Wolf n' Moose Spoor

::: Monday, July 29, 2002 :::

Starshield The following scroll was received today. (just moving it out of the archives page)

I am laughing loudly at your puny threats and ridiculous claims that you will be able to destroy that which has stood for over a century. We are just beginning to fulfill our agenda. Many are the artifacts and items of magical power we have gathered to aid us in our plans. Though I must admit, your pitiful group of do-gooders, has managed to slightly delay our plans, we are moving forward with ways of dealing with you fools. Soon, you shall taste the wrath and the power of the Archivists. Watch your back, Starshield, for you will never see us coming. And as for you, Blind Melonius, you shall taste of death first and not only once but over and over as we use our archival knowledge of centuries of torture, to make your life living pain and suffering. HA HA AHHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...We will meet agian, you simpering fools, fear not we will meet again, but fear your end. Until our spells and swords clash again, Ziamaster Archivist Prime of the Swordlands.

::: posted by Wolf at 5:55 PM 0 comments

This was posted on a forum at IBRSC.org:

3-year-old hits the road in search of parents
Passing driver comes to her aid at 4 a.m.

It was the middle of the night and 3-year-old Lupita awoke early when she heard some rustling. Her pregnant mom and her dad had left their San Jose home for the hospital, but she didn't know that.

So Lupita, determined to find out where they had gone, put on her backpack, went outside -- while still in her pajamas -- and started walking.

That's when tow-truck driver Ken Pinkham, returning home at 4 a.m. today after his shift at D and M Transportation and Towing, saw the little girl by herself on Garden Avenue in San Jose.

"She kind of, I would best describe it, gave me a don't-mess-with-me kind of look," Pinkham said.

Pinkham went to his truck and called police on his cell phone while at the same time keeping her in sight. He stayed back a few paces so as not to scare her.

"He saw her strolling down the street in the middle of the night and thought that was kind of weird," said Kevin Deasy, the towing company's president. "He kept some paces behind her, didn't want to startle her. That was a great move on his part."

Officers gently stopped the girl, who spoke only Spanish. She began yelling and kicked one officer in the groin, Pinkham said.

The officers looked in her pink backpack and found a photo album that had pictures of her family and her house. They put her in a police car temporarily -- prompting her to kick the doors from inside -- and then took her back home, just a block away.

It turned out that her parents had told a groggy roommate to tell someone else in the home to look after the girl as they went to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Problem was, the roommate agreed -- only to fall right back asleep.

San Jose police said today that the girl, whose last name was not released, was lucky that Pinkham spotted her when he did.

"When you think of all the things that could have happened, thank God he intervened and called us," police Sgt. Steve Dixon said.

No charges are expected to be filed against any adults in the home, police said.

::: Friday, July 26, 2002 :::

OK Since you asked

Hey! you asked for it. At least it's not a picture of Alex's reddened buns.

::: posted by Perry Tarantine at 10:44 PM 0 comments

There's something Appealing about my wife. . .

::: Thursday, July 25, 2002 :::

In sickness -- and that other thing

Well I guess it's pay-back time. All those times when I've made the Moose sick are now being paid back it seems. Blech.

Last night got a phone call at 1:30 for April. The person on the other end said her name was Margaret (it's Margaret again, Me). After giving April the phone all that was said was several hellos. An eventual Wait a minute. and then nothing.

So anyway, I should have known not to answer it, but when you're in my family (and probably if you're italian anyway) and the phone rings in the middle of the night; it means someone is in the hospital or dead. So generally we answer those calls and our pulse pounds. Then after the phone was hung up, I kept waiting for it to ring again. So I think my lack of rest contributed to my current sick condition.

So now I'm thinking no rehearsal tonight for sure, maybe no Faire on Saturday :(

::: posted by Perry Tarantine at 10:32 AM 0 comments

::: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 :::

A Starshield Game Report

Just as soon as we started to rest for the evening, being trapped in the crypt still. 6 shadowy forms floated out of the walls and attacked us. Brigid cried the alarm which woke us up and then she started laying about her with Siggy her enchanted hammer,. As soon as Scree awoke she came up with her holy symbol and blasted 2 of them into dust. Lucky for us our fighters and Scree were able to clean them up.

