Home Game Tour News Forum Manual Highscore Forum -> General -> Enola's Story - Reposted By Request Only users can reply. Pages: 1- 2 Enola 19-01-2011 03:38 One fine Syrnian morning a gentle soul wandered into Syrnia looking for safe harbour from the storms that raged regularly through her life. Her name was Enola and she was, as her name decreed, alonE. Enola came to Syrnia with nothing but a few pieces of gold, some cheap armour and a couple of tools but she was willing to work and that's all it takes to prosper in Syrnia. Soon after her arrival Enola was given work cleaning the jail in Sanfew but thieves quickly targeted her, depriving her of some of her earnings. Other people told her the only way to keep her gold safe from the multitude of pickpockets roaming the land was to store it in a house. After losing more gold to the thieves Enola vowed to get no more gold until she had a house to store it in so she bid farewell to the Jail keeper and went to Isri to chop the wood she needed to build a house. There were many kind souls in Syrnia but Enola was wary of everyone so she didn't say much as she laboured cutting wood. She listened to all that was going on around her, however, and quickly learned it was advisable to build a big house rather than a small one so she redoubled her woodcutting efforts. The land itself seemed to like Enola and she found many seeds hidden in the wood she chopped along with several small chests containing other types of seeds. She found out the house she wanted to build required a higher skill in construction than she had so, whenever she was bored with cutting wood, she went to the mines to get ore. As soon as she had enough ore she would smelt it and smith it into items that she sold to the market in Eully. This gave her the gold she needed to study construction. Enola had a horse but she was afraid of killing him so she never rode him. He trotted peacefully beside her as she walked between towns and, when she stopped to collect the flowers she found along the way, he would happily graze on nearby grass. One day disaster struck. Enola's hatchet broke and, thanks to the thieves, she didn't have enough gold to buy another one. She couldn't mine or smith because her pick and hammer had both broken some time earlier so she turned to the wise ones of the land and asked them how to get another hatchet. "Do you have anything of value?" they asked her. "No," she said, "I have nothing but flowers, wood and some seeds." "All of those things have value" they answered, "you can sell them or trade the wood and seeds to others." Enola didn't want to sell the flowers. They were gifts from the land to her and had a sentimental value for her. She didn't want to sell her wood either. She needed every log herself. That only left the seeds. She took the advice of the wise ones and posted an ad offering seeds for sale and was answered by several people all asking the same questions. "What kind of seeds do you have?" "How many seeds do you have?" Enola answered the questions and was flooded with more messages. "How much do you want for the carrot seeds? " " How much for all of them? " "I'll give you 100 gold for the carrot seeds. " " I will give you 200 gold. " "300 gold for the lot Enola. " Enola was confused. She had not considered anything beyond her immediate needs. She needed a bronze hatchet but she had no idea what they were worth or what the seeds she possessed were worth. She had no idea what to ask for or even what she might need, aside from the hatchet, in the future. All she knew for certain was that gold was no use to her as thieves would simply take it from her. "Enola," said a firm voice, "I will give you four hatchets and some armour in return for all your seeds." Enola agreed to the trade and, when she found she could not wear the iron armour she was given, she just shrugged and went back to cutting wood. A few days later she got a message from the same person. "Have you collected any more seeds yet" Bosk asked her and she told him she did have more seeds but there was no point in trading as she couldn't use what he had already given her apart from the hatchets. He asked her what combat level she was and, when she said she was only level one, he apologised for not having asked before. He offered her all the bronze armour she would need in return for the seeds she had now and, when her fishing net broke and he offered to include a new one in the deal, she accepted. Her second attempt at trading gave her two sets of full bronze armour, food, a new fishing net, more hatchets, picks and even a mug of beer but Enola was not happy. It was a lot of stuff and she was satisfied with the actual transaction but she didn't want to trade any more. Enola was ignorant, a novice, she had no idea what things, apart from wood which seemed to be the only thing with a set price, were worth but she had seen how people treated those who were ignorant of the value of things. Too many times she saw people cheat novices out of their wood by paying less than the going rate for it and she did not want to be treated that way. Some people, she noticed, would lurk in the trade area waiting for someone to make a mistake then they would pounce. Their modus operandi was to get the person to agree to sell to them for a rip-off price then race to the trading post as fast as they possibly could. Sometimes, if an incredibly low price was asked, they did not even wait for the person to agree to sell it to them before racing to the trading post. Once at the trading post they would wait for their victim to arrive. If the victim found out they were about to be cheated and tried to back out they would harass them with accusations that they were wasting other people's time and claim they had gone to all the trouble of going to the trading post for nothing. These people, completely lacking in honour themselves, would then accuse their victims of having no honour because they would not keep their word and allow themselves to be cheated. Sometimes, like the woman who accidentally posted raw fish prices when the fish she was selling was actually cooked, the mistake was very costly indeed. Enola watched these things and vowed to be self-sufficient rather than risk dealing with people like that. Time passed and Enola got more seeds, more wood, small chests and even a gemstone and she stayed out of the trade arena as much as possible. One day she got a message inviting her to join a clan. It was from bdwhite, the leader of the Syrnian Warrior Coalition, and he persuaded her she would enjoy being in their clan so she joined them. He was right. She did enjoy being in their clan. She particularly enjoyed the wit and humour of Spendy and the kindly advice of mrtwiki. She was surprised and grateful when bdwhite, out of the blue and for no reason, gave her enough gold to complete her studies in construction. She began trading her seeds within the clan and using the money to buy little bits of wood here and there. Slowly but surely she got closer to her goal of 2500 wood and the house she had been dreaming of building for what seemed like forever. It was, however, her first trading partner, Bosk, who made it happen in the end. He gave her the last 300 logs of wood she needed in return for her agreement to sell him her next lot of seeds and so, at long last, she built her house. Now she could look at doing other things or so she thought but, as fate would have it, she was not to be spared the chore of chopping wood just yet. A new soul entered the land of Syrnia one day and it was one Enola had known since the day she was born. Elbaroda was, as her name suggests, Enola's adorablE and very much loved daughter! She had come to join her mother in this new world but she was young and wilful and did not want to join her mother's clan. She wanted her mother to create a new clan for the two of them so they could talk to each other in private. It was with some serious reluctance that Enola deserted her old clan. She explained her reasons and offered to pay back the money they had given her. They refused to accept her money and wished her and her daughter all the best. Enola left her old clan and created a new one. When she asked her what to name the new clan Elbaroda suggested Alone and Adorable so AAA came into being. Elly had found an Avril gem on her way to Syrnia and Enola offered to buy it from her for 1500 logs of wood. Elly would have given it to her mother but Enola refused to take it without giving something in return so they agreed to trade it for the wood. Now there was another house to build. Elly and Enola would have been happy to live together but they knew the house would not be big enough for the two of them so they set to work collecting 2500 logs of wood to build Elly's house. When she was half way to her personal goal of 1500 wood Enola became impatient and tried to speed up the wood collecting process. This time she chose the wrong person to trade with. She agreed to a price for the seeds she had on her because she didn't know how many she had in her house. When the time came to trade with the buyer she accidentally gave him over 100 seeds from her house for free. It was not until she discovered her mistake that she understood the gloating contained in his "VERY nice doing business with you" message. She added him to her clan list of people with whom she would never talk to, or deal with, again. It made her sad to see how quickly names were being added to the blacklist but Enola's preferred way of dealing with unpleasant people was to steer clear of them entirely. Enola continued chopping wood. Elly chopped too but they were working in different forests because Enola had gained enough experience to work in the more dangerous forest of Lemo whilst Elly stayed in the safer area of Isri. It took some time but, when they were on the home stretch, Elly got tired and impatient. She started talking about settling for a smaller house and this drove Enola back into the trade arena. First Enola took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and gathered up all the flowers she had so lovingly collected. Then, her arms filled with various fragrant blooms, she marched off to the flower shop in Harith and sold them all. With some trepidation, but hoping for the best, Enola posted a message asking to buy wood and Marineswife10 responded. The trade was conducted in a very friendly and pleasant manner and Enola took heart from the experience. Meanwhile, Elly had also pawned everything she had and managed to buy the last of the logs that were needed. They met in Eully trading post where Enola handed over all the wood she had collected then Elly raced off to build her house right beside her mother's house. The first challenge had been met. Each of them had a house to store their things and keep them, and their gold, safe from thieves and vultures. The next challenge was to actually get possessions and gold to put IN their houses and that challenge would prove to be, in some ways, easier than the first for Enola. It would turn out to be a lot harder for Elly and, in fact, she would lose a life trying. Part 2 Once Enola had seen Elly safely settled into her own home she set about getting the things they would need to survive in comfort in this new land. Elly had no shoes and only cheap armour so Enola headed to the mines. She laboured away mining, smelting and smithing to make armour, tools and weapons for herself and her daughter. Enola's inexperience meant she had to make many of the same items over and over again before she was able to make the more difficult pieces of armour so she often ended up with extra goods which she tried to sell in the trade arena. Once again her trade experience was not good as she failed to sell any of her things. Nobody, it seemed, wanted bronze items so