Grand Court of Sebelkeh

This article is about a mission. This name is also used for an outpost and a Zaishen mission quest.

Grand Court of Sebelkeh
Campaign	Nightfall
Region	Vabbi
Type	Cooperative
Party size	8
Required hero	Tahlkora
Duration	Short
Preceded by	Pledge of the Merchant Princes
Followed by	Attack at the Kodash A Brief Introduction Scorched Earth The Search for Survivors Total Corruption

Varesh is attempting to turn the once holy site of the Sebelkeh Basilica into a portal for Abaddon's minions. Enter the Basilica and close the torment rifts before Abaddon's The Blasphemy corrupts the Altar of Lyssa.

Mission information

Requirements

• All party members must have accepted the reward for Pledge of the Merchant Princes.
• Tahlkora must be present in the party.

Objectives

The Altar of Lyssa must not be captured by the Blasphemy.

• Capture the torment rifts guarded by the Margonites. Stand near a rift to claim it. [0...3] of 3 rifts captured.

Reward

• General Morgahn joins your party.

Normal mode	Completion time	Rewards
Standard	> 9 minutes	1,000 XP	100	1	25
Expert's	6 - 9 minutes	1,500 XP	150	1	25
Master's	< 6 minutes	2,000 XP	200	1	25
Hard mode	Completion time	Rewards
Standard	> 16 minutes	1,000 XP	200	1	75
Expert's	12 - 16 minutes	2,000 XP	300	1	75
Master's	< 12 minutes	3,000 XP	500	1	75

Walkthrough

The Sebelkeh Basilica has an octagonal lay out with the Altar of Lyssa at the center and three surrounding platforms to the south, northwest, and northeast. Each platform is initially occupied by 7 Margonites, a Torment Claw, and a Torment Rift. The goal of this mission is to capture all three Torment Rifts without losing the Altar of Lyssa. For each Torment Rift that is captured the first time, your party gains a 2% Morale Boost.

Capturing a rift (or the altar) works the same as similar mechanics in other missions: each character standing on or near the object adds one pip towards capturing it; each foe subtracts a pip; this is capped at a maximum of 4 pips in either direction.

Initial fight

The party starts standing in a teleportation circle, north from the Altar of Lyssa; leaving the circle starts the countdown timer and triggers the first wave of Margonites: two will rush from each of the three platforms to attempt to capture the Altar. As soon as possible, position party members close to the altar to prevent this from happening.

As soon as you kill the pair of Margonites from a single Rift, a second pair spawns and moves towards the Altar.

The Blasphemy

The Blasphemy will spawn at a random Rift and move towards the center; to speed up its recapture of the altar, it will use Summon Torment. Kill it to counter this. Unfortunately, its death hexes the entire party with Last Rites of Torment and triggers the spawning of three Unbound Energies; they deal considerable damage to those under the hex.

The Blasphemy continues to respawn throughout the mission; it appears faster with each time you capture a rift. Make sure you kill any remaining Unbound Energies before killing it again. If it heads towards a Rift (to re-open it), send one or more party members to prevent this.

Each time the Blasphemy successfully activates Summon Torment, the rift status bars will fill 25%, allowing the rifts to be reopened and additional margonites to spawn. To prevent this, interrupt the Blasphemy's first use of the skill and kill it before it can cast it again. Keep an eye on the rift bars; if they get to 75%, send a party member to return the rift bar back to blue (or at least, reduce the amount of red).

Capturing the Rifts

You can ignore The Blasphemy when it first spawns and capture one of the Rifts instead. You must kill all foes in addition to capturing it or they will re-open the Rift later. To speed up the capture, stand near each rift during the fight. Stay spread out while confronting the Torment Claws to avoid massive area of effect damage or take advantage of Torment Slash's long activation time and interrupt it. You can also dodge the slash by moving away.

After capturing the first Rift, go back to the Altar and kill The Blasphemy plus the Unbound Energies. Once you have ensured the safety of the Altar, go capture a second Rift. Then return to kill The Blasphemy again and finally capture the last Rift. The mission will often take a few seconds to complete once all the rifts are closed.

Hard mode

Successful completion of the mission in hard mode requires being able to kill the initial Margonite groups quickly, otherwise you will get overwhelmed and wipe. Bring either teams that can spike or create overlapping areas of effect (to damage several foes at once).

After clearing out the initial foes from the center, most parties split into two groups: 1-2 characters to hold the altar and the rest to capture the rifts. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, the most popular of which include a healer with party-wide skills, a minion master, and/or a spirit spammer for the stationary team. The roving team should include mostly damage dealers.

If you don't split up, it's advised to close the southern rift first since it's much further away from the other two rifts. This means that when attempting to close the two much closer northwestern and northeastern rifts, The Blasphemy can be spotted much quicker should it spawn from the other rift.

