Blighted Grove

Blighted Grove
First Seen:	August 30, 2005
Coordinates:	1°34'S, 52°6'W
Facet:	Felucca & Trammel

One of the oldest trees in existence, the ancient Yew that is tied to Lady Melisande is twisted and grotesque. Too powerful to die in the swampy ground, as the others of its kind have, its mighty roots draw upon blighted soil to live. The immense trunk and squat shape tilts dangerously, with tangled mud clotted roots exposed along an entire third of its perimeter. The tree leans precariously but endures, the poison of its needles and seeds bringing agonizing death to wildlife that wanders too near. Adventurers enter the blighted grove by passing under the exposed roots of the tree and work their way along the downed branches and the rotted out interior of the trunk. Every aspect of the Yew tree is poisonous and dangerous. Footing within the tree is precarious and with every fall and cut the character is exposed to another dose of the lethal poison.

Roosting in the revolting branches of the tree are hideous harpies. Changelings delight in tormenting characters, while Bog Things, Boglings, Corpsers, Whipping Vines, Swamp Tentacles, and Reapers are much in evidence. Giant serpents and monstrous hydras weave their way through branches and swampy ground. Enslaved and insane dryads and satyr serve Lady Melisande.

In order to gain entry to Blighted Grove, you must have a Bone Machete in your bag.

Creatures

• Abscess
• Bog Thing
• Bogling
• Changeling
• Coil
• Corpser
• Giant Serpent
• Giant Toad
• Harpy
• Hydra
• Insane Dryad
• Reaper
• Saliva
• Silver Serpent
• Tangle
• Thrasher
• Whipping Vine

Summoning Lady Melisande

• To get to the peerless boss Lady Melisande you must complete The Frightened Dryad quest. She is just down and to the right of the entrance to the grove. She will ask you to kill 12 Insane Dryads and one Saliva.
• Saliva is a blue harpy that is roughly the strength of a paragon harpy. To locate her, run up the tree root to the left of a entrance and into the wall covered with vines at the top of the tree root. You will emerge inside a small cave with her in it, but beware, she has other harpies and changelings guarding her. I highly suggest casting invisibility before you run into the cave. Once inside pets or summons can clean out the cave pretty well. Once inside Saliva's cave, watch for your health slowly going down because there is no fresh air. Beware if you want out of the cave you must run to the other end and out. It is a one way entrance and exit.
• The insane dryads themselves are not hard, just watch out for them calming you. You have to do a good chunk of damage to them to get credit for the quest as individuals. To find the dryads run past the gnarled looking trees, they will pop out and chase you. They are on what appears to be a 5 minute spawn timer. Watch out for the mini bosses while dryad hunting, they can make life hard.
• These keys are considered to be the easiest to get. As a result, at least on the Lake Superior shard, it is usually fairly easy to find a group of people at the etnrance, waiting for a spontaneous group to get in.
• The "first key" is the Dryad's Blessing. This is exchanged for the "main key," the Dryad's Curse, at the basket that's right near The Frightened Dryad.

Peerless Boss Tips

• When you get to Lady Melisande make sure to kill off her Enslaved Satyrs fast. Else they will use Peacemaking on you while Lady Melisande attacks.
• Earth Elementals seem to be best against Lady Melisande.
• Archers and mages are best against her.
• Pets can work too.
• She casts Revenants, so have dispel or Mass Dispel ready.
• She smack talks you in an extremely creepy, disturbing fashion.
• Contrary to popular belief, dexers can fight her, but they must be prepared to either cross heal or run away once they get to between 2/3 and half health.
• Fey Slayers (Pixie Swatter) works.
• Tactics for Lady Melisande in Felucca and in Trammel are VERY different from one another.
• By way of special loot, she spawns a corrupted tree (decoration, and on LS has been used for RP fiction), diseased bark (an ingredient), A "Corroded Hatchet", an imprisoned squirrel in a crystal, hair dye(random colors), melisandes fermented wine, crimson cincture,
• Be very wary of an attack she has that slows down your Swing Speed and casting time considerably. Archers and Mages should stay out of range. The only people who get hit by this attack should be those who HAVE to stand close, mainly dexers. Also, be wary of her very powerful wither attack.