So Bernie Madoff got away with all your retirement? I know how you feel. I keep paying into teacher retirement and it seems I won't be able to pull any benefits from it by the time I retire, if I am ever even allowed to retire.
Thanks to How Stuff Works' website and podcast, I think I now have a good handle on how to separate good investments from Ponzi schemes.
A Ponzi scheme relies on getting new investors to support the old investors' withdrawls. Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that how Social Security is supposed to work? Isn't that how Teacher Retirement works?
A Ponzi scheme is destined to fail according to Howstuffworks. Does that mean these systems are also destined to fail? When they fall through, what happens to all those who'd been paying in?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Student Planning Guide
Energy Project
Student Planning Guide
Environmental Geoscience - Beedy
75 Points
Overview
Phase I - Planning
Planning involves deciding upon a central question, adding detail and focus with clarifying and probing questions, deciding what resources are appropriate for the kind of information you wish to find and create, and creating a general set of deadlines and plan of attack for the rest of the project's phases.
Phase II - Researching
Researching involves becoming knowledgeable about the chosen topic area, breaking it down into manageable chunks, delving into the topic area deeply, and piecing all the facts together into a coherent whole.
Phase III - Writing
Writing involves taking all of the information found in the previous phase and stitching it together to create an informative, creative, and well written essay describing your central question, your answer to that question, and how you discovered that answer.
Phase IV - Presenting
This last phase involves using your written essay and research to create a 3-5 minute presentation describing your central question, your answer, and creating visual aids to support your speech.
The Phases
Phase I - Planning (10 points)
Discussion
Good planning is the cornerstone of any successful project. The most important part of planning is thinking through the steps before you actually take them on. You may not hit every deadline. You may change some of the steps you plan here during the process. This is okay. Again, the main purpose of planning is to think through the project.
- Create or select a Central Question.
- Create 3-5 Clarifying and 1-3 Probing Questions to flesh out your Central Question. These questions are to be recorded and turned in on the Questions Form.
- Fill in and maintain Deadlines Form.
Recommendations
- The more thoughtful questions you create, the more in depth your project will be, the more you will learn, the more impressive your presentation will be, and the higher your grade!
- It is important to think carefully about your questions. You will be answering them for the next few weeks!
- It is very important that you create realistic tasks. Break each step into manageable chunks. Each task should take no less than 5 minutes, but no more than 30.
Phase II - Researching (15 points)
Discussion
The main point of this project is to learn how to gather reliable information in a systematic (planned) way. Research is not just typing "energy" or "solar cells" into Google. That is a good way to get very general information, but how do you find out how gasoline is converted into a car's forward movement? Which sites should you trust and which ones should you hold suspect and why? What types of information are there? Which types should you seek out first? What information should I collect about each source I use? How do I report my sources to my audience? These are questions you will be able to answer by the end of your researching phase.
Another note about researching is that you may return to this phase multiple times once you have started the next phase, writing. You may discover that some vital piece of information is needed that you did not collect, or the source for some data is not as trustworthy as you had originally thought. Do not fret! This is a natural part of the researching process: returning for more.
It is important not to rely on Internet sources alone. Printed information is generally peer-reviewed. This means it is checked for accuracy by experts. That means you can trust it. Internet sources are not always peer-reviewed. Some printed materials can be found online! These can count as printed sources even if you found them online if they are also published as printed journals.
Requirements
- Record the following information about all sources used on the Source Information Catcher:
- author
- title of the book, article, or website
- magazine or journal title, or website address (URL)
- publisher
- date of publication
- date of viewing/printing for websites
- a printout of any Internet material used (not necessarily the whole website, just the portion you used)
- Keep detailed notes when you read your sources. You will turn these in with your other documentation.
- 3 general sources for background information about your topic.
- encyclopedias
- wikipedia
- general information books
- 2 printed or electronically saved journal or magazine articles that are related to your questions.
Recommendations
- Look for background information on Wikipedia, in encyclopedias, or in general books about the subject.
- Look for more detailed or up-to-date (deep) information in journals and magazines. Many of these can now be found online. Ask your librarians!
