The god of War (Rallos Zek), is a very difficult opponent indeed. Special weapons have been found that grant the wielder extra damange versus Rallos Zek and his many minions in the Plane of Tactics. Several folks have worked very hard to solve the quests, based on very sketchy in-game hints. These items, of course, require the Planes of Power expansion.
There are two types of Zek bane weapons, and there are at least six varieties of each (1HS, 2HS, 1HB, Hand to Hand, 1H Piercing, and Archery). Each variety of the first type is called "Dark Courage," regardless of which version you make. The second type, which is made by forging your Dark Courage with a special temper to turn it into a Black Insanity, is identical to the first but with higher bane damage vs. Zek.
The source for the original information comes from NPC Eriak, an Ogre located deep in the Plane of Tactics. He responds differently based on which of the Zek flags you have completed at the time. Original hail text is not available.
The initial out-of-game spoiler, based on much research, was provided in poem form to the EQTC message board community. The author of the poem has kindly provided the following information:
Additional hail text from Szrix Hammertail in Plane of Knowledge:
You say, 'What Dark Courage?'
Szrix Hammertail stares at you long and hard. 'Long ago I escaped imprisonment from Drunder, such things I saw there I would not wish to think of again. Never again would I even think of speaking of Drunder was it not for the favor owed to the Lord of Guile. The task he set to me I accomplished to a degree. I was able to obtain the materials Eriak spoke of through much difficulty. I was also able to create a set of weaponry that will do much harm to the Warlord. Should you wish to test your skill I may be
(note: Yes, it does just cut off there.)
You say, 'I wish to test my skill.'
Szrix Hammertail glares at you. 'Very well Khoren, I will teach you. Combining Decorin ore and a flask of water in a forge makes the base metal of Drunder. Ye then need a temper brewed for the weaponry. Find the shards of valor and decant their essence with a celestial solvent. Based on what type of weapon ye desire is the mold that is needed. Do you wish to craft a Sword, a Bastard Sword, a Claidhmore, a Battlehammer, a Ulak, a Dagger or a Bow?
You say, 'What sword?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the sword, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial, long blade mold, hilt mold, and a pommel mold in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.'
You say, 'What bastard?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the bastard sword, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial, dual-edged blade mold, hilt mold, and pommel mold in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.
(note: You must ask him "What bastard?" to learn about the bastard sword. If you ask him "What bastard sword?" or "What bastardsword," you get the response for "Sword." I assume the bastard sword is the 1H knight version, but I haven't seen one, and it's not Magelo'ed. Maybe I'll magelo one tonight, but I have only very few sheets left.)
You say, 'What ulak?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the ulak, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial, pommel mold, short blade mold, and a hilt mold in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.'
You say, 'What battlehammer?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the battlehamme, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial, mace head mold, and an oak shaft in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.'
You say, 'What claidhmore?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the claidhmore, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial, heavy steel blade mold, hilt mold, and a pommel mold in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.'
You say, 'What bow?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the bow, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial and a file in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.'
You say, 'What dagger?'
Szrix Hammertail says 'To make the dagger, combine Drunder's steel, pulsing blue vial, dagger blade mold, and a hilt mold in a forge. This will make a weapon that will cause some worry to the Zeks.'
You say, 'What black insanity?'
Szrix Hammertail hisses at you as if about to attack. 'Won't you let me be! Torment me no more about memories of the past! This is the last bit I shall tell you then hope to never see you again. Combine any of the weapons with a substance made from decanting the black blood, insanity fangs and celestial solvent. The weapons made thusly will cause even the Warlord to flinch at the thought of facing them.
All but the bow must be made in a forge, combine the bow and the substance in a fletching kit.
To make a Dark courage, you must forge:
Trivial for this combine is between 11 and 28, and appears to be a no-fail combine.
Drunder's Steel is made in a forge (verified to work in a Tanaan forge, not tried in an older-expansion forge) by combining:
Decorin Ore Shards (non-stackable, LORE, NO DROP), come from Animated Decorin Blades, which spawn only after Tagrin Maldric, the giant troll in the depths of Tactics, has been aggro'ed. They continue to spawn for the duration of the Tagrin fight, but it has been my experience that only the first several will drop ore shards. We have never been able to get more than 6 ore shards in one attempt (although it's possible we had a few blades carrying ore shards despawn) before all the rest of the blades dropped nothing but a "Useless Hunk of Metal" (which really is useless, at least as far as Zek banery goes). You don't actually have to fight Tagrin to get blades to spawn, since their spawning is only tied to his being aggroed, and they don't despawn immediately if he calms down (making use of this tidbit of information is left as an exercise for the reader). But there still seems to be a limit on the number of shards you can get at one time. In an hour we got 6, and then for two hours we a constant stream of useless hunks. In that time, Tagrin had been aggroed and deaggroed dozens of times. Eventually, we got tired and killed him. :p
The steel is trivial at 182. I have not failed in 14 sheets at 250. This means a high skill smith will have to loot these NODROP, LORE items. The decorin blade corpses rot in 8 minutes. You may want to take a lot of smiths. Or, if you're very clever, you may be interested to know that player corpses (regular or duel-created) return to the nice, safe zone-in/zone-out of Tactics in about 21 minutes, and that having a lore item on a corpse doesn't mean you can't loot another.
This is made by combining, in a brew barrel (trivial = 151):
Valorium Shards come from just about everything in the desert in the Plane of Valor.
Known Mold Combinations:
Black Insanities are nicer than Dark Courages since they have higher bane damage. To make all of them but the bow, you must forge:
Again, this is trivial at 11, non-trivial at 28, and is probably a no-fail combine. The bow must be made in a fletching kit.
To make this last temper, you must combine in a brew barrel:
Insanity fangs come from any of the four types of constructs in the plane of Torment. This combine is trivial 15 (No-Fail)
A vial of black blood comes from Eriak deep in Tactics (in the same room as Tagrin, in fact, right where the basement zone out is). Ask him "What Blood?" and he'll give it to you. Remember, it's NODROP and LORE, but the pulsing black vial is droppable. How to get enough of these to your people with the nodrop insanity fangs is left as an exercise to the reader. A rogue with shroud of stealth who loots insanity fangs will have a particularly easy time. You may or may not have to be a good brewer for this step.
Combines, in Brief: