So as many of you are know I sped through Wintertusk on my main wizard Alric Ravensinger (By sped I mean finished quickly -- sort of took roughly 6-7 1/2 hours). Now as a few might know I also have a Pyromancer named Alexander Ghostflame who two mornings ago was Lv 49 and in the Crucible area of Dragonspyre. Yesterday morning however he was officially Lv 58 and completed with Wintertusk. That's right I finished up Grizzleheim long time ago and pretty much power leveled Alexander just on Wintertusk quests. I wasn't alone however I did have help from the awesome Paige MoonShade and in spirit Alura Hexcaster as I used her pyromancer Jordan to help me out.
Many saved citizens and revived Thanes later Alexander had finished up Wintertusk hit Level 58 obtained his Efreet spell and his Phoenix pet all the while having yet to face that villain Malistaire or even step foot in Celestia -- yeah Wintertusk gives THAT MUCH experience. Here are some screenshots from the Efreet summon and obtaining of the Phoenix pet as well as a second run of Nastrond I did with Alura Hexcaster now that's a big dragon! Enjoy!
Finally I would like to share with all you readers two things first Alexander's new look I know he looks pretty snazzy if not like a bunch of other legendary pyromancers (That's a joke! ;)) and second a glimpse at a secret new housing project I am working on code named: "Wintertusk" hopefully sometime soon I can unveil it or have someone showcase it *cough* Paige *cough* who by the way still has yet to *cough* showcase my CL Obvs *cough* ;) that's all for now everyone oh yeah did I mention I am up to nearly 50 Waterworks runs man I love that instance!
Until next time your friend and housing guru,
Alric Ravensinger
Hey folks I know it's been awhile since I have posted honestly I been on the under realm (Wiz substitute for underground) test realm that is training for Petnome Project. Then it happened Wintertusk went into the live realm and guess who was up at 2:34 AM in the morning? that's correct me! It was strictly a solo run for me except for a few fights and as mentioned by The Friendly Necromancer I finished Wintertusk that morning at 10:11 AM PDT.
That wasn't however the bulk of it all I also have been running a "Waterworks Marathon" of sorts over the last day or so. First off I wanna give a big thanks to Katherine Lightwalker for showing me how to maximize potential hits and cut the time taken to do the dungeon by 75% (Our runs lasted between 1 hour and 9 min to 1 hour and 15 min.). To date I've ran the Waterworks around 18-19 times some of it is even detailed in videos made by my good friend Kevin Battleblood.
(First boss fight against Luska Charmbeak)
(Final Boss fight against Sylster and the gang)
Both detail live the best way to go about defeating the bosses commentary mostly by me and Kevin honestly though it was just a friend run. The spoils of my new kinship with the Waterworks has yielded me impressive statistics on my main wizard; Alric Ravensinger check em out!
This is Alric with full Lv 60 gear equipped and his crafted ring and athame along with his superb Nightwalker Lady Gracie equipped. Here are some more spoils from the Waterworks nearly 26 (Counting today's run) MEGA snacks which I have been putting to good use. (This page is only Rank 8 snacks and not even rank 9)
Another notable drop from the Waterworks are Balance Mastery Amulet (Which Alric can't use -.-) and 2 pieces of the Baconator outfit.
Finally I cannot forget Alric has felt the winds of change and so ditch his old threads for something more....sophisticated. Let's not forget about Lady Chelsea as well she is my new Judgement pet I adore her so.
Hello wizards today's lesson with be on a Nidhoggr or Nithogg as it's sometimes called which is a giant dragon (sometimes a serpent or both) which dwells in Nastrond gnawing at the roots of Yggdrasil.
Now in Wintertusk Nordri (whom with his kin I consider vikings or perhaps Jotunn [giants]) task the player with retrieving a tooth from Nithogg who gnaws at the roots of the great tree Grandmother Raven resides on.
It's peculiar that they decided to use this tree as the the one Nithogg gnaws on cause as the legend goes it was Yggdrasil Nithogg gnawed at which would mean Nithogg below here should be gnawing at Bartleby's roots beneath Ravenwood.
