Curse

kunta · Jul 17, 2008, 06:34 AM // 06:34

Hey guys this is my first ever attempt at Fan Fiction. Please don't flame my work . However I do appreciate Constructive criticism, and suggestions. Basically its a group of 4 friends who beta test a new way to play Guild Wars. ill update hopefully every night, or whenever i get time to write.Please read and leave some suggestions every comment is welcome.

Newfangled Beta Tester
By: David McDermott

February 12, 08

Time: 6:30 P.M.

I was just finishing up a call with Clinton when I decided to talk about a new testing job.
“So like I said, she’s an impenetrable fortress” Clinton said. I could do naught but laugh at his play of words. “What? I’m serious; everything I say doesn’t seem to take effect. It’s not my fault I’m not good at this.”

“Dude, your taking this to serious. She will succumb don’t worry. Just keep at it. Oh hey man guess what?” I asked with enthusiasm.
”What!? Clinton said in annoyance.

“I took up this job as a beta tester for Guild Wars. Well actually I won it in a contest. But any way they need about 12 people for a new “gaming experience” they called Sally. I haven’t been there to see what it’s like but I’m sure it will be epic. You should totally come along. Andrew already said ok.” I simply stated.

“For Guild Wars? I’m sure they have all the beta people they need already. It’s probably a waste of time.”

“Dude c-mon you have to come with us. What if I invited Alyssa?”

He laughed briefly and stated in a matter of fact way “She would never go.”

“Want to bet” I stated?

“Yes I do in fact. Why would she want to go to some place and play Guild Wars with us?”

“Why, you ask, because it pays around 50 bucks an hour. That’s why.”

“No way.”

“I’m not lying man.”

“Well I’m in, I don’t know about Alyssa though. How bad could it be though I mean its Guild Wars.” We arrived at the parking lot right as he finished his sentence.

“Well I’m going to go and call tonight. I’ll give you details about it tomorrow. “

“ok cya man, peace” .

Once I got home I called Alyssa and strange enough she said ok. I think it was because Clintons going but I don’t know. It could be the 50 dollars an hour to. But whatever persuaded her she said ok.

February 19, 08

Time: 8:00 A.M.

I awoke with a jolt this morning. I had been anticipating this day for over a week now. It was the day I would get to test Sally out. I really didn’t know a thing about it other than I was going to get around 50 bucks an hour for playing a game I already play non-stop. So I hopped into some jeans and put on a Bright orange cross country shirt. It didn’t take me long to drive up to the place where me, Andrew, Clinton and Alyssa decided to car pool at. It was the school parking lot. As I Pulled up Andrew was already there, just standing there.

“Way to be late” he shot at me, “I’ve been here for at least half an hour.

“It’s not my fault you were here to early,” I stated.

“So who do you thing Sally is?” Andrew inquired. Andrew was a big guy. Not fat or muscular but sum were in between.

“I don’t know but if its guild wars related how bad can it really be? I for one can’t wait to get started on this. ” Just as I finished my sentence Clinton and Alyssa pulled up simultaneously.

“Sup David, Andrew” said Clinton as he stepped out of his truck. Then he directed his attention to Alyssa. She was short with full brown hair with a purple streak in the front and a light tan. She was gorgeous by Clinton’s standards pretty by mine.”Hey Alyssa, so we all riding with you?”

“Sure” she simply stated in a soft luscious Voice.They’re really isn’t much to tell about the car ride there. Only once we arrived at our destination did things start to get interesting. When we entered there was a silver front desk and Guild Wars stamped above it. Everything was silver and sleek. The receptionist was busy on the computer when we entered through the revolving door. I strode up to the lady at the desk and said “Were here about Sally?”

The lady at the desk immediately snapped from the computer and to us. She looked us over very auspiciously as if we were lying. “There are four of you, correct?” she said in a sharp tone.

“yes,” I answered.

“Names for ID cards?” She said coldly.

“Well im David McDermott, this is Andrew Phillips, Clinton Cooksey, and this here is Alyssa Gualden.“ as I finished she turned to her computer, typed a few things in and soon I heard the whirr of a printer.

“Here you are.” She then handed me 4 ID cards with our names and pictures on them. How did she get our pictures? Before I could ask she sharply intervened.

