cyric_s_newbie_tutorial []

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====== Newbie Tutorial ======

Updated June 8, 2022 - Oracle tutorial updated to give specific stat recommendations and also add an offensive spell to ease getting through Kilgore Keep\\
Updated Nov 9, 2023 - Changed Thief build to duelist style\\
Updated Dec 13, 2023 - Slight tweaks to Oracle guide to align with updated spell lists
Updated Oct 17, 2025, - Slight tweaks to Thief guide to add Thief talents\\

**Note to everyone**: This tutorial should be periodically reviewed and updated to account for MUD changes.

This is meant to be a guide to mechanics for surviving on Sundering Shadows MUD for new players.  It does not cover player interactions as that would be an entire guide unto itself.
This guide is not comprehensive, but it is meant to help bridge the knowledge gap between experienced players and newbies, minimize frustration for true newbies, and give new players a leg up to getting started learning how to play the game (and possibly teach some old dogs a few new tricks).  \\

It by no means tells you how to create the most optimized character, but it will give you a good start and a base of knowledge to build on, including where to find equipment experienced players would consider indispensable.\\

It covers everything I did playing an elven wood elf fighter up to level 10, which is the one of the simplest classes to learn & play.  The elven race has the best vision, so you won't need to bother about lanterns and oil, and the wood elf sub-race grants bonuses to strength and dex, perfect for keeping fighters alive and killing things.\\

By level 10, you'll do enough damage, and have enough equipment and experience to allow you to explore the under 20 areas west of Shadow and around Tabor.\\

A caster tutorial (Oracle) is after the fighter tutorial.  Casters are more mechanically complex, but the tutorial should help a first-time player figure things out. PLEASE NOTE: The Oracle section has been updated as of Nov 2021, please mention on newbie line if anything appears outdated.

If you get stuck, you can always ask for help on the lines (help line use), especially the ooc line.\\
Essential to a good experience is a decent mud client so you can see all the pretty colors, but bear in mind scripts and triggers are not allowed.  \\
Cmud is probably the one which is most commonly used these days.\\

--Cyric\\

===== Fighter Tutorial =====

      * Pick fighter and elf for your class and race, and wood elf for your subrace.\\
      * Pick Recommended for your stats\\
      * Pick normal age range\\
      * Create your character, go through the in-game tutorial, follow the commands until you come to tutorial room 5. \\
      * After completing it, the man will ask you to 'unnickname mynickname'\\
        ''out'' ''out'' ''city''\\

This will take you to Offestry town square, where a map will appear in your inventory. \\

==== Initial Setup ====
     * ''alias 0 score'', now when you type 0, you will see your character sheet\\
     * ''alias ga get all $*'', typing ''ga'' will pick up everything on the ground, 'ga from corpse' or 'ga from chest' will let you pick up items from corpses or chests or wherever else you need.\\
     * ''alias gc get coins $*'', typing gc will allow you to get coins from the ground, 'gc from corpse' or 'gc from chest' will let you get coins from corpses or chests or wherever else you need.\\
     * ''nickname att attacker'', will let you type att when targeting attackers, useful for the impale and rush feats, which needs to target an enemy.\\
     * ''discern'' will let you know how much base damage a weapon does and how much protection a shield offers.\\
     * ''alias wa watch'', allows you to watch your back for thief stabs by typing two letters instead of five.\\
     * ''alias kl kill $*'', now you don't have to type out the whole word "kill" to attack something.\\
     * ''alias 1 sweepingblow'', you will use sweepingblow a lot in combat, better to just type a single character.\\
     * ''alias 2 impale att $*'', you will use impale a lot in combat, better to just type a single character.  Note the nickname used, which was added above.\\
     * briefcombat (this will let you see more descriptive combat messages, which is more fun and will let you know if you do something like start fighting without wielding a weapon).\\
     * ''prompt %^GREEN%^%^BOLD%^$h%^RESET%^%^BOLD%^/%^RESET%^%^GREEN%^$H%^RESET%^-%^RED%^%^BOLD%^>'' \\
       * this will show you your current hit points every time you hit enter
     * Macro: If you can set up a keyboard macros with your MUD client, set up F1 as quaff kit
       *  if you can't set up a keyboard macros, alias ` as quaff kit.  This will drink healing potions, which will become important when you're getting hit a lot and trying to avoid dying
       *  you can only drink 5 healing potions per round.

**Note**: You can ''bypass'' the entire newbie area and start at level 6 but this is not recommended for first time players.  
At least get a handle on how to drink vials and manage your inventory first.

**Starting out**:\\
As soon as you enter offestry city, you will have a 'mass' in your inventory that will start talking to you and provide hints.  

We're going to follow along with this mass.

==== Newbie Mass ====
This thing is meant to help newbies.  It provides useful commands and training, but is entirely optional.
you can always ''ask tasks'', or ''explain my task'' to get an idea of what you're supposed to do next.
''explain bio'' is the first thing it asks us to do, and after doing this you can ''ask tasks'' to get the next task. If it seems to get stuck and quits responding, typing ''explain'' without any arguments should wake it up.

It then asks us to find a gem in the meadow north of offestry and find a gem, then feed it to the mass. We're going to equip ourselves first before we do this, because there are rats to fight in the meadow

=== Equipment & starting feats ===

== Feats ==

    * ''feats add sweepingblow'' \\
      * this adds the sweepingblow attack option, which attempts to hit everything you're fighting, best against large groups
    * ''feats martial blade block'' \\
      * this is a pre-requisite for impale, and also lets us block some attacks with our sword
    * ''feats martial impale'' \\
      * this adds the impale attack option, which attempts to damage and paralyze (for a round) one enemy

== Weapons ==

''2w;n'', to the weapon shop\\
''buy two-handed sword'', ''wield two handed''\\

**Note**: If you log off and re-enter, you'll need to wield your weapon again

== General Equipment ==

''s;w'' from offestry center to get to the general store\\
''list'' to see the items, show ''item 1'', ''show item 2'' etc. to make sure you're buying the right one.\\
''buy large sack'' and ''buy climbing tools''\\
      * The limit is 5 containers, plus one of each unique type (like a scroll case), so you'll eventually want 5 sacks or backpacks.  \\
      * do not put sacks inside of sacks, they do not save.
      * when you check your inventory ''i'' inside of a shop, it will show you what you can sell at that shop for how much gold\\
Climbing tools will let you ''climb'' walls and ''descend'' into holes more easily\\

**Note**: If you choose to drop NoPK flag later, worn and wielded items can't be stolen by other players\\

== Armor ==

Armor is optional as the newbie mass will provide armor to you when you reach level 3. \\
''e;e'' from town center and ''n'', to the armory\\
''buy banded'' or ''buy banded 2'', whichever is normal/medium size (show banded, show banded 2, to make sure you get a medium size) \\
buy great helm or buy helm 2, whichever is medium size (show helm, show helm 2, to make sure you get a medium sized helm). \\
If you don't have enough money yet, just save up until you can buy banded.\\

== Healing ==

If you get injured and you don't have enough healing vials, you can heal and buy more at the healer.\\
The healer is located at e;n from the offestry town center.\\
''read list'' will show you the services and prices.\\
''bnp #'' will buy newbie potions you can use, at a heavily discounted price.\\
If you run out of kits or gold, you can use the ''heal'' command to restore hps with the healing skill.\\

**Note**: If you see an orc named Musond, don't attack him.  This is a quest giving NPC.\\

=== Mass task 1 - dig in the meadow for a gem ===
''ask task'' - the mass will teach you about the bio command\\
''explain bio'' - you receive an info dump of the bio command\\
''explain my task''\\

The mass instructs us to head to the meadow north of offestry and dig up a gem.\\
Head north from the Offestry main square until you reach a meadow.  There you will be able to use the ''dig'' command.  \\
You'll need to dig around for a while to find the gem the mass has asked you to find; it's in a random area of the meadow. \\
You can use your new commands, sweepingblow (which we aliased above), and impale (which we also aliased), to damage the rats and snakes there\\
    * if you miss you won't be able to attack for a while, so probably best to wait until we're better at hitting things.\\
You can use ''con all'' to see the relative health of all your opponents\\
Starting at level 2 you can also use ''flash'' to expend some stamina and possibly do some minor damage.  I used this to great effect in the first few levels.\\
    * you can ''bury corpse'' to regain some hp, or ''bury all'' to bury all corpses at once and leave whatever they were carrying on the ground\\

Once you've found the gem, return to the offestry town square and ''feed gem to mass''\\
      * this will automatically advance you to level 2.
      * you will learn a new feat, bravery
      * you will gain a lesser ring of light and a set of newbie plate armor ''wear ring'' ''wear plate''
      * you will now have 4 skill points to add. Skill suggestions:
        * ''skills add 1 to perception'' to max out your perception skill, so you will have better defense against sneak attacks
        * ''skills add 1 to spellcraft'' to help identifying cursed items by studying them, ''study item''
        * ''skills add 1 to athletics'' to help with standing up faster, and for blocking attacks, once you have the relevant feats
        * ''skills add 1 to endurance'' to give you more stamina to run around and swing your sword longer at later levels, and add some trip resistance.

=== Mass task 2 - graveyard east of offestry ===
There are a number of things the mass asks you to request explanations on:
''explain stats'', ''explain skills'', ''explain advance'' \\
after that, you can ''explain my task'' \\
The mass asks you to go meet an NPC east of offestry and get a task from him.
After hearing about the task, head east (7 rooms from the board) out of offestry until you see Sirith, an NPC. \\
''say hello'', and he'll ask you if you can help him. \\  
''say yes'' (twice) to receive the quest to journey to the graveyard to the south and fight the undead there, to retrieve the item he asks for. \\
In the cemetary, there are rats and snakes to kill (undead varieties and zombies, skeletons, and bats at night).  \\
If you're short on hit points, kill them and bury the corpses individually to recover hp, or drink some healing vials.  \\

From Sirith: ''s;s;e;e;se;w'' to get to a musty tomb. \\
Inside the tomb, you can search the coffins for a random drop or enemy.  \\
There is a hulking zombie inside the tomb, who carries a signet ring.  kill it and take the ring, this is the item Sirith (or the mass) wants.  \\
One of the walls has an axe we can take, and another a shield.  We don't really care about either since we're using two handed weapons, but maybe we can sell them in town. \\
The axe can be sold at the weapon shop, and the shield at the armorer.\\
Return to the offestry town square and ''feed ring to mass'' \\
This will give you a quest completion \\
You advance to level 3 \\
you receive new items, ''wear belt'', ''wear greaves'' \\

you now have two feats you can add.  We will pick: \\
''feats martial light weapon'' - prereq for strength of arm \\
''feats add strength of arm'' - more damage, to kill things faster \\


=== Mass task 3 - keep west of offestry ===

The mass again asks us to explain things.\\
''explain hunger'', ''explain thirst'', ''explain repair'', ''explain movement'', read through at your leisure, then ''ask task'' and ''explain my task'' \\
Our job is to head west from offestry and find a Jessa NPC.  We say hello to her, and she asks if we will help her.\\
    * we can repeat any of the words she says in red to learn more
She wants us to find the pieces of a staff from the keep ahead and ''assemble'' them. \\
We head north into kilgore keep, and inside we can use the ''actions'' command to find out what kind of things we can do in each room \\
    * use peer (peer north 5, peer east 10, etc) to look ahead and see what's coming up.
    * if you set up the aliases above, you can simply type 1 to use sweepingblow, or 2 to impale an attacker (use "2 2", "2 3" to impale the 2nd or 3rd attackers in the room)
    * don't forget to set your wimpy, and wimpydir (you learned this in the in-game tutorial), it can save your life if you get low on hps or if your internet connection drops
    * if you walk into a room with something and it doesn't attack you, impale it or kill it
    * use ''offer (item)'' to get rid of stuff in your inventory you don't want, or ''offerall'' to get rid of everything on the ground
    * ''bury corpse'' after something dies to regain a few hit points.  
    * use ''heal yourname'' to recover hit points if you need to, the only thing this costs is time.
    * I didn't have to use any healing vials, but as a newbie player you might get hit more or forget to bury / offer things to regain hit points.
    * you can also offer items to regain a few hps, the random clothing and weapons the monsters in the keep drop can be taken with you and offered later.

=== Item locations: ===

**golden bands** - behind the hidden room in the study on the second floor, in a chest guarded by a trap and two steam mephits.

from the helpful sign at the entrance: 5n, e, n, u, 2s, e open door, e, search bookshelves, l southern bookshelf, l lever, pull book, s, 2w (heal from the trap if necessary), open chest, kill the mephits, open chest, get bands, get skeleton key (and whatever else is lying on the ground that came out of the chest)

**carving** - from the xvart shaman in the abandoned kitchen on the first floor

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, e

**stave** - from the carrion crawler on the first floor, ''dig'' through the rubble at the end of the hallway

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, 2e, 3s, dig south, s, search lair, get stave

**odd stone** - from the study on the second floor

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, e, n, u, 2s, e, open door, e, search desk, get stone

**orb** - in a hidden laboratory behind a hidden passage through the armory. You will need an odd stone to open the hidden lab.

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, e, 2s, open door, w, search racks, search spears, twist spear, w, s, l chest, l scratches, move chest, lift trap door, d, n (heal from the trap), l archway, insert stone into hole, e, complete the circle.\\

''assemble'' the staff and give it to jessa, you will now advance to level 5, and you also receieve a cloak you should read and wear, and bracers you should wear.
    * we have a new feat, we will take: ''feats martial weapon focus''
    * you also have a new stat point ''stats gain strength''
    * return to town and sell any loot you might have picked up.  Scrolls can be sold in the mage tower, weapons at the weapon shop, anything worn can be sold at the armorer, and anything else at the general store

=== Mass Task 4: Klll the gnome or kobold Leader ===
''explain quest areas'', ''explain rumors'', ''explain roleplay''\\
''explain my task''\\
The mass gives us a choice of which leader to kill, and since we're playing a wood elf, we're going to thin the herd of evil kobolds
    * from the board at the center of offestry, 6s, 3sw, descend.
    * kill kobolds until you find either an iron key in a pouch, or a brass key in a pouch. the iron key opens the door to the southwest, and the brass key opens the more northern door.
      * both keys lead into the same cave complex.
      * snark is the kobold leader. find him using the peer command (he was in the southwest for me, but I believe he spawns randomly) and kill him.
    * as soon as you kill Snark, boots appear in your inventory
    * ''wear boots''
    * The mass also gives you some new things to explain
      * ''explain church'', ''explain description'', ''explain adjective''
      * ''explain enter the world'' this puts you in a prep-room for entering Sundering Shadows.

You should set your description and adjective now.

Your description is the physical description of your character.

Your adjective is what is seen on the who list (type who) and what people will see when they first encounter your character in a room
     * Set your description (''describe'') and adjective.
     * You also need to recognize yourself \\
       ''recognize YOURNAME as YOURNAME''
     * ''adjective (insert description here) $R (insert description here)''
       * $R will be substituted with your race.
     * Look at yourself to make sure your description looks correct, and check your score to see your adjective.

