bug report- journal update

rosignol

rosignol

Please start a new thread in this forum describing any bugs you find. In your report, include the following:

* What you were doing:

Updating the character journal at

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/brt/wiki/campaign-web/apus-log

* What error messages (if any) did you get back? Did you get an “Internal server error”? Did it look like it worked, but none of your changes took effect?

"
Internal server error.

The server has encountered an error and is unable to fulfill your request. An automated e-mail has been sent to the development team, but we still appreciate any extra information you can give. If you have a moment, please fill out a bug report in the forums.
"

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Browser: Firefox 2.0.12 on MacOS X 10.3.9

The text I was attempting to update is below

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*On reversing the effects of consuming corrupted flesh*

I have recently been advising senior members of the Church of Morrow on the effects of consuming the flesh of corrupted ones. I feel inadequate to the task, what I know are mainly legends and warnings form my days at the University regarding the dangers the magically gifted might face. These warnings were woefully unspecific, mainly a list of what kinds of things to be wary of, what to avoid entirely, and what to burn. One of the more memorable warnings related to fighting corporeal servants of the Forgotten ones- it was stressed that their flesh should not be consumed under any circumstances whatsoever, by human, dog, or other creature. The proper means of disposal was to pile the bodies and burn them to ash, only fire could remove the taint. Old Wikilisom was so emphatic about this point that I suspected him of being a follower of Helios, but I digress... the flesh of the fallen ones carries their taint, and if consumed, would confer that taint upon others. Wikilisom was vague about the specifics, saying the exact consequences varied depending on the creature, but that whatever happened, death would be a mercy.

The problem is that one of the Inquisitors was captured and at some point consumed unclean flesh. I have placed her in suspended animation pending the discovery of a way to reverse the change. One possibility I would like to explore is finding a Permanent Shapeshifting spell that can transform a non-human into a human. Unfortunately, I can think of no source for such a spell. Humans would have no need of a spell to transform someone into a human. The Eldar have the knowledge and skill, but would view transforming themselves into a human with revulsion. I know the dwarves are skilled in enchantment, but have no idea if they have any talent with transformation of living beings.

I will research the matter in the libraries of the Order of the Golden Crucible. The magically gifted are often somewhat unconventional, it is possible that some mage had cause to try to transform non-humans into human form. I see little point to this, but someone somewhere might have thought this would be useful. The question I am concerned with does not relate to the body, but the mind- would the result be a magically transformed human, or a creature of the Forgotten Ones with the form of a human?

*The Cult of the Forgotten Ones*

Cultists are active in Five Fingers. The BRT raided an established stronghold last night in the process of recovering The Mask. They had several servitor creatures of kinds I had not seen before. The first type were small, vicious things that seemed impervious to pain, were far more difficult to kill than they should have been, and had a disturbing tendency to aim for the groin. The second appeared to be a human, but his eyes were... wrong. He attempted to parley with us, but as a general rule, harmless-looking elderly men who hang out in an underground room with walls covered with runes are invariably incredibly dangerous and should be killed as quickly as possible. I walked up to him, cast Silence, and instructed the others to kill him. Some of the others hesitated, but Toad trusted my judgment, and was able to dispatch him quickly. Like the small groinbiters, he was more difficult to kill than he should have been.

Once the 'elderly man' was dead, Fabrizio threw his body into the adjacent chamber, where it was rapidly consumed by monstrously large grub-worm creatures, and Sister Helga and I examined the runes on the wall. We eventually determined that they were prayers to the forgotten ones, and Sister Helga found suspicious cracks in the stone wall.

Back in my days at the university, I was immensely annoyed at Instructor Alacandaromos, who insisted that all students learn basic incantations from each of the elemental Colleges, and justified his reasons with long-winded, boring speeches about 'the importance of adaptability' and 'understanding the foundation of the cosmos'. At the time, I believed specialization was the optimal approach, and that learning a few magics from a variety of colleges was the sign of a dabbler, not a serious practitioner of the Art. Alacandaromos, you were right, you cantankerous old windbag.... without your insistence that I learn a few spells of the Arcana of Earth, we would have progressed no further that day, and a cult of the Forgotten Ones would be that much stronger. Thanks you you, I was able to shape the stone and open a passage to the hidden hall beyond the wall. The effort drained me- I simply must find or purchase some powerstones, or learn to make my own- and Sister Helga and I rested quietly, recovering our strength for the confrontation.

