Yoshi

The market is always fun. So many things to see, so many colors and so many people. There is nothing like it in the world. The bright red of the awnings over the open stalls competed with the riot of color found on the merchandise and clothing of the sellers and the buyers alike. We were going to get rice and fresh fish. The market place is full of life and full of noise. It is a fun place. I had many friends there it is one of the best places to meet, a fun place to play while mom shopped for the things that we need.

Today is different dad, came with Mom and I to do our shopping. I decided to stay close. Dad always convinced Mom to get me a treat. That made today special.

The market street is full as always but the tension is so thick that even I could feel it. The people in the street walked with heads bowed never looking more the a few feet in front of their shoes. The tension stemmed from the presence of so many armed Samurai walking though out the market. The people are afraid of them. I had been told that I was not allowed to look them in the eye. If I did they would kill me. I was very frightened.

"We should be quick," I heard my dad whisper to my mother.

"I think that you are right," I heard her reply, “Yoshi I don’t want you to run off today. We need to leave as soon as we can.”

The air filled with screams and a terrible noise. A spray of rich red blood misted the air. Several people near me including my mother were ripped open and hurled bleeding to the ground. Grabbing me my father pushed me down to the ground and underneath a vendor's street cart. He then rolled under the cart himself. It all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye my happy exciting day dissolved into a nightmare of blood and horror.

I saw him, I saw my mother's killer. He was dressed as and carrying the weapons of a Samurai but instead of the traditional black and gold of our local colors he wore the white and green of a rival lord. His weapon was still blazing a way as he randomly killed people in the street. It looked like he was aiming at the local Samurai but not caring whom his bullets killed his body jerked and went into convulsions as he was buried under a hail of returning fire. Many people in the crush surrounding him also fell. Samurai don’t care about the common people they only care about putting bullets into their rivals. Gunfire erupted from the buildings surrounding he market and poured down into the street indiscriminately killing Samurai and commoner alike. I saw one of the local Samurai scream something into his radio. I could not here what was said. The noise from the automatic weapons was too loud to even hear what my father was screaming to me.

We were laying on top of a heavy sheet of metal. Father pushed me off of it then heaving it over so that it leaned against the side of the building creating a small space between the metal and the building. He reaching over he pulled me into the space behind the sheet. I think that he may have intended to get behind the cover but I will never know for sure because the act of pulling me to safety put his head in the line of fire. I can only hope that he did not feel the bullets that splattered his brain all over my face.

I could here it coming now, I could hear the coming of the helicopters that were bring the provinces reinforcements. The, helicopter bust into view over the top of the building this was not a troop transport but a gun ship. It opened fire with rockets into the windows of the buildings effectively ending the gunfire coming from the building. Most of the rivals were down on the street now trying to finish off the locals. The helicopter then raked the street with fire from its pulse laser cannon turning a street once full of life into a road of death.

The sheet of metal that my father placed in front of me to protect me served its job well the metal glowed from the energy that it had absorbed.

Peering cautiously around the metal I looked out on the scene of destruction. I saw the destruction all of the dead littering the street. For a moment I thought that I was the only one alive. Then I saw them they them. There were some samurai that were still alive but they were not ours they were from the rival province. They were looking or something watching they pulled one old lady from the rubble. Without a sound one of them drew his sword for its sheath and decapitated her with a fluid stoke. Knowing that had to hide I crouched behind the sheet of metal.

I can't stay here, I have to leave if I stay here they will find me and kill me.

Crouching I again peered around the metal there were four of them left alive. It looked like we five were the only ones on the street. They are getting closer. They are looking my way. I can't leave now. I need to wait until they look the other way.

They are looking away now is my chance.

Bolting from behind the steel I ran my fastest.

I am gonna die. They are gonna kill me. They are going shot me in the back.

"There goes one. Shot her before she can get away."

The bullets snapped around me but they did not touch me. Not understanding but not caring I keep running.

"Stop her! We can't let her get away."

Still running flat out I could hear them pounding the street behind me. They were chasing me. There was not anything I could do about running as fast as I could I was not fast enough. They are right behind me now I can almost feel their breath.

I can’t escape. It is so miserably unfair. Why do they want me dead? I don't understand. These people killed my mother.

Fear frustration and anger grew in me. Fueling the muscles in my legs causing me to pull ahead of the samurai.

