Volume Eight Issue Twenty-Four

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VOLUME EIGHT, NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR                          November 10, 2001
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                           TABLE OF CONTENTS

                          NEWS, REPORTS, UPDATES 
                           Pumpkin Hunt Results
                             Recent Updates
                              Q & A Topics
                       October Connection Analysis

                              LEGENDITES
                             Announcements
                               Clan News
                      "Repent! The End isss Nigh!"
                          A Vision of the Past
               From the Private Journal of Honor North-Morlan
            The Trials and Tribulations of Simply Being Cadderly


___                                                                        ___
\  |----------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|  News, Reports, and Updates!                                         |__\
   '----------------------------------------------------------------------'


                              Pumpkin Hunt Results!

On October 31st, a headless horseman wandered the land, casting shivers 
down the spines of all he encountered -- and tossing a few jack o'lanterns 
about, as well. 43 valiant Legendites ventured out into the haunted woods 
and fields and towns, collecting these trophies to honor their bravery. 

The most fortunate among us were Lachesis and Infernal, who each collected 
15 pumpkins. They were followed by Erik' with 10, Amecia with 7, and Jacob
with 5. Darla, Ibrahim, and Spite each found 4; Darla, Nietzsche, Moonshadow, 
Kastina, and AgentNitz each found 3.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

    /\                          RECENT UPDATES
   /  \   
  /    \                         CODE UPDATES
 /_    _\   
   |  |     Bug Fixes
   |  |       o It is no longer possible to expel objects and/or people if
   |  |         the Mud doesn't know where to put them (that is, it can't
   |__|         find a valid exit).
    /\        o Buy bandage 2* now works again
   /  \       o It's no longer possible to make an amulet while meditating
  /    \      o You can no longer beg from yourself
 /_    _\     o Chain lightning spell now costs no mana (as it is
   |  |         unimplemented).
   |  |       o Healing balm message doesn't echo too many times to the vict
   |  |       o You no longer get the unafk message if you just had the tell
   |__|         catcher on
    /\     
   /  \     Misc Changes
  /    \      o Immunities, Resistances, and susceptibilities rewritten in
 /_    _\       the code. This should have no player-noticeable changes, but
   |  |         might if there is a bug.
   |  |       o Allskills is now in three columns instead of four.
   |  |       o Players now get announces on info up to 1,000 million exp.
   |__|       o repair gives a clearer message if you aren't strong enough
    /\          to repair the weapon.
   /  \       o You now get a message when you're nearing the limit of
  /    \        friends that you can have
 /_    _\    
   |  |     Typo Fixes
   |  |        o guiltly to guiltily in housing.
   |  |      
   |__|      
    /\                         HELP FILE UPDATES
   /  \      
  /    \    The following helpfiles were recently added or updated!
 /_    _\   
   |  |     General Info
   |  |     ------------
   |  |       bug lotto, recalltag, retired, stringrules
   |__|     
    /\      Thank you to all the players & imms who assisted in this update!
   /  \     
  /    \    
 /_    _\                        AREA UPDATES
   |  |     
   |  |     If you want to suggest specific improvements or new additions
   |  |     to existing areas please don't hesitate to submit them with
   |__|     the idea/bug/typo commands or drop mudmail to the builder
    /\      responsible for the area (check areainfo to find out!)
   /  \    
  /    \                     Installed Area Updates
 /_    _\    
   |  |     1802 ALASKA
   |  |         A couple problems with Napachee and polar bear fixed.
   |  |         Various bugs and typos fixed.
   |__|     ARABIAN NIGHTS
    /\          Goats shouldn't be so numerous and herder will assist
   /  \         them. Shouldn't get stuck in the cavern without a lamp so
  /    \        long now. Various bugs and typos fixed.
 /_    _\   SAN FRANCISCO
   |  |         Fish build up on the waterfront fixed. Laundry attendant
   |  |         shouldn't be hoarding sacks either. Various bugs fixed.
   |  |     CELTIC IRELAND
   |__|         Attacking the royal family and Beorc handles charmy
    /\          armies better. Various bugs and typos fixed.
   /  \     MEDIEVAL SEAS
  /    \        Adds in a couple more info/warning messages the serpent.
 /_    _\   PITTSBURGH
   |  |         Fixed the bad dollars on the sad fellow.
   |  |     PORT OF LONDON
   |  |         Tavernkeeper will always accept poker chips if you give
   |__|         them to him and pay you for them but shouldn't have a
    /\          problem with "full stock" either. One new quest, two new
   /  \         whois strings. Various bugs and typos fixed.
  /    \    MEDIEVAL SEAS
 /_    _\       Couple of changes on the serpent to make him nicer, not
   |  |         meaner to lower levels. Still don't recommend going and
   |  |         playing tag with him.
   |  |     THE ALHAMBRA
   |__|         Adds in a couple of new items.
    /\      TORTUGA
   /  \         Octopus tactics changed slightly.
  /    \    SHERWOOD
 /_    _\       Weird things shouldn't happen if you don't have/qualify
   |  |         for dash and try to use it at Will of the Green. Various
   |  |         bugs and typos fixed.
   |  |     RECALLTAG
   |__|         Adds in 'exit' and 'leave' for the return act. Recall control
    /\          mob will also randomly prompt for what to say to return.
   /  \     BEOWULF, CRUSADES, HOSPITALLER MALTA and VICEROYAL PERU
  /    \        Various bugs and typos fixed.
 /_    _\   
   |  |     All items with RESIST, IMMUNE, or SUSCEPT affects were
   |  |     updated. There should be no visible differences in the new
   |  |     versions. Also some items that had been shared or exactly
   |__|     duplicated between Alhambra, Tortuga, and Viceroyal Peru have
    /\      been changed to one master item. If you suspect something has
   /  \     changed and isn't right, please note it on the bug channel.
  /    \    
 /_    _\   
   |  |                    In Progress Area Updates
   |  |     
   |  |     This section is intended to let everyone know what builders
   |__|     are working on behind the scenes. It is not a perfect record
    /\      of progress as all builders will not make updates every week.
   /  \     Players badgering builders about progress or a perceived lack
  /    \    thereof will be flogged. Remember, the longer spent answering
 /_    _\   questions, the longer the project takes to complete.
   |  |     
   |  |             Kae          Larderello (Dante's Hell)
   |  |             Kae          OOC Library Project
   |__|             Kaige/Ptah   1950s Americana

