The Hedge Hollow  

Instance Level 1 to 90 (Solo) Access A Nightmarish Illness Starting Zone Nektulos Forest Required by all? Yes

Found in the same location as The Cauldron Hollow on Nektulos Forest's beach ( 883, 7, -470 ) Copy , The Hedge Hollow is where players search for the cure for a mysterious and nightmarish illness. It was first introduced for Nights of the Dead in 2009. Mercenaries are not allowed in this zone.

Don't mind reading some spoilers about what truly happens in The Hedge Hollow? Check out our Spoilers section at the bottom!

Related Quests

• A Nightmarish Illness - Guides you to the maze, opening access for future visits.
• A Nightmarish Return - Received whenever you re-enter the maze after completing the first quest.
• Train to Zone! - Can be started by a terrified gnome any run through the zone after the first (18 hours between completion to re-get this quest)

Collections

Throughout the maze, you will find purple shinies with a ? over them. When you attempt to collect them they will become aggressive and attack. They will always drop a Treasure Chest with a collectible.

• The Hedge Hollow Collection - Trinkets, Level: 80

Walkthrough

This walkthrough does not mention all the random mobs you will encounter throughout the hedge maze. Expect to be fighting a lot, though most will be single mob encounters. We highly suggest that if you spot a dead end that this walkthrough does not take you into, you visit it to check for purple shinies or to see if there's another mob you can fight. Everything mentioned in this walkthrough is intended to unlock the various places within the maze, allowing you to complete the quests associated with this zone.

Into the Hedge

• Inspect the stump and slay the infected wolf at 880.72, 8.19, -493.36 Copy . Head west from the stump into the hedge.
• Take all right turns until you reach a house at 890.08, 9.96, -509.54 Copy with a rusted chest on the porch.
• You cannot open the chest yet, so head northwest from the porch stairs and continue to take right turns until you reach the first graveyard at 873.03, 8.19, -532.27 Copy .
• Step near the corpses one by one in the first graveyard to "awaken" them. Defeat the risen corpse at 874.69, 8.19, -522.00 Copy and loot it to obtain a Rusted key.
• Return to the rusted chest and open it. Loot the dull machete.

A Path Opens

• Head southwest from the house, and continue west through the hedge, and take the second left turn.
• Take the twists and turns until you reach a hedge with pulsing waves beneath it at 985, 8, -503 Copy . A message will also pop up stating that you could cut through it with something sharp enough. Approach the hedge, target it, and you will need to fight an animated hedge.
• Walk through the hedge and take a sharp left turn. Follow the twisting maze until you come to a house with a door 995.21, 10.11, -547.29 Copy .
• Right click the door, and choose the Treat option. You will have to fight Old Man Dave.
• Head back to the first walk-through hedge, return through it, and take a left a few steps beyond. Follow the twisting maze again until you come to an intersection at 902.59, 7.98, -590.18 Copy , this splits west to the second walk-through hedge 931.14, 7.87, -598.25 Copy or northeast toward the fog and a second graveyard 883.18, 8.19, -629.29 Copy . We strongly suggest taking the northeast path first.
• Current reports on Test speak of the second animated hedge aggroing before you reach this intersection. If this happens, just slay the hedge and proceed as normal to the second graveyard.

Foreboding Fog

• At the second graveyard, repeat what you did at the first by walking near the corpses. Fight the risen corpse at 891.80, 8.19, -637.16 Copy and loot it to obtain a grime covered hand holding a key.
• South-southeast of the second graveyard is a house at 881.84, 10.06, -565.04 Copy with a bag on the porch. Clicking on the bag will spawn A Headless Knight for you to fight. You must kill the knight to open up the hedge beyond Raven, who you will encounter later in the maze.
• Head north to return to the second graveyard at 883.18, 8.19, -629.29 Copy and turn back southwest and again west at the intersection. Fight an animated hedge and walk through the hedge at 931.14, 7.87, -598.25 Copy .
• Take a sharp right around the corner and you will reach a house at 913.77, 10.08, -622.81 Copy with a grime covered chest on the porch. You should be able to open the chest with the grime covered key from the second graveyard. Loot the Frictionless Piece of Eight from within.

Raging Struggle

• Go back around the house and re-enter the maze by heading northwest. Follow the twists and turns again until you reach 1011.80, 8.19, -630.63 Copy , here you will find a harpy, Raven, and her lackeys, eight summoned bats . Slay Raven and the summoned bats will die upon her death.
• Head south from Raven's location and continue follow the maze until you come across a house with some tasty tidbits in front of it at 998.34, 8.19, -584.04 Copy !
• Slay all five tasty morsels and continue to the north through the maze.

