Left tantalizingly unclear in all this is just what Mara is being congratulated for. She doesn't seem to have a career or anything, so the two ideas that immediately spring to mind are "engaged" and "pregnant". Leaving aside the obvious absurdity that players have been running this quest for 12 years and counting, the fact that Nasun is implied to be in love with Mara makes it odd that he would celebrate either. Unless it's really his love child, conceived out of wedlock. Or maybe in adultery against Mara's husband, Mustafa al-NotAppearingInThisGame. Scandal!
Anyway, I move on to the key, which proves to be a bit of a problem: I don't remember exactly where the dungeon is. Naturally I check the local barkeeper for the rumor, only to discover that the rumors aren't there. Turbine removed them during some update or other, perhaps by accident. Well, hell.
I vaguely remember the dungeon being atop one of the ring of mountains surrounding Yaraq, so I decide to do some mountain climbing. Fortunately, the mountains are not as obnoxious here as elsewhere in Dereth, so it's pretty easy going. There actually turns out to be a lot of stuff up there: I find some settlement portals, a chessboard placed dramatically at the edge of a cliff, a Mukkir nest that I give a wide berth, and two unrelated dungeons before running into the right one: the generically-named Yaraq Tunnels.
Aesthetically, this dungeon is one of the better ones. The opening room looks grandiose and awesome without being overmuch. Past that is a series of corridors filled with brown drudges. They put up a good fight, but are no match for my shillelagh-and-closed-door style.
The central room of the first floor is a big dining hall with balconies overlooking it. Balconies, as we should all know by now, equate to enemies dive-bombing you from above. So I have to bash my way through a substantial horde of drudges. Afterwards, it's more fighting through the kitchens and upstairs then, satisfied that I've explored the entire area, back to the dining room to check the far door. Unfortunately, since I dallied a bit too much in those other rooms, the respawn timer catches me and I have to re-fight half these drudges. Despite using a few more potions than I'd like to, I make it through and the corridor leads me down to the next floor.
The second floor isn't too bad: a lot of drudges rushing me, but the layout is pretty linear. When I get down to the third floor, however, things get tricky with a confusing array of twisty tunnels. After stumbling along for a while, I hit a room full of Hunter Shreath, which I clear out with some difficulty. Past that is an area full of cells, and here I finally find the key:
I'm tempted to stick around and explore the rest of the dungeon, since there are some side-areas I missed, but being low on potions, overburdened with loot (I've been drudge-bashing literally every step of the way), and confused by the layout, I decide enough is enough and /lifestone. Despite the confusing map, I am quite pleased with the Yaraq Tunnels dungeon. I came out with enough coin for an MMD, plus a pile of Lucky Gold Letters. Having finished Yaraq for real this time, I move on to Samsur.
If Yaraq looks like a strip mall, Samsur looks like the traditional kind. Nestled in a river valley, it tries for an "oasis" feel. It pulled it off in the old days, and in long-range screens like this, but these days it's too crowded. Not with people, mind you: with buildings. There's a lot of them cramped tightly together, which I admit has advantages. It makes for easy shopping. Like Nanto, Samsur was mostly abandoned after the newbie towns shifted. In the lore, they've fallen even further, since this town was the original capital of the Gharun'dum lands until it moved to Zaikhal. Turbine put an NPC here whom I imagine still gets visitors, though:
This guy trades incredibly powerful items for Writs of Apology. In case you don't know, Writs of Apology were given out by Turbine back in 2008, as compensation for a period of truly awful server instability. I believe they've also been given out now and again since in recompense for the devs screwing up something serious. Say this for Turbine: they've always strived to have an amiable relationship with their players.
Anyway, in search of adventure I head for the northwest outpost. I get sidetracked several times along the way by wrong turns, a farmhouse taken over by drudges, and a torn note that turns out to be a Lost Light clue I already knew. But I finally reach the outpost and meet the questgiver, who turns out to also be the local explorer society rep:
I talk to him and, as you can see, he immediately shoves into my hands the usual junk: Teleportation device, two books, and a key for the quest I'm actually on: raid an old rich dude's former library for some of his books. It's a long walk to the house that holds the portal (especially with me having only 10 Quickness), but I find it with little trouble.
