Incoherent Babble

First, a disclaimer:  the idea and most of the work for this post came from Fleck over at The Dark Vengeance guild.  However excellent that post is, it’s almost two full years out of date.  My goal is to retweak this for the modern version of EQ2 so that alts, AA hounds, and status seekers can get ‘er done    This walkthrough will net you:  Strange Black Rock (aSBR), Axe From the Past (AftP), Stiletto’s Orders Intercepted (SOI), Restoring Ghoulbane (RG), Hadden’s Earring (HE), and Missing Mask (aMM)…in addition to Nektropos Castle Access (EL)!  This is best completed with a group around level 35-40.

Notable prerequisites:

• You must speak Krombral (Giant).
• You must have a mining skill of 90+.
• You must aquire a Palladium Bangle, a mastercrafted jewelry item.  Keep it on you during this ordeal.
• You must have a tradeskill level of 9 or above.
• Some form of water breathing is recommended:  either a priest, a conjurer to make water breathing stones, or totem of the Otter.  A Rebreather also works if you are high enough level and can get a tinkerer to make one for you.

Part One – Lots of Running Around

Qeynos – RG

(NOTE: If you are Good, there is a chance you may already have done the quest Vida Needs a New Broom and have its reward. If so, skip this section and move on to 2.)

Head to Nettleville, one of the Qeynos newbie villages.

Evil characters

If you are evil, you will have to sneak in.  Head for the mariner’s bell in Antonica and ring the bell for Nettleville.  When in Nettleville, the highest guard you should see is only level 15.

In Nettleville, come up from the docks and turn left. Head west until you hit stairs up. Go up them and against the left wall are two awnings. Under the second is Vida Sweeps. Hail her and collect the quest Vida Needs a New Broom.

Just before the awnings is the tunnel down to the mariner’s bell. Head down there and ring the bell for Baubbleshire. (The highest guard you should see here is level 16.)

Head NE to the halfling homes in the hillside. Tawli Whiskwind stands in front of one of the second tier houses.  Hail her for the update.

Head back to Nettleville via the mariner’s bell and collect your Dusty Blue Stone from Vida. Examine the stone for your next quest – A Dusty Blue Stone.

Back to the bell and off to Graystone Yard. (The highest guard you should see here is level 15.)

Go straight ahead, sticking to the left wall, until it opens out into a rocky hillside. Double back on yourself over the rocks to /waypoint 884, -24, -175.   Speak to Gruffin Goldtooth.

Thundering Steppes

SOI
Head out to TS and down to the Coldwind Coast and the giant area. Using track if you have it, search over the areas I’ve marked on the map for Stilletto – he’ll be up unless he’s been recently killed (respawn approx. 1 hour), but he wanders over a large area.  His actual spawn loc is /waypoint 361.54, 3.67, 1102.31 (it is thought that he may have several spawn points though; best to bring out a tracker).

He’s a lvl25^^^ – kill him and take his orders. Unfortunately every person in the group will need to do this, so this step may take some time if you try to do it together.   I’d suggest coming back to his area every hour or so to kill him while you get on with the other steps below.

AftP
Find Obsid Boulderboom wandering in the area of loc.  /waypoint 786, 2, 1027 . (That’s in the triangular ‘delta’ shown on the map above.) Stand close, crane your neck and look up high to hail him. Use the ‘h’ key if he’s being fussy. Pick up the quest Little Tarby Lost from him.  You must speak Krombral (giant) for this.  If you do not, there are plenty of giants in TS to learn it from.

Tarby is a bear, and he can be found at /waypoint 509, -19, 484  which is south of the Shattered Gully near the ‘Tree within a Tree’. If he’s not up, he should respawn within 15 mins. Hail him using the ‘h’ key.

A short ring event will start.  Kill three waves of mobs that spawn around Tarby before they can kill him. This requires good AoE or encounter taunts as Tarby is very fragile; even just one of the mobs attacking him will be enough to kill him. After the fights, hail him again in unison if possible.  If you do not all get the update, you will need to wait 15 minutes or so for him to respawn and do the ring event again. You will then get to pick him up and carry him back to Obsid who will give you a Cracked Stone Hand Axe.  Examine it for An Axe from The Past.

