Dungeons & Dragons Online Developer Diary

Turbine is preparing a new Update 21 content patch for Dungeons & Dragons Online, and it’s set to take us into the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar with Ed Greenwood narrating the dungeon-delving experience, as well as the the ruined city of Thunderholme. To help drum up some excitement, they’ve penned a new developer diary that tells us all about the new environments and monsters, and even hints at an upcoming high-level renovation to Three-Barrel Cove:

Thunderholme was a rich, thriving dwarven city, carved from the stone beneath the Thunder Peaks east of Cormyr. One day the dwarves expanded their underground home too far, earning the enmity of Aurgloroasa, an ancient shadow dragon who lived deep beneath the mountains. Aurgloroasa conceived a plan to punish the insolent dwarves for intruding into her realm.

Aurgloroasa whispered to Dagan, Thunderholm’s regent, corrupting his soul over a period of many years. She persuaded Dagan to build a great temple in Thunderholme. The people of Thunderholme thought this temple would be dedicated to Dumathoin, the god of mining. Yet at the opening ceremony, Dagan summoned Aurgloroasa instead. The shadow dragon slew the city’s inhabitants – including Dagan – and claimed Thunderholme as her own.

Many years later, Aurgloroasa still reigns supreme in Thunderholme. To consolidate her power, she raised the slain dwarves to be her skeletal servants. She formed an alliance with a mated pair of red dragons. She also had herself transformed into a dracolich, gaining countless fanatical followers from the Cult of the Dragon in nearby Sembia. Now she spends her days planning to expand her power even further – and her plans have recently taken a disturbing, unexpected turn.

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As much as we put into the Thunderholme adventure area, it’s really a kind of an appetizer. The main courses are two brand-new raids, both of which involve dragons. One raid pits you against not one but two red dragons in an intense all-out battle. The other has you taking on Aurgloroasa herself. You need to destroy the dracolich’s phylactery, but she’s cunningly concealed it. You’ll need to explore her temple and bypass her cunning defenses before you can defeat her. The Thunderholme adventure area supports both normal groups and raid groups, so you can take your party of 12 through the landscape before startng the raid.

You’ll be able to explore Thunderholme shortly, just as soon as we finish cramming new features in (just yesterday, for example, we added destructible pillars to the Aurgloroasa raid.) When we’re done with that, we set sail once again for Three Barrel Cove, for an epic pirate adventure.