Aleph So Perianwyr, tell us a bit about your history on Atlantic..
* Aleph smiles

Perianwyr Hrm, where should I start…

Perianwyr Well, I began my journeys as a student newly graduated from the Lycaeum. At that point, my primary interest was in magic, but as time wore on I saw that there was little of enlightenment in that pursuit simply more ethereal ways of splitting unsuspecting citizens’ heads so I more or less ceased study of it I traveled alone for a long time.

* Aleph nods

Ce’Nedra Do you see the merits in magery for travel?

Perianwyr I use it only when circumstances make other methods impossible or unworkable. Magic is no path to wisdom-it is simply a tool.

* Ce’Nedra nods

Ce’Nedra So when did you find your way to Yew?

Perianwyr Well, for a long while, I lived in Britain. Actually, not in the town itself, on a ship in the harbor. It was while living there I met Lilliana.

* Ce’Nedra smiles

Ce’Nedra Tell us about that meeting.

Perianwyr Well, I was sitting on my boat, repairing something or other a lot of things can go wrong with a boat, and mine was no exception. I was taking a break from this work, when I saw a young lady running along the shore carrying a war fork! This caught my attention since I had never seen anyone beyond myself using them and, indeed, I had a large collection of magical ones that people threw away at the bank so I thought to myself, I have a lot of spares- perhaps she would like one? So I called out, asking if she would like one of my reserve weapons She did indeed, and from then on I kept running into her in the area. It turns out she used the weapon I gave her until it broke.

* Perianwyr smiles

* Aleph smiles

Perianwyr At any rate, I digress-about coming to Yew. Yew was a place that I had visited many times, finding its forests bountiful and the area generally peaceful- an excellent recovery from a stop in Vesper!

* Aleph nods

Perianwyr About a year after I originally set out to travel, I decided that I needed to do something different from what I normally did.

Ce’Nedra And what did you normally do?

Perianwyr Essentially it was not a great deal different from your average wanderer’s life, just sailing around completely at random, so I decided to start, of all things, a tavern. It simply came to mind as something no one else was doing.

* Ce’Nedra nods

* Aleph smiles

Perianwyr Don’t ask me why they weren’t- I don’t know, really.

Ce’Nedra At the time.. was anyone else doing it?

Perianwyr Not to my knowledge.

* Ce’Nedra nods

Perianwyr Not in this world anyway,in others there were flourishing establishments, which struck me as odd.

Aleph To begin a tavern, that is quite an endeavor, what did you do to begin such a project?

Perianwyr Well, it’s funny… The original location was to be a keep north of the Chaos Shrine indeed, Lilliana and I spent many nights of running around chopping wood in that murderer-infested area for furnishings and whatnot.

* Aleph nods

Perianwyr But the other co-owner of the keep changed his mind about letting me use it so a new site was required.

Ce’Nedra Who was that?

Perianwyr A fellow named Subadai

Ce’Nedra Hrmm.. he seems to have disappeared from our lands.

Perianwyr Right you are

Perianwyr At any rate, Lilliana and I (for when I was looking for someone to assist me with the tavern, she was the first person that came to mind), now were looking for another location. The answer came when a fellow named Dharmoshel Fey, who I had met before at the Keg and Anchor in Trinsic decided to move to another world, and had no need of his current holdings. It turned out that he had a large building in the Yew area actually one of the oldest buildings on the shard, if I remember properly which was perfect for this purpose.

* Ce’Nedra nods

Perianwyr He gave it to me before he left, and that is the building the Serpent Cross is in today!

Aleph ah, generous of him, and fortunate for you…

Perianwyr Indeed

Ce’Nedra How did you manage to keep the lovely yard you have? There weren’t proper building codes back then.

Perianwyr Well, I can say it was luck more than anything else, I suppose no one thought of building there.

Ce’Nedra So you and Lilliana set to opening shoppe. Had you two married yet?

Perianwyr Not yet.

Aleph Tell me, when you opened your doors at the Serpents Cross Tavern, what were you expecting? And, what hardships did you experience?

Perianwyr Honestly, I didn’t have any idea what specifically would happen I had heard a bit about what happened on other worlds but I wasn’t sure what would apply. The culture of every world really is different. Anyway, as far as hardships…I had a policy of leaving the front door open at all times, no matter what. Of course, this was before you could secure furnishings. So often people would run off with them just because they could.

