Dunes of Despair

Dunes of Despair is one of the missions required to achieve ascension in Prophecies.

Objectives
Help the Ghostly Hero reclaim his throne.
 * Escort the Ghostly Hero to the Temple of Ascension.
 * Defeat the Enemy Ghostly Hero.
 * Hold out while the Ghostly Hero performs his ritual.
 * Bonus Gain more glory by defeating the three forgotten generals and their minions within their forts.

Walkthrough
After talking with the Ghostly Hero, he will drop the gate, allowing the party to proceed. Note that he will follow the first player to talk with him. If that player talks to him again, he will stay put until someone talks with him again. Following the path, you'll run into small groups of Losaru Bladehands. After the bladehands, you'll see a group of Losaru Bowmasters. When attacking the bowmasters, you'll be under constant attack from a distant Siege Wurm. From here, you can either continue down the path towards a suspension bridge across the gorge, or you can take a short cut by leading the Ghostly Hero to the edge across from the drawbridge near the wurm. In any case, proceed across to the other side of the gorge.

Once on the other side, you may choose to continue the mission by proceeding south and killing the boss there, or you can proceed to the west to get the Slow Totem. When on the ground, the totem will create an effect much like Ward Against Foes, snaring any foe that attempts to pass through. While slightly useful, it is not necessary. Eventually, make your way south towards the fortress looking building and defeat the boss and his cohorts to trigger a cutscene.

After the cutscene, approach the drawbridge. You may choose to have the Ghostly Hero hold back, allowing the party to kill off the Enchanted Bows guarding the gate. The Ghostly Hero will lower the drawbridge when he approaches it. Afterwards, have the party hold back in the gateway. If you have the Slow Totem, drop it slightly ahead of where the party is waiting. Four waves of Enchanted Swords and Enchanted Hammers will eventually attack. The only foe left in sight should now be the enemy Ghostly Hero at the Throne. Defeat him and have your Ghostly Hero approach to capture it and begin the last stage of the mission. You must defend him for the next ten minutes.

If you have the Slow Totem, drop it near the Ghostly Hero to help delay melee approaching him. But before any melee troops appear, Forgotten Arcanists will come in pairs from the west, east, and south. Afterwards, a Siege Wurm will start pelting your party with attacks from the east. After the Arcanists are dead, there is sufficient time to kill the siege wurm before the first melee group attacks, but it may be possible to simply heal the damage and ignore the wurm.

At the five or six minute mark, groups of Forgotten will approach the altar, including a boss. Another pair of siege wurms will appear on the west, and then another siege wurm on the south. If you defeat the Forgotten, there will be no more groups attacking the altar, and you can use the time to kill off the wurms. After the ten minutes has passed, the mission ends.

Timing
You must defend the ghostly hero for 10 minutes, during which time:
 * Four pairs of Forgotten Arcanists appear: from the east → west → south → east (again).
 * Two pairs of Enchanted bows: south → west → west (again, with a boss)
 * Siege Wurms appear at fixed times:
 * 8:20 (remaining): east gate.
 * 6:40: west gate.
 * 5:00: south gate.
 * 3:20: west gate (again).
 * During the bonus: three Forgotten foes spawn after killing each boss. They will attack from the west (northernmost general's reinforcements), south (southeast general), and east (southwest general).

Bonus
Players consider this bonus to be among the most difficult in the game: you have a limited amount of time (some of which must be spent unlocking the bonus area), you need to split your group to protect an Ally (threatened by increasing numbers of foes), and your party is limited to six characters.

During the final siege where you defend the Ghostly Hero, you must kill three bosses and their groups located south of the fortress without letting the hero die and before the ten minute timer hits zero. The first boss is to the south behind the drawbridge. The second and third bosses are in the building behind the first boss. As you kill each general, a small group of Forgotten spawn outside the southern temple and head directly towards the ghostly hero.

You will get credit for the bonus as long as you kill all three generals, even if the ghostly hero dies later (which would cause you to lose the mission).

Method one: Focus first on the mission
The simplest method is to focus first on eliminating the foes attacking the Hero before going for the bonus. Wait until the Forgotten Boss attacks from the west gate. If all goes well, you should have nearly five minutes in which to complete the bonus.

To maximize the time, be sure to aggro the first group of reinforcements that spawn after killing the first general to prevent them from going after the Ghostly Hero. You can ignore the group that spawns after killing the second general until you have defeated the third, which completes the bonus.

If you still need to complete the mission, stop the last group of reinforcements from reaching the Ghostly Hero as you return to the altar. When you arrive back at the Ghostly Hero, the Forgotten spawn that you left from the death of the second general will arrive. Even if left alone this group often has no time remaining to destroy the Ghostly Hero.