Enola developed a routine of selling it all to the market in Eully for rock bottom prices. Whilst Enola was busy chopping wood, mining ore, smelting bronze bars and smithing them into armour and tools her daughter was getting to know some of the locals. The Friddick brothers in Valera, Port Senyn and Rile kept Elly very busy running errands for them and, occasionally, she had to call on her mother to help her out. "Arrgh! I need 19 tin ores and I only have 6 and my time is almost up!" she messaged Enola in distress one day. "I have 13 of those," Enola replied, "where are you? I will come and drop them for you to pick up but you'll have to grab them fast or they will be snatched by a vulture." They met in Lisim and Enola dropped the 13 ores. Elly quickly grabbed them and ran to complete her errand. Within minutes she was calling her mother for more help. "This time they want copper ore and I have none!" she said so Enola arranged to meet her in the same place to drop the ore her daughter needed. They were not so lucky this time and a vulture grabbed the ore before Elly could get it so she failed to complete her errand on time. Enola had a hissy fit and told her daughter to get her own stuff from now on or stop working for the brothers then she went back to work. The days passed quickly and Enola outfitted Elly as well as herself then went to train her combat skills in Valera. She whacked away at rats and gnomes with the goal of completing some of the quests the land had available when she was strong enough. Enola was cautious and did not want to fail, or be killed, during the quests so she was unwilling to try until she had decent combat skills. Elly was not so patient nor anywhere near as cautious. Once Elbaroda collected enough money working for the Friddick brothers she went adventuring. She ended up on Serpenthelm Island where she completed a quest that gave her a beautiful Rose Shield. Elly messaged her mother in triumph telling her what a great place Serpenthelm was and that she was going to stay there for a little while to get more fish. Enola told her to be careful then went back to fighting gnomes. It cost a lot of money to go to Serpenthelm and Elly was reluctant to come home without making the most of the trip and seeing all there was to see. When she landed on Mezno, therefore, she went exploring and found herself in Berian. Consumed by curiosity she ignored the warning sign and went into the mountains where she was quickly slaughtered by a witchdoctor. It was then that Enola and Elly discovered the curious nature of this new land. Elly awoke, naked but still holding her gold, in Sanfrew. The land had revived her and given her another chance at life! Sadly, however, her newly won quest item and all the fish she had caught were gone forever. Enola and Elly knew better than to tell the community of the loss and ask for the items back. The vultures of the land, and there were many of those, always got very angry with anyone who sought kindness or mercy at such times. Elly was unhappy enough. She did not want to be on the receiving end of insults and ridicule as well as having suffered the loss of her newly acquired quest item. Together they scraped up enough money for Elly to return to the site of her recent demise but there was nothing there. Her things were gone and gone for good. In a spirit of wanton disregard for her own safety Elly accepted a new quest. The thieves guild at Mentan asked her to go to the Out Lands, a place of almost certain death, to find one of their members and Elly accepted the errand. Luck was with her this time and she came back safe and sound with one tin ore as a souvenir. Her success eased the pain of her recent misfortune but did not entirely compensate her. "It's not really even the shield I regret losing," she said sadly to her mother, "it's all those fish and frogs! I was looking forward to cooking them up and eating them!" Enola tried to comfort Elly for her losses. She congratulated her for her success in making it to the Outlands and back alive then set to work making and collecting new tools and equipment for her. Bosk had given Enola his beginner horse to provide company for her own horse in the paddock of her house. Now Enola gave him to Elly, along with armour and tools, to get her back on her feet. Elly returned to work running errands for the Friddick Brothers. Enola went back to fighting gnomes. Suddenly another new soul entered Syrnia and, again, it was one Enola had known since the day he was born. Grungee was Enola's much loved younger brother and he had somehow found out where his sister and niece were and come to visit them. When he arrived Enola and Elbaroda welcomed him and added him to their clan. His addition to the clan meant the clan name no longer seemed appropriate. Nobody could think of a suitable new name so Enola changed it to "Triple A" and set the problem of a name aside for the time being. Grungee's arrival in Syrnia meant more bronze armour and weapons had to be obtained and another house had to be built. Grungee was happy to settle for a small house as he wasn't sure he wanted to stay in Syrnia so he set to work chopping logs and it wasn't long before he had quite a few seeds. "What do I do with these seeds?" he asked his sister and she told him he could save them for when he wanted to plant them or sell them to someone. "I think I would like to try my hand at trading," he said and posted an ad in the trade arena. He was quickly answered by a well known trader named SilverBakk and Enola stepped back and waited to see how things would go. Grungee sent her a message telling her what SilverBakk had given him in exchange for the seeds and Enola was not sure if it was a good deal or not. She still had no head for trade but she thought it was, perhaps, a fair though not generous exchange. Enola made her thoughts public by accident and was quickly advised of the truth. What Grungee had failed to notice, due to his inexperience, was that most of the bronze armour SilverBakk gave him had the extra bonus of enchantments on them. This made the deal a very generous one indeed and Enola was crushed with embarrassment at having made the public statement to the contrary. Enola was not the sort to withhold what she owed someone so she fell all over her own feet trying, clumsily, to apologise to SilverBakk for her mistake. He quickly silenced her by telling her not to ruin his reputation as a shrewd trader. Enola hated trade even more after making such an awful mistake but she vowed to trade with SilverBakk any time he wanted her to. She was not at all certain he ever would want to trade with her after her mistake but, as time would show, SilverBakk accepted her abject apologies and didn't hold it against her. The three Triple A clan members settled into Syrnia and worked on various skills. Enola had never lost her love of the flowers the land occasionally gave her so Elly and Grungee began giving her all the flowers they found too. It wasn't long before her house was starting to fill up with flowers and Enola decided to build another house to hold them all. "I need a house for pretty things," she told her daughter, "I will keep my gems and flowers and things like that in it and save the space in the big house for seeds and practical things." Enola built a house for pretty things, gained her combat skills, then set off to do some quests. The flowers, however, began to fill the pretty house and Enola realised she would not be able to keep on collecting them if she could not find something to use them for. It wasn't long before the solution came to her. Grungee was the first to find out what her solution was. He tried to be polite but Enola could see he was not terribly impressed by her brilliant idea! Part 3 One day grungee gave Enola three purple rha's and Enola realised that gave her more than enough for a bouquet. She quickly raced to the flower shop with some blooms and asked the staff to make them into a bouquet and send it to Grungee as a thank you for all the flowers he had given her. The staff were very efficient and the bouquet was swiftly delivered to him but he was not a fan of flowers so he just as swiftly gave the bouquet back to Enola. "They're lovely," he said, "and thank you very much for them but why don't you give them to Elly. I'm sure she would like them whereas they are wasted on me." Enola gave the bouquet to Elly who discovered she could sell them to the market in Eully for a profit. She had her mother's love of pretty things, however, so she merely passed the information on to her mother and kept the bouquet. Enola later discovered the same was not true for bouquets of roses. There were a few people in Syrnia who had impressed Enola and now she set out to send them all a bouquet each. It took a bit of time but, whenever she got enough of one kind of flower, she would take them to the flower shop and trade them for a bouquet which the shop would deliver for her. Enola got mixed reactions to her gifts. Some were overwhelmed and extremely pleased, others were a little uncertain how to take the gesture. One person was unexpectedly bad mannered and ignored the gift entirely leaving Enola wondering if she had even received it. Enola shrugged off the lack of reaction. She knew there could be any number of reasons why someone would ignore a gift. Perhaps the person did not like her, perhaps she was afraid Enola wanted something from her, perhaps she had actually not received the gift. For Enola the ladies reaction, or lack of one, did not matter. She believed a gift should be given freely and with no expectations or strings attached. If it is not given that way then it is not a gift at all but a bribe. The lady deserved a bouquet and she had been sent one. Nothing mattered more to Enola than that. Enola continued using surplus flowers to send bouquets to those she felt had earned one. She did, however, confine the gift giving to females as grungee's reaction had shown her sending flowers to males could make them feel awkward and uncomfortable. She did not want to make anyone feel uncomfortable nor did she want to risk making any of the men think she was trying to seduce them. She sincerely hoped, however, that none of the ladies would mistake her intentions for romantic interest in them!!! She just wished it was possible to send bouquets of beer and filed away the idea of sending men kegs of rum someday. Those gifts would not be as easy to give as flowers. Enola had never yet found a keg of rum on any of her walks! She was fairly sure there was no shop she could get to deliver a keg of rum either so the idea would have to remain an idea for the time being. One day Enola woke up and found herself unable to leave her house and, when she listened at the door, she could hear no sound of life in Syrnia at all. For hours she kept trying the door and for hours she was unable to get into the land to go about her business. In desperation she resorted to reading the story on her shelf about Syrnia. After she read the history of the Dark Warriors, the most powerful clan in Syrnia, she was appalled. This land she had come to care about so much was founded on evil and bloodshed! No wonder there was so much greed and dishonour amongst it's inhabitants, she thought, when all whose hearts were pure had been slaughtered and betrayed! She vowed to oppose these evil creatures and stand against them in every way and at every opportunity. It would be a dangerous thing to do, she knew, but someone needed to do it. Someone had to take the place of their consciences since these so-called "warriors" had clearly surrendered theirs to their evil ruler. Enola called on her own God to work against the evil that had spread through the land when Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk arrived then she turned