Difference between revisions of "Twisted Weald"

Revision as of 22:14, 18 January 2008

The Twisted Weald is a dungeon accessed through the Mushroom Cave in Ilshenar, west along the mountains from the Shrine of Spirituality.

The attractions of the Dungeon include the "Twisted Glade Champion Spawn," the Peerless monster Dread Horn, and several named minor bosses (including the purple eagle Swoop which was a popular gold farming spot for a long time).

Entering the dungeon requires that one either be on, or have completed, the Dread Horn quest from Lorekeeper Calendor in Heartwood.

Lore

Once a pristine forest glen nestled amidst mountains, this area is now the tainted home of Dread Horn, Gnarled trees, stagnant pools of brackish water, huge spider webs, and thorny obstructions create a terrain ruled over by the influence of the blighted unicorn. Adventurers enter the dungeon by passing between a narrow gap in the bramble covered trees. Thorns bite into boots and entangle feet. Vast spider webs cling to players slowing their movement and drawing the attention of the arachnids who make this area their home.

The Twisted Weald: A Dungeon in 3 Parts

There are 3 main parts of this dungeon.

First, one encounters the champ spawn area, populated mainly by "good" monsters such as pixies. Swoop's area marks the transition to the "evil" areas.

Next, there is a narrow, twisty maze of quicksand. Your character can only move at walking speed through this area. Cu Sidhes spawn in the quicksand maze.

Finally, the quicksand maze opens up into a deadly swamp. Do not step on the watery parts, unless you want to spawn very dangerous spiders. The spiders you need to challenge Dread Horn do NOT come from here, though there is a quest that requires you to kill them.

The Dread Horn Keys

Like all Peerlesses, there are keys with timers (long timers, but timers none-the-less) on them, that need to be acquired. These keys are then exchanged for a "main key," which also has a timer on it (a VERY short one).

The keys to acquire to challenge Dread Horn are as follows.

The following keys are located in the swampy area:

• Sabrix's Eye (Sabrix is one of the named spider bosses);
• Irk's Brain (Irk is a named changeling boss);
• Lissith's Silk (like Sabrix, she is one of the named spider bosses)
• Blighted Cotton (just spawns on the swamp floor).

The following keys are located in the quicksand maze:

• Gnaw's Fang (Gnaw is a named dire wolf boss, located in the cave right at the end of the "quicksand" area);
• The Thorny Briar (this is a thorn bush-looking thingie that spawns on the ground).

These keys can be exchanged for the main key, Essence of Wind, at the Statue of the Fey located in the southwest portion of the swampy area.

Fighting Dread Horn

• Dread Horn is a large, corrupted unicorn.
• It poisons and it hits moderately hard. Watch out for how it singles out a target, poisons it and will pursue it no matter how much damage you do attempting to distract it.
• Every kind of character can do OK against Dread Horn.
• It seems to be weak to physical damage.
• If you are a swordsman, Breath of the Dead is a great weapon to use, because that life leach, if you can hit consistently, damn near nullifies the vile creature's poison attacks.
• By way of special loot, look for Dread's Revenge (an artifact kryss), Dread Horn's mane (an ingredient), the Pristine Head of Dread Horn (decoration, used to make yet another more valuable decoration), the Mangled Head of Dread Horn (decoration),Feathernock Quiver(part of marksmen set, other part is Lady Melisande Loot) and I think that's all.

Creatures

• Changelings are pixie-like beings who can change their appearance and fighting style to mirror those of their enemies
• Cu Sidhes are large, tameable dog-like creatures
• Dryads are tree spirits. They can calm everyone near them, preventing fighting or magic casting.
• Irk is a Changeling mini-boss, Irk's Brain is one of the items needed to teleport your party to Dreadhorn's Island.
• Dreadhorn, a powerful evil unicorn, is the Peerless boss of the Weald. Dreadhorn can infect you with a powerful poison. If you try to attack Dreadhorn from a distance or with pets, you will occasionally be teleported to within the foul creature's reach.

Champ Spawn

• The first "level" of this dungeon, the area before the Quicksand Maze, is a champion spawn similar, kinda, to Lord Oaks, but harder.
• To my knowledge, as of late March 2006, the Champion has not yet been spawned. But that'll change. Soon.

Misc Tips

• Stepping in the swamp water tiles where Irk, Guile, and other named bosses reside will spawn several (4-6?) spiders that auto-target you.
• Changeling Paragons are deadly if you are not paying attention when one spawns. They are much faster and have the standard paragon boost to hit points. If you can lure one down to the champ spawn altar, the 'good' aligned spawn will eventually kill it.
• Gnaw is particularly easy for a Tamer to farm, but the loot is not worthwhile.
• It is possible to cast EV from the moongate into the main named boss spawn area, but not sure why you'd want to: It takes forever to kill something with just one or two EVs, so your chances of a Minor Artifact drop are negligible.
• There are up to four Cu Sidhes floating around the Champion altar if you are looking to tame one. Tamers frequently 'turn over' the spawn in search of rare colors. This means that, at any given time, there are probably 2 or more Cu Sidhe Paragons available to hunt. Good luck with that...!
• A named monster, Swoop, is located just East of the arrival moongate and Champ Spawn area. Formerly, I described it as a non-spellcasting, relatively easy monster that has excellent loot. Because it was so heavily farmed, the monster was upgraded. It is still possible to solo Swoop on any number of templates, but the length of time required to do so means you're probably better farming minor artifact drops elsewhere. Swoop drops ~2500 gold, but the recent Bag of Sending changes necessitate a pack horse or a beetle be brought along to haul away loot.