Chapter One: Assassin’s Blade

The StarBlood Saga

by Daniel Asbury

edited by Qwildurn Bluemoon

Chapter One

Assassin’s Blade

It was a miserable and stormy night, the tail end of a hurricane had blown in from the sea, ships and shops alike had batten down the hatches. A watchman of the StarBlood Guard stood as tight to the castle wall as he could, trying to keep out of the wind and rain. A flicker of movement ahead caught his gaze just as a sharp pain at the base of his skull dropped him into a black void.

The Assassin looked around to make sure this murder had gone unnoticed, retrieved the red cloak off the dead watchman and threw it over his shoulders. He climbed the wall into the marshalling yard of the castle confidant that it would be clear. The Druids he had paid for the weather magic had earned their money. “Shame they won’t get to spend it”, he thought. He had slain them dead the moment the spell was cast.

The Duke of Newport looked out the window at the unusually bad weather. Ammund StarBlood was an old man at 50 years of age. He sat at his desk looking at the painting of his late wife, she had been killed in a riding accident two year previous. He thought of his only child, a daughter, Rebecca StarBlood who was serving as a Knight Captain in the StarBlood Guard. There had been reports of Sea Hags to the south of Newport and she had been sent with a small company to stamp them out.

The Assassin looked at the Duke through the window as he pulled the costly scroll from his pack and read it. A green light surrounded the Assassin and he slipped through the glass of the window to stand behind the Duke. As the lightning flashed the Duke saw the shadow of someone behind him and dove forward receiving a slash across his back where his throat once occupied. He spun around pulling his belt knife searching for his attacker, but no one was there. As he turned to shout for guards, a knife plunged into his chest. As the Duke fell he grabbed for the Assassin snagging his amulet instead.

A loud knocking at the door stopped the Assassin from retrieving his amulet. With two quick steps and a dive, the Assassin was out the window. The guard entered the room to see his Lord on the floor, a pool of blood around him. He shouted for a healer to come at once and for the guards to seal the castle.

A day later Rebecca StarBlood rushed through the halls of her family’s castle, heading to her fathers office. As she opened the door, her heart sank. Behind the desk sat her father’s Sword Master, Amir Coldstone.

“Rebecca, you are back. Thank the Gods. The city is in an uproar. The other Nobles have locked themselves away for fear they will be next.”

“Who has done this? Where is he?”

The anger in her voice was startling. Amir stood and came around the desk to hug her. “No one has been apprehended as yet. There is no clear way of how they got in and out. All we have is this.” He held out a gold amulet with a guild symbol on it, a knife and wand crossed over each other.

“Do we know which guild claims this herald?”, Rebecca asked, the venom thick in her voice.

“No.”, said Amir flatly. “No one has claimed responsibility for this murder. Your father and his before him have kept this city and the surroundings quite for over seventy years.”

“There is one who can help me find this killer.” She looked at Amir and he saw something in her eyes change for the worse. Gone was the grief for her father. Now there was only hate. Hate for the killer. “I go to seek Alcatraz the Lich Lord.” With that she pulled the StarBlood emblem from her armor and left her life behind her and went to find revenge on her father's killer.

The Buffing Stone

I'm working on a new update that includes a Buffing Stone. The stone is functioning well and has been installed into the current game module for testing. It is available only in the Beta Room (black crate) and may given away as gifts for now. I have not yet decided if I will sell them in a store or have them as a Boss Drop.

What this is and how it works:

• There are two Buffing Stones, one for "self" and one for "others".
• Both work the same except for who you may buff.
• You may own and use as many of each as you wish.
• To load the stone: Open your inventory and cast your spells into the stone one at a time.
• To clear the stone of spells: Use the stone on it's self.
• To buff with the stone: Rest, then use the stone to buff your self and/or others.
• This will NOT give you extra spells nor allow you access to spells or meta magic you don't already have.
• If you cast an extended spell into the stone, an extended spell will be cast out of it later.
• This is to be used as an extension of your Quick Bar, freeing it up for more useful combat stuff and things.
• You can not charge the stone with hostile spell.
• Charging the "others" stone with "personal only" spells will result in you being buffed.
• If you don't have the spell in memory, that one spell will be ignored.
• There is no limit to how many spells can be stored in a Buffing Stone.
• The stones may be "charged" and given away, but, if the user does not have a spell in their spell book AND in memory, that one spell will be ignored.
• If the Buffing Stone was charged with a Meat Magic Spell (extended spell...) and you no longer have that Meta Feat, that spell will be cast as a normal spell.
• THIS IS NOT A SEQUENCER
• Ultimately, it is you who is casting each spell.
• The Buffing Stone is loading your actions list with the spells to cast.
• Trying to do another action before the spells are finished will usually break the buffing cycle.

In the above picture, Wiggles the Wizard has used the Buffing Stone to buff self with all the spells you see. Roughly 30, or three full Quick Bars worth.

---

On a side note: I have recently changed how a few buffing spells target and probably did not document that change. So, read on . . .

