Post by Dank on Feb 22, 2013 23:08:25 GMT -5
Back in 1997, I ran a short-lived set of in-game quests. They were popular with the few players who began trickling back after the several server moves through Colorado and later, JPL.
Here is one of them, mostly for Dina, who loves this stuff. Note the format: I had to pre-compose the text with spacers in order to get the parchments to format more nicely.
In those days, pets lived forever and never wandered. You could call them, and give them stuff, and they'd remain until the end of the uptime. Great for carriers of notes without having DEMI+ privileges.
GENERAL QUEST POST
| An abiding evil threatens the Realm…
| While dark powers gather against two fortresses
| near the Calidone Woods, a tower
| of arcane magic, has been corrupted in the name of
| vengeance and tyranny!
|
| Discover the dark secret of three realms…
| Trace the web of evil to the very edges of our plane…
|
| Intercept the instruments of destruction
| before they can wreak havoc...
On EVELAKE
|
|... mind thee, the dastard does not care one
| whit for his service to thine crown, and
| holds nary a thought for the poor souls he
| sacrifices so brutally hither.
|
| I beseech thee, liege, renounce his unholy
| services and break the bond with which he
| might yet shackle thee...
|
| At least do this for me. DESTROY the six
| words of power before they can be uttered...
| destroy them, Evelake, or be thee destroyed.
|
| WELMAR
| The King of the North Plains
|
on Julia Sarah, Queen Evelake
| 5th day of the Month of Futility
| Day of the Great Gods
|
| Champion of the Realm,
| Heed My Royal Plea:
|
| My husband has been accursed by evil magicks
| arrayed against him and beyond the ken of
| his advisers and close counsel.
|
| He was lured by a power that consumes him,
| a dark promise made to him by his father
| years ago, that the kingdoms of Camelot
| and Carteloise would one day be as one!
|
| It has clouded his mind and allied him
| with the purest of evil... I wish it was not
| so...
|
| Please answer my most earnest appeal and
| save my husband... I will order a reward
| for you and all who will follow you...
|
| Seek my husband and see his pain! Do
| not harm him, for he knows not what he does...
|
| ... I will provide you with the name of
| the ultimate evil so that you may destroy
| it ultimately...
|
| J. S. E.
|
|[the royal seal is affixed here...]
On Morgana Le Fay:
| ...We hast done what thee hast demanded
| Morgana, and now we desire our reward!
|
| The WORDS are EVELAKE's now, and
| thee shall have thine revenge upon Camelot
| and Arthur!
|
| Our gold, Morgana! Do not delay! Send
| us our spoils!
|
| [ the parchment has a faint musty smell]
FIVE WORDS, given to creatures in CAMELOT:
SCRYING CHAMBER HIGH TOWER SORCERY
Red-herring, random latin stuff given to
bones in CAMELOT
On the Master Summoner (High Tower of Sorcery):
| Conjurer of Magick Most Arcane:
|
| I implore thee! Unleash thine minions NOW upon
| the lands of Arthur!
|
As we made compact, my good sisters have provided
thee with the SIX words of power... and now thee
controls the sixth plane as thy biddeth...
|
In further payment, mine agent will deliver
EVELAKE's child bride to thee as guaranty, and soon
thereafter, her lover, Sir Kay of Camelot... as
repayment for his transgressions!
|
I remain yours in Service...
|
MORGANA LE FAYE
|
On Sir Kay:
My darling:
|
Take heed and leave at this once! The evil
summoner is in the employ of my deluded
husband and has unleashed forces upon thine
truest Lord Arthur.
|
Make haste my love to me, for I fear for
my Life.
|
J. S. E.
|
[The seal of Carteloise]
|
Left in Kitchen in Carteloise
My Dearest Love, Kay,
|
You canst reach me, for the agents
of the Wytch in league with the summoner have
taken me.
|
I am lost, but my love, I shall always
carry thine soft words and glorious desire
within mine hearte.
|
Do not ye despair. I promyse a return to thee
afore long.
|
Julia Sarah Allia
Queen of Castle Carteloise
|
On a bonecrusher
[oddly, you are able to easily
interpret the latin on the parchment...]
|
blue tongue of fire carry the
armies of the sixth plane into
the hearts of Arthur and
his servants...
|
blue tongue of flame smite them
where they sleep and bring
mine vengeance to me at last!
|
--M L F
Thanateros won the 1,000,000 gold coins I paid out as a prize. He used locates, of course.
