Aerbax's Prodigal Drudge

Overview

 * Investigate the Drudge Fort near Cragstone.

Walkthrough
Note: Before heading to the Drudge Fort make sure you have multiple food items to feed Sergeant Shanks in step 3 and Farmer Kao's Shovel for step 4. Most groups choose to omit these steps and instead have someone PKL through the cave door. If your group is doing this, skip steps 3 and 4.


 * 1) [OPTIONAL] Obtain the Contract for Aerbax's Prodigal Drudge from Barkeeper Benedetta in the Annex wing of the Town Network.
 * 2) [OPTIONAL] Speak with Jarvis Hammerstone of Cragstone who will inform you of a Drudge Fort west of Cragstone at 25.4N 45.9E.
 * 3) Head to the fort, destroy the walls, and work your way to the inner ring of the fortress. You will find two NPCs: Sergeant Shanks the Drudge and Hoogan the Banderling. There is also a cave with a locked door.
 * 4) Give Sergeant Shanks food items until he slips and tells you about the blueprints. This flags you to pick up the Drudge Fort Blueprints dropped by the Drudge Biters surrounding the cave entrance. You only need to get flagged once per character and then they can pick up blueprints forever.  Not many of the Drudge Biters drop the blueprints, so you may need to do some searching to find them.
 * 5) Bring the blueprints to Hoogan the Banderling, barricaded inside the small hut.  Note that you cannot enter the hut, instead you must interact with Hoogan via the small window in the back of the hut. Give him the blueprints and he will tell you that he requires a shovel to escape.  There is a rumor sitting in a pile of trash and stolen loot which will lead you to Farmer Kao, the owner of the only shovel in Dereth. It saves time to get Farmer Kao's Shovel before the quest.  Give the shovel to Hoogan in return for the cave key.
 * 6) Use the Cave Door Key to access the Cave Dungeon. You will enter in a tunnel which connects to a large chamber. Opposite of you will be a portal to the next area. In order to enter it, you must first kill Kernel Klank. This will release the restrictions on the portal which takes you to the main and final dungeon, Under Drudge Fort.
 * 7) Under Drudge Fort is a large maze, but experienced players will know the way through. If no one knows the way, study the map carefully.  Eventually you will jump down to the lower level where Bonecrunch is.
 * 8) * If you don't have the map: Once your portal to the lower dungeon, go straight until you hit a wall; go right 90 degrees until you hit a wall; go left and stay left until you go down a ramp; at the bottom of the ramp, stay right until you reach a balloon and a jump down.
 * 9) When you reach the final room, there is one important thing to remember: Do not kill Captain Burnja. Killing Burnja puts out the Wall of Fire and lets Bonecrunch into the main room where he can and will lay waste to the entire group with his high hollow damage. The general strategy for the final room is this:
 * 10) * Have one ore more players lead Burnja off to a side room and hold him there until Bonecrunch dies.
 * 11) * Have an archer open the door behind the fire wall and lure Bonecrunch with an arrow.
 * 12) * Have all archers and mages open fire on Bonecrunch. Slashing ammo with a rending bow is said to be best.
 * 13) * Melees keep the spawns of drudges clear so the archers/mages can stay alive and concentrate on Bonecrunch.
 * 14) * If anyone dies, they can portal recall and land at the top of the Under Drudge Fort
 * 15) When Bonecrunch dies, it is then safe to kill Captain Burnja.  Once Burnja is dead and the flame wall is down, have everyone in the fellowship loot a key from his corpse.  Bonecrunch drops 10 keys per kill.
 * 16) * Captain Burnja carries 1 special board with nail that can also be turned in for a small amount of XP.
 * 17) * If you have more than 1 fellowship, you will need to kill Bonecrunch more than 1 time so everyone gets a key. To do this safely, everyone should move back to one of the side rooms and wait for Bonecrunch and Burnja to respawn.  If you do not, there is a chance that Bonecrunch will get beyond the flame wall before it can respawn.
 * 18) Once everyone has a key, exit the dungeon using the Escape Portal that appears behind Bonecrunch's throne. Using this portal is what flags you to get a reward from Jarvis.
 * 19) Loot the chest using your key (close the chest!) then hit the surface portal to run back to Cragstone and speak with Jarvis. Unwanted items can be traded or turned in for bonus experience.
 * 20) * Tip: You can tell what item is in the chest by looking at the burden:
 * 21) ** Orb = 9140 BU
 * 22) ** Scroll = 9070 BU
 * 23) ** Hammer = 9840 BU
 * 24) There are 3 random titles which are given out by Jarvis for completing the quest.

Lore & Dialog
Sergeant Shanks tells you, "I no talk to you. You are not Drudge and I told not to talk to not Drudge!"

