Quests: A Sticky Operation
Required Hero: Tahlkora, the Shorty

Head on in to town and talk to Savage Nunbe, who says that Kahyet has been funding corsair raids on Istan for awhile now. However, Shorty still needs more EXP so we're gonna go finish off our quest log real quick. Head out into Fahranur through the exit in this town and go straight NW to find the first group. Despite what the quest says, the next group is just SW of that. From here go straight north for the next group, and west for their leader. Beat him up enough and he'll surrender. You can either kill him or interrogate him (will take three clicks for interrogate). Either way, you'll find out that he and his crew were supposed to meet some guy named Ironfist. Map to Kodlonu and head into the Keys. As soon as you load, the Elder and his men join you, and your quest from that bratling also updates. Head southeast, cross the bridge going east, run through the village, then head due east along the edge of the world (great, Ashigun and I talk the same, that's wonderful). Once you reach the tower, you'll get the next clue. Keep following the edge of the world and eventually you'll see a giant stone lady head on your right, staring at a boat (pictured right). This is the Queen that the clue is talking about. Some obnoxious guy starts yelling at you when you get close to land. Sup, Angry Bear Guy. The next checkpoint is the Cyclone Palace, where we fought the skale lord. The "maiden of the sea" is pulling it cause the back half has sunk into the ocean, in case you were wondering what that was about. The specific location is the exact point where the skale lord was. The next clue wants you to face NW and go to the Arch of the Twin Queens. It's the arch I had you pulling from when we were killing the skale lord. You can see it from here. Go under the arch to get the next clue. From there look almost directly north and you'll see a mound of sand with a toppled pillar on it. Go there. After that, go west to Jatoro's wrecked ship (man's creation being the ship). While you're here, go ahead and wipe out this giant mob of corsairs to complete the Elder's quest. Talk to him to get your reward (he's still following you unless he got stuck behind some NPCs somewhere along the way). Just after the shipwreck is a large pile of boulders. "Lee" means west, so go around to the west side of it and hug the edge of it until your quest updates. When it does, type /kneel to find... a teddy bear. So. Not quite a stupid rock, but might as well be. Map back to Jokanur, head to the village, give the small obnoxious child his Bobo and a pacifier, or maybe a diaper, and map back to Blacktide Den. Hand in your quest to Kovu and grab his next one. Back into the bog we go... Go left, then right, then left again (hi, Mr. Signpost!), then right to find some corsairs. Look, I don't care what the quest says, the next group is south of here. Anet likes to make us do a lot of backtracking and re-backtracking for whatever reason. So continue south, take the first right, moAr southness, and you'll reach an open area. The next group of relevant corsairs are in the middle. Once they're dead, go back to the entrance then head SW to the water where that guy's mum died. Just before you reach the water you'll find the next group of corsairs. From them go SE then take a right into the water and go west. Retrace your steps back to the water's edge and go south to find the last group. After they've been made to taste the ground map back to Kovu for your EXP. Hurray, Shorty's lv 15 now. That should make her a bit more useful to us. Talk to Savage Nunbe so we can get some answers from Kahyet.

Mission map. And we find ourselves back in the bog. Another place we should just build a house or something. Go straight ahead and take the first right to find some of the corsairs that are supposed to be meeting with Kahyet. Looks like they're lost. Well, let's go put them out of their misery. Ironfist's Envoy drops Corsair Garb, which you should pick up. Hey, we're corsairs now! Arrrrrr, matey, I be 'ere ta plunder yer booty! Or whatever! Head straight south to find the first rinkhal monitor for the bonus. Past the monitor follow the path then take a left where it splits, then a right. Talk to Captain Besuz, who'll run off. Follow him, killing the mobs so his lazy butt doesn't have to, until you find the trio of named corsairs (One-Eyed Rugger and his friends). Kill the next group of skale, then leave Besuz alone. Nothing ever attacks him so don't worry about his safety. Turn around and go north (shut up Besuz, we'll be back to babysit you in a minute). You'll soon find yourself in that place that that Vabbian scholar wanted to study. Go left, then right, and you'll soon see another monitor just ahead. Just NE of that one is another one. Return to Besuz (just south of the named corsair trio) and be ready for a stampede of skale. The boss is the only one that you should be at all worried about so kill him quickly. Keep following Besuz until he says that you're better fighters than he expected. From this spot go NW, leaving Bezzy to his own devices again for a bit. With these higher-level harpies, griffons are your priority targets. Take a left where the path splits and you'll soon reach the water. Go west, then turn right at the first opportunity, and continue north out of the water. Careful here, as there are several skale patrols with blighters in them. Pull one group at a time towards the water. There's also another skale necro boss in here, and your next monitor (which is why we're here~). Go back into the water and go a short ways east to find your last monitor, then return to Bezzy. Continue to follow him (yes, these outfits do make perfect disguises, nice of you to notice) into the Sunspear Crypt of all places. Talk about a slap in the face. Bezzy warns you that Kahyet has some unusual religious beliefs. I wonder if that Nightfall stuff she was talking to Varesh about has anything to do with that. Once you get to that hallway of sorts that we were in for the lost ghosts quest, Kahyet approaches you from the SW, with... some... torment creatures. Ummmm... Approach her, then back up behind Bezzy. Oh thanks Tahl, just tell them who we are. ^=__=^;; They all immediately turn hostile. Take out Bezzy first as he's an ele, then focus on Kahyet. Her little pets are just warriors so they don't pose that much of a threat.

