Left to right:  Jim “Onifrk” Crawley, Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong, Stephen “Bleak”  Brown, Jeff Skalski, Greg “Kyronix” Havlusch, Michael  “Misk” Armstrong

Author:  EM Drosselmeyer

     The crystal crackled and sputtered in her hands as she poured her considerable magic into it, causing the ground around her to tremble with the power…but soon enough it calmed, and nothing had happened. She had assumed as much might happen…a focal point was needed, and the crystal alone couldn’t do it. It needed something stronger, something more powerful…and that was when she thought of the perfect spot. And the best part was, almost nobody was ever there. With a wicked smile adorning her face, she gestured over to Shanty. “Attend me, Shanty; I may have need of your particular brand of persuasion if we run into trouble.”

     A dark, guttural chuckle came forth from the slightly heavyset man, as he drew a large cutlass glittering with magical enchantments. “As yer wish, m’lady. Ah live ter serve, yer know…’specially when it mean gettin’ ter ‘ave a little fun with ol’ Sharkbite ‘ere.” His tone was affectionate as he patted the flat of the blade along one shoulder for emphasis. A wave of her hands and with the chanting of the words of power, a red moongate opened up, and the duo passed through to their destination.
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     “Poor ol’ bard…bad day ter go ou’ sightseein’.” Shanty grumbled as he came back to see the Lady setting up the crystal carefully, some of the bard’s blood still on him as he wiped Sharkbite off with an oil cloth. “So, what is it yer up ter up there? Not tha’ I need ter know, but if yer need help…” He left it open ended, as she stood up from what she was doing.

     “While I appreciate your offer, Shanty, magic isn’t one of your strong suits…”

     “Yer got me there, m’lady.” Keeping the cutlass out, he checked it’s edge…despite not needing to, the enchantments keeping it’s serrated edge razor sharp perpetually. “Ah’ll jes’ do what Ah do best ‘en.” He stepped heavily over to the steps and pulled a slightly dingy orange out, peeling it with his bloodied fingers nonchalantly and taking a bite from it as he did. “Yer jes’ yell if yer need me, m’lady.”

     Grinning to herself at Shanty’s antics, she turned to admire her handiwork. The gem lay at what might be one of the strongest focusing chambers…even if it wasn’t typically used for this kind of focusing and reflection. Held in place by a powerful spell, the gem lay at the center of the mirrors she’d finished repositioning. “Showtime…” She said softly to herself, before chanting words of power in combinations unheard of since before Nystul’s vanishing. The room trembled with magical power, the entire structure itself shuddering under the immense forces tearing through it’s very core, before a hideous cracking noise was heard, as if the entire building was being torn asunder.

     Shanty heard the noise and whirled his head, seeing an intensified glare of power flaring out of the windows of the lighthouse, the only sound over that of magical energy is her voice chanting those words, and finally ending with a cackling of successful laughter. The storm of energy howls even louder to drown her out for just a moment, before all suddenly goes quiet, and the light vanishes.

     Stepping gingerly outside, the Lady smiles as she walks out with the crystal in tow, tucking it into her pouch. “This will do nicely…and should be quite amusing at the same time. Let’s see what other mischief we can get up to, Shanty.”

     “Yer got it, m’lady. Yer payin’ me enough an’ providin’ me wif more amusemen’ ‘en Ah’ve seen in years…so yer jes’ lead the way.”
With a smile she chanted the words again, a new moongate opening before her. “And Shanty…call me by my name. I’ve been hiding for long enough, I think.”

     “Yer go’ it, m’lady…err…Lady Minax.”

     With that, they stepped through the gate and vanished, leaving behind only the repositioned mirrors and a body carried away by the ocean to have proven their presence at the great Lighthouse.

Tomorrow (October 22,2013)  during normal maintenance we will be publishing Publish 84.   We have adjusted the Bards peacemakings AI per the feedback we have received.  Along with the next phase of the global arc of the invasion please take a few moments to read the new fiction, 

Enjoy,

UO Team

Enter the Lady

Walking through the den brusquely, the scarf covering his face flapped slightly in the ocean breeze. Despite his vocation he’d never been a fan of the Den…far too tempting for some of it’s denizens to pull a dagger on someone without bothering to know they shouldn’t…and while he could handle himself, he wasn’t in the mood. Something of his manner must have put out that aura though, because he remained unmolested as he made his way into the tavern, and pushed the door open roughly. The loud noise and carousing ceased for a moment as all eyes turned to the door, but with only a moments glance all of them returned to what they were doing…save for one man, grinning at him through a face full of rotten teeth.

“Oi, now there’s tha lad I be waitin’ fer.” He slapped a grimy gold coin onto the scarred old table and folded down the dirty cards in his hands. “Yer come wif me, an we’ll square yer away.” He slapped a meaty hand on the man’s shoulder as he led into one of the backrooms, and closed the door behind him. Inside, the man took off the scarf and dropped a satchel down that made a clinking noise as it did. “Yer din’ have ter much trouble, now, did yer Ricky?”
Shanty took a seat at the far side of the table as he spoke. His breath stank of ale and rot, and Ricardo wrinkled his nose into a sneer. “I didn’t have too much trouble, but I do have questions. And if you answer them all and I like them, then those can serve as the bonus. If I don’t, I’m walking out of here.”

