Volume Three Issue Sixteen

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    ...../                / /./       /./     /./  /.../  /./       /
    ..../                /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD
    .../________________/       running on         mud.aus.sig.net 9999
                                                     199.1.78.16   9999
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http://mud.aus.sig.net/                                ftp://mud.aus.sig.net/pub
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VOLUME THREE, ISSUE SIXTEEN                                    November 25, 1996
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                                FROM THE EDITOR
                          DEPARTMENTAL NEWS AND UPDATES
                                   ARTICLES
                                Census Results
                                     Xaos
                          Chocorua's Role-playing Tips
                                 SOCIAL EVENTS
                         The Legendary Times Classifieds
                                  Confrontation
                             Blades Journey to Hades
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Famous historical, literary, fictional, and contemporary figures answer the
question:  "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
  -Rhett Butler:  Frankly my dear, it didn't give a damn!
  -Caesar:  It came, it saw, it crossed.
  -Joseph Conrad:  Mistah Chicken, he dead.
  -Dr. McCoy:  How should I know? Damnit Jim, I'm a Doctor not an ornithologist!
  -Edgar Allan Poe:  Quoth the chicken,"Nevermore!"

Please send your responses to articles to the Legendary Times address at
[email protected]. Letters to the editor and article submissions are
welcomed. We plan to begin publishing the LT weekly with the next edition.

Many of the immortals may be out-of-town for Thanksgiving. Ptah and Kaige will
be gone from Wednesday until Sunday night. They're going to New York and I wish
I was too :).
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                       DEPARTMENTAL NEWS AND UPDATES

                                  CODING
                                  
- HP/MOVE/MANA TABLE FOR SKILLTREES!
  These numbers are for an average L50 character. After skilltrees if your
  constitution is the number in the 1st column, your hps will be the number
  in the second. Similarly for Mind/Mana and Dex/Move (although move is
  still kinda up in the air). HP and Mana/move will be a function of your
  *current* stat, rather than the stat at the time you leveled, or went
  through the player filter, or whatnot.

                Stat:   5       HP:  94         Mana/Move: 174
                Stat:  10       HP: 118         Mana/Move: 198
                Stat:  15       HP: 143         Mana/Move: 223
                Stat:  20       HP: 167         Mana/Move: 247
                Stat:  25       HP: 192         Mana/Move: 272
                Stat:  30       HP: 216         Mana/Move: 296
                Stat:  35       HP: 240         Mana/Move: 320
                Stat:  40       HP: 265         Mana/Move: 345
                Stat:  45       HP: 289         Mana/Move: 369
                Stat:  50       HP: 314         Mana/Move: 394
                Stat:  55       HP: 338         Mana/Move: 418
                Stat:  60       HP: 363         Mana/Move: 443
                Stat:  65       HP: 387         Mana/Move: 467
                Stat:  70       HP: 412         Mana/Move: 492
                Stat:  75       HP: 436         Mana/Move: 516
                Stat:  80       HP: 461         Mana/Move: 541
                Stat:  85       HP: 485         Mana/Move: 565
                Stat:  90       HP: 510         Mana/Move: 590
                Stat:  95       HP: 534         Mana/Move: 614
   
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                                 BUILDING      
                                                 
- AREA UPDATES:
  Romania, Shadowlands and the traveling carnival are in final evaluation.
  Updates to FiWar and the new American Legends are scheduled to start beta
  during Thanksgiving.
    
- QUEST HINT SUGGESTIONS!
  Thanks to all who have submitted quest hint suggestions as per LT vol. 3,
  issue 14. Please keep them coming.

- ACTS UPDATES
  Due to new functionality in our acts code, mobs will be able to give you
  quest items regardless of your strength and weight allowances. Don't
  expect this all to be done at once, but areas be converted shortly.

