Sanctum Updates 8/13

* DISARM has been removed and replaced by a new ability, UNHOLY QUICKENING. You folks just haaaaaaaad to complain, didn't you?
* Abominations will no longer tear off your " ". Your " " has been through enough and it is quite distressed already.
* Fixed a typo in periapts.
* The Sea of Fire travel logic is improved. You should now head to the Kanchoko Oasis without worrying about bouncing to other nodes if you've just left the Sanctum.
* Animates should no longer try and cause a zombie apocalypse once under player control. If your animate may be spreading the T-virus, please report it to me care of the Umbrella Corporation.
* As requested, the Kanchoko Cave is now a node with a trash can.

Auchand
Captain of the Firebird

>* Abominations will no longer tear off your " ". Your " " has been through enough and it is quite distressed already.

This is why people like you.

>* DISARM has been removed and replaced by a new ability, UNHOLY QUICKENING. You folks just haaaaaaaad to complain, didn't you?
>* As requested, the Kanchoko Cave is now a node with a trash can.

These are why people love you.

Big thanks for the fixes and changes! I haven't yet gone in to see what fresh hell Unholy Quickening will be, but I'm looking forward to doing so!

>These are why people love you.

Mumblemumbleblush.

Auchand
Captain of the Firebird

>Wow! This is awesome! Guess I'll be checking out this place tonight! <3

Glad you guys like it. (You'll probably be hating me soon enough when you get killed by snakes, though.)

I recognize that creature-cast Disarm is incredibly unpopular in its current form, so I ended up throwing this together a couple of nights ago. As usual, my partner-in-crime Retser had a couple of neat ideas that contributed to this--I'm pretty sure he wanted me to turn you all into bananas, or something? I dunno.

Development's SGM, Coase, graciously checked it over as I was doing it, which minimized its time to table.

Weapon loss is completely avoidable with this mechanic. As long as you have a free hand when your snake dies (or when you manage to kill it, cough, cough) your weapon will fall back into your hand. If that doesn't work, it'll look for a suitable container. And if that doesn't work, your weapon will end up on the ground. Please, don't lose weapons: I've done all I can.

Auchand
Captain of the Firebird

>If that doesn't work, it'll look for a suitable container.

Are cloaks, satchels, backpacks, haversacks, etc... considered suitable containers? If not, what does fall under that?


Speaking in Faendryl, Jahosk says, "You will now be known as Blade Durakar, the Palestra."

<As long as you have a free hand when your snake dies (or when you manage to kill it, cough, cough) your weapon will fall back into your hand. If that doesn't work, it'll look for a suitable container. And if that doesn't work, your weapon will end up on the ground. Please, don't lose weapons: I've done all I can.>

Ah so this may be why I grabbed it (a half) from a creature? I had both hands full again with two new weapons to clear the room.

Though now that I know about a container check, not sure why it would not check open greatcloak and sack?

That was definitely a thrilling debut! :) And I had already read your post and was hoping to see it in action but that did not stop the fear and confusion from kicking in! :D

>It does have some fairly rigorous container requirements to ensure no unintended interactions--skipping certain scripted containers, ones too small, etc--but I will take a look when I get back home to make sure it's not being TOO restrictive.

Many people have scripted containers. It seems the easiest check would be your weapon STORE container and then your STOW container.

Mechanical spoilers below - logs of the new disarm

---

I dodged the first time:
A lithe veiled sentinel lashes out in an attempt to disarm your long mithril naginata, but you are too swift for her!

But next time:
Striking with a serpent's unsettling quickness, a lithe veiled sentinel lashes out and grabs your naginata. Vile blue-green energy lances down her arm and into the naginata, kindling it into an unholy semblance of life. The naginata's form twists and mutates, sprouting scales and cold eyes as it transforms into a black emperor cobra!

The cobra wriggles down your arm, coiling about your neck!
Hissing furiously, a black emperor cobra sinks its teeth into your neck!
... 10 points of damage!
Well placed shot to the neck!
You are stunned for 2 rounds!
A virulent poison courses through your veins!

