May 2000


Monday, May 29, 2000
Website update. ^top

After three weeks of research and work, the Elves of PGoH webpage is now finished. Click here.

Posted by Balandar - 8:56 PM CST ^top
Great Bardic Contest ! ^top

From UOTC.

Recently, it occurred to me that the splendid job Rutger Dag and his paladins have done to incorporate in UO the lore of the earlier Ultima games has generated a lot of emulators in our community. Everywhere you look City Stones, the next generation of guilds, are being born (built ?).

As a bard, I am obviously interested in meeting others of my "kind". I am certain the Bards of Britain (City of Britain ?) stone will be reborn on the day OSI finally grants us leave to build our houses on Trammel. As I have no wish to wait that uncertain future and in order to already “pre-celebrate” the rebirth of a much-needed bardic guild, I therefore propose a two-parts bardic contest.

The first part is pretty straightforward : getting alive to the place where the competition shall be held. And where is that, shall you ask ? Well, in the only place worthy of the kind of words inspired bards can produce, the Chamber of Stars !

To those who have never heard of it or even gone to it, let me explain. In the Lost Lands exists an ancient fortress held by the Terathans, a vicious race of spider-like beings. It is located due west of Papua.

Beneath the keep, in subterranean passages old beyond belief lies a giant underground swamp. A bridge of stone crosses it and at the end lies a small isle on which an eternal flame burns. People lucky enough to reach the brazier and who touch it rapidly several times in a row are somehow *transported* to a large room without doors. That room is surrounded on all sides by a night sky full of stars. The place itself is almost unreal and can only have been created by greater beings. Whatever its original purpose, it shall serve admirably for the contest.

All bards interested in the contest should gather in Papua at 6:00 pm Eastern Moonglow Time, Saturday, June the 10th, at the local bank. From there, we shall use a Gate that shall bring us within sight of the Fortress. It will be up to us to get inside, reach the underground realm and, finally, the Chamber of Stars.

Note that my intention here is to see us cooperate to accomplish this. I would hate to see some of us provoke the monsters on the others and run inside leaving us to our doom. Let this be a show of unity and fair-play ! Between all of us, we should be able to outsmart those giant-sized bugs. If some of you were vocal defenders of one type of "special song", this is the time to prove you were right. So, make them docile as sheep's, angry enough to tear each other apart or whatever but do it, and do it quickly !

Those who reach the Chamber shall then compete with words. Whether with a song, a poem or a tale doesn't matter as long as it furthers the bardic (oral) tradition. Please, remember that we won't stay there for days so don't make it too long. Quality shall be valued over quantity.

As the organizer of the contest, I shall abstain from participating in the second part. I shall not judge either (unless we find ourselves short on judges). That task, I shall delegate to other more worthy members of our community. I would like three judges to volunteer. One from the City of Moonglow (so that the Lycaceum can keep a trace of this event), one from the City of Trinsic (to insure the contest is a fair one) and one from either Britain OR the village of Kinship (both places having many bards among the natives). People applying for the position can contact me via the messenger link included with this message, thank you. If one of them could Gate or Res, that would be even better *hint hint*

The prizes shan't be tons of gold but things that are in keeping with the bardic tradition of legends and adventures.

First prize : a bag full of gems of all kinds and sizes, their dazzling colors alone shall keep you dreaming for months (not to mention pay for the best room in the best inns this realm can offer).

Second prize : a standing harp crafted in Minoc by the local master tinkers, its sound is among the purest of its kind.

Third prize : a genuine treasure map (your choice of either on Trammel or Felucca) that shall lead you to new adventures !

At worst, you shall have a tragic story to tell. At best, a dozen new songs, poems or tales to add to your repertoire. What more could true bards crave for ?

Lore d'Ascalon, Minstrel of Trinsic
Apprentice of the legendary bard Kelson Pellinore

OOC addendum : I would really like to see us bards pull this off the bardic way so, please, no-one in full plate, with dragons in tow or mounted on nightmare. While I realize bards can also be great warriors, sorcerers or whatever, I am primarily interested in their bardic skills here. Here is your chance to prove to those big brawny warriors or snobbish mages what crafty, agile folks can accomplish. Yay ! (note that I don’t forbid anyone from using spells or swords)

Also, in case some didn't know, recall and gate spells don't work in the underground realm beneath the fortress, and dragons and demons have been known to lurk there. Consider yourselves warned … *roguish grin*

Posted by Balandar - 9:16 AM CST ^top

Sunday, May 28, 2000
Assassinations ^top

The following was posted on the Alliance message board at The Post last Wednesday.