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                              PLAYER RELATIONS      
                                   
- WEB PAGE UPDATES:
      The "Honors and Encomiums" page has been upgraded to include links to
  player pages about Legend, including Beam's, Psytrac's, Vista's, and
  Tad's. If you know of any others, or wish to make a Legend page, please
  let us know--we can supply you with the logos and so on.
      The "Bibliography" page has been updated with numerous texts on the
  subject of mudding, including Seph's article, a thesis on nonverbal
  communication in text muds, links to various mud resource collections, and
  an archive of some newsgroup posts Ptah wrote about scripting languages in
  DikuMUDs.
      The mud's web page is at http://mud.aus.sig.net/

- NEWBIE MENTORS!
  During the long conference on the environment on Legend, sparked from
  Lagmonster's post on the War/Welcome board and Ptah's response, one of the
  big topics was newbies, and the attrition rate thereof. One of the player
  ideas was some kind of mentoring system. Although PR imms certainly can't
  mentor ourselves, we can offer our resources and support to those that
  would like to get such a system going. Anyway, players that are  
  interested in getting a newbie mentor network going should mudmail
  Rusalka or append to the welcome board post. It is possible that the
  mentor system may be combined with the newly revived DERT group or with
  the OTS or other rp clan. If you have ideas, comments or suggestions,
  please don't hesitate to contact someone in PR.

- NEW RESTRING COMMAND!
  Imagine this. One night, you take part in a flag quest. Normally, you
  never, ever win, or even come close. But this time, you find the flag,
  sitting right in the middle of Sherwood! Woo hoo! So you use your string
  coupon to string your ring into a nifty "genuine diamelle studded ring."
  Or something like that, only more poetic (you know diamelles, those tiny
  little diamond looking things on the home shopping networks..). Life is
  very, very good. Your friends think it's cool, your SO loves it, and you
  like it too. Only one day, you decide that you need to switch some gear
  around. Maybe you gained a few levels, and are suddenly ready to realize
  your career as a world renowned herbal expert. Maybe you didn't know that
  you wanted to be an herbal expert at the time that you won your
  string...Which means that you have to decide between (possibly) that new
  career and your beloved "genuine diamelle studded ring." *sigh*

But sigh no longer! Thanks to               might be a mistake (if you seem to
Gail's coding work, the PR                  be edging in that direction, we'll
department can offer you an                 ask you to send a note to Rusalka
alternative! That's right! We can           explaining why exactly you need the
now _transfer_ that "genuine                said string transferred yet
diamelle studded ring" to your NEXT         again...). We're hoping we won't
ring! So no one need ever have to           have to go any farther than that
decide to give up his or her                (if only because we really do want
"genuine diamelle studded ring"             characters to take advantage of
again!                                      this new feature :)

So, what, might you ask, are the            We hope that this new command and
costs involved? Well, none really.          policy will encourage everyone to
Except that when the string gets            USE those string coupons that
transferred, the OLD piece of gear          you've been saving forever and ever
goes *poof*! (so if the original            for that ultimate, perfect piece of
item that was strung is                     gear. Remember, strings aren't much
irreplaceable, you probably won't           fun at all unless you use'em :) ("a
want to transfer the string). Why           genuine diamelle studded ring" on
is it that way? Well, for one               the hand is worth two coupons in
thing, it makes life a lot easier           the bag!) Moreover, we hope to see
for us --  that way, we won't have          more newbie characters making use
to be worrying about seeing that            of their strings since they will be
the OLD gear gets its original              able to "trade up" as their gear
string back (often times, just              needs change (and just think of all
figuring out what it used to look           the cool things that you could make 
like can be a real challenge!). The         out of a newbie sword!). Also, do
other reason is that it does give           remember that you can't CHANGE the
you incentive to be somewhat choosy         content of the string itself; the
about deciding whether to transfer          restring command just sticks it on
strings. This way, you'll need to           another piece of gear. This also
be willing to let the old item go           doesn't extend to strings that were
*poof* when you trade up.                   lost to DT's and looting mobs
                                            (since you have to have the
For the time being at least, we             ORIGINAL strung item in order to
aren't putting "official" limits on         get a new item with that string).
how many times you can restring                         
things. Mainly, we just ask that            If you have any questions at all
you use a bit of common sense. So           about restringing, don't hesitate
asking to get that "genuine                 to send mud mail to Rusalka and/or
diamelle studded ring" string               the rest of the PR team. Or, send
transferred four times in one week          email to: [email protected]

