Gate of Pain

There are many souls unjustly trapped in the Realm of Torment and they are used as a power source for Abaddon. The souls must be freed to weaken Abaddon for the fight to come.

During this mission you are constantly affected by Dreadful Pain.

Requirements
Dunkoro must be in your party before you can enter.

Objectives
Find a way to release the tortured souls from the River of Souls.
 * ADDED: Destroy the Emissary of Dhuum.
 * ADDED: Kill Tortureweb Dryders to free the souls they captured from the River of Souls.
 * *Bonus* Kill the additional elite emissaries.
 * [0...3] of 3 elite emissaries destroyed.

Reward
The mission reward depends on the number of Emissaries you seek out and destroy (See Normal mode reward/Hard mode reward for details).

In addition to the experience and gold rewards, you also gain 40 Lightbringer title points for each level of completion in Normal mode and 100 in Hard mode.

Walkthrough
From where you spawn follow the left most option of the three tunnels presented to you. Continue to follow the left wall until you reach the River of Souls. Along the way there will be several groups of Torment creatures and several groups of two Terrorweb Dryders. Put an interrupter on one of the Terrorwebs to stop Meteor Shower and other spells while the rest of the party destroys the other one. Also note that as Terrorwebs are creatures from the Underworld, Lightbringer's Gaze does not work on them.

Once at the river, go to the right until you get to a bridge over the souls. On the other side is a Tortureweb Dryder who will shortly be joined by an Emissary of Dhuum. If you don't wait for the conversation between the Undead Lich and the Emissary of Dhuum to finish you have a good chance to destroy the Tortureweb before the Emissary arrives. Torturewebs are elementalist bosses that do a sizable amount of damage, so make sure you preprot before taking them on. Another tip is to wait until they use the skill Soul Torture which takes a long time to cast. If you don't interrupt that skill (which is easily interruptible), you have a lengthy period of time to damage the Tortureweb while it is defenseless and doesn't fight back.

Once the Emissary and Tortureweb are dead you are free to move around the structure in the middle destroying any Torturewebs which are imprisoning the souls you want to free. The souls run off to a special location on the map before they're counted as freed - nothing attacks them so you don't need to worry about them. When the last Tortureweb is dead (there are six in total) wait until all the souls reach their special location to finish the mission.

Bonus
The bonus involves killing more Emissaries of Dhuum as well as their Terrorweb escorts. One is located in the middle of the structure you travel around to find the Torturewebs, the other two are back over the River of Souls. Each of these are easy enough to find while you are traveling to find the Torturewebs. If you want to do the bonus leave a Tortureweb alive until you've killed all of the Emissaries.

The Emissaries are each accompanied by three Terrorwebs. Eliminate the Terrorwebs first and then turn your attention to the Emissary. If using heroes and henchmen, a good method is to lock two interrupt heroes on two of the Terrorwebs to shut them down and have the rest of the party attack the third. Note that in order to complete the bonus you must kill the Terrorweb escorts in addition to the Emissaries.

Skill recommendations

 * Plenty of spell interrupts, such as Power Spike or Savage Shot. Power Block is especially useful, as the Terrorweb Dryders only use Fire Magic spells. Maelstrom is very helpful against Tortureweb Dryders; Complicate can shut down Meteor Shower on all three rather easily. Psychic Instability can continuously knock down a group of Terrorweb Dryders.
 * Damage reduction skills, such as Protective Spirit or Shelter.
 * Spiking skills are useful to keep mobs from completing Call to the Torment.
 * Avoid bringing skills that can be spammed because the Dreadful Pain environmental effect can bring your health down quite fast.
 * Pain Inverter and/or Technobabble are helpful skills against bosses and Dryders.

