Wow. Where to start.

Somewhere deep inside my ale-soaked gut, I had a notion that you were
one of the older players with a fundamental basis for what Battle
was. Somewhere along the time-line of Battle, things changed. The
idea was, that the BattleRagers started to learn something more
about conflict and how to best prepare/defend against it. Remember
this, if you ever reconsider creating another Battlerager.

As a follower of Thror you were extremely impressive. I watched
you deal with trial after trial and face each one without bickering
or complaining. This not only made me admire Marlek but it made
me want to know Marlek. I really think the things you had to face
made you a stronger individual and in the end, that is the purpose
of my religion. If you think you failed in the eyes of my religion
you are sorely mistaken. I think you did an excellent job.

As a BattleRager, I was somewhat disappointed. There is no
particular 'style' of a Rager that is bad. So long as each style
can compliment the 'whole' of the village then you can't really be
doing wrong. - Unless - you manage to be dying constantly. Balls
to the wall is a great role, if you can pull it off. Some people
can, others cannot. If you find yourself going balls to the wall
and dying all the time, you aren't just putting yourself at risk, but
you are putting other villagers who raid/defend with you at risk.
This constant defeat is more than likely going to either cause you to
delete or to become desperate.

In the world of CF, naked men tend to do desperate things for
clothing (insert ruby-hilted dagger here).

I wasn't too concerned when you died to the Archmage by yourself. I
saw it and grumbled to myself. I saw you again gang-banged after
trying to coordinate an attack. I saw you die again by being slept
due to being overconfident about being able to kill a necromancer.
Each time you would manage to drop link immediately after you died.
I would assume this was to keep from deleting and to allow the
frustration to simmer down. It was a bad sign and I warned you
about it. I watched you a few times more and realized that you were
sticking it out and the very same day I was going to induct you, the
incident with the healer occured.

There was a stretch of time when I wasn't online much and I'm
assuming during that time we managed to miss one another. Regardless
of this, I was intent on seeing how you did and re-inducting you if
you had managed to stick it out. Actually, earlier today I checked
to see if you were still active and noticed that you were not.

So in all regards, yes, I did think Marlek was a character who faced
an enormous amount of difficulties. Just facing them made this
a remarkable character. I applaud you for that.

Good Luck.

HammerSong

For a multitude of reasons I wanted to delete often with this character but kept on trying to delete. What was weird was the real reason in the end. I had not played for about a week or two, and when I tried to reconnect someone else has failed to log me in a couple times. I prayed and asked about it, someone else had played my character who was not from my country. I never thought I would ever feel as I did, but i felt kinda quirky playing a character that had a gap in play that I knew nothing about. A total rp killer. Anyway enough about that, onto the good aspects.

Marlek was a attempt at a revival of a old school rager I played long long ago, back during the first age. The whole balls to the wall dont hold back, charge into battle if there was a chance you could win. Many a time I had a awesome set of equipment that I just drooled over and wanted to fight as many people as I could with it. I could have been very carefull and taken care of the set of equipment to ensure that I did not lose it. Something thought kept on driving me to try and make a impact as a being one of the harder hitting ragers about. At one stage I think I had 5 int/wis due to some high end dam gear that just ate up stats. I cracked 100 damroll with about four sets of equipment. Had armageddon a couple times and the only piece that I wanted but never had were the flurry/cross gaunts from hell.

To all the people I leveled with to 32, the rping was fun as hell, the pking was more fun. Those who I grouped with from 32 to 45ish, dam we sure were ripping mobs apart hard and fast.

