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- Archive Page Thirty Six -

PROVING SHE IS TOUGHER THAN SHE LOOKS

By Jacquetta Anichoson, Special Correspondent

Dateline: 10-9-516

The explorers of the Ski Trek Wildlife Sanctuary have had many stories to share about their exploration of the hidden valley. The most exciting of which revolved around their encounters with 'Old Red Eye', one of the two tyrannosaurs - a type of giant Thunder Lizard - that stalked the woolly mammoths and other fauna of the jungle valley.

"Old Red Eye was the female of the pair," purred Big Jim. "You could tell because she was bigger. A more wily beast I have never encountered." Big Jim and Luthien Pityon went on to describe the numerous close encounters they had with Old Red Eye and its mate as they mapped the valley's extent.

"When we thought we put enough disstance between uss so we could rest," hissed Luthien, "She would prove uss wrong by ssprinting from the jungle edge having sstalked silently in pursuit. How ssomething sso big could move sso quietly, is amazing. Good thing the Mammoth herdss hadn't learned to do that."

"And its hide was thick," added the enchantress Illona. "The arrows from the knights' bows could hardly scratch it. My fire and ice sprites faired little better."

Eventually, after mapping the entire width and breadth of the valley, the explorers decided Dr. Fentler's lab with the spider-like scuttling nightmares and amalgam beasts was a far safer place to wait while the leprechaun Peewee Brenner journeyed from Baron Chaucer's estate (as previously described in the Bugle). All that is, but one. A Dryad name Danae.

Danae was another member of the Terin'Sha who entered the valley along with the other initial explorers. She too played the game of cat and mouse with Old Red Eye as they sought to explore the hidden jungle. Unfortunately, the great dinosaur had gotten the drop on her when the call came to hide in the depths of the mad doctor's laboratory. From the shore of Mysticala to the lake's central island, the dryad did battle the thunder lizard as she retreated. The damage the dinosaur inflicted was monstrous, but Danae gave back as good, if not worse, than she had gotten. Just as she descended into the dungeon, she took one more swing with her enchanted flail to ward the beast off.

The others were amazed she could still stand as she descended the stairs. Big Jim rendered much needed first aid and Illona applied several healing ointments. "I didn't mean to. It wasn't my fault. I was trying to get away into the lab," Danae muttered while the others tended to her wounds. "I was just trying to stop it from eating me," she said with more strength and a wild-eyed look. "But it seems Old Red Eye had stopped moving after its last collision with my flail," she softened with regret. "I generally try to protect such rare creatures."

Returning to the island's surface, there was no sign of Old Red Eye's body. Whether it collapsed into the depths of the lake or its mate came after to drag the body off, none could tell. "A much more fitting end," purred Big Jim, "to such a legendary beast." Since then, there has been no sign of the other tyrannosaur.

Word soon spread to the faerie community about Danae's accomplishment. Many wanted to learn what it was that made her 'Tougher than She Looks'. Wishing to spread the secret of inner fortitude that allowed her to survive, she set off for the Land of the Fae, leaving the exploration of Dr. Fentler's Lab to the other mission members. Many fae, sprites, leprechauns, and dryads had learned from her teachings. Enough so that she knew it would spread to easily amongst her kin.

With her secrets passed on, she has returned to the wild life sanctuary and the news from her newly transmorphed friends. Will she seek to add a more bestial aspect to her already legendary might? Only she knows the answer.


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WOODEN HORSE OF POLDOON?

Dateline: 12-9-516

People in the vicinity of the city of Poldoon have reacted with shock to the abrupt disappearance of the ‘Wooden Horse of Poldoon’, the giant wooden horse-shaped structure which has sat at the edge of the nearby forest since the defeat of the besieging goblin army. Not only that, but up to two dozen adventurers are believed to have been inside the construct when it vanished, and their fate also remains uncertain.

“We were sort of getting used to seeing it from the city walls, just sitting there, like,” Royal Army soldier Gordon Puttyhead told the Bugle. “Then the other day we heard this weird noise during the night, like a very deep groaning sound, and in the morning when the sun came up it was gone. No marks like it had rolled or been dragged away. It had just vanished into thin air.”

It’s disappearance was confirmed by intrepid balloonist Captain William Adams, whose balloon The Electric General arrived over the scene shortly afterwards. “I have arrived in the space over the wooden horse. Or at least where the wooden horse was.

One of those inside the Wooden Horse was the Bugle’s own reporter Andrew Gilligan. As previously reported by the Bugle, a force of adventurers, many of them from The Walkers on the Edge, had fought their way up through the horse to its head, where they defeated a terrifying monster capable of turning its victims to stone with its very gaze. In his last bulletin before the Horse vanished, Andrew described how them had found an alter-like panel in the head of the horse covered in multi-coloured buttons and levers, and little magic lights, and that the Walkers couldn’t wait to start trying pushing and pulling them to see what would happen.

Also among those missing is the Walker’s leader Baron Marcus D'Alembert and several other prominent members of the Guild. However a possible explanation has now emerged following the release of a message from the Baron by the Walkers. “It appears as though operating the controls on the Wooden Horse has taken us to a barren place within the Brokenlands. Outside the radiation storms rage and the terrain is rocky. The Guild Sages have suggested that the Horse did not arrive at this place by accident or mischance, and that we may be close to some place of interest.”

Meanwhile the last remnants of the goblin army still holding out in the grounded goblin dirigible near Poldoon have finally been eradicated following an attack by another force comprising primarily of Walkers and lead by Baroness Glaze Feirien.


PROTESTS IN RMK AFTER EXCISE DUTY INCREASE

Dateline: 29-10-516

An increase in the excise duties charged on goods brought into the courtyard of Red Mountain Keep dungeon provoked a mass protest by disgruntled traders, merchants and citizens. The costs of operating a business in such a geologically unstable area were then further highlighted a few days later when a sudden lavaflow engulfed part of the courtyard, destroying a number of homes and businesses.

The protest was called after the local RMK authorities decided to increase the duty on alcohol brought into the courtyard for sale, citing as a reason the need to improve the courtyard’s defences against volcanic eruptions, which are a common occurrence in RMK.

The protest was rapidly broken up by the Courtyard guards who detained a number of the protesters before later allowing them to walk free (although some of them were observed to have difficulty walking afterwards).

“It seems the new charges placed on sales of alcohol caused certain elements of society to take notice, said  Lady Mariah Stugelhoffen, Tourist Coordinator for RMK. “But rest assured, order was maintained by the efficient courtyard guard with no loss of life among anyone of importance.”

Merchants in RMK have long complained of having to pay excessively high excise rates to the RMK courtyard guards, as previously reported by the Bugle.

The need to improve the courtyard’s defences against volcanic ingress was amply demonstrated only a few days later when a sudden surge in one of the lavaflows that border the courtyard caused it to burst out of its normal limits and engulf the courtyard’s laborers' quarter. Although the official death toll was reported as being zero, the Bereny Bugle has been told that several people may have died, some of them because they were unable to flee the onrushing lava as a result of injuries sustained while resisting arrest during the protest.

Lady Mariah was keen to look on the bright side of this disaster however. “The clearance of this central region of the courtyard formerly occupied by a shanytown will allow for expansion of the gem traders and goldsmiths that have long needed the additional space. And that means more fine jewelry for visitors to our courtyard!”


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