The Hollow Crown — chapters 1 and 2

Chapter 1 — The Siege of Oradin

Overview of the chapter

1. Talk to Castellan Brannoc Vell and accept the siege.
2. Hold the East Wall post (3 waves).
3. Hold the South Wall post (3 waves). East and South can be done in either order.
4. Hold the Kingsgate from inside its tunnel: 4 waves, the last one bringing the Ram of Kher. The Kingsgate lever stays chained until both walls are held.
5. Go back to the Castellan and report.

There is no daily limit. The siege is always available, and characters who have already finished the chapter can join again for loot and experience (they just don't get quest credit a second time).

Step 1 — Talk to the Castellan

Climb the White Stair north of the temple to the hall of the Empty Chair. Castellan Brannoc Vell stands beside the throne.

When you accept, you see "The horns of Oradin sound. The siege has begun." and the Quest Log mission The Siege of Oradin appears.

Optional lore keywords: kingsgate / tunnel (he explains the killing ground), wicket, lamps, chair / throne, oradin.

Tip: do not try the sevrin or king keywords hoping for a hint — he refuses to say the name.

Steps 2 and 3 — The wall posts

Each wall post has a lever and a fenced defence zone inside the walls. Pull the lever and the waves start spawning inside the zone. The fence normally keeps the monsters inside the zone.

How a post runs.

• The first wave appears about 3 seconds after the lever is pulled. Each new wave comes about 5 seconds after the previous one is completely dead.
• Each wave is announced in orange above your head and in the server log: "Wave 1 of 3 - the thorns are climbing!" (east) or "Wave 1 of 3 - drakes over the wall!" (south).
• When the third wave dies: "The east wall holds. The thorns go back to the ash." or "The south wall holds. The drakes go back over the water."

Who gets credit. Every player who is inside the defence zone when the last monster of wave 3 dies and has Chapter 1 in progress gets the post marked as held. Pulling the lever is not enough on its own: if you step out of the zone before the end, you don't get the credit. Several players on the quest can therefore clear a post together, and all of them are credited.

Lever messages.

Failing a wall. You cannot really lose a wall. If everybody in the zone dies or leaves, the post resets 2 minutes after the zone became empty (back to wave 1, monsters removed). Until then the lever says the post is busy. Remember that dying sends you to the temple of your Old Shore home town, not to Oradin (see Getting there), so bring a team that does not die.

Monster notes (walls).

Ash Revenants have a rare drop, the unburnt letter: one of four short letters written in Kher on the night of the fire. They are lore collectibles.

Step 4 — The Kingsgate and the Ram of Kher

The Kingsgate is a tunnel through the cliff, about 15 squares long and 3 squares wide, with a gate at each end. The Kingsgate itself stands at the city end and the Wardens' Door at the desert end. Outside the siege the Kingsgate is open and the tunnel is an ordinary passage.

During the siege the Wardens turn the tunnel into a killing ground. They let you in through the wicket, a small door inside the Kingsgate, and close the gate behind you. Then they open the Wardens' Door from inside, let in one wave at a time, and finally let in the Ram. Your job is to stand between the Ram and the Kingsgate and keep it from breaking the gate.

Where. Walk east from the temple towards the Kingsgate. The waiting room is the open area on the city side of the gate. The lever is at the west end of a row of five floor positions leading towards the gate, as at a boss lever.

Who can enter.

• Position 1, the square right next to the lever, is the player who pulls. This player must have the siege accepted and both walls held, or must have completed Chapter 1 already. Pulling from any other square only gives "Sorry, not possible."
• Positions 2–5 accept any player of level 1000 or higher as a helper. A player below 1000 standing on a position is left behind with "The Wardens will not open the wicket for you. Come back when you can survive a walk outside the walls."; everyone else still goes in.
• A helper who is also on the quest, with both walls held, gets the Kingsgate credit too. A team of quest players can clear the gate together in one run. Helpers who are not on the quest get experience and loot only.

Lever messages.

