Moonglow Tour course

A great time tonight at the regatta hosted by *V* at the Red Wolf Cafe. Many people showed but only a few dared to brave the chilly waters surrounding Moonglow. The racers included Loopy FTH, Gweneth Farblade *V* and Tancred Redstar *V*. Many spectators showed to lend their support, a contingent of UTB, Dove Falconhand, Jazmine, Emma Silvermane and Dragon Tamer, Shaddar and Terra of *V* and Seth. When everyone finally got thru the gate it seemed like almost at once all 3 contestants got their boats in the water rather quickly. Loopy was leading the way with Gweneth and Tancred close behind. A few messages from the spotters indicated that Loopy was leading at one point and then a fog rolled in and the spotters lost her. (Was it the edge of the world?, The Devils Quadrangle?, or the Isle of Man?) Meanwhile, Gweneth was close in Tancred's wake at about the half way point. Gweneth was trying to steal Tancreds wind, but he tacked to port and caught a gust and was off.

When the first boat crossed the finish line all the spectators where howling and Terra was shooting off her fireworks. Tancred was first to cross the finish line and took home the check for 50k, Next came Gweneth and she won the check for 25k and soon after a smiling Loopy sailed in and took her check for 10k.

Thanks again everyone for coming and racing and I would like to thank Anton KCR for helping me orgainize and gate the people and racers to the start/finish line. Thanks Anton.

Cya all next month. -Magni[ *V*]

Evil Decor is Back!

The previously recalled Evil Home Decor Items have once again be re-activated on all shards! "The Evil Décor Collection has returned in all its malevolent glory. The Bed of Nails is bloodier than ever. The Couch of Bone is still insulting. The Mounted Pixies still would like very much to be released from the pins holding them to the plaques." If you have your code from the first time the items were released, they should work again. If you never got them or have lost them, you can re-request them here.

No word yet on what or when something will be done to recompense those who bought evil item tokens during the initial release for gold but then had those tokens/items deleted during the purge. One thing worth pointing out is that since those items will only be going to a certain number of people(and not *everyone* like the tokens are), they may end up being even more interesting or valuable! As a sidenote, the items are also being sold for cash - see UO.com for details.

GateKeeper calls forth John Duke

Lissa Eldi, Ignis Corus and Tancred RedStar were at the PaxLair weekly meeting(held in PaxOku this week) tonight prior to the guild tournament. The meeting had some interesting notes including the appointment of a new position within the PaxLair government to handle and monitor quests. Halfway through the meeting, a yamadon also paid a visit which temporarily suspended the proceedings as the town had to be defended. Towards the end of the meeting, the mysterious GateKeeper appeared outside. With an ominous tone, it warned that a dangerous rift between this world and the Underworld had opened and that one must be taken forth to avoid a great peril. As the crowd looked with suspense at one another, the GateKeeper proclaimed that one person must accompany it back to the gate, and that one person was John Duke.

With time running out, the GateKeeper bade John to say his farewells and prepare himself as he would likely not be returning. John Duke slowly rose and walked to the front of the meeting hall and reflected on his time, friends and life in PaxLair. Calls poured forth for him not to depart, but John quietly accepted his destiny saying this thing happens sooner or later, but today was his day. Winfield spoke on John's invaluable contributions to PaxLair and the realm and said his farewell. Others, accepting what must be, soon followed suit. Amid a chorus of both cheers and tears, the GateKeeper led John Duke of PaxLair away to the entrance of the Underworld.

This solemn event struck many with suprise intense emotion. For those that knew John Duke, he was always an affable fellow, full of honor and humor. Aside from his service to PaxLair which are too numerous to even begin to list here, John was a great friend and frequent visitor to Gyldenfeld and the Red Wolf Cafe. His parlance between the orcs and Gyldenfeld was well served in the recent months. He will be truly be missed as a great and fun-loving man. Safe journeys wherever his feet may take him.

After the meeting had adjourned, it was time for the monthly guild tournament. Held on the docks in Nu'jelm, it was a mix of both quick fights and drawn out duels. In the end, only one could prevail. Magni reigned supreme tonight, beating out all the other contestants and now must face Kara within one week for the title of Guild Champion.

