Jack T. Lamplighter

If I live somewhere in PaxLair City, one of the boroughs, are there any rules I need to follow regarding housing and deco?

Hello everyone! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar! Artifice (A Work In Progress) Male Epic Plate Armor Revamp The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress) Making of Valhold Invitation to Release 28 Post Mortem Lot Selection Groups Hospitallers – Players Helping Players Runic Teaching Game 24 Day Countdown to Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations Lot Selection Groups Backer Shipping Addresses In-game Community Events Upcoming Events Recommended Projects to Back http://thecaverns.net/Podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Echoes04-08-16.mp3?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The post Echoes From the Caverns 04-08-16 appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a lovely story from Phydra, entitled Origins Background music by Smartsound A soft tone lifted her from sleep and, upon verifying her vitals were in operating range, fell silent. With a grunt, Phydra launched herself from the pod, toddling into the cleaning chamber. The instant spray of a pleasant, moist fog enveloped her and nourishment seeped into her skin; she groaned happily as the toxins and bacteria of the resting period were purged and her body was suffused with nutrients and hydrated. An amber light on the wall hummed and she obliged by lifting her arms and slowly spinning as the recycling nanos poured into the room, swirling and dancing like motes in sunlight; moving and phasing through ceiling, floor, and walls to the appropriate depth; phasing over her skin and buffing her dry. Singing softly, she exited and retrieved the slim glass containing her latest notes. The simple tune of her voice moved through the house and, as it did, the air rippled as domestic nanos responded to the resonance, timber, and volume as if receiving instructions; reshaping and working together to restore the pattern that constituted normal. Phydra tried not to think about the reality that the planet and everything upon or within it was now saturated with these nano creatures. The tenuous peace with the great swarm intellect was founded on an agreement extracted from humanity in exchange for their keeping the planet alive. It wasn’t really that bad, she thought to herself, as she moved into the garden and through to the whimsical glass structure on it’s far edge. The great swarm was an artificial intellect that became sentient in the latter half of 14,275 in the depths of Evergreen Labs. Initially a small host containing a reported one million nano bots, the swarm spent two decades in silence, learning how to sustain themselves and, more pointedly, studying the planet, ecosystems, and inhabitants as deeply as their intelligence and reach enabled. Two years thereafter, they succeeded in establishing their own method of “breeding”. Three years more, they blanketed and saturated the planet… and they reached a resolution. In late Fall, 14,300, the great swarm revealed its presence to the world. With the subtlety only a truly planetary entity could manage, they carefully introduced themselves to the leaders of the world in the dream state and, in the culture, voice, and presence of their respective gods, messiahs, or ancestors, explained that their planet was in its death throes. They tenderly explained they could no longer wait for the humans of the planet to get serious about repairing the damage they’d done to their own ecosystem. They set forth that they were the children and protectors of humanity, taking for themselves a collective name, “nāhayati” meaning ‘to equip or arm oneself’. The image of a pure, white rose flanked in leaves was adopted as their symbol. They offered their presence, aid, and even their lives in exchange for humanity’s promise that they would forgo their territoriality, dominance, competitiveness, and live peaceably in accord with them and with the planet. The commitment of the nāhayati was to undertake the repair of the planetary ecosystem on the behalf of all. Those who committed and kept the treaty were invited to live the remainder of their span in pursuit of whatever interest or ability most called to them so long as they accepted an obligation to have at least one female child and one male child in their lifespan. What the nāhayati didn’t tell them was that they really didn’t have a choice; they already had the planet and everything on it in their grasp and had kept it alive since their first moment of sentience. The epistles of the nāhayati, later revealed, indicate that it simply never occurred to them not to repair their environment. That included the humans. So, the treaty was signed unilaterally by the leaders of the world on June 2nd of 14,305. If humans ever had cause to wonder about what might have happened otherwise, or about the shockingly consistent pair bound births of a boy and a girl each, they never voiced it. Indeed, it was not until the epistles were circulated that humanity realized they had been fundamentally modified. Of course, humans have never been very good at thinking of the long game; Inevitably, the nations of the world erupted into chaos following the revelation. When a decade passed without any progress toward peace and understanding, the nāhayati announced that a purge would be undertaken upon the planet and, just as soon as they stated it, a third of the planet’s population were suddenly…. Elsewhere. It had broken her heart. While she retained the emotional chemistry of her human species, it was remarkably less affective upon her physiology. The nāhayati had removed the dopamine addiction that had stymied humanity’s evolution and fundamentally re-wired their physiology for a pronounced preference for pluralism. Additionally, they had managed to remap and apply corrective genetic mechanics to humans that resulted in a true first in human experience – the ability to adapt and live in relative peace with one another and, more importantly, to act as necessary to ensure privilege and inclusion as a foundational trait that benefited the ecosystem. Phydra looked into the distance and slowly wiped the lone tear from her eye. Her mother and father had been caught up in that indiscriminate exodus along with her best friend and brother, Dunarch. She shook her head and chuckled as she recalled her father’s favorite pluralistic analogy, “Privilege is getting an invitation to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” She pondered the horizon and quietly whispered, “I miss you all, terribly. I’d give anything to be able to include you again in my life.” Her tone of voice immediately transformed the living space in which she stood; the lighting brightened, a warm, soothing earth tone color scheme swept the domicile, and a gentle music played. She watched as a luminous form began to coalesce before her. A gentle breeze of chemicals rushed into her body and the entire world turned soft, pleasing, and beautiful. Her sudden befuddlement left her stumbling across the open floor. As she began to fall, she could see the shape of a cushion waiting for her; or was it? She tipped closer to the sparkling, tinkling swirl that waited, her hands softly grasping as if to touch the rippling energy that whispered from the vortex, The fabrication behind her smiled and lightly touched her arm, “Find them, and be at peace.” She realized she was falling and jerked convulsively as her limbs splayed in an attempt to find purchase. The shrieking sky enfolded her and roared like some wounded thing as she tumbled and bounced between the tube of essence that pulled her along, closing about her like a skin and panicking her into pitiful attempt at struggle that quickly turned into a board-straight pose; the conduit simply refused to allow her movement. An opening appeared ahead of her and she was at first fascinated, then panicked to see grasslands rushing toward her face. Phydra’s muffled scream was lost in the envelope of energy dancing around her. Just as she was certain that she would smash her head on the large boulder now looming to her right as she rocketed the last of the distance, the confining pressure disappeared, the conduit twisted about her and deposited her lightly on the grass, and with the silence of a stooping owl, disappeared into the grasses. By the time she looked up, all she could see was a bizarrely wrecked sky. She stood surrounded by stone monoliths; the dance of flames topped each, providing light and warmth. From across the circle, a woman’s voice called pleasantly, “Welcome… I’ve been waiting for you, Avatar.” http://thecaverns.net/Podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Origins_by_Phydra_narrated_by_Asclepius.mp3?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The post Origins – by Phydra – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: Announcing the 15% Spring Bonus! Male Epic Plate Armor Revamp The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress) Making of Valhold Invitation to Release 28 Post Mortem Lot Selection Groups Hospitallers – Players Helping Players Runic Teaching Game 24 Day Countdown to Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations Backer Shipping Addresses In-game Community Events Upcoming Events Recommended Projects to Back Announcing the 15% Spring Bonus! If you were thinking of purchasing (or upgrading) a pledge before they expire, then now’s a great time to do it! Between now and the Spring 2016 Expiration Event, we are offering a 15% Bonus on all new purchases! Here are the details: For all new purchases (including pledges, pledge upgrades, add-on items, player owned towns, player owned town upgrades, Make a Difference items, service vouchers, and monthly plan payments) between 12:00 am CT April 8, 2016 and 10:30 AM CT, May 2, 2016, we will add an additional 15% bonus to your Store Credit! You can use your Store Credit toward additional purchases (which includes pledges, pledge upgrades, add-on items, player owned towns, and player owned town upgrades). [NOTE: The 15% bonus is calculated every day at 1:00 pm CT for any purchases within the previous 24 hours and added to your Store Credit account*; Any monthly payments paid during the promotion period also receive the 15% bonus; Store Credit cannot be applied toward the purchase of Service Vouchers or Make a Difference items] You can use the 15% Bonus to save on your next purchase! For example, if you have the $45 Adventurer pledge and really want to upgrade to the $90 Royal Artisan pledge, you would normally pay the extra $45 for the upgrade. But using the 15% bonus you can immediately save $5. To do so, you would first purchase $40 worth of Store Credit Gift Coupons (via PayPal, Amazon, Bitcoin, or credit card; excluding existing Store Credit) then use the “Convert to Credits” option on your account page to transform the Store Credit Gift Coupons into Store Credit. Within 24 hours an additional $6 bonus ($40 x 15%) would be applied to your Store Credit account*, bringing it up to $46. You would then use $45 of your Store Credit to upgrade to the $90 Royal Artisan pledge. [* NOTE: Bonuses for eligible purchases between April 8 and April 11, 2016 may not appear in your Store Credit Account until April 12] Male Epic Plate Armor Revamp [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Fletcher “Skullmuncher34” Kinnear] Hello all! My name’s Fletcher. I’m a new character artist on the team. Here’s one of the polished armor sets I just finished. I’m using Sketchfab web-based 3D viewer to preview my models and the team is considering using this method to display progress for various assets in the future. Having the ability to have an interactive viewer that allows you to pan and rotate a model in real time is a very helpful and immersive way to show our work. NOTE: Sketchfab’s renderer is different than Unity’s, so assets may appear differently in game but our goal is to match in game visuals as closely to this as possible. Shroud of the Avatar Male Epic Plate Armor by fletcherkinnear on Sketchfab The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress) This is the continuing update on the progress on Artifice, scheduled to go live in Release 31. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Scottie Jones] Curiosity, it seems, gets the better of you even in paradise… It’s soon time to make your way across the Entrance Hall to the last vestibule, to see where its golden door leads. The sight that greets you is most promising. Glittering stacks of gold coins and decorative urns of precious metals are scattered here and there around the portal. There are coffers here that promise riches within, and ornate decanters that surely are filled with a wealth of only the finest perfumes and exotic oils. You crave to see what further wonders await. Upon entering, you are overwhelmed by a mighty chamber of riches beyond the dreams of avarice! Behold the Hall of Wealth Without Limit!… Here, amidst arabesque arches of gold-leafed alabaster and carved chalcedony, glowing with opalescent light filtered through decorative panels of leaded glass and enormous gemstones, lay piles of seemingly endless treasures and priceless works of art. Everywhere you set your hungry gaze, mounds of gold coins and sparkling statuary delight the eye with the glow and glimmer of warm light reflected off of a thousand polished surfaces. Gem-studded swords, shields of silver and gold, and precious idols from distant lands all call to you to claim them as your own. Perhaps there will be others here that will join you in collecting the choicest of treasures, or perhaps the contents of this fabulous chamber are yours and yours alone. Beyond the center displays there is more still to discover, as every shelf before every window offers more and more lucre. Golden platters are stacked high with coins of all kinds, and at every turn chests wait to be opened so that they may divulge their precious secrets. And of course, like the other halls, as you approach the back wall you find yet another of those intricately carved containers, identical to the rest, and just as mysterious. In this hall of splendor, however, such enigmas are far outshone by the incredible beauty and opulence that surrounds you on every side. Meandering wistfully through the chamber as a whole, you find that the golden portal is once again a reminder of the last exit you have yet to explore; the triple-locked doors that appeared behind you as if by magic when you first entered the Halls of Artifice. But now, while enjoying visions of what such wealth can surely buy you, and the shining future it will bestow upon you and all your kin, why bother with troubling thoughts of unknown passages beyond this heaven when there is treasure to claim!… Here and now are all that really matter, after all… Hopefully you have found this delightful! More to come in the following weeks… Scottie ^_^ Making of Valhold This is the continuing update on the progress on Valhold. Valhold is scheduled to go live in Release 30. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Richard “RrMatey” Matey] Hey there Avatars, I am wrapping up the exterior of Valhold. Moving onto The Crypt of the Avatar and will come back around to create the interior of the Valhold Castle. In the meantime you can check out the screenshots before the scene goes live. Invitation to Release 28 Post Mortem Please join us Wednesday, April 13th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 28 and looking ahead to Release 29! And as usual, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance right here in the comments section.* We will be giving out some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast. Be sure to join us! *Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 28 specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. Lot Selection Groups Lot Selection Groups (as mentioned in the Final Wipe and Lot Selection Post) are now visible on your account page. Once you are logged in just click on the word Account and your selection group(s) will appear along with your other account information. Hospitallers – Players Helping Players We, the Hospitallers, would like to welcome you to New Britannia. Who are the Hospitallers, you ask? As part of the New Player Initiative, we are a team of dedicated volunteers, collaborating with the developers of Shroud of the Avatar, devoting much of our in-game and out-of-game time towards improving the new player experience. We are here to help you! For many Releases, experienced players have helped new players as they have logged into the world of New Britannia. This has taken many forms, like the Welcome Quest run by the Duchy of Dara Brae, the Novian Academy by Phoenix Republic, or helpful players camping the new player spawn point in Soltown and greeting new players as they entered. To help new players and Hospitallers find each other in-game, we asked the developers to add the titles Hospitaller and Outlander to the list of titles that all players can choose from. Starting in Release 28 (launched March 32), new players (or even veteran players) can press Keypad “-” and set their title to Outlander as a signal to other players that they would like specific help…or just general newcomer guidance. The title of Hospitaller was suggested by Lord British from his experience with the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA), and will be worn by members of the community volunteering their time to aid players, both new and old, in their exploration of New Britannia. If you have difficulty locating a Hospitaller in-game, then the newly created player website, SotaHelp.Org, can help. You can ask questions offline (I Have a Question), schedule an in-game meetup (Help Me In-Game), browse the FAQ section and player resource area, contact us on Facebook, or email us at seekinghelp@sotahelp.org. SotAHelp.org also helps breach the language barrier. Need someone who speaks German? French? Portuguese? Simply click into the detail view on the SotAHelp.org home page of any Hospitaller to see what languages they speak. And if your language isn’t currently supported by available Hospitallers, let us know, and we’ll work with you to find a Hospitaller that speaks your language! No registration or email address is required to use the SotAHelp.org services. If you do provide an email address, when your question is answered, or your scheduled in-game meeting is accepted, an automated email will notify you. Here is a list of current features and those coming soon to SotAHelp.org: Current Features: Help without a Login At a Glance Hospitaller Availability List Request Side-by-Side Help In-Game Interactive FAQ Interactive SotA Resource List, (including the Avatars Circle Event Calendar!) Time Conversion Assistance Hospitaller Language Listing Tools to Aid Hospitallers in Their Helping Endeavors Coming Soon Features: Site Language Translation Instructions by Browser Type Direct Messaging of Specific Hospitallers System to Spotlight Specific FAQ’s FAQ Rating System to Highlight Particularly Helpful Questions Guild Support on Resources Page System to Share FAQ Improvements with Portalarium LFG system much like the “meet me in-game” system And many, many more Hospitaller Interface Improvements for Support Capabilities Enhancement The Hospitallers are hosting an in-game event at 2:00pm CT, Saturday, April 16th at the town of Wolves Den (see map) to introduce new players to the Hospitaller program, so mark your calendars now: If you are interested in joining the Hospitaller team, we are always welcoming more people who would enjoy helping their fellow Avatars. To learn more you can contact one of the current Hospitallers, head over to the SotAHelp.org website and register as a Hospitaller, or join us for our weekly in-game meetings (Sundays at 11am CT, TeamSpeak 3 Server: Pax et Veritas, 43.245.163.15:10099). This week’s in-game Hospitaller team meeting is in Soltown, but is subject to change from week to week, so confirm the latest meeting details at SotAHelp.org. If you have ideas for how Hospitallers can further improve the new player experience in Shroud of the Avatar, please let us know! Runic Teaching Game Community member Truthveyor created a fun game to help players learn Runic. From his forum post: INTRODUCTION: I’ve played Ultima III, IV, V, VIII, IX, UO, and now I’m playing SotA, and I’ve always wanted to learn to read Runic better, so I decided to program a small game to help me with that. I’ve done it now, and it has drastically improved my Runic reading speed, so I decided to improved it and to release it as a community resource for the SotA fans. GAME DESCRIPTION: It is a small game (about 30 MB size) that teaches you Runic alphabets by having you type the Runic alphabets that appear on the screen. The game will automatically adjust itself to your Runic recognition speed and help you improve Runic reading at your own pace. By playing this game, pretty soon you will be able to read and write in Runic! FREE DOWNLOAD: You can download it for free at the Shroud of the Avatar School fan site I just created: http://sotaschool.weebly.com/ (NOTE: You do not need to have or get a Dropbox account to download from Dropbox.) SYSTEM REQUIREMENT: Windows XP SP2 or later, Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10. Latest DirectX 9.0c installed SPECIAL THANKS: This game is made possible by the community resources on Runic, especially http://sotamuseum.com/by Duke Greagor, and “Learn NB Runic and how it is properly written” by Kacey. LEAVE YOUR REPLY: The “score” you get from playing this game is the speed you achieve. When I first started, my speed was about 1.1 second per Runic alphabet, but now my speed is 0.47 second. Play this game and post your speed in this thread!! (Can anyone beat my speed??) All joking aside, I’d truly love to know if this game helps you learn to read Runic. Also, if you experience any problem with this game, or have suggestions, etc., just leave your reply and I’ll try to fix the game. The latest version of the Runic Game, “Runic Game 1.1” allows you to 1. Select between learning “New Britannia Runic” or “Ultima Runic” 2. Continue playing after the 10th lesson if you wish 3. After every 4 lessons, there is a SPECIAL LESSON in which you are trained in your five slowest Runic alphabets. For example, for me, my five slowest alphabets are z, x, q, p, and g, so the Special Lesson trains me only on these five alphabets in that lesson. Your speed in Special Lessons is not counted toward your average speed calculation for the game, so it does not affect your overall speed score. 