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I will be running a prelude this Sunday, probably starting around 2000 GMT.


A maximum of one PC will survive, but there is no guarantee of a survivor.




The following restrictions apply to character creation:


Race: Human, half-elf, or elf only
Class: non-druid, non-paladin, non-cleric
Alignment: non-chaotic


If you want to be able to utilize the standard issue equipment for this prelude, medium armor proficiency, shield proficiency, and ability to use a longsword will be necessary.

EFU was featured in the Beamdog Community Magazine: The Wild Surge, ahead of the Enhanced Edition release.


You can check out the Neverwinter Nights issue here

A few bugs have been fixed in Exigent Thought.  There are likely still some remaining, and possibly one or two new ones introduced.


If you find the new version of the quest, send me a PM with feedback on anything that doesn't work.  Don't send feedback with suggestions for making the quest easier or more rewarding or adding new sections.


Also, there is a portion of this quest that, it has been brought to my attention, has been bypassed by many groups.  This behavior may be a misconception because of an early beta test of the quest in which I encouraged a group to move on when it became clear I had missed the mark with certain parameters.  The challenge of this portion is now tough, but manageable for a typical group of PCs.  Anyone caught bypassing the content just because it's difficult will be eligible for a 5,000 XP deduction.

[Alignment:]

It's been a long time since anything has been heard from the Causril Commune, but for those who have contacted me over the months with inquiry about this elusive organization, the opportunity has finally arisen to play a PC member.  While not a full-fledged DM faction with all the perks typically expected of such, there will be a chance to take the fore on a new plot.

Please submit an application with "Causril Commune" somewhere in the subject line if you are interested.  I would prefer that people only submit if they intend to play their new character as their main or only PC.

Some guidelines:

Alignment: Non-chaotic.
Race: Human strongly preferred.
Classes: Fighters, Rangers, and rogues are strongly preferred.  Barbarians, bards, monks, and paladins will also be considered, but all of these are a "hard sell."  No other classes, please.

Addendum: PCs will be starting in the "laborer" class.  There is no exception for this.  Also, approved characters must choose a bald/clean-shaven head.

[IMPORTANT:]

There is a new chat command available to announce PVP on the DM channel.  Typing "/c pvp" will now announce to DMs that you are initiating PVP, with area name included in the message.  This allows players to set up a custom text macro in a quickslot that will suffice to announce PVP in any area.  

IMPORTANT: All PVP rules still apply.  Use of this command does not exempt you from the need to verify that a DM is present in an NPC-populated area before proceeding.

They've gone ahead and recruited me as a DM.

I'm excited to get in-game and start running quests, spicing, and showering loot upon the survivors.  Anybody with requests, questions, or suggestions, feel free to hit me up on IRC.

Character name: Grado Halinbach

After taking the 2-4 sarcophagus quest I arrived near the "Explore Old Muskroot's Tower" quest placeable.  I clicked on it, and was presented with the option to Head to Old Muskroot's Tower, or turn away.  I clicked "[Head to Old Muskroot's Tower]" and the conversation ended.  My journal updated, saying I had decided to check out Old Muskroot's Tower, but nothing happened.  Subsequent clicks on the placeable prompted the message "...nothing to see here." and the EFUQS message, "[Quest already taken by a party member.] rather than the option to continue or abandon the quest.

I'm going to use this thread to report any typos in the conversations or narrative text related to entering the server and initial user experience, since these will be the areas by which new players judge the server.  Any little nit-picky thing I catch, I'll post here.

• Found a typo in Lanfaer Glitterwill's conversation.  After choosing the "What is going on?" conversation choice, then following up with "Catastrophe?  Curse....?" the second sentence of the resulting paragraph is "She has cursed the Island and all who dwell her[e] with her Withering."  Figure that first "her" should be "here."


• Narrative text upon first appearing in the Ziggurat says, "In a shocking display of magic, you are ripped from your former life and deposited here at the heightest part of this ruined Ziggurat."  "Heightest" should be "highest."


• In the 2-4 Sarcophagus quest there is a typo in the conversation of an NPC atop a tower.  She says, "... the shriek of a lamed beast as it torn from behind ..." should be the word "is" between "it" and "torn."


• Old Muskroot's conversation, "... so that you may heard what is said ..." "heard" should be "hear."

