We had a total of 7 entries from the Chesapeake shard. The entries were so well done that we had an even amount of votes for some of them and ended up having a 3 way tie!

Here are the 7 winning entries from Chesapeake:

Maestro’s Journal – Fall 329 – Haven
After a rough week things are improving. I am returning to town bloody but alive and with loot. This is due to my skills improving but also due to Malloc. I agreed to help him acquire the materials and money needed to advance in his crafting skills; and in return he will improve my armor and weapons. This seems to be the start of a very lucrative partnership. There is just the minor problem of the cost involved in helping him advance. Just when I think we are getting ahead the money is gone. Worse is that we are sharing a room at the inn. I can only afford small room and putting two people into it with armor and crafting tools/materials is just insane.

Out of nowhere a female mage appeared before me. Startled I grab and begin to draw my sword. She is well dressed and moves with a grace unlike the common mages seen in Haven. Her eyes hold a fire that rages yet is controlled. I easy my sword back into the scabbard. I would be dead before two steps if I made a move at her.
She nods her head and speaks to me. “Maestro, are you new in Haven?”
How did she know my name but it matters not her voice is enchanting. “Aye, milady mage. I have been here a few days.”
Again she nods and commands “You are the one, follow me.”
I must have blinked and missed what she did but she was gone and a blue shimmering gate appeared. Thinking back to my last experience with such a gate, I was glad that it was blue. Red gates seem to lead to instant death. Without thinking I entered the gate. Blinding light and a fleeting moment of prickling pain and I see a small sandstone house next to a well-worn road in a forest. The mage is standing next to the house in a trance.
In a booming voice she announces “As was done for me, I freely do for another. As I was given, so shall I give. My word is my bond and my bond is my honor… Maestro this house is yours.”
I felt the weight of ownership push me to my knees and bow my head. It was all I could do to mumble “Thank you kindly milady… I shall honor you vow as if it were mine…”
She gently touched my head and was gone slipping through the closing gate.
Darkness… Darkness? The sounds of the forest fill my ears. I dash into the house and secure the door. Much bigger than at the inn and there is more upstairs. The roof would be perfect for Malloc and his tools. Where is Malloc? He’s at Haven and I’m… I’m… In a house in a forest next to a well-worn road… somewhere in Britannia. I laughed but knew I was home where ever that is.

I could hear the waves slapping up against the boat as the sea was roaring fierce with the Pink Ranger Army approaching. The Britannia Mage Tower Army stood on the island in a stance ready for war. Everyone was silent, so all you could hear was the ocean and boats that surrounded the island. The Dark Evil Leader of the Pink Ranger Army appeared in the middle of the island with her all power magics. Our Snooky look-a-like leader, Lord Gareth, chuckled and asked, “You dare to come alone?”
Mesanna’s evil laughter struck chills straight through me. “Oh how I love the sound of people dying,” was her response as she started to summon her Pink Ranger Army from the seas. Before Lord Gareth and his army knew it, the island was covered in sea creatures of all sorts! It was a grand battle fought between the two armies. I could hear the clanking of swords against scales. I could smell the singed skin and hair as fire was being thrown between the opposing sides. There were tortuous screams as people were being consumed by these horrendous sea monsters.
I attempted to be brave with the Britannia Mage Tower Army at first, but I found myself hiding on the boat we sailed in on before long. After all, I was just the janitor. As I hid in safety on deck, I could see Lord Gareth battling on the edge of the island trying veer off any more sea creatures trying to reach his army. Suddenly I saw a giant fish as big as I had ever seen in all my life making its way towards the island. It was almost as if the other sea monsters purposely moved to make a path for this giant fish. Out of nowhere, it jumped up and in one swift motion, Lord Gareth had disappeared before my very eyes. What that fish hadn’t counted on was it landed on land. Before it even had a chance to start flopping around, Lieutenant General, Lady Tigerlily called for everyone to attack the fish.
In disbelief that this would be the fate of our Snooky look-a-like-leader, Lord Gareth, I knew the Pink Ranger Army had won this battle. This may sound like a huge fish tale, but if you don’t believe me, I have the fish that ate Gareth’s remains mounted on my wall to prove it!

Sitting at my desk I allow my mind to wander back to times that were simple and unfettered. We gathered as friends and fellow travelers through an untamed land. The beasts were fearsome and the people true. Those who wandered did well to travel with friends for safety.
The local gathering point was at the bank or the smithy. I remember standing at the bank chatting with friends I had never met and sewing til my fingers bled. The tailor guildmaster was a hard woman to please but I tried my best to please her. It was soon that I discovered that my skill far outdid my resources. I was forced to move to a town that had more of the raw materials I required to further my talents.
A small island town mainly geared for mages was named Moonglow. I chose there to set up my small table in order to peddle wares and assist in repairs to other travelers. When my inventory was depleted I would brave the wild wilderness in search for cotton and sheep to sheer, or bulls to slaughter for their hides and meat. The land was untamed and wild allowing animals to wander free.
I remember a time when I was forced to gather materials and chose the local cotton field. The only reason it was even remotely memorable was due to the fact that the cotton did not grow in organized rows but popped up randomly all over the place. I spent the afternoon jumping from one place to harvesting cotton from one plant just to have another appear on the other side of the field. It must have been a humorous sight for very soon I gathered a bit of an audience watching as I scampered across the field until I was so over loaded I could no longer move.
The other thing I remember quite clearly was the first place I called home. Several guildmates would sit at houses waiting for them to tumble from neglect. When a house would fall they would place their flag claiming the area for theirs in order to return later and build.
One such home was a very small one room abode tucked in the middle of a deep wood. The home was presented to me as a gift and I accepted gratefully. I started to decorate immediately making it feel homey and comfortable. Leaving the home for some brief errands I locked the door behind me.
When I returned to my new home I found the door had been jimmied and I had interrupted an invasion. The large gargoyle that was trying to reclaim my home took one look at me and went into a fury. One wild ferocious flash of light and the next thing I remember was waking up staring at the ceiling. The smoldering floorboards around me gave my lovely new home “character”. I had found myself in the Gargoyle Neighborhood!

I look back through the years and think of my first adventure. I had spent some time wandering the lands of trammel with my flock of sheep, but because of my youth I was always protected in my travels. As I grew older and stronger, the guards decided I was safe enough without their help.

I remember wanting to see the land of Illshenar and the treasure it held. My first trip there was through the gate of Valor.

The woods were beautiful but I began to grow worried as I saw the piles of bones and blood stained grass. I crossed a bridge that led over a small river and that is when I saw a truly majestic being, a dragon! I was still in the trees near the river bank and the beast had yet to notice me. I thought back to what I knew about dragons; Books say that they can be good, evil, and sometimes both at the same time. All of my experience thus far with dragons had come from my time in Haven. Gentle giants that you could walk up to and admire and pet!

Remembering the gentleness of previous dragon encounters I walked out of the trees and stood next to the red dragon. “You are so beautiful” I said as I reached out to stroke its neck. Suddenly everything went gray and I was staring at my chard remains. That day I learned a very important lesson: DO NOT PET A WILD DRAGON!!!!!!

As a young adventurer, no memory can compare to the days with my steed crossing the majestic land of Britannia. Many nights spent out in the forest, falling asleep to the sound of wisps while I lying upon my bedroll in the mist of twilight. And mornings, waking up to the smell of burnt kindling and magpie’s chirping. I was never certain of what I would encounter next, but that is just half the excitement.

I remember my time spent at a guard post on my way to Yew; I met several noble men honing their skills in Archery while the ocean waves crashed against the shore. These men greeted me with cheerful faces and several ales, and then decided that my skills with a sword should be put to the test. I am glad they did, as it was not only nefarious murderers that would seek not only my loot, but terrifying monsters seeking blood.

During this endeavor, the most memorable moment was when I stumbled across Relvinian’s greatest creation on my way from Skara Brae to Britain: the Hedge Maze. I have never seen anything so glorious, but yet, so dangerous. This labyrinth was not for the weak at heart, but for those with courage and charisma, it is worth the exploration. Passing through the hedges and stumbling across beautiful fountains and gardens, to my dismay, I found the laboratory nested at the center – and it was heavily guarded by daemons.

Fear shook my bones in fear as I raised my sword. A daemon approached me while shouting words of power. The techniques I learned at the guard post came in handy: I evaded the deamon’s attacks and managed a swift blow to defeat the creature. His corpse held loot of gems and gold was beyond my wildest imagination. I knew that if I could continue slaying these beasts, enough funds could be raised enough to reach my goal of purchasing a home. So, I spent many days and nights, slaying this spawn from the abyss and saving my gold pieces.

The faithful day came; I earned enough money to buy a deed to a stone house. I always dreamed the time when I could settle down after a long adventure up to the hearth of a fireplace in my home by the beach. So that is exactly where I went, to the beach beyond the Britain moon gate and across the bridge to claim my piece of Britannia. Whether it is a long journey across this great land, or hunting daemons at the hedge maze, nothing is better than coming home and enjoying that ocean view and recollecting the adventures had with yourself and the world around. But, a day does not go by when I think about my first experience when I stumbled across Relvinian’s creation.

My husband started playing UO with a friend of his from work.   I wasnt very happy because he wasnt working alot and I was.  He spent alot of time on the computer playing.  One day he asked me to make a character.  He said I could make a tamer and tame alot of pets, so I did.  That was the birth of Yoshi. I started taming pets and running all over picking up worthless things to sell until one day I seen him fighting red people.  I wanted to fight.  So I shed the tamer and started fighting with a kryss. My kids each created a character as well and they were playing right alongside us.  

