The Zull chain in Rahz Inkur: I want a red hat

Rod Pulsar's walkthrough of the … of the Zull chain in Rahz Inkur, posted to JeuxOnLine in February 2008 and kept as a sticky there. He built it on the Immortal guild's wiki and added his own notes; this is an English edition of the French original. His closing glossary, which translated terms like vial and seal for French readers, is not reproduced.

What the chain pays

Finishing it pulls several other quests along with it, and pays:

• a legendary helm you will not replace outside the Ancient Port Warehouse, and even that is arguable — the red hat of the title;
• a heroic weapon, one of the Arazmus weapons, whose quest actually begins in Afrit;
• a heroic 32-slot bag;
• heroic jewellery;
• a yellow cloak;
• one of your level 50 class spells, with a little luck.

Roaming and farming the fort pays a great deal more: drop-only crafting recipes from Majordomo Djarn, Warlord Seskarian and Industrialist Shipwright Colis; for a Bard, Fox Overtakes the Hare III, learned by tanking the merchant-type creatures from half health; and a long list of yellow and heroic soulbound items from Djarn, Torlaxis, Khor, Zelahi, Salizi, Rulz, Ahzali, Warlord Seskarian, Shaluu, Sulimil and Zulasi.

If the red hat interests you, read the whole thing once before you start. There are tricks here that save a great deal of time.

The place

You can begin around level 43 if your group's tank is 45 or 46, at least for the work around the outside of the fort, but you will want to be 47 or better soon after.

The Rahz Inkur chunk is almost entirely filled by the square palace-fort in the middle, visible from every chunk around it. Outside it the creatures run level 46 at two dots to 49 at six; inside, level 48 at four dots to 53 at six.

The west of the chunk holds a small outpost, Deliverance, which gives the first quests. The rest are taken in the chunk to the south, Afrit, from the friendly efreeti, the Var Efreet. Remember that name: this is the faction you will move, and you can check it at any time with /showfactions or /showfaction var.

Deliverance

Its quests mostly reward items that protect you against the magic used inside Rahz Inkur, so while they are not required, doing them and wearing what they pay helps a great deal later. Among them are the Sand Giant Backpack, a 32-slot bag, resist items made for this zone, and Masks of Freedom.

Afrit

Afrit's quests pay searing stones, or bags of them. A bag is 50 stones and worth 50 faction. Creatures in Rahz Inkur and Afrit drop the same stones, to be compacted into bags at fifty, and sometimes drop bags outright. They also drop Efreeti Cards of Fate, which give either stones or a Challenge — a quest to kill a named creature. Keep those for later.

Bags buy items and raise faction at the same time, which buys more items. An item costing six bags also pays 6 × 50 = 300 faction.

This is also where the quest Provision: Var Concoctions trades one bag for 50 faction and two mez potions, Zullbane Serum. Do not be miserly with them: you will earn bags by the dozen, and you will be buying 60-bag jewellery long before you see the red hat.

Why the potions matter: every creature in Rahz Inkur except the cyclopes, the small two-dot things outside and the three-dot Servants of the Zull is immune to fear, root, snare, slow, charm, mez, stun, sleep and lull. The serum is the only way to mez one, for thirty seconds, and inside the fort that is often what lets a shaky group break up a pack or take the Djarn camp. The alternative is a monk who can feign-death pull. A mezzed creature turns transparent.

Grand Provisioner Teravin in Afrit also sells, some of it gated behind faction or behind buying out the tier below: necklaces at 30 bags, heroic jewellery at 60, blue armour for each class at 3, 6 and 10 bags and a cloak at 20, a spell at 6,500 faction, Shimmering Zull Portal Shards at 10 bags, mez potions at 1 bag, and a djinn merchant who will buy and repair anywhere for 2 bags.

The fort, quadrant by quadrant

The fort is four quadrants around a central palace. Each quadrant is named for what its rifts drop, and holds the seal of its opposite, which is the diagonal corner. Rifts are small blue spheres and drop, in order of rarity, a dust of the quadrant's type, a powder of it, or a Shimmering Zull Portal Shard. Five identical dusts compact into a powder. The creatures of a quadrant drop vials of its type. One vial plus one powder of the same type, clicked, makes a beacon.

The central palace holds the Seal of Rhaz and the Dais of Judgement.

The named creatures

These spawn on their own around Rahz Inkur unless the note says they are summoned. Every one of them drops a Shimmering Zull Portal Shard, three bags of stones, three Efreeti Cards and a rare or heroic item.

