The Cold Hard Truth Season 1

Objectives

Meet Cormond outside of Velkhova.
Speak with Cormond.
Clear the Malignant from Velkhova.
Enter the Velkhova Church Undercroft with Cormond.
Find the ritual site with Cormond.
Speak with Cormond.
Clear the corruption from the ritual site.
Prepare the Ritual.
Speak with Cormond to start the summoning.
Defend Cormond from the Malignant.
Kill Varshan.
Capture Varshan’s heart.
Check on Cormond.

Detailed Location

This quest starts off immediately after finishing the Ruins of the Faith season quest which should put you near Zarbinzet when you get this. Cormond will want you to meet him at Velkhova which is situated northeast of Kyovashad, near the Black Asylum dungeon.

Teleport to Kyovashad and leave via the eastern exit then follow the road northeast. If you stay on the road, it will take you straight to Velkhova. When you get there, speak to Cormond, and he’ll ask you to clear out the Malignant from the town. There are three locations where you can destroy a Malignant Corruption, but you’ll only need to destroy one of them. Head to the first one which is just to your right.

Attacking these corruptions will lead to you fighting hordes of enemies until the corruption is no more. Focus on destroying the corruption, then mop up the remaining monsters that are left. Once you’ve destroyed the corruption, head back to Cormond. After a short conversation, Cormond will ask you to accompany him to the Velkhova Church. Head a short way east, and you’ll find the Malignant dungeon, Velkhova Church Undercroft.

Follow the linear path until you reach the ladder and go down it. Now, you’ll have some enemies to fight on the way to your destination. There isn’t anything special about these monsters other than Malignant elites will sometimes spawn. Eventually, you’ll reach the ritual site where Cormond will want to talk to you. He’ll tell you to prepare the ritual and he’ll handle the rest. There are five Malignant Corruptions to destroy here, but don’t worry, no enemies will appear, at least, not yet. Once that’s done, head over to the three Ritual Incenses, interact with them then head back to Cormond.

After the short scene, Cormond will walk into the center of the ritual site to cast purple flames into each incense. He’ll start with the one on the left first, and when that gets lit up, enemies will spawn from that incense. Defeat them and Cormond will do the same again with the incense below him, to the right. Once again, defeat the enemies and Cormond will cast one final flame at the incense in the north. When you’ve vanquished the final group of monsters, Varshan will spawn as a boss. There’s only one thing left to do now, KILL VARSHAN!

Varshan The Consumed Boss Strategy

This battle is more or less the same as the first time you fought him, but he’ll have a few more tricks up his sleeves. Expect to see a couple more attacks you haven’t seen while also summoning some elites throughout the fight. You may as well burn down the elites as you can kill them pretty quickly, and they’ll drop some potions when you do. Each time Varshan summons the elites, it’ll be a Devious Triune Admonisher and a random Herald which will have the Vicious, Brutal modifier. The last time he summons the adds, they’ll be a Devious Herald, and a Wrathful Skulker, either defeat the adds quickly, or burn down Varshan to end the battle.

Most of Varshan’s attacks will have an area of effect markers on the floor. There’s only one attack to really worry about, and that is the one that starts off with a marker that looks like a radioactive sign, stand in the gap in between the marker, and then another marker will appear where you last stood. Move towards Varshan to avoid that then he’ll finish the attack with numerous small circles covering the arena that’ll explode shortly after. Make sure you’re not standing in a circle, and you’ll be fine.

Varshan is a relatively easy boss where you can burn him down pretty quickly, especially if you have access to poison or other damage over time abilities while also having other status effects such as Vulnerable. Even if you don’t, you shouldn’t have many problems as long as you defeat the elites during the battle for their potions.

Once you defeat Varshan, the only thing left to do is to capture his heart which is in the center of the ritual site. Don’t worry, you won’t have to fight him again, but you will get some loot as well as his heart. Another item you will get is the Invoker of Varshan which allows you to fight Varshan again. This can only be used at the end of a Malignant Tunnel dungeon in World Tier I and II, however. Finally, speak to Cormond, and he’ll tell you to meet him at his wagon, completing the quest.

In-Game Description

We have what we need to capture Varshan. It will stop the Malignant, but it will end Varshan’s life. I should meet Cormond at Velkhova to begin the final confrontation.
I must clear the Malignant from the town. Once I’m done, Cormond and I can prepare the ritual to capture Varshan.
I will accompany Cormond to the ruined church. There, we will summon Varshan, capture him, and finally stop the source of the Malignant.