A Well Regulated Militia  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:95
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Experience
  • Money
Quest Items:
Related Creatures:
Era:Rain of Fear
Recommended:
Group Size:Solo
Min. # of Players:1
Max. # of Players:1
Appropriate Classes:
  • All
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Wed Nov 28 21:38:48 2012
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
Rain of Fear Information & Guides: An Overview | Group Progression & Task List | Raid Progression | Visible Armor



This task begins with Nojas Blackfist (map) in Kael Drakkel: The King's Madness. He is found at /location -630, 1045, -125 (southern part of the zone: in the north room adjacent to the Iceshard Manor's main room).

Pre-Requisites:
- Level 85
- No tasks



  • 1. Speak to Nojas Blackfist and find out how you can assist the militia 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

  • 2. Speak to Bjoskhua Blackfist and see how you can compel the mercenaries to fight 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

    Bjoskhua Blackfist (map) is found in the room to the south.


  • 3. Kill the drunken faeries hovering around the ale barrels 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

    Clear the drunken faeries away from a barrel of ale (map) and then click on the barrel to receive a Kromrif Ale Barrel. A barrel is found outside the bank (central part of the zone) and in the area near the Wakening Land (far western part of the zone).


  • 4. Pick up a barrel of ale and deliver it to Merc McFader 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

    Give the Kromrif Ale Barrel to Merc McFader (map) in Iceshard Manor.


  • 5. Tell Nojas that you have convinced the mercenaries to fight 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

  • 6. Tell Merc McFader that you are ready to fight 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

    Hail Merc McFader. You receive a Flask of Kromrif Ale and are asked if you want to use a mercenary pet for this fight.


  • 7. Kill a ritualist of Tallon Zek 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

  • 8. Kill a ritualist of Vallon Zek 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

  • 9. Kill a ritualist of Rallos Zek 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

    a ritualist of Tallon Zek (map) spawns in the rooms connected to the arena (northeast of the arena in Gkrean Prophet of Tallon's room).

    a ritualist of Vallon Zek (map) spawns in the rooms connected to the arena (northwest of the arena in Semkak Prophet of Vallon's room).

    a ritualist of Rallos Zek (map) spawns in the very northern part of the zone, by The Statue of Rallos Zek's room (around 2450, 1390, -36).

    NOTE: The ritualist of Rallos Zek summons from 100% health (the other two may as well, but this particular one is the only one reported.)

    Target your pet mercenary and use the Flask of Kromrif Ale on it to increase its drunken state (which also increases its damage output). Keep clicking it until it's at a point where it's proccing a spell. This spell damages the shielding of the ritualists you need to kill. Five procs on a ritualist will eliminate its shield. The mercenary must keep attacking at full power, otherwise the ritualists can regenerate.



  • 10. Inform Merc McFader of the results of your battle 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)

  • 11. Tell Nojas Blackfist that you succeeded in stopping the ritualists 0/1 (Kael Drakkel)



    Reward(s):
    Platinum
    Experience
  • Rewards:
    Send a Correction
    Post Comment
    can get new pets but... skip em &t Nuke/DoT the ritualists
    # Feb 29 2024 at 3:09 PM Rating: Decent
    11 posts
    Did this in ERA on a TLP. Lvl 100 SHM BRD with LVL 87 WIZ/WAR and healer merc. (Tank merc just stood there and looked pretty.)

    We found the merc pets to be useless. Even with 4 people we found the pets all died before neutralizing the damage shield.

    So we just gave up and Dotted/Nuked em and soaked up the melee damage. As long as you dont try and melee the ritutalists it seems to work.
    own pet
    # Jan 02 2023 at 7:52 AM Rating: Good
    5 posts
    "alternatively you can use your own pet"

    tried that with regular shaman and enchanter pet. Does not work, you get the message "you cannot use this item on your target".

