Shadow Rifts
A new world event began on February 11, 2023, when spooky shadowy rifts mysteriously opened in 13 different locations around the Kingdom.
An official announcement appeared on February 13:
- "Astute observers may have noticed the emergence of certain shadowy rifts in various Kingdom locales."
These mysterious Shadow Rifts are believed to be entirely unrelated to Shadows Over Loathing, a recent release from Asymmetric Games. They are also believed to be entirely unrelated to any specific special challenge path. And they certainly have nothing to do with the number thirteen.
On March 3, 2023, a few hours before the March IotM, closed-circuit phone system, was sent to subscribers, a new and related non-combat adventure appeared in the rifts. The IotM itself grants permanent access to Shadow Rift zones and allows one to get additional rewards via adventuring in the rifts.
On May 15, 2023, when Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing ceased to be the active challenge path, the rifts disappeared for people not on that path, unless they own the closed-circuit pay phone:
- "The shadow rifts have faded into the... darker shadows?"
When attempting to visit any of the Shadow Rift zones that are no longer accessible (such as via Last Adventure):
- There's no such absence of anything.
Combat Encounters
Each rift leads to a mysterious shadowy realm with twelve different shadowy enemies, each guarding a unique shadowy item. All monsters in the Shadow Rifts have 100% Physical Resistance - use elemental damage to combat them. Three of the enemies await behind each entrance rift:
Special Mechanics
- After every successful combat in any rift, all enemies gain about +8 ML. Additionally, they gain 1% damage resistance per encounter, capped at 90%. These values reset to +0 at rollover.
- Item drop bonuses are divided by 5 when in the Shadow Rifts. Copied monsters are unaffected. Pickpocket is unaffected, and applies to the base rate.
- A message appears after every successful combat: "It's hard to see in this place. Items are gonna be trickier to find."
- Yellow raying seems to work just fine, though.
- You cannot banish any of the Shadow Rift monsters.
- You don't even know where you are.
- You cannot use monster tracking skills, such as Transcendent Olfaction.
- Every combat in the Shadow Rifts begins with two special messages.
- The first message describes entering the rift with one of the following:
- Colors invert as you step through the rift.
- You shudder as you cross through the rift.
- You step through. Down becomes up, up becomes down.
- You step through the rift.
- Your ears pop as you cross through the rift.
- Your stomach churns as you slip through the veil.
- The second message describes the appearance of the enemy with one of the following:
- An enemy appears.
- Darkness becomes solid, a foe approaches you.
- Shadows gather around you.
- Something terrible coalesces from the nearby emptiness.
- The emptiness parts to reveal a threat...
- There's something behind you.
- You hear something behind you.
- You sense something behind you, whatever "behind" means in this place. You whirl to face it.
- You're not alone here.
- Initially, the "Last Adventure" link was disabled due to multiple entrances, but this was fixed in early March.
Loot
Despite the penalties to item drops, Phat Loot awaits the persistent adventurer!