A Ghostly Train

• After winding around the maze a short ways, you will reach an opening at 1006.85, 8.19, -562.65 Copy where you enter a cut scene. After the cut scene...
• Turn west-northwest and head toward the small area behind the house you are next to at 1019.21, 8.19, -569.74 Copy . You will have to slay a trained entity.
• At this point, if this is at least your second run through the zone, you can speak to a terrified gnome and receive the quest, Train to Zone!. If it is your first run, the gnome will attack you instead.
• Return back to the opening where the cut scene occurred and continue east through the maze. It will come to a dead end where you will find a statue at 948.77, 8.19, -580.53 Copy . Clicking on it will take you to the center of the maze, where you will immediately enter another cut scene.

Center of the Maze

• Inside the center of the maze at 942.86, 7.95, -562.70 Copy , you'll be confronted by the boss mob (see the spoilers section below if you want to find out who it is). He is an even con, epic x2 mob that should be soloable by this point in the zone.
• After slaying the boss, he will have a body drop called a pair of gleaming lockpicks. The lockpicks are used to open A Gleaming Chest, reached by passing through a walk-through hedge (there are no pulsing waves beneath this one) at 970.55, 7.91, -597.65 Copy .
• Slaying the boss will cause the repeatable version of the zone quest to auto-complete. For the first variation of the quest, you must return to Nektulos Forest.

A Gleaming Chest

• There are certain requirements you must meet before you will be permitted to even see A Gleaming Chest. Due to the third requirements, it is impossible to open the chest during your first trip to the maze. Due to a bug that caused The Haunting to not correctly display the Gleaming Chest, it is no longer required to see the chest as of 10/26/2010.
• Complete the Haunted Mansion at the Village of Somborn in the Loping Plains
• In order to enter the Haunted Mansion each year, you need to pick up This won't end well... by speaking to Freid Deekat in Gorowyn, Neriak or West Freeport or to Skeer Deekat in Kelethin, New Halas, North Qeynos, or Haven.
• Complete the quest from a terrified gnome, Train to Zone!
• To reach A Gleaming Chest after departing the center of the maze...
• Follow the maze from the statue, making a sharp right turn around the corner at the first opening
• Continue following the maze, where you will pass the house of tasty tidbits and the spot where you fought Raven
• From Raven's location, the maze will take you east, north, east, south, east, south
• At this point, you should be at or around location 970.96, 7.99, -599.31 Copy . The hedge in front of you while facing south will have some cobblestones on the ground before it.
• Walk south through the hedge, and loot A Gleaming Chest at 970.51, 8.19, -579.11 Copy !

As of 2013, clicking on the statue takes you back to the beginning of the zone^[1]

Related NPCs

• an infected wolf
• a hedge lurker
• a scarecrow
• a disturbed zombie
• a risen corpse
• an animated hedge
• Old Man Dave
• A Headless Knight
• Raven
• a summoned bat
• beer-braised Norrathian
• troll jerky
• medium-rare appetizer
• frog legs
• tasty wings
• a trained entity
• a terrified gnome
• Altius Volfban
• ?

Nights of the Dead (Introduced in 2009)

Spoilers

Look no further if you want to keep the knowledge of everything that truly goes on within The Hedge Hollow a mystery!

You have been warned....

After fighting the infected wolf at the beginning of the zone, you yourself are undergoing a terrible transformation. This transformation will eventually aid your way into becoming... a werewolf! The buff that you receive from being bitten will enable you to increase your stats, health, power, haste, casting speed, and DPS for every monster you slay inside the zone!

Later on, dropping the Frictionless Piece of Eight makes you overwhelmed with rage. This rage will quickly transform you into a full-fledged werewolf, which originally during early testing looked like a vampire. It has since been altered to change you into a werewolf instead.

As you reach the center of the maze, you heartlessly confront Altius Volfban, whose illness was to turn into a werewolf himself at the next full moon. Despite being an epic encounter, he is actually soloable. How is that so, you ask? You receive some powerful changes that you underwent as a result of your transformation. There is additionally an occasional healing proc that can occur with your melee strikes. By this point in the maze, you are akin to an epic mob yourself!

Altius does has a buff called Empowerment of Nightmares that he will cast upon himself, at least once per fight, that has the potential of dishing out some massive damage to you.

Best said by Foxcogs of the Test server: "You know the saying, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Here it's the opposite. Everything you kill makes you stronger."

Per Kill Bonuses

Here is a break-down of the exact amounts of bonus you should receive with every kill made in The Hedge Hollow. A beta-buffed level 80 Swashbuckler was up to 52,000 hit points by the final encounter, while a level 55 moderately equipped Inquisitor was up to 33,000 hit points. Both classes were able to solo the instance in its entirety without a single death.

Stat Type	Amount
Casting Speed	2%
Reuse Speed	2%
Recovery Speed	2%
Critical Spell Hit	1%
Strength	+10
Stamina	+10
DPS	+10
Haste	+10
Multi Attack	1%
OOC HP Regen	+27
OOC Power Regen	+27