A short essay about RP

Posted on 22 August 2022 by gazetteofgor

Dear reader,

You might ask yourself why I wrote this. The reason is simple – I am addicted to RP. Immersive, vivid RP. Have been doing this for so many years now, almost 20 years with this same character. I have a huge history now. It almost feels like I have been living this life.

The upcoming RP event I will take place in, soon, again on a text based platform, has made me reflecting about RP in general, and especially in Second Life (SL).

SL is such a great platform. We are now able to have avatars of our beloved RP characters that really do look like we have always imagined them. So wonderful. Let alone all the beautifully decorated sims. Simply amazing.

Yet despite the technical excellence, the stunning graphics, all the stuff that Second Life is offering, I see a lot of people stating groups like “I want story in my RP” or “Seeking RP” or whatever in their profiles. There must be an immense lack of RP or such groups would not be necessary. So… why is that?

Basically there are three main questions:

1) What is RP?

2) What is it that kills such RP in Second Life?

3) Where does RP take place?

I will provide an answer these questions at the end of this short essay. I do not claim to own the only truth on this, nor do I claim that these answers are the right ones. It’s just from my point of view, how I see it.

Before answering these questions, let’s go into detail. Let me outline a few thoughts and experiences, so you better understand the core issue.

As mentioned above, I had started RP long before joining SL, on text based platforms. No graphics, no meters, nothing. Yet, the best RP ever. How can that be, if that is so inferior compared to a platform like SL?

Let me present you sized down parts of three scenes of a longer RP of which I have kept the transcript. It demonstrates the concept and the execution. I just throw this at you as is, and comment on the scenes afterwards.

Shindia: Feels the threatening presence of the cruel killer who has been hunting her for days now and presses her tired body close against a huge tree that should give her enough cover.

BlackAssassin: Watches the woman disappearing at the edge of the forest and smiles, knowing he will get her soon. Without making a sound he moves forward, and when she has fully disappeared, and he is sure she cannot see him anymore, he changes direction, heading into the forest while accelerating his steps to a short sprint, still without making any sound.

Shindia: Takes a deep breath inhale and briefly closes her eyes, drops of sweat running down her burning skin. For days she has not been able to get rid of him. Her hand grabs the dagger and her fingers close around the hilt firmly, her pounding heart demands more breathing, yet she tries to suppress the urge, keeping it low, to not make any unnecessary sound.

BlackAssassin: Approaches the only tree that is wide enough to cover a body from the inside of the forest, still without making a sound, a long dagger in his hand, ready. For a moment he stops, holding his breath, listening intensely. In the next moment he jumps towards the other side of the tree, aims and presses the dagger against the throat of the dark haired woman, the sharp edge of the blade slightly cutting into her skin. “Where is Rune?” asks with a cold voice.

Shindia: Her heart misses a beat when the figure materializes right in front of her. In the same moment she feels the blade against her throat and her body tenses up, yet for a few seconds, that feel like eternity, she does not even dare to breathe. Her fingers slowly let go of her dagger as she slowly takes a deep breath, knowing she would be dead before she could even draw it. She can feel her blood pulsating in her veins, pushing them against the blade with each heartbeat, and swallows cautiously. “You know I would never tell you but…” pauses for a moment “…right here and now… I really don’t know.” Her dark eyes meet the cold, grey eyes of the killer. For about a minute both are staring at each other without any movement of the eyes.

BlackAssassin: Holds the look without showing any emotion in his face, then removes the dagger from her throat and quickly sheathes it. “You are not my target today, and I do only kill those I get paid for.” Tilts his head a bit and nods. “And today, you told me the truth.” Without further ado, he turns and dashes into the forest, again without making any notable sound.

Shindia: Keeps standing still for another minute, the tension in her body slowly fading, making her shiver. Her hand touches her throat and she swallows again. That was close.

THUG1: Sees the woman coming into range of his sword and lifts it, only to swing it in a horizontal curve, aiming for the neck of his victim.

THUG2: Stands a bit further away, his bow ready, aiming for the dark haired woman who they had been waiting for. The prize on her head was theirs. What a lucky day.

Shindia: Still shaky from the encounter with the killer, she notices the two attackers too late to avoid the attack. Hardened in countless fights, her reflexes are still present though. The sword approaches her and she turns her body to her left, grabbing the wrist of the attacker with both hands, stopping the movement effectively.

THUG1: Curses as his attack gets paraded and tries to retract his arm from the woman’s grip.

THUG2: Unleashes the arrow in the moment the woman holds the wrist of his companion, aiming for her now open, unprotected body.

Shindia: Sees the arrow flying in the twinkle of her eyes, but is not able to dodge it because she is locked in the position where she paraded the sword. A sharp pain runs through her body as the arrow hits her waist on her right side, making her growling in pain, tears instantly filling her eyes, blurring her view. She feels her legs getting weaker too. They will not carry her much longer. Warm blood soaks her tunic and her right hand automatically goes down, grabbing the shaft of the arrow that is sticking out of her body.

