A Small Problem

A Small Problem is the 1st quest in The Maleficent Cabal story arcStory arcs are chains of quests that make up a story line. Completing everything in a story arc often yields a nice reward..
The first three quests can be completed in any order to unlock Under the Big Top.
A Small Problem • Partycrashers • The Snitch • Under the Big Top

In the previous tour of "The Fall of Truth", a Dwarf played the role of the Stormreaver -- which outraged many critics.
Now that House Phiarlan has taken over production, changes are afoot.

Requires access to adventure pack
Definition: Adventure Pack
A list of all adventure packs
: Phiarlan Carnival

A Small Problem
Heroic level:	5
Epic level:	20
Duration:	Long
Heroic XP:	♣1,807Solo/Casual ♦3,236Normal ♥3,460Hard ♠3,684Elite
Epic XP:	♣10,896Solo/Casual ♦18,798Normal ♥19,437Hard ♠20,075Elite
Takes place in:	Mammoth Valley
Bestowed by:	Glitter Underhill
NPC contact:	Glitter Underhill
Quest acquired in:	House Phiarlan
Patron:	House Phiarlan
Base favor:	4
Purchase:	Phiarlan Carnival or VIP
Extreme Challenge:	No

Loading screen

Overview

In order to satisfy her Phiarlan financiers, Glitter Underhill need to replace her Dwarven lead actor with someone.... a bit bigger.

Glitter has asked you to find a Giant and sign him into her cast. She's heard of an unusually capable Giant named Brawnpits, who resides somewhere in Mammoth Valley. You can take one of the caravans from the House Phiarlan Enclave to reach it. Glitter Underhill can be found in the east section of House Phiarlan, directly north of the Market travel point.

Spoiler Warning: Spoiler material below this point!

Objectives

Find Brawnpits
Speak with Brawnpits
Follow Brawnpits
Explain theater to Brawnpits
Convince Brawnpits to become an actor
Earn Brawnpits' trust
Bring Brawnpits some water
Crush rocks for Brawnpits' hearth: 6 total
Bring Brawnpits the crushed rocks
Collect some firewood for Brawnpits: 4 total
Seek blessing of the sky spirit
(Failure) Do not let Brawnpits die
Warn Brawnpits of danger
Lead Brawnpits to the caravan
(Optional) Brothers Grim survive — Bonus (15%): Heroic( ♣271 ♦485 ♥519 ♠553 ) Epic( ♣1,634 ♦2,820 ♥2,916 ♠3,011 )
(Optional) Defeat the enraged hearth spirits: 8 total — Bonus (30%): Heroic( ♣542 ♦971 ♥1,038 ♠1,105 ) Epic( ♣3,269 ♦5,639 ♥5,831 ♠6,023 )
(Optional) Find and defeat more rock spirits: 6 total — Bonus (30%): Heroic( ♣542 ♦971 ♥1,038 ♠1,105 ) Epic( ♣3,269 ♦5,639 ♥5,831 ♠6,023 )

What to Expect

Spawning/respawning monsters
Mandatory jumping game.
Protect an NPC (mandatory: Brawnpits)
Quest item collection (mandatory: 4 firewood)

