Shadows in Tou Tou

Difficulty:  Minimum to survive and solo if you are feeling lucky
Level Restriction:  200+
Timer:  Once per character, 13 days per step
Can be Solo'd?  Yes, with some luck
Rewards:  Lots of XP, Luminance, MFKs, and Titles

The Hopeslayer is dead and gone, right?  His loyal generals Black Ferah and Ler Rhan beg to differ.  Using newfound Void magics, they hope to bring Bael'Zharon back to the surface world.  That cannot be permitted!

Step 1:  Preparation.  If you still drop items on death, you'd better come prepared to leave a corpse or two in the dungeon.  The monsters are nasty and can do amazingly large amounts of damage very quickly if you let them.  Although it is possible to solo this quest, it would be best if you brought a small team to help you.  Each step in the quest itself works quite well in a group (no pickup timers, no waits for monsters to respawn, etc), but finding someone who is on the same step as you are may pose a problem.  Fortunately, you can do steps 1, 2, and 4 without a quest flag.  Part 3 requires a specific quest flag and is the nastiest part of the series, so hopefully you can find a friend for that part.  Also note that there are diverging steps based on your choices.  If you side with the loyal shadows, you will get different titles than those who sided with Isin Dule.  You will also end up doing a different third quest.

Step 2:  Shadow Communication.  Begin your quest by visiting Isin Dule in Arwic.  Dule will tell you that a Shadow Spire has erupted outside Tou Tou.  This flags you to enter the Spire, so make sure you don't skip this step.  Once you are flagged, head to 29.5S, 94.2E, just south of Tou Tou.  The Spire is atop a hill.  Hit the portal inside the spire to enter The Shadows.  The drop is safe, so buff inside.  You will be facing Shadows, so fire weapons are your best bet.  Mages may prefer to use a Shadowfire wand.  When you are ready, head down the (obnoxiously long) staircase.  At the bottom, you will encounter the first Shadows.  They come in two main varieties - Panumbris Shadows and Void Knights.  Both cast Life, War, and Void spells.  Be especially careful if you take more than one void debuff at the same time, as you can lose 100 health every 5 seconds.  Your goal in this dungeon is to find Ler Rhan, who is located in the northernmost room.  Separating some of the chambers and corridors are Voids, which are basically killable walls.  Archers should switch to minimum accuracy and machine-gun these.  To navigate the dungeon, simply hug the right wall.  As a side note, this will take you to one dead end room - in this room is a strange crystal formation.  Use the formation to grab a sample.  That was basically all there is to Step 3, so you should really take the opportunity to do this step while you are in The Shadows anyway.  Keep hugging the right wall and you will reach Ler Rhan's room.  You will have to climb up the structure to reach him.  Talk to him and he will give you a note.  Now you have a choice - you can either do as Ler Rhan asks and take it to Black Ferah (which would be a really bad thing) or betray the loyal generals and take it to Isin Dule.  If you give the note to Dule, he will instruct you to give the note to Black Ferah after he reads it.  Either way, you need to see Ferah, who is hanging out with some shadows near a small cave just south of Tou Tou.  Whichever decision you make earns you the same 4 use Mana Forge Key, 350,000,000 XP, and 30,000 luminance.  If you help Dule, you will get the title "Guiding Light".  If you help Ler Rhan and Black Ferah, you will receive the title "Clouded Soul".  Like the other steps in this quest series, this part cannot be repeated, so you cannot earn both titles.

Step 3:  Strange Crystal.  You did pick up the strange crystal when you were in The Shadows, right...?  If not, go back and do it.  Otherwise, you will simply need to wait 13 days and then talk to Isin Dule (don't give the stone - he won't accept it).  Dule will give you a letter to Asheron.  Now you get to make another decision.  If you want to help Dule, then take the note to Asheron.  If you want to betray Dule, then go back into The Shadows and give the note to Ler Rhan.  Either way, you get another 4 use Mana Forge Key, 350M XP, and 30k Luminance.  Helping Dule earns you the title "Illuminating the Shadows" and helping the loyal generals gives you the title "Undercover of Darkness".  Now you get to wait another 13 days before the next step.

Step 4:  Summoning the Hopeslayer.  Apparently the crystal you found is part of some Void power that Ler Rhan and Black Ferah are using to try to restore Bael'Zharon's power.  The first step is to talk to Isin Dule in Arwic again.  He will send you back into The Shadows one more time to talk to Ler Rhan.  Again, hug the right wall and make your way to the northernmost room.  Talk to Ler Rhan and he will give you a message to pass on to Ter Shen, one of the loyal generals' subordinates.  Get out of the dungeon - it's time to make a choice.  If you want to help Dule, head back to Arwic and talk to him, then head back to Tou Tou.  If you want to help Ler Rhan, just go back to Tou Tou.  Rebuff if necessary and head to 29.2S 95.8E, which is just south of town.  Use the portal - at this point, you will end up in a different dungeon depending on whether you want to help Dule or Ler Rhan.  Both dungeons are laid out the same way and end in a large room where the loyal shadows are summoning a Void of Bael'zharon. 

