Wyvern

From his birth his fate was determined Headaches calling, stomaches yearning For a cure to strife, an end to their pain A savior they sought to be killed in vain From his first clench he was meant to become A medical masterpiece, led by those numb An assassin as well, by fine pointed steel Or perhaps an excuse to redefine “heal” Throughout his life, he was always abused Against cosmetic apes his power he’d use Led down the wrong path, his wrath was unleashed Against shackled souls burdened by grief Crimes he committed, indeed, more than one Through various Wars, hardships overcome He helped both nazis and allies alike Killing and healing, weilding his might The more he conformed the more he was used More saviors arrived, his purpose confused The path of death opened and beckoned him in And Egnirys followed, enveloped in sin... Good and evil became one and the same Illegal drugs now injected in veins Egnirys had only wanted prosperity Foiled by grief And backwards clarity egniryS [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 9/26/02 6:47:11 pm

Psimon, I like this poem... it's narrated in a simple manner and conveys the ultimate futility of war while at the same time maintaining a steady antithesis between the forces of good and evil. This antithesis of "white" and "black" may also be hinting at another theme of the poem, as it suggests the concept of categorizing all things into ideal categories of good and evil, which is something that is not actually possible in society. I also liked how the only color other then white and black that you mentioned in the poem was red, symbolizing the slaughter of war... Keep up the good work... [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 9/19/02 11:41:33 pm

Dopey, Some comments on "Games"... Truth be told, I didn't really care for the first verse of this poem/rap too much. Though the lines are certainly heart felt and you express your anger and rage quite vividly, there were too many vulgar sexual references for my personal taste... ;p Never the less, it's a thorough introduction that sets the scene for the second half of the piece... On that note, I thought that the second verse of the poem was truly brilliant... a punchline fest of the highest caliber. You took an interesting subject and expanded upon it very creatively, coming up with some excellent memorable lines that would bring any battle contender to their knees. ;p Though they're all great, my personal favorites include: 1) "If you only had a clue of all the pain in which you've made us cope Your words are like the chandelier where Mr. plum hung himself with a rope" 2) "U create and play more games these days then the notorious parker bros." and 3) "If she don’t leave now I’m going to poker To puncture and sink her battle ship." Great stuff, really had me laughing out loud. I'll have to remind myself never to test you in battle... ;p Those are some really lethal lines... One last thing to note: you may want to go back through the poem as there are one or two grammatical errors that sort of subtract from it's rhythm. An example of this would be the first line of the second verse... Wyvern will have to post some written rap now as well, since Dopey's taken the intitiative... [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze.

The dream was always the same... well, sometimes the same... O.K, basically sharing the same themes... although then again, that would depend on which psychological perspective you'd use to analyze them... and besides, this would probably be considered more of a nightmare... So, for the sake of simplicity and the avoidance of psycho-analytical phallic references, let's just continue with the narrative... The lizard, broke as hell, drunk off booze. Alone in his poverty yet surrounded by those who were supposed to give him financial aid. "Pay your dues!" they demand. He whines. "Is that your answer?" they wail. He snorts and belches at them, though the flame that exits his mouth lacks precision and misses them by a mile, accidentaly hitting Melba straight on the head and lighting her hair on fire. "Just look at yourself! I mean, you were never the mightiest of us... in fact you never even came remotely close. But now, you've definitely reached an all time low! I mean, could you at least use a deoderant for that wretched stench!?" they exclaim, holding their noses in disgust. The legal document passes in front of his eyes. They stand as far back as they can, terrified of his sickening demeanor. The booze flows down his chin. "I'm gonna barf..." he breaths, before stamping Psimon's application "ACCEPTED". At the thought of Wyvern's vomit, the legal suites surrounding him all turn and flee... Say... wait a minute... this isn't even a dream. It's a page from Wyvern's journal! In fact, it seems many of his daily routines start this way... OOC: A well written application and the beginning of a very intriguing-looking story, Psimon. Certainly ACCEPTED, welcome to the Pen! Please post your e-mail in this thread or drop me a mail at elitwack90@hotmail.com so that I can send you the password info and stuff. I highly look forward to the continuation of your story, and will be sure to become and avid follower of it. Once again, welcome! [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 9/14/02 10:02:19 pm

