The Black Company Attacked

[Crimson_Dark]

Well, I think I have enough facts to finally make this post. It is a sad tale of trust broken, underhanded deeds, and a warning to other guilds out there. Sorry if it is long, but here it is:

Sometime in the wee-hours of Saturday morning, someone logged on and maliciously removed the entire membership of The Black Company. Yes I know this had to be an officer (hence my warning to the other guilds out there). Said person obviously thinks causing pain to others is funny, and probably laughs his arse off when they show the results of suicide bombers on the news.

At any rate, all that was left in the guild roster were the officers. Those that logged on erroneously thought that some bug had wiped out our membership, so began inviting members back into the guild as soon as they could be identified. Some did not get the message however, and thought we had booted them for unknown reasons, and so went on to join other guilds.

Now the culprit in our tale decided that he didn't get the desired chaos from his attack, and made an attempt to stir things up further. He asked an officer to rejoin the guild, stating that he was one of the ones who had been booted by a spy. Now, up to this point, I was accepting of my officers' explanation that some bug had wiped out our membership, and was quite take aback by this statement.

This person, under the name 'Muckluck', then stated he had just given some Severed Fist Guild members hell for their attack on The Black Company. I asked him to explain *** he was talking about, and he proceeded to tell us all the tale about how when he logged on Saturday, the membership of the guild had been booted, and the MOTD state "The Severed Fist Rules" (None of the Company officers questioned ever saw this MOTD).

He went on to state that he had members of The Severed Fist quaking in their boots because he was going to get them banned, and that they (The Severed Fist) stated that the spy probably belonged to the Stormreach Thieves Guild, who had a vendetta against the The Severed Fist, and hated The Black Company.

Now this is the first I have heard of any animosity by the Stormreach Thieves Guild towards The Black Company, and I had not heard of The Severed Fist prior to this episode (I wrongly assumed they were from another server after the server merge, but after speaking with their guild leader was informed I was mistaken, and that they've been on Khyber for quite a while). As far as I knew, neither myself as guild leader, nor The Black Company as a whole had never earned the enmity of any of the other guilds on Khyber.

By this point, I was **** suspicious. Those with any kind of detective skills can see the holes in Muckluck's story above. I asked Muckluck who his mains were...who were his alts in the Company. He told me to ask the officer who had invited him (which I did in personal tell, who told me how this Muckluck came back into the guild by stating he had been booted by the 'spy').

This Muckluck must have been totally enjoying the chaos he was causing, until I mentioned the fact that I had opened a ticket with a GM to investigate. Within seconds, Muckluck had quit The Black Company, and I assume deleted this character from the game.

Well, he need not have bothered for all the help the GMs were. He ran away scared for nothing, for the GM's stated that they would not get involved in Guild politics, and it was my fault for making the wrong person an officer. Kind of like how it’s the girl's fault for going on a date which ends up with her being raped.

At any rate, the warning to the other guilds on Khyber is that this Muckluck is still out there. Someone who is amused by the pain and anguish that they cause, and tries to stir-up more trouble, but who will weep when karmic justice smacks them down.

To my fellow guild leaders out there, be careful who you trust. Kindness and trust are the most craved food of these kinds of cowards, who thrive on kindnesses which they deem as signs of weakness, and take advantage to assuage their own pitiful shortcomings in life.

From this experience, it is my opinion that though officers should have the power to invite anyone they seem fitting to join a guild, only a Guild Leader should have the power to remove someone. This would be the quickest and easiest way for Turbine to fix an attack like this from ever happening again. But I won’t hold my breath…

[Nexx]

Not trying to sound mean or anything, but blacklisting a DDO member on the forums is not allowed and could get you in trouble. I'd take the name of 'said person' out before anything happens.



*edit*



Also, I'm sad to hear about what happened to The Black Company. It's never comforting to log on and see almost your entire guild gone all in 1 day. Do you have limited amount of officers for your guild? If not, try limiting your officers down to 1 ranked (per player) instead of having all of their toons ranked. This seems to work very well within the guild I am in and haven't had any problems with players because they basically go through a 'screening' process with the guild leader, officers as well as the members. I know a lot of the time people just invite whoever they want into a guild and things turn out for the worst, but with a 'screening' process you get quality players that shouldn't cause any problems. And I may end up getting backlash from that sort of thing, but that's the way I see a good guild foundation should be built is by being 100% positive about who you're letting into your guild.

