Ebon Gate primer - Caligos Isle

An Ebon Gate Primer

Introduction

Ebon Gate is a huge, multi-faceted annual Festival Event in GemStone. The 2017 Ebon Gate was the first time it took place the entire month of October, which continued in 2018, and the format is back for 2019. This is a large SimuCoin event at a venue outside of the regularly accessible areas of GemStoneIV. You can buy the SimuCoin pass for just the kind of activities you wish to attend: Shopping, or Merchants/Services/Raffles, or Digging and games (by the week). There is no cut off date for the passes - they are sold up to the last day, and there is no maximum number of attendees. Everyone can come. Anyone will be able to access the Festival Grounds at Caligos Isle without purchasing anything at all. Doing things ... that's going to require the appropriate SimuCoin item.

1. The first rule of Ebon Gate: Bookmark the wiki page and the shopping page. It saves you time later. They will be regularly updated with new Ebon Gate information as it becomes available. The wiki team has already created the pages, and will update them with new info. (Also - check with the wiki team and find out if you can help with the documentation of the Festival. There's a Lich script that does a lot the heavy lifting for you.)
   • Main Info Page: Ebon Gate 2019
   • Shops' Inventory Page: Ebon Gate 2019 shop listing
   • Pro Tip: Keep the two pages open in your browser tabs for the duration
2. The second rule of Ebon Gate: Prepare. Prepare. Prepare.
3. The third rule of Ebon Gate: ;tune TownCrier to pick up important breaking news
4. The fourth rule: Give the wiki team a day or 10 to map and inventory every shop. If you'd like it finished faster, study the Help:Festshop script page for the script and instructions about how YOU can painlessly help to document the festival via a great Lich script. In 2015, for instance, there were 141 shops! That's a great deal of work.
5. The fifth rule: Use the FESTIVAL command in-game for a quick reference for General info, Schedule, locations, passes, no-passes, GHOUL, and more!
6. The sixth rule: Stay on top of the news out of Ebon Gate. You'll find that on the TownCrier channel via Lich, or at the TownCrier web site. This year, there's even a sneak peek at Ebon Gate in a Town Square Central podcast, and you will not want to miss that!

Deep Sea Diving is usually the SimuCoin companion event to Ebon Gate. Like Delirium Manor it is available to everyone. You will need to purchase the ticket item/pass in the SimuCoin shop for dives. These are sold individually, and not part of the other Ebon Gate access passes.

2018 was the first year for The Caligos Diving Competition event.

The Treasure Trove will be at Ebon Gate for 2019. It was in a test run at Duskruin, August 2019 if you want an idea of how that worked and what its rules were. Look for 'an eel-etched raffle token' to use with the Treasure Trove Raffles

The storyline opens on the first for about a week.

QUEST TRANSPORT EBON will get you to Caligos Isle from every city.

TICKET BALANCE will show you your various currency balances. For Ebon Gate, that's the seashells line.

The Quest

There is a smaller story-quest you can participate in/work on the rest of the month. There will be a quest-like progress item you collect and turn in. This earns a favor-like collection score for you that counts towards being able to qualify for the Ghezyte chelioboros bracelet upgrade for the year. If you missed previous years, you can do more of whatever the task is for the current year to catch up. Each year's favor requirement seems to double, so catching up may take some time.

• 2017: You turned in construction parts to complete the old temple on the top of the Isle
• 2018: You found a thingie, took it to either the Warden or ??? to validate, depending on whether you want to fight against Ghezresh or have him win. Then they handed it back to you, changed, and you found a villager to give it to. Ghezresh lost this popular 'vote' in 2018.
• 2019: There are multiple different quest items, each unique to "Pro" or "Anti" Gezresh community, see the Questing section further below for more details.

Shopping and Merchants:

There are so many shops at the Ebon Gate Festival; new scripts and items are often introduced at this festival. Previews and teasers trickle out for weeks before the event opens. Some of the shops have wares that are only available once a year during this time. There are multiple appearances by multiple merchants during the festival. Sometimes you may even see them simultaneously and you'll have to make a QUICK decision which merchant to find. The merchant appearances are often general services (GALD: General Alterations, Lightening, or Deepening); sometimes only one or two of those things; sometimes unlockings only, or in addition. There could merchants who will provide custom tattoos, customize your features, and other special offerings. Some merchants might only work on their own things. Some merchants you dare not ever ask them to alter something they've made, remember to read all the signs. Rare unlocking and services can sometimes be found during the festival time.

