The Deck of Many Things

One of the most mysterious items in the game is The Deck of Many Things. This item can bring all sorts of unpredictable results - some positive and others negative. If you're the first person to find it following a reboot there will be a key and card in it. I've had a handful of run ins with the deck, but today while wandering around the Village of Edo I foundd it with a key in it. When this happens you have to make two decisions - "Do I pull the card or not?" and "If I pull what character do I pull it with?" My decision today was to pull it with my vampire alt Viledri... The results were:

A Path in the Rice Fields of Edo
Exits: north south 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.

>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.
Viledri has been given the chance to draw from the Deck of Many Things. 

>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:
     a card 

 >g card deck
You get a card from the Deck of Many Things.
A mystical being appears and points at you. Your senses reel as you are flung through the void to another place.
The card twists and wriggles in your hands.
A great flash of light envelopes the room, blinding you momentarily.
When your vision returns, you see that the Deck of Many Things lies before you once more.
It is highly recommended that you examine the deck before drawing from it. When you are ready, simply take the card.

>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:
     a card
The card contained within the deck can bring you great joy and happiness, or ultimate peril and despair. Either way, having already placed yourself in the power of the Deck, the only option would seem to be to draw the card and face your fate. 

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Wheel of Fortune.
The card holds your gaze and try as you might you cannot look away.
As the wheel moves inexorably towards its final position, you realise that the tiny figure depicted clinging to it is a perfectly drawn illustration of yourself.
The wheel stops, leaving you sitting securely atop its highest point.
You are filled with elation as you realise Fortune favours you this day.
A large bag of gold appears in your hands.
The cold winds of never rush through the void, whipping the card from your grasp and returning you to the mortal realm.
 

The end result was I got given 20 million gold coins from the deck. I'm not totally sure if that is how much I made as I don't know how much I had before I took the card. While 20 million (or was it 30?) is not a huge amount of gold, I'm happy with that results as I have had negative pulls before or had to sit and wait an hour for an immortal about level 57 to log on and take the next step without any success.

Overall I enjoy finding the Deck. It's something you can search for on your own with a chance of getting some real positives out of it. Plus it certainly adds some excitement to the game.

Dragon Tower and more Pop Rates

Over the last couple of weeks the main project I've been working on is finishing off levelling my newest thief. I chose to make this thief a dwarf as I wanted a good aligned thief and I had a couple of pieces of equipment sitting around on storage doing not much that would be perfect for a good thief - an iron hand of kargoth and a cloak of the eternal wanderer. Before hitting level 50 I chose to stock up on a pair of ring of the dragons from Dragon Tower.

My earliest memories of Dragon Tower was as a level 20 being sent for a guild quest to get a pair of leggings of dark dragonscale. Very nice leggings for a level 20 character but difficult to get on your own without any avatar characters to help. From memory it took me seven attempts and my first ever run in with a death trap. Since then it has been modified to include the rings. These rings are not that hard to make but rather time consuming to get all of the parts. I tried killing Tiamat 12 times before I figured out that my thief only had 10 luck. I changed around some equipment and got it up to 17 then managed to pop 2 settings in the next 3 kills. Coincidence or the affect of the enigmatic luck statistic? It's always exciting making items. To make the rings you need to hand them to the wizard in the tower as follows:

You give an empty ring setting to a powerful mage.
A powerful mage gasps in astonishment.
A powerful mage tells you 'I made this once long ago for the great dragon Tiamat.'
A powerful mage tells you 'If you have the five stones, I can make the ring once again.'
You give a snow-white opal to a powerful mage.
You give a radiant-red ruby to a powerful mage.
You give a blazing-blue sapphire to a powerful mage.
You give a pitch-black onyx gemstone to a powerful mage.
You give a gleaming-jade gemstone to a powerful mage.
A powerful mage carefully fits each stone into one of the claws in the setting.
A powerful mage drops the ring of the dragons.
You get the ring of the dragons.
Saved...

