Final Battle: Icasaracht's Lair
(AR 9604)
You will finally be able to meet and speak with Icasaracht, the matron mother of the white wryms. Whatever evil she has perpetrated, she is nonetheless quite an impressive site. She will tell you of her mate, the story behind the preservation ward you found in level three, and will discuss at length why she is so full of hatred for the Ten Towns. If you explore all the dialogue options (which vary slightly if you are evil, by the way), it is hard not to feel a bit of empathy for her. That said, she will not submit, nor will she allow you to leave, so the outcome is inevitable: you must engage her in a fight to the death.
Monsters: Icasaracht the White Dragon, Icasaracht's Soul Gem, Sahuagin King, Sahuagin Royal Guard, Sahuagin UnderPriestess and Sahuagin Royal High Priestess.
Areas of Interest
- Icasaracht: Icasaracht is impressive enough all by herself, but she will have assistance in the form of a sahaugin king (1032, 1221), a sahaugin royal high priestess, two sahaugin underpriestesses, and four sahaugin royal guards. Unlike so many other of the villains in Heart of Winter, all of the above are evil, so for once Holy Smite may actually help you, if they happen to fail their saving throws. How you approach the battle is up to you, but we concentrated all of our attacks against Icasaracht, as the rest of the villains fall easily enough once she is down. Of course, getting her down is no easy task. She has 400 hit points, can cast several nasty spells like Disintegrate and Power Word: Kill, and gets three attacks per round with 24 strength. Oh, and she also has a breath weapon and wing buffets at her disposal. As if the above protections were not enough, she also has 50% resistance to all physical attacks, 100% resistance to cold damage, and 25% resistance to magic and all other forms of attack. Combine that with low saving throws and a THACO of 4, and you have a villain capable of annihilating almost any party, depending on the circumstances. If you have trouble with her, try experimenting with protection and preparatory spells like Bless, Chant, Haste, Lower Resistance, Protection from Fire/Cold, etc. You can also try whatever potions you have (Oil of Speed, Strength, Magic Resistance, etc.). We had our two melee fighters, fighter/cleric, and cleric attack her melee, with our mage/thief and mage lobbing in spells from the back. She eventually went down, but not without some creative fleeing on our part.
Once Icasaracht and her minions are defeated, it is time for you to kill her permanently, which you can do by destroying her Soul Gem, which is described below. Killing Icasaracht will gain you 50,000 XP whiile each of her minions is worth 3,000 XP. You may want to find the sahaugin king's body before moving on, as he has some decent items: Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Cloak of Displacement, Coral Plate Armor, Heavy Crossbow +1, and a Spear +1.
- Soul Gem: After killing the body of Icasaracht, you will have to come here to kill her spirit. The Soul Gem (939, 840) is pretty much easy prey, although it can cast some nasty spells, including Acid Storm, Finger of Death, and Disintegrate. Thus, you would be well-advised to kill it as quickly as possible. Once the Gem is dead, you will gain 50,000 XP and 500,000 XP for saving the northern lands. You can also go back and loot the bodies of those you dispatched. None of them have anything especially interesting, save for the king. With the Soul Gem's death, the expansion is over. Exit the area and you will view a nice cinematic, then be transported back to Kuldahar, where you can continue with Icewind Dale if you so desire (unless you played an expansion only game, in which case the game is over).
- Exit: Use this exit to return to Kuldahar, or to end the game if you played an expansion only game.
Next we will discuss areas that have changed in the original Icewind Dale.
Walkthrough Index
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