Composite Bow and Crossbow

Difficulty:  Roughly 250 buffed bow/xbow skill to craft; 80+ to survive upgrade,  150+ to solo upgrade
Level Restriction:  None to craft, 40+ for upgrade
Timer:  13 Days for upgrade
Can be Solo'd?  Yes
Rewards:  Composite Bow or Crossbow, upgradeable with various quality handles

If you've ever wanted to wield a weapon made out of entrails and bones, the Composite Bow is for you!  Crafted from all sorts of monster parts, this weapon used to be the staple of practically every marksman in Dereth.  Time has left it by the wayside, but it has recently received an upgrade that makes it almost useful.

Step 1:  Preparation.  The only real preparation you need to do on this quest is to find a competent crafter to help you out once you have gathered all the necessary pieces.  You will need to find a ride to Ayan Baqur eventually too.

Step 2:  Gathering the Pieces.  The Composite Weapons are all made of three manditory pieces, of which there are strong and weak varieties, and two optional pieces. 

The Arm.  The first piece is the arm, which is made from horn.  Your choices are Fire Auroch Horn (weak, +2% to melee D) and Mattekar Horn (strong, +6% melee D).  Fire Auroch Horn is hard to come by primarily because there aren't any reliable spawns of Fire Auroch Bulls in Dereth.  Instead, hunt Great Mattekars.  Your best bet for these are in the Mattekar Caves or in the hills surrounding the Mountain Shortcut north of Arwic.  You will need 2 horns.  Once you have both, head to Ayan Baqur and find Yuan Hanzu near the center of town.  Give him the horns and he will shape them for you. 

The Sinew.  Now you need to reinforce the arms.  For that, you will need to track down Lugian Sinew.  There are lots of Lugian dungeons out there, but you should be able to find the right kinds of Lugians in the Wilderness Citadel.  There are two kinds of Sinew - Small and Large - and the quality of the sinew you gather will affect the speed of your finished weapon.  Small Sinews come from Lithos and lower Lugians.  Gigas and larger Lugians drop Large Sinews.  You will need two sinews as well, one for each arm.  They will need to be cooked before they can be used, so visit your cook friend.  There are three possible results - Cured Small Sinew (failed small, slow), Cured Sinew (successful small or failed large, medium), and Cured Large Sinew (successful large, fast).  Once you have your cooked Sinew, add one unit to each shaped horn to make a Composite Arm.  Then combine both Composite Arms to make a Composite Stave. 

The String.  You will now need to string your bow.  For that, you will have to gather Sclavus Tongues (weak) or Drudge Ravener Guts (strong).  Sclavus Cathedral is a decent choice for tongues and your best bet for gut is the Singular Pyreal Repository.  Either way, you will need three of each plus a vial of Bloodseeker Oil.  Find an alchemist to add the oil to the string and you will get either an Oiled String (failed tongues, 40/60 mod), Fine Oiled String (successful tongues or failed guts, 90/120 mod), or Excellent Oiled String (successful guts, 110/140 mod).  The quality of your string will determine the damage modifier on your weapon. 

The Stock.  If you are trying to make a crossbow, there is one additional step you will need to do before you can finish your weapon and that is to make a stock.  All you need to do is track down a Wood Golem Heart and deliver it to Barnar the Tinker, who lives in Cragstone these days.  You can quickly earn a Wood Golem Heart by doing the first stage of the Elysa's Favor quest.  Once Barnar gives you your stock, add it to your Composite Stave and you will be ready to string your crossbow. 

Stringing the Bow.  Now you are ready to complete your weapon.  Using the string on your bow or crossbow will check your buffed weapon skill, so be sure to buff your Bow/Crossbow skill and your coordination.  If you have access to appropriate Majors or Minors, use them too!  Now doubleclick your string and then singleclick the Composite Stave.  If you succeed, your bow will be usable!  If you fail, you will have to track down more tongues or guts and try again.

Step 3:  Upgrades.  Now that you have a functional weapon, you can upgrade it.  Originally there were three basic choices, all made from by using a whittling knife on Undead Thighbones of various qualities.  Liches and Revenants drop Undead Thighbones while Dark Revenants and higher Undead drop Dark Revenant Thighbones.  Serac Vault is a good hunting ground for both types.  Carving a bone results in either a low (failed normal, BD/Mastery III), medium (successful normal or failed Dark Revenant, BD/Mastery IV), or intricate (successful Dark Revenant, BD/Mastery V) handles.  Adding the carved handle does not have a skill check. 

During the Come What Follows event, an additional set of three handles were added.  Unfortunately, they can only be added to a completed bow or crossbow that does not already have a handle added to it.  Head back to Yuan Hanzu and talk to him.  He will direct you to The Ancient Cave, which is located at 46.1S 87.2W.  Inside the cave are three separate dungeons.  In each dungeon you will be able to find Ancient, Hardened, or Fossilized bones on the floor.  Don't be fooled by the lowly 40+ level restriction on the outside portal - these dungeons aren't for the weak!  The first floor isn't particularly hard, with the Grievvers only going up to Harrowers, but the next two floors are quite difficult.  The final floor is filled with VoD-style Grievvers who are very war- and vuln-happy.  You will almost certainly need a group to complete the lowest level of the dungeon.  Grab one of each per floor and when you have all three, return them to Yuan Hanzu.  He will carve each bone into a handle.  Pick the strength you want and then add it to your bow.  You can turn in the other handles to Yuan for XP.  The handle will add Armor Cleaving, Crushing Blow, Cast on Strike:  Tattercoat, extensive buffs, and increase practically every stat on the weapon substantially.  This is the top grade Crossbow and the medium grade Crossbow - more images coming as soon as I make enough weapons!