Aprender sent the following report to TMN:
"What has the Healers' Guild done with the creatures in its zoo? When I visited it just recently, all the pens were completely empty. As this was my first return visit after a very long time, I have no idea if the removal of the creatures is recent or had been done some time ago.
"Do any readers have inside knowledge that might explain the disappearance of the creatures, or care to speculate on possible reasons? Could this be part of preparation of new healer tests, for example?"
How long have exiles been waiting for the permits to open the South Forest Outpost altar annex? Is there a way to expedite the process? Is there corruption in the permits office?
Bonk reports on a successful "Less Than Fourth" hunt to points north of town in his most recent journal entry.
Lundar sent the following announcement to TMN:
Clan E'las Loth'mon Ferindril is happy to announce that we have selected the finalists for the Better Homes and Tree Houses Competition! They are: Kani, Phiros, Stinkfist, Mephisto, and Tara. Their entries will now be forwarded to the judging panel, who will select the overall winner and runner-up. Congratulations to the finalists, and tan'ki to all the contestants who shared their wonderful homes with us.
Contest Scrolls: http://www.ferindril.org/twiki/bin/view/Ferindril/HouseContest
In his latest journal entry, Bonk describes some recent expeditions he's attended with more experienced exiles.
Bonk says, "You need to take risks and chances to see the sights, be amazed, and really feel as though you've only 'dented the surface' when it comes to exploration of the Lok'Groton chain. When people invite you to the faraway lands, sunstone back and say 'Yes, damnit!'—even if it means a depart or lying on your back for hours, I've never regretted the invites."
(Wise words from this Zo, says this old Thoom. -Para)
Azriel's latest journal entry features reports on pathfinding as well as news on various expeditions and rescues. Highlights include the latest news on Trillbane's Commentaries on Ways and Azriel's account of helping Gilgamesh escape from a mob of Scavenger Birds.
Althea sent the following report to TMN:
"The lands have gone crazy! Cats sleeping with dogs, Prue cuddling kittens and puppies, but this . . . this is the scariest:
"Evil Crete."
Noids have invaded Puddleby. Exiles have cleared them back to the farms and fields; the marsh, however is packed with Noids.
Vequalir reports in the most recent ELF Blog entry on a clan meeting and hunt in Dreadwood.
Creed also reported some Clan Destine news to TMN:
"Clan Destine is proud to announce the induction of our newest member: Claudia, a lovely and talented Fen fighter, as you all know.
"Claudia was inducted on Gradi, day 61 of Spring, 557, followed by a raucous celebration in the clan's new apartment in Puddleby Hollows. The party was well-oiled by a cask of honey ale brewed by our own Sim.
"Although some clan members were heard to mention that we might have to change our name to Fen Destine, others were of the opinion that a clan can never have too many Fen. We are all thrilled to have Claudia with us."
Creed sent the following report to TMN:
"I thought some exiles might get a kick out of this. Yesterday, while fishing in the shroom hut, I witnessed Booboo the cat being unusually friendly and funny. He even took an extended swim in the lake and checked out my fishing gear!
"Lately, several exiles have witnessed various creatures swimming in the bodies of water throughout our island—even creatures that don't normally swim, like arachne (visionstoned by Fiona and Lorikeet). Perhaps with summer moving in, the temperatures are rising and all creatures are seeking some relief from the heat."
Lightbringer sent the following report to TMN:
"Recently in town, Super Chicken organized a foot-grab line. At its zenith, it consisted of 15 exiles! It was also a flagged line for a time. CHICKEN GRAB FOOT!"
Bonk tells of nearly passing the third circle test in his most recent journal entry.
(Sorry about the less-than-flattering image above, Bonk. I can't find a better screenshot of you with your name on it, and there was no image associated with this report. If you'd like to send one, I'll be happy to store it in the TMN archives and use it when appropriate. This brings up a good point for those of you who submit reports to TMN, by the way. If I don't have a screenshot of you from the past, it's a good idea to send one along with your submission. TMN style is to use genuine screenshots whenever possible, and all TMN entries go up with some sort of graphic. -Para)
Bonk reports on Sun Dragon Clan's "Less Than Fourth" series of hunts in his most recent journal entry.
