The Deck of Many Things (again)

I've been super busy in real life for the last two months resulting in me being unable to get much done on either the Realms of Despair or this blog. Looking through some old logs I found a couple more about the deck - one negative and one positive I thought I'd share. In the first one I found it in Cursed Lands while teleporting around with my nephandi using zombie candy attempting to find some rooms in Vast Horizons as follows:

Small Hut
These are the living quarters of these villagers.  Very simple looking, it is circular in shape with pots and pans along one side, an outhouse along another and miscellaneous items scattered about.  These people live a very simple life with no luxury.  You wonder how they entertain themselves.
Exits:
The Deck of Many Things lies in wait for a brave soul.
You failed.

>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

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

>get 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.

>get card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Heirophant.
The image on the card comes to life and regards you with a stern gaze.
You feel as if someone or something is rifling through your mind, assessing your  knowledge.
The Heirophant exclaims 'An ignorant weakling deserves no arms!'
The dark energies released from within the Matrix seep into your soul.
Parts of your equipment start to melt and fade into nothingness.
The cold winds of never rush through the void, whipping the card from your hand and returning you to the mortal realm.

The result was I lost my weapon and hold items - 1 void and 1 matrix of desolution. A better result is the following where I found the deck in Otherland and pulled the card with a mage:

On the Trail of White Death
The hills and valleys of snow covered terrain rise and fall all around. The only landmarks are the ocean to, what is normally, the south and a vast mountain range to the north. If there are any inhabitants of this desolate land, they keep themselves well hidden. It is almost as if this is the very edge of a world that everyone has forgotten about, leaving it untamed.
Exits: west down northwest
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.

Before pulling a card now I always check to make sure there is a level 57+ immortal on. This day there was and I was lucky to have one on.

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn The Hanged Man.
What this card bodes for your future, only an immortal of level 57 or above can discover for you. 

>who imm
-----------------------------------[ IMMORTALS ]------------------------------
Newbie          Loril Gemstone-Edelstone, on Cloud Nine (help vote_rod) (Ringbearers) [Co-Head of Newbie Council]
1 player.

 >tell loril hi
You tell Loril 'hi'

Loril tells you 'Hi. :)'

Loril bounces in on a fluffy, white cloud named Nine.

>ngree lor
You nod in greeting towards Loril.

Loril smiles at you.

Loril wonders 'You'd done a deck pull before?'

Loril looks at you.

>nod
You nod solemnly.

>say but never had much luck
You say 'but never had much luck'

Loril grins.

>say first time i pulled i lost my weapon and hold
You say 'first time i pulled i lost my weapon and hold'

Loril says 'Ouch.'

Loril exclaims 'Yet ... here you are again!!'

Loril winks suggestively.

>say second time i pulled i got to sit and wait around for 57+ imm to log but got to reboot first
You say 'second time i pulled i got to sit and wait around for 57+ imm to log but got to reboot first'

Loril says 'Yeah, that happens. :('

>say third time i found it with a card but no imms on so told a friend who an hour later got +20hp to hise base
You say 'third time i found it with a card but no imms on so told a friend who an hour later got +20hp to hise base'

Loril says 'Oh dear.'

>say so fingers crossed I'll have some luck today
You say 'so fingers crossed I'll have some luck today'

>cross
You cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Loril seems to agree.

Loril wonders 'Would you like to hand me the card?'

>give card lori
You give a card to Loril.

Loril drops a card.

Loril sacrifices a card to Adendra.
Whispering voices fill the room and a faint breeze blows from somewhere...
You feel the touch of a rope around your neck, the rough hemp scratching your skin as it tightens...
Then it disappears again and you hear a voice whisper 'If you were meant to be drowned you'd never be hanged...'
It appears you are not fated to swing at all!

>hrm
You hrm. Hrm.

>say i think that's good
You say 'i think that's good'

Loril wonders 'Could you please remove one piece of armor (not a weapon) and give it to me?'

>eq
You are using:
<used as light>      the sigil of A'enari
<worn on finger>     (Glowing) the Ring of Wizardry
<worn on finger>     (Glowing) the Ring of Wizardry
<worn around neck>   (Glowing) (Humming) scales of alpha & omega
<worn around neck>   (Glowing) (Humming) scales of alpha & omega
<worn on body>       the Dragonhide Breastplate
<worn on head>       the shade helm
<worn on legs>       (Red Aura) godskull shinguards
<worn on feet>       moccasins
<worn on hands>      (Glowing) Blessed gauntlets of the Templar
<worn on arms>       silver dragonhide armguards
<worn as shield>     Dark, fated mists
<worn about body>    (Humming) the cloak of Death
<worn about body>    the essence of kundalini
<worn about waist>   a sash of the magi
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) (Humming) a Bracer of Light
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) (Humming) a Bracer of Light
<wielded>            the black hilted sword "Shieldbreaker"
<held>               Millennium
<worn on ears>       (Glowing) a sliver of glass
<worn on eyes>       the shades
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet
(type 'garb' for a list of all wear locations)

>rem dragonhi
You stop using the Dragonhide Breastplate.

>give dragonhi lor
You give the Dragonhide Breastplate to Loril.

Loril smiles at you.

Loril says 'Now you wait (again ;)) while I figure this out. :)'

>nod
You nod solemnly.

The deck of many things is once again shuffled and dealt by the Gods.

A cold breeze from the winds of never washes through the void.

Loril says, 'ooOOooOOooOOoo.'

Loril exclaims 'Third time lucky!'

>oo
You go ooOOooOOooOOoo.

Vodra - 1192/1192hp 1163/1188mp 660/660mv >
Loril gives you the Dragonhide Breastplate.

>save
Saved...

>c id drago
Object 'the Dragonhide Breastplate' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 48 armor, weight 15.
Locations it can be worn:  body
Special properties:  magic metal
This armor has a gold value of 0.
Armor class is 14 of 14.
Affects hp by 100.
Affects constitution by 2.
Affects save vs spell by -3.
Affects mana by 50.
Affects strength by 1.
Affects armor class by -60.
Affects resistant:electricity by 10%.
Affects resistant:plus1 by 10%.
Affects damage roll by 7.
Affects hit roll by 7.
Affects save vs breath by -4.
Affects affected_by by detect_hidden.

Loril says 'That's actually quite nice.'

>heh
You seem to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".

Loril exclaims 'I'd say that this time you win!'

>wooh
You grin and shout 'WooHoo!!!'

Loril says 'I mean, it's not +200 hp ... :P'

>say i thought the hanged man sounded bad
You say 'i thought the hanged man sounded bad'

Loril says 'Me too.'

Loril says 'Actually kinda witty. :)'

That one was my biggest success with the deck. I chose to hand over the dragonhide breastplate since I thought that whatever was added to it could be useful for any class. I'm not sure detect hidden is the best thing but it was a lot better than losing a couple of items. Thanks again Loril. Hopefully I'll have some more positive luck with the deck again soon. Also hoping I can post some new adventures instead of just some old logs.

Cheers.
Vile.

 

Seafarer's Research - part 2

In my last post about the fathomer's quest I jumped the musket a bit. It turns out I was chasing the wrong captain in Raven Tor instead I should have been hitting good old Captain Lodd in Ocean Keep. Once dead the following happens:

DYING>You feign an attack, then strike from the opposite side!
Your feint hits Captain Lodd!
As your deadly blow hits, Captain Lodd collapses in agony.
Captain Lodd is DEAD!!
Captain Lodd wheezes 'The king will hear of this.  My death will be avenged.'
The captain appears to make one last attempt at raising his weapon. 
He falters, and you see he is trying to use his last moments to conceal a precious item.
Captain Lodd hits the ground ... DEAD.
You get 824144 gold coins from the corpse of Captain Lodd.
The corpse of Captain Lodd holds:
     (Glowing) a sword with the king's crest
     (Magical) (Glowing) (Humming) a jade cameo
     a sea captain's dial
You gain 7680 experience points from your success!

Object 'a sea captain's dial' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 35 armor, weight 1.
Special properties:  none
This armor has a gold value of 0.
Armor class is 2 of 2.

> exam dial
You take a closer look at a sea captain's dial in inventory...
Small and delicate, this dial is made of whisper thin metal. Etched upon both sides are intersecting lines and numbers at certain points.
As you look more closely, you notice that it is in superb condition.
It appears to be within or below your level range.

After taking this dial back to Erneth:

Erneth stands over an anvil, pounding away at his work.
Erneth looks up at you, smiling.
Erneth asks you, 'Did you find the dial?'
> give dial erneth
You give a sea captain's dial to Erneth.
Erneth smiles at the sight of the sea captain's dial.
Erneth says 'This is most excellent. It will work perfectly.'
Erneth says 'Where did you get it? Actually I'd rather not know.'
Erneth says 'I will get to work finishing off your astrolabe, it will still take a bit of time.'
Erneth says 'Why don't you come back tomorrow, and I will have it finished for you.'
Erneth bows his head slightly then hurriedly returns to his work.

 Next was a little waiting for Erneth to get on with his job. After about a day of mud time he completes his task but with a little catch:

Erneth stands over an anvil, pounding away at his work.
Erneth looks down at his hands, unable to meet your gaze.
Erneth says 'I am so sorry.'
Erneth says 'I had just finished your astrolabe, when someone entered my hut.'
Erneth exclaims 'I tried to tell him I was closed, but he just demanded the astrolabe, he knew all about it!'
Erneth says 'He pulled his sword on me and threatened my life.'
Erneth sighs to himself.
Erneth says 'If you find him I'm sure you will be able to get it back.'
Erneth says 'He mentioned an Island he hides out on, called Stormpoint.'
Erneth looks up, finally meeting your eyes.
Erneth says 'I have never heard of it myself.'
Erneth says 'However, I'm sure if you mention the name of the island to a ship's captain, you might be able to get a ride out to it.'
Erneth nods to himself, feeling better about the ordeal.
Erneth says 'Good luck my friend. If you get it back you should show it to Noah, I'm sure he would like to see it.'

