The air was heavy with smoke and the stench of burned flesh. The smell of slaughter lingered on every blood- and ichor-spattered surface in the underground cavern. A man dressed in gore-encrusted leather armor walked across the cavern floor, which was littered with corpses. A few of the corpses were human, dressed in robes, now sodden with blood and filled with puncture wounds. Most of the corpses were spectacularly inhuman: great tentacled beasts and finned horrors from another realm…
Stepping around one particularly large, tentacled carcass that still stunk of the dark magic that once animated it, the master assassin Oswald found several of his acolytes gathered together around something in a back corner of the cavern. As he grew closer, he could hear a sibilant whispering noise. It seemed his acolytes had managed to capture one alive, after all. He smiled slightly, even as the crowd of acolytes noticed him and parted quickly to reveal their prisoner.
The captive was humanoid in shape, a two-legged, two-armed shambler that walked mostly upright. But its skin was scaly and fouled with slime, and its head was crested with a sharp finned ridge. Goggle-shaped eyes glowered balefully at him, and its wide, fish-like mouth flapped and hissed with pain and rage. Its limbs had been pinned to the ground by the simple expedient of four heavy dirks driven through its flesh and between its major bones. By the creature’s head, one of his acolytes stood by with a blade, ready to dispatch the creature at his command.
Oswald looked up and met the eyes of one of the other acolytes assembled here, a young woman whose cockiness was evident in the set of her arms as she watched her Master approach. “Sabithra,” Oswald said to her, “report now.”
The woman grinned and bowed with exaggerated deference. “We managed to bring this one down alive, Master. As you told us, it is different from the other Moarsmen that we’re most familiar with, but it does seem, in its powers and its inclinations and its… smell… to be similar to the new colonies of these creatures that have appeared on shores around Dereth. First near Ayan Baqur, then Tou-Tou, and – “
Oswald held up a hand. “Enough. I’ve reviewed the scouts’ reports. I know where these things have crawled ashore.” He paused to listen to the noises the creature was making. “Have any of you been able to understand what it’s been saying? Have you been able to divine which of the Matriarchs this one serves?”
Sabithra shook her head. “Unintelligible to all of us, Master. It doesn’t seem to recognize any of the Matriarch names you taught us. At least, it didn’t seem particularly reverent or respectful of any of them. Just seemed to get more and more angry when we repeated those names.”
Oswald nodded. “As I expected. Give me some room.” He made a gesture, and the acolytes all took a step back as their Master approached to squat near the creature. They watched in fascination as their Master looked into the creature’s eyes and muttered something harsh and guttural.
The creature’s eyes, which were beginning to dim from pain and blood loss, snapped back open, alight with surprise and anger. A torrent of gibberish spilled forth from the creature’s mouth, and more blood and ichor spattered on their Master’s armor. A gob of slime hit their master in the face, which he wiped away with calm dignity. He continued to speak to the creature in its own language, and the beast grew even more animated. The acolytes all watched in dumb incomprehension.
Finally, Oswald seemed to ask the creature a question. The creature’s response was a croak of what seemed like malevolent laughter, and a word that sounded like “T’thuun” seemed to issue from its lips several times as it responded to the question.
Sighing, Oswald drew a handkerchief from within his armor and wiped off his hands and face. He stood up and looked back over the rest of the cavern, where more of his acolytes were dutifully dripping lamp oil over the rest of the corpses. He nodded to the acolyte standing ready with the sword, then stepped back. The acolyte nodded and brought the sword down in a smooth arc that severed the creature’s bulbous head from its body. Blood and gore fountained from the neck-hole and showered the sword-wielding acolyte and Sabithra with more pungent ichor. Sabithra cursed and stepped back, flicking pieces of viscera from her armor.
Oswald indulged himself with a small smile at Sabithra’s displeasure before he tossed the handkerchief to her. “Clean your hands off,” he said to her. “Now, are you carrying parchment and a pen like I asked you to?”
Gritting her teeth, Sabithra nodded. “I am, Master.”
Oswald nodded and smiled at her. “Very good. Now, retrieve them from your pack and get ready to take dictation.”
Sabithra almost dropped the handkerchief. “Dictation, Master? I don’t understand.”
