Creature Feature #9: Ooga Booga, Savages

[Elyssar]

Savages, the newest creatures ingame, have caused mixed emotions among the community. They are bane to both orc and dragon, capable of killing both with ease (unless orcs get lucky and gank one together.) Against a human, they aren't too difficult...a few halberd whacks, or a well-placed Corp Por, and the foe is dead. But to a lone dragon, a savage is a thing of quick death. Savages are insanely rough on a dragon, capable of killing a dragon or wyrm withing 5-6 hits, a mare in approximately 4, and a drake in 3.

How can a savage do this, yet die so easily at the hands of a human? Calandryll states that the savages have learned how to kill demonic things and large creatures such as wooly mammoths. (Didn't know Sosaria had wooly mammoths did you? I sure didn't.) As such, one wonders why savages don't quickly kill demonic beings like kill stealers or grief players, but that just goes to show you AI isn't everything. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif

Savages give common NPC loot...30ish gold, sometimes bandages. The male savages are supposed to give bolas as loot as well, but a coding error has curtailed that for now. In the 2D client, savages are pure white, bald, unclothed, and have no paperdoll when you click them. In 3D they are also pure white, but they are covered with tattoos. Most of the savage names were derived from OSI staff members (ie Evocah from Evocare, Sinthe from Cynthe, Kahl from Calandryll).

For a tamer willing to fight them, it is recommended to use a lesser pet AND DO NOT RIDE A MARE INTO BATTLE! You can be bola'ed off your mare by a male savage, and everyone knows how nightmares act when they see a foe...attack. Many unfortunates have lost mares this way. Frenzied ostards do a fair job on them, though if other PCs are around you may wish to help your pet attack, as the kill could be stolen easily.

The savages themselves are the force chasing the orcs, for what reason is unknown. Many people expected the introduction of the ridgeback with them, but that has not been the case so far. Savages currently only spawn in the cities under attack. In addition to monetary loot, they give tribal masks in a variety of new colors, around 30 in total. On occasion they also have masks of orcish kin.

Credits: Savage pictures from Feenicks and FatherGanja, mask collection picture from Orangebeard.

More pictures and great info on the masks can be found <a target="_blank" href=http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/uo/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=uopictures&Number=1945424&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&part=>here</a>

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Elyssar on 06/29/01 02:21 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[TaranRahl]

wonder if they do extra damage if you wear daemon bone armor

 

[Blakhart]

Since these new npcs have come out, I have found them to be misunderstood people. I have also found that PC's that hit the little white bastiche that I have to a sliver of blue and then run off with the mask are the savages. I am hoping that they get the looting rights fixed. They said they were going to, but as of this moment, I see no fix.

On the other hand. I took my bard/tamer to the Undead city orc fort where the savages spawn now, and I was going to do some testing. I don't know if it was a fluke, but at one point I peaced and then all the savages around targetted me. There were at least 10 other players there, but I was the one they looked to kill. I *bamf'd* out of there and came back a bit later. I tried it again and everything was normal. It was quite a sight though, 10 or twelve tribesmen following me, and 20 or so kill stealing savages following me. The closest thing I could equate to it was a failed mass provoke, and since there is no such thing, it must have been a bug.

I hate the fact that you can see the masks on these guys. At least before you had a chance most of the time to get something, now as soon as a new red name pops up there are hordes of players running to see if it has a mask. Don't even think about getting into a fight with an unmasked savage, cause that would take away from your chance to killsteal that mask from that guy over there. I almost died like six times from savages that people would just walk past, and let accumulate. I hope they get the balls in action soon. At least then I might be able to get some sort of quest item.

And here is a 30 second haiku for you Elyssar.

Leaves whisper softly,
"Our foes of green must perish."
The leaves grow silent.

Ah, so far from a zen koan it hurts. Get's the message across though.

 

[Ihsans_Shade]

Umm just wondering if anyone has tried using a orc bow to kill 1 yet????

"Ihsan, the weak. Ihsan, the fallen. Ihsan, the betrayer.
He brought shame to the Serra Paladins where none existed before. May his suffering equal his betrayal."

 

[Blakhart]

Orc Bow does double damage to all humanoid creatures and npcs as a repond type weapon. At least that is what they said on the UO forums a few weeks ago. Does not include pcs though. I think that is what they said.

 

[Ihsans_Shade]

well i figured these savages were excatly why the orc bows were created in the first place

"Ihsan, the weak. Ihsan, the fallen. Ihsan, the betrayer.
He brought shame to the Serra Paladins where none existed before. May his suffering equal his betrayal."

 

[WolfZbane]

Savages are bastards, they bola you off your pet. They kill dragons faster than balrons can. Lesser pets or magic are adviced against them. Nuff said.

