Druid Epic 1.5: Staff of Living Brambles  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
(Average from 2 ratings)
Information:
Level:70
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Quest
Quest Goal:
  • Epic
Quest Items:
Related Zones:
Related Creatures:
Related Quests:
Era:Omens of War
Recommended:
Group Size:Solo
Min. # of Players:1
Max. # of Players:1
Appropriate Classes:
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Wed Sep 15 16:24:07 2004
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
If you have the Nature Walkers Scimitar (epic 1.0) or have completed the pre-quest:

Something Out of Balance

Althele may be found at -3600, -1600 in Eastern Karana.

You say, 'Hail, Althele'

Althele says, 'Hello, friend. Beautiful is what I would call such a day normally, but lately? I sense that something is [out of balance].'

You say, 'How is it out of balance?'

Althele says, 'I am certain that you would sense it too, had you been so blessed as to be without sight. My sense of the life of Norrath is greatly heightened without the hindrance of vision. As I can sense that you have at your call the power of the lands, perhaps in the form of the Nature Walkers Scimitar. I can feel an unnatural illness creeping about the edges of Norrath. Please, if you come across anything suspicious bring it to me. I am worried about this cold sickness that I can almost taste. Go with the blessing of the Mother and the speed of the Storm, my child.'




Early Evidence

Go to the Rathe Mountains and forage until you find some Sickly Maiden's Hair. Bring this back to Althele.

Althele says 'This plant is certainly ill. I've never sensed such a disease. You should take this to Niera in Surefall. She has been studying diseases ever since her mother's tragic death from disease. She may be able to find something out about what has affected that plant. Help her in any way that you can.'

You receive back a Tuft of Sickly Maiden's Hair. Go to Surefall Glades and give it to Niera Farbreeze.

Niera Farbreeze says 'Well, this is certainly new to me. It's hard to tell if this is a real concern though. Diseases of all sorts exist in the world and we can't make every one of them a priority. But then perhaps I spend too much time thinking about it. Some great druids and scholars have told me that diseases can start out as helpful things, like parasite fish that clean other fish. But sometimes they change and become harmful because they are trying to clean the wrong kind of things off the fish. They've told me that this is just the way that life tries out new things to see if they work. That might be true, but I don't believe it. Tunare isn't that cruel. And I know at least one god that is.'

Niera Farbreeze says 'See if you can find other infected plants or any other evidence of this infection. If you can find enough of them, you may be able to see a pattern. It should spread out from one point. Knowing the first location might help me a lot in trying to discover what this gunk started out as, which parasite fish it is, so-to-speak. Here, take this bag. Put the diseased plants and other evidence you find in here. Make sure to remember where you found them. Keep the bag with you at all times on your search, you never know when you will come across evidence of value. When you think you have enough to see a pattern, seal up the bag and bring it back to me and let me know what you've found.'

You are given a Waterproof Collection Bag, a 4-slot SMALL container.




The Pesky Bloodgill Foragers

Head to the Lake of Ill Omen. Three of A Bloodgill Forager spawn under the dome, triggered by a druid with the collection bag zoning in. The forager that drops the quest item is unsnareable and unrootable. Once it's dead, loot a Handful of Diseased Maiden's Hair.




Goblin Hide n' Seek

Next, you must complete the Goblin Hide n' Seek event in the Frontier Mountains. Find Finrin Talister in a ruined building at -2210, +1480.

You say, 'Hail, Finrin Talister'

Finrin Talister says 'Well met, Wood Elf. What brings you to this [legendary site]? I hope that you're here to do something about all these pesky [goblins].'

You say, 'What legendary site?'

Finrin Talister says 'As the legend goes, the ruins you see around us was no ordinary building. On this site was once a temple to one of the lesser gods, of which one or if even the god still exists is unknown. What is known is that this place still contains powerful enchantments allowing souls to bind here.'

You say, 'What goblins?'

Finrin Talister says 'They've been a real problem lately. Not that they aren't always a problem, but there was all this commotion about some sort of contest with a prize a while ago. It seems that they've [forgotten] it again for the moment, thank goodness.'

You say, 'Forgotten?'

Finrin Talister says 'Yes, forgotten. They forget about this contest for a while, then suddenly one of them remembers. Fights break out for a while over who will win the [prize] then they forget again until the next one remembers it. I wish they'd have this contest already and get it over with.'

You say, 'What prize?'

Finrin Talister says 'I don't know for sure what the prize is, I don't speak goblin all that well. All I know is that they discovered something on some poor [victim] that they desire. I'm not certain that they even know what it is from the way they talk about it.'

You say, 'Who was the victim?'

Finrin Talister says 'I don't know who it was, just someone that they caught sneaking into or out of Droga. You know, I'm tempted to dress up like a goblin and insist that they start the contest already, just so it will be over and we can go back to the relative peace and quiet I've learned to enjoy out here.'

To make a long story short, you need to make a Poor Goblin Disguise, and be a Master (100 skill) in the Goblin language. To make the disguise, first create:

Green Body Paint - brew Emerald Leaves (foraged in the Emerald Jungle), Cactus Pulp (foraged in North Ro), Lichenclover (foraged in Field of Bone, Firiona Vie, and Frontier Mountains or dropped in the Crypt of Dalnir and the Frontier Mountains) and a Water Flask, trivial 15, minimum skill required 60.

Tailor the Green Body Paint with 2 x Copper Armband, 1 x Carved Wooden Mask, 1 x Goblin Loincloth, and 1 x Green Goblin Skin. Trivial 15.

All of the materials to make the Disguise should drop from the goblins in front of Temple of Droga.

Head to the entrance to the Temple of Droga in the Frontier Mountains. At 7PM gametime, click the Poor Goblin Disguise to "disguise" yourself and then target a goblin whipcracker. (Note: You MUST do this in order to start the event..) In Goblin:


You say, 'Start the contest.'

If you did it right, you will see a zonewide emote:

a goblin whipcracker shouts, in Goblin, 'You right! Me want prize! Start contest! King Dronan owe us contest!'

Whip Cracker Garzul shouts, in Goblin, 'Gather! Servants of Dronan gather!'

Whip Cracker Garzul shouts, in Goblin, 'Hurry it up! You no want Garzul to come get you!'

Goblin King Dronan shouts, in Goblin, 'Ever since Glerbag found prize on intruder all of you keep bothering King Dronan with crying about who owns it. Gorta killed Glerbag, so Gorta says it's his. Then Bittersmell and One-eye both say they killed Gorta and it is theirs. So I kill Bittersmell and One-eye and declare that there will be a contest and the winner will get it. For a while you shut up and I am happy.'

Goblin King Dronan shouts, in Goblin, 'Now Stinkbelly remembers contest and all you start to bother me again. I smarter than you, I know this not going to help. But if it shut you up for a few days, then I declare today the day of the contest!'

Goblin King Dronan shouts, in Goblin, 'Shut up! Here is how contest works. I choose someone to be Hidden. Then he go and hide. Find Hidden and get prize. Simple contest. Contest last until I say it over. It start when I say it start.'

Goblin Seeker shouts, in Goblin, 'King Dronan rules!'

Goblin Seeker shouts, in Goblin, 'I will win the prize and I'm going to eat it!'

Goblin King Dronan shouts, in Goblin, 'Contest start now!'

The contest starts. Many Goblin Seekers will spawn. The goblins will attack you even with the illusion on, so remain invisible. After the king says that the contest has begun, a Goblin Hider will pop. The event is over if you find and kill the hider, or if the king declares it to be over. Track the hider for fastest results, or head to -2145, +2985. Make sure to find the real hider. If you try to snare or root the wrong one, you'll see this:

Goblin Hider says, 'Hah! You stupid! Me not real hider!'

Loot a Bag of Diseased Maiden's Hair from the real Goblin Hider's corpse.




Blumblum's Problem

Next, head to Cobalt Scar and speak with Blumblum Swigwater at +235, -1480.

You say, 'Hail, Blumblum Swigwater'

Blumblum Swigwater says 'I am very busy. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me, stranger, but I have no time for talk right now. I'm afraid that your business can not be urgent enough.'

You say, 'What is the problem?'

Blumblum Swigwater says 'I appreciate your warm concern strange one, but the Othmir will handle this ourselves. I am certain that it would be below you to take on such troubles, especially when I have only a paltry few sentences of information to trade for it. That is, unless this is seems like a [fair deal] to you, for who am I to judge such a noble, if unusually depilated, creature such as yourself.'

You say, 'It seems like a fair deal to me.'

Blumblum Swigwater eyes light up and he smiles warmly. 'Such a kind offer! As you may know, we Othmir are exceptional carvers, though it is at brewing that we excel. Our carvings are made from many things, but most commonly of the gruesome teeth of those disgusting Ulthork. We create these beautiful carvings in tribute to our lord Prexus. Turning the ugly teeth of our enemies into items of worship provides several layers of irony and amusement that we can not resist.'

