Guide:Silent Surf

Introduction

You start this fractal investigation with your new best friend, [Captain Thess], to whom I'm sure nothing bad will ever happen. Rummage in the crate near him to pick up a multi-purpose spelunking tool, with a limited number of charges of each ability:

Skill 1 - a grappling hook that launches you towards the location you select.

Skill 2 - a temporary parachute that prevents you taking fall damage and can be slightly steered.

Skill 3 - a big explosion that launches you in the air - good in case of emergencies.

Skill 5 - an unlimited use ability that fires a small light orb, allowing you to see better. Only one orb can be active per player.

For now, all you have is a single parachute and a big hole to fall into, so take a leap of faith and make sure to deploy your parachute before you become a pancake. Should you die to fall damage, Captain Thess will helpfully teleport you back to him to allow you to try again.

Once you safely reach the platform below, Captain Thess will join you and you can rummage in a new crate to gain [Skill 1]. Aim it at the platform across from you to grapple there. Here you will find two zip lines taking you further down. The second zipline terminates in a wall that drops you down, so be ready with your parachute!

Captain Thess will be unable to join you until four players have reached this next platform. When all four stand in the white circle, Captain Thess will be able to portal in. This also allows the fifth player to join the rest of the group if they have been struggling to spelunk.

There is a Mistlock Singularity here, which is probably a bad sign. Sure enough, you are ambushed by a group of Bats and Spiders. Dispatch them and Captain Thess will activate another supply crate for you.

At this point the spelunking becomes significantly more challenging. To progress, you'll need to jump down below, landing on one of the large mushrooms beneath you (it doesn't matter which one). This will launch you forward, but not far enough. Near the apex of your path, activate the parachute and drift towards the far platform, and grapple on to the stalactite with a swirling wind effect around it. If you aren't going to make it, you can use [Skill 3] to give yourself a boost.

On the next platform, look for a small vent (Wind Cannon) indicated by a red cog icon. Hopping into it will take you to another platform, where there is another white circle to stand in to bring Captain Thess forward.

As before, the mistlock singularity indicates an ambush - this time a group of Naga. Upon defeating them, you can access another supply crate and a new Wind Cannon becomes available. The Wind Cannon fires you up and you will automatically activate a zipline midair. The zipline ends at another stalactite, dropping you down below. You should be able to land on the bouncing mushrooms below, but if in doubt you can use your parachute. It is also easier if you use your mount button to disengage from the zipline slightly early.

The bouncing mushrooms will launch you into another Wind Cannon that in turn deposits you on a small platform. To progress, you will need to reach the next cluster of bouncing mushrooms in the distance. This can be achieved in a number of ways, but the intended way is likely to use the two stalactites with swirling wind effects to grapple across.

Once you reach the mushrooms, they will launch you into yet another Wind Cannon, which fires you onto a zipline, then finally terminates at a wall, dropping you down to the final platform. To survive this final drop you will need your parachute, or alternatively you can fire a grappling hook at the ground which saves you for some reason.

Once four players have made it through, you can summon Captain Thess and eye that Mistlock Singularity with suspicion. Surprise! An Ambush! This time it is a corrupted Naga with some Corrupted Luxon Sailors. But wait, there's more!

Corrupted First Mate Dolus

A miniboss appears and immediately charges up a fear attack - yeeting Captain Thess off the platform into the void below. Players should be sure not to look at him lest they suffer the same fate (he is invulnerable until this attack ends regardless).

Shortly, First Mate Dolus will prepare a Numbers attack - all players receive a large AoE and a roman numeral above their head. After a short delay, the boss will shadowstep to each player in turn, leaving behind a damaging vortex for two seconds. There will be a sixth AoE at the boss's starting location, that he will leap back to at the end.

Otherwise, the boss doesn't do much else, so you can break its defiance bar and enjoy the terrified screams of Captain Thess from below.

After defeating Corrupted First Mate Dolus, a shadow portal opens up that takes you... somewhere for an achievement?

Otherwise, all that is left to do is grab the last supply crate and jump down into the void below. Here you will find that Captain Thess didn't actually survive the fall, and you've fallen into a cunning trap.

Unknown Demon

Interacting with Captain Thess's cold dead body will trigger the final fight - an Unknown Demon. Shortly after appearing, three smaller demons will also appear at the platform edge, but they cannot be targeted or attacked.

The fight starts with the Dread Visage attack, but all three of the smaller demons are using it too. This means that you need to move towards the platform edge so you can safely look away. [fear attack happens on a timer ~43s??].

Rending Storm - As you return from the Dread Visage, a [random?] player is targeted my a small AoE as the Demon throws a spinning axe in their direction. This creates a ticking damage AoE that lasts for 30 seconds. [Attack repeats every ~30s or after specific mechanics?] [Why do AoEs that you dropped have a different indicator?]

[Every 10% health?] The Demon gains a defiance bar and attempt to use some attack. Breaking it will <stun> and <expose> the demon for five seconds and prevent the attack, but give it a stack of a buff that makes the next defiance bar larger, and the stun/exposed duration shorter. Upon breaking the bar, two players are targeted by Rending Storm. If you fail to break the bar, an additional smaller demon is summoned on the platform, and the next time the defiance bar appears appears it will resume from the strength it was at.

Split Phase 1

At 66% health, the Demon goes invulnerable and teleports to the middle of the platform. Three random players will be targeted by each of the smaller demons with a beam. Moving close to this demon will cause it to relocate to one of five smaller platforms surrounding the main one. Shortly after, a ghostly figure appears in the middle of the platform and fires a beam of light towards the platform the demon retreated to. There is also see a red crossed sword icon on the minimap indicating the location. The player should use their special action key to switch to their multitool, grapple across to the small platform, and kill the demon (they have very low health). If all three demons are killed, the Unknown Demon's attack will be cancelled, otherwise everyone takes ??? damage and agony [increases for each demon not slain??].

Phase 2

Now the fight resumes with another Dread Visage attack, but this time there are four smaller demons on the platform. Immediately after the fear hits, all players will be targeted by the Frightening Speed mechanic, as at First Mate Dolus. The Frightening Speed mechanic will follow the Dread Visage for the rest of the encounter.

[Does fear replace the 2 axe aoes after the breakbar in this phase?]

Split Phase 2

This Split Phase is identical to the first, except that there are now four demons to deal with.

Phase 3

This phase is the same as Phase 2, except there are five smaller demons on the platform.

[Now the mechanic is CC -> fear -> 2 axes?]

[do AoEs from minidemons do anything notable? Do axe AoEs hurt the boss? Can you remove the adds on the platform in every phase?]

Fear Timestamps: P1 - 11:33, 12:16 - 43 P2 - 13:32, 14:14, 14:58, 15:40 - 42, 44, 42 P3 - 16:43, 17:24, 18:06, 18:48 - 41, 42, 42

Axe timestamps: P1 - 11:39 (1), 12:12 (2), 12:38 (3??) - 33, 26 P2 - 13:52 (1), 14:35 (2), 15:18 (3), 16:00 (4) - 43, 43, 42 P3 - 17:03 (1), 17:43 (2), 18:27 (3) - 40, 44