Abishai's Trail...

After the last post I realised that Gartock is hiding within The Graveyard. To get to him you need to find the ghost down inside the earthen tomb maze and attack it with a low level character - lucky for me I have an augurer sitting on level 15. After killing the ghost it revealed Gartock in disguise.

Your pierce decimates a ghost!
A ghost is DEAD!!
You receive 66 experience points.
Your final blow rips the disguise from your attacker!!
Gartock looks around nervously.
Gartock says 'Ok, what do you want...I don't have the dagger...'
You see no corpse here.
You do not see that here.

The obvious response is to start talking to him about everything he may know. He responds to the following:

> say Abishai
You say 'Abishai'
Gartock snaps around to glare at you.
Gartock wonders 'What would you know about The Wizard?'
Gartock suddenly looks years older as he rakes you with his eyes.
Gartock sneers 'They all laughed at him! The rift is open, isn't it?'

> say rift
You say 'rift'
Fear flashes in the boy's eyes for a moment.
Gartock says 'It's open, I saw it. Before Abishai died, I saw it.'
A haunted expression crosses the boys face, as he remembers.
Gartock exclaims 'It was dark, but you could see them. Red, green, black, they were there!'
Gartock says 'When I came back the next day, he was dead and the morgue was locked up.'
Gartock sighs loudly.
Gartock says 'Its here. The dagger is here. If I can just find it, I can get inside.'
Gartock says 'The witch said it was here. In this tomb. I'll find it, you'll see.'

> say wizard
You say 'wizard'
With a sigh of agitation, the young boy slumps against the wall.
Gartock exclaims 'Look, what do you want from me? He's dead, ok?! '

> say witch
You say 'witch'
Gartock snorts in disgust.
Gartock says 'If you want to call her that. Even I can see her 'magic' for what it is.'
Gartock says 'She's nothing more than a pretender, she has no real power..'
Gartock sits down and thinks deeply.
Gartock says 'Though, she seems to have the answers to many questions about the Rift'
Gartock peers at you quizzically.
Gartock says 'I suppose you want to know where to find her now.'

> say where is the witch?
You wonder 'where is the witch?'
Gartock gestures to the north.
Gartock says 'You can find her in the courtyard of the old tomb sometimes...'
Gartock says 'Can't miss her, she's the one mumbling 'magical incantations''
Gartock snorts in disgust.

>say morgue
You say 'morgue'
Gartock wonders 'Ya telling me you didn't see the morgue when you came in?'
Gartock falls against the wall laughing at you mercilessly.
Gartock says 'If you can't be seeing something that big, when it's right in front of you,'
Still laughing, Gartock says 'you'll never find that dagger!'
Quick as a whip, Gartock darts off into the darkness once again. 

After this I adventured around the graveyard to find the witch and have a chat to her after collecting a skeleton hand and finger. She had the following to say:

Outside the Tomb
Exits: east northwest
A delicious magic mushroom is here.
A modest flame burns beneath the bubbling cauldron.
A black cauldron squats in the center of the courtyard.
A beautiful woman hovers in the air brewing spells of summoning.
The witch pauses in the middle of casting her spell to glance at you.
The witch says 'Greetings Iryx, it is not safe here for you.'
The witch says 'Unless you have brought me something I need...'
The witch grins at you.
The witch says 'I think you had better leave quickly.'
The witch gazes thoughtfully at you and says 'Hmmm.'
The witch says 'Have your brought a finger of bone?'

> say dagger
You say 'dagger'
The woman's mask of indiffernce slips, but only for a moment.
The witch says 'Someone has been speaking before they think. Tell me Iryx, what dagger'
The witch wonders 'were you speaking of? Who sent you to me to ask such a thing?'
Your blood heats as the witch stares at you intently.