You give Hoogan Drudge Fort Blueprints. Hoogan looks the blueprints over. Hoogan tells you, "Alright, we know we need to dig to avoid these tunnels the Drudges dug here and here, but we don't have anything to dig with. If we had a shovel we could really get out of here." Hoogan tells you, "Can you find us a shovel? I don't know what the drudges used to dig their tunnels, but maybe you can find a clue around. If you bring me back a shovel I'll give you this key we slipped off of Shanks when he was sleeping today. I think it leads into their tunnels below." Hoogan tells you, "Remember, if you find a shovel be sure not to give it to anyone else. Bring it to me."

You allow Hoogan to examine your Farmer Kao's Shovel. You hand over 1 of your Farmer Kao's Shovels. Hoogan bestows the title "Hoogan's Hero" on you. Hoogan tells you, "Perfect! With this we can finish the tunnel we've been clawing and scrapping out under the bed in here. You've saved my skin friend. Take this key and bring the fight to the Drudges in their tunnels and caves below." Hoogan gives you Cave Door Key. Hoogan tells you, "The tunneling is going much faster now that we have the shovel you brought us. You should use that key I gave you to get into the Drudges under ground caves. I'm pretty sure their leader is down there. At least that's what Shanks let slip the other day. Thanks again human and good luck."

Kernel Klank shuts down the portal.

The portal glows brightly released of it's restriction.

Bonecrunch says, "Stay away from my apples!" Bonecrunch says, "You! How did you get into my fortress? Never mind, now it's time for you to go crunch!" Bonecrunch says, "This is my throne room. I am BoneCrunch and that's my throne. There, tours over, now you die."

Bonecrunch says, "Your time as masters of this land is at an end humans. You have no idea what is coming."

Bonecrunch says, "You have defeated my child. Your kind shows just as much promise as the Martine creature did. Soon you will embrace the simple truth. Clarity and purpose will be paid for with free will."

Bonecrunch says, "Your not part of the Plan!"

Bonecrunch says, "What? You call this loot? How come I never get your weapons?"

Bonecrunch says, "Come! Protect your leader! Bite! Stab! Burn!"

Captain Burnja tells you, "Leave now humans or I burn you so bad you be dead!"

Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "Ah, I see you bested the Drudge leader, Bonecrunch, again. Well done! His sudden rise to power still worries me though." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "The Royal Council is investigating the various creature uprisings in Dereth. It seems that the Mosswarts and Banderling have also been acting a bit odd lately. These are troubling times. I am glad that we have brave souls like you to protect our people." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "For your continued bravery and service to Cragstone I grant you the wisdom of the Town Elders of Cragstone and the title "Cragstone Knight."" You've earned (20%) experience. You give Jarvis Hammerstone Burnja Token. Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "Ah, this is from that pyro-maniacal Drudge. I never did buy him as the leader of the raids." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "Still, I'm glad you were able to defeat him. I'm so tired of trying to put out all the fires he keeps starting." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "I hereby name you a "Cragstone Firefighter.""

You allow Jarvis Hammerstone to examine your Protective Drudge Charm. You hand over 1 of your Protective Drudge Charms. Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "This is one of BoneCrunch's treasures? It looks like some of the other Drudge Charms I've seen, but it's obviously more powerful. I'll have Suya the Jeweler take a look at it. Thank you, here is a small reward for your help." You've earned 66,000,000 experience. (Level 200)

You've earned 132,000,000 experience. Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "Ah, I see you bested the Drudge leader, Bonecrunch, again. Well done! His sudden rise to power still worries me though." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "The Royal Council is investigating the various creature uprisings in Dereth. It seems that the Mosswarts and Banderling have also been acting a bit odd lately. These are troubling times. I am glad that we have brave souls like you to protect our people." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "For your continued bravery and service to Cragstone I grant you the wisdom of the Town Elders of Cragstone and the title "Cragstone Knight.""

You give Jarvis Hammerstone Burnja Token. Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "Ah, this is from that pyro-maniacal Drudge. I never did buy him as the leader of the raids." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "Still, I'm glad you were able to defeat him. I'm so tired of trying to put out all the fires he keeps starting." Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "I hereby name you a "Cragstone Firefighter."" You give Jarvis Hammerstone Burnja's Board with Nails. Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "This is the weapon that Drudge you called Burnja was wielding? Not very sophisticated is it?" Jarvis Hammerstone tells you, "I'm sure I can find someone who will buy this. Here have some of my writings on economics in a Post-Magical Revolutionary society." You've earned 1,839,776 experience.

Update History

 * When originally introduced, the quest was broken - players could not enter the portal in the cave. The quest was fixed in the Evolution event.
 * During the Filling in the Blanks event, there were two changes made to the quest. To address issues of camping and macroing, Bonecrunch's experience was reduced to 9,000,000xp. To ensure that the overall experience of a single run remained the same, and additional 15,000,000xp was added for completing the quest.
 * During the Retributions event, a Contract for Aerbax's Prodigal Drudge was added.