Illithid Invasion u63 Event Unlocking Mega Thread [Completed]

Arcanaverse

Solver of Secrets
Greetings all. Its that time again for the DDO Secret Hunters community to come together once more! Illithids from across the Astral Sea are invading Eberron and in a special one time major event. We need to locate and defeat the Illithid Invaders to unlock 4 Extreme Challenge Dungeons.

These invaders hidden through the game on reaper difficulty. We need everyone's help locating the quests they're spanning in to turn portals.

--Links! if you think there should be more links here, let me know

twitch.tv/Arcanaverse - Streaming Sundays @4pm eastern. Will be live for the event regardless of the day. :)
Arcanaverse Discord - Join the live ongoing discussion.
DDO WIki Page for the event
Strimtom Video Explaining the basics

Server Unlock Progress - Can report your servers exhaustion message here. Huge thanks to Personman for corralling reports

--Unlock Progress

All Quests have been unlocked! Congratulations and well done everyone!

Phase 4 - Astral Ambus - 11/7 start - Completed!
*links point to posts with screen shots/vids of the locations


The Crucible - K side
Lost At Sea - Undead area for the Altar
The Pit - top of the 3rd furnace room
The Offshore Account - Kelpie optional
Dread Sea Scrolls - docks to the right of the end fight
The Missing Party (delera part 2)- underwater area.
Good Intentions - shop area
Tower of Frost - Garden Level
Phase 3 - Horde of the Illithid Controller - 11/5 start - Completed!
*links point to posts with screenshots/vids of the locations

Redwillow Ruins - Hobgoblin Cave
Gwylands Stand - right after the firetrap on the right.
Keeper's Sanctuary - Optional Acquire Saerick's Journal
Spawn of Whisperdoom - necromancer room
The Devil's Details
Power Play - Power Play. in the secret area below the electric floor middle room.
Reclamation - second ledge down, in an alcove of the shaft
Rainbow in the Dark - behind the lever puzzle.
Phase 2 - Stolen Power - 11/3 start - Completed!
*links point to posts with screenshots/vids of the locations
Dirty Laundry - new secret door near shrine
Ghost of a Chance - back of puzzle room
Storm the Beaches - through the main door (close to the boat) on the first right
Fathom the Depths - Cube Chest area
Promise of Fire - optional chest in the area below the floor
Spies in the House - pipe chest
Hiding in Plain Sight - Aurum Hideout, right down the first tunnel and take a left.
Tear of Dhakaan - third (Amber) tear location
Phase 1 - Pilgrims Peril - 11/1 - Completed!
QuestsArgonessenCannithGhallandaKhyberOrienSarlonaThelanisWayfinder
Dream Conspiracy✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
Ruinous Schemes✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
Heart of the Problem✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
Undermine✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
Growing Pains✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
A Small Problem✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
Where's there Smoke✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
Price of Freedom✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

Dream Conspiracy -
Ruinous Schemes - Bugbear Optional
Heart of the Problem - 2nd Fire Elemental via Fire Path
Undermine - Shrine area, just before the boulder.
Growing Pains - climbing up the tree on a branched path
A Small Problem - Fire Elemental
Where There's Smoke - End, Under the bridge
Price of Freedom - under the puzzle up top on the roof (in the garden to be more precise)

--Event FAQ

What is going on?

Illithids from the Astral Sea are invading Eberron! We must defeat Illithid Invaders hidden throughout the game and defeat them to send them back to their lairs (the four extreme challenge dungeons).

What We Need to Do?

Step 1. Talk to Omryn Cedarbrook in the Sharn Clifftops to get the story.
Step 2. Find and defeat Illithid Invaders to unlock the first quest hidden throughout the game on reaper difficulty. (let people know where)
Step 3. Defeat the Illithid Invaders a number of times (10ish?) to force it back to its lair. Looking to trigger this message:
RS.JPG

Step 4. Do this enough times, we'll complete phase 1 and unlock the first Extreme Challenge Dungeon.
image.png

Step 5. Wait 2 days before we repeat steps 2-4 with a new set of locations to find. Till then we can now run the first extreme challenge dungeon.
Step 6. Presumably do this a few more times until all dungeons are unlocked and defeated to stop the invasion!

