Keep Searching (the new game of Where's Arlos)

Todays title comes from the track by Del Shannon, there were so many great choices and my guildie sent me a few but this was the first one to come to mind so  will stick with it

So today I want to talk about the Lost Seekers Quest chain which is based in the Waterworks (can hear the groan from my guildie as she knows what will be mentioned in quest 2) and is spread over four quests, two at point where you meet Guard Tember and two at the other end of the waterworks. The first time you run it the Harbourmaster will also reward you providing you have been speaking to him both you run the quests. On elite this provides 45 coin lord favour so worthwhile to go back to if you never completed it on elite for higher ranked players. All four quests are considered long but I can usually do the 4 of them including the interconnecting run in the waterworks in well under an hour. That is me with a cleric and a rogue hireling on hard, cleric for obvious reasons and the rogue as there are a few traps and it is something I am well aware of have been caught in fire and acid traps.

Ooooo a door

So parts 1 and 2 are the Kobold's Den, first part is Clan Gnashtooth which has a fun optional, kill 60 kobolds, I say a fun optional as unless you are sneaking through the whole thing I don't see how you can do the quest without killing at least 60. The 60th is at the end just before you decide should you run the Spider optional or not. I would suggest you get the keys rather than picking locks to get round as the open lock skill required is relatively high as you go around the quest. The good thing about this quest is the volume of treasure, there are between 3 and 7 chests depending on what "rares" appear. A couple of the chests are easier to get to if you have a trapper (ddo slang for a rogue) with you but it can be a very profitable adventure for new players. There is one very nasty trap if you climb a ladder in the adventure that spits acid and as you encounter a kobold shaman when you get to the top with throwers attacking you as well at range it is worth being very careful. First person up the ladder needs to have good ranged attack if you are going to avoid getting seriously hurt. Old hands will breeze through this but soloing or new players need to allow for ranged attacks.

No clues to where he will be next time

When finishing the first quest do not recall as the entrance to the second part Rescuing Arlos is in front of you. And at this point we hear a groan from my guildie as a while back she was running this quest solo for the first time and thus did not know that Arlos is a very naughty boy and moves from cell to cell. Now there is 5 hours difference in time zones so we discovered that Arlos had hidden himself or at least I did at 1am whenI got a sms asking where Arlos is. So 5 minutes later in and had to find my guildie in the dungeon before heading back to Arlos and out. Now I don't do all the optionals, because of the fac whilst the rewards are okay the time consumed doing them is too much in my very humble opinion. The bedraggled prisoners are easy because they sit in the area Arlos is in, the Warden is easy because he comes charging at you and Chef is by the entrance/exit. As a tip Arlos has to be protected but he is the first of many amongst those who we have to protect who has a mind of his own and wants revenge. The moment he sights a Kobold he charges to the attack. If you are using hirelings worth assigning them to Arlos as he is one dumb *******

I am going to get my shoes wet

Now on to parts 3 and 4 which are at the other end of the waterworks. Part 3 Venn's Trail is one of those that can bug you till you get the hang of it. Once in you have to pull two levers to open side tunnels to futher levers which opens a gate in the floor which you drop through into water, although those with feather falling will quickly master the drop onto the walkways so you can get into combat straight away. The combat itself can be challenging if you run it on elite as the kobold shaman have a lot of lighning bolts. Worth using elemtantal protection if you are have the ability when running this quest, not just electric but the toon running the acid jets will need a bit of help.

Okay really wet feet

Part 4 is good fun as you tear around the dungeon looking for Venn, for those who haven't run this before don't expect a good outcome. The only thing you really need to know is that the best thing to do is open every cell till you find Venn. There are rooms that need to be explored and a coouple of optionals but I think this should be relatively easy. There are a couple of optionals which will not prove any difficulty to experienced players. I have done this quest in under 3 minutes before but I was lucky as I found "Venn" almost straight away and could progress the quest very quickly. There is an optional to release 5 prisoners which I will do only if i get 4 before I find Venn. If I find Venn before that I just finish as you can waste a lot of time searching if you are soloing.

Poor old Venn, someone draw a picture

Having a wet and wild time

GrouseMerlin

GrouseMerlin's (Martha's) Harbour

Probably the most famous track by All about Eve is Martha's Harbour but as Grousemerlin is busy working his way back through the Harbour Quest at level 3 on his 10th life thought I would cherry pick a piece about my favourite Harbour Quests. After 3 Wizard, 3 Sorcerer and getting past those 3 Favoured Soul lives the chance to run 3 lives as a Warlock is refreshing. And having cleared the joys of Korthos I now have to run the quests in the harbour. So this will be broken down into several pieces covering the various Quests. Today we look at the 4 quest I enjoy most and they are not anything that should prove difficult to a prepared adventurer. I won't completely spoil it but just each quest I will a pointer or two and a brief overview so the quests don't break your hearts especially for new players. And if you are a new player don't let my multi life character fool you, it is just me bragging I can actually do something in the game.