After 15 to 20 seconds he says,

Blumblum Swigwater says 'The Ulthork raid our homes when they become desperate. We always push them back, of course. But lately there has been one of there kind that is unusually powerful and he has managed to breach our defenses by force or trickery. They steal food and kill our young, as they always do. This one, though, is unusual in that he has taken one of our carvings. This concerns us, for we had not thought the beasts smart enough to recognize the irony in what we have done with their tusks. Our concern is that this one may be able to recognize the carving for what it is and will use it to incite his people to be more trouble that they usually are. If you can recover that carving as evidence that this beastly Ulthork is dispensed with, I will gladly share with you what we have seen of sickness in our waters.'

In the Eastern Wastes, An Ulthork Raider (level 66) will spawn near Icefang's camp in the southwestern corner of the zone, along with two regular An Ulthork Man O'War. The raider can summon and hits for around 690. Once it's dead, it may drop a Carved Prexus Totem. If not, wait for it to spawn again (approximately 90 minutes). Bring the totem back to Blumblum:

Blumblum Swigwater says 'Wonderful! You are indeed a creature of your word. Not only have you defeated an enemy of the Othmir, but you have returned to us this most precious statue. I thank you. It is unfortunate that the only thing I have to give you in return is some information and a small fish.'

You receive a Small Trigger Fish.

You say, 'What rumors?'

Blumblum Swigwater says 'I hate to repeat such rudeness, but as you insist. Some of my people witnessed a hairless-one swimming from the grotto just before the first sickness was seen. Of course many of your people come swimming out of the grotto, so I would give it little thought. Some of my people have decided that it must have been that hairless swimmer that cause the illness. They say, and forgive me for repeating this, that the skin of your people is poison in the water, that you expose it because it defends you in such ways. Obvious foolishness, I apologize for repeating it.'

Go to the Abysmal Sea and buy a Gutting Knife from Tasec Dreeng. Combine the Small Trigger Fish and the Gutting Knife in a tackle box to craft Soggy Maiden's Hair. This has a Fishing trivial of 20 and you must have a skill of at least 20 to attempt it.




Nature Lends a Hand (or a Claw)

Head to Feerrott and find Bouncer Flerb wandering between the Rathe Mountains zoneline and Oggok.

You say, 'Hail, Bouncer Flerb'

If you hail him while not in wolf form you get attacked and he says the following,

Bouncer Flerb says, 'Hello. What you doing here? Me bounce you if you isn't careful.' The Bouncer looks around to see if anyone else might here him. 'You seen any [wolfies] around here lately? Me sure wanna see anudder one a doze.'

He doesn't respond if you click "[wolfies]" and the whole time he's saying this he's attacking you.

If you are in wolf form when you hail him he says this:

Bouncer Flerb says, 'A wolfy! Oh, me so excited! I never get to talk to wolfy before. Why you here? You hungry? I bet you want food, but me no have food for wolfy. What do wolfy eat? You eat meat, I bet. Not plants.' The ogre breaks into a frightful laughter. 'Sorry, but I just remember dat guy I bounce lil while ago wit da grass in his pants! Funny. Me find him coming out of da mountains so me bounce him into da river. Greenbloods eat him already, prolly, so you no get to.' More grotesque giggling from the monstrosity. 'Grass in his pants!'

Bouncer Flerb says 'Hear wolfy, try dis. It good! Flerb eat most of it before, but rest still crunchy and smelly.'

You receive a Hunk of Alligator Scales.

He will give you the scales then drop aggro and walk away. After about 10 seconds he re-aggros and will come after you.

A light slowly, very slowly, comes into the bouncers eyes. 'Wait something wrong here. You wolfy. Me like wolfy, but wolfy not talk!' The massive ogre turns red with anger. He becomes an unstoppable roil of flesh as he charges you.

Bouncer Flerb respawns and attacks you. You can safely zone out. Head back to Surefall Glades and give the scales to Niera.

Niera Farbreeze says 'You say that this Bouncer told you that he'd thrown someone in the river with grass in his pants? How very strange. You should search the river, see if you can find anything, though I don't know how you could expect to find anything in that mess. Hmm... these scales give me an [idea].'

You receive Cleaned Alligator Scales.

You say, 'What is the idea?'

Niera Farbreeze says 'Well, you could enlist the aid of the animals. Unfortunately, you can't get a lot of useful information out of a fish or a bird in normal circumstances. There might be a way, however, to get some very specific information. There is lore that suggests that a simple charm can be made that will allow you to know the thoughts of a befriended animal, but only about a particular subject. You need four things, magical clay, a body part from the animal you wish to befriend, something on the subject that you wish to know about and some water. You also need to use a kiln, so I hope you are a talented potter. Now, this only works on the animal from which the body part is taken or one of its direct descendents. You may have to try a lot of animals to find the right one.'

Niera Farbreeze says 'You already have a body part from an alligator in Feerrott. There is magical clay to be found in Taelosia, from what I hear. All you need then is something to focus the animal's mind on. Food is probably the best thing. Gators eat just about anything, so there's a chance you can find one that knows where that intruder with the grass ended up if you can get an alligator to tell you where it's eaten. I'd suggest a good slab of the best piranha meat you can find. It's worth a try. At this point any help would be good. I've been looking at this disease and it is nasty in a subtle way. It barely infects the plants, causes them little harm, but it spreads quickly. So quickly, in fact, that it must be magical. We need more information to stop it.'

Piranha Meat drops from A Greenblood Piranha in Cazic Thule. The Chunk of Broken Taelosian Stone Worker drops in multiple GoD zones.

If you have not yet done the Gates of Discord pottery quests, you can take the Chunk of Broken Taelosian Stone Worker to Malkidiv U`Ycionuz in the Abysmal Sea and he will convert it to two Clumps of Refined Taelosian Clay.

Now, combine 1 x Clump of Refined Taelosian Clay, 1 x Cleaned Alligator Scale, 1 x Piranha Meat, and 1 x Water Flask in a kiln to craft a Feerrott Alligator Charm (no-fail combine, minimum required skill 100).

Head back to Feerrott with your new charm in your CHARM slot and cast Befriend Animal on A Swamp Alligator there. Lead it to the broken pillar bridge in front of the entrance to Cazic Thule (location: -440, -93, -111) and go underneath it. You will see this in yellow text:


Not safe!
Must go now!

You sense your alligator ally panic. He thrashes about in conflict, his desire to aid you conflicting with a tremendous fear. Seconds later the creature dies from the shock.

A Swamp Terror (level 68) will spawn and attack you (need fight info). Once it's dead, loot Partially Digested Maiden's Hair and a Mangled Head.




Getting A Head

Combine the Handful of Diseased Maiden's Hair, Bag of Diseased Maiden's Hair, Soggy Maiden's Hair, and Partially Digested Maiden's Hair in the Waterproof Collection Bag to craft a Sealed Collection Bag. Give this to Niera.

Niera Farbreeze examines the contents of the bag. She also asks you about where you found each item. Your answers bring a puzzled look to her face. 'There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the locations where you found these. The stories you tell me indicate that these plants were introduced artificially to the environment. I will pass the samples on to others, they will be very useful, thank you for your help. I am, however, more interested in finding out who did this. Take this and wrap up that disgusting head that you said you found with one of the specimens then give it to me. I want to look at it.'

You receive a Wash Cloth, a 1-slot MEDIUM container. Combine the Mangled Head in the Wash Cloth to craft a Wrapped Mangled Head. Give this to Niera.

Niera Farbreeze examines the head. 'You say that this might belong to one of those that is involved in all of this? Even if we had seen this person before we'd never be able to recognize it. I don't know how you'll be able to get any information from that, but it's our only clue. See if you can find a way to learn the identity of that head, but first I need you to learn as much as you can about diseases of the skin. Others have come up with some useful information about diseases of the mind and we need your research to put this puzzle together.'

You receive a Mangled Head, this time a 2-slot MEDIUM container.




Do Some Research

Head to the Plane of Knowledge and find Gravelady Beddia at -855, +360.

You say, 'Hail, Gravelady Beddia'

Gravelady Beddia says 'Hail seeker of knowledge. There is much to be learned here in New Tanaan of the dark gods of Norrath. I have been searching the great library for tomes pertaining to my patron Bertoxxulous, the Plague Lord and made some interesting finds. If you wish to study the tomes I have uncovered you may borrow them and they will be returned to me by the magic of New Tanaan when you are through.'

You say, 'What diseases of the skin?'

Gravelady Beddia says 'I know much about such things, but what would you want such knowledge for? I can only surmise that your goals would not be such that I would approve of them. You would have to be willing to [sacrifice] something, get me something precious, in order to get any such information from me.'

