Blacklake District

Ah, what a beautiful district… Well it's the No Man's Land actually. Diseased thugs and dogs running around trying to infect you. Reminds me of Resident Evil. Hehe. Alright, jokes out of the way talk to the person at the gates and he will tell you that some Half-Orc has taken power in here and is doing whatever he wants. He tells you that he's usually in the tower. Now it's up to you. Do you want to kill this bastard? Say yes, because you'll get a bit more experience points that way. Alright! Let's go kill this Loxar dude.

No Man's Land boss - Loxar the Half-Orc. He can really piss some players off because he can hit quite often but you should have enough potions to outlast him. First, kill his pet and only then attack Loxar. That way you will be hit less times and will have better chances surviving the battle. Personally, I, had absolutely no trouble with this guy. I had 24 AC with my fighter and he couldn't even hit me. It was fun. After you kill him, take the head back to the guy at the gates and keep the adamantite for those special items at the Shining Knights.

In the real Blacklake district you can find another Never tomb which is to the left of the entrance. There is a girl outside the house mumbling something about Halueth. At the Board Laid Bare tavern you can show your Gauntlet pass if you have it and fight for the ownership of the bar. The fights are actually pretty easy and you should have no problems. In the Blacklake district there are also two estates for the Moonstone Mask quest. Northeast of the district, entrance in a "town square" or rather circle you can find Formosa (?) who is agitating people to brake into Meldanen's estate and get a key to a warehouse and so on. You can agree to help her or you will have a chance to work with Meldanen and kill her. To get to the Meldanen's estate you can persuade or bribe the guard or you can find an old woman walking around the estate called Milly and get her to tell you a secret of getting into the estate/mansion/dungeon/whatever. When you're inside the estate, you will encounter a dumb half-orc who will want you eye-dehn-tee-fide (identified). You can persuade him to let you in or just tell him to forget you. I suggest taking the left door and go up until you encounter an adept. I didn't find anything interesting in the other rooms. If you took the left door, you should come to a prison where you can free a prisoner and then collect your reward from a guard in the Board Laid Bare tavern.

Enemies to beware:
Meldanen's adept/student/wizard guarding the stairs down. Now this dude is an asshole. Sorry for the bad language but it's true. Once I entered the room I was attacked by a dire boar that blocked the way to the wizard himself. While I was fighting the boar, the wizard cast three Ice Storm spells and I was dead. Happened two times in a row. The third time I loaded the game, I was lucky because I got through the boar and concentrated all my attacks on the wizard and he fell quickly. So I guess the best tactic is to rush in and dispatch the wizard quickly before he casts his Ice Storm spells.

In the lower floor you will eventually encounter the locked dryad and Meldanen himself.

Boss - Meldanen. Luck is all that counts here if you don't have any protection from cold/elements. I know I didn't… Meldanen almost instantly casts Stoneskin on himself and then begins casting Cone of Cold spells. And he has lots of them. A single Cone of Cold can do about 50 damage to you but most often they did about 20. Anyway, if you let him cast this spell, you're in big trouble. The best tactic I found if you're without protection from the elements, having a ranged weapon at the start of the battle. As soon as he appears, shoot him with your ranged weapon and it will hopefully disrupt his Stoneskin spell. Once you do that, just bash him in the head and eventually he'll give up. And knockdown doesn't hurt either… If you have it that is.

Once he gives up you can do whatever you want. You can kill him or work for him or ask him for a key and let him go or get the key and his tooth or you can even kill him, then go kill Formosa. The choice is yours. But remember your goal - the dryad. Get her lock of hair and take it to Aribeth. You're done here.