My Life

By Harry Bushtill

In here we learn all that is known of hte rise to fame of this humblehunter, as well as see what his friendships and loves, as well as enemies are.

In short, it is a continually growing epic, a must for anybody who wantsto know about that particular time in Gloranthan history.

In the beginning

All throughout my youth I was always interested in what was going on outside the small village where I was born, even though my cautioustemperament ment I was often left alone. During this time I was comforted and found friendship with my dog, 'Spot'.

Shortly after I turned of age at 16, I had to prove my manlihood byparticipating in the village games. I was almost killed when I slippedwhilst climbing a rock face, but managed to stagger in second to myfriend Perfect Victim.

Me, Perfect Victim, and others then got the task of the spring hunt. We decided on a dual pit trap at the pass. The hunt was a success asfar as the catch went, but I later had a chance to prove just how unksilled I was at butchering, though Perfect Victim got several very nice hides.

Feeling confident we then decided to go into Trillis, the local citadel,to peddle our wares. We arrived just in time to see the King parade through the street. We were totally awed by his greatness, but gatheredenough courage to approach him and present him with one of our finest skins, which was much appreciated.

We then proceeded to the dwelling of a trader called Joh Mith, who bargained well for our skins. For the first time in my life I actuallyowned actual coins! It was very difficult not to spend them all at once. After doing some shopping we sought out an inn, where I turned in. I awoke the next morning to find a summons to the King himself! It turnedout that Perfect Victim had discovered a group planning a coup and got them arrested. I was presented as a character witness at the trial.

After the trial we were honoured to become members of the Citadel Guards.

Then, about 6 months after we first arrived, we were approached by Joh Mithon behalf of the King. It appeared that the King was worried about theLunar presence in the Citadel of Elkoi to the West. This was understandableas the Lunars are a cruel and malicious Empire.

It was decided that me and Perfect Victim woud be sent as spies to tryto start an underground resistance movement. We were given disguisesand suplies, and we were even taught the use of elementary battle magic.We travelled to Elkoi in the guise of hunter/scouts for Joh Mith's travelling caravan seeking enlightenment at the Yelmalio temple there.

Once we arrived, we settled at an Inn called 'The King's Inn'. This wasto prove a fortuitous choice. The owner proved to be a very bad cook andon the second day we fell ill with food poisoning, together with theother customers. Once we recovered the innkeeper was lynche, which we used to our advantage. I crept out and got hold of Joh Mith just as hewas about to leave and got him to forge some Lunar letters to the innkeeper which I was able to plant on his body and 'produce' whilst Isearched it. This led to further outrage against the Lunars amongstthose present.

We then proceeded to attack the nightly Lunar patrols in the outerCitadel streets, causing a loss of manpower and morale. Each time wekilled a few soldiers, we left behind a 'calling card' which we felt was a nice touch. It was interesting to see how quicly the Lunars became nervous andsoon there were no Lunars walking around in groups of less than 5, not that this causedus a great deal more problem. Our nicest trick was to walk on the Citadel walls, andunsuspecting guards over it. I would distract them whilst Perfect Victim did the dirtywork with a Harmonize Spell.

However, this success caused me to be too rash and, when suddenlyone day the Lunar leadercame into the inn, I, not knowing who he was, killed him with a single blow to the headwith my stone club. Once I realised who he was, I decided to impersonate him, which was toprove our undoing. My masquerade worked until I spoke to the Lunar army contingent and Irealised that I spoke Balazarian, ont Imperial. I just about escaped by the skin of my teeth,having to leave the Citadel together with Perfect Victim and Targrath Lightspear, a Rune Priestnewcomer who helped us escape through the walls.

We headed for our preprared cave hideout, where we planned our next move. We were nearly discovered a few times, but we managed to survive, with an increasing amount of Lunararmour and weaponry.

Finally we decided to ambush the Lunar supply caravan. We set our plan into action andonce again the Gods were on our side. The 3 of us only just managed to destroy the theaccompanying guards, who were led by a mighty Rune Lord.

Then we waited until we were certain that the Lunars had forgotten us because of the lackof supply. We managed to re-enter the Citadel as traders, to find it in a terrible state. The Lunars had started to raid the Citadel for food. We decided it was getting close to a showdown.

We returned to the King's Inn, which we fortified with oil-filled moats. We were right.One day the attack came, led by the Lunar Priestesses. The battle lasted for several hours,with many casualties, and at one point the Lunars had virtually won the day, when PerfectVictim's magic finally worked on one of the Priestesses, causing their downfall as she turnedon her comrade.

That evening, the battle won, we went to see the King. Unfortunately, we had not counted on his senility and loyalty to the Lunars. He accused us of murdering the Lunar Ambassador andof leading a revolt. We were forced to kill him in front of his guards. Fortunately theyhad little loyalty to him and we survived.

So was born the Democratic Republic of Elkoi and The King's Inn. Me, Perfect Victim, and Targrath Lightspear were awared with honourary life membership of the ruling council of seven.

We were forced to exile the family of the old King. We did not succeed entirely however. I was the subject of a poisoning attempt by his daughter.

But we still had one great problem. The Lunars had after our capturing of their supply caravanlooted most of the supply stores of the citadel and we were facing a food shortage. It was decidedthat we would travel into hte Lunar farmland to bargain for grain, and this was promptly done.

But, all this administrative work was too boring, so we decided to hit the trail and followup some rumours that we had heard about the Elder Wilds and the chaos nest that supposedlyexisted there. We gathered that the elves of the forest knew its whereabouts.

After two weeks of patient walking, we entered the realms of the elves. We found them acautious people, not easy to befriend. However, after much talking, they finally divulged its approximate location as on the shore of the Elf Sea, by a tributary.

Now the time was drawing near for the Great Hunt, so we naturally headed back to Trillis, where I decided not to participate this year, but to instead become an Initiate in the cult of Issaries Goldentounge cult, under the auspices of Joh Mith.

My training finished, I had learnt some more battle magic, especially useful being Healing-6, as well as rudimentary bargaining techniques and Trade Talk.

Having rested, we then proceeded to the eastmost Citadel, Dykene, which we were to use forour base for the Elder Wilds. However, I came under the influence of some magic and lostmost of my belongings. I therefore decided to head back to Trillis.

Unfortunately I met a pack of bears who killed my horse, and then myself, and I head to resort to asking Issaries' favour to get my life back and proceed to Trillis.

My Life - Part 2

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