Darklily's Coldain Ring War guide

[Darklily]

RING 9 -- Coldain Hero's Insignia Ring - Part 1
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It's time to go to the Great Divide -> Thurgadin -> Icewell Keep

First of all, don't fall into "the pit" in the center of Icewell Keep! There's no easy way back up.

Aside from the basement, there are three floors to Icewell Keep.

To reach the throne room: Cross the bridge and once you're in the castle, take the second door on the right which should have some stairs leading up. On the second floor, head straight across the room to another set of stairs.

The goal is to find 'Seneschal Aldikar' while he's in the throne room with Dain Frostreaver IV (while court is in session). (The Dain's face is intense! I'd never seen him before.)

Note when I did this quest, I was 'warmly' faction to all in this room. (Obviously this was before killing the Dain ).

Here's how the court works:
Icewell Keep has a 24-hour schedule, but fortunately Game Time runs much faster than real-life time. 1 hour amounts to about 20 hours of gametime. The seneschal may be in his bedroom. If so, you can't start the quest yet and will have to wait.

Use /time to see what game time it is. Around 7 PM, the Dain retires to his bedchamber. Around 6 AM, the Dain wakes up from his secret bedroom behind his throne and assumes the throne. Shortly after, the seneschal should appear and announce to the zone with a shout that court is in session. I'm not sure how long court lasts, but when it's done, the seneschal shouts again letting everyone know that court is adjourned for the day.

Anyway, when court is in session, say, 'I will accept this task' to the seneschal and he should give you the 'Traitor's Bane Box'.

We will need to put the 'Dirk of the Traitor' in the box (from Ring 6, remember??? I told you to keep it if you were planning on doing rings 9 and 10? If you don't have the dirk anymore, you can re-kill Rodrick.)

We are also going to behead five traitors and put their heads in the box...and somehow combine them... . Gruesome, I know.

Sounds simple, right? Well, the life of an assassin isn't easy. These traitors do need killed in a specific order and there are certain complications involved.

Head #1 of 5 - Murdrick Tardok:
Go back to the Great Divide and head southwest. A lot of people get confused because there are three caves to the northwest of Velk, and the one with Murdrick is not on a lot of downloadable EQ maps. Directions: Pretend like you are leaving Velk's Lab. When you leave the cave, take an immediate left and stay on the sort of 'mountain path', staying at the same height level as the exit from Velk's Lab. The path will wrap around the mountain and soon you will come to a cave on your left. When you enter the cave, Murdrick and his lackeys will be your first right.

On Live EQ, you normally would have to invis yourself and listen to a whole conversation between Murdrick and the others before engaging Murdrick, or he'll despawn. On CD, you can just kill him and loot 'Murdrick's Head', plus 'Murdrick's Plan'. That's one head down, 4 more to go!

Head #2 of 5 - Captain Berradin:
Okay, this step is CRAZY and NONSENSICAL. You're supposed to read 'Murdrick's Plan' in order to learn that you're supposed to make a 'Tainted Avalance Ale'.

Even though you killed Murdrick, you must have really liked his plan and thought, "Yes, let's go with this dead traitor's plan." Why you would decide to make Murdrick's exact recipe rather than just kill the guy or make your own poison is beyond me.

If you don't want to go on a HUGE 'The Little Mermaid' adventure like I did, know that you can fortunately skip this next post and just kill Captain Berradin!

[Darklily]

A Little Mermaid Sidequest:

I decided to share my experiences when trying to make the Tainted Avalanche Ale since it may bring to light some issues with the server data.

A Tainted Avalanche Ale can be made with brewing.
You'll need a 'bottle', an 'ice wyvern stinger', an 'arctic mussels', a 'seahorse scales', a 'runed sea shell', an 'iceball', and a bottle of 'mind melt'.

Doesn't sound too bad, right?

The hunt for the bottle:
Fortunately, getting a bottle is easy. You can purchase this from the 'Geerlok Clockwork Merchant IV' behind the bank on the first floor of Crescent Reach. One down, six to go!

The hunt for the ice wyvern stinger:
You need to get to Cobalt Scar. The easiest way I know to get there is to use the 'Velium Shard of Cobalt Scar' from the teleporter in the guild hall. Right away, you should see lots of wyverns overlooking the ocean and sitting on the promontories. There are also wyverns in Skyshrine tower, surrounding the zone-in. I had to kill about 30 wyverns to get an ice wyvern stinger, but fortunately they drop some great loot, lots of jewels. Two down, five to go!

