Extremely Hard

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OK, I finally hit a snag. I'm in the dungeon beneath the burial isle, and I'm having problems. I'm stuck on the second large group of drowned dead. In the first group, they had to come across a bridge to get you, so you could limit yourself to fighting two at a time. In the second group, there's a staircase leading up to your level, and another path just to the right of it. The opposition consists of about 4 drowned dead, 4 barrow wights, and 2 wailing virgins.

And I get beat down every single time. Probably tried this battle about 10 times already. My initial strategy was to try to limit how many of the drowned dead I'd be fighting, but with two paths to easily reach my group, it's really not possible. I have tried to lure them out to break up the group, but I have only been successful in luring out the barrow wights, and they aren't the problem. So I'm taking suggestions. My party consists of:

Paladin (level 11)
MC F/C (level 9/9)
MC F/D (Level 9/12)
MC F/Illusionist (Level 9/10)
MC F/T (Level 9/11)
Bard (Level 12)

I do cast buff spells on the party, including Bless, Aid, Protection for Evil 10' Radius, and Recitatiion. Also, as you probably have guessed by the level of my party, I am limited to spells of level 5 or lower, except my F/D who can cast level 6 spells.

 

I can't remember if the spell I used is higher than six but I used my sorcerer buffed with mirror image and stoneskin. You move only him into the center of the whole bunch and cast I think sunfire, it's the fire spell which surrounds and is harmful to party members.

Still I can't remember having a problem fighting them HtH, maybe it's because you have a lot of multies. You do use haste do you?

 

I used web and Entangle to contain the numbers, then I used fireball and other fire based spells.

Another thing is, that going back out will call some of the Wights to the entrance so you can kill them at your lesiure without worrying about the wailing virgins.

 

I will try to web theory. In fact, I can't believe that hasn't occurred to me yet. It has a chance against the drowned dead and barrow wights anyway. The wailing virgins, being non-corporeal probably wouldn't be affected by that spell.

Additionally, I have found summons to be nearly useless against them. They hit for so much damage, a typical summon lasts all of one round. The only one that is even around for an appreciable length of time is the elemental that my druid can summon.

I do have a lot of multi-classed characters, but I do not think that is a major problem here. I am at a point in the game where the multi-classed characters are only a couple of level behind the single classed characters.

Also, I have not been using the bard song, as my bard has been casting spells throughout much of the combat. I think she's doing more damage than way than help she can give by boosting the other characters attack values.

 

I used Apeman's strategy, and with the Ring of Wizardry that doubles level 5 spells (available in the magic shop on burial isle) I would cast Sunfire, move away a bit, wait for the undead to surround me, then cast Sunfire again. I killed almost everything both above and below the island this way, and never had a problem.

You could try casting Sunfire (or Fireball) with both Bard and Mage. Though I guess this has already occurred to you.

 

Yeah, I don't have sunfire, so I'm doing the web+fireball option.

 

Hmmm... I do remember the name, but forgot what it does. I currently have my fighter/cleric armed with a +4 warhammer, so I'm pretty much opposed to spending big bucks on another weapon for him, when the one he's got is great. I am assuming that Three White Doves allows for the casting of sunfire at least once per day?

Of course, this is all irrelevant at this point, as I did defeat them last night, using web+fireball, and then launching as many other spells as possible (even things like magic missile and acid arrows) once they closed into melee with my characters.

 

Good for you.
Last time I tried HoW, I had everyone at L15 or so and I still had a hard time.

 

Egad! I may in fact purchase that then! There are boat-loads of undead in HoW!

 

Yeah, in that section, the undead are crazy powerful.

It's an EXTRA-ORDINARY place to level-up in, since the wailing virgins respawn. They're tough, but once you get the place cleared out, you can take them one at a time with no backup being called in against you. It's that first run through there that is wicked harsh. I'd tell you to clear out the entire top-side, first. Then go down into each entrance, and clear out the enemies right there (you're always attacked right near the entrances). This will give you a bit of room to retreat and thin the monsters out before venturing deeper.

Monster summons will help you, simply because they are an extra target to shoot at. Even low level monster summon may give you just enough edge to clear out a nest. There's only 6 or 7 nests of enemies, and once you get those cleared out, they stay cleared out; with only the few respawning virgins left. Figure out where the first enemies are, reload, cast a summons and retreat for a few seconds to let them engage, then attack with everything you've got; fireballs and anti-undead. Sacrifice the summoned foot-soldiers without giving it a second thought.

Don't be afraid to leave and rest. There's also the mage in the far south-west that you can buy spells from.

I would urge you to stick the whole mess out, and use the area to level up. Once you go through there the first time, you can gang up on the virgins, and really level your party up. There's some tough areas later on, and you'll appreciate the experince from those caves. It's tedious work, but once you get the hang of it (being able to whack the wailing virgins at will), you might consider just using Dalekeeper to "speed up the process".

[yes, i know there's a hundred opportunities for sexual jokes; I refrained]

 

I too had a heck of a lot of problems with that dungeon- the wailing virgins I find are the heart of the problem because the drowned dead are just really just far too slow to be a threat if you fight smart.

Firstly, I get the drowned dead/wights to attack my head fighter(s) while a cleric heals him, then from the back I attack the virgins with EVERYTHING else, and if possible, run the fighter up to help, while making sure the monsters are still following him.

Failing this, equip your whole party with magical ranged weapons and/or spells and use hit/run tactics.