Volume Eight Issue Twenty-Seven

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VOLUME EIGHT, NUMBER TWENTY-SEVEN                         December 15, 2001
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                           TABLE OF CONTENTS

                          NEWS, REPORTS, UPDATES 
                             Recent Updates
                              Q & A Topics

                              LEGENDITES
                            Announcements
                              Clan News
                             Milo's Tale
                             Cold Sweats
                              The Curse


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



    /\                          RECENT UPDATES
   /  \
  /    \                         CODE UPDATES
 /_    _\
   |  |     BUG FIXES
   |  |       o Bug with help wherein moods/socials would occasionally
   |  |         override other helpfiles fixed
   |__|       o Players with over 499 million xp properly get redemption
    /\          points
   /  \     MISC CHANGES
  /    \      o You can no longer go wary/agg while rooting or meditating
 /_    _\     o You can no longer send tells to people you can't receive
   |  |         tells from
   |  |     �TYPO FIXES
   |  |       o "I" vs. "you" problem in aim fixed.
   |__|       o incite no longer says "incide"
    /\
   /  \
  /    \                       HELP FILE UPDATES
 /_    _\
   |  |     The following helpfiles were recently added or updated!
   |  |       storagestring, description rules
   |  |
   |__|     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
   |  |         Couple of little fixes and tweaks.
   |  |     THE ALHAMBRA
   |  |         Clarifies WHICH specific object Alfredo is looking for as
   |__|         one of his items. Various minor bugs fixed.
    /\      ANCIENT NAZCA
   /  \         Nazcan Chief should be able to stop his story if he ends
  /    \        up fighting and has a couple of new tactics. Various minor
 /_    _\       bugs fixed.
   |  |     ARABIAN NIGHTS
   |  |         When the jeweler calls for the guards, they may show up,
   |  |         or they may recognize the person on the street. Guards may
   |__|         also hunt down people who are attacking the sultan and the
    /\          Captain of the guard or they may recognize them on the
   /  \         street. Many of the mobs will try to wake and stand on
  /    \        their own now.
 /_    _\   AZTECS
   |  |         Arrow knights are a little tougher. Various minor bugs
   |  |         fixed.
   |  |     BEOWULF
   |__|         POOLS OF MOLTEN LAVA are much less forgiving. They now
    /\          function as real DTs and will affect you if you lose the
   /  \         ability to fly there. Many of the mobs will try to wake
  /    \        and stand on their own now. Various bugs and typos fixed.
 /_    _\   CELTIC IRELAND
   |  |         Guards have a chance hunt down people who yell about being
   |  |         attacked or they may recognize them. Many of the mobs will
   |  |         try to wake and stand on their own now. Various bugs and
   |__|         typos fixed.
    /\      FRENCH & INDIAN WAR
   /  \         You may see new faces around. Many of the mobs will try to
  /    \        wake and stand on their own now. Various minor bugs fixed.
 /_    _\   PORT OF LONDON
   |  |         Fixed issue with one of the whois tags. Separate blocks
   |  |         for lost/not lost children to make that more obvious. Many
   |  |         of the higher level mobs will try to wake and stand.
   |__|         Various minor bugs fixed.
    /\      SAN FRANCISCO
   /  \         You may see some new faces around. Cleaned up and updated
  /    \        O'Leary's acts some. Sheriff and deputies will hunt people
 /_    _\       down when called upon for help. Various minor bugs fixed.
   |  |     SHERWOOD
   |  |         Will shouldn't bug people who aren't actually trying to
   |  |         leave. Various minor bugs fixed.
   |__|     TORTUGA
    /\          You may see some new faces. Wild steers not so insane.
   /  \         Wild boars should be similar to ones found elsewhere. Many
  /    \        of the mobs will try to wake and stand on their own now.
 /_    _\       Various bugs and typos.
   |  |     VICEROYAL PERU
   |  |         Conquistadors not quite so spammy if you're talking to the
   |  |         captain. Adelberto hits a little harder and stands/wakes
   |__|         on his own. Various minor bugs fixed.
    /\      AFRICAN SAVANNA, BENGAL, CASABLANCA, MEDIEVAL SEAS,
   /  \     ROMAN BRITAIN, PARIS OPERA HOUSE, BOSTON, 1930s PITTSBURGH,
  /    \    HOSPITALLER MALTA, MELBOURNE AND SOUTH SEAS
 /_    _\       Various bugs fixed.
   |  |
   |  |     THE OOC
   |  |         Some Holiday items for the prize machine. Adds holiday
   |__|         stuff to Ringo and Paul. And decorates the main level.

