Ulgrath the Grain-Reader
| Role | Assay Row craftsperson |
|---|---|
| Location | Drift Network (south wing, Assay Row) |
| Quests | Grain Quarry |
Ulgrath the Grain-Reader is a Lugian quarrier who runs the middle bench of Assay Row, teaching Serpentine, the spell reroll that never closes a door.
Overview
Ulgrath stands at the bay 4 alcove of the Drift Network hall's Assay Row, arming anyone bound for the Grain Quarry and holding the serpentine bench until they have earned what it teaches.
Quest
Ulgrath will not talk business until bay 3's teaching is complete: his bench stays closed until Edgewright Kenji Ashida has taught you Tourmaline. Once that is satisfied, approaching him hands over an Assay Pick and sets the task.
The task is to bring back one Serpentine Heartstone, which only drops from the Serpentine Colossus that the quarry's deep seam wakes when mined - Pure Serpentine Ore itself does not count toward the turn-in. Handing over the Heartstone teaches Serpentine and gives the working Serpentine Hammer: applied to a piece of looted gear, it reforges each enchantment the item carries into a different enchantment of the same level (cantrips are untouched, and the item's arcane lore requirement does not change). Only gear that dropped as treasure can be reforged - quest rewards and other granted items cannot. Nothing about the result can be chosen and nothing removed can be recovered; the hammer holds ten applications before it crumbles to dust.
The turn-in grants no experience or Trade Notes - the reward is the hammer itself. The teaching is a once-only, non-repeatable completion (the underlying quest flag allows exactly one solve); a second visit after completion gets only an acknowledgement, no second pick or hammer.
Dialogue
Before bay 3's teaching is complete:
- "The quarry is shut to you and I will not hand out a pick for a door that stays closed. Edgewright Kenji Ashida works the bench before mine. Finish his tourmaline and the Grain Quarry will read you as let through."
Once it is, offering the task:
- "The Meridian has me down as a warden of something. I read stone, which is what my people have always done, and this hall took ten years to ask. Serpentine is the one bench here that costs you nothing you cannot get back."
- "Take the pick down into the quarry. Serpentine only shows itself at depth, and something older guards the deep vein - strike it loose from whatever answers the seam, and bring me its heart."
Returning without the heartstone:
- "Not this. Bring me what guards the seam, or nothing at all."
Returning with it:
- "The heart of it, and the grain reads true all the way through. Take the hammer - it is yours now."
After the teaching is complete:
- "You have the hammer. The grain reads the same for you as it does for me now. Nothing else on this bench is yours to take."
See also
- Grain Quarry - the bay he arms and teaches for.
- Serpentine Colossus - the guardian whose Heartstone completes his task.
- Drift Network - the hall he stands in.