TeraMUD/Arcane Ages: Quests

Update: I've decided to add quests to this post as I type them up, rather than producing a string of posts that would inevitably get dis-associated with one another.

I was recently contacted by a player of the MUD from years back, asking if I still had notes concerning the built-in quests, guildmaster locations, and other general lore. All the kinds of things that were once communal knowledge. A lot of the original text files, email chains, and scraps of paper (both real and digital) have since been lost, but the coarse outlines still remained in my head. I decided to take a few evenings here and there and write up guides for the quests I was familiar with. I'll likely break this into several posts given the number of quests and the amount of detail some of them require. All directions are given starting from The Market Square, the lore sections are my own writing, but based on what I could glean from the zones as written.

The Devil’s Tongue

Levels: 25-50
Areas: Lord Darkon’s Castle (5-40), Tinker Encampment (15-40)
Reward: The Devil’s Tongue (dagger, 4d4, +4hnd, +2 dex, -1 con, cast:firebolt, max-lv 75)
Starting point: 9e, 11s

Lore: From his castle just east of Mozartia’s walls, Lord Darkon leads an army of demons, imps, and other beasts of ill-will. A collection of trinkets has fallen into his possession, and has been distributed among his most trusted generals, lieutenants, and spies. Freduur, a traveling collector of curios, has settled at the Tinker encampment just up the marshy road from Darkon’s keep. These trinkets have piqued his interest, and should someone retrieve the full set of 7 (yellow, orange, red, green, blue, purple, and gold) he has promised a handsome reward.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Notes: General Malak is behind a hidden door named “plaque” very close to the castle entrance. The moss monsters poison frequently, be sure to have some way of removing poison. If you don’t have a way to recall, you can escape from the inner sanctum by pulling the glowing lever in the corner of that area.

Warning: There is one deathtrap inside the castle. At the top of the stairs, after opening the iron door, you must go west (“Junction of Hallways”), south (“A Swampy Hallway”), south (“The Entryway”), west (“Entrance to the Inner Sanctum”)

Warnings: Lord Darkon himself holds the final trinket. He’s only slightly tougher than his flunkies, but has a bad habit of casting teleport when he’s in a pinch, which will move him to a random room in Giovia. This makes completing the quest quite frurstrating as he can end up in a closed zone, high level area, or just.. lost. It’s a good idea to keep him bashed, or better yet have a higher level player kill him in one shot and simply bring you the corpse. The trinkets cannot be dropped, but a corpse carrying a trinket can be transported easily.

The Horned Helm

Levels: 1-20
Areas: Solarn's Maze (5-10)
Reward: The Devil’s Tongue (dagger, 4d4, +4hnd, +2 dex, -1 con, cast:firebolt, max-lv 75)
Starting point: 9e, 11s

Lore: Deep below the sewers of Mozartia, the Labyrinth of Solarn awaits. There are whispers of a horrifying horned beast that preys upon lost adventurers, and of the imprisoned gnomish tinkerer who has promised to fashion a fierce reward should anyone slay the beast and bring him its horns.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Notes: Look for the lettered hall, the first horn is held by the One-Horned Cow, the second can be found inside a pedestal. The tinkerer is in a hidden workshop just off the lettered path to the cow. Be careful about killing the tapestries here; it changes the exits and they don’t respawn until the mud reboots, locking players out of specific bits of the area.

The Shimmering Scarlet Cord

Levels: 50-70
Areas: The Faerie Forest
Reward: A shimmering scarlet cord (over-ears, +4 all-stop, -1 all hitrolls, +10 mana)
Starting point: 6e,5n,e

Lore: A small village sits south of the faerie forest, and in a humble cottage therein dwells Ferrashynn. This old warrior, retired from the life of combat and conquest, has taken to studying the old myths, believing there to be an entrance to the world of the sun-worshiping druids and old gods close at hand. These same myths live on in the songs of bards; if one could be found their songs might prove very illuminating.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Notes: You’ll need the ability to fly as well as water breathing to complete this quest. Head to the Field of Dreams (6e,5n,3e,3s,2se,ne,n, worship sun, 2sw). In the first room say the words, “dream of dawn”, go up, kill Danu and retrieve his scarlet flower. At various rooms in the looping endless fields, repeat that same pattern for Leanan Sidhe (dead), Cernnunnos (earth), Lugh (harvest), Manannan (sea), the Sea Serpent (well), Brigid (fire), and Belanus (spring). When you have all 8 scarlet flowers, return to the forest and find the bard. Hand the flowers over one at a time to receive your reward.

