Sadri Gate Neck

Walkthrough

Sadri Gate Neck
Quest giver	Keeper Avanad
Starting Zone	Sadri Malath
Other Zone(s)	Stinger's Bog Keep of Mielech Mielech's Lair
Suggested Level Range	51 - 60
Quest items used	A Beating Heart A Writhing Larva An Ancient Text A Rotted Mind A Flesh Mask A Sickly-Smelling Vial An Ancient Dagger A Bloodstained Letter An Ornate Box
Item Reward(s)	Keeper's Necklace
Currency Reward	40 5
Experience Reward	14500

Find Keeper Avanad (Sadri Malath  at 315, -75  • Between the Forge and Aug Vendor) .

You say, 'Hail, Keeper Avanad'

Keeper Avanad says, 'Hail, Player. You look like a worthy sort, and I've worthy work. Perhaps we can help one another.'

You say, 'What sort of work?'

Keeper Avanad says, 'The work is a simple one: travel to the Stinger's Bog, find Stinger, kill her and bring me her heart. You'll be paid for your time.'

You say, 'What's so important about the heart?'

Keeper Avanad says, 'There's no paucity of purposes for which a keeper might find such a thing profitable, but all are to be kept purely to that Keeper's keeping. My reasons, put simply, are my own.'

You say, 'Who is Stinger?'

Keeper Avanad says, 'Stinger herself is a larger specimin of the mosquitos which hunt the bog. Unlike her brethren, she feasts almost exclusively on frogloks. You can find her near Mielech.'

Gather and give A Beating Heart to Keeper Avanad.

Keeper Avanad takes the heart and turns it over in his hands, his eyes blinking with asynchronous worry.

Keeper Avanad says, 'This is what I wanted and it means all I feared. Here is your payment, Llyver. I'm sorry for getting you mixed into this business this far. This is a private matter, and I can't expect anyone else to help further than you have.'

You say, 'Help? With what?'

Keeper Avanad says, 'With madness, darkness, and corruption. In a word: Mielech.'

You say, 'I would like to know more.'

Keeper Avanad says, 'You would? Then perhaps this keeper misjudged you, Llyver, and for that he apologizes. Ask me when you've ample time to hear the story behind all this, as it is quite long.'

You say, 'There's no time like the present.'

Keeper Avanad says, 'I heard of Stinger from a froglok, but not one from Sadri Malath--I heard of it from one of our forsaken cousins from Mielech. I found him lost and frightened, wandering the south wastes, nearly dead from dehydration. He was beyond speach, and half mad, which I took to be from his thirst. I did not recognize him for what he was at that time. I took him in, nursed him to health from the brink of death. He stayed in my home, bedridden, for a fortnight. Perhaps it was my kindess, or perhaps it was whatever cast him out of Mielech in the first place, or perhaps it was him watching the civilized frogloks, but he spoke to me as a friend when he was able.'

You say, 'What? Mielech's frogloks don't talk to anyone.'

Keeper Avanad says, 'I know that fact well--I have studied Mielech's denizens all my life. This froglok was confused, skittish, more than a little insane, and always terrified. But he spoke. To me, an outsider. He said many things, most of which I could not understand--his accent was awful and he lapsed often into screaming fugues. But I learned this: The Mielech frogloks did not fear Stinger even as she ate them, for it was they who made her. Her heart was needed to know that the things the injured froglok told this keeper were true, and not just more madness. As it happens, both possibilities were correct.'

You say, 'What would you have me do?'

Keeper Avanad sighs. 'Did you know that frogloks are born in upper Mielech, and as they age they descend? Or that the scarabs they employ are the adult phase of a creature that spends most of its life inside a froglok host? There is so much to know, too much.' He shakes his head. 'There is a mystery in Mielech and this keeper means to solve it. You can be offered little save my gratitude, and enmeshing yourself in this business may mean your death. If you understand and wish to continue, it is time for you to meet my froglok for yourself. Seek him out in Mielech. He returned there as soon as he could walk.'

Find a sane froglok (Keep of Mielech  at 873, -765, -193  • In a jail cell between named camps.) in a jail cell between named camps.

You say, 'Hail, a sane froglok'

a sane froglok says, 'For us, to know them is to know from where we fell long ago, and for them, to know us is to see what they might yet become. Is it fair that he should try to lift us up even as we pull them down?'

You say, 'Avanad sent me'

a sane froglok says, 'You who come from the High Ones, with the stench of them on your mind. What is it you seek? To hear what we hear? When you find it, it finds you, they say.'

You say, 'Hear what?'

a sane froglok says, 'I can, yes, even now, loud in my mind, I sought it out to quiet it, sheltered nearby so I am not struck deaf. The keeper sees me here so I may hear him speak over it, and it was loud, so loud in his home. I will make ready the way with him while you fetch a little death, a big lie, a poisoned mind and a mask to hide it. Bring them to Keeper Avanad.'

You say, 'What do you mean by a little death?'

a sane froglok says, 'The dark beetles hide in the walls, hungry for what they can no longer have, the insides of the strongest filled to bursting with frustration and children both. They try to wriggle into your head but they crack it when they can't fit. Kill it and keep safe its child.'

You say, 'How do I fetch a lie?'

a sane froglok says, 'A blind historian clutches her books and protects them with her life. Take them from her. She needs them more than us but others need them the most.'

