Warrior Rapter: Legend of a Legend, Chapter 6

Warrior Rapter could feel the darkness he was in letting up.  Slowly his body was regaining it's feeling, it's strength.  He could start to hear voices.  They sounded like they were arguing, but the words were muffled still.
"... creature... danger... killed..."  Words had come into focus.  He reasoned the words were the mayor's.  His mind went back to his last memory he could recall, and he suddenly wished he could see and move.
"... reacted... Jack... You caused... great buffoon."  The words were becoming even less faded.  Doubtless that was Marg.  He wondered how she was holding up after what had happened to Jack.
"I want him... my town, Marg.  He is a clear and... present threat to this community.  I don't care that he was reacting to my action with Jack, he will never truly be accepted by humans.  He is a monster, and monsters must be slain."
He wished those words had stayed faded.  True, he was acting in defense of Jack, but he also knew that few humans would accept him for what he was.  He tried not to let it bother him most of the time, but it was a fact he could never escape.
"And I want you out of my tavern right now.  Mr. Rapter could wake up any moment now by Leiutenant Hutch's figuring, and I don't want any more incidences, least of all in here!  So out!"
"Just remember, Marg, I want him gone by sunrise, or I'll come and finish the job.  And I won't be alone!"
He heard the tavern door shut rather loudly.  He wanted to get up, to say something, but he found he still lacked the strength to move, even though he could clearly hear now.  He heard more conversation.
"Have you any news on Jack, Lieutenant?"
"None yet, madam.  I had one of my fastest horsemen rush him to a healer I know in a town to the north, with explicit orders to keep us posted on any news."
Jack wasn't dead? Warrior Rapter thought to himself.  He felt relief, both for him and for Marg.  Maybe the mayor is right.  Maybe I am a monster.  He quickly disregarded the thought.
"Is there anything you can do for Mr. Rapter, Lieutenant?  He's been a friend of mine since I was a little girl, and he's known Jack just as long."
"I'm afraid not.  The mayor has the jurisdiction down here.  He grew up with you and Jack?"
"Oh, no.  It's a funny thing, he hasn't changed a bit in appearance since I was little that I can recall.  Jack has mentioned the same before.  He's just always been a friend to us.  He's been a friend of my families, really.  My father told me that when he was little, he helped Mr. Rapter learn how to speak with us."
"He was around when your father was little?!  He doesn't look much older than a twenty year old human!"
"I know, but that's just Mr. Rapter for you.  He keeps an eye on the children in the forest, even though he says he doesn't.  But I know it for true, because for all the bandits in the area, we haven't had one child go into that forest without coming back.  I even heard a few saying they were rescued from the bandits, even though that hadn't been gone a day.  Some of the parents said that was just childish imagination."
"But you have reason not to believe that?"
"Yes, why, I was one of those children back when I was young!"
"I think I see why you defend him now.  He protected you when you were young, and you're returning the favor now."
"Precisely, Leiutenant!"
Warrior Rapter couldn't help but feel a little comforted by those words.  Marg was a true friend of his, he would never ask he to do some of the things she does, but she does them anyway, even when most of the rest of the town is against him.  He attempted to move again, he managed to tap one of his finger claws on what he was laying on.
"I think he's awake, Marg, or starting to wake up.  He's trying to move his hand."
"Mr. Rapter, thank goodness."  She rushed to him and propped open his left eye.  "He's still a little weak, Leiutenant.  Grab me that glass I poured earlier."  She closed his eye, and he heard shuffling and the sound of a glass being placed on the table.
"Leiutenant, could you hold his mouth open please?  Careful of his teeth, heaven knows they are naturally sharp!  Mr. Rapter, this is going to be a little spicy."
Spicy was putting it mildly.  As soon as the concoction went down his throat, he felt like he could've been a dragon for all the burning.  It jolted his body awake, he could feely move and speak now, but he was focused on trying to get the fiery feeling out of his mouth.  Marg handed him another glass, this one with milk, and he drank it hastily, the burn disapating.
"Whatever that was," He said when he could breath again, "I do not want to try it again!"  They all laughed a little bit before he continued, "How long was I out?"
"Nearly half a day now Mr. Rapter.  The Lieutenant had to knock you out when you were struggling to get to the mayor!"
"You're quite strong, I didn't know how much longer I could've held you."
"What of Jack?" Warrior Rapter inquired.
"Sent him to a healer to the north.  His injury was a little short of being mortal, but it needed tending to as soon as possible.  I told my man to send word back if anything --"
Suddenly, a man rushed into the tavern, looking out of breath.  The Leiutenant sprang up, a glint of recognition in his eyes, and hurried to the man as he was about to fall down.
"What news Diertry?"
"I'm afraid he couldn't make the trip, sir.  We were ambushed by bandits on the road.  I tried to hurry past them, but by the time I got to the healer, he said it was too late."
The four of them sat in silence, Warrior Rapter and Leiutenant Hutch looking at Marg, both feeling empathic for what she must be feeling now.  The soldier, Diertry, stared at Warrior Rapter, as if puzzling whether to draw his sword on his belt or not.  Marg just stared, a hint of disbelief in her eyes.

