When It Feels I Can't Go On, Let Your Armour Cover Me

Alts and Equipment

Since restarting again earlier this year most of my time has been spent trying to equip various alts. My current avatar characters are:

• Vampires - Vilexur, Sashell, Viledri, Viltrow
• Rangers - Jessyl, Jessel, Germal
• Thieves - Kurrs, Parx, Krayaz
• Warriors - Joydi, Panish, Skold, Skurnis
• Mages - Gnodra, Vodra, Modra
• Clerics - Chacix, Charix, Juxarn
• Paladins - Sacix, Tantis
• Nephandi - Wroth
• Druid - Varlok
• Fathomer - Zenth
• Barbarian - Skarl
• Augurer - Aryx
  

There are some that were under dressed from never being fully equipped after reaching level 50, some from playing with the Deck and others from dying and not being CR'd years ago. I've been spending a lot of time killing easier avatar mobs that can (and should) be solo'd be an average player such as Dracolothis, Zeus, Dracula, Rez, Justice, Horus, Ra, and Sir Pereval just so that they all have a usable basic equipment set up. Doing this is also a good way to get back into the hang of running mobs without the the pressure of letting down other players if things go wrong. 

The most time consuming mobs I've been doing by myself again are Rage and Fury from The Underworld in the hope of popping a Maniacal Tendencies. After spending three weeks on and off there I had enough rage and fury essences for 17 attempts at it. The funny thing with pops in the Realms of Despair is the randomness of it. Out of the 17 tries I popped an MT on the first go which was then followed by 16 failures. Now most of my alts are well enough armoured to be useful, with others able to pack a punch.

 

The Deck

I've had a hard time with the Deck of Many Things since restarting. While I have found it several times, the challenge has been that other players have been getting their hands onto it first. These days I need to be on right after reboot to get the card. Only once have I manged to find the deck with a card in it. I got lucky and gained a rename scroll.

Bridging the Maelstrom
Darkness pervades this area of cold, deep sea. The water churns and boils all around, but for a tiny strait of calm that lies between the Blood and Azure seas, on each side. It is said that the seas are almost alive and, like any who are shunned by the world of the living, they extort a tremendous toll on anyone who would choose to utilize this path. Far to the north, amidst the fog and mist, a small island can be seen.
Exits: north east south west northeast northwest southeast southwest
The Deck of Many Things lies in wait for a brave soul.
The Deck of Many Things says 'If you can find a card within me, you might be lucky enough to draw something of value.
However, once you submit to chance, you put yourself at the mercy of the cards.
The Deck of Many Things winks suggestively.

> exam deck
You take a closer look at the Deck of Many Things on the ground...
The deck takes the appearance of a very finely wrought and veneered wooden card case, yet the strong magical aura surrounding it offers proof that this artifact is not simply what it appears to be.
The Deck of Many Things appears to be full.
The Deck of Many Things contains:
     the Key to the Deck of Many Things

> g key deck
You get the Key to the Deck of Many Things from the Deck of Many Things.
The Key to the Deck shudders menacingly.
You drop the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Vl'aresch gives you one gold coin for your sacrifice of the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Be Forewarned : You could lose all that you own.
Panish has been given the chance to draw from the Deck of Many Things.

>  g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Tower in Ruin.
As you gaze upon it, the scene upon the card comes to life and is acted out.
Ruin stretches out to engulf you, but by some happy fate you evade it.
A warm feeling fills your body and a scroll of fine parchment appears in your hands.
The cold winds of never rush through the void, whipping the card from your hand and  returning you to the mortal realm.

 

Lowbie Quest

I've also been working on levelling a second barbarian. It's up to level 37 now so it shouldn't be too long until it reaches level 50. While levelling around level 20 I found a little quest in the Tower of Zenothir that I hadn't seen before. It involved getting an item from the Coral Depths that isn't too hard to find.

Madame Juneo's Sightroom
Exits: east
A gleaming crystal ball sits here, waiting for you to examine it.
A buxom woman narrows her eyes at you.
Juneo is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
Madame Juneo's all-seeing eyes turn to stare into your soul
Madame Juneo says 'A seeker! Welcome to the gateway to the Future, traveller.'
A slight smile twists the Fortune-teller's lips.
Madame Juneo says 'I see we are both seeking...perhaps, friend, we can aid each other?'
Madame Juneo says 'I can see in your eyes, you want to say yes.....'

> say yes
You say 'yes'
Madame Juneo nods knowingly.
Madame Juneo says 'I knew a seeker such as yourself would be eager to aid me.'
Madame Juneo thinks briefly.
Madame Juneo says 'I have an illustrious client...I cannot say who, I'm afraid, but he is quite powerful.'
Madame Juneo says 'He has an...interesting, shall we say...curse upon him.
Madame Juneo says 'I have delved into the mysteries, and have found a way to relieve his suffering.'
 
