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 [2.9] Part 3, Chapter 2: The Overmage of the Cinbri
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     You freed the Dwarves from the oppression of the Familiar
     Overseers, and in return they extended the bridge to the
     Cinbri City.

     Stonepick advised you to work your way deep within the city
     to the gateway chamber where the Overmage plans to become
     Zaramoth Reborn.

     Stonepick thinks the ritual has already begun--you should
     get there fast if you want to stop it.

Objectives:
* Explore the Cinbri City.
* Explore the center of the city.
* Find the gateway chamber.
* Speak with the Overmage.
* Defeat the Overmage.
* Defeat Zaramoth Reborn.
* Speak with Kirani.

The run through Cinbri City is strangely reminiscent of the run up Zaramoth's 
Horns at the end of DS2. The main thing to watch out for is a Cinbri Gem 
early on in one of the large rooms. It's on a bookcase and is glowing, so you 
should be able to find it easily enough. This is the last item needed by Mage 
Nari.

When you finally reach the end, you'll want to stock up on health (and, 
possibly, mana) potions and equip your best stuff. You've got a very long and 
grueling boss fight ahead of you.

Enter the circular area where the Overmage is getting ready to transform 
himself. He's surrounded by dryads in stasis. After your little chat, your 
first inclination will be to pound on the Overmage.

Resist the urge.

Back off and wait. The Overmage summons a bunch of creatures and you have to 
defeat them. Right now, the Overmage is invulnerable.

DO NOT USE YOUR POWERS AGAINST THE SUMMONS UNLESS YOU USE THEM EARLY AND THEY 
ARE FAST RECHARGE POWERS!

This cannot be stressed enough. If you want to shorten this part of the 
battle--and you DEFINITELY want to shorten it--then save your powers. Be sure 
to have all your highest damage powers selected (Brutal Strike, Take Aim, 
etc.). When the last summons dies, the Overmage collapses.

Unload on him. Hit him with everything you've got. You only get about five to 
ten seconds, then he revives, is once more invulnerable and summons more help.

Do the whole thing over again. If you do this right, you only have to go 
through three or four waves of summons before you shave off all the 
Overmage's health. When that happens, he transforms into Zaramoth Reborn.

Now the real fight gets underway.

Zaramoth Reborn is one very tough hombre. He's got a LOT of health (120,000 
in Merc), is resistant to everything, knows every power and spell in the book 
and has near-unlimited mana. In other words, he's equal to about ten of you.

Zaramoth will unleash a lot of stuff. Some of his favorites are:

* Whirling Strike with his sword: getting hit is pretty certain death. You 
can avoid this one because he takes about ten seconds to wind up. When you 
see him crouch and gather in on himself, he's about to let go, so run away.

* Glacial Aura: this one's pretty hard to avoid, especially for your melee 
fighters, since running out of range means no damage being inflicted on Mr. 
Bigshot. Your best bet is to stay in there, take your lumps and drink health 
potions.

* Fire rings: you can see these coming, as they start from the outside of the 
circle and move inward. When you see them, rush IN toward Zaramoth and gather 
around him as the flames stop short of his body. (If you've got any 
unconscious people lying around, they're toast. Get a Rez spell handy.) This 
is actually a great time to unload on Zaramoth as he's busy tending the fire 
and you have a perfect excuse to get in close and personal.

* Call Lightning: when sparks start dancing on the ground, run away. These 
are pretty easy to avoid, but dangerous if you're not paying attention.

* Waves of Force: this one's just nasty. There's no warning, and you're 
suddenly facing waves of high-damage streaming out from the front of Zaramoth. 
The one upside is the narrow area-of-effect, you can easily run to the side 
away from them. If any melee fighters are standing right in front of 
him...well, hope they have lots of armor and health.

Zaramoth has other toys to play with too. This fight is, basically, a war of 
attrition. Can you knock off his health before you run out of health potions 
or Rez scrolls? He's resistant, but not immune to anything, and you can curse 
him and attack him just like any normal enemy. (I.e. there's no special trick 
to fighting him.)

The tactics are all about avoiding his attacks as much as possible, quaffing 
health potions almost continuously and making sure you have a nature mage 
with a Resurrect spell and plenty of Rez scrolls for when the nature mage is 
unconscious or dead.

This is a long, grueling battle and there are no shortcuts. Use high-damage 
powers as fast as they recharge. Run away when Zaramoth starts with one of 
his specialty attacks. In fact, keep moving, a lot. It will be harder if you 
have a melee-heavy party, so be sure to have some strong ranged support 
(ranger, combat mage).

And bring lots and lots of potions, just in case you hadn't picked up on that 
by now. When it's all over, talk to Kirani, the lone surviving dryad and the 
main quest is officially complete. Return to the Dryad Outpost and wrap of 
"The Ancient Tome" by talking to Mage Nari, giving her all the stuff, then 
following up with the ghost of the murdered historian.

That should do it! Now it's off to DS2 in Vet, then BW in Vet, then DS2 in 
Elite...