Expert and Raid Rifts
To fracture the sky
Most Telarans believe that rifts only appear at the whim of the dragons. Yet with dedication and a bit of eldritch magic, the Ascended can draw specific events from the planes into Telara for a daring strike.
Take the town of Perdeen, abandoned by its defenders and lost without a trace. Now, heroes can collect ingredients for a ritual to pull Perdeen out of the Plane of Death and liberate its villagers’ tormented ghosts from ongoing suffering.
Meanwhile, House Aelfwar holds secret meetings in the Plane of Life itself. It is possible to draw such a meeting out into Telara and ambush its treacherous nobles, though these elite cultists are too mighty for anything but a large group of Ascended to slay.
Every day, hundreds of rifts open across Telara, tearing the sky apart as planar horrors descend on the world. But these inter-dimensional disasters are but a taste of the danger and rewards offered by the planes. Each a unique and hair-raising test, Expert and Raid Rifts wait to be unleashed and confronted by teams of the most powerful Ascended.
Souls are the key
As parties of the Chosen crusade through the dungeons of Telara, they can collect Malformed and Corrupted Souls, tortured entities which can be stored in Planar Husks sold by merchants throughout the world. Once sealed, a husk full of Malformed Souls becomes a Planar Lure that can call down an Expert Rift, while Raid Rift lures are created using the harder-to-find Corrupted Souls. Planar Husks are attuned to specific elements to help Guardians and Defiant ensure they encounter the enemies they seek.
Expert Rifts present a serious challenge to a full party of high-ranking Ascended, while only ten or more well-armed Chosen could pose a threat to a Raid Rift. These heroes must battle waves of fearsome riftspawn in a grueling gauntlet of curse and claw. Each Raid or Expert Rift is led by mighty monsters that drop a chest full of treasures unique to their incursion.
Mastering the rifts
Only the Ascended who constructs each Raid Rift’s lure is attuned to open its ultimate chests — a special reward for summoning the most dire of riftspawn. Yet anyone may join battles in progress, and heroes who assist with an Expert or Raid Rift have a chance to seize rare or epic equipment, planarite, and sourcestone.
So remember, only the Chosen can brave the darkest corners of Telara, the sinister hideaways of the cults, and forge tormented souls into Rift Lures. No matter where Expert and Raid Rifts are called forth, Telara shall tremble with the tread of dozens of Ascended, eager to deal the cults and riftspawn a crippling blow.
Slivers
10-player raids
Critter
The history of Telara has been forged by the choices of its denizens. Yet there exist alternate realities born of every Telaran’s suppressed whims, unmade decisions, and chances left untaken. Though many, these alternate timestreams were discrete—at least until the sundering of the Ward. Now they threaten to break down, spilling their battles into the true Telara, playing out key moments in the war of the rifts.
Accessible pockets of alternate timestreams are called Slivers, and the Ascended are particularly interested in those containing the Dragon Cults’ terrible victories. Both Guardians and Defiant seek to use these Slivers to investigate alternate Blood Storm successes, and to prevent them from repeating their triumphs in the true Telara.
Naturally, faction scholars disagree over Slivers’ nature and origins. While the Guardians see the Slivers as interactive visions granted by the Vigil, the Defiant believe they are chaotic temporal anomalies. Though Slivers are neither gifts from the gods nor blind planar reactions, they are an important source of information and resources, and places of very real peril for intrepid Ascended to explore.
Seeing time
In order to detect the Slivers, the Vigil has granted their Guardians Omen Sight, while Defiant researchers have developed Quantum Sight. Using different techniques to achieve the same ends, these augmentations allow an Ascended to see alternate realities where the Blood Storm reigns supreme, as well as time-shifted items that have slipped into Telara for the looting. Any Ascended who purchases Quantum or Omen Sight can lead his fellows into the Slivers to battle the victorious cultists.
To achieve their successes, the cultists within these pockets of time must be fearsome indeed, so each major Sliver requires a full raid of ten battle-ready Ascended. Though belonging to a different place and another time, the beings and objects in a Sliver are quite real: the Ascended will leave with all their loot—and all their wounds—intact. Even more important to Guardian and Defiant leadership is the vital insight Sliver raids provide into events that could still transpire within their own timestream: learning how the Dragon Cults achieved their hideous goals in alternate realities will help the Ascended prevent similar tragedies in the Telara they call home.
Rise of the Phoenix
Jump through the eons to the Eth Empire. In Stonefield, Eth priests prepare to summon Titan slaves through a massive gate, but a Dragonian force corrupts the ritual, opening the gate to the Plane of Fire. Flame sweeps across Stonefield, warping the sorcerer-priests and turning High Priest Arakhurn into a raging phoenix. Stop his devastation before ancient, otherworldly calamity spills into the present. The first Tier-2 Sliver, Rise of the Phoenix offers a whole new level of challenge.
Drowned Halls
Telara is doomed, having fallen to mad Akylios. Now Hydriss, the profane dragon’s sorceress-lieutenant, masses her most vicious and sadistic servants to invade our time. These would-be conquerers, armed with the best gear Akylios’s mad genius could devise, threaten to drown us in misery. Gather your allies and turn back their tide!
Gilded Prophecy
In another timestream, agents of the Golden Maw have captured a powerful artifact they will use to revive Laethys. The Ascended must step across time and stop the Queen of Greed’s agents, thus learning where this relic can be found and keeping it out of the cult’s clutches in our Telara.
Chronicles
Solo and duo dungeons
Chronicles are dungeons for one or two players. Experience Telara’s sweeping narrative in approachable, story-driven instances. Conquer endgame locations and live out world-changing adventures by yourself or with a friend.
Epic stories
The Chronicle of Attunement is a solo adventure available when you reach level 50, while the Chronicles in Greenscale’s Blight and Hammerknell will challenge two players, or truly test one (very) well-geared Ascended
Chronicle of Attunement
Your faction honors your 50th level by throwing you a celebration! Begin the journey of Planar Attunement and battle the servants of Regulos!
Greenscale's Blight: the Fallen Prince
Join legends from your faction like Shyla or the Faceless Man to take down Prince Hylas and Greenscale, Dragon of Life!
Hammerknell: Runes of Corruption
When the gates of Hammerknell finally opened, a small party vanished while investigating the horrors within. You must discover the fate of these scouts and of Hammerknell itself.
River of Souls: Chains of Death
Infiltrate the Endless Court to uncover and sabotage Alsbeth’s plans for the souls of Telara. Old foes await, but so, perhaps, does an old friend…
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