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Living World Season 3 content

Elder Druid Protection

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Elder Druid Protection

Year
1330 AE
Storyline
Living World Season 3
Chapter
Flashpoint
Location
Draconis Mons
(Ring of Fire)
Level
80
Preceded by
In Pursuit of a God
Followed by
Heart of the Volcano
API
462

Elder Druid Protection map 1.jpg

Route to Ancient Hollow Waypoint and MOX

Elder Druid Protection is the fourth part of Flashpoint.

Objectives[edit]

In order to enter the volcano's lava, I must earn the blessings of four trapped elder druids.
  • Find the guardian golem in the golem graveyard.
  • Speak to the golem.
  • Defeat spiders to find the gem key.
  • Return to M.O.X.
  • Find Zinn's vault in the Ancient Hollow.
  • Find Zinn's vault at the top of the cavern.
  • Find the elder druid in the Inquest camp.
  • Find Zinn's vault near the Boiling Sea.
  • Find and free the elder druid in the Ancient Hollow. (when approaching vault in Ancient Hollow)
  • Find the elder druid at the top of the cavern. (when approaching vault at top of cavern)
  • Find the elder druid near the boiling sea. (when approaching vault at sea level)
  • Contact Taimi via the holo device at the sub landing. (after second druid is freed)

Rewards[edit]

Walkthrough[edit]

M.O.X.

Upon starting this story step, you'll need to make your way to the Ancient Hollow Waypoint. One way to get there from the point where you talked to Nettleblaze in the previous mission is to use the thermal tube to the northwest, just across the lava river. This will propel you to the north part of Rata Arcanum. Walk and glide north to the hole in the ground just north of the Sandstone Archway - drop down and you will find yourself in the Ancient Hollow area. Talk to M.O.X. in the center of the green marked area. After its conversation, begin killing spiders until eventually one of them drops the Zinn Vault Key and return to M.O.X.

The next steps can be completed in any order, as there are 4 vaults scattered around the map.

Asuran Vaults
Vault name Area Notes Map
Nu Vault Ancient Hollow From M.O.X., face east and you'll see the root he described - there is a bouncing mushroom at the foot of it. Take the second mushroom and the vault door will be directly in front of you. This vault is filled with gas clouds and Toxic Spiders, head left when you enter to find and release Barkwind. Nu Vault map.jpg
Iota Vault Heathen's Hold From Heathen's Hold Waypoint, use the thermal tube just south of the waypoint - this will catapult you northwards and then northwest onto a ledge. (If you do not have Thermal Propulsion unlocked, follow the path northeast from the waypoint.) Keep walking along the ledge, past the Cave Bats, to reach the vault door. The vault contains many imprisoned creatures and some traps (either wait for them to temporarily deactivate, or use Oakheart's Reach to climb over them). Thicketpyre is on the left at the far end of the cave. Taimi will then contact you and you will Waypoint back to Mariner Landing to finish talking to her. Iota Vault map.jpg
Zeta Vault Zeta Vault From Mariner Landing, follow the coastline at sea-level heading eastwards until you reach the Zeta Vault door. Make your way around the perimeter of the room, avoiding the geysers of sulfuric water which will can single-shot you into a Downed state. Mount your skimmer and cross the two geysers to your left. Wait for the geysers to subside to reach Ficus. Zeta Vault (point of interest) map.jpg
Nu II Vault Rata Arcanum From Heathen's Hold Waypoint, use the thermal tube to the northwest of the waypoint - this will catapult you to the volcano. Continue a short distance west across the lava river and use a second thermal tube (the same you used after talking to Nettleblaze). This brings you directly to the vault (behind you when you land), but the Inquest have broken the door down and taken the druid, so ignore the vault, you do not need to go inside it. Go south from the broken vault door to the Inquest camp marked on the minimap.

You will need to obtain an Inquest Keypad to open the gate leading to the druid. The -only- accessible mobs that drop Keypads are around the sniper tower in front of the gate. These is an Inquest Extinquisher who spawns under the sniper tower and there are two Inquest Extinquishers who spawn outside of the tent opposite of the sniper tower. *No* other mobs leading to the gate will drop an Inquest Keypad, so if these mobs by the gate have been killed you need to wait until they respawn. You do not need to kill any other Inquest except the ones near the gate, so mounts will allow you to bypass the mobs on the way to the gate.