Tips and Misc

This quest involves fighting along the top of cliff, as well as leaping across gaps – be sure to bring a Feather FallingFeather Falling: This item is engraved with feathers and bestows a powerful magical effect. Whenever the wearer begins to fall from any height, this effect slows the descent dramatically, causing the wearer to fall like a feather. item if possible.
Stealing something (which will be a collectable) from the Giant's sack spawns a fight with Thum Grim and Nale Grim.
Use the altar in front of the shrines before collecting the water at the waterfall. Using the waterfall first will give you "Cursed Water" and will spawn 2 hostile Water Elementals that do frost damage. You will also get hit with Freezing Spray, which makes you extra vulnerable to cold water.
- Quest item: Blessed Water – "This is clear mountain water, gathered from a waterfall."
- Cursed Water – "Something about this water just does not smell right."
  - Brawnpits won't accept cursed water.
- On Elite, there is a high chance that those elementals are Champions, and they can be respawned at will, with no limit, making this point the best place in the game to farm for Mysterious Remnants. However, the elementals will not spawn as Event Champions (Ghost of Crystal Cove, Shadow of Mabar, or Scourge of the Snowpeaks.)
To crush rocks, you need to fight and defeat several Earth Elementals; they are quiescent until you approach them, giving you a chance to defeat the restless animals which are usually nearby. Alternatively, you can go through Mammoth and Rocky Valleys before giving Brawnpits the water and fight the animals separately, if you wish to deal with the elementals on their own.
The extra earth elementals for the Optional are mostly down the Rocky Valley; the final one, however, is near the north shrine, which is accessible only by jumping down from the upper level (from near the northeast pile of firewood, west of center on the map). There is an extra set of shrines here.
Thum Grim can toss you up to the firewood. Talk to him, then stand on the cauldron in front of him and talk to him again, and he will kick you up. Be sure you're in the center of the cauldron, as your positioning determines the angle at which you are kicked.
If you stole from and therefore fought (and killed) the Grim Brothers, you can get to the upper level by going to the northwest corner of the map (through the Rocky Valley) and running up the slope.
There are 6 piles of Firewood; you only need to collect 4, but picking up each pile will spawn a fire elemental. The last two spawn when you come back to Brawnpits after collecting firewood.
- Quest item: Firewood – "Chips and planks that may once have been part of a barrel."
Eat Brawnpit's Stew to gain 15 minutes of Jump +30Jump +30: Passive: +30 Competence bonus to the Jump skill..
The Sky Altar requires you to jump across several gaps. Even with the stew's jump bonus, Feather Fall is still required for most classes. It's actually easier to start by going up the northwest slope (through the rocky valley), rather than running to Thum Grim and have him kick you.
After speaking to the Sky Spirit, you're given a 30-second Feather Fall; you should be able to jump and land in Brawnpit's Camp.
On any difficulty above hard (Heroic up to Epic Elite) Tieflings may spawn at the altar. The Sky Spirit will be aggressive until they are defeated.
- Like any Air Elemental, the Sky Spirit can throw you around, and possibly off the platform.
The Tieflings which attack Brawnpits are Evil Outsiders; they're immune to cold and fire.
You don't get the "Brothers Grim Survive" Optional until you get near them with Brawnpits; at this point, you can no longer open their sack; however, Brawnpits will give you "Holiday Presents" (an extra chest, spawns Grim's Bracelet) for completing this Optional.
On Elite:
- As soon as you get the objective to jump up to the Air Shrine, quite a few respawning casters will appear on the rocks you need to jump on to get up to it, and they cast Phantasmal Killer quite a bit, so a Deathblock item will come in very handy. You can bypass the casters by having one member of the party jump up to the shrine before turning in the firewood and simply having them use the air shrine as soon as the rest of the party is ready to defend Brawnpits.
- Brawnpits' canine Messengers will spawn just before you reach the caravan with him and attack.

Epic Strategy

Clear your way to Brawnpits, do not touch the big backpack where the giants are on the way.
After talking to Brawnpits and receiving the first objective of obtaining the blessed water, clear the map of all wolves and clear the spiders up rock canyon. Spiders can be stunned to make that part of the task a little easier.
Return the water to Brawnpits and obtain the crush rock objective. Head up rock canyon and a good crowd control caster can Otto's Irresistible Dance the Earth Elementals. Clear all of the earth elementals and then use the hidden shrine in the north east corner of the map (There is an earth elemental there as well).
Return the crushed rocks and get the firewood objective. Fire Elementals can be danced just the same as the earth elementals. Collect just enough Firewood to complete the objective.
Upon returning the firewood to Brawnpits, 2 more Fire Elementals will spawn and attack Brawnpits. Dance them and take them out.
As soon as you get the objective to jump up to the Air Shrine, quite a few casters will appear on the rocks you need to jump across to get up to the objective, and they cast Meteor Swarm a lot. They will re-spawn as you jump from rock to rock, so do not jump back and forth. The Sky Spirit will be hostile as long as there are Tieflings and other creatures on the same rock as him. Kill them to be able to talk to him and advance the quest.
Quickly jump from the Air Elemental's shrine to Brawnpits and kill the spawns there. At this point everyone that needs to shrine should use the one at the Water Element's shrine.
Clear up to Brawnpits' nephews. After collecting the "Holiday Presents" continue on and clear one more set of mobs, this is last set before the end fight. Park Brawnpits here and hit him with every extended buff you have. All player characters at this point need to go back and use the shrine at Brawnpits' camp. After shrining, everyone should head back to Brawnpits and buff up.
Brawnpits' canine Messengers, 1 more spirit of the hearth, along with several re-spawning tieflings will spawn just before you reach the caravan with him and attack.

Bonus XP

Aggression bonus: 33 or more monsters killed +10% Bonus.( ♣181 ♦324 ♥346 ♠368 )
Onslaught bonus: 67 or more monsters killed +15% Bonus.( ♣271 ♦485 ♥519 ♠553 )
Conquest bonus: 100 or more monsters killed +25% Bonus.( ♣452 ♦809 ♥865 ♠921 )

Notes: Onslaught and Conquest are only available on elite/epic. Onslaught requires minor respawn killing, Conquest requires heavy respawn killing.

