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 [2.5] Part 2, Chapter 2: The Familiars
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     You arrived in Aman'lu to find it a very changed place. Most of
     the Elves are dead, and the survivors are despairing the loss of
     their visionary powers in the cataclysm.

     Danadel, the de-facto leader of the Elves, explained that they
     are currently threatened by their ancient enemy, the Familiars.
     The Familiar Surgeons are adept at creating horrific mutilations
     of creatures and people. Unable to face these horrors, the Elves
     barricaded themselves in a small section of town near the tavern.

     You would like the Elves' support in the coming battle with the
     Overmage, but first you'll have to help them regain their strength
     by destroying the Familiars.

Objectives:
* Travel beyond the western Vai'lutra Forest in search of the
  Familiar Surgeons.
* Look for the Familiar Surgeons within the abandoned Elven ruins.
* Destroy the Familiar Surgeon.
* Release Drianjul from the cell.
* Speak with Drianjul.

Aman'lu is a reduced-services home base. There's a base teleporter, a 
necromancer, your storage vault and an all-in-one merchant inside the Inn. 
However, there's no Innkeeper, Arcanist, Enchanter, Trainer, F&K Society 
merchant, etc. You'll have to teleport back to the Outpost for those services. 
Fortunately, every teleporter in the game can take you back to any of the 
base teleporters, including the Dryad Outpost.

North of the Inn is a burned-out building. Talk to Kylis on the top floor to 
get "Minli the Faerie" added to your quest log. Take the metal scraps he 
drops on the ground, and go back to the south bridge leading out of town. 
Drop the scraps on the ground (you have to actually open your inventory and 
remove them, it's not automatic).

You'll be swarmed by faeries. Kill them and another wave comes at you, this 
time with the mini-boss, Minli. Kill her and the remaining faeries, then 
return to Kylis to complete his quest.

Right next to Kylis' building, down by the river, is an elf who will give you 
a vial of Aman'lu water. This is an item needed for Mage Nari. Inside the Inn, 
talk to Talain to start "The Vai'kesh" quest, and pull the lever in the south 
wing to travel down to the Aman'lu Arena, which is still open for business.

When you're ready to go, head west into the Western Vai'lutra Forest. As 
you're exploring, you'll come across, to the south, the entrance to a ruin 
that is blocked by a door on which is nailed a bound elf.

Lovely.

You can't get through these doors yet, but you'll get the key soon enough. To 
the north is a campsite where you meet Ressa. She's a Blood Assassin, 
potential henchman (after you complete her quest) and will kick off 
"Questionable Methods". You'll get to your first task, collect elf blood, 
later.

Continue west to the Western Vai'lutra Forest (South) teleporter. Here the 
path splits, going west and north. Take the west path into the Western 
Vai'kesh Forest. You cross over an ornate stone bridge as you enter the 
Vai'kesh Forest, and the path splits after the bridge, going north and south.

Go south into a camp of peaceful Vai'kesh and speak to the leader. This 
advances "The Vai'kesh". Now go north and you'll quickly find, off to your 
right, the entrance to a crypt with a bunch of elven bodies. Entering the 
crypt advances "The Vai'kesh" again.

Your path now turns west again, and you will soon reach the Western Vai'kesh 
Forest teleporter, which is not far east of the entrance to a dungeon. Enter 
the ruins, which are not that exciting, but quite gory, with plenty of blood 
and body parts. Not to mention a large number of mobs.

When you reach the end of the dungeon, you're in for your next boss fight, 
against a Familiar Surgeon. This giant brain is pretty nasty in a fight. It 
uses primarily death magic against you, so beefing up your death resistance 
would be a smart idea. Additionally, it summons crawlers from two pools 
located near the entrance to its lair. These crawlers creep over to the 
surgeon and regenerate it.

Fun stuff.

With decent death resistance, you can ignore the surgeon's attacks. Unload 
high-damage, single target powers on it, then attack it. Keep one area power 
in reserve. When crawlers pop out of the pools, unleash your AoE power on 
them. If you can keep the surgeon at the far end of the chamber, away from 
the pools, you'll have time to kill the crawlers before they get close enough 
to the brain to restore its health. Then go back to your head banging.

After the Surgeon is dead, release Drianjul from her cage and talk to her. 
When you killed the Surgeon, you got a strange metal object added to your 
Quest Items. Drianjul tells you that item is a key that unlocks special doors 
guarded by bound elves. She also tells you there's another Familiar Surgeon 
in Calennor Stronghold to the north.