Tahnnakai Temple (mission)

Objectives
Stop the Spirit Binder from consuming Vizu.
 * You have freed X souls out of 8.
 * Togo must survive.
 * Mhenlo must survive.

Primary
Players start with 10 minutes to free Vizu from the Spirit Binder, and gain 4 additional minutes for each soul freed.

This mission is comprised of a chain of rooms, each containing a Bound Hero boss, a number of Afflicted, and usually a few Temple Guardians. To proceed to the next room, the bound hero must be defeated, releasing the hero who will unlock the gate to the next room. Usually, the boss is not grouped with the surrounding afflicted, allowing the afflicted to be dispatched without encountering the boss. Likewise, Temple Guardians often are able to be pulled without drawing the attention of nearby afflicted. Thus, proper pulling techniques will increase the chance of survival. Beware of the Temple Guardians' AoE attacks, as they can be devastating when stacked. Finally, with a boss in every room, Resurrection Signets are recharged often.

Bound Kitah (Room 1)
Pairs of Temple Guardians guard each door and can be pulled without aggro to nearby afflicted. A mix of afflicted monks, ritualists, and rangers reside in the center along with the mesmer hero, Kitah. It helps to kill Afflicted Ritualists first to keep them from resurrecting and healing their allies.

Bound Naku (Room 2)
This room has three pathways. The center contains the necromancer hero, Naku, along with Temple Guardians while the other two contain afflicted. Each group can be pulled separately, but it can be tricky to keep from coming into aggro range of others. It is easiest to pull one or more temple guardians from the center, then the mobs on the left fork, and then Bound Naku. The mobs on the right fork do not need to be cleared.

Bound Teinai (Room 3)
Walkways surround a pitted courtyard in this room. In the pit, a group of mainly necromancer and warrior afflicted are led by the elementalist hero, Teinai. All of the afflicted save a single monk are grouped together, so it is very difficult to separate them. If you come to the nearest corner of the square path around where the mobs spawn, most of the afflicted will come up to attack you. This makes it easy to clear them before aggroing Teinai. When facing Teinai, be very careful, as Sliver Armor may kill anyone nearby in seconds and Star Burst can cause a massive spike on the unwary.

Bound Karei (Room 4)
Temple Guardians stand between the gates and a raised platform populated by afflicted and the monk hero, Karei. There are several separate linked groups of mobs, so you can pull and kill only a few at a time. It is easiest to pull mobs to the area south of the platform where they gather. Once Bound Karei is killed, you can move on without having to clear the rest of them.

Bound Jaizhanju (Room 5)
Afflicted warriors, monks, and elementalists guard the warrior hero, Jaizhanju, in this room. If pulled, the afflicted warriors will often be out of range of the monks towards the back. The main danger is the group of three afflicted elementalists that can cause heavy amounts of damage if their fire is concentrated. There are two exits to this room, both guarded by a small group of afflicted. It is advised to kill both groups before moving on; otherwise, the untouched group will run into the next room, making the following fight much more difficult.

Bound Zojun (Room 6)
In the sixth room, four Temple Guardians stand between the gates and a raised platform on which afflicted and the ranger hero, Zojun, resides. It is advised to walk in until just outside of the aggro range of the Temple Guardians. The afflicted will now start patrolling. Back off a little bit and kill the patrols when they get to you before you start engaging the Temple Guardians.

Bound Kaolai (Room 7)
Oriented similarly to the fifth room, the danger of this room lies in the patrol of Afflicted Elementalists marching around the ritualist hero, Kaolai. They will often spike the same target; a high armored warrior or ranger (as it is elemental damage) should attempt to draw their initial volley of spells. A pair of Temple Guardians and another elementalist guard the exit gate and are easily aggroed during the battle. Once you come near, all of the afflicted will scramble around and come to the base of the stairs, but they are not all linked to each other. All afflicted should be cleared separately from the Temple Guardians and Bound Kaolai. Also keep in mind that Kaolai casts the Restoration spirit, acting as an AoE resurrect if the afflicted are not pulled away from it.

Bound Vizu (Room 8)
The final room is a circular rim connected to a central island by four bridges. Each path is guarded by a pair of Temple Guardians, and Afflicted Rangers patrol both clockwise and counter-clockwise around the rim. These rangers will go into the center when you do. In the center, several groups of afflicted led by the assassin hero, Vizu, await. To finish the mission, all afflicted on the central island and Vizu must be defeated. It is not necessary to clear all of the Temple Guardians. It is best to clear a bridge to the center then pull only a few at a time. If you take on too many at once, not only can you get overwhelmed, but it can actually be slower with several afflicted ritualists and monks healing whichever mobs you attack. Should assassins wish to capture Vizu's elite, she needs to be defeated before the last afflicted is killed.

