Northern Achaea - an overview

By: Sander Posted on: June 28, 2004

Many people use the Perseon's Achaea map, and it works fine for the center of the sapience, but it does not even direct you to huge areas lying in the north. I will try to give you an overview of the northern Achaea. First it would be nice to get a map of Granite hills + Dardanic grasslands + Northreach. Those 3 areas suit well into one map and are really big.

Granite hills are situated to the north of the highway between NoT and Hashan/Tasurke. There are 3 secret entrances from the highway, and one from the way to the Bella keep. Being nothing remrkable on their own, they let you move further to the north. In the granite hills you can find secret caves of hill giants. Also, to the west from the hills, between Ashtan and the hills you can find the Sangra plains, where the pre-seleucarian battles between Ashtan and Shallam took place and the Pacra village. To get from the hills to Sangra plains you will probably have to cross the source of the Urubamba river.

Heading further north you enter Dardanic grasslands. They are bigger than hills, and have a pretty lake in the middle. From the lake you can find entrance to the temple of Lady Selene. If you do not like swimming, your way to the north can be continued only in the eastern part of the grasslands, but you can also cross the river in the western part to get in the Northreach.

Northreach is the most northern place you can reach without using the wilderness map. While exploring it, pay attentions to some weird shortcuts between its locations. Northreach gives you acsess to several places of interest. First of all I suggest you to find the most western wilderness exits from the northreach. This place is called "An ancient forest glade" and has visible exits to the northeast and to the southeast.

If you enter the wilderness there you will see forest to the east and water somewhere to the southwest. If you head a bit north, you will enter the zone of tundra. The movement in the tundra is slow, unless you can fly. A low-level survival skill survey (second abvility) helps much while moving in the wilderness - it tells you general direction of various wilderness exits. When you enter tundra, there will be Aran'riod to the northeast (with a quest to renew the Chieftess of Aran'riod), Kamleikan to the north and Tundra to the northwest (some agro bashing there). Those places can be reached only via the wilderness.

If you enter the wilderness you can also head west, moving between the tundra and the ocean. At some point tundra will turn into mountains, also blocking further movement to the west. Here you will see a passage between mountains leading to the north. It leads to Inbhir Ness, my home village and the best place for earning gold unless you solo all LHG and DK's in UW. There are many quests there. Keep in mind there are two secret parts there and take enough mending and health vials because of avalanches. Also if you are not a dwarf, the local dwarves will not be very happy to see you to say the least. Crossing the mountains to the northwest from Inbhir Ness you get to the Saoghal Valey, a peacefull place with a temple to Sarapis and the universal membrane, that lets you hear random says on the sapience. Also from that point where you see a passage in the mountains to the north, you can head south to the newly discovered place, Rheodad. Rheodad is one of two areas you have to visit if you are planning to get the new honours line (the other place is the Shala-Khulia island, and you need to go to Nolan, the ferry man in Aalen to get there).

But let us return to the northreach. From that wilderness exit move west (secret exit). It takes you to the well-known Darkenwood forest. That place has a long history and is related to both Darkness and Nature. First dark rituals were made in year 279 AF, in hope to unite the essences of Lord Twilight and Lady Gaia to battle the threat of the Evil. The ritual was stopped, then restarted again, and finally it lead to the appearance of Istishia, the arachnoi queen, daughter of Darkness and Nature, and her children, the arachnoi. In year 318 again a dark ritual was performed in Darkenwood, and next year strange things happened in the forest, because Urania, the spirit of the forest was infected by a demon. It took long time to drive the demon away. Everything seemed ok till the year 325, when Urania went ill again and undead creatures started appearing in the forest. Finally it was discovered by Lady Eris, that it was Slith who was hiding under the Darkenwood and draining the essence away; the same Slith that stole the child of Eris and Aegis. Finally Lady Demeter found the missing half of an antient amulet that was needed to heal the forest, and they united it together with Lord Twilight, also uniting the two spirits. A cairn stone reads: "So lives Propasia, the ancient spirit, linked forever With her twin Urania, and the forest thrives, A union of perfectly harmonized Nature and Darkness."

The Northreach is also the place where you can find the famous Lupine Hinting Grounds, or as they are called, LHG. One of the two most hard bashing placs of the sapience, and normally people are not recomended to go there untill they can heal well and have at least 4000 health. Inhabited by animals, mostly agressive, teaming, chasing, this place should be entered extremely carefully and probably for a few times with a guide, before you dare to enter it on your own. From the same wilderness exit go se,n,se,s,se,se,ne,ne,n,sw,n and one way after that. When you get to the end of the passage say "Venore Lupine" and get ready to defend your life. From the place you get to, the southeast direction takes you out of the hunting grounds - no creature will chase you there. You should also keep in mind, that hunting there has a neutralising effect on your alignment.

There are also two secret burrows in the north, where you can hunt agressive incorporeal shadows. One of them is in the Darkenwood, the other - close in Northreach; both secret exits directions are in. The darkenwood forest also has a library on Twilight teachings. The temple to Lord Twilight was there in the past but has been moved away recently.

I will finish with giving you the shortest way from the outside the cave (the place where you appear after praying for salvation) to the mentioned above wilderness exit. The way is the following: nw (we enter western Ithmia), nw, n, ne, n, ne, n, n, n, ne, ne, n, nw, n (we enter the highway), w, ne (secret, we enter Granite hills, next part is almost one-way only), n, ne, n, w, sw, nw, n, nw, nw, ne, n, ne, e, ne, e, n, n, e, nw, n, e, n, n (we enter Dardanic grasslands), nw, n, nw, nw, n, n, n, w, n, n, n, n, n, ne (we enter Northreach, and one-way now), n, n, e, ne, up, nw, w, u (now do exact moves), w, n, se, sw (we used a fast shortcut), nw, s, nw.

Sander.