It feels good to finally have time to write again.

To see the sad state of affairs I was in while I wrote my last entry is a surprising reminder to me over how much things can change in a single year. School was not in session, Society politics were at their lowest point, we were on the verge of bankruptcy, and I was somewhat at odds with both Richard and Dyla.

Man how things have changed.

I will start off with the day after I wrote my last entry. Right after the whole spiel with Peter Crane's departure, Richard, Dyla, and I decided to put forward a motion to become officially installed as the Dungeonmaster Tribunal, to run the affairs of the Dungeonmaster position until the next election. And I need to mention that I was actually quite afraid that this would not work out, because while many people grew to hate Peter Crane, many still loved him. So I was afraid of the fallout.

The way the process works is that we had to gather at least twenty-five Society Member signatures and have them verified by the Bookkeeper. Late last year, the Society had voted to have Fred Henry as the official Bookkeeper. So again, we had to have twenty-five signatures verified by the Bookkeeper, which would then authorize the Society Caucus to vote "yes" or "no" on installing the three of us as the Dungeonmaster Tribunal.

Unfortunately, Bookkeeper Henry refused to take part in this and resigned.

That, of course, led to a crisis, because the Statute of Principle did not anticipate a vacancy in both the Dungeonmaster and Bookkeeper positions. There was, however, a single clause in that document to have at least 100 Members sign a special petition to have someone come in from outside the Society to serve as an External Arbitrator to facilitate decisions in an emergency.

We were able to choose Ivella Ogden.

That clause was originally meant to facilitate unanimous approval from the Society for this to happen, be it that the Membership at the time the Statute of Principle was written was not that much higher than 100. Regardless, Ivella Ogden, even though she was a Founding Member was, in fact, considered a Former Member, which the Statute of Principle criteria determined made her an "external party." She was back in the Mid-Westerlie Isles when we wrote her. But luckily, she saw our situation as a top priority. So she came out to Cabotton once again.

As an External Arbitrator, Ivella presided over the Caucus for one week this past June. During that time, the Bookkeeper Tribunal, consisting of Richard's three closest friends, was voted in and authorized by Ivella. We then held a vote which succeeded in officially established Dyla, Richard, and me as the Dungeonmaster Tribunal.

I was thankful to be a part of this Tribunal initially. First, the workload of the Dungeonmaster role is divided in three ways between the three of us and was therefore lighter for each Tribunal Member. Second, it is technically against an unwritten custom to have any Member of the Tribunal serving as a legitimate Dungeonmaster later on, even though that is not prescribed physically in the Statute. That meant I could anticipate not being a Dungeonmaster myself, meaning that I could have time to resolve the quest that had displaced the Great Priestess thanks to Boldo and Brayda, a quest that I had not touched in over a year. In fact, I had not engaged in the Arturian Realm since before the Great Strike. Moreover, I anticipated that Dyla would be the next Dungeonmaster despite the unwritten convention against Tribunal Members.

To my surprise, though, I came to find out, first brought up by Richard, that there was a growing number of Members that wanted me to become the Dungeonmaster.

"I'm not out of my mind like that," I said to Richard, thinking it was a joke.

"If not you, then who else," Dyla replied. And indeed, there literally was no one else wanting to take the position. My mind was blown at this. In fact, I even took to the Public Section calling on others to run, even touting the benefits like the pay and the administrative clout. All I got in response was people admiring me for my mediative tendencies as I helped lead the cause in the strike and against Peter Crane.

I fought with the Caucus like this all throughout the month of June and the month of September. However, during the last week of September, I came across a petition signed by about 300 Members threatening to leave the Society for good if I did not accept the Dungeonmaster nomination. That was on September 23, if I remember correctly; I know it was about three weeks after Cabotton University finally resumed classes for the first time since the strike had begun.

In the end, the strike finally came to an end on May 23, 1283, with the Global Academy Board of Trustees agreeing to a set of terms for all the chapter faculties, but dictating through invocation of international law to begin a series of arbitration discussions. Who knows where this will go? But in any case, the University Council voted on, and the Headmaster signed, the resolution to resume classes at Cabotton University starting for Fall Semester of 1282.

Speaking of the University Council, some of its more conservative members tried pushing a policy to tear down our beloved Wall of Labor, such a conservative motion that I, myself, led a protest against. I did it simply out of passion because I want that Wall to stand as a testament to future students of the importance of rising up against figures of authority whenever they play to morals not in line with that of the masses. The University Council did succeed in changing the University Motto from "In Union for Progress" to "Together for Progress." But nevertheless, my initiative on the Wall led even more Members to overwhelm me with the call to become the Dungeonmaster.

So I finally conceded and announced that I would become the next Dungeonmaster. I resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never be able to play the Great Priestess again, be it the time I would have to commit to starting my new job, the time I would have to commit to fulfilling my new job, and then my anticipated desire to retire completely from the Society afterward.

The Dungeonmaster election took place on October 8. I did win that; and I told the Caucus that I would be committing only one year to that position.

Surprisingly, I was able to secure some free time after that. So I had my last run of the Great Priestess. Brayda and Boldo had long won over the playing field once controlled by my Great Priestess and were able to dominate their playing field with no other competition.

That was the thing, though. They were not expecting my sudden return.

Richard and Dyla decided to help me with their avatars. We drew up quite a formidable army of daemons, and did so in secret. Suddenly, last Friday, we launched a surprise attack on the Brayda-Boldo regime, and quite literally toppled it within minutes.

We all met in the Slack later that evening; all of us, that is, including the Members behind Brayda and Boldo. "We win some, and lose some," they said jokingly. In the end, we all agreed to retire our avatars and open that playing field to the next generation of new dynamics.

No sign of Kara Martins or Peter Crane since last year.

***END OF STORY SEVEN***