Opesopacus, First of all, my apologies for not having responded to any of your poems earlier... You posted a great deal of them at once, and I had previously only managed to seriously go through about 5 of your works. Now, however, I've taken the time to read over every one of your poems in order, from the first one you posted to the last, and can now thoroughly comment on them... The first thing that immediatly struck me about your poetry is it's structure, which I find both interestingly formulated and somewhat chaotic. The sentences of your poems are mostly formed in a manner that is choppy and often fragmented, completely ignoring conventional grammatical structures. This is combined with some interesting uses of indentation, as well as certain moments where direct exclamations are made to an unknown listener (the end of "BEAST" being a good example of this). Overall, the structure of the poetry accentuates the ways in which it's meant to be read, and also adds a definite sense of confusion and chaos to the mood of the poems. The imagery used in your poetry is often very dark and disturbing, and usually conveys themes of hopelessness, solitude, loneliness, and the lack of self acceptance. Certain imagery is repeated throughout several of the poems, such as the images of prison, torture, rape, and the climbing of steep summits (as a metaphor for hardships). I noticed that there is also a definite sense of unity between your different works, as almost all of your poems seem to be connected both in terms of themes presented and structure. It seemed to me that each poem acts as a continuation of the previous one posted (i.e "[FALSE?] OPTIMISM" was a continuation of "BLACK-BLUE", "TOWER" was a continuation of "[FALSE?] OPTIMISM", etc.). Together, the poems act almost like a sort of journal for the narrator... But then, there are the exceptions of a few poems that break this trend... "DAEMONE", for example, offers different themes as it deals with the Ku Klux Klan, and "LUGUBREITY" follows a different sentence structure. Interestingly enough, "DAEMONE" and "LUGUBREITY" also happen to be my favorite of your works... On the more negative side of things, I didn't really like any of your more recent poems that were posted in the Pen (I refer to the poem "RRREVELATIONNN" and all those posted from 8/20/02 onwards). I found them to be hollow shells of your earlier poems, concentrating on the same themes as your previous ones but doing so in a far more blunt and uninteresting manner. I think that your poetry is at its best when you take an original concept (such as that of "DAEMONE") and expand upon it while maintaining your dark imagery and original sentence structure. Anyway, that's my .50 wooden cents. ;p For those that haven't read "DAEMON" or "LUGUBREITY", I definitely recommend them (they can be found on the second page of this Poetry section). I encourage you to continue practicing your writing, opesopacus, and will be on the lookout for new works... Note: this wasn't posted in the Critic's Corner (where summary threads of this nature are normally posted) as opesopacus does not have access to the area. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 9/12/02 8:16:58 pm

An interesting poem, Psimon... The form of the piece, which has been written as a simple narrative from the first person perspective with no specific rhyme scheme or patterns, reminds me somewhat of the medieval poetry I've been reading recently in my English Literature class... One thing I found interesting about the poem was the cluster of images related to water. References to the breakers in the Ocean, the rainfall, and the tears of the narrator and girl all hint at a certain sense of sadness and nostalgia. These images could also be pointing towards the origins of the girl, as it's apparent that she came from a land of water, the sea. The colors of the cloths that the little girl wears, "hues of gray and black", further hint at the sense of sadness of the poem. Yet at the end of the piece, after the narrator has witnessed the girl endure the ordeal of the storm, he watches her smile and is assured she'll be happy again... This ultimately points towards the theme of the poem, which is that if we keep a strong will and persevere through hard times, we will be rewarded with happiness and peace. There's one thing I'm curious about... why did you decide to write the title of the poem in french? Once again, nice work... [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze.