September 26, 2011

Seems like quite a few people are swapping shifts at work.  Two of the morning people are now on the overnight shift, swapped with the overnight workers, and there's talk of more to be made from what I've heard.  Wasn't too bad of a day though, had a few messes because I think the overnight utility guy who went to mornings isn't used to the shift yet.

Gamer Thoughts Episode 5

September 24, 2011

So, I decided to take a little break from Pokemon Black today, been playing StarCraft 2.  I got the full version now, the Terran kinda grew on me with the demo.  Playing through the campaign, it's got a real good story.  Although, all I can say at the moment: in the mission with the Odin, Tychus is a pain in the ass.

A Penny's Worth of Thoughts Vol. 7

Is originality gone?  Sometimes I wonder, especially when it comes methods of going into competition for games.  It seems like most people these days want the fast and easy way, even though it may not be the legit way.  I see it all the time, mainly in role-playing games.  People look for specific builds, use third party programs to generate what they want, pretty much anything that is faster than figuring it out themselves or doing the hard work.

I understand that the meta-game can sometimes be a fierce competitive battleground, and that most players will do what they think they have to in order to get ahead, but I look at it the way most people would look at sports, there's the easy way of doing things, and the way it should be done.  It's a concept that starts disputes among gamers, because it is often one not delved into enough so that the rules are set.  Instead, they remain phased enough that many feel that, as long as it's within the "legal limitations" of the game, like the maximum distribution of stats, that the method of getting to that point does not matter.

I seek to change that.  I have talked about it among friends of mine, and I'm using my Penny's Worth this week as a public declaration.  I'm currently working on teams on Pokemon Black with the goal to challenge a site called Smogon University.  My teams will be trained the way I have always trained my pokemon: through the process of breeding, effort training, and leveling within the game.  Once they are done, I will go to the Smogon site and climb whatever ladder that they deem to challenge me with.  Win or lose, my goal is simply to show that just because a player choose to be unique in their ideas and use methods without third party programs doesn't mean that they can't still have a place in the meta-game.  Sure, my guys probably won't have the maximum possible stats, or potentially the best movesets.  But, I truly believe that for every weakness, there is a strength.

Just a penny's worth of thoughts, for anyone who wishes to read it.

September 22, 2011

Yawn.... ok, so, I've been kinda getting distracted here lately, and by the time I remember to post on the blog, been tired.  So here's a short post.  Still planning on the Penny's Worth tomorrow.

Warrior Rapter: Legend of a Legend, Chapter 5

Warrior Rapter turned toward the mayor and Jacoby.  The mayor handed him a sword, and pointed at the places for Jacoby and him to stand for the start of the duel.  He tried to judge the swords weight without losing what grip he had on the sword.  It wasn't that it was heavy, but the curvature of his claws made it difficult to find a solid grip without almost scratching his hand.
He looked over to Marg and Jack.  They looked as nervous as he did.  He could tell they wanted to tell him that he didn't have to do this, but that they also knew that he had no choice.  He wasn't going to let them be victimized on his behalf.
"I want a clean duel," the mayor intoned, "No dirt throwing, no claws, no biting."  Jacoby and Warrior Rapter nodded before the mayor continued.  "You are to make your opponent yield, that's it.  Start on my mark."
Warrior Rapter could feel his senses heightening, his adrenaline starting to flow.  Time seemed to slow down as he focused his gaze on Jacoby.  He shifted his grip on his sword, managing to hide that he almost lost it when he did, and went into a defensive stance, right foot forward, body tilted back to the left, sword in both hands in front of him held straight.
"Mark."