Cabals:

Dawn: My memory is a bit fuzzy here on just who was who but I shall give it a try.
Ruarc???, storm paladin. The times we fought it was pretty dam kewl, after the rping we did you removing the red aura from my eq and listenting to my rp angle was awesome as well. After that We brushed shoulders but never really fought again (thank god, hehe you spanked me hard often )
Kadeem ??, storm shaman - what can I say. You seemed to often catch me when nothing else could possibly go wrong, so many times you arrived when I was on sub 200hp, out of moves. Plagued, just been totaly raped by a mob etc. Still the rping we did and how you took a perspective check on who was the more evil, those I fought and killed or those who hunted me relentlessly was a interesting aspect that I had never thought of before well done.

Nexus: Dam lots of you to rember... so many dam forms that I couldnt rember who was who. A couple stood out though.
Divox, the few fights we had were a blast. You were the target that I wanted to be rembered for grinding into the ground... but then you went and immed .
Theerkla hehe we fought a couple times and I loved the fact that you actually kept on coming back for more, you also improved alot the more we fought... but you still pincer to much.
Jarln, well hot dam at first you seemed like a splinter under my nail then the rp kicked in and we both started to appreciate more and more each others character. Bummer to see you go.
*all other nexus forms*, forgive me for forgetting names, but I never fought names so often didnt bother rembering them. From birds to walruses and from porcupines to rams... what can I say *OUCH*. A couple times when raiding the 100dam roll and ave 28's saved me, but not by much. Often I got caught trying to run that corridor of death.
Sporial??? forgoten the healers name, think that is right... hehe You were a nightmare in hiding. Raiding with you there was almost impossible, a couple times we managed to get lucky often though you prevent what should have been a easy raid/retrieval/pk.. Nice work as a healer.
Nydeikon. The first couple times I fought you in raw combat it was a cake walk and you rolled over and died, then you started being more of a assassin and never really came at me unless it was a assassinate, or I was messed up. Nice tactics.. You had me worried often. I used to avoid cities when I knew you were about hehe.

Umm any others that have gone unmentioned dam... im sorry.

Scion: Well lots of you to list, so I will name those that stand out who I fought a couple times.
Viro: *shivers* death from above was a bloody accurate title. You had me more worried that I think I've ever been with any charater before. The fact that even with the warriors perfect set and 100's in skills I knew that for me to kill you in 1 on 1 combat that I would have to catch you when you made a mistake... which never occoured *snaps his fingers*. To many times I escaped with 1 hp or 50. To many times you caught me just rooms from me escaping.
Dulla: The most memorable fight was when sharvin and I raided the chasm and you and viro were there. You had summoned half of mortorn and sharvin had been totaly blowen away early on. I was left fighting all those dam dwarfs your cabal mobs, your army you and viro. hehe I think I have that logged somewhere, might post it now that sharvin is gone.
Other scions: A couple of you I fought here and there, but we never fought often, it was either a 1 on 1 white wash or I ran into a big arse group of you hehe.

Warlock: well raided dam often, took your item dam often, only ever really saw 1 person on consistantly.
Dur: Conjurers were always nasty, but I really wanted to test my skill and new tactics on them. Instead of dying I was acutally able to fight you off a couple times, which made me grin from ear to ear. Normally warriors just role over and die to a conjurer but we had many long winded fights - round after round. What I really loved about you was that you understood that it was a game, we would both rest up and wait for the other to be ready before we fought again it was a real skill and character against the other. Well fought always.
*bad memories of, You sure are bleeding!!!! ** hahahahaha.

