The Broken Blade

The Broken Blade is a quest in Act I of Diablo III. The goal is to find a way to retrieve the second piece of the Stranger's Sword from the ancient ruins known as the Drowned Temple. It immediately follows the quest Sword of the Stranger. The Broken Blade is followed by the quest The Doom in Wortham.

Transcript

Core

• Class
  • Necromancer: They know where the next piece is. Their leader said it fell where only ancients may tread.

• Leah: That makes me think of the Drowned Temple near the Festering Woods. I remember you telling me about it, Uncle.

• Deckard Cain: Exactly, Leah. The temple was home to the nephalem. Leah, your knowledge could be invaluable. You must go and help our friend retrieve the sword piece.

• Leah: The nephalem were ancient humans with fantastic powers. Legend holds that they waged a terrible battle near the temple and that their ghosts still war with one another.

• Leah: You know it’s not polite to go through other people's things, don’t you?

• Leah: This is my room. Do you like it?

• Leah: What? You’re not really thinking of reading my journal, are you?

• Leah: You and I aren't so different. I have great power within me, too. The only difference is — I have no control over mine.

• Class
  • Necromancer: Then you must learn to master it.

• Leah: It's only happened a few times in my life, and only when I was in grave danger. Something rises up from deep within me...and, well, I can't really explain it.

• Scoundrel: You there! Please help: they’re going to kill my friend! Thieves are going to kill my friend if we don’t do something! Help me break these bonds, and see for yourself!

• Class
  • Necromancer: Who is this friend of yours?

• Scoundrel: She's just a farmer’s daughter — Sasha...but she has a relic that the thieves are after.

• Brigand: He's deserted you. Just give it over!

• Sasha: My sweet love will save me!

• Class
  • Necromancer: Enough of this. Release Sasha and give her the relic.

• Brigand: You actually believe what the scoundrel tells you? Fine, you fools. We'll kill the both of you!

• Nigel Cutthroat: This isn't over. The rest of the Thieves Guild will find you...

• Sasha: Here's the relic, my love. I hid it like you asked. Father's grown suspicious of us, but that won’t matter once we're married. It won’t be long, right?

• Scoundrel: Of course, my dear! Soon we will settle down to a quiet life of tilling the fields and raising brats...uh... children. But first I have to sell this relic! Alas, I must travel away with my friend here to do so.

• Class
  • Necromancer: What? You mean to accompany me?

• Scoundrel: Yes. Yes! You look like you know a lot about markets. Now lead the way!

• Scoundrel: Wait– the relic is a fake! Gods, I should have known. Well, you seem like you could use a helping hand, and I sure as hell don’t want to stay around here!

• Templar: Please tell me that you’re not considering this criminal's proposal.

• Scoundrel: Ah, there you are!

• Class
  • Necromancer: And your betrothed?

• Scoundrel: Betrothed? Do I look like the marrying kind to you? By the way, my name is Lyndon.

• Leah: What the tome said about Alaric and this temple is not encouraging.

• Leah: You must be Alaric the guardian...Uncle Deckard told me of your eternal watch over this cursed place. I thought it was a myth!

• Alaric: Are you nephalem?

• Leah: No. There have been no nephalem for a millennium.

• Alaric: Hah! Yet another myth. You seek entrance to this temple, but only a nephalem can enter. If you retrieve the keys from the outlying tombs and use them on the gates, we will see who...and what...you truly are.

• Alaric: Follow me. I will raise the bridge, that you may pass. Seek two tombs in the woods beyond– the Warrior's Rest and the Crypt of the Ancients. Within them reside the keys to our sacred temple.

• Leah: I will stop these things.

• Leah: I used to love traveling, seeing the world.

• Class
  • Necromancer: When the Balance is lost, everything changes.

• Leah: Yes, it’s not like it was.

• Templar: Have no fear, Leah. We will make this world safe again.

• Leah: Are these Alaric's people?

• Class
  • Necromancer: No...their story was quite different.

• Leah: Uncle Deckard called these flying creatures "death with wings."

• Templar: Always wanted to fight some of these!

• Leah: I spent years exploring places like this with Uncle Deckard. This brings back memories.

• Alaric: The temple is open. Enter and defeat the guardians within. Although they are my brothers, they will seek your death when you enter.

• Templar: I can not fault them for doing their duty.

• Leah: Look at this architecture. This predates the Sin War!

• Ezek the Prophet (Ancient Nephalem Champion): Rise, my brothers! Rise and do battle!

• Class:
  • Necromancer: Why would you open an Inn?

• Leah: The world is so dangerous. Everybody needs a quiet, safe place to rest and recover. A waystation on their journeys.

• Class
  • Necromancer: The Priests of Rathma are not always welcome in such places, though they would be of use to us.

• Leah: That's why I want to make one.

• Alaric: Your strength rivals that of our greatest champions. What now do you think you are? You may enter our most sacred place.

• Templar: The spirit speaks the truth. This was a good place. I can feel it.

• Maghda: The noble hero fought her/his way here just to die.

• Class
  • Necromancer: You are again mistaken.

