Monastery of the Scorpion

Monastery of the Scorpion is the 2nd quest in The Essence of a Dragon story arcStory arcs are chains of quests that make up a story line. Completing everything in a story arc often yields a nice reward..
The first three quests can be completed in any order to unlock Stealer of Souls.
Flagging occurs by collecting dedicated items rather than completing these quests.
Enter the Kobold • Monastery of the Scorpion • Prey on the Hunter • Stealer of Souls

This ancient monastery must have been abandoned for a good reason.

Requires access to adventure pack
Definition: Adventure Pack
A list of all adventure packs
: The Reaver's Reach

Monastery of the Scorpion
Heroic level:	17
Epic level:	None
Duration:	very long
Heroic XP:	♣4,860Solo/Casual ♦8,420Normal ♥8,740Hard ♠9,060Elite
Epic XP:	N/A
Takes place in:	Drow Monastery
Bestowed by:	Milaxia
NPC contact:	Milaxia
Quest acquired in:	Reaver's Refuge
Patron:	Agents of Argonnessen
Base favor:	8
Purchase:	The Reaver's Reach or VIP
Extreme Challenge:	No

Loading screen

Overview

In order to breach the defenses protecting Sor'jek's hidden fortress, Milaxia of Argonessen has asked you to retrieve Siberys Dragonshard Essence. It's located in the ancient Soami Gardens, and Milaxia created a portal for you to travel there.

After using the portal you arrive at the west side of Soami Gardens. The quest entrance is at the north east border.

Spoiler Warning: Spoiler material below this point!

Objectives

Acquire the Siberys Dragonshard Essence
Breach the sealed barrier
Navigate down the shaft
Gain access to the guardians chamber
(Optional) Slay Athene — Bonus (10%): Heroic( ♣486 ♦842 ♥874 ♠906 )
(Optional) Slay Varayana, Mockery Master — Bonus (10%): Heroic( ♣486 ♦842 ♥874 ♠906 )
(Optional) Slay Hashshashi — Bonus (10%): Heroic( ♣486 ♦842 ♥874 ♠906 )
(Optional) Light the runes around the symbol — Bonus (10%): Heroic( ♣486 ♦842 ♥874 ♠906 )
(Optional) Solve the guardian's puzzle — Bonus (30%): Heroic( ♣1,458 ♦2,526 ♥2,622 ♠2,718 )

What to Expect

Traps (random, some fixed, some undisarmable)
Collapsible floor
Points of no return
Overlapping floors
Spawning/respawning monsters
Puzzles (mandatory: tile puzzle and light puzzle)
Randomly placed levers (mandatory: 1 on the top floor, 1 on the bottom floor)

Known Traps

Trap DCs

Mainly floor blades, swinging pendulum blades, guillotine blades, spinning blades and spikes
Shaft room also features a falling gelatinous cube trap that will break the catwalks which contain 2 levers. Note that this trap is only triggered if you fall all the way to the bottom, so you may still obtain the bonus chest if you land on the catwalks as you flip the rune and activate both levers, regardless of whether you disabled the trap.
On the bottom floor area leading to the boss; Otto's Sphere of dancing, will trigger for a period of time, if anyone stands upon the octagon shaped pressure plates surrounded by a blue light (cannot be disabled).

(Bug: The trap Control Panels erroneously appear to have a low DC, and display [CR:15] on Elite, instead of [CR:19]). A Content Developer whom helped design the quest implied the bug won't likely be fixed, due to a poor design decision regarding the placement of certain traps.

Tips and Misc

Monastery of the Scorpion puzzle

Large orange rune symbol (with all four runes lit)

