Quick Facts

Series

1.	High Sorcerer Andromath
2.	Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic
3.	Pristine Spider Silk

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Comments

Comment by 3693

You do NOT have to kill Morganth in the tower to get the book. Fight up to the top and grab the book from a shelf opposite his coterie and you'll be fine. There's a gnoll and a couple of familiars in front of it, but you should be able to sheep one, kill one, and jump down to buy time to kill the last one. Bandage/evoke while it runs down.

Comment by 21625

Soloed as 28 lvl fire mage. Pretty easy. You just need to be carefull.
When you get to the top floor the book is on the left from the ramp (on the shelf). Keep to the left side of the ramp and you should not aggro Morganth.

Cords of tower: 79, 48

Comment by 38675

the GY is very far away, so try not to die :)

Comment by Thottbot

Just to say it again, you do not have to kill the boss. Go to the top and there is a bookshelf opposite the room of him. There is an obvious book sticking out. That is the one you want.

Just a heads up, the end reward for all your hard work is utter crap. See the next part of the quest on thottbot for my links.

Comment by Thottbot

the last guy to post has this quest down packed the best way to do it is run up to the top of the tower with mana shield fire ward etc. on die at the top...run back res at the top polymorph the caster when the dogs come to you frost nova go get the book...and run back out down the tower...if you use mana shield many times and drink one healther potion u can make it...i did...oh yeah the coordinates are 79, 49

Comment by Thottbot

Soloed this quest at lvl26. Found the tower at coords: 79,49.
It's not easy but it could have been worse. It's a question of combining you freezes, you insta fire blast and cone of cold. As long as one proceed with caution it's doable - didn't die at all.

Comment by Thottbot

I soloed this quest with a level 30, dying twice. I did as said here and sheeped the gnoll while frost novaing the guardians but it was lagging so I couldn't get the book before I died. I then respawned up there (there's a space by smoe chairs where you won't aggro any monsters) and tried the same strategy, this time getting the book before dying. Respawned again and hearthstoned to SW. Not too bad of a quest.

Comment by Thottbot

I did this quest at lvl 26 with a lvl 26 paladin pretty easily. By going slowly and then standing just below where they were, the paly pulled most of the monsters one at a time. A couple of times he pulled two. No problem. As others have posted, I did have a few line of sight problems casting and I had to get closer to the monsters than I would normally with a tank, but I was only attacked once.

I died once, but that's because I fell down the stairs (suffering damage) and I got mobbed by a caster and two dogs below. Ironically I was at the top of the tower and I was trying to see where the book was. Sometimes it's not so easy being a gnome :)

We had to fight our way up again and I got attacked by a caster below that had respawned. I think it was because I cast counterspell. So I recommend not using counterspell if you can help it. The casters are the same level as you, so you should able to deal with their spells with mana shield anyway. The dogs won't mess with you unless you cross their path, so be aware of where you are. The stairs are curvy and the dogs crouch in the corners.

At the top of the tower, my tank inched to just below the top of the stairs and pulled the caster and then both dogs. We killed them. Then I went and got the book. It's blue and sticks out. We left the boss Morganth and the creatures on the other side alone. I teleported to Stormwind. And my tank hearthstoned. A pretty easy way to get 2300XP. Well worth it!

Comment by Thottbot

GO up top and die come back and rest get all mana and health and since im arcane spec unlike many i aoed those dogs to death and grabbed my book of fortune.

Comment by Thottbot

took me 4 tries with the rez thing,died 1nce cuz the dogs did that shadow attck and it got my killed, 2nd time cuz i drank a potion while opening it thus making it go away and they killed me, 3rd time it screwed me over and wouldt let me get it for some stupid reason.

but that was easier i just ran into stupid problems, i coulda done it 1st try

Comment by Thottbot

It's easy...
Not in a group
Not as arcane mage
Not at lvl 32+
Just plain easy...

Don't know why anybody didn't try it...

