Arena:Random Quests

Random quests, also known as 'side quests', are small non-main quest story related quests the player can choose to complete to earn gold and experience points in Arena. Random quests are completely randomized, the names of the quest givers, tasks, and destinations being different. The rewards and times will vary and the quest task can be one of several types. Each quest is added to the journal, but from versions 1.0 to 1.06, (and possibly even on 1.07 according to some reports) the log size is severely limited. When the journal contains 16 entries, which seems to equal to about 2,000 bytes, the oldest message is removed before adding a new one, so it may be a good idea to print, write down or take a screenshot of the log from time to time to help keep track of active quests. As the game doesn't show which quests have or haven't (yet) been completed, it can help by marking the completed quests in some manner.

Overview

Random quests are found in 2 separate locations - settlement inns and palaces - and have 7 kinds of objectives, which will be explained further later on. The objectives can be delivery, retrieval, escort, rescue, capturing a criminal, slaying a creature, and obtaining an artifact. To locate inn quests' locations, ideally you should approach NPCs walking around and click on them to talk. Select 'Rumors' and then choose the 'Work' subtopic. Should they have heard of a work related rumor, they will inform the player by giving a general description of the quest giver and direction. If stood close enough to the location, they will also refer to the inn by name and give a more detailed description of the quest giver such as their name, disposition and status in life. Note that stationary NPCs cannot give the player directions to jobs.

After getting the location, you should enter the inn, locate the bartender and again click on them to interact. As an alternative, you can can enter all inns by checking the map and recognizing particular buildings and going to them one by one. This might be needed should you be in a settlement after 6 PM when NPCs are gone home for the night. If an NPC on the streets or a bartender informs the player they haven't heard anything, the player should either camp until after 12 am, go to a different settlement or ask the bartender for work if they asked an NPC first, or ask an NPC if they asked the bartender. Note that you need to leave the inn, then come back in again to allow the new quests to be activated for the new day. The chance that palace quests are available is related to the player's level. This has the unfortunate effect of decreasing the chances of inn quests being available. Quest availability also happens to be mutually exclusive, meaning that when a palace quest is available, inn quests are not for that day and vice versa.

However you located the inn, you should receive a message after interacting with the bartender. This mentions an off-screen person coming closer to the player, then describes what kind of person the quest giver is and part of their background. Click to continue dialogue and the quest giver will give a detailed description of their name, what they want, and a bit of background as to why they want someone to complete a quest for them. You can then decide to accept or decline.

Accepting will result in a positive reaction from the quest giver, alongside either an item in case of a delivery job or a person following you, oddly in the form of a quest 'item' in your equipment, in the case of an escort quest. As mentioned above, the quest's objectives will be added to the journal. Declining the quest results in a negative reaction from the quest giver and the quest being forfeited. After accepting the quest you have until 12 AM 2 days later to complete it. Travel to the destination and talk to the main service to complete the quest. Should you run out of time by camping for too long or traveling to another settlement, a message will appear which mentions the player tossing the item away, having your satchel opened and an item stolen, or, in the case of an escort, the escortee walking away.

After the successful completion of a quest, money, and XP are rewarded. Both money and XP gains are based on the player's level. Money being roughly based on the difficulty of the quest, while XP's calculation is a very straightforward multiplication. The experience reward equals (50 XP X pc level) for inn quests, and equals (500 XP X pc level) for palace quests. As an example, at level 5 you will receive 250 XP for an inn quest and 2500 XP for a palace quest.

Inn Quests

These are generally the easiest and fastest quests to do, as they have short travel distances, no risk except during night, and a generous deadline.

• Delivery

The quest giver gives you an item, and you need to deliver it to either another inn, an equipment store, a temple, or the local Mages Guild, who will take the item.

• Retrieval

Very similar to deliveries except the player is required to pick up the requested item from another location, then return to the quest giver.

• Escort

Basically the same as delivery except you will see a portrait which matches the face options in character generation at the start of the game. Escort them to their destination and talk to the service provider as usual. Despite the quest giver stating they need protection this will not be needed during day time. Escortees are not able to be damaged at all as they are just in your equipment as an 'item'.

Palace Quests

There is a 5% chance per level for a ruler to have quests available for you. If not, try another settlement, or try later. Palace quests are only available between 6 AM and 6 PM on each day they are generated. Thus, if you arrive at the palace gate after 5:59 AM, you cannot accept the quest, and will have to wait until the next day. If you are level 10 or higher, you should be able to complete most of these quests. Failing a palace quest has severe consequences; see here for more information.

• Delivery

Similarly to the delivery quests started at inns, you will receive an item which you need to deliver. The location for the delivery is always in another settlement, and the item must be given to a representative of a faction friendly to the ruler who gave you the quest. Another noticeable difference is the chance to be attacked by an opposing faction if you try to camp. Even in an inn, this attack is likely to occur unless you stand on top of a bed or other elevated surface. The reward is substantial, compared to the later mentioned capture criminal quest.

