TDS Progression #5: The Absent Scholar  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:100
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Advancement
  • Experience
  • Money
Success Lockout Timer: 06:00:00
Quest Items:
Related Creatures:
Related Quests:
Era:The Darkened Sea
Recommended:
Group Size:Solo
Min. # of Players:1
Max. # of Players:1
Appropriate Classes:
  • All
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Sun Oct 26 02:53:23 2014
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023


The Darkened Sea Info & Guides: Overview | Progression & Task List | Raiding | Visible Armor



This solo task begins with Firiona Vie (click for map image) in Katta Castrum: Deluge. She's found in the southwestern part of the temple's main floor.

Pre-Requisites for Requesting:
- Completion of "A Rising Storm" (Tempest Temple)
- Completion of "Gathering Clouds" (Tempest Temple)
- Completion of "Clearer Skies" (Tempest Temple)
- Completion of "The Edge of Balance" (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Say "speak" to request the task.

You say, 'Hail, Firiona Vie'

Firiona Vie looks up as you approach, taken out of deep thought. '_____, I still do not know where Al`Kabor is. Before the [beam] struck the dome, he had been reading the [books] in the city and wandering the streets, visiting portals. Since our journey began, he has seemed [troubled], and his agitation grew when we descended into the sea.

You say, 'Troubled, why?'

Firiona Vie says 'He has been talking about his theory of mind -- how the mind sustains the body and how the body sustains the world. He kept saying that he would not be able to save anything unless he saved his own mind. And when we arrived in Katta Castrum, he started reading the [books]'

You say, 'What books?'

Firiona Vie says 'Books of dreams and their effects, treatments of mental instability, and accounts of historical Combine gone mad. The time I saw him before I gave him the Lifeguide's staff, he was reading near Arcanist Thalian. It might prove fruitless, but will you [speak] with Thalian and see if he knows the subject Al`Kabor was researching?'

You say, 'I'll speak to him'

Firiona Vie says 'Thank you. The arcanist is nearby in the temple.'

You have been assigned the task 'The Absent Scholar'.

Firiona has asked Al`Kabor to keep the staff of the Lifeguide safe, but she does not know where he went. Now you must search Katta Castrum for clues.







Speak with Arcanist Thalian 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Arcanist Thalian (click for map image) is in the southeastern part of the same room as Firiona Vie.

You say, 'Hail, Arcanist Thalian'

Arcanist Thalian says 'Al`Kabor? I tried not to pay much attention to the man. I was doing my best to help hold up the dome with my magic, and he had the nerve to glance over the book he was reading and criticize the wording of my spell. Which book? He dropped it on the floor by the shelf when he was done with it.'



Find the book Al`Kabor was reading near Arcanist Thalian 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

The book "A History of Portal Travel" is a ground spawn right next to Arcanist Thalian.

You peruse the contents of the book titled 'A History of Portal Travel.' '... in the year following the dimming and restoration of the Pellarus Sanctum, reconstruction began on the portals connecting domes once thought lost...'



Speak with Arcanist Thalian again 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

You say, 'Hail, Arcanist Thalian'

Arcanist Thalian says 'You want to know more about him? Well, he did ask me where we keep books about the mind and consciousness. They are on the floor below, but that area was flooded when the dome cracked.'



Find the book Al`Kabor was reading in the submerged area under the temple 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Head to the basement of the temple (accessed down the ramps off either side of the room in which Arcanist Thalian is located). The book "Of Dreams and the Mind" is a ground spawn on top of the southeastern-most table in the submerged basement.

Despite the runny ink and soggy pages, you peruse the contents of the book titled 'Of Dreams and the Mind' and see a marked section. '... when the slumbering mind is visited by nightmares, the waking mind cannot be free of dark thoughts. Unless the garden of the mind be purged of the nightmare memories, it will bear rotten fruit... '



Return to the upper temple and keep looking for Al`Kabor 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Head Mage Antius calls out to you as you enter the main hall. 'I hear you are searching for Al`Kabor. He has not been seen in here since he left the temple days before the dome cracked. Tactician Sodut might know more.



Speak with Tactician Sodut 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Tactician Sodut (click for map image) is found at /loc 265, -15, 1 (just down the ramp extending out of the temple).