After this it's now time to gear up and prepare for a fight and adventure in Raven Tor.

Facestomping Fun

Tonight I found myself with the two things I haven't been able to obtain:

• uninterrupted time
• a group of people willing to trust me to lead a run

So with this and the available characters the group members had I decided to run a couple of mobs I hadn't killed in a long time from the Barren Wastes. The last time I think I killed anything there was in this post. The first challenge with killing the mobs here is that every single mob has some puzzle that needs to be solved before it can be killed. There are clues as to what is required to be successful, however I was very rusty as to how to solve these.

The first mob I wanted to kill was the horned beast. The problem with this mob is that he is a pacifist mob meaning that you can not attack it. Of course there is a way around this via a puzzle broken up into several smaller puzzles with clues hidden around the area. For the horned beast the two clues as to how to make it killable are on a hidden piece of parchment:

>exam writing
nearly got bitten in half
new strategy, I prefer to stay whole
    blasted thing makes it difficult to stay whole


  in a cavern, I'll cave it in
       crush it with a falling ceiling
broke my foot, ceiling fell on it
    new strategy again
  

And the second is a bit of hidden ascii art that can only be seen if  in the following room:

A Temple Corridor
Thick cracks snake their way through crumbling stone walls, pits and etches
scattered throughout the entirety of the stone slabs.  Along the bottom of
one wall are faded symbols parallel to the floor, a thick layer of dust
obscuring the intricacies of each symbol.
Exits: north south

To get rid of the dust you need a hidden brush somewhere else in the area. Brushing the dust then shows the following:

What this all means is you need to be able to trap the horned beast in a particular room by getting a character that is strong enough to push boulders on to from the room above. To do this you need more than one character to complete and have a few more little puzzles to solve. The first step starts here:

A Desert Valley
Massive walls of hard stone shoot up into the sky, seemingly out of place in a landscape as barren and desolate as this.  The walls are far apart, creating a broad valley, though natural bridges and jutting stones are scattered about the valley walls, making it difficult to fly.  The desert's hot orange sand covers the valley floor, while the rock walls are covered in dust.  Boulders of various shapes and sizes are scattered throughout the valley, though the only ones that remain intact are the ones situated furthest from the center of the valley floor.  The massive prints that can be found throughout the desert can
be found pressed into the valley floor as well, though spaced more closely together.
Exits: east northwest
Suddenly, your capability to hover disappears...

Examining the boulder here shows:

>exam boulders
Boulders of various shapes and sizes are scattered about the valley floor.  The only boulders that seem to be the most intact are the ones furthest from the center of the valley pass.  The boulders are made of a rough type of rock, drab in color, though one boulder seems to have fared better than the rest.

The obvious thing to do is to push the boulder but there is a little catch here. If you use a character that has less than 25 strength you see the following:

>push boulder
The boulder proves too heavy as you attempt to move it.

On a 25 strength character though:

>push boulder
The boulder grinds along the valley floor, revealing a slight opening.

 Once inside this cave your 25 strength character isn't going to be much use. To climb up to the top you will need a character with 25 dexterity. There are a few times where you will need to guess around to find the exact right commands to get there. If all goes well you can get it up to this room:

A Desert Mountaintop
A slight breeze wafts its way around the desert mountaintop, carrying bits of sand in the gust.  Small stones, large boulders and oddly shaped rocks lie scattered about the sandy plateau.  A steep ledge leads down into the desert valley, and while the topography of the mountain slope seems to make for an easy trek down to the valley floor, a trek back up the slope seems impossible.  A hole in the rocky wall leads back to a gap in the mountain cavity.
Exits: down

 There are boulders that can be pushed off the cliff to trap the beast but your 25 dexterity character isn't strong enough to do this and a 25 strength character can't climb up inside the cave. The trick here is that hidden within the area are two parts of a rope that can be connected together and then dropped down by your 25 dexterity character so that the stronger one can climb up. The first part of the rope is hidden in this room:

A Desert Trail
The orange dunes of sand, though massive in width, are comparatively shorter in height, as if something is keeping the sand from accumulating to the point of growth.  The  blistering temperature creates a blur effect on vision, though massive prints can be seen  pressed into the dunes.
Exits: northwest southwest

> dig
You begin digging...
Your dig uncovered a short rough leather rope!

> g rope
You get a short rough leather rope.

> exam rough
You take a closer look at a short rough leather rope in inventory...
This length of rope is too short to be of any use, though is
made of a rather tough leather.

