Matt Forbeck - Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon

GHOSTS OF
ASCALON

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Pocket Star Books paperback edition August 2010

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Text design by Jacquelynne Hudson
Cover art by Richard Anderson, map design by AJ Thompson

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-4165-8947-1
ISBN 978-1-4391-5603-2 (ebook)

Dedicated to the millions of gamers everywhere who breathe
life into the worlds the designers create.

Thanks to everyone at ArenaNet, especially
Will McDermott, Ree Soesbee, Randy Price, Stephen Hwang,
Colin Johanson, Bobby Stein, and James Phinney.
Also, many thanks to our editor, Ed Schlesinger.

From Matt:
As always, the greatest thanks go to my wife, Ann, and my kids,
Marty, Pat, Nick, Ken, and Helen. Without their love,
support, and understanding, I can do nothing.

From Jeff:
A special thanks to Jeff Strain, Patrick Wyatt, and Mike OBrien, the
original founders of ArenaNet and Guild Wars.
Hope you like what weve done with the world.

10,000 BE: Last of the Giganticus Lupicus, the Great Giants, disappear from the Tyrian continent.

205 BE: Humans appear on the Tyrian continent.

100 BE: Humans drive the charr out of Ascalon.

1 BE: The Human Gods give magic to the races of Tyria.

0 AE: The Exodus of the Human Gods.

2 AE: Orr becomes an independent nation.

300 AE: Kryta established as a colony of Elona.

358 AE: Kryta becomes an independent nation.

898 AE: The Great Northern Wall is erected.

1070 AE: The Charr Invasion of Ascalon. The Searing.

1071 AE: The Sinking of Orr.

1072 AE: Ascalonian refugees flee to Kryta.

1075 AE: Kormir ascends into godhood.

1078 AE: Primordus, the Elder Fire Dragon, stirs but does not awaken. The asura appear on the surface. The Transformation of the Dwarves.

1080 AE: King Adelbern of Ascalon recalls the Ebon Vanguard; Ebonhawke is established.

1088 AE: Kryta unifies behind Queen Salma.

1090 AE: The charr legions take Ascalon City. The Foefire.

1105 AE: Durmand Priory is established in the Shiverpeaks.

1112 AE: The charr erect the Black Citadel over the ruins of the city of Rin in Ascalon.

1116 AE: Kalla Scorchrazor leads the rebellion against the Flame Legions shaman caste.

1120 AE: Primordus awakens.

1165 AE: Jormag, the Elder Ice Dragon, awakens. The norn flee south into the Shiverpeaks.

1180 AE: The centaur prophet Ventari dies by the Pale Tree, leaving behind the Ventari Tablet.

1219 AE: Zhaitan, the Elder Undead Dragon, awakens. Orr rises from the sea. Lions Arch floods.

1220 AE: Divinitys Reach is founded in the Krytan province of Shaemoor.

1230 AE: Corsairs and other pirates occupy the slowly drying ruins of Lions Arch.

1302 AE: The sylvari first appear along the Tarnished Coast, sprouting from the Pale Tree.

1320 AE: Kralkatorrik, the Elder Crystal Dragon, awakens. Creation of the Dragonbrand. Breaking of Destinys Edge. Founding of the Vigil.

1324 AE: Dougal Keane enters the crypts beneath Divinitys Reach.

GHOSTS OF
ASCALON

Over the years, Dougal Keane developed a personal rule: Never adventure with people you like. If pressed, he might modify it to: Dont adventure with people youd hate to see die. Now, in the depths of the crypts beneath Divinitys Reach, he was getting his wish. Dougal disliked his comrades intensely. He also hated his task. Most of all, at the moment, he hated the stifling heat of the crypts themselves.

The sweltering summer heat that enveloped Divinitys Reach above had stolen deep into the bowels of these hidden burial grounds, where it festered like a hidden wound. The prevailing winds that caressed the burial grounds cliffside entrances might carry the stench of the warm, dry rot away from the city, but inside the crypts twisting passages, Dougal had no means of escaping it. People had been bringing their dead here since before the founding of Krytas new capital, and Dougal swore he could smell the dust of every last one of them.

Their explorations had taken them into parts of the crypts that even Dougal was unaware existed. At each branching of the path, Clagg had consulted his glowing map, then indicated they take the less-traveled option. The smooth, polished flagstones of the Skull Gate in Divinitys Reach gave way to less-used paths, and finally to rooms and corridors that had been untouched since the dead were left here to desiccate centuries before the founding of the city above.

Still, as he stalked forward, brittle skull fragments of all shapes and sizes crunching beneath his feet, Dougal reminded himself that these crypts werent as bad as some places he had been. The ruined temples of the Caledon Forest, or the Bloodtide Coast, its beaches awash with twitching, malevolent corpses.

Or Ascalon. Never as bad as Ascalon.

Dougal stopped and rubbed the stubble on his chin as he scanned the bone-covered passage before him. It opened into a wide chamber that stretched far beyond the reach of his torchs light. It was clear of bones.

He didnt like that.

He signaled for a stop, and his companionsthe sylvari, the norn, and the asura riding his golem, the one whod hired the rest of them for this expeditionpulled up short behind him.

What is it? snarled Clagg. The asura was irritable when they first met, and the closed, stuffy air of the tomb had done nothing to improve his disposition.