Duskruin primer

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A primer for the Duskruin Arena event by Newsby and Dergoatean, from the TownCrier Team

Overview

A significant portion of Elanthian population stops their usual pursuits and heads to Bloodriven Village, the home of The Duskruin Arena, The Duskruin Sewers, and The Shopping of Bloodriven Village.

You may find the usual services more difficult to find in your local towns and communities because of this. It really does feel like there's a collective HOLD on regular life during Duskruin runs.

It looks like the GMs have settled on April and August for full runs of Duskruin Arena (when the Arena and Sewers are available). There was a Duskruin Dig offered last year, but it was nowhere as popular. We'll see what happens for 2017 before I call it a trend. The Dig had no arena or sewers, just digging for prizes under the Temple.

Introduction

Duskruin runs on bloodscrip, the currency of the little Bloodriven Village. All business in Duskruin - Shops, Merchants, Services, and Auctions - are all conducted in bloodscrip.

When it is running, you get to this elusive destination from every major city:

> QUEST TRANSPORT DUSKRUIN

The Countinghouse (Lich room #24673) in Duskruin has access to your bank account from whatever city you entered.

The exit out of Duskruin is the circle of wagons to the very south - outside the Village Gate and all the way southwards. You'll end up in the city from which you entered.

The village is open to everyone, there is no entry fee to get in.

Access to the Duskruin Arena and the Duskruin Sewers requires a token or a slip from the Simucoin store. Both events will take either a slip from the booklet or a token from the jar. They are interchangeable. 1 slip or token per Arena run or sewer run.

There are usually people who sell jars and booklets for silvers if you'd prefer. Watch the Merchant channel on lich and the Players' Corner Market categories for these offerings.

As a whole event, Duskruin Arena's claim to fame as a favorite GemStone offering is two-fold: the amazing items/services for sale, and the random treasure. Some of the finds are good. Some of it good for pawning. Some of it is awesome, and a limited number of things are just downright amazing. The loot you find has no bearing on your level; it's all random.

There are usually items for sale in the shops which you cannot find any other time of year. Expensive, unusual boons for your gear. There may be services offered from merchants which happen no other time of year, too. Usually expensive ones. So your bloodscrip stash has lots of things to look forward to.

The "High End Shop" or "Scrip Shop" or High End Scrip Shop (HESS) - (Even though they all take scrip...) has prices that increase with every purchase of the item. So planning your purchases to begin with from that store will save you a lot.

The Duskruin sewers offer about 125 scrip per run, whereas the arena offers up to 250 bloodscrip. Even the less combat-oriented among us figure to get more from the arena, but it takes 8 minutes. The sewers go by faster.

If you don't want to redeem all your bloodscrip, and you don't want to manually manage bundling it into the right sized quantity, you can buy a scrip pouch that will let you store your scrip and pull out just what you need. It costs 500 bloodscrip and is sold in The Mar and Scar shop's entry room (Lich #23801, Room 13; a stucco-faced dark stone building). The Countinghouse (Lich 24673) also offers un-redeeming services, for a small fee of 1%.

The Duskruin Sewers, aka Ratacombs

There is no combat in the Sewers. You search through the place for ... stuff. And there's lots of that stuff. Empty out your containers, trim down, and bring a disk.

Start your sewer searching in Lich room 23758, room 11 on the map. That rubble looks sort of suspicious to me!

1 token/slip gets you 10 searches inside the Sewers. There's no area of the sewers that are better than another. All discoveries in here are random. You will find 1 thing per search:

  • Bloodscrip (up to 125ish for the whole run, if you are lucky, including selling any common moonshards - see below)
  • Moonshard pieces, these are the parts needed to complete the moons to put into a Moonshard Pendant that becomes a glamour crystal.
    • see: MoonShard pendant
    • Some of these pieces are very rare, and you can sell them for many silvers on the open market if you do not need them, like the thin kakore strip and the even more rare reticulated crystal-edged golvern segment
  • A Rat: rats can be found, they're pretty rare, and as of 2017, you are limited to finding only one during an event. Not guaranteed, though.
  • A cache of bloodscrip that one of the local bandits hid. Lucky you if you find one, there aren't many! But watch out for the owners to defend that cache, too. According to Wyrom, caches can yield 1000x what the bloodscrip find would have been, but can also be much less.
  • Random gear/jewelry/loot. These could be awesome or no-enchant plain. It could be a major enhancive bonus win, too. It's really random. See the looting section below for tips.
  • Bloodrune stones. Some of these have a market value, some are very common. Read them.