> c id rough
Object 'a short rough leather rope' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 3 piece, weight 1.
Special properties:  none
This piece has a gold value of 0.

The other piece of rope is a bit trickier to find but can be found within the cave in this room:

Pitted Walls
The walls of the narrow ascending cavern continue to be covered with pitts and scratches, while stones protrude into the open space, increasing the difficulty of maneuverability.  An awkwardly shaped stone stands out from the rest of the protruding stones, as it is pointing upward at the tip, almost like a hook.  Nothing but the darkness of the mountain cavity can be seen below.
Exits: east down
With great finesse, you maneuver between narrow footholds in the wall.

>exam stone
This stone in particular is oddly shaped and stands out amongst the rest.  The base protruding from the wall is thick, though it narrows towards the tip and turns upward, resembling a hook.  Upon closer inspection, a rope seems to be tightly tied around the tip  of stone.

>untie rope
You carefully untie a length of rope from a protruding stone.

>exam rope
You take a closer look at a long coil of rope in inventory...
The coil is a drab shade of light brown, though contains darker patches of dirt throughout its length.  Though long, the fabric of the rope seems weak, and would most likely need to be reinforced before use.

> c id coil
Object 'a long coil of rope' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 2 piece, weight 1.
Special properties:  none
This piece has a gold value of 0.

Once you have the two pieces you can connect them to make:

 > connect rope 2.rope
You cobble the pieces together...
 ...suddenly they snap into place, creating a reinforced long leather rope!

>exam rope
You take a closer look at a reinforced long leather rope in inventory...
A long rope, reinforced with lengths of leather of various sizes
looks sturdy enough to be an efficient climbing aid.

> c id rope
Object 'a reinforced long leather rope' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 17 rope, weight 3.
Locations it can be worn:  hold
Special properties:  none
This rope has a gold value of 0.
Affects dexterity by 1.
Affects climb by 35.

After  using this rope to climb up the cliff you can start dropping boulders on the horned beast. Once trapped by this you can start killing him. The fight isn't too difficult with a paladin tank and 3 thieves hitting though he does lag a bit, throw in the odd room attacks and hit random people. Once the fight is done you'll get this:

DYING>circle beast
Your circle wounds A massive horned beast!
A massive horned beast is DEAD!!
The beast thrashes about in its final moments, crashing into the stones that block the valley exits, crumbling them to dust.
As the beast crashes to the ground, a piece snaps from its right horn.
The ground quakes as a ferocious scream resounds throughout the area.
A massive horned beast hits the ground ... DEAD.
A massive horned beast has no gold.
The corpse of A massive horned beast holds:
     the tip of a massive broken horn

Like the other mobs in the area once you kill them you need to take the part of the beast and attach it to the correct statue in the temple part of the area to open a door to a room with a chest that contains some type of material to make equipment with.

>attach horn statue
You climb to the statue's head and carefully rest the missing piece atop the right horn. As you climb back down, the right horn lowers and a small panel opens in the wall behind the statue.
The tip of the right horn slides from its place and shatters onto the ground.

 >sw
A Small Recess Behind an Alcove
The smooth, bare walls from the temple alcove slightly crumble as they narrow to create this small recess.  The floor is covered with dust, sand and small pebbles which have also slightly blackened.  A thin line of seemingly simple symbols is etched into the wall under a small shelf not far above the ground.
Exits: northeast
A small metal chest sits on a shelf at the back of this small recess.

>l in ches
A small metal chest appears to be nearly empty.
A small metal chest contains:
     a small steel spike

 >g spike chest
You get a small steel spike from a small metal chest.

We managed to do two kills of the horned beast quite easily though I did manage to die both times. I need to practice at using a paladin to tank and hitting with a thief at the same time. After killing the beast twice we went and hit the serpent. We had a hard time here because I did something stupid - I tried using the strategy to kill the head described on Rodpedia with barbarians instead of my usual method. After failing with barbarians we switched to using thieves. Just have them ungrouped, wimpy set to max, walk in to the room, kill serpent, circle serpent and then flee, flee, flee. After this heal up and repeat until:

DYING>
Your pierce tears The diamond-shaped head of a giant serpent!
The diamond-shaped head of a giant serpent is DEAD!!
As the head of the serpent crashes to the stone floor, one of its fangs cracks and splits from its root.
The ground quakes as a piercing screech resounds throughout the area.
The diamond-shaped head of a giant serpent screams furiously as he falls to the ground in a heap!
The diamond-shaped head of a giant serpent has no gold.
The corpse of The diamond-shaped head of a giant serpent holds:
     a hefty fang

Again I took the part that popped, attached it to the statue and got the material as follows:

 >attach fang statue
As you attach the massive fang to the broken root, the statue begins to twist and twirl aroundthe alcove, revealing a small passageway.
The fang falls from the statue's mouth and shatters onto the ground.

