POE2 - Unable to Complete "Ascent to Power" in Cruel Difficulty

May 20th 2025.
Ascent To Power quest still bugged.
Completed all 4 ascendency trials.
Killed Balbala in both normal and cruel several times.

Not a word from devs about this. Unreal.

Return to the Ardura Caravan is the exact wording in the quest tab.

Then when i'm on the caravan it says to speak with this bitch Zarka but she's not highlighted and doesn't say anything.

So I fixed myself by completing ALL the quests in the zone that showed as still needing done. Pull up the map, there's greyed out and still lit up objectives.
above ground and underground.
Even thought it says return to caravan, you actually just need to do ALL of the quests, then kill Balbala for the item drop. THEN go back and talk to people in the caravan, THEN your quest will finish. (At least that's what I did)

Bug still persists in version 0.2.0!

+1 can't finish the Ascent to Power quest in Cruel Act 2, Zarka offers nothing to complete the quest.

This is the fix:
Go to Act 2 (not Act "4" = cruel 2)
Complete ALL the quests in the zone that showed as still needing done.
(Pull up the map, there's greyed out and still lit up objectives)
You must do this on the above ground and underground main map.


Even thought it might say return to caravan, you actually just need to do ALL of the quests FIRST!

This includes:

-Kill The Watchful Twins (Deshar, above ground map)
-Kill Balbala the traitor (Traitor's passage, underground map)for the item drop.
-THEN go back and talk to Zarka in the caravan,
-THEN your quest will finish. (At least that's what I did)

If you do this, it WILL work for act 2's version of this quest and can enter the trial of Sekemas.
Act 4's version of this quest remains bugged and you apparently can't turn it in, but it's fine, just ignore.