Picking myself up

Apartment living

2011-08-08T11:30:00.002-05:00

It's probably one of the big-milestones of a person's life, moving out of the family home and moving into a dwelling that one can call their own (hopefully somewhere between graduating high school/college point and marriage). To free one's-self from vision and chores, to go out and swim into the bright light and beyond.

However this vision tends to lend itself useful, up to the point where you move out. Then you find out the dishes and laundry don't wash themselves like they use to, the garbage needs to be taken out, and all the stuff you took for granted you have to work for now. This is a major 'grow-up' part, where you have to take care of yourself 90% of the time and worry about everything else.

So, anyway, back to reality.

Being in a town with both a community college (kirkwood) and a university (University of Iowa), approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the city's population is of students, most of which come from out of town. So there are plenty of spots to choose from; however considering the largest company of the bunch is facing multiple class action lawsuits for taking all of a student's security deposit for a scratch in a door or a loose knob. Then you wonder why they change their name every other year, to try and mask their bad name.

Last Friday I made the move to...move. After doing some work during the summer break to find a spot I landed at one local apartment complex that offered good rooms at a fairly decent price (tad higher than I would like, however the place is taken care of and the people next door (as of yet) are not loud. While the initial goal was for a 1-room apartment, those were non-existent so plan B was a two-room. I looked at one other place before the one i chose, dialing the number and getting a short-tempered response "there's no open spots. I'm busy".

The place I landed in was very professional, clean, and courteous. From the time I went for a short tour to when i paid the deposit was 3 days. Yeah, it was that good.

The advantage I had over most people is that my parent's house was maybe a 7-10 minute drive away. So we packed the car maybe 3 times, taking stuff over then re-packing it while my mother unpacked boxes and put stuff in a place where it would seem fit. And we made it spill free, all the way up to the last trip and to the entryway of the apartment. The last load consisted of my desk chair and some glasses/silverware in a box. My dad put the box on the chair and wheeled it from the car to the apartment. Which really worked well, up to the entryway bump which sent the box to the floor with the crash that meant there were casualties. Don't blame my father, he is a guy after all and it DID make good sense for the chair idea. So anyway, we shifted through the box and three old glasses feel victim to gravity. However the other three on top survived, so not all was lost.

Still waiting on room mate to show up. It was nice he wasn't there to move around on Friday, and it makes for a quiet apartment for the time being. Hope he has more stuff to spruce up the kitchen/living room area.

I had to shop again for actual food. The initial stock that I started off with was a box of donut balls, spaghetti, pop-tarts and chicken soup (in cans). Not exactly the stuff that you want every meal. My second trip consisted of getting bread, bananas and some cereal. I had grabbed the the bread in anticipation of finding some ham/turkey slices. But alas, the meat gods had stricken me and hid their delicious food. So I had a loaf of bread with absolutely nothing to put on it. I mean, yeah I could just eat the bread itself but...ick. I would've soaked two slices in mt. dew and eat that, but let's face it, soggy green colored bread is not priority one at the moment.

Trip #3 was slightly more successful, this time acquiring ham/turkey, peanut butter, orange juice, waffles and hot pockets. MEAT! MEALS! SUCCESS!

Another kinda slightly amusing trip was going to the local cable provider to get a converter box. While cleaning apartments a while back I caught glimpse of a 13-inch clear case CRT TV by a dumpster. I didn't know if it worked or not, but it looked cool so I took it, and it actually worked, unlike most things found in or by dumpsters. With everything going digital I would need the converter to get the channels.

As my father and I expected there was a fairly small line with students wanting to get cable to their new homes. Considering the amount of foot traffic there were only two representatives helping customers so there was a bit of a wait. As usual the mood of most the people there were short fused: lots of waiting, stuff to sign and buy. Just needing the converter box the rep was good at getting the stuff and letting us walk out the door in under five minutes. Meanwhile the guy beside me who was helped at about the same time was going off that $40/month was the lowest price package. "I know. The company sucks!" He said in a 'harsh words but not trying to be harsh' tone of voice. I do not envy the rep's jobs. I hope they get good pay for doing that.

Other than driving a little farther to work and getting use to a new and bigger bed, life is more or less good. And if need be, the parent's house is a quick drive away. Picking myself up, I'd say.

Rusty Hearts - A Review

2011-07-28T07:58:00.006-05:00

So along with other fans of the newly released 'Rusty Hearts' MMORPG I sat in my chair at work, watching and reading the fourms, reading the reactions and rage that was building up for the release. I had hoped that the game would be available when I got home from work, and damned me lucky if at 2:30'ish central the server was finally open to the closed beta testers. (At one point before the server opened offically, the developers tested the server one time for 4-5 minutes. People got really excited, creating their toons and trying out the tutorial. At this point the server shut down again and those who got in were rolled.) Personally I would've either waited on releasing the client to avoid people's continued attempts at logging in or just not be able to access the login screen all together. This created un-needed hype and literaly thousands of post of "I can't get in" even though most of the population knew the servers were not open as of yet.

OK...so i'll skip the rest of the forums and get to the review.
(Bit of spoilers here so watch out)

What is Rusty Hearts?

Rusty Hearts is the new MMORPG on the block, being published by Perfect World Entertianment (PWE, which I learned about Rusty Hearts from being a rather big deal in Battle of the Immortals, which is managed by the same company). While it is like battle of the immortals and every other MMO that i've played thus far, Rusty Hearts does not fancy itself on being a cute Hello Kitty Island Adventure game. It is a hack-n-slash game that gives you rewards on perfecting combos and doing as much damage as possible whilst avoid taking damage yourself. RH also has a leveling system, meaning expirence points will build and mold your character from weakling to a beast on wheels. Leveling up also opens your equipment for upgrades, getting bigger and better stuff as you progress.

Assuming you applied for/found a good chap with a spare beta key, you'd by now have download the client and have an account at the RH website http://rustyhearts.perfectworld.com/ (also through there you will need to register your key). When you meet both criteria, you are ready to play.

After the login screen, you were presented with a rather impressive character select screen. You can see the three selectable heros walking down a path of nowhere, piano softly playing in the background; if you look hard enough you can see the outline of the 4th hero, Natasha. As of yet she is not available to be played yet. (You can even click on Natasha and get a character selection. But that's as far as it goes.) So you get to choose between Tude, Franz and Angela. Seeing as most guys wanted Franz for his cool looks, I went with Tude. Tude has a gauntlet glove or claws that he uses to attack his foes. And he looks like a pirate. 'Nuff said.

So players are given the option to go through a tutorial level to familiarize yourself with the game a bit and provides a bit of a prelude to the start of the game. Unfortunetly the game was not 100% stable when me and Crash played it, so the game crash'd to desktop at the beginning of my tutorial, which means it was no longer available to me. Crash made it though with no problems on her side.

Logging back in and being able to control my toon for the first time, I was supried to see that I could not move my toon at all. Hitting keys that worked for movement in other games (the a/s/d/w keys, which work in about all the other games) did not budge my Tude. Using the mouse to find the options, I found that the arrow keys were used to move toons by default. This may be useful for new players, but I refused to learn new tricks. Thankfully, RH comes with a customized keyboard mapping, which you can set keys to different functions. Now using the a/s/d/w keys, I was able to run and jump around the screen with ease. Crash had some difficulty finding settings to suit her, but with time was able to get them straightened around.

The game has two different map layouts. The first is in town, where you'll be interacting with computer controlled toons (npc's for short) and where other human players hang out. In the town you'll pick up quest from different npcs and can buy weapons/armor/food/etc. Combat is disabled so you won't be able to punch or kick anything (think Guild wars. Actually RH is identical to Guild Wars in open towns and instanced dungeons.)

Alright...the meat of RH is not in the towns, but in the various instances where combat take place. Here you can go solo or get into a group of 4. Taking Crash into my party, we set off to battle the first area of the instance (the starter instance, the 'sewers' consisted of 4 areas to enter, each one consisting of different content and difficulty.) At this point RH plays like an arcade game; in order to progress to the next section of battlefield, all mobs must be cleared off the current section. Only when it displays 'area clear' can you progress. Scoring is based on hitting mobs, building combos (hitting one or more mobs in sucession), and the times you or your team has been hit. Assuming you did well (high style points vs. times hit), you get a letter grade, F being 'you suck' to 'SSS' 'you did awesome'. The first go we did we got a B, only because we weren't use to the new controls. Later we attempted the same level again and got the SSS rank.

One crazy thing that presented itself was the ability to grab a foe and pick them off the ground. This created a function for combos, and I found myself smiling time after time, picking up a zombie by the neck and punching it repeatly in the face, afterwards throwing it across the screen.

At the end of each level you are presented with your time, score and other details of how you did. Afterwords you get to choose a card with a random reward, ranging from coins or equipment.

How it played?

Pros:

The graphics and artwork are amazing. The soundtrack is also well played (I enjoy listening to the repeative tunes, some may not.) The developers took alot of time to make this a masterpiece, and it makes a good game awesome when you can put it all together in sync. While a good system will perform well older systems will also suffice when playing.

With the party system, equipment and hp/mp potions will be rolled to a random member of the team. While it was random, I found myself on the reciving end of the mp potions and stuff Crash needed and Crash was picking up things I needed. Don't worry, you can trade stuff afterwards.

Maybe it's just me, but I like movies. They come in at the right time and usually present some useful fact or information that will help you out.

Keyboard mapping: yay. I was able to set the keyboard layout to exactly where I wanted it.

Cons:

Default keyboard mapping: True, RH was made for use either by keyboard or game controller (assuming using the controller would make executing some combos easier to pull off), but the default keyboard settings were less than usable by either me or Crash. It took a few minutes to get things operational. Even then I may adjust an attack key or two. Wish there was also a way to map attacks to a mouse button.

During some of the cut scenes the dialog boxes automatically move quickly with the scene, which means you could miss some of what the characters are saying. Most people will skip it anyway, but there are some humor mixed into the story as well.

Stamina System: Being F2P has its usual limits in RH, that in being it's Stamina System. Each toon is equiped with 1,000 staminia, and a little is consumed when entering an instance. When it runs out, you can still enter but will not get exp or bonuses. Which I find this early on not yet troublesome (we got down to about 410 Stamina). Stamina returns to full after each real day passes, so you can adventure in again and do stuff. Im guessing sometime in the future the cash shop will have an item to either extend or replace lost stamina.

Your looks: You can choose the name for your hero, but that's about as much as you get to do your character for. So yes, you will see about a dozen of the same looking Tude's, Franz's and Angela's all running about. There are certian costume pieces you can pick up in the game later on to give them a different look. Tude has an afro. WIN. That should be in the Pro section.

Bottom line...Should you play it

If you are willing to put up with the fact that your toon will look like a hundred others for awhile and can change the key mapping to your liking, you will enjoy Rusty Hearts. If you are a fan of MMORPGs/hack and slash, you will like Rusty Hearts. Not to say it will be a hit to everyone, but considering it's free its worth checking out at the least.

So it's been awhile...

2011-07-01T09:29:00.002-05:00

Considering on the dashboard, last published on Mar 1, 2007. A good 4 year hiatus, if you ask me. For all I know, this may be my last post for another 4 years. Hopefully get back up to speed on blogging (if that's what they call it still.)

The blog lives on...

2006-04-04T10:05:00.000-05:00

Just not here atm :P

http://www.realityport.com/forum/showthread.php?t=760

Don't fret, the stories will continue, just at a slower timeframe than I would like (RL and other jobs are keeping me on my toes 24/7!)

Cheers!

sir odd

Chapter 10 – The Civil War

2006-03-20T11:47:00.000-06:00

“Alright men, this is the day of search and rescue. Find Dr. Baltar, and move out.”
Thunder was standing in front of the briefing room with all the military personnel present and accounted for. As he spoke the screens of intel scrolled by of the mission plan. Maps, rosters, what to expect…30 minutes, in and out. Simple.
“…Expect no to minimal resistance, as recon groups spot a small group of creatures…however stone and rock barriers prevented from any further information. Team Alpha and Gamma, you are to take postions at the north-eastern gate…” Thunder switched slides again, this time a map with the locations of the teams and arrows of their movement. “…Team bravo and echo take the south-western gate, with Teams Sierra and Tango patrolling the paramenter. Team Delta…” He looked at me at the delta section. “…will be here coordinating the search and rescue teams to make sure our little operation go as smoothly as possible. I softly hit the tabletop with my fist, though I’d rather made it so the whole room would hear. Total BS, everyone else was going to have fun while we did all the work. Besides, we were the best snipers on the planet, just a chance to prove it on the field would make thunder think twice about his descion.

An hour later the units left for the mission out of PA. Meanwhile we were doing our own task in the war room that was in the landing area of PA, had a few tents with people running in and out with reports and documents and whatnot. I turned on a few moniters that were hooked up to each of the team leader's rifles, so we could see for ourselves what was going down. Me and the rest of the team just sort of sat back while the outgoing teams checked and re-checked their equiptment and supplies.
"This is team Alpha, prepared for mission..." One by one the teams got ready. When they were we gave the green light and it was go time. I punched a few buttons on my watch just to see how long this would take. "30 minutes...simple" I kept muttering to myself.
So every five minutes when I wasn't throwing a waded up paper ball to the other three I checked in with the teams. They seemed rather joyed that I wasn't out there with them, which made the entire situation seem worse and worse. After about twenty minutes the radio crackled to life, and not on my side...
"This is team Alpha, we have reached the site of interest...taking a look around..." I pushed up my chair to get a better view of the moniters. Man, that place is a wreck. The outer walls of the facility were severly damaged with large holes on all sides, the gound around the place was dark and overtuned, and the security systems were offline. Whoever...or whatever...did quite the number on this place. Begain to doubt there was anything left of our fellow rescuie left. Even Sean and Hans stopped what they were doing to look up.
Looked around for about another 15 minutes or so, was about to call them back since I figured there was nothing left to salvage. Suddenly the Beta Team's camera hit the floor as a red laser shot out of the building and hit the captain. "Man down, man down, need backup!" As orders begain to race through the radios. Thunder came through the tent entrence. "What in the @%# blazes is going on?!" He stared at the montiners himself and slowly began to have his mouth open, as if even he was in shock. As I watched guns fired, ammo casings hitting the ground, orders, calls for backup and help, then soon after Team Gamma's radio went silent. Damnit! I couldn't take anymore of this, not today.
"All teams, fall back to green zone! Repeat, all teams fall back!" I ordered. Not only was I not present on the field but those lives who were lost were on my head now. This wasn't a game. Now it's for real.
As we briefed over what happened I took one last look at Team Gammas camera. What I saw made me grab Thunder away from his duties. While he seemed as angry and peeved as I was, I just pointed to the screen, and even he looked surpised. What came out from the walls weren't creatures, but the robots that we sent five years ahead of us to build the colony. Why were they shooting...?

Chapter 9 - The discovery

2006-03-02T11:23:00.000-06:00

Life on this planet was getting to be...almost normal, which is hard to say that when we arrived on this barren land a few weeks ago. Buildings were bursting with new life, gardens were in full bloom, and our days consisted of doing the usual routine of working our butts off and keeping security in check.

However, it didn't have the fine silver lining...good supplies were coming short, backup items became full-time, and reserves for extra metals were drying up fast. Pretty soon Thunder ordered us to go with a group of experienced miners that were doing some prospecting of the land areas to the north and doing test that showed there might be some minerals in the ground. Great, nothing like babysitting other people while they have all the fun...

BOOM!
Dirt and debris shoot thirty feet in the air as a charge detonates the place where it was. The guy I was with, Gary, took out his mining tool and flipped up the lid. "Come on, turn green..." He whispered. A small yellow light was flashing on the top of the tool. Kept flashing for a few seconds more, then turned red. "Dam, nothing." he growled. I looked on.
"Now what?" I had already been out of a half hour or so beforehand waiting for this guy to get ready. It was about 88 degrees out, so the sun wasn't helping the temp go lower any faster. Sucks when there’s a sun shining every minute of every day.
"We go 100 footsteps to thz north, and try again." So we did, about half way through we spotted a young (but still ugly) snablenot creature just grazing on some grass. "Can I see one of those charges?" I asked, hoping he would give me one. Gary gave a puzzled look. "What for?" I looked at the snable, then he looked at the snable. Then we both looked at the snable again. He grinned. "Are ye thinking what ye is thinkin!" I grabbed one from his bag, then going against the wind I took a charge and planted it right beneath the beastie. What it couldn't smell, it couldn't find, love that. I half tip-toed half ran back to where Gary was, then as soon as it was set we detonated the charge. Needless to say, we never had this kind of entertainment back at home. As soon as the charge went the snable let out a sort of loud whistle before being put inside out and a mist of green goo fell around the ground. I high fived Gary for the cool trick and sat for a few seconds staring at the mess. We had completely forgotten that the charge also was searching for minerals, so we both jumped up when the ore finder lit up and vibrated a bit, as if it was happy itself. Quickly opening it up the green light was on and we had found a nice size one too. So I stood watching out for anything out of the ordinary while Gary went to work constructing a mini drill tower to extract the ore from the ground. Quite loud it was, as gary picked up the stones that were coming out of the tower, until there was a louder *THUNK* as the drill bit snapped in half and the machine came to a halt. "Now what" I told him. The last thing I needed was to report back with a broken drill bit, which were hard to replace at the time. Would have my head for dinner for this, I dreaded.
"Come look at this, and see for yeself" Gary said. As I stepped toward where the drill bit was a large metal container with lights and computer monitors displaying characters that I couldn't begin to figure out what they were saying. There were also wires sort of hanging out of it, as if it was damaged in someway. "What is it?"
"I dunno...but I'm going to call it in." I radioed to base that we had found some metal, as well as a large 'metal sphere' that would be an interesting find.
Later on that day the scientist who studied it said it was a sort of beacon that was used in the colonization process, but nothing like we used...where we alone?