Pro Tip: Remember to read all the signage. I am not responsible for your safety when you ask Kyrinthe for something in pink.

Schedule: Stay tuned to the main Ebon Gate page and to the TownCrier for details. Some will be announced in advance so that you can plan for them, some will just happen. We're waiting on the announced schedule for 2019, but these are our educated guesses for our month-long EG:

• The 1st week - Oct 1-6: Storyline begins; usually starts at 9pm on the 1st
• The 2nd week - Oct 5-10: Live GM-Hosted Games Week in Plat (Opens ~9pm eastern on the 5th)
• The 2nd week - Oct 7-31: Shops Open (starts ~9pm eastern on the 7th in both Prime and Plat)
• The 2nd week - Oct 10-31: (Prime/Plat both)
  • Digging and Games begin, including fishing, digging up crates on the beach, and the mini-games
  • Deep Sea Diving, and the Diving Competition companion events open
  • Shopping continue for the rest of the month
  • Something New starts
• The 3rd week - Oct 12-17: Platinum's Merchant Week
• The 3rd week - Oct 12-17: Live GM-Hosted Games Week in Prime
  • Live Games with a GM Host for all manner of fun. See the details below. The schedule is usually available under the FESTIVAL command in GS
• The 4th week - Oct 18-25: Merchant Week in Prime! There are SO many merchants. It usually includes:
  • Live Merchant sessions for GALD
  • Live Merchant sessions for Unlocking things
  • Misc. Merchant appearances for features, tattoos, imbedding, flares, signature verbs, and more
  • Specialized Merchant appearances for Weighting/Padding/Sighting (bring all the money)
  • Specialized Merchant appearances for script swapping, attribute stripping (spikes, weighting, padding, whatever, and other hoped-for rare services)
  • Raffles - so many raffles. Many of these raffles have prizes that are offered only once or twice a year! Remember these require silvers, not notes, and read all the signage
• The last week - Oct 26-31: Finish your diving, shopping, games, and whatever tasks the storyline arc/s require this year, the party will be over soon.

Ala Carte Pricing

There is no entrance fee to wander the venue, see the sights at Caligos Isle, window shop, get a feel for what you want to do, and take part in some of the activities and events. You buy a pass only for the activities you want to participate in.

Event Type	Notes	Type of Pass	Entry Cost
Storyline	Oct 1-6, plus whatever task/s the rest of the month	No pass required	Free
GM-Hosted Live Games	Plat: Oct 5-10 Prime: Oct 12-17	Service (Merchant) Pass Good all month	3,000 SimuCoins
Shopping	Oct 7-31: Goods for sale in silvers, seashells, and sometimes tickets or bloodscrip; good all month	Shopping Pass Good all month	1,000 SimuCoins
Shopping in Stores with Seashell Prices	Oct 7-31	No pass required	Seashells
Permifier	Oct 7-31	Pretty sure the Obelisks do not require a pass Spend tickets or seashells, there is an obelisk for each.	Tickets or Seashels
Games, Activities	Oct 10-31 Digging, Mini-games, Mist Survivor, etc	Game Pass good for 7 consecutive days from the time it is first used	1,500 SimuCoins
Deep Sea Diving	Oct 10-31	SimuCoin Diving License.	They are 100 SimuCoins for each set of dives.
Fishing	Oct 10-31 Purchase your supplies ahead of time and then enter the fishing area by paying 50 seashells	No pass required	Seashells only
Cliff Diving Competition	Oct 10-31, 50 seashells per dive	No pass required	Seashells only
Merchant Week & Raffles	Plat: Oct 11-18 Prime Oct 18-25	Service (Merchant) Pass Good all month	3,000 SimuCoins
Questing Item Bracelet End Prize	Work through the month to qualify to get it upgraded each year, or catch up if you are behind.	No pass required	This final prize item costs 250,000 silvers
Necropolis	Oct 10-31: Dungeon Crawl, 250 seashells	No pass required
Treasure Trove	Raffles every hour	Active Game Pass	1 Token per raffle entry
The Arena of the Abyss	TBD	TBD	TBD
Jangling Junker (Prize Wall)	TBD	TBD	Spend your seashells