The ring is nice for pretty much any character. There are alternative rings for a good thief which I will work on later but for now these will do. After making the two rings I finished the final level and ended up with a hit point base of 745 - my best thief by far.

Next on the list of equipment needed is more good scales of alpha & omega... More grinding... I always seem to need more of this. I've done another 10 kills since my last post and interestingly I ended up with the exact same results from 10 kills - 2 good scales, 2 evil and 6 neutral.

Valley of Crucifixion and Myratana (take 1)

Over the last week I have been practising the maze at the start of the Valley of Crucifixion. This maze is split into two parts - one starts in the west and the other the south of the first room in VoC after entering the portal. There are instant death rooms in these mazes that can be used as markers to map where you haven't been yet until you find the arm in each part. Just pull/push the arm and it lights a candle in the rooms to the east of the start as follows:

Within the Pale
Nippy and moist is the haze, granting but an arm's length of bleary vision.A deceitful surrounding it is, where the hand reaches for shadows but catches nothing, and the foot trips over unseen obstacles. A peaceful stroll through a calm winter, or a treacherous tightrope over a bottomless abyss - within the pale, there is no way of telling. However, to picture anything but a perilous setting would be unwarranted optimism in this Otherlandian realm.
Exits: north east south west
A woman's arm sticks up from the snow, pale and stiff.
You take a closer look at the pale arm of a woman on the ground...
Sticking up from the snow, a pale arm and hand eerily hails passer-bys. Angel or human is impossible to tell, but distinctly female. Although frozen and dead since an eternity ago, her hand still stretches out in despair, begging for mercy. Evidently, none was shown.
You notice that it is in the down position.
Her hand is cold and hard like porcelain. It moves but a little as you push it.
You have lit a memorial candle. God bless your soul, Vilexur.

After lighting both candles head east from the entrance and follow the trail of the candles and you end up in a room with a girl and a bell...

The End of False Prophecy
From this, the highest point of the Valley of Crucifixion, one can gaze right into the cold eyes of the end of false prophecy. At the summit of the height of heathens, a thousand dead believers hail from below in every direction but the north. A perfectly vertical mountain wall ends the valley there, towering through the clouds above and beyond. To it, the height clings like an unwanted child to her mother, seeking refuge where none can be found from a nightmare all too real. A scaffold has been raised against the mountain wall, rickety but still climbable. The snow is red under it from a steady trickle of blood.
Exits: east south west up
(Glowing) The bell of mourning hangs from the scaffold, lamenting the dead when struck.
A weak, young girl struggles with a large mallet as she compulsively strikes the bell.
Zephaniah is shrouded in flowing shadow and light. 

 This girl strikes the bell every couple of minutes and says something like the following:

Zephaniah strikes the bell of mourning, falling over under the weight of the mallet...
The bell of mourning tolls, wailing for the here crucified and those reduced to dust in the Ziggurat.
Zephaniah says 'Fire... The demon becomes a god...'

Zephaniah struggles to lift the large mallet, her thin arms nearly breaking from the effort...
Zephaniah says 'Kneel in respect for the dead... Show your empathy and kneel...'

 When you kneel in front of her she says something cryptic:

You kneel down.
Visions of senseless killing and unnecessary death flash before your eyes.
Zephaniah tells you '....Servant....'

or:

You kneel down.
Visions of senseless killing and unnecessary death flash before your eyes.
Zephaniah tells you '....Sight....' 

What these mean I have no idea. The next part of the area is one of the more interesting rooms and mobs of the game. When you make a new character one of the earliest messages you receive is the following disclaimer:

(2)  conversation and situations may arise during the course of play that may not be suitable for young children. 

