2020-10-25 - Halloween Event Begins!

[Tini]

38 minutes ago, Stromboli said:

Meanwhile, when I saw the carving on the wall of the Desipis puzzle that said something about being strong-willed i was like "Alright, brute-force it is, let's go babey." 😂 

me too! strong will? brute force? alright. Its hilarious how far I got on both puzzles on my first run or so. 

 

  

5 minutes ago, Confused Cat said:

Is there a way to figure out a strategy for the rune puzzle? I ended up looking at the solution on the wiki (then had to start again because obviously the solution doesn't work when you've already tried it). But I wish I could figure out how to do it. Like, a strategy to solve it from any starting point.

But... how? I normally do that kind of puzzle by figuring out what it must look like before the last step, then the one before that, but there are too many options here...

 

I guess it's like a Rubik's cube? Because I have no idea how to solve those, either!    (And there must be a strategy, people can do it in 10 seconds...)

There's actually a couple variations on that kind of puzzle, one where its only the ones touching that flip (which i think is the easier version) but I've always had to brute force the full row flip ones, and its kinda a matter of noticing patterns, and usually handing it off for someone else to mess with for a bit.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Tinibree

[walkinslow]

5 minutes ago, HeatherMarie said:

 

If you don't mind, could you explain just how the tiles related to the doors? I tried so hard to find some sort of connection but it just didn't click for me, I *think* I understand from the wiki that each 'type' of tile represents a specific door and the order of the tiles is the order you go through the doors, but how do you figure out what tile represents what door?

I'll hide this, just in case.

Spoiler

Next to the two doors in the first room, there were some symbols that corresponded to the tiles on the floor. The tiles showed the door sequence that you had to solve. You could figure out the symbol for door 1 or 2 - depending on which door you had to take first - and received the clues for the other doors. In my case, for the first round, one symbol was repeated 4 times, so I knew I had to take that door 4 times in a row. The other two symbols were different and didn't correspond to either 1 or 2, so they had to be doors 3 and 4 and the order would be either 3 - 4 oder 4 - 3. I started with 3 - 4 which happened to be the right combo. The second round was more difficult. As before, the first symbol gave me the clue for the first door, but it wasn't repeated in the rest of the sequence. The following symbol was neither 1 or 2 and the last four tiles had 2 alternating symbols including the symbol for door 2. So the sequence could only be 1 - either 3 or 4 - either 3 or 4 (the one that wasn't used in the room before) - 2 - 3 or 4 (same as in the third room) - 2. I had to do one more round, but I don't remember the symbols for that one, only that one symbol was repeated three times plus 3 different ones.

 

[infiniteviking]

On 10/26/2020 at 12:41 PM, infiniteviking said:

Ok, I think I found all the NPCs and interactable things in the city! Tell me if I missed anything so I can find it on replay!

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Upon arrival, you're chased by the yellow- and cyan-masked guards in a minigame where you have to move left and right to avoid obstacles. If captured, escape prison by interacting with the cell door and then the sewer grate at the bottom right of the cell; the only character in the sewers is a zombie dragon (and a boot you can optionally throw at it if you want to be mean!!). Escaping the sewer puts you on the first map you'd be on if you successfully fled.

 

Aside from the zombie, you can always return to an NPC and try a different dialog choice without affecting the story.

 

Map 1 (can't go south because of guards; exit north to Map 2):

• MAN in area on left, inexplicably: "Cake makes me explode."
• XY: found 2lb of wrapped beef on the ground, and has decided to just take it because it's still cold. Sanda is bemused.
• MERCHANT (white goatee): thinks it's a beautiful day for some shopping.
• MERCHANT (red hair): loves Sanda's outfit, thinks it "really brings out the color of your... eye."
• MERCHANT (green shirt): a cabbage merchant who describes cabbages as the best plant on the planet, won't sell you any, and gets angry if you "insult" them by not wanting them.
• CAMEL: makes a groaning sound.

Map 2 (exits south to Map 1, west to Map 2, east to Map 3): The Palace is on this map.

