Silifi of Crimson Stars

Difficulty:  Minimum to survive, 30+ to Solo; Minimum to solo Crimson Night upgrade
Level Restriction:  10+, 70+ for Crimson Night upgrade
Timer:  ???
Can be Solo'd?  Yes, with lockpick
Rewards:  Silifi of Crimson Stars, upgradeable to Silifi of Crimson Night

The Silifi of Crimson Stars is one of the few legendary weapons that made the journey from Ispar to Dereth.  The Silifi was made during the dark period of Gharu'ndim history known as the Century of Storms and was brought to Dereth by a man named Wari al-Sha'im.  Al-Sha'im walked into the desert one day and never returned...

Step 1:  Preparation.  Before you start your quest, you will want to get the Armoredillo Spine that best fits your abilities.  Your main choices are between a Shore Dillo Spine (no wield req), a Island Dillo Spine (250 wield), a Hoary Dillo Spine (300 wield), or a Plate Dillo Spine (325 wield).  The damage the axe will do increases with each tier, as do the attack and defense bonuses.  Once you have your spine, you are ready to get started.  If you plan on doing the entire quest and making the strongest Silifi, you should find two Plate Dillo Spines.

Step 2:  The Haft.  Begin your quest by heading to Leikotha's Crypt, located at 10.2S, 31.3E.  The fastest way there is via the Yinar settlement out of Samsur.  When you reach the crypt, dispatch the few Mu-Miyahs protecting the tomb and then speak to Leikotha.  She will give you the broken Haft of the Silifi.  Do as she suggests and take the Haft to 1.7 S, 36.6 E, where you will find Kayna bint Iswas.  Her house is guarded by a pair of Iron Golems and has a locked front door - you will need lockpick.  Give her the Haft and she will repair it.  Hopefully you have your Spine with you!  Combine the Repaired Haft with a Spine and the axe will become useable.  You can fail this check, so make sure your skill is buffed.  Chances are, you won't have any trouble reassembling the axe if you are building one you can wield.

Step 3:  The Rubies.  Your silifi is now useable, but it can be further upgraded.  The original Silifi of Crimson Stars had 5 enchanted Rubies, each of which added powerful spells to the axe.  However, its destruction in Dereth damaged the axe.  Only 3 of the 5 rubies can be attached now.  You will have to choose your upgrades carefully!

Step 3a:  Al-Shajar.  This Ruby and the Ruby Yujazik are located on the landscape.  Head to 18.4S 21.3E and look for a bunker.  The bunker is fairly deep and you can take wrong turns without much trouble.  Look for the lone Skeleton Lord inside and fight your way to him.  Check his corpse for the Ruby.

Step 3b:  Yujazik.  Instead of being inside a bunker, the Skeleton Lord guarding this ruby is in a tent on the landscape.  Kill him and loot the ruby from his corpse.

Step 3c:  Sulmada.  The remaining rubies are scattered in three dungeons guarded by the Undead.  The particular dungeon you will be visiting for this ruby, Amiantos Bethel, isn't particularly difficult, but you might need a friend because of a lone lever door inside.  Head to 16.3S 35.1E to find the dungeon (Broken Sword Bethel settlement out of Uziz is close by).  Before you get too far into the dungeon, check the drop point for a lever.  If you brought a friend, leave him here.  If you are alone, hit the lever.  You will have to race through the dungeon to reach the lever door before it closes.  Run straight ahead, past the exit portal, and down a ramp.  You will reach a T intersection - pick either way and you will reach a rectangular room.  Look in the opposite direction from the way you turned at the T and you will see a staircase leading down.  Take it and you will reach an elevated room with ledges to the north and south.  Jump off either side and head east as soon as you land.  You will go up a small staircase - look for an open door on the right wall just past the stair.  This is the lever door that you opened at the top - if you brought a friend, signal him now.  Pass through and you will find a couple skeletons and a Skeleton Lord.  Kill the Lord and loot the Ruby from his corpse.

Step 3d:  Mahwan.  This second dungeon, Grievous Vault, also has some levers in it, but you can safely ignore practically all of them to get the Ruby, so you won't need a hand pulling them.  The dungeon is located at 35.9S, 27.3W, practically in Uziz.  From the drop, follow the corridor and jump down from the only ledge on the first floor.  From where you land, run north and take your first left.  You will wrap around back to the south, leading you to a series of small square rooms.  Open the first door you see and look to the west to find a ramp leading down.  Follow the corridor and you will reach a windy, larger room.  Follow it and you will come to a ledge - jump down.  Run north and look for a short corridor on the west wall.  Follow it and you will reach another room with a ledge in it.  Jump down again.  Find the only exit from the room where you landed, open the door, and you will find yourself on a walkway.  You will see a deeper pit to the north - you will eventually jump down that, but you need to hit a lever in the room immediately beneath you first.  Jump off the walkway to the south (to avoid falling into the pit prematurely) and look for the lever right by the pit.  Hit it and jump.  You will land in a large room with an exit portal - don't wander into it!  Right by the exit portal is a path leading to the NE.  Take it and you will pass through the lever door you just opened.  A Mu-Miyah just past the lever door drops the Ruby.  In all likelihood, your presense will lure the Ruby's guardian out into the main room, so check corpses.  If you're up for a bit more exploring, you can play with the levers on this lowest floor and find the Tortured Soul.  He drops a red skull that can be exchanged for the first of two keys to the Mines of Despair.

