All of our characters appear in a dim, round, stone room. First, Ryan (a were-lion), then Phill (a TL9 genetically engineered soldier-turned-biker), then Justin (a vampire), then me (sentient, psionic, flying, giant, TL0 cuttlefish), then Drew (a Myddraal from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series). As we appear, these strange fish-like humanoids try to cut us with a knife and collect our blood in a bowl. Then they try to make us drink it. Well, this goes over fairly well with everyone up to me.

My character decides these people coming at him with a knife are trying to harm him so he points his spear at them, then turns invisible and flies up towards the ceiling. Then he starts creating all kinds of confusion with his Photo- and Sonokinesis (the Sonokinesis, BTW, is from Emily Smirle's web site). Eventually, my character squirts ink at the fish-people and they use this instead of blood. They motion for me to drink the liquid... I dip an arm-tip in it and taste it. Poison! I start to get ready for battle, but then realize I can understand what they're saying now (and vice versa, although I'm mute and use a kind of sign language).

Drew pops through a portal. More chaos. Eventually he drinks the stuff too. We go with a leader-type guy (who we later learn is Prince Umbriel; "Umbriel," incidentally, is the 3rd moon of Uranus and a character from Pope's The Rape of the Lock, in which he is described as a "dusky, melancholy sprite") to a large horseshoe-shaped mud-brick castle. We feast (though they have the audacity to try and feed me freshwater shellfish).

Umbriel then takes us all to a peat bog a few miles from the village (all the land, except a few hills, seems to be swamps and bogs). Somehow, the fish-people managed to dig a big hole in the peat (I'm not too clear on this part; maybe the hole was in a hill near the bog). Anyway, we walk down some stairs and into this big chamber where there's statues of around twenty races and the preserved bodies of our ancestors on some altars (except the Myddraal). Umbriel (who turns out to be exceptionally long-winded) explains (and explains and explains...) that we were chosen to travel to his world because we are the descendants of some legendary heroes.

(Quick notes: the fish-people seem to be roughly TL2; they must be carnivores; their world has Earth-like gravity, pressure; they have two distinct genders, one of which tends to make for powerful psis; these ones seem to have a fairly large empire despite a lack of transportation; they have some weird crystal orb-things that turned the tip of my spear into crystal; Umbriel's reasons for bringing us here seem flimsy.)

Back in Umbriel's "palace" (big mud-hut), Drew tries to use his Aspect power on Ryan. Ryan morphs into a lion and tears Drew's throat out with a ST36 claw. Turns out Drew's blood was very acidic and Ryan takes a lot of damage. Then Justin attacks the lion (sticks a dagger in its neck). The lion and the vampire run into the other room and keep fighting. Roughly four hours of GURPS combat follows.

Net result: we're going to the capital with Ryan and Justin tied up very tightly. Phill and I worked out a trade deal (he gives me a "Blaster Pistol" in exchange for a male and female of my species; I figure my tribe can war with another and enslave a couple for such a powerful artifact).

• I got a reply from andi jones (you have to spell his name with lowercase letters like that... I think there's a law or something). There's a chance CotW might come back. Also, he isn't dead.
• I scored 774,900 on "Only You" on Dance Dance Revolution, typing.
• Beefy, Phillip, Hanwool, Justin, Ryan, and I are playing GURPS tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. and Phill'll get his 3rd apotheosis.
• I'm roughly halfway through American Gods. Kinda surprised it's taking me this long, but it's a very good book.
• I actually bought GURPS Character Assistant 2.2. Armin Sykes was quick to reply to a minor problem I had with the purchase; very considerate.

• June 2, 2000: An archeology team (members mostly from American universities) in the Panaltoliko mountains, Greece, uncovers an ancient monument. Within a week, some kind of catastrophe occurs, killing 18 porters, archeologists, and interns. Three days later, there's some kind of riot in a Karpenisi hospital, leaving 6 soldiers (4 Greek, 2 American) dead.
• June 16, 2000: A nuclear blast in the Aegean destroys the island of Piperi. A terrorist group, Bloody Eight, is blamed.
• January 23, 2001: Arthur Evansley, a member of the British parliament, commits suicide at his home in London. He leaves a cryptic note apologizing to his dead wife, Evelyn.
• September 24, 2001: The wedding of Erica Patterson-Montegue to Derek Letter (Angelia and Zephryos). The former is the step-daughter of famed Wyoming billionaire Jerry Patterson (Khrysos).
• September 10, 2001: Jacob Demwa, a newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun, fights and kills his editor, Geoff Ericson, at the newspaper's offices after setting his home on fire. There is some confusion, as eyewitnesses report seeing Demwa's identical twin at the scene. (It's later discovered that Demwa was an only child.)
• April 11, 2002: The NSA and Interpol raid a small house in Los Angeles, California where members of the terrorist group, Bloody Eight, are reported to be living. Five agents are killed, and one permanently blinded, in the raid. No arrests are made.
• October 29, 2002: An office building in Valencia, Venezuala is bombed, killing 47 people. It is believed that the bomber remained in the building during the blast, killing himself. Motive is unknown.
• November 22, 2002: America goes to war with Iraq.
• December 29, 2002: A 10 megaton nuclear bomb is detonated in Seattle, Washington. More than 110,000 people die.
• February 21, 2003: Carol and Barbara Lansing murdered brutally at a convenience store in Sacramento, CA in broad daylight. Killer flees on foot towards a camp-grounds, no arrests made.
• March 14, 2003: A 17 year old girl, Cindy Cartwright, is abducted from the ICU of a New York city hospital by four or five unknown men. She was in need of both heart and liver transplants.
• June 9, 2003: Over the course of three months (until August), a string of murders, almost one per night, keeps police in Cheju, South Korea baffled. More than 80 people are killed on the island's beaches, in nearly all cases between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.
• October 25, 2003: A bizzare weather phenomenon causes 6 tons of snow to be deposited behind a Denny's in Everett, WA. One police officer's account of a malfunctioning snow-machine is discounted when insufficient evidence is found.
• November 2, 2003: Confusion at a police department in San Angelo, Texas when items are stolen from the evidence lockers at one in the afternoon. Two officers injured, no arrests made.
• November 24, 2003: Five infants are killed in a hospital in Cheju, S. Korea. Video footage shows a caucasian man, dressed all in black, committing the murders with surprising calmness. No witnesses saw the man enter or leave the building.
• February 7, 2005: North Korea declares war on U.S.
• November 5, 2005: Pres. Lieberman assassinated by an unknown sniper at a press conference on the white house lawn. Vice Pres. Hillary Clinton takes his office in a ceremony three days later.