Betray Freeport for Qeynos

There are many reasons why people betray their home cities. For some, it’s a challenge. For others, it’s part of the roleplay of their character’s struggle to break free from the bonds of a tyrant and seek fresh opportunity in the warmth of another city, which adds depth and richness to their personal storyline within the game. Some enjoy making unexpected and unusual race and class combinations which can only be achieved by betraying. For me it was a desire to get out of the dark and gloomy hole that is Freeport. Too much hatred and negativity for me! I liked the look of the dark elf females, but wanted a brighter future in Qeynos.

You probably noticed when you made your “evil” character that in some cases you were limited as far as which class you could be. Some classes are restricted to only evil or only good characters or races. Perhaps you are in love with the conjuror class, but absolutely have to be a ratonga. Since that combination isn’t available to you at character creation due to the good and evil class/race restrictions, you would have to betray Freeport or Neriak in order to make a ratonga conjuror possible. When you’re creating your ratonga, you’d want to choose the evil “equivalent” of conjuror, which is necromancer. You would play a necromancer until you betrayed, and once you completed your betrayal to Qeynos, you would be forced to change to conjuror, or the good equivalent of necromancer, to fit your new life. This makes a normally impossible race/class combination possible. Not all classes are restricted to just good or just evil, though. One example set of classes is wizard and warlock. Anyone, good or evil, can be either of these two classes, so when you betray, you have the option to change your class or keep it, and in such a case you would not be forced to change when you finished betraying. No matter what class you will end up when you betray, you do need to realize that you will start over at Apprentice I level spells and abilities across the board for your class even if you’re just choosing to keep the class you started out with. This is only a note of caution so that you can be prepared to re-make or re-purchase your adepts and upgrades once betrayal is complete. Thankfully, your spells and abilities are not reset until you have completely finished the betrayal quest series, so you’ll still be nice and powerful as needed to complete the quests that lead up to finalized citizenship.

Betraying happens in 3 parts — the first part is where you run some fairly simple quests for a secretive NPC within Freeport to initiate your desire to betray and prove that you’re up for the challenge. Once that is established, you are kicked out of Freeport and sent to the neutral city of Haven, where all exiles go. It’s a tiny camp located in a cave that houses all of the basic amenities that you will need while you are transitioning to your new home. Once you arrive in Haven you’ll start part 2, which involves you proving your worth to your new desired city by means of grinding out faction. You have to erase the negative faction you have with Qeynos and increase it to at least 10k — amiable — in order to complete the third step in the betrayal series. Faction farming is done by running a series of quests for an NPC, and each mission earns you positive faction which can slowly eat away at your negative faction and turn it around. Once you’re amiable with Qeynos you’re able to enter the city and speak with an NPC who will have you perform a few conclusion tasks for step 3 which proves your committment to your new home and ruler. Once you’ve performed all 3 parts, you’re officially a citizen. My intent with this guide is to help make betraying the evil city of Freeport as painless and efficient as possible by providing you with the information you need and tips for making the transition seamlessly simple.

PART I So, are you ready to betray? Let’s get started! Head to the south western corner of West Freeport and look for a hooded ratonga named Izzay Meestere in the Blood Haze Inn, located at 305.16, -2.9, 90.85. Izzay wants you to help him cause chaos in Freeport by eavesdropping on specific NPCs in town to find out what the schedules are of the Militia guards with the quest “Timing the Night Shift.” He will hand you a voice modulator device to use in your ear so you can listen from far away, undetected. This quest must only be done at night, so wait until at least 8pm game time to attempt it. Once you’ve located the guard you need to eavesdrop on, try moving around in their general vicinity until you see a system message flash on your screen to indicate that you’re in the proper position for using the voice modulator device. The idea is to be close enough but not too close so that you’re caught. The system message you see will say “I should be able to use my voice modulator to overhear the guards without being caught.” Right click the modulator in your inventory to eavesdrop. You’ll rinse and repeat this procedure with each of the 5 guards on Izzay’s list.

The first guard is Commandant Dominicus outside of the Militia House, the second guard is Commandant Arkadios to the north of the Coalition of Tradesfolke, the third guard is Man-at-Arms Faustus to the south of the Commonlands gate, the fourth guard is Commandant Placida by the Thieves Way entrance, and the fifth guard is Commandant Tor’Val inside the Militia House dungeon.

