The Last Fetterguard II, Soul & Lore

The Last Fetterguard part II:

Omishan has proven difficult to navigate. The impassible mountains have taken days to get around. Luck has been with me; no Burun have spotted me yet. I dare not use the portals again. Only surprise got me through the portal to Cavendo. The drudges ransacking the once-attractive township were surprised to see a lone human charging them.

The harsh sunlight of midday provided me with cover as I left my hole in Shoushi. The midday heat had lulled most of the Drudges to sleep. The mystics are hunting around the fettermound, trying to discover a way into the shelters. Their magiks are very limited when it comes to portal space. My understanding is that even the Virindi could not fathom the wards placed. That was a lifetime ago. I made it to the bridge before I was spotted. The lethargic Drudges futilely threw spears that fell far short. My legs, so stiff from my cramped hiding place, came back to life quickly from the exhilaration. As I reached the far end of the bridge, a pitiful patrol of drudges had formed a barricade of their bodies. They severely underestimated my prowess and will. I doubt old Cragstone himself could have slain them quicker. The portal was a dash away. I had no idea there were so many drudges on the other side. Cutting a path through them caused enough chaos for me to charge. On the far tip of the peninsula was my only hope - a glimmering portal to Omishan.

Now I make my way through the bogs and marshes. The tattered remains of my armor have long been discarded and I have fashioned a lesser suit. It's lighter and much more suited to my life of stealth. By day, I covertly make a path towards Ikeras. At night I either find a small island or a climbable tree. Sleep is short and rare and my blade is always in my grip. The stars up in the sky have no indication of what has happened to my world. They seem to mock me with indifference. As the night stretches on, I cannot stop my mind from probing my circumstances. I believe I am the last human. I consider my reasons for survival. Exactly where am I to go and what am I to do? The whispers of a controlling hand being behind the nemesis race's new power bears consideration. I have no doubt that a lone Fetterguard will have no chance. Then again, I am a man with nothing to loose.

Lore stuff:
These nexus points that provide transportation to the different continents are quite the enigma. What exactly are they? Let's start with Cragstone:

Cragstone Nexus: Before I lost my way, I had visited Cragstone. Each race has its achievements, things that it can point to proudly; Cragstone is such an achievement for the humans. It was here that the first steps were made toward civilizing this land. The humans' Queen established her holding here and, throughout the Golden Age, Cragstone was home to their royal family. It once served as a rallying point against the forces of eternal order and eternal chaos. It can again.

The nexus is sentient or the message is recorded by a sentient being. Because it's in the first person, I'll make the assumption that it is indeed speaking from it's own consciousness. It also is/was not human; 'Cragstone is such an achievement for the humans'.

Ikeras Nexus: When I had first encountered the ruins of the Tumeroks, I was surprised that these were the same creatures I had known of centuries ago. In my wanderings I have found that the ones I knew were but rebels, those who had thrown off their ancient traditions as so much refuse. Their greatest chieftain, Aun Aulatah, defeated those rebels and their leader, and made peace with the humans and Lugians.

Ikeras was among the first towns established by the Tumeroks on Omishan after the Devastation that shattered Dereth. For them, it was a crossroads of commerce and enlightenment. Perhaps you can make it so again.

The nature of this nexus seems consistent with the Cragstone. This entity met the Tumeroks of AC1 known as the Hea. These were a group of Tumeroks that were altered by the Virindi for some cause. As AC1 currently sits, the Hea and the Aun are at odds with each other.

Linvak Nexus: I had not known the city of Linvak Tukal in my days as a mortal, but it has existed almost as long as many Human Towns. The inscriptions on these stones tell of the first lord of Linvak Tukal, Lord Kresovus. He was a man of peace, besieged by rebels, those that opposed his dream of forging a peace accord with the Humans. Yet his stalwart belief that peace could be made kept hope alive among those loyal to him. And as you well know, his plans for peace came to fruition, although he did not live to see it. Always keep the memory of those who dreamed and hoped and sacrificed alive in your memory.

This entity fills in some information about what is going to happen in that timeline. It also mentions a time for its life as a mortal, 'centuries ago.'

I find myself starting to view the three nexus as one entity and not three. This passage tells that the nexus was indeed a mortal, but a 'mortal what' is the question? I have not taken the time to view the inscriptions it mentions, but I fully intend to. I find it odd that the nexus refers to the Lugian Lord as a man. Could this be some confusion as to the nature of the three races? Because the nexus points deal with portal space, my mind immediately goes to a Virindi. However I do not recall any Virindi referring to itself as 'mortal'. There have been cases of Virindi gaining their own self-awareness, which could allow one to consider mortality. I think that the Ikeras Nexus in talking about the Hea Tumerok centuries before negates the Virindi possibility. This leads me to further speculate that it could be Martine the Human/Virindi tragic hero. When he burned himself out bringing down the fortress, we never did know what exactly happened to him. A case could be made that his energies were not totally dissipated but rather coalesced later in another form. My other thought is one of Asheron's people, someone familiar with portal magiks or even an aspect of Asheron himself. All in all, it's nice finally having a bit of lore to wrap my mind around.

