Written by members of the community

Issue 7

WORLD NEWS

Summer Games Draws Crowds

The crowds are gathered for the spectacle called the Britannian Summer Games. This year’s sponsors of the games is Serpent Cross Frozen Tavern Treats, all your 80 proof favorites on a stick to beat the summer heat. Athletes are present from all eight major cities along with participants from the Royal City in Ter Mur, so we expect some fine competition this year. The event took off with a bit of an upset, when the torch runner disappeared en route and was never seen again. The torch however did show up on a Luna vendor priced at 50 million gold. Despite the delay, the fans are very geared up this year. Vas Mag-Dig of the Royal City took the gold at thumb wrestling; a real spoiler for the gargoyle haters out there, and there’s sure to be some agitation amongst the fans when the time comes for the jumping events. In the corral potion toss, Lady Lagfest of Minoc scored a gold with a record 12 sheep taken out by a single purple potion; a top record to be sure. The Boozeball event is being postponed until later in the games due to players suffering extreme dehydration during the practice sessions. The red-baiting event was recently concluded with Duke Sandwichpress of Yew drawing in 8 murderers to the Felucca Yew moongate with 7 successful guardwacks. This is some of the best taunting seen in this event. The competition was unable to ramp up their atagonizing to draw in the fence-sitters, and Sandwichpress takes the gold. Sofandra of Moonglow received a postumous silver for her effort, with Neb of Jhelom trailing with a bronze. 

Museum of Death Suffers Poor Fate

Tragedy struck Saturday, when flames erupted from the Museum of the Macabre during its grand opening to the public. Patrons were escorted to safety as bucket brigades battled the conflagration to no avail. Those loyal to the museum’s curator, managed to to rescue all but a decorative cabinet from the burning structure. Investigators are questioning witnesses on an alleged individual fleeing the scene of the event.

Britannia’s Event Monitors Not Cannibals Says Mesanna

Britannia spokesperson Woot-Woot Barney today denounced as “mere speculation” reports that the Event Monitors lured players into a Tokuno wooded area for an Iron Chef Competition. “They were the chefs,” Town Drunk accuses, “And we were the ingredients.”

This reporter stared at the veteran player, as he leaned noticeably to the left in the saddle.

“What happened?” I asked.

“It was horrible. Some of us followed runes marked ‘Good Food’ to a woods. We were jumped by EMs wearing chef’s hats & carrying cleavers. They slaughtered several people I knew and popped them into Hags caldrons full of boiling water. Then they danced around the caldrons adding spices and chanting, ‘Kick-it-up-a-notch.'”

“They chased me,” Town Drunk said, “Yelling, ‘Get that one! He’s already marinated.'”

The big man shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, leaned left again and fixed me with his steely eyes. “I can show you proof,” he said.

Town Drunk looked around carefully. Then he dismounted and mooned me.

OMG! His left buttock is missing!

“They almost got me,” he said. “It was real close, I tell you.”

But the Britannia spokesperson Woot-Woot, even when confronted with this eye witness testimony, dismissed it derisively, saying only, “Well, that evidence is half-arsed, ain’t it?”

