Library: The Master Merchant, A Legend of Batmud.

What a day. I was tired, and without inspiration, and went to the newly constructed city to find adventure. The streets all prefectly arranged and clean, the symmetry of the place was a novelty to all who inhabited the lands. I went to the adventurer's guild to search for a fellow adventurer with whom to travel, mercenaries often inhabited the guild, waiting for the right compainion, perhaps I would find a partner. Silence greeted me as I entered. Barren, curses. Not any adventurers around, I could tell, no rattle of sword in scabbard, no creak of leather against metal. I turned to leave, when I felt someone touch my arm. Turning, I saw a small gnome-kin, a rather vile little kobold, at my waist. 'What can I do for you, friend?' I asked, in as cheerful a tone I could muster after being startled thus. The kobold merely stared back at me, and pointed out the door. I whirled, expecting danger, and found none! Turning back to the kobold, I asked again, 'How can I help you?' The kobold raised an eyebrow, a slight frown crossing his countenance, as if his message was so plain that anyone should know his intentions immediately. After a slight pause, his eyes lit up with a sudden thought. Whispering almost silently, he began to cast a spell. I braced myself, perhaps this was a destructive spell, one could never be sure, but I was not given much time to wonder. The little magus finished his spell, a bright flash of yellow light flooded the room for an instant, and when the light faded, glowing runes were suspended in midair! "I would like to go adventuring with you! I know that I am relatively young when compared to you, but I assure you, I have many spells that can be of use to us in combat! Together, we will fight well!" the runes said. I pondered for a moment, looked at the mage, who was eagerly watching my every move. 'You don't talk much, do you?' The kobold shook his head, no. 'Do you talk at all?' Again, he shook his head, no, with a slight shrug. 'Well, I suppose that you can come, this should prove interesting. Communication will be difficult, but I hope that we will be able to understand each other well enough to fight effectively.' I set off, with my new silent friend in tow. I took it easy, only attacking those things I knew to be simple to kill, ones that I needed no assistance for, but at each turn, my friend surprised me with his uncanny ability to sense what was needed when, with hardly a word spoken to him. A well-timed magic missile causes a deer to crash to the ground, dead. A much-needed heal tossed on me, allowing a fight to end in a single melee. Even a dark shadow armour cast upon my body just before a relatively difficult fight was to ensue. All of this with very little spoken communication, he simply *knew* when to do things, it was uncanny. We had been out for almost a day, and decided to rest, and let our bodies heal naturally. I found, to my surprise, that I was unable to endure the silence. 'I know that you do not talk, but I must know, why? I have heard you whisper your spells, I know that you are ABLE to speak, yet you seemingly choose not to. I cannot imagine why anyone would do such a thing!' 'Bah, you cannot answer that question, I know. You, kobold, are a strange one. If it were not for your ability as a mage, I would not travel with you, you know. I think that tomorrow we shall fight opponents that are considerably more difficult, I believe that we are ready for such things.' I turned and went about preparing a bed, since it appeared that I would get no response from my companion.. A yellow flash burst forth from behind me. I turned, and was greeted by more runes. 'I find that if I do not speak, that I must listen,' was all it said. 'Humph," I thought, as I rolled into bed, and closed my eyes. The following day, we travelled to the castle of Plura. Plura was an almost-forgotten lord of old, who had achieved some fame and built a magnificent castle. After his passing, though, the castle became the home to a band of monsters, both living and undead. There were two ghosts in particular that I wished to attack, for they had valuable spears that I would sell for many gold coins, and I thought that the experience would help the kobold in his future travels. I now had enough faith in him that I felt confident that we would succeed against these apparitions. They were quite deadly, if one was not