Bigg's Dig
Bigg's Dig appeared on Sep 1st, 2010. It was a mysterious location in the Nearby Plains that had 100 sections; these sections each had 100 sub-sections, which themselves each had 100 possible dig spots, for a grand total of 1 million possible dig spots.
Bigg's Tent was the companion location for the Dig, which was also accessible from the Nearby Plains. Inside was Renatus C. Bigg himself, who prompted players who had not dug yet to begin doing so; he also tallied the number of excavated artifacts for the players who had already dug up items.
On September 6th, 2010, Bigg and his Dig disappeared from the Nearby Plains after the third layer was fully excavated, although his empty tent remained behind.
On September 15th, 2010, Bigg's Tent also disappeared, leaving pristine plains behind.
Contents
Main Level
click a section to zoom in
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1 (38.1%) |
2 (98.1%) |
3 (67.8%) |
4 (58.9%) |
5 (88%) |
6 (92.4%) |
7 (14.1%) |
8 (41%) |
9 (12.4%) |
10 (50.4%) |
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| 11 (52.1%) |
12 (42.4%) |
13 (35.3%) |
14 (65.6%) |
15 (53.5%) |
16 (57%) |
(100%) | 18 (61.9%) |
19 (18.7%) |
20 (25.7%) | ||
| 21 (57.2%) |
22 (39.6%) |
23 (56.3%) |
(100%) | 25 (95.2%) |
26 (10.4%) |
27 (82.1%) |
28 (33.1%) |
29 (98.5%) |
30 (31.7%) | ||
| 31 (48.7%) |
32 (7%) |
33 (24.3%) |
34 (82.3%) |
35 (22.1%) |
36 (37.1%) |
37 (42.8%) |
38 (47%) |
39 (75.5%) |
(100%) | ||
| (100%) | 42 (13.7%) |
43 (17.6%) |
44 (6%) |
(100%) | 46 (68.1%) |
47 (66.8%) |
48 (1.2%) |
49 (15.9%) |
50 (64.3%) | ||
| 51 (21.4%) |
52 (90.8%) |
53 (79%) |
54 (81.7%) |
55 (85.4%) |
56 (4.6%) |
57 (40.3%) |
58 (48.9%) |
59 (55.1%) |
60 (60.5%) | ||
| 61 (27.7%) |
62 (86.3%) |
(100%) | 64 (32.2%) |
65 (8.2%) |
66 (34.3%) |
67 (21.5%) |
68 (53.4%) |
69 (7.3%) |
70 (73.3%) | ||
| 71 (69.6%) |
72 (90.2%) |
(100%) | 74 (34%) |
75 (24.1%) |
76 (78%) |
77 (62%) |
78 (70.8%) |
79 (31.4%) |
80 (18.6%) | ||
| 81 (42.4%) |
82 (54.8%) |
83 (84.2%) |
84 (9.5%) |
85 (28.4%) |
86 (68.4%) |
87 (12.4%) |
88 (48.1%) |
89 (79.1%) |
90 (32.6%) | ||
| 91 (94.3%) |
(100%) | 93 (92%) |
94 (66.8%) |
95 (99.8%) |
(100%) | 97 (12.3%) |
98 (49.6%) |
99 (91.8%) |
100 (13.9%) | ||
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Sections
click a subsection to zoom even further in
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17: 1 (0%) |
17: 2 (30%) |
17: 3 (42%) |
(100%) | 17: 5 (2%) |
17: 6 (86%) |
17: 7 (9%) |
17: 8 (32%) |
17: 9 (13%) |
17: 10 (60%) |
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| 17: 11 (53%) |
17: 12 (18%) |
17: 13 (5%) |
17: 14 (72%) |
17: 15 (14%) |
17: 16 (82%) |
17: 17 (90%) |
17: 18 (72%) |
(100%) | (100%) | ||
| 17: 21 (2%) |
17: 22 (93%) |
(100%) | 17: 24 (31%) |
17: 25 (9%) |
17: 26 (18%) |
17: 27 (50%) |
17: 28 (31%) |
17: 29 (17%) |
17: 30 (56%) | ||
| 17: 31 (48%) |
17: 32 (47%) |
(100%) | 17: 34 (95%) |
(100%) | (100%) | 17: 37 (91%) |
17: 38 (82%) |
