January 31 - Barley arrived tonight and was asking for help again to find his way home to his fiance, Jonera, by finding Mitac to give him money for the passage home. He also let us know it was Discord that made his ship sink and that none of the other passengers made it out alive. Barley also said something about Myrelle being her with her lover or some such, I am a bit unclear on things as I was in the clouds most of the night. Well, half of Athens ran all over the place looking for Mitac and we flew past a guy named Bonkers, seems he's Mitac's right hand man, but we couldn't find him again after that. Mitac did make an appearance the other day but all I heard was that he threatened to kill Pickoer and was treated a bit harshly by other folks. Well, needless to say, we didn't find anybody or you woulda heard it here.
January 29 - We got another new verb, seems we can REMEMBER things now. As I see it you just type REMEMBER <area> SET to set the thing to remember and then type REMEMBER <area> to see it later. I am pretty sure this may be used for a painting or other type of drawing or artistic skill, I hope anyway...that's what it seems to be from all the clues we've been droppped. Like this that was seens last night at the gates "A pair of artistic-types walk past you on the way through the gate, and you are able to make out a snippet of their whispered conversation .. something to do with lack of sales because of some priest touting off about the amazing powers of memory!" And the news item also gives some hints toward the same conclusion. Of course I could be dead wrong, I am wrong sometimes you know, so we'll just haveta wait and see what develops.
January 28 - Harukia showed up tonight and was tossing around some mighty powerful red powder and sending soldiers at us at the gate. Well, needless to say he was killed, twice...then a female centaur named Akuji showed up babbling about how us warriors were slow then saying she may as well get what she was here to do done, seems she was here to kill us...but she too got killed. Collin showed up soon after, seems Akuji was one of his assasins and he was peeved. Well, he beat up on us, and got beat up on a bit himself...but when Tennetty pulled out her dead mouse it was over, he shrieked "Mouse!" and ran saying he'd be back to defeat us some other time.
We also have a new area near the grove out the South Gates of Athens, don't be looking for a map of this one too soon. I'll try, but after you go in you'll see why. There are all sortsa new critters...footpads, spitting toads, scorpions, thugs, warriors, brawlers, spiders, and some fighters and muggers. These seem to range anywhere in level from 4 to 15 or so, so there's plenty of hunting for lotsa folks there. Just try not to get TOO lost ;). Also, in case you haven't noticed, "intellegent" creatures now run away if they feel they are out-matched, usually dropping their weapon and some dinars or a box...you also get full experience for it as if you had killed them.
And please guys, keep the quests a bit of a secret...it's ok to give little hints to people but giving away EVERYthing is bad. Just think of the time the GMs have put into the area (hundreds and hundreds of hours) just to have everyone know how to do it in 30 minutes because people are gabbing the solutions all over creation. If we do that they aren't gonna wanna make more, so please try and keep our secrets at least a little secret :).
January 24 - A huge explosion rocked the lands tonight as a dark leonine shape flew overhead to the north. After trying to follow it a buncha alchemists remembered that there was some old hermit somewhere who could teach people to batch potions. Seems you can buy a clue from Aelwyn in the SouthEast Quadrant Alchemy shop.
Some big giant hawk started showing up near Thebes and the surrounding area, it was clutching a spiked iron rod which it swooped down on and killed people with. Eventually people ended up killing the hawk. Then they decided to go to the spire where they had spotted the eagle and another hawk showed up and killed more folks again before it was killed (We gotta stop killing things, we're making Cresus stronger!). Then they ran off to the tent and got in more trouble with giant snakes and a guard and they all ended up dead.
After escaping Hades they ran into an "innocent child" in the palace gardens who they played with for a bit before it turned ugly...A child's eyes turn red and her face twists in a horrid fashion and her voice deeps, "I am here to kill you!" (In the true fashion of someone being posessed by Daihok) and started attacking folks with her lollipop. Eventually the child snatched Melodone's perfect rose from her and well...they did what we "heroes" do best and killed the child (Stop killing! Remember that when Cresus leaves its body it is still the innocent child it was before, yup we just murdered a kid). Gabit snatched the rose up and refused to give it back to Melodone and then that blue bird swooped in and ended the argument by giving it back to her. They also ran into an old woman looking for her daughter, I'm sure nobody said "sorry ma'am, I think we just killed her". Remember folks, when this thing comes to a head we need to work together! Quarreling amongst ourselves about flowers isn't going to save Fedmire, it'll just get us all killed. Thanks for the update Vaftel.
