Below the Abbey: update 3.457
The manual
Below the Abbey now has a printed manual, in the style of the booklets that came in the box of the old rpg games: a 186 page illustrated PDF with a black letter title, a clickable contents page and a black and white screenshot in a heavy black frame on almost every page. If you are a true rpg geek, you know what to do. Print it out and study it!
Chapter 1 explains the screen, the controls, the menu, the maps and your first ten minutes, with a keyboard and mouse quick reference. Chapter 2 covers your party, the twelve occupations, powers, combat, afflictions, resting and hunger. Chapter 3 covers the inventory, gear, trade, herbs and scrolls.
Chapter 4 tells the history of the land, with a who's who and a timeline (the later parts are marked as spoilers). Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are travel guides to the home lands, the deserts and Khemetra, and the seas, Oldhaven and the east. Chapter 8 is the bestiary and a hint guide with three levels of hint for every place and quest.
The new illuminated area maps fill an atlas at the end of each guide chapter, and the gear catalog (every weapon, armour piece and ring, sorted white, green, blue, red, purple and orange) is the appendix.
In the game, the More page of the menu has a new Game manual (PDF) button that opens the manual in a new tab. It is also on the itch.io page to download.
The Hollow Grasslands
A new land: the Hollow Grasslands, a wide dark grassland inside the earth, under a roof of rock instead of a sky, with the wind always in the grass. A cold, ghostly mist hangs over it, and tall towers and pinnacles stand on the horizon.
The way in is the portal at the top of the sealed Orange Spire. The way out is the spiked gate in the south, onto the ledge of the Hollow Land.
Five little villages of frog-folk, with round white houses behind spiked wooden fences. The folk speak a tongue the party cannot follow until it has found the four books hidden in the four hives. Each book lets you follow more of what they say, and the last one, the Queen's Dictionary, lets you follow it all.
Ten insectivores wait on the hills, from the Mire Tick up to The Great Insectivore, along with biter swarms and moth clouds. Gentle, wise, mossy frog-whales graze in the fields and do no harm.
Four beehive dungeons lie scattered over the grassland, walled in honeycomb, each with a boss, ending with the Hive Queen. The way out of each hive is a door you can walk into.
Twenty-four new quests.
New food (honeycomb, royal jelly, fried hive grubs, pickled kelp, water-lily root and pond water), and new gear: a stinger blade, a mandible axe, a barbed chitin spear, a carapace shield, and a full Chitin Warden armour set that hurts anything that strikes you.
The Hollow Grasslands are level 66 to 70, with gear and rewards raised to match.
The wizard's welcome in the grasslands no longer reopens itself and blocks the menu buttons. A save made in the grasslands or its hives no longer crashes Continue, Load or Go to area.
The Narrow Sea and the Pilgrim's Path map
The Narrow Sea map opens zoomed out to the whole sea, with every island named, plus Yarrim, Oldhaven and the Kraken waters.
The sea beside the Pilgrim's Path is now called the Narrow Sea on its map, and runs south past the edge of the map. A fierce sea serpent and a kraken swim in it.
Oldhaven Quay
The great gate now stands in the line of the wall instead of sticking out into the quay, and the gatehouse is the same height as the wall.
Small flags on long poles stand on either side of the gate and on the towers. Gargoyles look down over and beside the gate.
Every wall, window and the gate itself is the same grimy, soot-streaked stone.
The big flat keep and the nearby towers are no longer drawn when seen from the side or up close, where they looked like a slab standing over the walls.
The quay is less crowded, with fewer people at each stall.
The fish stalls now sell fish: smoked mackerel, pickled sardines, boiled crab, smoked haddock, salt cod, jellied eel, oysters, fried fish in a cone and fish chowder. Each stall has its own catch, and the Fish Hall sells the lot.
Illuminated area maps
Almost every place now has a hand-drawn, illuminated parchment map: the Abbey and the lands down to the Sand Road, the deserts, Yarrim, the islands, Oldhaven, all twenty floors of the Orange Spire, the Hollow Land, the Hollow Grasslands, the Pilgrim's Path and Khemetra.
The maps are drawn at three times the screen size, so their text and lines stay sharp. Zoom and pan are back (buttons, mouse wheel, pinch and drag).
A banner on each map shows the level of the creatures in the area.
Red danger zones show where creatures wait, with their level range and a skull where a boss lives. They appear only where the party has already explored, and can be switched off with the Zones button.
Quest rings show on the map, and the quest you pick in the quest log gets a dotted trail from the party to its place.
A Pin button lets you drop your own pins on a map (flag, skull, chest, camp, star or mark). Tap the map to place one, tap a pin to take it away.
A question mark shows on the area maps, and on the edge of the minimap, for hidden caves and ruins the party has spotted, so you can steer towards them.
The maps carry no notes, hints or descriptions for the player, and the foot line only says who the arrow is.
On the Thornwood map the labelled hollow in the south east is the Witch's Hut, and visited caves and ruins are named where they really are.
World map and fog of war
The world map has a new look, with puffy hand-drawn clouds that drift over it. Drag the map and the clouds move away faster, and new ones arrive. The clouds are smaller now.
The land continues west of the Hollow Lands: forests, mountains, rivers, lakes and new regions (the Western Reaches, the Far West, the Grey Downs and more), and you can pan the map that far.
The Hollow Grasslands sit west of the Orange Spire on the world map.
Outdoor area maps are covered by a solid bank of the same hand-drawn clouds, which clears as the party walks. Greendale, the Pilgrim's Path and a few other places stay clear. The Gameplay screen has a new Fog of war on maps switch if you would rather see everything.
Weather
A small painted weather icon sits in the top strip of the 3D view, toward the middle. It shows clear, night, rain, storm, fog, snow, frost, heat or haze. Tap it to be told what the weather is doing.
Interface
The red injury fill on the portraits now stays when the inventory is open.
Attack has a painted crossed swords icon.
Go to area is never blocked by the sealed Orange Spire, and it loads the city pictures before restoring a save. If a save cannot be restored, it starts a fresh party instead of failing.
The menu buttons no longer carry an asterisk or exclamation mark.
The drunk at the start of Ironhill is now a shady character, with a new painted picture.
Caves and wild dungeons no longer show a message about the way out when you enter.
Painted art
Painted art for the whole Hollow Grasslands: frog-folk, houses, towers, insects, hives, chests and the wizard. Also the weather icons, the Attack icon, the Oldhaven gargoyles and the shady character.