After that battle we were undesturbed for the remainder of the evening. At least, I think it's evening.

After restings we discovered a toddler's crypt of sorts, eight toddler sized caskets and sarcophagi. Seems the infant mortality rate was a bit heavy in the Tom�s clan.

This place is certainly jumping. As we continued the exploration undead all over the place wraiths and ghouls a whole phalynx
two wraiths even came out of the floor behind the group so we were surrounded. Willow raised her hand in the air and fire rained down on the two cutting us off. Blind mellonius shot a lightning bolt down the hallway catching most of the ghouls in a bright flash of dust and ozone.
Willow is staggered by hits from a wraith but she grabs it by the arm and channels the 'power of nature' into it causing him to light up and disappear Scree cast a circle of healing that destroyed several of the undead and strengthened us at the same time. I'm afraid I failed there was a door that I swear I disarmed the trap, and even scree cast dispel magic. however a lightning bolt shot down the hallway and Logan's familiar was slain. poor little weasel is all shocked out, hair standing on hend like a little pipecleaner.

I have to hand it to the people who built this place, they took their security seriously. I'm afraid I really didn't catch all the traps. The lightning bolts are no problem for me really, they're really very slow. But I got cocky and when we found a chest in the furthest vault from the door I inhaled a lungful of something. When I woke up they told me I was dead. I really don't remember much about it, no beams of light, choirs of angels, halfling chicks with stuffed grape leaves. Nothing, Nada, not a sausage. Thanks to the radient Scree, though, I am revived.

So in that chest 5000 p 10000 g 20000 g in gems. It's a really cool extradimentional chest.that shrinks down to the size of a small die, the only annoying thing is evertime you open it, it says "Hello Mr. Tom�s you have . . . yadda yadda yadda."

So to sum up, we're still locked in this damn crypt however in trying to find a way out we have discovered another secret door. I think this is the supposedly sealed way into the under-sewers. I am beginning to think that we aren't going to get out the way we came in. I wonder if the sealed entrance Yvessa Truth spoke of is the entrance to the graveyard, and it's sealed from the inside out. Certainly seems like it.

::: posted by Perry Tarantine at 7:04 PM 0 comments

::: Monday, July 22, 2002 :::

New species of Giant Squid! This story here says that a giant squid has washed ashore in Tasmania that doesn't quite fit what we know (as little as that is) about the ol' run of the mill Giant Squid. How cool!

I'm no marine-biologist or anything but Giant Squid rank way up there on my cool creatures list. They may even out-rank the Manta Ray . I'd love to ride a manta someday if i'm ever in a position to. What absolutely cool creatures!

::: posted by Perry Tarantine at 3:26 PM 0 comments

Well update on the Moose's condition. Sun poisoning and as an added bonus for the next five minutes only the beginnings of Bronchitis. Just lovely. Doc gave her a shot and some anti-biotics to clear up the lungs. I'm glad she went to see the doctor today. I was kind of waffling when I suggested she'd better go. It's hard enough to judge those things when they're your own body, let alone someone else's. Hopefully, she'll remember sunscreen from now on or remember to dress for the sun.

::: posted by Perry Tarantine at 2:33 PM 0 comments

::: Sunday, July 21, 2002 :::

I married a lobster. At least that's what it looks like at the moment, not that i'm saying she's got big claws and a hard exoskeleton. But right now she's quite the same shade.

April participated in a SAI car wash yesterday to help the new college chapter raise some funds. Problem is she forgot the ol' sunscreen and her Welsh and northeastrn European skin just isn't cut out for more than 35 seconds in the sun.

Yes my wife is one of those people who can get a sunburn indoors, in the basement. So this morning I performed a leafectomy on our medicine-plant for her back and shoulders. And I got serenaded by the ouches when she got dressed today.