September 20, 2011

Usual work day today.  Wet shaker overflowing, dust collection clogging, press overflowing.  Just another day.  Working on my Pokemon Black game at the moment.  I'm training a couple of teams for a high competition plan I've got brewing in my head.  Hope it works out.

September 19, 2011

Well, today was pretty dull at work.  We were down all day while waiting on the baggers to empty the silos a bit, so only had clean up to do today.  Oh well, job is a job.

September 18, 2011

Well, the broadcast was a bust, but maybe when the blog is a little more popular.  Anyway, pretty good day today, played games like I usually do.  Going to be back to work tomorrow, so, I'm enjoying things for now.

Broadcast started!

Go to this link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wrr-gamer-thoughts

September 17, 2011

So, my birthday today! I'll be honest, I completely forgot about the additional posts I was talking about last night, but on the flip side of that, I think I may have found a way to broadcast Gamer Thoughts.  Still working out some kinks, but I think I'm going to do it through Ustream.  I know that means advertisements could interrupt the broadcast, but the integration of not only facebook but also my youtube makes it a pretty good choice.  For those interested, I'll have a post up tomorrow for the first broadcast, just to see what people think, at probably around 6 or 7pm Central Standard (GMT -6) time.  If you guys like it, let me know, because if enough of you do, that could end up being the regular time for the broadcast.  See you then.

September 16, 2011

Well, today was a pretty laid back day.  I was allowed to stay home from work means they were probably going to stop running by the time my shift started, just going to be eight hours short on my next check.  My birthday is tomorrow, so I'm planning a special set of posts for my blog.  That's pretty much it for now

A Penny's Worth of Thoughts Vol. 6

Music.  One way or another, most of us can relate to a song or be inspired by an arrangement of instruments.  We use music to dance to, escape from reality for a little bit, or distract ourselves from what we are doing.  Like most other things, different aspects of it appeal to different people.

Me personally, I prefer the background music of games I play, not only because they are from some of my favorite games, but it never seems to surprise me when my mind thinks of a song to fit a situation I'm in, or which ones come to mind while I'm just sitting around.  Sometimes at work, after I've eaten my lunch and still have around fifteen minutes of break left, I find myself using one of the wooden tables outside to keep to the beat of a song I have playing in my head, most often seems to be one from Donkey Kong Country Returns.

The reason I bring this up in a Penny's Worth is because sometimes we tie thoughts or visualizations to songs as well, even without realizing it, and sometimes that can be influenced.  Here's how easy it is, using a song from OverClocked Remix: ChronoTrigger - Fight For Our Future.  On first listen, it's a battle song, you can see two enemies dueling it out throughout the song.  By the end, one of them has won.  And it's a remix of a battle song, so why not right?

Now listen to it again.  Do you hear the countdown timer to a long foot race at the start?  You can probably see two people ducking, jumping, and dodging around obstacles this time, am I right?  If I am, your mind was influenced by what I told you to listen for in the song.  If not, perhaps you were envisioning something else at the time.  Point is, sometimes a different perspective, even if it's just written words for a song, changes not only how you see things, but how you hear them.

Just a penny's worth of thoughts, for anyone who wants to read them.

September 15, 2011

Well, today was fun.  The wet shaker and the press decided to be a pain today.  A couple of the guys were also trying to unplug a drainage ditch we have in the back.  Hopefully it'll help a flooding problem we have back by the hoppers.  Got to thinking a little more today too, but I'm still working things out in my head.  Which reminds me, no I'm not skipping Penny's Worth today, just doing it after the daily post this time.