“Ok, follow me, be sure to were your id at all times. We don’t tolerate trespassers.” She then got up from here desk and showed us through to the back. We passed through another set of doors to reveal a long hallway, Riddled with doors. “Just go down this hallway and enter the second to last door your right please, be sure to present your id’s to the man at the desk.” Then she left us there.
“Wow, nice people” Alyssa stated.

“Whatever let’s just go” I said. So we followed the hallway to the door and I opened it. I strode through and perceived a giant room with a huge cylindrical device in the center. There were dozens of workers in white lab coats everywhere maintaining the machine. Then a man dressed in black pants and a red lab coat called us over to a desk where he was sitting.

“Are you all here for Sally?” He asked. The man had dark features with a hooked nose and short cutoff hair.

“Yes we are” Clinton replied to the man.

“Id’s please?

“Good, Good.” He smiled at us then went on.”Well let me just start off by saying how much we appreciate you helping us here. Let me take you to a different room and I will help you understand what it is you will be doing and what Sally is.”

“What it is? Don’t you mean who it is?” I interjected.

“No I do mean what it is. Come now all will be explained.” We then followed him through another door into a plain white room with heavily padded leather seats. “Please, take a seat.” We each sat together at one end of the table. The man just stood at the other end looking over a Clipboard. It seemed like minutes, and we each shot wary glances at each other. I myself was a little worried about what this truly was.”Ok let’s get started. You have come to test out Sally. Sally is a code word for that big machine out there.” He then pointed at the doors in which we just passed through.

“So what does it do?” I asked.

“I was getting to that, what Sally truly is, is an Ultimate Gaming Experience Emulator. What it does is it places you into the game of Guild Wars as if it were real life.” The room went dead silent as the man finished.” By the way my name is Kevin Ortega and I will be with you every step of the way when using the machine.”

“No way” Andrew said, “this can’t be real.”

“Oh but it can.” Kevin stated with a gleam in his eye. “With new technologies now available we can completely submerge you into the Guild Wars world. With the machine nearing completion we need people, like you, to test it out and evaluate how it reacts and what bugs might we need to possibly fix. We would do it ourselves but we need avid gamers willing to devote countless hours into the game and completely submerge themselves into the content. We need people who look for the backdoor way to solve problems so we can prevent them in the final stage of the project.”

“So what we just enter the machine and BAM there we are? I doesn’t seem very possible to me.” Andrew said.

“We have suits that you will put on, and then you will each be separately placed in chambers inside sally. We will then run the machine and you will be in guild wars. The interface has a HUD like experience. You will have full range of all your senses and motions. You can smell, feel, and see everything as if it were real life. Say you are stabbed by a Grawl.” And with his hands he pretended to stab someone, “Then you will feel pain. You will feel as if you have been stabbed in real life, with no effect to you in real life. You will have to rely on each other for support. So far we only have Prophecies available to the machines with our devs working hard on the other games. So you can only have access to prophecies missions, content, and game play. We have some material for you to read, the risks of using the machine proper procedure and such for you all to read. Once you are done reading I can give you your suits to put on and show you your way to the best way to play Guild Wars.” With that he handed each of us a sizeable packet and walked out the door. “if you need me ill be just outside.”

“Well now,” Clinton said, “if what he says is true, I can’t wait to get in there!”

“What about the risks though, “Alyssa questioned.

“What about them, I’m putting on that suit and playing my game the way it was meant to be played,” I said without doubt. I perused through the packet then asked the others if they were ready, Andrew was hesitant with Alyssa but Clinton and I were ready. We both strode through the door and to the man and said with unison, “Were ready”.

kunta · Jul 17, 2008, 06:35 AM // 06:35

Time: 11:30 A.M.

“Good” Kevin said and smiled. “Are your friends not ready yet? He asked.

“Not quite” I answered. My heart was racing I was so excited.

“Now you can only play one Character class and name per suit so choose wisely because you’re only getting one suit.” He led us to the end of the room where there were 8 jet black suits and helmets. The suits sat on a platform of red surrounded by stairs. They were lined in what seemed to be blue wiring all throughout each suit. “Go up grab a suit, and then go back to the room where your friends are and change. The suit will custom fit to you and will forever then be customized to your body height and such. It will also retain all memory and files once you are in game. I’ll be waiting outside once more.” With that he left once again. He seemed to do that, speak sparingly then leave.

