Contest Entry – At the Beginning

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BLUE BELL

Character Name: Blue Bell

At The Beginning

As I wonder what this new world will be like and what adventures to take on each and every day I can’t help but reflect on the past. The tasks, accomplishments, successes, and failures I have experienced in this strange and wonderful world I know as Ultima Online. The new lands that opened up to me that hold secrets I can’t wait to discover, places I’ve never dreamed of coming to life. Do I have the right skills and equipment to take on these new lands and the creatures that inhabit them? Will my armor withstand the attacks and tortures that come my way? Will I have enough regents and supplies on me to get me through to the end or will I have to retreat in order to restock, regroup, and rethink my approach? My name is Blue Bell, Elder Mage, member of L*H and this is my story.

I was born into a strange town, a place called Haven. I wasn’t sure what it was all about, where to go first, what to do or get, or most importantly how to survive. All I did know was I was here I was scared and confused. There were a lot of people at the bank so I figured I would check it out. Now when I walked up to the Haven bank I noticed another new person standing looking just as lost as I was so I approached him and asked what his name was and what was his story. He told me his name was Severus he was a fellow mage and that this is the bank where you put your valuables. I asked how do you get into your bank box and he replied that it was simple. You walk up to the wall of the bank and say the word “bank.” I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, I mean how could it be that easy but I was willing to give it a try. To my amazement what this man said was true. I walked up to the wall said the word bank and BLAM my bank box opened up for me. I was so excited that I forgot about how stupid I look with my face smashed up against the side of the bank. I had gold, and reagents and all this wonderful space in this huge bank box to place things that I collect and find in my adventures. I could never in a million years fill up all this space but I was more then happy to try. I turned to my right where this strange man Severus was standing going through his bank box and thanked him for his help, little did I know that we were to become fast friends and stick together for many years to come.

Now looking at my skills they all seem to be turned up. Hmmm…interesting. I was thinking oh well I’m not quite sure what skills I need so I’ll just leave it that way. Okay so later on I learn, the hard way I might add, that this is a bad, bad idea but I will get into that later. My new friend, Severus, and I decided that we should try and kill something. Oooh what to kill, what to kill, hey look it’s a lizard man, cool. I can take that no problem a little fireball and he will fall in no time. Okay so now I’m dead, I’m panicking, and I don’t know what to do. I’m running around and everything is all gray! A wondering healer! YES! He resurrects me and I go running back to my body. At this point I didn’t realize how hard those lizard men hit you and of course I died again. So back to the healer I go only this time I’m a lot wiser then I was the first time. I’m not going to die again. I double click on my body and clean out my old backpack when all the sudden, I died, again. Things aren’t working out to well for me right now, maybe I will go get resurrected for the third time and hang out someplace safe for now. Yes that’s the ticket. Meanwhile Severus has died just as many times as I have and I’m telling ya it’s not looking good for either of us right now. Anyway after I was resurrected we decided that maybe we weren’t ready for the lizard men just yet. But I was interested to see what that moon gate thing was and where it would take me. Mental note must return and jump in the moon gate. Once we returned to the bank I couldn’t believe the armor that people were throwing out! Oh my god are these people insane! I proceeded to grab just about everything I could hold. Mind you I had no idea good armor from bad but it was free and I was taking it. Now that I have on a tunic and some leather leggings I was ready to go back to that moon gate and give it a try. I’ve heard people talk about a place called Minoc so I thought I’ll try that place first.

Well I’m running down the path, and luckily for me there were some people there that were keeping the lizard men occupied so this shouldn’t be a problem. So anyway I’m running and running and I jump into the moon gate and BLAM, I now have options as to where I want to go, and what is Felucca and Ilshenar? I’m gonna die, again, if I don’t figure this out and find Minoc quick. I assume that Minoc is in Trammel, since I’ve never heard of Felucca or Ilshenar, so I start reading all the towns I can go to. Hmmm I wonder how to pronounce some of these strange places, but ahh yes Minoc that is where I want to go. The next thing I know I’m in another moon gate in a far off place I’ve never been to. Alright I did it! Now where is the town from here? I think I’ll go north yeah that sounds good. Of course at this point I notice a Mongbat, and lets just say he isn’t here to welcome me to Minoc. I had died enough for one hour and I wasn’t going to take it any more, so I grabbed his life meter got a fireball ready and then WHAMO. Oh my gosh I actually did some damage to this strange little being I just might be on to something here. So I got another fireball and shot him again and again until he was dead. Ahh yes sweet victory and now to check the body. Alright gold! I’m gonna be rich in no time this is great! I’ve got to tell Severus about this.

