Aelis

The Three Pillars Trial — A New-Player Introduction to Knights of the Bell (Marind Bell)
Greetings, travelers of the realm!
I invite new players—and any veterans who wish to revisit the ideals of Marind Bell—to undertake The Three Pillars Trial, a short interactive quest presented by The Mosquito, Marshal of the Knights of the Bell.
The Knights of the Bell stand upon three pillars:
Knights, who defend the land through courage, loyalty and honorable judgment.
Squires, who accept trials and instruction while working toward greater wisdom.
Pilgrims, who listen to the voice of the land and seek meaning through understanding and creativity.
During the quest, you may walk any of these three paths. Each offers a different challenge and awards its own ceremonial tag description upon completion. No prior knowledge of Marind Bell is required—the quest is intended to give newer players a welcoming introduction to the land, its values and the different ways someone may serve it.
How to begin:
Travel to the clickable at Gazebo Right Front Stairs and speak the words:
Three Pillars
Choose a path, complete its challenge and save a screenshot of the ceremonial tag description shown at the end.
Three-Path Reward
Any player who completes all three pillars—Knight, Squire and Pilgrim—and sends me screenshots of all three earned tag descriptions and send written answer to Redneck in game or forum for the Pilgrim pillar, will receive an item from me as a reward.
The three ceremonial distinctions are records of quest completion and may also be placed in your papers. They are not official character tags.
There is no single path that carries Marind Bell alone. The Knight defends, the Squire becomes and the Pilgrim listens. Together, they give the Bell a voice worth answering.
When Marind Bell calls, will you answer?
— The Mosquito
Marshal of the Knights of the Bell

Jakubhi decided that enough was enough. By carefully observing the pattern of depletion, he had concluded that Ledah was using night mode to move unseen through the lands. The trail of devastation led him to the Archives for what would become their first showdown.
Standing outside the Archives building, Jakubhi called out across the deserted grassland “Show yourself, dark demon, you creature of night!”.
Seemingly from everywhere around him, a voice confidently declared “I am not here”. Acting quickly on Ledah’s mistake, Jakubhi cast movelock, pinning Ledah in place. While he could not see him, he was now certain Ledah was close by.
Ledah laughed at the attempt and continued his taunting, warning Jakubhi that he could dispel the movelock whenever he wanted. It would be folly to challenge Ledah to a straight fight, he was known both as a strong warrior and a trickster. Instead, Jakubhi had another plan.
Jakubhi stood confidently looking towards the place he believed Ledah to be and offered a simple game of dice. Best of three, the highest total would take each round. Ledah agreed not to gather water for an entire day if Jakubhi won, however demanded pure gold should he prevail. Grimacing, Jakubhi accepted, knowing that stopping the depletion mattered more than his gold.
The first round went to Ledah, who threw a far superior 6,5 over Jakubhi’s 6,3. Unfortunately, while Ledah’s faults were many, an inability to add two numbers together was not among them.
Fate changed in the second round, with Jakubhi throwing 5,4 and Ledah rolling 4,1. While Ledah cried foul and claimed trickery, both knew the dice were fair.
Tied at one round each, Jakubhi knew he had to trust in the heart of the dice. While Ledah mocked him for being a librarian he confidently threw the dice. Both came up sixes. Ledah again protested that the dice were enchanted, but threw them anyway, finally rolling 5,2.
Jakubhi took the moment to gloat, proclaiming that the Green CARD had claimed it’s victory and promising that he would meet Ledah again for another battle. However, ever the trickster, Ledah left Jakubhi something to remember him by, an enfeebling curse, before sulking off in defeat.

First things first - I have previously abused the auction for evo points, as announced.
Now that is out of the way, it has been mentioned before but the auction is open to abuse in a few ways. Those being:
"Fake" listings to obtain evo points, from both listing, bidding, and selling - bidding has already been fixed with a previous change
Maliciously setting up listings and extending deadlines to lock up other players resources
For point 1, I have attached some recent examples - see how the player repeatedly does the same auction with a short timeframe, so they can re-list it. See how they have also cunningly then put a different creature up after doing the same thing a couple of times - very subtle.

This same player then, presumably, has put up another auction, with of course a secret reserve price. They then allow the one that was not bid on by me to lapse, the Worry of Wanderes, but have repeatedly extended the ones I have - why, for what cause? I wonder.

