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Overview |
ACT 6: RAVEL PUZZLEWELL
If you were getting tired of minor side quests and endless conversations, this is where the game speeds up quite a bit. The game also becomes a lot more linear from this point.
Act 6 covers only one area, Ravel's Maze. This is where the Lady of Pain sent Ravel after she tried to open all portals in Sigil.
You may ask why I have chosen to create an act for one single area. The answer is, I found that Ravel's Maze didn't belong logically with Act 5, which takes place in Sigil, or with Act 7, which takes place in the gate town of Curst. Also, I find the meeting with Ravel to be a focal point in the game, and as such it deserved an act to itself.
Overview of the act
You arrive at the portal at 1 in the lower edge of Ravel's Maze and have to find your way to the center of the maze where Ravel is walking around. The maze is not very complicated and you can explore it fully in about five minutes. You will run into a lot of Trigits, Ravel's tree-like monsters, and a number of traps that cast Black-Barbed Curse if you step on them.
Once you have cleared the maze, find Ravel at 2 and speak to her. The conversation will take longer than exploring the maze. As I said, this is one of the highlights of the game. You will gain a *lot* of experience, a number of stat bonuses, and some powerful items.
As the conversation draws to a close, it becomes clear that Ravel won't let you leave peacefully, and that you will have to kill her. Ravel summons a n
umber of Trigits to her aid. This is the first of the game's "boss fights" and may cause you some trouble, as Ravel knows some powerful spells. Keep up the pressure with spells and steel and make sure to have Nordom pelting her with crossbow bolts.
Once Ravel goes down, you will see a short cinematic of Shadows and Greater Shadows entering her maze. The maze also repopulates with Trigits, and you will have to fight your way through to the exit portal, which is the portal at 3 on the map below. Don't dally too long, as the Shadows will keep multiplying.
After you exit through the portal (try to save your game first, as Torment doesn't create an autosave at this point!) you will be treated to a long cinematic of a strange creature called The Transcendent One approaching Ravel and killing her for real.
Map Key
Guide to Ravel's Maze
You arrive at the Entry Portal at 1. When you leave this location in any direction, you will walk a short way and be attacked by one or more Trigits. If you walk through the portal, it will transport you to one of the other two portals at 3 and 4.
Ravel Puzzlewell is at 2. Speak to her to solve the quest "Find the night hag Ravel Puzzlewell". Meeting Ravel makes the Tattoo of Ravel available at Fell's Tattoo Parlor back in Sigil. If you are a mage, you can also buy the Tattoo of the Black-Barbed Call and the Tattoo of the Black-Barbed Maze once you find your way back to Sigil.
Start the conversation by speaking the word "Ravel...?". If you choose the dialog option to attack her, you won't succeed; it will just initiate dialog anyway. You gain 90,000 XP for finding Ravel.
If you choose enough flattering dialog options, like "How could I forget you Ravel...", you get an extra bonus at the end. Also, the Tattoo of the Silver Tongue becomes available at Fell's Tattoo Parlor.
When Ravel reaches out to touch you, let her. Striking Ravel may initiate combat, which will end the game as a loss. Reach out and touch her back for a memory of an earlier meeting.
Ravel will first tell you that you are "broken". Press her on this to learn that she took your mortality from you, though she doesn't remember how. Also, that you have fought in the Blood War, and that you hunger for something. When you have explored all conversation paths, Ravel will tell you of your own torment that draws other tormented souls to you. She addresses each of your companions in turn, and you will learn that each of them is tormented in some way.
Next you will want Ravel to tell you who you once were. But Ravel demands that you answer three questions for her first! Refusing to answer her questions will break off the conversation prematurely, initiating hostilities and ending the game as a loss.
First, Ravel wants to know why you are traveling with others. Tell her they chose to travel with her, or flatter her and say that your companions wanted to meet the great Ravel. Again, don't refuse to answer! Ravel will grill each of your companions on their "choice" to travel with you; demonstrating that for various reasons they didn't really have a choice.
Ravel asks about your feelings for your companions. Telling her that you care for them is Good, saying that they are only tools is Evil.
Ravel will grill you more closely on each companion. If you tell her that you hate Grace or Annah, Ravel will offer to kill them. Don't tell Ravel that you love both Grace or Annah, as this will also start hostilities prematurely.
Ravel's second question is why you took so long in finding her. Tell her either that the path to her maze is difficult, or flatter her to high heaven and say that she hid herself well, but that her beauty hasn't waned over the years.
Finally, Ravel asks you her big question: What can change the nature of a man? Tell her any truthful answer. You will realize that Ravel just wanted *your* answer; the many times she had asked others, she didn't even care for their answers.
And now it is your turn to ask questions.
First, ask why Ravel made you immortal. She will tell you that it was your idea, not hers. You sought her out to become immortal, but she doesn't know why. And something went wrong with the ritual:
Once you have followed these three conversation paths, you can ask if the ritual didn't work. Ravel tells you that it did, and that after the spell drew to a close, she killed you to test it. That was when she learned that you lost your memories with each death.
After learning that Ravel took your mortality from you, ask her to give it back to you. Ravel will tell you that she can't because she no longer has it; she has set it free, and she no longer knows where it is. You will understand at this point that Ravel loves you.
Though Ravel doesn't know where your mortality is, she knows somebody who does: An angel. When you leave her prison, you will find yourself in another cursed prison. Find the angel in this prison. You gain a whopping 180,000 XP for learning this, along with the new quest to find the angel that Ravel spoke of.
Next, ask questions about Ravel herself:
When you try to break conversation, Ravel reminds you that there is one question you still need to ask her: How to leave. She will tell you that you must leave by one of the portals at the edge of the maze but she doesn't remember which one.
If you have flattered Ravel enough, she will offer you a final boon before parting. Close your eyes and listen for a boon consisting of a clearer view of the world: A +1 bonus to Wisdom and another 90,000 XP.
You are finally ready to leave when you realize that Ravel won't let you leave. No matter what answers you give her, it will end in hostilities.
Ravel summons three or four Trigits, and if you learned her own magic, you will summon three of your own. Try to get up and close with your fighters to disrupt her spellcasting and make sure to use Nordom's crossbows and Dak'kon's spells to good effect. A spell of Cloudkill will dispatch of her Trigits. With a little luck Morte can also enrage her with Litany of Curses.
When Ravel goes down, you will see a short cinematic of Shadows and Greater Shadows invading the maze. Loot Ravel's corpse to find:
The portal that allows you to escape Ravel's Maze is at 3. The portal won't let you out until you have killed Ravel. You get 10,000 XP when you arrive in Curst on the other side of the portal.
The portal at 4 is a red herring; it will just transport you to one of the other two portals.
At 5 is a hidden portal. You need Ravel's Gray Hair to activate it. You get the hair through the conversation with Ravel.
The hidden portal leads to Ravel's Secret Garden, the isolated area at 6. You will notice three twigs to the lower right of the area. Each twig can be used to change one of the Black-Barbed Seeds into a Black-Barbed Wand. You can create three wands but I suggest that you keep at least one of the seeds until you return to Sigil (please see Act 9).
The numbers 7 on the map show where you will find Trigits. More Trigits will spawn after you kill Ravel.
The numbers 8 on the map show where you will find Black-Barbed Curse Traps.
When you leave the maze, you will see a strange creature approaching Ravel. Apparently she wasn't quite dead but the creature will kill her permanently. The creature will from now on be in the Bestiary in your journal under the heading "The Transcendent One".
No longer shall you trouble existence with your presence - witch!