    Has to be one of the McFader's Mercs.
    how i did it
    # May 08 2021 at 11:01 PM Rating: Good
    Avatar
    *
    67 posts
    I died a lot figuring out how to do this, but once I did it was cake.
    ---------------
    105 WAR/CLR T4 Group VoA gear, Rain of Fear spells/abilities

    2x Healer merc on reactive

    CLR gets drunken merc (only need one, both get update)

    WAR offtanks (zero damage) in corner, make sure drunk is on the backside

    WAIT for war agro abilities to cycle a few times, no hurry mob is low dps, mercs got the heals np

    CLR max out drunk and /pet attack, spam alternate beer & heal the drunk

    each time the drunk procs the mob will turn.

    WAR attack at 0 of 5, CLR keep alternating beer & heal drunk, mob goes down easy



    Edited, May 8th 2021 9:03pm by FennyMT
    Swarm Pets
    # Oct 08 2020 at 7:34 AM Rating: Good
    Avatar
    **
    263 posts
    Came here solo at Lvl 110 on an expansion catch-up. I breezed through the other merc quests but this one caused pause for thought.
    Mage pet, fully buffed, was killed by a ritualist very quickly, the mob seems invulnerable at first glance.

    Retried with a drunken barbarian pet, he went down too but since I had a swarm pet up I resisted the urge to gate. I soon saw that I was taking virtually no damage. Chaining swarm pets kept the mob occupied whilst I nuked. It's like they only damage the pets.

    After about a minute, the mob's HP started plummeting and he died quickly. Mob was still on 5/5 shielding, whatever that means.

    Lather, rinse and repeat for the other 2. Adjust these observations to your class and level.

    110 Solo Mage. Air Pet EM XXI
    ____________________________
    Chard ~ 115 Magician of Bertoxxulous
    Mean Ole Men
    Formerly a soloer but now twin boxing another mage.
    Swarm Pets
    # Oct 10 2020 at 11:58 AM Rating: Excellent
    Scholar
    Avatar
    49 posts
    Chardlb wrote:
    whilst I nuked.
    ...
    Adjust these observations to your class and level.


    Great strategy but I think for all the melee only classes out there, I have yet to figure out a way to do this.


    hate this task
    # Oct 07 2020 at 9:27 PM Rating: Excellent
    Scholar
    Avatar
    49 posts
    I don't think this quest is possible to do solo. I'm a 105 Rogue (no dots to cast) and my J5 healer merc. I get the pet into hammered mode and send him in to the ritualist. He manages to drop the shield level down from 5 to 4 before he gets crushed. Maybe with more pets or dots this quest is possible. But it looks like I'll be forced to skip this one.
    using your own pet
    # May 06 2020 at 9:33 AM Rating: Default
    well i tried to click the ale on my own pet, but no use, in the end i just kept casting my dots and killed it that way.
    i am a 105 beastlord atm
    ____________________________
    hunter Roxas Nitehowler
    Plainswalker of illumanati
    MM, EQ

    hunter Roxas
    WoW retired
    Info
    # Feb 01 2020 at 8:24 AM Rating: Excellent
    *
    169 posts
    I could 3-box this (100 NEC, 100 CLR, 100 ENC with 2 cleric mercs and one mercenary pet given by McFader).
    I used the flask of Kromrif Ale to have the pet hammered. When done, i made it attack the ritualist with one cleric merc on reactive, the other one on balanced and at the start, heals from my cleric player.
    That was enough to keep the pet alive and delete entirely the ritualist's shield. I can confirm that cleric mercs heal the pet.
    For the first ritualist i killed, i couldn't heal the pet enough (but i hadn't clerics mercs on reactive) and it died when the ritualist's shield strength was at level 3. But cleric mercs had agro and during this, i could dot from time to time the monster with my necromancer spells. It died after a few minutes.
    That's what i can say, hoping it can help.

