Sword of Lost Hope

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Quests

The quest for the Sword of Lost Hope involves a journey deep into the bowels of evil, where even the floors can kill you: the Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer!!!

The Dark Crucible
Entry to the dungeon is no easy feat. You must first complete three other quests, each requiring an Upper & a Lower team. The reward from each of the Upper sides will give you a piece required to create the Dark Crucible -- a magical artifact to be given to an Emissary of Asheron. The first quest, the Empyrean Cloister, will give you the Skull of Averon Palacost. The 2nd, into Shade Stronghold, will give you the Heart of Shadow. The prize for the 3rd quest is the Fragment of the Singularity. (Find out more about these items in Asheron's Missive, given by the Chosen of Asheron during the Child of Daralet event.)

Combine the Heart of the Shadow with the Fragment of the Singularity to make the Dark Singularity. Combine the Dark Singularity with the Skull of Averon Palacost to make the Dark Crucible. Take the Dark Crucible to the Chosen of Asheron in Cragstone (23.6N, 49.1E) or Hebian-to (41.9S, 83.0E) who will give you a portal gem to enter the Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer. (You can also receive Asheron's Second Missive.) 

You give Chosen of Asheron Dark Crucible.
Chosen of Asheron tells you, "The Hopeslayer has been destroyed, but you may wish to visit his lair nonetheless. This gem will bring you there."
Chosen of Asheron gives you Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer Portal Gem.

The Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer is restricted to Levels 36+, but it is strongly recommended that you be in your mid to upper 40s before attempting the quest. Before using the portal gem, make sure you are outside on flat ground with the area in front of you clear. You group will only have a short time to use the portal, so make sure everyone is ready to jump in before you use the gem!

Map: Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer

Preparation
The entrance room is safe, with the exception of a hard-to-see dark surface portal close to where you materialize. Be cautious! Wait to move until you fully appear, then move closer to the black obsidian pillar, so you don't get whisked out inadvertently. (That would suck!)

Before buffing, your group will need to organize. Inside the dungeon there is a lever, and further on a button, which must be used to activate doors below. Designate a small group of people to stay behind to pull the lever before joining up with the rest of the group (keep a mage in this group to help heal). Only one person should be required to push the button later on. 

Now buff! Buff, buff, buff, buff, buff! The dungeon is treacherous! It's thick with Destroyer, Harrower and Bane Grievvers, plus Umbris and Panumbris Shadows. Bane with Lightning, Acid, Piercing and Bludgeon, and use all 7 life protects, level VII recommended.

Mages will mainly be imperiling and healing. Use a Healer's Heart if you have one and watch everyone's health. Once you get past the initial city area, you'll be walking on a floor from which you will continuously take 9-11 damage as you walk on it. The safe areas are on the slopes, and in the pods. Have some Health Potions or Elixirs on hand, just in case. Fighters will kill. 

The First Lever
When everyone is ready, head over to the west wall of the entry room where you'll see three metal doors. Take the left door (cast weaken lock then pick open) and head down. Almost immediately you'll be attacked by about 8 Grievvers and 4 Shadows. After killing them, you'll see a large open room with a lever on the floor right in the middle. Leave your lever group here while the rest of the group heads straight through the city heading West. 

When you get to the three way split, take the middle (west) passage. Cross a grated floor and take the ramp down. You'll fight more Greivvers & Shadows. Head around to the right, then through an organic round door into the floor eating section. 

The Shadow-twisted organic floor absorbs 9 points of your flesh as you walk on it.
The Shadow-twisted organic floor absorbs 11 points of your flesh as you walk on it.
The Shadow-twisted organic floor absorbs 10 points of your flesh as you walk on it.

The floor, combined with lag, can be deadly (I should know ;-). You may wish to turn your graphics settings down. And don't forget to heal!! Straight ahead, past the room with the corpses hanging from the ceilings is the first lever activated door. Move directly to the left of this door and wait on the sloped areas (still fighting Grievvers & Shadows all the while) until the lever group is given the signal above. It's critical that the entire group gets through the first door before buffs expire. Once the lever has been pulled, everyone hustle through the door into the corridor. The upper group will run down to meet up with everyone here. Gather in one of the pods (where it's safe to stand) and rebuff.

