The Amber Temple

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

The temple is cut into the ice high above The Tsolenka Pass. The only road up starts at the pass, and it opens once you have raised the gate at the Tsolenka watchtower (The Tsolenka Gate). The climb takes three hours up The Ice Stair, where a whiteout, frozen climbers or gargoyles off the cliffs may find you on the way.

The quest starts the first time you walk up to the doors of The Amber Temple: the Doors. Of the two amber colossi flanking them, one is split and dead. The other turns its head: SPEAK THE WORD. That is The Amber Sentinel, and the quest is now at Arrived.

Step by step

1. Answer the Sentinel. Nobody needs the word to get in:
   • We don't know any word. It answers ALL MAY ENTER, and says nothing about leaving.
   • History DC 17: Read the old script carved over the doors aloud. One try for the party. On a success you learn the wardens' word, and the colossus lies down for good, so it won't stop you on the way out either.
   • Arcana DC 16: Study the ward cut into its chest. You learn its ward faces inward: it was built to stop things leaving.
   • (Draw steel and strike it.) It steps down and fights: an Amber Golem (220 Hit Points) with two Gargoyles at level 10 (6,800 XP), or the golem alone at levels 8 and 9.
2. Search the doors. Just inside the great doors a frozen traveller holds a pack (a Tarokka spot: a blanket, 2 rations, a climber's kit and 12 gp). Medicine DC 14 opens the frozen hand without breaking it (or search, DC 14, or ask the traveller with Speak with Dead: see the tip before Choices and endings) for a Frost Brand. In the west guardroom, Athletics DC 15 breaks the ice off the halberd rack (or search, Investigation DC 16) for a Weapon, +3. Search at the foot of the cairn on the ledge (DC 12) for a Candle of Invocation. The east guardroom holds the frozen watch: 4 Wights at level 10 (3 below), guarding a strongbox (lock 15: 2 potions of healing, holy water, 85 gp). Keep away from the snow overhang at the ledge's west edge (Survival DC 14 reads it; Dexterity DC 14 or 4d10 and prone).
3. The great hall. Climb the stairs from the vestibule into The Amber Temple: Hall of the Faceless God.
   
   • The faceless god. Offerings lie at the statue's feet (a Tarokka spot: candles, a holy symbol, 64 gp). The step in front of it is a trap where the blank face looks (spot DC 16; Wisdom DC 15 or 3d8 psychic and frightened). Religion DC 16 at the statue reads its rite and disarms it (one try for the party; a failure costs 2d8 psychic).
   • The ring of amber (east) holds six talking sarcophagi. Walking in wakes the hollow-eyed seekers: 5 Nothics and 3 Wraiths at level 10 (7,650 XP), 4 and 3 at levels 8 and 9. You only need to fight them to hear those six vestiges.
   • The hall of echoes (west) is where Patrina weeps over her book. See The Wailing Hall.
   • The wardens' cells (north) run the width of the hall, with the library passage at the west end and the stairs down to the vaults at the east end, so you can reach both without entering the ring. Search the cells for a chest (a spellbook, ink, a pen, a robe, 20 gp), a locker (lock 14: 2 level 1 spell scrolls, a potion of healing, 35 gp) and a loose stone (Investigation DC 17) hiding an Ioun Stone (Insight). A crack in the floor breathes frost (spot DC 15; Constitution DC 15 or 4d8 cold). Patrina's frost-free desk has a drawer (Investigation DC 17) with a Tome of Leadership and Influence.
4. The library. In The Amber Temple: the Library, a mild scholar reading in the stacks speaks as you pass: Master Vosk (Broker Met). He urges you to listen to the sarcophagi and to come and find him at the bottom of the temple. Insight DC 17 (spent if it fails) shows his spectacles have no glass and his shadow has a jackal's ears. When you say goodbye he goes down to the vaults.
   At the back, in his study, is Exethanter, the last warden, a lich who forgets everything:
   • The colossus at the doors asked us for a word. (or the glowing doors) gets you the wardens' word, no roll.
   • Is there anything you need? starts Something with a Lid. Give him back his phylactery, or keep it, and What do you make of Master Vosk? then hands you a note with the jackal's true name: Ashkarreth.
   • His wall of notes (Investigation DC 15, one try) gives you both the word and the name.
   • Read the visitors' ledger on the reading-room shelf, then tell him Your name is in the visitors' ledger. He remembers taking a polite young prince down to the deep vault, and asks to forget again. Letting him forget pleases Wren and Liriel (+1 each). Asking him to remember pleases Godrick and Thistle (+1 each), and he says so in the sanctum.
   • Pinning a note to his sleeve, "These are friends", means he greets you as friends from then on (Wren +2, Godrick +1, Kip +1).
   • Don't attack him: Exethanter and two flameskulls (8,100 XP), and you lose his word, his help and the sealing rite.
   • The barred alcove (iron gate, lock 18) holds a chained case. Opening it wakes 4 Flameskulls at level 10 (3 below) for 2 level 1 spell scrolls, a book and 150 gp. Arcana DC 17 at the chained shelves points out one book that isn't what its spine says (or search, Investigation DC 18): a Tome of Clear Thought.
5. The vaults. Take the stairs at the east end of the wardens' cells down to The Amber Temple: the Vaults. Black ice coats the bottom steps (spot DC 12; Dexterity DC 13 or 2d6 and prone), and a line of glyphs crosses the hall of vestiges (spot DC 16; Wisdom DC 16 or 4d8 psychic). Ten more sarcophagi talk here.
   