- Read background information first, then determine which deep sources you will need in order to answer your questions. You want to become very familiar with the topic before delving deeper.
- Don't be afraid to use real live people as deep resources too! I've called university professors or professionals in certain fields for detailed information. Be sure to read up on your background information before taking this step, but personal interviews can be great sources of information.
- I usually copy or print all of the relevant source material so I have access to it anytime. I am experimenting with email and Google Docs to save online material without having to waste trees. You may want to email yourself links or the content from a website instead of printing it. You will not be allowed to check out the books about your topic because there are multiple classes sharing the same materials. You will need to read the materials at school and copy relevant information to use during the next phase.
Phase III - Writing (30 points)
Discussion
You can start writing as soon as you feel like you have solid answers to all of your questions based on the information you've found in the research phase. I am looking for a cohesive essay based around your answer to the Central Question. DO NOT just list each question and then write your answer. That is boring and will earn only average scores (C). You can use your Central Question to fashion your essay's thesis. The other questions help you explore your topic in more depth. Use what you have learned to expand on your central question's answer and show me that you've become an expert on your chosen topic.
It is in your best interest to use the same skills you use to write essays for English class. Write an outline. Do a mind map. Prewrite or freewrite as an initial step. Organize your ideas before your write your final copy. I expect your FINAL essay to look very different than your first draft.
When writing a research essay you must back up your factual ideas with reliable sources. Anytime you reference someone else's idea you must give them credit in the text of your essay and then list the full citation at the end of your essay. This happens whenever you include a quotation, but can also be needed when just mentioning someone else's idea. Not citing your sources is called plagiarism and is a SERIOUS academic integrity violation. It will earn you an automatic 0 and a referral to your Dean. If you have any questions about this, please ask your teacher or your librarian. You will be taught how to cite your sources before you start writing.
Requirements
- 3-5 page essay, not including your references cited list
- 12 point readable font (if you chose a non-standard font, run it by me first)
- few spelling errors (caught in first and second drafts)
- few grammatical errors (caught in first and second drafts)
- creative
- interesting
- Cite your sources both in the text of your essay and in a references cited list at the end of your essay.
- Turn in your first and second drafts with your final draft so I can see how much your essay changed through the drafting process.
Recommendations
- Do not plan to write your final essay the night before it is due. I expect FINAL essays on that deadline, not first drafts.
- Have a peer, your parent, brother, sister, uncle, or whoever read through your second draft to give you feedback and make changes.
- Finish writing your first draft at least 4 days before the deadline so there is time to reread it and make changes.
- Do reread your drafts and make notes about how to change it for the better!
Phase IV - Presenting (20 points)
Discussion
One of the most important components to scientific work is sharing information from one scientist to another and to the general public. If one scientist has a great new idea, it is not going to make much difference for the rest of us unless she shares that idea in a way we can understand. Your task in this final phase is to show off your new skills and knowledge in front of your peers. Remember how interested you were when you first started researching the topic? Try to kindle that excitement in your peers through fantastic visual aids and an excited presentation style.
Requirements
- visual aids
- poster OR
- Powerpoint
- presentation outline
- 3-5 minute presentation in class
- 3-5 minutes of questions from your teacher and peers
- You should be able to answer relevant questions about your topic.
- You must present and answer 2 or 3 of your clarifying and probing questions (at least one probing) during your presentation.
- You must explain your central question and provide your detailed answer using your references and visual aids.
Recommendations
- Feign excitement during your presentation even if you've become bored with your chosen topic! It's a good way to make your presentation more exciting and fun for your audience.
- Plan your presentation and practice what you will say ahead of time. It sounds silly, but if you can give your speech in your room to a couple stuffed animals or in front of a mirror once or twice before giving it in class, you will have worked out a few kinks and be much more comfortable during the actual presentation. If you are nervous to stand up in front of your peers, practice will calm your nerves.
- You should not present everything you discovered throughout your research and will be stopped at 5 minutes.
Final Project Portfolio Requirement
Your Final Project Portfolio will contain the following materials and is due on Friday, May 1st.