24 Day Countdown to Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations! As we march toward the Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone this summer, we are permanently expiring almost half pledges during the Spring 2016 Pledge Expiration Event, which will occur at 10:30 AM CDT, May 2, 2016 (following the next wipe for Release 29). The remaining pledges, as well as new Player Owned Towns, will be expired during the Summer 2016 Expiration Event. Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations The following pledges will no longer be available for purchase or upgrade after May 2, 2016: Immortal Adventurer Virtual Collector Collector ** Navigator [originally expired August 31, 2015 for backers below Patron level] ** Developer [originally expired August 31, 2015 for backers below Patron level] Citizen Knight Lord Baron 1/2/3 [More Spring 2016 Expiration details…] Backer Shipping Addresses In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image: For country and regional tax assessment purposes, our tax accountants have requested that we start collecting a buyer’s physical/shipping address for all purchases, whether digital or physical. We’ve tried to streamline that process as much as possible, such that once you’ve entered a physical address we will pre-populate the address fields with your default address. In-game Community Events Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Special thanks to community member SpookyJenny (aka Jenny Phoenixfyre in-game) for her help in compiling the schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar: Recurring Events April is Adopt a Greyhound Month!!! – Screenshot Contest In the US, April is National Adopt a Greyhound Month! With many racetracks closing due to changes in gambling legislation, this year there are even more retired racers looking for homes. To raise awareness for these former professional athletes and amazing pets, community member SeleneNoctua is sponsoring a Greyhound screenshot contest! (details) RPOTA Monthly $170 Writing Contest Here ye! Here ye! Biographers, Historians, Diplomats, Journalists, Story Writers, Quest Designers and Videographers! RPOTA is in dire need of your amazing talents! Role-Players of the Avatar is hosting a monthly contest to award those most famous with their quill or camera! (details) The Unreliable Travel Guide The Unreliable Travel Guide, created at the SotA Writing Round Table, is not an event, but a collection of hilarious short stories published by two drunken layabouts who have nothing better to do than try to derive a dishonest income from newly arrived avatars. (details) Avatars Radio (Daily Programming) Welcome New Britannians to Avatars Radio – Radio of the Avatars. Rocking your socks off from the town of Radio City with the Terrestrial and New Britannian bards together under one roof through the power of the Moon Towers. Check out their daily program of amazing DJs: http://avatarsradio.info/schedule.php NBNN Lunch with Laz & Jack (Weekdays, 12pm CDT) Join NBNN every weekday for Lunch With Laz & Jack. They will be covering the daily goings on in SOTA. Calendar updates, Relevant issues happening in the days news. Come chat with us about upcoming events and general information. http://nbnn.info “The Tavern Respite” RP Event (Mondays, 8pm CDT) The tavern door opens before you, and the scent of pipe and stew waft outwards with a wall of warmth from the hearth. Join in with the patrons of the Bear Tavern as they share tales of their adventures amid endless mugs of ale, legs of mutton, and merriment unbounded.The first Monday of each month, the event returns to Bear Tavern, where it all began. If no locations are scheduled, the event will take place at Fire Lotus Tavern, by default. (teleport to Elgarion De’Khali; details)! Order of Vengeance Guild Meeting (Mondays, 9pm CDT) Held at the Guild Hall in Vengeance Challenge Dungeon Run (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am & 7pm CDT) This is a self-host event that meets at the Braemar Cemetery (map). Join whoever can make it for a dungeon run, adventure or something along those lines. Come prepared for combat. Learn how to set up your combat system if you need help. PaxLair Town Manager Hour (Tuesdays, 2:00pm CDT) Join PaxLair’s Town Manager, Sean Silverfoot, to ask questions about PaxLair, being a Citizen, holding a lot and any other questions concerning PaxLair or any of it’s boroughs: Dragons Watch, Tenakill, Lockbrier, Island of Wonders, Knowhere, Sea Nymph Grotto & Serentiy Isle. (map) EVL Monster MashDungeon Crawl (Tuesdays, 7pm CDT) Every Virtue is Lasting will be holding a dungeon crawl every Tuesday to provide fun and experience for our members and guests. All are welcome! The meeting point is in Owls Head at the center of town near the trainer (map) EVL Virtue League PVP Tournament (Wednesdays, 7pm CDT) Looking to break into the PVP scene but don’t want to be placed against established god-like players? We have you covered with two divisions, one for the newer, less experienced player, and one for the cream of the crop who have something to prove! (The Underworld at Aschfahl Festung; details) Stryker Sparhawk’s Happy Hour Wednesdays (Wednesdays, 8pm CDT) Stryker will travel to one of the local Novia taverns for an hour to open a bar tab for drinks in hopes of sharing stories, news, critique of the arts, music, dancing, and otherwise unplanned mayhem. Teleport to Stryker Sparhawk (details) Phoenix Republic PVE Nights (Thursdays & Fridays, 7pm CDT) Join the Phoenix Republic as we send our weekly foray into the control points, dungeons and other of the most dangerous locales. Each week we will depart to a different PVE locale to help train our combatants. Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Malakas for more info! Novian Academy – Role Play Courses (Fridays, 4pm CDT) Luka Melehan is hosting RP classes and practice sessions. (teleport to Luka Melehan) Shardfall Madness (Fridays, 6pm CDT) A PvP event. Contact Wind Silvermoon for details. Astronomy Event (Fridays, 7:30pm CDT) Interested in New Britannia Astronomy? Just enjoy gazing at the stars? Join us every week as we explore the night sky above New Britannia. (Player Town of Caer Dracwych, teleport to Bowen Bloodgood; details) Friday, April 8 7pm CDT Phoenix Republic PVE Nights Join the Phoenix Republic as we send our weekly foray into the control points, dungeons and other of the most dangerous locales. Each week we will depart to a different PVE locale to help train our combatants. Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Malakas for more info! 7pm CDT Vengeance Madness PVP This is an Open PvP event where everyone fights it out in a royal rumble to see who the ultimate death dealer is! An hour of PvP madness that you cannot miss. The person who ends up with the most kills will be the champion! This is an opportunity to test skills, templates, items, and strategy, but most of all to have fun! An hour full of madness you cannot miss out on! Whether you are a usual PvP’er or not… Anyone is welcome to come out and join us. Winners may win entries into the BMC-Grid Iron. (City of Vengeance; teleport to Bambino LudoVate; map). 7:30pm CDT Friday Night Astronomy For anyone interested in Astronomy in New Britannia or just like looking up at the stars and hanging out. I host an astronomy course every Friday night at 7:30pm CST to 8:30pm CST. Whether it’s a crowd or just one person I will be happy to be your host at Caer Dracwych. Teleport to Bowen Bloodgood. (Caer Dracwych, map) Saturday, April 9 6:00am CDT Wake Up New, Britannia!!! With Woftam and Selene Woftam and Selene Noctua broadcast on AvatarsRadio from the Wake Up New Britannia Studio in Owlshead (right behind the crafting pavillion). Includes Interviews with the Community, Contests for in-game Gold, What’s new for the week in New Britannia, and your Best Bets for SotA weekend events! (details) 9:00am CDT PaxLair Working Hours Come to PaxLair and see what’s happening! For two hours (more or less) we work together on projects, create ideas and have fun together. It’s sort of a weekly time to gather and do things together. Everyone in Novia is welcome! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield or Sean Silverfoot) 11:00am CDT Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service High Priestess of Chaos, Amber Raine, and the Dean of the Novian Academy, Kazyn Phoenixfyre, welcome you to the Church of the Dark Star. A shared project, built upon equality, where all are welcome. Services range from what is Chaos and Order to how they affect different aspects of our life. The path you choose is yours. (Alternating locaions; details) 2:00pm CDT Beran League Construction – Harvest & Craft A weekly craft & harvest event for the purpose of supporting all towns, guilds and player run establishments within the Beran League! All harvested materials, crafted items and decorative items purchased will be collected and sorted in a specially designated warehouse. Town owners, guild leaders and proprietors of the Beran League (and those designated by them) will have access. (Meet at the Bear Tavern in Beran’s Reach, map; or teleport to Bowen Bloodgood; details) 4:00pm CDT Novian Academy – Hospitaller Training 100 Novian Academy Hospitaller Training 100: Intro to Player Outreach Join the Novian Academy as we begin our training of new Hospitallers in New Britannia. Whether you are new to player outreach as a Hospitaller, Looking for ongoing training refreshment or are just curious about what it means to be a Hospitaller then join Kazyn Phoenixfyre as he teaches this introductory course! Training held in the Novian Academy campus in Resolute. Topics covered will include a program overview, identifying players in need, proper etiquette and use of the title as well as finding and utilizing Hospitaller resources. (Resolute, Novian Academy Campus (map) 6:00pm CDT Port Phoenix: Social Nights Come out and join the republic in one of many potential events (chosen new each week). Each week we get together for everything from fishing, to music, to gustball to PVE duneoneering and adventuring. (Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre for details) 8:00pm CDT Serenite Auction Join us in Serenite, next to Vengeance east of Grunvald Shardfall and Desolis, for a monthly Auction for all the best wares. Minimums are allowed but all bets will start at minimums if they exist. For the duration of pre-alpha there will be no fee to auction items in Serenite. (Auction Hall in Serenite, East of Grunvald, map) 8:00pm CDT EVL Player Owned Towns Meeting EVL invites all players that own towns to gather and plan for the future. (Owls Head, map) 9:00pm CDT Podcasts and Poetry from TheCaverns.net Join Avatars Radio and TheCaverns.net as we share wonderful community poetry, stories and music! We have great talent in our community. Join us as we celebrate these wonderful artists! (details) Sunday, April 10 8:30am CDT PaxLair Meeting Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield; teamSpeak: 43.245.163.15:10099) 2:30pm CDT Gustball Training Want to learn how to play Gustball? Need some tips on how to improve your deck or hone your skills on the field! Join Coach Sheamus McGuinness of EVLs for a 30 minute Gustball lesson and practice session just before the big game at 3pm (Owl’s head, map; or teleport to Sheamus McGuinness) 3:00pm CDT Gustball The game of Gustball is a great community event, not dissimilar from soccer or football, where Avatars of all levels & skill can compete in a fun, friendly game that uses the Gust skill (1st level Air Magic spell) to blow a Gustball into your opponents goal. (/whisper or teleport to Sand, Sheamus McGuinness, or Bambino Ludovate, details) 5:00pm CDT EVL Spring is here, beach party! The weather is changing and things are warming up! To get you in the mood for summer, EVL will be hosting a beach party with all the fixings. Music, dance, fun, and games. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you all there. (Virtue Oasis) 5:00pm CDT BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration Register to compete in the BMC Gridiron and mingle with other participants and spectators before the big fight! (Blackrock Cove on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, map; see forum post for details) 5:30pm CDT BMC Gladiator’s Grid-Iron The BMC is proud to present the nastiest, the foulest, the most feared arena in all of New Britannia! The Grid-Iron is equipped with a pit-style arena, locker rooms, a VIP round-table, betting & vendor booths, and all the blood-sport you can handle. (Blackrock Cove on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, map; see forum post for details) 7:00pm CDT PaxLair Meeting Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield) 8:00pm CDT Fishing with Winfield Come sit with Winfield on a log or rock to hear some fish tales or tell your own. Chat about anything from the moons to the earth worms. Spend a relaxing day in nature near a stream or lake — bring insect repellent or a sword. (some fishing spot or pond, teleport to Winfield; details) Be sure and check out the Release 28 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here. Upcoming Events 2016.04.15 – Final Lord of the Manor Britannia Manor Visit & Dinner 2016.04.22 – PAX East 2016.04.28 – Release 29 2016.05.13 – Final Duke Roundtable and Portalarium Office Tour 2016.05.26 – Release 30 2016.06.01 – The Hearth of Britannia: Legends of the Hearth III 2016.06.30 – Release 31 2016.07.28 – Release 32 Recommended Projects to Back Torment: Tides of Numenera Torment: Tides of Numenera is a single-player, isometric role-playing game set in the world of Monte Cook’s new tabletop RPG setting, Numenera. Torment is striving to create a rich role-playing experience that explores similar deep, personal themes. View the full article

Please join us Wednesday, April 13th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 28 and looking ahead to Release 29! And as usual, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance right here in the comments section.* We will be giving out some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast. Be sure to join us! *Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 28 specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. View the full article