The man seated at the other side of the table guffawed, laughing heartily while his face turned red. “I hope yer won’t be walkin’ ou’ wif that bag, since yer already got ‘alf yer pay. Bu’ go’head an’ tell a tale ter amuse Ol’ Shanty, will yer?”

“I didn’t have much trouble getting in…and the trouble wasn’t with the operation either.” Taking a moment to glare at the craggy old man, he narrowed his gaze. “I don’t have a lot of patience for not being told all the information, though. And I’m left with a question.” He opened the bag, and dragged out a sword, and dropped it unceremoniously on the table. “And I think you’re smart enough to know what the question is just from this.”

The sword on the table was a fine example…hammered Minocian valorite, a solid piece of metal with razor sharp edges…and a crest engraved onto the blade near the hilt. The crest was a square of alternating light and dark rays, eight of them in all, providing the background for an almost cross shaped design with a silver serpent wrapped around it. The symbology was something anyone in Britannia would recognize…and so was the central theme.
Shanty looked over the blade and his sickening smile got even wider. “If yer ‘ave tha’, then yer must know yerself already. Did yer thin’ we sen’ yer ter some rich ol’ noble’s private dungeon or sumthin’? Don’ ac’ the innocen’ now, Ricky.”

Ricardo scowled with his eyes narrowed as he listened to the reply. “If that’s your answer, then I’m not sure I’d believe what you might have to tell me about what this is, then…because I’ve enough of an inkling to know its power.” Ricardo slipped a beautiful gem out of an inside pocket, and was holding it in his hand. “And I’m certain I don’t trust you or your benefactor with something like this. So I think I’ll take my leave…and take this as mine for now.”

With that, Ricardo turned, but didn’t manage to even take one step before a snap broke the silence in the room and his wrist was seized by a sharp pain and yanked him back into the room. He looked up to see that a whip was wrapped around his forearm, and a woman in black leather stepped forward out of the shadows where she’d been concealed by some form of magic. Her voice was sonorous and sultry, but held within it an undeniable edge that could be used to cut granite. “I think that perhaps you’ll find that that belongs to me, my dear little thief.” She knelt down with a serpent’s smile as she pried the crystal out of Ricardo’s hand, and unwrapped the whip, securing it back at her hip and peering at the crystal for a moment before pocketing it.

“Run along, now. You’re a smart boy, so I hope I don’t need to tell you the kinds of things that might happen if you try and go against me.” She pulled the thief up by his collar and brushed him off with a smile that belied the words she spoke. “I’ll just leave it to your imagination.”
Ricardo was as pale as a sheet as he frantically stumbled out of the room, the woman’s laughter mingling with Shanty’s, and sending him fleeing to the gate as if he’d seen a ghost.

During maintenance tomorrow morning October 17, 2013 Origin will get Publish 84, tomorrow afternoon during Izumo’s normal maintenance cycle they will also get Publish 84. 

A Risky Proposition

Author: UO Team

It took him a minute to spot her in the crowded tavern, but as soon as he did it brought a smile to his face, and he joined her at the table. “Hey…looks like you got here a bit faster. I could only get anything useful out of a few…and even that wasn’t too much since most weren’t interested in talking at all. It seems that no boats departed from Papua at all, and nobody should’ve been able to utilize the Serpent’s Pillar at the time we came across the wreck. I’ve also heard word that it’s not the first unexplained wreck…there’s apparently droves of them in places where a ship was never even sighted. Unfortunately, we can’t find any information on the inhabitants…and the one I saved still isn’t awake.” Running his fingers through his hair, Isaiah exhaled exasperatedly. “How did your search turn out?”