I've always wondered about this disclaimer and what situations may arise that are unsuitable for young children other than the odd bit of bit language. That was until I first entered the following room, read it's description (after getting beaten, battered and bruised) and saw Myratana in the flesh as follows:

Reign in Blood
At the top of the scaffold, various planks and leftovers from the construction of the great display below have been put to use. As old as the humanhangers indeed, withstanding the test of time does not seem to be much of challenge for material found useful by divine will. It has built a container, in shape rectangular, and perhaps best described as a bath. Poorly, one might add, as it is leaking freely. While nothing is peculiar about a leaking container, what steadily trickles from this one is quite interesting indeed. Bodies lie jampacked inside it, cut open or in half in the most fascinating places.
These men must be several hundred years old, yet still their bodies pump out fresh blood to refill the everleaking bath. Under the deep red surface they can be seen screaming in excruciating pain, but the blood mutes their cries immediately. Drowning in blood must be quite stimulating when one is not allowed to die.
Exits: down
A scantily clad angel moans as she bathes in the blood of humans.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant is surrounded by cascading torrents of electric fire.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant caresses her body with bloody hands, pervertedly smearing herself with brains and guts.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant yells 'Come to me, heroes of Despair. Those denied by heaven I welcome here.' 

Ambition and ruthlessness was what Golgonooza saw in Myratana when he promoted her to lieutenant of the divine army of the Left. Unlike Golgonooza himself and Melfice, she lacked both honour and respect for her enemy. Her hatred for the mortal races of the Realms blinded her completely to the real purpose of the conflict. She even despised her superior Golgonooza and often refused to follow his orders. However, his lust for her as he watched her naked body bathe in the blood of humans easily defeated his ratiocination. Veiled but a little by torn white robes stained by the blood, brains and guts of those dead by her whip, she stands here in a seductive pose. With freely exposed breasts, long red hair and a blood-drooling mouth she radiates a nauseating sexuality.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant is in perfect health.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant is using:
<worn on body>       the blood-stained robes of the vitiated
<wielded>            a whip of ritualistic flagellation 

 This evening though I thought I'd try something crazy - taking on Myratana solo. There are strategies for groups to do on Myratana but solo was to be a different challenge. I tanked it on my paladin which worked quite well in the sense that I was staying alive. The problem however was that I just couldn't do enough damage meanwhile my equipment was being damaged again and again. Myratana has a lot of damage programs and interesting messages with them. Well interesting when the fighting is over.

Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant stares lustfully into your eyes.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant says to you, 'My body is fire. In your thoughts I burn.'
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant utters the words, 'gqafqpuio gjfoz'.
A fiery current lashes through your body!

Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant stretches out her wings to their full length.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant closes her eyes and starts to glow with a humming, bright light.
The light fades and for a moment everything is silent.
As Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant opens her eyes, they glow with the power of the dark heavens.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant utters the words, 'akutenshi'.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant's Angel Ray grazes you! 

Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant pulls you close to her and places her hands on your breasts.
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant says to you, 'Men of these Realms can not please you. Come, let me teach you divine pleasure.'
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant kisses you.
Her saliva burns in your mouth, and the pain spreads like fire through your body!
(the Breastplate of the Ravager gets damaged)
Myratana, the Angel Lieutenant laughs and pushes you away from her. 

 Ouch. I'll have to rethink my strategy - either get a group together to try next time or equip an army of alts and do a tag team attack one after another. But end result is Myratana wins this round...

Why (and how) the Lizards Should Return

In my last post I wrote about how I have one of the few remaining lizardman characters. What this post is about is why it was wrong for them to be taken out of the game, why they should be brought back and how to make them more popular.

Lizardmen disappeared in early 2001. I still remember logging on and trying to make a new lizardman warrior only to find it couldn't be done. After asking around I heard that they'd been removed because they weren't popular enough. This bothered me as there was no official announcement, no warnings, no attempts to make them more popular and no mention of any ways for them to return. Even when they have the occasional raffle where the prize is to be able to make a character of any race/class combination there is always an except lizardman clause. Generally I respect the decisions the Council of Elders makes and believe they are in the best interests of the game. This decision I did not because afterall what harm were the lizards doing to the game?