THUG1: “Great shot brother!” Manages to get his arm free now, since she holds him with only one hand now. He lifts his arm again, preparing a final blow.

BlackAssassin: Watches the fight from a short distance. “If you want to live, leave her be.” His dark, cold voice fills the air as he speaks lowly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Both hands each reveal a throwing dagger, ready to find their targets as precisely as ever.

THUG2: “Fuck… she is ours, you have no right to interrupt us!” He lifts his bow again and hastily draws an arrow out of the quiver.

THUG1: Turns his head and instantly stops the movement, standing there as if he turned to stone. Slowly he steps back. “I know about you, and your reputation… all fine, you can have her, of course. We go, just… let us go.” He turns towards his companion. “Stop it… we leave. It’s HIM.” Without any hesitation he starts running.

Shindia: Her eyes widen in surprise, hearing the voice she would always recognize again and again. Why would he save her now? While her thoughts start to go wild inside her head, the pain in her waist grows more intense and she feels her legs getting weaker and weaker. Finally she sinks down, unable to stand any longer. Her heart beats like a drum as her knees touch the mossy ground. She takes a breath and coughs, before the world around her turns to black.

BlackAssassin: Watches the thugs running away together and approaches Shin, kneeling down beside her, quickly looking at the wound. He sheathes the daggers again carefully, then puts his strong arms under her body, lifting her up as if she was light as a feather. “I said you will not die today, and I meant it. Let’s take you to a healer, I cannot save you. I have never learned how to heal. Only… how to kill.”

Syra: “Undress her, while I get herbs and my tools. Quick!” She looks at the unconscious body of the woman who is laying on the only table that in her hut that is big enough. She had to be fast. The blood loss must be immense by now.

Beril: “Undressing her?” his face turns red. “But…”

Syra: “Haven’t you seen a naked woman before?” yells with an angry voice while still trying to get everything she would need.

Beril: Swallows while his eyes helplessly wander over the woman’s body. Finally he grabs the blood soaked tunic at its lower end, cautiously and slowly trying to pull it upwards, which is not that easy with the injured woman laying on it.

Syra: Returns with her stuff and throws them onto a second, small table nearby, then shakes her head seeing Beril fiddling with the tunic. “Get away and sort my things… gosh. This cannot be that difficult, can it?” Takes her knife and cuts the tunic from top to bottom, ripping it apart quickly, exposing the naked, bleeding body of the woman that the assassin brought to her before leaving again without saying a word. What a strange person he was. “Now put my stuff in order quickly while I get some water, will you?”

Shindia: Blinks a few times as her senses are coming back gradually, but her vision is blurred, not being able to see clearly. There are voices, a yelling, and in a reflex she tries to get up. An intense pain tells her that this was a very bad idea. She coughs and shivers, her frail arms barely able to hold the weight of her upper body.

Beril: Gasps at the sight of Shin’s naked body as he watches her trying to get up. “No no no, you…” With his face glowing bright red now he tries to push the injured woman back down with his trembling hands, yet not really daring to touch her.

Syra: “By the gods! What the hell are you two doing here?” Furiously yells, pushes her assistant aside and presses Shindia back down firmly. “You stay put. If you die under my hands I will kill you, I promise!” Glares at her assistant. “And you – out of my sight. You may watch but don’t you get in my way now!”

In the first scene I am being chased by a killer, commonly known as the Black Assassin. He had already kept chasing me for some days without disclosing the reason behind. There had been several “almost” encounters before, and this time he finally confronts me. I could have written stuff to escape that situation. I could have noticed him despite him being so stealthy. Yet all that has led to this situation, demands the confrontation. No one forces me, no rules tell me that I have to confront him. Yet it feels right to me in this moment, so I go for it. Intuition and common sense.

The short fight that takes place afterwards is an example of how fights had been handled back then. On text based platforms, emoting is all there is, so the fights are taking place in emotes of course. Key here is, again, common sense, intuition, making realistic movements and the sanity to realize when winning is not a valid option anymore. I am not Wonder Woman. I am a normal human, vulnerable, not invincible. I have some skills, but also weaknesses.

RP is give and take. Strength and weakness. Light and darkness. Joy and sadness. Friends and foes. Winning and losing. And it is ever blurring and changing back and forth between the respective two contraries. A flow. A balance. We win, we lose, we laugh, we cry, we are happy, then sad. Through this, we learn, we evolve.

I could have chosen to dodge the arrow. But would that be realistic to dodge an arrow while being locked in position, defending a sword attack with both hands? Not for a normal human. Not for me.

The assistant of the healer is a clumsy, yet warm hearted young man who wants to become a healer. He has still so much to learn. Scenes with him were epic. It is so refreshing to have characters with such weaknesses. In fact, we all have them, right? Time to show them also in RP. Makes us, our characters, so much more alive and realistic.