I can’t escape. I am just not fast enough. They are going to kill me. Fine, if they are going to kill me then I want them to know that I am not afraid to look them in the eyes.

Turning and looking them in the eye I screamed my hate and defiance into here faces. I poured all of the energy that I had into that scream.

The scream hit them with a physical force all of them flew backwards though the air and smashed into vendor carts and bouncing of the walls and the ground. Two of the four lay very still with their heads and limbs twisted at unnatural angels. The third died painfully impaled on a broken pole that once held a merchant's sign. The fourth still moved. His hand reached for his pistol at his belt. Without thought I grabbed the sword that fell at my feet the one they were going to kill me with and ran closer to the nearly broken samurai.

I have to get there before he can get his gun out.

Concentrating on that one thought I forced my legs to move faster than they had ever moved before.

Movement and motion seemed to slow. Just a couple more feet. Almost there. The gun came up the sword sweep down just as his gun lined up on my chest his hand spun off his arm and bounce a couple of time on the ground. The sword swept down again and again. With out finesse and without style I hacked his body until he stopped moving.

As soon as his body stopped moving I ran as fast as I could.
I ran as fast as I could until I got to the end of the market street. The area was completely deserted It seemed the all the people were afraid to be on the street. I can’t say that I blame them. I was on the street and I did not want to be there. I wanted to be off the street. Looking around quickly I tried to see were to go. I could not see anywhere that looked safe.

I can’t stay here. I can’t stay here. Where do I go? I can’t go anywhere. I killed him I killed them. They will find me and they will kill me.

I awoke with a scream of frustration and to the sound of loose objects and Dan crashing down to the ground. Dan bounced off the bed and onto the floor.

Stifling a groan he said, “another one?”

“Yeah, the market again.”

Dan pulled himself off the floor and sat down on our bed next to me. I felt his arms wrap around me and was comforted by his presence and his warm silence. The fear slowly faded as I relaxed into his arms. I had just about got to sleep when it struck me.

“Dan I am sorry about the levitation.”

“No worries Yoshi, sometimes I like to sleep above the covers.”

That is Dan’s strange sense of humor. We had been married for two years and still I could not predict when he would say something completely off the wall like that. I could not help but to giggle just a bit before sleep overtook me once more.

Dungons and Dragons 4 Evaluation1

What can I say about Dungeons and Dragons fourth edition?

Well I must say, that at first I was skeptical and in many ways I still am. I am just going to have to play to see how I like it. I like the concept of at will powers. These are spells and abilities that Characters can use at once per combat round at will. Other more powerful powers can be used once per encounter. Read that as fight. This gives each of the player classes some serious teeth. I think that the wizard class benefits from this change the most. In older editions Wizards just had a few spell that they could cast a couple of times per “Day” then they were out of spells and became more a liability rather than an asset.

Dungeons and Dragons fourth edition introduces a couple of new races and new classes to the game. Dragonborn are the first of the new races. Dragonborn are the offspring of dragons and humans. They are heirs of a fallen empire and believe that honor is more important than life. Another introduced race is the Tiefling (okay so they are not exactly new but they have never been this detailed before). The human ancestors to the Tieflings were the noble class of an ancient empire. To control the vast lands they conqured the humans entered into a pact with devils. The offspring were Tieflings. The Tiefling and dragonborn empires clashed for decades causing the fall of both. Both races have interesting abilities and both would be fun to play.

D and D 4 also introduces a couple of new classes the Warlord and the Warlock. The Warlord looks fun. A lot of the Warlords powers effect the tactical movement of the fight. To be honest to play a warlord effectively you really do need a combat map even if it is just a piece of graph paper. The Warlock is a spin on Wizard. More focused on curses then on spells. They did a way with monks and sorcerers. Not sure why both classes were fun to play. I understand that some GM’s had a hard time with monks. Again, I am not sure why.

Tiffany is already working on a character concept. She would like to play a Tiefling Paladin.

WotC has deliberately left the world blank they have not fleshed out the campain world with detail they tell you that they have made certain assumptions and the rest is up to the GM. I am sure that will be changing in the near future as I am sure that they would like to sell more books. I am not sure how they are going to transfer there established worlds. The assumptions the WotC tell you that they have made are: The World Is a Fantastic Place, The world is Ancient, The World is Mysterious, Monsters Are Everywhere, Adventurers Are Exceptional, The civilized Races Band Together, Magic is not Everyday but it is Natural, Gods and Primordials Shaped the World, and Gods are Distant.

