The Battle of the Doppleganger

The mountain crumbles in front of me. A lightning storm.  The electricity courses the air.  I am to do this alone.  One on one combat.  One should have a sense of forboding as the rock tumbles in to the river uncovering a staircase leading in to the mountain.

I entered.  The halls littered with gold, statues of the six along the wall. The central chamber seems very much a battle ring.  My patron goddess, Dwayna, stands wrought from gold on sides as I slowly step in.  I am alone, but I feel powerful.   I feel as if i'm being watched as well.  I prepare myself for the unexpected as best I can.  Then he appears.  A doppleganger of fire.

I size him up.  I would assume he would be doing the same yet he has no apparent being.  No being means no mind.  A robotic fighter, a mimic.  I prepare my skills, and in a moment of nervousness, I scream a battle cry, and taunt this fiery being.

He does not wait.  First to attack he throws my own fiery beam of judgement at me, and I run from it.  I cast my own upon him and I notice a descrepency.  He is not evading the flames.  I cast again, and he finally exits, damaged near fatally.  I dodge in and out of his spear tosses, and cast again.  He stands in it again, and he is dead.   It is done.  I have bested myself. I am the chosen. I have ascended. It is time to visit the oracle for my final test of strength and mind.  Then I can save Evennia, if she is still alive.  Save Saidra.  I will save the world.

Dunes of Despair

Task Three.  We dredge through the sand with our Ghostly Hero.  He wants to retake the stone throne of Pellentia in the valley of the gods.  He says attuning this throne back to him will put the Six's eyes on us.  They will watch us from the Hall of Heroes and bless our journeys. throne of Pellentia.    As we go, slaying the Losaru Blades, Lina, our new protection advocate, mutters "one wonders why a place so desolate exists".  I agree.  One does wonder.

We reach the temple and it is guarded by a mesmer General, Goss Aleessh.  We slay him and his cronies, and the Hero reclaims the resources of the lands an lowers the drawbridge.  We clear the throne, and then the Hero moves in to destroy the false idol that holds his throne.  He begins his ritual, and we are attacked from all sides by elementalists, and worm seiges.

His ritual takes what seems like hours, and we keep the foes at bay so he can concentrate.  Eventually a boss appears, a ranger General, and we send him back to the mists and the Hero completes his ritual.  The lands are now his again, and he tells us the gods eyes are on us.  On us indeed I hope, for we will need all the blessings we can gain from them. 

It is time to ascend and take our rights as the chosen. We must defeat a doppleganger.  A spirit that houses all the same skills as we do.   We are to fight ourselves to prove ourselves.   It is time to see the Great Ritual Priest Zahmut.  It is time to rise.  Rurik be blessed.

Thirsty River

Task two.  We run up the paths which are littered with devourers, and giants.  We must find the second Hero to complete our next task.   This task will lead to our cleansing, we must take the hero safetly to the Rune Circle at the bottom of the hill.  Sounds easy enough, but we will be passing legion after legion of serpants, each with ressurection abilities.