TC1 will become The Shard of the Dead till November 1st  starting today.  Hope everyone has a Spooky Halloween!!

We are proud to announce our annual Shard of the Dead. Dungeon Shame is once again your battleground for spilling your enemy’s blood. Here’s how it works:

You must create a character on the Shard of the Dead. You will arrive without any items, money, or pets on a platform where you must choose to join a team. Enter either the Slasher Gate or the Exodus Gate, and you will be transported to a safe haven for your team. Here, you must obtain some gear and supplies, in order to prepare to enter the Infernal Battlegrounds.

Lucky for you, the dungeon floors are literally strewn with powerful magic items. All you have to do is survive long enough to grab some and put them on.

Once you accumulate enough to fight the monsters in the dungeon, you will find they drop still more powerful loot, along with gold and items that allow you to summon strong pets.

Be careful, though! All your equipment is cursed. If you die, you must start naked again in your team’s base. You are granted one blessed item at a time but must remove curse from items using the “Cleanse Cursed Item Deed” which is a battleground reward. If you can gather a group of friends, have a go at the Disciple of Lucifer. He’s extremely tough, but his loot is very worthwhile.

Every few minutes, a gate in each team’s base will open, taking all who dare to go to the Infernal Battlegrounds. Here, team Slasher and team Exodus engage in a struggle to capture each others’ bases, and to hunt down and slay The Butcher. Fighting in these battles offers opportunities for still greater rewards, including the Supreem Headless Bomb and the Flask of Invulnerability, along with your pick of the cursed items picked from the corpses of your slain enemies.

Scoreboards in each team’s base show battle records and players’ mouse over tooltips show their PvP stats.

So once again come on down to Shard of the Dead and join us in the slaughterfest!

Once again, it is time to announce the next set of winners in the Memorable Moments Contest. Our judges enjoyed reading the 13 entries we received from the Napa Valley shard and selected 5 excellent winning entries.

Here are the 5 winning UO memories from Napa Valley:

“Come try this game with me! You can do all kinds of things- make any kind of character that you want to play and you can get a house and decorate it!” Peering over their shoulders, I found that I was intrigued with every aspect of the game. I wanted to run those lands and fight those monsters and have as much fun as they were having…I was hooked.

After many weeks of training and saving gold, I was told to go explore and see the world. I ran until my horse was out of stamina. I stopped to rest my horse, and looked around. Mountains were along my left and forest to the right. My friends looked over my shoulder and realized that I could put a house where I was at. I had not seen any creatures, except for a rat. It was the perfect place to settle and create my next character, a blacksmith. My first house was placed, a small marble workshop!
I mined and mined those first weeks, with not a care in the world. I thought I was invincible! I had handled any of the monsters that have shown up outside my house even on my miner. The day started like any other, I logged in and prepared to go mine when I thought I saw a red name on my screen. I knew this wasn’t possible as I was in Trammel, so I went about my business as usual. I mined a load of ore and recalled back to my house. I walked into my house, and out of nowhere all these red names appeared on my screen. I was surrounded and didn’t stand a chance! I was paralyzed with fear as they came into my house and my screen went gray. I had died! How were they able to come to Trammel and kill me?
I frantically called out to my friends to get their guild together and demanded that they come kill all these red players. They recalled to my house and proceeded to kill all the reds. After they resurrected me, in-between their fits of laughter, they explained that these were red npcs not players. I will always recall this memory as my most memorable moment in UO- my first encounters with reds!

Lunata was created to be a crafter.  Never a hunter, but often hunted in those early days of Napa Valley’s beginnings, she tried her best to sneak into the North Minoc Mines for her chance to acquire valuable ore and someday become a GM miner/blacksmith/tinker.  This was before valorite, insurance, sending bags, LRC , or fire/blue beetles.  Outside of towns, besides monsters were PKs…player killers intent on stealing everything from your corpse.  If you left your house, you would first go bank your house key. Losing  your key to the PKs meant they could own your house and all of its contents too. So for the first few months of her existence she would train mining in those caves, and leapfrog  the ore across the lands to a forge to smelt her ore.  No matter how careful she was,  the inevitable game of fox and hen would commence.  Lunata always….and I mean ‘ALWAYS’ ended up as the dead hen.  She would run as fast as she could on dial up modem, rarely reaching safety, and usually lose her hard earned ore as well as tools, ingots, and reagents for spells; but she was wise enough to never lose her house.

She had a brainstorm; constructed a key ring with dummy keys on it for the next PK brazen enough to take the bait. She would make keys and save them.
Any time she crafted a wooden box, she’d add the key to the ring.  Back then, there wasn’t a limit of 10 keys to a ring, so Lunata’s ring probably had a few hundred keys on them.  She lent the ring to her sister Cutty Sark, a rather daring character with not enough sense to stay out of Felucca dungeons.  You can guess what happened next.  Cutty was able to avoid the many monsters residing in the dungeon, but not escape the coldblooded red Dread Lord, PK extraordinaire, that lived to kill and loot innocent civilians.  She watched in fascination and grey tones of her corpse being liberated of belongings…including Lunata’s key ring.  Of course the PK believed he was the owner of a new home and double clicked the ring, releasing all of the keys into his backpack.  He was instantly overloaded and couldn’t even take a step out of the dungeon until he emptied each key from his backpack.  Haha…a monster saw his predicament and thought this was an opportune moment to slay him.  Short time later we were both ghosts in that dungeon, but I was never happier to be dead in game than at that memorable moment.  Crazy Lunata got her sweet revenge on one red with only her brain and no brawn.

P.S.  The Devs added a limit to key rings shortly after that incident. Darn!

My most memorable UO moment was in August 2000… just a few days after I opened my account.  My husband (boyfriend at the time) had been playing UO for about 18 months and had finally suckered me into trying it out.  He was adamantly opposed to letting me try playing on one of his characters and insisted that I had to create my own.  As a journeyman swordsman I had managed to work my skill up on stray dogs and cats in Skara Brae and was ready to journey out into the wilds on the mainland.  Killing orcs was hard work, but I had managed to earn enough gold to purchase my first horse, armor set and a good weapon.  I was so excited with my progress that I returned to the forest to continue saving up gold coins.  After another hour or so my coin purse was getting full and I decided I better get back to town to deposit my days work into the local back.  Before I made it back to the road, a murderous mage emerged from the woods and paralyzed me with his magic.  His words… “Drop gold or DIE!”  I was mortified!  All my gold, my hard work… I fought back the tears.  I could fight him couldn’t I?  But if he wins I would no doubt lose my gold plus my horse, armor and weapon.  I would be left with nothing and my whole day’s worth of hunting would be for naught.  Resigning myself to the fact that it was better to turn over my coin than risk everything, I placed my gold on the ground.
But my story does not end there… by this time my boyfriend had become aware of the robbery and was on his way.  After the would-be robber collected my gold I informed him that he should hang around a minute, there was someone I wanted him to meet.  He laughed manically as two more of his plundering crew emerged beside him.  Three reds… this could end badly.  No sooner than their laugh subsided my back-up arrived and a battle ensued.  Cracks of thunder and lighting split the silence.  The hiss of ebolts and the searing heat of flamestikes crackled through the air.  Almost as quickly as my ordeal had started, it was over.  Three red corpses lay strewn across the forest floor.  Not only did I get my gold back, but I happily collected their equipment and magical reagents.  In a moment of pure revelry, I donned one of their robes and danced around the corpses singing “look at me, don’t I look good”.  The last I heard from them as I entered the moongate back to safety was a trio of “OoOooOo Oo OOo oOO “.
12 years later and many UO memories behind me, I will never forget… “Drop gold or DIE!”

The Day that Changed the World

Won over by the descriptions of this world from my brother, and the possibility of playing a RPG with a myriad number of real people, I had to try this game out. My first time stepping onto the virtual soil of Ultima Online was just absolutely amazing, a real paradigm shift in my daily life. It was my introduction to a new world, a new way of gaming and socializing, of downright enjoyment.

I recall the awe of entering the world in Britain as Talon the Red, the top knotted fencer, and seeing a city packed with bustling citizens swarming the streets chatting and hawking product. I wandered around the cobbled streets a bit waiting to find my brother, tamed a dog to keep me company(named it after his character in jest), and waited at The King’s Men Theater for the rendezvous.

Our adventure began by heading west, crossing over Gung Farmer’s Bridge and into the outlying farmsteads, leaving the city behind. It was explained to me along the way that you can chop the trees for wood, mine the mountainside for ore, harvest the fauna for resources, all of which were needed for different career paths. He spoke excitedly of all the skills and environmental interactions, ways to earn gold, dungeons to crawl. A whole world unto itself.

The journey continued through a western mountain pass and was warned of the outlaws that roam beyond guard patrol, that we may likely end up running for our lives. Inside this pass I encountered my first giant spider, a fearsome thing, luckily on the heals of a friendly tamer. In the wood thereafter we chanced upon dilapidated ruins of crumbling stone walls and broken furniture. We were met inside by a woman who asked if we wanted some fresh cookies she had just baked. I recall thinking, ‘how bizarre’, yet exhilarated this exists in a virtual world, especially at this role playing level. After we left I believe he mentioned something about poisoning, ‘beware o’ what you eat’.

We meandered a spell, changed direction a few times, and eventually the outskirts of Skara Brae slipped into view. We traipsed into town safe and sound, a successful attempt on my first venture through the sticks. I was certainly not quite so lucky at other times.

My first day, first countryside crossing more precisely, in the Ultima Online world would have to be my Most Memorable Moment for it has stuck with me for over a decade now like it was yesterday. It was love at first sight.

After nearly 15 years of playing this game on a almost daily basis I find the project of deciding my personal most memorable moment in UO a daunting task.  I suspect for myself though I could narrow it down to about Sept of
1998 give or take a few months.  UO was in its most violent and chaotic period with PK’s and Anti’s running the lands.  People were doing all sorts on interesting things from forging alliances, building player ran towns, role playing on a scale not since seen and generally enjoying the vast amazing game that UO was and still is.

