The Vale of Shadows is an ancient graveyard a few hours away from Kuldahar.
Description[]
Northeast of Kuldahar, Arundel will unlock this area when you take his quest. There are quite a few Yetis scattered around this outside area, which hit hard but are rather slow and easy to kill (ranged weapons in general will make them easy) There are also a few Lesser Shadows, which are very easy to kill but inflict Bad Luck on you (-1 to hit rolls, -5% thieving abilities).
You'll need to obtain the Gate Key and the Sanctum Key from the crypts here to gain access to Kresselack's Tomb, which involves killing quite a few skeletons, zombies, and a couple other low-level undead. Kresselack's tomb itself contains higher level undead, including Mummies, Ghouls, Ghasts, Wights, Skeletal Mages, and skeletal warriors.
This area is made quite trivial if you have a Cleric in your party (Turn Undead) and to a lesser extent Druid, because they have spells that do bonus damage to undead.
Locations[]
Crypts[]
- At the top of the map, right in the middle, lies this crypt. Containing little in the way of exciting loot, it is optional, although worth a reasonable amount of experience.
- Northwest of the map's centre, this crypt contains not only some magical gear, but also the Gate Key.
- Located along the Northern edge of the map, between the Northern Crypt and Kresselack's Tomb. Similar to the Northern Crypt this tomb is optional, although this one contains more and better loot.
- Found in the Southeastern corner, this crypt is the largest and most populated of the minor crypts. It contains magical gear, and also the Sanctum Key.
Kresselack's Tomb[]
The main crypt of the zone, located in the Northeastern corner.
Vale Ice Cave[]
The ice cave will lead to five more yeti guarding four locked boxes containing loot.
Outdoors map[]
Inhabitants[]
| Yeti | Yeti Chieftain | Lesser Shadow | Shadow |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | 17 | 1 |
The Lesser Shadows are primarily found guarding the four crypts and Kresselack's Tomb. Only at the Tomb (upper-right corner) do they respawn. Around this area is also a Shadow, which cannot be harmed by regular weapons.
Quests[]
The Yeti Chieftain found near the centre, outside the Vale Ice Cave, has a necklace needed for the quest Mirek's heirloom.
Advice[]
- Don't sell any of the yeti pelts until you've slain them all, as selling them will devalue them at your next sale.
- The lesser crypts contain large numbers of undead so it's worth considering the Turn Undead ability of Clerics and Paladins.
- Save offensive spells for the Shadow and keep any magical weapons (even ones like Applebane) to equip against this monster and the many more you'll encounter soon enough.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Vale of Shadows article on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms