I recall the town of Rithwic being fairly popular in the old days. I don't quite remember why, but I think it had to do with its location. Back then, we didn't have portal gems or the town network. We had the subway at Arwic, but it was hard to get to. The starter towns were connected by a circuit of portals, as were the capitals, but that was a pain to navigate. So a lot of travel was by foot, and Rithwic was in a prime location: a quick jog from Eastham, a fairly quick jog from Cragstone, and the closest town to the eternally-besieged Dryreach. It's also pretty well laid out. A bridge across the river connects the east and west sides of the town. West has a single circular road with shops around the outside. On the inside, a town square which has become somewhat cluttered over the years. It's currently home to a portal to Martine's Retreat, one of those big green statues, and some other things.
The east side has a few additional shops, plus a lifestone that may be another reason for the town's popularity. Back in the day, lifestones were at outposts and random spots in the wilderness. Lifestones in town weren't added until later. I believe, however, that this lifestone has always been here, within sight of the town proper, which is very convenient.
The exploration society rep here is a depressed mage named Celcynd the Dour, found drowning his sorrows in the local bar. The name may sound familiar. If you go back to my first Holtburg entry, you'll see that he was the mage who rescued the children when the Holtburg Redoubt was destroyed. There's actually a lot of lore centered around the guy. He was also the first Isparian to master portal magic, and is involved in a quest that gains you a recall spell to the Direlands. (See above on getting around for why this was kind of a big deal in the old days. Although not so much, since most players would rather spam "PORTAL 2 TETH PLZ")
Well, I'm about to get into a little of that lore. The outposts for Rithwic are east and south. The questgiver to the east is a woman named Mindorla, who wants me to deliver a letter to Celcynd.
I do so, and Celcynd reacts with an exclamation of "Oh, Mindorla!" Which is... I dunno, actually. Regretful? Nostalgic? Aggravated? Determining tone from so little text is hard...
Well, anyway, message delivered, and on to the South Outpost. Here, I meet another woman, Brentsella. Instead of an outright request, she rather passive-aggressively tells me that I might find some loot in a dungeon nearby. I head there, and the ensuing dungeon is somewhat unremarkable. Some cluttered warehouse sections with drudges, and then some caves down below. In the caves I find a key which opens a locked chest back in the first room. Inside lies another letter:
The plot thickens. I turn this one in to Celcynd, who is heartbroken. He gives me the ring mentioned in the letter. The proper thing to do seems to be to return it to Brentsella, since it was a gift from her to start with. But then I get to thinking. Brentsella wrote Celcynd this Dear John letter. She and he are through. Mindorla, on the other hand, seems to be wanting to make a love connection of her own. So, I decide to do as Brentsella's letter suggested: take the ring to Mindorla, tell her it's from Celcynd, and hopefully give Celcynd a happy ending for once.
PROTIP: If you're going to give a potential girlfriend a small trinket of sentimental value, first make sure that said trinket is not inscribed with a message from your ex.
Naturally, Mindorla is pissed, and after awkwardly shoving the quest reward into my hands she shoos me out. So, thanks to my bumbling attempts at matchmaking, Celcynd has just been dumped twice in less than an hour. Uhh... sorry, dude.
Anyway! I'm done with the outpost quests, so now it's on to something a little more challenging. The sixth Lost Light Key is in a dungeon nearby, the Rithwic Crypt. Directions purchased from the bartender lead me to a standing stone in the middle of the river, from which I follow a subtler-than-Lytelthorpe trail of stones to the north. The dungeon entrance is in a rather impressive circle of stones:
I expect the usual brown drudges inside, and I'm surprised and a bit startled when I'm almost immediately assailed by a Mire Pynthos Wasp instead.
Reminded that these dungeons are harder than newbie land, I crack my Lugian gems and go to work. The dungeon is tougher than most thus far. The Mire Wasps have War Magic, which makes for some tense fights. There are also Hunter Shreth, which, it being April, are accompanied by shrethlets. Most of them are behind closed doors, fortunately, but a few large packs are not, requiring I sneak past without drawing aggro. I wind up bypassing a few sarcophagi because of this, but you gotta pick your battles.
I make through the first level without dying. Down on the second is a closed door, which from past experience I know is opened by a lever. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the lever is. In the end it turns out not to matter, since I find the key on a Desert Rat in one of the rooms on the lower level. I contemplate looking around for the lever anyway, but thanks to the wasps and shreth my potion stock is running low. So I cut my losses and head back to the surface instead.
I'll have to say that Rithwic was disappointing. The outpost quests are something different in that they're trying to tell a story. I respect that in principle, but in the end the questline boils down to one small dungeon and a lot of courier duty, ending with no resolution to the plot. (There is another ending, gained by giving the ring to Brentsella instead of Mindorla, but it doesn't resolve anything either.) The crypts at least didn't throw more drudges at me, but the shrethlets put me off, and the layout was pretty bland too.
However, I can safely say that I've gotten the hang of Kalixia. By chance, I found the above weapon in the Old Warehouse, and it immediately replaced my old off-hand academy dagger. I'm also beginning to see the advantages of the template. Dagger Mastery combined with Multi-strike and Dirty Fighting yields an impressively large damage potential, plus daggers are light and effective weapons. So, I'm thinking the benefits of this character might ultimately be worth the extra challenge of playing her.
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