Anithola
Lord of Altera
In Character
The fire hissed with fury, as heavy beads of water advanced through the gray shroud of clouds. The few merchants still standing at their stalls hastily packed up and drifted away, either towards the docks or into the warm shelter that was the crossroads inn. As always at this hour, the inn was bustling with life. Merchants, adventurers, warriors, all huddled together, waiting for the ever persistent rain to pause, so they could get on with their business. At the far end of the inn, a small crowd had gathered. However no one spoke. Complete silence ensued as an old dwarf with a beard of silver chewed on his pipe. Without uttering a sound, he exhaled, creating a veil of smoke that rose into the air. With a deep and hearty voice, the dwarf began his tale:
"There are things in this world that never change. Leaves wither and fall to the ground, tidal waters rise only to retreat, endless torrents of water run down the mountains only to evaporate... And there is greed. For as long as anyone can remember, banditry has been a constant threat to those who brave the roads and forests of Altera. A short trek south of here, this settlement that we today know as the crossroads, in a natural cave system formed by groundwater, a small band of marauders had made their lair. Profiting greatly from the local turmoil at the time, the band went into hiding, and were not seen for years. Urged by nearby villagers and farmers, the local ruler eventually sent out riders to get rid of the vermin for good. What met them was an impregnable maze of traps and puzzles, and after suffering minor casualties the riders concluded that the bandits were no longer a threat to the local populace...
And you see lads, I now happen to own this land."
The dwarf stuffed his pipe in his pocket, and drew forth a map of the forest between the Crossroads and Thiil. He pointed at the big red cross and announced:
"Those of you looking for riches and adventure, this is your opportunity. Meet me outside the Serene Retreat, and try your hand. Find yourself successful, and you will be well rewarded."
With those words he rose, and limped into the night, where the rain had ceased at last.
Out of Character
This is exactly what it sounds like. A dungeon full of traps, puzzles, and most important of all, treasure! The Serene Retreat will be available to all, in parties ranging from one to three players. The dungeon will be soloable, but will be easier if adventurers cooperate. However in a group the treasure will also be split, go figure.
As you unveil the secrets of the Serene Retreat you will most likely die. More than once.
I went into this project trying to create something that would actually be an accomplishment to finish, not a theme park! Now obviously this brings up the question of IC death. The dungeon is made for the players of the community to have fun with, and so I encourage everyone to set their own rules regarding this. You could go in with two friends strictly OOC chatting over teamspeak, or you could roleplay your way through it with ingame allies. Considering the probability of you dying is rather high, I would not go into the dungeon with the mindset of "If I die, my character dies". It is all for fun!
OPENING
From this Friday, 9 PM, Central European Time, the Serene Retreat will be open for exploration.
Due to the intricate nature of some of the dungeon's puzzles:
Entering the Dungeon
Send me a message in game or on the forums, and we will come to an agreement.
Once Inside
Depending on whether your party is RP or OOC, I'm going to be following you either OOC or as Magnus Redbeard at all times. Any attempts to deliberately split up in order to cheat will get you banned from the dungeon. Throughout the dungeon you will find entries from a journal. These are crucial, and you should always look for these if you are stuck. If you pull a lever, and a nearby Entry says you shouldn't, its kind of your fault. The three first parties to make it to the end of the dungeon will find a chest containing bonus loot and a plain book. Feel free to write a message to whoever comes after you about what a complete badass you are, and how they'll never be as cool as you.
Rules
The dungeon was made and tested with moody brightness settings. This is to emulate that its in an actual cave, not a solarium. There is no way that I can enforce this, and some people might have darker screens than others, so be a good sport and use common sense.
I used the conquest pack, so if you are using something else, please keep in mind that not everything might look the part. Due to some areas of the dungeon being big rooms or caverns, torches can be seen in some strange places. Just ignore them. This also applies to most redstone torches, as they are there for ambient lighting.
I used this piece of music for inspiration while building the dungeon, so id definitly recommend having this run in the background for the sake of immersion!
Rewards
!Updated!
Anyone wishing to explore the dungeon will have to let me know in advance, either by leaving a message here on this thread, or through a personal message.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to thank a handful of amazeballs people for helping me get this project rolling:
@Th3RealLegend , @K9 , @CyberChaosV2 , @Jasper151627237 , and @Elz for helping with digging and terraforming.
@Baron for brainstorming ideas with me when I was stuck.
@Niek Morenta and @IceandFire for letting me build so close to Thiil.
