View source for The Arid, Extra-Dry Desert

{{NeedsConfirm|Any other missing messages?}}
{{Data:{{PAGENAME}}|format=INFOBOX Location}}

[[The Arid, Extra-Dry Desert]] is located in the [[Desert Beach]].  It is unlocked after obtaining (and reading) [[Your father's MacGuffin diary]] (see the [[Quest for the Holy MacGuffin]]).

{{statrec|You head towards the desert, but then you remember that you haven't bothered naming your horse yet, and also that you are scared because the monsters in there are really hard.}}

On October 29, 2013 this zone's mechanics were changed for the [[Quest for the Holy MacGuffin]]. Most non-combat adventures were subsequently retired. See [[The Arid, Extra-Dry Desert (Dehydrated)]] and [[The Arid, Extra-Dry Desert (Ultrahydrated)]] to find an archive of the old desert.

==Combat Adventures==
{{Combat|name=cactuary}}
{{Combat|name=giant giant giant centipede}}
{{Combat|name=plaque of locusts}}
{{Combat|name=rock scorpion}}
{{Combat|name=swarm of fire ants}}

==Non-combat Adventures==
{{Adventure|name=A Sietch in Time|note1=Unlocks [[All Across the Sands]] in [[The Oasis]].|tag=sl}}

{{Adventure|name=He Got His Just Desserts|drops=[[reinforced beaded headband]], [[round purple sunglasses]], [[bullet-proof corduroys]]|image=corpse.gif|note1=Occurs only after starting the [[The Mysterious Island of Mystery (Wartime)|Island War]].|note2=Must not have any item of the [[War Hippy Fatigues]] or [[Frat Warrior Fatigues]] in your [[inventory]] for this adventure to occur, though you may have them in your [[closet]].|tag=sl}}

{{Adventure|name=How Dry I Am|image=glyphs1.gif|tag=hobo}}

{{Adventure|name=Midnight Sun|image=sandcactus.gif|drops=[[cactus key]]|tag=lowkey}}

==Retired Adventures==
{{Adventure|name=Trigger? I hardly...|image=sand.gif|drops=[[twitching trigger finger]]|note1=Usable by [[Pastamancer|Pastamancers]] only.}}

