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[image]https://www.dragonfable.com/images/DF/author/Verlyrus.png[/image]
Friday, January 20, 2023
The Ancient Abyss War Continues!
Hey there, heroes!

Your journey into the ocean's abyss continues! With the 50% mark passed, what awaits you farther below the surface?

[image]https://cms.battleon.com/DF/images/DEFIERSOFFATEdn.png[/image]

And when you reach the bottom... What will you find?

Meanwhile, as you and Uaanta fight off the waves of Adepts, Myalos is preparing something to help clear the way!

Battle on, and reach the bottom of the Ancient Abyss !

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The Abyssal Heart's matching accessories, the Abyssal Warhelm and Abyssal Shroud are now available!

[image]https://cms.battleon.com/DF/images/Promo-Catalyst3.png[/image]

When equipped, you can click on the top of Abyssal Heart VI to transform their appearance! And speaking of appearance... the Abyssal customization for Kathool Adept is now accessible to wielders of the Abyssal Heart!

[image]https://cms.battleon.com/DF/images/Promo-Catalyst2.png[/image]

If you have a fully upgraded Abyssal Heart, you can visit the Armor Customization Room with Kathool Adept equipped to access the new customization

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And that's all for this week!

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Is that an adult Aquella I spot?!

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I guess we'll be doing something good by Remy afterall.

And we do get to see Aquella, with the drip no less! She looks rather battle-worn too, I suppose she's been rather busy even after her people were freed. Hopefully one day the Locker will be accessible from the map and we'll be able to see how the Water Elves are faring.
It's interesting to hear that Kathool's influence might be much more widespread than we imagined too, rather than being enclosed within the waters of Falconreach Bay. Who knows how many other kinds of his eldritch abominations are out there?

For now though I'm happy to beat up some Adepts, just like old times.

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Huh so Remthalas' people really were still under Kathool's thrall. Not unexpected considering the appearance of adepts, even if they weren't abyssal, in the Madness quest. Even more tragic is the fact that, much like Remthalas, they've been corrupted for so long by Kathool's influence and I'd imagine their souls aren't in good shape either. What I find most curious though is the appearance of some of the abyssal enemies. The ones that namely stand out of course are the abyssal hunters. Assuming they aren't just those sharkmen enemies with tridents that were just serving alongside the abyssal water elves before Kathool awoke I do wonder if they too were water elves as well but either started to take on more animal traits overtime (similarly to the Trench from Aquaman) or acquired these shark-like traits from being corrupted by Kathool for so long.

Plus, nice to finally see Aqeulla again after all this time and having her in long standing quest to boot. Although, her cut-off comment of "If it fall out of-" appears a bit worrying. It seems to me she was about to say balance here and if she was referring to the actual elemental balance of the ecosystem in the ocean it'd be concerning that leaving anything behind could threaten it even if at a slow pace.

Now as long as our little mission doesn't wake up the big ol eldritch horror we'll probably have nothing but a smooth descent...probably.

Also, Johnny fish is totally not sus with wanting us to seemingly always end up in the Locker.

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The ones that namely stand out of course are the abyssal hunters. Assuming they aren't just those sharkmen enemies with tridents that were just serving alongside the abyssal water elves before Kathool awoke I do wonder if they too were water elves as well but either started to take on more animal traits overtime (similarly to the Trench from Aquaman) or acquired these shark-like traits from being corrupted by Kathool for so long.

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I was wondering the same thing. They're classified as 'Elf' under their names, and their attire seems pretty similar to what Remthalas wore, and they have the same fin-like appendages that are on the Adepts (not to mention the little angler fish lights), so I think it's likely the latter.