 

[Millbone]

Well all I have to say is for revenge on all those dead pets. I stabled mine and ran into a horde of savages with my vanq spear and littered the ground with them not even taking the time to collect a mask, which would only sit in a bank box and rot. If need be I would gladly do it again to help out any tamer.

No man shall fail or die alone under my care!!!

 

[Alexandria_LS]

Good advice---My tamed lava lizard, Bo, and I have been eating Savages for lunch. Bo can take them down as fast if not faster than a mage. I also used a tamed Grizzly on them....but lost him to an orc bomber and scout. I definitely recommand lava lizards.

 

[Katerian]

Lava lizards suck hellcat nutz!!!
if they would only fix the darn vet!!

Glorious Lord Katerian
Elven Death Knight
Elven Knight(Dragon Fire((D*F)))

 

[Mordanna]

<font color=green>i went to hunt some savages with my unicorn today, since i had discovered at the skara bank that they do rather well against them.

male savages are not much of a problem, since they don't heal themselves. they fall relatively fast to the uni's hooves and spells. females are a bit trickier, since they can heal up rather quickly. a well aimed flame strike to support the unicorn is usually enough.

there was no time when my unicorn was in danger, even fighting 5 savages at once. the result? 18 green orc masks and 31 colored tribal masks in about 3 hours.

fun!



<center>

Mordanna of Pacific
<a target="_blank" href=http://uo.stratics.com/strat/tamer.shtml>Stratics Tamer Essay</a>
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.strangeworld.com/uo/prc/prc.php>PRC Taming Website</a></center>

 

[Red or Dead]

In Del Trammel (Europa) there are a pair of female hunters (Sweet Desire and can't remember the other name). They use orc bows exclusively to hunt savages and wear the tribal masks. Seem to be effective!

Frenzieds are way too sloooowww to kill savages. However if you do use one it is successful as long as it is supported via vet/heal. Using a frenzied highlights the healing technique used by the savage. They can heal themselves numerous times and cure poison.

Having lost my frenzied Flint because I died when there was a massive spawn. I decided to tame a fresh unicorn to test her out on savages. Like Mordanna I found that the unicorn was really successful against the savage and killed fast enough to prevent kill stealing, which I got a lot of using the frenzied.

 

[flow]

really? what about ki-rins? i don't think i've seen anyone posting about them...

 

[Spirit of Europa]

That's really interesting Mordanna... that explains why my newbie fencer was taking down male savages in about three hits and having frustratingly long drawn-out battles against the females! It hadn't occurred to me that the males weren't healing. I wonder why?

 

[WolfZbane]

Maybe males are dumb? No, I'm not suggesting anything, just giving a possible explanation...

 

[Blakhart]

I like to think of it like this: In most of the ancient to modern tribal cultures, the males knew only rudimentary first aid, while the women were the true healers. Perhaps if you fought them in a group of mixed types the females might heal the flagging males who can not do anything but bola creatures and fight. It would stand to reason that way, since the males are the hunters usually, that the females were only along for the ride up until the point of finding that the males were being overrun by all sides. Makes a nice back story at least.

 

[WindKeeper4]

we are sons of night
in darkness we walk,
'cross miles of desert,
forest,
plain,
we travel and hunt
and go on our way.
on lonely crag,
the dragons we slay,
in caves of dark,
the drakes are our prey
in ruined temple,
nightmares cease,
and icy cave,
is forsaken of beast.

we are daughters of dawn,
in forest we walk,
we are marked by the gods,
their power is ours,
from face to foot,
we are ringed in power
we partake of the fruit
of the tree of desire.
the elements heed us,
and animals as well,
we are walkers in shadow,
daughters fel.

we are twilight incarnate,
the great beasts we ride,
we harness their prowess
into battle we stride
to each or the other
to dawn or the night
we offer allegiance,
in the battle we fight.
we are swift and agile
yet to the balls do we fall,
but our beasts are loyal,
and attack all.

we are the nation of the hidden
now we emerge from the void,
the orcs shall fall,
and cease to be,
and we shall rule,
by will of three.

allright, i'll admit the majority of the poem is guesswork since i don't know what the spellcaster are the riders are going to look like or act like but i invoke bardic license. and to all wiccans that may be offended by the last line my sincere apologies.

<center><font color=9A32CD>All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments of revelation</font color=9A32CD></center>

 

[Red or Dead]

This is what Dain posted on Europa Board and it is true. Now the perfect scenario would be to be able to choose to side with either the orcs or the savages.....

<font color=red>Dain's story:</font color=red>

From the cover of the shadows surrounding the wooden hut Calador watched the strange beings constructing their camp. Seeing how they moved with purpose and how everything had a place he knew that these creatures were a force to be reckoned with. Ever since recieving the pigeon from Anita, a fellow Mage of GYE, he had hidden close to this new village, watching and learning, trying to fathom out what this race of creatures wanted, needed and why were they here now?

