Arachnos

Arachnos is supposed to be aimed at level 5 to 50 players but I found the tougher pasts of the zone fairly easy. A well equipped Expert should have no trouble at all here. A group of experienced Medium players might even be able to clear the place out!

Arachnos was a little difficult to map, because moving from one room to another doesn't mean moving back will take you to the same place. Even so, I've mapped enough zones like this now that I'm beginning to get a sense for the places. When you enter Arachnos you'll need to move up from the ground into the trees. There are three rooms called On The Busy Path (Ob, O1 and O2). Moving east from O2 places you On The Busy Path (Ob) In The Trees, moving north, east or south moves you back to the ground.

Once you enter the Ethereal Web (Ew) and move north you'll find yourself at the Base of the Web (BW). This room is the true centre of Arachnos, many exits in the rooms bring you back there. The web itself is a bit of a mess to map. I've marked all the rooms in capitals (BW) for example and exits in lower case. For example:

    an-TS
       | \
       ew bw

This is the room A Tenuous Strand (Ts). Going est takes you to Another Tree Limb (An), south to the Eldar Wormkin's Room (Ew) and down to the Base of the Web (Bw). There are four rooms called A Link in the Ethereal Web (Le, L2, L3, L4) and each is marked differently on the map.

The maze leads you to three important places: The Lair of Arachnos, Donjonkeep and The Single Strand. You travel to the Single STrand going north from 'L4'. There's a Death Trap there, marked on the map as DT, and nothing much else. I'd avoid it if I were you. The Lair of Arachnos is where the final, big mob awaits you. Travel there by going down from 'L4'. The door to the Lair is locked but you can 'knock' or doorbash it. Arachnos awaits you there and you'll find some money and treasure. Lastly you make it to Donjonkeep by going south from 'L4' there is another toughish mob here for you to fight.

One further point of note is that at Yevaud's Lair, Yevaud Scourge of Shadowdale awaits you. He's a red Dragon so make sure you have some kind of protection against his breath as he's HUGE.

If you'd like to make a quick run to this zone, we recommend the following directions, starting at The Common in Shadowdale: 9sws3ws2w2s2w3sws5w2sws2w3s6wswn3ws4wnwsw2n3w3nw5n2w n7w2nwsws3wndn2e4n3w2n6ws4wn4wn.

Map of Arachnos



                           /-O2                        
                          / /|                      
                     Wp-B3 / O1-In the Trees                          
                     |    /                         
                  Hv-Wp-Bb                              
                     |                            
                     We                             
                     |                             
              Neverwinter Woods

In The Trees

              Tt-Fz 1                              
              |  |  |                             
           Ws-Tl Sp-On-2                              
                 |  |      Ee                      
              Ar-Wb 3      |                       
              | \          Ls                         
              Wf Rw       /                            
                \  /-Tp-Rc
                 \|
                  Sp

Ethereal Web

   yw                                         bw
   |                                         /
oc-BW-tt     OC     le-AC-bw  bw-LE-ts     YW     ac-TT-bw
   |           \       |                             |
   ac           bw     oc                            le  
                                 qt *                ow

                                 | /                 |
an-TS        EW     l2-AN-bs     L2        BS        KR
   | \         \       |         |           \       
   ew bw        bw     oc        kr           bw
                       yl                  ss

                       |                   |         
ow-QT        OW-qt     L3        YL        L4-bw     
   |         | \       |         |         | \       
   l2        l3 bw     l4        l3        ed al

The Single Strand

    bw
    |
    SS
    |
    Ss
    |
    Hc
    |
    DT

Lair of Arachnos

       La
       +
 AL>Sc>Gd
      \
       bw

Donjonkeep

        r2     rh
        |      |                                   
        RH     R2                                          
        ^      |                                    
        Gr     Dj-S2                                     
        ^                                          
        ED

Key to the Map of Arachnos

Al - The Entrance to the Arachnos' Lair An - Another Tree Limb

Ar - Above the Ravine Bb - Beneath the Busy Path

Bs - The Bird Spider's Lair Bw - Base of the Web

DT - DEATH TRAP Ed - Entrance to the Donjonkeep

Ee - The Entrance of the Ethereal Web Ew - The Elder Wormkin's Room

Fz - Fuzzy Tree Limb Gd - The Great Door

Hc - The Hermit's Corner Hv - Wasp Hive

Kr - The Ki-Rin CHambr La - The Lair of Arachnos

Le - A Link in the Ethereal Web Ls - A Leader Strand

Oc - On a Cloud On - On the Busy Path

Ow - On The Web Qt - The Quiet Tree Top

Rc - A Road Crossing Rh - Realm of the Hopeless

Rw - The Rainbow Web Sc - The Sticky Chamber

Sl - The Slave Pit Sp - A Split in the Path

Ss - The Single Spider Line TH - Throughout The Trees

Tl - Tree Lair Entrance Tp - The Tether Path

Ts - A Tenuous Strand Tt - Tree Trunk

Wb - The Webless Path We - Webby Entrance

Wf - The Web Forest Wp - Webby Passage

Ws - Wolf Spider Laid Yl - Yevaud's Lair

Yw - The Young Wormkin's Crib