Battle: Whoa well this list is big and long I probably wont be able to rember all the names especially since I spent a large ammount of time out of battle before I deleted. Well here goes.
Tobel: I worked out who you were within about 6 hours of playing hehe, I was shocked to find another 1st age rager in the cabal... you were always there many a day after all the other ragers loged out we stuck around , regained the head then went on killing spree's getting totaly decked with awesome equipment.
Vorzy: You were my idol for a short while untill I caught up to you in skill %'s and near your level. I really wanted to be 51 for that 5 X on deathblow instead of my panzy 4X, but that just never happened. The leveling and fighting was a blast, sucks what happened to you in the end.
Sharvin: Berserkers best buddy was a understatement. You turned me into a deadly weapon with your songs. I almost became a one man army with you at my side the hell runs for eq were fun, I went on a couple alone and also deeper into hell... Screw doing that again as a warrior hehe .
Samar: *sob* alot of the older ragers I wanted to really rp with and build character with. But few of you spent enough time to do so, all the time you did spend on we basically were just fighting enemies..
Sehvoor: hehe same as samar, we talked a bit and I got a rec from you I thought you were pretty kewl.
Rio: Old man rio... DIE DAM YOU!, hehe. The time when I got your rec was a blast, all those pks in front of you where I just totaly kicked arse was kewl... also gave me a huge ego boost .
Jezzan: Fought a couple times with you as well, wish I could dodge like a arail *mutters* hehe.
The lowbie fire giant squad: You all know who you are, dam I wish you could have leveled up a little into my range so that we could really rumble... But that never happened.
Varrik: I held a really negative attitude to you as a character for what you were doing. I saw that the imms were changing #####(eq) when you were rping it, and kinda was blaming you for the changes.. For that Im sorry P ** At times I came so close to actually pking you hehe**
Penz: Well dam, sometimes I was like wow sicko fighting. Then I was like WTF!!!! YOU MORON! heheheheh. Though I told myself that I should in character and out of character not go anywhere near you or follow you at all, I did. I only did it because I knew that travelling with you would mean that nothing was for certain. That rush that comes when something bad/good happens is half the fun of the game, it came often when I was travelling with you.
Lobo: Dam you annoyed the hell out of me, you really put marlek through the wringer for induction, level 45 as a rager wannabe fighting with ragers was harder than anyting . Anyway eventually I got in... and you seemed to be a good leader, there were a couple aspects I liked about you... but then there were some things I saw you do that just used to really annoy me. PS DONT IGNORE PEOPLE!
Others of battle: Dam there are a couple that are hidden in the fog of my brain that I cannot seem to rember names for. Those I would like to say MWAHAHAH! KILL CRUSH AND DESTROY!.

Immortals: So much ##### went down with marlek that I went from extreme to extreme, but for once I dont think I ever got angry at the immortals. *gasps, puts his hand to his head - could he be sick ?* hehehe. The quests, the mob switches, the echos. Whoever sent me to Thar acia - laugh, silent tower. I almost fell over when I got a level from "exploring" hehe not mob killing.

Intronan: Well I was unsure if you were being nice, or you really understood the fine line I was walking with Marlek. You were a corner stone that I often confided in and also asked for aid with. You seemed to do everything that was Immortaly possible P

Thror: Religion wise, I was partly stumped when everything I did seemed to "not be enough" considering it was more than enough for other chars that I had your religion with. Anyway the rping that you brought out made marleks Rp even tighter, I think marlek had one of the tighest rps i've had in a long time. So rock solid on his beliefs made it even more fun, because I was force to display it as well as explain it to many players.
- IM SO SORRY that I f*cked up religion wise when I was about to finish my trial by fire and re-enter battle. I so kicked myself for what I did that. It was no ##### the first break in character that I made and in that whole week that I played It must have been the first time you were snooping me. I was SOOO pissed at myself for that and totaly dredded showing up when i knew I was not going to get back into battle, that I would have to walk yet another trial by fire. Moreso that I had broken fundamental faith and would be untattooed.
Anyway I was really stoked and preped to get back in after all the effort I had plugged into the character surviving as a uncabaled near hero char that couldnt use magic was super hard.

Shokai: The talking we had was much appreciated, your good will towards me was what tilted the scales and prevent me from deleting early on.
Valug: same as shokai , dam dual wizi immortals.

Other wizi imms: heheh love talking about the ooc stuff as well, much appreciated.


Well enough speel, see you all in the fields.

