History of the races books (Slight spoilers - nothing major though)

[Kassanya]

<DIV>How many people have done the history of the races quests from the south Qeynos mage tower? I just did the history of the Halflings and it was brilliantly written, and fun to do. It did not involve killing anything, just following a list of go here pointers. I ended up running through Nektulos forest and then on to EL and Rivervale.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I will not include major information on what happened to the wee folk, but I will say if you are interested in the lore of the game these books are a great start. You will need money and to be of a level to get to EL and possibly Zek though. The books cost a few silver each. I ran through Nektulos at level 30 to do this and it was scary then, although I had never been before, so it was all new. Getting the courage to climb N'Mars ascent was new to me, I have never had that feeling of venturing into the unknown in any MMORPG before. The bombshell was what I found at one point of the quest...I never realised that the Vale folk had been through all that. It opened my eyes to alot.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I feel better able to write a bio for my character now that I know the history of my race. I thouroughly advise everyone to do these quest, they are an excellent piece of insight by Sony, and you get a nice book at the end of it. In addition scan all teh rooms of the mage tower, there are more lore quests than I could ever have imagined. All the books seem to have had alot of time put into them and are beautifully written, so much so that my levelling is temporarily on hold till I have done a few. If I ever get the time I intend to compile all the lore from the game.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Enjoy.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bryyn Holifeet, templar of Mr Fizzlethorpe (AB server)</DIV>

[Snee]

If someone finds History of the Frogloks let us know <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I'm assuming its in Qeynos somewhere, I cant find it in Freeport.

[overfloat]

<DIV> <DIV>Just a small warning to anyone keen to do the "History of <EM>(race)</EM>" book quests, who hasn't picked them up yet...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>All these books require access to tier3+ areas: EL, Zek or the Feerrott, depending on the book (none I'm doing at the moment require Everfrost or Lavastorm, but I suppose I shouldn't rule those out!). Therefore, to complete any book, you'll need to be <U>at least</U> adventure level 25 (35? for Feerrott) and have completed the relevant access quests, or have suitable artisan level to gain auto-entry to those lands. You will be hard pressed to finish many of the books pre-30, unless you have high level friends to group with who can escort you!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, before you splash out on all the books at level 15 (like I did... doh), make sure you either have the bank space to hold them for 15 levels or be prepared to buy them again later on. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Alternatively, just go back and do the first sections when the areas are trivial to you (the adrenaline rush isn't quite the same, though, when everything's not glaring red con!).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, different racial books can be obtained in the South Qeynos mage tower and the North Freeport library -- Qeynos for good races, Freeport evil, both for mixed ... predictably. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> The books are Lore and No-Trade so you'll need to buy them yourself, but non-Betrayal characters <STRONG>can</STRONG> visit the opposing city to achieve this: you can't walk in the opposing city's front gates, so access SQ or NFP via the newbie adventure zones -> village -> sewer system (safest route, fewest guards). Once in the city you'll need to be either invisible or sneaking in order to buy from merchants: if you can't do this yourself, either bring along a friendly caster who can invis you (enchanters only?), a rogue who can grant group sneak, or find an invisibility potion (clueless about these at the moment, sorry!).</DIV></DIV><p>Message Edited by overfloater on <span class=date_text>01-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:13 AM</span>

[Aion]

<DIV>I'm am from freeport and I got into the tower in Qeynos, but the sage wouldnt sell to me. Didn't want my business...</DIV>

[troodon311]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR> <DIV>I'm am from freeport and I got into the tower in Qeynos, but the sage wouldnt sell to me. Didn't want my business...</DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Go to the sage in the Caster building in NFP, next to the Temple of War.

