Tue May 13 18:38:18 2008

At 8 o'clock AM, Day of Thunder, 17th of the Month of the Shadows
on the Theran calendar Dragrahl perished, never to return.

Race:	duergar
Class:	thief
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	BATTLE, the BattleRagers, Haters of Magic
Age:	183
Hours:	248

You were super enthusiastic, always looking to bring it to the foe. It is a huge list of people who have deleted and you are another strong name to the list of pending elegy writings. All the best with your next. Well done and SITF!


Ruhktanshi

I love battle bards. I especially love competent battle bards. Ruhktanshi made life so much easier for me (and battle in general) in so many situations.

Keep truckin' man.

So, I decided to make a binder thief after seeing a few successful ones in action - and paled in comparison to some of those stellar efforts.

I tried hard to play my thief differently than most - and didn't steal too many items from my foes after knocking them out and tying them up. So if you had magical items that I thought might tip the veil, I'd take them. If you had weapons that you could use against me, I'd often take one or two of those (and more often return them when the battles were over).

Also I decided to join Battle, which effectively removed my ability to use scrolls to strengthen myself, and soften my foes - It also gave me the opportunity to try and play my thief more like a warrior.
On that front I was very successful in the lower ranks, but far less so in the hero ranks.

Also, in the hero ranks, I fought quite a number of good, stellar foe, and then quite a number of characters (players really), that really ruined my fun.

I could ALWAYS count on Seyriannia to gangbang me with groups of 3, and then try to hunt me down only a few moments after I unghosted. IC, I knew that Outlanders hate Duergar - but the way she played like an A-HOLE, it smelled like a little punk kid who's daddy pissed in her Cheerios.

Fatfrumos was just non-RP, gangbanging full looting A-HOLE as well.

Guys/girls like these two just made me grind my teeth and wonder why I still play this game.

Now, thankfully, these scrubs were totally outnumbered by players/chars who made excellent efforts and positive contributions to Thera.

Nexuns:
Iltch - You seemed to get a bad rap, but you and I had some great interactions over the years. There was some fun tension between us two that I had hoped to grow as I came into your range... but sadly, you deleted.

Andaayhn - Tough warrior, but unfortunately most of our fights had you and Grecken usually trying to gank me. Not a fun matchup.

Grecken - You've been around a long time, and your tactics have changed over that time... you've seemed to mellow some as of late and fight more competitive fights. Kudos for lasting so long and improving.

Praeto - In the beginning I thought of you as Andaayhn's and Grecken's haste bitch, but then you and I slowly came to some understandings, respect, and admiration. It's always nice when you can respect your enemies.

Empire:
Opoj - Kicked my ass too many times to count.
Klurak - You always seemed to catch me with my pants down.
Kornuel - Damn. You're a beast. I really think I could have gotten you solo sooner or later if I had some patience. Too bad I don't, and usually fight like a warrior in thief's clothing.
Kostyan - Another good foe. Daggers are a bitch. Bleeding sucks. But I enjoyed fighting you. Hope I frustruated you some.

Fort:
Juhldalor - Tough char. Immensely frustruating. Sometimes too "taunty" for my tastes.
Daichyl - I loved fighting you all the time. I could count on you for some honorable 1 on 1 combat, and you were always itching for a fight.
Angaarn - I thought our rivalry was great. I hated having to boot you from the guild, but it had to be done.

Herald:
Lauriel - My favorite bard. For some reason you always seemed both incompetent and competent at the same time, but you were always flush with gold, and a young thief can never complain too hard about that.

Outlanders:
I hate you as a whole right now. A bunch of gangbangy biatches...
Feilinal - You were a monster at killing me. I had no chance in hell, knew it, but kept trying.
Throkk - Ditto. Sorry I knocked you out and stole so many things... but you were always flush with magic crap.
Careashiin - You made my life hell with those thorns, spores, and crap.

Scion:
Igbah: Ouch.
Ravon: Double Ouch.
Llorenz: I could always count on you for a beating too.

Battle: Most of you I loved. As a duergar it's often hard to show that (or at least for me it was), but I tried to do right by you, but also remain within role.

Yevandr, Cezar - Some old-schoolers my young char looked up to.
Ckol, Xarto, Nuentel - You guys were around for the push to hero, and it was a TOUGH push at that. Thanks for all the help.

Droghnund - You were definitely controversial to many, and the OOC bled into how people treated and perceived you. Personally, I think we got along fine.

Xiu, Xubetok, Tuhdain - Some of the more newly deceased. You had it rough, but fought tough. I envied that as Dragrahl, and tried to fight like a warrior.... but couldn't.

There's so many more of you I'm forgetting now... but post, and I'll get back at you all.

IMMS - Thanks for all the role xp and for granting me into the Bandit King role. I tried to do something with it in the beginning, but it kinda just went blah. That was my biggest failing in this character, and pissed me off to no end. Sorry.

Thanks for the great game - I'll be back after a short break!