• Djalem, the Lightbringer — B4/I0, summoned with 5 portal shards
• Industrialist Shipwright Colis — C4/J4
• Lahzul, Scion of Order
• Sulimil, Watcher of the Shadows
• Zulasi, Master of Chaos
• Rahluz, Patron of the Arena — A7/I4
• Ahzali, the Divided Lord — F0/L6, summoned with 5 portal shards
• Ahzek the Templar, Chosen of the Zull — B4/K1
• Razthil, Flamemaster of the Zull — E5/H7
• Rulz, Dreadbringer of Chaos — A9/K7, summoned with 5 portal shards
• Salimar the Champion, Might of the Zull — C6/H6 or B1/H8
• Salizi, the Lawbringer — E6/I4, summoned atop the tower with 5 portal shards
• Zelahi, Torchbearer of Unity
• Talisar the Tamer
• Zuthalis, Merchant Prince of the Zull — level 52
• Aluul, the Schism — B7/K2, summoned with 3 Sigils of Aluul
• Djuul, the Uniter — B7/K2, summoned with 3 Sigils of Djuul
• Hound of Rahz — D1/J8
• Khorr, Ravager of Chaos Undivided
• Majordomo Djarn — D1/J9
• Shaluu, Lord of Divided Unity
• Slaughterhound — level 53
• Torlaxis, Greathound of Rahz
• Warlord Seskarlan, Warlord of Rahz Inkur — C4/J4
• Flarehound Stalker, roaming — F0/L6
• Flare Maiden Overseer, roaming — B7/K7
• Zezzexxezzexx — E3/H5
• Greatwing Phoenix — E6/I4

At one point the group needs thirty of those shards, five each. They are spent five at a time, six times over, so if someone already holds five they should stop looting them and let the next person reach five.

The chain

You can do all of this in pick-up groups, but it will take a very long time. Most steps spend items won in the step before, and the whole group has to be at the same point, so the thing to do is start it with guildmates or friends, or with people you can arrange to group with again over the coming days.

1. Shadow of the Zull

Pick-up friendly. Kill 8 Zull Cyclops Trainers, 10 Zull Wyverncallers, 10 Zull Convokers and 10 Zull Scorpion Tamers. Circle the outside of the fort; two or three laps should finish it. Then use your Balzabor orb, standing against the rampart so the game counts you as inside the fort, to summon Balzabor, hand the quest in and take the next one.

On the way round you may meet the outdoor named creatures: the wyvern Flare Strike, Wyverncaller Khelorik, the sand giant Khazkal the Mercenary, the Nefarious Titan, a cyclops, and a special one that spawns only between the two pillar spots west of the fort, the Fiery Zull Orb. All of them drop a Shimmering Zull Portal Shard, and you will need thirty.

2. Dawn of the Zull

Pick-up friendly. Kill 10 Zull Efreeti, 10 Zull Efreeti Guards and 10 Zull Efreeti Flameguards. Enter by the west side and work down through the south-west. If the three guards at the entrance are too much, have someone draw them away on horseback while the rest go in, then call them back once they lose aggro; or come in by wyvern from the north chunk, Razad.

The reward is a choice of four beacons, and the group must split it. One person takes Chaos, another Darkness, another Light, another Order; the last two can choose as they like. From then on, whoever took the chaos beacons loots the vials and dusts of chaos, and so on, because that person needs fifteen beacons of their own type.

3. Rise of the Zull

One Portal Stone each of Chaos, Order, Darkness and Light. This is the longest step, because of the beacons. Four people in the group spend fifteen beacons each on the matching seal.

A seal is a turning dark-orange circle on the ground; stand in the middle of it to summon. Each quadrant holds the seal of its diagonal opposite: the Seal of Light in the Darkness quadrant at B4/H9, the Seal of Darkness in the Light quadrant at F0/L7, the Seal of Order in the Chaos quadrant at E8/I1, and the Seal of Chaos in the Order quadrant at A9/K7.

Do not waste time getting between them. Take a wyvern at Razad in the north and land on a seal, summon, kill, evacuate, and do it again; or let your caller handle it. Each person loots a portal stone from the named creature's corpse. Remember to loot the stone — it is easy to forget in the excitement. Then summon Balzabor once, hand in, and take the next quest. One Balzabor is enough for the whole group.

4. Day of the Zull

Slay Ahzali, Rulz, Salizi and Zelahi. The same as the step before, except that instead of sixty beacons you spend twenty portal shards, five on each seal. If your Cards of Fate turned up a Var Challenge: Slay for one of these four, use it now. Ahzali spawns south-east, Rulz south-west, Salizi north-east, Zelahi north-west. Anyone at 4,000 Var Efreet faction can trade ten bags for a shard, which is why you kill every named creature on sight from the very beginning.

Better still, do this step and the next together and spend thirty shards rather than twenty. Each of these four drops a Sigil of Djuul or a Sigil of Aluul, and the same person must loot all of them, because the next quest wants three of each. So: summon the four, hand in with Balzabor, then do two more seals, one west and one east, until that person holds three of each kind.

5. Twilight of the Zull

The Head of Aluul and the Head of Djuul. Go to the Flame of Reckoning, in the small room at B7/K2, and have the person holding the sigils use them. Kill Aluul and Djuul, summon Balzabor, hand in.

