Ever been like "Man I really wish there was a piece of arial gear in the game that does THIS"? Or, just want to contribute and see an item that you wrote in the game? Ever wonder if doing a little area writing work is as much fun as it sounds? Well, here's your chance.

I'm taking suggestions for arial gear for new arial city. What I'd like in submissions is the following:

keywords
short desc (What you see when you're wearing it and type EQ)
long desc (What you see when it's on the ground)
extra desc (when you examine the item, what you see. This should come with its own keywords, and can have multiple ones of these. For example KEYWORD SWORD extra desc "This sword has an ornate inscruption." KEYWORD INSCRIPTION "Blah blah blah"
proposed stats (this should be things like - save versus spell, + hit points, mana, moves, move regen, stat points, etc) I reserve the right to balance these based on what people suggest.
level of the item
material of the item

Ideas - scrolls, potions, wands that can be sold. General armors, weapons, clothing that can be given to shopkeepers. Items that would fit a certain guildmaster or guardian. Possible gear that exists in current arial city that you'd want to see crossed over and refreshed. Food to be sold. There's a barter-only outlander friendly bazarre, so I'm looking for items that could be "sold" there that would appeal to Outlanders. Axe of Conquest needs a make over.

Please do not suggest a prog (IE: This pair of neon yellow pants makes people blind randomly).

email your submissions to rayihn@carrionfields.com. You can also email any questions you have to me as well.

If I accept the item and add it to the new area, I'll let you know that you can email me a character name and I will give them some imm xp as a thank you for the help.

I'll run this for the next two weeks, so please have your submissions in by April 8th.

Thanks!

Edited to add: If you submit 10 items or more I will keep it on hand to use as a writing sample in case you ever apply to heroimm. (Writing samples are mandatory for candidates)

Having watched Rayihn crank out areas (and recently, race-only gear) and having watched her field questions/responses/e-mails about this over the last weekend -- trust me, it's faster and less effort for her to write the items herself. This is not an effective way to farm out work.

Well, it would be an effective way for me to farm out work, maybe. I suck at writing descriptions.

on the new gear that's been added? Maybe take out the name and location of the item but show stats of the more nuanced stuff (like half-drow britches).

vambraces of supple rothe hide reinforced with iron spikes~
Supple leather vambraces rest here, their shape held by sharp iron spikes.~
leather~

E
vambraces leather rothe hide~
These supple leather vambraces are small in size, perfectly shaped for
the delicate arms of a dark-elf. The fit snug from wrist to mid-bicep,
the leather perfectly soft and stretched to allow complete freedom to
the elbow. Set through loops of the black skin are cold iron stakes,
each one radiating from elbow down to the hand, framing it in a bracelet
of sorts.

a gnomish tinkerer's tool belt~
Filled with a motley of tinker's tools, a worn leather belt rests on the ground.~
leather~

E
belt gnomish~
This belt is a tinkerer's dream. It is well worn, the leather stretched
and worked until it is softer than running your hands through a jug of
freshly churned butter. Hoops and pockets line both the outside, and a
few soft bags hang from each side to hold more precious and less used
tools. The belt is sized for an average gnome, its steel buckle branded
with the mark of Hillcrest.


(this one is dedicated to Vortex Magus based on Bloody Bones + our mutual love of Simon R Green)

an endlessly bleeding dagger named "Death's Facade"~
Laying in an endlessly-filling pool of blood is a sharpened bone.~
bone~

E
bone dagger death's facade~
This bone knife radiates dark magic and malice. Crafted from a single
unidentifiable bone, it is etched along the blade with dark runes that
signify sacrifice, pain, and torture. Strangely, each rune bleeds
incessantly, an endless stream of tainted life essence that smells of
rot, carnage, and fresh meat. The handle of this unspeakable weapon is
wrapped in dark red leathers that squish with a ugly, wet sound as a
hand is clasped upon them. The butt of this weapon is carved into a
death's head, its mouth stretched in an endless scream.

Duergar:
the blessed warhammer "Gyoth's Grace~
Black as a blood-soaked night, this warhammer creates a larger than life shadow.~
adamantite~

E
warhammer gyoth's grace~
This fierce warhammer could only be meant for a darker race. Its haft is
chiseled from stone, roughly three feet in length and wide, with handle
holds worked into grooves. Thick, stubby fingers fit perfectly into each
groove, providing a perfect grip for a duergar, but forming a grip that
the hands of any other race would struggle to fill. The blade of this
warhammer is purely mined adamantite, its color glistening red-black.
The heavy head of this weapon is spiked like a giant meat tenderizer,
forged to impact the most damage possible with met with tender flesh.
In each groove, line, divot, and spike you can see stains of old blood,
the oldest of which go back to the man who put his heart, soul, and
life into forging weapon of destruction.