Hissing furiously, a black emperor cobra sinks its teeth into your left arm!
... 10 points of damage!
Strike pierces upper arm!
The poison in your veins grows even more excruciating to endure!

Hissing furiously, a black emperor cobra sinks its teeth into your left leg!
... 5 points of damage!
Minor puncture to the left leg.
The poison in your veins grows even more excruciating to endure!

Undulating its sinewy body, a black emperor cobra works its way to your right arm!

Hissing furiously, a black emperor cobra sinks its teeth into your left arm!
... 3 points of damage!
Minor puncture to the left arm.
The poison in your veins grows even more excruciating to endure!

Striking like lightning, a black emperor cobra bites down on your left leg!
... 5 points of damage!
Minor puncture to the left leg.

Striking like lightning, a black emperor cobra bites down on your left leg!
... 10 points of damage!
Strike pierces thigh!
You are knocked to the ground!
The poison in your veins grows even more excruciating to endure!

A black emperor cobra lets out a last desperate hiss, its body twitching in agony. As the last stubborn life goes out of its length, its body oozes into the shape of an amber-veined long mithril naginata. The naginata falls into your left hand.

---

The cobra gave me a low-grade traditional poison, by the time I checked it was 4 per, but probably started around 6. However, some nasty stuff happened over the following ~10 minutes:

Your vision doubles abruptly, then shivers back into place.
You cannot feel your limbs. Oh, wait. There they are.
Throbbing pain lances through your skull. For a heartbeat, all you see is blackness.
You cannot feel your limbs. Oh, wait. There they are.
A wave of intense cold travels through your body, sending shivers through your muscles.
Your brain feels too large for your skull by half.
Patches of blackness spread out before your field of vision.
Intense nausea tosses your stomach as a headache, intense as a thunderclap, blinds you for a moment.
Heat prickles over your head while chills wrack your body.
Patches of blackness spread out before your field of vision.
Throbbing pain lances through your skull. For a heartbeat, all you see is blackness.

Each message was accompanied by roughly 30 (!) hp loss. Enough that I couldn't simply sit and rest; I had to keep munching leaf.

This was uncomfortably exciting, to say the least. A bunch of lurks ran in just as I got disarmed (dunno if that was a coincidence or part of the 'quickening'), and I wasn't really able to keep track of what was going on, and so I was pretty concerned. However, I now have some highlights set up, and I think this maneuver could actually add to the experience rather than potentially making me hate hate hate gemstone. I guess it'll depend on whether my two scripted containers "count" for after the cobra is gone (though I'll probably always have a free hand anyway).

Thanks to everyone involved for putting this area together and also addressing early feedback very quickly. I've had a lot of fun in there already and I expect I will continue to enjoy it long-term... I'll even have more fun in the other capped hunting grounds since I won't get quite as tired of them, thanks to spending time in the Sanctum.

I'll be honest, I was expecting 3-6 months until the replacement for disarm was ready to go. I'm incredibly impressed.

And the replacement looks really cool to boot.

I hope a bunch of people die to this.

>What happens if you are dead or are forced out of the room when the snake dies?

The same process. Open hand --> open eligible container --> ground.

If you really try hard, you could still lose your weapon, but you have every opportunity not to. In the exceptional case that you do lose your weapon, there's robust logging stored for it for replacement purposes.

Auchand
Captain of the Firebird

That snake thing is really cool. Can't believe you made it in 2-3 days.

These snakes sound awesome, and so appropriate for the region, too!

- Overlord EK

>You now regard Eorgina with a warm demeanor.

>These are why people love you.

I love Auchand because he made me a goatse VLA container (I probably can't actually list the description without the post getting pulled, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out) and a Tourettes Guy outfit (a Frosted Flakes shirt, a neck brace, and some rapist glasses) on Shattered when it first went live.

This disarm thing comes in a close second though.

~ Methais