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     ________________________________________ 9 Oct, 1999 ___

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     __________________________________________________________
     Table of Contents
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          1. Editorial by Dizzy 
          2. Excerpts from Versuchi's Dragon Journal
          3. The quest for Daemonstone by Lord Chuft
          4. Class/Race Combinations (For newbies) by clocks 
     ________________________________
     1. Editorial by Dizzy 
     ________________________________

This week in the mundane world of reality, you've heard much "news" about
the United Auto Workers union threatening to stike. (Unless you were
outside the US, immersed in life, under a rock, or don't listen to CNN) 
The union's mission is to secure a fair contract for their constituents,
and although about the only thing we hear about is when a strike is
threatened, the fact is that striking is a last ditch effort to come to
agreement, and the really important stuff is the ton of negotiating and
bargaini ng that goes on continuously behind the scenes.

Coincidently, this week one of our execs addressed a group of players in
the same way an organizer or arbitrator does for the purposes of bringing
together fantastically differing agendas and opinions, providing meaning
and purpose for their organization, and offering an opinion about the
basics: communication, restraint, propriety, and focus.  Its about working
together to achieve a common goal.  Its about (forgive me Spock) the good
of the many outweighing the interests of the individual. (AND its about
 10AM here and I'm hungry, so I'll be brief...)

Here's my unsolicited advice too everyone who's read this far, and that
little core of your being is screaming, "NO! NO! NO!... *MY* way is best!
What about *ME*? My *NEED* for  is so large,
that I can't see anyone else's view point."  Here's Dizzy's guide to
GETTING YOUR WAY. 

1. Go ahead and voice your desire, but only one time to any individual or
group.  Feel free to discuss it, but avoid chewing the ears off of anyone
who will listen. Avoid endlessly championing your cause lest you are
percieved as whiny and boring. 

2. Listen politely and with a smile as your idea/desire is castigated by
other, less mature, players who have an agenda of their own.  Remember,
you want to get your way, and reacting self defensively will distance
those you want to win to your viewpoint.  Avoid barking at anyone...you
want to appear logical, smooth, and mature. 

3. Pick your battles and especially pick your time.  Okay, you're a Rebel
with a Cause (which is a Wonderful Thing), and you can't wait to pounce on
anyone who you can win to your cause. Stop. If you are championing a Grand
Cause, there will be plenty of opportunities to respond to piles of
questions, comments, flames, and "me too"'s.... If you jump on every
niggling item, you'll make the very people you want to convince tired of
reading your responses.  Only respond to the important stuff, and if
possibl e, couch your agenda in a sandwich of Good Words about the person
and agenda you are responding to. 

4. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. You gotta talk. Smile,
Help others.  Norman Peale and Dale Carnegie have made the Loooooonnnggg
dollar by assisting people who read their material and attend their
seminars.  Boiled down, their advice is th is: If you want to influence
people, you must Win Friends. 

5. Be scrupulously honest. Don't even think about deceiving people about
your final goal.

Diz

     ________________________________
     2. Excerpts from Versuchi's Dragon Journal 
     ________________________________

Entry on the Day of Freedom, 32nd day in the Month of the Dark Shades

Terrible news has reached me on this evil day. While resting between
my many adventures.

Across this land I happened to stop at a small pub in the city of Midgaard.
There I overheard the bartender who goes by the name of Jake telling about
his many dragon slaying exploits. Being open minded about the good and evil
in all of us I chose not to hold this against the puny human and listened to
his tales. He talked about how any decent slayer of evil dragons (I must
point out here that he lives on only because he specified evil dragons)
would be able to retrieve a trophy from such kills and he would reward that
slayer handsomely. He even suggested a few places to go. This is when the
bad news came out.

The one place he mentioned that should never even be known to humans
is sacred to all dragon kind. Apparently something foul has occurred at the
dragon burial grounds. News has reached Jake that an evil dragon named
Tryystania has taken over the burial grounds and needs to be slain
immediately. This disturbed me greatly since we dragons have put our trust
in Captain Krrrbk to keep the grounds safe with the help of his many wyrms.
When asked how humans found this place Jake informed me that rumors
started floating around Kerofk of evil undead dragons laying waste to the
farmlands and homesteads west of the city shortly after

A group of adventures led by a great warrior named Svlad had disappeared in
the region. I knew then that these humans had caused something terrible to
occur at my ancestors burial grounds and I had to correct it before it grew
worse.