• Weapon buffing spells will now seek out the next equipped weapon.
• That means you no longer need to switch weapons in order to dual wield and buff up.
• You can now target self and/or others twice with the same spell to buff the second weapon.
• Melee spells include: Magic Weapon, Greater Magic Weapon, Flame Blade, Darkfire, Bless Weapon, Holy Avenger.... hmm and a few others.
• I think I changed every weapon buffing spell actually.
• * This can also buff Creature Weapons such as claws and beaks.
• * If you are testing one of the Player Monsters, you can buff your claws.
• * If you are in party with a Shifter, you can buff their claws after they shift.
• * This works by testing each weapon for the spell being cast, and buffing or moving on to the next weapon.
• ** The order is: Right Sword, Left Sword, Right Claw, Left Claw and finally Teeth.
• **** Note to all: A Player Monster gets ONLY three (3) main attacks even if he has five (5) weapons. As near as I can tell, the order of importance is: Right Sword, Left Sword, Left Claw.
• Arrows and other ranged weapons can now be buffed as well.
• To buff ranged ammo, first equip the weapon (bow...) then target self.
• All ammo (arrows...) of that type in the the targets possession will be buffed.
• Ranged spells include: Flame Blade, Darkfire, Bless Weapon.... hmm and a few more.
• I excluded Magic Weapon, Greater Magic Weapon and a few others.

So, this means that if you dual wield and can buff self, you can load your Buffing Stone with all the Weapon Buffing spells that you would normally cast on your self, and then buff up with a single click.

As always, play with it and let me know what you find. I want to hear the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Qwildurn Bluemoon

Bank Holiday Boss Bash

Daniel Asbury asked me to post this for him.

hi Q was trying to post this comment but ould not let me

Bank Holiday Boss Bash
any body with a toon lvl 40-45 meet in Dozo at 2130 UK time to get that boss drop you always wanted with enough of us we can hit every boss there :)

it was an idea i had the other day was partyin with some one and we were trying to get the boss drops that we made are toons for (weapon master Katana KISS) but had no chance and thought it would be cool if we had as many people as we can and go out and take on every boss in Badlands kinda PC v NPC slug fest.

Thanks Dan

I don't know what day the "Bank Holiday" is. Must be an English thing.


As you may know, we have had a bad time with spammers posting CRAP and had to make a few changes. This change in security is sad because now you cannot post any comments unless your on our list of "safe people". We will be happy to add any of our players to the list of "safe" people, but you need to ask.

Latest Updates.

Badlanders, don't forget to keep checking the latest updates to the server.  Here is a current list of additions for 2010.  Thanks Q!

UPDATES!

+ ver 95

* Deimonos and Qwildurn
- Added new Outposts
- Added new Boss, Boss Drop and Boss Area
- Added 2 new areas
- Added 2 new sub-races
- Fixed "The Works" on the Healers buff list
- Addressed the "double death" glitch
- Addressed an issue where Monk Gauntlets would not fit
- Converted the UBER Barbarian System to use "skills" instead of "extra AC" *** You should go to UD and change out your old gear
- Added Uber Defender and Uber Paladin to the UBER Classes list.
- Added an Invisible Helm System
- Addressed an issue that prevented potions from working normally
- Fixed several Database read/write issues
- Sub-Race Slaves can now show you what your sub-race might look like
- Added the skills and feats that are new to 1.69 to the HGLL Engine
- HGLL can now carry-over the unused skill points from level 40
-* This will happen for older toons at next HGLL level-up
- Addressed an XP issue with the Favored Class System that caused the XP to be to low or to high
- Addressed an issue that did not properly remove the mounted horse on player death
- Included an experimental "Player-Monster" race for Beta Members and DM's only. If you're on that list and want more info, please email me.
January 14, 2010 7:29 PM
Qwildurn said...

11 February 2010
+ ver 96
- Altered the Druid / Shifter Polymorph system.
> Item Properties are now additive.
> The Dye Guy can examine your polymorph item for you.
> At time of polymorph, a message is sent to you telling you which item sets were used for that form.
> Item sets are: Weapon, Armor, Items.
> Weapon Set: is melee or ranged and will only be used if the new/old are same type (melee or ranged).
> Armor Set: is Armor, Shield and Helm.
> Items Set: is every thing else.
>>> Note: Monk Gloves, Bracers and Ammo are excluded in ALL cases.
> AC will be taken from: Armor, Helm, Shield, Amulet, Boots. ONLY. There is an upper limit of +20 here that I can't change.
> Ability Bonus is capped at +12 per ability. Uber Druids may or may not use their Uber Abilities.
February 11, 2010 4:42 PM
Qwildurn said...

