Ascent to Power A2/Cruel - I can't ascend now?

I made it into Cruel and into Act 2 and was trying to blast through. I now have the quest text for Ascent to Power on screen to go back to town and talk with Zarka. However, I have no item drop for it and I have no "!" above her in town or actions on her for it. I'm stuck.

I looked online and saw this has been this way for a lot of players since Dec? Has there been a fix? I went through some "fixes" online but nothing works. I went back and killed Bal again, nothing. When I go to Trials in Cruel Act 2, it shows monster level 22 in Cruel - that can't be right.

So, it looks like this toon is stuck now. I have to restart?

I'm not young anymore, I was having fun and ignoring the lack of drops and pain points since its Alpha but - this is a major bug that seems easy to fix or apply a workaround for players in all this time. Please, someone help me out here.

Just ignore this quest - it has no meaning in Cruel: Known Issues

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Ascent to Power quest text in Cruel Act 2 is misleading.

For more ascendancy points you need to run another Trial of the Sekhemas or Trial of Chaos (but due to level requirements not before Act 3 Cruel or endgame mapping): Ascendancy class

I just completed the campaign today and ran the 1 starter Waystone you are given.

I do not have a Hideout, the text is still there in Act 2 without change and I haven't run any of my Cruel Trials over it as you normally would. However, I did finally get a drop for a Djinn Barya that DOES give points.

I guess that is what you mean? I'll give it a shot. Thanks!