Shadow Shard Conditioning

Shadow Shard Conditioning
The Chantry
Type	Tour Guide Tip
Place	The Chantry
Available to	Heroes, Vigilantes, and Rogues
Level range	1–50

Overview

Shadow Shard Conditioning is a tip contact that offers Tour Guide Missions in The Chantry.

Introduction

Can't Stop the Chant

Exploration Mission

After spending time in this bizarre and irrational realm, you begin to notice you are not feeling quite yourself. Various odd sensations frequently assail your mind, and it is beginning to impact your performance. Perhaps it is the odd gravity, the upsetting extra-dimensional visuals, or it could be the way this "air" feels.

You decide on a selection of mental exercises the scientists from Firebase Zulu recommended to help you withstand the Shadow Shard's strange mental influences.

• Undergo some mental conditioning in The Chantry.
• Tough it out for now.

Too Busy

There are benefits to be had with this conditioning. Unfortunately, you cannot really spare the time given the tasks you need to take care of.

No More Missions

You have completed all of the recommended mental exercises. The cognitive strain of the extra-dimensional sensations on your mind gradually dissipates, and you start feeling like your normal self again.

Accolade

Can't Stop the Chant

You've obtained this Accolade by earning every Exploration badge within The Chantry.

Missions

King of Pain

Briefing

One of the most fundamental sensations experienced by any living creature is pain. It molds and defines, it warns and protects, it leaves scars and memories. The Shadow Shard's influences often prey upon these vulnerabilities, attempting to bend and break those under pain's yoke.

Within the Chantry is a place designated the Bastion of Pain. This sounds like the perfect spot to meditate on pain's role and to fortify yourself against yielding when pain is at its greatest.

• Establish yourself the Ruler of Pain

To overcome the threats within the Shadow Shard, you will first have to overcome the threats within yourself. Pain is a daunting adversary, but it can also become a fierce ally, working towards honing and refining focus.

You will conquer your pain and bend its power towards defeating this dimension's master.

Mission Objective

• Overcome sensations of pain

King of Pain / Queen of Pain (4131.5, 389.4, -2159.5)

Pain! Every nerve flares with it. Your body sings with a crystalline agony that is transcendent in its intensity. But this is not a pain that makes you whimper like a struck animal, it makes you growl with fury at the indignity of it. It is a lesson, a challenge to be conquered, to remain unbowed and ultimately triumph over it. But in a moment it is gone though the memory of it lingers, as does the conviction that you were the master of it.

Unfettered

Briefing

All sentient minds develop attachments as they progress through their lives. Bonds of camaraderie, material gain, acknowledgement, and fame are things the Shadow Shard picks at and pulls apart to weaken the minds of those under its influence.

While having attachments is not an inherent weakness, you will need to be able to mentally distance yourself from them if you are to resist this dimension's oppressive effects. You spot a solitary island that would be perfect for realizing isolation from one's worldly ties.

• Become Unfettered by attachment.

To discard all that you have accumulated as an individual will be difficult. But to give the Shadow Shard any openings would be to invite your undoing. Rularuu's influence is potent and weaker minds will shatter under its pressure.

You will not be so easily routed; this dimension's master shall come to respect your willpower.

Mission Objective

• Free yourself from attachments

Unfettered (1112.0, 270.0, -3857.0)

You have burdened yourself with so many unnecessary attachments. Your friends will only disappoint you; they are best cast aside. You will ultimately disappoint those you love; better to walk alone and be responsible only to yourself. This identity you've constructed is just an illusion to hide who you really are; not to everyone else, they are less than nothing, but to yourself. Your possessions, your job, your status: it is time for you to deny the hold they have on you and walk free and unfettered.

Penitent

Briefing

Your actions have consequences. This is a basic statement that should need no explanation. But what of those whose futures you have changed by your actions, whose livelihoods you trampled in the name of your own purpose? Are those who fell by the wayside any less valuable than the ones you have "saved"?

