It was not long ago I joined this shard looking to relive some of glories past and possibly make some new memories worthy of remembrance. My fellow adventurers of Renaissance did not disappoint! Some of my fondest UO memories involved dragons and nightmares, so naturally my first character was to be a tamer\bard. As many of you may know, to truly master the beasts of Sosaria, one must travel well outside the comfort and protection of the town guards. Many times while studying the wildlife in these distant places, I would hear the footsteps of a fellow adventurer approaching only to realize much too late that the adventurer was actually in search of blood, my blood. As anyone who has ventured outside guard protection will tell you, this is expected behavior. What I did not expect, was how often these murderous individuals would leave my trusty steed unscathed. After searching for a wandering healer and returning to my corpse, many times I was also surprised to find much of my inventory still intact, typically only minus gold and reagents. Of all the creatures I have studied, the PK has certainly been the most evolved of those I remember from shards past. Over a short period of time, I became familiar with some of them and whether out of respect or pity, some of them would just pass me by and wave as they beheaded all other adventurers around me. Other times, I would find myself among the initial victims, but if they returned again later that day, I was usually spared. Just as I thought I was beginning to understand the nature of these highly evolved PK's, last night something happened I was completely unprepared for. After countless hours in the bullpens of Jhelom, I was near the skill level of taming dragons, so I ventured to Destard to tame a few drakes in preparation of attempting my first dragon. It took some time, but I finally reached the minimum required skill to tame the mighty beast and quickly sought one out. It did not take long for one to appear and after angering it several times, it began to listen to attempts to calm and tame it. This would be a very short lived attempt as suddenly three PK's appeared and slaughtered me before I finished my first real attempt. Normally that would be the end of your typical 'day in the life of' tale, but I am still trying to process what happened next. I guided my ghost to the healer just outside the dungeon to resurrect and returned to my body to find that not only was all of my inventory still in place, but there was a pan of cookies (very delicious at that) sitting next to my corpse. Unswayed by being murdered, I returned to my task of mastering a dragon. This particular dragon was not going to allow itself to be controlled easily. I was almost at the point of giving up as I was low on health and almost out of bandages. As if to put the nail in the coffin, two of the PK's who killed me earlier, suddenly appeared. As I prepared myself for the death that was sure to follow, I remembered my manners and thanked them for the delicious cookies they left me earlier in the evening. I watched as one of them cast paralyze and waited for the standard explosion/energy bolt combo, only to be surprised by the words 'In Vas Mani'. The dragon was frozen in place, and I was completely healed. Surely this is some sort of torturous setup about to be enacted upon me, but I figured that if I was about to die, I would try one last taming attempt. The dragon, probably equally as confused as I was in this moment only became more angered and continued breathing it's fire upon me. Seconds later, I found that I was at full health again. The angry dragon then cast its poison upon me. Almost instantly I was cured and healed again. To my disbelief, I realized that the two PK's were actually helping me! Still unsure if this was an act of kindness or cruelty, I continued my taming attempts and they kept healing me while keeping the dragon paralyzed. After several times of the dragon nearly killing me, despite the efforts of the PK's heals and cures, one of them opened a gate to an area I could continue my attempts from a location the dragon could not reach, and lured the dragon close enough that I could speak to it. Nearly an hour passed and finally... The beast was tamed! All of the hours of preparation, wandering ice island for polar bears and white wolves, standing in knee deep fertilizer at the bullpens, and braving the drakes, serpents, and dragons of Destard had finally paid off. As if this defining moment in a tamers journey wasn't amazing enough, the fact that it was accomplished with the help of two persons who just a short time earlier had murdered me (and left delicious cookies), just made it exponentially more memorable! As much as I would like to publicly thank the two PK's that went well above and beyond, I know they also need to maintain a certain reputation amongst the masses and it would be very impolite of me to publicly name them. That being said, I will give one hint in the fact that I named the dragon after one of the red heroes and the name itself was very fitting, and if you ever see me out with it, you will understand why. Some day, when I tire of taming the monsters of this land, I will create a warrior. If that warrior chooses the red path, I will remember the lessons learned thus far and continue the tradition of this new breed, The Evolved PK.
From one somewhat well-known storyteller to another, well done. Well done indeed. THIS is why I came back to UO after decades away. THIS is why I still patrol the empty and lonely streets of the Village of Paws, the last of the Watchmen left. Not the gold. Not the treasures. But for the stories.
