This quest is acquired by speaking to Icara in Homestead after freeing her from the icicle in King Boreas' castle. She wants to repair the broken Soul Forge between her and her sister, Leandra. By completing this quest a happy reunion happens between the sisters towards the end of the story.
Walkthrough[]
Thelyron informs you that the Conduit's primary goal in resurrecting Braccus Rex was to learn a great secret: How to break a "forge of souls".
Speak with Braccus Rex and you will learn that his secret is his to keep and he'd not reveal it to the Conduit Leandra, or anyone else.
Speak to Icara after you free her.
Proceed with the quest Follow the Wizard to enter the Phantom Forest. Make sure to loot the Titan Dictionary in Zandalor's study during the quest.
After entering the forest, follow the northeastern or eastern paths, which circle around the Temple of the Dead, meeting the Forest Victims inside the trees along the way. Do not attempt to enter the Temple yet! Listen to the warnings about their master and proceed into the far northern part of the forest. There is a Waypoint Portal near the place where the paths diverge.
Go northwest up the bloody path from the portal and find Cassandra, who is called the Queen of the Forest, sitting on a throne at the highest part of the forest, surrounded by mounds of corpses.
Talk with her to find out the story about her and her brother, Braccus Rex. She has been turned into a demi-immortal being, a Lich, by her brother. She will request that you kill Arhu for her to give up the Soulforge Repair Ritual. See Alternative section below for this resolution. *Note: In Enhanced Edition Cassandra will request Stasis Fern to permanently transform Arhu into a human. You can alternatively transform Arhu into a cat permanently, or kill Cassandra outright by following the below (there are 3 separate achievements, one for each method of dealing with the questline). You can get Stasis Fern from Shearah the Earth Elemental (met during the Follow the Wizard questline).
Titan Head
Find the giant Titan head southwest from the northern portal. Speak to him while having the Titan Dictionary and he will tell you that if you're to kill a Lich you'll have to destroy the vessel that contains the Lich's Life Force. For Cassandra, the vessel is her corpse, which is buried in the deepest part of the Temple of the Dead.
Getting into the temple can be difficult with the Sentinels and lava traps blocking all three entrances. Slowly move towards a Sentinel a little at a time until it triggers the lava defense. Cast Death Knight Bane from Infiltrating The Immaculates on the Sentinel, removing its Invulnerability status and it will be destroyed in the lava*. This can be done on all three, but one is enough to get to the center.
The Death Knight Bane spell doesn't work on the sentinels anymore. Using a cloaked character and getting past them to hit the switches is the best way to do it, the sentinels can also be teleported away.
In the center of the Temple is a circular altar with corpses around it and a lever to the side. If the lever is pulled, the corpses on the altar will suddenly disappear, but nothing will happen to live characters. This reveals that only the Dead can enter the Temple. Separate, attack, and kill a character on the altar. Once he/she is dead, use the lever to teleport him/her to inside the Temple of the Dead. Alternatively, you can place your Teleporter Pyramid inside of one of the corpses and activate the lever, so you don't have to kill any of you companions. Use the Teleporter Pyramid to regroup your party and proceed further into the Temple of the Dead. Or, alternatively, you can simply drop one Teleporter Pyramid in the middle of the stone circle, pull the lever, watch as the dropped pyramid disappears and use your other pyramid to teleport into the Temple of the Dead.
Optional: In the first room open the center sarcophagus and fight the undead that are summoned for 45920 XP. Beware that once you open the lid, a huge poison cloud will spread around.
Go northeast to the wooden bridge raised up. Find the Oddly-Shaped Skull and activate it to lower the bridge for 5130 XP and a quest update.
Further in is stone bridge that is lowered. Another Oddly-Shaped Skull with raise it. There are four wolves guarding the bridge, Nightfall, Dreadfang, Deathpaw, and Frostbite, each with special abilities related to their names. Kill them for 25520 XP and continue forward. (if you have trouble, do not activate the bridge but rather teleport one character across the gap to activate the wolves and cross back, fighting the wolves at range)
Optional: Along the way is a small alcove that looks like a magic study. Entering will give 4590 Exploration XP and some loot.
Cassandra's Skeleton
Reaching the end of the Temple path will give 4590 Exploration XP. There you will locate a tombstone and a grave. Dig the mound and Cassandra's Skeleton will appear. Destroy it with Fire damage giving 12825 XP and a quest update. Cassandra is now vulnerable and can be fought. Note: there is a Blood Stone located at the eye of the giant head behind the grave.
Now go back and face Cassandra. She will automatically speak to you, acting strange and becoming enraged, and after the conversation will summon minions and attack. Kill her for 12825 XP and loot the Soulforge Repair Ritual, completing the quest for 12825 XP.
Note: During the final part of the story the Ritual can be used to repair the Soul Forge between Icara and Leandra.
Alternatives[]
You can choose to kill Arhu like Cassandra requested to get Soulforge Repair Ritual. At this point of the game Arhu is fairly strong, but he barely uses any magic. He will buff himself every few turns and use a single Aerotheurge spell every few turns. Mostly he just attacks with his weapon, which is very weak. His defenses are very high, but special abilities, special arrows, poison, and magic work well against him. Just keep slowly chipping away at him. Once he's dead, giving 10500 XP and decent loot, speak to Cassandra and she will give you the Soulforge Repair Ritual, completing the quest.
Arhu