The flame grows. It burns, tearing at my body and mind. It builds. Focusing becomes difficult. My thoughts drift to you my wife, my love. . .

I came home to you, Melanay, after my day. More cargos have come in today, ship after endless ship emptying its hold. You ask me of my day, to talk to you. What shall I tell you? That the most interesting facet of my day was the discovery of a miscalculated ledger sheet? My heart burns for exploration, excitement. How it burns. . .

Sir Alayne approaches me. Since falling through that swirling maelstrom to this strange, intimidating world, I have been lost, without focus. He speaks to me of a purpose on this new world. He says we should set out and explore it, map its edges, and see what none of our kind has seen before. This has been my fondest wish, it has been the very call of my heart, but now it leaves a bitter taste. I have betrayed you. I have followed my heart and lost all that it holds dear. It smolders with the loss of you and little Aritta. . .

The Mosswarts surround me, their spears prodding me in the direction they want me to go. If only the overwhelming fear of death didn't paralyze me. But those Lifestones, how can I trust them? How can I trust devices created by a man who abandons us on this blighted world? And even if they do restore life, I have seen the corpses of those who have died. Even though they knew they would be returned to life, their bloated faces are disfigured into masks of pain and fear. This is a world of sorrow, Melanay, it blisters us all. . .

Master congratulates him on the control of his abilities. “Who am I?” he thinks, and a voice in his mind responds, “A separate part of the whole.” Master blasts a wave of pain through his mind, driving those thoughts away. Master explains that soon he will be given a task, and he will be a tool of the whole. He must begin to repay the whole for the gifts given to him, for his abilities. His training continues and the power builds within him, focusing, burning. . .

Later, clarity returns to me and my thoughts are once more my own, though not entirely. The voice of the Virindi within my mind cries out. It misses its connection to the whole, its connection to the Singularity. It has lost all that it once knew. If I still had a mouth, perhaps a wry smile would cross it. “Now we are very much alike, you and I,” I muse. The amusement leaves soon, though, and the pain of existence returns. The pain threatens to consume me, it burns within me so strongly. . .

Ketnan begs for his life. He is just one of those I meet as I study the society our people have built on this world. From some of those I meet I take what I need. Others I manipulate to suit my needs. Would you be ashamed of me, Melanay? Or maybe even horrified? It matters not, for I will gain the respect of this world. With respect, I can control this world. I wish to wipe away its chaos and pain. I have so many, many plans. I will provide gifts to our people, although they will come with a price. Some of my gifts will instill the fear of death in them. Other gifts will leave them questioning the nature of their existence on this misbegotten world. I will show them the way and be a blazing beacon to them. . .

As I walk in the shadows cast by our people, I find others who are as I was when I first arrived on this world. They are directionless, filled with hopelessness. What kind of monster would drop these people on a world of pain? I will become these outcasts' benefactor, not abandoning them like that man has. They will not be torn apart by this world. The sight of them stokes the fires of hate in my heart, hate for Asheron. . .

These outcasts of society remind me of something from the past. In what now seems a lifetime ago, the departed Sir Alayne gave me a purpose: to explore this world. Although he is gone, his mandate remains, and I will begin exploring this world, mapping its edges. I find that even after all that has happened, my heart still burns for understanding, for exploration. . .

My exploration has found other people, Melanay, although they are not people. Tonk, they call themselves. They are a peaceful, spiritual race living in a devastated land, a land they call Palenqual. They will provide a purpose for our people. We will help these Tonk free their land from the threat we have defeated. I will establish a stronghold for our people to find in this plagued land. I will provide more gifts for them, more direction, more insight, showing them how meaningless their lives are. Perhaps I can finally quench the fire within me . . .

I am within my chambers, surrounded by my people. This town has grown and prospered, all hidden from the world above. I focus my mind on the final spell, the spell that will bridge the gap that separates the Tonk and our people. Tremendous energies build within me. I begin to weave the tendrils of energy into the portals our people will use. As I complete the spell, I sense a host of minds around me. Intrigued--for I still consider myself an explorer--I send forth my mind toward them, but I find myself rebounding off a barrier. Could this be the Singularity, protecting itself from attack? I focus on one mind, a mind consumed with rage and anger. Perhaps this is Master, or Overseer, or one of the others who had tortured me, who had turned me into something else. Again and again, I strike out at that point, trying to pierce the barrier. Torrents of pain rain down my body. . .

