Mudstats

Today I've been checking out the MUDStats website. This site has all sorts of info, statistics and graphs about different MUDs. It is automatically generated and has been collecting data for a while. For me the questions to use the data to find answers to include:

• How popular is Realms of Despair compared to other muds?
• Are player numbers increasing/decreasing?
• How many people are on the game regularly?
• What time of day is the most and least popular?

The current data summary shows the following:

Ranked 12th of 848 worlds statistically.
Ranked 6th of 362 worlds in the Fantasy genre statistically.
Voted 53rd on MUDConnector.Com.
Voted 10th on TopMUDSites.Com.



It also shows that for the last month on average there has been 108 players on with a maximum of 156 and minimum of 47.

 

One thing I love about this site are the graphs. The first interesting one is a graph of the average number of players over the last year:

 

This graph shows an overall rather steady number of players though an there is an increase during the colder months. Notice that the lowest number of players was around this time last year. The second graph shows a little more on these trends:

 

The above graph is a little inconclusive as to whether play numbers are increasing or decreasing recently. It is hard to extrapolate into the future of which way it is going. All it definitely shows is that there is a trend of a spike in player numbers around the Northern Hemisphere Winter months and a drop around Summer. As for what time of day the most players are on is shown below:

 

A pretty obvious trend on this graph is that the least players are on around 3am. I'm not certain of exactly which time zone the MUDStats website bases this on but I'm guessing it is some North American time.

 

To me the graphs are the most interesting part of the site (but hey I do have a degree in it). The rest of the site contains more info and a huge list of reviews. Definitely worth checking out between repops or if you're on during the quiet times around 3am.

The Deck of Many Things (round 4)

I found the deck again today. This time it was hiding in Cursed Lands. I pulled the card again using my back up vamp. This time I was prepared with heals, tank potions and springs. Here is what followed:

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.
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.

>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.

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Ten of Swords.
What this card bodes for your future, only an immortal of level 57 or above can discover for you.
>who imm
-----------------------------------[ IMMORTALS ]------------------------------
Newblet         Loril Gemstone-Edelstone, on Cloud Nine. (Ringbearers) [Co-Head of Newbie Council]
Muse            Romani de Carpathia. (Deity of Baali) [Head of The Symposium]
2 players.

>tell romani Hi Romani - can you please help me with the deck
You tell Romani 'Hi Romani - can you please help me with the deck'
Romani climbs out of your pocket.

Romani smiles happily.

>ngree roma
You nod in greeting towards Romani.

Romani wonders 'Is this your first draw?'

>shake
You shake your head.

Romani nods solemnly.

>give card romani
You give a card to Romani.

Romani says 'Okay, good luck'

Romani drops a card.

Romani sacrifices a card to Romani.
Whispering voices fill the room and a faint breeze blows from somewhere...
You somehow find the inner strength to resist the baleful influence of this card.

Romani says 'One piece of armor please'

>rem set
You stop using Set's ring of Power.

>give set roma
You give Set's ring of Power to Romani.

Romani utters the words, 'identify'.
An item held by Romani briefly luminesces.

Romani gives you Set's ring of Power.

Romani smiles happily.
>save
Saved...

>c id set
Object 'Set's ring of Power' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 48 armor, weight 1.
Locations it can be worn:  finger
Special properties:  hum dark evil metal
Alignments allowed:  evil neutral
This armor has a gold value of 340600.
Armor class is 12 of 12.
Affects hp by 50.
Affects mana by 25.
Affects intelligence by 2.
Affects hit roll by 4.
Affects damage roll by 4.
Affects resistant:magic by -5%.

>say thanks
You say 'thanks'

Romani smiles happily.

Romani has transferred you.
Small Hut
Exits:
The Deck of Many Things that lay in wait for Viledri rests here.

I chose to hand over the Set ring since if I got something good added to it then it would be useful for pretty much any evil/neutral aligned character. Getting Affects resistant:magic by -5%. added on to an item is a bit weird and not something I'd heard of before. Usually the bad pulls like that would result in having susceptible to magic added instead of a negative resist. I guess I just had an unlucky pull - at least there are plenty more Set Rings in Blasted Lands.

Belial and Beliebing

One area I really want to do some more in is The Keep of Belial. This is an area that is good to explore, not too large, has some great equipment (a lot with cool sounding Latin names) and not much information is publicly available.

