Jokanur Diggings

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This is a mission entry. For information on the outpost, see Jokanur Diggings (outpost).

Jokanur Diggings
Campaign	Nightfall
Region	Istan
Type	Cooperative
Party size	4
Required hero	Melonni
Duration	Short
Preceded by	Signs and Portents
Followed by	Isle of the Dead

A Dead Digger during the mission.

Investigate the ruins of Fahranur, The First City with Kormir to find what is killing the workers. Remember to have Melonni in your party.

[edit] Mission information

[edit] Requirements

• You must have reached Sunspear rank of First Spear or be level 12 to be able to enter the mission.
• You must have Melonni in your party to enter this mission.

[edit] Objectives

Travel to the ancient Istani ruins.

• Obtain the tablet from Darehk and place it on the stone pedestal.
• Place the two tablets on the pedestals.
• Guard Kahdash while he places the tablet on the pedestal.
• Find and defeat the Apocrypha.
• Kormir must survive.
• *BONUS* Do not harm any Sunspear Ghosts.

[edit] Reward

In this mission, the rewards are based on how many additional Sunspear Ghosts are alive at the end of the mission.

[edit] Walkthrough

Speak to Digmaster Gatah to enter this mission.

Begin by making your way to the first gate. On the other side is a stomper. In your best Indiana Jones style, time your run through this stomper to avoid being crushed to death. Safely through, you encounter a ghost, Darehk, carrying a tablet. Kill the ghost and put the tablet on the stone pedestal in this area. This opens the next area of the city for you to enter. Your party gains a morale boost each time a stone pedestal gate is opened. Darehk will start running away from you as soon as he spots you. If you are unable to cripple or kill him fast, ignore him and deal with the other undead in the area first to avoid being overwhelmed.

The next area has two tablets which have to be retrieved and put on the pedestals to open its gate. You have to be careful of the fire and crippling traps set in the walls which go off periodically in this area. Kormir can die from standing in one, ending the mission. If you place one of the stone tablets on the pedestal and take too long putting the other tablet on its pedestal, then a ghost will come, steal it take it back to where you first picked it up. Either carry the first tablet till you gain the second one or put the tablet on the floor by the pedestal while you retrieve the other if you are trying to do this mission alone. Carry and place both tablets on their pedestals to move on to the next area.

In the next area, a ghost named Kahdash holds a tablet, but he will carry it to the pedestal for you. Because he moves slowly as he does this, race ahead of him and kill the undead in his way so he doesn't come to harm. Eventually he will put the tablet on the pedestal, which will let you through to the final area of the mission.

Kill the undead in this area as you head down the steps to the location where Apocrypha, the final boss, resides (with several Restless Corpses and Restless Dead). Apocrypha changes professions periodically and must be killed to complete the mission. In its Dervish form, Apocrypha can deal a fair amount of damage to characters in melee range, in such a case, it is best to stay spread out.

[edit] Master's Reward

In the area in which you have to place two tablets to access the next section of the mission, there will be two Sunspear Ghosts who will try to steal the tablets from their pedestals and return them to where you first retrieved them. To get the Master's Reward, you must retrieve the tablets and place them on the pedestals without killing the ghosts.

To do this, grab the tablets one at a time and place each one right in front of each pedestal. Only place the tablets atop each pedestal when you have both of them in the area down below, else you run the risk of the ghosts stealing them and placing them back up top once again. The ghosts are hostile, but will not attack you, so just avoid attacking them in return (all undead that are not Sunspear Ghosts are safe to kill). If you bring heroes along on the mission, be sure to command them to guard. Kormir will also attack the ghosts if she is within range, but she usually follows closely with your party, so pulling her away should not be too difficult. The bonus will be awarded once the entire mission is completed.

Be sure not to bring minions or summoned creatures, as they will attack the Sunspear Ghosts and you will not be able to get them to stop.