- Completed Questions Form
- Completed Source Information Catcher w/ at least 5 sources
- Completed Deadlines Form
- Final Draft of Essay
- First Draft of Essay
- Completed Peer/Family Member Comments Form
- Presentation Outline/Notes
- Presentation Visual Aids (Poster/Powerpoint)
Sunday, January 28, 2007
2_6 Level 3
Level 3
I earned my third level with Sinqualyn today. Exciting. I took Extra Song with an action point in place of Energy of Music I. This allows Sin two bard songs before resting. I then chose to level up my Sorcerer abilities. Now I am a Bard 1/Sorcerer 2. I earned another Sorcerer spell, and I chose Expeditious Retreat. This spell is a big plus to getting around quickly and for getting away from baddies quickly. I raised my spot skill to rank1, giving me a 2. I raised my concentration skill to a 9. I also gained two new feats…defensive Fighting (comes in handy occasionally) and I took Repeating Heavy Crossbow (Sweet!). Now I can really deal out some damage. I still don’t get many kills, but I can at least help. Now, my main function in a party is to buff everyone else with my bard song (I have two of them now), crowd control with hypnotize, and then blast the heck out of enemies with my repeating heavy crossbow. Luckily I picked up a +1 repeater in a chest while I was adventuring! I can shoot three bolts every time I load the thing. It’s awesome. I will refrain from grabbing damage dealing spells. I don’t need them. Someone else in the group will be doing that. Most of the rest of my levels will come from the bard trainers. Right now I have 440 spell points. I can use them to heal or cast crowd control spells. Awesome. Now I need to increase the effectiveness of my healing spells through Devotion items and enhancements.
2.5 Harbor Quests and Party Creation
Harbor Quests to Elite and Creating Groups
As I mentioned in a previous post, you can attempt most quests at one of three difficulty levels:
When you set a quest to ‘hard’ before entering, you raise the difficulty of the quest by one level. The monsters will be one level higher, and the spell casters in the dungeon will cast more powerful spells. When you set the quest to ‘elite’, it is set two levels higher than what is displayed on the entrance. The monsters will be two levels higher and cast even more powerful spells. Just because you walk through a quest on
Today I am creating a group to run the harbor quests. The Harbor quests are all the quests located in Stormreach’s harbor. If you aren’t in the marketplace yet, you are in the harbor. The Wayward Lobster, Leaky Dinghy, and Wavecrest taverns are all in the harbor. Any quests you pick up at one of those taverns are known as harbor quests. There are a few others like Kobold Assault and Irestone Inlet which are also harbor quests and you retrieve those quests from NPC’s standing in the harbor. When you see other groups advertising to do harbor quests, expect to be doing quests out of those three aforementioned taverns.
Here’s how to create your own party. First, advertise what you are looking to do. Click on the Social panel, then on Grouping. Now click on ‘Create Party.’ Click the box at the top of the screen that says Advertise your group. Now, you have an advertised group. Update the advertisement by changing the options in the open Create Party dialog. You can set the levels you are looking to recruit, the types of classes, and even write a little note. I don’t ever use the Quest selection box. I just write a note in the note box saying what quest or what types of quests I want to do. Be sure to click the update my party button before you close this window to save any changes. Now other adventurers can see you request by looking at the Grouping tab in their Social Menu. When another adventurer wants to join your group, you will get a little message saying ‘so and so wants to join your group’. You can add them in one of two ways. You can simply type ‘/invite
You click on the social menu, then on the ‘Who’ tab. This shows you everyone who is logged into your server. You can then change the selection criteria to match your preference and search for available adventurers. You will notice the little box to the left of the names listed below. This tells you if the adventurer is in a group, looking for a group, or just hanging around. Move your mouse over the icon to find out which is which. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT invite strangers to a group without sending them a tell message first asking them whether they would like to join. This is one of the most annoying things you can do. Please don’t do it. It will get you put on squelch lists and then you won’t be able to send messages of any kind. Use the Who list to find other adventurers who are either looking for a group or just hanging around. Send out a few tell messages and see who replies. Sometimes people are away from their keyboards (afk) and won’t respond to you. Sometimes you will get a polite ‘sorry, but I am logging’ message which means the character in question is about to log off for the day or night. Sometimes you get a ‘sure!’ back and then you type ‘/invite
Saturday, January 27, 2007
2.4 Back to Goodblade
Back to Goodblade
So, I skipped the first three group quests the game offers. Oops! I found a group who was past these quests, and grouped with them. Now I am going back to Gerald Goodblade who resides outside of the Wavecrest Tavern. The Wavecrest is the tavern you were in when you did the Old Sully’s Grog quest. When you are in this tavern, and you see “
Back to Gerald. He offers you three quests: one for a set of ancient daggers, one for a healing elixir, and one for a rare scroll. Complete them in any order. In my opinion, the scroll quest is the easiest of the three. The daggers quest involves fighting undead. The elixir requires you to solve a riddle, and the rare scroll quest requires you to solve a floor puzzle. These are all common tasks you will complete throughout the game.
