Vault of the Night 4

[nonrev]

I spent 3+ hours with a partial TC party last night trying to do this part of the pathway to the dragon. We made it to the boss at the very end but, sadly, couldn't overcome him. I learned a great deal about the tricks in this quest, however. Here's as much of that knowledge as I can recall:

The party needs three very solid and experienced fighters. We had two L10 guys plus a weaker less experienced ghuy who was also having repreated AFK problems (apparently playing while at work). A wiz is also absolutely essential because several party members get killed repeatedly and when you recall all of the manny trolls in the short first part respawn and you need Invisibility and Haste to get past them with a partial party following a recall. We had a great L10 wiz.

When you return after a recall, though, you absolutely need at least one of the fighters to kill off the pack of trolls at the entrance to the very long second part. Until those trolls are killed (about 5 or 6 I think) you cannot enter the second part. This means that a single player genrally cannot recall and make it back to the second part. We generally recalled in groups of 4 or 5 after failing to make it past some key part of the quest.

Inside the first part there are many difficult things to work through, though in one middle part where there are archers gigh above the party we generally made it by just running through. There are one or two shrines and four or five chests. One key problem is a visible trap which looks like pink circles flashing across the narrow path. We never knew exactly what it was. Possibly sonic, though when I tried to run through with a robe of sonic resistance I still took about a 40 HP hit. It can be timed, though, and Haste helps there. We never tried to disarm it as we didn't have a rogue.

We had two clerics -- myself and a L10, though he had not elected to take and Divine Vitality and couldn't re-mannah any of us.

[nonrev]

Sorry. Hit the wrong key.

To continue the prior post...

One hard place is near the end where you have to jump into a waterfall. You need to try to go to the right and land on a high ledge of rocks. Too short and you fall into shallow water; to far and you land among a gang of elementals at the bottom level past the ledge and if alone -- you die. If you fall short there is a geyser than can toss you upward to the ledge or over to the elementals. I found that hard to control, requiring repeated attempts to get up to the rocks, and got tossed too far and died in the elementals a time or two. There is a shrine in the area where the elementals are, though, but it is hard to get to when you're being squashed by them. It seems best to have the fighters go first and have the other party members wait until they have killed off the elementals before trying to jump through.

Anyway, the boss at the end is very tough, and with only two effective fighters we couldn't kill him after three or four recalls leaving one dead guy behind to hold the instance. He has elementals with him at first, and we killed them off several times, but here's a major key: every time he agros a guy who backs away, his footsteps seem to create new elementals who rise from the floor and join in the fight. Any suggestions as to what has been successful with him are welcome, but here are my untested ideas at present:

1) With three solid fighters in the party a bull rush at him to pin him in and keep him from moving and spawning new elementals might just work. It might be a good idea for every party member save possibly a cleric who can raise the dead to join in. The key is to pin him in and not let him run forward.

2) If he agros on somebody, it might be best to stand your ground even if you die, rather than running like a girl (as I did once) and having him chase you back through the dungeon while spawining a host of new elementals. Having a cleric stay back to raise you is a good idea, but won't work if everyone else dies since the boss guy will find you and let you have it.

3) What is the best party? It seems that everyone needs to be L9 or L10 with the fighter types well armored and highly weaponed. As I noted, a top-level wiz with haste and invisibility is essential. The question, then, is one cleric or two... having two clerics who can raise the dead and swap DV to restore mannah seems good, but, boy, would it have been good to have a fourth fighter there at the end. I did find that using wand of searing light worked well in helping to kill off the gad guys unroute to the end, though.

As to pre-quest preparation. Everyone needs to load up on potions of healing since the clerics need to hold mannah for raising the dead. The clerics need several wands of cure and I suggest searing light, too. I ran through three 50-shot wands of cure serious (there's 15K GP gone) and two wands of searing light. The wiz obviously needs to set up haste and invisibility. I don't know about death blocking or warding...

Can TC do it? Heck yes. A prototype party as I see it would be one of our top wizards, a me (of course), J'ice as a second L9 cleric, plus our top fighters as J'fist, Malvar, Duagrim, or Arathorne.

Anyway, I hope this helps us move along to the dragon. Spending 3+ hours to get so close was greatly frustrating, but I'm hanklering to give it a go again ASAP.

NRV

[nonrev]

Oh yeah, there is a large area with toadstools about mid way through the 2nd part. It has three runes of Intelligence that need to be pushed. They are hard to find. One is at water level on what seems like the west side. The other two are high up, requiring the wizard to cross a path of toadstools and walk along a narrow ledge. I never could see exactly where he went up there, but after lots of searching someone found the last two and we got them pushed. That opens the pathway back down at the bottom so you can reach the waterfall.

[sabatuer]

Wow Nonrev.... I don't think I could have written that much info on a quest much less remember anything. Your wisdom has definetly been shown.

Greaseum is on Part III of VoN and trying to lvl as fast as possible.

Here is a web link to a very very detailed description of how to get through the VoN quests. Click on any of the 7 description on how to run VoN. They have maps and everything.

THIS IS THE MAIN QUEST PAGE SO AT THE TOP RIGHT CLICK LVL 8 QUESTS AND IT WILL BRING UP THE VON SERIES.

dndonline.gameamp.com/dnd/viewQuests/0.php



I will be attempting VoN3 and / or Chapters 3 of Threnal East and West tonight if anyone wants to join me. Yes, I have to the 15 minutes of hell in the library....

[malvarironhide]

Nonrev - I believe you are describing VON 3, not VON 4.

The main boss in VON 3 is an Inevitable - a Marut - he is a Lawful extraplanar construct with DR 15/Choas - therefore you need Ture choas or Anarchic weapons ot by pass DR. Also, construct bane (lesser/normal/greater) Shoudl give you extra damage on him, but still need to bypass basic DR

[nonrev]

Mal is right. I meant VoN3, not 4. We need to make a try before the Jupiters leave for Philmont on the 16th.

[dramorion]

I ran that quest as Aranhil with a PUG. We had amazing luck with it, until we got to the construct at the end. None of the party members were prepared with chaos weapons. I'd like to give it a go with TC. I may even know a few tricks from what they showed me to share.

[Ravenmoon]

Let me know also if you want to do this, I have done it 6 times (4 with ravenwolf, 2 with ravenstorm). like any other dungeon/quest/mission, more you do it, the better it gets and easier. Have few extra anarachic (choatic) weapons also. so let me know i will get the group ready and prepared.
Things that you should have: Item/Potion of Invis (when you have to re-enter)
Item/Potions of Protection of Electric, Fire, and Ice and Sonic (in case rogue fails)
Item/Potions of Haste, Jump and Feather Fall
Lots of wands of cure wound...wand/item of fox cunning if there is no wizard (for the rogue or fighter)
A purple weapon
If you have, bring....elf bane, troll bane, beholder bane weapons and elemental bane.
Also have deathblock armor handy.

[nonrev]

Thanks, Raven*. TC really needs to get organized to get all of the high-level toons through VoN, TS, and raid the dragon. The Jupiters are back in a week or so, but I'm up for it as Nonrev most any time I'm on as any of my toons. I have yet to try VoN4 or TS.

[duagrim]

I had a chance to get into a PUG for the Dragon last nite and had to pass becasue I have never completed VoN4. AAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!!!! PuhLEEZE, guys, let's get a group together tonite for VoN and get 1-4 done SOON. Tonight. Heck, I can leave work early and be home in a couple hours. Ok, not really, but can we tray and pencil this in for soon?