Hey there, folks.

While this may seem like just the last installment of a loooooong
Liaison cycle, what I'm bringing you represents a significant change in
Aetolia's workflow for combat changes. With the establishment of a
dedicated Liaison server, we've been able to dramatically shorten our
turnaround time from coding to testing to deployment. By openly testing
new skills and strategies with mortals, we're able to iterate very
thoroughly without disrupting the live game in any way or writing a
bunch of workaround code to make certain things -only- work in the
Liaison Arena. It's an opportunity I'm incredibly excited about, and I'm
confident that it's going to make our future changes (of which there are
maaaaaany) that much better for you.

Below are the liaison changes, in my usual format. Expect some focused
Teradrim changes to follow later on in a separate patch.

- Oleis

General
-------
- It is now impossible to 'stack' writhes of all kinds. This is an
especially far-reaching change, so be sure to bug any weirdness. I'd
encourage you to test this out on your own to see the failure message.
It delivers a Combat Message, so powerusers will be able to notice with
GMCP. [1295]

Conjuration / Enchantment
-------------------------
- Baubles and lures have been removed. All existing baubles and lures
will decay in 30 months. [1344]

Elemancy / Sciomancy
--------------------
- New ability: Frostspike/Stonespike. At a ~3s equilibrium cost,
delivers a venom of your choice from your inventory and deals moderate
damage. Being afflicted with magic_impaired will prevent you from
successfully casting this spell. Syntax: CAST FROSTSPIKE <target>
<venom>. [1373]

Hematurgy
---------
- Slicktongue will no longer cause random whispers. Instead, the ritual
will allow you to whisper without consuming any blood. [1232]

Hypnosis
--------
- Marks will no longer fade if the marked target is standing in
Darkflood. However, the timer will still decrement. This means that a
mark can "wear out" the instant one leaves Darkflood if sufficient time
has passed. [1134]

- Additionally, Darkflood will fail without costing you anything if the
effect is already in place in the room. These changes required that we
track darkness in a slightly different way. Be sure to bug any oddities.

- A target may now only have one Mark on him or her at any time. [1134]

Shamanism
---------
- Vinelash will now cause scaling bleeding based on the target's max
health and the number of thorn stacks. [1361]

- Additionally, you may now specify a venom to deliver alongside
Vinelash instead of Loki.

Spirituality
------------
- Dementia, hypochondria and lethargy are now deliverable through
Chasten. As part of this modification, I completely rewrote the CHASTEN
command to rectify some long-standing bugs and oversights. Please file a
BUG if you notice any oddities. [1281]
- BATTLE now requires both equilibrium and balance.

Tekura
------
- The COMBO command has been completely rewritten to improve
flexibility. [1262]

Penned by my hand on the 8th of Lleian, in the year 401 MA.