Server Updates
#51
-Thralgard Keep, the southern gateway to restricted High Thay, has opened its outer gates to travelers
1. This massive keep can be found 2 leagues south and 2 leagues west of Eltabbar
2. It contains 7 new areas to explore including the House of the Hand (a temple to Torm), the massive keep interior itself, the garrison of the Black Unicorn Legion of Thay, and the Red Lord's Respite - a unique tavern and meeting location even for the many Red Wizards that pass through the keep to their estates or the infamous Citadel in High Thay
3. Mid-level adventurers will want to seek out the new questgiver found here since the quest reward provided will be something *everyone* will want to have...
4. Three new joinable factions can be found in Thralgard Keep - the House of the Hand, the Black Legion of Thay, and the High Thay legion

-Thanks to the work of Sundraoi and Purulent Carcass, there are three new areas in the massive complex of The Citadel in High Thay. The Labyrinth of the Doombringer, the Warrens, and the Drow Outpost of Undrek'Thoz were all created by them for use in a secretive mission when the god Hoar arrived in Thay during the Time of Troubles to retrieve a weapons cache he had hidden there

-The Pit of Pyarados is open as a new venue for gladiators, or those looking for a fight, to spill some blood. It is the location that new Thayan Gladiators will be sent until they prove they are worthy of greater venues

-Once the creatures created at an encounter spawn point have been killed, the time in which new creatures will be created has been almost tripled. This means you can take more time (and hopefully do more RP) when adventuring as you will more often be able to leave a dangerous area the way you entered without as often running back into new hostile creatures toward the beginning of the area

-The maximum reward for 'Retrieve X item from someone' quests have been significantly increased and, while still difficult, the DC of the person who holds the item has been slightly decreased should you try to take it from them by force. Remember though that force should be considered a last resort since these quests are not meant to be glorified assassin missions - the individual holding them item is still going to be very difficult to defeat in combat

-Thieves guilds have a 50% of giving a 'Retrieve X item from someone' quests or a 50% chance of giving a 'Fetch me this item(s)' quest

-Monks of the Long Death, Gnoll Furies, and Thralls of Eltab have had their combat difficulty reduced

-Rakshasi, Rakshasa Ruhks, and Rakshasa Maharajahs may now be encountered in locations where planar creatures are found

-A new merchant can be found in the market of Thazar Keep

-The duration of Greater Planar Binding has been increased to 1 minute/level

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. The legion quartermaster in Bezantur will have the correct text displayed when selling or buying items from her
2. Faction items giving a different AC bonus after re-equipping them has been resolved
3. Tailor models will no longer give incorrect costs or an 'Unrecognized Token' error when copying helms, weapons, or shields from them to a PC
4. New level 1 PCs with a positive Intelligence modifier can once again specify their bonus languages by using the dm_learn command
5. Getting stuck at negative hitpoints a bleeding state, which could only be removed by relogging and then respawning, should no longer occur
6. Player owned buildings that no longer have an owner (due to late taxes, the PC dying/deleted, etc) can't be entered unless claimed by a new owner
7. Bandages can no longer be used against fallen gladiators in an arena until a match victor has been declared. Be warned that in *lethal* group matches *only*, this does leave the possibility that a fallen fighter may bleed out and die before the match ends!
#52
-The restricted High Thay region containing the Thaymounts can now be accessed through one of several means. The most common method is to 'discuss options' with a guard in one of the castles that guard access to the region...
1. This addition has opened up a significant new region of Thay that can be traveled by horse or foot (the overland leagues in Thay that can be traveled across now has increased from 280 to 335)
2. The Citadel, an ancient and enormous complex built into the side of the Thaymounts, can be reached. In all of the mysterious realm of Thay, the Citadel stands alone as the most mysterious, dangerous, and challenging location for any adventurers foolhardy enough to risk entering it. Many Red Wizard-sponsored expeditions have been sent into the unexplored depths of the Citadel. Some have returned with large amounts of treasure. Most have not returned at all
3. Several Red Wizard estates can be found dotting the landscape of High Thay. Thanks go to Sundraoi for her help creating them, and her and Purulent Carcass for their help decorating them
4. The Gold Mines of Thay, found in 3 leagues east and 1 league south of Thralgard Keep, can be explored. Two new special questgivers can be found here, each of which are looking for very different people to help them (in other words, many people will not be able to do both quests). Thanks go to Sundraoi for the creation of the exterior area leading into the Gold Mines
5. Within the Gold Mines, a small temple to the dwarven pantheon can be joined. Thanks go to EdinSumar for creating the necessary faction contact conversation to make it so

