Part XI of the Icewind Dale 2 Walkthrough. Continuing from Part X: Kuldahar.
Dragon's Eye Icewind Dale 2
Dragon's Eye is a cRPG dungeon in Black Isle's cRPG of 2002, Icewind Dale 2. Dragon's Eye dungeon levels 1-3 are complex and non-linear. However, I have written this walkthrough linearly in order to show exactly how success is achieved, step by step.
"HELP. I just went through Dragon's Eye, but I'm missing hemp rope, wyvern stingers and fire agate gems!"
Item codes for hemp rope, wyvern stinger, fire agate:
- Hemp rope: ctrlaltdelete:CreateItem("50MISC38", 4)
- Wyvern stingers: ctrlaltdelete:CreateItem("61HFDGWS", 4)
- Fire agate gems: ctrlaltdelete:CreateItem("00GEM01", 5)
Dragon's Eye Approach. Slay the Frost Salamander welcoming committee. Do not underestimate them. High Sorceress Izbelah will flee after incurring damage. We'll catch up with her in the Magma Chamber later.
Dragon's Eye Level 1
Enter and slay everything in sight. You should be getting really good at that now. Loot the corpses because you need to find Agate x5 and Wyvern Stinger x4. Plus, Hemp Rope x4. Locations are annotated on the map for your convenience. Don't take retrieval of these items lightly: they are progression-critical.
Stay in the west and head south from your starting position. Cast Knock on the chests in the armory and loot your first coil of Hemp Rope. Note the weight. You have to carry four of these and they can't be dumped into your bags. This is one reason why we maxed the Strength score of our Sorcerer. Imaging having to cast a spell or quaff a potion just to carry crap; it's so annoying! Slay the wyverns in their nest and loot them for their Stingers. You need FOUR. Note that wyverns may respawn on-rest.
Ancient Wyvern Lair. DO NOT ENTER ITS CAVE LET ALONE SLAY THE ANCIENT WYVERN YET — DOING SO WILL BREAK THE PLOT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Return to your starting position and head east. Loot the rope bridge for your second Hemp Rope.
Nheero Fhutma
On the other side is a locked prison. Nheero Fhutma wants you to free the captives. Turn the handle on rack in the torture chamber just to the north of the prison in order to open the prison gate (1,200 XP).
In the prison, slay the guards, free the prisoners and talk to Nheero. He wants you to find Mandal. Note you may or may not have to deal with a wizard prisoner at that point. He is dead easy in v.2.01.
Head north through the swinging blades pendulum trap (Mirror Image) and take out High Commander Grishum. The switch on the wall disables the trap.
Place the five agates you have collected into the braziers in order to open the Statue of Sseth which grants you access to level 2.
Dragon's Eye Level 2
Beware of highly annoying Dispel Magic traps. Mandal Graye is found in the east, at a dead end (1,600 XP). Beware the Indiana Jones-style rolling boulder. Your third Hemp Rope is found in the nearby chest (Knock).
SORCERER 24: Charisma +1, Spell Focus: Enchantment. Took feat for Mass Dominate. If you take a level of monk, you can wear the Thunderclap bracers for +1 ApR. So that's 5 ApR mordswords under Mass Haste. I didn't do that because I wanted to remain pure Sorcerer.
Return to Nheero and tell him Mandal's dead. Next, you need to find Mandal's blade.
We're not done with the second level yet, but take the exit that leads down to Dragon's Eye Level 3. It's in the southeast, past the spider horde.
Dragon's Eye Level 3
For now, we're just here to find Mandal's blade. You will be in a circular chamber featuring sharp retractable fangs. Slay everything down here.
In the northeast you will find a fresh water pool into which you must place wyvern potions that you concoct in the lab on level 2 (don't worry about that now). Check the map for the locations of other pools, though you won't have access to them yet. Basically, ignore the pools for now and put the potions out of your mind. I will tell you when to concoct/contaminate.
Find Mandal's Blade. An obstinate Iron Golem is standing over the blade in the eastern section of the area. I.D the blade as The Sword of Myrloch Vale.
The large metal door on a timer only opens at a certain time of the day. All I can remember is that it was open for me on hour 22. Just rest until it opens for you.
Get the Engineering Manual in northeast. Keep it for later. That and the Hemp Rope x4 will enable you to fix a bridge in the Magma Chamber coming up. Take note of this study because we'll be telling Nheero about it.
Exploration is limited down here at the moment. You can't get past the raised drawbridge, there is also a locked treasury, and you can't get past the archway warded by the Eye of Sseth. However, it is vital that you try to enter the prayer room warded by the eye because we need to ask Nheero for a favor in regard to it.
Return to Level 2 and find Mandal in skeleton form (his soul). Note that he may have wandered around a bit. He will show you where he threw the Modified Mandrake Root: over the rock wall and into the Ancient Wyvern Lair on the other side. You probably slew a Feyr, too. As with Sseth's Eye, it is vital that you encounter it.