The small yet sturdy-looking dinghy swiftly makes its way through the unsteady Ocean waters, and as soon as it reaches the floating forms of Gyrfalcon and Kaleyra, Timothy and the three crew members accompanying him immediatly help the two waterlogged adventurers on board. After they've managed to get Gyrfalcon and Kaleyra onto the dinghy, which takes a considerable amount of effort due to their combined weights and Kaleyra's wing span, the crew and adventurers both breath enormous sighs of relief. The sense of joy and accomplishment is so overwhelming that Gyrfalcon, Timothy, and Kaleyra find themselves in each other's arms for a brief moment, hugging one another and laughing abruptly... Their laughter is suddenly interrupted, however, as the dinghy trembles slightly due to the gigantic silver sea serpent gliding past them underneath the water... Suddenly realizing that they shouldn't be celebrating their victories quite yet, Timothy and the three crew members immediatly begin rowing back to "The Lunging Lobster" as fast as they can. The presence of the serpent makes the few minutes it takes for the adventurers to get back to the main ship seem like an eternity... After they've boarded onto "The Lunging Lobster" again, Gyrfalcon, Kaleyra, and Timothy are surprised to find that there are no cheers of victory like those that occured when Captain Wallace got two direct hits with his cannon. Instead, there are a few smiles from members of the crew and some noddings of heads, but otherwise very little celebration... At the sight of Gyrfalcon and Kaleyra back on board, Y'Tren turns his steering over to Captain Wallace momentarily and runs over to the main deck to greet them. Exhausted from his steering yet very happy to see that Kaleyra and Gyrfalcon have survived, Y'Tren wipes some sweat from his brow and exclaims: "Excellent work Gyrfalcon! Are you both well?! You must be freezing!" Y'Tren turns to Myth for a moment and signals to her with a hand. "Myth, if you could go to the lower cabins of the ship to fetch blankets for Kaleyra and Gyrfalcon, it would be greatly appreciated!" Myth, who had decided not to involve herself with the entire sea serpent ordeal, shrugs and nods her head to this statement. Turning towards the staircase leading to the lower levels of the "Lunging Lobster", she wanders down the spiral stairs and enters the storage area of the boat in search of blankets... Within the cargo hold of the ship, Myth passes through a variety of poorly labeled boxes and fishing nets, brushing a cobweb to the side ever so often as she makes her way through the dimly lit area. Eventually, she finds a box which is slightly less dusty labeled "sleeping supplies", and turns to open it... No sooner has she touched the lid, however, then she suddenly notices a strange sound coming from the interior of the box. It was a munching sound of some sort... one that suggested eating, and directly pointed towards the presence of a stowaway... Frowning to herself, Myth grabs her dagger and quickly slams the lid of the box open, catching the stowaway completely off guard... She is slightly surprised to find that the culprit is none other then Reyn, the very person she had failed to kill earlier at the inn! Reyn's jaw drops and he lets go of the biscuit he was munching on, backing up against the wall directly behind him and finding no immediate escape routes... The sneaky thief had realized he was going to be discovered eventually, but why'd it have to be by her...? "H-hi Myth..." stutters Reyn, pressing his back up against the wall as much as he can in fear "L-last time I saw you was at that inn, right? L-look, this is not what you think..."

Within a prison located a few miles South of the publishing agency where Wyvern had tried to submit one of ntraveler2's works as his own, the greedy lizard sits dismally in his grade A maximum security cell. The prison officers had moved Wyvern to a maximum security cell not because he had attempted to escape or had proved to be a dangerous threat, but rather because of the noisy racket the overgrown lizard usually made from complaining. In the ultra-secure cell, Wyvern's yappings could be heard much less clearly... especially with the piece of duct tape they had placed over his mouth... Wyvern raises an eyebrow as a sign at the far left end of his cell labeled "Visiting Hours" is suddenly illuminated and two of the gates locking him in (there were four in total) are slowly opened. He then quickly jumps to his feet as he recognizes the two people that had come to visit him... It was Melba and ntraveler2! Had they come to rescue him from this place...?! Wyvern immediatly rushs towards ntraveler2 (he would never run towards Melba, even in the most desperate of situations) and accidentaly crashes into one of the gates still blocking him in the process. Melba and ntraveler2 flinch at the sight of Wyvern swaying on the verge of collapsing from the crash, only to barely manage to retain his balance... Noticing the piece of duct tape on Wyvern's mouth that prevents him from saying anything, Melba decides to start the conversation: "Well, you stupid, inconsiderate bozo of an Elder..." Melba starts, grinning to herself as Wyvern angrily bangs against one of the fences locking him in with his fist only to be electrocuted "...the Pen will get you out of here, if you agree to look over ntraveler2's new application..." Wyvern nods his head and sighs from under the duct tape covering his mouth... Melba then signals to two of the officers guarding Wyvern's cell, who promptly open the two remaining locked doors a crack in order to slip the new application through the crevice. Wyvern picks up the "Twilight's Dance" application, looks over it once, and then gives an 'A-O.K' sign with his hands that signifies "ACCEPTED" OOC: Thanks for putting up with the process and submitting an original application, ntraveler2. I very much liked the beginning of "Twilight's Dance", and eagerly look forward to its continuation. You're application is ACCEPTED, and I'll send you the password info as soon as possible.... Welcome to the Pen! [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 8/27/02 12:38:53 am

Elder Wyvern races down the main hall of the Pen towards the Cabaret Room as fast as his scaly legs can carry him... The overgrown lizard had heard the news of Seth Exodus' return and the first word that had immediatly raced through his head was " PRESENTS!" What sort of eccentric gifts had Lord Seth Exodus brought back with him from his journies? Perhaps he had made some beautifull paintings of the places he had visited... or gathered some rare artifacts to give to the Pen... or maybe he would give a gift of geld! At the thought of the last gift option, Wyverns speed increases significantly and it's a matter of seconds before he reaches the doors leading into the Cabaret Room. Bursting through the half open doors and practically breaking them down in the process, Wyvern rudely shoves his way through the crowd that has gathered around Seth Exodus and makes his way to the newly returned Pen members seat. Stretching out his arms as if expecting a hug, Wyvern exclaims "Sssseeeetttttttthhhhhhhhyyyyyy!" before unexpectedly jumping onto Seth Exodus' lap and breaking the chair on which he sits in the process... As Seth stutters on the floor, startled by the overgrown lizards actions, Wyvern hisses "Did you bring any expensive presentssss?" While the other Pen members that have gathered arround shake their heads in shame at the overgrown lizard, Cambronne lets out an irritated "meow!" OOC: Welcome back Seth Exodus. Nice to have you with us again... [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 8/26/02 11:11:36 pm