• OLD LADY: Tells you not to trust someone dressed in a parka, because she heard they got coal for the holidays "and we all know what that means."
• SINGER: Sings that this sand was made for you and me.
• The alleyway directly right of palace leads to a muffled conversation you can hear through a wall: two unknown people plan to sneak out of the city, taking the guards with them, and throw a birthday party in the desert.
• GUARD (right): hates their post in front of the palace, asking if you can cover for them for ten minutes before sheepishly changing their mind because it'd be a security risk.
• DOOMSAYER: grows increasingly eloquent, if you keep listening, about how all must repent because the great lord Amon Snipper-Snapper has been awakened from his long ocean-bed slumber now that the great horn is blown, and he will destroy all humans and their works with his mighty claws. Sanda thinks it's a hoax but is happy to not be near the ocean.
• GUARD (left): hates the heat, wants to be promoted to a post inside the palace.

Map 3 (exits east to Map 2 and north to Map 5):

• BOY: asks what's under Sanda's hood, apologizing for his rude curiosity if you don't unmask, screaming for the hood to go back on if they do -- and then apologizing again for the rudeness of this reaction: he just "didn't expect.... that."
• GIRL: confides that the orange-masked guard has a crush on the cyan-masked guard. Sanda responds with a pun.

Map 4 (exits west to Map 2 and north to Map 5):

• The Great Desert Museum is here. The CURATOR blocking the door greets you as their missing colleague and tells you to hurry up and join the archaeological expedition in the desert. After this encounter, Sanda can leave the city by exiting at the top of Map 5.
• RANDI: says magicians tell you honestly that they're about to fool you. Sanda prefers real magic over illusions; Randi approves.

Map 5 (northernmost map in city; exits west to Map 3, east to Map 4, and north to leave the city after visiting the Museum):

• GUARD (yellow mask): Asks if you've seen a hooded person who might be wielding powerful magic. Interacting with them starts the chase-scene minigame again, and one way or another you end up back at Map 1.
• MAN and WOMAN on some steps: tell you off for ruining their moment.
• GIRL: describes an explosion a few days ago, where someone wearing a hood tried to cast a spell and it went awry. Sanda nervously says it's lucky hoods are so fashionable that it could have been anyone.
• GUARD (a guardian dragon, left of the northern exit): has a rhyme based on a pun.
• WIZARD: tells you about his career and how he accidentally blew up his lab some years back, losing some fingers, but it he was already tired of his busy career and wanted to retire anyway. Mentions that the police consulted him on the recent explosion, which was an "ill-advised" teleportation spell that had either transported or vaporized the caster. Sanda pretends innocence.
• GUARD (a guardian dragon, right of the northern exit): has a request based on a pun.
• WOMAN: wonders if she's seen you before.
• A crater in an alcove resembles the one you woke up on in the desert, full of static, slag, and magical residue.
• GIRL: is SO EXCITED TO SEE SANDA'S NEW SHOES. Sanda poses smugly.

 

 

Looks like I'm in the desert now. Will try to find all the NPCs here too.

 

Continuing this: here are the encounters from the Desert and Cave areas (after the City, before all the puzzles)! There were way too many rocks, crystals, and cacti to check each one, so I hope I didn't miss any hidden things.

 

Spoiler

DESERT, after leaving the City:

 

Map 1 (can't go back south; exit north to Map 2):

• Can't get to the two Pseudowyvern Drakes on the leftwards plateau.
• Near the plateau, however, a parchment half hidden behind a cactus mentions a "Lost City" whose art, architecture, and magical advancements are still remembered in local lore -- along with its dangerously haunted nature. The writer doubts the city existed, despite a rival scholar's assertions. As with all other parchments found in the Desert, the rest is torn away.

Map 2 (exits south to Map 1, lower west to Map 3 and upper west to a closed cul-de-sac on Map 3, and lower and upper exits to Map 4): An arrow made of cacti points left toward Map 3. The cave to the north, on the highest plateau, can only be reached from Map 3. There is also a goat, which can be petted when you get there.

 

Map 3 (two exits east to Map 2):

• PSEUDOWYVERN DRAKE: hisses at you.
• GOAT: likes being pet one way but not the other, and will take a carrot if you offer one. Same for every goat in the desert.
• PSEUDOWYVERN FLOCK: they all hiss the same way.
• PERNI (a Magi): tells you to not to take their mana crystals. If you try, Perni teleports you back to the bottom of the map.

