The Tsolenka Gate

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

The Tsolenka Pass is on the travel map from the start. It's 6 hours up the old mountain road from Vallaki, or 4 hours along the high ridges from Mount Baratok, and the mountain roads have their usual chance fights (wolves, ogres, spiders, werewolves at night). The quest starts (stage Reached) when you read the notice nailed up by the portcullis, or when the sergeant of the watch challenges you inside the tower. It's pitched at about level 9.

Before you go, it's worth a trip to Mordenkainen on Mount Baratok once he's himself again (The Mad Mage of Mount Baratok): "The gate in the Tsolenka Pass is held by dead men." gets you the watch's password. If you skip that, the watch log in the tower's captain's room has it too (see step 4).

Step by step

1. The cliff road. You arrive at the bottom of the cliff road.
   • Wayside shrine: Religion DC 14 to pray earns Heroic Inspiration.
   • Frozen traveller's pack: search DC 12 finds a Rope of Climbing.
   • The landing: edging out along the rocks over the gorge (Acrobatics DC 14, alone; a miss costs 2d6) reveals a roc feather caught on the rocks (search DC 12: Feather Token (Bird)).

   The landing is also where The Frozen Pilgrims and The Last Egg begin.

2. The bridge, and the roc. The only way to the tower is across the stone bridge over the gorge and past the roc's shelf.
   • By day (6:00 to 19:00) the Roc of Mount Ghakis drops on anyone on the bridge: 190 hit points at level 9, 160 at level 8, 130 below (7200 XP). Its talons can seize one of you and hold on (escape DC 19).
   • By night it doesn't hunt, so the simple answer is to cross after dark.
   • Driving it off (or saving its chick in The Last Egg) ends the danger for good.
   • On the shelf beyond: Medicine DC 15 on the bones reveals a traveller the roc dropped (search DC 15: Wings of Flying). The roc's nest holds 140 gp, a chain shirt, a longsword, a potion of healing and a Weapon, +2.
   • History DC 15 on the carved faces over the gate tells you who the watch were.
3. Into the tower. The low door to the left of the portcullis leads into The Tsolenka Guard Tower. Five grey soldiers stand their posts in the guardroom, and Sergeant Dorin Valcu steps out: "Halt. Watchword."

   Before you settle anything, ask "Heard anything interesting?" twice. The first time starts The Frozen Pilgrims, the second The Warm Snow. (If you forget, the watch log in the captain's room also starts The Warm Snow.)

   Then get past the watch:

   • "Cold hearth, shut door." This only appears once you know the word, from Mordenkainen or from the watch log in the captain's room. You can read the log before you answer him ("We'll go." ends the talk without settling anything): the captain's door, east off the guardroom, isn't locked. The watch lets you pass and stays at its posts.
   • Deception DC 15, "We're the relief. Your watch is over." Same result. A miss closes the option, and five grey hands go to five grey sword hilts, but nothing else happens.
   • Persuasion DC 15 or Religion DC 13. Tell him the crown is gone, or offer to say the words for his lads. Between them you get one attempt. Success releases the watch: they go to their rest one by one (Liriel +2, Godrick +2).
   • A cleric can offer the rites of the dead with no roll at all, for the same result.
   • "Stand aside, sergeant, or be made to." This means a fight (Godrick -1, Liriel -1): the sergeant and four Phantom Watchmen at level 8 or higher (3500 XP), and the sergeant and three below that. Phantom Warriors resist almost every kind of damage (acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder and weapons) and are immune to necrotic and poison, so radiant, force and psychic damage are what hurt them.

   Any of these moves the quest to Watch Passed.

   

4. Loot the tower.
   • The barracks: a footlocker (20 gp, 20 crossbow bolts, a blanket).
   • The guardroom: a table of dice where Sleight of Hand DC 15 wins 40 gp, a hauberk that never rusted (Investigation DC 16: Armor, +2), and the watch roster. Deception DC 15 to sign the roster as the relief watch (one try; a miss costs 1d6 cold) unlocks the captain's strongbox and earns Heroic Inspiration.
   • The captain's room: the strongbox (lock DC 15; 90 gp, a potion of healing, and your Tarokka treasure if it's here) and the watch log on the desk. Reading the log tells you what the sergeant would:
     • the watchword, "cold hearth, shut door", which you can now say to him;
     • forty years of smoke on the north shoulder of Ghakis, which starts The Warm Snow if it hasn't started yet;
     • once the gate is open and the lowest-level hero in your party is level 10, this winter's lanterns on the goat path, which starts The Guide to the Temple if it hasn't started yet.
   • The gatehouse: the watch horn hidden behind the winch (search DC 14: Horn of Blasting).
5. Raise the gate. The winch is in the gatehouse, the room at the north-west corner. Until the watch is passed, released or beaten, a grey hand closes over the crank. After that, "Haul on the winch." lifts the portcullis. The quest ends at Open, and the road up to the Amber Temple (3 hours) appears on your travel map.

Choices and endings

• Open (success) is the only ending. How you got past the watch matters afterwards:
  • Passed (the watchword or the lie): the sergeant stays at his post and keeps logging. "Anything to report, sergeant?" carries on giving you The Frozen Pilgrims and The Warm Snow, and from level 10 he tells you about whoever else has gone up the road (The Guide to the Temple).
  • Released or fought: the watch is gone for good, and so is the sergeant. The watch log in the captain's room still starts The Warm Snow, and The Guide to the Temple once the gate is open and you're level 10.

If you're stuck

• Releasing or fighting the watch removes the sergeant. You lose his news, but not the quests: read the watch log in the captain's room for The Warm Snow and, with the gate open and from level 10, The Guide to the Temple.
• No watchword option? Mordenkainen gives you the word once he's restored, and the watch log in the captain's room has it too. Read the log, then talk to the sergeant again.
• Persuasion and Religion share one attempt, and the lie gets one try of its own. The cleric's rites and the fight always work.

Rewards

What your companions think

• Liriel Dawnsong: +2 you let the dead watch of Tsolenka stand down; -1 you fought your way through the dead watch of Tsolenka
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you let the dead watch of Tsolenka stand down; -1 you fought your way through the dead watch of Tsolenka

Fights

• Five grey soldiers draw five grey swords with one sound, the way a drill sergeant would want it., in The Tsolenka Guard Tower: Phantom Warrior. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: Sergeant Dorin Valcu, Phantom Watchman
• Places: The Tsolenka Pass, The Tsolenka Guard Tower
• More in The Tsolenka Pass: The Frozen Pilgrims, The Last Egg