-The Astral Plane can now be reached for adventure. It is an open, timeless domain where the effects of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and natural healing do not occur and where the Githyanki await to ambush any unwary planar travelers 'trespassing' in their home

-The Tharchioness' Palace in Eltabbar is available thanks to the work of Animayhem

-Ancient Lizardfolk Catacombs in The Citadel are available thanks to the work of Purulent Carcass and Sundraoi

-New types of overland areas, Forests and Badlands, can be found and traveled through in High Thay

-When someone is disguised with a Hood of Disguise, the magic of the hood will no longer end when the person attacks or casts a hostile spell. The magical disguise, however, can now be removed if one of the Dispel Magic spells is cast on the person disguised by it

-Several new DM commands that allow for porting players/parties to DM-specified locations and a new command that can be used by DMs to grant players the ability to play a restricted subrace PC, if deemed appropriate

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Orc PCs may select Orc gods
2. Captain Azura of the Priador, the Master Sergeant in the Keep of Sorrows, and several other master sergeants will now properly speak to and accept new recruits to their respective legions
3. When being sent by a special questgiver to face a villain in an underwater area, the villain will be considering waterbreathing and will no longer get destroyed immediately after being created
4. Jousting between two PCs will once again work as intended
5. When a PC is in subdual mode and they release (kill) a shackled slave, it should no longer drop to Badly Wounded, but instead be killed as intended
6. Dominated or summoned creatures (such as faction aid) should properly despawn when their PC master logs out
7. NPCs that PCs are sent after in order to retrieve an object will no longer give quests due to them spawning hostile if they had to be recreated
8. Mounted PCs getting infected with lycanthropy, and then being unable to use the mount menu after each login should no longer occur
9. Chathi Oandem will properly recognize when someone has returned with the object she requests for her quest
10. Black Unicorn commanders will summon only fellow legionnaires, and the goblin legionnaires other legion sergeants summon won't have a human appearance
11. New Gladiators will no longer only be sent to the Colosseum of Thay by the Doctore
12. PCs who are booted out of a faction and then join another one, such as slaves who become gladiators, will have their Path to Power journal entry properly updated
13. The Black Unicorn legion recruiter will make sure that those who are not evil drow or human women can no longer slip into its ranks
14. When a PC is sent after a quest item that they already have, but have renamed, it is assumed that item is modified - so the questgiver will no longer take it. For example, if sent after Stones of Recall and a Stone of Recall has been set to a location so its name has changed, the questgiver will no longer take those stones. See this post for more information about the resolution to this long-occurring problem
15. An exploit in which certain multiple item retrieval quests could be used to gain significant amounts of notoriety has been addressed
#53
-The Smoking Keep, the northern gateway to restricted High Thay, is now available. Plumes of smoke giving the keep its name billow from the ground in and around the castle, keeping it eternally foggy and horrid-smelling
1. This keep can be found 8 leagues north and 2 leagues west of Thralgard Keep at the far northern end of High Thay
2. It contains 6 new areas to explore including the Citadel of Stratagem (a temple to the Red Knight), the keep interior itself, and for the brave mid-level adventurer - the dungeons below and the nearby Murky Caverns
3. A special questgiver found here, and a new one found elsewhere in a capital city, gives a unique item based off suggestions given by the community
4. The Citadel of Stratagem is a new joinable faction here. Thanks go to EdinSumar for creating the necessary faction contact conversation to make it so

-There has been a significant change to the opening event for all new PCs. Of particular note, there is now a type of semi-OOC area that new PCs go to in which they can change their body appearance, portrait, select languages, select their patron deity, and purchase starting equipment. For full details, see this thread

-Over a half dozen new items based on suggestions by the community can now be found or purchased. Thanks for those and keep them coming!

-Characters who are following the merchant/mercenary Path to Power may buy and sell items to Merchant Masters for prices similar to merchants of other factions

-Think very carefully about what you are doing before trying to 'save' someone who has been petrified. If one of the most popular tactics used in the past to remove petrification is used now, the petrified individual will be heartbroken (pun intended). So maybe Stone to Flesh won't be such a worthless spell to have after all...