Map 4:
Main area is accessible from lower right of Map 2; exit west back to 2.

• HUGO (an Alcedyne Wyvern?) [edit: probably a Pyrovar or Yellow-Crowned -- thanks, @Kakaru_of_DOOM ]: says hello while deciding which nearby camel to have for dinner. Offers to share, but Sanda declines.
• Three CAMELS each make the same noise as the camel in the city.

Middle plateau path is accessible from upper right of Map 2; exit west back to 2.

• Another scrap of parchment is half hidden behind a cactus. Scoffing at archaeological naysayers, it reiterates the local tales and documents describing the highly advanced Lost City in the mountains, touting the knowledge that could be gained by an expedition to find its remains.

Highest plateau path is only reached through the mountain path starting on Map 3 and going left to right past the cave on Map 2. Exit left again to Map 2 to progress onward into the cave.

• HERMIT: brushes off Sanda's concerns about the "monster" nearby, saying that's only "ol' Rufus," their dog who never eats and sometimes goes as still as a statue but is still good company out here in the desert. Sanda doesn't think Rufus is a dog, but the hermit insists that he is and that the two of them are doing fine together.
• RUFUS: emits an apparently very unconvincing "Woof." Sanda is unconvinced.

 

CAVE!

 

Map 1 (exits south to Desert, north to Map 2)

• BOULDER (Green dragon): thinks humans are stinky and annoying, but becomes less hostile if given a large piece of ham (which Sanda has apparently been carrying around the whole time).
• A parchment half hidden behind a rock contains an eyewitness account of the beauty and magic of the Lost City.
• The wall on the far lower left of the map provides a view of an inaccessible Gold Dragon protecting a gold egg, a treasure eluding Sanda (and the rest of us) once again by being forever out of reach.

Map 2 (exits south to Map 1, north to join the expedition and do the puzzles!)

• PONKO (Magelight Pygmy): tiredly requests help with their sibling, who is hyper after finding some extra mana. 
• PUNKI (aforementioned sibling): makes hyper noises.
• RAILGORE (a Gilded Bloodscale, individually Raile and Goren, a fascinating insight into two-headed dragon names): thinks you look tasty, but is too busy to eat you (for now).

Exiting at the top of the cave brings you to the rest of your archaeological friends and the doors leading to all the logic puzzles!

 

A million thanks to those who documented the logic puzzles for the rest of us. And here's the solution to a minor mystery from the desert.....

Spoiler

Ol' Rufus is one of the Caligenes in the rune chamber after the stealth puzzle!

 

 

 

 

Next up: all interactions in the Lost City (after solving the sixteen-square rune puzzle)! It's mostly parchment fragments. I'll probably do a second playthrough to get trivia and character descriptions for the archaeological party, but I think there's just the Museum items left to detail and then this'll be done!

 

Spoiler

MAP 1 (north of campfire room; exit north to Map 2)

• A parchment half-hidden behind a statue left of the main path continues the eyewitness account of the Lost City. Although it was beautiful and prosperous, its inhabitants used magic for every little thing like a mundane tool; the witness considered this profane. Like all the parchments here, the rest is illegibly faded.
• To the right, a parchment half behind a brick pile says the king's new hobby, necromancy, is distracting him from his duties and discomfiting his council. The king has been mourning his dead brother and ignoring "incursions" from a desert settlement to the south, and his subjects are restless.
• On the path, a half-hidden parchment mentions servants going missing in the palace, including Eloa, whom the writer had told to keep quiet about blood seeping between the tiles of the king's walls. The city is full of unrest.
• Left of this parchment, up the stairs at the side of the path, is a statue of King Eodessus the Fourth of the House of ... Archmage, leader of the Kingdom of ... ascended the throne upon the death [of] his elder brother.
• To the right of the path, beyond Runa, a half-hidden parchment describes a burning city overrun by invaders who call the inhabitants monsters and users of dark magic, defenders pushed back against locked palace doors, and abandonment by a cowardly king.
• Moving far enough upwards shifts the screen briefly to show the palace, from which a beam of light pierces through the mountain peak above. The party observes it and then continues to wander freely until Sanda ventures into the palace. (Once inside, they can't return to this map.)

