CLOK BBS

Octum is nearly upon us! WoooOOooOOoooOOooo! For anyone not already aware of what this means, here is what to know, expect, and be ready for ...

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- General Octum lore can be found by typing HELP OCTUM in-game or checking the wiki article under the same name.

- The roads will be occupied by spooky spirits when the sun is down, called up by the Octum Wraith. If you linger near them they are likely to become agitated and potentially dangerous, so it's best to just keep on moving! These mobs aren't particularly dangerous mechanically and can be easily walked away from, and are meant to be more thematic flavor than significant threat. That said, it's an especially bad idea to idle AFK out on the roads during Octum!

- It is possible to charm-seek for Octum charms, trinkets, and treats! This can be done once per applicable room per day (resets at midnight MST). Wear an Octum costume, hold an open container in your hand, and use the CHARMSEEK command in rooms on the streets of town to participate. Some handouts are edible, some have minor mechanical uses, some are simple trinkets, and some may be STUDY-able for some lore! (This is essentially our in-world equivalent of trick-or-treating.) There are also a few rarer items that some lucky charmseekers might receive!

- Costumes can be purchased at the Grim Grisly Guises tent which has been set up at the entrance of the festival site at Barrow Hill which is accessible even before the festival grounds proper are opened. Most costumes will conflict with a lot of other apparel - don't forget about the OUTFIT command!

- The Octum Festival will open tonight at midnight server time (MST) at Barrow Hill, with various shops and a few little simple automated games/contests just for fun and flavor.

- To get to Barrow Hill, a trail can be followed (including with the TRAVEL command) off the road a couple leagues northeast of the fork north of Shadgard. Road signs will be put out at midnight to help people find it.

- If you're on the road and hear the sound of frantic galloping hoofbeats accompanied by mad, malevolent laughter, you are advised to run!

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It's been very busy getting CLOK: Reawakened going, but we hope to add a bit more to the festival over the month as time permits and inspiration strikes. Any additions will be announced here in this thread.

Omgomgomgomgomg!

I'll be sure to check everything out once I'm free this afternoon, including guiding those unfamiliar to the game map to the festival grounds. It's a blast to see the festival running this early, regardless of what we can have available.

You're awesome omg!

Also everyone, keep your torches!:)

P.S. The low-effort budget bedsheet ghost costumes won't exactly impress anyone when you're out charmseeking, and may reduce your luck a bit when it comes to what kinds of items you receive. Penny-pinchers be warned! Other than that though, costume prices don't affect charmseeking luck. Get whichever one you like best!

Bring back the confetti poppers

Also, I liked that we could charmseek in the mummers camp before. Is that something we'll be able to do again?

Has studying things been changed at all? On cogg, we needed a portfolio, which I don't think are available now, and then you had to go to the library which no longer exists. It also gave xp. I'm just wondering if it's been changed to fit clok and if not, if it will be at some point. If it's planned for the future then I'll just hang onto the studyable things.

Thanks for this! I know there's a lot to do.

I wish there were friendly churchy costumes! I feel like most if a church person wore it would be frowned upon, but maybe my perception is wrong? Might go with the scarecrow one though, it's kind of funny! Does it take a full costume to charm seek or will the masks work too? I did like one of the masks for my monk!

More costume ideas that might make the church folk feel better.
Pumpkin Costume and not just a pumpkin head on a scarecrow!
Any assortment of animal costumes, cat, coydog etc.
How about a farmer one.
Tree costume or flowers/other things of nature?

Updates!

Legacy costumes should now work for charmseeking and should now all be worn in the costume inventory slot. (Though I might have some of the goofier ones have a chance for residents to view them as not respecting the tradition's lore and refuse to hand out a charm as a result.)

When sitting/kneeling on the prayer mats, they will disappear with the character and return with them on next login, just like bedrolls.

Re: Charmseeking in the Mummers' Camp: Good call, they're the type of people that love this kind of stuff. It's now charmseek-able.

Re: Studying lore items: Oops, I knew I'd forgotten something. A library has been added to Shadgard Town Hall, and it and the Corvus Citadel library now both function as places to STUDY (and purchase) field research portfolios.

Re: Churchy-friendly costumes: I'm trying to keep the costumes on-theme to the event's traditional lore, which is people dressing up as nethrim to try and fool the Octum Wraith into passing them by. While there are certainly some that wouldn't be the most desirable or tasteful for churchies to wear, there are others that would be fine given the traditions being observed.

Remember that the Monks and Templar aren't completely anti-nethrim: there is room for peaceful coexistence with those that aren't problematic, it's just the hostile and harmful ones that are a problem. The scarecrow costume is a good choice representing a type of nethrim that has a history of showing it can be non-problematic, and even diplomatic and cooperative with the good people of the Lost Lands! Off the top of my head, I can also think of examples of a phantom, skeleton, mummy, revenant, and skeletal knight that were non-"evil" nethrim in the game's history (actual gameplay, not just lore).

Feeling a little weird or uncomfortable about it at first glance is definitely understandable, because churchies are so often fighting against these types of creatures. On the other hand, people seeing Churchies dressed up as some of them during this event might inspire some educational conversations where the churchies can explain to others what I've said above: That they're not just blindly blasting all nethrim without question, but willing to consider every situation and be potentially accepting of the idea of having some friendly and non-harmful nethrim neighbors in this crazy world we've all found ourselves in.

I'll still try to think of some additional less-typically-scary-and-harmful nethrim costumes to throw in, though!

P.S. No, masks don't count as charmseeking costumes: it does have to be a full costume.

Thanks for clarifying. Is this lore of these cases documented somewhere? I feel that would be a huge help with roleplay.
Thank you as always for helping us play and have fun!

This is awesome, thank you!

In case you missed it in my last reply, I did just verify that studying is still giving exp. I'm not really sure what it could do instead, but just FYI. Cool to be able to do this now though. Also yay for more charmseeking places!

Why is the festival not charmseeking friendly! I can see a festival loving this as a tradition!

A new little shop, Back in the Ground, has been set up in a plain canvas tent in the southwest corner of the festival grounds. They're selling iron ammo of various kinds and some gun sheaths, with optional imprints available.

ydia wrote: ↑Tue Oct 01, 2024 4:06 pm Why is the festival not charmseeking friendly! I can see a festival loving this as a tradition!

There aren't any residences at the festival grounds!

Just thought of the table with the offering bowls, for people to leave a little something for those who've passed on. I remember mentioning this a couple times on vc too. Really loved it, and would be very happy to see it brought back again whenever possible!