Batmud Stories (The Rogues and the Reeve)

Continent: Lucetium

Level Limit:
  • There is a hard level limit of 40 to do the Crystite Mines section of the stories.
Description:
  • After completing all six parts of the initial tutorial, you get the option of continuing to follow along a set of scripted quests, called "stories" which were designed to provide a better new player experience than just going out into the world and figuring things out.
  • These stories are 100% optional, but are fun so I'd recommend doing them if you are trying to figure out "what next".
  • Note: There are frequent mandatory pauses of a day or two between many of the chapters of the stories. So these storylines are something to do for 30 minutes or so every couple of days in between doing other quests vs. something you can grind out in one playing session.
Quest Rewards + Equipment:
  • An elegant ring of the drows
    • +2 INT, +1 spell point regen (SPR)
    • Reward for completing Chapter 5 of the story
    • May be tunable, but I have no idea how to tune it. There are carvings on the inside that I suspect you interact with some way.
  • A pair of dwarven bracelets made of electrum
    • Tunable between: 3con 2dam / 3spr / 3dex 2avoid
    • Final reward for completing the story/quest
    • This is a *very* good piece of equipment. Don't sell it.
    • To tune it use the following command: trace <bear/owl/fox>
Open Questions:
  • I've only encountered one Story, "The Rogues and the Reeve". I'm curious about if there are other stories and how to start them.
Joining and Completing Stories:
  • Stories become available after you complete Part 6 of the tutorial.
  • Talk to Dawnmist in Dortlewall to kick off the first story "The Rogues and the Reeve"
    • To do this, "ask dwanmist about story"
  • The stories can be managed by the "story" command
    • "help story" will provide you some of the basic functionality
    • "story list" will show you which stories you can currently participate in.
    • "story accept <story name>" will start the story
  • Many of the stories center around the town of Dortlewall.
(Story 1) The Rogues and the Reeve:

Map of the Dortlewall Inn:
Map of Dortlewall Inn

Chapter 1:
  • This story is available immediately after asking Dawnmist about stories.
    • To start it, type the command "story accept the rogues and the reeve"
  • To see the actual story, simply type the command "story"
    • For this one, it shows the next step is to go to the Dortlewall inn and ask the innkeeper about the burglar you caught when completing the tutorial.
  • To initiate a conversation with Bargo the innkeeper, "talk to bargo"
    • This opens up a new interactive chat session which you probably haven't seen before and is very different from most Batmud quests.
    • Items of conversation will be highlighted if you have ansi colors turned on in you client
    • If you mention "beer" they will give you one but charge you 50 gold coins.
      • You won't need the beer until a later chapter of the story
    • Bargo recommends talking to the wizard about the burglar
    • If you talk to Bargo he mentions a suspicious mirror where the burglar played cards with his friends in the back room
    • They also mention the room the burglar stayed in. I you mention "key", Bargo will give you the key to the room.
    • Type "exit" to end the chat
  • Going up to the second floor, a majority of the rooms are locked and the key does not work in them.
    • In the second "east" room the innkeeper reserved the room for you. So you can rest in there. No real reason to though. This is just an easy way to temporarily change your starting location.
  • If you go to the burglar's room, which you can unlock with a key, you can "search floorboards" and find 5k gold!!!
    • That is one of the better hidden items you can find!
    • You also find cigarette ashes on the nightstand but I didn't see how that was relevant. Maybe the next person we are looking for is a smoker?
  • Don't try to attack the brute who is guarding the back door. He will absolutely destroy you.
  • Next go back to the ivory tower, and go east to the waiting room. Pull the lever to "talk to the wizard".
    • Follow the conversation until you hit the part about "prepared". This will advance the story.
  • Next step is to go to the guildhouse to get your documents stamped. Then to infiltrate the group of burglars.
  • Go to the "Houses" room in the guildhouse. Your "story" will update when you get there.
  • Next up is to deliver the three scrolls.
  • The first scroll should be delivered to Bodor in the Rainbow Cloak area
    • You can find Bordar by going into the area, and heading north as far as you can.
    • Here is a map/guide of the area: Guide to Rainbow Cloak
  • The second scroll should be delivered to the high priest of Sarku, who is out in the outerworld way to the east and a bit north of Dortlewall.
  • The third scroll goes to Darrol Half-plow at the iron mine
    • I need to map this area out too...
    • You can find Darrol off a passage to the west, and then heading nw.
  • At this point the story pauses for a bit.
Chapter 2:
  • The story will resume around two days later 
    • I was level 19 and still doing level quests
    • I probably had around 600k EXP total spent and stored in my character.
    • The message I received was:
      • All of a sudden you hear a distant cawing coming somewhere above you. You turn to look and notice a silvery grey raven flappings its wings and landing on your shoulder. You quickly glance to notice that the raven is bringing a message written by the wizard in Dortlewall.
  • Starting back up, the next step is to talk to Tarien the Wizard again to get your marching orders.
    • If you dropped or got rid of the heirloom (a small ornament carved from wood tie to a string) they will give you another one.
    • The next step is to talk to the burglars.
  • The brute in the west lounge will now let you past them so you can talk with the rest of the burglar team.
  • Give the ornament to the drow and then talk to the drow
    • ask about "next time" to advance the story
  • Time to go back to the wizard and fill them in.
    • When you talk to Tayrien, they assigns you a new task in the meantime. "Collect 10 mining picks". This starts Chapter 3 of the quest.
Chapter 3:
  • Collecting picks:
    • The weaponsmith sells iron picks for 28 gold each, so it would cost you 280 gold to complete this quest the easy way.
    • The harder way is to go down into the crystite mine and kill dwarf miners to get their picks. On the plus side, other people are likely killing them as well so there usually are lots of picks just lying around for you to pick up.
    • The hardest part as a mage was simply being able to carry 10 picks. I ended up having to cast feather weight on them.
    • Once you have them, return to the wizard and give all the picks to them.
  • This leads to another break in the story where you will need to wait for the plot to advance.
  • Two days later I received the following message which advanced the story:
    • Suddenly you feel strange pain as if someone was penetrating into your mind, planting a thought. Having received the thought, you quickly realize the thought is from the resident wizard of Dortlewall, requesting for your urgent return.
    • The Rogues and the Reeve: Your story journal has been updated.
Chapter 4:
  • Once things have started up again, go back to the wizard to have another chat.
    • Looks like the rogues were not fooled and broke into the tower and stole all the remaining boxes of magical particles!
    • The wizard also has an aside comment about "love masks" so ... ewww.
  • Next go talk to bargo the innkeeper again.
    • They recommend asking the other customers about the rogues.
  • Talk to the drunkard hanging out in the kitchen. You can "ask drunkard about rogues" and it will initiate a conversation
    • He wants a beer, so go back to the bartender, initiate a conversation with them, and ask about "beer" to buy one.
    • Give the drunkard the beer and talk to them again and ask about "news". They mention the rogues were talking about the warehouses of the general store.
  • Go into the very back of the general store (west, west, west), and then "search boxes"
    • You will find a box of magical particles
    • If you try to pick up the box you will be ambushed so be ready for a challenging fight
    • It is the orc with a blue bandana that you saw from earlier. They are worth around 5200 EXP so it's a more difficult fight than what you've encountered so far in these stories and tutorials.
    • After killing them, you can now take the box.
  • Go back to the Wizard and give them the box of magical particles.
    • As a reward, the wizard gives you a grey stone which you can sacrifice at your racial shrine.
    • Considering you are likely a high enough level you can no longer teleport to your racial shrine, I hope yours is easy to get to!
  • When you go to your race shrine "sacrifice stone". The following text will then be displayed:
    • You sacrifice stone.
    • An array of strange, unorganized thoughts unravel through your mind stroking your memory and causing a momentary paralysis, rendering you unable to move.
  • The memories take a few minutes to appear. They will show up as different colored text if you have your colors turned on in your terminal.
    • The final "memory" message is as follows telling you the story will be paused for a bit: 
      • This might be a good time to take a break or do some other things. You will be informed when the story progresses.
  • A day later I received the following message which restarted the story:
    • Suddenly you feel strange pain as if someone was penetrating into your mind, planting a thought. Having received the thought, you quickly realize the thought is from the resident wizard of Dortlewall, requesting for your urgent return.
    • The Rogues and the Reeve: Your story journal has been updated
Chapter 4 Continued: (Cave-In at the Crystite Min) :
  • Next up is to go back and talk to the wizard again
    • Looks like the mine was sabotaged by the bandits so the next step is to go to it and see if anyone needs help
  • Now go to the crystite mine in southern Dortlewall. If you look at the cave-in you can see you can "squeeze inside" to go east.
  • There is a stout dwarf miner inside the cave-in that you can "talk to"
    • The dwarf needs some "rock solvent" to help rescue their friend.
    • To do this, they need some swamp water. They give you a bucket and tell you to go to the nearest swamp to fill it up.
  • There are many places in the outerword that are swamps (look for the green 's'). I was lazy and took the newbie post to the public gardens, and went south to the swamp, got the water, and then took the newbie post back.
    • Use the command "fill bucket from swamp"
    • Go back to the dwarf and give them the bucket.
  • This will free a second young dwarf who will appear. They say you should meet their friend Ikrun who lives in a cottage northeast of dortlewal.
Chapter 5 (Growing Pains) :
  • Go to the "mountaineer cottage" that is marked in the realm map in the outerworld.
  • Next talk to Ikrun.
    • He tells me to join a guild and come back, so I feel that I'm way ahead of the power curve since I'm already level 21 and have 6 guild levels
    • Nope, if I ask them about "future" they tell me I need to spend more than 2.6 million experience on skills and spells.
    • When I went back after obtaining enough experience and asked about my future, I was given "an elegant ring of the drows" which was a supposed memento of my past, and then the story went on pause again.
      • This piece of equipment gives +2 INT and +SPR. It might be tunable like other story equipment, but I don't know how to tune it.
    • A day later, I received another message via raven restarting the story and asking me to talk to the wizard Tayrien again.
Example Map of the Dortlewall Sewers:
Map of the Dortlewall Sewers