September 14, 2011

Well, we finally got off of yellow starch.  Also got a couple of new wheelbarrows, which really helps.  Today wasn't too bad, although the wet shaker was being a pain today.  Probably didn't help that the material was so steamy that, by the time I left, it actually started raining inside the building in some spots.  Also been thinking quite a bit about ideas I have.  I'll explain that later, maybe.

Warrior Rapter: Legend of a Legend, Chapter 4

"If you don't mind me asking, Marg, who was that soldier inside the Feather?" asked Warrior Rapter as he was pulling the last of the wood from the barrow.
"He's Leiutenant Gregory Hutch from the King's army.  Says he's down here looking for recruits to aid in the war with the north.  Funny thing is, I don't recall ever hearing about a war before now."
"I have, me dear, and I'm not fond of it, I aint.  I hear tale that they do be battling renegades and gypsies.  Mr. Hutch asked me if I'd join, he did, but I told him I'd have none of it.  Besides, if I did, who would watch the lumber yard?"  Jack added.
"Why would they need more recruits against renegade?" Warrior Rapter inquired.
"Story is they have some sort of powerful mage as their leader, someone who has allies with other creatures, he does.  I don't believe such a word, but it's what I hear."
"Whatever the reason, I do know that Jacoby signed up with him," Marg added.
"That'll be a problem and a half for the King!  If Jacoby gets part of the army, he be the one starting the wars, he would.  Anyway, enough talk about wars, Marg, what say we get Mr. Rapter back to the Feather, eh?"
As they three of them walked back to the tavern, however, Jacoby met them on the road.  He had the mayor of the town, Arnold Niles, with him.  Warrior Rapter couldn't help but wonder why Jacoby had his father with him.
"I heard tell that you were in town, Mr. Rapter.  I also heard that my son gave you a little difficulty at the gate today.  Well, I say good on him --"
"You would," Marg muttered.
Arnold gave her a glare before continuing.  "As I was saying, means Jacoby is to be recruited into the King's army, I feel it best if any disputes he has here be ended before he leaves.  So, I want you and him to duel, Mr. Rapter, match swords against each other in the middle of town until one of you yields --"
"I don't want to fight."  Warrior Rapter started to walk toward the tavern, shoving past Arnold and his son.
"Mr. Rapter, I'm afraid this is an offer you can't refuse.  If you do, I'll not only kick you out of my city, but your friends, Margarette and Jack Willard, as well."
Warrior Rapter stopped in his tracks and paused a moment.
"You would really steep that low as to kick the owners of your lumber yard and tavern out?"
"If it would keep you out of this city once and for all, I'd not only do it, but tell all the city guards to treat them the same way they treat you if they try to come back for any reason."
Warrior Rapter started to look around the block now.  He noticed a crowd was forming, some of them looking pleased at the mayor's words, others shaking their heads.  But they all seemed to be waiting on his response.
"I assume there's to be stakes on this duel as well then?"
"Quite simply put, if you beat my son, I want you gone forever."  Warrior Rapter looked around at the ground again, the one's who had looked pleased before now had mischievious grins on their faces.
"And if I win?"
"I'll put it this way.  You can keep your life the next time you are seen in town."
Warrior Rapter took one last look at the crowd, noticing that the majority of them were smiling now.  They wanted to see him fight, to see him lose.  And he knew he probably would.  Even with his practice sword at home, his claws were cumbersome around an actual blade longer than his dagger.  Sometimes he even had trouble with his practice sword.  He noticed that the soldier, Lieutenant Hutch, was also in the crowd, but unlike the others, he leaned against the corner of a building smoking a pipe, seeming uninterested with what was going on.
Finally, he gave a sigh.  "I'll do it."

September 13, 2011

I hate stone arm days, I really do.  Doesn't make it much better when one of the newer co-workers doesn't really do anything.  He's been working for almost two weeks, has already had three complaints about him doing nothing sent in, that I know of, wanders around back to ask a loader driver if there's anything he can do when the press is overflowing, disappears quite often, and, when I was taking one of the dumpsters of starch bags to the trash compactor, he takes the pallet board I had on top of it, to keep the back from falling out, off and then when I tossed it back on by hand, he goes and tells the supervisor, who I had just told that I was going to bale the bags, that I'm taking the dumpster outside.

