Diablo II/Golden Bird

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This quest is activated when a Jade Figurine, requiring 2x1 inventory space, drops from a Champion, Unique or Super Unique monster killed. This should normally be the first one generated in a game: if you're having trouble getting it to drop, in multiplayer create your own game (it won't drop if the game creator has already completed this quest) and travel to locations like Travincal where Super Unique monsters can always be found.

DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
Ask Cain about the Jade Figurine.

If you've already completed this quest in a previous multiplayer game, then you cannot pick up another Jade Figurine in a game created by someone who hasn't already done so. Upon returning to the Kurast Docks, other than Deckard Cain and Meshif, Asheara is the only one to whom you can talk about it:

Asheara
Only Deckard Cain can make sense of this.

If you talk to Deckard Cain:

Deckard Cain
Back in Lut Gholein Meshif told me he had a fondness for jade figurines. On his trading voyages he collected an odd assortment of such small statues.

I would show him your figurine.
DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
Show Meshif the Figurine.

However, you can simply talk to Meshif directly:

Meshif
Praise you! That jade figurine will complete the set I was collecting.

Here! I've had this statuette of a golden bird for years, but I consider it a fair exchange.
DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
Ask Cain about the Golden Bird.

Aside from Cain and Asheara, you can now talk to Natalya and Hratli about it:

Asheara Natalya Hratli
Such a beautiful statuette... But, you'd think it would've been better cared for. There's a compartment here that's full o' dust. I'm having fun just watching you run from place to place searching for a Golden Bird. Some hero you are. You will have to take Ku Y'leh's ashes to Alkor.

If you talk to Deckard Cain (again):

Deckard Cain
I've read legends about a sage named Ku Y'leh, who studied the mysteries of life beyond death.

If I remember correctly, his ashes were ensconced within a golden statuette. It was a very strange tale.
DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
Give the Golden Bird to Alkor.

The Golden Bird also requires 2x1 inventory space. Once again, you can simply talk to Alkor directly:

Alkor
Ah, the Golden Bird of Ku Y'leh. Thank you, my friend.

Busy yourself while I experiment with the ashes within it. Then, return and see what I have made for you.
DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
Return to Alkor for reward.

You can talk to Alkor again immediately:

Alkor
From the ashes of Ku Y'leh I have mixed for you a potion.
DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
Quest completed.
DII Icon The Golden Bird.png The Golden Bird
You completed this quest in a previous game.

He has mixed you a Potion of Life, requiring one inventory space: right click to permanently add 20 to Life!

You can talk to the following about it:

Deckard Cain Natalya
So, Meshif had the Golden Bird all along. I wonder if he knows what he gave up for that jade figurine. I must admit, your foolish quest made little sense to me. But now I see the value of your actions. I believe you do possess great wisdom.
Meshif Ormus
Immortality is definitely not for me.

Can you imagine having to wake up every night just to piss for the next thousand years?
Ormus remembers the tale of Ku Y'leh. That venerable sage forgot that there is no life beyond death. There is only life.

Once prolonged unnaturally, it can become a living hell.

Spider Forest[edit]

Upon first entering the Spider Forest after crossing the bridge on the northeast side of the Kurast Docks, you run into a Dark Wanderer! However, he disappears and six Flesh Beasts appear in his place.

The Spider Forest is randomly populated by three of the following six monster types: Cloud Stalkers, Fetishes, Fetish Blow Pipers, Jungle Hunters, Suckers and Thorned Hulks. There are always Fetish Shamans with Fetishes and Fetish Blow Pipers guarding paths branching off from the river.

A waypoint and the entrance to the Arachnid Lair will be in the same clearing at the end of one of these paths; the entrance to the Spider Cavern, where Khalim's Eye can be found, is in another such clearing. If you keep traveling along the riverbank, then you should find the entrance to the Great Marsh, and possibly that to the Flayer Jungle: if you find the latter, then you don't need to enter the Great Marsh.

Arachnid Lair[edit]

The Arachnid Lair is an optional area, relatively small and square, randomly populated by three of the following five monster types, all animal: Fiends, Flame Spiders, Giant Lampreys (which generate Giant Lamprey Eggs, which in turn generate Giany Lamprey Young) and Poison Spinners (2) (this means they can be picked twice, for 90% chance of spawning, while the others each have 'only' 60% chance of spawning: there's also 10% chance of being populated exclusively by Flame Spiders and Poison Spinners). They guard a chest.

Spider Cavern[edit]

The Spider Cavern is similarly laid out and populated to the Arachnid Lair, except its chest is always in its south corner, and specially guarded...

Ssark the Burning[edit]

Super Unique Flame Spider (Extra Strong Cursed)

This Giant Spider and its minions guard the chest containing Khalim's Eye. Although it doesn't need to be killed, caution may dictate that you do so. Extra Strong and Cursed is already bad, and in Nightmare and Hell it's more likely that Aura Enchanted with Might or Fanaticism will be selected, which is a truly nightmarish (or hellish) combination: its minions will also always be physically stronger, and being cursed with Amplify Damage makes you much more susceptible to physical damage from any source. If you're cursed and poisoned before it's killed, you may even want to create a portal to return to Kurast Docks to be cured by Ormus before continuing.

Great Marsh[edit]

The Great Marsh is a potentially optional area randomly populated by three of the following six monster types: Bog Creatures, Bramble Hulks, Drowned Carcasses, Fetish Shamans with Fetishes and Fetish Blow Pipers, Gloams and Swamp Dwellers. There are always Fetish Shamans with Fetishes and Fetish Blow Pipers guarding paths branching off from the river, and River Stalkers lurking in bodies of water in the clearings to which these paths lead.

A waypoint can be found in a clearing at the end of one of these paths, while others lead to clearings containing chests. You may also find the entrance to the Flayer Jungle: if you haven't found it after following the river and a thorough exploration of the clearings away from it, return to the Spider Forest and search for it there.