to her notepad and began writing about her own adventures. She vowed to ensure there would be no evil, no anger, no blood and no betrayals to appeal to any evil which might dwell in the hearts of those who read. Her story, she hoped, would reach out to the good in the hearts of her readers and might even encourage goodness to begin spilling out into the land. It was all she could do, for now, to oppose the evil ones and she was not at all surprised when some people in the land began to avoid her. Evil masters will always have their servants and, when some people began to ignore her if she spoke or try to provoke her into an argument, she added them to her mental list as probable servants of the evil ones. She would observe carefully, giving them the benefit of the doubt, but she decided it might even be necessary to create a new list for her clan. Only time would tell. What surprised her most, though it shouldn't have, was finding evidence that even those who were responsible for keeping law and order in the land might be servants of the evil ones. Might, in fact, BE one or more of the evil ones! Enola knew she would have to tread carefully and keep her gaurd up at all times if this was true. Part 4 One day Enola discovered she had built her muscles up to a point where they were strong enough to carry a suit of iron armour and she knew it was time to leave the training grounds of Valera and try her hand at tougher opponents. Not, however, the evil ones lurking in the Out Lands. That place was off limits as far as Enola was concerned. The evil ones were at their most powerfull out there and they would not, she vowed, be given the satisfaction of slaughtering her the way they had done to so many others. She had better things to do than provide blood sport for the evil ones anyway. During her travels through Syrnia Enola had met a woman named Bluebell. There were some who said Bluebell was a witch but she seemed harmless, if a little vain, to Enola. Over a cup of tea at her house in Eully one day Bluebell admitted she was trying to change her appearance and asked Enola to help her by getting her a venemous fang from a cobra. Now Enola decided the time was right to see if she could get that fang so she bought some iron armour and weapons from a shop owned by a trader named Tomg, loaded up with food to sustain her through her coming battles and set off to fight. As she walked into Lemo Woods, however, a tattered piece of paper on the ground caught her eye. It was a shopping list. Enola took it to its owner and he asked her to kill 50 cobra's so his woodcutters would not be so afraid to cut wood at Lemo any more. Since she was there to get a cobra fang for Bluebell anyway Enola agreed to help the man out and set off to thin out the cobra population. After she killed 50 cobra's, getting more than a few fangs in the process, the owner of the shopping list asked her to get him 250 logs of wood to mend his roof. Enola was too kind hearted to refuse so she got him the wood then took the fang back to Bluebell. Bluebell was so grateful for the fang she insisted on giving Enola 100 gold pieces for it but then she, like the owner of the shopping list, wanted more. This time she asked for an amber gem. Enola did not have one nor did she have the money to buy one so she was not able to help Bluebell straight away. One day, as she was mining, Enola heard a frantic cry. "Bandits!" someone yelled, "Bandits are invading!" Enola ran to help the stricken town of Valera and fought with others side by side until the invaders were all killed. Towards the end of the battle Enola, weary and covered in blood, discovered the amber gem Bluebell wanted so much clutched in the hand of the bandit she had just killed. She pried the gem from his grip and put it in her pocket. When the battle was over Enola cleaned herself up and took the gem to Bluebell who, to Enola's chagrain, was still not content. Now she wanted two fox tails. Muttering to herself about the vanity of the woman Enola went to her "Pretty" house where she had stored the tails of some foxes she killed whilst fighting cobra's. She got two of the tails and took them back to Bluebell. Enola couldn't help but think Bluebell was really stretching the friendship when she asked for 25 raw sardines as well but she got her fishing rod and went to get the fish. "If that woman asks for anything else," Enola muttered to herself as she trudged back to Eully, "I'm going to tell her there's nothing wrong with her appearance it's her personality that sucks!" After she gave Bluebell the fish the woman suddenly seemed to change before Enola's eyes. She stood straighter and dropped her begging posture. She admitted that she was, in fact, quite happy with how she looked and had been inventing ingredients to see if she could trust Enola. "Now I can trust you," Bluebell said, "I think I've finally found someone to whom I can teach the art of magic!" Bluebell then handed her a magic staff and accepted her as her new student. She taught Enola how to cast a spell to reduce travel time by one second but the ingredient required to cast the enchantment was another amber gem. Enola had several other gems but no amber so it would be some time before she would be able to try out her new knowledge. Enola continued working on her skills. She mined, smithed, fished, cooked and even collected enough money to buy farmland. She was able to harvest her first crop without any problems but, just as her second crop matured, a chest was washed ashore and Enola joined the crowd of other people who were trying to guess the combination of the lock. Whoever guessed the combination would get to keep the contents of the chest so Enola forgot about her crop and kept trying to guess the combination. It was not until someone else opened the chest that Enola thought to check her crop of beets. She was dismayed to find they had rotted in the field and she vowed to be more careful in future. Enola continued to work on her combat skills and saved money towards the cost of travelling to Serpenthelm. Elbaroda had shown her it was easy to get a Rose shield but others had told her about armour and a weapon that could be won if you were strong enough to defeat certain monsters. As soon as she thought she was strong enough Enola travelled to the Serpenthelm Island and completed several quests. She won a shield, a lute and rose plate armour and bought herself a rose as a souvenir of Rose Castle. On the way home Enola took a detour to the town where Elly had died and lost her Rose shield. She gazed at the warning sign and thought of the creatures who killed her daughter. Enola knew she was not yet strong enough to defeat them but the menace in her voice would have chilled them to the bone if they had been able to hear her. "I will be back!" She yelled, "Do you hear me witch doctor? I will be back and the day I return is the day you will die!" There was no response but the mountains echoed her call adding their own chilling emphasis to the word "die". Enola turned away from the mountains vowing to return and find the witch doctor who killed her daughter and make him pay for his crime with his own life. Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk would have laughed and mocked her if he could have seen her face. The gentle heart of Enola was now corrupted by her desire for revenge. Her eyes shone with a lust for the blood of the murdering witch doctor and it was not a pretty sight. Part 5 Enola returned home and dedicated herself to gaining strength and combat skills by training in Valera. Hour after hour she parried gnome attacks killing hundreds and growing stronger and more skilled in the art of battle with each dead gnome. Every time her gentle heart grew weary of the bloodshed she would think of the creature who, without provocation, had attacked her daughter. Each time she thought of that merciless slaughter her heart would harden and she would return to her training. Such loathesome creatures could not be allowed to continue preying on the unsuspecting, or curious, inhabitants of this fair land and Enola felt it was her duty to go back and kill them. Her tireless dedication to training produced results and one day she decided she was ready to return and take revenge on the witch doctor and his allies. First, however, there was another quest to complete. A rose sword was available to anyone who could rescue the lost girl from the tribe of lizard people in the jungle on Serpenthelm. Enola decided it was more important to rescue a live girl than avenge the death of her daughter so she put her desire for revenge aside and went to the rescue. Enola sought out the Lord of Rose Castle for directions then went to the chapel to pray for protection. She prayed repeatedly until she felt someone had heard her prayers and then she went to attack the village of lizard people. As Enola entered the village a lizardman attacked her. Enola fought hard and defeated him. As he fell to the ground he dropped the girl Enola had come to rescue and she scooped her up. Enola continued to fight the lizard people anyway because she felt it was important to teach them not to kidnap Syrnian children! To Enola's dismay it turned out the tribe had stolen more than one child and two more girls were liberated from the clutches of the lizardmen before the battle was over. Enola took all three of the girls back to Rose Castle but the Lord was only prepared to accept one of them. Enola tried hard to find homes for the other two lost girls but they had decided they wanted to live with her. They clung to her tightly and would not let her put them down on the ground nor would they go to anyone else so she was forced to keep them. She named the twins Perdido (Lost) and Chicas (Girls) and took them to her pretty house. The twins moved into the house and seemed content. Whenever Enola checked on them they were happily playing with gems and flowers and keeping each other company. Just as she was about to return to Berian to take care of the witch doctor who had killed her daughter her eye was drawn to an ad in the help wanted arena. "Would anyone be kind enough to return the things I lost when I died in the jungle?" It said. Enola read the name of the advertiser with dismay. It was Grungee and she steeled herself for the ridicule and insults she was certain would follow such a request. "Grungee," she messaged him, "people don't like it when you ask for your things back!" "I know," he messaged her back, "I'm prepared for the insults. I just thought it can't hurt to ask nicely and you never know do you?" As it turned out he was right. Contrary to both their expectations the community was sympathetic and two noble souls came to Grungee's rescue. Nighthunter was a friend of Enola's and he saw Grungee's plea. He was in the area already and it was his habit to help people when this sort of thing happened so he swiftly raced to the scene of the accident. Most of Grungee's belongings were still lying on the ground and Nighthunter scooped them all up. Sadly, there was no sign of the 1000 iron ores grungee had just finished mining and the fishing boat Enola had built for him only the day before was gone too. Enola and Grungee were not surprised to hear those things were gone and they were certain there was no hope at all of ever getting them back. They were just thankful Nighthunter had been able to grab so much of the lost gear and that he was willing to return it all. Grungee raced to the trading post to meet up with Nighthunter and get his stuff back. He took gold with him to pay Nighthunter some small token in appreciation but Nighthunter refused. "My reward is your happiness," he said, "I like putting a smile on people's faces and this will make your sister happy too." As Nighthunter was returning Grungee's gear another noble