Now you can advance further. Just type ''advance''.

=== Advancing out of Newbie ===
Once you advance to level 6, you will be dropped into a room with a portal.  ''portal'' will drop you in Tabor, the low-level town of Sundering Shadows\\
Go 1 north to the town square (Caerveron Square).  \\
We're going to use this room (and the yard of the crown and castle inn) as a central point for directions going forward.  The town square is near the southern side of Tabor.\\
We also have a new feat we can add.  \\
''feats add weapon specialization''\\
We also receive a helmet +1, ''study helmet'', ''wear helmet''\\

=== Getting set up in Tabor: ===
The bank is n;n;e from the square.  \\
    - open account
    - money
    - deposit your excess gold ''deposit X gold''
From the town square, head to the crown and castle inn, s;se;se;e (open door)\\
There's a list of mini-quest items here.\\
    - ''read list'' to see the list of mini-quest items.  
    - Retrieve the item and return it here and ''claim itemname'' to gain the xp listed.
    - you probably won't know where most of the items are at first, but as you explore more, you'll learn where they are
    - the mini-quest board provides an alternative to mindlessly killing the same thing over and over
    - The crown and castle is usually a good place to meet players, or you can use the ''rumors'' command, or directly ask to RP on the ooc line.\\
''l board'' to see what you can do with the board, other players make posts here.  ''read'' to see what they say, post ''title'' to make a post of your own, and ''reply Post #'' to answer someone's post\\
Make sure you are not hungry/thirsty (score), if you are, buy some food and drink some water from the restaurant to the south (read menu, buy ''item'', buy rose water, eat food, drink drink)\\
Head back to the square.\\
From the square, go n;e to the scribe's office\\
''draw tabor'' and ''draw area''.  \\
    - This will give you maps to both Tabor and the surrounding lands with level suggestions.
    - *you need to become familiar with Tabor, where the church, bank, healer, weapon, and armor shops are, because if you die, you should choose to return to the church in Tabor.
        - you will need money from the bank to repair your equipment at the shops, you can ''withdraw X gold'' to retrieve it
        - weapons and armor can be repaired at their respective shops ''help shop'' when in the shop for the syntax
        - you will need to go to the healer to get patched up after returning to life at the church.
    - make sure you can get around town without a map in game (you may want to keep maps offline).\\

Offer your newbie kit because you can’t use it anymore. \\

=== Goblin Stronghold ===

Once you're familiar with Tabor, go to the goblin stronghold \\
    - from the yard of the crown and castle, w;s;s;s;s.
    - peer se to see the goblins.  Explore the stronghold, peering ahead to see what you're fighting.
    - keep the weapons to sell.
    - eat the crumbs the goblins drop to gain 1 hp back
if you're quick, you can ''block down'' before the goblin archers and rangers in the towers do, which will let your wimpy work if you get in trouble \\
The goblin king may be difficult to kill, don't forget to set wimpy and wimpydir \\
After clearing out the stronghold (it's not very large), return to tabor and visit the weapon shop to sell your loot.  \\
When you have enough gold, buy field (or preferably full, if you have the gold) plate armor from an armor shop in Tabor or Shadow, for an additional +1(or +2) AC \\
''study'' items to see what they are, and whether they have magical properties, whether they're cursed \\
    - cursed items will have a -1 after their short descriptions in your inventory, as opposed to +1 for magical items.
''discern'' armor to see how much defense it provides
    - always check to see if an item is cursed (at a church, if you fail to study it) before wearing/wielding it
going through here once and picking up a chalice from the goblyn rogue and claiming it in tabor was enough to advance to 7
    - level 7: ''feats martial lethal strikes'' - doubles crit threat range

=== Shadow ===

The easiest way to get to Shadow is via the the Tabor-Shadow River ferry \\
    - You need to know where Shadow is because it's a good base to venture to echoes mountains and the areas past it.
    - the Tabor Docks are w;s;s;s;w from the yard of the crown and castle
    - wait for a shadow-tabor ferry to show up and ''buy ticket for shadow-tabor''
    - this will drop you at the eastern side of Shadow City, ''out'' to exit the ferry.
    - At magistrate's Plaza you can ''look map'' to get a map of the area.
        - magistrate's plaza is 2n, 3w, 2n from where the tabor-shadow ferry drops you off.
    - the scribe can draw you a map of Shadow city
        - the scribe is 5n, w, from magistrate's plaza
        - ''draw map'', ''read map''


=== Echoes Mountains ===
When you run out of goblins to kill, head to echoes mountains, west from Shadow's west gate and north from the large wooden sign \\
from the Shadow dock, go out the west gates of Shadow.
        - 4n, 18w, sw, nw, 3w to the large wooden sign.
        - The road to the mountains is north, and if you follow it, you will come to echoes mountains
        - don't forget to peer ahead, you should be able to see inside the first level of echoes mountains, including a pair of trolls \\
    - they can be tough at level 6, but you can search around the room if you kill them and get a random drop
After the trolls head down to the 2nd level (you passed the entrance on the way to the trolls) \\
From here you can go west to kill some lizards, once again you can search this room for a random drop \\
head back the way you came, and then north, then east when you can (if you hit the dwarven mine or the sloping cavern, you went the wrong way). \\
Just before you hit the 'tunnel between caverns', you'll see the entrance down to level 3 of echoes mountains.  \\
The main ogre pit is at the start of level 3 of echoes mountains.  There are mats you can search to get random drops. \\
Some ogres have +1 weapons, they will be of exceptional quality if you look at them.  Don't forget to check for curses before you wield anything.\\
    - I picked up a two handed sword +1 as a random drop to replace my starting two-handed sword.
half-ogres use spells, but have bracers of defense \\
    - be sure to make sure they're not cursed before you wear them.  ''Study'' them, identify curse on ''item'' at a church, or have another player (caster) identify it for you
    - I picked up bracers +1 here, for an extra +1 AC
If you run out of vials, head back to town to sell your loot and buy some more from the healer (shadow is probably easier from echoes mountains). \\
After you get your second attack per round, head northeast from the main ogre pit \\
    - there are lots of ogres along the path to kill and loot, but no more mats to search.  
    - This is a one-way passage down to Echoes Mountains level 4
Keep an eye out for cloth, wood, or metal dropping from the ogres (and mobs in general).  \\
    - These are crafting items and can be sold, especially the metals.
    - Scrolls also can be high level and can be sold for a great deal of gold

=== Echoes Mts Level 4 ===

    - If you take the first branch east, you will come to a kobold who sometimes has a ring of protection +1
    - past the kobold, there is a dead end, but you can ''climb'' if you have climbing tools or if you've got enough skill
    - kill the ogres first and when you search the rubble, a mountain giant attacks you.
    - kill it then search the rubble again to reveal the treasure
    - Take what you want then ''descend'' to get out
    - head back to the fork and go south until you come to a T junction.  West is deep echoes mountains, like the sign says, avoid it for now.  
    - East is the ogre king
    - The ogre king has a large spear you can use
    - The ogre king has ring of protection as a random drop
After beating the ogre king and clearing out echoes mountains (and picking up an item on the quiet forest road) I had enough xp to advance to 8.
    - ''stats gain strength''
unfortunately we don't gain any feats this level, so we'll just have to keep going.

=== Dragon Den Caverns ===
There are two entrances to the DDC, one is north of Shadow (''enter hole'' from a straight north-south stretch of dragon pass road) and requires climbing tools to ''descend'' into. \\
The other is connected to echoes mountains, it's called the tunnel between caverns.  From the wooden sign at the entrance of echoes mountains, go 2n, d, 3e, 4n, 3e, 2n, e, n.  Follow that tunnel to the dragon den caverns.\\
Inside DDC there are hordes of kobolds and rats.  The kobold children will steal from you, the mages cast spells, and the thieves will try to stab you
    - here we can easily pick up bracers of defense and ring of protection.
    - be sure to study them and check that they're not cursed (cursed items will have a negative modifier).
There's also a quest inside DDC, you'll have to find and solve that on your own.

=== Shadow Sewers ===
This is a good spot to find +1 equipment for extra AC. \\
There are multiple entrances/exits, make sure you have climbing tools. \\
    - one entrance is just south of the shadow jail office, ''open grate''
    - down in the sewers there are multiple exits and hidden areas, and some monsters can be tough.
        - peer ahead and watch out for chrin clawreaper NPC.  He is killable below level 10 but this will be a tough fight.  Set your wimpy and drink your vials. \\
    - the sewers can be searched for magical items and poison antidotes. In a short excursion I found a +1 tophat, belt, and cravat which all add to AC. \\
        - make sure you study the items first to ensure they're not cursed.
        - searching the filth can also lead to being attacked by leeches
    - the rats won't auto-attack you, but if you attack anything in the room with kill/rush/impale etc, then they will.


=== Yntala forest ===

The entrance to Yntala forest is out the southern gate of Tabor, just past the Goblin Stronghold.  \\

Yntala is really meant for characters leveled to the teens, but we can take it at level 8-9 with the right equipment, and if we're careful
    - bracers of defense (half-ogres from echos mtns, or kobolds in dragon den caverns)
    - ring of protection (kobold in echo mtns or ogre king in echo mtns)
    - ogre's spear (from the ogre king in echo mtns)
    - field plate (from armor shop), or full plate (from armor shop)
    - cloak +1 from the flinds in the meadowlands at night, or cravat/pearl necklace from shadow sewers (search)
    - belt +1 from shadow sewers (search)
    - top hat +1 from shadow sewers (search)
    - at least 20 blue vials

== Notes for Yntala ==
    - Peer before entering a room, make sure your wimpy and wimpydir are set.\\
    - the dire wolves wander, it can be a problem if 4 of them walk in while you're fighting something else
    -the leprechauns are tough; stay away from them until you have a ring of spell resistance (golden ring, platinum band).  They can paralyze you and kill you with spells, but they randomly have a +1 amulet.
    - Stay on the west side of the river; the other side is the dark forest which is significantly tougher
    - Searching the foliage (or water, in some rooms) can yield several effects
        - attacked by a brown bear
        - attacked by a wasp swarm (sweepingblow is perfect here)
        - find a man's shirt +1 or a leaf dress +1 (check for curses before putting it on)
    - Dire wolves have blue kits as a random drop
        - I ended up with more kits than I could carry, even with all 5 sacks full (15 vials each)
        - combine ''kit with kit'' to put them together
        - ''take # from kit'' to split them up

=== Level 9 ===

    - at this level we get more skill points and two more feats.  I took rush and improved rush, for another special attack we can use and to avoid falling down if we miss.
    - at level 9 I cleared out the dark forest of yntala on the east side of the river, using healing vials when I needed to
    - use ''watch'' to keep the hags from stabbing you all the time


=== Muileann ===

    - There is both a quest and a deed here so I can't divulge too much about it.
    - there are a LOT of mini-quest items that appear in this area, so it's worth getting to know
    - the entrance is 'A Sign Post' 5 north from the sagging fence at the east side of the vast corn field, off the east side of dragon pass road north of shadow

Throw
    - throwing stuff is helpful because it gets monsters to move to you
    - wield an item, and the command is ''throw item at target distance direction''
        - i.e. wield dagger; throw dagger at wolf 1 south
        - this will cause the wolf 1 south of you (and anything else in the room) to move to your position and attack you
        - if you're in an area where monsters wander, this can come in handy
        - you don't need to throw a weapon, you can throw just about anything


=== Starting equipment: ===

    - two handed sword (purchased)
    - climbing tools (purchased)
    - newbie plate
    - newbie bracers
    - newbie greaves
    - great helm (armor shop purchased)

=== Equipment upgrades ===
    - weapon: large spear +1 from ogre king (echo mountains)
    - Ring of protection +1 from scaly kobolds (dragon den caverns)
    - bracers of defense +1 from half-ogre in Echo Mountains or from kobolds in dragon den caverns
    - Full Plate Armor from Tabor or Shadow armor shop
    - (not included in guide) cloak +1 from flind in (meadowlands, only appears at night)
    - shirt or dress +1 (random find in yntala forest)
    - hat +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers)
    - belt +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers)
    - cravat +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers)

That just about does it.  If you've gone all the way through this fighter tutorial, you should easily be able to get to level 10 and should be able to keep fighting in Yntala all the way to level 19, picking up martial feats as you go.  I suggest taking the toughness and damage resistance feats but you'll have so many options as a fighter that you can try different ones and figure out what works best for you.  I encourage you to get out and explore new areas because that's where the fun is, but this guide should give you a basic understanding of the game and how to recover from xp loss (self-inflicted or otherwise).

Happy Mudding!

--Cyric











===== Oracle (caster) Tutorial =====

This tutorial has been updated as of Nov 2021, please mention on newbie line if anything looks outdated.\\

By general consensus, Oracle is the simplest caster class to learn.  After playing through this tutorial, you should have the basics of how casters work and can move to a more complicated caster class like mage or cleric.  \\
pick oracle and human for your class and race, and heartlander for your subrace.\\
select 18 for age\\
pick charisma for your stat mod\\
Pick str 18, dex 12, con 18, int 14, wis 12, cha 18 for your stats\\
pick twilight's balance for alignment\\
pick kismet for religion\\
pick heavens for mystery\\
create your character, go through the in-game tutorial, follow the commands until you come to tutorial room 5. \\
After completing it, the man will ask you to "unnickname mynickname"\\
''out'' ''out'' ''city''\\
This will take you to Offestry town square, where a map will appear in your inventory. \\


==== Initial Setup ====

    - ''alias 0 score'', now when you type 0, you will see your character sheet\\
    - ''alias ga get all $*'' - ga will pick up everything on the ground, 'ga from corpse' or 'ga from chest' will let you pick up items from corpses or chests or wherever else you need.\\
    - ''alias gc get coins $*'' - gc will allow you to get coins from the ground, 'gc from corpse' or 'gc from chest' will let you get coins from corpses or chests or wherever else you need.\\
    - ''nickname att attacker'' - will let you type att when targeting attackers, useful for casting spells at anything attacking you, rather than typing out their specific name.\\
    - ''discern'' will let you know how much base damage a weapon does and how much protection a shield offers.\\
    - ''alias wa watch'' - allows you to watch your back for thief stabs by typing two letters instead of five.\\
    - ''alias kl kill $*'' - now you don't have to type out the whole word "kill" to attack something.\\
    - ''alias ms1 cast monster summoning i'' - we're going to be casting this a lot\\
    - ''alias prep1 prepare oracle level 1 times 50'' - an alias to prepare spells all at once, this will prepare your level 1 spells for casting.\\
    - ''alias cl cast cure light wounds on $*'' - you're going to want to heal yourself after fights.\\
    - ''briefcombat'' (this will let you see more descriptive combat messages, which is more fun and will let you know if you do something like start fighting without wielding a weapon).\\
    - ''prompt %^GREEN%^%^BOLD%^$h%^RESET%^%^BOLD%^/%^RESET%^%^GREEN%^$H%^RESET%^-%^RED%^%^BOLD%^>'' \\
      - this will show you your current hit points every time you hit enter
    - Macro: If you can set up macros with your MUD client, set up F1 as quaff kit
      -  if you can't set up macros, alias ` as quaff kit.  This will drink healing potions, which will become important when you're getting hit a lot and trying to avoid dying
      -  you can only drink 5 healing potions per round.

