Quest: Temple Martial Artist Attacks
  Here's a little something from the Temple of Three Winds, specially for Martial Artists. Scattered around the torchlit hallways of this unique dungeon, hidden books with ancient mumbo jumbo will translate into forgotten knowledge on how to really open a can of wh0ppass.      
  Although anyone can pick up and assemble the various pieces, and even fullfill the quest, once the attacks are complete only true Martial Artists may use them. In addition, both the fragments and completed attacks are Nodrop so no use trying to help out your fellow friends with this. And let us not forget that for whatever reasons the temple is locked out for anyone over Level 60 - sad to say, but if your Martial Artist is a little more aged than that, there's no way in the pits of Terrasque you can benefit from these new additions to your character.

  Nothing to do about it before someone realizes what a stupid move that was, so brush up on those Bruce Lee moves and and leg it all the way to the Temple of the Three Winds. For Omnis, this means a little bribe to a Cultist down in Rome Green, while Clans will have to get some fresh air running north from Tir.

The temple is located at 1800 x 2700 in Greater Tir County. Incidentally, if you're just out sightseeing, check out our little travelguide on this vacation spot here.

Beware though, the cult is known for strange pets and currently a Boneheaded Bloodcreeper named Fido is guarding their door. This is normally not a problem, but if you're in the 15-20 level range, these big spiders can present a very real problem. But worry not - at any given day and hour the entrance to the Temple is scattered with tourists milling about, so they could probably scare them away for you.

Journey there complete, head in and orient yourself. What we are looking for basically is books - atleast they appear as books. Within these books are fragments of an ancient lost language we need to decipher, but more on that later.

There are two series of tattered books, each turning into two special attacks. They are the Ape Fist of Khalum and the Tree of Enlightenment.

  Tattered book: Ape Fist of Khalum (section x)
The tattered remains of an old book, written in a language that is almost unreadable. Diagrams scattered through the chapter suggest that it is a training manual for a martial arts attack called the Ape Fist.

  Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (section x)
The tattered remains of an old book, written in a language that is almost unreadable. Diagrams scattered through the chapter suggest that it is a training manual for a martial arts attack called the Tree of Enlightenment.

When you pick these up the name will suggest what section it is in paranthese. There are 5 sections to Ape Fist of Khalum and 6 sections to Tree of Enlightenment.

As to where to find them, this can be a bit tricky and people seem to always lack section 4 of each book. The droprate is really just random, so keep trying. Any cultist in the temple can drop books, and so can any acolyte, faithful, and other spiritual leaders. One would assume the higher the section of a book dropped further down, but this isn't the case - a cultist in the first few rooms is just as likely to drop section 5 or 6 of a book than one guarding one of the end bosses. For section 4 of either book though, there seems to be a higher droprate off "leaders" like the named cultists. Persistence young whipper-snapper.

Once you have all the books of either type, or sections in a serie starting from 1, you can start to assemble them. Let us say you have Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (section 1) and Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (section 2) in your main inventory, you can then use (shift-right click) section 2 on section 1 to combine them. This will make a Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (incomplete) and give you 5xp. At this point, you can only assemble the pieces in correct order, by now using Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (section 3) on Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (incomplete) and so on, but not say section 4 unless the incomplete assembly contains 1-3. Looking at the incomplete book will tell you how many sections you have combined already.

  Once all pieces have been assembled in the correct order you will have Tattered book: Tree of Enlightenment (complete) and then we're almost done.

Since the language in the books is still incomprehensible, we need someone wise to decipher them first. The solution to this came to me in a dream - a voice said walk into the desert and you will find your answers. The dream also contained a snake and some naked indians, but I don't think that had anything to do with it.

Outside the Temple of Three Winds again, with complete books in hand, head west and a little south into the desert. By foot or whatever else transportation you have. Once you have all the parts done, you should be of a level that nothing really can threaten you on the way, but keep a lookout in any case. After a while you should see a mountain range that is hiding an oasis. It's within this oasis in Greater Tir County (more precisely, around coordinates 800 x 2300) I found her, the all-knowing Hermit Sho-Li - she even looked a bit snakeish like from my dream.


Sho-Li will immediately ask you about the Temple of Three Winds when you strike up a conversation with her - just tell her you have been there, and she offers to translate any wierd old writings. Let her know which of the two books you have completed and you will automatically get a mission to return it:

  Sho-Li asked for the lost pages of an old book
Exp: 2000 for Ape Fist, 2500 for Tree of Enlightenment

Once you have the mission, a trade interface should also pop up, so trade her the correct book and she will translate the contents and give you the corresponding special MA attack in return. Talk to her again for the second book so you are sure you have the mission for it before turning it in.

Now, that should net you two special MA attacks:

  Ape Fist of Khalum
...and from their midst the Immortal One chose the blessed Khalum. Great were his
trials and anguish...and Khalum trod the path of the Immortal One and was reborn...
now no man may suffer the sight of Khalum, for his blazing sour burns the Unclean...

  Tree of Enlightenment
...his voice inspired them with hope. His words inflamed their passions. The Heavens themselves were cowed by his Righteousness ...in their jealousy they Abandoned us. Only He returned from Exile to lead us to Paradise and reclaim what we lost. On the Day we shall be risen up...

But what you're really wondering is...what do they do and how do they perform? Let's start with the Ape Fist. This is nearly a pure damage special, requiring just 281 MA skill to use and delivers 97 damage. It is said to be a "powerful stun" but this doesn't seem to be the case. In testing, the attack does stun, but for a very short time and does appear to be very similar to other attacks like the Snake (there it is again!) or the Bird of Prey damage wise and when it comes to stuns. Since this attack locks your Martial Arts skill, it seems useless in the sense that it doesn't do anything other attacks do, and has a lot of trouble involved getting it compared to just getting a regular K-Mart special.

The Tree of Enlightenment attack however, is a whole other matter. It requires 316 MA skill and 201 Dimach to use. Different from normal MA attacks, this special locks your Dimach skill - making it usable at the same time you use your regular MA specials. A definite plus. What it does is first hit the targeted mob for 120 damage, and then heal the entire team, including yourself, for 290 hp. Of course this isn't that big of a heal, but at the level you can use this it compares to a direct heal, and teamheals later, or even a good shot of a firstaid stim for a good time yet. I have to say it has quickly become a favourite attack used in every battle atleast once. Neither do I think I will outgrow this one, as it's just convenient - an extra heal and a bit of damage at "no cost".

So in closing, if you're a Martial Artist below level 60, get the Tree of Enlightenment - you'll love it as much as dreaming of naked indians.


Last updated 27. February 2004

Contributors:
Missedme, Atlantean

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