You say, 'Hail, Tactician Sodut'

Tactician Sodut favors his injured side but still stands upright. 'I see you survived the attack. I could use you among my guards! Al`Kabor? While I was on patrol I saw the wizard heading south around the temple. Construction crews had been camped in tents there while working on restoring the temple walkways, but now the tents are occupied by shissar. And while you're at it, why don't you reclaim our tents? That canvas is too good for shissar.'



Search the tents for clues about Al`Kabor's whereabouts 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Kill some shissar for Tactician Sodut 0/8 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Kill any eight shissar mobs. For the "clues", go to the shissar tents due south of the main temple (same area as Overlord Salazin) - Find "Al`Kabor's Journal" as a ground spawn on top of a crate in one of the south tents.



Speak with Firiona about the books and journal 0/4 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Hail her until the task updates.

Firiona Vie opens the journal. 'It's in a cipher we have used before.' She scans the pages intently. 'His moods must have grown darker when we arrived beneath the sea. He says that he was seeking unused portals and domes, searching for a place to think...'

Firiona Vie reads from the journal. '...when time is given to me, I shall seek out the portal just beyond the inner wall. If the records speak truly, the dome shall be my refuge...'

Firiona Vie tosses the journal on the table. 'Did he take the staff there?! I told him to return to Ognit and set sail to Brother Island! Our party had to be alerted to the threat Lanys poses! Now they're all blind to the darkness that is about to descend!'

Firiona Vie crosses her arms. 'You should find the portal to which Al`Kabor referred. It is northwest of the temple. I must know where he's gone!'



Investigate the portal northwest of the temple 0/1 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

You'll see a portal in one of the stone gazebos northwest of the temple. Approach it.

You see a cracked portal with writing scrawled next to it. The message is written in another cipher, and you copy the letters.



Speak with Firiona Vie about the cipher 0/4 (Katta Castrum: Deluge)

Hail her until the task updates.

Firiona Vie translates the cipher and lays the paper on the table. 'Al`Kabor left before the attack, and... he teleported to an abandoned dome. He left coordinates and the words 'Station 10.' He took the staff there to think.'

Firiona Vie clenches her fist. 'I told him to go straight to Brother Island! How can I manage this expedition if I can't trust its members? Lanys and Una will be searching for him and the staff, if indeed Lanys still feels a connection with the Lifeguide. I must hasten to Al`Kabor immediately!'

Firiona Vie looks you in the eyes and places her hands on your shoulders. '_____, you have proven yourself capable and trustworthy thus far. I need you to go to Brother Island. Tell my companions they are all in danger and that we must meet on the island near the glinting shores.'

Firiona Vie says 'Ognit remains on the tempestuous island. Dagda, Dabner, and Dreezil stayed with the Brothers. Lyirae and Galeth sailed to the lost jungle shores. Thubr investigated the sunken halls of the dwarves. Return to Tempest Temple, the island of storms. Sail to Brother Island on the boat that stops at the dock. There you can speak with Jameswell Dagmire, one of the island's leaders. He can tell you more about my instructions to my companions. Go swiftly; we do not know how much time we have!'


Rewards:
Experience
60 platinum

This task is repeatable with a 6-hour lockout from the time of request.
Rewards:
Send a Correction
Post Comment
Bugs, bugs and more bugs :)
# Mar 19 2021 at 6:15 PM Rating: Excellent
Throughout this Expac there are bugs, bugs, bugs. A little patience and you can work your way through. Often logging whichever toon in your group can't see a particular NPC or Object will solve it. Even getting a task will sometimes not work on one in your group, but again logging to player select and coming back solved it. The entire expac is fun even though older content.
Failing everything, which didn't happen to me, but someone else mentioned it; drop the mission and redo, that seems to always work as a last resort. The fact that some of the NPC are underground, I'd not have figured had it not been pointed out to me on this site in the Degmar Castle section. Either clicking the ground where they are supposed to be (through Tracking or Find) or logging will always work. Good Luck :)
____________________________
Archery
book in basement
# Jan 15 2015 at 6:33 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
340 posts
If you go to the basement and the book is not on the table try relogging and it should pop up onto the top of the table.
book in basement
# Jan 14 2016 at 8:03 AM Rating: Decent
Or just wait a minute...
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