Diving for arctic mussels:
If you head down to the beach from where the wyverns were, you'll find some of the cutest NPCs in the game, the Othmir! Their enthusiasm for life makes my heart swell. They are thankful for the ocean waves and LOVE their clam chowder and turtleneck sweaters. They spend their days diving for more clams, cooking, and crafting. And after hunting in the Eastern Wastes, they should LOVE you! Every walrus and ulthork you've killed has given you positive faction with the Othmir.

And it's a good thing. If you're after arctic mussels, you'll need to live here for awhile. Fortunately you'll have the lovely and witty company of Bloogy Shellcracker and Blumblum Swigwater. They will gladly vend to you and there's even a brewery station right next to Blumblum. Sadly they do not sell arctic mussels.

These mussels are supposed to be a 'common' ground spawn or forage here or in the Eastern Wastes. I spent hours swimming around Cobalt Scar searching, wearing my 'Sleeves of the Kelpmaidens' to breathe underwater, and I was feeling a bit like The Little Mermaid . There's lots of shipwrecks down there you can swim into and explore, with creepy living treasure chests lurking inside. Kelorek'Dar, a sea dragon, likes to show up by the wreck nearest to shore, and he drops a few things worthwhile. (I can only imagine this thing was scary during Live when Scars of Velious was new, a real "Monster of Lake Rathe" kind of mob.)

You can get a Bioluminescent Orb from Kelorek'Dar, which is an underrated clicky from inventory. Non-kiting classes can use it to kite. Feign Death classes can use it as an advanced pull tool. Tanks can use it to generate hate. PVP folks can use it to blind other players. Wizards can use it not only for kiting, but as a survival tool. It's got a million uses.

You can also get a Cloak of the Crystalline Waters, which is the equivalent to the Cloak of Flames I can never seem to get from Lord Naggy. I imagine you'll have better haste gear on than this item offers, but it's not a bad twink item.

Arctic mussels are supposed to look like little black rocks, just like the ground spawns in the Eastern Wastes. Unfortunately there's no ground spawns on this server. There are some spawns in bags just beneath the ocean surface, but they are all 'cutting shells'.

Deciding my mermaid adventure was over, I decided to try my luck at foraging. I added the forage skill to my character using AA. With a 50 forage skill, I still couldn't get arctic mussels, so after another hour of trying, I decided to figure this out later.

My foraging efforts did scrounge up:
Cobalt Rock Crab
Small Clam
Roots
Berries
Vegetables

The hunt for seahorse scales:
Luckily this is an easy one! The seahorses in Siren's Grotto (right off of Cobalt Scar) drop plenty of these. Three down, four to go!

The hunt for a runed sea shell:
Another easy one. In the Siren's Grotto, there are a lot of sirens (go figure). These were also the same mobs that dropped the Sleeves of the Kelpmaidens for me, which is a decent EB item. The neriads also drop the shells. There are two variations of the shell, one that lets you cast 'Cloud', and another that lets you cast enduring breath. I'm not sure if it matters which you have, but some guides show that the cloud one is the one you want for this recipe. Four down, three to go!

(And while I was out there, may as well check for Vaniki. He was there, but no Willsapper. )

The hunt for the iceball:
These are supposed to be a common drop in the Eastern Wastes off of snow dervishes. Most people report they get an iceball off of the very first snow dervish they see. The problem is, I've killed hundreds of them and they aren't dropping on this server. They drop cogs, augments, ice of velious, and other things, but definitely not iceballs. Not on their loot table unless I'm extremely unlucky.

They should drop off of blizzard dervishes, snow dervishes, and savage direwolves, but I had no luck.

You can also forage for an iceball in the Eastern Wastes, so with my newly minted 50 forage skill ... I couldn't get iceballs. I also couldn't get arctic mussels. So after another hour of trying, I decided to figure this out later.

The quest for a bottle of 'mind melt':
The folks on Live are lucky. They can just buy this. Since this is a solo server, if you want a bottle of mind melt, you have to craft it yourself. One problem...it requires the Poisonmaking skill. Only rogues can learn poisonmaking. Oh, and this recipe is trivial at 322.

So I created a rogue, 'Darklillie', and saw that she needs to be level 20 to learn poisonmaking. So I got to it and leveled up to level 22. Thank you twink gear! At level 20, when you zone back to the Nexus or Plane of Knowledge, thankfully you do get a skillboost to 300.

Let's see what this requires:
1x Ethereal Suspension
1x Sealed Poison Vial
2x Mt. Death Mineral Salts
1x Quicksilver

The hunt for Ethereal Suspension:
Thankfully you can just buy this from Ciren Darkbog in the Plane of Knowledge. One down, three to go!

