Guild Wars Preview Event

I know most of you don't want to hear me rattle on about yet another MMORPG. But, this one seems to be very different.

http://www.guildwars.com

I took advantage of the 2 days free session this weekend, and I have been playing it more or less non-stop. I can sum it up in one word. Action.

I thought Guild Wars was primarily a stab at PvP MMORPG. But having steeped myself in their Co-operative quests most of the weekend I can truly say, that the PvP aspects of the game have rarely caught my attention.

GW is basically a bit like Dungeon Siege only multiplayer. This may put some people off. But, I would say give it a try. It's action, all out action, but it has some exquisite quests. They are linear in that your character has to do the first quest to open up the second one. Each quest takes place amongst the world, but is instanced for the party embarking upon it. If you can't make 6 players, then you can take generic AI henchmen (bots basically) of the 5 types (ranger, warrior, monk, elementalist, necro, mesmer).The game is highly detailed. Although its not all shiny like EQ2, however, the world itself is very well modelled, very recognisable all over. It loads bit by bit, in a unique attempt to only download the content you need, so after your initial download of the game files, some quests are loaded on demand during a loading screen, most of these seem to be like 300k so on broadband the wait is very bearable.

The first three quests that I've done many times on my four different characters, were very impressive indeed. The first one being a jaunt through a nasty path between cities, where you meet a confessor at a sort of ruins, and have to endure the onslaught from different directions, with many waves, alternating and combining against you and your team. Bosses included. Then you have to take the news to another chief in another city, coveted by another boss. Once the quest is complete, you get a quite lengthy cutscene, with lots of story, and of you and your team (in the cutscene) being initiated into the order of knights.

The second quest was embarked upon, and you had to retrieve a sacred artifact and return it to a particular village. However, after fighting your way to the artifact, you had to cleanse all your party in a particular font before gaining possession of the artifact. Once cleansed, you go back to the temple where it is stored, and the artifact (which was a glowing eye on top of a pyramid) is then transported by you and your party (literally being hovered over your party's head, with lighting forks of connection attaching the glowing artifact to you and yours). Very well implemented. Never seen anything like that in a MMORPG before. More fighting but with the artifact in tow, and deposit it to the village at the end, another cutscene, with bucketloads of story included.

The third quest, leading on from the cutscene of the second, was a rather nasty affair with lots of beefed up enemies in small tunelled ravines, and massive canyons only traversed by vine bridges that you have to 'grow' by collecting seeds from special vine plants to make the bridges. Cutscene for the first bridge growth, Jack and the Beanstalk style. Plenty of bosses and side exploration quests to perform, whilst on your general journey. The map/radar can be drawn upon to explain directions to the party. Plus you can click and highlight certain points on the map and make the map peep to the rest of the team. Invaluable tools for keeping the party focussed. Basically these quests play out like single player quests, lots of story, lots of complexity and all for a co-op party of 6 and under. Very impressive.

Loot is assigned by the game, no problems there, the game combat mechanism allows for targetting and firing at an enemy, plus alternate targetting and say healing of an ally, once heal stops, auto target and fire back at enemy. Works really well as a bowgirl who heals (ranger/monk combination). Each character has two roles, primary and secondary, skill points are spent between the two. What is novel is that the skills, or specials are bought with money. The first skill you buy, costs 1 gold coin, the next 2 and so on, so the order in which you buy them determines their overall cost. Different trainers sell different skills (for your professions).

Also buffs are handled slightly different, your mana (or energy) regenerates at a given rate, the more buffs you hold onto party members the slower the regen. So you can more or less hold three buffs all the time, if you are near the characters, still having an acceptable rate of regen. If you need more, then drop the buffs for a while, take them up when you can. Equipment and weapons seem to play a more minor role in the game, you can still be effective with your starting kit, only looted stuff later on will make you much better. Most loot seems to be of regular damage, and you can customise it at weaponsmiths, and you seem to be able to crystalise certain skills/spells so you can use them even if its not your profession. Obviously over two days, I can't really comment on the crafting side to the game. Since Skills are related to loot, loot is really important. Every nugget gained, can afford you another skill in the long run. So even tat loot is good loot.

The preview sets you all at level 15 to start with, so perhaps the stuff you can play with is way over the top compared to the retail release, but from what I've seen its something to work towards, and you can certainly get a good feel for the classes.

I honestly had trouble finding downsides to the game. The only ones I can mention are that you can only have 8 skills in operation during a quest, and you have to set these before embarking. And if some of your fickle team decides to abandon you mid quest, you are going to have a hell of a time trying to complete it. Travelling on the world map involves opening spawn points really, and once open (usually through a quest or exploration map) then you can virtually travel there again for free. So third quest leaves you in the middle of nowhere, you can log, come back hours later and log to city, travel to quest site and begin again with another group. All seems very set up for casual players.

Because of the delivery of the game, the whole place seems instanced, everywhere. Even cities have like 30 instances, called districts, so not only do you need to know where your mates are you need to know the district number - think PSO lobbies. Each external place from the city, is also instanced for a party. Even if you're solo, or with just henchmen. Some are exploration, some quest based, some PvP arenas. You chose where you go and what you do. I've spent most of my time in the co-op quest areas though, lots of excitement.