I can understand why lizardmen weren't very popular. They could only be warriors or rangers and the base stats for them were generally terrible. The base stats for my lizardman ranger are:

Your base stats:    18 str 9  int 9  wis 11 dex 17 con 12 cha 9  lck.
Your current stats: 25 str 12 int 10 wis 20 dex 17 con 12 cha 12 lck.

Tyring to maximise strength, dexterity and wisdom for a ranger with those stats is tough. The funny thing is this problem has been fixed. When they removed statnames from the game they replaced it with a system where all new characters had their statistics add up to 100. This has been tweaked so that now new characters  have their statistics add to 95. The above stats only add up to 85.

The second problem of only having two classes for lizardmen has also been fixed. Since lizards have gone they have added barbarians, bladesingers and fathomers which I think would all be perfect for lizardmen.

The next problem with lizardmen was the lack of special equipment. Half-orcs, half-trolls and half-ogres were always more popular due the racial equipment they had available. Recently there have been racial sets available for dwarves, halflings and gnomes as well as several other minor pieces of racial equipment. Bringing in a lizardman set of equipment would make the race more popular and could be used to develop a series of quests or a storyline for the race.

I believe there is a lot of potential for the lizardman race in the game and I know people would like to play a lizardman character if they could. I was once asked by an immortal how I would feel if they brought back lizards and mine was no longer rare. My response was that I would be happy because I'd love to make a few new lizards myself.

The Last of the Lizards

I am lucky to be one of the few people to have a lizardman character left in the Realms of Despair. Sadly someone made a decision 12 and a half years ago to remove the race from the game. Since then the number of lizards left have slowly autodeleted away until the last I heard there were only 37 lizards left. What it has allowed for is a story that about the struggle for existence and futility of attempting to survive to develop for the handful of lizards left that few players get to see. Themes of survivalism, anger and camaraderie are present throughout the realms for the lizardmen.

Not far from the entrance to the lizardman hometown is an egg. When examined most characters see this:

You take a closer look at A dried out egg shell on the ground...
Several things are immediately clear about this egg. It has been cracked
straight across the centre - surely no lizardman hatched from this egg.
In spite of its age, it is apparent this egg was licked thoroughly clean.
Surely, the lizardman bias is justified. This was the dinner for some egg-
thieving mammal.

When a lizardman examines it they see this extra bit:

Pausing a moment to reflect on the life that never was, the blood within you stirs ...
Grrrrrrrrrr ...

This running theme of the loss of lizardman eggs is also seen in Ockwater Fens when a non-lizardman character enters the room with the traveller in it you get this message:

The traveller sneers at you in contempt.
The lizardman growls at you 'Away with you, egg thieving mammal!'
The traveller growls.

 For the lizardman entering the same room you get this message:

The traveller nods in agreement with you.

 Throughout the whole area the lizardman mobs treat lizard characters differently. Instead of glaring at you the lizardman warriors peer at you quizzically. Anger towards the situation can also be seen when wearing a lizard hide from Salburg. When a non-lizard character wears one it says:

You sling a thick piece of lizard hide on your back.
You marvel at the strength and warmth of a thick piece of lizard hide.

While when the lizards wear it you get:

You sling a thick piece of lizard hide on your back.
You grimace in disgust as you feel a thick piece of lizard hide slide upon your back.
The strength of the hide combines with your own and makes you more powerful.
 

To me though the most interesting lizardman only message is the one you get from the lizardman totem in Vast Horizons. The lizardman totem is the crocodile and it's message is:

The crocodile spirit totem says 'Be strong. Gain strength from overcoming all things.'
You find yourself somewhere else, contemplating the vision your totem has shared.
Was it only a dream?

Surviving. Anger. Camaraderie.

I do wish they'd bring back the lizards. There is so much potential for it to be done and tied in with a storyline through quests and possibly new areas.