Drow casters like Hold Person, Web, Chain Lightning, Ball Lightning, Poison spells, and Enervation. Freedom of Movement, Electrical and Poison Resists, and Death Ward are helpful.
Scorpions and Drow Casters and Warriors respawn constantly on the bottom floor and the end fight area, even after the quest is complete. Be constantly on your guard.
Athene may spawn in one of the sealed rooms on the top floor.
Chactini may spawn in one of the sealed rooms on the top floor, or behind the secret door on the bottom floor.
Hashshashi may spawn in one of the rooms on the top or bottom floor.
Varayana may spawn in one of the rooms on the bottom floor.
Light the Runes puzzle:
- Lighting the gems via the puzzle, turns on air jets for the corresponding colour rune(s). There are at least 3 Levers you need to reach. The first image "Lower the barrier" solution lowers the barrier. That should also allow you to ride the 'Red rune' air jet to get to a Lever. It also allows you to drop down to pull the 'Orange rune' Lever. The second image "Lit the runes" allows you to travel via the 'Yellow rune' air jet to get the third Lever. The lighting of the movable puzzle 'Floor Tile' near the Large Orange rune symbol on the floor will reset the puzzle tiles to "unlit" state.
- The 'Part 1' and 'Part 2' solution is enough to progress... The "Fully solved puzzle" solution is not required.
Guardian's Puzzle:
- Puzzle is always solvable in its initial form. However, if you burn out a tile, you may make it unsolvable and thus need to either kill Sannyasi through combat (extremely hard) or burn out another tile and try again. So if you wish to complete it, be careful not to hit Sannyasi at all, as even a single hit has a chance to burn out a tile. When a tile burns out, it does not disappear from the board, but goes dark. Remember to take off your guards.
- Every time Sannyasi is taken down by about 10% health (After the initial tick, which is random and can be as little as 1% health), it burns out a puzzle piece in the on position. (There may be a limit on the number of pieces that can be burned out)
- If at any time the puzzle is solved, Sannyasi dies.
- If you have the puzzle reduced to only need one piece being lit, and that one happens to be the one Sannyasi has burned out, it dies as he essentially completes the puzzle for you. It's even possible he may just complete it accidentally immediately as you enter the room and kill himself, which is always funny; however, this is an extremely rare occurrence.
- Bug: Sannyasi has a mechanic that will reset his health bar to full health. This is supposed to only trigger in a situation he leaves combat and there are no targets available (i.e. all targets dead, dimension door, teleport, etc.); however, this appears to be occurring while he is also in combat.DDO Forums

Quick Walk-through

Upper Level

Go your way south, past the side passage to the shrine (which is sealed), to the first large passage to the left. Go to the 2nd room on the left, and step on the pressure plate there (all pressure plates are shown as a "quest item" or "lever/valve" on the map, above).
- Each pressure plate randomly opens one of the remaining 5 rooms. With the first, you will be told you hear "the opening of a door down the hall."
Continue similarly to the pressure plates in other rooms, and pull the lever when you find it.
The tricky eastern room down is now open. The room starts with reverse gravity, sending you toward the spikes at the top. There is a "floor tile" on the ceiling (far right/southeast corner) to use which turns off the reverse gravity – and, for a short time, negates any Feather Fall!
- If you want the chest on the floor, the first person(s) must land on two catwalks, to pull levers on the walls. If anyone lands on the floor, these catwalks "break" and are unusable, as are the levers which turn off the barrier to the chest.
  - Targeting the first catwalk is not easy, as you fall quickly at first!
- If you did not disable the traps, kill the gelatinous cube(s) on the floor level.
Step on the pressure plate on the floor to proceed out (expect the usual immediate welcoming party)...
- If you are fast and coordinated, it is possible for the entire party to get out of the room, leaving the cube(s) stuck inside.

Lower Level

Expect non-stop fighting against small groups, which may respawn shortly after you have "cleared" an area. Seems no longer the case
Find the lever randomly located in one of the side rooms and pull it. This lowers the barrier to proceed (and to that shrine).
- Optional (chest) – At the west end of the northern hall is a secret room. Turn the valve and you will hear "the faint sound of water in the distance." This gives access to find and enter the secret door in the room northeast of the shrine.
  - This room has a "rigged" tile puzzle; when the puzzle is completed, the tiled floor collapses, and drops anyone standing on it to a spiked area (the water from the previous step stops you short of the spikes).
  - However, a gelatinous cube also drops from the ceiling above the air jet, blocking the ride "back up" if there is water below – range it before dropping down.
  - The air jet will send you up out of the water back to the lower level – eventually. Keep trying. Or use Dimension Door.
Solve the "Light the Runes" puzzle.
- Solving part 1 gives access to drop down to the Shrine – pull the lever but don't light the floor tile there yet (as this resets the puzzle's power gem). This is the "uncomplicated", best tactic – you can also solve the entire puzzle, but then you get knocked around like a ping-pong ball.
- Ride the air jet up and to the left, and then ride the air jet off the red rune – then pull the lever at the end of that passage, and turn everything on the shrine level.
- Solve the 2nd configuration, and ride up and to the right. Jump up into the yellow rune's air jet to access the 2nd lever.
- Drop down the back side and pull the elevated lever there.
- You may now proceed by riding the air jet from the large golden rune in the back of the shrine level, or solve the entire puzzle for an additional end chest.
  - To avoid activating all the air jets, do not light the final puzzle until solved.
  - If you get blasted into the air-jet halls, drop down the back, turn the floor rune to turn off the puzzle's power gem, and go back up to finish solving it – unlit until the end.