17: 39 (63%) |
(100%) | ||
| 17: 41 (75%) |
17: 42 (14%) |
17: 43 (87%) |
17: 44 (10%) |
17: 45 (98%) |
(100%) | 17: 47 (91%) |
17: 48 (59%) |
17: 49 (68%) |
17: 50 (50%) | ||
| 17: 51 (37%) |
17: 52 (2%) |
17: 53 (20%) |
(100%) | 17: 55 (71%) |
17: 56 (47%) |
17: 57 (25%) |
17: 58 (19%) |
17: 59 (40%) |
17: 60 (54%) | ||
| 17: 61 (25%) |
(100%) | 17: 63 (98%) |
17: 64 (23%) |
17: 65 (69%) |
17: 66 (65%) |
17: 67 (85%) |
17: 68 (62%) |
17: 69 (65%) |
17: 70 (5%) | ||
| 17: 71 (53%) |
17: 72 (37%) |
(100%) | 17: 74 (42%) |
17: 75 (82%) |
17: 76 (49%) |
17: 77 (6%) |
17: 78 (2%) |
17: 79 (83%) |
17: 80 (14%) | ||
| 17: 81 (36%) |
17: 82 (22%) |
17: 83 (76%) |
17: 84 (14%) |
17: 85 (31%) |
17: 86 (39%) |
17: 87 (23%) |
17: 88 (21%) |
17: 89 (97%) |
17: 90 (57%) | ||
| 17: 91 (63%) |
17: 92 (71%) |
17: 93 (10%) |
17: 94 (55%) |
17: 95 (21%) |
17: 96 (64%) |
17: 97 (84%) |
17: 98 (26%) |
17: 99 (74%) |
(100%) | ||
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Sub-Sections
click an unexcavated spot to dig! (1 Adventure)
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Digging
With the advent of the second layer of the dig, an archaeologing shovel had to be equipped, in order to excavate artifacts. One shovel per person could be obtained every day from Bigg; additional ones could be obtained by getting waterlogged crates from the sea floor and having Bigg open them. Each shovel broke after 30 excavations.
Each dig spot yielded either a fossilized bone, an unearthed potsherd, a pile of volcanic ash, or, sometimes, a rare item. Moreover, a number of specially-marked spots that only yielded fossils or rares existed.
Smoked Potsherds
It was discovered that pasting together handfuls of volcanic ash and unearthed potsherds produces smoked potsherds. Using the smoked potsherds from the inventory in groups of 5, 7, 8, 9, or 11, one will produce a piece of a pottery outfit.
| Outfit Piece | smoked potsherds required | Effect: |
|---|---|---|
| pottery yo-yo | 5 | +5 Hot Damage |
| pottery hat | 7 | Slight Cold Resistance +5 Hot Damage |
| pottery club | 8 | +5 Hot Damage |
| pottery shield | 9 | +5 Hot Damage |
| pottery training pants | 11 | All Attributes +3 +5 Hot Damage |
Zapping a pottery yo-yo will yield a pottery barn owl figurine.
Reanimated Fossils
Assuming an adventurer possesses enough fossils to reassemble full skeletons of the excavated creatures, one can use a fossilized skull from the inventory to fight a reanimated version of the skeleton. The reanimated creatures are extremely powerful, and, similar to Frosty, only take one hit point of damage from each type of source. Fighting them can be facilitated by equipping the pottery armor – the more of the outfit one wears, the easier it (presumably) is to beat the reanimated monsters. Additionally, equipping a pottery weapon will help overcome their physical resistance. The He-Boulder's major yellow ray will disintegrate the fossils and still yield a drop.
