Announcements - 2026/09 - The Seventeenth Day
September 2026 - Event Page
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The Seventeenth Day
She had made it out. How, she could not have said. She remembered a thing, clearly, the way one remembers a face, and could not have told you whether it had happened yesterday or was going to happen tomorrow. Her thoughts turned on her. She was so tired.
Had there been others? The question slid away from her like a worm off a hook, and came back, and slid away.
The Sisters had sent them. That much held. They had felt the evil come back into the world, and before they were strong enough to face it they had sent the party down to close something: to keep it from getting out, to trap it in that tainted place that had been nothing but a hovel for the filthy Burun, and to hold it there while the Sisters gathered their strength. Simple work. Stone, and iron, and stone. They had known how to do that.
But they had found something else down there, and they had been caught trying to take it.
Eirlys had been the first to see it for what it was. Not a haunting, nor any working of the ordinary kind. A loop in time. He was doing something in the dark under the ruins, reversing wrongs of the past, summoning the future, she had never understood which and Eirlys had said it was both, and the days were going round on themselves. Eirlys had understood, and had done the wise thing: had begun a text that could not be destroyed. A warning. Something that would remember when they could not, and that Dereth would have to read whether it wanted to or not.
They had been caught red-handed with his missive, curse be His name. He had toyed with them. He had tortured them. One of them had died, truly died. He had not come back at the lifestone in the town nearby; she was sure of that, because if he had, he would have sent help.
On the sixth day, or the seventh, he had torn Eirlys's warning in three. He could not destroy it, and she remembered his fury at that, so he had his creatures carry the pieces away and hide them, each in its own deep place, so that they would never be laid side by side again. But Eirlys had been wise. Eirlys had put a spell on the writing so that it made a copy of itself whenever a hand took it up. Smart Eirlys.
And He had been smart too. He had boasted of it: he would copy his own missive and send out nine messengers, so that one at least would reach his master.
She wondered what had become of Eirlys. Whether Eirlys had come out the same way she had. It did not matter. Arwic was ahead. She would rest there, and then go to the authorities, and warn them of something that was about to happen. Or bring them news of something that already had.
She stopped at the edge of the town with her hands folded, and looked back along the road, and began to stare off into the void.
****
In Zaikhal, a page came up the hill to the library that Kuyiza bint Zayi could place at once: late Empire, Dericost, a working hand, someone writing standing up with ink that had been cold when it went down. The last sentence on it had been written twice, with the same pressure and the same small hesitation, by a hand that had not known it was repeating itself. Or had known, and could not stop.
She set it down and went to the shelves at the back, for the file the library had closed the last time the cold came early, and while she stood there with it open she did not notice the cold until she saw her breath. The floor had been warm an hour before. It was not warm now.
She put the file back. She kept the page. Then she went to find someone willing to go down into the deep places and look, because it was plain that nobody had gone the last time, and that the last time had not thawed so much as waited.
Unlike any other gaming experience, the world of Asheron's Call continues to evolve. The cold has come early to Dereth, and not for the first time; and this time somebody has made it out to say so. Join us as The Seventeenth Day, the first live event to run on this world, opens on 27 August and runs until 17 September 2026.
Be sure to play your part in this ongoing story, and we'll see you in Dereth!
Rollout Article
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The Seventeenth Day
The cold has come early to Dereth. It came up through the floors before it came down from the sky, and in the deep places it has not stopped. A woman has come down the road into Arwic exhausted and will not say where from; she stands where she stopped, and says things twice, and curses a loop that nobody else can see. In the Snowy Valley another woman sits with her back against the stone and frost on her clothes that neither melts nor thickens, and she will answer questions, one at a time, if you come back. The scholars of Zaikhal have opened a file they closed when the last early cold thawed, and Kuyiza bint Zayi has let it be known, quietly, to anyone who reads, that she has placed the hand on a page nobody else could.