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  _______   ____    _______
 /  ___  \ / __ \  /  ___  \  Logs of Q&A sessions are available on the
 | /   \ | \ \/ /  | /   \ |  web pages for those who are unable to attend
 | |   | |  \  /   | \___/ |  or had to leave early. The most recent ones
 | |   | |  /  \/\ |  ___  |  are listed on the sitemap page or you can
 | | /\| | / /\  / | /   \ |  get a complete list on the Q&A index page
 | \_\ \ | \ \/  \ | \   / |  at the url below.
  \___\/_/  \__/\/ \_/   \_|
 
       http://www.legendmud.org/Community/lectures/QandA/QA_index.html
  
                               RECENT TOPICS
 
 o Halloween Kudos                   o Hook & Fight Messages?
 o Housing in Klein?                 o Balm vs Roots & PK?
 o Balm & The OOC?                   o Where to find PKOK Info?
 o Looting in PKILL?                 o Money in Containers?
 o General Kudos                     o Skill Trees Status
 o Housing Reimb?                    o No Repair Equipment?
 o Clans & Non-Members' Titles?      o Strip of Silk vs Totems?
 o Get People Involved in TinyPlots? o Bug with Hunger & Thirst?
 o Bug with Wall of Fire?            o Updates & LT Table of Contents
 o Any New Housing?                  o Info on Imm App?
 o Area Spell Changes?               o 3C Create & PK?
 o Whois String Removed?             o Balm on Others Message?
 o Tell Catcher -- AFK               o Top of Coder Todo?
 o Laggy Connection Status           o Areas in Testing?
 o How much diskspace?

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                      LegendMUD Connection Analysis
                              October 2001

                         Peak Mortal Players 54
                           Average Peak was 45
                      Peak PKOK Enabled Players 33
             Pkokenabled Characters represent approximately
                          54% of active players.

                      Peak Accept All Characters 13
             Accept All Characters represent approximately
   11% of all active characters and 20% of active pkok enabled characters.

The first two tables below show the Average Mortal Players,  Average
PKOK Enabled Players, and the number that were "Accept All" connected
to Legend by hour of the day as polled approximately on the hour
system time during the period noted above.