| Skull type | Resulting ML | Parts needed | Effect on fossilized necklace: |
|---|---|---|---|
| fossilized bat skull | 50 | 2 fossilized wing | All Attributes +2 |
| fossilized serpent skull | 100 | 3 fossilized spine | Spell Damage +2 |
| fossilized baboon skull | 150 | 4 fossilized limb, 1 fossilized torso | Weapon Damage +3 |
| fossilized wyrm skull | 200 | 2 fossilized limb, 2 fossilized wing, 1 fossilized torso, 3 fossilized spine | All Attributes +3% |
| fossilized demon skull | 250 | 4 fossilized limb, 1 fossilized spike, 2 fossilized wing, 1 fossilized torso, 1 fossilized spine | +3 Hot Damage |
| fossilized spider skull | 300 | 8 fossilized limb, 8 fossilized spike, 1 fossilized torso | +3 Spooky Damage |
Defeating one's first reanimated monster will produce a fossilized necklace. By default, the necklace does nothing; however, defeating further skeletons results in it being augmented with monster teeth, which provide bonuses to stats, spell damage, and weapon damage. The benefits of the teeth are capped at 5 teeth of each monster on the necklace. One can add more teeth to the necklace, but more than 5 gives no benefit.
Non-Combat Adventures
Sweet, you dug up a fossilized skull!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized baboon skull |
or:
Sweet, you dug up a fossilized skull!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized bat skull |
or:
You unearth a fossilized limb of some sort!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized limb |
or:
Sweet, you dug up a fossilized skull!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized serpent skull |
or (on the second layer):
You unearth an ominous-looking fossilized spike...
 | You acquire an item: fossilized spike |
or:
You unearth a fossilized spine!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized spine |
or:
You unearth a fossilized torso, pelvis and all!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized torso |
or:
You unearth a fossilized wing!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized wing |
or:
Sweet, you dug up a fossilized skull!
 | You acquire an item: fossilized wyrm skull |
or (on the third layer):
Sweet, you dug up a fossilized skull! It's... horrifying.
 | You acquire an item: fossilized demon skull |
or (on the third layer):
Sweet, you dug up a fossilized skull! It's... beyond horrifying.
 | You acquire an item: fossilized spider skull |
or:
You dig and dig, and just when you're about to give up, you discover an ancient shard of pottery. Whee!
 | You acquire an item: unearthed potsherd |
or:
You dig and dig, and just when you're about to give up, you unearth a pocket of smoldering volcanic ash. Hot!
 | You acquire an item: volcanic ash |
or (rarely on the first layer):
The acquire message for this item, unfortunately, has been lost to the sands of time.
 | You acquire an item: unearthed volcanic meteoroid |
or (rarely on the second layer):
You unearth a red-hot medallion. How lucky! Or... unlucky?
 | You acquire an item: red-hot medallion |
or (rarely on the third layer):
Whoah. You unearth a crazy-looking stone tablet.
 | You acquire an item: sinister ancient tablet |
or:
You don't have time to do any excavatin', for a mine or otherwise.
or:
Uh oh, looks like somebody beat you to that spot. Try somewhere else!
or (on the second or third layer, without an archaeologing shovel equipped):
This layer of the dig is too difficult to dig into without the proper tools. You should go talk to Bigg.
Notes
- One could adventure here whilst falling-down drunk.
- Approximately 5 hours after the Dig's initial unveiling, all 1 million spots had been dug up, and there was nothing more to be done in the zone. The second layer was opened on Sep 2nd, 2010, featuring limits on the daily number of excavations, one new fossil, and a different rare item.
- The second stage of the dig was completed before the September 3rd, 2010, rollover. Bigg stopped giving out shovels, as a result, while he prepared for the next stage of the dig.
- The third stage of the dig introduced two new items and a new rare item. It was completed before the September 6th, 2010, rollover. Bigg then vanished, leaving the tent empty, and the dig site disappeared entirely. The tent disappeared a little over a week later.
- On October 31, 2010, Rene C. Corman (whom the players recognized as Bigg) told adventurers that "There is no Bigg. There never was a Bigg."
References
- The name of this location refers to the Big Dig, a major highway construction project in Boston, Massachusetts.
- It is also a reference to the social news website Digg, which was the subject of a major upheaval during the week preceding Bigg's Dig.
- Bigg himself is named after René Descartes, the French philosopher, mathematician, and creator of the Cartesian coordinate system of coordinate geometry.
- Bigg may also be a reference to Rene Emile Belloq, Indiana Jones' rival in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- The message one got when one didn't have any adventures left is a reference to the folk song Oh My Darling, Clementine: "In a cavern, in a canyon / Excavating for a mine."
