ROLLENSPIEL

The Female Matis warrior tossed the package in her hand for a few moments while her thoughts wandered into the past.....

"Whats this package for Daddy?" The little girl pointed at a small parchment wrapped package in the icebox.

"Leave that alone!" he almost yelled at his precious daughter. "Do you remember Fralina our pet Fippo? She ate some of that and it drove her mad! Remember she almost bit you?"

"But why does it make frippos crazy and mean like that?" she asked with a frown, remembering how her beloved frippo changed his behavior towards her.

"Its called Goo, because of its texture, it drives normally nice creatures to madness!"

"But why do we have some? Isn't it dangerous?"

"Yes! Very! Anways, a man has to provide for his family, so I secured some from the jungle for our Matis scientists, who offered to pay me very well for a sample. Maybe they can figure out what it is and how we can destroy or counteract it if it infects the forest some day! At any rate, DO NOT TOUCH IT!" He said with empasis.

The little girl withdrew her hand and stopped pointing at it, then shut the icebox door.

...The female warriors thoughts returned to the present and she tossed the package back into the storage locker she kept in her apartment. She counted how much she has saved up, 32 magnificient goo contaminated meat, 8 superb goo contaminated meat, 26 excellent corrupted Igara skins from the goo igaras that infected Fearing Fens Outpost. And finally 45 each of Goo residue and pure goo residue, which carried a lot of weight.

She read how it was dangerous to keep such infected items in a homins apartment. But she had to find out more about this substance that drove her father insane and caused him to run through the prime roots totally naked one day, and never to be seen again.

As she felt the sorrow of losing her father, she suddenly got a sharp splitting headache and her vision went fuzzy for about 15-20minutes. there seemed to be a hint of purple in her eyes as she laid down to rest. She couldn't help but feel anger that welled up inside of her though. She didn't know why, but she got up and drew her daggers out and threw them at the front door with all her strength. She was going to kill whoever, or whatever was responsible for this!

After a little rest, she started to feel better. The headache had gone, and was thinking clearer...

She decided to study this collection of Goo that she had hidden away. She had run through it before without any permanent harm, so she wondered how her Father could have been so affected by it if he only got one sample for Matis Scientists. She had tossed it in her hands before, given contaminated meats to hunters willing to pay her for them. Also, she had fought Goo infected animals in the past with no harm.

'Perhaps....no, that couldn't be it...but he must have been exposed for a while.....'

Oh she shook her head and put on a double layer of gloves just in case, then examined the Magnificient and Superb Goo meat. They looked spoiled she had them so long. She wondered why anyone would want to pay her for them. She wrapped them back up and put them down.

"I can't do anything with these!"

Next she examined the Goo residue and Pure Goo residue.

"Pure Goo residue! This has a quality like nothing i have seen before! more powerful than the highest quality weapon ever crafted!"

She remembered where she got it: It lined her pockets while she slid through a tunnel and ended up in Darkmoor while exploring the inner depths of the Kitins Lair. She tried to make friends with the Rangers there, but quickly discovered they were very hostile to her! Later she was told they became infected with Goo. She pursed her lips and shrugged.

"Well, it never bothered me before," she thought. "They must have been fooling around with it in a way they shouldn't have,... also."
Also? What did she mean by also?....

At any rate, she concluded she really couldn't do anything with residue, or knew no purpose for it. She figured it was harmless, but remembered something from very long ago.... way back in Silan.
"Was that residue back then, or live active Goo that infected those poor frippos and Caprinis? Oh yeah, and those piles of Goo the bandits were nurturing." She couldn't remember it was so long ago.

Lastly, she examined the corrupted Igara skins. Something was different here. She saw that they were in pretty good shape and could actually be used for something! But what? To Craft?? Oh my Goodness, she discovered, You can craft with these??!!
She saw that they were only good for 'Stuffing.' She pondered over the effects of wearing Armor stuffed with Goo Skins, what kind of effect would this have on a Homin? She Shuddered at the thought, but also secretly wanted to know.

Suddenly, without warning, the headache returned and she dropped the skins into her secret stash and closed the door. Then she screamed out in pain. she dropped to the floor and everything had a purple tint in her vision. A sudden feeling of rage entered her...

Then she passed out for around 30-40 minutes

Something was strange....
She woke up outside her apartment about 100m away, several Gingos were dead around her. She decided to leave the area before the rest of the pack came back. She returned to her apartment.

She reopened the box and removed the corrupted igara skins and paused for a moment...I am going to try to craft with these. I must know more about how they affect crafted items! She began to quietly inquire to her guild about what kind of items take stuffing to craft, it seemed to make sense armor would take stuffing, since she mainly crafted Range weapons....

