Ceramic DM autumn '03(final judegment: new ceramic dm champ!)

I grew up in a small village called San Pedro. My family was very poor and to help us survive I hunted birds. At first it was simple snare traps taught to me by my grandpapa, to catch the birds as they landed. Later he taught me the sling. (sling picture) I became very good and could bring down anything. Though poor, my family never went hungry.
Of course being good with the sling had other advantages; it could bring down other game as well. Tourists would come down to see the ancient Mayan ruins. I would wait for one to wonder off. Then I would use the sling. I’m not a murderer. I would use an apple. It was soft enough not to kill but hard enough to stun. Then Hector and Nacho would grab the wallet or purse and we would have money for awhile. Never a lot, the police always wanted too much for their cut.
The festival of the Crane happened every year in March. Some elders from the village would go up the river in ceremonial garb. Taking a secret route known only to them. They would give offerings to the Crane and it was supposed to bring peace and prosperity. I always thought it proved they were stupid. Giving stuff to a bird. You eat birds.
Then one year a week before the festival a man came to me. He said the he had heard of my skill with the sling and that he had a job for me. He told me that he would give me 60,000 pesos if I would go up the river to the cave of the Crane and kill it. When I asked him why, he said that for progress to come to Mexico the old traditions must be swept away. A new way must be made and the old must die. When I heard this, I thought he was as stupid as the people who gave offerings to the Crane were, but he gave me 10,000 pesos up front. After that I didn’t care what his stupid reasons were, I just wanted the money.
I got Hector and Nacho and we stole a small boat on the dock. The man had given me directions to the cave of the Crane. We took the small boat up the river and turned down a small hidden tributary. We soon came to a giant carved face. (facefrog picture) The man told us to place an offering into the mouth of the giant face. The offering settled into its mouth and it sank down with a groan of shifting stone. Then another tributary appeared as stones shifted away. Hector and Nacho started saying it was magic, I told them to shut up. It was just levers and weights.
We followed the new tributary and soon found that it led to a cave opening. (boat picture) A few feet into the cave we landed the boat and got out. Hector and Nacho were nervous and started saying that we shouldn’t be there and that we should go back. I called them cowards and told them to wait there. I left them to go deeper into the cave. I went maybe a 100 yards and saw a light. I looked up and saw the Crane silhouetted against the sky. (bird picture) It stood there unaware of my existence. I readied my sling and began to twirl it, faster and faster, and then I released the stone. It flew straight and hit the Crane’s head cracking its skull. I scurried up the rise to the Crane and check if it was still alive. It was dead. I had succeeded.
I went back to Hector and Nacho and we took the boat back. Hector and Nacho soon began to talk about the money. I would listen to them and occasionally smile. I had only told them about the 10,000 pesos. The rest would be mine and all I had to do was kill a bird. I felt like I had everything that I could want.
The town learned of the Crane’s death during the festival, a week later. People were shocked, numbed. It was like I had killed their hope.
It’s now forty years later. Hector and Nacho were killed in a drug deal gone wrong. They let their greed get ahead of them. As for me, I have seen San Pedro go from a small poor town with a small tourist trade and a festival honoring a crane to a den of drug dealers and gunmen. Life has become fearful and uncertain and hope has flown away. I know now that San Pedro needed that myth of the Crane. We may have been poor but the Crane gave us peace and unity. It gave the town the will to persevere against poverty and strife and not to give in to the easy route. I wish I could give back the pesos. I wish I could give back the Crane. But all I can do is tell my story as best as I can.

Done with an hour to spare. Hope you like it.

Second ruling send Greta stuff peoples, you are making it hard to decide!

When are the other groups starting?

well, ferret seems to have lost interest, so we have gregor vs. first alternate piratecat

gregor vs piratecat

round 1, 72 hours from this post gentlemen!

AND

macbeth vs cool hand luke

72 hours from this post fellas!

I would love to see the searches you do to come up with some of these pictures. there just ODD....

Oh, now you've done it! My mind just broke. Ouch.

macbeth vs cool hand luke

Click to expand...

There's a match-up you don't see every day...

Mythago vs. Taladas

maldur-

mythago: One of the few adventures we get here at the ceramic DM, but its a
wonderfull tale of a mage getting himself into trouble by being too clever
for his own good. I might even try it in one of my games.
taladas: A modern tale with mystery and magic. very nice. The fact that it
doesn't have an happy end, and the storyteller knows it, appeals to me.

Result: close, but superiour storytelling makes it go to taladas.

speaker-

Well written, the both of you. I found amusing that you each separately
choose to present a tale of greed, in which some rogue runs afoul for
corrupting a ritual or offering to his own ends.

Taladas, your tale manages to weave together a fine tale of greed and
remorse. The narrator knows that what he has done is wrong, and that some
things are worth more then simple money -- alas, too late. The protagonist
could easily be one of the many young men I met in Indonesia who seek their
own betterment, whatever the cost to others may be.

Mythago, you offer an intriguing adventure, well suited for a one-shot
encounter or an introduction to a particular section of the world. Your use
of the pictures is most inventive, and the adventure entire well written and
clearly presented. I particularly enjoyed the use of the crane and toad.

But in the end, I choose to lean for Mythago's adventure as the victor in
this first round.

alsih2o-

taladas gives us a strong story, lots of stuff to like here. i would like to hear more adventures from this guy, and his wisened view of life.

mythago presents a story that is more complex, and therefore more RBish.

mythago took a big chance writing an adventure, they tend not to do as well in ceramic dm, but i have to choose with it for complexity and interest.

RESULT- 2-1 vote in mythagos favor.

we will see mythago next round, thanks to taladas for a good story...

*faints dead away*

And kudos to my honorable opponent, Taladas!