After that scene, I had been in the hands of the healer for the following 4 weeks. Yes, that long. During that time, many new storylines emerged, from visitors coming, friends, foes. And many more epic scenes with Beril and Syra! Still have got tears in my eyes, laughing when thinking back. And after I had been fully healed, I had tons of options to continue with new storylines that had all been started during this time under Syra’s care. And at the same time I needed to learn what had happened in the meantime in those 4 weeks. So much to do, so many people to meet, to talk to.

And then there was still the Black Assassin, a fighter with a scaring reputation for being a deadly killer who almost never fails. Why did he save me in that moment? I had to find out. I had been asking everyone I had met during my infirmary time but no one knew. So I had to wait for him to appear again, wait for another confrontation to, maybe, get an answer. Uncertainty, speculations. Exciting story.

And all that without any meter, without any stats. Yet I was injured severely. We did not need any stats or numbers for that. It was just born out of the situation. The thugs ran away when they saw the assassin coming. Why, and how did this work? Who told them to do so?

No one did. Key is – everyone involved was aware that no one is invincible. People were willing to win and to lose, respectively, depending on the realism of the scene they were in. Fights can get won, lost, and there are enemies that, in certain situations, are just in a better position and a fight would not be wise. Again – it’s just been done with sanity, common sense and the willingness to remain realistic. Should still be possible nowadays, shouldn’t it?

No rules had ever been needed for any of us throughout all these years. No rules, no meters, nothing. There was just a story that got more and more exciting. Interesting enough, also no griefers. Whoever joined, had been included and was automatically willing to participate, or left the scene quickly without much noise, when realizing it was not for him/her.

This leads to, as I see it, one of the main issues in SL RP. Rules and meters.

Visiting a new land – you have to read rules, rules, rules. Do this, do that, don’t do this, oh, and never do that. Or you will be banned. Wear this meter, wear that meter. Rules, ban threatening, orders, prohibitions. Many of them. Hey, after that, any immersion I might have had when entering the place is gone.

Meter based fighting – in my eyes, has nothing to do with RP. How can we pierce our opponents with hundreds of arrows, only for them to stand up afterwards and run around as if nothing had happened? Not even a scratch?

What are healers for anyway? Everyone seems to be invincible. Rules often say – binding and such, minimum RP of 3 sentences or so. Huh? After downing someone with a dozen arrows, binding is not even necessary. That person is dead. Very dead.

So, fighting in SL meter based RP has no consequences at all. People have the mightiest weapons, try to look fierce and forbidding, and in the end they do less damage with their oh so mighty weapons than they did with a toothpick. Ridiculous, huh?

That is why people start fights for nothing. No consequences. Like in a shooter game, killing NPCs and just moving on. What is that useful for anyway? Such figths, and their outcome, depend a lot on the technical specifications of the PC that is being used, the internet speed, sim lag, script count, graphics settings, whatever. Has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with any storyline. And such fights, regardless of the outcome, almost never generate an even halfway usable storyline either. Just frustration, accusations, cheating, banning, quarrel.

No surprise there – I mean, how to make a story out of a fight where everyone got hit by hundreds of arrows, or got mown down by melee weapons, without suffering any injuries afterwards. What kind of story to make out of this?

Lets try…

With fast steps she approaches the warrior who, after the short battle, is still laying there on the ground (in a red, immersive bubble). “Hey, let me help you getting up, you have a dozen arrows in your back, they must hurt you if you keep laying on them!” giggles and extends her hand.

Not good? Then maybe rather something like:

(After having been hit by at least 30 arrows, again in that immersive red bubble): He lays down on the ground, moaning, looking around how to get out of this. He sees the victorious warrior approaching him, listening to his words. “You are my captive now, you are under arrest.” Instantly he gets bound and is being dragged towards a dark cell. Someone else then yells “Invalid – less than 3 lines of RP!!”

Seriously? I leave it as is. You can see for yourself, how ridiculous that is.

Exceptions are game-like events, for example Capture the flag, Capture the leader, mock raids, fun stuff. These kind of activities have their own category. That is not RP, though. That is more like a fun event in costumes. I love that too, it is fun. But not RP.

I remember, back in June 2007. En Tarsha Ra of the WaNgao approached me for my admission to the WaNgao tribe. There were several tests to pass. One of them was doing a fight only using emotes. Yes, correct. A fight only using emotes. At that time, and coming from a text based platform anyway, that was normal for me, and I just did that without paying much attention to it, or wondering why this had even been asked for. I just did it.

But then, some years afterwards, with the level of RP in SL still full speed on its downhill journey, I grasped the importance of that, and the lack thereof throughout SL. Something that has been forgotten among the stunning graphics: Emoting is more powerful than the most beautiful sim, more powerful than the mightiest scripted weapon ever can be.

