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Assualt on the stronghold map

Quest map

Zcoins This article has an associated Zaishen Challenge Quest.

Objectives[]

Obtained from

Automatically added upon completing What Must Be Done
After first completion, can be obtained from:

Requirements

What Must Be Done

Rewards[]

Mode Experience
points
Vanguard reputation points
First time Repeats
Normal 2,500 1,000 1001
Hard 1,500 150
  • 1 Only if below rank 8.

Walkthrough[]

Speak to Roan Fierceheart outside Doomlore Shrine to initiate the quest. You will be transported to Sacnoth Valley.

The first stage of this quest involves capturing a pair of Siege Devourers and using them to take out Charr Seekers on the walls of the stronghold so that the Armored Saurus can move up to the gate and break it down. The siege devourers are guarded by enemy Charr to begin with. Pyre's warband will capture the north devourer and leave your party to capture the south.

Once you clear both groups, you'll take control of the siege devourers, which will commence firing upon the fortress. There are four groups of seekers defending the gate: each side has one group right by the gate and one that comes up a little further. You can set the siege devourers to target either group of Charr on its side and it will destroy the Charr there. The Charr seekers will slowly respawn up to 4 in each group.

Once the siege devourers are up, trios of Charr warriors will spawn below the bluff and attempt to kill the devourers, while the seekers on top will respawn continuously. If they destroy a devourer, it stops firing, but if you clear all the enemy Charr from around a siege devourer, it will repair and resume firing. At most two trios of Charr will attack each devourer at a time, though if you wipe out one group, another will spawn to replace it.

Shortly after the siege devourers are repaired, the armored saurus will come to attack the gate. It will slowly meander right up the middle toward the gate, and once it gets there, hack away until either the saurus dies or the gate is destroyed. If the saurus dies, it will respawn behind the devourers after a few seconds. Once the gate is destroyed, enemy Charr will no longer respawn. You can clear any remaining Charr in the area and then move on.

There are a number of ways to clear this initial part. Perhaps the simplest is to let Pyre's warband take and hold the north siege devourer while letting your group defend the south one. One player can run back and forth between the devourers toggling them between attacking the bluff and the gate, to ensure that at any given time, the bulk of the Charr seekers are dead. This will let the saurus have ample time to hack away at the gate and do considerable damage before dying. It will take a few sauri to take down the gate and allow you to move on. This makes it wholly unnecessary for the party to come within range of the seekers or for the player to do any fighting in this phase.

An alternative method to get past the gate is for one player in the party to use Consume Corpse or Necrotic Traversal on one of the Charr Seekers' corpses on the bluffs. The player can then head west to activate the resurrection shrine. Have everyone in the party die, and you will be resurrected at the shrine without having to break down the gate.

After the gate is down, clean up any leftover warriors and seekers before moving into the stronghold. A mass of Charr awaits you, but they will retreat when you enter the gate. Take out the few groups of Charr left in the outer area before moving into the central area. If the saurus is still alive, it will move up to the base of the stairs, and can provide additional support at this point.

Move up the stairs to trigger the dialogue, but do not aggro any Charr. Once the Destroyers have been released, fall back and let the Charr and destroyers slug it out. The destroyers are much higher level than the Charr and typically slaughter them. You can then move in to kill the destroyers, and perhaps any Charr that stayed out of the destroyers' paths.

After the area is cleared of both Charr and destroyers, a cutscene will play, and the party will appear in Grothmar Wardowns just outside Longeye's Ledge.

Hard mode[]

Pyre's warband will need your help to take and hold the north siege devourer. Once the devourers are up and the saurus comes, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the oncoming Charr if you try to defend both devourers at once. It is much easier to stay with Pyre's warband and defend only the north devourer. This won't let you kill very many of the Charr seekers, however, which gets the armored saurus killed.

One solution is to have a protection monk cast Life Barrier on the saurus as it passes, immediately followed by Life Bond. If the skills are on a hero, disable them and cast them manually when the saurus comes. You may need to fight somewhat to the west of the north devourer in order to keep the saurus near enough to not remove the bonds for reasons of distance when it reaches the gate. Keep your party out of range both of the Charr seekers and the warriors that attack the southern devourer, and it is easy to hold the north devourer with the help of Pyre's warband. If bonded, the first saurus should take down the gate on its own.

When the Charr and destroyers fight each other at the end, hard mode doesn't affect the destroyers very much, but it makes the Charr vastly stronger, so they rout the destroyers. As such, the end battle will entail clearing several groups of Charr, and possibly a couple of destroyers that managed to get out of the Charr patrol routes.

There are five groups of Charr at the end: two on each side of the central pit that patrol small triangular routes, and Hierophant Burntsoul's group, which wanders back and forth between the two sides. The two groups nearest to the stairs are typically greatly thinned by destroyers, and easily finished off. The other group that stays north of the pit is handily destroyed if pulled to the top of the stairs. Wait to pull it until the boss group has just left, so that you'll have a lot of time before it returns.