**Note**: You can ''bypass'' the entire newbie area and start at level 6 but this is not recommended for first time players.  
At least get a handle on how to drink vials, manage your inventory, and prepare and cast spells first.

Starting out:
As soon as you enter offestry city, you will have a 'mass' in your inventory that will start talking to you and provide hints.  

We're going to follow along with this mass.

==== Newbie Mass ====
This thing is meant to help newbies.  It provides useful commands and training, but is entirely optional.
you can always ''ask tasks'', or ''explain my task'' to get an idea of what you're supposed to do next.
''explain bio'' is the first thing it asks us to do, and after doing this you can ''ask tasks'' to get the next task.
It then asks us to find a gem in the meadow north of offestry and find a gem, then feed it to the mass. We're going to equip ourselves first before we do this, because there are rats to fight in the meadow

=== Starting Feats, Spells, and Equipment ===

    - ''feats racial spell power'' \\
    - this uses our free human feat to give us a boost to the strength of our spells, and is a pre-requisite for hardenedminions.
    - ''feats spellcraft hardenedminions'' \\
    - this uses our free class feat to make our fodder tougher, which will be essential because they absorb hits for us.  Remember you need to use the command every time you log in.
    - ''feats add improved spell power'' \\
    - this uses our level 1 feat to make our spells even more powerful.

**Spells**: \\
We're going to pick a few spells, and see how many spells we can prepare at each level. \\
      * ''master'' - we see we can learn two level 1 spells. \\
      * ''spells oracle by level'' - this shows all available spells you can master.\\
      * ''master monster summoning i'' - we're going to use our summoned monsters to protect us. \\
      * Cantrips don't need to be prepared.  ''help cantrips'', ''recall cantrip spells'', ''cast cantrip resistance on me'' , ''cast cantrip guidance on me'' Can't go wrong with +1 to all saving throws and +1 to hit and damage.  Each of the cantrips has their own help file.\\
      * ''master cure light wounds'' - this allow us to heal ourselves for free.\\
      * ''master list'' - this shows us a list of all the spells we already know (due to our heavens mystery), this will come in handy later, but you can use ''help spellname'' to see what each spell does.\\
      * The Mending cantrip will be useful to repair your gear if you die, and the light cantrip will be useful if you can't see.
      * ''hardenedminions'' - you need to actually type the command every time you log in to make sure the feat works \\
      * ''prep1'' - this (which we aliased above) will prepare level 1 spells for you, so you can cast them.  You can cast anything on your list of spells (''master list''). \\
        * note, the spells often get prepared before the preparation is complete, sometimes they prepare quick, sometimes slow.  You can always interrupt your preparation to see where you are with ''recall oracle spells''
      * ''recall oracle spells'' - see how many spell slots you have available and prepared, we see we can prepare up to 5 spells at level 1.
      * ''cast innate coat of many stars'' - As a heavens mystery oracle, we have access to revelations ''help mysteries''.  The first one is coat of many stars, which we need to cast each time we log in.  This revelation gives us a bonus to AC and influence.

Weapons: \\
From Offestry center, 2w, n, to the weapon shop\\
''buy large spear'' - we'll leave it unwielded for now.\\
''alias 1 unwield spear'', ''alias 2 wield spear'' \\
    - you can't cast while wielding a spear, so better create some aliases to quickly unwield and wield.
    - if you log off and re-enter, you'll need to wield your weapon again

General Equipment: \\

s;w from offestry center to get to the general store\\
''list'' to see the items, show ''item 1'', ''show item 2'' etc. to make sure you're buying the right one.\\
''buy large sack'' and ''buy climbing tools''\\
    - The limit is 5 containers, plus one of each unique type (like a scroll case), so you'll eventually want 5 sacks or backpacks.  \\
    - do not put sacks inside of sacks, they do not save.
    - when you check your inventory ''i'' inside of a shop, it will show you what you can sell at that shop for how much gold\\
climbing tools will let you ''climb'' walls and ''descend'' into holes more easily\\
**Note**: worn and wielded items can't be stolen\\

Armor\\

Armor is optional as the newbie mass will provide armor to you when you reach level 3. \\
2e from town center and n, to the armory\\
''buy banded'' or ''buy banded 2'', whichever is normal/medium size (show banded, show banded 2, to make sure you get a medium size) \\
    - If you don't have enough money yet, just save up until you can buy banded.\\

Healing\\

If you get injured and you don't have enough healing vials, you can buy more at the healer (for out of combat healing, use cure light wounds).\\
The healer is located at e;n from the offestry town center.\\
''read list'' will show you the services and prices.\\
''bnp #'' will buy newbie potions you can use, at a heavily discounted price.\\

**Note**: If you see an orc named Musond, don't attack him.  This is a quest giving NPC.\\

=== Mass task 1 - dig in the meadow for a gem ===
''ask task'' - the mass will teach you about the bio command\\
''explain bio'' - you receive an info dump of the bio command\\
''explain my task''\\

The mass instructs us to head to the meadow north of offestry and dig up a gem.\\
Head north from the Offestry main square until you reach a meadow.  \\
''wear robe'' if you haven't already.\\
''ms1'' to cast monster summoning 1, and some animal should appear. \\
They should grow to double normal size and begin to glow.  If not, you need to ''hardenedminions''.\\
''dispell'' will let you see what spells are active and how long you have remaining on the spell's duration.
''dispell #'' will end a spell early.
''2'' - if you used the alias above, to wield your spear before you go fighting things.\\
In the meadow, you will be able to use the ''dig'' command.  \\
You'll need to dig around for a while to find the gem the mass has asked you to find; it's in a random area of the meadow. \\
You can use ''con all'' to see the relative health of all your opponents\\
''cl me'' to cast cure light wounds on yourself to regain hp. Don't forget to unwield your spear first ''1''.\\
''bury corpse'' to regain some hp, or ''bury all'' to bury all corpses at once and leave whatever they were carrying on the ground.\\
I did not need to cast any spells other than monster summoning 1 to wipe out everything in the meadow.\\

Once you've found the gem, return to the offestry town square and ''feed gem to mass''\\
    - this will automatically advance you to level 2.
    - you will gain a lesser ring of light and a set of newbie banded armor ''wear ring'' ''wear banded''
    - you will now have 4 new skill points to add
        - Skill suggestions:
            - ''skills add 1 to perception'' to max out your perception skill, so you will have better defense against sneak attacks
            - ''skills add 1 to spellcraft'' to help identifying cursed items by studying them, ''study item''
            - ''skills add 1 to athletics'' to help with standing up faster
            - ''skills add 1 to endurance'' to give you more stamina for walking and fighting, and help with trip resistance
''cl me'' to heal yourself of the new hp you earned at level 2 - this should use the cure light wounds alias we used above to cast it on ourselves to heal us.\\
    - don't forget to prepare your spells again afterwards ''prep1''

=== Mass task 2 - graveyard east of offestry ===
There are a number of things the mass asks you to request explanations on:
''explain stats'', ''explain skills'', ''explain advance'' \\
after that, you can ''explain my task'' \\
    - the mass asks you to go meet an NPC east of offestry and get a task from him.
After hearing about the task, head east (7 rooms from the board) out of offestry until you see Sirith, an NPC. \\
''say hello'', and he'll ask you if you can help him. \\  
''say yes'' (twice) to receive the quest to journey to the graveyard to the south and fight the undead there, to retrieve the item he asks for. \\
In the cemetary, there are rats and snakes to kill (undead varieties and zombies, skeletons, and bats at night).  \\
You shouldn't really get hit and you should be able to recast your spells and heal yourself between fights. \\
    - If you're short on hit points, bury the corpses individually to recover hp, or drink some healing vials.  

From Sirith: s;s;e;e;se;w to get to a musty tomb. \\
Remember that negative energy spells (cause light wounds) will actually heal the undead in the graveyard, and cure light wounds will damage them!\\
Inside the tomb, you can search the coffins for a random drop or enemy.  \\
There is a hulking zombie inside the tomb, who carries a signet ring.  Kill it and take the ring; this is the item Sirith (or the mass) wants.  \\
One of the walls has an axe we can take, and another a shield.  We don't really care about either since we're using two handed weapons, but maybe we can sell them in town. \\
    - the axe can be sold at the weapon shop, and the shield at the armorer
Return to the offestry town square and ''feed ring to mass'' \\
This will give you a quest completion \\
You advance to level 3 \\
you receive new items, ''wear belt'', ''wear greaves'' \\

you now have a new feat you can add.  We will pick: \\
''feats add greater spell power'' - more caster levels are good\\
''cl me'' to heal yourself to max hp\\
''master'' shows us we have a free level 1 spell slot. \\
''master cause light wounds'' - this gives us a targeted offensive spell in case our spear and minions are not getting the job done. \\
''alias clw cast cause light wounds on $*'', then you can ''clw <target>'' to target a specific enemy, or ''clw att'' to target a random creature attacking you.\\

=== Mass task 3 - keep west of offestry ===

The mass again asks us to explain things.\\
''explain hunger'', ''explain thirst'', ''explain repair'', ''explain movement'', read through at your leisure, then ''ask task'' and ''explain my task'' \\
Our job is to head west from offestry and find a Jessa NPC.  We say hello to her, and she asks if we will help her.\\
    - we can repeat any of the words she says in red to learn more
She wants us to find the pieces of a staff from the keep ahead and ''assemble'' them. \\
We head north into kilgore keep, and inside we can use the ''actions'' command to find out what kind of things we can do in each room \\
    - use peer (peer north 5, peer east 10, etc) to look ahead and see what's coming up.
    - wield your spear and keep your monster summoning 1 up.  ''dispell'' to see how much duration remains, and recast if necessary.\\
    - don't forget to set your wimpy, and wimpydir (you learned this in the in-game tutorial), it can save your life if you get low on hps or if your internet connection drops
    - everything auto-attacked me but you can always ''kill'' something if it doesn't.
    - use ''offer (item)'' to get rid of stuff in your inventory you don't want, or ''offerall'' to get rid of everything on the ground
    - ''bury corpse'' after something dies to regain a few hit points, or ''bury all'' to bury all the corpses at once.\\  
    - use cure light wounds to heal yourself outside of combat, or drink healing vials if you're in combat.
    - I didn't have to use any healing vials, but as a newbie player you might have a different experience especially if your fodder vanishes in the middle of a fight.  
    - you can also offer items to regain a few hps, the random clothing and weapons the monsters in the keep drop can be taken with you and offered later.
    - If fighting using your spear is taking too long, you can use ''1'' to unwield it and cast cause light wounds on your enemies, though you'll have to prepare spells again between fights. \\

(note: can we spoiler the quest info somehow, so players can click on them and read if they wish?)

=== Item locations: ===
golden bands - behind the hidden room in the study on the second floor, in a chest guarded by a trap and two steam mephits.\\
    - from the helpful sign at the entrance: 5n, e, n, u, 2s, e open door, e, search bookshelves, l southern bookshelf, l lever, pull book, s, 2w (heal from the trap if necessary), open chest, kill the mephits, open chest, get bands, get skeleton key (and whatever else is lying on the ground that came out of the chest)\\
carving - from the xvart shaman in the abandoned kitchen on the first floor\\
    - from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, e
stave - from the carrion crawler on the first floor, ''dig'' through the rubble at the end of the hallway \\
    - from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, 2e, 3s, dig south, s, search lair, get stave\\
odd stone - from the study on the second floor\\
    - from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, e, n, u, 2s, e, open door, e, search desk, get stone \\
orb - in a hidden laboratory behind a hidden passage through the armory \\
    - you will need an odd stone to open the hidden lab
    - from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, e, 2s, open door, w, search racks, search spears, twist spear, w, s, l chest, l scratches, move chest, lift trap door, d, n (heal from the trap), l archway, insert stone into hole, e, complete the circle.\\

''assemble'' the staff and give it to jessa, you will now advance to level 5, and you also receive a cloak you should read and wear, and bracers you should wear \\
    - we automatically gain a new feat, indomitable, which is +2 to AC.     
    - we have a new stat point ''stats gain charisma''
    - use cure light wounds to go to max hp.
    - ''master'' lets us see we have two level 2 spell slots now, Yes!
    - ''alias prep2 prepare oracle level 2 times 50''
    - ''prep2''
    - ''master boneshaker'', ''alias bon cast boneshaker on $*'' - this is a nice direct damage spell.
    - We gain our second revelation, lure of the cosmos, which lets us float over the ground, reducing stamina drain.  ''cast innate lure of the cosmos''\\
    - you can see all the spells we automatically gain with ''master list''\\
    - ''master lesser restoration'', ''alias lr cast lesser restoration on $*'' - this spell will allow you to relieve status effects, and has the added bonus of fully restoring your stamina, useful when you're running around as if you're fast enough, you can drain your stamina even with lure of the cosmos.
    - we have another level 1 spell slot free, and you can try out one of the other spells.
    - return to town and sell any loot you might have picked up.  Scrolls can be sold in the mage tower, weapons at the weapon shop, anything worn can be sold at the armorer, and anything else at the general store

=== Mass Task 4: Klll the gnome or kobold Leader ===
''explain quest areas'', ''explain rumors'', ''explain roleplay''\\
''explain my task''\\
The mass gives us a choice of which leader to kill, and since we're playing a human, we're going to thin the herd of evil kobolds\\
    - from the board at the center of offestry, 6s, 3sw, descend.
    - as soon as you descend, cast your monster summoning spell.
    - kill kobolds until you find either an iron key in a pouch, or a brass key in a pouch.  the iron key opens the door to the southwest, and the brass key opens the more northern door.
        - both keys lead into the same cave complex.
        - snark is the kobold leader.  find him using the peer command (he was in the southwest for me, but I believe he spawns randomly) and kill him.
    - as soon as you kill Snark, boots appear in your inventory and you are sent to a prep-room for entering Sudnering Shadows
    - ''wear boots''
    - The mass also gives you some new things to explain
        - ''explain church'', ''explain description'', ''explain adjective''

You should set your description and adjective now.\\
    - Your description is the physical description of your character, ''describe (physical description)''.
    - Your adjective is what is seen on the who list (type who) and what people will see when they first encounter your character in a room\\
    - set your description (describe) and adjective
    - You also need to recognize yourself (recognize ''yourname'' as ''yourname'')
    - ''adjective is a (insert description here) $R (insert description here)''
        - $R is where your race will appear
    - look at yourself to make sure your description looks correct, and check your score to see your adjective


