Dreams of Insanity

Over this past weekend, Erdrique (Level 15 Druid) only needed a few level 11 quests to complete on elite before concentrating on the level 12 and higher level quests.  The quests he need were The Enemy Within (which I wrote about here), An Offering of Blood, and Dreams of Insanity.  Of these three quests, I think that the Dreams of Insanity is the most difficult. 

The Dreams of Insanity is a follow up quest to one of the more popular older quests in the game, The Xorian Cipher.  The quest giver for Dreams of Insanity is another hobgoblin named Gatekeeper Trakash who is standing not far away from the quest giver to Tempest Spine in House Jorasco.  Similar to The Xorian Cipher, there is a small entrance zone, I think it is called the Pools of Reflection, that you have to pass through to get to the actual quest.  However, unlike the The Path to Madness (the opening zone prior to Xorian Cipher) there aren’t any objective to complete to move forward and into the Dreams of Insanity.

Erdrique questing in the Gate of Nightmares.

The enemies you face inside the Gate of Nightmares are limited to basically five types: Xorian drow, drow scorpions, constructs (warforged and defenders), tharak hounds, and beholders.  There are four named drow scorpions (the Chakram brothers) who are spread throughout the quests and there are three named beholders, including the final boss.  The map itself isn’t all that complicated and is pretty linear however with that said the hallways are actually split down the middle by a grated wall and you have to navigate through both sides of the wall to open up access to the final hallway that leads to the end fight. 

Like the Xorican Cipher, you will encounter the ever present Xoriat orbs and you will have the chance to close those portals.  The drow forces contain the typical melee brutes as well as their divine and arcane fellas who can be quite dangerous.  However, the beholders are by far the most dangerous critters in the quest.  You need to make sure you have deathblock equipped when you enter this quest because of the beholders and the tharak hounds.

Investigating the Gate of Nightmares.

The most challenging aspect of this quest occurrs in the final room.  In that room you have two primary objectives: kill the named beholder and then seal the rift.  Killing the beholder isn’t all that bad because he can be lured out of the final room and away from his allies and then taken care of.  However, to seal the rift you have to travel through the rafters via ladders to activate a number of runes.  To make things more complicated the rafters are loaded with drow archers who just love to ping you with their nasty little arrows.  If that wasn’t enough, rift then spawns more mobs from Xoriat including more beholders and tharak hounds.  The tight rope walking along the rafters to get to the runes can get annoying and frustrating and usually winds up in a few deaths for me and for others.  Once the rift is sealed you have completed the quest.

So, as a level 11 quest, I think this one of the more challenging.  The navigation through the quest to open up the last tunnel is relatively straight forward and isn’t too bad until you get to the named beholders (who protect the neede crests to open doorway that lets you access the final hallway).  The greatest challenge is in the final room where patience, coordination, and determination are necessary to get through it. 

Well that is it concerning the Dreams of Insanity.  Now get back into game and take on the Xorian forces in the Dreams of Insanity and have fun while doing your hunting :).