Games and Fun:

• There are live games hosted by a GM. See the schedule under the FESTIVAL command within GemStone
  • GHOUL Games (BINGO) are a favorite, there will be several of these
  • Salvaged from the Sea - (scavenger hunt?)
  • Search and Rescue - (Someone is lost?)
  • Sing Me an Epitaph - Someone has died. Twenty someones actually, but unfortunately we have nothing to mark on their gravestones or tell for their eulogies. We will be enlisting the help of twenty of you to help us! Each presenter will receive a paper detailing one grisly demise, and each player will have fifteen minutes to write a song commemorating the fallen. Please keep presentations to three minutes or less.
  • Storytelling - It's time to bring out your bone-chilling tales, creepy stories, and murder mysteries at this year's storytelling contest. Presenters should keep their tale to five minutes or less. Spectators are welcome, but beware: here in Feywrot Mire, things definitely go bump in the night! Bring a torch and someone to protect you, as this night may prove to set your spine to tingling and your hair to standing on end.
  • Anemone Anagrams - Anagram game, read/listen to the rules. It's a fav!
  • Pick Your Poison - ??
  • Entrail Toss - It's a food fight that takes on a whole new meaning as forty contestants battle one at a time to throw their food at a living target. What? A living, moving target? That just makes it all the more fun! See if you have good aim or are left in the dust in this game of hand-eye coordination!
  • Costume Contest - Wear your best (or worst) costume attire and compete not only for prizes, but the envy of your friends! This year's categories are Most Creative, Most Elegant, Scariest, Funniest, and Best Duo.
• Mini games: pick from fun little automated games of chance that run 24/7 during Ebon Gate. Win seashells and prizes. Keep collecting seashells for some exclusive shopping.
• Keep Eyes Open at this festival, all the time! You never know what's going to happen when.
• Raffles - there will be many raffles held during the merchant week. There were 72 raffles during the 2019 Merchant week. Stay tuned to the raffles with Rovvi's Raffle Reports and the TownCrier. Read.The.Signs.
• Digging is a favorite every year. You buy your shovels for silvers, and dig around the beach for treasure boxes of tickets and/or loot!
• Fishing - In 2017/18 the Fishing game was open to all without a pass, but it did cost seashells to enter.
  • Beldannon's Fishing Guide
  • Wyrom's Fishing Guide
• The Necropolis ... take your best friends on a dungeon crawl that you'll never forget. Combat, traps, puzzles, and more! 250 seashells per person. Read the details from the opening announcement in 2018 at the Officials.
• Competition High Diving
• Mist Survivor - A Last Man Standing game down in the center of the Sea Caves area. Bring Friends. 1,000 silvers per person, requires game pass. Who will be the last adventurer standing in a multiplayer competition? It’s not on the map, but we’ve got directions! At the Northeastern Vantage of the main shops level, move into the cave mouth. Take the uneven path as if you were going to the Tidepools game (lich room 26529). But don’t go down! Look for a small dark cave, go in. There’s a minimum of 3 players. Bring all your friends and see who lasts the longest vs. the poisonous mists!

Questing:

• There is a storyline opening the first week of Ebon Gate. As near as I can explain, you follow the hints to listen/watch for a small storyline that progresses night by night. Someone might need your help, there might be a mystery to solve. Many, many people will attend these, so be courteous of 'noise' you may make. It usually continues through the rest of the month with whatever the long-term task is that needs to be done. Last year, there were two different sides, fighting for the outcome, in fact.
• In 2019, the Necropolis returned, reworked for Caligos Isle. You will find it off the trail in room 33 on the Caligos Map, then to the portal. Look for the walk-through at the PC from Mister Goat.

The Month-Long Favor Quest

The favor quest for Caligos Island EG 2019 is a bit more involved than the previous year. Ghezresh looks to restore his temple on the island by rebuilding the tile work and making it grand once more. The villagers of the island seek to expand into the fishing village that was found in 2018 and are looking to build homes there. There are numerous different types of favor items, but only some can be used by one side or the other. It is not yet clear if it is a competition or not.