=== Advancing out of Newbie ===

Once you advance to level 6, you will be dropped into a room with a portal.  ''portal'' will drop you in Tabor, the low-level town of Sundering Shadows\\
Go 1 north to the town square (Caerveron Square).  \\
We're going to use this room (and the yard of the crown and castle inn) as a central point for directions going forward.  The town square is near the southern side of Tabor.\\
We also have two new feats we can add.  ''feats spellcraft spell penetration'', ''feats add perfect caster''.  This will allow us to use area effect spells without damaging our fodder or party members.\\
We also receive a coif +1, ''study coif'', ''wear coif''\\
    - this coif is good as it will increase to +2 at level 12 and +3 at level 18.\\
We also open up our first level 3 spell slot, excellent.
''alias prep3 prepare oracle level 3 times 50'', ''prep3''
''master wave of pain'', ''alias wav cast wave of pain on $*'' - there are a lot of great spells at level 3, but we're going to pick up our first real offensive spell to use to take on some toughter monsters.
    - At level 6, we can cast this four times per fight, which, combined with our fodder, should be enough for fights in most low level areas.\\
    - you can ''wav att'' to cast wave of pain at attacker, which will hit whatever you're fighting.
heal yourself with cure light wounds to go to max hp.\\


=== Getting set up in Tabor: ===
The bank is n;n;e from the square.  \\
    - open account
    - money
    - deposit your excess gold ''deposit X gold''
From the town square, head to the crown and castle inn, s;se;se;e (open door)\\
There's a list of mini-quest items here.\\
    - ''read list'' to see the list of mini-quest items.  
    - Retrieve the item and return it here and ''claim itemname'' to gain the xp listed.
    - you probably won't know where most of the items are at first, but as you explore more, you'll learn where they are
    - the mini-quest board provides an alternative to mindlessly killing the same thing over and over
    - you should know you will not gain xp if you are too far negative to advance, so advance first then claim if you can.
    - The crown and castle is usually a good place to meet players, or you can use the ''rumors'' command, or directly ask to RP on the ooc line.\\
''l board'' to see what you can do with the board, other players make posts here.  ''read'' to see what they say, post ''title'' to make a post of your own, and ''reply Post #'' to answer someone's post\\
Make sure you are not hungry/thirsty (score), if you are, buy some food and drink some water from the restaurant to the south (read menu, buy ''item'', buy rose water, eat food, drink drink)\\
Head back to the square.\\
From the square, go n;e to the scribe's office\\
''draw tabor'' and ''draw area''.  \\
    - This will give you maps to both Tabor and the surrounding lands with level suggestions.
    - *you need to become familiar with Tabor, where the church, bank, healer, weapon, and armor shops are, because if you die, you should choose to return to the church in Tabor.
        - you will need money from the bank to repair your equipment at the shops, you can ''withdraw X gold'' to retrieve it
        - weapons and armor can be repaired at their respective shops ''help shop'' when in the shop for the syntax
        - You can use the mending cantrip to repair your equipment.
    - make sure you can get around town without a map in game (you may want to keep maps offline).

=== Goblin Stronghold ===

Once you're familiar with Tabor, go to the goblin stronghold \\
    - from the yard of the crown and castle, w;s;s;s;s.
    - peer se to see the goblins.  Explore the stronghold, peering ahead to see what you're fighting.
    - keep the weapons to sell.
    - eat the crumbs the goblins drop to gain 1 hp back
if you're quick, you can ''block down'' before the goblin archers and rangers in the towers do, which will let your wimpy work if you get in trouble \\
The goblin king may be difficult to kill, don't forget to set wimpy and wimpydir \\
After clearing out the stronghold (it's not very large), return to tabor and visit the weapon shop to sell your loot.  \\
''study'' items to see what they are, and whether they have magical properties, whether they're cursed \\
    - cursed items will have a -1 after their short descriptions in your inventory, as opposed to +1 for magical items.
''discern'' armor to see how much defense it provides
    - always check to see if an item is cursed (at a church, if you fail to study it) before wearing/wielding it
When you have enough to advance to level 7, you'll need to find a board (like at the crown and castle), a church, or a dock.
    - at level 7 we get another level 2 spell and another level 3 spell.
    - we take eagles splendor to give a little extra oomph to our spells.
    - we also take remove blindness because blindness means you can't target anything, and also you can't see where you're going.  Its a very bad time.

Advancing to level 8:
    - we pick up a stat point: ''stats gain charisma''
    - we also gain a level 4 spell, and rainbow pattern as our bonus heavens spell.
        - ''alias prep4 prepare oracle level 4 times 50''
        - ''alias rp cast rainbow pattern on $*''
        - ''master shield of dawn'' - this will create a moving shield that damages anyone who attacks us.
        - ''alias sod cast shield of dawn''
    - unfortunately we don't gain any feats this level, so we'll just have to keep going.

Advancing to level 9:
    - We get a new feat.  I took toughness to start the damage resistance track but you could also go with the Weapon and Shield track to gain the shield feats.
    - ''feats add toughness''
    - we also have a new level 4 spell slot
        - ''master spiritual ally'', ''alias ally cast spiritual ally'', ''alias com command ally to $*''
        - this lets us summon a spiritual ally, which is a powerful summons that we can command to do things for us.  ''help spiritual ally''
        - it is an excellent and versatile spell.  You can command your ally to ''protect'' you, for additional defense above what your summoned animals can do.  You can use it scout areas ahead of you and trip traps that may be blocking exits.  With your high cha, monsters are unlikely to attack you, so you can command your ally to attack them first if you're not sure how strong they are.  Try out different commands and see what works with it.  
    - another good level 4 spell is freedom of movement
        - if you get stunned, use ''freeme'' to try to unstun yourself.
        - this spell lasts a long time so best to have it always active once you unlock it.
    - we also have a free level 3 spell slot
        - ''master resist energy'', fire is usually good but if you know what spells are going to be cast against you, you can protect yourself somewhat.
        - This spell also lasts a long time so best to always have it active.
    - thanks to our high cha, we now have 8 level 3 spell slots, so we can be more liberal with our wave of pain, just remember to prepare after every fight.
    - I killed Laklier after a Yntala leprechuan sent me to the rainbow room (you'll know what this is if it happens to you) at level 9, but it was a tough fight so I recommend waiting until later.

Advancing to level 10:
    - we get a free feat: force of personality, which provides our charisma bonus to saving throws, which with our high cha is great.
    - we can now use +2 gear, yay.
    - we also get our third revelation, Dweller in Darkness, which gives us 10% void resistance, can't go wrong.
    - we also unlock level 5 spells which is fantastic because we can take an area effect spell
        - ''alias prep5 prepare oracle level 5 times 50'', ''prep5''
        - I took serenity but you could also take tremor
        - ''alias sere cast oracle serenity''
        - we also receive angelic aspect for free due to heavens mystery
        - this gives us some bonuses while in combat.
    - with an area effect spell, we can use the throw command (explained below) to bring larger numbers of monsters into the room with us at once, and hit them with our area spell.  This will make gaining xp faster.  Try it in Yntala forest.
        - watch out for your animals dying, that means you'll need to cast another monster summoning soon.
        - use serenity on groups, falling back on wave of pain when there is only one enemy left or when you run out of level 5 spells.

Advancing to level 11:
    - we get the option to multiclass here, but we're going to stick with oracle to finish out the spell progression
    - we receive a new spellcraft feat, I picked ''feats spellcraft greater spell penetration''
    - we also receive another level 5 spell, I picked ''master monster summoning v'' because we have enough damage spells (one area and one targeted is really all you need) at level 5 and our level 1 animal is getting beaten up by more powerful and numerous monsters we're fighting.
    - ''alias ms5 cast monster summoning v''
    - remember if you're out of level 5 spells and your fodder gets destroyed/dispelled, to fall back on ''ms1''.

Advancing to level 12:
    - we receive a new stat point, ''stats gain charisma''
    - we receive a new feat, ''feats add improved toughness''; there's no substitute for more hps.
    - we also unlock a level 6 spell slot and spray of shooting stars for free ''alias soss cast spray of shooting stars on $*''.  This is a nice area attack spell.
    - ''alias prep6 prepare oracle level 6 times 50'', ''prep6''
    - For the level 6 spell, there are many good options:
        - word of power and word of recall are teleport spells that allow you to get around more easily.
        - heal is a full heal
        - blade barrier is a good protective spell but we already have shield of dawn, so we should pick this up later perhaps.
    - at level 12 I was able to survive in dagger marsh with difficulty, so it's probably better if you take on some of the easier areas first.  Yntala forest is fine until level 20 (feel free to explore though, that's half the fun).  Use the ''rumors'' command to see where you can go.
        - later on, when you have more powerful spells like sunburst and meteor swarm, you can survive better in dagger marsh and use the throw command (explained below) to bring large numbers of monsters into the room with you.  Ramp this up slowly but this is a great method and area to gain xp.  You have lots of area attack spells as a heavens mystery oracle, so you should probably master single damage spells and storm-like spells (like entropic storm).  



=== Shadow ===

The easiest way to get to Shadow is via the the Tabor-Shadow River ferry \\
    - You need to know where Shadow is because it's a good base to venture to echoes mountains and the areas past it.
    - the Tabor Docks are w;s;s;s;w from the yard of the crown and castle
    - wait for a shadow-tabor ferry to show up and ''buy ticket for shadow-tabor''
    - this will drop you at the eastern side of Shadow City, ''out'' to exit the ferry.
    - At magistrate's Plaza you can ''look map'' to get a map of the area.
        - magistrate's plaza is 2n, 3w, 2n from where the tabor-shadow ferry drops you off.
    - the scribe can draw you a map of Shadow city
        - the scribe is 5n, w, from magistrate's plaza
        - ''draw map'', ''read map''


=== Echoes Mountains ===
When you run out of goblins to kill, head to echoes mountains, west from Shadow's west gate and north from the large wooden sign \\
from the Shadow dock, go out the west gates of Shadow.
        - 4n, 18w, sw, nw, 3w to the large wooden sign.
        - The road to the mountains is north, and if you follow it, you will come to echoes mountains
        - don't forget to peer ahead, you should be able to see inside the first level of echoes mountains, including a pair of trolls \\
    - they can be tough at level 6, but you can search around the room if you kill them and get a random drop.  Make sure you have your fodder up.
After the trolls head down to the 2nd level (you passed the entrance on the way to the trolls) \\
From here you can go west to kill some lizards, once again you can search this room for a random drop \\
head back the way you came, and then north, then east when you can (if you hit the dwarven mine or the sloping cavern, you went the wrong way). \\
Just before you hit the 'tunnel between caverns', you'll see the entrance down to level 3 of echoes mountains.  \\
The main ogre pit is at the start of level 3 of echoes mountains.  There are mats you can search to get random drops. \\
Some ogres have +1 weapons, they will be of exceptional quality if you look at them.  Don't forget to check for curses before you wield anything.\\
half-ogres use spells, but have bracers of defense \\
    - be sure to make sure they're not cursed before you wear them.  ''Study'' them, identify curse on ''item'' at a church, or have another player (caster) identify it for you
    - I picked up bracers +1 here, for an extra +1 AC
When you've got the hang of the ogres, head northeast from the main ogre pit \\
    - there are lots of ogres along the path to kill and loot, but no more mats to search.  
    - This is a one-way passage down to Echoes Mountains level 4
Keep an eye out for cloth, wood, or metal dropping from the ogres (and mobs in general).  \\
    - These are crafting items and can be sold, especially the metals.
    - Scrolls also can be high level and can be sold (mage tower or general stores) for a great deal of gold

=== Echoes Mts Level 4 ===

    - If you take the first branch east, you will come to a kobold who sometimes has a ring of protection +1
    - past the kobold, there is a dead end, but you can ''climb'' if you have climbing tools or if you've got enough skill
    - kill the ogres first and when you search the rubble, a mountain giant attacks you.
    - kill it then search the rubble again to reveal the treasure
    - Take what you want then ''descend'' to get out
    - head back to the fork and go south until you come to a T junction.  West is deep echoes mountains, like the sign says, avoid it for now.  
    - East is the ogre king
    - The ogre king has a large spear you can use
    - The ogre king has ring of protection as a random drop


=== Dragon Den Caverns ===

There are two entrances to the DDC, one is north of Shadow (''enter hole'' from a straight north-south stretch of dragon pass road) and requires climbing tools to ''descend'' into. \\
The other is connected to echoes mountains, it's called the tunnel between caverns.  From the wooden sign at the entrance of echoes mountains, go 2n, d, 3e, 4n, 3e, 2n, e, n.  Follow that tunnel to the dragon den caverns.\\
Inside DDC there are hordes of kobolds and rats.  The kobold children will steal from you, the mages cast spells, and the thieves will try to stab you
    - here we can easily pick up bracers of defense and ring of protection.
    - be sure to study them and check that they're not cursed (cursed items will have a negative modifier).
There's also a quest inside DDC, you'll have to find and solve that on your own.


=== Shadow Sewers ===
This is a good spot to find +1 equipment for extra AC, and it's also a common spot for the mini-quest board items. \\
There are multiple entrances/exits, make sure you have climbing tools. \\
    - one entrance is just south of the shadow jail office, ''open grate''
    - down in the sewers there are multiple exits and hidden areas, and some monsters can be tough.
        - peer ahead and watch out for chrin clawreaper NPC.  He is killable below level 10 but this will be a tough fight.  Set your wimpy and make sure your fodder and other defensive spells are up, and you've prepared all your offensive slots.\\
    - the sewers can be searched for magical items and poison antidotes. In a short excursion I found a +1 tophat, belt, and cravat which all add to AC. \\
        - make sure you study the items first to ensure they're not cursed.
        - searching the filth can also lead to being attacked by leeches
    - the rats won't auto-attack you, but if you attack anything in the room with spells etc, then they will.


=== Yntala forest ===

The entrance to Yntala forest is out the southern gate of Tabor, just past the Goblin Stronghold.  \\

Yntala is really meant for characters leveled to the teens, but we can take it at level 8-9 with our fodder (I was able to do it at 6 straight out of offestry so a newbie at level 8-9 should be ok) if we're careful.
    - our high cha means nothing will automatically attack us
    - make sure your monster summoning has duration and your fodder and ally aren't too damaged before getting into a fight: ''con target'' to see their health
    - dispell and recast them if they're too beaten up or if the duration is about to expire.
    - don't forget your AOE shield (shield of dawn).
    - remember to prepare your spells between each fight.
    - bring some healing kits in case of emergencies.
    - if there are too many monsters in a room, ignore them for now, or have your spiritual ally whittle them down a bit first

== Notes for Yntala ==
    - Peer before entering a room, make sure your wimpy and wimpydir are set.\\
    - the dire wolves wander, it can be a problem if 4 of them walk in while you're fighting something else
    - the leprechauns are tough; They can paralyze you and kill you with spells, dispel your fodder, or send you to the rainbow room (at the southern tip of Yntala forest).
    - Stay on the west side of the river; the other side is the dark forest which is significantly tougher
    - Searching the foliage (or water, in some rooms) can yield several effects
        - attacked by a brown bear
        - attacked by a wasp swarm
        - find a man's shirt +1 or a leaf dress +1 (check for curses before putting it on)
    - Dire wolves have blue kits as a random drop
        - I ended up with more kits than I could carry, even with all 5 packs full (17 vials each)
        - combine ''kit with kit'' to put them together
        - ''take # from kit'' to split them up


=== Muileann ===

    - There is both a quest and a deed here so I can't divulge too much about it.
    - there are a LOT of mini-quest items that appear in this area, so it's worth getting to know
    - the entrance is 'A Sign Post', 5 north from the sagging fence at the east side of the vast corn field, off the east side of dragon pass road north of shadow

Throw
    - throwing stuff is helpful because it gets monsters to move to you,
    - wield an item, and the command is ''throw item at target distance direction''
        - i.e. wield dagger; throw dagger at wolf 1 south
        - this will cause the wolf 1 south of you (and anything else in the room) to move to your position and attack you
        - if you're in an area where monsters wander, this can come in handy
        - you don't need to throw a weapon, you can throw just about anything
        - This is especially useful for a caster class when you have area attacks to hit all enemies at once, and fodder to absorb enemy attacks.  If there's a long stretch of rooms all with monsters, you can throw something at the farthest room and they'll all move to you.  This can mean quicker xp or a quick death, depending on whether you're perpared and are fighting level appropriate monsters.

