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smaller

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Everything posted by smaller

  1. I thought about that possibility-- but given that the original creators of the glowing fungus were the Vahnatai, who seem to be fully adapted to cave life, and who certainly had the magical and technological means to make superior timekeeping devices, I figured it was probably unlikely that the glow fungus would dim and brighten. It's already amazing enough that they probably produce oxygen, or contribute somehow to oxygen formation in the caves. Shutting off for eight hours a night just seems TOO fantastical, lmao.
  2. Helloooo everyone, I'm here to pick your brains about an interesting logistical and cultural puzzle that I have not been able to find anyone having ever mentioned in the forums: How would they tell time in Avernum? 1) The humans and nephil would certainly still have their biology ruled by a circadian rhythm. Humans would need 6-8 hours of sleep a day; nephil, unknown. 2a) Human society would need some way of understanding when it was "day" and when it was "night" for the purposes of commerce. i.e., you need to buy things? Well then you'd better be able to tell when the shopkeeper was awake and doing business. 2b) Obviously this doesn't really come up in the games. Towns are always active for the player's convenience (and Jeff's too I'm sure). 3) Metal and skilled craftsmanship for mechanical clocks would be nonexistent. Sundials would be pointless. Nothing that relies on tracking celestial bodies could function in Avernum without magic. 4) Candle clocks? Beeswax is obviously nonexistent, and I don't see the skinny cave cows, or muscular lizards, really providing enough fat to make candles affordable. Bits of glowing lichen in a jar must provide most of the usual indoor light. 5) In other fantasy subterranean settings like D&D's Underdark, you have heat clocks for creatures with infra-vision in the dark, but that concept isn't going to work for humans in Avernum. 6) Ultimately, a water clock seems like the obvious solution, and you would expect that in order for a community to run smoothly, there would need to be one in a central location in a town, but also one at each gate or entry point, so that travelers and caravans would know the local time, since, clearly, calibrating these clocks to an "Avernum Standard Time" long-distance without wasting a precious mage's scarce time on the task would be otherwise impossible. Maybe one of the ubiquitous non-speaking town guards is tasked, during business hours, of tooting the time out on a horn all day long? Essentially, I've been wondering about this little cultural/flavor question for a good while now. I have not turned out to be creative enough to come up with anything unique for Avernum. I'm really curious to hear if anybody else has thought about this, and what your thoughts are!
  3. Solberg still gives me the spell rewards for the slimes and roaches, at any rate.
  4. Ooh.... Yeah, I did after stealing the package for Paulo. >.> Whoops. That hadn't occurred to me. If I go back, kill it again and talk to Anaximander, can I figure the game will go on without a hitch?
  5. I've played up through destroying the Giant/Trogg barrier, and I realized that I had not seen the rune back in the Alien Slime cavern (I have the scales and the crystal shards, though). I went back to go get it, and there were slimes in the lower caves, and the five little green pools were alive again (though killing only one of them instead of all five would show the dialogue that tells you you can get through to the Alien Slime). The Alien Slime was alive again! I killed it a second time, and to see what would happen I went to Anaximander, who gave me the congratulation speech over again. I realize that it's entirely possible that I've tripped something I shouldn't have while messing around with the character editor (what can I say? I hate not having items identified). But I would like to know if anybody else has ever experienced this issue, and if anyone has any speculations as to whether my game will progress normally if I do just kill the Alien Slime over again or whether I'll hit some deeper game snarl as a result of character editor oddness. Thanks, all.
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