Once one has acquired more then one Atlan stone and an Atlan Weapon or Greater Shadow Armor - sometimes referred to as GSA, with some folks meaning GSA as Shadow Armor Amuli, GSC as Greater Shadow Armor Celdon, and GSK as Greater Shadow Armor Koujia - piece/suit on should consider acquiring a Stone Tool.

I tell you back in the old days - you know when it was 5 miles from here to there, uphill both ways and thru 6+ feet of snow and one walked as there weren't any housing settlement portals - stone tools were no drop, no give.  Thus everyone had to get their own, but these days they are giveable so maybe you could convince someone else to go if you don't meet the minimum height requirement.

Back when it was just an adventure getting there one of the more favored routes from Glenden Wood's North Direland's portal and then running.  These days either the Hero's Vale or the Last-Stop-Before-Dires Villas settlement portal in the Plateau settlement portals will take you much closer.

The arrival is safe if you don't stumble and end up rolling down a seemingly endless ramp.

Because some tummies are waiting at the bottom.  Those can be cleared or rushed around which ever you feel better about.  Off to your right is an exit portal, but that isn't needed yet.  We are more concerned with the several options we have for getting deeper into the dungeon.  Two ramps between the tummies, look inviting or one could jump into the pit behind them.  Tough choice, how to proceed?

Fooled you, trick question. Both ramps lead to the samp location and if you jump you will be landing in the same pit as the ramps lead to.  But if you didn't clear the archers when above standing around complimenting yourself could be deadly.  So where next, left to the west or right to the east.

As the left shortly dead-ends, picking that would have only delayed you by seconds.  So proceeding to the right we run over or thru a tummie priest and xbower usually on the way to a ramp down to a lower level. Where once again there appears to be a choice of going left to the east or right to the west.

Yeah another trick question; but, you needed to know that the door to the east can't be opened from here and beyond the lever on the right is a door that can't be opened from here.  Two doors, one lever.  It must be the old, use the lever here to open the door there to access a lever to open the door back here ploy.

That's such an old tired trick that it rarely works anymore these days on adventuring savvy questors.  Since it is a long, long run between the two points, and there are often archers snipping at you, if there are two in the party less running too & fro is required if one goes in each direction.  Then the person at the west can flip the lever, letting the eastern person inside to flip the lever and rush back to the now opened door on the west.  That way each only has to run the gauntlet over the sharp stones once; where a solo adventurer will be making three trips minimum.

Now the cooridor heads north with a few side intersections west& east  that can be ignored for the moment.  Just go north till you bump into a set of doors. 

These open easily and beyond them you will find 3 rooms facing a pit area with five colums.  Mostly those side cooridors just lead to a tricky means of getting to that opening to the west visible from the three rooms (after a lot of running around and another lever pushing) or back up out of the pit (one you may get to experience first hand).

Here we get to play leap frog and jump from the rooms out to a colum, turn to our right and then jump from colum to colum until we are able to jump into the eastern cooridor.  Of course if one jumps from the western most northern room straight to the colums that means maybe five leaps to reach the corridor, maybe less if your jump is good enough to clear a column or two and land on the next. So I of course alway jump from the eastern most room and therefore have few jumps.  

Of course missing or sliding off means down into the pit you fall.  Which means taking the south coordior back up and returning too the rooms and starting over.  UNLESS, you miss on the last colum or miss attempting to land in the cooridor.  Then you will actually fall into a second deeper pit,.

After a close inspection of the area you will soon realize the importance of that exit portal.  Yeah outside, hop back into the entry portal and start all over again (for those who lack item magic and couldn't portal recall).

Way back when the snow was piled deep and I was a mere lad, I hated this quest.  Getting into the cooridor the first time required 15 minutes of jumping attempts, eventually inspiring that now famous movie Sho men can't Jump staring Wood Golem.  The second time thru wasn't much better that only took ten minutes.  Of course with all the hours of practice performed in getting the Major Smoldering Stone, I can now usually make it first or second attempt!

So you've reached the cooridor, whoopie-D-doo.  Even I the most jump impaired in all of Dereth actually make it, so lets not stop to celebrate yet another jump or two is required and a few more levers to be pushed.

Looks like a long way down, and is.  Often we use to (pre level 7 bludge banes) leap across into the pit at a platform lower down, and thus make say two leaps in getting to the bottom.  This resulted in less damage to our delicate systems.  But these macho types of today can probably just go for it in one.

Now that we are safely at the bottom we seem to have a small problem. A door that can't be accessed from here to the east and a button on the wall to the west.  Could it really be that easy?

Sometimes it was, and this was one of them.  Opening the door you can proceed out into the hallway.  Noticing several rooms or areas on your left and right and way in the distance a door to the East.  Working you way eastward it doesn't take long to discover the second door on our right or south side is yet another of those not accessable from here - and no there wasn't a button/lever close by this time.

Finding nothing to our left or north side we proceed on to the east door only to discover yet another not accessable from here door.  However, to our right there is yet another cooridor leading south that turns to the east and another door.  This one is openable.

This permits access into a room behind the not accessable from here door, a lever sticking out of the ground is in the NE corner and off to our right in the east is yet another not accessable from here door.

But don't spend too much time pondering the situation, as those perching tummie archers are pecking away at you.  Hit the lever and hope for the best.

I heard a door open, but it wasn't either of the two in this room.  I wonder if?  That first east door at the end of the cooridor is openable from the inside so open it and rush back west.

Sure enough, that south door is now open and behind it is another lever.

Flip it and rush backing hoping.  Well of course it does, what else could it be for?  Dashing thru the now open door you are safely in a room from the archers and typically the only monsters found inside here will be ones you dragged in with you.

Giving you plenty of freedom to invistigate the room and discover the Stone tool, another thesis on Atlans and A journal (both need to be translated in Cragstone).

Ag Nar

Click on a topic below to read more about quest related to this one:

Atlan Major Biting (Frost) Stone,

Atlan Major Smoldering (Flame) Stone,

Atlan Major Sparkling (Lightning) Stone, and

Atlan Major Stinging (Acid) Stone.

Coming soon, coverage of Atlan Weapons and Using Stones in Greater Shadow Armor.