The first room in the area has a little item buried in it. Digging will reveal the following:

>A Path Through the Trees
The path slopes upwards towards the peak of a tall hill overlooking the surrounding forest. Snow lines the sides of the narrow passage between the trees is barely visible, each twist covered with rocks and patches of slick snow. A steep hill rises to the east topped, its edge covered in green and brown shrubbery. The top of the slope is adorned with taller trees, the branches droop downward due to the heavy snow. On the western side of the path are several dark green and brownish orange plants. Hoof prints, frozen forever in the center of the path, lead inward towards a few spires of swirling smoke.
Exits: north northeast

>dig
You begin digging...
Your dig uncovered a rune!

>exam rune
You take a closer look at a rune on the ground...
The rune is a simple yet magical stone with an engraving etched into
its surface:
                           |\
                           |/
                           |\

>get rune
You get a rune.

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

I'm not certain of the purpose of this rune. There are some other runes scattered through out the Realms but I believe this one is a way for Romani, the creator of this area to leave their mark. Around the early part of the area are shops selling potions and food, but the first challenge is Llwyd.

To get to Llwyd you need to take a hidden northeast exit and then up from just before the bridge. This leads you to here which is tunnelled to 2 characters maximum fitting in the room:

Huw Llwyd's Pulpit
The dark rocks rise jaggedly against the landscape, their pointed tips striking up and splitting apart any living thing that lingers too long. Dripping from the top of the falls are icicles, forming a shivery banner of white which points downwards towards the distant stone bridge. The water turns white as it cascades over the rocks, splashing a dusting of white sparkles to coat the black rocks. A large black rock spreads out over the edge of the falls creating a natural altar. Placed upon the surface of the dark altar is a single standing stone of no more than a meter in height.
Exits: none
A small altar rests on the edge of the stoney pulpit.
(Hide) (Red Aura) A dark cloaked figure stands before the altar chanting.
Llwyd shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
Llwyd is engulfed within a blaze of mystical flame.

This is a tricky little mob to kill for the reason being that against certain classes and alignments he heals himself up faster than you can hurt him. It seems that only good aligned sorcerers, shaman and divinity classes will be able to kill him. The first time I killed Llwyd I used a good cleric. It was a long fight because if I was to solo a mob a good cleric is the last class I'd ever choose. The end was this:

Your swat wounds Llwyd!
Llwyd is DEAD!!
A brilliant light casts down from the heavens and embraces you, wrapping around you like an angel's wings. A booming voice fills your head, 'You have done well here. The true test awaits, may your sacrifice be true and worthy."
Llwyd's soul rides a single beam of light towards the heavens; his lifeless body is all that remains. Llwyd gasps his last breath and blood spurts out of his mouth and ears.
You get 40000 gold coins from the corpse of Llwyd.
The corpse of Llwyd holds:
     a cross shaped key
     (Glowing) scapulare aequitas

The scapulare is a half-decent waist item - translated to English aequitas means equity. One good thing about this key is that it is one of the few keys in the game that does not disappear when you log off. The key is needed to enter the keep just after killing a couple of skeletons. Past the entrance to the keep you end up in this room:

The Gate of Crosses
Interwoven crosses make up the large black gates that adorn the wall, barring any chance of passing without gaining access from the guardian. One larger cross is formed as the doors remained closed, the same silver churning with black swirls. A pulsing bead of red light glows within the thin crack of the ominous gates leading to the depths of the keep. The gate latch is made of two large black metal bolts and a keyhole almost large enough for a pixie to fly through. Blasts of cold air rise from the depths causing rivulets of ice to
form on the black moss dripping from the ceiling.
Exits: south
(Red Aura) A massive wall of muscle looms before the blackened gates.
The Gate Keeper shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
The Gate Keeper is ensphered by shards of glistening ice.
The Gate Keeper gazes at the assembled mortals pondering which one it will be.
The Gate Keeper says to you 'To progress, I require a sacrifice.'
The Gate Keeper gazes at the assembled mortals pondering which one it will be.

This room is a dead end. The Gate Keeper like Llwyd talks about a sacrifice which is the key to getting beyond. You need to have more than one character in this room with one saying the following:

>say I am the sacrifice

You say 'I am the sacrifice'

The Gate Keeper nods solemnly.
The Gate Keeper says 'Your sacrifice will not go unrewarded.'
The Gate Keeper brings his sword swiftly towards you, striking you dead in your tracks.
The Gate Keeper slays you in cold blood!