The 2nd Trigger
The second door to be opened is across from the one everyone just came through. Once everyone has completed their buff cycle, the first door is reopened from the inside and the Grievvers pour in. Everyone can actually stay inside the pod while fighting them. When the coast is clear, send out the button pusher to trigger the 2nd door.

To get to the button, head through the SE door. Go straight, then head to the right. You'll run through several corridors and over uneven ground until you reach a chamber. The button is high up on the wall to your left. Be careful not to lose your way back! If the door closes behind you, you'll need someone from the group to open it from the other side, and they may be reluctant to venture out into danger after going through that 2nd door which only stays open for a limited time! You could find yourself standing there behind the locked door, while the floor chips steadily away at your health and the Grievvers come looking for you! (Thankfully, we survived the 2nd run to the button and were rescued from our predicament and made it through the 2nd door safely! ;-)

The Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer
When you've made it through the 2nd door, you'll be standing on a ledge overlooking the final room. A purple mist is ahead and the Grievvers and Shadows swarm around on the ground below like angry ants. It's that time again.

Buff like you've never buffed before. Bane your undies. Bane your armor. Bane your banes! Once again, all 7 life protects. Expect to die. When everyone is ready, start the Imperils. Then... jump! (Use shift-jump to avoid any wall weirdness on the jump.) One strategy is to jump in waves. Choose a victim to be the initial target and some buffed melees to be the first wave a second or two later. Mages are to continuously heal while they do some initial clearing. The 2nd wave of Melees and Archers jump next to help finish off the nasties, then the mages join below once the danger is past. Everyone should move towards the South section of the final room, near the altar and statues.

Mages can shift-jump on top of the statues to heal and imperil from above in relative safety. Try to stay in that south alcove. If you venture out into the main room, you will draw Grievvers and Shadows from above to you.

In addition to the 6-8 Bane Grievvers and ~4 Umbris Shadows, A Shadow of Black Ferah (level 153) also spawns. When Black Ferah is killed, the Blood of the Hopeslayer spawns on the corpse lying on the altar, the remains of Ilservian Palacost. 

As Black Ferah falls, you hear a cold, contemptuous voice declare, "Do with the blood as they will, outlander. My true form stays close to my master, who you cannot kill!"

Now it's just a "simple" matter of camping and killing, and buffing and imperiling and so forth. The spawn occurs every 4 minutes or so, so it's not too bad a wait for everyone who needs the Blood (the Blood may not be dropped or given). When everyone has their prize, recall out! (There is a surface portal on the opposite side on the final room.)

The Blood of the Hopeslayer is an infusion for the Sword of Lost Light. Once you infuse your sword, you may no longer add any of the other available infusions. Most people have chosen to first infuse their swords with the Red, White & Blue Fire Infusions before using the Blood of the Hopeslayer on their blades.

You can also turn infusions in to Lilly of Glenden Wood at 32.0N, 27.2E for a reward of XP! There's a 30 day timer on picking up infusions.

You give Lilly of Glenden Wood Blood of the Hopeslayer.
Lilly of Glenden Wood tells you, "Egad! What a disgusting mess! I'll just destroy this right now!"
You've earned 10,000,000 experience.

The Helm & Staff of the Lightbringer were one time rewards crafted from shards found on a corpse after the defeat of the Hopeslayer. The names of the six shards are Herald, Frore, Nexus, Fenmalain, Caulnalain, and Shendolain. 

Read more about the history of Ilservian Palacost and this quest in the Zone story The Fourth Sending of Darkness by Chris L'etoile.

Sepulcher of the Hopeslayer

For fabulous screenshots of this quest click here.

Special thanks to the members of DaMonarchy, under the leadership of Danier, for taking me through the quest 3 times! Doogens Mage, Dacia, Calli, Zero the Hero, Silent Prey, Sanouske, Mogwai, Feyn, Quietfire, Southernstill, Galfrida, Kooley, Valen Thorduval, Orthin, Saturos, Kurpal, and also to my vassal Ned Cleversun, healer and buffer extraordinaire.

Thanks also to members of the Blurrians on TD who were on my first attempt. 

Thanks to Lee Garados, Axen, Keth al-Sheth and Freefall for the Shard Rewards info.