I was speechless. Clinton seemed to be to. I climbed the short amount of stairs to the suit nearest to me and clasped its right arm. It pulsed white in the blue trimming and then seemed to glow a brighter blue. I took it down from its hanging positioned and nearly ran back to the room. I saw Alyssa and Andrew exiting. They started to yell something at me but I was to excited to notice. I ran inside stripped down and put the suit on. It felt marvelous. The material was unknown to me but it felt as if I had nothing on. A cloud perhaps? The blue turned red as I popped the helmet on. It was a perfect fit. I was completely enclosed. It thrummed to life and the insides suddenly lit up. The suit turned hot then cold then felt perfect. A series of icons then lit up inside. I could see perfectly outside my helmet and it weighed nothing. I must have looked awesome in it, I thought to myself.

Clinton then came into the room, and just stared in awe. He was frozen in the doorframe suit and helmet clasped in his hands.
“I look that good Hu?” I said jokingly. I then pushed my way past him and back to Kevin. He looked up and down me and nodded in approval.

“This way.” He led me to a moderate sized capsule above a green pad.” Please step in and I will assist you through your helmet’s speakers. Please activate your com channel by setting your eyes on the first red circle on your top-left corner please.” I did so and after about 3 seconds it turned green. “ok does this sound good?” as he talked into a mic at his side. The audio sounded perfect.
“Sounds good to me.”

“Good.” That word Good was starting to irk me. He seemed to use it quite often.” Ok now please step into the Capsule and stand on the blue circle.” I walked into the capsule and stood on the circle. The room I was now in was completely white except for the light blue circle. The door behind me slid shut and the seam disappeared.

“Now after I send you through you will be in Guild Wars. Choose your character and name. You will start out in Post-Ascalon. We haven’t gotten Pre-Ascalon online yet. We will have some contact throughout the game but not much. You and your friends however will be able to talk freely all you like. Your HUD will become the guild wars screen and you will be dumped into an anti-gravity chamber. Instead of a keyboard you can talk. The mic will pick up everything you say. To quit the game for any reason look at the red QUIT sign at the bottom left of your HUD. You have to look at it for more than five seconds to activate. Your suit will stimulate whether you have been hurt or not. Don’t worry; if you die in the game it won’t kill you in real life. You won’t know the difference between real life and the game. I’ve helped you all I can. Good Luck.” With that his voice terminated and the room began to shift.

kunta · Jul 17, 2008, 06:35 AM // 06:35

Time: 12:00 A.M.

I was excited and scared at the same time. The room began to shift and turn. Somehow the room stayed illuminated but from a light source unknown to me as the room was perfectly white. I heard mechanical whizzing and soon felt like I was falling. The floor began to fall out from under me. I cried out, scared. Then I felt nothing. Nothing at all. I was just there in the middle of the capsule. I moved my arms around and feet. Nothing. I never moved from my position in the middle, but had full range of motion. Then Kevin came back on the com.

“Neat isn’t it? You are now in the anti-gravity chamber.”

“How am I Floating like this?” I asked.

“You were dumped into a large cylinder machine that … ah never mind. It’s too complicated for you. We will start the game shortly.” The com clicked off. It was dead silent in the room. Then my HUD started turning colors and I heard some weird clicking sounds. Then the room turned into black screen area, then the Guild Wars main page music began playing. I looked around and saw black, the room was completely black also. Then, a bunch of square blocks showed up with depictions of people on them. I looked around the room and there were six of them. Each had a name. I examined them more closely and they had profession names and under that a list of main attributes and what each profession was about. I then realized this is where I would choose what I would be. I thought about it for a good 2 seconds as I already knew who I would be, a ranger. The thought of bows and pets and the wilderness excited me. I looked around the figure and reached for it. It, to my astonishment, pushed like a button and a new frame appeared. It read “Do you wish to become a ranger?” I pressed that frame and it too felt real. All so real. I then was confronted with a long hollowed out box, or so it seemed. And it read “Name:”. I was thinking I should use the same name as in my real Guild Wars account so it would be easier for Clinton, Andrew, Alyssa and I to meet up, so I went with Doom Virus. How I thought to myself. How would I enter my name? I pondered it for a moment then remembered that Kevin said all text was to be said. So I called out “Doom Virus” in a steady voice. The box then filled with the corresponding letters. Then another small box said “Confirm Name, once you accept this you cannot go back and switch any option again.” I, without hesitation, pressed Confirm Name.

