rumBLe_kiD
Out from a shattered cabin in the Undead Plains,
Jostling its useless bristles like a nervous twitch;
Out from a shattered cabin once again it came,
Flying forth unfinished by its owner lich;
Shedding nuts and bolts throughout the tree-tall crops
As I waited, charging mana, holding sword aloft,
And bursting out against it, all at once it stops,
Pivoting ungainly at a burnt-out croft.
Another magic missile plops like summer rain,
Lighing for a moment a level one cadet;
The golem, blindly thrashing through the fallen grain,
Leaps like a malformed marionette;
Jerking like a tragedy of lag and freeze
The killsteal wizard turns his tail and flees.
Too dark to see for long the breathless chase,
The robot clanks and lopes against the moon,
One sweaty finger keeps the mage’s pace,
Pressed against a key; but slowing soon,
The monster winds its talons up like springs,
The slashes come, the floating name turns red,
The victor bounds like joy on crippled wings
As news flies up that rumBLe_kiD is dead.
Dead, alas! We hardly knew your name;
Another party steals the nearly-stolen kill,
Loots the broken bodies, scarfs up its fame,
Then scatters off like geese across the hill.
The Undead Plains grow still, and peace at last
Heeds the ghost of rumBLe_kiD go past.