– Investigative Reporting by DeadBob

War Hero Vindicated

Today marks a triumphant day for an unsung hero whose name was finally vindicated and came about as a result of some very unusual circumstances. While browsing an antiquities shop, Thomas Brower discovered a carved figurine in uniform that strongly resembled himself. What followed, was a personal quest that would eventually clear his father’s name. Thomas’ father, Marcus Brower had long suffered the stigma of having been named a deserter in the war against Minax’s forces and he and his family would endure the slurs of the locals, calling him a coward and a traitor. Sadly, Marcus claimed that he could not recall what happened in those days, and those facts would remain shrouded in mystery until the discovery of the figurine. The carving was that of his own father, Thomas had learned from the shop owner, as well as the name of artist who had created it. Thomas then travelled to meet with the artist, who was a survivor of the massacre at Paws. When the artist discovered with whom he was speaking, he promised to make a concerted effort to locate other survivors, so that the story could be told. And what a story it was. When Corporal Brower arrived at Paws 35 years prior, he was a scout sent on a mission to report back enemy troop numbers and armament. Slipping past enemy patrols and guards, he came upon a hamlet with survivors numbering no more that 30, as Minax’s troops systematically eliminated anyone deemed a possible threat. The remainder were those with no martial training; tailors, cooks, artists, etc. It was those individuals that he would secretly rally to use their own knowledge and talents to deliver a crushing blow against the town’s occupiers and avenge the deaths of the slaughtered villagers. Enemy forces in Paws were gathering as a spearhead against Trinsic. In the time that he remained concealed in the village, Brower was able to coordinate several acts of covert sabotage. Working with the miller, they let slip a concealed location cache of deliberately tainted grain, which the enemy forces were willing to utilize for their own rations. With the assistance of a local artist, Brower had maps drawn to replace the ones the enemy would be using to coordinate the attack against Trinsic. Heavy seige equipment and calvary would be bogged down in swamps not appearing on the new maps. Travel routes would pass through lizardmen encampments. When the spearhead was launched a smaller retinue remained behind as a safety measure. Brower’s luck did not hold out as he was captured following an inspection of the village, resulting in a brutal interrogation that rendered him comatose. Inspired by Brower’s example, the village tailor fabricated two uniforms closely modeling the ones worn by the occupying forces. Two volunteers donned the uniforms and attempted to carry the injured scout to a safe location, but were unable to carry him past enemy lines, due to guards posted around the perimeter of town. The town’s coffinmaker proposed the unique solution of placing Brower’s unconscious body in a coffin, and conspicuously carrying the coffin for burial outside the town limits. However, guards insisted upon accompanying the burial party, and Marcus Brower was buried and remained so for 2 days, when two villagers slipped past the posted guards in the night and were able to disinter him. The two faithfully delivered their charge to a nearby hermitage, where he was presumed to have been treated for his injuries. The two men returned from their errand back to the village so as not to arouse suspicion. Soon afterwards, the spearhead failed, the war ended, and the people of Paws often wondered whatever happened to the hero who came to their village.

Brownies Mix Up Trouble in Yew

Brownie workers are in custody after a string of incidents following their departure from their previous employment with a popular footwear firm. By a consensus, the idle band decided to try their hand at an entirely new business enterprise, when Yew foresters discovered the group attempting to haul an oven into a yew tree, which had been conveniently carved out for the purposes of establishing a cookie factory. The brownies asserted that they attempted to go through proper channels but were thwarted at every turn. However, town locals countered that the devious group made every attempt to circumvent proper procedure, even going so far as listing their business as “elven run” to curry favor with Heartwood denizens. Nana the sweet at the Jolly Baker pointed at a framed scroll on wall of her bakery as she stated. “This is a charter from Lord British, himself, for this establishment to serve as Yew’s provisioner of baked goods, and we meet the needs of this town quite adequately without having to jockey against a bunch of foreigners, thank you very much.” Eric Flamell, a resident woodsman had been cutting firewood, when he confronted the brownies during a previous attempt to gut out one of the ancient, giant yews. The woodcutter who was livid, expressed concern that their reckless activities might compromise a key support keeping Heartwood aloft, resulting in unecessary elven casualties; threatening to report them to the foresters if they persisted. But the warning went unheeded, and they moved on to yet another location to pursue their obsession. In the aftermath, foresters felt that a horrible tragedy had been adverted with ovens, trees, and feckless feys making a sure recipe for disaster. Legal counsel has prepared an amnesty deal for the brownie group, provided that they never return to the region. The chief spokesman for the brownie group seemed affable to the deal and is looking at future prospects of converting ore carts into concession stands for the hungry lunch crowds in the mining town of Minoc. 

TRAVELOGUE

Tiny Terrors

To some they can be more annoying than those who insist upon sparring with thier horses or cats at the public bank. They are notorious for slipping out of the hidden, dark places, waylaying adventurers and stealing foodstuffs from backpacks. Roaming in packs as numerous as ratmen, they are seldom ever seen, but the gremlins are scattered throughout the lands causing all sorts of mischief. Very few notice the shenanigans that they have committed over the years unless you count the incident where the gremlins stripped the grapes from the arbors; much to the chagrin of the monks. To this day, the Yew winery still contains a magical chest to protect the plants and keep the gremlins at bay. One of the latest deviltries, for which they are said to be responsible is sneaking around at night and vexing cartographers by replacing the treasure maps that had been already decoded with new ones. So clever are they at concealing themselves, many insist that they are just a myth. But, more than one argument has erupted between close allies as a result of some item either planted or deliberately misplaced for the gremlin’s personal entertainment. These pests have been lurking around since the dawn of time and will probably continue to forever plague mankind with their hijinks. So, be wary even in the safety of your homes when it comes to these tiny terrors.

