Posted by Kristin on October 12, 1998 at 18:49:48:
Dear LotMers,
Browsing thru the messages, I noticed a suggestion re. a mysterious Ascone able and willing and sure to survive the impact, of running over one Ottomani Trader.
Being quite a peaceful soul meself, I got to wondering why on earth would want the said Ascone, which I assume must be a monster, be willing to overrun a formidable character like the OttoMani?
Doesn't the Ascone know that the Ottomani might have a 10ft long handle bar mustache, might be of the weight that shakes the earth uopn each step taken forward or backward, andmight be accompanied by hundreds of well-shaped well-oiled Nubian soldiers brandishing gleaming scymitars?
Yes, while it is true that the TownCryer gave me a confidential intelligence re. the Ottomani Trader being a female who happens to be the Sultan's wife... I wouldn't count on her being too fragile or too naive, for having to survive in a harem overwflowing with hundreds of wily yet beguiling rivals, she must have been well-schooled n the arts of backstabbing, poisoning, and what have you...
If she were not one mean wicked lady of the harem, she surely would not have ventured into the Land of LOTM, what with its reputation of roasting, de-hearting, amdthrowing off vertiginious cliffs its hapless bypassers...
Dear Dutch and French Traders, I would urge you to look in the direction of the English Trader, who is kahoots with the Otto Mani, and mind your manners... besides, in business, it'salways mroe profitable to make deals rather than employing Ascones....
Just a humble observer