Greetings, At about midnight est, 11/16/99, I finally completed my suit of the Armor of Ro. I would like to share with everyone what I have learned, and the details about the armor. I have included screenshots of each piece, and a few shots of me wearing them. The piece screenshots are self explanitory, the other shots are: "TriumphAtTheForge" is right after I forged the second bracer, IustusShot is a shot where you can see my name, "Ro1" and "Ro2" are closer shots, so you can see the armor more, and "RoVsPlate" is me standing next to the guildmaster in standard steel, so you can see that the art for the two is the same, with the Ro armor being gold colored for the gauntlets, bracers, and boots.
Now the details about the quests.
- I am not certain, since I was already an 'honored member' for all seven guilds before the patch that changed it, but it seems that now you only have to be indifferent or better to recieve the quests for each piece.
- the Ro armor is no longer NO DROP, and has not been for several patches (it was when I first got the first pieces)
- all the armor molds are still NO DROP, and LORE (including bracer), but not all the things you turn in to get the molds are so
Now about each piece:
- Helm: The undead cyclops is in South Karana, and the regular Cyclops are the placeholders. It seems there is a spawn about once every real life day, but I suspect this varies depending on how frequently the cyclops are killed. There are two cyclops spawn points, one near the hermit shack, the other near splitpaw. Some other creature is a placeholder for cyclops, so killing everything seems to make them spawn faster. (I suspect the placeholder is splitpaw gnolls, but unsure). The cyclops skulls are NOT no drop, they are heavy (10 lbs), and do not fit in a backpack. These cyclops are about lvl 35.
- Gauntlets: Sentry Alechin OR 'a werewolf' (unnamed) spawns also in South Karana. If you kill the Sentry in human form, you lose faction with the Temple of Marr, but you do get the locket.The unnamed werewolf that spawns here also drops the locket. The sentry does not seem to change into the werewolf. The werewolf is lvl 30-31, I think the sentry is about the same (did not kill him, but I hear he uses lay hands). The locket is NO DROP, so you have to loot yourself. Note, the werewolf in WK does NOT drop the locket, I believe he is a plot device, he is the werewolf that bit sentry alechin, as Sentry Joanna mentions. It seems that the spawn rate on this is also slow. There is a gnoll I have seen in SK called 'a gnoll', not 'a splitpaw gnoll', it is my theory that this gnoll is the placeholder for the sentry, but I am uncertain about this.
- Greaves: The Nightfall giant is in West Commons. I think the Hill Giants are placeholders. There may be a pathing problem where the giants get stuck inside one of the hills, but I certainly have seen quite a few of these giants. I think they are one of the relatively more common spawns. The nightfall giant heads are NOT no drop. Nightfall giants are lvl 35.
- Breastplate: Cooks are in Mistmoore. Ten cooks for two cauldrons for me. The dark cauldrons are NO DROP. Cook spawn is about 15-20 minutes. I dont think there is a placeholder, you always get cooks. Cooks are lvl 30-32.
- Vambraces: There are two killer shark spawns on either side of the one isle in Erud's Crossing. We were killing the sharks off the docks, which is on the opposite side of the shipwreck. Over the course of about 10 hours, there were three plague shark spawns, all on the docks side of the isle, including the first spawn, when we were hunting on the shipwreck side. We lost that one, it being eaten by a killer shark, and moved to the docks side, were we had more success. Killer sharks are lvl 40-42, dispell with each bite, and double attack for 100 each bite. The plague sharks are lvl 30-31 and easy in comparison. I am uncertain whether the killer sharks are really placeholders, or not, but if you do not kill them, you will be lucky to get the plague shark before the killers do. Rotten shark portions are NOT no drop.
- Bracers: The goblin netmasters spawn in lake rathe. The are a free swimming spawn, not in one of the DW goblin caves. (Although they may spawn in these caves and immediately start swimming). Although I now think they are not the same spawn point as Webclaw Merkwave, they do seem to have similar paths. There can be multiple netmasters at the same time, so there are multiple spawn points. They vary in level from 30-32, are SKs with harm touch. Once they use it, they are weaker. It was not difficult to pull them, you take the one HT, but after that they stick to shooting arrows, which are minimal damage. The one important thing here is to understand that it is extremely easy to accidentally get any water creature here to commit suicide, and lose it. These are my rules to avoid this, and they seem to work: (1) make SURE you hit the thing at least once for melee damage (bow works too I think), (2) do NOT rise above the surface of the water much (not at all if you can help it) while pulling the creature to the shore - if you are far enough above the surface that it thinks you are on land, it will not be able to pathfind to you, and will suicide, (3) let the shoreline guide you above water, dont rise early. Following these steps, I was successful. It is easy to practice on gators and sharks to see how to get them to suicide, and then practice avoiding it. The netmasters, like Webclaw, often get stuck in the alcove by the hermit (southwest), or in the alcove on the southeast side (between the gypsies and stone skeletons). Deepwater Nets are NO DROP. Something in the water is a placeholder, so make sure you kill everything you see.
- Boots: the low level 'a Sand Giant' in South Ro has the Kilij Plans. I am not certain of his level, but he is much easier than a normal Sand Giant. Kilij plans are NOT no drop. I believe the spiders are placeholders for the giants.
And on to Ronium:
Melatite: only place I could find this is MB and MC model clockworks in Solusek's Eye. I have heard XA, XB, XC models drop it, but never got any from them. Melatite looks like a slightly rectangular pinkish brick, it is not stackable, and it is NOT lore and NOT no drop. You can sell it to a vendor, and I believe this is why some people saw the vendor in Solusek selling it: someone sold it to the vendor.
Mistmore Granite: dropped by the tougher gargoyles in Castle Mistmoore. The ones by the entrance never have it. Granite looks like a black pearl, but is not stackable, NOT lore, but is NO DROP. There are two good places to camp granite for a mid level group. The easier one is left and down at the graveyward gate. Invisible straight back. There are two gargoyle spawns and Enynti, all on 15 min cycle. A group 28-30 can handle this spawn, as long as runners are prevented. (If they run to the stuff you iniv'ed by, you are dead). The other place to camp this is up past the three door room (where the cleric Icon is), up all the stairs and to the left is a room with two spawns, often ushers and the like. You kill these two spawns, and then pull the gargoyles from above. This requires a better group, because the gargoyles are higher level (and have more granite I think), there are patrolling guards that come through, and the room spawns are sometimes casters of higher level (34?). A full group of 30-38 can do very well here, both in exp and keeping things under control.
Sands of Ro: Sand Giants from the deserts of ro. The sands are NOT no drop and NOT lore. Lots of people kill SGs for xp and cash, so this is not so hard to come by.
Soil of Underfoot: there is a fairy camp on the western edge of lesser faydark. It is just south of the brownie camp, which has lvl 47 aggressive brownie guards, so be careful on your approach. Any type of fairy drops dust, so you can be safe and just pick off the outer fairy maidens. The fairy guards are lvl 22 or so, and casters. They also drop the twice woven silk and twice woven cloak, reasonable often, if you have a mage or wizard doing these quests, you can pick it up quite easily. (The mage Robe of the Elements is not no drop, so you can do this quest yourself). Fairy dusts are NOT no drop and NOT lore and are stackable. You can sell them to a vendor, they sell back from a vendor for about 5pp each. The Soil is NO DROP and LORE.
Cauldron: you get a cauldron from Lord Searfire in Sol Ro to combine the items for Ronium. I think you still need to have faction with the Temple of Sol Ro to get this cauldron from him It is a container, LORE, and NO DROP. He tells you if you are a master blacksmith, then when you combine the components you will get a bar of Ronium, but I think this is a lie. I do not think blacksmithing skill is used at all. I have made ten bars of Ronium, all with 175 blacksmithing skill, and I recieved no trivial message nor did I recieve any skill increases.
Ronium itself is not stackable, NOT no drop, and NOT lore.
Forging the armor: You take the mold and the bar of ronium to a forge and combine to make the armor. I recieved the trivial message with my 175 skill and I have never failed, on the eight attempts. I hear you get the trivial message with 101 skill. Since I do get the trivial message, I do think this uses the blacksmithing skill, but it may be as the rumor goes that 101 skill is enough for a 100% guarantee of success.
I hope this is helpful to everyone.
Finally, I must thank all the people who helped me. I am certain I must have missed someone, since there are so many people that helped, but I am greatful to everyone. These are some of the people who I could not have completed this quest without: Panem, Zender, Raynoc, Eelin, Yevan, Xammer, Shakel, Diesector, Landeon, Aiin, Penelope, Roofus, Jykferth, Prendak, Orbit, Sheylene, Geno, Nytebyter, Felicity, Neclon, Aaron, Eriond, Histra, Rincewind, Fleece, Aary, Farse, Hyrin, Nildaar, Luleran, Cragganmore, Krezlin, and everyone else who helped, I know there are some whose names I did not record.
Iustus
Knight of the Holy Order of Mithaniel Marr
Order of the Raven
Tarrew Marr
(note, my name is spelled iustus, with an i, not L)