The Astral Prison (AR0516)*

    The Welcome Party

    Right when you arrive you will be greeted by a gang of bounty hunters led by Aawill. They'll close the portal thus trapping you in the Astral plane. Aawill will tell you that you are in a planar prison of sorts and the only way out of here is at the whim of a cambion. They'll want to turn you into some fine slaves. You won't stand for that will you? Kill them all...

AAWILL: 7000 exp, Melodic Chain +3, Two Handed Sword +1, [Flesh to Stone], Potion of Extra Healing (2), Silver Necklace;
YUAN-TI: 11000 exp, Cloak of the Shield, Bracers of Defense AC 8, [Chain Lightning], [Death Spell], 25 Gold, Quarterstaff;
YUAN-TI: 6000 exp, Wand of the Heavens;
BOUNTY HUNTERS: 2 x 4000 exp, Leather Armor +1 (2), Arrows of Ice (4), Arrows of Fire (4), Long Bow (2), Long Sword (2), Arrows (40);
BOUNTY HUNTER: 1400 exp, Boots of Speed, Pixie Prick +3, Small Shield +1, Studded Leather Armor.

    After you defeat the welcome party the thrall by the name Tagget, who shortly before removed his collar, will graciously thank you for his rescue. He'll explain you that the cambion controls his slaves with the means of magic collars and that only he can let someone out of this prison, he is the warden. When you ask Tagget about Haer'Dalis he'll say that they are locked away in the cells and await to be delivered to Duke Rowan's tower. Tagget will also warn you about the dangers ahead and will tell you about a safe way to reach the warden. He tells you to seek out the Master of Thralls and destroy the collar controlling device that he has. By destroying it you'll free the thralls, thus weakening the cambion. The main piece of information that Tagget reveals is that the Prison's magic dies with the warden.

What if you don't help the thralls ???

    Brazier

    If you follow Tagget's advice and go east you will encounter a bunch of unlucky thralls, who cannot control their actions and attack you. Can you save their lives??? You'll end up fighting these thralls.
    It turns out that they were guarding some kind of a brazier. The hints indicate that you should throw something into it's fire.
    After you defeat them, you can take a look at the niche in the wall for some missiles. Going further east you'll encounter the first trap pit. If you move one character at a time past it - you can safely get by. If you want extra experience then surely - go in.

THRALL LEADER: 1400 exp, Thrall Collar, Medium Shield +1, Chain Mail Armor, Bastard Sword;
THRALL: 2000 exp, Thrall Collar, Quarterstaff;
THRALL FIGHTER: 650 exp, Thrall Collar, Studded Leather Armor, Arrows (20), Short Bow, Long Sword.
    Loot the niche.
LOOT: Arrows of Biting (40), 7 Gold, Arrows (160), Bolts (120), Bullets (120), Darts (80).

    If you bring the Mastery Orb to be destroyed in the brazier, please keep in mind two things: 1. once you destroy it - all the Thralls will be freed; 2. once you destroy it - all the trap pits will be deactivated.
    Deactivation of trap pits is a nice thing that will make moving about much easier, however, if you want to collect all that extra experience and loot, then you'd probably have to wait with the destruction of the orb until you clean up all the pits.
    One more thing to say about the destruction of the orb - it will make the fight with the Warden easier as your characters will not be falling through trap pits, thus disappearing from the fight.
    Thus, if you are absolutely ready to destroy the orb, throw it in the fire.

DESTROY THE ORB: 24750 exp.

    Pit 1 (AR0517)

    When you fall into this pit you'll have to fight some baddies. The bad part about falling into a pit is that your party falls in one person at a time, thus giving the baddies within an unfair advantage. Therefore, first send in your tough fighters to clean the house.
    This time around you'll fight some regular ol' fighters. Mop the house with them. After you've finished with them take a look at the  niche on the ground for some treasure.

GISH: 2000 exp, Potion of Extra Healing, Potion of Invisibility, Darts (40);
KNIGHT: 2000 exp, Potion of Extra Healing, Plate Mail Armor, Two Handed Sword;
WARRIORS: 3 x 650 exp, Potion of Extra Healing (3), Potion of Invisibility (3), Plate Mail Armor (3), Two Handed Sword (3);
    Check out the niche for treasure.
LOOT: Bullets (80), Bolts (80), Arrows (80), Darts (80), Throwing Daggers (40).

    Wyvern's Perch

    Past the first pit you'll find some thralls who will lament about the prisoners escaping and that they must protect the warden's pet. You'll have to end up fighting them and the wyvern to get past. Watch out for there are a bunch of Umber Hulks in this area as well.

WYVERN: 4000 exp;
UMBER HULKS: 5 x 4000 exp;
MINOTAUR: 3000 exp, Battle Axe;
FEMALE THRALL: 2000 exp, Thrall Collar, Kundane +2, Gauntlets of Weapon Skill, Ring of Protection +1, Chain Mail Armor, Medium Shield;
THRALL: 2000 exp, Thrall Collar, Wand of Lightning, Bracers of Defense AC 8, Potion of Extra Healing.