Master's Reward
Getting master's reward with only henchmen is doable but can be tricky, as henchmen are rather short on firepower. With heroes or multiple players, it is much easier. The two basic approaches to master's reward are either careful pulling and leaving the mobs that aren't necessary to kill, or else bringing overwhelming firepower from heroes and blowing up everything without pausing to pull.

The master's reward timer starts about 20 seconds before the timer of how long you have to save Vizu before mission failure. As such, to obtain master's reward, you need to complete the mission with at least 18:20 remaining on the visible timer.

A ranger's Edge of Extinction spirit can help to quickly mow down the Afflicted. A couple of deaths is usually enough to get a chain reaction going. Be aware, however, that use of this spirit can prove counter-productive if there is a minion master in the same group.

The afflicted will bunch together quite a bit, making them easy targets for area of effect attacks.

Hard Mode
This mission is mainly about careful pulling to dissect the various groups of afflicted. The mobs come in only very small linked groups, but it often is not at all obvious which are linked to which others. Because careful pulling is of such paramount importance, it can be useful to eschew melee entirely, though obviously this is not an option for some classes. At the very least, any melee characters will have to be careful not to chase mobs and aggro more, even if it sometimes means standing there doing nothing. Bringing Minions is especially catastrophic.

Mobs cause both blindness and dazed, so it is important to have substantial condition removal available. Because both the Afflicted Elementalists and Temple Guardians use fire spells, it can be useful to have a water elementalist with Ward Against Harm. Pulling may sometimes require going into range to get blasted by several elementalists at once, and Protective Spirit is sometimes insufficient defense against this. Either Shield of Regeneration or Spirit Bond work better to protect a puller.

Rooms 2, 3, 4, and 6 can readily be cleared as above. If the third room gives you trouble, you can run to the corner, then run back all the way out of the room, wait for some afflicted to leave, and then grab the ones that hang around longer.

In the first room, you'll want to pull apart the wandering mass of afflicted somewhat. Try to get the Afflicted Ritualists in as small of a group as possible, as spiking them down can take some time. It is particularly useful to pull the two ritualists in separate groups.

In the fifth room, keep most of your party at the top of the stairs while one member heads down. Get kind of close to something but not within aggro bubble range, then run back up the stairs. All of the Afflicted Warriors in the center of the room will then chase you up the stairs, together with possibly some of the Afflicted Monks. For the next pull, grab an Afflicted Elementalist and they will all come. After this, clearing Bound Jaizhanju and any remaining monks is easy.

In the seventh room, as soon as you get close, all of the afflicted in the room will scramble around and then come to the base of the stairs. Trying to fight all of them at once can be a big problem. Instead, shoot one and run, and keep running until a few follow and the rest don't. Kill the ones that follow and repeat. The puller will probably need a powerful defensive spell here. It can also help for someone with hex removal to stay a little behind the puller and clear the slowing hex Kitah's Burden when the Afflicted Mesmer casts it, so that the puller can get away. Mhenlo and Togo will follow the puller away provided that he is not slowed or killed, though the puller may have to run past the rest of the party somewhat to get them to follow adequately. In some cases, you may need to run all the way into the previous room.

In the eighth room, once you go into the middle area, all of the Afflicted Rangers wandering the perimeter will do likewise. As such, it can be better to clear them first. Pull a few mobs at a time out of the center, making sure to pull them far enough that you can chase enough to kill them without aggroing more mobs even if they run away a bit. It can help if you don't get both ritualists on the same pull.

NPCs

 * 20 Master Togo
 * 20 Brother Mhenlo
 * 20 Kitah
 * 20 Naku
 * 20 Teinai
 * 20 Karei
 * 20 Jaizhanju
 * 20 Zojun
 * 20 Kaolai
 * 20 Vizu

Monsters

 * Afflicted:
 * 20 Afflicted Warrior
 * 20 Afflicted Ranger
 * 20 Afflicted Monk
 * 20 Afflicted Necromancer
 * 20 Afflicted Mesmer
 * 20 Afflicted Elementalist
 * 20 Afflicted Ritualist
 * Stone Guardians:
 * 20 Temple Guardian

Bosses (Elite Skill Captures)

 * 24 Bound Jaizhanju &rarr; (Auspicious Parry)
 * 24 Bound Zojun &rarr; (Famine)
 * 24 Bound Karei &rarr; (Spell Breaker)
 * 24 Bound Naku &rarr; (Wail of Doom)
 * 24 Bound Kitah &rarr; (Arcane Languor)
 * 24 Bound Teinai &rarr; (Star Burst)
 * 24 Bound Vizu &rarr; (Shroud of Silence)
 * 24 Bound Kaolai &rarr; (Defiant Was Xinrae)

Dialogues

 * Brother Mhenlo: This is a part of Cantha that I wish I had explored more of while I was here in my early years.
 * Master Togo: Come, let us find Vizu. There is no time to waste!
 * Master Togo: We do not have much time before Vizu is bound. Perhaps if we free the other spirits, they can lend their strength to Vizu.