A few years went by and my husband an I got a divorce.  It was a funny because our UO game and accounts were listed in our divorce division.  I did win both accounts. During the divorce I also got layed off from my job and this caused my home to go into foreclosure.  My car was repoed and I had an huge amount of credit card debt he left me with before he moved to Florida.  I was sinking further into depression and didnt think anything could get worse. 

I logged into my account and lo and behold I had been hacked.  They had taken everything.  I had gotten pretty good at keep very valuable stuff back then. I had 3 accounts by then and the houses were filled.  They deleted characters and left each of the remaining characters bare and naked.  I was frantic.  I called UO and after alot of time they did provide me with the IP address.  I contacted the State Police and they came and looked at my computer and later came back and took it for 2 weeks. When they returned it everything was wiped off my computer. He said there was nothing he could do.  It was a guy from Delaware that got into my account and they could not press charges.

So I reloaded UO.  Things were slow going to get back but I needed to stay busy with the kids at school.  Then the sheriff came and said we had 1 day to move. The house would be chained the next morning.  I had finally had enough.  The kids were at school and I was going to go out and enjoy one last day of UO…and then end things that night. I had no more will to live.  It was too devastating to try and continue.  I grabbed my miner and picks and went to Shame mountains in Fel.  I was just waiting for some red to come along…today was not the day.  I mined for a few hours and was at the blacksmith in Britain when a kid came up and started asking me 1000 mining questions. He wanted to mine.  I said no.  He pestered me for a half hour and finally I said we would go to the Shame mountains and mine for a bit.  I figured I was walking into some kind of a trap but it shut him up for awhile. We mined for the better part of a day and he never stopped talking. He was only 18 and he told all about the problems he was having. I was getting close to the time the kids were coming home from school and he wanted me to meet his cousin.  He was a guild leader and wanted me to join his guild.  I didnt even know what the heck a guild was. I told him Id be back on and we could go meet his brother.  I wasnt going to log back in but I did, and met with Duncan McLeod of the guild L/V.  His cousins name was Blackbeard.  We talked for a little bit and after hearing their stories I knew mine was bad but no where what they had been through. I joined the guild,  gathered the kids, had them call every friend they had with cars and trucks and we moved the entire house that night. He saved my life that night.

I later found out that my ex-husband had actually sold our contents of the game to someone ….thats why all the characters that were left were mine and they deleted only his.

I became very close with those guys in the guild…Badger of DWxC stills plays.  Im sure there are others.  Ive loved this game from day one and have mad so many friends.  Ive actually met several and I love that part of the game too.  Im now in several guilds and all of these people are awesome.  Alot Ive know have left but return once and awhile.  UO  saved my life that day.  I hope its around for a long time.  I never tire of playing.  And Id also like to says THANK YOU to everyone at EA.  You guys do an awesome job.

I started playing Ultima Online when I was a teenager and have continued to play and grow in this world for the last 15 years. Having to choose one of my most memorable moments from all those years has been challenging but I would have to say without a shadow of a doubt that the war between the Britannia Mage Tower Army and Mesanna’s Army is the moment in my UO time that is most memorable to me.

What started out as nothing more than taunting and poking fun at Mesanna on Stratics turned into a shard wide event where everyone was able to battle the “Prehistoric Neon Pink Loving Goth” aka Mesanna. Players immediately signed up to serve in the army and were designated fun player ranks such as Generals, Lieutenant Generals, Colonels and even a Janitor Poopsie.

Once the date was set and Mesanna gathered her own diabolical team, we were gated to one of the deserted Tokuno Islands which was decorated in amazing detail, right down to named characters heads mounted on poles and an already constructed graveyard for our army to rest in. We didn’t have much time to look around before Mesanna began her assault. She decimated our forces within a few seconds as players scrambled to their ships trying to survive…for Mesanna and her team it was probably like shooting Fish in a barrel which is very fitting since our war ended with me being swallowed up by a Giant Neon Pink Fish which I am still stuck in today and probably mounted on some lucky players wall… most likely in JinX’s Museum.

Its Monday again and we have another set of questions that were answered by the development team. There were even a couple questions answered by one of our GMs. 

Can we get an option added to crystal portals to hop over to the Heartwood Gate in Yew? It would making visiting Heartwood that much more convenient! (sablestorm)
Mesanna:  Sorry this is not possible to do the fact that Heartwood is on a Dungeon Server

UOForums – There’s several different types of chats so Im wondering if there is a personal message system in the works? Though I kinda enjoy the classic UO “drop me a little book in my mailbox” thing, I think we’ve evolved past that now. Thanks! (Quintus Batiatus)
Mesanna:  The team has talked about different ways to improve on the existing mailing system but nothing concrete as of yet.

UOForums – I am looking forward to the Vendor Search option. Is there any details that can be given on this yet? Will you get coordinates to the vendors location, or be teleported to the vendors location, or be shown a map of where the vendor is? Thanks!(Quintus Batiatus)
Mesanna:  How about all of the above?  We want to give you options and make it useable by all.

UOForums – Im a veteran player since 1997. Ive come and gone a few times now. Though I enjoy the game as it is currently and find it fun to discover new things thats been added in recent years, I sometimes long for the days of the original release. Or maybe, the post Trammel release. The days when GM smiths sat outside the Brit Blacksmith shops, selling their wares. You know, the “stand outside the bank repeating the same items your trying to sell” days. My question is this, would it be possible or have a shard just for classic game play? Thanks! (Quintus Batiatus)
Mesanna:  Not to  give you a short answer on this one but it’s been hashed many times and the answer is still no.

‘Ello all! We have this fisherman in the SRC who is constantly frustrated by using his bait. He moans, that having to attach them individually everytime you cast is so fiddely for his clumsy hands, he doesn’t even bother with it anymore. Is there a way you can make it more manageable even for slightly inapt fisherman? Maybe create a hook which can be charged with bait and then work like the lava ones? I am sure fishermen (and women of course) around the realms would be glad for it …. and stop prodding me Vaughan, I did ask them now …. so stop it! (John II, A&A4 Comments)(also asked by Frarc, Ask the Devs)
Mesanna:  Our stealing skill has just increased by .05 cause we are going to steal this awesome idea =)

If a house falls next to you and you resize a house next to it. Will you be able to place on the idoc spot? Or will you not be able to place because of the Idoc placement timer?(Lord Gareth)

Mesanna:  Gareth *shakes head*  you should know this!  There is a delay and the time delays is from 30 minutes to 2 hours it’s totally random.

UOMania clorenz – after paging a GM with one character, if I log off and switch to another character on the same account will I stay in queue and still receive an answer?
GM Inarea: Yes as long as they are on the same account.

UOMania clorenz – could we get also GM support via e-mail? It would be easier to explain the problem (especially for non native English speakers!)
GM Inarea: So if English is not your native language, when you page state in the beginning that you would like to be contacted via email instead and give a brief description of the issue. 

UOMania clorenz – I left my Personal Bless Deed on Europa when I transferred my character to another shard. When I transferred the character back to Europa, the Personal Bless Deed was not working for him anymore. How do I get it fixed?
Mesanna:  Short answer a GM can fix it for you, long answer is we have this on our list to fix in the big bug push next publish.

UOMania Sir Bolo – I’ve heard that under Lord Blackthorn’s rule the players will be able to run for office in the cities of Britannia. Is this just for roleplaying or will the player-run city councils also gain in-game powers? Can we have an example of the things they could do?
Kyronix:  If you mean in terms of having the ability to add or change your city? To give your city random buffs or a facelift or add a soda jerk or additions like this? Maybe.  All I can say right now is that it is roleplaying with a twist.  All the details are not worked out, nothing is in stone .  As soon as we have more details we will be happy to share them with you.

We had received 9 excellent entries from the Europa shard. Of those entries, there were 5 that we enjoyed the most.

The top 5 most memorable UO moments from Europa:

It was a cold wet December night, when I rolled up at West Britain Bank on my most trustworthy horse. There in the shadows stood my 2 most loyal friends Sir Mangus and Captain Birdseye, both passing the hours away chatting to everyone and anyone who happened to pass them by.

Hey boys I shout, what’s up? Hey Draco they both reply, nothing going on, its all quite tonight. So I ask if anyone has scouted the champ spawns to see if there is any action going on around the lands. Both shake their heads as to say nothing was happening.

After 30 minuets had passed we get a message in guild chat from our Guild mistress Tia “Every one to Guild HQ” and the message is repeated 4 or 5 times. Capitan Birdseye says “hmm, it looks as if something is kicking off, we had better go see what’s going on” So I open a gate to Guild HQ and all three of us pop through.

Once there, we quickly see that there are already 7 other members waiting. What a sorry bunch they were, not one of them liked each other, but as a team they all worked together well and fought hard on the battle field. We enter the Guild HQ to see Pyro arguing with Magot over who was the better archer, and in the other corner Sorrow was trying to kill Gelo while she was not looking. Tia the guild leader was standing chatting to Memphis and Poly telling them to get the PvM team together.

Tia, “what’s up” I ask. “We are off to do a champ at Despise” she replies. “Get the PvP team together”

So I gather the PvP team and instruct them to make sure they were ready for a fight to defend the Barracoon Champ at despise. I tell them to check they have the funds in their bank account for insurance of their kit and make sure they have a back pack full of Bandies, Pots, Apples and a trap box. Archers make sure you have enough arrows and bolts.

