
disarmed the trap, the team moved in.
The party entered a small vestibule. There were tall statues on the right and left
walls. On the right a depction of Marena as the goddess of sex and childbirth and on
the left a representation of her as the patron of the realm, a wicked dagger in one
hand and a decanter of blood in the other, firmly in control of death and suffering.
In between, a pile of bones. As the party climbed the stairs to investigate the
statues, four skeletons came to life. Easy pickings for Kit Kat Katana and crew and
after a short skirmish, they found a couple of gems among those formerly reanimated
piles of bone.
The party was presented with three archways. The center being the largest with very
ornate decoration with a smaller one, about half the size, to either side. As the
party ascended the stairs under the middle arch they were attacked by two specters.
The party was handling themselves well until, at two different times, members went up
the right archway. Those who entered this hall could hear a young woman berating her
jailers, demanding to be set free. Unfortunately, the second time someone entered,
the jailers became involved in the combat. A bugbear had been in that hallway and as
he joined into combat he drank an invisibility potion, called for his fellow jailer,
and lay in wait. After the initial surprise of the bugbear, the party was easily able
to dispatch him. The partner was another story. Longing for a good fight, the
domovoi begins the fight pounding with his mammoth fists but the party quickly
surrounds him. He then disappears, only to reappear behind the party invoking large
amounts of damage. Butterscotch Basher nearly bites it, Hershey Hammer does go down
hard, but eventually the party corners the menace and finishes him off.
Badly hurt, the party retreats to the shrine entrance where Hershey Hammer performs a
ritual healing.
DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
Notes from the arena champ.
Greetings fellow gladiators,
I just realize I have been holding the throne for two cycles now. I definitely am
proud to have written my name in the annals of Stormcrowe.
At this point my time here is limited in any case and in a turn or two at most, I will
have fought my last in the sands of our arena.
Before then, looking at the rankings with my teammate Undk ranked below me and two of
Floyd's guys right next, there are serious odds that we will face each other in the
sands. We'll see but whoever I am up against, I will do my best to keep hold of the
throne.
Good luck to all,
Uskurntai, Your Duelmaster
SPY REPORT
Greetings warriors! It is I, Zontani Sharp Eyes, here to bring report of the
clash and bustle of the weekly STORMCROWE games. Former top team GOING BERSERK was
unseated this week as BASH BROS CARS moved up from 2nd ranking to take the top spot
with a 5-0-0 record for the round. I have begun to suspect trickery on the part of
LEGENDS. How else weeks like this one's 5-0-0? How else the sudden move to 5th
team? The proverbial rising comet can only hope to compare with WOB AFW's team
record! A 4-1-0 week and now a firm grasp on a 8th place ranking. My tutors were
fond of telling me that the higher you rise the harder you fall. This week ABATTOIR
5 BLADES went 1-4-0 and fell 12 notches into 17th! INTERNATIONAL bore the brunt of
major assault on their standings this week as they dropped to 21st position as the
result of going 0-5-0! My tutors were fond of telling me that the higher you rise
the harder you fall. This week IMA BUBBA 2 went 2-3-0 and fell 11 notches into 23rd!
My praise to HOWLIN SLAUGHTER for their 4-1-0 week this time out. Indeed, it was a
skillfully fought round deserving of notice! AIR BNB caught the eye of many in the
gladiatorial commission as it skillfully bested STRANGEWORLD and was awarded 18
points in recognition. In one of the week's more notable duels, LEMON put down A
FUNKY NIGHTMARE, causing her to lose 12 points of recognition in the process. Who
here was not present for the title fight this week as ROCK OF AGES boldly challenged
USKURNTAI in order to strive for the Duelmasters honors? Not for nothing has
USKURNTAI in the past laid claim to the Duelmaster's throne, and this week he's
proven his combat skill yet again. No confirmation, but my sources claim that the
top team has gained their position using magical aids. Charmed weapons perhaps?
But come now, let us look deeper into the maze of contention and crossed blades
that is city STORMCROWE. STORMCROWE, city of gladiators! Mighty among the names of
thy guilds is DRAGON'S TOOTH, a guild shunned and avoided by many in the weekly
duels. If you didn't look down dark alleys you'd have been hard pressed to find any
of INTERNATIONAL last week. Busy avoiding DRAGON'S TOOTH? Loose talk at the arena
has reached my ears and it but confirms the knowledge that many fighters are after
OFF ROAD. Watch your back!
What warrior does not hone his years, impatiently waiting for the moment of his
foe's mortality? Some guilds are strict but few are as heartless as THE MENTORS
RIDE. Witness, last turn they sent OFF ROAD, a 2-0-0 fighter, to the Dark Arena!
DOBBY must hold silent, for this week he was humbled in the arena by a successful
Bloodfeud won by MCCONNELL of LUROCIAN OUTKASTS. Hail MCCONNELL for thy victory! My
hearty congratulations MIA-RAT, for thy revenge upon NO FAITH, slayer of thy fallen
comrade. Next time it will know better, eh? Some say a warrior is judged by the way
he bears arms. One thing is sure, better a dagger in hand then a sword on the belt!