Allies
Human Ghosts
 * 20 Kormir
 * 20 Lost Soul

Foes
Dryders Demons (Torment creatures)
 * 28 (30) Terrorweb Dryder
 * 28 (30) Blade of Corruption
 * 28 Emissary of Dhuum
 * 28 (30) Arm of Insanity
 * 28 (30) Word of Madness
 * 28 (30) Shadow of Fear
 * 28 (30) Herald of Nightmares
 * 28 (30) Rain of Terror
 * 28 (30) Spear of Torment
 * 28 (30) Scythe of Chaos

Bosses
Dryders
 * 28 (30) Tortureweb Dryder &rarr; Ether Prism

Opening cinematic

 * : "You seem troubled, Dunkoro. What's the matter?"
 * Dunkoro: "We should not proceed. This place is madness."
 * Dunkoro: "Let us retreat to our own world, and prepare defenses there."
 * Kormir: "Would you abandon those trapped here, Dunkoro?"
 * Dunkoro: "I would if it would save the rest of us."
 * Dunkoro's Son: "Father, would you sacrifice me as well?"
 * Dunkoro: "Son?... Is that you?"
 * Dunkoro's Son: "It is, Father. Help us now."
 * Dunkoro: "You were a good man. Why are you here?"
 * Dunkoro's Son: "The power of Abaddon taints even those who oppose it."
 * Kormir: "Such is all our fates, unless Abaddon is defeated."
 * : "Then there is no running away from this."
 * Dunkoro: "No. No. We must press on. We must destroy Abaddon. We must save my son."

Initial dialogue

 * Dunkoro: There must be a way to save the souls of all those trapped here.
 * Kormir: The River of Souls has been blocked by Abaddon's minions. If we remove the blockade, the souls will be freed.
 * Dunkoro: We must destroy the blockade, then. I will not leave my son to Abaddon!

Intermediate dialogue
After leaving the Leech Tunnels.
 * Dunkoro: Look at that abomination! It must have something to do with this madness. Come, let's get closer, we might be able to discover something useful.

When reaching the bridge crossing the River of Souls.
 * Undead Lich: Where are the souls you promised to Abaddon?
 * Emissary of Dhuum: My torturewebs are collecting them from the river now. Their work is slow, and they do not hurry for anyone, let alone you.
 * Undead Lich: Abaddon will not be pleased by your lack of progress. When I return, you will give me the souls I require or you will face Abaddon's wrath.
 * Emissary of Dhuum: Save your threats. The soulweir's power is tied to the torturewebs. Without the torturewebs, you have nothing, and they only respond to my commands.
 * Dunkoro: The torturewebs are collecting souls from the river? We must find the torturewebs and destroy them!
 * Undead Lich: Intruders! You stay and protect the soulweir, I must finish the preparations. Do not fail Abaddon!
 * Kormir: Any souls we free from the torturewebs will help us destroy the soulweir. Quickly! Find the torturewebs and eliminate them!

Ending cinematic

 * Dunkoro's Son: "Thank you, Father. We shall meet again, in the Mists."
 * : "Dunkoro? Are you all right?"
 * Dunkoro: "Yes. Yes. I suppose I owe you an explanation."
 * Dunkoro: "Years ago, I sent my son to the Crystal Desert."
 * Dunkoro: "There were reports of strange things in the Tombs of the Primeval Kings. Tentacles bursting through the stone."
 * Kormir: "Abaddon."
 * Dunkoro: "Yes. My son was reported missing and presumed dead. I blamed myself, for sending him off without enough forethought."
 * : "Which is why you always want to have a plan..."
 * Dunkoro: "I never knew what happened to him, until now."
 * Kormir: "But you have freed him, and the other innocents trapped here by Abaddon's touch."
 * : "What about you, Kormir? Are you an innocent as well?"
 * Dunkoro: "What? Kormir is the most honorable of the Sunspears."
 * Kormir: "No. You are right. I am far from innocent, and my crimes are the greatest of all."
 * Kormir: "It was I that found the inscriptions in Istan, and I that awakened the Apocrypha of Abaddon."
 * Dunkoro: "It is not your fault, Kormir, how could you have known?"
 * Kormir: "Tales of the forbidden ruins are part of our history. My curiosity and concern made me ignore those warnings."
 * : "Even though you knew it to be an evil place, you explored the ruins."
 * Kormir: "I did, and worse. I read the words of the Apocrypha. I felt his spirit. I was drawn into his web."
 * Kormir: "Now my body withers, and my spirit walks in Torment. That is why I serve as your guide."
 * : "Where is Abaddon?"
 * Kormir: "He abides at the heart of his Realm. He is still chained, but his power grows, and the walls around him grow weak."
 * Kormir: "I fear that without the aid of the Five Gods themselves, we cannot hope to contain him."
 * : "Then with the help of the Five Gods, we will."