Now it’s time to go mining. You must have 90 mining for this step.  Harvest ten granite pieces from Wind Swept Rocks – they are uncommon harvests.  Once you have enough you will receive a quest reward of a recipe and a Pristine Piece of Granite.

RG
While you are at it, mine 40 Sunswept Stones for aDBS. These are not rare harvests.

HE
Before leaving TS, go and speak to Kerath McMarrin (/waypoint -467, -18, -447) on the docks to pick up Hadden’s Earring.

Antonica

aSBR
In Antonica, take the griffin to the Oracle Tower. Find Scholar Al’Quylar behind the tower, on the cliff edge, and hail him to collect A Strange Black Rock.

HE
Head to the Tower of Vhalen (/waypoint -1300, 38, 45) where you can find a quest update for Hadden’s.

Qeynos

RG
Head back to Graystone Yard and talk to Gruffin again. He wants you to enter South Qeynos now and visit the mage tower.

Evil characters

If you are evil, you will have to enter SQ via the sewers. This is achieved by accessing the Down Below in Graystone, east from Gruffin.

Roughly central in the Down Below is a room with ways up to all four zones of Qeynos proper. Head up to South Qeynos where you will find yourself behind the stables. Invis up and sneak along following the south wall. Be very careful crossing the path that leads to the Antonica zone as not only are there guards at the gate, but also the roaming epic paths there. As long as you take good care, you should be able to get to the mage tower in the far west of the zone without meeting trouble.

Nothing in the mage tower should attack you, but I’d stay invis just in case until you find the NPC

Aristide Calais is through the red teleport. Have a nice chat with him.

Thundering Steppes

RG
Head back to the Steppes and visit Olden Highguard at Thundermist Village (/waypoint 612.27, -1.01, -58.41).  A good time to pick up Stiletto for another member of your party.

Part Two – Water Sports

Nektulos Forest

HE
Take a nice swim in the Torrent River. Swim upstream towards Timber Falls, and find the trigger spot around /waypoint 465, -3, -1282.  This can also be updated near /waypoint -185, -2, 136.

aSBR
Keep swimming upstream. When you reach Timber Falls, dive. There will be a power source to click at /waypoint 457, 14, -1505.

The Commonlands

HE
Head to the Commonlands. Once there, head north to the sea and go swimming again. Once you reach the area around /waypoint -859, -196, -1013, near a dragon ribcage on the ocean floor, dive and swim around for update.

Thundering Steppes

HE
Don’t bother drying yourself off because in TS you need to head west to, you guessed it, the sea. Swim west, past the Siren Shrine and north to the shipwrecks around /waypoint 1647, -44, 128 and dive for your update.  This is off the edge of the map, follow the glowing trail if you have problems. You will need water-breathing for this one. An enraged octopus will spawn when you get the update, but you do not have to kill him.

aSBR
While you are swimming around the wrecks, find your second power source inside a wreck at /waypoint 1681, -88, 308.  Look for Stiletto again if somebody still needs him!

Antonica

aSBR
Pop back to the Oracle Tower to update aSBR via the Scholar.

Qeynos

RG
Head (or sneak) back to Aristide Calais in the mage guild. Oh dear, he wants you to visit the priest guild in NQ.

Evil Characters

Head back down into the sewers, the way you came up. NQ is not easy to sneak through, but it’s doable with care. You emerge from the sewers in the SW corner of the zone, and you’ll need to sneak a considerable way north. There are at least two wandering epics in this zone (level 80) so keep your eyes wide open. The Celestial Watch is in the north west, just before the zone to Elddar Grove. Time this carefully, as one of the wandering guards actually wanders in and out of the Celestial Watch area.

You can find Toranim Skyblade down the steps and to the left. No need to use the teleport. Hail him to update.