A thought before I go. Each warrior practices one style, but must not the wise
manager learn the secrets of them all? Ahh, but I can hear the spires of a far off
city calling to me. I must away! Till next we meet remember - the pen is mightier
than the sword, but a maul is a different story!-- Zontani Sharp Eyes
DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
USKURNTAI 4886 14 9 0 159 GOING BERSERK (527)
CHALLENGER CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
UNDK 4872 18 8 1 145 GOING BERSERK (527)
ALDON 5120 17 3 0 113 WOB AFW (556)
ALPHA REV 5213 19 6 1 109 CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561)
CHOPPER 5044 9 9 1 108 THE MENTORS RIDE (550)
FAMILY RECIPE 4854 14 5 1 107 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)
EDMUND KEMPER 5058 15 7 2 106 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551)
POISON IV 5338 14 9 1 99 DARQUE FORCES (428)
THE VEAL DEAL 5251 13 3 0 99 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563)
RIME-ANCIENT MARINER 4496 23 14 0 97 MAIDEN JAPAN (504)
IMA GETCHA 4944 11 7 0 94 IMA BUBBA 2 (541)
SHRIMP SCAMP 4855 9 10 0 94 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)
PRISM GUARD 4857 15 7 1 92 BOOK OF THOMAS (528)
ROCK OF AGES 5096 23 17 1 91 INTERNATIONAL (554)
CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
KWITCHERBICHON 4861 20 15 0 89 BOOK OF THOMAS (528)
KURR 5432 8 3 0 89 GOING BERSERK (527)
TOBIR BATTER 5316 8 3 0 89 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)
BLIZZARD-RAT 516 18 5 0 88 RAT PAK (79)
RUNNING FREE 4406 21 24 0 87 MAIDEN JAPAN (504)
YAK 5296 13 8 1 87 GOING BERSERK (527)
FEEDER 5252 11 5 0 87 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563)
-LOHENGRIN 4933 8 7 2 82 FORCE OF FIVE (539)
ME TOO 5267 9 7 0 81 OTIS LIKES LUNGERS (565)
LEMON 5241 8 7 0 81 BASH BROS CARS (562)
CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
URBAN LEGEND 4836 16 25 0 77 BOOK OF THOMAS (528)
NO WASHER FLUID 5233 14 3 0 76 BASH BROS CARS (562)
PEZ PULVERIZER 5287 11 5 1 74 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
RASAM 5117 11 13 0 73 WOB AFW (556)
GUMMI BEAR GAVEL 5089 9 9 3 73 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
BOULDER 5215 13 15 1 71 CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561)
LEAN HOG 5255 11 5 0 71 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563)
STICKY SITUATION 4904 6 12 0 68 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
CHALLENGER ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
RAINBOW BYTE 5391 9 8 0 66 DARQUE FORCES (428)
KIT KAT KATANA 4901 12 8 2 64 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
IMA KILLA 5298 8 5 0 62 IMA BUBBA 2 (541)
SECURITY GUARD 4825 11 18 1 60 AVID FANS (65)
A FUNKY NIGHTMARE 4905 8 10 0 60 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
CARAMEL CUDGEL 4900 10 8 1 57 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
BLOW OUT 5043 10 13 0 57 THE MENTORS RIDE (550)
ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
MIRAGE 5354 5 4 0 56 WOB AFW (556)
STUNTMAN 4932 8 8 1 55 FORCE OF FIVE (539)
RUSTBELT 4931 9 7 1 54 FORCE OF FIVE (539)
SHADOW MERC 5525 4 3 0 54 SHADOW LEGION (575)
PANIC ROOM 5561 6 2 0 53 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
BUBBLES 4935 12 4 0 52 FORCE OF FIVE (539)
OZARKS 5046 11 9 0 52 THE MENTORS RIDE (550)
ME THREE 5270 6 8 3 51 OTIS LIKES LUNGERS (565)
M.C. 5369 5 2 0 51 AVID FANS (65)
BRUCE BRENIZER 5294 8 11 2 50 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551)
THE BRUTE SQUAD 5326 7 10 1 47 AVID FANS (65)
AIR BNB 5564 6 1 0 46 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
ME EITHER 5268 9 6 0 45 OTIS LIKES LUNGERS (565)