Warning: The vampiress Leanan Sidhe may drain levels in combat. It’s a good idea to use pets or dispatch her quickly.

The Rough Underwear

Levels: 15-40
Areas: Glades of Serenity
Reward: a pair of rough underwear (underpants slot, AC 5 Stop 5, +5 resist fire & lightning)
Starting point: 6e,5n,5w,7n,5w,7n,2nw,w,n

Lore: Mysterious magic long ago brought the spark of life to the huge mineral boulders that ages past served as landmarks throughout the glades. Six to be exact. It is said that fragments of their bodies retain significant magical power, but the only artisan who ever learned to harness it, Freeo, was imprisoned by the Dolbarians warrior cult. Rather than attempt to cage someone as crafty as Freeo, they exiled him to a magical prison. Only with the cooperation of many warriors can the portal be re-opened.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Notes: This can be a bit of a pain, since the area is laid out with a few loops in it. The gist is simple enough – slay the six mineral beasts, retrieve the six fragments. Due north from the entrance to the glades you’ll find the charred tree stump. Attempting to sit here will teleport you to the lair of the Dolbarians. Most of them carry a kuruhgerann (a type of coin) with a letter on it, and those letters spell out DUNGEON. The tricky bit is that you only really need one of each of the 7 types, but which ones you get each time you visit varies. Once you have at least one of each of the types, visit the room with Sony, “End of the Line”, and “slot token” until the portal opens. The way this is implemented, it can be a bit buggy – When you enter the command, it spends your tokens in order of letters, meaning you need to spend all your Ds, Us, Ns, Gs, and Es before it will ever spend an O. If you take too long in this process and the zone resets, all the flags are cleared, and you have to start all over again. The best approach is to just have one of each type before starting. Finding Freeo once you’re inside the prison is easy enough, just make sure you really have all six fragments so you don’t have to do it all over again. The beasts are: Muut (clay), Izusu (granite), Silt (quartz), Sheol (marble), Rixon (rock), Zareb (sandstone). They can all be tracked from the main area.

Warning: None!

The Gift of the Woodking

Levels: 60-99 (requires Ranger class)
Areas: Moonseeker Forest, Others
Reward: The Gift of the Woodking (quiver that fills itself with arrows)
Starting point: 13e,3n,2e,n,4e,3s,w,s,w,s,say itooalvera,w,2s,w,8s,e

Lore: Deep in the Forest of the Moonseeker druids sits a shrine to the Woodking Segallion. At this shrine a skilled ranger may seek to be blessed by a gift from the Woodking himself, but be prepared, as no gift from the Gods is given lightly.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Hint: The areas involved are Grant’s Manor, Castle Endor, Tinker Encampment, Dryad Forest, Dwarvenrealm, and The City of Bogg.

Notes: You don’t need to visit the shrine before beginning, you can simply gather the items and hand them over at the end. The request from the shine is thus:
“Bring me a locket adorned with hummingbirds, a helm that grants true-seeing, a collar worn by wolves, a sword made of dragonscale, the drums of war, the path to Bloodspur peak, and a jagged left tooth that is an inch and a half long. Place them on this altar, and you will be blessed by a gift from the Woodking himself, and be named a High Ranger of the Woodking.”
The locket and staircase cannot be rented, they’ll drop at reception if you do. Items needed are:

  • Kaythrn’s Locket: Inside the hidden hatch (6w, 2s, e, 3s, w, o bush, 2n)
  • The Nightcap of Vision: (keyword night-cap) In a dresser in Room 2 of the Inn in Castle Endor
  • Collar worn by wolves: Found on the silver wolf in the tinker encampment, not 100% (9e, 4s, 5e, then track wolf)
  • Dragonscale sword: In the Forest of Dryads, on the earth elemental that lives in the secret room inside the Great Oak. (6e,5n, 5w, 18n, nw, 2n, ne, 2e, s, d, sw, e)
  • Drums of War: In Dwarvenrealm, on the great granite golems in the treasury of House Stonewurt (12e, 5n, 2w, 2s, e, u, 3n, u, pick secret, o secret, n)
  • Spiral Staircase: Found in the home of Othaar Mindthumper. Not easy to get to, lying deep inside the wilds north of the City of Bogg. You need the weird blue-glowing key that lands on the Dark Messanger, found at the Hair of the Dogg Inn, in the City of Bogg.
    To the key: 18e, 2se, 13e, 16n, 2w, s, e
    To the staircase: 18e, 2se, 13e, 21n (north gate), 2n, e, 2n, 2e, 2w, n, 2e, 5n, e (Gad the Unknown), n, e, n, e, n, 2e, n, 3ne, n, 5e, 2n (timed deathtrap!), w, 7u, 5e, n,unl door n, o door, n (avatar master), d, e, pick door, o door, e
  • Left fang of a hound of Chrelos: This is an incredibly long journey by foot, but thankfully one can teleport or gate to ‘zeptos’, 3e, n.

To reach the shrine and give each of the items to it: 13e,3n,2e,n,4e,3s,w,s,w,s,say itooalvera,w,2s,w,8s,e,4s,e,2w,2nw

The Black Leather Wallet

Levels: 100-115
Areas: The Isle of Cretacia
Reward: a black leather wallet (very large capacity container)
Starting point: 8w,n,5w,5s,e,*wait*,n,6e,se,5s,e,se,3d,e,n

Lore (help file): Take a step back in time and look through the obelisk of Tima where you will find before you the forgotten world of Cretacia. Long deceased predators of the world come back to haunt the mortals of the land, bringing with them the long forgotten pain of pure predatorial hunger. Any mortal courageous enough to travel through the land of dinosaurs should be warned, this place is not for the faint of heart.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Notes: As soon as you enter the room with the Guardian of the Obelisk, it will offer the quest. If you say the words, “the wallet quest”, and are over lv100, the Guardian of the Obelisk will spawn a dinosaur bone with your name on it somewhere inside the zone. Either by exploring the zone on foot, or by using the locate object spell, simply retrieve the bone and return with it to the Guardian. Almost everything in the zone is particularly weak to electric damage.

Warning: There aren’t any deathtraps in the zone, but the bats can paralyze and several of the dinosaurs hit particularly hard (Kakuru lizards and the Trex come to mind). If you attempt to obtain two wallets, the Guardian will scrap one of them!

Aerin's Trails

Levels: 105-120 (min enforced)
Areas: Castle Aerin, Aerin's Trails
Reward: A permanent +2 All-Damrolls aura
Starting point: 6e,5n,5w,11n,nw,4n,ne,6n,11n,3e,3u,w,2n,2w,4n,u

Lore (help file): A proof of skill, a passage of right. The able bodied master of combat must survive trial after trial to prove themselves worthy of receiving queen Aerin's reward. Only by collecting the eight baubles and slaying king Conchcobar mac Nessa can one show their worth to the queen.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Shortcut: Gate or teleport to ‘zanc’,s,w,u

Notes: There are eight baubles to collect in order to open the way to Conchcobar mac Neesa, and all of them are hidden inside tortoise shells and locked by acorn keys. Almost every mob in this trial is susceptible to blunt-type damage. The common path looks like this.

