Continued from Part 1..

She stands there a moment in shock, when another loud roar sounds from the tavern as the other barrels catch fire. She instinctively takes a step back and falls into the dark river and is carried away by the fast current. Before she loses consciousness from the cold she thanks the Priest-Kings she’d sent her girls to help at another tavern the night before and hopes an ikeri sentry from their vantage point above the tavern had seen her fall.

Only the Priest-Kings know where,when, or even if Lady Ava will wash up on a river bank somewhere.

I was overwhelmed by the responses to Ava’s plight, apparently I was more popular than I thought.

 I picked the most plausible ones and planned a storyline to incorporate two of them. The immediate next step was sensibly to the nearest neighboring band,the Ikeri.

it was late in the night …all seem quiet in ikerei forest ..but the attention of Sky is attracted by a strong glow coming from the tavern of elation

Sky approach on the border of the camp et see the tavern in fire .

She quick think about her new friend Ava is in trouble

She hurries to cross the river to see more closely what is happening, she see big fire all the tavern burning …Sky try to look in and yell Ava…Ava!!!! are you here !!!…no answer to his call

Sadly she walk around and see a form on the ground in the deep night …she come closer and find Ava lifeless .

She take  her in  arms …give some slap to make her regain consciousness….but she cant ….

Ava !!! wake up !!! sigh

Sky do not know what to do … Prin the shaman is on a trip and he has to take a decision, she can’t leave Ava here.

If the Forest Moon find her she will be in danger …she wraps Ava in her coat  so she does not get cold….

She considers putting Ava in a boat to send her away from these lands but is uncertain if she would survive the cold, so decides to bring her into the camp.

She whistles to one of her sisters and together they move Ava inside and put her where she will be safe and warm.

She knows that Forest Moon might send people looking for her friend, after the tavern burning, so she instructs her sisters not to let any know that Ava is there except for Ava’s sister by blood, Bodi.

(Sky Valerian, En of the Ikeri)

Bodi retrieved my prone body from the ikeri camp having seen shreds of my distinctive red dress nearby and correctly summised where I had gone or been taken.

Bodi took me to the camp of Dani in the remote Northern forest.

I had become ill from my time in cold water so was barely conscious during the journey and arrival at the camp.

Start RP Log:

Bodi pulls Ava out of the boat

Bodi: drags Ava up the slope

[03:06:37]  Danis Band Camp Gate shouts: BodicaPagan Resident knocks loudly at the door ♫

Bodi shouts: can some one help me

Akashana  draws  her  bow  and sends an arrow  towarsd the strangers  to  pin it  in the wood  very close  to  them..”WHAT YOU WNAT  STRANGER!”

 GM 4.69 ~ Akashana Resident hit you with ArrowS1 X-Blood [by LR] Elite 5.03 (20%) – strike type: arrow~direct ~

((Yes, they shot at the sick woman…!!))

Bodi shouts:  i have my sister ava , she know dani , i was asked to bring her here

Bodi: my sister ava is ill she needs a healer ,she was in the river her tavern burnt down , ikeri said to bring her here

Akashana  walks  up  “how  sick?  is  it Bazi  Plague?

Bodi: no not contagious , she must have hit her head in the river ,Bodi: she coughs myust be the water in her lungs. Can you let us in , i need to get her warm by a fire. Please!

Akashana “very well  you can leave  her  there  and  go  back to the village”  looks  suspiciously  at the strangers  “I will have a  slave  warm her”

Bay [Bailey Kerang] looked passed his Mistress her legs seeing the two Mistresses. He didn’t speak as he didn’t wish to interrupt the free as they were talking knowing his Mistress would not be pleased if he did.

Bodi: please let me stay till she is well, dani had a trade deal, i can carry this on

Bodi: i will leave as soon as she regains conscious ,  my name is bodi ava sister by blood sobs

Akashana looks at the  unconscious woman..  “very well..” she  taps  Bay  on the backside.. “go  fetch me the  Mistresses  bow  mine”  directs  him towards  Bodi..  “you dont  object to  giving me  your  bow  then?”