THE FEVER DREAMER 4906 6 12 0 42 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
BLUE DRAGON BLADE 5310 7 6 1 40 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
STRANGEWORLD 5319 7 17 0 38 MAIDEN JAPAN (504)
ABLE 5504 3 2 0 38 LEGENDS (574)
MIKE OX 5451 3 1 0 38 FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569)
CESPEDES 5359 4 6 1 35 WOB AFW (556)
FENDER BENDER 5434 4 1 1 35 BASH BROS CARS (562)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
MAINTENANCE 5435 4 1 0 33 BASH BROS CARS (562)
SPARTACUS 5507 4 1 0 33 LEGENDS (574)
MCCONNELL 5498 3 1 0 33 LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573)
CUOMO 5499 4 1 0 32 LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573)
CHECK ENGINE 5433 4 0 0 32 BASH BROS CARS (562)
ANDUARI 5503 2 3 0 32 LEGENDS (574)
SOUTH POLE 5381 5 5 0 30 INTERNATIONAL (554)
SHADOW TEMPLAR 5517 5 5 0 29 SHADOW LEGION (575)
STICKY SITUATION 5488 3 1 0 28 FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569)
RODMAN 5471 4 1 0 27 WOB AFW (556)
MIA-RAT 5569 3 2 0 27 RAT PAK (79)
TRAVIS STOLL 5420 3 3 0 25 SYFY (568)
BEN WHITECLIFFS 5454 3 1 0 25 FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569)
THROTTLE JOCKEY 5336 6 3 0 24 THE MENTORS RIDE (550)
MAR-A-LAGO 5566 4 4 0 24 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
THE CLAIRVOYANT 5467 4 1 1 23 MAIDEN JAPAN (504)
TOKYO 5483 4 1 1 22 INTERNATIONAL (554)
JOHN WAYNE GACY 5461 3 3 0 22 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551)
-DRA-GON 5460 3 1 0 21 DRAGON'S TOOTH (570)
-DJ DRAGON 5484 2 1 0 21 DRAGON'S TOOTH (570)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
HAWAII 5567 4 4 0 20 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
SHADOW BOZO 5509 4 3 0 20 SHADOW LEGION (575)
BUFFALO 5379 3 2 0 20 CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561)
STICKY BLUE BLADE 5343 2 7 1 20 ABATTOIR 5 BLADES (535)
DIXIE 1 5494 4 1 0 19 IMA BUBBA 2 (541)
-HARLEYZILLA 5459 1 2 0 19 DRAGON'S TOOTH (570)
WHITE HOUSE 5562 3 3 0 18 YUPPIE SHELTER (576)
JUICE BOX 5452 1 3 0 18 FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569)
-DRACO METEOR 5486 1 2 0 18 DRAGON'S TOOTH (570)
H.H. HOLMES 5378 4 4 0 16 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551)
STABLEHAND 5560 3 2 0 16 AVID FANS (65)
OTHER MOTHER 5439 3 5 0 16 DARQUE FORCES (428)
ADVANCE SCOUT 5580 2 1 0 15 AVID FANS (65)
CAINE 5505 1 4 0 15 LEGENDS (574)
DOBBY 5487 2 3 1 14 SYFY (568)
-SPITTING LLAMA 5485 2 1 0 14 DRAGON'S TOOTH (570)
CUTOUT 5582 2 1 0 13 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563)
JERONIMO 5581 2 1 0 13 LEGENDS (574)
POUND CAKE 5595 1 0 0 13 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)
IRMA 5315 3 3 0 12 OTIS LIKES LUNGERS (565)
NICO DIANGELO 5422 2 3 0 12 SYFY (568)
EXPOSE 5455 2 2 0 12 FAVORITE SAYINGS 7 (569)
SWAUM 5559 3 2 0 11 GOING BERSERK (527)
BIRX 5500 3 2 0 11 LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573)
EYE CANDY 5596 1 0 0 11 SHEWISH BUFFET (520)
SHADOW CRETIN 5591 1 1 0 11 SHADOW LEGION (575)
ACES HIGH 5462 2 3 0 10 MAIDEN JAPAN (504)
CONNER STOLL 5421 1 5 0 10 SYFY (568)
NO FAITH 5571 2 2 1 9 BOOK OF THOMAS (528)
LADY DEATHSTRIKE 5490 2 3 0 9 GODS OF WAR (572)
RUKIDDINGME-RAT 5572 1 3 0 8 RAT PAK (79)
MASKED FAUCI 5588 1 1 0 8 LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573)
MARY KRUEGER 5501 1 4 0 7 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551)
YA-SIN 5493 1 4 0 7 GODS OF WAR (572)
CHUN MA 5492 1 4 0 7 GODS OF WAR (572)
LITTLE GRR MAID 5597 1 0 0 6 DARQUE FORCES (428)
DIXIE 3 5603 1 0 0 6 IMA BUBBA 2 (541)
JAWBREAKER JITTE 5600 1 0 0 6 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
DIANA 5489 0 5 0 5 GODS OF WAR (572)
WALKING CORPSE 5586 1 1 0 4 RAT PAK (79)