I completed the elixir quest on my own at the solo difficulty at second level with no problem. The final enemy (boss) was hard to hit, and I wouldn’t do this on a higher difficulty by myself. Especially as a magic user/squishy character. If I was a fighter or barbarian (tank) I would have tried a higher difficulty.
A tip on strategy. I am a squishy character meaning I have a relatively low armor class (AC) and I have few hit points compared to other character classes like fighters and barbarians and paladins. I have to be especially tricky when fighting, especially in a solo quest. As a level 2, I have hypnotize which stuns enemies until they are attacked. I have been using that spell against groups of enemies then killing them one at a time with my crossbow. So far, that trick is working very well.
Ok, I finished all three of Goodblade’s quests. Now I found a party to run with. Here’s how I find groups. I begin by clicking the social icon. This is the one in your menu Panel that looks like to faces. Then click the grouping tab. Now you should see a list of groups that are looking for members. Pay attention to the Lvl column. This tells you the levels that the group is looking for. If you are not in that range, do not ask to join. The second column to look at is the Classes needed column. These are the classes the group is currently lacking. If you fit the group’s level and class requests, you are good to go. Click on that groups leader Name and then click the Tell button below. This begins a message directed towards the leader. Tell them you are looking for a group, and mention your class and level. He or she will then say yes, we need you, or no we don’t. If they do,m they might send an invite, which you click the yes button to enter the group. That is the usual way. If you just click the join button without talking to the leader, he may or may not add you to the group. I always talk to the leader first. It’s the surest way to get invited.
I spent the morning doing quests I received from the Leaky Dinghy (a tavern in the middle of the water portion of the harbor). You have to go towards the water on your map, then travel down to the water’s edge using the docks. Do not just jump. As a low level character, you could kill yourself by jumping onto a lower dock. I’ve done that before. It costs you experience (xp). Anyway, I did the quest Dirk gives you called Dirk’s got a secret. That quest’s entrance is back on dry land at the Den of the Kobold Brother’s sewer grate. Use your map to find these places. Once you receive a quest, it’s entrance will appear on your map as a chalice. That quest has a big much that sometimes appears. If it does, AWESOME! That means there will be a chest with muchbanes. Muckbanes are clubs that do not take damage from mucks, and also do extra damage to them. This also applies for oozes and puddings. They are essential weapons for fighters. Some people farm this quest tens of times in a row just to find muckbanes for all their alternate characters (alts). I just got my first one this morning! Yea!
After I did Dirk’s got a secret, I moved on to Philosopher’s row (you are in Philosopher’s row when you are trading collectibles with the little kobold. He accepts prayer beads, and idols. We did Garrison’s missing pack and the Sewer Rescue. Both of these quest givers are in Philosopher’s row, right next to the quests that they give.
You will want to visit a tavern (like the Wavecrest of the Leaky Dinghy) in between quests. If your sp, hp, or charged items or skills are low, resting in the tavern will replenish them. Buy drink to replenish your sp faster, food to replenish your hp faster. Generally, the more expensive the food or drink, the faster you will regain the points. You buy these items from the tavern keeper behind the bar. You must buy them, then consume them by opening your inventory (‘i’) and then double left-clicking on the food or drink. Once consumed, it last for a certain amount of time helping to replenish your points quickly. If you leve the tavern, the food or drink timer will finish, and you’ll have to buy more if you wish to reenter and replenish your points quickly. Stay in the tavern while regenerating your hit and spell points. See you next time!
