Dzagonur Bastion (mission)

Mission Objectives and Rewards
Master of Whispers must be in your party to enter this mission.

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 (after completing the primary quest Greed and Regret) by partying with another player who can bring him. It is not necessary to complete the Dasha Vestibule mission, but it must be available.

Objectives
Defeat the Margonite Generals before their forces take the citadel. Preserve the perimeter bombards to aid you in the battle. Defend the gates to prevent enemy forces from reaching the Citadel.
 * Speak to Prince Ahmtur the Mighty.
 * # of 3 gates still stand.
 * # of 3 bombards still function.
 * # of 4 generals still remain.
 *  *BONUS*  Keep the bastion's defenses intact.
 * # of 6 defenses left intact.

Walkthrough
This mission can be very confusing and doesn’t seem to have a clear explanation anywhere of what is going on and what you’re supposed to do. When you start the mission, you’ll be next to Ahmtur. Talk to him and he’ll open a portal to start the mission in earnest.

Down below, there are three bombards, three gates, and three disciples of secrets, each accompanied by three vabbian guards. You can talk to a disciple of secrets and tell him which side to defend, and he’ll take his three accompanying guards with him to stand next to the bombard you choose. There is an additional group of three vabbian guards in front of the center bombard, which you cannot move elsewhere.

Shortly after the mission starts, mobs will start coming. The mobs generally consist of groups of three kournans and one margonite. Each group will run to a bombard and try to destroy it. Bombards can be captured by standing near them, with each character of a side granting one pip of bombard ownership movement. Characters of opposite sides can cancel each other out. The net change in bombard ownership rate cannot exceed four pips.

The bombards start out entirely allied with you. Kournans will try to make them neutral, and then try to capture them. If they fully capture a bombard, it will be destroyed and you cannot recapture it. You can recapture a bombard at any time if it has not been fully captured by the Kournans. Bombards supply substantial fire support at nearby enemies until they are destroyed, but they can’t really defend themselves against capture without allies there to help.

If Kournans destroy a bombard, they will head on to the corresponding gate, which is captured in the same manner as bombards. If they capture this, it opens a path into the bastion. The mobs will move into the bastion and try to capture it as well. Capturing it is much slower than capturing gates or bombards, but if they capture it, you fail the mission. If Ahmtur dies, the mission is failed.

The initial phase of the mission is easy: several groups of four mobs will come down and attack a bombard. They’re slow enough that they’re easy to fight off. Each group will target a fixed bombard/gate entry. If one gate is completely breached and the group is set to target a different one, it will still take the time to attack the relevant bombard or gate rather than rushing into the bastion.

After the several initial groups of mobs are dead, four margonite bosses will spawn at four fixed locations, out of range of the bombards. Each boss is accompanied by three margonites, and more importantly, a rift. The rift will periodically spawn groups of three Kournans, which come down to attack the corresponding bombard. A rift is closed when its corresponding boss is killed, at which point additional mobs no longer spawn from it. Kill all four bosses to complete the mission.

A boss cannot be pulled while a corresponding bombard its groups head toward is still intact. Once the bombard is destroyed, the boss will come down to the bombard, but stay away from the gate. Once the gate is destroyed, the boss will head into the bastion to help capture it.

If you only want to beat the mission and don’t care about master’s reward, then assign a whispers group to each bombard. Help them out in the initial waves of mobs, but once the bosses spawn, abandon them to hold out as long as they can before dying, while you go kill bosses. Kill the elementalist boss to the far east first, then work your way westward. If a boss isn’t there when you arrive, his corresponding bombard is down, so you’ll have to go there or into the bastion to chase him down and kill him. The last boss will almost certainly be gone by the time you get there.

Bonus
To get the Master's Reward for this mission, you will have to act fast and constantly monitor the status of the gates and bombards. Should even a single one be captured, you will have to start over. Because of this, it is fairly difficult to achieve Masters with a mostly Hero/Hench party - they don't handle splits very well and don't understand how the capture/recapture process works.

