Echoes from the Caverns

Hello everyone! Lord Baldrith here solo still without Acelpius…He should be back next week yay!! Happy Birthday Lord British!! Hope you are enjoying Release 31

* Play Release 31 Now

* Release 31 Postmortem (with exclusive items)

* Shroud in the News: MMORPG R31 and Jearbear’s Top 10 2016/17 MMOs

* Q3 2016 Schedule Update

* Elven Armor

* The Making of Brittany Estates

* Add-On Store Goodies!

* 26 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

* The Sword of Midras SotA Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook

* Upcoming Events

* Community Resources – Players Helping Players

* Status of ONBE Shipments

* Backer Shipping Addresses

* Recommended Projects to Back

Hello everyone! Here I am, all alone, with Asclepius still on vacation, so hope you can stay awake! Hope you enjoy the news!

* Announcing the 15% Summer Bonus!

* Welcome Back to Solace Bridge!

* The Making of Brittany Estates

* The Making of Brittany Wharfs

* Polished Elven Fighter Armor and Mage Robes

* Prism In-Game Event: Remembrance of the 49 Victims of the Orlando Shooting Massacre

* SotA Con 2016

* Viking 2-Story Village Home with Dual Balconies

* 33 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

* The Sword of Midras SotA Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook

* Upcoming Events

* Community Resources – Players Helping Players

* Backer Shipping Addresses

* Recommended Projects to Back: Crowfall’s First Ever Telethon!

Hello everyone! Lord Baldrith here still going solo with Asclepius on vacation! Hope you enjoy the news!

* The Making of Brittany Estates

* RizeUp Gaming’s 4th Annual Multiple Sclerosis Charity Drive, June 17-19

* Pledge Stats Update

* Womby & Friends Present: Incident in Skrekk (A Tour of Kobold Homes)

* 40 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

* Preorder The Sword of Midras SotA Novel and Audiobook!

* Upcoming Events

* Community Resources – Players Helping Players

* Lace’s SotAWiki How-To Video

* Backer Shipping Addresses

* Recommended Projects to Back/li>

Hello everyone! Asclepius is on vacation, so I will do my best to keep you awake

Hello everyone! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar! We had two surprise guests this week!

Cordelayne

Berek

* Release 30 Postmortem

* Brittany Wharfs

* Brittany Alleys

* Gold Crowns of the Obsidians Clarifications

* Revamped Founder Leather Armor, Benefactor Cloth Tunic & Founder Cloth Tunic

* Richard Garriott is Certifiable (on Twitter)

* Unity Onsite

* Austin Unity Developer Meetup: Worldbuilding with Finn & Esteben

* Updates to POT Pages

* Keep Stone Arena Basement

* Clarification on New Game Access Bundles

* Viking 4-Story Row House & Viking Wearable Bundles

* 54 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

* Viking 4-Story Row House & Viking Wearable Bundles

* Upcoming Events

* Community Activities

* Community Resources – Players Helping Players

* Backer Shipping Addresses

* Recommended Projects to Back

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with the next instalment of this wonderful story from Ulf Berht. The saga is entitled

Virtue’s Forge

Background music by Smartsound

Chapter 2 – Uprooted

 

“I have come to think that you, Merlin, are either the Devil or, at the very least, one of his henchmen. You have caused me to be sent to this benighted land, a place that is neither Heaven nor Hell. Death is everywhere, yet no one dies. The bones of men, stripped of all mortal flesh, frequent the dark tunnels beneath many villages and hamlets. Grotesque amalgams of human and beast patrol the woodlands and seek to wage war upon us. Of late, hordes of ill-mannered ruffians chop down great swaths of forest and construct entire villages dominated by stone castles. And still you stalk me and seek my aid. Yet, if I grant it, you will no doubt wreak additional insults upon me.

Merlin, what transgression have I performed to warrant this?”

