For the second week in a row, the PaxLair meeting minutes, and other PaxLair news will be presented in this "Weekly News" format.  Enjoy!

Minutes of the June 28th, 2004 PaxLair Weekly Meeting

Fearing for my safety on the streets of PaxLair this week, I spent the night on a flowery balcony at the PaxLair Town Hall and woke just in time for the weekly meeting.  The streets of PaxLair were however quite calm in the minutes before 8:30, that evening, as I observed from my perch atop the town hall.  Soon I was greeted by Zog the Fishmonger, who joined me in a visual sweep of the town, looking for any trouble that may arise.  As my eye met the sunset, just slightly above the Order Tower, I felt a strange force beside me -- it was the Gatekeeper!  The Keeper explained that a major event would take place later tonight, and hinted that someone's "conscience" was standing beside us through the conversation!  Very odd; then the spirit disappeared and the meeting began.

Tonight's meeting lasted about an hour, since the Red Wolf Cafe suspended its weekly event while the Fellowship's warriors fought the ants in Moonglow.  In attendance were Winmere, Mayor Minsk, Cross MacLeod, Neo Of Lothlore, Lord Monk, Zog the Fishmonger, Grimlar Mithrax, Kerryl and Annwvyn Foxfyre, Luthien and Eve, SNOOPY, Blade McBain, Shalu and the Gatekeeper.

The PaxLair Weekly City Meeting

Mayor Minsk Clarifies the AT Ban

Mayor Minsk, this week, clarified the banishment of the Army of Thieves from PaxLair town structures by informing meeting attendees of the full extent of the law.  The mayor said that AT would be banned from all PaxLair buildings, messageboards and that PaxLair citizens and visitors would be in no way obligated to provide protection to AT, from major warrior guilds like FDF and BWS.

Rumours of the Undead Coming to PaxLair

Mayor Minsk informed the crowd that she had heard rumours that undead legions had planned to create a new structure in PaxLair, and bother PaxLair citizens with some sort of quest!  Nothing is confirmed yet, but these rumours are frightening to many.

Plans for the Thursday Hunt

Just as the mayor was about to decree that PaxLair would take a trip to a certain dungeon on Thor's Day, the Gatekeeper appeared again and informed us that he needed us to conduct some business for him!  Mayor Minsk screamed, and then happily agreed in hopes that something good would come out of it?!  All those interested in following the Gatekeeper are advised to meetup inside the Order Tower tonight at 9:10pm EST.

John McBain is Missing!

Blade McBain, in a state of misery addressed the audience this evening and explained that his brother, John McBain had gone missing!  He was reported to have been last seen in Dragons Watch on Sunday night, but hasn't been seen since.  A reward for 1 million gold will be given to anyone who can find the missing Lord McBain.  See this poster for more details.

And that concluded the weekly meeting on June 28th.  Immediately following the meeting, the Gatekeeper appeared and instructed us to travel to Empath Abbey in Yew.  Here is that story...

Gatekeeper Sends PaxLairians on an Important Quest

Setting up the Torches

As we arrived at Empath Abbey, the Keeper appeared again and told us to grab a good number of torches, a few boats and a tough sense of courage.  Once the supplies were put together, the spirit asked us to sail from Yew to very specific coordinates outside of the Ice Dungeon in Trammel.  Within no time we had set sail from Yew's small winery inlet, and sailed along a great East-West navigation line to the area near the Ice Dungeon.

Stepping onto shore, we found the Gatekeeper standing atop a dirt-filled house plot.  It then asked us to recall as many old mantras as we could, as we placed torches around the new structure.  Some sort of ritual was taking place, and we were part of it!  Atra Sopor, SILM, LRU and FUNR were all shouted -- but the Gatekeeper silenced us with a new mantra, UNWA.  Without a moment to lose, we all began chanting UNWA as I wrote down the names of those in attendance, by order of the Keeper himself.  I gathered that: Winmere, Marik of Terror, Grimlar Mithrax, Neo Of Lothlore, Lord Monk, Zog, Blade McBain, SNOOPY, and Thelron were all here, and chanting.

The chants continued for at least a minute before something startling and spectacular happened -- the Gatekeeper's Gate and Entrance to the Underworld appeared with a mind-shaking rumble, out of the ground!  Silence soon fell among the chanters, as all eyes gazed at the enormity of the new temple that lay ghastly at the foot of a bay, and the edge of a peaceful meadow.  At that point I noticed the Gate, which appeared at the very eastern side of the temple, and the corridor beyond the gate that likely took one into the depths of the fabled "Underworld".  In another bout of total amazement, the Gatekeeper appeared to us, walking slowly from the corridor in pure physical form!

The Gatekeeper Appears Beyond the Gate

The Gatekeeper announced that we had uncovered the Gate to the Underworld, with our chanting and torch-laying ritual, then cut off in mid sentence to calmly say that a ship was approaching the bay, and Gate.

As we turned out heads, we saw none other than Valtos the Void piloting a ship into the new harbour!  The Gatekeeper grew silent, and attention turned to Valtos who cackled as he hopped from the boat and started to make his way toward the Gate.  Seeming to not see us at first, he shouted "What are you doing here???" as his eyes met the crowd of nine.  We explained that we had uncovered the Gate, Valtos quieted down and began to taunt several of us.

Growing bored of the taunting, Valtos finally made his way toward the Gate and commanded that the Gatekeeper open it.  The Gatekeeper was asked why he would even give into Valtos by opening the Gate, and Valtos muttered something along the lines of "Because he's only a slave of the gate".  The Keeper opened the Gate, Valtos walked through, turned taking one look at the crowd, and vanished down the corridor to the Underworld.  The Gatekeeper then took one last look at the crowd, and did the same saying that he had business to attend to.

The remaining nine of us were left confused, without direction and in utter amazement about what had happened tonight.  Just as most of us were about to leave, the Gatekeeper appeared once again, this time in spirit form, and hovered over a waterfall outside the Gate.  His last words of the night were that the water from the falls here also moved through Lake Hammerfell in Haven, the rivers of Aryslan, and a spring in a meadow -- PaxLair!

What could this mean?  There was some talk about the Spring becoming infected with the powers of Mazrim once again, but nothing is certain.  Perhaps we'll find out at adventure night tonight, on July 1st!

Safe journeys friends,

Neo Of Lothlore