This is a post in response to a question in another post. I'm putting it here so as to not further derail the other thread. It was a reply to Myst who asked about the Abyss spawns. Hopefully some other people might find it useful too.
TO GET INTO THE ABYSS: You must do a quest, but the traditional quest we have been guiding people through is long, annoying, and dangerous for newer characters. There is another quest where you simply go to Ter Mur and answer four questions. Kits for doing this are available from me, or from the PAS Crafters House. They have a recall rune to the correct spot (no spawn) and a book with instructions and answers to all the questions. Takes about two minutes.
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Myst, a couple of links that have helped me with the Abyss...
http://uo.stratics.com/php-bin/show_con ... tent=31085
That's a map showing all the entrances, minichamps and, if you scroll down, which imbuing essences drop where. There are also two player-owned houses down there (owners were picked by lotto or contest or something) which, on Sonoma, are linked via teleporters to houses in Luna near the PAS Corner Market. I just typed out how to find them but it was a useless tangle of words, so I'll show you sometime in-game. For me, these teleporters are often the quickest route to where I want to go.
In the very NW corner is the Silver Sapling, and you can rez there anytime. But understand that the chasm splitting the Abyss down the middle is only crossable through the Slasher of Veils, which is probably the nastiest mob in the game. If you are in the Eastern half of the Abyss, you are often better off hitting the house teleporter and rezzing in Luna.
Lastly, here is a link to UOGuide that has better information on the minichamps. And yes, a sampire is probably the fastest template for most of them, but tamers and mystic mages also work well, and archers are probably better than sampires on a couple of them, like the Stygian Dragon Lair Entrance spawn.
http://www.uoguide.com/Mini-Champs
I have soloed all of those minichamps at least a couple times, and most of them dozens of times. I would be happy to take you down there and show you the ropes.