A Menacing Hydra

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1. Find the yellow "O" which marks the entrance to the hydra's den. You'll find it in the wilds, in the mountains/foothills east of Xaventry, or in the plains NE of Tellerium or Aroxa.

2. Get 'a Viridian Archer's patch' from the mob 'a Viridian Military, Archery Division recruiter'. You can find the recruiter in Xaventry, or in Tellerium (he wanders).

3. Get a spade and a pick axe.

4. Now you can head to the hydra's den.

5. Walk the dungeon, you'll find some marble pylons blocking your way. To get rid of the pylons, you need to kill the hermit crabs, and then turn marble squares in the Tunnel Full of Waste.

6. Now you must have the fire archer join your formation. And have him uncover/open the door to the xorn-hydra baby.
The player carrying the Viridian Archer's patch (should be form leader) must head to the room named Marble Cell. The player must enter the room alone for the archer to join. And must have the patch in his/her inventory.

7. Lead the archer to the room down from the safe at the entrance. He'll speak, then he'll uncover and open the down to the xorn-hydra baby.
Now you have to kill the newborn xorn-hydra crossbreed (baby), who drops the key to the menacing hydra (mother).
Once it dies, be sure you loot the key from its corpse.

8. Finally, have the archer kill the menacing hydra (mother) to get the mark.
Head to the room named Hydra's Den.
Search and you'll find a locked down. Unlock it + open it.
The goal here will be to get the archer to tank vs the mother, as he has massive hp.
Once the hydra dies, everyone in the form meeting the personality requirement gets the Mark Of Asceticism.

Detailed Guide
(Based upon Lantis' guide "Mark of Asceticism and Hydra's Den")

(This is a first draft - will improve it later. It only covers the part of the dungeon related to the mark.)

You need a form of at least 2 players to do this run. You can take up to 8 players in your form (you must keep a free spot for the fire archer). I suggest you do this at level 50-55 so you'll be able to equip better gear.

1. Find the yellow "O" which marks the entrance to the hydra's den. You'll find it in the wilds, in the mountains/foothills east of Xaventry, or in the plains NE of Tellerium or Aroxa. It appears on survey as a sloping tunnel, stinking of death and venom.

2. Get 'a Viridian Archer's patch' from the mob 'a Viridian Military, Archery Division recruiter'. You can find the recruiter in Xaventry (Gath residential area), or in Tellerium (he wanders).
First, you'll need to get a string of rock candy (dropped by dracon children in Xaventry, or sold in Tellerium by the shopkeeper all east and all north in Market Street). I suggest getting more than one, and keep them in an insulated container (you might need them later).
Give the candy to the recruiter (be visible, and be the only player in the room). He'll give you 'a Viridian archer's tunic'.
Wait a few ticks. A dirty ragamuffin will steal the tunic from you, and you'll only keep the patch. You can't save the patch, so you shouldn't log off.

3. Get a spade and a pick axe. Maybe also a spare leather water skin (fill it with water).

4. Now you can head to the hydra's den.

Map:


v: down          Ma    Co*              Ho        Sl: Sloping Tunnel
^: up             v     |              /          Co: Collapsed Tunnel
                  . .  Cr-SC-Co*      *           Cr: Crumbling Tunnel
          ^. .       ^/ |   \                     SC: Small Cavern
      No-Ca  .   HD-Cr Cr-SC Sm-Sm                Sm: Smooth Tunnel
             . . .v   /          |                DD: Dank Den (dizzy)
                    Cr          Un                Ma: Marble Cell
(entry)    . . . .^/ |        . .v                HD: Hydra's Den
    Sl     .     Sl Co*       .                   Ca: Small Cave
     v . . .      v           .     x             No: Small Nook
                  .           . Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa    Un: Underground Spring
                  .           . . . . . . . ^|    Mu: Mucky Chamber
                  .                         Mu    Wa: Tunnel Full of Waste
                  ^                               Ho: Hollowed Out Room
                 DD                                   (is randomly hooked to one of the Co)

The whole dungeon is NPK, except for the first room which is safe.
Once you enter, if you 'recall' or die, you'll end up in the safe room at the entrance (this was changed recently - recall isn't Xaventry TS anymore).

5. First thing you'll want to do is check if the dungeon is 'untouched', or if someone else tried to do the mark, and failed.
Go down once - you should be in the safe room. Then go down once again. If you see a down open, it means someone was here before you and left the dungeon unfinished. Skip to step 7a.
Go NE, NE, N, SW, and try to go W. If you can go W, again it means someone was here before you and left the dungeon unfinished. Skip to step 7a.
If you can't go west because (a) marble pylon(s) block your way, it means the dungeon is 'untouched'.

6. Next step is get rid of the pylons, so you can free the fire archer from his cell.
To do so, you need to kill a bunch of hermit crabs, and then turn (a) marble square(s) in the room marked with an "x" in the Tunnel Full of Waste.
It's better to do this phase with only 2 players, who (preferably) have backstab or bash.
First, check the rooms labeled as "Co" in the map (Collapsed Tunnel). One of them will have an exit NE. Search in this room for a hidden generator. Once you find it, pull generator.
Now go to the room marked as "Un" in the map (Underground Spring). You need to dig here (spade and pick axe are required), to reveal an exit down. Go down, into the room labeled "Mu" (Mucky Chamber).
Go N, W, W, W and you'll be in a room full of hermit crabs and one (or more) marble square(s). If you try to turn the square, the crabs won't let you, so you need to kill them first.
Rooms to the west and east of the crabs are solitary. So at this point you must decide which player will flee west and which one will flee east.
Strategy: Crabs form once you attack them, and they do an emote attack which deals moderate damage (it was tuned down recently), so be ready to flee as needed (I suggest at 200 hp or less for first class). They respawn, so it might take a while to kill them all.
Then turn square (repeat if there's more than one), and the pylon(s) which blocked your path earlier will fall through the ceiling.