I propose solutions to all of the above:
Cap the amount of listings someone can do to 10 per week - that seems generous
Remove the ability to set a reserve price - you can already set a starting price, that can be used as a reserve essentially, it is also, more importantly, public information
Either remove the ability to extend an auction (which is an unnecessary feature in my opinion - if it is so important to sell, re-list it) OR if an auction is extended and the reserve not met, allow the bidders to withdraw funds, including the one in the lead
For point 3, I am more in favour of removing extensions entirely, as otherwise even if the reserve is met you could still extend the deadline to lock up funds.
I'm interested to hear from people, particularly @Fang Archbane

As Chewett strode the lands watching for depletion he found himself high in the mountains of Golemus. Here he found Fang Archbane hard at work in the rain, carefully mining the rock. Their history, to Chewett’s shame, had not always been an easy one, so he approached Fang carefully, offering an apology for old grievances. It was not just an apology, but an expression of hope that they could put that behind them and move forward together.
Fang accepted the gesture in his own way, saying that words alone could not express how he felt but that he hoped his actions would show that there was no ill will between them anymore. This made Chewett smile slightly, for a moment almost forgetting why he was there.
As the rain continued to fall, the two spoke more openly than they had in many years. Fang remarked that, after his long absence, he simply wished to care for his land of Golemus. His focus was his old passion for mining, alongside tending the land and spending time among the mountains.
Lightning forked the sky, causing a brief pause in their discussion. As Chewett looked to the sky, he wondered whether these changes were natural. Never had the realm been troubled by such a long period of stormy weather.
Fang had noticed the changes too. He warned that the persistent downpours could make the mountain increasingly unstable. Then, with a rather suspicious smile, he stated that nobody would want whatever lay beneath the mountain getting loose. Chewett decided not to pry further into this comment, however, he made a note to investigate the matter in the future.

Chewett’s travels next brought him into the company of Sunfire, a prominent envoy of Loreroot. Sunfire confided in Chewett that while his Queen was away he wanted to protect the forest as best he could.
The meeting however was a welcome change from accusations and whispered talk of depletion. Here was a representative of another land, willing to speak openly, exchange news, and hear what CARD had been attempting to uncover. The pair reminisced about the times they plotted to evict the demon from the Lands of the East, and while that plot eventually fizzled out, they enjoyed themselves immensely. Perhaps that was something to resume once the depletion had been dealt with…
While Sunfire did not directly pledge loyalty to CARD, he was keen to see what could be done to reduce depletion in the land he called home.
As a final remark, Chewett quietly suggested that maybe Loreroot could benefit from a transitional monarch, someone to rule in place of a currently lost Queen, leaving Sunfire to ponder.
As he continued to wander the land, the conversations took on a more convivial tone when Sir Blut of the SoE appeared bearing a gift. His home grown bottle of bushie wine was presented in recognition of Chewett’s work with CARD. For a brief while talk of depleters and darker schemes was set aside in favour of enjoying the company.
Clouds filled the sky causing Chewett to remark to Sir Blut that the weather had been unusually tempestuous of late. The greying world brought darker thoughts, Chewett was reminded that if depletion continued, the fine wines would stop. More determined than ever he started his march towards Golemus to observe the weather from a higher vantage point.

At Champion's Challenge, when you click at the signpost to activate the challenge, the tiles (and the signpost itself) turn to this broken img thing.

Sometimes, but ability to schedule that would be nicer. This one is probably less important than the other two for me.

Another one that's been bothering me for awhile:

I often see announcements first through the Discord channel, but when I click on them to expand them I'm usually on mobile and the logged out layout for new announcements cuts off a good portion of the message making them really hard to read. A responsive layout would be a big plus there in particular!

Enabling email notifications for in-game PMs again - SMS is nice, but very few people tick the box.
Letting me mark crits as to not be saccable - although maybe the accidental sac is a feature.

Ledah had walked the lands for many years, straying into some of the darkest places and returning changed. One of the things he learnt was to channel the darker magics of the world, today he would put that to a use, however whether good or bad it would be up to the reader.
Unknown by Chewett the Gazebo of Chaos was the perfect place for Ledah to channel these darker powers. A punishment became a mistake.
Ledah stood in the centre, pinned by Chewett’s spell, and begun chanting. Here, stretching out to the five pillars of the Gazebo, he pulled together the ancient teleportation magic and perverted it. Instead of sending his body to another place it was used to resurrect his thoughts in another body.
A long dead figure stirred on the Gateway Island, filled with vitriolic hate towards CARD. All it knew is that it must deplete as much as it good. Fumbling around the land it grabbed the nearest tools and begun to deplete the land.
The punishment of Ledah became a greater threat, the depletion of the Gateway.