CLASSIFIEDS

On behalf of Clan Chitter, we’d like to thank Tammy Knockers and Eugene for allowing us to be part of your special day by sending us all of that wedding cake. Very rarely are we sent anything of value from the upper world, (bulk order deeds mainly) so you can imagine how flattered we were to receive such wonderous treats. Why not consumate your marriage in a honeymoon suite which we would be happy to provide? We wish to offer a complimentary set of prospector tools as a small token of our appreciation. Again, Tammy and Eugene, congratulations and may your first litter be a healthy one.

Love, Rakktavi

ADVERTISEMENTS

Why is the Yew Times the most purchased newspaper in Britannia? We asked our readers and this is what they had to say:

The pages of the Yew Times is twice as absorbant as the competitor’s. One page is enough to wrap an entire sea bass, and one issue will last me an entire week of sales.

 – Pavel the Fishmonger

The Yew Times is wonderful. Not only do I start off my morning with it, but it it keeps a body warm at night.

 -George the homeless beggar

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Not only is the rune beetle a valuable ally to the tamer, with it’s poisonous bite and tough exoskeleton, but they are also quite the attraction at sporting events. In a group, the glowing letters on their backs can be used to spell out a favorite team name or the fans’ favorite rallying slogan.

ARTS AND LIVING

Good Day, Readers,

My name is Corinthian, and as one of the writers of the Yew Times,

I’d like to dedicate this segment to a very close personal friend of mine, 

my virtue armor, who gets picked on all the time. So today, I wrote a song 

about him. 

Oh, virtue armor, you can’t wait to assist.

You give me 70 in every resist.

And no other armor will I ever don,

because you sparkle for me when I put you on.

You’re full of virtue, all righteous and pure

a hundred percent blessed; no need to insure

You’ve always been there, right at my side

and waiting in my pack whenever I’ve died.

I save tons of gold on any repairs.

because you fix yourself; no other armor compares

You are full plate armor that won’t make a sound,

and give me away when I sneak around.

In order to complete you, I had to go on a quest,

and as far as quests go, it was the best.

It had sex and adventure, and even romance,

And I’d do it again, if I had the chance.

Oh, virtue armor, you are awesome.

HOROSCOPES

This month’s generic horoscope: 

You are warm and personable and somewhat aloof. Your favorite colors are red, yellow, green, orange, blue, purple, and indigo. You are an adventurous free-spirit and prefer to stay at home and read a good book. You occupy your time thinking of all the hobbies that are all out there to do. You become stressed when you do not get your way, and you will never get your way. Not ever. Be first open-minded to the advice of others, then dismiss it out of hand. They don’t know you. Practice what you preach at least 20 percent of the time. Meditate daily at the shrine of choas so that you may find the path to chaotic enlightenment, and look for good bargains whenever you can. 

Bonus horoscope:

As you lay face down in the dirt under a small mob of pixies, you vow to probe further the necromantic arts to divine a reason the fates have conspired to kick you in the gonads.

Written by the EM Team

     “Sir?”

    “Er…Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. Are you Ter-Val of the Royal City?”

    “Ter-Val is this one’s name, yes. This one is to be your guide to the road that leads to the sick camp, but no further. It is good that you are armed…the area is not without its dangers. It is this one’s great sorrow that this one cannot escort you into the city, but this one has strict orders from Queen Zhah.”

    Dupre gave Ter-Val a curt nod as he gestured ahead. “Let’s get going then. The sooner I can see this healer the sooner I can lay my suspicions to rest.”

    No further conversation was needed between the two soldiers.  The noise of armor, footsteps, and wings were the only thing to punctuate their journey until they had reached the road leading to the camp. Ter-Val paused as he prepared to head back to the Royal City, 

    “You will find the camp further along this road; the sliths and wolves sometimes wander along it, it would be wise to keep your sword at the ready. This one apologizes once again for this one’s inability to escort you further.”

    Dupre waved it away, and gave the gargoyle a smile. “It is a soldier’s job to follow orders, and I could no more hold you any ill will than I would expect of my men who follow their orders.  Go with no worries.”

    The sound of the fading wingbeats of the returning gargoyle was eclipsed by one that Dupre was far more familiar with as he drew his sword. It shouldn’t take long to reach the camp, regardless of what might lie in his path.

