The Prophecy (Stratos)

"As regards this prophecy, I have deduced quite easily that Charnel is the most likely culprit, but I must keep an eye on everyone.
I hold many watch towers in the mountains, if you care to occupy one." – Stratos, The Prophecy (Intermission)

"Save Lord Surtur!"

• Mission Giver: Stratos
• Location: Orichalchis
• Map Creator: David Merrick
• New Spell: Air Shield
• New Creature: Vortick
• Boon:
  • Maximum Mana +20%
  • Regeneration Rate +20%

• Karma:

Karma Table PE JA ST PY CH -1 -1 +2 -1 -1

Map of Orichalchis (full image)

Starting Setup

• An altar
• 0 souls
• 2 Manahoars and a Vortick

Objectives

• Rescue Lord Surtur
• Lord Surtur must survive
• Desecrate Acheron's altar
• Defeat Acheron (not shown in-game)

To save Lord Surtur, simply kill the Sac Doctor that is performing the conversion ritual on him, but only after he has raised him from the dead and started to move to Acheron's altar.

Once brought back to the living, this technique won't work anymore and you'll have to keep Lord Surtur alive the good old-fashioned way. He's very strong, so just have a Scarab guard him and/or heal him occasionally.

Walkthrough

From the watchtowers of Empyrea, we spied a group set out from Persephone's realm of Elysium. Brainiac scouts saw that they bore the long imprisoned Lord Surtur back towards Surtur's Keep. But insect swarms drove our scouts away and contact with Surtur's escort was lost. – Eldred

Lord Surtur

You are sent to Orichalchis, one of Empyrea's border outposts, where scouts have spotted Lord Surtur returning from his long imprisonment in Elysium. However, the scouts were attacked by Charnel's Minions and you are sent to find Surtur and bring him back to Surtur's Keep. When you arrive, Stratos informs you that Surtur has been ambushed by Acheron. You can also see his corpse highlighted on the minimap.

At the start of this mission you're as soulless as Acheron, only you have no souls and only a vortick, while he has a lot of creatures (even though he doesn't have a soul himself). Go north as Stratos told you. You should find several mana founts along the way. You can take your time because the AI is turned off for now. Further north, a Sylph will meet you to confirm that Surtur has indeed been ambushed and then she joins you. Even further north you'll find a large contingent of the Faithful (four Druids, six Rangers and two Scarabs) that will immediately engage into battle with several of Charnel's Minions (two of each Charnel's level 1 creatures), which will be sent to attack you. Acheron, who is beside Surtur's corpse, will begin to convert him.

After the enemy army has been killed off and Surtur resurrected, he will join you alongside with his escort. Also the creatures that they have killed can't be taken by Acheron since it appears that they don't belong to his side (except for the Manahoars). Do as you please with their souls and then head out to Acheron's altar. The AI for Acheron is now on.

"Your hour has come!"

Acheron

Acheron has some of his stats enhanced. Also he'll gain two souls and one of his Necryls guardianed to the manalith farthest from his altar will be removed from the map. If you don't attack Acheron soon, he'll come after you. The manaliths you've built previously should slow him down a bit. Make sure you don't fight him at his manaliths, because they're heavily guarded and this army attacking you alongside Acheron isn't going to make it any easier. After destroying his mobile army, even if he picks up their souls, just keep advancing.

His first manalith is guardianed by two Abominations, a Deadeye and two Netherfiends. With all of your Druids and Lord Surtur pounding on the manalith, the ranged guardians should keel over and die, but casualties could be heavy if some kind of tactic isn't used. Acheron will probably reclaim those souls, so you should just prevent him from rebuilding his army by destroying all of his manaliths. The next manalith is guardianed by two Deadeyes and a Necryl. His altar is guarded only by a single Fallen. If Acheron does manage to rebuild his army go on the defensive and try to take some of his souls. After his army has been crushed and manaliths destroyed, move in to desecrate his altar. After Acheron is gone, you will introduce yourself to Surtur as a Servant to Stratos and you'll tell him that you'll be taking him home.

Boon

The boon benefactor for this mission is Persephone. She gives you the boon if at least one of her followers (a Druid or a Ranger, but not a Scarab) is alive at the end of the mission. She doesn't give you the boon herself, but rather a Druid is teleported off a nearby island to thank you and say that the Goddess will reward you for saving them.

To make sure somebody survives, simply leave a Ranger or a Druid at the location you found Surtur (Acheron never goes there again) or some other location you consider relatively safe.

The karma boost for this boon is as follows:

Karma Table PE JA ST PY CH +2

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