Eva's House
Dark Alley psychic medium service. Visit Eva's House to hold a seance and communicate with deceased players (shades). Pay gold (20 × player level, default) for access to shades commentary. View and post messages in graveyard chat while still alive. Requires Dark Alley module. Where you visit a creepy medium in the Dark Alley who mysteriously knew you were coming and charges extortionate fees to talk to dead people.
Requirements
Module Dependencies:
- Dark Alley module: Required (provides alley location)
- Eva's House module: This seance service
Access Requirements:
- Navigate to Dark Alley location
- Sufficient gold to pay seance fee (20 gold × level)
- Must be alive (dead players already in shades, don't need seance)
Location & Navigation
Finding Eva's House:
- Navigate to Dark Alley (alleyloc setting in Dark Alley module)
- Navigation section: "Shady Houses"
- Link: "Eva's House"
Dark Alley Integration:
- Eva's House appears as navigation option in Dark Alley
- Blocks access to Gypsy (blocknav("gypsy.php")) when in alley
- Part of Dark Alley's shady locations ecosystem
How It Works
Visiting Eva's House:
- Click "Eva's House" in Dark Alley
- Enter creepy house (door opens by itself, nobody visible)
- Eva sitting in armchair, staring at you
- Dialogue: "I've been expecting you [name], welcome."
- She offers seance service for 20 gold × your level
Holding a Seance:
- Option: "Pay to hold a seance"
- Cost: 20 gold × player level deducted
- Eva leads you to small table with two chairs
- She begins seance ritual
- You enter trance state
- Access granted to shades commentary (graveyard chat)
In the Trance:
- Page header: "In a deep trance, you talk with the shades"
- View shades commentary (graveyard chat messages)
- Can post messages to shades (dead players can see you)
- viewcommentary("shade","Project",25,"projects")
- Exit: "Snap out of your trance" → return to Dark Alley
Cost
Seance Fee:
- Formula: 20 gold × player level
- Examples:
- Level 5: 100 gold
- Level 10: 200 gold
- Level 15: 300 gold
- Level 20: 400 gold
- Hardcoded multiplier (not admin-configurable)
Insufficient Gold:
- If you don't have enough gold:
- Eva refuses service: "The dead may not require money, but she does."
- You're kicked out of the house
- Must return to Dark Alley
No Daily Limit:
- Can hold multiple seances per day
- Each seance costs 20 gold × level
- Unlimited access (if you have gold)
What You Can Do
View Shades Commentary:
- Read messages from dead players (shades)
- See graveyard chat from living world
- Shows last 25 messages (default viewcommentary limit)
- Context: "Project" commentary section
Post Messages to Shades:
- Send messages to graveyard chat while alive
- Dead players can see your messages
- Cross-realm communication (living ↔ dead)
- Useful for: Coordinating with dead friends, trolling the dead, roleplaying
Limitations:
- Cannot affect graveyard mechanics (no fighting, resurrection, etc.)
- Only chat access (read/write commentary)
- Must exit trance to return to normal world
Strategic Value
When to Use Seance:
- Communication: Talk to dead friends/clan members
- Coordination: Organize resurrection plans
- Information: Learn graveyard strategies from dead players
- Roleplaying: Dramatic scenes with deceased characters
- Trolling: Annoy dead players from safety of living world
When NOT to Use:
- Low gold: 200+ gold is expensive for chat access
- No dead friends: Nobody in graveyard you care about
- Better uses: Gold needed for equipment, healing, etc.
Cost-Benefit Analysis:
- At level 10: 200 gold for chat access
- Comparable to: 2 forest fights, 200 HP healing, minor equipment
- Value: Depends on importance of graveyard communication
- Most players: Rarely worth it (expensive novelty)
- Specific use cases: Very valuable (coordinating clan resurrection, etc.)
Superuser Access
Admin Bypass:
- If session[user][superuser] > 1 (admin/staff)
- Additional navigation: "Superuser seance"
- Free access to shades commentary (no gold cost)
- Staff moderation tool for graveyard chat
Why Superuser Access?:
- Moderation: Monitor graveyard chat for rule violations
- Support: Help dead players with issues
- Testing: Verify commentary system functionality
Lore & Flavor
Eva's Character:
- Psychic medium living in Dark Alley
- Mysterious abilities (knows you're coming, door opens itself)
- Mercenary personality (demands payment upfront)
- Professional spiritualist (conducts proper seances)
Atmosphere:
- Creepy setting: Door opens by itself, nobody visible
- Eva staring at you from armchair (unnerving)
- Trance state: Small table, ritual, altered consciousness
- Communication with the dead: Graveyard = afterlife
Why Pay Gold to Talk to Dead?:
- Psychic medium services cost money (real-world trope)
- Eva is mercenary: "The dead may not require money, but she does."
- Game balance: Prevents infinite graveyard chat spam
- Narrative: Crossing living/dead barrier requires magic (costs gold)
Dark Alley Context
Dark Alley Module:
- Special location (shady district)
- Houses various questionable services
- Eva's House fits thematically (occult, seances, spirits)
- Alternative to main village (darker atmosphere)
Other Dark Alley Services:
- Typically: Black market, illegal goods, shady NPCs
- Eva's House: Spiritual services (seances)
- Creates ecosystem of alternative village options
Technical Details
Commentary Integration:
- Uses standard LoGD commentary system
- Section: "shade" (graveyard chat)
- Talkline: "Project" (message prefix)
- Limit: 25 messages shown (viewcommentary default)
- Schema: "projects"
Navigation Blocking:
- Blocks gypsy.php when in Dark Alley
- Prevents conflict with standard divination services
- Dark Alley has its own service providers
Hooks Used:
- village: Block gypsy navigation in alley
- darkalley: Add Eva's House navigation
- eva-footer: Module hook for extensions
Limitations
- Requires Dark Alley: Won't install without Dark Alley module
- Gold Cost: Expensive at higher levels (400+ gold at level 20+)
- No Daily Cap: Can spam seances if wealthy (gold sink)
- Chat Only: No mechanical benefits (just commentary access)
- Limited Use Cases: Only valuable when dead players worth talking to
- No Settings: Gold cost hardcoded (20 × level, not configurable)
Comparison to Other Graveyard Access
Eva's Seance vs Dying:
- Dying: Free graveyard access, but lose all gold, can't return to living world easily
- Seance: Expensive, but temporary, return to living world anytime
- Seance is safe way to access graveyard chat without dying
Eva's Seance vs Other Communication:
- Mail: Can't send to dead players (shades can't check mail)
- Village chat: Dead players can't see living chat
- Seance: Only way for living to talk to dead in real-time
Eva's House: where you visit a creepy psychic medium in the Dark Alley who somehow mysteriously knew you were coming (despite you making the decision 30 seconds ago), charges you 20 gold per level to hold a seance, and lets you talk to dead players in the graveyard chat from the safety of the living world. At level 10 you're paying 200 gold just to access chat, which is expensive for what amounts to "Discord but with ghosts," but if you have dead friends/clan members you desperately need to coordinate with (resurrection plans, strategy discussion, or just saying goodbye), it's the only way to communicate across the living/dead barrier. The door opens by itself when you knock, Eva is always sitting in her armchair staring at you, and if you don't have enough gold she tells you "the dead may not require money, but she does" and kicks you out, which is peak mercenary medium energy. Superusers get free access because apparently staff moderation of graveyard chat requires bypassing the gold requirement. Most players never use this service because 200+ gold for chat access is absurd when you could use that gold for equipment/healing/forest fights, but for specific use cases (coordinating clan resurrection, dramatic roleplay scenes, trolling dead enemies) it's invaluable.