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There's so much godd thing about this war so far:
We meet teen/young adult Aquilla (a bit bugging me how much she grow yet we remained the same, is the hero even aging? Was this ever explained? Weird)
We are actually cleaning up the mess this time:Freeing Remthalas's people and the ocean from Kathool's madness, it feels nice we are honoring Rem's wish this way
My only fear about this war is that we will get an underwhelming boss fight, this whole war is focusing on Kathool and his madness so if we fight anything less than the big guy himself at the end it will be disappointing. Hope it's not gonna be just another Kathool minion/illusion. We fought him waaaaaay back in 2011 so i imagine he had some nice nap time to replenish his power.
Can't wait to meet te abyssal tribe i always love when lwe get to meet new species and just generally having more lore and it's been so long since we interacted with the water elfs and it was a very brief interaction
I hope we and more importantly Uaanta, Notha and Myalos gets to meet with Kathool, wonder what will their thoughts about him? I'm sure they all fought with strong enemies but i imagine not world ending threat like Kathool. I wonder will Myalos and Kathool recognize each other from before the reset? Would be cool to get more reset revealing dialog between the hero and Kathool. Probably not, sadly AE likes it to remain a sort of taboo thing but i imagine at one point the hero and the team will be known about the reset
Was itr ever explained why nobody can know about the reset though? Will it cause mass chaos or put the current (DF) timeline in danger in some way?

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Would be cool to get more reset revealing dialog between the hero and Kathool. Probably not, sadly AE likes it to remain a sort of taboo thing but i imagine at one point the hero and the team will be known about the reset
Was it ever explained why nobody can know about the reset though? Will it cause mass chaos or put the current (DF) timeline in danger in some way?

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I think it's more of case of most people simply not knowing, rather than not being allowed to know. The only NPCs we know of that have pre-Reset memories are Warlic, Safiria, Jack Crescent, Kordana, Myalos and of course Kathool. Four of which are actually from the Mechquest timeline, and two of which are ancient and powerful beings in their own right. It's probably likely the Mysterious Stranger also knew, but any I don't think there's any evidence of that ingame. And probably Cysero.

Personally, I like how obscure stuff about the Reset is. It's kind of in the background to Dragonfable's story anyway, and serves as "deep-lore" about how the Dragonfable universe is a kind of corrupted copy of the Mechquest universe. A neat little thing for those who know about it, but nothing too important so those who don't know aren't missing out on much.

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You know I don't know how it never occurred to me before we likely would have been susceptible to the effects deep sea water pressure despite still being able to breathe underwater now but it's good thing Notha caught on as we descended before we were crushed like cherries.


Loved that Kathool got a nice remnant alter look instead of just his real form shrunk down. Fits well with the theme of us fighting just fragments of ancient corruption

I'm also curious about who Kathool was talking too when they said our power and we will be his time. It's possible he could have just been referring to the whole party and was simply responding with the usual "everything is going to fall under my control someday" shtick he's been insisted on since day one. However, I wonder at the possibility of him specifically singling out individuals in the party. The most likely candidate with that train of thought would seem to be Aquella as Kathool did want her originally to protect him from falling asleep although I'm not sure if he can still use her for this purpose without the water orb existing. A more terrifying thought is the chance Kathool was talking specifically to the Hero.

We have no true special powers to speak of, I think (Sk'aar comments are still sus), but I think Kathool recognizes our potential to both move and be involved in events all the way back to the MQ era. It also fits in line with Remthalas' fixation on us and his need to get us to come over, by planting "seeds" of doubt, to his side to eventually take down the Aequilibria. A side we now know was always one that favored Kathool's motivations, motivations that involved crushing the influence of both the Aequilibria and the Whisper, regardless if Remthalas knew it or not on some level. This all potentially meaning that Kathool is aware that we the player are an important key in achieving his goals and that he'll do whatever is necessary to have us in their thrall and never let go should they succeed.

Another possibility that leads back to Kathool wanting the collective power of the party due to the special nature of their backgrounds and that being ties to the Exalted, MQ, the Avatars, and the Twins. Something about each of these backgrounds altogether having the potential to completing Kathool's plans.

Ah but at last it seems that Remthalas might now eventually get a proper burial at last provided his body is free of corruption. I'm curious about Notha not wanting to give up Remthalas remains. It seems clear to me this is not about her wanting to continue to study the corruption but rather she doesn't want to be outside the vicinity of someone she likely did care for on some level and I think that's made obvious by the fact that she refers to giving him up to the funerary rites as just "throwing him away" even though his body is probably is better to be left with the water elves.