  1. In the very first room you defeat Cu Roi, take the acorn from his corpse and go to the hidden room to the east. Unlock the shell, open it, and claim the bauble. Proceed north from Cu Roi’s room to The Gathering, this will be the common center of the trails.
  2. The second target is Puca, who wanders. ‘where puca’ will tell you if he’s wandered off into the Pain and Pleasure Filled Chambers, or is still at Puca’s Playground. The playground is 3w from the Gathering, the Chambers are 6w. Find puca, kill him and take the key. If you end up in the Chambers you can only recall from the east-most room, rush back to the Trials to make sure they don’t respawn in between. With the key in hand, go 3w, s from the Gathering to find the shell, retrieve bauble #2. Sometimes this shell isn’t locked, so check it first.
  3. Next up is Diancecht, 3e from The Gathering. You can leave him for later if you want to buy healing from him between fights, but it’s usually not necessary. His treasure room is NE of him, retrieve bauble #3.
  4. 6e from The Gathering you’ll find Lord Eriu, get his acorn. To access his treasure room we’ll need to open it remotely. Return to The Gathering and go 4w, 2n to Cathbad’s Grove and ‘look living’. Return to Eriu’s room and go ne, e and retrieve bauble #4.
  5. From that shell go w, nw and fight Findabair. She doesn’t hold an acorn, but won’t let you pass until she’s defeated. Go northwest and defeat the undead Ith (moon ray, sun ray, etc work very well), again no key from him. Northwest once more and fight Macha, who does hold an acorn. In this room you can ‘unlock portal nw’ and proceed to Morrigan’s room. Defeat her and go north to her treasure room for bauble #5.
  6. In Morrigan’s room use the emote ‘sing’ to open a portal we’ll need for the next steps and return to The Gathering. From there go 3n and fight Conla, her treasure room is west from her, retrieve bauble #6.
  7. Clidona is 6n from The Gathering, her treasure room is north from her room. Retrieve bauble #7.
  8. Finally, from Clidona’s room go ne, ne, se, ne to find king Conchobar mac Nessa who holds the final bauble. Once you hold all eight in your inventory, go east to receive your reward!

Warning: Going off the prescribed path there are many deathtraps, no-recall rooms filled with very dangerous mobs, and other general nastiness. King Conchobar mac Nessa hits significantly harder than other mobs in this zone, so be sure to have your defenses in order.

The Power of Inarh

Levels: 130-150
Areas: The Graveyard of Kings
Reward: Permanent aura providing the 'Summon' command for players
Starting point: 6w,2s,e,5s,se,5s,w,sw

Lore (Thousat-Tia): Welcome adventurer, to the graveyard of the great kings of Inarh. I am Thousat-tia, guardian of the spirits who take residence in this graveyard. Many many years ago, a great magician, Verendrad, brought to the kingdom of Inarh an extraordinary gift, an ability which was passed down the line of kings. This ability allowed them to summon from any point in the world one of their allies to assist in combat. However, due to requiring long distances, this drained the power of the kings and was thus only able to be used in limited fashion.

Having resided in the graveyard for many many years now watching over the spirits, I have been granted this ability myself. Eight of the great spirits have given me the authority to pass on the gift to whomever they see to be a valiant warrior. Fight the eight without the aid of fellow travelers or assistance from any other being and they may give you their blessing, return to me once you have this and I shall pass the gift on to you.

Farewell and good luck, adventurer.

Spoilers: Notes and Warnings

Shortcut: Teleport or gate to ‘shade-mont’ and go sw.

Notes: In order to be granted the Power of Inarh one must, in single combat (so without pets or other players helping) defeat the eight ghostly kings of old Inarh. Notably you don’t need to kill Oroede. When one enters the zone they’re dropped at the Center of the Graveyard. From here one can go in any direction three times in a row and find themselves at one of the eight tomb. Each tomb is opened by worshipping the proper king, and hints as to the appropriate name are scattered in the room. Each ghostly king inflicts different damage types, the full list looks like this:

  • NW – Raldt – fire damage
  • W – Inarhin – electric damage
  • SW – Broenthoves – colour damage
  • S – Nadaugh – cold damage
  • SE – Enth-an – air damage
  • E – Que’tor – air damage
  • NE – Bel’mos’oind – acid damage
  • N – Brienroth – cold damage

As each ghost dies there is a chance to be granted their blessing. It will likely require several visits to the zone to get the full set. When you have all eight, return to the Center of the Graveyard and dig down using a shovel or passwall spell. Below you’ll find Thousat-Tia, who will grant you the power of Inarh.

Warning: When you’ve defeated all the kings, a magical seal opens in Brienroth’s tomb allowing passage north toward the Tomb of Oroede. Just beyond the seal, there is a deathtrap northwest. To face Oroede open the door and go northeast instead.