The following are useful for overcoming these problems:
 * A Minion Master. There are plenty of dead bodies in this mission, and the extra allies go a long way towards keeping the bombards safe. Because the bombards will typically make short work of the enemies, it is better to focus on cheap, defensive minions such as the Shambling Horror and Bone Horror.
 * A Ritualist specializing in Restoration Magic. The minions and additional Whispers allies are easier to take care of with AoE healing such as Life and Recuperation rather than the single-target heals of a Monk.
 * A strong offensive unit which can strike quickly without much setup, such as an Assassin. Because the endless spawns of enemies will halt once the bosses are taken out, it is important to kill them early, before you are crushed by overwhelming numbers.
 * You will be doing a lot of running around, so party-wide speed buffs such as "Charge!" are very useful.
 * Always be sure to fully recapture a bombard before leaving it, even if you left behind Whispers or Heroes to guard it.

The strategy is quite simple - have the Whispers groups and your Heroes hold two of the bombards, while you advance with the rest of the party to take out the boss attacking the third. The east and center bombards are the best choices, since the western boss is the easiest to quickly take out. Flag two groups of Whispers to the center, while the remaining group of Whispers, the Minion Master, and the Ritualist take the east.

The last group before the bosses spawn will run towards the center. This is the signal to advance from the western bombard; take care of most of the enemies, and leave one or two behind for the Whispers to deal with. As soon as the last enemies are dead, the bosses will spawn, and you will already be there waiting. Immediately focus fire on the western boss (a Warrior) and take him down as quickly as possible. This will close the western rift and end all the reinforcements from that side. Clean up any enemies left behind if they follow you - the western bombard will be unprotected from this point on, and a lone enemy could take it if you're not careful.

After the west side is secured, retreat to the center group of Whispers. They will most likely be struggling to survive. Take care of their enemies and brace yourself for the next wave. When that is done, slowly start to advance forwards. Eventually you will reach the center bosses, a Monk on the left and a Paragon on the right. While it is easier and faster to take out the Paragon, this places you in a bad defensive position since enemies will be streaming by on either side - a slight overaggro may well ruin the mission. So, target the Monk boss and eliminate him.

At this point you can probably head straight east and take care of the Paragon boss as well - with no more reinforcements coming, the center group of Whispers should be fine for a little longer. If they are in trouble, hurry back to help them, and then advance forward again as you did with the Monk boss. The Paragon boss should go down easily.

Finally, there is just a single boss left on the far east, and only the eastern bombard is in danger. Head there and take care of any enemies lurking around. At this point you can unflag your Minion Master and Ritualist, since you can keep all the enemies under control now. Head to the Elementalist boss and take him out. Since the mission ends as soon as all the bosses are dead, you can just focus fire on him and ignore the rest of the units if you want.

NPCs

 * 20 Prince Ahmtur the Mighty
 * 20 Lieutenant Murunda
 * 20 Vabbian Guard
 * 20 Disciple of Secrets

Monsters

 * Kournan military
 * 16, 20 Kournan Guard
 * 16, 20 Kournan Bowman
 * 16, 20 Kournan Priest
 * 16, 20 Kournan Oppressor
 * Margonites
 * 24 Margonite Executioner
 * 24 Margonite Bowmaster
 * 24 Margonite Cleric
 * 24 Margonite Warlock
 * 24 Margonite Reaper

Bosses

 * 28 General Doriah: Magehunter's Smash
 * 28 General Nimtak: Spell Breaker
 * 28 General Tirraj: Invoke Lightning
 * 28 General Kumtash: Anthem of Guidance

Follow-Up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: The Kodash Bazaar.
 * To continue the storyline, take on the following Primary Quest: Pledge of the Merchant Princes, from Zerai the Learner in Kodash Bazaar.