The Lost Vale: Part 4 - Right Wing: Chul Earthkeeper And Larg The Devourer (optional)
By: Damihdez
After killing Dralel, head back to the beach to complete that stage of the quest and pick up the new one. You will also get a Quest Item called a Worldbearer Branch in your Quest Invetory. If you have been through Lost Vale before, you will have more than one branch. You only need one, so it is highly recommended that you destroy any extra so that your Quest Inventory doesn't fill up.
The right wing is probably the most annoying in terms of trash mobs. Due to the amount of AoE that is typically flying around, you will often aggro some of the Pixies here. This is a sad event, because they have group silence abilities. If you do aggro one of these, focus fire it to ashes. Note that they will be neutral to begin with, so if you're very careful (and not me) then you might be able to leave them alive. For myself, it's a vendetta now.
When fighting the dryad groups here, you want to assist-train the Seedkeepers first, then the Branchwraiths. Follow this and you will be okay.
One last encounter to mention before the next boss. When you approach the first set of stone stairs, have everyone group up tightly. All of you must run up the stairs as a close group, because the Vale Thornbark at the top of the stairs plops a forcefield down that can cut off any stragglers (effectively removing them from the fight completely). Other than that, this guy is not difficult; just focus fire on him and ignore the little adds until later.
Move up a ramp in the next area and enter the cave there. Inside is Chul Earthkeeper. I'm not actually sure what kind of critter he is, but I think a good bet is to slot the Giant Tactic (Sky Titan's Bulwark or better).
This gentleman is a pretty straightforward tank and spank. Just keep him faced away from the casters and all should go smoothly. He does randomly pick up a party member and hurl them over the cliff, so a good idea is to tank him right at the edge of the cliff. That way, whoever gets tossed can maintain line of sight. Down in the pit, there are a bunch of non-champ lizards. An easy way to deal with them is ignore them and try to drag them right by the boss. That way, AoE should shuffle them off this mortal coil. We've found that Chul likes to pick on one person, so if you go flying once, prepare to go flying a few times.
Turn on your quest, and pick up the next step (Kill Butcher Gutbeater). Then exit the cave and travel up the river into the spring-like area. Nublet reports that the lizards in this area cause an AoE that can be depressing, but I have never noticed. I'm guessing that the healers in my group were just exceptional enough that I never knew.
From here, take the right path into the cave to smack down the optional boss, Larg the Devourer. You could skip him, but why pass up another chance for a Darkpromise Piece or a neat weapon? The junk mobs in this area are Gorgers, so you should be good with your Sky Titan tactic. There's nothing really interesting about these guys, except that you want to face them away from the squishier members of your team.
Larg the Devourer is in a room at the end of this cave. He's even more of a straight up tank and spank. Just charge in and get him facing away from the cloth-wearers. Larg the Devourer does have a room-wide AoE where he repeatedly pounds the floor with his bruised hands. When you see him start doing this, all non-tanks should debuff him to give the healers a hand. He can also do a knockback attack, so when you run into the room, get over against the wall if you're ranged.
Done! There's no quest associated with this guy, but hopefully you got some nice loot out of it.
To be continued! Next Episode: A story of brotherly love between an Ogre and his little green-skinned buddy.