Greetings to you, Rifting buddies. Phase 4 of the Carnival of the Ascended kicked off last week, and Caedryn, a humble level 22 dwarf warrior is still trying to complete quests that seem made for those of you who have already reached level 50. No worries. He’s a charming chap, that Caedryn. I’m sure he can get some help along the way. And he will complete these quests. Only three weeks to go till the end of the World Event, and he still doesn’t have his Carnival steed.
But he will have it. Oh yes. He will.
The Carnival is pretty much over, consumed and destroyed by its own flames, now a pile of sad, unhappy ashes fed by Guardian and Defiant hostilities. Anger between the two factions is growing as rumors of war trickle throughout the land. And it seems the Defiant have been using the Carnival to move their agents into Silverwood, (sneaky, sneaky spies), because saboteurs are attacking our outposts. Captain Toria and Captain Envris want me, the mighty Caedryn, to stop them, before civilization crumbles to dust! Or something.
Captain Envris also asks me to bring back war trophies from dead Defiant. A bit grim, but each to his own, I guess.
So off I go. I head out of Sanctum and spot one of the naughty saboteurs almost immediately, lurking behind a tree. If he's as good at being a saboteur as he is at hiding, I don't think we have very much to worry about.
)
Peek-a-boo, I see you!
I see there is a speech icon hovering above his head, so rather naïvely wonder if he wants to chat about this whole, bringing-down-the-Guardians thing.
Turns out he doesn't. He kills me with one cut. I respawn and decide I need some help on this one.
You may remember that before the Carnival started I was struggling with one of the story quests. To be exact, it was Profane Priests, a quest given to Caedryn by Cardinal Fiach in Sanctum. The Cardinal wanted Caedryn to go to the Mirror of Ages in North-West Silverwood, (fighting my way through many, many House Aelfwyr baddies), and use something called the Vesper Bell to summon High Priest Keelaodh. It seems that Keelaodh is involved with Prince Hylas's decision to buddy up to the Fey and Greenscale, and Cardinal Fiach wants me to find out exactly what his influence is over the Elven Prince.
Well, as I’m sure a lot of you know, this was a difficult fight. I got killed more times than I care to count, before I finally asked my new friend Seraphima to help me out. She gladly agreed and we took a little stroll through Silverwood, mowing down our enemies as we went. Quite pleasant really. Once we got to the Mirror of Ages, I rang the bell and Keelaodh and his heavies turned up. But this time they were no match for me. Er… no match for Seraphima, because she wiped out his flunkies and got that priest to get down on his knees and beg for his life.
)
Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.
Take that.
So after a bit of whimpering and blubbering, Keelaodh tells his story. The night Prince Hylas and Shyla Starheath had their epic lover’s spat, the one that resulted in the Elven race being split down the middle, Keelaodh took council with the prince and did the Wormtongue thing, playing upon his jealousy and desire for power. But it wasn’t his idea. A changeling called Cealhaidh told him what to say. Keelaodh was just a puppet.
I take this information back to Cardinal Fiach at Sanctum. He is most perturbed. And slightly upset. It seems that the fae have been planning a way to corrupt the Elves for years, and they have finally made their move. But what upsets him more is how quickly Hylas seemed to turn. Fiach doesn’t know if he is simply being used by the fae, or whether Hylas truly worships Greenscale.
Cardinal Fiach gives me another quest. He wants to call in the Harmonious Crusade, sort of like the Telaran SAS, to find the changeling Cealhaidh. But while they search, I am to prepare for his capture by completing the ritual of fae binding and attuning myself to the fae realm by killing the creatures Cinderon and Gnarladon. Then I’m to acquire a tear from the Messenger of the Vigil to bind the faetouched creature
Phew.
Now, the tear from the Messenger was easy enough. I just tracked her down in Port Scion Bay and showed her pictures of orphan puppies. But destroying Cinderon and Gnarladon? Er, not so much. I couldn’t find them anywhere, and it was only when I checked online that I realized I have to wait for a specific Life Rift invasion called Arboreal Assault for Gnarladon, and a fire invasion called March of the Gedlo for Gnarladon. Seems I just have to sort of… hang around and keep checking my map to see if either of these invasions are happening then sprint over there to take them on.
In the meantime I'll hang around Sanctum and see if anyone will come along to help me with the saboteur. I’ll get back you guys on this one. It may take a while.
