Kalahari Herald Chronicles 25 February 2017 3#32

DAILY NEWS FROM MAMLAKAT KALAHARI    25 February 2017  3#32

(http://mykalahariblogaddress.blogspot.com)

((see dara's video of Queen Vi's party  https://youtu.be/EtOflO7KktA))

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KALAHARI STORY TELLING I

Saturday, 25 February 2017

Nada, Adorable Storyteller Hostess

An enthusiastic crowd gathered in Syuhada's Skybox Among the Stars to listen to the first event in the Kalahari Storytelling Series.

The King overcame tremendous privations to make the journey to the event, with almost no care taken for his personal needs, ahahaha

(All stories will eventually be published in the Chronicles. This issue will carry the stories of Captain Jack Docherty and Rosecendre Moonwall, though the stories of Afraa al Abid, View Luminos -read by Josie North-and Sayed Hew Hoall Saw were heard. Their stories will be published in future editions.)

Special attendees included Nilasso, Aisha, Josie, Nada, dara, King Hassan, Afraa, Sayed Hew, Jack and the evil Thorgrim ahahaha.

The first speaker was Captain Jack Docherty, Master of the Red Rover. Jack's story takes in many important figures of the history of Kalahari and other lands, and shows why we are happy to have him now.

Jack's Tall Tale

This is a tale from about three or four years ago, the days when things were a little different, well, some may say quite different. A tale involving four countries, Kalahari, Abydos, Meyonia and to some extent, Kuwar.

It all started one evening with a formal reception at the presidential palace of Meyonia, for dignitaries visting from other countries. I attended it, as part of the Meyonian entourage, you know, the usual mingling, cocktails, me keeping ears open on any dropped information, partially to entertain myself.

Then I was privately approached by one of the Abydos Goddesses, Allegra. It seems one girl close to her, a young gypsy girl named Eman Shehata, who was a bit involved with a cousin of mine at the time, had mentioned me to the Goddesses.

We talked about various states of affairs and she invited me to Abydos.

A few days later, I took her up on the offer, and headed for the gates of the Queendom. At first being challenged, since I was a man, I stated my name and who had invited me, and I was not just admitted, but given a guided tour of the land by Allegra herself. At that time, Abydos and Kalahari were neighbours, and the gates of each were entered from a common place where you arrived.

There was also an older arena, located right between the lands, Kalahari gates to the east and Abydos gates to the south.

I returned on and off, between my voyages, sometimes Allegra or some of the Goddesses were busy handling state affairs, and I took the opportunity to wander down to the arena, for a bit of practice, both with sword and rifle.

While heading there, I chanced upon a warrior, practicing her skills, and we started talking. Well, rather, we started training, as she said something about needing to warm up and the wooden dummies were not able to provide for that. She was good, a really good fighter, and when we ended the session, we both grinned.

She presented herself as Livia, sister of the Kalahari King. Well, princess or not, she was damn good with a blade, and we sparred with each other on and off.

When I arrived one day to the arena, Livia was not there, so I started some target shooting with my rifle instead. Someone approached me, and I recognised, Eman, the young gypsy girl that I had met a few times, both in Meyonia and in Kuwar.

She was on her way from Abydos to Kalahari and asked me if I would like to join her, which I thought would be a nice idea. After all, I had never really been there. She led me to a small place with a dance scene, with two men, one seemed pretty obviously some kind of noble, and the other... well, pretty noble too, those maybe one notch down, or something.

Eman introduced me to them, while she was preparing for a dance she would perform for us, they were King Hassan Ibn Trrrol, His Highness of Kalahari, and his Minister, Magdy.

At first, the King was very wary of me, inquiring, almost interrogating me about who I was and what I was doing there. I later found out that his intelligence had briefed him of my presence and dueling with his sister, the Princess, that I was a sharpshooter, in addition to being deeply involved with businesses in Kuwar. During that period, the relations between Kuwar versus Kalahari and Meyonia were.. well, shall we call it a little tense.. to use real understatements. I think General Romanova of Kuwar.. or was she colonel back then? She rose in ranks so fast, it was hard for us to keep up. Anyway, it seems she was perhaps behind a couple of recent assassin attempts on His Highness, so no wonder he was on his guard.

I became rather fond of both Kalahari and Abydos, spending what time I could be away from Kuwar there. At this time, my friend Afraa was working as the new hotel manager in Kuwar, and I am afraid I sometimes referred to her coughingly to the Emirate’s Guards, when I needed to leave Kuwar for a bit. Sorry about that, Afraa, heh.

Livia was pretty much as wild in the Kingdom as she was in the arena it turned out, we enjoyed the sparring, me learning from her fighting skills and she picking up a couple of.. well, let’s call it “my bag of pretty unorthodox tricks”.

