because i run either feast or famine, and i like to keep my promises, and - as a bonus - am able to kill 2 birds with one stone, as it were, i have to break up the attunement quest into 2 posts - and there will be a lot to see in both!  i already covered the basics in my previous post, so let's just jump into the quest itself, and you can go back if you need the wiki explanation for anything........

one of a couple good things about having to go back and do this quest again (several times, as it turns out, but that's part of the next post!) is that i found a much easier way to get to umbelroth than i had used before.  therefore, let's start all over from the very beginning!

start from the port pad, it's easiest.  head down like you were going to miemonus' cave, but swing off to the right and up the narrow path.  keep following the wall of the mountain until you find umbelroth.

okay, let me take a second to interrupt this quest.  if you want my advice, and i am assuming that's what you are here for - can't be my wit! - you will do 2 things before you start.  the first is:  go into options (hopefully, by now, you understand the blue gem and its contents), go into your last tab there (getting old sux, i can't remember if it too is called options, but it is the last tab), scroll down and disable mouselook.  its a new camera function and it sux.  it disables the normal right mouse click to move the camera view.  get rid of that before you 2):  bind to the dralk shrine.  this will be a big time and boredom saver, as you will come to see.  thanx for your attention, back to the quest!

listen to the dragon's speech and check your quest journal. umbelroth instructs you to bring some ash from the volcano to the south of the city, and this is a long run or a brief flight, depending your ability.  since i am still a hatchie, this means the run. this is not the timed part of your quest, so feel free to take your time with this.  head back the way you came until you get to the main road, which, by now, you should be very familiar with.

when you hit the crossroads, go forward instead of left.  keep running on this road until you see the funny looking 'snake head' (what i call it) rock formation.  if you keep on that road, you will soon reach the resource fields and the cave where you can find dargor on the lowest level.  but you need to swing right and stay on that road for this quest.

you will shortly come to another crossroads.  to get to the ravine (more on that next post), you would head down the left side.  but to get to the ash, you have to stay on this road as it winds thru several suburbs until you start to see the chained-in-place floating crystals.

follow the road under the crystal until you see the cave entrance on the cliff above and to your left.  as soon as you do, turn right and head thru the little valley between 2 rock formations.  continue along this course until you see the cauldron begin to appear.  climb up the side until your game log and quest journal register that you have collected the required ash.

it is here that i hope you bound to the dralk shrine, especially if you end up having to do the quest more than once.  recall and head back to umbelroth with the ash.  click the links until you get to the 'go swiftly' part - your quest journal will update - and this will begin the timed part of the quest.  you will need to get this next bit down before the ash cools (not sure how long actually, but not long.  no longer than 15 minutes, certainly, prolly more like 10).

so, come back soon to find out how to finish this quest.  it is a tale of some woe and being a bit of a wussy, so it should be interesting!

okay, here's the deal.  i am about to introduce you to umbelroth, who in turn with give you an attunement quest to drakul, which you need to get to monsoon, an epic boss you need to defeat as part of the lunus rite of passage for ancienthood.  and i did find umbelroth, and i did take the quest.  but, it is a timed thing and i was concentrating on the trainer stuff.  so i ran out of time to complete it.  in addition, i thought i had got screenies of how to get to the dragon, as he can be difficult to find based on a description in words - but as i cannot find them, i must not have.

so, today i shall post what little i do have, and i will expand on this posting next time.  i plan on getting into game at least long enough to complete this quest this weekend.  so please forgive me for the briefness of this post and i promise to make it up to you next time, if you do me the honor of coming back!

well, here we go.....

umbelroth can be found in the foothills behind the cave where you found meimonus, but you can't get there from there.  you need to circle around the large lava cauldron next to the cave and under the floating crystal island to reach the pathway to umbelroth, standing outside of the entrances of some player lairs.

when you greet umbelroth and listen to the tale, you will receive a quest to fetch some ash from the top of the volcano to the south of dralk city.  fetch the ash (by approaching the small cauldron and waiting for the message that you have received it to appear) and return to umbelroth.  the dragon will send you north to the coast to bathe in the ocean waters there.

and this is where i ran out of time.  i will dedicate my next post entirely to this quest, as it is important to mourningwood's future!  i hope you do come back, it should be a surprise to us both!

allow me to introduce you to a dragon you will need to be familiar with, if you wish to do any harm to reklar - a truly epic boss.  reklar items are rare and prized loot, and many elder players find merely organizing and mounting an expedition to take on the undead dragon general to be epic in itself.

reklar is vulmerable to one spell in particular, castable only by dragons.  this spell, primal boon, is given by dargor the primal researcher, found standing guard in front of the entrance to the public cave next to the cobalt and gem field, north of dralk city.

i had thought i covered the cob field in dralk for construction blogs, but looking back, i guess i haven't.  now that peds can use dragon workstations (and vice versa), vel loves to do cob in dralk.  so much easier than in the kirasanct tundra - no gols to contend with and the public cave has storage as well!  but we are interested in the dragon outside the cave right now.

approach dargor and greet the researcher.  there is no quest attached to the gift of the spell - no resources to gather, no creature to kill.  he gives you the spell - make sure to remember to scribe it!  and make the spell shard so you have the spell ready to be used!

well, that wasn't too hard, was it!  you prolly won't be able to get the spell until you are quite high level, as it does require a maxed out primal skill.  there is, of course, a trainer for this, and you will learn more when we start our tour of dragon adventurer trainers.  for next time, i will introduce you to another important dragon to know, one with the key to important 'doors'........

AN IMPORTANT AFTERWORD!!!

as we will see soon, dargor is not the dragon outside the craft cave.  dargor is to be found in the lowest level of the craft cave.  dragon lairs are mazes, and even trying to post the way to get to this dragon would be pointless.  all I can recommend is to either a) get a guide or, b) just keep heading down.  you will eventually reach dargor, and it is well worth the trouble for this otherwise easy to get, highly beneficial and necessary, spell.

time to meet the last dragon crafting trainer - altho i will introduce you to 2 notable dragons whose acquintance you should make, before we meet the lairshapers - the stoneworker saphias.  this trainer is easy enough to find, but can be very hard to get to, given its location deep in lava oastic territory.

so, one presumes that the way to heraxius is remembered?  well, when you get to the guard post and the crossroad, instead of going left for the gemworking trainer, head off to your right, strait for the lavafall yonder.

for any hatchie under 60th level, at least, the lava oastics WILL beat your azz.  and this is their breeding grounds.  i cannot stress enough the probable need for a bodyguard in this area.  not to mention the power leveling opportunity, if you go for that sort of thing (and i do, and don't understand the various weaksauce arguments i have heard against the practice.  if you powerlevel, you still eventually have to face stuff on your own.  i have always used the opportunity as a lesson - watch what the powerful do and do that when you are powerful...  but that's an old argument and i digress.....).  anyhoo, i recommend finding a higher level babysitter when confronting saphias if you don't want to get ganked.  

okay, as i said, head for the lavafall that spills into a cauldron.  next to that cauldron under the lavafall, you will find saphias.  greet the stoneworker and accept the quest - mine is to make obsidian bricks, which is kewl by me! - then go do your thing quickly, before your babysitter gets tired of waiting, and scuttle back for your mastery reward.

and that's it for the common dragon crafting trainers!  soon, i shall take you on a brief tour of the basics of lairshaping - but first, we will meet 2 more dragons of interest - one i still have to finish the quest for, which is a story in itself!  hope that's enough of a teaser to see you back here soon!

now is the time to venture forth into the less safe outskirts of dralk, and meet the dragon gemcrafting trainer, heraxius.  as with all trainers, the dragon gives out level specific quests, in my case, gathering jade - but i get ahead of myself.....

heraxius is located just on the edge of some dangerous area, patrolled by lava oastics.  at lower levels, they pack quite a punch.  i certainly needed the kind and generous protection of my higher level friends when going to and fro from the gemwork trainer and saphias (we will meet this trainer next time).

if you have been a long time reader of these bits of drivel, you have already past the trainer area several times, heading to char for resources like obsidian and access to the craft cave there.  to get to the trainers, head out of dralk on the road past the floating island bridge and the guard post.  when you get to the crossroads, take the western fork.  it's but a short run to the second crossroad in front of the cliff.  if we were heading for the resources, we would go left on the southern fork, but this time, take the northern fork.

just ahead, you will see a guard post on your left, and ahead of that, across the road heading south, a floating crystal held in place by massive chains.  at this point is the beginning of the lava oastics patrol area.  to your right is the entrance to the canyon where they breed.  you can usually get to heraxius safely, but any further into the northern side of the road is taking your life in your hands without a babysitter....

anyhoo, under the floating crystal is where you will find the gemworking trainer.  approach and speak to heraxius to receive your quest - mine, as i said above, is to gather and craft some jade.

as i may have said before, the suburbs of dralk are rich in resources.  the jade is to be found just before the cobalt field to the north of dralk city - and don't forget the craft cave manned by dargor, who we will also meet soon.  do as required and return to heraxius for your reward.

and that's about it for now.  see you soon!

after you meet queriatia, swing back around and head down the spiral ramp.  in the room at the end of the ramp, you will find the dragon mining trainer, evenitas.