As soon as the PvP team was whipped into shape, Tia shouts “Everyone in the gate were leaving for Despise” Once we are there, I tell Deny to stay at the entrance hidden to be our early warning for incoming raiders. Sir Mangus and Capitan Birdseye are given the drop in point to defend, the rest of the team were to just keep each other in sight and watch over the PvM team.

Just five minuets into the champ Deny shouts over the guild chat “Incoming NDK Guild eight of them!” So I call the PvP team to the drop in point to ambush NDK when they dropped into despise. No sooner than we got there, NDK started to come into the drop in point, they all started to split up and run in different directions. So I call a target and we all went chasing him down. No sooner had we killed the first NDK player Deny shouts down the Guild chat |Incoming GOD guild nine of them” At this point we had our hands full with NDK and there was no chance of us surprising GOD at the drop in point.

At this point the PvM team had the champ up, so I call the PvP team to the island and tell them to take up a defensive position, at this point in time there was only one way onto the island and it was easy defended. I was praying that GOD and NDK would get board of trying to break our defence and start to fight each other, then we could just clear up the ones who survive. But just as we start to get the defence up on the island Deny shouts down guild chat “incoming UCH and F Guild around 15 of them”

At this point I knew we were in for a mother of all battles and the chances of us finishing the champ and surviving was getting slimmer by the minuet. My worst fears were confirmed a few short minuets latter when our defences were broken and our PvM team were dyeing thick and fast, chaos had broken out!

Deny shouts down the guild chat again “incoming DIE five of them” At this point I tell Deny to leave his post as watchman and come and help us with the fight he was sorely needed we were being killed at a fast pace. At this point there was over 50 people in despise fighting a mother of a battle. No one was paying the champ any attention as there was too much death and killing going on around them.

The battle raged on for over 90 minutes in despise, all the while our PvM team were trying to finish killing the Barracoon and finally after many deaths and resurrections the Barracoon was dead and we had the power scrolls.

But escape was not going to be easy, as NKD, GOD, UCH, DIE and us DI3 were fighting in despise FEW guild had set up a trap in the star room, waiting for the scrolls to be brought out that way.

So before we knew it the fight had moved into Terra Keep. But now we had FEW guild added into the battle. The battle raged on for a further hour, with many more deaths and many more tails of bravery.

There was talk of this epic battle for years to come. People would remember their feats of bravery and courage as well as stupidity for falling for some of the traps they died to.

The darkness was stifling.  The faint silvery light of his blade shone in front of him as he carved his way through swathes of undead, an endless flow of undead from the void ahead of him.  He had long since fortified himself against the terror of this place, seeing it now only as a means to an end.  Two hundred thousand was the price, two hundred thousand gold from less fortunate adventurers purses, two hundred thousand for him and his band of warriors to have a place to call home.  Steadying himself against the crumbling wall he tended to his wounds and judged the weight of his coin purse in his hand, ‘still short’ he thought to himself frowning, three days spent in this tormented place by his reckoning.  He could not afford to miss this business opportunity and regretfully remembered the deadline before the homestead was beyond his reach, five days.

As he woke from fitful sleep, haunted by the dead faces of his attackers and fallen allies, he remembered a tale once told to him of this place, a tale that up till three days ago he had dismissed as myth.  He remembered details of spell weaving undead residing in haunted crypts deep in the darkest recesses of the dungeon known only as Deceit, and more importantly of the gold they hoarded for purpose unknown.  Only two days remained and the adventurer came to a decision, after a rest he would press further into the dungeon than he had previously dared.  Knowing that his undead slaying prowess had improved drastically since he began his quest provided him with confidence, but doubt crept into his mind from the fear of the unknown.

Quaffing a thick, dark and foul smelling concoction he squinted forwards in the now less punishing darkness.  The area was eerily quiet as he made his way down a long winding corridor, encountering small resistance to his progress, his confidence further boosted.  Finally, ahead of him, long shadows patrolled what appeared to be a square room with a rank smelling pit, filled with the bones of undead and human alike.  Past this room he came upon a recessed pit, containing ancient sarcophagi where dark shadows patrolled the walls around him, he had arrived.

Drawing his sword and shield the warrior charged towards the shadow closes to him.  Immediately he felt weaker and less dexterous, ‘so the myth was true’ he thought to himself as he sliced and parried this new foe.  After a fierce battle the warrior searched the fallen corpse of his enemy, ‘I’m going to need a bigger coin purse’ he said out loud to himself laughing. 

By the fourth day, the warrior returned to the port city of Vesper to claim his reward.  He proudly handed over the fee, much to the sellers surprise, and was taken swiftly by magical gateway to a small, overgrown stone tower.  ‘Perfect’ said the warrior, as he placed the magical guild stone on the roof.

Summer, 315.

It had been two brief, terrible days, when all the shards of the Gem of Immortality were shaken to their roots by the prophets of some nameless god, dressed in robes hemmed in gold and claiming outrageous powers that could duplicate even the most revered of artifacts.

The mage who called himself “The Black Cobra” stood, bereft, at the gunwale of his ship. He did not have the will to fish, nor the drive to return to port. With her sails furled, the Lady Justyce bobbed on the waves, as without purpose as he himself felt.
Soon, he would return to both port and wife, as hollow as he had been when he left. Two days of sickness had left him unaware of what had been occurring until it was too late, and now his oldest companion was no more, lost in the immense spell that had reverted time by two entire days, sealing those prophets forever beyond the Facets.

Rain began to fall, the sky darkening with the onset of a storm. Still he stood there, fat raindrops trickling down his cheeks, that hollow part inside telling him there was no point to returning. What could the lands of Sosaria offer him, without the peerless companionship of Franklin, his dear mongbat? If only he had left him in the stables that day! If only he had been well enough to check on him when he’d first received the message from his closest friend, Aron Swordmaster, that dark magic was running wild… but no, these wishes wouldn’t fill the aching void or return his lost companion.

A green light broke into his maudlin thoughts. Wiping the rain from his eyes, he returned to the wheel and picked up his communication crystal, flickering with an incoming message.
“Cobra! Do you hear me? It’s Tanis!”
The voice of his friend banished the grief for a moment.
“I hear you, Tanis. What’s the matter?”
“I’m at the farms near Jhelom. I was training, and… well, a woman I didn’t recognize came running up and handed me a mongbat. I… I think it’s yours…”
The crystal almost dropped from his numb fingers. Cobra licked lips which suddenly seemed dry despite the rain.
“Not… not Franklin?” it was impossible to keep the hope from his voice.
“I think it must be… if not, it’s his twin brother, and just as impressively trained…”
There was more, of course. Tanis knew – must have known – the effect his words had on the mage. Wiping the rain from his face, he dug in his backpack for a well-worn runebook. This was no time to sail all the way to Jhelom; this was worth losing a ship over.

The sun came out from behind the clouds, illuminating the empty deck as the moongate closed behind Cobra. A continent away, in the warmth of life reinvigorated, man and mongbat embraced as old friends; reunited, never to be parted again.

Sea of Green
　
After weeks of preparation the alliance day had finally arrived! With anxious anticipation I dressed in my finest garments ( fire robe, fire cloak and 100 diamonds ring). I recalled quickly to Spirituality gate. The sense of something special was accentuated by the long row of lit torches leading from Spirituality gate to Spider Cave, where my fellow guild mates escorted guests and myself through this dangerous area filled with terathans, dread spiders and giant black widows.After surviving this arduous sojourn we arrived at the entrance of Reg Volom where we all signed the guest book and received programs listing the order of events.
When all were seated in the main room I rang the bell of Sosaria to signal the commencement of the ceremony.Our patron of Spirituality gave his blessing, followed by speeches of the two guild leaders. A humorous moment occurred during one of the speeches when an ethereal warrior hovered overhead, making an ominous warning sound that a person with negative karma was in the vicinity.The warning went unheeded , while the warrior stalked its victim and swiftly swooped down to kill its prey. Although this was an unfortunate incident a chuckle crossed my face knowing this might be the outcome.( After all quests were forewarned to have positive karma).
The moment I had been waiting for had come… the alliance leader had proclaimed the alliance official! A sea of green names instantly appeared with fireworks exploding above our heads! A feeling of exhilaration came over me … a moment I will never forget!
A sense of gratification filled me for the efforts of many had come to fruition as we were now as one in alliance. The celebration closed with refreshments in the reception area and group photos on the roof.
I recalled home … taking off my fire cloak and robe … remembering this day filled with excitement, camaraderie , and humor… and my most memorable moment … a sea of green

“How to unweave the interlocking rainbow moments that make the memory of a small, dull patch of dirt road outside Empath Abbey in Yew so powerful to me personally?

Well, I was born into Britannia in glorious low resolution 8-bit, 32 colour pixellated form back in 1989 for Ultima IV, via the Sega Master System. Answering the questions of the Gypsy as honestly as I could with regards towards my own values, she set my destiny for Druidhood, and the blobby green forests of Yew… And it was there, deep amongst the blobs, in one of my earliest memories that I found the cosy home of Iolo, and his mysterious talking horse, Smith. And without realising it then, I quickly partook of a traditional Ultima ritual; I proceeded of course to go through all their things and wander off with what I thought would better suit me!