Lastly, is the ancient temple site itself, or rather the creature that was supposedly inhabiting it alongside the water elves. I'd say its a good possibility that this creature in question was potentially Hyonix, the great dragon of water. I say mostly because Aquella did mention that it helped keep depths in balance and the great elemental dragons are responsible with doing exactly that. We also do see what appears to be the skeletal remains of a draconic creature and the fact that the pov focuses on Draco after Aquella's story on the creature is suspicious to the say the least. I suppose an alternative to Hyonix might be one of the wyrm creatures like Yllmar and Frallmar. Either way, it's likely Kathool was responsible for killing this being once it got loose.


Ah and thus concludes our quest to reclaim a bit of territory from Kathool's madness.

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@Vaalirus

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I'm also curious about who Kathool was talking too when they said our power and we will be his time. It's possible he could have just been referring to the whole party and was simply responding with the usual "everything is going to fall under my control someday" shtick he's been insisted on since day one. However, I wonder at the possibility of him specifically singling out individuals in the party. The most likely candidate with that train of thought would seem to be Aquella as Kathool did want her originally to protect him from falling asleep although I'm not sure if he can still use her for this purpose without the water orb existing. A more terrifying thought is the chance Kathool was talking specifically to the Hero.

It occurred to me that he could've been referring to the Hero's power as a Dragonlord. Specifically a Dragonlord of the Destroyer. Terrifying indeed...

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I'm curious about Notha not wanting to give up Remthalas remains. It seems clear to me this is not about her wanting to continue to study the corruption but rather she doesn't want to be outside the vicinity of someone she likely did care for on some level and I think that's made obvious by the fact that she refers to giving him up to the funerary rites as just "throwing him away" even though his body is probably is better to be left with the water elves.

Huh. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes sense. Notha has difficulty feeling and expressing empathy, so if she did form some attachment to him (or perhaps may even felt some responsibility for his death) than it's quite possible that she may have used the opportunity to study him as cover.

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Lastly, is the ancient temple site itself, or rather the creature that was supposedly inhabiting it alongside the water elves. I'd say its a good possibility that this creature in question was potentially Hyonix, the great dragon of water. I say mostly because Aquella did mention that it helped keep depths in balance and the great elemental dragons are responsible with doing exactly that. We also do see what appears to be the skeletal remains of a draconic creature and the fact that the pov focuses on Draco after Aquella's story on the creature is suspicious to the say the least.

I thought the same thing. Of all the places for the first-generation Great Water Dragon to end up, a deep-sea temple is a pretty strong candidate. Though, I'm fairly certain those bones are of the Dracolich which bore Sepulchure's fortress before it crashed into the Guardian Tower and fell into Falconreach Bay. A super neat geographical detail, if you ask me. :P

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It occurred to me that he could've been referring to the Hero's power as a Dragonlord. Specifically a Dragonlord of the Destroyer. Terrifying indeed...

You know it somehow almost always slips my mind that in spite of everything we still are somewhat special in this world in that we keep the world destroyer as a pet/kid. However, on the note of Kathool wanting our power as a dragonlord, perhaps Kathool recognizes the fact that having access to the power of dragons is important in changing the world in its favor. It has been noted before that the front half of Remthalas' eldritch form looks oddly draconic in nature so maybe this reveals an awareness that draconic beings are able to heavily influence the world of Lore. Assuming of course Kathool purposefully made Remthalas look like that. Kathool also would have been aware of the times the Twins went about balancing the planet so at minimum they would have recognize their usefulness which in turn presents a third player in the game to control the twin dragons, not that Kathool hadn't already declared itself as a third player when it challenged the Aequilibria and the Whisper of course.

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I thought the same thing. Of all the places for the first-generation Great Water Dragon to end up, a deep-sea temple is a pretty strong candidate. Though, I'm fairly certain those bones are of the Dracolich which bore Sepulchure's fortress before it crashed into the Guardian Tower and fell into Falconreach Bay. A super neat geographical detail, if you ask me. :P

I thought it was the remains of the Dracolich too of at first but I'm almost positive the skeletal remains we see here are that of a different creature as not only have we descended pretty far from the Helm's Harbor, where it landed, the skeletal mass we see in the Abyss appears to be primarily in tact, in regards to its skull anyway, and appears more serpentine in form. I'm also positive we see the outlook of the Dracolich's skull, its two protruding horns standing out, near the Drowned Fortress albeit shaded in a black shadow.