As ntraveler2 impatiently waits in his applicant easy chair, grumbling to himself about the things one must go through to apply to the Pen, Wyvern reads over the application story "Song of the Undines" one last time. As soon as the overgrown lizard has finished reading the story for the final time, an evil and mischeivous grin forms on his reptilian face. The smile is so corrupt and vile looking that upon seeing it, ntraveler2 immediatly shivers from anxiety and goes pale. Having never witnessed the reactions of Wyvern before, the applicant is uncertain if it is a good sign or a bad sign for the verdict of his application... he is unaware that it's neither... Within the overgrown lizard's head, cognitive thought processes fueled by malice and greed were working at full throttle... Ntraveler2's story was good indeed... very good, in fact... good enough to be published by the nearest agency for a hefty sum of geld! Thoughts of profits racing through his mind, Wyvern licks his lips and silently devises a strategy for stealing the story and selling it to a publishing agency for millions of geld... After a long and awkward moment of silence, Wyvern takes ntraveler2's application and lifts himself from his chair... The nervous applicant crosses his fingers and shuts his eyes, breathing in deeply while awaiting his verdict. Much to his surprise, rather then giving a verdict, the overgrown lizard exclaims in a voice full of obviously artificial urgency: "Oh my God. I forgot a... meeting, yeah that's it! A meeting I'm supposed to be at. You wait here, I've got to go sell your... errrrr... I mean I've got to go attend the meeting! Don't worry, I'll be back before you can say "plagiarism"!" With that, Wyvern rushes out of the office and slams the door behind him, leaving a shocked ntraveler2 alone in the room with the Almost Secretary of Initiates, Melba. The Almost Secretary rolls her eyes and grumbles "there's trouble at foot..." while ntraveler2 crosses his arms and lets out a dismal sigh... Elsewhere, about an hour later... Wyvern bursts into a publishing agency located a few miles North of the Pen, panting to himself and clenching ntraveler2's story in his left hand. Laughing sinisterly, the overgrown lizard slams the story on a desktop and messily scratches out ntraveler2's name, replacing it with his own. Wyvern then immediatly walks up to a nearby customer service counter and hands the document to one of the publishers working there. The formally dressed publisher eyes the overgrown lizard curiously, then carefully looks over the story... After he has gone over the application, the publisher frowns and exclaims: "I see what you're trying to pull lizawd... but ya can't do it! Tha story's already been published, see...?!" With that, the publisher takes a book from under his counter and opens it, pointing out a passage to Wyvern: arch17.magewar.com/ubb/Fo...00475.html Wyvern's face goes blank... His jaw drops open and he stares at the previously written passage for a full 10 minutes before being dragged away by security... ;p OOC: Unfortunatly, ntraveler2, I can't accept the application unless it was written with the specific intention of joining the guild. As I said before, previously written material is not an acceptable form of application. I thought that "Song of the Undines" was very well written and had strong underlying themes, but as it was not originally written with the intention of joining the Pen I can't accept it. Write a new piece of writing and post it as your application, and it'll certainly be considered. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 8/25/02 1:47:27 am

ntraveler2, Thanks for posting examples of your work from the Archmage Bulletin Boards, I enjoyed reading through them and think you have a talent for painting vivid pictures with your stories. To properly apply to the Pen, however, your application should be one that was written with the specific intention of joining the Pen, not a work that was previously written. If you could post a piece of writing written with the specific intention of joining the Pen, that would be great. I'll be eagerly awaiting it... [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze.