Nah, I just stopped caring and wanted to see just what I could do if I pushed myself and took lots of risks. Never got to fight you a whole lot. Not really a fair matchup without there being a gang in your favor. But thems the breaks sometimes. I never was sure what you were doing in the frigid wastes all those times, but that's not a good place for me to find you for sure, since you can't recall 'n stuff. I've been trying out new tactics and I've found some that work really well and some that don't. Anyhow, thanks for not stealing my shield potions. See ya around.

That brings memories.

Loved fighting you even though I felt dirty asking you for my weapons back...but then in the end I began to grow tired of gathering stuff.

You got me once and I got you twice I think? I'd have to check back my PBF. Either way, that was intense. But then, I guess perhaps I got lucky that your bindings weren't too strong.

You and I fought early on, when I was JUST learning my bindings. Nothing was practices much past 70%, and I failed everything - ALL THE TIME! And when my bindings did hit, they'd fall off right after I attacked my foe.

Later on in my life, they landed a bit more often, but they always seemed to fall off during round 1 of my battles. That always killed me.

Alright, so I really had some problems with this character. As an applicant, you wouldn't talk to me. Even when I'd find you visible, nothing. At one point I just straight asked you for a task to show that I was worthy to talk to you. Nothing. ####, as a ranger and a rager (app) on top of it, I went through tons and tons of coins that I never had any use for, and ultimately got donated to Dargekt when I'd inevitably die behind enemy lines. That could have been yours! Really what bothered me is that you wouldn't even just tell me that you were too busy. I had to keep wondering what the hell I'd done wrong.

That said, I was starting to roll with you when the end was near. The last few logins where we were fighting off one gang or another was somewhat fun for me, and somewhat of a chore. Each time someone would tell me that you had stolen from them, and other than the fact that you were a thief, I couldn't figure out a good reason. Fighting that fortress elf was a pain in my ass and something I really didn't want to do from an IC perspective but man, you really REALLY pissed him off to chase you back to the village while half-geared, and strike the guardian until some pinball combat got him to writhing at which he tucked tail. What's sad is I could have bought him off with the item you pitted and by the time I went to get it, it was gone.

I think as a village thief, you might not want to piss someone off that bad, or more playfully - convince them it was someone else! What I really did like about you is how you were integrating the bandit king into being a rager. tells you "There's some up and coming Scion with more donations than me in the guild and that really won't do. I'll be gathering coins for this reason." Schway. I had a couple really good interactions and a lot of really questionable ones.

Honestly just between you, me, and the rest of the world. There was a time you announced a strike on the centurions while the empire was in power just as the rager who quit out up there logged back in. There was no announcement about a plan and I otherwise would have been there. Did I burn you somewhere along the way where if you didn't need me, you didn't tell me anything?

I'm just curious to know what I did, if anything, so I can watch for that in the future. Thanks for the feedback.
-PP

As far as not talking to you about inductions, etc - As a duergar, I really never felt like I was going to give anyone a "good" recommendation because I didn't have the patience to stop and talk for long. On top of it, for most of my life I was constantly hunted, and popping out of hiding usually led to me being ganged. And to put a cherry on top, I spent a bunch of time talking to Hamsah Guild members, that I really didn't want to be bothered with interviews/etc for Battle, when there were plenty of other Battle chars out there to do that work.

As far as that elf is concerned. He had a few attempted gangbangs on me, and I saw him sitting at his pit, in PK range (not as a ghost), snuck up on him and started chatting. I asked him why I shouldn't attack him while he was sitting there after he's ganged me in the past.

I knew he was sitting there waiting for his loot, and had no intention of fighting him. He's a warrior. I kill mages. He really means nothing to me. But Dragrahl felt he was getting mouthy, and knocked him out.

While he was knocked out, his stuff returned to the pit and two lowbies picked it up. While one of them was doing "drop all; get all", they dropped a few pieces onto the ground, which I picked up.

When the elf woke up, he accused me of taking alot of things which I told him the lowbies took (the lowbies were all good align, and I wanted to see if they'd return the crap). He then went on to tell me that I didn't "earn" the stuff I took (three pieces I didn't need). He was telling me I "HAD" to give it back, and no elf tells a duergar what to do.

So I put it in the pit (a flail and a couple of cloaks if I remember correctly), fought him a few times, and then placed the stuff somewhere he could get it - and then told him where it was.

I told you you didn't have to come to fight him. I didn't want you fighting him. But you took that upon yourself.

I had nothing against you, but by the time we started interacting in any real way, I was already on the path of suiciding myself against chars that should have no right beating me (well, not killing me, at least).

All of that sounds pretty reasonable to me, man. I'm just glad I didn't piss in your cereal.

Also, I did take that burden upon myself but I was entirely bound by my role to do so and I really tried the alternative ways to get the guy to leave the giant alone. I've been on the other side of ragers retreating to the village and man, does it suck, but then I wasn't going to let him raid to get you. If you had gone outside to take care of business, I wouldn't have had to do anything, but then that's a freakish build to be fighting as a thief.

I think overall the right things happened, and I'm glad he got his shinies back in the end. Everyone needs their shinies.

Maybe I'll get a chance with the next incarnation. It sounds like you would have been pretty cool for me to mess around with more.