Isabelle smiled over to her fiancee, and took a drink from her mug of ale. “Well, apparently a pretty face can win out over a rugged sailor’s brusque manner!” She gave him a wink, her tone teasing and playful. “Some of the crews who pulled in salvage ships are talking all about it, and it looks like a lot of them are loaded with goods…clearly stolen items, and they suspect they are pirate vessels. But the more important thing…nobody can find where the items were stolen from. None of our ships that went missing have those items listed on their manifests.” Isabelle frowned as she noticed the look of intense concentration on Isaiah’s face. “Hey, are you listening? I thought it was important…”
Isaiah had been enthralled by Isabelle’s story at first, but something else caught his attention…he gave her a meaningful look, and said softly, “Keep talking…about anything.”
Isabelle gave him a curious look, but continued, as Isaiah did his best to listen in on a conversation he heard from the next table over…
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“Well, it’s no’ that yer weren’t the first we thought o’…but maybe we assumed yer jes’ lost yer nerve after that ‘ole mess with the scion, y’know?” The man grinned through a set of rotting teeth, looking at the smartly dressed fellow across from him.
“Lost my nerve? Who do you even take me for? And did you really think this kind of word wouldn’t get back to me? You nearly sent lambs to the slaughter is what you did, you twit. Nobody else can possibly handle this job.”
“Oh, so yer saying yer can? Can yer back that up, boyo?”
With a bit of an irritated hmph the man straightened his doublet slightly, pursing his lips as he pondered. “I can do it…whether it’s worth my while is another matter. What exactly are you offering?”
The rotten-toothed man grinned once more, and slid a small bag across the table, which the other opened and suppressed a whistle. Inside were several of the largest gemstones he’d ever seen, along with a note listing what the remainder of the payment was…as well as more details on the item to be stolen. With a few laughs under his breath, he looked across the table. “A bit presumptuous to hand someone like me this much, and even the instructions before I even accepted, isn’t it?”
“Oh…well, she knew that yer’d take the job. And she right, ain’t she boyo? Yer up fer it, ain’t yer?”
Rubbing his chin for a moment, the man only replied after a long moment of contemplation. “Tell whoever she is that it’ll be done. And I expect to get everything entitled here…and we’ll see if more is needed based on how much trouble I run into.”
——————————————————————————————————————
Isaiah made sure that when the smartly dressed man stood from his table he had his attention on Isabelle, to look like he hadn’t been listening. Truth be told, he’d lost interest about halfway through…irritated that it turned out to have little to do with the matter at hand. Giving his fiancée his undivided attention, he smiled to her. “Well, it doesn’t look like we’re going to find much more out here…maybe we can find something out at Skara Brae or perhaps Trinsic.” Taking a final drink of the ale, he stood. “Vesper was always a bit too breezy for my tastes…”
 

Revenge of the Enchantress

The next phase of the current content arc finds Britannia’s Loyalty cities under attack!

• Loyalty Cities (Britain, Trinsic, Minoc, Yew, Jhelom, Moonglow, New Magincia, Vesper, and Skara Brae) in Trammel and Felucca are under attack!
• A random loyalty city in Trammel and Felucca will be under attack at any given time.
• Invasion forces consist of a Captain and a group of minions.
• Minions must be killed off before the Captain becomes vulnerable to attack.
• Minion groups are chosen randomly at the beginning of a city invasion and remain persistent for the duration of that City’s invasion.
• At the beginning of each city’s invasion a beacon will be built within the city limits.
• The objective is to destroy the beacon to end the invasion.
• The beacon will only become vulnerable to attack after a requisite number of Captains have been killed.
• Killing captains, minions, and the beacon can reward the attacker with minor artifacts.
• Artifact reward is influenced by luck.
• Minor artifacts can be turned in to Agents of the Crown, NPCs located in each loyalty city, in exchange for Artifacts Bearing the Crest of Blackthorn.
• Blackthorn Artifacts are identical (in nearly all cases) to other artifacts currently available, however are a different art type.
• Blackthorn Artifacts include new versions of: Lt of the RBG Sash, Quiver of Infinity, Rune Beetle Carapace, Cloak of Death, Cloak of Power, Cloak of Silence, Cloak of Life, Conjurer’s Garb, Mystic’s Garb, Shroud of the Condemned, Folded Steel Glasses, Mace & Shield Glasses, Night Eyes, Crimson Cincture, & Tangle.
• A new wearable, the Epaulette, is available and can be worn in the robe slot. These are meant to replace the robe so the rest of the armor remains visible. They can only be seen in the paper doll.

Cornucopia – Thanksgiving Treats

• A chance to acquire a rotating pig on a spit BBQ has been added to the Cornucopia.
• The BBQ pit can be used as a fire source for cooking.
• Once per day you can double click the pig to receive, at random, a platter of pulled pork, or a pulled pork sandwich.

World building

• A stable has been added to the City of Vesper near the Vesper Bank

• The ‘Fault’ and ‘Ready” tooltip for the Ararat’s Winch Assembly is now hued in the EC.
• Players may now toggle off the PVP warning gump provided when travelling by house teleporters to Felucca. You may re-enable the gump by the avatar’s context menu.
• The EC now provides an item description for Bane property.

• Cliloc Changes
• New Art Additions

• Cliloc Changes
• New Art Additions

In the spirit of Halloween the UO Team has donned Halloween costumes, Enjoy!!

Tomorrow morning October 8th Great Lakes will be down for an extended maintenance period of 3 hours between 6 am est and 9 am est for scheduled network maintenance. 

We are bringing down Lake Superior at 10:30 am EDT this morning for a force maintanence.  This should fix the issue of the shard not preforming its daily scheduled maintenance.  It should be down no longer than 30 minutes.

UO Team

Tomorrow morning during maintenance (September 25th,2013) we will be extending the down time for a few hours to update some outdated hardware on Lake Superior.  We do not expect the shard to be down more then 3 hours maximum and expect to have it up and running no later than 9 am. 

Thanks in advance for your patience!

UO Team

Good Morning 

    Houses that have been placed in the new Deep Sea Quest area are being deleted.  The ability to place houses there will be corrected today.  Game Masters are in the process of going to each shard and deleting all houses they find in this area.  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

UO Team