| Text
| - "Beautiful, isn't it?" a voice behind Nalicana said.
- Abandoning the remains, he jumped to his feet. "Yes, yes!" Belthor said, wiping his grimy hands on his tunic. "What is that, the third one?"
- "Let's see...." Secilia paused as she began counting them off on one hand. "One in the Armoredillo's lair... one guarded by that accursed Olthoi... and another from the Reedsharks. Not too bad!"
- She turned smoothly to appraise the figure behind her, smiled and nodded. Then she returned to her idle watching. Nalicana's attention was briefly drawn by a small dark point, far on the horizon, but then she lost it again.
- "They will need you. Help them."
- "While few criticisms were said to my face, many tales of corruption and folly were whispered behind my back. They eventually reached my ears."
- Nearly all of the eastern sky was now black. The buzzing sound had grown into a deafening, shapeless noise that set Nalicana's nerves on edge. Yet over it, Nalicana still heard the voice.
- - The new Pet Commands Panel. This is a GUI window that appears whenever you have pets active. It allows you to set the AI mode for each pet. These new modes let you to tune exactly how you want each pet to behave. The modes are:
* Aggressive: An aggressive pet will attack any monster that it sees. This is the default mode for turrets, as well as some loot-generated pets, like the Sangog Brothers.
* Opportunistic: An opportunistic pet will attack any monster that it sees, preferring weaker targets over stronger ones.
* Courageous: A courageous pet will attack any monster that it sees, preferring stronger targets over weaker ones.
* Protective: A protective pet will only respond to foes that threaten its master.
* Cooperative: A cooperative pet will attack targets that its master attacks, but will also freely defend itself.
* Assisting: An assisting pet will attack targets that its master attacks, and will respond to foes that threaten its master.
* Defensive: A defensive pet will defend against threats to itself or to its master.
* Supporting: A supporting pet will only attack targets that its master attacks first. This is the default for most class-based pets, like lashers, sand fiends, and shreths.
* Idle: An idle pet will not get involved in any combat. This is the default for the Invoker’s Spirit pets.
- The creature hovered before the balcony, staring impassively through soulless eyes. Then it dove forward, its pincer drawn back to slash across her face and neck. And still she could not move or speak.
- Why couldn't she respond? Why wasn't the man behind her wielding his powers? But he, too, seemed absorbed by the catastrophe. He only murmured, "Look, Nalicana. Look at what my lies wrought."
- "I ignored them. I thought they were jealous of my family or my skill. Or that they simply craved those powers with which only I could be trusted."
- "Anything on that one?" Secilia asked. Her friend Belthor, still kneeling by the creature's blood-streaked corpse, let out an excited yip. "I'll take that as a yes," she replied with a wry grin.
- "But I was lying to myself. Even though my enemies were often liars, and small-minded, I too was dishonest. I was struggling against my own doubts. It is unfortunate that I succeeded for so long."
- "He is too reckless, they said. Too eager to expand his domain. Too confident in his own abilities."
- "Child, do not wallow in despair. Do not mourn the warriors who fell -- or the warrior who stopped falling. You saved me once, but there are others yet to be redeemed. They will need you. Help them."
- ...and suddenly Nalicana awoke with a gasp. She blinked and shuddered as her fear drained away. It was still the middle of the night; outside her chamber, the moon's glow lit the landscape more brightly than her pitch-black room. Slowly she sat up, wiping the sweat away from her brow. The nightmare had been intense, unlike any she had known. What could it have meant? She felt it was important, but the details of her dream were already slipping away.
- In addition, the pet UI allows you to more easily name your pets.
- As she looked west, she could barely make out the docks that served the Lyceum. A skyship gracefully settled into one of the berths, and small specks -- Servitors, no doubt -- rushed forward to grab the ship's mooring ropes. Closer by, the students' dormitories lay silent, most of their residents still at work or play, while to the north, the Observatory glowed with potent magic as it probed the heavens above.
- Nalicana tried to listen to these recollections, but the dark point she'd noticed earlier had returned. It had grown, and was still growing.
- "Hmm, what about Bolifest?" Secilia suggested. "He imbued Kikauri's drum, and Kikauri seems pleased with his work."
- The dot had now spread across the horizon, forming a thin black line. It darkened and lengthened, and now it was a thin expanding crescent. Nalicana thought she could hear a distant, buzzing noise. A few students stopped what they were doing, staring at the approaching darkness. Then everyone was looking and pointing, their mouths gaping with surprise.
