The following is the record of public game progress for January 1st, 2020 through February 29th, 2020.

• New/updated helpfiles: accounts, channel behavior, characters, climbing, clothe, clutter, count, eat, exchange, news, tables, travel, weigh
• New Items: hand cakes, fruit cakes, savory cakes, spice cakes
• Updated Items: bamboo canes, cabinets, clay bowls, clay pots, clay vases, headdresses (were "cloth headdresses"), headscarves (were "cloth headscarves"), large wooden bowls, leather headbands, oat cakes, pinchpots, pinchpot bowls, small wooden bowls, stone basins (no longer require unavailable tools), stone bowls, stone plates, stone platters, washtubs, wooden beads, wooden bowls
• The MUD's IP address has changed to 208.72.84.142. Our DNS information has been updated accordingly.
• The waterfront facades for both Kungesvald and Liidhaga have had their descriptions updated to mention the water in their connecting rooms, as well as said water's current speed and roughness, to make it clearer that swimming (or a boat) is required in them. All facades for both cities now change the short description of their host rooms to further clarify that they aren't normal wilderness rooms.
• Moving into watery rooms with a "down" exit (and therefore a serious risk of drowning) now checks a character's swimming skill, assuming they have their common sense active; similar to how climbing checks work, not being stopped this way does not guarantee a character's safety during their swimming attempt. If a character is already in a watery room with a "down" exit, or they are moving to a watery room without such an exit or a room that isn't watery at all, there is no effect. This change was added in addition to existing burden checks. Characters can override this safety measure using "anyway" (i.e. "go east anyway") as usual.
• Certain items are now considered "utensils" and allow a character to consume their contents without removing said contents first, even if they're placed on a table at the time. This uses similar syntax as eating from a table, i.e. "eat grapes from platter" will look for a platter in the character's environment or inventory, while "eat grapes from platter on table" will look for a platter on the first table in the room before checking to see if it contains grapes. Default containers, like backpacks and sacks, and shop objects, like tables in rented stalls, do not inherit this behavior by design.
• The following items have been changed to utensil-style containers: clay bowls, clay pots, clay vases, large wooden bowls, pinchpots, pinchpot bowls, small wooden bowls, stone bowls, stone plates, stone platters, and wooden bowls. Note that some of these used to hold liquids; they are now solid-object containers for the sake of consistency and roleplaying convenience (i.e. not having to eat porridge out of one's hands).
• Edible objects now have a default id of "edible thing" as opposed to "food," as the latter could cause confusion with things that can be eaten but provide little to no food value.
• Characters using their common sense will now refuse to put non-closable liquid containers (i.e. tankards or cauldrons) into worn containers like backpacks, assuming the former has liquid in it at the time. It is still possible to store them in non-wearable locations (i.e. tables) without risking a spill and the original "close it first" common sense behavior remains for objects like canteens.
• Jobs now check the support capacity of belts before trying to add money to containers fastened to them; if the new coins would overload the belt, they will attempt to move to the player's hands (and, barring that, their environment) as usual. They are also a little more careful about capacity limits before adding new coins to existing piles of coins anywhere in a character's inventory.
• Resuming an incomplete craft now checks to see if the object in question is actually either next to the character or in their hands; if not, the game will explain that it needs to be closer to continue working on it. Objects on tables next to a character can be continued as usual, and new craft attempts can still be started via the "another" syntax (i.e. "make another torch").
• Continuing an incomplete craft located in an overcrowded room will no longer tell a character that there is no room for it. Trying to start another of the same craft will be subject to the room's capacity as usual.
• The "mobilize" command once more puts living beings into their best possible posture, even if they have one or more of their legs broken. This affects NPCs, as well, so players who rely on breaking legs when hunting should be aware that their quarry may not be rendered helpless quite as soon as had been.
• The "exchange" command is now a bit less insistent on putting exchanged items in characters' hands unless the original was also being held, and actually checks if a new item is present before destroying the old version. Successful exchanges also print a more informative message including both the name of what was exchanged and where new copy is (almost always held or on the ground), as well as an (OOC) prefix. Exchanging objects on a vessel currently in the water checks if doing so would risk sinking the boat, and will abort the process early while printing another message if this would occur. These messages are in bold cyan for players who use ansi color.
• The "weigh" command can now be used on dragged objects. These results are less accurate than weighing something in hand, though stronger characters will get a better idea of the object's weight than weaker ones; dexterity and perception are still taken into account for the final result.
• If using the "pour" or "fill" commands between two identical containers, the game will now say a character is emptying the first object into "another" one ("You empty a crate into another crate," "You pour some red liquid from a clay cup into another clay cup," etc.) for the sake of clarity.
• The "dislodge" command now recognizes the arguments "all," "things," and "everything" when being told to remove lodged objects from something else, and a character told to do so will place them on the ground. Dislodging multiples of an object (even if only one is lodged in the target) will always place them on the ground, no matter how many free hands a character has; attempting to dislodge a single object when one is overloaded or otherwise unable to hold another item (despite having a free hand) will also place it on the ground. This command also now uses clearer messaging when dislodging things, especially in regards to living beings.
• The "finish" command properly checks a target's helpless state during the time between entering the command and finishing off the target, so subjects that are no longer helpless, such as unconscious creatures that wake up in time, will no longer be subject to finishing. Fish out of water and targets whose legs and defensive limbs (both arms, in the case of other players) are broken can still be finished off even while conscious.
• The "clothe" command once more functions. It also now has smarter messaging for if the desired clothing is neither in hand nor on the ground next to the target, as well as whether or not the character has free hands.
• The "count" command can now recognize things lodged in something else if explicitly told to look for them (i.e. "count javelins lodged in target"). This includes any items lodged into the body parts of living creatures. Due to how lodged objects behave, this command will not recognize them without this specific syntax.
• The "count" command now recognizes "descriptively" as a syntax (i.e. "count rocks descriptively"). This will include a list of the short descriptions of counted objects as well as the total. Skins that are counted descriptively will also mention their approximate total amount in square handspans, separated into fur and skin amounts; players who need a tally of a particular material are encouraged to be specific. Normal counting behavior is unaffected.
• The "travel" command can now be used with a direction as an argument, causing a player to start moving in that direction while turning travel mode on. This does not affect their movement speed and they will not follow roads unless explicitly prompted via the "follow" command.
• The "climb" command now has a check for whether a character is dragging something to prevent people from leaving sledges (and otherwise) behind.
• The "scavenge" command now uses slightly better grammar for its results and properly formats unusual filenames.
• The "where" command once more properly shows the number of players present in designated public places, such as taverns or city squares, in addition to its general area tally.
• The "reckon" command now gives a less strange-looking message when trying to reckon the location of an area whose entrance is in the same room as the reckoning character.
• The "fasten" command now has better safeguards to prevent fastening the same object to multiple belts.
• The "remove" command now recognizes specific limbs when told to take off a bandage, i.e. "remove bandage from left leg" will only remove a bandage on the character's left leg. The standard "remove bandage" behavior remains unchanged.
• The "news" command now supports the "news unread" syntax (which shows any posts made after either the account's creation date or the most recent one read, whichever comes later), and is better about checking whether or not news items have actually been read instead of endlessly messaging players upon login.
• Throwing things through in/out exits, or objects that behave as such, now uses slightly better messaging; a thrown thing "flies in from outside" or similar instead of saying it "flies in from the out." It also has improved coordinate sanity-checking to keep items thrown into tents, boats, and similar objects from ending up wildly out of bounds, instead placing them by the out exit when possible.