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Contents

Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the news on a day to day basis. Here are the highlight from the Neopets news page for this month...

Three new Greetings featuring Jhudora are available to send to your Valentine... or your arch nemesis. It's up to you, really. (February 6, 2006)

New Feature! - You can now set up a PIN for things like your Bank Account, Safety Deposit Box, and other important places. This is all optional, of course! You can read more about it and set it all up by visiting the PIN preferences page. (February 8, 2006)

A few new Coloring Pages are available if you'd like something to do on a rainy day. (February 9, 2006)

If you've noticed a few of your Neofriends missing, you're not going crazy. A glitch with the Neofriends database caused a number of accepted Neofriends to be deleted from the system. They’ve restored the most recent backup of this data, so most of you who were missing Neofriends should have them back now. If you are still missing a few Neofriends, you can send them the request again and it will be automatically accepted. (February 15, 2006)

From Neopets: News for Monday will now move to the weekend. It's still the same amount of news per week, so don't worry. :) This is just to make sure everyone around the world gets their news in a timely manner! At this point, no changes to the TNE format are expected. (February 25, 2006)

Did you know Heermeedjet is the one with the goggles and Merouladen wears the blue cap? More information on the notorious Meerca Bros. can be found in the Neopedia. (February 28, 2006)

Special Days for these months were:

  • Feb 3rd - Zafara Day
  • Feb 4th - Jhudora Day
  • Feb 12th - Lenny Festival (Lenny Day)
  • Feb 14th - Valentine's Day and Neopians everywhere are sending each other messages of Lurve!
  • Feb 18th - Chocolate Chia Day (Chia Day)
  • Feb 21st - Tonu Day
  • Feb 22nd - Mynci Day

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Pets are painted at the Rainbow Pool (on the Main Shops page) with special magic paint brushes. Click here for a list of all pets and their available colors.

v      The Mutant Zafara is now available. (February 3, 2006)

v      If you seem to lose your Zafara quite often, it might be better to select another color at the Rainbow Pool besides this new Camouflage option. (February 3, 2006)

v      A Xweetok How to Draw is now available for all you budding artists. (February 7, 2006)

v      Head to the Rainbow Pool if you'd like to turn your Ogrin an Orange color. (February 7, 2006)

v      If your Ruki or Chomby has been pining for a new color, how about Biscuit? (February 8, 2006)

v      If you had a Starry Paint Brush, you could head over to the Rainbow Pool and give your Gnorbu a lovely new look. (February 9, 2006)

v      Lennies can now be painted a tropical Island and a prehistoric Tyrannian over at the Rainbow Pool. (February 10, 2006)

v      The Tuskaninny How to Draw has been updated to reflect the new look of the species. (February 13, 2006)

v      The new Baby Xweetok is so cute you may go into sugar shock. (February 13, 2006)

v      You can now own your very own Maraquan Pteri. (February 16, 2006)

v      For a Chia unlike any other, why not change it to this lovely Custard flavor color? (February 17, 2006)

v      Your Chia can be hot stuff with the aid of the new Pepper Chia Pop. (February 17, 2006)

v      This tasty lovely new Biscuit Yurble is now available at the Rainbow Pool. (February 20, 2006)

v      The lovely Sketch Tonu is now available. All you need is the right paint brush! (February 21, 2006)

v      Forgetful players may not want the new Invisible Mynci. (February 22, 2006)

v      The Rainbow Pool is quite honored to present the Royal Mynci. (February 22, 2006)

v      The lovely Faerie Tonu can now be yours. (February 23, 2006)

v      The hideous Mutant Gnorbu has been spotted. (February 23, 2006)

v      Awww... it's a cute ickle Baby Gnorbu! How can you resist a trip to the Rainbow Pool? (February 25, 2006)

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For those of you looking for the Petpet Puddle, it is part of the Rainbow Pool. When you are on the Main Shops page, click on the Rainbow Pool. At the top of the next page is the link to the Petpet Puddle. Click here for a list of all petpets and their available colors.

