Secondly, the Three Musketeers (plus d'Artagnan) of SMRT Feedback by The Vigilanteh seemed to have... well, renewed their beef with Xiaxue. Now let me just say a few things.
1. I do follow the online Three Musketeers (plus d'Artagnan) on FB.
2. I am never guilty of liking and sharing every post they upped.
3. Despite sometimes linking to Xiaxue's blog, I don't follow her because she's no Daenerys Targaryen.
4. I blame my super mignonne legal housebreaker for giving me the idea when it comes to the 3rd point.
5. Okay, that's a lie. It's Nasu's fault because someone mentioned rapist son and slut daughter. I don't have to up the more relevant link(s) because even someone like Guts does have a sense of honor. And I really like Guts for more than just his... well, guts.
6. I don't profess to have read the Berserk manga or seen the anime. I did, however, know about the series in a very special manner.
["Did you get her?"
Before Myrreas' question, Arylos merely gave a stare. Not one of disappointment, but rather that of anger. Despite Mystra's advice, the ranger of Kelemvor nonetheless went ahead in taking on Nostura with that golden belt looted from Lostmauth's hoard. Ironically, it was his seeming recklessness which brought about victory. Should he wear that other belt of twined ropes instead, Nostura would have detected a different nature of magic. The first time they faced off against each other in the vaults below the Hall of Justice, the Or-tel-quessir's link to the Feywild had told him much. By choosing not to arouse his enemy's wariness, Arylos had effectively put himself into a situation where the line between risk and prudence was blurred. Alas, Nostura of the Stone Eye made good her escape before the duel could be seen to its end.
That nasty woman... I swear I'll kill you...
"Ary's in no shape to say anything," snapped Cyrea, her glare invoking peals of laughter from the Dalelander.
"You call our hero what? Ary? That's so unlike a proper lady like you, Your Highness," chuckled the rogue as he gave a curtsy, "Then again, who am I to assume anything if even a prudent soul like Arylos of Neverwinter was crazy enough to trust a mimic?"
"Stop that, little boy! The three of you better come back now. I'm not interested in forcing myself to maintain the illusion spell just for this. You get me?"
"You don't have to threaten us, Kavatos," replied the hero of Neverwinter as he stood up with a wavering posture, the telepathic voice of Dagult Neverember's new chief adviser still reverberating in his head. Pushing Cyrea aside, a fatigued Arylos trudged forward. Only to behold a glimpse of Mystra smiling towards him. Before the wood elf could respond, a blinding flash enveloped the trio with words from the Lady of Mysteries supplanting the echoes of Kavatos' ire.
"Your life is truly a mirror of your god when he was still Kelemvor Lyonsbane. So soothing, yet so heartrending at the same time..."]
First boss done: First impression
There's one thing the good ppl of NWO forgot to mention concerning the army of Tainted Grove. The author was right in saying the dryads and nothics are quite easy (albeit for some funny reason, they seemed to have gotten some Korean treatment in terms of critical damage. No offense intended to Koreans btw). However, a few things seemed to have been left out.
1. The army of Tainted Grove are still the easiest enemies you get to fight in the River District.
2. You can try fighting the horde of Ember Hollow first before telling me how "easy" River District really is. At least try surviving the full onslaught of any dreadnought's 3 hit combo. And that's not taking into account that big damn thing's high mobility.
3. The Nashers' artillery seems to induce a slow effect. Arylos' movement was slowed significantly after getting shot. And that's not to mention the dryads' artillery as well. Either that or I'm actually fighting against fatigue in real life.
4. Nostura is a nasty woman. Period.
Entering Nostura's castle was quite a quirky experience. Firstly, you get to see a familiar face in the form of Alihan Duskflight. What's truly interesting is the impact Nostura may have created upon New Sharandar (since that place is situated in the Feywild as well). If you're a curious cat like yours truly, then you'd have sensed something amiss. By my own guess, it's only 20 years at most since the events in Fury of the Feywild (read: TCA most likely took place a few years after 1485 DR while the starting timeline surrounding the game was most likely around 1479-1480 DR). Let's see here...