Joe GM spoke with exiles last night regarding some recent concerns about changes to the karma system.
Zorton has provided TMN with a visionstone of Joe GM in jail.
Find out more about the ongoing karma discussion on the Clan Lord Sentinel:
What was the original intent of the karma system? How has it changed?
What do you think of the new karma changes?
You can vote in a poll about Noivad's proposed alternative karma system.
Mayo recently explained in town center the circumstances of his return.
Mayo exclaims, "hey Paramedic!"
(Paramedic smiles and waves.)
Mayo exclaims, "Put me on the cover of TMN, I'm back from my grand journey!"
Paramedic asks, "a visit to the undiscovered country?"
Mayo says, "ahh well, if you haven't heard the story, it's a glorious one"
Mayo says, "not exactly an undiscovered country . . . see, a culcan ate me . . ."
Paramedic says, "Oh, that sounds painful"
Mayo says, "ahh well, it mostly just smelled bad"
Paramedic says, "Urgh."
Mayo says, "but I got the last laugh in the end because he couldn't digest me properly and washed up on a beach and died"
Paramedic asks, "So then you climbed out?"
Mayo says, "well, crawled . . ."
(Paramedic nods)
Mayo says, "my axe couldn't really hack anything to get out, not enough Atkus, you see"
Paramedic says, "That makes sense."
Mayo says, "and then luckily enough, Zephyrus (he was with me in the culcan, we were travelling together) had pilfered a coffee table"
Mayo says, "and so we used his stolen coffee table as a boat and paddled our way back to town"
Mayo asks, "glorious, eh?"
Paramedic says, "Yeah. I like the coffee table."
Mayo says, "the final time count was around 2 years and 5 months"
Mayo says, "give or take a month or two . . ."
Mayo says, "my adventures sadly haven't got me strong enough to pass 4th though =("
Mayo says, "I have thoomy matters to attend"
ELF is planning a clan reunion. Read more in Fleming's report on the ELF Blog.
Exiles in town center are turning red in droves. Some say the karma system has gone out of whack.
Read more in the New Karma forum on the Clan Lord Sentinel.
Sor sent the following report to TMN:
"Good day!
"I thought I might report that during a recent chat in Pengyworld, a nice GM agreed to look into the lasting Lyfe Claw shortage, and found out that indeed there was a problem! It couldn't be fixed right away, but there's serious hope that claws will be found again, and that we can finally craft more Catsbane Necklaces. Even Joebot said "Thanks!" for that.
"Later on, the nice GM summoned a few Lesser Sors, Greater Mephistos, and Super Wimpys before wiping everybody with a . . . Knob Bonk! It took Refareus' flash visit to get rid of the deadly beast."
Chaos Storm #377 has swept the Lok'Groton island chain. Please post any changes you have observed and wish to share with others in the comments. If you don't want to read possible spoilers, please do not read the comments.
Azriel sent this report to TMN:
"Many problems with updates this Storm since the DNS entry seems lost for
deltatao.com, so the client can't find the updater files. If you download
the update files, you can connect. JoeGM appeared and suggested going to
http://h2.interxstream.com/~deltata/clanlord/ for the files, or you can
download them from my scrolls:"
http://azriel.puddleby.info/ClanLord.377.osx.bin.gz (OSX/carbon)
http://azriel.puddleby.info/ClanLord.377.68k.bin.gz (68k fat)
http://azriel.puddleby.info/CL_Sounds.375to377.gz
http://azriel.puddleby.info/CL_Images.375to377.gz
Azriel has posted a report on the recent pathfinding breakthrough in his most recent journal entry.
J'nder sent the following report to TMN:
"Here are some sketches I made during a recent invasion. Creatures from the passes came out and occupied East Forest, Tanglewood, East Field and even parts of town. Many, many greymyrs and wendies formed a barrier across East Field, denying passage to exiles. Time and time again, monsters were driven back only to re-spawn and force the exiles to regroup.
"Many rare creatures, such as Dusk, Day, and Dawn Wendies and Large Silverback Wendies were seen. A new type of greymyr, nicknamed the Über Greymyr, was seen too. Much tougher, stronger and harder to hit than normal greymyrs, they took a lot of rodding and the bravery of many fighters to destroy. They also threw five rocks at a time, seemingly targeting anyone that shouted.
"Exiles still seem to be finding remnants of the invasion even now, four days later."
In related news, Harper sent the following report to TMN:
"Important Safety Tip: Don't yell around the super greymyrs!"
"A new and potent greymyr has emerged from the deep places in the Greymyr Mountains and invaded the forests east of our fair town. These super greymyr are crafty and listen for exiles shouting. They then target the shouter and send a barrage of four or more rocks in rapid-fire succession right at him or her. This sad truth was learned during yesterday's invasion when a well-meaning healer (er, me) was shouting to tell folks where the fallens were. The result was a ton of rocks on the hapless healer and her helpless fallens. We all ended up perilously near death—so severe that even Lorikeet in collaboration with Horus' other top students were unable to raise us. Maeght graciously gave his life for science to test this hypothesis several ways, so we're sure that yelling is an extremely bad idea around the super greymyrs. Another ominous development: the greymyr appear to have entered into an unholy alliance with the most powerful elements of the Wendecka tribes, including Elder Midnight Wendeckas and Silverbacks. Finally, there was a barrage of chain breaks during this invasion—more than is usual. Coincidence? or a portent of things to come?"
CJ parker sent the following report to TMN:
"After seven or eight years of hard work (16 months OOC) by all involved, PAG finally breached the Noids' outer defenses and succeeded in reaching and holding the cavern which houses the second pathfinding book. Many of the team's pathfinders began their training that day, and we were all overjoyed to finally reach our goal.
"It's very early days still, and we have yet to fully explore or understand the benefits of this training. Rest assured that we will keep TMN and Puddleby updated on our explorations."
"You can read more about the past trips in Azriel's diaries, which he will be updating shortly."
A message from Joe at Delta Tao:
Greetings!
I've just returned from a one-year sabbatical from Delta Tao in Hong Kong, and we're going to celebrate by ramping Clan Lord back up to its glory days over the next few months.
As a first step, we're re-opening all expired Clan Lord accounts, so old players can come back and see how the world has changed, and how it's changing. Come back and meet all your old friends!
You can download the Mac OS X client at http://www.deltatao.com/downloads/clanlord/mac/ClanLord.sit. We're also working on a Java client for Windows users -- email me for details about that if you'd like to test it.
We don't have email addresses for most players, so please pass the word that Clan Lord is free again for the next few months. It's going to be great.
I'm afraid that if your account has been expired for more than a year, your characters have likely been deleted. If you'd like to revive them, let me know -- but it will cost $29.95, because it's a huge pain for us to sift through the old databases to find them. Really you should just create a newbie again, because there's so much new stuff for low level characters to do. And they're fun.
If you need help with your account name or password, or anything else, just let me know.
I'm looking forward to seeing you again.
Thanks!
Joe Williams
President, Delta Tao
Bonk has started a journal account of his adventures.
His latest entry discusses an apparent increase in biodiversity.
Azriel reports in his latest journal entry on the latest blacksmith developments, including the discovery of crowbar technology and the rush to get ore.
The GMs of Clan Lord held a meeting to decide the future of the lands. You can read about some of the decisions on Joe's blog.
The Clan Lord Sentinel has further discussion.
Updated 2/8/05:
Other news from Joe: "We're doing a promotion where we're reactivating all expired accounts until 4/5/05 so they can try CL again and see what's new. Pass it on."
Feauial has updated his journal with news of his most recent adventures.
In her latest journal entry, Poesy discusses when she does and when she does not enjoy fighting.
Recent news on the ELF Blog includes Fleming passing the 5th circle test and hunts on Gungla Island and in the Valley.
Azriel reports on changes at the blacksmith in his most recent journal entry.
Chaos Storm #375 has swept the Lok'Groton island chain. Please post any changes you have observed and wish to share with others in the comments. If you don't want to read possible spoilers, please do not read the comments.