Mudlar Valley

Description
Mudlar lake has been polluted by someone. Start the clean-up of the lake and slay the leader of those responsible before returning the items which he stole to their rightful owners. Speak to the druid and the ranger and they may be able to give information to anyone willing to help.

Overview
The biggest problem with the Mudlar Quest is that is has no linear flow. It's not meant to be solved in a single pass; you need to explore the entire area a few times to piece together what you need to do and why. Make sure you are familiar with the poisoned stream south of Leafgale, as well as the brambles and the hobgoblin caves.

Prerequisites
You will need a spade to complete this quest. Pick one up from the shop in Cormallen or from the babe in Leafgale.

Location
You can find the Mudlar region west of Taperone and south of Leafgale. From Cormallen you head all the way west, one north and then all the way west through Taperone. Then head north and west until you come to a dead end. You can head south and west until you come to a bridge with a Black Knight on it.

Alternate
Instead of heading south to the black knight, you can head north and west until you come to a dead end. Here if you look at the brambles, you can see there's a gap you can  under. From here you can head west and south until you reach the town of Leafgale.

Leave out of the southern gate and you'll discover a poisoned stream. Follow the stream and you'll discover it goes over a cliff you can.

The Black Knight
If you are low level, the knight won't bother you and you can walk south past him. If you are "one worthy of my challenge" he will block your path. You can either fight him normally or use a few of his weaknesses to get past.

This knight stands tall and proud before you. The armour he is wearing looks as though it should be imposing, but has not been put on properly and the visor is not shut. You notice that the Knight has one foot tangled up in a loop of vine, although he seems unaware of this. He seems completely unscathed.

After examining the knight and the bridge he stands on, you have a few non-combat choices. You can,  ,   or  ,. Each one of these moves will stun the knight enough to let you pass.

Head south until it dead-ends and then go west. North from here you will find a winded bandit.

The Brambles
Mudlar Valley is laid out in a very confusing way. The majority of exits are not immediately visible, and it requires a lot of examination and memory to know your way around.

MAP TBD

After you dispatch the bandit, you can grab his corpse (it's only about 30 lbs) and push through the brambles west. You will find yourself at the foot of a mud bank, so you should  and you'll find the Ranger.

The Ranger
The ranger has many helpful things to tell you about the bandits, but will only do them idly.
 * He has clues about the bandits written in a notebook
 * He left his notebook in his hut
 * If you are blocked by his wolves when trying to enter his hut, you need to call them by name.
 * There are various bandits scattered in the woods.

After the ranger has told you these things, we'll need to find the Druid.

The Druid
From the Ranger, head down, south and west. Here you'll find the wise old druid. You will learn that the old oak tree here is called a Filter Oak and it specifically thrives on pollution.

The druid scowls. The druid says: The lake is badly polluted at the moment, very badly. The druid brightens up a little. The druid says: If placed correctly I believe a filter oak could clean the lake. You say: what's a filter oak? The druid says: A filter oak feeds on polluted soil, cleaning it and growing as it does, a marvelous creature. The druid smiles happily and pats the tree. The druid says: This is a very rare breed of tree, a Filter Oak.

The druid strokes the oak tree, which shivers at his touch and drops an acorn into his hand.

You can  to get an acorn from the Filter Oak. If you're feeling evil, you can steal the acorn from the druid or kill him and loot it.

The Source
Now that we've got the acorn, we need to find an optimal place to plant it. From the druid's camp, head east, north and then crawl west under the tree. Head west, southwest through the brambles and west twice. You should be at the leather-clad tracker. Go southwest and then up the cliff.

Halfway up the cliff there's a muddy pool the polluted stream is flowing through. If you  you'll awaken a Mudman that you'll have to defeat. On death he will explode into mud which is an optimum medium to grow a Filter Oak! and you will have started the process of cleaning up Mudlar Lake!

But now we have to deal with the culprits.

The Ranger's Hut
Climb back down, and then head southeast and then northeast. Here you'll find a temporary guard post with 4 alert guards protecting a barricade to the south. Go southeast, north and then east, and you'll find yourself at the Ranger's hut. To get past his pet wolves, simply  and they will relax and let you pass.

Look at the table and get the small book, which contains a useful snippet about bandits.

The only bit that could be of interest is:

I followed the tracks of one of the bandits until they disappeared under the ground. Below the trapdoor they seemed to head west but I could not find where they went apart from that. With any luck the party of villagers that is coming to help wipe out the bandits once and for all will have more information.

Townsfolk Trust
First you'll need to earn the townsfolk trust, so leave the hut and go west, north and northeast through the brambles. Jump over the fallen tree to the north and kill any bandits you find. Grab the corpse and head back to the guards. Jump tree, southwest, south, south and northwest.

Drop the corpse and the guards will be quite pleased.

The guards faces all break into smiles when they see the corpse and they take great pleasure in taking it from you and throwing it into the trees. One of the guards claps you on the back and says: Ur alright ya know.

Now you can head south and listen to the townsfolk argue about how to deal with the bandit issue.

Verg sighs and shakes his head. Arg shouts: We are here for REVENGE you fools, not talking!!! A militiaman yawns restlessly. Your feather of dragonslaying blows in the wind. Arg says: Forget the camp! If we kill enough of his cronies the leader will have to face us or lose his gang! Born says: If we outsmart the bastards we can do more damage than if we just blunder around. Arg says: Have you forgotten what they did to our village? I say KILL THEM ALL! Verg says: Without their leader the band will dissolve. Arg says: Forget the camp! If we kill enough of his cronies the leader will have to face us or lose his gang! A guard brushes a speck of dust off his armour. Schric says: If we can locate the camp we have enough men to wipe it out. Verg says: I wish there were a less violent solution. Schric says: With any luck the Tracker will return soon. Verg says: Without their leader the band will dissolve. One of the militiamen nods and says: Good point. Arg says: Forget the camp! If we kill enough of his cronies the leader will have to face us or lose his gang! A militiaman flexes his muscles trying to show off. A guard shifts restlessly. One of the militiamen nods and says: Good point.

They'll blather on about all sorts of things, but when they talk about the bandit they killed too quickly, they mention "knock three times".

"Verg says: I wander what the bandit meant by 'knock three times'..."

This is your secret key to getting into the hideout.

The Bandit Hideout
From the villagers' camp, go north, southeast, north, north and then northeast through the brambles. Jump over the fallen tree to the north and head north again, looking for a "carpet of leaves". There is a trapdoor here that the ranger found, so head down.

You'll find yourself in a series of underground passages, but heading east will show you a dead-end due to a rockfall. However, if you knock on the "rocks" it will sound very hollow. Three knocks in quick succession will signal you know about the hideout and it will open up to let you pass.

Inside the hideout there are two aggressive bandits that you will have to dispatch. Once you've gotten rid of them, you'll have to go after the leader.

Stal, the Bandit Leader
This is a tough fight, and Stal is a dangerous guy. He insults you while you fight him, and he even globally curses your name when you beat him. He wields two stilettos or a Manslaughter so he can do some serious damage even to Legends.

Once you beat him, move the rug on the floor and dig up the chest. The key can be found by searching the curtains, and inside the chest are the missing items from the townsfolk.

Completing the Quest
Return to the villager's camp and give each missing item to the Councillors.


 * give ruby to born
 * give sword to schric
 * give cup to verg
 * give sceptre to arg

Congrats! You have completed the Mudlar Valley quest!