Closed box 'LIVE' results - like Shrodinger's cat!? Now, all we need is a dissolving menki ... 

http://www.cracked.com/article_16335_7-innocent-gestures-that-can-get-you-killed-overseas.html

Folks, this is Planeshift. These hand gestures and so on don't exist here. There's no history or cultural usage to give them meaning.

LOL! Still gotta watch where you put those thumbs... who knows what your dwarf third aunt three times removed makes of it?

Serve and protect - that's Ordo Phalanster's task in Amdeneir. But Stellan can't tell them about the ransom note, can't implicate them. In his desperate mind, he's on his own again. With last looks at his guild mates stationed strategically throughout Amdeneir, the Diaboli with the handlebar mustache ducks into a deserted dead-end street. Up his sleeve go the syringes of paralyzing curarea and the vial of concentrated ulber stomach acid. Next, for the hardest parts. And now, the cloaked figure that emerges into the main street looks for all Yliakum like an ordinary clean-shaven Ynnwn man, making his dutiful way to the theater to vote....

Some of us have been thinking of a legal version - like a regular tournament. So, frankly I for one would like to see an underground one just to raise the stakes.

So I thought they all deserved obituaries, you know ...

In Memoriam, or 9 Ways to Die from Slow Burn

1. Fade out
(00:38:54) ... Flame of crystal white color releases from it and floats above the table looking for targets. At first it notices Valitar and spreads palpus towards him, sets him on slow fire. He writhes, but is ready to take the pain and simply fades out into the death realm. The flame reaches everyone in the davern with palpuses...
(00:40:28) Jezzi gasps with surprise as she is attacked by the crystal flames.
(00:40:36) Phenha notices the elf open the book and gasps, the fire arcing towards him next.
(00:40:40) Phenha says: $(*)&@£$()%^!
(00:40:43) Stellan yells as his long gray hair catches alight, and runs for the exit.

2. Explode
(00:40:55) Melkior eyes stares at Valitar fearfully he raise his arms to cover his face while he' blown up by the explosion...

3. Consumed in shadows
(00:41:05) Lace shadowaura emits around him intensivily and strongly as flame reaches him "unn,,, from shadows i born and shadows i return" slowly burnin falls to death realm

4. Consumed, period
(00:41:26) Phenha falls to his knees the fire eating at his skin, the pain far worse than any he has experienced before

5. Present-traumatic shock
(00:41:29) Kealaee is chosen by another tentacle. She screeams as fire slowly turns her into ashes. She fades into the death realm almost instantly, dying mostly of the shock.

6. Booted and rooted
(00:41:37) Jezzi is caught with her boots on the table, she cant really move fast and has no chance "Damn!"

7. Baked in chainmail
(00:41:53) Timil yelps as the flames reach him, turning his chainmail white hot and burning him to death!

8. Lighting the way
(00:42:44) Eardstapa grabs all the loose leaflets and books she can and turns to run, but a tendril of flames catches her and like a torch she stumbles blazing over Timil's crumpling body.

9. Whitehead
(00:44:03) Stellan collapses only half out of the tavern, the lower part of his body and all his hair flaming.

  Viva la revolucion!

[Aw, are you getting all soft on us, Rig? In the update on my side, Stellan, tail between legs, reconciled with Aschatan after a spectacularly bad day - ever had a hangover, pissed a grandmaster off, lost two diamonds, received a death threat presumably from a Perma-Death Killer AND had your guildhouse looted and redecorated in blue splotches? (Thanks, Rizula  ) Watched over by Monala, he was in a restless comatose state for days after the lifting of the curse. These are the visions that flooded his mind as Fogil brought him back to consciousness with three concentrated blasts of Crystal Way magic.]

He's floating far above them, in a pool of blinding light. He calls to them, but no sound leaves his lips. Aschatan, Monala and Karnath are almost equal distances apart in a triangular arrangement far below, surrounding someone in the center. Stellan recognizes that mustache - it's himself. Aschatan's research with rare herbs and the bloods of beasts has led to this - they're trying to lift the curse. It's like terrible torture, from his screams and contortions, and when they finish, Aschatan is slumped over and Stellan's body is lying facedown. A male voice cackles, "You are next. I am coming. You are next." As he watches, his body crumbles to dust, settling in the crevices of the floor like sand. His scream is inaudible.

