Short story is still incoming. Mum's muse is being stubborn again.
Welcome to the Nights of the Dead, the EQ2 event that celebrates the fall holiday and things that go bump in the night (and sometimes during the day, too!). This world event will run from 12:01 am PDT on October 5 through 11:59 pm PDT on November 1 on ALL servers*. (*The decision has been made, as of Sept. 24, to also give Fallen Gate the full event.)
New goodies for this returning event include 1 new event reward, 1 new quest reward, several new buyables, several new crafted items, and 1 new collection.(Trust me, even with no new quest this year, there is plenty for the completionists to do with this event. :D) Oh, and one REALLY smart goblin learns to count to high numbers.
Are you unfamiliar with this world event? You may want to check out the new "NotD Overview" that I have put together for added details regarding the event as well as links to past versions of the event.
That handy-dandy "a Nights of the Dead merchant" in every city crafting society area has yet another recipe book to sell you this year. Celebrations of the Dead XI, which can be scribed at artisan level 2, will cost you a whopping 60s 90c! Not bad for 18 new recipes, eh? :D
And no, the chandelier and sconce are not light sources.
Ancient Lxanvom Sarcophagus |
Arcane Mistmoore Chandelier |
Autumnal Darkleaf Mound |
Autumnal Darkleaf Tile (building block) |
Bubbling Chalp Cauldron |
Crimson Corpse Cover |
Dalnirian Sarcophagus |
Dalnirian Sarcophagus Lid |
Grim Unlit Candelabra |
Gruesome Bone Brazier |
Haunted Piano Bench (floats) |
Haunted Rocking Chair (rocks) |
Oversized Autumnal Globe |
Small Wyrm Tooth |
Square Autumnal Window Pane |
Stoker's Dark Dram |
Young Autumnal Darkleaf Sapling |
Young Autumnal Shrubbery |
Visit that same "a Nights of the Dead merchant" in every city crafting society area to obtain the following new buyables. Other than the illusions, all of the prices below cost candy corn.
Nights of the Dead Aviak Stormrider Costume 1s 20c |
Nights of the Dead Hobgoblin Costume 1s 20c |
Festering Flesh Cube (Heirloom housepet) 25 candy corn |
Gallows Oak 10 candy corn |
Petamorph Wand: Contagion 5 candy corn |
Petamorph Wand: Spectral Executioner 5 candy corn |
Tall Autumnal Window Pane 10 candy corn |
Troubled Tome (Heirloom housepet) 25 candy corn |
Wide Autumnal Window Pane 10 candy corn |
Witherbone Faun Mask (Heirloom) 50 candy corn |
Wizard's Attack 10 candy corn |
Skittering Spider Scare Eggs* 15 candy corn (*Special Effect, see below) |
Blightblaze Frightmare 300 candy corn |
|
Cloak of the Witherbone Faun (Heirloom, 30 candy corn) |
*The "Skittering Spider Scare Eggs" description says "These egg sacs are sure to hatch on unsuspecting visitors in your haunted mansion." What this means is that black spiders will skitter across the screen at random times when you are in a home that has them placed. This effect is random enough that I don't have a screenshot of the effect to show you.
The "Broken Mirrors" quest that was added last year has one new reward option, for a Haunted Piano. It does not actually play music, but it floats and bobs!
Who doesn't want to be a grave digger? Right? Um ... guys?
While it may not be your top job choice in the real world, gravedigging for this event can be some low-key fun. The first thing to do, if you think you *might* have done the digging on a specific character in the past, is to use the inventory search to see if you have a gravedigger's shovel somewhere in inventory. (Search on "shovel" using the little magnifying glass icon on your character sheet and see if it shows up.) If you don't have one, go search up a new one while this event is running. It sparkles nicely on the ground in various cities, usually near some of the gravestones.
Make sure the shovel is in your weapon appearance slot and find yourself some graves in/around various cities and click to dig. (Maj'Dul and the docks of Thurgadin also have diggable graves.) In addition to various ghosts with whom you can interact (one quest ghost, one hide-and-seek ghost, and several that you can either fight or have celebrate), there are some critters that will attack you, and ... prezzies!
The presents open up into various items from last year, PLUS a new housepet, and a new collection.
Charcoal Baby Dragon Clothwork (Heirloom housepet) |
The collection, Grave Memories, is a 12-piece collection looted from the gifts that can drop while gravedigging. While the collection drop rate was low during our initial testing, Kaitheel listened to our testing feedback and made tweaks to both the drop rate of the gifts and the drop rate of the collection items within the gift. (Both were increased significantly.) Reward for the level 20 collection is a Satin Lined Coffin Bed.
Many of us have been there. You know what I mean. You trot up to Grabby Gigglegibber with a bag FULL of candies from several pony runs and assorted killing sprees, and he will only convert 20 at a time into candy corn. Several minutes later, you are still spam hailing him to convert a couple thousand candies into candy corn. Click. Click. Click.
I know it is hard to believe, but someone edumacated him well since last year's event, and he can count up to 1000 now! He can count to 1, 5, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 to make your candy hand-ins much easier. It sort of makes me wonder if he is truly a Gigglegibber goblin, or if it is just a clever disguise. I mean, really, he's like the Einstein of goblins now!
Ocarinah has put together videos that give us a closer look at this furniture - both a normal version and a silent version. As always, thanks for the help, ma'am!
There are quite a few quests and achievements for this event, and Casdoe from Maj'Dul has kindly updated her quest tracker in XLS form as well as her PDF version of the tracker. Thanks!