Sign in to follow this  
Madnath

The V-Files: Sleep Powder Scandal

Recommended Posts

The V-Files: Sleep Powder Scandal 

 

A lot of mail filters through the Valerie desk yearly, if each letter was a forum PM it’d be a whole 15! And yet, for some reason, this particular piece of mail caught my eye. The title was bold, and jumped out instantly. 

“GMs DEALING SLEEP POWDER AND CREATING ARTIFICIAL DEMAND ON NEW SERVER”

The full letter will not be released, however I will lay out all the evidence I have gathered during my investigation. I promise you, this scandal goes across clusters which is why it belongs as a V-File. Nowhere is safe. This post is being written from memory, for reasons that will be clear later. 

 

Evidence - Missions. Where are they?

 

On the Southern Freedom Isles, you can complete missions for the gods on Valrei. These missions will award you some sleep bonus when they are completed, making them a constant source of sleep bonus if you can take part in them. Many players use these in order to keep topped up, as is expected and intended. However, they are currently completely disabled on the Northern Freedom Isles, depriving many players of missions they could use to get some of that valuable sleep bonus for their early game grinds. This does seem fairly innocent to start with, maybe the devs just didn’t want missions to spawn and not be completed? Players have asked the GM and Dev team on a consistent basis why they are disabled, but we never get an answer that satisfies on any level.  

When this source of sleep bonus is deprived, people get antsy. They get desperate. And we will explore this fact. 

 

Evidence - Trader tax reports

 

After deciding to research the idea of sleep powder and its consumption being controlled by the staff, I decided to pull some strings with players I know to access the trader tax reports on the new servers. The six current traders have reported very low sales of sleep powder since launch, with one trader even selling a number in the single digits. I cannot give exact numbers due to the game rules, but the five other traders reported a number below 20. At this point, I felt the information could have been solid. New players don’t know the benefit of sleep powder, and old players probably didn’t feel the need to get sleep powders. PvP players probably wanted to start getting deeds prepped and towers chained, so just put the idea to the back of their minds. 

However for the sake of good journalism, I decided to press forward and ask some players questions relating to their trader use and buying habits. 

 

The case went somewhat cold here. Some players were happy to discuss the amounts of powder they bought, while others decided to pretend to be statues regardless of how many emotes I did to them. The players who did answer revealed that there was a lot more sleep powder bought than was reported by traders, but there’s always the chance these players are lying to make a fool out of me. And while it was a case for suspicion, the basis I had to question others was unsteady. 

Things would not stay cold for long. Due to my questioning, a significant breakthrough happened. 

 

Evidence - Dodgy dealings

 

During my questioning of random players I found out word made it to someone who had a significant testimony for me. In the interest of the safety of this player, I have decided to not release their name. The testimony is as follows:

“I have witnessed a GM I do not know dealing with a player buying sleep powder. It seemed the player was handing the GM coins, and the GM handed them back sacks of sleep powder from the trader, who was very clearly in on the deal. In the satchels it looked like maybe...150 sacks of sleep powder? It was hard to see, the GM modified the server time to obscure the deal as it went down.The GM vanished a few seconds after they seemed done, and the player then got on his horse and rode away. I followed from a distance, and they logged out inside a small shack I noted the location of.”

 

150 sleep powder is major news, at a whole 4.5kg in weight that translates into roughly 3 gold in cluster value. It begs the question, why is this being kept a secret? Is there a greater idea in play?

 

It was clear where this was leading me. I asked the player for the location of the shack, and after greasing their palms, I had a location to head to. 

 

Evidence - The shack

YA2weMH.png

An artist's rendition of the shack.

 


 

After a long ride to the location marked on my map, known on the Melody map as “Broccoli Hills” I finally found the shack. It was very small and nondescript from the outside, but the inside blew away any expectations I could have had. While some items seemed uninteresting, like the large stash of wheat, wheat flour, stills and ovens, tucked away in a small corner were my two smoking guns. 

A pile of unfinished sleep powder, guarded by a small squadron of boy statues. 

I knew with this evidence I had a real case to present to the playerbase, so I quickly nabbed a handful of the unfinished sleep powders and a sketch of one of the boy statues before I ran out of there like a new player after fighting a pheasant. But my work wasn’t even close to done. There is only one person I know with the mind to decorate an area with boy statues, and I knew exactly where to find him. 


 

Interrogation - Fabricant

 

An oddball even by Wurm standards, his official VEN description mentions he’ll often be found playing in the dirt, complaining at rifts, starting new projects to never be finished or even worshiping Boars. I knew that speaking to him at all was going to be a challenge, and even harder to get solid, coherent answers. 

On the way to a public slaying, I managed to stop him and ask him the first thing that came to mind. 

“Do you have any idea about the sleep powder creation shack on the Northern Freedom Isles?”

The reply was not what I was expecting. 

 "What", he then immediately farted in my direction and then danced away with a bear corpse he seemed to pull from nowhere. 

 

In some cultures, dancing can be used as a form of communication. I'm not sure if Fabricant was trying to tell me something by performing a waltz with a bear corpse. Could it have been a hint? Maybe a confession? I wasn't sure. Given the failure to get new information, I knew I didn't have time to learn the intricacies of the tango. I felt I needed to return to the shack, and gather evidence of Fabricants involvement to squeeze out some extra information. 

 

Finale

 

Upon returning to the Melody server to examine the shack yet again, it was missing. I initially thought I was in the wrong location, but upon further examination this was definitely the spot. The slopes, the landscape, everything matched perfectly. The only evidence left of the shack was the indentations on the ground from the weight of the boy statues. 

 

Wasting no time, I decided I needed to rush home, feeling uneasy at the thought of being caught snooping around. I thought I saw a white name flashing my local tab, and doors opening and closing. The thought of someone being around me didn’t cross my mind, until I realised in my own house, the evidence was now missing. This was no ordinary theft, as items like supremes weren’t taken. 

 

This is a warning to you all. There are higher forces trying to hide this information from you all, starving us all of our valuable sleep bonus. This goes all the way to the top. 

 

If I have any new developments, you’ll be sure to hear of them.

  • Like 6
  • Cat 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this