Method two: Take advantage of the pause
After clearing the Arcanists, you have some time before the Forgotten attack the altar again. Instead of attacking the siege wurms, head south to rush the generals. You will need extremely high damage output and a speed boost is nearly essential. Take out as many of the generals (and their reinforcements) as possible before heading back to the altar to defend the Ghostly Hero. You can give yourself some extra time by leaving a healer to protect your ally, e.g. a Bonder or a Spirit Lord.

If you are worried about the timing, killing even just one general during this pause is enormously helpful. Head back to the altar afterward and then proceed as if you using method one.

Method three: Teleport
You can teleport one or more members of your party over the southern drawbridge before the timer begins. Unfortunately, this method requires having an available corpse outside the fortress, which is not always possible.

Before leading the Hero to the altar (and starting the countdown), head to the southern part of the stronghold (ignoring any foes within). Use a long- or flatbow to aggro the Forgotten just outside the fortress. Less frequently, you can also find Jade Scarab or other foes near the other gates. If you cannot generate any corpses, you must restart the mission and try again (or proceed with any of the other methods for completion). Once you have a corpse, use Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse to teleport to the temple area. If you have Rebirth, you can sacrifice the other characters and bring them over as well.

If you make it outside using the method described above, you will notice two different gates with groups of Enchanted Bow in front of them. Kill the Enchanted Bow then walk out over the ravine. The bridge is invisible, and the door is fake.

If you want to do the mission in the same run, there are various methods to get back across the ravine:


 * Have a party member stay back with the Hero. After the bonus is complete, lead the Hero to the altar to cause the drawbridges to drop.
 * Use corpses inside the fortress to reverse the method above. On the northeast side of the temple, there are some sand dunes with chest; running along the edge between the outside of the temple and the dunes should spawn a few scarabs.
 * If you leave behind a hero, you can sacrifice and have the hero rebirth you back to the stronghold.

Heroes and henchmen can be teleported across the gate by flagging the party at a spot outside the radar range of the fort. Move to that spot, then cancel the flag: the hench will soon appear on the edge of your radar, having mysteriously jumped the ravine. You can also run close to the map around the east side and see if any scarabs spawn back on the other/main side of the ravine, and then have the necro warp there just as you did to get to the ravine in the first place.

Method four: Signet of Spirits solo
A spirit spammer can solo the bosses while the rest of the party stays back and defends the fort. The build should include a self-heal, e.g. Mend Body and Soul or Spirit Light. Set up the spirits, pull the boss groups one at a time, and repeat.

Alternatively, if you leave Signet of Spirits hero with the Ghostly Hero, they will both survive until you come back in to visual range of the Hero. This allows you to charge the three bosses.

Method five: Kill Goss Aleessh after starting the timer
This method takes advantage of a quirk in the game's mechanics by that moves the Ghostly Hero to safe spot after watching a mid-mission cinematic — this ensures mission completion (as long as you avoid a wipe), allowing the party to spend most of the countdown focusing on the bonus. You will be able to see all of the foes you avoided by watching the end-cinematic, in which the mobs swarm the reclaimed shrine.

Run past Goss Aleessh instead of killing him. Enter the stronghold as usual, then have the Hero claim the altar to start the timer. Quickly return to kill Aleessh, triggering the relevant cutscene, after which the party (and the Hero) will be teleported back outside the fortress. Talk to the Hero to make him stay. This gives you over nine minutes to complete the mission and the bonus; the Ghostly Hero will be completely safe because the mission script sends the foes to the altar, not to the Hero.

There are several points where the party should take special care:
 * Passing Aleessh: to prevent this boss' group from following, use the Slow Totem or distract them with minions or spirits.
 * Single-player teams can use heroes and henchmen to draw his aggro, while the player sneaks the Ghostly Hero to a safe spot just before the bridge.
 * Multiple-player teams can choose to have one player pull Aleessh's group NE, safely out of the way.
 * Be careful to avoid popping up the Jade Scarabs southwest of the fortress' entrance ramp. Also, try to avoid letting the hero lower the bridge before you are ready.
 * Entering the fortress: as with the other methods, use the drawbridge gate as a choke-point against the first few groups of Enchanted Hammers and Swords.
 * Re-entering the fortress: you are likely to find a mob (including a re-incarnated Enemy Ghostly Hero) waiting for you at the shrine after the post-Aleessh cinematic. Again, use the entrance gate as a choke-point and pull the easily-separable mobs towards your party. Take your time; at worst, you will still have over seven minutes to complete the bonus.