 >nw
A Small Recess Behind an Alcove
The narrow stone walls which lead from the temple alcove widen and meet
in a smooth curve as they reach the back of this small recess, while
the stone ceiling slightly raises.  Though pitted, the stone bricks
of the walls contain etchings of simple, yet incomprehensible symbols
that have surprisingly withstood the erosion of time.
Exits: southeast
A small granite chest sits on a shelf at the back of this small recess.

>g all chest
You get a small hide of brown scales from a small granite chest.

And then finally with the two spikes and small hide of scales I found the wanderer and gave him the materials:

>You give a small hide of brown scales to The wanderer.

>You give a small steel spike to The wanderer.
The wanderer inspects the spike, poking the tip to test its sharpness. The wanderer says 'Have an idea, but I'd need another one.'

>give spike wand
You give a small steel spike to The wanderer.
The wanderer inspects the spikes, poking the tips to test their sharpness, then bends the scaley hide back and forth, testing its pliability.
The wanderer thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
The wanderer says 'Wonder if this'll work.'

The wanderer takes a few unidentifiable tools from a small pouch and begins to work on the spikes and hide.

The wanderer slips the finished products on and off a few times, testing their durability and practicality.
The wanderer thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
The wanderer says 'Better than mine.  Well, meaner, at least.  Good thing the equipment doesn't make the man.'
The wanderer gives you facestompers.

 All of that effort for this:

 Object 'facestompers' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 50 armor, weight 5.
Locations it can be worn:  feet
Special properties:  none
Classes allowed:  Warrior Barbarian
This armor has a gold value of 25000.
Armor class is 14 of 15.
Affects hp by 50.
Affects damage roll by 4.
Affects constitution by 1.
Affects intelligence by -1.
Affects wisdom by -1.

>exam facestompers
You take a closer look at facestompers in inventory...
A tough but sturdy hide of scales makes up the majority of these boots, folded and flattened upon itself various times before being shaped into something wearable.  A small, sharp metal spike lies fastened to the bottom of each boot, hinting that these boots were constructed for a specific purpose.
As you look more closely, you notice that it is in very good condition.
It appears to be within or below your level range.

I enjoyed myself. These two mobs in the Barren Wastes involve a lot of exploring and problem solving before you can actually fight them. The achievement felt from successfully completing the challenge is great.

A New Dawn...

A new year and a new post. A lot has changed since my last post on here. In brief here is what's new:

• The Guild of Spirit has a new website. While this is still a work in progress some work has begun on creating a website for the Guild of Spirit. So far I like what I see and have to congratulate the people who have put in the work to get it up and running.
• My little blog has been noticed by the New Darkhaven community site. It was great to get a little recognition and some positive feedback.
• I've had feedback about my If I Were Supreme Entity post. First I received a mudmail from Romani - the head of Herald Assembly who are responsible for promoting the game. She sent me this link to a heap of Realms of Despair banners. I attempted to place a couple of different ones at the top of this blog but after three hours of messing around with BlogSpot I gave up trying to get them right. Very frustrating when you can't get this site to do what you want to do but I do appreciate the feedback.
• One of my other requests on the If I Were Supreme Entity post has come true - well sort of. Tagertale hasn't been brought back but his nephew Tagerte has started doing his old job. Great job immortals on convincing him to do that.
• I've ran into some old friends on here who I hadn't seen or spoken to in many years. I've met a handful of other players in real life and they've all been great people which in turn leads to a greater sense of community and leads to other opportunities.

I'm hoping 2014 will be a good year. So far so good.

Seafarer's Research - part 1

Recently released was a new quest for fathomers. I have a fathomer which I don't use very much and is only moderately well dressed. When I first saw it mentioned as a news report I thought I'd better finish getting my fathomer a basic enough equipment set up to try out this new quest. The first thing I had to do was the rogue equipment set quest. The first part of this quest is meant to be easy - go to the Falcon's Nest Tavern in the Western Trade Route and talk to Matinah. The problem I had was I walked into the tavern without knowing that there was an inter-guild quest being run which involved multi-av mobs in the tavern as follows:

At the Bar of the Wild Boar
Considered the focal point of the Tavern by frequent patrons, to the dismay of a few of the wandering bards who stop to play music for donations, the bar and its bartender have become part of the local 'scene'. More than just a place to get drunk, the Falcon's Nest is considered by many to be a gem in the rough. A local tradition has it that anyone who rings the bell gets to buy everyone who is at the bar a drink. It has been said to be sure you have enough to cover the tab as well, or Marech does not take kindly to you. Behind the bar is a sliding wall partition that seldom sees the light of day. The bar itself is made up of a dark, well polished wood and has seen its fair share of sleeping drunks.
Exits: north east south northeast southeast
A long, well polished table acts as the tavern's main focal point.
A shining, golden bell hangs from atop the bar.
(Magical) A perfectly calm and clear pool of water is here.
(Magical) A mystical spring flows majestically from a glowing circle of blue.
The corpse of Harvey lies here.
A pool of spilled blood lies here.
The tavern's owner and bartender stands near the bar, serving drinks.
Marech is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
Laheon Silzarou (Nx-Gn) is hovering here.
Laheon glows with an aura of divine radiance.
(Hide) Kily the Titled is hovering here.
Kily shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
(Translucent) Jutsanna the consummate Druid is hovering here.
Jutsanna glows with an aura of divine radiance.
Zanikr Bloodbane is hovering here.
Zanikr shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
(Invis) (Hide) (Translucent) Joandaxjimli is the sum of your fears is hovering here.
Joandaxjimli is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
An enormous rabbit lounges at the bar, wearing a plaid vest of Celtic colors and a drunk look.
Harvey is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
Harvey stands up form the bar and begins to yell at someone on the far side of it before realizing you have arived.
Harvey wonders 'What you be looking at? You never seen a big rabbit before?'
Harvey says 'I'm the real Harvey, I am I swear'
Harvey gets a nervous look on his face.
Laheon nods solemnly.

Oops... As I was multi-ing at the time I think I managed to totally mess up that kill for them. Oh well - not much I could do about that. In the end I completed the easy parts of the rogue set and now my fathomer is dressed as follows:

You are using:
<used as light>      Aura of the Righteous
<worn on finger>     (Magical) the ring of the dragons
<worn on finger>     (Magical) the ring of the dragons
<worn around neck>   (Magical) (Glowing) (Humming) scales of alpha & omega
<worn around neck>   (Magical) (Glowing) (Humming) scales of alpha & omega
<worn on body>       the Spoils of Thievery
<worn on head>       the shade helm
<worn on legs>       the black ring mail greaves of the Falcon
<worn on feet>       the black leather boots of the Falcon
<worn on hands>      (Magical) (Glowing) Blessed gauntlets of the Templar
<worn on arms>       the black ring mail spaulders of the Falcon
<worn about body>    (Magical) (Glowing) the Cloak of Royalty
<worn about waist>   [nothing]
<worn around wrist>  dance of the dolphin
<worn around wrist>  dance of the dolphin
<wielded>            (Magical) the black hilted sword "Shieldbreaker"
<dual wielded>       (Magical) the black hilted sword "Shieldbreaker"
<worn on ears>       (Magical) a crystalline teardrop
<worn on eyes>       the shades
<worn on back>       a thick piece of lizard hide
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain 

It is all fairly basic equipment but is enough to make my fathomer usable enough to try out this new quest. After trying out a few different shipwrights in the realms I found out it was Noah the shipwright in  Camden I needed to see:

Camden Boatyards
Rolls of rainbow hued sailcloth lie stacked in the corner, partially covered by a dark green tarpaulin. Towering overhead, piles of lumber from the forests of the north stretch to the ceiling. Wood shavings litter the floor, centered around the skeletal frame of a boat that sits at the upper end of a stone slide that slopes gently towards two large doors at the back of the shoppe.
Exits: north
A heavily muscled man works solemnly at his chosen craft.
Noah the Shipwright glows with an aura of divine radiance.
Noah the Shipwright looks up from his work as you enter, a thin smile creeping over his weathered face.
Noah the Shipwright says 'Hello there Zenth, it is nice to see another such as myself, so in love with the sea.'
Noah the Shipwright exclaims 'Have I told you yet, of mah idea? It would change our craft for ever, I'm sure of it!'
Noah the Shipwright wonders 'I would need help though, would you be willing to help me?'
Noah the Shipwright says 'Nod at me if so.'
> nod noa
You nod in agreement to him.
Noah the Shipwright's face breaks into an enormous, toothy grin.
Noah the Shipwright exclaims 'That is most excellent!'
Noah the Shipwright says 'I have had this idea for a device, which would use the stars and the sun to direct a person around.'
Noah the Shipwright says 'However, it is too intricate of a design for me to create myself.'
Noah the Shipwright says 'I have, however, made these schematics of it.'
Noah the Shipwright takes a piece of paper out from his pocket, and waves them about with his grubby hands.
Noah the Shipwright says 'If you would be willing to find someone to build it for me, I would gladly teach you how to use it.'
Noah the Shipwright asks you, 'Will you help me?'
Noah the Shipwright looks up at you, expectantly.
You say 'I will help you'
Noah the Shipwright nods his head in excitement.
Noah the Shipwright says 'Wonderful. Here are the plans.'
Noah the Shipwright gives you a set of astrolabe schematics.
Noah the Shipwright says 'I would bet a blacksmith who lives by the sea may be able to construct it for you.'

