Sykem
08-02-2010, 02:10 PM
Was reading threads tonight and decided I needed to write down as many bizarre rumors / undiscovered quests / former sources of EQ fireside gossip as I could. One thing about EQ is that it was filled with so many strange and mysterious things, and as a kid playing EQ, this is what hooked me.
Some of these were real, some were partially implemented quests, some straight up myths, while some of these rumors were perhaps never fully understood.
- Fiery Avenger
This was such a controversy on the old newsgroup alt.games.the game in pre-PoF days. McQuaid's character, Aradune on Fennin Ro, wields a Flaming F--ing Sword! Omg! That bastard! Just because he made the game doesn't mean he can god-mode! Grr!
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn30/thaddeuskane/aradune.jpg
Not sure why everyone was so upset. I mean, if it's his game, he can give himself a flaming sword, right? Back then the stats were 35/45 and it procced Inferno Shock. And in post Beta days when the most hardcore weapon was the Razing Sword of Skarlon (25/45?)... This was a big deal.
He also wore a set of Splinted Green armour. So that's a set of Green plate-mail and a fiery Paladin sword outfitted on a ranger, damn!
At this point, there were only a few paladin holy blades in the game... The Ghoulbane, some Holy Truncheon weapon (a quest out of Rathe mountains, I believe) and the recently discovered Soulfire which shared the same graphic. Unfortunately, the Soulfire blew. So needless to say, the community was FILLED with rumors on how to achieve the Avenger.
If anybody remembers any of these rumors, feel free to post them here. Many involved killing Mayong Mistmoore, and other unattainable things. In fact, EQ conspiracy theorists would link together many unachievable aspects of the game as being part of some great, uber quest... usually with something like the Fiery Avenger as the final reward.
I remember lengthy posts from people with 'inside information' (my brother works at that company) about the great quest (first kill the Kraken, take its head to Mayong Mistmoore in a brown paper bag, then kill Mayong. Take both their heads to Veeshan, she'll teleport you to fight Aradune himself, if you win u get his sword... honestly guys)
With Plane of Air came the "real" Fiery Avenger quest, which uber guilds quickly jumped on (had to kill Miragul the Lich in the Everfrost Caves). When Kunark was released with the epics, the Fiery Avenger was just a quest-piece to get the much better Fiery Defender.
- Razing Sword of Skarlon
On the same note, EQ'Lizer released the newly discovered Razing Sword of Skarlon on their site sometime around May or June of 1999. The guild that leaked its existence refused to name where it came from due to the immense power of the weapon (lol). However, they did say it was from a 50+ monster that took multiple groups to kill.
Rumors abound. Maybe from King Ak'anon? Or the giant lizard Allizewsaur? Or maybe even... the KRAKEN?
As it turns out, Warlord Skarlon dropped it. Fancy a guess a mob named "Skarlon" is going to drop a sword with the same name. But I suppose Nagafen raids were still rare enough back then that nobody knew to put these pieces together.
- The Kraken
Can't go by without mentioning the Kraken in the Ocean of Tears. Now keep in mind there were other Kraken sightings, including in Lake Rathetear and Erud's Crossing. But, most information on the forums concerned OOT.
Just like some paranormal creatures in real life, there were plenty of sightings but no proof (why no simple screenshot?!). Entering OOT for the first time, I recall being paranoid the Kraken would eat my poor character.
Eventually the consensus was that the Kraken existed in Beta, hence how people came up with this idea, but it was taken out after launch.
But here's the kicker. Despite claims that it was in Beta, there are still no screenshots in existence. So, nobody even knows what monster graphic the "Kraken" used. And if there were no screenshots in Beta, it begs the question... did it even exist in the first place?
My theory was no. It was complete bunk. It spread viral across EQ forums but it had no weight behind it, or else a screenshot from beta would have been procured. But please prove me wrong, if you have a screenshot show me!
- Ice Comet
In pre PoF days the Ice Comet was a mythical status spell. I don't think the quest was added until Paineel came out. So, how did people know about it? If I recall, I believe Lady Vox would sometimes drop it. Since Vox spawns once a week, required an army to kill, and Ice Comet was a rare drop, this mythical status was well deserved. Maybe 7 or 8 total players on EQ had the spell before the quest giver in Everfrost appeared.
Mayong Mistmoore
Another legendary myth like the Kraken. You know of the foreboding tower as you enter Mistmoore? Well few knew the secret to getting up there. Those that did told tales of the ruler of Mistmoore dwelling within. This sent chills into this level 20 noob visiting the dungeon for the first time.
Mistmoore even had his own mythical loot-table. He dropped the Fanged Skull Stiletto. I forget the stats, but it was really good.
Same with the Kraken, Mistmoore was an apparent beta-spawn. But, just like the Kraken, I've seen no proof of a Mistmoore NPC even in Beta. The only time Mistmoore has ever appeared is during a couple of GM events back in the day. Mistmoore was a GM controlled dark elf I believe, who opened up a can of whoop ass.
Otherwise, I don't think Mistmoore was ever a static NPC spawn with a loot-table. Only Garton Viswin (?) spawned in the tower. His rare was the Chestplate of the Dark Flame, which was also mythical in its own right.
- The Blackburrow Tunnel
I gotta include this one for laughs. First week of playing EQ the talk of Halas was that Blackburrow had a secret tunnel that connected ALL the way to the other gnoll dungeon, Splitpaw. The tunnel was in the Razorgill water pit, but it was hidden.
Razorgills murdered my ass when I tried to find it. Players were so adamant that it existed that I continued to believe in it until I realized a tunnel that long would be unfeasible, unless it was a transporter.
- Plane of Underfoot
Runnyeye Citadel after beta was such a strange and unexplored zone that rumors of things like a hidden passage into Brell Serilis' domain continued probably until at least Kunark. In an early guild I organized an expedition into Runnyeye to try and discover this El Dorado and other rumors. Our search team discovered a passage through the water near where the Dazed Goblin Knight spawned (the long room). At the bottom was a metal grate that we could swim through and enter some weird room. But it was empty. As we swam out, a bug trapped all of us inside of the metal grate and everyone drowned to death, and we had to call a GM to rescue us. Fun times.
I should mention the rumors continued with Brell Serilis' plane being part of, you guessed it, the Fiery Avenger quest.
- The Lavastorm Nightmare
A rare instance when an EQ cryptozoologist discovers the mythical rumors are actually true. Indeed, even before nightmares were introduced when PoF launched, the graphic existed in Lavastorm Mountains as the UBER rare spawn -- the level 20 black horse of death.
The nightmare dropped some kind of Nightmare Hide, graphics of a bear skin, and it procced a spell when you right clicked it. Playing EQ for over 6 years, I only saw the nightmare ONCE. To this day I'm curious if it had any undiscovered even rarer drops. I'd guesstimate the Nightmare was 5x rarer than the Terrorantula
- Dunedigger / Rahotep
Similar to the Nightmare, these guys were crazy rare, but real. The Scepter of Rahotep fetched a pretty penny at EC. Never saw Dunedigger in all my years on EQ. However I killed Rahotep maybe twice, picking up his Scarab Ring (+ all resists)
- Kedge Keep
This whole zone had a mythical status during early-days. I recall the EQ'Lizer website first busted the zone open when somebody used an explore-EQ style program to take a bunch of photos of the interior. The reason the big guilds never bothered with the place is that it had no loot-table until around when Paineel launched. So, nobody knew anything about the place. I was awe-inspired by Kedge and wanted desperately to get high enough level to explore the place and find undiscovered treasure.
- Mysterious geography
There were a lot of strange and hidden places. Where do the lava tunnels in the deepest depths of Solusek B go? Or the underwater caves in Lake Rathetear? These questions always invoked people's imaginations.
- King Xorbb
I just have to mention Xorbb. I played EQ for years and never saw Xorbb. Most people knew where he spawned. on that bloody throne in Gorge of King Xorbb, guarded by the two named-evil eyes.
