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The word spread far and wide that Santa would be in Luna this evening greeting all the good boys and girls, even the naughty ones. I checked out the Luna stables before heading to the bank and to my delight a large decorated Christmas tree greeted me while I stabled my pet. Shortly after my arrival in the bank Santa arrived with several of his reindeer.

Santa greeted me right away and knew I had been a good girl all year. He then offered me a few gingerbread cookies and some hard liquor. I guess Santa thought I was too good and wanted to get me liquored up. Also it appeared Santa was giving some liquor to his reindeers.  To my shock and amazement another Santa then showed up !

I found this most confusing then realized the Santa with the reindeer was the real Santa. There are so many Santa’s around this time of year it is hard to tell which is which. While watching these two Santa’s very carefully I noticed the bank had been decorated to the nines not just the Luna stables. Two great hand folded Christmas dragons by EM Barnaby and EM Adris were also on holiday display inside the bank. Now that would be a very nice Christmas present for Lady Lava. * smiles a wide holiday grin *

People were very excited to see Santa and many well wishes were exchanged. Rose Fire all giddy and dressed for the season wished Santa a Merry Christmas.

A scent of tuberose and pine filled the bank and I knew Mrs Claus was not far away. Sure enough she was in the upper level of the Luna bank keeping her eyes on Santa making sure he did no eat too many cookies nor drink too much liquor. We had a lovely chat and Mrs Claus gifted me with a dress and hat personalized with her name on it. Thank you again Mrs. Claus. We all know she keeps the big jolly one in line.

MERRY CHRISTMAS CATSKILLS

Autumn is here and Halloween is right around the corner. As a reporter for both Catskills and Great Lakes I traveled both lands to seek out autumnal and spooky designed plots and did I find them.  Both shards have some amazing designers and decor queens not to mention fashionistas.

Below are a few of the seasonal plots I visited. If you have a plot you would like me to visit and possibly feature please contact me via Stratics for your shard, send me a PM and for those on Great Lakes drop a marked rune in my Luna mailbox within the city walls.

Catskills

Designed by the amazing Foxie on Catskills

Exterior of MOA on Great Lakes

Interior of MOA ~ Great Lakes

Catskills

Catskills

Great Lakes

Catskills

Great Lakes

Catskills displaying the new painted masks

Catskills

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In Search of Autumn Decor and The Prominent beloved

With Autumn upon  us I thought I would travel the lands of Catskills to see what seasonal or halloween decor I would find. I roamed the forest for some time then toured the homes and plots of Luna. Not finding much I asked in General Chat to be transported to plots of interest of the season. To my dismay very little reply did I get. beloved of D::D Guild offered to escort me to her plot but warned me there was very little seasonal decorations. I took her up on her offer and what a treat it was!

I quickly noticed that a part of her house has an evil side all year long.  Other than the decor of her plot which has been done in less than five months there is a history to this location for beloved. She first learned of UO by her ex husband, a game player. She started out by playing his characters. The first time she died she thought she completely lost the game for him.  Needless to say that was not true and she played for some time then took a long break. She is back now with a new attitude and a new man. He also plays UO and they recently got married in game and will be married in real life in the future. Life can take some interesting turns and luck had it that she could place on the exact location where her old plot was.

We chatted a long time about many subjects. She loves Peerless with Lady M being one of her favs, her favorite colors in game are blue ( notice her hair ) and Tokuno Red, favorite real life colors are blue and purple, and her favorite location in the realm are the new fairgrounds created by the Catskills EMs. I asked her to please show me the fairgrounds as I have never seen them and they are amazing. beloved claims, ” they are awesome ” and indeed they are!

Feasting area at the Fairgrounds

Archery at the Fairgrounds

Stage at the Farigrounds

beloved serves Lady Lava wine at the Fairgrounds

The Fairgrounds are huge and indeed impressive. Over several glasses of wine we chatted about the new Killer Pumpkins that we both like. beloved stated that she wished they kept their names as in years past. She also really is enjoying the clean -up and loves the blessed deeds though confessed she does not know what she will do with them. Guilds past and present were touched upon on both Catskills and Great lakes. beloved once was in a large guild, SOY, but things did not work so she is in a extremely small guild. I have been in big and small guilds and both have good points and bad.  After feeling a little light headed from the wine we returned to beloved’s house and the tour continued. Before departing she made me a lovely two toned black and red dress. It is much appreciated.

I will be back in a few days looking again for autumn and/or halloween decorate plots.

by Barnaby

As many of you have heard us comment recently, plans are in motion to do something special for past and future competition winners on Catskills. In fact, anyone who has visited our current Reward Hall recently may have seen a new plot has been placed. This plot is the future location of a new hall that will contain all the items recognizing the winners and champions of our shard, and we are asking for your help in designing it.

From now until the 25th of August we are accepting design submissions for this new hall (the original one will be reserved for recognizing the accomplishments of the people of Catskills as a group). Your submission should keep the following points in mind:

It should follow the basic design of our current Hall (in other words, it should use largely similar materials).

It should be able to accommodate a large collection without looking like a big warehouse.

Should be 18×18 in size.

Include any decorations you have in mind (or at least make a note of them and where they should go).

The winner will have a plaque/banner/sign placed on the front of the building recognizing their contribution to our shard. Please send a picture of your submission to [email protected] and [email protected] by the 25th.

Thank you, and good luck!