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Andora | Glacier | Ice Temple Level 1 | Ice Temple Level 2 | Battle Squares |
ICE TEMPLE – LEVEL ONE
Nathaniel and the other Prisoners
Throughout this temple I'll run into an assortment of foes, Barbarians, Polar Bears, priests of Auril, Winter Wolves, Barbarian Shamans, etc. I'll also run into the odd Ice Golem Champion, which I'll of course need blunt weapons for.
When I first enter I head towards the southwest corner of this level of the Temple. My immediate objective should be to free the prisoners here, but without taking any rests. If I ever rest, one prisoner will get sacrificed each time, which will cost me an experience point bonus for that prisoner.
However, first things first, I'll have to deal with an Ice Golem Champion and a few priests of Auril as soon as I arrive.
I head north for a little bit, and a few Aurilite Priestesses appear to my right. I take them out at a distance with missile weapons, the reason being I do not want to bring any additional enemies into view from the adjoining room to the north.
I then head west towards the prison where I'll have to deal with a few Barbarians and a couple of Polar Bears as well. Lady Elanna shows how effective the Chaos spell can be against numerous and dangerous foes. The inherent saving throw penalty of the spell itself, coupled with Elanna having the Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment feat, means that none of them make their saving throws. They thus often walk around aimlessly while not making any attacks against me.
I then go west and north a little and enter the prison. I then talk to Nathaniel and thoroughly explore all dialogue options with him to get a number of xp rewards. Nathaniel also drops a clue about why magic doesn't work inside the prison, "east and then west".
Tithian now unlocks the door to the prisoners' cells in order to free them. I can rest up after having racked up the xp.
High Priestess Lysara
Now I head north again, but hang back south of the door. Just north of the door will be one of the 3 High Priestesses, Lysara. She'll have help in the form of 3 other Priestesses of Auril, a couple of Winter Wolves, and an Ice Golem Champion.
Also, I don't let myself get caught and stuck at the door. I simply send Lord Markus ahead to talk to Lysara and explore every possible dialogue option in order to score some xp bonuses. Lord Markus then tails it back out the door and regroups with the party. I let them come to me. Of course, putting crowd-control and offensive spells past the door can never hurt. The Priestesses summon a lot of undead, so I literally have to clear them out first just to make room so that I can surround the Golem. Note how I switch weapons depending on the kind of undead I'm facing. Slashing or piercing weapons for corporeal undead, and blunt weapons for skeletal undead. This can get tedious, but it is expedient if you want to clear out the undead with the maximum efficiency and brevity. I then wear down the Ice Golem Champion with magical blunt weapons.
This leaves Lysara, the only Priestess who followed me through the crowd-control zone. Lysara can score pretty nifty damage with touch-based attacks, and cast higher level priest spells, but you simply need to last for a certain amount of time against her before she retires in a sort of 'self martyrdom' for lack of a better way of putting it.
This leaves only her three servitor Priestesses. Lady Elanna has little trouble blowing them away with repeated castings of Fireball.
In the center of this room is a dias. The meaning of the clue "east and then west" should become apparent. Rotate the dias until its hand faces east, and then west. This will end the anti-magic aura in the prison and get you an xp bonus. I get another xp bonus for informing Nathaniel about the human sacrifices being performed by the Priests of Auril.
White Abishai
Now I click on the doors north of where I first encountered Lysara. I then get the clue, "L-North and then R-North". The method is obvious. Rotate the dias leftwards until it points north, and then rotate the dias to the right full circle so that it faces north again.
If you want to get a quest-related xp bonus, make sure you rest up before going north through the doors. The reason is that there are White Abishai in the room on the other side, and they will attack on sight if any party member has anything less than all of his or her hit points. If the party is completely rested and healed, their leader Xhaan makes it clear his pack is willing to leave if I can find a way to undo his magical imprisonment.
Afterwards, just as the party leaves the Prison, there is a secret door leading westwards. This leads to a very long hallway that goes around almost the entire perimeter of this level. I don't show it in these videos, but suffice to say I did go around it getting all the fights I could for the xp.
Anyway, I head south to a few rooms near where I first entered this level. Winter Wolves will be in this room. They can engage in physical attacks, as well as periodically unleash a cold breath attack, but neither is especially dangerous. The rooms also contain magical ammunition as well as some of the pricier gemstones.
