Fire in the Sky

Those of you who have been playing Asheron's Call probably know about the death and destruction occurring in the online world of Dereth. Comets are devastating the towns and flame creatures are wreaking serious havoc in the countryside. The entire world has been engulfed in flame on a scale that would suggest the book of Revelation or worse.

All of the chaos marks the end of the Asheron's Call beta. The world of Dereth will again be open to players when the commercial version of Asheron's Call comes out early in November. Here's a chronology of events that have occured in the online world these past few days:

Earlier this week

News leaked out that astrologers had spotted something ominous heading toward Dereth.

Thursday, October 21, 1999

Early in the morning, disaster struck. A smoky haze suffused the air in the wake of a sudden cataclysm, and a red comet appeared in the sky, visible both day and night. Here and there the countryside was scorched and trees and buildings bloomed with fire. Glowing craters had been blasted into the landscape, presumably by meteor impact. The town of Shoushi was totally devastated: a crater floored with magma occupied the very center of the town, buildings had sunk into the ground to the depth of several stories, and the broken top of the great pagoda lay canted and flaming amid the wreckage. Qalaba'r and Yaraq apparently avoided a similar fate, judging by the nearby devastation. In some places across Dereth, volcanoes had risen from the ground, one destroying its adjacent town of Glenden Wood with fallout. What's more, rumor had it that strange flaming apparitions and magma golems had been spotted in the Direlands.

What's that in the sky?

It's not a bird, a plane, or Superman...

By afternoon, the pages of an ancient manuscript mysteriously appeared across the land, scattered by persons or powers unknown. The scraps of parchment, unfortunately, were old and faded, with only a few words legible on each. Canny adventurers began to gather the pages to build a coherent prophecy. As the day wore on, the sightings of apparitions became more frequent. A few adventurers reported comet-like flames streaking out of the sky, landing lightly before them, and then resolving into humanoids composed entirely of fire.

Friday, October 22, 1999

The fire elementals appeared in force, issuing from the Direlands with magma golem allies. As the day wore on, elementals poured from the skies in a torrent, by which point it had become clear that that they were of four types:

The common, child-sized "Flickers," which were non-aggressive but would come to the aid of other fire creatures engaged in battle. These were easily slain by experienced adventurers.
The slightly larger "Flares," which were somewhat tougher and would attack unprovoked.
The man-sized "Flammas," which were extremely aggressive and dangerous.
And the deadly "Infernos," which would summon Flammas to their aid.