The Atlan artifacts were a set of melee weapons -- swords, daggers, maces, and so on -- fashioned from raw pyreal motes. Any one of a number of special, magical gemstones could be imbedded in a weapon to imbue it with a particular elemental power, and by means of a special stone tool, each gemstone could be exchanged for another of a different power. Thus, for example, a frosting axe could be turned into a lightning axe. While pyreal motes could be recovered from any type of golem, the stones and the tool were securely stored in several remote and dangerous dungeons. One of these was defended by legions of powerful undead, one by fire elementals and magma golems, one by never-before-seen lightning elementals, and one by a band of Tumeroks. A final vault, named Incunabula, had been infested with Olthoi, who transformed it into the most deadly hive known to exist in Dereth.

Perhaps in response to the discovery of these weapons, the Shadows that had made overland travel a terrifying prospect melted away into the night. Very few remained under open skies, although this made some more nervous than relieved. New rumors abounded in taverns that some dark force was biding its time for a major assault.

Many powerful monarchs were whisked away to a remote island, said to lie to the southwest of Dereth. Here they were challenged by a dark presence to run a gauntlet filled with bizarre monsters. While most lost their sense of direction, or were slain by the gauntlet's fierce inhabitants, two of the most dangerous fiends in Dereth survived the trial: Blackthorn and Vidorian of Thistledown. They were rewarded with corrupted Shadow Stones, which could be fitted into the Atlan weapons. These stones gave a weapon tremendous power . . . though their use seemed to drain the will and sense of self from the weapon's wielder. It remained to be seen what the two so-called “Dark Masters” would be called upon to do. Fafhrd of Thistledown and Killean of Morningthaw made a heroic decision to defy the gathering evil, and refused to take the dark presence's test. Their selfless denial of easy power would be remembered in the days ahead.

The hand of darkness also sought allies using means as subtle as the monarch kidnappings were gross. Hamud ibn Rafik, leader of an extremist sect of the Gharu'ndim Zharalim called the Tenebrous Edge, made his presence known in Dereth. He and his daughter Devana sent many adventurers on a test of their own. Success earned a magnificent Pyreal Katar that pulsed with dark power, trailing streamers of sooty mist. Rumor held that Rafik had lost his mind taking to heart Archephoros' maxim that to fight darkness, sometimes one must become a shadow.

On the opposite edge of the A'mun desert, Dizah ibn Nadqab began excavating a massive crypt complex built beneath an ancient fortress near Zaikhal. He apparently ventured where he shouldn't have, and the ancient dead of the Impious Temple reawakened, chasing him out of the complex. In exchange for funds to continue his research, he let the bold enter the Temple. A shattered staff, apparently unusable, was discovered in its depths. Fortunately, some adventurers managed to find someone wise enough to repair it.

Not all the news was worrisome. The land continued to recover from the damage wrought by the Great Work of the Gelidites. Flowers blossomed all over Osteth, filling the air with drifting clouds of pollen. Rabbits, delighted by the return of warm weather, quickly did as rabbits are wont to do, resulting in a veritable plague of baby bunnies on the landscape, which nibbled crops and tripped inattentive travelers. Most were harmless irritants, but tales of more dangerous bunnies trickled out of the Direlands . . .

Meantime, the excavations of over twenty Meeting Halls that dated from the Empyrean Era of Lore were completed near the major towns of Dereth. These underground amphitheaters are thought to have been built for assemblies of nobles and scholars, or for the briefings of local troop garrisons. Allegiances across Dereth soon began holding their meetings in these structures. In other local news, Guthima the Wise, archmage of Arwic, moved down the road. Complaints from neighbors about crowds of mages practicing their craft all hours of the night convinced the town's nobility to build a new shop for him outside of town.

Lastly, as if in omen, the beginning of the month saw a titanic bridge, carved from dark volcanic glass, appear over the River Prosper between Holtburg, Cragstone, and Arwic. Formerly cloaked by the lost magical arts of the Empyrean, the Obsidian Span drew crowds of gawkers. Not a few mad souls actually jumped off of it. Sages could only speculate what other structures might lie in the open without our knowing.

• Spring has sprung. Pollen drifts, bees buzz, and bunnies make baby bunnies.
• The damage done by melee weapons -- such as swords, maces, daggers, spears, and so on -- is now affected more by the strength of the combatant. Strong warriors will find that they do more damage per hit than before. This does not affect missile or unarmed combat. Note that this applies to monsters as well, so be careful when facing monsters that wield weapons!
• Players using melee weapons have a slightly faster attack speed than before. This also applies to a small subset of weapon-wielding monsters.
• Amazing new things to do for all levels of players, some of them worth many many hours of fun. If only we would tell you what they are*
• New Meeting Halls, ideal spots for large groups to gather, have been unveiled near every major town. The scribes sell books that tell you where they are.
• Anyone want to buy a bridge?
• Loot has been improved for a few monsters.
• Objects contained in corpses will no longer be deleted by housekeeping (until the corpse rots and they are dumped out on the ground). This may help fix reports of empty corpses, though there still may be more to such reports, and we continue to investigate.
• Mage robes are a bit more useful than they were. They drain mana more slowly and cast another helpful spell.
• Gharu'ndim robes should now be wearable. Other errors in mage robe names also fixed.
• Swift Killer spells 2-6 had wrong descriptions. Spells worked properly, but the text for the spell description had the old value by which the spell adjusted the item's speed.
• The range of thrown weapons is now no longer often displayed as zero. The range now assumes a Strength of 100, though . . . your mileage may vary.
• All Koujia Sleeves produced by the treasure system will now be wearable. Unwearable sleeves that have already been created, however, will remain unwearable. Please don't sell them and continue the pain; drop them somewhere secluded, or give them to a collector.
• Explanation text on Urgent Assistance and Abuse panel has been modified. If your abuse report goes unanswered, feel free to repeat it every few minutes until you hear from an Online Team member.
• NPCs are now restricted to moving no more than five meters when giving an item to someone.
• There was a bug that made lightning quarrels too easy to make, as compared to other elemental quarrels. They are now just as difficult to make as their elemental cousins.
• You are less prone to have your ability to move curtailed by an automatic emote your character does while standing around.
• Fletchers, start a-whittling . . .
• Typo in success string when making Carol's Carrot Cheese Soup fixed.
• Double-clicking on parchment in a corpse should now pick it up, not attempt to write on it.
• MacDugal (Bandit Castle NPC) is wearing a girth now and his underwear isn't showing anymore.