Bodi sighs and hands her bow over

Bay [Bailey Kerang]: Yes my Mistress he said as he crawled towards the Mistresses

Bodi: be careful with that bow , boy i say it very valuble

Bay [Bailey Kerang] opened his hands to receive the bows so he could take them back to his Mistress. He nods to the Mistress as she told him to be careful “Yes Mistress i will be careful with it” he said and smiled at her as he crawled back to his Mistress to hand her the bows.

Bay [Bailey Kerang] crawled back to his Mistress and handed her the bow ” My Mistress , this is the bow the Mistress gave me ” he said and presented her the bow.

Akashana  now  walks  up  slips  her  drawn bow  on her shoulder  and  “be welcome at  our  fire  then.. “BAY! carefully  carry the hurt  Mistress inside  and  warm her  by the  fire  HAR  TA  dont  you she  she is  hurt!”  she  sanps  impatiently at  him as she  takes  the visitors  bow  from him

Bodi wipse ava face and looks toward the huntress,  she need help please

[03:18:07]  Danis Band Camp Gate opened by Akashana Resident Ⓜ

Bay [Bailey Kerang] nods his head to his Mistress as he stood up carefully laid the seemingly injured Mistress down on the floor letting her rest her back against a treestump

Ava groans slightly but does not wake

Bodi pulls ava towards the heat of the fire , she needs warm dry clothes , her is still wet from river , maybe a blanket,  some warm soup perhaps,  i will feed her

Akashana  Keeps  an eye  on the  Male  slave.. then walks  over  to  the hurt Ava..  “BAY! why are you still kneeling  get the blanket  and some soup!”

Liz: tal akashana

Liz: greetings travelers

Akashana  smiles as she looks at Liz.. “tal Liz  this  is Bodi  a friend  of  DAni and her  Sister  both are under the protection of  the camp

Bay [Bailey Kerang] nods his head to her ” Yes my Mistress ” he said and stood up greeting Mistress Liz “greetings Mistress’ he said and went over to the mainhut to get a blanket , some clothes and some soup

Liz: hi Bay

Bodi: Tal Huntresses, I am Bodi , sister to Ava Here ,

Liz: I always think travelers are trouble, you are lucky i did not greet you. But I am new here and i an glad to see you are friends

Bodi: i was working in the zima tavern as tavern keeper , i heard my sister was in trouble, so i came to the land elation , ignor the small one who spaeaks  of trouble,   the ikeri told me to bring her here,

Bay [Bailey Kerang] rushed back to the campfire and was slightly out of breath. He kneels down besides bodi and had some clothes and a blanket in his hands and offered it to the Mistress. “Mistress I brought you some dry clothes and a blanket as requested. The soup i will get after this Mistress”

Bodi: nods help me undress her and put her in warm blanket , then we get the soup in her

Akashana  turns  as Eyota comes  up   “greetings  Elderly Respected Eyota”  she  says  with a smirk

Bay [Bailey Kerang] nods as he came closer “Yes Mistress” he said as he placed the clothes on the log next to him and the blanket on top. He went close to Ava as he helped undressing her , she was actually quite pretty, He piled up the wet clothes on another log and tried to hide his manparts between his legs to avoid any natural reactions to be seen.

Bay [Bailey Kerang]: Greetings Mistress

Bodi takes the soup and helps ava feed , noting the watmth coming back in to her body, ” Tal There i am Bodi sister to Ava, rubbing her arms and legs to get more warmth

єуσтα [aileen Rang] stuck out her tongue at Akashana “You make me sound like a withered old hag.” she’d chuckle teasingly and shook her head. Nonetheless, she’d soon wave to the rest and waved a hand at everyone around, “Well a passed out woman by the fire being undressed. Sounds about the right way to start the morning.” she’d sigh, “What happened exactly? And who is..” she’d point to Bodi, “Ah Ava? Like the tavern owner who trades with us?”

