Guild Wars 2

Foreword
This seed of an idea was planted in my brain yesterday morning and haunted me the rest of the day. I ended up sacrificing a day of productivity and typed away.

Rickard Mansion is a dungeon idea that is currently a work in progress.

Inspector Ellen Kiel is back on the case!

In a long-abandoned family home of eccentric nobleman Rictor Rickard rumours abound of strange mechanitions and junk piles littering the property, and, of course, ghosts. Once known for being a tinker of Asuran arcano-magic, Rictor was lauded as a genius amongst peers… until a series of unfortunate events lead to the death of his entire family, followed by the tinker’s disappearance from society.

Inspector Ellen Kiel has been approached by a man who claims to be the ex-butler to the deceased nobleman and his family. The butler, Hasco Swarez needs help retrieving a special memento from the family home that he needs to honour their graves on the fifth anniversary of their demise. As the death of the Rickard family been one of Lion Arch’s most notorious unsolved mysteries, Inspector Kiel is taking a personal interest, especially with the promise of the family memoirs lying within the mansion, which could lead to clues to their deaths.

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Haunted Mansion is a 5-man Level 80 Explorable mode dungeon. It features 2 wings and 5 bosses. Boss fights will take place in the large dining hall, the son’s bedroom, the kitchen, the yard and finally Rictor’s secret workshop. The party can choose the order of which they will explore the Mansion, with the exception of the workshop.

However, a dark secret lies buried within the mansion… players who are able to solve the mystery of the Rickard family’s demise will be awarded with bonus rewards, and a bonus boss fight.

In order to facilitate this, a new mechanic is added, dubbed “Mementos”. Mementos are items and events throughout the dungeon that can be found or activated by the players, either by accident or through a keen eye to rival Inspector Kiel’s. These mementos will trigger at specific boss fights, hence introducing new boss mechanics or simply making the fight more challenging. Finding and activating these mementos is entirely optional.

Anna Rickard
The daughter to Malady and Rictor Rickard, Anna was the light and laughter of the Rickard Mansion. Sadly she wondered into the Mansion’s boiler room and suffered an unfortunate accident, resulting in suffering from severe burn wounds. She never recovered afterwards and died at the age of 5.

Fast forward to the present, Anna’s ghost is found haunting the dining hall. At first encounter, she will be prancing around the large dining table in the centre. Upon encountering the party, she will disappear in a wail of fear, thus drawing in the ghosts of the Rickard family’s house guards.

The ghostly house guards are Silver-ranked mobs and will assault in waves, consisting of swordsmen and archers. In the last wave, the ghostly Captain of the Guard will appear as a Gold-ranked mob.

Throughout the fight, one random party member will be tagged with the debuff “Play with Me” for a period of time. This is prompted with Anna whispering to the affected party member with lines such as “Will you play with me?”, “Have you seen Lockey?”, etc. The tagged party member will need to seek out Anna’s ghost and interact with her. Failure to do so within a short amount of time, or having a party member without the debuff interacting with Anna will result in Anna throwing a (fiery) tantrum, knocking down and burning everybody – friend or foe – in the room.

Memento
Anna’s memento is a Rytlock plushie, found in the boiler room. The plushie is badly burned and has decayed into a sordid shape. Only one person in the party may pick it up and it is Soulbound.

Should the party have the plushie in their inventory when they first encounter Anna, she will scream “YOU TOOK HIM! IT WAS YOU!”, then she and the plushie will disappear from the room in a fiery blaze. The walls of the room will start burning and the fire will slowly creep further into the room until it is totally engulfed. Touching the supernatural fire will cause instant death to the players.

Additionally, the guards will no longer spawn. In their place is a life-sized flaming monstrosity in the shape of the plushie the players had just found. “Lockey” is a Legendary-ranked mob that the players will need to vanquish before the room (or Lockey) burns them to cinders.

Lockey
Fire Claw – Lockey strikes with its claw, causing direct damage and Burning.

Flameshield – Lockey surrounds himself in a protective fire shield. The shield lasts for a certain amount of damage and causes Retaliation/Burn.

Flamebreath – Lockey breaths fire, causing direct damage and Burning.

Pyroclasm – Every 5th attack, Lockey gains Pyroclasm. The next attack it makes will Stun players for 3s, in addition to regular damage.

Clue
Upon defeating Lockey, the ghost of Anna will reappear. She will be seen staring up at an unseen person. “Have you seen Lockey?” she will ask, then in a shocked expression “Oh no! It’s dangerous down there! I’ll save you Lockey!”

Marcus Rickard
The teenage son and heir of the Rickard family. Rickard was to attend the Queen’s ball with his sweetheart, but instead was found hanging from the ceiling in an apparent suicide. When questioned, the maids had mentioned seeing Marcus locking himself in his room in a fit of tears. Reports did not mention the cause of his grief; as this was a year after the death of his sister and no previous signs of grief to this degree was witnessed before hand, the connection was ruled out.

While exploring Marcus’ bedroom in the dark, the party will hear a soft sobbing sound. Hasco reassures the party and searches for the key to the workshop. A stray breeze will part the curtains, allowing the moonlight to illuminate the hanging body of Marcus Rickard at the foot of his four-post bed. The fight begins with Marcus dropping to the floor, his neck clearly broken.

Marcus Rickard
Despair – Marcus projects an aura of teen anguish that affects players near him. Players affected suffer Weakness and damage every second.

“SO SAD!” – Every hit Marcus takes gives him a stack of “SO SAD!”. Akittens cap, Marcus will lash out at everybody around him, causing massive damage. Despair will end and be set on cooldown after “SO SAD!” is activated.

Memento
Marcus’ memento is a torn letter found throughout the study. Players will need to find all six scraps of the letter to piece it together. The letter is from an unknown person named “V” with only words “It’s over” written on it.

Should the party piece the break-up letter before encountering Marcus, his “SO SAD!” will be replaced with a new ability.

“I HATE YOU! PLEASE DIE!” – Every hit Marcus receives gives him a stack of “I HATE YOU!”. Akittens cap, Marcus will scream said words and launch a channeled attack. Ghostly nooses will snare every member of the party, disabling and damaging them for the entire duration and suffer 90% HP loss. This attack cannot be avoided.

Clue
Defeating Marcus while in the possession of his memento will cause his spirit to reappear after the fight. He will be seen giving something to an unseen person, say “You’re sure she’ll like it right?” After an unheard reply, “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, go ahead and give it to her!”

Additional
A teenage female human named Valerin can be found in Queensdale. She is the ex-girlfriend of Marcus and author of the letter. When questioned, she will reveal that a messenger from Marcus had delivered a necklace to her a day before the Queen’s Ball that the then-couple was to attend. However, putting on the necklace caused such a bad rash around her neck, resulting in very visible red welts around her neck and chest. In fury, she sent the letter to end the relationship that caused her to miss the Queen’s Ball.