The dungeon itself is not too remarkable. I pick a locked door early on and the game yells "Ha-ha!" and whacks me with a Lightning Bolt trap and an empty chest for my trouble. Fortunately, I don't die, and the other chest in the room has decent loot. A little further on I find a door that opens to my key and figure I'm at the end. Turns out there's two more rooms, though. One is a pretty good-looking library, the other is a tomb where I find the book I'm looking for:
Yes, the philistine drudges have been using the leftover books for fire fuel. Burning books. I RAAAAAAAAGE and massacre the entire room, but it's not like I wasn't going to anyway. On the way back, I browse the book. It's the story of how a clever Gharun'dum defeats a fire demon:
Not bad, as folktales go. But this quest being over, there's no reason to stick around here. So it's off to the other outpost. I get sidetracked again (Samsur seems to be a good place to get sidetracked) to a dungeon along the roadside, which is generically titled "A Ruin". You find dungeons like this from time to time around Dereth. They've been around since release have no lore or real treasure to speak of. I'm assuming they were added so that Microsoft could have a certain number of dungeons on their list of bullet points or somesuch. This one is pretty decent, if disposable, but the only significant feature is that the sole portal out is non-functional.
Well... eff. It's no big deal, since I can /lifestone, but it annoys me since I have to retrace my steps from Samsur proper. Anyway, after being sidetracked again by a Mu-miyah milling about on the road, I reach the outpost and get the quest from this unsavory gent, who used a tent flap to hide from my camera:
It takes me a bit of running around to find the dungeon, since in this game southwest never means completely southwest. There's always either a bit more south or a bit more west than you expected. This is more aggravating than usual thanks to the 20ish spawns in the area. But I eventually find it. The dungeon is rather well-done: misty all over, as you would expect from a damp well, and extremely vertical in its orientation, which is uninque.
By now I was getting kind of tired, so I didn't take many screens. Basically, you have a tunnel leading down, then splitting into three paths which continue downward, each of them bringing you to the same large room from different entrances: One up in the rafters, one in a pit, and one on the main level. The well water is inside a side room. It's locked, but the key I got from the questgiver opens it. Annoyingly, Turbine tried to fool us with a normal flask of water right in plain sight, but the radar reveals the real deal cleverly hidden under a mat. What the point of that is, other than to trick newbs who don't use the radar, is beyond me. Also in this dungeon is a lever-operated door leading to a chamber deeper underground, where I duke it out with an Ethereal Wisp and earn myself a chest full of loot. Back at the outpost, the dude reveals that he's running a bizarre bottled-water scam on rich and gullible Derethians. Seems to me there are a dozen better ways to get rich selling quack medicine, most of which don't involve sending adventurers to risk their necks, but I guess they don't have late night Enzyte commercials in a fantasy environment.
With that done, I set out for my main goal in Samsur, the Lost Light Key within the Dungeon Manor. Since I was already tired during the last dungeon, I should have probably left this for next time, but I wanted to wrap up Samsur. Truthfully, I thought the next Lost Light Key was in Al-Arqas, otherwise I would have gone there first and saved the big dungeon for last. In any event, my recall of the events suffers, which is a shame because this dungeon has some unique scenery. For example, one room contains a peddler who actually seems to be eeking out a living here:
Near him is a room full of crates, where you have to use your jumping skills to get inside and claim the treasures laying on the floor. Deeper inside is a weird altar with a floating gemstone. You can't interact with it, but you can loot the chest in the corner.
Unfortunately, I'm too exhausted to enjoy it, so after bashing a lot of drudges and finding the key, I /lifestone out. I then log for the night, before even selling my loot.
All in all, a good session. The newb dungeons were newb dungeons, but the key dungeons were action-packed, loot-packed, and scenic. I have nearly a full pack worth of Gold Letters now. I really shouldn't have pushed myself, though, as I couldn't properly enjoy the last dungeon. Sorry guys, I'll have more restraint in the future!
Elderwulf fared a lot better this time than last one. He's proved his worth, but I have to say I'm still not fond of his style. He has to chug potions a bit too often, and I'm still far from convinced that the shield makes up for the inability to kill enemies fast. The template is viable, but I think I can do better.
Elderwulf seems to be coming along nicely. Will certainly need to pump up his health and Stam to cut down on the potions. Thinking about cooking on another character would help in making Rations. Really enjoying your adventures.
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