The PvP that I have done, was ok to start off with, some sort of confrontation to deal as a warm up, then into a closed arena for a battle with another party (whilst online they raised the PvP party limit to 8 ). I didn't care for it much, lots of 'we were owned', 'joo sux' etc. Still was good to see PvP so organised, reminded me of Quake 3 in a way. You can even play on the servers when there is a patch pending, several times I had the server has been updated please log out at the next appropriate time. I mean their delivery system of content is just top notch. It all comes down very small bits, as and when you need it. Works brilliantly. The only time you notice it badly is when all party members enter an instance of a quest, and some come in a few moments slower than others because they're still downloading it. But once down and on the go the quest is a self contained peice of story with goals and rewards. And they seem to be able to conjure up quite complex and unique instanced quests - knocks Lost Dungeons of Norrath into a cocked hat.

So, overall, GW is worth the effort, if you like casual action based MMORPG. Probably not going to suit everyone, especially hardened EQ fans I'd guess. But bugger me, they've got a sparkle to the mix here. Since the game will be a purchase the box only, no subscription fee, I can't see it failing in its release. It's just whether they can keep on adding content based on retail box purchases.

Saga of Ryzom Event

Meant to post about this earlier.... Saturday evening, there was a continent wide event run on the European Server in the MMORPG Saga of Ryzom. Luckily I was around when the event kicked off.

The event was announced throughout the continent of Fyros, with a small description about an invasion force kidnapping a number of Levier nobles. The Leviers are a band of nomadic patrollers who wander the wastelands and deserts of Fyros. The event lasted about 2 hours and at the start of it, we noticed that a lot of the resident herds of animals and insects started dissappearing. The call to arms was made, and every player in the region was asked to search out the Frahar kidnap groups and set their prisoners free. The Frahar are bat winged apes that have facial that even Noddy Holder would be proud of. Everyone started migrating to the major city Pyr, to collect up and form searching parties, and on our way to the city, we were attacked by quite a large invasion force. The way Nevrax implemented the invasion was quite effective. There seemed to be spawn points peppered all over the land and if a player or group of players approach it, the invasion force spawns. The invasion group was made up of a large number of these monkies, and their companion guard and patrol dogs. So to the players moving around, you would get a horde of angry beasts coming over the next dune and making a charge at you. Very effective. The invasion groups seemed to be quite low level at first, so we could cleave through them quite easily, but the closer you got to key event areas their level and quantity raised quite sharply. What impressed me the most was the event was continent wide, and everyone from level 1 to level 200 could take part in it. The invading forces were indeed very intimidating, and if you spotted them forming at the base of a hill, and then they detect your presence, a whole stream of these nasties amassing and charging towards was a very unsettling sight. There were three or four kidnap camps, as far as we could tell from the region chat, guilds were grouping together and performing area searches. Initial confusion slowly turned into determined searching and hunting down the camps. Once all kidnap camps had been liberated, there was a call to say that the 'boss' had arrived on the planet and was sending in more monkey patrols. We got close to the boss camp, but were swamped by really nasty monkies.

I haven't been on a MMORPG event as such, not one with a real story behind it and a continent wide level of co-operation. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and although there was little experience points to be gained at first, because the invading forces were quite low level, there was a sense of city defence and a purpose to save the Levier troops. The only downside I could see was the fact that they removed most of the normal flora and fauna, so you were more or less thrown into the event, without the choice of sticking around the area you were hunting in. I should explain the continent level of segragation. Basically, in Ryzom the four races don't get to see each other, or travel to each others cities very easily. We're emerging from our beaten down state to fight against the kitin horde. To get to the other races continents involves a nasty run and usually lots of deaths and lots of luck is needed. So the isolation is real. Nevrax seem to be running different events for the different continents. So the Matis had an event about a week ago, where they were swamped by an insurgence of starship trooper like bugs. Not sure how often these events will happen, or how they will differ from the invasion model, but I'm looking forward to the next one.

Starfleet Command III

I picked up this little gem at the weekend, after Haegemonia had fuelled my thirst for more space based gaming. Now I know it is a Star Trek game. And I'm not a big Star Trek fan (in all its forms). But what drew me to the game was the idea of piloting a large spaceship down at the combat level. 'Heg' had given me the Homeworld buzz of commanding a whole fleet - SFC3 seemed to promise me the option of zooming in to a single space hulk and commanding the battle from there. It's a fairly involved procedure commanding a ship in this Next Gen combat simulator. Luckily the quite lengthy tutorials, voiced by Picard himself, are very well paced to give you a fighting chance. Having said that some of the tutorials take a while before you acquire the knowledge and dexterity to command one of these babies. ', 'It's definitely bewildering to begin with, especially if you haven't tasted any of the Starfleet games before. And you seem to have to practice certain manoeuvres a bit before you get a feel for them. The best thing about the game is the way combat is a slow paced but very strategic affair. Turning these lumbering starships is a skill in itself. Each ship has four shields, one either side, one fore and one aft. To do any damage at all to an enemy you first need to take down at least one of these shields (and they regenerate at a given rate - depending on the quality of the shield and the power assigned to them). Once you've punched a whole in a shield, which takes a while since you've got to hit the same shield with many salvos to disable it, you can begin to do hull damage. If you get in close enough to the ship with the gaping shield wound, then you can transport a sabotage party across to try and take out key ship systems (which you specify), or you can attempt to send a whole group of marines across to take over the ship. This is a tricky operation to pull off though, because up close and personal is where you can also take damage easily, and those shields are regenerating all the time, so you won't be able to transport any more troops over unless you keep the wound open. You have two common weapon types at your disposal, beams and torpedoes, primary and heavy respectively. Each weapon mounted on your ship has a firing arc, and requires a considerable charge up time. You have to time your engine and retro thrusts to keep your ship (and its weapons arcs) focussed on the achilles heel. This takes quite a bit of skill to achieve as a cohesive manoeuvre. You have a crew of officers who start out with little experience - but the more victorious you are, the better they become. After each victory, you are awarded prestige points which you can use to refit your ship with more weapons, better versions or indeed buy another ship class altogether. You can hire even better officers if you have the prestige spare.

