Stranger in the Sands

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"I need to find her before trouble does. Valla's footprints lead to the ruins ahead, but places like that are where the undead fester. Not the kind of place that should be explored alone. I need some help."

- The Stranger to the hero(es)^(src)

Quest intro

Stranger in the Sands is an elite quest in Diablo Immortal.

The quest reward is a unique shoulder piece called Valla's Oath.

Description

A demon hunter has been separated from his apprentice while chasing a bounty on a demon in the Shassar Sea. Help him find his apprentice and help the apprentice defeat the demon.

Objectives

• Approach the stranger in Shassar Sea.
  (An archer wearing very familiar gear called out for help as he fight back a horde of demons. Could he know the young girl from before? Regardless, he clearly needs your aid.)
• Help the stranger kill the demons (0/6).
• Talk to the stranger.

Part 1 (The Lost Disciple)

• Follow Josen.
  (The demon hunter Josen has been scouring the dunes for his missing apprentice, Valla. The headstrong girl could be anywhere. Join him in the search.)
• Help the man on the bridge (0/1).
  (Valla certainly passed through this area. While speaking to an imprisoned traveler a voice called out from the bridge ahead. Is this also Valla's doing?)

Part 2 (Twisted Illusions)

• Deal with the trouble on the bridge.
  (Valla certainly passed through this area. While speaking to an imprisoned traveler a voice called out from the bridge ahead. Is this also Valla's doing?)
• Talk to Ramesh.
• Find Valla.
  (Following the girl's footsteps, Josen chases her into the ancient tombs. She cannot have gone far. Continue the chase.)
• Investigate the portal.
• Talk to Valla.
  (As you approached to the portal, Valla emerged from the shadows. It seems you must convince the young demon hunter you are not an illusion before any progress can be made.)

Part 3 (Domain of Horror)

• Enter the portal.
  (Josen awaits somewhere beyond that hellish portal. Brave the unknown and rescue Valla's mentor.)
  • Explore ahead
  • Follow Valla
  • Find valla
  • Find Valla's uncle
  • Kill the demon attackers
  • Talk to Valla's uncle
  • Follow Valla
  • Kill the Hellflyer
  • Kill the Deceivers
  • Inspect the corpse of Valla's mother
  • Follow Valla
  • Talk to Valla
  • Follow Valla
  • Talk to Valla
  • Follow Valla
  • Talk to Valla
  • Continue into the nightmare
  • Protect Valla from the Drowned Deceiver
  • Talk to Valla
  • Continue into the nightmare
  • Talk to Valla
  • Inspect the blood
  • Protect Valla from the phantasms of Josen
  • Protect Valla from the Foreboding Deceiver
  • Talk to Valla
  • Enter Aeshama's lair
  • Defeat Aeshama
  • Talk to Josen and Valla
  • Leave the Domain of Horror

Part 4 (Goodbye, For Now)

• Reach Josen and Valla.
  (Emerging from the pits of the Burning Hells, the three of you have survived. With their task now completed, you should speak with Josen and Valla before they depart.)
• Talk to Josen.
  (Emerging from the pits of the Burning Hells, the three of you have survived. With their task now completed, you should speak with Josen and Valla before they depart.)

Transcript

• Josen: Back to the Burning Hells with you!

• Josen: You have skill, friend! Not many would jump into a fight against demons with such little hesitation.

• Josen: Well, I appreciate the aid. Normally, my apprentice would be here to help, but we were separated...

• Class: Ah, I believe I crossed paths with her earlier. The girl seemed rather...headstrong.

• Josen: That's a nice way of phrasing it. Valla has more potential than any other recruit I've ever seen, but her anger tends to cause more problems than it solves.

• Josen: I need to find her before trouble does. Valla's footprints lead into the ruins ahead, but places like that are where the undead fester. Not the kind of place that should be explored alone. I could use some help.

• Class: Let's find your apprentice, then.

• Josen: Thank you for this. When we heard of a bounty on demons in Shassar, I thought it could be a chance for Valla to learn...

• Josen: But she's still impulsive. She lost family to the demons, like we all did. It's understandable...

• Josen: But hatred has to be tempered by discipline. It's a lesson every demon hunter has to learn themselves.

• Josen: A sealing mark. Valla was definitely here.

• Josen: Well, this seems a tad extreme. Are you all right there, friend?

• Captured Man: That girl tried to kill my brother! You have to save him!

• Class: To the bridge, quickly!

• Josen: Something is not right about this...

• Dangling Man: What noble souls you are...noble and naive.

• Magilla: The girl is ours!

• Class: They're after your apprentice?

• Josen: That was news to me as well...This demon we're hunting, Aeshama, is a master at manipulation. She twists memories, dreams, and thoughts against you.

• Josen: They must know Valla doesn't have the strength to resist them. We have to get to her, but first...this stranger.

• Captured Man: My brother...you killed him! You monster!

• Josen: The man's mind is addled. He sees only what the demon wanted him to see. There's nothing we can do for him.

• Class: We can set him free.

• Josen: Fair enough. I just pray these sands have mercy on him. Now, let's go. The demons will try to keep Valla from us, to exploit her weaknesses. We can't let that happen.

• Josen: I'm seeing signs of a fight. Valla's tracks lead further ahead.

• Josen: A Hell portal...

• Josen: Her trail leads here. I'm sure of it. Valla, you wouldn't go inside, would you?

• Josen: Aeshama!

• Aeshama: Such credulous and pathetic prey.

• Josen: With this one's death, the child's guilt will be all the sweeter.