::: posted by Wolf at 11:07 AM 0 comments

::: Friday, July 19, 2002 :::

Starshield Update

When we pick up the story, the Company of the Starshield (and associate hangers-on) are investigating the current phenomena in the city of Argos that is causing a lot of dead people to get up and walk around at night. Argos is the home city of the Starshield so it's kind of important that the city remain a going concern.

My reason for being here is that my sponsor, Harkelcain, sent me to investigate and procure a rod of resurrection and there were rumors of such in the area. However though investigation it seems those rumors are false. What a lot of people were taking to be a rod of resurrection is the rod "Deathdealer" - not a nice thing. This rod, as we have found out through research (and most recently observation) has the ability to turn people directly from living to un-dead (skipping over the unpleasant dying part). Anyway the rod has slipped through our grasp and seems to be the catalyst for a bunch of dead people walking the streets at night.

The undead are all originating at the cemetary (what a stretch) and we belive that the old under-sewer tunnels are being used for this fell purpose. The original entrances to these tunnels have been sealed so I posit that there is another way in, and lo and behold a hidden door is found in the bone-yard under the Tom�s crypt.

After entering the Tom�s crypt to begin our exploration and mapping we discovered that the underground is full of undead. We found 10 wights almost immediately and Scree got injured and was very weak for a while; it was like she had been sick for a month and was fresh out of bed.

The builders of the crypt spared no expense in the construction, that�s for sure, there�s quite a labyrinth under here and all of it of dressed stone. Several storage rooms and several more undead.

In one room alone we encountered 6 wraiths, 8 wights and 8 ghasts. Logan the elf, taking a page out of Blind Melonius' spell book, 'fireball up the butt' (one of Blind Melonius' mottoes is �At least you'll die warm!�) cast a fireball right into Scree's back, not once but twice. Although it didn't seem to hurt her very much I think she was pissed. I really don�t think I�d be so flip about frying our parties main healer. I mean he whips those around at me all the time too but i'm a lot harder to hit.

The newcomer, Willow put a glowing nimbus on her hand and slapped one of the wraiths in the face, I have to admit she's got spunk, the wraith didn't like that very much and recoiled from it with a hiss.

This was clearly not my type of fracas so all I could do was stand back and fire bolts into the fray and try to keep some of the slower shades busy.

After a while, Scree thought about it and realized that while the whole crypt is consecrated, and undead shouldn't be allowed to exist in a consecrated site. Very puzzling, for good measure she consecrated a large portion of the crypt again we'll have to see if it makes any difference.

When we opened the door to one room we heard a frightful howl (as the poet says: Wi' mony an eldritch skriech and hollo.) I was afraid it was a baen sidhe. Blind Melonius and Logan didn't stick around to figure it out, they took to their feet It seems our wizards were terrified by what turned out to be a ghost-like thing. Not that I blame them, but he wasn't that scary. The ghost did somthing very strange, it entered Brigid's body but then as if expelled it popped out after several seconds, probably due to the smell inside a dwarf. The ghost was dressed in plate and carried a large sword. Could have possibly been the patriarch of the clan, certainly looked important.

We decided we needed a break and headed back to town however it seems that we can't open the door that we used to enter this crypt

Nothing material to report as of yet. Still no sign of Deathdealer.

::: posted by Wolf at 5:42 PM 0 comments

Gaming Update
Well as I have decided to use this blog to also distribute game reports in the future, I though I'd better give a bit of background for the foolish who decide to read them. I'll try to mark these so those of you who are not into gaming can avoid them.

Currently I'm running one game of d20 Call of Cthulhu and playing in two differrent Dungeons & Dragons games. One of which is played pretty often.

Milo Sandysoil, Security Consultant and troubleshooter - Milo is a halfling played by myself. Milo isn't a member of the company of the Starshield at the moment, he just has recently fallen in with them when on an acquisition mission for his sponsor, Harkelcain.

Scree Treethorn, priestess of Palin. Palin is the god of light in the world in which we play. Scree is one of his most devoted followers. Also she's single and enjoying her unmarried status as often as humanly possible.

