Briarwood Equestrian

[CLOK]

There's talk floating around about some of the Briarwoods - the Hillfolk family famous for their skill at breeding and training horses - being scheduled to arrive soon in the Northern Lost Lands to offer horse sales, grooming, training, equestrian supplies, and possibly other horse-related services or goods. While there should be something for people of most any financial standing, some of the finer goods and services are likely to be quite expensive, so start saving up that riln now in order to be prepared!

[Kiyaani]

Thanks for the heads up!

[jilliana]

Thanks so much for letting us know ahead of time. Certainly looking for it! :)

[CLOK]

Just a reminder for those who are interested in this merchant: Save up that riln. There's still time.

Services will include:

- Purchase of horses, both war-trained and non. There will be some breeds (nouns) of horse that aren't normally available in the game.
- Horse grooming (updating the horse's appearance or description).
- Aesthetic accessories such as saddles, bridles, stirrups, and so on. These will have no mechanical effect, and are just for appearances. Sorry, no horse armor.
- Endurance Training: Increase your horse's stamina, letting it ride further or battle longer before becoming tired. (Once per horse, no exceptions)
- Maneuver Training: Increase a horse's Dodge capabilities. (Once per horse, may be possible to get more training at future merchants.)
- Battle Training (Warhorses only): Increase a horse's Melee and Brawling (affecting kicks, etc.) capabilities. (Once per horse, may be possible to get more training at future merchants.)

[Jabril]

Any chance of getting some horses trained to use barding? I can't afford a warhorse yet but it would be nice to have something to save up for.

[CLOK]

Unfortunately, this merchant/event can't do anything related to horse armor, including adding the ability for a horse to wear armor. Sorry!

[Kiyaani]

If anyone wants to get their horse description altered at this event and would like some help or ideas please feel free to shoot me a personal message either here on the boards or on discord. I'm happy to offer some suggestions based on your ideas, a picture, or a theme. It would help to have something in mind prior to the event.

[Dorn]

Unfortunately, this merchant/event can't do anything related to horse armor, including adding the ability for a horse to wear armor. Sorry!

Can you repair it at least if it is damaged?

[jilliana]

Unfortunately, this merchant/event can't do anything related to horse armor, including adding the ability for a horse to wear armor. Sorry!

Can you repair it at least if it is damaged?

There'd be some stinkin' happy folks around if this could be done. :)

[CLOK]

As stated, this merchant/event won't be able to do anything related to horse armor at all. Sorry!

[Dorn]

An idle hope, guess I misread your response (or read too little into it). Ah well. Still really looking forward to this!

[Zahrah]

Any idea when this might be happening? I'm just curious!

[Dakhal]

I'm quite eager to see it happen, and worried that it will whilst I'm at work and waste my effort in preparing for it. Been a long time since I looked forward to something!

So I'm quite curious as well, so I can try to schedule for it.

[CLOK]

There's been some codework going on to accommodate some things with this merchant. It'll hopefully be ready by next weekend. The NPC merchants should be around multiple times and days to try and ensure everyone has a chance to partake of the services that require a GM/NPC be present. We'll also announce on Twitter/Facebook when the merchants are around to perform said services.

[Lun]

I noticed that the list says once per horse, not once per character. Could I get endurance raises on two horses from the same character, then? For example, one on my warhorse, another on my riding horse.

[CLOK]

I noticed that the list says once per horse, not once per character. Could I get endurance raises on two horses from the same character, then? For example, one on my warhorse, another on my riding horse.

Correct. You can get training for as many horses as you can pay for, but each horse can only receive endurance training once.

[Zahrah]

There's been some codework going on to accommodate some things with this merchant. It'll hopefully be ready by next weekend. The NPC merchants should be around multiple times and days to try and ensure everyone has a chance to partake of the services that require a GM/NPC be present. We'll also announce on Twitter/Facebook when the merchants are around to perform said services.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay! Can't wait!

[CLOK]

This clearly didn't happen last weekend. Apologies for that. What's going to happen is that over the next week or two, merchants will occasionally announce being available to train and/or groom horses, at which point PCs can bring their horses over for service for as long as the NPC is around. A more general area with some off-the-shelf wares (horses and horse accessories) will be open 24/7 for a week or so, giving everyone a chance to partake at their leisure.

[Dorn]

Thank you for the update! And no worries on the weekend. Stuff happens, and you did say there was going to be warning if it did! Guess we were just hopeful. Cause. HORSIES! *prances around pretending to ride one*

[Zahrah]

This clearly didn't happen last weekend. Apologies for that. What's going to happen is that over the next week or two, merchants will occasionally announce being available to train and/or groom horses, at which point PCs can bring their horses over for service for as long as the NPC is around. A more general area with some off-the-shelf wares (horses and horse accessories) will be open 24/7 for a week or so, giving everyone a chance to partake at their leisure.

Yay! I can't wait to see the off-the-shelf stuff :)

[Edoras]

Will the NPC merchants be available during, or after, the general area where horses can be bought?

In particular, will we be able to both buy horses from the event and also train those same horses?

[CLOK]

Will the NPC merchants be available during, or after, the general area where horses can be bought?

Sporadically during. Occasionally they'll show up at the pavilion where the off-the-shelf-stuff is sold and offer services.

In particular, will we be able to both buy horses from the event and also train those same horses?

Yep.

[Edoras]

*Furiously resumes logging*

[Zahrah]

If anyone needs help with horse-y descriptions for the grooming stuff, just let me know! I own horses IRL and uh... I sometimes write gud. Depends on the level of caffeine in my system.

[CLOK]

The Briarwood Equestrian Pavilion has been set up. It's by the ruins of Valeria, right there at the crossroads, in an attempt to have a fairly central location.

Horse accessories:
- are mostly customizable while ordering
- are completely aesthetic and confer no mechanical benefit or function
- the worn variety can be put on a horse via PUT <item> ON <horse>
- can be removed from a horse via REMOVE <item> FROM <horse>
- (cannot be worn by PCs - yes, we thought of that)
- were QCed but something may have slipped past, so please use the BUG command to report any bugs you experience

Riding horses:
- are not war-trained
- have a little more energy than typical horses
- can be trained ONCE by an NPC during a GM-controlled event to have more energy just like any other horse, and will have the same total as any energy-trained horse, so don't feel the need to replace your trusty horse with one of these to try and get a higher total energy since it won't make a difference

War horses:
- start with significantly higher skills than typical war horses
- are a good deal costlier because of this

NPC groomers and trainers:
- will not be showing up tonight, but will occasionally pop in over the next week or so and will be announce via Facebook/Twitter

We hope you all enjoy the horse stuff! A few new accessories may still be added as we think of them.