kunta · Jul 17, 2008, 06:36 AM // 06:36

Time: Unknown

All of a sudden my world shifted and I was dropped onto an orange-ish, cracked, baked land. I felt a weird vertigo sensation from the transition from the beginning screen to where I was now, that sent a chill up my spine. I looked around, and was utterly speechless. Around me was the land, Ascalon. I somehow walked on the ground, breathed the air, and was dressed in an rangers garment. I had the face mask and all. I reached up and touched it. It felt so real. It was rough and course like. A canvas maybe? I crouched on the ground and felt the land. It was Hard and had loose dirt on it. I felt myself. I was really here. I looked around and there were multiple people here also. In the game world not mine probably. They shouted out all kinds of things, WTB, WTS, LFP/G. There were guild recruiters yelling out why you should choose them over the next guild. They were all so real. My HUD had changed too. It had the Guild Wars feel to it. My skills were there, my inventory, my health. Like my games screen was projected on it. I looked at my skills and was astonished to find out I had all Prophecies skills already. I was also astonished to find out that I was already level 20. My health had no number along with energy, strange I thought but I assumed id get use to it. “Wow” I simply stated. I looked at my inventory to reveal I had a starter bow, and 100 gold.

“I’m level 20 with only 100 gold and a starter bow” I said out loud, in a sarcastic manner. It soon received many lol’s as the other gamers had heard me and were now having a laugh over it.

Ascalon is so desolate and barren. I never realized how bad it really was until then. It kind of shocked me in a way actually. I never really saw Ascalon for what it really was. Looking at it through sally, I knew I didn’t want to stay here long. I decided to catch a runner to lions arch as fast as possible. Then thought it would be best to wait for the others. Just as I had finished that thought a familiar name popped up a couple yards from me. I Zedatiouse Zethnur I, Clinton. I ran up to him clasped him by the arm and said, “ Dude…why a monk?!” He immediately burst out in laughter.

“Well I couldn’t be a paragon, so why not?” His eyes were full of delight as he looked around his surrounding and like I did, looked at his hands, and felt the ground. “It’s all so real. It’s hard to imagine all this isn’t real, I mean is real, no wait….I mean, I don’t know. It sure is going to be hard switching back to a computer that’s for sure.” Again he laughed. “So where are the others?”

“I don’t know yet, you were the first to show up after me. I would guess that they will be here soon enough. I mean we did get our suits before them and jump right in right?”

“I guess. I wonder how long they will be. I really don’t want to stay here long. It’s not like this place is very inviting.”, Clinton said laughing again with a broad smile.

“Yeah, I don’t want to stay here anymore than I have to either.”, I agreed. So we waited. We walked around town a bit, mostly keeping to ourselves and enjoying the realism that has presented itself. We did how ever come across the armor crafter. “Man some new armor is looking pretty good right now.” I said as I looked at myself. I was dressed up in pre armor, but yet strangely still level 20.

“Yeah I wouldn’t mind a set myself. But first how are we supposed to get money? And I don’t want no cheap Ascalon armor either.” Clinton said jokingly.

“Well I plan to catch a runner to Lions Arch I don’t know about you, but I encourage you to come along.”

“I’m going to wait for Alyssa first though and we should probably wait for Andrew to. I’m sure they will agree to some along also.” He stood there for a minute examining a new set of clothes from the rack behind the crafter then said, “But wait there will be four of us. How will we each get a run?”

“It does pose a problem. I guess we will have to fight our way up to yaks bend then catch a runner. You can get a party of 6 there right?” I asked.

“Psht, like I would know. I don’t hang around in these parts anymore.” He said.” Let’s go look for Alyssa and Andrew, there bound to be here by now.” So we then went to go look for them and found Andrew easily enough. He was a big muscular warrior, with ring mail armor on dyed pink. His name was Bloody Kller.

“Hey, how did you get your armor pink?, Clinton yelled out. Andrew spun around looking from where the voice had come from and not spotting us yet, walked toward the direction he thought it was coming from, which was not the direction it really was coming from. He headed up to the Xunlai Agents. I decided to test out the HUD interface and tried to get Clinton into my group. I drifted my eyes over “Invite” looked at the hollow box, said I Zedatious Zethurner I, and the request was sent. Then I went to invite Andrew. Clinton joined in an instant but it took Andrew a little while longer.