Quests: The Iron Truth, What Do You Do With a Drunken Shauben?, Trial by Fire, War Preparations (Recruit Training), War Preparations (Wind and Water), War Peparations (Ghost Reconnaissance), The Time is Nigh

... you know, I just thought of something. Maaaaayyyyybe it is kinda politically disastrous that we just killed a foreign dignitary. Let's go see what Pumbaa thinks of all this. OK... he understands, but now we have to tell Jerek. ... I don't wannaaaaaa... :( Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine..... He's taken up permanent residence on the Plains, I guess, cause he's still in that same spot. And of course Jerek flips out. He says he's gonna blame everything on Kormir. Hey Jerkface. YOU'RE the one who told us to humour Tahlkora and do whatever she wanted. If you hadn't, we'd've never even met with Kahyet. ^=__=^ Take responsibility for your own actions! Well apparently Jerek's gonna try to put us on trial. That's nice. He does, however, give us one word of advise: Find Ironfist, and that Nunbe probably knows where he is. Well, you heard him. Back to Blacktide Den! Talk to Nunbe, who says the cowardly corsair from before is meeting with Ironfist AS WE SPEAK. But first~ there's a new quest here. West of the portal to the bog is Dahleht, who has a Master quest for you. Apparently some dumbass kids decided to clear all the corsairs out of the bog. That sounds like the best idea evAr! Well, since we're the local rescue squad, let's go get this done. Also, you are going to want an mm for this, otherwise it's going to be a real pain in the arse. It is still do-able, but a pain in the arse is still a pain in the arse no matter how you spin it. *hums the Drunken Whaler song from Dishonoured* Oh that's nice, they are literally at the other end of the bog. They're just beyond the Sunspear Crypt (SW to the water then SE would be your best bet)... jeebus there are like 50,783 corsairs around the crypt now. Apparently we have to KILL THEM ALL. Look, try to pull as often as possible cause ow. Once you get into the path near the starburst there are hidden popups of corsairs rappelling down from the sky or whatever, on top of the mobs upon mobs upon argh of corsairs already there. When you get near the starburst, you REALLY need to pull, because there are not one but THREE corsair bosses on top of the NPCs you're saving. No, they won't kill the NPCs but you, on the other hand, are another story. You do not want to pull all three at once. Each one has his own mob so you should be able to pull one boss and his mob at a time. There's also a hidden spawn right on top of the NPCs, so be ready for that. Talk to Ahbri... no, don't distract me from your idiocy with talk of siege turtles! You are dumb! And you're not even thankful we saved you! *drags them all back by their ears* Yes, I sprouted extra arms just so I could drag them all back by the ear at the same time. I'm a spider now. Thanks, stupid Shauben. You, on the other hand, can take the smart way out and use your party of eight to drag the eight idiots back to Blacktide Den. *thumbs up* ... the hell are all these corsairs doing back near the entrance. Fiiiiiiine. *murders everyone near the portal, laughing maniacally* Wait for your quest to update before going back inside. Yay, EXP!