Sometimes Lord Soptvyl would appear there. But never Xorbb and his elusive Slime Crystal Staff and the rest of the mysterious items on his loot table that I've never seen with my own eyes.
Anyone have any real stories of encountering Xorbb?
- NPC Guildmasters / Kings
The King of Kaladim, guildmasters, and other city NPCs were very hard to kill. Nobody ever did it. So rumors were abound that they had rare loot tables, or were part of bigger clandestine quests.
All I know specifically is the monk guildmasters would sometimes drop black sashes. Newbie monks, of course, did sash quests as they leveled, and the final "test" was to defeat your own master and earn his sash. Never saw one of these sashes, however.
- The Blued Two Handed Hammer
I had to save this one for last. A quest so puzzling that it always bordered between the real, and the unreal. Attempting to solve the quest would drive many adventurers mad.
Most would agree that it began, or involved, the visiting Priestess of Najena. I believe she would sometimes drop a block of blue clay, or something of that sort. She'd also babble something in Dark Elvish, which held clues to the quest.
Exploring EQ lore, we learn of the origin of the Goblins. Each Goblin race was apparently represented by a staff that dated back to their creation by someone like Brell or Rallos Zek (I can't remember any of these details). But the staffs were in game.
The story went further and further. A lot of players found clues by talking to NPCs in Neriak and elsewhere. The priestess had some clandestine purpose in Najena, which detective quest-solvers figured out and created elaborate posts about on sites like Everlore.
I don't remember too many more details except most staffs were accessible from rare spawns in the Goblin dungeons. The Fire and Ice Crystal staffs were no big deal to find. But the problem was the Slime Crystal Staff.
We knew that Xorbb dropped the staff, but Xorbb is / was so rare that it was futile. The second rumor suggested that Slime Elementals in Runnyeye dropped the staff.
In search of the staff, I camped the Slime Elemental for a very long time (this was before slimer had the graphic of a gelatinous cube... he used to look like a fire elemental). I never did find the staff, and therefore could never finish the blued hammer quest.
In the end, I believe those who finally did retrieve the hammer found it was a piece of crap.... some 20/40 weapon. But, I don't think that was even the point... The goal was to just say you did it.
Some of these were real, some were partially implemented quests, some straight up myths, while some of these rumors were perhaps never fully understood.
- Fiery Avenger
This was such a controversy on the old newsgroup alt.games.the game in pre-PoF days. McQuaid's character, Aradune on Fennin Ro, wields a Flaming F--ing Sword! Omg! That bastard! Just because he made the game doesn't mean he can god-mode! Grr!
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn30/thaddeuskane/aradune.jpg
Not sure why everyone was so upset. I mean, if it's his game, he can give himself a flaming sword, right? Back then the stats were 35/45 and it procced Inferno Shock. And in post Beta days when the most hardcore weapon was the Razing Sword of Skarlon (25/45?)... This was a big deal.
He also wore a set of Splinted Green armour. So that's a set of Green plate-mail and a fiery Paladin sword outfitted on a ranger, damn!
At this point, there were only a few paladin holy blades in the game... The Ghoulbane, some Holy Truncheon weapon (a quest out of Rathe mountains, I believe) and the recently discovered Soulfire which shared the same graphic. Unfortunately, the Soulfire blew. So needless to say, the community was FILLED with rumors on how to achieve the Avenger.
If anybody remembers any of these rumors, feel free to post them here. Many involved killing Mayong Mistmoore, and other unattainable things. In fact, EQ conspiracy theorists would link together many unachievable aspects of the game as being part of some great, uber quest... usually with something like the Fiery Avenger as the final reward.
I remember lengthy posts from people with 'inside information' (my brother works at that company) about the great quest (first kill the Kraken, take its head to Mayong Mistmoore in a brown paper bag, then kill Mayong. Take both their heads to Veeshan, she'll teleport you to fight Aradune himself, if you win u get his sword... honestly guys)
With Plane of Air came the "real" Fiery Avenger quest, which uber guilds quickly jumped on (had to kill Miragul the Lich in the Everfrost Caves). When Kunark was released with the epics, the Fiery Avenger was just a quest-piece to get the much better Fiery Defender.
