EQDiva

Just curious - what are some good quests or 'miniraids' (termed so for the sense of adventure) for the 40s bard. Looking for things doable solo, or with a 3-6 person 40s group. This is meant for those of us tired of mindlessly leveling or LDoN'ing - so looking for reward and challenge here - not exp- Thanks ) What I have done or thought of - Clear Crystal Caverns (queen) - Aria of Asceticism quest - Burnoose of the Halfbreed - Jaggedpine - Mask of Deception - Lower Guk - Bag of Sewn Evil-Eye - Lower Guk - Assist shaman with Stoicism quest - Beginnings of epic Lol my list draws short. Hopefully someone can add some!

Hmmm, no new suggestions here, just some feedback: Aria of Asceticism quest may be too easy, and probably heavily camped. Mask of Deception - Lower Guk WAY too easy. Soloable in the upper 30s with decent gear. Bag of Sewn Evil-Eye - Lower Guk Even easier, soloable in mid 30s, with decent faction on Live Guk side. Beginnings of epic Highly advised. Neze and Eldrig should be a good challenge, and not the easiest to find. Having a group makes it all the better. (note, still working on those two at 57 now but school takes priority.) Tenosh on Prexus.

Ill disagree with tenamin on one point although the degree of difficulty will depend upon the gear you have. The Aria of Asceticsim would be a challange for a mid-low 40s group. While the bard can be solo'ed by swarming in the 50s resists would kill you in the mid 40s. Dulak in general would be a good place to go especally if you fought your way to the bar and held it. For other suggestions: The ice forge shackles is a fun but somewhat long quest. Likewise doing the entrance to kael (either side) would be good and has an advantage that you can go as deep as you can handle. Kedge is a great zone even if you dont want to try phini but get a good map. Just going through kedge will feel like a raid.

Tenamin, you managed to get yourself a Mask of Deception in your mid thirties? Do tell.

i got mine in the mid 20's. full group mid 20, with a lvl 55 shaman babysitting us (i was duel boxing). once the room was cleared, it was easy dealing with the mobs as they poped.

I Got a Mask of Decption just 2 days ago. I was lvl 37. Freaking CAKE to get down here. Bards have the Tools to accomplish this with a bit of challenge, but worth trying. I am well geared so maybe someone with less wouldn't be too advisable. Items needed: IVU potions. 1 Gate potion Solid gear Huge Cahones Buy 10 dose IVU (invis undead) potions. This will get you to the batroom if you follow the guide on this site. I tried the run past immediately but always had 2 Bats agro. Charm one, let em fight it out (This part was scary as hell), Kill the one that survived. Once past that point IVU back up. and follow the guide all the way to Assassin room. If not camped then you have a small challenge. When I was there Assassin saw me through IVU, or regular Camo. All 3 mobs agroed, Got smished first try. CR back with the same strategy. Got there, pulled corpse into the corridor to the left right next to the ladder to Assassin room. Looted up. IVU then sat watching the area for a bit, there is one roamer that walks past this area so time it right and you can do it. Once I got timing figured out I managed to get a mob targeted by clicking along the area atop the ladder (guess what it was the assassin). Lulled him, quickly IVUed up the ladder target another mob, Lull it, then pull the other mob. By this time Lull had worn off on the Assassin. YUCK!!! I got two pull. Quickly charmed the Mob I pulled and sicked him on the Assassin. They fought a bit, charm wore off a couple times, Got him re-charmed and let em go at it again. Roamer came around, Mezz him. Assassin killed my pet eventually, but by this time the Assassin was at 23% life. He turns at 20% so it didn't take long. Slow/Snare song, and hacked him down the rest of the way. Keeping other mob Mezzed as it wears off. I ended up looting the mask at 10% life with 1 mezzed mob. I kept him in the safe corner at the left of the ladder to Assassin room while twisting heal and Mezz songs. Got myself to 100%. Charmed the mezzed mob, sicked him on a Mob in another room, ran back to my safe spot, clicked Gate potion back to PoK with my mask in my bag.. And I had a blast too boot. I love a good personal challenge.

The Eye of the Owlbear Mother, a FT1 range item that is an uncommon drop from Skriat Chakku, who spawns in the Vah Shir fort after the owlbears win the Hollowshade War (with a little help from you!). A decent group of mid-40s should be able to do this, though depending on your levels it can be quite a challenge, especially if you have a less-than-full group. You'll probably want/have to do it multiple times, so the challenge can also be to see how you can improve your performance, succeed with fewer people, etc. [i]Molto Espressivo[/i], the all-bard guild on Firiona Vie, does it fairly often in groups of 3 to 6 bards, and one of our ex-members has soloed it at 52. There are a lot of good guides on the war floating around, so give it a try. One thing that I haven't seen in any guide to the Hollowshade war is that the sonic wolf defenders (you'll know what that means if you check out a guide) seem weaker if you can have them in the owlbear caves to the north, rather than their home cave in the east. This may help a little if you are having trouble or find yourself underpowered.