Fighting the Tyrants:
With a new event I was anxious to see what was going on in Dereth. I logged in Grasp and was almost immediately taken on a tour of the new Tyrant dungeon. I didn't have a quest going so I just went to go. It was awesome. A huge cavern with monstrous Dragons really lets you know that you're experiencing what was only in books before. I died fighting the Dak, Breeder of Pestilence; I was unable to keep myself healed once it killed one of the two healers. I am really looking forward to taking on the Tyrant quest with my guild.

Soul man:
The soulbound weapons quest was the first one I wanted to tackle. I opted to head to the Prosper Fettermound to start. Sy Black, a dual-wielding ranger, had my back. The run there wasn't too difficult. We did get separated and I ended up fighting the guardian at the mine. We finally made it to Tamar Fetterguard ghost who sent us off to the fiery crypt dungeon. Tamar sounds a bit bitter about being a ghost. I am familiar with the place from beta. Back then I had actually swum there after trying to find a pathway. Now with much more knowledge gained we merely rode past the first Warder's camp and descended the natural ramp. Being level 45 now and Sy 33, we made very short work of the drudges up top. The dungeon had been visited recently so a few corpses were along the path. Soon we had the Moonstone Activation Crystal. Rather, I got one and due to something going awry, Sy's never made it to his pack. Unfortunately, I had recalled out before I knew something was amiss. Sy hunted the Inferno Cabal Drudges to get another key, while I rode to the Gear Knight. I have played AC1 since early beta and I know well what a golem is. I know what a Gear Knight is and a Gear Knight is not a Golem of Dereth. Standing in front of the golem was a small stack of weapon emblems, among those were a flail and a bow. Seeing how Sy is a ranger and I am a defender, we went with the obvious choice.

Soul Omishan:
This quest was pretty straightforward as well. Find the ghost, go to kill Burun, use Isin's cache, get the crystal, get 6 white pyreals, head back to the Armory, find the Golem, find the other golem, use the recipe to make weapon, or flail in my case. A note about the Armory dungeon; it's marvelous, a stunning place, you should go see it just to see it.

Soul Linvak:
I thought better of starting the quest without the pyreals. So I headed out to the Nepeth ringway and started hunting. I found an Ebon Pyreal within the first five Gurog's. Sadly my luck turned bad. Gurog after Gurog I slew, but none of them were carrying any Ebon pyreals. I moved to the area surrounding the mage academy and still didn't have any luck. Out of 4 million xp worth of Gurogs, I got 1 pyreal. I decided to give Pyreal hunting a miss for now.

Frustration boots.
I logged in with the hope of doing the Boots Quest and leveling to 46. I hitched up with a group. We mounted up and rode to the Silent City. We waited a bit for stragglers, buffed and went inside. All went well as a group we attacked. With a healer in the group I took point as a defender tank, side by side with a juggernaut. We hit the Crypt Keepers Lair portal and lured his guardians, taking them down first. We attracted the Keeper of Lost Souls attention a tad early, but with our combined talent we dropped him quickly. Even though there were two guardians still alive, someone yelled to run for it. They hadn't broken the fellowship and I typed frantically for them to do so. I was told that this portion didn't require that. So I helped polish off one of the guardians then beat feet. Two Tumeroks and I hit the portal to the spirit of Kartok. We tried to take the portal only to find we didn't have the quest requisites to follow. I sent out a call for tech aid (read: I shouted at the wind) and the three of us tried our best to kill off the respawn. The rest of the fellowship seemed to have a 'so what' attitude. Needless to say we died with the first part uncompleted. Later I see that most of the group had left the fellowship on their own when the Keeper died. The three of us left behind counted on the quest leader to know what he was doing.

Someone mentioned another group was forming at the Silent City. The three of us headed there and joined in the group. It started out pretty well. We went to the first baddy room and I jumped in on an undead with a Lugian. The next thing I know there are no green dots anyplace. It seems half the group ran off one direction and the other half ran off a different way leaving the lugian and me to fight alone. We broke from what would have been a loosing battle and ran for the portal. Due to the other members running that direction, the hallways were clogged and the group that ran the wrong way would run up to us dragging baddies. The Lugian died first and I died just around the corner from the Crypt Keeper's Lair. Of the fellowship of nine, three made it into the keeper's lair. I was so disgusted I logged from the LS.

A quest is NOT a hunting group. They rely on information being disseminated from the leader. They need to be aware of the people in their fellowship, who needs help, who is tanking, who is luring. Heading out on your own destroys the group dynamic. And it makes me a grumpy column writer.

Post Patch Tonk:
I logged in my Missile/Invoker Tumerok Eeriest Elk. Grasp's vassal, Sy Black, was about to do the Moarsman incursion and I figured I could use the help. The duration of summon the grandmother is very noticeable and the reset time for the Brat is excellent. Now getting three of these guys takes minutes. With my triplet Brats and harpoon I was holding my own with multiple Burun. As long as my golems intercepted the critter and I could use gore. Sy is getting along with his dual wielding ranger quite well. I am curious to see how it pans out at higher levels; so far he is doing very well. I was able to level Elk to 32 and to get the pin skill. This should be the last of my missile skills on my current template; still I may revise it later.

-EE