soul spoke up. "Grungee," said the quiet voice of alfons60, "I have some of your gear too. I am on my way to Eully so wait for me." Grungee and Enola were overwhelmed to be on the receiving end of such mass support and individual generosity but the best was yet to come. "I don't believe this," Grungee messaged Enola, "Nighthunter has given me so much! He was able to get almost everything I lost and he has given me extras. He has added tools, wood and food to help me get back on my feet and he has even given me wood and fish for you!" Whilst Enola was trying to absorb that information Grungee sent another message. "This is unbelievable!" Enola waited but Grungee had temporarily choked up and was unable to speak. "What?" she messaged him impatiently, "what is unbelievable?" "I never thought I would see them again." Grungee mused in shock. "What? What, what, what, WHAT?!" Enola cried frantically jolting Grungee out of his daze. "The small fishing boat and the thousand iron ores," Grungee said, "I just got them both back from alfons60! Not a single ore is missing. I can't believe it." Now it was Enola's turn to choke up and go silent. Where was the greed, the selfishness, the abuse she had seen in such situations when she first came to this land? "Enola," said the friendly voice of Preff, "not everyone in Syrnia is mean. There are a lot of people who will run to help someone who needs help." "So I see," Enola replied thoughtfully and suddenly she felt a lot less alone in this new land. Part 6 As time passed Enola slowly got to know more people in her new land and began making friends. When Enola met Fiana she knew almost straight away she had met someone special. Fiana was gracious and dignified yet she had a delightful sense of humour that made Enola want to get to know her better. The more Enola saw of Fiana the more she liked and respected her for Fiana was always willing to help others and she worked hard without complaining or asking for hand-outs. The two women spoke regularly and developed a relationship that grew more and more like the one Enola had with Elbaroda. Fiana began to call Enola Mom and her husband, Trelous, began treating her with the respect a wise man shows his mother-in-law. One day Enola took Fiana to meet witch Bluebell. The witch stared at Fiana's little pot belly. "Tis a little girl," she said and Enola was confused. Fiana blushed and looked at Bluebell. "Can you tell me if she will be all right?" "Aye," Bluebell nodded firmly, "she is doing just fine and will be with you soon enough." After they left witch Bluebell Enola asked Fiana what the witch had been talking about. "I am with child Mom," Fiana said, "I haven't said anything because I have waited so long for this I hardly dare to believe it's true myself." "Oh," said Enola, and immediately began fussing over Fiana asking her if she was eating right, getting enough sleep and taking care of herself. "That's my first grandchild you have there," Enola joked, "you must take good care of her or I shall be after your hide." Fiana laughed and assured Enola she would take very good care of the little one and, when Enola questioned her, she reassured her that her husband, Trelous, was taking good care of both of them. Enola and her adopted daughter and son-in-law continued to get together now and then and, one day, Enola discovered the two of them were without a clan. She badly wanted to invite them to join Triple A but Elbaroda had seemed a little insecure when Enola talked about Fiana so she wasn't sure how welcoming Elly would be. "Elly," she said one day, "remember Fiana?" "My rival for your affections you mean?" Elly said cheekily. "Fiana has her own place in my heart," Enola laughed, "neither she nor anyone else could ever take yours!" "That's all right then," said Elly, "what about her?" Enola explained that Fiana and Trelous were without a clan and that she would like to invite them to join Triple A if Elly had no objections. Elly said she had no objections so Enola invited them to join the family clan as new members of the family. "I should warn you," she said worriedly, "I have been outspoken in my negative opinions of some of the more powerful people in this land. If you join my clan they may hold it against you too." Fiana laughed. "If they do they will simply be proving you were right to speak against them," she said, "we would be honoured to join your clan." "Grungee and Elly," Enola said happily, "I'd like you both to meet my adopted son-in-law Trelous and my adopted daughter Fiana." After getting permission from Fiana to share the secret she informed them that the clan now numbered six, or would when Fiana's little one arrived. The two new members of the clan fitted in well and it wasn't long before Elly discovered she had an ally in Fiana and Enola found herself being ganged up on by the two girls now and then. She didn't mind though because, like most mothers, she loved to see her children getting on. One day Enola decided it was time, again, to go after the witch doctors so she loaded up with food and headed to Berian. On her arrival she discovered pirates had captured the town so she set to work fighting them. For hours she laboured to free Berian and her food supply began to dwindle rapidly. Grungee offered to give her all the food he had on him but he didn't have much so he offered to buy food for her. Enola accepted his offer of a loan and Grungee began looking in the trade arena for people who had food to sell. Together they scraped up a lot of food but it cost all the gold they had. "Enola," said Rictor, "I would like to help you in your Syrnian journey so I will lend you money for more food if you would like." The pirates were tough and Enola knew she would need all the food she could get if she was going to last long enough to help defeat them so she accepted Rictor's offer. With the 3 thousand gold from Rictor and the 6 thousand gold from grungee Enola stocked up with food and went back to Berian where she helped defeat the pirates and take back the town. After the last pirate died Enola looked at her food supply ruefully. Once again the witch doctors were to be spared her wrath. She didn't have enough food to tackle them too and now she had a massive debt to repay. Avenging Elly's death would, once again, have to wait. Enola did not like owing so much money so she set out to repay it. Enola sold some flowers to get the money to go to Heerchey Island where she dug for locked toolboxes and locked mouldy chests. She knew the chests contained the gold she needed but it was slow, backbreaking, work. Enola returned with enough gold to repay half of what she owed Grungee but she was anxious to repay Rictor too. When she saw Rictor buy a gem in the trade arena she ruefully looked at her own gem collection. She had a garnet and she asked Rictor if he would be interested in it. "I'm in no hurry for you to repay me," he said, "but I would like the gem." Enola gave him the gem to repay her debt and he gave her another 500 gold as the gem was worth more than the three thousand he had loaned her. Enola went back to Heerchey to dig for more chests so she could get the rest of the money she owed grungee. She paid him in gold and locked toolboxes. She also paid him and Elbaroda for the wood they had lent her to make her small fishing boat with locked toolboxes. Enola quickly discovered locked mouldy chests were a good source of more than just gold. Some contained cooked fish, others had vegies and still others had seeds so she went digging for more after she had paid all her debts. This time Trelous agreed to trade her cooked fish for the locked toolboxes and Enola began accumulating food for her coming battle with the witch doctors. Nothing, she vowed, would rescue them from her wrath this time! Nothing did and she returned to Berian armed with massive amounts of food and set out to rid the land of witch doctors. Sadly, they bred faster than she could kill them so Enola was not able to achieve her goal but she taught them a lesson they would not soon forget! One day Enola noticed Grungee was getting testy and he began getting into arguments with people in the trade arena. "I hate it when people try to cheat and bully new migrants to this land," he said, "I can't stay silent even if they are your friends Enola!" Enola nodded and said she understood. One day it was Grungee who set off to defend the land against new invaders and he battled bandits on Exrollia gaining two amber gems to add to his collection of wood, ore and seeds. He was trying to get enough wood to build a house large enough to hold all his goods but had only collected two thousand logs at this point. On his way back from fighting and mining he discovered a town had been taken over by monsters so he set to work to free it. He posted a message in town gossip about the invasion and Calgor jumped on him saying he was faking the information. Grungee defended himself and Calgor publicly called him a liar. Grungee was so distracted by the unexpected and unwarrented attack on his reputation that one of the monsters he was fighting slipped under his guard and killed him. This time there was no Nighthunter nearby to run to his aid. Too many of the people in Syrnia believed anything on the ground was the legitimate property of whoever was able to pick it up and Grungee knew it. He was reluctant, this time, to even ask for anyone to give his things back. Calgor had already called him a liar for sharing the information about the invasion and he was not in the mood to hear him laugh and call him a fool for dying as well. "This is no place for me Sis," he said sadly to Enola, "I'm leaving Syrnia now. I have wasted too much time here when I have business I should be attending to elsewhere." Enola and Elbaroda did their best to persuade him to stay but Grungee was adamant. It was time for him to leave Syrnia so he gave Elly and Enola all that he had left apart from the little house he had built beside their houses in Isri. "I will pop in from time to time and see how you are faring but now I bid you farewell," he said and left Syrnia. Enola went to the house he had given her in Port Senyn. Holding back tears of sadness she lovingly added things to it. His pickaxes and some armour, a fishing rod, a net, a tinderbox, all the things he would need to survive in Syrnia if ever he returned. As she closed the door she labelled the house Grungee's. She would only ever go back there to add more things he might need or to get all the things in it to give to him if he returned. Part 7 The days passed with no sign of Grungee's return and Enola missed his constant, reassuring, presence sorely. She still had her children but things seemed less friendly in Syrnia with the loss of her brother. Enola had not gone altogether unappreciated by the male population of the lands. "Would anyone like a free spell cast on something they own?" she asked in the trade arena one day. Bluebell was insisting she cast spells so Enola was using up her moonstone collection. She cast the -travel time spell on everyones boots and lockpicks but she ran out of things to cast the spell on and still had two moonstone gems left. SilverBakk offered to buy enchanted leather boots from her but then a query came through in trade. "Will you cast the spell on my Valera sword Enola?" asked Steves2871 and Enola said she would. She travelled to Serpenthelm to collect his sword, took it to Bluebell to cast the spell on it, then went back to Serpenthelm to give it back to him. "How much will you charge me for this Enola?" Steves2871 asked her and she told him she had to cast the spell so it may as well be cast to good use rather than wasted and she would charge him nothing but a rose. Steves2781 seemed to be touched by Enola's generosity and he began to shower her with roses but someone else had taken a shine to Enola too. Nighthunter was also paying her a lot of attention. He regularly sent her bouquettes of flowers and gifted her with wood and fish as well as helping her clan members and giving them gifts and flowers too. Enola was flattered and appreciated their attention but she was not the kind of woman who could toy with the affections of men so she quickly made it clear to them that her heart was already taken. Steves2781 stopped giving her roses and contented himself with just greeting her warmly whenever their paths crossed but Nighthunter was not deterred. "Who is this mystery man who has your heart?" he asked Enola, "Do I know him?" "No," said Enola, "You don't know him. He does not live in Syrnia." "Well," said Nighthunter, "you deserve to have admirers so I will go on sending you bouquettes as your friend. Call on me if you need me and I will come." Every now and then a bouquette would suddenly appear out of nowhere and Enola would know, even before reading the card, that Nighthunter was still thinking of her and she would smile. Meanwhile the evil Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk and his band of merry murderers had not failed to notice, and respond, to the changing atmosphere of Syrnia. "There is something you should see," said Witch Bluebell when Enola visited her one day. "Let me see if I can recall the vision I had for you to see." Bluebell waved her wand over Enola's cup of tea and a very small moving picture appeared in it. Enola looked closely and was able to read the tiny lips of the figures what appeared in the fragrant brew. What she learned was not so fragrant! "The people of this land are getting soft and charitible," Abu was saying to his band, "they are returning dropped items and giving things away to each other. They are adding free beer and flowers to their trades and the air is getting sickeningly sweet around here!" "The level of respect and fear we are being shown is decreasing," said Koolkitty7272 with a petulant look on her face, "some are even daring to be RUDE to us and something must be done!" "The people of Syrnia must not be allowed to forget who rules them," said Abu and his face was cold, "we must remind them we are here and we have the power in this land." "Why don't we invade the gossip channel with a show of solidarity and spam it with Hail," TIW seemed to sneer, "they will cry and complain to the law-keepers that we should not be allowed to spam and our power will show most clearly when the law-keepers make no attempt to stop us." "Excellent suggestion TIW," said Abu and laughed, "That will surely make them feel oppressed and unfairly treated." Koolkitty7272 jumped to her feet, "HAIL DW-HQ!" she seemed to shout and the others all responded. Enola looked at witch Bluebell as the image faded from the brew. "What does this mean?" she asked. "According to my sources," the witch relied casually, "the clan has been spamming the gossip channel with hails." The witch took Enola's now cold tea away and showed her the door. "It matters not to me," she said, "I have friends in all the clans including that one. I am just tired of my students complaining about this new development. I thought I would let you see what is going on in case you can do something to lighten things up a bit." Enola left whitch Bluebell and turned on the gossip channel. It was just as the witch said, Syrnians were feeling oppressed, some were complaining bitterly, to no avail. Some brave souls mocked the clan members when they hailed but others responded by sucking up to the clan members even more than they had previously. The law-keepers of the land appeared to have waived the no spamming rule for the clan and the rumour was they punished anyone who tried to copy them leading to a rash of additional angry rumours and unhappy Syrnians. Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk and his band of Merry Murderers were, Enola guessed, sitting back and watching these reactions with satisfied smirks. Angry, unhappy, oppressed people tend to forget about good-will and charity so the air in Syrnia was already becoming heavy with arguments and abuse again. Enola had been unaware of the shots being fired by Abu and his clan as she rarely turned on the gossip channel but now she saw how the unhappiness of the people was growing. Gossip was rife with speculation about who the anonymous law-makers really were and rumours that the clan had even purchased the entire land of Syrnia. Spread the sunshine Syrnia, Enola thought ruefully, ignore the hail and it will fall heavily, and only, on DW when the lack of interest in their pompous worship of each other makes them look foolish even to themselves. Continued after comments Edited on 19-01-2011 04:45 Mr. Addy Keeping this game free by adding ads to every topic desti [MAAN] 19-01-2011 03:42 I'm so happy to have this re-post. I love the story and the sensitivity of the story teller. Way to go Enola. Thank you very much. Argue for your limitations,and sure enough, they're yours - Richard Bach Enola 19-01-2011 03:52 Thank's Rosebud Enola 19-01-2011 04:47 Part 8 One morning Enola woke up and stepped outside her door. She was amazed to see magical writing in the sky and people running past on their way to Port Senyn. "Yikes, It's Halloween and Party Island has been opened." said the writing in the sky and it named the ports providing free transport to the new island. "We're on Party Island Mom," messaged Trelous, "Come join us Mom," Fiana urged and Enola paused only to send a message to Elly before running to Port Senyn to catch the free ferry. "Don't forget to stop in at Celebration Centre and collect your trick or treat gift Mom." said Fiana. "Where is Celebration Centre?" She messaged back. "It's the next town after you leave Party Port," said Trelous, "You can't miss it." Enola always hated it when someone said "you can't miss it" because that usually meant she would get lost for sure but it didn't happen this time. Enola landed at Party Port and raced to the next town. She saw the sign, "Celebration Center", and laughed with relief. "Collect Trick or Treat gift" the sign also said so Enola lined up and collected hers. She tore the wrappings off with great excitement and found... two rocks. She tried to collect another trick or treat gift and was told to come back next year. Enola groaned and laughed ruefully. "Rocks!" she messaged Fiana and Trelous. "I got two rocks!" Fiana and Trelous laughed because they knew Enola had just spend several days digging for treasure on Heerchey Island and had said she never wanted to see another rock again. "Come to Festival Forest Mom," urged Fiana, "you can help me fight werewolves." "Or you can help me dig for treasure," said Trelous, "I have found wood, tin ore, all sorts of things." Enola liked the idea of digging up something besides rocks and broken glass so she joined Trelous digging for treasure. "What the..", Enola said in horror as she dug up her first find, "a skull? Are we grave-robbing Trelous?" "Yes Mom," said Trelous, "but it's OK. We are collecting the pieces for the Skeleton Master at Holiday Lake. He is offering rewards for all the skeleton sets we can give him." "Oh," said Enola doubtfully, "I suppose that's OK then. I hope." Enola set to work digging and found wood, tin ore, skeleton skulls by the score and a few arms and legs. Fiana, meanwhile, was killing werewolves and collecting legs by the score but she did get a body as well. Trelous was finding... rocks. In disgust he decided to give up digging and do what he liked doing best - go fishing. Party Island was filled with excited people shouting to each other about what they were finding. "I just dug up a locked toolbox!" yelled one and another responded with "I got a locked mouldy chest!" whilst a third sadly reported finding nothing but rocks. One man, Rictor the merchant, contented himself with sitting back and buying all the body parts people found. "Buying all body parts for 50gp," He shouted every now and then and a lot of people gave up trying to complete their skeletons because skeleton bodies were extremely hard to find. They sold the skulls, arms and legs to Rictor by the truckload. Enola continued digging until she had several sets of skeletons and was missing only the bodies. After a while she grew weary of the dirty work of digging and decided to kill some werewolves. Fiana had given up fighting werewolves because all she was getting from them was skeleton legs and she was sick of the sight of them. It was, therefore, a delightful surprise for Enola when the first werewolf she killed dropped a skeleton body. She decided to keep fighting them in hopes of getting another one but they dropped no more bodies. Enola collected another leg and arm or two then she also gave up fighting werewolves. Enola had a full skeleton set and she wanted to see what reward the skeleton Master would give her for it so she headed to Holiday Lake. As she arrived at Celebration Centre she heard people talking about the Halloween gnomes. "I got a Halloween Pumpkin from a Halloween gnome," someone yelled excitedly, "So did I." someone else responded. Enola wanted one too so she decided to fight a few gnomes and see if she could get one. The Halloween gnomes dropped pumpkins, pumpkin seeds, and scores of skeleton arms but no Halloween pumpkin so, when one dropped another skeleton body giving her two full skeleton sets, Enola decided to go and trade them in for the promised rewards. Enola journeyed to Holiday Lake and was taken aback to discover the person she had to speak to was a Skeletal Fiend not, as she had been expecting, a Skeleton Master. She was a bit afraid of what a fiend might do to her so she fought a few skeletons while she waited for her courage to grow. After she had collected a few more body parts she took a deep breath and went to the skeletal fiend. He was not, as she had feared, fierce and threatening but sad and fearful of all the slaughtering going on. He was wanting to put his army of skeletons back together and needed help to do it. Enola gave him one of her full skeletons sets and he gave her a Koban mask as a reward. Enola smiled happily and gave him her other skeleton set. Enola was happy to get one Koban mask but, when the Skeletal fiend gave her a second mask for her other skeleton set, Enola was thrilled. Elbaroda, Enola's daughter, had been delayed and could not join the festivities for a few more hours. Now Enola had one mask to add to her own collection and another to donate to Elly's. "Two down, three to go," Enola murmered to herself and set off to get more skeleton sets. She wanted another Koban mask for grungee and one each for Fiana and Trelous. If she didn't get them, she resolved, it would not be for lack of trying. The hours passed and Elbaroda joined the party. Enola collected more skeleton sets and kept trying to get more masks but her luck had run out. Enola took a bit of time off to fish in Holiday lake and caught three beautiful striped red fish before returning to the hunt and collecting more skeleton body parts. The four members of her clan, Triple A, traded parts between themselves and were able to put more sets together but nobody got another mask. As the day drew to a close Elbaroda had to leave. Enola wearily continued trying to complete more skeletons by trading body parts. By this stage skeleton bodies had become the most common find and skeleton legs were hard to get. Rictor, of course, had plenty of skeleton skulls, arms, and legs. Now he was able to get the bodies he needed to complete the skeleton sets. Over and over again he traded with the skeletal fiend until it began to look like he had spent all his money for nothing. Enola started to feel so sorry for him she considered letting him buy Elly's Koban mask as he had