I was in the dungeon called Covetous which was a dangerous place back then rampant for PK’s coming to kill and loot people on a near constant basis.
A small group of players who were killing the various monsters and looting gold, we were not a guild and I suspect no one knew each other in the slightest.  Suddenly a random player zoomed by us attempting to leave the area but he stopped to warn us a group of PK’s were coming.  At this moment one of two things always happened, you either ran or stayed to die as winning a fight against these organized people never happened but this time was so different it changed my view of the game for ever.  The small group I was in stopped killing the harpies and moved deeper into the dungeon to an area where no creatures spawned.  A long hallway presented its self and we waited for the onslaught.

I was playing an archer as were another two players and assisting us were two magic casters but at this time in the game people at GM skill level was a rarity so the overall weight of our forces was light compared to the better skilled PK hunting teams.  Then the PK’s arrived.

They were a clear group, dressed the same and prepared but we had guts.
Our mages casted a pair of fire fields and this stopped the attacking group as the spell was much more powerful than in current UO times.  Our archers, seemingly assisted by an unknown force, targeted one of the attackers and managed to kill him in the first few seconds of the fight, AMAZING.  We pushed forward and brought the fight which I had never experienced before in the year of UO prior, victory was close.  The PK’s regrouped but they were off kilter and the battle raged with arrows, spells and randomness everywhere.  We fought and eventually a stalemate occurred to which both sides retreated but the event forever changed my view of PvP in an online game and UO as a whole. Mere moment lasted hours.

Victory, or finally not loosing, changed everything and I only wish that all the other people who left UO during those dark times had the same event occur to them as did to I.

We received 15 great stories from the Legends shard. Our judges had a wealth of memories to be entertained by and, once again, we ended up with another three way tie!

Here are the 7 winning entries from the Legends shard:

When I look back at the ten years, I have played Ultima Online my favorite memory is of the month I was stuck in the Lost Lands aka T2A.   When I think about it, I laugh and laugh.   I really was the noobiest of newbies.  I am sure you are wondering how anyone becomes stuck in T2A for a month.  Well it started with an ostard, yes an ostard.   It was 2002 and I was on my tamer Serena hanging out at West Britain Bank like everyone did in those days. A pair of fellow players, whose names have long been forgotten, approached me, wanting to know if I could tame one of them a forest ostard.  I replied that I was a newbie tamer, but my skill was high enough to tame a forest ostard.  However, I did not have a rune to where the ostards were located.  Not a problem, my new friends had a rune and could gate!  “Great!” I replied, “Let’s go!”  The mage cast the gate spell, and we departed.  

Shortly after our arrival, we were accidently separated, but we had partied up so we were still in communication.  I gleefully announced over party chat I had found an ostard, where were they.  Well, what I had actually found was a FRIENZIED ostard, the psychopathic cousin of the mild mannered forest ostard.  Oh yeah, he killed me like a newbie on a mongbat.   I told my new “friends”, I was dead and needed a rez.  They dropped party and I never heard or saw them again.  I was dead, my body had poofed along with it my reagents, my armor, and my glorious finds from the bank floor.  I started down the road and on a month long adventure.  For several days, I would log in and run looking for a town.  One day I saw what looked like “civilization” on my paper map.  I ran as fast as my ghostie feet would go to this town.  Snake people!?!?  Spider people!?!?   This is NOT a friendly place!  Then I ran to the next town on the paper map.  It was infested with UNDEAD!!!  What kind of place is T2A?  After two weeks, I found the city of Papua, and got rezzed.  Well at least, I was among the living again! I decided to sail away from T2A.  I took all the gold in my bank box, bought a boat, and for four days tried in vain to sail away from T2A.  I did not know about the serpent’s pillars; I was sailing in circles.  Disgusted, I put ashore at Papua and despaired that I might never escape this place.  Then I saw a glorious sight, a fellow player!  I ran up and begged him to tell me how to escape T2A.  The wise veteran player told me.  There is a pentagram in the mage shop, stand on it, say “recsu”, and it will take you to Moonglow.  I could have cried!

I was hanging out at Luna bank when I saw the herald spamming to meet in Jhelom.  Little did I know this was the beginning of a long and interesting event arch!  Armando Pascal told us about these mystical creatures called Sea Dragons. To some they look like Blue-Green Sea Serpents but soon to us Sea Dragon Herders they became an icon of Legends shard.  After many drunken meetings we learned there were 3 Sea Dragons swimming in the vast semi-uncharted waters of Britannia.  After many long and uneventful hours, a call came over gen. chat.  We spotted one off the shore of Vesper. The coordinates were given out, many rush to see and even help in the capture of the beautiful creature.  I and my shipmate Spelosity continue our search, up and down the shores.  And again the call came over the Gen chat.  Another Sea Dragon was found.  Alas the third one was never found or at least I was never sure if it was found. I believe the poor thing was killed by the dastardly pirates.   The 2 Sea Dragons we did find and capture started their new lives at Vesper. We use many a boat to block them in the area.  After this we begin to feed and care for the Sea Dragons.  They stayed only a little while in Vesper.  We were give orders by the shady Armando Pascal to move the Sea Dragons to Nu’jelm to the small water way.  This was done by “Herding” the Sea Dragons with boats of all size and description. This took a lot of time and patience as we moved one Sea Dragon at a time.  We again fed and observed the Sea Dragons.  Much to our surprise they were a male and female Sea Dragons.   Soon we had a baby to study and protect.   Sadly, we were unable to protect the little fella and he died in an epic battle.  Not all was lost as we were able to breed the mom and dad again. This time we had two special locations to take them to do this.  One was off the Coast of Dagger Island and the other was off Fire Island.  We soon had two more babies, a fiery Sea Dragon and an Icy Sea Dragon.  We worked as a team to feed and care for the Sea Dragons.  The small group of us that constantly fed and checked up on the babies earned more than the title “Sea Dragon Herders”.  We built friendships that will last beyond the day they close UO’s doors.   The Sea Dragon Herders include Selador, AliceWonderland, Erigo, Bearded McNuge, Jedediah McNuge, Spelosity, and me. (Luc)  There are a few honorary Herders too.  We even have inside jokes. Our favorite is “last time I saw Bearded McNuge, he was sailing off into the sunset with Scalis on his ass!” This was from an incident involving fabled nets and feeding the dragons  If you ever visit Legends you just might hear it.

I was boating one day for a change of scenery when I noticed the island just southwest of serpents hold had activity on it. Not planning to see any players on my journey I was quite excited and docked my boat as fast as I could. As I approached the other player, introducing myself and starting a conversation, I noticed the house he was standing next to was IDOC. A sense of fear overwhelmed me, as I am not usually a visitor to felucca. The other player was being very nice though so I decided to stay and chat for the duration of his IDOC and maybe I would even grab an item or two. All of a sudden a third player showed up and we were under attack! Apparently he was not planning on sharing the riches. Surprisingly the other player helped me defeat the attacker and we resumed our conversation. Just then the house fell! We hurriedly picked up items when our attacker appeared once more, we prepared to defeat him once again when he laughed and ran away just as a harbinger appeared!  My new friend and I forgot about the IDOC, we had already decided neither of us wanted a house in that spot, and turned against the harbinger. It took hours to defeat the horrendous monster that had been spawned upon us, but we stuck through it to the end, healing and resurrecting each other countless times. We even carried out our conversation, in shorter bits and pieces of course, throughout the fight. Much to our attackers dismay, we defeated the harbinger and although most of the IDOC items decayed and neither of us received a conjurers garb, the friendship we had made throughout that morning was infinitely more valuable. We have remained friends to this day all thanks to that one player determined to win the IDOC.

I was wandering just near the city limits of Skara Brae as I noticed forces
gathering just West of the famous “Hedge Maze”.

Pack horses stood, their bags bulging with materials and resources.

Many warriors, mages, and crafters stood nearby ambitiously awaiting orders.
As the anticipation grew amongst this group, individuals began emerging from the
nearby woods bearing town sigils.

As an eighth person emerged, the group was ecstatic.

Then what appeared to be the leader of this group shouted “Move Out”

The group immediately began marching towards the docks of Skara Brae, a ferry
awaited their arrival.
The speed at which all were transported, was quick indeed.
The march then continued to Skara Brae moongate.
At this point, the same individual that had ordered the group to “Move Out” then
instructed all to “Move onward to Britain.”
From Britain moongate the group moved North along the road and then through town as
a tight knit unit, finally arriving at Castle British.
All of the crew immediately took position inside the East Castle wall.
As the last member of this group stepped foot inside the courtyard, the portcullis
was dropped with swiftness.
The crew then rushed into the throne room and split into two groups…
Craft persons within the first group, warriors and mages within the second.

The crafters immediately began constructing a barrier at the entrance of the throne
room.
The second group moved towards the monoliths within the throne room and began
placing their sigils upon them.
As the eighth sigil was placed upon a monolith, this group of warriors and mages
took stand back at the throne room entrance, watching the crafters cautiously.

Upon completion of this barrier, the crafters amongst the group made way to the
hallway just West of the throne room.
In this hallway they made use of their remaining resources by creating parts
required for yet another barrier.
The mages and warriors within the group remained at the barrier located at the
entrance to the throne room.

Hours had passed. The crafters had finished building their materials, their
resources devoured.
They stood silently, awaiting orders to tend to the barrier.

Just then, the portcullis rose.

A group of mages approached.

Followers of Minax.

The Followers of Minax proceeded to rush the throne room entrance. They then began
dismantling the barrier in place.

The warriors and mages within the throne room attacked back with might to slow down
their attempt to remove the barrier.

The crafters amongst the group made swift repairs to the barrier for hours as this
fight progressed.

What happened next was amazing to say the least…

What appeared to be reinforcements of the group inside the throne room, pushed in
through the castle gates.

The Followers of Minax were instantly slaughtered by forces attacking from each side.

My best hunting experience happened a night I was running with my two best mates, Leoltus and Junebug. Two buddies were never more opposite than these guys. Junebug was a bit of a reckless clown, he was never much worried about dying. He even preferred wearing a jester’s hat to advertise his jaunty air. Leoltus was the opposite- always very serious in his honorable mage role and took character deaths personally. Inevitably he’d revert to railing at anyone around that could have contributed to his toon’s demise. This was compounded by the fact that it often was one of Junebug’s kamikaze stunts that had reduced us all to gray screens and text limited to OOooOOs. One might think a team like this is a recipe for disaster, but beneath the very different play styles was a streak of strong respect and downright affection. The night in question, Junebug had managed to talk Leoltus into actually doing a Fel hunt. This was no small feat since Leoltus had just regained his Lord title from his last unfortunate fatality caused by our flaky friend. Fel was not something we normally did. We were bona-fide, unashamed Trammies, baby! Yet, Junebug was persuasive with his arguments of much grander treasure and glory than our normal hauls. Also, it was a weekday night so surely all those mean little kids playing reds were already in bed- we hoped. We were going to do an ‘easy’ peerless we had done dozens of times in Trammel, Lady Melisande. It was gonna be a cinch, according to Junebug, anyway. Five minutes into the hunt we rediscovered the nasty little Fel fact of life that Trammelites always forget- the stamina issue. Surrounded by monsters and tripping over each other, we were soon wiped out from our own inexperience. I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing Leoltus fire off an angry string of Oos and Junebug’s LOL. After regrouping, rezzing, and body retrievals we were back to the business of key gathering. A few more accidental deaths, loss of Leoltus’s prized title and much chortling by Junebug and we were finally ready to go in. Unfortunately, we were cursed with even more bad luck that night, as who would pop up but a few reds! Leoltus immediately fell dead (again) as Junebug transported us into Mel’s lair. I landed in a pile of satyrs and died. For once, Junebug managed to save the day and we were soon all back in the fray. After the battle I was astonished to open Mel’s corpse and snag my first ever crimson cincture! Junebug got the most coveted of hair dye. Even no-longer-Lord Leoltus was crowing about the final piece of set armor he’d needed and had just scored. I’ve never heard of anyone else bagging such awesome loot off the same boss, and we never had it happen again. But man, was that the best hunt night we ever had, made even better by sharing it with my best friends.

Nightmare Casino

I was but a peasant on the shard of Legends; unremarkable by any measure.
I lacked the wealth of the Sorcons of our world, the wisdom of the Devils Owns, the fighting talent of the… ahem… well let’s just say Legends has never been known for its fighting talent.  Even in the lands of Britannia, I wasn’t good at anything.  I was a lost soul, or at least I felt like one.  Until one day an opportunity like none other presented itself.

I was sitting by West Brit bank when an enormous bog thing appeared out of thin air.  He was dark as night and spoke as if he’d seen one too many Tim Burton movies.  He was new to town and taking job applications for the Nightmare Casino.  The jobs sounded awful; casino manager, games dealer, bartender.  Who would apply to be part of such a despicable part of Legends?  THIS GUY WOULD! *Points to self.* This quickly became the pinnacle of my UO experience.  Everything I had worked for; all the hours of working the grind finally paid off.  I BECAME A PART-TIME BARTENDER IN A TRASHY CASINO.  EeeeeHEEHEEHEEEEEEE! My life was complete.

After a brief training session, I started my first shift.  My job – hand out rotgut wine to all interested patrons.  Now, as any EM will tell you, running events and managing item hand-outs is a big responsibility.  And, as a player given the enormous responsibility of handing out event items, I can honestly say, IT. IS. AWE-SOME!!!  For that week as a part-time bartender in a trashy casino on Legends, I felt like Lord British.  The entire shard must have been at the casino, with me being the center of attention.  The bar was always packed with patrons; the casino floor filled with risk-takers ready to win it big.  It truly felt like the Legends community had come to experience this great event together; that guilds and factions set aside their differences to have fun as one unified community. *
*

The morale citizens of Legends couldn’t handle the sinful nature of Nightmare Casino for long.  After a week of watching their colleagues lose their livelihood, the casino was burnt to the ground.  There was so much rotgut wine in the fire, flames burned from the rubble for years to come (no seriously – it took like four years for the EMs to put out the fire).

I visited the site of Nightmare Casino the other day; the foundation still exists.  To me, it’s a reminder of one of the greatest weeks I’ve had in UO and a reminder as to how unique this game and community truly is.  As UO turns 15 this month, I turn 30.  I’ve graduated from high school and college, worked in three industries, and lived in five cities.  The one constant throughout my life has been UO.  I’m privileged to have been a part of this community for half my life, and look forward to many years to come.

Thank you, UO, for your contributions to my life over the years

I looked at him nervously as the gate opened. The blue orb loomed in front of me, advertising this adventure a complete stranger had invited me on. With a slight nod to him, I stepped through the gates, where I was barraged with the cold winds of what I recognized to be Ice Island. In front of me lay a vast castle, inside of which I could make out the figures of countless people moving. My escort, a young warrior named King, stepped through the gate and offered our entrance fee to the greeter outside. With a nod, we were given access.
It was explained to me that the goal of this adventure was to discover the identities of the delegates from each city in Trammel, through bribery, chatting, and anything else we could think of. The prize has eluded my memory. All that I know is it was substantial at the time. However, you only had one guess. If you failed, you were kicked out and unable to return. The castle was decorated lavishly with all the supplies necesarry for such a feat. Game boards littered the hallways. A kitchen with an in-house bartender was right above the meeting area, where every night of the event it would be announced who had made a guess and failed.
We set out with the intent to bribe our way to all the knowledge we needed. It soon became apparent that we didn’t have the funds to fuel this mission, and we had to fall to other, more devious ways. I discovered that the yellow-robed man was from Britain after a couple rounds of a drinking game. King wagered all his armor in a game of chess and won against a blue-robed woman who admitted, as per the terms of her loss, that she was from Moonglow.
Every Saturday night for almost a month I met King at this gathering. After the second week, it stopped being about finding out who the delegates were and started being about making friends. In hindsight, I realize the connection between the delegates’ robes and their city of origin, but at the time we were too young to notice. Eventually, we stopped going to the event altogether. A small group of us founded a guild, called Knight or something else equally short. We began honing our skills together. Me, the tamer whose magical powers helped keep the team alive. King, whose skills with a blade rivaled that of all the well known masters. A sibling team that used their skills with a harp to calm or turn enemies against each other. This became my family for a few years, helping shape me into the woman I am today. I don’t have faces to associate with their names. Aragon, Arwen, King. I just have memories of pixels flying across the screen. Those pixels, however, were just as important to me as the ‘real-life’ friends I made that carried me through my childhood.

Written by members of the community

Issue 9

WORLD NEWS

SCHOOLBOY SLAIN BY PUMPKIN

Guards recovered the body of an elementary school boy from a local pumpkin field in Yew following an attack by dormant pumpkin entity which had been allegedly awakened by the young boy’s summoning activities. Fellow students claimed that the youth was fixated with the entity for several past Halloweens where he repeatedly made a vigil with no manifestation of the entity in question. Regettably, the lad would finally get his wish. His screams were heard by his elementary school teacher who immediately called the guards, but they were unable to understand her due to her speech impediment. His schoolmates who were nearby claimed that they were unaware of the tragic incident, as they were gorging themselves on fruit pies and dancing like idiots. Standing around the body draped under his own security blanket, his classmates reflected how fortunate they were that they had ignored his many invitations for them to join him in the past, and perhaps that the entity will leave them in peace having feasted upon the soul of their friend.

TRICK ‘R TREAT BAGS CHECKED FOR SAFETY

Mages in Moonglow are offering their services at the Lyceaum by checking treat bags with ID wands or make sure there is nothing harmful present. This service is offered free of charge, so that trick ‘r treaters can enjoy a safe holiday season.

 
LOCAL WOMAN SAVES COMMUNITY FROM UNDEAD SCOURGE

They came without warning, lumbering through the darkness into the sylvan town of Yew, its inhabitants unaware of the invading undead force. Fortunately, one valiant woman met the menace head-on; armed with only a cudgel mercilessly bludgeoning the vile undead menace until they lost the will to fight. The defeated army fled into the darkness, and was not seen since. Our reporter marvelled at the feistiness of the grizzled senior and was further amazed to discover that she was in fact blind. When asked if her disability may have been an advantage to her in fighting the undead in the dakness of the moonless night, the rather surprised defender retorted “Undead?!! I thought they were just another group of those pesky trick-or-treaters!”

CAMPERS TERRORIZED BY APPARITION

Three campers reported that their campsite at Lock Lake was attacked by a ghostly pirate with a hook, forcing them to flee for their lives. This marks the sixth such event reported in the area in the past 3 weeks. Authorities have dismissed the incidents as hokum, malarkey, and complete poppycock.

FURNITURE WINS TOP PRIZES AT COSTUME CONTEST

A chair took first place for its imaginative ghost costume in a contest sponsored by the Britain Crafter’s Society. A lamp shade and a mannequin partnered up and became “The life of the party” for second place. A rattan coffee table donned a pointed hat and took third for its “wicker witch” costume to the dismay of present non-furniture contestants

ENTERPRISING DENTISTS MARKET CANDY TOOTHBRUSH

Trick R Treaters are going wild for the newest and hottest Holloween item, the SweetBrush. The colorful and sinfully sweet, oversized toothbrush is advertised as an incentive to get kids to brush their teeth after meals and snacks. The tasty confection not only comes in a variety of flavors, but also lasts over a whole month, so Halloweeners will be getting their money’s worth. Denta-Treats is also debuting their product, Sucro-floss; the candied floss that gets between teeth where Sweetbrush can’t reach.