    “Sir Dupre! Sir Dupre!”

    The knight turned, glancing around at the voice, before recalling to whom it belonged and looking down. He knelt and sheathed his weapon, blade slick with the oil of the leather wolves he’d slain along the way, and held a hand out for Sherry to alight on. 

    “I thought I had told you it was merely Dupre to you.” His smile was broad under his mustache.  The little mouse tittered in his hand as she waggled her whiskers at him.

    “I never thought I’d see you out here! I thought you returned to Felucca after the battle in Ver Lor Reg?”  Dupre stood, and adopted a slightly weary look as he replied.

     “There were many tasks that had to be taken care of…and they have taken me to many places. I wonder then, if you were not here to see me, if you too are here to see this strange healer?”   The camp was just now beginning to come into view and the stark fence rose grimly amidst the landscape.

    “Yes! I heard him speak but I was driven away by one of the angry gargoyles who thought I was a plague spreader!” Sherry squeaked angrily as they entered the camp.

    “Well I’ll not let them besmirch your shining reputation farther, Sherry. But if I’m not mistaken, this is the very fellow before us.”

    Despite their conversation and the noise of Dupre’s armor, the robed figure before them made no effort to turn or regard them at all. He was evidently hard at work before them, mixing together two of the vials of the cure. Dupre remained silent as he watched the man work, his hands deftly working amidst the vials and beakers and flasks set before him. The manipulation of the chemicals was clearly delicate, and for fear of interrupting him at a crucial step, he allowed him to continue unabated until he set it aside. Slowly, the man turned, his cowl keeping his face covered, and he spoke.

    “If you have cures to give to me, I will take them gladly.”

    Dupre, upon hearing the healer’s voice, reacted in an instant. His stance dropped and the sound of well oiled metal against leather served as his initial response, followed by the shrill squeak of Sherry as she leapt to the ground. 

    “I know not what foul magic has brought you back, abomination, nor what vile purpose you are serving here…but I will send you back to the depths of the tomb where you belong.”

    The healer quickly held his hands out to his side, showing each with a bag of reagents. Even as Dupre tensed, the healer’s action was to drop both bags upon the ground, and slowly turn to face Dupre, keeping his hands out and empty.

    “I do so often remember the disparaging way you would speak of me, Sir Dupre, but I hardly imagined you thought me an abomination.”   Dupre kept his stance ready as the healer slowly moved his hands up so as not to alarm the alert knight, and pulled back the hood of his shroud to reveal a face that Dupre recognized well. The last time he’d seen this face, though, it had been partially consumed by the clockwork monstrosities of Exodus and with eyes that burned with hatred and resentment. The healer before Dupre looked to him, and the eyes held none of that utter contempt that he had felt in the presence of the thing that lay in Blackthorn’s tomb. Instead, they seemed only intrigued, curious, and if he wasn’t mistaken…just slightly grateful. Still, Dupre wasn’t ready to discount him as a threat. The two were locked in this stalemate for long moments before a small, shrill voice cut through the tension in the air.

    “Dupre! Let’s try and talk about this first! It’s obvious he’s not the one you think he is!” Sherry rose up on her hind legs as she spoke, her hands clasped in a very realistic approximation of a human’s pleading.   Dupre curled his lip, his bushy mustache twitching slightly as a scowl appeared on his face…but he slowly moved out of his stance, and let his sword drift down, until he let the tip rest in the soft blades of grass by his plate-armored feet. Clasping both hands around the hilt, he stood to his full height and stared at the man, never taking his eyes away for even an instant.

    “It’s obvious he’s exactly who I think he is…but he may not be all that I think he is, either. So talk, Lord Blackthorn. How came you to be in this state?”  Lord Blackthorn let his hands slowly come down as he was no longer in any seeming danger, and Dupre’s scowl deepened as a gleam of amusement entered into Lord Blackthorn’s eyes. 

    “That, Sir Dupre, is a very long tale, and one which I am doubtful you would believe. Still, I have no reservations against sharing it with you both…but I would have one request of you, Sir Dupre.”

    “And what might that be, Blackthorn?”  Dupre kept his gazed fixed.  