..Everything begins to fade to black.
However, before your deity comes to collect your soul, you feel a strange
pulling sensation as strange and colorful mists swirl around you...

You feel yourself leaving your body... rising up into the air, you feel
more free than you have ever felt before...

The Gate Keeper is one of only a handful of mobs in the game with the ability to slay. You will find the character that says the password is killed while the other characters in the room get transed beyond to a maze.

Most mazes in the Realms of Despair annoy me but this one is quite straight forward - just map each room with magical springs until you find the one room where you can't cast spells. After this it won't be long before you get transed through to outside of Belial's room:

The god of lust smiles upon you and has chosen you to face him.
A Dark Passage
The black stone walkway extends over a churning river of silver surrounding the a black throne resting on a raised platform in the far distance. The walkway is a mere two feet wide. The edge is jagged and the surface slightly rounded upwards in the center allowing for smaller rocks fall off into the abyss far below with a splash before being absorbed into the churning mass. The silver rises and falls as it swirls outward in a large circle along the outer edge of the massive cavern in a hall of almost mirrors all exits lead to
one place, the throne of Belial.
Exits: north east south west northeast northwest southeast southwest
(Red Aura) A stunning brunette hovers over the swirling mass of silver and black.
Morrigan shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.

The down exit leads to a death trap:

 

One thing I noticed when looking at the above screenshot was there is a rare typo. The people running the mud do a good job of spotting most of these errors before they get into the game. However our aim is to take on Belial in his lair. A challenge with Belial is that it only allows certain classes into Belials room. For example if a vampire enters his room:

Lord Belial exclaims to you, 'What a pitiful undead creature. Be gone!'

Belial does something similar with characters of all classes except sorcerer, shaman and divinity genres, plus his room is tunnelled to 4. Belial himself manages to look quite scary:

Two yellowish horns slope upwards in twisted curls out from the top of Belial's slender pointed head. His jaw is strong, sloping towards his fanged mouth. His nose is broad, set low beneath the two large oval sockets containing his blood-red eyes. His lower lip appears to be missing, showing the gums of his teeth and the slope of his pointed jaw which accentuate the points of his ears. His broad shoulders are covered in tattoos of the souls he has claimed through the years. The trail of souls of each now face less name written down through the years in a myriad of slithering lines down his torso and covering his back. His feet are cloven, giving him a powerful gate as he moves within the confines of his prison. At the end of each of his hands are claws, sharpened carefully on the stones within the keep.

Lord Belial is in perfect health.

Lord Belial is using:
<used as light>      Luminarium

His light the Luminarium is a nice light though it's regeneration rate is not quite 100%. When identify is cast on Belial he identifies as a nephandi:

Lord Belial is in perfect health.
Lord belial appears to be between level 50 and 55.
Lord belial looks like a shapeshifter, and follows the ways of the nephandi.

To fight Belial the best classes to use are a druid for tanking (another use for druids - I really need to level one) and augurers or destruction mages to hit. The fight itself takes a while but when done the end result is:

Opposing realities clash and collide, striking Lord Belial with their reverberations.
Your paradox flux wounds Lord Belial!
Lord Belial is DEAD!!
Lord Belial shimmers as he fades back into the swirling silver surrounding his throne cave.
Lord Belial exclaims 'I will return stronger! You will pay for your puny attempts to rid the world of my lust!'

Besides the Luminarium there is a chance to pop two different other items - a mysterious talisman or gnarled wooden staff. Both of these are pieces which can connect together to make Divinitus Corrigo, which in English is "God Correct", a pretty cool name for a very nice cleric weapon.

I need to kill Belial some more to make his weapon. I currently have a mysterious talisman lying around in storage somewhere so if anyone has a gnarled wooden staff they'd like to sell then please send me a tell, though I would prefer to take it from Belial's cold dead claws.

Riding Your Demons

This post is a little different to most of my other posts. No tips, secrets, hidden clues or logs are included here. Instead this will be a more personal post about how playing Realms of Despair has influenced my real life and vice versa. I've been reading the new Imaginary Realities publications lately and found myself thinking about an article by Michael “Drakkos” Heron titled Saddle Up - A Personal Story about Riding Your Demon to Success. In short this article is all about how running a mud and writing about it has impacted on Drakkos' life. In it he says the following:

If you're a player rather than a developer, document your experiences and let us read about them. Compare and contrast — build up your critical faculties and you'll be surprised how much easier and better other parts of your life become. Turn the expertise you're accumulating into something more: synthesise it, editorialise it, and then package it up and let people at it.