Skill recommendations

• Lightbringer's Gaze is a useful interrupt against all enemies, especially the Torment Claws.
• Wastrel's Worry and Wastrel's Demise are very useful against both the claws and Unbound Energies — the latter do not use any skills and the claws use only one skill with a long activation time.
• Last Rites of Torment can be removed from the entire party nearly-instantly using Inspired or Revealed Hex. Hex Eater Signet will remove that hex from over half the team, if they are within range.
• Wards are especially useful, since the party and opposing mobs are restricted to small spaces.
• With sufficient energy management, Dark Apostasy can work well to remove Spell Breaker.
• The center altar can be held by two heroes: one useful combination is an Aura of the Lich minion master and a Necromancer/Ritualist healer.

NPCs

Foes

Demons

• 20 (26) Unbound Energy
• 27 (32) The Blasphemy

Demons (Margonites)

• 24 (26) Margonite Executioner
• 24 (26) Margonite Bowmaster
• 24 (26) Margonite Cleric
• 24 (26) Margonite Warlock
• 24 (26) Margonite Seer
• 24 (26) Margonite Sorcerer
• 24 (26) Margonite Ascendant
• 24 (26) Margonite Reaper

Demons (Torment creatures)

• 24 (26) Torment Claw

Dialogue

Opening cinematic

Earlier that day... (Near the Mirror of Lyss)

Morgahn: "You must understand. I have known Varesh Ossa since she was a child."

Morgahn: "She was always driven, smart, and strong in her beliefs."

Morgahn: "When the darkness took her, I remained blind and loyal."

Morgahn: "Kehanni!"

Kehanni: "Morgahn? You've come to rescue us?"

Morgahn: "What has happened? The temple!"

Kehanni: "Varesh attacked us! Demons! Everyone dead! Slaughtered!"

Morgahn: "I remained blind until it was too late."

Shortly afterward... (Mirror of Lyss)

Varesh Ossa: "Ai, Abaddon! Ai Abaddon! Jai Hahna Almighty Abaddon!"

Morgahn: "Varesh! What have you done?"

Varesh Ossa: "I have done what is necessary, old friend, for the good of my god and my land."

Morgahn:"You have washed this holy place in blood! You promised to spare my priests!"

Varesh Ossa: "A small promise, easily broken for the greater good. You would not have understood."

Morgahn: "You must stop this!"

Varesh Ossa: "It is too late to stop; this part of the ritual is complete! The walls of my lord's prison are being being torn away and Torment is swallowing the world!"

Morgahn: "I will stop you myself!"

Varesh Ossa: "You are badly outnumbered, old friend."

Morgahn: "My men!"

Varesh Ossa: "More blood for my rituals!"

Margonite Reaper: "Mistress! He escapes!"

Varesh Ossa: "Let him go. He is broken."

Varesh Ossa: "We are needed elsewhere."

Varesh Ossa: "Leave The Blasphemy here to rot this world."

Varesh Ossa: "Nightfall is at hand!"

End cinematic

Shortly afterward...

(Near the Mirror of Lyss)

<Party leader>: "The beast is dead."

Morgahn: "But its mistress still lives. She goes to finish the spell."

<Party leader>: "Where is she going?"

Morgahn: "Into the Desolation, to the Mouth of Torment. She seeks to unleash her dark god on the world."

<Party leader>: "Then we will go after her."

Morgahn: "I would like to... join you in your hunt."

<Party leader>: "No. That's impossible!"

Morgahn: "Please. My blind devotion has doomed my nation, my faith, and my soul. I must help to stop her!"

<Party leader>: "I understand, but no."

Tahlkora: "Yes."

<Party leader>: "Tahlkora?"

Tahlkora: "You and your friends took me in and taught me to be a hero."

Tahlkora: "You gave me the chance to do the right thing."

Tahlkora: "Can we deny him the same chance?"

<Party leader>: "You are right, Tahlkora. General Morgahn."

Morgahn: "I am a general no longer. Only a man."

<Party leader>: "Morgahn, then. You may come with us. You shall have your chance to redeem yourself."

Morgahn: "You will not regret it."

<Party leader>: "We'll see about that."

Margonite Reaper: "The Blasphemy?"

Varesh Ossa: "Dead. Morgahn was more resourceful than I thought."

Margonite Reaper: "We should go back and slay them all!"

Varesh Ossa: "No. Abaddon calls me. I can feel him call me."

Margonite Reaper: "The world is wounded, and will be swallowed by Torment."

Varesh Ossa: "With Abaddon's blessing, we shall cross the sulfurous wastes and return the dark god to his throne."

Margonite Reaper: "Hail Abaddon!"

Varesh Ossa: "Hail Almighty Abaddon. This world will be yours."

As Nightfall stretches across Elona...

The Sunspears must pursue Varesh...

Into the wastes of the Desolation.

Notes

Bug.Sometimes when playing the mission, The Blasphemy will immediately cast Summon Torment once upon respawning. If this happens it will continue to do so when respawning throughout the mission, making the task of completing it more stressful and potentially much more difficult.

• After completing this mission, your party will be taken to the Kodash Bazaar.
• After completing this mission for the first time, Garden of Seborhin is replaced by Nightfallen Garden until the completion of Abaddon's Gate.
• Completion of this mission will fill in page #10 in the Night Falls storybook.

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