Quest: Grunfeld Bogs : Eckard the bog dwarf

This is a newbie-level quest which can be completed in its entirety in less than a half hour, and gives a pretty good reward, especially for low-level and low-pooled or newly-rolled characters.

Find Eckard

Eckard is in the murky swamp that is the Grunfeld Bogs. He shares the area with another quest mob, the Crazed Hermit. If you're looking for Eckard, he's in the NE corner of the area. The marsh extends in a loop from the north side of the area to the east. There are a few offshoots, but nothing to confuse.

Here is the room he's in:

A Dark Marsh [ exits: east south west ]
The water has collected into a shallow, festering marsh. The water does
not flow, allowing it to sit and become a lukewarm puddle of primal ooze.
The stench of the decaying plant life hangs thick in the air and chokes
off what life is left in this place.

And here's his mob string:

Eckard the bog dwarf is hard at work digging an irrigation ditch through this land.

Pick up the shovel

Every repop, a shovel is generated in the same room as Eckard.

Use "g shovel" to pick it up:

You get a shovel.

Starting the quest

Type "check eckard" to start the quest:

Eckard the bog dwarf can open player quests. 
Eckard the bog dwarf can open or complete at least one quest you have not completed.

   Eckard's sad eyes gaze over the land with anticipation of better times 
   ahead. You sense that this bog dwarf has seen better days. He continues 
   to work hard at digging an irrigation ditch through what looks to have 
   previously been farmland but now looks like a bog with a faint outline 
   of a small cabin mixed in with all of the vegetation.

   Eckard sighs and grumbles "Ohh my poor back is killing me."
   Eckard looks back at you then says "Please leave me alone. I must finish 
   digging this irrigation ditch if I am to have any crop next year."

You have opened a quest (type quests open for more details).

You know what he wants! You just picked it up. "Check eck" again to continue:

Eckard the bog dwarf can open player quests. 
Eckard the bog dwarf can open or complete at least one quest you have not completed.

   Eckard looks at you curiously as you approach him.

   "What is this you have in your hand?"
   "A shovel... that would help Eckard out greatly."
   "Would you be willing to help Eckard out by giving Eckard this shovel?"

   You have 120 seconds to give the shovel to Eckard.

You can give it to him immediately, but you do have time to dig it out of a bag if you put it away or brought one with you. "Give shov, eck" will continue the quest line:

You give a shovel to Eckard the bog dwarf.

   Eckard bows graciously and accepts the shovel. Immediately he begins 
   digging his ditch again.

Eckard the bog dwarf reward experience: +600,000 (learn curve: 48,397, role-play: 6,318) experience!

You have completed a quest (type quests completed for more details).
To see if this quest NPC has more quests, type: check <NPC name>.

   "Thank you very much Doos. This should help get Eckard's land back to 
   normal in no time."
   "Now if Eckard only had a tool to help Eckard plant his crop."

You have opened a quest (type quests open for more details).

Part 2: Eckard wants more help

In this part of the quest, Eckard needs another tool to "help plant his crop." This is a hoe. Where do you get one of those? He makes a hint in "quests open" about where to get one... where are the farmers? NaPoli is a small area just to the west of Bogs. Head out of the marsh and into the town of NaPoli. Go north past Empire Ants and west at the intersection into the farmland. There are three large plots running north-to-south at the west end of this area. You're looking to kill the farmers who load the hoe.

Here's the mob strings for a farmer:

A hardened farmer is busy working to irrigate crops.
With sweat dripping from their foreheads, [ X ] farmers discuss crops.

When you kill one, a common drop is this tool Eckard wants:

[ 673 ] You land [ 1 of 1 ] attacks on a farmer: MUTILATING (673) damage!!
A farmer falls to the ground! He is dead!
You receive 9,096 (+9,982 learn, +408 rp) exp.
You get a pile of 2,286 gold.
You get a hoe.

Offer the tool

Head back to Eckard's marsh plot in the Bogs. You'll see him working when you "quest check" him.

Eckard the bog dwarf is hard at work digging an irrigation ditch through this land.

Eckard the bog dwarf can open player quests. 
Eckard the bog dwarf can open or complete at least one quest you have not completed.

   Eckard stops digging and comes over to see what you have brought for him.

   "What is that you have? This hoe would help Eckard out greatly."
   "Would you be willing to help Eckard out again by parting with it?"

   You have 120 seconds to give the hoe to Eckard.

Again, you can take your time, but you don't have to. Work quick for a quick reward: "give hoe, eckard"

You give a hoe to Eckard the bog dwarf.


   Eckard bows so low his nose brushes the mud in his garden and graciously 
   accepts the hoe you have given him.
 

Reap the rewards

You'll get a pretty nice reward for this: a paltry amount of experience, but you will also get +1,000 HP for 30 days.

   "Eckard is very grateful for your gift."
   "Eckard would like to give you a gift as well but Eckard does not know if 
   it is worthy of such a powerful warrior as yourself."
   "Please accept this as a token of Eckards appreciation."

Eckard the bog dwarf reward experience: +600,000 (learn curve: 48,397, role-play: 6,318) experience!

You have completed a quest (type quests completed for more details).
To see if this quest NPC has more quests, type: check <NPC name>.

And you're done... for now.

Part 3: A mysterious note

Looking at your "quests open" shows you the next part of Eckard's adventure for you.

  Grunfeld Bogs : Eckard the bog dwarf
   3 - Eckard has found a curious piece of parchment. On the front of the 
   parchment the text reads. 

   A master is searching for gifted warriors to answer certain 
   questions. On the back of this parchment you may find directions 
   on how to find me. Rewards await for those who answer me 
   correctly.

   The back of the parchment contains the following text.

   sUNSHINe AND RAIN COMe BACk mORe FoR YOuR SOUL tHAN WiND AnD 
   WEAtheR. fORM AND FASHiON YOUR OWN SIMPLe WAY OR IT WIlL BE dOOM 
   soMEDAY fOR WE ARE ALL UNDER A SPELL. thIS We TRACk DoWN bEFoRE A 
   lONG dAY. mAy nOT FaR YOUR mASTeR KEEP THis FROM YOU a hARMLESS 
   QUEsT iN NODEKa.

   The back of this parchment must contain some kind of code for the 
   instructions leading to the master. Find the code and you will 
   find the author of this document.

You're smart, so you look for a pattern in the capitalization. Looking at the capital letters doesn't do anything, so you look at the lowercase ones. This is the result of keeping only those:

se   e k me o u  t i n the. f  i   e    l  d so f      . th e k o bo  l d. my n a  me  is   a h s i a.

Which of course cleaned up reads: "Seek me out in the fields of the Kobold. My name is Ahsia." Off we go.

To the Kobolds

To view the next leg of the quest, head to Quest: The Kobolds Lair : A friendly teacher.