[Crimson_Dark]

Not trying to sound mean or anything, but blacklisting a DDO member on the forums is not allowed and could get you in trouble. I'd take the name of 'said person' out before anything happens.

Thanks for the concern Nexx, but as I said, I firmly believe that this is not an actual played toon, but was created and subsequently deleted in the hopes of fermenting more chaos in The Black Company. I'm just glad he was such a poor actor that we caught on to him before he could do more damage.

As it stands, because of this attack this camel is nearing those final straws. If Turbine did anything against me concerning this post my play on DDO would be over for good, which means The Black Company would inherit a bunch of great gear.

But like I said, I appreciate the warning and the concern.

Crimson

[Shaamis]

Thanks for the heads up Crimson, and I hope the Black Company recovers

[Puke]

Crimson, sorry to hear about all that. And, I'm certain you have great gear! I played with you for the first time last night in a quick PoP run and you were quite impressive. (You must not have come from Riedra or I've just never seen your characters before.) I was playing my Ranger, Burpingdog. I hope you find some resolution.

[cyc0tik]

wow Crimson Dark sorry to hear about your troubles. that would be a great shock to see guild player base gone overnight! i am an officer in mature adventures club (mac) and we if can offer any assistance now or in the future feel free to look me up.

[Ballonatic]

Wow, cannot believe that there are people out there that can be that malicious. Sorry to hear that you and your innocent guild mates were taken for a loop. Pretty certain you'll be able to reattain most, if not all of your guild members (least those who are aware of the situation).

I have pugged with several members of The Black Company on numerous ocassions and cannot think of anything negative to say, cept for maybe Camaran and his NYC sayings (inside joke between he and I ).

Wish you and your guys the best. Try not to let this situation get the best of you - "said person" will only take joy in that.

[pastor_dex]

send in game mail to muckluk, if he is deleted it won't let you send it.

If only the guild leader had boot power, it could be real trouble when the leader is away and someone causes actions that make the guild look bad while wearing the tag.
The guild leader should have the phone number and regular email address of any officer IMO.

The Black Company, good book.

[BSharp]

Once more that traitor to the Company shows his skull head and crossed bones. No meaner skeleton ever crawled from a grave... Why I once saw hit kick a skeleton cat!

Twice now he's betrayed the Company... **** his bones back to dust!

[Arnya]

Having had this happen within a guild I helped found, I'm sorry for ya dude.

We had a player use our guild as a power levelling service and never contributed. Borrowed weapons and never returned them or returned damaged scrap. Spread all sorts of BS. Abused several members into leaving guild. Got us a name for arrogance. Left in the dead of the night.

Some people are just takers; your guild will be better off for this, it seems to bring honest players together.

[Frodo_Lives]

I belonged to a guild that this kind of thing happened too. A few of the higher profile members of the guild got into a spat with the leader and didn't like the direction the guild was going in so quit. But before quitting booted almost all the other high level characters out of the guild along with most of their alts.

The next day sent mail to every member of the guild inviting them to join the new guild. Of course there were a ton of members who had no idea that they were kicked out of the guild, were told that the guild disbanded and a new one was being formed. As a result the old guild was left in taters with very few members and virtually none of the charter members left in it.

Being new to this guild I gave my sypathies to the guild leader and left the guild, did not join the other guild and have remain guildless to this day.

I know that a lot of guilds are really fun and add a lot to this game, but I leave office politics at the office. I play this game to have fun, so my friend created a guild that is exclusively his characters and mine. I've been Pugging for well over a year almost without exception and have capped characters and all the rest. I know that I'm missing out on what could be something that can enhance my enjoyment of this game, but I'm also missing out on these type of dramatics as well.

Sorry to hear about the drama, hope the Black Company comes back stronger than ever.

[Nexx]

Thanks for the concern Nexx, but as I said, I firmly believe that this is not an actual played toon, but was created and subsequently deleted in the hopes of fermenting more chaos in The Black Company. I'm just glad he was such a poor actor that we caught on to him before he could do more damage.

As it stands, because of this attack this camel is nearing those final straws. If Turbine did anything against me concerning this post my play on DDO would be over for good, which means The Black Company would inherit a bunch of great gear.

But like I said, I appreciate the warning and the concern.

Crimson

Yes, I know. But it's still against the rules to mention a name for blacklisting..just looking out for a fellow player is all. Hope everything can be recovered and set on the right track.

[Hvymetal]

Wow, sorry to hear of your troubles hope you get everything straightened out. Seriously I had not noticed THAT sort of guild politics going on in Khyber, ie.e this guild hating that guild, that guild hating this other guild. Glad I've missed that part of it I guess.