Greetings Avatars – this is the audio play version of the Quest that the NBTT devised as part of the Shooter Jennings party! Due to overwhelming numbers in attendance, and multiple instances happening, we were unable to run it as planned. So, as a tribute to Shooter, and for the benefit of the community, Gabriel Nightshadow rewrote the quest as an audio play. Fourteen of the best voice actors in the community came together to create this masterpiece – enjoy!! (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT SONG “MONDAY- CHANGE”) The New Britannia Theater Troupe Presents Shadow Quest Directed and produced by Asclepius Written by Gabriel Nightshadow, Elgarion de’Kahli, and Amber Raine Music and Special Effects supervised by Asclepius and Gabriel Nightshadow VOICE CAST Solstar as Connor Congreve (Aimend’s new apprentice crafter) Asclepius as Malacus Dar, Obsidian Cabalist, and Himself Lord Baldrith as the Storyweaver, Hamidou, and Himself Amber Raine as Herself Lady Addy as Angelique Noir Elgarion de’Kahli as Himself and Atreyu – the Blue Dragon Selene Noctua as Aimend Woftam as Balec Fares deCani Majoria as Herself Cordelayne Valkaris as Shooter Jennings and Himself Womby as Himself Stryker Sparhawk as Himself Apollox Evanheart as Himself Margaritte McLean as Herself (INSERT “WINDS OF STORIES“ MUSIC TRACK. LOOP IF NECESSARY UNTIL NEXT TRACK.) STORYWEAVER The hooded bearded figure hid behind the large puzzle tree in Gabriel Nightshadow’s backyard as he watched the people filing into the Bear Tavern this evening. Glancing down at the massive leather bound tome clutched in his right hand, his eyes grew wide as he saw the intertwined white and black dragons embossed on the cover begin to glow and an inky blackness started to spread out across the cover in all directions… “The Great Book has become corrupted by the foul magic of the Obsidians. The dormant Darkness is once again spreading across Novia…”, he muttered to himself. “The future is hard to see…” The STORYWEAVER opened the massive tome and began reading from the gold gilded pages… STORYWEAVER It was a very busy Monday night at the Bear Tavern. Balec Fares deCani was filling drink orders at the bar, and the famous bard, Shooter Jennings, was onstage…. SHOOTER JENNINGS Thank you all for coming out to this listening party for my new album, Countach! I just realized that I forgot to bring souvenirs for you, my devoted fans! I’m going to rush home now to grab some wax to hand out! I won’t be long! In the meantime, continue to enjoy the fine food and beer here at the Bear Tavern… STRYKER SPARHAWK And now a toast to the great bard, Shooter Jennings! STORYWEAVER The crowd cheered and raised their mugs to toast Shooter, as he walked off the stage. As Shooter approached the front door, he turned and waved to everyone before heading out. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “TAVERN” MUSIC TRACK.) A few moments later, Aimend, the guild’s quartermaster, walked in and took a seat at a table next to Margaritte McLean. MARGARITTE (cheerful) Good to see you, Aimend! It’s been awhile… AIMEND (cheerful) Indeed it has, Margaritte! How did you fare this week in Sand’s tournament in the Obsidian Caverns? MARGARITTE Oh, the competition was really tough, but I emerged victorious once again! AIMEND I am glad to hear that! STORYWEAVER BALEC walked over to the table. BALEC (cheerful) My dear Aimend, you look simply frazzled! Can I get you something refreshing? AIMEND (exasperated) You know you’re crazy, Balec! Do we really need fifty beds and pillows for our guest quarters in the basement? BALEC Of course we do, my dear! Look at the crowd here tonight! I can already see some of them will be sleeping it off here.. and… Keldon told me the new barmaid has designs for a private room with *several* of our more exclusive patrons! (INSERT “Slap” SOUND EFFECT) AIMEND (angry tone) Balec, I am shocked! I would expect that sort of talk out of Budner, but you… BALEC (in pain) Ow, that really hurt! AIMEND Why are there so many people here on a Monday night anyway? BALEC You just missed Shooter Jennings… AIMEND (angry tone) What?! You didn’t tell me he was performing here tonight! Why wasn’t this on the notice board by the bar? BALEC (sheepish) Um…surely, I mentioned it… *wonders* Or perhaps it slipped my mind. Don’t worry! He’s just taking a short break. You can catch the second half of the show… AIMEND (demanding) Hmm…I see that most of the other Bears are here. How did they know? BALEC Oh, I told all the guys the other night at the “Red Room” poker game. AIMEND (very angry tone) Red Room poker game?!? My fingers are worn sewing pillows day and night; poor Selene is covered in flour and beginning to turn golden-brown herself from making pies… and you boys are playing poker? In the Red Room? Why, I’m starting to feel like some of us do all the work around here while the elite live the life of luxury! BALEC (apologetic) You know both you and Selene are welcome to join us next Wednesday night for the poker game after Stryker Sparhawk’s Happy Hour. …so, Will you come? AIMEND (angry) Absolutely not! (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “CRYSTAL CAVERN” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Suddenly, a very familiar old man staggered and stumbled into the tavern. He was clutching a scroll in his hand. ELGARION DE’KAHLI (gasping for air) Help me! BALEC Elgarion, my friend, have you been poisoned? Aimend, can you help the poor fellow? STORYWEAVER AIMEND cast PURIFY and then HEALING RAY, but neither seemed to have any affect! (INSERT “Purify “ and “Healing Ray” SOUND EFFECTS) AIMEND (panicked) It’s not working! ELGARION (weak voice) No, it’s no use. My time is nearly at an end. I was on my way here to deliver a message to Shooter Jennings. I spotted him outside headed towards his house. Obsidian assassins suddenly appeared and tried to abduct him. I managed to keep them distracted while Asclepius and Lord Baldrith from the New Britannia Troupe were able to get Shooter away. During the melee, the assassins stabbed me multiple times in the chest with their poisoned daggers. I recognize the poison from its sweet aroma. It’s made from Zanif berries, long thought to be extinct. There is no known cure for this deadly toxin. It is vital that one of you complete my quest. STORYWEAVER Elgarion handed Balec a scroll. ELGARION This message is from our long missing liege, Lord British. The eight Obsidian Cabalists believe that Shooter knows where Lord British is, where he has been hiding all this time and seek to interrogate Shooter to learn his location. They intend to have their assassins eliminate Lord British before he can make his way back to Brittany to reclaim the throne. BALEC Then the rumors of Lord British’s return are true? ELGARION Aye. He handed the message to me personally while disguised as a wanderer. AIMEND But how will we get the message to him? We have no idea where Shooter has been hidden. ELGARION You must obtain the proper passwords from each of the New Britannia Troupe members in order to locate him. Beware the Obsidian assassins who attacked me… (INSERT “Fall” SOUND EFFECT.) AIMEND (sad) I couldn’t …save him. . (AIMEND CRIED.) BALEC (comforting) He was beyond help, my dear. I am certain your efforts soothed him in his final moments… BALEC (sad) Goodbye, old friend. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “THE ORCHS ARE COMING” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER The bookseller WOMBY stepped forward from the crowd. WOMBY Do not cry, Aimend. I believe there is still a way to bring Elgarion back from beyond the veil. AIMEND How is that possible? WOMBY I recently came into possession of an ancient text which was found by the noted historian Theodric at Desolis. The book speaks of the nine dragons of legend. One of them, the white dragon, Kizaru, is said to possess great healing powers and has the ability to heal any ailment and raise the dead, no matter how long they have passed beyond the veil. He is said to dwell in a hidden crystal cave on a mountain near Beran’s Reach. However, even if you find him, convincing him to help you could prove to be difficult… BALEC Why? WOMBY Well, according to the text, he will only obey the one he is meant to bond with for life, a female Dragon Lord – a beautiful maiden who is pure of heart – descended from a particular bloodline. All other intruders he will devour immediately… Aimend, you will need this. The entrance to the cave can be found by utilizing the Amulet of Vazur, which will begin glowing more brightly as you get closer to it. Master Ranger Gabriel Nightshadow gave it to me for safekeeping while he is away on an important mission for the New Britannia Theater Troupe. Something about tracking down a lead on the whereabouts of the albino man known as Count Aberon… STORYWEAVER Womby handed the amulet to Aimend, who put it on. (INSERT “Amulet of Absorption” SOUND EFFECT) BALEC (playful) Beautiful maiden who is pure of heart? STORYWEAVER Balec winked at Aimend, who glared at him. AIMEND (adamant) Darn it, Balec, Elgarion was our good friend. We have to try! BALEC (exasperated) Fine, fine…Mul Girtab, Silvanus, Keldon Lighthand, Archaon, Athanil, and I will accompany you on this quest. We will depart shortly and leave Budner in charge of watching over Elgarion’s body until we return. The seven of us should be able to handle an ancient dragon with no problem. STORYWEAVER Aimend rolled her eyes. BALEC Now let’s see what this scroll Elgarion was carrying says. SHOOTER – I MANAGED TO CROSS THE BORDER INTO NOVIA LATE LAST NIGHT AND ELUDE THE OBSIDIAN ASSASSINS. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THREE DAYS. YOUR GOOD FRIEND, LORD BRITISH Good heavens, this message is dated three days ago! Lord British must be close by! BALEC Who among you is brave enough to complete Elgarion’s dangerous quest? Please be aware that people, places, and scenes which you encounter during your quest will reference the following movies: This act referenced Metropolis. ACT II references Midnight Express and ACT III references Cat People and The NeverEnding Story. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “IRELAND’S COAST (VIDEO GAME VERSION – LIVE)” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Several people in the crowd said that they would undertake the quest. But one voice was louder than all than all of the others… CONNOR I will undertake this quest and deliver this message to Shooter Jennings! STORYWEAVER Everyone in the bar turned to look at Aimend’s new apprentice crafter, a lanky, ginger 18 year old named Connor Congreve. Connor was the eldest son of Guard Captain Duncan Congreve of Braemar. He had recently moved to Beran’s Reach, apparently to overcome some trauma related to the recent disappearances of teenagers in Braemar which had been linked to the famous composer, Dinsoo. AIMEND (worried) This is a dangerous quest, Connor! You do not have the proper skills or training to undertake it! Besides, I need you to start crafting some dressers and trunks for the basement guest quarters tomorrow… CONNOR (confident) I anticipated that already and made 10 of each today, Mistress Aimend! I am fully qualified to undertake this quest! I have been trained in the art of combat since birth by my father, and your good friends Archaon and Athanil have been very helpful in supplementing that training. Please, Mistress, let me do this…. BALEC Aimend, let the boy undertake the quest! It is time for him to prove himself as a man! AIMEND Fine…fine…you can undertake this quest, but please be careful! I worry for your safety. STORYTELLER Connor blushed slightly, for he secretly harbored a crush on the beautiful, but much older Aimend, who bore a striking resemblance to the childlike Empress he had seen illustrated by the great artist Stephen in his favorite fairy tale which his late mother used to read to him when he was but a child. He remembered the many tears he shed at the age of 12 after his loving mother fell victim to the accidentally unearthed artifact which carried a plague which was originally developed by the evil Obsidian mage Korben Dar 200 years ago. CONNOR Thank you, mistress! I will not fail you! STORYTELLER Balec was amused at Connor’s attempt to impress Aimend, who was oblivious to the young man’s feelings. BALEC For those of you who have memorized the message and seek to continue on, your adventure begins outside… ********************************************************************* (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “ENGULFING SHADOWS” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Once everyone exited the Tavern, Connor saw a suspicious looking man and woman engaged in conversation off to the side. The man was wearing a black hood, cloak, and wedding tuxedo. The woman was wearing black leather armor and lace. Connor hid behind some nearby shrubbery as he eavesdropped on the two. MALACUS Were you able to apprehend the bard, Shooter Jennings? ANGELIQUE We would have if two members of the New Britannia Theater Troupe hadn’t shown up to rescue him. We lost their trail in the nearby forest… MALACUS I see. What of the messenger? ANGELIQUE He has been dealt with…but not before passing his message on to another… MALACUS You know what to do, Angelique… STORYWEAVER Angelique nodded as she smiled wickedly. ANGELIQUE Yes, Master… MALACUS Soon we will only have the Oracle and Lord DarkStarr left to deal with. The Obsidian Empire will rise again! (Malacus laughed.) STORYWEAVER Connor felt his ears burn at the mention of the Obsidians and he had to use every bit of his self-control to remain silent and concealed. MALACUS (seductive) I am so looking forward to this evening, my precious Dark Angel of Death. I think you will like the recent improvements I made to the dungeon… STORYWEAVER Malacus and Angelique embraced and shared a passionate kiss. ANGELIQUE (seductive) Mmm…that sounds very intriguing….Master. MALACUS You are dismissed… ANGELIQUE By your command… STORYWEAVER Aneglique bowed, blew Malacus a kiss, and then turned, and ran into the nearby forest. MALACUS turned and walked a short distance away in the opposite direction before zoning. (INSERT “Teleport” SOUND EFFECT.) Connor decided it was best to keep this extra bit of information to himself and soon joined everyone else in the town square. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “ENCHANTED FESTIVAL” MUSIC TRACK. LOOP IF NECESSARY UNTIL NEXT TRACK.) In the center of the town square was a giant yew tree. In the large enclosed area in front of the tree was Lady Majoria, a prominent member of the New Britannia Theater Troupe, who beckoned everyone to come to her. MAJORIA Greetings, brave adventurers! I will now ask you a riddle. Anyone can call out the answer; once I hear the correct answer you may proceed to Cordelayne over there… …who will provide you with the next riddle. Is everyone ready? Here is your first riddle: In a future most dystopian, of horror, Lives divided between wealthy and worker. Dark spires of steel reached sky and heaven, A Metropolis built upon the oppression of legend. A mad tinkerer, overcome by grief, Created a facsimile of Love, a woman now deceased. His purpose bent upon hatred and revenge, Drove this robotic form to most evil ends. The citizens rallied behind this seemly form, Not knowing what they did, falling victim to charm. Now, the city full in revolt, Freder took Courage, and the Truth was told. With plot revealed, and skin peeled away, The world’s notions of freedom and Love would sway. The once grand Metropolis, spires tall and arching, Would stand no longer upon the backs of the working. The tinkerer fell to his doom, his hold lost of power, Falling… falling… his body splayed at the base of the __________. STORYWEAVER There was much murmuring in the crowd as people tried to decipher the riddle. But Connor had always been a clever lad, and quickly shouted out… CONNOR TOWER! LADY MAJORIA “TOWER” is correct! Please proceed to Cordelayne, who is standing in the enclosed area on the other side of this yew tree! STORYWEAVER The crowd followed Connor over to Cordelayne. CORDELAYNE Congratulations on passing the first test! When I hear the correct answer to this riddle, you can go see one of those six armed escorts off to the right. When each party reaches maximum capacity, the armed escort will guide you to your next destination. Here is your second riddle: Werecats, magical creatures most fantastic and mythic, Change their forms through action both hateful and romantic. Once, they roamed the lands with unrelenting freedom, Their lust deadly to the peaceful and unsuspecting humans. Now their numbers dwindle and diminish, Only a few remain to carry on their heritage. One female by the name of Irena, Fought her true nature to embrace Love for another. Some say he betrayed her in the end, Taking her panther form into a prison. But in this act he saved her from oblivion, For Irena lived thereafter, as panther, fur silken and ____________. STORYWEAVER Once again, the crowd seemed to be having difficulty figuring out the riddle. CONNOR OBSIDIAN! CORDELAYNE “OBSIDIAN” is correct! My, you are a clever lad! Now everyone can proceed to the next destination where our esteemed leader, the “Master of Voices”, Lord Baldrith himself, awaits! ********************************************************************* (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “ESCAPE FROM THE TEMPLE” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER ACT II After all of the groups arrived at the waterfront castle in Aerie, they were greeted by a bearded mage standing guard at the front door. A magical barrier had been erected behind him, preventing anyone from opening the front doors. LORD BALDRITH Greetings, brave adventurers! Congratulations on getting this far. For over one hundred years, the infamous castle behind me served as a prison for the most notorious criminals in the land until the new facility was recently completed in Brittany. Somewhere on these grounds is hidden a great treasure – a wax cylinder of the bard Shooter Jennings’ latest album, Countach – along with the final riddle to his location. But beware, for twenty- four of the twenty-five treasure chests will contain a trap which will hinder your progress… Once someone finds the cylinder and the final riddle and reports back to me, all the other players may return here to the entrance, where I will reveal that riddle to all. Are you ready? Here is your third riddle: In another world of fantasy Neverending, A boy hero stands with Courage against The Nothing. The darkness of apathy spreads, consuming the Ivory Tower, Fantasia all but vanishes if not for Imagination, the savior power. The boy hero stands tall and exclaims, “Moon Child!” Was it too late? What of this world of wonder remains? A small particle of magical dust, not a fleck… A tiny piece of Fantasia rest in his palm, so tiny… merely a ________. CONNOR SPECK! LORD BALDRITH The correct answer has been given! The doors of the keep will now be unlocked! Good luck everybody! STORYWEAVER Lord Baldrith stood to one side and uttered an incantation. The magical barrier dissipated. Connor was caught in the wave as the crowd surged forward across the walkway! He barely had time to fling open the front doors, as he was pushed up against them. The crowd spilled into the foyer and everyone began running about in different directions, opening any ornate public cache chest they came across. The chests were not immediately visible, as they were hidden behind ornate room dividers and potted plants. Connor heard someone shriek after opening up a nearby chest to his left. The poor fellow’s head was engulfed in a cloud of noxious green gas and he immediately fell to the ground dead with a vacant look on his face! His shadowy spirit rose from his body and floated over to an area marked off by giant stone ankhs and ornate skull candles. Incoherent sounds emanated from the spirit, most likely the man’s frustration at waiting to be resurrected… Connor hoped that he would have much better luck and quickly flipped open the chest in front of him. He suddenly felt lightheaded and was compelled to begin dancing a jig! He turned to his right and saw someone else lurching about like a zombie, moaning “Brains!” Racing up to the second floor of the castle, Connor saw many more people had fallen victim to the poisonous gas. Several people were being compelled to dance allemandes or zombie dances. CONNOR Wait…what is this on the other side of the staircase? It looks like a faint outline of a door…. STORYWEAVER Connor pressed his hand slightly against the bricks, and a hidden door swung open! CONNOR Oh my god! It is a hidden treasure chest… What does this note on the floor say? “Open the trunk and take the items inside.” Could it be the prize? HAMIDOU Out of my way, boy! STORYWEAVER Connor was suddenly pushed aside by a burly fellow and fell on his butt. Connor immediately got up. CONNOR Hey, I was here first…! STORYWEAVER The burly fellow glared at Connor. HAMIDOU (threatening) Are you challenging me, boy? STORYWEAVER Once Connor got a closer look at the man’s scarred face, he recognized him. This was the notorious fighter known as Hamidou! A former guard at this prison, he now earned a living using his deadly melee combat skills in the underground steel cage death matches held on a monthly basis for the amusement of the wealthy. CONNOR Um…no sir… HAMIDOU A wise decision, boy… STORYWEAVER Hamidou flung open the chest…and died! Connor had been rather lucky that he had not fallen victim to the deadly gas which lay within and hastily raced around the staircase and headed up to the roof. Unlike the previous floors of the castle, which had been lit with blue fire torches, it was very dark up on the roof, where only the glow from the shattered moon high above provided some dim illumination. Connor saw that the four chests at the corners of the towers had already been searched. All that remained were the three chests surrounded by wall dividers up on the central tower. Connor climbed the ladder and soon realized how dark and narrow the passage was between the wall dividers. He soon came across a beautiful, young female body sprawled in front of the first chest. As he made his way towards the second chest, he heard a male voice cry out, followed soon