You say, 'What sacrifice?'

Gravelady Beddia says 'Hmmm... since you seem to be a creature of the woods, perhaps you can get something for me that I've wanted to read for a long time. There is a story of a battle between the God of Dribbles and the Lord of Plagues. We call this battle The Corruption of Night. I don't know what you people call it, but I know you must have a text concerning it. Bring me that text and I shall give you something that you probably should not have.'

Next head to Pathfinder Arelat, in the Library.

You say, 'Hail, Pathfinder Arelat'

Pathfinder Arelat says 'Welcome to New Tanaan, friend, and know us as neither friend nor foe. We are your allies in knowledge and shall guide you wherever we are able. Each citizen of New Tanaan, be them a child of the gods or a creature of the natural wilds, has come forward in these times to offer their wisdom and guidance unto you in any way possible. I traveled Norrath once as a pathfinder of Karana, but my fate would eventually call me here where I progressed beyond my mortal limits. Though you have some time left in you before such possibilities are open to you, perhaps the spells I have penned from memory of my service to Norrath will come to be of some use.'

You say, 'What is the Corruption of the Night?'

Pathfinder Arelat raises an eyebrow. 'Now where did you hear that name?' He looks intently at you for a moment. 'You've been talking to Beddia. She's been trying to get a copy of that text for a long time. I've been careful not to let her get one, if only for the principle of the thing. It's obvious that she sent you here, or one of her minions. Why would I want to give it to you? More importantly, why would a druid want to give it to her?' Arelat raises a hand, 'No, you don't have to tell me. If I can't trust you, ______, then I suppose I can't even trust myself. Just tell me that it's worth it.'

You say, 'It is worth it.'

Pathfinder Arelat says 'Then here it is. This is a copy of an ancient text that we have preserved and copied for many long years. The author died generations ago. You should read it before you give it to that witch. Good luck to you, friend.'

You receive 3 books, Fresh Awakenings vol. 1-3. Book 1:

My eyes are old and tired now. I can no longer see well enough to write. I make this statement because this will probably be the last story that I tell in my life and I do not wish scholars of the future to discount it because it is not written in my hand. You shall recognize my style nonetheless, I am certain.

This story was told to me by Askr the Loyal, servant of the Storm Lord and my childhood friend. He chose a more direct service to our lord, and for it has gained a lengthened life. This is his curse to bear. I chose the easier path, to live and teach among mortals.

Fresh Awakenings
as told to Felmire Brightshore by Askr the Loyal, scribed by Bont

We ever battle to allow nature to take its course. We fight to retain the natural balance. It is often difficult at times, for this is a hard life to practice. We love animals and yet we must not interfere as a lioness stalks a beautiful young doe. So we must remain vigilant without overreaction. Above all, we must teach those that do not understand. This is my belief, though it is not shared by all. There are those who have heard of the discovery of the Unkempt and of their belief that any that would interfere should have their capacity to interfere removed from them. The most common method used is violent death.

The truth is that our worship and our natures must be comprised of both
philosophies. We must teach those that will learn. This is shown to us by the gentle nurturing rain and in the bright hope of the rainbow. It is the lightning and the ripping winds that evidence our lord's violence. The unnatural must be cleansed when it can not be taught.

Book 2:

There have always been battles between the corrupt and the defenders. The Lord of Plagues is ever our greatest enemy. One dark night he manifested in part onto Norrath. A minor avatar of his own flesh pressed itself through the prisons of power that have so long kept the gods from us. This avatar took no form, but spread itself out among the animals and people of Norrath. Many, blessed as life is by Tunare, resisted the corruption and were merely sick or died. A few, however, were transformed in spirit. They became corrupted souls and their only desire was to bring chaos and decay to those around them.

Many were easily found and destroyed, but some were clever as well as corrupt. Owls, weasels and wolves were the most common of these. Their existence was proven by the hunters but they could not be discovered.

A council formed. Members of the hunters were equally matched by those of the teachers. Their debate was long and arduous. They argued ideas and strategies all night long. The leader of the hunters was a great bear, the mightiest creature in the lands. He insisted that if the individual corruption in the owls, weasels and wolves could not be discovered, the entire species should be destroyed. The teachers, lead by an aged snake, were arguing that none of them should be harmed, that should any be discovered they should be captured and treated well until they could be cured.

As the evening progressed the only voices that could be heard over the crowd of bickering and sometimes brawling elders was the ground-shaking voice of the great bear, the persistent, slithering teacher's voice of the snake, and the high-pitched voice of a young fox. This fox went from group to group attempting to clarify the opinions of each person. He asked them specific questions to better understand their ideas.

As dawn approached five of the council were dead. Ten had stormed off in anger. There were only eight left in the glade. As the sun rose the snake and the bear continued to argue, neither willing to agree with the other. The fox continued to ask for clarification about issues, insisting that the bear explain how best to destroy the owls, as they might be hard to catch and asking the snake how he would keep a weasel imprisoned.

It was then that an old wolf entered the clearing. None of the wolves had been invited to the council because all of them were under suspicion. Many wolves were hunters, many too were teachers, but the silvered wolf than entered the glade was unknown to any of those that remained present.


Book 3:

He spoke. "You two, snake and bear, who are our leaders, can you answer just one question for me? I shall leave if anyone here can provide a satisfactory answer and you may continue your discussion."

"Speak fast, dog, or I shall begin the destruction of your people with you," rumbled the great bear.

"Tell me, then. What does corruption look like?"

The snake responded quickly, "It takes the form of disease, most often."

"And yet," said the wolf, "disease weans out the unfit. It is natural for disease to take those that it should."

The snake glared at the wolf, but was unable to refute this point. The wolf cocked his head at the bear, who had no response at all except to bare his
gnarled teeth. The wolf then looked at each of the others in turn. None had a reply, until the cold grey eyes of the wolf turned to the young fox. "You are a clever creature, surely you must know what corruption looks like."

"Of course!" The fox was also a vain creature, a trait that wolves despise about their smaller cousins. "Corruption is the thing that destroys the strong. It ruins the order of things. It turns things in on themselves, changes their perspective or their course." Foxes are also clever creatures, another trait that annoys wolves.

The wolf turned to the bear and asked, "What did you come here to do this night?" As he spoke, a light rain began to fall.

"That's two questions, wolf! Fox has answered you, now get out of here."

Wolf then noticed that snake had slithered away while the others were talking. As the rain drifted into the grove crickets began to chirp, as they often do when things suddenly become too quiet for their liking. Wolf glanced over at the young fox in time to see a second pair of eyes appear above his head out of the trees. Wolf turned and walked away into the forest the moment before snake slid his coils around fox's neck.

As soon as the wolf was out of sight the misty rain ceased. As the sun rose a rainbow could be seen above the trees that bordered the clearing.

Give the three books to Gravelady Beddia. She will say nothing, but give you a book called Healing Plants, which reads:

This text is nearly unreadable. The language is so old that it bears little relationship to the current common tongue, but it is clearly a form of that language. What you can read of it tells you that it discusses diseases of the skin. It speaks of a ritual created by the solar Tribe of the Dawn. The ritual is for the cleansing of plant-born disease by the creation of a plant that grows alongside the diseased plant and casts spores that harm the disease. The details are written using what appears to be a sub-language that makes no sense to you at all.

Bring Healing Plants back to Niera.

Niera Farbreeze says 'That's great!' Niera scribbles some notes as she flips through the text. She then hands the notes to you, keeping the book herself. 'There is some useful information in there. Hold onto these notes until later, you may need them. Give them back to me when you've discovered the identity of that skull.'

You receive Niera's Healing Notes.




Head Habit to Break

Go to East Freeport and find Soulbinder Grunson (what's the logic trail that leads you to this?).

You say, 'Can you identify this mangled head?'

Soulbinder Grunson says, 'We soulbinders do not deal in such foul magic, we purged that [one] from our ranks long ago.'

You say, 'What one?'

Soulbinder Grunson says, 'I will not talk about him and I assure you that none of our membership will. If you must know more, talk to a man named Caskin about his friend. I don't remember his last name. Now please go away and don't mention this again.'

Caskin Marsheart may be found in the bard guild in East Freeport post-revamp (-1080.57, -905.83, 10.99).

You say, 'Soulbinder Grunson sent me to ask about your friend.'

Caskin Marsheart says, 'You mean Geadin. Caskin's eyes lose their focus for a moment as he appears to be reminiscing. Geadin was a good friend of mine but I haven't seen him in ten years, not since his [problems] with the Soulbinders.'

You say, 'What problems?'

Caskin Marsheart says, 'Caskin was a great man. Yes, I know he went down the wrong path eventually, but he saved a lot of people. He helped form the Soulbinders and, ironically enough, helped to write the rules that they now live by. Unfortunately he wasn't strong enough to live by those rules. His was a drive for success, for achievement, and that was his undoing. His [research] became more important to him than anything, even more important than people he was trying to help.'

