Cogs in the Machine

September 2009 - Announcements Page

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Discoveries
Patch Size: 908k (Client: 4,480k)

Town Crier Rumors
Free Rumors:
 * Town Crier tells you, "Fall is in the air! See the leaves turn color.  Feel the crispness in the air.  Smell the cider brewing.  Run from the scarecrows that always seem to get riled up this time of year."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Have you gone to see Sean the Speedy yet to hear about the next set of Explorers' Society map markers to find?"


 * Town Crier tells you, "It sounds like the poor Woron family in Baishi needs a little more assistance."


 * Town Crier tells you, "News! Rand the Hunter has updated his creature bounties.  Find him in Holtburg to see what he's marked this time."


 * Town Crier tells you, "The Arcanum seeks to learn more about the mysterious clockwork soldiers! Seek out Nurino above Xarabydun to see how you can help."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Word is that a scholar has appeared in Eastham who's particularly interested in an Apostate facility in northwestern Dereth."

Pyreal Rumors:
 * Town Crier tells you, "All you map hounds are encouraged to see Sean the Speedy in Holtburg. Word is he's got a thing for, ahem, tall buildings this month."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Carolyn and Ries Woron are grateful for the assistance they have received from intrepid adventurers like yourself, but it seems they need further help. Find them in Baishi if you are so inclined."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Have you spoken to Nurino the Arcanum researcher above Xarabydun? He thinks there are clues about the nature of the clockwork soldiers, or Gear Knights as he calls them, in the cave where the desperados threatening Baishi and Lin were holed up."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Rand the Hunter has marked a new set of creatures for bounties. This time I hear he's in a bug-stomping mood.  Find him in Holtburg if you feel up to the task."


 * Town Crier tells you, "We've heard there are some interesting reports about the Apostates mucking around with those rumored clockwork soldiers that no one's seen before. Speak with the Arcanum scholar Hei Shou at the scribe's shop in Eastham to learn more."


 * Town Crier tells you, "You can tell the seasons are turning from the changes among the animals and from the chilly breezes in the evenings. This also means festival season is coming up!"

Ulgrim Rumors
Free Rumors:
 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "All this time I thought the Apostate Virindi were fixing to capture us all and drain the life out of us. Turns out we're not the target this time.  I could tell you more, but I'd rather drain the life out of a mug of stout.  So anything you can do to help that initiative along..."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I think Sean the Speedy's running out of places to mark, because he's gone for some of the hard-to-miss sites now."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Nurino? Nice guy, but I think the fumes from Xarabydun are getting to him.  A suit of armor fell on him in the royal palace and now he thinks he sees 'Gear Knights' everywhere.  Take it from me, he's crazy, and I know crazy."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Oh, it's fall. That's good, I was getting tired of summer.  All the heat makes me thirsty.  Wait, no, I'm still thirsty.  That's a hint, kid, get me some stout."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "You may be looking forward to festival season, but I'm not. It seems like every year bad stuff starts happening around then.  Like all the bad guys in Dereth save all their big plans for the times when it's most festive.  That just seems mean-spirited.  It'd be much kinder to make trouble in the summer, when the cool dungeon air will be a nice break from the heat."

Stout Rumors:
 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Clockwork soldiers? Yeah, right.  Now pull the other one, it's got bells on."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Fall has come back around! My favorite time of year.  Time to gather the lads and throw around the old pigskin.  Wait, what do you mean there are no pigs in Dereth?  Where the heck has my bacon been coming from, then?"


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "For some reason, sky diving is on my mind. Ever been sky diving?  It's the greatest.  Let me tell you about a spell I cooked up once, called 'Portal to Teth'..."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I was just in Eastham the other day, talking to Hei Shou, and she had an interesting theory about what the Apostate Virindi are really up to. As soon as I realized that her theory had nothing to do with applesauce, though, I dismissed it as the unfocused ravings of a crank."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress story. Like I heard about how poor Ries Woron had his wife kidnapped by those bandits.  Chivalrous as I am, I swooped in there and took her from the kidnappers.  I'll release her as soon as Ries pays me with her weight in stout... I mean, that's only fair, right?"


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "No, really, I know exactly what the Apostates are up to. They're going to flay us all and harvest our organs so they can appear more human.  I told Claude he couldn't possibly pass for a human without organs, and ever since he's been muttering about how 'More organs equals more human' or something like that."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "What, no more strange and awful developments from the town of Mar'uun? I admit, for all that I called them attention-needy gits in the past, I miss their misadventures."

New Quests

 * Unleash the Gearknights
 * Thugs Part IV (Gear Knight Parts)

Updated Quests

 * Dereth Exploration - 10 new Markers were added.
 * Monthly Game Hunter - New creatures to hunt:
 * Olthoi Swarm Legionaries.
 * Olthoi Swarm Nobles.
 * Olthoi Primordials.
 * Paradox-touched Olthoi Slashers.
 * Olthoi Slayers.

New NPCs

 * Hei Shou - 17.5N 63.5E in Eastham
 * Nurino - 41.6S 15.8E in Xarabydun

New Locations

 * Reaving Facility - 40.1N, 50.9W near Plateau Village - 150+ Portal inside a burrow - Speak to Hei Shou for flag?
 * Arrival Chamber - Inside Reaving Facility

Updated Locations

 * Lord Rytheran's Private Sanctum - An Ancient Chest added near the end that contains a Strange Mana Gem.

New Titles

 * Sky Diver

Portal.dat

 * [[File:Portaldat 200909.png]]

New Creatures

 * {|cellpadding=5


 * -valign=top






 * }

Seasonal Creatures

 * Scarecrows, Pumpkin Lords and Harvest Reapers are back. The Festival Vendor and Majestic Pumpkin are also back.

Known Issues

 * As part of the Gear Knight Parts quest, you must have done the Collegium Occultus Ring Quest at least once to enter one of the dungeons. Because the ring isn't that great, quite a few people have town criered a seal from the quest rather than complete the quest. The NPC will not give a new one so you are stuck and cannot get flagged. Some people have had success getting an envoy to fix it for them, but others have not had any response.
 * A bug was introduced with item IDs. As a result, many Decal plugins will not save settings involving items in your inventory. Also, chests in the game that are supposed to spawn particular items may not spawn those items. There have been reports that often the mana forge chests are empty, so it is advised that everyone ID the chest before pulling it to ensure that it actually has items inside. Update: this bug has been hotfixed and should be fixed.

Typos

 * Nurino tells you, "... his Library. if [sic] you happend to find..." -- "if" should be capitalized.
 * From Interactions and Observations, 'Gear Knights':
 * Record 1 - ...that the world is mostly artifical [sic]
 * Record 5 - ...so there may be more Aetheium [sic] on our world
 * Record 6 - ...Gold Gear has been searching for a more defensable [sic] location