It would be sort of fun for certain people to be able to see a count of how many times they have entered the fugue plane through EFUSL.  Sometimes if you visit it several times in a row, it just shows as one long drop on the XP graphs, or sometimes you last long enough that previous deaths don't make it onto the last month's XP graph.  A simple counter would let people know if they've set some sort of record.  Maybe even put in an all-time high with the character to beat.

Character: Adrian Mendazona
Server Version: v1152

Upon entering the 2-4 sand spiders quest, two error messages were displayed:

Script area_persistent, OID: 8000203c, Tag: , ERROR: TOO MANY INSTRUCTIONS

and

Script area_on_enter, OID: 8000203c, Tag: , ERROR: TOO MANY INSTRUCTIONS

None of the spiders spawned in the pathways leading to the arch that separates the second part of the quest from the first.  The spiders near the wrecked ship spawned.

A fellow in a questing party I was in recently had the poor fortune of being slain by a hero monster in the troglodytes quest.  This in and of itself would not be anything worth heading to the forums over, but in this case the death was due to a PhK item the monster had and it left him feeling a little sour over the experience.

While most of us here on EfU are quick to say, "Suck it up," or, "take it in stride," I sincerely doubt anybody enjoys being randomly killed by death magic in a 2-6 quest.  True, it's no different than being hit for full hp by a x3 crit or getting feared and then chased around until you inevitably die unable to do a thing, but it feels worse for whatever reason to a lot of players.

I'd suggest taking a look through the loot tables and removing death magic items from the potential options of hero monsters that can spawn on low level quests.  Death magic is entertaining for high level quests because it brings a sense of reasonable danger, but if your lvl 3 rogue is being hit with a PhK item out of the blue, it's a different story.

Character: Adrian Mendazona

The rat did not spawn on the 2-2 Rat Quest on the Ziggurat.  I was the only character taking the quest.  A Sewer Rat spawned in the upper level, but no Big Rat in the lower level.

After a long and difficult journey, the spirit of Brathchacelent Sorngol is finally at rest.  A minor Netherese prisoner on the island of Ymph over 2,000 years ago, Sorngol was cut down in his prime by a mysterious killer whose identity will now remain forever secret.  Over the centuries, he developed quite the horrendous case of amnesia, rendering him mostly useless by the time he was discovered in the ruins beneath the ziggurat by a man of House Harvix.

Through exceptional talent, Lord Harvix was able to bind the ailing spirit to the body of a kobold slave named Thyzykeelix.  Unfortunately for all involved, the experiment yielded no gains in the undead Netherese wizard's memory.  Harvix left the subject in the care of a subordinate for disposal, but the wily kobold and her spiritual advisor managed to outwit him and escape.  Not knowing where else to turn, they disappeared into the filth and chaos of the seedy Squatter's Den.



Thankfully, Thyzykeelix was not eaten that day.  She made new contacts in her new home, and Sorngol was given the opportunity to evaluate his new colleagues and discern which could be trusted with his secret.

One of the duo's earliest contacts was the Dirgesinger, who had some ironic necromantic advice:


Disguises were important in those days.


Some were trusted with the spirit's secret, but at times it was hard to say just what that secret was.  Adjusting to a dual-consciousness isn't easy for a little lizard.


Eventually, Sorngol created the ill-fated Cabal of the Forsaken Crypt, membership of which peaked at 4 PCs all too secretive to ever meet each other.  However, Thyzykeelix did have some good conversations with some characters during this time.


But times changed.  Their allies helped Thyzykeelix and Sorngol advance their mutual agenda of attaining higher levels of power.  It wasn't always easy for Thyzykeelix, as quite often she was swept along on the current of Sorngol's whim.  He got it into his (and her) head that the kobold body he inhabited was much too weak for his needs, and undead augmentation was a necessity.  This proved painful for Thyzykeelix.





But although she protested, the ability granted by her new undead graft proved useful many times in subsequent nefarious exploits.

It was around this time, or slightly prior, that Sorngol was granted an extraordinary gift.  While traversing the mountains of the Mist with Riordan Siet, the Mist settled upon the travellers and carried them to a shrouded clearing far above, where Siet received a prophetic vision and Sorngol had a single memory of his past restored.  A stone in a long, dark, and forgotten hallway.  A stone, slightly out of place.  Beneath it, something hidden.