You say, 'What research?'

Caskin Marsheart says, 'Geadin Gyths was, in many ways, a pioneer of soul binding. His research helped to allow the soulbinders to operate, but he went too far. He was expelled from the soulbinders for using some of those that came to him for simple binding as experiment victims, sometimes pulling their souls from their bodis (on accidents he claims) and binding them to a series of gems that he kept on hand. The order of Soulbinders managed to recover those gems and the lost souls and removed Geadin from their ranks. Something that happened at that time, perhaps even something that the Soulbinders did to him, drove him [mad].'

You say, 'Mad?'

Caskin Marsheart says, 'He ran off and I haven't heard from him in more than ten years. So you can see why the Soulbinders don't want to talk about him. There's nothing to fear from them, they have one of the most grueling screening processes I've ever heard of. I guess Geadin helped them in that way too. I don't know why you seek Geadin or his type of magic, you don't seem like the sort that would be interested in that sort of thing. I will warn you about my friend Geadin. He is very smart and very insane. If you can help him, I'd be grateful, but keep in mind that he doesn't see people as anything more than a tool. Good luck in finding him.'

Head to North Ro and find "a madman" that /cons indifferent. Ask him about Geadin. This gets his attention long enough for you to ask:

You say, 'are you Geadin'

A madman says, 'What? I think I know you Geadin. You're my brother's cousin's pet pig, I think. Go away.

You say, 'What about soul binding?'

Again Geadin looks down and his features crinkle in concentration. 'I once knew something about that, I think. Something about. . .' He loses control of his features and for a moment all sense of personality leaves his face. He regains control after a moment and continues. 'I can tell that you are not one of them, so what do you want? I can no longer be of use to anyone with all the noise in my mind. I can rarely remember who I am, curse them.' Again he breaks out in insane laughter. '[Curse] me is more like it!'
a madman begins to cast a spell.

You say, 'Curse?'

a madman says 'They cursed my mind, ruined the only thing that I had, the thing that made them what they are.' For once his face appears clear of the madness and is overwhelmed with anger. 'I can not do my work in this condition! I can't!' He looks at you, his mad eyes looking deep into you, as if they could see your soul. 'You want something of me, something that only I can give you. Well, I can't! They took it from me, my mind. If you want anything from me, you must [free] me or there is nothing I can do.'

You say, 'How can I free you?'

a madman struggles again to retain his control. 'I can force my tormentors from my mind, but only one at a time. I can never be free unless you destroy them. If you do that for me, I will do all that I can to help you. With your power it should be easy for you to defeat them singly. Will you do this for me?'

You say, 'I will do this.'

a madman says 'Thank you. It will take a moment for me to force each of them out. You must destroy them quickly or they will invade my mind again.'

a madman tightens all the muscles in his body as he exerts his will over his tormentors.

A Haunt spawns. Once it's killed, A Spirit spawns. Once it's killed, A Guardian Tormentor spawns. Once it's killed, A Lamented Knight spawns. Note: Each of these pops singly and will despawn unless attacked. Once they're all dead, the green/indifferent /con madman depops and a blue /con one spawns in his place.

A haunt says, 'Please, allow us to continue our work. Do not allow this man to return to his ways.'
A spirit says, 'We understand your need, but you must not free him.'
A guardian tormentor says, 'He is a dangerous creature. Please do not prevent us from doing our work.'
A lamented knight says, 'Destroy me, if you must. I cannot hold him alone. We do not blame you for what you do, for you have great need and you seek to save others. Do not allow this to weigh heavily upon you.'


a madman laughs outrageously for a long moment, then looks somewhat embarrassed at his own outburst. 'Thank you for your help, I shall never forget what you have done for me. Now, you have a skull that you need to converse with. This I know because your soul is open to me. I can conjure something that will help you with this, if you [still desire it].'

You say, 'I still desire it.'

a madman says 'Very well. Here it is. Only use it in the area where the owner of that head was killed. Now, I have much time to make up for. ' He laughs with much of the same dementia that was evident before.
Soulbender Geadin Gyths Gates.

You receive a Soul Stone. Head to Toxxulia Forest, near the Paineel entrance. Wait around until you see the following:

abandoned heretic pet says 'Speed up the digging my pets!!'
a skeleton says 'We are not your pets!!'
a skeleton says 'We will speed up when you return our mining caps. There are falling rocks all over this place!! We could get killed!!'

After the abandoned heretic pet leaves but comes back again multiple times, target the right skeleton (when facing the Paineel entrance):

You say, 'What animated heads?' (Where did you figure out how to say this?)

a skeleton says 'Heh, so you've heard of that, have you. Too funny if you ask me. Who would [want] to animate a skull? Darn things can't do any useful work. They can't even talk!'
a skeleton says 'Don't you have some living person you can annoy?'

You say, 'I want to animate a skull.'

a skeleton says 'That's rich!'
a skeleton says 'You actually WANT that spell? You do know that, so far anyway, only Elia has been able to cast it, right? Not that anyone's trying all that hard. Besides, what could you possibly offer us to get you a copy of the scroll? Nothing, that's what.'

a skeleton says 'Hold on there, pal. There's bound to be something that we can get from this. . . druid. Let me think about it for a minute.'
a skeleton says 'Hah!'

a skeleton says 'Friend, your mind was devoured by maggots years ago. You couldn't think you way out of this tunnel if your unlife depended on it.'
a skeleton says 'Shut your trap already. After the centuries that we've been working here, side by side, you'd think that by now you'd have run out of stupid things to say.'

a skeleton says 'Hang on, that's it! Look around you, this place is spotless and yet they make us pretend to clean up and poke at the rocks like we're doing something useful. We just want to take a break for a few hours, wander down to the beach, scare someone, maybe even feast on someone's bones or something. That's not askin' too much, is it? All you gotta do is stand here with a pick and tell that idiot heretic pet that you are on the job.'
a skeleton says 'Oh, and ya gotta sing the song.'

a skeleton says 'Yah, ya gotta sing the [song]. Stand right were I am and sing it a lot. If you do that, we'll get a copy of that stupid spell for ya, for all the good it will do. So [will] you [do it]? We don't have all day to wait for... oh, well, yeah, I guess we do.'

Before you start this next step, make sure you don't have a Worthless Mining Pick in your inventory or in your bank. It's a lore item that drops in other zones that will be given to you in this next step. The skeleton won't be able to give it to you if you already have one.

You say, 'What song?'

a skeleton says 'Yo ho. No sun!!'
a skeleton says 'A skeleton's day is never done.'

You say, 'I will do it.'

Make a hotkey/macro with these lines:
Line 1: /say Yo ho. No sun!
Line 2: /say A skeleton's day is never done.
Line 3: /say Yo ho. No sun!
Line 4: /say A skeleton's day is never done.

Then use the macro.

a skeleton says 'Ya better hold this.'

You receive a Worthless Mining Pick. Equip it, head to approximately -1996.62, -216.64, 51.30 in the tunnel, and wander around slightly until you see an emote:

Your voice echoes nicely from the walls.

This means the invisible mob is "listening." Start spamming the song until the abandoned heretic pet comes around again.

abandoned heretic pet says 'Speed up the digging my pets!!'
abandoned heretic pet says 'Who on Bertoxxulous' blistered backside are you? Where did those fools go off to?'

Target it and say:

You say, 'I am on the job.'

abandoned heretic pet shouts 'Well I'll be, a druid that wants to be a miner! Alright then, you keep at it. Don't break a nail or strain your delicate sensibilities!'

This is very important: You need to say "I am on the job" ASAP as the abandoned heretic pet asks you the question. If you responded fast enough, and if you spammed the song enough, and if you did not target anything while doing these things, after 30 minutes, the skeletons will come back. If you fail, and the heretic pet says 'you better not be here', there is no longer a long respawn timer. The skeletons should return to the entryway in a matter of minutes so you can try again.

If you stand and move your camera so that you see outside, you'll always notice the heretic pet walking toward you. Keep spamming the macro until he gets close and stops. He will say the line about 'what are you doing here', then immediately set your cursor to target the pet and hit your second macro one time, then Escape to untarget and start spamming your Song macro.

a skeleton says 'Well, you somehow managed to not piss off the heretic pet and you sang the song often enough, though I don't think your heart was in it. Here's the scroll you wanted. Of course an animated head just moves around. Without a soul in it, it's pretty worthless.'

You receive the scroll Animating Heads.




Things Come to a Head

Head back to Feerrott near the bridge where the Swamp Terror spawned (near -375, -155) and combine the Soul Stone and Animated Heads in the Mangled Head (does this craft anything?).

compelled spirit screams as his essences is forced back into the world of the living. 'What is this? Where am I? Who are you? What do you want from me?'