I did it with a 27 mage and it goes like this:

1. Fight ur way up (not that hard).
2. At the top stay on the stairs, don't go all the way up, make sure u know where the book is (on a shelf, not anywhere near the boss)
3. U'll see a gnoll caster and two dogs next to it, polymorph the caster.
4. The dogs will come to you (you're still on the stairs), frost nova them when they're in melee range.
5. To be sure use mana shield and grab the book and leave, if you keep refreshing the shield you probably won't die, not even if all the other mobs respawned.

Note: When u frost nova the dogs, make sure they're out line of sight when grabbing the book, they'll use ranged when they can't move and they are out of melee range.

I died once because I didn't find out how to do it best and once because the caster un-polymorphed prematurely.

Really easy.

Comment by Thottbot

Got to the level just below the top using method described above. Died once. Morphed the caster, took down the dogs no problem. (Get to top as spirit, wait till caster is on other side. You'll have a few seconds to drink/eat. Have your Mana Agate ready b4 you start this.) Dogs do NOT both come at once. Easy. But I cannot find the frelling book. The VERY top level has 3-4 sets of caster-dogs and the caster resisted Arcane. I wonder if Blizzard moved the book. Prob I am just blind. Anyone know where book is? 2nd-to-top level or top? In a shelf? Etc.

Comment by Thottbot

Book is in the bookshelf closest to the very top of the stairs. The top level. There are 2-3 other caster-dog combos at top level but they will not attack unless you get near them. Target the caster, go to top to get line of sight and morph quickly. Nova the dogs quickly. The caster breaks Morph fast; I died the first time trying to pick up the book. The book is in the bookshelf right at the very top of the tower - NOT on 2nd-to-top level. There are 2 dogs and a warrior on 2nd-to-top-level; warrior wanders around the level.

Comment by Thottbot

I got the book. 28 Mage, no special equip, I'm not in a guild. Am casual player, not very good PvP, so you can judge this. My biggest prob was finding the book. Here's method for solo. Have Mana Agate, healpots, manapots, bandages ready. Kill eveything one at a time into the castle at ground level. Mana Shield, Fire Ward, and run up. Don't bother fighting; there are too many. Shield and run. Keep Mana Shielding, get to 2nd-to-top level. Die. Hey, it happens. Go back to top of the stairs at SECOND level as wisp, go to wall, wait for warrior to wander away, rez. Drink first, the warrior will be back. Frostbolt, Arcane, move (a little) and Nova if you have to, but don't get too near the dogs. You'll kill the warrior. Dogs stay put. Fully eat/drink, then take dogs individually. Then kill the one dog that's 1/2 flight down. Now you're ready for top. Shield and FireWard. Nearing the top, target the caster at the top of stairs. Don't worry about the other three caster-dog combos. They won't attack unless you wander on top floor. You must get to top of steps to Morph caster, else you're blocked. Morph caster, Nova dogs. You'll prob have enough time to grab book; I died once when caster unMorphed too fast. Shield and run out. You may die once more, but maybe not - you're prob better at this than I am. 3 deaths, some frustration trying to find the book (TOP level, bookshelf at head of steps). But, like I said, I'm not very good at this. But I have fun. Good luck.

Comment by Thottbot

Sorry - when I typed "SECOND", I meant the 2nd-to-top level where you died.

Comment by Thottbot

For those of you that dont have a map that does Co-ord's. In plain english the tower is down past the Brutes and below the knolls you can spot it from road on the right. I used the shield and ran as far as i could then when i died i went and checked everything out so i knew where i needed to go then i rezed did shield again and went to that floor and died again. That got me to the book... Good Luck

Comment by Thottbot

Went in at 26, expecting some difficulty cause of some of the comments I've read about the quest. Nothing special. Just took some focus. Take it slow and avoid adds and you'll be fine. The pack of 3 at the end wasn't a problem either, just morphed the caster and sorta kited the dogs downstairs till they died then took out the gnoll himself.

Comment by Thottbot

Many thanks to all the posters above. I followed the directions in terms of kamikaze your way to the top and rez, then sheep the elite, etc. But I hit a snag and then twice more as I tried it more than once.