Izzay is thankful for your service and sends you to Mehina, who is located at the Seafarer’s Roost in East Freeport. She is by the fireplace to your left after you enter the building at coordinates -237.85, -55.18, -26.10. By now you’ve probably noticed that Mehina is attempting to speak in code with you to keep the conversation fairly innocent in case anyone is listening in. When the options come up, ask her about scheduling a tour of famous houses in order to get the next quest in the series, “Resetting the Militia.”

Mehina’s quest comes in three parts, and it all must be done at night after 8pm game time and before 5am in order to avoid guard spawns and being detected. The first part requires you to swipe the guard’s schedule on a bulletin board in the Freeport Militia House of West Freeport. The bulletin board is on the second floor near a staircase. Click it to steal the schedule. For the second part of the quest, take the schedule to Juturna Postumus in Longshadow Alley, located at -45, -3, -36. She will create a forged copy of the schedule, and for part three you’ll need to sneak the fake schedule back into the Freeport Militia House and post it on the bulletin board in place of the real one. Go back to Mehina once you’re done and she will send you to see Izzay again.

Izzay gives you a final reminder that this is your last chance to back out of betraying Freeport in case you are having second thougts or have cold feet. Once you’re good and ready and 100% sure you’re ready to betray, Izzay gives you a final task called “Destroy the Weapons Cache.” He’ll immediately zone you into an instanced encounter within the Freeport Militia House and the real test of your committment begins. If you have the ability to stealth or go invisible, you’ll want to use it now. Work your way to the second floor and kill Commandant Bloodsole, who has a key on him that you’ll need later. Head back down to the first floor where your buddies are constructing explosives by the instance entrance and grab a magical explosive device. Now you’ll need to work your way up to the third floor and snake around and around until you can go no further — this is the supply area, and it overlooks the level below. Place the explosive device and activate it. Head back down and this time go all the way into the basement. If you’re not able to stealth your way through the instance, you’ll have to carefully work your way through the rooms. Thankfully the mobs scale to your level, so this shouldn’t be as tough as it is time consuming. Once in the basement, you’ll need to click on the various prison cell doors to release the 5 prisoners. You’ll notice that one of the cells contains a lot of armory supplies; this is the time to run back up to the main floor and grab another explosive device so you can place it here. Activate the device in the armory cell and you’re done! Don’t be surprised when you head back up to the main floor and get captured, however, because it’s all part of the storyline. You’ll get a bad beating after being caught, but when you wake up, you’ll be an exile in Haven. The first major part of the betrayal series is complete.

PART II Welcome to Haven! Speak to Scout Elrohir who is standing by you when you wake up. He’ll explain how you got to Haven and suggests you take a little time to get used to your new temporary home; while there are no housing options in Haven, you do have access to basic amenities such as a bank, broker, and mender. One note about your bank: no access to your shared bank. Never fear, you’ll soon be in the warmth of Qeynos anyways, so just store your furniture in your bank for now… I promise it won’t be for too long, because this guide will direct you to the most quick and efficient way to reverse your negative Qeynos faction and become a Qeynos citizen.

Your first job is to head out to find Gil McMartin in the Commonlands. You’ll head out of the Thundering Steppes portal from Haven and travel to Nektulos Forest, then to the Commonlands. It’s quite a hike, especially for a low level exile, but once you’re back in the comfort of the Commonlands, you’ll get to stay put for a few hours. If you have a way to stealth yourself or go invisible while you travel, now is the time to utilize that skill.

Gil McMartin is located at -923, -47.93, 13.66 in the southernmost tower just outside of the West Freeport gate in the Commonlands. There are two towers there, and most exiles will want to steer clear of the northern tower because Guard Ari is standing around the corner and will be quick to attack if you get too close, even when stealthed, as apparently he can see through invisibility. Just be careful!

Speak with Gil. You’ll get several options to show your loyalty to Qeynos. The quickest and most effective way to knock out 50k negative Qeynos faction and to raise your positive faction to the necessary 10k limit is to choose Gil’s first option: “Do you have any ideas to harry them here in the Commonlands?” Running these missions will only give you 1k of faction per mission, however, one particular mission is incredibly easy to run repetitively nearby, and is worth doing instead of some of the other options, which can potentially send you very far from the Commonlands.