Loot

Chests: ♦ 2 /Normal ♥ 2 /Hard ♠ 3Elite
- 1 for earning Brawnpits' trust (found at Brawnpits' camp)
- 1 after Brawnpits tells the Brothers Grim to leave, if you didn't fight and kill them earlier (found at Grim Brothers' Camp)
- ♦ 0 /Normal ♥ 0 /Hard ♠ 1Elite at the end
Collectables:
- Moss in a dead-end north of where you start
- Moss in another dead-end just to the east
- Mushroom behind a tree north of the Grim Brothers' Camp, at the fork
- Mushroom behind a tree in a dead-end just southeast of the camp (The Slithering Pass)
- Mushroom behind bushes south-center of the map (bottom of the slope before meeting Brawnpits)
- Flowering Plant just east of the mountain spring
- Another Flowering Plant just east of that, behind some bushes
- Mushroom northeast of Brawnpits' camp
- Mushroom slightly to the northwest
- Mushroom up the hill to the northwest
- Mushroom due east of that, in the northeast corner of the map
- Moss southwest of that
- Moss in the northwest corner, past the Rocky Valley
- Flowering plant near the northern shrines
- Flowering plant near the northwest firewood
- Moss south of Brawnpits' Camp
- Flowering Plant nearby
- Mushroom nearby
- Moss to the northeast (have to leap across several gaps), on way to Giants' Altar
- Flowering plant east of where Thum Grim throws you (unsure how to get there)
- Fungus Patch south of that (unsure how to get there)
- Mushroom south of that (unsure how to get there)
NPC rewards: Standard, list of 8 items, 0–1 level items

Named Chest Drop

Last Edited	Item	Type	Enhancements	ML	Bind	Quests
Update 48.2 3 years, 4 months, and 9 days BugTime	Brawn's Spirits ^(edit)	Trinket	RageRage Caster level: 5 Charges: 3 (3/day) — 3 Charges (Recharged/Day:3) Intimidate +6Intimidate +6: Passive: +6 Competence bonus to the Intimidate skill. Incite +38 Incite +38: +38% Enhancement bonus to increased threat generation from melee damage Curse of FoolishnessCurse of Foolishness: Passive -1 Penalty to Wisdom. (The minimum level required to equip this item is lower than normal due to this curse.) Curse of DullnessCurse of Dullness: Passive -1 Penalty to Intelligence. (The minimum level required to equip this item is lower than normal due to this curse.)	4	Bound to Account on Acquire, ExclusiveBound to Account on Acquire: This item is Bound to Account on Acquire This is an Exclusive item. You may only carry one at a time.	A Small Problem, Brawnpits' camp chest
Update 48.2 3 years, 4 months, and 9 days BugTime	Grim's Bracelet ^(edit)	Necklace	Strength +3 Strength +3: This item gives the wearer the power of Ogre Strength, granting a +3 enhancement bonus to Strength. Natural Armor +3Natural Armor +3: Passive: +3 Natural Armor Bonus to Armor Class. Doublestrike 4% Doublestrike 4%: Passive: 4% Enhancement bonus to Doublestrike. (Doublestrike is a chance to score an additional hit with a melee attack.)	4	Bound to Account on AcquireBound to Account on Acquire: This item is Bound to Account on Acquire	A Small Problem, Brothers Grim survive chest

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Monsters

Name ^{( picture )}	CR	Type	Race
Hellhound ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♥30Epic Hard	Magical Beast	Hellhound
Malefic Firebreather ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard	Native Outsider	Tiefling
Malefic Illusionist ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard ●♠45Epic Elite	Native Outsider	Tiefling
Malefic Knife Thrower ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard ●♠30Epic Elite	Native Outsider	Tiefling
Malefic Seer ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard ●♠30Epic Elite	Native Outsider	Tiefling
Malefic Strongman ^{( view • edit )}	●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard ●♠45Epic Elite	Native Outsider	Tiefling
Messenger of Peaks ^{( view • edit )}	♠12Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard	Magical Beast	Wolf
Messenger of Pits ^{( view • edit )}	♠13Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard	Magical Beast	Wolf
Messenger of Plains ^{( view • edit )}	♠12Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard	Magical Beast	Wolf
Messenger of Prairies ^{( view • edit )}	♠12Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard	Magical Beast	Hyena
Nale Grim ^{( view • edit )}	♦7Normal ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard ●♠48Epic Elite	Giant	Giant
Restless Lion ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard ●♠45Epic Elite	Animal	Lion
Restless Spider ^{( view • edit )}	♦4Normal ●♦19Epic Normal ●♠39Epic Elite	Vermin	Spider
Restless Wolf ^{( view • edit )}	♦5Normal ●♦22Epic Normal ●♥30Epic Hard ●♠45Epic Elite	Animal	Wolf
Spirit of the Hearth ^{( view • edit )}	♦7Normal ♠12Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard ●♠48Epic Elite	Elemental	Fire Elemental
Spirit of the Rain ^{( view • edit )}	♦7Normal ♠12Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard	Elemental	Water Elemental
Spirit of the Rocks ^{( view • edit )}	♦7Normal ♠12Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard	Elemental	Earth Elemental
Spirit of the Sky ^{( view • edit )}	●♦24Epic Normal ●♥33Epic Hard	Elemental	Air Elemental
Thum Grim ^{( view • edit )}	♦7Normal ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard ●♠48Epic Elite	Giant	Giant

External Links