What's Different Here

The Land Answers Back

Any tree can be felled and any rock face dug. Double-click an axe and pick a tree for logs, or a pickaxe and pick mountain, cave floor or rock for ore. Each patch runs out and comes back in twenty minutes or so.

Swing at a tree in war mode and it goes to a stump, then grows back as a sapling. Axes are best on wood, maces on stone.

Try it: Any tree or hillside on the continent.

Crates Break, Rock Cracks

Crates, barrels and pots outside the towns break when you swing at them, and some hide something. A broken one re-forms a minute after everyone has walked away. In Minoc, smashing the Company's carts and barrels is a crime and the guards come.

Some rock rings hollow when you hit it.

Try it: The spoil crates in the north-west corner of Minoc's mine yard. For the hollow rock, see the Secrets of the Deeps.

Fire Spreads

Cast a fire spell at a tree and it catches, and the fire spreads to the trees beside it until it burns out. What it leaves is charred and grows back slowly.

Over Minoc a storm rolls in every half hour or so: lightning sets a tree alight and the rain puts it out.

Try it: A Fireball at the edge of a wood. Mind where you stand.

Wade In

Shores and lakes have shallows. Walk in and you sink to the ankle, the waist, then the chest, and slow down as you go. At chest depth you cannot swing or cast; climb out first. Deep water still stops you.

Try it: The bay below Minoc's docks.

Towns That Remember You

Townsfolk keep a day: home at night, market in the morning, the counter by day, the inn at supper. Do something for one of them and they greet you by name next time, and word of it reaches other towns.

There is no quest log. Work comes to you: a townsperson walks up, says what they need, and you answer "aye" or "not now".

Try it: Run an errand in Britain, then come back a day later.

Companions with Minds of Their Own

Wulfric and Sister Nella hire on at Rue's tavern. They fight, heal, loot and offer you what they find, and take orders by speech. They can also say no.

The longer you go together, the closer they get: hired hand, comrade, friend, sworn. A friend stops asking for a wage; a sworn companion never runs.

Try it: "Wulfric, join me" in Rue's tavern, Minoc.

A Voice in the Rock

Under Minoc the Warden speaks from the rock eight seconds before every strike, so you know what is coming. Further down he stops threatening and starts offering trades. What he asks, and what he gives, you find out at the altar.

Try it: The cage at the Adit, east of the bridge.

A Moongate Home

Clear a floor of the Undercity and a blue moongate opens beside the stair down. Step into it to go home with what you carry, or take the stair one floor deeper. Nobody has to walk back up.

Try it: The Dungeon Warden in the Hall of Trials, Britain.

First Finders Are Named

Twelve secrets lie under Minoc. Find one and it is written down with the date. The first finder gets a trophy in the bank and their name on this site for good; everyone after gets a Finder's mark.

Try it: Start with the riddles.

Guards Who Mind the Gate

A monster that walks into a guarded town gets the nearest guard, who appears beside it and ends it in one blow. Monsters chasing you give up at the town's edge.

Try it: Lead something into Minoc or Britain.

A Room of Your Own

Say "my room" in the back room of Britain's inn and you get a room. Drag things from your pack onto the floor and they stay there. Lock it, or let friends in.

Try it: The inn's back room, Britain.

Other Adventurers

You are not the only party under Minoc. A rival band of four works the same Deeps; they will loot a fallen porter and run for the stair with the gold. They may turn up again later, on the road.

Try it: The Deeps.