Death's Sting: The Experiment

The Death's Sting puzzle may be one of GemStone's most complex and underexplored oddities. This is because of the large area the quest spans, and the lack of logical linkages between its various parts. Despite two full days of study and the efforts of several collaborating investigators, much of this puzzle remains unexplained. This document is less of a walkthrough than a framework to save other investigators time and effort during exploration of the Death's Sting quest. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this document is correct.

The first stop on our trip is the area by the Elven Village, known as Winding Trees. The entrance to the Elven Village is a concealed footpath. Not too far away, in an easterly direction, there is an unconcealed footpath marked by an black altar. Lorminstra's mark is on the black altar, making it difficult to miss.

[Upper Trollfang, Winding Trees]
Moonlight shines though the dense branches from above, striking the ground around you.  The columns of pale light seem to form their own tiny forest within the larger forest of trees.  You also see a faint footpath and a black altar.
Obvious paths: southeast, northwest

Beyond this footpath, you will see a grove of trees. 

[Tree Grove]
The trees seem more carefully placed within this pocket of forest.  Lush and resilient against the encroaching cold of Glatoph, they bring a welcome warmth to the wood.  You also see a faint footpath.
Obvious paths: up

You cannot interact with these trees directly, but take note of this room, as it is the actual grove you will be interacting with using a machine up above.

[Above the Grove]
The trees part to form a pocket opening on the hill just above the grove.  Underbrush creeps into the path fullfilling nature's effort to erase the presense of past visitors.  Situated at the edge of the overlook is a large grey pedestal with a massive lens mounted on it.  A tall steel lever protrudes from the pedestal to the left of the lens, and a short grey mithril crank rises up on its right.
Obvious paths: down

The machine has been taken as a giant telescope or perhaps some primitive microscope, but neither of these are the case. In fact, it is exactly what it appears to be: a giant lens. Its only use is focusing light. Adjust the position of the lens so that it is pointing at one of the trees. The trees are set in a 5 x 5 grid. You can adjust the lens to focus on an individual tree by turning the crank right or left or by pushing and pulling the lever. Keep in mind that the lens can be off-center, so you can look at it and ensure that it is, indeed, positioned directly on a tree.

Cavernhold and Imaera's Path

Without a halfling or a dwarf, you will not be able to accomplish the next section of this guide. That aforementioned half-pint will need to go to Cavernhold and find a way into the Crystal Mine.

[Cavernhold, Crystal Mine]
The crystals sprouting from the far wall of this sprawling cavern give off a light of their own in a shifting rainbow of color.  Drops fall in a quick, steady pace from the top of the cavern and land in a small puddle below the wall.  The path leading towards the crystals has been well-worn by many gnollish feet.  You also see a gnoll miner and a large crank attached to a heavy water wheel that pours out into a raised trough.
Obvious exits: southeast

Here, you will need to free the miners to mine their precious rainbow crystals. If you keep obstacles out of their path, they will make their way out of Cavernhold and up to the Crystal Spire on Imaera's Path. There, they will deposit the crystals in a bin.

[Crystal Room]
Crafted from rich oak and maple woods, this rickety dome-shaped structure seems even more enormous from the inside.  Anchored on the floor in the center of the structure is a twisted crystal spire that stretches skywards, through a large hole cut in the ceiling.  Surrounding the base of the spire is an ornate wooden bin etched with a golden anvil.  You also see a small rounded door.
Obvious exits: out

The gnoll miner carefully removes some rainbow crystals from his shoulder pack and meticulously dusts them off before carefully placing them in the bin.

A gnoll miner gazes up, eyes closed, and mutters a few quiet words of prayer before heading out.

The crystals seem to be a part of a strange ritual to Eonak. One of my companions theorized that Eonak, creator of the dwarves and gnomes, is the Mountain Father of the gnolls. This ritual bears out this supposition. Mithka, the dwarf who lives in a hut near to the Crystal Spire, is also an Eonak worshipper, and he states that the gnolls built the entire area.

It takes 30 crystals to fill the bin completely. If you wish to stock up on crystals, it is possible to keep sending gnolls up the path after the bin is filled. A relatively inexperienced adventurer can make short work of the gnoll miners and take their crystals from them. This will allow you to refill the bin without depending on the gnolls in the immediate future.