TRAVELOGUE

SCHOLARS DISCOVER OLDER HALLOWEEN PRECIDENT

For years now, many of the inhabitants of this land have considered the celebration of Halloween to have been brought over by Lord British when he first came to this land from his native Earth. However, a recent discovery by scholars of Sosarian archives indicate that our ancestors have been observing this tradition long before the days of the first cataclysm. Back then it was referred to as Griefing Day, and has since evolved into the form that we practice today. The practices of the customs, however continue in several ways, though many have forgotten the original message. Before the virtues tempered the hearts of men, the people were a sick, barbarous lot; wantonly inflicting abuses upon each other, until it reached a point where progress was being hindered by these constant, malicious antics. It was decided that one day a year would be set aside for this behavior, and those who wished not to participate, would ensconce themselves inside their houses until the day had safely passed. Not to be deprived of victims, the mean-spirited would devise schemes such as setting fire to a burning sack of excrement which would be placed on the victim’s doorstep as they knocked on the door then hid. Oft times, the prankster would be spotted snickering behind some cover, recognized and mercifully beaten on his own doorstep the following day; thus resulting in the innovation of the Griefing Day disguise. The Holiday Celebratory Council enacted several changes in the custom, including the prohibition of any use of arson to provoke the homeowner from leaving his home. Long gone are the days where one would witness resident and guest grappling with deadly intent at the threshold of a home. Nowadays, a trick or treater is content to receive a mild shanking at the doorway or have paint thrown into his or her face. The traditional holiday greeting evolved from flipping the bird to a more cheerful “trick or treat.” The greeting itself became manditory following a series of incidents whereupon a number of hapless door to door encyclopedia salesmen were killed by uptight homeowners on the fated holiday in cases of mistaken identity. Today, the hostility of the occasion is greatly toned down, but there still lingers the residual ancient emnity between resident and holiday extortionist. Spouses have long done away with the custom of handing out poisoned bottles of wine to visitors and have contented themselves with doling out foul pitchers of milk that have been patiently curdling in the pantry since the beginning of the month, or distributing the specially formulated pain wrenching candy that sends a rictus of agony through one’s skull when consumed. Gifts of miniature iron maidens and guillotines hearken back to the days when disgruntled victims would threaten pranksters with torture or decapitation. When these customs are viewed in the light of latest findings, it seems to lend proof to the old addage of the more that things change, the more they remain the same.

ADVERTISMENTS

BECAUSE ADULTS SHOULD HAVE FUN TOO

When Trick or Treaters come to your door, don’t forget to pick up a something special for their mom and dad, or even their Uncle Joe. Because when adults take the kids out for an evening of fun, they need a little something to take the chill out of their bones. So, make sure to stock up on mini bottles of heartwarming cheer, to put that fire in their belly that’ll keep them going the whole night. And nothing makes pumpkin carving with the kids more fun than matching shots and hacking a gourd with sharp knives. So, be a good neighbor give them a night that they probably won’t remember, and keep mini-bottles in your treat bowl this Halloween.

CLASSIFIEDS

If anyone is in the market for human heads, come see me first! I have been particularly overzealous in preparing for the big head demand for the Halloween season, and now I am overstocked. I have some good quality stuff here, and talk about fresh! You won’t find a fresher head unless you removed it yourself. I’m charging a one time only price of 20 gold pieces per head. How do I keep my prices so cheap? Because, I cut the head off the middle man, and pass the savings onto you. And what a selection! If you are interested in a high quality head, I’ll be standing outside the gates of Umbra. Let me show you what I have to offer! Just walk up and say “Do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?”, and we’ll discuss what I can do for you. Because, here at “Some guy with sack standing outside Umbra”, we’re heads and shoulders above the rest.

ARTS AND LIVING

HOLLOWEEN COSTUME IDEAS

This week’s Holloween costume idea comes from Cecil of Jhelom. You can dress up as famous impressionist artist, Vincent Van Gogh this Halloween. You will need: a fake beard, orange hair dye, a straw hat, an easel (to tote around). Entertain partygoers by offering to paint their portrait, or bring along some gift boxes with severed ears in them to give to potential love interests.

KIDS CORNER

Hey Kids! Nothing gets a person into the Halloween spirit better than a tradition Halloween arts and crafts project. This year we have something very special planned. We are going to make our own Hand of Glory. “What’s that?” you ask. Well, back in the day, whenever a thief wanted to ransack a home, he just brought along one of these handy items(no pun intended) with him, and it would render the entire household helpless and unable to take any action. The hand itself acted like a candelabra, where each of the fingers would be lit prior to entering the home. It also had the added benefit of unlocking doors as well, which pretty much made door to door burgularly a breeze. To start our project, we are going to first need a hand; not just any old hand, but the left hand of a hanged thief. This is very important, because nothing can be more embarassing than being hacked to death by an angry and fully ambulatory homeowner. It might be a good idea to test the hand on a friend before employing it in actual use. You might be thinking to yourself, “Well, how do I get my hands on the left hand of an executed thief?” That’s easy as pie. You just need to speak with your local constable or prison official have them contact you should a thief be executed, and hint that you would be very interested in obtaining a left hand if one should become available. Public servants are usually eager to assist law-abiding citizens with these things; just don’t go into any detail why you want the thing. And don’t tell them that you want to use the thing for black magic, because you will end up being asked a lot of questions. Oh, and you may want to ask them if they wouldn’t mind taking the body to a crossroads under a full moon before removing the left hand. This is a very important step. Once you have the detached hand in your possession, you will marinade it in a burial shroud soaked a mixture of natron salts and mandrake until mummified. It’s that easy! Now you are ready to make a killing on Halloween candy or any other valuables that strikes your fancy. Happy Halloween!
This month, the Yew Times will be interviewing local witch, Grizelda and hear her views on the new edict concerning the Halloween period extension. Our reporter has made his way over to a rather run down residence past several odd signs stating “Gingerbread house ahead.”

TY: Excuse me maam, I am with the Yew Times and I was hoping to get a word with you regarding the recently changes in the Halloween schedule.
G: Well, I’m rather BUSY at the moment..
YT: It won’t take but a few moments.
G: Well, come in already. As I said, I have a lot of preparations to make.
YT: You mean, regarding the change in the holiday schedule?
G: Yes. Now that everything is starting almost a whole month earlier and running until the end of the month, I have less time to get ready, since everyone will probably be tired of the whole thing in 2 weeks.
YT: I noticed the signs for the gingerbread house along the path leading here, were you planning to magically transform this house into gingerbread somehow?
G: Signs? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I bet it’s some kind of prank. You know how some of these kids are. Just a bunch of rascals.
YT: I see you have a bunch of apples over here, probably ready for the trick or treat bags.
G: Actually, those are for the apple bobbing game over here.
YT: But, that’s a cauldron.
G: I’m trying to go with the theme, you see.
YT: That is a mighty large oven you have. It looks brand new.
G: I just had it installed. That is for.. um.. all the baking I have planned. Cookies, cakes and all that. I sure am going to be BUSY!
YT: Are all those wooden cages in the corner, part of the Halloween festivities?
G: Let’s see… That is for..TRAPPING THE IMPS AND TROUBLESOME GOBLINS! That’s it! You don’t want them showing up and ruining a good time. Let me tell ya!
YT: And that’s quite a lot of boxes of instant stuffing you have set out here on the counter. Stove Top stuffing…”for CHILDREN?!”
G: I’m sure that’s a typo. It’s supposed to be “for chicken”
YT: and what about these decorative roast frills? They look big enough to put on the drumsticks of a roast ostrich.
G: Well, look at the time. Well, it was nice having you stop by for a visit. And mind the trap door on your way out. Very BUSY here!
YT: Well, thank you for your time.
YT: And there you have it. Witches working overtime getting ready for the new schedule. Surely, many witches will be similarly affected, but we’re certain that it will not disrupt celebrations overall.

 

ADVICE:

Confused, distraught or just looking for direction? Let Esmerelda, gypsy oracle and diviner of truths peer into the infinite and find the answers you are looking for.

Dear Esmerelda
Gladys Abernathy is a shameless gossip. Now that she knows about my little indiscretion, I suppose that I will just have to face the music once the dirt is out. Do you think the spirits might find it in their hearts to propel that hag down a flight of steps?

My child, the spirits have heard your plea and they are willing to intercede on your behalf. No, they have changed their minds again….. The spirits are fickle. So, Esmerelda will provide her own solution. You must at the setting of the sun, venture to the plains of the dead and collect the spores of the potent and hallucinatory weeping maiden mushroom. Then acquire the petals of a midnight orchid, the sap of a spiderwood tree, and a vial of wormwood. Slowly grind these items in a mortar then stir with the tail of a speckled scorpion until a heady intoxicating vapor results. Add to a large pitcher of gin and add ice. Drink deeply until problem is no longer an issue.

Dear Esmerelda
I used to look forward to the Halloween season, but the vandalism caused by certain inconsiderate individuals has decreased my enthusiasm considerably. Is there a remedy for this sort of anti-social behavior?

Daughter of sorrows, I can read your thoughts like book. You must remember, revenge has a price; 5000 gold pieces this week including service charge. A gypsy of some talent could cast a curse on someone who has caused you pain. This would be a simple enough matter, Trust me, they would very likely suffer greatly! Either way, no refunds. For little extra coin, it could even be something perfect for the coming holiday! You know you want too. If you are on a budget, you can always put burning bag of dog poopie on enemy’s doorstep. Yes, it is immature but very satisfying.

HOROSCOPES!!

The Peddler-January:
Be cautious when dealing with reverse vampires this week. Reverse vampires are invisible but can only be seen in mirrors. However, they like to look at themselves in mirrors, crave garlic, wear crosses and have exaggerated tans. So, they are almost like guidos, but invisible.

The Mongbat-February:
If you sit in the darkness in front of a mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times, a spectral bartender will serve you a vodka and tomato juice drink complete with a celery garnish. This offer is good only for the month of October.

The Phoenix-March:
You will be enjoying an outing with that special someone camping and enjoying some fishing. The sun will begin to set and the fog will roll in as you continue to fish. You’ll open the Yew Times and read an article to your partner about the ghost of some pirate with a hook for a hand who has been recently terrorizing outdoorsmen at the very lake at which you are currently fishing. Your date will plaintively suggest that you quickly return back to shore and go home. You agree. But it is not until you get the boat onto shore that you see hanging from the very edge of the boat…..A HOOK!

