Message in a Bottle Seventh Edition
PAGES
- Front Page - Message from the Editor
Page 2 - The New Kings
Page 3 - Oh Canada
Page 4 - Fantasy Draft IX
Page 5 - Meet the Crew
Page 6 - Historic Lookback - Valentine's Day
MEET THE CREW - THIS MONTHS GUEST - NEEDS LITTLE INTRODUCTION - 
AVONMOR'S SEA HAG - MELIVA
AVONMOR'S SEA HAG - MELIVA
Argo is ushered to stone seat at a wooden table near a burning fire in a deep cavern tucked away in the deep dark forest. The contents of large black cauldron sitting on the fire place, popping and hissing is a little unnerving.
This witches residence is not without its spooky elements such as all the unrecognizable things in too many jars and stuffed birds everywhere, it was actually quite quaint tucked away in a cave.
A long way from the docks and Argo assumes .."have broomstick will fly..."
Meliva places a teapot of steaming herbal tea on the table and nods at Argo to help herself. Argo smiles sweetly and politely declines.
"So you wish to know the backstory of this old sea hag do ya? Well telling me life story would take too long-you'd be as old as I am if I went and did that, so I'll give the highlights!Looooong long ago, when I was a young lass, I grew up with 2 older sisters, and the 3 of us, all were competing to see who would succeed our mother in the family business.
Argo takes a breath to open her mouth to ask what business was her mother into when Meliva says ... "What was this business ye ask?" Argo closes her mouth." Well witchcraft of course !! Her pride does not go unnoticed.
Meliva continues.. "Now, between you-me, my sisters were better than I was- no question about that but mother favored me, so in the end I won
out.
Sister's done didn't like that none, fight ensued, and I was left with little to nothing. "
The fumes of the herbal tea are so exotic and unusual this intrepid reporter cannot resist and finally pours herself a mugful.
Meliva's eyes shine as she regales her history .. (maybe it was the tea but wow - those
eyes!!)
"Fast forward a bit, and I be running myself a trade business, using my witchy magic to start myself up again. Some nice folks in that old guild the iron Helm helped me learn the ins and outs of sailing.
Over time with my witchy knowledge, and their guidance I became a respectable trader.
Fast forward a bit to recent news and me and the dread pirate king Nelson invaded the USA and stole two of their ports. Twas a good battle, some
fought hard, others did nothing, but was great fun!
Plus I got revenge over them stealing ports from me back in St. Kitts!
Now rewind, and there be the trial of Zephore- you were there Argo sweetie, the honorable judge Socko deemed we all hang.
And Hanged I did. Had to nag my way back to life I did after that!Now skip ahead a bit, but not too far, and take a left and you have the time I somehow ended up as an admin.
Not sure how that happened, but I do my duties best I can."She pauses momentarily to ask," Hows the tea?"
She winked and wore an expression that Argo did not understand .. its spooked her so she just nodded and smiled and immediately put the mug back on the table.
Perhaps it was the fire but it was getting hot ... Meliva actually seemed to take a breath... "But enough of my prattling on about this and that, do ye have any questions you wish to ask me? If not, do me a favor and get ..."
Argo quickly interrupts.. " How did Meliva come to be in Avonmora ...?"
"Well, after me fight with my sisters I had to leave-else I'd be stuck fighting those two old hags for what little remained of our inheritance.
Figured I'd let those two fight each other over what was left while I moved on to a faraway land known as avonmora. I set sail and have never looked back.
Argo shook her head in wonder at the way this Meliva barely took a breath between prattles yet managed to talk to her, read from a book, apparently to follow some directions or a recipe and conjure something in a cauldron all at once!!
Argo takes a moment to absorb this information.
"With your witchy background you sure sailed in to the right place!! Upon arrival what was your first impression? And what goals did you set at that point - where was your interest?"
Meliva tops up their teacups with a few more drops from the teapot.
" My first impression was that the folks in Helm were knowledgeable sailors and good men- Black Sparrow, Sir Henry Morgan, Lodswe were among their number at the time if my memory serves me right. My first goals was to build up my fleets and start making some gold-so that I could invest it into a hideout and get to work on my business plans and goals."
Argo leans back nearly tippling off the the backless stone stool as she studies this strangely odd but deft woman.
'Ye must of had some fiery moments in your time here - what would you say is the best and worst of it so far?"Meliva hmm. Well, the worst of it, would be when I fought Xpro. Now I'm a savvy old witch and I can hold my own in a voodoo battle, but that man has so many voodoo doctors and voodoo up his sleeve it isn't even funny!
It was a good challenge and fun fighting him, good learning experience too, but it was a hard fight, hardest I've had in my time here.Best of it, hmm maybe when I fought Clockwork and stole back the bucket he took from me.
Meliva squints with a brief far away expression, " The game has changed for the better in that new stuff is being added. When I started we didn't have plantations, diplomacy, many laws, but it's changed for the worse in that lately I feel that folks are not as involved in forums.
