Halloween Party
Greetings! And Well Met!
The Knights of Arcane Steel wish to invite one and all, to their All Hallows Eve' Festival and PvP Tournament. More then One Million Gold will be given away as prizes on Saturday, October 27th. Main Events include a Scavenger Hunt, Costume Contest, and PvP Tournament. All players and guilds are welcome to attend, though space is limited in some events. Come and roleplay, or enjoy yourself out of character, Everyone is welcome, there will be no guild war activity during the Festival!
For complete information on all Events, Visit www.netlabs.net/~medtek/kas/festival or contact Corin Aesir, by ICQ at #3901201.
PvP Tournament
Time: 3pm Est to 6pm Est
Place: The Battlegorunds, gates will be provided
Registration: yes! Limited to 24 Participants!
Entry Fee: None!
Prizes! 1st 300k Gold, 2nd 200k Gold, 3rd 100k Gold!!
All character classes are welcome. Please see the rules on the offical festival page. Entering this tournament require you to be placed on a temporary festival guildstone, or have your existing guild war the stone. Contact the KaS for more information, and review the rules and requirements on the festial web page, listed above.
Costume Contest
Time: 6pm Est
Place: KaS Castle
Registration: None
Entry Fee: None
Prizes: 1st: 75k Gold and a pair of Black Sandals, 2nd: 50k Gold, 3rd: 25k Gold!
Think you have what it takes to make the best costume? GM Tailors and Smiths, gets those tools ready! Wether it be Scary, Dapper, or 70's Nightclub, your outfit might get you some some spending cash and pair of much coveted black sandals (not blessed). So use your imagination, and strut down that runway like you mean it. Entries will be judged by appearance, style, the ability to roleplay your costume. All Entries must arrive at the castle Before 6PM Est.
Prizes will be given out directly following the Costume Contests final judging. All Players of Catskills are welcome to enter! All who enter will receive a participation prize!
Scavenger Hunt
Time: 7:30Pm Est
Place: Kas Hall
Registration: None
Entry fee: None
Prizes: 1st: 150k Gold, 2nd 100k Gold, 3rd 50k Gold!!
The Rules will be discussed from 7Pm Est till 7:30Pm Est
The Race is On! Will you be the first to return to the KaS Guildhall with the 20 listed items? Do you know where to find Common, but sometimes overlooked things? Then this is the contest for you. Players will be given a book with 20 items listed, that are easily obtainable (or so you think), in lands of UO, and must race to be the first one back! You have only ONE hour to complete this simple task.. Are you up for it? Is your recall book up for it?
At 7:30PM the Whistle sounds, and you grab the list and go! Latecomers are welcome, but you only have untill 8:30PM!! All participants who return before 8PM will receive a prize. Good Luck!
Directions can be found on the Festival Web Page.
Posted by Martok
Friday, October 26, 2001 12:35 PM EDT
BNN report: Adapting
As found on BNN:
The dark chambers of the Master brightened to a dull blue glow as a moongate shimmered into existence on the far side of the room. The outline of a figure in an enshrouding pitch-black cloak turned to watch one of the controllers stumble through the gate, clutching his leg through the tatters of his arcane robe.
“Report, Phoseph,” the voice of the master rasped from the shadowed corners of the room.
Phoseph struggled to remain standing as he wiped the encrusted blood from his hands on the frayed edges of his cloak. “We found a tunnel, Master. It must be where the outsiders are coming from.”
From the moongate, the heavy sound of a golem’s footsteps echoed and creaked like a cart of ore falling over. As it emerged from the moongate, it walked with a strange stumble, pausing between each step. Gears and rods could be seen turning under the ripped outer shell of the clockwork creature like muscles under torn flesh. In its massive arms it held a dead gargoyle, which it tossed to the floor with a careless thud. The moongate dissipated and vanished.
The dark cloaked stranger stepped forward and silently contemplated the corpse. “The renegades.”
“A patrol went through the area of the tunnel before it was finished and captured a group of the renegades there. We believe this one stayed hidden until they left, then continued the work on his own.” Phoseph grimaced at the stabbing pain in his leg. He could see his blood pooling on the floor around his foot, but continued with his report. “When we discovered his body, a group of the outsiders surprised us and attacked. The others in my party were killed and their golems were destroyed. This one will have to be repaired.”
As if in reply, a rapid ticking noise started echoing from the golem, growing louder and louder until it was almost deafening. It stopped suddenly, and the mechanical behemoth fell forward at the waist and crashed to the floor like a pile of pots and pans. The head rolled across the cold stone and stopped beside Phoseph. “We can use this one for parts, my Lord.”
The figure examined the remains of the golem for a few moments. Its armor looked as though it had been slashed by thousands of cuts. “Blade spirits.”
Phoseph nodded. “The outsiders know how to cast them. With our current construction plans, the golems’ armor can’t take the assault for long.”
“Unacceptable.” The cloaked one boomed. “If the golems cannot withstand a common blade spirit, they will be worthless in defending the city. I know the outsiders; they will send more mages as word of this weakness spreads. If the city is left undefended, we will lose more workers. Begin adapting the golems immediately.”