q        Tyrannian, Plushie, and Darigan versions are now available for the Kimbi at the Petpet Puddle. (February 2, 2006)

q        Meepits, Doglefoxes, and Spardels can all now be painted Disco with the right brush. (February 9, 2006)

q        Ownow owners will be happy to hear their Petpets can now be painted several colors at the Petpet Puddle. (February 13, 2006)

q        Ettaphants can now be painted Pirate, Tyrannian, Starry and Rainbow. (February 15, 2006)

q        A trip to the Petpet Puddle is in order if you'd like to give your Harris a new Maraquan or Mutant look. (February 20, 2006)

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As with all good help sites, the pages on the Neopian Educator are always under construction. Suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome. Simply fill out the automatic comment form.

As usual, the Avatar and Game Reviews pages have been updated. More work is being done to more rapidly add guides.

The Great Free Stuff page has been updated to include the newest sponsor freebie in addition to providing a text link for those who have image ad blockers as well.

Work continues on the upcoming museum. This project is rather large, but at least you can get a quick look at it here. Note that these pages are still very much under construction. If you have anything you’d like to contribute, please send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

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New Avatars

 

Avatars have a broad based appeal that touches almost every aspect of life in Neopia. These are the avatars that were added this month. For a complete list, drop by the avatars section of the Chat FAQs. If you know of one that is not listed, simply fill out the automatic comment form.

Avatar

How earned

Date released


Zafara Double Agent

Once you have the Zafara Double Agent Plushie in your inventory, type ‘Zafara Double Agent’ in the search box.

February 3, 2006


Mutant Lenny

Visit the lookup of a Mutant Lenny with mutant petpet attached, like Lenny_mas_Grande

February 10, 2006


Faerie Bubbles

Score 2000 or more at Faerie Bubbles.

February 13, 2006


Florg – Feed Me!

Score 1200or more in Feed Florg.

February 17, 2006


Mutant Tonu

View the pet lookup of a Mutant Tonu that is sick, or has less than 1 hp. I used NiteRhino but you may also try MUTANT__TONU, or BloodGal

February 21, 2006


Halloween Mynci

View the pet lookup of a Halloween Mynci with a Spooky Petpet attached like Parroki

February 22, 2006

 

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Games on Neopets are in a constant state of change and these changes are often not listed in the news. Here are the changes for this month:

Here are the new games that were added this month:

a    Race around Kiko Lake in an inner tube avoiding all those mischievous Kikos in Tubular Kiko Racing! (February 2, 2006)

a    Oh no! It appears the smileys have been stolen! Take control of The Last Smiley to find and liberate the other smileys and make your way back to the NeoBoards where you belong. Note that this is a SHOCKWAVE game and may not work on slower computers. (February 9, 2006)

a    If you're fond of matching games, this new sponsor game is right up your alley. Why not give Radio Disney Jams 8: Matching Madness a go? (February 10, 2006)

a    Find Lady and the Tramp in the crowd and win Neopoints in the new sponsor game, Lady and the Tramp: Crowd Patrol. (February 25, 2006)

a    Guess which JammX Kid is hidden behind the tiles and win Neopoints in the new sponsor game, JammX: Revealing Video. (February 25, 2006)

a    New Game! - Can you help Heermeedjet and Merouladen pull off their devious plan to infiltrate the Qasalan treasury? Play The Great Qasalan Caper to find out! (February 28, 2006)

a    Stay hidden from Mad-Eye Moody and his Dark detectors in this new sponsor game - Harry Potter Game: Moody's Magical Eye. (February 28, 2006)

These games were taken off the site this month:

Ø       Ben 10: Sliders

Ø       Food Chase

Ø       Nanny McPhee: Investi-Catch

Ø       Petpet Paddle Battle

Ø       VERB: YELLOWBALL

Changes to existing games:

A slew of new Kadoaties have made the Kadoatery their home and a few more cages have been added. It's a good thing that building is sound-proof. (February 7, 2006)

World Challenges have been updated to include a third set of images to collect, high score lists, and more. Visit the World Challenges page to see what's new. (February 15, 2006)

 

If you know of anything that was overlooked, or have suggestions or even constructive criticisms, use this form.

