A gentle breeze carried snowflakes around him and Ethan shivered in his saddle. The forest was quiet except for his horse’s steady hoofbeats. Frost and snow covered the bases and branches of most of the evergreen trees around him, but the road was still mostly clear. A massive mountain rose in the distance, so tall that he couldn’t see the snow covered top. A flock of geese flew in a tight but distorted V above the forest. Ahead of him, the road curved leading him deeper into the quiet woods.

I should have brought something warmer. He lamented to himself.

Since leaving Startesgarde several days ago he hadn’t heard from any of Disorder, his guild and family while he was trapped in The Tower. The lack of communication didn’t bother him at all. Leah, Tae-Won, Sam, David and Miguel were all on their own class quests. It was the next step in the goal of joining the Raid Clan. He probably wouldn’t hear from any of them until he returned to the guild hall after finishing his own.

He knew that David was about to undergo a series of punishing trials designed to test his “faith” as a Paladin and his willingness to defend his friends. But when he came out of it, he’d be an even more effective tank than he’d proven to be in the caverns of the first floor. Riding for the third day in a row, Ethan almost missed being a Paladin. Sitifus was at least a much warmer locale than where Ethan was currently headed. Not to mention, much closer to Startesgarde.

He had never traveled this far north in the world of the Tower before, preferring the zones on the western side of the continent. He had a route he usually took that allowed him to quest efficiently and level up in a pretty predictable way.

But now he and his friends were in the middle of trying a completely new leveling process and he was out in the zone Frjosaheimr searching for the town of Skaro. So far he’d passed through several small villages, getting directions from every one of them. He knew he was definitely on the right road, but he was complete unsure how much further the town of Skaro was from where he currently was.

His horse snorted, a cloud of mist forming in front of her nose, distracting Ethan from his introspection. He hadn’t been paying attention to the route, either game mechanics or just that his mount had a very high intelligence of her own, had kept him moving in the direction he’d needed to go. Of course, there was only the one road, so his horse hadn’t really had much of a choice on which direction to take.

Ethan chose to believe that he just had a smart horse. The mare was a reward for a particularly challenging quest they’d finish on the first floor of The Tower, rescuing a nobleman's daughter who’d been held captive by bandits. She’d handled well since he got her, balking him only a handful of times over the last few days, but only when he’d tried to force her off the road or into a deep stream. He grimaced as he remembered how cold he’d ended up when his horse had hit a particularly deep spot and been forced to swim. That had been the last time he’d ignored her obstination.

As his mare crested a hill, he could see a large lake in the distance. An image of the mountain was reflected off the calm surface, mist rolled across the lake near the shoreline. The road down the hill led directly to a village on the shore of the lake. Trees nearly completely surrounded the village, Ethan was almost certain that if he wasn’t approaching from this hill he wouldn’t have even known the town existed.

He paused at the top of the hill to check the quest text, he didn’t want to be distracted by reading as his horse navigated the steep switchbacks leading back towards the lake.

Quest - Path of the Battle Shaman

In your decision to pursue the path of the Battle Shaman, you have met with Elder Battle Shaman Grimar Akisson. He has directed you to meet with War Shaman Hertha Korisdottir in the town of Skaro in the region of Frjosaheimr. Elder Grimar has told you only that the town is located far in the north hidden at the edge of a lake by an evergreen forest and in the shadow of a massive mountain. This was the entirety of the information Grimar gave you before you left Startesgarde.

Progress:

Meet with War Shaman Hertha Korisdottir: 0/1

Reward:

Battle Shaman Class unlocked

Unknown

The rest of the ride down to the village was completely uneventful. His horse was sure footed through the switchbacks. Once again, Ethan wasn’t sure if that was just a feature of mounts or if his in particular.

The cedar and pine trees grew thicker and closer together at the base of the hill. Ethan searched for a break in the trees as his mare trotted down the dirt path. It took another twenty minutes of riding before he finally saw a very narrow trail winding through the trees towards the lake.

“I think we found the path.” Ethan smiled as he spoke to his horse. His mare snorted in response.

