[Mon May 19 01:16:03 2003] Solusek Ro says, 'This is absurd, why are we wasting our time and energy on this!? Direct action is needed, now! Banishing Zebuxoruk will not stop the mortals from entering into our planes. Their greed for power will have them soon trampling through our realms!'
[Mon May 19 01:16:05 2003] Rallos Zek says, 'On this I agree! We must take action and the time is now. I will not have these mortals achieving the powers that we hold.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:09 2003] Fennin Ro says, 'Calm yourselves, you need to appreciate the situation that is at hand.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:12 2003] Xegony says, 'Please listen to reason, we are doing what we must. The mortals possess a direct tie to Zebuxoruk. If his stasis is finished their link will dwindle as well as their powers and knowledge.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:15 2003] Rathe says, 'The knowledge that was given to them by Zebuxoruk will fade from their minds. We must do this now, for if they were able to translate the divine language all existence would unravel. The balance of power in the universe would be destroyed.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:17 2003] Solusek Ro says, 'This is exactly the point that I am making! So you agree we must show them now that we are the power above them, and not to be questioned!'
[Mon May 19 01:16:20 2003] Rallos Zek says, 'You must see what he refers to; we must turn to Norrath and show them our power. What they are trying to accomplish cannot be allowed to come to pass.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:23 2003] Fennin Ro says, 'My son, please understand we must stop this advancement of mortals without halting their existence. The balance of power must be maintained. Without the mortals the balance would fade.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:25 2003] Solusek Ro says, 'So they have made your decision for you too father. You are all wrong, this will only bring them further into our realms seeking answers! We must take action now. Have at your foolish games, I will not allow them to obtain my power.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:30 2003] You look up and see a meteor burning through the sky; Solusek returning to his tower to brood over the matters at hand.
[Mon May 19 01:16:35 2003] Rathe says, 'Rallos still your warring heart. This is what must be done. We must place him in a stasis from which he will not be released. Come share your power. We must commence now.'
[Mon May 19 01:16:38 2003] Xegony says, 'Mithaniel, Karana please record what you see here. With your good nature I am sure that your records will be impartial to any side. We must record this for the ages and learn from our mistake of allowing Zebuxoruk to gain so much power that is easily passed on to mortals.'
If only we saw this sort of thing more often! Fancy polygons and big numbers are nice, but it's the lore that brings a game alive, exciting the mind and imagination. It's good to see this sort of thing in EQ, and I hope to see more of it in the future. If only Plane of Earth/Air had lore like this, those zones might make sense.
We've spent thousands of man hours on this event, and today we spent hundreds more. We failed, for one reason or another (including at least one time today when the event bugged) - and it was getting late. The end of our raid time was approaching, but we had time for one final attempt...and we won!
After winning, mobs appeared on the other side of the doors (mobs that were not there before - hence any door exploits are pointless. Good design!).
We then saw this message:
So much for sleep!
After an hour, an hour past the end of our normal raid time, with work for many starting early the next day, we won! Second wave, beaten!
Again the loot was nice, but this was the real treasure:
[Mon May 19 02:13:13 2003] The Triumvirate of Water speaks as one voice. It says, 'Now step up to the chambers. Give a part of yourselves to the bind on Zebuxoruk. Through our power, the bonds on him will never be broken. He will be eternally placed in stasis.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:16 2003] Saryrn says, 'What of our weakened state. I refuse to return to my realm without the power to rule over my minions.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:18 2003] Terris Thule says, 'Yes, how can I spread my touch over my lands if I lack so much of myself?'
[Mon May 19 02:13:21 2003] Cazic Thule says, 'Do not worry daughter, we shall stay here until we are able to recover our strength.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:24 2003] Rallos Zek says, 'Our armies shall serve us as we regenerate our abilities. We have nothing to fear.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:28 2003] Bertoxxulous says, 'My soldiers of pestilence shall watch over us. Let us return to our chambers now.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:30 2003] Innoruuk says, 'Are you enjoying watching this Hammer of the Tribunal? I hope your petty report will show my disdain for the Tribunal having no hand in this.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:33 2003] The Seventh Hammer says, 'Do not waste your energy Innoruuk. You know they are eternally preoccupied with their trials. Surely even you understand many of these trials exist because of the hate you instill into the population of Norrath.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:35 2003] Innoruuk says, 'Do not mock me! I shall seek you out after this is done and my power is restored. You will not be so smug after our next meeting.'
[Mon May 19 02:13:38 2003] With a sudden jolt the wall comes into crystal clear focus.
Past the next door we found ourselves in this area:
And soon we saw this message:
...what?!? Three more hours?
But we continued anyway. We fought wave after wave after wave of generated mobs. After an hour, we saw this:
The waves included lots of interesting mob types, of which I didn't take pics of except for this one:
Each boss had a death message that hinted that it was serving some particular diety. Again, lore brings the encounter to life. It means something more than an unending series of polygons that must be destroyed before loot can be obtained. Still, this section could use a bit more, perhaps a visit from the gods themselves in a nice cut scene fashion, or maybe it if didn't require sitting in one spot for 3 hours...
With more than an hour left, at 2am PST, we saw this message:
Remember it was nearly midnight PST when the first phase ended, then an hour after that before the second phase ended, starting the third phase. The server will go down before the event time is up.
Down to the wire, 15 minutes before the patch...we won again:
And more lore!
[Mon May 19 04:45:40 2003] There is a brief reprieve as the elemental behemoth ceases its onslaught. It teeters, then comes crashing down. The force of impact is tremendous, shaking what you imagine to be the entire plane.
[Mon May 19 04:45:43 2003] Terris Thule says, 'I am certain my warriors will have no problem holding back any intruders, but I have my doubts about the other armies.'
[Mon May 19 04:45:46 2003] Vallon Zek says, 'Surely you jest. Your armies better than the regiments from our realm?'
[Mon May 19 04:45:49 2003] Tallon Zek says, 'There is no question that our warriors of War and Tactics will be the backbone of the army.'
[Mon May 19 04:45:52 2003] Saryrn says, 'It is no matter anyways, no mortal could ever ascend to this place. These precautions are unnecessary. Bringing them here was a waste of time.'
[Mon May 19 04:45:55 2003] Energy swirls rapidly through the portal causing it to glow brightly with power.
We then reached the promised land. Four gods, regaining their power in an immense chamber:
I'd put some close up screenshots of the gods here, but...the models are identical to the current day versions of the gods. Tomorrow, with luck, we'll see how they compare in combat.
I say "with luck", because prior to this point, in the timed areas of the zone, anyone that was LD for very long was ported directly to the graveyard. CoH and summon corpse do not work anywhere in the zone. Any player that goes LD, or camps...is gone for good. There is no catching up, and there is no recovery. LD or camp, and your chance to participate is gone.
Because of the patch (and also because it was 3am PST, 5am my time), we were forced to camp. It remains to be seen where we will be when we log in.
Hint for those that missed it: look closely at the mask and gauntlets above...