- ROLEPLAY WORKSHOP!
  There has been a renewed interest in roleplay around Legend. After several
  players mentioned a desire to learn more about roleplay, Rusalka held a
  workshop on Thursday, November 21, at 8 PM CST. The discussion focused on
  characters' motives, description, and so forth. A log of the workshop can
  be found on our web site. Future workshops may focus on developing
  TinyPlots for those characters to perform in :)

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                              ADMINISTRATION 

- ADDITION TO HELP ETIQUETTE:
  Reasonable politeness includes such actions as blocking access to the inns
  that many players, including newbies, use as a means of entering and
  leaving the game. Immortals will dispel such walls when they are reported,
  regardless of whether an ongoing pkill battle is involved.
                 
- ROLL OF HONOR!
  As the players have requested more information regarding actions taken by
  Administration, the LT is instituting a Roll of Honor and a Roll of Shame.
  The Roll of Honor will be via player-choice. This is your chance to thank
  any player who has helped you!! Please send nominations to the LT
  ([email protected]) or mudmail them to Sabella. There will be a
  winner every issue, and said winner will receive a coupon. A description
  of their outstanding deed will also be published in this space.

- ROLL OF SHAME :(
  At this time, the Roll of Shame is simply an indication of some of the
  actions taken by Administration in November. There might be a few warnings
  not recorded. All names have been deleted.

  Warnings:    
      - 3 players warned for harassment.
      - Player warned for recalling an unclanned newbie because said newbie
        would not reveal other characters upon demand.
      - Player warned VERY sternly for poor attitude.
      - Player warned for giving away other characters names.
      - Player warned for tellspamming.
      - Player warned for dropping link on one char and logging in another.
      - Player again warned for profanity on chat. Player seems to think that
        typing fuk instead of typing it right is acceptable.
      - Player apparently accidentally recalled Mika while the two others were
        trying to kill her. They called the player an , so player
        continued to recall and sleep her several times. Warned player not to
        interfere (harassment), warned them not to cuss at other players and
        to be more polite.

  Deletions and other punishments:
      - Player acted in a clanned manner threatening a clanned character. The
        player was caught, lied, admitted it, showed no remorse, indicated an
        intention to clan anyhow, and shrugged that punishment off. Player set
        to level 1, all skills, spells and words were taken, as well as
        resetting hp, mana, and mv to newbie. This was unacceptable it seems
        because the player took the matter to Ptah and Kaige. The injured party
        mailed a note asking about it, detailing threats and attempted
        corpse looting. Finally, the player's password was changed, effectively
        deleting the player but without the boon of being able to be remade. 
      - Player lost an item and some experience for playing someone else's
        character.. though player says they knew.
      - Player deleted. Twice in one day the player was warned: once for
        harassment, the other for creating newbies for the coins. The player
        also insulted the admin immort on chat and to their face. Deleted
        again for similar problems. The player was finally banned for continuing
        to loot corpses with another character. *sigh*

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                              -**CENSUS RESULTS**-
                                            by CLeo of the "Circle of Angels"

I am very disappointed about the feedback I got from the census that was
displayed in volume 3, issue 11. Only 12 people answered it. I thought it
would have been great to know how many people, playing on LegendMUD, lived
where on the planet. Thanks to the 12 who answered it. Here are the results...