    ____________________________
    Nones, necromancer, AB
    Kwari, necromancer, AB ... love necs ...
    Don't bother with pets or melee mercs
    # Jan 21 2020 at 12:54 PM Rating: Decent
    9 posts
    I three boxed this with three healer mercs. I main a 100 ENC, and have two 100 Mage boxes. After watching every melee merc/pet simply i die on repeateded chances, it became clear to me that I could tank with my ENC with all of his runes and three healer mercs. I sent in Phantasmal pet to start and cast dopplegangers as well. While they kept the bosses busy, I debuffed the bosses and tried to land dots. All three were long fights, but it got the job done. Was my last task before finishing the XPAC on Phinigel, so I was very happy to be done. Got the Fearspeker reward.
    Fairly easy at 105 with a caster
    # Jan 18 2020 at 5:47 PM Rating: Good
    -REDACTED-
    Scholar
    *
    77 posts
    I honestly couldn't get the 'merc' pets to do anything except instantly die, even with a cleric and a shaman merc healing them. The shield would stay 5/5. They seem 100% worthless.

    I ended up just taking my shaman and casting dots until a few stuck (when they were reflected they just got resisted). Ended up killing them without the pets in the end.
    Char mercs ignore healing the drunkards...
    # Nov 16 2019 at 6:34 PM Rating: Good
    Scholar
    *
    126 posts
    The drunkard mercs go down quickly without heals from somewhere. My wizzies healer merc pays them no attention, so it's totally up to me, the druid, to heal the drunkards and try to keep them inibriated so they are at max strength to do their damage.

    As posted previously, don't bother turning your tank mercs on, because they do ZERO damage until the ritualist is down to 1 or 0 lvl. I made the mistake numberous times. Once he is down to 0...or maybe 1...then turn him on and nuke and dot like your life depends on it. It pretty much does.
    Update on completing Merc portion of this quest
    # May 18 2017 at 5:21 PM Rating: Good
    *
    143 posts
    After reading various walkthroughs on this quest I was still confused on what to do. So after finally figuring out at least one way that it will work I thought I would share.

    As an 105 SK I used my J5 healer merc and the hired merc from the quest, no other FTP accounts or characters. I failed several times, tried using my own pet, etc. etc. and nothing worked. The merc debuffs the ritualist and allows him to take damage so I am thinking you gotta use him. Otherwise the ritualist just absorbs any hits.

    I would buff up completely and then tag the ritualist one round of hits, turn my back to him, cast some dots and hope one or two land, try Harm Touch or any cool downs that would draw agro, taunt, etc. His resistance was extremely high, and belly casting did not make a difference. As long as i could get a couple dots to land or a dd then I had agro, but that is easier said than done. He would pound me as my healer merc kept me alive. Facing him is not an option as ripostes do over 14k of damage each from his damage sheild. He doesn't have many hit points, as a matter of fact I would guess in the 100k range, because once the merc get his shield down to less than 3 of 5 (as shown under his name tag) the merc would start doing decent damage and I had a much better chance of landing a dot.

    Several times the quest merc died way too fast. Several times my merc wouldn't keep up and I died. Several times i just had to FD and start over. One time he was down to 1% but taking no more damage and my quest merc was dead so I could not break his shield down. i could not hit him with a weapon but eventually, after using 50% of my mana on resists over the course of about 7 minutes, one finally landed and killed him. The quest merc died every single attempt, but you do not have to take the ritualist shield down to 1 of 5, or even 3 of 5... 4 of 5 will let you start doing damage, but the damage shield is huge so it needs to be spell damage. How a Rogue or Warrior would complete this is beyond me.

    The last one I killed was the one furthest north on the map. That one went like clockwork and took all of 30 seconds using the technique above. The first one was pretty smooth too and I was surprised to see him dead. If you start the fight and things are not going well be prepared to get out, or just rez up. I think with a mage or wiz you could eventually land a spell and one shot the guy as long as the quest merc stayed alive long enough to break through the shield.

    I had completed all of the Mercenary and Partisan line of quests in RoF and this was my last one. I just said ***** it and kept trying until something worked. I dont know that this is the best way to do it, or the way it was intended to be done, but I can say its not bugged, just a huge pain in the ***** I honestly think the devs wanted this to be a group quest where you would use 3 or 4 quest merc pets to get the job done quickly and easily.

    Edit: Quest merc does not disappear if you use invis. He blips out, but comes back a second later and worked fine for the remainder of his life.