“Ulf, you could not be more wrong. We have both been wronged by a third party and I sorely need your trust. Without you, I would still be entombed in a great slab of granite, unable to move or communicate. For me, it has been centuries of desperate loneliness, with only the faintest hope of escape. That hope was the jewel that Ninianne gave you. In the darkness, I could see a single point of light a vast distance away. It would grow infinitesimally brighter if I focused on it. Ninianne had some purpose in mind when she bound the gem to me, a purpose that was thwarted when you were transported away. I learned over time how to strengthen that slender thread and eventually managed to pull myself out of that dark trap.”

“I trust you not, Wizard. Your words, I believe, are only to trick me into becoming entangled with your schemes. I have no intention of giving you aid beyond a slap on the rump of a departing horse.”

“”Ulf, while it is true I would ask for your aid, is it not true that you are also in need?”

“Accepting aid from you would, no doubt, eventually incur a cost greater than any amount of gold could repay. So leave me be.”

“Ulf, answer me true and I will be gone. Are your clothes not worn thin? Is your landlord not threatening eviction? And even here in this public house, do you not drink alone? I know that rumors abound and gossip mongers whisper that you are the cause of this plague of outlanders. Before you there were none, and now there are many. You and I are both maligned by events not of your doing.”

Ulf Berht stared down at a tepid mug of ale. Even in the dim and smoky tavern, he could not help but see the suspicious and hostile looks they were getting. He stood up and quickly left, hoping to get away from Merlin and the truths he told.

The goodwill he had received when he first arrived had recently evaporated. Outlanders cavorted in town, often engaging in private duels, disturbing the peace of this quiet hamlet. Chickens, sheep, and cows were often slaughtered with impunity and the game, once abundant out of town, grew scarce. He had repeatedly professed his innocence in these deeds, but to no avail. He was Outlander.

He wandered aimlessly for a few hours, trying to ignore the spectacular but intimidating view of a shattered moon swirling across the night sky.

Every night when I see this, I can never forget that I know not where I am, thought Ulf. Cowering in my room has not brought any joy. My forge is cold and all my tools have been confiscated by bailiffs. Can listening to Merlin make things any worse?

When he finally made his way home, it was no surprise to see Merlin on his front steps, calmly smoking a long-stemmed clay pipe. “We must leave here,” Merlin said.

“To where? For what purpose? Why should I accompany you?”

“It is obvious to many that someone or something is forming an army,” said Merlin. “War has swept this land before,

Hello everyone! Here is the news! Hope you are enjoying Release 30!!!

* Play Release 30 Now!

* Hospitaller Refueling Stations

* Release 30 Postmortem Invite

* Brittany Alleys

* Name Reservation

* New Cloth Tunic, Polished Cloth Doublet, & Viking Helm

* New Tropical Island PoT Template & PoT Templates Page

* MMORPG Previews: Release 30’s Big Changes

* Gold Crowns of the Obsidians

* Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Deeds (Bundles Only)

* Viking Row House Tax Free Player Owned Lot Bundles

* 61 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

* Community Resources – Players Helping Players

* In-game Community Events

* Upcoming Events

* Backer Shipping Addresses

* Recommended Projects to Back

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a wonderful story from Ulf Berht. It is entitled

Prologue (Ulf Berht’s Bio)

It is the first chapter of a longer story, so stay tuned for more!

Background music by Smartsound

Three summers I have endured this second exile. three winters since I was ripped yet again from all things familiar.

My childhood was cruel, torn as I was from family and friends as our boat foundered in the swirling, rocky rapids of the River Volga. The Brigands on the bank had forced us to risk the river. I watched as one by one my family was swallowed by the torrent. Many times since, I have wished that my mother had not lashed me to some planks before she slipped beneath.

After these small men with round faces had gathered what they could of our trade goods, I was bundled into a wheeled cage stuffed with other human wretches. I survived the long trip, as others did not, because of my value. A blonde child was worth much in the slave markets of Constantinople. Like many of my folk, I was big for my age and was expected to grow into a man as large as any of the Vikings in service to the Byzantine Emperor. I was eventually sold into a clan that specialized in metal work. I was treated well, taught to read Greek and Latin, and became privy to the family secrets of iron and steel.

