Imbued Shroud/saved posts
Topic: Rumor Woods
Message #: 839
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 5/24/2021
Subject: Imbued Shrouds
Her breath caught in her throat as she pelted through the streets. She fought to resist the urge to cough, knowing that she needed to preserve as much air as possible. She risked a glance over one shoulder, but saw no sign of her pursuers. She knew better than to assume that this meant they had given up, however, and redoubled her efforts to put distance between them and herself.
She rounded a corner and darted into a spacious shop, where she was immediately struck by how quiet everything seemed. Her eyes were instantly drawn to five statues positioned around the open space. Each one seemed striking, though each in their own fashion, and each one bore a pair of shrouds, one draped over each of their outstretched arms. In the stillness of the shop, she was certain she could detect the sound of... whispers.
"I held fast, even when they tried to force me to forsake my faith."
"Did the bastard get what he deserved?"
"What use is joy when it is so easily shattered?"
Her jaw fell open as she sensed the sheer presence of the shrouds, and before the sensations could overwhelm her, she dashed back out the door, preferring what might await her to the spirits within those shrouds.
Imbued Shrouds are a new script debuting at Rumor Woods '21. These are neckworn containers, each one containing a 'spirit' which will interact with the wearer, and occasionally, those in the same room in a variety of ways.
The shrouds are unlockable, with a total of four tiers. They come off the shelf at Tier 1, and unlock certificates will be for sale. In addition to unlock certificates to move to higher tiers, there are separate certificates for sale which upgrade the mechanical ability of the shrouds to greater effectiveness, or for more uses per day.
There are five unique spirits on offer for this run of Rumor Woods. Each has their own personality, and their own story. The statues representing each of the spirits will give clues as to their demeanor, and it is recommended that you take careful heed when choosing your shroud, as there will be no exchanges or refunds. The spirit within each of the shrouds will occasionally whisper in the ear of the one wearing it, and the whispers are customized for each of the spirits.
Off the shelf, the shrouds have a single small pocket which will hold one tiny item. Unlocks will increase both the size and number of items that may be held, maxing out at 5 items, or a total of 20 pounds.
The spirit contained within each shroud has a chance to be glimpsed by others from time to time. In addition, the whispers of the spirit will occasionally be heard by those in the same room as the wearer. The odds for both of these go up as the shroud is unlocked to higher tiers.
At Tier 2, a few fluff verbs become available, each reflecting the spirit within the shroud.
At Tier 3, the shrouds become enhancive, enhancing one of the wearer's primary (class-based) statistics. It is worth noting that this is triggered a single time after the unlock has been applied, and will assign the enhancive depending on the class of the one wearing it at that time. It will not change if someone else wears the shroud.
At Tier 4, the shrouds get a second enhancive, for the other primary (class-based) enhancive statistic. As with Tier 3, this is a one-time upgrade, and is dependent on the wearer at the time of upgrade (or first to wear it after the upgrade has been applied.) In addition, at T4, Spirit Shriek is unlocked. This is a wave-based attack, with special messaging, that targets the entire room (similar to Elemental Wave). This ability can be used X/Day (1x to start, with unlocks available for more uses). There is a separate certificate available to unlock Greater Spirit Shriek, which emulates Major Elemental Wave (again, with special messaging).
There is also a separate unlock which will enable feature concealment for a shroud that is T2 or higher.
There are alteration restrictions for the shrouds, as they may never be made into anything ragged, dingy, or torn, and their noun must always remain 'shroud'.
~GM Quilic
ASGM - Premium
Four Winds Isle/Mist Harbor Storyteller
Ruiner of Things
Topic: Rumor Woods
Message #: 842
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 5/25/2021
Subject: Imbued Shrouds
To answer some of the questions that I've seen:
The five spirits on offer for this run of Rumor Woods are: Giantkin Poetess (Female) Halfling Berserker (Female) Elven Soldier (Male) Human Thief (Male) Dwarven Priest (Male)
The Enhancives by class (in T3/T4 format) are:
Warrior (Con/Str) Rogue (Agi/Dex) Wizard (Aur/Log) Cleric (Int/Wis) Empath (Inf/Wis) Sorcerer (Aur/Wis) Ranger (Int/Dex) Bard (Inf/Aur) Monk (Agi/Str) Paladin (Wis/Str)
The enhancive is set at the time of unlock, based on the class of the individual holding the shroud when the certificate is used.
You can only wear one Shroud at a time, and they are functional equipment.
The whispers can be turned off for the room, but never for the wearer. Whispers to the room will adhere to the "No Ambient" flag setting, allowing players to opt out of seeing them at the same time as other ambients.
The script is set up to allow for custom spirits (Custom fields include gender, race, profession, individual whispers, tone of whispers, how the spirit looks when it's glimpsed by others, and the expression that it imparts on the wearer for some of the fluff verbs), but that may not be offered this year. If it is offered, it will be an extremely limited (and likely delayed) service. If it is to be offered, I will advertise it as soon as that determination has been made.
One of the fluff verbs, for the dwarven priest version:
>pull my shroud
You gently lift a fold of your imbued shroud up over your head, feeling its soft folds against your ears. Between the gentle rustles of the cloth settling into place, you catch the barest hint of a strident whisper. A slightly intense expression creeps across your face as you allow the imbued shroud to fall forward and conceal your features.