6. The honey-glow doors (optional). Use their seal. Speaking the wardens' word, or Arcana DC 17, opens them cleanly. Strength DC 20, keeping at it after a failure, or pressing a bleeding hand to the amber also opens them, but wakes the guardian in the alcove: an amber golem, plus a wraith at level 10 (5,900 XP for the golem alone below level 10). Behind them is the vault of offerings, with falling amber on the way in (spot DC 14; Dexterity DC 15 or 4d10 piercing). The heap of offerings is a Tarokka spot (3 potions of healing, jeweler's tools, a mirror, 2 perfumes, a spyglass, 640 gp), the sealed urns hold 2 antitoxins, 2 holy waters and 120 gp, and a search under the heap (DC 16) finds a Staff of Power.
7. The sanctum. South of the hall of vestiges, Vosk waits beside the empty sarcophagus and speaks as you come close (Hollow Found). The Thirst that lay here went into a prince of the west, and the amber has room for one more. Your options:
   • Arcana DC 16: What does the empty amber still hold? shows the hair-fine thread from the hollow down into the valley (you can try again).
   • Ashkarreth. (if you learned the name). He is bound and must answer. Leave this temple, and never broker another bargain in this valley. sends him into the hollow for good: Broker Banished (Kip +3, Liriel +2, Godrick +1). You can first ask How is the devil's bargain broken?, or (Strike him while he's bound.) for an easy fight against him alone at 80 Hit Points (Godrick -2).
   • What are you offering? He offers to lay one of you in the amber, a second vessel for the Thirst. Then:
     • We'll take nothing from you. He takes off his face (Kip +2, Liriel +1).
     • Deception DC 18: Agree, then step aside at the last moment. On a success the hollow eats his shadow and he fights alone at 80 Hit Points. On a failure he just fights.
     • (Lie down in the amber.) Pick who takes the Second Thirst (below): Broker Paid. Pick "No one" and he fights.