Ava groans slightly as she is moved and feels something warm in her mouth. Vaguely registering the scent of bodi’s cheap perfume she guesses it’s safe and swallows

Bodi is happy to see some change in ava gives more soup , well she coming too food always did that for her

Bay [Bailey Kerang] watched closely as the Mistress covered Mistress Ava up and fed her some soup. She seemed to have it all under control so Bay went back to his Mistress to kneel at her side.

Bodi turns to the new comer , is there a healer here  who can check her over?

ʏᴀɴᴀ sʜᴇᴘᴀʀᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴᴛᴏᴜᴄʜᴀʙʟᴇ [Johana Haystack] entered the firepit, saw the crowd and saluts to everyone “Tal there sister, slut, im looking for my daughter leona, ooh for those that doesnt know me, Im Leona’s evil Mom”  saluts again and continue shuffling her way to Leona’s hut, where she hides….

Akashana turns  to look as a huntress comes  to the fire.. “Tal”  she  says  and  smacks  Bay  upside the head  for  no particular reason

Bay [Bailey Kerang] grits his teeth as he was suddenly smacked on his head and looked at his Mistress to see what he did wrong this time

Bay [Bailey Kerang] looked at his Mistress ” Can i perhaps serve you anything my Mistress ? It was a long day for you after all ” he asked her.

єуσтα [aileen Rang] shook her head in the negative as the woman asked her about a healer, “Unfortunately, our healer Julie has been out for some time. I would say the alternative would be to bring her to the healer, Ethan, in the outpost. However, were not on good terms right now. But a panther camp really isn’t the best place for proper medical care.” her chest fell as she’d sigh and she’d move to sit on the log beside Ava. In a cursory glance, she’d peruse her features and tried to determine her ailment, “I would say your best bet is to sail her off to Mirkwood. There’s a healer’s house gsAkashana nods.. “some Larma  Bay  and  warmed  Wine  Bay”

Bodi cringe at these words, ” there is more to the tail , she is also fugitive  from some lands and  is wanted by ermm some , they blame her for burning down the tavern,  is is needed a safe place to stay  , too

Bay [Bailey Kerang] gave his Mistress a warm smile ” Yes my Mistress, Larma and warmed wine it is my Mistress ” he said and stood up to go to the kitchen area so he could prepare her food and drink

Ava lifts her head groggily, looks up and sees the legs of panther girls

Ava murmurs “where am I?”

Akashana: ?me  Slave  Outpost  5  she  syas  as the  woman asks

Bodi drys her dress next to the fire , ” AVA i say loud ,  i brought you here with the map i was given , do you remember  what happened

єуσтα [aileen Rang] rose a brow at Bodi and shook her head as she’d whisper a soft laugh, “You shouldn’t go around telling us that she’s a wanted woman. If there’s a bounty on her head, I am sure some of my Sisters would want to sell her off to the highest bidder.” she’d look at Akashana and just grinned widely. But her expression sobered soon and she’d look back to Bodi. “She may stay here under the understanding that I am not responsible for her life. And, like I said, I don’t have a medic who can tend to her now. So it’s hard to say whether or not she’ll pull through.”

Ava gasps” *slave* outpost?” and drops her head as the weariness overcomes her again

Akashana  began  to  look over the  pretty  bow  that  Bodi  had  gieven her..  “this is a nice  Bow  i will swap  it  with you!”  she  declares  to  Bodi

Bay [Bailey Kerang] finally made it to the kitchen area and looked around to see what he needed. His Mistress asked for some larma and warmed wine and looked around for a plate. He found a perfect bowl instead and knew it would be better suitable for the larma and made sure it was clean and in perfect condition. Then taking a goblet from the shelves he inspected it for cracks or possible chips that came off. Bay smiled pleased as he so none and carefully polished it clean with a repcloth. Then as he looked in the kitchen he found some Sa – Tarna wine which was perfect for warmed wine and poored some in the kettle he had found and started to warm it over the fire. Bay had to be careful with the fire as he was naked and didn’t wish to turn his manpart into a hotdog so he maneuvered in a bit of a strange way but it would get the job done.

