Decrepit Tower and the Zharalim

Difficulty:  Minimum to survive, 60+ to solo
Level Restriction:  40+
Timer:  14 Days
Can be Solo'd?  Yes
Rewards:  Random Loot Rewards and either a Casting Device, piece of armor, and a Necklace, or a special Shadow Garb

From their earliest days in Ispar as assassins to their recent service to Nuhmudira, the Zharalim have always been an unpredictable force.  Now some of their members have joined the Order of the Raven Hand, a cult that serves the Shadows.

Step 1:  Crest of Shagar Zharala.  Before you can start the quest, you'll have to spend some time running around the northlands of Osteth.  You will be looking for a 'Shreth-Gnawed Corpse', on which spawn Crests of Shagar Zharala.  Be aware that you are NOT looking for 'Corpses', but only those that say 'Shreth-Gnawed' on them.  These corpses (unsurprisingly) spawn with Shreths - Malus Shreths, to be specific.  Your best bet to find a Crest is to run around the plains between Neydissa and Bandit Castles.  Kill every spawn of Malus Shreths you find and wait a minute or so after they die, as the corpse sometimes spawns after the Shreths die.   You'll probably spend the majority of a buff running around the northlands before you find the corpse, so you might as well take the time to kill the Fire Shreths that spawn in this area too.  As soon as you find the Crest, you can leave.  The crest is on a timer too, so you can't get more than one, even though the Corpse will respawn more crests after 10 minutes or so.

Step 2:  Decrepit Tower.  The Tower is located at 23.8N, 12.2W, but getting to the dungeon is a bit of an adventure itself.  The portal is located in a collapsing tower on an isolated mesa.  The only way to get there is to cross a bridge connecting the mesa to a larger one to the west, and that mesa only has one path up it.  You'll find a path up on the northwestern face of the larger mesa.  Climb up, cross the bridge, and jump into the middle of the crumbling tower.  After you've downloaded the dungeon, you'll find a NPC named Yalik ibn Ujsef.  Give him your crest and he will give you a key with 3 uses.  Now it's time to buff up.  You'll find insane Zharalim and Shadows (up to Umbris) inside, so protect against all damage types and bane physical damage if you don't have melee defense.  This dungeon has a nasty lever maze inside, but most of the paths to the maze are pretty linear.  You will want to refer to the map frequently if it's your first time through.

While you're at the NPC, hit the button nearby.  Quickly head back the other direction and use the key to open the locked door.  Your first right will lead you to a series of levers.  There are six doors (one of which should be open) and each has two buttons inside - one to open the current room's door and one to open the next room's door.  This lever section is fairly straightforward, since all the lever doors are close together.  The final room has an actual lever inside and that lever will open a door on the main path down into the dungeon.  After you pass through that lever door, your path down will be pretty linear.  While you are running down, use the [ and ] keys on the 3rd floor to find the Zharalim Master's Journal.  There are several locked doors, but they lead to dead-ends, so you can ignore them.  After you've gone down a few levels, you will reach another pair of levers (Level -4 on the map).  Use levers 8 and 9 and you'll head onto another floor with levers, this time in two rooms off to the right.  Hit the two levers and run down into the next level, where you'll find two doors open to the left and right as you enter.  Pick up a copy of the Zharalim Foreman's Journal in the room with the stone heads.  In each room, you'll find a button and a lever - hit the lever and run to the other room.  Two lever doors to the west will now be open - run through them.  Press on and you will reach a large open room with two ramps down in the center of the room.  Take either one and follow the path into a small floor with a small square room in each cardinal direction.  The north room has a small pressure plate in the northwest section.  Hit it and run to the west, where you will pass through a lever door.  Climb up the stairwell and you will find a path to the west.  Follow the path and run down another circular stairwell.  You will find three paths off to the left.  The far one doesn't have a lever door blocking it, so head there first.  Beware though - there's a dispel trap right in the middle.  There are almost a dozen levers inside, of which you will need to hit 2:  the first one on your right and the second from the right on the west wall.  Go back out (avoiding the trap) and take the middle of the doors.  Hit the lever inside and go back out to the first of the three doors, which will now be open.  Head up the circular staircase and jump through the now-opened lever door.  You're basically at the end now.  Fight your way to a large open room where you will find three named Zharalim.  Kill them and loot a tassel from each.  Head out when you're done.

Step 3:  Rewards.  Head to Zaikhal to claim your rewards.  You can turn in the two books you picked up to Ufet, Prophet of Blades for a random reward, ranging from Gambling Tokens to cash to golem hearts.  Now you have to choose what you are going to do with your tassels.  You can either give Ufet the tassels for unique items - the Shagraka, a casting device; the Periapt of Endless Sight, a necklace; and the Cowl of the Sand, a coat that covers your head, chest, and upper arms.  Alternately, you can attach one of the three tassels to a Shadow's Garb, the Ghurun'dim heritage mask crafted from a regular Virindi Mask.  The Tassel of Discord changes the Garb's spells to Strength, Coordination, and Invulnerability V; the Tassel of Sound Mind changes the spells to Focus, Willpower, and Mana Conversion V; and the Tassel of Far Sight changes the spells to Bow, Xbow, TW, and Invulnerability V.  The Garb's activation requirements change to Level 30+ and Arcane lore 75 to activate.