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hi in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #8
Welcome, planetvoid. IMAGE(hi_files/smile.gif)

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
Shattered Alliance - Remake in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #10
The fire was bright and steady, yet the magically induced flames did not warm her. It seemed to happen more and more often with each passing winter: the chill entered her bones, and it hurt to breath, and the pain in her chest would not leave until summer held firm reign.

Khatereh gazed into the fire. Once, she mused, she would not have sat for so long in an armchair. In her youth she had been impatient with inactivity; only study could have enticed her to stay indoors. But she was no longer a youth. Power had brought its rewards, and age a mellowing. She was content now to sit as she did.

The knock on the door was quiet and respectful. Khatereh remained as she was, hoping it would go away. It didn't. With a soundless, sigh, she rose to her feet and slowly made her way to the door. Her joints were becoming stiffer every year.

The man who stood on the other side seemed no more than a boy to her aged eyes. He was tall and striking, bearing the classical Klisten features, his youthful face molded into an expression of polite respect. He bowed, the fabric of his apprentice's robes making no sound against the cold stone floor.

"Member Khatereh. Lord Ardavan requests a meeting with some urgency. He has additional information you may find useful in your investigation."

"Can it not wait?" Khatereh asked a trifle testily.

"Lord Ardavan bade me make haste. He is in the Order meeting halls."

"And Lord Ardavan must be obeyed, even by a First Circle mage," Khatereh said mildly, her tone betraying none of her true feelings. "But I am afraid you will have to wait upon an old woman's speed."

Khatereh brushed her fingertips over the engraved door as she stepped past the man. Her steps were indeed slow, and she could feel the youth's impatience and carefully hidden condescension. But he was courteous, and waited for her to pass before falling into step behind her. Khatereh paused at the top of the stairs. It was long, winding stone, and it took her longer to traverse them with each passing year. The man stepped up behind her, his feet making no noise at all. He gently positioned both hands behind her back and pushed with all his strength.

Khatereh watched from the doorway as his eyes widened, his hands passing through her illusion. His strength had been great; he tumbled a long way before his neck snapped against the cornered stone. Why do the young imagine the old are weak and careless? With a sigh, Khatereh closed the door and returned to her armchair. We have done everything they imagine they might do. One time or another.

Khatereh no longer cared who sent them, enemy Arcadinans or rival Klistens.

Five. Five attempts in the last month.

[ Sunday, February 08, 2004 00:34: Message edited by: premonition ]

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #981
Mascagni, Cavalleria Rusticana.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #949
Hm. Am I the only one here who actually buys the music I like?

Listening to Falla, Love the Magician: Ritual Fire Dance, Orchestra of the Swiss Romande. Which is not bought. Just the radio.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #932
:D Australia Day is a celebration of, well, Australia and all things Australian. It's held on the anniversary of the foundation of the colony of New South Wales, 1788 (or rather, the official instatement of its first Governor). Basically it's the only real celebration we have (seeing as our State govt refuses to give us fireworks on New Year's).

I haven't seen Seabiscuit. Any good?


Currently listening to Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection').

[ Tuesday, January 27, 2004 02:02: Message edited by: premonition ]

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
The System is Down in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #74
Did you happen to save any of the RPs?

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #924
Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and freeee... ...In joyful strains then let us sing, "Advance Australia Faaaaair."


Happy Australia Day! And yes, that is the tune ringing in my head after having it pounded in with fireworks as punctuation.

[ Monday, January 26, 2004 05:51: Message edited by: premonition ]

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #905
The Pelican Brief soundtrack. I can't tell you who the composer is without looking at the cd case, but it sounds like James Horner.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
The System is Down in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #64
Well, in that case...


...go ahead. :D

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
The System is Down in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #62
It'll be fine. Really. It's gone, but we're Polaris, and we can recover. There's no need to plan Logo assassinations. He's apologised, and that's enough for me. :)

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
The System is Down in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #37
I see a test forum. Just your basic new installation.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
I am not trying to sound persistent, but... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #8
You can always download it now.

--------------------
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #885
Now listening to Scarlatti, the Motrax way.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #877
quote:
Originally written by Master Chief aka STD:

Premonition, is "The sound of one hand clapping" really a danish film with the original name of "Å klappe med en hånd"?
No, this particular movie is Australian. I've never actually watched it and only bought the score because I heard a track on the radio once and liked it. But the title is hardly original, and I'm not surprised there are other movies with similar names.


Currently listening to Marais, Suite in A minor: Rondeau moîtié pince et moîtié coup d'archet.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #868
Telemann, Oboe d'amore Concerto in G.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
Avernum Story in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #8
Which period? The whole lot would make a rather long movie...