Question #1:  What country do you live in?
              USA     -> 61.5%        France    -> 7.7%
              Canada  -> 7.7%         England   -> 7.7%
              Germany -> 7.7%        *Hong Kong -> 7.7%
              * take note that Hong Kong belongs to Britain.
Question #2:  From where do you access LegendMUD?
              Home   -> 38.5%         Work -> 23.5
              School -> 38%
              Comment:
              "Home, school, work, trips...(Laptop... I'm obsessed)"
Question #3:  Where did you learn about LegendMUD?
              Mud list    -> 30.7%      Client program -> 7.7%
              Personal                  News group     -> 7.7%
              Homepages   -> 15.4%      Friend         -> 7.7%
              By accident -> 15.4%      Don't remember -> 15.4%
Question #4:  Would you recommend LegendMUD to your friends?
              Yes  -> 92.3%             No -> 7.7%
              Comments:
              "Yes... Complex quests, games (like recall tag and trivia),
               and the Legendary Times are a big plus."
              "The general tendency for players not to want to group."
              "Yes... I like to make new friends online, especially from
              everywhere around the world."
Question #5:  Do you have more than one character on LegendMUD?
              No -> 23.5%                       Yes:
                                                2 players -> 15.3%
                                                3 players -> 30.7%
                                                4 or more -> 30.5%
              "I will probably create some new characters soon... it all
              depends how the new skill tree will look like."
              "I prefer to wait for the new skill tree to get in."

Well thanks again to the people who did answer it.
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                                    XAOS

In this world, barred from the sane,        In this state of Anarchy,
Where the spirits come out to play.         We rule the heavens and Hell.
We mold sculptures with the rain,           They haven't had a boundary,
And night chooses not to follow day.        Since the day the sky fell.
                        
In this land of constant uprising,          With utmost sincerity we invite,
We are armed with only our mind.            All to join our erratic flight.
Others are always criticizing,
But they don't know what we find.

DERT (Druid Emergency Rescue Team) is back.  Anyone interested in joining,
want info, or want to add input, should mudmail TerrorSpawn
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                        CHOCORUA'S ROLE-PLAYING TIPS

- On getting started:                       
Like I was starting to say, cross-gender playing helps me. It breaks you away
from some of your personalities. Secondly trying to emote a lot instead of
just using say and stuff. Emoting helps you build the character's personality.
Okay cross gender, and lots of emotes. Also if you really wanna roleplay,
don't go to the old friends for help right off. Not as your old characters.

Give the char goals, personality, biases. Give them a dark side and a light
side. Give them a temper, or make them psychotically in love with someone at
random. But most of all have some tangible reason for doing everything you do.
You gotta remember you are playing a person, not just a  character. This
persona has feelings and depth. It helps if you can build a shell about
yourself and not take anything personally, but it's very hard.

- On keeping the character consistent:
Build a history and write it. If you have it in writing you can refer to it
from time to time. Keep a list of what char knows who and keep it with you. I
hate it when someone says hi to me and I have never seen them before and I
think I should know them. It's not their fault entirely as I know everyone
somewhat. Also it's gonna sound like a lot of work but rp is, add to the
history as things happen to a character. And reread the history from time to
time. Keeping a written logbook for a RP char is a good idea.

You can also work real hard to stay in character. On Mediavia I became the
character and almost lost myself. Played it 8-10 hours a day. If you are
cross-gender playing, for the first few weeks emote with alot of pronouns.
This is real handy, and helps you break away from yourself.

