And so it begins . . .

Welcome to the first issue of the Crusaders of Chaos. My name is Flatspin, the new herald for the Chaos Shard. I welcome anyone who has news about their guild, themselves, and any other tidbits of information that would sound good for the herald reports. If you have anything to contribute, you can contact me at these addresses:

[email protected]

[email protected]

A bit about myself; I was rescued by a kind Saris named Justa Mirage.  He killed the Withered Aegis that was carrying the half hatched egg I had called home for a while, stolen from a nest.  He couldn’t just leave me at the hands of another abductor as there were more on the way and he could not stay and fight.

 

He brought me to a little village and helped me get the rest of my shell off.  I immediately noticed I walked on all fours, but a lot of the others only walked on two legs.  I saw others like me, they were called dragons.  Justa then took me to a new plot he had purchased, offering me a place to rest and pile up hoard.  He asked in return that I guard his plot from would-be thieves and vandals, which I agreed to as I figured I owed him my life.

Day by day I would get frustrated and tried to blame him for taking my hoard.  I would wake up and find the pile of hoard was almost gone, and I would growl.

          “Why are you taking my hoard? You don’t need it!”

           “I am not taking your hoard, but your pile does appear smaller.”

 “Why do I get this feeling that gnomes are stealing my hoard as I sleep?  What would gnomes want with my hoard anyway; I detest them and would probably eat one that is caught stealing from me.”

          “I will ask the Imperial Taskmaster and a few others about this.”

Well a few months later my hoard started staying at the same level I left it.  All the Empire could say was that the dragon hoard disappearances were halted and they would not lose anymore hoard mysteriously.

8 months went by, my armor was still not very good, and my scales were fitting a little tight.  Had I gotten fat and overweight?  One morning I awoke and found the world had changed. Where once there were elm trees, walked golems of bronze and sandstone near Justa’s plot, but the buildings were gone from his land.  I soon found that our land had been merged with others sharing a parallel dimension and that the great Novian machine was responsible for making this happen.  Soon after, I found many places where I used to hunt extremely dangerous.  Finally Justa found me and had me come to his ‘new’ plot in Sanctuary Bay.  He explained that the world had shifted, and that monsters had been tossed and redistributed across the world after the merge.  He said he had a friend he met, someone from the other parallel world that now inhabited this one, a dragon of many years named Image.

 … to be continued.

 

In the World of Chaos

Having been appointed the Herald recently has my coffers empty for news about Chaos and its inhabitants.  In future editions I hope that more Istarians will come forth with news and information about their triumphs, victories, and achievements.  I am always available to chat with, or you can send information to:

[email protected]

[email protected]

With that, some notable things that transpired in the last week:

Master of Flame

Congratulations to GalemThawn for challenging multiple named mobs on Fire Island and his new self appointed titles for his efforts in simultaneously defeating Flamentus, Lorgus, and Surtheim solo.

Also for his efforts in simultaneously soloing 4 Phantom Mages, 2 Death Dealers, and 1 Ogre Bodyguard for his title of Grandmaster of Flame.

Live Event in Chaos

As several of us lounged around Bristugo, chatting with Istarian citizens, an alarm was raised.  Across the land a message went out for all to hear:

Gifted, strange things are afoot near Bristugo...

Gifted all around Bristugo were going, “Did you hear that? What does it mean?”

Many began casting buff spells and abilities immediately.  Bristugo’s arrival pad became crowded as defenders from all corners came to the town in hopes of staving off a possible invasion from the Withered Aegis.  Battle groups were formed as scouts were set out to find the possible incursion.  Within moments battle ensued between Istarians and the Withered Aegis.

Werewolves, Tormentors of Pain, Soulstabbers, Bone Exhumers, Lifeleechers, Blightweavers, Strawblights, and Initiates came in waves to try and control Bristugo, but were met with tremendous resistance from the forces of the Gifted.

Our group had Guaran, Image, Xanthia, Plot, Comete, Trizan, Kyirra, Lilieth, and Sul helped others in different groupings battle the invading mobs.

Again the word was passed throughout Chaos:

Gifted, there are some old friends waiting for you near Aughundell

Werewolf Marauders were running through the battlegrounds of Augendell.  Just as we found several to combat, I was knocked unconscious and unable to move.  The infamous lag monster snuck up on your herald and sent him packing.  By the time I could rejoin the battle, most of the invaders in Augendell were defeated.  Again Istarians heard of a new threat in Dryart:

Adventurers measuring near 30 seasons are invited to the lands near Dryart to test themselves.  Veterans, please let them play in peace.

I rushed out there to find some new mobs and some ones we had dealt with.

Pox Dragons were everywhere, along with Bone Marauders, and an Evervating Dragon, level 57.  There were a few characters showing the WA a thing or two.  I had time to stop and take a few pictures.

At last the all clear signal came across for all Istarians to hear:

Good hunting, Istaria, and have a good weekend

Istaria’s free lands are safe once again from the invading Withered Aegis.

 
What does it take to feed the hungry adventurers of Chaos?

Interview with a Confectioner

I have always wondered what it takes to be a confectioner but as a dragon, I could not fathom the processes it takes.  So I asked my pet to go interview Kala.  Kala is a master chef with a talent for good cooking, and had time to stop and chat with Justa:

Justa:  'how are you this evening?'

Kala: '*shrugs* eh'

Kala: 'yourself?'