"Range weapons?"....she said outloud as she pondered the thought.
"I bet i could take out all of Pei Ruz's corrupted Igaras with one shot with a goo Launcher!" she chuckled.

But maybe they were resistant to Goo? She pondered on the thought of accidently spreading goo with a launcher, what a disaster that would be, and yet she knew corrupted animals had superiour strength, so a weapon made of corrupted mats could be strong indeed! She could not keep these thoughts from reoccurring in her mind, though she knew how dangerous the idea was. The Zorai had already banned any crafting of the Goo into anything!

'But this was not the land of the jungle.' She thought. 'In fact, apparently some of our scientists have one or more samples they are researching on. So why can't I do a little investigating of it myself?' 'I Bet my father did a little researching himself!'

Another avenue she would persue would be to ask around discreetly if Matis scientists found out anything about the goo. After all, her father said he supplied them with a sample. (or more?)

She wondered how to go about finding out more information about the goo.

The only thought was,

'I must ask the members of the Masters of the Goo tribe if they know anything. I know they will probably tell me nothing, but i must try.'

She had just returned from Grove of Umbra after investigating how they captured a Kipesta. She hoped they were not infecting them with goo, but the idea how they captured it intrigued her.

She also wondered if there was any other tribes that know anything about the goo.

"Hmm the Black Circle have some in their camp!" I can try there too. There was another tribe that escaped her memory for the moment, but she would recall it later.

She shut the box with the igara skins and diabolical feelings crept over her, she decided to don her heavy armor on and go out and kill somthing, She didn't know what, but she put on her brightest clothes and weapons to even challenge any homin who dared look at her the wrong way. Some even tagged her as a warrior not to mess with, and she had the look. Certainly some homin would want to test their mettle against her.
She went down to the bar...

Naema went down to the Bar man in Yrkanis to see if he had gotten permits to start a legitimate bar in Yrkanis yet. Apparently he had not yet, he had been busy teaching classes on helping people develop more focus in life as his first priority. Handing out pendants as prizes.

However, he did run a speakeasy on the side. She was one of the few to have inside knowledge of this. She entered Chicho Trivaldo's private establishment as he looked around to see nobody had seen where it is, and he immediately poured her a drink. She gave him a sour look and pushed it aside,
"Not this rot-gut stuff! You know what i want!"

Chicho then dissappeared into his cellar. A couple minutes later he reappeared with an old bottle with a picture of a slick looking person with a barrel in the background on it. He Had a tube in one hand and a keg at the other side. It said "Anichio's Meade" on the label.

"Yes! This is what i want! Thank you Chicho."
He poured her some of it into a glass. She took a couple swigs of it and took a satisfied gasp. Then she looked up on the wall of the Tavern and noticed there was a poster of her friend Aruchima playing in a band in a Zorai night club that night. She finished her drink and decided to teleport off to Zora Immediately to see them play.

"Wake up! Wake up Naema! hurry! we must get out of here!"

"Huh? Wha.?.. Whats going on?" She seemed to slur out of her mouth while lying on the ground.

Aruchima her friend was patting her face to come to and wake up.
Zorai gaurds were outside trying to get in, but the Bouncer of the establishment was delaying them.

She had been smacked on the head hard by a Fyros mace which put her in a semi-coma. But it was nothing compared to what she did to the Fyros. He was done for.

She was sitting enjoying the music at the tavern her friend was playing at, when a sharp headache came over her and she lost consiousness. She had no knowledge of what happened. Everything seemed to have a purple tint to it in her vision for a few minutes.
These headaches were a recent problem she was having. She started thinking she should go see the medic while here in Zora.

A Zorai in the establishment came over and put her arms over his shoulder and helped her to her feet and helped Aruchima get her out the back door. They scampered off through a dark alley and behind some traders tents until they were safe.

"I can give you some information that may help you," the Zorai said to her.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Winced the Matis female who stopped to rub her head.

Aruchima said, "You are so different now Naema, what happened to you?"

The Zorai opened his mouth and started to talk about the Masters of the Goo...

(OOC: So, anybody like this story so far? I have never wrote anything before and find it kind of fun to invent stuff. If you have Criticisms or comments, suggestions, or if you want to tell me if its boring, exciting, fun sounding, interesting, or whatever, please do. Tell me of your expectations in this story, it may come true, or it may not! I have no idea what you are thinking. Do you even read the roleplay?