-The Colosseum of Thay has new and extremely loud Editor of the Games, whose voice can even be heard in the far corners of the arena when announcing matches

-There is an unbalancing effect when PCs possess 2, 3, 4, 5+ copies of special quest reward items like Sharken's Stone of Missiles, Torm's Stone Hand, etc. As a result there is now an ever increasing chance that the longer they carry multiple copies of those items, the magic of the extra copies will fade or become unstable - causing them to disintegrate

-Two new DM voice commands are available for DMs to quickly copy items, creatures, or placeables; and another to resize most creatures

-In the ongoing effort to fight lag, spawns points in over 75% of Thay's areas were updated to properly remove spawned creatures if the area is empty of players

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Overland travel to and from the Gold Mines of Thay exterior in High Thay works properly now
2. Martial characters with a BAB equal to their level will begin receiving the quests to fight in arenas
3. Members of the Red Wizard, Thayan Knight, and High Thay factions can open the locked gates that restrict entry to High Thay
4. Drow PCs should no longer have light blindness penalties applied to them each time they enter a new area, nor have those penalties stack
5. All Yuan-ti will be recognized as valid slaves when returning them to fulfill a slavery quest
#54
-Welcome to Thay, land of the Walking Dead! This HUGE update focuses heavily on the undead, starting with the long awaited ability for a PC to become a lich. This brand new feature comprises over 1000 new lines of code and hundreds of hours of development work and testing by the staff. See the Lichdom thread for complete details

-To become one of the Walking Dead, a character may potentially become a lich *or a vampire now* by starting a new quest from an existing questgiver, if you can find him. PCs as low as level 7 may begin the quest, however note the following points
1. The theme of this entire quest is all about sacrifice and a taste of the danger you'll experience as an undead. Not the least of which ends with the sacrifice of your PCs 'life' if successful. This is not a decision to be taken lightly as your PC will be asked to demonstrate just how serious he is by giving up quite a bit before even getting the opportunity to lay down his life as the ultimate sacrifice
2. If you start this quest and your PC is not willing to do the first thing the questgiver asks, or you need to take another quest to get what he wants, you may decline the quest with no notoriety loss
3. Part of the overall quest is a dangerous trial in which your PC cannot escape (no portal stones!). If he dies during this trial, while he may be able to return to Thay at a safe location, he cannot go back to the location of its death and/or retrieve its items. You need to be very certain you are willing to risk this before opening the doors (literally) that take you to this extremely dangerous location, since DMs will not intervene to return people to their stuff if they die there!
4. Those who do not wish to become undead, or cannot because they already have another special PC, can still brave the initial part of this undead trial and receive a powerful and unique item, with properties never before seen in the Thay PW, for surviving it
5. Important: PCs who are aspiring to become liches must have at least half their levels in a spellcasting class to take the path in this quest to become a lich. So for those who don't pick up caster levels until later in your career, you'll want to wait to open the doors on this quest
6. Important: PCs much higher than level 8 *cannot* take the path to become vampires through this quest. This was a game balance decision so we don't all of a sudden get a bunch of high-level vampires who did not have to survive the very real dangers of 'growing up' a vampire in Thay
7. Important: PCs who do manage to become vampires through this quest are not free vampires. They are, by a vampiric bond that cannot be overcome, subservient to a powerful NPC elder vampire and part of his coven. Therefore, those who become vampires through this quest must obey their coven's laws and any of their master's commands until either freed, or the master is destroyed (good luck with that!)

-The Walking Dead edition of Thay would not be complete without zombies, of course! Therefore, the Long Portage is now available by ship from Eltabbar. There you'll find the Guild of Portagers, who long ago ran afoul of the Tam family, and now serve as zombie porters shambling up and down the Long Portage
1. While travel beyond the Long Portage is currently restricted, skilled adventurers sometimes test themselves in the ancient spirit and monster-infested Rashemi Halls of the Forsaken
2. A shrine dedicated to the god of the dead is there offering healing services but, more importantly, helping convert new corpses to the zombie 'guild'
3. The Surthay legion has barracks here, and the legion can be joined by speaking to the Master sergeant within
4. Rumor has it a new questgiver may occasionally be found in the vicinity of the Long Portage as well

-Stones of Recall have changed to Portal Stones so the pretty 'Manipulate Portal Stone' item property is used to set and activate the stones. As a result, Stones of Recall are being deprecated and any you may possess are being automatically converted to Portal Stones when you login with a PC who carries them. Please note that this auto-conversion is only going to last for another month before I remove the auto-convert code to ensure our scripts remain clean. Make sure you login with all your PCs that have old Stones of Recall and pick up old Stones of Recall you have in storage within the next real-time month, or they will no longer work!