7. Now you must have the fire archer join your formation. And have him uncover/open the door to the xorn-hydra baby.
The player carrying the Viridian Archer's patch (should be form leader) must head to the room marked "Ma" in the map (Marble Cell).
If the fire archer isn't there, you'll have to wait for him (he'll arrive eventually).
The player must enter the room alone for the archer to join. And must have the patch in his/her inventory (don't give the patch to the archer, it won't work).
Enter/exit the room until the archer reacts to you. When he starts speaking, wait until he joins your formation.
Now lead him to the room down from the safe. He'll speak, then he'll uncover and open the down to the xorn-hydra baby.
Once the archer is formed with you, he may unform (randomly, especially if you change form leader), or your form leader may die. If this happens, you have to get a new patch for him to re-form.
Skip to step 8.

7a. If you found the den half-solved, and the archer isn't in his cell, you should search for him in the dungeon.
If you find him, you'll need a patch for him to form with you.
If you can't find him, he's probably locked in the room with the menacing hydra.
He may also be dead, in which case he'll eventually respawn in his cell.

8. Now you have to kill the newborn xorn-hydra crossbreed (baby), who drops the key to the menacing hydra (mother).
The baby is aggro. It hits 3-4 times per round (bash damage) plus a random tentacle lash. It can breathe lava and frost. I've seen it deal up to 350 damage per round (in first class). It can cast mesmerize (psi web), can pray for healing. It can disarm you and eat your weapon (especially spears).
It has 2nd defense (both = magical fade). It resists magical attacks, though we didn't try every available school/damage type. Bash works fine, but it's unaffected by bash damage weapons.
The elemental breathes frag gear, so it's a good idea to put all octarine gear, white marble gear, and anything fraggable into insulated containers before engaging it.
If you found the dungeon untouched, the baby will be paralyzed for the first few rounds, so it won't be able to breathe.
For this phase, I suggest a tank with high hp (600+) and good ar. And at least 2 players who can bash. Anyone with less than 300-350 hp shouldn't join this fight. Sanctuary is a must. Shield, armor, stone skin, bless are good ideas too.
Before engaging the baby, I also suggest one of the players who won't be joining the fight should be made form leader, and that player should sit in safe (reason: so form leader won't drag other players into combat before they're ready).
The room is dizzy, so when you have to flee, you just type 'flee' (without a direction). There is a vine in the room. It's good to have levitation, so it won't interfere with your flee.
Strategy: tank goes down into the dizzy room (if the baby doesn't aggro, tank should attack it), then the other players join. Bash until your stamina is in red or your hp is below 350, then flee and go up to sleep in safe (to regen a little faster). Repeat until it dies.
Once it dies, be sure you loot the key from its corpse.
Then spam directions until you exit the room, and regen to full health in the safe room.

9. Finally, have the archer kill the menacing hydra (mother) to get the mark.
The mother is aggro. She hits 3-4 times per round (fire damage), she has 2nd defense (both = dodge). She blocks you when you try to flee (not always, so spam it). She can disarm you and eat your weapon (especially spears).
Everyone must remove weapons that deal slash damage. Slash damage helps the mother regen its heads, which is a bad thing.
You won't be able to hurt her, no matter your position in form, your weapon, if you bash or not, if you cast... You don't kill her, the archer kills her.
Head to the room marked "HD" in the map (Hydra's Den).
Search and you'll find a locked down. Unlock it (with the key you got from the baby), and open it.
If you found the den half-solved, and you haven't found the fire archer yet, he's probably down there. To get him to form with you, everyone in your form must sit/rest, and tank must go down, with a patch in his/her inv, wait for him to form, then flee up (quickly!). Then look at him - if he's hungry/thirsty, you may give him food and a water skin and wait for him to eat/drink, before you start the fight (so he'll regen faster).
Before engaging the mother, you pick 2 players with high hp/ar to start tanking. Everyone else must sit/rest. I'll refer to the player who will tank the first round as 'first tank', and the person who will tank the second as 'second tank'. The goal here will be to get the archer to tank vs the mother, as he has massive hp.
If necessary, reform your formation so that the archer is positioned 'after' the 2nd tank (eg, to his/her right, or in the next row).
Strategy: Everyone except tanks should sit. Second tank is made form leader. First tank goes down (if the hydra doesn't aggro, first tank attacks her). Second tank joins ASAP. First tank waits for the archer to join the fight (if possible), then flees (you won't last more than 1 round, 2 if you're lucky). Second tank stays 1 round to see if s/he gets hurt. If you get damage, the archer isn't tanking => flee, regen to 100% and repeat.
If you don't get hurt, it means the archer is tanking. So don't flee. Tell the rest of the form they can enter the room.
While you're fighting the mother, you won't see normal damage strings as 'significant wounds', etc. But from time to time you'll see this:

  A menacing hydra is hit square in the eye with a fire archer's 
  flaming arrow, and that head withers away to nothing!

That means the archer killed one of her heads. Once all the heads are dead, she dies and everyone in form with 9+ personality gets the Mark of Asceticism.
If you want to help the archer, you can heal him (cast heal, cure light, cure critical, etc. - or use staves of life, mirrors of oversight).

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Last edited October 4, 2015 8:08 pm by Ithilwen (diff)
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