Here is one of them, mostly for Dina, who loves this stuff. Note the format: I had to pre-compose the text with spacers in order to get the parchments to format more nicely.
In those days, pets lived forever and never wandered. You could call them, and give them stuff, and they'd remain until the end of the uptime. Great for carriers of notes without having DEMI+ privileges.
GENERAL QUEST POST
| An abiding evil threatens the Realm…
| While dark powers gather against two fortresses
| near the Calidone Woods, a tower
| of arcane magic, has been corrupted in the name of
| vengeance and tyranny!
|
| Discover the dark secret of three realms…
| Trace the web of evil to the very edges of our plane…
|
| Intercept the instruments of destruction
| before they can wreak havoc...
On EVELAKE
|
|... mind thee, the dastard does not care one
| whit for his service to thine crown, and
| holds nary a thought for the poor souls he
| sacrifices so brutally hither.
|
| I beseech thee, liege, renounce his unholy
| services and break the bond with which he
| might yet shackle thee...
|
| At least do this for me. DESTROY the six
| words of power before they can be uttered...
| destroy them, Evelake, or be thee destroyed.
|
| WELMAR
| The King of the North Plains
|
on Julia Sarah, Queen Evelake
| 5th day of the Month of Futility
| Day of the Great Gods
|
| Champion of the Realm,
| Heed My Royal Plea:
|
| My husband has been accursed by evil magicks
| arrayed against him and beyond the ken of
| his advisers and close counsel.
|
| He was lured by a power that consumes him,
| a dark promise made to him by his father
| years ago, that the kingdoms of Camelot
| and Carteloise would one day be as one!
|
| It has clouded his mind and allied him
| with the purest of evil... I wish it was not
| so...
|
| Please answer my most earnest appeal and
| save my husband... I will order a reward
| for you and all who will follow you...
|
| Seek my husband and see his pain! Do
| not harm him, for he knows not what he does...
|
| ... I will provide you with the name of
| the ultimate evil so that you may destroy
| it ultimately...
|
| J. S. E.
|
|[the royal seal is affixed here...]
On Morgana Le Fay:
| ...We hast done what thee hast demanded
| Morgana, and now we desire our reward!
|
| The WORDS are EVELAKE's now, and
| thee shall have thine revenge upon Camelot
| and Arthur!
|
| Our gold, Morgana! Do not delay! Send
| us our spoils!
|
| [ the parchment has a faint musty smell]
FIVE WORDS, given to creatures in CAMELOT:
SCRYING CHAMBER HIGH TOWER SORCERY
Red-herring, random latin stuff given to
bones in CAMELOT
On the Master Summoner (High Tower of Sorcery):
| Conjurer of Magick Most Arcane:
|
| I implore thee! Unleash thine minions NOW upon
| the lands of Arthur!
|
As we made compact, my good sisters have provided
thee with the SIX words of power... and now thee
controls the sixth plane as thy biddeth...
|
In further payment, mine agent will deliver
EVELAKE's child bride to thee as guaranty, and soon
thereafter, her lover, Sir Kay of Camelot... as
repayment for his transgressions!
|
I remain yours in Service...
|
MORGANA LE FAYE
|
On Sir Kay:
My darling:
|
Take heed and leave at this once! The evil
summoner is in the employ of my deluded
husband and has unleashed forces upon thine
truest Lord Arthur.
|
Make haste my love to me, for I fear for
my Life.
|
J. S. E.
|
[The seal of Carteloise]
|
Left in Kitchen in Carteloise
My Dearest Love, Kay,
|
You canst reach me, for the agents
of the Wytch in league with the summoner have
taken me.
|
I am lost, but my love, I shall always
carry thine soft words and glorious desire
within mine hearte.
|
Do not ye despair. I promyse a return to thee
afore long.
|
Julia Sarah Allia
Queen of Castle Carteloise
|
On a bonecrusher
[oddly, you are able to easily
interpret the latin on the parchment...]
|
blue tongue of fire carry the
armies of the sixth plane into
the hearts of Arthur and
his servants...
|
blue tongue of flame smite them
where they sleep and bring
mine vengeance to me at last!
|
--M L F
Thanateros won the 1,000,000 gold coins I paid out as a prize. He used locates, of course.