I couldn't get a gearwheel on any of the books, except when I'm dead (when of course you can't pick it up....). After dying the second time, I tried to find exactly which book was the right one. Got a gearwheel on the red book standing up on the table, but then when I rezzed, I couldn't get the gearwheel on that book. Died, rezzed and tried again. No gearwheel on any of the books on the shelves either.

Am I missing something? Has anyone else had this problem?

Edit: Found the problem. The BLUE book is on the lowest left shelf of the bookcases across the room from the elite. Don't know why there was a gearwheel on the red book. Now I just need to figure out how to pick it up while being attacked, which stops the loot timer. Morphed the caster and novaed the dogs but they got out of nova before the loot timer elapsed. Died. Came back and tried morphing the caster and killing the dogs. Caster came out of morph before I could finish the dogs. Died. Came back and morphed the caster, novaed one dog and killed the other, got attacked by the first dog and then the caster. Died. At that point, all my armor was at zero, so I put this on the shelf with the book. Congrats to all of you who succeeded. I guess you can't win them all.

Edit 2: Picked up the quest again with another mage. What does that say about my memory? Dumped it again when I read the posts, not because it's hard, which it is. But hard = interesting. My problem is that it isn't worth the time. The reward is embarassing. You are going to feel cheated

Comment by Thottbot

The tower is at 79,49.

Very easy. If you die anywhere in the tower on your way up, walk to the second to top floor of the tower before you resurrect. Make sure you res away from the dogs and the shadowhide. After you've regained mana and health kill the three of them and go onto the spiral stairs. The book is on the bookshelf closest to where the spiral stairs connect to the top floor. There are two dogs and one shadowhide. Polymorph the shadowhide and walk down the spiral staircase. Once the dogs reach you use frost nova to keep them there. Someone said it before, if you frost nova them on the stairs then you will be out of their line of sight, so they can't use ranged attacks. Then get the book.

Getting out without dying is tricky but it can be done without killing anyone. If you've got enough mana, cast mana shield and jump from the top floor to the bottom floor between the stair cases. Once on the bottom, run out the front door, frost nova to get the gaurds from the bottom floor AND the ones outside the tower. Run.

Remember, if you die anywhere in the tower, you can resurrect anywhere in the tower.

Comment by Thottbot

everyone is talking about sheep caster, frost nova dogs. But the dogs have a ranged manaburn which interputs the opening of the book.

so I sheeped caster, dogs came, I went arround that little corner (you'll see it) novad them there, blinked to the bookcase and took book, jumped all the way down, ran out and survvived :D

Comment by Thottbot

i found that this was the easiest way to do this quest solo...what you do, is you get to the tower, and you make it to the bottom floor, and let everything kill you, then you run back to your corpse, and you go all the way to the top of the tower, and rez there..in front of the bookcase, polymorph the gnoll, and then frost nova everything else, and grab the book that is sticking out, and then you will most likely die, so rez at the spirit healer, and then fly to SW to turn in the quest..

Comment by Thottbot

The robes you get for this quest aren't that bad, but they're nothing amazing.

If you have strategy it's not that hard to solo this quest. My strategy (it worked):
1. Kill everything in the way of getting into the tower that you might aggro.
2. Once on the ground floor, use a combination of mana shields, frost novas and blinks to get as high as possible before dying.
3. Run back to body, but don't resurrect where you died.
4. Run to top of tower (as ghost)
5. There's a nook on one side of the room at the top, where there are no monsters. Resurrect in the corner there.
6. There'll bethree monsters in front of the book, one gnoll, two dogs.
a. Polymorph the gnoll in front of the bookcase.
b. The dogs will run to where you are, frost nova them when they get to you.
7. Get book while they are dealing with the polymorph and frost nova.
8. Now that you have the book, either:
a. die and resurrect near Lakeshire
b. do as I did and jump over the railing, which will land you at the bottom. Fight way out and get back to Stormwind somehow.

Comment by Thottbot

yeah i spent a good hour or more trying to get that book. i almost forgot to use my main. just get your mage (the one whos doing this quest) to a clear spot either inside the tower or just outside it, log out.

get your main and murder the &*!@ outa every mob in the tower, exacting revenge for wasting nearly two hours of your life trying to get the stupid book, hearth to shattrath city, log out.

log back on your mage, kill any respawns on the way up, get book, teleport to stormwind.

