From The UO Town Cryer Newspaper, March 10th, 1998

Sage Humbolt sweetened the pot for some of those who retrieved items for him by giving those who returned a magic weapon, sometimes letting them choose, and sometimes just choosing for them.

The weapons were all very special and following is a description of each one.

The sword, StoneBite, was crafted by the Legendary Jindam Ro. A reknowned blacksmith and weapons crafter, he was the greatest metal smith of his age. Witnesses and legend say the he could fold metal with the slightest touch of his hand.

The Mace, HammerFist, was hewn from a molten blob by the Bobbit hero Bonchu. Bonchu was thought to have been the first Bobbit to single handedly strike down an Ettin. Alas, he was not strong enough to save his race from the hideous plague that the fiend Mondain released upon them before the end.

The Bow, Rylthynynnolinshyn, is named for its elven origin. Drawn tight by the great elven bowyer Iynolinyshyn Fyrhyinjuionen (referred to as Iyno by his human friends) this bow struck down a dragon, supposedly, with but one shot. Although it's power is diminished from those wilder times of more powerful magic, it is still quite formidable.

The Crossbow, Uolinsho, was also crafted by Iyno. It was a gift to a human friend who lacked the grace and finesse to wield the elves normal bows. This weapon was a sign of the enduring friendship between elves and man.

Finally, the Staff, Crag. This was probably the hardest for Sage Humbolt to relinquish to the hands of a stranger. It's origin is unknown, but it's strength is reknown throughout the land. It has been handed down from family member to family member in Sage Humbolt's family for may generations. Sage Humbolt has graciously sacrificed this heirloom to entice the good citizens to find the items he needs to defeat the liches Lathiari and Kyrnia.

Use the weapons well friend. Now you know what it is you wield.

Wednesday night, I received word (over ICQ) from my friends that Sage Humbolt was requesting the help of the common citizens to locate and return 5 items. They were to be brought to him at the Britain Public Library.

At the time, I was just logging in, and recovering from a cowardly pk's bug abuse in Moonglow. A weak pk exploited the criminal flag/attack flag to run into the guarded zone of the zoo to get the guards there to kill me. I had just come on a battle call from a friend from practicing magic, and decided to skip the time to deposit some reagents into safekeeping, should I die. Therefore I lost ALL of my reagents(every last one), and my best set of armor. Consequently, I was down to minimal reagents, and no gold. (yes, empty, I don't hoard like some people, I keep what I need(hehe, or can afford))

So, I was ill-prepared, but my friend insisted, and requested that I use my runes to the shrines to go give them a look. After visiting every shrine except for Sacrifice (for which I dont have a rune) I decided to walk from Vesper to Sacrifice. There was nothing there. On the way back, I stopped off at the three permanent, abandoned log cabins SW of the shrine. Out of complete, blind luck, I hit paydirt. There was a red bubbling flask there. It has an unusual description.

After giving the flask to the sage with the greatest of care and wary eye. The Humbolt was quite kind and awarded me with 5k of gold, and an ancient Elven bow (I wonder where the Elv's are now) The name of the bow is quite poorly translated into English, and I wish to refer to it as only "My Ancient Elven Bow", or "The bow formerly known as Rylthynynnolinshyn".

Ok, The goods on it. It adds +10 to my archery (making me master level). That's all I can tell that it does for me so far. I tried it on one of my Dread friends, and it really didn't do any more damage than a regular bow. It still took like 6-7 good hits to kill him.

I was not able to stay long after that, as people were hounding me to examine my newly acquired bow, or sell me obscene amounts things for its possesion. I wish to keep it, it will be an antique that I wish to bestow on my children.

My thanks to whoever played Sage Humbolt, and to OSI. I finally got to participate directly in a non-scheduled, plot-related event, and it comes on the most unlikely night of all, the night I was basically completely empoverished :)

From The UO Town Cryer Newspaper, March 12, 1998

Sage Humbolt made a request of the Britannian citizens last night. He requested their aide in the location of several items that he claims are absolutely vital for his research.

One of the items has only been spoken of in legend, the Bell of Courage.

It seems that these items, once safely stored in repositories across the land, had been scattered by either the Liche's, or their accomplices, in an effort to deprive the Sage of the tools he needed to ultimately defeat them.

It seems he now has all the items required for whatever the process is that he is researching. He studies are being conducted in Lord British's Castle, under the protection of the finest guards in the land.

The importance of this research is such that no expense has been spared in ensuring the safest environment possible for his continued work.

Even though Lord British himself made available the coffers of the royal treasury for the reward to be offered for the return of these items, Humbolt refused. He sacrficed not only his personal savings, but gave as reward an artifact that belonged to his family for many generations (see lead Story, "Sage Humbolt Gives Magic Weapons to Questors" for more details).

He commented that, "Such a sacrifice is naught compared to the dangers mine hand hath sent the brave and noble citizens of the realm to by requesting their assistance. Even now their actions may have marked them for retribution by these dark forces which have been gathering in secret against us. I only hope that my paltry reward can properly express the deep thanks in my heart for their actions..."

No comment was given as to the progress of his research or even what he has planned. When addressing the matter he only had this to say, "What I know, only I may know. May the Virtues keep us all in these times."

Although the realm has not seen any indication of the Lathiari or Kyrnia's presence since the last incident in the south, the danger is great enough in the eyes of both constabulary and crown to warrant such drastic security measures.

With any implications of powerful weapons against main characters in a story, there's usually an implied set-up to ensure the weapon's uselessness, or the creator's doom.

So, its been nice having you Sage Humbolt, R.I.P. (Just kidding)

But seriously, this is the first mention of any kind of special weapon against their type of evil. I heard rumors from players while in-game that he was attempting to make some kind of 'doomsday' lich weapon that could kill lichs (kill the undead?) in one shot. I would submit that this rumor should further emphasize the fact that no antagonizer to a story dies so early on in the plot. It's just not good for the development, unless they're somehow able to resurrect themselves. If anyone has any journal entries of the speech that the sage made while requesting the questers to go in search of these items, send it in, I'll post it here.