‘Home’

AftP
Take a little break now to head home for some tradeskilling. Scribe the recipe you obtained earlier. Using a forge, combine as follows:
1 Pristine Piece of Granite (you got this with the recipe)
1 Severed Ash (you can get this from the broker or simply harvest it)
1 Sparkling Material (likewise)
1 Cracked Stone Hand Axe (you got this from Obsid at the start of this quest)
1 dark brown coal (buy from tradeskill merchant)

Part Three – Fun and Frolics

Ruins of Varsoon

aSBR
Now head in to the Book of Life room above the Tailor’s Room. Find the Brown Research Tome on Binding (/waypoint 18, 4, 69) and click on it for the quest update. Onwards to the Book of Death room (/waypoint 237, -7, 54) where you should click on the Black Research Tome on Immortality.

Thundering Steppes

AftP
Take your newly crafted axe to Obsid. (While you’re in the area, you’ll probably want to kill Stilletto again for another member of your party.)

aSBR
Time for another visit with Scholar Al’Quylar. After you hail him, he will demand a palladium torque or bangle, which you should already have if you’ve been following this guide.  Give it to him.

Stormhold

RG
In here, you need to kill ‘powerful undead’ for updates. Most seem to work. In fact, skeletons outside SH have been known to work too.

Qeynos

RG
Return to Toranim Skyblade in NQ and finally receive the Restoring Ghoulbane HQ.

Tomb of Valor – RG

This small instance is on the 2nd floor (down) of Stormhold. Zone in, but Don’t Touch The Coffin Lids! Ghoulbane is leaning against the wall about halfway down to the left. One of your group should collect it, then all zone out and zone in again for the next member of the group to collect it. And so on. Providing you don’t kill anything (don’t touch the coffin lids!) you can keep doing this as often as you like.

Qeynos – RG

Go back to Toranim Skyblade yet again.

Crypt of Betrayal – RG

This is the bottommost Qeynos sewer, reached by going through the Down Below and Vermin’s Snye. The Spectre of Ire, a 27^^^ skeleton (with lackeys), can spawn anywhere that Ire skeletons can be found. Killing said ire mobs may help spawn him if he’s not up, as may killing the Archaic Fury.  This tends to be in the small alcove rooms off the main hallways.   Once you find him, kill him.

Thundering Steppes – AftP

If you haven’t already got sufficient updates elsewhere, you must now kill 100 skeletons in TS. There’s no need to equip the axe when doing this.

Now head back to Obsid who will give you a *timed* task to kill 25 Skindancer gnolls in one hour. They can be found near the Coldwind griffin tower to the west of the centaurs.

Return to Obsid again.  Check for Stiletto while you’re here, you’re about to start working on SOI soon!

Part Four – with a little help from your friends

Cauldron Hollow - RG

Cauldron Hollow can be accessed from the Nek Forest beach. You need to kill the Descendant of the Torig, who is level 31-35^^^ (it varies, pot luck). You will need to kill other mobs before you get to him.

CH is actually a big circle event.   Starting at the first house, have your MT click the statue outside.  Mobs will spawn.   Kill them to spawn more mobs including a named.   Kill them too then move on to the next house.   Eventually, after three or four named deaths, the Descendant of the Torig will spawn near the zone in and walk towards the center.   Check for him before each statue-click.

Cove of Decay

SOI, AftP
Try to keep your Cauldron Hollow group with you for this next bit

Enter the Cove of Decay, which can be found at /waypoint  -91, -3, 1009 in TS. You want the straight forward ‘Cove of Decay’ instance, not any of the more complicated versions.

Swim straight out to sea to find Octagorgon, a huge level 31^^^ octopus.

Grats, you have completed An Axe from the Past!  Stay in the Cove, as there is more to do here!

SOI
Now one of you needs to dive down to the ocean floor and find a clickable chest – clicking it will give them a Partially Digested Hand.

Head onto the beach and find a firepit with a few mobs close by. When you are all ready, whoever has the Decayed Hand should click the firepit to spawn Captain Ulssissaris, a tough level31^^^ skeleton.   Kill him.

Thank whoever came to help you and send them on their way.