Chapter 8 - The Choice

2006-02-20T11:25:00.000-06:00

Still peering around the edges of the doorway I knew I had no choice but to get Rick back. It was only one man but we needed everybody we could get...last thing I needed was to have that thought hang on my head for a long time. Taking my survival blade I sliced off a thin sheet of metal from the blastdoor of the complex. Using it as a sort of shield, I ran half ducked behind the metal to Rick. Sure enough, as soon as I reached him I was under attack from two flanks to my right. Thankfully between Hans, Chris and me firing when I wasn't tending to Rick, we took out one while the other fled. With that done, we went back to the building to regroup. While we did I saw the other team dragging their man down so they could heal him. I let it go since I figured it would be best not to get their attention while we were still busy.
"Red leader, the base is under attack!" The radio squawked. Great, just lovely. Our base was under attack by their force and we still didn't know where the heck the other base was. "Ideas?!" I yelled, shaking off the bad thought and resuming my command stance.
"We split up and cover ground. When we find the base, we radio it in to the others."
"I hate to split up and possibly be picked off, but I see no other option. Hans, your with me, you two go north. Should you find it, don't be a hero and take it on yourself."
As we split up the clouds above us opened up and it started to pour down rain. Normally I would have cursed at the luck of things but it actually felt a bit good. Plus it might provide some good cover if we need it. Meanwhile I was hearing the firefight from the radio from the base. Man, what I wouldn't do to switch with them...I would go back to help but we needed to get their case first.
To get out of the rain we entered another apartment complex and entered the lobby area. As soon as we were walking to the lounge area a shot literally burned my nose hairs, thus we fell back. Hans took out the radar and turned it on. "Please be blue" I whispered under my breath. Indeed, a dot with a bright blue color showed up at the top of the screen. A break finally: we found the base! Now the only trouble was to get passed the five people in front of it...
We called for backup, and then Chris and Rick came back to our position. We knocked over a long table then hid behind under a hail of gunfire. I sat until the fire stopped for a second then pulling the D-1 over my head I let lose a few rounds and got back under. The others did the same. "Man, there's no end to these guys!" Hans said after reloading. I wasn't doing great on ammo myself, as I looked in my vest pocket and found only 2 mags left.
Then it hit me: duh! How could I forget? Every lounge has an access tunnel behind the bar. (It was something I learned in tactics training). I told the others to sit tight and not shoot. Then I crawled out of the lounge and into the basement area where the tunnel system was. I could still hear the fighting in the lounge, but then the radio came to life once more. "Sir, they have retreated from the base! What are our orders?" Retreated? Why? Then I heard the sound of glass shattering and bullets flying through the air. My little contraption was doing it's job as a distraction. As I lifted the grill on the tunnel behind the bar I looked over my shoulder and found the case lying between some beverage mugs. As soon as I grabbed it a sharp beep alerted the others to my presence and that the case was no longer secure. I quickly ducked back into the tunnel, then heard Hans and the others firing on the now confused opponents, who had completely forgotten about them and were running back to see where the case went. Their mistake! I chuckled in a sort of victory as I emerged from the basement. But then the radio came back, with some not pleasant news: "Were pinned down from both sides! We need backup!" Dam, either go back and help and risk losing the case or leave them to fend for themselves and win. I ordered the people at the base to help them out while I made my way to the base myself. Only problem, I was by myself for the next 10 blocks of open space. I ran as fast as my little legs in stiff armor could muster, just stopping to see around building corners for opposition.
As soon as I arrived back at base I saw what I feared: with the base unguarded an opponent stayed behind and was running out of the entrance with MY case. Taking one of my extra mags I took out a few bullets from the chamber and put them in a empty tube that was on the street. Wadding some napkins I picked up from the lounge as a sort of fuel I added a bit of heat from my lighter. Then I ran behind the building to the other side. As soon as the flames hit the bullets they fired off as though I was there. The enemy thought he was under fire from that direction so he hid behind a concrete wall, which was right in front of the building. Too easy. Hit him with my Mann 10 times and he was out cold. Grabbing the case from his hands I ran back into my base and put both cases on table. Then opening each case I activated the beacon inside them to signal the end of the game. Exhausted, mentally and physically, I put my head on the table. As I rested a ship flew overhead and landed on the ground outside the base. Thunder with a few other personnel stepped out of the ship and made their way to the other players. Thunder came to me first.
"Well son, I don't know what to think. You made it back to base with both cases and won the game, but your entire squad ended up dead in battle. Everyone but you that is. Should you had made a better choice, you might've kept alive a bit more. Needs work." Then he left. NEEDS WORK?! I did it, I won the game for the team! And all I got was 'needs work'? I hit my head on the table again. Dang, there is no winning.

Chapter 7 - The Heist

2006-02-14T11:16:00.000-06:00

I made sure I was up early the next morning. It was game day for the infantry. Hans was somehow up before I was, so I decided to return the favor on Sean and Jared. Gleefully bouncing to their bunks I sang with a hint of humor in my voice "Rise and shine girls!" I threw up the blinds and flooded the room with the sunlight. They resisted by putting the sheets over their heads, so I took a bottle of water and dumping it where their mid-section was under the sheets. "Damn guys, use the bathroom!" By this time the entire barrack was up and laughing at them. Paybacks a beotch, I thought to myself. Needless to say I knew I hadn't seen the end of it.

As we made our way by shuttle to the first actual town we would see on Calypso, I kept thinking about the action I was going to miss the next day for the search and rescue mission. But I had others things to worry about before that.
----
"Ok grunts, get your equipment!"
On a table in front of us were a bunch of items that we would be 'playing' with for today. A small Man MPH, a Jester D-1, a survival blade and some modified armor. As we were messing around and trying to get our gear to fit on Thunder told us the situation.
"You are now in hadeshelm. This is a team capture the flag procedures, so teamwork is imperative for winning. The guns and the ammo have been modified so they shoot blanks, and if you are hit your vest will count it. 10 hits and you're wounded..."
"Sir, how will we know if it's 10?" A tall thin cadet said in the back of the group.
"Heh, you'll know." Thunder said with a bit of a chuckle. "Anyway, before I was interrupted, like I said, 10 and your down. Your team medic must come to your aid within 1 minute to revive you or you're toast.
Your objective, is to capture your opponent’s storage box that has vital information, and take it back to your base. First team to successfully take their opponent's box, WHILE still having their own, wins."
Whether it was accidental or curiosity Hans shot me with his rifle. I felt a sharp pinch of where it hit and the vest registered a small 'beep'. As usual Thunder took advantage of the situation.
"You want to know what happens after 10 hits? Try it out on Bunny Mr. Hans." Gah, how come I was always the target? After the 10th hit the vest let out a sort of low moaning sound then suddenly felt like 500 lbs was stacked to the vest. So as predicted I fell like a rock to the ground. Needless to say the others weren’t sure if I was actually on the ground by force or just trying to fake it. I tried shooting my sidearm but to no avail. It wouldn't shoot.
"Now, the medic on each team" Thunder continued, as though nothing happened at all "Must use the fast aid pack, or FAP as we call them, and hold it close to the target. Just press the button, and they're good as new. Now any questions or are you ready to win?" When he activated the FAP the vest returned to normal weight, so I could finally stand up. The whole group yelled and raised their arms in readiness for the upcoming battle.
-----
"Red leader, we are a go!" I was captain of the red team, so we made our base on the wall around the city. Eight players on each side, so This was going to be fun...if not intense. Three to hold back the fort, and five to charge the enemy's base...wherever that was. I ordered to do flying formation across the buildings so everyone had somebody's back. I was in front, Hans behind me and two other people from the Alpha squad Rick and Chris. Brian from the Beta squad was the last in line. Damn, this stuff's way better than the stuff back on earth. As we turned a corner I caught a glimpse of a person running around another building. I put my fist up in the air to single to other guys to halt and wait.
"Foe two o'clock. Cover my back." I radioed to the others. I did a quick look then ran to a sidewalk barrier where I took position. I signaled Hans to come over to me while the other two covered him. Again I looked in the corner of my eye just in time to see the target run into one of the apartment complexes. "Target in building. Follow my lead."