=== Starting equipment: ===

    - large spear (purchased)
    - climbing tools (purchased)
    - newbie banded
    - newbie bracers
    - newbie greaves
    - newbie coif

=== Equipment upgrades ===
    - weapon: large spear +1 from ogre king (echo mountains)
    - Ring of protection +1 from scaly kobolds (dragon den caverns)
    - bracers of defense +1 from half-ogre in Echo Mountains or from kobolds in dragon den caverns
    - (not included in guide) cloak +1 from flind in (meadowlands, only appears at night)
    - shirt or dress +1 (random find in yntala forest)
    - hat +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers)
    - belt +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers)
    - cravat +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers)

That just about does it.  If you've gone all the way through this Oracle tutorial, you should easily be able to get to level 12 and should be able to keep fighting in Yntala all the way to level 19, picking up feats as you go.  I suggest taking the toughness and damage resistance feats by about the teens, and using your spellcraft feats to pick up magic resistance or magic crafting track (like enchant and scribe scroll etc).  I encourage you to get out and explore new areas because that's where the fun is, but this guide should give you a basic understanding of casters and how to recover from xp loss (self-inflicted or otherwise).

Happy Mudding!

--Cyric




===== Thief Tutorial =====

Playing a thief is a little bit more involved than fighter or oracle.  Unlike running up and smacking things with your weapon or nuking the entire room with AOE spells, with thieves you need to figure out how to get sneak attacks, which may not be readily apparent to new players.  You also should learn how to manage scrolls and the special items available in the fencing shops. \\
This guide is geared towards getting to level 21, and then branching into the shadowdancer prestige class, which adds a ton of much needed utility for the build, and then goes through shadowdancer set up.  Although it is always possible to roleplay with other characters and use the reward command to grant each other xp, this will not help you learn the mechanics of the game or your particular class, nor learn where items and quests are, so I recommend getting out there and adventuring. 

      * Pick thief and human for your class and race.  For ethnicity you can ''help human ethnicities'', I picked attayan for the fear immunity \\
      * For Stats I am going to pick dexterity for our extra stat. 
      * I assigned them like this: str 16, dex 18, con 18, int 16, wis 10, cha 12.  Theoretically you could go with a strength as low as 13, the minimum for powerattack, but carrying capacity is a factor, so we'll leave this as fairly high.  16 int allows us to qualify for assassin later if we want to go that route, and int is the caster stat for shadowdancer.  We need a little bit of cha so we can roleplay like a normal person, which leaves wisdom the odd stat out. \\
      * Pick normal age range\\
      * Create your character, go through the in-game tutorial, follow the commands until you come to tutorial room 5. \\
      * After completing it, the man will ask you to 'unnickname mynickname'\\
        ''out'' ''out'' ''city''\\

This will take you to Offestry town square, where a map will appear in your inventory. \\

==== Initial Setup ====
     * ''alias hs hide_in_shadows'', type hs to hide.
     * ''alias 0 score'', now when you type 0, you will see your character sheet\\
     * ''alias ga get all $*'', typing ''ga'' will pick up everything on the ground, 'ga from corpse' or 'ga from chest' will let you pick up items from corpses or chests or wherever else you need.\\
     * ''alias gc get coins $*'', typing gc will allow you to get coins from the ground, 'gc from corpse' or 'gc from chest' will let you get coins from corpses or chests or wherever else you need.\\
     * ''alias gac get all coins'', typing gac will get all coins off the ground\\
     * ''alias bac bury all corpses'', typing bac will bury all the corpses in the vicinity.  This will only heal you once though, so if you need the HPs, bury them individually.\\
     * ''nickname att attacker'', will let you type att when targeting attackers, useful for looking over an enemy for targeting with the swipe feat.\\
     * ''discern'' will let you know how much base damage a weapon does and how much protection a shield offers.\\
     * ''alias wa watch'', allows you to watch your back for thief stabs by typing two letters instead of five.\\
     * ''alias kl kill $*'', now you don't have to type out the whole word "kill" to attack something.  Be aware that typing kl by itself will attack the next creature in the room (allowing you to quickly enter combat with everything).\\
     * briefcombat (this will let you see more descriptive combat messages, which is more fun and will let you know if you do something like start fighting without wielding a weapon).\\
     * ''prompt %^GREEN%^%^BOLD%^$h%^RESET%^%^BOLD%^/%^RESET%^%^GREEN%^$H%^RESET%^-%^RED%^%^BOLD%^>'' \\
       * this will show you your current hit points every time you hit enter
     * Macro: If you can set up a keyboard macros with your MUD client, set up F1 as quaff kit
       *  if you can't set up a keyboard macros, alias ` as quaff kit.  This will drink healing potions, which will become important when you're getting hit a lot and trying to avoid dying
       *  you can only drink 5 healing potions per round.

**Note**: You can ''bypass'' the entire newbie area and start at level 6 but this is not recommended for first time players.  
At least get a handle on how to drink vials and manage your inventory first.

**Starting out**:\\
As soon as you enter offestry city, you will have a 'mass' in your inventory that will start talking to you and provide hints.  

We're going to follow along with this mass.

==== Newbie Mass ====
This thing is meant to help newbies.  It provides useful commands and training, but is entirely optional.
you can always ''ask tasks'', or ''explain my task'' or ''explain'' to get an idea of what you're supposed to do next.
''explain bio'' is the first thing it asks us to do, and after doing this you can ''ask tasks'' to get the next task.

It then asks us to find a gem in the meadow north of offestry and find a gem, then feed it to the mass. We're going to equip ourselves first before we do this, because there are rats to fight in the meadow

=== Equipment & starting feats ===

== Feats ==

    * ''feats racial opportunity strikes'' \\
      * this uses our human feat on the first feat of the duelist tree, improving our damage when using a single one-handed weapon. 
 It also is a prerequisite for swipe, which we will be using a lot.\\

    * ''feats add swipe'' \\
      * ''alias 1 swipe $*''.  This will allow you to use the ''1'' command to swipe the next available enemy, or you can do ''1 <target>'' to target a specific one.  If it lands, it stuns them, which is great as opens them up for sneak attacks.\\

== Weapons ==

''2w;n'', to the weapon shop\\
''buy long sword'', ''wield long sword''\\
     * We are going to make use of the duelist tree, which means only one single handed weapon.

**Note**: If you log off and re-enter, you'll need to wield your weapon again

== General Equipment ==

''s;w'' from offestry center to get to the general store\\
''list'' to see the items, show ''item 1'', ''show item 2'' etc. to make sure you're buying the right one.\\
''buy large sack'' and ''buy climbing tools''\\
      * The limit is 5 containers, plus one of each unique type (like a scroll case), so you'll eventually want 5 sacks or backpacks.  \\
      * do not put sacks inside of sacks, they do not save.
      * when you check your inventory ''i'' inside of a shop, it will show you what you can sell at that shop for how much gold\\
Climbing tools will let you ''climb'' walls and ''descend'' into holes more easily.  As you increase your skills, you probably won't need them, but for now, better to have them than not.\\

**Note**: If you choose to drop NoPK flag later, worn and wielded items can't be stolen by other players\\

== Armor ==

Armor is optional as the newbie mass will provide hide armor to you when you reach level 3. \\
''e;e'' from town center and ''n'', to the armory\\
''buy studded'' or ''buy studded 2'', whichever is normal/medium size (show studded, show studded 2, to make sure you get a medium size) \\
If you don't have enough money yet, it's probably easier to follow along with the mass, which will give you equipment as you advance.\\
''buy buckler'' ''wear buckler''.  This will strap a buckler shield to one arm, which will give you a 15% misschance, and we need enemies to be missing as much as possible.\\

== Healing ==

If you get injured and you don't have enough healing vials, you can heal and buy more at the healer.\\
The healer is located at e;n from the offestry town center.\\
''read list'' will show you the services and prices.\\
''bnp #'' will buy newbie potions you can use, at a heavily discounted price.\\
If you run out of kits or gold, you can use the ''heal'' command to restore hps with the healing skill.\\

**Note**: If you see an orc named Musond, don't attack him.  This is an obsolete quest giving NPC.\\

=== Mass task 1 - dig in the meadow for a gem ===
''ask task'' - the mass will teach you about the bio command\\
''explain bio'' - you receive an info dump of the bio command\\
''explain my task''\\

The mass instructs us to head to the meadow north of offestry and dig up a gem.\\
Head north from the Offestry main square until you reach a meadow.  There you will be able to use the ''dig'' command.  \\
You'll need to dig around for a while to find the gem the mass has asked you to find; it's in a random area of the meadow. \\
You can use ''con all'' to see the relative health of all your opponents\\
    * you can ''bury corpse'' to regain some hp, or ''bury all'' to bury all corpses at once and leave whatever they were carrying on the ground\\

Once you've found the gem, return to the offestry town square and ''feed gem to mass''\\
      * this will automatically advance you to level 2.\\
      * you will gain a lesser ring of light and a set of newbie hide ''wear ring'' ''wear hide''\\
      * you will now have 10 skill points to add (you get a little extra at level 2). Skill suggestions:\\
        * ''skills add 1 to stealth'' to max out your stealth skill, this will give you a better chance of hiding, staying hidden, and ''sneak''ing between rooms\\
        * ''skills add 1 to thievery'' makes you better at stealing and picking pockets, see the stealing and fencing section below.  \\
        * ''skills add 1 to perception'' helps us notice things and catch people trying to stab us in the back\\
        * ''skills add 1 to athletics'' to make us quicker at standing up, and also used for blocking attacks later with the scramble feat\\
        * ''skills add 1 to dungeoneering'' the better to find, set, and remove traps, and pick locks.\\
        * ''skills add 1 to spellcraft'' the better to study items to identify curses\\
        * ''skills add 1 to endurance'' to give you more stamina for walking and fighting, and help with trip resistance.\\
        * ''skills add 1 to influence'' we are going to need this for intimidation checks later on.  We will also receive more favorable prices from vendors.\\
        * you can also consider improving endurance so you can walk farther without having to rest & give yourself some trip resistance, academics to see the lore on items, or influence to get better prices at shops. Or you can save the extra skill points for later \\

=== Mass task 2 - graveyard east of offestry ===
There are a number of things the mass asks you to request explanations on:
''explain stats'', ''explain skills'', ''explain advance'' \\
after that, you can ''explain my task'' \\
The mass asks you to go meet an NPC east of offestry and get a task from him.
After hearing about the task, head east (7 rooms from the board) out of offestry until you see Sirith, an NPC. \\
''say hello'', and he'll ask you if you can help him. \\  
''say yes'' (twice) to receive the quest to journey to the graveyard to the south and fight the undead there, to retrieve the item he asks for. \\
In the cemetary, there are rats and snakes to kill (undead varieties and zombies, skeletons, and bats at night).  \\
If you're short on hit points, kill them and bury the corpses individually to recover hp, or drink some healing vials.  \\

From Sirith: ''s;s;e;e;se;w'' to get to a musty tomb. \\
We are going to try to ''sneak'' our way past them, by using the ''sneak direction'' command.  This will use our stealth skill to try and get to the boss without combat.\\
Since we are level 2, we kind of suck at sneaking, but every room you can get by without combat helps.\\
I found a number of scrolls on the zombies, which I sold at the mage tower (west part of town) for gold to use at the healer to ''bnp #'' buy newbie potions and ''cc'' cure critical wounds to heal myself.\\
Inside the tomb, you can search the coffins for a random drop or enemy.  \\
There is a hulking zombie inside the tomb, who carries a signet ring.  \\
It doesn't auto-attack us, so we can ''stab'' it, to deal sneak attack damage with an opening attack.\\
Kill it and take the ring, this is the item Sirith (or the mass) wants.  \\
One of the walls has an axe we can take, and another a shield.  We don't really care about either since we already have a weapon.\\
The axe can be sold at the weapon shop, and the shield at the armorer.\\
Return to the offestry town square and ''feed ring to mass'' \\
This will give you a quest completion \\
You advance to level 3 \\
you receive new items, ''wear belt'', ''wear greaves'' \\

you now have a feat to add.  We will pick true strikes: \\
''feats add true strikes'' - every little bit of attack bonus helps, and this gives us +3. \\


=== Mass task 3 - keep west of offestry ===

The mass again asks us to explain things.\\
''explain hunger'', ''explain thirst'', ''explain repair'', ''explain movement'', read through at your leisure, then ''ask task'' and ''explain my task'' \\
Our job is to head west from offestry and find a Jessa NPC.  We say hello to her, and she asks if we will help her.\\
    * we can repeat any of the words she says in red to learn more
She wants us to find the pieces of a staff from the keep ahead and ''assemble'' them. \\
We head north into kilgore keep, and inside we can use the ''actions'' command to find out what kind of things we can do in each room \\
    * use peer (peer north 5, peer east 10, etc) to look ahead and see what's coming up.\\
    * Remember you can open combat with a stab if enemies don't notice you when you enter. \\
    * don't forget to set your wimpy, and wimpydir (you learned this in the in-game tutorial), it can save your life if you get low on hps or if your internet connection drops\\
    * use ''offer (item)'' to get rid of stuff in your inventory you don't want, or ''offerall'' to get rid of everything on the ground\\
    * ''bury corpse'' after something dies to regain a few hit points.  \\
    * use ''heal YOURNAME'' to use the healing skill to recover hit points if you need to, the only thing this costs is time.\\
    * I had to use a few healing vials, but I also found a few scrolls to sell at the mage tower which gave me enough gold to buy some newbie kits at the healer.\\
    * you can also offer items to regain a few hps, the random clothing and weapons the monsters in the keep drop can be taken with you and offered later.\\

=== Item locations: ===

Using sneak, you may be able to get past some enemies without combat.  We're only level three though, so it's going to be tough.  I was able to sneak past about 1/4 of the enemies. 

