Brain Has Caused An Illegal Operation And Will Be Shut Down...

[Prince Caspian]

Ahhh, the old tradition of riddles in CRPGs. Timeless. Classic. Frustrating at times!

Frustrating because, 99% of the time, the riddles are easy to decipher... but figuring out what that means in the context of the game's locales or what you are expected to do next is the hard part.

Spoiler... please do not read further if you have not done the Springtime quest... on Sonoma (I hear they are all different)....
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So anyhoo, they are all fairly easy stuff, until I get to Destard and meet up with Mary The Rain Lady or whatever she calls herself. I hand over the drink of water, and she rattles off a riddle that obviously describes the sun or sunlight. But what does this mean for UO? There's no "Sun" location I am aware of. She also mentions "Find compassion where there is no mercy."

For a minute I thought she meant the Felucca version of Compassion, which was wrong. Pity, that woulda been a clever way to do it, even though PKs would have camped it 24-7.... which is the reason no mainstream quests ever require you to go to Fel.

She says to find Soliah/Taliesin, which sound like elf names. Heartwood of course was wrong as well.

I'm sure I'm gonna kick myself, as this is probably an elementary answer that I'm just overlooking. But compared to the others so far, Mary is offering very little in the way of what we're supposed to do next.

Any help?

 

[Trebr Drab]

Did you check ....

Spoiler

Dungeon Despise, the anti-virtue to Compassion? Remember that there's an ankh on a stepped pyramid on the top level that gives you a message that you are at peace when next to it.

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

... she says where you need to go in the line you quote. You are over thinking it. Play dumb for a minute and you'll get it.

 

[Prince Caspian]

Did you check ....

Spoiler

Dungeon Despise, the anti-virtue to Compassion? Remember that there's an ankh on a stepped pyramid on the top level that gives you a message that you are at peace when next to it.

I turned the place upside down, I searched every inch of the place, and didn't find anyone. Are you sure it's there? Can you tell me the exact whereabouts?

Thanks for the help, in any case. Maybe its random or something...

 

[Trebr Drab]

Did you check ....

Spoiler

Dungeon Despise, the anti-virtue to Compassion? Remember that there's an ankh on a stepped pyramid on the top level that gives you a message that you are at peace when next to it.

I turned the place upside down, I searched every inch of the place, and didn't find anyone. Are you sure it's there? Can you tell me the exact whereabouts?

Thanks for the help, in any case. Maybe its random or something...

No, I don't know. I play GL. Was just a suggestion that seemed obvious, but I guess not.
Maybe it's even more obvious that that?

Spoiler

The Shrine is in the desert.

 

[Prince Caspian]

No, I don't know. I play GL. Was just a suggestion that seemed obvious, but I guess not.
Maybe it's even more obvious that that?

Spoiler

The Shrine is in the desert.

Checked both facets several times, nothing there.

 

[Prince Caspian]

Never mind, I found it. Yes, I WAS overthinking it in a way, but also underthinking it (ie expecting the chump would be right there)

Thanks for the help, all!

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

Ya, i had problems with them not standing *exactly* at the spot referenced ... i just happened to be running away from mean spawn and stumbled into the correct location. =)

 

[Prince Caspian]

OK, I need to reserve myself the front seat on the short bus becuase I'm obviously too dumb to do these puzzles.



::::SPOILERS::::::::

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DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVENT SOLVED THE SPRING QUEST ON SONOMA
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So I finally find Taliesin, (who was not at the shrine of Compassion like the riddle indicated, but several screens away...) and he gives a long non-interactive spiel about an oak sapling growing near East Trinsic's weir (dam).

Obviously, he's talking about the east Trinny sandbar. I go there, and sure enough, there's a sapling in an open glade next to an oak tree. And it's near the long bridge near the pier which I must assume is the weir. However, they are background objects, i.e. non-interactive. You can't name them, trigger them or collect seeds or do anything with them.

The whole claptrap about the dragon in the ant burrow does absolutely nothing to clarify this latest thing.

The first two riddles were ridiculously easy. The third was tough and I don't really think was written very well ("Riddle me this, what is on four legs and is an endothermic quadroped?" Sure, the answer that I'm looking for, cat, applies, but so does about fifteen other answers that fit just as well). This one is just cryptic, with a non-interactive prop.

Sorry if I'm crabby on this, but while I do enjoy puzzles in my games, I like them, in retrospect, to make some sense. I truly despise "puzzles" that rely on utter serendipity for you to find out what was expected of you to do.

Anyhow, a little help for the dim kid in class, please.

 

[Trebr Drab]

In the first one with Compassion, it says "Find compassion where there is no mercy." So, I mean if I'm at Compassion, in the desert as the sun clues to, and nothings there at the Shrine, I think about this and look through the desert where there's "no mercy". See?

As to this last stuff, I don't know since I don't play there. But...

Spoiler

Ant burroughs and Dragons? Ant lions in Solen nests?

I completely agree on puzzles that are wide open and leave you with simply going through many possibilities. I don't like trial and error types of puzzles, myself.

 

[Prince Caspian]

Well with my helpful guildmates, I found the sapling.

Sonoma EM, I know what you're getting for Christmas.

A COMPASS.

I'll go buy one over at the ol' Army Surplus and send it over there to EA/Mythic. Look at it and maybe you'll figure out that the sweet spot for this quest was put ten plus screens ***WEST*** of Trinsic, when the quest said it was EAST of Trinsic.

Thanks for the event but please learn the cardinal directions before putting them in a riddle.

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

Yes, the "East" totally screwed me up as well. But realizing that the only thing East was the ocean (and after checking Ice dungeon in T2A since there is a entrance to T2A E of Tri) i eventally found it west with some advice from a friend. I was most annoyed by the completely random location of the Oak sapling ... i ran past it at least once without seeing it as it was so small and in the middle of a forest.

Have you found the Dragon's egg yet Cas?

 

[itblici]

Still have not been able to find the tree. Have been searching the forest for ever now!

 

[itblici]

I found the egg but still cant figure out this sapling thing. Any help at where its at...

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

West of Trin is a bit off. It is more Northwest of the Trin gate...

<spoiler>


...and quite a bit of a walk. If you leave the Trin gate on the road and immediatly turn *UO* Northwest (once you get past the moat) you will run a few screens, pass the road again when it turns UO North, and continue until you hit a fairly large clearing. Just UO North of this clearing is the sapling. It is *VERY* small and blends in to the background, so you will miss it if you arent watching carefully.