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The Shroud

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The Shroud is the 6th quest in The Thirteenth Eclipse story arcIcon tooltip.pngStory arcs  are chains of quests that make up a story line.
Completing everything in a story arc often yields a nice reward..
The first five quests can be completed in any order to unlock The Shroud.
Flagging occurs by collecting dedicated items rather than completing these quests.
Running with the Devils • Rainbow in the Dark • Ritual Sacrifice • Let Sleeping Dust Lie • The Coalescence Chamber • The Shroud
The Vale of Twilight adpack icon.jpg
DDO Point icon.png Requires access to adventure pack: The Vale of Twilight
The Shroud
Heroic level: 17
Epic level: None
Duration: Very long
Heroic XP:  ♦11,540Normal ♥11,980Hard ♠12,420Elite
Epic XP: The Codex and the Shroud
Takes place in: The Shroud
Bestowed by: Aaseamah Screven
NPC contact: Aaseamah Screven
Quest acquired in: Meridia
Patron: The Twelve
Base favor: 11
Purchase: The Vale of Twilight or VIP
Extreme Challenge: No
M shroud.png
Loading screen

Overview

In ancient times, giants used the Shroud's harrowing challenges as the proving ground for the greatest of warriors.

The entrance to The Shroud is in the southwest corner of Meridia, through a gate in the wall behind the wagon there.

The Shroud is one of DDO's most popular raids. This raid consists of 5 phases:

  • Phase 1 – The Challenge of the Waning Moons (usually referred to as the Portals or Invasion) (10% XP)
  • Phase 2 – The Challenge of the New Moon (usually referred to as the Maze) (15% XP)
  • Phase 3 – The Challenge of the Waxing Moons (usually referred to as the Puzzles or Subjugation) (20% XP)
  • Phase 4 – The Challenge of the Full Moon (Boss fight, round 1) (30% XP)
  • Phase 5 – The Challenge of the Lost Moon (Boss fight, round 2)
Spawning order for Part 1 portals
Commonly used patterns for taking down the Part 1 portals
The Shroud

Flagging

Spoiler Warning: Spoiler material below this point!

Objectives

  • Speak to Quissana
  • Use the Portal of the Waning Moons
    Phase One:
  • Clear the devil scouting force (19 total)
  • Destroy the portals (15 total)
  • Defeat the invasion
  • (Failure) Stop Shavarath from becoming coterminous
  • Attune the Altar of the Waning Moons +10% Bonus.( ♦1,154 ♥1,198 ♠1,242 )
    Phase Two:
  • Enter the Portal of the New Moons
  • Locate the central shrine
  • Shatter the crystal
  • Attune the Altar of the New Moons +15% Bonus.( ♦1,731 ♥1,797 ♠1,863 )
    Phase Three:
  • Enter the Portal of the Waxing Moons
  • Find the flowing Fountain of the Waxing Moons
  • Purify the Fountains of the Waxing Moons (12 total)
  • Attune the Altar of the Waxing Moons +20% Bonus.( ♦2,308 ♥2,396 ♠2,484 )
    Phase Four:
  • Defeat the devil scouting force (11 total)
  • Defeat Arraetrikos, General of Shavarath
  • Attune the Altar of the Full Moons +30% Bonus.( ♦3,462 ♥3,594 ♠3,726 )
    Phase Five:
  • Enter the Portal of the Lost Moon
  • Defeat Arraetrikos and his Lieutenants
  • Attune the Altar of the Lost Moon
  • (Optional) Collect: Portal Fragments — no XP
  • (Optional) Collect: Healing Totems — no XP
  • (Optional) Collect: Infernal Pacts — no XP
  • (Optional) Collect: Blade Storm Fragments — no XP

What to Expect

  • Traps (fixed, undisarmable)
  • Maze (fixed layout)
  • Spawning/respawning monsters
  • Puzzles (mandatory: light puzzles. Lock DC)
  • Monsters that have to be killed almost simultaneously (mandatory: the 4 lieutenants in part 2)
  • Quest failure (if the Portal Keepers from Part 1 are not killed within 2 minutes after the DM warning)

Known Traps

  • (Phase 3)
    • Floor marks that activate an area effect spell Horrid Wilting and Greater Dispel Magic on all party members when stepped on OR jumped over.
    • Prismatic Wall – If the puzzles in this phase haven't been completed in an allotted amount of time (10–15 minutes), a rainbow colored wall progresses through the corridor, potentially killing everyone inside.
      • There are a few ways to defeat the Prismatic Wall:
        • Complete the puzzles and place water in the fountain before the wall reaches your area.
        • Using Divine Intervention will prevent death caused by touching the Prismatic Wall.
        • Death Pact allows you to come back to life after it passes.
        • Breaking the crystals over the doors and placing water in the fountains.
          • NOTE: This may make other party members very upset.
            You may even get yourself blacklisted. Make sure that you have the Raid Leader's approval first.
  • (Phases 3 and 4)
    • Whirling Blades (Invulnerable; cannot save against or resist damage by AC, saving throws, or evasion; ~24–38 damage on Normal)

Tips and Misc

Walkthrough

Entrance: Wait until all players zone in. Buff. Talk to Quissana and enter portal. Portal closes after 3 minutes, characters who don't make it within 3 minutes are locked out.