You say, 'Who are you?'

compelled spirit says 'You don't even know who I am? You summon me back here and you don't even know me? There's no way I'll. . .' The voice wavers as it struggles to deny an answer to your question. The struggle is short, however, and he continues. 'Gah! Fine, my name is Sanmuel Gingerfly of Qeynos.'

You say, 'What about the disease?'

compelled spirit says 'What do you want to know about disease? I'm kind of an expert. I know something about a great plague that you will soon die from! I helped create it!'

You say, 'What plague?'

compelled spirit says 'I know that it is a special plague, designed by. . .' again he tries to resist speaking, but the power of the gem that binds him into his own skull is too powerful, 'Azibelle and the Afflicted. Oh, she's gonna be mad at me. It will grow in the plants and be eaten by the animals. It won't show any signs for a long time. By then you'll all have eaten something with the plague! I got to deliver some of it to the first victims! I even remember one of the key runes. I. . .' again the hesitation, 'can [show it] to you if you want.'

You say, 'Show it to me.'

The skull of the dead acolyte glows briefly and all of the remaining flesh falls from it. An ephemeral rune appears in your hand. 'Place that where that horrible stone was before, in my very own head with that nasty scroll, and you will be able to engrave it into my skull. My poor skull! Hurry up, though, that rune won't last forever.'

You receive a Disease Rune. Combine the Disease Rune with the Animated Heads in the Mangled Head to craft a Runed Skull.

You say, 'Who are Azibelle and the Afflicted?'

compelled spirit says 'I won't tell you!' The voice goes silent for a few moments and you fear that he might have broken the spell, but his voice returns. 'The Afflicted were created by Azibelle shortly after Mordavin was killed. When the Bloodsabers refused to protect Mordavin, she broke from them and took some key members with her. Glenfire is her right hand, a wicked woman with great power. The others she has brought in are Finnelzi Springworthy, Rendolf Deathbringer, Tehana Elsent and my brother, Bohab.'

You say, 'Who is Glenfire?'

compelled spirit says 'She's the most powerful woman I've ever met. She's a dark elven shadowknight and if I were you I'd stay away from her. Nobody has ever beat her in a fight and I don't think she tries her hardest.'

You say, 'Who is Finnelzi Springworthy?'

compelled spirit says 'Fin? He's a gnome. I suppose he's a powerful necromancer, but it's hard to fear someone that can't see over a low hedge. Besides, I always suspected that he had reservations about our work. I should have had his place in the coven!'

You say, 'Who is Rendolf Deathbringer?'

compelled spirit says 'Heh. He used to be called Rendolf Shelton. He changed his name so he'd sound more like a shadowknight. He's a great fighter, though, so nobody teases him about it. I think he has a crush on Glenfire, but she'd rather kill a human than sleep with one.'

You say, 'Who is Tehana Elsent?'

compelled spirit says 'Tehana is a true necromancer. She studies the lore and the spells. She knows everything there is to know about the undead. She has been studying diseases, but I don't think they really meant much to her except that they make people dead. She was the one to recreate some of Mordavin's work from his notes and repurposed it for Azibelle's needs. She's kind of excited about killing everyone. She is inspired by Azibelle and Glenfire and does most of the support work for the coven.'

You say, 'Who is Bohab?'

compelled spirit says 'I won't tell you anything about him. He protected me as a child in the streets of Qeynos and I will not tell you anything about him.'

Head to Surefall Glades. Give the Runed Skull and Niera's Healing Notes to Niera Farbreeze.

Niera Farbreeze says 'That's an amazing story. So there is a coven of Mordavin's followers out there. This is indeed bad news.' She gathers all of the information she has gained so far. She examines the rune on the skull and the text on healing plants. She then pulls out a worn bag and shows you several blood and skin samples from various creatures. All look sickly to you. Niera looks at you and sighs. 'We have a lot of information now, thanks to you and one of our Rangers. We know the nature of the disease and we know the identity of those that created it. Now we need to find the cure. A council of the learned has reviewed all of the information brought to us so far, and this text confirms our suspicions. We need the help of the Unkempt to find a cure. That is your task now. Find the Unkempt and ask them for help. Take these notes, they will explain the details, if you can find someone to give them to.'

You receive Niera's Research Notes.

Head to the Plane of Justice and find the Great Bear at 500, -500. Make sure to have some form of Charm Animals loaded.


You say, 'Hail, Great Bear'

Great Bear growls at you. 'What do you want? Were you not, what is it you are called, druid? Were you not druid I would rip your head from your torso. What you want had better be important.'

You say, 'What about the Tribe of the Dawn?'

Great Bear says 'I am the tribe of the Dawn. I have been placed here for killing some beast that entered my territory. The creatures here say that I was unjust in doing so. I don't care about their justice or rules. It was where it did not belong. What do you want of me? I have something I must do soon.'

You can also ask about the Unkempt (dialogues needed). Give him Niera's Research Notes.

Great Bear looks at the paper you hand him. 'I can almost understand this writing. This is not a natural disease. I see that you understand the seed rituals, this is good.' The ursine waves his arms in a way that might indicate that he is casting a spell, though it looks little like the sort of spell casting you know. Two seeds appear in his hands. 'Good. I was not sure that I could grow these here. Take them. One is for your cause, one is for you.'

Your skin loses its oaken resilience.
Your thoughts slow.
Your afflictions have been stripped.
Your charm spell has worn off.
Great Bear growls loudly, 'I shall have my freedom!'

You receive a Red Dogwood Seed and a Living Brambles Seed. Great Bear leaves. Go back to Surefall Glades and give both seeds to Niera.

Niera Farbreeze says 'Wonderful! These are amazing seeds! I've never seen any just like them before. And you got them from one of the Unkempt. Amazing.' Niera examines the seeds closely while referring to a book called Unkempt Seed Rituals. She wraps both seeds in a soft, moist cloth and hands one of them to you. 'I think I know what the Unkempt meant. This one is for you. Keep it safe. I believe that I know where the other is needed. I have learned much while you were gone and I need to tell you about it.'

Niera Farbreeze says 'Others have discovered a method for locating the virus. Our brothers and sisters, along with the help of Shana Liskia in Freeport, have grown a crystal from traces of the disease and that crystal can find the disease. They have called it a Mind Crystal, though I'm not sure why. Take it. I need you to put it to work for us. Go out and use it to find the members of that coven and destroy them. I know that we have few clues as to where to look, but you have been wonderfully clever so far and we're relying on you to hunt them down.'

You receive a Living Brambles Seed (identifies as "Protected Living Brambles Seed") and a Mind Crystal.




Something Wicked This Way Comes

Head to South Qeynos and look for "a furtive figure." He spawns in the Lion's Mane Inn, in the room in the hallway behind the counter, first door on the right. When you approach him, you see an emote from your crystal telling you, "You must kill him." (exact log needed). He hits for 600, but you can root/dot him to kill him. He drops a Hasty Notes, which reads:

It is time. Meet us at midnight at the ring as soon as you are able. We have something for you.

Head to the druid ring in Southern Karana (-6040, -3305). Wait until midnight game time, and three NPCs will spawn: Finnelzi Springworthy, Tehana Elsent, and Rendolf Deathbringer. When they spawn they will start talking. Don't wait for them to finish or they will have time to buff themselves and summon pets, etc. They gate at 1:20 AM game time. This is the dialogue:

Finnelzi Springworthy says 'I can't believe that we're here waiting for that boy again. You know he should never have been given a spot in the coven, he's too unreliable.'
Finnetzi Springworthy mutters under his breath.
Glenfire Telzir glares at Finnelzi.

Rendolf Deathbringer says 'Haven't you heard? One of your Erudite cohorts in Paineel has already done it. Silly, if you ask me. Animating heads? What good is that?

Tehana Elsent says 'It doesn't matter if it is any use to you, fathead. It's a matter of being able to do it at all. We've always needed the majority of the body to get it animated properly. The ability to animate parts of the body might lead to some new avenue that we haven't thought of yet.'

Glenfire Telzir says 'In a few weeks none of that will matter.'

Tehana Elsent brightens up. 'That's true!'

Finnelzi Springworthy says 'About that. I know it's importaint to all of you, but. . .'

Glenfire Telzir says 'Shut up, Fin.'

Azibelle Spavin says 'That's long enough. Let's go. It's his fate if he doesn't show up soon.'

Glenfire and Azibelle are untargetable and will not aggro. The other three are snareable, rootable, and hit for 680 or so. They will also cast DoTs, dispels, etc. Once killed, they each drop a Crystal Fragment. Bring all three to Shana Liskia, the enchanter guildmaster in West Freeport.