The hunt for the Sealed Poison Vial:
You can buy this, too, along with a Mortar and Pestle from Telir Na'Shalith, also in the Plane of Knowledge. Too easy! Two down, two to go!

The hunt for the Mt. Death Mineral Salts:
I logged onto my main and started hunting in the Temple of Droga. This item is plentiful there. I had two stacks while looking around for the elusive 'a goblin bodyguard', and grabbed a 'Copper Hammer of Striking' for oldtimes' sake.

The hunt for Quicksilver:
Quicksilver is not sold. It is crafted. Another poisonmaking thing.

To make Quicksilver:
1x Gnomish Spirits
1x Cinnabar

The hunt for Gnomish Spirits:
Geerlok Clockwork IV behind the bank in Crescent Reach comes through again! One down, one to go!

The hunt for Cinnabar:
This is only for sale in one place in the world...North Kaladim. Um, yeah. Those dwarves hate me.
So I rolled up a level 1 Dwarf, did the Arias 'hail' missions, sold my quest reward for some platinum, and used the magus to teleport myself to Kaladim. Fortunately I was able to buy a cinnabar from Myre and share bank'd it.

Hopped on my Rogue, combined, and made Quicksilver! Then I combined nervously to make a bottle of mind melt (at 300 skill, there was a chance of failure!)

So now that I had a bottle of mind melt, the only things left missing were the iceball and the arctic mussels. Sadly, I was never able to obtain them.

It was only then that I thought, Hey! Maybe I can skip this and just kill Berradin without creating the poison? The answer was 'yes'.

Even though the above combine proved impossible, I still got some great stuff and had fun on my little journey

[Darklily]

RING 9 -- Coldain Hero's Insignia Ring - Part 2
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Yes, it turns out you can just kill Captain Berradin on this server. Go figure.

I created two new characters and trotted the globe like a silly person trying to make that silly ale.

But this made me appreciate all the work people had to do to achieve this when Scars of Velious was new.

Anyway...

Kill Captain Berradin! By the way, I should've mentioned earlier, but I recommend not killing the adds because you can take Coldain faction hits, same with Murdrick's goons.

Captain Berradin is in the Eastern Wastes. He's standing in a Coldain hut northeast of the Frost Giant Fortress. The Frost Giant Fortress is straight ahead east if you zone in from the Great Divide. The huts you're looking for are northeast of the Frost Giant Fortress. Imagine one of the Coldain's very own captains being a traitor? It's a sick, sad world.

Berradin is supposed to drop 'Berradin's Head' and 'a Note to Peffin'. When I killed him the first time, all I got was his head. I had to kill him a second time to get the note. Fortunately, his respawn time was very fast and I didn't have to wait long at all.

That's two heads down, 3 more to go!

Head #3 of 5 - Peffin Ambersnow:
Peffin, how could you???

Peff (yes, I gave her a nickname) is really close by, actually. She's in the Frost Giant Fortress southwest of Captain Berradin. She is in the building on the north side of the fort, and normally she's invisible so you may need the ability to see invis to see her.

I tried killing her without handing her the note first, and she doesn't drop the note to Doldigun, just the head (And an impressive-sounding bow called Talisen, Bow of the Trailblazer). You have to hand her the 'note to Peffin' and she will respawn outside by a bonfire, between the two buildings in the fort. Lots of giants will be guarding her, but they're all perma-rooted. When you kill this version of Peffin, she will drop both the head and the note.

That's three heads down, 2 more to go!

Head #4 of 5 - Doldigun Steinwielder:
Here's an interesting one. It's time to go into Kael Drakkel itself. When you zone in, you can invis past the first giants fairly easily. Your goal is to work your way south the first chance you get. There's a building here called "Iceshard Keep" because there are two named mobs here with Iceshard as their last names (Vorken and Klaggan). The room with a throne is known as the "Plate House", and I'm not sure why. (-850, +1150)

Make sure you don't head down the second path to the south which also has a throne room with King Tormax!

I recommend killing everything in the throne room, then you need to go in front of the throne (very close to it) and say, 'The Dain shall be slain for the peace we must obtain'. Doldigun should pop, standing on the throne. How pompous! Hand him the note to Doldigun and he'll give you a 'Ring of the Coldain Council'. (Apparently this item used to be called something like, 'Juliah's Keepsake Locket' but was changed.)

Doldigun will de-spawn, but don't worry. Some giants should show up and attack you. Once you kill the one named Valorankt Zekkin, Doldigun will show up again, trying to walk away casually and smooth-talk his way out of this. He's a funny guy. Kill him and loot his head.