You can guess where this is going, or where you would like it to go. Tell me your nervousness of the characters actions and thoughts, your scepticisms of Matis ambitions, your hatred of them, your love of them, or whatever you want because of this story :D

I just wanted to say, I have no intention of extending this story into a 'never ending story,' or into one not finished. The only way it will continue on longer beyond a few more installments, [not sure how many more atm], is if the Event team picks up on it and adds to it. Then i will definitely be inspired to write more.

Thanks for your time to read it :DD
~Naema

I enjoyed reading it :)

((Moar please! I want to see what happens to you :D))

'Allow me to introduce myself,' said the large Zorai. 'I am a rotational gaurd for the Black Circle over the Goo mound in the camp. We are trying to understand the Goo and harvest it. I knew your father, he was an important connection for us. Tonight is my night off, when i notice your enthusiasm for things about the Goo in our Bar in Zora tonight."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, you mentioned your interest in a weapon made of Goo materials." Said the tall Zorai.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"You were asking about if anyone had a good recipe for goo launchers! What do you mean you don't know what I'm talkng about?"
Naema was suprised she divulged such information.
"When did i ask such a thing?"
"You blurted it out after that Fyros was bragging about how the Kami supressed that OP war against the Kara today. Then you mentioned how things would have been different if Kara knew Launcher crafting with goo mats." He laughed, "Then you drew your daggers and threw them so hard he took one to the chest."
I personally don't know why you threw it so hard, never seen that before! Good thing his kami friends were around to bring him to a kami medic." He said.

She was suprised, and didn't remember a thing. "So, what was your interest in what I had to say?"
"I work for the Black Circle. We have spys in inportant places. I just wanted to tell you, I knew your Father, He was an honorable Homin! I want to help you anyway i can.
Your Father used to supply us with many specimens of Goo. He used to tell us of his personal experiments with it too. He told me once of an attempt to craft with infected mats. Never told me of the results. He seemed to want to learn how to craft range weapons with Goo mats. Not sure if he learned anything, or even if it was possible. Have you learned anything from your father about crafting?"
"Uh, no, not really,"
Naema did not want to tell him of the crafting she did. She was still nursing a headache. Yes, she crafted a pair of gloves with Goo mats out of curiousity to see how they would turn out.
After setting up all stanzas, of course, she got a degrade, but these gloves she put into the secured box with everything else goo related that she had that was goo. She would study them later.

"We are trying to make Kara weapons with Goo, We believe they will be stronger. Since Kami make Atys or nature made weapons, we thought Kara would help us make weapons that would help us tip the balance of power. Something that would be an uber weapon! Especially something to help us defeat the Zorai government, at least win our fight against the Kami!"
"Please keep this secret, but the Kara welcomer in the Black Circle tribe and in the Masters of the Goo Camp told me some secrets...." Said the Zorai...

"Make sure you get the ratio right! Too much and you will kill the beast!" Said the Masters of the Goo Chief guard. "We must follow the recipe exactly!"

"I know, I know!" Said the underling, as he spooned a little more goo into the bowl of food they were feeding the Kipesta.

"And don't touch it! You know what that stuff will do to you!"

"I know, I know! How many times have you told me this?"

"Silence! And do as your are told! Before I have you clean out his pen too!
Did you put in the Peppery Aromatic plant?"

"Yes sir, I already did that, but it seems to repulse him."

"Yes, I know, but it is required if we are to get that extra strength from his flaming pollen. And don't forget the small egg, if we don't get mats from his hide we can craft with, he is worthless and might as well be let loose like those other corrupted kitins."

"But they were useful, they caused havoc on Atys! It was funny watching all those homins race around trying to kill them all over the place. We really got them worried!"

"You silly fool! We are not here to get the Kami worried, we are here to conquer them! And how else can we do it unless we not only release goo infected Kitins, but also craft weapons out of their hides? I think this is the next phase of our Illustrous leader Bo-Qung Fao! He has been carrying on the research his father started many Cycles ago..."

"As for this recipee, you know it is not perfect, we still cannot get mats from the kipestas."

"Yes, yes, I know, but it worked on the Igaras. Maybe try a little more honey, that will make it more palatable for the creature. And don't forget to carefully document your ingredients and the amount you give him or I will have you hanged! It is important to have the exact information understood for each creature so we can be successful and repeat this! Pretty soon all of Atys will be crawling with goo infected kitins, they will not be able to stop them, and only we will hold the power to craft with their mats! We will make weapons of all sorts to defeat the Kami!"
"The Black Circle sure helped us out this time with information how to get mats out of these beasts.." The Chief guard of the Masters of the Goo pondered for a moment and gently smiled.

"Yes sir! Don't worry, you can count on me!"

