Hilsbury Manor

General Information

Location

Editor's Notes

Hilsbury Manor is fairly unique in regards to the other dungeons in Telon and this works both for and against it. What it boils down to is that, compared with many of the other dungeons in its range, the Manor itself is really quite small. It looks quite large from the outside but once inside one quickly discovers that much of it is either locked off or simply non-existent. The ground floor consists of a mere three rooms connected with each other by short hallways. There are doors in place that would seem to lead to the back half of the Manor which is visible from the outside but they are padlocked shot. The upstairs consists of a balcony and a hallway leading to a single room with no other doors to even pretend that the rest of the seemingly massive upper exterior is accessible in any way. The basement, likewise, consists of a stairway and passage leading to a single chamber.

Consequently, the quest lines, unlike the roaming quests of other dungeons, require you to go to one of the Manor's five rooms and stay there for a really, really long time waiting on respawn timers and rare drops. This is not a dungeon of exploration; this is a dungeon where you go in and then camp. Even this might work were the quests to be spread out a bit. However, of the five quests available in the Manor, three of them require spending long hours in the library. The fourth requires a rare drop from anywhere that then takes you on a brief excursion to the upper level. The fifth requires multiple uncommon drops for an event in the basement.

Due to all of this, a visit to the manor for the typical group will feel more like a grind than anything. You sit in the Library and collect quest drops. Other areas are only visited briefly which seems to rob the Manor of a lot of its potential. What's there is very good but it could be so much more.

The small size of the Manor is somewhat made up for by the grounds surrounding it. An exploration of the exterior will reveal a gazebo, the ruins of servant housing, a stable, a winery, an ornamental pond, several courtyards and a graveyard. The front steps even have multiple landings on the way up. From a play perspective, the grounds are far more interesting and varied than the Manor itself. Sadly, the grounds are extremely underutilized. No quests involve them, other than the possibility of the creatures there dropping one of the rare items needed for the interior quests. There are a dozen places where it seems likely that one might encounter a named opponent yet we only found two in our exploration.

I've been a bit harsh on the place so far, so now for the good.

What most people love Hilsbury Manor for is its top notch atmosphere. Everything from object art to lighting to the ambience track works together to give the entire dungeon the constant aura of menace and horror that one wants from a good haunted house. Both at night and during the day the Manor and its grounds are hauntingly beautiful which adds to the tragedy of how little was done with it.

The other thing that people remember the Manor for is the infamous Dining Room. It lies between you and the quest giver for the Manor and it is one of the toughest breaks at this level range in all of Telon. Your group will need to be in top form to survive the typical first pull from the Dining Room which can easily include two named mobs with up to eight 3 dot friends. It almost serves as a sign: "You must be this tall to ride this Dungeon".

Mob itemization is top-notch. Hilsbury Manor features a vast range of interesting gear drops including a Heroic Robe that drops in the Library. Quest rewards are very good and include some Heroic Jewelry for anyone willing to stay in the Library long enough to complete the Book of Talfyn quest.

Hilsbury Manor could benefit greatly from a bit of attention. Adding named mobs to some of the notable exterior locations and quests involving the outer grounds would add a lot more reason for people to actually go and explore them. Adding in the tower and the back half of the house, expanding the upper floor and adding quests that involve places other than the Library would add some much needed variety from what is currently there.

Though Hilsbury is rated as being a level 18-25 dungeon you must be level 21 to pick up the quests inside the mansion. All quest items drop regardless of if you have the quest or not so if you're shy of 21, grind the exterior and the Library until you hit 21 before going in to the Dining Room.

See the Lost, Renamed, and Demoted Dungeons page for information on the Lost mirror version of Hilsbury Manor.

Dungeon Ratings

Overall Rating: B+
Layout: C+
Mob Placement: B-
Mob Itemization: A+
Quest Quality: B
Quest Rewards: A-
Atmosphere: A+
For more info on our dungeon rating system, please see this page.

Lore

Lord Talfyn was a powerful mage who assisted in the defense of Old Targonor against the undead. He singlehandedly held off the undead for a time and as a reward for his valor was granted the fiefdom of Hillsbury. All was well until the day he was attacked by a vampire and contracted the disease. He proceeded to infect his entire household, servants and all. Misthaven, as is befitting a village ruled by a Vampire Lord, has slowly succumbed to darkness and despair. Residents stay indoors at night and strangers are viewed with deep suspicion.

Lord Talfyn has been missing from the Manor for some time, giving the residents some brief relief and a growing sense of dread about his return.

Quests

Acquired at Slayer's Haven

Acquired at Hilsbury Manor

Named Mobs

Named mobs in Hilsbury don't use the same loot table system as other dungeon named. Some of the named have a couple unique items, such as the book from Gir'Dar, but all named also pull from the Hilsbury world drop list of armor sets from below.

(Son of Talfyn)

Hilsbury Manor World Drops

The items listed here can drop from any mob in Hilsbury, although the named in Hilsbury are far more likely to drop these items than others. Also, some items have too high an item level (Ilvl) to drop from most of the lower mobs in Hilsbury, and will usually only dropped from a Hilsbury named mob.

Julian's Armor

Julian's Armor is a great collection of armor for light armor wearers. The robe is especially cool.

Vergel's Armor

Vergel's Armor is great for any medium armor wearing DPS character, especially disciples with the vitality.

Serra's Armor

Serra's Armor lends itself best to medium armor wearing healers. The gloves and legs are the two nicest pieces with their ample amount of Heal Focus.

Talfyn's Armor

Talfyn's Armor is a heavy armor set. It seems to be pretty well put together, if not more rare than the other sets.

Known Issues

Bug:Curse of the Vampire

Guides covering this

• Production Manuals — Crafting
• Hilsbury Manor — The Telon Project
• List of Dungeons — The Telon Project

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