We made our way slowly through the alleyway and then to an open courtyard. We held back so Hans could check the area with this scanner.
"I'm not picking up any signals. Coast is clear" He announced. I would like to think I had more confidence in the scanner, but we had to move, time was ticking. We ran out of the alleyway into the doorway one by one so we wouldn't be picked off. We organized in the lobby until the scanner spotted a red dot near our position. Hans stood behind the door with his D-1 out, I kicked over a table and knelt behind it, having my own D-1 ready. Chris hid behind a wall and Rick slowly approached the door where the signal was coming from. We all waited. Then, the red dot disappeared.
"What? Stupid device!" I picked it up and hit it a few times, the only way to fix things in my world. Why would it do that? Rick opened the door and stepped outside. He turned to the left, then to the right and then started firing.
"We got contact! Need backup!" Before we could assist him he ran after the target. Heard a few shots, a yell, and then nothing. "Man down!" We heard. Dam, those guys work fast! We ran out the door way back into the courtyard. There was Rick, on the ground. I looked around. Couldn't find anything. It was a clear shot to him but the area was wide open for sniping. "So we leave him out there or try to rescue him?" Chris said. Indeed, quite the question...

-To be continued-

Chapter 6 - Flashback

2006-02-06T11:38:00.000-06:00

After Bunny falls asleep from the boxing he goes deep back into a familiar scene...back on earth

It was bright out. Sun was shining across the campus as kids strolled from building to building during the open hours. And here I was stuck in a dark and rather musty room. Why, I hadn't the slightest idea...
The room was poorly lit with the exception of the windows that overlooked the campus. In front of me was a large wooden desk with papers stacked four feet high, and with pens and pencils scattered throughout the empty spaces. On the walls were countless degrees, awards, achievements and newspaper articles on the President of the college. Trophies also had a slight glimmer in the summertime sun.
There I sat in a office chair in front of the desk, while the president and a VIP of a committee were talking just out of my hearing range for a few minutes, then the president turned to me. He flipped through a folder full of papers on regarding what I had no clue. Then he glanced at me finally.
"Mr. Greenway, I must daresay you are one of the brightest students around." He flipped through the papers some more. "36 on your ACT, 1600 on your SAT, every test and quiz given you aced...and your SKILLS test I must say...is quite intimidating...
However, your quite a slacker. Not arriving to classes, not writing about what your assignment is on, and nearly causing a explosive charge to explode last week in class 'just to see what would happen.' " He frowned at this, but I couldn't hold back a smirk on my face. Come on, why just study the materials when you can get your hands dirty?
"Permission to speak freely sir" I asked.
"If you must..." The president said. Though he would have regretted saying that.
"The assignments are lame, the instructors are more lazy than I am, we aren’t learning anything practical from making the same things over and over again, and Mr. Duhon is a big...”
"Enough!" Growled the president. Now he was a bit redder in the face. "The University of INSDA takes only the top 1% of all applications in the nation. Most students are proud to be here, since millions are not accepted. Therefore if you wish to downgrade your status to a regular little schoolboy, go home." He smirked a slight smile of victory, thinking he had cut my nerves and give him the win.
"Very well then, it was pleasant to stay here." I said. "But this place isn't for me." I extended my hand.
"Mr. Greenway, I strongly urge you to reconsider...you're giving up a once in a lifetime education that only we can offer!" He circled around the desk to my side to try and comfort me or beg me to stay or something. Needless to say, he didn't make it. I made my hand to a fist and gave him my answer again since he didn't listen the first time around. While the president was knocked out on the floor, I turned to the VIP, who was still at the desk watching all this.
"Sorry mate, he was in my way. Sorry to jet, but I'm in a hurry." As I packed my things the VIP spoke up.
"Perhaps I can offer you a change of pace?" He said. He took out a pamphlet and gave it to me, as well as a business card. "Take these two things and look it over. Might be something you'll like" He added with a smile. “Give me a call if you like it.”
__________________________________
Later that night, while I was at the local gym kickboxing against dummies, a girl came into the training area with gym clothes and a duffle bag. She put her stuff down and strode over to my position.
"Is it true what I hear about what you did to Dr. Who?" She asked with a smirk and laugh.
"Only if you want it to be" I huffed through punches and kicks. Finally slowed down to get a breather.
"Yeah he wasn't too happy about it. What do you think he's going to do? Expell you?"
"I suppose, but I hate that place anyway." I looked over to see she had a pamphlet like mine.
"Some guy give you that? I got one too." I said, getting back to work.
"Yeah, some new space travel to a planet. I'm going." I stopped again. Not for air, but I hadn't read mine yet, so I had no clue what it was about. "Space travel? That sounds cool. I might go."
"Well, were both qualified if we are both here." We both worked out for a bit, then I packed my stuff to leave. She turned to me as I was about to walk through the exit. "My name is Cat, by the way."
"I'm Mike. Nice to meet you." I turned away and left. Going to another planet? Ha, yeah right...

Chapter 7 - The heist

Chapter 5 - Friends in high places

2006-01-31T15:16:00.000-06:00

"fffffffffttt...BOOM!"
We all ducked as an RPG slammed into the monster's chest. The blasted beast let out a moan and stumbled around a few feet before hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. As i ran to help Hans up I looked at the remains of what was the beast. The rocket ended up blowing a hole clean through the chest from one side to the other. I looked over to see Thunder wielding what appeared to be some cannon.

"A little gift from our friends at Omegatron" He said, marching toward our rattled but still alive unit. "Figure you girls were all dead by now so I can to drag your corpses back to base."
"Thank you sir" Hans gasped. "Besides...why you alone with no backup?"
"The rest of the teams that return to base AS THEY WERE TOLD..." He glared at us. "Have been planning a rescue mission to Fort Fury. Latest intelligence reports tell us that a scientist who came over before we did has not communicated with us yet. He was supposed to have radioed in from a town called Atlas Haven at about 20:00 hours, but no signal. Thus, in two days we are sending a group of about 30 men to investigate the area and find Dr. Baltar. Hopefully it's not too late..."
My hope raised up a bit. "So when is our briefing for the mission then sir?"
"YOUR mission? That's not your mission cadet. Your unit will sit back and listen to the reports from the command center, where you hopefully can't mess that up too bad." Dangit, all the other guys were going to have fun while we did radio calls.
"Sir, with all due respect, you will need every man out there. We don't know who or what is out there and..." Jared started.
"ENOUGH!! All of you!" Thunder rowored. "Don't make me have you scrubbing toilets!"
"yes sir..." Jared sheeply let out. Needless to say, it was a long trip back to base.
------------
"Get up Bunny!"
hmmm...too early...keep sleeping I told myself...maybe he'll bug off...
"Come 'on, up and at 'em!"
Suddenly the nice comfortable bed that was once below me disappeared, and the hardwood floor met me next.
"Dam it Sean, can't a guy get some sleep around here..?.."I trailed off. I look at my watch...02:00?!?!
"What the heck are you waking me up at 2 A.M. for?! The horn blast is at 06:00 newbie!" I grabbed a nearby towel to clean up the blood spill from my nose hitting the floor.
"Come on Bunny, got to see this!" Sean whispered quickly. "It's awesome!"
"I'm sure it can wait till dawn" I hissed.
"No, now!" Jared burst into the room. Without notice, Sean and Jared picked me up by the arms and legs, and carried me out of the barrack’s door.
They must have carried me at least 100 yards away from base camp until they put me down. Along with them were a small crowd of people all huddled around an octagonal shape arena. Inside were two people who were boxing each other. I noticed that one was about a foot taller than his opponent, but the smaller fighter was built. They were was almost pure muscle, thus that would explain why the stronger one was beating the crap out of the tall guy. Though I didn't know why, I started to join in on the fun, yelling for the victor.
However, the next part I was not prepared for: I was picked up and, though I struggled profusely, was put in the ring with the built fighter. I ran for the door but it was bolted shut from the outside.
"Come on, big boy, show me what you got." I turned to face my opponent. Not only was she built, but she had either her blood or the other guy.
Now, as a general rule of thumb hitting a girl was going against everything I went for. I would have kept debating it if she didn't start punching me in the gut. I really never hit anything before, but I just swung half through instinct and half through sheer anger, and knocked her butt on the floor of the cage. Now, whether it was her being surprised I could do such a move or me knowing I had five years of wrestling and sword fighting back at my old high school, I felt good for once. The crowd cheered, she looked PO'ed, and came back for more. We fought for what seemed like 30 minutes until she threw in the towel. After we both exited the arena, she grabbed my arm before I could go further.
"What's your name?" She asked through panting and sweating.
"Call me bunny. Yours?" She paused for a few seconds, as if in deep thought.
"Cat." I stood still. That name sounded familiar. Where did I remember that name...?
The place was still full until the sun started to peek over the horizon, then we all scrambled from the place knowing we would have our heads on plates if the CO didn't find us in bed.