Other combat devices at your disposal are shuttles, mines and tractor beams. You can launch shuttles with several mission objectives, to defend, to attack, to snipe, to distract - they provide you with a small decoy or a small additional amount of firepower. You can purchase mines, and lay them in combat as a defensive mechanism whilst fleeing to recharge your shields - or you can lay them in the midst of a battle to provide additional damage. You can use tractor beams to hold your prey preventing them from turning their damaged shield side away from your guns, you prevent them from engaging their warp drive, and the most effective use it for one ship to hold the enemy in place whilst another pounds the living daylights out of its vulnerable side.

There are other speciality devices that allow you to use shield inversion and some tricks that are race specific (like the Borg cutting lasers, and the klingons and romulans cloaking device). You start the single player game playing as a Klingon, and your flighty but weak shielded Bird of Prey requires a cloaked hit and run tactic. Whilst cloaked you cannot engage in combat and your shields are down, immediately after uncloaking there is a small delay when your shields and weapons are recovering - so are very vulnerable. Timing of your un-cloaking is key to bringing down a much larger Federation vessel.

The slow paced tactical battle unfolds over quite a long period of time, you have to employ all the advantageous mechanisms you have at your disposal to come through it with a ship in tact. Last night, for a laugh, I tried the Multiplayer Campaign (or as its known the Dynaverse). It's basically the same sort of game as the single player one - however most of the AI ships in the single player game are replaced with online players running through their own campaign. A bit like Battle.net, in that your dynaverse campaign is stored (or at least is tied up) on their server. You need a Gamespy account to create a character in the Dynaverse. I went in as a fresh Klingon (mainly because I'd started to get the hang of the Klingon cloak, warp, uncloak, attack strategy.

The world map is a large hex map and you move through the world from your races starports, perhaps running a single mission against AI opponents, refitting as necessary. But, the big plus is that you can form Fleets with other players. The fleet moves as one, and you can then start to explore deeper into enemy territory (federation, romulan and the borg collective). I teamed up with two other Klingons warriors, both a little higher up in terms of prestige and ship development, and we scoured a Federation space lane, and initiated attacks on some borg vessels. The world map is essentially a hex board, where you move around, with an IRC chat client below it - where you can discuss with all your races players (in a specific Klingon channel) or bad-mouth the other races in the general channel. So you team up, move around until the Leader finds a quadrant where theres some action, and then you are taken into the battle. Suddenly all your single player tactics seem to change. Cloaking was not really necessary as I often found myself in the position of tail gater. I would fly round the back of the enemy, whilst they were busy with my other fleet members, and I would eat away at their weaker back shields. Once through all ships could begin transporting troops and I could shift back and forth laying salvo after salvo of torp and beam into the hull of the ship. Admittedly I would have been toast if it were not for the other two players constantly engaging the enemy in waves. Often tractor beaming him into position so I could come about easy enough to lay a torp smack on. Now, I think I had an easy ride last night, because I was with two players who seemed to understand the mechanics of their ships and it felt a bit like my newbie bird of prey was being powerlevelled. But I can see how a large force could be established and if the opposition did not rally together all of their ships - the Dynaverse could fall after a few massive and lengthy major battles.

What would be interesting would be to affect a co-ordinated effort by a single group to enter a Dynaverse and spend their time building an efficient killing fleet that could stomp over all the opposition. Would take a bit of doing, which is why Dynaverses don't fall that often, theres always a constant niggling of each others boundaries. But I saw some clanned players there, Klingon High Council or something. Overall, I didn't expect to enjoy the online game much - but even though map wandering is a bit tedious, the actual combat is very good - there were a number of head to head players who spent their time chasing each other and fighting it out, and then brag flooding the general channel. But on the whole, it was very enjoyable. I think its a much more tactical piloting game based on specific science fiction mechanics pulled out of the Star Trek universe - and as such the battle is very involving, much more so than the likes of Earth and Beyond.

The Curse of Fade was lifted

A mighty conjurer telepathically connected with Fade's Elven senses on a higher plane of existence. The mystic promised a cure for her curse, but only after a physical and spiritual purging, could this remedy be applied. With some in trepidation, Fade agreed to be metaphysically transported to the conjurer's shelter. The thought of being able to breathe fresh forest air without the metallic twang from behind the helmet was enough to make her almost giddy. She slipped into the ethereal atmosphere for little beyond a second and appeared before the mighty conjurer with a jolt of her soul that shook her nerves for one moment. She clasped her bow tighter as if only it could protect her now. The conjurer was soft spoken and looked remarkably younger than she'd first expected.