With this news I have gathered my gear and am ready to head out the
North gate of Midgaard on my long journey to Kerofk. May Gorn guide me in
my path for the peaceful restoration of the spirits of my ancestors. I will
update my journal as I go.


Entry on the Day of Deception, 2nd day in the Month of the Forest

I have finally reached Kerofk and have found that Jake's rumors are
true. On the road the White, Red and Green Knights all warned me about
leaving the safety of the mountain pass. Desolated and burnt out farmsteads
could be seen in the distance. Worst of all, the stench of decay and death
was in the air.

My provisions have been renewed and I am setting out for the nearby
burial site. There I hope to learn the truth behind these tragedies and put
an end to them before the reputation of my race is ruined. Also, the burial
grounds must be purified in Gorn's name so that my brethren will have peace
in their eternal slumber.


Entry on the Day of Freedom , 7th day in the Month of the Forest

These past few days have been quite busy, I reached the grounds on the
afternoon of the 3rd to find Svlad himself waiting at the entrance.

Apparently something awful happened to his small troop and caused the unrest
of by dead brethren. He did not know what had become of his companions and
warned me away lest I succumb to their fate. I could not let the words of
this human stop me from putting aright the burial grounds.

Upon entering the cavern I was assaulted not only by the stench of
death, but by Captain Krrrbk himself. He and his wyrms were attacking any
living thing to try to put a stop to the dead rising. I fled from the
battle so I would not have to wrongfully slay him for trying to fulfill his
futile duties.

Finding myself deeper in the burial grounds I came across most of
Svlad's comrades, or at least the walking remains of them. Only one, the
cleric Millament, was missing from undead humans in the cavern. How she
escaped this doom I had yet to find out. The only certain thing at this
point was that I had to delve deeper into the caverns to discover the cause
of this evil.

Finally I made my way to the deep recesses of the burial ground only
to discover Tryystania. This did not clear up the mystery for Tryystania
was now also among the undead. The foul miscreant that caused this was yet
to be revealed. I did not have time to search however, for the evil lich
dragon chose to attack me.

The battle raged for hours, wearing even my Gorn given vitality almost
down to nothing. Finally, a chance Golden Strike laid the undead beast low
and I was victorious, or was I? Strange chanting filled the cavern and the
beast rose from the dead again. This revealed that I was not alone down in
the pit of the undead. Quickly, I filled the cavern with flames to root out
the invisible necromancer.

To my surprise Svlad's cleric, Millament, came out of hiding upon
being scorched. Millament turned out to be no cleric though, she was a full
fledged Necromancer. At last I had found the cause of the unrest. Being
weary from my last battle I was in no shape to survive such a confrontation.
Quaffing my healing nectars as quickly as possible I tried to hold my own,
but doom was upon me.

Vitality suddenly filled my body. The gods had smiled upon the world
and spread a life giving restoration throughout the land. This gave me the
strength to end this scourge once and for all. With my
rapid punches I knocked Millament to the ground and ended her evil
existence. The burial grounds could now be cleansed of this evil taint, and
dragon honor restored.

I travel now back to the bartender with the skull of Tryystania where
I can trade it for the funds I need to continue my quests against evil.
But those are for later pages.


     ________________________________
     3. The quest for Daemonstone by Lord Chuft
     ________________________________

In recent months, there have been rumours circulating Thorngate of a new
abomination deep within Earthrealm, the stronghold of the twisted and evil
Alastar, and the Daemonstone he stole from the Dragon God, Yevaud. Rumours
of the properties of the Daemons tone grew wild and out of all proportion.
Many groups probed the stone realm searching for the entrance to the new
area, with the only clue being "seek you the Dragons of the Earth."  A
while ago, a group led by the deepgnome warrior lord Gup found a new
disturbance in the fabric of Earthrealm, an entrance to a hollow mountain
guarded by a horde of vicious rock wyrms. Gup led a group of lords to this
new area, and was most soundly repealed by Alastarss smallest minions.
Over the next few weeks, various ot her groups tried and failed to
penetrate Alastar's stronghold, being one and all repealed by his hordes
of guards in the outer halls of his mountain, which became known as "the
mountain of madness," since one was deemed mad for attempting to penetrate
the defences of this sinister demon, who dared to steal from the Gods
themselves. My own first attempt was repealed, and no more need be said
about it here. 