 

MAP 2, inside the palace, is just a smaller ominous chamber with a large seated statue. (Again, once the party goes through the northern door, they can't return here.)

 

MAP 3 is a maze of four sections, each of which must be finished before proceeding through the northern door.

Section 1 (lower left):

• A standing stone says that the path ahead is for the clever-minded.
• Follow the path off-map to the left and you're in the Potion room again for the second iteration of the cauldron puzzle. (See wiki.) The lights and flames are now orange instead of green. After completing the puzzle, the northern door leads to Section 2.

Section 2 (upper left):

• Most of the standing stones are too faintly engraved to read; one compliments your stealthiness.
• Follow the path off-map to the left and you're in the Caligene maze for another stealth run. Finishing the maze brings you to Section 3.

Section 3 (lower right):

• The only standing stone here praises the wisdom of innovation in overcoming obstacles.
• Follows the path off-map to the right and you're in the Orb room for the second iteration of the orb puzzle. (See wiki.) The room's colors have become much darker. After completing the puzzle, the northern door leads to Section 4.

Section 4 (upper right):

• Most of the standing stones are too faintly engraved to read; one advises willpower in the face of deception.
• Sanda follows the path north off the map and confronts the dreaded randomized-door puzzle once again. Finishing the puzzle brings you to the final battle of the game!

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by infiniteviking
Added section

[HeatherMarie]

Huh. I definitely didn't see any symbols by the doors. I did notice in some spots (like in the sewer) it was hard to make out details, maybe my monitor's contrast is too low or something. 

[Odeen]

7 minutes ago, infiniteviking said:

 

 

  Hide contents

 

• RAILGORE (a Gilded Bloodscale, individually Raile and Goren, a fascinating insight into two-headed dragon names)

 

 

While events aren't technically canon, bloodscales do canonically have 2 distinct brains with distinct personalities, so my personal headcanon as their mommy is that they have individual names to refer to themselves as distinct from one another, but in acknowledgement of their shared body and experience they adopt a portmanteau of their names to refer to themselves as a collective when interacting with others. That's not necessarily true for all two-heads; for breeds I've made myself, hooktalons do not have multiple consciousnesses, and baikalas basically have binocular thinking in that they have almost identical cognition, but it's slightly offset due to being separate, and they can use that computing power to basically look at and process information two times at once.

[Feral71]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:06 PM, Jazeki said:

Awww. I got an error when I tried to play the game. 

 

ETA: I got as far as far as entering my name. Then it takes me back to the home screen. If I hit continue playing, it just shows me the list of commands.

Same here.

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

56 minutes ago, infiniteviking said:

HUGO (an Alcedyne Wyvern?): says hello while deciding which nearby camel to have for dinner. Offers to share, but Sanda declines.

I think Hugo is a pyrovar. That or yellow-crowned, I'm past that point in the story and can't go back to look more closely, and the two desert-dwelling breeds have similar blue-yellow colour schemes. (If you don't have the encyclopaedia: pyrovar | yellow-crowned).

Edited October 26, 2020 by Kakaru_of_DOOM

[Sophiera]

I'm so happy that we have a week to get the candy, and also be able to get all we've missed in previous years. Thank you so much!

[Amberfly]

I seem to be stuck in the labyrinth. There's one guard that just like. Never leaves the corridor I need? And there's no side tunnels to hide in? I've checked all the other routes and they're all dead ends, it has to be this one but that one guard is unavoidable apparently.

[Mewtie]

7 minutes ago, Amberfly said:

I seem to be stuck in the labyrinth. There's one guard that just like. Never leaves the corridor I need? And there's no side tunnels to hide in? I've checked all the other routes and they're all dead ends, it has to be this one but that one guard is unavoidable apparently.

No, there is a different path.