January 22 - Discord showed up early this morning and zapped people because some practical joker left chicken in her shrine. Don't taunt her, she's helping us! After she stopped with her temper tantrum, turning me invisible and killing Tennetty and a few others quite a few times, she finally began talking to us civilly. We managed to figure out some things "we had to know" before going down to try and save Fedmire and Sasebo. We figured out that the rose was Cresus' prison and when Fedmire picked it he was released...apparently the garden is where the "others" Cresus mentioned are. So, Fedmire being the only one knowing the location of the garden, it makes sense that Cresus wants his body rather than someone else's. Apparently when he takes over Fedmire he's going to go flower picking, releasing his other friends. Seems Sasebo is to be a sacrifice to make Cresus stronger or some such, and the black diamond ring doesn't play into it at all, except that we need to find it down there at some point when we go. Also the web will not be gotten rid of by anything except "an act of nature." Discord left us with something to ponder, "Well, it is time for me to rest. You have done well tonight, I am actually proud of you. You will help me find my......well, Good night."
January 21 - A priest named Vilanous found Tamboura and Ingonish this morning in cheetahs and asked for their help finding an old priest named Selias. Well, they of course were obliged to help and swept him off to town to see him. When they arrived Selias told them about some priest they needed to search out. Well, apparently they found him and when they did they also found the cure for insanity and hairloss! They didn't tell me anything beyond this, and even if they had I doubt I'd post it, go out and explore, puzzle it out, and have fun! Even you non-priests can have fun trying to figure this one out. Thanks for the news Ingonish!
January 20 - Harukia was here earlier tonight getting beat up. That's all I heard about it except that warrior moves like armlocks and targetted spells and alchemicy seem to work on him now.
January 19 - Xena and Gabrielle showed up tonight for the grand opening of the new bar at the Peiraic Gate. It is called The Hero's Welcome and is complete with signed memorabilia and Sidekick Lounge. Check out my NW Quad Price List for their wares. Apparently Gabrielle has worse eating habits than Cindi with a barrel of grapes. They left soon after the opening to see if they could get any information on our one and only Warlord, Collin. Harukia also showed up in the bar begging folks to cast spells at him, wanting to test Ares' protection or some such mess. Then he ran off leaving us with, "I shall leave for I want it to be by my power alone when I send you imbeciles to your doom." Then Kedar shows up trying to find Melodone to give her yet MORE flowers, I think the first one was enough trouble, but oh well....these are a bouqet of Boadicea's Lace, hopefully this Boadicea person won't come looking for them. On a side-note, seems that ticking we heard coming from alchemists wasn't some bomb inside them waiting to go off, they have some sorta internal clock now that allows them to tell time indoors, at least the ones I have spoken to.
Another basalt guard showed up to the gate this morning and was disposed of, so folks ran to Discord's shrine again, but found the one there a bit tougher and it killed quite a few people. While they were in Hades Discord popped in and told them that we should stop attacking the guards because every time a guard kills us Cresus gets stronger, and every time we kill a guard he also get stronger (If anyone saw last week's Hercules episode, this sounds to me a lot like Daihak...Daihak keep trying to get Hercules to kill him so that he can get strong enough to take over the world, he also got stronger with each person he killed. Seems this Cresus fellow may be someone exactly like Daihak, and that Daihak may be one of the "others" Cresus was talking about. So I'd imagine we better not try to kill Cresus either.) She said we need to fight Cresus with our brains, not our weapons. Vaftel and Bonk then received these visions..."A vision comes to you of Fedmire picking a perfect red rose out of the ground, and tiny black tendrils rising up from the earth." and, "A vision comes to you of Fedmire begin ripped to pieces by blacktendrils..pulling every part of his body apart." Seems the hyenas were acting a bit strangely also, whimpering and crying and all sortsa mess, maybe we shouldn't kill ANYthing until this thing is over (Fat Chance). Thanks once again to Vaftel for the information.
