Story: Danger in Shame!

[Atraxi]

Our story begins during a small expedition through the Dungeon Shame. I had decided to go along with a group of brave adventurers from The Company of The Vigilant, as they were experienced with dungeon exploration, whereas myself, an officer with the Britannian Police Department, rarely ventured outside the towns where I patrol.

This dungeon was quite an adventure, as everywhere we turned, I discovered new creatures not seen in the local cities. This included one creature which appeared to be made entirely of blood. Our brave leader informed me that this was called a Blood Elemental. Regardless of it's name, it fell, along with the other creatures, to our swords.

As we ventured further and further into the depths of the dungeon, we began to get an uneasy feeling. We had not encountered many other adventurers, and the ones we did pass simply stood there, as if watching us. Although they did not immediately appear to have negative intentions, we all worried that they may be reporting to some less than upstanding associates.

Now, dungeons tend to attract the bravest, and most adventurous of warriors, itching to test their fighting skills against the fearsome creatures that dwell within the caves. However, in addition to the noble warriors, these dungeons also tend to attract the lowest forms of human life, such as murderers and thieves. The farther we ventured into Shame, the more we got the feeling that we might not get through without meeting some of these shady characters.

As we began to tire from the hunt, we waited in a clearing to see if any of these Blood Elementals would find their way to us. While we waited, we began to hear the sound of hoof beats. Someone was coming! And by the sound of it, they were not alone.

Sure enough, across a nearby bridge came a mounted band of murderers. I tried to count our attackers...5? 6? 7? I could not tell how many there were as they moved too fast. They went for our mage first, as, without him, we would be unable to evacuate the dungeon as quickly as we would have liked. As much as we tried to resist, their numbers simply overwhelmed us.

Our mage fell quickly, which was disastrous for us. The Scum went after our warriors one at a time. They seemed to be saving me for last for some reason, as none of them attacked me. In fact, I found myself chasing them, in a weak attempt to defend my associates. Despite our best efforts, our warriors fell, one at a time, to the murderers.

It did not take long for me to find the tables turned, as it was my turn to have a go at the murderers. Now, I consider myself a brave individual, but when you watch your friends fall then their killers come after you, only a fool would stay and fight to certain death.

With that, I ran, I ran as fast and as hard as my mount would allow. When he began to tire, I pushed him harder. As hard as the human trash tried, they could not catch me. I found a strange structure, inside which was what looked like a teleporter of some sort. I seem to remember us going through something like this a while back. With a large group of bloodthirsty killers on my tail, i did not have time to decide. I ran headlong into the device.

Apparently, they had been anticipating this move, as I was met on the other side with two additional murderers. They tried to paralyze me with their magic, however, as I have trained myself to resist the spells of the Mages, it had no effect on me. This was my chance. I ran for the door, not knowing what lie on the other side.

Once outside, I found myself in another part of the Dungeon Shame. I did not even look back. With these new spell-casting killers on my tail, I rode as fast as I could.

After a while, I slowed down and found that I had outrun the criminals. They had lost me, but unfortunately, I had also gotten myself lost beyond hope. I stopped to rest and heal my wounds, but quickly found myself on guard again. Not to a human, this time, but to more strange creatures. One, made entirely out of water, and another made entirely out of rock. I quickly ducked behind a pile of crates and barrels to hide. Luckily for me, this was enough to outsmart the creatures.

I finally had a chance to rest my weary bones, and heal my wounds.

After a while, I began to realize the direness of my situation. My friends were all dead, I was hopelessly lost, and being held hostage by fearsome creatures, and as far as I knew, the killers were still looking for me.

I silently called out for help. I thought two simple words: "Help...Stuck", hoping that someone, somewhere would hear my plea. Someone with an ability beyond my own to control this hostile world. I must have fallen asleep, as I suddenly found myself in a vaguely familiar city. Could this be? I was in Minoc! I still do not know how I escaped that awful place, nor do I care. All I knew is that the ordeal was over. I mounted my noble steed and rode to the closest place I knew of: The headquarters for the Company of the Vigilant.

[Pirul]

Sorry I missed it. It must've been an epic run.

[Populus]

That's quite a story.

I quickly ducked behind a pile of crates and barrels to hide. Luckily for me, this was enough to outsmart the creatures.

More stories! Love it.

[Astinus]

Sorry I missed it. It must've been an epic run.

It was less epic when you (read: me) died within 4-5 seconds.

He joined us in our second run-through, but we were already in Shame once before. We actually fought back a smaller group of reds the first time, when they attacked benny first and I was actually ready for it (my job mostly being to spam heal). I was slow reacting to this second attack and allowed myself to be killed almost immediately.

Some other blues joined us in the fight and ressed me; 30 seconds later a red killed me again (me at 10% health and no regs because I was looted).

[Atraxi]

Some other blues joined us in the fight and ressed me...

That's who those blues were? They were helpin us? OH, I thought they were with the reds. I went after the reds. I saw a big mass of toons running around is circles and just assumed everyone that wasn't you guys was tryin to kill you guys.

A couple of the blues came to me, but as I said, I assumed they were with the reds, which is why I ran. I am definitely not a strong player, and knew I would not survive a fight against the pk's.

I beat on them as long as I could, but seein everyone runnin around in circles was makin me dizzy...lol!

[Atraxi]

Wanted to bump this story. Thought our newest members might enjoy it.

Reading this brings me back. This was so long ago, before I even joined C^V. I was still doing the BPD thing (still have that character). I believe this is when I was still living in that small near Venus' house. God that spawn is heavy over there.

I was still very new, not only to the shard, but to UO in general. Heh. Good times.

[Alebrije]

Great story Atraxi! Hope to be part of the next one!!!

[Zelek Uther]

Great writing Atraxi: easy to read, nicely paragraphed, and entertaining!