One lazy afternoon in the Kingdom, which was very quiet, Livia and I were relaxing over at her private quarters. We were drinking wine and munching away on some delicious cakes she had made herself. Unfortunately, she had forgotten they were spiked with hashish. We never really noticed, but enjoyed a friendly conversation with various, perfectly normal topics, like” what colour of the rainbow would possible a blue penguin have” or ”if you clap with one hand and miss, does a tree fall in the forest”, when she jumped to her feet, crying out that she knew what mission we had to accomplish. As soon as I had gathered myself up from the floor, which I hit, falling off her couch as she cried out, I asked her what kind of mission that may be, but she was already well out of the door. 

By the time I finally caught up with her—that lass could run, I tell you—I crashed into her, as she came dashing out the door to the King’s private quarters, shouting” RUN!”. As she passed me, I took a step in through the door, seeing parts of the royal bed on fire, the result of a prank gone terribly wrong, but that seemed like a good idea after seven pieces of hashish cake and two bottles of wine. Outside, I heard the Princess exclaim a less than regal” Oh shit! The Guards!”

So there I was, trying to put out the fire of a royal bed in front of me, Royal Guards approaching behind me, no idea where the Princess were.. The King, however, I discovered, was with his Guards, and he sure looked less than happy.

You know, I am no paladin, or something like that, honour and blood for their own sakes, but I don’t rat out on crew mates. The King assumed I was guilty of this, and I didn’t claim otherwise, so I ended up in the gaol, gruel, chains and all.

But Princess Livia she was really straight about it all, when she saw where I had ended up and went to her brother, explaining everything.

You know, that was definitely not the first time I was in a gaol, but sure the first time I shared it in royal company. That would happen again, with another princess, but that’s another story.

The King told me I was free to leave, I really hesitated, not wanting to leave his sister in the ironer, but both King and princess assured me it was not the first time she had ended up there.. and probably not the last, so I walked out, thanking the King for his mercy and headed straight for a beer. All that hashish and prison dust had made really parched my throat, you know.

His Highness and I become friends over time, I still count him as one, and if he ever needs support, I’ll be there with my blade. We both actually later were appointed the first Knight Protectors of Abydos by the Goddesses, the two men to first ever hold titles of that dignity in the Queendom.

The next speaker was Rosecendre Moonwall, whose magical story touched upon issues of good and evil, and shows us why love is the strongest human power.

Mistress Purple Learns Love is Stronger than Evil

My full name is Lady Rosecendre Moonwall, born in the city of Hochburg  in the Gorean Homeland. 

I passed my early life in Moonwall Manor, with my father who was a warrior, and my mother who was a scribe. Our staff included a governess slave, a maid, and a blacksmith-weapon maker. In such a household, my value was clear: bred for a marriage that would serve my father’s interests, perhaps to a rich merchant. I was therefore educated to be that sort of woman: learn the knowledge of managing and serving a husband. I was desperately unhappy and bored! 

The first time I ran away, the guards brought me back with no problem. Of course, I was not whipped or beaten—I was a noblewoman! But I was confined to my room, forced to eat my meals alone, punished like a small child. Repeated attempts at running away were met with more and more angry threats from my father, and hysterical weeping by my mother, but I was a stubborn girl. 

One day, I managed to escape the guards for longer than normal, by hiding near my home in a small cave, not taking my usual route to the city. As I was there, feeling unhappy, a mysterious stranger came to the entrance to the cave, with a donkey pulling his assortment of goods. 

He was a striking figure, clothed in dark robes and a hood so deep I could not make out his face. But my eye was immediately drawn to a purple glow of energy shining forth from his wagon. As I came closer, I saw a beautiful medallion: the design was two silver moons encased in amethyst. 

The medallion had an almost hypnotic influence on me and I asked the merchant what I could pay to acquire the jewelry. In a deep but soothing voice, he said “This is for you Lady Rose—it is your destiny! Take it!” 

As I reached for the medallion and grasped it, I saw a shimmering purple light, and fell to the ground in a daze. When I awoke, the merchant, and his cart had vanished as if they had never existed. But in my right hand, I clutched the beautiful purple medallion. 

I went back to the Manor, and climber the stairs to my bedchamber to sleep. I had the thought to wear the medallion as I slept, and as I draped it around my neck and suddenly----- 

A purple glow surrounded me, a living energy which blinded me, the pain surrounded me and with a cry, I fell to the ground as close to death as I have ever come. 

When I awoke, I was bathed in sweat, and I was afraid to open my eyes for fear that they had been destroyed, and I would be blind. But my vision was fine. Puzzled, I touched my neck, worried that I had just had a nightmare, but the medallion was there. I staggered over to my looking glass, worried that my face might have been scarred but though my face was fine, I let out a huge scream, my brown eyes were now PURPLE, and My hair DARK PURPLE! 