The purge must begin before we can lift the curse. Quickly she shed all her equipment, removing the helmet to reveal the grotesque sight of her almost naked decapitated body. She trembled as deposited her bow, her only source of comfort through the years before. Her last vestige of self. The kind conjurer waved a little, with slight of hand, and Fade dropped to the floor asleep. She dreamt of nothing, in fact the purge itself seemed to be one big black hole with no escape. Emptiness. No sooner had she forgotten who she was, lost in some macabre wilderness, then she was wide awake again. Fully clothed in rough leather, it took her a moment to readjust. She could not remember her name. Who was she?

Another slight of hand from the conjurer and she was climbing steps, re-learning everything she had once known, her archery skills tingled in her fingertips, she smelt the sweet smell of the yew and fresh sap covering of her bow, she could pinch the fibres from her bowstring and remember how to nock arrows in rapid succession. She was overcome with empathy for the animals of the world, she longed to call her forest mate Bara the Brown Bear, she longed to comfort him with her song again. As incredibly dizzying as it was, it was also reassuring that she could feel the seasons mature within her, climbing her body like rampant ivy, as the conjurer dropped his hand to his sides, the process was done. Fade had become whole again. She clutched her face, picked up a potion bottle and peered within the reflection. Her beautiful face was there again, shining back at her, almost luminescent. she could see her nose if she crossed her eyes. She danced. The conjurer chuckled.

It was to tears of joy that she said her farewell to the conjurer, reseating her arrows, and adjusting her armour, she was ready again to face the world, with all its dangers, but this time she could hold her head up high, this time she could smile at those she loved and grimace at those she loathed, and her enemies filled with darkness and hate would see the elven piousness on her face as she filled them with arrows of justice.

The conjurer, his name was Kai, and she vowed to name her firstborn after him, in memory of his deeds that day.

The Distressed Bard

No sooner had I entered the city today than I had an almost manic lady chattering away at me about Guards being slaughtered in the Commerce District near the gate to the Docks area of Port Cruces.

This lady named Trill, was an inexperienced bardic singer, who seemed to be shaking like a leaf. She said there are adventurers amongst us who are slaying Cruces guards without remorse. She mentioned two names who she claimed she has seen perform these acts of murder. They were a gold clad blade warrior called Lanan Rift and a small arcane user named Zephyr. Trill apparently stumbled onto the fray whilst she was heading to the Docks to take provisions over to Dulce. She was most upset, claiming they had even chased her around the city Commons area.

Trill said, when she asked Lanan for an explanation he had gloated over the kill, allegedly claiming he was weeding out the weak guards from the strong ones - making the city a safer place - and that the whole populace of Port Cruces should thank him.

Obviously I was concerned about this news. I tried to calm her down. But she seemed to have lost all faith in anyone with a blade in their hand. She scurried off in the direction of Curces Outskirts presumably in hiding, for fear of her life.

Now I cannot claim to believe her one way or another, and Bards do have a way of elaborating to make things floral, but it does seem very strange that there have been a much increased amount of attacks on the commoners and guards of Port Cruces, and now we have allegedly seen Adventurers themselves claiming kills for the amusement value. I myself managed to pin a couple of Elite Belen Soldiers as they ransacked the Commons area the other day. The place was alive with glowing columns of blue light, and strange blue glowing orbs. The air was rank with arcane trickery.

I believe it is time to stand up for the good and the honourable, and make Port Cruces a safer place. Do not let your malaise turn against the goodness of the city! Use your adventuring skills for the good of Amon.

Abe's Grief

Abe had seen his wife murdered in front of him. Her attacker was shrouded in magic that gave him no substance. Abe had seen this nebulous thief drag his wife to the ground, the shadows had tugged at her hair, and then plunged something into her, something sharp, something fatal. He was beyond control, as he approached her limp body he tore a limb from a local bench, it would make a basic cudgel, normally he would never have had the strength to dismember a town seat, but he was riding a wave of desperation, the surf of adrenalin, at this point in time he could do anything his body mustered. Except save his wife. Like a dervish possessed he twirled around her body, as if performing a rite of passage with a piece of gnarled and splintered wood. He was making a vain attempt at striking the veiled terror that had run his wife through. His tears were distributed evenly in a circle, almost anointing the ground where she lay. Her deathbed was stone, hard, cold and unforgiving. He was the priest administering the last rites. He was the husband, broken inside, longing for her touch again, waiting for her smile to make everything seem all right. As his metabolism slowed and his energy seeped into the cracks in the paving slabs, he slowly withered, like a beanstalk in the sun, with a heavy pod. His final slump was one of extreme gentleness, as he enveloped her body with his. Drive the sword again, he pleaded with Amon. Take me with her, I want to go with her. His age crept up on him whilst he was unaware. He wanted to die so badly, his heart was already a shattered vase, his soul ached to be with his wife again.

After what seemed like an eternity of sorrow, someone must\'ve pulled Abe off her, and cleared up and sorted him out, because he awoke from his grief ridden stupor in his house, with other town folk milling about organising things, clearing things up and generally nattering away with each other in some strange language Abe didn\'t understand. The language appeared to be casual speak, not fear encrusted hatred of all things living, especially all things transparent. He waited for it to all go quiet and he vowed he would find the one who did this to him. As old as he was, he would live to see his wife's assailant be brought to justice. Even if it meant absorbing arcane magic himself to remain on this world.