Which now gives you the answers of the questions I asked you at the beginning.

1) What is RP?
I think, to each of us it is something different, which is the main issue. But I would dare to claim that RP is best being defined as vivid storytelling. You become part in a novel that is being written in realtime, and all participants are the authors. Everyone has the ingredients to create this story. Give and take. Win and lose. Strength and weakness. A balanced story. Where people seriously care for each other, where healers are really needed and important, where realism and common sense win over meter stats.

Language is an issue of course. All participants need to be able to communicate, to express themselves and to understand what is going on. Without words, no book. Without words, no story based RP. That is just a fact. Translators can help a lot here. And people need to try to learn the vocabulary. Not much that can be done about this. Without words, no story.

2) What kills such RP in SL?
Meters, and too many rules. When there is no sanity anymore amongst players, no common sense, no characters who have strengths AND weaknesses, when everyone wants to win and wants to be more fierce and reckless than the rest, when meters instead of the story decide the outcome of a fight, when wearing a “wrong” meter disqualifies you from taking part in this, then no true RP is possible.
RP in SL is being killed by turning it into a shooter-like game experience. These games can be fun and have their own right to exist, but it is not RP. And combining a shooter game with a vivid, story based RP is a task that is very hard to accomplish, if not impossible (see the meter based fight scenes described above).

Aside that – almost all of my best storylines I got started in moments when I was weak or when someone else was weak, and needed help. There was plenty of room then for emotions, feelings like love, hate, joy, pain, all that, and that led to exciting storylines. No way to express that with meters. No way to include personal traits into meter stats.

We had fellow players who portrayed warriors who had been suffering from vertigo.

And in scenes where this factor became relevant, they just could not fight anymore, or only very handicapped, becoming easy prey. How to ever express that in meter stats? Impossible. But these traits, weaknesses, individual features and characteristics, these are the most important ingredients leading to a truly exciting story. Individual, inner conflicts. When certain situations make people hesitating, retreating, or advancing even more, becoming violent even. Much needed. Yet impossible to implement in meter based games.

And in SL, also often the age of an account becomes a factor (on some sims it says “you have to be at least 60 days old to play here”). We did not see the age of an account back then on that text based platform, and, believe it or not, it was of no interest to anyone. If a new player joined, and could successfully portray an experienced warrior with deadly skills, why not?

Back then, newbies to RP often automatically chose to take it slow until they got more secure and experienced. Sanity, remember? Common sense. Only portray a character that is in you. A character you can truly be from within, with heart and soul. Portray someone whose actions are familiar to you and that you can describe and execute in a convincing manner. Someone you can identify with. And then stick to it. Live and learn, get history and depth. And it had always been an exciting process for them to learn more skills through experience, skills that were backed up by actions, witnessed by other players. That gave them a great reputation also, and created feelings in other players when such a player then appeared in a scene.

“Careful, it is HIM…” she whispered to her companion when they noticed the huge warrior walking by, impressively dressed in his furs that made his muscular arms stand out even more. “I saw him killing two bandits last week with his bare hands!”

Everyone can learn it. Some faster, some need more time. Key is to learn how to express yourself, your feelings, your soul. It just needs dedication and the willingness to learn and adopt.

At this point – kudos and my deepest respect to all the villains I have had the joy to RP with in all these years. You know who you are. So desperately needed for any exciting storyline. And even they had their good sides in certain situations. Without them, it would not have been the same.

Finally there is a very short answer to question 3.

3) Where does RP take place?

In all our imaginative, creative minds.

Thank you for reading!
Shindia Forcella

Seaport of Teletus Grand Opening and Schedule of Events.

Posted on 16 August 2022 by gazetteofgor

The vibrant city of Teletus Seaport welcomes you. Port of call to those braving the Thassa. The good, the bad, and the merchants all invite you to start your Gorean journey here. New adventure await! BTB Roleplay.

We will have many EVENTS as part of the Opening Ceremony of the city, lasting from Friday 19th of August to Sunday 21st of August, all are welcome!

This is the schedule of EVENTS that will be happening during those three days:

FRIDAY: August 19, 11:00 am SLT-5:00 pm SLT
Opening Events:

Trade Fair 11:00 am-Onwards, on the docks and in the village
Pie eating context 12:00 – 1:00 pm – 1st place L$1,000
3 Archery Tournament 1:00 pm – 1st place L$2,000 2nd place L$1,000
Sword Tournament 3:00 pm – 1st place L$2,000 2nd place L$1,000

SATURDAY: August 20, 11:00-9:00 pm am SLT

Trade Fair 11:00 am-Onwards, on the docks and in the village
Archery Tournament 1:00 pm – 1st place L$2,000 2nd place L$1,000
Sword Tournament 3:00 pm – 1st place L$2,000 2nd place L$1,000
Tavern night at the Salty Sleen Tavern – 5:00 pm (Drinking, cards, dices, stones games and beautiful slaves to entertain you.)
Fireside Story Night 7:00 pm – Onwards.

