Warders and Tonks

The winter wind whipped around her hair causing the tri-pony tails to wave about as if it possessing a life all its own. Here in the higher reaches of the Drudge citadel region of Dereth there was little save mountains of rock to block the weather, freeing it to natures battering. Beyond the wide fortress opening was a good number of Drudges. The screams of their companions from lower down alerted them that something was coming. Well seasoned to what lay beyond the Defender stilled her heart and centered herself for what was about to happen a few scant meters ahead. Up till this point it was more of a long distance to travel then a harrowing journey. The harrowing lay ahead. "Stay to the outskirts of the battle and watch your back" She flatly stated. Though wishing to be more an active participant her lone vassal granted this unhappily. A lesson and a run back from an earlier encounter had replaced his adventurous daring with cautious wisdom. Hefting her weapon and shield she broke suddenly into a sprint taking the sharp turn and sprinting toward the throng, a warrior shout issuing challenge to the denizens within. From behind she sensed her companion wisely working his way along the wall to engage a lone Drudge whose attention was now clearly focused on her. Through steel, sinew, sweat and heart this battle's victory is already assured.

I opted to run my, eventual, Tonk healer. After many deaths on the new quest, I entered the Cragstone excavation. I was pulled into a fellowship. It was much easier to get to the main chamber this time. There are a few perching and camping, which helps when you find yourself under assault. I was informed that the portal is invisible unless you combine the three pieces of the amulet into a solid piece; I haven't heard this anyplace else, so I'll need to verify. Kev Dog went into the portal and got the blueprints. It turns out that only one person in your fellow can go inside. We all planned to go back to Cragstone for the turn in. I summoned a portal and one of a party, Sweet Magic, was lagging and couldn't get through. As it turns out only me and Kev Dog made it to Cragstone. He turned in and we got the XP. One of our members said she didn't receive anything. I checked and she was too high a level to share xp with us. Sweet was back at her LS in Arwic and didn't get any either, probably due to the distance. I had assumed that all of us would get full xp credit for the quest. Now I think that only Kev and I got the xp split in half. So is this a quest for solo's or groups? Not sure and I'm only left with questions.

Back to my Defender:

The Nedru vault Glyph was burning a hole in my pack. I feel as if I have been steered away from it again and again. With the single goal of getting to and through this vault I headed across the portal pathways. I find that the navigation of un-climbable hills tends to throw me. After many attempts to get to the vault I find that there is a simple slope up to it near a road. I figure there are going to be Burun inside and possibly a key or two, based upon the vaults I have already gone through. At this point in the narrative I decide to hold off and wait to see if any others show up. I'm not expecting anyone but I figure if someone shows up it will be all the easier to get through. With little patience, I head inside, figuring I'll try it solo. Although AC2HQ has some excellent Vault and Quest guides (unabashed plug) I haven't availed myself of their knowledge unless I'm leading a group or I'm stuck, so I have no clue exactly what I would be facing. The Burun Keerik and the Kiree Buruns are easy fodder for my sword and I smite them quite roughly! As I was figuring out the vault, I looted everything and soon had five or six keys, mostly because I got lost. Finally, I found the locked door and headed into the vestibule. Checking out the boss I see it has over 6000 health. Great, just great. I renew my shield wall and cast benevolent leader and head in. I have noticed a tendency that vault bosses go vulnerable often. I was very disciplined in heals and vigor renewal and the occasional special attack (I only have unpredictable blow and swipe, currently). So intent was I on managing my life and vigor, it took a bit to register that the boss was at 200 health and glowing. I went for a series of special attacks and ended the conflict with a satisfying hit that sent the creature a good distance back. Immediately I sent a @tell to Caerie, my patron, who was kind enough to give me congratulations.

I am quite tired of the goal of just leveling up. I half-heartedly fight around Omishan until I notice that my quest book shows I have 20 hours left to find the Kehan Miller. What the heck! I'll go back to Osteth and help out these poor NPC's. It takes a bit of portal hopping, but finally I'm talking to the Kehan Miller and racing off to the various resource caches to get the wood, stone and iron needed. I understand your ability to acquire resources increases with use, so I exhaust my recipe charges. I hand off the items to the Miller and he hands me the gear. A short run later I install it. I found this particular effect to be quite nifty. You 'hand' the gear to the windmill's obviously broken innards and it's restored as if by magic. It gets a bit odd at this point, because I have a second gear handed back to me by the mill. It won't accept the gear and I can't change it into gold or drop it. I'm going to file a bug report for this one. I head back to the Miller and I get sent to the Esper Warder.

Next, I have to craft a weapon and kill some Cadre Drudges. I opt for the bow. Then I am sent on the Cragstone excavation quest. I spoke on my Tonk's adventure there last column, so let's just say being level 32 and going through this quest is MUCH different then being level 12. I go solo and slaughter everything. In short order I get to go into the library portal, assemble the amulet using the quest recipe and get the blueprints. When I turn in, I am given a new quest. This is different then my Tonk experience. With my mage, I had assumed this was the end of the quest sequence. It appears that if you are not the one who hands in the blueprints, you don't receive the next quest, or does it have to do with a character's level? I'm just not sure.