> You say 'gartock'
The witch snorts in disgust.
The witch says 'I knew he could not be trusted, that boy is pure trouble.'
The witch sighs loudly.
The witch nods and says 'Yes, there is a dagger here in one of'
The witch says 'the tombs. It is buried, but not deeply. Find it, and you will gain'
The witch says 'access to the morgue.'
The witch frowns at what you did.
The witch says 'Be certain that is what you really want, they will not welcome you.'
The witch looks behind her, then suddenly vanishes with a cry of alarm.

> give finger witch
You give a bony finger to The witch.
The witch smiles in satisfaction and gathers the spell components.
The witch frowns.
The witch exclaims 'Quickly Iryx, give me the hand of the dead to finish the spell!'

> give hand witch
You give a skeletal hand to The witch.
The witch nervously smooths the folds of her robe.
The witch exclaims 'Rainbows of fire, ashes of wine. Dream evil, summon the demonkine!'
The witch gasps in awe as a twisted apparition materializes.
The greater demon decimates you!
(a sailor's hat gets damaged)
The greater demon mauls you!
The greater demon's slash wounds you! 

I was hoping I could get more information about the rift from the witch but this did all result in getting me into a fight with the greater demon. After killing the greater demon I popped a blessing of demons. I've never bothered to do this mini-quest before but it was a handy item for my augurer. I then went back to inside the earthen tomb and dug up the dagger:

Inside an Earthen Tomb
Exits: north east south west northeast northwest southeast southwest

> dig
You begin digging...
Your dig uncovered a silver dagger!
You gain 40 experience points from your success!

> g dagger
You get a silver dagger.

> rec tablet dagger
You recite a magical tablet of disclosure.

Object 'a silver dagger' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 11 piercing weapon, weight 1.
Locations it can be worn:  wield
Special properties:  none
This weapon has a gold value of 100.
Damage is 2 to 8 (average 5).
Affects damage roll by 1.

> exam dagger
You take a closer look at a silver dagger in inventory...
It has a long, sharp blade that is made entirely from silver.  A small rune
has been engraved on the blade next to the hilt.
This seems to be a piercing weapon.
It appears to be within or below your level range.
As you look more closely, you notice that it is in superb condition.

 In summary I found out a few more things about the Abishais/Graveyard/Sesuad'ra Rift mystery. I'm sure there's a lot more to it than this but I'll unravel the mysteries sooner or later.

 

Abishai and the Mysteries of the Morgue

After stumbling upon the page of Abishai's journal in Sesuad'ra Rift I've been playing around in Abishai's Morgue trying to figure out the link between the two areas. The morgue is a rather small area but it has some puzzles in it. The first one is to do with the cultist priest. If you walk into his room and are not invisible the following happens:

(Red Aura) A black-robed figure carefully studies the east wall.
The cultist priest shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
The priest turns sharply as you enter, dropping to a crouch.
The priest hisses 'The secrets of the rift you shall not have!'
You yell 'Help!  I am being attacked by the cultist priest!'

It's a mystery as to what he has to do with the rift... The second mystery of the area is where is Abishai? His journal pages are scattered through the Realms of Despair. One page can be found in the morgue as follows:

 This leads me to the questions of:

1. What are the cultists plans?
2. Who is Gartock?
3. Which hole are they meeting at and when is the Day of Awakening?
4. Where is Abishai? Will he make it back?

But it's not just me trying to figure out where Abishai is. One of the mobs has the following to say when you enter his room:

A hideously twisted creature attempts to claw its way out of the hole.
You float easily over the black pit below.
The twisted creature gazes wearily at you from the darkness.
The broken one says 'I have no quarrel with you. I seek only the one called Abishai.'

Why is this broken creature looking for Abishai? Is he Gartock?

There is also a further mystery to the pages of Abishai's journal. His journal can be found inside a locked desk in one of the rooms in the morgue. To unlock the desk you need to find the whisper thin rapier. It is hidden behind a painting in the room where the cultist priest appears. Sometimes the cultist will drop a ladder and then you can look behind the painting to get the rapier. However, when you get the journal it is empty of pages:

>exam journal
You take a closer look at Abishai's secret journal in inventory...
There are no pages between the thin leather covers, they have all
been ripped out, leaving only jagged bits of parchment.