The Sea Dragon-April:
Take special precautions when partying this month by becoming a member of Kindeys on Kall. So, when you are drugged by a stranger and wake up in a tub of ice with your kidneys missing, you can breathe easier knowing that a new set of kidneys are right on the way in under 15 minutes.

The Hermit-May:
Should you be stalked by talking crows that cry out “Nevermore” in your home, just remember that those babies are worth 50k turn in points a piece when you dump them in the trash barrel.

The Llama-June:
No one likes going to funerals. But, just remember, if you don’t go to their funerals, they won’t come to yours.

The Ancient Wyrm-July:
You will finally meet your evil twin this week, who will look exactly like you except for a goatee. However, if you are evil, you will meet your good twin, who will have no goatee whatsoever. In which case, you should consider growing a goatee or wear a fake one in preparation for your first encounter.

The Anvil-August:
The old man told you not to go out to Wooly Swamp but you just didn’t listen. The provisioner in that small store told you that if you go out there, you had better make sure that your lantern was full, but you just didn’t listen. When that creepy old lady with the claws for fingers told you not to go into the basement of that delapidated house in the swamp alone, you didn’t listen. Now you are locked in a pitch black basement with a burned out lantern and you can hear things moving around in the dark. So, what are you going to do now, smartass?

The Weaver-September:
Beef bullion cubes are great for dropping into the bags of Trick or Treaters. Not only do they look like individually wrapped foil treats, but they look convincingly like chocolate up until the moment they pop them into their mouths. Mmmmmm, salty goodness!

The Wisp-October:
Things will be looking up, as you’ll soon have the opportunity to get your hands on some nice little asset that no one else knows about. It could be an map to an old silver mine, or some hidden treasure in an abandoned house. To be on the safe side, it might be a good idea if you come up with a plan to keep the competition scared off; perhaps with a pirate costume, rubber mask, luminescent paint, and clever props. Just watch out for meddling kids and their stupid dog.

The Unicorn-November:
Fishermen, sailors, or just any guy with a boat is a good friend to have when you need to get rid of a body. That’s something nice to have to fall back on when you’re really in a pinch, so why not befriend a boat owner today.

The Wanderer-December:
You will be drinking in a tavern soon and you will see death staring at you across the room, and you will hastily depart and ride a great distance to escape him. Finally, thirsty and exhausted you will stumble into some distant backwater tavern for water, and there death will be standing. Death will look at you and be like, WTF dude, why are you stalking me?!

IN MEMORY

Below is something we have written in an honor of a passing of one of our friends of this time last year. We would like to share with you on what was published on Atlantic server and not change the words that we had came up with last year. We still think of you, Wolfthistle…
August 9, 1981 – October 25, 2011

“”I wanted to dedicate this issue of the Yew Times to one of our close friends, Wolfthistle, who recently returned to Britannia with his lovely wife, Ferocia. Wolf was a old member of the alliance from days gone by, whom I had just recently met. I recall him as being extremely courteous and generous to a fault, and would go the distance to help people out. We all had been preparing for the upcoming Octoberfest even in Yew, and Wolf, like many of us was very excited getting things together. Everyone was just happy to have their old comrade around again, and they spent a good deal of time showing him all the new things that came about while he was absent. Wolfthistle had just purchased a piece of real estate from an Alliance member and was very immersed in its decoration. He had invited some decor savvy friends over to help, and had tried to turn a non-rotatable item with the decorator tool, which had obviously opened a rift to the spirit world. Chests began rotating of their own accord, and those present thought we’d have the first bona fide haunted house in Britannia. All that was absent was a voice crying “Get out!” It was just 2 days before the event. Food preparation and game planning was in full swing, and Wolf was helping a guildmate with her costume idea. I remember Wolf mentioning that he was experiencing chest pains from climbing the stairs. The following day, I greeted the group and everyone was quiet. I asked what was up, and Southern Devil told me that they were having a moment of silence. I asked for what. Southern then told me that Wolf had died the previous night. I was dumbstruck, and many of us were so disheartened, that we were considering either calling off or pushing back the event. If we moved it back any further though, we’d have to call it Novemberfest. In addition, Wolfthistle himself had been looking forward to the event and had help to make it possible. And if we knew Wolf, he wouldn’t have wanted us to cancel the celebration. In the upcoming days, when the time is right, we plan to have a memorial in his honor. We will miss you, Wolfthistle.””

Lake Superior supplied us with 13 amazing entries that forced are judges to make some hard decisions. After reading all the creative stories we finally decided upon 5 great tales. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Here are the 5 winning entries from Lake Superior:

Sitting in the study of my seaside retreat,I am surrounded by trophies and trinkets won in countless glorious battles. There are priceless treasures and mementos of times long past,pieces of a great town reduced to rubble,exotic weapons and wonderful armor pieces. My gaze falls upon a tattered runebook,the well worn leather cover bears the inscription “A gift from the Wolfpack Guild”. To some it’s just another runebook but to me it’s a symbol of friendship and kindness. You see this simple runebook would forever change my life.

  I was a novice mage wandering aimless and alone through the land when I happened upon a kind stranger,his name was Lord Safeguard.”You look as if you could use some help” he said as he handed me a sack.”Inside you will find a more suitable set of armor,a check and a runebook. Change your armor and use the check to insure it. The book contains a rune to our guild hunt which you are welcome to join if you’d like.”I thanked the gentleman and we parted ways.

  The next few days were devoted to honing my skills so I would prove useful on the battlefield. Finally hunt night had arrived and I waited anxiously to meet the others in the guild. Soon they began to arrive:the strong and knowledgeable leader Lord Fusioncut, sweet and sassy Lady Pandora, kind and gentle Lady Josephine, warmhearted Lady Cassandra, the spirited Lady Tanesis,the fair Lord Mrenzella and the playful Lord Sephiroth. Greetings were exchanged and introductions made then we traveled off to the hunt.

  What an exhilarating evening we had,hunting great beasts and monsters in lands that were foreign to me. The friendly conversation  was filled with laughter and I felt at home with my new found friends. When the evening came to an end and we retired to our meeting place to divide up the treasures and loot from the night Lord Fusioncut extended an invitation for me to join The Wolfpack and I accepted without hesitation.

  Since that most memorable moment I have never been alone. I have built long lasting friendships and I am proud to call each and every one of my guildmates family. Many moons have passed since that night but the tattered pages of this runebook hold the key to my becoming part of something greater than myself.

My name is Chris and I have been playing Ultima Online the last 14 years of my life. I have always played on Lake Superior, as my best friend started there and wanted me to play with him. To me, UO has always been an escape from my reality, as being physically disabled its hard to make friends sometimes. So from middle school till today as I complete my Masters degree, Ultima Online has been a place where I could make friends, share experiences, and be myself without people looking at me differently.
     From the time I started in 1998, I’ve always enjoyed running with a nice group of folks, whether it was to do a dungeon crawl, work on helping a friend finish a skill, or participate in the Events that have gone on over the years ranging from Lord Blackthorn’s demise around the time of the Age of Shadows to today, where we are witnessing Lord Blackthorn’s return. My most fun seemed to come from being in a guild and making lasting friendships through the game that have often carried over into my real life as well. That subject is where my most memorable moment comes into play.
     I had been playing Ultima Online around 3 months at the time and running with  a guild on Lake Superior that consisted of mostly people 5-10 years older than me. They were always giving me guidance, teaching me how to work certain skills, and helping me any way they could. One such individual played a character named Wind. Wind was a very honest and virtuous human being and wanted to help show a young kid and “the ropes”. From the day I joined up, Wind and myself became instant friends.  Well years go by and our friendship is still fantastic and I was teaching HIM, this time, about all the new happenings coming with Age of Shadows, as I had beta access. We both seemed pretty excited and couldn’t wait to jump right in. The day before the AOS release, we had both decided we were going to go to bed early and wake up as soon as the major publish hit so we could enjoy the adventure together. So we spent quite a bit of time online the night before, did a few dungeon crawls, and said our “goodbyes”  to the old ways. We both had a fantastic last day before AoS was to hit and were excitedly anticipating the next day.
    The next day, I wakeup early and Wind was not on. I gave him a call and got the most shocking news. On his way to work, he had been hit by a drunk driver on his bicycle and didn’t make it. I was heartbroken to have lost such a good friend. But if it had not been for Ultima Online and the ability to make such long lasting friendships through the game,  I would have never known such a nice guy and amazing friend. I think that, in my opinion, is what UO does: it creates worlds of fun and adventure to share with others so that each of us can meet people and share in the experience. Ultima Online, has been, and will forever be, my home away from home.

Never forget….

This story took place in Haven in a time before mysterious traders destroyed it with that strange, combustible blackrock substance.  It wasn’t my first day in Britannia.  I had been stumbling around the land for a couple weeks now.  My armor was…. let’s just say newbie.  My sword heavy and slow; or was it I that was slow?  I was worse than your typical new adventurer.  Other players may have previously played a MMORG game; but not I.  Needless to say, I was struggling.

So the night begins like any other.  I went to Haven and wandered from there into the surrounding countryside.  I managed to get into a little bit of trouble.  I was on foot, I have my “wonderful” newbie armor and sword.  I prepared to battle one of Haven’s most foul residents, the slimy, smelly Bogling.  The foul beast saw me, assessed my armor and weapons, and decided that I would be an easy conquest.  He charged.  As the battle progressed, I would swing my sword to no avail.  I was missing the foul creature more times than I managed to injure him.  I was watching my health dwindle, I could barely keep ahead of the damage being inflicted upon me.  And then, disaster.  I ran out of tithing points and could no longer heal.  I broke the first Warrior Commandment:  DON’T PANIC.  I attempted to run into town, in hopes that a brave warrior would rescue me.  I was weak with fatigue and the Bogling was on my heels.   Of course, as luck would have it, a ravenous Horde Minion spotted me weak and bleeding.  He joined the Bogling in hopes of an easy dinner.  I was frantic to reach the safety of Haven.  I started to recognize the surrounding landscape.  The trees were less dense and I saw the tall pillars of Uzeraan’s Mansion.  It provided me courage to continue for I am close to my destination.  Stumbling into Haven, I attempted to yell for assistance “H-H-Hel-…”  The word died in my throat.  I was out of breath and unable to speak.  My only hope was the some kind Samaritan would be observant enough to see the blood seeping through my armor.   Suddenly, a meek looking gentleman riding a large blue beetle approached me and hollared “Guards!”. 