The other group of Charr that stays south of the pit often has a Charr Avenger or two that can heal and resurrect, making the group far more difficult. Unless this group has been thinned by destroyers, it is typically easier to kill the boss group first. Set up in the path of the boss group on the north side of the pit and the other remaining group of Charr will stay out of your way, giving you as much time as you need. Use flags to spread your party out, as the boss will use Fire Storm and Meteor Shower. This allows you to take as much time as needed to kill the final group without interference from the boss group.

Creatures[]

NPCs[]

Allies[]

Monsters[]

Bosses[]

Dialogues[]

Briefing from the Scrying Pool.

Quest Log: "This is it, meat. This is where all our planning and work either comes together in a blaze of glory or blows up in our faces and we all die in a horrible conflagration. Ready? Good. The plan is simple, break down the front door and kill everything that moves... except the Ebon Vanguard prisoners, of course."

Cutscene 1[]

Assault on the Stronghold
Pyre Fierceshot: "It'll be a tough skull to crack."
Pyre Fierceshot: "The far western approach is guarded by watchtowers. No easy back way in."
Pyre Fierceshot: "Your friends are held in the center. That's also where the Hierophant is keeping his "new gods"."
Pyre Fierceshot: "Then we have the front gate. Heavily fortified, with siege devourers in front."
<party leader>: "So how do we get in?"
Pyre Fierceshot: "Front door."
Gwen: "Didn't you just say it's heavily fortified?"
Pyre Fierceshot: "I also said the siege devourers are out front. A good place for scaring people off. A bad place for actual defense. We grab them first."
Gwen: "And how do we know you won't just turn on us?"
Pyre Fierceshot: "Dead gods, Mouse! You do not understand us, do you?"
Gwen: "I understand enough. You're animals, savage animals, and I will dance on your graves."
Pyre Fierceshot: "Fear rots her heart."
<party leader>: "Do you blame her?"
Pyre Fierceshot: "No. She was a prisoner of the Charr. Now she is a prisoner of her fears. Until she can conquer them, she is no good to any of us."
Gain control of the siege devourers:
Bonwor Fierceblade: "Capture those siege devourers and break down that gate! The enemy awaits our blades!"
Bonwor Fierceblade: "We'll assault the right siege devourer. Let's hope you can handle the other side."
Bonwor Fierceblade: "For the warband! Charge!"
Target archer groups to cover the armored saurus:
Bonwor Fierceblade: "Right side secured. When you are ready, get over here and direct this devourer."
Bonwor Fierceblade: "Protect the armored saurus! Break down the gate!"
Free the Ebon Vanguard held captive within the fortress:
Bonwor Fierceblade: "The gate has fallen! Move out! Clear that fortress!"
Bonwor Fierceblade: "Gron, you and the rest of the warband stay here and make sure no one escapes through the front."
Defeat Hierophant Burntsoul and all hostile forces:
Hierophant Burntsoul: "You will not escape with your lives. Release the Destroyers!"
<party leader>: "Those Destroyers are your enemies too. They'll kill us all!"
Hierophant Burntsoul: "Then we shall die together, human. You will not win!"

Cutscene 2[]

Revolution
Gron Fierceclaw: "My brothers! Pyre Fierceshot has freed you from the Hierophant's yoke!"
Gron Fierceclaw: "Unite beneath our banner, and we shall overthrow these false priests and their false gods!"
Pyre Fierceshot: "Gron, you are a fool!"
Pyre Fierceshot: "Warriors! Do not trade one set of shackles for another!"
Pyre Fierceshot: "I will not lead you, but charge all of you to spread the lesson of this day:"
Pyre Fierceshot: "There are no gods for the Charr! Let THAT be the message!"
Gron Fierceclaw: "There are no gods! There are no gods!"
<party leader>: "I'm surprised."
Pyre Fierceshot: "A storm is coming. The Shamans will not go down easily. For a while, it will be safer to be elsewhere."
<party leader>: "You're the hero of this revolution."
Pyre Fierceshot: "Revolutions eat their heroes. I may return, but for the moment, I am content to fight at your side."
Pyre Fierceshot: "So the little mouse comes to apologize."
Gwen: "One good act does not redeem your people, murderer."
Gwen: "I want you to know: I do not like you. I do not forgive you."
Gwen: "But most of all, I do not FEAR you. I hate you. There's a difference."
<party leader>: "That went well."
Pyre Fierceshot: "Yes, it did. The little mouse is learning. She is learning, indeed."

Notes[]


Eye of the North storyline quests
EotN1mission sm
Norn: Curse of the NornbearA Gate Too FarBlood Washes Blood

Ebon Vanguard: Against the CharrWarband of BrothersAssault on the Stronghold

Asura: Finding the BloodstoneThe Elusive GolemancerGenius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestation

Deldrimor: Destruction's DepthsA Time for Heroes

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