As Mistral runs down the hall away from Wyvern's office, desperatly trying to restrain the tears slowly building in her eyes, the overgrown lizard awakens from his deep and intricate slumber... The greedy Elder was lazily lying back in his office chair with his feet propped up on his desk, a copy of the latest "Vanity Fair Womens Lingerie Catalogue" covering his face to keep out the annoying sunlight coming from a nearby office window. Tossing the catalogue to the side while stretching and yawning to himself, Wyvern grins at the thought of his day dream where he had reached the summit of an enormous mountain of geld... and promptly frowns as he recollects that after he had reached the top of the mountain, it had collapsed under his weight... Wyvern's thoughts are quickly diverted from his day dream, however, as he suddenly realizes what it was that had awakened him. Mistral's knocking on the office door had failed to wake him from his sleep, but the distant chiming of the lunch break bell had immediatly brought him to his senses. Quickly jumping out of his seat and rushing out of the office door, Wyvern dashes to the bar of the Pen as fast as he can, afraid that he might be late for lunch and miss out on todays specials. Sprinting down the hall, he passes Mistral who happens to be running in the same direction.... Upon seeing Wyvern, the applicants eyes widen and she immediatly chases after him, wipping out her application as her hopes of being accepted are rejuvenated... Eventually, both Wyvern and Mistral arrive at the bar, where only one of the lunch specials remains. Rushing to the counter, the overgrown lizard immediatly grabs it and lets out a triumphant laugh, swiftly discarding the container labeled "N.R.A special" and devouring the majority of its contents. Suddenly noticing Mistral standing speechless next to him holding an application, Wyvern turns to her and raises a brow. "Excuse me, Mr. Wyvern..." manages Mistral nervously, her left foot fidgeting on the ground "... I was wondering if you'd like to look over my application poe-" Before she has time to finish, Wyvern snatches her poem and looks over it carefully while using a toothpick to dislodge a piece of a khaki uniform that had become stuck between his teeth from the lunch special. Smiling to himself and taking out a stamp from the right pocket of his tunic, Wyvern marks the poem 'ACCEPTED' and hands it back to a delighted Mistral. "Good poem..." grumbles Wyvern, taking a sip of brew from his Endless Decanter to wash down the contents of the lunch special. "Would you care for a piece of this 'N.R.A lunch special'? It's made with 100% natural N.R.A members, courtesy of werefoxes everywhere..." At the mentioning of sandwichs made from N.R.A members, Mistral is surprised to find that her stomach no longer aches for bread... OOC: On a more serious note Mistral, a very nice poem and an 'ACCEPTED' application. Welcome to the Pen! Sorry for the long delay in getting around to responding, Summer has been keeping me quite busy. Note that you should create an EZboard account (a link to this can be found in our List of Usefull Links) and post an e-mail address where I can contact you to give you the passwords and stuff... Once again, welcome! [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 8/23/02 3:04:40 pm

"Ya mangy sea scoundrel, how dare you attack my ship!!!?" yells an enraged Captain Wallace while pushing what appears to be a large cannon across the deck with the help of three of his men. "Stand aside you idiot rookies!" Wallace cries while shoving Gyrfalcon and several other crew members to the side "I'm taking care of this!" After the Captain and his assistants have rapidly positioned the cannon as best as they can in such rushed circumstances, one of the crew members loads a large iron ball into the cylindrical tube while another one lights the fuse. As they do so, a third crew member helps steady the cannon while Wallace does the aiming... There is a resounding " BOOM!" as the cannon is fired that immediatly catches the attention of the enormous serpent and simultaneously deafens all of those on board not wise enough to cover their ears. The backlash friction from the cannon knocks several of the crew members back, including Timothy... but Captain Wallace firmly holds his ground. As the sea serpent turns it's head towards the source of sound, it is hit directly in the face by the speeding cannon ball and roars in a mixture of pain and rage... Fortunatly, Kaleyra is out of range when this cannon ball hits... the startled avian suddenly realizes the course of action the crew has taken, and her eyes widen in disbelief. What are they trying to do, kill me?! As the crowd on board still standing cheer at the site of the sea serpent shaking its head and hesitating, Gyrfalcon suddenly comes to the realization of the imminent danger Kaleyra is in. He shouts a warning and quickly rushes to stop Wallace, but not before another round is fired from the massive cannon... This second cannon ball is aimed even better then the first, and soars through the air directly towards the serpents forehead. In it's course of collision, the projectile very narrowly misses Kaleyra and catches her balance off guard, sending her spinning in the air. Thoroughly exhausted from her previous maneuvering and worn out from excessive flying, this is all it takes for her to lose control of her wings... As the silver sea serpent takes a devastating blow to the forehead and slowly submerges back into the depths from which it came, Kaleyra dizzily plummets to the raging waters below...