- Razing Sword of Skarlon
On the same note, EQ'Lizer released the newly discovered Razing Sword of Skarlon on their site sometime around May or June of 1999. The guild that leaked its existence refused to name where it came from due to the immense power of the weapon (lol). However, they did say it was from a 50+ monster that took multiple groups to kill.
Rumors abound. Maybe from King Ak'anon? Or the giant lizard Allizewsaur? Or maybe even... the KRAKEN?
As it turns out, Warlord Skarlon dropped it. Fancy a guess a mob named "Skarlon" is going to drop a sword with the same name. But I suppose Nagafen raids were still rare enough back then that nobody knew to put these pieces together.
- The Kraken
Can't go by without mentioning the Kraken in the Ocean of Tears. Now keep in mind there were other Kraken sightings, including in Lake Rathetear and Erud's Crossing. But, most information on the forums concerned OOT.
Just like some paranormal creatures in real life, there were plenty of sightings but no proof (why no simple screenshot?!). Entering OOT for the first time, I recall being paranoid the Kraken would eat my poor character.
Eventually the consensus was that the Kraken existed in Beta, hence how people came up with this idea, but it was taken out after launch.
But here's the kicker. Despite claims that it was in Beta, there are still no screenshots in existence. So, nobody even knows what monster graphic the "Kraken" used. And if there were no screenshots in Beta, it begs the question... did it even exist in the first place?
My theory was no. It was complete bunk. It spread viral across EQ forums but it had no weight behind it, or else a screenshot from beta would have been procured. But please prove me wrong, if you have a screenshot show me!
- Ice Comet
In pre PoF days the Ice Comet was a mythical status spell. I don't think the quest was added until Paineel came out. So, how did people know about it? If I recall, I believe Lady Vox would sometimes drop it. Since Vox spawns once a week, required an army to kill, and Ice Comet was a rare drop, this mythical status was well deserved. Maybe 7 or 8 total players on EQ had the spell before the quest giver in Everfrost appeared.
Mayong Mistmoore
Another legendary myth like the Kraken. You know of the foreboding tower as you enter Mistmoore? Well few knew the secret to getting up there. Those that did told tales of the ruler of Mistmoore dwelling within. This sent chills into this level 20 noob visiting the dungeon for the first time.
Mistmoore even had his own mythical loot-table. He dropped the Fanged Skull Stiletto. I forget the stats, but it was really good.
Same with the Kraken, Mistmoore was an apparent beta-spawn. But, just like the Kraken, I've seen no proof of a Mistmoore NPC even in Beta. The only time Mistmoore has ever appeared is during a couple of GM events back in the day. Mistmoore was a GM controlled dark elf I believe, who opened up a can of whoop ass.
Otherwise, I don't think Mistmoore was ever a static NPC spawn with a loot-table. Only Garton Viswin (?) spawned in the tower. His rare was the Chestplate of the Dark Flame, which was also mythical in its own right.
- The Blackburrow Tunnel
I gotta include this one for laughs. First week of playing EQ the talk of Halas was that Blackburrow had a secret tunnel that connected ALL the way to the other gnoll dungeon, Splitpaw. The tunnel was in the Razorgill water pit, but it was hidden.
Razorgills murdered my ass when I tried to find it. Players were so adamant that it existed that I continued to believe in it until I realized a tunnel that long would be unfeasible, unless it was a transporter.
- Plane of Underfoot
Runnyeye Citadel after beta was such a strange and unexplored zone that rumors of things like a hidden passage into Brell Serilis' domain continued probably until at least Kunark. In an early guild I organized an expedition into Runnyeye to try and discover this El Dorado and other rumors. Our search team discovered a passage through the water near where the Dazed Goblin Knight spawned (the long room). At the bottom was a metal grate that we could swim through and enter some weird room. But it was empty. As we swam out, a bug trapped all of us inside of the metal grate and everyone drowned to death, and we had to call a GM to rescue us. Fun times.
