March 30 - Coyotes invaded the bar tonight after swarming all over the roads outside of Thebes. Autolycus arrived soon after and let us know the plague has finally ended so the city should be opening soon. Later he went on a walk with Sind and Emrys managed to tag along at some point and let them know that some weird things were happening in Thebes...notes appearing in odd languages, buildings disappearing, curved bits of unusual material appearing out of nowhere. He seems to think the Kronos Stone is behind it somehow, guess we're in for some fun in Thebes. Thanks Vaftel and Sind!
Shamara was around again today, just chatting with folks and telling us about her experience with death and all the things Ramus did to her. She said he has vowed to protect her village for no price even if it means his death, but she doesn't quite trust him...who can blame her? Ramus, or Zalen as he's called, came by later and said that he was surely going to die soon because he left the person who he was working for, but he swears he'll protect Shamara with his last dying breath. When asked who he worked for he refused to give out names for fear of getting deeper I guess, but he told us that a lot of people in Athens were involved with this man and in his service. Thanks for the update Kalipso!
March 29 - Shamara was here this afternoon just sitting with friends and having a leisurely chat when Ramus walked in. She apparently said something he didn't like because he pulled a dagger on her and she ran, a few seconds later folks heard her screams as she was murdered. Nobody actually witnessed it but when Ramus came back he admitted to killing her when he saw Alisha in tears, saying if he knew Shamara had meant that much to her he wouldn't have done it. To "prove" his remorse he removed his mask and Alisha recognized him as a man named Zalen, a former lover who lived in the same village as she before running off. Alisha forgave him and asked him to return to the village with her, he told us he was working for someone but would not reveal who. Maybe he's turned overa new leaf, or is it just an act? Who knows... Thanks Jherle!
March 27 - We were attacked this afternoon by several mean things out in legionaries. There were some foul-mouthed thieves, squint-eyed bullies, low-browed burglars, and a pretty nasty bandit chief. They quickly killed most of us who attempted to subdue them in legionaries and marched off toward town. After a long hard fight they were finally all defeated, including the bandit chief that said something about us giving up because we couldn't even touch him before he scampered off like a scalded kitten. After the battle outside the gates of Athens we saw the two following things, one happened after a young man arrived at the gate...
The young man chortles happily, "I'll be back, not right away, but I'll definitely be back.", then scampers through the gate and down the road, quickly disappearing into the distance.
A thin, brightly-clad young man peers around the corner of the gate, beams happily, then says with enthusiasm, "Oh, I forget, thank you thank you. We were so worried we wouldn't be able to get the wagons through with all those nasty bandits on the road. I shall tell Mumsy that plans can proceed as normal now."
Ramus showed up a bit after these attacks and hinted toward us needing his help to ward them off after blathering a bit on the thought net. When asked for proof of anyone he has helped being actually happy with him he dodged the question by saying he doesn't reveal clients identities or some such. Several people have sided with Ramus now, and when Ramus left, Shamara arrived and folks did their best to change their minds to no avail apparently. Thanks Jherle.
March 26 - Sasebo showed up at the bar late this night/early morning in an obivous bad mood and stormed out only to be followed by worried friends. And who should they find her being chummy with but Discord, who kept telling everybody to leave Sasebo alone. Apparently Sasebo thinks Discord is her friend now because when she was hypnotized again she told us of a party she was invited to by Discord with a bunch of her warrior friends. They played some game to see who was most clever and of course Sasebo won. For winning Discord offered Sasebo immortality, a rite which requires the killing of a goat and child then the drinking of their blood. I guess Sasebo went along with it because she drank the goat's blood but they never got a child thank the gods. Discord came and stole her away at this point, her voice echoing after she left, "She will sleep for eternity, as you will be haunted by spiders for eternity!" with which spiders swarmed the gate. Thanks for the news Vaftel.
Shamara and Ramus were at the gate this afternoon fighting with each other while Shamus tried to convince us we needed his help. The whole time he was being a gentleman to us he was treating Shamara like dirt. After some accusations on our part that seemed to hit a nerver he just up and left. Shamara stuck around a bit after till she also left.
March 24 - Seems Alisha also showed up early this evening and decided to switch directions on us, seems her town is to the NW and she mentioned passing Thebes without going near it and some mountain (Parnaeuss?). Then someone named Shamara showed up and talked about how this Ramus person stopped some bandits from attacking their village, for a price of course. They paid Ramus all their money and when the bandits attacked them again, he still helped them, but proceeded to kidnap people as slaves since they couldn't pay...this guy sounds like a scam to me. Then Ramus showed up and Alisha turned his services down, to which Ramus replied that they had a deal and that he would receive payment somehow. Seems we may need to be protecting them from Ramus more than the locusts and bandits by the time this is over. Thanks for the update Jherle!