I always enjoyed talking to you. Your curiousity, and dedication were to be admired. I did want to see you back in the village, in time... but... well, you know what you did. In the village, or out of it, you were one I always looked forward to talking to. Glad I could help your character in any way. I like seeing balls to the wall characters, which you certainly were.

Still kicking myself for losing that summon pk situation in basc. Lagged hard and couldnt thirst in time. Would have beat that group senseless if I had managed to thirst after the summon.

Good char though.

Well, what can I say? I really respected your character, giant sword specs are just mean, especially ragers. I was sad to see you leave the Village, although I knew it was for rp reasons, I thought you were going to be the one to "bring the village back", so to speak. And yes, you are right, I stalked you ALOT and as often as I could, but alas never pulled off a fully successful assassinate *sigh* (being a leader really hinders one's stalking or attempting to, heh). Oh well, thanks for the fun and I'm glad you enjoyed our interactions/fights, I surely did. Grats on a well played character.

That Whil guy.

Yeah, I had everything lined up to be the rager who would "bring the village back" But right before the last piece of the puzzle fell into place I just made the BIGGEST !(@*#&!@#(!@# Mistake ever.

I had not seen thror on for going on 2 weeks irl, and had been on about 75 hours in that last week trying to catch him on. I had spoken to Intronan often and basically got the msg of Thror is the only person who is going to put you back in battle. I was on a old 21" black and white X-term monitor when thror (who was wizi at the time) send a echo to me. The only problem was that at the time three things were going on. The first was that I was grouped with two other ragers who were asking for help, I was fighting off two pkers, and the third was I was in the middle of some bizzar quest that a living blob of slime had given me (laughs at whoever that immortal was).

I thought to myself , hmm is that one of the gay fucked up diseases that you see once in a blue moon (cause I couldnt see color). Subconscionsly since I was 2 rooms from the healer I ran there and healed the disease type to see if I got a cure message (so I could be certain). YES IM A MORON!!!!. Looking back at that I can picture thror sitting at his computer throwing his head back and grabbing his head with both hands saying "FOOL!". That happened the day before rites were to be announced, I was to get back into battle after this long and hard "walk of temperance". Kick everyones arse in the rites which I knew I could do with greate ease, combat wise would have been a cake walk, and I knew the history of battle inside out *especially* since I played during 70% of it hehe.

So I took a dive off a ten M diving board, had perfect form until I got to the water and did a massive belly flop and soaked the judges with water. I think Marlek has been one of my Biggest (immortals giving me all sorts fo wierd and wonderfull things) potential characters ever. He had serious leadership potential as well as pure badass written all over him. I had a role that was pushing a nasty 30 pages long and was packed tight with tid bits of this and that about what when how why where who marlek interacted with.

Though a couple ragers often mocked you for your lack of fighting ability I actually thought you were better as a character due to some of the character traits you held. The fact that you turned into a assassin when you hunted someone specifically I thought was good, It also gave wannabe nexites a chance to see you and talk to you. Unlike a certain battle leader *cough* lobo *cough* hehehe.

Thanks for the comments, and Indeed I shall see you in the fields when I get the spare time

> Divox, the few fights we had were a blast. You were the target that I wanted to be rembered for grinding into the ground... but then you went and immed .

Grind me into the ground? Trust me when I say you would not be remembered for that since a lot of people got a piece of me while I was around. But we did fight and as usual you were another rager who could get me good solo though the situations never really did come up where we did end up fighting solo (raiding, defense, what have you).

Well done as a rager and good attempt at trying to be old school. *wink*

Divox

short of time right now, but wanted to say that you were probably my favorite rager, along with Tobeldest. You were the only one I can think of who used the right tactics against me, if we ignore ganging as a tactic. You were proof that a rager can defend at the giant against a conjurer successfully, and the ragers who think you can't just didn't know your tactics. I think Meushen used them too in the distant past.

