Sunday evening’s event was an adrenaline trip through dangerous places! I truly “feverishly” followed Sunday night’s event activities, but as a result while I have pics, a complete ‘sense’ of the wild activities of the evening probably escaped my fevered brow!

Here are pics of the sequence of events that I was able to capture. Sadly, I was often dead during these interviews, or became dead trying to take the pics, making things certainly interesting for my intrepid reporter! I can definitely say that few events in my memory were more of a challenge to stay alive in, or more fast-paced than this night’s event action our august EM gave us! I tried to keep from reporting in “black and white” but a few pics had to be that way!

Our event started at 6:30 pm US Central time on Sunday evening, April 29th and ended about two hours later. During that time we visited about five locations according to my count ranging from Hanse’s Tavern in Ilshenar to the Prism of Light – and many will remember THAT experience for a lifetime…

We embarked on a quest after hearing reports of distress from many inhabitents.

We began a search for the huge blue monster.

We got more information at Hanse’s Hostel in Ilshenar where the inhabitents were wary and concerned.   We discovered that the monster was called “The Wickren” and it was ancient.

We followed the trail to the Prism of Light, where we found the beast and a mighty battle ensued.  Many of our comrades gave their lives in this protracted battle in very close quarters!   A mighty effort was made to defeat this monster!

We regrouped after this battle, and took on the search for the mage who had called up this beast from the dark recesses of the universe.  Our quest led us again to Ilshenar and the Meer people.

We located two books in two separate places that gave us information on the Wickren, and its dangers.  We took off to find this mage, Mesmer, who had called up the monster in a spell.  The path led us to a stronghold of the  Ratmen, and there we found the mage  hiding in the basement!

Another battle ensued as Mesmer told us of his life and accomplishments.  He was a powerful wizard, but very misguided I believe!   The group fought valiantly against a powerful opponent and won the day.

We will all meet again in our journeys next weekend to continue our quest against the evil monsters and inhabitents of Brittania!

I lost my books to a death, and could not therefore present you all with the Wickren books in this article, but here is the first page of each of them.  Perhaps it can enlighten you a small bit.

Report Submitted by El of LA, May 3, 2012.

When  the event started, I joined the group at the EM Hall in Britain.  What followed was a multi-hour adventure that not only included the EM event, but a visit from EM Augustus afterwards granting those who did not leave in haste with a bit of a ‘bonus.’

I hope I managed to get all of you into at least one of the screen shots posted below that will give you the scenes in order and hopefully a feel for how things went!

The forces gather at the EM Hall

Our first stop? A meeting with a troubled dragon.

The troubled Dragon was named "Time Without Dreams"

Time Without Dreams told us of a confused Meer

Back we went to Britain, where a new portal was opened to find this Meer.

The portal took us to Ilshenar to find the confused Meer

Our group spoke with the Meer who complained of hearing things.

With the information from the Meer we went to the desert for more clues.

We were informed that a spear was needed from Ilshenar.

Seeking the spear, we go into battle. The spear is harder to get than the clues!

We fought room to room in hand to hand combat to find the spear.

More fighting, and success! We located the spear.

Proudly bearing the located spear, we take it back to Kabur in the desert.

To complete our quest, we traveled one more place and encountered dream spirits and other challenges.

This battle was longer than the first, and many warriors fell to the forces rallied against us.

The battle raged around this crystal altar until our forces proved victorious and our quest achieved!

Scenes from the hard-fought battle!

Victorious in our quest, we returned to the EM Hall.

Much to our surprise, after many had departed for home and hearth, EM Augustus appeared.

EM Augustus took us on a 2nd quest.

Our quest led us through Ilshenar to the Gargoyle City and then to a puzzle room!

Working the puzzles led to a few complications, but nothing we couldn't handle!

We successfully unlocked puzzles until one by one we all departed for home and a comfortable bed!

Until next time!

– El of LA

_______________________________

Dear friends,

I write this message gravely concerned.  After noting a significant rise over the last months in the dissatisfaction of the populace of our world this trouble has carried all the way to my home town, Britain.  Lately, we have seen rioters in the streets and shops and many more residents so angry that they cry out from their suffering and pain.

Granted, the economy of our fair shard has certainly suffered in recent years and many companies have fled to greener pastures and even to walled cities where citizens have more money to spend on their wares, but still we have had a life rich in beauty and filled with the variety and spice of a vibrant city with vibrant residents!  Now I fear all this wealth and grandeur is in peril from the fire, looting, and destruction let loose in our common areas.  I hear and see the plight of these poorest and most beleaguered of our citizens who are not only crying out for help but venting their anger and despair in fire and violent rebellion!  The gates of  Lord British’ castle have been closed and secured.  Why, I was not even allowed in to return lost jewelry to her ladyship, Regina, within the walls!