But I knew then that I’d found a cosy gaming home of my own too. I returned to the realm for every single player game afterwords, and when I came at last to Ultima Online in 2001, I wanted so much to place a house in Yew for myself; but the lands were full of vibrant homes already, and there was no space for me. However, Yew was not long after struck by the Plague of Despair. It was a revelation to me to see the ground itself change beneath our feet, become corrupted; but to hear rumors that, through our combined arms and arts, we could return the land itself to healthy high resolution greenery…

I had neither strength nor skill yet though, for I was still young. Arriving on the designated day to cure the land, I found a small group of players at the back, stood near the Abbey and next to a red and white cross made of cloth left upon the ground. They were healing those who fell fighting the Plagues Beasts and other corruptions of nature, and handing out small packets of recovery materials to speed the return to the fight. It was on that day that my first, and so far my only guild was formed between us; The Sosarian Red Cross. Later that evening I would personally cure 2 of the large trees myself by administering potions; and I still have the runes for where those specific trees once stood, long after the Plague itself was finally pushed back

I achieved my dream eventually of living in Yew. And were you to stay a while by the Abbey on Europa today, you will see a Memorial raised to one of us, who sadly passed away in real life. It will stand now as long as the server does, thanks to the kindness of the official Event Managers who placed it there. One day though, in one way or another, it will be time for all of us to move on from Britannia; so it is there my character hopes to salute the approaching curtain call.”

We had 13 entries from the Drachenfels shard that included some very creative stories.

For your enjoyment, here are the 5 winners:

[Somewhere in Sosaria back in 1999…]

Dear diary,

*inkblot*

It´s been some weeks now, since I started travelling the lands of Sosaria. In my efforts to become a good citizen I had to encounter fearsome creatures like Mongbats, Ettins and evil undead.

My brothers Hegor and Kregor are good-for-nothing, lambasting murderers and bandits down at the crossroads, but I think a woodelf should follow the path of the virtues.

… more or less. *smiles and takes a nip of Ale*

Enviously I noticed all those fine structures built by respected and honorable people everywhere throughout the lands. So I decided to become a home owner…

*inkblot*

Little did I know about what it means to become the proud owner of even a small property in the lands of Sosaria. It is extraordinarily expensive, knotty and tough. So I slayed thousands of Harpies, Headless and Gazers down in dungeon Covetous. And it was dangerous and harsh and my collection of grey robes was astonishing.

But eventually I did it! – I earned enough money to buy the scroll and rights for a little plot.

*moaning*

And this was when the second part of the journey began – finding a free building plot somewhere in  Lord British´s realms seemed to be even more challenging than to defeat a Shame blood elemental barehanded.

Well, anyway…

After almost endless travels throughout the lands I was desperate…

…until I found this little plot on a small island today! Even big enough for a small tower!

Hurray! *praises the gods*

I placed my new home.

A bit leaning – but all mine!

*nip of ale*

Tonight I will spend the first night in my new home – people say, things you dream about in the first night will eventually come true.

Well… *nip*

*Falls asleep and dreams about a Lady killing people in Roulette games giving out strange lanterns…*

Odd.

Our son was born at September 29, 2010. With his birth, our dream came true: We became a family. Soon everything in our lives changed: Nights without sleep, weekends without parties, years without vacations – and love without conditions. The first months were challenging and exhausting but also magical and rewarding.
However, sometimes we felt lonely: We have always been very sociable, being part of a large circle of friends. We went to the pub, to the cinema, to festivals and parties. After our son´s birth, many of these activities came to an end: Our friends didn´t have children, they lived their lives as they always did. And in many situations, we couldn´t participate – and felt sad about this loss of social moments.
It was in such a lonely mood in February 2011, when I had an idea: It was a cold winter night, my wife and the little boy were sleeping. He had a terrible cough and I promised to watch his sleep. I looked out of the window and reminisced about my past. I remembered how I moved to Sosaria in the late 1990s – and how I lived there with my friends for about two and a half years. It had been more than eight years since I left and I never forgot how wonderful this time was. I wondered how this world might have changed, if there were still people living in Britain, if my Sosarian incarnations would still be alive, if this would still be a place of adventure and friendship.
At the same night, I decided to visit this old, intimate world. And yes, there were still people here, my avatars still were alive – and indeed, many things had changed. My first steps led me through Britain – it felt like coming home: The West Britain Bank was camped by the notorious banksitters, the graveyard was inhabited by undeads and in the stables I found Ozzy, my old reptile friend – a White Wyrm. Socializing wasn’t hard: I met some wonderful people who invited me to their guild and helped me with everything needed to make a new start. I felt that this was still the great, distinctive place of adventure and friendship it has always been.
I had many wonderful moments since my return, but my most memorable moment was when my wife decided to join me and to become an inhabitant of Sosaria. I presented her to my friends and they gave her a warm welcome. For me, it was a return. For her, it was a step in a completely new world.

Today, we have a fulfilling social life – even if we cannot go to parties every weekend or visit the cinema. At night, when our child sleeps, we grab our spellbooks and longswords and join our friends. We are now living a richer life: A life with our child and our families, another life with our friends and relatives – and a third, a new life in Sosaria. And this time, we won´t leave again.

One of my memorable moments in Uo was, when I started playing UO in 1998. My in the first days I hunted a lot of monsters, I was training and trying every skill I got. At this time I had no clue about skill limit nor how to make money or how to train easy a skill.
So I started hunting around shame area, bought my first bow and killed monster for hours.
After 8 hours I had about 2000gp of money. – A fortune for a newbie like me. Heavy loaded I carried that stuff back to Britain my home town.
I could hardly move. At that time no “real” map existed for me, so I was wondering around in the forest. Finally after 30 minutes I came close to a house which was placed in the middle of a hedge mace. – I was so happy to see that seemingly there was one guy right in the middle, whom I can ask what the shortest way back to Britain is.
So I stepped close and formulated my words. “Hail good Sir, could you please tell me shortest way to Britain, please……” – But guess what. – That guy started to cast on me:
“Corp Por”- I got shocked, so I did not react on the first time
“Des Mani” – I tried to run… – Could not move
“Kas Vas Flam”
Dead, I am DEAD. – NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOOOO.
All my 8 hour work was gone. I saw him looting my corpse!!!!
Gosh, I was so upset. – SO ANGRY!
I was jumping around him in circles. And I blustered him for quite some time.
And believe me, that guy ignored me totally!
So I went to the woods and was looking for a healer to ress me, but I could not find any. Finally after 20 minutes some people on a street ressed me and I told them that I need their help to kill that pk.
But they seems to freighted about PKs, so they just left me alone after my ress and run away.
….
Well that was the time, where I was thinking of stopping playing UO….
But as you can see I am still with the game and still enjoying it.

So now for the memorable moment:
The moment was there…  about 4 years later.
When I passed by accident hedge maze again and I noticed: That PK, who lived there was a NPC Pk.
DOOOH! – I felt like a newbie and when i was realizing, that I was yelling and screaming for several minutes to an NPC in that old time.

After so many years walking the world of Sosaria it is hard to pick one memorable moment.

But the most memorable moment must have been the wedding between Lessa and me.

One day i just had this idea to ask Lessa how she would feel for a wedding between Lessa and Frarc.

She did ask me why at first , so i explained that would be for in game fun.

But i was glad she did accept to do it and we filled in some forms and sended that to a counselor.

We had to choose a date and place and even a engraving for our wedding rings.

“I am my beloved and my beloved is mine”

I still have that ring in my bank box.

I just not wanted to tell everyone our idea for the wedding ,so i ask Max Wulf our guildmaster to help us out on something.There was a guild tournament planned to see who was the best PvPer.

We ask Max to cheat on the drawing of opponents.

Lessa and me would fight each other on the second fight.

When the battle started i refused to fight her, i role-played that a trowed away my sword and took of my helmet. Its where i ask Lessa to married me.

And of course she accepted.

The date was set : 31 July 1999

Max prepared the castle for the wedding.

Morgaine the guilds blacksmith made two matching full plate valorite suits.

She made a matching blue cloak.

In those days those suits where very valuable!

Invitations been send out for the day with big announcement on the guilds web page.

The day of the wedding had come and we where all ready for it.

I was even not allowed to see Lessa ingame that day.Good thing we had other characters.

Lessa stood with Max at the altar in the castle while i was waiting outside the counselor would come to do the wedding.

He was late… so i thought.

Its the day you learn that GMT is not the same as CEST!

A lot of people came, even people that played often on other shards like Ariye came for the wedding.

All dressed up nicely for this occasion.

Eventually the Counselor appeared and my brother took me to Lessa.

It was all nicely done , like a real royal wedding.

The counselor did a great job!

We took our vows and then gave each other the wedding ring.

After we kissed it was time for celebration. With many food, drinks and presents!

Its a day i never forget.

Many years gone by since then , many people left and new friends where made.

But Lessa and Ariye they still here with me after all this time.

I honestly have no idea what i would do without them!

So Thank You Ultima Online to bring all these people from the last fourteen years in my life even when some already moved on!