[Aion]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> troodon311 wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR> <DIV>I'm am from freeport and I got into the tower in Qeynos, but the sage wouldnt sell to me. Didn't want my business...</DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Go to the sage in the Caster building in NFP, next to the Temple of War.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <P>I know that, but there are certain books that are unique to each city. I wish that I bought the History of the Koada Dal before I betrayed, because ti doesn't exist in Freeport. Likewise, either does the Basic Mining Guides, and the Dragoon books don't exist in Qeynos, to name only one.</P> <P> </P> <P>My comment was refering the the other poster saying that you can sneak into the opposing city to buy other books. I tried this, and they would not sell to me.</P>

[Gobbwin]

<DIV>Well you can buy from your city, but not the opposing one, I betrayed from FP before I had enough money to buy the books, now they do not want my buisness.(DOH!)  But I have a friend who has always been Qeynosian, we snuck into the NFP library together and the NPC wouldn't sell to him either, none of the NPCs would sell to us, so we couldn't get the language primers either.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Affected races:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Qeynos:</DIV> <DIV>Ratonga</DIV> <DIV>Ogre</DIV> <DIV>Troll</DIV> <DIV>Iksar</DIV> <DIV>Dark Elf</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Freeport:</DIV> <DIV>High Elf</DIV> <DIV>Wood Elf</DIV> <DIV>Half Elf (I believe though I could be wrong)</DIV> <DIV>Hafling</DIV> <DIV>Barbarian</DIV> <DIV>Dwarf</DIV>

[Sebastien]

Half elf should be both cities; we are just a bunch of dislocated, alientated angst-ridden adolescents and you can find Good and Evil versions of us. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[MysticTrunks01]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> troodon311 wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR> <DIV>I'm am from freeport and I got into the tower in Qeynos, but the sage wouldnt sell to me. Didn't want my business...</DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Go to the sage in the Caster building in NFP, next to the Temple of War.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <P>I know that, but there are certain books that are unique to each city. I wish that I bought the History of the Koada Dal before I betrayed, because ti doesn't exist in Freeport. Likewise, either does the Basic Mining Guides, and the Dragoon books don't exist in Qeynos, to name only one.</P> <P> </P> <P>My comment was refering the the other poster saying that you can sneak into the opposing city to buy other books. I tried this, and they would not sell to me.</P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> So, you can just have a Qeynos citizen buy them for you and hand them off.  Since they aren't like the Language Primers and auto update you can do that.

[Aion]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> MysticTrunks01 wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> troodon311 wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR> <DIV>I'm am from freeport and I got into the tower in Qeynos, but the sage wouldnt sell to me. Didn't want my business...</DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Go to the sage in the Caster building in NFP, next to the Temple of War.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <P>I know that, but there are certain books that are unique to each city. I wish that I bought the History of the Koada Dal before I betrayed, because ti doesn't exist in Freeport. Likewise, either does the Basic Mining Guides, and the Dragoon books don't exist in Qeynos, to name only one.</P> <P> </P> <P>My comment was refering the the other poster saying that you can sneak into the opposing city to buy other books. I tried this, and they would not sell to me.</P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> So, you can just have a Qeynos citizen buy them for you and hand them off.  Since they aren't like the Language Primers and auto update you can do that.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> Nope.. they are no-drop no -trade once you buy them.

[overfloat]

<DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P></P> <HR> Aion wrote: <P></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE> <P>My comment was refering the the other poster saying that you can sneak into the opposing city to buy other books. I tried this, and they would not sell to me.<BR></P> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Gobbwin wrote:<BR> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Well you can buy from your city, but not the opposing one, I betrayed from FP before I had enough money to buy the books, now they do not want my buisness.(DOH!)  But I have a friend who has always been Qeynosian, we snuck into the NFP library together and the NPC wouldn't sell to him either, none of the NPCs would sell to us, so we couldn't get the language primers either.<BR> <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <P> </P> <P>Seems there was a slight misunderstanding about what I put in my previous post:</P> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> overfloater wrote:<BR> <DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Once in the city <STRONG>you'll need to be either invisible or sneaking in order to buy from merchants</STRONG>: if you can't do this yourself, either bring along a friendly caster who can invis you (enchanters only?), a rogue who can grant group sneak, or find an invisibility potion (clueless about these at the moment, sorry!).</DIV></DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>When I said "sneaking", I didn't mean just entering the city looking shady. <IMG height=16 src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif" width=16 border=0>I mean you must have a way to make yourself invisible -- either using an <STRONG>Invisibility</STRONG> skill or a <STRONG>Sneak</STRONG> skill. Invisibility/Sneak removes the buying/selling restrictions from otherwise unfriendly merchants. Enchanters (and possibly other casters, not sure on this) can cast an invisibility buff on other characters. All Scout classes have a line of sneak skills for themselves, but rogues also have a line of group sneak (Smuggle) skills, which place the entire group into stealth. If you cannot invis/stealth yourself, bring along an enchanter or rogue friend who can make you invisible for the merchant transactions.</P> <P>Invisibility and sneak serve no other purpose when wandering around the opposing city other than allowing you to deal with merchants -- most quest NPCs in the opposing city will not speak with you, even when invisible, and guards automatically see through invisibility and sneak and will boot you out of the city if they see you.<BR></P> <DIV> </DIV></DIV> <DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> MysticTrunks01 wrote:<BR><BR> So, you can just have a Qeynos citizen buy them for you and hand them off.  Since they aren't like the Language Primers and auto update you can do that.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>As mentioned already, all the purchasable quest books in North Freeport and South Qeynos are flagged No-Trade, so you <STRONG>must</STRONG> be there in person to buy them yourself if you wish to do the quest. No-Trade items cannot even be placed in the shared bank slots, so there's no point making a scout alt to buy the books for you. <IMG height=16 src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif" width=16 border=0></DIV>