- The darkness now occluded the sun. Suddenly, a winged, insect-like creature swooped down from the skies above. The students scattered in all directions, screaming, and Nalicana saw the young lovers she'd seen before running hand-in-hand toward the building she was standing in. In their mad dash, the girl tripped and fell to the ground. Nalicana tried to gather her thoughts, to think of a spell that would help the poor students. But she could not focus on anything. She felt only a growing horror that her world was about to be shattered, and would never again be whole.
- "Alright, sounds good," Belthor nodded. Then he yawned. Looking to the sky, he exclaimed, "Whew, would you look at the time? It's already moonrise! We'd better... head back...." His voice trailed off into a low-pitched growl.
- "Even when I knew myself to be wrong, utterly wrong, I could not face the truth. For years I blamed Kellin for what happened. Later I blamed it on the Empyrean race. We had become corrupt, I thought. Decadent. Liars without, and liars within."
- - Dozens of new “quick quests.” These quests are scattered in towns across all three continents. These provide quick, directed content for those who have limited play time . They also make the towns of AC2 a bit more interesting to visit.
- The town of Cragstone was peaceful, asleep. Her gaze wandered to the bright moon... and she was stunned, as if she had been physically struck. It was impossible! And suddenly, the words from her dream returned to her...
- The scene continued to unfold before her. She was unable to tear her gaze away. Suddenly, one of the flying creatures, the one that had pierced the young lover through the chest, turned toward her. She didn't know how she recognized it. She only knew it had chosen its next victim.
- Feeling her hand torn from his, the young woman's lover skidded to a stop and ran back to help her. The creature dove forward toward him. In the blink of an eye it was upon them, impaling the young man's chest with a long, wicked pincer. Protruding from his back, its tip shone black with his blood.
- The pincer sliced forwards, and she could not even flinch....
- - Crafting changes. There are many new crafting features that we will be back-porting to March. These are pretty exciting… I’ll talk about that in a separate thread.
- More creatures began swooping down from the skies. Others clawed their way over the rim of the plateau. More of the students were pierced and mutilated by the creatures' cruel pincers and claws. A few tried to stand and fight, but their battle-spells were simply ignored by the vast enemy. It was like throwing rocks into the sea.
- The creature launched itself into the air and flew toward the balcony.
- "My family led the Lyceum for several generations," the speaker continued. "While it was a tiny, fledgling school, this was not questioned. But as the Lyceum grew, and grew powerful, more questions were asked. And when my mother designated me to take her place at the Lyceum, a good many eyebrows were raised. Some said the time for nepotism had passed."
- Nalicana stood on a balcony overlooking the campus of the Lyceum, enjoying the quiet scene below. Students in the sea-colored robes of the Lyceum milled about in the courtyard, exchanging greetings and sharing thoughts. A few sat beneath the trees that lined the winding paths, their noses buried in books or sheaves of notes. Others stood admiring the fountain or the view offered by the Lycaeum's broad plateau. She smiled as she saw one couple standing together in the middle of one path, far too wrapped-up in each other to notice the scene around them.
- "What?" Secilia's said, alarmed. "What is it Belthor?"
- "Look!" Belthor pointed to the moon, "The lights! The lights have returned!"
- "I sent my people away. Again, I lied to myself, and said they had been saved -- but they had been imprisoned, too. Afterwards, when I was the only one left, my heart grew bitter and resentful. I thought that my people did not deserve to return. They could never pay their debt to the world -- to all the worlds. Why should they be allowed to try?"
- Secilia moved in close, examining the rough orb in Belthor's hand. He wiped a bit of muck off its surface with his sleeve as she examined it. "It looks to be a pretty high-quality one," she finally said with a smile.
- Because Legions will be shipping a little later than we had originally expected, we will be doing an interim update in late March. This update won’t have any epic quests in it, but it will have:
- "Gaerlan's vile actions only confirmed my growing disgust with my kind. With myself. But then, one of my scrying spells unexpectedly revealed you. And you, dear one, renewed my faith. My faith in all of us."
- Knowing that sleep would not soon return, Nalicana got up from her bed and made her way to the study. That room was well-lit by the moonlight streaming in through the broad window on the west wall. She picked her way around the books and scrolls she had left strewn on the floor -- relics of her earlier research into the mysterious note -- and looked out the window.
- "Not too bad," Belthor agreed. "We've been lucky!" He paused to peer intently at the item. "Here, take a look at it."
- Belthor grinned even more widely. "I think I'll use it on my sword. Which smith should I go to? Who has the most experience with these lodestones?"
- The pet panel also has Quick Command Buttons that let you order your pets to attack, return, heal you, or buff you . These buttons override the pet’s mode AI, so you can always quickly get control of your pet no matter what situation arises.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)