Anti-Ghezresh

This year marks the start of repopulating the area and to do so we need to build some homes. Most rooms in the fishing village area, the center of which is lich room number 27553, should have the following: a large rectangular hole in the ground and a pile of construction tools. The rectangular holes are foundations that need to be built. There appears to be multiple phases of construction as well, which will be detailed below as they are found. For now, the following items can be placed into the rectangular hole and provide 25 favor for EG:

Phase 1

• a tumbled grey stone
• a smooth grey boulder
• a waterproof sack of mortar

These items, when placed in the hole, will incur some RT and provide 25 favor. You can find the fishing village by heading to the northern passage/slope and heading down the trail. Follow the path down and into the village. You will know you are in the right area by seeing luminous stones on the ground, protecting you from the mist. Anti-Ghezresh forces can also deny the pro-Ghezresh forces favor by taking the following items to the Warden, who wanders around the High Plateau area (center of the island, up the vortex) and handing over items. They will be rewarded a few seashells for doing so. The following items can be denied:

• a tiny blue mosaic tile
• a waterproof bag of powdered lime

Handing a building material to the Warden: Pointing at your grey boulder, a scruffy-faced half-elven warden says, "That's just what we need up in the village. You bring it up that way, and help those folks build a home. It will go a long way, but if you aren't interested in in doing that, then, I could take it off your hands. Just give it to me again."

Handing a tile to the warden: Frowning, his brows knitting together on his forehead, a scruffy-faced half-elven warden says, "Well, that can't be good. I don't know what our little Olienne is up to this time, but I can guarantee it isn't good." Scratching at his head in thought, he says, "Why don't you give it to me again and I can take it off your hands?" Second time: A scruffy-faced half-elven warden accepts a tiny blue mosaic tile from you, quietly saying, "Let's make sure no one else can use this." He tosses it up to a lion-maned shaggy Caligos eagle, who catches it in her claws and soars away with it. Smirking, he turns back to you and says, "Here you are for your troubles." As he hands you some coins, a lion-maned shaggy Caligos eagle flies in with empty talons and a triumphant cry.

Phase 2

As the fishing village continues to be built up, the need for different materials became apparent. As the favor quest moves into "Phase 2", new items begin to drop in the activities of Caligos Island.

• a forged horseshoe nail
• a blocky pine beam
• rough oak post
• smooth wooden plank
• rough piece of driftwood

Around the fishing village there are now two possible items that can be built upon: a rough oak frame resting upon a stone-lined foundation, this will accept PLANKS and NAILS and DRIFTWOOD a stone-lined rectangular foundation, this will accept BEAMs and POSTS

On the Edge of the village, lich room 27552 or East of the Old Well, there is a donation bin that will accept Phase 1 materials and give you favor.

Pro-Ghezresh

Ghezresh followers and supporters will find their task for 2019 is to build a Ghezresh temple. There are two items that are currently known to provide favor for Ghezresh supports that can be turned in by heading through a secret passage from EG to Zul Logoth. Head down to the sea caves playground and SEARCH for a tear in the atmosphere. By entering the tear you will be transported to a temple under construction. Head through the fracture in the wall and you will find a frame for setting your tiles in. PUT TILE IN FRAME to add to the mosaic. Waterproof bags of lime can also be put into a hole in the Chamber of the Dark, lich room number 26070 after heading through the tear in the atmosphere. This is a long journey and has a lot of RT when you move between rooms. The following two items provide 25 favor and assist Ghezresh:

• a tiny blue mosaic tile
• a waterproof bag of powdered lime

Pro-Ghezresh forces can also deny anti-Ghezresh items by taking them to the Ezreshi and giving them to her twice. The following items will get you a handful of seashells and deny the favor item when handed to the Ezreshi:

• a tumbled grey stone
• a smooth grey boulder
• a waterproof sack of mortar

It is possible that the stones and boulders can be placed into the rectangular hole in the Chamber of The Dark. This needs to be confirmed and updated by a Pro-Ghezresh player.

a waterproof bag of powdered lime, when offered to the Lithe Indigo-robed Ezreshi Grinning in a dreamy fashion, a lithe indigo-robed Ezreshi says, "You must bring it to the city under the mountain. If you build it high enough, then He will be free. You may need to SEARCH nearby to find the road, and once you are there, you may need to climb some stairs, but if you find the frame or the hole, the plinth or the monolith, then all will be ready for Him."