End Fight

Solve the Guardian's Puzzle (see notes, above).
The Guardian is a thug – avoid or kite him.

Bonus XP

Devious bonus: 10 or fewer monsters killed +7% Bonus.( ♣340 ♦589 ♥612 ♠634 )
Aggression bonus: 33 or more monsters killed +10% Bonus.( ♣486 ♦842 ♥874 ♠906 )
Onslaught bonus: 67 or more monsters killed +15% Bonus.( ♣729 ♦1,263 ♥1,311 ♠1,359 )
Conquest bonus: 100 or more monsters killed +25% Bonus.( ♣1,215 ♦2,105 ♥2,185 ♠2,265 )
Tamper bonus: 8-9 or more traps disarmed +10% Bonus.( ♣486 ♦842 ♥874 ♠906 )
Neutralization bonus: 10-12 or more traps disarmed +20% Bonus.( ♣972 ♦1,684 ♥1,748 ♠1,812 )
Ingenious Debilitation bonus: 12-14 or more traps disarmed +30% Bonus.( ♣1,458 ♦2,526 ♥2,622 ♠2,718 )
Observance bonus: 1 or more secret door discovered +8% Bonus.( ♣389 ♦674 ♥699 ♠725 )

Notes: Ingenious limits depend on total number of traps.

Loot

Chests: 5–9
- 1 in the entrance area near the first shrine
- 1 in shaft room
- 1 in water room
- 1 for killing Chactini (Scorpion, doesn't always spawn)
- 1 optional for killing Hashshashi (Drow, doesn't always spawn)
- 1 optional for killing Athene (Drow Cleric, doesn't always spawn, can spawn in multiple locations)
- 1 optional for killing Varayana (Drow Monk, doesn't always spawn, can spawn in multiple locations)
- 1 at the end for killing Sannyasi (Drow Scorpion)
  - drops Siberys Dragonshard Essence and Eldritch Rune
- 1 optional at the end for solving the puzzle without having burned out any of the puzzle pieces.
  - drops an extra Eldritch Rune
Collectables:
- Rubble — North path to 1st shrine
- Moss — Near 1st shrine
- Moss — Near 1st shrine (within barrier)
- Crude Altar — Top floor, north room
- Adventurer's Pack — Top floor, south-east room
- Crude Altar — Top floor, south-west room
- Adventurer's Pack — Top floor, west room
- Crude Altar — Bottom floor, in room behind secret door
- Adventurer's Pack — In the Guardian's Puzzle's room
NPC rewards: standard

Monsters

Name ^{( picture )}	CR	Type	Race
Athene ^{( view • edit )}	♦19Normal ♥22Hard ♠27Elite	Elf	Drow Elf
Chactini ^{( view • edit )}	♦19Normal ♥23Hard ♠28Elite	Vermin	Scorpion
Claw of Vulkoor (monster) ^{( view • edit )}	♦17Normal ♠25Elite	Vermin	Scorpion
Drow Cleric ^{( view • edit )}	♦17Normal ♠25Elite	Elf	Drow Elf
Drow Wizard (Eberron) ^{( view • edit )}	♦17Normal	Elf	Drow Elf
Gelatinous Cube ^{( view • edit )}	♦8Normal	Ooze	Gelatinous Cube
Hashshashi ^{( view • edit )}	♦19Normal ♥22Hard ♠27Elite	Elf	Drow Elf
Mockery Initiate ^{( view • edit )}	♠24Elite	Elf	Drow Elf
Mockery Monk ^{( view • edit )}	♦18Normal ♠26Elite	Elf	Drow Elf
Sannyasi ^{( view • edit )}	♦26Normal ♠34Elite	Aberration	Drow Scorpion
Tormented Spirit ^{( view • edit )}	♠25Elite	Undead	Spectre
Varayana ^{( view • edit )}	♦19Normal ♥22Hard ♠27Elite	Elf	Drow Elf