Thinking About the Quest Reclamation

One of my quest runs over the past weekend was in the quest Reclamation.  Reclamation is one of two quests in Ataraxia’s Haven, a fun but tough explorer zone at around the level 7 to 14 area that is chalk full of duergar, scrags, wildmen, hyenas, scorpions, rust monsters, spiders, and razor cats.  The two quests in that area are both level 10 quests on Normal and Erdrique (Level 13 Druid) is currently working on finishing those quests up on elite, which promptly brought him to the Ataraxia’s Haven explorer area.

Erdrique and his earth elemental fighting the duergar in the Mineshaft in Ataraxia’s Haven.

Reclamation is an interesting quest but can be extremely difficult on elite if you aren’t prepared.  The quests has three primary types of enemies: duergar, adamantine defenders, and rust monsters.  There is also a named, but optional, earth elemental at the end of the quest.  The duergar have among their ranks a variety of melee forces and a number of duergar scouts who seem to have an affinity for pelting unwary adventurers with acid doused arrows.  The main objective of the quest is to destroy the mining operation by defeating the duergar in the dungeon, which is named Mineshaft IV.  The quest giver is a druid by the name of Leros Levithas right at the entrance to Ataraxia’s Haven.

There are a couple things to remember about this quest.  First, as soon as you enter the quest take care not to run forward.  If you do, you will fall down a very well disguised pit to the bottom of the mine into a pool of water.  Then you will have to make your up the shaft.  Second, make sure to never draw too much aggro as the duergar are swarmers and really like to dominate you by sheer number and to attempt to overwhelm you.  Not to mention duergar cannot be paralyzed or held which makes their aggro management a little tricky.

Erdrique going for a swim in the Mineshaft to find the final chamber.

However, one thing that came to my mind while running through the Mineshaft has to do with the bottom of the mind.  See to open up the last room you have to activate three large valves which control a large door that is located at the bottom of the mine.  However the bottom of the mine is actually a small pool, that is relatively deep.  To get to the last room you have to swim through this small pool and come out another hole at the bottom of the mine.  This particular room not only has the last named bad guy but it also has a plethora of other enemies.  Now, I’m not sure, but I was under the impression that the duergar aren’t the best of swimmers and I wonder how in the world did they get all of their mining gear down there, as it appears to me, that the primary door is the only way into the last room.  However, there is a large earth elemental in this room as well.  Perhaps the earth elemental was in service to the duergar and helped them establish their stronghold…hm…maybe.

In either case, if you enter the Mineshaft IV take your time with the duergar and don’t run immediately forward when you enter.  The Mineshaft is quite challenging and it makes me wonder if there are three other Mineshaft 😛 ?  Thanks for reading everybody and happy hunting!!!