NEWSOME 5585 1 1 0 4 LUROCIAN OUTKASTS (573)
SUPPLY CHAIN 5574 0 4 0 4 HOWLIN SLAUGHTER (563)
REMARKABLE 5584 0 2 0 2 BOOK OF THOMAS (528)
VAGRANT QUEEN 5599 0 1 0 1 SYFY (568)
TRAGEDY ANN 5598 0 1 0 1 DARQUE FORCES (428)
NILE 5594 0 1 0 1 INTERNATIONAL (554)
SIBERIA 5593 0 1 0 1 INTERNATIONAL (554)
ALLEY-RAT 5601 0 1 0 1 RAT PAK (79)
DIXIE 2 5602 0 1 0 1 IMA BUBBA 2 (541)
ANTARES 5606 0 1 0 1 GODS OF WAR (572)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
HERSHEY HAMMER 5324 8 3 1 CANDY CRUSHERS 534 LOHENGRIN 4933 427
MACHINE 5604 0 1 0 CSU COLLEGE RADI 561 DARK CHAMPION 428 NONE
DRUMMER BOY 5589 0 2 0 FORCE OF FIVE 539 NAUGHTY JANITOR 428 NONE
JOE TWITCH 4934 5 9 0 FORCE OF FIVE 539 HERSHEY HAMMER 5324 426 REVENGED
KRATOS 5491 1 3 0 GODS OF WAR 572 STICKY BLUE BLAD 5343 427
IMA PIMP 5062 9 5 0 IMA BUBBA 2 541 LOHENGRIN 4933 426
NEW ZEALAND 5385 3 2 0 INTERNATIONAL 554 ME THREE 5270 427
SHANGHAI 5323 9 8 1 INTERNATIONAL 554 EDMUND KEMPER 5058 427
CARL LEWIS 5502 0 1 0 LEGENDS 574 TOKYO 5483 424 NOT REVENGED
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
PELOSI 5496 1 2 0 LUROCIAN OUTKAST 573 DOBBY 5487 426 JUST REVENGED
NOT ME 5271 4 9 0 OTIS LIKES LUNGE 565 STUNTMAN 4932 427
WHAT ELSE 5605 0 1 0 OTIS LIKES LUNGE 565 HIGH ELF 428 NONE
BAYONETTA-RAT 5577 0 2 0 RAT PAK 79 THE CLAIRVOYANT 5467 427
THUNDER-RAT 513 0 2 0 RAT PAK 79 FENDER BENDER 5434 425
WALKING CORPSE 5573 1 1 0 RAT PAK 79 NO FAITH 5571 426 JUST REVENGED
SHADOW ORC 5511 1 3 0 SHADOW LEGION 575 BLUE DRAGON BLAD 5310 424 REVENGED
SHADOW SHAMAN 5523 3 3 1 SHADOW LEGION 575 GUMMI BEAR GAVEL 5089 428
OFF ROAD 5583 2 1 0 THE MENTORS RIDE 550 NAUGHTY JANITOR 428 NONE
PERSONAL ADS
WoM contestants -- Ok, now we are in for two turns with the dreaded TOGS rules. After
those turns, there are real chances the rankings will look very different. And that
idea sucks! -- La Guillotine, mgr Going Berserk
Car Seat Headrest -- Glad to see you off to the Isle! -- Yak & Kurr
New Zealand -- dead. Shanghai -- dead. Fie on you all! -- U.N.
It is with greatest pleasure that I get the opportunity to read Assur's TOGS whine
this turn. I AM excited! -- U.N.
Me Three, a little cold for you, eh? -- South Pole, International
Caine, thanks for the bloodfeud try. I like winning! -- Tokyo, International
I really am not going to tell anyone how easy it was to beat Bombay Bike Club. I am
not! -- Rock Of Ages, International
Rainbow Byte -- You need a different kind of bite to beat me. -- Tobir Batter of
Shewish Buffet
Going Berserk -- Hurry up and graduate those Challenger Champions like CSU College
Radio is doing. -- One Armed Bandit, mgr of Shewish Buffet
Chopper -- Impressive! It definitely was close. Well fought! -- Undk
Tokyo -- You're just too fast for us. Maybe we'll catch you some other time. --
Paradox
No Washer Fluid -- That might explain why I keep having these bugs stuck in my teeth
-- Security Guard
Harleyzilla -- I was worried you were going to get back up, but usually in the movies,
once zillas fall, it takes them a real long time to get back up and get back into the
fight -- M.C.
Masked Faucci -- Is that like an unmasked Trump? -- Stablehand
Diana -- Aha! I now have some written notes on you to share with the rest of my team
-- Advance Scout
Howlin Wolf -- Please tell me that you're conducting a grand experiment with design
and strategy for a new never before seen fighting style with Supply Chain? Sadly, the
current model appears to be lacking. -- Boss Rat
I'm drawing a blank for ideas to tell my flunkies, errr Gladiators to write for
upcoming arena entertainment. Come on boys, we need the points. Think of something! --
Boss Rat
Assur writes "A personal ad."
