Heyla and Welcome to the Sentinels,
This document has been designed to assist you in your first few days among us. There are many things to learn, and many wonderful places to explore in our world. We wish you great adventure, and may the Skylord’s wind blow always at your back!
As a Sentinel you have 3 new Guild Skillsets, namely Metamorphosis, Groves and Concoctions. Please read the help files on each of these again. To access these helpfiles, while in achaea simply type HELP METAMORPHOSIS, HELP GROVES, or HELP CONCOCTIONS. Please also be familiar with the HELP SENTINELS and HELP HASHAN scrolls.
Our guildhall is in Hashan at the end of Prospero Avenue. There you will find our guild tutor Vixen, the Wilderness Guide. She has the ability to teach any and all of our skillsets up to Transcendent. To see how far you are in a particular skillset simply type ASK VIXEN <skillset> and she will tell you.
LEARNING
METAMORPHOSIS
GROVES
CONCOCTIONS
EXPERIENCE
AND MONEY
MINIA
VALLEY OF
LODI
SPARRING
EQUIPMENT
TATTOOS
ARMOR AND
WEAPONS
GUILD PRIVILEDGES
AFTER NEWBIEHOOD
DUNGEON
OF THE BEASTLORDS
AZDUN DUNGEON
BELLADONNA'S
KEEP
Every player earns 5 new lessons with each level of experience gained. You gain experience by completing quests and killing monsters/players/mobiles. When learning ALWAYS eat myrrh first, as it enables you to learn about 3 times faster than without. You may learn from any Sentinel who is more skilled than you in a particular skillset. You may also teach players less skilled than yourself. The context for learning and teaching is as follows:
Teach metamorphosis <player>
Learn metamorphosis from <player>
Of course, when teaching and learning other skillsets, substitute the proper skilset name. For example Groves, Concoctions, Survival, etc. Teachers gain a small level of experience in the skill they teach, something like 1% for every 10 lessons or so.
It is recommended that new Sentinels learn metamorphosis up to the HYENA morph. It is a very good fighting/bashing morph with CLAW doing damage in the range of 500-600, as well as some other useful powers. To see what powers you have in each morph simply type MORPH <animal> and then POWERS. You will be given a list and a short description of each power.
After achieving HYENA it is recommended that new Sentinels learn GROVES to RETURN. This enables teleportation back to your grove from any forestal location. Since we all get lost from time to time, this is a most useful skill to acquire.
After achieving these skill levels
you may learn as you wish. Experiment with different skillsets if you like,
though metamorphosis is our primary offensive/defensive skill, and mastering
it is very worthwhile.
When in spirit from, you are granted
a variety of powers depending upon the spirit you are currently embracing.
It ios wise to master the form you have completely before gaining more.
A skilled player with hyena and condor is a force to be reconed with. Many
of us have achieved Jaguar and Wyvern, yet are not as skilled as those
who have truly mastered the morphs they have. Might does not necessarily
equal success.
Upon inguilding you may choose
to imprint a grove. Simply find a forestal room to your liking, and type
PERCIEVE. If it is unclaimed, you may then type IMPRINT and claim that
grove as your own. Be sure that you know your way to and from it, or you
may lose it. A good piece of advice is to wait until you have achieved
grove RETURN to imprint. That way you will never lose your grove, and you
will have been in the world long enough to make an informed decision
as to location. The powers in
Groves are many and varied, though primarily defensive in nature. A skilled
Sentinel in His/Her grove can be well nigh invincible. Again, KNOW YOUR
ABILITIES WELL.
When learning concoctions it is
well to remember a few rules:
*NEVER harvest from anyone else’s
grove.
**ALWAYS use PERCEIVE and PLANTS
to determine if you can harvest.
***NEVER overharvest a plant
Overharvesting is taking more then the allotted number of plants from any given room. Plants come in two varieties, ANNUALS and PERENNIALS.
Perennials
These plants grow slowly and steadily
throughout the year. They grow to a maximum number of 60 per room. YOU
ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO HARVEST THESE DOWN TO 15 PLANTS. This limit has
been imposed by OAKSTONE COUNCIL to protect the forests from abuse. If
there are fires, we need plants to repopulate destroyed rooms. Only a fool
abuses the forest if the forest provides his livelyhood. If you are caught
overharvesting you may be enemied from
the forest.
Annuals
These plants grow magically to maturity once each year on the new year turning. They may be harvested to 5 plants in a room. Remember, they only mature once per year, and once picked will not mature until the new year turning.