[Arj]

Mate, I'm really saddened to hear about what happened to your guild. I agree with another poster's sentiments - politics should be left in the office, we should be playing this game for fun.

Just to set the record straight, I have no idea how our guild name got dragged into this. We don't bear you guys any animosity whatsoever. I can only imagine that the saboteur was using the name of a larger guild to somehow cover his tracks, I dunno.

I really feel for you guys, and hope you recover from this ****** incident and become a stronger guild for it

[Crimson_Dark]

Wow, sorry to hear of your troubles hope you get everything straightened out. Seriously I had not noticed THAT sort of guild politics going on in Khyber, ie.e this guild hating that guild, that guild hating this other guild. Glad I've missed that part of it I guess.

Well, that's just it...neither have I, and that's what started cluing me in to the fact that this character was trying to run a game on us. As a matter of fact, I’ve always thought The Black Company had good relations with the other guilds on Khyber, and was personally buds with a many of the other guild leaders (pre-merger).

Whoever this person is, for some reason I think he had a gripe against The Severed Fist, Stormreach Thieves Guild, and The Black Company. Why, I don’t know. Either that or the Company was just a target of opportunity in an attempt to impugn the others two.

In discussions with a few of my officers, we believe we know who did this, based on the access times listed in the guild roster after the first officer who noticed the missing membership logged on and assumed we’d been hit by some bug (trusting lot that we were).

Unfortunately, such evidence is circumstantial at best, and I don’t want to point the finger at someone unjustly.

I just want to say this to my fellow guild leaders, please make certain of your prospective officers…especially if they seem curiously anxious to be made an officer. My trust in player decency was my downfall here, and I’ll be the first to admit that I was far too trusting.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words. It means a lot when you’re feeling kicked and down.

Crimson

[Aeneas]

Sorry for all the problems you guys are having, always been a big fan of black company members myself (not to mention severed fist and STG). I know for a fact that the guild leaders of all of these guilds would never condone actions such as these.

That said, awesome drama. Almost feels like a conspiracy brewing in stormreach. Warring factions set against each other by some fancy espionage work performed for mysterious reasons. What will unfold?

[seldarin]

Crimson, just to throw my sentiments in as well, as Aeneas said ( i hope i spelt that right), i dont condone that sort of behaviour from any of my guild members (The Severed Fist) and if i found anyone dealing in such things they would be summarily booted forthwith. After my removal from SRTG i had some feelings of animosity towards certain members, but that is a thing of the past, we move on with things. There have been instances of newer members of SRTG, and i have spoken with one of the officers about it, harrassing a member of my guild and almost forcing them to leave the game. This may be where some of the comments about SRTG/Severed Fist may have stemmed from. And indeed it could very be the same person trying to stir up trouble. As with every game/guild there are always bad seeds that delight in everyone elses discomfort, and unfortunately short of tracking them and all their family members down, nothing you can really do about it. Suffice it to say i for one have had nothing but good dealings with members of you guild which is why i took the time the other morning to speak with you and try to get to the bottom of things. One of my guild members was consirably upset by it all. As to shaking in our boots, the person in question obviously doesnt know me or Emerld very well. My guilds leadership is made up of two people, myself and Emerld and rest assured neither of us condone this sort of behaviour (as previously stated). I sincererly hope that The Black Company comes back stronger from this and that you remain in the game as i believe that we lose too many good players from this game and the bad seeds that perpertrate these deeds are all that remain.


Regards

Kelderon

[PurePandemonium]

My guilds leadership is made up of two people, myself and Emerld and rest assured neither of us condone this sort of behaviour (as previously stated).

Regards

Kelderon

Is Spudy still in your guild??.. IMO he is the best guy to have by your side when all else fails. He may also be the best looking Dwarf in the game with his 20ish cha and all.

[seldarin]

Is Spudy still in your guild??.. IMO he is the best guy to have by your side when all else fails. He may also be the best looking Dwarf in the game with his 20ish cha and all.

Yes he is still in my guild, and yes he is one of the best people to have by your side, so to is Emerld. Is this Spudy pulling for a plug lol j/k. Only have small numbers in my guild, but that is the way prefer it, that way you know who everyone is and it doesnt get out of control.

[Boldrin]

I know what it's like to log on and see your guild gone with no warning. It sucks!! I don't know any of you, but hate to see anyone get shafted like this. Best of luck on recovering .