This quest uses the Classic Quest Engine.
The Study of the Solen Hive quest is started by talking to a Naturalist in one of the many libraries throughout Britannia. Libraries can be found in most larger cities, the easiest one to find is probably the Public Britain Library, which is located just north of the gates to Lord British’s Castle in Britain, or the Jhelom Library, which can be found just south of the Dueling Pits in Jhelom.
The Naturalist will ask you to help him out with his research into the mysterious race of giant ants, the Solen, that have appeared several places in Britannia. The task he wants you to do is to go and study the four Egg Nests that can be found deep underground in the Hive of the Solen and then return to him and report all that you have seen.
The first thing you will need to do is find one of the four permanent entrances to the Hive. The easiest one to find is the one just west of the main gates of Trinsic (102o28′ S, 25o52′ E), Maps, both above and below ground, can be found on this page.
Once inside the Hive you will need to find one of the four Egg Nests and stand near it to begin studying it. When you have been there for a little while you will begin writing down what you have found out and just after that you will get a message that your study of the nest is complete.
Note that unless you are a friend of the Solen, they will not like your presence on their territory and even if you are a friend, the giant beetles, ant lion and dread spider will remain hostile.
When you have completed the study of the first nest, you can continue on to the next three and use the same approach there. Once you have visited all four nests you can return to the Naturalist with your findings for your reward or you can do a little extra work to make him extra happy and get a special reward.
The extra work involves finding a ‘secret’ fifth nest where the Solen keep their special eggs. This secret nest can be accessed from any sandy area, like a desert or beach, but only by planting a special Green Thorn there. These Green Thorns can be harvested off certain bright green plants that most gardeners should know how to grow. When the Green Thorn is planted in a sandy area it will produce a small hole in the sand that will provide access to the secret nest. The hole will collapse rather quickly though, so you will have to be fast an jump into it immediately when it appears. Once inside you should find the nest and study it the same way as the previous four.
Now when you return to the Naturalist he will applaud your good work and give you a small reward consisting of a single mutated plant seed, grown by a botanist friend of his. If you only studied the four normal nests the seed will be either Aqua, Magenta of Pink colored, but if you visited the fifth nest too, the seed will be a special fire red, black or white colored seed.