Abe could hardly get on with life again, he just existed. His thoughts constantly on that day, and the proceedings. When news reached him of a strange man in custody of one of the local clerics over at Lunas, he was empowered to get dressed and go out and see this mans face, see if he could recognise the shape of his features and match those against the mouldings of air on that fateful day. He travelled like a balloon on the hottest air. Swift and with an agenda. He approached Lunas with the posture of a hungry animal.

With tears of hate welling up inside him, he approached a group of citizens encircling a wiry elf in dark clothing. He recognised Sister Ann Bright, the cleric, as she poured scorn and accusation down on this dark traveller, he recognised Fade Moonbow, an elven ranger girl who seemed to always be at Sister Ann's side and he recognised Aahz an oddly built man with raw power in his gate. The robe Aahz wore seemed strangely big and effeminate for his completely manly build. But still it added an air of righteousness to him. As he studied the darkened elf he could see the flare of hate encircle his head like a halo of fire. He could almost taste the blood of his wife melting over his tongue. The size of the offender seemed appropriate, the hooded face, with protruding features almost made him retch up bile as he fit the pointed features to the space in his memory where the transparent killer had been. When he found out that this man had his wife's necklace on his possession, Abe was fuelled from within, as a spark of bloodlust lit his bonfire of hatred. This man, whose tongue danced around excuses and whose lies exuded from him like a green suffocating mist, this man, killed his wife, for that he was certain.

Before anyone had noticed Abe was lunging forward with the power of a forest bear, his fingers would crush this demons windpipe before he would utter another lie. Before he would silently kill again for trinkets and baubles. The blood in his veins on his forehead, pounded out a war dance for Abe to follow, like a child after the smell of Woodland taffy. He would engorge himself in this mans blood, like that child in the sugary sickly sweetness. A strike to the mans head was all he could muster before Fade and Aahz stepped in and restrained them both. The dark clad elf shrugged it off, like he\'d seen much worse. Abe's age rapidly threw a shroud of tiredness around him, he could hardly breathe, he was so bitter the air could not feed his hatred with enough oxygen to carry on. With his body empty like that of a flannel wrung dry, he bowed his head, and he cried for all the times with his wife, he will never have again. It was time to wait for the judge to arrive. This elf would be tried in a court of law.

The Trial Of Unen

Fade was summoned to a place she had seen before, yet knew not where it existed. The courtroom smelled of oaken floorboards and antiseptic magic. Gathered before her was a motley crue of adventurers and townsfolk. There was rushed jury assembled across the floor, consisting of Grant Welter, Seril Tylnessa, Vurag and Bugdush Kibird. Alongside Fade was Aahz and Abe, an old commoner who seemed to have eyes that dealt pain with their looks. Sweetblade escorted everyone in, and she held the defendant, an elven man of unknown origin called Unen Zyrustafer. The judge was a Cruces Guard of high ranking, who would sometimes step in as relief judge. The trial began with Abe\'s lament, how he saw this man attack his wife, kill and rob her, and then attack several other commoners. He was quite clearly in a very distressed state, tears would roll down his face and then dry off to the intense heat of his anger as it burnt his skin the colour of fresh blood. Fade felt for this man deeply, he was an old man with few years left, yet those last years would be filled with loss and torment and grief. A sad end to a short human life. The judge asked pertinent questions and interjected when the cloaked elf tried to explain himself out of turn.

Abe recanted how he\'d been clearing his old adventuring equipment out of his house and had emptied a vial of old potion into his mouth to see what it tasted like, to see if he could recall his adventurers spirit. This vial held an arcane fluid that could alter the eyesight of its taker and make invisible slightly less so. Little did he know it would be so crucial to his identification of his wife\'s murderer. He was attracted at first by the disassociated splashes happening around the town\'s water gullies. A hint of intruder setting the hackles on his neck alive with motion and dread. He saw Unen cajole the Belen guards who descended upon the town, leading them forward from his dissipated state. He\'d seen him over his wife, stripping her amulet from her half cocked neck. If he was twenty years younger he would have simply ripped the mans throat out and would have asked for immediate execution for himself. Fade noticed his tired eyes, tired of seeing over and over again the death of his most treasured companion. Briefly his eyes shut, as if to block out the pain and embrace the void. Fade patted him on his back in a feeble attempt to comfort him and also to let him know he\'d done the right thing, this was a task for justice and she knew Amon would not let evil prevail here.

Next to speak was Unen himself, a sly wily fox of an elf, shrouded in black hood and bound leather body. At night, you could almost believe he would be invisible without the need for any magical assistance. Unen addressed the court as he would another vagabond on the highway, with malice and covert cunning. He explained that he was in the forest area because he\'d been chased by some adventurers from Castle Hyde. They\'d attempted to detect evil within him using a magical spell and he feared for his life. Utilising his powers of slight of hand and illusion he was able to slip into the shadows of the forest like a snake slithering through the toes of its prey. Whilst ducking in the shadows, he\'d heard a commotion around the entrance of Port Cruces, there seemed to be Belen guards heading that way, with blood on their minds. He followed as he was naturally curious. Inside the town he saw the slaughter of the commoners, and he picked his way through the bloodied streets, stumbling upon a lady strewn out on the pavement. As he tumbled slightly he saw a flash of gold in the pink bloodied water below. He picked it up. It was a fine amulet if he ever saw one. He was admiring the beauty of such a piece, when he turned and saw a man crazed running towards him with was seemed to be a wooden club of some sort. The man was howling like a moonstruck wolf. Immediately Unen fled for the comfort and anonymity of the forest. In the panic, another man attacked Unen, unexpectedly. This man turned out to be Kristof. Yet more events unfolded and Vurag took Kristofs attack to be the cause of this slaughter, so Vurag joined in the melee. Confusion ensued. Unen scrabbled out as best he could. He still had the amulet in his possession. It was simply a mistake. He was there at the wrong time, with the wrong intentions and now he had to prove his innocence. Fade struggled with the dark elf\'s story, something about his ways seemed to leak deceit through the pores of his very pale skin. Like this was familiar territory for him, like he was used to such interrogation.

