Greetings fellow wanderers through the halls and forests of the wondrous Telara. This week sees the beginning of Phase 5 of the Carnival World Event, except there’s no sign of the carnival anymore. It’s been replaced by a makeshift army camp where Captain Toria is busy conscripting eager young men into the battle against the Defiant.
That’s what it’s come to folks. All out war. Both sides are temporarily forgetting about the true fight, the fight against the Blood Storm, so they can focus on their more mundane enemies. I just bet the Dragon Gods are laughing in their prisons. We’re busy doing their work for them.
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Hey, is this the queue for the free massage?
One of the quests in this phase is to infiltrate a Defiant camp and kill the Outpost Quartermaster and his assistant. Presumably, no one else in the outpost knows how to cook and this means they will all grown weak with hunger or something, instead of simply opening a tin of beans or cracking an egg. If this is how lazy the Defiant are, I’m surprised they’ve survived this long. But the reward is one Pyrite doubloon, and I only need one more to get my mount, so I sign up. But I fear it's already a waste of time. I don't think they'll give me a festival mount now that the good times are over.
This looks like a pretty tough quest, so I decide to put out the call for an obliging group to help Caedryn kill the cook, but while I’m waiting I decide to put my time to good use. I’ve had a mission sitting in my quest log for a while now. To report to a certain Marshal Oakheart in Gloamwood Pines. I've been waiting to reach my level twenties before venturing out of Silverwood, and I reckon now is the time. To cut the strings. To venture out of safety into bold new lands, to discover more about the world and spread the magnificence that is Caedryn, scourge of baddies everywhere.
Of course, that was before he saw the massive spiders in Gloamwood. As soon as Caedryn laid eyes on those suckers he squealed like a little girl and did the muppet run back to Silverwood.
But of course we cannot let fear rule our lives. If we did, I would never venture out of the house for fear of coming across a group of ravenous Hipsters, titling their fedoras at me and blinking behind thick-rimmed glasses they don’t actually need.
So back we went.
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I know the brochure said 'lake-side view', but still…
I found Marshal Oakheart not far into Gloamwood Pines. He is hanging out at a small camp, keeping the roads safe or something. When I find him he like, starts right in on it, without even giving me a chance to settle in. Apparently there is a goblin city called the Darkening Deeps in a cave system somewhere beneath Gloamwood Pines, and Oakheart wants me to lead a team to investigate it, X-Files style. Caedryn's like, “Whoa there Marshal. I may have the quirky good looks of David Duchovny, but there is no way I’m going down there just yet. Way above my skill set.” So he was all like, "Fine, just wander around then and do what you can. And come back when you think you’re up to the task.”
So I head off, thinking, "That was a lucky escape. City of goblins indeed. And me without my X-Files torch". I have a chat with a healer in the camp and he wants me to collect furs from Darkpaw Barghest and wings from Gloam Bats. That sounds more up my street. Caedryn is all about easing into new situations. Sort of taking time to check out the scenery, you know?
So I ruthlessly slaughter some wolves and bats, skin them, de-wing them, and take them back to the healer before heading deeper into Gloamwood. There are a few minor quests when I arrive at the actual Gloamwood Pines outpost. (The first thing I do is bind my soul to the portcullum. I’ll soon have a network of travel stones around Telara. I won’t have to walk anywhere!)
So… just a heads-up. If you are an arachnophobe, you’re not going to enjoy this area. Webs festoon the trees. Spiders scuttle everywhere. Bodies hang from the branches, wrapped in cocoons of silk. Waykeeper Thimm is one of those people scared of the spiders. I find him hiding in his house where he begs me to kill the Broodmother of the spiders. She’s hiding in a cave system somewhere in Silkweb Pass.
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Look behind me? I'm not falling for that.
I say sure, why not? I’m on a mission to get up to level 23 now, and the amount of combat I have to take part in to get to the cave should help me with that.
It… takes a while. Let’s just say that. Lot’s of strategic planning of which spider to attack while the others have their backs turned, then a pause to heal myself, then on to the next one. By the time I get to the cave I’ve killed about fifty spiders. And now I have to take on the Broodmother. It's not too bad. I nearly die, but I manage to land the killing blow before she takes me down. I head back to give Waykeeper Thimm with the good news. Unfortunately, I now have to fight my way back through re-spawned spiders.
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The Broodmother. Not a small spider.
And I only increased my level bar by about half. Ah well. Still better than nothing.
