You're about to hear about the adventures of a LV 39 Melee named the Silent Spearman. Buckle up, it's a wild ride!

My night begins at the Lugian Citadel near Baishi, where I was earning off some Vitae I got from a group of meandering Skeleton Bonebastards. I get rid of the Vitae and my buffs drop, so I head to the exit portal and pop out to rest before recalling back to Teth.

And who is staring me right in the face upon my exit? None other than Loch. One of the biggest bad-asses on the server, his snow-white robes and Olthoi Helm a testement to his might. I assess.

LV 57, baby. Mexican standoff.

I should mention now that I spend a lot of time with little white letters that say "Peerless Sparkling Atlan Spear" in the upper lefthand corner of my screen. You know how it is...you drag your cursor over something on your display and it says the name on the upper left? Well, my spear takes up a lot of room. Still, I can drag my mouse cursor over things of interest and get their name, rank and serial number, and this time was no exception.

Friends, if you are on Darktide, and you drag your cursor towards your opponent, and the white lettering in the upper lefthand corner of your screen changes from "Peerless Sparkling Atlan Spear" to "Wand Of Black Fire", you are in serious trouble.

Boom boom boom WoBF is dumb. With the emphasis on the boom.

Totally unbuffed, I was left unprepared and impotent in the face of EXTREME danger.

But Loch didn't fire. I scrambled off and got some distance between us, and looked at him, on the edge of my radar, regally sitting at the entrance portal to the Lugian citadel with is WoBF in hand.

I watched.

Can you imagine the feeling you might get if you walked into a room full of Tusker Guards, totally unbuffed...and they didn't make a move? It's a rare chance to look the devil in the eye, so to speak.

Loch was a white figure, standing still on a field of green. And he wasn't moving or making any threatening motions. Still, the fact was not lost at me that I was looking at a LV 57 Archmage...power incarnate.

"Looking mighty inimidating there, Spearman," Loch said. It was a harmless taunt, I knew I had no chance in hell of even scratching him.

I laughed and indicated that I knew I could not defeat him.

"You can always try," returned the notorious PK monarch, 18 Levels my senior. In invitation to my own funeral.

It was at this time that a hapless LV 26 sauntered his way towards the portal, saw Loch, and ran away.

When do you get big?

I have seen the enemy, my friends, and he IS big.

"Spearman, you are against me, are you not?" Loch asked.

I did reply immediately. The LV 26 was back, carefully and cautiously approaching Loch, so as to see if the archmage would prevent him from entering the Lugian dungeon to make a living. I was about to reply to Loch's query when the LV 57 magician sent a Flame Bolt toward the LV 26 that roasted him in one shot, reducing him to cinders.

Obviously Loch didn't want anyone to interrupt this conversation.

I gestured that Loch was a killer. And that yes, I was against him, with every bit of my body and soul. That seemed to satisfy him, he absorbed my impassioned defiance with stoicism befitting a man who could wipe me out of existance with minimal effort.

The tone of the confrontation changed...because it was ON. It hadn't been before, but it was now. And when he finally made a move towards me, I LS Recalled, matreializing at Teth glad to be alive.

That was just the beginnig, because Verges, a LV 38 Blood Melee, was PK'ing the good people of the fort, according to two of his victims, G Wiz and Samite. I buffed and started up the mountain, motioning to Samite that he was to Imperil and Fire Vuln Verges as soon as humanly possible.

From that point on, I would be his war spell. The ultimate fire and forget weapon.

And so we crested the rise and looked upon the towers of the fort, one of which was filled with scared as hell LV 20's getting debuffed by a Great Skeleton and screaming for someone to kill it (I had to laugh at this). I entered the city to find Verges shopping, no doubt selling the spoils of his murderous conquest.

He never had a chance in hell. Samite whipped off Imperil V and Fire Vuln V "like it weren't shit" (to use a phrase coined by Vehementi) and I plowed into Verges with guns blazing, killing him in seconds flat with a shot for 40 and a second when he turned his back that must have been for 110+ because it killed him.

I looted his sorry ass and treated myself to the 5 Great Mana Charges that were now mine. Me and Samite had driven off a PK'r.

But he would return.

I decided to go fight in the Yanshi area and squash some losers, so I went down to the town and discovered a group of COMPLETE idiots (one of whom was featured in my earlier "Inspirational Photo" post, which I hope you all enjoyed) who didn't much deserve my protection. The genetic throwback brigade was spearheaded by a couple of Red Devils named "Chick From Hell" and "UA From Hell". Of course, the first thing I did was kill their sorry asses. ]

Boom Boom Boom, PK's are dumb.

They came back. All indignant as to the reason for their deaths. I killed them again. One shot a piece. Like shooting fish in a barrel, they were small and slow. And I loved every minute of it. Red Devils die. Simple as that. I don't care if it is there LV 1 fletching mule and all you get is a Broad Arrowhead.

Some of the "antis" start asking me why I am PK'ing in town.

Boom boom boom, Antis are dumb too.

They don't even know what Red Devil is. I try to explain it. Ten people want to swear to me. Ten people want money. Ten poeple are dueling, ten are spamming, ten are leaving, ten are arriving. It is chaos.

Some guy with a Silifi of the Crimson Stars takes a swing at me, named Warr X. I run for it and throw on my jewelry, he follows. He missed me four times in a row. I assess, LV 19.

Why is this fool attacking me?

Rise up, Silent One, and let fly with all the rage that is your birthright. Time for my eyes to flash.

I hit a combat stance and OBLITERATE WARR X OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET. He breaks into a lumbering run and I cut him down in the streets like a mongrel dog. Then his buddy Fahr starts launching spells at me. I bend over to loot Warr X and WALK towards Fahr, growling under my breath. Lightning bursts across my armor like waves breaking on the shore.

And still he casts, in a blind loyalty to his master. Still he tries to stand against the maelstrom, to make the storm respect him. STILL HE TRIES TO BRING DOWN THE MAN WHO IS NO LONGER A MAN AT ALL BUT A FORCE OF NATURE!

I cannot be touched, I cannot be harmed. Right now I am far beyond humanity as they are beyond you, little man.

I crush him like an insignificant worm when I get close enough, breaking his fragile body with one blow.

Do...

not....

stand...

against...

the storm.

Blood is running in the streets of Yanshi. And for the first time in a long time, I feel alive. Remember Druss, when you cast off the shackles of your low-level existance and embraced your heritage of might, just that ONCE in the Lugian Citadel? REMEMBER HOW YOU ROARED WITH BATTLE LUST, how the Lugians well before us like blades of grass?! Remember how you felt, for that one fleeting moment, when we stood atop their crumpled corpses and reveled in the carnage we had created?

That is how I felt. The "from Hell" fools returned to find the streets awash with the blood of the unrighteous, and I cut them down again. There were corpses everywhere.

And with that I left, leaving them to their duels, their squabbling, their ignorance.

In my wake I left the broken bodies of the damned.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Do not stand against the storm.

Bring it.

BRING IT!!!

TSS