Essed

**Essed** was a small wayside village on the "Eastroad" eastward of Fel Sadanis.

## Before the shift

From the city of Fel Sadanis, you could reach the farming village within a day on horseback, when traveling along the Eastroad

Stint and Dust stayed there, on their way to Vestvall. Some leagues eastwards of Essed, the road forks in a Y-way, and the northernmost direction (left) leads to Vestvall.

## After the Shift

During the Shift of 3060, Essed suffered enormously when the entire area became a Ranked zone. When Sells, the Watch Diviner from Fel Sadanis, surveyed Essed, he saw an already destroyed village, but there was hope of finding survivors.

When Ascension arrived at the location two days during their winter march to Vestvall, Essed had already become a lair. After first suspecting and checking for foul play, the company went in with a subjugation party, consisting of Rain, Val, Lyn, Samson, Mlemlek, Carten, Tahir and Jamus.

### Essed Frostbarrows

The Frostbarrows were a Cold-aspect lair of Rank 9. Basically all combat in the lair turned out to be Boss-fights, split into three parts: The first (surface) part had one, the second level had three bosses and the final part held dozens of monsters.

It was a rare lair directly on the surface, and incorporated the dwellings of the previous village, but also adding new buildings, including a wall of the central buildings. The village appeared to be empty, until the adventuring group arrived at the village's mill. Then the trap was sprung, with hundreds of ghosts of the deceased villagers appearing. Their monster types were *Frozen Memory of Essed* with levels between 1 and 3, and they were controlled by a Frostbear Spirit Caller, Level 13.

While still fighting that Frostbear, the lair also harrassed the team with a downpour of hail, which they could only escape by fleeing into the mill which subsequently collapsed. After the death of the Frostbear, a staircase into the lair's underground level appeared in the mill. The Underground level offered three paths, of which only one could be chosen:

* Shield (symbolizing a defender) (--> this turned out to lead to an *Ancient Icemont Turtle* Monster, Level 9)
* Sword (symbolizing a fighter)
* Fire (symbolizig a mage)

Rain decided to stick to the Shield-Symbol three times, and fighting three turtles. The third level of the lair was again accessible through a staircase. It turned out to consist of a freezing-cold corridor (possibly -40°C), which Rain could combat with Immolate. Beyond the icy corridor was an open surface plain again, where a horde of Frost Hounds waited to attack, including the essence monster, which Carten subdued and dragged to the lair entrance.

Beating the captive essence monster awakened Vanna, Tahir, Mereck, Evonna, Lyn, Hanes, Shena and Romer.

Harvesting the Lair's core awakened Fredek, Telen, Corrin, Clubbs, Lago, Ruce and Mollo. The harvested plate turned out to be a skill accolade granting Ice Bolt. Rain, who performed the core destruction, handed the accolade to Tarny who had also been scheduled to get awakened, but couldn't.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 60
2. ↑ Chapter 66
3. ↑ Chapter 114
4. ↑ Chapter 117
5. ↑ Chapters 118 and 119
6. ↑ Chapter 120
7. ↑ Chapter 121
8. ↑ Chapter 123
9. ↑ Chapter 124