2.3 Level Up
Level Up!
I played a few of the initial group quests with a group of adventurers and gained enough experience for my level 2. I chose to take a sorcerer level. In DDO, a character can multiclass. This means taking some of your levels in one class, and some in at least one other. I suppose you can keep multiclassing and become a level 1 in all the classes, but generalization does not usually help you in this game. I would recommend choosing two or at most three classes to specialize in. Through my sorcerer level, I was able to gain 220 spell points (one of the reasons I chose to take the SOR level). I also gained the Magical Training feat which allows me to use more spells than I could before. Now I can use 1st level sor wands with no roll. Yeah! I am planning to split my levels between bard and sor from here on out. I haven’t decided exactly how I will split them yet. The drawback is that I got fewer health points than I would have if I had taken another bard level. I have 320 sp, and only 28 hp.
On to bigger and better things. Now I am a Brd1/Sor1, and I am looking to gain some xp. I am going to do all the initial solo quests located in aspirant’s square (the place with all the trainers. Take a look at your map by pressing ‘m.’ You should be able to see most of the harbor. Notable things include the leaves, grape piles, and chalices on your map. The leaves always represent different trainers. Move your map cursor over a leaf to see the name and specialty of the trainer. Use your map often! It is your key to getting around. The little purple dots are collectors, where you turn in the mushrooms you may have been collecting. There are many types of collectables, and they all have specific collectors who are looking fro them. Examine the collectable with the ‘z’ button to see who collects it and where they are located. The Chalices are quest entrances. These are the places you can start quests that you have already collected.
There are five really short solo quests in Aspirant’s Square. You must do them alone, and if you wait until later, you will have to come back and do them for favor and no xp. Do them at first or second level if you can. Some players will tell you to skip them, but I would not.
2.2 Orientation
Ok, now we have a character. Let’s start having fun!
The first things you will want to do is change 2 settings. You will want to turn the hint system off. It is very annoying. Basically it makes you click a box every 30 seconds or so. The information in the hints is not hard to figure out, and I’ll be explaining most of it here anyway. To turn off hints, click the double checkmarks at the top left of your screen. This brings up the options panel. Click the box on the right side that says “UI Settings.” Now click the check box to the right of “Don’t Show Hints” to turn the hints off. Don’t worry, if you ever want to see them, you can uncheck this box to turn them back on. Once that is complete, you’ll want to turn on voice chat. If you are playing on a phone line modem (I’m not talking about ISDN here), you will want to leave this feature off, but other players will be very annoyed with you. It is much easier to communicate via microphone (mic) than to type, especially when you are in a confrontation with monsters and someone needs to know something immediately. If you stop to type, you and he may both be dead by the time you hit enter. Even if you don’t have a mic, turning on voice chat will allow other players to talk to you with their mics. To turn on voice cvhat, click the right hand box marked “Audio.” Now click the check box to the right of “Enable Voice Chat.” If you do have a mic, be kind and use headphones to avoid feedback to other players’ audio systems. Also, unless you have a high quality mic and are plaing in a noise-poor environment, use the “push to talk feature” instead of the “hands free voice feature.” Your group members will appreciate. Pushing a button to talk is annoying at first, but you will get used to it and it will save you embarrassing moments later. To use “Push to Talk,” leave the “Hands Free” checkbox in the Options: Audio panel unchecked. You can change the key that is mapped to press to talk un the Options: Key Mapping panel. Just scroll down until you find the “Interaction” section. The key is marked “Voice Push to Talk.” Once you have your hint system disabled and your voice chat on, you are ready to adventure.
You won’t be able to party up for the first couple adventures. You have to get used to your own character interface before they let you interact with others. You will notice a few things on your screen.
4.Chat Winow 2.Map 1.Menu Panels 3.Health and Spell Meter 6.Interaction Orb
The picture above looks great in msword... Ugh... It looks like crap here. Sorry! I tried to play with it, but I can't get the labels to move.
