An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Caius.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap is at 65. You change? Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Eyes hurt? Turn Color OFF!! (regular story dates)

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a bluish black leather-bound book on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Caius' scribed in rich orange ink.

Author:    Caius          
Date:      Tue Nov  7 18:51:41 2006
Subject   An Ex-Gladiators story.

A young mercenary, by the name of Caius fought gallantly beside
the
others, but soon fell.  He was fighting beasts he's only heard
of, The
Minotaurs, with a small force of other mercenaries.  They fell
swiftly, the
only one left living was Caius.  He was knocked out by the blunt
side of an
axe.  He had killed one of the opposing Minotaurs, but had been
knocked out
by the falling axe.  When he awoke, he was in a cage, on a boat
with a
number of others.  He blinks, and shakes his head, looking around
at the
others.  "Where am I?"  He asks hoping for an answer, but he was
just given
a look.  He was on his way toward the Minotaur Islands.  He was
to be a
gladiator.  He arrived at the island, and was taken straight to
the arena,
where he was trained shortly to fight.  Then, the first day of
the Arena,
and he and another were chained together, he was given a shield
and the
other man a sword.  They were pushed into the arena, along with
several
other groups.  He stares in wonder at the crowd, but soon turns
his
attention to his opponents.  The fight was short and brutal.  He
and his
team mate were among the few to survive.  The next two, he fought
with valor
and came out on top, .  Where as most of the gladiators from when
he started
had died.  The Minotaurs decided That he would go train with the
Weapons
Master.  After a short time training with The Weapons master, the
Minotaurs
took Caius back into the arena.  There he fought legions of foes,
but came
out on top.  The final challenge, was the Previous Gladiator
Champion,
Undefeated, and Soon to be the New Weapons Master, Who also is a
Minotaur. 
The battle was long, and bloody.  Caius received numerous gashes,
bruises,
and a dislocated, but came out on top.  Standing over the dead
corpse, Caius
looks out at the crowd and lifts his sword, then shouts
something, but it
goes unheard.  Soon after his wounds healed, He was ordered to
present
himself before the emperor himself.  The Emperor granted his
freedom,
Telling him he can leave Mithas.  Only Caius refused, and instead
went as a
free man back to the Weapons Master.  He trained for years, at
least ten,
then He was crowned Weapons Master, and Master of the Arena.  He
was given
specially made armor, of his choosing, and a Horned Helmet.  He
watches the
arena, watching for any worthy enough to be trained, Atleast he
did until he
learned about the Emperor's disappearance.  Which soon after, he
too
Disappeared...  Here ends this story Thus far..  

Author:    Caius        
Date:      Tue Jul 22 22:25:56 2008
Subject     Unlikely Companions

Caius snaps 'Bash em in Terrsa!'

The large minotaur loses her patience and begins to ram into the
door,
breaking its hinges. "Shall we?" she says as she beckons Caius to
follow her inside.

The dust settles and a large figure is noticed at the back of the
dark room

Caius nods and moves inside, his sword held low. He notices the
dark
Figure and moves toward it, wondering why there was dust
everywhere.

Terrsa breathes heavy, clutching her axe she stomps towards Caius
and
someone in the shadows. She notices a lone figure and begins to
examine the area to see if others are inside. 'Not the welcoming
I had
expected Caius, shall we look around to see if there are others?'
she
cautiously askes.

Caius pauses for a second and kneels down, putting his sword on
the
ground and reaching into a pouch for some flint. "Terrsa find me
a
torch." he says drawing a small dagger.

Terrsa walks west and shortly after re-enters the room and hands
Caius
a torch.

Caius strikes the flint with the dagger and lights the oil soaked
torch. He puts his dagger and the flint away, then picks his
sword up
and stands, looking around the room. "Where is everyone?"

The light falls upon the figure and it's quite clear that the man
was
once a commanding figure, but the hooks of death and a dagger in
his
chest have long since finished his rein.

Caius mutters 'I guess that pretty much tells the story.'

Terrsa crouches down from the sudden appearance of a corpse in
the
room, her eyes darting from left to right, "Looks as though it
does."
she says quietly.

Caius looks around and hands Terrsa the Torch. "Go around
lighting the
torches on the walls. LEts get some light in here."

Terrsa notices cobwebs and dust everywhere, as though this room
hadn't
been used in some time. She moves off to light the hall with her
torch.

