Announcements - 2011/03 - Hidden In Shadows
March 2011 - Patch Page
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Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=636-hidden-in-shadows&catid=85-2011&Itemid=68
Hidden In Shadows
The townspeople of Tou-Tou ran for cover as the ground began to violently shake. Thunderous crashing was heard as rocks broke free from the mountain nearby and slammed into the ground below. Amid the disaster, a shape began to emerge from the crest of the rocks. Its full form was hidden through the dust cloud created from all of the dirt and rocks being shook down from the peak.
As the tremors died down, the people began reappearing from the doorways and from under the beds where they had taken refuge. Instinctively, they slowly gathered at the edge of town as they all stared silently up into the dust cloud before them, waiting to see what would emerge.
A few of the citizens went back to their homes. This was not from a lack of interest or curiosity, but from a certainty that this appearance foreshadowed the terrible events about to happen. They grabbed their armor, their weapons, their wands, and their shields and readied themselves for the inevitable battle they were sure was to come. As they returned to the edge of town, the dust finally began to clear and the screaming and running began.
A shadow spire, the shape was unmistakable. Even those who had prepared for the worst could not believe what they were seeing. Not since years before, when the spires had appeared around several towns, had the townsfolk felt such fear. Warriors had fought fiercely to destroy those spires, leaving them as piles of rubble which lay as forgotten memorials to those terrible days. The battles had been fierce with much blood spilled... and Arwic, along with Tufa, had been lost. People never even spoke of that dark time anymore. They had rebuilt. They had moved on. This couldn't be happening again.
The warriors waited. To their surprise no shadows flowed into the city ransacking and destroying everything in their path. No townspeople lay slain on the roads, no buildings were burning. After a short while the group built up the courage to scale the mountain in order to preempt any battle that might ensue. Slowly they worked their way up the steep slope, expecting to be ambushed at any moment. As the top of the spire came into view jutting out from the rocks, they discovered that only a few shadows stood guard at the entrance.
The group looked at one another and then charged at the shadows with arrows and firebolts leading the way. The shadows, caught off guard, tried in vain to fight back the adrenaline filled warriors who slashed at them with a savage, uncontrolled, manner. Clearly the sight of these creatures brought back all of the pain and hate from years ago which took control of their bodies replacing all of their finesse and dexterity with a more barbaric primal violence. The warriors wanted nothing else than to see these beasts struck down and destroyed. It didn't take long for the dark creatures to begin falling one after another. The group surrounded the last shadow, a child. With an almost crazed look in his eye, one warrior lifted his axe high into the air and smashed it into the shadowy figure, striking it down with just the single powerful blow. The evil dropped to the ground, its last bit of energy used to whisper one sentence:
Rollout Article
Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=637-march-rollout-fiction&catid=85-2011&Itemid=68
March Rollout Fiction
"Master, I have the analysis of the Mana Field disruptions that you asked for," said the glowing light elemental.
"Thank you," replied Asheron, lost in thought, "Compare the findings to the temporal anomalies previously detected, and see if there's a pattern."
"As you wish, Master," replied the elemental, with a bow.
Asheron mused to himself, "What are you up to, Geraine... First the temporal disturbances, then all but handing over a section of our trapped people to the depredations of the Apostate Virindi, not to mention the mess with the Gear Knights, now these Bloodstones? ... There has to be a pattern behind all this..."
Asheron sat, pouring over reports, analysis, and even unrelated recent activity reports, looking for a pattern. He was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice Prince Borelean enter his sanctum until he was right next to him.
"Asheron, I've found something you might find of use," said the Prince, without preamble. Asheron all but jumped out of his skin in surprise.
"Oh, you startled me for a moment there," said Asheron, relaxing visibly once he saw that it was Prince Borelean, and that the Prince was alone.
"Sorry about that. I don't think I've ever seen you that lost in thought before," replied the Prince, somewhat concerned, "Usually, you know I'm there before I've even gotten to the door."
"This puzzle is beginning to grate on me, I think," said Asheron, sounding uncharacteristically tired, "Geraine is clearly up to something, and he's being very careful to misdirect any attempts to find out what. I'm concerned that he's meddling with the Book of Eibhil again."
"The Book of Eibhil?" asked Borelean, "I've heard rumors of a book by that name before. What makes it so dangerous?"
"The Book of Eibhil is an ancient text, written by the Dark Falatacot. It's filled with many magics and rituals that were forbidden for anyone to even look into in my time. It's one of the only tomes in existence reputed to have rites in it for altering time, raising the dead, altering the mana fields of a world, and much worse besides. Geraine has held possession of the book in the past, and I fear he may have convinced it to aid him once again."