The Menu Panels (1) allow you to interact with many aspects of the game from your character sheet, equipment and inventory, larger maps, quest journal, social panel, etc.. You will use this often. There are shortcuts to most of the features here like pressing “m” will open up a larger map or “c” brings up your character sheet. As you progress you will learn these shortcuts.
The Map (2) shows you where you are, where buildings and other important things are, and most importantly where the rest of your party is. Right now, Sin is all by herself so she has no party members to keep track of, but later this will be very important.
The Health and Spell Points Meter (3) shows you your maximum and current health and spell points. Keep a careful watch over this meter when you are questing. If your health meter reaches 0, you will become incapacitated and must wait for someone to help heal you. You may even bleed and continue to lose health points until -10 which is the point at which your character dies. Don’t worry, if you die, your soul lives on to fight another day, although with an experience penalty. You don’t want to die, but it isn’t the end of the world, and you will die at some point, probably multiple times.
The Chat Window (4) is where you interact with the world through text. You can send messages to other players or talk to non player characters in the world. Other important messages pop up here as well. You should look in your chat window from time to time to see if anyone is trying to talk to you. If a message is sent to you, you will hear a little bell to alert you to the messages’ presence. If you are in battle or not paying attention or just don’t have the sound on, you may not hear this bell.
The Hotbar (5) is where you stash skills, items, feats, and spells, that you can use in the world. Basically, you link items in your inventory to this bar and then click them on the bar to use them. You can drink potions, use magic wands, perform feats in combat, or put on different pieces of equipment using the hotbar. You have 10 hotbars that you can scroll through by pressing CTRL+[1-0]. I set up bars for different purposes. I have an all purpose hotbar that I leave on all the time that includes the most common actions, but I also have a hotbar for potions, wands, equipment, and spells.
The Interaction Orb (6) shows you what your character is focusing on at the moment. IT also allows you to interact with that object or person. You can select an NPC to talk to them, select a party member to trade items, or select a monster to attack or cast spells upon. You can also examine a person or item by pressing “z” while they are selected in the Orb. You can shrink the orb by pressing the small eye icon in the lower left. I usually have it shrunk down so it takes up less space.
Now you know the lay of the land, lets move on to the first quest. Walk down the dock until you reach solid ground near Trader Skipp. I use “w” as my move forward button. I believe this is the default button, but you can also use the up arrow. You can change the key mapped to moving forward using the same process you used to set your “Voice Push to Talk” key.
Talk with Trader Skipp by double left-clicking on him. This is how you talk to non player characters in DDO. The Trader is here to move you beyond the first quest for players who are creating their umpteenth new character. Select the I am new and would like to learn at a safe pace option to do the initial quest which will teach you how to interact inside a dungeon. This quest is short and needs little explanation to complete. It will teach you how to attack, open doors, and use a rest shrine. You will also be given your first experience rank once you complete it! If you skip it, you will get the same experience rank, but without the instruction. I recommend new players to do the first quest. If you’ve played MMO’s before, you can probably safely move on. Sin will take the quick route and deliver Skipp’s letter to Trevia.
Once I’ve given the letter to Trevia, she gives me some heal light potions, which will come in handy. She also allows me to train my first enhancement (for gaining my first experience action point). I will chose Devotion I to improve the health points my healing spells will provide by 20%. I will need to be able to heal myself regularly.
Now Sin will talk to Sigmund the Tavernkeep to receive her first quest. This is usually how the questing system works. It’s kind of like the pen and paper game. You talk to people in the world and they offer you quests to complete. Mainly your reward for those quests lies in the quest itself in the form of loot (items worth money or that can help you improve your character’s abilities), experience, and favor. Favor is a more advanced thing that you do not really need to know about yet. It will only play a role later in the game. You need loot to buy new equipment and you need experience to raise your character’s level. This first quest is a loner quest, one of the few. You will not be able to bring a party with you. Talk to the tavern keep until a sign pops up that says “Quest Bestowed.” Now look in your quest journal by clicking on the little chalice in the Menu Panels. Under “Select Area” you should see the Wavecrest Tavern. Make sure that is selected. Now, under “Select Quest” you should see “Old Sully’s Grog.” That is the quest Sigmund just gave you. Under “Quest Details” you see all sorts of information about the quest including where you must enter, who gave it to you, what level it is intended for, how long it is, and a short description. This is how all the quests work in this game. Once you have a quest bestowed upon you, it appears in this journal. You can have an unlimited number of quests open at any time. I pick up every quest I see while I am running around the world, just in case I need to run it with a party later. It saves me a trip to the quest giver. Close the Quest Journal and head to the door to Sigmund’s Left. This is where we enter this quest.