Modified Mandrake Root
Return to Level 1 and head down into the lair. Slay the ancient wyvern and loot the Modified Mandrake Root. This is critical.
Return to Nheero and tell him you found the root. He will tell you to go and concoct sabotaged histachii brew with it. We need to find a laboratory.
Ok, return to level 2 and head west this time. You will see a chamber with eggs in it. Remember this place. This is where we will meet up with Nheero after we have given him the sabotaged histachii brew.
Head south to find "Nathaniel", a merchant. Don't expose it as a rakshasa yet because the vendor is handy to have for now.
There is a huge battle in the Ziggurat Chamber to the south. You will be up against Yuan-ti Half-Blood Priestesses and Sorcerers. This is where we rescued Mother Egenia in IWD. There is a lab to the south. Clean out the crap lurking within.
Alchemist D'hey-jazerrion will be busily running back and forth, distilling his brew. He will panic and call the guards. Slay them.
Now, place the Modified Mandrake Root on the distilling table and remove the original Mandrake Root (switching one for the other). Also, place the four wyvern stingers on the venom extraction table. Wait until D'hey-jazerrion pulls the lever external to the lab. Magical effects will indicate that the brewing and extraction is in process.
Sabotaged Histachii Brew
Once done, you will receive a confirmation message in your feedback window. Now, loot the Modified Mandrake Root and Sabotaged Histachii Brew and replace the original Mandrake Root to maintain the deception (3,600 XP). Also, remove the four newly-concocted Wyvern Poison Potions from the extraction table.
Note: You can also loot D'hey-jazerrion's notes from one of the bookshelves and perform the alchemical duties yourself. However, this requires that you have 15 ranks in the Alchemy skill, and does not reward extra XP. Thus, why bother.
Return to Nheero and give him the Sabotaged Histachii Brew. He will agree to meet you in the egg chamber on level 2 before taking his leave. Now, at this point you might hear some spellcasting going on in the adjacent cell. It's a crazy prisoner mage. I just dropped Wail of the Banshee on him. This wizard casts Improved Invisibility but you can still see the hostile red circular indicator for targeting purposes (not that WoB requires targeting).
Rendezvous with Nheero in the egg chamber. Amusingly, he will be transformed into histachii. Rest and speak with him again. Ask him for some Sabotaged Histachii Brew. Also, ask about the Feyr and tell him about the library in the lab. He will go there to conduct research.
Rest, and speak with Nheero in the lab in the south. Ask him about Feyr again. He will ask you about the location of a study. Tell him about the one in the northwesten corner of level 3. Nheero takes off for level 3.
Follow. Rest a few times and you will have found out about the impending volcano eruption from Nheero.
Now, quaff the Sabotaged Histachii Brew to turn into an histachii, and enter the prayer room past Sseth's Eye. The drawbridge control is on the shelf. Once lowered, Efreeti will spawn on the other side of the drawbridge. End them.
Thorasskus
Now, talk with Thorasskus. He will cast Sanctuary, shift into a snake, and slither into a tunnel on the southern wall. Follow.
You are now in the treasury. Three important things to loot: Scroll of Protection From Magic (your second find of the campaign), Medallion of the Lost Followers and Hemp Rope (your fourth and final coil).
Exit the treasury to find that not one, not a few, but several Iron Golems have zeroed in on your position from the north. Turn them into scrap metal.
Head back to the central area, where the snake statue is, and take out Thorasskus (300 kXP @ 24th lvl).
Place a Wyvern Poison Potion into each of the four fresh water pools. As Nheero told you, this opens the hydraulic doors. There is one such door in the east that leads to the Magma Chamber. But before entering you might like to go back to Hrothgar's Glen in Kuldahar, now that you have the Medallion of the Lost Followers.
Hostiles: Yuan-ti Archer x8, Yuan-ti Priest x6, Yuan-ti Champion x6, Armored Skeleton x21, Histachii x12, Iron Golem x9, Monstrous Snake x29, Mustard Jelly x10, Olive Slime x10, Efreeti x10, Thorasskus.
At this point, with the Medallion of Lost Followers in your posession, you might like to head back to the Hrothgar's Glen in Kuldahar IWD2 in order to battle The Lost Followers IWD2.
Dragon's Eye: Magma Chamber
While interesting and fun on a first playthrough, this area, in subsequent runs, competes with the Fell Wood maze in regard to sheer boredom. As such, I'm going to cover the bear minimum in order to get myself through this tedious segment.
Anyway, it's Day 5. Slay the impudent Cornugon that gates up to your starting position (before it gates in something else). Then, make your way east, south and west along the perimeter of the area to arrive at the bridge. Repair the bridge with the Engineering Manual and Hemp Rope x4 (check the previous two maps for their locations).
Hemp rope: ctrlaltdelete:CreateItem("50MISC38") [x4]
You will see Inquisitor Venomin regretting that he killed Lord Pyros because that act started a war between the yuan-ti and Lords of Fire. He wishes he could return to yesterday to prevent the damage he has caused. Then, he immolates himself by jumping into the sea of magma.
