Act 3 - Chapter 5: The Mines of Kaderak, Part II

Primary Tasks
* Destroy the giant shard cluster
* Find the Dark Wizards
* Destroy the Dark Wizards
* Recover the Aegis of Life
* Return to Lord Kalrathia with the Aegis of Life

Secondary Quests
* Mark of the Assassin
* Dwarven Song of Ore
* Vix's Vengeance
* Spirits of Aranna

Your primary job is to roll the cart of explosives into the shard. Of course, there are a number of side quests to complete while you're at it. Beware of all the red barrels around the mines. They're explosive. Send a ranger, solo, ahead to shoot at them. Do NOT attempt to fight anywhere near them.

Your first order of business is to cross the bridge and head up the stairs. At the top, enter the first door and clear the room. Look for the lever along the back wall to open a secret room. You'll find the Dwarven Mythril Ring in the gold chest. Clear out the rest of the rooms on the upper level, then go back down to the "main floor".

Head east and cross the next bridge. Pull the lever to move the mine cart. Continue east, past the teleporter and over the bridge. Pull the next lever. (The side rooms here all contain little bits of loot, nothing exciting yet.) East again, over the bridge and pull the third lever.

The side room here has a health shrine, and the next one along the path has a gold chest with the Silver stanza of the Dwarven Song of Ore. East some more, over the bridge, pull the lever, through the door and pull the fifth lever.

Go up the stairs. There are a couple of treasure rooms up here, one of which contains the Greater Chant of Magic Awareness. Go down the stairs and across the bridge to the second teleporter.

Pull the lever next to the teleporter and head up the stairs. Through the doors, head up the stairs to your left (west) and you'll find Spririt of Aranna #15 and a gold chest with the Iron stanza of the Dwarven Song of Ore. There's an incantation shrine across the flying bridge to the east.

Go back down and follow the main path east. After crossing the bridge, pull the next two levers and the mine cart finally runs into the large shard and everything goes boom. Pass through to the area with the partial bridge, which has an elevator at the end.

To the right (south) is a set of three rooms. Go into the south room and pull the lever to reveal a hidden room with a gold chest that contains the Gold stanza of the Dwarven Song of Ore. To the east of the bridge is a small area with some loot. Once you've cleared all the rooms, ride the elevator down, then climb the ramps at the north end and enter the Lower Mines.

When you reach the first large open area, there are paths to the north and east. The path to the east leads to Vix's personal quest, so add him to your party, if necessary, and go east. Vix will break through the door and you'll enter a series of mining tunnels and caverns.

The objective is simple: destroy three shards by rolling mine carts into them. At each mine cart, pull a lever to re-orient the tracks, then pull another lever to send the cart on its way. There are a lot of mobs to kill, lots of loot to be gained and several side areas that deserve exploration, though they don't contain anything special. Don't forget the main treasure chest after the last shard is destroyed.

Head back to the Lower Mines and continue north until you reach the teleporter. Go south from the teleporter to find a treasure chest with the lost Mythril stanza of the Dwarven Song of Ore. Return to Kalrathia and speak to Historian Leontia and receive your reward, which will include both the Chant of Prosperity and the Greater Chant of Prosperity.

(If you had previously gone to see Leontia after finding the first three stanzas, you can still go back and give her the Mythril stanza and get the additional rewards.)

While you're in town, go see enchantress Valeria, who will turn your Dwarven Mythril Ring into the Dwarven Mythril Ring of Sight. Equip the ring and go to the room behind the innkeeper. Talk to Merchant Kendril, and Luun, the assassin, will appear and attack. Kill him and take his Deathblades, which are a nice set for your dual-wielder. Talk to Kendril again to get a little extra reward.

That should close out every secondary quest in your logs except the Spirits of Aranna. So, main questing time! Teleport back to the Lower Mines and head east. A short bit of hack-n-slash later, you reach the elevator that takes you to another elevator that takes you to your boss fight against the Dark Wizards.

These guys are more powerful versions of the one you faced when rescuing Evangeline--and there are three of them. Make sure you have a Nature Mage with the Resurrection spell or lots of Resurrection scrolls available.

Tactics are roughly the same. Take out the crystals that defend the wizards, then unload on them with powers. When you see circles (of lightning, death or fire) surrounding your characters, run! Concentrate on one wizard at a time. Fortunately, these guys don't summon anything, and they don't do a lot to help each other out.

Stick to one like glue until he's toast, then move on to the next one. Keep an eye out for those circles of doom at your feet and be patient. They are susceptible to curses, so having a combat mage with a decent curse or two will be helpful. And you can have your nature mage cast Spirit Embrace to make your party immune to the wizards' curses.

When all three are dead, take the Aegis of Life and return to the Lower Mines and teleport back to town. Lord Kalrathia is ill and in bed in his room on the west side of the great hall. Speak to him to learn how, now that you have the four pieces, you can reforge the Shield of Azunai.