Scars

From MYSTlore

Scars is the first Myst Online episode. It was announced on May 4, 2007.

[edit] Preview

Everything in the cavern is about to change. This episode’s highlights include:

• The D'ni Restoration Council (DRC), often criticized for being "overly cautious," is stunned when their caution and control is unable to save the life of someone very close.
• A never-before-seen new Age is released featuring a vast landscape with hours of unique game play to solve by yourself or with friends.
• The first hints of an impending conflict emerge and the repercussions will change the course of the restoration forever.

[edit] Numbering confusion

Scars is also sometimes referred to as the fifth episode, even though there haven't been any episodes before, and there (likely) won't be prequels. The discrepancy is due to the fact that Scars is the fifth major release since the launch of Myst Online: Uru Live, i.e. the fifth time major content has been rolled out. While this causes confusion for the time being, it allows for the major version and episode number to be consistent in the future.

[edit] Content

The following content was released during this episode:

• Ages
  • Minkata
• Relto pages
  • cannen, in Descent
  • suns and moons, in the Museum
  • 'lush', in Negilahn
  • grass, in Eder Tsogal
• Clothing items
  • pith helmet in Eder Gira
  • hiking boots in Minkata
• Other
  • a cannen in the Kadish Gallery that, when clicked, adds the music from the gallery to the cannen in Relto
  • a soccer ball in Minkata

[edit] Story

[edit] May 19

• The Relto page for the cannen appears in Descent.
• All neighborhood linking books to Eder Delin disappear.
• The DRC announces a release party for Minkata to be held at Thursday, May 24 at 7pm Cavern Time. Rand Miller will be a guest.
• Douglas Sharper visits the Uru Obsession Bevin and tells explorers that he has set up a blind in Negilahn. He and Nick White will be putting out an Urwin as bait to lure the predator.
• Victor Laxman answers questions in A Beginner's Bevin. He said:
  • The DRC will be making an effort to communicate more with the explorers in pre-scheduled weeks every month.
  • The recalibration of the Great Zero is going well, and that repeated marker missions do help the calibration.
  • There has been some sort of 'seismic disturbance' in cavern.
  • The Gahreesen Wall has been delayed to an accident with a ResEng.
  • The Bahro are making their way into every age the DRC has access to and that they are changing their behavior.
• Nick White visits several neigborhoods and exchanges angry words with Sydney Austin. He also mentions that he "took some things with him when he left".
• Michael Engberg examines a new crack in the rock just outside of the Kahlo Pub. He asks people to be careful and report new cracks. After several loud Bahro screams in the area, he sends out a KI message that asks explorers to stay away from the area.

[edit] May 20

• The pith helmet is available in Eder Gira.
• The DRC fix a KI machine in Descent that causes a KI to emit light for a short period of time.
• Explorers ignore Michael Engberg's warning and crowd in to see the crack near the Kahlo Pub.
• Nick White visits the Guild of Greeters Bevin before going to Negilahn in order to get some emotional support for the trip.
• Wheely and a friend (Rosette) go around collecting Great Zero markers.
  • Wheely reports a new crack in the library and abruptly disappears.
  • Michael Engberg and Victor Laxman arrive in the city, looking for Wheely and to inspect the new cracks.
• Rumbles and Bahro screeches are heard throughout Ae'gura and the DRC evacuates the city.
  • Bahro are sighted on the top of the library.
• The crack outside of the Kahlo Pub fills up with rubble.
• The DRC sends out a KI message stating that there was a collapse in the city and that the main instance of the city is closed. Hood instances seem unaffected.
• DRC members turn off their KIs to focus on what Marie Sutherland calls 'the recovery'.
  • Nick White is told that Victor Laxman has managed to detect a weak KI signal, assumed to be Wheely.
  • Several explorers (such as vid) manage to link into the city in order to assist rescue efforts. They are removed by ResEngs.
• Nick White asks people not to get into the city, out of respect for the rescue effort (and Michael Engberg), and the fact that multiple KI signals may disrupt the attempt to locate the Wheely's KI.

[edit] May 21

• Victor Laxman manages to remotely activate Wheely's KI.
• Wheely is alive and talking to her father over the KI. She reports that Rosette is dead.
  • She and Rosette lied about the crack at the library to distract people so they could investigate the crack at the Kahlo Pub.
  • She found herself in a room with Bahro carvings. Her Relto book was inoperative.
  • A Bahro touched her Relto book.
  • She reported eyes watching her from the darkness and scratching sounds.
  • After saying a Bahro was coming towards her, Wheely stopped talking for a while.
  • Later, she recontacted her father, apparently suffering the symptoms of dehydration.
  • At the suggestion of an explorer (Dr. Britcom Mom), Wheely draws the Bahro symbol for 'water' (which she knew as she had played Cyan's Myst V: End of Ages) in the dirt. The Bahro 'takes' the drawing and goes back to watching her. Explorer K'laamas tries to teach her the D'ni phrase to ask for water.