* Aleph frowns

Aleph I cannot imagine how frustrating that was..

Perianwyr Well, it more or less just went into the overall flow of things. I just got used to chopping wood every day heh, heh.

* Aleph smiles

* Ce’Nedra grins

Ce’Nedra That must have made you strong.

Perianwyr Actually it did, quite so.

Aleph So was there a point when you realized that the Serpent’s Cross was successful? A time when you  realized your vision was actually coming to fruition?

Perianwyr Well, I would have to say that it really hit me when the place finally got its “assistance.”

* Ce’Nedra likes it when Aleph uses big words like ‘fruition’

* Aleph laughs

Ce’Nedra How did that come about Peri?

Perianwyr This was after a week of particularly bad furniture theft and I suppose someone was watching because within the next couple of days a lady named Gratianna came to call. She happened to be what is known as a “royal carpenter” and she created all manner of furnishings that couldn’t be moved, which was quite helpful.

Aleph Ah, excellent..

Perianwyr Also, this is when the yard was officially created. It’s funny, everyone suggested a fountain for the center but I just wanted a rock… a fountain is too grandiose..

* Aleph smiles

Perianwyr ..and, for that matter, where is the water coming from? This isn’t Trinsic, it’s a village in the middle of the woods.

* Perianwyr grins

* Aleph nods

Perianwyr I consider the rock to be much more tasteful.

Perianwyr The rock has a history of…visits… by strange people. One of them would constantly walk around it wondering why the flowers weren’t wilting. Some never do explain, I suppose.

* Perianwyr chuckles

* Aleph chuckles

Aleph So I would imagine managing a tavern to be quite a bit of work, how ever do you do it?

Perianwyr What a funny question. Not sure how to answer that. All I can say is that I just do what I do and things tend to come out properly in the end. And, of course there are others assisting. Through the years there have been many who have helped.

* Aleph nods

Perianwyr I could even count every person who comes in as having helped out, simply because the more people that visit, the more people are inclined to do so!

Aleph When trying to start an establishement such as yours, there is a certain..element it attracts..

Perianwyr Heh.

Perianwyr Anywhere with more than three people in sight of one another attracts that.

* Aleph smiles

Aleph What are your thoughts on the people who see the Serpent’s Cross Tavern as a target. In times past, it has been the focus of many a murderer and thief..

Perianwyr Well, as I said they simply target concentrations of people. I can’t really say I care very much about them. No doubt they believe some sort of impact is being made, or they are “acting evil”, but it really isn’t remembered when the day is done.

* Aleph nods

Ce’Nedra Unless you walk away with a trophy skullcap or something.

Perianwyr Ha ha

* Ce’Nedra winks

Perianwyr Something like that.

* Aleph chuckles

Perianwyr I can’t even remember any names over any others right off hand, There are much better things to think about!

* Aleph smiles

Aleph So, you have the girl, and you have the tavern, what’s next on the agenda for you friend?

Perianwyr Ha ha ha

Perianwyr Well, I am never sure…

Ce’Nedra The stables?

* Ce’Nedra laughs

Ce’Nedra Tell everyone about when you built it.

* Ce’Nedra chuckles

Perianwyr Ah yes, well, it has along and checkered past. It originally started because we were tired of getting horses attacked. But it was a logistical nightmare, no pun intended. Always unlocking it and relocking it. So it really didn’t get used all that much until eventually a stablehand was brought there Now I think it is the primary dragon repository on the shard.

* Perianwyr sighs

Ce’Nedra You left out it’s brief stint as a Pegasus stable…

Perianwyr Oh, that…

Perianwyr ..when it was first placed, it was, well, on top of the tavern.

Ce’Nedra That’s what I was laughing about.

Aleph On top you say?

Perianwyr Pretty useless up there.

Perianwyr Yes

* Ce’Nedra nods

Ce’Nedra Saw it with my own eyes.

Perianwyr It was accidentally put up there, sort of hanging off of the side. Utterly silly looking.

* Aleph chuckles

Aleph And surely not very handy..

Perianwyr Yes, more of a giant, ugly waste.

Ce’Nedra What were your next additions to Fogwood Village?