Chapter 6 - Flashback

Pit stop

2006-01-27T11:55:00.000-06:00

I know, I know...i left you all hanging on the points of your fingernails wondering what the heck will happen next.
As some know i've been working hard on creating a new PE Guide for everyone to enjoy, thus taking all my free time up. I hope to finish this soon so i can continue my story (yes i will continue).
Thanks for hanging on. New chapter next week, my word.

Chapter 4 – Conflict

2006-01-18T22:49:00.000-06:00

Up to now: Bunny and Co. landed on the newly discovered planet Calypso. Bunny was assigned to team delta to protect supply routes to a nearby camp.

Sun. Slight breeze blowing on my face. Walking through tall grass. Just me and seven other guys taking a walk on a surface unknown to man. Even then, nobody spoke for a few minutes, and then I decided to break the ice.
“How’s the tight guards Hans?” I asked him. I was thinking I should have gotten a pair for myself, since they looked kind of cool. “They are good” He said with a slight German accent. “But it rides up in the groan area.” We all laughed. “Can’t say this chest armor is quite comfortable myself.” Soon all four of us were talking about stuff we left behind…home, family, friends, jobs, and the like. Hans ended up leaving his two kids who went to college at Harvard. Sean and Jared who were brothers came for the adventure when they both dropped from college themselves and left home for the army. Although they were considered troublemakers in their town, they were better off now that they were on their own. Crossed a river, put the cargo on the other side then took off everything except our boxers and splashed around for a bit. All they said was to get the cargo to the container by nightfall…they didn’t say when it had to be there before that. Unfortunately, the team’s radio buzzed in. “You got the supplies to your location yet?” Jared took the radio in his hands. Paused for a second, then said “Not yet sir”.
“Then get your $#@! ass moving! Everyone else is on route back!” Yelled the CO. Wow, we were late. So we quickly got our gear back on and ran with the suppliers to the camp. Just about that time I turned on my electronic pinpoint monitor.
“Wasn’t the camp supposed to send out a signal indicating where it is?” I said. “Bring it here” Hans said. He tinkered around with it; hit it with his hands, but still no signal. “Neh, we can find it without this junk.” Sean bellowed after many attempts to trying to fix it. So we continued about hundred footsteps to the northeast when I spotted something around the horizon. Putting my hand up to signal to the others to halt, we went closer to see what it was. Sure enough, we found our first mob. About the size of a dog, gray skin, and one ugly beastie bursting with green goop.
“Hey Hans, isn’t that what they called a snablesnot?” I whispered to him.
“Ya. Tis an ugly little porker.” He looked at me.
“Yeah. Looks like my great aunt Jackie.” We all laughed. “Target practice, anyone?” We left the four guys with the supplies behind a few feet incase it got bad.
“Head shots guys. Don’t want this thing to know what hit it. Nor do I want to touch that green crap. Fire at will.”
Within seconds the poor thing was nothing but a pile of bits. As we passed it Hans stared at it and pumped another round into it.
“Can never be too sure…”
We finally made way to the camp. Place was deserted. “Hey guys, looks like the receiver tower got knocked down. The container looked like it also suffered some damage. “Secure the parameter while I fix it.” I said. “And remind me to tell Thunder we need a new tin can.”
“A new what?” Sean asked. “A new container, newbie.” I laughed. “Somebody didn’t study the terms.” Sean cursed, and then went on patrol.
Was getting dark, sun was finally setting and the wind was picking up. Seemed the tower was taken out by something other than wind…it had a huge dent in it. Like somebody punched it or something. Finally repaired it, then I figured while I was at it I’d check the sensors on the defense turrets. Things were huge, like four stories high. I’d always wanted one as a younger person, wanted to take it apart and configure it to a hand held with the same power. Almost worked too, until it took out the kitchen wall...mom wasn’t pleased about that. As I chuckled to myself I was about halfway though the diagnostic when Jared yelled out in distress. I looked up to see our culprit: An eight foot, bulky piece of something that had huge fist and was coming straight for us. Our weapons were useless against the thing, the cells just seemed to bounce off it, and it was still seconds away from the turret to be reactivated.
“Come on, come on…stupid piece of crap” I yelled. The beast was about to take out Hans…I put the rifle on my shoulder; silently said a quick prayer and aimed…

Chapter 5 – Friends in high places

______________________________________
Author’s Note

Thanks all who read and comment on my stories! I encourage everyone to post comments and tell other PE fans to read this.
While this is planning to be a continuing storyline, I will need fresh names. Therefore I’m picking about 5 people who wouldn’t mind having their names/professions being part of the story. Just post a comment with your in game name, what you do in PE (i.e. hunter, miner, tailor, etc), and what you want to see in the story. If more than 5 people submit entries, 5 will be picked randomly and the results will be posted in the next chapter.

Chapter 3 – Touchdown

2006-01-17T15:55:00.000-06:00

Sun!

I jumped out of the craft to the glorious sign that hovered above the ground: “Welcome to Caplyso”. The only thing missing now was an Oscar Meyer truck. As the plane started to unload the passengers, they looked up to the sky. Blue sky, light breeze, and even the faint sound of what sounded like birds flying overhead. This was just like home. Perhaps this was just a run of bad luck…

“Everyone gather around!” Someone yelled into a microphone. The place got surprisingly quiet. “As I speak for all of the people here and back at home, welcome to the planet Calypso!” The whole place erupted in celebration. We finally did it. What our fathers and their fathers always dreamed about, we had finally made it. Even those who were quiet most of the time couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes ladies and gentlemen, we are all standing on history today. I’ll keep my words short so we can get unpacked.”

After a short time the speaker announced “We need two groups of people…we need strong bodies to carry the cargo to the different locations, and…” he stopped with a short pause. “We will need a group of brave colonist to help protect the cargo carriers from what we consider to call be monsters, or ‘mob’ in our terms.”

Hmmm…carry cargo or shoot mob…tough choice…

Soon I was on the way to a nearby ‘container’, which were supposedly spread throughout Calypso. As I walked up a short ramp the room was full of little machines hung around the wall. As I got near one it flipped open automatically, sending me back as a bit of surprise. I would have to learn to expect stuff like that…mental note to self. There were about 20 of us there, all looking around with our orange suits. Then we were each given a card with some symbol on it.

“I’m caption Thunder, and I will be your CO. What these cards are for is to store your PED on. Just put those into any of these machines and it will let you get equipment essential for your jobs. They have 10 PED each. Spend them well. And…before you ask…they do not dispense beverages.” He added with a stern look. Some of the bigger guys in the group laughed.

So, casually walking up to one, it opened as it did before and a screen popped up in the air as if there was a second screen there. A few buttons on the side of the machine let me pick out chest plate armor. Tried it on, perfect fit. Not bad. Then it spat out a big gun.

“Sweet…” I whispered under my breath. As a child I never had anything like this. A friend of mine had a pellet air rifle but nothing like this. As I got the feel of it down I almost forgot to get some ammo. Got some cell packs, then put a magazine in and loaded it. It felt satisfying hearing the click of the loading process. I was still thinking about it when a loud burst crack was heard from one of the nearby terminals. Apparently one of the hunters decided to pre-test his weapon before anyone else. The shot left a nice dent in the wall of the container.

His action was of course noticed by the CO. “Son, what’s your name?”

“Jason.”

“Well, not anymore. It’s now is now Trigger finger.” Everyone chuckled. “Oh, and by the way, you’ll have to fix that.” The CO reminded him.

“Damn. Just want to shoot something, sir.” Jason said.

“Don’t worry son, you’ll get your chance. Now, if everyone is done, come outside the room.” Doing as we were told, we split into four teams: two riflemen and two handguns.

It was me along with the other rifleman with the guy I met at the station, Hans, and the two pistol packers, Sean and Jared. “This is smaller than most I operated with back home.” Hans said. Hmm…had hard enough time trying to get around mine.

