October 2004 Rollout Article

Antius considered the maps again. With the death of one Burun leader and the disappearance of another, the creatures had become more violent but less organized. The situation had improved... but only marginally.

Some of the Burun had turned on their Lugian and Tumerok allies. This meant that there was no longer a unified front. K'rank's spies had confirmed that fewer than half of the Burun that had entered the pact with the renegades remained; this was a blessing. However, the main Burun forces continued to roam across Dereth and many of the land's other inhabitants had been stirred up by their passing. Reports of large packs or warbands approaching dangerously close to towns were filtering in from
guards posted in towns all across Osteth. In the Direlands, it was more difficult to tell if the increased activity was part of standard assaults or as a result of the continued Burun incursion.

It was frustrating. They had Morgluuk's head on a pike but they were no closer to eliminating the Burun as a threat to Isparian peace. Antius cast his gaze over the location that Hendac had pointed out only a month before. He closed his eyes and sighed. Antius hated the idea, but if Ciandra failed, they would have no other choice. He comforted himself with the thought that Elysa favored this course of action no more than he did. At least they weren't rushing into anything.

"We need you to figure this out, Ciandra." Antius rolled up the maps and parchments. Elysa was waiting and he was already late.

*****

Mgrauleshk had waited patiently for the moment to strike. It had come when the short pale ones felled Morgluuk and a wave of panic spread amongst the Ruuk. Their morale was shattered, but he seized control of the masses before they could turn on one another. Now, as he approached the outpost, he looked down on the excavation site. This was the temple. This was the place where he would find his way to open the well to T'Kuruul Reeshan and bring his king to this world.

The large gray-skinned humanoids worked alongside the purple-furred beings to excavate the temple. Alongside them, he saw his brothers hoisting boulders and heavy equipment. Their flesh cracked in the hot sun and he felt rage swelling within. The time had come. He bellowed a command to his brothers to rise up against the gray-skinned and purple-furred beings. As one, the Guruk turned on their allies, claws ripped through flesh and the renegade warriors crumpled beneath the weight of the
assailants' blows.

Morgluuk's death and Torgluuk's disappearance had left Mgrauleshk as the only Burun who could lead. He had no interest in gathering those Burun who remained loyal to the gray-skins and purple-furs, all he needed were the group that accompanied him now.

He crouched and made ready to spring over the ridge towards the temple. He joined the one-sided battle and crushed the small resistance that the renegade force could muster. Once they were all dead, he heaved his sword into the air and bellowed a call to all those loyal to Bur. His voice echoed across the wind and called to all those that did not believe that Torgluuk would return. It was time.

His King was waiting.

*****

Torgluuk looked down at his sickle. Blood dripped from the end of the blade and spattered onto the cold floor of the meeting hall. Somewhere in the room, Niarltah gasped for air through a torn throat. The sound was wet; fluid was filling his lungs and he would soon die. Muldaveus looked up at Torgluuk with his one good eye and whimpered like a Lugian babe.

"Asheron... hides in Knorr... Olcris... Olcris... knows how to get there. Stonehold." Muldaveus spat blood from his mouth as he finished the sentence. Less than a second later the sickle came down and split his skull.

From somewhere in the darkness Niarltah sputtered and coughed out one word, "Why?"

"You let them kill my brother and the false Gods must be punished." Torgluuk left Niarltah there, bleeding, coughing, dying.

Asheron. Asheron was a pale one, an ancient one. A Fiazhat God. The reckoning was at hand.

*****

Many of this month's changes have already been described in detail in the Letter to the Players. Here are some additional topics that we'd like to discuss in detail.

HOUSEKEEPING

"Housekeeping" means the server code that causes items to disappear after they've been left on the ground for some time. This month we've made some internal changes to allow us more flexibility in specifying how long items can stick around before they disappear. For the vast majority of items in the game, there is no change. Items such as Pack Dolls and Wedding Cake are still set to never housekeep. Items such as torches are still set to housekeep as quickly as possible.

One change that players may notice is that Holiday Lights, which were previously set to housekeep as quickly as possible, will now stay in game for at least 30 seconds before housekeeping. This means that if you accidentally drop your Holiday Lights, you have at least 30 seconds to pick them up. Previously they would disappear almost instantly.

There were a handful of items that were either set to never housekeep, or set to housekeep instantly, that are now set to housekeep normally. These include Olthoi Eggs, many title tokens, and the Statue rewards. Note that this change will not cause statues to housekeep when hooked.

THE SKY

In September we made a change to Dereth environment that was intended to reduce the amount of time that you spent adventuring in the rain. Unfortunately it had two unintended side-effects that were tied to older code that we brought in: Bael'Zharon began re-appearing during lightning flashes, and older and much larger moon images appeared in the sky.

For October we've resolved both these issues while keeping the reduction in "rain time". We know that many of you liked the appearance of the larger moons, and we looked at ways that we could keep the larger size with the modern images. Unfortunately we simply didn't have the resources to do so this month.

DRAGGING ITEMS OUT OF YOUR HAND
One frequent complaint that we've received is from players who have accidentally unequipped their own weapon, caster, or shield and dropped it on the ground. This can happen if you are trying to drag an item in the world and accidentally click on your wielded item in the 3D view instead. Your first instinct when this happens is to release the mouse button, and now you've dropped your item on the ground.

Starting this month, it is no longer possible to drag wielded items in the 3D view. You can still unequip these items normally from the inventory view, and you can still pick up items by dragging them from your 3D view to your pack.