I didn’t think about the fact that I was eventually going to need more reagents, more band aids, more food, where to get or even buy them for that matter. I mentioned this problem to Severus and that’s when he said to me that we should go forging for reagents before we go buy them since they spawn on the ground outside of town. He said that he found a great place in North Minoc where they spawn all the time and in large amounts. I told him to lead the way and off we went. There is a small stone workshop right outside the city of Minoc that had reagents, and LOTS of them, spawning right outside the front of the door. We’re in heaven! We ran around for over an hour collecting reagents. We had a new source of reagents and the best part was they were free. After about a week of this the owner of the small stone tower appeared on his front steps and asked us if we were having a good time. He had been watching us for a couple of days while we collected reagents and laughing at us when we would run away screaming when an Ogre or lizard man appeared. His name was Scar and I wasn’t sure if he was a friend or foe. He was dressed in a dark cloak, with a mustache and long hair. Looked just like the kind of guy my mom said to stay away from. He asked what our skills were and how long we had been playing. We told him we had only been playing a week and we were both working on being mages. He laughed at this point and said that that would explain why there aren’t any more reagents around his house. We laughed and said we thought he had the greatest house we ever saw because of all the reagents that spawned around it. This strange and mysterious man named Scar then asked us if we would like any help with developing our skills and learning the secrets to the world of Ultima Online. Severus and I looked at each other for all of 2 seconds and both answered yes at the same time.

The first thing Severus asked Scar was if he could make us some decent armor. Scar said that he would but it would cost us $3500 gold. After he said that I was thinking it would take me a year to earn that much gold but at least we had a goal to work towards right. Scar then proceeded to tell us about how to acquire a map of the entire world and things that would help us in counting our reagents, keeping track of our health and quick ways to create things. We listened and hung on every word this wise man was telling us. He was kind enough to show us how to harvest wool and make clothing and band aids, how to hunt and cook food so we would never go hungry, how and where to find animals, like horses, that we could tame and ride so we could travel easier. And then he did the most amazing thing; he gave us 1500 of every reagent and 500 fish steaks to eat. I would have bent down and kiss his feet, if he didn’t have shoes on, to show him how grateful we were for his help and vast knowledge of the world. Then he wanted to help us with our skills, this is when I learned that having all my skills turned up wasn’t such a good idea after all. I found out real quick that I was going to have to work off a few skills that I didn’t need. He showed us that we could pay people that worked in the town to train us in certain skills. Things were really starting to look up now buddy. We were eventually invited into Scar’s guild called SCO. Scar said that he had known the members of this guild for a long time, that they were good people and they would help us train and understand the ways of the world better. Of course we joined and were thrilled to be included in such a welcoming environment.

As the days passed we were getting stronger and wiser to the ways of the world. Pretty soon we were able to take on these really tall ugly guys called Ettins. Ettin hunting was a favorite pass time for me and at the time it paid well too. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. I was so proud to announce at a guild meeting that I had officially Grand mastered Death and boy was I good at it. I got a round of applause and several laughs but I didn’t care I was happy and proud to be a mage in training.

It was around my third month in the world of Ultima Online that my friend Severus and I were offered a small marble workshop to live in and purchase from a fellow member of the guild. I was so excited I think I blacked out for a couple of minutes. It was our first home! We moved in ASAP and had so much space in this new home we were never going to be able fill it up it was so big! This is when I decided to start growing and selling plants to help pull my weight with the house payment. I was also out hunting, killing and being killed by just about anything that wasn’t human or considered a pet of some kind. I’ll never forget when I finally grand mastered the art of magery. Severus and I were the at the Cyclopes camp in the Valor Forest in Ilshenar, I finally figured out what Ilshenar was by the way. So we were fighting the Cyclopes, I was casting Energy Vortexes, and then I saw it, I had just grand mastered magery. I didn’t know what to do I was so excited! I started running around screaming at the top of my lungs “I JUST GMed MAGERY! I JUST GMed MAGERY!” I basically resembled a chicken with its head cut off. I was finally really good at something besides dying! Severus congratulated me and said he was very proud of me and I must say it was a great feeling. Needless to say we did get the small marble workshop paid off in about 6 months.