These doubts are cracks that this dimension would seek to exploit to undermine you. You must come to terms with all that you have done if you hope to become impervious to the Shadow Shard's grasp. A secluded alcove in the distance catches your attention. There are few places here truly suitable for reflection; you decide to take this moment to reflect.

• Reflect and become Penitent.

You have hurt an unknowable number of people. You have stepped on others whilst climbing towards your own definition of justice. There is no end to the number of things you have done that have led to irrevocable consequences in the lives of those in your path.

Accepting that your purpose was worth these sacrifices and acknowledging the burden of your sins must happen if you are to master yourself.

Mission Objective

• Express penitence for your actions

Penitent (-5972.0, 1046.9, -3375.5)

It is all your fault. The lives you've ruined along your path to glory. That Hellion who was forced into a life of crime when all other options were spent. That lonely member of the Lost who'd been spat on all his life until he finally found people who accepted him for who he was. That Sky Raider whose daughter depended on him to pay for her dialysis. Did you ever give a thought to the people you've been "defeating" in your quest to become a "true hero?" No, of course not, they're just points to be earned on some metaphorical scorecard.

Misbegotten

Briefing

The Shadow Shard gnaws at your insecurities unceasingly, jabbing at every opening to bruise your mind. You are reminded over and over of the ugly actions you undertook behind the flimsy justification of pursuing your "ideals". There is no pride to be taken in such contaminated justice.

If you are to find the strength to continue fighting here, something must be done to vanquish this shame. To the east lies the Bastion of Shame, as fitting an environment as any to meditate and confront the trauma behind your actions.

• Accept Misbegotten truths.

In any conflict, there will be a victor as well as the defeated. The righteousness of victory can only be truly relished by demonizing the conquered and justifying your actions. However, rarely in life are things so black and white.

Understanding must be gained to accept the burdens of rising above those who challenged your path without shame.

Mission Objective

• Acknowledge the shame within

Misbegotten (-5160.5, 928.4, 1530.0)

You're no hero. You're a thug. A super-powered bully who metes out pain and suffering in equal measure. What kind of person are you, who finds inspiration in the broken bodies and shattered lives you've left in your wake? What kind of person has their life enhanced every time some "villain" crumples in a lifeless heap at your feet? Does it make you feel powerful? You're a leech, sucking the life from everyone who stands between you and your "noble goals" for a "better, safer society." Have you no shame?

Bereaved

Briefing

Woe and hopelessness hang heavy on the hearts of those who face a reality they cannot comprehend, in challenging an enemy beyond their understanding. There is no shortage of grief amongst the victims of the Shadow Shard's malevolence.

You yourself have felt this looming shadow hang over your heart, despite loss being no strange thing to you. Deep to the south lies the Bastion of Sorrow, perhaps there you shall reclaim the resolve that once burned in your heart when you first arrived within Rularuu's domain. To rekindle that flame will serve to stave off the despair.

• Resist being Bereaved of hope.

Nothing could undermine humanity's efforts in the Shadow Shard more than giving into despair. To assume Rularuu cannot be defeated is to immediately submit to his will.

If the stalwart defenders of your world lose morale and waver, they will be brushed aside with a single stroke, then all will truly be lost.

Mission Objective

• Stave off the weight of sorrow

Bereaved (-1574.0, 1764.2, 6657.0)

You live in a dangerous world. Beset on all sides by foes that wish to destroy you and all you hold dear. You've seen countless friends and comrades fall in battle. You've seen their bodies burnt, their minds warped, their bones broken. You've heard their cries of pain and fear and echoed it with your own. How many have fallen by the wayside, unable to carry on in the face of such daunting odds, who've had their spirits broken by the constant toil, the never-ending hordes of villainous enemies who never tire and never give up?

