The 7L New Resident Tour begins beside the Essence of Harmony at 1408, 1773. It doesn't have any puzzles or story to it; just a tour suitable for new players or new residents of 7L. However, you will have more enjoyment if you actually play the venery as intended instead of just reading about it. So stop reading and go play!
(venery gathering point: 1408, 1773)
Clue (end test): I hope you have enjoyed this tour. If you have a suggestions for improvements, please contact Yendor.
Thank you to SLPBA, Veritas Unium, Desert Ninjas, and the Sunset group for significant public facilities in this region.
Hint (starting text):
Welcome to the tour! It is pretty straightforward, but if you get completely lost a list of waypoints is available at http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale3/Users/Yendor/Venery.
7L is a vibrant region full of public facilities and friendly people. Many of the facilities are conveniently located in this area near the cs. The building next door has public smelting pots, forges, and rock saws. Veritas Unum has several compounds across from the chariot; many buildings in them are public. Riverside retreat has a public tasting bench at 1378, 1757.
7L is the only region with a public restoom; your next stop is at 1399, 1744. Search on the wall separating the men's room from the ladies' room. (If you don't know how to find that coordinate, use "/clockloc" to show a window with Egypttime and your current location in it; "/ts" will add a timestamp (actually a 'how long ago' stamp) to the chat windows.)
Sculpture at 1399, 1741 (but stand at 1399, 1744). The title is "Vote on the WC Letters"; click on the straw inside the compound.
Clue: The Seven Lakes region is full of people who, while friendly and helpful, aren't too keen on group-think or largescale organization. While many egypt-wide guilds have their guild halls in this region, most of the "primary" or "family" guilds in 7L are quite small (10 people or so). One of the notable exceptions is Egyptian Life, who have a complex and guild hall south of here toward UBody. It is mostly for chatting between friends (or friends of friends) but also allows for large group projects and has nearly 100 members. Even if you don't like large guilds, be sure to chat with the guildmaster/mistress Pacer and Lil. They are grandson and grandaughter of oracles and can help you with the initiation to Harmony.
But the next stop on the tour is much closer -- the next key is hidden in the compound at 1440, 1690. On your way there, please judge the art in the SLACK Art Compound at 1400, 1725.
Clue: SLPBA (The Seven Lakes Public Builders Association) builds and maintains public facilties for this region. This building (and the hillside compound just above to the west) were donated by SLPBA member Lukeera. In addition to SLPBA's items, Rauul has made his greenhouses publicly useable, and Hur-Ra has a public mine All of these facilities are free to use; if anything wears out (such as a carpentry blade), please chat the owner so that it can be repaired. The full list of SLPBA facilities is at http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale3/guilds/SLPBA. Our current project is building a flax processing center at 1431, 1585; we will need several Full Eye Turquoise cut gems to do that. Donations of cut or cuttable gems (or other valuable items) are appreciated.
If you are a new player, one of the most vital skills to learn is not cutting gems nor even making charcoal. It is effectively using the Wiki -- all of the links given so far are part of the Tale in the Desert Wiki; any player can create an account and edit them. The wiki serves as player-created game documentation. Use the wiki to look up the location of the SLACK guildhall; that is the next stop on our tour.
Clue: SLACK (Seven Lakes and Country Kin) is the regional guild for Seven Lakes. It is a way to keep tabs on your friends and neighbors even while traveling around Egypt, and they coordinate research efforts in this region. Seven Lakes was the first region to unlock the techologies Modern Sheep Farming, Chromatic Touch, Chariot Repair, Advanced Animal Husbandry, and a few others from early in the telling. Unlike many other games, A Tale in the Desert allows you to join as many guilds as you wish, and many eygpt-wide guilds have their homes in Seven Lakes. There are guilds focused on specific tests (such as Beelte Mania), guilds focused on game play (EVIL, the Egyptian Viticultural Information League), and even guilds whose only purpose is to chat.
Each of these guilds (and each player in the game) has a corresponding information text. Type "/info The Hive" to find the location of the guildhall for the Wretched Hive of Scum and Villany, which is the next stop on our tour.
Clue: Because of its central location, Seven Lakes is an active trade center. The Goods, while not as prominent as they were in Tale 2, remain one of the best ways for a new player to get loom frames and leather for basic stock such as wood and flax. The DEA is a herb exchange; sell the herbs you find in exchange for the herbs you need. Thuglys (http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale3/Guilds/Thuglys/Locations) also trades basic items. Yendor (that's me!) lives just east of here and sells paint. You are also near the SLPBA laboratory building which has a pigment lab, a wood treatment plant, and other goodies.
Also, the microphone for RTrade is just north of here by the road. If you want to make a trade, just walk up to it and speak (into main). Type "/join RTrade" to see any responses. Another good microphone to join (but it is not in Seven Lakes) is E!. Finnally, Channel 7 is a micophone that is not widely used but does have regional announcements from time to time.
The wiki has an atlas at http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale3/atlas with all kinds of maps; each one has a dropdown box for your to select a region such as 7L. It is handy for finding things such as voting booths, pyrotechnic stadiums, limestone pits, and public facilities. The next stop of the tour is the expedition site near UThought.
Clue: This is the northern border of Seven Lakes -- Upper Egypt is only 50 coordinates away.
Look at the map (F3) to see where the road to the west ends -- that is Pappy Moutain and the top of it is the best spot in Egypt to dry papyprus to get more seeds. Plenty of Egyptians have built public hammocks for drying, and there are numerous chests full of free and free-to-borrow seeds. Don't be fooled by the first set of hammocks you see; keep climbing up and up to the very peak of the highest moutain for the best spots.
The Sunset group has facilities in this area; Sunset Papyrus is a mentoring guild targeted toward new players, and is one of the few guilds accepting trial accounts. Sunset Enterprises is the other exception to "No large primary guilds in 7L". The Sunset group also has a gem-cutting school in the caldera (south of the road halfway to Pappy mountain), and an extensive public paper-making facility next to the nile.
If you see anyone living near here, they are very likely members of the Sunset group. If you don't have any papyrus seeds, feel free to ask to borrow some if people are in the area. You can use them at the last stop of our tour; the SLPBA Pottery Complex.
Where is the SLPBA pottery complex? By now you should know how to find out.
Clue: This part of the nile is a good starting point for a papyrus run. Announce in regional chat something like "Planting pappyrus on the west side, CS to UArt". Alternatively, you could start at UArt, or even do both. Papyprus takes around 11 minutes to grow, and sprouts about 200 coordinates north of where it is planted (must have the mud icon to be able to plant it). It grows on both sides of the Nile, and even spouts in the smaller lakes such as in the caldera. Dry the papyrus somewhere high (such as Pappy moutain) to get more seeds and use the dried papyrpus to make ash, or keep the undried papyprus to make paper.
Papyprus growing gets a bit boring after the first few times you do it, but it is an excellent trade good for new players because experienced players will trade even valuable items for papyprus (but not for bricks or flax products). For example, RTrade has seen offers of a huge gem (extremly rare) for 2500 papyrus.
At any rate, this ends the tour. Go back to the venery gathering point when you are ready to complete it, and thank you for your time!