Antonica · EverQuest (original release)
Clan Runnyeye
The goblin citadel in the hills between the Misty Thicket and the Gorge of King Xorbb, seized by the Pickclaw tribe, who made prisoners of Clan Runnyeye and of the evil eyes that once ruled it.
A citadel changes hands
Runnyeye Citadel was the underground home of Clan Runnyeye. Its tunnels wind through the hills and dig ever deeper. Then the Pickclaw goblin tribe moved in, took over and made prisoners of Clan Runnyeye and of its former rulers, the evil eyes. Allakhazam dates the revamp to May 30, 2001, and keeps the original as a 1.0 record.
It lies between the {Zp('misty-thicket','Misty Thicket')} and the Gorge of King Xorbb. Monsters run from about level 7 to 30 and above, with an experience bonus: sporelings and sporali, goblin runts and peons, sludge and ooze, Pickclaw foechoppers, fleshburners, mindrippers and bonemenders, Runnyeye conscripts and trustees, mimics and evil eye prisoners.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Runnyeye Citadel · Allakhazam: Clan Runnyeye (zone) · Allakhazam: Clan Runnyeye (1.0) (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Runnyeye Citadel
A twisting maze
This is one of the most confusing dungeons in the game. The upper level is simple and home to low-level goblins, safe enough for newer characters. Lower down, rooms intersect in many places and it is hard to find your way to anything, or away from it. Few go deep without a strong group.
More than half of the goblins in the depths are shamans, with the odd wizard, and they come in groups of three or four. Worst are the evil eyes, much higher level than the goblins, heard by the sticky sound of their eye opening and closing. They sometimes wander all the way to the top; one killed the guide’s fully healed tenth-level ranger with a single spell. If you see an evil eye begin to cast, zone.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Runnyeye Citadel · Project 1999 Wiki: Runnyeye Citadel
Goblins with a bank
The goblins are well separated by level: the seventh- and eighth-level ones stay on the upper level and solo well, the higher ones live in groups on the second level in their own rooms, so pulls are predictable. The guide never saw a Blackburrow-style train here.
The throne room’s guards carry Blackened Alloy armour, and Blackened Iron drops throughout. The evil eye that drops the lens for the Staff of the Observer lives here. There is even a goblin bank, with merchants and a bartender, though you need to be about level 30 for them to tolerate you. Lord Pickclaw, a slime elemental, a gelatinous cube, Sludge Dankmire and the Sporali Moldmaster are among the named.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Runnyeye Citadel · Allakhazam: Clan Runnyeye (zone)
Two doors
The two entrances are close together. From the Misty Thicket a long, mostly safe tunnel leads in; goblins rarely come down it. Keep right and you soon reach the exit to the Gorge of King Xorbb, marked by stakes with human heads and “Keep Out” written in blood on the opposite wall, a quick escape from a train.
The gorge, home of minotaurs and the evil eye lords, separates Runnyeye from the Eastern Plains of Karana.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Runnyeye Citadel · Allakhazam: Gorge of King Xorbb (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Runnyeye Citadel
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Runnyeye Citadel · Allakhazam: Clan RunnyEye 2.0 (zone) · Allakhazam: Clan RunnyEye (1.0) (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Runnyeye Citadel