Phase 1 – The Challenge of the Waning Moon

Phase 1 Loading Screen

You must destroy 15 portals. After cleaning up the initial foes, melees run in a tight bunch from portal to portal. Casters usually insta-kill the few spawning mobs. This phase is probably the least dangerous. It has a fail-condition – if a Portal Keeper stays alive for too long – but this rarely happens because someone usually kills him immediately.

Phase 2 – The Challenge of the New Moon

Phase 2 Loading Screen

Buff before entering. The map is a really simple maze; each character spawns in one of the four corners. Assemble in the South-Central area in front of barrier (either kill trash mobs you encounter or kite them there; healers might spawn elsewhere so don't be a hero). Casters lay down some crowd control (usually Otto's Sphere of Dancing).

When the trash is cleared, parties can regenerate SP and HP center of the hollow trees found in the corners of the maze. You can speed up this regeneration by jumping into the middle of the trees repeatedly. This is commonly known as "humping the trees".

Parties can take a little time to send in a good scout into the center to identify the 4 red-named lieutenants at the center of the maze without aggroing them, or send durable characters or competent self-healers to the lieutenants to begin the attack immediately. In either case, when the party is ready, the center scouts often kite them to the south-central area of the maze in front of the exit barrier. As this happens another member (usually a caster) takes up position near the Crystal in the center. The party then "prepares" (or "preps") all the red-named to almost-but-not-quite-dead (5–10%). When approved by party leader, kill all four lieutenants quickly.

KEEP THE LIEUTENANTS SEPARATED – when 3+ Lieutenants are near each other they form a ward that keeps them from dying unless separated for more than 6 seconds. Parties should mind which boss is killed first since some will march back to the center to revive faster than others. When dead, one person (the aforementioned caster) must shatter a crystal in the middle of the maze (a Maximized, Empowered Frost Lance or two Max'd & Empowered Scorching Rays do this on Normal).

When the timing is not right, ghosts of the red-named return to the central crystal and resurrect, and you have to kill them again. (If this behavior and the maze seems familiar, it should. The part is a shout-out to the game, "Pac-man.") Returned lieutenants will have less HP each time they regenerate and won't auto-self heal anymore (except for the Troll's regeneration powers); they also lose the ward that keeps them alive, making them simultaneously easier to kill, and harder to prep.

There are a number of different Lieutenants that may spawn in this Part.

All of them cast the heal spell on themselves every ~3–6 seconds. It functions exactly as a basic heal, removing any debuffs and stat damage that heal normally would. The amount healed isn't very much on normal – probably 110–140 tops.

Proximity to each other does grant them other effects, however: it puts up orbs that appear around them, denoting special effects. It appears that the more that are in proximity to each other, the more orbs will surround them, denoting more special effects.

Proximity to other Lieutenants give a special effect (which appear as orbs around each Lieutenant). Multiple orbs can appear when multiple Lieutenants are nearby.

Below is the list of effects that are produced:

  • Adur-Nac (Orc) = Planar Rage – Proximity to the Orc Hero, Adur-Nac, grants immense physical power to its allies (Rage)
  • Anur-Shub (Fire Elemental) = Elemental Retribution – Proximity to the Fire Elemental, Anur-Shub, grants an elemental aura of flame to its allies (Fire shield)
  • Damasze (Earth Elemental) = Elemental Defense – Proximity to the Earth Elemental, Damasze, grants an elemental bonus to damage reduction to its allies (20 DR/-)
  • Esarhal (Troglodyte) = Fiendish Stench – Proximity to the Fiendish Troglodyte, Esarhal, grants an aura of stench to its allies (DC 24 on Normal, probably scales with difficulty)
  • Kasquik (Kobold) = Planar Immunity – Proximity to the Paragon Kobold, Kasquik the Mighty, grants incredible spell resistance to its allies (SR 50)
  • Mitanu (Orthon) = Profane Shield – Proximity to the Orthon, Mitanu, grants a profane bonus to armor class to his allies. (+8 AC)
  • Nimrisr (Hellcat) = Profane Resistance – Proximity to the Hellcat, Nimrisr, grants a profane bonus to saves to its allies. (Value unknown)
  • Sagrata (Bearded Devil) = Profane Elemental Resistance – Proximity to the Bearded Devil, Sagrata, grants a profane bonus to elemental resistance to his allies. (100 to all, probably scales with difficulty)
  • Tho-Daah Nugh (Gnoll) = No buffs
  • Ubein-Lnaa (Troll) = No buffs
  • Resist Death: When one of the Lieutenants is near 2 or more of the others, that Lieutenant cannot die. This wears off 6 seconds after the Lieutenant is separated from its friends, and deactivates altogether when the Lieutenant is slain for the first time.
  • All lieutenants self-cast a Heal for 110+ HP every 6 seconds
  • Kasquik the Kobold has a Vorpal sword
  • Tho-Daah the Gnoll has Greater Dispel (DC50+? – Appears to be an absolute dispelling regardless caster level), Cometfall, Blade Barrier, Greater Command (DC 39), Mass Inflict Critical Damage, Harm
  • Adur-Nac the Orc has Cleave and Great Cleave, Severe Stunning Blow, Superior Sunder
  • Ubein-Lnaa the Troll has Severe Stunning Blow, Severe Bewildering Blow
  • Esarhal the Troglodyte has Hamstring
  • Sagrata the Bearded Devil has Curse Wound (Immunity to healing while cursed – no problem for Repair spells)

The fastest Lieutenants (and thus to be killed last) are Nimrisr and Anur-Shub, while the slowest (usually killed first) are Damasze and Mitanu.

Phase 3 – The Challenge of the Waxing Moon

Phase 3 Loading Screen

Buffing is not required for this phase, as you won't face any enemies, although haste, rage, and false life will help the group move faster and survive the blades. However, you should be prepared to self-heal as there are Whirling Blades that depending on difficulty can hit you for up to 120HP per tick flying through the corridors (not the rooms). There are also big round yellow circles on the floors of the corridors that cast Horrid Wilting on anyone in the vicinity if stepped on, jumped over, and possibly when blades pass them.

Each character spawns in a room with a puzzle, a barrier with a locked release switch, and a fountain. Solve the puzzle. When you step on a field, it will toggle between light on / off, along with four neighboring fields in a + shape. All lights must be lit. Solving the puzzle opens the door. If you don't know how to solve the puzzle, please tell this ASAP to the rest of the party, along with the size and location (if known).

  • Or, you can just unlock it, DC 30 on Elite. They relock once you open them, so only go in if you have water.

Once you are out of the room (puzzle solved or someone came to help with the puzzle and let you out), run through the corridors to a central fountain (reachable from the south). If someone else has not already done so, destroy the three crystals above the barrier to gain access. Interact with the face at the top of the central fountain to get a Vial of Lunar Water. Take the water to a face in a room where the puzzle has been solved and interact with the face to start water running in the fountain. When water has been run to all rooms, the challenge is complete.

 WARNING:  You should only destroy the crystals above the fountain room. Destroying the crystal(s) above any puzzle will disable the puzzle in that room and prevent gaining access to the two additional chests (which are under the water in the fountain room.) Also, placing water in the final face/fountain before all puzzles are solved will disable all puzzles still unsolved, preventing access to the additional chests (because of this, it is considered very noobish to water a fountain in the room of a puzzle that is unsolved, because an unsolved puzzle is the best indication that you should not water all of the fountains yet.) If this part takes too long (15–20 Minutes) a rainbow colored wall will appear. The Wall moves clockwise through the corridor and rooms and kills everything on contact.

The best way to defeat the prismatic wall is to retreat to the central fountain, wait for it to pass, and carefully follow it with someone who can unlock the lever on the unsolved puzzle who is also carrying water for the fountain once the puzzle is solved, and a resurrector to get anyone killed by the wall back on their feet. Be very careful at the corners, because the prismatic wall doubles for a moment as the first wall continues on to the outer edge of the level while a new wall starts from the outer edge and moves down the next corridor.

The central pool regenerates your HP and SP; furthermore, if you swim to the bottom of the pool in the corners of where the ramp meets the flat part against the side wall, you can with mouselook (t) and auto-run (r) find a spot where your toon seems to vibrate and you will regenerate your HP & SP MUCH faster ("going for a quick swim"). It is best to "go for a quick swim" after you have buffed party members and yourself if you're an arcane or divine caster so as to have the maximum SP to face Harry within the next part. Marraenoloth is an expert repair smith (twice as expensive, but much less chance of permanent damage) and vendor available after completing this phase who also sells small, medium and large Shavarath Energy cells (although the Large ones are depleted and must be re-charged as per the Green Steel item crafting steps). There are a few items – such as Candy Canes – for which an expert repair smith is the only way to repair damage, so if you know you'll be running Shroud, be sure to bring any such damaged goods along.

