Quests
Quests are an important part of Lithmeria. Doing them can change the world both for the better and for the worse. Of course, what is better or worse invariably depends on where you stand. A quest could increase the material production for a town... or reduce it. It could open up a shortcut from one zone to another, or close it. Many more unique changes to the world are possible via quests.
When discovering quests in game, the most recent 15 or 20 quests you have encountered will be kept in a quest log. This enables the player to review them and makes it easier to remember what you are doing and, where applicable, will also keep track of any progress you have made on those quests.
quests Quest Name Quest Description -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kyalesi Hunting Kill feral beasts in Kyalesi Forest Bringing down the Miners Uncover the Miners' dark secret [H: 781 M: 312 -eblrg-] quests hunting Kyalesi Hunting Area: Kyalesi Forest -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The feral beasts of Kyalesi Forest are attacking the lumberjacks and hindering their ability to gather the wood of Nature's Bounty. Foreman Dehnson has requested that you go out and slay the dangerous animals of the forest to make their work safer. Return to him for payment after completing the task, the more you slay the greater payment will be. Progress: 3 feral beasts slain
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Types of Quests
Support
Support quests are those quests which you can do to support a village or other holding of your city, hence the name. The hunting quest in Kyalesi forest shown above is an example of a support quest. Killing the feral animals will enable the lumberjacks to work unmolested and thereby produce more wood in the same period of time. The quest itself is something of a traditional bashing quest, without having to actually collect and turn in the bodies. All that matters is that they're dead. Support quests can increase material production, make a village harder to capture, or have even more unique effects.
Sabotage
These quests are the evil twin to the support quests. An example of this would be killing the lumberjacks in aforementioned Kyalesi Forest to slow down production of lumber from the camp. Sabotage quests can reduce material production, make a village or fortress easier to capture, or once again result in a myriad of unique impacts on the world. Another good example of a sabotage quest would be disabling the drawbridge to a fortress so that, when attacked, the people within the fortress wouldn't be able to raise the drawbridge, stripping away one layer of defense and making assaulting the fortress that much easier. The drawbridge would be non-functional until repaired, which would be a support quest only available when the drawbridge is broken. Completing a support quest benefiting your faction, or a sabotage quest hurting a faction with which you are at war, will very slightly increase your rank within your faction. This will have a very noticeable effect over time.
Toggle
These quests are those which change the world in a permanent fashion (permanent until another quest changes it, at least). The drawbridge example in the Sabotage quests would be a prime example of a basic toggle quest. A toggle quest with more far-reaching effects is the Miners quest from the mini-log. Overthrowing the family of Miners would make the next most popular family take power, and at the same time sending the Miners to the bottom of the local hierarchy in disgrace. The popularity of the other families amongst the populace can also be raised or lowered by the actions of players. Toggle quests are the biggest and most noticeable way in which players can leave their mark on the world itself. Some toggle quests also overlap with the support and sabotage categories.
Dynamic
The most unique category of quest in Lithmeria, dynamic quests are never the same twice, nor are they always there. Dynamic quests represent the fact that Lithmeria is a living, breathing world. As a small example, you may be wandering about a village you've been through dozens of times before -- only this time, one of the villagers speaks up, asking you to retrieve a valuable herb pouch he lost in the nearby plains when he'd been out for a hike. While looking for it, you discover that an aggressive wild animal has been attracted by the scent. It attacks you when you arrive and must be defeated to retrieve the pouch. Returning the pouch may earn you a few random rare herbs used in the skill of Brewing.
What makes this fairly simple quest so unique is that it is generated by the game. This particular villager, losing that pouch, and the creature guarding it are not at any point ever designed by a builder or admin. Dynamic quests are created by some advanced code that generates quests on the fly from a list of parameters. In other words, the world is ever changing without direct builder input. Because these quests aren't repeatable, are found by exploring more often than not, and must be figured out uniquely each time, the rewards for them are generally greater than for normal quests.
A favorite example of a designed dynamic quest is the "Murder Mystery". An NPC in a village, fortress, or city will turn up dead, and clues and evidence will be generated by the game that will point to the murderer if one is clever enough to follow where they lead. Catching the murderer will give not only a substantial monetary reward, but also the unique title of "Detective."
