12-20-08 hunt for Meraktus.

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

****To many signs to ignore. All of the eyes and ears that have searched for Meraktus point to him hiding in the rear of the Labyrinth stronghold. He most likely wont be venturing out on his own...I will attempt to drive him out on my own. However I don't think I will be successful, I must try though.****

Well, I'm going in. I doubt that I'll be able to rally everyone that wanted to come on such short notice. But if you've got nothing else going on, just make your way to the rear of the Labyrinth. I'm sure you'll find me either dead or battling my brains out back in there. In case you missed it here is some information on Meraktus. Of coarse by now the message boards have been flooded with postings about him. I have lots of things I've posted about him. Like this thread too.

****Rolling several bandages into his pack Hagrid checks his armor, grabs the reins of his greater dragon and heads off to the Labyrinth.****

 

[Lady_Calina]

*Looks up from her glass of eggnog, her head tingling slightly as the liquor warms her body from the chill of the winter's night. The tavern did what they could in the way of warmth, but on this night, despite even the best of efforts, the cold was cutting through the crumbling brick.

There was a feeling of purpose in the air, a sense of duty amongst the patrons who intended to aide Lord Hagrid in his quest to confront and defeat the legendary Merkatus.

Smiling softly, perhaps out of a grim sense of amusement of things to unfold that night, Calina shakes her head and laughs to herself, thinking herself insane for participating, yet strangely looking forward to the journey before her.

She takes another swig of eggnog and eases back into her chair, closing her eyes and sighing to herself, "One thing's for sure... I won't be wanting for excitement..."

I'll be there, Hagrid!

 

[jelinidas]

what time did ya have in mind?

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

****Returning to the Hostel, Hagrid hands over the bloodied reins of his dragon to Brenda "Hagrid! What hast thou put this beautiful dragon through? Thou should be ashamed of thyself!" Quickly whisking the dragon away Hagrid knows that his beloved reptilian companion is in good hands, eases back and eagerly drinks from the bottle that Milo handed him****


I have much to say about the search for Meraktus. First off let me thank Beacon. Without his help there would have been no possible way I'd have made it as far as I did.

The evening started out with me slowly making my way back to the Labyrinth. About half way back I found a little "nook" that if I stayed in, nothing spawned on me. I thought this would be a good rez point if others were to join me. I drug minotaurs, minotaur scouts and minotaur captains to my greater dragon who killed them, one after another. A half hour into the battle a player by the name of Beacon came along. There was another player with him, who quickly left. But Beacon stood with me. We made our way to the center of the Labyrinth, approximately half an hour after Beacon showed up, with him provoking like a true champ, the message appeared in my journal: A minotaur bellows, "I see invaders! Must warn the others!" I nearly pee'd my pants. I had heard people tell me that I'd need anywhere from 15 - 30 or more experienced players beating the crap outta' the minotaurs for upwards of two hours before I'd hope to get that message. Maybe it was all the research I did that helped me know exactly where to go, maybe it was Beacon that provoked like a champ, maybe my dragon was hungry. Or possibly it was publish 57. But it only took the 2 of us together half an hour to get that message. I can't imagine I did much in the prior half hour to progress anything. Here is a screen-shot of the first message I saw.

We continued to walk back and forth, not going very far from the iron gates, when suddenly the spawn seemed to increase by about 5 - 10 times more than it had been. It eventually got so intense that even Beacon and myself couldn't keep up with the heals on my dragon and we met our end. The entire time though it seemed that when we would kill a minotaur captain we'd get that same message again. So we knew we were in the right area.

I was able to invis-walk, invis-walk nearly all the way out of the Labyrinth (I was retreating since my dragon was dead, and Beacon also died) when Pyre found me and killed me. Determined to get my body back (matter of principle) I walked-invs, walk-invis all the way back to my body, after I got rezzed by the wandering healer outside. Then I asked Beacon if he'd like to help me kill Pyre for revenge since the bird decided to follow me all the way out to the exit killing me at least once more. He of coarse did, and we found out how incredibly tough Prye was. He isn't anything like his cousin the swoop, that's for sure. But we did get him. Not that it was worth it, the darn thing had junk loot. But, again, it was the principle. Hehe.

