Source of the Issue

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Source of the Issue

Location

Venlin Vale
(Brisban Wildlands)

Race

Sylvari

Level

16

Storyline

"Where life goes, so too, should you"

Preceded by

An Unknown Soul

Followed by

Snuffing Out Embers

Maps

220px Click to enlarge

“

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— In-game description

Objectives

Meet Malyck and Caithe at Venlin Vale.

• Travel to Venlin Vale.
• Follow Malyck as he retraces his steps.
• Defeat the Nightmare Courtiers.
• Proceed down the river as Malyck begins to remember.
• Examine the strange seedpod.
• Defeat the Nightmare Courtiers.

Rewards

All professions

• Sapphire Heart of Compassion
• One of the following: Garnet Pebble, Copper Doubloon or Turquoise Pebble

Walkthrough

• Be prepared as this quest can be very challenging due to the numerous amount of enemies spawning all together in one place with limited space for the player to move and evade.
• After defeating the first group of nightmare courtiers near the river, the green mark on your map will change location, but if you just turn back and head there nothing will happen and the quest will not progress. Instead of walking, you have to swim into the river towards the marker (you will not be able to reach the marker, while swimming). Eventually, the marker will change to its proper location and you will be able to continue the quest.
• Be careful not to exit the instance area as there is limited space to swim through and there are lots of Skales in the river. Do not attempt to fight the skales inside the water, as they quickly heal themselves and they can become really deadly.
• You can easily kill any skale chasing you at the land near the two golems. Try to pull the skales at the side in order to kill them without aggroing the group of nightmare courtiers or you will end up facing numerous foes at once and will probably die.
• DO NOT aggro the two golems as they have tons of health and they will propably kill you in a few hits. Do not worry though, as the golems will not attack you even if you are fighting the group of nightmare courtiers near them, unless you hit one of the golems.
• If the group of courtiers near the golems is killed, but you end up dead, every time you return to the river, you can skip the skales by simply swimming and ignoring them. They will stop chasing you after covering some distance.
• NOTE: It is possible to avoid fighting all of the above groups by walking on the pathway above the river until you reach the point where the river disappears behind a rock. Jump down to the river here and you can swim directly to the last objective.
• You will find the last objective near the end of the river. When you trigger the objective and the cutscene ends you will face another group of courtiers that will spawn near you. This fight can be very hard with very little dry land to move on. You do not want to be in the water during the fight. The easiest way to kill this group of courtiers is to swim to a rock ledge a little ways back down the river. If you make it to this ledge before the courtiers spawn, you will then be able to swim back and agro them. Pull the courtiers back to the ledge and jump up. The courtiers will not follow you up but will fire at you from the water. Focus on one courtier at a time and use ranged attacks to kill him. If you are getting low on health, walk further back on the rock ledge and you will be shielded from incoming attacks.
• The Knight can be easily killed also using ranged attacks as he will not move from his position.
• Fighting the courtiers face to face when they are outside the water, can be very hard and should be avoided, as the nightmare warriors can deal incredible damage in a matter of seconds.
• Another tactic is to shoot from the place where you started the quest near the bridge, above the river and aim down at the nightmare courtiers using ranged weapons. Note that this might not work with all ranged weapons or spells, as some have a very short range.

NPCs

Allies

• Sylvari
  • Malyck
  • Caithe

My story

“ Caithe, Malyck, and I discovered Malyck's pod in Venlin Vale. Although it was similar to those from the Pale Tree...there was something very different about it. The Knight of Embers discovered this information as well, and now we must stop her before she carries that news to the Nightmare Court. — My story

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Sylvari storyline

Prologue — Fighting the Nightmare

Part I — Waking from the Nightmare
	White Stag	Called to Service  → Hounds and the Hunted  → Discovering Darkness  → Hidden in Darkness / Saving the Stag  → Black Night, White Stag
	Green Huntsman	Mockery of Death  → Loved and Lost  → A Good Work Spoiled  → Hammer and Steel / Weakness of the Heart  → The Knight's Duel
	Shield of the Moon	Awakening  → Holding Back the Darkness  → A Sly Trick  → Deeply Tangled Roots  → Beneath a Cold Moon / The Heart of Nightmare

Part II — A Season of Growth
	Act With Wisdom	After the Storm  → Beneath the Waves  → Mirror, Mirror  → A Vision of Darkness / Shattered Light
	All things have a right to grow	Wild Growth  → Seeking the Zalisco  → The Direct Approach / Trading Trickery  → Eye of the Sun
	Where Life Goes	Where Life Goes  → An Unknown Soul  → Source of the Issue / A Different Dream  → Snuffing Out Embers

Part III — Branching Out
A Splinter in the Flesh  → Sharpened Thorns / Bramble Walls  → The Blossom of Youth / Secrets in the Earth  → The Bad Apple / Trouble at the Roots  → Dead of Winter / A Tangle of Weeds / Flower of Death