Out of nowhere, a faithful Britannia guardsman comes and slaughters my advisories.  The reserved gentleman remarked that I needed better armor and weapons.  While I caught my breath, he took the opportunity to introduce himself as Lord Safeguard.  He proceeded to sew some soft yet resilient leather armor and forge a powerful and sleek katana for me.    He continued to spend many hours with me, teaching simple techniques that eluded a new adventurer like myself.  I will never forget that night and his kindness that I have continued to pass down to other new adventurers in my continued journeys across Britannia.

Long ago, before my family and I moved from Lake Superior to Great Lakes, something very special and forever memorable happened in the mystical world of Sosaria.  One night, in a dungeon called Doom, I was hunting patchwork skeletons to loot their daemon bones.  I was alone in the dungeon and suddenly became overrun by a diverse mob of monsters.  I was almost dead when a mysterious man that I had never seen before slowly walked into the dungeon.  He quickly saw me, healed my wounds, and put his cloak over me to hide me until I was ready to face the mob of monsters again. 
That was the first night we met.  From that night on, whenever we saw each other we went to Doom.  We hunted together and went on many adventures for about a year… Then one day, this awesome man, Stylez of Great Lakes, asked me to marry him.  He traveled a great distance to get me and then we traveled together through the vast lands to return home.  One year later we had beautiful identical twin sons. 
Our most memorable moment in Ultima Online will not only be shared by Stylez and I for many, many years, but it will also be shared by our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren for many decades, if not centuries.  We will never forget this magical time and will keep the magic alive by retelling the story on our anniversaries to our families. 
We will always love Ultima Online.

We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stopped playing
Looking at my paper doll and seeing 181 months and thinking back when I first started, born in Vesper (Felucca) a female character was created by name of “Misty” in Lake Superior. Misty was so scared to venture more than that boat deck, so fishing for days to gather gold and been happy getting $500.00 was beyond her wildest dream.  Vesper was such a big city and so Misty decided to investigate and started walking around, although scared  she started venturing outside of this huge city, only to find creatures that was beyond her belief, mongbats, orges, elementals, and the very worst creatures were called  “PK’s” (that nasty word) Player Killers.
Misty was able to run to her newest safest home Jhelom (small) but safe, there she found new friends and later joined a guild called the MONG- (this guild has now wilted away) but as a guild they decided to challenge all PK’s out there ~remembering the only world was Felucca. To kill all those PK’s skills were to be elevated up to GM (100) so doing everything to bring Misty’s skills up to a 100 was a daily task to do and with months of working at it, day in and day out Misty was able to get up to a GM mage which was done with no jewelry, no extra accessory’s to boast up her skills.  Yes, she was created from scratch, and today as the years have gone many changes have been done,  Misty still exists with new items to make her even stronger and better then she was 15 years ago, new creatures to kill, new adventures to follow.
Fifteen years has past and Misty has never left UO, not even to take a break, she has been on Lake Superior since the beginning. Although she has met many new friends,  there is only one true friend Misty met from the first day created, a character named Aria both met in Vesper on the fishing dock and till today 15 years later, although never met in real life are still best of UO friends, they still play and share information together. That is something truly remarkable and can never be taken away

Update: The maintenance has been completed.

We will perform an extended maintenance on all East Coast shards tomorrow, Wednesday 10/17, starting at 5am EDT (9am GMT). At this time we expect the additional downtime to last no longer than two hours.

Since we have been overwhelmed in the excitement of having so many ties, we wanted to keep it going by posting another set of winners today! We received 13 entries from the Great Lakes shard and had another tie!

Here are the 6 winning entries from Great Lakes:

Many of my most memorable UO moments occurred in and around Kazola’s Treetop Keg and Winery in what is now Feluccan Yew on Great Lakes.

Located under a majestic yew tree southeast of the Yew Moongate, Kazola’s was a beacon of community in the sea of chaos that saturated Sosaria in those heady early years.  As long as patrons respected one another, all were welcomed within its wooden doors.  However, this did not stop fierce battles from raging in the tavern’s courtyard as various bands of thieves and murderers sought to make a name for themselves.

Citizens of the community, whom the tavern fostered, often availed themselves of many opportunities to converse with the notable, though often strange, personalities of the realm.  One could frequently find the benevolent Rhysart the Hermit relaying the tales of Azhur the Dragon and Mordread the Lich, or the fall of Hebban Olla to a captivated audience.  Conversely, you might also have encountered the realm’s worst enemies of the time skulking about, the Followers of Armageddon’s founders: Martoo Saul, Zendella Kxriss, and Junin Pince.

Distilling out one single event from the treasure trove of fond memories, however, brought one moment into sharp focus. During the tavern’s first anniversary celebration, March of 1999, the most famous personage in all Sosaria graced the festivities with his august presence.  Lord British appeared before a humbled Lady Kazola and congratulated her on the accomplishment of carving out a stable, thriving community center in the wilds of Britannia.  He affixed two “Proclamation of Distinction” plaques to the tavern’s western wall for all to see as continued inspiration to maintain community as foremost in patron’s minds.  Awed revelers promised their liege that they would persist in the tavern’s mission for years to come.

Kazola’s Treetop Keg and Winery did indeed enjoy many more years as a vital community center, even seeing the rise of the merchant-run hamlet of Arcodia spread out around it.  The tavern managed to endure the rough transition wrought by Nystul during the renaissance as the majority of citizens fled to Trammel, retaining its light in Felucca’s darkness. 

Fortunately, the hard lessons learned during the tavern’s formative years helped to mold a stronger more unified community, one that still perseveres to this day.

        A Great Find

  My name is Nurgle and once I was a struggling swordsman in need of a much better suit of armor. Unfortunately, my funds left much to be desired. Not knowing a faster way to make gold, I spent many a night in Despise wreaking havoc on the monsters residing there. First it was the Ettins and Earth Elementals, then the Trolls and Ogres. Finally, I was able to take on the Titans and Cyclopeans. It was slow and monotonous, but still I fight on saving every gold coin I could gather.
  After one such adventure, I made the journey to Luna. I needed to check my bank balance and wanted to see if anything was going on there. Usually, the place is fairly crowded with bank sitters and people hawking out their items for sale. However, this late in the night, it was very quiet with only the minter and bank teller present. Oh well, I should really be heading home to my nice warm bed anyway.
  I was just about to turn and go when something in the corner caught my eye. Walking over, I see that it is a backpack holding 125 items. You see this often throughout the towns. Many low level crafters will sit and grind to gain their skill and leave full packs of junk sitting about. A bit rude if you ask me, but no one has so I’ll keep it to myself. Thinking I would find it full of spyglasses, oil cloths, wild staffs or even city maps, I took a peek.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered bottles of powder of fortifying. I nearly fell off my mount in my astonishment. My first thought was “new suit I can feel you now!”. The second, how am I to get this home? I do not have enough room in my backpack to hold it, nor do I have a pack mule. A quick glance at the bank tells me it is still empty. I knew my brother Kahrn the Betray had a few pack animals so I recalled home and got him as fast as a flash.
  Thankfully, it was still there waiting for him. I did feel just a bit of sadness for the poor soul that lost this. But you know how it goes, “one man’s loss is another man’s gain”. Needless to say, I never fail to stop and peek in backpacks.

In 2006, the Event Moderator of Great Lakes announced that in approximately one week’s time, players were given an opportunity to prove their skills in fishing, stealing, and crafters.  Fishers had a week to capture a fish of the same exact weight as a fish on display.  Thieves had to steal as many items hidden throughout Sosaria with the name “I Stole This” item.  Tailors had to recreate a 6 piece leather armor set with the exact resist modifications as the 6 pieces placed on display.

Since I was a Grandmaster Tailor, I decided this was my best opportunity to actually win something in Ultima Online.  I wish I knew what an impossible task I was about to embarked upon.  I took what little leather I had, and got to work crafting one piece at a time until I had exact match of 5 modified resists.  Thankfully I was a student in college with no job, because I worked at it all day until I ran out of leather, and I still didn’t have a perfect match.  How was I going to do it?

I asked my boyfriend to collect as much leather as he could buy, or collect off of animals.  I asked my Sister to cut up my leather pieces that didn’t match, to hand me back recycled leather.  I asked them both to verify that my pieces did not match.  Finally I started to create exact matches.  I might actually be able to do this after all.

On the day we needed to present our fish, our stolen goods, and leather armor sets, I finished creating a near matching leather armor set in the very last hour.  Unfortunately, I was off one resist percentage on my leather gloves.  I think I spent close to 70 hours on this, that’s 10 hours a day.  When I arrived to the event, they used moongates to split us all up into 3 groups, and closed the gates 15 minutes after we arrived.  There must have been 300 players there.  Most of us were crafters.  I suddenly became very concerned that someone else might have an exact match.  All that work for nothing, and I still didn’t know what the prize was.

The thieves went first since there were so few of them, and first place through third place got these beautiful two-tone shrouds with stealing modification on them.  I was really excited now.  The fisherman were given spell channeling fishing poles.  Finally after checking all the crafter contestants, I actually won a two-tone colored shroud with my name on calling me Lily – The Great Lakes Crafter Champion. 

On a sad note, I lost my shroud when my house collapsed due to a billing issue.  I was devastated.  Yet I saw it for the first time the other day on a player at the Luna bank on Atlantic of all places.  Amazingly it still exists.  It may no longer own the shroud, but I’ll never forget how incredibly difficult it was to get it.