Wyvern stands in place dumbfounded for a full 5 minutes, sticky geld paint running down his hands and through his pockets... After he has managed to piece together all of the bizarre occurences that have transpired in the last few minutes, his thoughts immediatly turn to rushing after Lady Celles in order to give her his humblest of apologies. The overgrown lizard had something resembling a heart as well, after all... And besides, he was now quite determined to recieve his extra tight hug and smooch... If he was lucky, he might even still have a chance to make some geld... "Celles!" cries Wyvern, indeliberatly placing a slight hiss on the 's'. His eyes fill with reptilian tears once again, and the overgrown lizard quickly goes about racing after the retired princess of TFM as fast as his scaly legs can carry him. In as innocent and passionate a voice as he can muster (which isn't all that innocent, but is adequate never the less...), a half-sobbing Wyvern cries out: "I'm sowwy! Wait for meeeeee!!!" Little did the overgrown lizard know that the geld colored paint that currently covered his hands and arms was of the 'extra-sticky' variety... [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 8/2/02 10:07:12 pm

Celles sighs dismally as she waits by the locked door of Wyvern's chambers, feeling sincerely sorry for the poor lizard and wishing she hadn't treated him in such ways. She had begged him to come out of his room for over an hour now, yet there was still no sign of him... Finally, much to Celles' delight, she hears the lock being undone on the other side of the door. Opening her arms widely and preparing to hug the greedy lizard till he can be hugged no more, Celles is disappointed when she notices only Wyvern's left hand protruding from the door, which has been opened a crack. The hand quickly puts up a new sign on the door, then withdraws back into the chamber... Wyvern snickers silently to himself, shutting and locking the door again after he's accomplished this task. On the new sign there is written: "So you want me to come out, eh? Well... promise me an extra tight hug and a smooch along with 275.64 geld and you have a deal! I'll want the geld in advance of course, so slide it under the door if you accept my offer..." ;p [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 8/1/02 11:39:41 pm

As Lady Celles procedes to distribute hugs while firmly avoiding Wyvern, the overgrown lizard rests his head in his hands and lets out a heartbroken sob. Stealthfully wandering up to Celles' area as she finishes hugging Nyyark for the third time, Wyvern widely stretches out his arms as to imply the need to be hugged... Much to his horror and befuddlement, rather then hugging him she swiftly turns her back to him and walks off to hug Gyrfalcon. Tears of rejection gather in the greedy lizard's eyes... Quickly rushing out of the chamber and nearly colliding into Peredhil on his way out, Wyvern rushes to the storage room of the Pen and finds a large piece of cardboard. Taking out a black marker, the overgrown lizard scrawls "HUG ME!!!" in block capital letters on the front of the cardboard and then tapes it to his chest. Looking himself over in the mirror and satisfied with the results, Wyvern wanders back into the Office certain that Celles will take notice of him. Much to his dismay, the retired princess of TFM still dismisses him and goes on to hugging other Pen members... Rapidly losing hope yet still determined to recieve hugs, Wyvern rushes out of the room again and quickly heads towards Minta Roses' living quarters. Looking through various shelves located near Minta's room, Wyvern finds the small bottle of extremly bright neon sparklies he was looking for. Deciding for himself that Minta probably wouldn't mind if he "borrowed" a few of her sparklies, Wyvern sprinkles them over the words "HUG ME!!!" on his piece of cardboard and watches with glee as his sign becomes brightly illuminated. More determined then ever, Wyvern rushes back down to the Office openly displaying his neon sign. His jaw drops when Celles decides once again to ignore him... Upon this third rejection, the overgrown lizard's eyes swell up with tears and his lip slightly trembles. Feeling slightly sorry for Wyvern as any Polite Magi would, Peredhil is about to give him a nice big hug when suddenly the overgrown lizard breaks out sobbing and dashes off through the crowd to his room. Entering his chambers and slamming the door behind him, Wyvern opens it for a moment to place a "Do not disturb. Scheme in progress" sign on it before shutting it and locking it again... image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/31/02 10:35:51 pm

Wyvern grins and drools as he openly recieves yet another hug from Lady Celles, her gentle bosom pressing daintily against his crimson red scales and her purse letting out another jingle. The overgrown lizard has only just recovered from this hug when he suddenly recieves another, the process repeating itself once again... By this time, a dazed Wyvern has already made a rough estimation of Lady Celles' figure measurements and the approximate amount of geld in her purse... As Lady Celles walks off to her sleeping quarters, wiping some lizard drool from off her hands, Wyvern secretly makes plans to be in a nearby area every time hugs are distributed in order to enhance the precision of his estimations... ;p [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/30/02 11:20:59 pm