Strimtom Video Explaining the basics

How long is the event? When will it end?

The event is estimated to be roughly a week long (there is some time gating involved to get us to that week).
It will end sometime after we've unlocked all 4 dungeons and the dev's turn it off.
My personal guess is that the Legendary Chronoscope they're developing will recap this event. The 4 dungeons and the stuff within them (cards, their loot, etc.) will remain in the game after the event ends as permanent, free, inclusions to the game.

What are the Rewards?

The goal of the event is for our community to unlock and permanently added 4 special quests to the game. The Illithid Lairs. Which are lv.34, free to play, Extreme Challenge dungeons. Extreme Challenge, just means more complicated mechanics and bit more difficult than your typical quest.

This isn't just for end game mega elites, the quest is very completable but does scales very harshly and becomes a lot harder as you increase the difficulty. Think of them as like.. easier 6 person mini raids. Elite/r1 is very doable, but as the skull level goes up... the population able to complete begins to thin out.

In addition to named items and augments unique to these quests, they'll also give us access to Cursed Cards to crafted the Deck of Many Curses to upgrade our gear. Cards are unbound and are already flooding auction houses.

Video explaining the Deck of Many Curses from Strimtom

How do I find an Illithid Invader?

Enter on Reaper Difficulty (skull level doesn't matter). And search every inch of the quest. They can be hiding anywhere. No pattern has emerged. So even out of the way areas could be an Invasion Point. Invaders will always spawn until the point is exhausted.

Invasion Point
(the small little globe you can barely see. get close
enough to that and you'll spawn the Invader)​
Illithid Invader​
image.png
orb.png
number3.png
betterinvader.png

What do I do when/if I find one?

Defeat it and let others know where you found it. Posting here would be great! After defeating the encounter you don't need to complete the quest. Alerting the community lets others join the hunt and assist in exhausting the Invasion Point.

What happens when an Invasion Point is exhausted?

Invaders will case to spawn, we make progress towards unlocking the lairs (the extreme dungeons).

Is there a list of quests we've already checked?

No. Why? A few reasons... in no particular order.
1. Verification of 'its not there' claims is a monumental task. These globes are easy to miss and are/can be in some weird places. The odds of the list being reliable is extremely low (even lower than hardcore 8 since they're not tied to anything). So the community re-checking quests will produce better results and be more engaging for everyone.
2. Each server would likely need to manage their own list. (dangerous to assume each server will continue to have all the same quests)
3. Each phase would likely need to have its own list as it seems each phase will have its own set of mindflayers to find (and possibly other rules)

Not going to keep people from starting their own thread though if they wish to put in the work. I simply don't have the time.

Does it matter which level range I find/defeat the Invader in?

Nope. Heroic, Epic/Legendary all count towards the same counter. Exhausting one (even partially) exhausts both.

Can I run a lower level quest on reaper?

Yes, but only a little.

Heroric quests (1-19) have a level lockout of +4. So A level 18 base quest on reaper requires you to be level 22 or lower (to a minmum of 18, a -4 below base entry requirement).

Epic/Legendary (20-29/31-32+) have a lock out of +6. So a lv. 25 base quest requires you to be no higher than lv. 31. However the minimum to enter is lv. 20 for this level range of content.

Does defeating the Psionic Thrall Champions do anything?

Not currently no. Only the Invaders. The Thralls can be found any place where champion monsters were found before.

Initial Discovery Information
Eeldirtch from the discord who play on Orien found found this guy in R1 Dream Conspiracy.
20231101122651_1.jpg


Defeating it popped a global annoucement:
image_3.png



After the server defeats this Invader enough times, we'll exhaust the invasion point:
RS.JPG


What are Psionic Thralls?
So far, all champions seem to have been replaced with Thralls. They have extra damage and buff up nearby thralls to takes less damage that builds over time. They still drop normal rem chests
image.png

Pre-Event Start Info
--What we know so far
Event will begin on Wednesday 11/1. Per the Fridays @ 4, SSG estimates it'll run about a week and easier than Hardcore or Vecna Unleashed to discover.