    Edited, May 18th 2017 7:24pm by Stageguy
    bugged and simply most dumb quest.... zerg it down
    # Mar 26 2017 at 4:39 PM Rating: Good
    Scholar
    **
    326 posts
    Getting McFaders Mercs.
    - they are not buffable
    - they disappear simply after trying to get rid of possible adds
    how dumb is that?

    Time to get nasty, viable option:

    18-people raid with every char available:

    Warrior: every disc for mitigation damage and only get aggro (no attack)
    Bard: Anti-DS-Songs
    Enc: Anti-Spelldamage/DS-Buffs, Cancel buffs
    Clr: Mitigation/Heals/DI on Warrior, optional healing ward
    Dru: Dru-DI on Warrior, HealNukes
    REST: DoT, Debuffs etc

    Then you can forget this stupid game mechanics....

    Yes you don't need 18, a group with above is enough, but I wanted this mobs suffer from DoTs, while the tank is laughing at him ;)


    bugged
    # Feb 09 2017 at 6:28 AM Rating: Decent
    7 posts
    I got the first one, the ritualist of Tallon Zek, down to like 30% as both mercs died. He regained his shield and I had to gate out.
    Boxing a 105 mage, 102 SK and 105 ranger btw.
    When I came back his shield was still at 3/5 but when I attacked it immediately went to 5 again. The mercs brought it down to 1/5 but..suprise: he wouldn't take any damage and the mercs died again.
    Then I decided to try the ritualist of Vallon Zek instead. That went like it should, mob died fast.
    Next one was the ritualist of Rallos Zek. Same problem as the first one. Shield goes down to 1/5 but you can't do any damage. Seems this is bugged.
    bugged
    # Feb 10 2017 at 5:45 PM Rating: Excellent
    Kouwes wrote:
    I got the first one, the ritualist of Tallon Zek, down to like 30% as both mercs died. He regained his shield and I had to gate out.
    Boxing a 105 mage, 102 SK and 105 ranger btw.
    When I came back his shield was still at 3/5 but when I attacked it immediately went to 5 again. The mercs brought it down to 1/5 but..suprise: he wouldn't take any damage and the mercs died again.
    Then I decided to try the ritualist of Vallon Zek instead. That went like it should, mob died fast.
    Next one was the ritualist of Rallos Zek. Same problem as the first one. Shield goes down to 1/5 but you can't do any damage. Seems this is bugged.


    You might post this on the official EQ forums and see if others are having the same issue. If so maybe someone can put in a big ticket.
    ____________________________
    Allakhazam Developer and Admin

    For real time update information on Allakhazam, follow me on Twitter!
    https://twitter.com/gidono

    Or join us via our Discord channel at https://discord.gg/zu9tTS7
    Ritualists
    # May 09 2013 at 6:40 AM Rating: Decent
    As a 98 necromancer with 2400aa, most pet tanking aa's done and all dot aa's I could only get the ritualists down to 60% with my healer merc. I partnered with a lvl 100 rogue and after 2 rough wipes we came up with a successful strategy.

    The ritualists of Tallon and Vallon each have a spawn on the ramps leading upstairs that can be engaged without adds; the ritualist of Rallos has a single spawn with no adds just past the hallway that Derakor likes to wander. We sent in our 2 "hammered time" merc pets in and let our healer mercenaries handle the healing. Once the ritualists shields dropped I popped Embalmer's Carapace, ran in and dotted them up, clicked OOW robe and third spire, and then backed out and feigned death. We just waited out the timer on embalmer's between spawns...cheap but it got a duo with 2 healer mercs the win.

    On our last kill, the rogue got aggro and died, missing his update. I couldn't get another pet from Merc McFader, so we changed strategy a bit. The rogue got another pet hammered drunk and sent it in while I chained my swarm pets until the ritualist's shield was down. From that point it was a repeat of the above except I was able to send in my EMXII warrior pet. Two healer mercs were sufficient to keep the one hammered merc up long enough to do his job.

