Morell's Challenge  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
(From 1 rating)
Information:
Level:90
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Experience
  • Faction
  • Loot
  • Money
Time Limit:06:00:00
Success Lockout Timer: 06:00:00
Factions Raised:
Factions Lowered:
    Related Zones:
    Related Creatures:
    Related Quests:
    Era:House of Thule
    Recommended:
    Group Size:Group
    Min. # of Players:3
    Max. # of Players:6
    Appropriate Classes:
    • All
    Appropriate Races:
    • All
    Entered: Tue Nov 30 20:59:31 2010
    Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
    This is a group mission that begins with Buck Witherspoon in Sanctum Somnium. He's a centaur located on the balcony across from the zone-in.

    You must have completed Sage Jarith's three solo tasks prior to being able to request this one.

    You say, 'Hail, Buck Witherspoon'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'It is time again for Morell's challenge! Are you up to it? Riches can be yours if you complete this simple [challenge]!'

    You say, 'What challenge?'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'It's quite straight forward really. All you have to do is race through the tower finding beacons and fighting some creatures along the way. Think you are up to [taking] the challenge?'

    You say, 'I'm up for taking it on'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'I knew you were a champ! When you are ready to [start], let me know!'

    You have been assigned the task 'Morell's Challenge'.

    You have entered Morell's Challenge, a deadly but possibly profitable race through the castle. Follow the green beacons to stay on track, but beware that some areas do not have green beacons and you will need to find your way through those locations on your own. Just make sure not to let the purple cloud of ultimate darkness catch up to you!

    NOTE: The death touch "mob" and teleporters in this task can only be seen if you have NPC spell particle effects turned on. These are in the Options-Display menu and must be turned on before you zone in.

    Say "start" to zone in.

    You say, 'Ready to start...'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'This is going to be so much fun!'

    LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...



    Speak with Buck Witherspoon to start the challenge 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    NOTE: Make sure to follow all of Buck Witherspoon's dialogues here, otherwise the mission may get bugged.

    You say, 'Hail, Buck Witherspoon'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'Ah yes, you probably wish to know the rules. Your task is to race through the tower. Along the way you will battle horrible monsters and have to find different colored beacons. The green beacons along the way will show you the correct path to take. Unfortunately the green beacons don't appear in every section of the tower, so you will have to find your own way through those areas on your own. You may have to make use of teleport areas to do so or to avoid hazards. That is where most people die a most unpleasant death, but I think you have the spunk to make it through! Oh, I almost forgot one more teeny tiny [detail].'

    You say, 'Tiny detail?'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'Legalities and such mandate that I tell you about the cloud of ultimate death. Quite simply, it will be slowly creeping up behind you during the race. You may want to avoid it unless you want the flesh to melt off your bones. I am also legally bound to let you know that if you wish to chicken out and [leave], to let me know. If you are brave and want a chance to win some fabulous prizes however, we can begin when you are [ready].'

    You say, 'Ready!'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'Let the games begin!'

    Head through the treasure halls and use a teleporter to port to the castle area. The teleporter is found in one of the dead-ends of these halls.

    Find and defeat Yngvar the giant 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find and defeat Otraff the centaur 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find and defeat Dreamfeeder the shade 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find and defeat a Champion of Morell, the beefeater 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    The above-four nameds are found in the four rooms surrounding the courtyard. They each hit for a max ~14,000 and have no special abilities (no flurry, rampage, or enrage). They have a lot of hitpoints (about 1.35 million worth) and all see invisible.

    WARNING: The DT cloud may be present in this area, so you'll want to keep an eye out for that.

    After the last named is dead, a teleporter appears next to the fountain. Use it to port to the undead area.

    Find the orange beacon 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find the blue beacon 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find the red beacon 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find the purple beacon 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Find the yellow beacon 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    The beacons appear as orbs on the ground and are found in different locations throughout the area. You just need to walk over them in order to update these steps.