“Dictation, my quick-learning acolyte, means I will speak out loud, and you will write my words down on paper. Then, we will roll up the paper, and send it to someone as a letter. Make sure you write neatly. These hoary old nobles do value good penmanship. More to the point, I’m sure that they’re going to want to hear all about recent developments among the Falatacot. Perhaps that old fool will even be able to tell me why these creatures have found something to worship in place of the old Matriarchs. It’s the least he can do, with all the time I’ve spent cleaning up his mess.”
“I…” Sabithra looked into Oswald’s eyes and decided not to push her Master’s patience. “As you say, Master.” She finished wiping her hands off, then retrieved a sheaf of parchment and a quill from her pack. She sat near Oswald, braced the paper on top of her pack, wet the pen in a small bottle of ink, and made ready to take dictation.
“Wonderful,” Oswald said approvingly. “I’ll start the dictation now. ‘To Lord Rytheran of Menilesh…’”
Sabithra tried to contain her own look of surprise as she began to write.
Lord Rytheran sat in his most recently constructed sanctum, his journal open before him to a blank page. The proud Lord of Menilesh, once the most favored noble of the Eternal Court of Dericost, slouched in a most undignified fashion in his hard stone throne. All around him, his servants silently carried on their tasks, engaged in research and minor magical experiments, while he himself brooded over the empty journal, staring at the white parchment with empty eyes. He thought about mistakes and miscalculations that dated back millennia – to memories that seemed more like dreams to him now, perhaps stories that he had once been told. He thought about the very real problems those mistakes had created for him now, in an age he could never have foreseen and in a situation he never wanted to be a part of.
His thoughts were interrupted by his Steward, who entered the room, dodged past a few scurrying acolytes, and took up a position just to his side, obviously waiting to be acknowledged and unwilling to speak or touch his master in order to receive such acknowledgement.
Rytheran let him stand there for a few moments before he turned to look at the Steward. He then noticed the rolled-up parchment in the Steward’s hand, and asked him with a flat voice, “What news do you bring?”
The Steward bowed deeply, almost abjectly, and presented the letter. “A thousand pardons for interrupting your, ah, contemplation, my lord. This missive was brought by… a mortal. An Isparian.”
Rytheran’s interest piqued, as much from interest as irritation. It bothered his ancient pride to even have to treat with the lesser races that had stumbled into a land his people once claimed for their own. Still…
“What sort of Isparian?” he asked. “One of the little slave-queen’s servants? The witch’s? The assassin’s? Some other pawn of the Yalain?”
“From the messenger’s dress and… methods of ingress, I believe this missive comes from the assassin. The seal would seem to indicate that as well.”
Rytheran took the letter and looked at the seal. The deep red wax indeed bore a familiar sigil. He straightened up in his seat and raised his head to look around the room and announced, “I will be alone now.” With little delay and in almost total silence, the room full of servants and acolytes set down what they were doing and shuffled dutifully from the chamber, shepherded out by the ever-servile Steward. The Steward himself was the last to leave, and closed the door softly behind him.
Sighing with all the weariness of a hundred dusty centuries, Rytheran broke the seal and looked at the letter. He sneered to see that the text was in the primitive characters of the Isparian alphabet, and knew this to be a deliberate insult. He held the parchment in his right hand while absent-mindedly tapping an ancient, half-forgotten song with the fingers of his left hand. Gradually, his fingers stopped tapping, and clenched into a fist. When he got to the end of the letter and the sign-off from his correspondent, he raised his fist and slammed it down onto the granite surface of his desktop.
The whole table shuddered from the force of the blow. Cracks spread out from his fist in a spiderweb pattern. A nearby candlestick swayed, and an ancient vase fell from its mount and shattered on the stone floor. Rytheran stood up from his throne, balled up the letter, and threw it into a corner of the room.
There was the sound of running footsteps from outside. The door opened slowly as the Steward hesitantly poked his head back into the room, expecting to have to duck a magical bolt, or at least a thrown lamp. He was relieved to find his master merely pacing the room in agitation. “Is all well, my lord? Is there something you would have of me?”