Entering. When the lever is pulled:

• anyone in the tunnel who is not part of your group is walked out to the waiting room ("A Warden takes you by the collar and walks you out of the tunnel. "Siege. Out of the way."");
• your group appears at the west end of the tunnel, right behind the Kingsgate, with: "The Wardens open the wicket, push you through and bar it behind you. The tunnel is yours now - and so is whatever they let in.";
• the Kingsgate closes behind you, and the first wave arrives about 3 seconds later at the east end of the tunnel, just inside the Wardens' Door.

The waves. Each one is announced as "Wave N of 4 - they are through the Wardens' Door!"

Unspoken Riders. A Rider (40,000 HP) does not die when you "kill" it. Its horse falls and the knight gets up as an Unspoken (24,000 HP) on the same square. Experience and loot come from the Unspoken. The Rider's Charge knocks you back 1 square. Its Scream of the Unspoken (5×5 around it) drains mana and leaves you unnamed for 3 seconds: you cannot cast spoken spells, but potions and runes still work. Riders and Unspoken resist physical and ice damage, are immune to death damage and are slightly weak to fire and holy.

The Ram of Kher

What it wants. The Ram spawns at the east end and marches west to the Kingsgate, ignoring you. While it is marching, none of its attacks do anything. It only turns to fight once your group has dealt it real damage (about 2% of its health, roughly 9,600). After that it fights whoever holds it. If it is left without a target for about 4 seconds (the tank died, everyone backed off), it resumes the march.

The gate. Every 8 seconds, if the Ram is next to any of the three Kingsgate pieces (diagonals count), it strikes the gate, whether it is fighting someone or not.

That is six strikes, about 48 seconds of the Ram standing next to the gate, over the whole attempt. Damage to the gate is never repaired during an attempt.

Its attacks (only once it has aggro).

• Strike: a very heavy melee blow (up to about 7,800).
• Sweep: a 3-wide, 2-deep blow in front of it (about 5,000–6,800) that pushes you back 1 square.
• Hurled Basalt: a rock thrown at a player up to 6 squares away, hitting a 3×3 area (about 3,700–5,000). This is the attack that punishes the back line.
• Release: every 30 seconds, 2 Thornbound climb off its back. They give no experience or loot; kill them or keep them off your healers.
• Ram Frenzy: once, at 50% health, it moves at double speed for 10 seconds.

How to hold it. You win the fight by positioning, not just damage.

1. The Ram walks west along the tunnel. Meet it in the middle of the tunnel, well away from the Kingsgate.
2. The knight stands in front of the Ram, facing it, and grabs aggro with heavy damage straight away. Everyone else stands behind the knight, between the knight and the Kingsgate, and burns it (fire is a good choice).
3. The Sweep and the Riders' Charge push players west, towards the gate. Every push is ground you lose. The knight should step forward again after each push instead of drifting back. If you retreat too far, the Ram ends up next to the gate.
4. Watch the 50% frenzy: for 10 seconds it can cover a lot of tunnel. Keep its target alive and in front of it.
5. If your tank dies, someone must hit it hard immediately, or it starts marching to the gate again.

The tunnel is only 3 squares wide, so area spells hit the whole wave. Clear waves 1–3 quickly and save cooldowns and potions for wave 4.

Victory. The attempt is won the moment the Ram dies, even if some of wave 4 is still alive. You see: "The Ram of Kher falls in the tunnel and does not get up. The Wardens are raising the gate - walk out, and take what it left." Anything left of the wave vanishes, then the Kingsgate rises. Quest players with both walls held also see "Oradin holds. For tonight.", and the Kingsgate is marked as held.

You have 90 seconds to loot. The Ram's corpse stays in the tunnel, nobody is pushed out, and the lever stays busy until the window ends. Possible Ram loot: crystal coins, siege plating, Ram's basalt shard, Kher siege trophy (rare), Warden's white cloak (very rare) and Thurgh's knuckle (very rare).

