Ice Caves of Sorrow (mission)

Ice Caves of Sorrow mission map.

This is a mission entry. For information on the mission outpost Ice Caves of Sorrow, see Ice Caves of Sorrow (outpost).

Mission Objectives

Rescue Evennia

• Find a way into the holding area.
• Break Evennia out of her cell.
• Escape with Evennia to the awaiting ice ship.
• BONUS Return news of Rornak Stonesledge to Hamdor Grandaxe.

Background

The truth about the White Mantle has been revealed. They are a cult worshipping strange beings known as the Mursaat. Having achieved Ascension, you are now (supposedly) ready to return to save the Shining Blade and stop the White Mantle. While you were away, the White Mantle have cornered the Shining Blade into the Shiverpeak Mountains and have captured both Evennia and Saidra, and now plan to sacrifice them on the Shiverpeak Bloodstone.

Primary

You begin the mission facing a group of Pinesouls and Ice Imps. Beware, because near them there will be a group of Mursaat Elementalists. They are the floating beings with golden outfits and black tentacles coming out of their backs. Avoid them at all cost. All Mursaat (this includes spell casters as well as Jade Armors and Jade Bows) have a power called Spectral Agony. For now, this power will wipe out your entire party in a matter of seconds. It will massively drain away your health.

Sneak around the Mursaat and head left. You will come across an area being pounded by seige weapons and several groups of Stone Summit. Kill them and pass the seige area. You will see a bridge and a way down onto an icy path (where the Stone Summit have set up their seige weapons). Go onto the ice and destroy the group protecting the first seige weapon and then the second. Fire the second weapon (point A) and you will see a cut scene where a herd of Yaks rampages through the White Mantle encampment and helps destroy the seige weapons and forces for you. (Note: Do not skip the cut scene. Skipping this cut scene can prevent the whole party from getting a morale boost for destroying the catapults. You should get 8%.)

Now, go back up and cross the bridge into the White Mantle camp. Immediately up the hill will be a gate guarded by Jade Armors. Avoid them. If you continue to the left of that gate, you will find a path around to another door guarded by the less imposing White Mantle. Kill the patrols, grab a keg from the nearby powder station (point B) and blow the door away.

You will enter an ice cave. If you keep to the left side of the cave, you will be able to go around all the Mursaat groups (facing a few White Mantle groups) and out into an area that has a circular path with a pit in the middle. Evennia and Saidra are opposite to you on this circle (point C). You can go either left or right around the pit, but there is one patrol of Mursaat to avoid, which is easier if you go left. Then there is a patrol of White Mantle Savants and Sycophants, which you can take out. There you will find a cave that will take you around the left side of the circle to very near the cell. There is another patrol of Mursaat to dodge here. Get a keg from the nearby powder station (point D) and blow the cell door.

A cut scene will show you that Saidra sacrificed herself for you. Boo hoo. Now you will need to blow a gate, then run Evennia to the ship. Follow the red path on the map to the ice ship (point E).

Notes

Despite her assertion that you should stop for nothing, Evennia will stop and engage any enemy that crosses her path. If you wish to run, keep an eye on her; if she stops to engage, you will have to engage too.

When you near the ship (point E) there will be some Stone Summit (with a boss) engaging the dwarves that run the ship. It is not confirmed if they actually wipe out the crew if you move too slowly. Do not wait to find out. As soon as you can, engage them and destroy them.

The Mursaat following you (a large host that will emerge after you come out of a small cave past Evennia's cell) are very slow. You do not need to panic: engaging every Stone Summit group on the way does little to worsen your chances of making it. The Mursaat will be wiped out by catapult fire near the end of the path to the boat.

Tip 1: If you are having trouble keeping Evennia alive, you can leave Evennia and Saidra inside their prison and move ahead without Evennia, keeping ahead of the large Mursaat group and clearing the route of Stone Summit as usual, but with no fear of Evennia dying. For their part, the Mursaat will still follow slowly behind you, but you can take cover down the hill from the bridge and wait as they obligingly get themselves killed by Stone Summit siege weapon fire. Then simply go back, retrieve Evennia, and proceed normally to kill the few remaining Stone Summit and get to the ship.

Tip 2: You can also fetch Evennia and then let the Mursaat get ahead of you. They'll slice through the Stone Summit and then get themselves killed by siege weapon fire. Follow them at a distance, and once they've done your work for you and gotten killed, proceed as described above. Note: It has happened that the Mursaat have got stuck on the northernmost part of the path, before reaching the area where they are killed. If this happens, try sending a party member to try to lure them ahead.

Bonus

The bonus in this mission is rather straightforward, but requires that you fight at least two groups of Mursaat. At this point, you probably have no infusion on your armor (next mission) and so you cannot stand up to the Mursaat. However, if you run all the way up to Mineral Springs before this mission and find the seer there, he can infuse your armor.

Anyway, the bonus is to rescue an imprisoned dwarf. There are two parts to this bonus:

1. The prisoner, Rornak Stonesledge, is located in a cell that is inside the ice cave you took to get to the circular path. Before exiting the cave, you will see a path in the cave to the right (green path on map). This path is guarded by Jade Armors. Fight them, and then fight the Mursaat spell-casters after them. You will then get to a locked door (point 2); blow it open with a powder keg (powder stations at point A and point D). This door leads to a snowy path guarded by White Mantle; at the end you will find a small cell with Rornak inside (you'll need to blow it up to speak to him).
2. There is a second dwarf, Hamdor Grandaxe, who is looking for the prisoner. He can be found after rescuing Evennia. After you blow the gate to flee, you will enter a short ice cave. After you come out, you will see a path and a large number of Mursaat coming from your right. Evennia will ask you to run; ignore her advice and wait at the exit from the caves. The group of Mursaat will pass from the right to the left. Now go where they came from and you should see Hamdor there (point 3).

Now you can actually go about doing this bonus in either order:

• Free Rornak and have him follow you to Hamdor.
• Speak to Hamdor; he'll ask you to look for Rornak. Go back and free Rornak and he'll thank you and you'll get the bonus (with the added benefit of not having him follow you).

Either way, you will notice that when you come out of the cave to speak to Hamdor, the large host of Mursaat will appear and will be ahead of you on your way to the boat. This is not as bleak as it seems. You can just follow them slowly, and the catapults of the Summit will take them out before they get to the boat. If you don't want to follow the Mursaat, but want to talk to Hamdor, you might let them lead your group until they get to point 4, where they will engage some Stone Summit. You can quickly take the other route (the green one) to get ahead of them.

Bosses and Skills

The following bosses can be encountered during the Ice Caves of Sorrow mission:

• Arlak Stoneleaf: Cleave
• Virag Bladestone: Cleave
• Berg Frozenfist: Water Trident
• Jonar Stonebender: Crippling Anguish
• Hormak Ironcurse: Offering of Blood
• Darda Goldenchief: Mark of Protection

Additional Notes

The players will be in Iron Mines of Moladune at the completion of this mission.