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  _______   ____    _______
 /  ___  \ / __ \  /  ___  \  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 Roleplay Workshop?                o PK Clan Member Limit Too High?
 o Preventing Multi-killing?         o More on RP Workshop
 o Desc/String Helpfile Updates      o London Progress?
 o Klein Update?                     o How Ancient Does Ancient Go?
 o Alignment?                        o Buying Directly from Bank Account?
 o PR and Admin Roles                o Can Tarans get Entrance?
 o How to Get Coupons?               o Does Engraver Eat Strings?
 o Level to 5 Contest?               o New Connection Yet?
 o Demographics Poll?                o Language Rules Discussion
 o Free Legend Radio?                o More Rules Discussion

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           ________________________
          /                        \
      o O | Wonder what folks are   |
 `\|||/   | doing over at LegendMUD?|
 (o o)    \________________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo________________________________________________________________
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  /__|  LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World     |__\
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 =============
|Announcements|
 =============

Alejandro has reached 100 million experience!

Emlyn has reached 300 million experience!



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

The Amazons Clan was formed by Gaia on December 12, 2001.  DERT: The Druid
Emergency Response Team Clan and Lost Children of Atlantis Clan have been
disbanded for low membership.

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                            Milo's Tale

     Entranced by the marvel of a human baby, the unseelie host snatched Milo
right out of her crib, and carried her away to live in the Underhill. Having
been raised among the fairies, she acquired a slight feyness and became what
they call a changechild. She was kept as a drudge slave for seven years,
fated to be sacrificed on the eve of the Teind. But Milo outwit her captors,
and with a sprig of ground ivy and a well-placed illusion, escaped from the
Underhill.

     When she returned to the cottage in the woods where her true family had
lived, she found it burnt to the ground. It had been abandoned long ago; moss
grew in the ashes among the charred beams, and lichen clung to the chimney.
Hundreds of years had passed in the world of men, for only a few in the
Underhill. This experience impressed on Milo's young mind the ephemeral
quality of human existence, as if our brief lives and even our great
monuments are but transitory images, part of an eternal cycle within which
only the earth beneath us remains unmoved.

     Alone in the woods, she eked out a pathetic existence for several years,
digging through damp leaves and dirt for food, hiding from predators in a
rotted out tree stump. Illiterate and uncivilized, she talked to the trees
and prayed to the spirits of every rock and boulder she came to. She did
however manage to learn the medicinal properties of many herbs and the wild
magic of unsettled lands.

     Eventually, she traveled to the cities and villages of men. She was
barely able to speak -- much less read or write. Peering out from under the
dirt and grime with fey eyes, she was regarded as something chthonic. The
townspeople respected her woodslore, and oft came to her for healing
poultices, but mostly kept their distance.

     She has since learned how to behave in society, at least as much as such
a strange wild thing can, and even can scribble a bit and read slightly more,
though baths are completely out of the question. She still does not feel
truly comfortable around other humans -- unable to track our noisy, fleeting
lives -- and often retreats to the wilderness, where she can feel the earth
solid beneath her feet.

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                                Cold Sweats

The kitchens were always filled with raucous noise and obnoxious laughter
from the chefs and the superiors of the filth -- I was one of the filth, the
lower class scuttling vermin that spent the day sharpening knives, fetching
bowls and other culinary implements, and of course peeling the venerable
potato.