I think that Gyrfalcon has pretty much summed up what I would have said. The application for joining the guild does not have to involve the Pen in it, but must be an original work posted for joining (i.e not one previously written). The Pen is Mightier then the Sword is an entirely seperate entity from Archmage, and very few of our members still play the game. Still, you may recognize a number of the writers here as people who previously wrote on the Archmage Universal Bulletin Boards, as a number of them have transfered from those boards to our guild. Great sig, by the way... I eagerly await reading an application from you, and look forward to two Celles writing around these parts (I won't confuse the two of you though, I promise). ;p *Wyvern snickers and drools as he's briefly hugged, Lady Celles quaint torso pressing onto his reptilian scales and the jingle of the geld in her purse ringing like sweet music to his ears...* [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/30/02 10:35:53 pm

Interesting... "A Small Dark Space" reads somewhat like a "slam poem" to me, a poem written with the specific intention of being able to recite it passionatly in front of an audience. I feel this piece could be recited with a wide variety of emotions, each of which would create a different impression on the listeners. Although I disagree with a number of the themes of this work (an entire different discussion there ;p), I thought you gave a clever depicition of the "truth". The one line I thought was irrelevant in this piece was the last line of the second to last paragraph, which I think doesn't really fit in. Try reciting this passionatly in front of an audience of some sort. The emotions which you recite it in will give it an entire seperate layer of meaning. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/30/02 12:21:20 am

After the other adventurers have boarded the vessel and the crew have made their final preparations for departure, the ropes bounding the "Lunging Lobster" to the grimy city docks are undone. The sturdy ship slowly sails away from the eery and unnaturaly silent atmosphere of the Mefferius harbors and gradually gains speed as it moves out onto the vast Ocean of Nargoth, heading straight in a South-Eastern direction through relatively calm ocean waters. Y'Tren, whose countenance depicts a mixture of consuming fatigue and zealous determination, steers the ship while Kaylera and Timothy help with the navigation. Gyrfalcon and Myth, in the meantime, help the rest of the crew by aiding them in other tasks essential to managing the ship... From the moment they depart from the harbors, it is quite apparant to the adventurers that they do not seem to be on very good terms with Captain Adrian Wallace and his crew. Although Wallace constantly obeys Y'Tren's orders and he and his crew seem to treat the adventurers with respect, there is an underlying tension in the air that makes things somewhat awkward and uneasy. Wallace and his crew show friendliness to the heros, but it is an artificial sort of friendliness... Then again, when a highly respected captain is discharged from his honorable position for a journey, some bitterness is to be expected on the behalfs of him and his crew... Despite the tense atmosphere on the vessel, the first two days of the journey pass by very calmly. The ocean weather is cold and misty, which causes navigation to become a bit more difficult, but apart from this minor inconvenience the ship sails along nicely. On the third day of the journey, much to the delight of the adventurers, the mists part to reveil a beautifull sun and golden-blue sky. Several gulls let out their calls as they fly by overhead, and everyone seems to be in high spirits... Y'Tren smiles to himself as he breaths in the fresh morning air and gazes at the sunny streaching ocean ahead of him. Turning his head to Kaylera and Timothy, he grins and mutters: "Well... it's about time that fog parted. With this kind of weather, we should be able to reach our destination in a matter of days." Timothy and Kaylera nod to this statement and procede to read out the next coordinates, unaware of an unnatural silver flash that momentarily surfaces on the water nearby before submerging again... Further down on the deck, Gyrfalcon sits near the edge of the left end of the boat, briefly taking a moment to admire the beauty of the weather and the water rapidly passing below. A seagull quickly flies on board and lands next to him, curiously looking him over before departing to the air once again. Following the birds path, Gyrfalcon's eyes are diverted to the water passing below him, where he suddenly notices an unnatural occurence. A large streak of silver passes directly below the surface of the water, shining brightly due to the reflection of the sun. It takes Gyrfalcon's eyes a moment or two to adjust to the light before he realizes exactly what the silver streak is... Large Scales Suddenly aware of the imminent danger they are in, Gyrfalcon quickly rushes and shouts to warn the other adventurers. He has hardly any time to do so, however, as a gargantuan silver sea serpent suddenly rears it's head from out of the ocean and lets out a deafening roar...

Good poem, Rahsash Geldrich. In my opinion, the themes hinted at in this poem are concerned with the way people build emotional fortresses to hide their true sentiments and how this ultimately leads to a web of lies. I liked a lot of the imagery you used in this poem, especially the line "Posessing yet wanting the heart's coveted gem." I also liked the structure of the poem, which reads very much like a hip hop song to me. I could definitely see a talented M.C rapping this over some dark, moody beat while repeating the line "the circle hate-hurt-peace comes on around" as the hook... Keep up the good work. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/25/02 1:59:28 am