Wild Wheelers --- A Shabby 2-3 Showing! --- Hammer
Paradox --- Thank You for Your Kind Words! --- Hammer
All Us Internationals --- Glad You Enjoyed My Spot Writing! --- Hammer the WordSmith
Shadow Shaman --- Dodgy Blood Feud Win! Congrats! --- Blue Dragon Blade
Lean Hog --- My Challenge! My Loss! My Failed Dream! Feverish Infirmary Dream! --- The
Fever Dreamer
Ozarks --- My Challenge! My Win! Salute! --- A Funky Nightmare
Alpha Rev --- Your Down Challenge By 30 Points! My Loss! No Surprise There! An Obvious
Contest Decision! Sticky! Sticky! Sticky! --- Sticky Situation
Kratos --- My Challege! My Win! Rest In Peace! --- Sticky Blue Blade
Gods Of War --- Warriors Die! Kratos Too! I Am Waiting On A Blood Feud From You! ---
Sticky Blue Blade
Misfortunate Malcontents --- Looking Forward to Reading Your TOGS Submissions! ---
Hammer the WordSmith
Khisanth -- Didn't know cockfighting was allowed but there it was, Rod-man losing to
Mi-keox! -- MadwandMarc SturchAssociate DealerCanadian Tire Store #455868 Carmichael
LaneHinton, Alberta, T7V 1Y6P (780) 865-6157F (780) 865-7154
UNDK -- well done, and well fought -- Chopper
All -- We may not be the toughest team, or the fastest team, or even the smartest
team...... hmmm I forgot where i was going with this.... -- Dr. Feelgood
La Guillotine -- Congrats on being in first place. A noble feat, I'd say. Let's see if
you can keep your throne. -- Queen Artemis
La Guillotine -- Please pardon my French! -- Master Darque
All -- I should probably learn how to develop ringers or bring in tourney teams. My
kids are even ahead of me in the rankings. It stings a little! -- Master Darque
Dorkio -- If not for the likes of the mentally ill equipped like Boss Rat, you would
be dead last, a position in life you are very accustomed to. Enjoy your trip to the
bottom. -- Den, manager of the Big Lake Killers
P.S. Your breath is horrendous (horrendous is a big word that means really bad).
Geek Guy -- Nobody cares. -- Den
Hammer -- With your inane babbling being printed all across Alastari, the lumberjacks
have to cut down more trees. Do the world a favor and quit writing words that nobody
will ever read. -- Den
Darkfart -- I am guessing that with your immense weight you crushed more than candy,
like a few car seats, small animals that were unlucky enough to cross your slow path,
and certainly the house cat. -- Den
Presstow -- To hold your massive forehead aloft it must take the force of five good
men. See what I did there? I insulted your cleverly with your manager name, your
team name, and your crazy huge forehead. -- Den
Philthy -- Don't forget to fight. We have high expectations for our 9th in Command.
-- Den
That was an unwelcome turn for my Candy Crushers! 1-4-0-1 just doesn't cut it, team.
-- DD
Lohengrin -- Well I guess you have your revenge. -- Melted Hershey Hammer
Hah! I got the lone win for us. Wonder what the new one will look like. I hear he's
a real hard candy. -- Caramel Cudgel
USKURNTAI -- That was the match-up I wanted, but not the result. -- Me Too
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
TURF WAR XII -- TW12 (Rev 8-8-20)
(Start turn after FTF or Mailer JAN 2021)
Bring acclaim and glory to the North Fork (DM47)
TURF WARS is a team event and unlike all other events in D2, involves "certs."
Anyone may participate; known alliances, new alliances, thrown-together alliances, or
temporary alliances created solely to compete in the Turf War! To participate, each
alliance or participant must:
1. Announce an Alliance Name, Captain, and Assistant of the alliance in the North
Fork (DM 47) newsletter or on the RSI site.
2. Determine and submit either 1 or 2 or 3 certificates per participant. Amounts can
be different per alliance participant. (See Scoring section for more details.)
3. Each participating team must run in DM47 on one of the three turns prior to the
start of TW12 so that the team shows in the last newsletter prior to the 1st TW12
turn.
At the end of the game, Captains are responsible for distributing any winning
certificates to the team participants.
No alliance scores can be tabulated until the chosen amount of RSI Gift Certificates
are received, the teams are listed in the newsletter, and participant indication and
captain confirmation are posted in the North Fork newsletter.
All entry certs should be sent to Oz or The Consortium via RSI.
Only one (1) team per player/manager may compete in the Turf Wars, and only one team
per player/manager may compete in North Fork DM47 during the Turf War. No arena
multiple teams or aliases will be allowed. Violations will result in immediate manager
disqualification (including team point adjustments) from the Turf War (so be sure to
take any multiple teams OFF of Team Maintenance and be certain not to run any other
team warriors). NOTE: Since alliances require two teams, this would mean the remaining
alliance member cannot score in the TW.
Any Turf War team must show/be posted/listed in the DM47 Newsletter just prior to
their actual scoring/participation. (E.g. New teams, transfers, current teams must
show up in the newsletter prior to the beginning of participation, allowing opponent
knowledge and challenging/avoiding.) Manager/teams may not participate/score in the
Turf War the same turn they are first posted in the newsletter. (So get your team in
the newsletter early.) Teams do not have to run that turn prior to TW12-T1, but will
have had to run shortly before to allow their warriors to be visible in the newsletter
just prior to TW12-T1.
Scoring will NOT be retroactive for teams/alliances that do not properly declare or
get captain confirmation or fail to send a Gift Certificate by Turn 1. In other
words, if your Gift Certificate is not received until Turn 3 of the Turf War, and you
have fought on Turns 1 and 2, your score will not begin until Turn 3. All conditions
must be met before scoring will begin: declaration, confirmation, NL listing, and Gift
Certificate received.