I should mention the rumors continued with Brell Serilis' plane being part of, you guessed it, the Fiery Avenger quest.
- The Lavastorm Nightmare
A rare instance when an EQ cryptozoologist discovers the mythical rumors are actually true. Indeed, even before nightmares were introduced when PoF launched, the graphic existed in Lavastorm Mountains as the UBER rare spawn -- the level 20 black horse of death.
The nightmare dropped some kind of Nightmare Hide, graphics of a bear skin, and it procced a spell when you right clicked it. Playing EQ for over 6 years, I only saw the nightmare ONCE. To this day I'm curious if it had any undiscovered even rarer drops. I'd guesstimate the Nightmare was 5x rarer than the Terrorantula
- Dunedigger / Rahotep
Similar to the Nightmare, these guys were crazy rare, but real. The Scepter of Rahotep fetched a pretty penny at EC. Never saw Dunedigger in all my years on EQ. However I killed Rahotep maybe twice, picking up his Scarab Ring (+ all resists)
- Kedge Keep
This whole zone had a mythical status during early-days. I recall the EQ'Lizer website first busted the zone open when somebody used an explore-EQ style program to take a bunch of photos of the interior. The reason the big guilds never bothered with the place is that it had no loot-table until around when Paineel launched. So, nobody knew anything about the place. I was awe-inspired by Kedge and wanted desperately to get high enough level to explore the place and find undiscovered treasure.
- Mysterious geography
There were a lot of strange and hidden places. Where do the lava tunnels in the deepest depths of Solusek B go? Or the underwater caves in Lake Rathetear? These questions always invoked people's imaginations.
- King Xorbb
I just have to mention Xorbb. I played EQ for years and never saw Xorbb. Most people knew where he spawned. on that bloody throne in Gorge of King Xorbb, guarded by the two named-evil eyes.
Sometimes Lord Soptvyl would appear there. But never Xorbb and his elusive Slime Crystal Staff and the rest of the mysterious items on his loot table that I've never seen with my own eyes.
Anyone have any real stories of encountering Xorbb?
- NPC Guildmasters / Kings
The King of Kaladim, guildmasters, and other city NPCs were very hard to kill. Nobody ever did it. So rumors were abound that they had rare loot tables, or were part of bigger clandestine quests.
All I know specifically is the monk guildmasters would sometimes drop black sashes. Newbie monks, of course, did sash quests as they leveled, and the final "test" was to defeat your own master and earn his sash. Never saw one of these sashes, however.
- The Blued Two Handed Hammer
I had to save this one for last. A quest so puzzling that it always bordered between the real, and the unreal. Attempting to solve the quest would drive many adventurers mad.
Most would agree that it began, or involved, the visiting Priestess of Najena. I believe she would sometimes drop a block of blue clay, or something of that sort. She'd also babble something in Dark Elvish, which held clues to the quest.
Exploring EQ lore, we learn of the origin of the Goblins. Each Goblin race was apparently represented by a staff that dated back to their creation by someone like Brell or Rallos Zek (I can't remember any of these details). But the staffs were in game.
The story went further and further. A lot of players found clues by talking to NPCs in Neriak and elsewhere. The priestess had some clandestine purpose in Najena, which detective quest-solvers figured out and created elaborate posts about on sites like Everlore.
I don't remember too many more details except most staffs were accessible from rare spawns in the Goblin dungeons. The Fire and Ice Crystal staffs were no big deal to find. But the problem was the Slime Crystal Staff.
We knew that Xorbb dropped the staff, but Xorbb is / was so rare that it was futile. The second rumor suggested that Slime Elementals in Runnyeye dropped the staff.
In search of the staff, I camped the Slime Elemental for a very long time (this was before slimer had the graphic of a gelatinous cube... he used to look like a fire elemental). I never did find the staff, and therefore could never finish the blued hammer quest.
In the end, I believe those who finally did retrieve the hammer found it was a piece of crap.... some 20/40 weapon. But, I don't think that was even the point... The goal was to just say you did it.