“Know your comrades. They are your only support in the open field. Never leave a man behind. Shall you find yourself with no ammo left get some from someone else. You will also be given a survival blade, in case. All else fails, call for backup. Team alpha, your assignment…”

After a day of training and rest at the port, our group, team delta, was assigned to cargo company C to transport medical supplies to a nearby camp. Go, escort them, drop off supplies, and come back to Port Atlantis…how hard could it be…

Chapter 4 – conflict

Chapter 2 – Resurrection

2006-01-13T17:15:00.000-06:00

“Good morning Mr. Bunny!”
Morning?
I open my eyes to a different view than when I last closed them: a large room full of equipment, monitors viewing vital signs and other information, bright lights and a bunch of people in lab coats walking back and forth between corridors. I guess my first source of discomfort came when there was a large crowd that seemed to be observing me, and I had nothing on me.
“Would you mind!?” I yelled, getting into a cowardly position to cover myself.
“No, not really.” The head lab researcher said. The female lab assistances giggled as I turned red, both in anger and embarrassment. He got up and went to a cabinet of sort and retrieved a white boxer pants, then threw them to me.
“I’m Dr. Reynard. Congratulations sir, cheating death is our job. Thankfully there was enough of you left to replicate your DNA from the wreckage, and presto! Bunny is born. Thanks to modern day technology, there were no casualties in the incident.” He said. “However, not everything was able to be returned successfully. I wouldn’t look in a mirror if I were you.”
I quickly looked around. On a tray not far away there was a hand-held mirror. I jumped off the platform were I was kept and ran for it.
“The plastic surgeons did everything in their power to make your face close to the original…” I picked up the mirror and looked in it. Nothing had changed.
“Oh, got you!” Dr. Reynard said. Everyone laughed; I was fumed, as you could have guessed. I gave him a taste of a nice knuckle sandwich in the face. I would have given him more, but the guards made it otherwise.
“He is fine; take him to the prep with the others.” Dr. Reynard hissed, wiping his nose off with a handkerchief of the bloody nose.
The prep room wasn’t much better mood-wise than the lab was. Everyone was in the same boxers or clothes I was given, and was in a single file line getting other objects. So finally being released by the guards (but still under their eyes), I walked in the back of the line.
As I was waiting my turn a tall male who was in front of me turned around and looked down on me with his dark eyes. Not to mention a very built guy with a deep voice and a scar the shape of three claw marks on his back.
“Looked like you just crapped your pants.” He said in a loud but somehow smooth voice.
“Not so loud!” I hushed. I really wasn’t in the mood or place for someone else to be cracking jokes. “Sorry bud. Hans’ the name.”
“…Mike…just call me Bunny.” Hans just stared for a few seconds, but he said “Nice meeting you Bunny.” I stood there just understanding what happened when I was next in line.
“Mr. Bunny…1 pair of shoes, and one standard issue colonist jumpsuit.”
“That is some jeans and a nice shirt right?” I asked. I just prayed it wasn’t flannel shirt with bell-bottoms. The person shoves a pile of bright orange gym jumpsuit in my direction. Wow…I could sense all the fashion designers rolling in their graves if they saw them. Made me want to curse at the person for such an ugly suit but was forced to move continue in line. Soon after we all marched into another shuttle, where we would finally make our way to Calypso. Definitely not what I had in mind when I embarked on this journey. But there was still a buzz of questions swarming in my head: Who attacked us? Were we actually dead? Did this ‘Calypso’ even exist? As I looked out the window of the shuttlecraft I did a quick prayer not to let what happened that day to repeat itself.

Chapter 3: Touchdown

Chapter 1 – The pilot

2006-01-12T15:06:00.000-06:00

“Come one; come all to the newest discovery of your lifetime! Be a part of history as a new era is upon us! Take on new adventures as a bold adventure on the newly discovered planet ‘Calypso’! “

That’s what the pamphlet said as I strode to the ship waiting on the runway. Of the two hundred thousand lucky participants, I was one of them. Sure, being a wealthy genius and having a job at one of the top corporations in the world helped me secure a spot, but most of it was luck. Only the best and brightest had a snowball’s chance in heck to get in. Twenty-four years old, two duffle bags of supplies, and a 1-way ticket to the planet. Colonize it, then just sit back and let the rewards reap themselves, so the instructor said. As I sat back in the leather plane seat, I closed my eyes and drifted off…

“Would you like some cashews, sir?”
I lifted his eyelids. There was a waitress in a blue uniform and wearing a light blue hat. I grabbed a small package then went back to trying to get my mind off my work to come. There was quite the whispering and talking around the cabin as the other participants buzzed around the new cities and structures that were already built by the robots sent a few years ahead of them. This is going to be a long flight, I thought to myself. Already getting bored…dozed off again…

WHAM!
Wake up hitting my head on the nearest bulkhead and to the sounds of screams. People running back and fourth between cabins, lights flashing, shaking and stirring of the ship and voices on the loudspeaker yelling to the unruly crowd below: “Everyone get to your designated escape pods immediately! We are under attack! I repeat, everyone get to your designated escape pods immediately!”
Jack told an attendant what was going on. “Were under attack!” she yelled
“No crap, from whom.” I yelled back. But by then all the cabin windows lit up to a fiery orange then exploded, taking the craft with it. Wow, what a pain to be dead.

Day 52 - Getting desperate

2006-01-10T11:23:00.000-06:00

Ok, this is sad. I went to the place i vowed never to return to until my avatar was a bit buffer, but I returned to the place where only hundreds of thousands have ran to and diead before..the rig. Sweating is no longer an opion, so now i'm either full of hope or full of something else. Off to the rig!!

TP'd to the nyphtown, then ran down south to the outpost about 250 steps north of the pvp zone. A small group there from a soc but wasn't going to bother them since their armor and blades were supior to my own, thus i didn't risk having them hack away at me in the zone. Reached the edge of the zone! Alright, this is it. I was going to make it! ...unless the atrox wanted a flippin' meal. I hate it how there's always a thick wall of mob circling the areas of the zone where it's impossible to penetrate by oneself unless you're from ck or something. Heck, even ridding of 10% of them would increase my odds. 10 attempts later (and much cursing and yelling), went back to camp phoniox to beg newbies for me to become their mentor. Lots of them interested, but they needed more time to think about it. Come on! Either a simple 'yes' or 'no' would be suffice. If they don't like it, they can pick someone else, fine by me. Because as of this point, my hunting for even a global has become a struggle, since i've neither a global or hof under my belt. Bah! Enough ranting!

odd 'sir odd' bunny

Day 51 - perfect solution

2006-01-09T12:29:00.000-06:00

Little chart to solve all problems in PE. Few for real life, but first for PE. Follow it and you can't go wrong ;)

Step 1: Did you touch it? -- If yes goto step 2, if not step 9
Step 2: Don't touch it! -- Goto step 9, else goto step 3 or 4 if not solved
Step 3: Don't tell anyone -- No Problem! Done
Step 4: Did it break? -- If yes goto step 5, if not step 2
Step 5: Does anyone know? -- If yes goto step 6, if not step 9
Step 6: Will you catch heck? -- If yes goto step 7, if not step 9
Step 7: You poor newbie! -- repeat as nesseary until step 8
Step 8: Can you blame someone else for the break? -- If yes, step 9, if not, repeat step 7.
Step 9: NO PROBLEM!

lol...maybe a bit confusing but it's a good laugh.

Day 48 – W00t!

2006-01-06T17:38:00.000-06:00

Best day yet. Finally became an ‘Unskilled Swordfighter’, thus ending my ‘unofficial’ training as a newbie. Not to say there is still a significant amount of things to explore, but I can have a sense of accomplishment to say I’ve done quite a bit. Now as a capable mentor, I look forward to the many rewards that can be reaped from PE, both for myself and others.

Firstly, I’d like to personally thank Dino, radical, Eric, and the whole gang of E.P for helping me out. I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I have since I started last November. Also for their guidance in-game and out, and for answering all of my many annoying questions and comments. Hopefully the ‘chirpy’ that did 99 damage will not encounter me for some time.

I’d also like to thank all of my hunting peeps, sox for most part, for helping me skill on difficult mobs and getting skilled on one of the more difficult skills of melee combat.

Also, for the soc that took me in, ‘Men in red pants’ under their wings. Still don’t quite have enough for red pants, but I will not rest until I do. GeoTermalCat, Blue and the others are good talkers with quite a bit of experience under their belts. As a just promoted private I look forward to doing more activates with those fellow soc mates.

I look forward to continuing my adventures here on PE, and hopefully train many disciples to their successes.

- Odd ‘sir odd’ Bunny

Day 47 – the rigged rig

2006-01-05T13:23:00.000-06:00

-Thanks whoever for reporting the broken link. It is now fixed!-

Well, I can’t believe I went there again, but things aren’t looking too hot. My sweating is getting close to expiring and hunting has turned up squat. I guess the biggest thing is the closet tp is about 4 minute run to the NW outpost. Finally get there, about six other guys there, all newbies. I figure if they can go I can have some bait for the mob to munch on while I head for the rig. So we went over the big hill north of the pvp zone, no mob activity which was strange. Finally hit the outer rim of the zone and made our way in. We were about little bit in when we hit another group of newbies trying to get there as well. So we had a dozen people, all weaving back and fourth trying to get to the rig. Next thing you know, there’s another guy. So we thought ‘hey, why not get this guy to help us?’