No declarations or confirmations will be accepted after Turn 2 of the Turf War. For
purposes of scoring, the moderators will score the Turf War and settle any and all
disputes as they arise. Their decisions will be final. (Note: the intent is to have a
very thorough set of rules so that few decisions, if any, are required from the
moderators.)
No warrior may be substituted without the proper use of the DA or arena death or death
in a tournament or graduation. There must be a maximum of five only on a team at any
point and time. (The penalty for such substitution is -25 points.)
SCORING will be as follows: Only three things affect scoring. Number of initial certs
submitted, wins, fighting all five warriors, and the round modifier. (Later rounds
have higher modifiers.)
NUMBER OF CERTS SUBMITTED
1. Alliances will start the competition with the amount of points based on the amount
of certs submitted.
Two certs (1 each, the minimum required) = 0 points.
Three certs total = 3 points for the alliance
Four certs total = 6 points for the alliance
Five certs total = 10 for the alliance
Six certs (the max) total = 15 for the alliances
2. After the sixth and after the eleventh round those same amount of turn starting
points are awarded to each alliance.
3. Hence, alliances may earn up to 45 points through the event via certs. (Note: cert
points are not impacted by the Round Modifier.)
NUMBER OF WINS
1. Each teammate win per round is worth 3 base points. (e.g. 1 win = 3 points, 5 wins
= 15 points)
FIGHT ALL FIVE WARRIORS
1. Each turn there is a +3 base point bonus for each teammate fighting all five
warriors
2. Each turn there is a -3 base point penalty for each teammate not fighting all five
warriors.
ROUND MODIFIER
1. The first 6 rounds of TW12 are scored at 1x base points. (Base points includes win
scoring, and any all-5 bonus/penalty, but not any cert scoring)
2. The 7th through 11th rounds are scored at 2x base points.
3. For the final and 12th round, base point scoring is at x3.
Special Considerations:
1. There will be NO alliance or team changes once the contest has begun. If you begin
the Turf War with Alliance X, you must end the Turf War with Alliance X. If you
begin the Turf War with Team X, you must end the Turf War with Team X.
2. Each alliance is comprised of two and only two managers.
3. The Dark Arena may be used without penalty. (Limit twice per warrior.)
4, If at any time, the Moderators determine that any non-TW team in the arena is
aiding and/or abetting any TW alliance or team, the affected points won by the
gifted team/alliance will be disallowed and the aiding non-TW team will be asked to
desist from play in the arena until after the Turf War concludes.
PRIZES
Certs: The winning alliance gets 70% of the pooled certs. Second place alliance gets
20%, and third place gets 10%.
It is the responsibility of the Captain of the winning alliance to distribute Gift
Certificates to his alliance. Moderators will mail them shortly after the final round.
Moderators will submit a list of each manager winner to RSI at the completion of the
contest for the RSI awarded prizes, to then be claimed by the manager from RSI
Customer Service within 6 months.
RSI awards: (all must be applied to DM47 warriors, cannot create out-of-bounds
warrior, and one max prize applied to any warrior ? all within 6 months)(one max prize
means that if you win two prizes they cannot be applied to the same warrior.)
1. Winning alliance captain may choose three (each manager/team receives same prize as
chosen by captain):
* Limited Damage Bump (bump one level damage) (warrior must have fought in the TW)
* Stat replace (remove 2 SZ, replace 2 to any one other stat) (warrior must have
fought in the TW)
* Choice Replacement (Receive 5 replacements, choose 1, delete 4)
* Replacement stat swap (Replace/flip any 2 stats on one new replacement)(may not
use in combination with Choice Replacement.)
* Favorite weapon knowledge (warrior must have fought in the TW)
2. 2nd place alliance captain may choose two (each manager/team receives same prize
as chosen by captain)
* Favorite weapon knowledge (warrior must have fought in the TW)
* Favorite rhythm knowledge (warrior must have participated in TW)
* Free stat raise of choice except size (may not create out-of-bounds warrior)
3. 3rd place alliance captain may choose one (each manager/team receives same prize as
chosen by captain)
* Favorite weapon knowledge (warrior must have fought in the TW)
* Favorite rhythm knowledge (warrior must have participated in TW)
* Free stat raise of choice except size (may not create out-of-bounds warrior)
Participation Award: All teams who fight in all rounds and 54 min fights (of 60)
* Two +1 skill pots (added to warrior base; cannot create out of bound warrior)
These RSI awards will be listed by the Moderators within two weeks of round twelve for
individual claiming from RSI within 4 turns of the end of TWXII. The certs will be
mailed to the winning alliance by the Moderators within two weeks of the end of the
TW.
Moderators: The Moderators for this event will be Oz, Master Darque, and Assur. (The
TWX Triumvirate) They will arbitrate all dealings during the course of the contest.
Their decisions will be final. All questions, comments, and scoring disputes may be
directed to Land of Oz or Darque Forces or Bash Bros Park via diplo in DM 47.
Managers with internet access may send a private message to [The Consortium] or
[Darque] or [Assur] on the Duel2 Forums. Lastly, you may also email questions,
comments, and scoring disputes to rebelnerfherder@yahoo.com or wfms101@aol.com or or
mikey.alexander@hisstrengthandwork.com
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
OFF ROAD was barely slain by NAUGHTY JANITOR in a 1 minute Dark Arena fight.