If you find a black ora or other cursed item in the sewers, it is uncursed in a flash of … well, uncursing.

There is a lich script to use to search in the sewers from last year. It won't alert you of the new things - the cache of scrip and the new updated rat behavior - but it should speed you through the sewer without ruining your wrists (more than they are already) and stow your finds. ;repository info duskruin_sewers

Sell your unneeded moonshard pieces to the Archaeologist in the dig below the Arena. He will give you a bit of bloodscrip for them. There's a lich script for this: ;repository info archaeologist

Sell your unwanted rats to the rat collector in the sewers, he will pay you bloodscrip for them. Or sell it on the open market.

Tactics for the sewers include having enough empty space in your pack to stash stuff, and pausing to pick up something laying on the ground that someone discarded.

The Duskruin Arena

First, I'm going to get rid of a misconception. You do not need to be capped to win in the Arena. Some professions and some builds will be better/worse at it at various levels. That's someone else's primer. I'm not an expert at this, by any means, but this should at least get you started.

Time is not your friend in the Arena; there are 25 foes waiting to kill you, each group progressively a little more challenging. But wait, that's not all. Every fifth opponent is a Champion. These champions make your Grizzled bounty critters look easy. The champions won't stun, don't usually die from the usual death crits and have lots of extra health points.

About death crits on champions: "If you hit left eye, right eye, and both are crit kill shots, it drops on the second one 100% of the time. Or chest/chest, or head/neck, or eye/head." -- Nairdin's player

And you get 8 minutes in which to do all of this.

There are some things you don't have to worry about, though. There is nothing undead. There is no disarming. It is only 1 critter at a time, and they are scaled to your level. So my critters will challenge me, and your critters will challenge you, but I won't be overwhelmed by things that are 10-20 levels above me. When you exit, you are healed/resurrected as needed and your mana restored.

If you have deeds, you do not lose your spells when you die in the arena. Use SPELL ACTIVE if your displays and stuff need to be re-synced in your front end.

Watch a couple fights from the stands. You will find spectator seating on the outer ring of the arena. WATCH LIST to see who is currently fighting, WATCH NAMEofPERSON to select the person you want to see. Pick someone from your own profession. You will find people have different hunting styles and tactics, depending on their build. Find someone who is similar to yours and learn from their successes and mistakes.


Get Ready - preparation is everything

Leave ALL THE STUFF at home. Trim down. Walk into the arena with zero encumbrance. Weight kills.

Get ALL THE SPELLS. Defensive spells, offensive buffs, maneuvering, recovery, whatever. There's probably something that will crop up in there that you wished you had THAT spell going. ;tune dreavening to be alerted when Dreaven is going to use his small army to give everyone all the spells. Use a gold coin, I have seen random dispels, but not often.

Bring ALL THE TRICKS. Blue crystals to hit those really difficult to hit things (and there are some...), Other magical things that help you, quartz orbs, moonstone cubes, ruby amulets. In Bloodriven Village, Under the Counter (Lich #23810, Room 17: a tidy establishment) offers drinks containing Bravery, Heroism, Dauntless, and Empathic Focus. They're expensive, but might be worth it if it means you can finish the arena. If you have >30 ranks of Magic Item Use skill, the single-rub items in Khloake and Dagger (Lich #23808, Room 17: a dingy wooden shop) may be more cost-effective. There are also Bravery crystals (10 rubs) in Gamac's Goods, Back room (Lich #23817, Room 21; a leaning stone shop) that you can buy for 20 bloodscrip. Consider comparing the pricing of bravery items with the cost of a pure potion - there's no bloodscrip needed for pure potions.

Use your BOOSTs that you want to use, and when. Careful timing of a boost can get you through 2 arena runs.