==Notes==
*Underneath this zone's image are a bunch of zonefont images that display the words "(X% explored)", referring to your progress in discovering the Pyramid within the [[Quest for the Holy MacGuffin]].
*The first time that you adventure here without Ultrahydrated will give you 10 turns of the [[Ultrahydrated]] effect and unlock [[The Oasis]]. If you acquire Ultrahydrated from something like a [[Rubbed it the Right Way|wish]] or a [[diabolic pizza]], you will still unlock the Oasis on the next un-Ultrahydrated turn.
*:Already sort of thirsty, you set out to explore the vast and trackless wastes.<br /><br />
*:As you're about to collapse from dehydration, you stagger over one last dune to discover a verdant oasis. Just what you needed!
*:{{acquireEffect|effect=Ultrahydrated|duration=10}}
*:{{AreaUnlocked|bigmap.gif|[[The Oasis]]|[[Desert Beach]]}}
*Despite taking place after the combat concludes, doing the first adventure only results in 10 turns of Ultrahydrated if it was a free [[insta-kill]].
*Adventuring here without [[Ultrahydrated]] while the Pyramid quest is underway (exploration < 100%) will confer random negative effects, listed below.
*Defeating a monster in this zone increases your exploration score by 1%.  There are several ways to improve this:
**The [[UV-resistant compass]] gives +1% per fight.
**The [[ornate dowsing rod]] gives +2% per fight.
**An active [[Melodramedary]] gives +1% per fight.
**The [[Survival knife]] gives +2% per fight (while hydrated).
**([[Avatar of Sneaky Pete|AoSP]] path only) The [[Avatar of Sneaky Pete#Motorbike|Blacklight Bulb]] Motorbike upgrade gives +2% per fight.
**([[License to Adventure|LtA]] path only) The Universal GPS [[LI-11 HQ|upgrade]] gives +2% per fight (while hydrated)
*The following items can be used to instantly increase exploration score:
**[[desert sightseeing pamphlet]] (+15%) (Up to three can be obtained per ascension from [[A Sietch in Time|Gnasir's Place]])
**[[drum machine]] (+30%) (Once per ascension with [[worm-riding hooks]] in inventory, which are obtained from [[A Sietch in Time|Gnasir's Place]])
**[[milestone]] (+5%) (Can be used repeatedly)
*Post-combat messages:
**With [[Ultrahydrated]]:
**:Well hydrated, you continue your efforts to explore the vast desert.
**With [[Ultrahydrated]] and a [[UV-resistant compass]] equipped:
**:Well hydrated and equipped with your trusty UV-resistant compass, you continue your efforts to explore the vast desert.
**With [[Ultrahydrated]] and an [[ornate dowsing rod]] equipped:
**:Well hydrated and equipped with your trusty dowsing rod, you continue your efforts to explore the vast desert.
**With [[Ultrahydrated]] and a [[Melodramedary]] active:
**:You follow <familiar> further into the desert, since he seems to have a much better idea of where he's going than you do.
**With [[Ultrahydrated]] and a [[Survival knife]] active:
**:With the compass in the hilt of your survival knife, you quickly find new areas.
**Without [[Ultrahydrated]]:
**:Already sort of thirsty, you set out to explore the vast and trackless wastes.
**And then, if you have the Blacklight Bulb:
**:The blacklight on your motorcycle makes it really easy to see stuff in the bright sunlight!
**And then, with [[Ultrahydrated]]:
**:You climb a rock chimney and get a good view of your surroundings.
**:''or''
**:You crest a dune and survey the nearby area.
**:''or''
**:You fall off a cliff, but on the way down you get a fantastic view of the surrounding desert!
**:''or''
**:You see a cool rock formation you've never seen before.
**:''or''
**:You see another oasis in the distance, but it turns out to be a mirage.
**:''or''
**:You walk for a few miles in one direction, then follow your footprints back.
**:''And then, sometimes, for the first time''
**:You find one of Gnasir's manual pages half-buried in a sand dune.
**:{{acquire|item=worm-riding manual page}}
**:''or, afterwards''
**:You find some more worm-riding manual pages under a nearby rock.
**:{{acquire|item=worm-riding manual page|num=2-3}}
**And then, without [[Ultrahydrated]]:
**:You become delirious with thirst, and as you wander aimlessly through the sand dunes, you see a figure up ahead. As you get closer, he keeps disappearing and reappearing -- to your left, to your right, then right behind you. You spin around and see that the figure has bronze skin, warpaint, a feathered headdress, and is wearing nothing but a loincloth.<br /><br />
**:"Follow me," he says, in a deep, echoing voice. "I am your spirit guide."<br /><br />
**:He turns and you follow him, silently, until you've lost track of time and space. Just when you feel like you're about to have some kind of deep, searing insight, he turns and seems surprised to find you there.<br /><br />
**:"You're still following me?" he says. "I was just yanking your chain, man. I can't believe you fell for that!" and he disappears.<br /><br />
**:Great. Not only are you even more lost than you were before, but now you're exhausted from all the walking.
**:{{acquireEffect|effect=Barking Dogs|duration=5}}
**:''or''
**:After a few hours of mostly ineffectual exploring, you collapse, parched, in a path{{sic}} of cactus.<br /><br />
**:You remember reading somewhere that you can cut open a cactus and get water out of it, but when you try it, it turns out that this particular species of cactus contains not water, but a powerful poison.
**:{{acquireEffect|effect=Majorly Poisoned|duration=5}}
**:''or''
**:You become delirious with thirst, getting completely lost. Finally, you stop and sit down.<br /><br />
**:"Screw this," you think, "I'm an Adventurer, for crying out loud! We're ''renowned'' for our direction sense!"<br /><br />
**:You close your eyes and concentrate on picturing yourself on a map of your surroundings. You imagine a big map in front of you stuck in a post on the ground. It shows a vast expanse of featureless desert -- so vast, in fact, that it takes up the entire surface of the map. There's a compass rose at the bottom, and a little X with "you are here" written above it in the center of the map.<br /><br />
**:You stare for a while at the beige rectangle with the X in the middle of it, then walk off again, feeling your confidence in your mental navigation skills slip just a little.
**:{{acquireEffect|effect=Prestidigysfunction|duration=5}}
**:''or''
**:You collapse from dehydration, and wake up a few hours later with a really bad sunburn.
**:{{acquireEffect|effect=Sunburned|duration=5}}
**:''or''
**:Gasping for water, you crest a dune in the desert and find a bunch of vultures feasting upon the carcass of some unidentifiable animal. You think of several hundred lawyer jokes, and are about to move on when you notice one of the vultures appears to be wearing a cowboy hat. It looks at you (the vulture, not the hat), its beady little eyes gleaming with predatory intelligence.<br /><br />
**:"Look, everybody, I'm a cowboy!" it says. "Howdy, howdy, howdy."<br /><br />
**:Clearly, you're cracking up.
**:{{acquireEffect|effect=Tenuous Grip on Reality|duration=5}}
**:''or''
**:Dry as a bone, you stumble blindly through the desert until you get caught in a sandstorm. The stinging, whirling sand gives you a really, really deep exfoliation. When it's done, you're just skin and bones, only without the skin.
**:{{acquireEffect|effect=Turned Into a Skeleton|duration=5}}
**:''And then''
**:{{HP|type=lose|amount=14-21}}
**:You should really go back to that '''[[Desert Beach|{{FontColor|#000000|Oasis}}]]''' and get a drink.
**''And then''
<center>Desert exploration '''+X%'''</center>
*After exploration reaches 10%, your next Adventure in this zone will be the noncombat which reveals [[A Sietch in Time|Gnasir's Place]].
*Defeating monsters in this zone while [[Ultrahydrated]] and while the Pyramid quest is underway has a chance of dropping 1 to 3 {{plural|worm-riding manual page}}.
**The probability of at least one page dropping starts at 25% and increases by 25% each time pages fail to drop, to 50%, 75%, then 100%.
**The first time pages drop, you will receive 1 page. Subsequent times, you receive 2 or 3 pages with equal probability. You will never go over 15 pages, as the pages can only drop 1 or 2 if needed instead of more.
**Wandering monsters and [[Mini-Hipster|free]] [[Artistic Goth Kid|fights]] can drop pages.
**On average, gathering all the pages takes 17 turns after you have found Gnasir, but can be as low as 8 and as high as 27.
**You can turn in 15 {{plural|worm-riding manual page}} to [[A Sietch in Time|Gnasir's Place]] in order to obtain the [[worm-riding hooks]], which can be used with a [[drum machine]] for an instant +30% desert exploration.
*After getting 100% exploration, after the normal messages and effects above (ending before +X%):
*:Desert exploration '''COMPLETE!'''
{{AreaUnlocked|pyramid.gif|[[The Ancient Buried Pyramid|A Small Pyramid]]|[[Desert Beach]]}}
*Adventuring here after the Pyramid does ''not'' confer random negative effects.