tried to do earlier in the day. Finally his luck changed and, when it changed, he hit the jackpot. "Rictor just got six Koban masks in a row." Trelous messaged Enola and she couldn't help having mixed feelings. Rictor had spent a lot of money trying to get a Koban mask and Enola was glad to hear he had finally gotten a couple but hearing he had gotten six made her feel a bit envious. Enola continued trying to trade body parts for one or two last chances at another mask for her clan members. She tried twice to respond to a sales notice from Muuat before realising he was in the DW clan and was probably ignoring her. When she realised it she laughed and stopped trying to trade with him. She was, in fact, very glad he had ignored her attempts to trade as she would have been mortified to discover, too late, that she had accidentally traded with a member of the clan she most wanted to avoid trading with! Enola was, by this time, at Celebration Centre fighting Halloween gnomes trying to get skeleton body parts and, she hoped, some Halloween pumpkins. After she stopped trying to trade with Muuat for the two skeleton parts she needed Enola found someone else to trade with for one of them. Enola finished off the gnome she was fighting and stepped out of the training room. The first thing she saw was the two skeleton body parts she needed lying on the floor. The second thing she saw was Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk and Enola laughed. She looked at the floor again and, sure enough, the parts were gone. "I must be getting to them," Enola thought, "they can't kill me so they are trying to tease and offend me instead. How childish." Enola swept past His Lowship without a second glance and entered the trading post where she traded for one of the parts she needed. Enola then went back to fighting gnomes and trying to trade for the other part she needed. Trade advertisements were coming thick and fast. Enola was hard pressed to keep up with them but one caught her eye. Blondegirl was offering to trade a large number of body parts for just one skeleton body. Enola jumped into the trade arena and found herself in a trade war with Bilth and others. The messages flew thick and fast and Enola's head began to swim but she requested a trade with Blondegirl and so did Bilth. Enola tried to defend her trade rights but Bilth seemed to think she was the one doing the wrong thing and he told her in no uncertain terms that he was there first. Enola was positive she had spoken first and had the deal but Bilth was just as positive the deal should be his. Enola waited to see who Blondegirl would choose. She had no idea if she was right or Bilth was right so she would abide by Blondegirls decision. Enola was very pleased when Blondegirl chose to trade with her and she quickly saw there were enough body parts for more than one set. Blondegirl was giving her enough parts to complete three more sets but Enola did not think that was fair. "Blondegirl," she said adding a second skeleton body to her part of the trade, "take two arms, two legs and a skull back." This way, Enola thought, we can both get two sets each and that is much fairer than me getting three and her getting one when she is providing most of the parts for them. Blondegirl took back the required parts and the two girls hugged each other gratefully. Enola raced off to the skeleton fiend and traded her sets but did not get any more masks. She sighed and went back to fighting the gnomes. She didn't have enough parts left over to try again so she would just give away anything she had to anyone who needed it from now on. Enola gave away two arms and this seemed to please the gnomes for, at the last minute, they dropped a Halloween pumpkin for her. She fought on for a while longer, drooping with exhaustion, trying to get more Halloween pumpkins for her daughters and son-in-law but it was too much for her. After killing one final gnome Enola wearily said farewell to Party Island and went home to bed. Yawning so hard she thought her jaw might crack, Enola put away the loot from the party, then stood back to admire it. One full skeleton set and 7 extra skulls, a couple of dozen grown pumpkins, a Halloween pumpkin, two Koban masks, 32 pumpkin seeds, a locked toolbox, a locked mouldy chest, a small pile of wood, a nice pile of tin ore and more of those blasted rocks. Enola yawned one last time then went to bed tired but happy. Next year she would get her brother and the other two of her children their Koban masks. Fiana and Trelous had managed to get their own Halloween pumpkins or so she had heard. Maybe next year they would get their own Koban masks too she thought as she drifted off to sleep. Happy Halloween, she mumbled, and to all - goodnight. Part 9 Little by little Enola was getting stronger and stronger but there was a heavy price to pay as food was not cheap and her armour kept breaking during fights. Enola grew her own vegetables, caught her own fish and cooked them but her battles with the various monsters in Syrnia saw her appetite reach ferocious levels. Trelous and Elly worked hard to keep her supplied with food but it was a hand to mouth existence for Enola. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to dig I go," she muttered sarcastically as she made her way to Heerchey Island to dig for treasure. The gold, food and seeds she found in locked mouldy chests were her main source of income these days and she traded the locked toolboxes she found to Trelous and Elly for food. Enola was so busy grumbling to herself about having to dig again so soon after the last time that she took a wrong turn and found herself confronted by a strange little man named Tep Diggins. "Hello Enola," he said and Enola wondered how he knew her name, "I hope you can help me find something I lost, so I can continue my work." he pleaded and Enola was unable to refuse. "I lost an important locked box, and the key to open it," Tep said when she agreed to help him then he gave her directions. "You should first try to find the key since I'm sure a cave creature has taken it, I'm not sure about the metal box but that could be stolen by a cave creature too since it is not too heavy. I hope you can find it." Enola sighed and went back the way she came. As she walked she checked her food supplies and realised she didn't have enough to survive fighting the cave bats just yet. "Dig, dig, dig," she moaned, "I will have blisters on my blisters by the time this is over I can see that coming." For several days Enola slaved over the spade then traded the money and locked toolboxes for food. Once she had enough food she went back to Heerchey Island and tackled the thieving bats. It didn't take very long at all for Enola to find the bat with Tep's key but Enola put off giving the key to him. "The black and grey bats are hard enough but it's the white bats who will have taken his locked box," Enola was told, "and white bats are not as easy to kill." Enola wanted to see if the bats had more than one key to give her so she fought them, on and off, for weeks. As soon as her food ran out she would dig for treasure then trade for more food and she grew a few crops along the way too. Slowly, very slowly to Enola's impatient mind, she grew stronger but still she wasn't strong enough to wear steel armour. Enola didn't want to tackle the white bats without steel armour and weapons. "You should get ogre armour and weapons Mom," Trelous suggested and Fiana said she loved her ogre club. "Ogre armour is ugly," Enola sniffed disdainfully, "I wouldn't be seen dead in such ugly clothing! I much prefer my pretty pink Rose gear thank you." The regular battles with bats took it's toll on Enola's wardrobe adding to her costs as she was forced to replace her rose armour and shields when they broke. As fast as she collected money and resources they drained away and Enola was getting annoyed. "Stupid bats," she grumbled as she made her way across Heerchey Island towards the caves for yet another round of fighting and digging, "stupid rocks, stupid broken glass, stupid piggy appetite, stupid..." Enola stopped at McGoogins site and stared in disbelief. "You found 1 four leaf clover while walking!" the message said and Enola rubbed her eyes hardly daring to believe the green thing in her hand really was a four leaf clover. "Omg omg omg," she yelled in excitement, "I just found a four leaf clover." She counted the leaves then sent an excited message to Trelous and the other clan members who congratulated her. Enola spent the next half hour doing an excited "I found a four leaf clover" dance then headed to the caves to dig with a broad smile on her face. It didn't take her long to realise she was digging one second faster than she ever had before. She wondered if it was the excitement of her find or whether the clover might have some kind of magic power. Enola got fidgetty and wanted to try everything out to see if there was any truth to the rumours about the clover. She dug for a while and got less treasure than last time but dug faster than before. She fought bats for a while and got no extra drops. She went and mined some ore and could see no changes there so she went and finished digging then went home. Enola stopped off on the way home to try chopping wood at Unera and very quickly got some grain seeds. She went back to Isri and tried chopping wood there which resulted in a fair few carrot seeds but it could have, she realised, just all been coincidence. Enola checked her crops and they were already ripe. Had the clover sped up the ripening time? Maybe. Enola couldn't be sure. She thought the crops were not due to ripen for another day or two but she might have been mistaken. The only change she was positive about was that she could dig on Heerchey one second faster than before. Enola decided to keep an eye out for any changes the clover might be causing but report only ones she was certain of. Her faith in the power of the clover to ripen her crops faster was crushed by the stubborn refusal of the next crop she planted, a batch of carrots, to ripen no matter how many times she checked them. "The clover is special," she thought happily, "so it doesn't really matter if it has no power." Enola wished there was someone she could ask about her find but nobody seemed to know anything about four leaf clovers. She was reluctant to fight whilst carrying it in case she died and lost it but people had told her any power it might have would be lost if she put it in her house or sold it. That made her reluctant to put it away safely in her house too. "I shall carry it with me everywhere I go," she told Elly, "until it is time to fight the white bats." Enola resolved to be even more careful than usual when fighting and put the clover in her house when the time came to fight something new. She would check her digging times before putting it in the house, after putting it in the house and again after taking it back out. If it does have any other powers, she thought, I will know what effect putting it in the house has on them by the effect it has on my digging times. Always supposing, she realised ruefully, it even had any effect on her digging times the next time she went digging. After the excitement of her find wore off Enola returned to the grind of fishing, cooking, planting, reaping, trading, digging and fighting her way to level 25 in all combat skills. Four leaf clover or no four leaf clover - Enola had some white bats firmly targetted for destruction. Part 10 Enola's need for food to help her train forced her into the trade arena where she discovered things were not too bad if you knew what you were doing. By this time she had a rough idea of what most things were worth so her fear of being ripped off had subsided a little. She had seen enough to know who the reliable