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"Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by IlleglWpns (Guest) on Dec-02-01 at 05:13 PM
Got a party of mostly level 12/13s, but these guys keep on kicking my ass.

The best strategy I've found so far is to iniated combat out of sight (managed to lure one death lord to the door), put of up max level soul shield and level 4 element shield. Next round put up eye for an eye and wait a few rounds while the death lord starts casting death wishes which get reflected back.

This manages to thin out the herd (eventually leaving only the death lords + sorceress queen + a few summoned elementals). However I then have a problem. The queen usually rushes in and nukes my party with firestorm, which leaves my casters dead after a couple of round. Also even a maxed soul shield doesn't protect me consistently from the death wishes. If I throw a canned elemental I usually get caught in the retaliatory death cloud, which means I die in short order.

Does this fight get any easier wrt the % of instant deaths as I achieve higher levels. Because right now it seems hopeless. My casters die due to firestorm and the rest die due to repeated death wishes/death clouds.

Any hints?

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"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Ostsol (Guest) on Dec-02-01 at 06:35 PM
My characters were level 16-17 so I had no problem, but there's a few things to keep in mind when fighting any spell casters. You got the right idea with Soul Shield and Element Shield, but you can boost this protection even further with Magic Screen, which you can cast before combat. Pump as much power as you can into these spells -- they're lifesavers! I'm often found myself completely immune to Fireball and even Crush spells.

Also sift through your inventories to find all the magic resistance items you can find; in this fight AC is not incredibly important. The Banish Spell works wonders (but it's very high level), hurting both the undead Death Lords and any elementals that the Cultists happen to cast.

Let's see. . . other items of usefulness: Eye for an Eye potions are great, or the actual spell if you have a Psionisist. Guardian Angel on your low-hitpoint characters will help for a few rounds, especially if you have the other protective enchantments on your party first.

General strategy tends to vary. The first time I tried this fight the Sorceress Queen stuck in the back, pummelling me with -- well -- lots! In this case the best choice is to rush the Death Lords once you have Soul Shield, Magic Screen, and Element Shield up (Magic Screen should be cast well before combat starts). With those spells up you -should- be able to survive most of the spells with relatively little damage. BTW, if you have Heal All then cast it often. If you have Banish then whenever you aren't casting Heal All, cast Banish. If you don't have Banish, try to Turn Undead -- it might do a bit of damage or perhaps paralyze (though the latter is doubtfull). Anyway, if the Queen happens to charge up to you, charge her back and focus all melee and shooting (except for spells) at her. The second time I tried this she did charge up and I took her down in two full turns.

I think that this battle is very possible -- even for level 12 characters. If you have a Ranger and a Samurai or Ninja then the insta-kills will make it all the easier a fight. I went and assaulted Bayjin at approximately level 12 and managed to smash through most everything I found simply through abundant use of Soul Shield and Magic Screen. When the big level 20 Battlelords and level 16 Empaths came smack me, I charged right up and let my melee fighters do the work, my mage constantly pumping out Fireballs, Whipping Rocks, and Magic Missiles; and my priest casting Heal All just about every round.

If, despite all of this, you cannot win this fight then search around elsewhere for other fights to gain levels. In the Wilderness Clearing (northwest end of the SE Wilderness) there is absolutely nothing (that I could find) of importance. All that's there are enemies to fight. . . lots of them.

Hope at least some of this helps. . .

"Don't have magic screen"
Posted by IlleglWpns (Guest) on Dec-02-01 at 07:03 PM
Problem is I'm relying on Vi for divine magic, and she isn't powerful enough to read the book of screens I got her. I tried guardian angel on my casters to protect them from firestorm. It lasted about two rounds.

I suppose I could go and buy some scrolls, though I don't know who sells scrolls of magic screen. (Any ideas?)

My fighters can usually take down the queen in two turns, but she casts firestorm first.

I don't have purify air either, *sigh*, it looks like I might have to level a bit.

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by CSG (Guest) on Dec-02-01 at 06:40 PM
Do you have a magic screen up as well? Purify air will get rid of the firestorms and death clouds.

