LINE NOISE News from Chez Diesel 28 November 1998 I am starting to run out of my vintage champagne. Everytime someone makes JP I feel obliged to toast them in the traditional fashion - and it's now happened 3 times. Initially, the race for JP was between Hawk and Zugger, with Pegasus making a late entry to the field. Zugger had to drop out when he found his statistics disqualified him, leaving the horse and the bird to fight it out. Pegasus managed to blow up the ruins (along with himself and his unfortunate assistants) so many times I've lost count! It wasn't always his fault - he was hampered by one of his helpers, Xaviour, who proved remarkably apt at losing vital objects at just the wrong time - so much so that Pegasus began to suspect Hawk had bribed him to do it on purpose! Because Pegasus always took the ruins out fairly early every night (originally they stayed gone until the game was rebooted) Hawk was forced to go to incredible lengths to try the puzzle. He masterminded an extremely complicated operation to get all the necessary people and objects into the ruins - even though they'd been blown up! How did he do it? Well, when the ruins explode they don't actually disappear from the game: all that happens is that the description for the entrance is changed to that impressive crater, and the entrances are "blocked". So, if someone logs off while in the ruins, then logs on again after the explosion, they'll still be in the ruins. That's what Hawk did. Of course, it was no use he and his helpers being inside the ruins and the necessary objects outside! So he had another helper collect up the goodies and bring them in by a very clever (and expensive!) route that you can work out for yourselves (hehehe). The irony is that Hawk didn't realise Our Illustrious Leader had changed things so that the ruins would reappear somewhere between 1 and 4 hours after their destruction - and just as Hawk was ready to go, they reappeared! It was still a very impressive feat of organisation, and after the tension of watching and waiting we were all disappointed that he got it wrong and - KABOOM - There's a great deal of confusion about who actually got to JP first. Hawk was the first to solve the puzzle, but due to a bug (how unusual!) he didn't get credited with the rank. Pegasus was the first to actually be promoted. But even he agrees (albeit reluctantly) that Hawk deserves the credit. (This all took place several weeks ago, but due to various shows'n'things I've far too busy entertaining to upload; I just thought it should be reported.) Next in line were Pugwash and Zugger. But since Pugwash hasn't been seen to do ANY trading for weeks (she claims to have been too busy working on the Idiot's Guide) Zugger had a clear run for 3rd place. He finally got his stats up to scratch on Friday (borrowing the last few meg he needed from willing friends) and was ready to try the puzzle. One of his helpers was Xaviour. And guess what? Xaviour took a wrong turning in the ruins and died, losing a vital piece of equipment! The man's a positive menace!! Zugger tried again later - and exploded. His next attempt was Sunday morning. This time he had Pazza helping him as well as Xaviour. Things didn't go at all well! First Xaviour disappeared and didn't return (fortunately not with any objects this time) and then Zugger misdirected Pazza round the ruins, and he fell into the pit, together with one of the objects! This attempt was postponed until the evening when - thank the Gods - everything went smoothly. Zugger is now the 3rd JP. Who will be next? Omi has caught Pugwash up so it is a question of who can make the required money first. Personally I'm not betting either way . I am hoping to commission one of the 3 JPs to do a full report on JP trading. But don't hold your breath! Bella has been sneaking new objects in over the past few weeks without telling anyone. So far I've come across a bar of soap (presumably for washing out the mouths of obnoxious GroundHogs), a thimble and a tuning fork (A flat). For those few who are in the least bit interested, it has been confirmed that the requirements for Guild Master will be 75 stamina and 50 strength. What a lot of superpersons there will be! But the puzzle is reputed to be even worse than the JP problem, so I anticipate that there'll be a lot of frustrated (and probably dead!) Journeypersons drowning their sorrows on my famous Diesel's Old Peculiar. Don't forget that the portable version of the Idiot's Guide will be available shortly. Mbx me (DIESEL) or NO1 for details of where to send your five pounds. It's very different from the online version - you can carry it around with you for one thing - and even if you think you are an expert at the game you will probably learn something from it. That's all for now.