I am by no means a talented writer but I will try to tell you what Ultima Online has and still does mean to me, I am sure there are many people that have far more exciting stories and can tell them far better than I can, however here is my story straight from my heart
     My most memorable moment about Ultima Online was in 1997 when I logged on the first time, I had watch my friend play in Beta and when the world went live he let me make my first character on his account. I was amazed that I could communicate with people from all over the world, I had to learn how to talk and walk in this new world it was far different than anything I had ever experienced. It took no time at all and I had my own account up and running and still have that account to this day.
     I made my first character in Trinsic and that is still my favorite town,  I logged on every chance I got, I made a tailor and spent all my time in the Trinsic tailor shop, after many months of sewing and selling my goods to the tailor I had enough gold saved to get a small house, I was overjoyed that I finally had a little spot of this magical world that belonged to me.
     After I got my little house I then spent time exploring the land and learning how to kill things, I will never forget when I was first learning how to fight I got killed by a cow, it was not funny at the time but I now get a good laugh out of it. As time went on I met many wonderful people and am still friends with some of them to this day.
     Ultima Online still has a special place in my heart and always will, I still love to login and play, material things mean nothing to me, the people I knew and people that I am still getting to know mean more to me than anything I can acquire in game. Thank you.

REAPERS AND IMPS 

Memories of death by Reapers and Imps have haunted me throughout the amazing game known as Ultima Online.  As a novice player I fell victim during my first exploration romp through the forest. I was enjoying the lush landscape and variety of plants and animals during my ride on my first horse named Fiercy Von Fiercy.  Although I knew and looked forward to encountering the dangers of the kingdom I did not know that a tree would be the cause of my first death. I was building skills and not quite sure how my character would develop.  Soon the answer would come to me.  I would need to fight magic with magic!
Most people remember by which means they died in the realm the first time.  I avoided Reapers as much as possible.  The faces these trees have remind me of the evil apple throwing trees in the classic film, The Wizard of Oz. It is a fearful memory. 
My second death was that at the spells of an Imp, those nasty annoying green flying casters.  With that death I put down my sword and shield and made magery my new direction. To this day I say to myself, at least I was not killed by a mongbat. That was over ten years ago and magery is still the way I maneuver about the realm. 
One would usually not think of death as a fond most memorable memory but I do as these deaths carved my path and made me the good and sometimes wicked mage I am today.  As with many memories there are scars that come along with them. To this day I kill every Reaper that crosses my path with great delight and I avoid Imps as much as possible as they still annoy the heck out of me.

My most memorable moment is the story on how I got my leather gloves (Santa Gloves). It was 1997 and it was Christmas Time in Ultima Online. Their were Santa and his reindeer just about in every town in Britannia. Santa was wearing red pants a red tunic dark grey boots, and these dark grey leather gloves that matched his boots. And was something us players had never seen before. Well finally I started seeing Santa’s missing parts of their outfits, pants, shirt, etc. Or sometimes Santa was naked! At first I figured maybe the Game Masters, were just giving Santa a new outfit or something like that. But the longer Santa stayed naked the more I started to wonder about it. Well I have two Ghost chars, my second Ghost char was smith/tinker I made to repair armor/weapons for my guild Fellowship (FS) and then Dracul. But my first Ghost char was my thief. So I thought you know what? I’m going to try and steal Santa’s outfit right off his paper doll and see what happens. So I looked around for a Santa that was still fully clothed, I brought up his paper doll and hit my steal macro. Targeted a piece of his clothing and YES! I was stealing the clothes right off Santa’s back! I don’t remember just how many Santa’s I hit up that year but I had a bunch of Santa outfits and Santa gloves. Some I did sell/trade to friends. I remember once giving all the outfits I had including the gloves to my friend Ballyhoo to hold onto for me. I’d looted this red plate helm out of a house on Buc’s Den once, and thinking it was dyed with the old dye bug I only wore it at server down. Well a Counselor (Smurf) seen me wearing it and told me to turn it in. I said no, they said I was being rude and a GM WOULD be talking to me. So yeah I gave Bally my helmet and Santa outfits to hold for me just in case a GM did come to talk to me.

I never did see a Game Master and Ballyhoo gave me back my red plate helm and Santa outfits. I still to this day wear my Santa gloves as part of my outfit, with my Ghost purple, that I tried matching the color to the purple potions. Because I enjoyed trapped chests and thought the purple clothing my little warning/clue. That I was the one placing chests around town. I was also able to get a item bless deed through another friend Frostbite. People thought me weird for wanting to waste a item bless on leather gloves, I’m pretty sure I might have the only pair of double blessed Santa gloves. I’ve not seen another pair, people want to buy my gloves. But their part of my outfit and something my char is known for, so I could never sell.

We received 15 entries from the Lake Austin shard. There were a lot of extremely good memories and a tally of the votes resulted in another tie! 

Here are the 6 winning entries from Lake Austin:

My most memorable moment in all of Ultima Online is when I tamed my first ice white cu sidhe.  What makes that moment remarkable is when you take into consideration thatI started my taming at 30 skill points that I bought from a ranger in Skara Brae.  It’s hard to imagine, but I trained taming for over a year to make it to a level where I could even attempt to tame a cu sidhe.

I remember taming cows and sheep in the bullpen of Jhelom, hinds and timber wolves on the road from Britain to Skara Brae.  I spent months taming walrus, polar bears, snow leopards, and white wolves on Dagger Island.  Then spent many more months, seemed like an eternity taming Bulls and Great Harts around Delucia.

Just when I thought I had enough skill, I realized I needed to be an elf if I wanted to even mount a cu sidhe.  So I had to see Darius in the Lycaeum for the Elven Heritage Quest.  Go on to see Arielle near Spirtuality Shrine in Illshenar, Bravehorn near the Spiritwood, Enigma the Sphinx in the deserts of Malas, the Huntsman by Chaos Shrine, Maul the bear, and Strongroot the tree, before returning back to Darius.  This was a rather easy quest, and I was conflicted about whether or not I wanted to be an elf.  However I had my goal in my mind, so nothing was going to stop me now.

Until I learned I needed to complete the Dread Horn quest to get into the Twisted Weld, just another detour along the way, so I had to see Lorekeeper Calendor the Keeper of Tradition in the Heartwood to get this quest.  Foruntately you only need the quest to enter, you don’t actually have to complete it.  Thank goodness.

Now the hard part, actually taming a Cu Sidhe, you have to do your best to survive threats from Satyr’s, Dryads, and Changlings, as if the Cu’s were not tought enough already.  I camped the Twisted Weld for as long as it took to be able to even tame a Cu in the first place, but when the ice white cu spawned, I nearly killed it, but alas I was victorious.  It is a prized pet I will always cherish.  Thank you.

It’s hard to believe that there was once a time when owning a boat in Ultima Online was only for the rich people. Early in my UO days I used to mine day and night to sell the ingots and crafted armor but alas I was never able to afford a boat. This is how I became a pirate.
On the way to the mines in Minoc each day I would watch the ‘rich’ getting on and off their boat. I eventually got the idea that instead of trying to purchase one of these boats myself that I would just ‘relieve’ a rich player of theirs. Now day and night was spent sitting hidden next to the plank of a boat in hopes the owner would arrive.
At last all the dedication had paid off. The boat’s owner came to his large dragon ship and lowered the plank so he could board, unknowing that he would have a guest on his ship today. I managed to get on the boat before the owner did. I raised the plank and I yelled to the tillerman, “Full speed forward my good tillerman!”
As the boat left the shore the owner sent a barrage of arrows at me in a last ditch attempt to save his vessel. Other than a few fleshwounds, I made a clean escape with the boat. After navigating the canals of Minoc and Vesper I was free to roam the open ocean.
I only had the boat a few days before it mysteriously disappeared… perhaps the ‘gods’ took it away. Neverless, for a few days, guided by a cloth map of Brittania, I was able to live in freedom and travel the oceans to visit such exotic ports as Nujelm, Jhelom, and Britain.
I miss and will never forget those days.

The day was fair and adventure was calling to me like a long lost friend.
I told myself that I wouldn’t go far. I was still a stranger in this land and friends had warned me of the dangers. But those friends were not here today and I needed to explore my new homeland.  Deciding that there was probably less danger around the nearby town, I decided to start exploring from there. Using the rune my friend had left me, I found myself standing in the shade of a tree right beside the busy Britain bank.  While some hurried about coming and going in the blink of an eye, others sat admiring each others fine wares. I traveled out of town across the bridge and past the stables. I traveled slow and cautiously at first but with no sign of danger, I soon left caution behind. In the distance I saw the glow of a moongate. I had traveled through one once before and was confident I could decipher it’s magic once again.

  However, upon closer examination, I found myself at a loss. I vaguely remembered my friend giving me advice about the strange gates but I couldn’t seem to remember what it was. I tried so many different options with the gate, that I had forgotten where I started. Ahh, finally a place that looked familiar! I set off to resume my exploration. As I glanced back at the moongate though, I couldn’t help thinking it looked different somehow.

  After awhile I realized the trees looked different too. What dark magic could have done this? Fear was creeping up on me and I was unsure why. I had just decided to turn back towards the moongate and try my luck again when I saw him. An odd fellow who clearly had lost a battle with one of the stronger creatures of the land was running towards me. He was yelling something but I couldn’t understand him. Remembering my bandages I quickly set to work trying to resurrect this poor soul. My bandages seem to be do nothing and he was still speaking that strange language. OooOo Ooo OoO If only I knew what he was saying! “One more try friend” I said as I noticed movement to the right.

  Then I felt it. It came out of nowhere, the burning pain of a sword piercing through me. I stood in shock as the sword found it’s mark again and my life drained away.  I found myself watching in horror as I looked down at my own body. To my side the soul I was trying to help stood watching me. He was still speaking and as the shock was wearing off I realized I could understand him now. “Watch out for that pk” In a heartbeat the advice from my friend came rushing to the front of my mind. With complete certainty I knew where I was… Felucca.

My oldest and most memorable story from Ultima Online involved one of my real life friends. Infact, he was the person who got me started playing the game. We both worked at the same company; I worked for maintenence and he was an operator. He had told me on several occasions that he wanted to be a maintenence person, but he was very colorblind and could not identify colors of wires so he could never be.