Perennials
Skullcap, Echinacea, Ginseng, Lobelia, Kuzu, Ginger, Bloodroot, Irid Moss, Goldenseal, Lady’s Slipper, Blue Valerian, Kelp, Prickly Pear, Cactus Weed
Annuals
Myrrh, Ash, Kola, Elm, Bayberry, Hawthorn
All plants have medicinal qualities
or are used in elixirs. To determine the uses of each plant
for cures simply type HELP CURES
while in achaea.
As stated you gain experience by
killing or completing quests. You may gain money from certain quests, or
by hunting and selling rats. Each of the 3 major cities have rat buyers
who will pay you for the corpses. In Shallam you sell to Hakhim, in Ashtan
sell to Ratman and in Hashan sell to Liirup. This is how most achaeans
make money.
The land of Minia is designed especially
for newbies to bash and gain experience and money. There you may hunt pixies,
imps, kobolds, firesprites and hellcats. You can sell the pixie corpses
to the imp lord in the ember tower, and imp corpses to the pixie queen.
If you GREET VELLIS he will give you a butterfly net and you can WIELD
NET and CATCH BUTTERFLY to sell to him. Minia is designed as a safe haven
so no violence may be committed to other players within. Also, players
over level 21 may not enter minia.
Another newbie bashing area designed
especially for you. Here you may hunt bats, and wildcats or sheep. You
can complete a few quests in the mine, and sell the bats for money. Same
rules as Minia apply here.
Always spar in the arena. It costs money but if you lose and die, you do not lose experience. This is a great way to beef up your combat skills. Simply get to the arena staging grounds in Delos with your sparring partner and type CHALLENGE <player>. Have fun with this, it’s great sport!
If you attack another player in the world without provocation you may expect retribution from that player’s guildmates and friends. Be careful, choose your enemies wisely and with regards to the existing treaties of your guild and city.
REMEMBER it is acceptable when
sparring to ask your opponent to stop. Spars are designed for learning.
If your opponent asks for mercy and you do not grant it, do not expect
it to be granted you.
The basic equipment required in Achaea is some clothing, a backpack and a pocketbelt. Other equipment may be acquired as you progress in skill and levels. You store items in your pack that you do not want to drop when you log out. Extra clothing, journals, and items you may buy (like food) are some examples. Be careful with food, however, since it decays quickly. The syntax for using a pack is:
GET <item> FROM PACK
PUT <item> IN PACK
PROBE PACK (or just P PACK)….*lets
you see what’s in it
Pocketbelts are used for holding herbs and a few other components. Herbs will last forever in pocketbelts, but will fall out of packs. Inks for tattoos can also be kept here, along with a few other items. The syntax for using pocketbelts is as follows:
INB <herb> (puts herb in belt)
OUTB <herb> (gets herb from
belt)
PROBE POCKETBELT (or just P POCKETBELT)
…*to see inside
You can put or take more than one item at a time. We call this BATCHING. You can batch up to 50 items at one time, but it requires equilibrium. The syntax for this is similar:
INB 50 <herb>
OUTB 50 <herb>….*or any number
up to and including 50
Tattoos are magical in nature and provide the wearer with certain protections or offensive attacks. You may have another player ink you a tattoo, as it is a learnable skill, or you may study it yourself. If you do, you will have to buy the required inks at the markets in the cities. You may also buy the tattoos in Delos from Vinci at his Tatto Emporium. Type HELP TATTOOS for a description of the skill. When in Vinci's shop simply type WARES to see what he can tattoo and for what cost. To see what each tatoo does simply type AB TATTOOS <tattoo name>.
In my opinion the most important
tattoos to get are as follows in the order of importance:
* starburst
* boar
* moss
* moon
* shield
* hammer
As a Sentinel you shall not use
weapons. Our morphs are our weapons, and formidable ones at that. You may
however wear armor. Chainmail is the best we are allowed to wear. Type
HELP ARMOR to get more information on armor types. We may also use shields.
There are various types of shields that offer a variety of protection.
To use a shield simply have it in your inventory and type WIELD SHIELD,
or UNWIELD SHIELD. They can be stored in packs.
You have the ability to listen to and speak on the guild channel. You will meet many new friends here, and we hope learn and teach much. Use this channel to ask questions, help others, or call for assistance. It is NOT acceptable to swear frequently, abuse others, or generally make a nuisance of yourself on this channel. Have respect for all guildmates, and you will earn our respect in turn.
Our guild is divided into 20 guildranks. HELP GUILDRANK will show you those you are allowed to see. GUILD PRIVS will show you what you are able to do in out guild. One rises inn guildrank among Ssentinels by acquiring GUILDFAVOURS. Type HELP GUIDLFAVOUR for a description and brief explanation of that. Doing selfless acts and being noticed by a ranking Sentinel may earn you a guildfavour. Sentinels above guildrank 5 may guildfavour.
