Post by eleanordale on Jun 25, 2014 9:10:10 GMT
You've just set foot in Lanfar for the first time? Here's what you should do to get to the Den quickly.
1. Get Cerrydwen Cahern
Your first action on arriving in Lanfar should be to take a bear to Loudthunder Forest and explore until you've found the Moccasin Inn (9, 263). Then talk to Cerrydwen and accept her quest. Ignore the warning! You don't need to do her quest just yet - just get her for her exploration skills.
Why the bear, you're wondering? Because you need to increase its Forest skill as quickly as you can. This means taking it to Lanfar's forests and letting it attack anything that attacks you. Don't use it to defend yourself! Your bear will skill forest much faster if it's allowed to get a few hits in. (So make sure it's one of your first four combat companions, too.) Of course your hero should also attack to increase her own forest skill, as well.
2. Find Sor Choubard
With your bear and Cerry in tow, explore the rest of the Loudthunder and Whispering forests. You'll find Sor Choubard in Whispering Forest at the Torten camp. Accept the quest to cure his headaches.
3. Find Kor Shelian
Kor Shelian is in Huntingwood Forest (19,247), which means you need 35 forest and exploration skill to find him. Don't despair! This is actually quite easy to get.
a. Raising forest
You can get waxed cotton clothing and a jade or quartz jewel to help with this, but the most important technique is simple: take your bear to Huntingwood and let it and your hero attack creatures. You can only do two things in Huntingwood as yet, walk and sleep, and you should do both of these things as often as possible. Have your hero walk a short distance back and forth between two spots, and sleep when you're mutilated. When you're going offline, queue up a series of walk-sleep-walk-sleep-walk-sleep actions. Of course when you're near 35 you can take a potion and hunt oryctuses (or something) instead.
b. Raising exploration
A good compass helps. A cheap amber jewel is also nice if you can find one, but amber is hard to cut so the higher carat jewels are very expensive, and really not worth the money. The best way to raise exploration is simply to take Cerry and explore everywhere else in Lanfar. The Renaissance mountains have exploration 30, so will skill you up nicely - you won't have enough mountain skill at first, but this can be raised by a simple technique: take your bear to Renaissance mountains and let it attack creatures.
Since you've got your forest to over 35, you can take a vision potion for the last few exploration points.
4. Do Cerrydwen's quests
Don't rush into the Dreamy Clearing the moment Kor Shelian gives you directions; it's a tough fight, and you really need Cerrydwen fighting at your side. The quest to get her will also skill up your combat nicely. Sliver has already written an excellent guide to getting Cerrydwen, so I won't repeat it here. I'll just add that you can get practice against spiders in the Library in ruins (56,263), where they attack in smaller mobs than they do in Dowen Cellar. And spiders drop lots of foggy pearls.
5. Go through the Dreamy Clearing
Shinhan's flowchart is the essential guide here. You will need 25 Cave and 20 Exploration to fight the big boss at 2. For what it's worth, which may be nothing, I've seemed to meet fewer enemies when I've travelled through the clearing by the southern route (Idyllic life - A thriving civilization - A last call - Nothingness). You don't have to do everything in one visit.
6. Elisime
When you've cured Sor Choubard's headaches, Garouf Torten, the ratkin next to him, will give you a quest to find a torten artefact. First you have to meet Igmara in the Collapsed tower (27, 249) in Huntingwood, and then look for a few artefacts in the towers to the north. - all quite simple. Then she'll ask you to recover a map from Elisime. Gear up for battle before you go in!
Elisime has good monsters and bad. The worst is the rare Ruiner - most people should probably just flee from this. The best are the great guardian troglodytes: they have relatively weak attacks and strong defences, the best combination for skilling up, and they drop nice loot. You'll find these in the west side of Elisime.
When you first enter Elisime , however, move forward one square to the crossroads, then turn to your hero's left (player's right) so that your hero is walking down the road to the south east. The easternmost house has a quartermaster's key that you need. Now go back to the crossroads, and this time have your hero walk all the way to the west, ignoring any side turnings to the north. Enter the southwest house, breaking down the door if you have to, and accept the NPC's quest. Then go down to the cellar and kill the monster. When you have the antigelatin gloves, you can search the skeleton on the road, and this will let you into the house in the south, opposite the house where you got the quartermaster's key. All you have to do now is kill the catoblepas and grab the loot.
7. Fight Igmara
Return to Igmara and she'll try to doublecross you. You'll have to fight her and her mercenaries, and it can be tough. A bit of practice in the arena can do wonders for your defence, however.