    Locations for somnium.txt map file:

    P -570.0000, -350.0000, 20.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, purple
    P -285.0000, -545.0000, 20.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, yellow
    P -285.0000, -660.0000, 20.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, orange
    P -705.0000, -660.0000, 22.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, red
    P -610.0000, -430.0000, 22.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, blue

    In-game /locs:
    Purple: 350, 570, 20 (a room in the south section)
    Yellow: 545, 285, 20 (a room in the north section)
    Orange: 660, 285, 20 (a room in the north section)
    Red: 660, 705, 22 (a room in the south section)
    Blue: 430, 610, 22 (a dead-end hall in the south section)

    Speak with Buck Witherspoon 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)

    Buck Witherspoon spawns in the circular room attached to the northeast part of the undead area (as does the chest).

    You say, 'Hail, Buck Witherspoon'

    Buck Witherspoon says 'We have a winner! You are now one of the proud few who have survived Morell's Challenge and not ended up getting destroyed by the cloud of ultimate darkness! I promised you a reward if you lived through the challenge, so make sure to loot the treasure chest for your reward before you [leave]!'

    Collect your rewards from the ornate chest 0/1 (Sanctum Somnium)


    Task Rewards:

    310 platinum
    Experience
    Faction with Dream Delvers
    80 Dream Motes

    Known chest rewards (1 item + 1 spell per task):

    Amethyst Ward of the Companion
    Beast King's Scepter
    Rosch's Metal Stud
    Savage Spiritblade
    Shieldbearer's Lance
    Spellward Knuckleguard
    Twisted Dream Shield
    Umbrage
    Very Unlucky Feral Hare's Foot
    Warped Chitin Bow

    Minor Nebulous Dream Fragment
    Lesser Nebulous Dream Fragment
    Median Nebulous Dream Fragment
    Greater Nebulous Dream Fragment
    Glowing Nebulous Dream Fragment
    Rewards:
    Send a Correction
    Post Comment
    Missing quest steps
    # Sep 21 2023 at 9:47 AM Rating: Excellent
    Scholar
    44 posts
    This has been said in other comments, but tucked away in other parts of posts...

    You must follow his dialog in the instance until he says 'Let the games begin" to progress this mission.. The task updates as soon you hail him, but you must finish his dialog to start the event otherwise the portal won't spawn to take you to the haunted house area after the castle.
    Molo’d with Merc
    # Apr 29 2022 at 7:40 AM Rating: Decent
    There is some great information in the comment section, but I wanted to clarify some stuff. The actual mobs you’ll be fighting are definitely trivial. As a 110 Warrior, I easily rolled over every thing in the zone.

    I set up my other two in my 3 box on the rug like others suggested. I followed the green anguish orbs as the quest states, I only died one time to a ninja mist that was not visible. My merc was able to revive me. This happened between the first boss and second boss fight. I continued you on and killed the others. Never really encountering the mist again.

    The undead zone is littered with some trash mobs, but are also pretty trivial. No mist, as others have stated.

    The rug is definitely a safe zone as my other two waited there and we’re still alive after I finished the mission with just the war and merc. I didn’t need the merc for heals - it was for revives if I were to get ninja killed.

    Overall, this was the only mission I put off when I was 95. Glad to finally have finished it.
    3rd times a charm... or fourth...
    # Oct 02 2021 at 4:52 AM Rating: Decent
    5 posts

    Tried it today boxing war/clr/dru with tank/healer/melee mercs. All 115.

    First time around I clicked on a door and got killed. Rezzed and tried to continue but the cloud killed us.

    The second time, somehow I got turned around and we wiped.

    The third time, we finished it but after the beacons I was thinking Buck was still at the start so druid Egressed and died.

