Rescue on Mount Arreat is a quest in Act 5. Not mandatory, but has a nice reward.
| Given: | Given by Qual-Kehk after defeating Shenk the Overseer, or by entering the Frigid Highlands. |
|---|---|
| Triggered By: | Entering the Frigid Highlands. |
| Location: | Frigid Highlands |
| Tips: | Search the many fortress areas for special areas on the Automap. They will appear in white. Knock the doors down to release the Barbarians. It is possible to fail this quest. If it says unable to complete quest, you have failed. Create a new game and try again. |
| Description: | Since the siege has ended, Qual-Kehk has turned his concern toward his men still imprisoned among the demons. The gods only know what’s being done with them. In your journey up the mountain keep your eyes open for Qual-Kehk’s soldiers and bring them back to him if you can. |
| Rewards: | Ability to hire Barbarian Mercs and Tal, Ral, Ort runes. |
This reward can be placed in a Paladin-shield, and the inherent bonuses to Resistance or Damage/Attack Rating will be preserved in the RuneWord, yielding a much larger total bonus than any other class can receive.
When you enter the Frigid Highlands, your Quest Log will pop up and tell you to go see Qual-Kehk to learn more. Talk to him in the middle of Harrogath and he’ll ask you to free 15 Barbarian soldiers in the Frigid Highlands. You need to roam around the Highlands looking for wooden prisons that are holding five soldiers each. These are randomly scattered around the environment, so there’s no real trick to finding them. Just pay attention to your mini-map and look for bright white squares. Then break down the door holding them in and watch them use a Town Portal to escape.
This area is mostly guarded by Demon Imps, making it one of the more frustrating locations in Diablo 2: Resurrected. Not only will they teleport away from your attacks, but they can use towers around the crumbling buildings and a new monster called the Crush Beast to power up their attacks. When they mount either, they’ll send out massive blasts of fire, so deal with them quickly or avoid them entirely. The Frigid Highlands is also home to three different mini-bosses that you’ll likely encounter. That said, you probably won’t have much trouble with them by this point.
Once you finish the quest, go talk to Qual-Kehk for your reward. He’ll give you the Tal, Ral, and Ort runes and let you hire Barbarian mercenaries. If you have a three-socket shield handy, you can combine those three runes to create the Ancient’s Pledge runeword. It’s a great way to cheaply raise your resistances if you need it.