Lord Thornwood's Maze

Somewhere in the old forest of Thornwood stands Lord Thornwood's Maze: a square of clipped yew about a hundred metres a side, in a clearing, its one way in turned toward the middle of the forest. A road leads to it from Thornwood's roads, and a sign at the way in names it; its name is written under the minimap while you are inside.

The hedges stand well over a head and cannot be jumped, seen over or walked through, by you or by anything that lives in the wood. The paths between them run long and straight, end now and then in a blind alley and often meet again, so a lost walker soon finds a way they know; the way to the middle is still the longest the maze has.

At its heart is a small court with benches and flowers, and on a stone plinth in the middle of it Lord Thornwood himself, in stone, a third again as tall as a man, a greatsword in his hand and a plume in his hat, looking back down the way you came. His name hangs over him as you near.

The forest's creatures wander in like anywhere else, so do not expect to be alone in there.

Traps and lairs

The maze does not forgive wrong turns. Rusted iron grates lie in some of its corridors: step on one and a bed of spikes drives up through it, taking 20% of your health and holding you where you stand for 3 seconds. A sprung trap is set again 45 seconds later. And in some of its dead ends something is waiting: a seasoned creature of the forest, which comes for you when you round the corner, and another takes its place 3 minutes after it falls.

Many corridors hide trap doors, turfed over so you will not see them until you are on one. They swing down under you, and you drop five metres, or eleven where the maze stands high enough, into a narrow, dark tunnel. There is only one way to go: along it, winding out under the hedges, sometimes over or under another tunnel, and up a cutting into a thicket of shrubs well outside the maze. Every tunnel comes out somewhere different, all the way round the maze, so where you land tells you nothing about where you fell. Nothing down there hurts you, but you will have to walk back to the way in and start again.

None of it lies on the shortest way to the statue. Find that and you walk in untouched; the lost pay for it.

Lord Thornwood's favour

Click the statue, or press F beside it, to lay a hand on him. The first time, the plinth has something to tell you, a ring lies at his feet for you to take (Thornwood's Signet, a rare trinket found nowhere else, which binds to you at once), and you learn 3% of what your level takes to the next. Make room in your bag first: he gives nothing while it is full.

That visit, and one each day after (a new day starts at midnight UTC), leaves Thornwood's Favour on you for 30 minutes: experience and gathering skill come 15% faster, wherever you go. Visit him again the same day and he tells you how long until the next.

Rook Hollin, Spitehold's Thornwood watcher, will ask you to find him: once you have taken The Lord in the Hedges, the quest's arrow and your zone map point at the statue.