Alright, a few things happened the last couple days and I'm not sure exactly when or in which order thesxe events came about, so here is a summary just so you can be on top of things. A warlord wannabe named Ramus came to town and asked us if we wanted to pay him to protect us from spiders. I take it everyone refused and he left. Some time later a woman named Alisha came into town looking for this Ramus character, claiming she needed to enlist his help to save her town from swarming locusts. Well, of course everyone said, oh no need for that, we will help! So she has given us three days to find her town, Thermopylae, which she says is to the northeast but she is bad with directions. If we do not find it by then she is going to Ramus for help, then she left, telling us she's be staying in the yellow door at the Swett Oblivi. Thanks for the scoop Caesaria and Persuss!
March 23 - It was announced today that due to needing more time in RL, GM Puzzle will no longer be the storyteller guru and GM Tyrian has been put into her place. She is wanting to have a meeting with us sometime next month that will be announced at a later date, I'll keep you posted, so be sure and have all your ideas ready for her. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say Puzzle will be missed, she did some great things for us and made our profession what it is today. I hope everything is alright and that we get to see you again soon Puzzle <hugs>. And a special welcome to Tyrian! All you storytellers be nice to her, at least for a month, hehe!
It was also announced that the original warrior guru they had planned to announce went on an unexpected hiatus and you guys are getting an interim guru, none other than Waldern! You guys are also in great hands, I would be jealous if we didn't have such a capable guru too, hehe. Congrats to all, and welcome Waldern to the life of the warrior. You guys just don't run him off like you did the last one...kidding! <runs and cowers from the flying fruit>
March 20 - We had the following announcement this morning, thanks to Pae for letting me know: Announcement: We regrettably wish to inform you the creatures physical trainer has met a untimely demise at the hands (...er paws) of a pack of rabid dire wolves. As a result, the health of the various denizens of the wild has suffered. Alas they are in general only as durable as heroes now. This is most notable in the elder monsters. (Subtext: They no longer have monstrous hit points.) In other words, critters are easier to kill cuz they have less health points. Seems this will only really be apparent on critters around level 15 and over since they tend to have exorbitant amounts of health.
More spiders this morning in Boeotia, all over the place and even on the timberwolves (spider infested timberwolves). While they were fighting off these horrid creatures someone was heard to say, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!" Discord swears up and down she's not behind this, so who in the world could we be dealing with here? (maybe Arachne after all) Well, that is if we can trust Discord, hehe, as if! After the swarm of eight-legged terrors, Sasebo popped up and told them that she had dreamed this again. Then she proceeded to fall asleep, as soon as she did this a giant spider arrived and upon her waking up it vanished. It seems that whatever she dreams comes true, let's just hope she dreams about it raining dinar tonight. She eventually ran away saying she was wanting to go home, perhaps to save us the grief her nightmares cause us, who knows. Thanks for the news Vaftel.
March 19 - Autolycus arrived at the gate tonight and let us in on a little secret. He wants us to help him try to find the pieces of the Kronos Stone which he had his hands on a while back. It was thought to be destroyed but I guess he found out differently, and since he can't be in two places at once, he wants our help finding all the pieces. He has also sent Fox on a wild goose chase after it in Alexandria for her "own good". For those of you who don't know, the Kronos Stone is a magical gem that allows the freezing of time as well as time travel to the past as well as the future. He said it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time to find the pieces, and also warned us that to touch a piece may mean us getting stuck in the past or the future. He also eluded to Xena being Fatima....Autolycus asks, "...you notice how you never see Fatima and Xena together? Huh?"
Priests all over the lands felt a strange fluctuation in the bond they have with thier deity early this morning. All I can figure is that this happened when the mental list got its face-lift. Also thunder was heard all over Kastelli Hill near Thebes, lightning was striking the ground and setting the grasslands aflame and all sortsa fun stuff. Baby black spiders then proceeded to swarm the entire area, the hill was literally black with them. Lightning also struck at a few of us during this encounter and some spiders showed up at the Peiraic Gate when I ran back to town for my life, hehe.
March 18 - Attention on thick tongued lispers and what not. Anaconda oil can now be purchased in the Poison Hovel in the NE Quad, it's 50 dinars for 20 doses so this doesn't mean to just run out and start departing from the Underworld, hehe.
More spiders attacked this morning, this time complete with lightning and everything. Lotsa folks died and somehow Bonk got his beard singed off, I guess Discord likes em clean-shaven....or maybe she's just trying to get Denada to not like him by changing his looks. Seems Alcindor also got himself messed up in the head a bit...hopefully brain damage isn't a permanent thing in Athens, this being the first case I know of, it's hard to say. After the invasion Discord told folks she had a dream about spiders killing us all, too bad she waited till after the fact to tell us all...not that it woulda really mattered or anything. Thanks for the update Vaftel.
