A Clew for the New
Changes

by Tobias the wizard

The installation of a new version of the MUD2 database is often accompanied by a special hum of excitement in The Land. For a short time, arch-wizzes stoically wait for the unexpected, while wizzes devise ingenious, fresh ways to tease and tantalise the mortals, whom themselves discover new Treasure, approach each mobile with unusual caution and contemplate previously unseen conundrums.

Since the previous issue of Admiral Bombow's Chronicles two new versions of the MUD2 database have been made available to players at mud2.com. Together they contain over 480 changes influencing play in The Land. The most recent version of the database, already subjected to a significant amount of play, uh-hum, beta testing, is known as "4E(36)". The changes it contains have gained the approval of our archwizzes. We can now anticipate the aforementioned special hum of excitement while the wizzes wait for the first hapless mortals to venture from the tearoom.

Clearly I don't enjoy watching players bumbling about The Land (..!), making themselves look foolish and hurting one another, so I've prepared a number of hints as to some of the changes and updates you might expect to encounter. You may have come across a few of these already, while others apply only to the newest version of the database, 4E(36).

• When quaffing potions you may find one in particular now has added flower power.
• If a player loses his magic using skills while under a spell of invisibility, he no longer loses his personality at the same time.
• If you dare, try casting a FOD spell; either on its own, or perhaps upon an unsuspecting soul enjoying a refreshment from the lower slopes of a rather splendid Himalayan plantation.
• If your own magical ability hasn't yet warmed, you can no longer seek shelter near the Land's source of immense and ancient power.
• Valetant has a softened attitude, at last realising not all magic need be offensive!
• Refreshment in a fight doesn't afford the defence it once did.
• We can no longer look forward to the stench of the dragon's singed scales drifting across The Land whenever it decides to make a tactical withdrawal from a fight.
• On the whole love should now be just a little less painful.
• If you choose a leader wisely you'll find your own progress won't be blocked.
• Cruelty to small animals, particularly in connection with woodwork, now leads to the expected result.
• Looking quickly at a creature now reveals a little less information.
• Nowadays we can expect the hunchback to be far more zealous when protecting its property.
• A number of tiny mobiles have arrived in The Land to illuminate the smaller players.
• The ten minutes given to finish up a mobile bash was obviously far too generous...
• Now you needn't run all the way to the bathroom if you had to deal with the spider unprepared.
• Noisy creatures no longer disturb players who want to sleep unsoundly.
• The magpie will cease to be quite such a menace to trinket collectors.
• You're not the only creature which would like to scoff down those wafers; what do you think happens when you feed a mobile?
• You can now express yourself in an even larger number of ways: try preaching, handstanding, flouncing, volunteering, or even gargling to reveal just four or five. While we're about it, if you're really keen for an audience, you can now proclaim your visions, declare your intentions, and intone your credo. In fact, if your listeners don't pay attention, you can now shun them, or even reject them!
• Watch your step while traversing the Wide path, and mind you avoid anything which feels unnaturally cold...
• You'll now be able to see where it is that your fellow players are gawping.
• An arch-wizard has tinkered with the composition of a certain water source.
• To find out how you're doing, and how far you've still to go, try LEVEL.
• If you need to dump an item of kit quickly, you can deposit it.
• Can't think of a pertinent piece of advice to enter in the logbook, or an apt insult to write on your foe's cardboard box? Well, you could always doodle instead.
• If you were to develop pneumonia you'll almost certainly no longer notice a cold.
• It may be just a little more difficult to activate the reset button.
• There is now a larger reward for campanology.
• Of course, it's always polite to reply to someone who talks to you.
• If a player is unable to hear you, you might try signing to them.
• You'll be able to find a fascinating read in the pine forest.
• A toy drum and a toy solider? A daisy chain and a maiden?
• Tired of your title? You can now UNSAVE it, if the time is right.
• Mortals may now band together with their chums, accomplices or other acquaintances in HOUSES...
• What was that prayer wheel for..?
• Someone very powerful has primed The Land's magic-using creatures to make more of their abilities. The afore-mentioned creatures will also take a great deal more care of their magic stamina, and one will even attempt to make a trip to the north mountain if he really needs to!
• The maiden is now a little less tolerant of the admirers who abuse her.
• It's now impossible to pass through the chestnut beamed room without first slaying its tormented inhabitant.
• You'll find your resolve strengthened against certain forced movements, if your constitution is already somewhat drained.
• You remember the harmful, heavy, glowing metal? Putting it in a container will no longer protect your from radiation sickness; oh, and don't expect any creature to pacifically receive it...
• The dwarfen king has proclaimed that his thickset dwarf guards are to offer better protection of his treasure!
• The ancient Attican carving now affords protection against more than just one form of magic.
• Any persona can now gain refreshment from the strange looking wafer, if not as much sustenance.
• The Cave of Stars will no longer provide refuge from your would-be foes.
• Mortals are no longer powerful enough to invoke the magic of teleportation when in the presence of certain creatures.
• The mausoleum's skeleton has mislaid its hunting horn.
• The hunchback has found a small hidey hole all of its own in the scriptorium.
• The Land's treasures and trinkets are now individually valued for every mortal.
• It's a great deal safer (for everyone else) if you decide to wonder the swamp when drunk.
• It's not necessarily a lost cause if your wafers are pinched by a mobile.
• You needn't wake sleeping beauties with idle chatter, try another form of conversation.
• The vampire will now go to much longer lengths to protect his magical artefacts from mortal marauders.
• Sorcerised players... you can run, but you can't hide! Mu-hahaha!
• Better take a look in the mausoleum. There's more to puzzle over.
• Try to make the most of your strange longings...
• Consider who you mock and deride.
• aWnt to let everyone know you've made a typo while speaking? Try CHANGE "aWnt" TO "Want".
• Take care of your voice; it's much easier to lose it.
• The crown is now that bit harder to find.
• Try R from the Option (H for help): prompt.
• Watch out magic users: brief forays into The Land could take their toll on your abilities!
• You'll only get one chance to read the goblins' wretchedly bad scrawl. It's better guarded, too.
• Many of the Land's creatures may try to make a run for it if they flee from you; they'll remember their dreams, too!
• Can't find the oracle? Don't despair! There's another way of finding what you're after...
• Giddee-up!

Watch out for the crocodile, the grizzly's hug, the wasp's sting and more danger besides. You needn't worry unduly though, as many of these (and other) new mobiles aren't likely to make an appearance in The Land unless there are sufficient of you to give them a good drubbing!

Now, take a restorative slurp of tea, put your best foot northwards and head into The Land. You might be wise to approach its inhabitants, treasures and puzzles with just a little extra care; you never know what might lie (or worse, be waiting!) around the next corner...