Take care,
-PP

Sorry about the duel thing. I honestly figured it was over when you ran off, meaning we reverted back to "normal" and I could go after you again. If it matters, that episode made it into my role. It truly wasn't my intent to be treacherous.

No prob man - I never expected to have much of a chance against you, even if I knocked you out, got you totally wrapped up, stole all your daggers - you still had the HP's to break my bones and kill me with your claws and concealeds.

But I always figured as long as you were going to be chasing me I should try to control the setting at least.

You're my third kill in the silent tower. It's a damn bad place to be caught for PK but at least you weren't the guy I caught standing in the super-looting room :D

Good job, and keep at it.

That was my first foray into the ST. I didn't get anywhere after I fought one of those guys there instead of you. They weren't pleased :0

Well, I'm hardly a beast, though thanks. I liked you the most of all thiefs I had to fight. Big props for not emptying inventory and running away like others. Though I always tended to understimate your fighting ability and ability to cause pain. I had reasons for that, but sometimes it resulted in eating critical strikes for OBLITERATES under giant and running away through all those parting blocks in like 50hp:) That was nasty and nice adrenaline.
Good luck with next.

In that, you were always ready for a fight - and your tactics are always on point.

I'll fight guys like you any day of the week, and enjoy the fights immensely, win or lose.

I can only imagine that it was hard to balance cabal duties with guild duties, so I tried to give you a little extra room most of the time. I respect that you were able to pull off a decent rager while being the top of your guild. I was hoping to motivate Dragrahl into exploiting some of his Bandit Kingosity to the village's advantage, but I also kind of fell victim to "I tried to do something with it in the beginning, but it kinda just went blah."

That said, as Commander, Fjarn had to constantly weigh Dragrahl. There were times that I wouldn't go help you get coin because it was more important to weaken the veil. Other times, I'd end up with a pile of gold on hand and try to track you down so I could keep you at the top of the guild. At times, we'd raid and Dragrahl was nowhere to be found. Then again, there were times that we'd raid and Dragrahl was scouting there before we could even arrive. It was an interesting mix of responsibilities for you, and as I said, I respect that you were able to make it work.

Anyway, if you still have the desire/patience for a thief after your break, try another one. It's one of those classes that you almost need to play a time or two before you can really get the hang of it. Thief 1 = experiment, Thief 2 = ?, Thief 3 = profit! See ya around.

Without going into too much detail, I did start an initiative to have some "spies" keeping an eye on some of the Hamsah's Guilds neighbors as well as on our enemies. Problem with it is that there really aren't enough thieves to garner much benefit from it.

Droghnund and I spoke of it a few times - I guess you never got clued into it all.

Dragrahl's choice of guild in the beginning was solely to get inside info from Iltch, and to have an inside to the Nexus guild. It would also foster some interesting interaction w/Nexus.

Then I went for Bandit King so I could use the info gathered to help Battle.

As far as raids were concerned - Dragrahl had the WORST time with the Nexun's Inners, and wasn't really a great build for fighting most of the inners. So if there weren't foes defending I could knock out/beat up while you took down the inners, I was likely hunting for other magi.


On thiefs - I've had a battle trapper to hero (way back when they were first created... and hated it). I've had a battle thug to near hero, also a long time ago. And this was my first foray into thug/binder.

Binder, I think, is a great class for defending your inners, but not such a good choice for taking other's items. It's bigger advantages are in pulling people away, spelling them up, and nastifying them. And great for ganking.

I didn't really gank, I couldn't spell folk up, I didn't have the heart to steal everything from my foes, and thought it was un-battle like to drag my foes into aggro mobs.

If I was anything BUT a proud Battlerager, i could have done things a whole lot differently :)

Battle thieves have always been sort of an enigma to me. I've seen them played well, but I don't think I could make one effective, myself, for the same reasons you described. As long as you enjoyed the character, though, that's what counts - and from what I saw, it looked like you did.

But like all thieves, I expected you to come out at me from anywhere. I really hate the unseen in CF

Hey thanks for the shoutout. I have to admit that you kept LAuriel going for some time near the end. I latched on to you and was trying to play the angles with Iltch being all over me trying to controll how I used the gold I won. I needed to have you there by my side to keep an eye out for Llorenz and a few other peopke who knew just how powerful thay item was. I don't know how much gold I gave you in all but it had to be a few thousand yeah?

As for being imcompetent, yeah I was/am, but i have only been playing for 6 years, BUT I have been everywharer except the 8-9 circles and ST. I know alot about the game just nothing in PKing.
Lauriel was my 4th Hero.

Lyug
Demgrith
one active
and Lauriel

*********************

Herald:
Lauriel - My favorite bard. For some reason you always seemed both incompetent and competent at the same time, but you were always flush with gold, and a young thief can never complain too hard about that.

Over time you may have given me around 1000 gold, yeah - but it may have been a bit less. At one point you gave me 2500, but then took all of it back when you were unsuccessfully gambling.

A young thief should always try and protect a rich patron until they get themselves established a bit :)