Question: Temple of Eothas

[DCParry]

So, I am wandering through the Temple with my party of three on Hard (probably a tough proposition, but I have been fine for the most part). 

 

I have made it to level 2, I find a room, 3 shadows, I begin picking them off even through they have crepuscular chubbies for Aloth. I get to a point where two teleport, and I see they are using the spell Mass Teleport in the combat window. Instead of teleporting, they seem to duplicate. That is, they stay in the same place, but two appear spontaneously next to Aloth. Is this intended or a bug?

[Slimjimjohnson]

There are shades which are level five and shadows which are level one. Shades can summon shadows. Kill them first.

[El Cubo]

So, I am wandering through the Temple with my party of three on Hard (probably a tough proposition, but I have been fine for the most part). 

 

I have made it to level 2, I find a room, 3 shadows, I begin picking them off even through they have crepuscular chubbies for Aloth. I get to a point where two teleport, and I see they are using the spell Mass Teleport in the combat window. Instead of teleporting, they seem to duplicate. That is, they stay in the same place, but two appear spontaneously next to Aloth. Is this intended or a bug?

There are shadows and shades in there. Shades are the tougher ones and can summon one shadow.

[DCParry]

 

So, I am wandering through the Temple with my party of three on Hard (probably a tough proposition, but I have been fine for the most part). 

 

I have made it to level 2, I find a room, 3 shadows, I begin picking them off even through they have crepuscular chubbies for Aloth. I get to a point where two teleport, and I see they are using the spell Mass Teleport in the combat window. Instead of teleporting, they seem to duplicate. That is, they stay in the same place, but two appear spontaneously next to Aloth. Is this intended or a bug?

There are shadows and shades in there. Shades are the tougher ones and can summon one shadow.

 

 

Ah, thank ye both. I guess I will head off and come back.

 

 

With fire. 

[BrokenMask]

Shades? Do those appear only on higher difficulties? Or were they those blue thingies? I don't think they summoned shadows on normal, but maybe they just died too fast..

[teknoman2]

Shades? Do those appear only on higher difficulties? Or were they those blue thingies? I don't think they summoned shadows on normal, but maybe they just died too fast..

shades appear on hard. the blue are phantoms and they dont appear on easy

[yuenhin]

On normal, you only have shadows, which are hard enough at level 2 with only 2 or 3 companions...

[dreamrider]

I've done all of Temple of Eothas on Hard, solo, with a monk.  I think I was level 3>4 the first runthrough I 'cleared' it, level 4>5 the second run.

 

The Shades only appear on Hard and PotD.  They are the toughest, and near impossible to take 4th level solo without lots of fire scrolls, and very good timing.  I never did do it, even after making 5th.

 

But remember that it is not necessary to kill critters to get your experience. 

 

Shadows are easy enough to kill; not easy, but easy enough.  In my case...shoot them...repeatedly and patiently.  The first 2-3 in the lower level you may have to eventually go hand-to- er -'ethereal claw' with after as much run-n-gun as you can manage in limited space. 

 

After that, if needed go to the inn and heal up, them play run-n-gun with all the other shadows, beasties, etc, in the Temple lower level...except in the sarcophagus room and in the bath valve room, the two locations where the Shades are.

 

Now to take the Shades rooms.

If you try to take on the Shades directly, they will only die slowly, and they will eventually swamp you with summoned Shadows, even if you get in a tight corner to protect your flanks.

Instead, avoid them, and focus on getting to the stuff in those rooms they guard.

 

The Bath Valve Room:

You need to get in here to activate the draining of the baths next door, in order to get xxxx from under water in the baths.  There're a couple ways around it but let's assume you must get into the baths (by the way, there might be another little infestation to be overcome in the baths even after you drain them.)

 

Sneak into the Valve room antechamber and position to see the one Shadow, near the valve.  Shoot the shadow, and lure him out of the room.  Let him keep you just in sight as you head up the hall.  Shadow should follow you in the hall for a bit.  The two Shades will come to the door, maybe a little outside, but will quickly turn back into the Valve room.  (Oh, they may also shoot an unerring ice spear spell at you, but you should survive.)  Let the Shadow follow about halfway up the corridor, at which point it too, should turn back toward home territory.  You immediately turn back and shoot the Shadow.  It will usually turn back to chase again.  You run again.  Shadow turns back again.  You shoot again. Shadow reverses toward you.  You run again.  Shadow turns back.  You shoot.  Repeat until you can collect the lingering glob of spirit essence left by the evaporating Shadow.

