Hello there. And welcome back to The Chronicles of One Telaran, my ambling guide through the exciting world of RIFT. Lots to talk about this week. New things popping up everywhere. New discoveries made, new things to do. (For me, anyway.)

First off there was last month's release of Ashes of History. Unfortunately, I haven’t actually reached the capital city of Sanctum yet, so I don’t think I can take part. (You can only get the Ashes of History quests from your capital city, which means I must still be at too low a level. Hopefully, if I eat my vegetables and do my exercises I'll have progressed far enough by next week to see what’s going on. Yes, that’s right. I am still under level 15. (Level 11, to be exact.) I’m a slow leveler, you see. I like to explore, take in the scenery, stop to chat, as it were. But I have to admit, I’m now very curious to get to Sanctum and to find out about these World Events.

You might have seen something of the knock-on effect of Ashes of History already. I've certainly noticed that there are a lot more fire and earth rifts popping up all over Silverwood. (I’ve been responsible for one or two myself, but more on that later.) Apparently, instead of the usual infighting that usually takes up all the time and energy of the Blood Storm, (and really, this infighting and inability to agree on what to do with Telara is the only reason they haven’t destroyed the world by now), the Wanton Cult and the Golden Maw cult have joined forces and are up to something sneaky, ferrying something mysterious across the ocean.

Now, I really don’t think it’s booze, or illegal immigrants from across the seas, do you? In fact, it seems to be… no, wait. I’m ruining it for myself and I haven’t even done the quests. Look, if you’re above level 15, head over to your capital city and find out what’s going on. Just don’t tell me, OK? As River Song so frequently says, “Spoilers, sweetie.”

Back to my own adventuring. (Which is patently much more important.) One of the things I really like about Rift is that the learning curve of the game is drawn out. It doesn't overwhelm you. In games, you usually get a brief tutorial stage, then have to sort it out as you go. But Rift is different. I discovered a whole load of new stuff this week, the first of them being the use of portals.

Now, I’ll admit, I was getting a bit tired of running between Divine Landing and Argent Glade. I’m a stocky dwarf, and all that armor wasn’t helping. So when I discovered I could travel between them via portals, I was like all, “Yes! Laziness and convenience once again are the mother of invention!” (Another nice touch is that you can bind your soul to a specific portal so you can teleport there once per hour from any location. I'm currently bound to Divine Landing, but as soon as I get to Sanctum I'll bind my soul there. Much easier for when you wander off into the wilderness for quests.)

Something else I discovered was something called Holy Champion ability. After talking to a ghost called The Spirit of Carmin I can now use planar charges to turn myself into the Hulk. (Except, not as green. And with wings. And with a golden glowy circle surrounding me. So… not at all like the Hulk, actually.) It boosts me up (figuratively as well as literally) and gives me an edge to beat the baddies. Unfortunately, while I was using this ability in order to get some screenshots for you lot, I used all my planar charges and died at the next rift outbreak. I hope you're all happy.

Before using Holy Champion Ability

After using Holy Champion Ability

Oh yes. One thing I want to mention here. I don’t know if this is just me being an absolute idiot, (very possible), but you see that little mail icon on the right side of your screen? Have you noticed it before? I have. But I had no idea why it was there. I tried clicking on the envelope but nothing happened. It was only while I was glancing at the map that I noticed a corresponding mail icon in Argent Glade. Hmm. So I sprinted over there like an author seeing the mail man while awaiting copies of his latest book and discovered like, ten letters waiting for me.

Ding. You've Got Mail.

What was in the letters, I hear you ask. I'll tell you. Birthday presents, birthday cakes, ability boosters, some fetching new shoulder pads. Plus a helm that made me look like I was cosplaying Thor. (I left the helm as I didn’t want the other warriors to laugh at me.) Plus some kind of companion animal quest I can start when I get to Sanctum.

So. Just a heads up. It’s very possible I’m the only one who didn’t realize the icon meant you had to look for an in-game mail drop, but there might be a few of you out there similar to me.

And the final little item I discovered this week was an item called a Planar Lure. This little baby allows you to travel up to any tear you find on your map and, when activated, turns the tear into a full-fledged rift. Insanity, I hear you say! What about the children!? Well, that’s the point. You use the Planar Lure to start a real time Rift event (that other players can join if they want). You then fight off various stages of Rift baddies until you finally kill them all and close down the rift and the tear, allowing nature to claim back her space. Very cool. My first attempt turned a tear into a Fire Rift, and after I had wiped the place clean I got a whole load of Planar Charges as a reward. This time I resisted the urge to use them just to see my dwarf double in size.

Er… Did I do that?

I might need them later on.