An 'itemlock' spell would be interesting indeed. But in my opinion, it should have a small duration, similar to its counterparts attacklock and movelock.

can't implement all now, but they are good ideas and i will do some of them.

i think we should dedicate a QoL week, where all i do is just this kind of stuff and not big features.. maybe the week after this one, you will soon see why :D

Good thread! (Reminds me of https://blog.sbensu.com/posts/friction-logs/, one of which I've been meaning to write up for MD for a while now)

A few quality of life requests of my own around the in-game inbox:
Threaded messages - would help me keep track of a conversation history better, and especially relevant to reducing clutter now that the auction house sends messages for every time I get outbid on an item.
Starred messages - let me star or bookmark the most important messages I get
Snoozed messages - let me snooze a message to a point in the future when it'll appear as a new unread message again. This would help me manage responses based on time I actually have available or more generally when the "stars align" and I can actually take action on a request.

Stepping back into combat, there are a few things I’ve noticed that I just wish were a little easier. I also think most of these could fit quite naturally into the world itself:
Rituals: Allow us to create and prepare rituals even when the target/player isn’t currently present. A ritual is something we prepare through our own will and knowledge; the person we intend to affect doesn't necessarily need to be standing in front of us while we prepare it. Premeditated murder, essentially.
Ritual presets: Let us save commonly used rituals. Think of these as personal ritual patterns (inner magic designs??) or knowledge we've already mastered, rather than having to reconstruct the same ritual from scratch every time.
Creature search: Add a search bar when selecting creatures for rituals.
Creature favourites: Please let us favourite creatures so they always appear at the top. These would essentially be the creatures we have formed the strongest familiarity with or rely upon most often.
Creature organization: Tags, filters, favourites, and sorting by things like level, rarity, age, stats, etc. Ideally this would be at the top of the creature page. A seasoned warrior, ritualist, or creature handler should be able to organize their knowledge and resources in a way that makes sense to them.
Creature grouping: Optionally group duplicates together, such as all Grasan types or all Aramors.
Recently used: Have recently used creatures/items appear near the top.

None of these would really change the mechanics or make combat easier, just more organized for new comers and fossils.
If anyone has other QoL ideas that could also make sense, I'd love to hear them.
edit: I realized a lot of the issues I have with creating rituals is if we put the drop down menu at the bottom of the creature page inside the creature ritual maker itself, it would work.

After much trudging through the land Chewett stumbled onto prime suspect number One, Ledah.
This depleter, who Death Ray and Chewett had decried across the land, stood before him. A polite conversation was never going to take place and what followed was an escalation of words.
Accusations were met with defiance, neither party wanted to stand down and every comment was followed by a more vicious reply.
Chewett demanded an end to the depletion Ledah perpetrated through the land, Ledah however was unphased and stated he would continue until his last.
Since there was no need for further words Chewett decided to show CARD was not toothless. Before Ledah could react Chewett activated an erolin device and shouted “May the punishment of the land hit Ledah”.
The first action of CARD was to banish Ledah to the Gazebo of Chaos, but in the darkness, he hatched a plan himself…

After much patient work, Chewett and Death Ray finally had what they needed: a list.
Names had been gathered, movements compared, and the marks left upon the Realm carefully recorded. The question now was what to do with it. A list hidden away in the Archives would change nothing.
Chewett had a better idea.
The Bell of Marind could call the lands together — and if the Realm was going to hear of the depleters, then it would hear their names clearly.
So Chewett and Death Ray set out. From the depths of the Archives, across the barren stretches of No Man Land, and onward towards the peaks of Golemus, they carried their accusations far and wide. Wherever they found ears willing to listen, the names of the depleters were proclaimed.
For CARD, this was its first truly public act.
And from the shadows, Ledah watched.
The coalition was no longer merely observing the depletion.
Now it was making sure everyone else was watching too.

At Champion's Challenge, when you click at the signpost to activate the challenge, the tiles (and the signpost itself) turn to this broken img thing.

Probably related:
https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29128-gwi-arrow-puzzle/

Mods, feel free to delete the following topic as it reports the same problem:
https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29108-champions-challenge-tile-effects-are-broken/

Player name: Marcorias
Player ID:  262873
Browser: Firefox
Operating System: Fedora 43
Importance: low importance
Description - What happens when the bug occurs:
In Champion's Challenge and Berserker's Way tiles are highlighted correctly on hover until you activate the puzzle, after that they dissapear (looks like some asset loading issue). Apparently, this might be globally, but I've only seen it on these two puzzles.
How to reproduce the bug:
You basically need to activate a puzzle and it happens. Based on the Discord discussion this is not browser specific and I am not alone.