 

Now the Shades.  Shades will have returned to the Valve room.  Their positions, however, are pretty far from the valve.  Sneak as close to the valve as you can before the yellow spotting clock starts up under your character.  Maybe experiment to see just where that starts.  Then from that spot dash to the valve, touch it to activate it, and dash out.  If you are really agile and speedy, you may be able to avoid any Shade touches (you may need a potion.)  If they do manage to intercept, it will be very close to the door.  Take the hit, Disengage and keep going until the Shades stop chasing.  It won't take long; they won't go too far from their room.

 

Now heal up as necessary, go clear out anything slimy in the now drained baths, and take away any goodies that were hidden by the water.

 

The Sarcophagus Room:

This one is both easier and tougher.

Sneak in.  I can't recall if there is a resident Shadow in there with the two shades or not.  If there is, kite it out in the hallway and kill it, same process as before.

Now, sneak back in.  The Shades float in the bottom end of the room.  They can't see a good sneak up on the door end.  Sneak to the door end coffin, disarm the trap, take the goods, leave.  OK, that's the easy part.

 

For the central coffin, you need the right scrolls or abilities.  Luckily, Fan of Flames & Shocking touch scrolls are fairly common in the early game, and also fairly easy to craft.  I recommend two of either one.

 

Sneak in, go toward the nearest end of the central coffin, detect the trap.  Take a deep breath, send your character to disarm the trap, then run out.  The disarm automatically occurs on the long side of the coffin (the door side), but the Shades will start to notice you.  You should be able to finish the disarm and dash out or return to a safe distance before they are fully aware of you, however.  Even if they become fully aware, you can be out and gone easily until they calm down and return to position.  Any Shadows they summon will disappear once you get far enough away and the combat music stops.

 

Now, prepare to sneak back in and snatch the goods.  You have plenty of time to do it on a sneak'n'run from the doorway, just like the disarm...except...really really soon after you grab the contents, a Phantom will appear just inside the doorway, blocking it.

It looks like there may be enough room between the doorframe and the Phantom on one side that if you were really speeded up, you might slip by it before you got locked up.  I've never been able to do that, though.

 

Here's what I recommend.  If you have traps, set the most damaging trap you have just inside the doorway before going for the grab.  Have a couple of high output scrolls in Quick slots, or inherent.  Make the grab, then charge the Phantom, leading with your spell before it can get in a Stunning blow.  Between the damage from the trap and the damage from the spell, the Phantom should go down.  Might need a second spell if you don't have a kickass trap.  Might even need a smack or two after that.  By that time the Shades, or their summoned Shadow minions will be jumping on your back.  Ignore them.  Focus on the Phantom.  When the Phantom goes down, accept the Disengagement attack, and run like hell.

Looting accomplished.

 

BTW, the loot from the center coffin is nice, possibly quite useful later in the game, especially for priest or wizard, but not earth shaking or game breaking.  You could just skip it, and all of the above.  But where's the fun in that?

 

dreamrider

[dreamrider]

PS - If you come back at about Lvl 8, punching out those Shades in the Temple of E. is MUCH easier...but still not a piece of cake.  It IS much easier by then to just ignore the Shadows they spawn and keep waling on the Shades, however...which is what you need to do.  The spawned Shadows pop when the Shades go down.

 

dreamrider

[Messier-31]

I have a question regarding these things, but not about the temple per se. Didn't wanna start another thread.

 

Is there any special conversations between The Wather as Eothasian Priest and Edér?

[jsaving]

If you play as an Eothasian priest, there are a couple of conversations over the course of the game in which you voice your belief that Eothas is alive and well.  I don't recall any particular interaction with Eder in which this was done, though -- perhaps because you might then be able to talk him out of his personal quest?

[Jasta11]

I always end up coming back to the Temple once I've cleaned the wilderness around Gilded Vale a bit and grabbed at least 4 party members, preferably 5 (MC, Éder, Aloth, Durance, Kana or an adventurer). Once you have enough bodies to throw at them, those shades aren't so scary.