Madame Juneo says 'Alas, my otherworldly sources say that the success depends'
Madame Juneo says 'upon locating a very rare regent... a dark black pearl.'
Madame Juneo says 'Bring me this pearl from the depths where it lies, and I shall aid you in return.'
Madame Juneo makes a mystical gesture of farewell.

> give pearl june
You give a dark black pearl to Juneo.
Madame Juneo looks over the pearl's shining surface.
Madame Juneo says 'A perfect pearl...you have done myself--and my client--a great service today.'
Madame Juneo says 'I must reward you. Be calm, this shall not harm you.'
Madame Juneo chants briefly over her crystal ball.
 
Power flows through you! You gain 50,000 experience!!!
 
Madame Juneo sits back, exhausted.
Madame Juneo says 'I must rest now. Thank you again for your help.'
Madame Juneo turns away.

 The quest isn't too difficult and most people go levelling in Coral Depths so collecting the pearl isn't taking you too far out of the way.

Home Ownership

I have managed to snag myself an apartment. It was a bargain for only 30 million gold coins. As a bonus it is on board the Meridia meaning I can use it for free transport around the various ports of the Realms of Despair. It's not much but it's home:

Vilexur's Apartment
A room surrounds you, filled with the dirt and filth of previous tenants.
A spray painted frame of the last tenant can be seen on the floor in a far corner.
Exits: northeast

I have been considering starting my own sect for my various alts but at the same time I need to save my gold coins for when I have enough glory for a prestige class.

 

Bug Hunting

Speaking of trying to make gold, one of the newer quests I've seen has gold coins as a reward. Basically it involves hunting down golden bugs with a nice gold reward. I've found vampires work well on them:

DYING>A golden bug's deathrattle fills the air as you drain its life...
Your suspiric grasp jars a golden bug!
A golden bug is DEAD!!
A golden bug screams furiously as it falls to the ground in a heap!
You get 5090000 gold coins from the corpse of a golden bug.
The corpse of a golden bug holds:
     Nothing.

You can never have too many gold coins in this game.

Calm Your Farm and More...

I've been slow on the updates lately. I haven't done any one major thing in the Realms of Despair of late but several little things so this post will be a bunch of snippets of things that are happening.

Levelling and McFarming
The little drow warrior I posted about levelling earlier is ticking along nicely and got up to level 45 quite quickly. I slowed down a bit as I wanted to use him to explore a couple of lower level areas, one of which is MacMillan Family Farm. This area has puzzles and some nice equipment only accessible to characters under level 45. The first puzzle I came across was with the well. This one has similarities to spaces in the Barren Wastes in particular around the horned beast you need to kill for the facestompers. Here's what I've figured out:

Fork in the Road
The roadway comes to an intersection here, splitting around a simple well that supplies the farm with water. The chalky pebbled path leads off to the northwest, where a pair of large wooden barns can be seen. To the northeast a dirt road continues off towards a small farmhouse, and more orchards. To the north, large canyons can faintly be seen in the distance, making passage into the mountain near impossible from the farm.
Exits: south northeast northwest
An old stone well is here, shaded by a small cedar roof.

> exam well
You take a closer look at an old, stone well on the ground...
Created ages ago, this well is constructed from very large river rocks, plucked from the canyon beds below, held together with mortar. Once clean and polished, it is now all but covered with a thick green moss. The well is capped with a cedar roof, resting a few feet above the opening. The roof is supported by two large spruce posts, attached to the peaks of both sides. This well has supplied the farm with fresh water since its inception. There is a rope tied to one of the spruce posts, it trails off and coils into the grass behind the well.

> drop rope well
You grab the coil of rope and let it down to the darkness of the well below.

> climb down rope
You carefully climb over the well's ledge, and climb the rope down into the darkness below.

Deep Within the Well
Not very much is visible from the few strands of dust-filled light that filter down from the well entrance high up above. The smooth block walls spiral down to meet the shin high water of this underground river well beneath the earth's surface. Small ripples form around the few small slippery rocks that crest the surface of the otherwise calm water. The remains of the well's bucket can be seen strewn about just beneath the water's surface, torn into many pieces by some unknown force.
Exits: none

> exam rocks
Four larger rocks crest the waters surface, creating tiny islands. Many smaller rocks and pebbles blanket the spaces between the main four. Three of the larger rocks look quite secured, but one of them looks as though you could look under it.

> look under rock
As you go to look under the rock, an armored baloth jumps out at you, snapping!

Again leave no stone unturned. The fight against the armored baloth is on the tough side for a character under level 45 but when killed it has a chance of popping a piece of a better item.