In fact, the tale worsens.  When I went to check on the rest of the city of Britain after the attack, the bridge to Lord Blackthorn’s castle, always a bastion of mystery to me, had been blown to smithereens and was inaccessible!   I mourned the family duties that had kept me from the city as this tragedy occurred.  I did my part however, supporting the fighters and bringing down more than one raider myself that night!

As I toured the town after this terrible and bloody battle, I found the kegs blocking portions of the streets of the city immovable and rooted in place.  Also, to my great distress, the portion of “Suspension Bridge” I found being carried on one dead raider I won against was itself so firmly planted that I was unable to carry it away for any effort at reconstruction despite frantic efforts to do so, and nearly at the cost of my very life!  Oh the stories I could share of the brave efforts and sacrifices of that violent and sad evening!  The warriors and residents of Britain put up a brave and valiant fight against the forces of chaos and destruction!

I have lost sleep over this my friends and I have an ever-growing concern for the very existence of Britain.  Is all in jeopardy?  Have we lost before we even realized what the fight was or how completely we have been infiltrated by the enemy?  Who is engineering our fates and manipulating our lives and from what turreted heights is it being done?

Other towns in our world are in peril.  Even the well defended and prosperous City of Vesper is so tightly guarded one cannot take more than a few steps without running into heavily armed guards patrolling the perimeters and village streets.  Guards and rebels are filling the pubs and shops.  We must all be on the lookout for further events that may prove heart-rending to many I fear.

Residents of Lake Austin take heed!  Remember King British!  Remember Queen Dawn!  Honor their memories and fight for truth, and Justice for all in an Honorable fashion.  Have Compassion for those of us who through no fault of their own have fallen on hard times and reach out in despair to you as you pass by!  Remember with Humility that you, yourself, could easily be in their shoes!  Sacrifice for your fellow citizens and let the light of your Spirituality shine out to help those in need and fight against Chaos and the forces of evil!  Let Honesty show you a path that, with Valor, you can travel in order to save our beloved lands from the peril it faces!

I attended an EM event Saturday evening at the Britain EM hall along with a good number of other LA players.  The event was guest hosted by Mesanna!  As the event commenced, we were taken to a green grass-covered plain in a small valley and found ourselves facing a long marble wall dividing the field in half.

Telling us to dismount, stable our pets with the local stablemaster, and asking the gargoyles to please land and refrain from flying, we were all chosen one by one to enter a special zone along with wall where we were allowed into the walled-off portion three at a time.

Park your mounts and land!

Facing the wall of mystery!

Behind the lovely Springy pastel-colored doors and marbled partition we found three plain tables each topped with a specially-colored vase.  We each chose a vase and clicked it.

One of three fates awaited us.  The first was to die horribly, but quickly, struck down by a tremendous bolt of energy from the sky.  A second fate was to simply be booted out of the area, never to return.  The last fate, and the best one by far, was that you would find a marvelous flickering multicolored lantern magically placed into your pack.

Elessa the Scribe was not lucky on this day.  She received the most disastrous of outcomes losing fame and fortune – struck down in her prime-time reporting!  Oh cruel fate!

I’m sure those who survived and received their reward will be happy to show their marvelous lanterns off although I was not graced with a good view of anyone’s while I gathered my possessions as gracefully as I could and stumbled from the field.  I have already seen them advertised for sale proudly by recipients on General Chat!  Those people graced with great wealth will surely be able to meet the quoted asking prices!

Until next time … I have some fame to go rebuild!

– El.

When I was reporting the last time around I used to do a series of interviews of characters around LA and the UO Community that I called “Twenty Questions.”   This time around when I asked myself who to start to interview I kept bogging down until finally I realized that what I’d really like to do is interview everyone – particularly since I never got around to everyone last time and wished I had!   To make this easier and more immediate I would simply like to put out this list of questions and ask all of you to fill it out and send it back to me in messaging or email!   I will post at least one reply a week, if I get them, that will include any followup questions I feel are needed or that include any other questions you feel need to be added (within reason of course ).

If you feel there is someone in our Sosaria that should be represented in this series of interviews, now or at any time in the future, please present this list to them as well and request that they get it back to you or me with answers so that they can be presented to our shard players and the Stratics readers as well.   If you would like to hear about someone outside of LA or in the programming/administrative staff of UO or Stratics you can suggest this to me as well and I will try to accommodate the request.   If, also, you know of someone that does not speak English natively, I would love the opportunity to try to translate this into and out of English, (or would it be out of and into English?? ), so everyone on LA’s community can be represented and we are given the opportunity to see the depth and breadth of the community on our Shard because that is global and not limited  by geographic location or method of daily verbal communication!  (Any other community members who speak other languages are invited to participate in assisting me in this endeavor too!)

There is no way for me to get to know everyone or run into all the LA players around the world.  However, there is no LA player that isn’t vitally important to all of us as a group and as a community as well.  Help us all to get to know you and your friends and participate in our shard and forum community!  I would love the help in giving us the pleasure of getting to know the Community, and you, better!