Phoseph bowed his head and spoke slowly. “My Lord, forgive me, I do not wish to question your wisdom, but… I believe if we use more of our supplies to enhance the golems, we will not have enough left to construct a defense force for the city. The enslaved gargoyles grow fewer in number with each outsider attack. Without them we will not be able to gather enough raw materials to continue construction.”
“Do as he has ordered, Phoseph.” The voice of the Master rasped from the darkest shadows of the chamber as the tiny lights around the room glowed briefly. “Use what materials are needed and enhance the golems to dispel summoned creatures. We have other ways of defending the city.”
The dark figure turned towards the voice. “What do you propose?”
“Phoseph, you are to gather one group of the workers and take them to the small chambers in the production center. Remove their chains.”
“Master? Remove their chains?” Phoseph stumbled and gasped in pain before regaining his composure. He did his best to ignore the pain in his leg but knew that if he kept bleeding much longer he would likely pass out. “The chains block their use of magic, Master; you told us they were never to be removed, and to kill on sight any worker not in chains to be safe.”
“The workers will need to use magic to defend the city, Phoseph,” the Master droned.
The cloaked form slowly spoke as he silently paced the room. “It is risky, but that could be quite effective against the humans…”
“The workers?” Phoseph spoke in shock as he slipped in the small puddle of blood around his foot, almost losing his balance. “They are not strong enough to hold back the outsiders, Master, even with their spells.”
The dark figure flew across the room towards Phoseph and an arm shot out, backhanding the controller to the floor. Through the lights dancing across his vision, he could see his Lord standing above him in stillness. “You have offered enough of your opinion, Phoseph. I would suggest you offer no more.” Phoseph noticed the drops of crimson on the cloaked one’s hand and could feel a trickle of warm blood running down his chin from the blow.
“Go now,” said the cloaked figure. “Prepare the workers so that the city will be defended.” The figure began to turn towards the Master’s voice again but stopped for a brief moment, glimpsing at the blood on its hand in amusement. “And, Phoseph, have your wounds tended to. You seem to be bleeding.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Phoseph said through clenched teeth. He stumbled his way out of the chamber, leaving lone footprints of blood behind him.
As soon as he was gone, the figure in the black cloak spoke again. “Are you sure this is wise, enhancing the gargoyle workers? Giving them so much power could be dangerous. They are so weak right now they may not survive the procedure.”
“We can afford to lose some to experimentation. Those that die during the procedure will provide valuable information. Although I think you would agree that the process has reached near perfection.” The sounds of clicks and whirring increased for a moment.
The dark figure stood, unmoving. “Indeed.”
The Master continued. “Enhancing the gargoyles will make them powerful enough to deal with the humans in the city. So long as our chambers are not discovered, my control of their minds will remain absolute. Adapting the golems will make the attacks on Britannia more effective. Victory is still probable.”
“That may be,” said the figure, his cloak flowing around him as he turned, “but I will not be satisfied until it is absolute.”
Posted by Martok
Thursday, October 11, 2001 4:17 PM EDT
New Virtue System Announced
Wow, how great will this be:
Here is Callandryll's comments:
Towards the very end, Calandryll announced a new concept that will be coming to UO sometime in the distant future: Virtues.
I alone applauded just the mention of that word. What he described to me, so far, sounds promising. What was even more promising, Calandryll asked for help. He asked all the players gathered around him that if they had ideas of how to implement some of the virtues so that the computer could understand it, to please send them to him.
To get you on the right track, here is a description of how a player will be able to gain in two different virtues: humility and sacrifice.
To prove yourself humble, you will party yourself with a [young] player and spend time teaching them. As long as you are partied to them, are within the same area (1 screen or so), and the young player gains skill, you will gain virtue "points." Eventually you will gain enough points to achieve a level of humility. At that time your humility chart (a lovely concept graphic he showed us) will light up with a certain color on the humility sigil to show what level you have achieved.
To demonstrate the virtue of sacrifice, while adventuring you may happen upon a brigand or a lich. In order to show these evil humans (or former humans) the error of their ways, you will sacrifice some of your fame to them thus converting them and in the process gaining sacrifice "points." Again your virtue "chart" will show some color in the sacrifice sigil.
Virtue levels will decay over time. You can gain more than one. Achieving and maintaining all 8 virtues at level 10 will take considerable amounts of playtime and dedication, not to mention maintaining play so you can keep up your fame level to give it away.
Why gain virtues you ask? Each level of virtue that you gain will grant you additional *statistic* points (yes, above 100). Even better someone who is skilled in the virtues will grant some of those gains to any who join his/her party. Virtuous people will be sought after as leaders or party members. If you party many such individuals with high virtue levels, the effect is cumulative. I cannot remember the exact numbers, but it is a substantial gain with high levels. In addition, anyone achieving and maintaining all 8 virtues at level 10 will be granted the title "The Virtuous..."
Posted by Martok
Tuesday, October 9, 2001 2:47 PM EDT