The description of the quest will lead you to believe that you'll just be running in and slaying every spider in sight, as you might in the Boot Camp quests. Not so. In fact, if you'd like, you can avoid all the battles but the boss battle all together and really speed things along.
I suggest taking a party of at least three, though of course four is the best. You can easily complete this quest with two people, or even by yourself. It'll just take a mite longer. I'll suggest different tactics based on how many people you have with you, though essentially they're all the same.
Now, upon starting the quest you will be on the second level. The troll-type NPC standing there will clue you into the trouble. Your party needs to pass through three gates to get to the boss Dire Spider at the end and exterminate it. The NPC says that his friends should be around the underbelly to help you open all three gates.
Now, prepare for some repetition. On level 1, open up your map. You'll see, to the south of the elevator, three stars. These stars represent drains that you can fall through. Waiting for you as soon as you fall through each drain is an NPC.
On level three, to the south, passed the door that you normally in the single player game cannot pass through, are scattered a series of levers. The levers are labeled 1-A -> 1-D, 2-A -> 2-D, and 3-A -> 3-D. They control gate 1, gate 2, and gate 3 respectively and will open their appropriate gate when flipped properly, to the left or right.
Now, if you have three or more members in your party, send one member immediately down to the third level. Their job will be to wait to hear the lever combinations from the other members. In the meantime, they can slay some monsters. They need 1 lizard grease and 1 iron rod to complete the job. These will be dropped by the surrounding baddies, the grease from the ice lizards especially.
The remaining party members will be on the first floor with the drains. Open up the left and right drain by releasing the levers located right before the middle drain. Your remaining members will take turns dropping through the drains and speaking to the NPCs they'll find there. The NPC will tell you to switch a particular lever left or right. The party member will then communicate that combination to the member waiting on the third floor.
If you have four members, you can have one wait on the third floor, and the other three members take the left, middle, and right drain and wait there. As soon as Gate 1 has been unlocked, the NPCs will tell you the answers to unlock Gate 2, and so on to Gate 3. No need to run up and down the elevator. And when the member on the third floor reaches Gate 3, everyone will be teleported to the boss fight.
If you have less than four members, one person at least will have to fall through one drain, go back up to the first floor, and fall through another drain. If you only have two members or even if it is just you in your party, you'll have to gather all of the lever combinations first, then ride down to the third floor, flip the levers, ride the elevator back up, fall through the drains again, and so on. This makes things a bit longer.
Now before you think it, the lever combinations change each time you complete the quest.
This quest is tedious, but fairly simple. Good luck! Have patience! This one is all about communication!
Quick points about the quest for those who don't want to read as much.
- First on Level 1 - Right before the middle drain are two levers. Flip them to open all the drains.
- From Level 1 - Fall through each drain (marked with stars) to gather the lever switch answers.
- Take the elevator to Level 3 - To flip the switches as the NPCs have told you.
- Open all three gates to fight the final boss, a dire spider.