I really enjoyed the people in SCO they really were good people. They helped me come a long way and I will always be thankful for having the opportunity to meet them but I admit it I was getting antsy. I wanted to meet more new people and to go to some new places. I was beginning to think that maybe it was time for me to move on and move on is what I did. I resigned from SCO and felt this strange sensation. It was like I was vulnerable to the outside world an easy target if you will. I felt alone in the world and unsure of my future but I wasn’t going to let that keep me down. I had made quite a few good friends that they were sticking by me. Severus had quit the guild the same time I did so it was just the two of us again. Just the two of us in this small crappy marble tower, which didn’t have as many lockdowns as I thought it did in the beginning. We ran out of lockdowns on a weekly basis. Our friend Scar had offered us some storage space in one of his places but we didn’t want to impose on him, he had done so much for us already. Then there was news from Britannia that there would be new land opening up soon and several new quests for those that were brave enough to take them on. I couldn’t wait maybe I could get out there and build my own house on some of this new land they were talking about. After weeks of waiting the big day was here. I think I had everything that I needed to go scouting for a new plot of land for my new house. I had everything packed up and ready to move from the small crappy marble tower I was living in and plenty of gold in the bank to pay for everything. Okay so I only had about 200k in the bank but to me that was A LOT of gold and that was going to be plenty because I didn’t have any more.

The morning the land in Age of Shadows opened up I was excited and amazed at how many people there were in this world. Everyone wanted a house even if they already had 1 or 2 they wanted another one. I just wanted someplace to call my very own. After a couple of hours of running around trying to find a good plot of land to claim as my own I found one. It’s not to far from the town called Luna and it’s perfect. Course since I’m a woman it’s always under construction. Knocking down a wall here, replacing the counter tops there, putting in new floors. Someday I think I’ll finish redoing my house and I’ll find the perfect design, but for now I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and having fun with it. I must say I’ve come up with some pretty cool floor designs and some really UGLY ones too. My long time friend, Severus, found him a new house as well. His house is HUGE! I’m over there quite frequently since mine is always under construction and all. He was nice enough to make me a co-owner on his house so I can use his house for storage if I need to, and I have. I think I have this pack rat syndrome. I keep EVERYTHING, even stuff I know I don’t want or will never use. Maybe they have a support group or even a guild that I can join because this is becoming a real problem. Any way, Severus became fast friends with the woman that lived next door to him who just happened to be the guild mistress of Legion of Hope or L*H. We eventually joined L*H and have had so much fun! We have met a whole new group of people and I even got to be the guild decorator. How’s that for irony, I can’t even finish my own house but I can decorate everyone else’s.

Slowly but surly I became a 5x GM and accomplished everything I wanted to do and become. Just when I thought I was about ready to take a break and rest a bit, more news came from Britannia. They were opening up more new land and all kinds of new quests and adventures. I found myself getting so excited to be part of such a wonderful world I couldn’t wait.

When the day finally came, and it seemed to take forever, mainly because I was so excited about it, I didn’t know what to go do first. This new land that I was going to be able to visit was called the Tokuno Islands. Ohh that sounds so exciting! I ran to the nearest moon gate jumped in and off I went. It’s been 3 years since I moved to Ultima and by now I should have learned to make sure that I was well equipped for venturing to new places. Well, I wasn’t. I went to some place called Homare-jima. I began to run around and ran into a creature called an Elite Ninja. Well I’m all over this thing in no time thinking he would die rather fast, course I died very quickly after the fight started. I wasn’t to prepared to fight anything right now much less something that can turn into an animal, throws smoke bombs at me, and oh yeah had a death strike. It got ugly real fast for me at that point. I had to call Severus to come resurrect me and help me get my things off my body. After I got back my backpack contents I decided to go home and regroup. I needed more reagents, band-aids, maybe some potions and at least one other person to go exploring. Yes that was the best plan I had come up with in a long, long time. Later on Severus and I went back out there and well we both died a couple of times but after a while we got the hang of it. These guys had A LOT of gold on them and I wasn’t complaining they were a pain in the butt to kill. We did quite a bit of exploring in the next couple of weeks finding the best spots to slaughter these bizarre creatures that lived in these strange lands. I was having a great time and the pay was pretty good too.

At the present day I am still remodeling the inside of my house, hanging out with Severus, Scar and the rest of our guild, hunting, stalking, and yes occasionally dying. I’m finding that as time goes by I never know what each day will bring. I look forward to waking up in the mornings and taking a good look around to see if anything has changed while I was asleep. In this place you never know. As I said before name is Blue Bell, Elder Mage, member of L*H and this is my story…

Last modified: March 28, 2011

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