Shana Liskia says 'Well these certainly are interesting. You say there might be more of them on those necromancers that escaped? Well here, take this. Find all of them and place them into this bag to keep them safe. Then bring them all to me and I'll examine them more closely. I can tell you that they are similiar to the Mind Crystal, but it appears to have different magical properties. I have never seen anything like them and I suspect that they are not from Norrath.'

You receive 3 x Crystal Fragment and a Small Padded Bag, a 6-slot TINY container.

Head to Harbingers' Spire and stay at zone-in. Make your group go into the third group on the left from zone-in and clear adds while you remain at zone-in. When they are ready, head over to them and you will spawn Glenfire Telzir and Azibelle Spavin. They hit for 800-1000, and are rootable, snareable, mezzable, etc. Once killed, they drop Azibelle drops Azibelle's Crystal Fragment and Bohab's Crystal Fragment, and Glenfire drops Glenfire's Crystal Fragment.

Combine all six crystals in the bag to craft a Full Padded Bag. Bring this back to Shana Liskia.


Shana Liska takes the crystal fragments from the pouch. She applies a drop of liquid to it. The liquid turns the crystal white where it spreads. 'These small crystals are easier to work with than the Mind Crystal. They also differ from the Mind Crystal in that they are from the Plane of Discord. Take this mixture and find something to enhance its magical power and you just might be able to purify the Mind Crystal. I have no idea what that might be, but I know what it should be. You'll need two components. One will increase the power of the mixture, something with a lot of magical power. It needs to be a liquid or powder to integrate properly. And you'll need a stabilizer, something to help the mixture and the new material to remain stable. This influences the kind of attunement that the crystal takes on during the process. It should be something from nature if you want the result to suit your tastes. You'll have to find someone that knows of something about it among the druids for help on what to use.'

You receive a Bowl of Foul-smelling Liquid, a 3-slot LARGE container.




Purifying Crystals is a Druid's Work!

Head to the Abysmal Sea and find Silanda Leafdew at -315, +200, +115.

You say, 'Hail, Silanda Leafdew'

Silanda Leafdew says 'Hi. It's a wonderful view. I'm not sure that it makes up for what we've [done] to get here, though.'

You say, 'What about the stabilizer?'

Silanda Leafdew says 'A stabilizer? Well, there are several in nature. What do you need it for?'

You say, 'I need to purify a Mind Crystal.'

Silanda Leafdew says 'Really? I have been consulted about the Mind Crystal, but I have not had the chance to see it yet. Please, let me see this crystal.'

Give her the Mind Crystal.

Silanda Leafdew says 'This is a very interesting item. I sense that it was not grown naturally. For all of its other flaws, that might be the most severe. Hmmm... let me think about this a moment. There are certain kinds of moss that I think might work well for you, probably some of the heartier mosses that are found in the wooded areas of Kunark. I don't know who you are working with and I probably don't want to know. But if they created this crystal it is not a druid. I suspect that the directions you have been given will indeed work to remove the nasty taint that it carries. I think, however, that you will need something more than just moss. You'll need some way to allow the crystal to grow into the natural form that it wants to take. This can probably be done after you purify it. Please, come back to me when you have done so and let me examine the crystal again. Maybe I can help.'

Port to the Emerald Jungle and forage Emerald Moss.

Next, head over to Natimbi with a group which includes a FD puller or bard. Set up near the Kod'Taz zone-in stone, in the northwest corner of the zone. The event will have started, and 10 Reborns (level 66) and 1 Ritual Conduit (level 65) will have spawned. Have the puller pull 2 or 3 at a time. Reborns are snareable, rootable, and mezzable, and hit for around 600. After a few of the Reborns have been killed, the Ritual Conduit will despawn and a Noc Juggernaut (level 72) will spawn. Continue to kill the Reborns until they are all dead to free the Juggernaut. Both the Conduit and the Juggernaut are tethered to the center of the platform, so they will warp back and drop aggro. The Juggernaut can hit for up to 1400. Once the Juggernaut is dead, a Chest may spawn with additional loot. Loot Energized Noc Blood from the Juggernaut.

Combine the Energized Noc Blood in the Bowl of Foul-smelling Liquid with the Emerald Moss and Mind Crystal to craft a Clear Mind Crystal.





Botanics 101

Head back to the Abysmal Sea and give the Clear Mind Crystal to Silanda Leafdew.

Silanda Leafdew says 'I knew that coming here would show me a way to aid nature! This is a lovely crystal, but it is still marred at the core where it was forced to grow unnaturally. If you can find a way to . . . I don't know . . . replant it so that it can regrow, this would be the most precious crystal I've ever seen. You will need to find a fertilizer that will be potent enough to restart the growth process. There is no soil that I know of that could do it. You'll need to get the best soil you can find and supplement it with something very fertile. You'll probably also need a special pot to put it in, though I don't know what that would be made of. It too would have to be very potent to focus the energy of the crystal and allow it to regrow.'

Gather a small raid force (3-5 groups) and go to the Ruined City of Dranik. In the tunnels on the east side of the zone at /loc P120, N1300, you will see an emote:

The ground shakes violently and a deep thudding sound rolls across the land.

"a cracked earthshaker" will spawn. It hits for 1450 and AE FDs (name of proc?) with DD and knockback components. Once you kill it, loot a Chunk of Energized Clay. A chest may spawn with additional loot.

Go back to the Abysmal Sea and make an Aerated Pot Shell by combining 1 x Aerated Pot Sketch (purchaseable from the vendor), 1 x Block of Clay, 1 x Water Flask in a pottery wheel, trivial 68. Combine the Aerated Pot Shell with the Chunk of Energized Clay in a kiln to craft a Reinforced Aerated Pot.





The Final Fight

Bring a small raid to Kithicor Forest. A mob called Blackened Treant should be up near the lake in the southeast part of the zone. It is highly magic-resistant and immune to run-speed changes, hits for 900, single-target rampages, and does not summon. Upon its death, 8-10 mini-treants called "Blackened Branch" spawn. They hit for 300, are snareable and rootable, and are otherwise nothing special. Once the last one is dead, you see:

A wave of sorrow flows through the forest.

Blackened Dryad will spawn. This is the raid target: Level 70; hits for 1,400; single-target rampages, AEs Withering Glare; and has a LOT of HPs. Once it's dead, loot Blackened Earth. A chest may spawn with additional loot. Combine the Blackened Earth, the Living Brambles Seed, and the Clear Mind Crystal in the Reinforced Aerated Pot:

You plant the Mind Crystal and the Seed of Living Brambles in the pot. The pot grows warm and immediately you see a vine sprouting from the soil. The vine continues to grow at a tremendous rate. Brambles grow into the heart of the crystal where the core impurity is and split it. They continue to grow at an astounding speed and soon burst the pot and form the Staff of Living Brambles.

You receive the Staff of Living Brambles, a.k.a. druid epic 1.5.


Submitted by: Tenani, Willowflower, Coffeapot, Lilheart, the folks at The Druids Grove
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Heretic pet
# Oct 11 2022 at 3:02 PM Rating: Good
12 posts
The part of the Heretic pet, first of all, you need to target the left skeleton, not the right one. Second, you can ask him immediately the pick. Third, this quest is time related. I mean, when you will get the pick and spam the song, the 2 skeletons will leave. You wait the heretic to say your phrase "i am on the job". You need to target it to say that and untarget it immediately and continue the song. You will need to do it pretty often for more than 30 minutes, close an hour UNTIL the 2 skeleton come back. This is the skeleton who will give you the spell when they will come back. In fact, they go take a break and they give you the spell for the job you did when they were gone.
Goblin Hider part problem
# Oct 11 2022 at 12:33 PM Rating: Good
12 posts
The part with the Goblin Hider, VERY IMPORTANT, when you say the phrase "Start the contest" YOU NEED absolutly to have a goblin whipcracker in target or nothing will happen... You need to change this because i had to restart and i finally read the comment on the Goblin Hider page here who talk about that. It is very important since you loose the disguise and need to restart all that part again!
Duo at 70
# Jul 15 2022 at 9:24 AM Rating: Excellent
Scholar
44 posts
Was able to duo this at level 70 (TLP server, Prophecy or Ro era) with a Bard. Both characters mostly Demi-Plane geared. The final golem and Blackened Dryad were long fights, Dryad was roughly on par with King Tormax difficulty (a little harder than Tormax w/o MotM, but a little easier than him with it). Just a heads up for anyone wishing to attempt it, it's completely achievable.

Edited, Jul 15th 2022 10:25am by Treb
Goblin must be there
# May 15 2022 at 6:55 PM Rating: Decent
Avatar
**
427 posts
Quote:
Head to the entrance to the Temple of Droga in the Frontier Mountains. At 7PM gametime, click the Poor Goblin Disguise to "disguise" you. (Note: You MUST do this in order to start the event..) In Goblin:

You say, 'Start the contest.'