SUNDAY: August 21, 11:00 am SLT-5:00 pm SLT

Trade Fair 11:00 am-Onwards, on the docks and in the village
Slave Dance Exhibition 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Masquerade Ball 1:00 pm-3:00 pm ((OOC))
Best Dressed Photo Contest at Masquerade Ball Winners 3:00 pm – 1st place L$ 2,000
Best Teletus Photo Contest Winner 3:15 pm – 1st place L$ 1,500

Additional stuff:
Tent with games.

COME AND JOIN US! WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING YOU!

Tyrone Martis (tyrone74)

6 The Big Lizard

Posted on 17 July 2022 by gazetteofgor

Tajjana stepped out of her cabin behind the tavern just as Barba appeared. She wore a net top that barely covered her breasts and a black loin cloth. She was armed with a long and short knife in sheaths on her waist along with a forest bow and a full quiver of arrows. She carried a canoe paddle loosely in her hand.

“Good morning,” greeted Tajjana cheerfully.

“Greetings. You look lovely this morning. You ready to go?”

“Yes, I am. You like?” she asked as she twirled for her inspection. Tajjana wore a black travel camisk. It was two lengths of material that went over each shoulder to cover her breasts. It was tied with a sturdy rope low on her waist. The material hung down to barely cover her privates and butt. She knew Barba enjoyed her wearing this mostly because it was easy to strip off of her if she wanted to take her. “I wore this one because I know you like it. Makes it easier for you to take me,” she said boldly.

Barba laughed and said, “My, you are in a mood this morning.”

“Always,” giggled Tajjana.

“Come. I want to get going. I want you to see a beach just to the north of here.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

Along the pier outside of the tavern was a canoe. Barba got in and reached up to help Tajjana in. Once she was situated, Barba sat in the back, untied the canoe from the pier, and grabbed the paddle. In no time at all, they were out in the Great Ocean heading north hugging along the coast. Cliffs lined the coast until they soon came upon white powdery sand on a secluded beach.

“These are lovely beaches that stretch to the north for quite a ways. I often come here to exercise, practice with my weapons and relax..”

“It is nice,” commented Tajjana.

Tajjana was amazed at Barba’s raw power. Her muscles rippled and bulged as she paddled along. She cut through the water and propelled them with ease. Tajjana was simply amazed. Just like all of the Panthers of the Shekinah Arani Tribe, Barba was well conditioned and strong. She didn’t even get tired paddling. She used long strokes to move them easily through the water.

Tajjana leaned back and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze and the sun beating down on her body. Barba steered the canoe closer to shore as they reached the sandy coast of a wide bay with mountains all around.

Barba was just starting to raise a sweat when she suddenly turned in and bumped the canoe up on a wide sandy beach. She hopped out and grabbed her bow and arrows.

“Tajjana! Help me get this boat up there along the tree line. Hurry!” Barba was looking out towards the ocean and then turned back to the canoe.

Tajjana sprang into action, jumped out of the canoe and helped pull it into some tall grass. She couldn’t figure out why there was such a rush though.

She turned to Barba just as she held a finger up to her lips, motioning her to be quiet. Barba handed her a palm frond.

“Help me cover the canoe drag marks in the sand.”

Tajjana did as instructed, following along with Barba as they backtracked and wiped the sand clean leaving no sign they were ever there.

They tossed the palm fronds aside. Then Barba gestured for her to follow. Tajjana nodded that she understood as they made their way into the tall grass off of the beach.

Barba came to a stop under a giant palm tree and went into a crouch. She reached over and grabbed Tajjana, pulling her alongside as she urged her to crouch also. Barba then pointed at her eye, then extended her arm out, her finger extended, and directed Tajjana’s attention to look through the tall grass alongside the tree. She pointed at a spot somewhere further up the beach.

Tajjana noticed her silent growl as she reached for her long knife, putting her palm on the butt of it, ready to pull it if need be.

Tajjana’s gaze went to where Barba pointed. Through the grass she spotted a boat beached on the sand. It was a large boat with a square prow. It had bumped up to the beach just a little ways from where they were.

Barba reached out, grabbed Tajjana’s wrist and pulled her so they were behind a nearby palm tree. Barba whispered into Tajjana’s ear, “Stay close to me and out of sight behind this tree. Quiet. We don’t want to be spotted until we know what we are facing.”

Tajjana nervously nodded as she watched the strange boat.

The front part of it had folded down and was resting on the sandy part of the beach. The back of the boat was still in the water.

Barba whispered, “I do not know who that is, Tajjana. There are no boats like that in the areas around Port Falworth. They appear to be from somewhere else. From some other land. A weird shaped boat. I wonder what brings them here.”