Ruins of Varsoon

SOI
Back to the Ruins of Varsoon where you should find an interactive book on a table in the Workshop of the Enchanter (/waypoint 263, 0, 118). Click it.

aSBR, SOI, RG
Now you need to do a lot of name camping; I hope you’ve got a few hours to spare. All of these mobs have placeholders and are on a 10-15min timer.

aSBR – Tome of Life – /waypoint 12, 7, 71 in the room above the Tailor Room. Lvl31^^^ book with lots of adds. PH is the curiously animated tome.
aSBR – Tome of Death – /waypoint 228, 0 , 55.   Lvl33^^^ book with lackeys.   PH is a darkly pulsing tome.
RG – The Creator – /waypoint 113, 0, 100 in the Clay Guardian Workshop. Lvl33^^^  skeleton with lots of stifling lackeys.   PH is the dominant claychanter.
SOI – Weavemaster Esh’Rax – in the Tailor Room on a raised plinth by the stairs (waypoint 18, 4, 98).   Level 31^^^ skeleton.   PHs are the other mobs that spawn on his plinth.

The Weavemaster will drop a recipe and the Enchanted Linen of the Weavemaster.

Antonica

aSBR
Back to the scholar at the Oracle Tower for your next portion of abuse and a quest update.

North Qeynos

RG

Return to Toranim Skyblade yet again.

‘Home’

SOI
Take another break for tradeskilling now. You need to make a nice bag for your Manastone. At a sewing station, combine the following:

1 Enchanted Linen of the Weavemaster
1 Boiled Leather Pelt (buy from broker)
1 Glimmering Material (same)
1 filament (tradeskill merchant)

Part Five – Castle Everling

Nektulos Castle

Note: Nektulos Castle can be time consuming if you need to do the basement access quest. Make sure you are all available for several hours. Mobs in here range from the low to mid 30s and you can expect to be killing a lot of them thanks to large numbers of patrolling flesh golems etc.

EL

From the courtyard, head through the first double doors to the right, turning right at the ‘T’. Ignore the first doors to your right and enter the chapel through the next doors. Kill the Priestesses of Ulkorruuk. The Inquisitor of Ulkorruuk should spawn. Kill him. Now an NPC, a ghost called Alexa, will appear and spin you a yarn.

Head back to the courtyard and take the doors opposite the ones you first took. Turn left and head south to the Game Room – it’s the most southerly room in the west side. Clear the mobs, and then one of you needs to find a clickable item in the room to receive a note. That person should read the note.

Outside the room to the left, a light fitting is now clickable. Click on it to open a secret door and head through to the basement of Elise’s tower. It’s very important to do what follows in the right order.

Head upstairs and kill Elise’s handmaiden. Read the clickable book on the dresser.

Now head further upstairs and out onto the balcony/battlements. Head north to find Alexa again. She will give you the Everling Lockets quest.

Now find Elise, who will have spawned on the narrow middle walkway that leads between the west and east balconies about two thirds of the way north.   She is level 35^^^.   Kill her.  You are now locked out from Nek Castle for 18 hours (or rather, you will be if you leave).

There are six towers, all of which can be reached from the balcony and all of which belong to one of the sisters.

Sheila
To spawn Sheila, you need to click on the dresser in her bedroom.   Kill her.

Jenni
Nice and simple, she’s already up in her bedroom, but she does come with adds,  including her teacher who spawns halfway through the fight.

Crysta and Melani
In Crysta’s tower, you need to kill her Handmaiden and click on her bed to find a diary (killing the dolls that spawn).   Only then can you now find both Crysta and Melanie together in Melani’s tower.   Kill them both.

Deirdre
When you head into Deirdre’s tower, a lvl45 epicx2 nightblood called Archfiend Izzoroth will spawn at the bottom of the stairs. He is nasty, but you can easily run past as he is rooted to the spot.   Don’t bother trying to fight him.   Deirdre’s hanging out in her basement, which is hardly surprising with that big ol’ demon in her room. Put her out of her misery.

Grats, you now have access to the rest of the second level of Nek Castle, although you haven’t yet finished the Lockets quest.