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #857
The Sound of One Hand Clapping soundtrack, by Cezary Skubiszewski.

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #309
[ooc] *sigh* Lose my internet connection for one day and the world still moves on. Oh well. 'sbeen fun, all.


The grass was dust; the wood, ash. Even stone had melted under the onslaught of magefire. All that was left of the great walls and long echoing halls of the SAFT compound was rubble. Yet underneath the surface where the wind stirs idle tendrils through the fine layer of unswept soot to touch flagstone and glass shards, underneath the fallen arches and the empty doorways where once merchants passed to and fro, beneath the odd fine cloth now soiled beyond use or repair, and the broken stairwells that seem dank caves cluttered with fallen beams, underneath all is the maze of basements and cellars, storerooms and labyrinthine secret passages that lay long forgotten and empty.

And in later years, after the wars that swept across the lands grew to be but a dim memory and a story to tell the great-grandchildren, and rubble shifted to make new buildings, and grass grown again in the soil that settled over broken flagstone, a child might find in his aimless wanderings a small opening, big enough for himself and no other. And he might explore, and find a mouldering carpet or two that once was finely stitched and richly dyed. He might find a sparkling gem, solitary in the darkness, lying where it came to rest after slipping from a careless looter's hold. He might find, behind a stone door split asunder, a long winding passage. And if this simple awed child were brave, and feared not the dark or the things hidden in the silence, he might follow this passage to its end. He would sit there, for the way is long for small feet, gazing about the cave lit to twilight by the noon sun far beyond the cave's mouth. The cave is empty and flat; water swirls in a rock-formed bay, where rotting posts are all that remains of the jetties. The child would sit, satisfied with his find, and imagine what this place must have been. A smuggler's cave, surely, maybe even a pirate's. He would listen to the steady pounding of the waves that came and went and came like the great heartbeat of the endless sea, and imagine what the pirates were like, and why they abandoned this cave. And if he closed his eyes and listened hard, he might see them, shadowy apparitions that move on the edge of blind vision; he might hear their cries, more piercing than the gulls.


"Morgan, no!"

Fire casts an orange glow; the ships burn in the water. Victorious shouts ring ever closer.

"Go now! They have blocked the bay, but you can still make it beyond the city into the hills. Quickly, they come!"

The pursuers and the pursued clash. Cutlass and dagger is pitted against well-kept armour, shortsword and soldier's bow against linen and velvet. She smiles, and her face is of one who weeps, though no tears fall.

"Once a pirate, always a pirate."



The child would leave then and never return, for though he is brave, he is not so brave as to look again on that face upon which grief and fury and despair is mixed beyond separation. But though he does not look back, the story spreads, and grows, and becomes a legend of the Pirates' Treasure and the Pirates' Ghosts that guard it ever against the greed of some ancient army.


And like it are other stories told in the dead of night, when all else is still and nothing stirs but the adventuring youths camped on the edge of the sea; stories of the pirate fireship who's name is Freedom, and of her fiercesome captain Collinegan, who's scowl makes the seawater boil. The fireship that stood alone against a fleet, sinking her grand but guileful sister Illude, and survived. The fireship that, for many a long year afterwards, sailed freely on the open waters around Pralgrad and was marked ever by the burning of the ill-fated ships that crossed her path, until her bow was turned to the south and she sailed beyond the known borders of Aizo.


And so it is that those who believed in no law but that of the sea and who set their fortunes upon the perilous balancing of three double-edged blades passed into history, whence they became naught but tales and echoes upon a moonless night, and the name that survived them belongs to an organisation that is no more than a pale mirage of what it had been and could have become.

The End
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #277
The AIA compound resembled an anthill stirred into activity by some child with a stick. Soldiers hurried to their posts, support crew worked frantically to complete their assigned tasks on time. Hugo's imminent arrival had done that. It made things a lot easier for the Sailor who walked briskly through the compound, the same air of harried authority hanging about him as the other nonsoldiers maintained. His uniform, pilfered from the stores, made him near invisible to any watching eyes.

The Sailor's orders were exact. Find him. Kill him. Make sure they don't trace it back to SAFT, and make damn sure Vida doesn't find out. The Sailor's stride was purposeful; he would follow his orders to the letter. Doing otherwise would invoke the wrath of Collinegan, a Pirate he did not want breathing down his neck. Collinegan had explained it quite clearly, his eyes cold as they always went when he planned a move. SAFT would tie itself to the next Emperor, whoever that might be. Ironclad seemed the best for their purposes; SAFT was sure he would agree to almost anything. But his soldier advisor could become a problem, now or later, and Collinegan had decided quite independently that it was best to remove him quickly.