There is a connection to be made though from this pairing it involves 3 parties (technically 4) Nithogg, Ratatoskr, and Vethrfolnir.
Ratatoskr was a squirrel which ran down the length of Yggdrasil carrying gossip to Vethrfolnir and a great eagle from Nithogg and back down to Nithogg my theory on the squirrel is it's tied to Nithogg. In all various cultures and mythologies fights and feuds rise usually at the implication of a person who wishes to see both parties fight for some cause. A perfect example of this is in Wizard101 Kol Shadowsong and The Coven in general used trickery and manipulation to pit the bear clans against the wolf clans. Usually this person will also lie, break promises, and even commit murder to see that their goals are achieved. (This is just a theory in general as such creature doesn't appear in the game)
Nithogg who gnaws at Yggdrasil also lives in Nastrond a place of corpses, snakes, and poisonous rivers. Nastrond itself means Dead Shore Nithogg is said to reside here were he gnaws at one of the 3 roots but Nithogg also has another purpose he also devours the souls of murderers and Oath breakers. Now if you've read my theory on Ratatoskr you'll start to see the connection here. Ratatoskr is just the type of creature that Nithogg would devour. As in all cultures Murderers and Oath breakers are always promised the worse punishment also consider this Nastrond is located in or close to Helheim. Which is the Norse equivalent of the underworld
Vethrfolnir was a hawk that sat between the eyes of a great nameless eagle who sat you guessed it atop Yggdrasil now while it quarreled with Nithogg (Mostly due to Ratatoskr's gossip) the great eagle was knowledgeable and knew many things. Theories say that this was a reference to Huginn and Muninn who were Odin's ravens who traveled the world gathering all news to Odin. Vethrfolnir is said to play a similar role delivering the world's news to the great eagle. Although Ravens aren't in this legend (other than reference; symbolism) I think it's safe to say the parallels between the knowledge of the great eagle and Grandmother Raven are quite apparent. Even the Raven race in Wizard101 is one of mysticism and cunning which Grandmother Raven is a part of.
I think KI is getting more and more inventive with what they put in game and although this is all speculation it's so exciting to try and decipher it even though it's from my own interpretations of the mythology. I advocate all you wizards do the same as there are many secrets to discover. So far Wintertusk is my favorite update and although quest experience was low Grizzleheim was always one of my favorite worlds to play in. Certainly KI has upped their game and rekindled my interest in Norse mythology bravo KI bravo! Any thoughts and comments are appreciated I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Ok wizards for a few of you that like to be spoiled I will divulge in the story of Wintertusk for those of you that don't like spoilers you read at your own risk beyond this point.
So Wintertusk begins where Grizzleheim left off here is a recap of Grizzleheim you basically go to GH to reforge it's relationship to the Spiral while there you learn of problems within the various clans of Grizzleheim. You are sent on a quest to become a hero worthy of speaking to the king performing various feats to prove yourself. Such as helping the folks of Ander's Holt against the Red Claws clearing Sarvastaad Pass of the wretched Gendels and reforming the relationships between the Bear and Wolf clans. As time goes on you slowly uncover a plot set out by the Ravens in particular The Coven to set the clans against each other. They do this to obtain the other clans rune stones for a ritual. That ritual will bring about the destruction of Grizzleheim it is known as the Everwinter forever freezing Grizzleheim. Eventually you head into Raven territory as you venture into Ravenscar you eventually thwart their plans to bring Grizzleheim to it's knees in an endless winter The Coven for now are defeated.
----------Spoiler Alert--------Do not read if you don't wanna know Wintertusk's plot line-------------------
Once again you are called to help in an isolated part of Grizzleheim as The Coven is back for more. Once there you find yourself looking at some of Wintertusk's frozen inhabitants as The Coven wreak havoc. You soon find out that your greatest ally -- Bartleby's sister Grandmother Raven is trapped by The Coven you soon with her guidance find a way to release her so that she can take her true form as a giant raven. You soon discover from Granny Raven that The Coven are still pursuing their goal of putting all of Grizzleheim in a endless winter and this time will do so by waking up the Ice Titan Ymir who slumbers in the bowels of Nastrond.
