The Captured Son

Overview
Summary
 * 1) Defeat the Crimson Skull and free Jatoro Musagi.
 * 2) Talk to Jatoro Musagi.
 * 3) Return the letter for Jatoro's Mother to Lady Mukei Musagi.

Obtained from
 * Lady Mukei Musagi in Seitung Harbor.

Requirements
 * Seitung Harbor

Rewards
 * 4,000 XP
 * 500 Gold
 * Monastery Credit

Dialogue
 * "Jatoro! JATOOOOROOOOO! You there...can you help me? The Crimson Skull have taken my son hostage! I heard they usually sail out of Hanzing Pier, and that is where I last saw him. Please, help me rescue Jatoro."

Intermediate Dialogue 1
 * "Kidnapped? No, I....all right, look. I just want to find my own path, but my mother has already got my entire future planned out for me. Surely a hero like you understands.... I love my mother, but she doesn't want to let me live my own life. So I faked the kidnapping, and I am going to join the pirates in search of adventure. Please give mother this letter. If she loves me, she will understand."

Reward Dialogue
 * "This letter has opened my eyes. I never realized Jatoro had no desire to be a merchant! Of course I support his decision...even if it means a life of piracy. After all, pirates do pretty well for themselves, I hear. Thank you, !"

Walkthrough
This quest is best to be started from Zen Daijun, the second mission place. It takes quite a long time to complete, and a party of human players is recommended (henchmen parties, even those starting out of Seitung Harbor, can complete it but it is more difficult). If you have to take one or two henchmen, prefer those that deal damage at range (archer, earth elementalist). 2 players should have some re-usable resurrect skill, and all other resurrect signet. Even with caution, you probably will be dying quite often...

When you leave Zen Daijun, head north as the minimap shows. Kill some Afflicted, Bonesnap Turtles and Dragon Lillies on your way north, then go to the beach. Follow the beach until you can see the Crimson Skull pirate camp. Now try to lure carefully small groups of Crimson Skull - this isn't easy, because pretty often half of the camp starts moving your way. In such case, turn and run away immediately. If you run far enough, part of the pursuers will return to camp and you can attack the rest.

If possible, all players should use ranged attacks (even assassins, especially if their secondary profession allows that). This gives them better chance to run away in time, and enemies don't focus their attacks so much. Remember, it is better to run away and try again than to kill one enemy and die. Nibble at the enemies... kill a few, retreat and so on. Remember to kill healers (Crimson Skull Healer, Crimson Skull Priest) first - especially the priests are hard to kill. When you have cleared the beach, do NOT attack the camp yet. Go around and nibble from the other side. Avoid fighting the boss until he is alone! You may succeed at dragging out a small group with the boss out of the camp, in such case kill the plain pirates first and then the boss.

In order to complete the quest, you must kill every single Crimson Skull in the camp. Only then the boy will explain you that he wants to stay with pirates and give you a letter for his mother. Port to Seitung Harbor and talk to his mother. Have a good laugh about her reply and accept the reward.

Party tip: Healer Monk, 2 Ritualists, 2 Elementalists, Ranger. These professions can be primary or secondary, just don't forget to put enough points into their attributes. Assassins come handy as well, but if possible, they should bring some ranged attack from their other profession and stay at a distance unless a quick kill of enemy healer is needed.

If at least one member has the primary quest, To Zen Daijun active, they may have four extra NPCs follow you throughout the zone thus adding to the party. They can be a great asset when fighting the crimson skull.

Recommendation: Complete the other quests in this area (there are several) first, but don't cash in the reward. Then if you die during this quest, you can quickly complete one of the other ones, and the experience reward will wipe out your death penalty. In this way you can chip away at the Crimson Skull camp without fear of death penalty making quest completion impossible. Assassins then become useful, for quickly taking out healers with a shadow step then a flurry of attacks. They will probably die after, but you can erase their death penalty with another quest then return to assassinate another healer. Shadow step is useful because the mesmers cast Imagined Burden making charging the healers impossible -- shadow step is unaffected. Note with this method, it becomes possible (though difficult and tedious) to do the quest with henchmen. You can also sneak around to the beach at the back of the village and pick off a few Crimson Skulls at a time; there are also two places on the fringe of the village where you can pull and then pick off a few henchmen at a time. Kill a few then retreat, then repeat - eventually the numbers will get down low enough to take out the rest.