A good way to beat this fight at a low level is this:
-Cast chameleon
-sneak in to the big room the sorceress queen is in and hide behind a 'pillar' on one of the side walls
-save game
-initiate combat, make a break for the closest circular stairs
-you should be able to get part way up the stairs. No one will be able to target you with their spells. The sorceress queen will probably cast elemental shield, the lackeys will summon elementals
-keep climbing the stairs in subsequent rounds until you are at the top
-since you can't be targeted at the top of the stairs, everyone except the elementals will retreat out of the building (where you just came in)
-wait for the elementals to become unsummoned
-combat will end, and you can loot the place before starting up again, there's some nice stuff here.
-the sorceress queen will be outside the building, where you originally came in. It will be a much easier battle because there will be no elementals. I would have enchanted blade, armorplate and magic screen up before hand at full power. Start the battle where you can just barely see one monster, have your fighters drink superman potions, get the soul shield and elemental shield up and maybe throw in a haste spell. You should be able to retreat back into the building and fight only a couple of monsters at a time. Take the deathlords out first. It should be pretty easy.

"Novel approach :)"
Posted by Llevram on Dec-02-01 at 09:50 PM
I just left here with my 13/14 party, as the first round that I was attacked left half my party dead (death cloud ). Even with everyone under the protection of guardian angels.

I cast all my buffs, standing right by the entrance, then back into the alcove and initiate combat to get in one round of surprise. I only have one elemental at my disposal (compared to the six that were summoned against me).

I would suggest coming back at higher levels (with better defense spell power - need a better divine character or equivalent powders to banish). Though this sneaking in tactic and using the statirs to your advantage may work well, I would try and beat this battle "legitimatly". When you do win, it is one of the most satisfying victories (for me anyway).

www.softwarespecialties.com Tools for Wizardry(r) 7

p.s. And the real funny thing ... after the end of the 2nd round, when the opponents had gone from 9 to 15 (with the six summoned elementals), after 3 of my 7 died, oneof my characters pipes up, "Maybe now the odds will turn in our favor". Ya, they did ... reload and hit the road

"My Story"
Posted by Pischle on Dec-03-01 at 05:33 AM

I just did this fight last night. I have a level 17/18 party. Two mages, a priest, a Psionic, a fighter and a Rogue, with Vi and Myles. Although both my mages could cast "Summon Elemental", I held back in favor of my Priest and both mages catsing Banish. Those cultists cast I think 5 Elementals. They were all gone in 3 rounds. I got rid of the cultists next - they are only 70 HP or so. Mind Flay, Falling Stars, Firestorm, etc. Purify Air was essential. I never left the entrance to the temple - I figured ranged combat/spells would give me more flexibility. I was left, in the end, with both Death Lords and the Sorceress Queen. I forget how I killed them, but the fight lasted 20 rounds or so. If I didn't have those level 7 spells, I would've been a goner.

Thanks,
Pischle

"RE: My Story"
Posted by Tanuvein (Guest) on Dec-03-01 at 08:46 AM
What classes get purify air? It is an air spell, I assume.
"RE: My Story"
Posted by Pischle on Dec-03-01 at 09:09 AM
Priest. Yes, an Air spell.

Thanks,
Pischle

"I have a cunning plan"
Posted by IlleglWpns (Guest) on Dec-03-01 at 09:31 AM
Well hopefully anyway.

Anyway Vi's pretty close to levelling up and magic screen is a level 3 spell, so hopefully she'll be able to read the book next level.

That should give me some added protection and by then my mage and psionic should have gone up levels too. Anyway I bought some eye for an eye potions and canned elementals. My plan is to:

a) Try and lure a death lord to the door

b) Camp outside door, cast all pre combat buffs (mscreen, enchanted blade, etc)

c) Initiate combat, put up max level soul shield and the highest level element shield I can muster and a few people drink eye for an eye potions.

d) Wait out of sigh as the Death Lords cast death wish and watch the cultists get annhilated by the return volley from eye for an eye.

e) Once the cultists are dead run really fast.

f) End combat killing the summoned elementals. Rest/recharge.

g) Head back in, initiate combat, cast all buffs, and throw as many canned elementals + summoned elementals as I damned can.

h) Watch the fireworks while safely out of sight.

"A winner is me! "
Posted by IlleglWpns (Guest) on Dec-03-01 at 05:20 PM
Magic screen and some practice in earth magic more my mage really made the difference. Before the firestorms chewed me up and spit me out. Afterwards I barely took a scratch.

My mage and psionic gaining a level helped some too, but my party was till mostly level 12/13.

Surprisingly enough those deathlords were pretty wussy in melee. Granted it did take a few tries because death wish STILL instakilled people even with max divine resistance and magic screen but it was MUCH easier than before.

"RE: A winner is me! "
Posted by Nexis (Guest) on Dec-04-01 at 02:09 AM
Did this with my 12th level party and it was very simple. I just had them start combat while I was standing in the door and then stepped to the side of the door. Everyone slowly came out except the death lords and an air elemental. With soul shield up I only lost one person throughout the battle. Anyone who approached instantly died by my 100-200 damage fighter and my fairy ninja with the cane of corpus. My bard, ranger, bishop, and rest of party took out all the long range people almost as well.

Now I just wish I had a mook fighter.

"Simple = only death :? n/t"
Posted by Llevram on Dec-04-01 at 06:47 AM
www.softwarespecialties.com Tools for Wizardry(r) 7
"RE: Simple = only death :? n/t"
Posted by Nexis (Guest) on Dec-04-01 at 11:57 AM
Well I lost that person to the death thing the death lords use. My party was pretty healthy throughout the battle. It's just that instant death slipped through the soul shield once in the battle and I just used some powder on the person.
"RE: A winner is me! "
Posted by NiteTime (Guest) on Dec-04-01 at 12:10 PM
I did the same thing Nexis did except I left combat & all the elementals they called up vanished (6 of them i think). Then once you start combat again, they don't conjur them again... I guess they had no more Devine spell points left.
"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Astro3 (Guest) on Dec-13-01 at 08:31 AM
OK, I actually beat them on my 2nd try with a party of mostly level 11 and 12 characters (one lvl 13), which surprised me quite a bit. Some may not consider this legit since I lost and resurrected 6 members. Sorry for the length of this.

The first I tried it, I got creamed and figured I'd have to come back later - however, at the end of the combat I tried running away and noticed that the monsters followed me - this gave me an idea to try.
I didn't have a lot of the more advanced spells so before combat I could only throw Enchanted Blade and Magic Screen. I then ran in and combat started. I immediately switched to run mode and dashed back out of the temple on the left side. I took a little bit of damage but not much and five of the cultists summoned elementals. Once outside, I had 3 or 4 rounds to cast buffs and take potions.
I stopped my party just outside the left entrance. I was going to try to place myself so that I could whack the first enemy when they came around the corner but instead I dropped a canned elemental there (I had no summoning spell at this point).
I then threw Bless, Sould Shield (don't have element shield), and four Guardian Angels. Two characters took Cloak of Blades potions, two took haste potions, and one took my only Eye-For-An-Eye potion.
I thought they enemies would all come out the left side but some started coming out the right. The first was a water elemental who snuck in behind me, but I took care of him easily (having that dracon fighter with Bloodlust does wonders). Next came a fire elemental and I took care of him too but by now the cultists had arrived and the Death Lords had started casting Death Wish spells.One of these spells killed one of my characters but also bounced off the eye-for-an-eye and killed a cultist. Three of the cultists took on my Earth elemental and two attacked me. The other elementals also arrived.
I managed to kill one of the cultists attacking me. I had earlier thrown a fireball inside the left entrance, which weakened the other 3 cultists enough that the elemental could kill them with one blow.
Unfortunately, he only killed 2 before they got him.
By this time, the soreceress queen had pulled up beside me and I killed her in mostly normal (non-magic) combat.
Another Death Wish spell killed one of the elementals and I got an Instant Kill on another (the only one in the combat).
I managed to kill another myself, plus another cultist.

Now the enemy was down to a cultist, a water elemental, and the two death lords.
Since 4 of my party members were dead and I only had 5 resurrection powders, I decided to make a run for it.
I started running back to the path out of the area but the elemental was right on my heels so I turned around and killed him but lost another character.
Now I started running down the path with the cultist and two death lords in hot pursuit.
The death lords would occasionally stop to throw their Death Wish spells (boring side note - Death Wish is the name of my party leader - a name I've been using since I played Wizardy I back in 1982 or so), allowing me to get farther ahead and I was eventually able to run out of range and end the combat.
Sadly, they'd killed another party member so I was down to two (though those two got around 150,000 XP each).
I used four of my resurrection powders (decided to leave my thief dead for awhile since I didn't think he'd survive the death lords). Now I camped, buffed, and headed back for the temple. The three remaining enemies were spread out enough that I fought them one at a time and beat them easily.

As luck would have it, it turned out that I either had two more resurrect powders I didn't know about or found two more in the temple and was able to bring back my entire party (including poor Myles, who was none too happy about the whole thing).

Anyway, sorry about the length of the post.

