Summer Solstice 2018

{{event|
 * holiday=Summer Solstice
 * status=current
 * year=2018
 * date_from=June 15
 * date_to=July 5
 * creator=Shadowfax
 * builders=Draak
 * highlights=
 * new_areas=
 * code_advancement=
 * theme=corruption
 * event_areas=
 * summary=The Summer Solstice Celebration 2018 was an event that ran its course through latter half of the month of June until the 4th of July and is the sixth such event of its kind. This year's theme was "corruption".  The event presented two versions of the famous Puzzlewood Forest, and narrated the story of how Valront became a god in the pantheon of Alter Aeon in place of Taran.  The event was organized by Shadowfax, with assistance from Draak.

Traps were introduced just before the event and were featured in a few of the event areas.
 * preevent=

The concept for this event began in February of 2018, when it was decided that Valront, as reward for his many years of service to the game, could join the pantheon. Dentin stated that some of kind of event was necessary to usher in this change in the pantheon. In March, the story that Valront, as per his intention of becoming the god of corruption, would gain entry into the pantheon by replacing an existing god was invented by Kagome. Details were finalized and approved in April. Shadowfax began construction of the event areas in late May.
 * history=

{{MUDdisplay| Current Event Information -- The sixth annual Summer Solstice Celebration has begun!
 * story=

The main event involving the Church of Taran can be started by typing 'event start 140'. It is appropriate for players of all levels. Although the event areas refer to actual places within the game, you can only access event zones via the 'event start' command.

Due to popular demand, not one but TWO versions of the Puzzlewood Forest are available for play! One is a high level group area with waves of monsters of increasing strength called "Shooting the Curl", and the other is a single player autolevelling area called "Endless Waltz".

To complete the "Shooting the Curl" challenge, you must survive 41 waves of monsters. They need not be consecutive, but if a "Shooting the Curl" instance washes, then the waves will restart at Wave 0 in any new instance. You receive credit for slaying monsters that are of equal or greater wave than the quest you're currently working toward. For example, if you are working on Wave 2 (as indicated in your 'quests' command) and join a group that is working on Wave 10, then you will receive credit for Wave 2.

For the "Endless Waltz" version of the Puzzlewood, you must defeat 1500 monsters. Monsters in the "Endless Waltz" area will autolevel to be a challenge for your level but will not increase in strength (unless you level up). You can leave the area and start a new instance at will, and will pick up where you left off in the monster death count.

The final quest of each Puzzlewood area will yield a ring of endless possibilities, an item that will scale to your level and can be randomized on demand. -- (see 'show schedule' for a schedule of events)

Current display mode: IN_PROGRESS

There are open event areas! Use the 'event list' command to see them. }}

The main story event areas were single player autolevelling areas (beginning at level 5) and thus could be completed players of any level.
 * schedule=

{{{!}} class="wikitable" ! Date ! Summary {{!}}- {{!}} June 15 {{!}} Act 1 of the main story began. Both versions of the Puzzlewood were opened. Draak released the Rolling Wilds, Crepuscula, a re-worked area from last year's summer event. {{!}}- {{!}} June 23 {{!}} Act 2 of the main story was released. {{!}}- {{!}} June 29 {{!}} Act 3 of the main story was released. {{!}}- {{!}} July 5 {{!}} Draak released the Apiarch Hive, Crepuscula. End all events and close event areas. {{!}}}

The two Puzzlewood versions were:
 * areas=


 * The Puzzlewood Forest - Endless Waltz (108)
 * The Puzzlewood Forest - Shooting the Curl (137)

The main story event areas were:


 * The Tower of Hagar - City of Darcadia (140)
 * Central Ash Mountains (141)
 * Draj Salt Mine (142)
 * The Reliquary of the Usurper - Baronetcy of Anchorhead (143)
 * The back alleys of Elborat (144)
 * The Arcadian Docks (145)
 * In the hills near Finspang (146)
 * Yuan-ti Island (147)
 * A box canyon in the Dunn Hurr (148)
 * Island of Granada (149)
 * The Borderlands (150)

141, 142 and 150 were full-sized areas, while the others were mini-areas of about 10 rooms each except for 143, which was about 30 rooms.