The cadaverous hand falls suddenly upon the table as the corpse
pitches forward. A small scrap of paper clenched between it's
long
lifeless fingers.

Caius approaches the corpse and pries its fingers open to get to
the
paper.

Terrsa hears a rustling sound and storms back to Caius, thinking
someone had attacked him. She returns still holding her torch. 
"What
was that?", she asks Caius.

The fingers give slowly, but the paper begins to crumble leaving
only
part of it visible and legible

Caius picks the paper up out of the hand and reads whats left on
it.

Terrsa asks quickly 'What does it say?  Is there anything else on
the
body that may bear clues to what has happened here?' She then
begins
to examine the body.

The paper begins to fall apart under prying fingers of Caius

Terrsa wrinkles her snout in disgust from the putrid odor and
decides
to leave the examining to Caius.  Still holding her torch, she
stands
close to Caius trying to see what the note entails.
[Cont]

Author:    Caius        
Date:      Tue Jul 22 22:26:50 2008
Subject     Unlikely Companions [pt 2]

Caius curses gently as the paper crumbles. He tries to be easier
with
it as he holds it up to the light and tries to read it.

The piece in Caius hands completetly disingtegrates leaving only
a
small scrap beneath the hand of the long-dead mercenary leader at
the
desk

Hashmalum hangs from the ceiling and drops onto Terrsa's head
while
screaming excitedly 'Hey isn't this place cool???? I found it on
the
map you dropped Caius!!'

Caius snorts and grabs the the corpse up out of the chair and
tosses
his body away then turns around startled as Hashalum drops from
the
ceiling.

Terrsa wildly tries to shake the kender off of her head to no
avail. 
She recognizes the voice and gives him a little bite in the inner
thigh for playing games.

Hashmalum says 'Hiya Caius whos this?' pointing at the big
minotaur
figure under him nibbling on his bum.

Caius says 'Terrsa Meet Hashmalum. Hash, this is Terrsa.'

Hashmalum quickly notices the paper just before it crumbles and
reads: 
... ave you orders, and you have faile..
.. last tim...

...ghlord Ki..
A strange bit of a blue seal remains but its too damaged to read.

'I would prefer to meet you when you weren't sitting on my head."
Terrsa growls in obvious anger.'

'Hash, get down off her.' Caius snickers as Hashmalum looks at
him
hopeful.

The scrap of paper was apparently destroyed by the crazed antics
of
the human leader...

The minotaur female snarls and looks to Caius, "A Kender?"

Caius shrugs gently. "They Can be of use." He turns to Hash and
looks
at him sternly. "Did you see what was on this paper?"

The kender pulls out another piece of paper from his pockets he
found
ealier trying to match up the edges with the new piece... then
states
as slowly as he can 'Well dust doesn't not conform like i would
have
hoped it would. All it said was some jibberish like ... ave you
orders, and you have faile..'

'.. last tim...' '...ghlord Ki..' 'I wonder who Tim was?' he
pauses.

Terrsa mutters and then shakes her head.

Caius raises an eyebrow at Hashmalum and then nods. "Thats good
enough." He says as he looks around. "Well we have our new
headquarters, lets start getting it cleaned up." he says
sheathing his
sword.

Terrsa keeps her eyes on the Kender, moving off to the Northern
corner
of the room she begins to pick up the papers and debris laying
around.
Until she notices the kender getting a little too close to her,
and
moves off to another area to tidy up.

Hashmalum innocently saunters into a seperate room with a few
shinies
under some dust to clean up and 'look around'

Caius finds a notebook on the desk and leans against the desk,
opening
it up and starting to read it. But, tragically It's mostly empty,
just
some supply lists and other gibberish.

Terrsa stands and dusts off her skirt.  Suddenly, she realizes
that
staying close to the Kender may be the best thing to do, if he
finds
something of value she'll never know about it.

(great RP, new Merc band alive and kicking, see
Caius/Terrsa/Hashmalum)

Author:    Caius          
Date:      Sun Nov  2
18:59:16 2008
Subject     The Brotherhood of the
Scar.

The Brotherhood of the Scar. It fit, thats for
sure. People from
different races, religion, and ways of life all
coming together under one
flag for the promise of riches and
adventure. It was quite something to be
honest. It reminded him
of the old days when he was a Gladiator in Mithas.
He would be
surrounded by many different people from every walk of life
but
were considered nothing more than himself. A slave. Leading a
band of
Mercenaries couldnt be much different than leading a
group of gladiators
into battle, could it? Oh well, no matter. He
would lead them and if any
dared to try him..it would get quite
messy. Fifteen years of being a
gladiator makes him one hell of a
match for anyone or anything out there. He
knew no fear, nor
would he be stopped by anything other than death. Many had
joined
since Him, Terrsa, and Hashmalum took the old headquarters
and
started refurbishing it. Business was slow for now, but
soon..yes soon,
riches and adventures ensured. The only common
ground between them was Him.
They united under his flag, this
becoming the Brotherhood of the Scar from
the scar he held on his
face. It was all coming together and he could hardly
wait. The
anticipation was killing him. He was ready, but is his
ragtag
group ready? Soon, he would find out. 

Author: 
  Caius          
Date:      Sun Nov  2 20:06:53
2008
Subject     Scar.

Caius boards a ship bound for
the mainland. It had been many years since
he had been on the
mainland and his only reason for leaving is that the
Emperor, the
man who freed him disappeared. He had no reason to stay now.
He
takes his only belongings, his armor and weapons and boards a
ship to his
homeland, on a path that will lead him through the
Blood Red Sea of Istar.
He sighed as he watches the shores of
Mithas disappear over the horizon. He
goes below deck, to his
cabin and removes his armor, before laying in the
bed and falling
into a light sleep. He awoke by the screeching of some beast
and
jumps out of bed. He grabs his sword and runs out onto the deck
in the
buff. The ship was being attacked by two foot tall Blood
Sea Imps.

He quickly glances around, counting the Imps and
assessing the situation.
Four men were dead already and an imp
was going for the helmsmen, an act to
make the ship crash into
the debris of other wrecked ships. Caius moves like
a cat, and
quickly comes between the imp and the Helmsmen. The Imp
was
already in mid slash and it catches Caius across the face, he
hardly
flinches. He quickly slashes with his sword, cutting the
imps clawed hand
off making the small beast screech in pain and
anger. The other imps however
were already fleeing the ship for
the water was changing from red to blue.
The one who scratched
Caius screeches at him before running for the edge of
the ship.
Grabbing a rope that was tied off somewhere on the ship,
Caius
bolts after the imp and dives into the water after him.

He
grabs the imp by one of its horns and pulls it up to face him,
before
plunging his sword into the beasts neck effectively
decapitating it. He is
then pulled to the surface by people on
the ship. He is quickly pulled
aboard the ship and praised for
saving the helmsmen and thus the ship. He
shrugs off the praises,
grabbing the claw that scratched him and then he
returns to his
cabin for the rest of the voyage. The scratches left a three
line
scar on his face from the left temple to his right cheekbone. The
scar
would soon become a symbol of something much greater.


Author:    Caius          
Date:      Tue Dec 
2 19:42:08 2008
Subject     Something was wrong.

Caius
stands alone atop a large cliff over looking the water. He was
on
the island that would soon become his new home, but something
was wrong. For
the first time in quite sometime, he stood alone.
Alone on the island, save
for the wild animals. He sighed gently
and turns, looking at the island that
he had claimed. Something
was wrong. He could feel it. Someone or something
was watching
him, and the watcher was unfriendly. He scans the
surroundings
quickly with his trained eyes but sees nothing. He
snorts and puts his hand
on his sword, waiting for those who
watched him to reveal themselves. He
sees movement within the
trees and then a massive troll comes bellowing out
of the trees,
holding a club in one hand. Caius curses and draws his
sword,
glancing quickly around. He had no where to go, his back
was against a cliff
and the troll was charging from his front. He
would have to fight. The troll
nears him and swings his club.
Caius tries to move but doesnt get out of the
way in time and is
caught in the left shoulder. His bones shatter against
the impact
of the blow and he is thrown to the ground, screaming in pain
and
dropping his sword. The troll picks him up, bellowing an
awful roar at him.
Caius quickly grabs his dagger from his belt
with his right hand and hurls
it at the trolls face. The dagger
sinks into the trolls eye, but instead of
dropping Caius, the
troll hurls him toward the edge. He bounces once and
tries to
grab something to stop himself but there was nothing. His
eyes
widen as he goes over the edge. This was itthis would be his
end. "Gods save
me." He mutters as he falls toward the water. 

The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD

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