A cold breeze shook the trees as he wove his way down the worn path, and he wished again he had brought something warmer. A wolf howled in the distance and his horse started trotting faster down the trail.

“Easy girl.” Ethan reached forward and pet her soft neck, but remained alert. He wasn’t especially scared of a pack of wolves, but this wasn’t the Planes of Aranor. If the wolf pack saw him, they’d all attack at once and the chances were higher he’d get overwhelmed.

Ethan scanned the area around the trail as his horse trotted along. So engrossed in looking out for the wolves, he didn’t notice the wooden palisade camouflaged by the cedar trees until he received a system notification alerting him to something happening.

***WARNING*** You are entering into a phased quest area. Until you complete the quest, or abandon the quest, all communication with other players is temporarily disabled. Teleport Runes, or other forms of teleportation, are also disabled. Some in game features, such as Inventory Management, may also be restricted. In addition, all experience gains will be held until the quest is completed or abandoned. At which time any experience earned will be granted. ***

Ethan had been expecting this, all the class quests were completely isolated and immersive. Being locked out of a player’s inventory meant that they only had what was physically on their body, and not being able to level up kept players from grinding on mobs to try to out level the questline and make it trivial. No calling in high level friends for carries. The quest lines usually took at least a week to complete, but sometimes more. It had taken almost two for Leah to finish her Druid subquestline after her last respawn. Since she was playing the same class again, they’d arranged for a two week time frame to meet back up. But until then, Ethan was on his own.

The stockade walls looked to be made from fifteen foot high logs that had been sharpened at the end. Ethan could see that the walls had been erected between trees, some of which served as parts of the walls themselves. Behind them, smoke rose from chimneys on the tops of several houses. He followed the path as it curved around the wooden wall, noticing several sentrys eyeing him from wooden watchtowers as he rode. Ethan nodded at them and continued looking for the entrance.

Before he could find the gate, five very large men and women met him on the trail. They wore a mixture of armor types, predominantly chain mail, but with a good bit of plate as well. Tattoos and paint covered most of their unarmored skin. Every single one of them carried a weapon.

“Hail, traveler!” A large woman with a mostly shaved head greated him when he got close enough. Ethan reined in his horse as she stepped forward. She wore a long chain mail shirt and leather vest. Geometric tattoos of dark blue decorated her muscular arms and a large sword was sheathed on her back. Her dark hair was intricately braided on top and shaved on the sides. She was easily one of the most imposing women Ethan had ever seen.

“What business do you have here?” Her gruff voice and demeanor made it clear that this was not a friendly question, and if she didn’t like his answer there would be problems. A line of black paint across her eyes made her piercing blue eyes even more intimidating.

Feeling the need to make a good first impression Ethan got down off his horse. He was surprised to see that the woman was much taller than he was.

“I’m looking for the village of Skaro,” Ethan spread his arms, hoping he was displaying a peaceful gesture to the party of warriors in front of him.

“You have found Skaro,” the woman responded harshly “But you didn’t answer the question, why are you here?’ She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. Behind her, the rest of the warriors did the same. Some looked expectantly to their leader, waiting for a signal to attack the intruder.

“I was sent here by Elder Shaman Grimar Akisson, he said I should seek out the great War Shaman Hertha Korisdottir.” Ethan took a step forward “I’ve come to learn the ways of the Battle Shaman.”

In his own mind, he felt like he was striking a heroic pose while announcing his divine mission. The laughs of the war party quickly put him in his place.

“HA!” A dark skinned man, larger than the woman who’d greeted him laughed at Ethan. “This whelp thinks the War Shaman will teach him the elemental ways!” His mocking caused the group to laugh harder at him. Only their leader stood silent.

“You wish to learn the path of the elements?” Her serious tone and expression shook Ethan internally, but he did his best to keep his resolve.

“I do.” Ethan wasn’t feeling as brave as he tried to show in his response.

“Then Siv Horisdottir welcomes you to Skaro.” Siv turned and her group split apart, astonishment showing on their faces, providing a path for Ethan to walk through.