Like you Argo, Id like to see that change too! As for what I'd like next. So many things honestly-land battles would be neat but top of the list I think would be improved diplomacy.Right now being at war or allied does little.
Argo feels her face flushed and the prickles that a beginning sweat brings.. the room is getting stuffy and a little too stuffy and hot for comfort .. Meliva immediately opens a window. The cool air hits her face and refreshes as Argo opens her mouth to ask, "In what ways would you like to see diplomacy changed?".
At that moment a raven or was it a small dragon.. or even a bat.. Argo did not know.. flew in at full tilt diving all over the cave. Her trying to look cool while ducking and weaving on her seat (she chooses to focus on Meliva's words instead) would look hilarious to an unnoticed onlooker ..
The flying flapping beast eventually comes to land on the opposite side of the table.
The beasts' cold unblinking blue eyes just stare at her. A couple of glances with the bird thingy and Argo does her best to avoid eye contact. "Creepy and nnerving", she thinks to herself.Meliva does not seem to notice Argo's discomfort .and continues to prattle ..."....mostly just that the various relations do something meaningful. Like, if you're at war with a nation, then if you enter it's ports you gain danger.
Or if you're allied you can benefit from better trade deals...as it is, at war is just a fancy term. It does nothing, same with allied other then hostility laws. EoTC can still collect stipends, benefit from laws far as I know anyway. >>
She pauses oh so briefly ..then"I don't work in the coding or at the development section of the game, so I can't say much on the subject of approved but not yet implemented changes but its just that this is a slow game, it takes time for things to come about. Be patient They be a small team I think- takes time to code even when you have the funds to do so with a small team.
It's not an area I'm well versed in or have much dealings with. I can only say that it's always been slow to update, but it updates."
Once again Argo readies herself to ask a question but Meliva saves her the trouble and launches into the answer -
In that moment, Meliva takes a brief second to look skyward, highs somewhat annoyed and rolling her eyes picks up a large heavy ladle.
Argo gasps as she sees something begin to rise out of the cauldron ..
Without missing a beat Meliva whacks it on what appears to be its head and turns back to the rattled MIAB reporter who, wide eyed and open-mouthed is speechless ... eyes darting from Meliva to the cauldran and back .. and again ..
She calms herself with the thought that perhaps its just the weird herbal tea or something.. maybe she is hallucinating ... She thinks "I had me some old rum made me feel like this once"
The SeaHag nonchalantly prattles on.. seemingly oblivious to the effect these occurrences may be having on her guest..
"...for noobs the best thing to do is get into a good guild that will help you out. Plenty of good choices at the moment. PR is a good choice, but I would be lying if I said it's the absolute best choice.
Merc is a good guild from what I know, and NPS seems solid too. As for My nation, well we don't want folks who don't pull their weight, but if you're willing to do that we'll welcome anyone.
I understand seeing old stuff still being worked on being discouraging. Can't say much other then just have faith that slowly but surely they will be added. In the meantime there are other forum things to do-
RP'sbeing my favorite " She chuckles heartily and nods as if in agreeance with herself.
"Do all new citizens receive a shiny new bucket on arrival as a part of their welcome package? ... or do buckets need to be earned .. lol I remember when you started you only had one!!
Meliva And yes, new citizens get a bucket. It may or may not be shiny.Argo wisely suppresses the urge to say " eyeww " and instead asks, "What is is that Meliva dislikes about children .. especially those who find themselves at play on her lawn?"
" Children are noisy, too noisy mainly. And being on my lawn puts the noise on my house....witchcraft needs focus, don't wanna blow meself up cause lil
Susan is crying over Bobby pulling her pigtails!"
Meliva picks up the ladle again and stirs the cauldron. She waves her hands in the air making some kind of symbol or gesture and suddenly there is a bang and huge puff of choking smoke.. The entire cavern shook briefly.
Turning back to Argo and wiping her hands on her apron Meliva calmly says " See yourself out .. Ive got some things need dealing with .. Nice to see ya Ms Argonaut..Maybe see you down the docks sometime"And with that she was gone .. just gone..Poof.. Disappears. Vanishes.
Argo blinks and looks around the room with some slow and wide side eye. She listens to the silence getting louder.
The cauldron has stopped its hissing and spitting and seems to be empty and dry.
The fire has gone out and there is now slight chill in the air.
Slowly Argo gets up from her stool and scutters to the door and is caught in a head-spinning, nausea-inducing whirlwind and finding herself startled and disoriented behind her desk in the offices of MIAB !
Just like that!
In front of her sits a near empty cup of warm herbal tea and a card with the letter M in red ink and all fancy looking. Her mind is blank...She tries to remember ...
A noise at the window draws her attention just in time to see a raven with blue eyes tap at the window and then launch itself in flight....
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