    Hope that helps someone out there, because this mission was irksome for a while. Summary: 2 healer mercs, 2 hammered drunk pets, burn, rinse and repeat twice.
    Quest Summary
    # Feb 24 2013 at 8:27 PM Rating: Decent
    Kill Drunken Fairies & Retrieve Ale
    Fairies: Heard they make you drunk if you melee them. Unable to confirm since my Necro pet handled that business. Once you get Ale Barrel everyone who has Task gets UD and barrel of their own so need to wait for respawn.

    Hail McFader and get Merc
    Notice the condition over their heads which ranges from Sober (bad), Tipsy, Drunken to Hammered (good). You use the Flask of Kromrif Ale to "power" them up and send them after the Zek ritualists to break through the Damage Shield; the DS won't fall unless they're Hammered. Your best off making a hotkey. Once they're Hammered you'll seen them armed with hammers as well as a yellow message flash across the screen: It's Hammered Time. Keep an eye out for their condition as they'll eventually lose their drunken stupor and Sober up, then eventually despawn. Invisibility and Feign Death causes them to vanish for a couple seconds then come back. So to review: reach Zek ritualist, liquor up mercs to Hammered, send them in the remove DS, kill ritualist.

    The Ritualists
    Two are in hallways and one is in a room with adds. The hallway ritualists may/may not have adds but the one in the room does (with a Named PH, thanks Sony) so kill them off adds without the mercs since they don't have DS then sic the mercs on the Task mob.

    My group was two Paladins, a Necro (myself) and a Healer merc. The first time we attacked the ritualist the Paladins both died because they rushed in with the mercs and died to the DS. Since we didn't have a melee merc of our own, I can only suggest you make him Passive until you're sure the DS is down (don't remember if there was an emote) then send him in. Frankly, I'd be happy with beating the ritualists down with the Hammered mercs while I DoT'd but I'm just a Necro. It's an annoying Task, but doable as long as the group is quick on their feet.

    Edited, Feb 24th 2013 9:28pm by JBugman
    Dispell doesnt work
    # Feb 13 2013 at 8:14 PM Rating: Default
    i cast dispell 4 times and it didnt work
    JUST SAY *DO*
    # Jan 25 2013 at 3:59 PM Rating: Decent
    22 posts
    all you say to this guy is DO have to be uninvised


    drunk merc
    # Jan 13 2013 at 3:22 AM Rating: Decent
    Sage
    Avatar
    **
    689 posts
    it also changes the name to "a hammered mercenary" ... though, as he "sobers up" he will be less than full power while still "a hammered mercenary"
    ____________________________
    Silfh V'Ester - Holy Defender of Koada'Vie
    Mahlah Tohsis - Spiritwalker
    Povar
    drunk merc
    # Jan 13 2013 at 2:58 AM Rating: Decent
    Sage
    Avatar
    **
    689 posts
    When you have made it drink enough, you get "It's Hammer Time!" on the screen.
    ____________________________
    Silfh V'Ester - Holy Defender of Koada'Vie
    Mahlah Tohsis - Spiritwalker
    Povar
    Worst quest ?
    # Dec 19 2012 at 6:23 AM Rating: Decent
    34 posts
    Do not do this with a merc tank or healer because the hireable mercs run into battle and get themselves killed on the ds (Ds drops you from 85 k ->0 in three rounds and is only dispelled by the mercs) . The pet mercs you get do not last long against the mob and have no taunt command. If you heal them its almost instant agro.

    Need a real tank at the very least to hold agro with three hammered mercs it takes 30 seconds or so for them to drop the shield then everyone needs to pay attention to make sure the merc is in a hammered state or it regenerates quickly.

    Really really hate kael for the second partisan and this task.


    Edited, Dec 19th 2012 7:24am by yizudien
    Worst quest ?
    # Jan 09 2013 at 8:52 PM Rating: Good
    ***
    1,312 posts
    Invis works, the merc pet disappears briefly but reappears.

    Succeeded using a tank merc and 3 drunk merc pets by first clearing adds. Turn off auto assist for tank merc until the drunk pets get the ritualist's shield down to 0, then turn tank's auto assist back on and kill the ritualist. Keep group healed in the meantime.
    Post Comment

    Free account required to post

    You must log in or create an account to post messages.