- On "game" aspects:
Chat is tough. I use it as sorta a newspaper or tv broadcast, public
information. The mud is a different world. Tells are a telepathic way of
communicating where all you need is a name to make contact. Treat it as such.
Info is a public broadcasting station, if you will. For leveling, you might
say, I just found this guy who was willing to teach me something. Levels are
just a measure of how much effort you have put in they mean nothing really to
rp, unless you make it such inventively. For example, fighting for a living:
take it as socially acceptable thing to do. Some people come on here and say
"I refuse to killkillkill." I tell them to go mush. We play here because that
gives some joy too, or we like the people or something. Some of the writing
here is amazing. And where else can you say you single-handedly (with a
dagger) killed a rhino. Chocorua flexes his bulging, impressive muscles.
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        o O | Wonder what folks are   |
  `\|||/    | doing over at LegendMud?|
   (o o)    \________________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo__________________________________________________________________
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|                                                                            |
|                       THE LEGENDARY TIMES CLASSIFIEDS                      |
|                                                                            | 
|-------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
|     Community Notes     | Personal Announcements |       Employment        |
|-------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
| Fatale's Birthday is    |MUD Citizens,           | I'm looking for         |
| December 2nd! Be sure   |For almost a week now,  | musicians for my band.  |
| and congratulate her!!  |Virago, a great lady and| We would perform monthly|
|-------------------------|the love of my life, has| in the OOC auditorium.  |
| The young Portuguese    |been gone. This is      | If you are interested,  |
| waif who formerly peered|highly irregular, and I | then please MUD-mail me |
| at you with curiosity   |have reason to believe  | ASAP for details.       |
| has grown up and now    |that something evil may |    -Antonio Stradivari  |
| appears as a bright-eyed|have befallen her.      | P.S.- Feel the RAINBOW! |
| teenage sage standing   |                        |-------------------------|
| here, eyes twinkling.   |Several days ago, both  | Young punk skaters or   |
|-------------------------|Malorn and I received   | bladers wanted to hang  |
|From this day, Thursday, |postcards that were     | with and tear this      |
|November 14th, forth,    |supposedly sent by she  | world apart until it    |
|I'm clanned with the     |who has so enchanted us.| falls into chaotic      |
|knights. I write this to |Each card stated that   | anarchy!                |
|let everyone know what my|Virago had chosen the   |    -Ratchet             |
|pk status is right now.  |other man. Since both   |-------------------------|
|   Yours,                |cards are obviously     |The Dark Lord is hungry  |
|   -Sir Tempus Kittredge |lies, someone, be it    |for more followers. If   |
|-------------------------|Virago or otherwise,    |you are evil yet         |
| Personal Announcements  |means to pit Malorn and |honorable, bloodthirsty  |
|-------------------------|I against each other.   |yet levelheaded and are  |
| Mara,                   |The question is, was it |thinking of clanning,    |
| Bad, keep your grubby   |Virago who did indeed   |maybe you should consider|
| paws off my husband. :P |send the cards, or some |the Antipaladins.        |
|   -Fatale               |unknown party? Something|                         |
|-------------------------|foul may be at work here|The going won't be smooth|
|SSM (Single Scottish     |and Virago may be the   |you will have to fight,  |
|Mage) looking for a      |only person who can     |but you will be backed up|
|bottle of ale to snuggle |supply Malorn and myself|by some passionately     |
|up to. Please deliver    |with any answers. So if |bloodthirsty clanmates   |
|all alcoholic beverages  |anyone sees or hears    |and the rewards of pk    |
|to him in whatever gutter|of her, let either      |are not too shabby.      |
|he's lying in at the time|Malorn or myself know.  |                         |
|   -McDougan             |     Thank you,         | Think about it. The Dark|
|-------------------------|     -Sir Crowe         | Lord will be sure you   |
| I just want to announce |------------------------| make the right choice.  |
| that Sgt-Harper and I   |Crowe,                  |    -Envy                |
| are engaged. He has     |I think I recall seeing |-------------------------|
| honored me by accepting |Virago, but it was from | Join the Bunny Club of  |
| my proposal of marriage |quite a distance. She   | Legend. Mud-mail Alvis  |
| The date of the wedding |was in a daze, mumbling | for an application.     |
| will be announced at a  |something about the     |-------------------------|
| later time.             |voices in her head. She |Don't join the Bunny Club|
|   -Kindred Spirit       |turned, saw me staring  |Join the Bunny Bashers :)|
|-------------------------|at her, screamed, and   |Help keep Legend from    |
| Yesterday, an evil      |ran off into the forest.|being overrun by hordes  |
| demon voice spoked in   |It was kinda creepy. I  |of evil rabbits.         |
| my hed. Wen I asked the |followed her for a ways |    -Mudmail Belmat      |
| "chat" voices in the    |but she just vanished.  |-------------------------|
| air, they sed it was a  |If I didn't know any    |The Shotokai Way-Konnichi|
| wizerd. Evil wizzards   |better, I would say the |wa. We're looking for exp|
| talking in my head is   |poor girl was possessed |pkillers not afraid to   |
| evil. If any more evil  |by something *cringe*   |fight in tough conditions|
| wizards talks in my     |Ah well, that is just   |If you're willing to     |
| hedd, I will bash them. |what I saw.             |learn & improve your     |
| I may not be verry      |     -Dusk the Nighthawk|knowledge of the world,  |
| smart, but I be good at |------------------------|you're welcome. We are   |
| bashing stuffs.         | Dusk,                  |not Knights, nor Mercs,  |
|   -XXX                  |                        |we just learn to live &  |
|    (Slack-jaw's mark)   | Well Dusk, what are    |meditate about what is   |
|-------------------------| you anyway? Some sort  |right & how to improve   |
| Send your Legendary     | of ghost or dead       |ourselves in the Way:    |
| Times Classified        | person or some such?   |wisdom, respect of       |
| submissions to:         | You probably scared    |ancient oriental thinking| 
| [email protected] or   | her to death.          |and the art of fighting. |
| mudmail to Leila!!!!    |     -Beam              |    -Egami Shalizar      |
|-------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
                                 