-Two more planes of existence can be accessed through Dillomat's Tower - Arvandor and the Astral Plane

-There is a new bardic questgiver who moves around the outskirts of Thay and can only be found in certain locations on certain days. The reward he gives will be well worth the effort to find him in a new location or wait for him to return to an old one

-The Knock spell is no longer invincible over all locks. Now, if a lock DC is over a certain threshold, the Knock spell will do a d100 roll vs. the lock DC and, if the roll is lower than the DC, the spell will not be able to open it - at least for several in-game days. However, no matter how complex a lock, there is always at least a 10% chance the Knock spell can open it. The primary intention of this change is to make player houses much more secure (but not impregnable) if investments have been made to door locks, but also to increase the value of becoming a truly skilled rogue

-When bashing a door for a time within a house/town/city/castle, there is an ever-increasing chance the noise you make alerts someone who calls guards on you. Door hardness plays a big part in this because the hardness will absorb more of the damage and cause you to take a longer time to bash it open

-If a PC respawns on a caravan, ship, or boat journey they will actually be saved by the NPC caravan/ship members and awake at their destination. However, they lose XP from the trauma of nearly dying, and notoriety as words spreads that others had to save them from certain death

-The Appraise skill now plays an important part when determining the maximum purchase price a merchant will give for an item. As a reminder, store inventories and gold reset after certain amount of time if an area is empty of PCs. It is to your benefit to seek out merchants who are off the beaten path as they'll likely be able to buy more items from you more often than those in Tyraturos, for example

-Static questgivers are no longer solely level dependent. Other unseen factors now go into their decision to when they will ask someone to take on their quest

-The price of several expensive/exotic pieces of furniture has been considerably reduced at the stores - in some cases by more than 10000 gold

-Personal space and pathfinding has been disabled for PCs not engaged in combat with hostiles, and non-hostile NPCs. This means you can 'walk through' other PCs or NPCs. While this make lessen a bit of the realism, ultimately it should make for a much easier time getting around or through tight spaces when you are not in combat

-After receiving a certain amount of XP from slaving, there is now a cooldown period (similar to player awarded XP and combat dummies) before more will be awarded. Gold will still be paid for new slaves regardless of the cooldown period, however due to an overadundance of new slaves recently brought to market, the laws of supply and demand may dicate lower batch prices...at least for now

-For game balance decisions, the permanent Freedom item property is being automatically replaced with the Cast Spell: Freedom 2 uses/day property on all items in-game that possess it. Perma-Freedom was originally only placed on magic items due to a design oversight which was fixed some time ago only after a handful of these items were created by the random treasure system

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Issue with subraces earned by notoriety not being persistently set is resolved. If you haven't recently, go back and check your subrace availability with your longest-term PC to ensure the subraces available to you are permanently stored in the database
2. Portal Stones can be used to leave caravans and ships, but they cannot be set to a caravan or ship
3. Transferring ownership of your house to another through the use of your building key will work as expected again
4. A looping check has been put in place to ensure that tiefling, drow, lycan, lich, and vampire PCs will always equip their creature properties or bite/claw
5. Medium chairs placed in player houses will have PCs sitting on them facing the correct direction
6. New characters whose players have a slow login to the server should no longer temporarily 'forget' what languages they selected on their second login
7. Weather patterns have been fixed so that temperatures in Thay will be more temperate (warm) in most regions. Snow should be virtually unheard of now except in the hills, mountains, or far northern reaches of Thay
8. Rank 1 members (initiates) of a faction can be successfully marked for promotion by a DM or ranking member of their faction
9. PCs with a monster appearance, such as transformed lycans, vampires in mist form, or people polymorphed or disguised to monster appearances will not have any NPCs talk to them. This includes being unable to speak to caravan masters, ship deckhands, merchants, and virtually all other NPCs
10. Divine spellcasting PCs who have fallen from grace will be able to use items that cast divine spells (potions, staves, etc)
11. Tents, bedrolls, and campfires can no longer be setup in 'civilized' areas like towns and cities.
12. The player merchant system has been revised to allow PCs and/or players with long names to use them. This has resulted in the loss of any existing player merchants if you did not fire them prior to this update. For players who have fired their existing merchants, it is now safe to rehire/replace them
#55
-A custom XP system was recently implemented

-PCs can now use Writing Quills to rename or redescript any item. Newly purchased writing quill will explain this, and the commands for doing so are the same as if writing on a piece of paper, letter, notice, or book. Note that titling or writing on paper, letters, notices, or books takes only 1 charge from an ink well, whereas engraving a new name or description for any other item takes 10 charges from an ink well

-Because writing quills can now be used on any item, Engraving Tables are no longer needed and have been removed from the PW