The World is Fantastic, well duh. It is a fantasy Game.


The world is Ancient. Empires have risen and have fallen. The last empire one dominated by humans but welcoming to all civilized races recently fell. It was beset by orcs and demons. The emperor and his heirs were assassinated and the empire fell into ruin. Splintering into duchies principalities, city states and the like. There of course are some tensions between the smaller kingdoms. Most people have forgotten. Dungeons dungeons everywhere.

The World is Mysterious. Most of the world is not explored. Cities and towns are points of light in a world of unexplored darkness full of forgotten places and forgotten civilizations.

Monsters are everywhere, oh goody.

The Civilized Races Band Together. That means that on this world the playable races mostly get along. Its like they have enough trouble. Also the last empire that recently fell united the main races.

Magic is not Everyday but it is natural. No witch hunts.

God’s and primodials shaped the world. Zeus and the titans what?

God are distant. They work though minions.

Anyway there is much more I could say about the game but not on this blog.

What Kind of d and d char are you?

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Wizard/Cleric (3rd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-14
Dexterity-17
Constitution-14
Intelligence-15
Wisdom-17
Charisma-16

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Renaissance Fairs

Renaissance Fairs are neat where else can you go that they let you help defend a castle from invasion. Yes I got to play with swords. Ooooh I feel an evil gm idea coming on. Defending a castle. Could be interesting. In any case I do recommend going to the Fair next year, unless you would like to go tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day unfortunately. Oh and by the way you do get a discount if you dress up. It was too hot for my gear but they gave us the discount anyway lucky us.

I usually enjoy watching the history channel. Okay, even today I enjoyed the program. The program was about the build up of military might and weapons by Ramses the Second in preparation to invade the Hittites. I was watching a channel on the history of ancient Egyptian weapons it was informative and interesting; however, the demonstrations left much to be desired. The first demonstration was to prove that the traditional mace as used by ancient Egyptian infantry was a useless weapon. The Egyptian mace was a large rock with the middle section hollowed out so it could fit on the end of a wooden shaft. (For pictures go to http://otlichnik.tripod.com/medmace.html)

For the demonstration of the mace they made a replica then used it to smash an animal skull on the place on the top of a pole. The guy doing the demonstration smashed the mace straight down on the skull crushing it between the mace and the pole. This was to demonstrate the mace was an effective weapon against an unprotected skull. The next demonstration they set modern reproduction of a steel helmet on the pole and smacked it at an angle so that the helmet went flying off of the pole. There were two problems with this demonstration. First, the blow was at an angle causing the helmet to fly away rather than the straight down blow as before. Second steel was not known to ancient Egypt of any of its contemporaries so demonstrating the effectiveness of a Bronze Age weapon against a steel helmet is not an effective demonstration of the weapon.

One of the other weapons that was highlighted by the history channel was a composite short bow. A composite bow is made form a bone or horn bonded to wood by resin the wrapped in animal sinew finally coated in resin to hold the whole thing together. The point of manufacturing a bow like this was to make a very effective weapon that fires arrows fast and hard but reduce weight and length to make the weapon more usable on a battle field. Archaeologists know that Egyptian’s used the composite bow because they have found some in King Tut’s tomb.

For the demonstration of the composite bow they used a reproduction not of an Egyptian bow but rather they used a reproduction a Mongolian bow. This is a bad demonstration because the Egyptians were just figuring out how to make and use the composite bow. The Mongols had about 2000 years to prefect the art. The Mongol composite bow is the pinnacle of composite bows. Comparing a Mongol bow to an Egyptian one is like comparing a modern assault rifle to a musket. The incredibly sad thing is they had on the show a military historian using the same techniques as the Egyptians had made reproductions of Egyptian composite bows why did they not use those bows in their demonstration.

The show was interesting but I think that they should have done a better job with the demonstrations.

Apartment Building

Here is the situation. The roof to the apartment building leaks during a heavy rain it leaks into the hallway. It has gotten so bad that that it has rotted though the wallboard in spots. This is not an unknown issue as our landlord has had his onsite manager cut away sections of wallboard to inspect the damage and to try to determine the source of the leak. The hole in the wall reveals that the interior of the wall is covered in mold and mildew.