“Guys where were you, and my armor is PINK, PINK!” He shouted over the teach channel. It was weird switching between channels. It was like you heard one more clearer when it was selected. “How did this happen? Where are you guys? Is your armor pink also? It was Kevin, he did this. When we get back I’m going to…”

Clinton interrupted, “Calm down dude geez. It’s not that big of a deal. We’re all getting new armor at Lions Arch anyway. Where’s Alyssa art anyways? Didn’t she come about the same time you did?”

“Yeah I think so. But she’s never played Guild Wars before, she could be here and we would never know it. Hell she’s probably right behind me.” He pointed into the multitude of people crowded around the Xunlia chests.”

“Well we could shout out for her”I suggested or pm certain players and ask if it’s her. Let’s just think, what would she pick?”

“Necromancer!” Andrew and I both shouted out in unison.

“Guys no, I’m telling you, she’s not what you guys think she is.” Clinton said in defense of Alyssa.

Andrew practically yelled out, “Not what Clinton, you can’t deny it, she’s kind of weird. I don’t know how you put up with her the way you do. I mean she’s nice and all but she can’t hide behind a pretty face and some kind words forever. She likes screamo music and all that weird stuff, She probably cuts herself”

“True, but I’m telling you guys, she’s a nice person. And not everyone who likes Screamo music cuts themselves. I like her. At least I have a girl I like. I never hear you talking about your romance life Andrew. For all I know your gay and like guys.” Clinton said, trying to control his laughter.

Flustered Andrew was about to say something but I stopped him, “Guys c-mon stop this. We’re here to play a game not fight. Who cares if Clinton likes Alyssa, that’s basically the only reason she’s here. And do you like guys, I mean Clinton does have a point here, not that it’s bad or anything but you never talk about who you like.” Andrew just shut up. He wasn’t mad, but he wasn’t happy about the comment either. He just flat out changed the subject.

“Well there aren’t that any level 20’s here, and for some reason were level 20. And there doesn’t seem to be to to many necromancers running around in pre armor so it won’t be that hard to find her.”

“What if she’s not a necromancer?” Clinton suggested.

“She is trust our judgment. Ok lets split up, Andrew can search around the merchants, Clinton go by the arena entrance, and I’ll go by the guild register and behind them.” It took all of 2 minutes to find her. She was a necromancer, dressed in purple armor.

“I found her.” Clinton yelled out over the team channel.

“Be right there.” I responded. I was going to ask for her name but decided not to. I was just going to walk up to her but then she and Clinton were talking. I thought it would be best if I left them alone for awhile, after all he wouldn’t get any personal time with her anytime soon over the next few hours.

“Aren’t you going to invite her in?” Clinton asked.

“Just trying to spell her name out.” I lied. She had some generic name, Kiss of the dead.

kunta · Jul 17, 2008, 06:36 AM // 06:36

Time: Unknown

Everything went black again and I was dropped back onto land. A quaint shiver ran down my spine. It was going to take some getting used to, the portals were. We had all unanimously decided to get ourselves to yaks bend then to catch a runner headed out towards Lions Arch. This was our first time in a combat zone.

“guys,” I yelled out, “If this is like the game then a whiptail devourer will pop up right here,” and as I said this I drew an X on the mini map.”It would be perfect for us to kill firstly.”

“Sounds good to me.” Andrew grumbled and walked on ahead. As he approached the spot he was hesitant, creeping up on it almost. You could sense his fear by the way his sword shook in his hands. It gleamed in the sunlight. Everything went silent. Wind whipped up a small cloud of dust. When he reached the spot where the devourer was supposed to be he relaxed. He let his sword drop to his side and said, “Guess it’s not like the game.” He shrugged at us and asked what we should do next. Then exactly behind him a huge mound of dirt and dust flew into the air. Monstrous claws dug out a carapace with 8 eyes, and a stinger. The devourer’s tails sprung into the air and shot a small missile at Andrew. Andrew by now had turned around and used his shield to reflect the flying object away. The devourer launched another one, and this time Andrew wasn’t fast enough for it, but it only hit his pink chainmail and bounced off. He lunged into the thing with a giant hack at one of its claws, lopping it off. I drew my bow, then an arrow. Notched it, and let it fly. I seemed to know exactly what to do, as if I have known how to shoot since childhood. It was an eerie feeling at first, the way the perfection in which my skill was in. I threw out a power shot and Andrew used what looked like gash, because suddenly there was blood everywhere. Andrew had lost almost no health what so ever, but Clinton used healing breeze on him regardless. His health instantly went up. Then as fast as it appeared the thing was dead. We all stood around its hacked up and bleeding corpse.