Bodi listens to the words of the Huntress, and is relieved she offer  to give safety to her sister,     turning to the huntress she first met,  No  it is very valuable, and has new gut on it and i am used to it,  but i have  and ava have  coin   let me check her her purse , i look in her clothes

Akashana  would  lift her chin in agreement. “coin will do  fine, payment includes the warmth of the fire  the protection of the camp and  complimentary use and obedience  of  camp  slaves”

Bay [Bailey Kerang] softly sang a song to himself , an old sailors song he had learned a long time ago as he did his very best for his beautiful Mistress. While the wine was warming he peeled some fresh larma’s and pulled it apart. He then carefully aranged the larma pieces in the bowl and smiled pleased at his work before placing the bowl on the serving tray. Bay then looked at the wine and made sure it was the perfect temperature as he only wanted the best for his Mistress. Bay was pleased and filled up the goblet with the warmed Sa-tarna wine and filled it up till just below the rim. Then placing the goblet on the serving tray as well and make his way back to his Mistress. He had to lift the tray a bit higher as usual to not hang his man part on the tray as that would be a big no no to his Mistress. So carefully he walked back to his Mistress so he could serve her.

Ava half registering the conversation she hears the word “protection” and relaxes presuming bodi has taken her someone safe

Bodi looks in the clothes of ava, finding a purse, takes  1 silvercoin , and holds up ,  when she able i will leave i found canoe i left on the bank ,  feeds ava  more  soup,  i thinks she is waking up,  when she does i will go , and leave her to your safe  place  , i  have   trade  if you need things like metal

Bay [Bailey Kerang] finally made it back safely and placed the serving tray on the floor as he kneels down in front of his Mistress. Bay picked up the bowl with the larma up first and offered it to his Mistress with his head and eyes lowered respectfully. ” My Mistress may i offer you some of the finest larma i could find for you. I already peeled it and prepared it for your convenience my Mistress. I hope you will enjoy it my Mistress” he said and waited for her to take the bowl so he could serve her the warmed Sa-Tarna wine as well

Ava feels the spoon again at her mouth and takes some more

Ava rolls over and leans against the log and looks about her still very daze

Akashana  “nods” and  lifts  her  hand  for  the  Silver  coin  “toss  the  coin over  Lady”  Reached  to  takes  some  Larma  and  sucks  on one  slice..  then  place the sucked  out  skin back on the tray and reached  for  the warm wine.. “If  you wish  a  slave  to  refresh  you before  you  travel  back Bodi..  the  man here  will  do as  you command”  she  lifts  away  the  drink and  directs  Bay  to  offer  service

Ava takes in her surrroundings through blurry eyes

Bodi nods i will have some warm wine and perhaps ava will too,   , i hope to be on my way , hides my feather in my hair  ,

Ava asks a little unsure having only been to the place once before “Is this Dani’s camp?”

Akashana  looks  over the  fire  to  Ava.. “Dani is EN here”  she  states  simply  and  kicks  the  thigh of  Bay  a  little  annoyed  he  is  still kneeling and  not  serving the  visitors

Ava sighs with relief now knowing where she is and she is safe

End of RP Log.

My distinctive red dress was ruined from the water and the rough  journey and I was given some spare clothing that the panthers had acquired from somewhere and moved into a hut to recuperate.

Wait and see what is in store for Ava when she wakes..in part 3

In August 2016 a friend by the name of Empathy persuaded me to come visit a Gorean sim with her. I was extremely hesitant and wary, the little I had heard of “Gor” wasn’t very positive. So I grabbed some cheap suitable attire (cringeworthy on reflection) and went along. I was introduced to a group of “Panthers”, which I am later to understand as a shortening of “panther girls”. Women that have fled the male dominated society of Gor in favour of a life in the forests, called so because they often wear skins of the forest panthers.

They seemed very friendly and welcoming (despite the bows and knives they all carried) inviting me into their camp. This was the band known as the Sha’Kar Arani tribe, led by a woman named Mari.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I visited a few times over the following weeks and was made a junior member of the tribe.

I spent a bit of time there, learning how things ran, until I got in my first fight. I was with another member of the band not far from the camp when a guy turns up, she exchanged some minor insults with him but he appeared to have been leaving. Somehow an arrow was fired and things escalated rapidly, ending up with both of us bound and being led to his home.

