Yaraq Explorer Society Quests

     You were trotting along minding your own business on Ispar when suddenly, in a flash of purple light you found yourself standing in a little room with some guy welcoming you to someplace called Dereth.  Well fear not gentle traveler, for the Explorer Society of Dereth is here to help you become accustomed to your new life of mayhem and vitae!  Luckily there is an agent of this society, Mara al-Luq, right here in Yaraq in the tavern called the Cerulean Cove at 21.7S 1.6W.  You can recognize her by the light green clothing all explorer society agents wear.  If you speak to her, she is happy to direct you toward some gainful employment. 

Isparian Pie (Recommended level – 4)

     Who doesn’t like pie?  The people of Yaraq absolutely love it!  In fact they produce the best apples to be found in all of Dereth.  Mara, the Society agent, makes the best apple pies in town.  She gets her apples from her father, Lubziklan al-Luq, has an apple orchard just south of town at 22.4S 1.9W.  Unfortunately Lubziklan is having a bit of trouble himself.  It seems some pesky drudges have run off with some of his apples, processing knives and Mara’s baking pans.  He will give you a list of the items he wants recovered and send you off to the Sea Temple without even waiting for you to say yes.  Nice eh? 

     Anyway, the easiest way to get to the sea temple is to run to the Red Rat Nest at 21.0S 2.2W.  Once inside you may face a few rats, but if you run directly ahead you will see a portal to the Sea Temple.  So now you are in the sea temple, so let’s hunt up some cooking supplies shall we?  Inside the Sea Temple you will face many drudges:

Drudge Slinkers (lvl 5)

Drudge Sneakers (lvl 7)

Drudge Robbers (lvl 12)

     The first item is very easy to find.  Just head straight to the north until you reach an intersection.  Now turn either left or right and head around the hallway to the storeroom to the north.  In this storeroom you will find the floor littered with apples.  In the northwest corner you will find a perfect cove apple. 

     Now retrace your steps and head back to that last intersection.  To the north you will see a ramp going down to the next level.  Follow this down and turn east.  Follow this corridor until you come to the next intersection.  Turn west and at the end of this hallway you will find the apple baking pan.  Turn around and move back to the east.  Pass the first intersection and turn south at the second.  Head to the end of the corridor and you will find the aged apple cider. 

      Now head back north to the main hallway.  Turn west and go back to the previous intersection.  This time go to the south and follow the corridor until you come to a door.  Go thru the door and head down the ramp into a large room.  From your position above the room you may notice you can see a couple things on the floor below you.  I know you’ve been drinking, but you don’t want to jump down into the room just yet.  Keep following the corridor around and you will pass over another room.  Resist the urge to jump again and keep heading down the corridor until you see a hallway to the south.  Go through the door and inside you will find the hot apple pie. 

     So we are half-way done.  Go back out to the corridor and head to the west down the ramp.  At the bottom of the first ramp head to the south again to a small room where you will find the hard cove apple cider.  Wait! Don’t drink it!  Oh crap…   Well, just wait a few seconds and another will appear on the ground.

     Turn around.  No…   your other around.  Okay, are you facing north?  Good.  Head back up and down again following the hallway to the north and then east.  You will enter into a series of large rooms.  Head roughly to the east through this room to the second one.  In the second room you will find a door in the north of the east wall.  Through the door you will find the surface portal and also the cove apple wine.

     Don’t leave just yet, we still have two items to find.  Go through the other door to the east and follow that corridor to the next room.  In the northwest corner of the room you will find the cove apple paring knife.  Now turn about and go to the door in the east wall.  Inside you will find a strongbox containing the perfectly aged cider.

     That’s everything Lubziklan is missing.  Return to him and he will reward you with 3,000 xp for each of the times.  When you give him the pie he will direct you to his friend, Ma’yad ibn Ibsar, who needs some help back at the Cerulean Cove.

Oh Brother where art thou? 

Or

What the heck is that floating thing? (Recommended level – 10)

     Ma’yad ibn Ibsar has come to Yaraq in search of her brother Abmim.  Unfortunately for her, she has had no luck tracking him down.  The only piece of information she has found is that her brother had been working for Akyafi ibn Sumwar the translator.  You can find him up on the roof of the Cerulean Cove.  After talking to Akyafi you will discover that the last time he had seen Abmim was just before he had been sent to investigate the drudges at the old empyrean port called The Mad Star.  The Mad Star, at 21.5S 4.1W, is actually quite close to the Sea Temple, so the fastest way to get there is to run through the Red Rat Lair to the Sea Temple portal and then use the surface portal in the Sea Temple. 

     Whichever way you choose to get to the Mad Star, you will find the main tower infested with drudges:

Drudge Slinkers (lvl 5)

Drudge Prowlers (lvl 7)

Drudge Servants (lvl 12)

Drudge Slaves (lvl 14)

Fight your way to the top and you will find two things, a button on the wall, and a scrawled note on one of the drudge prowlers.  It is rather strange that a drudge would carry a note since they can’t usually read.  Before returning to Yaraq, head back down the tower and head over toward the out-building with the Under Cove Crypt portal.  Just outside the door you will find a note to Ma’yad. 

     Now return to Yaraq and give Ma’yad the note from her brother and she will reward you with 7,500 xp.  Also, go upstairs to Akyafi and give him the scrawled note you found on the drudge.  He will translate it and give it back to you in addition to 5,000 xp.  It seems that the drudges have made a deal with…   something, in the Under Cove Crypt.  Akyafi asks you to go back and find out what this thing is that is dealing with the drudges.  In the Under Cove Crypt you will be facing:

Undead (lvl 11)

Mad Star Marionette (lvl 26)

     Once you are back to the Mad Star, run back to the top of the tower and press the button you found earlier.  This should open the door to the Under Cove Crypt portal.  It stays open for over a minute so you don’t have to make a mad dash for the door.  Once through the portal, about 3 undead will run up on you.  You may want to immediately hide on the east side of the door.  This will keep all the undead running up on you at once.  Once you have fought your way through them head down the hall and take your first right.  This will lead you to a large room.  Keep running to the north until you find a corridor in the west wall.  Follow this corridor down until you return to the lower level of the large room.  Fight your way to the north end of the room, and head through the northwest corridor until you go up a ramp and into a room with three exits.  To the east you will find the Mad Star Marionette.   This must be the floating being the drudges spoke of in the scrawled note.  Kill it and loot the Mad Star Marionette Head.  Return the head to Akyafi and he will reward you with 25,000 xp for solving the mystery of the Mad Star.