Augmentation

Difficulty:  Minimum to survive, 150+ to solo
Level Restriction:  125+
Timer:  30 Days
Can be Solo'd?  Yes
Rewards:  Blank Augmentation Gem, to be traded for a functional Augmentation

The Viamontian Knights that roam the countryside of the Halaetan Islands have been altered using a dark ritual of Augmentation.  The process changes them into mindless, lumbering brutes, but we can harness that power too, in a much safer and controlled way.  The path is a difficult and costly one to walk, but the rewards are definitely worth it.

Step 1:  Preparation.  Although it is quite possible to solo this quest, you really don't want to unless you absolutely have to.  Save yourself some time and a corpse recovery and grab two portals before you start.  The easier tie to get is the Insatiable Vault on the northern shore of the Isle of Ruin (97.6N 48W).  You can get there by running around the outer edge of the mountain range that encloses the Shattered Outlands, AKA No Recovery Valley.  Unfortunately, the other portal you need is dead in the middle of the Shattered Outlands.  The Augmentation Realm is located atop the mountain in the middle of the Shattered Outlands at 95N, 47.1W.  Getting there is dangerous, but not as bad as you'd think.  If you are concerned about surviving the run, bring a few dispel gems and an Aphus Lassel gem for emergency escapes.  As you enter the valley, pick your way around the big spawns, running north toward the southern slope of the mountain.  Once you get there, you'll find that there aren't any spawns on the slopes.  Make your way up to the summit - you can climb it, but there are a lot of dead ends.  The portal itself is guarded by a large spawn of monsters.  Tying to the portal will not be fun, so consider thinning out the mess a little bit if possible.  *NOTE* - you CANNOT tie the portal unless you are flagged already (see below), so you must do step 2 before everyone else does.  Once you have your ties, make sure you and your group are well armed - you'll need slashing, bludgeoning, frost, and lightning weapons as well as enough components for at least 2 buffs.

Step 2:  Insatiable Vault.  Chances are you've already been to this dungeon.  Buff up - slashing weapons, physical and acid banes and protects.  At the very end are Eaters who drop their Jaws.  If you weren't interested in an Augmentation, you could turn this jaw in for 40 million XP and 2 MMDs, but not today!  Once everyone has grabbed their jaws, you will need to head for the Fiun Outpost.  You already have your two ties taken, so everyone will have to run.  If you want to streamline this quest, you could require people to have their jaws beforehand.  That would allow you to save about half an hour and to summon everyone directly to the Outpost.  Once you are there, find Fiun Rehlyun.  He will ask for your jaw.  Hand them over one at a time (form a line!) and you will be flagged to enter the dungeon.

Step 3:  Higher Augmentation Realm.  Although the drop is reasonably safe, buff up before you summon the portal.  It is conceivable that you will be able to make the rest of the trip on a single buff, so you'll need to be thorough.  Ideally you will buff slashing, bludgeoning, frost, and lightning weapons, but if you are really strapped for time and in a group,  you could get away with just Slashing.  Bane against everything but fire and lightning and protect against everything.  Melees, be sure to buff your shields with Impen, Bludge, and Frost Banes because of the Ruschk.  Summon the portal when everyone is ready.  You'll be able to make your way through most of this dungeon by following the right wall.  There are three sections - Ruschk ice cave, Wisp crystal cave, and Small Magma Golem lava tube.  The Ruschks won't pose too much of a problem, but slow down once you reach the first Wisp.  There are a lot of them and they will chaincast all sorts of annoying spells.  There are also many traps on the floor.  Don't let people run ahead or they could end up dead very quickly.  The wisps go down quickly, but they can suck all your vitals  out of you without much warning.  Once you pass over a wooden bridge, you'll be in the Lava Tubes.  The Golems vuln and war, but if you have a frost weapon, they will go down without doing much damage.  Pay attention here - you won't get too far into the tubes before you see the only four-way intersection in the dungeon.  Once you find it, stop hugging the right wall and go south.  You will go down a ramp and reach a large room with a wide ramp in the middle.  Make your way through this room and you will reach the portal to the next section of the dungeon.

Step 4:  Lower Augmentation Realm.  The drop into this dungeon is not safe - you will quickly be met by Maniacal Fiun.  Kill them and wait on downloaders.  When everyone is in, make your way north, killing as you go.  You will reach a four-way intersection - go straight through it and look for the hole in the floor.  Jump down and you will be met by Bone Scourges.  Fight your way to the south and you will enter a large room with a small enclosure in the center.  Find the door and enter it.  This is a great place to rebuff if you need to - just close the door!  Hop down into the hole and kill off the Fiun that meet you.  From here on, your goal will be to make your way south.  You will be fighting a variety of monsters, including Ravenous Eaters, more Fiun and Bone Scourges, and a couple Tormenters (VoD skeletons).  The most difficult part will almost certainly be the long, wide room just before the end of the dungeon - there are a lot of Skeletons in it and they are notoriously slow to kill.  You might consider running through.  At the far end is a door leading down a spiral staircase.  Kill whatever followed you as well as the Eater or two from just up ahead and you are home free.  The end of the dungeon is a large rectangular room with several portals in it.  All of them lead to the Main Level of Augmentation Realm, but they drop you in different places.  The portal that takes you closest to the end is the southern one on the east wall (labeled 3 in the map).  That one bypasses practically everything in the Main Realm.  Be sure your group knows to wait in the portal room - don't let them run ahead and randomly choose a portal or you will have a mess on your hands.

Step 5:  Augmentation Realm, Main Level.  As you can see from the map, this dungeon is quite large.  Fortunately, if you took the right portal, you will arrive at the point labeled 'D3', which is very close to the end.  If you need to rebuff, you are quite safe at the drop point.  You won't be fighting many monsters - a stray Viamontian Knight and maybe an Eater, but make sure you have your lightning weapon ready to take on the boss.  Jump into the pit and make your way north, through a very large room and down a ramp.  Run through the fiery floor at the bottom of the ramp and then back up, stopping just at the top of the ramp.  Don't let your group stream into this final room or you will annoy the boss prematurely.  When everyone is set, have a mage imperil him.  Sir Bellas, formerly a champion of the Silyun Rebels, is dangerous, but not particularly difficult to kill.  He has a strong offense between his melee weapon and his magic casting skills, but he isn't particularly fast-striking and he is pretty easy to resist.  I had no trouble landing spells and melee attacks on him.  He has a lot of health, but he won't last very long.  When he dies, everyone needs to grab a Blank Augmentation Gem from his corpse - he drops quite a few.  If you are leading a large group, you may need to kill him more than once.

Step 6:  Rewards.  The Blank Gem itself doesn't do anything, so you will need to track down an Augmentation Trainer.  Each one teaches a different skill and each skill has a price associated with it.  The cheapest Augmentations cost 500 Million XP and the most expensive cost a whopping 4 Billion!  Read all about them HERE.  To use the gem, find the right trainer, give him the gem, and then use it.  You may only use the gem if you have the right amount of XP in your Unassigned XP pool and if you meet the gem's requirements.  The effect when you use the gem is pretty slick, so use it in front of friends!