1. Alihan is an elf.
2. This means he should have a memory surpassing an elephant.
3. Basically, this means his hazy memory (apparently, he only found you familiar despite being one of the quest givers during FotF) points to something more nefarious than that Stone woman becoming a turncoat (something archdruid Morningdawn uncovered during your trip back to the Lynching Tree in years).
4. His presence means New Sharandar is currently in trouble. And possibly the entire Feywild as well.
Apparently, Nostura is a feytouched (while this is a trait commonly associated with various types of warlocks, I won't be surprised if reality includes wizards, clerics, fighters, etc). At the same time, however, something went wrong and she betrayed the archfey (read: she terminated the pact on a unilateral basis). As a result, she pledged allegiance with another being in the Feywild. Quite possibly something way nastier than Valindra Shadowmantle herself (at least that crazy woman wasn't powerful enough to manipulate the inhabitants of New Sharandar).
So what are the few possibilities surrounding that Stone woman?
1. Her willingness to let Neverember live while opting not to fight you (i.e. Chapter 2) implied she has no qualms in turning against Gyrion should the need arise. Basically, it means she might have her own agenda and it has got nothing to do with the rightful heir of Neverwinter, Myrreas or no Myrreas.
2. The astounding extent of her command over the power of Feywild might also indicate a third party force at work. A theory reinforced by Morningdawn's discovery before the Lynching Tree.
3. If so, then that very third party power is currently allied with the Far Realm for nefarious purposes yet to be revealed.
4. And that includes the whole of Feywild as part of the deal by my own guess.
Before I start my FAQ...
Let me just say that the term "Stone woman" is unrelated to Emma "not Watson, but still a talented Emma" Stone. The whole "Stone woman" term was a product of my warped creativity. Period.
The fight is separated into three phases. Namely, riding a stag, killing stuff, and that duel.
The first phase has to be the most surreal thing I've ever done as a Neverwinner. When you play Street Fighter, you don't expect yourself to annihilate a car first.
There's a reason why I upped the Final Fight version instead of the Street Fighter 2 version. It's called how we S'poreans tend to treat our cars.
Before the Nostura fight, however, you'll have to test your Daytona skill. Now let me just stress home the fact that it took me around 4 tries to reach the finishing point. If you think it's something like the Twilight Run in the yearly Simril event, you're wrong. The terrain is full of trees, roots, and uneven ground. There's no way you can go auto-pilot. Period (unless the level of your jump execution is too damn high).
The Feywild Daytona run requires you to navigate the purple balls of death and bomb tokens. Not only that, you have to jump over the cliff twice. Initially, the race was quite straightforward for me. Just dodge the bomb tokens. Period. Once the balls of purple death started coming out, this was where the tricky part arrived.
There are two ways to deal with it. Either you evade them or you really have to jump over them. Do NOT try running through them. You'll die. If you're not confident of dodging them on the ground, then just press spacebar. Yes, a large chunk of your HP will be gone. But at least healing potions are available. The first wave should be relatively easy to dodge on the ground since they're further apart from each other (if I can do this, so can you). The second wave is trickier because the balls actually covered pretty much most of the area in front of you. For me, the foolproof way is to run along the edge and jump. You really have to jump and keep your fingers crossed. If your timing is good enough (and I've done it once before), you can just jump over them without any HP loss.
On the bomb tokens, you have to press forward repeatedly instead of letting the mount run at auto-pilot. This because pressing W like the Mad Spammer (yes, I do have a childhood despite a broken past) is the only way for you not to get killed outright. The bomb token will just suck you in like a maelstrom once you touch that thing fyi.
To jump successfully, you'll need to start the run from the last bomb token. Once you reach the cliff, just press spacebar. You need to jump somewhere to the right. If you try this from the center (let alone the left), it means you'll have to respawn and restart. And that's for the first lap.
