Orchard of the Macabre (epic)

Overview
Orchard of the Macabre (epic) is a level 29 Wilderness Adventure Area accessible from The Necropolis, allowing characters from levels 20 through 33 full XP rewards. Requires minimum character level 20 to enter. See also Orchard of the Macabre (heroic).

Quests
In addition to the Rare Encounter / Slayer / Explorer missions typical to all wilderness adventure areas, the following quests can be found in this zone:
 * Desecrated Temple of Vol
 * Flesh Maker's Laboratory
 * Ghosts of Perdition
 * Inferno of the Damned



Random Encounters
4,800 XP per encounter, 45,600 bonus XP for solving all
 * A Rift of Fire (Inferno zone)
 * A Rift of Ice (Haunt zone)
 * It's Alive! (Laboratory zone)
 * The Suspect (Anywhere)
 * The Maruts (Shows up as "The Deal" on the Dungeon Objectives list) (Temple zone)
 * Slay Lord Tristin (Temple zone)
 * Slay Ciona the Grey (Inferno zone)
 * Slay Isanar (Haunt zone)
 * Slay Tahareh (doomsphere) (Haunt zone)
 * Slay Mal'takalon (Unknown)
 * Slay Blightcrawl (Temple zone)
 * Slay Hieronymous (Laboratory zone, appears only to spawn near Bonepile)
 * Slay Thorfl (Laboratory zone)
 * Slay Commander Tarkor (Temple zone)
 * Slay Talvis Samit (Unknown, known to spawn in Laboratory zone)
 * Slay Daros (Haunt zone)
 * Slay the Mummy Karthonep the Restless (Tombs in the Haunt, North or Temple zone)
 * Slay Lanarin (Haunt zone)
 * Slay Lord Varnath (Temple zone)

Spawn locations seem to be semi-random in most cases; encounters appear to spawn in many possible places in one zone.

The Black Abbot's Journals
2,400 XP per discovery, 7,200 bonus XP for discovering all
 * Find Black Abbot's first journal
 * ''Those accursed adventurers disrupted my ascension to godhood! I'll make them pay for their foolish arrogance when my full power returns. Fortunately the simpletons think I have been destroyed. That will allow me to plan my next attempt in peace.
 * Find Black Abbot's second journal
 * ''Interesting. I have been investigating how to tap the power of the darker planes to power my ascension to godhood. In all the ancient texts, the same name comes up time and time again. I shall have to re-discover the long-lost secret of House Vol!
 * Find Black Abbot's third journal
 * ''Who could have imagined that the last scion of House Vol survived as a lich? All I need to do is convince her to teach me about her Dragonmark. Then I will be unstoppable!
 * Find Black Abbot's fourth journal
 * ''It took some doing, but Lady Erandis and I have come to an agreement. I am to teach her about planar magics, and she will teach me about her Dragonmark. My plan couldn't be going any better.
 * Find Black Abbot's fifth journal
 * ''It seems that Lady Erandis is an expert on Dolurrh and necromancy. Her knowledge, combined with my own mastery of planar magic, will make the ritual almost trivial...though of course there is some risk of manifesting Dolurrh in Eberron...
 * Find Black Abbot's sixth journal
 * ''Lady Erandis is impressive. She's an eager student of my planar sorcery, and an accomplished wizard in her own right. So trusting, the poor fool! I'll soon know all I need from her.
 * Find Black Abbot's seventh journal
 * ''She's not as trustworthy as I believed. I've learned that her Emerald Claw lackeys helped disrupt my ascension! She swears that she knew nothing about it, and that her underlings have been properly chastised. But I'll keep a closer eye on her in the future.
 * Find Black Abbot's eighth journal
 * ''I have finally learned all I deem useful from Erandis. I've set my plans and followers in place to eliminate her before she suspects my intent. Pity. She was a competent assistant for a time. But we mustn't have another lich about who could possibly perform my ascension!
 * Find Black Abbot's ninth journal
 * ''How is this possible?! She not only thwarted my attempt on her existence, but she took control of my followers and defeated my magics! She even managed to craft a spell that allows her to control another lich, and had the audacity to use it on me! ME! I'm the one worthy of godhood...and now I must become her lapdog.
 * Find Black Abbot's tenth journal
 * ''That lich has fed me nothing but lies from the start! I never should have trusted her after her Emerald Claw lackeys helped thwart my ascension the first time. Now her minions infest the entire Orchard.
 * Find Black Abbot's eleventh journal
 * ''My brilliant plan lies in ruins. Not only has she used her foul magics to compel me, but she's taken control of my most powerful lieutenants - the doomsphere, the cinderspawn. She even had the audacity to kill Mentau! And I had such plans for an army of flesh golems...
 * Find Black Abbot's twelfth journal
 * ''I was so close - so close to being a god! I will not let her win. Her magic compels me to obey her, but she'll slip up someday. And when she does, I will destroy her!