                                CONFRONTATION
                         
    With a crash, the door to the inn slams open. All heads turn as two young
women, standing in the door, glare fiercely around the room. Their eyes settle
on a table in the corner where three companions sit talking in hushed tones
over their drinks. Hands on the well-worn hilts of their swords, they stalk
across the room as other patrons scurry to clear a path. The blue-eyed
valkyrie rams her dagger into the center of the table, as the three patrons
look up, shocked. "Crowe, I grow tired of waiting for this proof of yours." 
    "Abigail!" exclaims Sir Crowe, edging back from the table. "I only wish I
knew what proof you seek." "If was not for my sister's memory, you'd have been
dead already... Perhaps I should just kill you anyhow," Abigail snarls.
    The second lass waves her dagger casually under the nose of another
occupant of the table. "Kill Tempus here while ye're at it," Valeria snickers.
Abigail gazes with disdain at the cringing knight. "I still see the Knights as
cowards. Running is what they do best," she says disgustedly. As Crowe
attempts to rise, she pins him to his chair with a withering look. "Nay,
hiding they do better," sneers Valeria, while keeping a wary eye on Crowe's
two companions. The third man, sipping his beer with cultivated nonchalance,
mutters slyly, "Having fought with knights most my life, I say that's false!
They die best of all!"
    Trying to hide his growing discomfort, the aging knight faces Abigail
squarely. "Abigail, I have given you every courtesy, in an attempt to earn
your trust," he says sincerely. "If you do not believe yet that what I say
about your sister is true, I don't know what else it would take to convince
you." "From what I've heard, sirrah, ye're courtesy is more dangerous than a
dagger in the back," snaps the ever vigilant Valaria.
    Shaking her head sadly, Abigail says, "I do not believe that I can trust
you, Crowe. I'll trust no Knight." "Hey," the unruffled third interposes
mildly, still staring into his stein, "Crowe is one of my oldest friends, you
can trust him with anything. Even if he is a knight," he adds sarcastically.
Valeria abruptly turns her suspicious gaze upon him. "And who will vouchsafe
for ye, Malorn?" "Malorn and I were on opposite sides of clan lines a year
ago, still he trusts me. Thanks, my friend," Sir Crowe attempts to rise to his
friend's defense. "Malorn is a fool then," Abigail retorts quickly. "They're
both fools," shrugs Valeria. "No, Malorn knows me, as you Abigail obviously do
not yet," Crowe responds calmly.
    "Knights are fools, but at least they have honor," shouts a drunk from the
bar. "Shut-up, Somar," Erich hushes him quickly.
    "You Coven women are all fools," Tempus pipes up timidly, trying to ignore 
Valeria's dagger before his nose. Valeria responds, "Tempus, ye're mighty
vocal for one of our slaveboys." "You seduce and then use!" whines Tempus.
"Yes, I am one of the few that you have seduced....and now when I can't help
your cause anymore you, toss me aside!" To the sound of raucous laughter,
somebody shouts, "Seduced by gorgeous women, how on earth could you give that
up, Tempus?" Raising her eyebrow, Valeria says, "If I remember the stories
right, you fell at the Coven's feet... You don't seem to need much in the way
of seduction." "They cast a dark and foul magic to seduce me," Tempus insists
ingratiatingly. "And now you insult my bond brother, Sir Crowe!" "I find that
hard to believe," laughs Valeria. "Every other woman in these lands seems to
have cast the same magic on poor Tempus."
    "This is getting us nowhere," Crowe sighs resignedly. "If the Coven plan
some action against me, do it and be done."
    Momentarily distracted from her pray, Abigail comments, "If Crowe is your brother, I'm glad you're no longer a member of the Coven, Tempus." "Crowe, I
can say, is a much better man then I! and I am proud to call him brother," he
responds haughtily. Valeria smirks, "From what I've heard, ye're not much of a
man at all, Tempus." "Why don't you come and find out," he leers and winks at
the young woman.
    "I assure you, Crowe, my revenge will come soon," Abigail gravely states.
"Take care in your actions Knight." "I always do, Abigail."