The next stop was then in Eurion. This area is a little tricky to get to in that the way most people travel to it is via the ship Meridia . This involves paying a fee and then waiting until the ship gets to its destination. Once at Eurion the blacksmith there says the following:

Eurion Smithy
The heat from the forge fills the room. Immediately after entering, sweat begins to bead on the arms and brow of everyone that enters. The fishermen bring in parts for their ships for repairs and orders for parts to be replaced. The walls are decked with some of the finest of metals. A well-learned smithy indeed is one that has created such a collection. It's amazing the island doesn't give the appearance of a bit more sturdiness with such fine craftsmen around. A few of the villagers wander up and down the stairs that lead to the second story of this hut.
Exits: south up
Erneth stands over an anvil, pounding away at his work.
Erneth stops pounding on the anvil momentarily.
Erneth wonders 'Were you the one interested in the astrolabe?'
Erneth says 'All I need to see are the astrolabe schematics...'
> give schem ern
You give a set of astrolabe schematics to Erneth.
Erneth says 'Well, isn't this interestin'.'
Erneth takes the set of astrolabe schematics into his hands, and looks them over.
Erneth says 'These are quite the drawings here.'
Erneth says 'I could probably build this for you, but I would require some special skarn deposits.'
Erneth nods to himself, seemingly happy with his request.
Erneth says 'You would best look for those in the mines around Juargan.'
Erneth exclaims 'Those dwarves sure can dig a mine!'
Erneth says 'Bring me the ore, and I will see what I can do.'
Erneth continues his endless pounding at the anvil.

So next stop was the Kingdom of Juargan looking for some skarn deposits. This didn't take too long:

Dwarven mines
This section of the small shafts is a intersection of three separate tunnels. They lead north, east, and west.  A faint glow is within the walls of this small intersection.
Exits: north east west
> dig
You begin digging...
Your dig uncovered a rock containing skarn deposits!
> g ska
You get a rock containing skarn deposits. 

From here it was back to Erneth with the skarn:

You give a rock containing skarn deposits to Erneth.
Erneth looks intently at the skarn deposits, holding it up in the light to eye out the glint.
Erneth says 'I think this will do nicely, yes.'
Erneth says 'I will need some time to work on this. In the meantime I have another task for ya.'
Erneth says 'To complete the astrolabe, I will need a sea captain's dial.'
Erneth says 'I don't think I would have to tell you where to find one of those.'
Erneth grins as he begins working on the ore.
Erneth says 'I would try a sea captain.'
Erneth focuses his attention away to the task at hand. 

This is as far as I have gotten with this little quest. I think the sea captain's dial may be somewhere in Raven Tor but I need to do some more looking around there. Since I got this far in the quest I have been a little busy dealing with problems in real life and just haven't had the time/energy to give it a good look around but finishing off this little quest is one of my next aims.

Realms of Despair Blogs and Links

I started writing this blog for a variety of different reasons. These reasons included the following:

• To give publicity to the Realms of Despair. They always want more publicity and every extra site with information helps to add to the community.
• To record my experiences. This includes setting goals, sharing lucky breaks and information I find. It also includes adding to the history or muds in general as to what it feels like.
• To let others know what I get up to on the game and give them ideas of things they can try.
• To give a few pointers to newer players.

Today I wanted to share some links to a few of my favourite lesser well known sites with Realms of Despair content on them.

Satan's Haven
This blog is the personal blog of Damon's. I used to chat to him at all hours of the night. It seemed like it was always late for one of us when we chatted together. While there are a number of posts on this player's life outside of the game there are number of posts about realms related topics including Danbala, dog ears, various equipment, glory, leaving a guild, random logs, new area releases, helter skelter, Gorog's Watchdog, Ravenhill, and guild tension. This blog always made me think that I should start my own blog and I could make it how I wanted it.

Shadowflaymes Repertoire of Knowledge
The Shadowflayme Repertoire of Knowledge was put together by a fellow vampire. Some useful information on here though only a handful of posts.

Tharius' Blog of Despair | Adventures of a Disheveled Ranger
This is a blog that is updated on a regular basis. I like how it is written as telling the story of Tharius and his thoughts on various happenings in the game. Well written and provides inspiration for this blog to be regularly updated.

New Darkhaven - Community
The Realms of Despair community page on Google+ is added to on a regular basis as well with news and interesting links to relevant sites.

Realms of Despair brought teens together
Not so much as a site about Realms of Despair but a story about a couple of players. I do wonder whatever happened to them afterwards. Read it yourself to see what I mean.

Mari's Realms of Despair Site
Some of the information is a little outdated but I like the design and style of this site.

My life in the Realms of Despair
A flickr site with some screenshots of some rare items.

Zistrosk's zMud Page
I personally don't use zMud but this site has some samples of scripts and triggers that can be used with it to make the game easier. Scripts/triggers/aliases are one of the more complicated areas of the game. Being able to write some great scripts can make some of your characters into quite advanced bots. One reason I included this site is I love that he used a picture from the old commodore 64 game Druid on his page. Druids are the only class in Realms of Despair that I do not have an avatar of. I really should make one.