"Convinced it?" asked Borelean, now really curious. "I take it this 'book' is a lot more than just a bundle of pages of forbidden knowledge?"
"Like most powerful things the Dark Falatacot made in their prime, they bound dark spirits into the book. The thing is possessed of an evil sentience. One of the things that makes it so dangerous is that it tends to defy being hidden away. It's been known to escape the bonds placed upon it on the few times it has been seized and bound away."
"Why hasn't anyone just destroyed it then?"
"It's been remarkably resilient to that as well. Trust me, I've tried," muttered Asheron, "I can think of few entities that could completely seal away the book, and none of them have been seen on Auberean in ages." Asheron waved his hand like banishing dark thoughts, "Now, a lecture on the Book isn't why you came here. What is it you've found?"
Borelean pulled out a scroll and a book and handed them to Asheron. "These were found by adventurers aiding my research into the Bloodstones. Most of the text goes into the creation process for the Bloodstones, but there's mention in the report of a ritual site that is guarded by these newly created creatures. Could this be the ritual you've been hunting for?"
Asheron quickly flipped through the book and looked over the scroll. "It is possible. I have some theories on how Geraine could be hiding a ritual on the magnitude of altering time, but I haven't had a means to narrow the field. If this ritual site is filled with these new Bloodstones, however, I may be able to use them to help track down the site." Asheron looked thoughtful for a moment. "Here, send one of your Knight Mages to locate the information outlined in this list," he said, while plucking a parchment off of a pile on the table and handing it to Borelean.
"To hide that much mana flow, Geraine will have had to have made an array of anchor points," Asheron continued, "It's the only way a manipulation of that magnitude wouldn't echo over all the mana streams of this world. If we can figure out what was used for the array, and extract some of the enchantment information out of the anchor points, then we can use that knowledge, as well as the signature of the Bloodstones, which are still in limited, known locations, to locate this ritual site." Asheron considered something for a moment, and then added, "Geraine may have finally slipped up."
The Prince bowed to Asheron and said, "I'll set one of my personal guard on this, right away. We'll have the information you need soon."
"I hope so, Borelean. I fear we're running out of time, and I hope we're not already too late."Release Notes
Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=633-march-2011-release-notes&catid=85-2011&Itemid=68
March 2011 Release Notes
Greetings and welcome to the March 2011 release notes!
Spring is slowing approaching and this month the changing season will be reflected throughout Dereth. The team has worked tirelessly to make sure March contains new content and the return of established content in need of minor adjustments. There is a wide variety of things available in this release, let’s check out what’s new in Asheron’s Call!
- Quests of the Month
- Week: Blood Gem of Rikt Zir Quest
- BiWeekly: The Search for Gareth Dain
- Monthly: Squalid Shield Quest
- Changed the March Kill Tasks.
- Normal non-plugin gameplay should not be adversely impacted by the message spam counter-measures. Please let us know if you experience negative effects to gameplay. Note: in terms of message spam, we are referring to all the game inputs sending messages to the server.
- The following winter seasonal changes have ended; snowy weather effects have ceased, snow and snowmen have melted from landscape, trees are beginning to revive.
- Spring seasonal changes beginning: Baby Bunnies.
- A little springtime bird suggests that you talk with Sir Learth.
- A new type of loot armor called Sedgemail has been added to the game.
- A rare Void Magic Orb has been added!
- Fixed the Portalling Device used in the Soul Stone Quest.
- New monster agro scream behavior: fighting monsters in interior locations should no longer attract monsters from exterior locations but fighting monsters outside should still attract monsters from interior locations.
- Olthoi Soldiers no longer play an animation twice while eating or drinking.
- Fixed the following olthoi spitter animations: side step speed discrepancy which affects slide-casting, fixed the backstep movement at the end of all forward motions while in combat, new combat mode change animation.
- Fixed the displayed string during craft interactions for those who have Aura of the Craftsman.
- Edited Aura of Craftsman description to inform players that it affects all crafting as well as tinkering.
- Quests that reward skill experience should now be broadcast to players again.
- Hardened Obsidian Golems now drop Obsidian hearts instead of Iron hearts.
- The Crystalline Crag dungeon has returned.
- Added 20 Crystalline shards per day cap.
- Alteration of physics to Burun Guruk to better fit in the small dungeon spaces where he can be found.
Developer Comments
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