                                 \|/ \|/ \|/

                           BLADE'S JOURNEY TO HADES
                                          by Duncan Ruthven McDougan

Rarely does any mortal escape Hades, but then, the same can be said of Hades
actively seeking a mortal....

Persephone, Queen of Hades, doomed to remain there for 6 months of every year
due to the ingestion of 6 pomegranate seeds while there; Charon, ferryman of the
River Styx; Blade, Knight of legend; Farnsworth, searching out the secrets of
the universe; Dominic, Knight of Legend - All these came together in this
drama.

Charon left the world of Hades, off to claim a soul. His Boat sailed through
the ethereal mist between death, and life. Then he found him. Blade. He took
him, deep, deep into Hades. Blade could not believe he was dead, and was
worried for his true love - Alexis.

Persephone's voice carried throughout the world. "His time as a mortal has
passed. He is now a shade, no longer of the world of mortals." But she was
wrong. The Barrier between death and life had been thinned by these events,
and, unknown to her, spirits began to push against it, weakening it further.
But Farnsworth Kurwa and Sir Dominic did not know this. They only sought to
save their friend, not to save the world from becoming a grey-lit region, of
shades and spirits.

Farnsworth ordered Persephone to release Blade, and his voice carried all the
way to her, across the line between life and death. But the Queen of Hades
refused his pleas, arguing that she herself was but a child when her stays in
Hades began. So Farnsworth and Dominic began their search for her. Descending
deep into the underworld, Persephone's taunts followed them. But they did not
respond until they had reached the feet of her throne....

Then Farnsworth and Dominic weaved their tale, not talking of force, or
violence, which might have resulted in two more souls ripped out of the fabric
of life too early. Talking of Blade's love, and Blade's virtues, even
Persephone was moved. Armed with the knowledge of where Orpheus went wrong,
they would not look back until they had left Hades behind. And the party
walked out of Hades, with Blade following, not looking back until the light
of day once more shone on their faces. The fabric of reality was reknit, but
Blade's past life ended in a broken thread, not fully connecting with his
mind. Farnsworth promised that others would help him to remember his past
life.

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