January 17 - Discord showed up at her temple tonight and told Westly that Cresus was trying to posess her. Westly thinks he may be posessed too since he came in contact with her, and we have reason to believe Dementius may be too (he claims to be someone named Cephalus and is acting strangely). When she left he said she fell to the ground holding her head then poofed. Later she came to the gate and started wildly throwing lightning again and howling. When we all got back after unstunning she sent a bunch of basalt minions. Then she came back yet again, his time throwing fireballs (a Cresus thing) and sending more minions who she helped out by throwing shrapnel bottles. Melodone said that her rose made "Discord" or whatever is inside her very uncomfortable, maybe this is the key to defeating Cresus when the time comes. Black tendrils came a bit after this and wrapped around Crysalis and drug her away. So we ran to the tent to find Discord there with Chrysalis, Discord was flailing and suddenly got a twisted look on her face. Then a buncha giant snakes attacked and she popped out sometime during the melee. After that a basalt guard quickly ended my life and when I got back we had another guard stationed at the gate, seems like they're trying to take us over, slowly but surely. Discord came back, seemingly herself and kept asking us what we were talking about when we told her what she did. She claims to have been meeting with the gods for the last two days or some such. Another guard arrived and she poofed. After killing this one though it came back to life, joy of joys.
January 16 - Well, Harukia showed up again this morning and was killed twice, so far he is batting zero. Collin himself also came to the festivities and was killed once, he was of course not too happy and came back and killed Rampion for it, but at least we know he's not indestructible. Apparently Discord showed up at the gate again too and went psycho, randomly zapping folks across the room, even killing a few and babbling the whole time that she was the queen of Athens and we should all fear her. After she left folks went to Fedmire's tent where they found a few soldiers which were killed and a rather odd basalt guard that kept running around licking Vaftel and Agrimony. This guard had a rather viscous twisted blade that did tremendous damage, but they managed to kill it...the blade although wasn't recovered. Then they went to Discord's shrine where a couple people had "befreinded" a soldier that was stationed there. Well, I guess folks smelled something rotten in Carthage because they killed it thinking it was working for, or even Cresus himself. After this folks were killed by another twisted-blade wielding basalt guard that never managed to get killed. Seems he stayed stationed in Discord's shrine because he is standing here even as I write this, but he has only a nicked dagger now, and it seems we are "not permitted to attack the basalt guard" be careful though cuz if you do the wrong thing he CAN attack YOU. Thanks for the update Vaftel.
Seems Harukia came again this afternoon with soldiers and green recruits, this time throwing shrapnel. He still got killed, hehe....
January 15 - Discord showed up today, at the gate I'm assuming, and killed Sahara. After this people heard a voice telling them something was hiding in Hades so of course everyone ran straight there. When we got across the Styx, Sahara arrived being chased by the giant eagle with the lever. The eagle was possessed by Cresus apparently and kept glowing red with insane looks in its eyes and all this other mess. Well, eventually the spirit of Cresus decided to switch bodies and took over Sahara, this weakened the eagle a bit which was eventually killed and Rampion got the lever. The group split up after escaping Hades, some going to the tent where near a dozen basalt guards laid in wait, and others going to visit Discord. Discord gave us a little information, mostly things we knew already, except she did say we couldn't use the lever until the web in the tent was gone. She also said something about there being only one way in but two ways out, and that if Cresus got control of Fedmire's body then we may as well give up. Seems this Cresus is also at his weakest when doing whatever it is he does to switch bodies, so hopefully if we plan it right we can defeat him.
January 14 - Hakuria showed up again saying we embarassed him last night and that he spent all day climbing out of Hades. So he went to extract revenge with more soldiers, the whole time tumbling from room to room but he was finally killed once again. And once again Collin showed up and said something to the effect of "He can't, I can" and sent more soldiers, attacking people and getting attacked himself (I think the most injured he got was slightly). He played around with a dagger for a while then brought out his greatsword and things really started getting ugly. Well, after quite a while of this he just walked off and left us fighting his soldiers.
January 13 - Early this morning a man named Harukia came to the gate claiming to be one of Collin's lieutenants and sent soldiers to attack us. After his soldiers were defeated he ran south and when people found out that they could attack him, well suffice to say he ended up dead even after running. When Harukia died "Collin" arrived at the gate soon after, sighing and mumbling to himself about why he even bothers trying to attack us anymore. Well, folks found out we could kill him too and so he also ended up in Hades, after a seemingly impossible quick amount of time. So a few minutes after he died Collin showed up to the gate and informed us it was a body double, seems he can't do his own stunts, and people attacked him again and found him impossible to hit and he, of course, attacked back . After he was done "entertaining Ares" he "discussed" the terms of our surrender which people of course replied with where he could stick them and he tumbled out of the room and left.