From that moment on, I discovered my destiny: to be a haughty devil, and my mind was filled with pure evil from the diabolic entity that resided in the medallion. 

Hochburg soon feel under the spell of the evil Mistress known as Miss Purple, enslaving her family, and turning Moonwall Manor into a den of iniquity. Frightened townspeople would hear screams coming from the Manor at all hours of the day and night: “Mine—you are Mine!!! Ahahahahahaha” 

The terrible Mistress Purple became more and more powerful, growing rich from her trade in slaves, and whatever dark arts she practiced in the hellhole she called home. Even the powerful Ubar of Hochburg was frightened by the powerful demon who was dominating his land. 

One day, however, an even more fearsome enemy invaded Hochburg, a tribe of Panthers, women warriors who put the city to the torch, the residents to the sword, and even defeated Mistress Purple, captured in her evil Manor and dragged into the Panther camp. 

The Panther Girls recognized the medallion, and knew that its source of power came from the demon Belphegor. The Panther leader Tara took possession of the medallion, and had Mistress Purple robbed of all her possessions, stripped naked and collared as slave rose. 

The Panthers immediately began to train the beautiful rose, teaching the naked kneeling slave that she must serve. After several months, rose fell in love with the fierce Tara, who realized that stripped of the medallion and all her possessions, slave rose was actually a worthy person, and so Tara began warrior training with Rose so that she could act as her bodyguard. 

Tara and Rose soon became a formidable fighting force, and came to the attention of the Queendom known as Valnor. Tara was so impressive that the Valnorians elected her High Priestess by acclamation, and she named Rose as her trusted emissary. By amazing chance, her first mission abroad took Rose to the Kalahari Kingdom, where she was charged to make an alliance with King Hassan. 

Her first contacts were with Ministers Magdy and Afraa, and the Genie Amber, along with assorted slaves. Warmed by her kind welcome, and successfully concluding an alliance with the King, Rose fell in love with the land of Kalahari, and often spent time there. 

One day, Minister Afraa invited a drunken Rose to the Ministry building, then began to dance for her, when suddenly Amber the Genie captured Rose in one of her lamps, and nearly naked in silks, remained captive as a slave of Afraa and Amber. Eventually Afraa freed Rose, but demanded that Rose, a powerful emissary of Valnor, must kiss the feet of Minister Afraa, to show the preeminence of Kalahari, and the dominance of Afraa over Rose. 

And Rose learned, both in Valnor and Kalahari, that love is stronger than evil, and that her Priestess Tara’s protection was stronger than any demon’s medallion.

The following storytellers will have their tales told in future issues of the Chronicles.

View Luminos, whose case of Lindenitis forced

Lady Josie North to read his excellent story.

Minister Afraa al Abid also spoke

as did Sayed Hew Hoall Saw.

When Kalahari events are attended by King Hassan, and Captain Jack, one knows the entertaining beverages will flow, and the event ended as one might expect.

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TITANIC CAPTAINS BATTLE
Monday, 27 February 2017, 12:30 PM SLT
All Are Invited to the Arena!

Captain Jack Docherty

Captain Minghus

The King laid down the gauntlet to Captain Jack Docherty and Captain Minghus, after hearing their tall tales of the sea at the Tavern, as they were plied with food and drink by Tavern Manager Roberta Honey. Stories of wrestling with sea monsters, drinking with Davy Jones, and wenches won and lost at the toss of dice filled the air, and that gave King Hassan an idea.

The wily King decided that the good people of Kalahari could use a spectacle in the Mardi Gras season, the last celebration before Lent, when Christians prepare for the death of Jesus (betrayed by Judas) and his resurrection from the dead.

So the King challenged the captains to use a fist fight to settle who was the toughest sea captain in Kalahari (until the next drinking bout at the Delicious Syrup), and neither Captain could refuse such a challenge as that!

So the fist fight is on. The men will use the G&S HUD and the GM HUD, both of which are available at the dock, using the activating the fist fight setting. And both captains are taking their training seriously, as they were using their fists constantly to down beer at the Tavern.

The generous King offered a stunning prize to the winner: land comprising 3% of the land mass of the entire Kingdom, the location to in New Kalahari! And in addition to the fabulous estate offered by the King, Minister Afraa offered to do a private belly dance for the winner of the fight, and as you might imagine, neither man could contain his excitement!

Minister Afraa in Belly Dance Training

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KALAHARI STORY TELLING II

Wednesday, 1 March 2017, 12:30 PM SLT
All Are Invited!

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Afraa al Abid

Kalahari Herald