In issue #11 of Traversing Telara, Valnyr finishes up his bogling quests, while Anmar heads to the lakeside outpost to offer assistance.

Traversing Telara is an exclusive series of articles from Trion Worlds that explores Rift's lore and gameplay mechanics through the eyes of one intrepid adventurer. It's a great read and a fantastic introduction to the world of Telara. Even if you're a veteran of Rift, you might enjoy hearing about the game from another perspective! Read on for Traversing Telara #11: Gods and Lakeside!

Catch up on all the past issues of Traversing Telara here!

Guardian

This week Valnyr is finishing up the bogling quests. I found all of Nora Glen's research implements, plus the religious icons and some faetouched splinters I was asked to look out for. When I bring them back to Marsh House, Nora Glen is rather alarmed. It turns out that the faetouched splinters are used in the worship of Greenscale. Plus the religious icons the boglings use are also devoted to the dragon god.

Nora wants to put a stop to this immediately and use something called the Simplicity Wand on the boglings of Sunken Marsh to reduce their intelligence. She said she was test-ing her intelligence spell on the creatures when one of the test subjects, a bogling called Maffle, escaped. Nora also wants me to use the Fused Faetouched Splinters to summon Maffle and kill him before he can organize the boglings further.

While doing this I move up to level 11. This time my soul point is spent in Exposure, a trait that increases all magical damage by 7% for the next 30 seconds. This is quite a handy trait to have. I now start off all my attacks with Exposure, then immediately follow up with Lightning, then fireball, and then crystalline missiles. With my Elemental Pet  dealing out damage at the same time, my opponents are finished off pretty quickly. And all without Valynr even being touched.

After defeating Maffle, I find a peculiar blade on his body. When I take it back to Thomas Penthas he says it is a sacrificial blade, designed to cut a Spirit Guide's tether to Telara. Spirit Guides are creatures that carry out the Vigil's will in this world, and Thomas just witnessed the boglings dragging a deer into their camp. He thinks this is a Spirit Guide and I must save her before it's too late.

I complete the quest, but die once while doing it. The Spirit Guide is on a small island and, as soon as you attack one of the boglings, they all attack. But when I return to Thomas, he is happy enough with my progress. He even goes so far as to say the gods favor me.

Which brings me to a bit of lore that hasn't been explored in these articles. The Gods of the Vigil. Each week I'll do a little profile on each of the gods and what they stand for. 

First up is Bahralt, known as the builder, the god of craftsmen, ingenuity, and civilization. Bahralt originally created the Dwarves to be his assistants, granting them sentience in exchange for their loyal service.  But he was also worshipped by the Mathosians and the Eth.

Bahralt wants everyone to learn crafting, and then to pass that knowledge on to future generations. The more trades and skills you learn, the happier he is. 

Defiant

After completing the quests in the Scarred Mire area I am heading back to Meridian when I find an old journal among the belongings of one of the undead soldiers. The final entry reads, "Damn that traitorous Abelus! The sergeant ordered the two of us to guard loot we recovered from Jakub's men, but Abelus stabbed me in the back and fled with the gold."

The journal gives me a quest. I am to kill Abelus Crane, now an undead skeleton, then deliver the journal to his daughter, Sara Martins, in Meridian. 

I level up while completing this quest. This time my soul points go to Single Minded Focus, a trait that "Increases the damage of all single target attacks by 1%", and Blood Rage. (Your pet enters a Blood Rage when attacking enemies under the effect of a bleed. Increases damage by 5% for 10 seconds.)

When I get the journal back to Meridian, it turns out Sara Martins is long since dead. But one of her descendants is still there, and she is ecstatic I have brought proof that restores the family name. It turns out that the story has been a source of shame for the Martins for decades, because everyone claimed that her ancestor stole the money, betraying Freemarch in the process. With the journal she can put all this to rights once again.

It seems I'm not finished with the Abyssal yet. Strange things are happening in Lakeside Outpost, and Ziara Altanin wants me to take a stroll through the town looking for any signs of the dragon cult. He's been having terrible visions and premonitions of something terrible happening.

It's not long before I spot these strange goings on. There are Abyssal Cultists all over the docks. When I tell Ziara he is not happy. He thinks they're planning some kind of invasion, or are going to summon creatures of Akylios from the depths of the ocean.  He wants me to return to the docks and kill the Abyssal Mystics and Arcanists before they complete their task.

This is a hard one. The Mystics are surrounded by seemingly innocuous lackeys who change into ugly sea creatures as soon as you attack any of the cult members. There are usually two of these creatures to one Mystic, so the secret is to wait for the lackey (still in human form) to move away, then attack it. It will shapeshift and attack, but at least it is only one foe instead of three. Even so, this quest takes a long time to complete.

When I return to Ziara, he still thinks we haven't thwarted the Abyssal. The pressure in his head is even more intense, and thinks it is some kind of Abyssal magic. More investigation is needed.