Blind Melonius, Blind Melonius is a scholar of the art of illusion for the most part. A master of disguise it seems his ability is only limited by his intellect. Favorite quote "Hi, we're Archivists?" -- it's a long story.

Brigid Stoneheart, Dwarven warrior. There is no one I trust to block a corridor more than Brigid. Brigid - the wall that walks like a woman.

Logan, Elven Warrior-Mage. Logan is a more recent addition to the party than myself. He joined us after the spectacular death of his Sister, Siobhan Adorn. Logan doesn't say much and seems to be a bit of a snob. But what do you expect from an elf.

Willow, custodian of nature. Willow is another puzzle. If possible she's even more quiet than Logan. Not a bad looking elf really but the cheetah that follows her everywhere tends to keep people at a distance.

I'm sure if anyone disputes what I have to say about them will jump in and correct me.

::: posted by Wolf at 5:40 PM 0 comments

::: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 :::

Someone explain this to me, how do you wake up with a twisted ankle? I was fine when I went to bed, but when I woke up I can't flex my ankle. Definately not a cramp, it's like i fell wrong. No strange bruises anywhere so I don't think I took a header off the stairs in my sleep. I had planned to go to the eye doctor to order a new contact lens (and find out which one I still have) since I lost both contacts in the shower Monday and only got one back.

So I didn't go to the eye doctor today because it's my right foot so driving isn't a good thing right now either. I sound like one of those old guys that sit around talking about their illnesses don't I?
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

::: posted by Wolf at 10:26 AM 0 comments

The Pope Hath Spoken! no more food stories on blogs.

So where was I, well home from work today because it seems I've twisted my ankle and really don't walk too well right now. So I hobbled downstairs and poured meself a bowl of Wheaties� Breakfast of Champions, and cut myself a small piece of Calabrese dry-cured sausage (gotta have some protein in the morning). Dress up that cereal with a wee bit of 2% moo-juice and i'm ready to go.

Boy the Wheaties� were certainly tasty. Just the right amount of crunch and sogginess so they please the teeth and slide down the gullet with all due speed. Yes, the sweet taste of the BOC has inspired me to write this tribute to breakfast cereal!

And the sausage! mmmmmm the peppercorns popping on the tongue like little M-80s on Independence day. Getting little bits of sinew between the teeth so you can enjoy that taste all day long weeel doggies!

::: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 :::

Sunday

Again up for breakfast at 8:00; southwest casserole today; eggs, peppers, onions, sausage, salsa, sour cream. Was very good, and way too much to eat.

As I write this we�re sitting here watching previews for old movies before the main feature :The End of the Affair.

Met with Chris and Jenny at faire today; Her first time, seems that she had fun, for which I�m glad. Also got to see Jared Thorne today; and James Gillies. Didn�t� see Lilly to our regret. Spent a little time speaking with Isaac�s wife and family again today. April was surprised to see Jessica, one of the women with whom she sings at St.John�s, when we were buying incense. Blew my wallet buying a didjerie-du. I had to get a cash advance at the information booth, no ATM at faire, to pay for it since the vendor only accepted cash. However I�m now the owner of a 4.5� Didge. I am having mixed results so far in actual musical production but I�m sure I�ll get better at it.

Saw the Muckmasters production of the muddy wives of Windsor. Was very entertaining really; I am not sure what it is this year, but energy levels seemed to be lacking a bit. Where it�s especially noticeable (in my opinion of course) is in the Rogues of Scotland, who are musically as good as or better than they have ever been, but they lack a bit in the infectious energy they usually generate, as I mentioned yesterday, they�re doing 6 shows a day which is a bit insane. Sharon seems to be taking a more active role in working the crowd, or maybe it�s that we never noticed her as much in previous years because of Brian�s overpowering presence. Nelson is fitting in very well with the group to my outsider's eye, but is a bit shyer than Brian was. Well I've seen explosions that are shyer than Brian was so I guess that isn't saying much.

James Gillies I have to apologize for forgetting to get your picture on either day.