Fade had been given Sister Ann Brights notebook of events, and was there as proxy to tell the facts that her holiness had written down. Sister Ann\'s character could not be brought into question, Amon smiled upon her and she would always honour the truth. Fade mentioned that Unen had shouted comments across the city streets after the attack was over. He\'d said that the \"slaughter at the Port was a success\", he\'d taunted Vurag with \"look at your peasants now Vurag\" and finally he\'d closed the taunt with \"that was for you\". Unen tried to deny these comments, and then wormed them around his finger like they were string. He said he was just commenting on how it seemed the slaughter at the port had been successful, and that he was in outrage that Vurag\'s peasants had been murdered so viciously. There was a gleam in his eye as he held the jurors gaze and played with them like a magician does a coloured knotted scarf.

Unen was led out of the court, after much consternation at one point Unen being reprimanded by the Judge for disrespect. The juror\'s had to make up their mind. They\'d been given all there was.

Fade knew he was guilty. Her elven senses hadn\'t let her down in so many years, but the Human court would not allow such intuition to become the basis for a court case. The comments seemed too spiteful, he\'d been seen by the bodies picking them clean like a vulture pecking the last strips of flesh from the ribcage. He used the powers of darkness to shift through the city unnoticed and he reaped the golden medallions he knew he could sell as ill gotten gain. Fade was sure he was guilty. The other jurors bashed the decision around the room like a drunken fist fight. Declaring the verdict seem to prompt the other jurors to place their hearts where the facts led them. Unen was found guilty of the charge of murder by 6 of the people attending, to 1 against. The one protestor, Seril, proceeded vehemently to called the court a sham, and lit up a torch in defiance of the majority decision. Short of contempt of court, the Judge calmed the situation and arranged the punishment. It was deemed that 7000 gold pieces be paid by Unen to the families of those who have lost their loved ones. It was also deemed that he lose the ability to progress in the monastery where he gained his monk training for at least one season. Reducing his skills by a seasons progress in one foul swoop.

Unen was returned to the courthouse and upon hearing the verdict of guilty and his punishment, he proclaimed that there was only one option left to him. \"Japanese suicide\". Fade couldn\'t not source what the word \"Japanese\" meant, but it seemed to describe a culture of some sort, perhaps a Belenese sub culture? She knew exactly what suicide meant, and she did not want his blood on these sacred floors, in front of Sweetblade and the judge, so she braced herself to restrain Unen if she could. It looked like Unen was fumbling for what seemed to be a potion of some sort from his hidden waist pouch, but then he lunged forward and struck the Judge across the chest with a martial blow. The judge reeled backwards in shock, having little time to raise his sword. For that moment, if Unen had been quicker of mind, he could have laid waste to at least two or three of the people in that court before anyone would react to stop him. Fade reached behind her, and unsheathed both vile rapiers, if Unen was going to attack, she would be ready to protect Sweetblade at least. Vurag spun his Great Axe into swinging position, and Seril unguarded his sword. In a few short blows the darkened man was slumped in a pool of defiant blood. Thick, yet evasive, it trickled through the cracks in the flooring. Still he was trying to escape. His corpse was removed swiftly, and he was resurrected somewhere far away from the town of Port Cruces. His punishment served.

Abe collapsed in a heap, and sobbed. No matter what has befallen that mysterious sneak, he could never bring back his Gerty. His life was over. A time of waiting to die was upon him. As the jurors left the chamber, Fade picked up a small piece of rag from the floor, it was a cutting from Unens dark tunic. Through the fibres in her fingers she could feel the torment of that elf. He had been raised as a monk, with Amon in his heart. Yet there was a dark side to his nature, a side that longed to hide away, translucent as dragonfly wings. He was in a constant battle between monk and stealthy thief. Perhaps an assassin in the making? She crumpled the cloth and tossed it into the fire. The light of the flame exorcising the cloth from its evil past. She hoped this trial would do the same for the one they call Unen Zyrustafer.

Abe's Misery

Gertrud was a rotund and cheerful lady, going about her business in Port Cruces always with a whistle upon her lips. She was content with her life, after a harsh upbringing as a child in a household with 14 others, she was often neglected, often left to her own devices to find entertainment and amusement in simple things. Her outlook on life was one of appreciation. Everything that happened to her was usually moulded into a positive experience one way or another. She was wed to a strong man named Abe, he was a stocky well built fellow, who used to be able to carve up an oak tree with a small hand axe, and the fire would be blazing for a month. Time had been kind to Gertrud, since her thirtieth season she really hadn't aged at all outwardly, except for the foxglove daub she used to cover her grey hair, it gave it a purple sheen that she liked. A graceful colour. A stately shade so that she could jolly along in life and expect a smiling respect from the people she met.

