Dredging the Depths

Objectives

 * Free the Dredge slaves by slaying Stone Summit Taskmasters.
 * Discover what the Stone Summit Dwarves are searching for in the Vloxen Excavations.
 * Seek and destroy Zoldark the Unholy.
 * See Molenin for your reward.

Reward

 * 7,500 Experience
 * 1,500 Gold

Walkthrough
Best starting point to enter Vloxen Excavations for this quest is from Vlox's Falls, then head east into the dungeon where you will find groups of Stone Summit and Dredge Slaves. You will soon find the boss Taskmaster Durgon; defeating him will release the first Slaves and drop the Boss Key to the second level. The best tactic to defeat him is to first kill the healer. Light of Deldrimor will reveal a Dwarven Ghost near the area map.

On the second level, you must seek out and defeat Taskmaster Kurg and Taskmaster Bellok. It is advisable to pull Bellok's group away from the nearby resurrection shrine (they will follow quite far); otherwise, if your party wipes, you will be swarmed repeatedly as you respawn, and might easily reach -60% Death Penalty and thus be defeated. After Bellok is eliminated, a dredge slave will show the way to some dwarven powder kegs to blast through a cracked wall and gain access to the entrance of the dungeon's third level. There is a lever in the southwest of the southeastern chamber which disables the poison traps, however it is out of the way. The Light of Deldrimor will reveal a Dwarven Ghost near a Beacon of Droknar past the second door opened by the master gear. There is a hidden treasure near Taskmaster Kurg.

On the third level you will need to find Sotanaht the Tomb Guardian, who holds the key to access the dominion of Zoldark the Unholy. The third level also contains 2 levers which disable all the poison traps there: one in the northwest of the northwestern room, and one in the northwest of the northeastern room. (Just beyond Sotanaht the Tomb Guardian)

To kill Zoldark the Unholy, kill his minions until he quits resurrecting them. He loses health every time he resurrects one, and he can't heal so he will continue losing health with every resurrection. He will be easy to kill once he is unable to resurrect his minions.

Initial dialogue

 * Molenin
 * "I recently escaped from the most terrible of places. We were moved there after the adventurers destroyed the Iron Forgeman in Sorrow's Furnace. Near here lies an excavation led by an evil necromancer named Bellok. The earthquakes tore open an ancient crypt where Bellok hoped to harness the power of an ancient lich. His taskmasters work my brothers 'til they are no more. Please, help us poor Dredge reunite the moletariate and rise again in unstoppable numbers! You must free my people!"

Intermediate dialogue

 * Character Name:
 * "Drakes. Why did it have to be drakes?"


 * "Fight back, Dredge! We are here to release you from Dwarven bondage!"


 * Dredge Slave
 * "Wait! You must listen! We were not forced to dig for gold or gems. These Dwarves want something far more valuable than mere ore, and they will continue to mine despite your small victory. They are obsessed with...or, perhaps possessed by...a malignant force that lies beneath. It promises power but only delivers pain and suffering."


 * "Please, if you are willing, obtain Taskmaster Kurg's key and open the powder room to the northeast. Inside you'll find powder kegs you can use to access Zoldark's tomb. We've dug deep enough that a powder keg should be able to blast through the weakened walls. You must defeat the evil below or we shall be enslaved forever."


 * Zoldark the Unholy:
 * "Excellent. You're just in time to feed my children...."

Reward dialogue

 * Molenin
 * "Thank you! You have struck a great blow for the moletariate, hero! Perhaps I'll include you in my next manifesto."

Trivia

 * The decline dialog for this quest clearly references the events of Sorrow's Furnace, another Stone Summit mining operation, in the Prophecies campaign.
 * The necromancer named "Bellok", of whom Molenin speaks in the quest dialogue, is a reference to the character Dr. Rene Belloq from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.
 * The accept dialogue is probably a play on the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs song "Heigh-Ho".
 * Intermediate character dialogue is also based on an Indiana Jones quote from Raiders of the Lost Ark regarding snakes.
 * The name Sotanaht (the Tomb Guardian) is Thanatos spelled backward. In Greek mythology, Thanatos is the god of Death, the son of Nyx (goddess of Night) and Erebos (god of Darkness) and twin brother of Hypnos (god of Sleep).
 * The Reward dialogue refers to Karl Marx and his communists' manifesto (proletariate).
 * Molenin's "Lost Note" found on the first level violates the third plank in Marx's Communist Manifesto.