The whole expansion is looking pretty sweet so far. I can't wait to try boarding and sinking some NPC pirate ships.

[Task 1 - Discipline or Death]

Task 1 - Discipline or Death

Exercise lead by:
Graum Trolle, Watchman

Attended by:
Celuvian Haap, Arcanist
Ilyana, Junior Arcanist
Sergio Jarrett, Junior Scout

Exercise Objective:
Practice Mind over Matter to improve discipline.

Location:
Dagger Island, starting at Deceit and circling the island.


Results of Exercise:
   The task of the exercise was to teach discipline, which in turn I decided to try to accomplish by exposure. Strain, stress, laziness, inability, mental weakness and disfamiliarity prevent most people from having maximum control of their own bodies. When situations become stressful, cold or uncomfortable then people who have been trained to rigidly form their bodies around their will will undoubtedly perform better than regular people. When a soldier moves on to skill at arms training the casual motionless and calmness, despite discomfort, is an essential ability of a good fighter. If a soldier is not used to ignoring the minor discomforts of a held position, their minds will be distracted and their attacks will be less accurate.
   Based on this principle the exercise was to expose those present to conditions harsh enough to cause this discomfort. In this case this was done by going to Dagger Island, getting mostly undressed, and then getting wet from a brief dip in the ocean. This lowered the body temperature of the subjects to such a degree that their bodies would start to go numb, and their minds would go dull. To avoid serious injury from the cold this was combined with physical exercise, to both keep their minds awake to some degree, and to keep their bodies active and keep it from shutting down from the cold.

Conclusion:
   Mind over Matter is a great idea, and with regular exposure to harsh conditions like this people will grow stronger and more resilient. Force of will leads to calm and disciplined soldiers.





Signed,
Graum Trolle
Watchman

Have a good one yourself, old man!

Ahoy there!

I just figured I'd share something that I just came across last week and that has made me very happy. Dropbox is a great service that gives you 2gb free online storage space, more then enough for another 13 years of UO reports and screenshots. Whats really cool though is how it handles the files, as its all done with a little program that integrates with Windows, so rather then using FTP programs or such to upload pictures, or things like imageshack, you just drop the files in a specific dropbox folder on your harddrive and it syncs it with the storage for your dropbox account. You can then simply right-click a file and there is an option to copy the public link to that file which can be easily added to a report or whatever. All very nice and nifty.

Dropbox

A great tip for anyone taking and hosting lots of screenshots.

[Training lead by:]

Training lead by:
Celuvian Haap, Arcanist

Attended by:
Graum Trolle, Watchman

Arcanist Haap was kind enough to take the time to give me another lesson in the ways of an Arcanist, and in this specific case tips on how to battle another magician yourself.

The training started out with a discussion of how there are two sides to a mage's combat, Offense and Defense. When you are on the defense your aim is to keep yourself alive and well, and one step ahead of the opponent. While on the offense instead the focus lies solely on how to best destroy your opponent.

For the defense the key is to learn to predict and anticipate your opponents moves, and countering them on the spot. This way you will always stay on an even level with your attacker. Failure to keep up will leave you falling behind, making it more and more of a struggle to keep from getting knocked out. As an example he explained that upon hearing an enemy mage utter the words "In Nox" your brain should instantly respond by saying "An Nox", and so on.

Offense on the other hand is all about timing. Combining your offensive spells to the best overall attack is key to make sure your opponent is unable to counter the attack. If you fail to maintain a good pacing on your attacks the enemy will have an easy time countering and absorbing the effect of your spells.

To demonstrate this Arcanist Haap showed me a basic combination of offensive spells used in two different ways. This way he was able to show the difference it makes to time these attacks together in such a way as to make it impossible for me to heal myself between the two attacks, despite knowing exactly what was coming. Following up on this he also demonstrated a similar combination intended to disrupt the enemy healing himself. Once again the idea of the lesson was to show the much higher difficulty in countering a well-timed attack.

Finally, to wrap up the lesson, Arcanist Haap also re-iterated the importance of always keeping yourself blessed to keep yourself at your peak, and at the same time keeping the enemy cursed to weaken them to all of your incoming attacks.

It was a very good lesson, and now all I will have to do is practice it until I learn to act this way instinctively, which will be significantly harder.





Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

[Patrol lead, organized and attended by:]

Patrol lead, organized and attended by:
Graum Trolle, Watchman



The task given was to patrol the coastal areas around Cove, Altmere and all the way over to Vesper. To most efficienctly do this I plotted a path north from Cove, briefly stopping by the Desert of Compassion, and then heading up along the river to the ocean. Once the northern shore of the ocean is reached, the aim is to swing around and follow the coast to Minoc, then south again from Minoc via the east coast down to Vesper. From southern Vesper I was then set to follow the southern coast all the way back to the orc fort just outside of Cove.