Special Features:

• The PERM-ifier - look for the obelisks to turn your favorite perfume, cologne, or other "fluffy" item that uses up doses into a bottomless one. One obelisk takes tickets, one takes seashells.
• The fusion shaman is expected in 2019.
• GMs usually offer extra GALD sessions with "fish-hooking". That's when some little trinket suddenly appears out of thin air where you are standing. It will wiggle around a few times, and you should GET the item as soon as possible. They do not tarry long. The first person to grab it is transported to where a GM is working, and PRESTO! You've got an alteration session!
• The Auto-Flarer uses tokens found in games to put flares on your weapons

Getting Ready for The Festival:

General Tips

• Japhrimel's interview, Hacking Merchant Week with Japhrimel, is a collection of amazing information and tips he learned from previous Ebon Gate Festivals. It's worth a read, and a re-read every year. Japhrimel is an Ebon Gate Pro. He has this down to a science.
• Consolidate your shopping money in the bank of the city you'll be attending from. The Ebon Gate bank draws from the city you enter from.
• Consolidate the gear/items you want worked on in the locker of the city you will be attending from. It'll be closer when you need it. Or carry them around with you.
• Pro Tip: Keep an eye out on SERVICE SHOW for Merchants. They’ll appear in Monsterbold, so they will stick out a bit. A few merchants do not announce, but use this method.
• Pro Tip: Stay tuned to GS Twitter - they might not use it for much of anything else, but they do sometimes use it for the pay Festivals. Just read the fine print since they mix plat and prime stuff up on the same channel (Don’t get me started about that…)
• Remember that you can now use ANALYZE on most things for sale in shops at a festival and INSPECT got a lot better in 2019.
• Unsure about the properties of something you have? Or something you buy at the Festival? Ask a bard to listen to the item sing. Look for one on SERVICE SHOW

Inventory Management

• Have a Festival-specific large container you can drag around with you for all the things you want worked on by Merchants. You can quickly exchange it with the one in your locker of your usual stuff for a fast hunt or 6. (Lumnis happens whether Ebon Gate is open or not, after all.)
• Gather all the special materials you need for the alterations you want. Keep them in your Merchant Bag.
• Bring a standing cane for those times you are too loaded down and need to get back up. And they will happen, sometimes carrying your full merchant bag around, sometimes trying to get to a merchant or a raffle with all the silvers in your pocket.

Lich Preparations

• LICH: download ;traffle to keep track of ALL the raffles that are about to happen. use the command alone at a raffle table to register it - then use the ;traffle list command anywhere for a list of upcoming raffles. It does NOT keep track of whether you bought the ticket or not, and does not notify you since the raffles usually do.
• LICH: download ;wishlist to start your window shopping. Look in lich/logs/wishlist.log for the saved list of what you noted; the room number and shop room name appears with the text you add: EX: > ;wishlist I think I really need the slim dark blue pants. They have pockets and are scripted with the flashy pants script
• LICH: download ;itemnotes to track your gear, and consider using it to make notes about your alteration and ideas, too
• LICH: download tdig.ic, ;egdigger.lic or ;digger.lic - it might help with the repetitive digging tasks. Be patient, the scripts may need to be updated for the new year!
• LICH: download tgames.ic for those mini games action
• LICH: Download ;roomorder to make just a little clearer sense of where you are in line. It tells you what GAZE LINE should.
• LICH: Download ;testme to do zest tests and more. Be sure you read the script for the options! When I say more, really, it's pretty feature laden.
• LICH: Consider ;prettiernum to make all those long numbers more readable with commas. DISCLAIMER: You may need to turn it off for some other scripts to work.
• LICH: Download ;whatis to help you with abbreviations, initials, and all that special LINGO
• LICH: Download ;multi for bulk purchase needs.
• LICH: Download ;foreach for general help with finding thing, transferring them, and more.
• LICH: Download ;survey to find all the things in a room and look in/on/etc them.
• LICH: Download ;invdb to help you track which locker/character has what things. Remember to update it after purchasing things!
• LICH: ;tune towncrier for both the Ebon Gate headlines and announcements from the festival grounds of events.

Your Front End Prep

Whether it is Stormfront, Avalon, Wizard, Profanity, or something else, they can very likely make some things easier for you!