My time travel
________________________________

Yesterday I had a very very nice for me UO experience.
I am very interested in old stuff from past UO days, rummaging through old houses which are apparently uninhabited for years, is for me the greatest, they are like time capsules are where the clock stopped.
For old items I do everything.
Even old threats in UO forums that were written years ago, I often find most interesting.
Unfortunately, there is not the skill archeology, I would Legendary archaeologist
* g *

Yesterday I met a beginner who enjoyed a huge horse-given, after a few minutes it became clear that he had played a few years ago already times.
I told the reactivate the old account, if he knew the old account name yet, the old email address would still etc.
And it worked!
After waiting a few minutes opened up not far from me a Moongate, and out ….. a 5 year old Char, logged out years ago and now for the first time came back online, including the dusty knowledge of the player in front of the screen.
A player in a PvP armor Valorite would now bear no more, the blacksmith of it produced there for years no longer than one swinging Tunic, a weapon that everyone would be lying in front of the bank.
Although this equipment has probably cost a fortune at that time nothing was insured, his ancient horse was not Bondet and the BackPack there were strange items that I had never seen before.
He stood there like a reawakened dinosaurs from prehistoric times, and alive to the touch, … madness!
Something I had only seen on old screenshots.

We three went to the third was (coincidentally on site and would also like to try to reactivate an old account, I am looking forward
* G *) tap into a dungeon to the earth elementals the rust from the old armor.
He had to fight hard to maintain and looked enviously at the paladin spells and weapons of the two companions of the future.
For the Poison Elemental he unfortunately died twice, his old armor was just too weak to give us companions time to heal, even his old horse, he lost here.
Still, it was all great fun, and for me it was like going back in a time machine to the past, an unforgettable experience.

Anniversaries are always ripe with memories of a time past. The original producers of UO recently shared their memories of the early beginnings of Ultima Online at the 2012 Game Developers Conference. Gamasutra did an interesting summary of a few of those memories here.

Though we enjoyed all of the entries we received from the Catskills shard, we had to force ourselves to only select half of them.

Here are the 5 winning entries from Catskills:

Author: Ludes

Title: The Discovery of Illshenar

         Ludes puffed contentedly on his pipe as he sat on the porch of his first home..  It was a small marble workshop south of Minoc, close to the bay.. It had taken almost a year for him and Lady Kyra to buy it.. but at last it was his.. an actual home to store his things and be a base for his new guild.  The guild was barely a week old and the guildstone still gleamed with freshly cut corners and sharp lettering.  He had one guild member, Garion. A capable fellow he had met near Brit smithy while we waited in line to get our armour repaired.

  As Ludes puffed away considering his plans Garion rushed up to the house..  “M’Lord!” He exclaimed..” They have discovered a new land!” Sitting up in excitement Ludes drops his pipe and say “What?.. Where?”  Garion reaches down and picks up Ludes’s pipe.. ” The Moongates are tied in M’Lord.. Come, lets go see!”

  So off Ludes and Garion head to see the new lands.. upon reaching the moongates Garion quickly tells his Lord.. “The Compassion moongate in the new lands of Ilshenar seems to be fairly in the center Sir..” Ludes checks his sword and bandage supply as he says.. “Lets go check it out my slalwart friend!” 
Excitement abounds as the two worthy warriors stick back to back. Healing each other and letting no foe approach. They work their way through lava fields and molten rock waterfalls.. eventually finding a city. Scouting this strange metropolis in the middle of nowhere they see it is occupied by gargoyles who seems to be trying to go about the daily business of living.. but there are also Overseers and Golems everywhere who seem to be in a position of authority.  “What do you think my friend?” Ludes looks at Garion warily.. Garion grins and says “Lets go see..”

Staying shoulder blade to shoulder blade the two warriors enter the city and work their way to the center.. With swords smoking and nicked they find themselves in a room with strange machinery in the center..  Curiously they study the equipment but the golems continue to press close and the Overseers keep calling for reinforcements even as they fall to the deadly swordplay of the two men.

  “We can always return to study this further.” Ludes yells.. “Lets fall back and rest.”
Garion nods as they slowly back out of the city.. walking south they slowly leave the area of the city and walk out into a beautiful plain covered in fruit trees and other lush plants.
  Ludes grabs an apple off one of the trees and loosens his armour.. “These new land seemed filled with both challenges and rewards my friend!” he wipes juice off his chin as he speaks..
  Suddenly a whirring sound startles both men. A bola comes whipping through the air and wraps itself around Ludes’ legs.. ” Uuuhh” is all Ludes can say as he stumbles forward and falls, his legs wrapped firmly.
Steel appears in Garions hand as he quickly looks around and with a backhand slice frees his guildmasters legs. Mounted savages appear and surround the two men. Once again they go back to back as they defend themselves.. in a few short minutes they pant as they survey the scene.. over a hundred slain savages lay around them. “Now what?” Garion says between breaths.. ” Look bro..” Ludes says with a evil grin.. “Lets pile these bodies around the fruit trees and come back in six months and collect the fruit..”  Garion grins and says.. ” Aye, good plan.. every six months we’ll come back and feed our fruit trees.” 
  With a chuckle Ludes wearily mounts up and they slowly head back to the moongate..

Author: Mon-t

What captured my interest and long term interest in UO has been the community and houses especially. UO was the first MMO I’ve tried and it offers a few things that others don’t offer: Extreme template Customization and Housing. I’d like to just focus on Housing and the Community. My first house I did not own alone. I was Co-owned with a friend, we had to split the cost of gold after a couple of months of farming, selling wares, and selling pets at West Brit Bank. Our house was a Log Cabin east of Covetous; and it came with a house key – and you know how important this was if you remember. After several months another friend, Duke, helped me get my own house; a two-story villa next to a mountain good for mining, especially since I loved mining ore elementals and most things crafting in general. Mind you, this was before the large Malas expansion (my how much they’ve added to UO since its Launch) – so housing spots were few and far between (or close and extremely packed). I believe I still even own a rune for that spot on one of my initial characters. Once Malas was added I was one of the first prospectors to get in on the ground breaking (I have the sandals and robe to proof it!), and got a great location as an 18*18. It was right at the entrance to the snowy part outside Luna with mountains all around me. Now why this 18*18 was important to note, was the simple fact this house was the largest you could place and use Ultima Online’s new feature: House CUSTOMIZATION. So now not only can you decorate your house with the treasures you acquire, rare items, favorite items, and decorative items; you can also customize how the house itself looks by changing the floor, walls, roof, and everything in-between.

Back then we actually interacted with neighbors. I joined their rag-tag guild and stayed in it for several years and met many new friends to get where I am today, 108 months later (as of September 15th 2012 my paper doll updated to 108).

Today, I’ve build up my “empire” and own a keep and castle (which I finally acquired this year with the help of a dear friend). We have a very close and trusted guild – as is much of UO actually. We do spawn together and peerless together, and we help each other with suits and templates – there is not much more I could ask for.

Ultima Online has had its up and downs – but what has kept me here and playing are the houses and the tight-knit community.

Author: Dante Signas/Baudwin Wulf

Title: A new shade of friend.

              I was instantly hooked when my then girlfriend introduced me to Sosaria.    As I began playing Ultima Online I was mainly interested in killing monsters and crafting items to sell to the denizens of the land.  However it was the social aspect of the interactions I had that really grabbed me. 

             One day, I was out in Felucca and was doing some looking around for the first time as I heard so many stories of murder and chaos, I was afraid to in the past.  I happened upon a fella in Moonglow who was decked out in the finest of armors and whose name was a sparking shade of crimson.  I was scared stiff and ready to run but then realized I was safe in town because of the guards. However, I still had my finger over my “Vendor Bank Guards” macro just in case….  So he made a comment about my armor and how it wasn’t very safe to run around in the old lands with such low resist on my gear and that rolled into a conversation about the finer points of armor and stat thresholds.  I was quickly enthralled with the scientific formulas that folks like him and others had come up with for their characters builds and suits.  I never realized the community and culture of Felucca was so rich and involved due to my fear of getting killed. I figured it was all delinquents and ruffians!  But from that day on I was no longer afraid of Felucca and no longer afraid of those with crimson names as I had made a friend who I hold dear to this day.    That was 9 years ago and we continue to enjoy each other’s friendship even today. 

              The one thing that Ultima Online has given me that other games never could is a sense of real community.  From stranger s, from friends, from new and old players, this game seems to bring out the best in people as far as I have experienced and that is why I will be here as long as the servers are running!

Author: Sindee

I had been playing Ultima online for only a short wile and my skills as a swordswoman were still in there master stages, Most of my time was being around the small town of Heaven back before it was distroyed by blackrock I made alot of good friends just by sitting around the banks and hearing about there storys of battle with dragons or of murderist bands of players on the other side of the red moongates that i would see pop up every now and agin. But on one afternoon I cought wind of monsters attacking players near the west bank of britian and when I heard they were only groups of lizardmen I knew I could handle my own and went out to see what was going on, I had no idea it was a full scale Invasion of the city! I never seen myself as a solider or hero I looked up to alot of other players with there amazing powers with magic or weapons of great stranght of the warriors or archers but when I see them rushing to meet the monsters head on I felt a fire burn inside me and drew myself to run along side them in the thick of it. It was sheer madness there were bodys of my fellow friends and hero’s of the relam alisde the monsters and there Generals that poured from the depths of Despise dungeon. It wasnt long before I fell to the numbers and woke up back at the healers building in the city and wile I was there players who knew we were loseing started handing out what ever weapons they could to help out. I rember being a mystic scimitar by a fencer that did not need it and was told to take care of it for its powers ( stats ) were a weakness to the siders that often traveled with the lizardmen armys and I felt so over whelmed when I weilded it in battle ( i really didnt much as far as good itmes back then) I made sure to insure it and I still have it to this day in my bank box. A few days later the event was over and most of the players that I used to see now traveled to Luna to the holy city to spend there free time in safty but I now had a feeling of pride over myself I was no longer a bystander who used to hear the tales of valour and heroisum, I was that I had my own tale to tell about how I was a simple solider that fought to defend the great city of Britain from evil and the friends i made as well as the tropies i resived. I would have many more events and friend through out my time in UO and I’m pround to not only say I play the game but I was part of its long histroy.