Tajjana whispered back, “I have never seen anything like it either.”

Tajjana peered around the tree intently and spotted a large cage in the front of the boat. There were two tall thin men with pointy beards in the boat behind where the cage was. They both wore strange clothes. Neither of them made any effort to get out. One man went to the front and lowered a ramp. One of them climbed up on top of the cage. Once the other clambered back into the boat on top of the cage to join the other one, he reached over and pulled up a a grated opening that faced the beach.

Something came out once the gate was raised!

Just as it did, the two pointy bearded men quickly slammed the cage gate back down in place, went and raised the front ramp back up, clicked it back in place. They went back to their original rowing positions. In no time at all, they pushed themselves back out into the ocean and departed as fast as they could row their strange craft.

Both Barba and Tajjana peered around from behind the tree as they watched the unknown men leave, quickly making their way back out into the deep ocean.

Both of them had went unnoticed by the strange men.

Barba slung her sheath of arrows on her back and put her bow on her shoulder. She checked her knives again to make sure they were in place and within reach.

Then they both directed their attention back to the beach and looked around the tree through the tall grass, trying to find out what that was that came out of the cage. They decided to remain hidden until they could figure out what was going on and what it all meant.

They both looked in wide mouthed horror as they saw what was released!

It was four legged. It was very large, with a long lizard like tail. Ir was a burnt orange color with yellow spots. Tajjana watched as it opened its mouth. Teeth. Very sharp teeth lined its mouth. As it turned its head, Barba noticed green reptilian eyes.

A lizard of some kind!

A very large, fully grown lizard! About seven foot long.

Barba and Tajjana remained motionless. They watched as it turned away, started to move up the beach away from them. But then it suddenly stopped. It’s reptilian body tensed. It raised its long muzzle snout and held it up in the air, its long forked tongue flicking in and out. It was trying to smell out something. It turned its head back and forth, flicked its forked tongue a few times, then turned and started to scamper back towards Barba and Tajjana!

Barba shrieked. She grabbed Tajjana’s hand and pulled hard.

“Quick, Tajjana! Come!”

Tajjana leaped to her feet as Barba yanked her to her feet and urged her to follow. She let go of her hand as she started to run.

Tajjana screamed angrily as she kept close as possible behind Barba. She chanced a glance behind her. For such a large lizard, it moved very fast, intent on its prey. It was starting to close the distance between them rapidly!

Barba suddenly stopped. She realized she was cut off. The lizard had maneuvered so that it ended up between them and their canoe.

Barba grabbed Tajjana’s hand again, jerked her hard and they went the other way, hoping to get into the nearby forest and hide. “Quick, Tajjana! This way!”

The lizard was in hot pursuit. In no time at all, they quickly realized they had again miscalculated. They were cornered up against the cliffs with nowhere to go. it moved purposely after them! The monster lizard’s long split tongue flicking in and out, as if tasting the air, savored the scent. It clearly wanted to consume whatever it was that caught its taste senses. It was hunting them! There were nothing but prey!

Barba looked around frantically. She spotted a large palm tree alongside the cliff and pulled Tajjana over to it. She started to climb with Tajjana staying close behind her. At a certain height, she reached down and back for Tajjana when she started to lag behind. Tajjana screamed her fright as she reached up. Barba grabbed her hand and tugged hard, putting as much muscle as she had into it.

Barba pulled her up effortlessly. And just in time. The lizard was close and had lunged at Tajjana. She was essentially pulled away from its sharp jaws. The lizard’s mouth snapped shut on empty air!

Motivated by fear, Tajjana suddenly learned how to climb faster, following close behind Barba as she expertly moved up the tree. They finally reached some low branches and rested, both of them panting, almost exhausted.

Tajjana was covered with sweat. She saw Barba panting for air. She slumped down momentarily, clearly winded and trying to catch a much needed respite. She reached over and held her to make sure she didn’t fall. She nodded her appreciation for Tajjana catching her just in time; and the concern for her welfare. She reached over and patted Tajjana’s arm, thanking her with a smile.

They both looked down. It was just in time. The lizard tried to scamper up the palm tree trunk, trying to reach them. Sharp talons dug in and gave the lizard purchase as it edged closer to them!

Tajjana reached over and ripped a stout palm frond out of the upper part of the tree. When the lizard’s muzzle reached up and tried to get at them, Tajjana whacked hard down on its snout and between its evil uncaring eyes. Tajjana was frantic as she continued to whack it as hard as she could, knowing that it wasn’t doing much good, but she wanted to try to at least distract it and keep it away.

Even though the situation was perilous and dire, Barba chuckled out loud as Tajjana kept smacking the lizard without any effect at all. She was clearly amused.

Tajjana looked over at Barba. She couldn’t figure out what was so funny. Horror was etched on Tajjana’s face as she smacked it frantically with the palm frond.