The Inquest Keypad will be an item on the ground not an item that will be auto-looted into your inventory, so look carefully after the kills, the lighting makes them difficult to see. Picking up the Keypad will also disable your weapon skills and replace them with the following skills Rush, Visibility Impediment Dynamo (Stealth) and Locomotion Impediment Dynamo (Stun). You will need to either run to the gate or drop the Keypad and kill the mobs in front of the gate first before the Keypad despawns. If you only obtain one Keypad, do -not- use it to disable the sniper tower. Disable the gate first because the tower will become active long before more Inquest with Keypads respawn.

Stay alert for patrolling Veterans and note that mobs in this area are buggy and can suddenly appear rather than fading in like normal respawns. Once past the gate, you will need to kill more Inquest but Galebough will be nearby to the right. The Inquest past the gate all drop Keypads, so you can pick up one to disable the interior sniper tower during or after the fight.

Galebough map.jpg
Taimi Cinematic

After freeing the second druid, Taimi will call, saying she discovered something and ask you to plug into the communicator back at the landing base. You can visit here at any time, but it is a required step before completing this chapter.

Achievements[edit]

Elder Druid Protection Flashpoint 0Achievement points
Find the imprisoned druids and gain their blessings.Story Journal: Elder Druid Protection Completed Elder Druid Protection 0Achievement points
  • Complete the story.

NPCs[edit]

Allies[edit]

Asura
Ghosts
Golems

Objects[edit]

Dialogue[edit]

