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[UO Herald] In the Shadow of Virtue: Excerpts from the latest edition of BNN…

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Virtuebane Defeated!

In a daring attack against the Bane Chosen encampment on Magincia, Britannian forces succeeded in driving Virtuebane back to his shard and destroying the portal that allowed him to cross over. Many brave adventurers died in reclaiming that tortured land but many more are now safe because of their efforts.

We caught up with Lieutenant Dan, a young soldier just back from the Magincia campaign. This is what he had to say:

“Well, the Captain told us that we had to get it done or Virtuebane was going to use the crystal to destroy the world, so we just went and did the best we could.”

We here at BNN have pieced together a rough account of the events that led to this fateful day, and pray that you will forgive your humble correspondents if our records err:

The crystal referred to by Lt. Dan was none other than the fabled Crystal of Duplicity. Rumored to have been conjured by the legendary mage Nystul during the creation of Trammel, this powerful artifact has been stolen more frequently than a rusty old key. Reportedly, Minax absconded with it from Magincia and used it to invade Trammel. Lord British defeated her and, recovering the crystal, hid it in the royal castle. Several years ago Virtuebane destroyed Magincia trying to find it, not realizing it was previously stolen. Finally last year it re-surfaced from its hiding place in the castle, leading to a second attempt of Virtuebane to claim his prize.

Your correspondents asked Sir Geoffrey for a quote:

“We are all very grateful to the brave men and women who went to Maginica to defeat Virtuebane. We are also grateful to our new allies: the Gargoyles, the Meer, the Ophidians, and the Ethereal Warriors. Their willingness to band together against overwhelming odds won the day and once again saved us all.”

That was not a misprint, folks: Ophidians and Ethereal Warriors aided Britannia. It is no great surprise that the Gargoyles and the Meer fought shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers. As many of you know, dear readers, we Britannians came to the aid of the Ophidians when they were attacked by the Bane Chosen early last year. A few months ago when the Bane Chosen attacked various cities of Britannia, the Ophidians returned the favor. Who knew that the Ophidians understood Honor?

The astonishing news is that, in an unprecedented triumph of diplomacy, the clever Meer enlisted the help of the elusive Ethereal Warriors from their home in Ilshenar. The Ethereal Warriors and Meer both suffered heavy losses in the battle for Magincia, but, as the leaders of the guard tell your humble correspondents, without them all would have been lost.
Your humble correspondents have been doggedly hounding the provisional council with tough questions about their policy against the Bane Chosen. An official statement from the council suggests that their delay in ordering a direct assault was due to their effort to preserve lives. It was deemed too risky without first finding our late Queen Dawn’s Sword of Humility, the only known weapon that even has a chance of killing Virtuebane. However, once Virtuebane had the crystal, it was now or never.

Your correspondents asked Mage Dexter at the castle for a comment:

“The artifact is capable of duplicating anything, even worlds. When Ricardo was duplicated, his madness was not duplicated to his… err… duplicate… so the Ricardo duplicate revealed to us that Virtuebane planned to duplicate his world in place of ours. Virtuebane had already discovered how to duplicate himself; it was only a matter of time before he discovered how to duplicate his shard.”

So, noble and hygienic readers, is the world safe? Will Virtuebane be back? Have we seen the last of his bloody reign of terror, or might he strike again at any moment? Your diligent correspondents caught up with the noted monk and demonologist Zhaholay and asked him the same questions:

“Well, it seems he still has part of the crystal, but it is unlikely that Virtuebane can come back to Britannia without significant assistance to aid his passage, such as the ritual force of an entire cult. The real question is: who led the Bane Chosen before the demon’s arrival and is that person still alive? Also, is this the same person that let him through four years ago?”

Sobering concerns indeed, honorable reader. The council assured your journalists that they are still investigating the matter and, I quote, “that it is most likely that the villain was turned into an ancient hellhound with the rest of the Bane Chosen and thus will never ever be found now go away I’m eating dinner.”

New Magincia Rises From the Ashes

A few days after Virtuebane’s defeat, a small group of loyalists gathered on Magincia. They carried with them the Crystal of Duplicity, attempting to perform the ritual to reconnect Magincia in Trammel with Magincia in Felucca once again. The BNN mage on staff informs your thorough correspondents that this is the essential first step in rebuilding the town, which has lain in ruins ever since the forces of Virtuebane attacked the first time, four years ago.

Construction has now begun on what will be hence known as “New Magincia”. The provisional council is holding a lottery to determine who may settle this hard-won land and claim it as their home.

National Celebrity Pronounced Sane

Mr. Ricardo, a man who needs no introduction, was declared sane today by a panel of respected healers. The notorious thief *** political advisor was not available for comment, but healer Kendra confided in your clever correspondents:

“We knew his illness was the direct result of an enchantment. It seems that Virtuebane lost his grip on Ricardo’s mind during his defeat. I’m not sure how, but Mr. Ricardo had discovered Virtuebane’s plan back when the Bane Chosen were first forming and Virtuebane placed a curse on him to prevent him from revealing what he knew.”