Chapter 6 (Conspiracy) :
  • Talking to the Wizard, you find out there is a conspiracy to frame the current mine overseer and install the corrupt official Gathir in their place. The Wizard knows where the bandits are hiding so your task is to help the town patrol capture or kill them.
    • The bandits are in the sewer west of the Dortlewall barraks.
  • Note: The fight at the end of this may be a bit tricky. It is certainly the hardest fight so far in all of the story/tutorial content. You might want to bring friends if you can but I tried to lay out some strategies below if you are doing it on your own.
  • The manhole is a bit hard to see since it is only mentioned in the room descirpiton, but if you go to outside the barracks and then go all the way to the west (so the only exits are east and south), there will be a manhole in the room description.
    • "enter manhole" to go into it.
  • The area is a bit of a maze. It's an easy maze considering the normal sewer mazes, but it is easy to get lost. If you want, feel free to reference the map above.
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The player Zetaff informed me that the Dortlewall sewers layout will change per boot. So the map above will be different for you.
    • The good news is the sewers map is a logical layout. So it maps to a physical space as you are going through it. 
    • I'd recommend dropping coins to mark the rooms you have been in.
    • I've found having a set method to go through the maze (such as N-E-W-S-U-D) is helpful. I drop one coin per direction I've explored. So if there are three exits in a room (WSD), and I come back to it and there are two coins in the room, I know I need to explore "Down" next.
  • The goal is to find the hidden lair and kill the Drow ringleader and the overwrought rogue. Here are some tips:
    • Make sure you target one of them so you don't split your attacks between the both of them.
    • Don't be a hero. They won't chase you. Feel free to retreat
    • If you need healing, leave the sewers and go to the Dortlewall healer. There is a healing crystal in the upper levels of the healers that will get you healed up in no time.
  • After killing the bandits, it's time to leave the sewers and talk to the mage again
Map of the Strange Location for Chapter 7:
Map of strange location for Chapter 7