Rytheran stopped pacing and turned to address his Steward with a calm voice. “Open the pathway to Bur. Bring me a scribe and a messenger. An expendable messenger. When they see what I have to say, when they find out what has happened to their followers on this world, those treacherous old crones will undoubtedly want to sacrifice someone.”
Hello there and welcome to the May 2008 Release notes! Lets see what is new and exciting in Dereth this month.
New Content and Updated Functionality
As a way of saying thank you to our players for their understanding while we worked through our server issues a couple months back, we will be offering each player a choice of reward items. When players log in to the game after the May event goes live, they will be able to speak to an NPC who will give them a token they can use to choose one of several special items. The items players can choose from are:
One free level. If a player who is level 275 accidentally chooses this reward, the will get their token back to choose another item.
Aerbax Pack Doll
One 25 use key to golden chest at one of the three casinos. For this event we have slightly increased the luck on the Casino chests.
One foolproof bag of one of the following salvage types
Aquamarine
Black Garnet
Black Opal
Emerald
Fire Opal
Imperial Topaz
Jet
Red Garnet
Sunstone
White Sapphire
Peridot
Yellow Topaz
Zircon
20 Enhanced Health Elixirs (200 health) There is a 5 minute cooldown on the use of each potion.
20 Enhanced Mana Elixir (200 mana) There is a 5 minute cooldown on the use of each potion.
Locked fellowships will now transfer leadership to the next in line when the leader drops so that the leader can be re-invited. There will only be a 15 minute window in which this option is viable. So if after 15 minutes, the leader has not returned, they will not be able to be re-invited to the fellowship. This fix also resolves the issue of players not being able to rejoin a fellowship after being dropped more than once.
Hoshino Kei is no longer in two places at once.
Based on player feedback, we have gone through current spells in the game to ensure that spells are not overwriting each other improperly.
The reward NPC for the Burun Kings quests and the Deep no longer give out title tokens. They will now just give players the title, rather than the token.
Due to technical reasons, any Dark scarabs that players have when the worlds come down for the May event, will be gone when the worlds come back up. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause players.
The invoker quest and the Burun Kings quest have both had their XP rewards updated to higher amounts.
Items with Cooldown timers now have a visible countdown on their icon. This should allow players to more easily tell when an item is ready to be used again.
Graveyard Wisps now show their correct level to better reflect the difficulty of fighting them.
Some strange new forts have appeared in the waters around Dereth. Players may want to investigate these strange structures.
Town Crier tells you, "We have received reports that there are new secret societies being formed. What can they be up to?"
Town Crier tells you, "The Fool capering around the Graveyard in the Direlands has been spotted summoning a portal to some armory. This bears investigation."
Town Crier tells you, "We have heard that some of the mainlanders that offered rewards for others to do their work for them have become more generous with their payoffs."
Town Crier tells you, "The Bloodless queen wishes to bestow gifts of apology upon her people. You might as well visit Holtburg, Shoushi, Yaraq, or Samsur in order to take advantage of this - the more taken from her, the weaker she will be, right?"
Town Crier tells you, "Our spies report that three scouts representing, perhaps, competing organizations have taken up stations around that Empyrean Graveyard in the Direlands."
Town Crier tells you, "There are fish creatures raiding our shores! King Varicci commands that they be turned back!"
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "We have received reports that the Tumerok known as Aun Aulakhe has decided to be more generous with the quest rewards he offers. It may behoove you to investigate."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "Our agents report that there is an Arcanum archivist named Jondor Torgren in Zaikhal may know something about those three scouts that have set up camps around the Empyrean Graveyard. If these scouts represent new powers in the realm, then certainly they must be investigated. Go see what this archivist is about."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "There are two Viamontian outposts afflicted by the Tainted Moarsmen. There are loyal servants in each location waiting to give you more information."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "We have reports that new secret societies have arisen, in response to the threat, or opportunity, posed by these ley line disturbances. It does not seem that they are recruiting new members... yet."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "We have heard that the Bloodless royal guards that offer bounties on the Burun Kings have made their rewards more substantial. While we discourage assistance of the Bloodless queen's minions, even if we are officially at peace, you may wish to seek them out."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "The Jester is looking for something. Perhaps now is a good time to persuade him to support King Varicci alone. See what he requires and extol the glory of our people."
