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Episode 242: Tragic Bloody Shame




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Hail friends,

A "mis-adventure" in the truest sense of the word.

Some adventures really aren't adventures at all. Some of them are due to normal thievery activity during the day, through normal stealing and stealing related activities. Most of these are the result of living a less-than-honorable life. And then there are adventures that launch you into the fire from which there is no point resisting and from which there is no return -- this is one of those adventures.

I'll see it through to the end -- to whatever end.

Contrary to what the non-believers would have you think, luck's got nothing to do with it.

*yoink*

*whistles innocently*

I swindle the key from Trajjiik's pack and cover it up with a death robe to help prevent someone else doing the same to me.

(The hunt was on.)

Trajjiik was a well traveled traveler. I've watched him at the bank these past few days, aways with a bounce in his step as if he'd come back from some grand adventure. And every time I'd check his pockets, they'd be empty. This wasn't the case today.

He speaks.

(But not to me.)

--But wait!

"Shame House" is a little cryptic don't you think? Shame key to what? To a house? To a chest? To a chest within a house? Which house? Which floor? Which room? Who? What? When? Where?

I pick up the conversation where he left off in hopes of extrapolating the answers to my questions.

I'm at a loss for words. How to drop a hint without being too obvious? I panic and vomit out some words before he can walk away.

"Thieves?" "Fame?" Huh?


I wish I were as famous as Trajjiik.

(Whoever he was.)

And in the middle of my shock and awe of being in the presence of someone as famous as he, AEowyn of GIL jumps out the shadows, interupts my information gathering plan, and screams at me like a harpy in heat.

Oblivious to what was going on (and rudely interrupting what might have been my most famous conversation) AEowyn kills the mood and I was right back where I started.

...

"Shame House."

Shame House...?

*shrugs*

Guess I'm going to Shame.

But I'm unfamiliar of any significant housing establishments in the area... the trees were too dense and where there weren't trees, there were monsters.

I begin at the small plot in front of the dungeon entrance and move on from there.

Along the mountain wall, through to the clearings, there was much ground to cover and so little to go on. Trajjiik being as famous as he is, would undoubtably figure out that his key was missing soon enough. I didn't have much time.

I was looking for public houses and houses owned by Trajjiik or MOON.

Nobdy was home. Not even the Shadowclan Orcs.

An empty fort abondoned for years.

('Tis a sad sight.)

All the way around and back over again, something wasn't right.

(What's this?)

Sadly, like the Shadowclan before them, The Undead haven't walked these lands in ages.

"Shame Key?"

Maybe I was going about it the wrong way all along. Maybe it was a decoy to lure away unsuspecting thieves. It was some anti-thievery prank prop. Or maybe... I was much closer than I gave myself credit for.

I head back home and store the key away. Trajjiik was out and about during the same time of the day, every day, for the past few days. Logic dictates that his pattern wouldn't alter now. (Logic dictates I'd have at least a few more days to unravel the mystery.)



::The Next Day::

Maybe he was more famous than I've sarcastically given him credit for? Trajjiik was quickly becoming my favorite person to snoop. And if he carried wonderous, gargish artifacts such as these, he must be famous... right? A slayer thing with 300+ charges. It must be a rarity... right?

"But what is it?" I had no idea but it was fancy.

All I knew was that he had it, I wanted it, and just like last time, he'd head through the gate to destinations unknown. I didn't have much time.

This time I head into the dungeon of Shame itself. First "Shame Key" and then a Blood Elemental Slayer... Aud-Char? (Whatever that is), it couldn't be a conincidence. Trajjiik was last spotted at the bank and he had to be going somewhere.

I continue downward through the labyrinth.

I check all the blood elemental locales. I wait. I sleep. I wake. I check again. I wait. I sleep. I wake.

*crickets*


(WTF.)

Was this some kind of sick joke?

I head home empty handed, a little disuaded, but still steely is my resolve.



::The Next Day::

The time (the bastard) strikes up the conversation as I walk in. Maybe he was much more famous than I was giving him credit for. He's an Aud-Char carrying, false clue distributing, thief hating famous man who abuses his own fame to belittle others just for his own amusement. And now's turned the tables on me. Now he's the one starting coversations... (Now he's the one extrapolating information about me...?)

(He was too famous to turn and face me as we spoke. He couldn't meet me face-to-face as equals. It was underneath him.)

(What's this?)

Now we're getting somewhere. Maybe he got rid of his Shame house / container and was in the middle of a move! Maybe on this third day on my quest for fame, I'm really not as pathetic as I seem to be.