When nearing first room:


 * Master Togo: Kei na Kai! The temple guardians have been awakened!

First Room:


 * Bound Kitah: I cannot stop it!
 * Bound Kitah: It controls my powers!
 * Bound Kitah: I cannot stop it!
 * Bound Kitah: You must release me!

After freeing Kitah:


 * Kitah: You have released me. I owe you an enormous debt of gratitude.
 * Master Togo: Shiro has bound the heroes into these creatures. It is worse than blasphemy: Shiro plays in the fields of the gods!
 * Brother Mhenlo: Rest assured, Master, we will make him pay for what he has done...and what he plans to do.
 * Kitah: If anyone can stop Shiro, it is you. Good luck, friends.
 * Master Togo: We must proceed with caution. The guardians see us neither as friend nor foe, but they will kill us if they perceive we are a threat.


 * Bound Naku: It is using me like a puppet! I cannot stop it!
 * Naku: I shudder to think what would have happened had you not released me from the Spirit Binder. You have my gratitude. I shall lend my strength to Vizu!


 * Master Togo: We must destroy each construct to free the soul bound within it.


 * Brother Mhenlo: Binding the Canthan heroes was a clever move by Shiro, but I'm afraid that this is just a taste of what's to come...


 * Master Togo: Quickly! It looks like the constructs are attempting to bind Vizu. We must hurry...we have very little time!
 * Master Togo: I believe that Vizu has knowledge of Shiro that helped her to take part in his destruction 200 years ago. That knowledge will help us destroy him once again.
 * Naku: Shiro must be stopped. I pray you are successful in this mission.


 * Brother Mhenlo: The plague seems to have spread much further than we originally imagined.


 * Teinai: You have released me! I cannot tell you how horrifying that was! To be forced to do Shiro's bidding...to know my own body is betraying me... As a token of my gratitude, I shall transfer some of my strength to Vizu for now.
 * Teinai: You have important work to do this day. It is imperative that you stop Shiro. The citizens of Cantha depend on you.


 * Bound Karei: It forces me to harm you! Make it stop!
 * Bound Karei: I have no control! Stop me before I kill you!


 * Karei: I am sorry, friends. It was not my wish to harm you, but I had no control over my body's actions, Vizu: take my strength for a few minutes to fend off the Spirit Binder that now holds you.
 * Karei: May Bathazar grant you strength and courage and Dwayna keep you safe from harm. Go now. You must stop Shiro before he can wreak more havoc.


 * Master Togo: Ah, there she is! Quickly, this way!


 * Bound Vizu: Get away from me, demons! Ah Sang beh!
 * Bound Vizu: I serve Cantha, not that huu na mang! He is a traitor to his Emperor!


 * Bound Jaizhanju: I am fighting against it, but it is...very...strong...
 * Bound Jaizhanju: Argh! It...controls my limbs.... I cannot stop!


 * Jaizhanju: I am shamed that I was not able to fight off the Spirit Binder. Without you, I would have been forced to do more evil.... Now, I shall lend some of my strength to Vizu, in hopes that she can hold out until you find her.


 * Jaizhanju: It is important work that you go to do now, and failure is not an option. May the gods give you strength an courage for this task.


 * Bound Zojun: I do not control this body, but it steals my Energy....


 * Zojun: Thank you for releasing me from the Spirit Binder, friends. I believe Vizu is in need of our help. I shall send her some of my strength, but you must get to her quickly.
 * Zojun: I wish you luck friends. It is not an easy task you undertake, but your success...or failure...could change Cantha's future.


 * Bound Kaolai: Ah raion ii!


 * Kaolai: Ah ja singka ra beh! Ah ka Vizu jai! Behnu ra fan kuu!


 * Kaolai: Ah him ra beh yan.


 * Master Togo: We must hurry. If Shiro succeeds in binding Vizu, we may never get the information we need!


 * Bound Vizu: You! You are Weh no Su! You can see me! Come to my aid, and I will aid you in return.

Follow-up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: Zin Ku Corridor
 * To continue the storyline, take on the following Primary Quest: A Meeting With the Emperor