The hall led to a series of rooms. One was a living space, the others were a library and two storerooms. We were not particularly stealthy, and a man in the libary heard us, and began speaking through the door, trying to negotiate. He offered us nothing of interest. Another lesson learned- we must learn to convey tactical information via gestures. At some point, our lives will depend on not alerting our target that we are coming.

Thanks to resting in the chamber of runes, I had regained enough strength to shape the stone that held the hinges. I created a blinding flash of light on the other side of the door, and in the next moment, shaped the stone holding the door away from the hinges, causing the door to fall inward. Fabrizio and Toad rushed in, and... well, my memory fails me. The man was speaking, about what, I do not recall. I do remember that it was important. Then it was gone, and I looked to see Toad and Fabrizio standing over the man's body. Sister Helga said he had cast something that held us in place. I do not know what magic it was, it is not a spell I know, and we did not recover his spellbook.

We then explored the other rooms, finding various mundane items, a number of preserved specimens, some reference manuals, and so on- the sort of thing you might find in a low-end lab at the guildhall. No enemies to be found. Fabrizio wandered off while we searched the storerooms. Once we satisfied ourselves that there were no traps or hidden cultists, we continued deeper into the complex.

[tbc]


*House of Candles*

In the process of tracking down Utomo son of Uglor and the missing talisman, the Bell Road Troubleshooters came across a most intriguing oddity- a structure that appears to confine spirits. Like most people, I have heard tales of Necromancers of sufficient power to confine one soul in a small receptacle, but I had never imagined something on this scale.

I am at a loss to determine what it's purpose is. I will endeavor to learn certain magics that will permit me to study the structure more closely, and will then present my findings to the Order of the Golden Crucible.

As the structure is in one of the more dangerous areas of town, this study will largely consist of communicating with Jenny Lunt, who is stored in the bottom of my sock drawer. Earlier investigation revealed that some of the names of the other entities in the house were Bellik, Oris, and Hox. There are probably more, but these three are notable because Jenny thought Oris 'knew what to do', Bellik 'wanted to be in the house' and Hox is the one who tries to push people into the well.

I'll get around to it once I master Mammal Control- I suspect we will be dealing with canines before too much longer, and eventually we're going to encounter one that doesn't care for the taste of Gobber. Keeping Ano from being bitten is far better than patching him back together afterwards.

*The Mask*

The wearer of the mask is a craftsman by the name of Degratta, employed at Brill's Mask Emporium (owned by Madame Cliffson). His job was making custom masks to be worn by the aristocracy at society functions. The BRT gained access to the Emporium and was able to acquire personal items belonging to Degratta, which could be used to track him down magically. This turned out to be unnecessary, as Degratta returned to the Emporium as we were investigating.

The more militant agents disabled Mr. Degratta with minor injuries. The mask he was wearing is odd, although it does not appear to be magical. I will be examining it closely in the near future.

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I have examined the mask.

To my great surprise, it does seem to be nonmagical. I do not know what manner of mechanism allows it to function.

The mask is hollow, containing a certain amount of a drug in liquid form, which seeps through a leathery inner surface. Putting the mask on causes this drug to come in contact with the skin, allowing the drug to affect the wearer.

The drug the mask most recently contained seems to be a highly addictive perception-altering substance that amplifies the wearer's resentment and causes the wearer to abstract the resentment to society. Anyone the wearer encounters may be attacked via brutal and sadistic means, with the wearer believing his actions are justified retribution for past actions.

The mask was stolen from a ship, 'The Pink Seashell', which docked in Five Fingers roughly two years ago. I am certain there was more to the story, but Degrata was not forthcoming.

*The Necklace*

Unfortunately, this was delivered before I had a chance to examine it. All I know about it is the description, 'silver crescent-shaped medallion on a silver chain'.

Micah

Excellent bug report...

A part of the site related to searching crashed, bringing everything else down. We tweaked it to give it more memory and restarted everything, so it should work now.

I'm glad you were able to recover all your text...

rosignol

The problem is resolved, please consider the ticket closed. And speaking as one support-geek to another, thanks for taking care of it so promptly. It is appreciated.