We are getting ready to open up the Return to Black Swan Castle Quest for private runs. Please be aware that due to issues with automation that arose during the runs in March and April, we have made several adjustments:
•Removed most combat, allowing grouping for different-level adventurers
•Replaced tiered success a flat success/not success and regrouped prizes accordingly
•Increased time limit to five hours so all can finish without feeling rushed
•Adjusted random factors for some of the puzzles
•Added a "quit early" option for claiming a prize

Private runs can be requested by emailing quests@simutronics.com. If you would prefer public runs set up, name a date and time and we'll see about getting it up on the website. Your time slot may not be available if there is another run scheduled, even if the participants do not need the full five hours to complete the quest.

Some of the prizes have been adjusted or removed. The two prize tiers are listed below. Please keep in mind that the script owners have the right to pull their items, so some may be removed or more may be added as runs progress.

Success:

Prize	Purpose
Crimson kelyn dagger	Fully unlocked five-times enchanted Siolan dagger; Enhances Ambush and Combat Maneuver Bonuses
Troll-arm scabbard	Squishy troll-arm scabbard that can hold one weapon; Enhances Health Recovery
Troll-leg backsheath	Squishy troll-leg backsheath that can hold two weapons; Enhances Health Recovery
Thick leather blackjack	Four-times enchanted blackjack with knockout flares
Golden skull ring	Skull ring that attunes to a container to open and shut it; Enhances Perception
Onyx feather brooch	Gold-ring holder with feather messaging; Enhances Max Mana and Mana Recovery
Drakar short sword	Fully unlocked Thousand Cuts short sword; enchanted six times with fire flares
Vultite longsword	Four-times enchanted expander weapon -- switch between a dagger, a short sword, and a longsword!
Orange yarn mugwump	Disk Transformer with 500 charges; results in oil-coated disk
Marble prayerbeads	Unattuned prayerbeads; Enhances Religion Lore
Pouch-lined harness	An unlocked Cidolfhus bandolier (12 verbs) with increased capacity
Black linen harness	Katana sash with special Black Swan Castle loresong; Enhances Edged Weapon Bonus
Spiked mace	Unlocked Iasha white ora weapon with five enchants
White ora maul	Unlocked Iasha white ora weapon with five enchants
Grey wolf fur satchel	Fully unlocked Cidolfhus bundling skins and fur bag; Enhances First Aid and Survival Bonuses
Orase quarterstaff	Six-times enchanted quarterstaff with a hidden four-times enchanted katana inside
Shimmering violet orb	One-use orb allows you to learn from your experiences faster!
White satin gown	Nalea gown with Black Swan Castle loresong
Black ruic longbow	Four-times enchanted somewhat-sighted longbow; Enhances Perception, Ranged Weapon, Dexterity, and Ambush Bonuses
Mykalin scale gloves	Five-times enchanted unarmed combat gloves with Unbalance flares
Carved wooden troll	Figurine that allows you to speak (but not understand) Trollish
Two-toned stone bead	Fully unlocked hair bauble; includes braid and ponytail options
Troll spine	Drop into your existing non-enhancive armor to add Health and Stamina Recoveries
Loose white robes	Five-times enchanted robes with fire flares and fur lining
Black leather backpack	Reduces encumbrance once per day; max light and deep
Troll flesh pin	Infuses health once per day; Enhances health recovery
Troll magus fetish	Infuses mana once per day; Enhances mana recovery

Not Success:

Bloodjewel ring	Enhances Harness Power, Mana Recovery, and Spiritual, Mental, and Elemental Mana Controls Bonuses (*)
Chicken foot	Enhances Stalking & Hiding and Ambush (*)
Troll finger pendant	Enhances Dodging, Agility, and Intuition bonuses (*)
White leather gloves	Enhances Spell Aiming Bonus and Elemental Air Lore Ranks (*)
Black swan charm	Enhances Mana Recovery (*)
White swan charm	Enhances Max Spirit and Spirit Recovery (*)
Horned pegasus charm	Enhances Stamina Recovery and Constitution Bonus (*)
Wolverine fur scarf	Enhances Stamina Recovery and Survival Bonus (*)
Green alligator bag	Self-closing large capacity belt-worn container
Kitten satchel	Self-closing large capacity belt-worn container
Troll hide bag	Large capacity belt-worn container; Enhances health regeneration
Shimmering green orb	One-use orb allows you to learn from your experiences faster!
Imflass close helmet	Heavy critical padded helm with locking faceplate; Enhances Multi Opponent Combat Ranks, Combat Maneuver Bonus, and Strength Bonuses (*)
Black felt hat	Enhances Dexterity and Perception Bonuses (*)
Orc hide hip-satchel	Large capacity belt-worn container; has a skull clasp
Black leather gloves	Trick gloves; Enhances Disarming Traps, Picking Locks, and Pickpocketing Bonuses (*)
Brown silk gloves	Ensigiled gloves; Enhances Spell Aiming Bonus and Mana Recovery (*)
Silvery imflass lance	Five-enchant weapon that telescopes between a cudgel and a lance; Enhances Multi Opponent Combat Ranks & Strength and Agility Bonus (*)
Gold and ruby bracelet	Enhances Logic bonus
Cloth-of-vaalin gown	Fully unlocked metallic gown

*Prizes marked with (*) will attune to the winner and have enhancives that will burn out quickly

~Vanah

Saves me 15 bucks, took out everything I was interested in. Why am I not surprised?

It also means that all the people that wanted to go, but were not fast enough to sign up, don't even get a shot at the items removed (armor). At least I got to go, even if the Castle spawned unbeatable trolls, and stopped us from using magic.

Disappointed.