Mud on a Boat
A weird video. Maybe too much time on their hands but you can't question their enthusiasm. In retrospect not sure if I should have included it in here as a favourite link.

Again thanks for reading. Hope you get something out of this.

The Statue of Ha'rach

In my previous post I wrote about the entrance to the hidden tomb of Ha'rach. The challenge of Ha'rach is much deeper. Once inside the temple you are greeted with the following room: The Temple The majestic temple glows from the majestic golden statue at its center. The statue stands about two times the height of a good sized half-troll. The gold is soft and warm to the touch. The statue is surrounded on all sides by golden columns stretching to the ceiling, though falling well short of their mark. The statue looks down on its visitors with a grim face. Its eyes are a hollow darkness. Its hands extend out, palms facing the sky, shaped as cups.  Looking high above, the gigantic cavern lets the smallest amounts of light through, a small speck barely visible. Exits: east northeast southeast (Trap) A vacant space in the statue's forehead awaits its piece. (Trap) The right eye of the statue gazes with an empty stare. (Trap) The left eye of the statue gazes with an empty stare. (Trap) The right hand of the statue stretches out. (Trap) The left hand of the statue stretches out. This is the final puzzle before you can fight the Statue of Ha'rach. To start off with you need to get rid of the traps using either the detrap skill or remove traps spell. Even doing this you need to be careful as being unsuccessful results in: >detrap eye Ooops! You are sliced by a razor sharp blade! That really did HURT! You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much! Unlike most traps in the Realms of Despair which are mere nuisance these ones do some serious damage and can kill if you have low amount of hit points and no sanctuary spell. After successfully removing all five traps comes the puzzle. The five parts of the statue contain a container. They look as follows (before removing the traps): You take a closer look at the forehead on the ground... The empty spot in the statue's forehead is perfectly round.  It has a small lip around the edge that makes it look like a small compartment. The forehead appears to be nearly empty. The forehead contains:      a trap What you need to do here is place a gem in the containers. There are five different mobs throughout the area that have them when you kill them. Each mob drops five different coloured gems. The result is you need the right coloured gem from the right mob and to place it in the right statue part in the right order. One of the mobs with the gems is Kaerell - it always gives me a little laugh when I see his rodpedia entrance advising not to kill him. What this all means though is that there are (5!)³ possible combinations of gems/mobs/conatiners/orders for the gems which all up adds to 1,728,000 possibilities. Fortunately there are two things that can make this puzzle easier: When you place a gem correctly there is a message in the room to say so There is one mob in the area which gives clues to the puzzle. This mob is the rich leader's wife found in the oasis part of the area. Bribe her with some gold coins and she will give you hints like: A rich woman tells you 'A stone from a shopkeeper is affixed first, but let it not be red.'  After putting the hints together I made myself a tree diagram on four pieces of A4 paper to help narrow down the possibilities. When exploring and trying to solve puzzles in RoD I often write pages of notes. A scan of them can be seen below:

While the above shows that my handwriting is rather messy and my scanner is cheap it also shows how I go about solving some puzzles. The end result was it narrowed down the number of combinations for the first gem from 125 to 12. Luckily for me I managed to get the right gem the first time I did this. After solving the puzzle you place the final gem and this happens:

You put a red gem in the left hand.
The statue's left hand grips the gem mightily and rises up!
The statue awakens from it's slumber and let's out a mighty yell!
The Statue of Ha'rach utters the words, 'zabrahpdjatz'.
The Statue of Ha'rach makes the earth tremble and shiver.
You yell 'Help!  I am being attacked by the Statue of Ha'rach!'
The Statue of Ha'rach's slice rips you!

While there is a sense of achievement in figuring out the puzzle there is also the sudden realisation that you are fighting an end of area boss mob. There are easier ways of killing the statue but the first time I led a group to it we used 3 barbarians rending and a paladin tanking. We didn't have too much trouble and finished off the statue:

Your slash tears the Statue of Ha'rach!
Your slash tears the Statue of Ha'rach!
The Statue of Ha'rach is DEAD!!
The Statue of Ha'rach's arm is sliced from its dead body.
You see nothing like that in the corpse of the Statue of Ha'rach.
The corpse of the Statue of Ha'rach holds:
     (Flaming White) (Magical) (Glowing) (Humming) sword of magic
     a pair of golden bracers
     (Flaming White) (Magical) a pair of golden leggings

The sword of magic and golden leggings are kind of junky items but the golden bracers are some of the nicest wrist equipment in the game.

Overall figuring out all the puzzles in the Desert of Despair and leading a group to successfully kill the Statue of Ha'rach is one of my proudest achievements in the game and gives an amazing buzz.

Cheers,
V.