	The continuing existence of this hideous demon who threatened our
plane with impunity and dared to steal from the gods themselves, yet who
remained unpunished, irked me and became an obsession with me and my
brother warrior lords. The contempt the demon lord seemed to hold us in
irked me, and as my rage grew, my resolve to see him defeated in cold
battle also grew.  Quietly, several amongst the foremost lords of the
realm began making their preparations to gather a mighty party a week
hence, preparing fo r the enemies psionic attacks by collecting much gear
we would not miss too much after the enemy exploded it against our very
bodies. 

	The day of the planned assault dawned crisp and clear, and for a
few of us, it was to be our last dawn.  I raised my banner and announced
my intentions at thorngate square, and many lords cowered in fear the very
name of the dread mountain of madness. However, to me I gathered a
powerful group of some of the most elite lords remaining: the great
warriors Gro nolt, Gynamede, Quark, Akharan; the powerful and learned magi
Drizzt, Marvin, Storr ,and Wedge; the Lord Gap, psionist, master of the
mind;  the powerful healers Nyama, Dierdie, Deva, and Nome. Out of the
wilderness came the great ranger Lords Mercury, Fl ower, Greywolfe, and
Hitman; also the wondering believers of Gorn, Raolin and Bolarn, and the
Martial Artist, Useless.  Slinking in late and almost unnoticed, as is
typical for ones of his somewhat atypical "profession", came the Thief,
Jimi.  These coura geous lords announced their intent to stand with me
until the fall of Alastar and the recovery of the Daemonstone. 

	At Thorngate square, we closed ranks and began our pre-battle
incantations, trying not to notice our brethren who lacked the courage to
shift with us on this quest.  Shortly, we completed our pre-battle
incantations, and these lords followed me deep unde r Stone, to emerge to
the standard defences of the Elemental Lord who reigns there. most of the
time. We disposed of these with alacrity and proceeded to walk rapidly to
the lair of the rock wyrms, Mountains guardians.  We disposed of these
fearsome drago ns with no losses, and entered the first cavern under the
mountain. It was empty, and we proceeded cautiously, vainly hoping we had
the advantage of surprise still. We rested in the empty caverns a while,
but grew impatient after a brief renewal of our pr ayers and incantations
and proceeded deeper into the mountain. We rapidly tore through the first
line of defences, until we reached Alastar's Quartermaster, in charge of
maintaining these mighty defences for his Lord and master. With a snarl of
rage, he s wung his sword and clove the great Gronolt in two before we
could set upon him in combined arms. For this, he died, but Gronolt was
beyond the help of even the most powerful healers. We returned his mortal
remains to Thorngate by secret and magical means for the Council to
resurrect , if possible. We swore vengeance for this noble warrior, and
pressed on as he would have wanted us to. Shortly we reached a locked
door, but fortunately the cunning thief amongst us had procured the keys
from the quartermaste rs corpse, so it proved to be a most surmountable
challenge. Alastar became desperate at our progress, and threw his most
powerful defences against us. The healer Deva's, relatively new lord,
nerve cracked, and he cast his interplanar magic to return to Thorngate. 
By then, we were on the threshold of Alastars throneroom, where he had
barred himself in with his most powerful minions and generals.  Grimly, we
fought off the three demons he had set to guard the threshold of his
throneroom, and prepared for the final assault on the holder of the
Daemonstone, an item of unknown magical quantity. Tension was thick, and
only my iron will kept the group together in the face of such a terrifying
foe. Finally, we entered the room where the Daemonstone was held.
Initially, the final combat went according to my plan, but Alastar proved
more powerful than I could possibly have expected, rapidly going through
my planned rescue system, with my warriors being demolished of their
fighting capabilities within as few as three combat rounds.  However,
before all was lost, Alastar fell to a deadly maelstrom from the great
Marvin, and co-ordination among his minions was lost.  His demon captain
was rapidly dying to our determined and desperate assault, but with his
final b reath, he reached out and took Gynamede's life. I personally
avenged the one with a swing of my sword, separating the demon captains
head from his shoulders.  The renegade Kzinti warchief made short work of
Raolin; Gorn was not there for him at his darkes t hour.  Next he slew
Akharan, already much depleted by the fight with Alastar.  Next Nome fell
to a single blow from the Warchiefs mighty sword.  Useless bravely
withstood the vicious assault of the warchief and allowed our magic users
to destroy him ut terly. On his fall, Marvin slunk out in the confusion
and returned to Thorngate carrying the much sought Daemonstone.  Quark
withstood the assault of the leader of the hired mercenaries for quite
some time, but no organisation remained, the combat had bec ome utterly
chaotic by this point. Quark fell after a mere 4 rounds of combat, and the
rangers Mercury and Greywolfe demonstrated their ability to think quickly
in combat, confusing the leader of the gish mercenaries with an elaborate
display of footwork and swordsmanship. Ours was the victory, and we
returned to Thorngate with the much revered Daemonstone, to the envy and
embarrassment of all who said it was not possible. 