I have been doing this to a degree on this blog though not so much about myself as a player personally. While I do like to keep my private life private and separate from my mudding here it goes.

My first experience of playing Realms of Despair came around September 1998. I was a first year undergraduate studying a bachelors degree from the University of Western Australia in computer and mathematical sciences. I remember it was in the afternoon and I was supposed to be writing programs in a lab session for a class in functional programming using a Haskell variation called Gofer on a Power Macintosh. This was not fun. I think they tried to bore us so people would drop out. Instead I started messing around using a Telnet window to connect to the university's internet connection and using the Lynx text only web-browser stumbled upon the Realms of Despair. My first ever character was a dwarf thief. I played for half an hour looking around and trying to get the hang of the game before having to leave and finish writing functions. Over the next week whenever I got a little spare time at the university I'd find a quiet spot with a computer and play Realms. From then on I was hooked.

There was a saying that the acronym MUD stood for Multi-Undergraduate Destroyer but in a funny way I found that playing a MUD and looking at the Smaug codebase for it helped me understand a lot of concepts in computer science better including:

• Integer overflow: In computing terms an integer is a number between -2147483647 and 2147483647. In the old days of Realms of Despair if you went over 2147483647 gold coins you would end up with -2147483647 gold coins. They have changed the gold value from an integer to a long integer since those days but it taught me the concept well.
• Abstract data structures: In second year of our course we had to do a unit in data structures and introductory algorithms. This class had a reputation of being a tough class - even worse than functional programming. I found it quite easy as I was able to visualise most of the data structures using mud concepts. For example I knew that doubley linked lists were used for in Smaug for things like player inventories. From here it was easy to visualise adding and removing items as well as the effects on the order of items. It also helped me visualise a tree data structure as containers within containers - i.e. an extra dimensional portal with a small birch chest and a pouch of purple cloth inside of it.
• The use and difficulties of algorithms: Algorithms were a tricky subject and implementing them in code can be difficult. I learnt this from the years that the locate object spell which uses some sort of tree search algorithm was broken. It would cause the mud to crash on a regular basis so was removed for a long period of time. I also appreciated the use of shortest path algorithms in skills like track.
• TCP/IP, UDP, FTP, Telnet and other networking protocols: In third year I took a class in computer networking and found that my basic knowledge of different protocols and their commonly used port numbers helped me understand the different protocols better. Also sending traceroute packets to figure out why the mud was lagging at times helped.
• Hypothesis testing: In mathematics this is used to make comparison between two different ideas. In Realms of Despair I've been able to apply this towards testing theories such as does having augurer with 22 luck have more success at popping items than other classes.
• Regression analysis: The pattern in experience needed to level in Realms of Despair can be calculated using a regression analysis. After playing around with it for the different classes I learnt that a cubic regression gives the following rules:
• For thieves: 750 * (current level - 1)³
• For nephandi: 1400 * (current level - 1)³
• From the above you can see one of the reasons why levelling a nephandi is so much pain compared to a thief or any other class.

I managed to graduate in 2002 which was right in the middle of the dot-com crash fallout. Finding a job wasn't that easy. Most people I knew got jobs doing things like answering phones at ISP's. I learnt early on that I did not want to be doing these things so instead went in another direction which lead to me to today where I am a high school mathematics teacher. Professionally playing a mud has helped me with the following:

• How to teach: In the mud a large part of playing is teaching other players how to do things such as solve puzzles, kill certain mobs or work as a team. To show others how to do this you need to be able to give concise instructions, attempt to relate it to other experiences they may have had and anticipate common mistakes they may make. An example of how these overlap is on the mud I have to say things like "Don't forget to turn on autoloot before killing Vortex" while in real life this week it has been "When find the co-ordinate of the turning point of a quadratic function in y = a(x + p)² + q form don't forget to it is the opposite sign of p for the x value and the same sign of q for the y value."
• How to write for others to understand: A large part of my job is to write notes for my classes. To be successful at this I need to think about what are the key points I want them to learn and leave out the other stuff. Writing notes on how to kill beasts in the Barren Wastes is not much different to writing instructions on how to calculate compound interest.
• Learning about different countries: by playing a MUD based in Canada I've learnt that there is more to Canada than Justin Bieber and Nickelback. This has been handy when I've had Canadian exchange students in my classes and I've been able to talk to them about ice hockey and Nascar racing.