So we made our way over to ask him. He was quiet at first, didn’t say anything. We just stood there looking at each other. Next thing you know, he pulls out some long black weapon that I didn’t recognize. But I got the hint that this was about to go south. So in a mix of panic and excitement, I ran the opposite direction. At about that time I heard the ‘rat-ta-ta-tat’ of something fast going off. The bullets were flying, the death count was rising and things were looking ugly really fast. As for me I was running and jumping up and down like a crazy person or something, just hoping he didn’t put his sights on my butt. Thankfully a nearby atrox came by and occupied the person, so I made my escape…just as I ran into a mob of my own and dead was the verdict. Still have yet to find the %$# rig. Till next time…

Odd ‘sir odd’ Bunny

Day 45 – New year, new fun…

2006-01-03T14:23:00.000-06:00

Yes, I haven’t written in weeks, and I disappointed people…but I return! Not only for today’s post, but few others as well to make up lost time. Let’s get this party started!

Day 41 – A changed odd

W00t! Bought some plain pants and finally got rid of my newbie clothes! Good day already. I was getting sick of the orange pants and shirt giving me a bad taste in my mouth. Got a goblin harness to go with it, so in a way I bought a shirt as well. Time to buff up! I’m sure chicks dig dudes in gray pants and goblin armor. Went to camp phoenix and strutted my stuff, flexing and what not. Got quite the crowd actually. Some booed, some taunted, but a few dropped PEC’s for grabs. Was having difficulty competing with the camp phoenix ‘bush’ that was supposedly giving out free PEC’s and dung to those who worshipped it. Hmmm…give PEC’s to a person or a bush…tough choice :P

Put a PED or two in the enblade and went solo on snobs and byceles (forgive my spellings). Sweated some more and hoped the price of sweat didn’t drop any lower L 1.2/bottle! Aiy de mi! (‘oh my god!’ for those who don’t speak Spanish). Started at 2 PEC’s and now it’s this and hope it doesn’t go to .5 L. Otherwise the large amounts people stored for a good price will be worthless soon if they don’t sell ‘em soon. Until next time…

Odd ‘sir odd’ bunny

Day 39 – The big hunt!

Ah, if my luck would have held on past today! Bagged 10 PED in a group hunt with some buds…most I ever got at a hunt. Started at camp phoenix then ransacked our way to the south through a thick herd of molisk and fefford. First five beast gave up 5+ Ped each divided by everyone then scattered loot here and there. I managed to repair my enblade with 5 PED from sweating before hand so I actually had a decent amount of damage to deal before being replaced. Man, we slaughtered the whole place! Emptied the radar of all red dots few times, then kept moving. Thankfully one of the guys had good healing chip so we didn’t die at all. Then after a while we went 20+ kills without a PEC. Man what a drag! Beasties were’nt even supporting us, while others elsewhere were scoring globals at least. Man, I REALLY need a global in my name, even if it was on a team. PED is taken for granted by most of the experienced players, and while others brag about affording supremacy armor and whatnot, it’s a fight out there everyday for us newbies, especially those who can’t deposit anything. We build ourselves from the ground up, we are tough, kick-as…enough of my rants…till next time…

Odd ‘sir odd’ bunny

Day 35 – the PED is mightier!

2005-12-22T20:24:00.000-06:00

Day 35 –

Aiy, it has been a long week since my mouse last hit this journal, but real life issues took priority…hopes others understand that some things are more important than fun and games. But, I’m back and so are my adventures! Let’s continue…

Ah, the life of a trader. Long and boring, if you don’t know what you’re doing. This was me for a bit. Wanted to be a crafter, but I had squat for any resources, so I hit the auctions for some deals. Got good deal on a lot of lysterium ingots, but that was about it. Almost got a bunch of oil but some sneaky foe bid higher at the last second before I could re-bid. Garr… I was mad! I still got a good deal from another bid but it was a tad more. Then I flipped though my bp’s to see what I could make. I wanted to make either armor or weapons, but all I had for resources I could only do basic filters with the oil and lysterium ingots. Oh well, what is a poor calpysoian suppose to do? So I bought the equipment book and set off to the local container to make some filters and start off my crafting carrier! Hoping for some nice returns, I ran straight for it, then faced the area full of construction machines. Armor, weapons, tailoring, tools…but no equipment machines! What the heck (though I was thinking something else at the time)? I went to all the machines and tired to put my bp in the little window but to no avail! Aiy, had equipment been some cruel trick played on me, or was it just this place? I quickly TP’d to twin peaks and hadeshelm, but nothing with my crafting. Aiy…my crafting carrier came to an abrupt end before it began…disappointed I was! It was the first occupation I wanted to be when I first joined, but iron is difficult to buy for in small quantities and even harder to mine, so armor and weapons are not in my budget. I got the gas and ingots, so I’ll keep them for now should I find a sweet deal…only need about 20 or so. I like the unrefined since they’re cheaper. Must be relentless in my pursuit!

All for now

Odd ‘sir odd’ bunny

My morning exercise and my reason for doing so right behind me…and yes, I didn’t make it

Day 27 - the day of red

2005-12-16T13:42:00.000-06:00

Day 27-

I was tired of waiting around and sweating my buns off (no pun) for 1.4-1.5 so there was a group at camp phoinx that were going hunting and I decided to tag along for the ride with my beloved combat enblade-1. Team crash we were, consisted of me, crash, sox, spud and concelme (forgive for mispelling his name!) . Anyway we headed east toword scilly. When we headed that direction the radar indicated at least a dozen feffords, conciodes and few others in that direction, all tightly bunched. Crash shot one, then it would take the beastie out of the bunch and into the open. His mistake! We cornored that poor mob and finished him off. Thus, we repeated until the whole radar was dry of red dots. The loot was spread evenly, so we each had about 5 pretty ped worth of loot in our invitory. Kept blasting, slashing, whatever we were doing, sox and spud got wacked by a fefford i belive, but our brave comrades's ghost made it to scilly. We met up short time later, lost spud, then kept moving south east. Didn't know what was in store for us, for i hadn't been down that path before. Went in a flying formation, each person covering the others back with their weapon. Took out a fuxtoral, or whatever the big t-rex thing was, noting from him. Then, we had the run-in with an atrox. Took us by surpise, killed sox, had nearly the rest of us dead but with teamwork we slaughtered that little bugger till there was nothing left. Our reward:

"This creature contained no loot"

Son of a hamster!

Took few minutes while we fap'd ourselves and get sox back. Went hunting for a little bit more, but then the atrox mature came. I was slicing, crash and sox were firing with thier Jesters and other weapons, but crash and sox gave up thier ghost and I was the lone ranger in the group..just me and the atrox. I swoung my sword with all my might, had him down to about 25% health, but then BAM! My bloody sword gave out! So., what does one do with an atrox staring at it with no usalbe weapon! Run like hell! But the MA gods would not have it, I became the third meal of the day. There, i ended my journy and hartheavly pushed esc.

Odd 'sir odd' Bunny

Day 26 - Things look up...maybe

2005-12-14T19:36:00.000-06:00

Day 26-

Things have been slightly more normal than usual...must investagate.

Hung out at Twin Peaks most of the time. Just looking for good deals mostly. I figure if I can't make a pretty PEC hunting, might as well make it trading. Buy low, sell high echo the words of my late econimics teacher. Man that guy was cool...he actually made class fun. Survival of the strongest companies...if you have to drink and drive, drink robert's dariy %2 low fat milk...never have a fight unless i'm there to ref...ok, so he taught us moslty non-econ stuff, but he was still cool.

Anyway, back to sir odd...lagg kills at twin peaks, why i hung out there i don't know, probably the big crowd around the octagon. Went to the big container thing with all the manufatureing machines and auctioneer and whatnot to check out the status of my scanner...still no bids. Bah. Maybe tommorow. I like browsing through the last calls part so I can qucik grab something I like and jip somebody of thier fap-5 at the last second. Evil yes, but back to ecomincs, 'greed is good'. In my case, it was even better.

Went to the estates section...just curoisity more than anything, really. Browsed though the pages of apartments and whatnot...landed on the 29th page and bam! Apartment going for 5 PED. Dam! How that slip through? So you bet i bet 6 PED on it! Yeah i sold some of my stuff but its worth it to me...So as of a few minutes ago i was aimmed to be the proud owner of Aprt 19 C @ TI (darn, should've kept my mouth shut. Now everyone who reads this will bet on it). Just try to keep your bets off for the next 5 days...

If I get some more PED wheter from hunting or whatnot, I do plan on buying a place to house my head under sometime and enjoy it. Actually, I was thinking of a 'The Apprentice' type dealie. Get 2 teams of newbies or otherwise, pay a 5 PED entry fee, then they could face off each week in some task to test their skills. One team would triump over the other, which would get some kind of prize, while the losing team would kick off the weakest player. Thus, widdling down to two, have some big task, then the winner would get like a really awsome full armor set or likewise. Or run the shop. Or get his/her own place.

Well, 'nuff for now. Gotta go back to twin peaks to see if my buddy came yet.

Odd 'Sir Odd' Bunny

..btw, if you hear somebody else posting my idea on any PE related forum, tell me so i can politely kick thier butt ;)

Day 25

2005-12-13T18:21:00.000-06:00

Day 25-

I love my PED’s. Unfortunately, the most I’ve ever had was six. They say you should try something new everyday. Today, I tried my hand into money making.

After days and hours of sweating up a storm and whacking more mobs, I was weighted down with bunch of hides and junk. While they were useless to me, I figured I would use them later, thus making my way to the local storage unit. Haven’t really visited one since my first few days. All I had in there were a bunch of bp’s and some paint. Emptied my junk in there, and then made way to Jason center, my personal hangout spot for getting good deals.

I really needed some PEDs because my newbie jumpsuit just doesn’t meet my taste. So I went to the auctioneer to see what deals were out in the world. This is where I got most of my starter equipment since the deals were good (for my price range…who knew a combat enblade-A could be bought at 2 PED? Sure it was broke but I could fix it). Anyway, back to the story. Looking through of the items for faps and ores. Looked through the scanner sections. Someone was selling a lifescanner for 2500 PED! HA! ‘Bout fell off my chair laughing. Even I knew that it was a rip-off. The TT values were only about 45 PED. If the seller thinks he’s getting a good deal out of it, he’ll be disappointed when he gets it back negative 1 PED.

I made sure I wasn’t going to do the same thing. Earlier I had bought an Investafoe thinking it’d be awesome to target stuff, but it wasn’t living up to the hype. So I decided to take a risk and put it on the market. I put the item up, and then it asked if I wanted a buyout. Hmm…how does one dictate such a price? So I played around with the options for a bit, and then settled to start things off with 3 PEDs and a buyout of 9. Yes, I regret setting the bar that high…should have set it lower, more like 5 or 6. Now if someone bids on it they have to wait till Saturday when the time runs out. But, if someone actually bid the buyout price…that would be nice. Then I can finally afford the full set of settler armor at the TT. No more orange jumpsuit for me! I know, it sounds sad to most, but I don’t spend without a good reason. Met dirk_digger in game, first EP forum poster I’ve seen in game. Hope to meet dino or NEVERDIE or somebody else later.
Needless to say, I have a rough road ahead of me. With no way to deposit to the game, my avatar has nothing but his mostly broken sword, some sweat ability left and his wits…may the MA gods take pity on him.

Until next time…

Odd ‘Sir Odd’ Bunny

…BTW, if you wish to own a little piece of me, check with any auctioneer and under the list of scanners. If you see an Investafoe E100, that’s probably mine. It’s even still working, unlike the rest of my equipment L . Place your bets, it’s gone Saturday if not bought out beforehand.

*Also* Anyone can post now! Many apologies for the mess-up!

2005-12-12T12:28:00.000-06:00

Day 23-

Aiy! My soc of 'Miricle workers' didn't meet requirements and disbanded! Oh well, i suspected it wouldn't. Now i get my 'freelancer' status back! w00t! Nothing screams more 'noobie' than that.

Finally took my first steps on TI. Usually my comp crashes whenever i TP there but my computer decided to behave for awhile when i aimed my trusty BFH (big friken hammer) at the screen. But was for naught...no deathfier. Was really wishing to meet him. :( Also missed my first mining lesson. First off because my comp crashed evey few minutes and nobody told me where genisis star tower D was! ooo...that hammer was really looking good at the time.

Did my usual 10 runs to the rig...made it to center twice but found no rig...probably died with it right behind me. Swear i'm cursed. Went back to town above pvp3 to patrol the parameter and slice any miners coming out and try to loot 'em but those winged dragons are a pain...can't seem them till it's too late...

Went to camp phoinx to end my viritual day...went to sweat and found bunch of people prasing and bowing down to a bush...a FRICKEN BUSH! Some crazy-arse noob told them that if they prayed to the bush it would give out dung and PEC's...OMG! There were bout dozen noobies there, kept bowing to the bush. At the time I wish we were in a pvp zone so i chop them all down to size...instead brought a frefford guardian to them and that did the job for me :) Then all was well again and I logged off.

Odd 'Sir Odd' Bunny

2005-12-11T12:47:00.000-06:00

Day 22-

Finally reached 80 failed attempts at the rig. I give up. Not until I can secure some armor and/or buddies to tag along will i attempt again (unless i feel lucky). Sweating seems to taugnt me everytime i do since it's pretty much all i can do. Still missing a few TP's but they are way out of the way and don't think they are that important yet. So for now...I sweat.

Made a-many kills by my combat enblade, but only 3 mob were nice enough to cough up a total of 80 PEC's. That's after i spent 3 PED repairing the sword. What a drag! Sure it was good expirence and it did change my profession, but it wasn't worth it. Saw some guy score 3 globals and 1 HOF in that time. Dang i wish i could deposit... ;(

With finals this week PE will be the last thing in my mind unfortuetly. But then i get a whole month of nothing to do...oh, wait, i DO...i would be so bored without PE. Thx Mindark!

-Odd 'Sir Odd' Bunny

2005-12-09T20:10:00.000-06:00

Day 20-

More fun with my new toy. Actually got 2 PED from a snable. And a bunch of paint...worthless ornage, got like 50 cans now. Actually got few yellow ones, but 70% of em had nothing, while the others had measily 16-32 PEC. Not that I wouldn't take it...

OK, this is getting annoying. 50...count 'em, 50 attempts to try to get to rig. I might have seen it in the distance my 48th time, but i'm not sure what wacked me in the back...probably some sniper that was on the edge of my rader. Hope he paid for that. Also ran into a small group when i did an eariler attempt...not actual converstaion, but it went something like this...

[groupie1]: Over there
[groupie2]: what
[groupie1]: that orange pants guy to the south...
[sir odd]: Dont mind me, just passing by :) <- my first mistake
[groupie3]: Should we get him?
[sir odd]: I heard that <- second mistake...always best to keep mouth shut
[groupie2]: nah, he's noobie...
[groupie1]: I'll get him
[sir odd]: I wouldn't suggest that...i AM a noob and i'm armed, so dont waste your ammo...noob <- OH, the words that sealed my death

*sound of something flying thourgh the air and hitting my avatar's poor head

Critical hit - you take extra 120 damage!

...Damn.

[groupie1]: (you fill in the blank)
________________________
Anyway...I give up on rig now and back to play with my blade and snables. Say hi if you come around.

Hugs and kisses,
Oddbunny

Day in the life of an entropian

2005-12-09T15:25:00.000-06:00

Entry for December 09, 2005 - PE style: This is my daily (almost) journal of my day in PE. Sure, TerminalHamster is the main star and reason for blogging, but then, it's a nice way to let people know what i do as a fellow entropian colonist. Clap, laugh, scream, curse, do as you please, as this will only raise my hit counter. Perhaps Hamster idea will catch on and NEVERDIE will spare me a PED or two...(becasue i need em!)

Dec 8 - day 18

Tonight I finally got the sword of my dreams...a combat enblade-A! O0o0o0o0o0o...sweet *drools on floor* Sure most you out there weild better weapons and wondering why I go crazy for this one but I wanted since day 1. Yes, it was off the auction and had the TT value of 1 PED, but hey, something like that going for 3 PED? Heck yes! I'd repair it later so overall a nice deal on my part. Plus some snable dinner soon to come...
Yes, finally hit 40 death counts on my attempt to reach the mysterious oil rig. It's annoying that Hamster beat me to it. With my new blade hopfully the MA gods will take pity...and the atrox.

Got 1 new TP and two more outpost, each a little closer to the rig than the last. Thankfully i had a shield of about 3-4 other newbies all wondering in the same directions, so misfortune took them out instead of me (sorry guys). Sold my settler gloves and thigh armor for some PEDs at the TT, just in case something came up.

To finish off my rather short time on calypso, went and sweated for 100 sweat. Sell those later.

Hugs and kisses,

Oddbunny