This weekend was the most fun I've had playing UO in a long time. This was also the first weekend in four weeks that I didn't have to work on the weekend. Coincidence? Maybe. (I hate my job. If anyone knows anyone in Seattle who wants to hire a decent human being with a *great* sense of humor, let me know. ;))

Friday evening, Driakos came to see me in my shop. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda... (<-- meaning, don't want to tell the details yet, cause it's part of the story :)) we killed Tailor & Weaver NPCs until 2:30 am pacific. Damin Tresh was with us for a while... but he left at about midnight. It was hilarious; us yelling "Die Evil Tailor!" "Die! Die! Die!" "Evil, be gone from the land!" and "Pfft - then why are *you* the one who is at 1/4 health, while I am full!?"

Three dead bodies (Floyd the tailor & Driakos, who was guardwhacked twice) were laying in the Skara Tailor Shop. When another player walked in, and I yelled: "Oh! The carnage! My God! The Carnage!"

The thing that surprised me the most were the reactions of the other players. Driakos would say, "[Power Tailor], we are going to kill this NPC. Is that okay with you?" [Power Tailor] would answer with, "Fine with me," "Go for it," or "hehehe ok." We would kill the NPC, and nobody called the guards while we looted the bodies.

We didn't find anything too exciting. A map. A few gps. Some clothes. One of them had 2700+ pieces of cloth on her. I can just imagine some overloaded person trying to hand this cloth to his/her friend, and Elise the Tailor stepping in the way. "Thou art giving me cloth? I thank thee! Didst thou knowest that there is a Blah near Blah? Thou hadst better go find it!" All the while, this poor fellow is kicking himself in the head.

A confirmation dialogue might be nice. "Do you really want to give Elise the Tailor these 2700+ pieces of cloth? [y]es / [n]o" My brother the newbie ran into that problem. "I tried to drop this stuff on them, but they just took it and didn't give me any money." "You gotta hit Alt-S. Alt-S is Sell, and Alt-B is Buy." "That's dumb." Yes, it is.

I went hunting with Davian, Damin Tresh, Trouble, and Khare (new character of Eedwick the Newbie Helper) in the new lands on Saturday. We killed Wyverns and Cyclops Warriors and Titans, Oh My! They let me have the Titan fame. I quit attacking at the end on the rest of the monsters, which don't give me any fame any more, so they could have their share. Really, the only one who cared about Fame in our group was me. They say it's dumb. I say it's fun. I want to be Glorious, so that everyone will know that I am a Master Archer.

In furtherance of that goal, Khare talked me into going into a dungeon (eek!). We went to Shame. It was very late, and the rest of them bugged out... so it was just the two of us. We killed some Red Mages and scorpions, and some Earth Elementals (my first look at an earth elemental that wasn't at the bank). We opened some chests and got some free money.

Then, we walked up a bit and saw A Poison Elemental. It was the first one I had ever seen. We trapped it behind some stala-whatevers and I shot arrows at it.  It flamestriked me twice in a row, and I was down to 6 hps. Khare was in the middle of casting a Blade Spirit, or he would have helped. I ran and healed... and then ran back. I did *not* want to die in that dungeon! Finally, I killed it. It gave me A Lot Of Fame and A Lot Of Karma.

The only other monster that does that any more are Titans, and they take soooo long to kill. When I shoot at them, I can't even see their hit points move. Poison elementals are better... but I don't want to go to dungeons (and get pked) to find them. I wish they would bring them above ground. They could make a story on how they have escaped from the dungeons. *I* could make a story about how they have escaped from the dungeons. If I can... they can too.

Nobody attacked us, but I am sure that three of the four people we saw in there were pkers. Two in jester suits, one gray. Khare said that if they had come up just after the Poison Elemental had flamestriked me twice, I would surely be dead by their hands.

We killed some Air Elementals (loot-o-rama now), and then we decided to leave. We saw another Earth Elemental. I said, "This is the last one, then we're out of here." But that was a mistake, because they obviously had just had a massive respawn, and they kept coming at us and coming at us. I was out of arrows. I was killing Earth Elementals with a mostly-broken katana.

I made money that night, about 3,000 gps. I haven't made any money in quite a while. It felt good.

Off and on, all weekend, I tried to write more of The Monroe Chronicles, Part 3. I am having a terrible time with the English To Britannian translation thing. I looked at the Stratics site... but every time I use one of their words, I feel like I'm copy-catting... and if I leave it in Normal English... I feel like ...well like the people wouldn't talk that way. Oh, Confliction!

I know where I want to be: I want to be *there.* But getting *there* is the problem. It is already five pages long and I'm still not where I want to be yet. I hope I make it by page seven. I'm afraid that if it gets too much longer, I will bore everyone to tears.

I was just about to give up for the weekend, and then something happened that made me want to keep plugging away... On Sunday, I found a Villain. It is so great! It couldn't have been better if I had planned from the beginning. It is so perfect, in fact, that I keep thinking that he must be a 'ringer;' that he is some person who read the story, and has some sort of power to make himself what he is, and found me that day, hoping I would ask him to be the villain.

But then... I decide that's dumb, and that it really is just fate.

Damin Tresh and I went Shopping later. I simply cannot keep money in my bank box. I bought five maker's marked Katanas for Davian (who refuses to pay a penny over 200 gps for them), two magic bows for me, and a Magic Staff for Damin. There went 3,000 gps...

We also killed harpies and orc parties and ettins and trolls and ogres and reapers while we were out shopping. I hadn't gone hunting near Yew in a long time. We have basically been hunting in the new lands. I had forgotten how much fun it was to be stuck between an ettin, a troll, and a sapling. There is always an orc corpse SW of the L-Shaped bridge between Trinsic and Britain. I don't understand why it's there.

The other day, when I was complaining that it was taking me too long (over 100 arrows!) to kill one stinking Wyvern, Hearding said: "Set of chain armor: 1500 gps. Magic Bow: 500 gps. Five Hundred Arrows: 1500 gps. The experience of running for your life from Wyverns, Mummies, and Titans: Priceless."

I hope they never, ever 'fix' the way we killed the NPCs. It was the most fun. :)