With this knowledge and access to his house and all of his belongings, I grabbed my dye tubs and began to have some fun.

During the first few weeks it was funny. It wasn’t uncommon to see him riding up on his horse in the most flamboyant colors you could imagine. His clothes were the most gorgeous shades of mauve, chatreuse, lavendar, and of course lot and lots of pinks. I took the time to always make sure his colors were always changing and he was always stylish.

This went on for a good six months. It became almost natural to see him come to our guild meetings in his favorite pink sash, sky blue cloak, deep purple floppy hat, and glowing green boots. He seemed to wear that outfit the most so I always made sure he had a few sets of them lying around for when he died and lost them. He never questioned why he had so many clothes sitting in the chests at his house.

Eventually, after several months of this, someone at Britain bank finally asked him if he was, “a very colorful person in real life or was just roleplaying one in-game?” He didn’t understand and the coversation lead to his attire and clothing colors.

It didn’t take him very long to figure out whoe the culprit was. He swore that he would get me back somehow. I still look over my shoulders from time to time expecting something but alas it has never come. To this day I still joke with him about his colorful clothing.

Our guild has a little tradition called “Ghost of the Year” where we honor the most spectacular death by a guild member in a calendar year. Over the years, there have been some jawdroppers, but this is the one case where I still cannot stop laughing when I think back on it because of the circumstances in which it happened (names withheld to protect the honoree).

A few years ago, I was going through a rough time and just did not have the desire to really do anything when I was online. My guildmates being the caring folks that they are tried everything to get me hunting to lift my spirits and I decided to go along just to be polite. One of the members wanted to get a crafted version of a hitching post which requires among other things “Animal Pheromones” obtained from “Fire Rabbits” (yes.UO really makes this stuff up – sexy scents from rabbits…). So we were off to Tokuno to hunt. The drops are a bit rare and after close to two hours we had not gotten one. Being already depressed, I wanted to quit the hunt. After debating what to do, one of our female tamers hopped off her Cu’Sidhe saying that had the answer — she would use her own pheromones to tempt the Rabbits. She then proceeded to remove all her clothing and dance around calling for the rabbits to come out and play. Being a long time tamer myself, I said rather tongue in cheek that her pet might get embarrassed if she didn’t cover up because tamers do have a reputation to keep. Right then a fire rabbit appeared. Before anyone could chase the rabbit, her Cu’Sidhe immediately attacked her instead of the fire rabbit leading to an instant OOoOoooO and a death robe to cover her up. While everyone was stunned at the death, in one of those moments of classic UO irony like cow-tipping a super cow in war mode, someone said that it just goes to show that you just never know what might come to bite you in the naked rear you wiggle when you are playing with your pheromones. I burst out laughing so hard that I couldn’t breathe for about five minutes. To this day, that remains the #1 Ghost of the Year in our guild and one of the things I think about with a smile when UO is making me work for drops. So if you play UO long enough, you truly will see things you never thought possible.

Hail! One of my most memorable days dates back to June of 1998. My best friend told me about this amazing new game with limitless possibilities. I remember my mother driving me to the store to buy this game I could not wait to play. I arrived home, opened the box, and with some help registered my account and named my very first character: a swordsman “Zygo”. I logged in and could not understand how the game worked. I just remember running aimlessly trying to find any city, anybody, or anything. Like a puppy dog I became lost in the forest for hours on end. I ran and ran and ran. When I died, I freaked out; I resurrected with penalties which was an option in those times. I was so entranced albeit frightened by the experience of truly being “lost” that I ignored family company and kept on running! Alas before I would’ve given up on this confusing new game, I came across a green patch in the woods with large brick and L-shaped houses where two characters, “Biffy” and “Buffy” of “The Nameless Ones” (TNO) on Lake Superior would welcome me as their guest. I explained as best I could that I did not know what to do. For the entire night they became my guides. They showed me the principals of the game including how to tailor, how to chop wood, how to fletch and how to use these tools to make gold! I still remember visiting the “bowyer” in Yew for the first time to train my favorite new profession. For many months afterward I knew how to find my way back to their guild town where I would frequent and visit my “old friends”. Fourteen years afterward I can look back and credit these players for showing me the way. UO has been full of highs, lows and many childhood memories that will last me a lifetime

Written by the EM Team

   Victor stretched with a loud yawn from the back of his wagon, the storm seeming to have finally blown over during the night. It’d only been a few weeks since the healers in Skara Brae had cleared him for being able to leave, and he’d taken his chance once he’d managed to purchase another wagon. He’d been told he might feel it when the weather was bad, but the soft aches that had plagued him during the night were gone with the rise of the morning sun. Crawling out from under the soft wool blanket, he took his seat at the front of his wagon, untied the horses, and got on his way. The wagon rumbled softly along the road to Yew, leaving him with his thoughts as companion for the journey.

   As he approached the Abbey, the first thing he could see after catching sight of the building was the enormous dragon outside, sitting on its haunches with it’s forelegs in the air like a begging dog. The sight was so bizarre that he could hardly fathom it, until he got close enough to make out those nearest to it, a crowd of children and townspeople all cheering loudly as the dragon set his heavy claws back down on the earth once more, and a garishly dressed man in a jester’s hat bowed. By now the horses had taken him within earshot, and a smile spread to his face at hearing the man’s performance.

   “For my next trick, I’ll need a volunteer! Oh, don’t worry, Talratha here is gentle as a kitten and trained much better, I assure you! Ah, there’s a brave young lad. What’s your name?”

   The young Gargoyle child had separated himself from the woman watching over him, holding up a talon to volunteer, and Victor was surprised to see two of the Ver Lor Reg gargoyles here in Yew. Times had driven people to strange destinations, and upon even stranger paths, he thought to himself. The young gargoyle was handed a torch, which the tamer set alight with a simple spell..

   “Now if you will, I want you to stand clear of Talratha’s mouth, but at any time you want her to show you her fire, put the torch in front.”

   The gargoyle stepped forward, and Talratha craned her neck low, opening her mouth in a roar…and only emitting fire while the gargoyle had the torch in front, moving it back and forth, before the great dragon ceased her roar and then tenderly set her chin on the ground next to the gargoyle, looking to him expectantly. The tamer gave an encouraging gesture, and the young gargoyle ran his hand along the great beast’s head, giving her a gracious pat on the head. The tamer then called the gargoyle over, and handed him a shank of meat on a long bone, and the gargoyle threw it as high as he could, with Talratha howling in joy and spiraling into the air with the pulse of her great wings, flying high enough to do a flip and circle above the tamer and gargoyle for a moment.

   “And your name, volunteer?”

   “Kar-An-Vim.”

   “Let’s hear it for Kar-An-Vim!”

   The small crowd cheered, and he gave the young gargoyle a smile and let him rejoin the elder Gargish woman. With upraised hands, the tamer signaled to the dragon who landed with a heavy thump along the ground, and both he and the dragon took a bow simultaneously.

   “Thank you, I’m Thomas Applewood, and of course, I’d be lost without my trusted companion Talratha!”

   Talratha gave an appreciative rumble of noise at some unseen cue, before Tomas and Talratha both bowed one final time, collected the few coins that had been given as thanks, and headed towards the center of Yew, detouring only to give the coins to one of the monks of the Abbey. Victor smiled at the gesture, only now remembering to spur his horses once more along the path. At the gates of the Abbey he informed one of the monks of his arrival, before another came and they discussed the terms of the trade, offloading much of his raw goods for several cases of wine he could sell for quite a bit in Britain. However, the main reason he’d come was heralded by a soft squeak, and he knelt as Sherry approached, and picked up the small mouse, before lifting her to the seat of his wagon.

   “I’ll just be a minute longer, Sherry, I need to make sure everything’s secured before we get on our way.”

   Victor headed around the back of his wagon and adjusted the crates, moving them around and securing them with rope and twine, before coming back to the front and wheeling around the horses, once more traversing the road and heading for Britain.

   “It’s good to see you again Sherry, though I was surprised to hear you needed transport again. I’d have thought some of your friends in higher places could’ve helped you out…After all, you do know our new King.”

   Sherry squeaked with a soft bit of amusement, though it seemed to be tinged with good-natured frustration. “Maybe I’d be on closer terms with King Blackthorn if he didn’t insist on keeping that cat at his new castle…Heckles swears it’s domestic, but it’s got the soul of a wild hellcat!”
Despite himself, Victor couldn’t quite manage to stifle his laugh, although Sherry didn’t seem to mind.

   “Well if that’s the worst of your worries, then it seems we are doing much better as a whole. The cities are once again working together, the moongates whole, and even the bandits seem to be almost entirely gone from the main roads, so we should be safe on our journey.”
Sherry turned to regard the merchant, her approximation of a smile once again adorning her face.

   “And how have you been, Victor? I was glad to hear you’d recovered from your injuries…and I am sorry you weren’t awake when I came to visit you during your recovery.”

   “I’ve been…very well, actually. And the healer told me you visited, thank you. I know that the wounds I suffered were terrible, but the end results were not. I’m back to as healthy as I can be, and even aside from all that…I’m quite taken with one of those healers,  and she’s become quite taken with me. I’m hoping that within a few months I’ll have a proper dowry for Miss Sans Ailes.” With a smile and a moment’s pause, he turned to Sherry.  “So perhaps, despite what I’ve suffered, the reward will have been fully worth it. Some flowers only bloom after a hard rain, after all.”

   Sherry chittered happily, before smiling up to the trader. “I expect you to invite me when you do settle things with Miss Sans Ailes.”

   Victor looked along the road, the sun shining high and bright in the sky, the autumn leaves blowing in a gentle breeze that caused their rustling to sound almost like whispers. “Sherry, I wouldn’t dream of doing it without your invite being the first sent out.”

   The soft rattle of the wooden wheels along the dirt and cobbled road may have been omnipresent, but it was underscored completely by the sounds of their laughter as they continued to talk to each other.

Update: The issue with redeeming promotional codes has been resolved.

There is currently a problem with redeeming promotional codes. We are aware of the issue and will have a fix in place soon.

Thank you for your understanding.