Reason #912 I love my wife.

At faire on Sunday we walked past a vendor selling Fairy Wings, the big gossamer jobbies for those that like dressing as fairies at faire. anyway I remarked to her, should I buy you those (jokingly really) and she said "Hell no, I want that War hammer!" in the next booth :)

::: posted by Wolf at 2:54 PM 0 comments

::: Monday, July 15, 2002 :::

After a mostly restful slumber (local fauna having a bacchanal) we awoke in time to get pre-garbed for breakfast. Peggy brought over breakfast a couple minutes after eight which for today was oatmeal pancakes. I will have to try making these sometime. Very good and very filling. The best of both worlds, hot and sticky oatmeal with apples & cinnamon and the fill of pancakes. Yummy.

Our canine visitor has just stopped by and april invited her into the patio for a bit. A much more agreeable guest then snortimer the cat.
-=;-0?;�.�.p[- Sophie the dog had this to say as she jumped up for a scratch.

Today we met James Gillies, rogue #300 I believe. Finally we met I should say :) His wife Lin, unfortunately didn�t make it down this week, maybe we will see her in 2 weeksJames said. Also we were able to meet Isaac Fawlkes� family as we waited in line to get our season paasses made. As far as shows go we hit the old favorites today; Hack & Slash�s early show, Isaac�s magic show, and of course The Rogues of Scotland. Nelson Stewart fits in with the rogues as if he were born there, part of that I�m sure is from the long association the Rogues & Tartan Terrors have had in the past. Glad we were able to see the rogues as they�re only doing one weekend at GLMF. They�re doing 6 shows a day; it seems like they don�t have any downtime between shows, they�re either climbing up on stage or climbing down. We tried to catch most of the �story� shows today as well although we missed the gate show for the most part, as we were waiting in line to have our photos taken for our season pass ID�s. We�re going to try to make gate again tomorrow and pay attention to the show, which shouldn�t be a problem since we�ve got our passes now. We were able to see the Combat chess match as well, where, after it seems Morgana gains the upper hand, Pester Quagmire is able to stick it to her by finding the �lost� seal of Gwenyfar where that �? Evil mean lady?� was standing Go Pester!

Now I�m sitting down typing this while April gets her shower before we go to dinner at the lighthouse restaurant.

Forgot to apply sunscreen this morning; so we limited our exposure today. I�ve made sure to put it out for tomorrow. Full sun is hell on April�s fair skin. And now we see that she still managed to burn her back. No bodice tan though.

Other notes of interest today; I played a didjerie-doo. Which was sort of like doing polyphonics on a tuba. Thinking about buying one tomorrow. Also need to remember to buy incense sticks before going home.

::: posted by Wolf at 12:47 PM 0 comments

Arrived approx 5:00 and found our way into the cottege. It�s a nice little place, complete with 3 cats and a dog. One loft bedroom over the kitchen. After calling the main house and ordering breakfast for tomorrow we went to Ferrante Winery for dinner. April and I both had the special Stuffed pork chop (stuffed with italian sausage, apples, and onions) topped with a prune chutny. The things were huge. They weren�t pork chops, they were pork roasts. Verry filling and reasonably priced. After dinner we hit the wine shop :) Picked up a bottle of Jester's Blush; a medium sweet wine, also bottles for our parents. Haven't tasted it yet, but i'm sure we'll like it.

I see April just let in one of the cats, and is now trying to discuss with said cat the merits of getting out of the house. The cat of course is being a cat and refusing to listen to logic. Now Firmly ensconced under the bed upstairs the cat, who I am calling Snortimer seems comfortably at home. Only thing to do is leave the thing alone and I'm sure it'll get bored. Ah ha success the cat has decided to inaugurate the patio, therefore it�s bye-bye pussycat.

Television reception is horked. But that was pre-announced. They have about 75 video tapes in the cabinet for our enjoyment. Sorry Mr. Nosuch nothing with clothespins, a live chicken, a weed-whacker, and some peach preserves.