In my 23rd year, a plague decimated my Master’s clan. On his death bed and with no remaining family, my Master granted me my freedom and his remaining stock. The Emperor taxed most of it, but enough was left for me to be well off. I was no longer a barbarian from the North. I was literate, well-travelled, and determined to return closer to home.

Denmark was now my chosen destination, but fickle winds forced my passage onto the southern shores of Britain, near where the River Tamar flows out to the sea. Monks from a nearby abbey arrived before the wreckers did, so most of my stock survived the beaching. I was injured, but my Greek and Latin lessened any suspicions about my intentions and heritage. The same monks aided my recuperation, so I was soon about. I was taken in with the beauty of the land and became content to settle. An abbey is always in need of a blacksmith and my reputation grew from there.

To incur the wrath of beings that care not about human suffering is a punishment beyond comprehension. I committed no heinous crime, I transgressed no moral lore nor the divine teachings of any prophet. I sought only to ply an honest trade and practice an art painfully won.

I curse the day I crossed paths with the enigma known as Merlin. His gold was pure and the offered purse was heavy, so I took it up without hesitation. “Ply your trade,” he said. “Craft me a sword better than any you have forged before. It must be fit for a king, for that is its destiny. Spare no coin, avoid no sweat, and fear not for loss of trade; no expense will be too great.”

My past Master had, on occasion, sent me to Sri Lanka to observe native craftsmen making the ore cakes necessary for Damascus Steel. I remember watching the monsoon winds drive gigantic bellows and marvelling as the heat turned rain into steam a man’s height above the furnace. In the inferno of this furnace, the alchemy of magnetic lodestone, found only in this island’s mines, combined with the finest ironwood charcoal to produce a steel superior to all others. Barely 10 Roman pounds of these ingots survived my travels and the best of these I committed to Merlin.

My two strongest apprentices and I, with heat and hammers beat the glowing bricks into strips as thin as parchment, folded them together and beat them again and again. The last step I alone undertook: two days in a secret chamber that was encased in many layers of peat. The first day was a test of mortal endurance, keeping the heat in the room as hot as I could withstand, gently quenching the blade with my own sweat.

Hello everyone! Here is the news!

* New Female Avatar

* Kiln Cistern (a work in progress)

* Final Duke Tour & Round-table

* New Community Manager: Berek

* Spring Telethon Rewards

* Shroud of the Avatar Wax Cylinder Soundtrack Volumes 2 & 3

* Ornate Iron Wall Light 3-Pack

* 68 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

* Community Resources – Players Helping Players

* In-game Community Events

* Upcoming Events

* Backer Shipping Addresses

* Recommended Projects to Back

Here is another awesome song by our Soul grabbing star Apollox Evanheart!

 

Sweet Tendencies by Apollox Evanheart

She said she likes the way

That I make her feel

She had a broken heart

And I was the heal

She was an wreak

But not that way anymore

She likes the way I make her feel

I was something she could adore

Many emotions we can come together

We can share this laughter

And spend time forever

We can make this feel

More then alright

Come over my place

And you can spend the night

So much I am a softy

I’m a big teddy bear

So you don’t have to get off me

I want you to have the best time

You ever did

Forget your past

Your ex boyfriend was the bitch

I am the best thing

That happened to you

But honestly and truthfully

You complete me too

Lets forget about those bad times

Lets save up your energy

We have a whole life

To make new memories

Damn lil momma

I see your smile

Forget about my own past

Stare at you for awhile

Forget about the x

I already found my treasure

I’m lost in your touches

Buried in your pleasure

Leave out the emotion

And just have some fun

Forget about your toys

Lets just use our tongues

I didn’t mean to be naughty

I meant that as a whisper

If I use my tongue

You’ll find me a good kisser

I’m just trying to figure out

What’s Next

We can go to my place

And I can show you my flex

I respect you

For everything you are

But you and I want the same thing

And that’s to go hard

This ale has me

A little tipsy

But we should start the night off

With a strip tease

I want you to know

My feelings for you are real

You seem like my Wonder women

And I’m your man of steele