Cities of Ascalon

From GuildWiki

[edit] Overview

Summary

1. Find the historical monument in Surmia.
2. Find the historical monument in Nolani.
3. Find the historical monument in King's Watch.
4. Return to Symon the Scribe for your reward.

Obtained from

Symon the Scribe in Ascalon City

Requirements (under research, see discussion)

a Prophecies Campaign character

The Great Northern Wall (mission)

Reward

• 1,000 XP
• Earth Scroll:

Energy +6 (req. 5 Earth Magic)

Health +25

Armor +5

Health -20 or Energy -5 (The item will have one of the two modifiers. It is unknown at the moment whether it is random or based on some variable in the game.)

• Grim Cesta:

Energy +6 (req. 5 Blood Magic)

Health -50

Energy +3 (while enchanted)

Energy +3 (while hexed)

Energy +5 (while Health is below 40%)

OR

• Protective Icon:

Energy +5 (req. 3 Protection Prayers)

Energy +3 (while enchanted)

Dialogue

"Greetings, friend! I wonder if you can help me? I am attempting to preserve Ascalon's great history before all is lost. If, on your travels, you could find and record the founder's inscriptions for the cities of Nolani, Surmia, and King's Watch, I would be so grateful. I know these great cities are in ruins now, but Lyssa willing, you'll find historical markers among the wreckage. I look forward to your return."

Reward Dialogue

"Magnificent! These dates will help me to complete my history of Ascalon. Was it very dangerous? I would have gone myself, but a humble scholar such as myself wouldn't last a day out there."

Followup

Symon's History of Ascalon

[edit] Walkthrough

Note: The three markers can be obtained in any order.

• From Fort Ranik move west through Regent Valley, following the quest arrow until you reach the King's Watch Marker.

Note: You could do this from Sardelac Sanitarium. While it is farther away and the henchmen in Sardelac Sanitarium are only level 3 (they are level 6 in Fort Ranik), the enemies encountered by taking this route are easier also. If you are interested in human parties though, you are more likely to find human players attempting this quest from the Fort Ranik outpost.

• Do the Ruins of Surmia (mission), near the end (after you cross the tar river but before you lower the draw bridge) will be the Surmia Marker.
• From the Nolani Academy enter into the Diessa Lowlands (do not enter the mission). A very short distance from the portal, there's a huge staircase (guarded by mobs of gargoyles) leading to the Nolani Marker. The marker is a short distance from the top of the stairs. Locate the marker by using the Alt key and your radar.

[edit] Notes

• The quests Regent Valley Defense and The Red-Cloaked Deserter lead you to the same general area as the historical monument in King's Watch.
• The Grim Cesta quest reward item is a critical component in the Invincimonk build. These items will sell easily for a reasonable price so it is generally considered rather foolish to sell it to a merchant.
• The negative energy Scroll (the one on the right) is 'popular' with weapon-swapping PvP players, since it will reduce their base energy pool by -2 energy if they do not meet the requirements of 5 Earth Magic. (If this requirement is not met, the base energy pool of the Scroll (+3 energy) is used, instead of the +6 energy as in the description. In combination with the -5 energy, this results in -2 energy on the player's base energy pool.) Usually one can get a better price from PvP players for this item than at the merchant.
• Some players make characters only for the sake of running to the statues and collecting the Grim Cesta, either for their own claim or for selling purposes, in about 3 hours.

[edit] Rumors claiming "this has been nerfed!"

There is often misinformation about the availability of the quest items above. It comes in either the form of "This quest is no longer available," or "The -50 health focus is no longer rewarded." This is incorrect. When you read the quest, you may not see it in the reward part but the -50 health part of the focus is there.

There are likely two main causes for the rumors:

1. The conditions to make this quest available are not very straight forward. Thus if people arrive in Ascalon City and expect to find this quest immediately, they would be misled into thinking the quest has been nerfed. Additionally, the quest reward summary when accepting the quest does not show the full stats of the reward, especially the "-50 health" detail, misleading people into thinking the -50 health focus quest reward has been removed from the quest.
2. Because the -50 health plays a very vital role in 55 Monking, there are people simply creating the rumors to increase the price so they can make a bigger profit.