Hello my fellow Alliance members these days have been uneventful for myself until today, May 24. I was clearing roads near Yew as I was assigned when I needed to buy a new sword. So I went to a shop that was located right before the Yew cemetary. Well as I was shopping I heard a noise outside. Suddenly the door flew open and a huge blue orc stood at the door staring straight at me. His name was Gukar. He cried out, "Death to you Alulain, For my mistress!" He almost took me, but I have grown powerful in my adult life and using my Grandmaster skills a dispatched this orc and proceeded to check him. I found a magic battle axe and a ringmail tunic. I know I am known by Minax, I was in the Retaking of Trinisic and was there when Jor Nar fell. To anyone else that was their, WATCH YOUR BACKS MY FRIENDS. Minax seems to become restless once more. My pigeon number is 63684867.

Alulain, Black Dragon of the Dragons of Summer Fire.

Posted by Balandar - 9:30 AM CST ^top

Saturday, May 27, 2000
Forum upgrade complete ^top

What's new with Webbbs 4.30?

From Darryl Burgdorf.

* Optional "spell checking" capability has been added, through a built-in interface with the SpellChecker.net system.

* Optional "user profiles" have been added, so that your regular posters can let others know a bit more about themselves, and possibly even (if you allow it) upload pictures of themselves to your server. (I unfortunately *haven't* added yet the ability for administrators to *require* profiles, or to require valid e-mail addresses *in* profiles, but those features *will* be coming soon.) As a side benefit, users who have established profiles for themselves can't be spoofed, as it is only possible to post under a profiled user name with the appropriate password.

* Posters' passwords -- which are now used for the above profiles as well as for message deletion -- are now stored in their cookies.

* There is now a single "master" configuration file, so that individual forum configuration files only have to define the variables which are in fact unique for that particular forum. This should make administration and update of large collections of forums somewhat easier.

* The "mixed threaded guestbook style" index listing has been added. (This style lists the thread headers on the index page from newest to oldest, but the actual messages *in* a thread from oldest to newest.)

* The various threaded guestbook listings can now be paginated.

* It is now possible to respond to specific messages from within a guestbook-style display.

* It is now possible to "moderate" posts from banned users, instead of just having them rejected outright. (In other words, you can have any posts from banned users submitted to the administrator for approval.)

* The "no message" indicator, which I inadvertently broke in 4.22, has been fixed.

* The locking of the view count database has been fixed, and should now run much more smoothly. So those of you who found the script's performance degrading noticeably when you enabled view counting under 4.2X should find it working much better now.

* It is also now possible to set the script to maintain a view count database without actually *displaying* the view counts to all your visitors.

* When the script returns a submission error (because the "required" elements in the submission form weren't completed, for example), the page now includes the same form which appears on the "preview" page, eliminating the need to rely upon the browser's "back" button.

* The "banned IPs" and "naughty words" configuration variables have been replaced by actual data files. This will allow you to easily have multiple forums referencing the same lists. (It also allows the lists to be edited directly from the administrative script, but we'll get to that in a moment.)

* URLs and e-mail addresses are no longer checked for "naughty" content. (There really wasn't much of a reason for it, anyway, and at least one administrator had complained that he couldn't ban "http:" from the text of messages, as he wanted to, since doing so also prevented links from being included with the messages.)

* The "mandated" incompatibility of auto-hotlinking and $AllowHTML=2 has been removed.

* E-mail links in message displays will no longer include "pic" or "no message" HTML code in the subject lines.

* The possibility of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" confirmation notices containing erroneous server-generated error messages has been removed.

There are, of course, some changes in the administrative script, as well:

* As noted above, it is now possible to directly edit your "banned IPs" and "naughty words" lists through the administrative script, so you'll no longer have to edit your configuration files to change those lists.

* It is also now possible to directly view or edit the list of e-mail addresses subscribed to your forum.

* Perhaps most importantly, the administrative script now directly references the pieces of the main WebBBS script for much of its functionality. So the admin script is much smaller than it was before, and those who like to modify the script will find less need to make the same changes in both the main and admin scripts.

-- Darryl

Posted by Balandar - 1:23 PM CST ^top
PGoH forums ^top

The PGoH message forums will be down for awhile for upgrades.

Posted by Balandar - 10:50 AM CST ^top

Sunday, May 21, 2000
Gypsy Tatiana Issues Warning to Kinship Village ^top

From UOSS:

Tymaron of the Shadow Family sent us this message:

Kinship (May 15)--Tatiana the gypsy, whose scrying ability is known far and wide, issued another dire prediction for the village of Kinship on Monday night. She stated that "the dead are restless" and "seek vengeance for what slew them." She went on to add that "the dead will haunt the town soon if the vengeance is not given to them." She continued and stated that she has been keeping logs of her visions in her tent in Minoc. She also added that it has been reported that her crystal gives hints of things that she had seen. Later, Gorion, Embassary to Trinsic, asked a few questions of her. In response to whether or not Benedict could be trusted, Tatiana urged caution. Whether or not she had heard of Krelan, she said she knew him not. Gorion also asked whether or not "The Masters", which were mentioned in Benedict's Journal, had anything to do with Minax. Tatiana warned him not to assume such things, lest the truth be blind to him.