traders were and what they were like to trade with. SilverBakk sold things in his shops for a little more than some others but he tended to pay fair prices for the goods he bought. He was a constant, friendly, presence in the trade arena and Enola often saw him helping people out. Whenever she was in doubt about anything to do with trading Enola knew SilverBakk would be able to tell her what was fair for both sides. BRamp was another major trade player. He tended to sell cheap but he bought even cheaper so Enola filed him away as someone to trade with if she was desperate for a sale. He never cheated her but he never paid a cent more than he had to either. Another trader Enola had regular contact with was Rictor. He was also a reliable trader who always bought the rocks she dug up but the prices he paid sometimes depended on his mood. He usually paid her good prices but once he paid Eully market price only and another time, when he paid her in food, he was extremely generous to her. Every now and then Ima, another major trader, would send her advice about something she was doing in trade via a message which Enola found quite helpful. On the few occasions she traded with him he was fair but she noticed he tended to lurk in trade waiting for people to make really good deals which he would then jump in and accept. More than one person found their trade deal taken from under their noses when they were too slow to accept a deal they were negotiating. Most of the major traders, Enola came to realise, were fair but most were always on the lookout for a bargain so it paid to know what you were doing and what your goods were worth. One day a new player came into the trade arena. His name was Dark Lord Abu and people said it was Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk. Enola made some enquiries and discovered Abu had changed his name. She watched him do his trading business and wondered if he had also changed his nature. Abu Yassir Fatti Fuk had always thrown his trading messages into the trade arena like a challenge then waited silently. Dark Lord Abu, on the other hand, interacted with the other traders and was willing to negotiate. Enola watched him make a deal and hoped it was the start of a new era but her hopes were soon to be dashed. One day she peeked into the gossip channel and saw TIW calling all Syrnian's to show their support for the Empress. Enola was a little surprised since Syrnia had no Empress as far as she knew. Two bribes were being offered, however, so people were overlooking this small detail and doing as asked. "Show your support for the Empress KoolKitty and win a free trip through the outlands," TIW shouted, "try to thieve the empress and win a free trip through the outlands." "I'm carrying gold," Koolkitty added in case the prize was not incentive enough, "lots of gold." Enola laughed. She noted the word "safe" was not included in the offer and she was fairly certain any "free trip" through the outlands would prove to be extremely unsafe if she "won" it. She went back to killing bats but kept one eye on the gossip channel. "Thieve the Kitty and live," TIW shouted repeatedly, "show your support for the Empress and win a free trip through the outlands." KoolKitty ran, flushed with excitement, from town to town making herself available to be thieved. A lot of people fell for the hype and ended up cooling their heels in jail. Enola wondered what had caused this parade. "Thieve the Empress and show your support!" TIW trumpeted, "While you are at it take a look at what she is wearing." Enola realised KoolKitty had grown strong enough to wear armour made of platina and she was parading through Syrnia to make sure everyone knew about it. When she realised that was what all the fuss was about Enola laughed and laughed and laughed. She was alone in the caves fighting bats so there was nobody to hear her and enjoy the joke with her but she said it anyway. "The Empress has new clothes!" In this case, Enola thought with considerable amusement, the Empress is not naked. She is just not really an Empress. Enola dismissed the hyped up celebrations from her mind and went on fighting bats. As she made her way to her house to collect the steel armour she had set aside, ready for the day she was strong enough to wear it, she was smiling. The satisfaction she felt as she donned her new steel armour was in no way lessened by the fact that nobody knew about her achievement. Some people, she thought wryly, are satisfied to quietly achieve their goals whilst others need the attention, congratulations and envy of a whole realm to make their achievements satisfying. Enola found herself pitying the psuedo-empress of Syrnia as she took a cloth and polished up her own new clothes. Part 11 Once Enola was strong enough to wear steel and fight with steel weapons she decided it was time to give Tep Diggens his lunchbox key and fight the white bats to get him back his stolen lunchbox. The white bats, Enola knew, were strong and she feared they might kill her. She looked at her four leaf clover and decided not to risk losing it. Lucky powers or no lucky powers she wanted to hold on to it so she put it in her pretty house for safe keeping then made her way to Heerchey Island. "I wonder," she thought as she arrived on Heerchey, "if I will still dig one second faster than I used to even if I am not carrying the clover." She decided to go and check. As Enola walked into Arch Cave North she entered a time warp. All of a sudden she discovered she could dig at the speed of light. Enola was confused. Had it always been like this and she just never realised it before? Was there some glitch in the workings of the world or had the clover given her special powers? She wrestled with her conscience and wondered What to do? Should she report the glitch? What if it wasn't a glitch? What if it was special powers given to her by the clover and meant to happen? She tuned in to the gossip channel to see if anyone else had entered the time warp but nobody was telling if they had. Enola dug for a while until she had enough treasure to replenish her empty purse then stopped. It would be greedy and unfair to continue so she decided to leave and see if the time warp would end when she left the caves. First, however, she would do what she came to do and fight the white bats. She fought the bats for a while and the time warp seemed to have ended but she couldn't stop wondering if it would start again when she did something else besides fight. She had to find out so she went to the mine and the time warp began again. She mined 100 iron ores at the speed of light then stopped. Once again she felt it would be unfair and greedy of her to continue so she left the mine. Enola was troubled as she made her way to Heerchey docks. Perhaps there really was a glitch in the world and she should report it but what if it wasn't? She was not unhappy about being able to do things at the speed of light and she really believed it was happening because of the power of the four leaf clover. She didn't want to complain and lose the gift but she didn't want to do the wrong thing either. "Maybe," she thought, "the power will end if I leave Heerchey Island and then there will be nothing to report." She decided to go and see if the power applied to woodcutting. It did. She cut 250 wood at the speed of light then guilt made her stop. She decided to check out fishing and cooking. She fished 100 fish and cooked them at the speed of light then went to see if the power would apply to smithing. She smithed 40 ores before the power wore off. The time warp was over. Enola was sure someone would have said something to her if it was not the clover so she stopped worrying. The power was gone and she had not gained all that much from it so that was that. She decided she would tell the tale to the friend who was reporting on her Syrnian adventures. It would be included in the next chapter of her public memoirs and the Gods could decide her fate. If she had done wrong she wanted to know. If there was punishment due to her she would accept it. Enola needed respect and approval from nobody but herself. If she kept this secret she would know she had acted underhandedly and it would cost her more in self-respect than she was willing to pay. Any secret that made her hang her head and avoid people's eyes was not a secret she wanted to keep. Enola told her autobiographer and insisted the secret be told. Then she waited for it to be made public and braced herself to accept the consequences - whatever they might be. Part 12 Enola tried desperately to fulfill her promise to Tep Diggens and get his lunchbox back from the white bats. She fought the bats until her food ran out then she got more food and fought them until that ran out too. Day after day she fought the bats until, finally, she gave up for a while. "No more bloodshed," she thought sadly, "so many innocent bats are dying during this search for the guilty one that I can't go on any longer." She knew it was not over, she had promised Tep and Enola always kept her promises, she would have to come back and kill more bats but not for a while. Not until she had enough food to last the distance. She was out of food and out of money so she concentrated on digging up treasure. Enola wanted enough money to buy all the food she would need to fight non-stop for weeks if need be. Trelous and Elbaroda traded her food for locked toolboxes and gold and Enola gradually built up her food supply. She grew crops and traded with others for food. She even went to Exrollia and baked bread with the grain she had grown. Baking bread was a difficult and dangerous process. Enola had to travel a long way and fight creatures who attacked her at every leg of the journey to get to Stanro where the bakery was. Enola saved up the grain she grew because she wanted enough to make the trip worth doing but it was slow going. One day a very charming lady named Shimizu contacted her and offered to sell her grain at market prices. Enola accepted the offer and bought enough grain to make the trip worth while. She went to Stanro and baked her bread and, on the way, she fought some oviraptors and collected 3 moonstones. Things were going well apart from not being able to give Tep back his lunchbox. Enola was growing stronger, richer, and better stocked with every new thing she did. She dug up lots of treasure, she mined and smithed, she found gems and bought food and it wasn't long before she was able to go back and try to get Tep his lunchbox. Enola travelled to Heerchey Island stocked with enough food to last her for weeks and went to fight the white bats. In somewhat of an anticlimax, however, she found the guilty bat almost immediately and was able to complete the quest. As she walked away from Tep Diggins Enola was both happy and sad. She had fulfilled her promise to Tep and completed the quest and that made her happy. What made her sad was knowing there were no other quests she could complete and no more people like Tep that she would be able to help. Enola thought of the knight in Valera and the way she had not been able to respond to his plea for help. She already had a mission she was never going to be able to complete. The thieves guild at Mentan had asked her to go and find thief Razor a long time ago and Enola could not complete that quest because of her refusal to go into the outlands. People did not understand why Enola was so determined to avoid the outlands. They thought she was afraid of dying or of losing her belongings and they persistently gave her advice on how to cope with such things. Enola knew she was not afraid to die. In Syrnia death was a minor thing. She also knew how to ensure she wouldn't lose much if she did die and she had enough houses to store her things in. People tried to make her see how much