For the second lap, it's much more straightforward. You only need to dodge the tokens. Also, all you need to do when it comes to jumping is aiming properly. Unlike the first lap, the second landing point is pretty much in clear view.
The third lap is the most problematic one. This is where you need to pause and time your run. There's no way you can survive by running forward without stepping on the brake. It's like getting yourself into a traffic accident just because you think your grandfather owns the road (let alone being so self-delusional, you actually think the late Mr Lee was actually your grandfather).
Just run along the edge in a zig-zag manner while minding the bomb tokens. If you play this right, there's no way you can't survive the Feywild Daytona.
Also one more thing: There is no such thing as the third jump. Once you reach the end of the third lap, you don't try jumping like Super Mario. There's a narrow (and I mean very narrow) ledge connecting the third lap to the finishing point. You may not see it at first, but that's because the whole damn thing is too narrow. Remember, the camera view would always be at the front while the narrow path is somewhere towards the left side.
Suddenly feel the need to pat myself on the back after pulling off a victory unthinkable...
And now for that Stone woman
Before reaching Nostura, you have to clear 6 mob waves. The dps is slightly upped, but nothing of a big deal. At most, the final mob comprising of a fell troll and gorgon (among the rest, that is) is slightly harder. Nothing much to shout about since you're given one whole stretch of terrain to move about. If you don't even understand the tactical art of running about, it means there's something seriously wrong with you.
Once you reach Nostura's territory, that's where the hard part comes. Even with a total item level of 3.2K, Arylos still had a massive challenge up in his hands. Firstly, Nostura is no glass cannon. She will just troll you about with her high-end mobility while her dps game is no laughing matter (although I won't be surprised if Gyrion's dps is the highest in-game out of the three with Kabal's being the lowest. Yet to try the other two, though). The worst part of the deal, however, lies in her stoner gaze. Not the kind you may get to see when that unknown moron is speeding like a Mat (or Mak because I have to be impartial here) Rempit on four wheels. Rather, I'm referring to Greek mythology.
The first time I got myself stoned, I swore not to get myself into trouble again. The moment she starts screaming something coherent (plus that orange eye symbol lighting up if I recalled correctly), you get stoned come the next moment, And Nostura will just proceed to gimp you up close and personal like a woman scorned (this basically unlike the nothic stoner where it will just leave you stoned). The damage is quite high. I think it took off like around 60% of Arylos' HP (this is considering having a Brynnyr's Demise and the fact that combat hunter rangers have the 2nd best base defensive game out of all the melee dps apart from great weapon fighters). You only have like 1-2 seconds to react. Period. The problem in dealing with this attack (i.e. it's the same thing as that nothic stoner gaze) lies in an invisible AoE. Which means there's no red zone as an indicator. You have to fight blind. In fact, chances are that you'll have to shift forward instead of shifting sideways or backward. That's how I dodged every such stoner attack. And believe it or not, the only moment where I failed was when my dodge timing was off by 1-2 seconds.
At the same time, the terrain seems to have some kind of AP draining effect. I think I was only able to pull off Forest Ghost like 1-2 times. The rest of my daily power usage was focused on Disruptive Shot.
Note: If both your daily powers are that kind of 100% AP usage, it's better for you to use a tidespan potion. As for the defensive end, just use either a Steadfast Devotion, Foehammer's Favor, or potion of heroism. If your character's daily powers do not require 100% AP to pull off, then you may want to go with Corellon's Blood/Wild Storm with a fortification potion instead.
After a few rounds of trading hits, it became evident that either Nostura is a closet tank (which would have made far less sense than Harold & Kumar *insert your fave version here*) or she has some really high-end deflect+deflect severity game. Trading hits are not gonna work out. Given the fact that Kabal is most likely the only melee member out of the Ascending Four (including Lukan for convenience's sake), what it means is that Nostura's mobility was the reason why she's such a nasty woman.