• Maghda: And who is this you bring with you? Adria's daughter? She has...power within her. No matter; your mother will soon share your fate, little one. The shard is mine. Fill this temple with their blood!

• Leah: What did she mean my mother will share my fate? Could my mother be alive after all these years?

• Class
  • Necromancer: She has every reason to deceive us. Do not listen.

• Templar: And what is the power within you that she spoke of?

• Leah: This fight was too easy. She’s toying with us. We must get back to Uncle Deckard right away.

Townsfolk Dialogues

• Captain Rumford: My grandfather used to tell me stories of ancient heroes who performed impossible feats. You remind me of those heroes. Of course, he also told me I looked like a quill fiend. He was a strange man.

• Villager: With the dead squared away and Cain back in town, I hope things won’t be so bad around here.

• Covetous Shen: Such a strange place this world is. You never know what you might find over the next rise, or what the next day might bring. A man who fell from the sky, a king who cannot die. I can tell I will have no dull days, traveling with you.

• Deckard Cain: The Worldstone was an ancient artifact of immense power. It was used not only to create our world, but also to control mankind. The original humans were known as the nephalem, and their power was such that it was feared they would tip the balance in the Eternal Conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. So the Worldstone was tuned to lessen our powers, turning mankind into what we are today. But now that it has been destroyed, it is conceivable that the powers of the nephalem will reappear.

• Deckard Cain: Tyrael was forced to destroy the Worlstone when Baal, the Lord of Destruction, corrupted it in his attempt to control all of mankind.

• Class
  • Necromancer: Indeed. A Priest of Rathma was among the heroes who fought him, though the ruin from the Worlstone's destruction was terrible.

• Deckard Cain: It obliterated Mount Arreat, the mountain that housed it, leaving only a smoking crater in its place. And nothing has been heard from Tyrael since.

• Class:
  • Necromancer: I heard Leah grew up traveling with you. Was it not dangerous having a child on your journeys?

• Deckard Cain: Not as dangerous as you might think. There was a calm about the world then. Most people paid no mind to an old man and young girl, weaponless and penniless, crossing their lands.

• Leah: Uncle Deckard and I traveled all over the world in my youth, looking for lost lore and artifacts. It was so exciting– crawling around ancient temples, digging through forgotten crypts...I feel fortunate that Uncle Deckard raised me the way he did. The things I learned from him...But now I don’t know. I see what his obsession with his quest has cost him...has cost us...

• Leah: The Drowned Temple was once known as the Sarceum Emporis. It was the most sacred of their temples, a site where legend claims angels would come to impart their wisdom to the nephalem.

• Class
  • Necromancer: Tell me of your father.

• Haedrig Eamon: My father was a diplomat. We had a manor in Caldeum with servants, terraces, all of that. Everything changed when the troubles started. Somehow, rumors spread that my grandfather was responsible for the king's madness. My father’s work fell apart. No one would speak to him. He kept believing it would blow over, though.

• Class
  • Necromancer: But it was not to be.

• Haedrig Eamon: No. I’d rather not talk about it now, if you don't mind. I have work to see to.

• Class
  • Necromancer: How can you waste so much time pursuing women?

• Scoundrel: Waste?! Time is scarcely better spent.

• Class
  • Necromancer: No. You still lack companionship, even now.

• Scoundrel: I've only found one worth keeping...but she slipped away from me.

• Class
  • Necromancer: What happened?

• Scoundrel: I'd rather talk about the ones I caught and didn't want!

• Villager: I really do miss that bard. The way he sang "Bartuc and Horazon" could make a bad man weep and turn his life around.

• Villager #2: You're always on about the bard! Tell you what: why don’t you learn to sing for us instead of complaining all day?

• Villager: Well, I'm more of a patron of the arts than an artist.

• Villager #2: That, and you have a voice like a wounded quill beast.

• Villager: True.

• Villager: Oh, there she goes again. Were I not a happily married man, I’d let her take me on an adventure.

• Villager #2: Ha! I'm sure she’s aching to haul an old cooper with a bald spot around. Be my guest!

• Villager #1: I was thinking...

• Villager #2: Don't hurt yourself.

• Villager #1: I was thinking that we should try to recruit more soldiers. What happens if we get attacked again?

• Villager #2: We just spent a week fighting off hundreds of walking corpses outside our impenetrable gates. We're the hardest bastards within a hundred miles. Who’s going to attack us?

Quest Log

• Part 1
  • Barbarian: A piece of the Stranger's sword has fallen on the Drowned Temple north of the Fields of Misery. I am to take Leah there to find a way inside.
  • Crusader: A piece of the Stranger's sword fell on the Drowned Temple north of the Fields of Misery. I'll take Leah there to find a way inside.
  • Demon Hunter: Maghda has unwittingly given me the location of another sword piece, but it doesn’t sound as if recovering it is going to be easy. The Drowned Temple is an ancient edifice belonging to a race that died out long ago. With Leah’s help, maybe I will be able to make it inside.
  • Monk: The Drowned Temple. Maghda has revealed that it is the location of another piece of the Stranger’s sword, but I do not know if it will be so easy to get inside. Perhaps Leah can help me unravel the mystery.
  • Wizard: The second piece of the sword is north of the Fields of Misery in the Drowned Temple. A cheery name. Leah and I will go there now.