Failure. If the gate falls, the surviving members of your group are dragged back to the waiting room ("Hands reach through the breach and drag you back into Oradin. Behind you, the Wardens wall up what is left of the gate."), and the Ram and its wave vanish. The Kingsgate is then rebuilt for 10 minutes: nobody can pass through it, the lever answers with the rebuilding message, and the Wardens' Door is barred. When the rebuild ends, people in the waiting room see "The Kingsgate stands again. It is not as proud as it was."

Failing costs you nothing else. You keep your two walls, there is no death penalty for the failure itself and there is no personal cooldown. Try again once the gate is back.

Leaving the tunnel during the fight: the wicket. One square in the tunnel, in the north row, three squares east of the Kingsgate, is the inner side of the wicket. If you walk onto it, you see "You bang on the wicket. It opens just wide enough, and a Warden hauls you back into Oradin." and leave the fight for good: you cannot rejoin this attempt. Being pushed onto that square by the Ram or a Rider does not take you out. You never arrive in the tunnel on that square either.

Other ways to stop being a participant.

• Death: you wake up in your Old Shore home-town temple (Oradin cannot be a home town yet), so you are out of this attempt; the fight goes on for the others.
• Logout: you log back in in the waiting room, no longer a participant.
• If nobody in your group is left alive inside the tunnel, the attempt is abandoned. The Ram and its wave vanish and the Kingsgate opens again without the 10-minute rebuild, so you can pull again right away.

Step 5 — Report to the Castellan

Return to Castellan Brannoc Vell and say report.

• If something is missing: "Not yet. I can still hear something screaming on a wall, and it is not one of ours."
• If the gate is currently being rebuilt, he complains about it instead ("The gate is down. Three hundred years, and it had to be tonight...").
• With East Wall, South Wall and Kingsgate all held: "The walls hold. The gate holds. Oradin holds - for tonight. Take this as thanks: the Wardens' colours are yours. And go talk to Ysolde on the fifth terrace..."

Chapter 1 rewards

• Warden of the Stair outfit, base (male and female): "You have received the Warden of the Stair outfit." The addons come with Chapters 3 and 4.
• Achievement The Walls Hold — "Thorns on the east wall, drakes over the south wall, a ram in the Kingsgate. Oradin holds. For tonight." (grade 1, 3 points)
• A fixed experience reward worth about one hour of hunting at level 1000, currently 12,000,000 experience, not affected by rates or stamina.
• Quest Log: The Siege of Oradin is completed. It now reads: "The walls held. The gate held. Oradin holds - for tonight. The Castellan gave me the Wardens' colours and sent me to Lamplighter Ysolde, on the fifth terrace, to ask about the lamps."
• From now on the Castellan greets you with "Warden. The walls are still standing, which I take personally as a compliment.", and Warden Maren Holt at the Heel Watch has a new line for you.

Chapter 2 — The Gaze

Overview of the chapter

1. Talk to Lamplighter Ysolde and receive the Veil of Cinders.
2. Pass the Wardens' Door into the Cindermarch.
3. Touch the three Waystones: HALDRIC (north), OSWEN (on the King's Road) and MERE (south). They can be done in any order.
4. Find Scout Tamsin Rook at the lost Cartographers' camp and kill the Marshal of the Unspoken.
5. Walk into the plaza of the Mourngate. The chapter completes only if steps 3 and 4 are done.

Step 1 — Lamplighter Ysolde and the Veil of Cinders

Ysolde stands under the Great Lamp, on the same floor as the Castellan's hall, a little to the south.

The Quest Log mission The Gaze starts. Other useful keywords: gaze / eye (how the Gaze works), veil (recharge or replacement, see below), names, caller.

The Gaze — the rule of the desert

The Cindermarch is watched by the Nameless King's Eye. It only sees players under the open sky. Any square in the shadow of a ruin or wall (next to a wall or inside a ruin) is safe. Monsters are never affected.

Stepping back into shadow shows "The Gaze passes over you." and stops the damage and the rider timer.

The Gaze Riders are normal Riders: they give normal experience and loot when their Unspoken dies. The Gaze is dangerous because it never stops, not because of the riders.

The Mourngate plaza itself is entirely in shadow, but the last few squares of the King's Road just before it are under the full Gaze.

The Veil of Cinders

"Ash from the lamps of Kher, sewn into cloth from the lamps of Oradin. It has been in both cities. It would rather not go back."

• Use the Veil: 90 seconds of complete immunity to both kinds of Gaze ("You pull the veil over you. The ash forgets you for a while."). This costs 1 charge. It has 3 charges when full.
• Using it while it is already active costs nothing and tells you how long is left ("The veil is already over you. It has 45 seconds left in it.").
• With no charges left: "The veil is only cloth now. It needs a Waystone, or the lamps of Oradin, to remember what it is."
• Look at the Veil in your backpack to see "Veil of Cinders: 2 of 3 uses left." and, while it is active, the seconds remaining. The same line appears every time you use it.
• Recharging refills it to 3 charges:
• touching any Waystone (every time, not only the first time);
• entering Oradin ("Under the lamps of Oradin, the veil remembers what it is." This only appears when a charge was actually missing);
• saying veil to Ysolde ("Stand under the lamp a moment. There. It remembers.").
• Lost your Veil? Say veil to Ysolde and she gives you a new one, fully charged. There is no limit.
• Charges belong to your character, not to the cloth, and dying does not cost charges.
• The Veil does not protect you from the Marshal's mark (see the Marshal, below).

Using it well. Travel in the shadows along ruins wherever possible. Each route has a few unavoidable open stretches of roughly 8–15 squares; those stretches are what the Veil is for. Activate it just before you leave the shadow, not after "You are seen." Spending a charge at each Waystone costs you nothing, because touching the stone refills the Veil.

Step 2 — Into the Cindermarch

The Wardens' Door. Walk east from the temple through the Kingsgate tunnel (it is open when no siege is running). The Wardens' Door is at its far east end. It opens only for characters who have started Chapter 2. Anyone else sees "The door seems to be sealed against unwanted intruders."

While a Kingsgate siege is running, or during the 10-minute rebuild, the Wardens' Door is barred from both sides. From the desert you get "The Wardens' Door is barred from the inside. Through the planks you can hear fighting in the tunnel."

The Cinder Postern. A small postern gate in the wall south of the Kingsgate is always open to everyone. It leads into the Outer March. Nothing physically stops you from walking from there into the desert, but without the quest and the Veil the Gaze makes it unbearable. Use the Postern to get out of the city when the Kingsgate is busy with a siege.

The King's Road. Beyond the Wardens' Door, the old paved King's Road runs east across the desert towards the Mourngate. It is the easiest landmark in the Cindermarch: the middle Waystone stands on it, and its last stretch turns north-east to end at the Mourngate plaza.

Step 3 — The three Waystones

Each Waystone is a large standing stone with letters glowing like embers, in the middle of a ring of ruins. The squares right around the stone are in shadow. Use the stone to touch it:

"The stone remembers a name: HALDRIC. You feel the Gaze slide off you for a moment."

On the first touch you receive a Waystone Shard ("You have received a Waystone Shard."). Each stone gives its own shard, with a different glyph. Keep them as proof of the three stones; they have no other use. Every touch also refills your Veil.

There is no required order. A natural route is OSWEN (on the road), then HALDRIC (north), then the lost camp, then MERE, then back north along the King's Road to the Mourngate. Another is to do MERE last and recharge in Oradin before the long walk.

If you touch a stone before you have spoken to Ysolde, you only read the name. Come back with the quest.

Step 4 — Scout Tamsin Rook and the Marshal of the Unspoken

The lost camp. The lost camp is the ruin of a fallen tower, a ring of wall about 20 squares across with an opening on its north side. It stands in the western half of the Middle March, north-east of Oradin. The edges of the ring are in shadow, and its centre is open sky under the full Gaze. Tamsin is leaning on the inner wall.

Starting the fight. Say hi to Tamsin (you must have started Chapter 2; otherwise she only says "Keep your voice down. If the Lamplighter did not send you, you should not be out here." and nothing happens):

"Took you long enough. Don't stand in the middle - it sees the middle. Here comes their captain. Kill the horse first; the rider hates walking."

The Marshal of the Unspoken appears, mounted, in the centre of the ring. Only one Marshal can exist at a time. If one is already alive, Tamsin just repeats her line.

The Marshal, mounted (300,000 HP, no experience):

• the Rider's kit, made stronger: lance thrusts at range 2, a Charge that knocks you back, a Scream that drains mana and leaves you unnamed (no spoken spells for a few seconds), and fire around its horse's hooves;
• Muster: every 40 seconds it calls 2 Unspoken Riders (at most 2 at a time). These summons give no experience or loot;
• "The middle sees you": about every 15 seconds he yells "The middle. Stand in the middle. The King wants to see you." and marks one player ("The Marshal points you out. In the open, the King is watching."). If the marked player spends 3 seconds in a row under the open sky during the next 8 seconds, a bolt of the Gaze hits them for about 6,000–8,000 death damage. Shadow protects you; the Veil does not. When you are marked, step to the shadowed edge of the ring.

The Marshal, on foot. When the mounted Marshal "dies", the horse falls and the Marshal Unspoken gets up (180,000 HP). On foot he hits harder (Shadow Strike, a bleeding cut, a slowing death bolt) but no longer marks players. Every 15 seconds he tries to remount: if he goes 6 seconds without taking damage, he climbs back on the horse with 120,000 health and the mark returns. Keep hitting him without pause until he dies.

Both forms resist physical and ice damage, are immune to death and are slightly weak to fire and holy.

Credit. When the Marshal on foot dies, every player on Chapter 2 who damaged him or who is inside the camp ring is credited with Tamsin's rescue. Talk to her again:

"Right. The gate is east, straight down the king's road. I'll see you in Oradin - I am not walking back with you, you attract attention."

Loot (on the Marshal on foot): crystal coins, the Marshal's standard (always), the Marshal's lance (rare, two-handed) and the Cinderhorse bridle (extremely rare collectible).

If you leave. If the camp stays empty, with nobody within a few squares of the Marshal, for 60 seconds, the Marshal disappears. Say hi to Tamsin again to call him back.

Tactics.

• Fight along the shadowed edge of the ring and pull the Marshal there. The centre punishes everyone, both through the full Gaze and through the mark.
• The background Gaze in the centre can still be cancelled with the Veil. The mark cannot.
• Kill the 2 mustered Riders quickly, or tank them away from the healer. Remember that each Rider "dies" twice (Rider, then Unspoken).
• Put all your damage into the on-foot form. Even a short pause can let him remount at 120,000 health.

From now on, Tamsin also talks to you in Oradin, at the Cartographers' Guild: hi, gate / mourngate, march / cindermarch, eye. Characters who haven't rescued her get only "Guild business. Maps, mostly. Come back when you have walked the march and lived."

Step 5 — The Mourngate

Follow the King's Road to its end, north-east through the Deep March. The last few squares before the plaza are under the full Gaze. The road ends in a square of black flagstones between two peaks, with seven headless equestrian statues and, on the north side, a huge basalt gate with no hinges: the Mourngate. The whole plaza is in shadow.

Walk into the plaza. If you have all three Waystones and the Marshal is dead, the voice of the Herald speaks:

"The gate knows one name. Do you carry it?"

Chapter 2 is complete. If something is missing, you hear the same voice, at most once a minute, but nothing else happens. Finish what is missing, then walk out of the plaza and back in.

The gate does not open yet. You learn why in Chapter 3. The inscription at the base of the central statue reads "HERE THE SEVEN GAVE WHAT THEY HAD."