One morning whilst out selling her basket woven items to anyone who would consider them, she was sidetracked into a long conversation about removing sap stains from thick cotton garments with her two friends, Edin and Marig. During this domestic discussion, Gert was astonished when she felt a cool breeze pass by behind her. It was almost like one of old farmer Deans Cows had sneezed but silently, behind her. She shivered out loud and although the other ladies were aware of it, they both shrugged at the odd gesture Gert had just involuntarily performed. The cloth cleaning cackling continued. Gert had never been much of a spiritual girl, she'd always seen nature as nature with no hidden spiritual basis behind it. "Cows were Cows" she always used to say. But if she ever did toy with the idea that there were forces beyond her control, she would chat the Cows saying to put paid to any fears that might arise. Magic was for Mages, washing and cooking her husbands tea was for old Gerty. This breath of dark wind that shook her so, had sown a seed of doubt in her mind. Uneasy, she tried to listen hard to the ongoing conversation, but the seed was growing, fast and strong. She could feel the small shoot of fear climbing in her body. A flower of panic. That was about to bloom, fear that spread its petals over her face and made her scream into the plants bud of hate. Gert's panic allowed her to almost slow time down, as if every lip movement of Edin's was a lifetimes drawl. No sooner had she spotted the flash of light from Marig\'s expensive gold tooth (something of a luxury for Commoners in these parts) than she felt something clasp her hair, her beautiful purple locks, something tugged hard on her hair. She wheeled around to see what was caught in her hair, and she saw nothing. But her hair was being tugged hard now, so much so that it knocked her off balance, falling to the floor, trying to arch her back like a good turned Lunas bow, she fell to the floor all crooked.

Looking up, with her chin resting on the hard stone paving, she saw the hidden darkness, she saw it using the laws of nature to lay open the hatred that lurked around these parts. The hatred that has her held tightly by a clump of her hair. The water in the gully, splashed about at regular intervals, making foot size impressions, with a crown of a splash, moving around her, moving around them all. She could just see Edin's lifeless eyes blink their last blink as the blood trickled out of her mouth and bled into the water, pink as carnations. She caught sight of her Abe, running so fast towards her as if he would collapse any second, his eyes were bulging wide, like the lids were peeled back so far he'd lost them. His tender mustachioed mouth was gaping open and a loud bellow was filling the atmosphere around him. He'd seen something terrible. He'd witnessed something so horrible that his eyes would remain stretched open for all eternity. Gerty felt a fumble in the arch of her back, like someone was pressing down hard, and she was pulled tighter as the necklace was ripped from her neck. A warm shaft of fluid spilled over her back and down the sides, she felt an odd queasiness as a dagger was plunged into her back, it clanged on the stone floor as it exited her stomach. She knew she'd seen the hidden danger that was lurking in the background of everyday life, she knew for that she must pay with her life. She knew she loved Abe more than anything this world could offer her, and sleepy, she now knew the darkness. She prayed for some peace and some light....

The Curse of Pray

Pray Morningblade was a good man, his sense of all things right and proper and his un founding belief in the one true God had led him onto a path of worship. However, this path was not one of placid teaching, not one of spreading the word and nurturing the flock. From an early time in his ecclesiastical life, he knew God wanted him to purge the world of those who had not fully made the transition from death to afterlife. His time as a minister was troubled with impatience and tension. His temper was too quick to begin to understand the faithless, his will was too strong to just give sermon after sermon and expect people to take notice. He had to cleanse the land, he had to use his gifts with a sword and a divine shield to expunge the rotting dead that still walked this land, they were clueless and hateful, they had lost their way unable to decide what was life and what was death. These lost souls were so desperate to find their path to the afterlife that they were easy prey for true evil. They could be cajoled and coaxed into performing work for any evil soul that could trick them. They required light. A Paladin\'s light. A shining force so bright and so powerful that it could set them free from this stinking malaise that is their purgatory.

So Pray took up the Lords challenge, he trained hard in the ways of the Paladin, soaking up the ability to turn undead by instilling the will of God within their sodden souls. In his early years he lost his mother, perhaps this single fact moulded his fiery temper and his stone like emotions - but good was to come of it. His father was comforted by an elven lady, who could sing so sweetly that his pain dissolved into her chorus. Years passed and his father and the elven songstress fell in love and married. Pray was unsure of himself through this time, although with the marriage come a time when the elven step mother brought into the Morningblade family her previous children. There was one child, Fade Moonbow, who seemed to give hope to Pray whenever he was lost in a faithless wilderness of teenage angst. Fade was a spritely beautiful girl with the ability to bestow happiness and joy to the darkest of situations just by smiling. Pray took to his step sister, as a kindred spirit. Both fuelled each others desires to be better and to maintain all that is good and holy in the land. Pray was but a season of maturity when Fade left, without word. She had participated in some elven celebration, and the next day she was gone. Her bow and some belongings gone. Pray was devastated. He called on the power of his true God to give him strength to search out his sister and no matter what had happened he knew he could make it right. Pray brooded with his skills for another season, until he felt he was ready. His moment had come. The undead would be saved, and he would scout for his treasured sister.

Many moons passed as Pray wandered the land, purging deserted churches and hidden crypts. Wherever he went there were tortured graveyards and diabolic dungeons to irradiate with the light of good. All the time he was questioning everyone he could about his sister, where was Fade? Where had she gone? Finally he had word of her in a city not far from a den of evil that was to be his nemesis. He hurried to meet her, to greet her and to find the answer to the gnawing question of why she left without a word.