Canid's tail slowly sways back and forth as she patiently waits in her applicant easy chair for the arrival of the Elder of Initiates... She had been sitting in the Recruiter's Office for many hours now and was growing weary, but several words of encouragment from Melba and reassuring comments from other members of the guild had convinced her to stay and wait for the overgrown lizard's arrival. Letting out a half-sigh/half-wolf growl, Canid turns her head slightly towards Melba and mutters: "So... do you have any idea of where Wyvern might be currently...?" Melba considers the question and thinks it over for a moment, grumbeling curses at Wyvern's tardiness under her breath and taking several sips of her pitch black coffee. After 5 minutes of silence, she finally responds: "I think he was going to try and suck up to the president of the NRA for some cash... one of the only business people he hasn't tried to extract money from yet, it's a last resort of sorts. I think they should currently be out on a hunting trip..." At the mentioning of Melba's last two words, Canid's tail stops in mid-sway and suddenly straightens out. An enraged look comes over her face and she is about to speak out about the wrongs of hunting when Wyvern and the president of the National Rifles Association suddenly come barging into the room. The two of them are laughing heartily together and appear to be dressed in several layers of hunter's camoflauge... Upon seeing Canid, the NRA president's face brightens up while Wyvern's simultaneously goes pale. "YYYEEEEEEEEEHAW!" cries the NRA president, wipping out his T-120 Automatic Hunting Rifle with built-in laser pointer and sound sensor ™ and pointing it at Canid "Lookee here Wyv, I'm gun' bag me anudder of them there foxes!" Canid takes a step back and growls angrily "I'm not a fox, I'm a wolf!" Wyvern nods nervously, desperatly trying to get the president to put down his gun but doing so in vain... "Foxes, wolves, deer, birds... what's da difference!?" shouts the NRA president "I bagged me a couple o' animuls today, and I ain't gun' let you escape neither!". With that, the NRA president briefly aims and immediatly fires his rifle, but fortunatly not before Wyvern has time to tackle the gun and aim it upwards. The bullet is fired straight at the ceiling and ricochets off of it, missing Canid by a mile but accidentaly grazing Melba on the shoulder... "Sorry Mr. president sir..." grumbles Wyvern (who hated hunting and had killed a total of three mosquitos on this outing) "I'm afraid we can't let you fire at that wolf, she's a friend." The NRA president turns angrily towards Wyvern and yells "So what?! NRA code says yer allowed to fire at friends too! In ain't gonna loan ya nothin' since ya don't know the code! Say... come to think of it, yer a lizard yerself ain't ya? Ya wouldn't happ'n to be a relative of one of dem' kommoder dragoons would ya?" An evil glint flashes in the president's eyes, and Wyvern quickly makes an escape from the office before the NRA president begins firing at him rapidly in all directions. He is about to chase after the lizard when Melba advances on him from behind and wacks him over the head with a rolling pin, immediatly knocking him unconscious... A few moments later, Wyvern cautiously enters back into his office, casting an embarassed glance towards Canid and Melba and quietly muttering "I need to find saner people to suck up to" before stamping Canid's application "ACCEPTED" OOC: A very good and well executed story, Canid. Certainly an 'ACCEPTED' application, I'm very happy that you've finally applied! Please be sure to post an e-mail address where I can contact you so that I can send the password info and stuff. Once again, great to have you with us! [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/24/02 1:18:33 am

Canid, You also mentioned that you'd like someone to critically analyze your story, so here you go... Overall, I found the story very well done. While I agree with Gyrfalcon that the bit about the eyelids thinning was strange, I think that it was strange in a way that conveyed the emotions of horror that Taylec felt and was well placed in the story. I also found several concepts of the story interesting, particularly the nightmares caused by the demons and the way that Taylec ultimately ends up feeling remorse for his actions and taking up writing. As for criticisms of the story, I found the short dialogue at the beginning to be rather confusing and think that perhaps it would be more coherrant if an introductory sentance or two were placed before it. Also, later in the story, there is a great deal of repitition of Taylec's name, which could be replaced by other words such as "he" or "the weary warrior". Some more spacing between the paragraphs would also be nice... "Laying Down the Sword" was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to more of your stuff. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/24/02 2:43:44 am

This is definitely a hilarious story so far, and makes most supposed "random" tales look rather normal and sane. I've been constantly caught off guard by the way it's forming so far, and will certainly be on the lookout for a part 3! [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/22/02 10:08:29 pm

Interesting idea... a poem that has natural antithesis to it simply by the way it's been structured and written. The title "Duo Mantra" instantly suggests a sacred verbal formula with duality in its meaning, which is exactly what this is. The imagery is very dark, and reads almost like a Necromatic incantation of some sort... Also, the way the poem ends suggests that it's meant to be sung, which further points to the mystical and necromatic tone of the poem... Nicely constructed. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/22/02 8:42:11 pm