Later we saw Cresus die and ran to Fedmire's tent to "make sure he was alright", hehe. When we arrived we were greeted by three kindly basalt soldiers who we managed to chip at until they died. A fourth arrived during the brawl though, using some sort of invisibility something-or-nother that allowed it to hit us but we couldn't hit it as it kept disappearing after it swung. Finally it became visible for good and was crushed and then a basalt guard appeared outside and killed a few of us before finally becoming visible and being defeated. Back in the tent we heard the ghostly voice of Cresus say "You better my soldiers, and you beat my single guard, you still feeling lucky?" and then after closing the curtain and locking us in he sent about 5 of those amazing invisible guards who quickly took us all out, except for Agrimony who says he decided to spare her for being fearless and a good fighter. After sparing her life he told her he had a plan that would change our lives and they would never be the same. He also said that we would learn all at "the rebirth" and that there were many more like him about to show up and that if Agrimony chose to follow him he would spare her the sight of seeing hwe loved ones bloodied and tormented. After arriving in Hades, Discord (being ever-helpful as usual) told us "Hehe, you should just stay and wait till the rest die. It wont be long."
January 12 - Bonk, Agrimony, Melodone, and Vaftel went to Fedmire's tent "on a hunch" this morning and heard Fedmire calling to them from underground. He said that Discord had released him from his chains and it was only a matter of time before Cresus found him and bound him up again. He also said that the eagle that was seen last night was created by a god and very powerful (100 times that of these basalt guards) and working for Cresus, who used to be a god but is now a bodiless spirit. "If you come across it you better have many people to help you fight it." He said, "Trust me, this is unlike any creature you have seen. I have seen them all down here." So after that they ran to Discord's shrine to see why she helped let Fedmire go but people were spitting and being as rude as possible and she left almost immediately. Later Vaftel and Melodone went to her alone to try talking again and she appeared and told them that since the eagle is so strong we need to find some way to get the lever besides defeating it. The haze appeared and she popped out just after saying that she refused to help us anymore. Thanks once again Vaftel for the story. Oh and Fedmire also told them he lost his fish pouch, and guess what was in it...yep, the black diamond ring.
Seems Myrelle also arrived at some point last night and asked for our help finding her money that she buried, 5 chest total...some before the bridge where she says she met with an old woman named Regala and some after the bridge (I assume the bridge she means is the one up near Thebes.) After being taken on a shopping spree for shovels she apparently got tired of the whole deal and plopped on the ground weeping and saying she was just going to let Mitac find her and kill her. The group managed to convince her to come with them to a tavern and Pythos accidently offered her some gold water instead of the normal stuff when she asked for a drink. She immediately jumped up and dashed from the tavern accusing him of trying to poison her and fled. Thanks for the update Skorche.
January 11 - Early this morning a buncha folks ran to make their daily offerings to Discord when she popped in to greet them as she usually does. After a bit of chatting, and singing and killing of folks Discord poofed and it seems a few minutes later some basalt minions attacked the gate and Fedmire's tent. The bluebird showed up and helped out by destroying the last three of the minions then told them that the rusted shovel, apparently they found it in the tent, should be given to Garrock. Another wave of those basalt critters appeared and they wisely ran. Later Garrock had two visions, "A vison comes to you of rocky peaks where eagles fly and an outstretched arm can almost touch the sky!" and "A vision comes to of a fews days travel. For when the eagle lands so will its package." These were received after spotting an eagle fly by the spire with a lever in it's beak. Noisy folks frightened it off and it flew away "toward the cold." Thanks Vaftel!
The bluebird also tracked me down early this morning, seems that it is as good with a quill as it is with tossing flames around. The bird took one of my books and a quill and wrote down Fedmire's story, everything from what happened to make him fall into the well up to when he found that rose he gave Melodone. I will be posting it here for folks to read. Fedmire's Story
January 9 - Seems Malca can't do anything without someone crashing it. The food was great, the company was great, and the dancing was great at tonight's shindig...that is until some Nisse arrived and scolded us for not inviting them then proceeded to cause a ruckus. They were of course cut down in short measure, and the blood on the floor offered new challenges for all the dancers out there.