   

8. The fight. Vosk unmasked is an Arcanaloth at 104 Hit Points with two flameskulls at level 10 (10,600 XP), one flameskull at levels 8 and 9. He resists cold, fire and lightning, ignores acid and poison, has Magic Resistance and can Counterspell, so bring weapons as well as spells. If you know his true name, or tricked him into losing his shadow, any fight with him is against him alone at 80 Hit Points. Winning: Broker Destroyed.
9. Read the pact. The copper book chained to the lectern beside the hollow records Strahd's bargain in two hands, witnessed by Exethanter and a jackal's head. If you carry the Tome of Strahd, you read his own account beside it and learn what he really bargained for. If Vosk has already been banished, paid or destroyed, reading the last entry plays the revelation (step 10) straight after, if it hasn't played yet.
   
10. The revelation. Pact Learned, and everyone in the party may level up (the region's milestone). It plays straight away after you banish or pay Vosk. After a fight, it plays when Exethanter shuffles down with his broom (if you have met him, haven't attacked him and haven't smashed his phylactery), when you use the empty sarcophagus, or when you read the last entry in the copper book.
11. The wardens' last rite. Exethanter offers to seal every sarcophagus at once.
12. Leaving. If anyone carries a dark gift and the Sentinel isn't stilled or destroyed, it turns its head at the doors: WHO CARRIES. NOTHING LEAVES. Speak the word, pass Arcana DC 18 to pull the knot out of its ward (a failure is a fight), go back inside, or fight it. Stepping onto the ledge without settling it starts the fight anyway: the golem alone (5,900 XP).

The vestiges and the dark gifts

Sixteen sarcophagi talk, each holding a vestige: the last ember of a dead god or worse. The first one you listen to moves the quest to Voices Heard. Each will tell you what it wants and what it offers, and names the price if you ask. History DC 13 reads the wardens' plain warning on its lid (you can try again). Accepting asks which hero takes the gift, with "No one" as the way out. A gift is permanent: its benefit and its price both go into that hero's build, and nothing undoes it. Every gift taken costs approval: Liriel -5, Kip -5, Godrick -4, Wren -3, Thistle -2, Ratatouille -2.

Where	Vestige	Gift
Ring of amber	Zantras	The Crown of Zantras
Ring of amber	Fekre	Fekre's Fever
Ring of amber	Great Taar Haak	The Five Throats
Ring of amber	Shami-Amourae	The Honeyed Hand
Ring of amber	Yog	Yog's Hide
Ring of amber	Drizlash	The Eyes of Drizlash
Hall of vestiges	Khirad	The Backward Stars
Hall of vestiges	Norganas	The Eraser's Finger
Hall of vestiges	Savnok	The Locked Mouth
Hall of vestiges	Seriach	The Hounds' Leash
Hall of vestiges	Sykane	The Hollow Belly
Hall of vestiges	Tarakamedes	The Grave Wyrm's Claim
Hall of vestiges	Tenebrous	The Last Shadow
Hall of vestiges	Yrrga	The Outside Eye
Hall of vestiges	Zhudun	The Dead Star's Light
Hall of vestiges	Dahlver-Nar	A Mouth of Borrowed Teeth
Sanctum (Vosk)	the Thirst	The Second Thirst

What each gift gives and costs is on the Dark Gifts page. A few vestiges have extra lines: Zantras for Ireena and for Ratatouille, Norganas about Exethanter's own bargain (ask it once you've met him), Tarakamedes about Doru's cure and Kasimir's sister, and Zhudun for Liriel.

Choices and endings

• The broker. Banished, destroyed or paid, the quest goes on to Pact Learned (success) and the milestone. Paying him means one of your heroes carries the Second Thirst.
• Seal it. Seal it. Nobody should ever bargain here again. silences every sarcophagus for good: Temple Sealed (success). Gifts already taken stay. Liriel +4, Kip +4, Godrick +2, Wren +1, Ratatouille +1.
• Leave it open. Leave it open. We may need what's here. keeps the vestiges talking (Liriel -2, Kip -2, Godrick -1). The quest stays at Pact Learned.
• Later in the game. A sealed temple and any dark gift each get a closing note in the epilogue. If Strahd is destroyed while one of you carries the Second Thirst, you get a different ending, The Second Thirst (see Endings). If anyone took a gift, Strahd notices it at his dinner in Castle Ravenloft.