    Lord Blackthorn’s face lit up slyly with a grin. “I know you are particular to discussions being had with a drink, but I would much prefer it if we do it over a game of chess. If you’ll just step inside, I happen to have a board with me…” He gestured for Sherry and Sir Dupre to join him, and together they headed towards the small buildings dotting the encampment.

We have corrected the following issues on the Origin shard:

•  Infected gargoyles will no longer spawn.
• The raiders will no longer spawn in Ilshenar and/or Malas.
• Players should no longer be teleported into invalid locations when answering the Call to Arms.
• Players should no longer be ejected from the Despise boss encounter if they enter specific regions of Despise Level 4.
• Negative karma inhabitants of Despise will no longer aggress onto negative karma players, however they will still fight back if attacked.
• Andros and Adrian encounter changes
  • There should now be a leash on their wisp lieutenants.
  • There should now be a 5 minutes notification before the Doom Spell is casted.
  • Players will now be given 5 minutes to loot and will no longer be teleported back to their base immediately after the encounter.
  • If a players possessed minion is conscripted more than 1 minute after Call to Arms is answered, they will not be transported to the battlefield and will need to wait until the next Call to Arms is called.
  • Conscriptions will only be accepted for one minute after the Call to Arms. If you conscript after a Call to Arms is answered, then you will have to wait until the next Call to Arms.
  • When players fail to slay Andros or Adrian the Doom Spell will now be cast properly.

  Here ye here ye…the great race is back! Following a string of impressive victories over some of the best treasure hunters in the realm, the Gold Diggers of Legends Shard received a well deserved rest as other shards prepared their teams. They are prepared, and the Diggers’ rest is over. A Challenge has been issued by the shard of Europa:

Dear Legends,

Europa has been busy. For weeks we have grown a team of Treasure Hunters that are now ready to challenge you, Legends, and your team to a race of seven dangerous chests. The Elven League of Virtues team from Europa is primed and raring to go… But do you accept?

Regards,
The Elven League of Virtues, EM Adris & EM Emile Layne of Europa

  Eager to compete once again, there was no delay from Legends in issuing a response:

  Will this group of Virtuous Elves be able to succeed where many have failed? Or will the Gold Diggers prove once again that they are in a League of their own?

  Find out as these two teams meet on the sparkling island of Nujel’m for the latest match in the Cross Shard Treasure Hunt Challenge!

We have just added 3 fantastic items to the Origin store.

An Instant Pet Bond Potion

• This Potion will instantly bond your pet without waiting 7 days

A Set of Three Garden Beds

• You will be able to purchase a set of 3 garden beds without having to buy the Rustic Pack (still requires entitlement)

A new Mythic Character Token

• This is an improved advanced character token, gives you 5 skills at 90 points (no templates) and 225 stat points.

To help us celebrate our 15th year anniversary we have come up with a nice piece of art that will be the reward for this writing contest. We will be picking 5 winners from each shard. The players that write the best story about their most memorable moment in UO will be sent a code to redeem for one of these robes.

The rules are as follows:

• Must be between 250 to 500 words
• Deadline September 15th
• Essays will be judged based on originality, content, and how well they capture what is special about the memorable moment they have chosen to describe.
• Winners and their essays will be announced on the Herald
• Codes will be mailed to you by Mesanna by October 6th
• Mail your entries to your shard Event Moderator. If you do not have an EM on your shard, please email your entries to barmstrong@ea.com

Good luck to everyone and we look forward to reading your stories. Here is a sneak preview of the reward for this contest.

Psst!!! Notice ladies we have a robe that fits us!!

Our Internet Service Provider in Australia will perform a maintenance today between 10am EDT and 1pm EDT (12:00am AEST to 3am AEST). During the maintenance window the connection to shard Oceania might get lost for a short time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

Hello everyone,

There is a lot going on in UO, so let me tell you all about it.  First, there is Publish 78 which is on its way to all shards soon. We have revised Despise, placed the artifacts on Siege only on Cora and level 3 in Covetous, relocated some of the monsters everyone is missing in other areas, and for the younger players we have earth elementals and more! The Anniversary rewards will be given out starting the month of September. As some of you know the Harpsichord is among one of the items; additional music can be found on monsters in Ter Mur. We have removed the Bless deed and added a Steward to the list, since this is an ongoing clean-up system we will be changing out items on it from time to time. Remember nothing is gone forever *grins*.