That's four heads down, 1 more to go!

And if you've never had the opportunity to hunt in Kael Drakkel, the loot here is impressive. You're bound to find some upgrades, if not for yourself, then surely for your alts. You'll get lots of Coldain faction, too. I highly recommend you work your way south and kill King Tormax (loot his head!), then work your way all the way north to fight Derakor the Vindicator, the Statue of Rallos Zek, and the Avatar of War. The battle with the Avatar specifically is memorable. Be sure to turn up the music volume before entering the arena!

Head #5 of 5 - Juliah Lockheart:
No... it can't be. One of the Dain's own councilwomen was a traitor, too?

She's in Icewell keep, standing at the very back of the throne room with the other councilmembers. I believe you do have to wait for court to be in session, but not sure. You need to hand her the 'Ring of the Coldain Council' and she will aggro you. Go ahead and kill her and loot her head.

Councilor Juliah is also interesting because if you kill her (without handing her the ring), she can drop an item called the 'Ornate Velium Pendant'. This item has a clicky effect called 'Alliance', which increases your faction by 100! It only has four charges, but for the first week after Velious was released, it had unlimited charges. The original version of this item is obviously very rare. Not sure if it can be recharged or not, but unlimited charges on this are quite broken. You could make anyone into an Ally with a few clicks!

Combining Heads
Place all five heads and the Dirk of the Traitor in the Traitor's Bane Box and combine. You'll get a Box of the Guilty (plus you'll also get another Traitor's Bane Box, but you can trash it).

You get to hand this box into the Dain himself, along with the Velium Coldain Insignia Ring. He will present you with the 'Coldain Hero's Insignia Ring' and the 'Dirk of the Dain'.

[Darklily]

RING 10 -- Ring of Dain Frostreaver IV
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1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a ring war! Welcome to the quest for the final ring!

Just a forewarning, this is going to be fast and anti-climactic, but at least it's do-able here. And you will lose Ring 9 at the end. Trust me, you'll start missing it quickly.

To get the ball rolling, just hand the Dirk of the Dain to Dain Frostreaver IV. He'll hand you the Declaration of War.

Now you'll need to leave Thurgadin and follow the river south a little bit, not far. To the east and west sides of the river are two Coldain 'guard towers', but they look more like fancy igloos. The one on the west bank has Sentry Badain inside. (-1080, +140)

Hand him the Declaration of War along with your Coldain Hero's Insignia Ring.

Normally this would start a huge war, trigger a huge zone-wide scripted event. But on here, Badain just says something like, 'Narandi is behind you'.

Turn around and sure enough, he's there.

Kill him and Seneschal Aldikar will pop in his place.

Go ahead and loot Narandi. Be sure to loot Narandi's head.

Give the head and your ninth ring to the seneschal. He'll hand you the 'Ring of Dain Frostreaver IV' and the 'Shorn Head of Narandi'.

Congratulations!!! <3

[Darklily]

Aftermath
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Normally you'd get prizes based on which dwarves survived during the Ring War by turning in the shorn head to each of them. But on CD, Narandi's loot table includes these items. So you can go ahead and destroy the shorn head.

Unfortunately I did not get the necklace I was hoping for, but I did get all the other items off of Narandi's corpse.

I really wanted an Earring of the Frozen Skull, but that didn't happen.

I did get the Crown of Narandi, the Eye of Narandi, the Faceguard of Bentos the Hero, Narandi's Lance, and the Choker of the Wretched. So either it was decided that the earring was too OP, or I got unlucky and missed the earring.

Next, I wanted the 'Tri-Plated Golden Hackle Hammer'. This is a quest reward for handing in King Tormax's head to Dain Frostreaver IV. Unfortunately, this quest doesn't seem to be working on this server.

When you try to hand him the head, he says, "You have yet to prove yourself, Darklily." Considering that the Dain is now 'warmly' faction to me, I can't imagine why he wouldn't accept the head. On Live, people report him coughing up his hammer at Amiable faction and higher, so it should work.

I did notice he seemed to be carrying the hammer, so yes, I killed him (so maybe he was right about the whole 'prove myself' thing My head belonged in that traitor box! The Dain has good instincts ). The fight is interesting because he banishes you to The Pit and he and his entire court attack you. UNFORTUNATELY... the Dain did not drop the hammer despite the graphic showing he was carrying it in his hand. /facepalm.

-1500 faction hit for nothing.

/shudder

Anyway, after this, I ran rings 1-8 again. It's much faster the second time around!