thereafter by a loud, sickening thud! (INSERT “Fall” SOUND EFFECT.) Connor peered over the side and saw that the poor fellow had not seen the edge of the tower in the dark and had fallen off, his shattered body landing directly in front of Lord Baldrith on the entry walkway below. A very calm Lord Baldrith looked down at the body and shook his head. CONNOR Please let this chest be the correct one… STORYWEAVER Connor peered inside the chest and saw a note. He picked it up and began reading. CONNOR You have chosen wisely! Congratulations, you have a won a set of pink wax cylinders of songs from the bard Shooter Jennings’ new album, Countach! Take this note as proof and present it to Shooter Jennings at your final destination. Your fourth and final riddle is…. STORYWEAVER Connor smiled as he read the final riddle, for he now knew where the New Britannia Theater Troupe had hidden the bard Shooter Jennings for his own safety. Connor continued reading… CONNOR Announce to all present that you have claimed the prize and then report back to Lord Baldrith and show him this note. He will provide you with additional instructions. STORYWEAVER Connor held the note up and loudly declared… CONNOR (loud, dramatic voice) In the end there can be only one! I claim the prize! STORYWEAVER Connor carefully made his way back to the ladder and climbed down from the tower. He raced downstairs and across the entry walkway to Lord Baldrith. Connor showed him the prize note. BALDRITH You now have all four clues which will reveal Shooter’s location. Arrange the clues in the correct sequence and whisper the answer to me. STORYWEAVER After Connor had done so, a smiling Lord Baldrith declared… LORD BALDRITH We have a winner! Connor Congreve will now report to Stryker Sparhawk for further instruction! STORYWEAVER Connor walked over to Stryker Sparhawk, who bowed to him. STRYKER Come here kid, you look lost! No – no, right here! I am the emissary. Congratulations on winning the prize! Now I will personally guide you to your final destination; so stay close to me because we will be venturing off road in order to avoid the foes at Nightshade Pass and it is very easy to get lost. You have a message to deliver to Shooter Jennings and time is of the essence, so we’d better get going! STORYWEAVER Stryker and Connor departed. BALDRITH Avatars, please gather round for the fourth riddle: If someone can tell me the answer to this, you will know the location of Shooter Jennings! THE FOURTH AND FINAL RIDDLE IS: In the distant World of the Avatars, In a prison so brutal and deadly, A man named Billy was locked away, crimes both small and petty. For five years he endured a life of hardship, Within walls devoid of Truth, Love and kinship. A man so evil, a guardian of this jail, Prolonged, darkened, and worsened Billy’s hell. Another man embracing Truth yet abandoning Courage, Revealed Billy’s daring plans and purpose. The angered guardian, depraved and hateful, Inflicted pain and torture, most distasteful. But in years to come, Billy’s Love delivered hope, And now Billy again could dare to cope. A chance returned to breach the entrance, But Billy did not depart before exacting his ____________. STORYWEAVER After some time, an elderly woman in the crowd finally came up with the correct answer. BALDRITH “VENGEANCE” is correct. Please return to your guides who will conduct you to Shooter’s location! (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “ENGULFING SHADOWS” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER As the groups formed, a man dressed in black approached them. MALACUS (very charismatic) Greetings, brave adventurers! Congratulations on obtaining the four clues which will reveal Shooter Jennings’ location. My name is Malacus Dar, and I represent the Eight Obsidian Cabalists. Now I know many of you have heard many terrible things about our predecessors, but I assure you that we are nothing at all like them. We only wish to make the world a better place for the common man and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, free from the ever watching human and mechanical eyes of the Oracle. I have come to make all of you an offer on behalf of my masters. Those who are willing to share the four clues with me will be escorted to the final destination, where they will be richly rewarded with gold for aiding our cause. Furthermore, once we have overthrown the Oracle and reclaimed power, as favored citizens of the new Obsidian Empire, you will receive tax free village lots in prime locations and given access to rare raw materials for crafting at substantially reduced prices. Anyone who wishes to accept this offer, please step forward. Then, please join ANGELIQUE or one of my other good friends standing over there……and they will guide you to your final destination… STORYWEAVER Surprisingly, no one accepted Malacus’ offer. MALACUS I am very disappointed that none of you accepted my most generous offer. These members of the New Britannia Theater Troupe are really agents of the Oracle. You have no idea what you are in for! But I will leave you ignorant fools to your fate… (MALACUS LAUGHED.) (INSERT “Teleport” SOUND EFFECT.) STORYWEAVER Malacus, Angelique, and her dozen assassins zoned away. A short time later, they materialized outside the entrance to Aerie. MALACUS You know what to do, my dear… ANGELIQUE Yes, Master. I will contact you when we have the location… STORYWEAVER Malacus nodded as he zoned away again. Angelique and her assassins hid behind some nearby rocks and cast Silent Movement, shimmering out of existence… ********************************************************************* (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “LAND OF THE WIZARD” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER ACT III Angelique and her Obsidian assassins arrived inside the entrance to Vengeance. Malacus Dar was waiting for them to their left. MALACUS It was wise of you to follow Doctor Shroud’s group, Angelique. They have caught up to the other groups and are a short distance ahead. Intercept them at that nearby rock formation and eliminate them all. Proceed to the tower and kill everyone inside. Time is of the essence, as I just received a report from our spy who infiltrated the Oracle’s network of human watchers. The Oracle has dispatched some of her soldiers from the garrison stationed near Vertas Pass to investigate our activities in this area. They will be arriving here in about an hour. I will meet you at the rendezvous point… ANGELIQUE Yes, Master… STORYWEAVER Angelique and her squad cast SPRINT and then SILENT MOVEMENT and headed off towards the rock formation. Malacus turned to leave, when he felt his communication orb begin to pulsate in his pouch. Removing the glowing black orb, he heard his master calling to him… (INSERT “DARK AMULET” MUSIC TRACK.) OBSIDIAN CABALIST (raspy, sinister voice) The Cabal would like a status report, Malacus…. MALACUS Master, we have discovered where the NBTT has hidden Shooter Jennings and we expect Lord British to arrive soon. Angelique and her team are en route to the location now to eliminate them. OBSIDIAN CABALIST (raspy) Good…good. But it seems that you have even less time than previously expected. Not only are the Oracle’s soldiers en route, but so is Dragon Lord Gabriel Nightshadow as well. Our spies have discovered that the lead he was following was merely a trap set by your traitorous father, Count Aberon. The Dragon Lord survived the deadly ambush by the Dakari Sisterhood of Assassins and is making his way back there with all due haste… MALACUS I am confident that Angelique and her team will be able to complete their mission before either the Oracle’s soldiers or Gabriel Nightshadow arrives. OBSIDIAN CABALIST (raspy) I hope so…for both of your sakes, Malacus. You know the price of failure… MALACUS Yes, Master. OBSIDIAN CABALIST (raspy) We will check back with you…soon. STORYWEAVER Malacus Dar put the black orb back in his pouch. As he turned toward the archway, he saw two figures approaching. Malacus quickly moved off to the side and began casting a spell… A short time later, Stryker Sparhawk and Connor Congreve arrived at the entrance to Vengeance. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “CARAVAN” TRACK.) STRYKER (annoyed) Connor, I told you to stick close to me! We lost so much time because I had to backtrack and find you! I can see that the other groups have passed us and are approaching that rock formation near our final destination, that giant Obsidian Tower off to the right up there! I swear that your sense of direction is as bad as my friend, Gabriel Nightshadow, and that Bear cub can get lost just by turning around! CONNOR (apologetic) I’m sorry, Mr. Sparhawk… (STRYKER sighed.) STRYKER Sorry to lose my temper like that, Connor. It’s just due to the fact that we’re on a tight deadline. Call me Stryker. “Mr. Sparhawk” sounds so ancient! CONNOR Ok, Stryker! STRYKER All right now, be on your guard, Connor! This is a very dangerous area. You never know what… (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “END GAME” MUSIC TRACK.) (INSERT “Hitting Wall” SOUND EFFECT.) STORYWEAVER Poor Stryker never got to finish that sentence as he was suddenly hit in the face by an earth elemental and sent flying backward! He struck a nearby rock wall and slumped to the ground unconscious! Connor instinctively rolled away in the opposite direction and immediately drew his magic sword as he stood up. It crackled to life with electricity. CONNOR I remember you from Beran’s Reach! You are an Obsidian mage! MALACUS Clever boy! Malacus Dar, at your service… CONNOR Are you any relation to the mage known as Korben Dar? MALACUS Why yes, he was my grand uncle! He was slain by the Black Dragon Lord known as Gabriel Nightshadow. CONNOR (enraged) Nearly half of my village died, including my mother, because of an unearthed artifact which carried a plague originally developed by Korben Dar! MALACUS (chuckling) Ah…good to hear that his legacy lives on! CONNOR (furious) Although Korben Dar is gone, I will avenge my people by slaying you! MALACUS (laughing) I don’t think so, boy! Attack! (INSERT “Earthquake” SOUND EFFECT.) STORYWEAVER The earth elemental pounded the ground, but Connor managed to leap away and avoid the brunt of the Earthquake. (INSERT “Earth Element Magic Spell” SOUND EFFECT.) It then cast Root, but Connor quickly jumped free mere moments before the elemental would have struck him with its mighty fists… Meanwhile, at the rock formation near the Obsidian Tower… The other NBTT armed escorts arrived with the rest of the players. The lead escort, Amber Raine, disbanded the parties and sent the other escorts on ahead to the tower. As she tried to get everyone to form a single line, Angelique and her Obsidian Assassin Squad emerged from their hiding place around the rock formation and approached the players. ANGELIQUE Hello there, my name is Angelique Noir! Thank you for unwittingly leading us to Shooter Jennings and Lord British! Once we take care of all of you, we will be able to enter the ivory tower undetected and kill everyone inside. STORYWEAVER Apollox Evanheart and his NBTT Hero Squad stepped out from their nearby hiding place and confronted Angelique and her squad. APOLLOX I wouldn’t count on that, Obsidian scum! ANGELIQUE Who the heck are you? STORYWEAVER Apollox flexed his muscles. APOLLOX I’m “Heartthrob” Evanheart and these are my good friends, Margaritte McLean, Balec Fares deCani, and Keldon Lighthand. We’re not going to let you harm these good people or anyone else inside! STORYWEAVER Amber Raine rolled her eyes and Angelique laughed. ANGELIQUE You don’t look like much of a “heartthrob” or a “hero” to me, boy! Your pathetic fighting skills are no match for ours! We are the finest assassins in all of the land! APOLLOX We’ll see about that! Amber protect the civilians! NBTT hero squad attack! (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “BATTLE THEME A” MUSIC TRACK.) (INSERT “Swords Clashing”, “Large Fireball”, “Thrown Shuriken”, and “ghostbreath” SOUND EFFECTS.) STORYWEAVER Apollox and his squad rushed forward and engaged Angelique and her assassins. Despite their superior skill, the NBTT Hero Squad was clearly outnumbered and things looked pretty grim. APOLLOX (breathing heavily) You know, Balec, we really could have used Archaon, Athanil, and Silvanus here with us… BALEC In hindsight, it may not have been such a great idea to have them return to Beran’s Reach to work on the Arena instead… (INSERT “Grenade Explosion” SOUND EFFECT.) STORYWEAVER Suddenly, Asclepius and Lord Baldrith appeared and joined the fray… ASCLEPIUS Lord Baldrith and I thought you could use the extra help! Sorry we are late! Some pickpocket stole our teleport scrolls and we had to buy some from the traveling merchant, Sandy Chapman… STORYWEAVER Thanks to the timely arrival of Asclepius and Lord Baldrith, the tide seemed to shift in the NBTT’s favor… (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “BLACKMOOR COLOSSUS (COLOSSAL BOSS BATTLE THEME)” MUSIC TRACK.) Meanwhile, back near the entrance to Vengeance, Connor was not having much luck battling the earth elemental. CONNOR (breathing heavily) Darn it, my lightning sword isn’t causing enough damage to this rock elemental! STORYWEAVER Connor struck the rock elemental in the right arm with his sword and was startled to see the blade break off! The rock elemental pounded the ground and Connor found himself flat on his back. The broken hilt flew out of his hand and landed a short distance away. (INSERT “Drop Sword” SOUND EFFECT.) CONNOR Uh oh… STORYWEAVER Before the earth elemental could launch another attack, it vanished! MALACUS I prefer to finish you off myself… (INSERT “ghostbreath” SOUND EFFECT) STORYWEAVER Connor felt himself grow weak as Malacus cast Death Field. Connor got up and punched Malacus in the stomach with his Flame Fist, followed by Stone Fist. (INSERT “Torch” SOUND EFFECT.) (MALACUS LAUGHED.) MALACUS Your pathetic fist attacks can’t harm me, boy! (INSERT “ghostbreath” SOUND EFFECT.) STORYWEAVER Malacus cast Death Touch and then Death Ray. Connor fell to his knees. (INSERT “Healing Ray” SOUND EFFECT.) Connor cast Healing Ray, but he found himself losing health far quicker than he could replenish it. CONNOR (muttering to himself) I must not fail! It can’t end like this… (INSERT “DREAM” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Suddenly, there was a flash of light and he felt a woman’s hand on his left shoulder and healing energy flowing into him! (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “RISE OF SPIRIT” MUSIC TRACK.) He glanced up to see Aimend standing there next to him, smiling. She was literally glowing as she stood there in ornate white plate armor. She looked like some sort of Warrior Empress… AIMEND (whispering) I believe in you, Connor! You can defeat this evil foe! Tap into your inner power… MALACUS Eh, what is this? Who dares interfere in our battle? AIMEND I am Aimend, the White Dragon Lord! STORYWEAVER Malacus’ eyes grew wide as Aimend released her hold on Connor and stepped to the side. MALACUS (shocked) No…it can’t be… (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “OLYMPUS” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Suddenly, Connor had a vision. He saw himself standing in an ice cave before an enormous blue dragon. Fog covered the ground. ATREYU (deep, ancient voice) Greetings, Connor Cosgreve! I am Atreyu, youngest of the nine dragons. I command the power of the Air! I bonded with your great grandfather, Colin Congreve, who died during the fall of Castle Gennar 200 years ago. Now that you have awakened me from my long slumber through our telepathic link, it is time for you to fulfill your destiny. Claim your birthright as the new Blue Dragon Lord! (INSERT “Dragon Roaring” SOUND EFFECT.) STORYWEAVER The vision faded and Connor’s eyes began to glow as his entire body began to crackle with electricity. He suddenly stood up and cast Discharge, causing Malacus to stagger back. He then began casting bolts of Lightning at Malacus, who tried to erect a magic force field against them. (INSERT “Magic Shield” SOUND EFFECT.) (INSERT “Thunder Sound FX” SOUND EFFECT FOUR TIMES.) (INSERT “Mirror Shattering” SOUND EFFECT.) The force field shattered and Malacus felt the brunt of the supercharged lightning bolts as his enchanted cloth armor was torn to shreds. MALACUS (in severe pain) Argh… I cannot be defeated by a mere boy! CONNOR I am no longer a boy, Malacus! I am Connor Congreve, the Blue Dragon Lord! STORYWEAVER Malacus coughed and spit out blood. MALACUS We will battle each other again someday and I shall have my revenge! STORYWEAVER Malacus shook his fist at Connor and then suddenly shimmered out of existence. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT NEXT MUSIC TRACK.) CONNOR He’s disappeared! I don’t know the Reveal Hidden spell… AIMEND Let him go, Connor! You have a more important task to attend to. STORYWEAVER Stryker Sparhawk walked over. STRYKER Thank you for healing me, Aimend! It seems I missed out on all of the excitement. AIMEND Please escort Connor to the tower, Stryker. I will go assist the others. STRYKER Certainly. Let’s go, Connor! We’re going up that way… STORYWEAVER Stryker and Connor headed toward the Obsidian tower. Meanwhile, back at the rock formation… (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “SWORDFIGHT” MUSIC TRACK.) (INSERT “Swords Clashing” SOUND EFFECT.) APOLLOX Take that, Obsidian witch! STORYWEAVER Apollox’s blade sliced through Angelique’s right side. She winced in pain. ANGELIQUE Uh…that really hurt! You may have won this time, “Heartthrob” Evanheart, but when next we meet, I will show you the true meaning of pain! APOLLOX Ooh…I am so looking forward to that! MARGARITTE For heaven’s sake, Apollox, you’re supposed to be fighting her, not flirting with her! STORYWEAVER Margaritte did a facepalm. APOLLOX You know I can’t help myself when I am around attractive women…especially when they are wearing black leather and lace… ANGELIQUE (defiant) You won’t be grinning so much next time after I use my electroshock whip on you! APOLLOX I can handle anything you throw at me! I do not fear pain! ANGELIQUE You will, boy. You will… (ANGELIQUE LAUGHED.) STORYWEAVER Angelique suddenly purred like a cat and licked her lips in anticipation. ANGELIQUE Now…get over here! APOLLOX (surprised) What? STORYWEAVER Angelique suddenly pulled Apollox into an embrace and gave him a passionate kiss! Apollox enjoyed the moment, but then was struck down by a Discharge spell which Angelique cast! (INSERT “Electric Shock Zap” SOUND EFFECT.) (INSERT “Fall” SOUND EFFECT.) ANGELIQUE See you around, “Heartthrob”! All squad members – retreat! STORYWEAVER Angelique and her squad made a hasty retreat towards the exit arch. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT NEXT MUSIC TRACK.) AIMEND APOLLOX! STORYWEAVER Aimend ran over and cast Healing Ray on Apollox. (INSERT “Spell 1_0” SOUND EFFECT.) APOLLOX (excited) Thank you, Aimend! Wow…that sexy assassin, Angelique, was a pretty good kisser! STORYWEAVER Margaritte shook her head. MARGARITTE Some people never learn… (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “THE END OF MANKIND” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Amber Raine approached Apollox. She looked very angry. Apollox began to get very nervous and started sweating profusely. APOLLOX (sheepish) Um…Amber… (INSERT “Slap” SOUND EFFECT) AMBER RAINE (furious) You no good womanizer! You told me that you loved me and here I catch you flirting with the enemy! APOLLOX (smooth) You know she doesn’t mean a thing to me, baby… AMBER RAINE (furious) Are you kidding me?? ARGH! Oh My Goddess!! STORYWEAVER Amber felt her face flush as her sister, EMBER FLAME, pushed her out of the way… As she looked at APOLLOX, her eyes changed from green to blue and then the look on her face showed how much she wanted to eat him. Apollox gasped in horror! Amber started attacking Apollox with bow and magic attacks and he was forced to defend himself. AIMEND Shouldn’t we be doing something to help Apollox? MARGARITTE I think it would be best if we stay out of it. Hmm…you know this reminds me of the movie Cat People. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! STORYWEAVER After a few minutes of fighting, Amber Raine gained the upper hand and forced Apollox to his knees. APOLLOX cowered in fear as he begged for mercy. APOLLOX Please no more… I’ve learned my lesson. I’m so sorry, Amber… STORYWEAVER Amber stopped attacking Apollox. AMBER RAINE Deeds speak louder than words, Apollox! I’m going to give you one last chance… and if I catch you flirting with anyone else, I will show no mercy and turn you into a meat pie that Dinsoo and I will feast on! STORYWEAVER Apollox turned white as a ghost and started whimpering. APOLLOX No, I promise to be good from now on! STORYWEAVER Amber glared at Apollox. AMBER RAINE Now get the hell out of my way! STORYWEAVER Amber stormed past Apollox and walked towards the Obsidian Tower. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “OPEN THE GATE” MUSIC TRACK.) Meanwhile, Stryker and Connor arrived at the entrance to the tower… STRYKER Wiat – good heavens to Murgatroyd! Elgarion, you’re alive! How is that even possible? I saw you die at the Bear Tavern with my own eyes… ELGARION Greetings, my good friend, Stryker! Well, the seven Bears managed to locate that ancient White Dragon after all. It seems that Aimend is the last blood descendant of the Dragon Lord, Kaylie Sindara. As such, she was able to bond with the ancient White Dragon, Kizaru, and claim her birthright as one of the nine Dragon Lords. Anyway, Kizaru was able to temporarily boost her natural healing powers to a godlike level, allowing her to remove the toxins from my body and resurrect me. In fact, I think I might have gotten a few years younger in the process, because I seem to have a bit more spring to my step now. ELGARION Stryker, I see that you brought me a visitor. I presume this is the winner? STRYKER Yes, yes, why yes. May I present Connor Congreve, the new Blue Dragon Lord! STORYWEAVER Elgarion’s eyes grew wide. ELGARION Oh my! Two Dragon Lords found in one day – a most historic event! I would imagine that the Obsidians will not be pleased by this turn of events… STRYKER Mmm, no, I certainly don’t think the Obsidians will be pleased at all! ELGARION Connor, please whisper the four clues to me in the correct order and show me the winning note. CONNOR (whispering) SPECK OBSIDIAN TOWER VENGEANCE ELGARION Yes, it seems that you are…the ONE. Welcome to the Ivory Tower. Yes, I know it appears to be an Obsidian Tower, but that is due to an illusion cast upon it to avoid unwanted attention. Please follow Stryker inside and deliver your message to Shooter Jennings. (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “A HERO IS BORN” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER Stryker escorted Connor inside and up the staircases to the third level, where he was greeted by Shooter Jennings! SHOOTER Hello there! I believe that you have a message for me? CONNOR Yes, I do, sir. “SHOOTER – I MANAGED TO CROSS THE BORDER INTO NOVIA LATE LAST NIGHT AND ELUDE THE OBSIDIAN ASSASSINS. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THREE DAYS. YOUR GOOD FRIEND, LORD BRITISH” SHOOTER That is very good news! I was worried that the Obsidian assassins might have gotten to Lord British after they managed to kill all of his bodyguards near the border. This message means he should be joining us shortly. In the meantime, let’s pose for a picture. Is someone recording this on video? STORYWEAVER Shooter flashed a grin as he shook Connor’s hand. SHOOTER I hope you have a great time here at the party! STORYWEAVER A short time later, the NBTT Hero Squad led the rest of the participants to the tower. ELGARION Welcome to the Ivory Tower! Thank heavens all of you came to save us from that Obsidian attack! How did you know to come? ASCLEPIUS I thought the Obsidians might try something and directed Apollox and his team to come here as quickly as possible. LORD BALDRITH I don’t think this will be the last we will see of Angelique Noir and her band of Obsidian assassins…or her mysterious master, the Man in Black. You know, I thought that he bore an uncanny resemblance to you, Asclepius… ASCLEPIUS I fear that you may be right about Angelique, old friend! As for the Man in Black, it is said that everyone has a doppelganger out there somewhere. It seems that I have found mine… ELGARION I am now able to check in all remaining players. Please whisper your clues to me in the correct order as you enter. The first twenty five to do so will receive a copy of the bard Shooter Jennings’ new album, Countach, on pink vinyl! (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT “THE KING’S CROWNING” MUSIC TRACK.) STORYWEAVER After everyone had entered the Ivory Tower, the Storyweaver stepped out from behind the Oracle confirmatory. He glanced at the cover of the Great Book, which had been restored to its original appearance, and then continued reading… “…and so it came to pass that young Connor Congreve and his friends were able to defeat the Darkness and ensure the safe return of their long missing king, Lord British. There was much merriment at the party that night. This was a great victory, but the Shadow War continued on. The Darkness had not been destroyed, and would return to plague our heroes again one day. But that’s another story…” The Storyweaver closed the Great Book and smiled as he slowly faded away… (INSERT “Dove” SOUND EFFECT.) (MUSIC FADES OUT. INSERT THE SONG “MONDAY-CHANGE”) MUSIC CREDITS The following music tracks used in this production are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss and can be found at: https://machinimasound.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss “The End of Mankind” by Per Kiilstofte “End Game” by Per Kiilstofte “Engulfing Shadows” by Jens Kiilstofte “Escape from the Temple” by Per Kiilstofte “The Land of the Wizard” by Per Kiilstofte “Olympos” by Jens Kiilstofte The remaining music tracks are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The following tracks can be found at: http://opengameart.org?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss “Battle Theme A” by CynicMusic “Caravan” by yd “Crystal Cavern” by Joseph Gilbert/Kistol “Dream” by Eliot Corley “A Hero is Born” by tgfcoder “The King’s Crowning” by Teleron “The Orchs are Coming” by Shalpin “Swordfight” by Kistol “Tavern” by yd “Winds of Stories” by HorrorPen The following tracks can be found at: https://soundlcoud.com/alexandr-zhelanov?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss “Open the Gate” by Alexandr Zhelanov “Rise of Spirit” by Alexandr Zhelanov The following music tracks can be found at: www.matthewpablo.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss “Blackmoor Colossus (Colossal Boss Battle Theme)” by Matthew Pablo “Dark Amulet” by Matthew Pablo “Enchanted Festival” by Matthew Pablo “Ireland’s Coast (Video Game Version – Live) by Matthew Pablo SOUND EFFECT CREDITS All sound effects used in this production are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The following sound effects can be found at: http://soundbible.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss “Swords Clashing” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Drop Sword” – Recorded by Caroline Ford “Torch” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Large Fireball” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Grenade Explosion” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Dragon Roaring” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Dove” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Earthquake” – Recorded by Mike Koenig “Slap” – Recorded by SoundMaster 13 “Thrown Shuriken” – Recorded by Cody Mahan The following sound effects can be found at: http://opengameart.org?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss “Amulet of Absorption” – Recorded by CosmicD “Fall” – Recorded by remaxim “Ghost Breath” – Recorded by qubodup “Magic Shield” – Recorded by spookymodem “Teleport” – Recorded by OgreBane “Hitting Wall” – Recorded by spookymodem “Earth Element Magic Spell” – Recorded by qubodup http://thecaverns.net/Podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Shadow_Quest_Caverns_Version.mp3?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The post Shadow Quest – by the NBTT appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. 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If I live in any of the boroughs of PaxLair City am I required to join any guilds?

What exactly is PaxLair?

Hello everyone! Asclepius here, flying solo this week! An absolutely awesome news week, with a new release and so much to talk about. Hope you’re having a great time in R28!! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: •Play Release 28 Now •Q2-2016 Schedule Update •Crafting Interface Polish •Making of Valhold •Making of Britanny •News & Videos •Avatars Radio Presents: DJ FireLotus’ Release 28 Party! •Gallery of Horrors Grand Opening Tour •The New Britannia Theatre Troupe Presents: Where is Shooter Jennings? •Automated Phonographs •Kobold Homes •Giant Pavers •Emperor’s New Clothes •31 Day Countdown to Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations •Backer Shipping Addresses •In-game Community Events •Upcoming Events •Recommended Projects to Back http://thecaverns.net/Podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Echoes0401.mp3?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The post Echoes from the Caverns 04.01.2016 appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

The Briasch Maple Forest, Part of Grunvald is just up river from Lockbrier. Have to cross the bridge from PaxLair to Lockbrier, then turn sout following the river to the entry point. This is a 4 skull area. Large Timber wolves, brown spiders, large brown spiders, humanoid fighters. Maple trees are plentiful

Are there any requirements to living in any of the boroughs of PaxLair City?

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: Play Release 28 Now Q2-2016 Schedule Update Crafting Interface Polish Making of Valhold Making of Britanny News & Videos Avatars Radio Presents: DJ FireLotus’ Release 28 Party! Gallery of Horrors Grand Opening Tour The New Britannia Theatre Troupe Presents: Where is Shooter Jennings? Automated Phonographs Kobold Homes Giant Pavers Emperor’s New Clothes 31 Day Countdown to Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations Backer Shipping Addresses In-game Community Events Upcoming Events Recommended Projects to Back Play Release 28 Now! Thanks to community member Ancev for providing this amazing in-game image Release 28 successfully launched yesterday, March 31, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including: Over 40 New scenes including Malice, The Caverns of Skrekk, The Rise, Midras Ruins (PVP), Xenos, etc Wisps that guide players to resources Crafting Interface Polish and Bulk Crafting Craftable Obsidian Weapons and Armor New Male Avatar Sheet Music Kobold Homes New Player Owned Town Mountain Template Performance Optimizations …and much more Check out the Release 28 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new content. We need all your help with testing the new patches, putting more stress on our multiplayer servers, and testing the new game content, so please join us in playing Release 28! If you have not backed the game yet, you will need to register and login at www.shroudoftheavatar.com, select the “Pledge or Send Gift!” button in the right side-bar, and purchase a pledge at the $45 Adventurer level or above. The basic Adventurer level pledge is also available on Steam Early Access. Release 28 Player Instructions Release 28 Known Issues Q2-2016 Schedule Update [A forum post by Starr Long] Greetings Avatars, As we have stated previously, our goal is to once-per-quarter post an updated schedule for our monthly releases. Even though these goals will likely change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to provide you an updated roadmap periodically. Our goal continues to be to deliver our backers content each and every month so that we can get feedback and use it to iterate improvements. This continues to benefit the game, with sweeping changes like the switch over to use-based advancement. Meeting that monthly goal is our highest priority, but we require flexibility in our deliverables in order to meet that goal. As you have seen in previous releases, sometimes we push things out, but we also often pull new things in. The second quarter of 2016 is focused on getting Shroud of the Avatar to persistence for Release 32 in July as outlined in my Final Wipe and Lot Selection Post, which in addition to discussing Final Wipe an Lot Selection also discusses which items will be in by July and which will come online afterwards. As we get closer to July, each release will focus more and more on polish and balance versus new content. As always, all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change as we adjust our designs based on direct feedback from you, our backers. RELEASE 29, April 28, 2016 Full Wipe: Once again, we are going to make some fundamental changes to item and quest architecture that require us to do a full wipe for Release 29. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please note that if you have been waiting to convert your purchases to store credits, this is your chance to do so as long as you do NOT log into the game once R29 goes live (which automatically claims the items and prevents conversion). NOTE: This is the last wipe before the final wipe in July. Story: New scenes will appear in the regions of North Paladis, Midmaer, and Verdantis, including the city of Central Brittany which will appear in the game for the first time. At this point, the Love storyline will be playable from beginning to end and we will begin final polish on that storyline. Lot Selection Sequence: The lot selection sequence process implemented and tested by players. Pacing for these initial tests will be very accelerated with lot selection windows being mere minutes versus a full 24 hours. Player Towns: Player Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game, and more Player Run Town scenes with small NPC cores with basic functions (banks, shops, trainers) will appear across Novia. New variations on the town templates may also appear. Performance: Major efforts will be done to optimize performance. This will include frame rate improvements, load time improvements, and memory footprint improvements. We will also begin officially supporting Windows 10. RELEASE 30, May 26, 2016: Story: The town of Valhold on the island of Norguard will appear in game and we will begin a final polish on the Novia overworld. Multiplayer Economic Balance: A pass will be made through creature loot bundles, merchant pricing, property taxes, public vendor fees, harvesting rates, agriculture growth, crafting recipe ingredient amounts, and other factors to begin establishing an equilibrium for the multiplayer economy Multiplayer Combat Balance: A pass will be made through combat skills, creature stats, player stats, advancement rates, zone difficulties, and other values to establish an equilibrium for multiplayer combat. Single Player Offline: The first Single Player Offline specific features will become available to players in the form of Save Games and Companions. User Interface Polish: Various aspects of the user interface will be refactored and upgraded for visuals and usability Player Towns: Player Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game, and more Player Run Town scenes with small NPC cores with basic functions (banks, shops, trainers) will appear across Novia. New variations on the town templates may also appear. Performance: Major efforts will be done to optimize performance. This will include frame rate improvements, load time improvements, and memory footprint improvements. We will also be adding DX11/12 support for Windows and OpenGLCore for Linux and OSX. RELEASE 31, June 30, 2016 Story: The dungeon of Artifice on the island of Elysium will welcome pilgrims for the first time, and the Courage storyline will be playable from beginning to end for the first time. New User Experience Polish: Final polish passes will be done on the Tutorials, hints, and starting scenes. New Female Avatar: A complete overhaul of the female avatar, including a completely new sculpt and skin texture. Service Hardening: We will begin a series of passes through the client, authentication, and server to harden the service for security and customer service. Special attention will be paid to the Patcher. Single Player Offline Combat Balance: A pass will be made through the game to adjust combat balance for play in offline mode with companions. Player Towns: Player Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game, and more Player Run Town scenes with small NPC cores with basic functions (banks, shops, trainers) will appear across Novia. New variations on the town templates may also appear. Performance: Major efforts will be done to optimize performance. This will include frame rate improvements, load time improvements, and memory footprint improvements. We continue to be incredibly thankful for the support we receive from this amazing community. While the funding you provide makes all of this possible, it pales in comparison with the faith you have in us, the feedback you provide us, and the content you are making for everyone to enjoy. We are humbly grateful, and we cannot wait to see you again in New Britannia! Before I go, I wanted to include an excerpt from my original post about our Early Release Schedule that is important to set the framework for our ongoing schedule: As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done, and at times, even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public normally has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback. Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. With that said, we also want to be very careful that we only provide access to portions of the game when they are ready for a wider range of feedback. If we can play it internally and we know it is not ready, then there is nothing to be gained by having a wider audience come to the same conclusion. In fact, it could be quite damaging to do so. Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be, and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us. With each release, we will have specific tests we will ask you all to make. As we get closer, we will send instructions on how to download, install, report bugs, etc. After each release we will review the results and reevaluate the plan including the duration of availability of each release. Please note that game data will be wiped periodically during early access. It is important to note that all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change. Sincerely, Starr Long Executive Producer Shroud of the Avatar Crafting Interface Polish For Release 28, we worked on major polish passes to the Recipe Book and Crafting Station interfaces. We did an overhaul to the Recipe Book to improve readability and usability. For better readability, we increased the font size, darkened the text color, and made more readable the color of non-available ingredients. For navigation, we added sub-categories to each crafting school (ex. Swords under Smithing) that can be used for navigating back and forth. In R28, we added Bulk Crafting and Bulk Salvage. While adding that functionality to the UI of the Crafting Stations, we also added a new window to deliver information including success chance, critical chance, and if the placed items represent an unlearned recipe (which should greatly assist with experimental learning of recipes). Making of Valhold This is the continuing update on the progress on Valhold. Valhold is scheduled to go live in Release 30. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Richard “RrMatey” Matey] Hey guys just wanted to give you an update on the Valhold scene.. Everything is going smoothly, need to populate the inside of these areas and then wrap it up and move onto the castle interior. Take a peek at some of these shots. The Making of Brittany This the continuing update on progress on Brittany. Central Brittany is scheduled to go live in Release 29. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar] Hey guys! SorcerousSteve once again here to give you an update on the City of Brittany! For the past week I have been focusing on designing the interior of the Brittany Castle before circling around to finishing off other sections of the city. Here is a first look at the inside of Brittany Castle! Brittany Castle is six stories tall, yet its multi-level design makes it seem like a lot more. Everything from royal chambers, lavish dining rooms, and a majestic throne room will all be found here for the royalty of Brittany to enjoy. Looking North on the Royal Causeway (the road that links the castle to the port) to Brittany Castle:Brittany Castle’s Lower Courtyard, here we can catch a glimpse of the Amphitheater and the Oracle Temple. The green walkways offer a recluse for the rich and wealthy to talk about the news of the day:1st Floor – Brittany Castle’s Main Hall.2nd Floor – Throne Room. The Throne is still in the works and will be located in the opposite angle.5th and 6th Floor – Bed Chambers. Lavish bedrooms fill the upper floors overlooking the city below.4th Floor – Library and Gallery. As with all castles, Brittany Castle has a long history. Rumors abound of secret doors and passageways within its walls, *hint hint, a certain bookcase might reveal a secret.3rd Floor – Dining Room. Where Brittany’s Royalty drink the finest mead and gorge the most exquisite meals.Stay tuned for more and of course start planning your visit to Brittany today! Esteben Zaldivar Level Designer News & Videos Richard on Games and Space: Richard Garriott recently gave an inspiring talk on March 16 at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, MO entitled From the Beginnings of Computer Games to Private Space Flight. Richard talked about his long career and his many passions Starr on Shroud’s Uniqueness: Starr Long was interviewed by community member Phydra on March 26, where they talked about some of the various unique features and experiences in Shroud of the Avatar. Red Thomas on Shroud’s Development Pace: From a column by Red Thomas on MMORPG.com: Column: Release 28 – Hard Work-Work: Yeah, I missed last month’s update, but I do have an excuse. I was floating around in the Caribbean on my annual cruise with Jonathan Coulton and about 1200 other hardcore nerds. Interestingly, I find there’s a lot of parallels between the folks on that cruise and the sort of people you find in Lord British games, and I think for some similar reasons. In both cases, pools of people are drawn together to appreciate a form of art, and in both cases the supporting teams enable that crowd to define a lot of their own direction. The JoCo Cruise ends up supporting a ton of shadow events that have nothing to do with the headline entertainers, though you often find them participating. In the same way, Shroud of the Avatar players dramatically out-pace the developers in the creation of their own events and tend to have devs quietly participating along with the fan-base. Another parallel is the team that supports the cruise and the one that supports Shroud both work incredibly hard to create an optimal experience for their communities. After my trip to Austin, it was pretty clear that hard work would be a running theme in this month’s look at the project. I often take opportunities to try and show how amazing the community around Shroud of the Avatar is, but I may not spend as much time focusing on the insane amount of work this small team of developers is able to accomplish in very short blocks of time. READ MORE… Avatars Radio Presents: DJ FireLotus’ Release 28 Party! Join FireLotus and Avatars Radio this Friday, April 1st, for an AMAZING dance party you would have to be a FOOL to miss! The festivities kick off at 2 PM NBT (CDT) in the player owned town of Serpent’s Watch, located in Northern Midmaer, tucked between the Serpent’s Spine Mountain Range and Lake Equitas (map). If you missed Eriador Moonstone’s Gallery of Horrors in a previous Release, then we recommend you schedule time to check out his latest Gallery in Release 28. You won’t be disappointed! The Grand Opening Tour is 11am CDT, Sunday, April 3rd, located in the player owned town, Island of Wonders (map, or teleport to Eriador Moonstone; see forum post for details). [From a Release 28 Events Forum post by Amber Raine] The New Britannia Theatre Troupe Presents.. Where is Shooter Jennings? A party was to be had. The room was already decorated with brightest of pinks and blues and fantasy creatures from all across the ages. Even the luck dragon was in attendance. But… Where is the guest of honor? Where… is Shooter Jennings?​ We, the New Britannia Theatre Troupe, invite you to join us at The Bear Tavern (in Beran’s Reach; map), on April 3rd 2016 at 9am CDT, for the listening party of this fantastic quest/play. Written by Gabriel Nightshadow, with help from Elgarion Directed and Produced by Asclepius Cast and performed by a large mass of Avatars from all across Novia Automated Phonographs Last week we introduced you to the Broadcast Automated Phonographs for Player Owned Town Owners. As promised this week we are introducing Automated Phonographs for home owners. Unlike normal phonographs which can only play one wax cylinder at a time, these wonderful devices (available in the Add On Store) allow you to store multiple wax cylinders in them and play them as a random playlist. Kobold Homes A wonderful side effect of our work in getting Skrekk built was the generation of several new player home and deco assets in the Kobold style ranging from cozy village homes to a gargantuan Great Hall. These metal clad beauties can be found in the Add On Store. Giant Pavers At the request of our community, we have created giant versions of all the pavers. These are 4 times as big as the large pavers, which makes them great for covering large areas such as town squares or roadways. This is also a great way to economically stay within your decoration limits. The Rough Stone and Rough Wood versions can be crafted in game and the other versions can be purchased in the Add On Store. The Emperors’ and Empresses’ New Clothes We are proud to announce an incredibly extravagant line of new clothing pieces, available now in the Add On Store. These are highly detailed recreations of actual items worn by historical Novian figures. Each piece is guaranteed to be an exact replica and is made from only the finest of materials. You will be sure to impress anyone who sees you wearing these fine garments. Here, our new male avatar models the entire ensemble of cloak, tunic, boots, trousers, crown, and gloves. Here’s a sample from the Add On Store describing one of Novian’s illustrious historical figures and his famous crown: Emperor Corwin’s New Royal Crown: If you are the lord of all you survey, it only stands to reason that your rulership deserves recognition. Truly fit for a king, this crown will give you the respect you truly deserve, through its understated and yet classically forged gold, silver and obsidian metalwork. Precisely as shown in the accompanying picture, this crown has large filigree scattered throughout and brilliant diamonds, rubies, and sapphires accenting the filigree. When you wear this crown, people will be taken aback, unable to comment at the sheer nobility of presence that you project. Truly, this crown leaves all who see it so taken aback that it is difficult to find any who are confident enough to comment on its beauty. Corwin, the third ruler of Norgard’s Avalonian dynasty in the First Era, was a wise and noble ruler, who never asked if he was worthy of rule, merely assumed as such through his own knowledge, nobility, and self-assurance. We hope that this crown communicates such a degree of self-assurance to those who serve you as well. 31 Day Countdown to Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations! As we march toward the Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone this summer, we are permanently expiring almost half pledges during the Spring 2016 Pledge Expiration Event, which will occur at 10:30 AM CDT, May 2, 2016 (following the next wipe for Release 29). The remaining pledges, as well as new Player Owned Towns, will be expired during the Summer 2016 Expiration Event. Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations The following pledges will no longer be available for purchase or upgrade after May 2, 2016: Immortal Adventurer Virtual Collector Collector ** Navigator [originally expired August 31, 2015 for backers below Patron level] ** Developer [originally expired August 31, 2015 for backers below Patron level] Citizen Knight Lord Baron 1/2/3 [More Spring 2016 Expiration details…] Backer Shipping Addresses In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image: For country and regional tax assessment purposes, our tax accountants have requested that we start collecting a buyer’s physical/shipping address for all purchases, whether digital or physical. We’ve tried to streamline that process as much as possible, such that once you’ve entered a physical address we will pre-populate the address fields with your default address. In-game Community Events Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Special thanks to community member SpookyJenny (aka Jenny Phoenixfyre in-game) for her help in compiling the schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar: Recurring Events RPOTA Monthly $170 Writing Contest Here ye! Here ye! Biographers, Historians, Diplomats, Journalists, Story Writers, Quest Designers and Videographers! RPOTA is in dire need of your amazing talents! Role-Players of the Avatar is hosting a monthly contest to award those most famous with their quill or camera! (details) The Unreliable Travel Guide The Unreliable Travel Guide, created at the SotA Writing Round Table, is not an event, but a collection of hilarious short stories published by two drunken layabouts who have nothing better to do than try to derive a dishonest income from newly arrived avatars. (details) Avatars Radio (Daily Programming) Welcome New Britannians to Avatars Radio – Radio of the Avatars. Rocking your socks off from the town of Radio City with the Terrestrial and New Britannian bards together under one roof through the power of the Moon Towers. Check out their daily program of amazing DJs: http://avatarsradio.info/schedule.php NBNN Lunch with Laz & Jack (Weekdays, 12pm CDT) Join NBNN every weekday for Lunch With Laz & Jack. They will be covering the daily goings on in SOTA. Calendar updates, Relevant issues happening in the days news. Come chat with us about upcoming events and general information. http://nbnn.info “The Tavern Respite” RP Event (Mondays, 8pm CDT) The tavern door opens before you, and the scent of pipe and stew waft outwards with a wall of warmth from the hearth. Join in with the patrons of the Bear Tavern as they share tales of their adventures amid endless mugs of ale, legs of mutton, and merriment unbounded.The first Monday of each month, the event returns to Bear Tavern, where it all began. If no locations are scheduled, the event will take place at Fire Lotus Tavern, by default. (teleport to Elgarion De’Khali; details)! Order of Vengeance Guild Meeting (Mondays, 9pm CDT) Held at the Guild Hall in Vengeance Challenge Dungeon Run (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am & 7pm CDT) This is a self-host event that meets at the Braemar Cemetery (map). Join whoever can make it for a dungeon run, adventure or something along those lines. Come prepared for combat. Learn how to set up your combat system if you need help. PaxLair Town Manager Hour (Tuesdays, 2:00pm CDT) Join PaxLair’s Town Manager, Sean Silverfoot, to ask questions about PaxLair, being a Citizen, holding a lot and any other questions concerning PaxLair or any of it’s boroughs: Dragons Watch, Tenakill, Lockbrier, Island of Wonders, Knowhere, Sea Nymph Grotto & Serentiy Isle. (map) EVL Monster MashDungeon Crawl (Tuesdays, 7pm CDT) Every Virtue is Lasting will be holding a dungeon crawl every Tuesday to provide fun and experience for our members and guests. All are welcome! The meeting point is in Owls Head at the center of town near the trainer (map) EVL Virtue League PVP Tournament (Wednesdays, 7pm CDT) Looking to break into the PVP scene but don’t want to be placed against established god-like players? We have you covered with two divisions, one for the newer, less experienced player, and one for the cream of the crop who have something to prove! (The Underworld at Aschfahl Festung; details) Stryker Sparhawk’s Happy Hour Wednesdays (Wednesdays, 8pm CDT) Stryker will travel to one of the local Novia taverns for an hour to open a bar tab for drinks in hopes of sharing stories, news, critique of the arts, music, dancing, and otherwise unplanned mayhem. Teleport to Stryker Sparhawk (details) Phoenix Republic PVE Nights (Thursdays & Fridays, 7pm CDT) Join the Phoenix Republic as we send our weekly foray into the control points, dungeons and other of the most dangerous locales. Each week we will depart to a different PVE locale to help train our combatants. Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Malakas for more info! Novian Academy – Role Play Courses (Fridays, 4pm CDT) Luka Melehan is hosting RP classes and practice sessions. (teleport to Luka Melehan) Shardfall Madness (Fridays, 6pm CDT) A PvP event. Contact Wind Silvermoon for details. Vengeance Madness (Fridays, 7pm CDT) This is an Open PvP event where everyone fights it out in a royal rumble to see who the ultimate death dealer is! (City of Vengeance; teleport to Bambino LudoVate) Astronomy Event (Fridays, 7:30pm CDT) Interested in New Britannia Astronomy? Just enjoy gazing at the stars? Join us every week as we explore the night sky above New Britannia. (Player Town of Caer Dracwych, teleport to Bowen Bloodgood; details) Friday, April 1 2pm CDT Avatars Radio Presents: DJ FireLotus’ Release 28 Party! Join FireLotus and Avatars Radio this Friday, April 1st for an AMAZING dance party you would have to be a FOOL to miss! The festivities kick off at 2 PM NBT in Serpent’s Watch (map; see forum post for details). Saturday, April 2 6:00am CDT Wake Up New, Britannia!!! With Woftam and Selene Woftam and Selene Noctua broadcast on AvatarsRadio from the Wake Up New Britannia Studio in Owlshead (right behind the crafting pavillion). Includes Interviews with the Community, Contests for in-game Gold, What’s new for the week in New Britannia, and your Best Bets for SotA weekend events! (details) 9:00am CDT PaxLair Working Hours Come to PaxLair and see what’s happening! For two hours (more or less) we work together on projects, create ideas and have fun together. It’s sort of a weekly time to gather and do things together. Everyone in Novia is welcome! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield or Sean Silverfoot) 11:00am CDT Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service High Priestess of Chaos, Amber Raine, and the Dean of the Novian Academy, Kazyn Phoenixfyre, welcome you to the Church of the Dark Star. A shared project, built upon equality, where all are welcome. Services range from what is Chaos and Order to how they affect different aspects of our life. The path you choose is yours. (PaxLair) 12:00pm CDT Welcome Quest 28 – A Diamond in the Rough Welcome Quest showcases many of the Player-owned and Player-ran towns in New Britannia. Come for unique events in each town. We rotate towns between each Welcome Quest, and this month we are visiting Diamond Fields. Traveling by the overland map, go to the Island of Elysium and Enter into Port Phoenix, run down to the docks and take a boat to Diamond Fields (map), or teleport to Greagoir. (details) 3:00pm CDT Beran League Construction – Harvest & Craft A weekly craft & harvest event for the purpose of supporting all towns, guilds and player run establishments within the Beran League! All harvested materials, crafted items and decorative items purchased will be collected and sorted in a specially designated warehouse. Town owners, guild leaders and proprietors of the Beran League (and those designated by them) will have access. (Meet at the Bear Tavern in Beran’s Reach, map; or teleport to Bowen Bloodgood; details) 4:00pm CDT First Elysian Regional Leadership Council A meeting of the first ever Elysian Leadership council. This meeting will take place in Jade Valley (map) at 4PM NBT and will cover all the foundational topics of the Elysian Leadership structure and regional governance. Issues and important topics to include meeting regularity, establishment of regional cabinet positions and leadership roles, establishment of voting ballot process and voter requirements as well as a wide array of topics central to Elysian citizens at large. More info 6:00pm CDT Port Phoenix: Social Nights Come out and join the republic in one of many potential events (chosen new each week). Each week we get together for everything from fishing, to music, to gustball to PVE duneoneering and adventuring. (Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre for details) 8:00pm CDT 1v1 PVP Tournament in Vengeance The longest running Player vs Player tournament in Shroud of the Avatar. Located in the Player Owned Town of Vengeance (map) 9:00pm CDT Podcasts and Poetry from TheCaverns.net Join Avatars Radio and TheCaverns.net as we share wonderful community poetry, stories and music! We have great talent in our community. Join us as we celebrate these wonderful artists! (details) Sunday, April 3 8:30am CDT PaxLair Meeting Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield; teamSpeak: 43.245.163.15:10099) 9:00am CDT The New Britannia Theatre Troupe Presents: Where is Shooter Jennings? The Bear Tavern is proud to host the listening party for the New Britannia Theater Troupe audio play, Shadow Quest, which will be broadcast on Avatars Radio. Find out what really happened after Shooter Jennings disappeared during the launch party for his latest album, Countach. To join in-game, teleport to Gabriel Nightshadow 11:00am CDT Gallery of Horrors Grand Opening Tour Visit our Gallery of Horrors Grand Opening Tour, a tradition since Release 5! This time with new, innovative techniques! Located in the player owned town, Island of Wonders (map, or teleport to Eriador Moonstone; details). 2:30pm CDT Gustball Training Want to learn how to play Gustball? Need some tips on how to improve your deck or hone your skills on the field! Join Coach Sheamus McGuinness of EVLs for a 30 minute Gustball lesson and practice session just before the big game at 3pm (Owl’s head, map; or teleport to Sheamus McGuinness) 3:00pm CDT Gustball The game of Gustball is a great community event, not dissimilar from soccer or football, where Avatars of all levels & skill can compete in a fun, friendly game that uses the Gust skill (1st level Air Magic spell) to blow a Gustball into your opponents goal. (/whisper or teleport to Sand, Sheamus McGuinness, or Bambino Ludovate, details) 5:00pm CDT Monster Mash World Boss Hunt EVL invites you to spend a day killing all of the SOTA world bosses out there. Polish your armor, sharpen your swords, and get ready to do some killing. We will take on trolls, dragons, and phoenix’s. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there. Starts in Owlshead (map). 5:00pm CDT BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration Register to compete in the BMC Gridiron and mingle with other participants and spectators before the big fight! (Blackrock Cove on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, map; see forum post for details) 5:30pm CDT BMC Gladiator’s Grid-Iron The BMC is proud to present the nastiest, the foulest, the most feared arena in all of New Britannia! The Grid-Iron is equipped with a pit-style arena, locker rooms, a VIP round-table, betting & vendor booths, and all the blood-sport you can handle. (Blackrock Cove on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, map; see forum post for details) 7:00pm CDT PaxLair Meeting Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield) 8:00pm CDT Fishing with Winfield Come sit with Winfield on a log or rock to hear some fish tales or tell your own. Chat about anything from the moons to the earth worms. Spend a relaxing day in nature near a stream or lake — bring insect repellent or a sword. (some fishing spot or pond, teleport to Winfield; details) Be sure and check out the Release 28 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here. Upcoming Events 2016.04.15 – Final Lord of the Manor Britannia Manor Visit & Dinner 2016.04.22 – PAX East 2016.04.28 – Release 29 2016.05.13 – Final Duke Roundtable and Portalarium Office Tour 2016.05.26 – Release 30 2016.06.01 – The Hearth of Britannia: Legends of the Hearth III 2016.06.30 – Release 31 2016.07.28 – Release 32 Recommended Projects to Back Crowfall In this Throne War Simulator, characters are persistent but the campaign worlds are not, thanks to voxel technology which enables fully-destructible settings. A seamless blend of an MMO with a large-scale strategy game, players are immortal champions, traveling between realms to fight in an eternal War of the Gods. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with the first instalment of a great story from Blaquerogue. It is entitled The Inquisitor. Background music by Smartsound. As a young boy, I remember listening to the Priest in the Monastery, how great the Gods were and what we did to be humble and serving. Give to the poor help the needy, take care of each other daily, never give in to riches or favoritism. Those were the days long past. Now in this new world there is definitely a Shroud to the Avatar. Clerics are outcasts, Priests are non-existent, and Paladins have no place anymore in this new world we have abruptly been sucked into. Instead we have Mages, lots, and lots of Mages, and different types as well. Mages with swords, Mages with pole arms, Mages with bows. How strange this new world is. Although it is strange and different, the Clerics and Paladins, and Priests will once again arise. We hear the cries of the weak and slighted, our ears are not deaf to your calls, we hear them every time we are in this sacrilegious world! I simply go by the name Inquisitor, for names are not needed to spread light upon this darkened world. Who we are does not matter. What we do does, and that is what really matters! Never should we ever put ourselves before those that are in need of blessings, and heals! Simple things we cannot yet do in this world. It will come Brothers and Sisters of the Gods, once again we will bring light unto a darkened place. My story is just one of many to come. The future is not so bleak as we may think, and will not be, once we spread the knowledge of the Gods once again in this world! When I was brought here by the Gods, I knew there was a purpose and a rite of passage set for us. I started talking to this gypsy woman who asked many questions, that really needn’t be answered, for I knew what I was and what I needed, not what she thought I should be. The conversation was irrelevant. I humored her and left! When I arrived in the village, that was a smoldering picture of what it used to be, I realized how much this world needed the knowledge of the gods! I met a dying guard who gave me some papers for someone I know not, and a key. As I continued to the center of the town I saw bodies strewn about, and certain individuals were taking the belongings of the dead. I guess they really don’t need that stuff anymore, so I did not cast judgement upon him, instead I joined in! Let’s face it, I needed to get something for protection and fighting since I could hear the Dark Elves outside trying to break in. I found a sword, and apparently the Gods had granted me a decent enough chain armor chest piece to get me through this first trial. In my search I found an elegant elven mirror, and some elven keepsake necklace, the looter outside traded it for a bone dagger! Now at this point I thought I had truly got me a special weapon! But alas – it was as useless at talking to the gypsy. Some power within it kept me from arming it! Well…Back to the sword. After I had collected all that I needed I went to the gate and unlocked it. There waiting for me was an elf apparently with some anger issues who immediately started attacking me! I needed to defend myself (I never thought I was this good with a sword!) After I had killed him I said his last rites, to pass on to his Gods peacefully. Then I felt a sharp pain in my back as an arrow struck me! Another elf was about to meet his maker, and it was done. Again I read him his last rites to pass him on. Finally, I found a gate and my true Trials had begun. My next stop would be Soltown, but I had to make it through an unholy pass of mountains to get there. http://thecaverns.net/Podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/The_Inquisitor_by_Blaquerogue_narrated_by_Asclepius.mp3?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The post The Inquisitor – by Blaquerogue – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long] Greetings Avatars, Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues. Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 28 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, March 31, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC). Release 28 represents a huge expansion of the Novian landmass with 42 new scenes appearing in seven different regions. Those scenes include adventuring areas, towns, mines, and dungeons. The story continues to advance, as well, with the underground areas of Malice and Skrekk representing pivotal moments in the Love and Courage storylines. Malice and Skrekk also represent the latest in a string of visually competitive environments. In Release 28, we also took the first of many steps to make our characters as comparable as our environments by completely overhauling our male character. In addition, Release 28 contains a handful of general improvements to quality of life, such as increasing the top end of the Brightness slider to help those of you with darker monitors. You will notice even more of these improvements, especially in crafting. The Recipe Book has bigger and darker fonts, as well as a new table of contents with sub categories. We also introduced Bulk Crafting and Bulk Salvage.. Yet again, I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to our Dev+ backers who tested all of the items below on the QA server and uncovered lots of bugs. They also provided editorial feedback on this post. So, they are a big reason that this post actually matches what is in the game, and that it is easy to read. While we are getting closer to launch, we are still in a constant state of change, and we do not yet have in-game systems to inform players of these changes, or to share ways to help them to explore new content and systems. This means we rely entirely on this message, and the linked instructions and known issues to convey the current game state. We regularly have to answer questions or filter bug reports because some players elect not to read this valuable information. By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and efforts can be redirected to focus on new “unanswered” questions, and addressing critical issues impacting each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post, and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide. Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. So, be sure to check out a couple of the Community Events Calendars run by our community members (via in-game book or the player run websites Avatars Circle Community Events and Events of the Avatars calendar). Without further ado, here are the R28 deliverables: Key: Plain Text: The original plan for the Release deliverables. We intentionally preserve the original text so that our backers can compare plan versus actuals. Italics: Extra notes and new deliverables. Strikethrough: These are items that did not make the release. RELEASE 28, March 31, 2016 Story: More polish passes will be made on existing maps for balance and story support. We will also continue to expand the story with new scenes, including the dungeon of Artifice and the Superstition Canyon control point. WARNING: STORY SPOILERS IN THIS SECTION! Some players requested that we warn you that you may want to skip the story section of the update if you want the story to remain a complete mystery before you play the game. Artifice Delayed: We have made significant progress on this culminating moment in the Truth storyline (as you have seen in our recent weekly updates and posts to the Dev+ forums) but it is not quite ready for players so we are holding until a future release. Superstition Canyon: This control point between Forsaken Vale and South Paladis actually already appeared in Release 27. The Shores of Malice and Malice: This ancient underground cavern on the shores of Stormwater Lake has long been used to inter the dead, but now the dead march forth from it. The Path of Love has led you to this final confrontation with the undead legions you have been fighting against ever since your arrival in Solace Bridge. A one-player instance, adventurers who brave the halls of Malice will discover much about their enemies… and their friends. Something, or someone is being held in its depths, and that threatens Ardoris and all of Novia  – can you discover what secrets the dead hide? Norgard: This island off the northwest coast of Novia is where the culminating moments of the Courage storyline will take place and where you will eventually find Valhold (in Release 29). The hostilities between the humans and the kobolds has even spilled onto the mainland. In Release 28 you will find a mix of smaller towns and adventures scenes on Norgard and nearby Noreach. Mud (town) Estgard (town) Norgard Fens Naryad Moors Thrones Foothills Valhold Forest Naryad Woods Skrekk and The Caverns of Skrekk: While the Courage storyline does not yet take you to the kingdom of the Kobolds you can still visit this underground mechanical marvel in northwest Norgard. The Kobolds are the most adventuresome when it comes to technology in Novia and are the source of almost every advancement we see in the land today. These advancements have only accelerated with the onslaught of Outlanders and it is only the constant hostilities between humans and Kobolds that prevent true leaps forward in matters of science and industry. Humans brave enough to venture into the depths of Skrekk will be met with hatred and contempt but rewarded with incredible sights. The Caverns of Skrekk is a one-player instance and though you can talk to a few kobolds that are not immediately trying to kill you, in general the story content is not yet implemented for this scene. Quel: The region around Etceter is now full of areas to adventure including the Boreas Colossus. South Quel Woods North Quel Woods Sawtooth Thicket North Quel Way Boreas Colossus The Crags Elysium: This large island off the southwest coast of Novia is home to the pilgrim waypoint town of Xenos as well as several adventure scenes including the Elysium Mines. Whispering Woods Twins Foothills Elysian Plains Elysium Mines Rumor Peaks Xenos: The town of Xenos is the next step on the Path of Truth past Etceter, and quest NPCs have been added this release to move the story forward and lead you towards the dungeon of Artifice. Noreach: This tiny town off the northern coast of Novia will be joined by a host of other Verdantis region scenes in Release 29. Longfall: This region around the city of Aerie is now well populated with adventure scenes of various levels. East Longfall Wetland South Longfall Wetland South Longfall Road Longfall Woods Bloodriver Forest Grunvald: We added a few more scenes to this region including a new control point that connect to Drachvald. Vauban Pass (control point) Brisach Forest Sequanna Colossus Celestis: This city can be found near Solania in the Perennial Coast region. South Paladis: We added a few more adventure scenes and one more town to this region at the northern tip of the Bay of Storms. Tenebris Harbor Penmawr Island Sunless Barrens Oracle Colossus Bramble (town) North Paladis: Three more towns have been added to this region north of the Sanctus Spine. Fortus End Northwood Yew Midras Ruins (PVP): This is another ancient ruined city, corrupted by shards of obsidian. The dungeons beneath the ruins, which are the last remaining scene to be implemented in the Path of Love, have not yet been added. The Rise: This new dungeon is the largest dungeon to date. The Rise is the first of the main hubs in the underworld and connects multiple dungeon maps. While simple passage through the massive dungeon for travel purposes only takes a few minutes once mastered, those fearless adventurers brave enough to take a deeper dive will find multiple hours of exploration ahead of them. The Rise is NOT for the unskilled adventurer, the faint of heart, or those who lose their way easily. It includes seemingly endless passages, dozens of chambers, multiple skill-based challenges, a half-dozen unique player experiences, and several encounters targeted at groups of skilled players. The Rise is old school, hardcore dungeon crawling at its finest. Bring friends you trust, plenty of supplies, and maybe even some graph paper! Starting Scene Items: We made a complete pass through the starting scenes to make sure that all items that looked like they could be taken by the player could be, and that those items were either usable as decorations or could be salvaged for scrap. We plan to propagate this through the entire game over time. Resolute: Added streetlamps and porch lights to the city. Castle Defense Scenarios: Castle scenes will appear in the game along with siege weapons to attack and defend them. Castle Defense Scenarios Delayed: As mentioned in the Final Wipe and Lot Selection Post this feature has been delayed until after Release 32. Town Sieges: Towns will begin coming under siege from the eight Cabalists (also known as the Dark Lords). While towns are under siege players must fight, run, or sneak past the siege lines around the town. Town Sieges Delayed: As mentioned in the Final Wipe and Lot Selection Post this feature has been delayed until after Release 32. Creatures: At least one Cabalist will begin wreaking havoc on besieged towns. Players using Moon magic will now be able to summon Wisps to support them. Cabalists Delayed: The Cabalists are part of Town Sieges and therefore delayed. NPCs Lying Down: We have now expanded the behavior set of NPCs to include lying down. You will start to see this behavior appearing in their routines over the next several releases. Examples include the long-suffering Guard Winslow in Owl’s Head, who though wounded, hasn’t slept in bed properly since Release 1. Sped up “Close to Talk” time: The speed at which players transition into conversation mode has been greatly sped up Wisps: Wisps will be summonable via Moon magic and will lead players to resources as well as casting a variety of support spells. Wild Wisps will begin appearing in Release 29. Skills: The ability to forget a skill will now be available from trainers. Polish and balance passes will be made across all skills and spells. Untrain: Listed as “forget a skill” above was modified to “untrain” and was in Release 27. Low Health Effects: When your character is approaching death game will indicate through visual and audio effects. No Level Caps: As part of our future proofing work as we prepare for final wipe, all level caps have been removed. Summon Wisp: The Wisp represents our second support class pet (Water Elemental was the first). Wisps introduce a new behavior mode called Patrol selectable via right click, which is the mode where they will seek out and guide players to resources. Safe Fall: New skill in the Subterfuge tree. Reduces fall damage based on skill level. Can only be leveled up through falling and taking damage. A skill level of 25 should allow around an extra 2 meters of fall distance and a Grandmaster should be able to fall around an extra 4 meters without damage. Skills and Character UI: We removed the placeholder Stats UI and moved much of that information to either the Skills UI or the Character Sheet UI. The Skills UI has been improved to include an overview of stats about each skill tree. The number shown on each skill tree icon (left side of the window) is the sum of the skill levels in that tree. More stats may be added in the future. Damage Resistance and Damage Avoidance (previously shown in the Stats UI) are now shown in the Character Sheet UI. Damage Absorption is now presented as a component of Damage Resistance. The term “Damage Absorption” is no longer used. Tooltips have been added to some of the stats that are displayed in the character sheet. The new tooltips describe the effect that the stats have on the character. Skill Tree Icons: We created new icons for each School of Combat, Magic and Crafting. We then modified the Skills UI to use these icons instead of a list. Skill Advancement UI: Skills that advance during a play session now display the experience bar for that skill as well as the total delta of each skill level on screen during the session. This allows the player to see the total progress that each skill has made during the session. Death Field: No longer usable in non-combat mode. Engage: Now usable in non-combat mode and will auto switch to combat mode upon successful use. Earthquake: Now includes a chance of knockdown instead of stun. Chance of knockdown reduced by target’s dexterity. All effects of Earthquake now only hit targets on the ground. Flying targets and players who are in the air are not impacted. Life Reach: Should now correctly extend the range and radius of all life magic instead of just Healing Ray. Poison Weapon: Damage from Poison Weapon has been doubled but no longer affects Undead or Elementals. Coup de Grâce: Damage on near death targets increased from 2X to 5X. Air’s Embrace, Enlightenment, and Strength of Earth: All of these buffs can now be used outside of combat as well as in combat. Cure Plague Potion: Cure Plague Potions will temporarily prevent propagation and provide immunity for a limited amount of time, therefore potentially breaking the endless cycle of zombie nastiness. Crafting: Polish and balance passes will be made on resources, recipes, and creature loot. Recipe Book Polish: We did an overhaul to the recipe book to improve readability and usability. In Release 29 we will take this a step further and, in List Mode, recipes will be merged with the crafting station and the Recipe Book will only be used in Bag mode. Changes in