The East, and What to Do Here
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Congratulations, you have completed the Reknor dungeon and have made it into the
mysterious continent simply known as "the Far East." The unremarkable cave you
start in is mostly a summation of previous zones in terms of occupants (there's
a little bit of everything in here), which can result in random difficulty at
times. Try fighting a skeleton master archer while confused from a snow giant's
ability and you'll see what I mean. Before exiting to the worldmap from this
cave, put on any +movement speed gear you have. Orc patrols are hostile ambush
encounters that only occur in the East, and can be quite deadly. They're
typically comprised of 6-10 orcs with random class abilities, and they're a few
levels more powerful than you to boot.


Make your way southeast to the yellow-coloured mountain chain, and the village
of Gates of Morning roughly in the middle of it, on the western side. You'll be
greeted by High Paladin Aeryn a few tiles away from you, who welcomes you to the
city. Be sure to explore the city, there's more than one thing to do here at
this time. First off, find someone looking for a lost loved one. This opens up
one of the easier dungeons in the East, just a few tiles north of Gates of
Morning on the worldmap. The Prides are generally considered to be the hardest
dungeons before the final dungeon, and after doing the "easy" dungeons here,
you'll still be woefully underpowered for the fights there. To get a few extra
levels, it's highly recommended to go back to Maj'Eyal and fight the "backup
guardians" of old dungeons you've previously cleared. There is someone in
Gates of Morning that can help you with this task, but he's in a building.
Near this building is High Paladin Aeryn again, who can point you to this
man, and can also reveal to you the locations of the four Prides.


Once you've offered to help the person looking for a lost loved one, accepted
the task from the man that can help you get back to Maj'Eyal, and acquired the
locations of the Prides, time to go do your first dungeons in the East. If you
swapped your +movement speed gear out for your regular gear, put it back on
before leaving. The first dungeon we will be exploring is Ardhungol, to the
north. It's only 3-5 tiles away, so if there weren't any orc patrols following
you to Gates of Morning, you might not need to swap your gear. Ardhungol has 5
levels infested with every variety of spider imaginable, and a few random things
on the side such as minotaurs, dragons, and demons. Killing the boss on level 5
completes one of the quests from Gates of Morning, and opens a portal back there
as well. If you want to finish exploring the level for some extra gold, xp, and
items, you can do so as the portal stays there forever once it gets placed.


Use the portal when you're done, talk to the person that gave the quest to
complete it, and then back to the worldmap (speed gear on, this time). The next
dungeon I'd recommend doing is a random one that might take some time to find.
There are a series of rivers and lakes off to the west from Gates of Morning;
follow these rivers until you get a message revealing a flooded cave entrance.
You will need to be able to breathe water for this dungeon as there aren't any
air bubbles. Go in, get to the second level. Don't attack anything just yet (or
at all, if you don't want to). Talk to the thing in the middle and apologise for
intruding, and it offers you a quest. Accept it, and you'll be teleported to
another flooded dungeon with no air bubbles. This one is chock-full of naga, so
be careful. Myrmidons have rush, and the tide huntresses are nearly as bad as
skeleton master archers. In general, it's a good idea to pop a regen infusion
or shield rune once you get hit by an insidious poison as it's usually what
myrmidons throw at you before rushing. This dungeon is all about fighting as few
naga at a time as possible. Get down to the bottom level and choose one of the
opportunities to fight him (probably a good idea to talk to him first as there
have been occasional issues pop up with summoner things refusing to attack him).
This fight is going to be a pain, you will need very high stun resistance (90%
or more). Once he dies, he drops a VERY nice light source that amplifies all but
one of your stats, and gives a light radius of 6 tiles. It also allows you to
breathe water, so you can safely switch the old equipment piece granting water
breathing out for something better. Back to the East and where you started your
naga-slaying quest, and a choice: kill the questgiver for a chance at an exotic
weapon artefact (uses the exotic weapons talent for damage), or use rod of
recall.


Once back on the worldmap (speed gear) you have a choice: The shadow crypt
dungeon, or the orc breeding pit dungeon. I'd suggest whichever is closer, and
for the purposes of this guide will assume it's the shadow crypt. The crypt has
3 levels; the first two are structured like the ancient elven ruins in Maj'Eyal
while the third is a boss fight level. All the monsters on the first two levels
can pass through walls (they're shades of random things). The boss fight is a
bit of a challenge: in general, you want to hammer on the boss until he summons
his unique thing (you'll know it when you see it), and then you'll want to keep
his unique summon between you and him, while trying to kill his summon.
Defeating his summon unlocks something at character creation. You can choose to
leave now, or you can stay and kill the boss for more xp and gear.


After leaving the crypt, on to the pit. Defeating the boss at the end of the pit
lessens the frequency of orc patrols appearing, so even if you find the dungeon
to be a bit morally questionable to be fighting in here, remember that. It's 5
levels long and filled with just orcs, nothing too special. Some of the
summoners (and the boss) cannot move, and some of the weaker things here slow
you. This can be painful if you get attacked by more than one thing at a time,
so be careful.


Once the boss is dead, recall when ready and it's on to the Vor Armoury, where
you can begin your quest to return to Maj'Eyal. The first level of the Armoury
is structured a bit like Dreadfall or Kor'Pul, but be very careful here: you'll
find a lot of orc pyromancers and cryomancers, these are two of the more deadly
orc varieties. The second level is going to be a bit harder: This time, there
are more open areas for the spellcasting orcs to gank you, and when you start to
gank them, there's a chance their phase door will take them inside the room with
the boss, which will instantly get the boss to start chasing you down. This is
-probably- a good thing because he's a fighter-type monster and the areas before
his room are much more cramped. But he's still a boss and you'll probably be
fighting him and a few of his mage "buddies" at once. The thing you need to get
back to Maj'Eyal is in the boss's starting room and you'll be informed that
you've picked it up. There's A LOT of gear in this room, be sure to explore it
all. One last thing, there's a vault on this level. I'll make this simple:


DO NOT OPEN THAT VAULT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING OR ARE CHEATING.


It's intended to be a death-trap and unless you get it "bugged" without its most
powerful defenders, you will almost certainly die very quickly. If you got an
artefact tome which gave you a quest, it might behoove you to put off talking
about the quest with the person until you've returned to the East from Maj'Eyal,
as it removes him from the game until you complete the quest.


Recall when you please, and it's back to Gates of Morning. But wait, you were
supposed to have two items and you only found one in the Armoury. Surprise
surprise, he points you to a dungeon far to the south in the desert.


The location differs every time you get a character this far; you may need to do
some exploring. This is a one-level sand-pit. It's probably a good idea to just
sit and wait for the boss to come to you, but be careful: he can be difficult.
The level is quite large, and can be a good spot to get free gems. I once found
a nice artefact here; it stands to reason that you can find it or any number of
other artefacts here as well. Recall as you please once you've collected the
quest item, and once in Gates of Morning you can go back to Maj'Eyal once the
quest is completed.