    I wanted the challenge of toughness award though so I did it again flawlessly in 8m:49s
    EQ worst mission ever IMO
    # Aug 30 2021 at 9:43 AM Rating: Decent
    This is by far, the worst mission I have ever done in EQ. I took my 115 level warrior into this mission, I wanted the trophy. I read the quest beforehand and just noted the cloud thing. In less than 3 min. I had died instantly 6 times in a row. I was able to finally back up to the center rug and drop task to read some more. After adjusting my particle settings, I tried again with a guildie. Died a few more times and dropped task again, read everything again. Tried a third time, guildie could sometimes see the clouds but I could not see them at all. I tried to adjust my gamma setting and it wouldn’t let me, it was at zero and would not move. Not sure if that would have solved it but since the guildie I was with could sometimes see the clouds, I let him be the watcher. Didn’t make any difference, I kept dieing to the freaking clouds. He died at least twice, maybe a bit more. I remembered that we would be safe once we could get to the undead area and we were. When I started this event I was 115 level with max. 99.999%. After this mission, I was at 87.978 percent. Lost over 12% of regular experience. I can’t even imagine doing this at 90 level.
    Not trivial
    # Feb 05 2021 at 6:23 PM Rating: Excellent
    Sage
    ***
    3,008 posts
    This isn't trivial even at 115, I took this too lightly. I turned on my spell effects but I had them set to "FAR" and that wasn't good enough. I died. The purple clouds are very obvious. They hug low to the ground. But I guess with the clipping plane set wrong you still won't see them.

    First time it hit me I took about 1million points of damage but, interestingly, I dropped to 10% but did not die because Preincarnation kicked in. I guess the death touch isn't entirely "instant" or the mechanics of Preincarnation work after you die and bring you instantly back to life. Lucky me.

    But... the next time I did die. As others have stated you need an invulnerability buff to zone back in because some of the cloud is always at the zone-in spot.

    Here's where it gets wacky though. I died more than once with a divine aura buff on. I cast it twice off of clickies and my cleric is able to bestow it. Plus he cast his self-buff on himself. We both died twice each running thru the clouds with the buff active. This seems to be a bug.

    At that point I junked the mission and decided to try try again tomorrow. I think if you die in the mission it's better to start over because the cloud settling in at the zone-in spot, and the possibility of invulnerability buffs failing, make it darn frustrating to recover.

    Key points to remember:

    1. The cloud never settles on the middle rug in the main room. That's a good spot to hang out while scouting the map.

    2. The 5 beacons are in the undead maze area and it appears the cloud never enters that area. So if those are the only steps you have left after killing the 4 mobs you can take your time at finding the 5 beacons because they're all in this area. You stumble on a couple quickly and I didn't realize at first the others require going down a trap door or down a ladder. But not a big deal if no cloud around.

    3. The bosses are trivial at 115, any class can solo them all without breaking a sweat. But play in 3rd person and keep an eye out for a cloud during the fight, however short duration.

    4. Do not bank on DA buffs saving you. I checked my log and my toons died several times while under the "protection" of Divine Aura, Divine Barrier (clickies), cleric Divine Aura and cleric Bestow Divine Aura AA's.

    5. Like someone else said here the bosses are all in rooms in the same general area not far from zone-in. Easy to find with track, just watch out for clouds! Then the teleporter is in the same general area to get to the undead maze. This aspect of the mission is quite easy,

    Completed it the second try. Even succeeded at the time trial.

    6. You don't NEED the transporter. It's actually a crutch to help you get past the clouds to the undead area. With Divine Aura or equivalent you can run there. Second run I must have missed a prompt in the dialogue with the centaur because the transporter never spawned.

    It seems like you can die when you click the door to any of the rooms containing the nameds. And no cloud on either side. This happened to me once on the second try and definitely once the previous try. I got in the habit of clicking the door at max range and backing up immediately. Maybe a trap? But nothing indicates as such. Otherwise the clouds did not kill my toon when he was running with an invulnerability buff.

    Helps to have a cleric around to Bestow Divine Aura (4min recast) and a mage to get you back to the rug real quick.





    Edited, Feb 6th 2021 10:48am by Sippin
    ____________________________
    Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
    FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
    Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
    Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
    Second Teleport never see
    # May 14 2015 at 2:11 PM Rating: Good
    *
    58 posts
    We have use the Invulnerability of the Bard... Good luck :)
    Red Teleport
    # May 14 2015 at 12:49 PM Rating: Good
    *
    58 posts
    n454 297 n24
    Some Basics
    # Nov 12 2011 at 6:18 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    *
    100 posts
    Bro and I just boxed this. 3 mages, monk, cleric, enchanter. All toons (no mercs). Only point this out because our means of doing this or that may differ from yours.