• Color code merchant names in unique highlighting color/s so you don’t walk right by one. (Been there, done that, missed the service…)
• Make sure your links are turned on in Stormfront so that those nested containers and rooms full of similar containers are easy to use by just clicking. ALT L toggles this in Windows. On a Mac, look for it in the Options button under advanced.
• SET DESC ON so you miss nothing in rooms
• Turn on logging in case you forget/lose/find a bug. ;log works great

Reference Lists

• Create lists of what you need worked on and keep the lists open in your text editor. Update this when you buy stuff at the fest!
  • Make a list of what needs unlocking, the name of the script/merchant, and it’s current status - as well as it’s max status. Not all unlocking lingo is the same, this sometimes takes a trip to the wiki to unravel. As always, keep the items on you.
  • Have a list of items you want altered with several different versions of alterations for that item. Just in case one gets turned down, you have options to fall back on. via Cleric of Ta’Vaalor on Twitter
  • Put more things on your list of alterations than you think you need. Did I mention already that there are so many merchants at Ebon Gate?
  • Make a list of what needs lightening. And keep the items with you. Seconds count at a Merchant appearance.
  • Make a list of what needs deepening, and keep the containers with you.
  • keep a list in notepad or something of what items you buy in what store and what the merchant is so when the merchant pops in, you know what item to grab. I use ;itemnotes
• As you buy things at the festival keep notes about what NEW things will need to be unlocked while the merchant/s are at the festival. (Or Lightened or Deepened)
• Use the Gownifier when you need alteration ideas - even when it is not for a gown. This is a brilliant web page from Fenog's Regulars.

During The Festival:

Locations

Use QUEST TRANSPORT EBON from most places in cities.

Ebon Gate Traditional Entrance locations:

Town	Location	Lich Room#
Icemule Trace	Icemule Temple, Foyer	2334
River's Rest	River Road	10841
Solhaven	Liabo Plaza	1484
Ta'Illistim	Shimmarglin Var	29
Ta'Vaalor	Amaranth Court	?
Teras Isle (Kharam-Dzu)	Vaalin Street, Temple District	1978
Wehnimer's Landing	Town Square, Southeast	282
Zul Logoth	Hall of Arches	9408
Four Winds Isle	Oleander and Daisy	3650

General Tips

• Use the first week to figure out who each shop's merchant is (if there is any signage) so you'll know if a merchant announcement mentions the shop you are interested by merchant name only. It can happen either way.
• Remember that ;go2 probably knows the shop you are looking for by name:

;go2 fantabulous then ;send the number on the list that matches if you get a list.

• TIP For Raffles: look at the ticket carefully AND read the sign on the raffle table. This will tell you if you need to be present in the room when the raffle draws or just in the game somewhere.
• Second Raffle suggestion: use ;traffle list to help you list out the raffles even when you are nowhere near that one table you really can't remember the time on.
• Third Raffle lifesaver: ;tune TownCrier to listen for Raffle Reminders
• Do your general shopping before Merchant Week so you never miss a merchant or forget to buy something after the Merchants and Games wear you out
• Not sure what a new item you bought does? Ask a bard to sing to it. Wonder about that THING you won, you dug up, or you found Deep Sea Diving? Ask a bard!
• Read.All.The.Signage at shops, merchants, raffles, and games.
• Talk to the NPC island residents

The LINGO

• New to GemStone and/or Ebon Gate? There's a rash of lingo that's about to be thrown at you.
  • GALD or General Merchant Services means: General Alteration, Lightening, or Deepening.
  • the ANALYZE command will give you overall altering info and unlock status about most items.
  • Familiarize yourself with the rules under the ALTER verb, too.
  • EG is how everyone will abbreviate the event, both in and out of character.

Merchants

• READ ALL THE SIGNS near a merchant. Some of the shops will have the signs up even if the merchant is not working right then. (Don't be the one asking for a pink thing from Kyrinthe!) Read all the signs.
• Become familiar with alteration rules if you're going to have that type of work done. The command ALTER in GemStone goes over lots of what you need to know in great detail. Ask for help if you need on LNet, and if alterations are just NOT one of your life-skills, never fret about asking the merchant for help. Give the merchant an idea of what you want, maybe why you want it in some circumstances, and then give them your trust.
• Use the wiki to plan your shopping!
• Merchants will pick various methods to determine what order, or how many people they will be able to help.

Page Version Info

(Updated for Ebon Gate 5119)