Here are the questions I’ve come up with.  There are 22 of them in total, but respondents do not need to answer any of them that they do not wish to!  If you think I left something out, please feel free to add it in!

Thanks LA Shard!  I look forward to finding out “Who’s Who on LA?”

– El of LA

PLAYER PROFILES – QUESTIONS

1. What is your main character name and what profession does this character follow?
2. What is your favorite character profile template to use?  Why?
3. How did you get into playing UO and how long have you played the game?
4. Do you own a house and would you like to say anything about it?
5. Do you prefer group play or do you do a lot of solo gameplay?
6. What is your favorite activity?
7.  Do you play as a guild member? If so, would you like to tell us which one and ‘plug’ it?
8. Do you participate in faction play?  If so, would you like to share which affiliation you play?
9. Do you have a vendor house or placement you’d like to ‘plug’?
10. What do you think is the best thing about UO that keeps you coming back for more?
11. Do more of your family members play this game?  Have you brought others into the game? (not required)
12. Are there any ‘sweet spots’ in the world of Sosaria that you think are particularly cool and a favorite place of yours to be?
13. There are lots of different types of deco and special armor that have been presented as prizes and gifts over the years.  Do you have a favorite that you particularly enjoy or a type of gift that you particularly enjoy?
14. Do you attend in-game events by players or the EM?  If so, what do you like about them?
15. Do you or have you played other MMOG’s?  Do you play them at the same time you play UO?
16. What do you think of the housing architecture program in UO? Do you often redesign your house?  If so, what is your favorite style design?
17. What do you think of UO as a social media tool?  Do you use it as such?
18. Do you play using any other social media tools like ICQ, Skype or another IM/Video program alongside it?
19. Do you listen to the in-game music?  Do you control it using the deco tool “Dawn’s Music Box” or just let it play as it will?
20. What would you like to say about the game personally that I haven’t asked about?
21. What would you like to tell us about yourself as a character or as a person?  (not required)
22. Any last words for us?

• If you have any pictures or screen prints you’d like to share with the group, please include them with your response!  I’d love to include them! — El

Maybe I’m alone in this, but after getting launched and comfortable in UO for a year or two I, personally, found myself totally engulfed in running a newbie player center with its events and working with the group that gathered around that – then reporting came along and BANG… no more time to experiment! I had some never-maxed-out characters that were functional but no time to find perfection and some fun activities that kept me so busy that taking the time to even do daily logins for the characters was just too much. This time back I have promised myself not to get stuck in a rut again and to give some serious attention to trying everything at least once! I hope you all realize that given the depth and breadth of this game this can take a while!

In that vein, I am, for lack of anything more creative to report at the moment, going to give you tales of my bumbling adventures quietly being taken around the world of Sosaria in the dead of night when the people online with me tend not to speak English and sadly I don’t speak their language either! My Tillerman, whom I have named Robert, is the man in charge on a large dragon ship named “The Waverunner,” which is nicely sized so as not to get scuttled by every passing sea serpent, but small enough to not be too very dramatic or pompous as it sails into ports. Robert has been hinting to me of some very tall tales of places and venues around the world that I have yet to see and emphasizes how very much I seem to have missed over the years by not following the lines of his stories before! So here I go, off to show my ignorance of UO and maybe share some very tall tales that my tillerman tantalizes me with.

While I start my storyline, I would love it if all of you would share with me your own adventures and “Tillerman Tales” that we can all follow up on and explore as well. Feel free to write up your adventures and submit/post them, or simply give me hints as to places and adventures I need to take for my own enlightenment! Thanks for your participation in advance!

– El of LA

Outside of pretty pixels though, I enjoyed the LOST auction because it is so very well run and because the LA players in attendance are really great to be around.  The items are quickly and very professionally handled, the rules are well-established and well-followed by the staff, and cooperated with by the players in attendance.  The fun of the banter during the sales and the good-natured exchanges are always fun to be around.

LA's LOST Auction 2-29-12

As always at these events I couldn’t resist bidding on some of the cool items offered for sale, and even managed to win a bid as I went, although I’m going to have to do some hunting before I can hope to win another of those mining cart deeds coveted by so many players last night!  Now I guess I’ll get to experience these revamped dungeons!

Thanks to LOST Auction for a great evening of bids and wins!  I’ll be back for more with my newly gotten gold!

LOST Auction events are normally scheduled every two weeks on Wednesday evenings in the 2nd and 4th (or sometimes 5th) weeks of each months’ calendar at 8:00 pm, US Central time (GMT -6).  If you haven’t been there before, check it out!  You can find the auction site inside the walls of Luna on the top floor of the first house East of the Moongate, on the North side of the road.

[Discuss this post]

I thought I was late to the event, but Queen Zhah was running around and had a gate open to where others were fighting Scelestus the Defiler on an isle. I mainly healed others, but got a few hits in…

So after the event, our reward from the Queen was his hand. It makes sparklies. It was fun.