Pack of 8 racers start off

The Chesapeake Summer Triathalon was held at the Red Wolf Cafe in Gyldenfeld this eve with a pack of both contestants and onlookers. After Tancred explained the rules and took questions, Cara[*V*] gated everyone to the starting line. Once lined up and wished a good and fair race, they were off with a shout! The race remained tight for the first segment, the foot race to the Red Wolf Cafe. The second, mounted portion of the race thinned the pack a little, but was still anyone's race as they rode north to the Yew crossroads. Once they turned east and passed the Desert of Compassion and Silvervale, Cotton Eye Joe[!C!] and Gweneth Farblade[*V*] started to pull ahead. But it was the final portion of the race, sailing from Vesper to Moonglow, that ultimately decided the victors. Sailing into Moonglow with a fair lead over the others, Cotton was the first one to make landfall, winning the Triathalon and the prize package of 50,000 gold and an ethereal mount statue as a trophy.

Citing his courage and determination, Lady Zynia kindly donated her race winnings to Rogan to help him start his life on Chesapeake. Cotton also made the generous gesture and passed his prize check to the tenacious Rogan as well. Not only was it a great race with an exciting finish, but a happy ending as well.

Lissa calls meeting to order

The Fellowship of Virtue held it's bi-weekly meeting at it's Guild Hall in Gyldenfeld Thursday evening. Among the topics, Gweneth Farblade will soon be managing the guild vendor in order to help raise gold for the guild. Guidelines on donations will be posted shortly, but Lissa has already handed over a number of nice things to help get the vendor going. After some discussion, the issue of a replacement title for the Mage ranks(no longer issuable since Samurai Empire was released) was finally brought to a close. After months of protracted discussions and voting, it was formally agreed to merge the Mage rank titles to Knight. Some nominal discussions later on suggested perhaps a revision of the Soldier rank title may also be a possibility.

Another important item of the meeting was the scheduling of events for August. Several dates have already been set but a few more await to be finalized. See the Events Calendar for listings. Also, contact Tancred if you wish to add an event on an open date.

In regards to community news, Tancred mentioned the recent departure of John Duke, taken by the GateKeeper just a few days earlier. He related the tale to those present as he, Lissa and Ignis had been eyewitnesses to the event. He also discussed the need for an archeological survey to be conducted in Gyldenfeld given the relatively small body of knowledge about the area prior to the Britannian year 289(and especially eras before the unifcation of the realm by Lord British). Most of the current knowledge on this topic revolves around myth more than fact, so hopefully research and digs could shed more light on the matter.

Lastly, after the meeting adjourned, a group scouted out some locations for this Sunday's upcoming Red Wolf Cafe Benefit Hunt. The hunt location has yet to be finalized, but will be an all-volunteer effort to aggregate as much gold as possible in a hunt to be donated to the cafe to fund continuing and future events, starting this Sunday at 10pm EST. Typically, gold and prizes are donated soley by the event hosts and their generosity. By maintaining a pool of funds to draw upon, it helps keep events well-funded and offer exciting prizes to participants.

Slaughtering Balrons for a good cause

The first Red Wolf Cafe Benefit Hunt was held Sunday evening. Volunteers came forth for the benefit hunt in hopes of raising money to help fund the cafe. Meeting up at the cafe, the group first set out for the depths of Hythloth, where they battled dozens and dozens of balrons for over an hour. After a short respite back in town to resupply, the group then set off for Destard and the dreaded Shadow Wyrm's den. In total, tonight's hunt hauled in a hefty 140,000 gold and a number of items to be sold for additional gold. Special thanks to those who attended, including Lissa, Xotche and Magni!

Each week, sometimes even multiple times each week, public events are held at the cafe, almost always with a variety of prizes ranging from gold checks to prized items such as minor artifacts, ethereal mounts, vet rewards, rares and other goodies. Of course, all cafe events are typically funded by the event host and over the years the funds donated for the benefit of the community is large indeed. In addition to donations also made by generous benefactors every so often, the hunt is a way to help offset the operating costs.

Another fundraiser, a bake sale, will be announced soon!