Dungeon Concept: Ironhawk Asylum

[Umbra]

EDIT: Realized literally a split second after posting that this may belong in the normal Raids & Dungeons section.

Reworked the death mechanic: Read on!

Set in the ruins of Lordaeron, the Ironhawk Asylum invokes a threatening image even to this day. Though the former patients are long dead, something stirs within those damned halls. An unquestionable evil has surfaced within the Asylum, and only the bravest of heroes can free Azeroth from this malice!



Ironhawk Asylum is a four-boss dungeon, set within the Ruins of Lordaeron above the Undercity, and is intended for characters of Level 29-35. The reason for this is to prevent this particular dungeon tier - which otherwise consists of farming SM Graveyard - a bit less of a bore.

Upon entering Ironhawk Asylum, all players will gain 100 stacks of the debuff Ironhawk Sanity. Ironhawk Sanity cannot be dispelled or otherwise removed by any player effect, and persists through death. Your damage output scales with your Sanity stacks; each stack of Sanity represents one percent of your damage.

While you have more than 25 Ironhawk Sanity, you cannot die. Hitting 0 Health causes you to lose 15 Ironhawk Sanity, and respawn at the location of the last boss you defeated. As you return to life, a mysterious voice whispers: "Your mind has faded...", "You are alone..." or "Your senses betray you...". Depending on the boss in question, you wake up in different locations:
The Patients: Climbing out of the pile of flesh
Doctor Sews: Waking up, strapped to one of the beds
Felstone Children: John Felstone's cell
Warden Ironhawk: The Warden's Room

However, while you have less than 25 Ironhawk Sanity, the fun begins. This is Ironhawk Asylum's hardmode, where your abilities will deal practically no damage. Any loss of Ironhawk Sanity will be increased by 2. When you hit 0 Ironhawk Sanity, you will lose the debuff and instead gain the "Ironhawk Insanity" debuff, starting at 0 stacks. Any ability that caused you to lose Ironhawk Sanity now gives you one stack of Ironhawk Sanity, and granting you a damage buff. However, your fellow players are now considered hostile and targetable, and will thus be affected by your AoE-effects. Bosses defeated while under the effects of Ironhawk Insanity will drop more loot (only lootable by those affected by the debuff) and all mobs within the instance drop more money.

[Explanation: Normally, a mob drops 100% of their money, which is shared between the five players. A player affected by Ironhawk Insanity will gain an additional 10% of the money, increasing their money gained by 50%.]

Apart from the regular loot, all bosses have a 100% chance to drop [Potion of Clear Mind], restoring up to 50 Sanity. All mobs have a 5% chance of dropping the same potion. Killing a trash mob within the Asylum restores 1 Sanity, but does not grant 1 stack of Insanity.

Bosses:

The Patients
Level 31 Elite
32,500 Health

This boss operates as a hive-mind, continuously spawning apparitions from a pile of flesh in the middle. The apparitions have a shared health bar and share threat. Once a single apparition takes 3,250 damage, it will disappear, and another one will spawn from the pile. Once ten apparitions have been killed, the pile will explode, and act as a loot chest.

Abilities:

Haunting Memories: Deals 204-320 Shadow damage and removes 3 stacks of Sanity. 12 second cooldown.
Memento: The apparition explodes upon death, removing 3 stacks of Sanity from all targets within 10 yards.

Doctor Sews
Level 32 Elite
6,700 Health

Doctor Sews patrols between the two dormitories, monitoring his long-dead patients; the restless dead. Humans of Lordaeron who have been sustained in a state of infection by the doctor himself. Once engaged, the doctor will release three patients; spawned adds. Doctor Sews gains a buff (Pain and Suffering) which stacks according to the number of patients alive, increasing his damage output by 15% for each stack. If a patient dies, another one will be awakened after 15 seconds. The doctor will only awaken patients in the same room as himself. There are six patients in each room, for a total of twelve.

Abilities:

Torment the Weak: Channeled for 20 seconds. Deals 1400 Shadow damage over the course of the duration, and cannot be interrupted; it must be healed through. Targets all players within 10 yards of a patient. 40 second cooldown. If a player dies from this spell, they lose an additional 10 stacks of Ironhawk Sanity.

Sews and Stitches: 10 seconds channeled. Targets one patient, which is death-gripped to Doctor Sews. Every 1 second, the patient gains a stack of [Injection], increasing their damage output by 10%. If the spell is interrupted, the patient will take 10% of their Health as damage for each stack of [Injection]. If the spell is not interrupted, the buff persists through the rest of the fight.

Nathan and Elizabeth Felstone
Level 32 Elite
7,000 Health

When first encountered, Nathan and Elizabeth appear as Friendly. The players encounter them in the "Visitor's Room" standing amidst a pile of corpses and fighting some ghouls. After the ghouls are defeated, a 1-minute dialogue session between Nathan and Elizabeth reveal that they had come to visit their father John when the plague first struck, and that they had been trapped in the Asylum ever since. They have been locked in the Visitor's Room for this time, and now they can finally see their father...

John Felstone is a few rooms down, imprisoned in chains but still alive. The children run down the corridor, calling his name, and stop outside his cell. Their father speaks of "Rak'zakan", a beast that lurks somewhere in the Asylum and preys on the survivors. He orders the children to escape, but it is too late. At this point, all players and the two children gain the Scent of Rak'zakan debuff, causing them to lose 1 Sanity every 2 seconds. Nathan has 4 Sanity; Elizabeth has 5. Nathan is the first to turn enraged, attacking the players and his sister, who soon follows.