The third table shows the same averages calculated by the day of week.

              hour  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11
              ------------------------------------------
              avg  31 25 21 17 14 13 12 13 16 18 21 23
              pke  18 14 11 10  7  6  6  6  7  8 10 11
              aas   4  3  3  2  1  0  0  1  1  1  1  2


              hour 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
              ------------------------------------------
              avg  25 26 28 31 34 34 37 36 37 36 36 33
              pke  12 13 15 17 19 19 21 20 20 21 21 19
              aas   2  2  3  3  3  3  4  4  4  4  5  4


              day   MON  TUE  WED  THU  FRI  SAT  SUN
              ------------------------------------------
              avg    27   26   26   26   22   26   27
              pke    16   14   14   14   11   14   15
              aas     3    3    3    3    2    2    2

This table shows the breakdown by each hour for each day of the week.

      MON       TUE       WED       THU       FRI       SAT       SUN
   AVG PK AA|AVG PK AA|AVG PK AA|AVG PK AA|AVG PK AA|AVG PK AA|AVG PK AA
------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
 0: 34 21  5| 28 17  5| 31 20  6| 30 17  6| 30 16  5| 31 17  2| 31 16  3
 1: 25 13  2| 23 13  4| 24 15  4| 24 13  4| 26 12  3| 27 15  3| 28 14  3
 2: 21 11  2| 21 12  3| 22 12  4| 19 10  2| 21 11  3| 23 12  3| 22 11  2
 3: 20 11  3| 18 11  3| 18 10  2| 17 10  2| 14  6  1| 18 10  1| 18  9  2
 4: 13  7  1| 14  8  1| 14  7  1| 14  7  1| 12  5  1| 15  7  1| 13  7  1
 5: 11  6  0| 12  8  1| 13  6  0| 13  7  0| 13  5  1| 13  5  0| 14  7  0
 6: 11  5  0| 10  6  0| 13  6  0| 13  6  1| 14  6  1| 13  6  0| 12  7  1
 7: 11  5  0| 13  7  1| 14  6  1| 13  7  0| 13  6  1| 13  5  0| 13  7  0
 8: 15  7  1| 17  7  1| 17  7  1| 14  7  1| 16  7  1| 13  6  0| 15  8  1
 9: 15  7  1| 17  8  1| 21  9  1| 16  7  1| 19  8  1| 22  8  1| 18  7  0
10: 20 11  3| 16  8  1| 22 10  2| 18  9  1| 22 10  1| 24 11  1| 21 11  1
11: 23 13  3| 21 10  2| 24 11  3| 22 10  2| 22 11  1| 27 13  1| 23 11  1
12: 23 14  2| 25 11  2| 27 14  4| 23 13  3| 22 11  2| 27 13  1| 26 12  1
13: 24 14  2| 26 12  2| 29 16  3| 24 14  2| 20 11  1| 30 14  1| 29 14  1
14: 27 16  3| 29 14  3| 30 16  5| 22 13  2| 24 13  1| 30 16  2| 33 17  2
15: 30 18  3| 31 16  3| 34 18  5| 33 18  4| 20 11  1| 31 20  2| 34 18  2
16: 35 21  4| 34 17  3| 37 19  4| 39 20  4| 26 13  2| 31 19  2| 36 20  2
17: 39 22  4| 35 19  4| 33 17  3| 36 21  4| 31 16  3| 28 15  2| 39 22  2
18: 43 24  4| 38 21  5| 37 20  3| 38 23  5| 26 14  3| 33 18  3| 36 20  2
19: 41 23  3| 36 18  5| 37 21  3| 39 24  6| 28 15  2| 37 20  3| 36 21  3
20: 40 24  4| 41 20  4| 36 20  3| 39 23  6| 30 15  3| 33 17  3| 35 20  2
21: 43 28  6| 41 22  6| 33 19  3| 37 20  4| 29 15  3| 32 17  2| 39 23  4
22: 40 26  7| 37 22  6| 34 19  6| 36 21  5| 31 17  3| 33 19  3| 38 23  4
23: 35 22  6| 35 20  4| 32 17  4| 29 17  4| 33 18  3| 35 19  3| 36 23  5

Be sure to also check out www.legendmud.org/stats for longer term info.


           ________________________
          /                        \
      o O | Wonder what folks are   |
 `\|||/   | doing over at LegendMUD?|
 (o o)    \________________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo________________________________________________________________
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___
__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|

  ___                                                                  ___
  \ |------------------------------------------------------------------| /
  /__|  LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World     |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'

 =============
|Announcements|
 =============

Nietzsche has reached 300 million experience!
Robar has reached 100 million experience!
Israfel has reached 523 million experience!