==History==
*Prior to the revamp on October 29, 2013, this zone was actually split into two zones: [[The Arid, Extra-Dry Desert (Dehydrated)]] without [[Ultrahydrated]], or [[The Arid, Extra-Dry Desert (Ultrahydrated)]] with Ultrahydrated. Dehydrated gave only noncombats, and was required to unlock [[The Oasis]].
*The [[ornate dowsing rod]] originally gave no exploration bonus on the first turn, because you were not yet [[Ultrahydrated]]. This was likely changed some time in February 2014.

==References==
*"Arid, Extra-Dry" is a reference to Arrid Extra Dry antiperspirant.
*Most of the adventures here are a reference to [[wikipedia:Frank Herbert|Frank Herbert]]'s ''[[wikipedia:Dune (novel)|Dune]]''.
* The message "You head towards the desert, but then you remember that you haven't bothered naming your horse yet, and also that you are scared because the monsters in there are really hard." is a reference to the Dewey Bunnell song, [[Wikipedia:A Horse with No Name|A Horse with No Name]].
* The vulture saying "Look, everybody, I'm a cowboy! Howdy, howdy, howdy" is a reference to a [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KZ2QXV_Ok5k/UVjepk8VqRI/AAAAAAAAs74/Ngca2V3BzYs/s1600/20130331_215916.jpg 1983 comic] from [[Wikipedia:Gary Larson|Gary Larson]]'s [[Wikipedia:The Far Side|The Far Side]].

[[Category:Locations|Arid, Extra-Dry Desert, The]]