Justa:  'still doing confectioner school'

Kala: 'done leveling it, still cooking'

Justa:  'I have a few questions about the class'

Kala: 'shoot'

Justa:  'I noticed that most of the taverns sell mostly Rare recipe foods and there are not too many regular ones'

Justa:  'for sale... how does one get the rare ones... are they drop only?'

Kala: 'the rare ones are quest only'

Kala: 'you need to take the herbs to the conf trainers to get quests'

Justa:  'there was a specific order, who do I start with?'

Kala: 'Sslanis, Dali, and Feladan, along with a series of non-trainer quests'

Kala: 'no order'

Kala: 'for the non trainer quests, there are three you need to do (any order) before you can do the 4th, but that's the only order specific one I know about, unless they've added more in the past 3-4 weeks'

Justa:  'what got you interested in confectioner'

Justa:  'and your support and testing of the new revamp?'

Kala: 'partly it was more complex than the other schools, partly because cooking is fun'

Justa:  'what would you tell others that are interested in pursuing doing confectioner?'

Kala: 'also, partly the ambrosia...our only active cook quit while EI was in charge and hasn't come back yet'

Kala: 'I wanted to test the revamp partly so I knew what to expect and how much I needed to prepare, also so that the end result would work smoothly and be a bit more bug free than some patches have been...I figured since I'd been doing a lot of cooking and I'm, er, "detail-oriented," I could help with it'

Justa:  'any words of advice for others? hints?'

Kala: 'I'd tell other people who were interested in it to make sure they have an interest in complex things and access to a lot of storage near an alch, mill, and conf shop ;)'

Kala: 'Bobda/Arietna(sp?) put together a nice site'

Justa:  'do you find the HCC calculator and Arietna website helpful?'

Kala: 'I *always* find the HCC useful ;)'

Kala: 'Ari's site is useful when I get asked about who gives what quest'

Kala: 'I can *never* remember'

Justa:  'is making fish and arbotus into trimmed versions the only thing that gives gatherer XP?'

Kala: 'no, the 'shrooms and quested garnish recipes also give exp past T1'

Kala: 'think of garnishes like the gems of the confectioner world ;)'

Kala: 'they don't take up a lot of bulk, so the exp per disk is higher (though it takes forever to fill a disk)'

Justa:  'I do appreciate your taking the time and your efforts to keep the taverns full of good foods'

Kala: 'thanks :)'

Justa:  'I know many of us have feasted on your foods from time to time'

Kala: 'I haven't been stocking it quite so much lately, so other people have a chance to sell some food too...that, and it's a lot of effort to try and feed a whole shard'

Justa:  'if you could change 1 thing about the new conf. what would it be?'

Kala: 'I'd like for the foods that require bonus resources (like clams or shrimp) to remove more time'

Justa:  'that probably is being looked into I recall, that and across the board bulk of processed foods to be 2 and bulk unprocessed to be 4'

Kala: '*nods*'

Kala: 'I know I sent a list of the foods I thought needed to have the time increased'

Kala: 'oh, yeah, more advice to budding young confs...'

Kala: 'being a masochist helps :p'

Justa:  'heh'

Kala: 'I'm still of the opinion that they made it a wee bit too complex'

Justa:  'well I enjoyed our talk it has helped me understand why having my fur ripped off by duct tape gives me more pleasure than cooking'

Kala: '*rofl*'

Kala: 'glad I could help ;)'

Justa:  'does Zureneve help you with gathering?'

Kala: 'if I'm behind on keeping up with the stores, yes'

Justa:  'Time for me to curl up and take a cat nap on this useless pottery wheel and kiln.  Nice chatting with you.'

Kala: 'nice talking with you, as well :)'

 Guilds make a difference

Interview with Akura, Guild leader of “Shards of Chaos”

New guilds are appearing daily as the Unity migration continues to Chaos.  One of the newest guilds is “Shards of Chaos” and their guild leader and founder Akura.

 

Flatspin: 'tell me about your old guild before you came to here.... when you started playing'

Akura: 'when i first started playing, this guild, my current one was the one i helped create'

Akura: 'just decided to bring it back to life'

Flatspin: 'What brought you to play Istaria (horizons)'

Akura: 'my ex beta tested the game, so when it was released to the public, i started too'

Flatspin: 'What do you think the biggest strength belonging or being part of a guild means to you?'

Akura: 'biggest strength.. would probably be a group of people thats there to talk to and help with things, people to have fun with'

Flatspin: 'What do you see the biggest draw for players? Crafting? Adventuring? Social interaction?'

Akura: 'draw? like what would make more people come to the game?'

Flatspin: 'yes, what do you find more of the players doing that brings them fun'

Akura: 'well a lot of the older players and higher up (lvl -wise) seem to be more into crafting.. however personally myself and everyone i've gotten to try the game liked the fact you are able to adventure as a dragon'

Flatspin: 'Tell me about your guild'

Akura: 'Well, we are not recruiting, basically its just a small group of friends and family that help each other with anything we need.

Only people that get into the guild are actual friends with another member.'

Flatspin: 'What would you like to see changed, if any, in the operation of a guild from the game control point of view'

Akura: 'Well, i think the setup and in game control is nice, not any problems that ive noticed'

Flatspin: 'last question: What parting words would you like to say to all of Istaria, any words of wisdom to impart'

Akura: 'Have fun? lol. not really sure >.>'

Flatspin: 'that's good enough! Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed'

Akura: 'sure thing'

 

 

That's it for now.  Thank you for reading my first issue as Herald and hope to have more reports soon.