The First Strike

December 2001 - Announcements Page

Town Crier Rumors

 * Town Crier tells you, "Hear ye, hear ye! The Training Hall outposts of six Nexus towns have fallen to an unprecedented attack! The portals to the Halls have...disappeared! What of the poor Trainers who must still be trapped inside?"


 * Town Crier tells you, "Environmentalists report that the rabbit population has gone into a sharp decline around the vicinity of a certain hill on the outskirts of Lytlethorpe. Meanwhile, shopkeeps and provisioners are reporting a sharp increase in the sale of carrots. Could these trends be related? I have a theory...it may be...oh nevermind."


 * Town Crier tells you, "I heard there's a new shoe crafter in Lytelthorpe. Funny thing is...he'll make you one, but not a pair. Odd way to run a business, isn't it?"


 * Town Crier tells you, "Those awful petrified pastries are back. I believe one of the ingredients, Brown Lumps, are sometimes dropped by Knaths if you can find them. I thought they were hunted to extinction, but people are still making those fossilized festival foods so the Knaths must be hiding somewhere. That or they're the same cakes from last year..."


 * Town Crier tells you, "The Nexus Town Bowyers Guild has asked me to announce that this month they will be unveiling the latest in missile weaponry...the Atlatl! Thrown weapons experts-get yours while supplies last!"


 * Town Crier tells you, "The Barkeeps are getting into the Festivities and are selling Festival Lights in Zaikhal, Cragstone and Hebian-To."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Have you seen those new-fangled weapons the outpost town shopkeepers are selling?"


 * Town Crier tells you, "Did you notice those giant Candy Sticks in town? I guess some mage got into the Festival Spirit... or perhaps just spirits! Anyway they cast all sorts of useful buffs on players, if you can get their attention."


 * Town Crier tells you, "It seems that winter is almost here. The snows are returning. Let's just hope we don't get as much as we did two seasons ago with the whole Frore problem."


 * Town Crier tells you, "I heard William Witty finally built himself a little cottage in Lytelthorpe. For a while I thought he'd never settle down! Always dashing here, dashing there... If I had a pair of slippers like his, why, I'd always keep moving too."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Ugh, my cousin sent me another one of those horrible Fruitcakes again for the Winter Festival. I guess I can use it for a doorstop or something."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Giant Snowmen in the world are said to be selling instructions on how to make a little Snowman."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Our Queen has dispatched members of her own Guard to build and fortify Training Academies in the outposts of Holtburg, Shoushi, and Yaraq. These guards have been specially charged to train new arrivals in these uncertain times."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Increasing portal disturbances have continued to threaten the 18 arrival points from Ispar. What...or who could be causing them?"


 * Town Crier tells you, "The Arcanum has enchanted a perimeter of Obelisks around the safest boundaries of Holtburg, Yaraq and Shoushi. New arrivals are to be warned that venturing past these markers will lead them to uncertain and more dangerous territories."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Been getting chilly lately. If you need some wood to keep warm or if you'd just like a Festival decoration, I hear there are two Woodsmen that have set up shops outside of Holtburg and Glendenwood."

Ulgrim Rumors

 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Oh, a new island, huh? You're all excited about it, huh? Here's one important question you have to ask yourself: Does it have Ulgrim on it? That should tell you all you need to know."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Psst, I've heard they were seen outside of towns recently. I've even heard that the Giant Snowmen are selling instructions on how to make more of the smaller ones. They are using witless fools to add to their frozen army. One more reason I stay out here in the desert."

New UI and Game Changes

 * Graphics
 * New animation for the house recall command.
 * Game Concepts
 * The Training Academy has been introduced to train new arrivals to Dereth.
 * Housing
 * House owners no longer need to add other characters on their account to their guest list. This is now automatically done, and these characters will no longer appear on the guest list.
 * If an account owns a house, all characters on that account can now recall to that house with the command @house recall.
 * Thrown Weapons
 * A new Thrown Weapon projectile launcher - the Atlatl - has been introduced. There are also standard darts for these Atlatls.
 * Players can now use thrown weapons while wearing a shield.