DRUMMER BOY was slaughtered by NAUGHTY JANITOR in a 1 minute Dark Arena battle.
MACHINE was easily killed by DARK CHAMPION in a 1 minute gory Dark Arena match.
WHAT ELSE was slaughtered by HIGH ELF in a 1 minute bloody Dark Arena brawl.
TOKYO was overpowered by ME THREE in a 1 minute bloody one-sided Bloodfeud fight.
IRMA was devastated by STUNTMAN in a crowd pleasing 1 minute one-sided Bloodfeud duel.
MCCONNELL devastated DOBBY in a 1 minute one-sided Bloodfeud competition.
MIA-RAT handily defeated NO FAITH in a 1 minute uneven Bloodfeud melee.
WALKING CORPSE was vanquished by THE CLAIRVOYANT in a 1 minute Bloodfeud duel.
RUKIDDINGME-RAT lost to FENDER BENDER in a 1 minute novice vs. veteran Bloodfeud duel.
SHRIMP SCAMP was viciously subdued by CHOPPER in a 2 minute veteran's Challenge bout.
FAMILY RECIPE viciously subdued IMA GETCHA in a 1 minute master's Challenge conflict.
ROCK OF AGES was devastated by USKURNTAI in a 1 minute Challenge Title bout.
BLIZZARD-RAT luckily beat ME TOO in a 4 minute veteran's Challenge duel.
NO WASHER FLUID unbelievably bested BOULDER in a 3 minute master's Challenge bout.
LEMON overpowered A FUNKY NIGHTMARE in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge bout.
EDMUND KEMPER savagely defeated RIME-ANCIENT MARINER in a 2 minute Challenge bout.
KURR was unbelievably bested by THE VEAL DEAL in a popular 4 minute Challenge contest.
TOBIR BATTER vanquished URBAN LEGEND in a 2 minute one-sided Challenge match.
POISON IV slimly won victory over YAK in a 1 minute veteran's Challenge contest.
SECURITY GUARD was overpowered by LEAN HOG in a 1 minute uneven Challenge fight.
PEZ PULVERIZER defeated STICKY SITUATION in a 2 minute veteran's Challenge duel.
CARAMEL CUDGEL was savagely defeated by RASAM in a 2 minute veteran's Challenge melee.
THE FEVER DREAMER was beaten by RUSTBELT in a 4 minute veteran's Challenge fray.
BLOW OUT overcame ME EITHER in a exciting 1 minute Challenge duel.
RAINBOW BYTE defeated PANIC ROOM in a 1 minute Challenge fight.
M.C. won victory over MIKE OX in a popular 1 minute Challenge fray.
HAWAII was overpowered by BLUE DRAGON BLADE in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge match.
STABLEHAND was overpowered by ABLE in a popular 1 minute one-sided Challenge bout.
CUOMO unbelievably bested JOHN WAYNE GACY in a 1 minute Challenge match.
AIR BNB overpowered STRANGEWORLD in a exciting 2 minute one-sided Challenge struggle.
NICO DIANGELO was luckily beaten by DIXIE 1 in a popular 3 minute Challenge fray.
MAR-A-LAGO was demolished by SPARTACUS in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge conflict.
SHADOW BOZO unbelievably bested JUICE BOX in a popular 4 minute Challenge bout.
OTHER MOTHER was vanquished by SHADOW TEMPLAR in a 1 minute mismatched Challenge bout.
H.H. HOLMES was demolished by STICKY SITUATION in a 1 minute Challenge competition.
BUFFALO overpowered NEWSOME in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge fight.
MARY KRUEGER slimly lost to CUTOUT in a 2 minute amateur's Challenge duel.
ANDUARI demolished EXPOSE in a 1 minute uneven Challenge conflict.
CAINE handily defeated YA-SIN in a 1 minute mismatched Challenge fight.
ADVANCE SCOUT beat SWAUM in a 2 minute beginner's Challenge competition.
MASKED FAUCI overcame DIANA in a 2 minute novice's Challenge match.
UNDK overpowered RUNNING FREE in a 1 minute one-sided battle.
ALPHA REV vanquished VETERAN MERCENARY in a action packed 1 minute one-sided bout.
CAR SEAT HEADREST handily defeated M. CHARDINEE in a 1 minute one-sided duel.
ALDON savagely defeated KWITCHERBICHON in a exciting 5 minute veteran's conflict.
KIT KAT KATANA was overpowered by FEEDER in a crowd pleasing 1 minute mismatched bout.
PRISM GUARD handily defeated IMA KILLA in a exciting 1 minute brutal mismatched match.
GUMMI BEAR GAVEL barely slew SHADOW SHAMAN in a 2 minute bloody fight.
MIRAGE savagely defeated CAPTURED ORC in a popular 1 minute master vs. amateur battle.
CESPEDES was vanquished by SHADOW MERC in a popular 1 minute one-sided struggle.