**golden bands** - behind the hidden room in the study on the second floor, in a chest guarded by a trap and two steam mephits.

from the helpful sign at the entrance: 5n, e, n, u, 2s, e open door, e, search bookshelves, l southern bookshelf, l lever, pull book, s, 2w (heal from the trap if necessary), open chest, kill the mephits, open chest, get bands, get skeleton key (and whatever else is lying on the ground that came out of the chest)\\
    * you can ''trap find on west'' from one of the rooms behind the hidden doorway, and ''trap remove on west'' to try and disarm it using your dungeoneering skill. \\

**carving** - from the xvart shaman in the abandoned kitchen on the first floor

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, e

**stave** - from the carrion crawler on the first floor, ''dig'' through the rubble at the end of the hallway

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, 2e, 3s, dig south, s, search lair, get stave

**odd stone** - from the study on the second floor

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, e, n, u, 2s, e, open door, e, search desk, get stone

**orb** - in a hidden laboratory behind a hidden passage through the armory. You will need an odd stone to open the hidden lab.

from the helpful sign at the entrance, 5n, 3e, s, e, 2s, open door, w, search racks, search spears, twist spear, w, s, l chest, l scratches, move chest, lift trap door, d, n (heal from the trap), l archway, insert stone into hole, e, complete the circle.\\

''assemble'' the staff and give it to jessa, you will now advance to level 4, and you also receieve a cloak you should read and wear, and bracers you should wear.
    * we have a new stat point ''stats gain dexterity''\\
    * we have new skill points.  Remember to add them every even level.\\
    * return to town and sell any loot you might have picked up.  Scrolls can be sold in the mage tower, weapons at the weapon shop, anything worn can be sold at the armorer, and anything else at the general store.

===Mass Task 4: Find the fence===
''ask tasks'' ''explain fence'' ''explain guilds''\\
Our mass wants us to find the thief guild in Offestry.  It is located in the Dancing Ogre bar, w, w, s from the town square. \\
''l curtain'' ''curtain''\\
This will get you into the fence.  Any stolen items, or gold pick pocketed can be fenced or laundered here, and the credit can be used to purchase special items.  There is a more extensive thief training course in Shadow though, after we get through the newbie area, and we're never coming back here, so we leave the fence and push on with our next task. \\
Once I entered the guild I had to ''explain'' again, and then I advanced to level 5, where we pick automatically up danger sense, which is a nice passive feat.\\

=== Mass Task 5: Klll the gnome or kobold Leader ===
''explain quest areas'', ''explain rumors'', ''explain roleplay''\\
''explain my task''\\
The mass gives us a choice of which leader to kill, and (assuming we are neutral or evil) we're going to go kill the gnome leader.  For the kobold leader see the fighter guide above\\
    * from the board at the center of offestry, 6s, 3se, 5s, 2e, 2s, 3w, s. 
    * Here we find Siffunmo, the gnome leader. We hide, then stab and swipe him.  The guy started running away from me, and I had to ''block'' exits to keep him still.\\
    * as soon as you kill your target, boots appear in your inventory\\
    * ''wear boots''\\
    * The mass also gives you some new things to explain\\
      * ''explain church'', ''explain description'', ''explain adjective''\\
      * ''explain enter the world'' this puts you in a prep-room for entering Sundering Shadows.\\

You should set your description and adjective now.

Your description is the physical description of your character.

Your adjective is what is seen on the who list and your character sheet (type who or score) and what people will see when they first encounter your character in a room. 
     * Set your description (''describe'') and adjective.
     * You also need to recognize yourself \\
       ''recognize YOURNAME as YOURNAME''
     * ''adjective (insert description here) $R (insert description here)''
       * $R will be substituted with your race.
     * Look at yourself to make sure your description looks correct, and check your score to see your adjective.

Now you can advance further. Just type ''advance''.

=== Advancing out of Newbie ===
Once you advance to level 6, you will be dropped into a room with a portal.  ''portal'' will drop you in Tabor, the low-level town of Sundering Shadows\\
Go 1 north to the town square (Caerveron Square).  \\
We're going to use this room (and the yard of the crown and castle inn) as a central point for directions going forward.  The town square is near the southern side of Tabor.\\
We also have a new feat we can add.\\
''feats add positioning'' - This gives you a chance for an extra attack when an enemy is vulnerable, stacks well with swipe.\\
We also receive our first thief talent.  
''feats talent keen precision'' - Every bonus counts, and this talent adds a flat +3 to our attacks.\\


We also receive a coif +1, ''study coif'', ''wear coif''  This is a good item, as it scales up it's enhancement bonus as we advance, +2 at level 12, and +3 at level 18.\\
Don't forget to add your skills for level 6.  

=== Getting set up in Tabor: ===
The bank is n;n;e from the square.  \\
    - open account
    - money
    - deposit your excess gold ''deposit X gold''
From the town square, head to the crown and castle inn, s;se;se;e (open door)\\
There's a list of mini-quest items here.\\
    - ''read list'' to see the list of mini-quest items.  
    - Retrieve the item and return it here and ''claim itemname'' to gain xp.
    - you probably won't know where most of the items are at first, but as you explore more, you'll learn where they are
    - the mini-quest board provides an alternative to mindlessly killing the same thing over and over.  It is especially good for thieves as you can sometimes steal the items from the monsters without engaging in combat.  See more on stealing later.\\
    - The crown and castle is usually a good place to meet players, or you can use the ''rumors'' command, or directly ask to RP on the ooc line.\\
''l board'' to see what you can do with the board, other players make posts here.  ''read'' to see what they say, post ''title'' to make a post of your own, and ''reply Post #'' to answer someone's post\\
Make sure you are not hungry/thirsty (score), if you are, buy some food and drink some water from the restaurant to the south (read menu, buy ''item'', buy rose water, eat food, drink drink)\\
Head back to the square.\\
From the square, go n;e to the scribe's office\\
''draw tabor'' and ''draw area''.  \\
    - This will give you maps to both Tabor and the surrounding lands with level suggestions.
    - *you need to become familiar with Tabor, where the church, bank, healer, weapon, and armor shops are, because if you die, you should choose to return to the church in Tabor.
        - you will need money to repair your equipment at the shops, you can ''withdraw X gold'' from the bank to retrieve it, if you lost your gold upon death.
        - weapons and armor can be repaired at their respective shops ''help shop'' when in the shop for the syntax.  You might also want to make friends with someone who has the mending cantrip.
        - you will need to go to the healer to get patched up after returning to life at the church.
    - make sure you can get around town without a map in game (you may want to keep maps offline).

Offer your newbie kit because you can’t use it anymore. \\

=== Goblin Stronghold ===

Once you're familiar with Tabor, we want to obtain a sword of insanity as quickly as possible, so we go to the goblin stronghold to find the goblin witch.  The sword of insanity is key for us because it conjures rabbits.  One of the ways to get sneak attack is when your enemy is attacking something else that round, so we need other things for them to attack.  Plus, the sword of insanity will dispose of corpses for you and restore your HP, and the rabbits sometimes have random drops if you kill them.  The manna it drops can be eaten for 1 HP each.  All around a great low level item, but make sure to check for curses (study insanity) before wielding them.\\
    - from the yard of the crown and castle, w;s;s;s;s.
    - peer se to see the goblins.  Explore the stronghold, peering ahead to see what you're fighting.  The witch is often found on the ground level, inside the walls, but we will pick up a goblin longswords from the gatekeepers first (these are not magical, so we don't need to study them before wielding.  You may need some kits from the healer to defeat the goblin gatekeepers). \\
    - eat the crumbs the goblins drop to gain 1 hp back
if you're quick, you can ''block down'' before the goblin archers and rangers in the towers do, which will let your wimpy work if you get in trouble.  You can search the scraps in the towers to find random loot. \\
The goblin king may be difficult to kill, don't forget to set wimpy and wimpydir \\
After clearing out the stronghold (it's not very large), return to tabor and visit the weapon shop to sell your loot.  \\
''study'' items to see what they are, and whether they have magical properties, whether they're cursed \\
    - cursed items will have a -1 after their short descriptions in your inventory (or on the ground, I usually drop them after I study them to check), as opposed to +1 for magical items.\\
''discern'' armor to see how much defense it provides\\
    - always check to see if an item is cursed (at a church, if you fail to study it) before wearing/wielding it\\

=== Shadow ===

Once we have a sword of insanity +1, it's time to head to Shadow, and the newbie thief training area.\\
The easiest way to get to Shadow is via the the Tabor-Shadow River ferry \\
    - You also need to know where Shadow is because it's a good base to venture to echoes mountains and the areas past it.
    - the Tabor Docks are w;s;s;s;w from the yard of the crown and castle
    - wait for a shadow-tabor ferry to show up and ''buy ticket for shadow-tabor''
    - this will drop you at the eastern side of Shadow City, ''out'' to exit the ferry.
    - At magistrate's Plaza you can ''look map'' to get a map of the area.
        - magistrate's plaza is 2n, 3w, 2n from where the tabor-shadow ferry drops you off.
        - There is also a mini-quest collector here. 
    - the scribe can draw you a map of Shadow city
        - the scribe is 5n, w, from magistrate's plaza
        - ''draw map'', ''read map''

=== Shadow Thief Guild ===

Several cities have thief guilds.  You will have to find most of them on your own, but the newbie thief training area is in Shadow.  \\
From Magistrate's Plaza at the center of Shadow, s;s;e;e;n to the Bestiary tavern.  You will need to ''make thief sign'' to get into the guild (''step'' if you are hidden; they can't see you making the thief sign if you are hidden)).  From here you can ''training'' and ''down'' to start the newbie thief training area. Look at the scratches to get an idea of what to do in each room.\\
Room 1: ''sneak'' to hide while moving from room to room, and ''hide_in_shadows'' to hide in the current room.  Use ''step'' or say something out loud to stop hiding. \\
Room 2: ''stab'' a target to open a combat with a sneak attack\\
Room 3: ''steal'' items from someone's inventory, ''pp'' pick pocket gold from someone, ''plant'' an item in someone's inventory.  Note that this is easier the more creatures are in a room, so steal stuff from a room full of people or shifters who summon monsters to avoid getting caught.  Just make sure you have space in your inventory or you'll drop it after you steal it, revealing yourself to everyone in the room.\\
Room 4: ''hide'' items from the floor or your inventory on your person, or hide an object in the room.  Tip: Hiding something on yourself also moves it to the top of your inventory, so you can use it to organize your sacks and packs and kits and whatnot.\\ 
Room 5: ''climb'' and ''descend'' without climbing tools (though tools will give you a bonus.\\
Room 6: ''trap'' - finding, disarming, recovering, and setting traps.  FYI you need to have a modified dungeoneering score of 15 to set traps, which we won't have until later.  This is also modified by a hidden armor check penalty, so you'll be better without armor.  Traps do not have any encumbrance, but you can only use one trap per exit.\\
Room 7: ''pick'' locks, but you need thief tools (a leather case of tools) in your inventory to do this. \\
Room 8: ''spy'' and ''make thief sign'' - spy lets you look over someone's inventory without them noticing (unless they have a high perception).  Make thief sign sends an echo to other thieves in the room that you are also a thief. \\
Room 9: Final exam. \\
Room 10: Reward for passing the exam.  You receive a small, newbie friendly item that will help you in your thiefy exploits until you find something better for the limb it takes up.  ''make thief sign'' to exit the thief tutorial. \\

===Fences===

There are fences in many cities, but outside of Shadow, you'll have to find them IC.  \\
You have to ''launder'' (stolen) money and ''fence'' stolen items to gain credit with each particular guild.  You can then use the credit earned to purchase useful items from the fence.  If you are into player killing, stripping someone of their items or money also counts as stealing, and you can fence and launder it.\\
Be aware that getting caught stealing will lock your commands for a few rounds.\\
Wearing armor makes it harder to steal.  More creatures in the room makes it easier to steal.\\
Heavier items are more difficult to steal\\
''account'' will tell you how much credit you have with each guild.  \\
This means you have a choice with anything you steal, whether to sell it in a store for gold, or launder it for a bit of xp and guild credit to purchase your thiefy items. \\
We won't be able to use most of the items until we reach level 10 and 13 and earn the feats Tools of the Trade and Use Magic Device, but there are items worth purchasing from the guilds: \\
1. Powder - this blinds and stuns your opponents (if you can hit them) and opens them up for sneak attacks.  They only have a few uses each though.\\
2. Caltrops - spread these over an exit and they will trip anyone who tries to walk through\\
3. Poison - apply these to your weapon or some to objects or doors to poison your enemies.  You'll have to experiment on a friend to find out just how effective they are.  ‘’help poison *player commands’’ for more information: \\
   - List of Poisons and their effects: 
      -Arsenic: Ingested, -CON
      -Black-adder: Injury, -CON
      -Black lotus: Contact, -CON
      -Bloodrot: Injury, -CON/-WIS
      -Blue whinnis: Injury, -CON
      -Burnt othur fumes: Inhaled, -CON
      -Dark reave powder: Injury, -CON -CON -STR
      -Deathblade: Injury, -CON
      -Dragon bile: Contact, -STR
      -Giant wasp poison: Injury, -DEX
      -Greenblood oil: Injury, -CON
      -Id moss: Ingested, -INT
      -Insanity mist: Inhaled, -WIS
      -Large scorpion venom: Injury, -STR
      -Lich dust: Ingested, -STR
      -Malyss root paste: Contact, -DEX
      -Medium spider venom: Injury, -STR
      -Niltharit: Contact, -CON
      -Purple wurm poison: Injury, -STR
      -Sassone leaf residue: Contact, -Life -CON
      -Shadow essence: Injury, -STR
      -Small centipede venom: Injury, -DEX
      -Striped toadstool: Ingested, -WIS -WIS -INT
      -Terinav root: Contact, -DEX
      -Ungol dust: Inhaled, -CHA
      -Wyvern poison: Injury, -CON
4. Scrolls - Thieves can use scrolls which adds a lot of versatility, if you can find them.  If you desperately need one you can buy them from a fence or magic store (usually in mage towers), but they're going to be expensive.\\
5. leather case of tools - lockpicks, need these to pick locks.  They can break if you use them on too difficult of a lock, so a good idea to have a spare set or two until you pick up the minor creation spell with the Shadow Dancer prestige class. \\
6. Rope - used for binding other players after they're unconscious. \\

===Shifters===
There a few gnomes with triceratops at specific locations, and they ask us to find "shifters", kill them, and exchange the tokens they drop for items.  The tokens come in several varieties, copper, silver, gold etc.  The copper gnome is west from Shadow, at the western end of the quiet forest road, just before the meadowlands.  We head there and ''retrieve box''.  This drops a box we can use to store all our tokens (should we kill any shifters).  ''read list'' gives us the location of the shifters.  We're probably too low level to kill them, but they are great to steal from because a lot of them summon fodder if you sit in the room with them.  That will allow you to steal their kits to fence or sell.  If you are going to try to kill them for the copper tokens to exchange for the low level items the gnome has (upgrades for your leggings are tough to come by), steal their kits and whatever else you can from them first.   Block the exit you intend to wimpy out of if you get caught stealing, because the shifters will try to block you in and prevent you from running.  Be aware that getting caught stealing will lock your commands for a few rounds. 