Comment by Allakhazam

Tower is in eastern RR, past Keep. Soloed as a 27 Mage. Read the posts careful; you do not need to pull Morganth. He's a 27 Elite with a Succubus and two guards...the book you need is in the bookcase opposite him. Work your way up slowly, sheep Weaver by bookcase, kill dogs, kill Weaver. It's a Mage quest, so use your head...otherwise, roll a Warrior and just charge things lol.

Comment by Allakhazam

all is correct, may i add that if you die at the bottum of the tower you can run as a ghost to the top res there and kill the 2 dogs and the weaver at the opposit site where the elite is

Comment by Allakhazam

Solo'd this quest at lvl 27, w/o dieing , first of all the only pull where u get 3 enemies is the last one youll need to do ( caster and 2 dogs), sheep the caster and pull down the 2 dogs finish them off, by the time the dogs are down the sheep will probably break , just Counterspell and nuke the caster untill he dies (note I had to use a healing pot because i misstimed my counter spell ) Loot the book from the bookshelf behinf the group of mobs u just killed, run out :). No need to pull Morganth's group nor the other group.

just my 2 cents

Comment by Allakhazam

78,47 Redridge.

Comment by Allakhazam

yeah.. was wery unhappy surprised when founded the book not in bookshelves behind him, but on the other side..:D next time i better read ur comments..:D

Comment by Allakhazam

Get into the ground floor of castle and die. You will be able to rez on the top floor, look for the book as a ghost and then figure a strategy to get the book after rezing.

As a mage i rezed in a corner, mana/bandaid, then sheeped the big guy and let the other 2 run toward me, then iced m in place. Just enough time to get the book!

Comment by Allakhazam

I did this at lvl 31. I was busy on other things and the quest turned green so I wanted to do it before it down graded. The level differnce really didn't matter because (in my opinion) the tower is too full of bad guys to use ANY other strategy that the one given here.
Took me two tries to get the timing right. The first time I tried to ice the dogs run by the sheep grab the book but the dogs jumped me before I could get it opened. Second time I sheeped the caster Iced the dogs. Coned them, which inadvertently coned the sheep who unsheeped. I'd killed one dog by then. Killed the caster. Heal potion. back to the first dog ran out of mana went to the wand. Bandaged in combat and wanded the dog had enough mana build up for one last fire blast. All dead me with maybe one helth left. Looted them (nothing). Grabbed the book. Teleport SW.
Comedy of errors. Had I not used the CoC I probably could have killed the dogs resheeped the caster and teleported out with the book. Ah well live and learn (sometimes)

Comment by Allakhazam

I did this as a lvl 32 mage, suicide run to the top of the tower, then sheeped the weaver and froze the dogs I had just enough time to get the book then jump downstairs, if you are careful you can land on the stairs and jump again all the way down then blink out.

Comment by Allakhazam

Just hit 26 and picked up this quest. Did not feel like doing the dead then running trick so I easily fought my way up to the top. Tried sheeping the main the frost nova'in the adds but they kept casting on me. Ended up pulling the adds down the steps some to los them and worked fine.

Comment by Allakhazam

When you click the book, does it take a few seconds to open then loot it, or does it just pop up a quest window?

Comment by Allakhazam

Point is, Top of the stairs. Kill the shadowcaster & Deamon friends in front of book case. Book is on bottom shelf of book case & is greyed in color. Its slightly pulled away from the shelf but still in it.

Comment by Allakhazam

as a lv 30 mage just blast your way up and you'll have NO problem
keep your mana shield up and rest after each fight

enjoy =]

Comment by Allakhazam

ooohhhh that tower....ive been wiping on the dam keep

Edited, Mar 24th 2007 11:10am by togkellygang

Comment by Allakhazam

super easy at 26 as a fire mage
1. get to the tower, top right of the map (78,47)

2. kill the 3 outside, flamestrike, frost nova, arcane explosion, cone of cold
(you get the idea)

3. you can pyroblast (or whatever you silly ice mages use =P) the shadow caster inside, the hit him with counterspell. this brings him out without aggroing the nearby dogs

4. kill the mobs up the steps.