• Retrieval

Again, it is similar to the inn quest counterpart. You need to travel to another settlement, retrieve an item from a representative, and bring it back to the ruler. As with the palace delivery quests, there is a chance to be attacked by a faction hostile to the ruler. Camping brings the usual risks; you should camp on an elevated surface to avoid being attacked. A decent reward is given after successful completion.

• Escort

Like the inn quest, an NPC, a relative, or otherwise an heir of the ruler will accompany you as an 'item' in your equipment, and you are required to escort them to their destination. As with the palace delivery and retrieval quests, this will be in another settlement. As with the aforementioned delivery and retrieval quests, you can be attacked by a rival faction during the quest. Camping on elevated surfaces is once again advised. Afterwards you will be some hundreds of gold pieces richer.

• Rescue

This type of quest requires the player to go to a dungeon and rescue a person closely related to the ruler, including heirs. As with the aforementioned capture criminal and slay monster quests, the dungeons can have either 1 or 2 floors and feature a strong monster, in this quest's case, in the same area as the person who needs to be rescued. It is not required but still advisable to slay the monster to make the rescue easier. The player must click on the imprisoned person to have them be escorted back to the ruler's palace. Should the monster be immune to the player's weapons, it can be outmaneuvered if lucky and a skillful. This might take several tries and may require the use of potions or spells to keep your health up. As with capturing criminals and slaying monster quests, camping has been made easier as you are less likely to encounter enemies.

• Capture a criminal

This type of quest involves capturing an outlaw. The ruler of a city will request you to retrieve a apprehend an infamous person of a certain class from a certain dungeon named similarly to them. Once you get close to their location, you will receive a message stating this. When you find the criminal, attack them, and they will surrender after some damage is inflicted on them. You now have to escort them back to the palace where you received the quest. Upon your arrival, you will receive your meager reward, about 30-50 gold per level, depending on the settlement size. These quests can be very dangerous, as the criminals share their respective dungeon with a random monster, which can range from a Minotaur to even a Lich, regardless of your level. The creature is neither required to be killed or even encountered, but may on occasion happen to be between you and the criminal. Camping is easier on the floor where you need to capture the criminal, as encounters are drastically reduced.

• Slay a creature

This type of quest requires the player to go to the dungeon and kill a high-leveled monster. The dungeons in this type of quest can, like the criminal quest, have multiple floors. The player receives a message when the monster is near, done so in the same way as with a criminal. Like with criminal capture quests, the dungeon bears a name similar to the creature which needs to be killed. After the creature has been killed, the player must return to the palace. This must be done within the allotted time, even when the monster had been killed before the deadline. Like for criminal captures, camping is easier, as the encounter rate of enemies is lower.

Artifact Quests

This special type of random quest is described on its own Artifact Quests page. For information on artifacts themselves, see the Artifacts page.

Hints

Inn quests

• As the maximum of quests given on any given day cannot exceed 4, settlements with 4 inns are perfect for grinding XP in the early stages of the game. Riverview in Hammerfell is one example of such a settlement.

Artifact quests

• 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 any currently owned (even if they're being repaired), unavailable to your class, or whose map is located in your current province. If all sixteen are available, the odds of one particular artifact being chosen is 6.25%.
• When searching for a particular artifact, it is usually best to ask around in the Imperial City. This is because NPCs only provide rumors for artifact quests whose initial dungeon (map dungeon) is located outside their province. Since neither artifacts nor their maps are ever located in the Imperial Province, NPCs in the Imperial City can initiate quests for every artifact available to your class (and not currently owned).
• If an NPC says they've heard nothing interesting lately (or something similar to that), they will never provide an artifact rumor, no matter how many times you ask for general rumors.
• Once you've found an NPC willing to share general rumors, asking repeatedly should eventually yield an artifact rumor (usually within twenty tries).

Palace quests

• Heal until at full health and bring some potions and good weapons (preferably made with mithril or higher quality if available) to deal with any monsters that stand in your way.
• Some floating creatures such as ghosts and homunculi may block the entrance to the room they are found in and prevent the player from entering. A spell, weapon, or item of passwall can be a nearly essential asset in these cases.

Bugs

• Going to a Mages Guild, equipment store, or temple with two or more quests active for that location will cause the text confirming delivery, retrieval, or escort to skip. Any items and/or escorted NPCs are still removed from or added to the player's equipment and the monetary reward is still provided, so it is without any ill effects.
• If the destination for an escort quest is the Mages Guild, pick the northeastern-most door; otherwise, the service provider won'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 northeastern-most door to continue.
• The player may encounter excessively difficult monsters if they attempt quests for rulers at lower levels and the enemy faction is the Thieves Guild, Blades, or a random noble.
• Failing a palace quest will result in the ruler changing name and gendered appearance, as in, a male ruler becomes a female ruler and vice versa. The ruler will also not give you any more quests, apparently ever. Even after waiting several in-game days, going to another province, then coming back or talking to them twice, this issue will still leave the player without the possibility of receiving quests from this ruler. What actually happens when this bug triggers is the replacement of the entire palace, including its general layout, placement of guards and NPCs, etc.

Trivia

• Rulers do not remember you having completed quests for them, and they may ask you to rescue tens, if not hundreds, of their relatives if quests are repeatedly done for them.