The return teleport. In the south-west corner of the plaza there is a magic forcefield. Once Chapter 2 is complete, it takes you back to the top of Oradin (the lookout above the Castellan's hall) whenever you want. Before that it refuses: "Nothing happens. The way back only answers to those Oradin sent this far."

Chapter 2 rewards

• Achievement Under the Eye — "You crossed the Cindermarch with the Eye upon you, and stood before a gate that knows one name." (grade 2, 4 points)
• A fixed experience reward of 1.5× the Chapter 1 reward, currently 18,000,000 experience.
• The permanent return teleport from the Mourngate to Oradin.
• Quest Log: The Gaze is completed. It now reads: "Tamsin Rook is safe in Oradin, and I have stood before the Mourngate. The Herald asked whether I carry the one name the gate knows. I do not. Not yet."
• You keep the Veil of Cinders. It is still useful every time you cross the desert.

How Chapter 3 is unlocked

Ysolde now tells you, if you say lamps: "You have seen the gate, then. Lamps are no use against a gate. Books might be. Ask the Archivist."

Go to Archivist Odo Marrowbone in the Wrights' workshop, one floor above the temple to the north-east (third terrace). Say hi, gate (or mourngate) and yes. He gives you the Archivist's Lantern and Chapter 3, The Name That Opens, begins. Before Chapter 2 is complete he only says "I would love to help. I would love it from in here."

→ Continue with The Hollow Crown, chapters 3-4.

Tips and common mistakes (Chapters 1–2)

Chapter 1

• Stay inside the zone until the wall says it holds. Wall credit goes to the quest players inside the defence zone when wave 3 dies. Chasing a monster out of the fence, or leaving to restock at the wrong moment, costs you the wall.
• Busy lever? Just walk in. If another player is running a wall, step into the zone and fight. You are credited at the end like them.
• The gate lever only works from position 1 (the square next to the lever). Helpers stand on positions 2–5 and must be level 1000 or higher.
• Bring quest friends. Every quest player on positions 1–5 who has both walls gets the Kingsgate credit in the same run.
• Hold the Ram in the middle of the tunnel, not at the door. Most failures happen because the team backs up step by step after the Sweep pushes until the Ram is next to the gate. Push forward again after every knockback.
• Grab aggro early and keep it. Until it has taken about 9,600 damage the Ram ignores you and walks to the gate. After 4 seconds with no target it walks again.
• Plan for the frenzy at 50%. The Ram moves twice as fast for 10 seconds.
• Don't step on the wicket by accident. The square in the north row, 3 squares from the Kingsgate, takes you out of the fight for good. Knockbacks onto it are safe; walking onto it is not.
• A failed gate is only a 10-minute delay. You keep both walls. If your whole group dies or leaves before the gate falls, there isn't even a rebuild.
• Thornbound are very weak to fire, Ash Revenants to holy, Sootscale Drakes to ice (and immune to fire), Briar Wardens are immune to earth. Riders and Unspoken, like Revenants, are immune to death.

Chapter 2

• You need to talk to Ysolde first. Finishing Chapter 1 does not open the Wardens' Door; receiving the Veil does.
• Kingsgate busy with a siege? Leave by the Cinder Postern south of the Kingsgate instead.
• Shadow first, Veil second. Move along ruins and walls. Use the Veil for the unavoidable open stretches, before you step out, and refill it at every Waystone.
• Don't stand still in the open. After 60 seconds under the full Gaze, Unspoken Riders start arriving (up to three alive at a time).
• Touch every stone, even ones you already have. It refills the Veil every time.
• The Veil won't save you from the Marshal's mark. Only shadow does. When you are marked, go to the wall of the ring.
• Never stop hitting the Marshal on foot. Six quiet seconds and he remounts.
• The plaza only completes the chapter on entry. If you arrived too early, finish the missing steps, then step out of the plaza and walk in again.
• The return teleport saves the walk back. It only works after the chapter is complete.
• Lost the Veil? Ysolde replaces it for free with veil.