The following visible event quests were displayed on the 'event list' command:
 * quests=

{{MUDdisplay| Current Event Quests:

Vnum  Name

63501 Gathered dogmalite pebbles for Lord Vox 63502 Gathered cursainium for Lord Vox 63503 Ran errands for Lord Vox to advance the cause of Taran's church 63504 Retrieved the Staff of the Serpent 63505 Attended the Godsmoot on behalf of the Church of Taran 63506 Slew the dissident priest Karf on behalf of Lord Vox 63507 Slew the dissident priest Betrayus the Bold on behalf of Lord Vox 63508 Retrieved the artifact known as "the Corrupter" for Lord Vox 63510 Vanquished the dissident cultists of Taran in the name of Lord Vox 30581 Killed 100 monsters in the Puzzlewood Forest - Endless Waltz event of 2018 30585 Killed 500 monsters in the Puzzlewood Forest - Endless Waltz event of 2018 30590 Killed 1000 monsters in the Puzzlewood Forest - Endless Waltz event of 2018 30595 Killed 1500 monsters in the Puzzlewood Forest - Endless Waltz event of 2018 30830 Completed Wave 0 of the Puzzlewood Forest - Shooting the Curl event of 2018 30840 Completed Wave 10 of the Puzzlewood Forest - Shooting the Curl event of 2018 30850 Completed Wave 20 of the Puzzlewood Forest - Shooting the Curl event of 2018 30860 Completed Wave 30 of the Puzzlewood Forest - Shooting the Curl event of 2018 30870 Completed Wave 40 of the Puzzlewood Forest - Shooting the Curl event of 2018 }}

The first two quests belonged to Act 1, while the next two were part of Act 2. The remaining quests for Lord Vox were released as Act 3.

Act 1
For Act 1, Lord Vox had players collect dogmalite and cursainium. Both areas were populated by aggressive monsters.

Act 2
During Act 2, players were introduced to six priests of Taran and ran various errands among them.

Act 2 climaxed with breaking into the Reliquary of the Usurper to steal the Staff of the Serpent.

Once the player gave the staff to Lord Vox, he said the following:

Act 3
Act 3 opened with the player travelling to the Island of Granada to attend the Godsmoot.

After slaying Amulon, the player proceeded to the northern part of the island where the Godsmoot was to take place. Guarding the spot was a paladin of the Silver Flame, who refused to let the player pass without the Staff of the Serpent to prove that he was the official representative of the church of Taran. Arguing outside of the Godsmoot was a priest of Pyrenius and an underpriestess of Seth. (Pyrenius was the false fire god behind the fire plane invasion during the first Summer Solstice event six years ago. Seth is the serpent god of the Naginag Combine.  If plans for Valront had fallen through, then Seth would have replaced Taran on the pantheon.)

To complete this stage, the player had to simply answer 'no' during the Godsmoot to the two questions posed to him concerning the state of affairs of the church of Taran. If the player remained after that point, he would see a vote cast by the attending priests to bar the priesthood of Pyrenius from attending the Godsmoot indefinitely. The player could even cast a vote, but with the other votes being three 'yes' to one 'no', his vote didn't affect the outcome.

Lord Vox then had the player assassinate the two priests of Taran that weren't cooperating with his plans.

Lord Vox has you return to the Draj Salt Mine to retrieve an item of great power: the Corrupter.

By "no cheating", Lord Vox meant that the player actually had to get one himself. He couldn't have someone else do it like with the Staff of the Serpent.

Once the player gave the Corrupter to Lord Vox, he was treated to the following scene:

Lord Vox then assigned the player his final quest:

Players had to enter the instance and kill all 24 enemies in one go. They consisted of 18 cultists divided into groups of three, with each group favoring a different class. The other enemies were gray render guards. Once all of the dissident cultists were dead, players received the following vague instructions:

Upon returning to the Tower of Hagar, the player would discover that Lord Vox was no longer there. Lady Hagar would explain that he had left unexpectedly. The player had to talk to the servant at the bottom of the tower to complete the quest.

Upon completion of the final quest, in addition to gold and experience, players gained a wand of disbelief, a level 36 wand of 'curse ward'.

Puzzlewood Quests
Two versions of the Puzzlewood were available, each with its own set of quests.

The solo version was named "Endless Waltz", a name borrowed from the once-popular Gundam Wing sequel, that alludes the seemingly never-ending flow of enemies.

The group version was named "Shooting the Curl", a reference to surfer-speak where a curl is a wave and shooting it means to ride it with one's surfboard. Enemies on this board arrived in waves, hence the name.

The event was originally scheduled to begin June 8th.
 * notes=

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