I awake, finding myself on the floor. As I stand upright, I see the form of a man struggling to his knees. . . but he is not a man. He is an Empyrean. Another deceiver, another liar. He has appeared among my people to mislead them, to scar them like I have been scarred. Power wells up within me, my hands crackle with energy. . . Then he speaks. He begs. He pleads. He is rather pitiful, actually. It is obvious to me now: He recognizes my power, he sees that it is greater than anything ever wielded by his own people. Yet he claims to have a means to destroy Asheron, and I listen. He fuels the fires of hatred. . .

Confusion. At times you are with me, Melanay, but other times Asheron keeps us apart. How did you come to be on this world, or are you still back on Ispar? The moment has come; I will finally accomplish what I had set out to do. I am gaining the respect of the world and it will be mine to make right. The firestorm within me burns. I make the final move and unleash the rage and pain at the man responsible, I unleash it on Asheron.

Then the truth comes, and I see that the fire has consumed me entirely. . .

It is my memories of you, Melanay, and the actions of a brave child, a child so much like our own, that ignite a new fire in me. The old passions and desires have been turned to ash and blown away. I burn brightly now, my love, yet instead of consuming me, the fire makes me stronger, it makes me the man I once was. . . and more.

This fire will burn up all the wrongs I have committed. I will use it to destroy the disease I have brought to this world. The fire burns. It is blinding, Melanay, burning brighter and brighter. It is burning up the pain, the confusion. It consumes it all. It burns and burns. . .

Until. . .

. . . only you and Aritta are left.

And then it burns no longer.

With Gaerlan's Citadel shattered, the people of Dereth have a chance to finally rid the world of his influence. Heroes of all skills and abilities will be needed in this desperate fight for the future of the land!

Greetings fellow adventurers! I'm Tim Holman, the new Asheron's Call Producer. I've taken over for Ken Troop, who has moved on to Asheron's Call 2 and is pouring his high level of talent into the upcoming release. Being a player of Asheron's Call for over two years, I'm very excited to join the talented and dedicated teams at Turbine and Microsoft. In continuing the tradition of fresh and exciting content delivered each month, I'm very proud of what the team has created for you in September. Most changes this month are pure content, and while I won't spoil it for you here, let me assure you that September brings danger to Dereth that threatens the very existence of all life!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite you all to check out two new AC forums. The first, http://www.accmty.com/ , is where you can find official news on the state of the code and the state of the network. The second, at http://forums.turbinegames.com, has been established as a place to ask the odd question, share tales of heroics, and connect with your fellow AC players in a friendly environment.

Before I address some of the changes that have been made, I'd like every player to read the following:

Doubled Hooks/Storage--VERY IMPORTANT!!!
As you know, we have had an issue with duplicated housing objects--hooks, storage chests, and covenant crystals--off and on for several months. In certain server conditions, it is possible for your housing objects to be doubled or even tripled, leaving you the proud owner of two or more identical copies of your hooks or storage. These copies are confusing, often do not behave correctly, and carry the risk of item loss.

In our continuing effort to deal with this problem, we are introducing new code this month that will both lessen the incidence of doubled house objects and help correct the situation if it occurs. However, because there is some small risk associated with this situation, we want homeowners to be aware of the following:

If you find multiple copies of your housing objects--especially your hooks and storage chests--in your residence, please remove all items from the hooks/chests and let the house reset. Once you are back to one copy of each hook/chest, they are safe to use again. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, YOU RUN THE RISK OF LOSING YOUR STORED ITEMS.

How do I tell if I have doubled hooks/chests?
You can determine if you have doubled housing objects by using the [ and ] keys on your keyboard to select the items near you. If you have two or more storage chests, for instance, you will be able to flip between selecting both chests by using the [ and ] keys, even though you can only see one chest and select one chest with the mouse. Once you have selected one of the doubled housing objects with the keyboard, use the R key to open the object so that you can remove the contents.