Perianwyr Well, after that there was the library. Most people would never imagine the problems with actually running a library. You have to keep people from stealing the books, keep them from being vandalized, and still make the books readily available. There still is not a good solution for this!

* Aleph nods

Ce’Nedra Perhaps that will be changing soon.

* Ce’Nedra smiles

Perianwyr I hope so.

Ce’Nedra Who runs the library?

Perianwyr Well, no one at the moment.

Perianwyr The previous operator was unable to continue.

Ce’Nedra Ahh.

Ce’Nedra And after the Library?

Perianwyr After that, an alchemy shop was added…

Ce’Nedra How is that working out?

Perianwyr That is managed by a fellow, who, well, doesn’t have a name…What a strange person he is.

Ce’Nedra Sounds strange..

Aleph Very..

Perianwyr But at any rate, it works well- the prices are almost insanely competitive. Heh.

Ce’Nedra Were there any other additions?

Perianwyr That would be all of them.

Ce’Nedra Any planned ones?

Perianwyr Well, if I can acquire another building, the Caterers of Yew will likely as not be moving into it.

Aleph A service that is most needed in our realm.

Perianwyr Indeed

Ce’Nedra Who runs that service?

Perianwyr Hendall is a very skilled chef, and is definitely the person to contact if you are running an event requiring food in the Yew area.

Ce’Nedra Aye..I have used his services. He catered the Alice Through the Looking Glass play.

Perianwyr Yes

Ce’Nedra So who are the current staff members at SCT?

*Ce’Nedra reflects back on her time spent helping bartend

Perianwyr Well, at the moment, we have Aerin Aeirs, the brother of our esteemed reporter, Hendall the chef, and Elywn d’Yew, who also is Yew’s event coordinator. Also assisting periodically is the Lady Nicole of Moonglow and the Lord Rainbow King. As well, the reformed rogue Shiela.

Aleph So Perianwyr, the Serpent’s Cross Tavern looks lovely, the grounds are truly a well-tended. Lately, there has been much talk around the process an establishment must go through to recieve such aide.

Perianwyr Well, the process is not exactly concrete

* Aleph nods

Aleph Would you mind speaking a bit about that, and perhaps sharing a bit of advice for those looking for the same?

Perianwyr ..but the most important facet of the issue is the fact that the place must be self-sufficient. Simply saying “I want to run this place, can a Seer help with it?” is not going to do anything

Aleph I would imagine the nature of the establishment is also a factor..

Perianwyr Well, it is vital that the establishment be public and open to all. Essentially, be run for the good of the shard. The key here, therefore, is that if you have an idea for an establishment, simply go out and make it happen! You, as a citizen of Britannia, have a remarkably large amount of resources at your hands and if you can make the idea work and stick with it, eventually you will get assistance.

* Aleph smiles

Perianwyr You could say that you will not get assistance until it is shown that you do not need it to exist!

* Perianwyr grins

Aleph Excellent bit of advice, that..

Aleph Perianwyr, you have shared quite a bit of information, and I thank you for taking time out of your busy day to speak with us. Knowing that we could most likley chat into the night about the SCT and it’s history…

Perianwyr Ha ha! Oh yes, we could.

Aleph ..is there one particular story you think upon, an event or happening at the SCT that sticks in your mind?

Perianwyr Well, one thing that really impressed me was when the effort to oppose the Followers of Armageddon arose, how quickly everyone gathered, using the tavern as a rallying point and information exchange.

* Aleph nods

Aleph It must have been a nice moment for you to see the Serpent’s Cross Tavern utilized in such a way..

Perianwyr Certainly

Perianwyr That is what I envision the purpose of such establishments being-

* Aleph nods

Perianwyr A place where people can share information and work together to meet goals.

Aleph before we end this interview, is there any final words that you have for our readers?

Perianwyr It may sound a bit trite, but support your local establishment! Almost all of Ultima’s worlds have their own establishments where the community gathers… and every person who visits regularly is helping every other.

* Aleph nods

Aleph I couldn’t agree more..

Aleph Perianwyr, the Serpent’s Cross Tavern is truly a remarkable place. Your contribution to the community is a wonder to behold. I know I speak for many when I say thank you for all that you have done, and both Ce’Nedra and I appreciate your time this day.

* Aleph smiles

Ce’Nedra Thankye Perian!

Perianwyr Have a good day!

Aleph Fare thee well friend!