A Perfect Paradox
Nuhmudira looked to her new assistant as the crystal was placed into the matrix between the anchor points. The Lifestone hummed to life. Nuhmudira had completed the beacons not long ago and had had time to place only a handful across the lands. But this one at the base of the Marescent Plateau would prove to be the greatest accomplishment. She looked at the man and motioned for him to take his leave.
She was mindful of the eyes at her back, for her retainer had returned.
*****
The Overlord tore through the human’s chest plate, exposing bone and felling him with a single blow. He howled in victory and called his troops to his side. The humans had come to the hall of the Overlord for the last time. No longer would the champion chosen by Hea Arantah stand by idly while invaders came into his home to steal his treasures. The time to show his throat was done. The time to tear out the throats of others was at hand.
*****
Olthoi swarmed all around in a rush of madness the like of which the battle party had never seen. Warriors, Nobles and Eviscerators dwarfed the newest breed, but proved to be half as stalwart and strong. The stench of decay filled the air, and acrid smoke billowed from places where ichor dripping from Olthoi maws struck the desert sand. The battle force locked shields as the archers loosed their volleys. Mages launched their spells but to little avail. The melee fighters felt the crush of the encroaching tide of claws. When the dust settled, the human force had survived though many had lost their lives.
Listed below are the changes introduced in our March event. We’ve spelled out specific changes to game functionality and existing content, but the details on new content are up to you to discover! Speak to town criers, barkeeps, and scribes for hints about the latest happenings in Dereth. For more information on this month’s event, please see this month’s Letter to the Players. Please submit any bugs you come across to http://bugs.zone.com.
New Functionality and Content
A new style of Lifestone has popped up on the landscape…
Monster rebalancing is complete. Monsters’ levels are more indicative of the areas where they live. Rebalancing involved the revision of melee, missile, and magical abilities and defenses, along with updating the weapons monsters use in combat. More information is available in this month’s Letter to the Players
We’ve continued our updates of existing quests, so many quests will be more difficult and more rewarding.
Miscellaneous Improvements and Changes
The Fellowship panel, and the way in which the game manages the updating and display of fellowship information, has changed slightly. We believe these changes will make the Fellowship panel more useful and less likely to cause problems, but we will be monitoring feedback on the changes and possibly adjusting them if necessary.
The timer on picking up a skill alteration gem has been reduced from 21 days to 14 days. Remember that your timer starts when you pick up the gem, not when you use it, so you can keep several gems in your inventory at one time.
Shadow Hunter Armor is now repeatable. If you’ve already received a complete suit of Shadow Hunter armor, you can give another gem of the quality of armor you desire to one of the Master Armor Smiths. The Smith will let you know that you’ve completed that particular armor quest, but if you’d like to have another suit of armor made, the smithy will happily craft another for you. They will then return the gem. Handing it to the Smith again will restart the quest from scratch for you.
You can now use the four non-magic recalls (@lifestone, @marketplace, and the two @house recalls) to get yourself out of a situation in which you are stuck. For instance, if you get stuck bouncing around in a crevasse, try using @lifestone to get free.
Several interactions which were one-time-per-character are now repeatable. These include:
Picking up the infusions for the Sword of Lost Light and the Sword of Lost Hope quests.
Picking up the notes in Nuhmudira’s Labyrinth.
Picking up Martine’s Mask and Robe.
Getting the Trove Key from Josef, and picking up the Prismatic Stone.
Various interactions with the Blind Snowman.
Minor Details
Some older portals have had their level restrictions modified or lifted entirely.
You can now drag your main backpack into the vendor window to sell everything in it. Remember to check your inventory before you sell; you don’t want to lose those tinkered items!
A number of spells have new icons to better differentiate them from other, similar spells.
The spear version of the Ebon Spine Harpoon was originally intended to do both cold and piercing damage, depending on the power setting at which it was used. Unfortunately, the game does not support that combination of attacks, with the result that the spear never worked correctly. This spear now does cold damage at all power settings; note, however, that the damage remains hollow.
A bug that prevented the tinkering of treasure-generated fire spears has been fixed.
A number of existing items are now hookable and can be displayed proudly in your home.
Baby bunnies are back in Dereth. What more do we need to say?
Published: Mar 27, 2003 03:24 pm