Author: jacen
Date:Sep 29 2009
The following is a true story. The names have been changed to protect the
guilty.
In the old days of the BATworld, before the great flood and exodus, a small
cornfield lied far to the south of Batcity. This cornfield was home to many
mantises, orcs, trolls, and barbarians. A group of monks made their home at
this cornfield in a small monastery. Despite these threats, there was one
poor and defenseless little boy who was picked more than any other enemy
around. Years ago, the mighty wizards of BatMUD realized this poor boy needed
some protection from the ruthless mortals who barbarically tortured this
little boy for his prized Pumpkin Helmet. And so they brought to life an
elder brother for the little boy to protect him from the harsh reality of the
boy's existence.
One by one, greedy mortals died at the hands of the little boy's big brother.
Unsuspecting of any danger, they would pay a visit to the little boy to claim
his helmet, only to be caught by his big brother. Some mortals tried to run
away from this danger, but the elder brother was too fast and prevented anyone
from escaping. Other mortals tried to escape via magical means
they were also bested by the elder brother's superior magical ability. The
elder brother had cast an powerful nullification spell, permanently rendering
all magical navigation and dimensional manipulation spells in the area
useless.
One day, a young warrior named Jenac was adventuring through this cornfield,
practicing his ways of the sword as a Lord of Chaos, and learning the life of
a Tiger Master Assassin. Throughout the day, Jenac had heard the ruthless
taunts of the little boy's big brother as he felled one mortal after the next.
He thought that this elder brother must have a powerful soul, if he had been
able to continually defeat mortal after mortal in battle. Jenac decided put
his developing abilities to the test, and challenge the big brother to a
fight.
Before going into battle Jenac thought to protect himself to the best extent
possible. He focused his rage into a destructive mindset rendering him
impervious to all stunning attacks. He cast a powerful enchantment spell on
his mystic blade of chaos, enabling it to deal both fire and cold elemental
damage upon contact with an enemy. Last but not last, he performed an unholy
ceremony to aid him in casting his first spell in combat. But Jenac had no
idea what the little boy's big brother had in store for him.
Jenac entered the room of the little boy and his big brother, immediately
casting his magical tiger claw spell at the elder brother, in an attempt to
stun him. But to Jenac's astonishment, there were TWO big brothers protecting
the little boy! Jenac thought, had the big brother found a way to copy
himself? Or perhaps a ripple in the space-time continuum allowed for some
unpredictable circumstances? Or maybe a second brother decided to show up on
this day? In any event, Jenac knew he was going to be in for a rough time
with these big brothers. Despite a valiant effort, Jenac was handily defeated
and banished to the pits of hell. But he would not accept defeat so easily.
Jenac commandeered the services of a friendly Tarmalen healer and was raised
from the dead to fight again. The Tarmalen healed his wounds, and Jenac
returned to the cornfield to engage the big brothers in battle once again.
But once again he was defeated soundly in battle.
After being raised from hell once again, Jenac began to rethink his battle
strategy against the big brothers. He did not want to admit defeat, but knew
it would be a difficult road ahead if he were to emerge victorious in battle.
At the time, Jenac knew that his abilities as a Lord of Chaos fighter exceeded
his abilities as a Tiger Master Assassin. He thought that he may be more
effective to use his offensive skills of chaos against the brothers, rather
than try to stun them with his weak and undeveloped tiger claw ability. Jenac
had already cast sizzling magical enchantments into his sword of chaos, a
level bettered only by the leader of his guild. But the stunning ability of
the tiger claw, when it worked, was too powerful an opportunity to pass up on.
Jenac decided that a combination of his skills would give him the best
opportunity to defeat the big brothers in battle.
Jenac returned to the cornfield and entered combat once again. Despite once
again falling at the hands of the big brothers, Jenac noticed his combat
tactics were working. One of the two brothers had sustained a noticeable
amount of damage by the time Jenac died. Unfortunately at the time, the gods
of the realm did not allow warriors to focus their attacks on a single target.
At each opportunity to strike, the target was random. Fortunately for Jenac,
one of the brothers had been selected more often than the other. The battle
was just beginning.
Over the next couple of hours, Jenac fought bravely against the little boy's
big brothers, slowly wearing them down at the hand of his chaos blade and
tiger claws. He sought to draw their life force into himself with vampiric
blow, and renewed his thoughts of destructive rage as needed. Despite his
efforts, time after time, Jenac was defeated. But every time, he was raised
from the dead and went back to fight.
Finally after approximately three hours of battle, the first big brother was
defeated. His body fell to the ground in a frozen heap and his soul was
consumed by Jenac's chaos sword. Jenac celebrated this victory, but the
battle was not yet over. One brother remained, and he was not quite in a bad
shape yet. However, with one brother defeated, Jenac knew the rest of this
battle would not be nearly as painful as before.
After visiting the plane of hell one final time, Jenac returned to the
cornfield to finish off the second big brother of the little boy. It wasn't
long before this brother, already seriously wounded, also fell at the hands of
Jenac and his sword of chaos. With both big brothers defeated, Jenac turned
to the little boy and spared him no mercy for the pain Jenac had endured.
Ending the boy's life in one swift blow, Jenac avenged his own eleven deaths
and claimed the prized Pumpkin Helmet as his own.
Returning home, Jenac thought if his efforts were worth the time invested. He
then realized it wasn't about advancing his own abilities as a fighter or
assassin, or how many times he died, or how big the reward was. It was about
accomplishing something he originally thought was impossible, after putting
his mind to the task. Looking towards the mountains to the north, he thought
if there would be any other opportunities like this one. Little did he know
that a courageous battle with a mighty dragon, under the guise of a full moon,
was just over the horizon. But that story is for another day...