===Mercenaries===
Go directly west (17 from the magistrate's square) from shadow and you will see a forest outpost and Sault, a young mercenary captain.  Here you can hire mercenaries to travel with you to fight.  Normally I don't bother with these, but as a thief, having a party member with you, even if it is an NPC, will help you get sneak attacks and can make your life easier until you find a friend to party with or can reliably create other combatants on your own. 

===OOC Dummy===
Just north of the mercenaries is an OOC Dummy testing room, where you can see how much damage your attacks and items do. 


===Throw===
    - throwing stuff is helpful because it gets monsters to move to you
    - wield an item, and the command is ''throw item at target distance direction''
        - i.e. wield dagger; throw dagger at wolf 1 south
        - this will cause the wolf 1 south of you (and anything else in the room) to move to your position and attack you
        - if you're in an area where monsters wander, this can come in handy
        - you don't need to throw a weapon, you can throw just about anything
        - This becomes even more useful when you unlock shadowdancer, and pick up defensive area of effect spells. 
        - if there is a row of rooms full of monsters, you can target the farthest one and drag them all into the room with you.  This is also a good way to get yourself killed as you are overwhelmed with dozens of enraged monsters, so be careful. 



=== Echoes Mountains ===
When you run out of goblins to kill, head to echoes mountains, west from Shadow's west gate and north from the large wooden sign \\
from Magistrate's Plaza, go out the west gates of Shadow.
        - 17w, sw, nw, 3w to the large wooden sign.
        - The road to the mountains is north, and if you follow it, you will come to echoes mountains
        - don't forget to peer ahead, you should be able to see inside the first level of echoes mountains, including a pair of trolls \\
    - they can be tough at level 6, but you can search around the room if you kill them and get a random drop
After the trolls head down to the 2nd level (you passed the entrance on the way to the trolls) \\
From here you can go west to kill some lizards, once again you can search this room for a random drop \\
head back the way you came, and then north, then east when you can (if you hit the dwarven mine or the sloping cavern, you went the wrong way). \\
Just before you hit the 'tunnel between caverns', you'll see the entrance down to level 3 of echoes mountains.  \\
The main ogre pit is at the start of level 3 of echoes mountains.  There are mats you can search to get random drops. \\
Some ogres have +1 weapons, they will be of exceptional quality if you look at them.  Don't forget to check for curses before you wield anything.\\
half-ogres use spells, but have bracers of defense \\
    - be sure to make sure they're not cursed before you wear them.  ''Study'' them, identify curse on ''item'' at a church, or have another player (caster) identify it for you
    - I picked up bracers +1 here, for an extra +1 AC
If you run out of vials, head back to town to sell your loot and buy some more from the healer (shadow is probably easier from echoes mountains). \\
After you get your second attack per round, head northeast from the main ogre pit \\
    - there are lots of ogres along the path to kill and loot, but no more mats to search.  
    - This is a one-way passage down to Echoes Mountains level 4
Keep an eye out for cloth, wood, or metal dropping from the ogres (and mobs in general).  \\
    - These are crafting items and can be sold, especially the metals.
    - Scrolls also can be high level and can be sold for a great deal of gold

=== Echoes Mts Level 4 ===

    - If you take the first branch east, you will come to a kobold who sometimes has a ring of protection +1
    - past the kobold, there is a dead end, but you can ''climb'' if you have climbing tools or if you've got enough skill
    - kill the ogres first and when you search the rubble, a mountain giant attacks you.
    - kill it then search the rubble again to reveal the treasure
    - Take what you want then ''descend'' to get out
    - head back to the fork and go south until you come to a T junction.  West is deep echoes mountains, like the sign says, avoid it for now.  
    - East is the ogre king
    - The ogre king has ring of protection as a random drop
    - Level 8: After beating the ogre king and clearing out echoes mountains (and picking up an item on the quiet forest road) I had enough xp to advance to 8.
    - ''stats gain dexterity''
    - unfortunately we don't gain any feats this level, so we'll just have to keep going.


=== Dragon Den Caverns ===
There are two entrances to the DDC, one is north of Shadow (''enter hole'' from a straight north-south stretch of dragon pass road) and requires climbing tools to ''descend'' into. \\
The other is connected to echoes mountains, it's called the tunnel between caverns.  From the wooden sign at the entrance of echoes mountains, go 2n, d, 3e, 4n, 3e, 2n, e, n.  Follow that tunnel to the dragon den caverns.\\
Inside DDC there are hordes of kobolds and rats.  The kobold children will steal from you, the mages cast spells, and the thieves will try to stab you
    - here we can pick up bracers of defense and ring of protection.
    - be sure to study them and check that they're not cursed (cursed items will have a negative modifier).  Discern the bracers too to ensure they actually add 1 to armor. 
There's also a quest inside DDC, the starting NPC is in the dwarven mine. 


=== Shadow Sewers ===
This is a good spot to find +1 equipment for extra AC. \\
There are multiple entrances/exits, make sure you have climbing tools. \\
    - one entrance is just south of the shadow jail office, ''open grate''
    - down in the sewers there are multiple exits and hidden areas, and some monsters can be tough.
        - peer ahead and watch out for chrin clawreaper NPC.  He is killable below level 10 but this will be a tough fight.  Set your wimpy and drink your vials. \\
    - the sewers can be searched for magical items and poison antidotes. In a short excursion I found a +1 tophat, belt, and cravat which all add to AC. \\
        - make sure you study the items first to ensure they're not cursed.
        - searching the filth can also lead to being attacked by leeches
    - the rats won't auto-attack you, but if you attack anything in the room with stab/swipe etc, then they will.
    - Shadow sewers also appears on the collector lists. 


=== Yntala forest ===

The entrance to Yntala forest is out the southern gate of Tabor, just past the Goblin Stronghold.  \\

We can take Yntala forest at level 12 or so, if we're careful
    - bracers of defense (half-ogres from echos mtns, or kobolds in dragon den caverns)
    - ring of protection (kobold in echo mtns or ogre king in echo mtns, or koblds in dragon den caverns)
    - cloak +1 from the flinds in the meadowlands at night, or cravat/pearl necklace from shadow sewers (search). 
    - belt +1 from shadow sewers (search)
    - at least 20 blue vials
    - sword of insanity +1

== Notes for Yntala ==
    - Peer before entering a room, make sure your wimpy and wimpydir are set.\\
    - the dire wolves wander, it can be a problem if 4 of them walk in while you're fighting something else
    - the leprechauns are tougher; stay away from them until you are confident you can survive anything else in Yntala.  They can paralyze you and kill you with spells, and teleport you to the southern tip of Yntala, but they drop scrolls and randomly have a +1 amulet.
    - Stay on the west side of the river for now; the other side is the dark forest which is significantly tougher
    - Searching the foliage (or water, in some rooms) can yield several effects
        - attacked by a brown bear
        - attacked by a wasp swarm
        - find a man's shirt +1 or a leaf dress +1 (check for curses before putting it on)
    - Dire wolves have blue kits as a random drop
        - I ended up with more kits than I could carry, even with all 5 backpacks full (17 vials each)
        - combine ''kit with kit'' to put them together
        - ''take # from kit'' to split them up


=== Muileann ===

    - There is both a quest and a deed here so I can't divulge too much about it.
    - there are a LOT of mini-quest items that appear in this area, so it's worth getting to know, even if you don't do the quest at first which we could wait to do (see below).
    - the entrance is 'A Sign Post' 5 north from the sagging fence at the east side of the vast corn field, off the east side of dragon pass road north of shadow


===Level 10+===

We can choose to skip doing actual quests until we get to level 15. This is because the collector items change at level 15, and the mid collector list is significantly tougher for us than the low level list.  The quests give us a nice amount of xp, so we can save the quests until the lists change over and then do them all. An alternate route is to find a few friends and use the ''reward'' command to grant each other xp for roleplaying.  This is probably the fastest, safest way to advance, but doesn't do much to help you learn the mechanics of the game or your class. \\
Quest list to help get you from level 15-21: \\
Muileann Crypt - in Muileann, east and north of the corn field north of Shadow, east from Dragon Pass Road\\
Muileann Tower - in Muileann, east and north of the corn field north of Shadow, east from Dragon Pass Road\\
Piaf's Dilemma - near the stream east and north from Tabor.\\
Dragon Den Caverns / Pipe Quest - Starting NPC is in the Dwarven mine in Echoes Mountains. \\
Nereid Riddle Quest - near the stream east and north from Tabor. \\
Swords Quest (must be level 19 to start) - starts in a room with an old woman, west off Dragon Pass Road north of Shadow.  You will need to purchase or rent a boat from the dock directly south of the Bestiary to complete it.\\
Open the Drow Temple - Underdark, North past Muileann, past Dagger and the drow cave roads. \\

These should get you close to level 21, and if it's not enough, you can pick up items from Shadowlord Forest on Deku, Laerad Wasteland / Gods Plains / Swamps of the Dead / Parnelli Forest without too much trouble (sneak around to skip most enemies), and can fight in Shadowlord forest on Deku (which also has random drops on room searches), on the dark trail east of Antioch, or Yntala forest for an easy time.  To get to Laerad, take the ferry from Shadow docks ''pay 5 gold''.  (there are two sets of docks, the one with the ferry that travels to Laerad, Deku, and Graez is directly south of the Bestiary).  You can also recognize people for the first time, fence things, and earn RP reward via the ''reward'' and ''reward all'' commands from other people for XP. \\

Additional advancement: \\
 - Stick with picking up items for the mini collectors and stealing from shifters or whatever else you can find that carries vials or other items to earn credit.  Sell metal and scrolls for gold. \\
 - Level 9: at this level we get another feat, and we take true strikes to improve our attack bonus. \\
 - Level 10: we pick up tools of the trade feat, this lets us purchase and use powder from the fence.  Powder is good because it stuns and blinds, opening up sneak attack, assuming you can hit.  You can also ''reveal'' to show invisible creatures.  ''alias tp toss powder at $*''.  Don't forget to add your skills.\\
 - Level 11: We have the option to multiclass at level 11, but we stick with thief, because this is a thief guide.  The goal here is to get to level 21 and break into shadowdancer prestige class.  \\
 - Level 12: We pick up another stat point, and we add 1 to strength (we will go to 24 base).  We also get a new feat, and we pick up powerattack, which is a prerequisite for cornugon smash and shatter defenses.  We also receive another thief talent, and here we pick Shadow in the Fray, for a 35% miss chance after landing a sneak attack.\\
 - Level 13: We pick up Use Magic Device, which allows us to read scrolls without the spellcraft skill.  Experiment using the ones you find as random drops, and learn where the magic shops are so you can purchase scrolls when you need them.  Pick up a scroll case so you can carry many scrolls without taking up your entire inventory.  Useful scrolls are also available at the thief guild fences, so be sure to build up some account balances by fencing items and laundering gold.  Spells set their caster level to your thief level when you pick them up, so you'll want to update them from time to time as you advance.  FYI, unless you advance levels before using them, you will need an int modifier of 1 less than the spell level on the scroll to cast them without fail.  See help [[magical devices]] for more details.\\
 - Level 14: We pick up scramble, which is another defensive passive feat, that lets us dodge some attacks. \\
 - Level 15: I got cornugon smash which uses our influence (intimidation) to cause victims to be shaken.  \\
 - Level 16: We pick up another point of dex here, getting to 24.  From here on out, we can increase dex or con.  Both are good options.  Dexterity improves your armor class (to a point, unless you eschew armor and use the improved armor spell Shadowdancer's greater shadow conjuration provides, which is great until it gets dispelled), and you can never have enough max hit points.  \\
 - Level 17: We pick up Spring Attack, which lets us sometimes make an attack after scrambling away from an attack.  \\
 - Level 18: I picked up shatter defenses, which allows sneak attacks against shaken enemies, stacks nicely with cornugon smash.  We also receive another thief talent, and I picked use magic device which allows us to use the scrolls from the thief fences.\\
 - Level 21: I picked up Resistance, because I noticed I'm getting smashed by spells a lot.  Other options are exotic weapon proficiency or blind fight, both of which you will probably want to get at some point.  Or death ward, because you will face an increasing number of save-or-die attacks.  Options for feat trees are the spell power / perfect caster tree so you can use AOE without nuking your party members or fodder, the toughness / damage resistance tree to increase your durability.  Best to avoid the combat maneuvers tree, as these are opposed and partially based on base attack bonus, which will always lag behind fighters and most monsters.  Map out what feats you want to choose, and don't forget that when you go back to thief at level 31, you will receive bonus combat feats at 31, 36, 41, and 46 (so perhaps pick up spell focus, spell penetration, and perfect caster at 24, 27, and 30).  We'll also receive new thief talents at 34, 40, and 46, and we qualify for the better ones so don't forget to add those.\\




==== Shadowdancer ====

At level 21 we break into the shadowdancer prestige class.  Other options are assassin, bladeweaver, and cypher (if you pick up the scribe feat), but all of them are tough unless you really know what you are doing.  Assassin and bladeweaver will suffer from lack of fodder, and cypher relies heavily on scrolls and requires a lot of upkeep to manage properly.  This guide will focus on Shadowdancer it gives us a huge boost in utility, giving us defensive spells like monster summoning and wall of fire, as well as teleportation.  The "problem" is that with three innate shadow spells, while great because innate spells use character level for caster level, gives us a boatload of spells that we have never used before, and figuring it all out can be a bit complicated.  I have listed my shadowdancer aliases below to help you out. \\

bt         cast innate greater shadow conjuration on black tentacles \\
chill      cast innate shadow evocation on fire shield on chill - alternative to the default fire shield for when you're fighting fire elementals and whatnot.\\
co         command shadow to $* - good for RP as well.\\   
dark       cast innate darkvision \\
dda        cast innate shadow evocation on deeper darkness - makes it dark, because you like shadows\\
ddo        cast innate greater shadow conjuration on dimension door on $* \\
dms        dispell monster summoning vi - you can't cast monster summoning while one is active, so this dispells it first.\\
doub       cast innate shadow double \\                    
dv         cast innate darkvision \\                       
eau        cast innate shadow evocation on elemental aura on $* - alternative to fire shield\\
fh         cast innate greater shadow conjuration on faithful hound \\
fsh        cast innate shadow evocation on fire shield on $*  \\
ih         cast innate greater shadow conjuration on infernal healing on $* \\
ms         cast innate greater shadow conjuration on monster summoning vi \\
port       cast innate greater shadow conjuration on teleport on $*\\
sb         cast innate shadow body \\
sch        cast innate greater shadow conjuration on secret chest - great spell, see below\\
sd         cast innate shadow double \\
ss         cast innate shadow stride on $*\\
tools      cast innate greater shadow conjuration on minor creation on locksmith tools - this is useful if you find yourself at a lock with no tools :)\\
wof        cast innate shadow evocation on wall of fire $* \\

Buff List:\\
Take a look at the buff command, it allows you to cast a bunch of buffing spells with a single command, like when you log on, when you die, or after you get dispelled and teleport away to a healer.  \\

darkvision\\
shadow double\\
shadow body\\
fire shield                Special: cast innate shadow evocation on fire shield on warm\\
infernal healing           Special: cast innate greater shadow conjuration on infernal healing on YOURNAME\\
monster summoning vi       Special: cast innate greater shadow conjuration on monster summoning vi\\
deeper darkness            Special: cast innate shadow evocation on deeper darkness \\