So it's off to the Isle of Tears, where Old Cragstone's grave is. As I step out of the portal, I see the Warder and I receive the quest to find his notebook. This doesn't seem right and in checking my Quest guide, I see that I have accepted a second quest and I still need to find the Warder Corporal. The Warder I found near the portals was the Warder Scout. I'm starting to think that the people at Turbine have run out of names. Or it could be that they want to make sure that there is a distinction between NPC's and PC's. Well, I decide to head to the Warder Corporal and the Isle of Tears quest. I come very close to drowning on the swim to the island (objects may appear much CLOSER then they are). I am down to 200 health and zero vigor when I drag myself up to the shore. Not knowing exactly what to do, I decide to start by slaughtering anything that moves. I find a fort and move to its interior. There is a portal there, but I need to do something else first. Fairly strong drudges keep attacking me until I find a manuscript. This lets me enter the portal and the caves below. I try to run past the various drudges and it works until I hit a dead end. Suddenly I have a poop load of them on me. By the damage that I'm taking, I know that I can survive this if I stick to my Defender tactics. This entire battle brings back memories of AC1. I realize I haven't had much more then two attackers at the most so far. As they drop I have to spend less time healing myself. I finally end up with a good stack of bodies at my feet. Feeling good, I hunt around some and find a large cavern. I'm looking for the Profound Drudge Mystics. I do a run around and pick up quite a train. I don't see any sign of the Mystics and I leave another large pile of bodies at the entrance to this large room. I go back to checking out the dungeon and come to the conclusion that I missed the mystics.

Back into the large cavern I move, last time I ran the outside perimeter. This time I move to the center and lo and behold, I find the Mystics. I slaughter them and fight my way back up. A swim and a run later I turn them in and get a quest to find the Warder Scout (whom I have already found).

Well, I was able to advance the quest but now I have two Warder Scout notebook quests. Easy enough to complete, run, kill, grab, return. Now I have to find the Warder Captain. I'm starting to wonder if these Warders are just 'Users' that is to say, they just use you for their purpose and don't really have an organization to speak of. For now it's more B-work for me (figure out B-work for yourselves).

"So, Mister Warden Captain, sir! What can I do for you?""Get me a potion from a drudge camp""Why don't you get it yourself?""Simple, I'm a FREEKING Captain!""I didn't vote for you""You don't Vote for Captains!"(Digress into a Python bit)

Okay, now I have to find this camp. I end up on the wrong side of a mountain again. Looking at the map I recall and head the other direction. I USED to pride myself on my virtual reality tracking abilities, now I seem to have been genetically grafted with Wrong Way Corrigan (historical reference http://www.who2.com/wrongwaycorrigan.html check it out here). Soon I find the camp and fight my way around looking for the chest. Eventually I find it, but with it being night and the haze that hangs around the Cit area it was hiding in plain sight.

Back to the Captain and I get an improved potion and access to a Cache portal. I head in and find that there is a key for Asheron's cache. I use the key but click too many times and end up closing it. Dang. Ah well, I have more important things to do. It seems I now have to go see the Dantry the First Warder. I wish I had time to polish up my armor! *Dantry or Danby? You had both*Another search for the route up the hill takes me down the road. I'm sure glad the denizens of Osteth don't pose too much of a threat anymore. Soon Dantry and I are standing face to face. I'm rewarded with more B-work for the Warders. Not surprising seeing as how they seemingly can only yawn. This time I'm asked to retrieve more paperwork from the Illuminated Drudge. I am able to find the portal with very little trouble. I slay the Drudge, find the book and run back. Now I have to go find some Heretic Drudges. Well, the quest is broken and the Heretics send me on the Burun slavetaker quest again. The last time I did this was the first day of retail. I run down and get the head and return. After turning in the Burun head, I get the normal rewards but I don't advance the quest. Looks like I'm free of the Warders for awhile!

My four-year-old son has a Large Lugian. He likes to pilot him around, mostly diving from high points into water and then drowning. I F12 the screen and let him run around. He has a great time and I don't have to worry about him killing off my characters. Periodically I will loose his vitae for him. This is a total sidebar except for what happened when I went to log him out. On the chat window was the name of an old friend from AC1. It was in a n00b area so he had just gotten into game. So I immediately logged in a more known character and gave him a @tell. Sure enough he was in game and looking forward to playing a lot during the holidays. A few talks and I find out he is in a fellow having problems in the Cragstone Excavations. By the time I can run over there they have finally made it to the second room and were preparing for the gauntlet to the library portal. I caught up and after a quick introduction I added my prowess to theirs.

In short order they retrieved the blueprints recalled and turned in. I met them at the site and spoke in length and secured a vassal who is/was, incidentally, my patron from AC1. Life is good!

Later on, after some Christmas Shopping, I logged back on and was able to help out with a Glyph for the Mad Crone area. A member of my allegiance needed help completing a quest. He was waiting in a safe location for his mage friend and me to arrive. It was the Illuminated Manuscript quest, which turned out lucky for me. Unfortunately, someone else had entered the dungeon, dragged a number of Drudges to his location and then decided to watch as he tried to stay alive. A tad rude if you ask me. Well, he died just as we arrived. We then cleared the area and waited for him to run back. When he arrived we found out that Mortis, who had already done the quest a few days before, couldn't receive permission to get back in. Even after running to the Warder to try to get the quest again. We went through the Drudges and completed the quest again.

It was getting late and with an un-droppable gear and two un-finish able quests I figured it was time for the Defender to go to bed. I still needed to get my soon-to-be-healer up in levels. I logged in and my vassal (actually my other char's vassal of whom I spoke of a few paragraphs ago) inquired about my status. We decided to go hunting for the Burun slavetaker's head. This was a bit fraught with vitae and many lifestone trips, but slowly we did learn a few tactics that worked and some that did not. We ended the night after a particularly harrowing battle that ended in a decent victory for us..