Dispossessed

Briefing

There are many who regret coming to this dire place; those who left behind the embrace of their loved ones to serve on the frontlines in a potentially unwinnable war. The echoes of "what could have been" oftentimes weighs heavily on the hearts of those who committed their service to confronting Rularuu.

The burden of the lost opportunities your decisions have cost you is never far from your mind lately, happiness that could have been yours had you just made the better choice. Unless you overcome these lingering doubts, you will never triumph here. Nestled in the southwest hides the Bastion of Regret, a fitting stage to vanquish these notions once and for all.

• Deny being Dispossessed.

To accept the outcome of one's decisions is to carve out the way to the future. Continually questioning yourself if this or that choice was correct serves nobody, save perhaps Rularuu.

You will not let this dimension's prodding upset the belief in the path you have dedicated your life to pursuing.

Mission Objective

• Own the consequences of your choices

Dispossessed (4612.0, 760.5, 3399.0)

Your life as a hero takes up so much of your time. Hours day and night patrolling the streets of Paragon City, casting down one villain after the next in your quest for glory and influence. Can nothing else in life command such devotion? The words of loved ones drowned out by the clamor of explosions and blasts of energy, the invitations of friends forgotten the moment a new crisis arises, competing interests shelved in preference for an assault upon just one more arch-villain's stronghold. Before you know it life has passed you by and moved on without you. Your loved ones have kindled romances with another. Your friends have crossed you off of their invite lists. Do you even remember what it was like before you became a hero?

Red Fog

Briefing

One of the most common symptoms experienced by those who have spent long periods within the Shadow Shard is bouts of anger. The dimension has a penchant for dredging up the frustrations harbored within a person's heart and pitting it against their sanity. The red haze overtakes their senses and draws them into conflict.

You are no fool. To be goaded into letting fury control you would be an insult to your capabilities. No, you will channel this righteous rage, forge it into a weapon that will strike down any of Rularuu's minions unfortunate enough to stand in your way. Looking to the precipice leading to the tenebrous Storm Palace, you believe there is no better view to channel your anger.

• See through the Red Fog.

If this realm seeks to fuel your rage, it is feeding the fire of its own undoing. You will not suffer such an indignity to go unpunished. If Rularuu would draw forth your deepest ire, he and his armies will be the first to experience its full might.

They won't like you when you're angry.

Mission Objective

• Channel your fury

Red Fog (-7523.0, 1893.0, 4176.5)

You have been manipulated by this place. It has played you like a well-tuned instrument. It has fed you lies and thrown your shortcomings at your face. This place, by its very existence, mocks you and your attempts to understand it. Just as you think you've got a handle on this place it presents you with some new insanity to confound the senses. You feel anger growing like a cancer at the center of your being, a burning rage at every little indignity you've been made to suffer here. Each step you take is fueled by your anger; you will make the Shadow Shard and the things that call this place home pay for what they've done to you.

Demiurge

Briefing

This idea is an exercise of your own design. If one's cognitive strength has power here, to stand triumphant atop The Chantry at the region's core and namesake will surely reinforce your own mental position within Rularuu's hierarchy.

You will not allow anything to control your free will. If the Shadow Shard conspires to hinder you -- to deem your presence insignificant within its master's dominion, you shall overcome every obstacle and demonstrate why you are one of your world's paragons!

• Stand above the Demiurge.

The white sphere is visible from every corner of this sector. It is the pinnacle representation of Rularuu's power.

Climbing its structure and establishing yourself above its influence will help fortify your mental acuity, allowing to you focus on your tasks without hindrance.

Mission Objective

• Scale The Chantry

Demiurge (0.0, 2676.9, -3.5)

At last you have arrived. Every challenge faced you have cast down with blood and sweat, never once succumbing to despair or defeat. The Shadow Shard has tested you countless times and each time you have triumphed. No mind games or violations to your person could prevent you from reaching this point and now you stand at the pinnacle of the Chantry, the lord of this realm in spirit, if not in actuality.