Leading NPC for the event will be in the clifftop tower district of sharn.

These are the same Mindflayer group we encountered in astral plane in the quest, Vecna Denied under the command of a Elder Brain. They have plans to invade Eberron and its up to us to stop them!

- 4 Extreme Challenge dungeons that we'll need to unlock on a per server basis.
- The event will run until all of the objectives are completed.
- Each server will need to do their own unlocking.
- Most level ranges will be involved.
- We'll be scouring Reaper difficulty dungeons throughout the game to locate these powerful invaders
image.png

Preview 2

Release notes for u63

If the map information holds true from the preview, we'll see the quest gives and a chain npc housed in Sharn just past the general vendor on the upper level.

--What Do We Think This Will Mean for DDO?

Believe this will mark the next phase of DDO story. With the Codex dealt with. Our current invading gods (mostly) dealt with. The impact of this event looks like it'll rival the Devil Invasion that resulted in the destruction of Marketplace Tent and The Chronoscope (heroic and epic) raid changing the face of the game forever. Launching a storyline that has guided DDO over these past many years.

Big guess that the Legendary Chronoscope talked about in early episodes of Fridays @ Four, isn't an legendary version of current chronoscrope, but a NEW raid capturing this event.
 
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Saaluta

Founder and altogether cool gamer gurl
Do we think this is going to be killing illithids from different quests to unlock per server or talking to npc illithids (i.e. Fred, or the npc in Chronoscope raid) in different quests/areas for clues? Then doing quests based on whatever clues the NPCs give us?

Saal :)
 

CBDunk

Well-known member
It'd be nice if it included something like 'any mindflayer in the game has a chance to drop a clue' so that players of a wide range of levels (~10 and up) could participate. Or mind flayers literally invading the marketplace and being swarmed by everyone.
 
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Urklore

Well-known member
It'd be nice if it included something like 'any mindflayer in the game has a chance to drop a clue' so that players of a wide range of levels (~10 and up) could participate. Or mind flayers literally invading the marketplace and being swarmed by everyone.
Wow, that would be so awesome! Imagine it. The marketplace swarming with Mind Flayers trailing their intellect devourers on leashes searching for the highest concentrations of brain power. If you angle your camera upwards you can see some sort of armored snail-like ship sailing among the clouds.........

<queue Spelljammer music>
 

Arcanaverse

Solver of Secrets
Obviously I'm not basing this off of much as we know so little. but I can't help myself. So my prediction on how the event will go.

The sky across Eberron will turn red as massive Illthid ships come out of strange portals. Likely destroying something in Sharn in the process changing its landscape forever.

Hordes of mindflayers, their minions, and/or mindflayer thralls will cover the landscape. After the initial battles/invasion the mindflayers will retreat... or will they? Illithid Thralls will spawn (similar to champions). Collecting turn in drops the adventurers across the game will use them to unlock each of the quests (think crystal cove, but one and done).

Sprinkle in a bit of time gating and lore advancement and probably some brand new mechanic we've never seen before and there you go.

I think they'll want the whole game's population involved in this. Especially after the feedback we have from the last few secret hunts where complaints about participation often surfaced. Plus a bit flashy moment or two would do well for a Legendary Chronoscope.

Moving into the future, I think we'll be seeing a lot more of the astral sea as we travel the multiverse and pursuit of dangerous entities and quite likely will result in an Elder Brain focused raid and/or capstone quest at some point in our future.

Unsure if all areas will be combat zones are not, but I'm getting hyped! Can hardly wait.
 

pevergreen

Active member
I think the scope isnt going to be that grand, but ive only really played the last 3 years or so.

Quests to check:
Vecna denied

Twilight forge

Prison of the planes

Against the demon queen

In the flesh

Slavers of the shrieking mines

Rare in sschin, underdark, barovia

Slayers in underdarm/gianthold/subterrane

Belly of the beast

Sane asylum

Acute delirium

Fear factory

In the flesh

Missing

Sinister storage

The lord of eyes

The enemy within

Hound of xoriat

Fashion madness

Terminal delirium

Desire in the dark

Thralls of the fungus lord

Underdark arena: fight to the finish

Night falls on stormreach (fred)

Price of freedom (fred)

House j (fred)

Sane aslyum (fred)
 

Cernunan

Member
Me hitting haste boost breaks the server, but SSG wants to do an event like this. Good luck with that.
During the devil's invasion event I remember my guildies would wait around for the spawns in an attempt to get some loot drops. We all would be frozen from the event lag, while 1 guildie would put himself just out of the way of the event, then he would backspace grab all the dropped loot while the rest of us were lag frozen.
Good times
 

Ivor

Member
--What we know so far
These are the same Mindflayer group we encountered in astral plane in the quest, Vecna Unleashed under the command of a Elder Brain. They have plans to invade Eberron and its up to us to stop them!

Small nitpick but we encountered them in the quest Vecna Denied.
 

Darksteel

Well-known member
SSG...making DDO turn-based combat one event at a time. Cant wait for the servers go pop, crackle and boom when the ships arrive in Eberron.
 

Mand O'Lin

Singer of Songs Drinker of Drinks
Obviously I'm not basing this off of much as we know so little. but I can't help myself. So my prediction on how the event will go.

The sky across Eberron will turn red as massive Illthid ships come out of strange portals. Likely destroying something in Sharn in the process changing its landscape forever.

Hordes of mindflayers, their minions, and/or mindflayer thralls will cover the landscape. After the initial battles/invasion the mindflayers will retreat... or will they? Illithid Thralls will spawn (similar to champions). Collecting turn in drops the adventurers across the game will use them to unlock each of the quests (think crystal cove, but one and done).

Sprinkle in a bit of time gating and lore advancement and probably some brand new mechanic we've never seen before and there you go.

I think they'll want the whole game's population involved in this. Especially after the feedback we have from the last few secret hunts where complaints about participation often surfaced. Plus a bit flashy moment or two would do well for a Legendary Chronoscope.

Moving into the future, I think we'll be seeing a lot more of the astral sea as we travel the multiverse and pursuit of dangerous entities and quite likely will result in an Elder Brain focused raid and/or capstone quest at some point in our future.

Unsure if all areas will be combat zones are not, but I'm getting hyped! Can hardly wait.
My thoughts:
- Reworked (Legendary) Misery's Peak so we get to play the other side and kill Darastrix Achthend.
- Legendary Twilight Forge (very doubtful, but one can dream).
- Underdark - After dark, now with more Illithids!
- Fred will not be available for feat swaps... as he is busy fighting the good fight with his brethren.
 

dur

aka Cybersquirt
Fred needs a TR

*he's pretty useless unless you realize your mistake right away.
 
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Chai

Well-known member
When I pull more than one room full of mobs before AOE nuking them down, the server hamster has a stroke, but somehow gangs of mindflayers are going to jump us in the market zone?
 

CBDunk

Well-known member
When I pull more than one room full of mobs before AOE nuking them down, the server hamster has a stroke, but somehow gangs of mindflayers are going to jump us in the market zone?

We can dream.

On the other end, maybe we'll just have to talk to Fred and he'll point and say, 'The new dungeons are over there'.

More likely, somewhere in between those two extremes.
 

Arcanaverse

Solver of Secrets
If there is any public fighting, I don't suspect there will be a lot. This going to be more stealth infiltration. End of 4th quest made it seem like we foiled their plans for a larger invasion. Special event monsters on the other hand seem very likely to me. But again. who knows.

Not here to assume the worst. I'm hyped. I'm excited. Looking forward to hearing more.
 
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