fun a trip to the outlands was. They told her over and over again how it was exciting to pit yourself against the bloodthirsty humans who roamed there but Enola just shook her head. They didn't understand and she didn't know how to make them. One day Enola tuned in to the gossip channel and overheard one of the most feared outlands killers talking to someone about her own experience in the outlands. "Koolkitty," someone asked, "who has been able to kill you?" "Only one person has ever killed me," Koolkitty said proudly, "and I was only cl 10 or so at the time!" "Who was it?" they asked her. "It was Bull," she answered, "he killed me soon after I came to Syrnia and I vowed it would never happen again. So far I have kept that vow." Enola shook her head sadly. People thought you couldn't die in this land but it seemed they were wrong about that. Bull killed whoever Koolkitty had been when she began playing and, in her place, he had created a monster determined to be even worse than him. Now Koolkitty was killing others and creating monsters of her own. Perhaps all the blood on Koolkitty's hands was only there because Bull killed the person she was when she arrived in Syrnia. And who, Enola wondered, killed the person Bull was when he arrived? Enola listened to Koolkitty laughing and sneering at the person she had just killed. "I will kill you Koolkitty," he vowed, "you will be my first kill!" Koolkitty wasn't afraid. She was the psuedo empress of Syrnia after all. She was wearing platina and she was invincible. She also had lots of really tough friends to fall back on. No. She wasn't at all afraid. Enola found herself plotting. Nobody was invincible. Enola knew that for certain. Koolkitty could be killed. All it took was one person with the determination, intelligence, and patience to plan her demise and follow through with it. And, of course, a bit of luck. One person wouldn't be able to do it alone of course. They would have to recruit as many of the monsters as Koolkitty had created as they could. People with a burning hatred and desire for revenge were inclined to commit wholeheartedly and work hard to get revenge. Enola knew all she had to do was recruit a team of KittyHaters and get them all to work on their attack then wait for a suitable time. The best time, Enola thought, would be after Koolkitty had been fighting something strong enough to use up some of her food. Part two of the plan involved stationing KittyHaters at all likely outland stops so that, no matter where she ran, she would run into more attackers. Enola dreamily contemplated creating a team of vigilantes who would attack all the human monsters in the outlands and make THEM fearful but she knew she would never do it. She didn't want to become a monster herself no matter how tempting it was to put a dent in their arrogance. No. Enola knew, from bitter experience, it doesn't matter how well equipped you are or how strong you are someone is always going to be stronger. Or, in this case, several someones. "That's how they got me," Enola thought with considerable distress, they ganged up and hit me after dark!" Enola found herself flashing backwards in time to the place she had come to Syrnia to escape. To the house with the broken back door and the hour she spent holding it shut while five attackers threw themselves at it in an attempt to break in. Enola felt a scream clawing at the back of her throat as she relived that awful night. The night the team of drugged criminals took her sense of safety away and left her traumatised and changed forever. A tear ran down Enola's cheek. This was what she feared in the outlands. Not dying. Not losing all her belongings. This. Going back in time to the night other people attacked her. Reliving the most traumatic experience of her life. Being attacked by anyone, anywhere, for any reason could do this to her. Send her back to hell. Just thinking about being attacked could do it and Enola wiped her eyes and renewed her vow, the same vow Koolkitty had made, to never let it happen again. She couldn't stop it in that other place but she could stop it here in Syrnia. All she had to do was stay out of the outlands! Enola wondered, not for the first time, if the five people who had attacked her in that other world had learned how to ignore the cries and screams of their victims in a place like Syrnia. Had someone like Koolkitty taught them compassion was a weakness and only fools display it? Enola's attackers were aged 14, 14, 17, 17 and 21 and they had shown her no mercy, no compassion, no humanity. They terrorised her for an hour because they wanted her means of transport. They were just children but they knew how to behave like outland human monsters. Maybe they learned how to be ruthless in a place like Syrnia but Enola was determined she wasn't going to be infected with such inhumane qualities. She would leave Syrnia forever rather than surrender her humanity! Blackton 19-01-2011 08:59 Thank you for the story. I should be sleeping but couldn't bring myself to stop reading. I really enjoyed the characters and development of the tale. Sels [-DRS-] 19-01-2011 11:53 I'm so very glad to be able to read this again, Thank You Enola, its a marvellous read, you made a difference to me a long while back and it is good to see you. Cheers You are attacking a Koban protector (58) at Sanfew. LeKit [Nem] 19-01-2011 12:47 Thank you for reposting this, I missed it the first time around. Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones. I would like to help you out. Which way did you come in? I am in my own little world but it's okay they know me here. Sasha Mkai [Core] 19-01-2011 14:03 Thank you. I too had to read the whole thing. Very good story. I appreciate you sharing it again. You are a very good writer. Maggie [Fangz] 19-01-2011 14:23 Enola thank you again for a great story. It's good to have it back on the forum. *Wipes the tears* FaNgZ RoCkZ! A closed mouth gathers no feet !! Build a bridge and get over it! Preff [Pub] 19-01-2011 14:30 NOW I remember why Enola was so familiar to me in World chat last night. Lovely reminder, thanks Edited on 19-01-2011 14:32 ahnaf [T.F.A] 19-01-2011 19:08 welcome back,Enola Freddiedie1 [~FaM~] 20-01-2011 04:55 great read! i dont know you but you sound like a great person! Enola 21-01-2011 08:59 Thanks for all the kind comments. It was interesting to read this again myself as it was written whilst I was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The attack I mentioned at the end of the story happened to me in real life. Five young people who were under the influence of drugs terrorised me in my own home for over an hour. I didn't know how old they were at the time or that they were after my key so they could steal my car. I thought they had come to rape or kill me and it took a long time to stop having nightmares, stop being overwhelmed with terror if the wind made something bang, stop breaking down whenever anything reminded me of what happened and so on. I got treatment and I am OK now but the OL killing used to distress me and remind me of what had happened all the time back in those days. Every time people were nasty to others in chat and on the forums it would remind me how the police ignored my phone call asking for help and how my neighbours ignored both the house alarm I set off that night and my screams for help. Some of the regulars here in Syrnia were so cold and so lacking in compassion it made me feel sure they would have ignored my screams if they had been my neighbours too. They might have even helped the five attackers take my car or laughed at me for being afraid. There were a lot of lovely people here too but the nastiness was just more than I could cope with in the end. I still don't really want to see how cold and heartless people can be to someone who is in distress so I doubt I will be coming back for more than just the occasional visit but thanks again for the welcome and kind comments. MorningStar [JADED] 25-03-2011 17:55 I've never come across this before, what a fantastic piece of writing. It's been a joy to read Enola *applauds*. ~~MS~~ Sometime you're so busy getting what you want you forget to ask why you wanted it in the first place. TIW 28-03-2012 05:22 Damn I knew those rooms were bugged, but Abu wouldn't listen! For what is a man? What has he got? If not himself, then he has not. To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows and did it My Way! Lance [~HaJ~] 28-03-2012 08:59 That was extremely well written. I love how you personified NPCs to the point that you could hardly tell the difference between them and players. You were amazing at making the reader take a new perspective at otherwise monotonous activities. It also brought me back to the days when they used to say "Hail DW!" in chat all the time. I did however, wince a few times while reading as you named certain users specifically, painting them in a very negative light. But I guess you have the right. But it was a very amazing story nonetheless. I loved it. <3 You may say, I lost everything. But I still had my bedazzler. ~ Lady Gaga [2] 21:35 (Mod)Moderator: Rudolph - De-nosed tdb22 [LoC] 28-03-2012 09:30 Enola this was a very pleasant surprise reading! It grabbed me and I couldn't just stop reading it. Very very well told, enjoyed it a lot. Very sorry to hear about your real life misfortune but glad you are safe and worked threw it! ~tdb Edited on 11-07-2020 23:55 Boycott shampoo. Demand real poo!! Joined: September 08, 2008 - 12:03 You opened your Blue gift...It contained 2 Green gift! huh?? You have been online for 2196 minutes since your last login. keg [Stand] 28-03-2012 11:01 Thank you for reposting this Enola Was great to read it again after so much time Why not 50 keg struck and dealt 50 damage to the Honurus. 18/195 Nipper [-TL-] 28-03-2012 14:19 Wow. I have been engrossed in this post all morning. The writing is superb! Thank you for this You have married Z3ll! 28th Nov 2011 [3]01:53 SDL[-TL-]: Nipper is from the north-east Haz. you're lucky to be alive now [3]01:29 Bassman[-TL-]: Everyone is afraid of nipper.. Typotato [Pasta] 21-10-2012 22:12 this is so wonderful it could be a book manrobert [COURT] 24-07-2013 21:19 Thanks for posting this I realy liked it. Karisade [Quest] 24-07-2013 21:41 Truly an engaging read Enola, and welcome back! Things have changed considerably in Syrnia from the days you knew - I for one find it a much nicer place now than a few years ago. Worldchat potters by rather more slowly than it used to, but the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming. Hope you stay! "There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." - Oscar Wilde Wicky [C.] 25-07-2013 12:55 wow, just wow- words cannot describe how beautiful this was to read...i have not been here too awful long(638 days), so do not know of things back then, but things are pretty decent here now i am very sorry to hear what happened to you in real life i too know what it is like to be ignored when bad things happen LittleShoes [Only1] 05-09-2013 23:49 Thank you for posting this so long ago. Maybe if I would have read it back then I would not have left. Everything happens as it is supposed to happen, so I am glad I got to at least read it now. Only1 to the Bone! [2] 20:21 typo[#Anon]: we dont like trolls here [2] 20:21 LittleShoes[Only1]: i like trolls, i take them home as giant pets lol darkchakra1997 [~FaM~] 29-03-2015 00:59 2015 and i just read it i personally quite enjoyed reading this.. i also read the pirate memoirs written by the other player.. what saddened me most was reading the comment you put at the real life events, the second about how it had to end.. i would have liked alot more Pages: 1- 2 Only users can reply. Forum -> General -> Enola's Story - Reposted By Request Syrnia © 2024 Mobile version