    Master of Thralls

    Past the Wyvern's Perch you'll find the Master of Thralls - a tanarii holding the collar controlling device. You'll have to kill him if you want to free the Thralls or advance further. He will take his two Air Elemental friends with him for a fight.
    Once you kill the Master, take the Mastery Orb to the brazier and destroy it to set all the Thralls free. You may want to hold on doing it though because as soon as you do it, the Thralls will become free and will fight and get slain by the Warden. You should destroy the Orb only when you've cleared the level enough and are going to confront the Warden and his goons.
    There's a Dwarf Thrall nearby who will witness the Master's demise. He will be so excited

MASTER OF THRALLS: 16000 exp, Mastery Orb, Staff of Air +2;
AIR ELEMENTALS: 2 x 7000 exp.
    Check out the niche for treasure.
LOOT: [Shield], Darts of Stunning (40).

    Pit 2 (AR0518)

    Now that you've killed the Master of Thralls you can quietly advance westward towards the Warden. This pit has Wolfweres in it, including the very tough regenerating Greater Wolfwere.

GREATER WOLFWERE: 15000 exp;
WOLFWERES: 4 x 1400 exp.

    Pit 3 (AR0519)

    This pit is guarded by Efreeti with their annoying fire shields.

EFREETI: 3 x 8000 exp, Scimitar (3).

    Pit 4 (AR0520)

    This pit is located just a bit north from where you first appeared on this level.

PRISON CAPTAINS: 2 x 6000 exp, Bracers of Defense AC 8, Two Handed Sword +1, Long Sword +1, Plate Mail Armor, Heavy Crossbow, Bolts (1);
MINOTAURS: 4 x 3000 exp, Battle Axe (4).

    Pit 5 (AR0521)

    This is the most dangerous trap pit in terms that it is located quite close to the Warden. You will have to be careful maneuvering around this one if you haven't destroyed the orb. It has dangerous monsters in it too.

PRISON CAPTAIN: 5000 exp, Ring of Protection +1, Long Sword +1, Medium Shield;
PRISON CAPTAINS: 2 x 3000 exp, Mace +1, Wand of Fire, Plate Mail Armor, Helmet, Medium Shield, Quarterstaff;
STONE GOLEM: 8000 exp;
CLAY GOLEM: 8000 exp.

    The Warden

    This is a tough fight so prepare well for it. The Warden's pets include Umber Hulks and a Minotaur. The Warden himself is a tough cookie. However, appropriate battle preparation will see you through it quite well. Killing the Warden will lift the magic from this place.

WARDEN: 10000 exp, Planar Prison Cell Key, Wave Shaft, Adjatha the Drinker +2, Star Sapphire (3), Emerald (2), 2577 Gold;
UMBER HULKS: 5 x 4000 exp;
MINOTAUR: 3000 exp, Battle Axe.

    Now if you didn't destroy the Mastery Orb then you'll have to fight the Thralls as well - you'll get more experience from the battle, but it'll be more difficult. The loot dropped in this case is the following.

    The exact loot dropped by the thralls is not completely verified !!!

WARDEN THRALLS: 3 x 1400 exp, Thrall Collar (3), Long Sword +1 (3), Chain Mail Armor (3), Helmet (3), Medium Shield (3);
THRALL: 3000 exp, Thrall Collar, War Hammer +1, Chain Mail Armor, Helmet;
THRALLS: 2 x 2000 exp, Thrall Collars (2), Quarterstaff (2).

    If you did destroy the Mastery Orb and all the Thralls died somehow, then you'd obviously not get the experience for killing the Thralls, and will miss out on the collars as well.

    After you've sent the Warden packing, an old fella will appear and thank you for freeing him and his fellow Thralls, his name is Tagget. He'll have nothing to reward you with but his heart-felt thanks. You will get some minor experience though.
    Do not forget to check out the little niche near the scene of battle for it holds some missile ammunition. After you've done that you should go and release the prisoners with the Warden' key.

FREE TAGGET: 5000 exp.
    Check out the niche for treasure.
LOOT: Bolts of Biting (40), Bullets +1 (40), 15 Gold, Throwing Daggers (30), Throwing Axes (40).

    Actors

    The actors will be incredibly happy for being freed. Raelis Shai will open another conduit in order to escape this place. Your party members will receive a large experience reward. Haer'Dalis too will receive the same experience reward and decide to stay in the Prime Material Plane. As a final bit of revelation, Raelis Shai says that it was she who wrote the satirical "A Comedy of Terrors".
    After all the goodbyes are said your party will be teleported back to the Playhouse.

FREE THE ACTORS: Each party member gains: 44000 exp, Haer'Dalis gains 44000 exp.

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Last Update: June 22, 2007