The quest you want to do is called “Sabotage: Towers of Stone.” — when you choose the top option to do missions in the Commonlands, you may not get that quest right away, so you’ll want to decline Gil’s offer, re-hail him and try again until you do get that mission. This is the closest possible mission you can complete to Gil McMartin, meaning very quick turn around times, which means you can rack up the faction fast. I timed 20 consecutive runs of this very same mission and the average time it takes to complete is 3.5 minutes. At 1k faction each run, attainable in 3.5 minutes and having to do 60k worth, that’s approximately 3.5 hours of missions. Considering other missions require you to zone all over the place and do lots of travel, this is much faster and a more direct way to farm the faction you need to make Qeynos accept you. 1k Qeynos faction doesn’t seem like a lot at first, especially when there are other missions you can run that gives you 5k per pop, but when you consider that you can complete the Towers of Stone mission from acceptance to turn-in in 3.5 minutes, you quickly realize this is the best mission to maximize your faction earned as long as you can handle repetition. The 5k missions can take up to 30 minutes at a time to do, and in 30 minutes you could have earned nearly twice that by doing consecutive Towers of Stone missions.

Ok, so, I keep telling you this mission is so quick and easy, but what does it entail? Good question. You are going to cause chaos by destroying piles of rocks! That’s right, you’re going to smash piles of rocks to keep the Freeporters from building up rock walls to protect the city. It’s incredibly simple and is generally combat-free depending on your level. From where you are speaking with Gil, turn around and start heading towards the West Freeport gates that are behind you. Don’t worry, you’re not going to get very close. See the crumbling wall between Gil’s tower and the Freeport gates? It actually flanks the gate and parts of the wall run north and south somewhat as a ring around the clearing just in front of the Freeport gates. You are going to walk along the outside of that crumbled wall and click on piles of rocks that you see on the ground. That’s it! Check out my little map diagram and photo of what the rock piles look like so you know what to be on the lookout for.

Map of the Quest Area
Photo of the Piles of Rocks to Smash

You can run along the northern and southern stretch of the wall, click on rocks, and then be within minimal distance of Gil McMartin to turn in your quest every 5 stacks that you smash. You’ll know it’s the right stack of rocks because when you mouse over them, they will change color and be able to be interacted with. Click on them to smash them and continue searching for stacks to smash until you’ve destroyed 5, then rinse and repeat! Luckily the stacks re-pop very quickly, and even if you have to run along the length of both the northern and southern stretch of the wall to find 5, by the time you turn in and go again, they will have respawned for you.

If you are level 10 or so when you betray, you may have a little trouble with this mission if you’re not careful, but it’s definitely the easiest of all of your mission options at that low of a level. Beware of spectral defenders along the northern most portion of the wall and the carrion hounds that roam close to the northern portion of the wall. Along the southern stretch of the wall there are giant spiders and some scorpions, but in all situations, if you hug the walls and watch your surroundings, you’ll be just fine. And those obstacles, if they do get in your way, are levels 10 – 12, so if you’ve betrayed young, you might even be able to rack up some combat experience while you farm faction. Nothing like killing 2 birds with 1 stone! And if you’re thinking of trying out some non-Commonlands missions, just keep in mind that even though all of the betrayal missions scale to your level, getting to the locations required, such as getting to Antonica and back or sneaking into various quarters of Freeport undetected, can be a huge and time consuming challenge that can make betraying a daunting task, even with a mount. And even if you’re level 50 and know your way around Norrath like the back of your hand, it’s still faster and more productive to run the Towers of Stone mission over and over versus all of the travel. And if you get bored and want a change of pace, there are always other options throughout the Commonlands to give you the option to experience some fresh scenery while you gain Qeynos faction. Just beware if you’re a low level exile, because there are lots of things lurking in the vast stretch of the Commonlands that would love to eat you if given the chance.

If you’re looking for the easiest, quickest, and most direct route to erasing negative Qeynos faction and racking up enough positive Qeynos faction to complete the betrayal process in a timely manner, this is the way to go! You’ll be to 10k positive faction in no time.

