E - EverQuest, Excalibur, Electric, Earrings

EverQuest for those not familiar with it is an MMORPG. It was not the first but it was the biggest and best until World of Warcraft broke on the scene. It even spawned such terms as EverCrack. It is a first person role playing game where you can interact with others but online. The folks at S&S saw the untapped potential here and created a pen and pencil role playing game from it. The idea was good in principal but I don't think the people playing online crossed with the traditional gamers much or they never went back to pen and pencil. Still the setting is nice and I know of a few groups that had tried to do it manually before. More of a nostalgia item for former people who camped Befallen.

Movie: 

Excalibur is another movie that I think had the distinct advantage of coming out at the right time in addition to being good. There was a serious drought of good fantasy movies before this came out. I think it was Excalibur that paved the way for the rush of fantasy films that came out in the early 80's. The classic storyline combined with above average production values and cast that includes Helen Mirren, Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson. If you have not seen this get it now. If you have watch it again. Who has not tried to use the Charm of Making in their game

Plot:

Electric flashes are seen in the in the early evening where none should be. In a village these are near the site that has always been shunned for one reason or another. In a city setting these will be located in the seedier section of the city. Are these flashes weather in nature, the work of some mage learning his craft and not knowing how broad the effect is or is it something all more sinister. Perhaps the fabric between planes or worlds braking down. Let's just hope you don't see a tall body builer that says "I'll be back" as a result.

Magic:

Earrings of Tongues are not the most exciting of magic items. The accomplish what most people would think they do. They allow the wearer to understand almost any spoken language. The rarer version will even allow the wearer to speak in the appropriate tongue when called for. The real trick is to find the unmatched pair. These will allow both of the above and will actually allow the primary wearer (random determination but set once determined) to speak through the other person and hear what the other person is hearing.