Dunes of Despair (mission)

Monologues
Mission introduction:
 * Ghostly Hero: "Once my people came to the desert and built a great temple. But while we labored, we were set upon by the stewards of the desert, the Forgotten."
 * Ghostly Hero: "They killed my people, and now another ghost sits upon my throne. I beseech you, help me return to the temple.  Help me reclaim my throne and my passage into the Hall of Heroes."

At the temple:

Facing the generals:

Mission Objectives
Help the Ghostly Hero reclaim his throne.
 * Escort the Ghostly Hero to the Temple of Ascension.
 * Defeat the Enemy Ghostly Hero.
 * Hold out while the Ghostly Hero performs his ritual.
 * BONUS Gain more glory by defeating the three forgotten generals and their minions within their forts.

Walkthrough
The Ghostly Hero will follow the person who talks to him. To have him stop following, the same person must speak to him again. Follow the path and kill any Losaru you encounter. They come in groups of three (four groups in total: three groups of Losaru Bladehands and one group of Losaru Bowmasters). Near the Bowmasters, you will see a Siege Wurm firing at you from across the chasm (point A). Kill the group of Losaru Bowmasters first (keeping your ranged people back), then move the Ghostly Hero to the drawbridge to lower it.

Note: The ghostly hero can get stuck. If this happens before a cut scene and he's in a safe spot, you'll be able to continue the mission without him, and he'll appear with you after the cut scene. If he gets stuck after the cut scene with Goss Aleessh, but before successfully opening the bridge to the fort, you'll have to start the mission over again. Attempting to talk to the stuck hero will produce messages like "We are in battle" when no battle is actually taking place. At least some of the time, this is related to the Siege Wurm, and can be solved by killing it.

South after the bridge you will encounter the boss Goss Aleessh (point B). After defeating the boss and his minions a cut scene will take place. Afterwards, move the ghost towards the raised drawbridge to the south, but keep him at a distance. Have the person he is following speak to him and he will stay put. Have any ranged attackers kill the Enchanted Bows on the ledges beside the bridge. Once they are disposed of, bring the ghost to the bridge (have a party member talk to the ghost) and he will lower it. Do not go in past the arch. Enemies will come out in pairs; just wait for them on the bridge. After the last wave (it's the group of three instead of two), defeat the ghost on the altar (point C).

At this point you should stop and tell the party to prepare themselves. If going for the bonus, now is the time to decide upon a strategy. When everyone is ready, bring your ghost near the altar to start his ritual. You will have to defend him for 10 minutes. Four pairs of Forgotten Arcanists will appear: a pair from the east, then the west, then the south, then the east again. If your party has a good amount of firepower and can eliminate enemies quickly, head out and intercept them as they come in so as to prevent them from ever threatening the ghost. On the other hand, if your party is stronger defensively, it may be better to stand your ground at the altar. This also avoids the hassle of running back and forth, though with running skills equipped this is a negligible annoyance.

After defeating them, rush to the south bridge and defeat the two incoming Enchanted Bows. Then head to the west bridge to defeat either a pair of Enchanted Hammers or a boss group. After defeating this group, run back to the altar, and simply wait it out. The last group to attack the altar will be the one you didn't fight at the west bridge. After that, no other groups will attack. The ghost will sometimes cry about incoming enemies, but there really aren't any more.

Tip: Don't worry about the Siege Wurms which appear near the altar. Their damage output is not significant enough to warrant attack. With a very high AL and natural resistance to hexes and conditions, it can take more than 30 seconds to kill one unless your party is specifically equipped to do so - time that you cannot afford to waste. Instead, it is more effective to simply out-heal their damage; Heal Party is a good counter. Moreover, they can be avoided entirely if you fight in the center, as you are out of attack range.

Tip: Before engaging the enemies at point B you could go to the west to point D. There is a group of Losaru guarding a Slow Totem there. The totem slows down enemies within the area where it is dropped. It is most useful for the bonus and can be quite helpful for the mission too if used correctly. Note that enemies under the effects of Slow Totem are not hexed with Imagined Burden, even though the animation is the same.

Tip: Unless attempting the bonus (see below), it is very important for the party to stick together at all times during the 'siege'. Arcanists and Enchanted can take quite a beating before going down, and they stack up quickly without a proper offense. The Ghostly Hero won't last more than a minute at best if under attack, and as usual his death means a mission failure. If you're using a human Monk, make sure they give priority to healing the Hero.

Tip: Interruption and skills that cause the Dazed condition are helpful in this mission. Forgotten Arcanist are most dangerous due to Earthquake and Kinetic Armor - interruption leaves them vulnerable and mostly harmless. Siege Wurm's attacks (Wurm Siege) are also spells and susceptible to interruption.