March 17 - Early this morning Zed, Tamboura, Alcindor and Vaftel were attacked by tiny and large black spiders while out hunting in Timberwoves. Later they met Sasebo at the bar who reminded them that we never did find the spider that has been stalking Fedmire, seems it wasn't Cresus...he just used the spider's form so there's still a big bad spider out there somewhere. After telling Sasebo that Discord had been looking for her, she panicked and said "How did she find out?" before turning tail and running. Seems she needed to talk to Zeus and she eventually wound up at his temple where she was bathed in a white light. Maybe she just meant she needed to train (the white light is a training thing I'm pretty sure), I don't know, just reporting what I heard, hehe. Thanks Vaftel. And all you rogues out there, seems folks are wanting to try and make the alcove in the bar a picking spot now that boxes are a tad bit dangerous and I was asked to post about it, so here it is. If enough of you start doing it then it should become like the tower in GS and won't be so boring sitting there since there'll be other pickers to keep you company.
March 16 - Discord was here early this morning zapping folks and what not. She claims not to have been the ant who claimed it was her the other night and then kidnapped Bonk. Apparently she fed Bonk marshmallows and even zapped some a nice golden brown for him, offering him all sortsa stuff if he left Denada or some such. The Discord tonight, from some of the things I heard she did around Bonk, smiling, sighing, and being umm...nice, makes me kinda wonder if this wasn't the real Discord too. Of course the gods are good at deceiving us mortals, so it's hard to say one way or the other, and if that ant wasn't her, then WHO was it?? Thank for the news Denada and Vaftel.
March 15 - A new shop opened on the boardwalk selling pails and spades and some seashell related jewelry and other items, check the Wild's Price List for details. We can also make sandcastles pretty much wherever there is sand with the pails and spades. Just dig to fill your pail, dump your pail and keep doing this till you have enough piles for the size you want, size goes from tiny, to small, to large, then enormous. Push pile to other pile to push them together, pat them, and then carve em up, be sure and brush your castle off once while carving or it may topple over. Depending on your gadgeteering mostly, and your art skill a bit too, you can make primitive, crude, plain, fancy and fanciful castles. It seems the size relates to how much you can add to the castle also. So grab those pails and go play in the dirt, and watch out for those bullies who are out for your sand castles! Thanks for letting me know Llorien.
March 13 - Well, wave after wave of critters attacked us tonight. It started with a lot of squealings and growlings coming from the well, then suddenly we were set upon by dozens of sewer rats. After we killed them all we were attacked by a similair wave of large feral cats, and then wild dogs, massive azure barbed spiders, and then the dog trainers came. I guess they were mad at us for "killing" their business, hehe. But near the end of the battle with the trainers Bonk got one of them in a fierce grapple, you woulda thought he had gotten Atlas in a full nelson the way the world kinda just threw us all off. Word musta got around cuz no more critters bothered us that night.
"Announcement: Attention all scurilous thieves and rogues, heavy handed legionaries and soldiers. A new shipment of new freshly trapped boxes has been shanghai'ed to end the shortage of boxes and store that hard earned loot you steal off of those wanna-be be heros and poor pitiful peasants!" In other words, more boxes on critters. And Poet was also here tonight doing some very beatiful work on our containers, and even selling some St. Patricks day stuff, and containers, and even a couple weapons and some armor.
A vile warlord named Vindictive showed up at the gate early this afternoon, asking for us to join him and all this other mess about ruling us and paying him dinars to protect us. After the usual refusals and even some people wanting to join the new warlord, who should show up but Collin. The warlord seemed to have respect for Collin, but wouldn't back off so Colling "protected his city" and attacked the vile warlord. Soon the warlord was running off shouting for Ekin (whoever the heck that is) to lend him wings. If this is the vile warlord Fox mentioned, then I think he needs a bit more training before he can make Collin look like a kitten. Collin then proceeded to tell us how and why he was taking over Athens and enslaving us, yadda yadda, and he left. thanks for the info Pickoer.
And congrats to Skios and Lysia who were joined in vows of marriage today in a beaiutiful glade off on Politkos Road. The ceremony was performed by the lovely Alydyana, congrats you two!