What you expect to happen:

I have been thinking about a possible direction for the Caretakers, particularly in light of their historical association with death and preservation. Rather than treating these as separate responsibilities, I think they can be brought together through the idea of memory and what remains after loss.
Death in the realm is rarely permanent. People, alliances, even lands may wither only to return many years later. What is lost in the process may therefore be something subtler and more delicate: a role, a relationship, a place, a practice, a memory, or simply the way something once was.
I have proposed a new alliance statement to the Grand Duke and now I would like to make it public and hear from you. I believe this could be a good direction to move beyond the focus on death that has defined much of the Caretakers' identity for so many years.
I would welcome your thoughts, objections and suggestions. Let us see what it stirs.

As the last leader of the alliance I think that Aelis would indeed lead the Caretakers in an interesting direction, and therefore support his leadership bid.

After a long thoughtful discussion with Aelis I agree with this move and will, once a short period of public discussion occurs, put this forward to Mur to action.

I agree with this forum post.
The forum is the only place safe from people spamming for a single evo point.
That cannot stand.

The Craft: What trade or combination of trades does your creation represent?
The most noble trade - That of a Toy Maker - bringing joy to all around with such wonderful creations and games.
The Materials: What did you gather?
1x Dead Mouse, our subject to base the toy on
2x Imprinted Darks, for eyes to replace the empty sockets
1x Mechanical Heart, to replace the dead one
1x Bit of Stuffing, to pad out the hollow interior
1x Secret Ingredient, that brings it all together - a trade secret, you understand
The Creation: What are you attempting to create?
I am attempting to create a wonderful toy, a reanimated mouse - one some poor child perhaps lost, an old pet. After all, most know the pain of losing a childhood pet - not so with my marvelous creation. Spare your child the pain of losing a pet.
The Method: Why should these materials become this particular creation?
It is a coherent use for the materials, and I am a master of my craft. I usually create mirrors for people to ogle themselves in, this is much easier.
The Purpose: What is the finished item intended to do?
It is intended to be a lifelong companion - and wonderful conversation starter at dinner parties.
The Result: What did the Forge actually produce?
Stitched Mouseling with Mirror-Eyes
A palm-sized plush mouse sewn from patched cloth and pale teddy-stuffing, its small body faintly warm and softly ticking where a gear-wound heart nests beneath the seams. Two beads of swirling Imprinted Dark are set for eyes, their blurry image shifting to face whoever stands nearest. A whisper of white powder is worked into the stitchwork, and the whole toy hums with a charge it does not spend — the surge condensed into its very substance and marked upon it.

Just to add something to this.
Like Ledah mentioned combat stats don't really mean much because everything has a hard counter.
Not only that, but the differences between various characters are so great that maintaining armor would feel like a waste of time (no amount of boost a set of armor can realistically give me would overcome hundreds, thousands of percentages worth of difference in stats).
So in order to make them more useful, would it be possible to create pieces that have a non-combat focus (or at least not strictly attack/defense)? Like something that increases briskness, making it easier to gather heat, or maybe some scout garb that has an AP reduction for movement. Armor that reduces heat scars (or increases, for masochists)? A wizard cloak that boosts power and maybe grants some extra casts? Just throwing some ideas out there...

Mur asked for the community to come up with ideas for the new Primordial Pet feature, so let's see what everyone can come up with.
The main goal here is to experiment and help test the system. We have a new mechanic to play around with, so let's see what it can actually do and what kinds of combinations we can discover.
The idea is pretty open. You can use any creature, at any stage, and then decide what you want to feed the Primordial Pet to influence what comes out.
For your combination, list:
Creatures: Any four creatures you want to use
Creature stage: What stage each creature should be
What you feed it: Other creatures, ANY item, heat, or anything else you think could have an effect
Result: What do you think the Primordial Pet should become?
Don't worry too much about balance or whether an idea sounds strange. This is about experimenting. Try combinations that make sense, combinations that don't, and things that you think might produce interesting results.
The more people experiment, the more we can learn about how the system works and what is possible.
And don't forget to upvote/downvote the combinations you like. Mur might end up picking one of yours to actually use.
Let's break the system and see what happens.