But her tactic worked! The lizard actually ended up losing its grip. Talons came loose from the tree and it slammed down on the dirt, laying there stunned for a moment.

Barba exclaimed gleefully, “Good work, Tajjana! That was fast thinking!”

In a panic, she looked around. Then her gaze was directed upwards.

“Come, Tajjana. We need to climb higher up. Stay on the side of this tree that is closest to the cliff.”

Tajjana didn’t know if she had any strength left, but in her exhausted condition, she somehow managed to climb the huge tall palm tree to get up higher. To safety.

Barba found some footholds on the cliff face and motioned Tajjana to follow her closely, pointing down to show her exactly where to step and put her toes to gain purchase.

In no time at all, they had scaled up the cliff.

Both lay on their stomachs on the top of the cliff, exhausted and covered in sweat, unable to move. Finally, after a short rest, Tajjana was able to crawl over to the side and look down. She looked all over and spotted the evil monster lizard trudging along the beach heading away from them towards where it was first released, it’s snout up in the air, tongue flicking, sniffing, trying to smell and find Barba and Tajjana again.

Apparently, in its small lizard brain, it moved along at a leisure pace and quickly forgot about them. It slowly trudged further away from them.

Satisfied that they were out of danger, Tajjana went over to Barba. She was covered in sweat and dirt, just beginning to recover and sit up. Tajjana checked her for injuries. There were none.

Barba nodded and started to rise. Tajjana helped her up and looked around. There appeared to be a large stack of long and thin logs in the overgrown grass. The foundations for log buildings appeared to have been started on top of this cliff along with the construction materials to finish building something. From what it looked like, that was long ago. This place had long since been abandoned. Whatever was planned for here clearly never got completed.

Barba sensed Tajjana’s confused look and pointed out, “Eventually, the Panthers planned to build a hunting lodge here. But other things took priority and we had to put it off until a later time.”

Tajjana nodded.

“Come,” said Barba as she pointed. “I know the way down from here. We should get back. Warn the Panthers this creature is on the loose. And come up with some kind of a plan to kill it.”

Tajjana nodded, exhausted and almost worn out.

Tajjana followed the strong Panther, but she stopped abruptly, frozen with a fearful look on her face. Tajjana peered over her muscular shoulders and brought a fist up to her mouth, bit on the knuckles, wide eyed and let out a shriek of frustration.

The monstrous lizard was trudging up the cliff side path towards them! And it was the only way up or down off of this cliff!

Tajjana said, “We can’t go back down to the beach the way we came. it’s too treacherous.”

Barba nodded and bit her lip.

Both Barba and Tajjana looked around. No way out! Trapped!

Barba motioned Tajjana to come join her closer to the pile of wooden poles. Tajjana quickly went over and joined her in a crouch, turning back to peer over the top of them at the path. Tajjana watched as Barba slung her bow off of her shoulder. With her other hand, she reached up and back, her bicep bulging as she pulled an arrow out and expertly notched it, intently watching the top of the path where the lizard would appear. She made sure she had access to all of her arrows before she raised the weapon, drew back, her arm tensed with powerful muscle, a sneer on her face as she grit her teeth and concentrated her aim at where she assumed the giant lizard would appear at the top of the trail.

In no time at all, the evil lizard’s head popped up. It was now a known fact that once this lizard set its eyes on something it wanted, it refused to relent and let it go. Apparently, even though high up on a cliff, it had sniffed out both Barba and Tajjana again with flicks of its forked and split tongue, tasting the air. It remembered. It wanted them. And it wanted them badly.

Tajjana was beside herself in frustration, not having any weapons. She glanced around again. Nothing to defend herself with. There was nowhere left to run and hide!

As it came towards them, Barba screamed her rage and fired three arrows in quick succession. They all bounced off of its thick hide. It had no effect on the beast!

Tajjana reached down and grabbed a piece of wood. While it was heading for Barba, Tajjana came close to its blind side and whacked it hard on the head.

KLONK!

It didn’t do anything to the big lizard. It roared and spun towards Tajjana.

Tajjana screamed as it came straight at her, its jaws snapping hungrily.

Barba let fly more arrows, but none of them could pierce the thick hide on the evil creature.

Tajjana threw her piece of wood at the beast. It bounced off. The lizard kept coming after her.

She backed up towards where Barba was and then found another long pole, reached down, grabbed and struggled to heft it up. It was about eight feet long and a little heavier than the last one she had in her hands. Tajjana strained to hold it up. She could barely manage wielding it.

As the monster got closer, Tajjana nudged at the beast with the long pole, keeping it at bay. Tajjana wanted to make sure it did not get any closer. Not with those sharp pointy teeth. The lizard snapped at the end of the long pole, but missed. It tried to go around it, but Tajjana screamed as she readjusted her stance and made sure the vile lizard was prodded and kept back. She needed to make sure they were out of reach of its sharp teeth. Teeth that wanted to chew to consume them!