6. Dusk of the Zull

Ten each of Zull Palace Guards, Enforcers, Sorcerers, Templars and Flame Mistresses. Simple after what came before: enter the palace by any door and kill the fifty.

These drop Powerful Vials of Efreeti Blood, which matter in the next step, and large grey chests spawn in the palace holding Golden Efreeti Coins. Again, one person should loot every chest.

Four named creatures spawn in the palace on their own: Majordomo Djarn and Warlord Seskarian, both camped for the essences in the final step; Industrialist Shipwright Colis, who drops recipes; and Flameshell, who seems to have wandered in. You cannot loot the essence orbs from Djarn or the Warlord until you are on the final step.

7. Night of the Zull

One Purified Efreeti Essence, made from five lesser ones. Those drop from four named creatures in the palace, and each drop can be looted by one person only — so a group of six needs thirty named kills.

• Majordomo Djarn, D1/J9. He or his placeholder, the Zull Palace Steward, spawn on a twenty-minute timer. The spot is often camped, because it is the strategic one.
• Warlord Seskarian, C4/J4 or D8/J8. Spawns to a pattern the author never worked out, in one of two places: the east balcony, or the west room beside Colis or his placeholder.
• Shaluu and Khor, summoned at D1/J8 on the Seal of Rhaz just behind Djarn's spawn. Khor wants 24 Golden Efreeti Coins and 10 Marks of Chaos Undivided; Shaluu wants 24 coins and 10 Marks of Unity Divided. Those marks drop only from wolves you summon at the same spot with the Vials of Powerful Efreeti Blood.

Give the marks you won from the previous quest, and those off the wolves, to whoever is looting the coins from the Forbidden Chests. A named wolf, Torlaxis, turns up sometimes and drops well, including a dagger some people rate highly for rogues.

A few hours camping Djarn should be two or three kills, with wolves and another named or two while you wait for him. After a few sessions the group will be through it.

With five essences in hand, go to the room above the ramps behind Djarn. The Dais of Judgement is the large star on the floor in the south-west corner at C7/J4. Use the essences there and a very angry Balzabor spawns at level 53 with six dots. Kill him.

Be sure of your group. If you lose the fight you can still suicide out. And nobody should roll on the red loot: it belongs to whoever summoned that last Balzabor.

That is the red hat. Learn to love it, because you will be wearing it for a long time.

It is not quite the end. The class spell is sold in the Afrit camp to level 50 characters with at least 6,500 faction — some say 10,000, which the author had not confirmed.

Questions, rumours and tricks

Do shards, coins and other summoning items have to be unstacked? Not in the author's experience as the group's summoner, even with stacks larger than the number required.

Is it true you should not kill the four shard-summoned named creatures while running the Var Challenge quests for them? He did it three times with no trouble, and so did his group.

Must the person with four essences loot the fifth themselves? His view: that is for each group to settle.

Is landing a wyvern anywhere, including behind Djarn, an exploit? It takes some skill, and you can always crash or be teleported into the palace courtyard. He did not think flying over a dungeon was against the spirit of the game, and in any case that is the developers' problem.

Does a rogue speed this up? Without question. A rogue who can hide and sneak collects the rifts for all sixty beacons quickly, gathers or buys the group's vials, and reaches far more of the coin chests.

The easter egg: in the first quest, freeing the Var slaves, you free Deeloo and she then asks you to find the pass of Dorben Kallas — an anagram of Korben Dallas, which makes her Leeloo, and the pass a multipass.

Escaping a wipe behind Djarn: if the linked creatures in the middle or the scarabs between the ramps come for you, jump from the top of that spot down to the Seal of Rhaz. It clears aggro.

Clearing the Djarn spot with four: have the group wait against one ramp, in the middle of its curve. Go to the exact middle of the other ramp and throw daggers or arrows at Djarn. He comes with his two guards; halfway, move a little back up the ramp without pulling the scarabs, and one of the guards, usually the templar, turns back on his own. The group pulls the templar while you jump from the top of the ramp onto the Seal of Rhaz, clearing Djarn and his remaining guard. Repeat for the guard, then take Djarn alone. The author tested this many times and it bends to fit.

Seskarian's balcony: the far right corner of it, coming from inside the palace, is safe, as is the small plinth on the outer balustrade. Your caller can fly in on a wyvern, hug the wall, land on the plinth and call the group in. Then take the templar, the sorcerer and Seskarian in that order.

Credits

Rod Pulsar credited the Immortal guild wiki, which he drew on heavily, and the Silky Venom, JeuxOnLine, Safehouse, Ten Ton Hammer and Curse forums, along with Balouch of the Xeth server, Totenkaa, Ehrwurdiger, Inspiria, Pablofox, Xamady, his guild Utopia, Foto, Zeraqour and Syr. He noted that the post was open to corrections and that some links were missing because his proxy could not reach them. Those links, which pointed at Curse and Silky Venom item pages, are gone now.