Chapter 7 (Social Elite) :
  • Talk with the wizard and he gives you a thinking scarf to wear and come up with a new plan
    • This scarf needs to be worn in the outerworld. If you put it on inside, you'll need to take it off and put it back on when you are in the outerworld
    • It also takes up a neck slot so you may have to take off your tie or other equipment to wear it.
  • When you put the scarf on, it will teleport you to a small workshop with an upset gnome. Talk to the gnome
    • The gnome claims to be in your brain (brain gnomes). You need to get the elevator of your thought process unstuck.
  • To fix the elevator
    • Go east to the elevator
    • "tighten screw"
    • "pull lever"
  • Now you find yourself in your brain, with a bunch of gnomes goofing off.
    • You will also have a memory concept of a wizard in your inventory, as a reward for getting the elevator unstuck.
    • You can talk to the gnomes to get an idea of what they need to help them.
  • The goal is to collect memories from the gnomes
    • first, take the card in the central brain room and give it to the gnome playing solitaire.
      • This will give you the memory of a king
    • For the second task, go to the kitchen, "open cupboard", and "take sandwich from cupboard". Give it to the gnome man who is on a picnic
      • He gives you the memory of a concubine
    • For the third task, go to the armoury and "take knife from cabinet". Give it to the gnome who is whittling.
      • The gnome gives you the memory of an officer
    • For the fourth task, go to the home of the gnomes and "blow candles" to put them out
      •  This gives you the memory of an affair
  • Now go to the thought machine, and insert all the memories into it.
  • Now go to the brainstorming machine, and insert all the thoughts into it.
    • Ok, that explains the foreshadowing about the kinky masks that the Wizard has.
  • After all of that you will be transported back to where you put the thinking scarf on.
  • Now it's time to go back to the Wizard to fill them in on your new plan.
  • The Wizard wants you to throw this party, so the next step is to meet with the Duke's party planner.
    • Time to go to the Duke's Halls in Dortlewall!
  • In the Duke's Halls, you can only go south and talk to the Dwarf servant. This reveals a list of requirements you need to fulfil
    • 150,000 gold (you gotta be kidding me)
      • Apparently, they were not kidding. I withdrew that much gold from the bank and gave it to them and it checked this off. I don't know if you give them other coins if it will work or not.
    • Entertainment (take the letter to Vilhelm in the bard guild in Shadowkeep)
    • Food (Deliver 50 food items to the servant).
      • You can buy, hunt, cook, or find these items.
      • The bread sold by the vendor in Dortlewall counts, but the apples and carrots do not
    • Drinks (Deliver 50 drinks to the servant).
      • The monks in Arelium Church drop wine so there is usually a lot of that just lying around.
      • You can also buy 50 gold beers from the bartender on Dortlewall
    • Invitations
      • Deliver one envelope to the Wizard Tayrien
      • Deliver one envelope to Vasile in Tyr Farwyn
        • They are in the summer palace (to the south east of the city). Go in, se, w, and you will find them
  • Once you complete all of the tasks on the checklist, the story will go on pause for a bit, which is good since I desperately needed to spend some time earning money!
  • About 3 days later I received a message to go back to the dwarf servant to participate in the party. When I tried to visit them, I found a note on the door saying "office closed during the festivities.
    • You now can go east to participate in the ball room.
  • Go into to middle of the ball room where Tyrien the wizard is and talk to them
    • He gives you batium coins worth 100k gold to go buy a horse and bridle for Duchess Bronzebrim
      • Renting a horse costs 100k but you get 90% of the money back when you return it.
      • A bridle costs around 200 gold
    • He also gives you a sleeping pill to give to the horse to slow it down.
  • Important note: The money to rent a horse needs to be in your bank account. Not carried by you. So you may need to deposit some of the money the wizard gave you.
  • Go to the squire guild, (closest newbie post is old oak forest), and go west.
    • "rent horse"
    • buy bridle
    • give bridle to horse
    • lead horse
  • Next step is to take the horse to outside Tyr Farwyn
    • IMPORTANT: Before you go into the city, "feed pill to horse"
  • Take the horse into the city. When you get to the gateguard, they will take the horse away and give it to the Duchess.
  • Go back to the Duke's party in Dortlewall and talk to Tayrien the Wizard.
    •  He asks you to go to the punch bowl and bring Lady Luminita a drink
    • Go east to the beverage room
      • fill mug
    • Go south of Tayrien and give mug to Luminita
  • Go back and talk to Tayrien.
    • If you mention "mask" when talking to him, he will give you one to give to gathir.
    • Gathir is one west of Tayrien. Go to him and give him the mask
  • Go back once again and talk to Tayrien
    • Next step is we need to convince Luminita to leave the party
    • Go back to her and "talk" to her
    • Mention "rest" and she will go to the private quarters
  • Yet again, go back and talk to Tayrien
    • He gives you a mask to give to the Duchess
    • She is east and south. Give her the mask. She will then go north
  • Go north as well to see Duchess Urok and Gathir together. Wait and watch Gathir make some poor life decisions.
  • This will end this chapter and start a new one. Once again, you may need to wait a day or two for the story to progress.
Chapter 8 (Farewell to Old Friends) :
  • After a couple of days, you get a message that the wizard has arranged a meeting with the Duke directly. You can now go and visit him in his house.  He is in the room to the north in the Duke's residency that you couldn't go into before.
  • Talking to the Duke:
    • He has assigned captain Gathir was assigned to the front line to lead dwarven troops against their enemies. This ... doesn't seem like a good idea.
    • When you ask him about reward, he gives you a pair of dwarven bracelets made of electrum <red glow>
  • I "think" the story is done now? Congratulations!!!!
Kill Tracker:
  • A bandy-legged orc with a blue bandana
    • 5115 exp
    • Drops a titanium broadsword (only worth around 100 gold)
  • An overwrought rogue listening intensely
    • 6300 exp
    • Drops an oak mace
  • A Drow with a dark complexation acting as the ringleader
    • 12200 exp
    • Drops a bronze dagger

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