Excelsior

It seems like only yesterday when I decided to give Ultima Online another shot, but the calendar says I am nearing my 5,000th day here. man, time flies! Usually does, when you are having fun. And I have enjoyed every single minute here. If you do the math, that would be 7,200,000 minutes of fun. Actually, my actual play time is a little over 500 days as I log out when I done playing. I never bank sit. Still, that is over a year and a half of my life actively running around this shard, killing mobs and making friends. Could I have done something more constructive with my time? Perhaps, but it wouldn't have been as much fun.
Anyways, I usually celebrate my major milestones with an event. This one would have been a major one, but real life has put a lot of doubt in it. Still, I plan to give away the farm, so to speak, if I can. Previous events usually last several days and ensures players from across the globe have a chance to participate. This time, I cannot guarantee it. Sometime next weekend is when I will try to hold it, but I may not have access to the computer to run the event properly as I will have company over. So, keep your ears and eyes open for any last minute announcements by me.
Now, for those of you who haven't experienced any of my previous events, I recommend you search the forums for previous milestone events to see how I run them and what type of prizes are giving away. This time I plan to categorize each challenge so it might give you a chance to prepare. The main theme to all of my events is to get those who haven't done it yet, to get familiar with using the forums and to explore our wonderful shard. It is amazing what you may find if you go exploring instead of running your automatic macros. How many of you have found a Cheshire Cat here? Hint: it is in Malas.
Here is how I will run it. Some questions will be broadcast over public chat, but others will be posted on the forums. Either way, all answers must be given to me via pm. First one with correct answer wins, or in the case of a Find Me, finds me, wins. I will immediately announce a winner has been identified. I will most likely ignore all world chat responses. All events will be UO/Excelsior related.
Categories include: Miscellaneous Questions; Find Me; Know your corpses; Occupation; Say What?; Complete the list; and the one for math geeks, I will have 2 bags full of gold and token checks. Closest one to guess the value of each, will win the bag. You will see where the math comes in the day I give them away.

Prizes include: +50 stat scroll; Bless deed; Blessed unleveled 3x58 bow with 115 luck; Imp dogs; Imp squirrels; GOC; 120 Taming; 6x38 cleaver; (10) 1 million gold checks; 10 dex, 10 str bracelet; plus many many more.

Hopefully, I will be able to be more specific of when I will hold this the closer I get to the date. I am announcing this now so you have time to go EXPLORE!

If any of you vets have something they feel is valuable and would like to donate it for the event, I would gladly welcome it.
Look forward to seeing you all there.

Happy hunting!

There will be some events I will ask vets to sit out to let newer players have a shot at some of the other prizes.

congrats cygnus on the upcoming milestone hope u make it another 5k days.....players like you that make me feel oh so young ha ha (4335 days old) i will peruse my houses n see if i can come up with a donation or 3 again congrats

For those interested, I plan to give away a few things starting on the 16th, (my 5,000 day) and continue to do it a little each day through the weekend or until my prizes are exhausted. There is no plan on which prize will be given when. So, if you are interested in the +50 scroll, or a special weapon, or whatever, you need to check in each night and hope to get lucky. I live in the Central Time Zone in the U.S., and I doubt I will be able to get on until at least 8pm. What that equates to shard time or your time, you will just have to figure it out.

Starting tomorrow, around 8pm central US time, I will be starting my Milestone Event. I will be basically overtaking the world chat and offering prizes to be rewarded for my little games. Below, I will be listing the rules for my games.

1. The vast majority of my games or questions will be posted on this forum. Simple and short questions may be posted on World Chat.
2. I will announce in world chat when I have posted the question or riddle. For all games or tasks requiring an answer, they must be provided to me by pm only. That way I can see who answered first correctly. If time permits, I will answer your pm with your a winner, try again, or someone has already got it.
3. For "Find Me" events, as soon as someone comes within a few tiles of where I am hiding, I will reveal myself, then announce on world chat I have been found.
4. Some events will be favoring experienced players. I can't help that. There will be several events I will announce to be for newer players preferably. Anyone can still participate, but if you are an experienced player or vet and win, it would be nice if you donate the prize back so I can pass it on to the player who came in 2nd.
5. If you think a certain game is unfair, stupid, or wrong...tough! If you think a question is inaccurate, outdated etc., I welcome a pm so I can correct it. But, no public complaining in world chat or I just might take my ball and go home. (Sorry, old American saying) You may even be rewarded. Maybe.

I can't stress this enough. All answers to questions or challenges requiring answers must be submitted to me by PM. Everything else will be ignored.

I will be doing this for the next several days through at least Saturday. Hopefully, I can accommodate the other side of the pond Saturday by being on early and late.

I have lots of prizes. Some very expensive, others maybe not so much but should be worth something to the newest of players.

Every question I ask will come from someone/something/someplace in this game. Maybe ask you about an NPC you run past every day without a thought. Some will be tough on purpose. Few will be easy, but there will be some. After all, if I just wanted to give away a million gold check, I wouldn't go through all of this event stuff to do it. But, I believe in earning what you get, even free stuff. Plus its fun. Hopefully, this will help break up the monotony of grinding Balrons or whatever your favorite mob is.

Hope to see you over the next few days.

Tonight's event is postponed due to the downtime and lack of players. By the time enough players would have logged in, it would be my bedtime and I am already tired. I usually get up around 4:00 am every morning. I will try to double things up tomorrow. Again, I will be logging in around 8:00 pm Central US time each night. lets hope tomorrow will be uneventful except for my event.

Riddle 1
Lunar light, just might, give you insight, on where to go.
Polished glass in shiny brass, surrounded by grass if you need to know.

Riddle 2
On this balcony I do sit,
just a short stroll from Downtown Brit.
Red chair, brown chair, which one am I on?
Hurry an find me, or this prize will be gone.

Almost had #2. Just missed it by seconds i think. Anyways wanted to say thanks for the trivia, and the fun the last couple of days... also.. I realize just how little i know of the shard, so will explore more now thanks to you.

p.s. love your avatar. my fav band and one of their better albums.

congrats on 5,000 day cygnus!
i always enjoy your quiz events even though im lucky to get one winning answer per event hehe

Thanks for the kind words everyone, both here and in game. They mean a lot to me. I do these events for several reasons. To help educate players about the shard, and to give back to the shard that has given me so much enjoyment. And as some of you have learned over the past few days, keep an eye open for the little things that seem odd, unique or just plain noteworthy. They just maybe a future event question.

Theoretically, my next event would come in October when I hit 14 years. However, this Summer and early Fall may be too hectic for me to gather enough items to hold a meaningful event. We will see.

I want to especially thank Sethra, Dreamstalker, and Culichi for donating quality items for the events.

Happy Hunting everyone!