style="color: rgb(154, 185, 124);">Quest Guide: Depths of Doom
|
style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);">By
Darkgolem
The fourth and final of the "Depths" is the most challenging of
all of the four quests of the series, though arguably the elemental
boss of the "Depths of Discord" quest is perhaps the most dangerous
encounters of all. In this quest, you must defeat the ogre
chieftain, Hammerfist the Mighty, after delving into the length of the
fourth level of the sewer under House Deneith. While traveling
to you foe, you meet undead, minotaurs, slimes, and other dangerous
enemies. You can reach this quest directly from the end of the
Depths of Discord adventure, or from the Hammersmith Inn, where, upon
exiting the inn, you take a sharp left, go left down the stairs, all
the way west until you reach the House Deneith Auctioneer, then take a
sharp right. You will find the sewer entrance in a small
cul-de-sac.
This quest is like all the other of the "Depths" quests, fun, short and
moderately easy. You will need slightly more caution here than in
the other quests, however, for the enemies here are more dangerous, and
at least two use fireball spells regularly, which can be painful to
parties of the appropriate level, since resources at that point of a
adventurer's advancement are somewhat limited.
Zone:
Deneith)
Skeleton Swordsman, Arcane Skeleton, Ghoul, Skeleton, Skeleton Archer,
Wraith, Enraged Rust Monster, Large Earth Elemental, Large Fire
Elemental, Elf Bandit, Troglodyte Chieftain, Troglodyte, Ogre, Ogre
Shaman, Ochre Jelly, Huge Violet Slime, Minotaur Berserker, Minotaur
Shaman,
Bosses
Hammerfist the Mighty, Earthshaker
Objectives:
Slay Argor Soulbane
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album47/Doommap.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 331px;" align="right"> size="-1">When you enter the
adventure, you have the choice of going east or west. East leads
to undead, rust monsters, and a large earth elemental. West leads
to troglodytes, then some ogre's, and some slimes.
The eastern hallway first has a slew of undead, all corporeal. A
little farther on a wraith, and they have a door separating them, so
you cannot aggro both of them at once (thankfully). Past the
wraith, turning north in this passage, is a group of three enraged rust
monsters, past a door. Be prepared with wooden items to avoid
losing bits of your more valuable metallic items. Finally, at the
end of the hall is a large earth elemental at the top of a ramp with a
flow of water going to down it. This fight can be annoying, since
if you step onto the ramp you start moving down the ramp, and then must
run up the ramp (slowly) to hurt the elemental.
The western hallway is not quite as difficult. The troglodytes
are easy, and the ogres, like all ogres, can hurt you if they get a
good hit in, but are otherwise unremarkable. There are two
different types of slimes, an ochre jelly and a huge violet
slime. Remember that ochre jellies are split by lightning.
Both types of slimes are affected just fine by fire. At the end
of this hallway is another earth elemental, again at the top of a ramp
with water flowing down it. More importantly, there is a blade
trap at the top of the ramp, where the elemental is. Be careful
of not fighting the elemental standing on top of the trap as it damages
you.
href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album47&id=Elemental_In_A_Barrel&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album47/Elemental_In_A_Barrel.sized.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 186px;" align="left">In
either hallway, once you have defeated the earth elemental, you proceed
down the ramp to a room strewn with boxes and barrels. This is a
very dangerous room for heroes not "in the know" of what to
expect. There is a single barrel with a red "X" on it which, if
damaged, explodes and releases a large fire elemental. If one is
not watching, this elemental will start fireballing your party,
draining all your healing resources after you defeat it. You gain
nothing by breaking this barrel, it is better just to avoid it all
together.
Turn north, down a watery ramp, to a hallway with a large block in the
center. This block is split evenly in half. There is a very
large, dangerous blade trap that goes right down the split in the
block. To avoid it, style="font-family: tahoma;"> href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album47&id=Honkin_Big_Trap_Ahead&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album47/Honkin_Big_Trap_Ahead.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 187px;" align="right"> size="-1">simply jump up onto the
block, and jump across the split.. it will not trigger if you cross the
block that way, but the trap will trigger if you pass on either side of
the block.
Past the block, you can go left or right. Ahead is a door
with two crystals marking it. These crystals must be lit for you
to continue. You must go both left and right, find the switches
which light the crystals, then continue.
The right (east) hallway leads to another dangerous encounter, a
minotaur berserker and a minotaur shaman. The shaman is more
deadly, since it uses fireball. Quickly kill the shaman and turn
your attentions to the berserker. You do not want the shaman the
chance to spam fireball on you. At the end size="-1"> href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album47&id=Minotaur_Shaman&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album47/Minotaur_Shaman.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 187px;" align="left"> size="-1"> of this hall is a
collectible, and a trap. Disarm the trap if you wish the
collectible (or the experience bonus for disarming traps). In a
side cubby is the switch to light the crystal in the center room.
The left (west) hallway can be empty, or can have a large, named
elemental called Earthshaker. If Earthshaker is here, there will
be chest here too. Past Earthshaker is a door with a
shrine. There is also a switch to light the crystal in the center
hallway.
Once both crystals are lit, you can continue. The rest of the
dungeon is simple enough. The hallway branches, each branch leads
to a different end of the same east/west hallway. Occasionally a
named ogre (Argor Soulbane) is found, but even if defeated, he gives no
chest. At the end of these branches are two ogres (so four
total) plus the ogre chieftain, Hammerfist the mighty. Simply
pick a side, wait until Hammerfist patrols way, and pull the ogres you
can see to you. Some will use bows. If you should charge,
you will go into the view of the remaining ogres you haven't pulled,
and be fighting five ogres, including Hammerfist. It is better
to move out of sight of the archer ogres and allow them to approach, or
take a few (painful) arrows rather than grab all the ogres at once.
Once this hallway is cleared, you will have a chest as a reward.
Unlike the other quests of this chain, there is no benefit to continue,
since there is no lower level's entrance to find. size="-1"> size="-1">
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