Unlike the Mindless Patients, these two bosses have different health pools and split threat.

Abilities:

Demonchild: Passive. All successful hits cause the target to lose 1 stack of Sanity. All attacks target all living objects within 5 yards.
Memories of Felstone: Restores all damage taken within the last 5 seconds and inflicts the same amount of damage to the target. 25 second cooldown.
Lonely Orphan: Increases all damage inflicted and taken by 400%. Gained by one of them whenever the other one dies.

Talking to John Felstone after his children are defeated triggers the final event of the dungeon; the fight against Rak'zakan, the former warden of the Asylum. John speaks of a Kanethos Ironhawk, an old friend of his who founded the Asylum by command of King Terenas II. In the end, however, he too was overcome.


The bosses can be engaged in any order, but you will eventually fight them all. The only prerequisite for engaging Kanethos is to talk to John Felstone, which requires you to either defeat the Patients or Doctor Sews. However, after talking to John, he will walk to the entrance to the Warden's Room, which requires him to pass by all three entrances.

Engage quotes for the other bosses:
The Patients: "Can't you hear their screams, heroes? We must end their suffering, as you have ended mine."
Doctor Sews: "The wretched doctor is still alive? Out of everyone here, that man has caused the most suffering. We have to kill him, heroes."
Nathan and Elizabeth: "Those voices... they sound familiar. Break down that door, heroes!"

Kanethos Ironhawk
Level 33 Elite
7,000 Health

Warden Ironhawk' abilities:

Unsettling Truth: The target loses 20 Sanity. 30 yard range. 1 minute cooldown.
Nightmares of The World Beyond: Spawns 3 apparitions next to the target, which continuously deal 50 Shadow damage every 2 seconds to all targets within 5 yards. Apparitions last for 14 seconds and can be tanked. 20 second cooldown.

At 50%, Kanethos casts [Potion of Insanity] which disorients all players for 20 seconds. During this time, he walks up to John Felstone - and this is where things start to go out of hand. He absorbs all remaining stacks of Ironwing Sanity, immediately casting the players into Ironwing Insanity. (If the players already are Insane, they are brought down to 0 stacks.) He merges with Felstone, and turns into "Raz'kahan", a tall, shadowy figure that somewhat resembles an Eredar.

Raz'kahan
Level 33 Elite
7,000 Health

Abilities:
Stare into the Abyss: Frontal cone ability that deals 350 Shadow damage. The ability creates a zone that persists for 15 seconds, dealing 25 damage per second to anyone standing in it.
Withering Hand: Raz'kahan's attacks heal him for 30% of the damage he inflicts, and cause the target to gain 3 stacks of Insanity.
Memories of Terror: Spawns 2 Apparitions in the entrance to the Warden's room, homing in on Raz'kahan's current target. Upon making contact, they deal 150 AoE Shadow damage and cause all affected targets to lose 1 stack of Sanity. Occurs every 10 seconds.

After his death, a mysterious laughter is heard... and the body of John Felstone lies dead on the ground. Kanethos is nowhere to be found.

Achievements:

The Forgotten Dead: Complete the Patients encounter in Ironhawk Asylum without any player being damaged by Memento. (5 points)

The Doctor's Orders: Defeat Doctor Sews in Ironhawk Asylum without killing a Suffering Patient. (5 points)

End Their Misery: Defeat 12 Suffering Patients during the Doctor Sews encounter in Ironhawk Asylum. (5 points)

Siblicidal Maniac: Cause one of the Felstone children in Ironhawk Asylum to kill the other one. (5 points)

Sanebusters: Defeat 80 Apparitions during a single run of Ironhawk Asylum. (5 points)

Ironhawk Asylum: Defeat Warden Ironhawk in Ironhawk Asylum. (10 points)

This is Madness: Defeat Raz'kahan in Ironhawk Asylum while having 100 stacks of Ironhawk Insanity. (5 points)

Don't Stand In The Dark: Defeat Raz'kahan in Ironhawk Asylum without any player being damaged by Stare into the Abyss. (5 points)

What do you think?

[Cocobutters]

Dude, thats freaking awesome! Amazing job!

[Drall]

That's kind of creepy...

Good job You really put a lot of thought into this.

[Bearfist]

its well planned out and I approve but with the mechanics and achievs you've given it make me think it would be more like a max level dungeon. But you make a good point, that level area so needs something besides more SM.... /bleh

[2hd]

Very good job, I'd love to see this type of instance. There just isn't a lot around that level and there isn't a lot of horror or really make you think twice over a instance instances. Besides the live side of strat.

[Umbra]

its well planned out and I approve but with the mechanics and achievs you've given it make me think it would be more like a max level dungeon. But you make a good point, that level area so needs something besides more SM.... /bleh

Consider the achievements an incentive for the players to make the encounter more difficult, similar to the Glory of the Hero achievements.

As for the relatively complicated strategies; Given enough time, a player will eventually hit the level cap and do high-end dungeons; might as well prepare them for that step.

I'm getting ideas for other bosses, but I'm not sure how to implement them. Where to expand the dungeon, and how to logically do so. Any ideas? (Sewer / Disposal area?)

[Diaxx]

Sounds ok, a little overcomplicated for players new to the game.

Im still waiting for Karazhan Crypts.

[Umbra]

Forgot to say this in the last post: Thank you for your input, everyone!

Diaxx, while most encounters could wipe a group on their first try, the goal of my encounter design is to make players think twice. I would say that Doctor Sews will probably be That One Boss of this dungeon, with Torment the Weak feared by healers all around.