Phase 4 – The Challenge of the Full Moon

Phase 4 Loading Screen

NOTE: If you die during this phase, your Soul stone is transferred to a prison, i.e. you cannot be revived immediately. The party will have a brief opportunity (10 seconds from the time the altar at the end is activated) to revive you upon completing this phase.

This is the most difficult part of the raid. Buff appropriately (Freedom of Movement, Resist Energy: Fire in particular but also the usual: Blur, Haste, Rage, Stoneskin, Deadly Weapons, etc.) When zoning in, casters usually set up crowd control (e.g. disco balls). Kill a wave of trash devils. Beware! Killing a green devil spawns Whirling Blades that follow the closest player for a few seconds; therefore, it's common at level to "save a devil" – keep the last one alive until the other three sets of blades have disappeared. Mind the blades, keep moving. You cannot even hide in a corner, as the area is circular! When trash is dead, the boss arrives; if you take too long killing the devils, Arraetrikos ("Harry") shows up anyway. DPS/range/DoT (Niac's Biting Cold, Eladar's Electric Surge, etc.) the boss. A wall of blades circles around the boss, slowly moving towards the center. After approximately 1 minute, the blades hit the center and start to kill the melees DPSing, so be ready to run/jump away if you are melee. With good healing, the party leader may ask you to "stay in the blades" or "heal through the blades", but know your own limits; it's better to jump out and switch to ranged than to stay in and die, as you're then out of the rest of the fight. When the blades reach the center, the boss teleports away, flying overhead for a time and throwing Meteor Swarms. This is a good time for the party to group up for rebuffs, but watch out for that death from above; you cannot target Harry (although damage-over-time spells applied to Harry before he flew away are still attacking him), and these attacks are dangerous for low-Reflex, low-HP characters. Another wave of devils spawns, and again the boss teleports in (this is called a round).

Most groups manage to kill the boss in two rounds in Normal or Hard with an at-level group; great groups can do one. On the boss's 2nd and later arrivals, eight gnolls also appear (2 from each cardinal direction) and cast special healing beams at Harry to make your job harder. Casters are best to kill these gnolls as the melees should concentrate on killing Harry, though anyone with an insta-kill should be encouraged to help.

When the boss dies, the blades disappear. People who can raise any dead characters should remain in the center (with each raiser claiming a particular dead character or two if necessary). Once everyone is ready, someone should click the altar, and any dead characters will have a very short amount of time to receive & accept a raise before 'dying' again and being put back in the penalty box. Any characters who miss this opportunity will NOT get a chance to shrine or loot before Part 5, but will be able to return after the raid is completed. Therefore, if there are more dead bodies than people who can raise, precedence should be for those planning on leaving after Part 5 but before completion, and those who need to shrine to regain any vital abilities or action boosts.

When you click the portal to enter the next phase, all characters die (summoned creatures and pets stay alive) as part of the story. Therefore, you don't need to buff in advance. Also, make sure that everyone has had a chance to shrine and loot (it's common to gather around – or dance on top of – the altar to signify that you're ready).

Using the divine Death Pact may allow you to come back to life after it passes. Divine Intervention is sometimes used as a prank to prevent somebody from immediately moving on to the next phase with the rest of the group.

Phase 5 – The Challenge of the Lost Moon

Phase 5 Loading Screen

After Arraetrikos' speech, all players are revived, but you only have a few moments to buff before you're swarmed by the red-named lieutenants you met in phase 2. (Sometimes an artificer dog or druid's wolf may be used to collect Soul stones and carry them to a corner to give the group a chance to buff before battle, especially at level.) This time they die permanently. As in round 2, you must keep the lieutenants separated or they will prevent each other from being killed. Most groups keep one of the red-named alive (commonly the kobold or orc), kiting him around or boxing him in a corner, while most of the party finishes buffing and regenerating their SP and HP by entering and leaving the pools in a corner. Fire resist and Freedom of Movement are essential for the last fight. Once buffed and fully restored, kill the last lieutenant and Arraetrikos reappears. This time, he fights until death. Unlike part 4, Harry tends to move about, so melees should try to box him in by surrounding him to keep Harry from concentrating an attack on a weaker party member. Those who die here can be revived immediately.

Four portals appear upon completion of this phase so you can return to previous phases, named according to the particular phase (Waning/New/Waxing/Full Moon).