“Wow” I simply stated.

“That was fun!” Andrew shrieked. Then Alyssa’s eyes started glowing and she rose into the air.

“ALYSSA?!” Clinton yelled out. She yet rose yet higher into the air, about two feet. She raised her arms in the air then crossed them and she touched back down to land. Almost immediately as soon as she hit the ground the devourer’s corpse shuddered. We all took our eyes off of her and looked at it. Its flesh looked like it was re-building itself, and molded together. Then a creature sprung out of the devourer’s carapace, screeched and held its arms out as if being born. The creature was disgusting, made from bones and muscles, and no skin. The rib cage was able and clearly visible. Its hand had three knobs and one was a giant club like sword made from what looked like the femur bone with sharp edges protruding. It had no eyes only a huge ragged mouth that extended from its blind face. Blood ran down its sides and limbs. It limped behind Alyssa. She seemed to be a little dumbfounded with the

“What the F@#k!” Andrew said. “So is that thing a bone minion I’m guessing?”

“Let’s just be glad were not fighting it, and Alyssa has it under control.” Clinton suggested. Alyssa walked around and the bone minion followed, slowly and favoring one side. It left blood streaks from were ever it moved from and to.

“Uhh guys, it’s following me…” Alyssa said sounding fearfull.

“Don’t worry it’s suppose to. It will fight for us now as long as you have
control of it.” I assured her.

kunta · Jul 19, 2008, 05:38 AM // 05:38

Newest addition to Newfangled Beta Tester --->

“Well this is kind of … weird. I wish I would have played this game before we came here. It would be nice to know what I’m doing before I’m doing it.”

“Yeah you should of.” Andrew said. “Now let’s get going, I want to kill some more.” So we headed up North-West. It wasn’t too long before we encountered a new enemy, Hulking Stone Elementals. Andrew rushed in and was immediately swarmed by three of the creatures. Whiptail Devourers also climbed out of the earth. He was trapped and had nowhere to go. The Hulking stone elementals were easily three heads taller than Andrew. Although they were relatively low level and did minimal damage, Andrew soon started taking enough damage to lower his health beyond what he would consider “safe”. It took us awhile to catch up to him to help because he just ran ahead of us. When Clinton got there Andrew barely had a fourth of his health left. “Help me!” he shouted.

“Working on it!” Clinton shouted back, and stared casting heals on him. Alyssa’s minions then went forward and started attacking the whiptail devourers. She had collectively summoned up six so far, and she was starting to love them. With each hack and slash, they lowered the number of enemies in the area fast. I quickly notched an arrow, used Determined Shot, and let the arrow fly. It struck the nearest Elemental right in the head, or what the stone there represented as head. It immediately fell off and the elemental started to crumble into many pieces. It almost seemed to shatter. I quickly aimed at the next nearest elemental. Andrew had efficiently killed off most of the whiptails, and was moving in for the last elemental. Alyssa was just standing there watching her minions do all the work for her, and Clinton stood there by Alyssa, casting heals on Andrew. The whole ordeal didn’t take longer than 10 or so minutes.

We continued on until we reached the great wall. We saw gate guard Sebastian standing there attentively, actively guarding the door through the wall. There were more elementals along the wall but they fell quickly under the groups might. We rounded a giant dead tree, then continued fourth passing up an ascalonian guard, who helped us in killing some nearby devourers. We rounded another corner and headed past a huge statue of Balthazar. It was s et ablaze, but no fuel could be seen. He seemed so solemn standing there so rigid with his sword held low in front of him. We walked past him and continued on until we saw an area in the wall in which its door had been blown off. We walked up to it and chatted awhile with Gate Guard Hollis.

"I'm Hollis of the Vanguard. We go where the King's Army fears to tread. What is your business here?" Hollis inquired.

“The npc’s talk…” Andrew said.

I strode up to Hollis and said, “we wish to pass into the breach.
“The charr there don’t take kind to visitors.” Hollis warned. “Listen, my duties keep me here at the Wall, but if you want to try to break through the whole Balthazar-cursed Charr army to meet up with Barradin, gods protect you, I say. No doubt the duke will greet you with open arms. Look for an Ascalon Hunter. She will guide you past the charr and to Piken Square unharmed."

“You have our gratitude.” And with that we zoned to the breach.