This event is now activated and will run through November 9, 2009

Sure, sure, swear all you want that "I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts". Mum knows better. Inside each and every one of us, there is a part of us, however small, that finds things are just a tiny bit scarier when the dead are rumored to walk the lands.

C'mon. Admit it.

I'm not the only one, right guys?

Um, guys??

...

Whether things that go bump in the night have the ability to scare you or not, the Nights of the Dead (aka "Halloween"), can be a fun little romp through city streets, haunted houses, and hedge mazes.

Hedge maze?

Yep! On top of the original EQ2 haunted house and trick or treating in various home cities, and the haunted mansion in Loping Plains, there will be a hedge maze event, complete with some lovely appearance gear drops.

And there will be crafting goodies, too, of course!

The original Celebrations of the Dead recipe book is back again this year, along with a new book "Celebrations of the Dead II". Items that can be crafted from this second book include:

Baneful Arm of Decay	Baneful Bonds	Baneful Bone Arrangement	Baneful Bone Mound
Baneful Skull on a String	Baneful Bottle	Baneful Sarcophagus Lid	Blackhearted Bone Display
Blackhearted Stockade	Charred Banner	Demolished Sarcophagus	Femur Meal
Platter of Pestilence	Unsealed Stone Coffin	Vacant Sarcophagus	Wriggling Baneful Cocoon

These items all require the Nights of the Dead candy drops (detailed below) and tier 2 common harvestables. In addition, a new quest reward option has been added to the haunted house quest in Loping Plains - a level 10 (all crafting classes), 10-charge, heirloom recipe book: "Notes on special mirrors". This book allows you to make 10 combines (yield 2 on pristine) of the Vampiric Mirror and/or Wispy Vampiric Mirror, using tier 2 resources and the Nights of the Dead candy drops. (The Wispy version looks exactly like the original Vampiric Mirror, but it is not solid in the center, allowing folks to walk through it.)

Candy Drops?

And Eye-Candy, Too!

I'm not going to give you a complete walk-through, but I'll get you pointed in the right direction. The quest starts with an NPC on the Nektulos Forest docks, sends you running to the far corner of the beach there in Nek, and eventually you'll end up in the Hollow Hedge instance (A right-click option on the same door as you'd use for Cauldron Hollow), getting lost in a large, spooky hedge maze.

Firstly, here are the quest rewards:

Hedge Hollow Tapestry

Hedge Seeds!

Yep, we're talking a hedgy, shrub-like room divider sort of thing! And the quest is repeatable! (After the first time through, you can zone in to be offered the quest to revisit all the spooky spots you found the first time through!)

Then there's this gnome in there ... who trains you, naturally! On your first run through, you can happily kill him. Bonus! Annoying little gnome! :D

On your second run through the hedge quest, resist the urge to kill him, and you can pick up a quest from him. (Plans are for you to be able to repeat this quest once every 18 hours, which is important to note if you're plotting a scarecrow army!) Rewards from the quest are your choice of:

Lively Scarecrow Plushie

Standing Scarecrow Plushie

Let's take a closer look at those, shall we?

Oooh! That lively one really is lively! Best not stand too close!

How about some rewards for various feats within the hedge? (Plushie is a possible drop from Raven, Divider is the reward for the glowie collection.)

Raven Plushie

Petrified Bone Divider

Yep, you get to fight this lady, and if you're lucky, you might be able to take home this trophy from the encounter!

Raven Plushie

You also might be able to pry a piece of armor off some of the named mobs in the zone ...

There is also at least one appearance-only axe. In addition to all of the above, if you have done the original Haunted House (Qeynos, Freeport, etc), plus the Haunted Mansion in Loping Plains, and done the above-mentioned gnome's Train to Zone quest, a gleaming chest will spawn in the maze with some no-trade appearance-only skull-spiked pauldrons. Creepy! :D

We have also heard rumors that Test hasn't discovered quite everything there is to discover about goodies for this event, so keep your eyes peeled for an extra surprise or two when this event goes Live! (Current run dates for this special event are expected to be October 16, 2009 through November 9, 2009.)

("Ghost" images at the top of the page is: Male Ulteran Mannequin from the Spires event, Sacred Garments from a quest in New Tunaria, Valorous Wings from the Shard of Love. Backgrounds are from Qeynos basement room, the petrified bone divider from the hedge collection, with vampiric mirrors in front of it, and the hedge seeds from the Hedge Maze quest reward. And yes, this amply proves why Mum doesn't do more of the graphics herself. {snicker})