The Hidden Forest

I've had this in the DR subforum for awhile now....Figured it's time to share with the server. Enjoy!!

!!Spoiler Alert!!

Lower Ascent

There are 4 different areas in the lower level of the zone. Random trash from each area drops a specific Mark....

Mark of the Wild - Cats webtools/items.php?id=120794
Mark of the Wind - Drakes webtools/items.php?id=120795
Mark of the Dark - Spiders webtools/items.php?id=120796
Mark of the Wicked - Goblins webtools/items.php?id=120797

Once you loot a Mark, turn it in to the Statue of the same type located in each area. Once you turn it in, you will spawn a named Guardian that will drop a corresponding Necklace when killed. The Guardians are T4 difficulty and don't bring any suprises.

Once you have killed the 4 Guardians and looted all 4 necklaces, make your way to the top of the lower level and turn them in to the Statue up top. You will spawn A Passage Guardian. Kill the Guardian and it drops webtools/items.php?id=120802, which is the key for the upper level of The Ascent. You will need one bracer for each character to get access to the upper level of the zone. You click on the gate to get to the upper level.

Upper Ascent

If you walk behind the gate on the upper level, you will find Bilo the Chained. When hailed, he says "Bound by magical chains I wait for the day Stone Smasher meets it fate."

Stone Smasher webtools/npc.php?id=339142 is an earth elemental that drops a Small Stone Key. Loot the key, hand it to Bilo the Chained and he will be replaced with a large dragon named Biloxx the Enraged. He shouts "Free at last! When next we meet, we shall not greet!" and flies away. This step can be skipped apparently, and I never saw this dragon again.

As you fight your way up the path, the trash will drop no rent creature parts. Make sure to grab one creature part for each toon, as you will need them shortly. You will run across an orc named Harmon Cartwiddle. He will ask for the creature part you have looted. Hand them in and you will take goblin form, allowing you to sneak by Glumgul the Slayer webtools/npc.php?id=339148 . FYI, he smacked my 5.5k ac cleric for 17k damage per hit. You can take him down if you choose not to sneak by him.

After killing some more trash on your way up, you will eventually end up meeting Kessadona the Enlightened. Talk to him and start the trials.

The first phase is to kill only the mobs that are aggressive to you, so be sure to /con everything before you kill it. If you kill an indifferent mob, you will fail the test. There are treasure chests laying around, but if you loot them, you will fail the test. Once you kill all the aggressive mobs, you will start the second phase.

For the second phase of the trial, a bunch of treasure chests pop. You have to open the chest that has the path to enlightenment. As you walk by each chest, you will get messages. Keep walking by chests until you find the right one. Loot the Seal of Enlightenment and talk to Glotal the Strong.

The third phase is to follow the Guardian of Strength and kill the mobs that spawn. There are multiple waves of this, and it isn't difficult. A chest will spawn and you will loot the Seal of Strength. Upon looting the seal, the final boss will spawn.

The final boss mob is a dragon named Rikkukin the Defender. Here is his loot: webtools/npc.php?id=339150

Each party member will also be rewarded with a Blue Adventurer Backpack.

Props to Mikuz for an awesome adventure!

Hmm think this post should get moved to the Guide section maybe ?

And it has reminded me that I have yet to finish the Ascent... Thanks

Let me add a few tidbits to this walkthru:

-the Passage Guardian drops six Rites of Passage. So only one of your group has to actually do the quest, i.e., collect all four different necklaces.

- doesn't matter who turns in the Mark to spawn a Guardian. Anyone can kill it and anyone can be the one who is doing the looting.

- I still don't know the purpose of Biloxx the Enraged. He only spawns for about three seconds, then despawns.

- the updated link for Stone Smasher is http://www.thehiddenforest.org/webtools/npcs.php?id=3

- take my advice and don't try to fight Glumgul the Slayer. He hits hard for a T6, and after 5 minutes of fighting him with a donored sk and necro pet, his HP only dropped by 2%.

- the above-mentioned creature part is Orc Toes http://www.thehiddenforest.org/webtools ... ?id=121004 . Only the cliffside orcs drop them. Sometimes you will be able gather all you need with one clearing, sometimes not.

- the orc illusion granted to your toons only seems to last a few minutes, so do the turn-in on the toons that are doing the fighting and clear an area past Glumgul that will be out of his agro range. Then illusion and run the rest of your group. I did not notice an illusion buff in the buff box.

- the reason why the Glumgul quest is called "Glumgul Waves" is because when a toon runs by him while wearing the orc illusion, a msg appears in chat saying something like "Glumgul waves at you".

- its safe to gather your group around Kessadona and leave your non-fighting toons there, so as to have them out of aggro range of respawns while you do the Kessadona stuff.

- when you kill the last scowling mob in phase one, you will get a green msg in chat saying you passed the first test.

- there will be lots of chests spawned for the second phase. All but one will say silly things. Only one will say (with green text) "The path to enlightenment resides within." When you open it, you will get yet another green success msg. It will also spawn Glotal the Strong.

- Glotal, after you hail and give the seal, will run to four spots in the area. He runs very slowly. He will stop at each spot and spawn 1-3 mobs at his feet and not continue until you have killed them. They seemed no stronger than the trash mobs you already killed in Upper Ascent. Killing the last spawn spawns a chest and despawns Glotal.

- When you loot the Seal of Strength, you will hear the backpack sound but the Seal itself just disappears.

- the updated link for Rikkukin the Defender is http://www.thehiddenforest.org/webtools ... ?id=339150 .

- when Rikkukin does, a window will popup in every group member's window, asking if he/she has an open main inventory slot.

Keep in mind that this is a timed instanced zone. It will last six hours unless you tell the porter that you want to "forget" it.

Nice walk-through, I did this one a few months ago, I made the first mistake when I forgot that my party was following and had not gotten orc disguise, my tank went down like a bag of rocks. I like the old quests, wish there were more of them. I like cruising back and forth and getting the shards, the final augments are nice even for a tier 8 character.