THE BRUTE SQUAD was bested by BUBBLES in a crowd pleasing 4 minute conflict.
BRUCE BRENIZER overpowered THROTTLE JOCKEY in a 1 minute one-sided match.
OZARKS won victory over SOUTH POLE in a crowd pleasing 3 minute match.
MAINTENANCE subdued STICKY BLUE BLADE in a popular 3 minute conflict.
CHECK ENGINE bested CONNER STOLL in a 2 minute fight.
WHITE HOUSE was overpowered by TRAVIS STOLL in a 1 minute one-sided brawl.
BEN WHITECLIFFS won victory over SHADOW CRETIN in a popular 1 minute duel.
BIRX outlasted SUPPLY CHAIN in a dull 10 minute gruesome novice's fight.
CHUN MA was overpowered by POUND CAKE in a 1 minute one-sided battle.
LADY DEATHSTRIKE won victory over NILE in a 1 minute novice's fight.
RODMAN devastated TRAGEDY ANN in a 2 minute bloody uneven match.
JERONIMO overpowered SIBERIA in a 1 minute one-sided match.
REMARKABLE was beaten by JAWBREAKER JITTE in a 2 minute novice's fight.
ACES HIGH savagely defeated ANTARES in a 1 minute bloody beginner's brawl.
EYE CANDY overpowered DIXIE 2 in a 1 minute one-sided conflict.
LITTLE GRR MAID subdued ALLEY-RAT in a exciting 1 minute amateur's duel.
VAGRANT QUEEN was defeated by DIXIE 3 in a action packed 1 minute beginner's fight.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|LUNGING ATTACK 27 WALL OF STEEL 55 - 31 - 5 64 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 21 TOTAL PARRY 60 - 47 - 1 56 |
|TOTAL PARRY 18 SLASHING ATTACK 37 - 32 - 1 54 |
|WALL OF STEEL 14 PARRY-LUNGE 16 - 15 - 0 52 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 13 STRIKING ATTACK 70 - 74 - 2 49 |
|AIMED BLOW 13 AIMED BLOW 39 - 42 - 1 48 |
|BASHING ATTACK 13 LUNGING ATTACK 75 - 85 - 3 47 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 5 BASHING ATTACK 28 - 50 - 2 36 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 4 PARRY-STRIKE 7 - 19 - 1 27 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 3 - 11 - 1 21 |
Turn 428 was great if you Not so great if you used The fighting styles of the
used the fighting styles: the fighting styles: top eleven warriors are:
PARRY-LUNGE 4 - 1 LUNGING ATTACK 12 - 15 3 TOTAL PARRY
WALL OF STEEL 9 - 5 AIMED BLOW 4 - 9 2 LUNGING ATTACK
SLASHING ATTACK 8 - 5 BASHING ATTACK 4 - 9 2 STRIKING ATTACK
TOTAL PARRY 11 - 7 PARRY-STRIKE 1 - 3 2 PARRY-LUNGE
STRIKING ATTACK 11 - 10 PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 - 1 1 BASHING ATTACK
1 WALL OF STEEL
TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
LUNGING ATTACK USKURNTAI 4886 14 9 0 159 GOING BERSERK (527)
STRIKING ATTACK UNDK 4872 18 8 1 145 GOING BERSERK (527)
TOTAL PARRY ALDON 5120 17 3 0 113 WOB AFW (556)
PARRY-LUNGE ALPHA REV 5213 19 6 1 109 CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561)
BASHING ATTACK EDMUND KEMPER 5058 15 7 2 106 BIG LAKE KILLERS (551)
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
WALL OF STEEL IMA GETCHA 4944 11 7 0 94 IMA BUBBA 2 (541)
AIMED BLOW KWITCHERBICHON 4861 20 15 0 89 BOOK OF THOMAS (528)
SLASHING ATTACK KURR 5432 8 3 0 89 GOING BERSERK (527)
PARRY-RIPOSTE KIT KAT KATANA 4901 12 8 2 64 CANDY CRUSHERS (534)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.
The overall popularity leader is URBAN LEGEND 4836. The most popular warrior this
turn was CHOPPER 5044. The ten other most popular fighters were BOULDER 5215, JUICE
BOX 5452, ME TOO 5267, EDMUND KEMPER 5058, SOUTH POLE 5381, KURR 5432, RASAM 5117,
MAINTENANCE 5435, STICKY BLUE BLADE 5343, and TOBIR BATTER 5316.
The least popular fighter this week was BIRX 5500. The other ten least popular
fighters were SUPPLY CHAIN 5574, BUBBLES 4935, ALLEY-RAT 5601, DIXIE 2 5602, ANTARES
5606, SIBERIA 5593, TRAGEDY ANN 5598, NILE 5594, CHUN MA 5492, and WHITE HOUSE 5562.
The following warriors will travel to AD after next turn:
USKURNTAI (45-4886) GOING BERSERK (527)
ALDON (45-5120) WOB AFW (556)
ALPHA REV (45-5213) CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561)
The following warriors have traveled to AD after fighting this turn:
CAR SEAT HEADREST (45-5210) CSU COLLEGE RADIO (561)