Variations
Each of these tricks can be used in combination with any of the methods above.
 * Partial completion before the timer begins: You can sometimes kill the first general before the timer begins by forcing the Ghostly Hero to wait outside the fortress before capturing the altar. Head to the southern part of the compound and use distance attacks to aggro the general's group and kill them.
 * Ignore less-threatening wurms: You can avoid spending time on the siege wurms that do not threaten the Ghostly Hero; they only begin attacking if you get within aggro range or attack them.

Recommended skills

 * Backfire or Visions of Regret helps to counter the spellcasting bosses.
 * The wurms can be defeating using Pain Inverter or a combination of Wastrel's Worry/Wastrel's Demise, Power Drain, and Leech Signet.
 * Signet of Spirits Spirit Lord-builds can solo the bonus bosses or defend the altar.
 * To protect the Ghostly Hero, bring a Bonder or Spirit Lord.
 * Bonders can use Life Barrier, Life Bond, Mending, and Essence Bond on the Ghostly Hero. Replenish his health with Heal Other, Orison of Healing, and/or Dwayna's Kiss. The safest spot for the bonder is in the north doorway (where you entered); only go closer to cast heals. Be wary in hard mode, since the Forgotten Cursebearers have Strip Enchantment.


 * If using the teleport method for the bonus, ensure someone has both Necrotic Traversal (or Consume Corpse) and Rebirth.
 * Bring condition removal to remove blindness caused by Enchanted Bows (especially during the bonus).

Allies
Ghost
 * 20 Ghostly Hero

Foes
Centaurs
 * 20 (26) Losaru Bladehand
 * 20 (26) Losaru Bowmaster
 * 20 (26) Losaru Lifeband

Constructs
 * 20 (26) Enchanted Hammer
 * 20 (26) Enchanted Sword
 * 20 (26) Enchanted Bow

Forgotten
 * 20 (26) Forgotten Cursebearer
 * 20 (26) Forgotten Arcanist

Ghost
 * 20 Enemy Ghostly Hero

Riders
 * 20 (26) Storm Kin

Scarabs
 * 20 (26) Jade Scarab

Wurms
 * 20 (26) Siege Wurm

Bosses
Constructs Forgotten
 * 24 (30) Custodian Fidius &rarr; Warrior's Endurance
 * 24 (30) Custodian Kora &rarr; Marksman's Wager
 * 24 (30) Dassk Arossyss &rarr; Word of Healing
 * 24 (30) Byssha Hisst &rarr; Order of the Vampire
 * 24 (30) Goss Aleessh &rarr; Mantra of Recovery
 * 24 (30) Ayassah Hess &rarr; Mantra of Recovery
 * 24 (30) Cyss Gresshla &rarr; Ether Renewal

Initial dialogue

 * Ghostly Hero: "Once my people came to the desert and built a great temple. But while we labored, we were set upon by the stewards of the desert, the Forgotten."
 * Ghostly Hero: "They killed my people, and now another ghost sits upon my throne. I beseech you, help me return to the temple. Help me reclaim my throne and my passage into the Hall of Heroes."

Intermediate dialogue
When the Ghostly Hero is commanded to stay.
 * Ghostly Hero: "I beg of you. Take me to my throne. The gods await me in the Hall of Heroes."

Intermediate cinematic

 * Ghostly Hero: "Up ahead, inside the Temple of Ascension, is the Throne of Pellentia."
 * Ghostly Hero: "The gods gaze down from the Hall of Heroes, granting favor to those who control the throne."
 * Ghostly Hero: "But there is another spirit who sits upon that hallowed throne."
 * Ghostly Hero: "The Temple is well guarded."
 * Ghostly Hero: "Get me inside, so that we may supplant the usurper. He must be destroyed before I can retake the throne."
 * Ghostly Hero: "Keep me safe while I cast the ritual to open the door."

Intermediate dialogue (2)
When the Ghostly Hero reaches the temple gate.
 * Ghostly Hero: "I can see the usurper there, in the middle of the Temple. We must defeat him before I can reclaim my throne."
 * Ghostly Hero: "Watch that no harm comes to me while I lower this bridge."

When the Enemy Ghostly Hero is defeated.
 * Ghostly Hero: "The Forgotten will come again. Hold them back while I cast a ritual and return the throne to my custody."
 * Ghostly Hero: "Peer down from the heavens, I beseech you. Grant us your gaze, oh gods of Tyria."
 * Ghostly Hero: "We have proven ourselves worthy. Grant us that which we seek."

When enemies reach the Ghostly Hero's aggro radius.
 * Ghostly Hero: "Enemies draw near!"

End cinematic

 * Ghostly Hero: "We have drawn the attention of the gods. Let us hope they are pleased."