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by noname (Guest) on Dec-21-01 at 11:48 AM
That was such a cool story. Thanks for telling us.
"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Sharookan (Guest) on Dec-23-01 at 05:20 PM
LAST EDITED ON Dec-23-01 AT 05:31 PM (Pacific) by Marc (admin)

Mhmm i had no Problems at all with that gang. My Level was like what...18 or so.
I went in and when the battle startet i moved back out right arround the corner. The deathlords kept inside only the elements and mages charged on me. I took em down in melee. Then the queen came out and got killed in melee as well.
I had every one of them coming one by one because the doorway aint big enough to let more then 1 through. Andeven if 2 made it somehow the CoC, Bloodlust took care of them. I think my Fighter had a "Mystic spear" or so. And i didnt have any NPC in my Party it was just my 6.

The trick is just show up and then step back right arround the corner so the guys block themselves while the others cant target you. Well the deathwishes but with Soulshield, Magic screen, Missile shield, Bless, Elemtshield and Armorplate the fireballs hit with 1 to 2 damage.

Even my psionic survived and he had like 60 Hitpoints

Sharookan

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Taelen (Guest) on Jan-03-02 at 09:34 AM
heh
"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Taelen (Guest) on Jan-03-02 at 09:43 AM
Here is how I managed to win the battle. I stood on the side of the entrance to the temple and cast a hypnotic lure right in front of my party without initiating combat. All of the sorceresses walked right up to the lure and they were in meelee range by the time combat finally initiated, I summoned an elemental to keep them distracted, cast all my magic resist buffs, and had my meelees kill everything that came through the doorway while my bishop would chain cast his AoE nukes <fireball, noxious fumes> etc...> Once the casters where out of the way I was able to quickly drop both the queen and the death lords. It is important to have high divinity resist since the death lords love casting death wish <only casualtys where my elementals but i probably just got lucky>. This was by far the most insane battle I had taken part in yet and was really proud to have walked out of it alive.
"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by GraySteel (Guest) on Jan-07-02 at 07:01 AM
I just did this yesterday - figured I was in way over my head. Managed to clear out the cathedral with my level 10 party (I think my priest is 11). I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't supposed to be able to do this easily, which from the posts here seems not to be the case.

What I actually wound up doing was initiating combat via my Dracon Ranger's "Sonic Boom" spell - the ONLY way to initiate combat (IMO) since you get a free round for sure. Then I ran like hell. I dealt with the two death lords individually (with difficulty since I don't have soul shield/element shield). Then I lured the queen to the entrance and fought her and the 3 remaining cultists at the same time. Firestorm kicks my ass. Had to use a haste potion (samurai) and superman (ninja) to kill the queen. Ninja did 70% of the damage I think.

Buffs include enchanted blade, armorplate, bless, magic screen.

High point was my first kill on the death lord occurring after he rushed my camp. He was already close and everybody woke up, so we just pummeled him. No buff spells, though.

Party: Lord, Samurai, Ninja, Ranger, Priest, Bishop (+ Myles and Vi)

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by wolfbane777 (Guest) on Jan-19-02 at 05:13 PM
I got beat pretty bad there too at first, so I did some other stuff and came back when I was level 14-15.

Basically I started the battle and walked into the doorway and started buffing my party with Magic Screen etc, but what really turned things in my favour was Eye For An Eye! I don't have the spell (a must have I see now...) so I used a potion and I almost didn't belive what I saw when the Death Lords got busy!

Within two rounds all but the Queen, the Lords, two Cultists and one Water Elemental was wiped out! And I didn't lose even one of my own party in the process... =)

After that it was just a matter of walk/bash, walk/bash. =)

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by BobtheGoldfish (Guest) on Jan-20-02 at 03:43 AM
If no one else has said this (I am easily bored so I didn't read the whole thing) I initiated combat just to the right hand side of the opening into the cathedral proper. I then ran across to the right hand side and hid behind the pillar. This makes it so that the enemy can't see you so you go back to walking mode. Heal, recharge, etc. Now, initiate combat again, run around the corner and right up to the Sorceress Queen. You should now be right infront of her and next to a Death Lord. Have your front line attack who they please (My Ninja and Samurai, with critical strike, my Lord with a sword with a kill percentage, and a Valkyrie with a kill percentage spear) while the magic users cast protective spells/elementals/healing. Try to cast Insanity on the Acolyte thingies so that they start merrily hacking at each other. With any luck (I had to ressurect no one) they will be casting spells at you (the Acolytes) and not making elementals. Also, the Death Lords and The Queen will be hitting you and casting very little in the way of spells. Have as many long life spells as you can gong when you start this, ie Chameleon, Enchanted Blade, Magic Screen, etc. as these are very helpful.
"I but my blood, sweat, and tears into that cake!" "Eeww"
Bob
(p.s. Gotta love the boomerang shuriken)
"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Oberon (Guest) on Jan-20-02 at 07:47 AM
Does anyone have suggestions for how a one-man party might win this battle?
"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Lord Gram on Jan-21-02 at 08:30 PM
Two words. High level. And I mean high. Try 20 or 25 at least.