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Featured Game:

Invasion of Merridell

Submitted by gtaz

Have a guide you'd like to see here? Send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu




Need some tips for the Invasion of Meridell game? Or perhaps some help to obtain the medal and/or avatar? Hopefully this guide can help :)

Click here for a Spanish translation of this guide (Thanks colbert_g!) Clickee "aquí" para una traducción en español de esta guia (Grazias colbert_g!)
Important note: If you want the avatar, you have to finish Mission 7 Battle 3 in the SAME month you created the game.
To get the medal, you just have to finish Mission 5 Battle 3 and it doesn't matter when you created the game.






General Tips



Your army

You start off with 5 fighters. Before starting the game, check the stats of your army, which should look something like the one shown below.


In particular, the Moehog's and Techo's attack strength should at least be 8 and 9 respectively. If the stats are weak, just delete your troops until you are satisfied. Name your fighters so that you can distinguish them from any converted invaders later.

In each battle, the converted invaders form part of your troops. However, you have to discard all but 5 fighters before you continue with the next battle. It is recommended that you keep the original 5 that you started with as they would have accumulated saves and items in each battle.





Moving around

You can make up to 5 moves per turn. You can either use each move for a different fighter, or several moves for one or more fighters. However, each species can only move a certain number of times per turn (unless they are equipped with certain items). As shown in the legend on the gameboard, you can make up to 4 moves per turn for the Moehog, 2 moves per turn for the Techo, Scorchio and Grundo, and once per turn for the Skeith.





Stats

(Note: First Wave refers to Mission 1-5 and Second Wave refers to Mission 6-10)

Health
The maximum health of each fighter is 18 in the First Wave and 21 in the Second Wave. If the health of a fighter is zero or less, it will be converted to an invader and will attack your other fighters. Note that even if you convert it back later, it will not regain any bonuses or items or saves that it has accumulated in earlier battles. Similarly, an invader will be converted and becomes one of your fighters when its health is zero or less (An exception is the Invader Buzz, which just leaves behind a smoking crater when defeated).

Attack Strength
Each fighter can have a maximum base attack strength of 18 in the First Wave and 19 in the Second Wave. Attack strength affects the chances of hitting an opponent as well as the damage done to the opponent (this will be explained in more detail later). The table below shows the bonuses for different levels of attack strength.

Attack Strength Bonus
9-11 1
12-14 2
15-17 3
18 4
19 5

In addition, if a fighter obtains an attack item, it will give the fighter an attack bonus on top of the bonuses mentioned above. (Refer to the section on Items for more details)

Defence Strength
The maximum base defence strength of each fighter is 14 for both Waves. Defence strength affects how well a fighter can avoid damage when attacked. Unlike bonuses for attack strength, defence bonuses come entirely from the defence items obtained by a fighter.





Items

Items can be found in each battle and you just have to move any fighter onto an item to acquire it. However, as each fighter can only hold 1 attack item and 1 defence item, it will drop the current item that it is holding and obtain the new item instead. All potions are consumed as soon as they are landed on. Do also note that if an invader moves onto a square occupied by an item, that item vanishes but the invader cannot make use of it.

Below are the various attack and defence items that you can find in Mission 1-7. Certain items are "specialized" for certain species so extra bonuses will be given to the particular species that hold these items.