When it comes to relationships Realms of Despair has also had an impact on my life. While I have never found (or tried to find) love on the game it is not unheard of I've found more satisfaction in playing after a bad break up. One time I was in a relationship with a girl who's last name was Nelson. Things ended bad so to get over it I remember locking myself in my room, listening to gloomy emo/gothic music, getting drunk and spam killing Lieutenant Commander Nelson. I think I ended up having most of my characters die and not being able to get back without asking for an immortal corpse retrieval. My memory is still blurred from around that time but I got myself back together and less than a year later I met my wife who I've been with for almost 10 years now. While she doesn't understand the time I spend mudding I don't understand her interest in scrapbooking or the Twilight movies we still love each other and have fun together.

Finally I've also made real life friendships through Realms of Despair. There was a time when there were several players from around the Perth area I was then living in. We'd get together on a semi-regular basis and do things from parties, to nightclubs, bowling, movies and just meeting up for a drink/meal. I always enjoyed catching up with Foamfoller, Sarakin, Holly, Murkius, Jhael, Gatersade, Ghordon and the rest of the crew, well with the exception of when we saw the Final Fantasy film (106 minutes of my life I'll never get back).

While I hadn't seen many of these people for a while in real life or in the game I recently caught up with Sarakin. He invited me to join the order of Arcanes with some of my other characters. So far I've enjoyed the organisation and it does feel like a new home within the game.

Earlier this year I asked one of my classes full of 14/15 year olds to fill in a survey about themselves and their interests. The usual responses of various sports, music and other hobbies were there but this year there was a lot of students listing facebook and their iphone as one of their interests. Talking to some of the ones who said they liked video games of which most said they played xbox or playstation too much. To me it's quite amazing to think that I've been playing on one mud since before they were born. I wonder if facebook, World of Warcraft, GTA 5 or Candy Crush Saga will have as much of an impact in beneficial ways as Realms of Despair has for me? It's not like you can look at the source code for any of them to get any idea of how they work and the social side isn't the same. I guess at least they will still enjoy some stress relief and scheming politics with them.

Overall I find myself fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time to have enjoyed a mud. It has had a positive impact on my life and I don't know how different things would be for me today if I didn't have these experiences. Sure there is the opportunity cost of would I could have been doing if I wasn't mudding so much. I do wonder about the future of muds and online games in general but I still enjoy writing about my adventures and getting something out of them.

The Deck of Many Things (round 3)

One of the advantages of living in a time-zone a long way out from the Realms of Despair's servers is that reboot usually happens around 6-7pm depending on daylight saving my local time meaning I get a good run at once per day pop items. One of these is the Deck of Many Things. From my experiences it seems to pop in one of about 20 different locations and I like to have a little scout around in the areas I've seen it in. In this last week I managed to find it twice. The first time was in Morgul Vale. I didn't have much time to play around with it in case I got a card that sent me on a quest or killed me and scattered my equipment through the realms so I told a friend about it. He had a lucky pull and got detect traps added to an item as a result. This evening I had a little more time and found it in this room:

A Run-down House
Piles of clothes and personal effects lay scattered all over this house, making it look as though a tornado passed through the area recently.  The windows appear to be intact however, the roof appears to have been blown off by a dreadful force.  Dirty snow begins to trickle into the room.
Exits: east
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.

I was prepared(well I thought I was) and pulled on my back up vampire Viledri for the following result:

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Page of Swords.
The martial young man depicted upon the card stirs and turns his gaze to regard you. The Page of Swords inclines his head in a slight bow, as if acknowledging an equal. The Page of Swords exclaims 'The chance is yours to win great honour this day. Fare thee well in the battle to come!
A Forest Clearing
This place has the outward appearance of a mundane forest clearing, floor swathed in lush green grass, sun dappling on the leaves, venerable oak trees all around, yet if one looks into the distance, reality starts to waver and blur. It seems this glade is a construct of the void, a stage created soley to serve as a setting for the fate decreed.
Exits: none
(Red Aura) A knight in full armour stands ready for battle.
A black knight shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
A black knight is suffused with a sparkling gold aura. 

So this resulted in me in a one on one battle with the black knight. Unfortunately I wasn't as prepared as I should have been - I didn't bring a create spring potion!!!