There is another blinding flash and he is looking down on a small, candlelit space, as if stuck to the ceiling. He recognizes the furniture from a room upstairs in Kada-El's. When he sees the dreadlocks and the black skin of the man's bare back, Stellan knows what this is. His stomach lurches and he retches. He tries to turn away but he can't. He is forced to watch them, the Diaboli he hates and the Ynnwn woman he loves. Finished, the Diaboli flops down and rolls onto his back, a smile on -- wait! not -- not Rigwyn's face - oh joy! - it's his own!

A third flash of light, worse than the others. Maybe it's only the crystal sun, for he's outdoors now, soaring above an open road, much higher than drifters fly. He's free at last, himself at last! But thirsty, so thirsty. Remembering here a certain Pool of Stealth, he gladly wills himself lower and lower over the still shiny mirror of its surface. Too late he sees the procession of hooded figures carrying daggers, and jars overflowing with dark blood. And that's when, looking back at his reflection in the water, he realizes that the face grinning back up at him  - is Rigwyn's.

Stellan's eyelids fly wide open.

Fogil Alerag is torn, caught in the rising tension between his wise old Ynnwn guild leader and the headstrong Diaboli herald. The Diaboli starts to shout, "I toil for the guild and I bring you what I find ... and you - do - NOTHING -about the killings!" What! The unfair accusation strains Grandmaster Aschatan's reserve. "Listen Stellan, your recent actions bring a lot of suspicions among the guild, some of us are doubting your loyalty. So pay attention to what you can say about my presumed immobility! I am trying to keep the Ordo united!"

Ordo Phalanster - the latest casualty of Yliakum's increasing lawlessness?

[Maybe. Or this is our second promotional post!  We have been progressing toward our goals (see first post above) and enjoying our involvement in Yliakum's present climate of death, dark dealings, and glimmers of goodness, and WE ARE CURRENTLY RECRUITING Ynnwn, Dermorian and Diaboli characters.

With three racial branches AND a new guildhouse in Ojaveda, there is plenty of scope for RP fueled by friendship ... or rivalry! This early stage is also a great time to join because every idea, every contribution, counts. As the guild is established, we hope to further explore the three races' cultural lore, roots and connections - all character types, martial as well as mercantile, scholarly and artistic, are a fit.

In the pipeline: a new and expanded website; a guild library; a guildhouse opening.

Come join us. Contact Aschatan or Stellan in-game.]

And much later ...

Daintywhisp shouts: Someone help! Is anyone around?!
Stellan says: What is it, what trouble are you in, miss?

Who could resist a cry for help, especially when the voice belonged to a lovely lemur of rarest pale blue variety? Younger than Stellan liked, but then deprivation from being cursed does increase a Diaboli's libido.

Daintywhisp says: There's a dwarf at the fountain - he's dead, there's a blood-soaked letter and I--
Daintywhisp stops and sobs, turning away.
Stellan says: What? At the fountain in the plaza?
Daintywhisp nods, wiping her eyes.
Stellan groans, exasperated. "You'll have to show me. And, very inconveniently, I can't touch anything."
Daintywhisp nods again, hands trembling. "Alright."

He followed Daintywhisp through East Hydlaa to the plaza fountain, savoring conflicting emotions of desire and dread, excitement and horror, longing and restraint, and so on. It was nice to have his feelings back. He'd just have to be careful not to actually touch anyone.

He was soon relieved on that score, for the trussed-up, dead dwarf at the fountain was beyond torture or being made depressed and suicidal by his touch. Looked like some sicko had already done that, and worse. Caked blood snaked from sockets that had been gouged empty and then had had diamonds stitched in place of the eyes. Stellan might have thrown up if he hadn't been wearing his best yellow suit.

