Aspirations of becoming a Legendary mage by the ambitious are necessarily followed by countless hours of arduous training, but even the most diligent apprentice mage must take some time out for personal enjoyment. My break came tonight.

I had first heard of the 6th Anniversary Celebration of PaxLair two weeks ago and marked that event down as something I would hate to miss. At around 5:30 by the Eastern Skies I walked the long road from Britain to the glorious city of PaxLair. Twas a fine evening and my travels were met with little hardship. In fact the road seemed almost deserted so I made good time. Upon entering the city I went straight to the Tall Tale Tavern where I was met by the lovely Lady Dhavoriel who was working the bar that evening. She offered me a drink and I felt obliged to accept her generosity. I had not come to PaxLair, though, to sit alone in a tavern; I came for a celebration and was disheartened to see that I was the only patron of the place. Dhavoriel was quick to erase my fears, though, as she informed me that the celebration was not to start for another hour and a half.

I wandered out in the woods surrounding PaxLair and practiced my spells on some of the local nasties and returned to the beautiful town at the approximate time the party was going to begin. This time I was enthused to see the city alive with action. People from all parts of Britannia had congregated at the top of the PaxLair Mage Tower to hear a speech from the mayor of the city. Just as everyone was seated and the speeches were about to commence one person who was gathered with us walked to the front of the Tower and opened a gate. In Vas Por, Kal Vas Flam, Flam Kal Des Ylem BOOM!!! We were all dead. It appears this man was not one of us but a spy in league with a murderers guild, because out of this gate rushed members of the evil guild Oinland & NfC [NfC]. We were all caught by surprise and before the peace-loving people of PaxLair could respond everyone with a virtuous heart had been murdered. The 6th Anniversary of PaxLair, a day for veneration and celebration had turned into a massacre.

Before long all those who had been killed were resurrected and those who wished to disrupt the celebration had been banned from the tower. Remarkably only a few people were discouraged by this attack and left the town for good. Much more common among the faithful of PaxLair were shouts like this: "They may break our bodies, but not our spirit!" It seemed that NfC had underestimated the resolve of those present to celebrate this anniversary. The show would go on. Some of those gathered stood outside the Tower and fought vigilantly to hold off continuing attacks from NfC while the rest sat down to start the ceremony. To our surprise and delight the first mayor of Paxlair, an old man named Winfield, was on hand and started things off by giving a rousing speech that exhaulted PaxLair's history and development. This was followed by a less impressive speech by the current mayor of PaxLair, Minsk.

Finally, we were ready to have some fun. Minsk announced that Winnmere would be giving a tour of some interesting places. At this point some people left but most came on the tour which included spots such as: Lord Thalis' Tomb, The suffering stone, the well of souls, and Galen's giant telescope. I found this particularly enjoyable, as in my four years I had not seen many of these places. Britannia holds many mysteries, my friends, even to the old and experienced.

After the tour, we were all gated back to the PaxLair Mage Tower. I was about to leave, thinking the night's festivities were over when "The Gatekeeper" appeared before us. He is a strange entity, looking like a ghost but speaking in words we could all understand. There was some argument about whether he was dead, undead, or something different all together. I tend to think the latter, but back to the story. The gatekeeper told us he was summoned by the spring of courage, a mysterious spring that stands in front of the Mage Tower. Next, by speaking an ancient mantra, the essence of the spring itself materialized before us in the form of a beautiful lady! This was truly awe inspiring, but the message the spring gave us was dire indeed. The water was losing its strength and only through our courage could the strength of the water be restored. We were to embark on a great quest which would test our courage to the limit.

The twenty of us or so that were still present all agreed to this quest and we learned that our first mission would be to go to the Lyceum and seek knowledge of what must be done. There, from the lady Sintul, we learned that we must tame a mighty dragon, since dragons embody courage. Off to destard we went and the taming was progressing well; we had almost tamed one of these beast when.. BOOM! In Vas Por, Kal Vas Flam, Flam Kal Des Ylem, NfC had ambused us in destard once again and soon we were all dead before we even knew an attack was coming. I must say that their attacks were lightning quick and well coordinated and they were able to fell many mighty warriors that evening. This attack lowered the spirits of many and after resurrection our party had decreased in size, but, on that evening, COURAGE WOULD NOT FAIL for those who were true to the cause.

Despite these setbacks, we carried on, finally taming a dragon and returning to Sintul at the Lyceum. Our next mission, with the help of a tamed dragon, was to go to the site of the purest water in the realm and bring a sample back to the spring of courage. After much study the source of this water was learned to be at the top of the terathan keep in the waterfall there. Fighting our way through the keep was not easy and we destroyed many despicable creatures along the way. There were deaths, there were deserters, but the noble few who had made it to the top truly showed their valor. A sample of the purest water was obtained and we all went back to the spring of courage where the lady materialized before us again. Our tears were mixed with the purest water and added to the spring restoring the power that the spring once had. Through our courage the spring was strengthened once again.

Our quest was done and, as a reward, the lady of the spring gave us a rose. The rose in now on display on the top floor of the mage tower in PaxLair as proof of the courage of those involved in this noble quest.

Though I am not a resident of PaxLair, I believe the people there would invite you all to visit this wonderful city and see the beautiful rose.

Masamune,
UO Chesapeake Shard