Effect of Shadowdancer abilities: \\

These are the Shadowdancer abilities I used most, but you should explore the others and see if they work for you: 

1. Monster Summoning vi: You are able to summon fodder to protect yourself and give your enemies other things to attack, opening them up for sneak attacks.  You should always have this up when you are fighting.  It's a good idea to ''con defender'' from time to time to see how healthy they are.  If they're getting weak or you see them getting destroyed, it might be a good idea to dms;ms to dispell monster summoning and cast a fresh batch before they're all gone (and you get stunned or something). \\
2. Shadow Body: Gives you damage reduction and protection from some elements, you should always have this up. \\
3. Shadow Double: Creates a greater summon, that you can command with the co $* alias above, like ''co protect yourname''\\
4. Fire shield: Damages anyone who attacks you, this should always be up when you're fighting.  You can see I have a separate alias for warm and cold shields, because sometimes you're fighting fire resistant monsters.\\
5. Infernal/Celestial Healing: Depending on your alignment you'll need to cast one or the other, but this restores hit points over time.  You never know when you'll live through a combat with 1 hp before your vials kick in so this can be a life saver, and can help reduce kit burn in an area you're a little over your head in.\\
6. Deeper darkness: Create a ball of darkness that lowers light levels, because the Shadow Master class ability (Shadowdancer level 4) gives you a bonus to saving throws when you are in dim light.\\
7. Secret Chest: You can summon your secret chest anywhere.  You can command it to pick up items, give you items, and you can dismiss it, and it will save the items.  Use it to keep a spare bit of equipment or store stuff you intend to sell later.  You can't summon it at the same time as your shadow double but since everything is innate you can dispell / dismiss one and summon the other.\\
8. Shadow Stride: Walk through locked doors, can come in very handy.\\
9. Teleport: First from Shadow conjuration, then from Shadow Jump (which you might as well replace your teleport alias with, once you get it at level 27), this is one of the most useful abilities in the game.  While teleport is useful, even with a chance for misfire, Shadow Jump is the best teleport ability in the game; it is instantaneous, and you can do it while in combat. You will need to ''remember here as location'' to set your teleport spots.  I strongly suggest setting at least one to a healer in case you get blinded and need to ''cb'' at a healer to fix your sight.  ''recall locations'' to see where your spots are and how many free spots you have left, and ''unremember location'' to forget it.\\
10. Wall of fire: Damages everything that attacks you, and doesn't require perfect caster to not roast your fodder, good AOE spell. \\
11. Improved armor: Use this when you don't wear leather (to make it easier to sneak, hide, stab, and steal).\\
12. Wing (help wing).  Shadow body gives us flying, which adds the wing command.  This ability lets you fly from outdoors to a number of different locations, including every major city.  While not as fast as our teleport or shadow jump abilities, having every major city on the standard wing list frees up more locations for us to be able to jump to.  \\

With these spells, you will be able to smash through areas you previously had difficulty with.  Keep an eye on your fodder and recast them between battles if they are too injured.  At level 21 I was able to take the natives and later the monks on Tonerra no problem.  Dagger Marsh was a good place to find wands, scrolls, and metal to sell for gold, just be careful not to bring too many enemies into the room at once. 

=== Equipment upgrades ===
    - weapon: Sword of Insanity +1 from goblin witch in the goblin stronghold. I eventually replaced these with cursed titanium swords +5 from Attaya Jungle.  They summon spectral entities to fight for me, and the spectral entities give xp when you kill them too.\\
    - Ring of protection +1 from scaly kobolds (dragon den caverns) or the Ogre King (Echoes Mountains).  I replaced this with a ring of protection +4 at the end of the ogre caves, way up north past dagger.\\
    - bracers of defense +1 from half-ogre in Echo Mountains or from kobolds in dragon den caverns; discern them to ensure they provide 1 armor in addition to the +1 enchantment, some of them provide 0 armor.\\
    - +1 hide from human bandits in Piaf's Workshop or the Hag from the dark forest, south and west from the rhapsody inn, south of Shadow. I replaced this with woven +4 from the Tonerra natives\\
    - cravat +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers), or cloak +1 from flind in (meadowlands, only appears at night), or +1 amulet from the leprechauns in Yntala.  I replaced this with a choking necklace +3 that grants +2 damage, from a skeleton on Deku.  Although I picked this up in the late teens, this was a tough fight and suggest getting Shadowdancer before picking it up. \\
    - newbie leather coif (increases in + as you advance, max +3). 
    - belt +1 shadow sewers (random find in shadow sewers), belt +2 from the dark trail, east of antioch.
    - Boots of the wolves that grant +1 dex, from Deku. 
    - Powder from thief guilds
    - Sphere of the Cosmos from the barrow downs

That just about does it.  If you've gone all the way through this thief tutorial, congrats, it is one of the more complicated classes to play.  You should try out your own build, maybe try going with damage resistance first, or a two-handed weapon build for extra crit & cleave damage, or a dual wielding build for lots of attacks and weapon specials.  However you build your character, you should be able to go pretty much anywhere with your shadowdancer abilities, and they will keep fairly good pace against anything except a pure spellcaster.\\

Happy Mudding!\\

--Cyric





====== Levillier's Addendum: Quests, additional commands and aliases, and general advice ======


Updated: 3/10/22
My primary leveling experience has been on casters, so some of the things I recommend may be more or less difficult for other classes.  That said, the newbie friendly adventuring areas can be a slow grind if you do nothing just kill mobs, especially if it turns out there are other players cycling in the same area (this is fairly common with the goblin stronghold).  If you can’t find them to party but the mobs are all dead, I’d suggest looking for some of the quests.  I am including guidance on how to start several of the low level quests.  I will also suggest do not get caught up in a grind - RPing with other players can often be better XP/hour than spending time stabbing goblins and frankly, is the actual point of the game.  The daily demiplane found in the gnomes hut  is also a good source of gold, enchanting materials, and XP.
Each quest generally provides most or all of a level.  

===== Daily Demiplane =====
To reach the daily demiplane, starting outside the north gate of Shadow:
3n,nw,2n,nw,w,nw,2w,2nw,4n,2ne,n,nw,4n,2ne,nw,ne,2n,nw,2n,nw,ne,nw,w.  You should be in a room with gnome. To open a demiplane, use the command: open demiplane.  If you find yourself overwhelmed or outmatched, leave demiplane will allow you to escape.

===== Quest Advice =====

For anyone who wishes to go in totally unspoiled, do not read past this paragraph until the next section break.

Ekibi Ridge Gnome Quest - Ekibi ridge is a low level area in the mountains west of Shadow and north of Tabor.  In the ridge, you will find a gnome who will offer you this quest

Peryton King - The village elder of <town name> needs help with a Peryton problem.  Casters should have no problem doing this quest, it may be somewhat riskier for melee characters.

Dragon’s Den Caverns - There are two NPCs to initiate this quest, one good and one evil.  The good NPC is located in Echoes Mountains, and the evil NPC is located in the tunnel connecting Echoes Mountains and the Dragon Den Caverns.

Muileann Quest - Cyric mentioned this area but I will second it.  Muileann has an excellent 2 part quest/dungeon, and is FREQUENTLY the location of the procedural quest objects.  I generally do this quest around level 10-12 at the latest.  To start the quest, once you’ve gone in to Muileann, make your way eastward through the city until you find the gate to the cemetery.  You will need to locate the key to enter, but when you enter the graveyard a ghost will speak to you and ask for help.  

The Rescue/Pit Fight - Near Antioch, you can find the remains of recently attacked caravan.  Nearby, an injured man will ask you for help.  Be aware is sets in motion multiple events in the chain.  

Piaf's Dilemma - This quest can be found near the stream, south of the abandoned town of Koenig, northeast of Tabor

Nereid Riddle Quest - This quest can be found near the stream, south of the abandoned town of Koenig, northeast of Tabor, and will take you all over the lowbie area. 

Swords Quest - This quest requires you to be level 19 to start and will take you to multiple locations.  You can find the starting NPC off of Dragon Pass Road, north of Shadow. 

Hansoth and the Sage of Laerad: This is a bit of a level jump from the last set of quests. As you might expect, this quest is found on the isle of Laerad.  It's probably do-able in the 20s, though I first did it post 30.  To begin the quest, you must locate the sage.  His hut moves around within the Parnelli forest, so peer up and down the length of the place and look for an ‘enter’ option.

=====Useful commands====
There are a number of helpful commands that can make your life easier.  First is the actions.  This command will display all actions in the room, including objects eligible for targeted search and look commands.  It is not however, perfect.  Some area designers hide options from this command.  

Second is the keep command, which will flag an item as unable to be sold.  Use this to keep from accidentally selling your sack full of scrolls, gems, enchanting materials or whatever.  

Cyric mentioned plenty of useful aliases above, but I’m going to suggest some of my own.

  * alias prep prepare <casterclass> $1 times $2
This alias will allow you to type prep <spellname> <#> to prepare that specific amount of a spell.  Main issue is that for spells with multiple word names, you will need to use the abbreviation found in the help <spell> file.  You could also shorten this alias to just p if you want, or remove the ‘times $2’ element to prevent that issue.

  * alias combatlist prepare list combat <casterclass>
  * alias combatadd prepare add combat <casterclass> $*
  * alias combatrem prepare remove combat <casterclass> $*
This is the format I use to add and remove spells from my caster list

====== Appendix - Class Progression Summaries ======


==== Fighter ====
Two handed style: \\
1. Feats: Build towards strength of arm, then weapon specialization and damage reduction.\\
2. Equipment - \\
Plate progression (normal): full plate from armor shop, magical plate from Yntala area\\
Plate progression (large): \\
Plate progression (small): \\

Two weapon style: \\
1. Feats: \\
2. Equipment - \\


==== Oracle ====
1. Feats: Start with Hardened Minions and the spell power feats, then build to perfect caster. \\
2. Great Spells: Monster Summoning (fodder), Restoration (recharge stamina), wave of pain (reliable damage), freedom of movement (breaks stun), spiritual ally (summons a large creature you can command), Serenity (area attack), word of power/recall (teleportation), rebirth (after you die, choose whether to stay dead or return with a full heal), entropic storm (large untyped damage over time to the entire room) \\

==== Cleric ====

Feats: Start out the same as oracle: Rush hardened minions and Perfect Caster.  You want to have both pretty much right after Offestry (or slightly after, if non human).  Try and use your free cleric bonus feats on spellcasting feats and apply the every 3 level feats to non spellcasting after Offestry.  Third Divine Domain is a FANTASTIC feat, though how fantastic depends on your gods domains.  The extra spells and bonuses are nice, but the real point is when you get to Cleric's capstone feat, Divine Apotheosis.  This feat grants UNLIMITED casts of your domain spells, as long as you prepare one copy.  Outside of spellcasting feats, which you are going to want to take pretty much all of, I would suggest the Magic and Damage Resistance trees.  Clerics are very hard to kill if you can't take them down in one round, and the harder it is to do that the better.  Post 31, the Metamagic feats are also a great choice, though each is on 10min CD.  Heavy armor proficiency can be a great option.

Spells: Unlike oracle, you get every spell on your list all the time.  Downside is you have to prepare them, so you might have 10 9th level spells, but that's split up among all the spells you think you need.  Most of the time, this isn't really a problem - by max level, it's likely you'll have well over 100 spell slots, and nearly 200 if you're going Hierophant for your Prestige Class (plus Hierophant has about a 50% chance not to use up the spell every time).  

I always keep the highest level of monster summoning in my combat list, until I get access to 9th level.  The upgrade from MS8 to 9 isn't worth the slot IMO.  Available from level 1, use celestial/infernal healing (you can use either regardless of alignment).  This gives you Fast Healing 1, which is nice, and it lasts a decent amount of time.  Shield is another fantastic first level spell, though if you're using an actual physical shield they don't stack.  I'd personally go with the physical shields until you have either a 2H caster weapon or dual wield caster weapons.  
Aid is a great 2nd level spell that remains relevant as it increases your max HP.  Divine weapon is a solid choice in that level as well, as it lasts indefinitetly, doesn't interfere with casting, and scales.   Also in the second level are the state enhancement buffs.  Initially, you'll want to go with Owl's Wisdom, but once you cap your Wisdom at 30, I'd switch to Bear's Endurance.  If Con is also capped, I'd probably go with Dex for a small AC boost, Str for more carrying capacity, or Cha for improved selling prices.

In third level, good hope is nice, though duration is short.  However, because it's just a morale boost, you can stack it with a variety of other buffs.  Resist Energy is a great defensive buff that lasts for your entire login - I generally default to fire if I don't have any idea what elements I'm going to be hit with.  Searing Light is a good combat spell in this level. Insight is a good combat buff to your defenses.

4th level spells - Freedom of Movement is an absolute must.  Evil clerics will want to use Unliving Inversion if they are not already undead so they can use their Spontaneous Harm ability to heal themselves.  Shield of Dawn provides a damage aura.  Spiritual Ally is your first greater summon, available at this level

5th level spells: Flame Strike and Maw of Stone are the main damage spells in this tier.  Maw is a DoT spell.  Sticks into snakes provides additional fodder, and telepathic bond let's you perform long range communication with other players.

6th level spells: Blade barrier will replace Shield of Dawn at this level, and heal/harm are great options.  You can stack all of your memorizations based on your alignment - Good clerics can memorize all the 'Harm' casts they want and use them spontaneously as healing, and vice versa for evil clerics using Unliving Inversion.  Un/Holy orb spells at this level are non-targeted AOE, which are useful against enemies with spell reflect or when blinded or other wise unable to target.  Word of Power grants you teleports to any town or your gods temple, and Word of Recall allows you to teleport to any location you memorize.

7th level - Aura of Healing and Regenerate are my bread and butter standard healing - With both active you can out heal most mobs ability to damage you, at least as long as your fodder is up.  Cometfall is my go to combat spell from this level.  Rebirth grants you the ability to ressurect yourself from the dead at no penalty, though you will be right where you died - This sometimes means you just die again.  After activating, the spell can't be recast for one hour.

8th level - God's Favor is your emergency escape button as a cleric.  When you type 'now' you are instantly whisked to your god's temple.  This does NOT allow you to escape a teleport proof area.  THe aligned aura spells in this tier will generally replace your other damage AOE choices.  Stormbolts takes over at this level for roomwide AOE of choice (Unless you're a Shadow Adept).  Orb of the void is a solid choice for penalizing the room.  Stone Body will basically be on full time from this point forward.

9th level - Gate grants you a much stronger alignment based ally.  It also can be a travel spell, allowing you to open a standing portal to a place - handy for popping in and right back out, or for bringing in help from a prepare location.  Entropic Storm, Polar Midnight, and Storm of Vengeance are all good roomwide AoE choices.  You gain resurrection this level, which let's you negate the death of other players.  Most clerics will probably be using a domain 9th level spell for their primary offense - Being able to spam a 9th level combat spell at will is hard to pass up.
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