Ahem. ARRRRRRR RRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRR

[Vaprakgruumsh]

LOL! So is it me, or is anyone else having trouble in the Southwest Wilderness (name could be wrong? I am at work typing this and the laptop is at home!)

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So, how do you beat the friggin 6 cultists, 2 deathlords, and the Sorceress Queen (I think that's her name)?

Yeesh. The cultists are broken into two groups of three, and I only have one person who can cast SILENCE. And everytime I try to nail one of them with silence, not all of them are silenced. So while I spent my time trying to shut up that group, the others will cast Summon Elemental.

Then the death lords break out with Death Wish. (Although I need to remember to do Soul Shield, and I imagine that should help - but the same person who has silence is the one who casts soul shield).

My characters are all level 13. (But they're not "geared up" to be the best combo of race/class. I wanted to challenge myself, but this is insane)! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. (And that whole, peeking around the corner thing almost worked... Till those Death Knights got those repeated Instant Death spells off)! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Vaylord]

That is just a plain tough fight and your strategy for beating it will vary wildly from party to party. Make sure you have soul shield, element shield, magic screen, armorplate, and enchant blade up. And if you are high enough turncoat the cultists. Other than that charge and wade into them. at least that is what my party did.

[Vaprakgruumsh]

I think I need to get Elemental Shield... that'd probably help... I have sworn to come back for them... I swear I am gonna get my characters to like level 99 and come back and mow through those punks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Scronan]

Hi Vaprakgruumsh (that's a cool nick btw, what does it stand for?),

SPOILER SPACE
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Level 13 is a little too greenhorn to take on the Queen and her minions. I originally tried at that level and I got killed many times and finally gave up to try later. I'd say level up to at least level 15 before taking them on. I waited until my party was level 16-17 and then went in there and cleaned house without any trouble.

There are many ways to do this battle, but here is some of what worked for me and my recommendations:

Cast every @##$! enchantment you can get, most specifically Magic Screen, Haste and Enchanted Blade. Also, Chameleon if you have it since you need the element of surprise.

The main problem with this battle is distance. You enter a castle where as soon as you walk in, you face a horde of formidable foes already in a good battle formation. Plan yours accordingly, since your first order of business will be to take out the 6 Cultists. You've probably seen how they will just call out a ton of Elementals, which will make an already tough battle even more difficult.

So, using Chameleon if you can, try your best to RUSH the damn place and get as close to the enemeies as you can. Before the Cultists cast any magical enchantments, you can use some spells. Whipping Rocks or an Earth realm spell work good, since they only have about 60-80 HP each and not a lot of resistance to Earth as I recall. Muting them will work, but its not very reliable most of time.

Another reason to wait until Level 15, it will enable your Priest to cast Resurrect, and you will need this as well as having some Resurrection Powder for the Death Wish spell.

Unfortunately, the Death Lords will kill some of your party with their spells, there's not a lot ways to prevent it. I've tried to mute them with no avail. Although they took out of one my characters with that damn Death Wish spell in the battle, he was resurrected and back in the fray before the Queen knew what happened.

Death Lords are really not that tough alone, but they are tough with other enemies around. You want to get within melee range ASAP and just hack away at them with your Fighters and other warriors. Their one weakness (besides Dispell Undead or Banish) is Blindess. If you have a higher level Gagdeteer, having him use his Omnigun to blind them, or try Blinding Flash (the Omnigun seems to work better). Once blinded, they can't cast spells or fight effectively, and will take double damage from your attacks.

Once the 6 Cultists are dead, work on the Death Lords and the Queen. She only has about 300 HP and will fall pretty fast if you have some high level warriors gang up on her. If you have a Ranger, give them your best arrows (Mystic Arrows work great here) and have them target the Queen and pick away as you fight the other foes.

Once the Queen or the Death Lords are alone, rush them and just keep attacking them until they are dead.

Converesely, having a Bard helps, and if you have some higher level instruments like the Dulcimer of Mending (Heal All), Arresting Aria (Freeze All), Cornu of Demonspawn (Banish), Silent Lyre (Silence), these will really help out, espeically in conjunction with a high level Priest.

If you need any more tips, let me know your party's classes and I could offer some other ideas.

Its a tough battle, but you will get some *NICE* rewards, which make it well worth all the trouble and then some. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Good luck!

Best

Scronan

[Vaprakgruumsh]

That's some _GREAT_ advice. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I ended up leaving them alone, swearing vengeance on them and set a portal just outside, so when I am high enough, to come back and walk all over them. [img]smile.gif[/img]

So I will probably head back when I am 16 or 17 or so. Because with that (I just got resurrection as a spell for my priest)! But I also need more protective spells (I still don't have elemental screen, opted for some other spells and have not gotten elemental shield, because until now, casters weren't really in the cards when fighting... now I am fighting them, hydromancers, geomancers, yeesh, casters coming outta my rump now!)

