Zen Daijun (mission)

Objectives
Find the source of the plague.
 * Togo must survive.
 * ADDED: Kill Afflicted Yijo.
 * ADDED: Kill Afflicted Farmer Xeng Jo.
 * ADDED: Kill Afflicted Kana.

Rewards
You do not need to defeat all the Afflicted. They are usually good at staying where they are, so should there be an opportunity to slip past them without drawing aggro to skipping onto the next group, do so - this is especially a useful tactic when trying for the Master's Reward, and it is entirely possible to finish the mission in 15 minutes or less, provided you keep smart about it.

Walkthrough
Simply follow the road through the mission.

Allies
You will be lead by Master Togo and Headmaster Vhang. These two are high-level, and will allow characters to take on relatively large groups of opponents.

In addition you can ring the bell at any of the Shrines of Zunraa to summon Zunraa. Zunraa is only level 13 and will not help overly much with fighting, but the Blessing of the Kirin it provides will help manage conditions as well as miasma. In addition to that, you may want to bring some condition removal skills, as there are many Afflicted Rangers around, who like to use Throw Dirt. In case Zunraa dies, you cannot resurrect him, but you can simply summon him again at a shrine. There are several Shrines of Zunraa along the road.

If you do not want to take care of Master Togo and make sure he survives, you can leave him at the beginning of the mission by hugging the left wall when leaving from the starting position. This will leave Togo at the beginning, waiting for your party to follow him.

Miasma
Beware of purple smoky clouds along the road, often found at road intersections. These infect you with Miasma, which causes -5 health degeneration, and spreads between characters, similar to disease, but overall is not too much a threat. Zunraa's Blessing of the Kirin helps greatly in overcoming the miasma's effects.

There are occasions where enemies sit in the miasma. Fighting them in there will quickly overwhelm your healers with the constant health degen. Either lure the enemies to you, out of the miasma, or run through the miasma past the monsters and then turn around to fight them. The Afflicted can often be attacked from odd angles to minimize the amount of time spent in miasma.

There are paths around all but one of the miasma clouds, however following them will slow your party down. Depending on your party composition, it may be advisable to ignore the bonus, and take the alternate paths, especially if you are weak on healing.

Showdown
At the end of the mission, you will first have to fight two high level bosses on the bridge towards the Daijun Library; when battling these two, focus primarily on Afflicted Yijo - his Spirit Rift skill will tear through clumped players, so consider putting interruptions into the fray; Dissonance is a particularly handy spell in this situation.

After they have been defeated, you will then fight a group of regular Afflicted with a boss in some miasma (which is much more challenging). It is entirely possible (and advisable) to lure the Afflicted out with a ranger character and engage them at the end of the bridge. Note: it is safe to go in the boss miasma. It seems to simply be a graphic, it does not place any conditions on you.

The final cutscene shows how Master Togo finds the guild symbol of Shiro Tagachi, on the floor of the Library. It becomes clear to him who might be the source of the mysterious plague.

Cutscene dialogs
After finishing the mission:
 * Master Togo: "I had hoped that my eyes would not bear witness to this symbol again."
 * Team leader: "Master, what is it?"
 * Master Togo: "This is the harbinger of the deceiver, the mark of the wicked. The guild symbol of Shiro Tagachi."
 * Team leader: "The man whose death turned the forest to stone and the sea to jade?"
 * Master Togo: "The very same. This does not bode well for Cantha. We must head to the mainland and get to the root of this evil before it can . . . Well, let us not think about that yet. I have sent a missive to Mhenlo of Ascalon, one of my former students. He will no doubt be making his way to Cantha shortly. If this symbol means what I think it does, then we could all be in great danger. I must find my brother in Kaineng City. He will want to know of this. You will come after and meet me. Talk to First Mate Xiang to book your passage to the mainland. He will get you to the other side safely."

Monsters

 * Afflicted:
 * 11 Afflicted Ravager
 * 13 Afflicted Bull
 * 14 Afflicted Warrior
 * 14 Afflicted Ranger
 * 14 Afflicted Monk
 * 14 Afflicted Necromancer
 * 10 Afflicted Mesmer
 * 10 Afflicted Elementalist
 * 14 Afflicted Assassin
 * 12 Afflicted Ritualist
 * Mantises
 * 11 Mantid Queen
 * 11 Mantid Destroyer

Bosses

 * Afflicted:
 * Afflicted Farmer Xeng Jo
 * The Afflicted Xai
 * Afflicted Kana
 * Afflicted Yijo

Animals

 * Tigers
 * Cranes

NPCs

 * Zunraa
 * Headmaster Vhang
 * Master Togo

Tips For Master's

 * You should be at least level 14.
 * You should be equipped with armor and weapons from Seitung Harbor (or equivalent).



Party composition is not overly important, a tank, a healer, the rest as you like, although an Assassin is useful in keeping Afflicted Assassins off your healer. At least one or two should bring interrupt skills. High damage output is recommended. Rangers do not need to bring pets, as they tend to stay within Miasma clouds and soak up healing.

In general, avoid as many fights as possible by following the path (see the map) and avoid walking through Miasma if you can. There are several places where a small gap exists between a Miasma cloud and the wall or barrier it is adjacent to. Always pull the Afflicted out of Miasma clouds with a ranged weapon; do not fight inside the Miasma. If you need to avoid patrols on your side of the cloud, get the whole party to run through the cloud and fight any Afflicted on the other side of the Miasma cloud. When fighting the Afflicted, those bringing interrupt skills should try to interrupt their healing; paying special attention to any Afflicted Ritualists.

Start moving as soon as everyone has loaded. Head down the stairs to the right, kill the lone Afflicted Elementalist, and ring the bell. Zunraa helps with removing Miasma degeneneration, easing the healer's (or healers') burden. Follow the wall down to the bridge and kill the Afflicted there. Get everyone on the bridge to avoid the patrols and pull the Afflicted in the Miasma cloud onto the bridge.

Next, climb the hill through the gap. Hug the northern wall past the shrine; the Afflicted at the shrine should be just out of aggro range. Kill the patrol if they cannot be avoided. In any case, continue on by heading west down the hill, again hugging the wall, and then over to Tei Lake.

From there, climb the hill and then follow the road west to another bridge. Deal with some the nearby patrols and groups of Afflicted so that your retreat path is clear before taking on the bosses on the bridge.

Once the bosses are down, head into library across the bridge. When the enemies appear, concentrate your attacks on the soft targets first. If you have an Assassin along, they should hang back and defend casters from any Afflicted Assassins or Afflicted Warriors that attack them.

It is entirely possible to get the Master's Reward with just henchmen. With henchmen, an additional tip is to engage in a fight right after crossing a Miasma cloud. This prompts the henchmen to start using skills, which in turn prompts Zunraa to begin its healing.

Additional Notes

 * The players will be placed in Seitung Harbor at the completion of this mission.


 * If you attempt this mission with henchmen and die in the Miasma it is entirely possible your healer will be so occupied healing the degen that she will not resurrect you. It seems the only way to deal with this is to restart the mission.


 * The followup quest is A Master's Burden


 * Tei Lake may be crossed by foot, providing a small shortcut to avoid a couple groups of afflicted if taking the northern path.


 * Non-Canthan characters may enter this mission by travelling from Seitung Harbor over Jaya Bluffs and Haiju Lagoon through the north portal of Zen Daijun.