you will get to know evenitas well, at least if you are smart.  almost everything a dragon can make requires the use of metal in some form - certainly most armour and techs.  the trainer, of course, offers level appropriate quests - in my case, gathering cobalt ore.

in order to get the quest, you speak to the trainer, as with all trainers.  keep in mind that dralk has a lot of resources in relatively safe areas close together, and that you can take more than one quest at a time.  also remember that non crafting quests sometimes have a timer on completion, which i will explain more when we get to umbelroth.......

anyway, head to the cob field outside of dralk, collect the ore (ore only, do not convert it to bars in the craft cave next to the field, haul it back to dralk, and have evenitas laugh at your mistake before sending you back out to get just the ore.....), and return to the floating island to get your reward.

next time we meet, i will take you into the more dangerous area where a couple trainers are waiting to meet you.  it's easy to die getting to these trainers, so keep that in mind!

the floating island on dralk is home to only 2 of the dragon craft trainers, and fortunately, they are both in the same cave.  the first one we will visit is queriatia, the crafting trainer/form vendor.  this trainer does give out quests, but mourningwood is too high level for them.  mostly, he uses this crafter for purchasing formulas.  however, i have taken a screenie of the speech the dragon has to say to me.  notice the beginner forms queriatia offers once you join the crafter skewl.

to get to the island and the cave, you would turn right onto the road out of dralk from the portal area.  head up the road, past the vault cave and the marshal post.  across from the public cave, and just before the guard post on the outskirts of the city proper, is the bridge to the floating island.  go across it, and turn to the  left when you enter the complex.  

head thru the opening next to the cluster of green crystals on the extreme left of the entrance.  cross that bridge and make another left as soon as you enter the smaller cave.  in a little alcove, you will find the crafter trainer.

come back in a day or so to hear about the trainer that share the cave with queriatia!  see you then!

now is the time to meet the scalecraft trainer, miemonus.  if you are a fighter by nature, you are for sure gonna become very familiar with miemonus - even lunus recognize the need for the highest quality armour one can get, and making it yourself insures all the tweaks and trix you want!!  the mightiest dragons always stay current with their scalecrafting ability.

the trainer can be found in a cave next to the large lava cauldron under the floating island.  from the portal area, head down to the cauldron area, following the right side cliffs.  entering the cave, you will see 2 dragons.  head for miemonus at the back of the cave (we will meet rykhar later!)

go ahead and approach the trainer, greet and get your quest (i apparently forgot to get that quest dialogue, or have lost it - sorry!!).  cobalt is easy - there is a nice field with a public crafting lair just outside of dralk.  i gathered up the needed materials and returned to miemonus to receive my reward.

there you go for the scalecraft trainer!  come back soon to meet another trainer!

(once again, i would like to apologise for not posting in so long.  you deserve to know why.  my dad has cancer.  it's pretty bad, so i have been spending as much time with him as i can.  i will try to get back to the regular schedule, but i can make no promises, of course.  i hope and thank you for your understanding!  and now, back to your regularly scheduled program!)

the crafting trainers in dralk are widespread and can be hard to get to.  so let's start with the easy one, shall we?

caspuras the essence harvesting trainer is quite conveniently located next to the portal complex, in a craft cave.  

to find the trainer, from the incoming port pad, you should see the entrance of the craft cave off to the left of the main city portal.  head to the cave - you should see caspuras as soon as you reach the entrance.

approach the trainer and listen to the instructions.  my quest was to collect 100 bright essence.

off i toddled to feladan and managed to harvest the required essence while fending off the enraged wisp (a big pussy, really).  i returned to caspuras for my (by now) anticipated 'good boy' pat on the head.

well, i hope you enjoyed meeting our first dralk trainer.  come back again to meet another dragon teacher!

dralk is a big, dangerous place.  before we meet any trainers, it is useful to know your way around.  at least one trainer is located in a place highly lethal to low level players, so now is the time to think about babysitters and/or bodyguards!

dralk is the hot red home city of the lunus faction dragons.  much like new york in the real world, dralk is both the city itself and the area surrounding the city.  dralk city has a large floating crystal island, as does chiconis.  in addition, there are several community caves scattered around the large caldera of lava located directly underneath the crystal island (the edge of which you can see under the lower right of the crystal island in the screenie).  we will find out more about those locations when we visit those trainers.

but there is more to dralk than just the city.  the lairshapers' cave, for instance, is located up north of the city near the coast.  2 of the craft trainers are located in the outskirts of the city, amidst the nasty lava oastics (here is where you will most prolly need the babysitier, especially when visiting saphias).

that's it for some general info about the red city.  there will be more detail when visiting the trainers, so come back soon for more!!