Blackburrow

Antonica (back)

Blackburrow is the home of the Blackburrow clan of gnolls. It is something of a combination between underground dungeon and above ground hunting area, and represents the only pathway to get from Everfrost and the home of the barbarians to the Qeynos Hills and lands beyond. The overall structure of Blackburrow consists of two entrances and a ring with a deep hole in the middle. There are multiple tunnels to the lower levels where higher level gnolls can be found. This zone has a fairly long respawn time (around 22 minutes).

Level of Monsters:	4-15+
Types of Monsters:	a gnoll pup, a scrawny gnoll, a gnoll, a scrawny gnoll guard, a burly gnoll, a gnoll guard, a gnoll shaman, an elite gnoll guard, a gnoll commander, a gnoll brewer, a razorgill, a giant snake, a grizzly bear, A giant plague rat
Notable NPCs:	Lord Elgnub, Master Brewer, Refugee Splitpaw, a gnoll commander, Splitpaw Commander
Unique Items:	Studded Leather Collar, Spiked Collar, Rusty Spiked Shoulderpads, Giant Snake Fang, Onyx Earring, Blackburrow Cask, Gnoll Hide Lariat, Runed Totem Staff
Related Quests:	Monk Headband Quests, Rogue Redemption, Gnoll Bounty, Moonstones Quest
Adjacent Zones:	Qeynos Hills, Everfrost Peaks
Name in /who:	blackburrow
Zone Spawn Timer:	22:00
Succor/Evacuate:	-158, 38 (Zone line to Qeynos Hills)

Map

Level One 1. Pit Trap

Level Two 1. Snake Pit - sitting on the ramp to the east is the safest place to pull higher level gnolls from both the Elite Room(3) and the Commander Room(4). While waiting for respawns you can also pull the Snake Pit itself, the Snake Ledge(2). 2. Snake Ledge - 3 high level snakes spawn here 3. Elite Room - 5 high level gnolls spawn here 4. Commander Room - 4 high level gnolls spawn here 5. Fall to here from pit trap above

Level Three 1 "The Bridge"

Safe/Evac Spot

At zone to Qeynos Hills (-159, 39)

Dangers

Blackburrow can be an extremely dangerous dungeon to adventure in. The most obvious danger is the density of gnoll spawns which often have as many as 5 gnolls spawning within agro range of each other. This is made more difficult by the range of levels that will spawn together. It is common to see an elite guard spawn within a group of lower level gnolls making it very difficult to pull safely.

On P1999 Blackburrow tends to be fairly underpopulated by players which usually means that the vast majority of gnolls in the zone are spawned at the same time. So if your group is hunting deep in the dungeon and pulls a train, chances are you're going to have to run past a lot of hostile gnolls on the way out.

During peak times when there actually are a decent number of players in the zone (10-15 people on average) another danger becomes apparent and this is the above mentioned trains. Quite often parties deeper in the dungeon will miss a pull and head for the surface dragging along every gnoll in their path. The problem with Blackburrow is that there is only a single tunnel which leads to the surface and it is along this very tunnel that most lower level players hunt. This can lead to a lot of deaths if the training party doesn't get a chance to shout out a warning.

Another possible threat most people don't consider is the zone itself. Blackburrow contain a large number of bridges, narrow pathways, ledges and water. While the pathing on P1999 is actually very good and results in few accidental trains, I've lost count of how many times myself or my group mates have fallen off of bridges or got stuck in cracks.

Benefits

This area, although dangerous, does provide some good benefits. First of all, the gnolls are generally pretty wealthy. Most of the gnolls you kill will either have a weapon or some cloth armor item, all of which are worth cash. They also all carry coin with the higher level ones often having several gold pieces each. You'll find that every time you go home, you'll feel rich for having hunted there.

The other reason people hunt here is for quest items, mostly monks coming out of Qeynos looking for items for the quests (Blackburrow Gnoll Skins are the most commonly sought item and drop off of high level gnolls). They can only be found here, so monks are seen here frequently with their parties. There are quite a few other quests that can be done here, looking for various items for use in the surrounding towns, so the place is a hub of activity.

Probably the greatest benefit to hunting in Blackburrow are the [Gnoll Fangs] that drop commonly off of every gnoll in the zone. These can be handed in to Npcs in [Halas] and [Qeynos] for exp at low levels.

Traveling To and From

There are two entrances to Blackburrow. The first is on the southeast segment of the canyons of Everfrost, which can be hard to find given that the area is confusing. I'm not sure why, but I get lost there about every other time even though I've travelled that path about a hundred times now. The tunnel is guarded by several gnolls, and has up to three of them down through it, so you'll often see barbarians who are timid to go into Blackburrow itself hunting out here. The tunnel itself is long and dark, and used to be impassable without a light source. I believe they've improved it, but not by a ton, so don't count on it being vastly lighter.

The other entrance is through Qeynos Hills, and the entrance is in the northeast corner of the zone. There is no path to it, but it is east of Surefall Glade and north of the zone to the Plains of Karana. The gnoll head canopy is hard to mistake. There are several good spawn sites nearby for gnolls, especially a few for gnoll watchers in groups that are fun to take out for lower level groups. The tunnel here to Blackburrow is much lighter and shorter.