The secrets of Heartland Plateau

Sshhh. Ayba and I went on an investigative trip yesterday. But don’t tell anyone.

It started with Ayba getting her group teleport spells last level. I was totally nervous about that, much more than she was, because I remembered how important port travel was in classic EQ. Druids and wizards of the right level were the kings and queens of time-saving. Fantastic!

So I was itching to try these  port spells, but where to? We decided on the Badlands (East, I believe), because in the best case we’d end up in King’s Pass again to slaughter dead people, and in the worst case we could do some exploring. When porting in, I suddenly remembered what this area looked like. It’s the “small” Karana that used to be connected to High Hold Pass. Since “small” means that it wouldn’t take ages to explore the zone, I suggested we run around a bit to see what we find.

One thing that always intrigued me back in EverQuest was that some really good opportunities for a zone connection were left unused, such as the waterfall in the southeast of those Karanas. We walked there (hiding from a nasty gnoll settlement by using Camouflage — you should, too) and examined the waterfall. “Would be nice if there were something up that waterfall, huh?” Yes, it would. And the surprise is that yes, there is!

Look at this very up-to-date and accurate map, with no neon-cyan scribblings on it at all (apologies to Muse from EQ Atlas. And click to zoom):

We had discovered something up that bad, bad river (which is called Bad River, by the way). We’d discovered the Heartland Plateau. Great job hooking up the maps zones like that

The plateau must be strategically important, because three (?) factions are constantly warring up there. Also, there’s owlbears. Here’s a picture of Oric speaking to some lizardface hobo in a tent:

That’s a nasty lizard. Oric disagreed with him about territorial ownership and the use of military might and power, and the guy got all arrogant. Well, see how you get out of that one again. We won’t help you when the Silver Crown comes chop off your tail.

Further investigation of the Plateau is still ongoing. I can just say that Oric peed his chainmail when he saw a huge robot/clockwork while invisibly exploring in a cave. If you see a rust stain on Oric’s pants, now you know where it’s from.

You will hear from us if we survive. Agents A and O, out.

Update: Now with video! Please click it and view in "HQ" mode at YouTube so you don’t ruin your eyes.

This is an experiment. If I manage to record some decent videos, I might publish them more regularly. Let me know if and how you like it