Items Attack Bonus Defence Bonus
Remarks
1 0
1
Techo: 3		 0
0 1
Grundo: 3
2 0
0 2
Skeith: 4		 Skeiths can teleport to any unoccupied space in rows 3 through 10
2
Scorchio: 4		 0 Scorchios with ranks of Soldier or higher can attack invaders from 2 spaces away.
0 3
Grundo: 5
3
Grundo: 5		 0 Grundos can heal other fighters from anywhere on the board if both have an available move.
0 3
Moehog: 5
0 5
5 0 Base attack strength of the fighter must be at least 14.
Skeiths with Amulet of Transportation can have an extra move after teleporting.
0 4
0 3
Moehog: 5		 Moehogs can deflect enchantments cast on Grundos by invaders in the Second Wave.
0 4
Techo: 6
4
Techo: 6		 0 Techos can deflect enchantments cast on Skeiths by invaders in the Second Wave.
5 0 The fighter will have unlimited moves (ie your maximum of 5 moves per turn).
Skeiths will not have extra moves once they teleport.






Invaders

Hopefully the following information will help you in predicting what the invaders might do next.

Moves
The invaders will move in a straight line towards your fighters and villages unless there is a mountain in their path, in which case they will move diagonally around it. When an invader reaches a square adjacent to a fighter, it will stop moving and attack the fighter, unless there is also a village adjacent to the invader. In this case, the invader will choose to sack the village first and the only way to stop the invader from doing so is to convert it by the end of your turn.

Attacks
The table below shows the priority of an invader when attacking a fighter. The invader (I) will attack the fighter in a square with the lowest number.

3

1

6

4

I

7

5

2

8


Occasionally, an invader might have an alternative attacking priority as shown in the table below.

8

1

3

7

I

4

6

2

5


Thus, if a fighter is in danger of being converted, you can either move that fighter away so that it is not adjacent to an invader, or you can move another fighter to a square with a lower number so that the invader will attack it instead.





Combat

You can calculate the amount of damage a fighter can do to an invader using the following equation:

Attack Bonus † Weapon Bonus † Roll - Invader's Defence = Damage

where Roll is a random number between 1-20.

For example, let's assume that a Skeith has an attack strength of 18 with no attack items and it hits an invader with a defence strength of 8. If the roll is 19, the amount of damage done to the invader will be 4 † 0 † 19 - 8 = 15. So if the health of an invader is 15 or less, it will be converted. On the other hand, if the roll is 3, the amount of damage done to the invader will be 4 † 0 † 3 - 8 = -1. In this case, no damage will be done to the invader.

Similarly, you can try to work out the maximum damage that an invader can do to your fighter by assuming that the invader will roll a 20. If we assume that the Skeith in the above example has a defence strength of 9 and the invader has an attack strength of 9, the maximum amount of damage that can be done to the Skeith will be 1 † 0 † 20 - 9 = 12 (note that invaders have no weapon bonuses). Of course the invaders will not always roll 20s but the above would help in calculating the probability of your fighters being converted.





Ranks and Saves

All fighters start with the rank of Villager. If a fighter convert an invader, it is known as a save. When a fighter has accumulated a certain number of saves, it will be promoted to the next rank as shown in the table below.

No. of saves Rank
Less than 3 Villager
3 Defender
9 Soldier
32 Captain
64 Lieutenant
96 Corporal

When a fighter is promoted to the next rank, its attack and defence strength will increase by 1 point. However, once a fighter is promoted in a particular Battle, any saves made by that fighter during other Battles in the same Mission will not accumulate. In effect, each fighter can only be promoted once per Mission.





Lost Items


A "Lost Item" appears in every Mission and will exist for 3 Battles. If you recover it in the first Battle, it won't appear in the next two Battles. If you don't recover it in the first Battle, it will appear in the second Battle, and failing that, the third Battle. However, if you haven't recovered it by the end of the third Battle, it is lost forever but a different "Lost Item" will appear for the next Mission.

There are no penalties for failing to recover a "Lost Item", but recovering it will boost the base attack and defence strength of all your fighters by 1 point (up to the maximum levels). However, note that if you lose a Battle, you would have to restart the Mission and the boost from the "Lost Item" for that Mission will be lost. Furthermore, once you recover a "Lost Item", it is saved forever and will never reappear, no matter how many times you restart the Mission.

