Newletter, August 27 2000

Newsletter

MAGGIE THE JACKCAT'S IRREGULAR AC NEWS
August 27, 2000 Edition
Brought to you by Maggie the Jackcat of Thistledown
Web Site: www.thejackcat.com/AC
Email: Maggie@thejackcat.com or thejackcat@xrgaming.net

CONTENTS:

* Mysteries of Aerlinthe Revealed
* AC Sites in the News
* Maggie the Jackcat's Kick-Ass Fabulous Site News

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MYSTERIES OF AERLINTHE REVEALED
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First there were the Emissaries, Faladha and Gareena, who opened the way to the island of Aerlinthe. Next, a Charred Book found in the Abandoned Town is translated into the Aerlinthe Record, a fascinating document which is keeping the lore junkies happy to this day. The discovery of a note on Smith Ejan, mentioning a sluice gate bar and some bellows, sends the questers on their way.

You may have heard of the great Behemoth of Tenkarrdum, a creature so powerful that large groups of brave fighters struggled to bring it down. But bring it down they did, its death yielding a mysterious black boulder as a prize. This boulder was the raw material for an Atlan Stone of Black Fire, a stone which makes the Atlan Weapons more powerful than ever.

In the Aerlinthe Reservoir Dungeon, a Sacrificial Dagger is found lying next to an altar. It's believed to the dagger which slew the missionary Lady Galaeral of Ithaenc long ago. Her murder, as mentioned in the Aerlinthe Record, remains a mystery, as the does the purpose of this Sacrificial Dagger.

With the discovery of the dagger, the quest seemed to come to a halt. Brave warriors banded together, pooling their knowledge and resources, seeking a breakthrough. Damien Saren led the charge, compiling known information on an impressive comprehensive web site, keeping track of what had been tried and what had failed.

Bit by bit, progress was made. Clearing out the Tendarrdun eventually spawned a Boss Hellfire. Atlan Weapons weren't the only quest items to get a little love. The death of the Hellfire yielded a red infusion for the Sword of Lost Light. In addition, its death triggered invasions of creatures at Mt. Lethe and Mt. Espar which yielded further infusions, a white and a blue.

Then the big breakthrough finally came! One Man Army was hanging out in the Abandoned Town one day, killing Relic Bones, when suddenly, he triggered a portal to Aerfalle Keep:

Just before One Man Army scatters the petrified bones across the ash of the port, it attempts to cast a portal to retreat! The ancient port of Aerlinthe is peaceful again... or at least as peaceful as it ever gets. But where does the portal lead? Surely it will not last long!

One Man Army retrieved the Ring of the Watchman off the corpse before stepping through the portal. Adventurers from all servers followed his lead. At last, the lair of Lady Aerfalle was discovered.

On far Aerlinthe Island, an intrepid band has found the lair of the Dark Lady Aerfalle, at whose whim the earth itself does shake. But the bold [insert hero name] has driven her back into her hidden crypts, and the ground stills... until she next awakens. The withered corpse of Aerfalle hisses in rage as it is hewn in twain... "I shall not be sent to a final rest by primitives like thee [insert hero name]!" her severed head says from the stones. "Enjoy this insignificant victory, child. For I have walked this world for over 10 millennia, and I shall walk it long hence your little race has returned to the dust that birthed thee!"

The big prize is the Staff of Aerfalle, a powerful weapon with the following spells: Acid Streak V, Leadership Mastery Other V, Life Magic Mastery Other V, War Magic Mastery Other V. A key and a note were also found on her corpse; however, the chest that the key opens is currently bugged and is producing lower level loot than was intended. That, and the rumor that the staff always drops on death, will give the mages a little something to whine about, now that they can't say there aren't any mage quests anymore. ;-)

Congratulations to all who succeeded in completing this challenging and complex quest!

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AC SITES IN THE NEWS
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Dereth Cartography
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dsimpson/
By now, many of you have probably seen the maps David Simpson has extracted from the CELL.DAT files. But if you haven't seen them, take a look! Of special note is the complete map of Dereth, available for download.

Map of Ispar on CoD
http://cod.xrgaming.net/lore/ispar/map.shtml
Soulitaire, working with Isparian historian Nayt al-Yad created this beautiful map of Ispar for Crossroads of Dereth. It's in the news because I only recently stumbled across it and was so impressed, decided everyone needed to see it! Soulitaire also did the gorgeous Survey Map of Dereth with all currently known locations. You can see a condensed version here:
http://www.into.ch/kunden/lee_mayor/ac/survey.htm

Starshadow
http://www.geocities.com/del_cabon/
Del Cabon kicked off the debut of his allegiance's site with an Interview on AC Tips. It's am impressive compilation. You'll find a Bestiary, Event Information, Collector Locations, Quests, Guides, Attack Tables and other game data. Also included is an "Ask Del Cabon" feature and a rant Column titled "Fear and Loathing."

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MAGGIE THE JACKCAT'S KICK-ASS FABULOUS SITE NEWS
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I recently announced on the New Stuff page that I need to stop taking volunteers for the Runway. At this time, it might take me until 2003 to finish pages for everyone who is already in line. Thank you to everyone who has offered to strip to their undies for the entertainment of the masses. I'm only sorry that I don't have more time to update the site more often. That pesky job thing, you know. If you've sent me mail asking to be on and I haven't responded yet, I'll still add you to the current list. (I'm still very behind answering my mail.) Just be warned that the wait will be a long one.

If you've been by the site recently, you will already have seen the fabulous Danier, now level 61! modeling the Greater Shadow Amuli with elemental stones on my Shadow Armor page.

Koroshiya writes to me that the Medium Amuli has the following stats:

Coat: Value 2610, Burden 1725, AL: 120
Leggings: Value 3040, Burden 2163, AL: 120

Adding the elemental stones boosts the AL to 150 and adds the elemental protections. I hope to be meeting up with Danier soon to add pictures of the Greater Celdon as well. I'm still trying to gather post-patch stats of all levels of the Shadow Armor. If you have screenshots of the stats I am missing, I'd love it if you could pass them on to me!

Other recent updates of note are the Potions page in the Alchemy section, including the new dispel potions; the Locksmith page with a compilation of many of the known keys in the game; and an update to the Culture Section, with many new Texts.

Thank you once again to everyone who is helping me by sending info in. Sometimes it takes me a while to get it up on the site, but I wanted to let you know I appreciate all the information and pics!

See you in the game!

- Maggie the Jackcat
Thistledown

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Copyright 2000 by Maggie the Jackcat. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be used or reproduced for commercial gain or stored in a database or retrieval system without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.