Head back, via the balcony level, to Melanie’s tower and then out through the now opened door from her bedroom.  Enter the first door on your left and kill the mobs in there.  The zombie should drop/update you with an iron key.

Back out into the corridor and continue west.   Ignore the next door to your left, but use the key on the one after that.   Read the book on the stand to spawn Guard Captain Ga’vin.   Use the sword he drops on the umbrella stand thingy by the bookcase to open the secret passage to the basement.

aMM
Head down the narrow winding stairs to the wine cellar. Leave this room via the door to the east and continue east until a path leads north between two warehouse rooms.

Head into the left room and turn left, sticking to the walls as much as you can to the SW corner. Try hard not to aggro any dolls that might be around, or to run them off or FD them off if you do.   Click the crate at /waypoint -14, -12, -32 to find a note.   Read the note to get the Missing Mask HQ.

Head back upstairs, continuing to take care not to aggro any dolls as you leave the warehouses.   Head to Elise’s tower and down into her basement.  There you should find Billy, the huge moppet we all love to hate.  Kill him good.

[Note: If at this point you have not killed any of the sisters (someone already had access or you did that part a few days ago) and so don't have lock out, you can speed the next bits up by zoning in and out of Nek Castle until Billy spawns where you want him to be.]

Camp and clear the Game Room until Billy spawns.  Kill him again.

Camp and clear the Chapel until Billy spawns.  Kill him again.

These camps can take ages if you are unlucky. You can amuse yourself in the meantime by clearing the stables to the north until the Swine Lord spawns – don’t kill him yet though.  And by doing the library access quests below:

Library access

Head past the chapel as far south as you can go to a doorway with a ruined staircase beyond it. Above the doorway is a boar’s head – click it to get the quest The Boar’s Head. Head back north, past the chapel and the courtyard doors, as far north as you can go.  You are looking for the Dining Room, which is in the northwest at /waypoint 30, 0, -33.

Find another boar’s head in this room at /waypoint 18, 0, 32 and click on it to replace the eye and receive a Barracks key.   Head south to the Barracks and inspect a chest there (/waypoint 18, 0, 32) to collect the next quest, The Red Marble.

Head back to the first boar’s head past the Chapel.   Click on it to replace the eye.   A swine fiend will spawn somewhere behind you in the corridor.   Kill him.   Grats on your library access.

Once Billy is deadx3, leave the chapel and head towards that first boar’s head from the library access quests. One of the light fittings in the corridor (to your left) is now clickable since killing all the sisters. Click on it to open a secret passage up to Deirdre’s tower.

Go up to her bedroom, but take care of the rooted epic that will still be in there if you’ve been doing the Everling Locket’s quest during this visit to the castle.

From her bedroom, turn left at the end of the short corridor and enter the first room on your right.  This is the library.  One of the bookcases lights up; click on it to open a secret area.   Read the book that is leaning against the coffin in there (/waypoint -23, 13, 29).

Head back down to the courtyard. Billy will automatically spawn there when you’re close enough, but this time, don’t fight him.   Hail him and choose to give him 5g.

Head for the jail, which is the room before the Chapel, and hail the Froglok Assassin. He sends you back to the library.  You will find the scroll he wants in the secret area again.  Read the scroll to obtain a list of ‘ingredients’.

Shortly after leaving the library, you will be attacked by a level 35^^^lamia.  Kill her for one of the ingredients you need.

You need to kill 21 Nyth dolls. Here’s a list of where they may be found if you haven’t already killed them.  They do not respawn.

1. In Crysta’s bedroom when you go near or click on her bed.
2. On the bedroom level, the room north of Jenni’s bedroom.
3. In the warehouse rooms in the basement – just wander around the crates and they’ll soon appear.
4. If all else fails, one of the ‘trap’ encounters in the corridor that leads to Everling himself involves a largish bunch of dolls. See below for instructions on how to access it.

Remember you kept clearing the Stables to get the Swinelord up? Well, you can go kill him now.

Go back to the froglok assassin and all hail him together. You need to time your hails carefully as he depops when he finishes his dialogue. No worries if someone misses out though as he’ll respawn within 10mins.