Dragons and Wisps

If the priestesses who sell the death's sting potions are asked, they will reference both the shadowy dragon who flies around the Wehnimer's area and wisps that appear in the nearby graveyard. This dragon is Kor'thriss, a beast that eats the excess spiritual power thrown off by ressurection. This power is embodied by the wisps. You can pray for the wisps to appear at the altar northeast of the Wehnimer's Graveyard entrance.  

[Graveyard]
The crypt casts fell shadows that block out any bleak light imparted by the heavens.  They also seem to absorb all sounds and signs of life.  The rough stone walls that enclose the graveyard stretch far to the northeast, sheltering the irregular rows of burial sites from unwanted intrusions.  You also see a black altar.
Obvious paths: north, southwest

You kneel down and begin your prayers.

For a moment, faint luminescence surrounds the altar.

A glowing yellow wisp blinks into existence and flits about the area.

Praying multiple times will allow you to create a large number of wisps, but you only need one at a time to feed Kor'thriss. Wait for the shadowy dragon to arrive in the room. As long as there is at least one wisp in the room, he will stay there and eat that wisp. I was careful to feed him for a good 10 minutes before letting him go.

I could tell that the dragon was sated because, instead of flapping into another room and continuing his circuit of the graveyard, he vanished: 

A flickering light issues forth from between the gaps of the teeth of the shadowy dragon and then runs along the entire length of the dragon.  As the light works its way back to the mouth from the tail it begins to grow brighter and seems to obliterate the shadowy dragon as it progresses along the body.  When it reaches the mouth, there is nothing left of the shadowy dragon.

Imaera's Path 

The dragon will reappear over the Crystal Spire atop Imaera's Path. You do not need to follow him there, but it is nice to have a familiar or a proxy there to watch. The dragon will position himself over the spire and perform his part in the Cycle of Life. The process still does not make full sense to me, but it appears the spire drains him of the wisps' energy and that power is redistributed into the world.

An inky darkness starts to gather around the base of the crystal spire. 

The gathering darkness around the base of the crystal spire suddenly swirls into a whirlwind that climbs up the spire and out of the hole in the roof.  It appears to be drawn to a shadowy dragon hovering high above the structure.

The swirling darkness issuing from the spire continues to expand until it fills the hole in the roof above you. 

The swirling darkness issuing from the spire fills the hole in the roof above you.  Occasionally you can see what appear to be small wisps of light swirling in the darkness above you.

One by one, the wisps circling the top of the spiral break free of their pattern and quickly skim down the side of the crystal spire.  As they reach the bottom, they vanish into the base of the spire. 

The crystals in an ornate wooden bin begin to glow faintly as the wisps trickle down the length of the spire.

As more wisps are absorbed by the spire, the collection of crystals glows more brightly, and the spire begins to emit a low droning hum. 

The crystals in the ornate wooden bin begin to develop hairline fractures across each surface.

As the last few wisps float down along the spire, the crystals begin to rattle around inside the bin, and the spire's hum grows increasingly louder and deeper, until you are not so much hearing as feeling it.  The facets of the crystals appear to be peeling up at the edges, like parchment in a fire. 

The spire suddenly begins to glow with a heatless light that threatens to blind you!  As the crystals in the ornate wooden bin suddenly fade away, the light rushes up through the spire, gathering at the top in a brilliant amorphous cluster of energy before streaking off to the east in a blue-white beam.

As you blink away the afterimage, the droning hum rapidly fades into nothing, leaving a conspicuous silence and a ornate wooden bin which is noticeably less full than it was a moment ago. 

The light flies straight for the massive lens out near the Elven Village, so you do not have much time to make it there from the graveyard. It is doable without a script, but it requires a decent amount of knowledge of the area. Back at the Grove, things are happening both at the lens and down by the trees themselves.

Without warning, a thick beam of blue-white light blasts out of the western sky!  The beam strikes the lens, which focuses it directly onto one of the trees nearby! 

As your eyes blink away the beam's afterimage, a large pale flower on the tree's trunk suddenly begins to twitch.  Moments later, the flower peels rapidly open, revealing a myriad of colors and a large green stamen on the inside.