Step 4a:  Defend the Ritual.  If you sided with the loyal generals, the Shadows will aide you (kinda).  Find Ter Shen and then Quaron to get a key to the Summoning room.  Grab crystals after you jump down and hand them to the Summoners to begin an attack by Dule's forces.  Hold them off long enough for the Void of Bael'Zharon to appear.  When he disappears, grab an Energy Scintilla from the ground and return it to Ler Rhan (yes, back in The Shadows yet again).    Give Ler Rhan the Scintilla for your standard XP and luminance reward, a 3 use Mana Forge Key, and the title "Shadow Puppet".

Step 4b:  Assault the Ritual.  If you sided with Dule, your job is to stop the ritual.  Invade the Summoning Cave and wipe out all the shadows you see.  Loot the corpses of the shadows on the first floor to find a key.  If you have lockpick, you don't need the key, although it may be easier to just grab the key anyway.  Eventually you will reach a lever door in front of you and two locked doors to your right and left.  Unlock the doors with your key and hit the lever in each of the two rooms to open the (two) lever doors ahead.  Just past them is a jump down.  Below you will find a battlefied between others helping Dule and the shadow force trying to summon Bael'Zharon.  The soldiers are supposed to help you, but they are just as happy to kill you half the time, even if you don't attack them.  Do your best to ignore the soldiers and the shadows - if you leave the Soldiers alone, they will eventually go after the shadows.  Follow the right wall and you will eventually reach a large room with a Void of Bael'Zharon, a good number of shadows, and 2 Summoners.  The summoners do not show up if you use the "next target" button - you need to use the "next item" keys ( the brackets [ and ] by default) to select them.  They also appear to be impervious to life magic, although I might have not tried hard enough.  If you are trying to solo this, your best bet is to lure a couple shadows back into the previous room, where if you are lucky, they will either engage the Soldiers or get stuck on the environment.  That should cut down the defenders inside the Summoning room to 2 or 3 shadows.  Take out the Summoners as quickly as you can, but be prepared to retreat if the shadow defenders reset or respawn.  Summoners regen very slowly if at all, but they do have 10,000 health, so it will take some time to kill them.  When both die, the Void of Bael'Zharon will disppear and leave Energy Scintillas behind.  Grab one and get out.  Take it to Isin Dule for your reward - the same as in 4a, but with the title "Hopebringer" instead.  Now it's time to wait another 13 days!

Step 5:  Shadow Recordings.  Yet again, head back to Isin Dule in Arwic to begin the quest.  He will ask you to visit Black Ferah again, who is outside the Summoning Cave.  Talk to her and she will tell you to recover a recording device and use it to investigate two ley line disturbances.  There are 3 pieces of the recording device, located in caves at 27.4S, 95.3E, 28.9S, 96.1E, and 28.3S, 96.9E.  The caves are inhabited by Shadows, Void Knights, Devourer Marguls, Shadow Flyers, Shadow's Breaths, and Grievver Shredders, all of which are pretty nasty and should be avoided.  If you are trying this solo, the easiest thing to do is run the dungeons.  Pick a wall and hug it.  Go down - don't ever go back up.  Use [ and ] to scan the ground for the parts, which are in the deepest section of each cave.  Once you have the piece, portal recall out and do the next dungeon.  When you have all 3, put them together to repair the device.  Now you need to take it to analyze two black rocks, which are located at 28.0S, 96.5E and 27.2S, 96.6E.  Each rock is guarded by a couple of the monster species from the previous caves.  Kill them if you want, or just ignore them and give your device to the rock.  It will appear on top of the rock and collect data.  You will have to wait for this process to finish, which takes about 10-15 seconds.  Kill the monsters or just run away for a bit - either way is fine.  When the device is done, it will announce it.  Run back in and use the device (not the rock) to gather the data.  Then go to the second rock and repeat the same process.  Once you have visited both rocks, you have yet another decision to make.  If you want to help the loyal generals, return it immediately to Black Ferah.  If you want to help Dule, then give it to him first.  He will change the data to throw off the loyal generals.  Return the tampered device to Black Ferah.  Again, you will get the standard XP and luminance reward, a 4 use Mana Forge Key, and the titles "In the Dark" and "Searching the Shadows" for helping Ferah and Dule, respectively.

The developers have been adding a new step to this series every month, so perhaps there will be more steps soon...