Note that the tone of the whisper and the expression on your face change depending on the spirit in the shroud. Each of the fluff verbs utilize some form of customization based on the spirit in the shroud.
Both T3 and T4 enhancives are +3 to stat. T4 does not affect T3's enhancive. The enhancives are charge-based, and have roughly 25% of a Premium Enhancive's number of charges.
Spirit Shriek uses reset at midnight, EST, and there is no cooldown on their use. The functionality closely mirrors Elemental Wave (410), and you can reliably use that as a comparison for what Spirit Shriek would affect.
At present there are no limitations on sales or unlocks, and this is likely to be a recurring item (with new spirits offered each year) for Rumor Woods, though that of course can't be guaranteed. If for some reason the item itself does not return, unlocks will still be offered going forward in some fashion.
Pricing will not be disclosed ahead of the event.
The spirits do not have proper names (like Bill, or John, or Anderson, or Keanu).
~GM Quilic
ASGM-Premium
Four Winds Isle/Mist Harbor Storyteller
Ruiner of Things
Topic: Rumor Woods
Message #: 903
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 6/6/2021
Subject: Imbued Shrouds
Hi All,
After some discussion, Imbued Shrouds will have their enhancive LOCKED (attuned) to be only usable by the profession that unlocks the first enhancement (at T3). This means that if a wizard unlocks to T3, the enhancives on that shroud (including any potential T4 unlocks) will ONLY be usable by wizards. The ANALYZE will be updated to indicate this, to prevent issues when buying/selling the shrouds.
I'm sorry about the confusion, and hope this clears it up for everyone.
~GM Quilic
ASGM - Premium
Four Winds Isle/Mist Harbor Storyteller
Ruiner of Things
Topic: Rumor Woods
Message #: 938
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 6/11/2021
Subject: Imbued Shrouds - Update and Custom Spirit Raffle Announcement
Hi all!
On the eve of Rumor Woods, a few last-minute announcements regarding Imbued Shrouds:
First, to reiterate a previous post, when unlocking a Shroud to T3, that Shroud becomes locked to the profession of the character doing the unlock. This means that if a wizard uses the unlock certificate, then only wizards will ever be able to use the shroud going forward. There is a (bold) note in the analyze when the shroud has been locked, detailing which class is able to use the shroud. Further, only members of that class can get the T4 unlock (the certs will not work for any other class).
Secondly, You can only wear one Imbued Shroud at a time.
Finally, Custom Spirits will be offered in extremely limited quantities this year. Here is how this process will work:
There will be a raffle (for silvers) set up in the shop selling the Shrouds that will draw very near the end of Rumor Woods. The exact time will be announced tonight or tomorrow. The raffle ticket cost will be very inexpensive, as the raffle is primarily to determine the potential winners. Note the use of the word 'potential' there. In order to redeem their win, each of those chosen must be in-game and have 7,500 raikhen available. This amount will be immediately deducted from their TICKET BALANCE, and is the surcharge for this service. At that point, each of the winners will be required to provide an email address, through which I will work with them to create their custom spirit. There is a LOT of customization that goes into these, from gender and profession down through a large number of individual whispers, and it will take some time to set up/QC.
There are two large disclaimers to the Custom Spirits raffle. Anyone who wins but does not have the correct amount of raikhen available at that time will forfeit their win, and that spot will not be redistributed in any way. And getting a Custom Spirit will attune your shroud to your account (not character) permanently.
The raffle will be set up for three winners. This is the maximum number of Custom Spirits that will go out this year, though the potential exists for none to go out, should the winners not have the correct amount of raikhen redeemed (viewable using TICKET BALANCE in-game) at the time of their win.
(Note that shrouds do not have to be any particular unlock tier to get a Custom Spirit. An OTS version will work just fine for this service.)
~GM Quilic
ASGM ~ Premium
Four Winds Isle/Mist Harbor Storyteller
Ruiner of Things
Topic: Rumor Woods
Message #: 949
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 6/12/2021
Subject: Imbued Shrouds - Update and Custom Spirit Raffle Announcement
ALSO -
The Feature Concealer ability for these has been moved to a separate unlock (to keep the price of the T2 unlock reasonable). There is a 'shadowy onyx letter' for sale which will unlock feature concealing on a shroud.
~GM Quilic
ASGM ~ Premium
Four Winds Isle/Mist Harbor Storyteller
Ruiner of Things
Topic: Rumor Woods
Message #: 1000
Author: GS4-QUILIC
Date: 6/14/2021
Subject: Imbued Shrouds - Updates and Bugfixes
Hi all,
There've been a few bugs squashed with regards to the shrouds, and one issue has cropped up that's still being researched:
A) There was a problem that was causing people's features to disappear if they were wearing/holding their shroud. That's been squashed.
B) Adding additional uses of Spirit Shriek via the unlock cert didn't allow you to USE those charges immediately. That bug's been eviscerated.
C) There's a (thankfully rare) issue where certain scripts don't play nice with the feature concealing aspect of the shrouds (making the feature concealer nonfunctional). That one's being looked into, and I hope to have some sort of a resolution soon.
Thanks for your patience, and I'm glad you guys are enjoying them so much!
~GM Quilic
ASGM ~ Premium
Four Winds Isle/Mist Harbor Storyteller
Ruiner of Things