[edit] May 22

• The Relto page for the suns and moons appears in the Museum.
• The lush Relto page appears in Negilahn.
• Reports indicate Sydney Austin damaged her Relto book and became trapped in Kadish Tolesa. KI contact was lost after attempting to cross one of the support beams.
• The DRC continues to dig for Wheely.
  • Wheely's KI turns on and she says she fell asleep, is no longer thirsty and the Bahro are still watching her.
  • Her KI suddenly reports her as in Gahreesen, Kadish Tolesa and then Relto, then disappears again. Victor Laxman insists the signal never moved, however.
  • Michael Engberg links to the above ages, presumably to search for Wheely.
• Nick White tells explorers of a symbol found on a tree in Negilahn.
  • The symbol looks like a percent sign "%".
  • The symbol apparently doesn't show up in KI pictures.
  • A similar symbol was found on a wall during the rescue effort.
  • He also says that Sydney Austin was likely just doing a publicity stunt for attention and no harm came to her.
• Nick White gets a message from Douglas Sharper that something is dragging away the Urwin he had been watching.
  • Sharper referred to the Urwin as "Peggy Sue".
  • Sharper has gone off to follow.
• The DRC break through to Wheely.
  • They lower down a linking book. It is inoperative when it gets there.
  • Wheely says the Bahro doesn't like when she draws symbols. It erases them.
  • The Bahro with her makes a repetitive noise. She finally identifies it as the word "Noloben". it's getting increasingly agitated.
  • Rescue members begin to lower down Michael Engberg, Wheely cries out and then is silent. Michael is pulled out, despite his protests.
  • A ResEng is lowered down instead. He screams to be pulled out and reports that " She's still down there, but ... you don't want to see it."
  • Michael Engberg disappears and the DRC shuts down the area and falls back to private communications.
• Nick White manages to access the private communications channel and reports details to explorers.^{[Citation needed]}
  • The ResEng is "a wreck."
  • He is too distraut to keep listening to the channel.
  • He says Sharper is late in returning and hurries off to Negilahn to search for him.
• Marie Sutherland addresses explorers.
  • She confirms that Wheely is dead and that the collapse did not kill her.
  • She declines to pass along details, out of respect. However, she describes the scene as "horrific".
  • She confirms that the Bahro Symbol they discovered is gone.

[edit] May 23

• Memorials and flowers are placed next to the crack. Michael Engberg sits quietly.
• Cate Alexander gives a speech to all explorers.
  • Cate says that a structural integrity test has revealed no damage to explorers, so all barriers are being removed.
  • Cate tells explorers to respect Michael because he's grieving.
  • Over the next several weeks, there will be investigations into the cause of damage and subsequent events.
  • Sharper still hasn't been heard from, which Cate is worried about given the events of yesterday.
• Douglas Sharper returns and tells explorers of what he saw.
  • The predator was in fact a Bahro which attacked the Urwin so suddenly, killing her differently.
  • It left the body, but took the head, shredded.
  • It left an easy trail of blood which Sharper followed. He made his way to the Urwin's head, and after minutes of waiting, realized it was a trap and saw 30 of the Bahro surrounding him. Not even a Relto link would work.
  • Then another lone Bahro appeared, and shortly after, Bahro appeared everywhere, attacking everything. It was a war.
  • Sharper was able to link back to Relto when two separate Bahro jumped on him to save him.
• Michael Engberg wanders through several neighborhoods, obviously distressed, but saying little and not responding to others.
  • He goes to the city to sit by the flowers again. He then whispers "Watson...", then uses the Bahro stone to travel to Descent, after which his KI signal disappeared.
• Dr. Kodama asks explorers if they knew where Michael Engberg went, because he is missing and his KI doesn't respond. He wonders if anyone can understand Engberg's grief.
• The DRC sends out a KI message announcing that Michael is missing and ask that any details about him be passed onto them.

[edit] May 24

• Cate Alexander sent out a KI message stating that the Minkata release party later this day will continue as planned.
• A music player upgrade has been seen in the Kadish Gallery, which adds the Gallery music to the Relto music player.
• Rand Miller visits several neighborhoods and answers questions.
• The Minkata book gets placed in the library.

[edit] May 25

• The grass Relto page appears in Eder Tsogal.

[edit] Background

[edit] Cyan, GameTap, etc.

As the meeting with Rand Miller was heavily advertised by GameTap, attendance was high. Rand reported that they saw more people logged into Myst Online at once than they'd ever seen before. There were at least 200 explorers in A Beginner's Bevin when Rand arrived. The lag was bad enough that he could only answer a few questions.

Due to the number of explorers logged on, the servers failed for a short period of time.

[edit] MYSTlore

Due to an error, Google Analytics data for the 21st and earlier is missing.

Between May 22nd and 24th (roughly the latter half of the episode), Google Analytics tracked the following (with best values in parentheses):