Assasins also came later tonight at the gate and killed Pickoer before Collin arrived with Discord on his arm smooching each other. Not sure what all they had to say but a buncha rogues arrived at Collin's command and attacked us, with poisoned weapons I might add. After the invasion folks ran to Discord's temple and she appeared and did her normal thing, zapping people and being her normal charming self. After she left everyone ran to Fedmire's tent where we were of course attacked by spiders and all of us killed except for Sunder and Pae.
After we escaped Hades we ran to her temple to find her chatting with Vaftel who whisked her off to have a talk alone. Seems she told him some sort of prophecy about him, possibly about us saving Fedmire and Sasebo, I don't know...he was being all tight-lipped and stubborn about it. Then she came back and chatted some more with us and listened to my song about her and I didn't even get zapped! In fact she said she liked it, hehe. She also mentioned that Fedmire and Sasebo were "well done and ready for basting!"
An hour or so after Discord left people started seeing things at the gate. People saw maggots and worms crawling out of ears and mouths, others saw people being tortured, Vaftel even thought I was in love with him, talk about hallucinating! (He claims I thought he was too, pshaw!) Then after all that we saw a dark shadow pass over us and move out of sight.
January 8 - To raise funds for the Festival of the Gods, Successors of the Diamond Estate are presenting a short play in the Theater of Orpheus in NW Athens on Saturday, February 20th at 7pm Eastern. Gabrielle will be in attendance, and will also entertain us with a brief performance! Admission will be 10 dinars at the door. Organizations and individuals who wish to have their name listed on a playbill at the performance may donate items or cash for our after-show doorprizes by presenting them to Scheherazade over the next few weeks. Donations worth 50 dinars will qualify for bronze sponsorship, 75 dinars for silver, and donations valued at 100 dinars will qualify for gold sponsorship. Thank you for your support!
Diamond Estate Successors, have you ever thought of penning your praises of the heroic deeds of Xena? Have you ever dreamed of having your song of Greece's most beautiful hero sung by her own best friend and historian, Gabrielle? Well, now's your chance! To enter the contest, write up a song about an adventure by the Warrior Princess and submit it to hxtyrian@aol.com by midnight, January 31st. Gabrielle will select the winning entry and sing it after the fundraising play. She may even write and perform a song singing the praises of the winner! May the best songwriter win!
January 5 - Myrelle showed up in town today, running around in an obvious panic and crying the whole time. After some very not helpful information by a couple unreliable sources we finally found her at the four winds inn, apparently baretering for a room for the night. We convinced her the inn wasn't safe if she was being looked for and took her to a garden to discuss things. After some reassuring that we could be trusted she told us about her husband. She said that while he seems nice on the outside he's a "monster" on the inside. She also claims that he has been supplying Collin with paralysis poison and that he wants to find her to get the money she took with her back. She says the money is her's and that her husband only married her for the wealth so she took off with it and buried it somewhere, but she of course forgot where. Well at any rate we all ended up in Rampion's house when rumors of Barley arriving in Athens again started floating around. A rattle at the door panicked Myrelle, and when Rampion went to check it out she bolted and wasn't seen again that night.
Barley showed up a bit later asking where she was, saying he had to find her to tell her that Mitac was looking for her and so she could help him get home or some such. He claims to know nothing about Collin and to know very little about Mitac except that he's trying to find Myrelle. He says he doesn't care one way or the other, he just wants to get home. Seems his ship wrecked and the Captain, who was looking for Myrelle, was killed in the wreck...he says he doesn't know what cargo, if any, the ship was carrying.
January 1 - A beautiful new neighborhood opened up just south of Piraeus on the way to Annavyssos, just head southerly till you see a granite path and you're there. It's a beautiful boardwalk complete with a shop (not yet open), bank, night club, and even a seaside cafe. There are beautiful statues, fountains, houses, a little bit of everything, even a musicbox...this place is a defenite must see. Seems an alterer named Matexi showed up in celebration of the grand opening of the gorgeous area and did some centaur related altering for folks. Check my Athens Wilds Price List for cafe and club prices (seems the club will be charging a cover charge at some point, but until further notice admission is free).
I've also heard something about a sea captain or some such named Barely who says he was sent to look for a, seemingly wealthy, woman named Myrelle by a rich alchemist named Mitak who lives in some far off city. Seems this Myrelle person left Mitac, her husband, and decided that all their money was leaving with her. I haven't heard much more beyond this but if I do hear anything else be sure to keep an eye out for it here.
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