 =========
|Clan News|
 =========

Tegid formed the True Knights of Legend on October 28th. DrJones formed the
WoS clan on October 30th. Thorin formed the Warriors of Darkness clan on
November 7th. Bahan Sopeh has disbanded for low membership. There are
currently 22 RP clans and 10 PK clans in the game, consuming all the
available slots for clans. For more information about clans, check the clans
helpfile.

                              =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Repent! The End isss Nigh!"

The exclamation resounded across the clearing and the small congregation
winced. "Especially yoursss..." the thin man added in a whisper. He hunched
over the grisly pulpit and glared at the seated group, looking much like the
scrawny black bird perched on his shoulder. The men perspired freely under
the intensity of his gaze, terror in their eyes as they struggled in vain to
free themselves from the bonds securing them. The preacher sighed and rolled
his eyes. In a blur of speed a pistol appeared in his hand and fired.  The
nearest man toppled over backwards and landed neatly in the coffin placed
behind him. The remaining men froze. The gun disappeared from his hand and
thumped the heavy black Bible open in front of him. "Sssinnersss, all of you,
for only the dead are truly without Sssin."

With this the preacher stood to his full height and grinned, revealing a
massive gunshot wound right through the middle of his chest. He paused for a
moment to draw on the thick cigar clenched in his teeth, and a single neat
smoke ring rose from the gaping hole. The men didn't even notice the
reappearance of the gun.

The preacher stepped over to the corpses of the men and made the sign of the
cross over each one with his pistol. "Redemption isss at hand..." he muttered
as he relieved them of their money pouches and placed them into a collection
plate. "...and admission is free."

                              =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                            A Vision of the Past

I was recently travelling through Malta when I came across a woman named
Maria. She was claiming to be a fortune teller - selling her 'visions of
coming events' to those passing by. As of yet, I had never seen a self
proclaimed mystic with actual powers. A few were simply misguided, but most
had been con artists and stage magicians.

Amused, I decided to test her so-called-powers. As I paid her I said "Tell me
not of the future, but of my past." With a slight smile (almost as if she
knew I was testing her) she relaxed and fell into a trance. She began to
speak...

"I see that you aren't of human blood." she began. To anyone who looked at me
this was fairly obvious, but I let her continue. "In fact, you were born more
than 1500 years ago in the time of ancient Ireland, weren't you Jiriki
i-Sa'onserei?" At this I blinked. I hadn't told her my name...perhaps her
powers WERE real?

"The spirits tell me of your parents...born into opposing families. Your
father seduced your mother," she said with a sly wink, "not out of love, but
as part of some scheme, yes?" I nodded. After all, the seelie and unseelie
courts were nearly always at odds. While uncommon, births between the two
families have happened before, even if so far into our past as to be almost
tales instead of fact. Falling back into her trance, Maria continued to
speak...

"I now see you as a youth, standing before both courts...you are confused,
unsure of yourself. Your mother's family doesn't seem to fully accept you,
and your father wishes to use you as a tool against them." Then she gasped,
and I knew what she was going to say next. "I now know why you left. While
the queen of your mother's family was on a journey, your father presented you
to Finarra, his liege and king, that you would gain his favor instead of the
queen's."

She looked at me with sadness in her eyes. "Both families began to demand
your loyalty to each of them alone, to ignore the half of your blood from the
other family. Rather than become a reason for war between the seelie and
unseelie, you traveled to the mortal lands." She was silent for several
moments and I began to grow uncomfortable.

"While you are happy now, I see events that will bring you back to your
homeland." she said. She shuddered. "I see...I...ask me no more....I cannot
speak of these happenings." With an uneasy feeling I stood. Her visions were
real, and the past she spoke of was true. As I left, thinking of what could
possibly draw me back home, I came to a conclusion. Perhaps a person could
indeed be just a tad TOO curious...

                              =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

From the Private Journal of Honor North-Morlan

I'll start simple, I was born to Martha Ellen North and James Eric Morlan in
the year nineteen eighty.  My mother was a law professor and my father an
actuarian, and we lived in a nice home and I grew up surrounded by wealth and
by siblings.  I ended up being the oldest of seven siblings, the youngest
being named after my father.  In all, we were a happy family.