March 12 - Boxes now have traps on them, poison needles and poison gas, the gas affects everybody while the needles affect only the picker. So examine those boxes, and use DISARM to try and get rid of them traps if you see them. The poisons seem to always be different and the types that alchemists can make, so there's no telling what all can happen. Also a buncha legionaries invaded the Peiraic gate today along with Harukia, who died before he could do or say much. And one more thing, critters are running again! Woohoo! So remember before you complain about not being able to get their armor, we are able to defeat them a lot faster, therefore learn a lot quicker, and we are almost always compensated for them with extra dinars. Plus we don't have to bundle as many things and that saves a lot of effort and time too, so they are doing us a favor by making them run, not trying to punish us.
Later this morning ants started skittering across the floor of the bar, which ultimatley led to an invasion of giant soldier ants, the treasure carrying variety by the way. The first wave was impossibly easy, then a scout ant scurried in, surveyed the area, and a wave of much tougher ones followed. Then a bit later a queen ant arrived (a lightning spitting queen ant), after sitting there for a bit not talking and glancing at folks, she finally attacked, quite the brawler too, and all those limbs to use to do it! After realizing it was a fruitless battle, nobody could hit her, we attempted to talk again. The ant flirted with Garrock and kicked Agrimony when she nicely offered her a piece of baklava. Then Garrock used his best pick up line, and the queen took offense and proceeded to wail upon him, hehe. Turns out the ant is Discord, with a "new look." And she's got a bad attitude about it...A queen ant says, "Okay everyone time to run. I'm gonna start attacking and not stop until you are all dead." A queen ant throws a bolt of lightning out its mouth at Agrimony! Looks like she's gonna be causing us some grief for a while...again...
March 10 - We got a new game in the Gaming Hall tonight called Eureka! It's an ancient Greek version of Bingo, hehe, lotsa fun and guess who won the first game...yours truly! Here's a break down of the rules since none are posted anywhere yet, I'll prolly have a gaming hall guide pretty soon too so keep an eye out for that. First when you get there you need to buy a board and a marker, they're 10 dinars a piece and you can keep them forever (for now at least). Then you pay Bing, the number caller guy, 5 dinars to play a round. It seems you can join in the middle of one if you like, just look BEHIND Bing to see what numbers he has already called, and be sure to LOOK SAMPLE to see what kind of game it is and what you need to win (If there is no sample then it's a normal game and you just need a complete row to win). When you wish to mark a number you type MARK <number>, don't use the letter, just the number. And when you win YELL Eureka! and give Bing your board when he asks for it. To make play a bit easier you can open a minion window, the eureka board will display there. After each round he'll ask what kinda game you want, regular, special, or jackpot. Just SAY the type of game you want, and if he gets enough votes for it, he'll pick that one. If you pick special he'll then ask which game you want, The Letter Chi, The Trident, Little Herc, or The Flag. These all require different patterns to win, LOOK SAMPLE to see what you need. If you get a jackpot game you need to cover ALL your numbers, and the jackpot pays 50 dinars if you get it within amount of numbers called he specifies, after that it's 25. The number you must win the jackpot under to win 50 dinars starts at 50 numbers called and goes up 1 each game until the jackpot is won, then it starts over. Special games pay off 20, and regular 10...multiple winners share the winnings as evenly as they can be divided. Good luck and have fun!
Here are the special game layouts....(Fr is the FREE space in the middle)
Little Herc |
The Flag |
The Letter Chi |
The Trident |
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March 5 - Seems folks can make tripwire traps now, so more traps are hopefully gonna be on their way soon. All you need is a length of string or wire, the right terrain, and the knowledge and presto...you can trip something, hehe. You can't buy these supplies yet, but I'll keep an eye out and keep you guys informed, thanks Pickoer. Themistocles Tomb has also finally opened to the public (a hint though, you still can't just walk in the front door), it's such a tiny area and filled with so many secrets that I probably won't be posting a map. The place is chock full of spirits and bats, so go out there and kick some undead butt! Just try not to get too hopelessly lost. Thanks for letting me know Vaftel.
Sasebo also showed up tonight, nothing too unusual about that, but she did mention Discord was looking for a crown in some tomb. She isn't sure why she wants it, only that she does. Dokx also told me that on his date with Fox she mentioned another warlord bent on taking over Athens, makes Collin look like a kitten or some such. He said she also mentioned something about smithing....who knows.
March 2 - A young lady named Poet showed up at the gate early this afternoon trying to get people to play a game with her. After pouting and running off and bouncing all over, she is quite an energetic young woman, she finally got a few of us to play. After asking for some random items, she took the people who produced them for her off and offered to alter a container for them for playing with her. she did an absolutely wonderful job on all of the things she made, and was very fun and quick too. After cristening a new gate, which is gone now by the way, and leaving us, she arrived later and recited a wonderful poem for us about Persephone since the weird lady (me <flail>) requested one earlier.