New Quests

 * Training Academy Quest

Updated Quests

 * Training Halls - Old tutorial quest now retired

New NPCs

 * Academy Blacksmith
 * Academy Foreman
 * Academy Quartermaster
 * Academy Researcher
 * Senior Guard
 * Royal Guard Sentry
 * Sentry (Training Academy)
 * Jacque the Woodsman
 * William Witty
 * Woodsman

Updated NPCs

 * Giant Snowman - Now sells A Frozen Note
 * Snowman - Now sells A Frozen Note
 * Greeter - Updated as part of the new Training Academy
 * Training Master - Updated as part of the new Training Academy

New Locations

 * Training Academy
 * Holtburg West Training Academy - 42.3N, 30.6E
 * Holtburg South Training Academy - 39.3N, 33.4E
 * Shoushi West Training Academy - 33.7S, 69.7E
 * Shoushi Southeast Training Academy - 36.7S, 76.0E
 * Yaraq North Training Academy - 18.7S, 1.7W
 * Yaraq East Training Academy - 21.5S, 1.3E

Housing Settlements

 * 250 Cottages, 40 Villas and 10 Mansions added to the world.
 * 38.3N, 52.6E - Cottage
 * 46.5N, 48.6W - Cottages
 * 76.7N, 30.5E - Cottages
 * 36.2N, 51.7W - Villa
 * 38.4N, 24.1E - Villas
 * Mansions
 * Enchantment Mansion
 * Green Mire Mansion
 * Olthoi North Mansion
 * Seedsow Festival Stone Mansion
 * Settlement Portals for housing added during the The Gathering Storm event:
 * Uziz
 * West Uziz Settlement
 * Arida Butte
 * Broken Sword Bethel Settlement
 * Narziz Cottages
 * North Uziz Settlement
 * Baishi
 * North Baishi Cottages
 * Oboro
 * Arwic
 * South Beach Pass Villas
 * Far Claw Villas
 * Glendon Wood
 * Highland Manors
 * Holtburg
 * West Holtburg Villas
 * Plateau Village
 * Rivermouth Villas
 * Stonehold
 * Dires' Door Estates

Updated Locations

 * Palenqual's Cavern - Upper level requirement removed (was 5-45)
 * Starter Outposts destroyed in 6 Nexus towns:
 * North Al-Arqas Outpost
 * West Al-Arqas Outpost
 * East Lytelthorpe Outpost
 * West Lytelthorpe Outpost
 * East Nanto Outpost
 * North Nanto Outpost
 * East Rithwic Outpost
 * South Rithwic Outpost
 * East Samsur Outpost
 * Northwest Samsur Outpost
 * North Yanshi Outpost
 * South Yanshi Outpost

Updated Items

 * High Tension String (Dam Mod +18%) increased to +20%
 * Precise (Bow +5 pts) increased to +10
 * Huntress' Boon (+5 pts damage) spell added
 * Prey's Reflex (+6% Attack Bonus) spell added
 * Welcome Letter - Text and icon updated.
 * - Retired.
 * - Retired.

New Emotes

 * Talk to the hand: *talk to the hand*.
 * At ease: *at ease*.
 * Play possum: *play possum*.
 * Sit: *sit down*.
 * Get comfortable: *cross legs*.
 * Get really comfortable: *sitback*.
 * Point left: *point left*.
 * Point right: *point right*.
 * Point to the left until you do another action: *pointing left*.
 * Point to the right until you do another action: *pointing right*.
 * Nudge left: *nudgeleft*.
 * Nudge right: *nudgeright*.

Portal.dat

 * [[File:Portaldat 200112.png]]

New Creatures



 * valign=top width=220|


 * valign=top width=250|


 * }

Images
Click image for full size version.