Now for the fun part, one of our neighbors complained in writing stating that unless the situation was corrected she was going to contact the health department and withhold rent. The result of her complaint; the landlord has designed a new lease agreement contract that he wants us all to sign. One of the many clauses (this thing has 6 pages of size 8 font) basically makes us sign away our right to hold the landlord responsible for damages caused by mold or mildew to any property or health of residents or guests of the building. Also, according to the lease, we are to defend and indemnify the landlord in the case that he is taken to court as a result of a suite stemming from mold. It seems that by signing this lease it will allow the landlord to not make repairs and give us no recourse to hold him responsible. I know several people who live in this building. No one that I know is going to sign the lease agreement.

So anyone know of someplace to live?

P.S. I have pictures if anyone wants to see. We are thinking of contacting a lawyer. If anyone in the building is reading this we would be happy to make it a class action suite.

Holy Bat Bombs Batman

Apparently, during World War 2 the allies were desperate for new weapons to give them and edge. One of the weirdest that I have heard of was the bat bomb. It was a device that was used to drop a bunch of bats on Japanese Targets. The bats, yes the sonar-guided mammals, were equipped with a small incendiary device, induced into hibernation and were placed in a specialized bomb. The bomb was supposed to be dropped at 5000 feet. A parachute would open at 1000 feet giving the bat time to recover from the induced hibernation and fly to a building or some other structure. Thirty minuets after release the incendiary devices were detonated setting fire to the structure that the bat was roosting in it.

The Device was tested at dugway proving ground. At the test site a mock village was built. The bat bombs were deployed and the result was the destruction of the mock village. The Military declared the test a success. A couple of weeks later the project was scrapped. The United States had developed Nukes so they no longer need bat bombs.

Another strange weapon came from the Brits. During the early days of the war the Brits due to u-boat predation on convoys in the Atlantic were desperate to get some kind of air base in the middle of the Atlantic to provide air cover for the convoys. The original idea was presented by a man named pike was to hack a chunk of ice out of an iceberg and use that iceberg as a floating air base. This idea was considered impractical because the mass of the ice would be too great. They then decided that the best idea would be to build an aircraft carrier made out of ice. They used a special ice reinforced by wood shavings frozen into the ice. Churchill commissioned 100 the first one was supposed to be called Hezekiah after the Old Testament prophet. The problem was that the Canadian Builders could not complete them fast enough to be effective. The second problem was that improvements in aircraft ranges made the floating airbase unnecessary.

We are starting Trajen out a bit early.

I am trying to get a feed to work this is a test.

We went to see the movie forbidden kingdom. That new movie with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. This was the first movie that Tiffany and I have seen in the theator in a very long time. We left Trajen with his Grandma. When we got back to pick him up it seemed that he had a very good time making one very large mess. What is it with childeren and DVD's and Videos? Why do they like throwing them on the floor so much? This is not something that I understand.

Another thing that I don't understand about little boys is their constant need to bang on glass. It is not just my boy, we took him to church a couple of weeks ago. We spent some time out in the lobby. There were several other baby boys in that lobby, Trajen was not the only one who had to pound on the glass front door. I also gathered addional evidence of glass pounding by small fingers while working as a custodian for the church. In most of the chapels that I cleaned the doors usually had tiny fingerprints covering the lower part of the door. Silent testomony of the strange need of little children to pound glass. I have to wonder, is this need only confined to little boys or do little girls like to pound glass as well?

Anyway back to the movie. The forbidden kindom is like other Jakie chan films. Full of martial arts mayhem and sillyness. I quite enjoy Jakie Chan's films. I have not seen much of Jet Li. Most of his films are R rated. I have sworn off of R rated films. I get the impression from the previwes of Jet Li movies that Jet Li does more of action films no so much action comedy films. In the case of Forbidden Kingdom. He does and excellent job. I do recommend this film.

Now it is time for the movie recommendation disclaimer. I am not a very good judge of movies. I know what I like but what I like is not for everyone. I will give you an example. I did like the movie "Cat Woman" I thought it was a great comedy. I not sure that the movie makers intended it to be a comedy. In fact I am quite sure they did not but, that is what they ended up with. Moral of the story is, go see forbidden Kingdom judge if for yourself, if you hate it, it is not my fault.