Moments later, the Cycle of Life is complete: 

A large wasp comes buzzing in and hovers near one of the trees.  It grabs a flower stamen and casually buzzes away.

The Wasps and Priestesses 

All of this is tied into the creation of the Death's Sting potions sold by priestesses across Elanthia: the key ingredient in the potions is residue found in hornets' (wasps') nests. If you bring residue to a priestess, she will give you a free Death's Sting potion. 

Residue Creation for Dummies

In order to create residue, you need two components: acorns and stamens. Acorns spawn near the mound locations, often times one room away in any direction. Below are some mound locations in the Wehnimer's Landing region: 

[Melgorehn's Valley, Grasslands]
A lone, scrawny tree rises up from the grass.  Two large black birds sit in the branches, mocking you from above with shrill squawks and raucous laughter.  The tree provides the only shade in the area, but the respite from the sun is not worth having to listen to the birds making fun of you.  You also see a small mound.
Obvious paths: north, west

[Upper Trollfang]
Three large modwir trees stand in a north-south line and split the trail as it passes from west to east.  The northeast branch runs up the side of a long winding ridge while the southeast branch disappears in the brush that grows along the base of the ridge.  The two trails come together and form a wider trail that runs off to the northwest.  You also see a small mound.
Obvious paths: northeast, southeast, northwest

[Upper Trollfang]
This part of the ridge is dominated by a huge tree, now quite dead.  It stands like a blackened spire, towering far above the surrounding trees and bushes.  You also see a small mound.
Obvious paths: south, northwest
(northeasterly of previous)

And one in Illistim, near Sylvarraend:

[Sylvarraend Road]
A small wash crosses the road here, currently dry.  The years of seasonal change, with the evident rains and infrequent flooding, have made the stones of the road extremely smooth and nearly white from abrasion.  The road dips slightly at the wash, only to slope steadily upward on either side.  You also see a small mound.
Obvious paths: east, west

The exact trees that we used while testing, using (latitude/row, longitude/tree number) as a convention were trees (3, 1) and (3, 3). Further testing by Maliku's player proves that the chosen tree does not matter. A single wasp from one of the mounds will come each time you open a blossom, apparently at random. Each time you open the blossom, the wasp will bring a single stamen back to their random mound I believe that there is a correlation between how many acorns you put into the mound and how much residue is produced at the end of this process, rather like the iron puzzle in the kobold mines.

Below is a room capture of the Vornavis mound and what it looked like with fresh residue inside.

[Vornavis, West Road]
The fields to the south of the path here change from amber to the east to green and lush to the west.  The fields have no paths or roads leading into them, but occasionally, the tall grasses are crushed or swept to one side as if by a traveler or a large animal.  You also see a small mound.
Obvious paths: east, west

This glistening mound has been meticulously crafted from mud and dirt.  There are several small holes that have been deliberately built which provide an assortment of entrances into the mound.  Some of the holes are rimmed in a sticky reddish residue that trails down the side of the mound.  The residue shimmers faintly in the light.
Some of the residue has piled up at the bottom of the mound.

Note: When there is no available residue, the "Some of the residue..." portion of this description is missing. When there is residue, this is what is echoed when you grab the residue:

>get residue
You reach your hand into the residue that's piled up near the mound and carefully break off a fragment of it.

After you are done, bring the residue to one of the Imaeran priestesses and GIVE it to her twice. Congratulations! You've got free flasks.

What's Next?

Determining whether or not there is a way to direct a wasp to a particular hive.

Future Updates for This Site:

- Travel scripts for Wehnimer's quest locations
- Mound maps
- Forthcoming information about the quest

Special Thanks

Thanks go out to:

Lalora, Farn, Aurach, Raelee, Rhandi, Zult, Marclar, Petrye, and others, who aided in researching this process.

Maliku, who demonstrated the randomness of the wasp chosen.

Avidleigh, for being my idea-bouncy-person.

Nilandia, for the name of Kor'thriss and her summary of his introductory event.

Tsoran, without whose maps this guide would not have been possible.

Return to the World Lore section.