The Abandoned Inn south of the Landing, which was originally the Hanging Inn but that name was lost to time and lack of use, has a secret workshop with a magical blue crystal in it. The crystal is able to give information about various magical articles from imbedded items to enchanted weapons. It provides this information via tones and colored beams. While the Inn was refurbished, the workshop remains as it was. Entrance is gained through a secret means, which an astute explorer will discover for him or herself.
Solhaven has a similar crystal and I would presume that Icemule does also, though if one is there, I have never seen it personally nor been told where it is.
The following is a post written by Feywine on the old AOL message boards in January 1997. While I can't verify the accuracy of all the content, his list of researchers and assistants is fairly impressive, so I am presenting the information here to use as a guide and/or starting point for your own research. I did make one note in the shield section where I know for a fact his information is incorrect.
Subj: Re:AI Crystal Response
Date: 97-01-15 20:32:57 EST
From: Me Feywine
Gah! Somebody shut me up! The Mystery of The AI Crystal Unleashed. I'm posting this because Simu allowed the document to be put in the message boards, so I figured it must be OK. =)
Credits for this go to my dear Cousin:
~~~> Ceranis Aesira, Wizardkind Sylvan, Highly Excitable Mage of No Particular
Affinity ...who, in turn thanks:
~~~> "Lord Marc, Lord Tenser, Tabmow, Lady Thym, Lord Standex, Lady Bysshe,
Lady Wysteria and everyone else who tested their items against the crystal
for my research.
Thanks also to Lady Tedra and Lord Eellos for donating their services and
time towards my research. Special thanks also to Lord Amery and Lord Silvean
for helping me put this guide into circulation."
Note: Tiny golden sparks simply indicate, for all items, that it contains magic.
For Weapons
| Silver nimbus | Blessed or holy |
| Pure high note | Voln or pure-potion blessed |
| Shrill piercing note | Elemental crits *****Can also denote a weapon that has simply been further ET'd by a mage. When you get this with a weapon that does not usually have an elemental, but you know that the weapon has been Wizard or Merchant ET'd, then accept it as being the ET tone, as opposet to the Elemental Crit tone... but a Bard could confirm that.***** |
| Low mellow tone | Defender weapon (has DS bonus in stance offensive) |
| Low resonant tone | Crit-weighted |
| Deep bass tone | Damage-weighted |
| Shadow | Cursed |
| Red beam | +1 to +5 bonus |
| Orange beam | +6 to +10 bonus |
| Yellow beam | +11 to +15 bonus |
| Green beam | +16 to +20 bonus |
| Blue beam | +21 to +25 bonus |
| Indigo beam | +26 to +30 bonus |
| Violet beam | Above +30 bonus |
For Armor
| Low resonant tone | Crit-padded |
| Deep bass tone | Damage-padded |
| Shrill piercing note | Enchanted by a wizard |
| Shadow | Cursed |
| Red beam | +1 to +5 bonus |
| Orange beam | +6 to +10 bonus |
| Yellow beam | +11 to +15 bonus |
| Green beam | +16 to +20 bonus |
| Blue beam | +21 to +25 bonus |
| Indigo beam | +26 to +30 bonus |
| Violet beam | Above +30 bonus |
For Shields
(NOTE: Shields have an innate +20 bonus which figures into the crystal's response)
[See note of correction at the bottom of this page]
| Shrill piercing note | Enchanted by a wizard |
| Shadow | Cursed |
| Green beam | No bonus above the innate +20 |
| Blue beam | +1 to +5 bonus above the innate +20 |
| Indigo beam | +6 to +10 bonus above the innate +20 |
| Violet beam | Above + 10 bonus above the innate +20 |
For Items with Limited Charges
| Golden scintillating light | Imbeddable |
| Shrill piercing note | Above 32 charges remaining |
| High ringing note | 17 to 32 charges remaining |
| Pure high note | 9 to 16 charges remaining |
| Clear even note | 5 to 8 charges remaining |
| Low mellow note | 3 to 4 charges remaining |
| Low resonant note | 2 charges remaining |
| Deep bass note | 1 charge remaining |
*****A note frome Feywine: Recently, an armor was discovered that gave off the Low Mellow Tone from a Defender Weapon. This is VERY interesting and if you have any information about this type of Armor response PLEASE donate it to Feywine's Tome of Completely Useless Information =)
Feywine the Lesser
Note from Danay on the shield section:
For shields use the same red through violet beam chart listed under weapons and armor to determine the magical bonus of the shield. The crystal was updated some years ago to ignore the base +20 bonus that all shields have, so the crystal color readings are correct as to enchant now.