Guilddisfavour is also a privilege those above GR5 may employ. It is a form of discipline that adversely affects your guildrank. This is only used in very serious circumstances, and may be appealed. Please listen to your senior guild members. They are here to help you. If they warn you to stop a certain behavior, please take heed, for the consequences may be unpleasant.
There is another location on the WEB that affords a few resources for new players. Perseon has a web page containing maps he has created, along with a ZMUD guide for sentinels. If you do not have ZMUD, or are not willing to buy it, you may use MUSHCLIENT for free. It is a fairly good client, and far better than JAVA. You can get MUSHCLIENT at the following address:
Perseon's Page:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bremenj/achaea/
Mushclient Download
http://tucows.wau.nl/adnload/dlmush.html
Now, go into the world and learn. May you find success in your chosen goals.
Be well Sentinel.
Oswald Snowmantle of Northgrove
Disciple of Knowledge
So you've done Minia, yer rightly
sick of killing pixies, the imps and kobolds provide no sport any longer,
and you feel that you need a bit more STUFF to do. Well, there are
a few locations that are available for gaining levels of experience and
money. I shall briefly give some pointers on a few of these.
You may choose to explore the Dungeon of the Beastlords, The Azdun Dungeons,
Belladonna's Keep, or simply roam about exploring the land.
This underground complex is also known as the GREAT ROCK. Simply follow the path southwestish from North of Thera until you come to the FORK IN THE ROAD. There you should find a robed desert man. Type INFO HERE to get his name and GREET him. He will give you a chalice that you may need later. He will slao give instructions on how to get to the Dungeon. It is e, se, se, u, u, u, n.
The Dungeon of the Beastlords is divided into 5 main levels. Here you may hunt and kill stirges, collect their eggs to sell, bash Cerberus and Cultists, as well as Ophidians when you become more powerful. Cultists hit pretty hard and you bleed lots so a moss tattoo would be useful, along with a boar. When first attacking the Cultists try HIT AND RUN tactics to test your strength. Remember that you can offer the corpses to the God of your choice by simply finding the room marked by that God.
In Beastlords you shall meet Bearnath,
Kasha, as well as Arinas and Skt'All. Greet them to see what you
may do for/with each mobile character. To find the ophidians simply
get to the room titled DARK POOL and type SECRETS, you shoud find a secrex
exit to the DOWN. Go down 2, then sw or se to explore the ophidian caves.
Good luck and be careful.
Deep in the hills you shall find the Azdun Dungeons. This is not a place for the weak or faithearted. Many are the perils that lurk in the shadowy depths of this dismal place. When you begin here stick to the upper levels. Medium spiders should be your prey until you have at least 2000 health points. There are a few quests here that you may wish to do, but I shall leave the search for this knowledge up to you.
Be wary of Goblins, as they team. By this I mean that if you attack one in a room of 5, all 5 will retaliate. The use of HIT AND RUN tactic is advised when one begins to attack goblins. Be wary of Lachesis, the Spider Queen and her arachnid minions. You may encounter many more fierce creatures as you descent to the lower levels, but beware. Hobgiblins, Goblin Soldiers, Goblin Zombies, Ghouls, Ghasts, and the dreaded Vampires lurk in wait for foolish adventurers. If you are truly skilled and careful you may even catch a glimpse of the fabled Underground Forest.
Most of the mobiles on the upper
level are not agressive, meaning they will not attack unless provoked.
Those below, however, will attack on sight and you must be wary.
Make use of the VISION skill of GLANCING to see what might be in the next
room. Good luck Adventurer, and watch your back!
Far to the north of Hashan, beyond the fens lies the enchanted castle of Belladonna, Queem of the Vampires. This is no location for the inexperienced as it teems with hostile entities, monsters of hideous design, and a ruler of whom fearsome legends have been told. Belladonna holds court here and brooks no nonsense from anyone. You may meet such "interesting" characters as Gladius the Dark Knight, Hecuba the Dark Witch of Chaos, Naggamantex the Torturer, and Helf'ga the Ogress Cook just to name a few.
There are many interesting quests here for those of us who prefer the dark side of things, as well as many evil creatures for the righteous among us to seek out and cleanse. Selling snakes, catching leeches or toads and delivering prisoners (or rescuing them). Beware however for legends tell of vile Dark Minotaurs, Hell-Hounds, Two-Headed Ogres and even a Dragon. The upper sections of the Keeps are hidden well and one must search diligently to locate the secret entrances....though rumor has it the sewers are a good place to start.
If you are truly brave (or just
abysmally stupid) you may wish to try your skills here. If ye do,
say hi to Grollum for me...he and I go way back...