Litany of the Dead

The Black Abbot awaits his rise to godhood and only you can stop his ascension. {{Quest | name       = Litany of the Dead | adpack     = The Necropolis, Part 4 | level      = 15 | duration   = Long | solo       = 4200 | normal     = 7300 | hard       = 7600 | elite      = 7899 | loc        = Black Mausoleum (Upper Necropolis) | bestower   = Sir Rohine Stiedra | npc        = Sir Rohine Stiedra | zone       = The Necropolis | patron     = The Silver Flame | favor      = 6 | mappic     = M litany of the dead.png | maplegend  = yes | loadingpic = L Litany of the Dead.jpg | free       = VIP | overview   = At the behest of Sir Rohine Stiedra you collected the pieces necessary to construct a magical sigil that would allow you access to the Black Mausoleum. Pieces were found in the hands of several of the Black Abbot's allies and also spread amongst the Orchard of the Macabre. Once you brought them all back to him, Sir Rohine combined them all to make a completed sigil. Sir Rohine Stiedra told you that there was still more that needed to be done before the Black Abbot's Ascension Chamber could be entered. The lich has called his four former allies to the Black Mausoleum and is now forcing them to defend him. While they live, their power seals the doors to the Ascension Chamber. You must enter the Black Mausoleum, find the four, defeat them, and break the sources of the Black Abbot's control.

Quick-links

 * Walk-through
 * Riddle

Flagging
This quest requires per-character flagging; you need to collect and complete a Sigil consisting of eight parts for Sir Rohine.

Four of these parts mainly drop from the end chests of quests as listed below: The numbers are the positions of the piece in Sigil: Frame (left to right). Once you've completed a Sigil, talking to Rohine will give you a new item (Completed Sigil) that will allow you to enter Litany of the Dead on any subsequent live. You do not need to collect more than one Completed Sigil.
 * Right Wing (1) drops at Desecrated Temple of Vol.
 * Left Wing (2) drops at Flesh Maker's Laboratory.
 * Right Frame (3) drops at Inferno of the Damned.
 * Left Frame (4) drops at Ghosts of Perdition.
 * Left Pincer (5), Center Frame (6), Eye of the Abbot (7) and Right Pincer (8) can drop from all 4.
 * Any chest from a rare encounter in the Orchard may also drop any Sigil piece, although with a much lower probability.

| objective_1   = Find the Black Abbot's Guardian | objective_2   = Survive the ambush | objective_3   = Descend the shaft | objective_4   = Convince the Black Dragon to help you Optionals depend on which path you are following, and are only available for that one boss (in bold): | optional_6    = Find the High Priest | opt_percent_6 = 10 | optional_7    = Acquire the | opt_percent_7 = 10 | optional_8    = Reach the door | opt_percent_8 = 10 | optional_9    = Open the Path of Vol | opt_percent_9 = 10 | optional_10   = Defeat the High Priest | opt_percent_10 = 30 | optional_1    = Find Cholthulzz | opt_percent_1 = 10 | optional_2    = Pass the Twists of Azure | opt_percent_2 = 10 | optional_3    = Open the Frigid Halls | opt_percent_3 = 10 | optional_4    = Access the Path of Ice | opt_percent_4 = 10 | optional_5    = Defeat Cholthulzz | opt_percent_5 = 30 | optional_16   = Find Cinnis | opt_percent_16 = 10 | optional_17   = Ignite the Inferno | opt_percent_17 = 10 | optional_18   = Open the Ignition Chamber | opt_percent_18 = 10 | optional_19   = Defeat Cinnis | opt_percent_19 = 30 | optional_11   = Find Mentau | opt_percent_11 = 10 | optional_12   = Acquire the key | opt_percent_12 = 10 | optional_13   = Reach the door | opt_percent_13 = 10 | optional_14   = Open the path forward | opt_percent_14 = 10 | optional_15   = Defeat Mentau | opt_percent_15 = 30 | expect        = | traps         =
 * Various lock-outs for latecomers
 * Riddle
 * Collapsible floors
 * Points of no return
 * Spawning/respawning monsters
 * Randomly placed quest items (mandatory: 4 in the east wing)
 * Spinning blades in first narrow hall, the trap plates are clearly visible on floor without Search, no trap control panel. (See Tips, below)
 * Force traps, multiple in a row during a drop downwards to dragon, no trap Control Panel(s) (see Tips, below)