-Notoriety restrictions have been lifted on all prestige classes except the Shadowdancer and Red Dragon Disciple classes. Note that characters may still only have one prestige class

-The tower of Zulkir Mythrella'aa, the enigmatic zulkir of illusion, is available in the city of Bezantur. Those few who have entered and managed to return speak of a confusing, illusion-filled place that can be deadly to those who don't know its many secrets. Thanks go to Animayhem for some assistance creating portions of it

-Some commoners can be told to leave (despawn) by talking to them. This can be helpful in situations where they are walking around in the middle of a group huddle and/or otherwise distracting from RP

-The immensely powerful leader of the Researcher faction of Red Wizards, Sabass of Thay, has taken over the tower of another Red Wizard in the Keep of Sorrows and considerably expanded its lower levels. Rumors say high-level adventurers recently broke into it...and none returned from within

-A new special questgiver can be found in Amruthar looking for assistance from low-level adventurers

-The NPC store and merchant system has undergone a significant behind-the-scenes revision. As part of this change, the amount of time in which a store will replenish its inventory and gold, if it is not accessed for a time, has been reduced

-Several changes to the Thayan Knight faction:
1. Red Wizard PCs may grant patronage for one other PC to become a Thayan Knight only once every in-game year (3 months real-time)
2. If granted patronage from a Red Wizard PC, a certain amount of notoriety is now still required - which is much less than that required to achieve captain in a legion, and slightly less than the amount required to prove allegiance on your own. Additionally, it is now easier to meet the Thayan Knight allegiance requirements without receiving patronage from a Red Wizard
3. Tharchions have commanded their legion quartermasters to buy from and sell to only the legionnaires of their legion. So while Thayan Knights may still access any and all legion restricted areas throughout Thay, they will need to see the Supreme Thayan Knight Commander if they want to buy or sell items at legion prices

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. An issue with being unable to respawn after petrification should no longer occur
2. A problem with player-owned merchants purchasing prices not being competitive with regular merchants has been fixed
3. The entangle spell has been fixed and works again as intended
4. Leaving polymorph will no longer cause you to re-equip armor/clothing, which means, for example, that people no longer need to worry about leaving polymorph in combat and being unable to move because they are reequipping their armor
5. Animals controlled by Animal Empathy can now have their tactics changed and will respond to voice commands like other dominated creatures, such as slaves
6. Dismissal and Banishment spells will properly work and attempt to remove hostile summons/familiars/companions/etc
7. Risen Zombies, Risen Skeletons, Undead from coffins, Animated Statues, and Transformed Gargoyles will properly despawn if they have not been killed after an area is clear of PC adventurers for a time
#56
-The city of Umratharos, capital of the Delhumide tharch north of Eltabbar, is now available! This small city provides a number of new places to see and explore
1. Currently the city can only be reached by ship from Eltabbar or the Long Portage, or by caravan from a number of more northern locations
2. It contains approximately 10 new areas to explore, as well as a new ship. Thanks go to Sundraoi for designing the Halls of Enlightenment, a temple to Deneir
3. The city is one struggling with its identity. The tharchion strives to portray it as a more civilized place, sponsors performances at the Pavilion of Eloquence, a theater dedicated to Milil, and encourages Red Wizards and nobles to come to Umratharos seeking obscure knowledge and art that can be found in the temple of Deneir. However most powerful nobles of the land, and their free-willed minions, steadfastly embrace the ranching and plantation life traditions of the sparsely populated tharch. As a result, there is still a rough-and-tumble crowd that frequents portions of the city, giving some of it a frontier-town atmosphere
4. The Umratharos Mausoleum, said to lead to ancient overgrown and buried ruins, is available for exploration by the brave or foolhardy mid-level adventurers
5. A new special questgiver here will give a task to mid-level adventurers
6. Two new joinable factions can be found in Umratharos; the Halls of Enlightenment and the Delhumide Legion

-The Tyraturos Thieves Guild is available to join, thanks to the very organized and detailed work of Wing and Purulent Carcass. This included their creation of the guild area, faction NPCs, faction item, and the conversation necessary to join it

-Various new important NPCs have been created for DM use, which people may start encountering: the present and future tharchions of High Thay and Delhumide

-Small changes to what happens when guards and other protector NPCs notice someone performing an illicit act (like unlocking a door they are protecting), and the feedback the PC receives when that situation occurs

-The DM command to override to grant access to the Shadowdancer and Red Dragon Disciple prestige classes has been deprecated. This means both of those PrCs may *only* be earned by acquiring enough notoriety to select them - which is the entire point anyway for the notoriety requirement for these classes