It is customary at the end of this fight for the raid leader to ask if any party member wants to recall without completing the quest, before clicking on the last altar that ends the raid. Many players that are farming Green Steel crafting ingredients sometimes choose to do this so that their raid timer does not reset to 3 days, so they can play the raid again as soon as possible, often immediately.

Useful buffs

Collection optionals

After the raid is completed once, a player can visit several NPCs around Meridia that grant quests to collect a hundred items that drop in both this raid and The Codex and the Shroud. These optionals will appear in the quest log, but only for those who have then. It is generally not worth bothering with this, as the items drop very slowly, some (like the Orthon Armor one) don't work at all, and the rewards are random loot.

Trivia

Each of the Shroud's first 3 phases were designed to mimic various classic arcade games:

  • Phase 1 is modeled after the classic arcade game Gauntlet, by Atari.
    • Upon entering you'll immediately notice four corpses, they are named very similarly to the four characters from the Gauntlet arcade game: Scarlet Warrior, Jade Elf, Azure Valkyrie and the Golden Wizard
  • Phase 2 borrows some of its elements from the classic Pac-Man, by Namco
    • The Ghosts return to the center to come back to life, just like Pac-Man, and the power pellets are represented by the trees which regenerate hit and spell points.
  • Phase 3 is vaguely reminiscent of Frogger, by Konami
    • The Whirling Blades represent the cars, and the player dodging them is Frogger.

Bonus XP

External Links

Loot

  • Chests:
    • 10 Guaranteed for completion, 2 optional in part three, 1 or 2 extra in Phase 5 for Hard or Elite – Up to  ♦12Normal ♥13Hard ♠14Elite Total.
      • 2 for phase 1 (1 can drop small ingredients and power shards)
      • 2 for phase 2 (1 can drop small ingredients)
      • 2 guaranteed and 2 optional for phase 3 (1 each can drop medium ingredients and power shards)
      • 2 for phase 4 (1 can drop large ingredients and power shards)
      • 2 for phase 5 (1 can drop large ingredients and power shards)
      • 1 Extra chest for completing hard Phase 5 (Can drop large ingredients)
      • 2 Extra chests for completing elite Phase 5 (Can drop large ingredients)

NPC end rewards


Monsters

Name ( picture ) CR Type Race
Adur-Nac ( view
Adur-Nac.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Orc Orc
Ancient Crystal ( view
Ancient Crystal.jpg
 • edit ) 		0 Construct Inanimate Object
Anur-Shub ( view
Anur-Shub.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Elemental Fire Elemental
Arraetrikos ( view
Arraetrikos.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦28Normal ♥32Hard ♠38Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Bezekira ( view
Bezekira Generic.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦19Normal ♥23Hard ♠27Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Damasze ( view
Damasze.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Elemental Earth Elemental
Elite Barbazu Shock Trooper ( view
Elite Barbazu Shock Trooper.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♠16Elite ●♦23Epic Normal ●♥32Epic Hard ●♠48Epic Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Elite Orthon Defender ( view
Elite Orthon Defender.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦20Normal ♥25Hard ♠30Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Esarhal ( view
Esarhal.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Reptilian Troglodyte
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Assassin ( view
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Assassin.png
 • edit ) 		Reptilian Troglodyte
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Sniper ( view
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Sniper.png
 • edit ) 		Reptilian Troglodyte
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Sorcerer ( view
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Sorcerer.png
 • edit ) 		Reptilian Troglodyte
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Warchief ( view
Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Warchief.png
 • edit ) 		Reptilian Troglodyte
Fiend-Blood Troll ( view
Fiend-Blood Troll.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦16Normal ♠23Elite Giant Troll
Gnoll Idolater ( view
Gnoll Idolater.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♥14Hard Gnoll Gnoll
Kasquik the Mighty ( view
Kasquick the Mighty.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Reptilian Kobold
Mitanu ( view
Mitanu.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Nimrisr ( view
Nimrisr.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Planar Gateway ( view
Planar Gateway.jpg
 • edit ) 		0 Construct Inanimate Object
Portal Keeper (tiefling) ( view
Portal Keeper (Tiefling).jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦17Normal ♥20Hard Native Outsider Tiefling
Sagrata ( view
Sagrata.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Evil Outsider Devil
Tho-Daah-Nugh ( view
Tho-Daah-Nugh.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Gnoll Gnoll
Ubein-Lnaa ( view
Ubein Lnaa.jpg
 • edit ) 		 ♦23Normal ♥27Hard ♠33Elite Giant Troll
Whirling Blades (Shavarath) ( view
Whirling Blades.jpg
 • edit ) 		0 Construct Animated Object
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