--Tymaron

This is dire news for the people of Kinship. May the Virtues keep you safe!

Posted by Balandar - 12:43 PM CST ^top

Thursday, May 18, 2000
Moonglow Flee Market This Friday (Trammel) ^top

From UOSS:

Flyers are being distributed throughout the cities for this upcoming event.
Announcing the Moonglow's Friday Night Flee Market (Trammel Facet/Catskills)

Having trouble buying exceptional weapons and armor in Trammel? Need to restock your supply of greater heal potions or recall scrolls? Want to stock up on moonstones or buy a city or dungeon runebook?

The Defenders of Justice will be sponsoring a Flee Market in Moonglow, Friday the 19th of May. Blacksmiths, tailors, fletchers, alchemists, scribes and merchants of all types are invited to attend to sell their wares in the lovely island city of Moonglow. Miners, lumberjacks and others who wish to get a fair price for their stocks of raw materials should not miss this opportunity. Adventures who need restock their supplies or simply need their armor repaired are invited to puruse the fine merchandise on display (remember to tip your Blacksmith for making repairs to armor and weapons!).

Visit our Catskills Trading Message Board for up to date information about prices, to place large orders in advance, or just to ask any questions.

Special notes to Merchants who are planning to attend:

 

1) Merchants are encouraged to visit the message board to sign up for a half-hour or hour time slot to sell their wares. This is to help ensure that we don't have 5 alchemists from 7-8 and then none for the rest of the night.
2) SPAM: Merchants are asked to severly limit their use of macro spam to describe what they have for sale. Instead please create more detail lists of items and prices in their portfolio. This is to prevent shoppers from getting overloaded while in attendence.

Where:
Second Defense Armory (next to the Moonglow Bank)
Catskills Shard
Trammel Facet

When:
Friday, May 19th
7-10pm

Sponsored by:
The Defenders of Justice

Organized by:
Kerrigan, Earl of Justice (DoJ)

Good luck to the merchants and buyers alike!

Posted by Balandar - 11:42 PM CST ^top

Thursday, May 11, 2000
Song of the Dead ^top

From UOSS:

Song of the Dead:

People of Yew...PLEASE take heed this warning! I have heard the song of the dead, and this can only mean one thing... HE has returned to this world.

It was a very quiet night at the Abbey this night, perhaps I was not the only one to feel his presence. It was not long before the candle in my room was snuffed out, that I lay myself to bed. Sleep was peaceful...as it always was after a night of honest, good work; but, my dreams soon turned into nightmares as the song of the dead mingled with my thoughts.

Though the voice was that of a young girl, the image in my mind was that of the Death Knight, the Guardian's first champion. I called to him, demanding reason for his return... he only laughed. He looked at me with his deathly, cold eyes; flames, blue flames, the flames of the damned!!

"Lord Kracus!" I called to him. "Why have you returned to us? What wrong have we committed to deserve your return?" My fear soon turned to anger, what could we have possibly done?

"That name has no meaning for me." His booming voice shook my innards. "The Death Knight is no longer, I am Cor'Bael, Lord of the Damned, master of dreams."

A daemon! Indeed it was true, the Guardian had forgiven his past failures, and with the new lands, so innocent, came his second chance at glory.

He stepped closer to me, he was there, yet he wasn't. I could clearly see his ancient armor, classic, stained in the blood of his enemies; but, it was though they hung from a body that was not truly solid. But, never the less, he WAS real, one look into those flames that were his eyes could freeze a man's blood.

"Do you really think the master would allow you mortals to escape his grasp?" He tightened his fist. "New lands bring with them new opportunities...glory for the Guardian." He laughed, mockingly at me. "Your land of milk and honey will flow red with blood as it did in the past...prepare yourselves!"

Then, he reached out with a mailed fist, clawing for my throat; and as I woke up in a pool of my own sweat, I knew I was to warn you right away.

Friar Ulin, Empath Abbey.

Posted by Balandar - 12:00 AM CST ^top

Monday, May 1, 2000
PGoH searches Benedict's Laboratory ^top

Hear Ye Hear Ye.......On this day let it be known that the Imperial PGoH Legion did successfully enter and search the Laboratory of Minax. Upon torching the building as a message to Minax...the caretaker Benedict did appear with apprentice Mages to repell and cast magic that did move PGoH out of the building. The following are artist renderings for the event.

Renderings

Colin Mor, Guild Scribe

Posted by Balandar - 10:29 AM CST ^top