After casting a few spells on the food with its weakened form of goo inside, the guard slid the bowl into the kipestas cage. The kipesta came forward and seemed repulsed at first by the concoction, but sniffed it again and ravenously devoured the food.

(OOC, This story began as a sub-story from :Forums>Events>Kitin Studies, Capture a kitin.)

“Secrets? What secrets?” She said.

“First of all, I just wanted to say, don't believe what was said about your father. I heard rumors he had actually made a breakthrough in getting craftable mats from the goo infected kitins. He was actually looking for mats to craft either Launchers, or Auto Launchers from what I hear. Seems you are a chip off the old block.” The Zorai said with a slight chuckle.
“I suppose it could make the weapon stronger, or more damaging perhaps. At any rate, the rumor said he found out something about a number of extremely dangerous creatures. He wanted to try crafting with their mats, hence he ran off into the prime roots looking for something that got him very excited with a bag full of Goo residue. Some say they saw him trying to slice the tail off a Kinrey! But don't assume it was madness, maybe he found out a secret, if I know your father right.”

“Wow, thanks for the information. What else do you know?” She said.

“Well, that the Karavan know of some excellent recipes on how to make all kinds of range weapons! The Kara welcomer leaked the information to Be' Marrel Brermen, our lead hunter. He is a wily fellow, knows how to get information out of anybody.” The Zorai said with a smile.

“Be'Marrel? I had just visited him. I wonder why he didn't tell me anything about that?”

“Hmm, well, maybe you didn't ask!” said the Zorai. “Like I said, he is wily. Besides he is a clever lead hunter for our tribe, you don't get that way being stupid.”

“I guess not. Well, we are friends, so maybe I will pay him another visit and inquire about this business to him,” the Matis warrior said. “Maybe he knows a recipe?”

“Not likely, but he may know more about the fragment.”

“Fragment? What fragment?” she said

“The fragment of the amber cube. The one that our tribe member found in his fathers belongings after he passed away. Be'Marrel is a friend of the young lad. He is trying to teach him to hunt.
Legend has it that Melkiar will one day return to get it. It is supposed to have information on Nung Horongi's studies on Goo manipulation and the effect of magic spells on it. But alas, it is only one of 10 so called fragments. He broke them into 10 pieces it is said, to keep the information secret so only Melkiar's eyes could see them. We believe the fragment we have gives enough information to get one or two mats from goo infected creatures. This is why some were able to get corrupted Stuffing from the Igaras from Fearing Fens Outpost. The experiments didn't turn out perfect though. There is still much work to do in studying this goo! I hope our secret is not out in the open now.”

The Matis warrior decided while she was in Zora to visit the Medic because of these sudden headaches she had experienced.
“Hmm, the symptoms you are suffering from are consistant with Goo exposure,” said the Medic.
“You are going to have to stay away from that stuff! Have you been running through Goo fields or something?”

“Um, well, I have fought many Goo infected creatures in the past, I even earned the honor of being a Disrupter of the Infected.”

The Medic glance around upon her armor, “Where is your badge for such an honor?”

“I lost it during the Exodus during the Second Swarming, Just before I got to the Kami Oasis I was almost overcome by Kitins. They were biting and scratching me. I was even knocked unconscious. Somehow, the higher powers were able to teleport me to the Oasis just in time. When I came to, my Badge was apparently ripped off me. You will just have to take my word for it, I don't know what happened to it.”

The Medic looked with suspicion at his patient. The Second swarming was a long time ago, and any ill effects of fighting Infected Kitins before the swarming surely would have been gone by now. Even running through goo fields has no lasting harm to a homin. Besides something was different here with this infection...almost like....

“Well, here, take these medic kits and see if they help you whenever you feel any symptoms. I will see you in a week to monitor your progress”

She took the kits and thanked the Medic. Then decided to head straight down to observe the Masters of the Goo tribe as well as talk to her friend Be' Marrel Brermen one more time to find out what she can about fragments, recipes, Melkiar, Goo weapons and anything else he could tell her. She wasn't sure where to clearly start, but she was going to get to the bottom of it. Secretly, she wanted to develop a Goo weapon also. But this was close to her heart and did not want anyone knowing about it.

The Medic quickly rushed to find a Zorian authority. He reported that he had suspicions that a homin was exposed to Goo, but not any kind of exposure. This kind was direct contact with fresh goo, the kind you get exposed to when crafting with Goo. It is a more intense symptom. Directly affecting the mental powers and thinking of a Homin. He has seen it before. Sudden loss of consiousness and what you are doing, although you ARE conscious! Also, increased aggresiveness for no reason, almost brainwashed in fact, among other things. Yes, the Medic was quite positive about it.