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. An issue with nearby placeables with certain words in their design tag that would allow people to rest where they should not as been resolved
2. Player awarded RP XP has been fixed so some people cannot get unlimited amounts and others receive nothing
3. An issue with new Gnoll PCs crashing the server has been fixed
4. If a space is put at the beginning of a Letter's title and then sent by raven to someone who is offline, it will now get delivered to that person when they next login
#57
-The castle of Gauros Keep is available. This northern capital of the Gauros tharch is one of the most militant capitals in Thay, established to protect the northeastern borders of Thay from monsters in the Sunrise mountains and the berserkers of Rashemen
1. This castle can currently be reached by caravan from a number of central and northern locations in Thay
2. It contains 7 new areas to explore. Thanks go to Sundraoi for designing the Fortress, the stronghold of an already well built and defended castle
3. The Bastille are the dungeons of many a Rashemi spy or captive monster. Both it and the tunnels below the castle can be explored in by mid-high level adventurers. It is said that the tunnels were created as an escape route (or flanking route) that lead to the Gauros Gorge north of the castle. In the event of a prolonged siege it has been used in the past, but few have been able to survive the now-dangerous trek through them to confirm or disprove that rumor
5. A new special questgiver found here will give a task to higher-level adventurers
6. The Garrison of War, a temple devoted to the war god Tempus, and the Gauros Legion are both available as factions to join in Gauros Keep. With this update, all the legions of Thay's 11 tharchs are now available to join!

-New items have been created and are available at various merchants, or can be found as treasure when adventuring

-When rung, gongs now can be heard by people within a 40 meter radius. This makes them more useful for calling others for assistance in the event of a gate attack, etc

-A minor change to the lich's Ritual of Becoming, making it a 3 step process rather than a 2 step process to create the Phylactery and the Elixir of Defilation (however the required components have not changed)

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. All gnoll creatures can once again be enslaved
2. Certain areas within Thralgard Keep have been properly restricted
3. The Black Pearl from the Alaor Naval Base once again works for sea voyages
4. The soul spectre for new PCs in Your Mind's Eye once again has a store from which items can be purchased or sold
5. When tithing, an Unrecognized Token error should no longer occur for tithes that weren't enough to shift the PC's alignment
#58
-The Ruins of Delhumide, 6 leagues southeast of Umratharos or 7 leagues northeast of Eltabbar on the other side of Lake Thaylambar, can now be reached by overland travel. This was once the provincial capital of Mulhorand and was sacked and destroyed when the Red Wizards rebelled and formed the nation of Thay centuries ago. It is now overrun with all manner of horrors and demons, but many adventurers have made their fortunes there - if they were lucky enough to survive.
1. This is a HUGE location for adventure for mid to high-level adventurers, comprised of 10 new large areas that contain treasure and danger, plus additional hidden or safe locations within. Bonus points go to whoever can clear all 10 adventure areas at once without resting or running for your life!
2. Several temples to Mulhorandi gods can be found within the ruins, and may even still be maintained, active, and allow you to join...if you can find them
3. A new questgiver can be found within the ruins
4. Had a rough adventure? Are all your other party members dead and in the Fugue? Then why not relax and utilize the caravans of a brave (or foolhardy) adventurer on its outskirts who has established routes from the ruins to several nearby cities and castles

-The Thossos Ruins in the far northwest corner of the Eltabbar tharch, 7 leagues west of the Smoking Keep or 10 leagues north and 1 league west of Nethwatch Keep, can also be reached by overland travel. This ruined castle is used as a location to exile various criminals and political enemies, and many mid to high-level adventurers often delve into it seeking plunder and glory. Thanks go to Wing and Purulent Carcass for their creation of the entire Thossos location
1. The Eltabbar Legion maintains an outpost just outside the ruined gate to keep the condemned contained within. The outpost includes the barracks, a quartermaster, master sergeant, and even some services that non-legionnaires can use as well. Thanks go to Wing for her creation of it
2. At the top of the ruined keep is a shrine to Talos. Lightning bolts always rain down on the keep due to its presence - even on clear days

-With the addition of Delhumide and Thossos, ALL OF THAY IS NOW OPEN FOR TRAVEL!!! This has been almost 7 years in the making, but now you can finally walk or ride all the way from Lake Mulsantir in the north to the Alamber Sea in the south! This addition means that all 488 open areas on the Thay Overland Map can now be reached by using your own two legs (or the legs of a horse). This is a MAJOR milestone for the PW, and one I am very pleased to finally, finally announce!