[edit] Hard Mode

This mission can be challenging to complete in Hard Mode if you are unused to dealing with a party size of four, or have not previously used Melonni.

• There is plenty of damage to be handled. Depending on what skills you have unlocked, a single monk may not be enough to handle all the damage dealt out in this mission. The Preying Lances at the beginning of the mission are particularly dangerous, as are the Restless Dead who cast Deathly Swarm repeatedly. To deal with this, you should have at least one of the following:
  • A bonder monk or a support ritualist (preferably a Ritual Lord spirit spammer).
  • Some way to shut down casters (a ranger with Broad Head Arrow works wonders here).
  • Either a way to shut down melee attackers (Weakness, Blind, Ward Against Melee, etc.), or a way to punish melee attackers (Spiteful Spirit, Empathy, Reckless Haste, Price of Failure, Insidious Parasite, etc).
  • A strong healer (Word of Healing or Healer's Boon are ideal).
• You must bring Melonni. This limits your party selection to whatever profession you are, a Dervish, and two other heroes/henchmen/players. This can make building a balanced party difficult, especially if you do not have a lot of Dervish skills unlocked; although note that Heart of Holy Flame, one of her starting skills, is very useful in this mission. If you absolutely cannot set up Melonni with good Dervish skills, then consider changing her secondary profession so that she can fill a role mentioned above. Force her into whatever role fits your party best, even if she cannot do it as well as another profession.

With these tips in mind, you should be able to prevent enough damage that your party will easily deal out more than anything you are facing. Careful planning is required as you move through the mission and take care to remember that the undead respawn after a relatively short time, so don't stay in one spot too long to recover.

[edit] Skill recommendations

• Bring a snare to stop the first ghost from running away.
• Skills that deal holy damage will be very useful against the undead, such as the aforementioned Heart of Holy Flame.
• If attempting the Master's Reward, do not use any summoning stones, minions, or anything that has "a mind of its own." These creatures will attack anything marked as hostile, potentially forfeiting you the reward. They cannot be "flagged" away from the ghosts like your party.

[edit] Mission NPCs

[edit] Allies

Human

• 20 (20) Kormir

Undead

• Ghost
  • 12 (20) Kahdash

[edit] Foes

Insect

• 8 (23) Grub Lance
• 8 (23) Preying Lance

Plant

• 10 (24) Fanged Iboga
• 10 (24) Stormseed Jacaranda

Undead

• Ghost
  • 12 (20) Sunspear Ghost
  • 12 (20) Darehk the Quick
• Skeleton
  • 10 (24) Relentless Corpse
  • 10 (24) Restless Dead

[edit] Boss-like foes

Monolith

• 13 (24) Apocrypha

[edit] Notes

• Interactive objects
  • Stone Pedestal
• Sentry turrets will fire Madness Darts (first section) and Burning (second section) at the party.
• Stone Tablet bundles need to be placed on the pedestals.
• Skills such as Vengeful Weapon when triggered by Madness Dart have no target to deal damage to and as a result will heal and damage you for the same amount.
• A Minion Master build is not recommended as your minions will attack the Sunspear Ghosts, preventing you from getting the master reward.
• Dying from being crushed by the falling crushers does not cause Death Penalty or count as a death (towards the Survivor title track).
• Since the 13 November 2008 update you also gain 5 Sunspear title points for each level of completion in Normal Mode and 50 in Hard Mode, as well as the normal xp and gold rewards.

Bug.

Kahdash, the ghost during the Trial of Perseverance, actually counts as a Sunspear Ghost. However, he affects the master reward in a strange way: if the player activates the Trial of Perseverance then runs back to the area of the Trial of Fire, Kahdash will finish placing the stone on the pedestal but will die immediately after the cutscene. Then after finishing the mission, even if the two sunspear ghosts in the Trial of Fire are still alive, the mission will only count as an expert finish (e.g. one ghost left alive), rather than a master finish

[edit] Trivia

• At some point during alpha testing, this mission was known as Monolith.