The Keep
The Dark Castle’s keep is fairly straightforward since there are only a handful of rooms.
Make sure you’re sneaking before you open doorways so you can scout ahead since there are also several zombie and cultist mobs. Eventually, you’ll meet a vampire named Lizzaria. Again, I don’t think she’s immediately hostile at the start.
However, there’s a speech check for Intimidation, Deception, and Perception. In my case, Intimidation (“Ask for mercy”) had the highest success rate. This didn’t lead to a fight.
Note: I believe that it’s possible to engage Lizzaria in battle and, if you beat her, it’ll open the locked jail cell. I just wasn’t able to test this during my playthrough.
Anyway, take a look at the exit near the laboratory’s flight of stairs. It’s locked, but there’s a hard-to-see panel near the exit that should let you pass through.
This will lead to the dimly lit upper floor where you’d encounter wraiths and ghouls. As usual, have someone sneaking around and make sure that you’re using light sources. You can also cast a cantrip or shoot an arrow at the boarded windows to bathe the hallways in sunlight.
Aksha boss fight
The main doorway leads to another chamber where the vampire Aksha resides. There’s a speech check here. Intimidation (“step away”) had the highest success rate, and that prevented her from attacking.
You could decide to leave this place to reach the Master’s Maze, or you can pick up the items. If you grab the loot, Aksha will change her mind and it’ll lead to a boss fight. You have a few seconds to prepare, so try to blast open the boarded windows and make sure your characters are positioned before she turns hostile.
The goal here is to bait Aksha and the two hostile mobs (a broodling and a ghoul) so that they move to areas with sunlight. It’s also a good idea to cast Daylight (a level 5 Cleric should have it early on), or any other spell that can further illuminate the room. Since your opponents are undead, they’ll take 10 points of damage if they end their turn on a tile affected by light.
Be forewarned, though, because Aksha has some nasty tricks:
- Three legendary action slots allow her to get three free actions, usually after a character’s turn ends. She also has her own regular turn where she can act, and it refreshes all her legendary actions.
- Aksha will drain the HP of her undead servants to heal herself. As such, it’s better to get a Cleric or Paladin to tank her hits while the rest of your party burst down her minions.
- She may also drain a party member’s HP to heal. Your companion will be cursed, lowering their maximum HP until they do a long rest.
- Akha may cast Dark Veil. This is a blinding debuff that hits characters around her. It won’t be removed even when standing in well-lit areas, and Aksha will remain shrouded, so your chance to hit will be penalized.
If you manage to defeat Aksha, you can pick up the other loot drops without getting attacked. Items include the Splendid Half Plate Armor and crafting recipes for Doomblade-type enchantments.
Exit this area to find yourself in the Master’s Maze. We’ll discuss the Master’s Maze puzzle in the next part of our Solasta: Crown of the Magister guide.