Author: Nails Warstein

This is my entry for the contest.  It was hard to choose a singular memorable moment.  Yet it was easy to pick moments to explain their significance as to why I play UO.  I felt it was best to be sincere and meaningful whether I win or not.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

“I had just started my second year in law school when I learned that my Father had been given 6 months to live.  Growing up my Father and I were never that close, mainly because he was always such a workaholic.  Now that he was ill, he needed to live life a little easier, so I came home to take care of him, and suddenly found that I had some extra time on my hands.  I had always enjoyed role playing games over the typical game consuls, and I began experimenting with these new MMORPGs. 

My most memorable moment is when I tried UO for the first time, I was exploring around Haven when suddenly this player shows up, and I get this message, “A friend has arrived to help”.  He was riding a horse, dressed like a ranger with a bow.  Although I can no longer remember his name, I do remember him explaining how to use this “A Young Player Ticket” with another player in the trade window, and I remembering getting “Studded Sleeves Ranger Armor” while the other player got “A Coupon For A Free Hair Restyling”.  This “Companion” stayed to answer any questions we both had, and follow us as we teamed up together to help heal us as we killed these tough Mongbats.

We never did see him again, but that moment had sparked a 6 year friendship of teaming up together to fishing, treasure hunting, and exploring dungeons together in UO.  Even though he left to start a new family, I still email him every September to try UO when Return to Britnannia is active.  Now that his kids are older, maybe this year will bring him back.

Anyhow, as my Father’s illness got worse, UO was a place I could escape from the reality I was desperately trying to avoid, a place where death was a very common occurrence, yet your character never truly dies.  Despite this, I still didn’t handle dying very well.  I was always fighting the “Lag Monster” as a horde of “uglies” as I would called them would easily run me down.  Granted I did take too many risks.  If it wasn’t mobs of creatures killing me, it was some egotistical red named player “PKing” me.  As a result, every character I created had the skill “hiding” in hopes of avoiding death.

My Father did live a whole extra year longer than expected, but when he died, I created and named a character after him that I still play to this day.  I made him a crafter so that his name would live on in everything I made.  When mourning him, I would spend several hours a day killing the liches that spawned in the cemetery near Cove.  Ultima Online is still therapeutic for me today.  A great game to release stress, and give me time to heal.  I honestly do not know what I’d do in my free time without it.”

We received many stories from Baja and our winners shared some inspiring memories of camaraderie.

The top 5 most memorable UO moments from Baja:

Fig The Ancient

I struggled with this one for a while…their are so many good moments to remember but this one touched me deeply, and also gave me insight to the folks that played on our server.

It was a few months after guilds were introduced into the world. It was during the times when houses were often vandalized by red characters. They would often kill members and steal the keys to your home then empty it of all its inventory. Because of this I had instructed my guild members not to carry their keys to the guild house, unless they were coming straight from the bank to the guild house.

It was late night and I was escorting our latest member into the guild house as we were about to enter the house we were attacked by three red chars. I instructed the new member to run for his life, while I attempted to hold off the red hoard.

He managed to get a recall off just in time to escape, while the three reds proceded to hack my body into little pieces, and gained the keys to our guild house. It was late at night so most of the guild was gone for the night, so I could not even call for help. I stood by dead and impotent, watching while the reds started loading up the goods stored in the house by my guild brothers and sisters. I was not a happy camper, esp since I had just instructed my guild to never carry their keys with them. I watched sadly as all of my guild assets were being carted off.

I was then surprised as as first one gate then another appeared outside my house.

Through the gate poured every person I had ever helped in the game since I started playing….no less than 25 folks showed up and started fighting the reds who then sent a call to their brothers and sisters until it became one of the biggest battles I had ever watched.  The battle was so bloody I never got the chance to be rezzed until the battle was over, so i didn’t know what or how all this had happened.

Turned out the person I had saved, recalled to Trinsic, and ran around the city telling everyone that Fig’s house was under attack…the word spread and the battle cry was issued.

A tear rolled down my cheek as I watched them fight for me. The battle raged for what seemed like a lifetime. When all was said and done, ninety percent of my guilds resources were returned, the reds were defeated and driven back to their house which was raided for all the gear they had stolen, and was all returned.

Just goes to show you…..you never know if the person who you helped, will one day return the favor. In my case they all did…it was a great day.

Trinsic, with its fortifications, battlements and walkways, would seem the least likely place for an invasion, and yet… and yet here we were, chasing Juo’nar the undead paladin and his accomplice the traitorous girl Malabelle across the rooftops and around the city.

Down below, in the streets, the faithful Britannians were fighting off scores of undead.  From the rooftops I could hear the clang of sword upon sword.  The stench of the undead and the coppery tang smell of blood reached up even this high.  Oh the carnage!

Malabelle paused to face her pursuers for a moment, and another Britannian bit the dust.  Haunting laughter drifted back from Juo’nar who was farther ahead still.

The evil pair descended down to street level, and I lost track of them in the melee.  I was swinging my Exceedingly Accurate Silver Halberd of Vanquishing, dropping zombies and rotting corpses and walking skeletons left and right.  Piles of re-dead bodies reached mid-thigh level.  Hours went by, and it was late in the night.

People were shouting about something going on at the town center.  I fought my way there slowly, at times joining other groups of Britannians.  The United Tamers of Britannia group were holding the central park.  The Golden Knights from the Golden Brew Tavern were holding the south gate — they did not come after me although I was “kill on sight” to them.  The Mage Tower and Dark Tower had a temporary truce while fighting the common foe.

Atop the town hall, something had been built of dark brick.  A gate briefly shown, and then a Casiid dragon stepped through.  I’d never seen the like — a black dragon!  and strong!  Everyone who went against it fell.

Then, suddenly, waves of undead rotting corpses overwhelmed the Britannian defenders.  I fell, and all was shades of gray, and then I knew no more.

In the morning, having found a wandering healer, I ventured back to Trinsic.  Most of the city was sealed off behind wicked sharp-pointed palisade, decorated with the bodies of those who had attempted to scale them.  Trinsic had fallen.  We had lost.

Outside the city it was as if the whole world had turned barren — all the trees were leafless.  I came upon an odd moongate on the road.  Next to it there was a sign reading:
“Britannian citizen, this is a time of sorrow. We abandon this, our world, to Minax, and go to another place. Step through this moongate to join us. By order of His Majesty Lord British.”

And, it was with heavy heart, that I abandoned the Sosaria that I knew and loved and stepped through into a whole new world that was strangely reminiscent of the old and yet not the same.

Epilogue:  Now and then I visit the bones of Malabelle where they lie, north of Vesper.  I give them a good kick.

Anyone Want To Do An Ancient SOS? A Tale Of Chaos and Pandemonium

So this morning I was just finishing up a cup of coffee and going through my fisher’s backpack and noticed that the White Ancient SOS was still sitting there being ignored. So I decided it was time to do it and figured, heck, I’ll ask in general chat if anyone wants to come along since the last one I did one I died a few times and had to bother the Count of Berg (my real life husband that I met in game) to come rez me.. again….

So ask I did and I got a few folks who said sure, including one who said ya know they’re pretty tough, bring the cannon, greater dragons etc. I’m thinking to myself, okay, I think I’ve listened to this guy in General Chat before and he and seems like a tough guy. I snicker saying to myself I guess not. A Kracken and a few of it’s friends is pretty easy.  As I’m getting ready I’m hearing these guys in chat talk about cannon and Greater Dragons still and I’m smirking to myself.

We meet up at Buc’s Den docks for the deep water and then I realize this is a map that we have to sail to. Yeah, I forgot we had to do this. It’s been a while since I’ve done one. So we get into a few dragon ships and sail to the coords to fish up the map. While I’m fishing up the map I’m thinking that the kraken et all is going to spawn but instead I fish up a chest. Aha! The white net is inside the chest!! Now I remember…

So here we are…(note that the font starts to get smaller) 5 or 6 people, one dragon… on two dragon ships… I toss the net…… into the ocean…. far from land.

I’ve been invised… Good people around me! They thought of me!

The net sinks.. the waves splash around… the seconds tick by….

This ain’t your Mama’s kraken! This ain’t your Papa’s kracken! I’m getting hit hard by I don’t know what, I’m dying, everyone around me is dying. Snakes all over the place… this big blue thing has spawned.. I’m hearing in chat something about a 25% chance of something or other spawning in Tram. I don’t know.. I just know I’m confused and bewildered and trying to stay alive.

Well it starts to sink in that this is Scalis… I swear I didn’t know(font gets even smaller)! We die. We move our little dragon ships away… we rez, we go back and attack a few more times(how many times does it take for one to realize that this is a battle you don’t have a chance of winning?).

Someone says(probably the one who said so at the start) that we should get our ships and cannon. So after what seems forever we now have a ship with cannon and a few more players have signed on. That same someone says we should head for land and fight from shore. So we sail backwards all the way to Moonglow shooting our front cannon filled with heavy grapeshot as quickly as we can reload and everyone shooting away trying not to die from what I’ve now identified as eels. I HATE eels. But that’s another story.