One thing, ya mentioned Haste, which is a Psionic spell... right now I so wish I had a psionic for them casters, cuz of haste and more so because of "Eye for An Eye"... (and I guess for Chameleon as well! Yeesh!)... although an alchemist can do chameleon... don't have one of those either (but have considered making my ranger into that eventually - any thoughts on that?)


So go Cultists, then Death Lords, then Queen. Sounds good. (Aside with that mix of elementals they throw in - though I must say I love my PC's character reactions, "Hrm, this is more than I bargained for!" "The hordes keep coming!" "I think I am in over my head!") [img]smile.gif[/img]

As for my party...

Lizardman - Lord
Felpurr - Valkyrie
Hobbit - Rogue
Rawulf - Ranger
Faerie - Priest
Elf - Mage

Heh, can ya tell I wanted to challenge myself? LOL

As for where my nickname comes from...

It's from AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)...

Vaprak is the troll god while Gruumsh is the orc god.

This came about when I was playing *shudder* EverQuest, and my friend wanted to make an evil (role playing) guild. And I was gonna make a troll shaman named "Vaprak", but the name was taken. So I tried "Gruumsh" (my favorite evil god in AD&D), also taken. So then I combined them to make "Vaprakgruumsh." [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Scronan]

Hi again,


SPOILER SPACE
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Cool about your name. Everquest eh? I'll forgive you this time, for shame! And they call it an RPG...well it is, but its like Kenny G is to Jazz in my book. And I am a semi-pro Jazz/Sax musician for the record, heh. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I think your party sounds fine. I don't have any Psionic magic either, so just find or buy Potions of Haste, and just one will boost the speed of all of your party members for a few rounds. The same goes for a Chameleon potions (might be called Shadow Potion). Also, you could enlist the help of Urq, he's a Mook Psionic in Arnika, never had him as an NPC but he might be some help to you.

Just get your Ranger some Alchemy skill and he can learn a few spells to help out, but it sounds like your pretty heavy in the magic department already. Do you have any NPC's? I had Vi and Madras with me, and they helped out a lot.

Hmm, it would help to have a Fighter, so do you have the Bloodlust sword? If you do, give it to your Lizardman Lord and give him a high level Superman enchantment. He can be the "take em out" guy for you while the others assist.

It is much easier once you have a few more levels, so please let us know when you defeat Queen. I'm eager to hear how the battle goes for you. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Best

Scronan

[Case00]

I found that if I started combat, then moved to the left a little (while still in the hallway, not the big room) that the fight was pretty easy. The baddies can only come at you a few at a time, and the first person to reach you is the queen. The cultists don't melee you, but they so few hitpoints that a few arrows or fireballs later and they are goners.
My biggest piece of advice is to cast Soul Shield as soon as possible. I didn't lose a single guy to the Deathlords, and I had to save them for last.

[Vaprakgruumsh]

I have Vi and the Savant droid with me during the fights... I almost won (LOL! Okay, came as close as I ever will), but standing to the side so I could only see the cultists on the side, engaged in combat, cast silence on them (got 1 out of 3, I hate that!), and invoked an elemental at full power. The elemental went in there and kicked but o the three cultists, then engaged on the death knights, while I blasted away with fireballs and ice balls (until the Queen cast elemental shield I believe, because suddenly it went from 40 damage, to about 5, LOL). Then when the elemental got surrounded by the cultist's other elementals, I did Guardian angel on my lizardman lord, then superman on the lizardman lord, and rushed in. Then, since Vi was in the back, had her cast guardian angel on my valkyrie, and went at it.

The death lords came in with death wish and took out 3 of my party, including my priest, so healing went out the window. Then it went downhill from there, VERY rapidly. [img]smile.gif[/img] But I managed to take out 3 cultists, 2 death knights, and an unknown amount of elementals. [img]smile.gif[/img]

My poor rogue was the last to be standing.

But yeah, going back when I am higher (just got resurrection as a spell) to walk all over them! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Dajjer]

quote:

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Originally posted by Vaprakgruumsh:
LOL! So is it me, or is anyone else having trouble in the Southwest Wilderness (name could be wrong? I am at work typing this and the laptop is at home!)

So, how do you beat the friggin 6 cultists, 2 deathlords, and the Sorceress Queen (I think that's her name)?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. (And that whole, peeking around the corner thing almost worked... Till those Death Knights got those repeated Instant Death spells off)! [img]smile.gif[/img]

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As Nelson from the Simpson's would say:

Ehhh, Hnnnnn

I did the same as you and literaly spent a whole day trying to beat that crowd. Finally I figured I was just too weak. And to top it off, as I made my way back down the mountain I was attacked by a Hogar that kicked my butt a few times.

[Vaprakgruumsh]

The Hogar that seems to be magic resistant to everything? Aye, I ran into him also.

Also kindly ran into geomancers and hydromancers... which, I don't know if it was a bug or just the way they can cast - I had silenced the hydromancers (it was 2 hydromancers and 1 water elemental) - and yet, somehow they were still able to cast, despite it saying 2 of them were effected by the silence spell (they kept healing themselves).