Alternate Tactic: The Crimson Skull camp backs onto a rock formation from the south, with a path that leads through the rocks up to the camp. It is possible to pull groups of the Crimson Skull back along the path, using the rocks as a choke point. The enclosed space makes area effect attacks and traps extremely effective. Ritualist/Necromancers with Explosive Growth and Animate Bone Minions can also deal enormous damage to the tightly-packed enemies.

Likewise, Minion Bombers may help weaken the camp by gathering a full group of minions, casting Death Nova on them, sending them into battle (preferrably targeting healers), then retreating. The minions will continue to engage the crimson skull, allowing a party even with henchmen to safely retreat. The damage from the minions combined with the explosions and poison should finish off a number of the skull with minimal risk to players.

After the boss and the several level 15 mobs around him are dead, use the height advantage from the camp to pick off the remaining groups on the beach with ranged and/or area attacks. The beach will still have a few level 15 mobs on it, so always remember to fall back into the pass if things get dicey.

Another Alternative Tactic: Thanks to the improvements brought by Nightfall, I've done this numerous times with henchies from Zen Daijun without any deaths (incl. henchies): Only use ranged henchies, no fighter/assassin at all! Healer, Ritualist, Earth, Necro, Archer. Go to the lake, and clear out the dragon lillies next to the Pirates' settlement. You will likely be able to kill the first group of 3 Crimson Skull without pulling more into the fight. Now head around the hill towards the ocean. Again you will find one mob that ranges far from the others and is easily pulled and killed. Get into the ocean and carefully work your way towards the pier until you aggro the next mob, then hastily retreat along the shore - you should be able to survive the ensuing battle with 1 or 2 mobs easily without pulling more in. This is the advantage of not using fighters and assassins: the ranged henchies don't rush forward and aggro more mobs. Heal up, restock energy, park the henchies a way back and then approach again, from the same direction, this time creeping along the side of the hill until you aggro the next mob 'around the corner' without actually being subject to ranged attacks (cover from terrain). Run like hell and have some self healing ready in case you got hit by a couple mesmers (this is a good time to cancel the green flag on the henchies also). Again you should have a fight with 1 or 2 mobs only. By this time you will have one large troup left in the middle between the pier and the village. You can now attack these guys with impunity since they have no more support near enough to get aggroed - just stick to the ocean side of the beach in your approach. After that it's straight up to the village from the beach. Quite likely the boss already got sucked in when you aggroed the mob around the edge of the hill earlier on. Otherwise, make sure you kill the low level Skull first, before going for the lvl 15 ones and the boss. Call targets for your henchies (ctrl space). Also, of course, take the healers out first. After you finished the last mob in the village, Jatoro will talk to you, even if there are still one or two mobs of low level Skull further along the beach.

If you want to make life even easier, you can clean the dragon lillies out of the lake before you start on the Crimson Skull; then kill the boss on the island. Then, get the bog beast quest in the village on the hill and kill the bog beast on the island for a 4% morale boost before attacking the Pirats. Every little bit can help...

Yet Another Alternative Tactic: If you are a Ritualist, just take as many spirits as you have, with henches. Then just clear the way to the south of the camp. There is a narrow road between two big rocks (between the beach and the lake). Set your spirits at the back of this path and lure some enemies to you. This method has worked for me twice, without me dying (the henchmen did). Another tactic for Ritualists is to pump Channeling and bring along Bloodsong, Painful Bond and Spirit Rift along with other attacking spirits and a self-heal of your choice; and a group of non-melee henchies of your choosing (optional, but quite helpful). Pumping Communing to power up your other attacking spirits is not necessary, as Painful Bond will be the main damage dealer. Pin the henchies, summon your attack spirits, then lure a group. When they stand still to attack you, hex them with Painful Bond and spam Spirit Rift on them until they are overwhelmed by the heavy artillery. Then lure the next group, and so on. This tactic can mow down the Crimson Skull quite quickly, without any of your party dying.

"The Captured Son Letter"

 * In Seitung Harbor, you will see many people trying to sell the letter that you receive from Jatoro after defeating the Skull's camp. Although this is considered an easy way out of doing the quest, it has been confirmed to work.  Therefore, buying the letter (normally around 1-3k) is a valid way to complete the quest.
 * The item required is "Letter for Jatoro's Mother." Beware of a common scam where people attempt to sell "Letter to Mom" that is used for the Jade Sea Quest (see below). (Note: Both are yellow.)