careful, but we, I believed, were enough of a team that we could vanquish them. I found myself preparing for battle, wordlessly, and noticed my companion doing the same. Strange, being with him has made me less reliant on verbal commands, in a way, this was even better. I looked at him, he gave a slight nod, and we entered. A ghastly wail erupted as the ghosts sensed our presence! Immediately, they lunged at me, their spears in sharp contrast to their non-corporeal bodies! I slashed at them, the magic of my blades causing them pain, but not nearly enbough pain. I glanced at my companion, he was standing, immobile, a look of shock on his face! I decided that we had to flee, the ghosts were too ferocious, their spears cutting small wounds in my arms, legs, and even my stomach. I began to back out of the room, yelling at the top of my lungs! "KOBOLD, flee with me! FLEE, COME WITH ME!" He stood there, a look of total shock and fascination on his face, even as the ghosts closed upon him. I leapt back into the fight, deflecting the blows, and let a backhand fly into the mage's chest, hoping to knock him back, out of the room. Damn kobolds, they are built densely, and low to the ground, my off-balance blow only made him step back! I turned back to my foes, and fought harder than before, I must slay them, or they would slay the damn defenseless kobold! Damn, I should have known that he was not ready for this fight, and now I might need to die to prove my point! DAMN him! "Dammit, kobold, WAKE up!" the spears kept closing, one ghost lunged too closely, my blade cut him one final blow, the spear fell to the ground, the ghost's body disappeared with a low hissing noise! One left, but I felt my arms tiring. "Wake up, I need you to wake up, I cannot do this alone!" I shouted back at him. Lunge, parry, thrust, the spear pierced my left shoulder, I sank to one knee, struggling to keep fighting. again and again, the ghost closed, the spear cutting holes in my hands now. My blade fell from my left hand, I made a last shot with my right, as I fell to the ground, rapidly losing my grasp on reality, slipping into unconsciousness. In a clear, loud voice, I heard "JUDICANDUS OLOFZH!" I felt life returning to my limbs, my wounds knitting themselves! I sprang to my feet, just in time to deflect what would have been a killing blow from a nasty spear! I whirled, using the time to grab the blade I had dropped, tossing it in midair, and grabbing it out of the air, by the hilt. I turned to glance at the kobold, he had a look of complete concentration on his face. "Glad to have you back!" I shouted, as I turned back to face the ghost. Again, I heard 'judicandus olofzh!' from behind me , and felt even stronger! I pressed forward, the ghost fell back against my whirling assault! I pressed forward, until the ghost had no room left, and with a final downward slice, I finished the foul creature! With a hiss, the spear clattered to the ground. I turned to face the kobold. He was walking away! "Wait, where are you going?" I shouted after him. He stopped and turned to face me. "Why are you leaving?" A bright flash. 'I cannot keep fighting like this with you, you nearly died, trying to keep me out of harm's way. I must gain experience elsewhere before I am able to do this again.' He again turned to walk away. "That may be true," I conceded. Still, he was there when it counted... "Wait, kobold!" He stopped. "All this time, I knew not your name, and somehow, I doubt that you will tell it to me now, but I must call you something, in case we meet again. So, what shall I call you, sir?" He smiled and nodded. A flash again. 'Sir. That would be fine' "What? Sir? Hmm, yes, actually, that fits you, heh. Until we meet again, then, Sir..." Some time later, I met up with the slimy kobold again. He was wearing fine robes, and had a large moneypouch hanging from his belt. A merchant, I see. Heh, wonder how he sells things without speaking. I approached him. "Yari! Good to see you again!" he said as he strode forward to take my hand. "You speak, I see! Good for you, you found your voice!" "Yes, well, all those years of silence, I learned to understand people's unspoken intentions very well... it's a talent that has served me well as a merchant!" I laughed. "Yes, I can well bet it has! Remind me not to buy anything from you, I am sure I will get taken for a ride, hah!" "Heh, well, I would not take you for a ride. You know, it's funny, I guess merchanting is a good life for me. As you know, the life of combat was not quite suited to me, but this life, of a merchant, it is quite good to me." "So, what shall I call you now?" "I am Sir, of course. I kept the name, it suits me, you know. Makes people think I am trustworthy as a merchant (which, of course, I am) and it somehow suits me," he said with a small grin. "So, tell me Yari, I noticed your blades are nicked from the rigors of combat! Allow me to show you this blade, it's a fine piece..." Sir, the Kobold merchant, was an ancient player. As it stands now, he may be leaving the mud for a long time, perhaps forever and this book is dedicated in his memory, as it were, so that people who come later will know of him. The story is fictional, mostly. The events described were real, we did fight those ghosts on the very first night we met on the mud, and he was, at the time, a conjurer magey type. He was also "mute". He did not speak, and it frustrated me at first, but it did not hamper his performance as a mage, so I learned thta he did, in fact, live up to his name. The following is a transcript of a conversation we had on Thu Jun 8 1995 at 07:17:35 EET, the eve of his departure for RL parts unknown. [I asked him what guilds/races he had been over the years.] Sir tells you 'I started as a kobold conjurer/mage/necromancer' Sir tells you 'just kobold conjurer.. thene the conversion came' Sir tells you 'I decided to try thrikhren mage, and that lasted a few days (too many around) then I went back to kobold conjurer and eventually joined mage (2nd) and necromancer (3rd)' You tell Sir 'nod...' Sir tells you 'Then after a while I switched to sprite merchant.. after making some capital I mipped myself lots of levels and eventually joined thief/ranger /reaver/anti-paladin/caller/infernal knight' You tell Sir 'nod, then?' Sir tells you 'then I put up all my eq 'cause I was graduating to the Sir quest and Neturnner got it all 8) and I became a kobold fighter/mage 8) (20/1)' You tell Sir 'sir quest?' Sir tells you 'Yea, I sort of posted something on the news saying that I ionvite anyone or any party to take my castle.. friends and foe.. blah blah.. all yours if you can take it' You tell Sir 'I remember that ;)' You tell Sir 'and then?' Sir tells you 'Most of my firends didn't bother, but Netrunner was interested. so I gave him some hints and he robbed me blind, except for the chest I lend to my boarder.. (hmmm)' Sir tells you 'then I was gone for 8 month' Sir tells you 'everything changed 8P' You tell Sir 'of course ;)' Sir tells you 'I got hooked on reincing and have been bouncing race/guild ever since 8) kobold crimson, ent paladin, giant enchanter/alchemist (drug dealer), cyclops crimson, barsoomian crimson, drow alchemist/enchanter/abjurer/bard, and now wolfman crimson/barbarian... back track.. cyclops crimson/smith/barbarian was the correct guilds' You tell Sir 'hum, now that you are leaving, presumably, for quite a while, what will U miss about bat? whatta U like now?' Sir tells you 'I'll miss my friends with whom I goofed off lots 8) I'll miss stockpiling stuff and accumulate my wealth (don't know why, I have a habit of doing that now)' Sir tells you 'I'll miss annoying newbies and playing God to them >8)' You tell Sir 'you always were a merchant at heart ;)' You tell Sir 'you can take the sir out of the merchant guild, but you cant take the merchant guild out of the Sir ;)' Sir tells you 'I know eh, I think everything in terms of money 8P I'm so sad' Sir tells you 'heh heh 8)' Sir tells you 'I don't know what I like now 8) I play here 'cause this is sorta like my mud home and it's hard to leave 8) I can make a complaint list a mile now right now but I'm not gonna bother 'cause any changes they made after I'm gone, I gotta face when and if I get back 8)' [talking about secondary chars he has had over the years] Sir tells you 'I'll jsut tell ya the names of players I forgot password for before Sir.. Masque, Hans, Franz, Smurf (have lot), Triumph, (have castle), Platinum (have castle) and a lots of test characters 8)' Sir was, and always will be, the best merchant that bat ever had, when merchants and kobolds were scoffed at, he excelled quietly, always working and succeding better than anyone's expectations. He will be missed at Bat.

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Library: The Master Merchant, A Legend of Batmud.