Map to Kodlonu and go out into the Keys. Of course they're at the other end of the universe. This is becoming a running theme here. It's easist to get there going south then towards Cyclone Palace. The corsairs near Ironfist aren't attached to him so feel free to pull them away. Beat up Ironfist and he eventually surrenders. He says he'll testify in your favour if we give him immunity for, like, his entire life of attacking innocent people on Istan. Map back to the Great Hall and let Jerkface know we weren't making Ironfist up. Surprisingly, Jerek then explains how the trial will work to you. Don't worry about the being alone thing; you won't be fighting anything. When you're ready, let him know, and you'll be transported to the trial. You're going to have to call witnesses in a specific order so that they can best answer the questions presented to you. Of course, nobody ingame is going to tell you the correct order, but that's why I'm here~ Morgahn tries to claim that Kahyet was acting on her own and seems to try to blame Kormir as well. He's starting to sound like Jerkface. And I thought you were honourable, Morgahn! >:( When the Elder asks you to call your first witness, talk to him and choose Dunkoro. I think he was a lawyer in a past life cause he plays to both sides really well. Morgahn now has a chance to ask questions, so go talk to him. Answer that you were there to defeat the Apocrypha to save lives (middle answer). According to Morgahn, Kormir was responsible for the diggers even being there in the first place. Where is he even getting this proof from? Talk to the Elder again and choose Ironfist. Ironfist explains that the corsairs had been funded by the Kournans for awhile now and was supposed to meet Kahyet in the Crypt but sent someone else in his place. Go answer Morgahn's next question. Tell him that you stopped the next corsair invasion of Istan (first answer). He claims that we're paying Ironfist to lie about being hired by Kahyet. Pfft, like I'd give some scurvy corsair scum any of my gold. You can call either Koss or Melonni as your next witness, but not Tahlkora, cause she'll bugger off and leave you hanging (seriously, she's not even in the instance. Thanks a lot, Shorty... this was all your fault in the first place! ^>__<^;; ). Personally, I chose Melonni cause 1) she's from Kourna, and 2) Koss is an idiot. For Morgahn's last question give the first answer. After this, Shorty shows up and she's brought Kormir with her. ... who is incredibly pissed off. ^.__.^;; She demands that Varesh step down as Warmarshal of Kourna and turn herself over to us for judgement. Morgahn laughs her off and tells her that Varesh wouldn't be afraid to face Kormir in battle. Hey hey hey, maybe starting an all-out war is a terrible idea. Just a thought. Once they stop talking map back to the Great Hall and talk to Pumbaa. Um. Judging by his next few quests I guess we're going to war. Gloooooory, gloooooooory~?

Pumbaa says we have a lot of work to do before we're ready for war. We need more ships, we need to train new recruits, we need to do some sort of wind ritual for Dwayna so our ships don't sink, and we need to get some advise from the Sunspear ghosts in the bog. Map to Kam and go out into the Plains and find Kormir just past the shrine. She explains that Abaddon, that thing Kahyet was talking about, used to be part of the Tyrian pantheon of gods, until the other gods locked him away. Apparently Nightfall refers to a point in time when he will break out of his imprisonment and rain terror down upon the universe. Kahyet and Varesh were working to speed up Abaddon's release. Kormir says that we have to storm Varesh's fortress, capture her, and bring her back to face justice. Talk to her and she seems quite certain that the Kournans don't know how to fight and we'll totally win. Look, our leader is a Spearmarshal and theirs is a WARmarshal and I know she's not a warrior so I'm pretty sure that means war as in WAR. ^<__<^;; Try not to get too cocky, Kormir. I don't like the aftermath of your actions cause we usually have to deal with the fallout... Nerashi says that the recruits need to get motivated by killing skale. ... I don't know about you but the hordes upon hordes of skale we've already killed haven't really been much motivation for me to go to war against the Kournans but OK. The NPC recruits now join your party. Head SW through the path here... oh great, these NPCs like to attack EVERYTHING. Fine, we'll murder non-hostile lv 1 things. HEY NERASHI, I THINK THEY'RE MOTIVATED. THEY ARE ATTACKING EVERYTHING. ^=__=^;; The skale are at the end of the area by the water. They're the same level as the skale in the Keys, and you only have four party members, but it's not a big deal. Take out the lashers first, as their dervish enchants are AoE. Return to the shrine to hand the NPC Brigade over to Ahtok, then talk to Rojis, who tells you Kormir likes to overreach (YA THINK??). He also sends you back to Pumbaa to get your reward. Map to Kodlonu and find the captain at the north end of town down by the water. He says his crew in the Keys will need our protection while they perform the ritual. The sailors are just SE of where you load in the Keys, but take out the group of skale nearby before approaching them. The last thing you need is forever disease on top of fighting the djinn that spawn in this quest. So yeah, when you reach the starburst a bunch of lv 15 water djinn spawn. They are dervishes and can really put the hurt on the NPCs, whom you're supposed to protect, so keep an eye out for any djinn attacking the NPCs. The djinn will keep spawning for awhile, but once they're all dead a non-hostile djinn will spawn. Talk to her for the sailors to get their blessing. Back to Pumbaa we go! (yay, lv 20~) Map back to our favourite place in the world (Blacktide Den) so we can talk to some ghosts. They are in that circular area Vidaj the scholar guy was so interested in. When you get to the place with the three giant stone faces, /kneel and get ready to fight. The ghosts want to test your skillz before giving you any advise. They're real pushovers though. A few AoE spells and they give up. Talk to Sogolon (hey, isn't the para henchie named Sogolon...?) and he says they'll be with you in spirit. Possibly not even literally. That wasn't helpful at all! Well, return to Pumbaa again to get your reward and another quest with a level/Sunspear points check. You really should've blown past both of those checkpoints (although you only need one to continue) by now if you've been following this walthrough. BUT! As Pumbaa said, Kormir brought some allies from Tyrian and Cantha with her when she came back, so... time for a new page so we can all continue together.