“She will be back next week for her next appointment,” said the Medic.

“Very good, we will arrest her then,” said the Authority. They then proceeded to set a trap for the Matis female.

(OOC: Ok, I hope you bare with me. This Story is getting interesting even to me, and fun to make, lol. So I will continue it a bit longer. Hope I am not boring you, but I have a few more ideas for it. Thanks for reading).

As she snuck along in the bushes near the Masters of the Goo Tribe, she overheard them cursing in anger about something...
“Blast these stupid experiments! The chief guard said. “I wonder if we will ever find out the ingredients to get more mats out of these Kitins to craft with. Work Harder! Maybe we will capture a Gingo and test our goo related experiments on them, After all, there is reports Pei-Ruz has had success infecting them as well as one of his brothers. Melkiar will be very pleased with us if he ever returns! Any reports on who that boy was that found the fragment?”

“No sir, the Black Circle deny any such possesion of a fragment, nor any knowledge of it.” Fai-Cu len replied.

“Well, ok, we don't want to hurt relations with them, but if anyone finds out anything, let me know at once!” Bo-Qung Fao ordered.

“Yes sir, we will let you know right away!” was the reply from the senior hunter.


'A gingo? Hmmm,' she thought out loud. She snuck off to find Be'Marrel. Upon finding him, she was Livid, “Why didn't you tell me more about this fragment? And what about these recipes of a goo based Range weapon? I asked you about that!”

“Whoa! Slow down there girl! You didn't ask me about a fragment, you asked about the Kipesta they caught and I told you my suspicions about them crafting with a goo weapon already.” Be' Marell answered. As for recipes, I'm still working on getting that information from the Kara welcomer in our camp. He has hinted to me some mats to use, so here is what he told me as I remember off the top of my head.” Be' Marrel scribbled down a recipe on a piece of igara skin and handed it over her.

“hmm” she pondered out loud, “Thanks, this might explain a few things about my fathers disappearance,” as she looked over the recipe, “ but what about this fragment of Nung Horongi?”

“Well, I haven't seen it myself, nor can confirm it, all I know is what my little protege told me. He found these things among his fathers belongings and turned it over to the tribe Authorities. I trust him, I have been teaching him to hunt. He's getting very good at it you know. As for the authorities, they deny possession of any such item, it's so typical! Besides, its supposed to be some secret, how did you get to know of it?” Be' Marrell thought with amusement at how she was becoming as wily as himself. He started to show a little smirk of a smile on his face.

“Ah never mind” she said.

“Ah! Not disclosing connections are you? You are very clever. I hope it serves you well. Just as well, keep it secret and find out where it leads you. I hope you find out what you are searching for. It was said this fragment is one of 10 spread out so information about goo manipulation would only be given to Melkiar. Well, if the old marauder boss ever shows his head again, I suppose the authorities will hang him. His Daughter Akilia Ash Storm seems to be doing a good job of picking up where Melkiar left off. Although she has been missing lately, and things seem quiet from the marauders stand point. She passed through Grove of Umbra more than once in the night you know.”

“No, I didn't know this. Did it have something to do with the Fearing Fens outpost and the Goo Igaras?”

“It's possible, non-the-less, I think she is searching for the fragments too. She has good relations with my tribe, but don't let anyone know. They will come down here from Zora and drive us out. I love the hunting around here, I would hate to leave.”

“No problem Be' Marrel, If you learn anything about it, or the information on it, let me know please?”

“Sure! No problem sweety! So good to see you again! Take care!”

After exchanging pleasantries, eating dinner together, and discussing her father and Be' Marrells' confirmation that he was a good man. She understood that the only thing she could do now was to go home and study this goo further. She was going to experiment with these recipes. If Any goo mats became known about, she would harvest them and use them. She started to stockpile goo mats of all kinds in her apartment already. What was the key, she pondered? She left and went back home. She wondered on the way, “Where could those other fragments be?” I bet there is others looking furiously for them too.

About an hour after she left Be' Marrel, a group of Zorai Gaurds came down the road and thoroughly questioned Be' Marrel Brerman if he had seen any sign of her. He protected his friend to the utmost he could. He could not believe she was experimenting, let a lone Crafting with goo. A look of concern came across his face after learning this information. Yet he managed to throw them off her trail. He would try to alert her at his soonest convenience.

(Very interesting story, I like it!

In the beginning I felt like the presence of a Black Circle agent in a Zora bar was a bit weird, unless he was deeply undercover and no one knew about his identity.

Before the merge there was a really good fan story about the Goo, you might want to check it out for extra inspiration:

http://app.ryzom.com/app_forum/index.php?page=topic/view/10683/1