I should clarify here that these sims use a combat system called Gor Meter,or GM for short. Once you have received a number of hits from compatible weapons you’re “unconscious” and your avatar drops to the floor and you are unable to move. You can then be bound and led on a leash. So when I say “being led” it was exactly that, no choice in the matter.

This was a real potential deal breaker for me, I found it a very unpleasant experience. So I started spending less time in the camp and more in the dock safe zone.

After being in sl gor a few months (approximately November 2016) Mari could see I wasn’t enjoying being a Panther, so she came to me with a proposal. She asked me if I would like to take over running of the tavern, since it was currently without a Keeper, I jumped at the chance.

At this point in writing this post I had a major case of de-ja-vu and realised I’d written a very similar piece in 2017 for the Gazzette of Gor blog and used that to revise some of this account.

I then wrote up the beginnings of a backstory for Ava’s presence in the forest:

Raised as a tavern keepers daughter in the city, I fled a unsuitable match and was found by a tribe of panthers as a teenager. I learned their ways but when the chance presented itself to take on a disused tavern I seized it with both hands, abandoning the primitive Panther life. Opting for a safer and more comfortable life than a panther camp.

A couple of months went by after taking the position the En(Mari) and Tor (like a tribe tutor) came by and said they had a gift for me. The En gave me a Huna  feather, making me full member of the tribe, not for the usual reason however. Normally a cub is made a panther after demonstrating skill in combat or such like during a raid, which in my role as tavern keeper I didn’t participate. I was bestowed the feather for showing dedication and enhancing the general roleplay (rp) experience for everyone. It deeply warmed my heart, I had not expected it, I had just taken on the role with sincerity and enthusiasm. For the most important of reason in SL, it was fun!

Around February 2017 the Sha ‘Kar Arani disbanded. This wasn’t such a disaster as it might have been. If I recall correcry it took just a few days for a new tribe to rise from the ashes; The Shekinah Arani.

I was proud to be one of the 6 founding members of this new tribe. So much so that I wanted to celebrate it by making a tribe tattoo for the members. I took the Phoenix emblem and made it into such. There were discussions of size and location on the body, but the final decision was on the thigh:

 

The next month, on 17th March 2017 I replaced the small simple tavern with new larger two-story building. This allowed a lot more people to fit inside improving roleplay considerably. The number of visitors inside the tavern went from occasionally double figures to 30-40 visitors a day.

Having invested in this new building and settled into the role,some more appropriate clothing was in order. In my former attire of leathers and cloaks I had been mistaken for a panther on a couple of occasions in the old tavern. I needed something distinctive that set me apart and made it quite clear who was in charge there.

The quiver of throwing knives I had worn before was stowed under the bar for when traveling afar. A coiled whip hung from a thong on my hip instead,the simple presence of which was sufficient deterrent for most would be troublemakers. For those that it wasn’t..I had a set of stocks.

There had always been other buildings around the tavern location. A blacksmith’s forge, a healers hut and similar. Some extra buildings that people could use for accommodation were added and the area became a small village outpost.

The docks of sl gor sims are always safe-zones, allowing for people to arrive safely if their intention was only rp. This safe zone was extended to encompass this outpost village, making the area roleplay only.

There was an article written about this significant change published on the gazzette of gor blog,which you can read HERE and I recommend you do. It is a great example of rp in the tavern and I really wish I had more examples.

Since the tavern was going so well I wanted to add something  to the RP, a little realism when buying food,drinks and accommodation in the tavern for example. I came up with the idea of a coin system. There are existing trade and bartering systems such as G&S, but these seemed over complicated for what I wanted to achieve. So I made some coins with the tavern name on one side and my name on the other.

I distributed some of these among the locals to try out the principle, as well as leaving some scattered across the sim, but there wasn’t sufficient interest and I didn’t have an infrastructure to back it up.