    We entered this mission a few hours after setting our first step in the zone so we were sometimes confused by prior posts that mention this or that area. Not faulting prior posters just our ignorance made it tough.

    As a first try, we entered the instance, started the event, then went to read. A few minutes later we went back to the toons only to find them all clutching their throats with X's over their eyes. Good start. We dropped it and restarted (you'll die on entering). Once you move beyond the entrance do not plan to EVER re-enter the mission via Buck from SS. You'll die (1,380,000 damage pretty much got the best of my mage's hps). If you don't believe me, ask my mage... HE BELIEVES!

    Turn on particles, may have to camp to get them to show, bro did.

    Pet classes put your pet's away lest pathing kills them as they stream through the haze. Pull them out when you set up the kill camp.

    A few things that would have helped us

    1. Don't start until you're REALLY ready to move.
    2. The teleporter, Buck Witherspoon and the orbs are found:
    (paste into your map files, I used somnium_2.txt)

    P -312, 425, -27.7984, 0, 0, 0, 1, Teleporter
    P -208.7602, -990.6011, -116.7282, 127, 0, 0, 3, Buck_Witherspoon
    P -570.0000, -350.0000, 20.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, purple
    P -285.0000, -545.0000, 20.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, yellow
    P -285.0000, -660.0000, 20.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, orange
    P -705.0000, -660.0000, 22.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, red
    P -610.0000, -430.0000, 22.0000, 0, 0, 0, 1, blue

    The teleporter looks like a pyramid of red bright spots.

    3. When you follow all the dialogue for Buck (shortened dialogues may bug the mission they say), immediately move your group through the teleporter. We stationed the five of six at the teleporter, started the mission event (by doing Buck's dialogue within the mission) and CoH'd the monk to us. All zoned through.

    4. The constant warnings at this point about the purple cloud appear to be there just to shake you up. We wield a lot of DPS and dropped the first two bosses quickly but were completely ignorant of how to get to the last two for about 20 minutes. Constant warnings, best as we could tell, nothing changed. As it turns out the other two bosses were connected to the same rooms, for the life of us we don't know how we missed the doors but we did (followed by the traditional face palm when we saw we were flying right by them looking).

    5. Clear the two straight pull bosses Yngvar and Champion of Morell first.

    6. Pull DreamFeader.

    7. Pull Otraff via DreamFeader's room (avoid the invisible cloud). Some mentioned using a pet pull the short way and sac'ing the pet or using summon companion to save him. We let our monk show his stuff and just run him through DreamFeader's spawn point.

    8. When the bosses are all down, another teleporter spawns to take you to the undead part of SS. The orbs are there (locs posted above). Here's another tidbit for the blissfully ignorant like ourselves. You must use one of the trap doors to get to the last couple orbs and back to Buck for the turnin. Stay invised, run over the three close ones, take a trap door, wiggle through the rooms, up the ladder and do the last two then head to Buck. We used a mage lest somebody actually wanted the chest loot, any class could easily complete this last step though, just be invised.

    One last comment. We green ran this in about 45 minutes. Probably could do it in... gosh I dunno maybe 12-15 with what we have, maybe 8 or 9 with some real punch. Split the orb duty between 2 guys and, if you're really trying mash a quick number, maybe a 3rd head up to Buck.
    Some Basics
    # Mar 17 2016 at 11:34 PM Rating: Decent
    10 posts
    Thank you ENDURAIN - I failed twice before reading your notes, they really helped !
    Some Basics
    # Sep 18 2012 at 8:33 AM Rating: Excellent
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    174 posts
    Quite right on the time. 91 SK (+cleric merc), 87 Dru (+rog merc), 88 Rng, 81 Rog completed in 14 minutes, and we did slow down a bit at the end to get the Rainbow achievement. Really a much too easy mission for T4 difficulty.

    If you use Harmshield (or a similar DA ability) you can pull Otraff from Yngvar's room, saving you the little extra run.

    If you place a campfire right outside the Champions room, it can be used right till the end if needed.