Here's hoping.

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.

Vampire Equipment

One of the things I like about vampires as a class more than other classes is that they are relatively easy to equip for a simple set up that is usable. By this I mean maximise the important stats of strength, dexterity and intelligence and have hit points and damage roll at a decent level. On the other hand you can spend a lot of time and money dressing a vampire up to a high level of hit points and damage roll while still maximising stats. I currently have three level 50 vampires of which one is very well equipped and two have a basic set up.

My best vampire is dressed is Vilexur the half-troll. He has 131 damage roll and stats below:
You report: 1752/1752 hp 59/60 blood 666/666 mv 176592194 xp.
Your base stats:    17 str 17 int 10 wis 18 dex 16 con 9  cha 13 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 22 int 8  wis 24 dex 16 con 3  cha 18 lck.
Equipment used is as follows:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) Collar of Abyssal Servitude
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) Collar of Abyssal Servitude
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) Spiral of Daeva
<worn on head>       (Red Aura) Maniacal Tendencies
<worn on legs>       hellfire leggings
<worn on feet>       (Red Aura) Malignant Boots of the Hellion
<worn on hands>      the Inquisitor's Grasp
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a strand of polished jade
<worn about body>    (Humming) the cloak of Death
<worn about body>    (Red Aura) A shroud of darkness
<worn about waist>   a girth of mangled hide
<worn around wrist>  (Red Aura) (Humming) the wristlet of the hellborne
<worn around wrist>  (Red Aura) (Humming) the wristlet of the hellborne
<wielded>            (Red Aura) Lifebane
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) Lifebane
<worn on ears>       (Red Aura) Demonic Whispers
<worn on eyes>       the Eye of the Beholder
<worn on back>       a thick piece of lizard hide
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  (Humming) Blackened Spurs of the Nazgul Lord
<worn around ankle>  (Humming) Blackened Spurs of the Nazgul Lord

A much cheaper set up with a half-orc vampire and 108 damage roll and stats below:
You report: 1549/1564 hp 51/60 blood 595/595 mv 176474704 xp.
Your base stats:    16 str 16 int 10 wis 18 dex 13 con 9  cha 13 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 21 int 9  wis 25 dex 15 con 8  cha 15 lck.
Equipment used is:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) Demonspawn Stormcloud
<worn on head>       a black, brimmed hat
<worn on legs>       (Red Aura) godskull shinguards
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    (Red Aura) (Humming) a Cloak of Demons
<worn about waist>   circle of mists
<worn around wrist>  a solid bracer of Cold Blue
<worn around wrist>  a solid bracer of Cold Blue
<wielded>            (Red Aura) Black Dragonskull Ax
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) Black Dragonskull Ax
<worn on ears>       (Glowing) a sliver of glass
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn on back>       [nothing]
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a demonskin ankle bracer
<worn around ankle>  a demonskin ankle bracer

My third vampire is a Halfling. I have it wearing some Halfling only equipment which works quite well for cheaply equipped vampire. This vampire has 107 damage roll.
You report: 1568/1568 hp 13/60 blood 743/743 mv 176473688 xp.
Your base stats:    14 str 15 int 10 wis 17 dex 13 con 12 cha 14 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 22 int 11 wis 25 dex 13 con 12 cha 15 lck.
Equipment used is:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) (Humming) Golden Plate
<worn on head>       a fallohide's leather cap
<worn on legs>       a fallohide's leather breeches
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    a fallohide's cloak
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's pipeweed pouch
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's waist sash
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<wielded>            (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<worn on ears>       ears of the fox
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn on back>       a simple pilgrim's cloak
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain

You can see that the difference between the well equipped vampire and the second two vampires is 200 hit points and 23/24 damage roll. As for the difference in the value of equipment... The second two vampires you could buy their total equipment for less than 100 million gold coins each while the first has 11 pieces of equipment worth over 100 million each.