KotSD Blog

Quest: The Vale (2) - Rainbow In The Dark [LV16]

Our adventure began with Marsalle [15 Sorcerer] , Sophifina [13 Cleric] , Keegen [14 Paladin] and Sympl [10/3/1 Rogue/Barbarian/Wizard] meeting in Meridia and heading north towards the quest entrance. Since this was the first time for Sympl and Sophifina we cleared a path to the entrance (slow) rather than just running (Fast). Once at the quest entrance Marsalle and Sophi back tracked a bit to shrine and top off before entering.  This quest is unique in that 99% of the dungeon is completely dark and the only good source of light is a scepter that one of the characters takes from a podium at the beginning of the quest and equips. Once equipped, it lights a defined radius around the character holding it. Un-equip it and the dungeon goes dark.  My initial plan was to have Sophifina hold the scepter but she was only 13^th level, so Marsalle took it.

NOTE: Scepter = +5, transmuting, greater potency VII, Arch Magi (+200sp), level 14 required

As we proceeded into the dungeon it became very clear that we had to move together. There were a few places where jumping up ledges are required. If the light bearer didn’t stay in the middle it was easy to miss a jump and fall into the darkness. Luckily with a few tries everyone made it past the first ascension. There were lots of dense earth elementals and rust monsters along the way. We also encountered a beholder. While this isn’t normally a big deal, having turned a corner in the dark to come face to face with it is a bit different. Not to mention the spiked pits in the floor that you can’t see if you move outside the radius of light. Since this was not a full group, and we were below the level of the dungeon, Marsalle contracted the help of Rage, a 10^th level warforged barbarian (hireling) and Sophifina summoned her pet “Daisy”, an Efretti. With the 6 of us, we plodded forward killing everything in our path until we met the Gelatinous Cube. While fighting the cube, several bearded devils, Orthons and a few other things mixed in, we had or first party wipe.

This is where it got really interesting. Since Marsalle died one third of the way into the dungeon, that meant the light source dropped adjacent to his stone. If we re-entered the dungeon without a reset, we would be plodding along in the dark. With that in mind, only Marsalle and Sophifina released. Characters that didn’t need the spell points remained in the dungeon to hold the instance.

Since this was no longer our first try, Marsalle and Sophi ran past everything in the vale to the dungeon entrance and hopped right in. The first room has a few glowing features but after that it was just dark. I mean pitch black! We were navigating using our expanded map and test jumping from memory. The feather falling down wasn’t a big deal but the ledge to ledge ascension was ridiculous. We tried blinding light (Everbrite weapons), searing light, firewall and everything else we could think of to light the room enough to see where the heck we were going. The only thing that remotely helped was the disco ball. Marsalle threw 7 or 8 disco balls in that room alone. We would jump, throw a ball or two, jump and throw another one. We couldn’t actually see the ledge but if you placed the disco ball correctly and pan the view of your character correctly you can impose the ledges into the light of the disco balls and figure it out.

Once the ascension was behind us we were able to make it to the fallen party. Just as we were approaching the party Tweek [13/3 Fighter/Ranger] joined us to lend a hand. Sophi raised dead on everyone and Marsalle backtracked to light the way from Tweek. Twenty minutes later, we party wiped again. Another mob, another gelatinous cube. This time, we all recalled and started over. Break party, regroup, haste, sprint to the entrance, jump inside.

With Tweek along and everyone more familiar with the mechanics of the dungeon, we moved forward at a faster pace. At least until we progressed beyond our earlier attempts. This time, deep into the dungeon we decided to try an optional hallway that puts us face to face with many rust monsters and a named beholder. We lasted a reasonable amount of time but Marsalle was feebleminded for the majority of the time and unable to get any spells off. Sophifina was only 13^th level so her spells were being resisted. With limited healing and support spells it was only a matter of time before the beholder overcame us. We party wiped for the third time and called it a night.