Bandit Hilt

Cooking

Fletching

Magic

Quests

You'll need an Idol Gem and an Iron Heart to begin. Iron Hearts are plentiful in the Halls of Metos (4.4S, 0.6W / 56.0S, 89.2W / 61.4S, 46.6W). Then head over to the Idol Spawning Grounds (72.3S, 87.5E) on the Vesayen Isles for an Idol Gem (see directions below on how to get to the Vesayen Isles). There's no level restriction on the Idol Spawning Grounds, but to survive on the Vesayen Isles, the recommended level is around 35+.

The portal to the Spawning Grounds is usually surrounded by one Dread Idol and several Mosswarts. Inside you'll find Mosswart Fanatics, Idolators, and both Idols and Dread Idols. Wear your Bludgeoning and Fire Protects! Dreads have a better drop rate for the Gems, but are more difficult to fight. The Idols cast Drain Health II, and the Dread Idols cast level V spells, including Life Inept, Slowness, and Frost Bolt. Once you get your Idol Gem (may be dropped or given), head to MacNiall's Freehold  and talk to MacNiall the Unruled at 74.1S, 92.3E.

Warning: Make sure your main pack is not full before handing him your gem!

MacNiall the Unruled tells you, "Arrr, and welcome to MacNiall's Freehold. Have ye seen them funny statue things the Mosswarts like to worship? I thinks their eyes is kinda pretty. Bring me one, and I'll see what I can do to reward ye."
You give MacNiall the Unruled Idol Gem.
MacNiall the Unruled tells you, "Errukh, look at the sparkle! Look, youngster. I'll give ye this note for my cousin MacDugal. I hear tell he's taken up residence with our old gang at some place called the Bandit Castle. Bring this note to him, and he'll reward ye right."
MacNiall the Unruled gives you Bandit Cousins' Letter.

Bandit Cousins' Letter
Greetings, cousin!

I thought I'd never see you again after our groups got split up, that first night of freedom. But I hear that you and your people have prospered, and have a big castle to the north to call home. Not bad! For our part, Onda Nakoza and I found ourselves on a hot and humid island, south of the mainland. 'Tis not a bad place, except the occasional Mosswart raid. I hope everyone there is doing right. Give Jourgenson a punch in the jaw for me, for old times' sake.

Oh, and find a good reward for the courier of this letter, if you can. Maybe one of the blade hilts you were working on. Did you ever finish that up? It was a fine idea, to balance a blade for extra strikes.

Your cousin,
MacNiall

Take the Letter (no-drop) to MacDugal up at Bandit Castle (66.4N, 50.0E). A good way to get there from the Vesayen Isles is to take the Neydisa Castle portal  inside Jungle Shadows (39.2S, 94.3E). Run to the Mattekar Cave from Neydisa (65.4N, 16.7E) and take the Bandit Castle portal at the bottom. (See the Neydisa Hauberk quest for details) Again, make sure you have space in your pack before handing him the letter!

MacDugal tells you, "Arrr! Don't bother me! I've got enough problems on me hands! Talk to my lieutenant, Jourgensson!"
You give MacDugal Bandit Cousins' Letter.
MacDugall tells you, "Errukh! A letter from my long-lost cousin, MacNiall! Arrr, it's good to see the old boy is doing well! I ought to reward ye for this, as he says. Here then, have one of my blade hilts. I'm workin' on a way to improve daggers and light swords."
MacDugal gives you Unfinished Bandit Blade Hilt.

MacDugal tells you, "Ye'll need to finish off that hilt with a pommel from the heart of an Iron Golem, but once it's done, ye can just affix it to a dagger, simi, shortsword, yaoji or rapier. Then yer blade'll be so well-balanced ye can do a fancy double or triple-strike when ye put enough skill and power into it!"
You attach the Iron Golem Heart to the hilt, making a Bandit hilt.

Before attaching your hilt (no-drop, no-give) make sure your weapon isn't inscribed by someone else. After hilting you can inscribe the time and date, so you'll know when your 4 month quest timer is up! A hilted weapon's name changes to Bandit [weapon], it becomes no-drop, and its value changes to 0. Burden remains unchanged. Bandit Weapons may still be enchanted.

The benefit of the Bandit Hilt is, of course, the multi-strike ability. For double-strike, your skill needs to be 250+. For daggers, if your skill is 350+, you will have triple-strike ability. Swords cannot do triple-strike.

[Double-strike means that you do 2 damage hits per weapon strike. For example, you swing your weapon once and the following appears in your chat window:
You pierce Lugian with 22 points of piercing damage.
You pierce Lugain with 24 points of Piercing damage.
or
You pierce Lugian with 22 points of piercing damage.
Lugian evades your attack.]

Bandit Weapons (non-elemental), when used with a shield, do piercing damage. All Bandit Weapons except the Rapier (which always does piercing damage) do slashing damage without a shield.

Hilting a weapon is permanent. Once a weapon is hilted, it cannot be reverted back to its original un-hilted state. If you use another hilt on an already hilted blade, you will destroy the hilt! The hilt will also be destroyed if you attempt to hilt a quest weapon, or any of the non-hiltable swords (you may hilt daggers, simis, shortswords, yaojis and rapiers).

Opinions vary widely regarding which weapon is the best for hilting. Should you hilt an elemental dagger or a plain one? Some dagger fighters, who realize they may never see a skill of 350+, will use the hilt on an elemental dagger and use the Obisidian Dagger (which does slashing and piercing) in other circumstances.

Yaojis are popular for sword users because they have the highest base damage of the hiltable swords and you get both slashing and piercing (depending on whether you are holding your shield or not). Others prefer the Rapier.

Most fighters agree, however, that you want to find a weapon with the highest possible base damage, with the highest possible attack and defense bonuses. Weapons will higher level spells like Blood Drinker, Heart Seeker, Swift Killer, and Defender are also desirable, although they may become less important for some magic users as they grow in level and can cast high level spells themselves. Use the Maximum Base Damage chart for some guidance on the range of damage and bonuses for hiltable weapons!

Getting to the Vesayen Isles
There are several methods to get to the Vesayen Isles. One way, of course, is to stand around in town and beg for a portal to the "New Hub" (located in Jungle Shadows). 

Another way is via a Wilderness Portal (61.7 N, 48.6 E) near Bandit Castle. To get to the Bandit Castle Wilderness Portal, take the Mountain Shortcut from Arwic at 34.9N, 56.0E, then run a short way to 42,4N, 60.5E. You'll be dropped just a short run from Bandit Castle (66.5 N, 50 E).

For lower levels, you can also kill Shadow Children on the beaches south of Mayoi who will open portals to the small 1-25 Level Restricted island on death. There's a portal to the settlement of Kryst on this island. [This route is no longer available.]

A fourth way is to successfully cast the new portal spell: Recall the Sanctuary. This places you at the more dangerous section of the archipelago. 

Maps provided by Greeneye ©ACMAPS

Halls of Metos
Idol Spawning Grounds

Thanks to Belltheo of MT, Sha-Wing of FF, Saphirrie of HG, Feyn of TD, Reltrethan of TD, Tetsu Ko of TD, Evi Denzstelle of TD, Feyn of TD.