To summarize, you should only recover a "Lost Item" only if you are confident of completing the Mission. But do remember to recover the "Lost Items" while there are at least 2 invaders on the board, as it will disappear for the rest of the Battle when only 1 invader is left.







Strategy Guide


Note: The following is just what I would normally do in each Mission. You can either choose to follow it or use your own strategy. The items shown in the examples may also differ from those in your game.



Mission 1




The above shows an example of a Battle in Mission 1. Move each of your 5 fighters in turn to Row 6, where Row 1 is the first row from the top. As the mountains are in the way of the Techo, move it between Invader 01 and 02 as shown below, so that you can stop the third invader from advancing and won't waste a potion.



As mentioned before, if you are confident of completing the Mission, get the "Lost Item" when there are 2 invaders left on the board. In addition, when there's only 1 invader left, don't be in a hurry to convert it unless all your fighters are in danger of being converted by the invader instead. Move your fighters to get any weapons that are still lying around.


Recommendations for Mission 1:
  • Let each fighter make a save for each Battle in the Mission so that all will be promoted to the rank of Defender by the end of the Mission.





Mission 2




In this Mission, Invader 05 is positioned much nearer to your villages from the start. There should be 2 Amulets of Teleportation lying around but if none of them are within 2 spaces of your Skeith, you can either move your Techo 2 spaces per turn to stop the invader from advancing, or keep clicking "End Turn Now" so that your villages will be sacked and you can restart the Mission. Teleport your Skeith to Row 6 once it gets an Amulet and start attacking Invader 06 when it is adjacent to your Skeith, while moving your other fighters up to Row 6 as well.


Recommendations for Mission 2:
  • Let your Techo and Scorchio accumulate 9 saves each by the end of the Mission so that they would be promoted to the rank of Soldier.
  • Equip your Scorchio with a bow if there are any in this Mission.





Mission 3




As usual, teleport your Skeith to Row 6 to stop Invaders 05 and 06 from advancing. If your Scorchio has been promoted to the rank of Soldier and has a bow from the previous Mission, it can now attack invaders from 2 spaces away. Move your Scorchio to the middle of Row 6 (that would be the space below a mountain and between the 2 potions in the above example) so that it can attack most of the invaders. At the same time, move your Grundo to get the Magic Force Spell as soon as possible, while moving your Moehog and Techo up to Row 6 as well.


When your Grundo gets a Magic Force Spell, it can heal your other fighters if both have an available move. Unfortunately, it is unable to heal itself so move it away if any invaders are attacking it. You should always have healing as your first priority, since your fighters won't be converted if their health are restored. From Battle 2 onwards, your Grundo need not be moved as its main task is to heal your other fighters. This will in turn free up a move for the other fighters to move up to Row 6 more quickly.


Recommendations for Mission 3:
  • Let your Moehog and Skeith accumulate 9 saves each by the end of the Mission so that they would be promoted to the rank of Soldier.





Mission 4




Teleport your Skeith to Row 6 to stop Invaders 05 and 06 from advancing. Move your Scorchio to the middle of Row 6 (onto the Plate Armour), your Techo diagonally up to Row 6 (onto the square between the 2 Magic Force Spells), and your Moehog to Row 6 (onto the square below the mountain). Use your Scorchio and Techo as your main fighters and your Grundo to heal when necessary.


Recommendations for Mission 4:
  • Let your Scorchio and Techo convert most of the invaders so that they would be promoted to the rank of Captain by the end of Mission 5.





Mission 5




The above shows an example of Mission 5 after 2 rounds. It is actually similar to Mission 4, except all the invaders are now Grundos instead of Scorchios. Just follow the same strategy used in Mission 4. However, before you convert the last invader, it is necessary to equip your Moehog with the Counter Enchantment Helmet if you are going to continue with Mission 6.


Recommendations for Mission 5:
  • Let your Scorchio and Techo accumulate 32 saves by the end of the Mission so that they would be promoted to the rank of Captain.
  • Equip your Skeith, Techo or Moehog with the Berseker Battleaxe if there are any in this Mission.