I attempted to fight the black knight as best I could on the vampire and was going quite well. I managed to get it down to several wounds before the following:

<878hp 60b 587mv some cuts>gras

A black knight thrusts its foot out and kicks you.
A black knight's kick grazes you.
A black knight's punch grazes you.
A black knight injures you!
A black knight's punch nicks you!
A black knight takes a deep breath and redoubles its attack!
A black knight heaves its whole body forward and smashes into you.
A black knight's smash wounds you!
(Set's ring of Power gets damaged)
A black knight lunges at you intending to catch you off guard, but falls short and misses altogether.
A black knight strikes out angrily with both fists pummeling you to the ground.
A black knight's pummel jolts you!
(Visage of Bloodlust gets damaged)
A black knight charges at you screaming, but you dodge out of the way.

<606hp 60b 586mv some cuts>A black knight's deathrattle fills the air as you drain its life...
Your suspiric grasp grazes a black knight.

<606hp 58b 586mv some cuts>
A black knight hits you!
A black knight thrusts its foot out to kick you but is unable to connect the blow.
A black knight hits you!
Your slash scratches a black knight.
Your slash scratches a black knight.

<487hp 58b 585mv some cuts>q vio ches
 q vio ches
 q vio ches
 q vio ches
Your stomach cannot contain any more.

<487hp 58b 585mv some cuts>Your stomach cannot contain any more.

<487hp 58b 585mv some cuts>Your stomach cannot contain any more.

<487hp 58b 585mv some cuts>Your stomach cannot contain any more.

<487hp 58b 585mv some cuts>
A black knight throws its fist at you but is unable to connect.
A black knight hits you!
(a solid bracer of Cold Blue gets damaged)
A black knight hits you!
A black knight throws a punch and hits you.
A black knight's punch jolts you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's kick jolts you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
You attempt to parry a black knight's attack, but it isn't there!
A black knight's feint hits you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight charges at you screaming, but you dodge out of the way.

<301hp 58b 584mv some cuts>gras
A black knight's deathrattle fills the air as you drain its life...
Your suspiric grasp grazes a black knight.

<301hp 56b 584mv some cuts>
A black knight thrusts its foot out to kick you but is unable to connect the blow.
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight throws a punch and hits you.
A black knight's punch injures you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight attempts to feign, but you follow its movements.

<276hp 56b 583mv some cuts>fe
Your bite scratches a black knight.
You manage to suck a little life out of a black knight.

<287hp 60b 583mv several wounds>gras

A black knight jars you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight throws its fist at you but is unable to connect.
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
Parrying an unusually heavy blow by the knight, you begin to feel slower and somehow less able to defend yourself. 
A black knight charges at you screaming, but you dodge out of the way.

<215hp 60b 582mv several wounds>A black knight's deathrattle fills the air as you drain its life...
Your suspiric grasp grazes a black knight.

<215hp 58b 582mv several wounds>fe

A black knight's kick injures you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's punch wounds you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's punch injures you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's kick wounds you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
You attempt to parry a black knight's attack, but it isn't there!
A black knight's feint jars you!
(Set's ring of Power gets damaged)
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!

<147hp 38b 581mv several wounds>Your bite scratches a black knight.
You manage to suck a little life out of a black knight.

<158hp 60b 581mv several wounds>fe

A black knight's kick wounds you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's kick injures you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's kick injures you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
Your slash nicks a black knight.

<146hp 45b 580mv several wounds>Your bite scratches a black knight.
You manage to suck a little life out of a black knight.

<157hp 60b 580mv several wounds>q vio ches

A black knight throws a punch and hits you.
A black knight's punch injures you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight thrashes you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight's kick injures you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight thrashes you!
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
A black knight mauls you!
(Demonspawn Stormcloud gets damaged)
You howl with rage as the beast within stirs!
Curse the gods, you've lost 0 experience!

..Everything begins to fade to black.

You feel yourself leaving your body... rising up into the air, you feel
more free than you have ever felt before...

However, before your deity comes to collect your soul, you feel a strange
pulling sensation as strange and colorful mists swirl around you...

So the moral of this story is if you are going to pull a card from the deck of many things ensure you have heals, tank potions and a way to make a spring.

Abishai's Trail...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

> g dagger
You get a silver dagger.

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

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

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

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

 

Abishai and the Mysteries of the Morgue

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

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

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

 This leads me to the questions of:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

> g rave
You get a stone raven.

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

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

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