Infiltrators and the Asteliary

Difficulty:  Minimum to survive, add 5 levels to solo
Level Restriction:  20+ for Infiltrator Keeps, 35+ for the Asteliary
Timer:  30 Days
Can be Solo'd?  Yes
Rewards:  Simulacra Helm and Shield and Asteliary Orb, plus a gem to create an imbued Helm, Shield, or Orb

The Virindi have always tried to infiltrate our society to learn more about us and ultimately kill us.  Their most insidious creation are Simulacra - Human-shaped constructs controlled by Virindi.  Their initial incursions were in the ridges along the Amun desert.

Step 1:  North Infiltrator Keep.  This dungeon is located near Zaikhal at 15.4N, 5E.  You'll be fighting lower level Drudges, Tumeroks, and Simulacra.  If you need to buff, put up your protects and buff a fire weapon.  The dungeon itself is pretty linear.  Just keep heading north and you will reach the end, where you will find the Northern Infiltrator Master.  Kill him and loot the shield from him.  Repeat as necessary for your group.

Step 2:  South Infiltrator Keep.  The Southern Keep is located to the south of Khayyaban at 48.1S, 23.2E.  The monsters inside are the same as in the North Keep.  Unfortunately, this dungeon is more complicated.  You'll be heading mostly southwest, but there is a windy section inside.  After you pass down a ramp in the first large room you find, hug the right wall.  Stick to the wall and you will reach the Southern Infiltrator Master.  His corpse will have a helm on it.  Kill them until you have enough helms for your whole group.

Step 3:  The Asteliary.  Once you obtain the Simulacra equipment (helm and shield) from the Northern and Southern Infiltrator dungeons, it's time to charge them up with an Asteliary Gem.  You can get yourself a nifty blue orb in the Asteliary too.  The orb is basically useless for your typical mage, but it does look cool and it's shiny.  

The Asteliary is located at 10.2S, 17.5E, which is almost due south of Samsur and is tieable.  The dungeon is restricted to 35+ and for a good reason.  The biggest problem you'll encounter inside is the Subtle Simulacra.  These fellows wear black robes and are potent spellcasters.  They have the nasty habit of bludge vulning you before they launch their war spells, so be careful.  Other enemies include Drudge Raveners, Sneaky Simulacra, and the Crafter, the boss of the simulacra.  He's an even more powerful spellcaster, so be ready.  Fire seems to be the weapon of choice in this dungeon.  Because of the strength and variety of the spellcasters, you really need all the protections, but especially bludgeon.  

After you're buffed up and prepared, head down the corridor ahead of you.  For the first part of this quest, you'll be encountering drudges.  Admire the cool looking architecture while you have the chance.  The main characteristic of this dungeon is that it is filled with dead ends.  It is quite linear in some places, and in others, it's a big maze of wrong turns and small rooms.  The general rule of keeping your right hand against the wall doesn't work well in this dungeon, because for the most part, all the turns are lefts.

Follow the path ahead of you until you reach the first T intersection.  You will have passed through a few larger rooms with drudges inside to this point.  At the T, turn left, followed by another left, and head up the ramp in front of you.  You should now reach the first group of simulacra.  This next region is a group of several larger rooms connected by corridors.  Your goal is to reach the far side of this group and head down the ramp.  To do this, turn left in the first room, then right at the next intersection.  Follow this corridor until you reach another larger room.  Here, turn right and you should see a ramp descending from the left of the next intersection.

You are now on the last floor.  The Crafter is on this floor, more or less in the middle.  The trick is, you need to go to the far end of the floor and then come back a bit to find him.  A good tip here is to have your group listen for his comments.  He will often taunt you into battle when you get close.  From the bottom of the next ramp, run straight ahead until you see a Y in the road.  Bear to the right.  From this point, you will make all left turns.  You will reach a T intersection first, and you will want to turn left.  This path will lead you to a pair of corridors to the left, each guarded by a Subtle Simulacra.  Pick a path, and charge into the Crafter's room.

 I'd suggest shooting for him first, since he's the most dangerous.  He also has 4 Subtle companions with him, and a pair of Sneaky archers.  Try to stay close to the Crafter's spawn point to avoid dragging in the Subtles from the last turn.  The Crafter drops the Asteliary Orb and Gem, a set of matching junk Amuli, and some other random high quality items.  The Crafter and his room are on a spawn rate of about 2 min, so you really won't have to wait that long.  It is possible to give all of the simulacra items, but after you imbue an item with the gem, only the person who created the imbued item can use the magic.