I check his pockets as he runs past -- dismissing me from his presence.

The Aud-Char was gone.

(Whatever it is.)

I follow him out the bank and loose him in the crowd. I spend the next hour checking the dungeon of Shame and it's surrounding areas one more time for any signs of life. He was just at the bank, he wasn't there any more, and he had to be somewhere.

...not a trace.



::The Next Day::

Another glipse of Trajjiik at the bank and again he's gone -- and again, maybe I wasn't going about it the wrong way all along. The Shame Key was a bust, but the Aud-Char was real. Maybe I'd fallen for his elaborate Chad-specific plan and had taken the bait (like an idiot). There was more than one place to hunt blood elementals and the Shame Key was giving me tunnel vision. Without "the Key" in play, if I were as famous as Trajjiik, where would I be...?

(To blood dungeon we go.)

And then...

...evidence of life.

Krunk Playa!

The one who encroached on Barter Town only to meet a very embarrassing death at the hands of a thief, running away (like a girl) from the tip of my blade.

(He's been busy.)

With the bag of sending in play, I had little hopes of nabbing something old. With the fresh paragon in front of me, I had big hopes of nabbing something new. (Let's call it a Barter Town penance fee.)

The paragon blood ele's life dips and I get into position. With Krunk Playa dismounted, he'd have little chance against me (just like last time).

I wait.

He loots.

And I wait.

...

And he loots.

He moves on to the next without looting any paragon artifact and I go home empty handed.

(This is just embarrassing.)



::The Next Day::

--But wait!

Maybe I was going about this the wrong way!

"You've said that the last three days, dumbass."

...

(I'll show you. I'll show you all.)

Maybe I had to spread my horizons even further! Maybe I'd have to venture into even more distant lands -- places I've never set foot in before. Deep in Ilshenar, I head to Ankh Dungeon and into uncharted territory.

Into the farthest reaches of Ilshenar I go. I've never had to go this far in the past, but then again, I've never known anyone as desperate to hunt blood elementals and avoid my wrath as much as Trajjiik has these past few days.

Room after room... nothing.


--But wait!

Maybe I was going about this the wrong way!

*dodges rotten cabbages thrown in the general direction of my balls as if to highlight the fact that I'm loosing my touch*

Farther still, I head past the gazers, imps, river, and valley, and into the Sorcerers' Dungeon I go.

...

...

...

(Sometimes the less that is said, the better.)



::The Next Day::

*squints eyes*

(You mother fucker.)

With only 200+ charges now, he's been hunting somewhere this entire time and the amount of laughter behind my back was only rivaled by the laughter in front of my face.

He's only there for moments (just as he is every day) and moves to the gate (just as he does every day). I follow as close and as quickly as humanly possible.

Nothing but air.

...

...

...

(Sometimes the less that is said, the better.)



::The Next Day::

*squints eyes*

10 stones you say? Shouldn't do it, you warn?

*Trajjiik steps towards the mages shop as if to buy reagents and looks to have an order deed blocking his view*

Bwahahahaha!

My Aud-Char now, ye swine! 10 stones or no 10 stones! Town guards or no town guards! Local warriors always happy to put down a grey thief or not! It made no difference!

(Ye swine!)

One of the locals spots me running off in my criminal state. He gives chase, but I quickly lose him and he leaves me be. All alone now, it was time to uncover my latest mystery.

(But what is it?)

Now in my possession, I did deeper through the archives. I've looked in various archives these past few days to get a better idea what I was chasing. In this time, I had hoped to catch Trajjiik in the act of doing... whatever it is he does with it, and grab even more treasures in the process. But enough was enough and the Aud-Char alone would have to be my prize.

*digs deeper and deeper through even more archives*

*finds something at last*
"aud (aud) hear; listen; ear
aud-char: song"
Okay...? That's almost interesting. Some type of rare slayer stone... some type of rare gargish quest item... some type of valuable relic...? I finally listen in to someone else's conversation:
Treasure Hunter #1: What's an Aud-Char?
Treasure Hunter #2: It's just a musical instrument for gargoyles.
...

...

...

Back at the bank, I confront my latest nemesis.

If nothing else, I was going put to rest my latest curiosity.

Tell me!

Tell me now...!

He didn't even know what slayer type it was.

He was just using it as an instrument.

A common instrument, just one that is made out of stone.

A 10 stone, 300+ charge, gargish instrument that makes noise.

An instruments that he's been using to hunt anything but blood elementals these past few days.










'Til next time!


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