Bonus
This bonus is arguably the hardest bonus in Crystal Desert. There are several philosophies on how to do it:

Approach 1: Finish off attackers then head out

Do exactly the same as above, but in the last part, after defeating the first set of enemies at the west bridge, head further west (towards point 2 on the map). Wait for and kill the incoming group of enemies, or they will attack the ghost while you are out attacking the generals. At this point, you should still have around 6 and a half minutes left.

Quickly head back into the fort (don't go around the outside or you will be beset by Jade Scarabs) and head south over the southern bridge. There you will see a small fort. The first general will be standing outside (point 1). Stick together and follow the path because there are Scarabs that pop out from the ground. After defeating the first boss and his group go south into the fortress. The other two bosses and their groups are found to the left and the right inside the fortress (marked with a 1). You need to defeat the bosses and their guards to complete the bonus. The Ghost needs to survive up to this point, but he can die afterwards as you have already completed the bonus. If you are also doing the mission, then run back to save the ghost.

Approach 2: Protect the Ghostly Hero

A different approach is to split up the party. For example, a single bonder using Life Bond, Life Barrier, Mending and Watchful Spirit is able to keep the Ghostly Hero alive throughout the whole attack, so that the remaining five players can go for the bonus without having to worry about him.

Approach 3: Tricking the Timer

Requirements:
 * A Monk/Necromancer or Necromancer/Monk with the Necrotic Traversal & Rebirth skills equipped.
 * Other party members must have vampiric weapons or other means to kill themselves.
 * One party member should bring a longbow.

When the party brings the Ghostly Hero on the altar, the timer starts, the drawbridges drop, and the enemies come running in. However, instead of bringing the hero to the altar, he can be commanded to wait outside the fort (by running up to him and talking to him), and head to the south bridge across the fort interior (the party may kill the enemy Ghost Hero if it pleases them, just keep the allied Ghost Hero off the alter so as to not trigger the timer). The drawbridges will remain upright so long as the Ghost Hero does not begin his ritual upon the throne. Therefore, the next part will be dependant wholly upon whether or not any member of your party can aggro any hidden Jade Scarabs waiting across the trenches that lie between you and the bonus objectives. Speculation suggests that the spawning points of the Scarabs vary from attempt to attempt, meaning you may have to restart if your party seems unable to get any enemy attention. The work will be worth the benefits, however, when you have all the time in the world to kill the Forgotten Generals.

When a Jade Scarab is finally aggroed, lured, and killed from afar, get the Monk/Necromancer in the group to use Necrotic Traversal to jump across to the bonus area via the fresh corpse. Note that you can sometimes lure the first boss and his group with a long bow and exploit their corpses instead or as well. Once this feat has been accomplished, have the rest of the party members equip weapons with vampiric attributes. The point of this is to actually have the rest of the party members die, so do not have them fret or start healing themselves. Once they are dead, the Monk/Necromancer can use Rebirth to transport them across to where he or she is.

It is absolutely necessary that some of the tougher party members have vampiric weapons (that is, if the some of the party members didn't bring vampiric weapons). If just a few warriors or rangers can be Rebirthed across the barrier, they can lure other groups of Scarabs to the vicinity of the left-behind members. The Scarabs will, by nature, start casting Parasitic Bond on all of the party members (so don't kill them, let them attack). The Monk will have to concentrate on healing those already across, including him/herself, and leaving the rest to slowly die. Eventually, if the Monk/Necromancer stays alive and the Scarabs get to do their work long enough, the rest of the party will die, allowing the Monk to Rebirth them across to the bonus area. You are then able to easily kill all the generals at your leisure.

Note: If you do not have a vampiric weapon, you can also open a trade window with a player with a vampiric weapon equipped. After they die, and are rebirthed across, they can unequip the weapon, place it in the trade window, and trade it to you. Just make sure you give back their weapon.

Approach 4: Early Advantage

Right after you've entered Temple of Ascension and killed all incoming enemies, tell Ghostly Hero to 'Stay Here' and head to the south bridge, as if you're going to use the 'Tricking the Timer' approach. But instead of transversing to the other side, just kill the boss and it's friends in '1'. Now sometimes they will be out of reach, so someone with a Longbow should stay there and the others walk away slowly. The enemies should start walking forward and in-reach of the Longbow'er. Using this tactic you can manage to kill the first General. Then kill the Enemy Ghostly Hero and do as 'Approach 1' says. It should save you some minutes and might be enough time, after killing all the Generals, to complete Mission itself.

