Tree of Life

In my last post I mentioned that one of my favourite levelling areas is the Tree of Life. Almost every player has levelled at least one character in that area but not many know about the Helm of Lightning that can be made in that area. One of the first mobs that you come across in the area is the Lightning Dragon.

Before the lightning gate
A giant gate formed entirely of electricity blocks the cavern's mouth,
filling the cave with an unholy blue light. Bright white fingers of
lightning grope about the cave hungrily, searching for those who have
encroached unduly into this unnatural room. A chill wind rips the air
through the gaps in the bars of light, gusting the burnt smell of ozone
about the crevasse.
Exits: [north] south
A huge dragon-shaped field of energy stands watch over the gate.
The Lightning Dragon is surrounded by cascading torrents of energy.
The Lightning Dragon sneers at you in contempt.
The Lightning Dragon exclaims 'Halt Vilexur!  Thou hast no business in the domain of the gods!'
The Lightning Dragon says 'Thou shalt not pass these gates uncontested...'
The Lightning Dragon looms menacingly, better run for cover!

When killed like most mobs in the game it sometimes pop body parts. These can be cooked to eat or used in some nephandi spells. The difference with this mob is that when it pops a head it looks like any other mob's head but they do not decay like most parts do. Since these heads do not decay it is sometimes possible just before reboot time to see a dozen lightning dragon heads on the floor of this room. To make the Helm of Lightning you will need one head of the lightning dragon and 15 million gold coins.

Once you have both of these make your way to the top of the tree. Once here you will need to kill the rainbow dragon followed by the essence of magic. For both of these you will want sanctuary and shockshield spells on. You will have to kill both of these using only one character as the kill blow transports the character through. After killing the essence of magic you end up in a little part of the tree called Rain's house. At first there are 3 rooms but a secret room can be found below the first one. To get here you will need some sort of pass door spell. From here be careful as to the south there is a death trap but you will want to go north to get to this room:

Northern end of the cellar
Faint light from a hooded lantern fills the room, revealing a simple table
with a tattered leather bound journal upon it and a single often-mended
chair. Although the floor and the cobwebs which are festooned from the
ceiling are covered in dust, the table and chair are not, showing recent
signs of use.
Exits: south
A twisted and disfigured man cowers in the corner
A disfigured man is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
A disfigured man cowers in the corner at the sight of you.
A disfigured man exclaims 'Don't hurt me please!  Please don't hurt me!'
A disfigured man bursts into tears.
A disfigured man tells you 'You won't hurt me will you?'
A disfigured man cowers in the corner from claustrophobia.

 When you look at the disfigured man you will see this:

His twisted body covered in rags, his tortured eyes stare back blankly from
under a tangle of matted hair. Running his hands over his filthy hair, he
wanders about the room, muttering to himself under his breath.
A disfigured man is in perfect health.
You peek at his inventory:
     Nothing.

All you have to do then is give this man the head of the lightning dragon with 15 million gold coins on you:

 You give the head of the lightning dragon to a disfigured man.
A disfigured man says, 'ooOOooOOooOOoo.'
A disfigured man says 'Ahh, I see, you want one of those....'
A disfigured man winks suggestively at you.
A disfigured man says 'It's going to cost you though, I only did free work for my master...'
You give 15,000,000 coins to a disfigured man.
A disfigured man gives you Helm of Lightning.

 The helm probably isn't worth the 15 million gold as shown below:

Object 'Helm of Lightning' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 45 armor, weight 5.
Locations it can be worn:  head
Special properties:  glow hum metal
Genres allowed:  rogue fighter aberrant shaman
Alignments allowed:  evil good
This armor has a gold value of 250000.
Armor class is 16 of 16.
Affects hp by 50.
Affects damage roll by 5.
Affects strength by -1.

On the plus side it has 50hp's which is good for a vampire or fighter. 5 damage roll is pretty standard for head equipment for an avatar. Being level 45 it isn't bad for the last few levels before level 50. The -1 strength isn't nice however.

 I've used this helm on evil fighter types before the Edo helm came into the game. For an evil vampire it's not too bad but there are other pieces of headwear that are gettable without too much effort. As for a good vampire - I've never had one of these before but may be an option. Either way it's an item not many people know about - it isn't even mentioned on Rodpedia. It does leave me with one question though - "Who is the disfigured man's master?"