So my next mystery is where and how many pages of the journal are scattered through the Realms?

Looking around the rest of the area I have two more puzzles to solve. The first is in this room after examining several items in the rooms descriptions:

Done With Mirrors
The south wall is completely covered by a pair of shredded, red drapes that
seem to stretch on indefinitely to the east and west, though the alcove is
in reality quite small. There is no evidence of the somber stone walls and
floors of the morgue proper here, instead a bank of mirrors make up the
boundaries of the confine with an unnerving and dizzying effect. A counter
stands in the middle of the enclosure, each item upon it is set in an exact
and precise fashion. Above, the rafters are clean of cobwebs and dust, the
wood gleaming and a scent of newly cut timber filling the dusky air.
Exits: none

>exam counter
A simple glass bowl is placed exactly center of the counter. A white
bar of soap, the center worn thin, lies a few inches from the bowl on
the right side. To the left of the bowl, a shaving razor has been
placed, the sharp edge folded neatly inside the handle. A thick,
leather strap is draped over the side of the bowl, one end of which
is secured behind the counter. Standing straight on end inside the
bowl, is a silver-handled foam brush, used to apply the soapy lather.

>exam brush
The brush stands within the bowl, with no apparent means of support,
almost as if it were frozen in place. The beautiful, silver handle
looks solid, expensive, and out of place.

>exam handle
Upon close inspection, the letters S E E K can be seen
engraved near the bristles of the brush.

My question here is what is the deal with the brush? The work "seek" has popped up earlier in this area so what is it's meaning? I tried pushing, pulling, breaking and searching the brush but haven't had any luck. What do you need to do to it?

The next room has got my stuck but I also did manage to solve one mystery here.

The Circle of Ravens
Tiny specks of light dance over the smooth, stone surface of the walls; like
fireflies caught behind glass, or distant stars winking in a night sky, it
casts a faint, eerie glow around the chamber. The domed ceiling is ringed by a
shelf where black statues are perched, each a careful distance from the next
on either side. The underground chamber is perfectly round, and with the
walls glowing so strangely, any sense of direction quickly vanishes.
Exits: none
You drop down into the chamber.

>exam statues
The statues are ravens, the mythical birds of ill omen. They are carved
from solid obsidian and detailed to life-like perfection, right down to
their clawed feet that seem to cling precariously to the ledge of the stone
shelf. In fact, they look as if one good jarring would send them falling
from their perches. Each of the seven statues are an exact replica of the
next, set at every lateral direction upon the shelf except north. Beneath
each raven, on the walls of the chamber, their reflections are cast in
giant relief, barely noticeable unless looking directly up at them.

>exam reflections
Very close scrutiny of the walls reveals minute fractures in the
surface. Once the outline is traced, the silhouette of a large
raven is evident, with a line dissecting it from top to bottom.

I'm not sure how to open the walls with the statues but I do know there is an item called a stone raven from somewhere within the area. The statues had me stumped as to how to get them. I tried searching, breaking the shelf, doorbashing the wall and then I had an idea. I made myself a druid (been on my to do list for a while now) and levelled it up to level. After taking it to the above room I got it to cast the earthquake spell and the following happened:

 >c earthquake
You gain 1600 experience points from your success!
Your spell causes the statues to sway on their perches.
A statue falls from above, landing at your feet.
With a hiss, a new statue appears to take its place on the shelf.

> g rave
You get a stone raven.

>exam statue
You take a closer look at a stone raven in inventory...
The raven's wings glisten where the black marble of the statue seems
to be alive, almost as if the wings were about to spead and the statue
take flight. Small pin points of red light in the center of each of
the raven's eyes make it appear aware of everything around it.
As you look more closely, you notice that it is in need of repair.
It appears to be within or below your level range.