If you did it right, you will see a zonewide emote:

a goblin whipcracker shouts, in Goblin, 'You right! Me want prize! Start contest! King Dronan owe us contest!'




Make sure there is a goblin up before you say this. Without a goblin up to say "'You right! Me want prize! Start contest! King Dronan owe us contest!'" nothing happens. Target one after you have the illunion on and speak in Goblin and say "Start the contest". Then...just wait with patience for the event to unfold.

You can head to where the map has marked the Goblin Hider locations, and watch track there. The event takes a few minutes to unfold so you just have to wait.
____________________________
Life needs more cowbell.

Shaere
Pillar Bridge Location
# Sep 09 2021 at 11:49 AM Rating: Excellent
Neg440, Neg93, Neg111
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Nyvina Nytemare
Arrowhawk Meanehsobee
Nytera Nytemare
This should be fixed by now how dumb
# Aug 13 2021 at 2:09 AM Rating: Decent
I have read the comments and by the looks of it they should have had this fixed by now u shouldnt have to kill the great bear first to get him charmed or they should make it like the rest of the npc and make him indifferent to talk to you have to wait 90 mins for this guy to pop back up i think with how many times they have a patch with is every month this should be tweeked and fixed like asaap the druid epic is already pretty hard to get and im not having a real great experiance with it it really makes me not want to play my druid conisdering this and the mana issue they have which i mean u can accomadate with ur mana bear potions ect but other than that i love the class they are great class to have if they would fix these issues it would be amazing and then they would be more sought after and maybe make the game more popular again the community in eq has grown small from when i played last people just pl to 115 now and call it a day when back in the day u could find groups at any lvl in a matter of 5 mins of loggin on
2021 observations
# Feb 27 2021 at 12:40 PM Rating: Excellent
7 posts
Just a few observations as I work through this epic in 2020/2021.

Goblin Hide n' Seek

This takes place IN Frontier Mountains. It does literally say that in the write up but for me it wasn't obvious, I guess. All the mobs in front of Temple of Droga drop the mats for the disguise. They respawn very quickly, sometimes in just a minute or two, up to five minutes. Foraging the Emerald Leaves took a while, everything else went smoothly. The Hider does gate around, but just stay on them, eventually you'll find and target one, cast, and you'll be good.

Blumblum's Problem

The Ulthorks weren't immediately up when I went to the Icefang camp area. They maybe on a timer from when you enter zone. I only had to wait about 15 minutes for them to spawn.

Head Habit to Break

I went to Ro looking for "a madman" and found only two up in the zone, both were KoS. I killed them and came back another day. This time just one "a madman" up and he conned indifferent. Geared in Defiant stuff at 71 I needed help to get the mobs down without running OOM and keeping up with the spawns and timers. The mobs weren't damaging me or my pet so I loaded in a second box to run out and help while beating on the spirit, that delayed the next spawn and I had enough mana to take them all down.

Animated Heads

This one was really tricky, but there are few essentials that will make it easy.

First, make the macros. Several posts here list the wrong characters, missing punctuation, or extra punctuation. Here is the correct array of characters to copy into your macro:

Social: Song
Line 1: /say Yo ho. No sun!
Line 2: /say A skeleton's day is never done.
Line 3: /say Yo ho. No sun!
Line 4: /say A skeleton's day is never done.

The extra lines just mean you have to spam the macro a little less.

Social: Job
Line 1: /say I am on the job

Second, a few different /locations worked for me, but the only one that got me the item was -1977, -212.

Third, if you fail, and the heretic pet says 'you better not be here', there is no longer a long respawn timer. The skeletons should return to the entryway in a matter of minutes so you can try again.

Fourth, if you stand and move your camera so that you see outside, you'll always notice the heretic pet walking toward you. Keep spamming the macro until he gets close and stops. He will say the line about 'what are you doing here', then immediately set your cursor to target the pet and hit your second macro one time, then Escape to untarget and start spamming your Song macro.

Fifth, the heretic's pet will respond about about being 'delicate' and then proceed to stand there for a minute watching you 'work'. Then he poofs.

Fifth, it's been described that this event takes up to 40 minutes, but for me it took only 15. The heretic's pet came by three times, and shortly after the third cycle and the heretic pet poofing the skeletons came back into the entryway and once they parked themselves in their spots the spell was on my cursor.

One final observation about this event that could happen to someone else. I had banked a Worthless Mining Pick from Gloomingdeep and couldn't figure out why when I tried this event at first the skeleton wouldn't give me the pick as is described by other posters. Well, it's because I had forgotten about looting and banking the one from Gloomingdeep! I tracked down other drop locations - Vergalid Mines - and went there to loot one and that's when I discovered it's a lore item and I already had one.

In short, this event isn't as difficult or lenghty as described if you follow all the above directions.

I'll update this post with any other info as I complete it.



2021 observations
# Jul 31 2021 at 11:59 PM Rating: Good
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57 posts
I had the same problem with the Madman in North Ro.

The skeleton to target in Toxx is the one by the fire pot, it's to the right when facing AWAY from the ZONELINE. That messed me up for a bit. Also I didn't get the echo emote until after I responded to the Heretic pet the first time. If you accidently zone while looking for the sweet spot, you have failed. The Heretic Pet will just say that you need the correct tool even though it's still equipped
2021 observations
# Feb 27 2021 at 9:23 PM Rating: Good
7 posts
Purifying Crystals is a Druid's Work!

Reborn are all Level 66, Ritual Conduit is Level 65, and Noc Juggernaut is Level 72.

Botanics 101

She handed the item back to me the first time with no dialogue. Gave it to her again and she responded with the dialogue.

Everything else went just as explained in the guide.
Location to spawn a Cracked Earthshaker
# Nov 09 2019 at 7:07 AM Rating: Good
8 posts
Be sure to give your mind crystal to Silanda after the natimbi Juggernaut fight and combining it in the foul smelling bowl.

The ground shakes violently and a deep thudding sound rolls across the land at location P120, N1300.
Paineel
# Nov 02 2019 at 4:02 PM Rating: Good
14 posts
Facing the Paineel zone entrance, it is the skeleton on the left standing next to the firepot who will give you the speech components and the pick.

When they leave, you will not see "Your voice echoes nicely from the walls." at any location unless you sing the song. So don't wait to see the speech to start singing. The loc listed in the walkthrough seems to be the central location that will return "Your voice echoes nicely from the walls."

I stood in the vicinity of the location with the pick equipped and spammed the song macro every few minutes. Occasionally the heretic would return. I tried saying "I am on the job." without him targeted, and nothing happened, however he did respond properly if I targeted him.

This went on for quite a while, he would leave, and just for a little extra safe guarding, I went back to spamming the song button. He came back several times, I told him I was on the job each time.

Eventually one of the skeletons, the one who talks by the firepot, returned. The heretic happened to still be standing there when it did.

With no further prompting from me, the Animating Heads scroll appeared on my cursor.
Goblin Disguise
# Sep 23 2019 at 12:19 PM Rating: Good
14 posts
I spent a few hours clearing the goblin caves near the burning woods zone line, and even though all the mobs listed as possible were there, I got nothing in the way of copper armband, carved wooden mask, or goblin loincloth. Eventually I went off tracking more gobbies, and I accidently zoned into Nurga, but when I killed the 4 - 6 gobbies there, I got a loincloth right away. I went back out, went back to the caves, did another 2 to 3 clears with nothing, and decided I would go see if it was only the gobbies by Nurga that dropped the pieces. Within 2 to 3 clears of those 4 - 6 mobs, I got 2 copper wristbands and a wooden mask. Within basically an hour I have all the pieces for that part of the disguise combine off a very small spawn area. At present I'm farming up another set of materials, because I have trust issues with no fail or low trivial combines. My suspicions based off what I observed is that only the goblins by the entrance to Nurga drop the copper armband, the carved wooden mask, and the goblin loincloth.
At the Ferrott part of the quest
# Jul 04 2018 at 1:10 AM Rating: Decent
1 post
I failed miserably at the part where you go back to talk to the spirit in Ferrott. I did the combine, got the Emote saying : compelled spirit screams as his essences is forced back into the world of the living. 'What is this? Where am I? Who are you? What do you want from me?'
That was it. nothing else. Standing on the exact loc. What is up with this thing?
Madman dialog
# May 25 2018 at 2:36 PM Rating: Good
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131 posts
The only dialog that causes the madman to respond other than that outlined above is:

You say, 'are you Geadin'
A madman says, 'What? I think I know you Geadin. You're my brother's cousin's pet pig, I think. Go away.'

This is probably the dialog that precedes "What about soul binding"

Also the ghost dialog is as follows:

A haunt says, 'Please, allow us to continue our work. Do not allow this man to return to his ways.'
A spirit says, 'We understand your need, but you must not free him.'
A guardian tormentor says, 'He is a dangerous creature. Please do not prevent us from doing our work.'
A lamented knight says, 'Destroy me, if you must. I cannot hold him alone. We do not blame you for what you do, for you have great need and you seek to save others. Do not allow this to weigh heavily upon you.'

All of the ghost dialog is in blue text.
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
Confirming Bigskyn's description of skeleton event
# May 25 2018 at 12:57 PM Rating: Default
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131 posts
Bigskyn's description below of the skeleton event is spot on. The abandoned heretic pet returns multiple times not just once.

You do need to respond to the abandoned heretic pet quickly or you will fail. This happened to me but after waiting a few minutes for the skeletons to reset I was able to successfully complete the event.
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
Bouncer Flerb behavior
# May 24 2018 at 11:16 AM Rating: Decent
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131 posts
Flerb will attack you whether you're in wolf form or not. So don't expect wolf form to remove his aggression. That is no longer the case.

If you hail him while not in wolf form you get:

Bouncer Flerb says, 'Hello. What you doing here? Me bounce you if you isn't careful.' The Bouncer looks around to see if anyone else might here him. 'You seen any [wolfies] around here lately? Me sure wanna see anudder one a doze.'

"Here" should be "hear". Also he doesn't respond if you click "[wolfies]" and the whole time he's saying this he's attacking you.

If you are in wolf form when you hail him he says this:

Bouncer Flerb says, 'A wolfy! Oh, me so excited! I never get to talk to wolfy before. Why you here? You hungry? I bet you want food, but me no have food for wolfy. What do wolfy eat? You eat meat, I bet. Not plants. Nobody eat plants.' The ogre breaks into a frightful laughter. 'Sorry, but I just remember dat guy I bounce little while ago wit da grass in his pants! Funny. Me find him coming out of da mountains so me bounce him into da river. Greenbloods eat him already, prolly, so you no get to.' More grotesque giggling from the monstrosity. 'Grass in his pants!'

That's it. He doesn't say anything else. He will give you the scales then drop aggro and walk away. After about 10 seconds he re-aggros and will come after you.

The description in the article above confused me because when I first approached him I was in wolf form but he still aggroed me. I tried a couple of other wolf illusions but the same thing happened every time. Then I read the Flerb article and someone posted that illusions no longer affect Flerb's aggression.
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
Blumblum Swigwater dialog
# May 23 2018 at 6:39 PM Rating: Default
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131 posts
When talking to Blumblum you do not need to say "What carvings?"

When you say "Fair deal" to him you will get the typical response then after 15 to 20 seconds you get the "The Ulthork raid ..." response. He doesn't even respond to "What carvings?" even if you say it immediately after you say "fair deal".

Don't know if this is a bug or what but that's what happens now.
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
Finrin Talister research
# May 23 2018 at 3:54 PM Rating: Default
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131 posts
While working on the 1.5 I decided to research how you're supposed to figure out how to make the goblin costume. I tried multiple phrases with him and he only responds to "victim".

Therefore my conclusion is that after talking to him you're supposed to have enough intuition to figure out that you should, perhaps, look in your tailoring recipes for the Poor Goblin Disguise which is trivial at 15 and is at the top of the list if you do a search. That will then also lead you to the Green Body Paint.

This is completely annoying and unsatisfactory. He should, at the very least, either tell you the names of the recipes to use or give you the recipes to use.

I know that when OoW went live these recipes were added to druid characters but that means you would have to remember this when you finally got around to doing the 1.5 quest. Also, what If you didn't start playing a druid until after OoW came out? I guess your only choice was to come here to Zam.

I know this is a piddling complaint considering that the previous step doesn't even give you any hints as to where you should look for "diseased plants and other evidence".
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
a madman
# Sep 20 2017 at 1:22 AM Rating: Excellent
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157 posts
a haunt - lvl 56
a spirit - lvl 57
a guardian tormentor - lvl 58
a lamented knight - lvl 59

they seem to be pally's
Crystal Fragment fight in South Karana Bug
# Sep 17 2017 at 1:43 PM Rating: Decent
3 posts
Info for Crystal Fragment fight in South Karana

Looks like, if you manage to kill one of the guys in the druid ring at South Karana druid ring, and have to redo the event, don't have any of the crystal fragments -- just delete them if you ***** up. I had one on me and went back to the ring, had the hasty note too, and none of these guys showed up at the South Karana Druid ring. I'm guessing it checks to see if you have the crystals already or something so if you do, no guys show up. :( because I cannot think of any other reason why they wouldn't have been there.
Compelled Spirit
# May 27 2017 at 8:16 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
44 posts
After I received the Animate Heads scroll, I went to Feerott, made the combine, and received the first emote from "compelled spirit." There was no NPC that I could target by that name, so I asked, "Who are you?" without a target. Nothing. Now I have to gem to try another combine and it looks like I'll have to back up to that part of a quest and redo it all.

BLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

____________________________
The Good Lord gave us whiskey only to keep the Irish from taking over the world.
Compelled Spirit
# May 27 2017 at 9:03 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
44 posts
Operator Error! I wasn't at edge of the bridge. That fixed it, and getting the stone was just a matter of speaking to the madman again, and killing the spirits once more.
____________________________
The Good Lord gave us whiskey only to keep the Irish from taking over the world.
Paineel Skeleton Update
# May 27 2017 at 7:45 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
44 posts
I got the Paineel skelly update at -1996.62, -216.64, 51.30 just now.

Right now, the skellies haven't returned, but the heretic pet has come back several times. The 30 minute wait for the skellies is ridiculous.
____________________________
The Good Lord gave us whiskey only to keep the Irish from taking over the world.
Paineel Skeletons (animated head)
# Jan 09 2017 at 6:09 AM Rating: Default
Gidono wrote:
Bottin wrote:
Well I have now failed twice. I cannot locate the spot for "Your voice echoes nicely from the walls"

I have been to all listed /loc's in this thread, and every where else. I was so intent on finding the location i zoned and failed the first time. The second time after a failed search of the hall I stood at one of the listed /loc's and spoke to the skelly and got the pick, and the pet each time he returned. Failed again. I never got the echoe text. I guess its just broke. I do not have any buffs on or leve effects of any kind i'm standing on the ground.

Any ideas. I'm frustrated. Is it possible to locate the spot outside of the task? I have not been successful. I am non-stop spamming and trying to find the spot. This is a real PITA.


Try posting this on the Daybreak veteran everquest forums. Someone there might be able to help you quicker than here. I never did the druid epic myself so I don't know.


Thanks for the suggestion. I have posted there. I have failed 9 times now. Still no Voices Text.

Edited, May 31st 2017 12:16pm by Gidono
____________________________
Bottin Tow
Druid of the 85th
Paineel Skeletons (animated head)
# May 27 2017 at 7:36 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
44 posts
I got the update at this loc:

-1996.62, -216.64, 51.30

I had FOF and the Whirligig mount going, so I was a little higher on the elevation coord than the post shows.
____________________________
The Good Lord gave us whiskey only to keep the Irish from taking over the world.
Why is this so long and complicated?
# Dec 22 2016 at 12:19 PM Rating: Default
*
131 posts
The SK epic is stupid easy compared to this. Did SOE hate druids or something?
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
Heretic Skeleton Pet Section.
# Sep 15 2016 at 5:33 PM Rating: Decent
*
116 posts
Okay after 2 days and 6 attempts. The Tox skeleton pet part of this quest is grueling.

KEY things to remember:
1) DO NOT DO ANYTHING. NO CHAT. NO CLICKING OPEN INVENTORY AFTER YOU EQUIPPED THE PICKAXE. NO TYPING. NO LOOKING AT ITEMS IN CHAT. NOTHING. JUST KEEP SPAMMING SONG.
I didn't target anything after talking with skeleton. After he gives you pickaxe equip it. Then remove anything in your target box. Then start spamming the song, walking around a little bit in the hallway between the fireplace things. One you get message that "Your voice echoes nicely from the walls." move back to fireplace thing you spoke with skeleton. Keep spamming the song.
When the Skeleton Heretic comes in he will say something, DO NOT SAY IT UNTIL YOU SEE HIM SPEAK (YOU DONT NEED TO TARGET HIM) say I am on the job. you will do this probably 6 times. I didn't target a thing and got it when the skeletons came back it appeared in my cursor.

Pain in the ***. but if you follow these instructions it will work.
Shana Liskia...
# Feb 02 2016 at 10:25 AM Rating: Decent
I cannot hand the fragments to Shana, she tells me "I appreciate that you have come to me, but i am uncertain of your motivation and other matters need my attention" I have done hours of faction work and she now cons "kindly" to me... what am i doing wrong?
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