Sorry about the vent post.

September 12, 2011

So today at work was just a bunch of messes.  Press overflowed, dust collection plugged up.  It was almost as bad as a smoker day, except without the smokers.  I did another catch up episode for Gamer Thoughts too, played Dungeon Lords this time.

Gamer Thoughts episode 4

Gamer Thoughts episode 3

September 11, 2011

Ten years since the towers fell.  It's a memory that most of us will never forget.  I did a little commentary about what I remembered on that day in the Gamer Thoughts episode, which is currently in the process of uploading.  Not really much of a memory, but, it was back when I was still in grade school after all.  I'll update the blog with the episode for today as soon as it's uploaded, and I hope 9/11 this year has been good to all my readers.

September 10, 2011

Not too bad of a day, except that I'm still feeling lazy today.  Got the free version of StarCraft 2 installed today, and being having fun with it, so it's probably what I will use for the next Gamer Thoughts episode.  Also been watching mom play Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.  That's pretty much it today.

September 9, 2011

It's been a really slow day.  You know, one of those that not only is slow, but makes you feel lazy because it is so slow.  Hence the lack of an episode of Gamer Thoughts, Penny's Worth, and the near lack of even posting this.  Long story short, we were going to run a little at work today to fill up the smaller silos, but turns out that not only did the maintenance personnel not quite finish putting the hammer mill back together, they left it locked out.  Kinda hard to run a machine if you can't turn it on.  So, today was just clean up.  I'll make up for the laziness tomorrow...

Procrastination.... nasty habit.

Gamer Thoughts episode 2

Finally got it uploaded.  Figured out I couldn't upload it directly, I have to go through Windows Movie Maker to post my videos on youtube, least the ones I record with Xfire.  Anyway, here's the episode.

September 8, 2011

So, the reason the Gamer Thoughts episode for yesterday still isn't up is because I'm having issues with the upload to youtube.  I'm working on getting it caught up, but for now, no episode tonight.  Other than that, I'm just glad we stopped running smokers.  Today was a rough day...

September 7, 2011

I have the Gamer Thoughts video recorded, currently uploading the youtube, but its a long upload.  I'll have it posted as soon as it's done.  Other than that, today was a pretty easy day.  Filled up the silos and had some down time for a bit.  Only bad thing is we are starting smokers tomorrow.... Ugh.

September 6, 2011

Work was what I'm officially calling a day from hell.  Messes everywhere: dust collection clogged, press overflowed, brokens from the dryer.  Yea, not a fun day.  Also, decided to get a few test recordings on Guild Wars a little bit ago.  Aside from probably not speaking loud enough, the recording went pretty well except for a glitch.  I don't know if this is just Xfire reacting to Guild Wars or something, but when I watched the test videos, everything was upside down.  Going to look into fixing it but, just a heads up, means I'm going to start on the catch ups tomorrow.

September 4 and 5, 2011

So I completely lost track of time yesterday.  Completely sorry about that, but I still plan on catching up on my Gamer Thoughts videos this week, so look forward to that.   Actually going to make this post a short one today, even though it's for two days.  Going to be back at work tomorrow.

September 3, 2011

So, first day with the laptop, and I have to say, I am loving it.  Still in the process of getting my games on it, but what's left over is the ones I downloaded.  Pretty much all the CD games are installed and ready to go.  Planning out the episode catch up for the Gamer Thoughts tomorrow as I'm typing this, and might have a co-commentator, so that is really going to be fun.  Everything is going good today.

September 2, 2011

Going to postpone the Penny's Worth this week, working on getting things installed and transferred to the new laptop.  So, sorry for short post today.

September 1, 2011

Wow... what a day.  Dust collection plugged up, had some overflow on both the press and the wet shaker.... and that all was before my friend's shift started today!  The messes got cleaned up though, let Mitch keep an eye on the starch for his first day.  He was having some difficulty at first, but, he got better as things started to cool off.  Only other thing that happened today was, as I was taking a bin out to the material piles to dump, got the forklift stuck on a soft spot.  Had to get the loader drive to pull it out.  Wonderful end to the day there.