Upon finding the Golem
M.O.X.: LIFE-FORM DE-TEC-TEDC IN VI-CIN-I-TY. AC-TIV-ATE GREE-TING MODE.
<Character name>: Are you... How long... Who are you?
M.O.X.: GREE-TINGS, LIFE-FORM! FOR YOUR CON-VEN-IENCE, I RE-SPOND TO THE NAME M.O.X.
M.O.X.: I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE AN OFF-ER- US-ER ZINN HAS CEASED TO FUNC-TION. GOL-EM SQUAD REN-DERED IN-CA-PA-CI-TA-TED.
M.O.X.: I DE-DUCE THAT YOU HAVE COME HERE FOR A REA-SON. HELP ME AND GOL-EMS. GOL-EMS WILL HELP YOU.
<Character name>: I need to find the nearest of Zinn's vaults and get into it. Can you help me with that?
M.O.X.: I A-LONE CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT. I HAVE THE EN-TRY CODE TO ZINN'S FIRST VAULT. BUT YOU WILL NEED THE KEY GEM.
<Character name>: Where is it?
M.O.X.: A RE-SEAR-CHER STOLE IT. A WEB-BY ATE THE A-SU-RA.
<Character name>: So...it's in one of these spiders? Do you know which one?
M.O.X.: NEG-A-TIVE. I AM CON-FI-DENT YOU WILL FIND THE ONE.
Returning with the key gem
<Character name>: I found the key gem.
M.O.X.: GOOD. I AM ALT-ER-ING... THE SE-CUR-IT-Y ON... ZINN'S VAULT TO... REC-OG-NIZE YOU. PRO-CESS-ING... DONE.
M.O.X.: A-SCEND THE ROOT OVER THERE TO FIND ZINN'S VAULT. THE OTH-ERS ARE IN DIFF-ER-ENT PLACES.
M.O.X.: ONE AT THE A-PEX, ONE ON THE SHORE OF THE BOIL-ING SEA, AND ONE HAS BEEN BREACHED BY IN-QUEST.
<Character name>: Thanks. Hm, you know? I have people here and a submarine. You could come back with us. Back to civilization.
M.O.X.: YOU WILL BE THE NEW US-ER? AC-CEPT-ABLE. WHEN DO WE LEAVE? CAN WEB-BY COME?
If asura:
<Character name>: I have something to take care of first, and then we'll go. Your pet eats asura. It stays, so say your good-byes.
If charr:
<Character name>: I have something to take care of first, and then we'll go. The spider has to stay, so say your good-byes.
If norn:
<Character name>: I have something to take care of first, and then we'll go. The predator has to stay, so say your good-byes.
Otherwise:
<Character name>: I have something to take care of first, and then we'll go. I'm afraid Webby has to stay, so say your good-byes.
M.O.X.: UN-DER-STOOD. GOOD-BYE MODE EN-GAGED.
Upon opening any vault door
Vault Guard: M.O.X. AP-PROVES. AC-CESS GRAN-TED.
Upon releasing the first druid spirit
<Spirit>: Free. I am freed after all this time.
<Spirit>: The wind whispered your intention to me. I grant a portion of the protection you need to enter the volcano's throat.
If asura:
<Character name>: Enjoy your freedom.
If charr:
<Character name>: Thanks. I'll use it well.
Otherwise:
<Character name>: Thank you. I won't waste your gift.
Taimi: Commander, I'm getting an odd reading from the communicator. Your temperature seems to be fluctuating. Wildly.
<Character name>: Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I was given a heat barrier from one of the Spirits of the Wild down here.
Taimi: Sure. Yeah. Perfect sense. But seriously what's happening?
<Character name>: I told you. These voices spoke to me.
Taimi: Uh-huh.
<Character name>: Then the ghost tree things told me I should free them.
Taimi: Uh-huh.
<Character name>: And in return, they grant me protection from the high temperatures.
Taimi: Sure, sure... So... You're clearly suffering from heat stroke. But don't panic; I'll send help your way!
<Character name>: Taimi, I'm fine. Or will be. As soon as I liberate more of my magical ghost friends.
Taimi: Oh, boy.
Upon releasing the second druid spirit
<Spirit>: You are the one mentioned on the wind.
<Spirit>: You are determined to enter the corpus of Tyria. For your help, I grant you partial protection in the volcano's throat.
<Character name>: I appreciate it.
Taimi: Come in, Commander. Hey, don't touch that!
<Character name>: Go ahead, Taimi.
Taimi: Ugh, Phlunt and his nosy little puppets are picking this place clean! Okay...not sure how to even start this...
Taimi: (big breath) Look, we've discovered that eliminating dragons isn't the best thing for the environment...
Taimi: But what else were we going to do? Keep them alive and just let 'em eat us?
Taimi: So we destroy them and deal with the fallout, but... But what if we can't deal with the consequences anymore?
<Character name>: What's worse than being consumed by a dragon?
Taimi: Well, when Balthazar stole the machine, it got me thinking, so I ran a scenario in the simulation room.
Taimi: And... I should have done this before! This is all my fault! I was so exhausted!
Taimi: Keeping the lab secret, working all hours, I didn't... A— All the lives!
Taimi: I've doomed everyone! Probably? I don't know!
<Character name>: What are you getting at? What's going on?
<Character name>: Are—? Taimi?
Taimi: I'm here. There's a communicator dock near the submarine you arrived on. Plug into that and you'll see...
Upon releasing the third druid spirit
<Spirit>: I heard you might come, but I did not expect it to happen. You have kept your word.
<Spirit>: I offer you my protection for your journey into the volcano's throat and only there.
If asura:
<Character name>: Thank you for doing your part to save Tyria.
If charr:
<Character name>: Only there, huh? That's a shame. But thanks.
Otherwise:
<Character name>: Thank you for helping me.
Upon releasing the forth druid spirit
<Spirit>: You have traveled a treacherous path, and the worst is yet to come. Now you must dare the volcano's throat.
<Spirit>: That is where you will find the one you seek. The long lost God of Fire. Go now.
<Spirit>: The blessings you have received will end when your deed is done. Do not fail. Upward to the apex.
Upon using the holoprojector
<Character name>: I'm plugged in. Show me.
Taimi: (deep breath) Incoming...
During the cinematic
Taimi: The simulation is beginning.
After the cinematic
<Character name>: Taimi...
Taimi: I know. We're completely nooked!
<Character name>: Are you sure this is accurate? Will it really...?
Taimi: There's a definite margin for error, but I think it's sound. Oh, I don't know! I'm so tired! Please don't be mad at me!
<Character name>: I'm not. Don't... We'll just stop him. It's okay. We have to.
Taimi: Here's the thing about that... I didn't exactly plan to shut off the machine in the middle of its routine.
Taimi: So if he starts it up, the only way to turn it off is to overload it, and that'll blow it to smithereens.
Taimi: Omadd's Machine is one of a kind—even I don't know what makes it tick.
Taimi: So...if it's destroyed, we'll never get another shot at Primordus OR Jormag.
Taimi: Hello? Are you there?
<Character name>: Just letting this sink in... Rock and a hard place, huh?
Taimi: Rock and a hard place. What do you want to do?
<Character name>: Let's hope I can reach him before he has a chance to turn it on. If not... I don't know. I'll make the call then.
Taimi: Good luck. I'm...sorry. (click)

My story[edit]

Draconis Mons loading screen.jpg

Four elder druids, four successes. I found and freed them all. During the process, I learned that the Inquest have a base here. They're excavating Zinn's second site: Rata Arcanum. I even encountered M.O.X., an antique golem created by Zinn. Amazing! Now I'm ready to enter the volcano's throat at the heart of the cavern. Balthazar, here I come!

My story

Notes[edit]

  • If you log out and come back another day, you may lose progression and have to free the four druids again.
  • For the druid in the Inquest vault, assuming you have mounts, you can get over the cliff and ignore the keypads.