Crystal Ant Hive

Crystal Ant Hive is designed for Newbies and Chumps. It's not a complicated area, as you can see from the map, and there are no death traps to be careful about. A well-equipped Newbie shouldn't have trouble with most of the mobs in this area, anything less than the roayl guards should be a piece of cake unless you get overwhelmed. There are three mobs that will cause you troubleand to get to the you have to go down from the Entrance to the Inner Sanctum (Ei) to the Centre of the Inner Sactum (Ci).

The King in the King's Chamber (Kc) is sanc'd, as is the Queen in the Queen's Chamber (Qc). She's a tougher mob than her husband and both are guarded by two or three guards. Ants that wander in while you're fighting will join in in their defence too. A low-level chump group should be able to take both with good equipment and planning.

The hardest kill in the area is the Crystal Ant Avatar. Astaroth went in there using a sword - which turned out to be useless because the avatar was resistant to slashing damage. I swapped to fists and magic and still took forever to kill it. It managed to deal me around 100 damage throught the fight, through sanc and my blade barrier had no effect on it. I think a good group of Chumps, with a well-armoured tank should be able to take him out and he's quite a bit of xp.

If you'd like to make a quick run to this zone, we recommend the following directions, starting at The Common in Shadowdale: 4e2de2d.

Map of the Crystal Ant Hive



                   Or-Or-Io-Or-Or
                   |     |     |                    
                Or-Or    |     Or-Or
                |        |        |
             Or-Or Ir----Ii----Ir Or-Or                      
             |     |     |     |     |              
             Or    Ir    Rp    Ir    Or               
             |     |     |     |     |              
             Io----Ii-Rp-Ei-Rp-Ii----Io                
             |     |     |v    |     |              
             Or    Ir    Rp    Ir    Or                
             |     |     |     |     |             
             Or-Or Ir----Ii----Ir Or-Or                     
                |        |        |                
                Or-Or    |     Or-Or                    
                   |     |     |                      
                   Or-Or-Cr-Or-Or 
                           \
                            Up to the Sewers

The Inner Sactum

                 Ca-Ca-Ca                              
                 |  |  |                            
                 Ca-Ca-Ca                              
                 |  |  |                            
                 Ca-Ca-Ca                              
                    |                              
                    Cp                              
                    |                              
                    Cp Up to the Hive                             
                    | /                              
           Qc-Cp-Cp-Ci-Cp-Cp-Kc                              
                    |                              
                    Nc
                    |                              
                    Nc
                    |
                    Nc
                    |
                    Ac

Key to the Map of the Hive

Ac - The Avatar's Chamber Ca - The Crystal Ant Hatchery

Ci - The Center of the Inner Sactum Cp - A Crystal Passage

Ct - A Collapsed Tunnel Ei - Entrance to the Inner Sanctum

Ii - Intersection in the Inner Ring Io - Intersection in the Outer Ring

Ir - The Inner Ring Kc - the King's Chamber

Nc - A Narrow Crystal Passage Or - The Outer Ring

Qc - The Queen's Chamber Rp - A Refuse Pit