Sage Asmodius

**Major Spoiler**
This page contains spoilers for imporant parts of the main story or the lore of Grim Quest. Read at your own risk.

**Epic Content**
This page contains content only available after completing the Main Quest, and thus contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

**Sage Asmodius** is one of the key characters in Grim Quest, and is the known primary cause of the Tearing that unleashed The Dark upon humanity and consequently started the events of Grim Quest. He is the head Sage of The Sun Court, the pioneering intellectual and arcane facility of the Old Empire, supervising his companions Angelus, Amarok and Mechanus in the inner circles.

**Biography**
Not much is known about Asmodius' early life in Grim Quest, including when he became an alumni of The Sun Court.

His contribution to the Tearing and the proliferation of The Dark is detailed in his records that can be randomly found as you go through the dungeons. In 10BT, while he was sorting through records from the Cult of the All-Seeing, he noted a passage describing a place where things in a person's mind can be manifested into reality.

Later, reports of a strange Mua-Ta ritual that manifests dreams and nightmares had crossed into the Sage's mind and he decided to replicate such experiments with a large Rat. The replication was a success and managed to form a slightly flawed Marigold, after a dream he had about a field of the said flower.

In 9 BT, a group of sages are dispatched by Asmodius to investigate for clues about the ritual, prompting the events of the prequel, Grim Tides. The expedition was a total disaster with all sages killed, according to the journal. Discussions with the Emperor of the Old Empire had also began, with little success in convincing.

From 8 BT onwards, Asmodius arranged a special research group to focus on this project, now known as "Heaven's Gate". The exact members of said group are unknown, although it is likely to include the three sages in The Tear due to proximity. This continued smoothly, increasing the efficacy of the rituals over time until funds from The Sun Court were running dry. Asmodius planned to obtain slave blood to conjure up mass amounts of food to sustain soldiers of the imperial forces. More colleagues began to denounce the project despite successfully earning the trust of the Emperor. The plan then turned into establishing a permanent portal to the manifestation spell.

In 4BT, word of Heaven's Gate leaked to the common populace, leading to mass unrest and revolts targeting The Sun Court. Asmodius decided to rush the procedures and activate the gate early, leading to the Tearing, a rip in the fabric of reality.

It is unknown whether Asmodius had died in the creation of the Tearing or had made his way to the Burning Caldera, as it is unsure whether the version of the Sage there is an imposter or the real thing; a summoned Djinn was interrogated by the player and revealed that the name of its summoner was Asmodius, failing to clarify if it was legitimate. It is unlikely for a generic undead to obtain magical aptitude on the same level as the Sage, however. Whatever the case is, his influence on the story ends after **Fate of the Fallen**.

**In-Game**

Sage Asmodius is the Epic Boss of the Burning Caldera, and may be fought at **Floor 24** once the player has reached **Character Level 30**.

As the gatekeeper to the end-game, Asmodius stands between the player and the most difficult parts of Grim Quest. Easily one of the most powerful sages to date, he is capable of dealing massive damage if you cannot kill him quickly.

**Combat Proficiency**
The Grand Sage himself, even in this deranged state, is overwhelmingly powerful. He can easily fight with his fists alone, having stronger stats than the previous epic boss, Construct Prime. However, his strongest power is his special ability, **Ray of Insanity**, which deals massive damage, cleaves through your evasion and critical, and, most importantly, has a high frequency of draining **two points** of Sanity. This ability can be repeatedly cast, meaning that you can easily go insane and flee back to Ashborne in just five turns when entering from max sanity.

To kill him once and for all, you must act quickly before you go insane. Leave him alive for too long, and there will be consequences to pay.

  **Damage:** 20-28
  **Critical:** 17%

**Ability**

**Special Loot**

Sage Asmodius is the first boss that always drops a special item upon death. If you do not advance past floor 24, he can respawn even after death and allow you to obtain infinite Summoner's Staves.

**Tips**
* **Ray of Insanity'**s effects are extremely dangerous, especially if it pushes you into sanity stat debuffs. Seed of Oblivion is highly recommended to prevent him from spamming the ability, which will be nearly impossible to recover from.

* The Djinn should be killed fairly quickly. You do not want it buffing Asmodius with extra spell resistance, let alone healing him. You can reasonably ignore the Golem.

* Stuns are extremely helpful for passing this fight. Try to make sure that Asmodius is being stunned every other turn to give time for restoring sanity, killing allies or setting up Immolation.

**Trivia**
* Previously, a bug mistakingly classified Sage Asmodius and The Old Leech as normal dark enemies, which enhanced spells that have reduced effects on bosses, such as the Seed of Oblivion. Hilariously, the Holy Hand Grenade would also instantly kill them under this bug. As of the update on 18/10/21, this has been patched.

**Sage Commentary**