Taking a peek, I realized soloing would be suicide... I can solo the minion of Xalgoz, probably even the ocassional Spectral Guardian who shows up at the entrance, but going past the first room alone would not be a good idea.
So two guild members, a 44 enchanter and a 42 shaman, come along, as well as an unguilded 36 druid who wandered in for whatever reason. None of us have ever been in Kaesora before. (Well I have, but never past the first room where you enter).
I got the nice EQ Atlas map, as does our shaman. Trying to plan where to go...
So we go straight ahead to see what we can find. Know there's a pit that goes down a level...
Misread the map, it goes down TWO levels... I take little damage, with my 200 safe fall, but the enchanter and shaman lose two bubbles, the druid nearly dies.
Which would be OK, we can heal up before facing the mobs...
Except they're already there. 4 spiders and a ravener, beating the crap out of us before we even hit the ground. I FD, the druid dies almost instantly, the enchanter (in werewolf form) fights them a little before dying, the shaman gates.
Now we have two corpses down here, difficult to get to... the shaman goes LD... and I'm lying sown here with 4 spiders on my head (posioned, but my mend was enough to save me until it wore off). Joy...
It's hard getting corpses out, even while invis, it turns out. Even if you have a map, and nothing attacks you, it's a pain getting out from that level. Plus the fact Kaesora has a nice mix of undead and living mobs... meaning neither invis or ivu works on the entire route out.
To get my living body out... well the druid was creative, although it failes a couple times because of bad timing. She levitated down, and cast evac (while falling), timing it so the spell would complete before the spiders agroed on her (she failed at this a couple times, you have to time it just right).
Lessons learned about a new zone:
Check the map CAREFULLY. That pit might not go where it looks like it goes... misinterpreting the map is a BAD, BAD, THING.
Before going down pits, look from the edge where it drops, and what mobs are at the bottom of it.
Try to find people who know about the zone... good campsites, escape routes, etc. Try to take people who have been there before with you, although that's not always possible. After, everybody had to be in there their first time once.
Seeing how Kaesora's laid out, I can see why few people fight there. It's deep in Kunark (but no big deal for iksar) and is not especially intuitive about where to go. It's still only lightly explored by most people, despite the fact it's been around for nearly 2 years... meaning knowledge from experienced players about the zone is hard to come by. Most of the level who can fight there would just rather go to Guk, SolB, or other better known places.
As a side note, while waiting for my group to figure out how to get the two corpses, and my living body, out from the bottom of the pit, a GM wandered by... why I don't know, maybe he wanted to see people who actually came to Kaesora. Talked to him a little... it's nice to know GMs take an interest.
Anybody ever actually fight here? Have tips (other than obviously, look where you're going!)?
The only reason people go to Kaesora is for the key quests.
