As you might guess from the number of delays this update has had, there are a lot of fiddly details in this update. Hopefully everything is fine, but if it isn't, use the report button to tell me about it! I expect there will need to be a patch to fix missed details.

- The /music command has been removed. There are now three skills related to musical performance: Strings, Percussion, and Wind Performance. To learn these skills, just equip an appropriate instrument and you'll immediately be given the first ability (which is equivalent to the old "/music 1" for that instrument).

- Every few seconds that you're performing, there's a chance you'll earn a small amount of XP. It's very random, so for some people it will be quick and for others it will be very slow. This models the natural skill plateaus that real performers people run into while learning an instrument... haha just kidding, this was just the easiest way to code it.

- These new skills only go to level 10 for now. That's high enough to unlock all six existing tracks for the instrument.

- People who listen to a performance (including the performers) gain a minor buff called Performance Appreciation, which boosts earned XP and out-of-combat armor regeneration. The effect is highly dependent on the number of performers, their skill level, and the diversity of the performance (more instrument types = very beneficial!). It can vary from +1% XP to +14% XP, and from +4 to +56 armor regen.

- The longer you listen to the performance, the longer the buff lasts. (Again, the formula is based on the number of performers, their skill levels, and the instrument diversity.)

- The maximum buff duration is capped by the number of performers. No matter how long you listen, the duration won't go higher than 1 hour per performer.

- Most (humanoid) NPCs can now tell when you are playing music, and will dance when they are sufficiently entertained. (If you're playing solo it will take a few minutes, but if you have a group performance it will be much quicker.)

- If you put an item up for consignment with an NPC shopkeeper that is currently dancing, they will waive most of the up-front stocking fee. (Just because.)

- Growing vegetables (and flowers, cotton, etc.) are now receptive to music. There is a small chance that exposure to music will yield double items when harvested.

- This chance is based on the amount of time they are exposed to music, the number of musical performers, their musical skill level, and the diversity of the ensemble (number of performance skills in use).

- [Reference info for testing: a single musician with skill maxed at 10 has about a 12% chance of getting double cotton from a growing cotton plant (if they play the whole time it's growing). A trio of musicians playing different instruments, with their respective skills each at level 10, have about a 30% chance. Additional musicians have diminishing returns; a gaggle of 12 max-skilled musicians would cap out the chance at 57%.]

There are four new skills that let you add an additional treasure effect to an existing piece of equipment. It's a two-stage process: you first create an oil with the desired effect, then you apply the oil to the equipment. This is so that crafters can sell the oils directly.

It's pretty easy to learn to apply these oils: there's an NPC in Kur Mountains (in the building next to the inn) who will train you. It just costs a lot of money. You can lower the price by raising favor with the NPC.

I expect the selection of oils will change a lot as we go forward. (When this happens, existing oils and recipes will magically be changed over to the new selection. If you've already used such an oil on an item, the item won't change: it will keep the effect you applied to it originally.) Also, I expect the recipes to get fixed up in the future. This system underwent MANY different iterations this month, and there's probably some baggage hanging around from previous versions.

Made a bunch of improvements to Borghild (a/k/a "Deathtrap Dungeon", the one with the gigantic door in a hill in Serbule). The dungeon is now intended for a group of four level 40-ish players.

- the monster loot tables have been scaled up from level 30-ish loot to level 40-ish loot

The website version of these patch notes will also have some tips for newer players on how to approach the Borghild dungeon.

Sadly, we didn't get the new Kur Tower experience ready in time -- it's still under construction. Most of the "construction" is behind a wall, so the old part of the tower is still fine. A sign in the entrance will lead you to a new quest, but you can't actually complete the quest yet, so don't bother trying. There is a new elite monster that happens to be in an accessible part of the dungeon, though, and you're welcome to kill it if you like.

Blacksmithing is a middle-man skill. It's not Weaponsmithing or Armorsmithing... those will be separate. But it creates important metal bits for all kinds of stuff! Or at least... it will eventually. Right now there aren't enough of those other skills in the game, so leveling Blacksmithing is very painful.

The basic "statuary recipes" can be found deep in the Borghild dungeon. The advanced ones don't fit in the dungeon yet because it's not finished, so for now I threw those recipes into four big tomes that can be found in the loot of monsters that tend to drop recipes. (E.g. bosses like Tidal and Tremor, skeleton mages, goblin mages.)

Since many players consider the werewolf cave to be a 40-50's solo dungeon, I've stopped trying to make it a group dungeon and made it more soloable. (It doesn't make a good group dungeon anyway because it's too short.) It remains the only place to find certain recipes and items for werewolf players.

- The respawn rate of wandering wolves has been dropped a bit

- A new NPC lives in the cave (part of the new crafting skills mentioned above)

- Fixed a bug with Rage-to-Damage abilities (like sword ability Heart Piercer, and some treasure effects). It did the right amount of damage, but didn't correctly take the Rage from the monster. (A monster without any Rage would actually gain Rage from the attack! But monsters with lots of Rage would lose more Rage than intended.)

- fixed bug: spider harnesses stopped providing druid capabilities