Arena:Random Quests

All of the quests in Arena outside of the main quest are completely randomized. Names, places, and times will vary and the quest task can be one of several types. Each task is added to the quest log, but in versions prior to 1.07 (and possibly even on 1.07 according to some reports) log size is limited. When the file is 2,000 bytes or larger, the oldest message is removed before adding a new one, so it may be a good idea to print the log from time to time to help keep track of things.

Delivery/Retrieve or Escort Quests

These are generally the easiest and fastest quests. You can start by asking about Rumors and then choosing the Work subtopic. Should they have heard a work related rumor, the player should check around the inns, talk to the bartenders. A message will describe an individual has pulled the player over and give you a quest which you can accept or decline. Accepting a quest gives a description of where and what to do and before which date. Declining results in a disappointed or hostile response and the quest can no longer be accepted later. Generally, these quests require you to take an item or a person to a landmark in the city before a certain date (which is two days from the time you receive the quest). Items are put into your inventory and followers are displayed in the top left corner of the screen. Travel to the destination and talk to the main service provider there. They will take the item or follower, and, depending on whether or not you made it in time, they will pay you a small amount of gold. In the event a person on the streets informs the player they haven't heard anything, the player should wait until the next day, go to a different location or ask the bartender of the nearest inn in the city and use the work sub topic directly as this might inform the player a local ruler has a quest (see further below)

• These quests are a good way to quickly earn a small amount of gold, as the player can do several of these in a couple minutes if they are familiar with the location's layout
• You gain a little bit of experience for each completed quest. While of not much significance later, this can help you level up in the beginning of the game.
• As you increase in level, the amount of gold and experience you get from completing these quests increases. However, it is still quite negligible compared to the amount received from completing many other quests and even raiding randomly generated dungeons found in the game.
• Be careful when traveling at night. Enemies often sneak into the cities, and most stores and temples are closed after sunset anyway. Many different creatures besides rats and goblins will often lurk in cities, everything from humans, like Spellswords, to skeletons, lizard men, orcs, ghouls, and even zombies. But don't worry, it is very rare to encounter golems and such in town (and impossible before you reach the required level for encountering them as random opponents which is around 15).
• To do a lot of these quickly, find a small village with a limited number of inns. There is no need to speak to a villager to start the quest, simply make a tour of the pubs, and the quest will be activated when you speak to the right bartender. Then camp until the next morning (after 6 AM when the service providers are open again)
• If the destination for an escort quest is the Mages Guild, pick the North-Eastern most door, otherwise the service provider doesn't acknowledge the escorted quest npc as being with the player, therefore not allowing the player to complete the quest in that location. Leave the Mages Guild and re-enter from the North-Eastern door to continue

Artifact Quests

This type of quest is fairly rare. But sometimes, when asking about general rumors, you may be directed to a person who knows the location of an arcane artifact. The chance to receive an artifact quest increases by 2% for each character level up to the maximum 20%, and there is just a 50% chance an NPC will talk about the rumors at all. These quests start the same way as delivery and escort quests. Travel to the pub, talk to the bartender, and be approached by the person. You will have to pay a small amount of gold for the information. The person will direct you to a dungeon somewhere outside the city walls. Travel through the dungeon, find a map to another dungeon, then find the artifact. You may now use it until it breaks or its charges run out (though you can have it repaired if you wish to keep it indefinitely).

• You may not have more than one artifact at a time (although there is an exploit that allows you to do so). Therefore, if you have an artifact in your inventory, you will not get another artifact quest until the one you have disappears.
• The artifact is randomly chosen from the pool of sixteen, minus the ones you have using the exploit (or ones unavailable to your class). The chances of one particular artifact being chosen is 6.25%.
• If you choose not to pursue a particular artifact, you will not be offered it again for a long time.
• The artifact and its map are always located in a chest in the bottom floor of the dungeon.
• If an NPC says that they've heard nothing interesting going on lately, or something similar to that, they probably will not give you an artifact quest, no matter how many times you ask them for rumors.
• Once you've located an NPC willing to talk about rumors, asking them for rumors repeatedly (usually within twenty tries) will yield an artifact quest.
• When searching for artifacts, it is usually best to ask around in the Imperial City. This is because NPCs can only provide quests for artifacts located outside their own province. Since no artifacts are located in the Imperial Province, NPCs in the Imperial City can initiate quests for artifacts from any province.
• If searching for a particular artifact, it is usually best to find out which provinces that artifact can appear in, then go and ask for general rumors in another province that will never contain the desired artifact.

For more information on artifacts, see the Artifacts page.

The following quests all involve speaking with the local rulers of villages, towns, or city-states:

Capture a criminal

This type of quest involves capturing an outlaw. The ruler of a city will request you to retrieve a criminal from a certain dungeon named after them. When you find the criminal, attack them and he will fall. The criminal won't actually die, and you now have to escort them back to the person who gave you the quest. You will then receive your reward (30-50 gold per level, depending on the city size). These quests can be dangerous, as the criminals share their respective dungeon with a random monster (ranging from a Minotaur to a Lich, regardless of your level).

• The chance to receive this quest improves with the player's level.

Escort for a ruler quests

This type of requires the player to escort a city ruler's relative to another city. They will be attacked by a rival faction (Mages Guild, Dark Brotherhood, possibly others) if they try to rest in a tavern.

Kill a monster quests

This type of quest requires the player to go to the dungeon and kill a high-leveled monster, usually for substantial reward. The dungeons in this type of quest are multilevel, and the game informs the player when the monster is near. Like with criminal capture quests, the dungeon is named after the monster which needs to be killed.

Rescue quests

This type of quest requires the player to go to a dungeon and rescue a person closely related to the ruler relatives, including heirs. The dungeons in this type of quest are one or two leveled and feature a strong monster in the same area as the person who needs to be rescued.

Retrieve or Deliver an Item

This type of quest requires you to travel to a foreign town and retrieve or deliver an item. These quests are offered by a ruler found in the palace, and, like the above capture quests, require a high reputation. You will be attacked by an outlaw faction (Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, possibly others) if you try to rest in a tavern during one of these quests. If you are level 10 or more, you'll be able to do most of these quests. There is a 5% chance per level for a ruler to have quests available for you. If not, try another town, another province, or try later.

Notes

• Quest availability is mutually exclusive, meaning that should a palace quest be available, inn quests are not and vice versa.
• Due to a bug in the game, the player may encounter very hard monsters if they attempt quests for rulers at lower levels and the enemy faction is The Thieves' Guild or a random noble.
• The experience reward is 500 XP times pc level for palace quests and 50 XP times pc level for tavern quests.
• Due to a bug in the game, going to a Mages' Guild, Equipment store or Temple with two or more quests active for that location will cause the text confirming delivery or retrieval to skip. Items and escorted NPCs are still removed from or added to the player's inventory and the monetary reward is still provided, so it is inconsequential in the end.