The Herald's Call

Checked against e4f093166; this guide describes DFO Online.

Line facts

How the line starts

Wait outdoors in town by day for the broadsheet. Another undelivered first letter can delay yours. Check Quests for the online gate or wait.

These scripts place no local person or building. The invitation can find you elsewhere; the bouts are at Daggerfall's Arena. The second challenge enters the journal directly after the step delay. Wait for it before earning its wins.

Step table

Walkthrough

1. First Blood

Read the broadsheet and confirm First Blood is running before entering a bout. Go to the Arena in the city of Daggerfall and use the Herald at its gate to open the Ladder. Choose a ladder opponent and win your own bout. The quest counts the ladder victory event; a duel in the shared world, a player-versus-player Arena match, or watching someone else's bout does not perform that event. Practice in the pit also does not count.

Read the Arena's bout information before entering, since it uses its own match rules. The quest does not require a rated victory or a particular season rating. When the qualifying win is recorded, the script awards its gold and ends the step automatically. There is no generated quest NPC to find afterward for a report. Check Quests after the result to distinguish a completed first lesson from the next challenge waiting to begin.

2. A Name in the Sand

Wait for the second quest's journal entry before starting its work. This step counts three ladder wins made while it runs. The victory that completed First Blood does not carry forward into that total, and wins earned before the new assignment starts do not satisfy it. Use the Herald's Ladder again and keep checking the quest objective as you progress, rather than treating your overall Arena history as the quest's counter.

You need wins, not merely entries or finished matches. Losses and draws do not provide the victory event, and rated player matches remain separate from the ladder task. The script specifies no particular opponent names or requirement for consecutive wins. Once the required wins are recorded, the quest pays automatically and completes the line. You do not need to search for a tavern contact or click a separately generated Herald. Read the completion state and inspect any waiting gear offer before leaving the Arena.

Choices and outcomes

There is no branch. Winning advances the introduction; expiry is an unpaid failure. Only ladder victories count toward success.

Rewards and unlocks

Sheets specify tier 2 and standard payment; scripts award gold on the win task. The final The Crowd's Favor Bracelet option is subject to fitting. Keep one item per gear offer; online success can earn capped Renown XP. See quest rewards. No account title, fixed rank or exclusive rated access is specified.

Recovery ladder

1. Read the current journal's win requirement.

2. Check Quests for online status, delays or retries.

3. Receive mail outdoors in town by day; no local building is generated.

4. Confirm your own Ladder victory; practice, spectating and player bouts do not count.

5. No quest-dungeon instance is involved.

6. Success normally waits one character hour; failure retries after one character day. Online deadlines charge played time.

7. Report quest ID, mode and result. Reload/abandon repair is unverified.

Next

• Quest browser · Line ladder · Quest rewards

• The Arena

Sources & checked facts

• handbook/quests/quests.json: introArena. Snapshot root: upstream/snapshot-e4f093166/.

• Snapshot src/systems/questlines/: qlLines.js gates; sheets/questlines.json QLIA01–QLIA02; quests/QLIA01.txt, QLIA02.txt _word_, _won_, payments; qlActs.js, qlLayer.js counts; qlLineRunner.js letters/delays.

• Snapshot src/scenes/arena/arenaBouts.js: verdict ladder branch and relay pve victory action; practice/player exclusions.

• handbook/content/bay/the-arena.md; reference quest-rewards.md, questline-ladder.md; docs/23-playing-online.md; docs/research/quest-research.md: recovery limits.