  • BOOST LUCK gives you a second chance on any combat roll 10 or under.
  • BOOST SUPERCHARGE gives your enchanted gear a 50% increase, your flares will flare more often, and your weighting/padding/sighting will get better.
  • BOOST ENHANCIVE has an option to boost your stats or your stamina/mana regen. It's not just for pausing enhancives.
  • BOOST LONGTERM relieves you of 500 experience points when your exp approaches MUST REST and you are not even half-way through your matches yet. You'll get 250 exp placed into long-term experience for general, slower, absorbing. Remember, you learn zero from combat once your mind gets to MUST REST
  • BOOST ABSORB clears your mind of 1000 exp points and tosses them into your already absorbed, permanent exp.

Use enhancives to help you over the rough spots: more mana, more stamina, more spirit, more strength, defense boons, health/mana/stamina recovery, sheer skill bonuses for your relevant skill set, and whatever extra spells you may need along the way in scrolls, imbeddables, etc.

Don't forget about those things you only use every once in awhile. You've been saving them for a rainy day in some locker/mule somewhere. Guess what? IT'S RAINING! The Bravery/Heroism spells, that enruned black ora heart from Ebon Gate, the Prismatic Guard spell in that pin you have been saving. Celerity for extra speed when you need it.

This might also be the time to bring out your unlocked Arkati box for a stat boost.

Evaluate your society abilities list. Maybe there is one in there you don't use very often but will be really handy for this huge fight you are about to face.

In The Arena - tactics are everything

WATCH for traps and tricks with each new opponent. Take evasive action as required. This saves you time (Round times), stuns, and injuries. There's a lich script for it ;repository info arenawatch - and newly uploaded for Aug 2017's new plethora of traps, you'll want to look at ;midnightarena

PRAY for your health/mana/stamina/etc to be restored during your Arena challenge if you need to. Using PRAY takes ~30 seconds off your Arena timer, which makes it harder to kill all 25 opponents before time runs out. Also, one factor in maxing out your scrip is how much time you had left when you killed the last champion. Taking this all into account, PRAY might reduce the amount of bloodscrip you earn in a run - you'll have to tinker with your approach and see what works best.

Use your multiple attack options as often as you need to/can. Time is everything here. If you can accomplish 2 hits in 6 seconds instead of 2 5-second round times for 2 separate attacks, it will add up. And I know lots of you know ways to attack more than twice. :) Similarly, aimed attacks can end a fight much faster than swinging at any old body part.

Mana, Stamina, and/or Spirit management are critical to many people. Figure out your strategy for what you will need and have your plan ready in advance.

Use maneuvers, moves, and spells based on the opponent you are facing. Some cast spells, some use huge weapons, some wear light armor, some wear heavy, etc.

Read through [this thread at the Officials from 2016] that discusses maximizing your bloodscrip.

What you'll win in the Arena:

  • Bloodscrip; more for a win than not, up to 250 scrip
  • A promissory note for some random amount of silvers. Nothing you'll get rich from, though.
  • An item of loot; could be gear, could be jewelry
  • Saturated exp
  • If an automaton appeared as one of your champions, and you defeated it, you'll get a piece of ore of the same metal type as the automaton. The ores are for altering the appearance of characters using a completed moonshard pendant.

The Duskruin Dig

The Duskruin Dig event takes place under the arena where the excavation of the old site full of treasures is located. You dig with a pickaxe (purchased from the SimuCoin store) in the appropriate areas for boxes. Pickaxes are sold with a set number of uses. A "use" ticks off when you find a box.

You dig, dig, and dig until you find something. Move to the next area to dig again.

ANALYZE your pickaxe to see how many more uses are on it.

The boxes have various names, and the fancier they look, the better the loot is inside of them. Boxes can contain coins, gems, and prizes. There is a prize feeder of increasing values that people refer to as tiers. Probably tiers 1-4. Plus an additional level referred to as a Jackpot, where the best prizes are found. Many Simucoin shop items will be in the boxes, too. Look at the list from the Spring 2017 Duskruin Dig.