16 February 2010
+ ver 97

*** These changes are ALL retro-active

--- Monsters ---
- All Dragons now have 20 more strength
- Humanoid Class is now a melee BAB class

--- Players ---
- The Base Attack Bonus (BAB) has been raised.
- Pure Fighters get 40 BAB at level 40
- Pure Rogues get 30 BAB
- Pure Mages get 20 BAB
(it was 30, 25, 20)
- Mixed classes will be adjusted accordingly
- Classes of the same BAB value are added
together to avoid some of the BAB loss from
not staying with the "4 class group" that
Bioware setup.
- You will probably see an "Attack Decrease" ICON
Do not worry. You have the correct AB
- I have to give you extra BAB, then take some away
- You can still buff up as normal
- All builds except Mages will see more AB

*** These changes are ALL retro-active
February 17, 2010 2:29 AM
Qwildurn said...

09 Aug 2010
+ ver 99
- Added an ammo replicator to the upgrade shops.
- Most weapon buff spells will seek out the next weapon being held. You no longer need to switch weapons or open your inventory to buff.
- Moved the door at the Stone Conjoint to match the outside of the building.
- Closed the Arena until I can get it fixed.

Conquest

Hey guys, long time no post. Just wanted to let you all know that a few contributors of this blog and myself have made an app for cell phones using the Android operating system. You can check out out our new website http://www.exomorph.com/ .

There should be a paid version and a free demo available on the android market for those of you interested.

Good luck and happy hunting.

Simon Hawk

The last Outpost falls to "True Blades" :)

True Blades have control of all the Outposts now. They don't have any intent regarding the Good and Evil Fortresses at this time :)

Bungle BoogleBlade has secured the premises to keep out the Riff Raff :)

All the Best ..........Blade ( For Warlords Conn & Basher Bladeless )

Shape Changers, Dopplegangers, Shifters and Druids

-- New Dragon Form -- -- Old Dragon Form --

This is a continuation of Shifters and Druids. I changed how Druids and Shifters polymorph and that will force us to re-think our builds. Until now, Druids and Shifters SUCKED on BadLands. The newest change is how items are transferred from your "normal" form to your "shifted" form.

As is shown in the pictures, the old style copied item properties from some of your gear and onto a "monster skin". If you had AC +5 (3 times), you would loose AC +10. The same with Strength, Con, etc. My changes collect the totals and put it on as a single property.

The other thing I added was a small text display in your combat log window telling you what "set" each form is using. The three sets are: Weapon; Armor; Items;

1. Weapon Set is your right hand weapon only. If the new form uses a ranged weapon, you must be holding a ranged weapon before shifting. Monk Gloves are never used nor is ammo.
2. Armor Set includes Armor, Shield and Helm.
3. Items Set is every thing else. Bracers are NEVER used.

Only these items will be read for AC: Armor, Shield, Helm, Amulet, Boots. AC on other items will be ignored.

NOT EVERY ITEM PROPERTY can be put on a monster skin. The script attempts to transfer EVERY item property. If you don't see a property on your skin that is in the set, that's because it won't work on a skin.

Some forms don't use any of your items. To bad. Choose another.

There are over 120 polymorph shapes each using it's own combination of sets. The sets and how they are used is setup by Bioware, all I did was allow the item properties to become additive. I only included AC and Abilities because most everything else will stack. If you find something that's not stacking, let me know so I can add it in.

No, you can't get all 120. As an example of how some forms work: If you choose Air Elemental, there are four forms you may get. Male or female depending on your gender. Standard or Elder depending on how many class levels you have. Some forms want Druid as it's high class while others want Shifter. Different forms look for different levels to become "stronger" at.

I sent the Dye Guy to school and he learned how to examine your monster items. It is important that you open you inventory so they can be read properly. I'm not sure why, but that's how it works.

Now, by know which item a form uses, and being able to examine your build, you can adjust things so it works better.

Some time back, I made a few other changes that I did not document. While polymorphed, no matter what class you are, (possessing your familiar is a type of polymorph), you will not be saved while in combat. This needs an explanation. In order to 'save' your toon, Bioware un-polymorphs you; saves you; re-polymorphs you. That is hard-coded. The process must stop your combat actions first, leaving you flat-footed and vulnerable.

All characters are automatically saved every time certain things happen. This true for all builds and classes, not just Druids.

• Level up
• Die
• Change areas
• Sit on a bench
• Smoke your pipe
• Rest
• And ... while NOT in combat ... at random intervals (about 15 seconds)

As you could see, there was a big difference between those two Dragon Forms. All things were equal except the script version. That is the dragon from the Dragon Shape Feat. No doubt your Dragon will be different, but, way better than it had been.

My build suggestions are to use a shield and sword, even if you took some Monk levels. All your gear will be remove while shifted, so you usually will benefit from Monk AC. I took 3 monk levels to get the first 10% speed at Monk 3. The bigger your sword, the bigger the properties to be transferred. Be sure to get as much wisdom as you can.

At this point, the single biggest failing of being shifted is loosing Haste. There is a Boss Drop out there named "Shape Suit". This is armor with haste on it. I think it's Chain Mail.

I have also added Druid to the UBER list. The list now includes Barbarian, Dwarven Defender, Paladin and Druid. You will need 10 Druid levels and level 21. Then you can get Strength and Wisdom (+12) transferred from you gear to your person. I'm not sure how this will work when shifted. My tester that was used for these pictures was not UBER.