Thorne’s Cave – Pools of Darkness Location

In this guide, you’ll find a walkthrough for an area in the Thorne’s Cave part of Pools of Darkness. To help you to navigate this area, a map, and legend are provided. There are more detailed notes for each point in the map legend at the bottom of the overview section.

Map Legend

1 – Storage Room
2 – Umber Hulks
3 – Prisoners / Raizel
4 – Red Dragon
5 – Horn of Doom
6 – Safe Rooms
7 – Purple Worms
8 – Red Dragons
9 – Treasure Caches
10 – Servant of the Ki-Rin
11 – Spirit of the Ki-Rin
12 – Horn of Doom
13 – Red Dragons
14 – Red and Green Dragons
15 – Thorne
16 – Thorne’s Cache

Exits

1. Portal to Limbo.

Walkthrough

When you enter Thorne’s Cave from Limbo (at Exit A), you’ll encounter two Red Dragons. Before they attack you, you’ll hear one of them say, “Prepare to fly! We attack on the third blast of the horn!” This is a hint that there’s a time limit of sorts for the cave. You can explore and rest (#6) to your heart’s content, but if you visit any of the treasure caches (#9) before confronting Thorne (#15), then you’ll have to fight some extra battles, as your actions will have given the dragons extra time to prepare.

When you reach Thorne, he’ll have seven Red Dragons with him. That means you’ll definitely need some Resist Fire spells active, along with your more typical buffs like Bless, Prayer and Strength. Thorne appears to be immune to spells, so you’ll need to gang up on him with your fighters while your casters deal with the other dragons. Red Dragons can be hit with anything, so launch your best spells against them so you can get them out of the way as quickly as possible.

When Thorne dies, you’ll claim his Horn of Doom, which had been causing the storms in the Realms Dimension. Then the spirit of the ki-rin (who you might have met in the cave at #6 and #11) will show up, and it will introduce itself as Gah-Isen. Gah-Isen will explain to you how Thorne came to possess its horn, and you’ll record these words as Journal Entry 34. Gah-Isen will then disappear, and if Raizel joined you (at #3), then she’ll leave you at this point as well.

Before you follow suit and leave the cave yourself (via Exit A), you might want to visit any of the treasure caches (#9) you skipped earlier, not to mention Thorne’s cache in the southern end of his chamber (#16). You probably won’t need any of the platinum, gems, or jewelry stored in the caches, but at each one you’ll also receive a nice amount of xp, which is always useful.

Note: After defeating Thorne, you’ll no longer encounter dragon patrols in the Realms Dimension.


1 – Storage Room

In this room you’ll find the corpse of a ki-rin, plus a bunch of equipment, including 10 Arrows +4, Banded Mail +4, 10 Bolts +4, Elfin Chain +4, a Light Crossbow +4, Plate Mail +2 (x2), a Short Sword +2, a Short Sword +3, and a Sling +4.


2 – Umber Hulks

You’ll get attacked by five Umber Hulks here.


3 – Prisoners / Raizel

When you reach this spot, you’ll be asked if you want to rescue the prisoners in the cells to the south. If you say yes, then one of the prisoners, a level 20 thief named Raizel, will offer to join you, and you’ll record her story as Journal Entry 72. Raizel will want all of the treasure that she can carry, but from what we can tell, she won’t actually take anything, and so there isn’t any reason not to let her tag along. She’ll stay with you until you leave the cave or defeat Thorne (#15).


4 – Red Dragon

When you enter this room, you’ll spot a Red Dragon hiding its treasure. If you defeat the dragon in battle, then you’ll find 10 Arrows +4, Bracers of AC 2, a Flail +5, a Long Sword +3, a Mace +5, a Necklace of Missiles, a Ring of Fire Resistance, a Silver Shield +3, 400 platinum, 20 gems, and 6 pieces of jewelry.


5 – Horn of Doom

When you reach this spot you’ll hear Thorne blow the Horn of Doom for the first time.


6 – Safe Rooms

In these rooms you’ll meet the spirit of the ki-rin (whose body you might have noticed at #1), and you’ll learn that the Horn of Doom was once a part of it. The ki-rin will secure the rooms for you, allowing you to rest in them safely.


7 – Purple Worms

In this room you’ll get attacked by a trio of Purple Worms.


8 – Red Dragons

In each of these rooms you’ll get attacked by 3-4 Red Dragons.


9 – Treasure Caches

In each of these two treasure caches you’ll find 1000 platinum, 400 gems, and 30 pieces of jewelry. If you visit one of the caches before confronting Thorne (#15), then you’ll hear the second blast of the Horn of Doom while you’re there. If you visit both of the caches before visiting Thorne, then in the second one Raizel (if she’s with you) will fall through the floor and disappear, and you won’t find any treasure. You’ll have an easier time in the cave if you ignore the caches until after dealing with Thorne.


10 – Servant of the Ki-Rin

You’ll meet a servant of the ki-rin in this chamber. He’ll give you a Helm +4 and a Trident +5.


11 – Spirit of the Ki-Rin

When you reach this spot the spirit of the ki-rin will appear and ask you why you’re in the cave. It won’t be impressed with any of your possible answers.


12 – Horn of Doom

When you reach this spot, you’ll hear Thorne blow the Horn of Doom for the second time — unless you visited one of the treasure caches, and then you won’t hear anything here.


13 – Red Dragons

If you visited either of the treasure caches (#9), then you’ll encounter five Red Dragons in this rom. Otherwise the room will be empty.


14 – Red and Green Dragons

In this room you’ll encounter two Red Dragons and two Green Dragons.


15 – Thorne

When you enter this room, you’ll spot Thorne preparing to blow the Horn of Doom for the third time. But when he notices you, he’ll put down the horn and rally his troops, and you’ll have to battle Thorne plus seven Red Dragons. The dragons will deal a lot of fire damage in the battle, so you should definitely use Resist Fire along with your more typical buffs (Bless and Prayer and so forth). Thorne appears to be immune to spells, so you’ll need to gang up on him with your fighters while your casters take down the Red Dragons with Blade Barriers, Delayed Blast Fireballs, and Magic Missiles — or whatever else you have available.

With Thorne dead, you’ll take control of the Horn of Doom, which had been causing the storms in the Realms Dimension. Raizel will leave you at this point if she joined up with you earlier (at #3). You’ll also now be allowed to rest anywhere you want in the cave.


16 – Thorne’s Cache

This treasure cache is identical to the others (#9).