First Recruitment Post

[The Portrait of Zool]

As other threads show, the Mighty Pen first became active around the Oct-Nov 2000 time frame, with members including Peredhil, Orlan, Yui, and others, and of course our illustrious founder Ozymandias. We were a working guild, and each of us took up duties to help out. My first assignment was as the Unofficial Official Recruiter. How better to execute my duties than with a short post illustrating the perils and glories of joining the Mighty Pen?

 

Disregarding any importance it may now have other than pure nostalgia, for years I thought that first Pen Post had been lost - but recently on going through some ooooooold files... I found it!

 

Enjoy.

 

 

You have come a long way, and are a little dissapointed at what you see before you. You scan the forest beside the meadow you are in but see no other structure of any kind. Your steed moves to another clump of sweet grass and crops it close to the ground. His mane twitches in the bright morning sun, the sweet smell of grass and flowers fill the air.

 

You get out your map, and sight in various directions, verrifying the mountaintops and other landmarks with the drawing before you. You are definitely at the right place. You dismount and tie you steed to the post there, then walk up to the door of the small shack and give a loud knock.

 

"Come," says a voice from inside. You lift the catch and enter.

 

Light streams in through the open windows of the shack, showing the green meadow and the snow-capped mountains beyond.

 

Seated at a delapidated desk is Zool. He has a large book open in front of him that he is writing in very fast. "Well, you've come a long way. State your reasons," he says conversationally, without looking up.

 

Your face grows hot as you think of all the time you spent getting here, and now you are asked to relate your story to someone you are not even sure is listening. You think about it, then quell your anger, chalking up this situation as just another task in your quest. You tell your story.

 

You tell Zool about your trials and triumphs, your amusements and ambitions. You tell him that you have been an Archmage for a while, but soon grew tired of the repetitive roleplay (if any) and general lack of imagination that seems to plague the game. You tell him of the delights of the occasional wordplay or witty arrows durring a particularly bloody battle. You subconsciously finger your sword hilt as you recall some particularly harrowing wars. You even smile as you recall some well fought battles of words on the boards. Ah! You have made some good friends, and some enemies. You tell him you hope to be a powerful Archmage, but even more so, to be a Bard to reckon with.

 

"And what is that in the satchel?" asked Zool, again without looking up.

 

You slowly take the satchel from your shoulder. It is full of slips of paper, parchment, bark, anything you could write on. Most of the words you have written are in this satchel. You select a few of your favorites and pass them into Zool's waiting hand. He begins reading them.

 

Suddenly the peaceful morning air outside is punctured with the roar of a mighty beast. You know that sound well, it is that of a Red Dragon! You draw your sword and turn to the door in a single smooth motion.

 

"Don't you think this interview requires something else?" asks Zool. You turn around to see he is looking you in the eye.

 

You think quickly, recalling everything you have seen, and you begin to wonder just what is going on...

 

You place your sword to the side, and reach down to the book in front of Zool, placing a hand under each cover. It is a large heavy old book which resists as you begin to close it. In a disorienting shift of light and shadow, the rays of the sun through the window cant up to a high angle as the the covers of the book rise to meet. The Dragon outside bellows again, this time in alarm as the nature of the setting is abruptly altered. The wooden walls begin to harden and gray, and you feel slightly dizzy as if you were suddenly moving at a great speed. You hear the Dragon scream now, and then finally it utters an outraged, "Yew suk!" as with a thunderclap the book closes, and Zool's constructed enemy winks out of existance.

 

You find you are now in the stone walled room of a fortified Keep, and the windows reveal a broad plane, with a thin blue river winding through a farm checked landscape, far down below the mountain you are on. Zool rises from behind the massive table he was sitting at, and shakes your hand. "Very good. I see you understand," he says with a smile, "That the Pen is Mightier than the Sword."

 

*********************

 

If you are interested in Joining "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword", then Archmail me on A1.

 

Good Luck.