How do I let my house reset?
In order for a house to reset, the landblock containing the house needs to be empty of all players for about 10 minutes. You can tell if the house has successfully reset because it will no longer have multiple copies of its housing objects. At that point, it is safe to return your items to their places in your hooks or chests.

What if I'm not around when my hooks and storage doubles? Will I lose everything?
The primary risk of item loss from doubled housing objects occurs when you are transferring items to and from your hooks/chests while they are doubled. If you are not around to access your storage, then the risk of losing items due to doubled housing objects is very small. Get into the habit of checking for doubled hooks/chests whenever you are transferring items to and from your storage, and you should be fine.

Now, on to some of the other changes this month:

Residential Quarters: This month, we've added new Residential Quarters to Dereth. We're continuing to make improvements to lag in these areas and to resolve storage issues.

Elemental Spawns: The tide of the invasion has changed and the elementals have been driven deep into Dereth. Players will find that Dereth is still a very dangerous land, but the threat of last month has been abated.

Hollow Missile Weapons: Unfortunately, these did not make it into the update this month. Despite our best efforts, we were not happy with the results at the time of code freeze and decided it best that we hold off. Direct all hate mail to me.

Creature Spells on Armor: We have altered what spells can appear on what pieces of armor. It should be a bit easier to get full coverage of Creature Spells on loot armor.

The Future
This month's event is promising to be one of our biggest yet, providing players with quests and content unlike any seen before in Asheron's Call. We'll see you next month, and thanks for playing!

• Challenges unseen before await the heroes of Dereth.
• Gaerlan's Elemental hordes have melted away from the landscape. Creatures have now returned to their old familiar haunts.
• The Arcanum builders have been burning the midnight oil. Along with their other construction projects, they've found the time to add 500 new Residential Quarters for players to purchase.

• As discussed in the Letter to the Players, if you find duplicate hooks or chests in your home, please remove all items from these immediately to prevent item loss. After you leave the area and the server resets your home, the duplicates should no longer be present and you can safely use your hooks for storage again.
• We have revised the types and levels of enchantments that can be found on various pieces of armor and weapons.
• We have tweaked the rate at which certain weapons appear as treasure, as well as the racial restrictions applied to these weapons, to be more inline with their skill point costs.
• Certain thrown weapons--such as throwing axes, clubs, daggers, djarids, darts, javelins, and shokens--will no longer appear as treasure. Worry not, though! The multitude of players who use these items will still be able to find a selection of such weapons on sale at the 9 Nexus town bowyers.
• Granite and Ceramic should now appear slightly more often in higher quality treasure.
• Examining stacks of salvaged Black Opal, Fire Opal, and Sunstone will provide a better description of the effect they add to an item, instead of just providing the name of the effect.
• Chests that require a Sturdy Iron Key to open should now provide slightly better treasure. Chests that provide level 7 scrolls, and require a Sturdy Iron Key, are unaffected by this change.

• The Arcanum has continued to work out the last few kinks in the Isparian Arms. The Isparian Atlatl now has the correct description, while the Shimmering Isparian Crossbow has been assigned the correct slayer property.
• The Agents of the Arcanum have recovered from their temporary amnesia and should now be helping you again on several Arcanum quests, such as “Nuhmudira's Boon.”
• We had designed various Elemental creatures so that they could spend the experience they received from resisting and evading attacks. The assaults on Gaerlan have affected these creatures, and they are no longer spending the experience they receive on their skills or attributes.
• It has been possible to find gems that cannot be salvaged (because they have not been mutated by the treasure system) as treasure. These gems would appear as though they could be salvaged; however, when the Ust attempted to salvage these items, it would generate an error. The Ust has been given an upgrade so that it will recognize these items as being unsalvageable.
• We have made a further upgrade to the Ust. Double-clicking an item in the Salvage panel will now remove it from the panel, and the “Salvage” button has been moved to the right-hand side of the panel.
• The animations and sounds from double- and triple-striking just weren't cool enough, so we tweaked them slightly. Thrill at the enhanced swinging action!
• In the distant past, when the Virindi Director was a unique creature only to be found in the Disaster Maze, he was assigned a unique treasure profile. However, due to the abundance of Directors now found in game, we have removed that unique profile and assigned them a better treasure profile.