Note: It is not necessary to kill the Enemy Ghostly Hero to start the bonus; the killing of the Generals will complete the bonus regardless, so there is no need to leave one player inside the fort, unless you want to do the mission as well, in which case that player must go back and bring the ghost to the altar.

Note: Jade Scarabs are melee attackers, so they will flee out of range if repeatedly attacked from the ledge. It is best to lure them in with a single shot, if needed, and then finish them off quickly with spells.

Note: If you're lucky, the boss standing outside the base can be lured in. If you're really lucky, the boss won't be the warrior boss, who will flee once you attack, and instead be a spell caster or ranger, who will attempt to fight back, or just stand still. All bosses leave corpses behind, so Necrotic Traversal will work.

Note: Vampiric weapons are not needed but make the bonus go quicker. You can aggro a couple of scarabs and let them poison the party to death. Once the Monk is over just keep healing the monk and the scarabs will keep poisoning you to death. Once dead, Monk can use rebirth. This takes a good monk because you are putting the party members in harms way with the scarabs. You could use Peace and Harmony to keep your pips up after using rebirth.

Note: The bonus can be achieved using only henchmen, heroes, and Approach 3. Make sure one of your heroes (if not yourself) is equipped with Rebirth and Necrotic Traversal. Once you have a suitable corpse over the wall, activate the traversal from the hero's skill bar. Start the process of killing yourself, and make sure you've deactivated everyone's healing skills. You might want to set a flag for you party further down the hill if you are using a monk henchman. Once you die, the hero will automatically Rebirth you. Pass your vampiric weapon (or whatever) through your inventory to your hero, rinse, and repeat until everyone is over the wall. You'll have to leave your henchmen on the ledge, but you won't need them. You and your heroes should then slowly approach each of the three boss groups, activating and pulling any scarab spawns so as to deal with them separately. If you flag your heroes correctly, you can even pull the bosses away from their escorts. Divide, conquer, and collect your bonus.

Note: After defeating any of the three Generals and all their minions, a group of three random enemies will spawn nearby and head for the east or west entrance to the fort. Usually this consists of two Forgotten Cursebearers and one Enchanted Sword. They will quickly take out the Ghostly Hero, providing yet another incentive to finish the bonus quickly and/or leave at least one party member behind to take care of the Ghostly Hero. (If using Approach 3 or a variant thereof, this is of little importance, since the bridges won't be down yet.)

NPCs

 * /20 Ghostly Hero

Monsters

 * Forgotten
 * 20 Forgotten Arcanist
 * Enchanted
 * 20 Enchanted Hammer
 * 20 Enchanted Sword
 * 20 Enchanted Bow
 * Ghosts
 * /20 Enemy Ghostly Hero
 * Losaru Centaurs
 * 20 Losaru Bladehand
 * 20 Losaru Bowmaster
 * 20 Losaru Lifeband
 * Riders
 * 20 Storm Kin
 * Scarabs
 * 20 Jade Scarab
 * Wurms
 * 20 Siege Wurm

Bosses and Elite Skills

 * Custodian Fidius (Warrior's Endurance)
 * Custodian Kora (Marksman's Wager)
 * Dassk Arossyss (Word of Healing)
 * Byssha Hisst (Order of the Vampire)
 * Ayassah Hess (Mantra of Recovery)
 * Goss Aleessh (Mantra of Recovery), location B
 * Cyss Gresshla (Ether Renewal)

The bosses, excluding Goss Aleessh, spawn randomly. One of the bosses attacks the center with a monster wave and three others spawn at the fort in the south. No bosses spawn at points 2 and 3.

Skill Capture

 * Consume Corpse from Byssha Hisst (not available before Camp Rankor).

Additional Notes
The players will be in Augury Rock at the completion of this mission. If they did Thirsty River and Elona Reach they must now defeat the Doppelganger.

Players looking for a cartographer title can uncover large areas of the map on the southern and southeastern parts of this map. To uncover all areas, the player must enter several towers along the southern edge that have their drawbridges up. This is an illusion as the player can simply walk across the gap and enter the towers. There is a large section towards the southeast that is not part of any mission path and is easily missed.

Cut scene Dialog

 * Ghostly Hero: Up ahead, inside the Temple of Ascension, is the Throne of Pellentia.
 * Ghostly Hero: The gods gaze down from the Hall of Heroes, granting their favor to those who control the throne.
 * Ghostly Hero: But there is another spirit who sits upon the hallowed throne.
 * Ghostly Hero: The temple is well guarded.
 * Ghostly Hero: Get me inside so that we may supplant the usurper. He must be destroyed before I can take the throne.
 * Ghostly Hero: Keep me safe while I cast the ritual to open the door.
 * Ghostly Hero: We have drawn the attention of the gods. Let us hope they are pleased.