A warning was written in a deep place by someone who saw what was happening there before anyone else did. It was torn in three, and the pieces were carried off and hidden so they would never be laid together again: one behind dressed stone in Deewain's Dark Cavern, one under a band of cold iron in the Falatacot Depot, one beneath a course of numbered blocks that were never set, under the ruins of Neftet. Whoever wrote it was wise enough to see the tearing coming. Each piece makes a copy of itself when it is taken up, and what the three say, read in the right order by the right reader, is what opens the way down.
The way down is the Tainted Grotto, near Yanshi, that was once nothing but a hovel for the Burun. The Sisters sent a party there to close it. Letters have been cut into the rock about its mouth, the Burun are gone, and something has put its own creatures in their place: Gurogs, on the surface and below it, more than anyone has seen in one place since the Frozen Valley. At the bottom, a count goes on. It has been going on for a very long time, and it is going backward.
This is the first live event to run on this world, and it does not run the way a quest runs. It takes place across several play nights rather than one evening and it does not wait to be noticed. There is no quest to accept and nothing to turn in: nothing in it will appear in your quest log and no part of it will be flagged complete. When it ends, it ends for everyone at once, by the calendar, at the close of 17 September.
Following is a list of the most interesting additions made to the world for this event. Not everything is included; that would spoil the fun of finding out. As usual, the people of Dereth who have noticed something may say so, if asked more than once.
Highlights include:
- Marta the Chandler stands in Arwic for the length of the event. Eirlys sits in Snowy Valley.
- Three fixed objects in three dungeons, each hiding one piece of a warning. Everyone can collect their own.
- Kuyiza bint Zayi in the Zaikhal Library will read the warning, once it is whole. Her colleagues will not.
- The Tainted Grotto is shut to anyone who has not had it read, and held by Gurogs, outside and in.
- Geraine, Past and Future, stands in the deepest chamber, and leaves something behind: nine copies of it.
- A woman in Arwic has been waiting to get her hands on it, and pays well.
Be sure to check the Release Notes and the Letter to the Players for the details of The Seventeenth Day, and we'll see you in Dereth!
Release Notes
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The Seventeenth Day Release Notes
Greetings and welcome to the release notes for The Seventeenth Day.
This is the first live event to run on this world. It begins on 27 August 2026 and closes at 23:59 on 17 September 2026. Everything below is in the world for the length of the event and not afterwards. The full walk-through is on the The Seventeenth Day Quest page.
The Event
- Nothing in this event is written to the quest log and no part of it is flagged as complete. If you find something, it is because you were looking.
- The event ends at 23:59 on 17 September 2026 and not before. Handing in A Letter, Sealed and Unsent does not close it. When it ends, Marta, the Gurogs and Geraine are gone, and anything not handed in by then will not be paid for.
- The content is intended for characters of level 250 and above.
NPCs
- Marta the Chandler stands in Arwic. She is not a vendor, she cannot be roused, and she accepts exactly one item.
- Eirlys sits in Snowy Valley. Four things to say, one visit at a time; the fourth repeats. Nothing needs to be given to her, and she is not required to finish the event.
- Kuyiza bint Zayi the Translator in the Zaikhal Library will translate the Complete Dericostian Account. Fanzen San and Bretself will hand it straight back; nothing is lost by asking them.
The Fragments
- Three fixed objects have been placed: the Course of Fitted Stone in Deewain's Dark Cavern, the Course of Cold Iron in the Falatacot Depot, and the Course Left Unset, reached through the Deep Caves. Each is opened, not carried, and each hides one piece of the warning.
- Each piece makes a copy of itself when it is taken: the object holds a new one about sixty seconds after the last is removed, so everyone in a group can collect their own.
- The three fragments, the Partial Dericostian Account, the Complete Dericostian Account and the Translated Dericostian Fragments are all Attuned and Bonded. They cannot be traded, sold or handed to anyone else.
- Use the Frost-Rimed Page on the Torn Duty Roster to make a Partial Dericostian Account, then the Charred Fragment on that to make a Complete Dericostian Account. Both pieces are consumed at each step. The assembled account carries the text of every piece folded into it.
- Give the Complete Dericostian Account to Kuyiza bint Zayi. She returns the Translated Dericostian Fragments, three pages in the order the grammar demands, and marks the character as having had the account translated.
The Tainted Grotto
- For the length of the event the entry portal to the Tainted Grotto admits only characters who have had the account translated by Kuyiza. The door tests that mark, not the book, so a character who received the translation before the mark existed is not covered by it. The exit portal is not restricted; a character can always leave.
- The surface outside the grotto is held by Gurogs: five camps, two bands of Gurog Grumps, and a fixed group of seven Grumps, two Gurog Guardians and a Gurog Mastermind on the doorstep. The two Guardians are level 260.
- Inside, the usual Burun are replaced by 138 Gurogs: Gurog Minions, Henchmen, Gurog Soldiers and Gurog Bruisers.
- Geraine, Past and Future, level 450, stands in the deepest chamber. He drops nine copies of A Letter, Sealed and Unsent on every kill, together with ordinary tier 8 treasure. He does not drop the ring and he does not pay the event experience; the kill pays ordinary combat experience only.
- The letter is neither Attuned nor Bonded, on purpose, so that a full fellowship can each take one and copies can be handed on afterwards. It does not decay if it is put down. Picking one up is announced to the whole world.
Rewards
- All rewards are given by Marta the Chandler when she is handed A Letter, Sealed and Unsent.
- 400,000,000 experience and 90,000 Luminance. Neither is shared with a fellowship: each player is paid in full for the letter they hand in themselves.
- One Ring of the Seventeenth Day, drawn at random from the thirty-five variants. One per character. Every variant has the same name, the same description and the same appearance; they differ only in which three Legendary Wards the ring carries, and nothing on the ring says which. Appraise it and read the spells.
- The ring requires level 150 to wear, fits either hand, never needs recharging and never burns out. It is Attuned and Bonded and cannot be tinkered with jewellery gems.
- On being handed a letter, Marta reads it, says her farewell, laughs, opens The Way Marta Went beside her and walks into it. The portal cannot be used and fades about thirty seconds after she goes. Every letter can be handed in until the event closes; Marta is in Arwic, after her fashion, until then.
Letter to the Players
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Letter to the Players
The Seventeenth Day is the first live event to run on this world, and we want to be plain about three things before it starts.
First, it is not a quest. Nothing you do in it will appear in your quest log and nothing will tell you that you have finished. The world has changed in a few places and a few people have noticed; if you want to know what they noticed, go and ask them, and then ask them again.
Second, it is limited. It runs from 27 August to 17 September 2026 and then it is over. Whatever has not been found by then will not be found. Whatever has not been handed in by then will not be paid for.
Third, it will not end early, so there is no race to Arwic. What comes out of the grotto is worth a great deal to the woman waiting there, and nine copies of it fall from one kill so that everyone in a fellowship can be paid for their own. She will take them until the last night. What happens to her after that is hers to know and yours to find.
This is the first time we have tried something that happens whether or not anyone is standing there. Tell us what worked and what did not. We will see you in Dereth, and we hope you are not late.
Epilogue
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Epilogue
The familiar swirl of portal space filled his vision until he finally snapped back into this reality.
I have failed, he whispered, head bowed.
Yes, you failed, the silky voice replied. As I expected from such a lesser being.
He felt his fate before him. He knew this creature had the ability to truly destroy his very essence.
But I have need of you in the future, so...
And without even a gesture, Geraine found himself entrapped in an orb. Able to view the world outside, but not able to move, not able to draw breath. Was this what the Void felt like?
Eyes unblinking, Geraine watched on as He moved to speak to one of his Generals.
Send me the next one, was all he said.
****
The Young one approached her two sisters.
I have news, she said. They looked at her unblemished face with curiosity and interest.
We have heard, the eldest replied. Marta and her band failed, but others took up the cause and prevailed.
That is known throughout Dereth. The Town Criers are happily spreading the news! Her voice rose a pitch. No, I bring tidings from the Lugians... there is another.