Old Sully’s grog is an easy quest with a smattering of Kobolds and a magic using human at the end. It is important to play up to your character’s strengths to finish this quest. If you are a melee fighter, rush into combat. If you are more proficient with spells or ranged weapons, sneak up on your enemies and pummel them from a distance. In any case, have your newly acquired healing potions or spells in your hotbar just in case you start to take damage. If your health bar is more than half way extinguished, quit whatever you are doing, run away and start chugging potions! You don’t want to die in this quest. To start the quest, double left-click on the quest entrance and click ok. This is where you can select different difficulties for the quest. This is a solo-only quest, so you can only do this one by yourself. There are only a handful of other quests like this in the game, and they are all very low level. Most quests require the talents of multiple types of characters to complete, so it wouldn’t make sense to do them in solo mode. Notice in the top right, your list of objectives appear. This is what you must do in order to complete the quest. Find Sully’s Grog, and double left-click on it. You will notice that when you move your cursor over an item in the world you can interact with, it turns into a couple of gears. Notice also, that as you move through a quest, the list of objectives is constantly being updated. IT shows what you have completed and any new objectives that may have been discovered.
Once you make it through the round door, turn on the “sneak” skill by clicking on the hotbar icon with the little sneaky looking figure. You will move slower in this mode, but will be less noticed by monsters. To turn this mode off, click the icon again or attack a monster. I recommend quickly coming out of this mode before attacking by clicking the icon or pressing the appropriate number key. Later on, you will have more attacks, and you can use them all if you are not sneaking. You only get one attack if you attack while in sneak mode. Sneak up to the sleeping kobold and kill him. Use a weapon you are proficient with by dragging it from your inventory to the upper weapon box in your equipment. Click the icon that looks like a backpack to find your inventory. Notice that Sin’s got her Bow in her primary hand. I will kill the kobold with this bow.
Sleepy Kobold about to die…
Click on the kobold to select him. Notice he shows up in the Orb. If you are using a ranged weapon, fire from back here. If you are using a melee weapon, you’ll need to get right next to him. Once the kobold is dead your quest goals are updated.
Go open the chests by double left-clicking them. Then double left-click on the treasure inside to put it in your inventory. Woo hoo! I got a new cape. I can use it right now to improve my character’s saving throws. To put it on, I will double-click it while it’s in my inventory. You can also double-left click on the mushroom in this cave to pick up a collectable. You collect these throughout the game, and some non-player characters (NPCs) will give you items for them. Overall, I don’t think its worth the space in your inventory, but at low levels, you need all the help you can get. At this point, you can exit the dungeon. Use the Finished button on the Quest Status window to quickly exit the dungeon. Press the yes button to complete the action. This will take you back to the entrance to the quest.
Now, you are back in the tavern ready to talk to the quest giver to move on to the next part of the quest. Some quests, like this one, have multiple parts. It is important to talk to the right people before reentering the quest. You can always tell what you are supposed to do by looking at the quest window.
Notice, the quest window tells Sin that she must contact Sigmund to advance the quest. Notice the symbol on top of Sigmund’s head? That tells you that you are ready to talk to him, and that he is ready to help you either finish or advance a quest. Always talk to NPCs with this symbol on their head!
Notice, that as you walk by Brother Augustus, he has that same symbol on his head! That means get talking. Now we are headed back in. This time there will be more kobolds and a human priest at the end. Take your time. Use your sneak skill. You should have no problem beating these guys. See you next time.
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