Once you have reached the magic 10k positive faction mark for Qeynos, speak with Gil again, who thinks you are ready to become a Qeynosian. He’ll offer you a new quest, and you need to let him know you are ready to take your place in Qeynos. Once you accept his final quest, “Becoming a Citizen of Qeynos”, you’re off to find Vishra in the Mage Tower of South Qeynos. Vishra isn’t actually inside the tower, but instead is standing on the little plot of land in the middle of the moat on which the tower stands, just outside. Cross the bridge towards the entrance to the tower and walk around the left side to find him. He’s standing at 729.42, -21.00, 141.93

PART III Vishra will ask you why you want to become a citizen of Qeynos, and when I did the quest, I told him it was because I wanted to give back to the community and help others. This pleased Vishra and he gave me a little task to help give back to Qeynos — the quest called “The Fulfillment of Dreams” sends me out to pick up 30 pieces of garbage along the Antonican Highway. You’ll also need to speak to Friar Montego in Nettleville. To get the garbage, go back out of the South Qeynos gates from which you entered town and head out along the road there and start looking for spawns of harvestable garbage. The Antonican Highway is also called the Qeynos Highway, just in case you’re confused.

Photo of the Garbage Piles

I followed the main road east and just kept my eyes open for piles that I could click and interact with on the path and just along it. And just like harvesting other items in game, sometimes you can harvest more than one piece of garbage from the same pile, so make sure the spawn disappears before moving on. Once you’ve completed your community service, you’re ready to make your 1g donation to charity with Friar Montego.

That’s right, I said 1g donation! The next part of the quest wants you to donate 1g to the Queen’s favorite charity, the Nettleville Hovel Restoration Project. Since you’ve most likely headed east on the Qeynos Highway in search of trash, you’ll probably notice there’s another road that runs somewhat parallel north of you — if you head up onto that road as you go back west towards the castle, you’ll come to another gate into Qeynos that takes you into North Qeynos. This is just a scenic tour — you really want to head back into South Qeynos, but you can get there from North Qeynos, and this way you can check out some of the other parts of the city you’re about to become a citizen of. This section is important because you’ll find lots of shopping and the bank. Head on down to the entrance into South Qeynos. Head west in South Qeynos as if you were going back towards the Mage Tower, but instead take a detour south down a side street into the Nettleville Hovel.

Welcome to Nettleville! You’ll want to see Friar Montego to donate to the charity, and he is located at 644, -24, 376 in the Nettleville Market Row. He acts just like any other merchant type NPC in the game, and instead of having a quest marker over his head, you’ll just click on him to purchase a Donation Receipt. This will update your quest journal, and it’s time to go back and show Vishra in South Qeynos your loyalty.

Vishra will commend you on your generosities and give you a final task, called “Quieting Discontent.” This quest requires that you challenge and defeat Grand Inquisitor Te’Lex. There’s just one problem: He’s in Freeport. No worries, though, Vishra and his friend Shay can smuggle you into the Academy of Arcane Science in Freeport. When you accept this quest and tell Vishra that you are ready, he will start the sequence by means of zoning you into the instanced encounter, and you’ll magically be in Freeport to complete the final leg of the journey to becoming a Qeynosian citizen.

When you zone into the Grand Inquisitor’s Chambers, you are far enough back to battle ready yourself. Move carefully forward and kill the single Acolyte NPC in the doorway. Remember that all mobs in the betrayal instances scale to your level, so both the Acolyte and Te’Lex will be your level, and are single pulls. However, there are some words of caution before you start attacking Te’Lex. Notice that there are three dead magus NPCs lying on the ground behind him. After you kill the initial Te’Lex, you’ll have about 15 seconds before another one rises from the body of one of the magus NPCs. You’ll need to kill the second one, and then the sequence repeats: you’ll have about 15 seconds and then another Te’Lex will rise from the next body. This will happen again until you’ve esentially killed Te’Lex 4 times in total. Thankfully he’s not too tough. Once you’ve killed him 4 times, zone back to South Qeynos to turn in the final portion of the quest to Vishra. To truly complete the journey to becoming a citizen of Qeynos, you simply need to speak to your trainer. Vishra will tell you who your trainer is so that you may find and speak to them. Speaking to your new Qeynos trainer and accepting a start over or class change (depending on whether or not you’ve started with an evil-only class and are now switching to the good equivalent) seals the deal and you are now officially a citizen. Congratulations!

Photo of my Dark Elf, Luna, as a Qeynos Citizen

Articles may not be republished elsewhere in whole or in part without permission. Feel free to link directly to this post. ©2005-2008 by Lesley Karpiuk (Toque of pinktoque.com)