Lord Gram the Light

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by LandyB (Guest) on Feb-04-02 at 01:15 PM
>Does anyone have suggestions for how
>a one-man party might win
>this battle?

I fought all of these guys and they never got a chance to summon one elemental. There is a way to lure them outside 1-3 at a time.

Stand just outside the door where they cannot see you. Start combat, and elect to walk. Simply walk past the door to the other side. End combat once you are out of sight.

Just by "seeing" you pass the door, some of the enemies will start walking toward the door (youa almost need to have X-Ray cast to watch their progress). You may have to do this several times to get them to come all the way outside the temple. If you start an actual fight while they are still standing in view of the others, you will have to fight them all. But, with patience, you can get them each to come outside.

I ended up fighting each Death Lord individually, as well as the Sorceress Queen. Just to be safe, I did cast Element Shield and Soul Shield when I was finally ready to melee.

This works well with other large groups, where you want to lure them out one by one.

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Lady Ens (Guest) on Jan-25-02 at 06:26 PM
I defeated these guys with my 6-character level 12 party + Vi.

I did what I always do when facing a powerful group of monsters- I ran after combat started. Running tends to break up the monster group, I can pick where to fight so I don't get surrounded (V-shaped depressions or corners are nice) or so I can run like hell to break combat when I don't feel that I can win (I don't mind reloading a game to get the right treasures, but somehow, reloading to win a combat is very dissatisfying to me).

With this group, I ended up fighting a (just one) death lord first. Then the other death lord + 3 cultists. hen fially the queen + 3 cultists.

Of course, I used whatever defensive spells/potions my party had: magic screen, guardian angels, superman, soul shield, element shield, armorplate, etc.

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Dyak (Guest) on Jan-28-02 at 08:01 AM
A well-balanced party of 6, without RPCs, level 14-16. Not much to tell really... Just more praise for CoC and lava lamp?

But there was a strange glitch: after the party killed everyone else at the temple entrance, they entered the temple proper and found two elementals embedded into the floor, up to the chest level or so. The elementals could not move, but I am not sure that we could damage them with arrows. The party merely disengaged, they were gone, and we were the victors.
Did anybody else experienced a similar bug? Or is it a "divine plan" of the program designers?

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Cable (Guest) on Feb-04-02 at 02:10 PM
Spoilers, but then again, it is the board for them

3 Character party, level 16/17

Faerie Ninja with CoC
Felpur Samurai/Fighter with Bloodlust and Diamond eyes
Faerie Bishop with Staff of Doom

Started combat at the edge of the doorway.
Used 2 canned elementals (got a Major Earth and a Major Fire) in the first round and brought up Soul Shield. All six cultists cast summon elemental. Brought up Elemental Shield in the second round, fighter types sat twiddling their thumbs. Invoked Death Cloud ala the Staff of Doom, again, fighter types sat twiddling their thumbs. The Death cloud was an extremely good one. Killed all 6 cultists and 4 of the elemetals in the first round. My 2 elementals took on the Death Lords, my party ran up to take the Sorceress. All combat was over in 8 rounds. I must say that I am very impressed with the Death Cloud that the staff dishes out.

I also won this battle with my one character party (Faerie Ninja) but it hardly counts since he was level 25 at the time.

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by hesha (Guest) on Feb-04-02 at 10:13 PM
time it so your up close to her use the reflective amulet oe spell it will make her spells hit her and her guys also haveing a haste potion dont hurt then just beat her down shes cant take
attacks with swords and such to well then when shes dead just tag team her hench man.

have your mage cast Ae spells to to waeken them all.

i did it this way with my rog dead and at lvl 10


Hesha

"RE: Defeating the sorceress queen and her henchmen"
Posted by Wintersteel (Guest) on Feb-14-02 at 00:03 AM
I know there has been much written on this, but this is how I did it. Chameleon to get inside, then rush for the corner where the pillar meets the wall. If your as lucky as I was, your bard will turncoat the soceress queen. Canned elementals and powder of resurection will help, as well as purify air (ring or spell). My party is all female, consisting of a faerie ninja, dracon valkyrie, elf ranger, hobbit bard, gnome priest and mook gadeteer. The only place I'm hurtin is that I can't cast missile shield. Hope this helps.