Shadow Mulsantir

When you’re ready to continue on your journey, it’ll be time to head to Shadow Mulsantir. If you want a quest relating to the trip, talk to Sheva Whitefeather at the Temple of the Three here in town. She’ll give you the Shadow Mulsantir quest, but if you’ve already discovered or passed through a shadow portal, you’ve probably already completed it.

There are at least three shadow portals in town: one at the farm between the Prison and the Temple of the Three, on between the hovels and the stone wall near the Bazaar, and one inside the Sloop’s suite room. The former two can only be found at night, while the one in the Sloop is open all day long. Don’t forget that you can always sleep a couple of times to shift yourself back to nighttime if you don’t want to walk to the Sloop.

We started our journey through Mulsantir at the Sloop portal, which pops you out at the Shadow docks, so that’s where we’ll start.

Side Quest: A Nest of Thieves And Spies

The shadow docks are locked from access to the main part of Shadow Mulsantir, but if you poke around a bit you’ll find an interesting group of characters. Ivin Borsk is holed up here along with a group of rowdies. If you approach him, he’ll attack you.

This fight is tough and lengthy, so go in prepared! Buff all of your characters thoroughly before approaching Ivin, and keep Safiya and Gann well behind your main character by issuing a Hold order. Gann should cast Summon Creature VIII before the fight begins, and Safiya should nab a Mordenkainen’s Sword.

With these preparations in place, move your main character forward and speak to Ivin. When he turns hostile, immediately run backwards towards the summoned creatures; summon Orglash, if possible, to give your foes something else to fight. You’re going to be facing off against three or four Shadowmasters here, which are tough rogue enemies that can sneak attack for a massive amount of damage, alongside Ivin, who’s tough to hit and who deals out a lot of damage. In the rear, a spellcaster will pelt you with spells and summon creatures to fight you.

This fight can be quite difficult for you at this point.

Anyway, draw back the enemies towards your summoned creatures, and hope that they split their targets a bit. If your main character doesn’t have a lot of armor and health, then it’ll be difficult to survive this fight, but if you can split your enemy’s attention, you can have Safiya and Gann pelt the spellcaster with their bows and spells until it dies, then focus on the rest of the enemies until they go down too. They’re all pretty tough to hit due to high armor, and they can all deal a lot of damage, so you’ll need to resummon your creatures a few times before everything dies.

If you have a lot of trouble with this fight, save it and come back later when you have another party member.

Return to Nuum

Loot the Letter from Ivin Borsk off of Ivin’s body when he dies, then head back to the Sloop and rest up. When you tell Nuum about the letter, you’ll have four options to choose from. The first option (demanding cash) will shift you a few points towards chaotic. The third option will shift you towards lawful evil, while the fourth will just shift you towards evil.

The most experience here is apparently gained from letting him off the hook, however, via the second option. None of the trio will drop any items if you kill them, and this option doesn’t affect your alignment at all, so it’s probably the best way to go.

Heilari’s Home

Head back to the shadow portal near the bazaar and head through. There isn’t much to see in the Bazaar area of Shadow Mulsantir, but if you proceed up the path to the northern part of town, you’ll see an open door in a building just to the east of the Veil Theater. Head inside to find Heilari’s house.

Heilari is - was - a magician that was trying to make himself into a lich. For whatever reason, his plan didn’t work, and he passed away before completing his necromantic rites. Read everything here before interacting with the body; there are two books and a revenge list.

You have three options when interacting with the body. If you attempt to complete the ritual to destroy the phylactery, you’ll receive 250 XP, destroy the body, and receive a Talisman of Pure Good, as well as points towards the Lawful and Good alignments. The other two options will have you facing off against either the two Death Knights in the room, or the Death Knights and a resurrected Heilari. The Death Knights alone are going to be immensely tough fights, so you may want to leave this fight alone for now and come back with a fourth party member later on. If you’re looking for a lot of Evil points, complete the ritual and fight the whole gang.

You can complete Heilari's ritual to create a lich, then quickly destroy him, if you wish.

Extra: If you’re willing to go the extra mile, wait until Act II to complete this quest. When you unlock the lower levels of the Death God’s Vault, you can find a book called the Tome of Profane Rebirth in the Archives there. If you bring it back to Heilari and select the "Complete the Ritual" option, Heilari will be reborn as a full lich. If you demand payment, he’ll attack, and you can kill him for the Ring of Seething Hatred (Spell Resistance 20, Haste and Rage 3 Uses/Day). He’ll also just give you the ring if you simply tell him "You are complete", but you’ll lose a bit of experience from not killing him and his Knights.

To The North

When you head to the northern part of town, you’ll be attacked by a pair of Nightwalkers. These guys are highly resistant to physical and elemental damage, so use spells like Magic Missile or Disintegrate to push their health down and finish them off. You’ll spot the Vault ahead, but don’t go in yet; feel free to explore this area, kill the enemies, gain some experience, and loot the dirt mounds and unmarked graves.

There’s a portal here, guarded by Shadow Umber Hulks, that will lead to an inaccessible portion of Mulsantir. If you bash the stones here, you’ll find the Periapt of the Lost Witch, which grants the wearer Immunity to Critical Hits, Spell Resistance 30, and a couple of spell uses per days for Avasculate and Bestow Curse. The stats are impressive, especially if you’re playing on Hardcore difficulty (lower difficulties make you immune to critical hits anyway).

When you’re ready to enter the vault, return to Heilari’s home and rest there in safety. Rebuff yourself, then head into the Vault itself. Be wary; the door is trapped.

Previous PageNext: Into the Vault »