-What's that you say? Thay is too big? It's too dangerous or time consuming to get to far away places? You have way too much money and like to travel in style? Well then, here's just the thing for you: the Crystal Ball, Thay's only airship! Stolen from the wizards of Halruaa, its captain is still quite the daredevil, and for those with more coin than time he will use it to quickly transport them to many far off and/or dangerous points on the Thayan map, such as Thossos, the Ruins of Delhumide, the Sunrise Mountains, and even the Alaor Isles. You can find the Crystal Ball docked in the Lake Thaylambar Waterfront district of Eltabbar

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. The high security room in the Last Resort of Thazar Keep can be slept in
2. When tithing to temples of certain gods, alignment will be correctly adjusted based on the god's good/evil alignment
3. Moredryss Vrinn will no longer spawn multiple times in the area she's located
4. A couple problems with doors that require a key to unlock, such as those in the Veiled Tower, have been addressed
#59
-The northern city of Surthay has finally opened it gates after its latest virulent plague that saw it quarantined. This is the largest city of northern Thay, and has all the amenities of its more commonly traveled southern counterparts. Because of Surthay’s position as Defender of the North against the hordes of Rashemen, is the home to many Red Wizards of Abjuration, including the Zulkir Lallara Mediocros. Located across from the dismal Surmarsh, Surthay is often ravaged by diseases carried by insects from the swamp and the stench of rotting vegetation frequently fills the streets, especially at the height of summer.
1. This is a large city, comprised of 17 brand new areas, 5 of which are areas of adventure for lower mid-level adventurers. Thanks go to Sundraoi for her assistance with the exterior areas of the city
2. Several new factions are available to join: the Temple of Talona, the criminal underground sometimes known as the Exchange, and the Pinnacle of the Firelord - a strange and powerful tower filled with priests and followers of Kossuth. Thanks go to Karilynn for creating the faction contact conversation for the Pinnacle of the Firelord
3. There are 7 new merchants here, including a clothier with tailor models, a fence (or two), and several furniture merchants
4. Jousting and tournament grounds are found within the city, as well as a new arena for Thayan Gladiators or others seeking a fight
5. A new questgiver, who will send people to a random avoided-like-the-plague Planar location, is located within the city as well

-Level 12+ PCs now may level up by either attaining notoriety OR by spending a certain amount of time in-game, at each level. See this post in the Experience System thread for full details

-All 'civilized' locations in Thay (towns, cities, and castles) now have non-player-owned buildings within them. This has resulted in dozens upon dozens of new interior locations throughout the towns, cities, and castles of Thay! DMs may use these for events and, of course, they may be broken into by thieves or others seeking 'easy' riches without all the increasing danger of delving deeper into a dungeon, crypt, or cave

-The behavior for Familiars and Animal Companions has been changed so that, by default, they will fight to the death. However, as before, you can change their tactics by speaking to them - so that they can be changed back to the 'play it safe' behavior they previously had by default and will instead run away from powerful enemies

-Prices for most pleasure slaves/whores at the various brothels of Thay have been considerably reduced. In addition, when purchasing one of these individuals to spend the night with, XP received from them has been significantly increased to become proportion to the amount of coin spent on them, in addition to the extra XP you receive if you 'impress' them

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Changes have been made to the random properties treasure system to avoid 'Magic' items being encountered that have no magical properties. In addition, tridents have finally been included in the random properties treasure system, as well
2. The 'Furniture - Wall Banner, Tempus Flag' properly creates the placeable it is supposed to now
3. Purchasing a pleasure slave at the Weeping Slave will properly jump you to the individual and begin the courtesan sex sequence
4. The sewer entrances in the ruins of Delhumide now send people to the correct Delhumide sewer section
5. When someone is sent on a quest to the main Kepetur or Thossos areas, the questgiver will say to go to the "exterior ruins of [Thossos/Kepetur]"
6. A script error will no longer occur when entering the Ruins of Delhumide - Building area, which would cause no creatures or treasure to spawn within
7. If a merchant license is acquired other than purchasing it from a Merchant Master, when a merchant is hired using it, the PC will properly be marked as a member of the merchant faction
8. Camp (campfire, tents/bedrolls) can be setup within the Ruins of Delhumide, Thossos, and Kepetur. Just make sure there are no monsters nearby when you rest...
#60
-The final remaining named location on the Thay Overland Map is now available: Chur Gathos! This cold and windswept castle on the far eastern border of Thay guards Daggertooth Pass, one of only two passes from Thay through the Sunrise Mountains to lands on the eastern side of the mountain range.
1. This concludes the final chapter in main location design, begun the first day of Thay's existence over 8 years ago, since now all towns, castles, or ruins on the official Map of Thay are finally available to explore!
2. Daggertooth Pass, caverns within Daggertooth Pass, Ice Caverns within a glacier just outside of Chur Gathos on the slopes of Daggertooth mount, and the mountain of Daggertooth itself provide new areas of exploration for mid-high level adventurers
3. The Temple of Shaundakul is available to join, and provides wind walking portals to the four points of the Thayan compass. Thanks go to Pleiade and Beladra Marias for retiring their PCs and creating them as NPCs who became the temple's High Priest and recruiter, as well as creating the merchant and recruiter conversation for this faction
4. A new questgiver can be found here who will provide a unique reward to any who successfully complete the task given them