Wasn't this easy first time I ran it so many years ago

So lets start with my favourite harbour quest Durk's Got a Secret, Durk the Deranged is the quest giver and apparently the Kobold brothers are having a spat. The quest is reasonably linear to start with until you need to decide left or right first. There is a hidden door that has a trog and a handful of kobolds that also has a treasure chest that I do like to find and loot. So someone with high search is useful in a party and as there is a fire trap and a locked door if you explore the rear section of the sewer. One of the things that to me make this such a good quest is the fact that Muck the Ooze sometimes lives here. And this means that when he is there one of the most useful low level weapons is available. Muckbane is a club that does bonus damage to Oozes and that is something especially at level 2 to 6 that is very useful. I still have level 15 and 16 characters with muckbanes simply because I hate the quest where the upgraded version muck's doom lives. So you really need to open the rear section not just because it is an optional but because there is Muck and sometimes there is a couple of named rares (characters that are not always there but have treasure chest associated with them). The experience is reasonable for the quest and there is a large difference in completion time between doing everything and doing the bare minimum. If you are in a group be sure to clarify if you want to do all available optionals as someone finishing the quest while there are optionals that can be done is likely to upset someone.

Need more monsters

The second quest I love to run in the Habour is Information is the Key, the quest giver Shir Clowenks can be found in the Leaky Dinghy and you are after an artifact. The quest has always felt like there should be more monsters in it but once you learn the route the concept that the quest is long disappears. The reason it is seen as a long quest you have to use valves to unlock another valve to access the final room. It would be too much of a spoiler to tell you exactly where everything but once you find the 2 valves you are close to the end, you just need to find the final valve to unlock the final room. And I am no wondering how many times you can mention valve in a single paragraph that is not suppose to be about valves??? This is a straightforward quest once you have the route, if you team up with someone who knows the quest it goes easily and if they explain it long will be between 4 and 5 minutes.

Take your pick... one will work

Third quest is Bringing the Light which is given to you by Brother Malden who is standing right outside the quest. At to be honest this is kill guards go left or right kill guards smash table pull lever and the do the other side of the path. Kill dogs and guards press rune kill more, take treasure then smash last 2 tables. Really it is that simple and should take no more than 5 minutes even if you have never done it before. Once you ae use to the quest 2 minutes to complete the quest would be reasonable. But for new players this is the perfect quest to get the hang of anything you are not sure of. Test a new weapon, new spell or new item this quest because of it's simplicity is one I often run when I switch spells to make sure the spell I am using works, assuming it is a combat spell. The base experience reflects the ease that everyone is expecting people to find doing the quest.

Under 2 minutes if I wasn't taking pictures

And lastly in this overview is The Kobold's New Ringleader, the quest with the most smashables in the game? Guard Jung gives the quest and apparently he has lost his guard badge as well so there is an optional to recover that. There are a couple of traps and one thing to be very careful of is the explosive barrels. They have a bad habit of going boom when you are standing right next to them and it can get annoying. There optional 3 out of 5 "rares" which are good for the extra treasure and they are not that challenging it is just a matter of which of the 5 you will get. If you want to get Guard Jung's badge you will need to kill a black widow spider in a side area, the only issue is getting to her as you need to open a stuck steel bar door that needs a certain strength to force open. The final fight is two parts first you kill a Kobold Chieftain Kanguil, once you have killed him Bloodknuckles the kobold leader bursts into the room with a handful of kobolds following. To me he seems simple to kill but I have fought him a few hundred times so be careful till you get the measure of him as I remember having to run back to the shrine after he killed me. A suggestion for the first few times you run this, there is a shrine at the other end of the corridor which takes around 8 seconds to run if you are killed depending on where in the room you usually fight in you are killed. It has been a long time since I died fighting bloodknuckles but I have got use to making sure the doors on the shrine area are left open in case of emergencies.

first trap in ringleader

This should be a 5 minute quest

There will always be 3 "rare" mini bosses just a case of which

These are not the only quests in the harbour and nor are they the best, quickest, easiest etc etc etc(bonus points for the gratuitous King and I reference for those of a certain age). Sorry for the lack of comedy on the screenshots but today is an educational day as I was talking to a guy about ddo who hasn't played for years and beginners pieces are difficult if you joke too much.

Grousemerlin 10 and counting.