[MysticTrunks01]

<DIV>Bah, never checked that... that sucks!</DIV>

[Ak]

<DIV>Where is the history of the frogloks?</DIV>

[Aion]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> overfloater wrote:<BR> <DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>When I said "sneaking", I didn't mean just entering the city looking shady. <IMG height=16 src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif" width=16 border=0>I mean you must have a way to make yourself invisible -- either using an <STRONG>Invisibility</STRONG> skill or a <STRONG>Sneak</STRONG> skill. Invisibility/Sneak removes the buying/selling restrictions from otherwise unfriendly merchants. Enchanters (and possibly other casters, not sure on this) can cast an invisibility buff on other characters. All Scout classes have a line of sneak skills for themselves, but rogues also have a line of group sneak (Smuggle) skills, which place the entire group into stealth. If you cannot invis/stealth yourself, bring along an enchanter or rogue friend who can make you invisible for the merchant transactions.</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Invisibility and sneak serve no other purpose when wandering around the opposing city other than allowing you to deal with merchants -- most quest NPCs in the opposing city will not speak with you, even when invisible, and guards automatically see through invisibility and sneak and will boot you out of the city if they see you.<BR></P> <DIV> </DIV></DIV> <DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> MysticTrunks01 wrote:<BR><BR> So, you can just have a Qeynos citizen buy them for you and hand them off.  Since they aren't like the Language Primers and auto update you can do that.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>As mentioned already, all the purchasable quest books in North Freeport and South Qeynos are flagged No-Trade, so you <STRONG>must</STRONG> be there in person to buy them yourself if you wish to do the quest. No-Trade items cannot even be placed in the shared bank slots, so there's no point making a scout alt to buy the books for you. <IMG height=16 src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif" width=16 border=0></DIV> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>So what you are saying is that there is a bug that when you use the various invisiblility skills you can buy what ever you need from opposing city merchants? (the developers couldn't possibly have meant it to be this way, could they?)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hmm learn something new all the time <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Gobbwin]

<DIV>Well I'll be damned, so they did transfer that over from EQlive...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For those who never played, this is NOT a bug, it is working as intended.  I just never tried it as I am a priest and my buddy was a fighter.  As a rogue in EQlive, many merchants would NOT sell to you, so you just snuck up behind them and got what you wanted.  All they "knew" was that someone was trying to trade with them and they were too lazy to really check and see who or what it was.  Now this didn't work for all merchants mind you, but most of them.  Much like a convicted criminal who breaks out of jail throwing a trench coat over their clothes so that they can safely buy a sandwich from McDonalds.</DIV>