The lizard, in a blind rage, mad with hunger, charged at her. Luckily, Tajjana anticipated the headlong rush and was able to heft it up, move it to the side a bit, and jam the end of it down its muzzle as it opened its mouth. The lizard snapped its jaws shut as Tajjana shoved hard, trying to ram the long pole down its throat as far as she could.

The moment this happened, Barba saw what Tajjana was doing and screamed out her blind rage, dropped her bow and arrow, came over next to Tajjana, grabbed the pole and tried to help push the lizard back with the pole stuck in its mouth. It was hoped that they could knock it over the side of the cliff. But they got nowhere trying to move the monster! It was way too strong. It ended up pushing them backwards instead. Even with their combined strength they were unable to move it.

Tajjana glanced quickly around behind her. She motioned for Barba to move back and hold the pole while Tajjana would guide it over between a narrow opening between two trees. Tajjana pointed behind them.

Barba nodded that she immediately understood as Tajjana screamed, “Let it push us back in between these trees! In the narrow gap there! Once in there? We push the pole over towards the right! Using the trees! It will give us leverage!”

Barba screamed as she put more muscle into it. She fully understood what Tajjana intended to do. Barba shouted, “YES! Push hard, Tajjana! I will re-position over to your side and help push as hard as I can to the right along with you!”

All the while the lizard was roaring a strangled cry of rage mixed with a loud hiss. It clearly didn’t like the piece of wood shoved into its mouth.

“NOW!” Tajjana screamed.

Barba came over to join Tajjana on her side. She got a firm grip of the pole. Both of them put muscle into it, gritting their teeth, hissing out loud as they exerted and tried to summon more power. They both shoved and pushed, using the trees as a fulcrum to leverage the lizard. They had high hopes of slinging it over the side of the mountain top. It was their only chance!

They heaved and screamed and pushed. The beast slowly slid in the dirt and sand, scrabbling with its taloned paws, trying to gain purchase, but it couldn’t seem to stop both Barba and Tajjana from guiding it where they wanted it to go. Over the side of the cliff! Nor could it seem to let go of the pole with his sharp teeth embedded in it.

They were successful! As the beast went over the side, Tajjana let go of the pole, grabbed Barba, pulled her away, and screamed, “LET GO! STEP BACK!”

They both tried to move back and drop down low out of the way. Tajjana realized things were happening too fast, so she snarled out loud as she tackled Barba. They rolled in the dirt. And it was just in time. The pole snapped around just missing them. It went through the air over their heads, rattled around between the two trees and finally clattered over the side of the cliff. It disappeared from view. Along with the horribly large reptile.

They heard the lizard roar as it went over the side. They lost sight of it as it went over the side!

Both of them heard the crash and quickly went over to look down. The lizard was on its back with its legs up in the air. The tail nervously swished. Blood coated the sand.

It twitched its final death throe with a loud hiss. Then came a loud exhale of air. It’s clawed paws scrabbled at the air a few times. It finally went still.

Motionless.

It was dead.

Barba and Tajjana quickly went down the path from the cliff to the beach. In no time at all, they appeared next to the dead lizard. They stopped and looked at the large dead creature.

Without a word, Barba stepped on top of it. She raised her fists up in the air, shook them, took a deep breath and then screamed and pounded her chest in savage elation.

When she finished, clearly happy with the kill, she looked over at Tajjana.

Tajjana had went to the canoe and retrieved a large fur and spread it out on the beach. She then reached down and untied her belt and removed her camisk.

Barba took off her weapons, top and bottom and joined her.

They fell on the furs and made love.

6 (Port Falworth)

Barba and Tajjana talked about their adventure to all the other assembled Panthers at the campfire the next night after they rested from their ordeal.

The large monster lizard was identified as a sleen. A very large one.

The Panthers were mystified as to how that large sleen ended up there. Because sleens were usually on the mainland. Never on the island.

And this one was unusually large. They were usually left alone. But this one had been caught and released at Port Falworth.

It brought up more questions than answers every time they tried to figure out a reason for all of it.

To this day, it is still not known who the two thin pointy bearded ones were, or where they came from. Or even their motivations for letting the monster sleen loose in Port Falworth.

There are two ideas about what happened on that day.

The first is that it was an attack by a neighboring unknown tribe who were hostile to the Shekinah Arana Panthers. To unleash a savage giant sleen upon a peaceful land. All in order to cause havoc. A land that had never seen this type of sleen before.

The second theory is that possibly these strange people were harassed and plagued by this particular vicious sleen. They had set out traps to catch it in their lands. Once caged, the two thin pointy bearded men took it and went to release it elsewhere and let it go. They decided to let it loose somewhere else away from them. Rather than kill it.

Whatever the reason, it remained a mystery. The Panthers knew they needed to be vigilant in the future for this type of threat if it should happen again.

Chapter Six