Following the Mist vision, Thyzykeelix and Riordan raced back to the Colony and recruited Andrzek Czewoja to help them reach this stone, which Sorngol remembered to be in a hall of the Sunken Enclave far below.  Through much perseverance they reached their objective and found a magical pouch sequestered away for ages.  Within it was a ruby-eyed skull and a fateful note: "Forget not the ring, the candle, and the skull, for with all three-"  Lamentably, the final part had been erased by time.

So the search for the other two relics began.  Sources indicated that Ojo of Old Port had recently come into possession of a legendary candle which glowed unendingly with a purple light, supposedly a relic of Netherese times.  In the process of planning how to obtain this candle from Ojo, Sorngol made the common mistake of trusting a clearly untrustworthy man.  His skull was stolen, and his hand was forced.





Thankfully, a powerful ally was able to retrieve the skull at some point later on.  Details on that particular incident remain relevant.

In the meantime, Thyzykeelix was busy making new friends and enemies.





In between crazy escapades, Thyzykeelix took time out for tea.



It all culminated in the completion of Sorngol's ancient ritual, releasing the Netherese wizard into a floating skull form and Thyzykeelix to her fate, whatever that might be.



Following this event, much of Sorngol's activity is super secret.  Additionally, that screenshot blocking bug hit me, so I don't have anything I can share of his time as a floating skull.  He discovered that the ring involved in the ritual was his wedding ring, and that his wife most likely still existed in some form or another in the Isles.  He became obsessed, and sadly, it led to his demise just when things seemed to be going his way in pursuit of his ancient sweetheart.

Thanks to everyone who interacted with this character, but especially Howland for running the craziest plot I've ever been involved in.

These NPCs are hostile to the nightriser faction.  They do no move to attack, but they prevent undead PCs from resting in the Sanctum area.

On the Drow Caravan quest, the boss and miniboss spawns seem to be in a different faction from the normal mobs, and attack them.

The transition from Thomas's shop to the Deep Lizard Boneyard is broken.

The transition into the Drow Caravan quest is broken.

In Underdark - East, the transition that once lead to some small camp in the northwest corner is broken.

Possibly a broken transition at the northern side of the base of the Spire.  I've never entered this one before, so not sure if it ever went somewhere or if it's one of those blocked off quest entrances.

Character: Brathchacelent Sorngol
Account: AKMatt

When I open the crafting menu, I do not have access to the polymorph custom forms.

My options in the first menu are:

1. Scripted Emotes
2. Configuration
3. Dicebag Information
4. Player Tools
5. Perks
6. Teleport Configuration
7. Set Undead Summon
8. Nothing

Under "Configuration Options" I can choose:

1. Change Subdual Mode
2. Toggle "Thief Mode"
3. Dispel Beneficial Effects
4. Reset Spawn Point
5. [Back]

I seem to remember other people talking on IRC at some point about having trouble accessing options that would ordinarily go to the crafting menu when their character is eligible for more than a certain number of options.  In this case, I learned the polymorph spell after I had all those other options, so it may have been "edged out" from the list.

1:54 PM GMT-9, the conversation on this door would not fire.  I was attempting to open the door from within the locked room.

Account: AKMatt
Character: Thyzykeelix
Problem: Wings not visible to other players or DMs.  Sometimes disappear on my client as well.

Here's a list of occurences and conditions:

1. Wings given in area Spirit Commune.  Myself, DM, and other players can see the wings.  Cloak is equipped.

2. Transition out of Spirit Commune into Bog Tunnels.  Wings not visible to DM or other players.  Still visible in my client.  Cloak still equipped.

3. Hanged Goblin.  Relog, and DM sets wings again.  Other players can see wings, as can I.  After another relog, the wings disappear to all involved.  Cloak still equipped.

4. Unequipped cloak and relogged in Hanged Goblin.  Wings become visible to me as long as cloak is unequipped.  Other players still cannot see.  Equipping cloak makes wings disappear for me, and they do not return unless I relog with the cloak unequipped.

5. Log in with no cloak equipped.  The wings are visible on my client in the Hanged Goblin.  I transition out into the Gobsquat.  Wings remain visible to me, but the first PC I encounter does not see them.

Character: Thyzykeelix
Class: Wizard
Race: Kobold (Halfling)

As of the last reset, I no longer suffer penalties in sunlight for light sensitivity.  I appear to still have the stealth bonus (PC created before change to Gloomwalker).