Kuldahar Painting
Now I head north and then east along the hallway. How you to respond to the Aurilite Priests and their minions really depends on the situations. Very often, when it's just 1 or 2 Priests, their spells aren't exactly life-threatening. You can very often just let physical combat take care of itself, like I did for the first fight in this video. However, note that I don't rush through the door. Again, letting 1 or 2 characters get jammed at the door is less than an optimum situation. I simply send Markus ahead, have him regroup, and let the monsters follow me through the door.
This theme repeats itself for the next fight as I continue to head east.
I continue north, and for the next fight I handle things differently. There's several Aurilite Priests in an adjoining room to the east. But they're spread apart. So, I send Fireballs through the door to obliterate the 2 that are at the south edge of the room. I then Fireball the Priests at the north end of the room from outside the fog of war. Once one of the Priests dies I have Akutagawa hide and then sneak up on the remaining Priest. Her fate is sealed once Akutagawa holds her still with a Stunning Fist. Everybody else then marches in for the mop up. An Ice Golem Champion is on its way, so I finish off the Barbarian and the Winter Wolf first. After that, I switch over to blunt weapons and take down the Golem.
The room to the north is a treasury with several crates. A lot of them have gems, ammunition, and a spell scroll for Confusion. One of the Crates has a buckler, Knucklehead (+3 armor class, no armor check penalty, 15% chance of arcane spell failure). Tithian equips this as his secondary shield. The first weapon set will eventually be the Brilliant Short Sword + Sad Giant's Cap. The second weapon set will eventually be the Moonblade + Knucklehead.
There is a trapped door just a little south of the treasury. It leads to a painting of Kuldahar. The painting acts as a teleporter, the destination depending on what word you speak in front of the painting. But I don't intend to use it just yet.
High Priestess Cathin
Now I make my way towards the south-central room. Inside will be High Priestess Cathin, 2 more Aurilite Priestesses, as well as a Winter Wolf. I keep things simple. Tithian now has Stinking Cloud in his repertoire, so he places one right on top of the Priestesses. This often knocks them out an prevents them from casting spells. Lady Elanna naturally obliges with Fireball after Fireball. This method works for spellcasting type foes who often will remain stationary and won't come forward. The Winter Wolf charges forward, but is soon chopped down by my warriors.
By the time Cathin manages to come forward and break free of the Stinking Cloud, it's too late. She's by herself, and soon succumbs to death. She leaves behind a Glacial Resilience armor, a Battleaxe +1, as well as an Iceaxe +1 (50% chance of +1d6 cold damage).
Ondabo
Now I continue north from where I killed Cathin. A door on the left can only be opened by the dias combination, "L – Southwest, R – Northwest". So Akutagawa, being the fastest moving character so far, simply runs back to the dias, performs the combinations and regroups after the door opens. The room itself has various priestly items.
The next door doesn't require anything special, but has books and journals of various sorts.
The next door leads to the Aurilite Priests who caused the airship to crash. I spare them as a roleplaying choice. Also present is an ocean genie named Ondabo. The point here is to engage in enough dialogue to learn the true name of the spirit bound to an altar in the temple, "Caged Fury".
Ice Trolls
I recommend backing up your save game before going to the next room to the north. There's a specific reason for this.
A dozen Ice Trolls will be in the next room, and getting surrounded by them can be a bother. I find crowd-control handy to use here as well. Akutagawa, being the fastest character, goes north just long enough to get their attention and then zips right back. Alliria and Lady Elanna now set up their spells. Notice how Tithian can now add Stinking Cloud into the crowd-control mix.
It goes without saying that Elanna blasts away with Fireball after Fireball. Even if the Fireball only does enough to knock the Trolls down, Elanna will immediately follow through with another Fireball to deliver fatal fire damage to the lot of them.
When I enter the room, there's a trap door that opens to reveal the stairs to the next level of the Temple. Or at least it's supposed to open to reveal the stairs. The thing is, killing the Trolls is supposed to act as a script trigger that allows the party to open the door. Problem is, it doesn't always work. Once in a while, I have to reload the backed up savegame and repeat the fight.
In any event, the stairs lead down to the second level of the Temple.