Kellen, alone for a moment while his Emperor strove to gain an audience with Warderson, had only his reflexes to save him when he saw the flicker of a rising knife in the corner of his vision.


[ooc] Drakey: proportion has been edited down to about 40%.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What else do you play? in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #52
Non-computer games: Uno, Pente, Hero's Quest, Talisman, soccer, and fencing for a time.

--------------------
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #832
Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto, followed by Elgar's Violin Concerto and Bach's Wir eilen.

--------------------
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #267
The basement, for all that it was carved out of stone well below the water level, was dry, warm and luxurious. It had all the trappings of high nobility: soft furs, rich woods, gold and silver. No flaws could be seen by the firelight, and anyone who entered would have a hard time noticing that the items were all second-hand, much of it liberated from some Court noble's ship when the previous Emperor had been alive. Now the unknown noble, long forgotten and dead in the wars, lent his expensive taste to SAFT.

The seven who lounged in the various leather sofas scattered about the room looked - not uncomfortable, exactly, for these seven lived by making everything theirs - but out of place. The few who had been in town for longer wore clothing that would have done any aristocrat or successful merchant proud. But the others were on land for the first day in weeks or months, and their appearance was salt-encrusted and hard. Vida studied each one as she handed out the goblets full of amber liquor. These Captains were the real power behind SAFT. Each one had made a name for themselves on the open water, as had she. Sailors all, pirates if the truth be known, ruthless enough to take what they wanted, canny enough to know when to take it. But of all of them, only Collinegan had been so arrogant and reckless in his pursuits that the previous Empire had placed a price on his head large enough to buy a decent estate. They had all mellowed over the years since the conception of SAFT. The organisation, with its legality and widespread contacts, had provided them with more opportunity than they had originally imagined, while maintaining the freedom from law and land that they were used to.

"When were you planning to tell us about this?" Noraj asked eventually. Hier thick Aizoan rumble was grating.

"When it became important enough," Vida replied.

"So. The Imperial weasels have been begging for us one by one. You've done a good job, lass, in keepin' our heads above water. But it's time to raise sails, we're thinkin'."

"Imperial Navy. Sounds good t' me."

Vida turned to this last speaker, surprised. "I would have thought you most of all profited out of this war."

Shrugging, Collinegan offered her a gap-toothed grin. "Aye. Anarchy's all very excitin', but pickings are goin' dry. The fish ain't feelin' safe, an' they won't until they've got a weasel sittin' on the throne. Once they feel they've got law an' order, they'll come back outa their holes."

"Besides," another Captain spoke, stroking his well-trimmed and braided beard. "Get us Imperial Trade as well, and it'll be worth it. Now, which one do we go for?"

Vida was delighted, though it never showed in her expression. She'd gone over this again and again in her head, but she'd never thought the Captains would agree so quickly. Of course, it had taken nearly a full day of speaking on her part to accomplish this. "Sol is not an option. Hugo is crazier than you lot. I don't see Linda and her lot lasting long, even if they succeeded in getting rid of the throne. Ironclad is manipulable. There's just one problem, a soldier who seems a great deal smarter than his liege. He's the real force behind Ironclad's decisions. Warderson... we'll see."

"Speakin' of Sol," Collinegan drawled. "bout time we paid 'im back, don't ye think?"

There was a growl of agreement from the Captains. Sol's indiscriminate purge of Populist centres had taken more than a few of SAFT's safe harbours, not to mention a lot of relatives of the Sailors. The Captains themselves had long ago cut off any personal connections to outsiders, but even the blackest heart amongst them listened to their crew, and SAFT looked after its own. The expressions on the faces of the Captains and Vida as they laid out the details were nearly identical: predatory, fierce, and afire with the excitement that comes with planning a raid.

_____________________________________


The Populist refugees that came running into SAFT offices were quickly and easily dispersed into nondescript locations. To the great surprise of a few, they were not charged a single coin, but most were certain in their own beliefs and desperate enough that they did not question their good fortune. Solaran enquiries were made and deflected with all the dexterity that the SAFT emissary had at his command. And Linda found one night a note left on her desk where she was almost certain none could intrude without her knowledge; it bore the message that payment had been rendered, and was anonymous save for the feather that lay across it, plucked from the wing of an albatross.

______________________________________


One ship. One large, proud battleship was all that was left of the fledgling Alliance fleet.

After the fire that had consumed the others, she had been ordered to drop anchor far out in the bay. Now her sails were furled; she rocked peacefully against the swell, seeming ghostly in the evening fog that drifted in around her. The air was cold and still that night; it did not take long before sight of the remaining battleship was lost to the guardpost on land. Her crew was at ease. She was, after all, the largest and most powerful ship ever built. What could possibly harm her, in her own territory? And so they laughed and gamed or slept, and those on watch prepared themselves for the long shift.

The watchers never saw the pirates that crept up the anchoring ropes and slipped silently onto the deck. Each one fell to garotte or well-placed knife, and the deck was taken without sound. The two mages were next; alone in their darkened cabin, intensely interested only in each other, they had only a moment of surprise to note the door opening before the swift attack came. The captain had the uneasy feeling that something was not right aboard his ship, and opened his door in time to see his guards dropping. He shouted then in surprise and spun about to carry out his orders, drawing his cutlass. He was no mean fighter, but in the close confines of the narrow compartment he did not have the space necessary to defend against three opponents.

The Hugoist sailors had roused by this time; the fighting that broke out all through the ship was vicious and bloody. None of them knew of the captain's orders, and so it did not occur to any of them to set their own ship alight. They were average sailors and decent fighters, but they did not have the savagery of the pirates. Before long, the ship was silent again. The anchors were drawn up, the longboats tied to her, and the sails opened.

The guardpost had neither sight nor sound of the battleship until the fog cleared away more than seventeen hours later. When someone thought to look for her at midday, she was gone.

One ship. Then Hugo did not have even that.

________________________________________

Crandall's smile was large as he met Gideon and Kellen outside the Imperial candidate's rooms.

"I have good news for you, sir," he exclaimed quickly. "Vida has sent word: SAFT will join your cause, in return for a few small concessions."

"Which are?" Kellen asked suspiciously.

The Sailor sketched them out in the barest terms he could. Vida wanted what Gideon had already offered: the position of commander of the Imperial Navy. In addition, SAFT wanted control of Imperial trading operations, though both of these positions would be subjected to the ultimate authority of the Emperor. In other words, Crandall explained, SAFT was willing to become a joint department within his Council. One of the greatest requirements that was not subject to change was that every member of SAFT would be granted clean records, no matter what their past had been. People could be rash in younger years, Crandall explained, but everyone who had signed the SAFT contract had from then on agreed to abide by SAFT rules, and thus became decent citizens of the Empire. There were a few more details that he outlined. The terms were not outrageous as Kellen had feared, though he saw at once that they could stand some renegotiation.

Gideon held off his decision until after his meeting with Warderson, and Crandall smiled, saying that there was no great hurry. He would be glad to pass on any communication Gideon might have for Vida.

________________________________________


Jehan Sol had done well in weaning his fleet from SAFT. The blockaders were wholly his. SAFT ships passed untroubled through his lines. SAFT captains still commanded a third of the Solaran fleet, but the crew under them were loyal only to Sol. When Sol's orders arrived to move out, the crews were elated. Their mission was ambitious: to sail out of sight of land around the peninsula and approach the Populists from the south. Unsuspecting, the Populists would fall to the might of the Solaran navy. The captains smiled indulgently, then raised whipcrack voices and settled the crew into their tasks.

Near a month later, the crews were beginning to get impatient. They'd known that distances were large, but they hadn't thought they were that large. The captains smiled again, explaining that, yes, sailing closer to land would be quicker, but that wasn't their orders. Storms were frequent on the open sea. This was the first real voyage of the Solaran fleet, and the SAFT captains spent much of their time teaching their crew how to survive against the gales and the waves that threatened to wash every man overboard. Some ships survived, some were lost to the fiercest of storms. Without fail, each ship commanded by a SAFT representative lost its captain. The first lieutenants were dismayed to find themselves so suddenly in command with their mentors claimed by the sea that was their lives; that dismay turned into despair when they realized that the all-important maps, compasses and sextants had gone overboard with the captains. Those captains not affiliated with SAFT sailed blithely on, discovering that their own maps contained vast inaccuracies only when unexpected rocks rose about them.

Two ships made it back to Pralgrad. The ships were barely seaworthy, the sailors weatherbeaten and demoralized. They had only praise for the bravery of their captains and their crewmates who had not made the journey back. All in all, the Solaran navy was reduced to almost half its former size. Sol found that, suspicions aside, he could not easily blame SAFT for one of the greatest naval disasters in the history of the Empire, for the captains' orders were given to him for examination, and he found that they bore his own seal, complete with magical sureties.

The captains returned one by one, by merchant or by pirate, to SAFT headquarters. No more than a baker's dozen had survived, and Vida was happy that she had not lost more.

[ Saturday, January 17, 2004 18:09: Message edited by: premonition ]
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #796
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4

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From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What else do you play? in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #28
The Escape Velocity games, the Myst games, and Pinball.

--------------------
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 3377
Profile #767
Overture from The Magic Flute, Mozart.

--------------------
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
Posts: 356 | Registered: Saturday, August 23 2003 07:00

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