[overfloat]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aion wrote:<BR><BR> <DIV>So what you are saying is that there is a bug that when you use the various invisiblility skills you can buy what ever you need from opposing city merchants? (the developers couldn't possibly have meant it to be this way, could they?)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hmm learn something new all the time <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Gobbwin's right, I don't think it's a bug. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>EQ1 did have something very similar, though the mechanics of it worked slightly differently. Interaction with every NPC in the game was based on faction -- how much the NPC liked/disliked you -- which was judged by using the /con command on the NPC. Using the Sneak skill anywhere within the rear 180-degree arc of an NPC defaulted their /con to 'indifferent' (neutral faction; the NPC neither hated nor loved you) until you broke Sneak or moved out of the rear arc. The intended benefit of this was to allow you to pass hostile creatures without being attacked as long as they remained facing away while you Sneaked silently by -- instead of their /con reading "ready to attack", Sneak would set it to "indifferent" provided you remained behind them -- but the side effect of this game mechanic was that it removed the faction restrictions that normally prevented trade with hostile or unfriendly merchants. Thus, any class or race that had the Sneak ability (primarily a rogue skill) could trade with any merchant in the game that they could safely sneak up behind. Trading in this way (or completing quest stages, which were also often faction-restricted) became known as the "secret handshake", and was one of the few major boons of being a rogue!. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In EQ2 this works a little differently. Relative position to the NPC merchant makes no difference (no more maneuvering to sneak behind them), and I've heard that both Sneak <U>and</U> Invisibility work to allow the "secret handshake", though I haven't tested Invis personally (in EQ1, Sneak didn't actually make you invisible; Hide skills or Invisibility spells did make you invisible but would break if you initiated a merchant transaction, whereas Sneak would remain active during the trade). If you use a sneak skill or invisibility spell, the red 'KoS' outline is removed from the nametag of an NPC -- this is equivalent to having your faction set to indifferent. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> However, the secret handshake trick only works with merchants in EQ2; it won't fool quest NPCs as it did in EQ1, nor will it fool city guards, so be careful! It does appear to work with <U>all</U> merchants, though: my Swashbuckler has made several trips to Freeport with to buy quest books, racial furniture items from the villages, and Freeport-only status items from the City Merchants, as well as to browse the broker there without having to pay 40% commission via the fence in Qeynos!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I haven't tested all sneak/invis skills to see if they work but the staple rogue sneak skill, Snoop, works great. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV><p>Message Edited by overfloater on <span class=date_text>01-19-2005</span> <span class=time_text>05:45 PM</span>

[xabkorak]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> overfloater wrote:<BR> <DIV> <DIV>Just a small warning to anyone keen to do the "History of <EM>(race)</EM>" book quests, who hasn't picked them up yet...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>All these books require access to tier3+ areas: EL, Zek or the Feerrott, depending on the book (none I'm doing at the moment require Everfrost or Lavastorm, but I suppose I shouldn't rule those out!). Therefore, to complete any book, you'll need to be <U>at least</U> adventure level 25 (35? for Feerrott) and have completed the relevant access quests, or have suitable artisan level to gain auto-entry to those lands. You will be hard pressed to finish many of the books pre-30, unless you have high level friends to group with who can escort you!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Not quite true Overfloater, The history of the Iksar runs you round Freeport, Commonlands and Nek Forest, I've finished it and have the book in my room at 22 (with only no deaths in Nek either, although a lot of *very* hairy sprint moments....) :smileyhappy:</DIV>

[overfloat]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> xabkorak wrote:<BR><BR> <DIV>Not quite true Overfloater, The history of the Iksar runs you round Freeport, Commonlands and Nek Forest, I've finished it and have the book in my room at 22 (with only no deaths in Nek either, although a lot of *very* hairy sprint moments....) :smileyhappy: <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>Really? Sweet! I'm happy to be proved wrong there, hehe. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I haven't had inventory or journal space to start many of the evil race histories yet, but sounds like Iksar is coming next. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><BR>

[Jaron]

<DIV>Yeah, I was pretty disappointed when the History of the Ayr'Dal wanted me to go to Feerrott. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I think I got to that point when I was in my mid-20's.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My inventory is still filled with other quest books (many from Qeynos, thanks to the "secret handshake" trick), so I'm wary of starting new "History of" quests that I won't be able to finish until I gain more levels. <img src="/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/pplayer_bio.vm?characterId=214659205" target=_blank>http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/pplayer_bio.vm?characterId=214659205</A> <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Sharing is caring.™</DIV>

[JayemJa]

If you want the history of the Frogloks do the Troll one, Part II. That has quite a bit about frogloks.