And therein comes the key to winning: You really have to move about. I'm not joking here, that's basically what I did. And besides, I'm more interested in making Arylos as the next Perseus instead of some nameless victim petrified by an entity of raging feminism. If Nostura wants to play a game of mobility, it merely means Arylos can play this game equally well.
Ultimately, it's about timing your attacks so that you don't miss that floating target. This is a fight where fast hitting combos will win the duel, not some chargeable high damage tactic. If you do not have such an at-will power, then at least make sure your staple at-will power(s) won't take like 2-3 seconds to pull off. That'd be too late.
Planar shifting and all the blue bs
Once you reduce Nostura's HP to a certain level, she will go hibernating. I know it sounds like some kind of mama grizzly logic, but trust me when I say you really have to find a way to fight her again (read: Nostura will always claim immunity whenever her HP bar goes green instead of the customary red). To be honest, I'm not about to wait and see what would happen if Arylos tarried too long. See the Eye of Sauron somewhere at the center? Yes, that eye. Don't go past it because nothing will happen. You can try pressing F, but what if it fails? The answer is very simple: Just left click. That's what I do, that's where Nostura resumed her taunting of Arylos.
This so-called second phase will be that tactical doom-or-boom. And I say tactical because overcoming this part won't give you victory while failure to do so means #RESPAWNLOL for you.
Initially, I decided to end it once and for all. After all, it should be theoretically okay to do so in Nostura's (newly created) backyard, right? Wrong. This was when she aimed her Death Star at me! It's not funny, I swear. If I never triggered a Gondhammer as a counter-measure, that'd really be #RESPAWNLOL for all the wrong reasons!
Yes, that was a rant. So did I #RESPAWNLOL as a result? You may not believe it, but I don't spam my Gondhammer like the Mad Spammer for a reason. At the same time, I got like 20+ charges left for my Stone of Health. It's a good thing to see that thing being useful after 11 mods' worth of gaming. Period (and that's not to mention a blue Stone of Health still left untouched). Which means a combination of SoH and Insight of Gond(hammer) was the reason why Arylos survived Nostura's Death Star (and no, I didn't foresee Nostura having a Death Star. You don't expect the enemy to tell you whether it's a royal flush or two pair in his/her hand, tyvm).
Now let me just say that it's #IMPOSSIBRU to end the fight at this phase unless it's a #RESPAWNLOL for you. You really have to end the fight at the original territory. In order to phase Nostura back to reality (so as to speak), you need to attack all the blue flames at the edge and snuff them out. Yes, Nostura will come after you like your ax crazy ex. But hey, you really need to do it before she fires her Death Star at you the second time (and trust me, she's capable of doing that).
Once you snuffed out the blue flames (basically every flame snuffed will explode into a geyser as undeniable proof), Nostura will just scream Nine Hells and the Lord of Murder. After which she will proceed to attack you per normal (that is if someone like her can be considered normal). Please note that the reality phasing will take place twice. Also (if I remembered correctly), her Death Star will only be activated during the so-called phased reality part.
It's a tough fight for me, but believe it or not... Arylos actually pulled through the fight without a #RESPAWNLOL
Note: Apparently, the repeatable version of the fight only gives you XP. Something's not right, it's not as if we're talking about quest replay.
Add note: I don't know about Kabal and Gyrion, but it must be stated that the Nostura fight should be considered a party instance taking place in open world. You can try solo'ing her, but chances are that this will be another Vault of the Nine quest where the only way to survive is to play a tank. Maybe even worse for all I know.
P.S: I will be trying to write up my ideal Ascendancy artifact weapons set choice for Arylos, Cyrea, and Myrreas respectively. I'll be having the whole of Friday for myself since I'll be on leave.
Suddenly feel the need to pat myself on the back after pulling off a victory unthinkable...
Edit/P.S: Forgot to add this most important piece of info. Once Nostura fires her Death Star, it will definitely hit you. Only way to break out of jail? Just dps her until the Death Ray expires. Trust me, it's the only way out unless you want a #RESPAWNLOL
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