We have already started working on Publish 79! I am sure everyone will be happy to know we are working on a method to distribute the Scroll of Valiant Commendation. We have come up with new seasonal content for Halloween and added a few new items to the pumpkin patches, so have fun and remember to visit your graveyards *evil laugh*. For this publish we are getting Christmas gifts and Veteran rewards put in so I hope everyone enjoys what we have come up with. Yes, sneak peeks will come later!

As everyone is aware we are quickly come up on our 15th year Anniversary. To start celebrating this we are bringing back Return to Britannia for the whole month of September. I hope to see old friends and new ones! Let me go ahead and assure everyone that they cannot place houses (see we have learned from past mistakes =P).

I have received a lot of emails regarding the Party here in Fairfax on the September 29th, everyone that has written in so far has a reserved slot already. We have a block of rooms reserved for you at a discount rate if you will be spending the night. Here is the link to the motel. I will be posting an agenda for everyone soon on the Herald.

If you want to enter our writing contest announced on the Herald (we love to read how creative our players are), please send them to your EM’s so they can compile all the entries and send them to me.  I will be sending them to the judges without names on them to avoid concerns about favoritism.  The judges will be one person from the Japan team, one from the community team, EM team as a whole (EM’s will not vote on the shard they work on),  Petra from Stratics, a mystery judge, and myself.  Please remember it has to be between 250 and 500 words, the ones I have gotten directly have fallen a little sly of the requirements.  I look forward to reading all your memories!

Last but not least I wanted to tell you what we will be working on after Christmas.  Publish 80 is going to be a bug fix as I promised.  All we are going to be working on for this publish is bugs, both our team and the Japan team are all looking forward to being able to take a breath and fix as many bugs as we possibly can for this publish. Misk has been going thru the Stratics boards and looking for open issues that are not written up.  If you do write a bug please give details so we can reproduce the issue.  The whole team is really looking forward to this as much as I am sure most of you are.  Will be nice to get the most pressing bugs off our plates!!

Now for the exciting part of the letter.  Remember what you are going to read after this is not written in stone….*takes a deep breath*  This is a list of things we have been talking and brainstorming about:

• Vendor search
• High Res Art
• New Art pieces such as new furniture ( if we don’t break the new artist to much maybe even new armor and new monsters/tameables)
• New Paperdoll  (time to change the diapers)
• New tasteful hues on tameables other than cu sidhes
• Enhanced UI Improvements for EC client
• Currency Conversion (gold would be on character/account, no checks)
• Revising UO Armor to make all types useful again
• Revising pet slots
• Pet Revamp
• Chaos/Order and doing away with factions
• Reworking champ spawns (improving mobs, loot etc)
• Add new items to fishing and fishing quest rewards
• New sea creatures and encounters
• New wearable’s for both male and female
• Working closer with Stratics to streamline the search  to help filter out duplicate questions so the team can address some of the player questions weekly
• Meer/Juka Loyality quests
• Battleground shard

So my friends this is what the team has worked on, is working on and wants to work on in the future.  I will be putting up some sneak peeks to finish out what Jeff started in his letter to you guys so see if you can guess what the puzzle is.  I know everyone will have a lot of questions, especially about the last list.  When we make our decision as to what we are going to work on each publish I will give you guys a heads up.  Thank you for reading this and if your coming to Virginia.  Please have a safe trip!  I will be putting up an agenda of what we are going to do and what you can expect of the day soon, so please keep an eye open for that.

This is the second piece of the puzzle… good luck!

Thank you everyone!

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Producer UO

As Ultima Online, forerunner and pathfinder of the MMORPG genre, rapidly approaches it’s 15th Anniversary, so too does www.stratics.com, possibly the oldest continuously active MMORPG fan site on the internet.

Why is it the oldest? Because it was launched in October 1997 by Ryan(Den Dragon)Finlay to support this awesome game and its players.

The ‘tree’ that is Stratics has developed other ‘branches’ over the years, supporting later games and is now owned by George Vanous of TGN.

The strongest, and oldest, ‘branch’ is still uo.stratics; continuing its staunch support of Ultima Online over its full 15 year history through comprehensive play-guides and news features on the portal, http://uo.stratics.com and through message boards at http://stratics.com/community.

Now, in a move to strengthen this already long established bond, Petra Fyde, Managing Editor of uo.stratics, senior administrator of stratics.com/community and avid UO player, takes the title ‘UO Community Liaison’. In this role she, ably supported by a select group of uo.stratics staff and Airmid Cecht,TGN community manager, will form a conduit between the UO team, led by Mesanna, and the player base.