If you're stuck

• No road to the temple. It only opens from the Tsolenka Pass once the watchtower's gate is up. The temple can show on your travel map before that (from Kasimir's story, with Kasimir in the party, or if your Tarokka reading put a treasure there), and its description there says the same: the only road goes through the gate of the Tsolenka watchtower.
• Exethanter never comes down. He only comes to the sanctum if you met him in the library, haven't attacked him and didn't smash his phylactery. Use the empty sarcophagus or read the copper book instead to get the revelation and your level.
• You read the copper book and nothing happened. Reading it fills in what you know, but the quest only moves to Pact Learned at the revelation, after Vosk is dealt with. Once he's banished, paid or destroyed, read it again: the revelation plays straight after.
• The Sentinel won't let you leave. The word comes from reading the lintel when you arrive, from Exethanter for the asking, or from his notes. Without it, Arcana DC 18 or a fight.

Rewards

• A level (milestone)
• A dark gift: The Crown of Zantras, Fekre's Fever, The Five Throats, The Honeyed Hand, Yog's Hide, The Eyes of Drizlash, The Backward Stars, The Eraser's Finger, The Locked Mouth, The Hounds' Leash, The Hollow Belly, The Grave Wyrm's Claim, The Last Shadow, The Outside Eye, The Dead Star's Light, A Mouth of Borrowed Teeth, The Second Thirst

What your companions think

• Liriel Dawnsong: +4 you sealed the Amber Temple so nobody bargains there again; -2 you left the Amber Temple open, in case you need what's there; -5 you let one of us take a Dark Gift from the amber; -2 kasimir bought Patrina back from the amber, and you let him; +2 you talked Kasimir out of buying his sister back; +3 you let me tell the false dawn what it was
• Kip Smudgewick: +4 you sealed the Amber Temple so nobody bargains there again; -2 you left the Amber Temple open, in case you need what's there; -5 you let one of us take a Dark Gift from the amber; -2 kasimir bought Patrina back from the amber, and you let him; +1 you talked Kasimir out of buying his sister back; -5 you let one of us lie down in Vosk's amber
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you sealed the Amber Temple so nobody bargains there again; -1 you left the Amber Temple open, in case you need what's there; -4 you let one of us take a Dark Gift from the amber; -4 you let one of us lie down in Vosk's amber; +1 you bound Master Vosk never to broker another bargain in this valley; -2 you struck Master Vosk while he was bound
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you sealed the Amber Temple so nobody bargains there again; -3 you let one of us take a Dark Gift from the amber; -3 kasimir bought Patrina back from the amber, and you let him; +4 you talked Kasimir out of buying his sister back; -3 you let one of us lie down in Vosk's amber
• Ratatouille: +1 you sealed the Amber Temple so nobody bargains there again; -2 you let one of us take a Dark Gift from the amber; -2 you let one of us lie down in Vosk's amber
• Thistle: -2 you let one of us take a Dark Gift from the amber; -2 you let one of us lie down in Vosk's amber

Fights

• The colossus steps down off its plinth, and the ledge shakes. High on the facade, two stone shapes unfold…, in The Amber Temple: the Doors: Amber Golem, Gargoyle. Scales with your level.

• Vosk's shape slips like a badly hung coat. Under it: a jackal's head, a scholar's robe, and claws that shake., in The Amber Temple: the Vaults: Arcanaloth, Flameskull. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: The Amber Sentinel, Exethanter, Master Vosk
• Places: The Amber Temple: the Doors, The Amber Temple: the Vaults, The Amber Temple: Hall of the Faceless God, The Amber Temple: the Library
• More in The Amber Temple: Something with a Lid, The Amber Debt, The Guide to the Temple, The Wailing Hall