BNN would like to offer the warmest of welcomes to the celebrated Mr. Ricardo, and our staff wish him the speediest of recoveries. From all of us here: good to have you back!



More...
 

Heimi

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Before this is taken apart for grammatical errors and such I'd just like to say: Yay BNN! :D
 
C

Capn Kranky

Guest
gotta love the obscenity filter here, but nicely done! ties up some of the "huh? what?" things.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Thank you for publishing something to tie up loose ends. Now, for the sake of everyone who ever left UO sometime in the last couple of years and might come back later and want to do some reading to catch up on things, don't lose this!!

:thumbup:
 

Nonel

Sage
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
But Lieutenant Dan, you aint got no legs
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Before this is taken apart for grammatical errors and such I'd just like to say: Yay BNN! :D
As one of the people who normally do such a thing, on first read-through I find nothing objectionable.

Substantively a few things make me blink but nothing more than blink. (Meaning a few things feel like they might be a contradiction of previous lore, but also like they could be explained with some ease....And, thus, I ain't gonna worry about it.)

So, thus far, I join in on the:

:thumbup:

If for some reason successive readings turn me around, or if one of my many more-negative friends points out to me something horrendous that I have missed, I'll be sure to jump in again. (And, I say sarcastically, I am certain all will care and care a lot.)

Like Cal said in one of the video things, the video HoC I think: Content should be "grounded." Fiction is critical to grounding. I am impressed by how they planted the seed of the current quest/scenario previously (introducing the gargoyle separatists before they were actually explained was a risky move but it's paying off now), and I am impressed that they wrapped up the now-finished In the Shadow of Virtue arc.

-Galen's player
 

Hildebrand

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Great to see BNN and thank you UO staff for giving some background as to what this last story arc was about. This explanation helped me a lot.

You should do this more often.
 

T-Hunt

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Nice update guys, thanks.
Now heres a quwstion for your story line.

What happened to poor Mirendel the baby silver dragon?
Will she wait for ever to get a bed time story that will never come?

Was it told to her that her mama of sorts is dead?
They kind of left us in the dark there?

I did see a Giant Seer Dragon/wyvern beside her on Brit castle roof , but thats it..

The people want the know.....whats going on....
 
R

RavenWinterHawk

Guest
It is a very good story.


But didnt they just turn off the bane and the event ended.

Would have prefered something like this story.
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Nice update guys, thanks.
Now heres a quwstion for your story line.

What happened to poor Mirendel the baby silver dragon?
Will she wait for ever to get a bed time story that will never come?

Was it told to her that her mama of sorts is dead?
They kind of left us in the dark there?

I did see a Giant Seer Dragon/wyvern beside her on Brit castle roof , but thats it..

The people want the know.....whats going on....
That stuff is Great Lakes-specific.

The other shards didn't have it.

Same with Virtuebane's associates/employees, the Demon Conclave, and their blood feud with Pyros, the Elemental Titan of Fire. Also the evil events where the "Knives in the Grass" of the Bane Chosen tried to hunt down Ricardo and slaughter the Meer.

All that stuff was thanks to Great Lakes's EMs Malachi and Elizabella.

Some shards also integrated the official storyline into their EM events, some didn't.

The baby dragon is actually kidnapped by the Crimson Dragons at the moment; the next of the weekly Royal Spy events will hopefully involve us rescuing her...Or I suppose we could fail and end up being made to watch as a Crimson Dragon hatchling eats her.

But if you would like to help in making that not happen: usual time, usual place, PM me if you don't know what that is.

-Galen's player
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It is a very good story.


But didnt they just turn off the bane and the event ended.

Would have prefered something like this story.
No.

All shards, as far as I can tell anyway, had a one-off event where we attacked Magincia, threw pies at Virtuebane to weaken him (humiliation being the closest we could come to Humility in the absence of Dawn's sword) and directly engaged him in PvP combat (as he was played by the EMs, as far as I can tell...I got the "you are attacking Virtuebane!!!" message when I attacked him).

Despite the weirdness of using the pies (which were distributed by Ricardo), I found the event effective and lots of people seemed to have a lot of fun.

-Galen's player
 
R

RavenWinterHawk

Guest
No.

All shards, as far as I can tell anyway, had a one-off event where we attacked Magincia, threw pies at Virtuebane to weaken him (humiliation being the closest we could come to Humility in the absence of Dawn's sword) and directly engaged him in PvP combat (as he was played by the EMs, as far as I can tell...I got the "you are attacking Virtuebane!!!" message when I attacked him).

Despite the weirdness of using the pies (which were distributed by Ricardo), I found the event effective and lots of people seemed to have a lot of fun.

-Galen's player
Ah must have been watching hockey.

Pies really... I slaughter hundreds of lives and they used pies... hmm.
 
T

Trebr Drab

Guest
I've never been enamored with the entire BNN thing. It's a cute play on anagrams and all, but I'd much prefer the writings of historians or letters of local constabulary and nobility. Something that feels more serious and less comical.

I'm not against humor, but it needs to be hidden better for that kind of jocularity and frivolity or the game starts to take on a silliness that's not to my liking.

I appreciate the wrap up. Hope there's something for the future as it seems.
 
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