Some he noticed wore strange masks, these he had decided where the leaders of the communities as they seemed to be giving out orders about the guards around the village and where each new building should be placed. This was a precise operation, nothing was left to risk and this made Calador worried. Any move against these beings before their purpose could be ascertained could be disasterous and the implications of a war against these beings foreign to Brittania could lead to troubled times what with the Orcs already attacking cities. Calador prayed to Laraya that no-one would be stupid enough to attack these individuals without first trying to parley with them.

A blood curdling scream rent the night air and as one the creatures all rushed to the north, carrying finely made spears and moving in silence. Stalking forward, Calador followed them from cover, hoping his invisibility spell would not fade and leave him in the bright moonlight for all to see. Ahead he heard the sound of fighting and saw a group of black cloaked figures chanting words of power and unleashing spell after spell into the group of whiteskins that were attacking them. Standing at the back of the group the masked whiteskins urged their warriors on to defeat these invaders.

Looking around Calador saw what had caused the scream, a whiteskin some 20 yards away had been blown apart by spellfire. Cursing to himself Calador realised that this was the start of a new crusade, just because something was new it meant it had to be attacked in some peoples minds, there was no room for the unknown to leave peacefully alongside the other citizens and beings of Brittania, it had to be exterminated before it became too powerfull and caused a threat, No matter that it might be peaceful, extermination was the deciding factor.

The whiteskins were losing, wishing he could help but knowing on this facet he was powerless to intervene, Calador moved away when he heard the scream of the last whiteskin dying, a solitary tear of remorse flowing down his cheek. A new sound split the night air, a human voice, simply shouting "MINE". Looking back because he was curious, Calador saw the group in question arguing and trying to grab the strange masks from each others grasps. It seemed that this was not a war party come to exterminate but a number of groups of people who wanted the masks but why?

Then the penny dropped, the masks of these new beings would fetch a good price in gold at the market by Britain Main Bank. To some who knew not of the whiteskins, they could be touted as a 'rare' item and much money could be made in this was. It would seem the groups of hunters were arguing over the masks, greed overcoming common sense and verbal taunts and insults being thrown at each other as if they could make reasoning easier. Turning away in disgust from this scene Calador moved cautiously back to the huts.

A solitary whiteskin in a golden mask stepped from the nearest hut and smiled, his golden mask showing a distorted grin, moving towards Calador he dropped a small chest at his feet and then quite clearly deliberately winked. The beings voice whispered in a strange dialect, "You no attack, you have gifts, no fight between us, now take and begone." With that the whiteskin vanished into the darkness.

Picking up the box, Calador looked around and realised his spell was still intact, how had this being sensed him? Thinking no further although pondering over the use of the word 'Mine', he uttered the words of power that would take him back to the Vale and vanished from sight.

Not until he was safely back in the Town Hall did Calador carefully open the box, inside were 19 different masks, all shimmering in the candlelight, their colours refracting and making them a joy to behold. Realising this was a priceless gift, Calador decided that against that village no offensive action would be taken by GYE for this was a gift of peace, a present given to ensure at least some understanding of these new beings.

At least one Guild would not attack this new settlement, Calador just hoped it would be likewise for the Allies and other Guilds that kept in touch with GYE. Deep down inside he knew however that it would not be enough and this made him sigh sadly............


[dedicated to a friend who showed me this weekend that not everything you see is what is actually is, thankyou *bows*]

<font color=red>End of story from Dain</font color=red>

 

[WolfZbane]

Great story, and it would indeed be great if we were able to choose sides. Imagine that as a sort of small temporary faction war or just a being allies with one of the two races. It would be great to do so.
In that case, I would support the savages: I hate orcs.

 

[Shaman]

I'll test a Ki-Rin soon if someone else doesn't.
Difference is, on Sonoma anyway, that there are a TON more Uni's than Ki-Rin and most Male Tamers who go to Ils choose not to sell pets. Besides, most &lt;Master tamers prefert to ride mares because they are stronger. Why spend money on a weak and pitiful Ki-Rin?

The one good side-effect is that I seemed to have gained more respect from other players riding my Ki-Rin than I did a Mare. Far less "Lamer Tamers" and "Twink!" comments now when I am on my Ki-Rin.

anyway.
I'll test one tonight if I get a chance and someone else has not tested previously.


<center>

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[TaranRahl]

hmm i wonder if this quest is deciding what race stays too? orcs or savages

 

[WolfZbane]

Nah, I heard rumours that the new races are here to stay. They'll just get their own spot to spawn at and be camped and killed and stuff...