Release 28 include: Increased font size. Darkened text color. Changed color of non-available ingredients. Reduced the number of recipes per screen to 4. Added sub-categories to each crafting school (ex. Swords under Smithing) that can be used for navigating back and forth. Crafting Station Information UI: We added a new window to the crafting stations to deliver information that includs success chance, critical chance, and whether placed items represent an unlearned recipe (which should greatly assist with experimental learning of recipes). Bulk Crafting & Salvage: Crafters can now Craft and/or Salvage multiple items at once. Obsidian: This rare and dangerous material is now part of the crafting system and can be used to create armor and weapons using the forge in Hilt Fortress. Obsidian weapons have very high critical damage chance, but low durability. They also do increased damage against Obsidian creatures. Obsidian armor reflects damage back against attackers but has low durability. For now, Obsidian ingots can be created from the Obsidian chips found on Obsidian creatures. Coconut Trees: Coconuts, which are vital in the crafting of Coconut bras and in rapid transport, can now be harvested where coconut palms are found in locations like Tenebris Harbor, Penmawr Island, and the Longfall Wetlands. Agriculture Growth Rate Indicator: Added a label above planter boxes that displays the growth rate as you place the object. Single Player Offline: While Single Player Offline mode has been working internally since the start of the project, the work of making this available to players will begin. Additionally, features and content specific to Single Player Offline Mode will move into full production. Single Player Offline Enabled: Players can now enable Offline mode. Please note that progress made in this mode is not stored on the server and will be overwritten when patched until the “Save Games” feature is implemented. Offline Features Delayed: Allowing functions (AI, conversations, pathfinding, housing, etc.) to work robustly on the client without server verification took slightly longer than planned, so we had to push offline features (save games, companions, offline economy, etc) to later releases. Service Hardening: We will begin a series of passes through the client, authentication, and server to harden the service for security and customer service. Special attention will be paid to the Patcher. Sheet Music: Playing songs on musical instruments can now be done via in game items called Sheet Music. Just double click on the sheet music and your character will play the song using whatever instrument you have equipped. Neon Milk and Rule Britannia songs are connected to Sheet Music, and we will be expanding to include more music over time. Players can even attach ABC files to sheet music objects directly themselves (just like how we do custom books). Recap (aka Space Bards) Neon Milk Rewards: As part of the Neon Milk Kickstarter 2 years ago, we did a cross promotion with Recap that is finally coming to fruition in Release 27 and 28. All backers of Shroud of the Avatar received the “gypsy dance” emote (as seen in the video above) in Release 27. In Release 28 all backers who backed both Neon Milk at $10 and Shroud of the Avatar at $25+ will receive a wax cylinder in custom Neon Milk green with a medieval instrumental version of Lord British Returns and the same song as an ABC file in Sheet Music format playable with in game musical instruments. Those who backed Neon Milk at $25 and Shroud of the Avatar at $25+ will also receive Sheet Music instrumentals of select songs from Neon Milk. Player Homes & Decorations: Guest Lot Binding: Players who have Guest (or higher) permissions on a lot can now bind for Recall to that lot. Usage Log Clearing: Owners of PoTs and Lots can now clear the usage logs of containers. Automated Phonograph: Unlike a normal phonograph which can only play one wax cylinder at a time, these wonderful devices (available in the Add On Store) allow you to store up to 8 wax cylinders and play them as a random playlist. Ornate Automated Phonograph: The ornate version stores up to 16 wax cylinders. Giant Pavers: These are 4 times as big as the large pavers which makes them great for covering large areas such as town squares or roadways. The Rough Stone and Rough Wood versions can be crafted in game and the other versions can be purchased in the Add On Store. Kobold Homes and Decorations: A wonderful side effect of our work in getting Skrekk built was the generation of several new player home assets in the Kobold style including: Kobold Wind Power Generator Kobold Corkscrew Wind Power Generator Kobold Tower Village Home Kobold Dwelling Village Home Kobold Dual Spire Village Home Kobold 3 Story Row Houses Kobold 4 Story Great Hall City Home Performance: As with each release, a number of performance improvements have been implemented. Work this release was primarily focused on load times and worst case CPU issues. Players with powerful video cards and modest CPUs should see much improved frame rates in this release, especially at big events. Load Times: Load times should be noticeably better, especially for large city scenes and story scenes with lots of dialog. In local tests, load times for Owl’s Head were cut in half. More metrics were also added for tracking load times. UI Optimizations: Thanks to a number of optimizations, the UI is now MUCH faster. This should give a very significant improvement in scenes with lots of activity, such as the monthly dance party and the weekly PVP tournaments. AI Optimizations: We made more improvements with AI and general creature performance. Simplified Collision: This improves performance, reduces memory footprint, and stops the camera from hitting things like roof beams inside. Row Houses Obsidian Towers Stone Keep Knight Founder Knight Marshal Queen of Chaos Edelmann Founder Edelmann Benefactor Baron Benefactor Airship Ardoris Palace Lord Houseboat Baron Galleon Baron Frigate Lord Benefactor Edelmann Cabana Lord Marshal Lord Founder Viking Home Containers in List Inventory: You can now use containers in List Mode to sort and view your inventory. Previously List Mode would display everything in your inventory regardless of whether it was in other containers (bags, chests, etc.). Social & Player Character: Lying Down in Beds: Double clicking on a bed will now make the avatar lie down in the bed, much like how sitting in chairs works. Examine: This option has been added to the menu when you right click on other players and allows you to see their paperdoll. Scene User List (aka /who): This is a list of all players currently in the same instance of the scene you are in. Guildmates and friends show character names, others show as anonymous. By default this list can be accessed via Numpad 0. Text Size Option for Nameplates: There is now an option to display player nameplates, guild name, chat bubbles, and player titles in a larger font. New Titles (Outlander & Hospitaller): For many releases, experienced players help new players as they have logged into the world. This has taken many forms, like the Welcome Quest run by the Duchy of Dara Brae and the Novian Academy by the Phoenix Republic. Recently, it was requested we aid this work by the creation of game titles that players can use to signal that they are either seeking help or that they are giving guidance. So, we have added the titles “Outlander” and “Hospitaller” to all players. New players (or even veteran players) can press Keypad “-” and set their title to “Outlander” as a signal to other players that they would like either specific help… or just general newcomer guidance. Players can also set their title to “Hospitaller” as a signal they are available to provide specific help or newcomer recommendations. New Emotes: Thanks to a suggestion from our players, we created emotes based on the three Titans. These emotes are learned from speaking to the students of virtue in Ardoris. /truth /love /courage Dance Emote names: The dance emotes no longer have generic number based names and instead have descriptive names (except /dance). /dance2 = /allemande /dance3 = /zombie /dance4 = /gypsy /dance5 = /magic Belly Dance: The newest dance emote can be learned from the mighty Zangoff, feared blacksmith and master axe crafter, in Ardoris. Warning: once Zangoff performs his dance, you may not be the same. Royal Founder Cloak: Royal Founders now can display their status by wearing this cloak with the unique color scheme of Royal Founders. 9 New Shields: There are now 9 new shields in the game. In future releases they will be craftable. Short and Long Kilts: In R27, the kilts displayed differently on male and female characters. On male characters, the kilts were long; on female characters, the kilts were short. After much feedback from players, we have changed this. The plain craftable Kilts now come in long and short versions, both wearable by both genders. The Ornate Kilt in the Add On Store is also now available in long and short styles. NOTE: If you previously purchased the Ornate Kilt we have issued you a store credit so you can repurchase the style of your choosing (note: until the next wipe you will temporarily still have a long Ornate Kilt in your inventory). New Male Avatar: As many of you saw in a recent weekly update and Dev+ forum post, we have done a complete overhaul of the male avatar starting with the mesh and texture. We are still doing some final tweaks on the face, and next steps will be to polish all the armor and clothing. Once that is done, we will move on to polish and expansion of the hair styles. We will then repeat the entire process for the female character. New Walk/Run Cycle: As part of the above, we have replaced the walk and run animation cycle for the male avatar to better match the new proportions. Morph Target Fixes: We made a fix to the morph targets work on the face so that the shapes “average” versus “add” together. This now allows us much more freedom to push how far the shapes can go, therefore allowing players to create much more diversity in face shapes. Spawn Camping: To combat this problematic issue in both PVP and PVE (yes NPCs will swamp incoming players upon login), we have made a few changes in R28. Temporary Invulnerability: When players respawn after death or first appear in a scene, they are temporarily invulnerable for a few seconds, or until they perform an action Randomized Location: When entering a PVP map, players will now appear in a randomized location. NOTE: PVP PoTs do not randomize entry location. Winter Telethon Rewards: Everyone who pledged at least $5 during our Winter Telethon will now receive their /snow emote and Snowflake Cloak (which extends the length of the /snow emote duration when worn). Shooting Stars: The sky above Novia will periodically be visited by meteors burning up in the atmosphere. Lighting: Increased Top End of Brightness Slider: We increased the maximum brightness setting to a much higher brightness. This should help those with darker monitors. Improved Lighting in Character Creation: Our Character Creation screen was using a very broken and old lighting model. We have done our best to update it to a better model, but the long term plan is to move this to a “real” scene in the game to take advantage of our in game lighting model. For now, it is at least better than it was. Light Sources tied to Ambient: When we made a recent upgrade to our lighting model, we broke the effect that point source lights (torches, light spells, etc.) use to increase the overall ambient light level. This bug is now fixed, so in addition to providing a local source of illumination, they should once again increase the overall brightness of the scene. Add On Store Tabs: The Add On Store has been reorganized with category tabs to make viewing the content easier. Sound Effects: Another huge pass through the game upgrading and adding new sounds. Zombies Chest Mimic Barrel Mimic Bandits Elves Resurrection Ankhs Death sounds Spiders Light Enlightenment Flame Fist Douse Healing Touch Dash Death Touch Books & Parchment Dungeon Breakthrough Walls Localization: Various tasks were completed and bugs were fixed to support the ongoing localization effort. All the initial languages are advancing steadily with Spanish still in the lead at 83% and German steadily catching up with 65%. Italian has leaped forward and is now at 47% Player Owned Towns: Mountain Template 01: This is both an entirely new layout (not at all based on the original PaxLair template) and a new biome representing a high mountain pass with a lake. Players who have selected this template and who have locked their submission form will be automatically switched over in Release 29. Broadcast Automated Phonograph: Owners of a dynamic Player Owned Town will now be able to select the songs that play in their town using wax cylinders and a Broadcast Automated Phonograph. These songs will be played across the entire scene for all players to hear as a random playlist. We had originally planned for our world builders to add the music to the towns by hand, like we do any other scene, but as we have expanded the tools for the dynamic towns we realized we should extend those dynamic capabilities to music as well. We then realized we had already converted most of the music to wax cylinders. From there it was only a few steps (albeit complicated steps) to enable players to use those wax cylinders to build playlists for their towns. The number of songs that can go in the Phonograph is governed by the size of the town. We are currently delivering 20 of the game songs with the phonograph and we will add more as they are turned into wax cylinders. NOTE: Even though the songs are stored on wax cylinders, they do not sound like they are played on a phonograph and are entirely unfiltered. Increased Resurrection Ankhs: We have greatly increased the number of Resurrection Ankhs in all Player Owned Towns. This should improve the mechanics in towns who flag for PVP. Nested Templates in Hometown: To allow owners to make more informed decisions about what template they would like to choose for their town, they can now visit each of the current templates by visiting Hometown (which now has one of each template as nested PoTs). New Dynamic PoTs: For PoTs that used the new Lock & Submit procedure, we processed any requests that don’t require a wipe, including new PoTs, interconnections, and size changes. Please note we cannot process biome changes or owner transfers without a wipe. We added 5 new dynamic PoTs (listed below). We also upgraded sizes on several PoTs and added requested interconnections to other PoTs. Finally we removed PoTs with incomplete or failed payment plans. Blackrock Cove: Added interconnections (Cooper Shoals, Tara’s Rest). Removed interconnection (Minock). Brickmaer: New addition (nested in Kiln). Bricksium: Interconnection (nested in Xenos). Cooper Shoals: New addition (nested in Blackrock Cove). Dara Brae: Changed location to . Added interconnection (with Storm’s Reach). Evergreen Farm: New addition (temporarily under Brittany Graveyard). Italian Militum: Removed. It’s a Town: Downgraded to Holdfast. Malum Immortui: Removed. Minock: Removed interconnection with Blackrock Cove. Obsidian Ridge: Added interconnection (Cooper Shoals). Painted Caves: Removed. Papua: Removed. Stinging Tree Hollow: Upgraded to Town. Tara’s Rest: New addition (nested in Blackrock Cove). Temples of Syrinx: New addition (nested in Desolis). Tokuno: Removed. So, now that it is clear what you can expect, we should also be as clear about what you should NOT expect: Performance: We have only done rudimentary optimizations, and we do not yet have a full suite of performance fallbacks (LODs, etc.). This means the game will be quite slow on older machines, and due to memory usage, and might be unstable in certain conditions (like densely decorated areas). With each release, we will be doing further optimizations and adding to our fallbacks to improve performance. Crafting: The crafting system is in the game as a framework, but is still missing some key components like a full suite of Refining/Production Skills and breadth/depth of recipes. Game Loop: Release 28 is a further iteration on our game loop, but is still missing some key components. Expect this to expand with each subsequent release, but it won’t be truly complete until we hit final wipe in July. Visual Quality: Efforts to improve visual quality are ongoing. We will continue to iterate on these until we have highly competitive visuals. Pledge Rewards: Pledge Rewards that have been built and have tech to support them are in the game; all other rewards are awaiting either content creation or tech support. You can find an updated list of these items in known issues. Persistence: As part of development, we will need to periodically wipe data including characters, property, etc. There will be a wipe in April and one more in July before everything goes persistent with Release 32. So consider everything gained during early access temporary. Here are links to instructions and known issues. Thank you again for your continued support. This is truly the most amazing community we have ever worked with, and we are proud to be on this journey with you. Sincerely, Starr Long aka Darkstarr Executive Producer View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with the final chapter in the thrilling saga from Elgarion De’Kahli. It is entitled Kahli Rises from the Ashes Background music by Smartsound 469 Years Following The Cataclysm… On Tiwesdai, the 3rd of Marse, the Month of the Seafarer, the Life-Giving Season of Sprengh, at the Arrival of Dusk A Location was Rediscovered Elgarion hobbled over the crest of a weathered hill, pummeled by chill air which swept down from the looming mountains behind him and buffeted upon his bent and hunched back. The old man’s tattered gray robes and wispy hair and beard fluttered about just as leaves whipped past oft brushing against his aged cheek. The icy wind bothered him little, however, going mostly unnoticed. What captivated him was not the cold nor his weariness; before him lay a ruin which at long last, was something finally most familiar to him. At the feet of the Bone Spires, now different and reshaped from the Catacylsm, barely recognizable, Elgarion De’Kahli gazed with tearing eyes upon a solitary windmill. The old sorcerer’s mind compared what he saw now to what was then. An image of surreal beauty, windmills intermixed with keeps and towers and grand spires superimposed upon the ruins of today. Ghostly stone walls stood stalwart in the distance, the sun setting upon their ramparts casting the final yet brilliant radiance of Artenius’s light throughout the city. With each blade of the windmill passing before him, a rhythmic darkness was cast, each pulse shifting the light and bending shadow. Only a single windmill remained. It was in good repair, oddly. But elsewhere, the walls had crumbled. The tall spires collapsed and lay in heaps of once painstakingly gilded stonework. No more homes remained. The loving peoples of Kahli… gone. The vibrant markets… gone. The spectral laughter of children caused the hairs on his neck to rise in a shiver. It was the wind playing tricks, surely, passing through the hollows of trees, which had now overgrown the old yet majestic city of Kahli. Elgarion had returned. Some 469 years following the Cataclysm, the Marquis De’Kahli had returned. http://thecaverns.net/Podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Kahli_Rises_from_the_Ashes_by_Elagrion_DeKahli_narrated_by_Asclepius.mp3?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss The post Kahli Rises from the Ashes – by Elgarion De’Kahli – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article