You say, 'Where might I find this mask?'

a sane froglok says, 'Little Tyka plays alone near the big pond, the picture of innocent youth, but he is neither. Draw him away, kill him, then again. Expect him to fight for your life, for he covets it greatly.'

You say, 'Who's mind are we talking about?'

a sane froglok says, 'The eldest has one. I wonder, did he poison it or did it poison him? Can he even remember?'

Gather and give Keeper Avanad:

• A Writhing Larva
• An Ancient Text
• A Rotted Mind
• A Flesh Mask

Note: Kill the placeholder Tyka (Sadri Malath  at -145, 325  •) to spawn an infested corpse.

Keeper Avanad says, 'Those three will make the vial he wanted, but what is the tome for?' Keeper Avanad shakes his head. 'Take this back to the froglok. Should you need another vial, return to this keeper and you will be resupplied. It has illusion magic in it, so when our friend asks for it, be sure not to have any illusions of your own active.

Keeper Avanad hands you a faintly glowing vial, and speaks softly to himself. 'This keeper is trying to understand, Mad One. Show him the way.'

Note: The reagents supplied will make many doses. Should you lose it, you can return to the keeper for a new one.

You receive A Sicky-Smelling Vial from Keeper Avanad.

Give A Sicky-Smelling Vial to a sane froglok and he will cast an annointed froglok illusion on you.

Note: Make sure to not have any other illusion buff, as the annointed froglok illusion will not override it, forcing you to have to run all the way back to Keeper Avanad for a new vial.

a sane froglok takes the vial and uncorks it. Slowly, he draws a dagger and cuts into his hand. The blood drips into the potion with a hiss and a tiny puff of foul smoke. He motions for you to bow as he anoints you with the viscous oil--your image shimmers.

a sane froglok says, 'You are ready, for our purposes if not theirs. Go to the chamber of sacrifice, and there meet the frogloks who wait for you. You must enter the chamber alone. They will discover our tricks but it will be too late, the slayer will have stirred. When you are able, head toward the execution room, and bring help if you think it necessary. Give what you find back to the keeper.'

Your image shimmers.

A hush falls over the sacrificial room. Wise adventurers head for cover.

Note: Chamber of Sacrifice is the Necro Room to the East. Execution Room is towards the south.

Enter the Chamber of Sacrfice alone; you will be placed upon the Altar of Sacrifice.

The Faceless Cultist reaches into an ornate box and produces a bag. Visible inside are countless writhing scarab larvae. The other cultists use their bloody daggers to trace runes on the wall.

The runes on the wall stir as the Faceless Cultist's chanting gets louder. Your name is written again and again and again, coating the walls and cieling, scrawled by clumsy unseen froglok hands.

Chaotic magical energies burst from the runes as the words melt and swim before your eyes!

a blood cultist is stunned by feedback!

a blood cultist is stunned by feedback!

Faceless Cultist shrieks, 'LIAR! OUTSIDER! FALSE ONE! THE GIFT WAS NOT YOURS! THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!' Wounded, the Faceless Cultist flees to the execution room.

You are unstunned.

Note: The cultists will be after you - leave the room and back to your party. Go toward the Execution Room and kill the Faceless Cultist and two more Blood Cultists.

Loot An Ancient Dagger from Faceless Cultist.

Give An Ancient Dagger to Keeper Avanad.

Keeper Avanad says, 'This is what the Mad One found for you? Or you for him? Perhaps both. This keeper understands now. There is one last thing I must ask our Mad One.'

Note: Keeper Avanad dissappears and appears five minutes later.

You say, 'Hail, Keeper Avanad'

You thought for a moment that this Taldorian was Keeper Avanad, but as you get closer, the difference becomes clear.

Note: A fake! Why a fake? Because the fool decided he was the intended sacrifice for the Blood Cult.

Return to a sane froglok.

You say, 'Hail, a sane froglok'

a sane froglok says, 'Chasing the keeper, are you? Follow me, quick and quiet, to see what has been wrought. The room of sacrifice awaits.'

a sane froglok begins to cast a spell. a sane froglok fades away.

Return to the Sacrifice Room.

Note: Again, your party must stay behind. A sane froglok will be just to the left of the entrance - don't wander any farther into the room than necessary to hail him.

You say, 'Hail, a sane froglok'

A sane froglok motions about him. You can still see on the walls, scrawled hundreds and hundreds of times in froglok blood, the name of Keeper Avanad. 'He waits in the execution room, not too late for you to save.'

Return to the Execution Room. Kill Keeper Avanad!

Note: He is a level 60 Wizard who cast aoe's.

Keeper Avanad whispers, his voice distant, 'One thousand times one thousand will your suffering be, you who are condemned to balance the scale. Betrayed by your brother and your master, sent to rot in the depths of darkness and covet forever the light. So shall you call yourselves, so shall you be: Mielech, the oldest word for condemned, the newest word for betrayal.'

You have slain Keeper Avanad!

Loot An Ornate Box and A Bloodstained Letter.

Give An Ornate Box and A Bloodstained Letter to a sane froglok.

A sane froglok takes the letter. 'His letter is for me, but I have no use for the contents of the box. Take it. I hope you learned what you hoped to from his dying breath, for you'll get no answers from me.'

You receive Keeper's Necklace from a sane froglok.