Drawings below, in chronological order;



All in all the patrol determined that the coastal region was, for the most part, nice and safe. I came across the odd local critter, but nothing more intimidating than the odd Ettin and Ogre. All in all just over 4000 gold and 300 feathers were also brought back from the patrol.




Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

Recruitment is a very important part of the army, and having just been recruited myself one I feel quite strongly about, so this is a perfect task for me. I've heard that Arcanists do a fair bit of writing, what with their spellbooks and all, so I figured it'd be a good idea to try and work on improving my own handwriting at the same time.

I asked around in Cove for a place to acquire books and writing materials, and while no one could give a very specific answer, many did suggest that the library in Moonglow would be the best place to go. Having never gone to Moonglow before I figured it'd be a good learning experience, and set off to the Moongate...




After asking around in town for a bit I finally found some directions of where I needed to go, and so I set off through the forest to the northwest of Moonglow, to the great library.



Once inside I made my way to one of the large inside sections of the library, walled with bookshelves and with piles of books all over both tables and floors (which was not my fault at all). With the help of one of the scribes who worked there I was soon on my way, copying leaflet after leaflet, until I lost all feeling in my writing hand.



Eventually I was done with it all though, and with a heavy bag of books slung over my shoulder I made my way back to Cove again. My hand was numb, my brain full of nothing but recruitment texts, yet my heart-... No, just tired really.



Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

[Officer in Charge:]

Officer in Charge:
Celuvian Haap, Arcanist

Attendees:
Graum Trolle, Watchman
Brenna Night, Guardsman Recruit

It was late and Cove was nice and quiet, so Arcanist Haap decided that us two junior ranks present needed a task to test our skills, and to try and teach us something, supposedly. He ordered a forced march to the graveyard for us both, and once on location he gave us the task to eliminate the lich that dwelled within and get back out again without either of us falling. To add a twist to the task we were also told to do so fast, by rushing in and taking out the lich directly, or Arcanist Haap would "help out" from the sidelines, but inflicting further pain on us to speed it up.

The task itself was easy enough, but the added instruction of doing so by rushing the lich directly to complete the task faster did make it harder, and while we were able to easily bring the lich down, by that time we were so surrounded and overwhelmed by the undead hordes that making it out safely became quite a challenge, and unfortunately the task as set out failed to be completed. Brenna and myself were both quite peeved at the failure, as we both knew we could've easily completed it successfully if it had been done in a more tactical fashion. Arcanist Haap however explained that that was exactly what the point of the training was, and that we needed to ponder what had happened and what lesson could be taken from it.

Recruit Brenna's take on it was that the lesson was that senior officers was allowed to order junior ranked guardsmen to do strange things for no real reason. While she does have a point I'd rather like to think the lesson was that sometimes instructions given are best ignored to get a job done right, and that successfully completing a mission can be more important then necessarily follow instructions to do so.


 

Note: The fight itself was very brief, so unfortunately no pictures were taken of it.

Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

Graum Trolle - Picture added to profile

[Lead, planned and organized by:]

Lead, planned and organized by:
Graum Trolle, Watchman

Attended by:
Bernard

   Since my arrival I have learned that the Arcanists wear leather armor instead of the regular metal armor for some reason, so it just seems fitting that I'd help out by gathering a bit of leather for the army. Just last night I had visited Despise during a patrol with some fellow guardsmen, and remembered seeing a good bit of interesting critters there that might do. Realizing that I'd be unable to carry it all myself, the first step on my agenda was to acquire some carrying assistance.

I soon set out through the Moongate to Britain towards Despise, now with my trusty compantion Bernard by my side.



Together we trekked north through the forest surrounding Britain, heading towards the mountains where Despise is located.



Once I arrived at the entrnce to Despise I left Bernard to his own devices outside, figuring that it'd be too dangerous for him inside. I ventured into the dungeon myself instead, and fought my way through pack after pack of ugly lizardmen, stopping to carve off their hides afterwards. Once I got overloaded I'd drag the hides outside, and strapped them to Bernard, before venturing back inside again for more...



When, after a long and arduous struggle to gather, drag and pack all the needed hides, and cutting them into managable leather pieces, I was finally done, and with Bernard in tow wandered on back south to the moongate, and through to the Minor/Vesper area, and on foot from there onwards back to cove...



Finally back at Cove we counted (mostly me, Bernard was quite bad at math) the hoard, and found that just over 1000 pieces of leather had been collected, along with just over 16000 gold.





Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

A simple task to go for a camping trip sounded like a perfect way to kill time on a slow day. Having grown up in the woods, and spent my life prior to joining the army as a hunter these were all skills I knew I had, and things I knew I would be able to do, easily. So I simply packed up my kit, making sure I had all of my things with me, especially my saw, axe and knife, the three base tools you cannot possibly do this without. Well, almost.

I trekked north from Cove, looking for a good spot to set up camp. I wanted a spot that would be easy to defend, had good access to water and the raw materials I'd need for my camp. I eventually came upon the perfect spot up on the north shore, nearly on the way to Minoc.



Once I had the spot for my camp sorted I just had to go to work. Axe in hand I went out into the nearby woods and started gathering logs, twigs and branches I could build with. I also came across a bear who apparently was hungry enough to think me a good dinner. Fortunately the bear's skin would come to great use when making a roof for my little hut. I dragged my material back to the spot I had chosen for my camp, and got to work...



Eventually, I had a functional little hut ready that'd keep me warm and dry through the night.



With a place to sleep ready, the next step in my plan was to gather something to eat. With a belly full of food I'd be able to sleep like a baby. So I set out into the woods surrounding my camp, and set a few traps. With the traps set, I hid away and waited.



With my pray turned into a nice piece of meat, I returned to my camp and set up a little campfire. I admit that I did cheat a bit when I packed for my trip, because I brought along a bottle of ale from the Goblin, which would help spice up my dinner.



With a stomach full of ale-braised wolf steak, which sadly had not tasted nearly as good as it had in my mind when I had planned it, I crawled into my little hut and went to sleep for the night. The night went great, and the hut kept me both warm and dry, and I woke up feeling great.



Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Watchman

Graum Trolle, Watchman

Admin Profile

[Basic Arcane Magic]

Basic Arcane Magic

Teacher: Ilyana, Junior Arcanist
Student: Graum Trolle, Guardsman Recruit

   Junir Arcanist Ilyana kindly agreed to help teach me the basics of how to do magic, so that I could one day try to join the Arcanists. Since our last discussion about it I had managed to acquire an actual Spellbook, full of scribbles that was supposed to be spells. Ilyana briefly asked about my previous exploits in the field, and once I had explained that they were pretty much non-existant she started by explaining about reagents, the materials necessary as fuel for all arcane spells. She explained how Sulferous Ash and Black Pearls are used mostly for offensive magic, how Nightshade and Spider's Silk is used for giving form to spells, for summons, and for general offensive and defensive spells, as well as how Ginseng and Garlic is used for healing and curative spells, and finally how Mandrake Root and Blood Moss are generally used for most spells.
   Next the conversation moved on to the subject of Mana, the ethereal or spiritual force that powers arcane magic when channeled through an arcanist's body. Mana flows through all living creature, and anyone who can learn to harness and channel it is capable of using magic, in some form. She explained how mana is what gives an arcanist its strength, and that paying heed to its expenditure is an everpresent consideration when casting spells. I also learned that apparently my standard issue recruit armor is much too heavy and can interfere with my mental stamina, and thus my ability to harness this mana.
   Once this theory part was all concluded we moved upstairs, and got on to the practice. We started talkin' bout a few specific spells, such as tha purpose o' tha different protective spells. Also, on this same vein, Ilyana covered how to adjust your offensive spell use based on the strengths and weaknesses of your target. Once the basis of balancing offense and defense based on targets was covered Ilyana moved on to some basic spell combinations to take advantage of these things.




Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Guardsman Recruit

[Leading:]

Leading:
Graum Trolle, Guardsman Recruit

Attending:
Raven Cross, Watchman
Hoagie, Captain
Keitaro Kazami, Junior Grenadier

Money Raised:
38000

Summary:
   Captain Hoagie called for a more physical task after an evening of training, and so decided that we should go to Doom for a real challenge. We set out through the Moongate through to Britain, and north through Britain, through the graveyard and up into the mountains. Junior Grenadier Keitaro was most displeased and a fair few times commented about taking the wrong way. Once we stood before the cave entrance to Despise however we did remember a task set to conquer the Ogre Lord island in the bowels of the dungeon, and so command was given to myself and, with a free new shiny dagger in hand, I lead the brave group inside. After barely getting lost at all we found our way to the island in question, and began the Ogre Lord slaughter. Myself and Watchman Raven did take a few bad blows, but overall we held out fine and was never in any real danger. We held the island for approximately 30 minutes before calling the retreat advance backwards, and returned to Cove with our bags full of gold and our arms weary from swinging and stabbing.



Signed,
Graum Trolle,
Guardsman Recruit