We FINALLY get to Moonglow where we disembark and fight like dogs and not making any headway with Scalis. His life bar declines just enough to be able to see that we’ve done some damage only to have it return to full health a few minutes later.

More people arrive.. more greater dragons more cu’s. I look at the time.. It’s 2:30CST.. It’s 4 hours after we started!!! And we haven’t put a dent in it. Some of us try different chars to see if that will make a difference. Nada. What was suppose to be a simple kracken and a few of its buddies has turned into a relentless death fest with no end in sight. At some point most of us threw in the towel including myself.

Some did not. For the rest of the story I let those that are stronger willed than I tell their story. I only know that sometime after 6:00CST this evening these fine people finally beat it down.

I do not mention any names because I don’t want to leave anyone out and I’m sure if I did mention names I would forget someone. There is only one that I’ll mention and that is Roac Zoroff and his pet THOSAS. The reason is that tonight he showed me the treasure he received for his day long battle. I don’t know if anyone else received anything. I can only hope you did.

In the mean time I hope you’ll forgive an old Lady. I really didn’t know that there was a chance this would happen. To those of you that tried to tell me that we really should have brought cannon etc at the beginning I apologize for not listening and thinking those very silly thoughts about you.

I don’t remember now how long ago it was, perhaps 5 years, perhaps more, that Inu the Crone was kidnapped and imprisoned in an ante chamber under the Etheral Fortress. Early in the day, a small group of adventures banded together to solve the secrets to reach Inu in her cell. Only the brave who would be able to heal themselves and invis themselves were able to travel to the small hallway marking the entrance to the cells. We were a determined bunch… as our passwords, our supplies and our patience were tested beyond all measure.  We worked each room as a group ensuring the weakest could advance while the fighters kept the evil and craven defense lines at bay. We managed to make it to the small hallway… I’d wager no more than 20×3 tiles in all. Impossible to just find… one needed to scratch, claw and outwit the vast defenders.  We broadcast the secrets to the rest of the shard. We had found INU, and laid out the trail for others to follow. Most arrived bloodied, bruised and without so much as a single morsel to feed themselves on.
Everyone threw themselves into the fight at one point or another. Archers and dexers seemed to have little to no effect. Mages and Necromancers also failed to make any serious dent. Our foe would raid our downed bodies for supplies to regain his health, stamina and dexterity. Our own medicinal concoctions were turned against us! Tamed creatures great and small were thrown at the kidnapper and much to everyone’s horror; the foe rejuvenated all his health to the point of causing us to weep over the loss of progress.
The day wore long, and as night started to fall, one by one, Baja’s best renewed their determination to succeed, only to emerge moments later into that long cold hallway a ghost. A strategy was a must. The best minds began to brainstorm. A division of labor! The weaker mages and healers would remain in the tight hallway, healing and rezzing the warriors as fast as they were able. Food was conjured. Stealthers ferried supplies in, some making dozens of trips and bringing thousands of band aids and arrows. Some warned new fighters to leave their mounts and summons and pets outside, else all progress would be halted. The call went out to all warriors, hit the foe twice then leave immediately. Take only 25 band aids inside.  Leave all potions and supplemental items behind.
The battle waged all day and all night. After what seemed like an unwinnable fight, the entire Baja shard came together with their best and brightest to defeat the kidnapper. Inu the crone was freed. A community bonded tightly together and the ale ran plentiful long into the morning hours.  United by a common foe, forced to work together great and small, Baja became a community that day.

A group of about 10 of my friends would gather together almost twice a week at my house to play D&D.  It was hard for us to find a time we could all meet up until one day, one us learned about this new game where any of us could meet up any time of the day, any day of the week to role-play like D&D over the internet in this game called Ultima Online.  After getting us all signed up, we started to incorporate the storyline of our D&D sessions into UO.  It was a lot of fun, and this is my most memorable moment with them.

It hadn’t yet been 6 months, and most of us were still not fully trained, but when evil threatens the peaceful citizens of Britain, our guild the “Circle of Friends” decided we must respond to defend the weak and innocent.  Help give safe passage for players who like us enjoyed slaying monsters instead of players.  However it was clear that in our own time, we could rarely venture forth without some red named player interrupting our fun, and leaving our packs empty.

In the beginning, one bandit in particular named “Errol” was a constant thorn in our side.  He preyed upon new players travelling alone.  He was quite skilled at stealthing along the road between Vesper and Britain.  Rarely could you hunt monsters, dig up treasures, mine ore or chop wood without this murderer ruining your day.  It wasn’t so much as he killed you as that he taunted you with vulgar epitaphs.

In one such instance this terrorist would kill me then wait until I found a healer, watch me run back to my corpse, and killed me again.  He would remove the contents of corpse, and leave them like bread crumbs along the road and forest.  Maybe stuff he didn’t value, but stuff you worked hard to acquire like my precious valorite platemail armor.  I knew I should have left it in the bank.

Anyhow my guild finally decided to take the law into our own hands.  We placed a bounty on his head, and laid a trap for this villain of infamy.  While the bravest and most skilled of us caught the attention of Errol, the rest of us waited instead the first entrance to Covetous.  He never knew what hit him.  The excitement of killing him and the trophy owning his head gave us the inspiration we needed to make sure his like would think twice before preying on innocent victims again.

Although we no longer play D&D, and I alone still play UO to this day.  In remembrance of them, on occasion I will venture forth into felucca to observe if these unsportsmanlike tactics are still employed, and meet out justice whenever I can.

We have more winning entries coming soon. As always keep an eye on the Herald for some more great UO moments!

It is time for another Ask and Answer and this week we answer a lot of great questions from UO Mania.

UO Mania clorenz – Are there any plans to add books to store Scrolls of Alacrity or Powerscrolls similar to the books for Scroll of Transcendence?
Mesanna:  When we did the SOT book we had planned to add these other ways to store items.  There are just so many things we want to get done we have to take them one at a time.  Please be patient they are coming.

UO Mania clorenz – Are there any plans to add jewelry boxes to store rings and bracelets similar to the seed boxes?
Mesanna:  This is something the team as talked about several times, but it’s not as simple as the seed boxes.  As soon as we can figure out a way to do this correctly to everyone’s satisfaction we will give you guys a jewelry box.  The best part about this is I found a wonderful antique jewelry box that would be fitting for the art.
UO Mania clorenz – Can we have a preview of the 15th year Veteran Rewards? Are they useful or decorative?
Mesanna:  All the 15th year vet rewards are useful except for the new statues we have added this year.  (But the statues are pretty sweet)  We will post some pictures close to the publish date for everyone.

UO Mania Bl4ckFir3 – Why do we still have to pay a monthly subscription, while many games have moved to a free-to-play model? Have you considered going Free-to-play with extra features and expansions for sale and the possibility to earn currency in-game to unlock them?
Mesanna:  The option to take UO free to play is not up for discussion at this time.

UO Mania Wanderer – are you planning to provide some improvements for thieves in PvP?
Mesanna:  Honestly no we don’t have any specific plans, but we do want to start the Topic specific HOC’s soon,  PVP will be a topic we are going to want to talk to you guys about.  I will say that the team wants to give thieves things to do in and out of PVP.

UO Mania Sir Bolo – the Singing Balls and Secret Chests are only available on the UO store in Japan at the moment. Are you going to make them available for sale also on origin.com in the US and in Europe?
Mesanna:  I can add the Secret Chest in the future when I have other things to add to the origin store.  I need everyone to understand this is a normal chest that has the ability to have a combo lock on it thus a great role playing tool.

UO Mania Sir Bolo – codes for the 15th Anniversary Commemorative Robe were handed out to players at the anniversary party in Virginia, and to the winners of the Memorable Moments contest. Are we going to get other opportunities to win the promotional codes for this robe?
Mesanna:  Not at this time, we do not have any plans outside of the contest and the party to distribute the robe.

Recently, the veteran rewards are overflowing with Sosaria.
How about “Re-activation of vet rewards”?
I mean, a reduction point is decided according to years of rewards and it returns to the acquisition point for a new rewards. For example, “1 year vet rewards” is 0.1point and 10 “1 year vet rewards” will be point for “Getting one 1 years vet rewards”.
Thank you for your time. (Peil)
Mesanna:  I can see pro’s and con’s to this.  This is not a decision that can be made lightly but we will bring this up at a later date for discussion. 

Do the devs have any plans to make Gargoyle Clothing (Gargish Robes, Gargish Wing Armor, Gargish Talons) able to be used with a Arcane Gem to create Arcane Clothing for Gargoyles? The only Arcane Clothing that a Gargoyle can use right now, is the Arcane Robes, which there’s quite a few Robe slot items nowadays which are better (Conjurer’s Garb, Shroud of the Condemned, etc). (PlayerSkillFTW)
Phoenix:  : Right now we don’t have plans to create Gargoyle versions of Arcane Clothing, because there are alternatives on equipment that make all spellcasting reagent-free.

Is it possible to change the color of the font on the menu for the peculiar seeds? The font is dark and the background is dark. Its hard for my old eyes to see how many resources there are on the plant. On the plain plants the font is white with the black background. Can the pecular seeds be changed to what the plain plants are. Thank you. (Sara Dale)
Kyronix: This is something that can be adjusted, I’ll go ahead and submit an unconfirmed bug report into the system so it can get added.