Also as part of this same idea for increasing RP, I made my own Elation Tavern branded barrels and casks of drinks to trade. These containers were scripted for realism with different ones containing different numbers of drinks. They would also notify me when they were empty so I could RP another visit. These clearly didn’t catch on either, since I never received any “container empty ” type messages from the samples I gave out.

Given the number of storylines running through this time period I did consider posting the rp’s. However given just 5 minutes of chat could generate several pages of text, a morning of rp would be a tedious read!

However I’m now regretting that choice, since it leaves large gaps in this tale for the time period in which I was most active. Perhaps I shall post those later if I can find records.

In the first weeks of December 2017 it was agreed rather quickly(in an hour according to this post , but I’m unsure of the exact timescale), that Shekinah Arani would be merging with a tribe called Forest Moon.

Rather than recounting all the events here, I will just say that I wasn’t too happy about the situation and made me feelings well known,perhaps excessively so. Bodi wrote an article about the merger which you can read here.

Several of the founding members of the Shekinah Arani tribe moved on to different places in the following weeks. I remained as the tavern keeper, however I created a tribe flag with the name Last of the Shekinah and adopted that title occasionally. It was meant mostly humorously while conveying how I felt, not everyone found it amusing.

I felt that summed up the situation, I was one of the last of the founding members. Others just left quietly, but when I’m upset, that is not me. Perhaps I over reacted, having invested too much emotional attachment into this tribe that had been going about a year.

Having recently re-read the chat logs of this time, I think I have some answers for questions raised at the time. I was asked several times, how come despite not living in the tribe camp, but in the tavern for at least a year, why was I so hung-up on the Shekinah Arani name, when others were not?

  I didn’t have an answer at the time, but now I think the answer is actually in the question. It was exactly because I hadn’t lived there that I held it so preciously. I still had the proud glow of being a member of a tribe I’d been a founder of. Despite being just across a sim from the camp, I wasn’t close enough to be aware of possible discontent or other negative issues. So I was as proud of the tribe as I was at the time of founding, naive to any issues that may have existed prior to the merger with Forest Moon.

Despite this change of the tribe, in the larger scheme of things it really didn’t change too much. I remained as the tavern keeper of Elation,rp continued at the tavern, but numbers began to dwindle.

Life in Gor drifted along, locals came and went. I helped out my friend and former tribe sister,Bodi,who had left and was trying to run a tavern elsewhere, since custom had slowed down at my own.

This became known to my tribe and was considered a betrayal,rather than just helping Bodi out, because the place was near the Zima panther camp. This actually made me consider moving there, since I don’t appreciate being thought of as a traitor, but I stayed out of loyalty. At least I would have, but the decision was taken out of my hands, I was removed from the group.

I had already written the beginning of a roleplay storyline for this situation if it arose and here it is:

Ava sits at a table in the darkened empty tavern. Nursing a bowl of paga, having long lost track of how many it was, as she tries to drown the accumulation of recent and past hurts, betrayals, accusations, insults and slights from all corners of her life. She puts it to the side, or tries to, not noticing the bowl fall from table and spill it’s nearly full contents across the floor. The trickling liquid reaches the base of a full barrel of the potent drink.

Ava picks up a candelabra of three candles and heads to the back stairs up to her room. As she bumps into the door frame on her way out, one of the candles falls loose and lands on the wooden floor amongst the liquid. It doesn’t register what is happening to Ava until she hears a roar and a flash of heat and light and she is thrown from the building out the back door.

Ava staggers across to the safety of the river bank. She stands there a moment in shock, when another loud roar sounds from the tavern as the other barrels catch fire. She instinctively takes a step back and falls into the dark river and is carried away by the fast current. Before she loses consciousness from the cold she thanks the Priest-Kings she’d sent her girls to help at another tavern the night before and hopes an ikeri sentry from their vantage point above the tavern had seen her fall.

Only the Priest-Kings know where,when, or even if Lady Ava will wash up on a river bank somewhere.

I sent this in a notecard to every En,band leader or significantly active player that I knew in SL Gor. In the hope that someone would show interest in continuing the story. I was overwhelmed by the response.

To be continued…

Click here for Part 2