The fire hissed with fury, as heavy beads of water advanced through the gray shroud of clouds. The few merchants still standing at their stalls hastily packed up and drifted away, either towards the docks or into the warm shelter that was the crossroads inn. As always at this hour, the inn was bustling with life. Merchants, adventurers, warriors, all huddled together, waiting for the ever persistent rain to pause, so they could get on with their business. At the far end of the inn, a small crowd had gathered. However no one spoke. Complete silence ensued as an old dwarf with a beard of silver chewed on his pipe. Without uttering a sound, he exhaled, creating a veil of smoke that rose into the air. With a deep and hearty voice, the dwarf began his tale:
"There are things in this world that never change. Leaves wither and fall to the ground, tidal waters rise only to retreat, endless torrents of water run down the mountains only to evaporate... And there is greed. For as long as anyone can remember, banditry has been a constant threat to those who brave the roads and forests of Altera. A short trek south of here, this settlement that we today know as the crossroads, in a natural cave system formed by groundwater, a small band of marauders had made their lair. Profiting greatly from the local turmoil at the time, the band went into hiding, and were not seen for years. Urged by nearby villagers and farmers, the local ruler eventually sent out riders to get rid of the vermin for good. What met them was an impregnable maze of traps and puzzles, and after suffering minor casualties the riders concluded that the bandits were no longer a threat to the local populace...
And you see lads, I now happen to own this land."
The dwarf stuffed his pipe in his pocket, and drew forth a map of the forest between the Crossroads and Thiil. He pointed at the big red cross and announced:
"Those of you looking for riches and adventure, this is your opportunity. Meet me outside the Serene Retreat, and try your hand. Find yourself successful, and you will be well rewarded."
With those words he rose, and limped into the night, where the rain had ceased at last.
Out of Character
This is exactly what it sounds like. A dungeon full of traps, puzzles, and most important of all, treasure! The Serene Retreat will be available to all, in parties ranging from one to three players. The dungeon will be soloable, but will be easier if adventurers cooperate. However in a group the treasure will also be split, go figure.
As you unveil the secrets of the Serene Retreat you will most likely die. More than once.
I went into this project trying to create something that would actually be an accomplishment to finish, not a theme park! Now obviously this brings up the question of IC death. The dungeon is made for the players of the community to have fun with, and so I encourage everyone to set their own rules regarding this. You could go in with two friends strictly OOC chatting over teamspeak, or you could roleplay your way through it with ingame allies. Considering the probability of you dying is rather high, I would not go into the dungeon with the mindset of "If I die, my character dies". It is all for fun!
OPENING
From this Friday, 9 PM, Central European Time, the Serene Retreat will be open for exploration.
Due to the intricate nature of some of the dungeon's puzzles:
- It will have to be manually reset after every party passes through.
- Some areas of the dungeon can be abused by plugins like stair-sitting or voting for emeralds.
Entering the Dungeon
Send me a message in game or on the forums, and we will come to an agreement.
Once Inside
Depending on whether your party is RP or OOC, I'm going to be following you either OOC or as Magnus Redbeard at all times. Any attempts to deliberately split up in order to cheat will get you banned from the dungeon. Throughout the dungeon you will find entries from a journal. These are crucial, and you should always look for these if you are stuck. If you pull a lever, and a nearby Entry says you shouldn't, its kind of your fault. The three first parties to make it to the end of the dungeon will find a chest containing bonus loot and a plain book. Feel free to write a message to whoever comes after you about what a complete badass you are, and how they'll never be as cool as you.
Rules
- Your inventory must be completely clean upon entry.
- Food can be brought, but must stay in your inventory at all times.
- Mechanics like chair sitting must not be abused.
- Dispensers are visible here and there, just pretend you don't see them ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
- If a party member dies, you are free to press on. You can also suicide, but it counts as a game over either way.
- Any items such as Journal Entries, or items that are otherwise crucial for the dungeon must stay where they were found. You could always ask Magnus if you are uncertain.
- Every chest can only be looted ONCE. If you die and try again at a later time, the chests you have already looted will be empty. (I will try to keep track of this in a document, don't be afraid to tell me if you think I've got something mixed up)
- Emerald blocks, Diamonds, and Gold bars are purely rewards, and must not be removed from the inventory.
- Some dispensers are stocked with 30+ items for simplicity's sake. Spamming the buttons wont get you anywhere.
The dungeon was made and tested with moody brightness settings. This is to emulate that its in an actual cave, not a solarium. There is no way that I can enforce this, and some people might have darker screens than others, so be a good sport and use common sense.
I used the conquest pack, so if you are using something else, please keep in mind that not everything might look the part. Due to some areas of the dungeon being big rooms or caverns, torches can be seen in some strange places. Just ignore them. This also applies to most redstone torches, as they are there for ambient lighting.
I used this piece of music for inspiration while building the dungeon, so id definitly recommend having this run in the background for the sake of immersion!
Rewards
!Updated!
Anyone wishing to explore the dungeon will have to let me know in advance, either by leaving a message here on this thread, or through a personal message.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to thank a handful of amazeballs people for helping me get this project rolling:
@Th3RealLegend , @K9 , @CyberChaosV2 , @Jasper151627237 , and @Elz for helping with digging and terraforming.
@Baron for brainstorming ideas with me when I was stuck.
@Niek Morenta and @IceandFire for letting me build so close to Thiil.
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