DALNIR

Allakhazam Links: Bestiary || Equipment || Quests || Strategy
Text last updated: 04/24/02
Map last updated: 03/03/01

Description

The Crypt of Dalnir is the hidden burial tomb of Dalnir, the ancient Haggle Baron of the City of Cabilis. Recently, however, the Kly have taken over the tomb and expanded it for their own, currently unknown, purposes. The poor creatures who have fallen under their sway protect the upper floors while they continue their experiments in the tunnels below.

Dangers

Dalnir has several different, unique dangers that can only be found here, largely because of the unique creatures that are found here. First of all, many of the creatures are only occasionally aggressive, and this applies to the nibblers and the goos. These are more commonly not aggressive, but it's always safer to assume that they will attack than not. The coerced and the kly are uniformly aggressive to all who enter. Both the coerced and the kly have powerful spellcasters among their ranks, especially the kly who have many wizard types among them. The coerced count shamans, magicians, necromancers, shadow knights, and clerics among them. The number of creatures in any area here is very high, so crowd control or a large group are essential to doing well.

Another danger in this zone is that the levels are separated by pits. The amount of damage that you can take from falling in one of these pits won't kill most people capable of hunting here, but the fact that there are typically aggressive creatures hanging around the landing area make the thought of freefalling less appealing.

Third is the few exits that are available. Although the dungeon is small and could be considered by some to have a rather large number of relatively easy exits, for all the exits you have to pass by many aggressive creatures while winding your way through twisting corridors to the zone out spot. The third floor is especially dangerous since you have to pass through the toughest monsters in the zone to reach the zone exit, which isn't something that I recommend with little life to spare.

Benefits

This zone is one of my favorite zones in the game. It is different from many other zones for a variety of reasons, which make hunting here a unique experience. First off, many people come here for the loot that Dalnir has to offer. Many unique and powerful items are found in here off of a few monsters, and even the random wandering creatures (the kly and coerced) have uncommon drops of good items, even if you're hunting the front tunnel.

There are several quests that occur completely within this zone, as well as an evolving storyline that you can learn about through journal entries that can be found throughout. These quests result in some very nice weapons, but I won't describe more so that you can figure it out.

The coerced in this area are some of the more interesting creatures found anywhere in Kunark. They come from most races, and represent most of the classes, and therefore make a "strategy" against them very hard to define. The coerced drop many of the good items listed above. With some experience, you can determine which particular coerced will drop which items, although this doesn't really help you choose which ones to fight. The coerced generally stick to the first and second floors, although they can rarely be found on the third floor.

The Kly are also unique. The Kly are believed to be an offshoot of the Sarnaks from ages past, who have taken to doing experiments on other races that fall outside of the "norm" of the sarnak culture, and so they have found this tomb from which to perform those experiments. They are never found on the first floor, and are mostly on the second and third floors.

Dalnir is pretty much a monk's haven. Any monk in the above level range who hasn't hunted here at least once is pretty much crazy. Half of the armor and weapons, including some of the best monk weapons to be found at this level are found in Dalnir. The obvious benefit of Safe Fall and pit traps doesn't even really need to be mentioned. The Kly that appear all over the two lower levels rarely drop pieces of the prized Crescent Armor as well.

Although I mentioned it above in the Dangers section, the number of exits is also a plus in this dungeon, as you can fight here without having to rely on an evac'er in the group. Many groups set up camp directly at the exit on the first or second floors, and since the dungeon levels are relatively small, a good and smart group can pull half the level from there.

Also, experience in this area is very good. With a well-balanced group, the high volume of creatures that that group can fight in a relatively short period of time provide great levelling opportunities. Many of the battles felt like they were "close" which was exciting, but since there are a large number of relatively balanced creatures around, it is rare that you get jumped by something that could take out your whole group.

Travelling To and From Dalnir

The entrance to Dalnir is located through an old, hidden tunnel at 3490, 3965 in Warsliks Woods. Bear to the right down the tunnel to lead you to the water illusion that leads you underneath...