All UO Fan sites will be invited to feed into this conduit to communicate their user’s questions and concerns. These questions will be compiled by Petra and sent to Mesanna to be answered on a weekly basis. Fansites should appoint one person to be a contact person for that site and introduce yourself to Mesanna.

We will push Publish 78.0 to all shards during the maintenance this evening. 

For your reading pleasure, here are the completed notes:

Publish 78.0.0

Anniversary Items

Anniversary items for the 15th Anniversary of Ultima Online have been added. Considering these are a gift from us to you, we will drop a few sneak peeks in the upcoming weeks.

• All Characters older than 30 days will be eligible to receive Anniversary Items beginning September 1st, 2012 and ending September 30th, 2012

List of Anniversary Gifts

• Harpsicord and Harpsicord Rolls
• Heritage Token (due to request for ladders)
• Sands of Sosaria (16 unique historical items, hint: dbl click them when you pick one)
• 3 exploding muffins (just for something to go boom)
• A new Anniversary Cake has 10 pieces of cake each. Careful once you eat all the pieces the cake will disappear.

Despise Dungeon Revamp

This was the premise for the two brothers which serve as the Boss mobs in Dungeon despise.
         Two brothers, both well learned in the arcane arts, lusted for the same woman. She was but a simple maiden, tending to the ranches dotting Britannian countryside, her beauty, however, was without equal. Both men knew should they compete against one another, neither would succeed in bearing fruit with such beauty. So the brothers conspired, and began to corrupt the very fabric of her love. Together the brothers conjured a powerful Polymorph spell to transfigure themselves into the perfect man for the maiden to love. For months they would deceive her love, the maiden unknowingly accomplice to a corrupt triangle. Finally, she gave birth to twins. Despite the powerful magics the brothers used to pursue their ruse, the mother’s love for her children was too great and the brother’s trickery was uncovered. Outraged at such a thing the maiden cast away her lovers forever, cursing them to the Abyss. As the twins grew and their mother aged they would learn of her hate towards their fathers. As each twin grew to adulthood and became their own man, they would blame the other for their own father’s fate, and come to despise one another. Already practiced in their fathers’ art and fully possessing their arcane talent the twins began bartering with the mysterious Wisps. Eventually each convinced the Wisps to conjure an army with which to destroy the other. Their mother, bearing witness to this feud and knowing the dangers of the likely outcome, pleaded with her sons to reconcile. Corrupt with rage, there was no foregoing their anger and so she mediated at the Shrine of Compassion, hoping in her heart of hearts for her sons to end the feud. As she meditated a mysterious Wisp appeared to her and in an instant an eternal pact was struck. The mother’s love was enough to save Britannia from impending war, but her sons, filled with despise would be cast there forever…

• Note that this new content is on Trammel only
• There is a mysterious wisp near the entrance to Despise. Double-click it to have a conversation and learn something of the new dungeon content.
• The top two levels of the dungeon are now aligned to Good and Evil and are at war
• Look for the stone ankh inside the dungeon, and use it to commune with a Wisp
• Your purpose is to help out your side in the war by building and training your army
• The strongest army will periodically be transported to the Final Battle in the depths of Despise
• Collect Putrid Hearts (the Dungeon Crystals of Despise) and spend them with the Mysterious Wisp on powerful rewards
• The Final Fight can yield new artifacts!
• Siege only – Artifacts will drop on the Covetous mobs and Cora

Despise Artifacts

Compassion’s Eye
Ring

• Intelligence Bonus 10
• Mana Increase 10
• Mana Regeneration 2
• Luck 250
• Spell Damage Increase 20%
• Lower Reagent Cost 20%

Unicorn Mane Woven Sandals/Talons

Human: Sandals
Gargoyle: Leather Talons

• Nightsight
• Random Damage Eater 2%

Despicable Quiver / Despicable Vail

Human: Large Quiver
Gargoyle: Leather Wing Armor

For Quiver:

• Archery +5
• Damage Modifier 10%
• Dexterity Bonus 5
• Reflect Physical Damage 5%
• Hit Chance Increase 5%
• Random Resist 10%
• Lower Ammo Cost 30%
• Weight Reduction 30%

For Wing Armor:

• Throwing +5
• Dexterity Bonus 5
• Reflect Physical Damage 5%
• Hit Chance Increase 5%
• Random Resist 10%

Hailstorm
Human: War Fork
Gargoyle: Gargish War Fork

• Random Super Slayer
• Hit Lightning 15%
• Hit Mana Leech 30%
• Hit Cold Area 100%
• Hit Chance Increase 20%
• Swing Speed Increase 25%
• Damage Increase 50%
• Cold Damage 100%
• Durability 255/255

Cleanup Britannia Dyes

Two new and two old dyes have been added to the Cleanup Britannia Collection.
Players may choose the following dyes:

• Black and Green Pigment
• Shadow Blue Pigment
• Vibrant Crimson Pigment
• Reflective Shadow Pigment

Halloween Masks Added

Two new Halloween Masks have been added. Beware of the pumpkin patch between October 1st, 2012 and November 10th, 2012

New Casino Games

• Visit the Fortune’s Fire Casino at the base of the volcano on Fire Isle
• See the Cashier to buy Casino Chips or to cash out your winnings. The exchange rate is 100 gold for 1 chip
• Bet your Chips with one of the two dealers in the Dice Tent:
• Chuckles’ Luck: Bet on a number between 1 and 6. The dealer rolls 3 dice. You win your bet amount for each time your lucky number comes up!
• Hi-Middle-Lo: Place a bet on “High”, “Middle”, “Low”, or “Outside”. For the real gamblers out there, the “Outside” bet pays 5:1 on a win!
• Enjoy a mug o’ Fortune’s Fire Grog, and don’t forget to tip your waitress

Stewards

Some of you asked for this type of NPC and here it is. We have added a Steward to the Clean up Britannia system, it will cost 10,000 points, and we have replaced the Bless Deed with the Steward. Below are the requirements for using one.

• Requires 125 house item storage and one vendor slot to place.
• Can only be placed in public houses
• Can be named
• Can be dressed
• Can be programmed using give words to will give items out to other players when spoken the correct word or phrase.

Bug Fixes

• The rockslides preventing passage into Central Ilshenar have been cleared.
• Act II of the Awakening has been disabled.
• The Afflicted Gargoyles of Ter Mur have been healed
• Seedboxes will now hold up to 300 unique seeds and 5000 total seeds.
• Rare hued vanilla plants are available from completing the Naturalist’s Quest.
• Lava Lobster traps will now retain the correct name when returned from buoy form.
• City Raiders have been added to the Brigand Fort between Yew and Britain.
• Ghosts will no longer get stuck in the Experimental Room within the Abyss.
• The maximum price of an item on a player-run vendor is now 175,000,000gp
• Players who kill certain creatures in other parts of Covetous will no longer receive score credit on the Void Pool scoreboard.
• Mannequins can now wear faction armor.
• Removed the restriction for the Advanced Character Token and the Mythic Token on Siege.
• Increased the artifact drop chance on Cora from 10% to 30%
• Mannequins and stewards cannot equip Holy and Vile items on Siege Perilous/Mugen
• Infected gargoyles will no longer spawn.
• The raiders will no longer spawn in Ilshenar and/or Malas.
• Players should no longer be teleported into invalid locations when answering the Call to Arms.
• Players should no longer be ejected from the Despise boss encounter if they enter specific regions of Despise Level 4.
• Negative karma inhabitants of Despise will no longer aggress onto negative karma players, however they will still fight back if attacked.
• Andros and Adrian encounter changes
• There should now be a leash on their wisp lieutenants.
• There should now be a 5 minutes notification before the Doom Spell is casted.
• Players will now be given 5 minutes to loot and will no longer be teleported back to their base immediately after the encounter.
• If a players possessed minion is conscripted more than 1 minute after Call to Arms is answered, they will not be transported to the battlefield and will need to wait until the next Call to Arms is called.
• Conscriptions will only be accepted for one minute after the Call to Arms. If you conscript after a Call to Arms is answered, then you will have to wait until the next Call to Arms.
• When players fail to slay Andros or Adrian the Doom Spell will now be cast properly.

Classic Client 7.0.27

• Cliloc Changes
• Fixed issue where the sitting animation and a chair can allow the classic client to become out of sync.
• Fixed classic client crash related to Gargoyle throwing weapons

Enhanced Client 4.0.27

• Cliloc Changes
• Fixed EC crashing periodically when dealing with loading and unloading dynamic objects.