8. Return to Garouf Torten
Take the artefact to Garouf and he'll give you the keys to the Den.
1. Get Cerrydwen Cahern
Your first action on arriving in Lanfar should be to take a bear to Loudthunder Forest and explore until you've found the Moccasin Inn (9, 263). Then talk to Cerrydwen and accept her quest. Ignore the warning! You don't need to do her quest just yet - just get her for her exploration skills.
Why the bear, you're wondering? Because you need to increase its Forest skill as quickly as you can. This means taking it to Lanfar's forests and letting it attack anything that attacks you. Don't use it to defend yourself! Your bear will skill forest much faster if it's allowed to get a few hits in. (So make sure it's one of your first four combat companions, too.) Of course your hero should also attack to increase her own forest skill, as well.
2. Find Sor Choubard
With your bear and Cerry in tow, explore the rest of the Loudthunder and Whispering forests. You'll find Sor Choubard in Whispering Forest at the Torten camp. Accept the quest to cure his headaches.
3. Find Kor Shelian
Kor Shelian is in Huntingwood Forest (19,247), which means you need 35 forest and exploration skill to find him. Don't despair! This is actually quite easy to get.
a. Raising forest
You can get waxed cotton clothing and a jade or quartz jewel to help with this, but the most important technique is simple: take your bear to Huntingwood and let it and your hero attack creatures. You can only do two things in Huntingwood as yet, walk and sleep, and you should do both of these things as often as possible. Have your hero walk a short distance back and forth between two spots, and sleep when you're mutilated. When you're going offline, queue up a series of walk-sleep-walk-sleep-walk-sleep actions. Of course when you're near 35 you can take a potion and hunt oryctuses (or something) instead.
b. Raising exploration
A good compass helps. A cheap amber jewel is also nice if you can find one, but amber is hard to cut so the higher carat jewels are very expensive, and really not worth the money. The best way to raise exploration is simply to take Cerry and explore everywhere else in Lanfar. The Renaissance mountains have exploration 30, so will skill you up nicely - you won't have enough mountain skill at first, but this can be raised by a simple technique: take your bear to Renaissance mountains and let it attack creatures.
Since you've got your forest to over 35, you can take a vision potion for the last few exploration points.
4. Do Cerrydwen's quests
Don't rush into the Dreamy Clearing the moment Kor Shelian gives you directions; it's a tough fight, and you really need Cerrydwen fighting at your side. The quest to get her will also skill up your combat nicely. Sliver has already written an excellent guide to getting Cerrydwen, so I won't repeat it here. I'll just add that you can get practice against spiders in the Library in ruins (56,263), where they attack in smaller mobs than they do in Dowen Cellar. And spiders drop lots of foggy pearls.
5. Go through the Dreamy Clearing
Shinhan's flowchart is the essential guide here. You will need 25 Cave and 20 Exploration to fight the big boss at 2. For what it's worth, which may be nothing, I've seemed to meet fewer enemies when I've travelled through the clearing by the southern route (Idyllic life - A thriving civilization - A last call - Nothingness). You don't have to do everything in one visit.
6. Elisime
When you've cured Sor Choubard's headaches, Garouf Torten, the ratkin next to him, will give you a quest to find a torten artefact. First you have to meet Igmara in the Collapsed tower (27, 249) in Huntingwood, and then look for a few artefacts in the towers to the north. - all quite simple. Then she'll ask you to recover a map from Elisime. Gear up for battle before you go in!
Elisime has good monsters and bad. The worst is the rare Ruiner - most people should probably just flee from this. The best are the great guardian troglodytes: they have relatively weak attacks and strong defences, the best combination for skilling up, and they drop nice loot. You'll find these in the west side of Elisime.
When you first enter Elisime , however, move forward one square to the crossroads, then turn to your hero's left (player's right) so that your hero is walking down the road to the south east. The easternmost house has a quartermaster's key that you need. Now go back to the crossroads, and this time have your hero walk all the way to the west, ignoring any side turnings to the north. Enter the southwest house, breaking down the door if you have to, and accept the NPC's quest. Then go down to the cellar and kill the monster. When you have the antigelatin gloves, you can search the skeleton on the road, and this will let you into the house in the south, opposite the house where you got the quartermaster's key. All you have to do now is kill the catoblepas and grab the loot.
7. Fight Igmara
Return to Igmara and she'll try to doublecross you. You'll have to fight her and her mercenaries, and it can be tough. A bit of practice in the arena can do wonders for your defence, however.
8. Return to Garouf Torten
Take the artefact to Garouf and he'll give you the keys to the Den.