GM Haliste provided a small teaser of jackpot items from the February 2018 Dig Feeder:

The shops of Bloodriven Village will be open where you can spend any bloodscrip you have. Note that they do not take silvers, except for the one tattoo shop. Previous events will give you an idea of their offerings. Shops close, open, and/or rotate inventory for each event.

Note also that there is no bloodscrip in the Dig. You will need to participate in an accompanying venue that is open to earn bloodscrip, like the Arena or the Sewers.

With a large warning that you should be responsive and at the keyboard at all times, there seem to be two Duskruin Dig scripts for lich: ;duskdigbin and ;ddig. That should help your wrists. I know they help mine.

Dealing with Loot

Whether you're running through the sewers, digging in the dig, or struggling valiantly in the arena, after you've been at it awhile, you'll have quite a pile of loot. Most will be pawnshop fodder, a few rare pieces will be worth millions, and other items will bring you more than the pawnshop will offer. If you're really in a hurry to accumulate bloodscrip, you could just drop it all. However, loot represents perhaps 20% of the value you'll pull out of the sewers (when you include the rare high-value stuff), so you probably want to take the time to sort through it.

Loresingers are in high demand during and after Duskruin, and your locker space is not infinite. You'll really want to pare down the loot before storing it, getting it sung, and selling it (or using it yourself). Here's a basic procedure you can follow:

  • Is it a golvern segment (sewers only) or a four-ringed metal pendant (arena only)? It's worth millions. Hold onto it.
  • Exchange your common ores at the Archaeologist in the dig below the Arena. He will exchange it for a carved ur-barath totem that is needed to carve the bloodrunes. (The totem can then be sold to the Archaeologist for a few scrip).
  • Take all jewelry (crowns, armbands, necklaces, etc) to the jeweler and appraise. If it is worth less than 10,000 silvers, it's pretty safe to sell. If it's worth 10000-25000, it may be mage rechargeable.
  • You might choose to get it sung, but you're unlikely to miss out on a lot of value by selling it right now. If it's worth 25000+, but still appraisable, it may have a small enhancive on it. Wear it to see if you can tell what it is. If it enhances something nice (e.g. strength, aura) and/or is in a nice slot (e.g. pin good, head bad), it's worth holding onto for resale. If you see no enhancive, it could still potentially be something like health regen or spirit regen, but it's probably safe to toss. If the jeweler refuses to throw out a number, it's almost certainly enhancive. You should probably get it sung to even if it's not obvious what the enhancive is.
  • Take everything else to the pawnshop and appraise, preferably one that provides an estimated value for items that get a 35k (max) offer. Wehnimer's Landing does this, as well as Icemule Trace if you're a citizen.
  • If the offer is less than 35k, it's safe to pawn. If it's more than 35k, try to figure out why. Look at it to see if it's enchanted more than normal (you'll see an enchanter's mark). Hold it (weapon) or wear it (armor) to see if it has obvious enhancive properties. Consider a trip to the Abandoned Inn crystal, which can reveal properties like sanctification, weighting, padding, and enchant level.
    • Note: It is common for heavier armor (studded leather and up) to appraise for 35k even if it's just +20 enchant and otherwise plain. If you can't find anything special about it, it may be safe to pawn.
  • Now that you've sold the fodder, get a bard to sing to what's left. Take notes of what the bard reveals with a complete description of the item. Especially a runestaff. Because the glossy ancient fireleaf runestaff might be the valuable one and the silvery ancient fireleaf runestaff might just be +22. There are so many runestaff finds in the sewer.

At this point, you may have identified some valuable stuff that you can't use yourself. Time to sell!

  • Check out prices at [player shops] to find comparable items. These prices generally represent an upper bound for the value of the item - they're the price that items aren't selling for.
  • Search [The Gemstone IV Players' Corner] for sales of similar items.
  • You can ask around on LNet for what other people think it's worth, but people may quickly tire of doing your homework for you.
  • List your item:
    • If you have your own player shop, you might want to make use of it.
    • You might list it as an auction or flat price offering at the Players' Corner.
    • You could auction it live on the LNet Merchant channel. This will be more convenient and quicker, but possibly less lucrative.
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