Basically, in this sequence, we are going back in time to see how events unfolded to get to this point.
Talk with Archon and have him ferry you to the Guardpost. Bluff him that you paid in advance, otherwise, every ferrying costs 300 GP or an item from your inventory. At the Guardpost, you will see the remnants of a jewel-encrusted throne. Next, have Archon take you to Lord Pyros' domain. Slay the remorhaz and milk Ambassador Jasper for info.
Go to the Fields of Slaughter Exit. Zil-t'yor, a beholder, will not let you take the exit. Tell him you will stay, but don't leave. Instead, move back as far as you can go, buff up and summon three remorhazes. Now, have them force-attack one of the enemies. A massive mob will spawn and the remorhazes will tear them to pieces, with you hanging back, hacking with mordsword. Kill everything and leave.
Day 4. Make your way back to Archon: Embassy (exhaust dialogue with ambassador), Pyros' Domain (Venomin kills Pyros), Embassy (watch curtscene, walk north, watch another cutscene), upper levels (slay the shit), Fields of Slaughter Exit.
Day 3: Pyros' Domain (ask questions, learn of play; then head north, Venomin/Pyros talk, optional talk Izbelah), go to Ampitheatre (talk to fire elemental, watch play), King Lothar's Citadel (slay Lothar), Fields of Slaughter Exit.
Day 2: Ampitheatre (watch cutscene), optional mephit pit (trial), Fields of Slaughter Exit.
Day 1: Prevent Izbelah from casting Temporal Stasis. Cast Mass Haste or wear the Boots of Speed. Cast Mirror Image to protect against falling rocks. Go straight to the embassy. Cast Finger of Death on Izbelah before she can cast Temporal Stasis. You can return to Nheero and tell him that the volcano is about to erupt, but you get no XP (grab the three human bodies from the table and put them in your bag of holding - we'll want 'em for Chapter Six). Either way, exit through the Fields of Slaughter exit.
Ice Temple
A cutscene will fire. Nickademus will summon you to take out the fiends. You will have to take out Gelugons x7, Glabrezu x5, Cornugon x5, Red Abashai x5, Lesser White Abishai x5, Lemure x4. How? Mordenkainen's Sword. Loot a crate in the southwest treasury for Potion of Magic Resistance (Permanent 1/- Spell Resistance). You will receive a message when they're all dead. Exit via staircase in the east.
Fields of Slaughter
You are starting in the southwest. You will be confronted by Saablic Tan, Red Wizard of Thay. You will remember him from IWD. Saablic will set his underlings upon you before leaving. Don't underestimate the Slayer Knight of Xvim (Skull Trap). After you're done, you will have to take on a mob of Fallen Bladesingers, too.
Next, Dread Orc Blahg'mah will stop you. Luckily you have pumped Bluff otherwise you would miss out on 6,500 XP here. Bluff Blahg'mah. He will escort you to Kratuuk. Now, bluff Kratuuk that Saablic sent you.
Kratuuk wants you to take out the lich, M'darfein. Head south and take out the undead on other side of the wall, including Festering Drowned Dead.
Help Gorg and the other Dread Orc Warriors take out the Elven Dread Warriors. Now, secure orc help in taking on M'darfein (2,600 XP).
M'darfein
There will be dialogue in the south between M'darfein and Saralon D'frayn. Before the Lich slays the cleric, you will overhear the latter's plan to use Holy Water to sanctify the Fields of Slaughter (1,950 XP).
Destroy M'darfein backed up by ten Elven Dread units. My remorhazes made short work of the lich despite its 25/- bludgeoning resistance. All he managed to cast was a single Horrid Wilting. Yep, a pretty pathetic showing for a lich. Doesn't even have a phylactery like Terikan in IWD. Loot Saralon's corpse for the Vial of Elven Holy Water. Note that Gorg and crew will happily follow you for the rest of the map, but you shouldn't need them. Don't purify the water in the northeast unless you don't want to fight the dread orcs led by Kratuuk (putrifying the water auto-kills undead, map-wide).
Inform Kratuuk of the lich's demise (3,900 XP). In the meantime, Saablic will have informed him of your deception so wipe out the dread orcs completely.
Loot Kratuuk's corpse for Staff of Greater Spell Resistance +5 (3/- MDR) along with the key to the prison. Now, free Tsol Silverblade and the other imprisoned elves (2,600 XP).
(I used the How to be an Adventurer Book for 10,000 XP.)
SORCERER 25: New Spells: Protection From Evil, Blink, Cloudkill, Summon Fiend. Protection From Evil is required for Summon Fiend and Gate. You can't directly control fiends but they are still pretty powerful.
Pour the Elven Holy Water into the waterfall to purify the Fields of Slaughter (3,900 XP).
Ok, next area. Saablic Tan again. He has a massive support crew. You know what to do.
Exit the area to Chapter Six - Severed Hand.
Take me to Part XII: Severed Hand Icewind Dale 2.
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