Congratulations!!! You have earned a nice medal for your lookup! :)






Mission 6




Teleport your Skeith to Row 6 to stop Invaders 05 and 06 from advancing. Since there is a Sword of Deflection in the middle of Row 6, move your Techo onto it to equip it, while moving your Moehog and Scorchio up to Row 6 as well. Concentrate on converting the invader Moehogs first as the invader Buzzes have a defence of 25 and are really tedious to convert.


Your Moehog should have been equipped with the Counter Enchantment Helmet from the previous Mission, so if your Grundo is being enchanted and you need it to heal the other fighters, just click on your Moehog then on your Grundo to break the enchantment. Similarly, it is not necessary for your Techo to break the enchantment for your Skeith unless your Skeith needs to be teleported to another square. However, do remember to break all enchantments on your Grundo and Skeith before converting the last invader, as the enchantments will be carried forward to the next Battle/Mission and you would have to waste a turn to break these enchantments in the new Battle/Mission.





Mission 7




The strategy is similar to that for Mission 6 - move your Skeith, Scorchio, Techo and Moehog to Row 6 and concentrate converting all the invader Scorchios first. It is not necessary to get the Chainmails and Halberds (if any) since their attack and defence bonuses should be less than those that are already equipped by your fighters. You may want to equip your Skeith with the Halberd so that it can have unlimited moves, but be aware that the Halberd has 1 less attack bonus than the Berseker Battleaxe.


Congratulations!!! You have earned yourself a nice avatar! :)

Something Has Happened!
0 You are now eligible to use 'IOM Moehog' as an avatar on the NeoBoards!


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Featured Article:

Spam…many varieties and they all stink.

There are all sorts of spam in the world…turkey spam, ham spam, chicken spam, and most notably for us, computer spam. Wikipedia defines spam as the following:

the abuse of any electronic communications medium to send unsolicited messages in bulk. While its definition usually extends to the sending of any unsolicited bulk electronic communication, some exclude from the definition of the term "spam" messages considered by the receiver (or even just the sender) to be targeted, non-commercial, or wanted. In the popular eye, the most common form of spam is that delivered in e-mail as a form of commercial advertising. However, over the short history of electronic media, people have spammed for many purposes other than the commercial, and in many media other than e-mail.

For neopets, spam can include repeated/off topic posts on the chat boards (such as advertising the makeup in your shop on the plot board), using neomail to send mass advertisements, or posting chain letters/posts. Chain letters DO NOT work. If they did, it would totally unbalance the Neopian economy. All they do is slow down the site.

Number 13 from the Chat Rules page states: 13. Do not spam the message boards, guild boards, or other site areas. This includes Chain Letters of any kind!

Neopets issued the following reminder about chain letters/message boards: Recently people have been sending chain letters promising some reward from the Neopets team if you send the message on to x number of people. This is totally false, we do not reward people for spamming and anyone found doing this could have their account frozen. Chain letters are annoying rubbish and we will not condone them. (November 1, 2002) Obviously, this was not strong enough, because this follow-up was issued: UPDATE - If you post any scam chain letters (i.e. post this on ten boards and get a faerie paint brush) then you will be frozen. You have been warned! (November 14, 2002) Another warning from neopets about chain letters was posted: Just a quick reminder - please please please stop the chain letters in the message boards and trading post. You will not get rich, super lucky, or in any way benefit from sending anything to 50 people, it just makes our site slower. We will start freezing people who spread chain letters soon, you have been warned. (January 6, 2003) Due to the overwhelming spam and scams posted on the chat rooms, Neopets has blocked people from posting links. (January 8, 2003) This block was extended to neomail as well as the chats on January 13, 2003. According to the Neopets news page, a laser beam has totally disintegrated General Chat. Most people believe it was shut down because of the rampant scamming, spamming, and general rule breaking. (January 7, 2004) This was more or less confirmed in the Editorial of last week’s Neopian Times when they posted:

