Green, Ring of the Dead, and DE SKs

[Videri]

Do you have to raise The Dead faction to do this quest, and to what level? Ally, max ally, warmly? If I'm not mistaken, you may have to farm some of the named Gnomes in LFay or CB to raise The Dead faction before you can get the ring. That means getting it isn't a trivial time investment. People will need a pretty good reason to level a DE SK, faction up, and repeatedly do the Thex Mallet quest until you get the Ring of the Dead.