>c id statue
Object 'a stone raven' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 15 armor, weight 10.
Locations it can be worn:  hold
Special properties:  evil magic
Alignments allowed:  evil neutral
This armor has a gold value of 5000.
Armor class is 5 of 10.
Affects luck by 2.
Affects hit roll by 4.
Affects damage roll by 2.
Affects armor class by -15.

It's a pretty handy hold item for evil low level characters and has me now thinking about what other places is this spell going to be useful in exploring?

Demons and the Rift

When I am on the Realms of Despair I always have a number of projects going on. These can include levelling, exploring, preparations, running large mobs, questing, searching for certain items and so on. My current projects include:

• Levelling a warrior. It's currently level 35 which means it is at the start of the level 35-40 range which is my least favourite levels to complete. Not sure if I will reach level 50 with it or keep it at level 49 for my next project...
• Macmillan Family Farm. This is a newer area that I've been doing a little work on exploring. I need a higher level non avatar character to kill some of the mobs there more easily. I've solved a few puzzles there but need to figure out some more.
• Belial - I want to run this mob again. I put in a fair bit of work figuring out how to run this mob but need more practice at killing it. Plus I need to level a druid to tank/lead this mob with.
• Dark matter... There's more to this item than meets the eye and I want to find out how far you can push it and if there is something to do with it.
• Crusader tasks - the Guild of Spirit has a set of tasks to complete to raise the crusader rank of the player. This is a good idea and the tiers of it do test a lot of different skills. I've completed the first tier (though still need to submit the items).
• The Deck of Many Things. I posted enough about this last time but am still searching.

And this leads to this weekend's efforts: Sesuad'ra Rift
This area I've never fully explored. In the past all I have done is go through the first maze to get to the second maze and killed the babau demon for the cleric leggings. I know that this area also leads to the lower part of the Underworld... I don't know the lower Underworld very well but want to learn it so that I may be able to lead a group or two into killing some of the more powerful mobs with better equipment there.

The first part of Sesuad'ra Rift is a maze. In it there are rooms with exits in all directions plus a glyph. Each glyph will have a bit of ascii art on it and most will have a different letter as well. In total there are nine different glyphs with letters on them. The way through this part of the rift is to find the room with a glyph that has a letter T on it as shown below:

The trick to finding this room is that it seems that only the north, south, east and west exits will take you to a different room. All of the other exits take you back to the same room as you are in. Once in the room with the T simply type "onslaught" to pass on through to the next part of the area.

The second part of the area is another maze filled with aggressive demons. Most of the demons here are quite easy and can be stunned to death easily. The only exception is the babau demon which when killed with a cleric that is ip 1 will pop the cloth leggings of the chosen. I usually kill this one by using a warrior with a nasr to first track it down and then get it down to DYING, supplicate recall out the warrior and finish off with the cleric.

I killed all of the mobs in the maze repeatedly but couldn't figure out how to get past the maze. I'm assuming its a trans maze where I need to wait for long enough in the right room. My next effort will involve marking every room using springs, fires or balls of light. However, looking around the maze did lead me to a couple more mysteries...

Two of the demons in the maze - the chasme and nabassu demons drop interesting items: The Tear of the Gods and skin of the Gods. Both of these items are not very good statistics wise but it is the description on them that has me wondering what else is going on. For example the skin of the gods description says:

The belt glows with an unearthly light that is entirely too wholesome to
have found its way around the demon that once wore it. There is a story to
be told about this belt...

That makes me wonder - what is that story and who should I go to for answers?

The second mystery is a journal I found lying around near the start of the second maze. When you examine the journal it comes up with this:

A clue to Abishai's Morgue hidden all the way over in Sesuad'ra Rift??? Sometimes when you go exploring you get more questions then answers. Either way it gives me more to think about and try to solve.