At any rate, with just 2 people going after Meraktus, I made it MUCH further than I ever dreamed of. Let me say that louder...TWO people. This spawn IS very possible with just a handful of people, I believe that now. Of coarse I know where to go now, from first hand experience, so that helps. I'm going to attempt to go in again at 4:00pm EST tomorrow. If you feel you'd like to come, then I'll be at the entrance to the Labyrinth dungeon (the door, not the crystal green moongate) until about 4:10pm EST I found the best way for me to get my greater dragon in the back without dragging 20 reptalons with me, was to leave my dragon outside, tell it to stay, then I used the invisible spell and walked a few feet, and invisible myself until I got past the reptalons. Then I logged out and in, dragging my dragon inside. Just my method, don't have to be yours. Hope you all can make it.

****Feeling the warmth of the fire on his back Hagrid eases back into the chair, much more at ease as he now feels that Meraktus may not be completely undefeatable after all. Tonight's trip was not a total waste...very valuable information was attained as Beacon and myself found that Meraktus's army actually seemed worried about us infiltrating. A small group of adventurers should be able to take him down. By tomorrow Meraktus should be no more. Milo looks over at Hagrid who, although quite bruised an battered, seems to have a smirk on his face. He hands him another ale and asks "One that looks as beaten as thyself still has it within to look confident?" Hagrid only smiles slightly as he swallows down the cool drink.****

 

[Aang]

The wife is dragging me out Christmas shopping this afternoon but IF we get back in time, my tamer and his greater dragon will be there to assist.

 

[Uthar Pendragon]

I will certainly try to be there as it looks like it is working now. You were able to get the invaders messages while in all previous attempts I have been with have not gotten those messages.

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

Most wonderful. I look forward to seeing you there.

 

[Uthar Pendragon]

logged in and found out a guildmate was doing it. so I went to help him out as soon as I realized what he was up too. MERAKTUS is alive and spawning now on catskills.

FYI three of us did the spawn Thantos, Farsight and me. Farsight and me had our Greater dragons for this. farsight said he worked the spawn for 2 hrs 10 mins but most of it alone. I think I was there for about 45 mins of it. Was a challenge at the end with the area effect and only two of us (Thantos had left the spawn shortly before he arrived). Gift of life came in handy. Farsight promised to post screen shots after he ate.

 

[Farsight]

So I had heard that there were plans to invade the lair of Merkatus, and I thought to see how well my trusted friend and companion, Blood Stone the dragon would do against the foul minotaur.

As the screen shots tend to indicate, the dragons did fairly well.

I was there alone for two hours before Robert and Thanatos joined me, and about 45 minutes after they got there before the tormented minotaur showed.

A few words of advice for future hunters (which I plan to be one as well...)

1. Gift of life is your friend.
2. Gift of renewal is also your friend. There is no point where you can heal your dragons where the tormented minotaur area effect won't get you.
3. Two tormented minotaur can kill you instantly. I don't care who you are, they can kill you instantly. More than that is just plain suicide. So when you get to the end, pull one out at a time.
4. While Merkatus himself has fewer hit points than the tormented minotaur (or so it seems, I forgot to lore them.), his area effect spell hits harder. He even killed poor Merlin!

If I make it later (I'll likely be Kei Wa or Dedigan), then I'm looking forward to it. If I don't, then good luck to you!

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

Holy somkes! Thank you for all the amazing feedback. Yeah...I heard that the area attacks were nasty-mean.

Hope to see as many there as possible at 4:00pm EST Dragons, mages, spellweavers, tanks, necros, ninjas, archers, samurai, paladins and whatever else you wanna throw at this guy, should be fun.

And thank you, thank you, THANK you for the screen-shots. =-D

 

[Uthar Pendragon]

Received two replicas from somewhere not sure where I got where but know for certain one came from him. We completed a second time so can confirm he is now resetting properly as well. but received:

Oblivion's needle(replica)
stamina leech 50
hit chance 20%
stamina increase 20
defense chance increase -20
damage increase 40

(dagger)

royal guard survival knife(replica)
spell channeling
luck 140
enhance pots 25%
lower requirements 50%
ubw

(skinning knife)

 

[Farsight]

That last one was interesting, to say the least.

I didn't get a single shot off at any of the tormented minotaur or Merkatus himself. I was too busy ressurecting people and running from the beasts that people dragged back to the "safe" zones.

But they fell and we had some fun. And that's the important bit, no?

