I thought the drama I had with Cray Fenton many years before was possibly the worst ever endured by the Third Level Society, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I walked through the Original Entrance at the University Planetarium.

The Third Level Society Original Foyer had been restored to its original colors and lighting up to the standards it had when it was first built, a task proving much easier when working inside a granular plane but was nonetheless a vast improvement from the wear and tear it had when I was last here. But what drew my attention was the new bulletin board they put up, filled to the edges, sometimes with papers covering other papers, with advertisements like the wanted posters for Ceri Mains, but also political ads for and against the incumbent Dungeonmaster: Julian Mackwell.

The most outrageous one, in my opinion, read in a neat little list of bullet points: "Did you know that Ceri Mains is attempting to infiltrate the Society? Did you know that Julian Mackwell and Dyla Cormick are accomplices doing Ceri Mains' work by exploiting the vulnerable Mary Kormann? Did you know that Julian Mackwell refuses to address the White Baroness because that is Ceri Mains' avatar? Julian Mackwell. Dyla Cormick. We must unseat them at all costs! -Signed: Peter Crane and Kara Martins."

I've never met Julian Mackwell before, nor did I meet his enemies. But nonetheless, I was disgusted. I tore that flyer off the bulletin board before second thoughts stopped me. I looked around the Foyer and saw no one was watching. I made a move to throw it in the trash can.

But something caught me eye: The White Baroness.

Instead of throwing out the flyer, I folded it and put it in my pocket. I looked around the Foyer again and saw that next to the old staircase, going up to what used to be the Old Caucus Chamber, was a new staircase going down, accompanied by a sign indicating the direction to the New Chamber as well as, what I had seen out of the corner of my eye as I walked in, a sign to the Third Level Society Library.

Now this fascinated me because in the past, there had been an issue with storing important information somewhere where a Member could access what was needed to complete a quest. I figured that at some point, a Dungeonmaster would come along and have some sort of a chamber full of scrolls that a Member, through their avatar, could access, located in the Arturian Realm itself.

So this was a surprising upgrade.

I took that staircase down to the platform with the cable train running to the other part of the Society with the New Chamber. I saw a faint print in the wall where there used to stand the doorway to the old staircase that used to lead up to the Old Caucus Chamber three levels up; and now that older latter staircase was sealed. Turning back to my task, I boarded a cable train and took it to the New Caucus Chamber, where now stood two staircases on either side of the New Foyer. I took the one on the left and entered the Third Level Society Library.

There were about a dozen rows of bookshelves, each twelve feet high. Passing through those, I came to an open space that was quite large; obviously they plan to add more.

But what caught my attention was the row of what looked to be like cylindrical booths lining the wall on the other side of the space. I traversed over and decided to enter into one of them. In front of me was a hook upon which rested an arm band. Above that was a sign reading: Wear arm band to engage. Take band off to disengage. So I took the arm band and put it on.

Immediately, my surroundings changed. I was now in a large, dark, but glowing blue, cylindrical chamber. Surrounding my head was an arrangement of starlike beads, each with a label. There were quite a few options, but I decided to grab the one that stated: "Personal Avatar." And there was my avatar: Captain Bornan. How the system knew, I will have to ask Julian when I meet him. But regardless, Captain Bornan was standing there in the cylindrical room, just as I left him twenty years ago. Even then, I had some form-fitting questions for myself to answer. Too many for me to engage the avatar then and there. So I grabbed the star-bead behind me and went back to the main star-bead arrangement. This time, I grabbed the one labeled: "Arturian Realm Atlas."

All I have to say is this: Steamster Culture still exists in Arturia; moreover, it is alive and well. But things have changed. I mean, really changed. Arturia is no longer a land map; it's a multi-globular one. The original Arturian Realm is on one of many, many planets orbiting around many, many star systems. I was not always comfortable with the emerging Space Culture, and even now, I am in shock with how much Space Culture altered our beloved dymensional plane. But I will admit, it's fascinating.

It just adds to the fact that Captain Bornan is due for some major form-fitting.

I took off my arm band, which immediately brought back the booth surroundings. I left that booth and turned to my right, where my attention was drawn by the large metal box lined with manuscript rolls. It was the brain of the Ticketer. This had been located up in the Old Caucus Chamber back at the University Planetarium, but was now moved down here. I went over and spotted an Archives Console, which held the Archive Rolls. This was accompanied by a viewing port below which stood a keyboard. I went over and typed "White Baroness." The results were definitely not lacking.

No one really seems to know who is behind the White Baroness. Some people say it's Ceri Mains, but apparently that's a far-fetched idea. There's also speculation that it's the Dungeonmaster trying to exercise more control over "fair and balanced dynamics." There's even a question of whether or not the White Baron is a non-Member attribute planted by Ivella Ogden in the very beginning to fulfill some unknown purpose.

Again, that seems to be a far-fetched idea.

In fact, there is no speculation gaining ground here. No one really knows who the White Baroness really is. All that seems to be known is that she has been crystalizing the Underworld Realm of each Planet with ice, snow, and glass, to "bring goodness to the Universe by the routing of Evil." Obviously, this goes against the theory that she is trying to bring about "fair and balanced dynamics," if she is sabotaging it.

I was going to wait until tomorrow to engage Captain Bornan, but curiosity over this got the best of me. I decided to indulge. I went back to the booth and put on the arm band. When I emerged into that chamber with the stars, I went back to my avatar. I saw weird bands of light around his wrists. So I matched my banded wrist to his...and became Captain Bornan, himself.

I could not believe it. How could the Society come up with something so advanced?

I turned around and saw a globe floating behind me, prompting that I could stick my hand into it and separate from my avatar whenever I wanted. I did that to test it out, but then went back to being Captain Bornan again and enter through the doorway that now appeared, indicating a form-fitting venue.

I spent hours looking through the catalogues of apparel, weapons, shields, boots, talismans, and headgear for Captain Bornan to use. Reading up on the needs of today's Arturian Realm, I made the purchase, now with Arturian Credits, of all the stuff I believed Captain Bornan would need. I then went over to another venue and decided to buy a Falcon-Hawk spaceship, apparently one of the best-equipped vehicles but very pricey. I fitted that with decent guns and shields.

I will say that I am thankful that the Founders decided to make it a rule to never tie Arturian Realm currency used by avatars with real currency.

After I was done with all this, having felt that Captain Bornan was now quest-ready, I disengaged from the avatar console and went back out to the Library to do some more reading on the White Baroness, this time with a quest forming in my mind.

I am still unsure of my objective. But I feel that I can start with trying to find the White Baroness and try to eliminate her. I understand that this will obviously be next to impossible, but any complications I expect to encounter along the way will craft my insight.

In any case, I studied and noted all the written stuff carefully, and predicted that the White Baroness is located most likely on Planet Prestia Minor CCL.

This quest I will try tomorrow.