Questing for Glory
I was lucky enough to be on when an immortal ran quest was on. This one involved finding snow shovels to help a stuck buffalo free. I found my first one on the Valley of the Elves as follows:

A Trail Less Travelled
Exits: down northeast southeast
A deluxe snow shovel lies here.
An antelope is here, peacefully munching on grass.

An antelope leaves southeast.

>g shovel
You get a deluxe snow shovel.

>c id shovel
Object 'a deluxe snow shovel found by Jessyl' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 51 treasure, weight 1.
Special properties:  none
This treasure has a gold value of 0.

>exam shovel
You take a closer look at a deluxe snow shovel found by Jessyl in inventory...
You see nothing special.

>Darkhaven Square
You are standing within the expanse of the famous Darkhaven Square. An immense stone statue of Duke Luther sits in the center of the square, surrounded by fountains of shimmering crystal water.  Gardens and shrubbery enhance the air of serenity and peace here in the center of the great city. A plaque set into the base of the fountain attracts your eye.  Cobblestone roads lead away in the four cardinal directions, while to the northeast
and northwest are forested paths.  The cathedral spires of Notre Dame de Sioux rise with majesty above the treetops to the northwest.
Exits: north east south west up northeast northwest
A large sundial lies here, useless during the night hours.
Torrents of flame flow a river of fire through the night sky above the square.
Stone fountains containing crystal clear water surround the Duke's statue.
(Fade) An enormous pile of snow seems to be slowly moving.
A snow covered buffalo is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
(Hide) (Translucent) Rentuke StarSword-Belforte is hovering here.
(Hide) Lareawan Dawnbreaker is the voice inside your head [NC-ON] is hovering here.
Only a deluxe snow shovel will help dig out the snow.

>give shovel buffalo
You give a deluxe snow shovel found by Jessyl to a snow covered buffalo.
A snow covered buffalo thanks you heartily.

I went on to then find two more shovels in The Mire, one in Ocean Keep and another in the Desert of Despair. With 2 glory per shovel the prize 'm now only 7 glory short of an extra damage roll.


Barbarian Adventures
A couple of fellow members of Arcanes have recently finished levelling barbarians and needed to get the dressed up so I've helped people kill a couple of mobs with barbarian items. The first was the yeti - this mob is frustrating with it's low pop rates and the timing needed to kill it so you have a chance of getting a claw.

After this we've also been killing the enormous manticore. This mob has been strange in that it does not appear every reboot and I'm not even sure what area it is officially in as when you use the where command in his room it gives you a message about not knowing where you are. In the end we had few problems killing the manticore. Of all the barbarian equipment mobs this is the easiest where the good old choke, flee, quit, relog, repeat... method works well. End result being:

You choke the life out of an enormous manticore as he struggles to break your grasp!
You injure an enormous manticore!
An enormous manticore is DEAD!!
You lose your death-grip on your victim's neck.
An enormous manticore lets out a horrendous cry that rises high into the air before disappating. A portion of an enormous manticore's head is ripped off as it falls to the ground. An enormous manticore catches his guts in his hands as they pour through his fatal wound!
You get 1054000 gold coins from the corpse of an enormous manticore.
The corpse of an enormous manticore holds:
     the horned helm of the plains wanderer

Underworld Grinding
All this week I've been setting myself up in The Underworld grinding away at making some Maniacal Tendencies. The strategy for this is simple - kill Eylops with a warrior using non-magic weapons and an immobilizing mage immobilizing away. Once down grab the keys, switch the warrior to wielding a Nasr and then have the warrior/mage team kill Rage and Fury and fingers crossed pop an essence off each. Repeating this for a week I managed to pop 8 of each. Connecting these and then sacrificing them using an augurer with 22 luck resulted in the following 7 times:

>g rage birch; g fury birch; connect rage fury; drop unfettered;sac unf
You get the essence of rage from a small birch chest.

You get the essence of fury from a small birch chest.

You cobble the pieces together...
 ...suddenly they snap into place, creating Unfettered Delirium!

You drop Unfettered Delirium.

A'enari gives you one gold coin for your sacrifice of Unfettered Delirium.

On the 6th attempt out of 8 however...

>g rage birch; g fury birch; connect rage fury; drop unfettered;sac unf
You get the essence of rage from a small birch chest.

You get the essence of fury from a small birch chest.

You cobble the pieces together...
 ...suddenly they snap into place, creating Unfettered Delirium!

You drop Unfettered Delirium.

A'enari gives you one gold coin for your sacrifice of Unfettered Delirium.
Strange sounds rise up from the ground echoing in a chorus of insane laughter. A twirling mist forms about the ground, bringing an immediate chill to the air. As you look down you spy a strange looking helmet which has appeared by arcane means.
You get Maniacal Tendencies.