| misc          =
 * Useful buffs:
 * All: Acid (vs. Acid Fog), ghost touch weapons, undead bane weapons
 * vs. High Priest: Silver weapons and/or Light damage (vs. vampires)
 * vs. Cholthulzz: Protection from cold, fire attacks (vs. Ice Mephits), cold iron weapons (vs. Ice Flensers), acid or force damage for Cholthulzz, and as for beholders
 * vs. Cinnis: Protection from Fire, cold attacks


 * Throughout, expect various monsters to spawn just behind you or as you pass, especially incorporeal undead.
 * For the blade trap in the first hall, there is a path through them of inactive plates (which changes randomly each instance). There is a "target lever" just beyond them that can be ranged, which will activate the traps (only) once, and for just a moment – if you are quick you can see the path, or at least spot some inactive plates in the middle to jump to. Otherwise, it requires someone to step on an active plate to re-activate the trap and show the inactive plates again.
 * The "treasures of the lich"... are all empty, and a trap. However, you must open one to proceed. This will do two things: 1) drop you and the party around you into an ambush, and 2) lock other characters out with a black forcefield. All aboard for the fight. Note: The forcefield will come down again once the ambush is over or if the lever resets. The lever will reset if no player is standing on the floor for too long, but you can still use invisibility and such to hide from the monsters, just be careful as the Quells, Reapers or certain champions have True Seeing.
 * Traps on each level activate a moment after you drop in front of them, so moving quickly is better. Each drop is onto a landing with a short move to the next drop – keep moving, keep ahead of the traps triggering.
 * No fall is a long one, so remove any Feather Fall effect to drop more quickly.
 * Since these traps activate a short time after a player lands in front of them, either go all together and stay together, or (easier?) go individually and separated by some time, so traps reset.
 * Remember to park hires and then call them once you are down, and past the spikes – they're almost 100% guaranteed to die in this one.
 * Spike trap at bottom, but middle is clear. Land on sides (to delay the next drop) or aim for safe middle of the pit (which will then collapse after a short time (~15 seconds) for another short fall).
 * Spike trap at bottom, but middle is clear. Land on sides (to delay the next drop) or aim for safe middle of the pit (which will then collapse after a short time (~15 seconds) for another short fall).


 * When the floor of the spike pit cracks, those standing there will dropdown into the dragon cage, and the forcefield near ambush will be put back up again, so people can't continue in after this – don't be late.
 * For dragon riddle, see this article.
 * When the riddle is finished, the cage will open to let you through and then close again. If anyone is left behind, they won't be able to follow.
 * Also the quest completes at his point!
 * If you have run this quest before, the table in this room below the dragon will contain one or more items that are possibly useful in defeating one of the Abbot's allies; this creates a recommended order for defeating the bosses. See the walk-through for a full discussion.
 * If you kill Mentau without using, you keep the Plaht debuff till you exit Orchard (after breaking the crystals)
 * On completion of each side you continue through the door past the end-chest and destroy the crystals in the tower to gain flagging status for the Ascension Chamber raid.  Someone else smashing them before you even go through the door won't mess with the flagging.
 * For a Walk-through, see this article. Note that there is a recommended order for pursuing the 4 different bosses (only one of them can be fought on any run of the quest) – that article discusses this as well.

| devious       = ~57 | discreet      = ~81 | chest         = Total 3 per run (only 1 path is open per run) | verified_nodes = 13:22, April 13, 2023 (EDT) | npcreward     = None | unique        = yes | external      = }}
 * 1 in central room after dragon
 * 1 somewhere on each boss path
 * 1 after each boss
 * These end chests can drop Tome pieces. See Tome of Untold Legends article for details. They can also now drop any Shield of Legend or sigil piece.