Choosing winners from the Atlantic shard was extremely tough. We had received 22 entries from the shard and enjoyed every one!

We hope you enjoy our top 5 winning selections:

The Kindness of Friends & Strangers.

There has been so many memorable moments in my years of playing Ultima Online that it is difficult to pick only one.

Foremost in my mind are the friends and just random people that I have met. These people really enhance the experience of this world we call Sosaria.

During the Earth Year 1998, my goal was to place my first house. Placing even a small house on the Atlantic shard was almost impossible back in the old days before the Trammel/Felucca split.

I was siting up one night waiting for a large forge house to collapse. A large forge spot was large enough for almost any home. I was chatting with a few people there at the time, not really knowing what to expect, because I had never really done a house camping before. Nor, did I didn’t expect all the mayhem that was to follow due to hidden and red people.

A very long night rolled around to 7:30 in the morning. The house finally dropped shortly afterward, and to my surprise people came seemingly out of nowhere.

I wasn’t concerned about any of the items that people were hurriedly gathering up. I was more focused on trying to place my new house once the items and people were cleared from the area.

A group of reds arrived and started killing everyone to clear the area to get it for themselves. A tremendous battle ensued with people still picking through the fallen belongings.

Later that morning, a few of my friends started to wake up and I asked for assistance. I informed them of my situation; that I was in the midst of an ongoing battle without any support.

Luckily, the spot was well known and many had runes marked for that location, and within minutes 20, members from the Lost Order of Akalabeth (LOA) guild and a few others poured through the gates and cleared the area of hostiles so that I could place my house.

I took a deep breath and clicked the deed, and there appeared a house. Sadly for me it was not my dream home. Someone hidden in the house just south of the spot had taken my hard earned placement spot; I was crushed.

Even with the unexpected and impressive support from my friends, our efforts were for nought. All night I had stayed awake hoping for a home.

The guy that had place his house on my spot asked me why I wanted it so much for so many people to show up.

I responded that they came to help me place my first house.

He looked at me thoughfully and to my surprise took me to a little house north of Vesper and handed it over to me.

He said to me with a smile, “There is your first house.”

I guess my memorable moment wasn’t so much a “moment” as it was a period of time. My sister had been working in Sweden for a couple of years as an interior designer. I didn’t get to see her much, but we would talk on Skype and such now and again. Not too often, she was really busy out there.

Then she was diagnosed with cancer. Work was put on hold, and she had a lot more online time. Online especially because insurance woes wouldn’t let her return to the United States and she wasn’t really close to many people out there. I managed to get out there once, but only for a little while. I’m not filthy rich, I have a family and a job, I couldn’t jet off to Europe for long periods of time.

We talked a lot more on Skype and all, but she needed a distraction and we needed something else to talk about besides hospital trips and chemotherapy and such. So I reactivated a couple of old Ultima Online accounts, had her download the client, and passed her the information for one.

Now she is totally not a gamer at all, so it took her a little while to get the hang of what was going on. She did get the hang of it though, especially when she realized she could have a house and design/decorate it however she liked. There was some complaining about not being able to get objects to sit exactly where she wanted, but once she got into the groove we had some very tastefully decorated UO homes.

It gave her something to do that wasn’t too physically demanding. Sometimes after chemo or surgery her hands were really shaky and her reactions were slow, and she couldn’t really handle anything like combat. But stuff like house decoration and growing plants gave her things to do that she could handle.

There isn’t really any climactic ending to this story. She got really really sick for a while, to where she did have to quit playing or doing much of anything, then thankfully she finally got better. She’s back to work now. She’s not on a lot, but she keeps the account paid up, and every now and then logs on to move all the furniture around in her UO house. Even if I don’t see her online, I stop by her house every now and then and see everything moved into different places.

Well, I guess I could start from the beginning. I started playing UO right around Age of Shadows along with a good real life friend. I named my first character Miximus, He named his character Norman. Well, now it was time to start training. I think we killed 8 billion Ettins over a couple weeks time. It took awhile but finally we were trained warriors! Now it was time to move on, we needed money for better suits. We ended up getting in the leather business. We farmed leather from lizard men, drakes, and dragons every night. There was a tailor who would buy every piece we got, every week we would meet up at Umbra bank and sell our goods to him. We ended up making a pretty good living doing this. Ok, so we had trained warriors, a job, and money, now we needed a place to live. This brings me to one of my most memorable moments. My buddy and I shared a home at first, it was in Felucca. Now keep in mind this is a real life friend.  Well, He was logging in one day. I assume he recalled to the house and bam, there were 4 reds there waiting for him. He managed to get into the house safely. He could have recalled from inside the house to a safe area, but we were still noobs and were not completely hip on the whole process yet. Well, I got a phone call. It was my buddy, he was freaking out. He starts yelling into the phone “Dude, you gotta log in quick”. Ok I say, what’s going on? “There’s Reds everywhere and they are trying to burn the house down and get me”. Oh damn I said. Ok I am logging in now, be there in a few to help ya. “Hurry man, they are taunting me and calling me out”, “I think they are gonna get in and kill me”. Ok, so at this point he is in a frantic yell. I manage to get logged in, I was at a bank, can’t remember which one. I ask him, ok where they at? I am getting ready to recall in, have the door ready to open. “They are in the front of house, be quick so they don’t kill ya”. Now I am panicking, we have never PVP’ed before. Four people against two noobs, this should be interesting. Ok, here we go I tell him, I hit sacred journey. Bam, I am at the house and see the red names pop up. When I got there and seen the characters, I almost lost it. They where NPC reds! This whole time he thought they were real and trying to burn him outa the house. We had a huge laugh out of this for weeks every time we saw a group of brigands.

You know what’s weird about life? The way the stupidest most random little decisions turn out to be the most important.

It’s years ago and I’m walking through Trinsic at about three in the morning for some reason. To my surprise, someone else is up this late and hanging around Trinsic, specifically a girl in a red dress. Not having anything better to do, I say hello and we begin to chat. After a minute or two she asks if I want to go sit in the tavern. There’s something odd about the way she’s talking, but whatever, I say yes.

After another minute or two sitting in the tavern it dawns on me: This girl is roleplaying or something. Either that or she’s got deep mental issues, because she’s seriously talking to the NPC tavernkeeper before buying a bottle of wine. But whatever, I can play along. So we sit there chitchatting for a while about, you know, the issues of the day. Orcish rights and whether drow should be allowed to adopt, or something. I don’t remember really, it was a long time ago. I just smiled and nodded and chimed in where I could, because listening to this girl go on about the price of tea in China (or the price of mandrake in Moonglow) was a lot more oddly entertaining than anything else I was going to do at three in the morning on a Thursday.

Then I get a little party invite message from her at the bottom of my screen. She says hello in an out-of-character sort of way, we chat like that for a minute or two, and then she gets to the point. She explains that her character is secretly a vampire, and that she’d like to lay the bite on me. In all my life this was the one time I had ever looked at my screen and literally said the word “LOL” out loud.

And then a little mental conversation with myself takes place. I say to myself, you know, silly as it is… why not? It’s three AM, it’s the internet, who’s gonna know? Then I say back to myself, you’ll know, and what’s more you’ll know that there’s at least a 75% chance that this is a man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not my cup of tea and the idea sort of kills the mood for me.

What to do? Yes or no? Little did I know tis would turn out to be one of those stupid random decisions that ends up being really important.

As it turns out, my little vampire friend was in fact a real live female.

Our daughter is three years old now.

I occasionally let her walk my tamer around in circles with a dragon following. Her mother snickers when I tell her to look out for vampires.

It had to have been late when I finally walked into Moonglow. I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d log into UO that day at all, but the Red Cross had already turned away my friend and I in our attempt to give blood, and one can only watch the same thing on television for so many hours before needing to do something, anything else. What I saw in Moonglow violated everything I knew about the game.

There are two ironclad laws in Ultima Online. One is that if you spin around in place for long enough while standing at the bank, eventually others will start spinning as well. The other rule is that if you place an object on the ground for any purpose other than disposing of it, someone will run by and pick it up. Put down a chair and sit in it? Someone will run by and grab it. Spell your name on the ground in fish steaks? Someone will come along and pick them up just to be a nuisance. Build a little tower out of discarded furniture for no reason? Someone else will walk up and disassemble it just as pointlessly.

So I was quite surprised to see a massive torchlit American flag decorating the grassy field between the Scholar’s Inn and the Second Defense Armory, built from dyed pieces of cut cloth and bandages. Or rather, I was surprised that no one had come along to dye it green and cart away random pieces of it. It stayed there, quite intact, surrounded by chattering people, for several hours at least, until I finally decided it was time for bed.

To my knowledge the only time in fifteen years the second ironclad law of Ultima Online was ever broken was that particular night, September eleventh, eleven years ago.

Please join us in witnessing the Coronation of Lord Blackthorn the New King of Britannia, on your resident shard.  This re-enactment is for all the citizens that were not able to join us for the live party in Va.

Baja 10-10 @ 10pm EST

Catskills Not Announced Yet

Chesapeake10-10 @ 8:30pm EST

Lake Superior Not announced yet

Legends Not announced yet

Napa Valley 10/09 @ 7pm PST

Pacific 10/11 @ 7pm PST

Siege 10/14 @ 3pm EDT

Sonoma 10-8 @ 9pm EST

Drachenfels 10-10 @ 2pm EST

Oceania 10-14 @ 6am EST

Please check with your town crier for additional information regarding your shard’s events.