[Tini]

57 minutes ago, Odeen said:

 

While events aren't technically canon, bloodscales do canonically have 2 distinct brains with distinct personalities, so my personal headcanon as their mommy is that they have individual names to refer to themselves as distinct from one another, but in acknowledgement of their shared body and experience they adopt a portmanteau of their names to refer to themselves as a collective when interacting with others. That's not necessarily true for all two-heads; for breeds I've made myself, hooktalons do not have multiple consciousnesses, and baikalas basically have binocular thinking in that they have almost identical cognition, but it's slightly offset due to being separate, and they can use that computing power to basically look at and process information two times at once.

I absolutely loved that little nugget in game, it makes a lot of sense.

 

Just wanna give my thanks again to TJ for old treats, I'm working on 2015 atm!

[Pilauli]

9 minutes ago, Amberfly said:

There's one guard that just like. Never leaves the corridor I need?

I don't know whether this is applicable to your situation, but the guards can't see very far in front of themselves.  So if you have a corridor like this (pardon the ASCII)

_____________________________________________

|_(guard)________         ____________________(goal)_

                              | you |

 

If you have a corridor like that, you ought to be able to wait and as soon as the guard turns his back on you and heads down his little dead-end tunnel, step out into the tunnel and run.  Even if he faces the right way to see you, he won't actually see you so long as you're farther away than the little cone of light in front of his face.

 

I hope that makes sense?

 

So, I don't know whether you have a situation like this or not, but if you do, then I hope this helps.  If you have a guard who is always between you and the exit, then yeah, there probably is another way around.

[AtomicSquid]

Thanks for the awesome little adventure, I really enjoyed it! The art and music and overall atmosphere of the place were fantastic. The puzzles were a little frustrating at times but that made them all the more satisfying when I got them done.

 

Also, huge yay for being able to collect old treats from years past! I hope I'll have time to get all the ones I'm missing.

 

Halloween is the best!

[Feral71]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:23 PM, Tinibree said:

I'm pretty sure I picked up an older treat a minute ago, popped up at the top of the scroll.

LOL, I have yet to find a single one. New or old

[DragonLady86]

Just now, Feral71 said:

LOL, I have yet to find a single one. New or old

Try hunting on a dragon view page or the biomes. One should appear every 5-15 mins and it wont go away until you click it, it will just follow you around the site.

[Fuzzbucket]

15 minutes ago, Feral71 said:

LOL, I have yet to find a single one. New or old

 

Have you got javascript turned off - seems to me I recall from past years that they don't show up then...

Edited October 26, 2020 by Fuzzbucket

[angelicdragonpuppy]

AMONG US REFERENCE YAHHGG  I was hoping!

[Quiustath]

Couldn't we have the museum to stay acessible all year? It's nice to have some official lore/legends on the background of Dragoncave. The only info i have is past year's event pages on wiki.

[Laura-Borealis]

Is the cave the excavation site, or is it something else? 

 

EDIT nm, I found my way through.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Laura-Borealis

[VixenDra]

11 minutes ago, Quiustath said:

Couldn't we have the museum to stay acessible all year? It's nice to have some official lore/legends on the background of Dragoncave. The only info i have is past year's event pages on wiki.

Would be a neat extra thingie somewhere near Encyclopeadia or sth, since it's already made

[Glaciarie]

The halloween treats I'm collecting are actually going above the 2014 banner, is this happening to anyone else?

 

[DragonLady86]

Just now, Glaciarie said:

The halloween treats I'm collecting are actually going above the 2014 banner, is this happening to anyone else?

 

That means they are for 2013

[VixenDra]

2 minutes ago, Glaciarie said:

The halloween treats I'm collecting are actually going above the 2014 banner, is this happening to anyone else?

 

"All old treats have returned" - you collected all 2020;s and now 2013's are droping for you:) When you're done with those, you'll start getting 2012's and so on

Edited October 26, 2020 by VixenDra

[Nerei]

I love the beetle on this year’s banner—totally looks like it’s got a little face on its back  

Edited October 26, 2020 by Niyaka

[Glaciarie]

26 minutes ago, VixenDra said:

"All old treats have returned" - you collected all 2020;s and now 2013's are droping for you:) When you're done with those, you'll start getting 2012's and so on

 

Oh I had NO idea about that! Thanks