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

****A large "thud" is heard at the front door of Hanse's Hostel (check post #5). Barret opens the front door to find an unconscious Hagrid being carried in the gentle teeth of a greater dragon. The dragon drops the limp body of Hagrid into Barret's arms and slowly walks out back to meet Brenda who begins to tend to the dragons wounds. "Hagrid! Hagrid!" Yells Barret as he lays Hagrid down on the table of the hostel. "We...We...We did it." Hagrid gargles out as he tries to sit up.
"Now sit still Hagrid, and drink this down." Casey opens a fresh ale and pours it down Hagrids throat.****


I'll answer the questions I'm betting most want answered first.
Time: It took one hour and 20 minutes.
People involved: I believe I counted 11 people attacking the spawn.
Any rewards: One player reported receiving a replica weapon.
Difficult: The spawn was pretty easy. But just as was reported the tormented minotaur's area attack and Meraktus's area attack was devastating.
Did you kill him: Yes, him and his followers.

From the get go I got killed by pyre about 3 times, the bird was waiting at the entrance to the dungeon. Once I finally go to the rear of the battle I began, like the others, to kill off the spawn.

The bodies kept piling up as we kept recieving messages from the minotaurs, that we were invading.

Eventually Meraktus and his tormented female minotaurs came to do battle with us.

The Tormented Minotaurs were just as mean and had an area attack that seemed to kill most with either one or two hits. Eventually our party killed them off.

It was neat to see Meraktus in action. You can see him in the far upper right of this screenshot...just before he killed me. His area effect attack seems to reach across an entire screen.

Even while dead my greater dragon continued to attack Meraktus, and with the help of all the others, we eventually killed him.

I loved doing this spawn, as few had done it before. With the help of pirates, tamers, mages, archers and so many others I had a blast. It was fun to just do something that not many players ever bother with. Sometimes I think players get carried away with going after an artie or item, and forget to just have fun with the experience of accomplishing a goal with a large group of players. I would love to do this one again sometime.

****As Hagrid begins to regain his senses he feels relieved at knowing that Meraktus has finally fallen. He motions for Casey to bring him another ale.****

 

[Aang]

Sadly, I JUST got home from Christmas shopping. If you make another run, make sure you post time/date and I will try to attend. Thanks for the screen shots and recap. Congratulations.

 

[Mark Knotts]

Me (under brown drag) and a friend (pink beardo) did him today and wow is he easy. The actual fight against him took less than 5 minutes with no worries at all. He only has 4,000hp so he's a breeze. No drops but we just wanted to see if we could duo it.

 

[jelinidas]

Bob I would like to thank you for sticking with this adventure. Even with the short notices, I had a blast. Probably the most fun I have had in a while on UO.

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

Thanks Jelinidas, I had a blast too. Mark, you think he was easy? How did you avoid getting killed by his area attack? I'd love to know your method.

 

[Mark Knotts]

Thanks Jelinidas, I had a blast too. Mark, you think he was easy? How did you avoid getting killed by his area attack? I'd love to know your method.

Good dragons first of all . We just ran up healed a few times, ran back out of his range. Didn't really have any trouble and he dropped very fast. Best of luck to everyone on your next hunt.

 

[Farsight]

What we did wrong was a great many people simply ran into the big building and pulled out ALL 5(!) of the end-spawn. As I mentioned earlier, any two is enough to instantly kill the best armored warrior. The 5 were enough to slaughter everyone.

And once they noticed that they didn't have a chance, rather than dieing with honor, they ran back to the healers in a vain hope that the healers could out-heal the area effect spells of 4 tormented minotaur and Merkatus. To top it off, two late comers unwittingly dragged Pyre into the fight as well (Pyre will follow you ANYWHERE in the dungeon. If he targets you, either kill it, die or go invis. To make it worse, he isn't hampered by little things like walls. He just flies right over them). The unfortunate effect of all that happening at the same time was that the designated healers were slaughtered as well, forcing us to move the "safe" healing zone, where we only ressurected people until the fight was over.

If you do it again, try pulling the tormented minotaur out one at a time, having your best physical resist armor on and staying out of range of the stomp attacks as much as you can. As you can see from Robert's and my screen shots before, it isn't that easy (we're not at full health in any of the shots and our dragons are typically half-dead). But once you get the field set up well, it's very possible and easier than most Peerless, but harder than any named ML monster who isn't named Rend or Abscess. In fact, killing them isn't much different than killing Abscess, except the fact that there are five of them.

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

Ah...That does sound a bit easier. The hardest part would probably be getting a large group to all follow the same game plan.

I loved doing this spawn, it didn't involve spending hours getting keys that expire in a few minutes. I think its relatively easy to find, and it isn't done all that often.

I very much hope to do this one again, and again. Maybe you guys could take me sometime? I promise not to drag stuff out. *blush*