As far as letting you rest up again, I've never enjoyed kicking someone when they are down, so I won't usually kill the same person twice until I see they are recovered. You came very close to what might have been a nasty death though when you were killing the cobbler for his shoes, and I scried you doing it. I was with a warlock ram, and tesseracted nearby with the intent of killing you then. Luckily you mentioned you'd left the village while I was recovering from the tesseract (too many assassins hiding in your hut to leave room for you) and I never had a problem with you after that.

Yeah tactics on conjurers is one of the things I wanted to test. I had looked at a few logs and realised that conjurers who use archons are VERY dependant apon their elemental, nuking that was the first thing to do. Without the elemental you were pretty useless (if you had a archon). A couple times I tried different variations of skills, but more often than not the warrior skills just wouldnt work for #####.
I had them all 100% so I could ensure that it wasnt a failure due to lack of skill %, but a failure due to how the skill was coded.

If anything I realised that warrior skills needed to work more often than not. Some skills for other classes work flawlessly compared to warrior skills. As a prime example, retreat should at 100% should never fail, it has a lag on it and can only be done once at a time, yet you can spam flee over and over... often i would try to retreat, but more often than not the mob would prevent me. (I even rember failing to retreat from level 10 gate guards once, dam that was clear indication that the skill needes to be fixed)

Alot of people due to the above discussion about skill failure rely on what a warrior has that is reliable, and that is just combat damage. Its a shame really because if skills on warriors worked as well as spells like fireball cone cold, quicksand etc... I think you would see some highly deadly and skillfull warriors.

About telling you I was out of battle, I admit I was trying to save my hide BIG TIME. I knew there was no way in hell that I could kill any half resisted mage or even nakid mage without them being a total moron and me being totaly decked with bs eq. Not being able to use magical items in hero range pks puts you down a bloody huge notch pk wise. Even with the large number of people that I managed to call a RP truce with, I still got hammered over and over.

I thank you for all the times we fought, so many times you came close to killing me but often I would actually hurt you enough that you needed to backoff a little, or I would kill your elemental. The only downside was that I wanted to fight you with a demon, but I knew that would never happen

heh you were a villager I respected, you had the courage and quasi honor I would expect from the village of old I used to know.
Well done and good luck with your next char, I have to say you had me worried every now and then with how friggin hard you were hitting me heh.
See you in the fields,
laters
Gunn

Having you say that makes me feel really good, everything that I wanted the character to be, to portrey to others around them you mentioned above. The old school rager, the quirky non-knights honour but respect for my enemies, the courage to fight battles when I knew I only had a 15-25% chance of winning. Most of all what makes me grin is the fact that you did take notice of how hard I was hitting some times through all those resists. To have to type in affects to check that you still have barrier shield aura up, and yes he is still hitting me for Maims! is a total blast P.

Nothing beats having a 100 dam roll set with ave 28's, you can fight sanced people as if you had a 40 dam roll set, you can fight resisted people as if you were wielding just a pair of weapons. It is alot harder to get used to the huge power swings and often caused many errors made apon my part where I would rip through a group of 5 non protected people, then I would run into 1 fully resisted person and kick myself for flurring to early or misusing skills.

After leaving battle, and still following its ethics, I had a immensly hard time. I had to run from any form I encountered (if I could) otherwise I was just total cake. Even then every invisible "someone has arrived" used to scare the crap out of me. It didnt take long for the hero mages to relise that they could sneak up/chase after me invis

I had a spare 3 trains and 23 con when I left battle, but had only 16 con and 0 trains when I deleted, I got repetidly smacked down. People would hunt me in groups or right after I had been killed they would invis and follow me untill I unghosted (sad to say it, but that was super lame). I think I had only four pks after I left battle that I actually won 1 on 1, Its just near impossible to fight without magic and beat some people. Yet I managed to beat a couple hasted warriors/ranger/assassins with just tactics. Oh well.

Like you mentioned in your farewell I might take a break from ragers, see what other cabals are like for a while.