Granny Raven then sends you on a quest to retrieve 4 Golden Seals from Ymir's sons with these seals the player will be able to undo The Covens magic and prevent Ymir from being awakened. You then venture to each son's realm performing various tasks to earn each seal once you have all 4 you must then return to Granny Raven. Now is the time to stop The Coven once and for all you then head into Nastrond a network of caves beneath Granny Raven's tree in Hrundle Fjord to confront The Coven. You fight your way through 6 bosses (2 separate and 4 as a group) once this is done you gain access to the final chamber. In here leader and only member of The Coven present Kol Shadowsong is about to reawaken Ymir. As you try to stop him he sets against you Ymir's sons and you must defeat them once you do you use the golden seals to keep Ymir asleep with the Titan slumbering and The Coven's magic undone they are truly defeated and you once again save all of Grizzleheim from an eternal winter.
This is the basic story of course there are many side stories and quests to figure out but for those curious I wanted to give you the plot of both Grizzleheim and Wintertusk. Hope you enjoy!
Today my awesome readers we take a look at the brothers of the macabre underground city of Nidavellir which is in the Norse inspired world of Grizzleheim.
Let's start with the most well known of the "Giant Trio" and most important in my opinion Jotun! Jotun as you know is the leader of the trio and most consider the Lord of Nidavellir. Jotun as we see him is characterized by his grotesque appearance like his brothers hulking, pointy noses, with spike like protrusions on their back and, carrying large bones. Many similarities can be found from the giants of Norse Mythology which Jotun and his brothers I believe are derived from.
The only thing I believe is truly out of place is the nose why add it? then again it might be just there to attribute to their overall ugly appearance.It might just be my own interpretation but I often see pointy noses like that being attributed to tricksters or malevolent joke type creatures/gods but this is merely speculation. Now we turn to his name Jotun which in fact comes from Jotunn or Jotnar the ancient race of giants in Norse Mythology which throughout time plagued both the gods of Asgard and humans of Midgard being directly involved in the events of Ragnarok or Norse Apocalypse. The name jotun has many meanings however all seem to allude to the size of the giants or the fact they were known as Man-eaters.
Now let's take a ride off the creatures and into the location -Nidavellir. This confused me greatly the Jotunn (Giants) which they are inspired from home world was Jotunheim (Literally meaning Gian Land or Home of the Giants) which was said to be heavily mountainous and forested this natural environment also separated their land from the human world of Midgard. Here is the odd part Nidavellir is the home of the Norse Dwarves and it means "Dark Fields". There is some connections though Norse dwarves were often associated with Deadliness and their lands name was also connected death. Now the Jotun we see in the game are rulers of a Dead City that's underground. Now also interestingly enough the Jotunn in Norse Mythology were often intermingled with other races even the gods whom they were often seen as enemies with. So although it's a stretch it's nice to think hey what if the designers of W101 saw this and intermingled various mythos from each race into the creatures we fight beneath the earth in the game cool right?
Also consider Grizzleheim which is characterized by it's large icy mountains and forests see the connection? Maybe sometime in the past Grizzleheim was ruled by Jotun and his brothers or their ancestors. Nidavellir also seems to have an cold climate about it that can also allude to that in the mythology when the world was in chaos a Giant was born named Ymir (Ice wizards should be familiar with that name Lvl 48 spell quest hint hint) who from his armpits and feet (Eww gross!) birth 3 Jotunn children. Who in turn created creatures who dwelt in Niflheimr which surprise! was a land of mist and ice and would later become Hel or the Underworld for people who did not die a heroic death or in battle.
Now for the other two brothers they seem to be based on the giants as well in particular the story I just mentioned where Ymir created 3 Children however one of these children was a monster with six heads I don't think KI wanted to add a crazy monster born from feet with six heads ;) we initially were already startled by their immense health hehehe. This is what I could find from various books I've read and of course the internet it's so fun to find out what stuff we see in games (and in books for those who still read) are derived or inspired from. I implore you readers to go forward and research there is no telling what interesting things you'll discover.
