Update 1.2 — The Ash Tower

The Ash Tower is here: the first big endgame event after the Ashfall. Along with it: films for every companion and the Epoch Bosses, two new music pieces, seven foes found nowhere else — and, once more, a few things you found. Thank you.

The Ash Tower — a new “Events” tab

• After your first Ashfall a tower stands north-east of Emberwake that nobody built. It appears on the world map (with a spoken story) and on the left in the new EVENTS section.
• Endless floors: three waves of three to five foes per floor, every fifth a guardian, every tenth a memory room. From floor 20 every floor carries an element (frost, poison, blood, arcane), from floor 40 affixes such as Armoured, Hasty, Draining, Mirroring or Glowing — all announced beforehand.
• Health and Ember do not refill between floors. Provisions are limited to 20 per kind until the next rest (every memory room refills), and the Ember Belt does not count in the tower. Auto-healing can be adjusted right inside the tower; stance, abilities and consumables sit on the left below the tower picture during tower fights.
• If you fall you return to your last rest: every memory room is a checkpoint — full health, fresh provisions, your gifts stay, and a fall does not use up a rated climb. No gold lost, no death in the world. Your record stays.
• You set the pace: after the start the tower waits for “Enter floor 1”. If you like, switch on “Stop before every floor”; otherwise a short breather follows each floor. You can abort in any state.
• Your hero visibly climbs the tower — from floor 1 at the gate to floor 50 at the crown. From floor 51 the picture changes: the tower above the ash clouds, lightning in the storm, the Colossus far behind.

Memory rooms, seals, tower gifts

• Every ten floors a memory room: a spoken memory of the city, its own picture for every memory (the bell, the map chamber and the spine also have a short film), full healing, fresh provisions and one of three gifts for this climb (more damage, less damage taken, life leech, more provisions, Ember).
• One rated climb per Ashfall run, as many practice climbs as you like. Only the rated one counts for record, seals and gifts.
• Tower seals every ten floors: eight titles and two frames (Tower Seal at 20, Tower Crown at 50). Whoever reaches floor 100 bears “The Hundredth”. Switch titles in the title gallery on the statistics page.
• Tower gifts every 25 floors: a permanent +1 % damage each, capped at +10 %. Every guardian in a rated climb grants Ember Ash, more the higher you are (guardian 100: 60). Chronicle, showcase and the bonus page show everything.

Seven found nowhere else

• The Bell Warden (guardian 15), The Ash Baker (35), The Cartographer (55), The Vertebra (75) and The Nameless Day (95) — each with its own story, weakness and Ash Card. Plus the Ash Scribe (from floor 30) and the Memory Eater (from 50) in the waves. None of them appears in the hunting grounds.

Two new companions

• The Tower Sparrow (memory room 10): less damage taken. The Day Wight (memory room 40): more boss damage and experience. Both with picture, film, profile and story.

Music and trailer

• Two new pieces: “Grief in Stone” on floors 1 to 50, “Grief in the Storm” above the clouds. Selectable in the music bar after your first Ashfall.
• A 10-second trailer shows the tower when it unlocks — and any time via the button on the tower page.

Films for every companion and the Epoch Bosses (1.1.2)

• Each of the 30 companions now has a short film: once when tamed and in the magnifier, then a still. A setting decides whether the films have sound.
• Morvhal, Ithra and Kaer'Dun have their own films, bestiary lines and Ash Cards.
• The companion window sits in the centre; contract items are labelled honestly; the combat help card explains the Ember automation.

Building: marble, emberglass, void anchor

• Marble blocks dropped from dungeon bosses only on the first win of the day — now on every win. And all three rare building materials can be crafted: marble in Crafting (Lv 40, from stone blocks), emberglass in Firemaking (Lv 45), the void anchor in Smithing (Lv 80). (Thanks, Turk!)

Fixed

• Sockets: a piece could get two sockets of the same colour — and since each colour counts only once per piece, the second stayed empty forever. New pieces now get different colours; existing pieces are recoloured once on first load (the empty duplicate socket gets a free colour, set gems stay). The Lapidary help explains colour = socket. (Thanks, 19rantanplan88!)
• Changing values, more visible: the gear window now shows the hint to the Ember Smelter at the blacksmith below the values (up to two values into the fire, up to four rolls each) — with a “To the blacksmith” button.
• Night watch after the Ashfall: it only held against foes up to three levels above your combat level — with strong gear and a low level after the fall, the night yielded nothing. Now strength counts: a foe you beat losing under 40 % health per win keeps the watch. The “Calling it a day” window and the return report say so before and after. (Thanks, despair!)
• The Spark message said “14.545 seconds” — it was 14.5. Whole seconds now.
• Merchant buy-back: with several identical pieces the last one cost more than the others (rounding leftovers). Now spread evenly.
• The restart warning said “irreversible” although the automatic backups remain for a short while — both texts now agree. The Pyre Tree hint notes that starting gifts take effect from the next Ashfall.