Location: From the forest gate in the northern Vale (on the western border of Mirkwood), go 6e and 2s. It works to simply spam a bit east and then a bit south, since randoms in this area will force you into Eblees's area whether you want to go there or not.

Strategy: Once you are inside, there will be two rooms open to you: Eblees's room, and the room south of him. In Eblees's room, all directions except south lead back to Eblees. The room south of him is no-cast, but otherwise reasonably safe, since neither Eblees or the mobs he summons will follow you there.

If you wander into here and cannot kill him, you will be able to leave if you wait until you hear the “moan.” This is a message something like “A low moan arises from the trees”, and when you hear this, the north, east, and west exits in Eblees's room will no longer lead back to Eblees, and you will be able to leave his area. The moan occurs every sunrise and sunset and lasts exactly one mume hour (60 seconds) before the sigh.

To kill him, first make sure everyone knows how to get in, since your group will often become separated in the randoms at the entrance.

A warrior and a blinder can kill Eblees without much problem, although it will be slow. Have the warrior buff Eblees while the cleric blinds it, and then have the warrior flee. Kill whatever Eblees has managed to summon while you were trying to blind. Then have the warrior hit Eblees, and flee after Eblees summons one mob.

After several studies it would appear that Eblees will summon 6 mobs:

1. 2 sets of Black roots
2. 2 Dark Oaks
3. 2 sets of Dark vines

Eblees takes “mana” to summon his mobs, the faster you kill him the fewer he attempts to summon. If you take forever (more than an hour) over killing him he may summon more than the usual 6 mobs. He does not summon the gnarled tree.

Kill the mob, then repeat until all his summons have been killed. Kill Eblees. He is not terribly difficult; just don't use high-damage spells on him since he is sancted. I suggest you kill roots first since they make fleeing hard, then vines because arachnia destorys regen in the room s, then oaks then Eblees. Eblees is easily bashable and can be hit dead by warrior and cleric while blind and bashed.

Once he is dead, two things will happen: First, the 'maze' will open up, and you will be able to leave his area. Second, the exit east in the room south of Eblees will open, allowing you to access his treasure hoard.

If you die in Eblees's room, your corpse will disappear and in its place a mob called “an animated tree-horror” will appear. Your equipment will be moved to Eblees's treasure hoard. Animated tree-horrors will rescue Eblees if you try and hit him.

Level: Legend buffer and blinder are the minimum required.

Loads: The equipment that loads is random, with some restrictions. The usual junk eq he loads is:

• a weapon sheath
• a large warhammer
• a two-handed sword (flawless)
• a pair of ring mail sleeves (well-maintained)
• a plain cloak (well-maintained)
• a belt pouch
• a plain pair of pants (worn)
• a plain leather belt
• a water skin
• a leather baldric
• a weapon harness
• a pair of ring mail leggings (flawless)
• a pair of ring mail gloves (neglected)
• a pair of smooth, black boots
• a plain hood (flawless)
• a pair of soft leather boots (flawless)
• a pair of rigid leather boots (used)
• a large sack
• a leather backpack
• a metal wall shield (well-maintained)

Beje and Dunadan blade appears to load quite frequently. /Kegger

Iron ring and Ruby ring have loaded but only once in 6 attempts. Bej has loaded twice, eng bs 3 times, dunadan twice, azure scroll 3 times, purple scroll twice, fine grey cloak once. /Elemmire

Mobs unique to the zone:

• Eblees
• An animated tree-horror