We didn�t know how much we�d like the d�cor, but imagine our surprise when the place is teeming with MOOSE! Well can�t beat that. Bears and mooses everywhere. This lady has taste!

Just got a phone call from the main house from our hostess, so everything is on for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8:00

We�re going to attempt to make gate tomorrow and follow the storyline through the day as it�ll be easier tomrorrow as we aren�t meeting up with anyone in particular, like we are on Sunday.

On the way back from dinner we passed the campsite that threw out all the ren-folk this past week as we were informed by Hawkmom.

::: posted by Wolf at 12:32 PM 0 comments

Well i'm afraid we're back, wish we could have stayed a week instead of a few days. The Bed & Breakfast was wonderful; cozy little cottege in the woods, great breakfasts, and close to faire. Notes to follow:

::: posted by Wolf at 12:31 PM 0 comments

::: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 :::

Well the reservations are locked in, the season passes are set (sort of), and all that remains is to pack up the garb and otters and hit the road for Faire! Woohoo!

This is the 10th year for the Great Lakes Medieval Faire and our 4th year. This year the season passes are being handled a bit differently; there's a voucher that was mailed out to everyone, and photo id passes will be made on site. Last weekend was the opening weekend and I gather that there were some snags in the system. Apparently, there was a wedding that forced them to route the general public to 2 of the 3 windows for tickets, then the camera went down for the season passes. Hopefully this weekend (celtic weekend) will go smoothly. I believe that this is probably the most attended weekend of the faire.

The The Rogues of Scotland will be there for one weekend only and this is it. I miss the days when they'd be there every weekend, but they're growing a larger audience and can't stick around as long as they used to.

So a nice long 4 day weekend with faire in the works. The weather even seems that it will be nice and cool, well at least the upper 70s. Photos will be posted after the weekend of course.

::: posted by Wolf at 8:56 PM 0 comments

Well that was strange.

When using Netscape 7 pre-release on the PC here at work, whenever I'd make a change to my template (actually whenever I called the template up in blogger) it would remove my image tags and replace them with generic (img) tags.

I saw in the forum some similar problems being reported as being browser based, so I hopped on with IE and lo and behold! my tags were there.

I guess I'll be using IE for my blogging here at work then. I hope they get this fixed before they release Netscape 7 for real. I was growing attached to it here at work and was going to be making the switch on Hermes and Zaphod at home soon.

Thanks for Alex for being a good sounding board about the problem!

::: posted by Wolf at 3:02 PM 0 comments

::: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 :::

Well it's a beginning. Things are likely to change around here in the future, but that's the nature of things isn't it.

I'm hoping to be able to publish some thoughts on a fairly regular basis but I've never been good at this kind of journal writing before so we'll just have to see how it goes.

So last night I was watching the Capitol Fourth concert that I TiVo'd on the Fourth. I don't know why I bother frankly, just one great big pop/country drek fest for the most part. I think there maybe 3 orchestral pieces. And one of them was of course the 1812, and they cut the first 12 minutes or so. "ladies and gentlemen the perennial american favorite about a russian and french battle -- the Attention Deficit version" jumps straight to the charge/retreat section. Feh!

And then of course the finale was our National March. Someone help me out here. When did we decide to add words to the last strain? It seems like everyone's doing it these days. Personally I don't like it. And it's not even because it's usually inflicted on the repeat that showcases the brass, to me it's just out of place.

Welcome to Wolf & Moose spoor. Let me just put that the opinions expressed here are belonging to whomsoever puts their name to them and no one else, if you think that your opinion is the same as another one expressed on this site, you're wrong.

In addition, all maunderings should be taken with a grain of salt as I'm frequently full of dren, which is not to be confused with Drenn in Clanlord, which is a completely different animal and one has nothing to do with the other.

Within these pages will be posts about music, the stupidity of others, the stupidity of myself, faire, role-playing, books, hell whatever happens to be floating through my gray-matter at the moment. So have fun and try to be adults, unless being child-like is more fun. Note, child-like is not childish. 'nuff said.

::: posted by Wolf at 9:24 AM 0 comments