Pray met many folk, including a lady of the cloth, Sister Ann Bright, who allegedly had adventured with Fade on many occasions. All professed Fade\'s good nature and expertise with a bow. All seemed uneasy when mentioning her appearance and none of them knew why she left. Pray wandered the streets for days on end. With no sign of Fade. Until he met a short gnarled man in the forests, who happened to take notice when Pray described Fade to him. The short man said she had gone to Hyde Castle to purge the darkness with her light. Pray was excited by this, at last a definite place, and a place where he may also do some good. To fight the wrath of evil side by side with his sister was all he could ask.

Deeper into the Castle Pray went, there was indeed a force unknown in these walls, Shadows and Zombies kept Pray busy almost constantly, like a knife through treacle he slowly cut them down releasing their tortured souls into the void of the afterlife, guiding them almost with his blade and his shield, thrusting them back to where they should have walked before they lost their way. The strangest sight to behold were the wererats, grotesque creatures obviously conjured from the remains of harmless vermin, something terrible, something perverse and evil was at work with the corpses in this place. There was no sign of Fade, sometimes Pray could hear the swish of an arrow in the next room, or the growl of her forest mate, but when Pray had made it to the room, it was empty, as empty as his soul felt now - with the prospect of ever seeing his sister again draining away like the oily blood of the wererats he\'d slain.

A dark moment hit him like a carriage full of fresh melon, he could hear a girl whimpering, it was like a whimper no one in their right mind would ever want to hear. Like a hushed howl, immediate and ever so demanding. The girl was under slow torture of some sort, Pray was sure of that. She needed help, it could be Fade! Pray burst in to a room that seemed so low lit, that even the vermin bumped into each other. It was dank and heavy, you could smell rotting flesh but only as a pleasant after waft over the true insipid smell of pure evil. The girl was whimpering louder now, and she actually mentioned his name ... \'Praaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy\'. Pray\'s armour clinked as he shuddered to the call. He cast a holy light around himself, in order to see the grotesque innards of the room. His sword at his side, was actually tracing a pattern in thick mulched blood. He looked in shock to see his armoured legs had been covered by this gorey substance. He panicked, and started to shuffle around in the sleuce of carnage, trying to hear the direction of the moaning, faster it became, almost chanting his name now. He bounced with a resilient clang off one of the suppurating walls, wading through the bodily pulp was becoming more and more difficult, from the edge of his visored vision he could see things moving, like the floor had taken on form and shape but just out of normal eyesight range. In a desperate attempt he turned the undead, no-one from beyond the grave would harm him now, as he finished the mantra the spell kicked in and some of the floors substance sloshed about and slooped away - however, the girls moan become more stressed, more pained, in a corner of the room he spotted her, he threw himself forward to shield her body from the evil, if he could, he landed down near her legs, he was knee deep in the broth of blood, as he passed his hand over her face, her eyes opened. Green eyes of hate. She wrapped her dead legs around his waist, and something from behind him clamoured onto his back, a dark shroud of skin wrapped around his helmet obscuring his view, his last swing with his sword cut into the undead girl as far as he could tell, the blade meeting the usual resistance of backbone. The elasticised skin around his head ripped off his helmet like it was glued to it, he managed to half turn to see a room full of men, with eyes as red as the blood that spurted down his neck, two sharp teeth delving deep into his veins, the red eyes, closing in, the light of being, draining away, a baptism of blood... Fade... where are you?

The Curse of Fade

Fade was a most beautiful elven girl, her natural visage typified the elven race, everyone would comment on it, everyone from dwarf to Orc could appreciate it. She was blessed, some would say. As she grew and nurtured a desire to protect the good from the terrors of these uncertain times. She took up the bow, and she indulged her passion for the living breathing arched wood that could seal the darkness in light. Dark things shuffled in the twilight, they colluded and plotted against her. One particular nightwitch begrudged the perfection in Fade's face. This hag managed to take possession of a lock of Fade hair, from the claws of an aspiring demonic werewolf, some epidermal skin attached to the hair, gave the dreary sorcerer enough source biological material to concoct a curse to bring Fade's enlightenment to an end.

It was during an evening celebration of elvensong, when Fade danced amongst the most handsome of elven men, that the hag laid down her shrouded curse. As soon as the curse had taken hold, Fade's head disappeared from view. Her beauty vanished. As the startled onlookers stumbled to a halt, Fade was a headless body prancing carelessly among them. Some let out yelps of fear, some shouted curses of their own, a bedevilment lay before us. Fade stopped and stared at the moonlit reflection in the elven fountain of life. Her heart dipped into the water and floated away. She threw a woolen cape over her head and fled to her house, to collect all she could carry, her bow taking pride of place as her crutch to carry her burden away from these beautiful people. Since then, she has been reviled as a creature of evil, even though her true nature is one of pure good. She stumbled into ShadowRealm, and was befriended by a Sister of the Light, a young cleric girl, who went by the name of Sister Ann Bright. Her purity lifted Fade from the darkness of headless monstrosity, and she was brought before the divine misttress Sweetblade. Since her bow was still sturdy, Sweetblade conjured an archers helm, for Fade to wear to cover the shame of the curse. Fade's tears now drip silently behind a metallic prison, but her search to retrieve her identity and blessed beauty will never end.