I woke up the other day from a good nap and yelled outside to see if anyone from Paws was about. Without delay I can hear a familiar voice on the wind.... "Ragar, come here immediately!". Jupiter. I know better than to delay because where the Gray Wizard goes there is always something interesting going on. Which is the cause and which is the effect I have no idea, but the distinction really isn't that important. Magical gates are opening all over and Jupiter appears from one of them. "Follow me!" he says. He doesn't have to tell me twice. A few gate jumps later and I'm standing in a large building with a large number of people and a VERY large number of dragons. I was stunned but as some of them left the room I thought to carve a picture of what was there. "Ragar.", says Jupiter, "there are a lot of dragons here." Thanks wizard. I hadn't noticed. Looking at my blade, my namesake, suddenly it doesn't seem nearly as impressive as it did a moment ago. Wasn't it bigger before that last gate? Jupiter seemed to notice my discomfort and he spoke as he reached into a pouch on his belt. "Ragar, you will be fine. I see you worry about the strength of your blade in the battles that lie ahead. You should not fear. However, if you are concerned I do have something you can use to ensure that you perform as well as ever." As he said his the wizard hands me something and smiles...it was a little blue pill. "Take that now", he said, "but if you are still swinging that sword of yours in four hours you better should seek the help of the Healers in Yew." Confused but not liking the sound of that last part I dropped the pill to the ground and waited patiently for what was to come. I would be fine. Eventually a white gate appeared, and Cuthbert and his twenty closest friends (well, maybe ten plus us randoms) poured through with an army of dragons in tow. I spotted a huge and unusually angry polar bear and proceeded to get to work. Having accomplished something I then proceeded to move to areas in which I was needed. Which was no where. The dragons were terrifyingly impressive as they laid waste to the dark elves and their pets. Realizing that the situation was well under control I returned back to where we had first entered and found the corpse of the polar bear I managed to kill. "Hello old friend" I told it as I dismounted my horse and retrieved a delicious cake from Athena's bakery in Paws (<--- shameless plug) and rested against the corpse as I feasted. Behind me in the background there was much fire and loud elven screams. Strangely it was calming...the fire reflecting off of the snow made for a neat effect. Eventually I looked up and noticed that everyone else was gone...Jupiter's voice was calling to me from the beyond again wondering where I was. "Just a moment wizard," I told him, "I don't want to leave my friend behind." Now it was Jupiter's turn to be confused as I slowly drug the polar bear corpse through the moongate. "Don't look at me like that....it's more comfortable than it looks. And I think it doesn't look half bad either". [Thanks to Cuthbert and pals for letting some of us cannon fodder tag along. I wasn't even aware that stuff could be run 'off-season'.]