• Part 2
  • Barbarian: Leah and I have run into a thief who rushes to defend a friend. I don't know what to make of him, but I will help.
  • Crusader: We've met a thief, plain and simple. He wants our help, and I can't say no since I lack proof of any wrongdoing on his part. The Crusade has many strange tenets, but things usually work out.
  • Demon Hunter: Some shifty-looking fellow has asked me to help him rescue a “friend.” I have a feeling I’m going to regret this...
  • Monk: Though my better judgment tells me that no good can come of helping this man, I will aid him. The gods sometimes send messages by the most unexpected hands.
  • Wizard: A thief has asked for my help on the road to the Drowned Temple. He claims that his friend will be harmed if I do not assist him. Though he does not seem in the least bit trustworthy, I will go along with this for now.

• Part 3
  • Barbarian: I have helped the scoundrel. May he stay out of trouble for a while. The Drowned Temple is ahead.
  • Crusader: That fellow is clearly a scoundrel, yet I suspect he can be of service to the task at hand—the Drowned Temple awaits.
  • Demon Hunter: Well... that was Lyndon. It seems he’s invited himself to join me. I suppose he may be useful. After all, he’s not completely worthless with that crossbow. Anyhow, the Drowned Temple is just down the path.
  • Monk: I have helped Lyndon. I will not speak of it again.
  • Wizard: I helped the scoundrel save his, uh...friend. I hope I don't regret this. The Drowned Temple is up ahead.

• Part 4
  • Barbarian: I have found the Drowned Temple, but the way is not open. Leah will know how to speak with the spirit guardian.
  • Crusader: The Drowned Temple is sealed. I'll see if Leah can convince the spirit guardian to open it for us.
  • Demon Hunter: The entrance to the Drowned Temple is sealed. There seems to be a spirit guarding it. I’ll let Leah do the talking here.
  • Monk: Leah may be better suited than I am to speak to the spirit who guards the Drowned Temple’s entrance. I will leave it to her.
  • Wizard: The Drowned Temple is sealed by ancient magic. Perhaps Leah can convince the spirit guardian to open it.

• Part 5
  • Barbarian: I have found the ancient temple, but the way is closed. A spirit has bidden me to find the keys in the Festering Woods, if I dare.
  • Crusader: Though I found the ancient temple, the way is closed to me. I'm told the keys to entry are in the festering woods. Sounds like a pleasant place.
  • Demon Hunter: Alaric says that the keys to the Drowned Temple can be found within the Festering Woods. I suspect there is something he is not telling us...
  • Monk: I believe I could open the sealed door to the Drowned Temple with my fists, but it may be prudent not to upset the spirits that guard it.
  • Wizard: Alaric claims that the keys to the temple are hidden in the Festering Woods. Both Alaric and these woods sound familiar to me. Perhaps I read of them once within the Sanctum.

• Part 6
  • Barbarian: I now have the objects needed to open the ancient temple. I have only to use them on the pedestals.
  • Crusader: I have the objects needed to unlock the ancient temple. I simply have to place them on the pedestals.
  • Demon Hunter: I have retrieved both of the artifacts that I need to open the temple gates. There were some pedestals near the entrance. I should place the artifacts on them.
  • Monk: With these two artifacts, I will be able to open the Drowned Temple. They should fit upon the pedestals near the entrance.
  • Wizard: I have found both artifacts. When I return them to their pedestals, the protective magic surrounding the temple will allow us to pass.

• Part 7
  • Barbarian: The temple has opened to me. I can now seek the sword piece inside.
  • Crusader: The temple is open, and the next sword fragment lies inside. Nothing for it but to enter.
  • Demon Hunter: The temple is open. If Maghda was correct, I’ll find a sword piece inside. Alaric warned that his brothers will fight me, but I think I can handle them.
  • Monk: What awaits me within the Drowned Temple? A piece of the Stranger’s sword and a battle with the spirit guardians, if Alaric’s words are true.
  • Wizard: I am finally able to enter the Drowned Temple. The sword piece I seek must be inside.

• Part 8
  • Barbarian: Maghda thought to ambush me and take the sword piece. Her cultists paid the price. I now return to New Tristram.
  • Crusader: I have the second sword fragment. That Maghda is proving persistent, however I'm sure we'll have a long talk eventually.
  • Demon Hunter: I’m getting awfully tired of Maghda and her ambushes. She must be starting to realize that her plan isn’t going to work. I have two sword pieces now, and she has none. Still, Deckard Cain will want to hear of my progress. I’ll head back to New Tristram.
  • Monk: Maghda’s meddling is of no consequence to me. I hold two pieces of the Stranger’s sword, and all that she has to show for her efforts are the cultists I have slain.
  • Wizard: I have the second sword piece now and avoided an ambush by the cultists who were seeking it. Maghda thinks herself clever, but she continues to underestimate me. It is time to return to New Tristram.