By the time I started learning to write, I could read, and I was reading the
classics, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens, and Robert Heinlein.  I was pretty
interested in books, thinking I could live my life in them.  That changed
when my father cheated on my mother, and then my parents divorced.  We were
split as a family, and I only got to see the others when my father wanted me
to.

As high school came, I started reading H.P. Lovecraft, and other novels of the
strange and mystical.  My father watched as I bought more and more books,
reading them and just collecting them.  He was concerned, and then he called
the colleges, wondering what he could get me interested in.

I graduated high school, with a vague ambition of going into medical school,
wanting to become a surgeon, yet it faltered when I hit college.  My freshman
year was in shambles.  I received the news that my little brother, Ari, had
just gotten leukemia, and the treatments weren't working.  He died quickly
in the first parts of my freshman year.  It grew worse, and I wanted to get
into medicine, more and more, burying myself in homework, never surfacing
from the endless piles of books and notes, remembering vaguely to eat when my
roommate reminded me to.

The notes slowly became binders, and I was studying anything and everything
about medicine, the body, anatomy, physiology, anything to find something
that would make sure another kid like Ari didn't die from leukemia.
Something just seemed to fizzle in my mind, and I was catatonic for three
months, and I spent that time in a mental hospital at my father's
insistence.

Sophmore year came around, and I was slowly recovering, people were talking
to me, and then it slowly started coming back to me.  Medicine wasn't
something I should have done, so I moved to physics.  I was bright enough for
it, and it didn't phase me at the math and the science level.  Things
progressed, and I started to gain friends, guys paid attention to me, and I
basically started to put my life back together.

Junior year saw me dating men, and I was getting with the 'In' crowd.  I did
my homework, studied, worked, and still had time for assorted guys.  I
started feeling better, Ari's death didn't' bother me as much, though it still
made me saddened.

My senior year was just starting when it all happened.  I was just getting 
out of physics class, and I had slipped my Sony walkman on my ears and 
cinched my backpack on my shoulders.  I laughed and told Erika I'd see her 
later tonight, probably at the study group or something.

I was walking back to my dorm, and I was just crossing the street when
something caught my attention.  I reached down and picked up the coin, and
immense pain hit me so hard I thought I was going to die.  I blacked out.

When I came to, everything was like a bad hallucination.  I felt like I had
stepped back in time, and I was in Pittsburgh, but it wasn't like what I
remembered.  People were dressed like mobsters, and I was dressed like I had
just gotten out of physics class.  Things were WRONG!  I didn't belong here.
I waited, hoping to wake up, and then the paperboy shouted in my ear.

I jumped out of my skin and desperately groped for the fasteners on my
backpack, and pulled out my watch.  It quit working, but I could read the
numbers, so it wasn't a dream!  I was truly stuck here, in this time, just
like my physics teacher hypothesized that other worlds could exist along with
our own time-frame... I was in one of those, alone, scared, and seemingly a
lot smarter than what the others were...

Yours,
Honor North-Morlan

                              =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

            The Trials and Tribulations of Simply Being Cadderly

A good many years ago I wandered this world, abandoned by my sacred order and
simply trying to survive the everyday turmoils of what I am: a simple man
with the art of healing and the patience to help even those who were beyond
it.

To bring people back from the brink of death had always been a pleasure and a
privilege to me and with the slightest of incisions with my scalpel I could
remedy almost any ailment, but now upon my return to this wondrous place I
find myself even more alone than I had ever imagined possible.  The faces I
had known and the friends I had made all gone or at least with no
recollection of my ever existing.

All those people I saved are now either long dead or hiding themselves in the
same way I had for oh so very long.

In the year or more that I was gone I have been deciding whether or not it
was even left in me to continue the fine traditions of the past, the
indiscriminate healing of those who had given their lives in battle seemed
such a noble goal but as time passes they seem even less appreciative of the
assistance offered than before.

But I dimly recall the old oaths I swore to and the old ways of my order and
will always offer my aid without payment or reward.

To those of you who may remember my name I simply wished to announce my
return and hope to see you all again sometime soon, to those who never knew
me I would like to offer my healing hands to the best that I can.

There is so much death in the universe at the moment that any help that I
can offer seems the least that I can do.

with kindest regards,
Cadderly the Lost


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Legendary Times is published by the immortals of LegendMUD. Please send
all replies, additions, or corrections to our address at [email protected]
for inclusion in the next edition. We, however, reserve the right to
moderate this discussion, and may object to some submissions.
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