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Our hardy carpenter disembarks his trusty rare Lindenwood cart and begins to dig around for his favorite worn hatchet, iron. "What a beautiful day to be alive.", he thought out loud to himself. As he made his way up the slope toward the forest, he had barely noticed the aged Brown bear that scurried off in to the distance. He had also barelierly even noticed the adolescent Bull run for his life in quite another direction when he stretched his hatchet out to fell the mighty overaged Walnut. It was at this moment he recalled his previous mistake with the cart, and stretched his hatchet instead to a nearby mature Cedarwood tree. Whack! A peculiar thing happened to our hardy carpenter; He had a thought! "Why are there no bird sounds?", he thoughtfully muttered, "An update perhaps?" But, alas, he would not let this immersion breaking question interfere! "No matter..." Whack! He suddenly found himself surrounded by thick fog. He was no longer sure which direction rested his rare Lindenwood cart. His vision was quickly obscured. No more horizon, no more blue sky. The darkness had found him. He heard a whisper. "Who is there?" He cried out to the dark. Another whisper came from behind him, "Come out!", he exclaimed while swinging his hatchet wildly. Now the whispers were all around him, torturing him. More and more the whispers grew louder until they turned to screams, raking his mind of its sanity! From out of the darkness, a wraith set upon him with her ghostly sword, and the carpenter's soul began to burn from within. He began to peel off the leather armor that once protected him from the wild's beasts, as he did not know what else to do. His skin felt as if it was melting away just as his soul was ablaze with the fire of Sol. The cocophony of screams pushed his mind to the very brink of reality. In the dark madness of pain and torment his fingers found his hatchet... he swung... he did not know what else to do. (end cheesy introduction) Since I comment on others S&Is, I figure I should pony up something. So enter... The Myrkur, or The Darkness (Libila's arrival has emboldened the restless ones...) This is an event similar in basic principle as a Rift, and containing some basic ideas from medieval folklore. Similar previous suggestions: https://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/63502-haunted/&tab=comments#comment-626298 https://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/138187-undead-vermin-abandoned-places-and-wild-caves/&tab=comments#comment-1415994 Other comments found here and there, but this is the bulk of what I found. - The Dark Forest. Old, creepy, and eventually deadly. A Myrk appears when certain criteria is met: Once per wurm year, a location with x number of trees growing within y tiles of one another (with a set % requiring to be of age "shriveled"), AND/OR an x number of off deed building walls that reach a set % of decay, could generate a Myrk. The former would be less likely to be "crafted" intentionally by players than the latter, but really this would come down to 2 things: Does current coding allow polling of locations like this, and if so, how many would exist on any given server? This idea originated form the meditation paths requiring "criteria" to be activated. - A Myrk forms over several days, beginning with the server wide announcement: You hear rumors of a tainted forest near Greymead. Over the next 24-48 hours it would generate fog and periodic shrieking at its location. If localized weather is not attainable at this time, the whole server could be engulfed in Fog. This would create: confusion, a desire to end it, and unending complaints in the forums followed by promised ragequits. If a traveller enters the area prior to maturation, they get a "Creeped out" debuff, and begin hearing whispers, or seeing things that aren't there. Within last 18 hours prior to maturation, small specter critters begin harassing our campers, complete with maniacal laughter. At full on poltergeist, you don't want to be there alone. Graphical effects that could afflict players on the client side are unknown to me, but lots of ideas spring to mind (indistinguishable voices, screams, hallucinations, nighttime effect while in zone, etc). -Enemies to be faced would be many we have seen before, but with a the spiffy spirit templar skin. Tower guards, trolls, goblins, bears, the deadly pheasant wraith! I have no doubt GMs and DEVs can find a multitude of things once living that would suffice. Bonus points for dying the glowy skin dark. Now here is the part where I truly reach into my deep pocket of "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about": Combat: Like our hardy carpenter, charging in with the full plate of metal and a 2 handed sword of spite, will not improve your battle prowess much. - Sorcery fairs very well against specters. Priest Spells do very well against specters. As these restless spirits cause internal damage and ignore armor, speed is your defense in avoiding the ghastly blows from ghosts. But speed is also your offense. What are you best at? Shovel? Hatchet? Mallet? Sword? Once a tool or weapon has been BLESSED, it does consistent damage, only modified by how quickly you can swing it. This is where those more knowledgable than me will point out... this tool/weapon/branch has a base speed of x, with woa would do y damage, divided by zero ... etc... etc... (but that is what needs to be discussed if this idea has any merit). Another interesting thing about specters, is they want to devour favor. They want the favor of the gods to move on from this plane. But favor has just whet the appetite of these otherworldly haunts... once that has been drained, your life force will have to suffice to satiate them. Followers might do well to lead the vanguard while favor heavy priests are seducing these ghostly beings with their favor fused smite. But what shall we do while our priests quickly run out of favor?... is what you might be asking yourself right now. Each specter's death spills the favor/karma they devoured. You must finish them off to continue finishing them off (this, too, would require more fleshing out to ensure a balanced challenge... even.. dare I say... defeat!) Another element of defense... The Ward. Wards are created by PoL Enchant. The drawback: nothing goes in... nothing goes out. My concern is an abuse of this, particularly prepping prior to battle. But... instead of ramparts... a row of enchanted grass... maybe not too bad. PoI get in on it too... they don't see hallucinations! Ending the Myrk would require casting blessed/dispel/some other neat interesting logical spell on a corrupted altar that appears after several waves have been vanquished. Sure, you could sit and milk it... but more wraiths will pour out... much stronger than before... you will eventually all die. Mwauhahahah. No loot for youuuu! And all those who participated would have this nasty head wound that would last for some time. Eventually, the Myrk would collapse under the weight of all of its evil doing. Better luck next year. Loot... loot... loot... what is there to gain from this, beyond removing what is undoubtedly not going to be accepted: Fog. Rift loot would be redundant, and well, not make sense. No bloody tomes! ok... what about Source Shards! I wonder what would happen if you dropped some in a forge, or used a chisel on it... or put it in a sandwich...