• Class: Josen! Damn it! I have to get to that portal!

• Valla: The demonic energy grows stronger here--tracks? Josen?

• Valla: Show yourself, demon!

• Class: That voice...Valla?

• Valla: You! Tell me what you've done with Josen before I put an arrow through your skull.

• Class: Valla, stop! Aeshama took Josen! There's no time to argue about this!

• Valla: How do I know this isn't some sort of lie? Give me a reason to trust you.

• Class: I know your name is Valla. You're Josen's apprentice. The two of us came here looking for you, and a demon just pulled him through that portal. Be suspicious if you want, but I'm going to rescue him.

• Valla: Fine. You can join me. Just don't get in my way.

• Valla: Josen, I'm coming.

• Valla: What is this? That's impossible...

• Valla: This is Braylen, my hometown!

• Valla: These fires...this is the day...that the demons slaughter everyone!

• Valla: This is where I lived...We were trapped inside...

• Valla: I can see an opening. I'm going in. Stay here.

• Class: What? Valla, wait!

• Class: So, what did you find in there?

• Valla: Nothing. It was absolutely empty. This isn't like I remember.

• Valla: No, we ran from the house, and my uncle's voice called out...

• Uncle: Valla! Halissa, where are you!?

• Valla: Just like that!

• Valla: Uncle?! Is that really you?

• Class: Keep your wits about you. Who knows what can happen here in the demon's domain?

• Valla: You're right. I know that, but this is all so real. Is she drawing from my memories to torture me? Uncle looks the same as he did back then...he tried to warn us...

• Uncle: Valla, the demons are attacking. Find Halissa and go! I'll get your parents, I promise.

• Valla: No, he won't! This is when they die!

• Valla: I can't let that happen again!

• Class: I need to keep Valla safe until we find a way out of this.

• Valla: Mum! Dad!

• Valla: Get off me!

• Valla: Ahh!

• Valla: No no no!

• Valla's Father: They're behind us! Keep running!

• Valla: Stop...please, I couldn't do anything.

• Valla's Mother: Join us, daughter...

• Valla: You're not my parents!

• Valla's Mother: We died trying to find you...You ran so far away.

• Valla: The bodies...they're still there.

• Valla: Father...No! No! Please, don't leave.

• Class: Valla, this is an illusion. The demon is trying to manipulate you!

• Valla: You don't understand...this is who I am. She's using illusions...but she's showing the truth.

• Class: Look carefully. Watch the bodies fade. Do you see? They're phantoms. She put them here to break you.

• Valla: My parents...my whole village died to these fiends! I swore an oath to never let this happen again and she killed them right in front of me!

• Aeshama: Such suffering. Yet the nightmare has just begun.

• Class: The village is gone? It seems she has total control of this world.

• Valla: It was so real...I saw the terror on their faces...

• Class: Aeshama's illusions are almost a reality in this place. We have to be strong, Valla. There is no other way to reach Josen.

• Valla: Josen...you're right. He'd find a way to make it through this if he were the one in trouble...

• Class: You're not alone, Valla. We're in this together.

• Aeshama: Only despair awaits.

• Valla: That sound...A river.

• Class: Does that mean something?

• Valla: This freezing wind. The storm. I could never forget...Never.

• Valla: This is the night my sister died.

• Class: You stopped. What's wrong?

• Valla: This dock. We passed it as we ran from Braylen. Halissa and I made camp not far from here...My sister woke up screaming. That's when it all happened...There's only one path towards Josen. Let's go.

• Halissa: Valla! The blood! Fire!

• Valla: Halissa, no! Don't run!

• Class: She's not real. These are your memories. The past. Remember that.

• Valla: We ran from the village. Made camp. But she kept seeing the massacre in her mind.

• Valla: She woke up and ran screaming. I couldn't--let's just keep moving.

• Halissa: Valla. Do you remember how we used to play by the water?

• Valla: You're not real...

• Halissa: Valla, are you there? The river is so loud! Help me!

• Valla: Get away from the water!

• Valla: No!

• Valla: She's doing it again. I know it's just an illusion...but how does someone resist watching their sister die?

• Class: I'm sorry, Valla. I truly am. But that thing is not your sister. It is not Halissa. Do not let the demon win.

• Valla: We're at the dock again? I don't understand; it's like we're going in circles!

• Class: Aeshama, what is your game? Reveal yourself and end this!

• Aeshama: How little you conceive. You will witness what I wish...

• Class: Be careful...

• Halissa: Sister?

• Valla: What is that?

• Valla: No, not this...

• Valla: No!

• Halissa: Valla, help me!

• Valla: Give me your hand!

• Valla: The river...it took her!

• Valla: I have to get to the riverbank!

• Aeshama: How many times shall you fail her? How many times shall she die?

• Valla: I remember, I found her...just like this...Oh, Halissa...

• Halissa: You let me go, Valla...you let me slip through your fingers. Just like everything else.

• Halissa: You let me drown!!!

• Halissa: I trusted you...

• Valla: Don't you dare use my sister against me! DON'T YOU DARE!

• Class: Are you all right?

• Valla: No! I'm not! And I won't be until Josen's safe. I failed them...I saw them all die. I trained to be strong enough so this would never happen again...

Locations

• Windswept Sands
• Chamber of Sacrifice

Gallery

The captured man on the bridge

Aeshama opens a Hell portal in the Inner Sanctum of the Chamber of Sacrifice

Aeshama holding Valla

Aeshama's defeat by Valla

Josen gives Valla his scarf; naming her a full fledged demon hunter