Vanguard: Lotus Hold
I decided to head over to Lotus Hold, which is southeast of Nakai Dojo. Nao Tak said I should go there and find a man named Bautali. It seems they need some help over there. On the way over, I found a Pegasus Trainer just west of Lotus Hold who will rent you a flying pegasus at the rate of 25 copper for five minutes. I also found a Riftway right next to Lotus Hold.
I found Bautali inside the Hold and he had a bunch of quests to give. Standing next to him is Hai Tang who also has many quests to hand out. I picked a few from Bautali and got started on them. I had to go kill a bunch of tigers, ostra’s, varana’s, and others. The varana and ostra were easy to find, but just like back in the starting areas, the tigers were extremely rare. I got so tired of running around looking for the tigers that I put that one on hold and worked on some other quests.
Located on the beach which is down the hill from Lotus Hold is a bunch of burned out houses that the orcs have taken over. The quest Orc Assault: Martok Deadbringer wanted me to go kill a few of the Deadbringers, so down to the beach I went. The beach is crawling with orcs, so it was easy to quickly find what I needed. The quest netted me 1 silver, 40 copper, and 3220 experience points.
Back at Lotus Hold, I discovered that the stress and fear of constant orc attacks have caused some of the villagers to go crazy. Some guy named Mung decided to take a group of them away from Lotus Hold to find some other place to live. It seems that the crazed villagers took Tao’s Idol of Focus with them when they left and they didn’t ask permission to do so. I was tasked with getting the idol back.
The crazed villagers are found up on a high hill that is a ways south of the Nakai Dojo. They stand close to each other, so I had to use Nature’s Calm in order to pull a single. The very first one I pulled had the idol. Nice luck. Returning the idol to Tao resulted in me receiving 1 silver, 40 copper, and 3220 experience points.
I then started a quest that tasked me with retrieving some treasure boxes that the orcs had stolen from Lotus Hold. These boxes are located around the burned out houses down on the beach. I had to clear the way of orcs in order to get to some of them, but I also found that I could sneak in behind the houses and get to some of the treasure boxes with minimal combat. There is a wooden wall behind the houses that has gaps in it and I found a couple gaps that I could squeeze through.
I ran back to Lotus Hold and turned in the treasure box quest and the kill animals quests. They all gave about a silver each and 3220 experience points each. I dinged level 16 while doing these quests and here is a list of spells that my Druid received:
- Barbwood Talisman III: AC 60, HP 120, 17 damage shield
- Wild Growth I: 935 to 986 damage over 24 seconds
- Solar Flare II: 297 to 319 fire damage & 107 to 118 over 4 seconds
- Restore II: 503 point heal
- Summon Earth Elemental II: Summons a pet for 3 minutes
- Quelling Wind I: Lowers hate by 3%
Vanguard: Orcs And Drunkeness
My next night in Vanguard found me in the village where I found Pao Min. The first quest I started on is called “How (Not) to impress the Master.” I got it from a “Sick Imperial Recruit” how had a hangover and was needing some help. Right after finding that quest, I got another one from the Master of the village who knew that the recruit was hungover and wanted to teach him a lesson. This gave me the quest named “The Sick Recruit – Gathering the Cure.” I also found a quest called “Martok Outrigger Amulets” that needed me to go out and kill some orcs. Armed with a few quests, off I went to seek adventure.
The Martok Outrigger Amulets quest wanted me to go to Thrakos island just north of the village and seek out an orc camp. I slid down the cliff next to the village and swam over is the island. It didn’t take me long to find the big orc camp.
The orcs come in several varieties, including the Martok Scar, Stormreaver, and Fury.
I worked my way around the camp, killing every orc I came across. There were several orcs under a big tent and more in the two buildings on the dock. It took awhile to get all twenty amulets the quest called for, but the experience was good, so I wasn’t complaining. I had no problem going through the orcs solo. There are a couple of spots where you will get two at a time, but I was able to easily handle them by myself. When I turned in the amulets, I received 2 silver, 20 copper, and 2431 experience points. I also discovered that this quest is repeatable.
The next quest I worked on was “The Sick Recruit.” I needed to find seven elderberries, ten danvu root, and one salt of the sea to make a hangover cure for the recruit. The berries and roots are found just outside the main entrance to the village and are easy to obtain. Just head out the entrance and start looking to your right. You’ll see some tall rock outcroppings and the roots and berries will be found around their base. The salt is found by killing the turtles that are on the beach just across the water from the orc camp. When on the beach, beware of the aggressive crabs found there.
I took the gathered items back to Lau Mung and he created his “cure” for the sick recruit. He warned me to stand back from the recruit after I handed over the cure. It turned out to be a good warning.
–Wolfen
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