Last time, we left off with a story lacking in the blue category. So, what is blue in Ascension? Well, if you've read it the answer should be apparent: Zazdor and Kledion. Where did Zazdor come from? Well, Zazdor created Zazdor, of course!

A new member volunteered to help me with the story only a few weeks after I myself had taken over. We chatted online, and he had some good ideas. He had the idea of Zazdor, a maniac illusionist, which filled the blue vacancy nicely. Only later did the new member change his name to match his first pet character. After a brief interlude on Kledion, the story could move on to its conclusion. The storyline department, now doubled in size with Zazdor as my protégé, became a prominent (or, at least, vocal) force in HGML.

Bringing our characters finally to Kelsan, I found myself in a peculiar mood while writing the original outline. Why, always, did the good guys always have to arrive in the nick of time? Why not 15 seconds late instead of early. The thought of all the heroes being annihilated with nary a thought made me smile, so with a few keystrokes nearly all of the major characters met their doom. I realized only later that the characters I had killed were by and large those I hadn't developed a 'feel' for, and such wouldn't be as good at writing. Those characters I had no use for were disposed of.

There was a bit of an uproar when I posted this (the last time I posted a story outline, and most members forgot about it by the time the chapters came out). Pale Scale, especially, was missed, though I personally came to wish Jaredei had stuck around. When I made it clear that the story would actually be WRITTEN, and the characters would get a death SCENE, members seemed fine with the slaughter I had perpetrated.

About this time, we asked Jazzfan if we could rename the set. Before, it had just been "the HGML set" or "HGML, first edition" or some such gibberish. Now, it took the name of the story - Ascension. Moreover, Jazzfan allowed us to include some Legends from the story in the set. These additions did not expand the set beyond 350, because, normal WotC sets have 3 slots each for each basic land - we only gave them one, so 10 extra slots. Now, mind you that the legends were decided on BEFORE we actually started writing the story. Ezaziel, for example, hadn't even been conceived yet, so the relatively minor Alissa and Chomper got cards while he did not. We actually only had one Green character, so another, Achmagg, was fabricated to balance out the colors, legendwise.

Now, with an outline complete and two writers willing to document the story, we were set to begin writing what would become as long as a standard NOVEL, and commence a story that still isn't anywhere near complete. Heck, it isn't even close to a third way complete yet!