Hail Sapience!

Forgive the intrusion into your daily lives, but I am approaching
something of a personal landmark and wished to share my joy with you.
For those of you with limited attention spans, I will also note at this
early stage that this post also presents you with an opportunity to earn
credits for yourself.

It has come to my attention that the time will soon be at hand when I
will visit the Halls of Maya for the thousandth time. For almost four
decades, I have strode these lands - earning, if I may say so, a fairly
astounding level of wealth and, one hopes, more than a little notoriety.
I have died many many times in pursuit of my aims and in the service of
my Master. Deaths to the guards of Shallam, deaths to dragons and
fearsome warriors, deaths to groups and individuals, deaths of
stupidity, deaths of nobility, deaths of derring-do, frustrating deaths,
amusing deaths, deaths both glorious and shameful.

I wish to thank all of you who have hunted me, all of you who have
assisted in causing my death, whether alone or as part of a team. You
have made me the thief I am today. Every time I have died, I have
learned. To become ever fleeter of foot, ever more nimble and devious.
And in return, I hope, Sapience has become more wary, more guarded, more
skilful at avoiding my depredations. For in the end, I am but a tool of
my Master, seeking only to demonstrate that Suffering is instructive.
The lesson that hurts, works. The lash of the whip is the finest
teacher.

And, in honour of this personal landmark of Suffering, I wish to offer a
prize to the hunters of Sapience. I stand but ten deaths away from the
thousand. I offer an open invitation to those who have hunted me in the
past, those who hunt me now and those who have never hunted me to slay
me if they can. To the hunter that scores the thousandth kill, I will
gift 50 credits. But I implore you! Be creative! This is an opportunity
to create Suffering. Work at the kills, give them grace and beauty -
show me something new! Suffering is an art as much as anything else. And
so, to the inflicter of the most ingenious and creative death, I will
further gift 25 credits as an incentive to you all to make this personal
landmark of mine something which my Master, the Lord Apollyon, will look
upon with fondness.

For as long as this contest remains open, I will avail myself of any
opportunity to defend myself that is available to me - be it by
assassins, defence or personal effort. However, at the close of this
contest, any hunting will be forgiven - those who hunt me as part of
this testament to Suffering need fear no repercussions once the contest
is closed.

And so, let the Suffering commence and may the Master be served,
Tenebrus, Proselytist and Cutpurse.


Penned by my hand on the 8th of Miraman, in the year 421 AF.