I have one for you. Not too easily accomplished, but I did it solo last night at lvl 39. Gnoll Slayer. (Spoiler warning) Starts in Qeynos Hills. Go to the Merchant shack on the path and Hail Marton Sayer. I don't have exact text, but you can read that as you go. Basically his child is in danger blaah blaah. Head on over to Blackburrow, once inside run down to the spike room and sit down there looking toward the door down in the spike pit. This shouldn't take long at all. Lord Elgnub will eventually spawn. Kill him and loot the Baby Joseph Sayer. This part will be cake easy. Now head back to the shack and give Marton his child back he will repay you with a Gnoll Slayer (crappy version) and tell you to be aware of it's true potential. Now to finish it up you'll have to run over to South Karana and zone into Infected Paw. Once inside you'll want to sing the invis song run back to the double doors go through them, then another door straight ahead. You'll come to a short bridge, walk to the middle of the bridge and jump off of the right side. You should from there be able to see a door just ahead and to the left. Go through that door and there will be a single Gnoll standing by a campfire. 9 times outa 10 it'll be a One Eyed Gnoll. You'll want to kill him and loot a Gnolls Eye. If it isn't the One Eye, kill the Placeholder. One Eye is a very common spawn so this shouldn't take long, he is Warrior type so no worries about casting. He was a bit of a tough fight straight Melee for me at lvl 39. The battle ended with me at 30% life, and I mezzed him and healed up about halfway through the fight. FYI he heals up as fast as you do with your song. This doesn't help much. Now you'll want to go back out the door you came in, take a left and follow the trail around (but not up) some steps. As long as you go through no doors or up no steps you'll run right into a room with two gnolls in it. First Spawn on the left is a Leth Mal Scribe (spelling may be off) or it's placeholder. The Scribe is an Enchanter class mob, can be a major pain in the butt, but shouldn't pose too much of a threat. The scribe is the guy you are looking for. You'll wanna kill him and loot a Journal (dunno exact name of item.) Once again, same as the One Eye, it is a VERY common spawn so you shouldn't have to clear more than one or two placeholders. The other will be a standard Paw mob. I stayed invised and healed back up from the One Eye fight, and watched for roamers and such. One roamer came by for a couple seconds and didn't see him again for quite a while. Here is how the Battle happened: I started off Charming the second mob and sicking him on the Scribe. Well I dunno about resists or what, but charm never stuck for more than a couple seconds, so I just kept him mezzed. I Twisted nothing more than my standard melee lineup. Slow, Heal, Haste songs. And straight up meleed. Scribe landed a couple DoTs, instill, Slow, and Mezzed me 3 times. But once again as long as you keep your Snare/Slow song on him his melee is totally gimp so you'll not take much damage at all. Just keep fighting. It'll take a few minutes, and a few mezzes on the extra mob, but you should be able to take him out. And loot the Journal (again exact name escapes me). Once you have your crappy Gnoll Slayer, Your Gnoll Eye, and your Journal, head back to Marton Sayer and give them all back to him. He'll return to you a Full Version of the Gnoll Slayer. While it looks like a crappy weapon (it is by todays standards) take a closer look. You now have a right clicky of the lvl 34 shaman pet that you can use as early as lvl 34. Don't have to worry about this one breaking charm, and it is quite fun to play round with. I redo this quest with my Ranger every time I use one up. Here are the stats: Gnoll Slayer Primary/Secondary No Drop Skill: 1HS Attack Delay:40 DMG: 15 Bane Damage: Gnoll + 10 Charges: 2 Effect: Companion Spirit (casting time: Instant) Save Disease +25 Classes: War, Pal, Rng, Shd, Rog, Brd Race: All Slot 1: Type 4. Yes, your Warrior, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue can have a pet. This looks like a crappy weapon. But just for grins head back into Paw, equip a Wurmy in primary 40dly, 25dmg. And this in secondary 40dly, 25dmg (against gnolls). And smile as you watch them gnolls fall to you insanely fast. Fun weapon. This is too easy if you grab up a couple Warriors of Rogues to do the quest with you. And they'll jump at the chance to have a pet.