Crucifixion

Over the Easter break I've been playing around in the Valley of Crucifixion. This is an area that gets little attention with very few people running mobs in there - why I'm not sure. I haven't been to this place in a long time and was trying to refresh my memory on it. The entrance to the area is one of the scariest parts as seen below:

The Monument of Remembrance
Not far from where scholars uncovered the mysterious monoliths of the Ziggurat,they found a monument of considerable age. At first thought to be contemporary with them, closer examination found it was made far later, by an artist who could not have been alive to witness the actual events but still knew them well enough to depict them in stone. The events in question are those that followed in the wake of the striking of the tower of sin. In striking detail, it shows the mythical Valley of Crucifixion, where the enemies of the divine will were punished for their lack of faith. The location of this monument, according to information available in Darkhaven, should be here. But perhaps the Shattering did render the old map obsolete, for here it is nowhere to be found.
Exits: west
(Glowing) Sinister green energy swirls ominously where stood the monument for the crucified.

>enter
Sickening green engulfs you, and your senses panic as you rush towards certain death...
...Everything begins to fade to black.

You feel yourself leaving your body... rising up into the air, you feel
more free than you have ever felt before...

However, before your deity comes to collect your soul, you feel the chilling grasp of skeletal hands, carrying you to another plane of existence... 

There's nothing like making you feel like you've just ran straight into a death trap to get your pulse going and let you know this is a dangerous area. Once inside there are two options of what to do first - solve the maze that leads to later parts of the area or kill the first mob - Angra. Today I tried to take on Angra.

To get to Angra you need to head in a northern direction from the start of the area. There area couple of rooms with a cross in them to mark the way. Once you get to Angra she's an aggressive mob so be prepared. My method of killing uses a thief. Angra looks like this:

Within the Pale
Nippy and moist is the haze, granting but an arm's length of bleary vision.
A deceitful surrounding it is, where the hand reaches for shadows but catches
nothing, and the foot trips over unseen obstacles. A peaceful stroll through
a calm winter, or a treacherous tightrope over a bottomless abyss - within the
pale, there is no way of telling. However, to picture anything but a perilous
setting would be unwarranted optimism in this Otherlandian realm.
Exits: north east south west
(Translucent) A shameful existence is crying tears of radiant silver.
Angra, the denigrated spectre glows with an aura of divine radiance.
Angra, the denigrated spectre is ensphered by shards of glistening ice.
Angra, the denigrated spectre jars you!
>look angra

In the haze exists a phantom sentinel, shapeless and vague yet strong in
its presence. A shameful spirit, stirred into violent anger by hopelessness
and sorrow. Within it something is held captive, hidden under a thick mass of
tentacles. Denigration they are, impenetrable and strong. Peace of mind shall
remain their prisoner, for none there are who care for freeing her.
Angra, the denigrated spectre is in perfect health. 

Angra can hit quite hard, is tunnelled to 1 character, can't be fled/recalled from and can't be circled at the start. The one trick with her is if you go link-dead and then reconnect it takes you back to the start of the area. This way you can heal up, recall and repair if needed but the big advantage is when you get back to her room you can start circling her which does hit her hard. The actual fight I find similar to trying to kill Justice in the Tower of Enlightenment solo including the gouge attacks. After a while you eventually get the kill as follows:

Angra, the denigrated spectre's blast of frost scratches you.
Your pierce rips Angra, the denigrated spectre!
Your pierce tears Angra, the denigrated spectre!
Angra, the denigrated spectre is DEAD!!
The spectre dissolves into nothing, leaving the woman inside naked in the cold.
A few last tears fall from Ahania's face before she too fades into nothingness.
Ahania says 'Farval, min alskade ...'
One tear turns into an orb of silver before softly landing in the snow ...
You see no corpse here.

 I did a search to find out what "Farval, min alskade..." translated to English and found it means "Farewell my beloved" in Swedish. It adds to the feeling of the area as a sad story (it gets a lot worse later on in the area...) The item you get from killing her is:

You take a closer look at a silver orb of remembrance in inventory...
The silver tears of the denigrated froze into orbs of remembrance, floating
effortlessly back and forth through history, imbued with the wisdom of the
ages. To carry one is to be beyond this life, outside the range of alpha and
omega. Even death, they say, is a mere inconvenience.

Object 'a silver orb of remembrance' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 50 light, weight 3.
Special properties:  glow
This light has a gold value of 10000.
Affects hp by 10.
Affects strength by -1.
Affects mana by 25.
Affects wisdom by 2.

As a light it is nothing special but the item is needed for later in the area...

Overall I find VoC an interesting area. There is more to it that this and I'll have more to post about it in the future.