5. when you get to the top DONT go near the elite, the opposite side of the room has the book obviously sticking out in a shelf, now you magies with lesser mana here should sheep the shadow mob and have the dogs pulled with you down the stairs some so you can aoe without unsheeping, but really.... its just 3 guys, a mage should take upwards of like 7+

6. when they are dead grab the book, its like a 3 second 'casttime' to grab it, victory!

7. now a. hearth, b. teleport, c. spam mana shield and jet out to safty

Comment by Allakhazam

I tried this quest at level 26 as a fire mage. Can't do it. I tried like 6 times and there is just too much aggro to complete at level 26. With a tank and a healer it's pretty easy though.

I managed to fight my way all the way to the top of the tower but there are too many mobs up top and not enough health and mana to take care of business even with heal pots.

So, I kind of cheated. I logged onto my 60 Priest and wiped out the whole tower then logged back onto my mage to get the book. Lame but it gets the job done.

Edited, Sun Jun 11 11:57:58 2006

Comment by Allakhazam

tried this one about 50 times then I gave up

Comment by Allakhazam

solo @ 26

1. fight your way to top
2. die
3. res near chairs away from mobs
4. kill caster and dog
5. take book off shelf

EZ :)

Comment by Allakhazam

Don't overthink this. If you suicide to the top, get in position as others have noted. Sheep the caster, kill the dogs, get the book. I tried several "tricky" maneuvers, but at the end of the day, just go in a blast them to death.

Comment by Allakhazam

I could barely do this at level 30

Comment by Allakhazam

hmmm.. i have been at that tower about 60 times.. killed the one i need - never... he always made some kind of minion which i couldn kill because my mana was low already.. btw beeing fire mage is really bad.. i souldnt slow them or stun them.. just sheeped one ...im 38 now.. and im going to do it again.. i just dont know what rewards are to quests so better do it...

Comment by Allakhazam

It's in the bookcase opposite the guy in the top, so you dont even have to kill him to steal his book....

Comment by Allakhazam

I have the quest, but I can't click on any bookcases, not even the one to the opposite of the guy on the top

Comment by Allakhazam

well.you can forget about resing and getting with no fight.either the others were lucky and got there rt after someone cleared upstairs,or blizz changed the setup.you CAN res in a corner with no aggro.but in front of the book is a lv26 shadoweaver,with a lv 25 servant of illigar on either side.thers another group inbetween morganth and the book,but they are far enough for no aggro.i tried sheeping the weaver and icing the demons in place,no go,didnt hold ,also tried again throwing up mana shield.also a no go,because the nice doggies hit you with magic and interrupt opening book.no time to get it before you die.after third death i hearthed out,not ewnough money to even repair my armor.either go with group and have a long journry up,because there are demons and shadoweavers every step of the way,and i mean a LOT,or solo it at 50.

Comment by Allakhazam

There is a specific book in the bookcase you have to click on, not the bookcase itself. Look for a single large white book on one of the shelves.

Comment by Allakhazam

did this solo as 32, then 33 mage, why twice?
well, the Glyph of Azora stuff, that requires you to put glyphs in teh statue then the top of the tower near the orcs, after these parts are done, the lions statue will give a quest to kill the elite.
I dodged/pyro's up to the top, then:
Sheep on teh caster, fire attacks on teh dogs, pyro caster, then scorch etc until cooked.
Grab book, clear other set of caster and dogs.

AT lvl 30 plus , this should work...
Sheep the elite, blast the succubus with scorch etc, re-sheep, smack the casters about with scorch and things(no fireballs or pyro, need the mana in a mo) pop mana shield after they die, maybe dampen magic for good measure, evocate/mana stone, pyro the still sheeped elite, now, the tricky bit...
When the elite goes down to around 25% health, he sics a big flesh golem on you, if your ok mana shield wise, concentrate on the elite, grab the loot, run(or die).
I havent been able to defeat the golem as yet...

Comment by octapusxft

As it has already been said,if you got a higher level main, bring it here to murder the hell out of all the abominations in this tower of freaking nightmare and get the book.

Having to deal with 2 mana burning demon dogs+ a caster gnol + some respawning dog/gnol from bellow with your squishy low level clothie is just a waste of time

Comment by Lazrical

Don't worry about the hassle of forming a group (unless you're already in one and they're game), deliberately eating a death, or even using a higher level character of your own to pre-clear the tower. As of Classic in October of 2020, I was able to solo this in about 10-15 minutes the moment I got the quest at level 26, and didn't die once. People bashing the quest reward and saying "it's not worth it" ... this quest is not the nightmare you portray it as unless you make it harder than it has to be. The robe's probably an upgrade for you at this point even if it doesn't blow your mind, so why not do it? 10-15 minutes, solo, and it's yours.

It takes a little bit of finesse to safely climb the tower, but if you're competent with polymorph and frost nova, it can be done. At one point, the hardest part is that you'll have to face 3 mobs at once doing this. You have enough CC at your disposal, no matter your spec (you don't have to be frost -- I was fire myself) and CAN handle 3 at once, I promise. You'll need every last bit of mana and health, but it's not tough to do and only requires concentration. Here's how:

Make sure to CC any adds on your way up -- the demon dogs in this tower cast manaburn and cannot be polymorphed, so pull carefully -- sheep the gnolls if they're linked and burn the dogs down first, buying some time with frost nova -- I don't recommend using mana shield unless absolutely necessary. Take a few health pots (you should really always have a stack of level-appropriate health potions on you at all times post level 10, anyway -- they drop often enough), as you may need to pop a couple on your way up. There's no need to engage the elite NPC directly with this, which is good as he's not only elite, but also has linked guards.

The target is a visibly out of place book in the bookcase on the opposite side of the top floor from the elite. It's guarded by a shadowcaster gnoll and two of their stupid manaburning (a nuisance, but survivable) demon dogs. This is the slightly tough encounter during your climb that I spoke about earlier, but again, it doesn't require god-level skill to pull off. Polymorph the gnoll from as far away as you can on the stairs, which will aggro the two dogs .... make sure you're far enough away to frost nova without breaking your poly, run up the stairs and out of melee range (but not INTO the elite mob, stop once you hit the floor), and burn the nasty pups down with the fastest, highest DPS spells at your disposal.

You'll need to fight differently depending on your spec. I'm specced fire at this level as I'm running a lot of dungeons, and have Burning Soul (reduced chance of interrupt on fire spells), so it was easy to burn one down while it was frozen, then tanking and burning the second as fast as I could. If you're Arcane, use your missiles which should be uninterruptible and the fight will otherwise work much the same way, and if you're Frost, it's that much easier -- use your bolts and cone of cold and kite them down a floor (which should still be cleared -- be very careful to avoid aggro range from the elite while moving, and keep LOS on the stairs in mind), employ a well-timed Cold Snap, and enjoy your reduced Nova cooldown. Use the instant cast Fire Blast on cooldown for ALL specs doing this, preferably just at the end of a prolonged-cast spell to avoid GCD.

I had to reapply poly on the gnoll at least once during this. Once the dogs are down and the gnoll is still in sheep mode, bandage up and use evocation to get mana and health back quickly as you'll probably be low on both. Once you're ready, engage the gnoll, and you're good.

Once you're free to loot the book, you can just portal back to Stormwind from right there -- no need to climb down and worry about respawns!

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Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic

Bring Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic to High Sorcerer Andromath in Stormwind.

	Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic (1)

Description

Long ago, three mages studied in this tower until one fell to the dark arts. He was urged to turn away from that evil magic, but he could not resist. And so he was banished.

The fallen mage's new domain is the tower of Ilgalar in Redridge, and he took with him a powerful book--Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic.

We, the mages of Stormwind, would have that book returned. Enter the tower of Ilgalar, find the tome in his library, and bring it to me.

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Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

See if you've already completed this by typing:

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(1938))

Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic

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