Rilohn Refuge (mission)

Objectives
Master of Whispers must be in your party.

If your character chose to follow Margrid the Sly (after the primary quest Mysterious Message) and has not yet gained Master of Whispers, you can still enter this mission by partying with another player who can bring him. Although you need not have finished Margrid's side of the storyline by completing the Pogahn Passage mission, you need to complete No Me, No Kormir quest before you can access this mission.

Destroy the Drought.


 * ADDED Protect Dehjah until she opens the entrance to the Mahnkelon Waterworks.
 * ADDED Make your way to the central reservoir.
 * ADDED Weaken the Drought by shutting off the water pumps. X of 5 remain active.
 * BONUS Defeat the Drought without shutting down water pumps.

Primary
The party will be affected by the environmental effect Thirst of the Drought throughout this mission, which increases Earth damage on the party by 50%. Using Winter negates this effect by turning all earth damage to cold. (The only foes dealing earth damage are The Drought, its Droughtlings, and Kournan Scribes occasionally using Aftershock.)

When the mission starts, Dehjah will lead you through a few groups of Steelfang Drakes and Kournan troops to the entrance of the waterworks. She will run ahead of your group and eventually stop at point close to the drakes but clear of the aggro. She will then wait for your arrival to that point and then continue.

The main danger in this part of the mission is losing Dehjah: she follows a set path, whether the party follows are not; she rushes to the next group of enemies immediately after fighting the previous group; and her AI leads her to tank. There are two strategies for keeping her alive: One is to make sure at least some of the party proceeds along her route ahead of her, softening up the mobs to reduce the risk to her. The other is to avoid her altogether at the start; run to the far right and clear the area up to the waterworks before coming back for her (this obviously makes the mission much longer). After you arrive at the waterworks, Dejah remains outside.

Inside the waterworks, there are five water pumps that you can turn off to weaken the Thirst of the Drought (see the bonus below). Each pump that is shut down will provide a 2% Morale Boost and decrease the environmental effect by 10%; shutting down all five will eliminate the effect altogether.

The gate in the center of the second wall is guarded by a neutral Agent of Whispers, who will open it as you approach. There is another Agent at the center of the third wall, who will lead you to the northwest where he opens a gate into The Drought's chamber.

The Drought's room is populated by four groups: three consist of patrols of 2-3 droughtlings and the last is the Drought itself with 2-3 more of its lesser cousins. Clearing the patrols first gives your party some room to maneuver, increasing your odds of success. The Drought and its droughtlings are all earth elementalists. The Drought in particular does very heavy area damage with Sandstorm.

The easiest way to kill The Drought is with Broad Head Arrow to keep it perpetually dazed. Fire it before entering combat, and wait for it to hit before otherwise attacking, so that The Drought will not move out of the way. Refire it as necessary to keep The Drought dazed until dead, and then turn your attention to the droughtlings.

If you don't have Broad Head Arrow, Power Block also works pretty well. Other skills that can keep The Drought dazed are effective, too, though if The Drought casts Sandstorm before you can daze it, you'd better move your party out of the way, and fast. Other techniques include using interrupts against Sandstorm, keeping your party spread out far enough to avoid getting damaged by the same bursts, and bringing enough damage output that The Drought is not able to fire off it more than the party can handle.

Bonus
The bonus is to refrain from turning off the water pumps, thus keeping the environmental effect active. Apart from The Drought's room, the main effect of doing the bonus is to shorten the mission by skipping various groups of Kournans guarding pumps.

Thirst of the Drought can be disabled with Winter if so desired. Even without this, the tactics used to clear The Drought's room aren't meaningfully changed.

Hard mode
If you can incapacitate The Drought by keeping it perpetually dazed, being in hard mode won't make much of a difference to either the tactics or the difficulty of the mission.

NPCs

 * 20 Agent of Whispers
 * 20 Kournan Engineer

Allies

 * 20 Dehjah

Monsters
Drakes Elementals Insects Kournans
 * 20 Steelfang Drake
 * 24 Droughtling
 * 20 Bladed Veldt Termite
 * 20 Veldt Beetle Queen
 * 20 Veldt Beetle Lance
 * 20 Kournan Guard
 * 20 Kournan Priest
 * 20 Kournan Seer
 * 20 Kournan Scribe
 * 20 Kournan Phalanx
 * 20 Kournan Zealot

Boss - elite skill capture

 * 28 The Drought - Sandstorm

Inside the mission
Master of Whispers: ''We must move quickly. The power of the Drought grows stronger with each passing moment.''

Master of Whispers: ''Dehjah knows how to access the Mahnkelon Waterworks. I have convinced her to lead us inside. Once we meet with her, we will be off!''

Dehjah: ''Come, Sunspears, I will show you the way. We must be careful. This area is well guarded. Kournans are everywhere, as well as the Drought's minions.'' 

Dehjah: ''As you head to the reservoir try to shut off as many water pumps as you can. This will reduce the flow of water to the Drought and weaken its power.''

Dehjah: ''The Drought has placed an enchantment on the pumps. As long as droughtlings or Kournans are near the pumps, we won't be able to turn them off.''

Dehjah: ''Good luck, Sunspears! Move forth and free the Elon from this plague.''



Agent of Whispers: ''Stop! Who goes there?''

Master of Whispers: Agent of the Order, step aside and grant us passage.

Agent of Whispers: ''My apologies, Master. I didn't expect you to be traveling with Sunspears.''

Agent of Whispers: ''Quickly! Pass through before the guards see you.''



Agent of Whispers: ''Don't be alarmed. I am of the Order.''

Agent of Whispers: The Drought lies behind the doors up these stairs.

Agent of Whispers: Be warned...the reservoir brims with corrupted spawns of the Drought.

The Drought: ''Whissppperrssss...you are toooo late. I willlll consuuuummme the Elonnnn.....''

Master of Whispers: ''Ready your strength, Sunspears! We shall purge this abomination from our lands.''

Ending cutscene


Master of Whispers: A friend of The Drought, mourning its passage.



Master of Whispers: Don't be too sure of that.

Master of Whispers: Never walk into a room unless you're sure you can walk out.



Master of Whispers: ''It means that there was a smuggler's hideout back here. An old corsair friend told me about it.''

Master of Whispers: ''There. This should take us all the way north to Vabbi. Let's move.''



Bayel: What is your problem, hound?!

The Hunger: ''The Drought is dead. I can feel it in my bones.''

Bayel: ''The Drought? Then there are Sunspears in the Waterworks. Go kill them. Kill them now!''

The Hunger: All in good time, mortal [sic]

Bayel: ''We have them trapped. What are you waiting for?''

The Hunger: ''You misunderstand, little mortal. You are not my master.''

Bayel: ''You are charged to help me hunt these Sunspears. You will do as I say.''

The Hunger: ''I answer to my lord Abaddon. I answer to Warmarshal Varesh. I do not answer to you. Are we clear?''

Bayel: ''I am Varesh's general. You should respect...''

The Hunger: ''Varesh does not need generals anymore. She needs us. Do not make her choose.''

The Hunger: We are partners, at best, until all your Sunspears are slain.

Bayel: And then?

The Hunger: ''Then? We will renegotiate. I know where these Sunspears are going. Follow me.''

Follow-up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: Moddok Crevice
 * To continue the storyline, enter the Moddok Crevice mission.