Step 3e:  Al-Khur.  The final dungeon, Sylsfear Dungeon, requires lockpick or a key from another dungeon, Alfreth Dungeon, which in turn requires a key from Mt Zabool.  Going through all of those dungeons to get a key seems like a lot of work to me, and since you either have lockpick or have a friend with lockpick to reach Kayna's house, I say forget the key.  The door has a resistance just under 600, so you will need to weaken the lock and have reasonable skill.  Instead, just run to the dungeon, which is located at 11N 14.7E (east of Al Jalima).  From the drop, run toward the exit portal and take the passageway on the south wall.  You will go down a ramp and quickly reach a three-way intersection - head southwest and down another ramp.   The path wraps around to the east and has numerous spurs leading off the path.  Ignore them all - only go due east.  The path will twist back to the north and after ignoring a small side room to the left, you will reach a four-way intersection.  Head down the ramp to the west.  At the base of the ramp is a locked door.  If you bothered with the Alfreth dungeon's key, use it here.  Otherwise, pick the lock.  You will quickly reach a large, rectangular room.  Kill the locals and then run along the east wall.  There is a pressure plate roughly in the middle of the wall that opens the door in the northwest corner of the room.  Once it opens, run through - it will probably close behind you, but that's because there is a second plate just past the door.  Look for Wari al-Sha'im himself past the pressure plate door.  Kill him and take the final ruby.

Step 4:  Completing the Silifi.  You may add 3 of the 5 rubies to the reconstructed Silifi.  If you have no axe skill or got extra rubies, you may turn them in to Leikotha in her crypt for XP.  The repaired Haft is worth 10K and the rubies are worth 25K.  Here's my SoCS - I used a Plate Spine but haven't bothered to add the rubies yet.

Step 5:  Crimson Night.  If you chose to make the Plated Spine version of the Silifi, you can make one final upgrade to your weapon.  Head to Zaikhal and find Maqudh al Nishadina.  He will ask you to provide him with two trophy drops before he tells you more about the improvement he can make to your SoCS.  You will need to track down a second Plate Dillo Spine and a Shadow Fragment, which is a component of Shadowhunter Armor.  Once you have both items, head back to Maqudh and give him the spine and then the fragment.  Once you provide those two items, you will be flagged for entry into the Crypt of Crimson Night, which is located outside Zaikhal at 12.3N 8.2E.  The dungeon itself is fairly simple - you will be heading north and down as best you can.  The Crypt is filled with Mu-Miyahs up to Royal and Dessicated versions.  They are all very weak to fire damage, so buff accordingly.  They don't hit too hard, but if you don't have melee defense, bane against physical damage.  They do cast war magic, so protect against everything.  Keep going north until you reach a room with many small cells on the far wall.  Here you will find Caravaush the Chamberlain, a Mu-Miyah.  Kill him and loot his corpse for a key.  That key will open a locked door in the same room.  Head down the ramp and you will reach the end of the dungeon, which is guarded by Darayavaush the Red, the Mu-miyah leader.  Kill him and look for a key.  That key opens a chest at the far end of Darayavaush's room.  Inside you will find the Ruby of Crimson Night.

Step 6:  Rewards.  Return to Maqudh and give him your ruby.  He will give you some experience (roughly 5M) and a setting for your new ruby.  This ruby does not count against the three rubies you could have picked in the previous steps and in fact, the new setting may only be added if you have already added three rubies.  If you don't want the setting, you may turn it in for additional XP.

When you add the new setting, your Silifi will be altered to have a Critical Strike and Lightning Cleaving power, as well as a 5% bonus to attack.  This axe looks ridiculously good, even compared to fully tinkered 400 wield axes, but unfortunately, the Lightning Cleaving power is very weak compared to a Lightning Rend.  My tinkered Lightning Render does about 33% more damage per hit.  If you are going to fight a monster that will be Imperilled and Vulned, then yes, this weapon will work very well, but for general usage, you will almost certainly want to stick with your tinkered weapon.