Questing

Questing in Lusternia goes well beyond the simple fetch or kill tasks that are common in many games, though naturally, we have these as well. There are dozens of more intricate quests to be completed here, for those who enjoy doing so. Some can be accomplished on your own in an hour or two, while others may take your entire organization days to complete.

General Hints

While many of these larger quests contain unique mechanics, there are a couple of features common enough to merit pointing out as general hints. Speaking of hints, HINTS ON is a good default for questers of all levels of experience. Sometimes, you'll know what you wish to do, but get it wrong on syntax. This is where hints come in handy.

Hidden Things

Just because something does not appear in a location when you glance, does not mean it isn't there. VERBOSE is a great tool for questing, allowing you to see a room's full description each time you move. Many items are hidden this way, in the room's description. You can PROBE these items, and often manipulate them with one or more of the following commands: USE, TURN, PRESS, PUSH, PULL, OPEN, TOUCH. Going one step further, if you probe one of these hidden items and note a particular feature in its description, you can always try taking a closer look there, too!

Puzzles

Logic puzzles appear fairly commonly in quests with varying degrees of simplicity. Variations of Sudoku, Mastermind, Einstein's Puzzle, the Tower of Hanoi, and various square puzzles can all be found. Recognizing these familiar puzzles for what they are when you encounter them can be a big help to solving them.

Influence

The influencing skill plays a prominent role in many quests, though it's generally left up to the quester to follow the hints. If a denizen suggests that someone be chided for their wrong-doing, try using weakening type influence. If you're told to embolden or bolster their courage, try empowering them. Note that paranoia type of influence can be a quester's bane. Denizens who have been made paranoid will not respond to interaction in their normal way. If you don't have the ability to ANALYZE a denizen, be wary of curious behavior and try back later.

Talking to Denizens

In Lusternia, we do not just walk up to denizens and say quest quest quest quest until they tell us that their son has been trapped down a well. Greeting denizens is a great way to get started, as is asking, "Can I help you?" Listen to the replies you get. Though you're dealing with computer-controlled characters, part of immersion is treating them like people! Many quests require a certain phrase which can only be sussed out by conversing with the denizen.

When all else fails...

Sometimes, even when you know you're terribly close, you get flat out stuck. It's okay to ask for advice on our forums. Chances are, someone else has been through the same thing. While we don't give solutions, players are great about giving others a nudge in the right direction.

Honour Quests

Honour quests are one type of the longer, more involved quests that Lusternia has to offer. When you check someone's HONOURS, you'll often see a line at the end directing you to HONOURS FULL (person) and it's here where you may view all of the honours quests they have completed. As noted above, these range broadly in both difficulty and time to complete.

Honour quests may be done for a variety of reasons. Some yield rewards to help an organization or to hinder an opposing one. Some may be considered rites of passage for a certain characters. Many yield historical context in the game world, bits of information or secrets about the world of Lusternia that are available nowhere else. Most grant gold and karma rewards with some giving other personal blessings.

For a completionist, acquiring new honours will be a constant venture throughout one's play, and as you'll see, there are enough to keep one busy for a very long time.

Regarding level suggestions, bear in mind that some races and classes are more adept at hunting than others, and so outside of Newton Caverns these are all sweeping generalizations. If you know that you're out of your depth in a given area, grab a friend to help or return when you're a bit stronger.

Each organization has a prophecy quest associated with it, and a series of honours associated with the completion, leading up to an epic quest. Prophecy quests generally yield standard rhetoric associated with a given org. During times when that org or the Basin at large is in peril, they can be performed to glean valuable information about world-scale events. In addition to the organization quests, there are a couple of neutral-territory prophecy quests, which are not associated with epic quests.

View the (nearly) complete list of Honour Quests here!

Epic Quests

An epic quest cycle is comprised of a series of honour quests associated with one overriding theme. At present, there are seven epic quests available, one for each of the six player organizations, and one in aetherspace. Completion of these epic cycles yields huge rewards - nexus power, family and personal honour, commendations on the politics news board, and access to locations that provide easy travel.

In addition to those quests mentioned above, there are two unofficial epic quest cycles in the Undervault. While not yielding the rewards common to other epics, completion of these cycles does grant a rare and coveted honour lines among questers.

Organization Epic Quests

Organization level epic quests become available after an individual has completed an org-specific honour quest five times. Usually, this will be the organization's prophecy quest, but similar quests such as resurrecting an organization's nexus shield object, also count towards the five.

Each time a character completes the org-specific quest, he or she will receive a new consecutive honour associated with his or her organization. Upon completing the epic quest series, these five cumulative lines are removed and replaced by one line, designating completion of the epic quest.

Rewards

In addition to earning the rare honour line, if you are a member of a House which is aligned to the organization for which you are completing the epic cycle, you will also generate a very large amount of family honour for your House. Further, completing the series of epic quests yields a total of 45,000 nexus power, meted out in parts as the quests are completed (5, 15, 25).

Arguably the greatest reward is an artifact which provides transport to a location in limbo from which there are several exits to various locations within that organization's territories. It can only be used by its rightful owner, though others may follow. Out of character, players refer to this artifact as “orgbix,” as it has similar functionality to the transplanar cubix artifact.

These rewards are intricately tied to the organizations. Should someone leave that org after having completed its epic quest, they will be stripped of the honour as well as the artifact. Nexus power and family honour remain intact, however.

Aetherspace Epic Quests

The aetherspace epic quests become available after an individual has completed at least one quest on each of the eight inhabited bubbles in aetherspace - Bottledowns, Crumkindivia, the Facility, Frosticia, Xion, Cankermore, Mucklemarsh, and Dramube.

The aetherspace epic cycle pertains to the struggle between the gnomes at the Facility and those who are members of the Gnomish Gnafia. Several of the quests on the aetherbubbles have two sides - and while it does not matter which you complete at the onset, during the cycle of epic quests (where you essentially repeated them all again), you will be more specifically directed where to help.

Rewards

Completing the epic cycle will grant you access to a means of travel between the aetherbubbles by teaching you how to operate the gnomish machines built there. These are stationary devices which, when activated, will transport you to a room in limbo that allows you to then exit to any of four aetherbubbles. There are two types of machines - and access to one type is granted depending on which side of the epic quest you have completed. Note that you must first be able to reach one of the aetherbubbles where these machines exist to access the network.

In addition, those who have completed the epic cycle on either side will gain a twenty percent bonus on all trade goods sold to gnomish aetherships. For example, if you were to sell one spice to a ship buying it for 500 gold, they would instead give you 600 gold. This is specific to aethership trading.

View the Epic Quest specific honours here!