Dark elf hat:
a headdress of mind flayer eyestalks, each one glaring angrily~
A mess of tentacles and eyestalks writhes wildly here, glaring angrily.~
flesh~

E
headdress eyestalks mess tentacles~
You almost cannot look upon this horrific item as it glares back at
you angrily. Ten eyestalks have been perfectly cut from the head of
a mind flayer and somehow they are still sentient. Each one writhes
with rage at its captivity, connected to a sleek hide of tentacles
shaped into a cap that is the perfect size for a dark-elf. The twitching
black tentacles connect mostly at the rear of the cap, falling down
the wearer's back like thick, slimy curls. They endlessly attempt to
wrap around the neck of their bearer and strangle them.

Mind flayers don't have eyestalks (Beholders do) mind flayers are humanoid with squid heads basically.

I totally was about to post the same thing.

Yeah, you're not the best :)

Check Ysigrath and Balator, yo.

Its been in the game how long? And to my knowledge in ALL those years nobody has figured out or found the words to make the spirit knight blade do whatever the hell it does that is special. (screw you contact other planes, you tease!)

Pretty decent accomplishment to hide something that long. Only other things in CF I can think of that I am aware have remained unsolved that have been in the game for a long time are Silent tower (doubt anyone has even come close to completing all the tasks and puzzles there), Various things in hell (Court of the pit fiends? I got one room in, and it may have been the most terrifying display of an ass beating I ever saw, also, the Dispater/Baal puzzle. Satans special tat, the list goes on), and for the life of me I cant remember the third thing I was going to write down when I started this post.

Balators cool in my books, but I think with it being the center between imperial lands and Hamsah, there are probably better and new area ideas that would "fit" more with the placement of the zone.

~

I thought someone brought this up back on Glimos and some imm said the code never got finished?

Twist has used it.

...but I tried with my most recent holder of the item (Yalthulic) and the phrase I thought it was didn't work. So I don't know it either. :P

Pretty sure it's done, given that Jullias wrote it in like 1996.

So the blade's phrase works, but nobody knows it.

I guess my question would be along the lines of weather or not there is a way to discover the phrase in game (in balator or elsewhere). I have extensively searched rooms, descriptions, basically everywhere in balator for years, and I haven't seen a SINGLE hint on the phrase. I usually do pretty good with these things.

Possible that a in game way to find out doesn't even exist? I felt the same way about the shadow lord of scanlon, though I never really searched for the words to make that one work. A player showed me one day and it flipped my lid.

Just so I can ask the question I've always wanted to (and I asked a version of this same question last time...but didn't phrase it correctly).

How many things in the game have never been discovered (quests/item progs/hidden areas/etc)?

I always wondered if there are things no one has ever seen (pelt of the glyrric comes to mind...holy #### did I go through a journey to finally get that item).

I've been kicking around the idea of doing another one sometime, although sans Sebeok and Valg to help me out I don't know if it would be all that interesting.

>I guess my question would be along the lines of weather or not
>there is a way to discover the phrase in game (in balator or
>elsewhere). I have extensively searched rooms, descriptions,
>basically everywhere in balator for years, and I haven't seen
>a SINGLE hint on the phrase. I usually do pretty good with
>these things.

I'd have to double check on that. It's been a long time since I've thought about it.

>Possible that a in game way to find out doesn't even exist? I
>felt the same way about the shadow lord of scanlon, though I
>never really searched for the words to make that one work. A
>player showed me one day and it flipped my lid.

The Shadow Sword thing has to be about the easiest thing there is to find -- if I explained it to you you'd probably be like, "That's IT?! That's all I needed to do?"

Thats why I said that I had never actually *looked* for Scanlons words. Its probably written on the blade or something. I was just using that as an example of something that totally passed me by for a long time.

That spirit knight blade though. I think it is safe to say I have spent close to 100 hours over multiple characters trying to figure it out. I gave up a year or so ago with my last storm warrior to have it, lol.

Maybe take a look when you aren't so busy, and if I don't hear anything in a few weeks I'll bug you to remind you? :)

Thanks for your time.

:0)

This item has special properties when a phrase is spoken, or something like that. It has a phrase word that activates SOMETHING special, we dont know what it does though.

I could have swore your husband did a lot of stuff with the Abadoned Mines though. Stonecutter inscription chief among them (since it ties into Silent, obviously).

>I could have swore your husband did a lot of stuff with the
>Abadoned Mines though. Stonecutter inscription chief among
>them (since it ties into Silent, obviously).

I don't know what this is.

There's a one-exit room in Abandoned Mines that has a hidden inscription in the rock.

It talks about a legendary dude named Stonecutter who did some stuff and then died in the Mines.

Always figured the axe from Silent was named after the dude (tying two pieces of CF lore together is something you tend to do well...at least I thought) but now I realize you're just a dude who thought it was a cool name for an axe :(

Oh well.

>but now I realize you're just a
>dude who thought it was a cool name for an axe :(

This is true.

I've kept VERY little from original arial city. There are prisoners and guards, so that's roughly the same. The gauntlet will exist in a modified version. There's no royalty, though there is a govener.

Also - if you want to contribute but are not sure where to start, email me that you want to help and ask for an assigment. Loosely detail out what you'd like to write up (food for the restaurant or something) and I can send you the descs I have written up for that area so far to give you some ideas to work from.

I know team russia isn't your biggest fan but your efforts are noted and appreciated by some of us!!

nt