Mainland Town Criers
Town Crier tells you, "Trustworthy sources claim that the Jester has been investigating buried structures in the Graveyard."
Town Crier tells you, "News! Some of the citizens of Dereth who offered rewards for adventurers to help them with quests have made their rewards more generous."
Town Crier tells you, "Rumors report that three scouts with mysterious allegiances have established separate camps at the periphery of the Empyrean Graveyard. No word yet on why they are there."
Town Crier tells you, "Rumors say that new secret societies have formed in Dereth."
Town Crier tells you, "Queen Elysa has decreed that those affected by the instability of the world should be compensated from her coffers! Speak to a Royal Guard in Holtburg, Yaraq, Shoushi, or Samsur for more information."
Town Crier tells you, "Monsters! Monsters have started to emerge from the depths! Asheron save us all!"
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "There are four outposts which Queen Elysa considers under her control which have reported problems with the Tainted Moarsmen. In each location, someone has been given the responsibility of studying the new Moarsmen."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "Word is that the guards who offer bounties on the Burun Kings have changed the rewards they offer. They are now prepared to be more generous."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "We have word that three scouts have shown up around the fringes of the Empyrean Graveyard. The Arcanum archivist Jondor Torgren of Zaikhal might know more."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "The Jester has asked for help retrieving a lost item in the Empyrean Graveyard."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "We also hear that Aun Aulakhe has decided to offer more generous rewards for the quest he seeks assistance with."
You Give Town Crier Pyreal.
Town Crier tells you, "Rumors say that new secret societies have formed, maybe because of all the things going on with ley lines. However, it does not appear that they are accepting new members... yet."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I was going to offer you a reward, like Queen Elysa's done. Then I realized I can't be as generous as she is because I'm dirt poor and I have to beg even for life's necessities, like frosty pints of stout."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "If you ask me, it's a day late and a pyreal short for those Royal Guards to change the bounties they were offering on the Burun Kings. Weren't these problems taken care of years ago? I mean, how silly is it, to think that people can just keep going back and killing the same poor dumb frog over and over again? Oh, wait, never mind."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Oh yes, secret societies abound in Ispar. I myself am a proud member of the Order of the Full, Frosty Mug of Stout. That's a hint, kid. Bring me some stout and I'll show you our secret handshake."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "More monsters rising up out of the sea? Now they're all over the place! I know they're looking for me. Darned sea monsters, they're always after me lucky stout!"
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Why did someone release that crazy, lunatic nut-ball in the Graveyard? It wasn't you, was it? Because I'd hit you so hard, your face would recall to Ispar."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Ah, you're a lifesaver, kid. Wish I could offer you rewards like Queen Elysa's done. I'll tell you what, I'll give you something if you pull my... No, wait, you probably wouldn't consider that a reward."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I hear if you lick a Burun you can see all sorts of cool stuff."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Oh yeah, so I did tell you I'd show you our secret society's secret handshake if you brought me some stout... Well, uh, you don't have enough hands, kid. It's a very complex handshake."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I saw a cute little Ursuin Cub the other day. I tried to pat it on the head. Cute little teeth on that cub. See my cute little bite mark?"
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "So, I decided to share a mug of my personal stock with the newcomer in the Graveyard."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Turns out that the Jester doesn't drink. Says he never touches the stuff. Says he has to keep his guard up against the "lalalalalas," whatever those are."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "The Jester, the absolutely hands down nuttiest Siraluun I've ever met, said that drink clouds his perception!"
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "You know what I think. I think he's afraid it would do the opposite. I think if it quelled the crazy for a bit he would have to face everything he's done."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't trust someone who won't sit and have a drink and a chat with you."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Some monsters get stronger, some monsters get weaker. Just remember what ol' Ulgrim says when the health is down, fire is raining from the sky and monsters are clawing at his throat."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Strong...weak. I'm the one with the wand."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I know all about those secret societies. They're all Virindi front operations. You'll see. You'll do all they want you to do, risk your life, sell your soul, and then, at the end, when you get inducted into the final circle of secrets, the Virindi will come out, turn your brains to applesauce, and slurp it right out of your skull with a straw."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "How do I know this? You don't want to know."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Yesterday, I almost drank a one that was not cold. Good thing I caught myself in time!"
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Ho ho ho, I know what the Jester is about, finally. The cards, the long-lost lover, everything... He's just some fool who got in over his head with the casino bosses. Yep, I think we can blame Monty the Munificent and his cohorts for this. Oh, you say the Jester's been around for thousands of years longer than the casinos have been? Well, maybe I know something you don't know, kid. Nobody likes a know-it-all."
You give Ulgrim the Unpleasant Stout.
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I was tired of having to run over hills just to kill a creature so I created the Arcing Spells. Now everyone is using them and nobody is giving me any credit! I think I deserve the title Archmage at least."
Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Ulgrim the Archmage, Master of Time and Space, Leader of the Virindi Resistance, Master Tinkerer, Seer of Truths, Lord of the Jewelry, Supreme Peppermint Cook, Celebrations Advisor to the Queen, Chess Grandmaster, the Shadow Tested, Virindi Regulator and Beer Lord. Yes, that fits nicely with my other titles."
Obtain information about the new factions for the Arcanum Archivist, Jondor Torgren. (This does not obligate you to any faction yet). More details here.
Find the Jester's lost marbles and pass his test for titles, experience and a Spectral Weapon of your choice. Quest is 160+, for more details see here.
File:Cool Down Timer Bar.jpg Items with a cool down timer now display the remaining time as a bar that shrinks on the right side of the icon (instead of being grayed out as previously done).
Lord Mhoire's shield has been updated with the new Mhoire symbol
Login message: You are eligible for a compensation item in return for our 2008 server problems. Please visit a Royal Guard in Holtburg, Yaraq, Shoushi, or Samsur for further instructions on how to claim your compensation.
The Armory Captains inside Mhoire Armory frequently do not drop their key properly (both on ramps and on flat ground). Workaround using lockpick or killing again (best seems to fight it exactly where it spawns in middle of circular room).
Do not use a Casting Stamped Spectral Ingot if you plan on making it permanent. Using a Spectral Binding Stone on it has no effect, so it still drops on death and will be lost after the 3 day timer expires. Reportedly envoys will increase the timer to 45 days if you submit a request via urgent assistance. (It may be due to a name collision, both the casting item and the staff item are called "Spectral Staff").
Strength of Diemos (+45) is overriding Zongo's Fist (+50 Strength). To be fixed in June.
According to Frelorn, the Corrupted Maidens are not supposed to be so hard to kill: "This is a bug. They have some stats that are not what we intended. I would recommend avoiding them until we can get a fix in place." -- Frelorn
People are using an exploit to cause Pets to attack those around them. In the meantime anyone caught causing pets to kill others will be banned.
The Spectral Ingot and Forge Vault Key have independent timers which means if you did not use the key right away for some reason you can be in a position where you can pick up a key and open the vault, but be unable to pick up the ingot out of the vault (and have to wait another week to get a new key to try again).
The Spectral Atlatl currently has a wield req of 400 base, far higher than the comparable reqs for bow and crossbow of 360 (TW is also Coordination/2). Also it is possible the reqs were intended to be base reqs, they are currently buffed reqs (though perhaps not since they are still 160+ to wield).
The spawn generators in the forts for the quest Moarsmen on the Shores are occassionally bugging and causing double spawns. Due to the large numbers that can barely move it causes extreme lag. The image shows the radar outside and inside the temple.
Typos
The Pack Aerbax contains an error in it's description stating "The Pack Grael can be placed on floor and yard hooks."
Coral Encrusted Chest description: "A treasure chest encrusted by coral, appearing as it [sic] it had been lost at sea for a long, long time..."
Foolproof Yelow [sic] Topaz Orders
Jester tells you, "Of course excruciating pain or death aren't really something I understand to [sic] well anymore... I'm sure it will be fine."
Hotfix May 28th
Corrupted Maidens can now be hit by attacking players.
Pets will no longer be able to attack players.
The Soul Bound Caster no longer has a lifespan and no longer drops on death.
Spectral Caster and the Soul Bound Caster no longer have the Armor Cleaving property.
The spell Strength of Diemos will no longer override the effect from Zongo’s Fist.
The Supremacy spell no longer overrides the Leadership other 7 spell.
The Aerbax Pack doll now has the proper description.