I'm hoping to continue grinding away for another week or two in the hopes of making three Maniacal   Tendencies - one for my drow warrior, one to use a prize for an Arcanes quest and one to sell/trade for other items.

More Reading
I've also been reading a couple of blogs by other players. Firstly Graham's blog at http://gsbarcanes.blogspot.com. Its still kind of new but it shows a different point of view of happenings around the Realms.

Secondly Syldir's Corner of Despair at http://realmsofdespair.info/blogs/Syldir/. A very different blog to mine and well worth checking out.

Pop rates

For the last couple of weeks I've been working on equipping some of my underdressed character I use less. Part of this has been something that most people have done plenty of times - killing Justice in the Tower of Enlightenment. I usually kill Justice using just one of my thieves. It takes around 100 heals and a couple of true sights per kill. Fairly straight forward just need to watch the circle lag. Eventually the result is this:

Your pierce tears Justice!
Justice is DEAD!!
As the final blow is struck, a necklace of shimmering scales falls from
Justice's neck.
Justice splatters blood on your armor.
You get a gold coin from the corpse of Justice.
The corpse of Justice holds:
     (Humming) the Blindfold of Clarity
     (Glowing) (Humming) sword of equilibrium
     (Glowing) (Humming) scales of alpha & omega

The big mystery is once you've killed Justice what alignment the scales of alpha and omega are. Good aligned ones are the most useful and the most rare. In my experience I find that out of every 6 kills I get 3 neutral align, 2 evil and 1 good. In the last two weeks I've done 10 kills resulting in 6 neutral, 2 evil and 2 good aligned scales. I was wondering how likely this result was so started thinking about killing Justice as a Bernoulli trial. In a Bernoulli trial we have an event which has probability of occurring and can be repeated. In this case the event is getting a good aligned scale or not and can be repeated as in each kill. Looking at an individual binomial distribution table using a probability of 0.15 (roughly 1 in 6) for each kill the number of good align scales being popped in 10 kills is:

• 0 good scale - 0.272
• 1 good scale - 0.385
• 2 good scales - 0.238
• 3 good scales - 0.084
• 4 good scales - 0.018
• 5 good scales - 0.003
• 6 good scales - 0.000

Looking at the above getting 2 good scales out of 10 kills is quite lucky - but this is making the assumption that the pop rates are 1 in 6 each kill.

Earlier this year I donated 20 Unfettered Deliriums to the Guild of Vampires. The aim was to see how many Maniacal Tendencies we could make from them and use them as prizes for guild quests. The pop rate for them is lower than for good aligned scales. In the end we managed to get 2 MT's out of 20. My guess for the pop rate from experience would be either 1 in 20 or 1 in 10. Again using an individual binomial distribution table to guess how many Maniacal Tendencies we should have popped gives different probabilities.

Using 1 in 20 gives:

• 0 MT's - 0.358
• 1 MT's - 0.377
• 2 MT's - 0.189
• 3 MT's - 0.060
• 4 MT's - 0.013
• 5 MT's - 0.002

While 1 in 10 gives:

• 0 MT's - 0.122
• 1 MT's - 0.270
• 2 MT's - 0.285
• 3 MT's - 0.190
• 4 MT's - 0.090
• 5 MT's - 0.032

The question is which is more likely to result in popping 2 MT's out of 20 attempts? Hard to tell - might need to try and make some more.

Maniacal Tendencies!!!

Been doing all sorts of stuff in the realms lately including more killing in the Barren Wastes, starting to level a cleric and more exploring but by far the most exciting thing to happen in the last week is this:

>wear unfettered

You stop using the armored cowl of the Defiler.
You don Unfettered Delirium upon your head.
The voices in your head roar up as you attempt to wear the helm.
You quickly remove the helmet and throw to the ground, sacrificing it to your deity!
Strange sounds rise up from the ground echoing in a chorus of insane laughter.
A twirling mist forms about the ground, bringing an immediate chill to the air.
As you look down you spy a strange looking helmet which has appeared by arcane means.
You get Maniacal Tendencies.
You twitch nervously.

Object 'Maniacal Tendencies' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 50 armor, weight 10.
Locations it can be worn:  head
Special properties:  dark evil
Races allowed:  Human Elf Dwarf Half-Ogre Half-Orc Half-Troll Half-Elf Gith Drow Sea-Elf Gnome
Classes allowed:  Warrior Fathomer Barbarian
Genres allowed:  aberrant
Alignments allowed:  evil
This armor has a gold value of 400000.
Armor class is 20 of 20.
Affects intelligence by 1.
Affects dexterity by 1.
Affects wisdom by -2.
Affects resistant:sleep by 5%.
Affects damage roll by 6.
Affects hp by 90.
Affects moves by 25.

Nothing else to say except woohoo!!!