     ________________________________
     4. Class/Race Combinations" (For newbies) by clocks 
     ________________________________

	Get caught creating a new character (or even worse: having a
character well along) who you realize has not been optimally matched
race-to-class?  While there is no official correct way to make any
character, you will often find that certain class/race co mbinations help
to put the odds in your favor.  The key to this is very simply knowing the
races and classes, but for those of us who would rather start leveling
than navigating szi's website to actually attempt to RESEARCH something,
this is your guide. 

	This article will take you through class by class, race by race,
and will give you a general layout of the stats to keep in mind and the
author's reccommended race for that class.  This reccommendation is, by no
means, a requirement and you may want to j ust do your own thing no matter
what the stats are.  With that out of the way, lets begin: 

A dragon is overall the best race by far.  Also a good choice for any
class is centaur and/or gargoyle but the exp requirements for these races
are quite steep and these races are not taken into consideration in this
article. 

Ranger-
	A ranger's prime stat is constitution (boosts your hp regen and hp
gains), therefore you will probably want a race that will aid your
constitution level.  A ranger is also strong and you'll want to keep that
in mind.  Also, you might want to consider tha t rangers arent going to be
the smartest, most wise, or the most flexible creatures in the realm so
your Intellegence (int), wisdom (wis), and dexterity (dex) statistics will
reflect that. 

For a ranger, the player will probably wish to use either a Lizardman
(liz) or a troll (trl) for their character.  Both of these races have high
con and str but you will want to compare the other stats (including exp
needs) on the Avatar website before ch oosing one.  If you wish to avoid
this entirely, I recommend the ranger. 

Warrior-
	The warrior is the elite hitter of the avatarian world.  Their
prime stat is going to be strength so that they can keep up a reasonable
damage roll.  The warrior also excells to a point in constitution but has
the same wis, int, and dex shortcomings that befall the ranger.

A warrior's best race is, without a doubt, the giant.  The giant is
incredible at things requiring strength or toughness and seems to have
been created with this class expressly in mind.  Keep in mind that the
giant also suffers from EXTREME shortcomings in the wis/int departments. 

Mage/Cleric-
	The mage (pronounced Mag (short a as in apple)) and clerical
classes are spellcasters and their prime needs are going to be
intellegence (aids in the gain of mana and the number of practices
required for spells) and wisdom (boosts the number of practices gained
each level).  The spellcasters also are given healing and personal effect
spells but suffer incredibly in a fighting capacity.  They lag behind most
of the other races in str and con so you should be forewarned. 

A mage or cleric could best be played by a sprite or a deep gnome.  While
the sprite undoubtedly has the best wisdon and intellegence but is
incredibly weak in most respects.  You may want to look closely at the
deep gnome as an alternative instead. 

Monk-
	The monk is a race that is based on religion.  Their prime stat is
dexterity as they have their own kind of fighting that is similar to
karate.  This race also has somewhat higher con and the int, wis, and str
stats are only moderatly modified.  This is a good overall race if you
intend to be a super-hitter or a tank. 

The Monk would benefit most from a halfling although the halfling does not
have very good racial abilities.  Also to be considered should be the
Kzinti race but this, too is a more dangerous race for new players.  The
Kzinti cannot flee from a fight and a re forced either to attempt to
recall or to die. 

Psionicist-
	The psionicist (psi) is another spellcasting class but this class
is mostly spells having to do with one's self.  Consequently, they are
similar to the mage and cleric in statistical needs but I believe it
prudent to forewarn you that most spells are cas t-self only or are
psychic spells. 

The psi would best benefit from an dwarf or a gnome.  Be careful in your
choice and be sure to check the stats (including TNL) on the Avatar
website. 

Rogue-
	The former thief class, the rogue is just that: a thief with an
attitude.  This class benfits most from dexterity and constitution but
lacks in wisdom and intellegence.  The rogue class makes arguably the best
tank class in existance currently. 

The best races for this class are probably the troglodite and the
half-orc.  Once again, please take the time to make a comparison as your
choice will be important in the course of the game. 



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