Daintywhisp stares at the bottle, sniffling. "I-I didn't notice that before..."
Stellan stares at the dwarf.
Daintywhisp says: I guess the guards are busy; they didn't come when I shouted...
Stellan says: That's sick. Who'd do that to the poor fella?
Daintywhisp says: The same crazy person that's been leaving the other notes around, I guess. At least, th-that's what the letter *sniff* implies.
Stellan says: What didn't you notice before, lemur?
Daintywhisp points at the bottle in the water.
Stellan says: I don't remember hearing that the others had their eyes dug out.
Daintywhisp looks at the letter again, careful not to touch it. "Maybe there's some meaning to it..."
Stellan holds open the bloodstained note without lifting it off the stone.
Stellan says: And didn't the other bodies disintegrate. That's what I heard, anyway.
Daintywhisp says: I- I don't know. Perhaps the diamonds are cursed? I saw some notes pinned up about cursed scrolls lately.
Stellan does not touch the dead body. In fact, he seems to deliberately tuck his arms away, behind him.
Stellan says: Someone's overdoing the cursing.
Stellan laughs bitterly. "As if mine wasn't enough."
Daintywhisp says: What a problem to come back to Hydlaa to...I should've stayed in Ojaveda with the rogues and rats...
Stellan says: Well, the good news is, I can touch this one. Won't have to worry about making him suicidal.
Stellan says: However.
Daintywhisp's eyes widen. "That's your curse? But, we don't know if the killer's done anything to the corpse..."
Stellan throws his overalls on. "Wouldn't want any of that on our clothes now, would we."
Daintywhisp looks down at her fine clothing and buttons up her coat. "I suppose not."
Stellan says: Done anything? Like what? Cursed it? Think I might be immune to that, too, now...
Daintywhisp says: Maybe. Or...well, I mean, I saw a bunch of rat guts and stuff put in a fountain, too. Obviously someone's trying to mess with everybody's health.
Stellan climbs fastidiously out of the water to stand beside Daintywhisp when he hears about rat guts.
Daintywhisp takes a dagger out and slices through the rope tying the dead dwarf to the fountain.
[They have decided to move the body but before they can ...]
Sillamon's 's tiny body crumbles at the slightest touch - his remains spilling like sand through the ropes that held him to the fountain and onto the platform. Some of the sand spills into the water as a pair of diamonds bounce on the stone below. Some is carried off by a mild breeze.
Stellan bends over the corpse, unaware that his waistpouch of vials is open. A slim glass vial slides out, shattering onto what's left of the body.
Daintywhisp claps her free hand to her mouth and sobs once again, looking between the dust and her dagger.
Stellan looks dismayed at the shifting sand and the rolling diamonds.
Daintywhisp speaks in a more choked-up voice than before, "I-I guess that saves us some work, at least..."
Stellan also looks dismayed at having baptized it all in one of his finest perfumes. "Bugger it."
Stellan says: Quick, we should bag the ey - diamonds - for evidence, you know.
Daintywhisp says: Oh, yes, them and the letters. We should take them to to the guards.
Stellan says: Eh, don't get your fingerprints all over anything.
Stellan says: Do you have gloves, or a bag or a hanky?
Daintywhisp nods and takes a handkerchief out of her pocket, picking up the diamonds. She flips the hankie over and ties a knot, securing the gems, and uses the loose fabric left over to cautiously pick up the letter.
Daintywhisp turns and picks up the bottle as well. "This might mean something too...
Stellan demands, "So now, what are you going to do with all that ... evidence, miss - ah - what's your name?"
Daintywhisp says: Daintywhisp. I'm going to find a guard and hand it in, of course.
Daintywhisp naiively continues, "I'm sure they'll be much more efficient at investigating it than any civillians..."
Stellan looks at Daintywhisp like she's nuts. "You ... must be new around town."
Daintywhisp says: Well, um, yes. I am. Kind of. I mean, I've stopped by before but not for long...
Stellan eyes the lemur's delicate figure appreciatively, thumbs twiddling behind his back. "Well, when this kind of thing happened before, I think some people were investigating. But from what I hear, maybe they themselves did the killings. I wonder. But I should think turning the evidence in to the guards would be a bad idea, Daintywhisp.
Daintywhisp looks at Stellan, the distrust plain in her body language as she draws the handkerchief a little closer, tilting her head sideways a little with her eyes fixed on his. "Well. I guess...I guess you've been around here more than I have, but...who would know what to do with these?"
Stellan says: Well ... we could begin some investigations of our own ... Don't you rather fancy a drink to steady your nerves, my dear?
Daintywhisp says: I. Um. Yes, sure.
Stellan winks, adding afterthought-like, "I am Stellan. Stellan Aristo. And I would normally offer you my arm, but at present my body parts are off llimits, because of the curse.
Stellan says: It's a great shame, I know.
Daintywhisp smirks. "Well, that's fine, since mine are too. Because I'm a lady."
Stellan looks surprised. "How original. Strange no lady has put that to me before..."
Stellan says: But come, don't look so alarmed. You can trust me. Let's start our investigations at the tavern...
Daintywhisp nods. "Alright, alright."