The heat of the place produced a thick, sticky and altogether warm and
unpleasantly rank-smelling sweat on all who worked within its great stone
chamber, never seeing the light of day, never once glimpsing anything but the
same four walls, the same rows of steel pans and pots, and the same grotesque
shambling mass of Swelter the head chef.

The man was in a constant state of drunken incoherence and quite often could
be seen threatening us filth with a gigantic cleaver he kept sharpened to the
point where rending flesh through bone was not even the slightest problem.
His huge belly swayed in a morbid hypnotic fashion as he strolled the aisles,
slapping us with the flat of the blade. His bulging eyes saw everything in
his domain.

It was on the occasion of one of his more violent drunken episodes that I
decided I would take my leave of this lair of rotting meat and make my escape
into the castle proper. The time was right, with Swelter almost comatose with
his own vomit and bile pouring down his throat after finishing an entire keg
of some insipid ale.

And so I began my preparations -- a small knap sack containing four rolls of
cheese, two loaves of bread and a sharp kitchen knife and a long coil of
chain was all I took with me as I sped through the kitchen heading for the
door, but as the door swung noisily on its hinges the entire staff turned to
see what this foreign sound was.

All too late it would seem, and as my current freedoms might justify.

As the hundreds of eyes turned to see in the near darkness, I was already
gone, and headed down miles of stone corridor I had never seen let alone
could navigate.  I noticed further down the hall the shuffling figure of Lord
Sepulchraves servant, Mister Flay and attempted as best I could to hide behind
a nearby pillar.

But the servant was unaccustomed to any sound within the halls and quickly
made it his purpose to locate and point out the intruder in his halls.
As he bent his head towards me he whispered, 'Filth, what are you doing in
these halls? Did Swelter neglect to keep you in your hole?'

'I am simply attempting to escape the grasp of that hideous mound of flesh,
Mister Flay, I would still be of use to the castle if only it were in some
different station.'

Now the mound of flesh comment I had thought a huge risk turned out to be
quite correct as Mister Flay apparently had little love for Swelter, and who
I say could blame him for that.

'Kitchen rats should not be in the halls, and what might you be qualified to
do if not a rat?'

'Why I am educated Mister Flay, I would be of use in almost any role!'

'We shall see, come with me and do not dally!'

And so I was led through the halls, and walked for what seemed an eternity,
until I was led into a small room with but one tiny window and Mister Flay
smirked in the most horrific fashion.

And I realised all too late what the diabolical servant had done, and as the
iron door slammed shut all I heard was his raspy voice say 'If rats roam
free, rats get trapped.'

And for the first time I realised that I was sweating, and the sweat was
cold.
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                              The Curse

Dawn caressed the hills and pierced through the fog as the cloaked woman
stepped in from outside, cloak sopping from the night's previous rain.  The
gemstone in her pouch spoke quietly to her, coaxing her, singing its sweet
message.  She pushed it aside in her mind.

The inn was sparsely populated -- a woman in nun's garb and tawny hair, a
theurgist in black with a creature following next to him, and the innkeeper.
She ordered ale, downing it quickly.  The stone still talked to her.

She looked at the illusion of a bucket of vampire and demon food, sitting
under a precariously balanced anvil.  She laughed to herself, knowing it must
have been the nun.  Shaking her head, she left.

Nearly two months later, she made it to the gates of Kleinstadt, the small
hamlet that housed the Ritters.  Time to kill, she thought.  She stepped
through the gates, the guards peering at her, and she ignored it like
always.

Summoning rings of fire, she attacked ein Junge, who was leering at her.  The
stone wanted her to.  She fell unconscious, losing with a blow to the head.
She came to, and went to the inn.  Ein Ritter, her prey, her feast to
kill...

She moved to bash, it happened so suddenly...  Death..

Floating in darkness, cold, and nothingness.  The spirit that was woman was
changing.  The stone changed things, made it more difficult to hold on.  Then
Light...

Re-creation, no longer a woman, but a man...

I am.. Gallowglass Alexander D'Aramand?


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