Erandis Vol's Missives
2,400 XP per discovery, 7,200 bonus XP for discovering all
 * Find Erandis Vol's first missive
 * ''Seeker - A new era is about to begin, and you have been chosen to help protect the Blood of Vol at this perilous moment. One who has served so faithfully deserves to be initiated into our secrets. So I shall tell you the story of the Blood of Vol - the true story of the fall of House Vol. It is my story, for I am Erandis Vol.
 * Find Erandis Vol's second missive
 * ''Long ago, there were thirteen Dragonmarked houses. The elves of House Vol carried the Dragonmark of Death. In time we learned that 'the blood is the life, and in its call can be heard the promise of eternal life.' But before the Dragonmark of Death could be fully understood, House Vol was utterly destroyed. And they say that I was the one who caused it all, just by being born.
 * Find Erandis Vol's third missive
 * ''There had always been war between the elves and the dragons. The conflict between Aernel and Argonesson dragged on, unending, unendable. Minara, the leader of House Vol, sought a solution to the eternal war. She thought - What if there was a child, an extraordinary child uniting the blood of both the elves and the dragons? I am Erandis Vol - and I was that child. I was to bring peace to the elves and the dragons. And I did...at a terrible cost
 * Find Erandis Vol's fourth missive
 * ''They named me Erandis, after my grandmother. My mother was Minara, the leader of House Vol. My father was a dragon remembered only as the Emerald Claw. Because they loved me, my parents thought the world would love me too. Because they loved me, they thought I'd bring the warring sides together. And the elves and the dragons did unite when they found out about me. But not out of love - no, not love.
 * Find Erandis Vol's fifth missive
 * ''It was hatred that finally bound the elves and the dragons together. They called me an abomination - born half-dragon, half-elf and branded with a Dragonmark of Death more powerful than any the world has ever seen. So they came for all of us. They hunted down every elf who bore the Dragonmark of Death, completely destroying House Vol. I saw my mother slaughtered.... They hunted for me, too. But they never found me, no matter how hard they tried. You see, the child they searched for was already dead.
 * Find Erandis Vol's sixth missive
 * ''She said she was so sorry, so terribly sorry. It was the only way she knew to save me. They had destroyed every living thing that bore the Dragonmark of Death, and so it followed that I could not possibly live. But there were other ways, she said. She was a great wizard and I must trust her. I could not live, but for the sake of our legacy, for the sake of the Blood of Vol, I must...endure. And so my mother, my own mother, made me into an undead lich.
 * Find Erandis Vol's seventh missive
 * ''You know the sacrifice we undead make for our faith. The Blood of Vol seeks eternal life, but true eternal life requires warm flesh and pulsing blood. This undead existence is but a shadow. Yet those who become undead can serve the Blood of Vol for year after year, century after century. That's what I've done - and so I am. What they don't know is that I still endure, hidden away, planning for the glory of the Blood of Vol and vengeance on our enemies.
 * Find Erandis Vol's eighth missive
 * ''I swore on my slaughtered mother that I'd fulfill my destiny. For centuries I've worked in the shadows, plotting and scheming. I was born with the Greater Dragonmark of Death - and I knew what I could do with it. The Blood of Vol would be vindicated and my enemies overthrown. Yet fate laughed at me once again. You see, to control a Dragonmark, you must be alive.
 * Find Erandis Vol's ninth missive
 * ''Because I was a lich I couldn't use my Dragonmark's immense power. It was that way for many long years. Then something happened - a lich named the Black Abbot tried to make himself a god. He failed of course, in part thanks to my followers. But when his ritual failed, the Planes were thrown out of alignment. A creature with that kind of planar power is exactly what I needed. So I came to Xen'drik to reactivate my Dragonmark of Death.
 * Find Erandis Vol's tenth missive
 * ''The Black Abbot was recovering near Stormreach. As I suspected, he hadn't been destroyed when his ritual failed. I managed to convince the Abbot that we should work together. I told him he could do extraordinary things, and that I needed his help - and that was all true. What I didn't mention was that to help me, I would also need to destroy him.
 * Find Erandis Vol's eleventh missive
 * ''Of course, the Black Abbot was planning to betray me all along. But I am the greater wizard. It was easy to compel the Abbot with my magic. Very soon now I will drain his power and channel it to my reawakened Dragonmark. The Abbot will be destroyed. But I will at last be able to reach through the Planes to Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead.
 * Find Erandis Vol's twelfth missive
 * ''You know that every soul goes to Dolurrh when they die. There they are condemned to walk its barren grey wastes until they fade. Is it not a crime that the gods permit such a place to exist? I swore on my slaughtered mother that I would stop this crime forever. I swore that with my Dragonmark awakened, I would bring Dolurrh under my control. And with the power of the Black Abbot, I will finally make good on my oath. I am Erandis Vol, and I will conquer death itself.