I would rather have the original quest (minus the bugs) and possibility of good rewards than a watered down version with mediocre rewards. As far as I know, only one group managed to get to tier 6 in the initial runs, though a few groups were close. If the reason for restructuring the prize tiers is because you made it easier to complete, then I think most people would prefer harder with a chance at nicer rewards. If, on the other hand, you are worried about flooding the game with HCP fusion armor as people figure out the quest, I'm sure there are other ways of preventing that.

Just my opinion.

We all knew that armor was going to get removed. This is probably the right timing on it since they had time to crunch data from the first 8? runs or so.

The prizes don't seem too bad to me. I've read the list of things removed that were big ticket items and thats life. Remember that this is a Quest and meant to be entertaining and fun. For $15 I think some of the expectations for rewards were well out of line.

Me too!

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A red-hulled airship stained in tears crashes into Solhaven with a "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" sound.

Don't agree with the new prize structure. But in standard simutronics fashion they get your hopes up and then rip it out. I have no doubt that people will still do the quest, but you've probably lost a lot of people wanting to do it multiple times for good armor for multiple characters.

Yes there would have been some people that ran it just to sell the items they won. Who cares? The inflation in this game is crazy. Think about if you started a completely new character with zero help from any of your characters. You would struggle to get gear over 5x.

Just put the items back in.

Alkire





Alkire

<<<but you've probably lost a lot of people wanting to do it multiple times for good armor for multiple characters.>>>

Isn't that the point, really? Do we really want people doing the quest multiple times for all their characters, just to get "good" armor? Shouldn't the point of the quest be the quest?

<<<You would struggle to get gear over 5x.>>>

In all the time since I started playing over 17 years ago, I have never had anything over 6x. I have exactly three 6x items, none of which are weighted, sighted, padded, or anything other than lightened. I have a few 5x things, and I'm slowly working on more. Everything else is standard 4x or below, most of it off-the-shelf. This is not to say I don't have some wonderful artifacts. I certainly do. All I'm saying, is that nobody "needs" anything above 4x or 5x. I understand the desire for highly enchanted gear, but not the expectation for it. Getting gear over 5x is not meant to be easy or commonplace.

I appreciate the disappointment some players may feel from the change to the prize structure. But the armor was already a top tier item, so in order to get it, most players would need to have advance knowledge of the quest (or just be that good, or lucky). In any event, it wasn't meant to be a coin machine where you pay your money and out pops a killer suit of armor.

~ Heathyr and friends

>>How long do you think it would take to get 5x gear (or similar claid's, FGB etc....) starting from lvl 0 with no donations from other accounts or characters? I don't think any of my characters could afford it for a LONG time.

lets see ... in game for nearly twenty years, level 70, and Clunk will soon (hoepfully) have his first weapon with 5X or over.

Got one set of 5x shield and one set of 5x half-plate though, years ago.




Clunk

(Buy your swords at CBD weapons in Zul Logoth.)

<<<I appreciate the work that Vanah did and the labor of love that it takes to overhaul Black Swan Castle, but the factors that decide whether or not I want a ticket have changed, period.>>>

I can understand your point of view. And actually, I thought the tiered system was pretty neat, as well as some of the prizes. It's just not my personal motivation for wanting to do the quest. As you said, different strokes and all that. I still think the prizes are pretty fantastic, honestly, and it certainly won't discourage me from trying again sometime. The Black Swan quest was, in all seriousness, one of the coolest things I've done in Gemstone in quite some time. My group would probably think I'm crazy for saying so, but even though we got stuck at the second tier, I enjoyed every minute of it. :)

~ Heathyr and friends

Got some questions on these items:
Vultite longsword Four-times enchanted expander weapon -- switch between a dagger, a short sword, and a longsword!
Orase quarterstaff Six-times enchanted quarterstaff with a hidden four-times enchanted katana inside
Q)Can these be further enchanted, weighted, permablessed etc... How would it work? I'd assume that the entire weapon goes up 1x per sucessful enchant so the quarterstaff would move 7x (though you'd have to win a service or PP's to enchant the Katana)

Black linen harness Katana sash with special Black Swan Castle loresong; Enhances Edged Weapon Bonus
Q) What are the stats on the bonus? Is it permanent or does it require BP's to recharge?

Troll spine Drop into your existing non-enhancive armor to add Health and Stamina Recoveries
Q) What are the stats, re-charge costs and is can you remove it to drop in another set of armor?

Did this again yesterday with an awesome group. It's been a while, I had forgotten how much fun it was and how nifty a lot of the prizes were. Had a great time, and my sailing badge went up a notch (hah).

I signed up for it shortly beforehand -- since I had time to do it -- but hadn't logged out, didn't realize I needed to do so for it to "register" (lesson learned!)... but GM Zoelle [I think I spelled that right] was awesome enough to help with that.

Thanks again! :)

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"Never could I breathe love if I did not first learn to inhale a little bit of chaos."
- Christopher Poindexter

The quest came out before Wyrom added the auction-level tier. The prize sign was updated when it was pointed out last year and currently says:

Pouch-lined harness

An unlocked Cidolfhus bandolier (12 verbs) with increased capacity

Please go by the prize sign available in the tent, and not by krakiipedia, if you want the most recent information!

~Vanah

if you want to email me the prize list I can update the 'pedia in the next week

I think it was really just the one item -- like Vanah said, the bando spiffing-up was added after the prize list was formed so it was fully unlocked at the time, but now there's a "more uber-unlocked" form (which is pretty sweet)... just a minor thing, but the wording above better reflects that now too, so thanks for updating that!

I totally love this quest by the way, and I'll say yet again: I think the prizes are boss, so kudos to someone[s] for coming up with them... oh, and whoever thought up the various puzzles and designs should get a gold star, as well.

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"Never could I breathe love if I did not first learn to inhale a little bit of chaos."
- Christopher Poindexter