-MAJOR enhancements have been made to the player housing system. Many of these were suggestions from the community, and have been on the wishlist for years, so I'm very excited to finally be able to say "Yes, we have that!"
1. If you purchase and place the new furniture item called Hidden Chamber Entrance, you will create a small hidden chamber below your property. How difficult the entrance is to spot without the building key can be increased, the rooms of the hidden chamber can be decorated just like any other part of your house, and any doors within can also be improved as well
2. Several new property options are available when working on your front door, such as the ability to use a writing quill on the exterior door to name and redescript it, using the option to quickly pickup all furniture in your building, or even completely remodeling your property's interior to a different floorplan
3. You can now create your own floorplans for inclusion into the Thay PW module by following the how-to document in the Thay PW Base Module and Design Guidelines download. Thanks go to Miscr3ant who has already provided new large house and manor floorplans
4. There are 7 new !voicecommands that will work only in player houses to manipulate furniture. These allow *extremely* detailed control over your furniture. While they may take a bit of time to learn, if you make the effort I think you will really be pleased as they can make home decorating easier and even more enjoyable. Thanks go to Miscr3ant for providing sample code and beta testing that helped make this a reality
5. Traps placed in player owned homes will now remain indefinitely until tripped. Intruders beware!
6. You can now buy tailor model furniture items from the Clothier in Bezantur (he is actually the guy who created them) and place them in your home
7. Over a dozen new furniture items, including a large number of animated statues, a new container, and opened static containers (such as a static opened barrel) are available if you can find the right merchant(s) who sells them
8. When manipulating furniture either using the building key or the new voice commands, it is no longer necessary for everyone in the area to be standing. In addition, furniture changes are now automatically saved about every minute
9. When clicking on an entrance that may take you to a player owned building, you will be told if the property is vacant or owned
10. For complete details on these, and all other, features of the player housing system see the in-game Player Owned Buildings guide

-Anyone who wishes to form a group for a task can now have caravan masters send out ravens to all available adventurers within 4 levels of them, summoning them to the character's location. Once dispatched, these ravens fly out with portal stones tied around their neck, which the recipient of the message can use (for less than the cost of an actual portal stone) to immediately transport him or herself to the party leader's location. This is a great way to quickly form up a party for a task

-The Amruthar Crypt, recommended for low-mid level adventures, is now available for exploration. Thanks go to Animayhem for designing it

-The shrine/temple to Talos at the top of the Thossos ruins is now available to join, and provides the faithful with a quick-as-lightning way to get back to a 'civilized' part of Thay. Thanks go to Karilynn for creating the faction conversation that made it joinable

-Thanks go to Karilynn for providing descriptions for over a dozen NPCs within Chur Gathos, Gauros Keep, Surthay, Umratharos, and Thazar Keep, which should give DMs and PCs alike an idea of their personality and background

-The adventure portal in Pyarados' Temple of Tymora has been improved so it uses the same adventure area selection table as NPCs who may send you on a quest. This is now another good way for you to find out what places are targeted for your level PC and as a result, will provide the most optimal treasure when you explore them

-The ever-changing spot your mysterious allies will transport you to if they save you (upon respawning) has been expanded to include points in Umratharos and Surthay

-To avoid problems if people create and try to delete multiple PCs that have the same name, character files are now permanently deleted, rather than simply renamed to a file extension that NWN doesn't recognize. So if you do have characters in your vault that you have been unable to delete, you will be able to remove them now

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. PCs who lose a building due to late taxes can claim a new building, as intended
2. Dry wood can no longer be harvested from dead trees by bashing it with a ranged weapon
3. The Thossos - Ruined Keep area now has treasure and encounter spawns placed in it
4. The fancy bedroom in one of the large building floorplans allows people to rest again


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