Welcome to Part XVI of my Icewind Dale walkthrough; this part covering the Fallen Temple cRPG dungeon, Brother Perdiem, Ascension Cave and Brother Poquelin.
Fallen Temple
The sins of the flesh must be purged. Purged on an altar of fire!
With your blood and bones, we will build an empire of living pain!
Come! Come to the hallowed temple of suffering! - Brother Perdiem.
The Fallen Temple was known in the days of Dorn as the Temple of Berronar Truesilver. Long past its glory days, the temple is now teeming with undead led by the Ilmaterian priest, Brother Perdiem. However, Perdiem is not a willing lieutenant of Poquelin. He and his Illefarn congregation were infiltrated by Poquelin and then brainwashed by his charismatic sermons after Poquelin gained a deep understanding of Ilmater, and how to manipulate their tenets, by reading Perdiem's mind. As a result, the priests abandoned their monastery for Lower Dorn's Deep and left the sick and dying to their fate. Many died along the way, but those of the congregation that survived the arduous journey ended up right here, where those who resisted Poquelin's golden idol were turned into undead, and those who didn't were dominated and enthralled.
Brother Perdiem
Brother Perdiem is found standing by the Truesilver throne and protected by a force-field that makes him all but immortal. He has been dominated by Poquelin:
As have Sister Incylia...
... Brother Adson...
... And Brother Harken, all of whom are similarly shielded:
The only way to break their domination and enthrallment is to shatter the golden idol.
Problem is, there is an undead horde to contend with. We're up against two dozen boneguard skeletons, nine zombie lords and - worst of all - five greater mummies. The mummies are particularly problematic because they are able to cast their spells without limit (innate spells).
One of the spells they cast is the immobilizing 1-turn duration Symbol of Hopelessness aka Emotion: Hopelessness. MR and saves ward off its crippling effect, but, to my knowledge, only Chaotic Commands, Globe of Invulnerability and Pale Justice grant us guaranteed immunity to this nasty immobilizer.
Golden Idol
The golden idol is responsible for transforming the congregation into undead form. Guarded by a quartet of greater mummies, this nasty ornament is problematic as well in that it casts Finger of Death, Power Word: Kill and Flesh to Stone. FoD can be warded by a shield named Mystery of the Dead (a guaranteed find), PW:K is only deadly if we have fewer than 60 HPs, but FtS can only be warded by chance-based MR and saves. FoD and PW:K actually chunk our characters from the portrait bar, meaning we can't resurrect them. And if our petrified characters are hit while petrified then they are chunked into shards of stone and also gone for good. The idol sports 120 HPs and AC -7 so it's best to have our THAC0 and damage lords rush in and mob it.
Upon shattering the golden idol, any extant undead are instantly vanquished, area-wide, and the force-fields around the priests are dispelled. Perdiem is repentant and informative:
As are the other priests. Perdiem hands over his badge (150,000 XP), and now we have all six of them.
Now, what to do with them? Well, in this temple, there is an invisible barrier blocking access to a stairwell that leads to Ascension Cave and a showdown with Revered Brother Poquelin himself. The invisible barrier is removed by placing each of the badges into their corresponding slots seated at the foot of the spiral stairwell [pic].
Ascension Cave
Revered Brother Poquelin
We finally confront Revered Brother Poquelin in Ascension Cave. Oddly, he is surrounded by cats, bears, wolves and chickens. Along with his bloodied vestaments and lack of weapon, this is part of his Ilmaterian priesthood act.
... but he soon bathes the cave in fire and foes. First, though, the fully-voiced dialogue:
The conversation is quite lengthy, but here it is quoted in full:
He then goes on:
And on...
And on...
And on...
Crenshinibon Lore
Readers of R.A Salvatore's The Crystal Shard (1988) will know all about Crenshinibon: it is an evil, sentient power-obssessed artifact that dominates its possessor into doing its bidding, sort of like The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. There are a couple of parallels that can be drawn between Salvatore's novel and Black Isle's game, such as Crenshinibon being employed in order to amass great armies with which to conquer the Dale, the heat of Crenshinibon causing avalanches, and the protagonists learning how to enter Cryshal Tirith, the crystalline tower created by Crenshinibon.
The events of the game take place in 1281 DR whereas those of the novel take place about 70 years later, in 1350-56 DR [1].
Revered Brother Poquelin turns hostile after the conversation ends. The animals drop dead as a result of Heavenly Inferno (a fancy name for Flame Strike) which Poquelin quickly follows up with Symbol of Pain, Creeping Doom and Fire Storm even as a motley mob of monsters close in from all around. The object is to simply beat up on Poquelin because the spells are unleashed, and the mobs summoned, without limit.
Poquelin sports AC -8, 250 HPs and Strength 20 fists that whale away at ApR 3. Being infernal he sports 100% fire resistance but also 50% cold and magic resistance. He is vulnerable to acid, electrical and all three forms of physical-based damage dealing (slashing, piercing and crushing/bludgeoning).
Once we have beaten up Poquelin enough - he is not yet vanquished - Crenshinibon auto-teleports everyone away to Easthaven, and the following FMV plays, narrated by the late, great David Ogden Stiers:
In the heat of the battle the twisted priest of Ilmater stumbled, gripping his chest as if mortally stricken.
A faint glow began to emanate from the crystal that hung around his neck. Suddenly, the entire cave was engulfed in an explosion of blinding light.
When the light finally died, the party discovered that they were no longer in the dark passages of Dorn's Deep. As they struggled to regain their bearings, they realized that they had been returned to the town of Easthaven. But this was not the sleepy fishing village they had left so long ago...
An enchantment had fallen over the town, encasing what remained of the shattered homes and buildings, in a prison of solid ice.
At the center of the destruction, upon the very spot where the Temple of Tempus once stood, rose a massive tower of crystal...
This gentleman's voice (David Ogden Stiers) could make even my blogposts sound good.
- Experience points: 209,000 kXP + 150,000 qXP = 359,000 total XP (5,755,296)
- Killcount: 49 (1618)
[1] Salvatore's Icewind Dale Trilogy is a good read; I recommend reading it if you haven't already. I don't get why Baldur's Gate fans have criticized Salvatore so much over the years. Sure, he isn't on par with Tolkien or Howard, but his writing remains superior to BioWare and Black Isle.
That is, of course, par for the course in novels vs. games, but I just think it's odd to see Baldur's Gate fans criticizing a successful novelist like Salvatore, and yet giving Infinity Engine writers a free pass.
It's funny how Baldur's Gate fans post enthusiastically about the romances of BG2, and about Irenicus, but when it comes to literature only James Joyce is good enough for them. Or so they'd like us to believe: judging by the literacy levels of members of the Baldur's Gate "community", they couldn't possibly have read Ulysses or Finnegans Wake.
Salvatore is a good writer, and the character of Drizzt did a lot to popularize D&D. Credit where it's due.
From the IWD credits:
I have commentated a little writing in story cRPGs. Before I wrote this retrospective, I said that only IWD can compete with the Realmslore flavor and quality of BG's writing (as exemplified in its critical path and Durlag's Tower)...
... But I think I may have to take that back: while some of IWD's writing is excellent (Larrel), it is also uneven, at times flat, and reads as much more modern than BG1 whose prose is rarely flat or clinical and employs a rich, late-80s Realmslore flavor. Still, IWD's prose is better than the twaddle found in BG2.
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