Clever tricks - an unlikely tale of misdirection Due to the character who plays a main role in this tale, I feel I must preface this tale with a clarification. Many people make the assumption that I abhor all things thievery. I feel the thief class is a crucial part of the UO world. However, my telling of this tale in no way changes my stance on thieves and thievery. If I find any thieves stealing from me or my comrades I will seek their heads as I have hitherto done. Yet this is a tale that needs to be told for the sake of the thief class and for its spectacular nature showing that there are moments when two people can put aside their differences for the sake of killing bull-headed wyrm creatures. Thank you for reading this preface and I hope you can enjoy this tale even though there is a giant ten foot bull-wyrm standing right behind you!!!! *Jupiter quickly swaps out the post you were reading with a completely different post* (haha. Made you look. See there? That's the misdirection. Ok, on with the show!) |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| ||----------------------------------------------------------------CURTAINS----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| ||||||||||||__||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||_|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Over the roar and fury of the ocean the captain shouted orders to his remaining crew. "Our only chance is to run her out to sea men! Hurry before the creatures break free!" but his orders were too late. The cargo bay doors burst open and under the starry sky the captain learned a new sense of fear.. ****************************************************** Under the same starry sky, somewhere in the streets of Moonglow a local known to many only as Starr meandered through the sleepy city. "That's Star-r, with a silent 'r'" she found she was constantly reminding people not to forget her special r; most people did not appreciate the silent 'r' as much as she. But then again, not many knew that she had actually stolen the letter. What other thieves could claim that they had actually stolen a letter from the alphabet? She had done it alright; snatched the sleeping letter right out from the books she had borrowed from the Britanian biblioteca. She knew no one would ever believe that coming from her though, so she kept it as her own secret little triumph, a small victory that kept her spirit afloat on those days when the darkness crept in to her soul. Her talent for "lifting" objects came naturally to her and she couldn't resist practicing it every day. In truth, she had not started out stealing everything in sight; that had come gradually. At first she had only stolen food, clothing, and perhaps a few coins for shelter; only when she really needed it. But after she began stealing letters from books, that's when she had given birth to the notion that she could "expand" her list of necessities simply by redefining a want as a need. Soon after, she had collected all manner of things ranging from rune rocks, reused reagents, docked boats, to spare house keys; just about anything she could have ever wanted became something she needed . Now she often found herself constantly to expand her now infinitely long list of necessities. She kicked a small pebble as she turned the corner around the Moonglow bank she had been casing for the last week. She looked up and saw a small dwarvish man wearing the same house crest as the silly yellow pajama man from Trinsic. “VoP,†she thought to herself, “now they have a lot of things I need.†She nodded to herself as she approached her new mark, but before she could get her swift digits into his satchel he finished clasping his last tunic fastening and raced off to the south. Intrigued by what could bring a man from Trinsic to this distant island, Starr followed as swiftly as she could without being seen. The dwarf ran surprisingly fast for such a vertically challenged person, and soon she lost his trail in the woods. That's when she heard the most curious bleating sound! There had been several sheep farmers who she had found possessing wool that she needed, but none of them had sheep that bleated like this one. She stepped out into the clearing to see if she could spot the lost sheep, when suddenly the dwarf stepped up behind her and laid a hand upon her shoulder. Fearing she had been made, Starr bolted into flight. She didn't make it more than two steps when suddenly something slick wrapped around her legs with a grip so strong it pulled her to the ground. She turned to reach for whatever had tangled her and she was faced with a goat-like serpent! Or was it a serpent like, goat?! She was so over come by shock, she scarce had the breath to scream. Before the creature could sink it's fangs into her, a heavy maul came down upon it's head “YAAAAH!! You dirty ol' mutated giblet!" It was the dwarf she had meant to pick clean. He reached out a hand to help her up and grimaced, "what're doin' down there missus? This ain't no place to be strolling about!" Starr reached out a leery hand, and the dwarf's surprisingly strong grip heaved her to her feet in an instant. She looked upon the smallish man and wondered if he was even aware that only two moments ago she meant to pick his pockets clean. "We're not, rrrm out of the woods yet missus,†came the dwarf's reply to her gratitude. He seemed rather lacking in etiquette, but he had saved her life just now. "I'm Gleg, by the way, not much more time for introductions. Seems these bloody zookeepers lost track of some experimental creatures. That thing that had you was called a goapent. Least' that's what the last zookeeper said a'fore she gurgled and spat up her lung after some elk lookin' thing ran her through." "Wait, wha.." Starr began, still in a little shock as she was coming to grips with the fact that her simple mark was not turning out to be quite so simple, “what creatures, the zoo? It's full of harmless.." "Harmless?!," Gleg bellowed, “If you call a bloodsucking chicken harmless, then you can call me a lumberjack dwarf! Now, we best get out of here before that Bull like creature finds us. It's been trailing me; I can sense it!" "I have an odd idea dwarf. Why don't we try to capture the thing? I mean, I'm sure there's got to be some reward, what do you say?†Gleg eyed her cautiously then laughed dismissively, “Hah, and what are you going to do, dance upon it to death?†Starr sobbed in reply, "You've no idea what I'm capable of master dwarf. Come now, my plan's not all that difficult." "Olright, now yer got me curious, what's your plan then?" With a pleased grin, Starr removed a duplicate set of robes and a dashingly pointed hat. "œWe'll fool the crossbreeds into thinkin' we're just statues! They'll walk right past us, and I'll um; relieve them of whatever they're holding." "Waaait a blinkin' minute, you mean you're a.. a.. thie..?" Before Gleg could finish his epiphany, Starr interrupted, "Yes master dwarf, some have given me that label, but if you stick with me a moment you may find I'm so much more than that. And the way I see it," she looked into the forest towards a tumult that was clearly approaching, "we'd best get to being statues or we'll be bull fodder." _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EPILOGUE: The EPILOGUE will be given in the form of E-PICS!!! To Starr and Gleg, please post your EPICS here to show the realm just how successful your little venture with Bullwyrms was!
Re: Clever tricks – an unlikely tale of misdirection late on the posting of these, but here are the E-PICS proving this tale did actually transpire (at least to some degree) exactly as I told the tale.