I like to visit all the boards once in a while, and when I visited the newbie board I was astounded by all the vulgarity. Why do you stand to have a board that is just used for the discussion of demeaning subjects? Why dont you just get rid of the newbie board. I have talked to many people who agree with me that the newbie board is only used for horrifying subjects, and that it needs to be stopped! Please can you end this atrocious board? ~ arwen20041
Alas, we tried that with the old "General Chat" board we used to have, and all that happened was the players spread, infected, and attempted to take over other boards. To anyone reading this who participates in these unruly threads, please take it upon yourself to read the Terms and Conditions of the site, and use the boards in a more responsible and mature manner. Those who fail to abide by the terms they agreed upon when they joined will eventually be warned, and possibly frozen if their poor behavior continues. We realize that it's not only the newbie chat that has these types of posts, and that many players in the aforementioned chat do not behave in this manner. It's the poorly behaved ones that are giving the chat a bad name, and we will try our best to make them aware their behavior is not appreciated or desired.

One of the most troubling sources of spam is ‘chain letters’. Neopets has been waging war on this type for quite a while now. These usually start out with either really good or really bad news that "it is very important you share." They promise rewards if you forward it to several people and they claim to be from the neopets team. The news they want you to pass on is not true, and you will not receive anything for forwarding it to anyone. Forwarding these neomails really slows down the servers. If neopets needed to neomail everyone, they could do it on the system or just put it in the news section. They don't need your help. Neopets has repeatedly said that such posts either on chats, shops, trading post descriptions or through neomail will NOT get you anything other than slower servers. Do not believe them, and in the name of all that is good: DON’T PASS THEM ON!

Spam only serves to annoy everyone. You will not get votes or guild members by annoying them. Posting once in a while is fine, but over and over and over again will make you more enemies than friends…and that’s only if you are lucky enough to not have your account frozen.

As always, play safe and have fun!

~StaggPub~

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Name: Blue Berry Pie
Available: From the Bakery
Neopet’s Description: As good as mothers this pie will make your mouth water when you smell it.
TNE’s Description: This sweet pie is a must-have for blueberry lovers.

Pie Crust:
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Cup Shortening
• 1/2 Cup Ice Water

Filling:
• 2 pt Blueberries -- rinsed, drained and picked over
• 3/4 c Sugar
• 3 tb Cornstarch
• 3 tb Water
• 1 t Finely grated lemon zest
• 1/2 ts Ground cinnamon
• 1/4 ts Freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tb Unsalted butter
• Egg Wash: 1 egg well beaten with a pinch of salt
• 1 t Sugar for finishing the top of the pie -- optional

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening thoroughly with pastry blender. Add ice water and blend until dough cleans bowl and is no longer sticky. Divide into 2 balls. Roll out on floured board, sprinkle a little flour on top of dough to make rolling easier. Roll from center outward. Chill the dough while preparing the filling. To make the filling, combine 1 cup of the blueberries with the sugar in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted and the mixture is very liquid about 5 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and whisk the blueberry and sugar mixture into it. Return everything to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat, until the mixture comes to a boil, thickens and becomes clear. If it does not become clear, continue to cook over low heat for a few more minutes, until it does. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the remaining filling ingredients, except the blueberries, then add the remaining 3 cups blueberries. Cool. Set a rack at the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Roll out the bottom crust and arrange in pan. Pour the cooled filling into the bottom crust.

To make lattice top, cut remaining crust into 1/2-inch strips. Arrange strips in lattice design over blueberry mixture. Flute the edge of the pie and carefully brush it with egg wash. If you wish, sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar. Place the pie in the oven on the lower rack and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the crust is baked through and a deep golden brown and the filling is gently bubbling. If the top crust has not colored sufficiently after 30 minutes of baking, move the pie to the upper rack of the oven for the last 10 minutes. Cool the pie on a rack.

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