    Edited, Sep 18th 2012 10:34am by Umbraeques
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    molo'd
    # Sep 08 2011 at 1:16 AM Rating: Decent
    molo'd ftw
    Don't reenter except by rez
    # Jul 11 2011 at 3:48 PM Rating: Decent
    seems like the first place the cloud of DT settles in after you hail the Buck in the mission - is on top of the zone in - so don't bother trying to renter by using the password - just drop the mission and start over if you don't have a rez.
    Don't reenter except by rez
    # Mar 11 2012 at 12:38 AM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    30 posts
    You can enter via giver again but you need to zone in with DA. Then do a mad dash to the circular carpet which is always clear of the cloud. I died on last giant but was able to continue mish this way. You can then wait for DA to refresh and do another dash to the undead area where there is no cloud. If you didn't clear all names then yeah, you would have to restart most likely

    Edited, Mar 11th 2012 1:38am by Melodion
    some info on the mobs
    # May 29 2011 at 4:22 PM Rating: Excellent
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    174 posts
    all 4 of them have around 1.35 mil hps and do see invis.

    A couple of times we ran into the fog without being able to see it... so be careful, even with particles turned on.
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    Boom shakalaka
    # Apr 12 2011 at 5:53 AM Rating: Decent
    8 posts
    Just completed a run in 14 minutes whole group boxed along with Challenge of Toughness & Discover the Rainbow achievement :)

    2nd run ever. Also finished bosses with a t5 merc to heal mage pet so I could TA my friend to loot shield which I got, EQ = Broke. :)

    Edited, Apr 12th 2011 11:54am by tavener
    follow the dialog
    # Feb 13 2011 at 9:08 PM Rating: Good
    ***
    1,312 posts
    After hailing for step 1, you MUST follow Buck's text by saying "detail" and then "ready" to him. If you don't, the script doesn't run properly and the exit portal doesn't spawn after the mobs are dead. Flawed task design makes it look like all you have to do is hail, but you have to talk with him too.

    Pulling the 4th mob Otraff tends to get me killed by the purple fog, so I use a pet to find him and pull him. If the pet is killed by the fog, you can just make another one.

    /pet attack Otraff

    If you're doing the Discover the Rainbow achievement, the red beacon is first, then you have to go into the pit to get to the other side, up the ladder to do orange and yellow. Leave someone behind to take care of the blue and purple beacons which are on the same side as the red one was.
    Pets and Fog
    # Jan 24 2011 at 8:58 AM Rating: Decent
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    106 posts
    If your pet runs thru the purple fog, it will kill it. I had a invulnerability on and ran thru the fog. I made it, pet didn't. Even getting a CoTH got my Shammy's pet killed. So best bet is to suspend the pet if you are going to try running thru or getting CoTHed past the fog.

    Edited, Jan 24th 2011 10:04am by Hakir
    Pets and Fog
    # Jul 04 2011 at 2:20 AM Rating: Decent
    Summon companion AA / spell after being COH'd keeps the pet alive (if you don't take too long, that is).

    Edited, Jul 4th 2011 4:24am by Alpha1
    Yeah right
    # Dec 29 2010 at 12:44 PM Rating: Decent
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    51 posts
    OK here is my update and best i can tell ya...

    Have particle effects on for everything
    ! the dt cloud is everywhere, it seems to roam, its a purple fog that lays on ground. you can avoid it if you stand in the area its not in, I ended up just using divinity (40sec invulnerability) pots to run through them dragging the corpses and of my group to the jail area.

    the portal that is supposed to spawn at fountain never did... so i did the above with pots.. not sure why it didnt or if it spawned somewhere else maybe, /shrug.

    we found no beacons downstairs, BUT did have to go downstairs to get up the ladder for other side of rooms where there are beacons as well as the way to Buck wen you do find all the beacons.

    as long as you invis the mobs do not see through and you can run through until you find them (watch for purple fog!) the beacons for me looks like giant gems floating off floor in corresponding color to what task needs, very visable, just run over it till it gives update.

    i think the 2nd time around will be easier with our knowledge now

    gig
    Yeah right
    # Dec 29 2010 at 11:32 AM Rating: Decent
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    51 posts
    Task is a B**CH to do...
    Yeah right
    # Sep 08 2011 at 1:15 AM Rating: Decent
    Molo'd ftw
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