Freemarch and Stonefield for Defiants (Rift)  

Let's face it – becoming an Ascended is a shock. Last you remember, you were face-to-face with an elemental nasty that was bringing a broadsword down on your face and then, POOF! Asha Catari is telling you, much like Princess Leia, to help the Defiants, you're their only hope. What? You just came back from the dead and now you need to save Telara!? It's a tough job, but there's more to see than just dungeons, rifts and quests. My Defiant Rogue is now level 30 and has mastered almost everything Freemarch and Stonefield have to throw at me. Think you hit it all? I doubt it — but read on to find out.

Freemarch

Once a new player exits the tutorial zone of a future much like what Mayan worshippers envision, he or she will find himself or herself in Freemarch. This land (much as the name implies) has historically been free. Ever since Jakub, the last tyrant king, was overthrown, Freemarch has been under the lead of elected March Wardens who rule through democracy in the form of regency. Of course with the weakening of the ward the entire area is threatened by both Death and Water rifts, the evil Alsbeth raising the dead king Jakub and with the problem of Lakeside becoming something out of Lovecraft's nightmares. The quests will take you through much of the story in the zone, but just following the quests will make a new Defiant miss out on a lot of fun!

First, in every zone in Rift there is a puzzle that can be solved for an achievement and a prize that scales with your level. In Freemarch this puzzle is actually found out in the Lake of Solace, around coordinates (5985, 6130). It's basically a game of whack-a-mole — players need to light up all the stones that flicker in and out of existence in a circle at the bottom of the lake. While a potion to breathe under water is recommended, I easily completed the puzzle and returned to the surface without running out of air. Even better, I received an epic chest piece for a prize (which I used for almost 10 levels without finding a replacement!).

Sleeping With the Fishes is not the only goodie in the Lake of Solace; there are several other terrain objects that hold Wet Sacks. These sacks contain some gold and a scaling item of random quality. Out of six that I personally picked up, four contained greens and two contained blues; the maximum level seems to be 30, so the player can choose when to hunt for these items. I found items at the following coordinates:

1. A discarded strongbox at (5707, 5677)
2. A forgotten casket at (5508, 6002) Beware the very high level enemies that roam this area.
3. A plundered safe at (5617, 6201)
4. A lost soul at (5933, 6201) This one was pretty deep, so watch your breath.
5. An old chest at (6492, 6417) Beware the Deep Terror invasion mob lvl 50 can spawn in the area!
6. Sunken cargo at (6763, 5975) By Rock formation

Beside puzzles and loot, exploration is useful for both artifacts and abominations. Artifacts are also known as collections and commonly known as "oh, those bright flickering lights all over the place." According to our database there are 20 collections in Freemarch alone. Some of these, such as the Fish of Solace or the Kelari Idols, only contain three items and are rather easily completed. Others, such as the Relics of Freemarch or Keys of the Iron Fortress, contain five or six different items, including those of rare quality (blue).

As far as I can tell, finding a rare artifact is based solely on luck. I think any artifact can be found in specific sections of a zone (based on level range). For example, I found the Fish of Solace outside Meridian and near Lakeside; the Keys of the Iron Fortress, not surprisingly, were in the Iron Fortress itself and also on the road running south of it. Some near-guaranteed places to look – the flower boxes in Lakeside, around the houses between there and Smith's Haven, and in the Iron Fortress's ramparts.

Abominations are rare enemies with guaranteed uncommon (green) quality loot. I have only found one, and man is it annoying me, because I know of several others that never seem to be up when I look. The enemies have more HP and usually some gimmicks (stronger attacks, or a stun or a companion), but they are well worth killing if found.

Personally I've discovered Gizzit right near the southern bridge to Shimmersand, munching on a corpse. Azagamara spawns on a hill near (7150, 5765), but I've only seen his campfire, not the enemy himself. Augustor spawns around the stealthed Endless court enemies north of Meridian, but will almost always be killed quickly due to high foot traffic through the area on the way to Iron Tombs. The same can be said of the Tormented Wisp that spawns outside the graveyard at Lakeside and Gogrol, a troll that spawns just north of Warden's Rise. Slightly more out of the way are the Sea Scuttler and Crepit Pokeit, both found on the beach of Fortune's End. Keep an eye peeled for these enemies and take them down if possible!

Finally there are several fun achievements in Freemarch. Beside the ones mentioned for the puzzle, quests and rare hunts, an easy one to accomplish is jumping off the bridge in Smith's Haven without taking damage. Another involves killing a neutral merchant outside the gates of Meridian. The merchant, Reed Bellows, spawns randomly and has a broken down wagon. If you attack the people around him he becomes friendly – if you attack the merchant himself, they disappear and you receive the title and achievement Merchant of Death. Finally, there is a fun (or sadistic) achievement for killing squirrels and acquiring their tears. Looting 20 of these artifacts gives you the Heartless title. Note that you need to loot them, you can't just buy 20.

Stonefield

Stonefield has many similar features. The puzzle, Spinning Plates, is incredibly easy. Once I located it at (4575, 5974), I just needed to activate the telescopes in a specific order then throw the middle lever. Looking at the telescopes from the lever, the sequence is 5, 2, 1, 4, 3.

Directly behind this puzzle and up the mountain is the first of Stonefield's sunken treasures, called "Ancient Cairns" at (4662, 5007). Those interested in achievements can continue up this mountain — at (4903, 4734) there is a group of squirrels dancing, and using the /dance command grants an achievement and the title Dancing with Squirrels. Around the same area (the rocky part a bit south) the player will automatically get the Mountain Climber achievement and, by lining up on the cliff at (4840, 4940), a player can jump into the pools near Granite Falls for the Plop! achievement. In the southern mountain range there are two other ancient cairns. However, only got one of these from Stonefield itself, located at (5900, 5030); the other I approached from outside of Meridian, climbing up along the mountain side to the southwest of the gates (right next to the Guardian wardstone that usually appears). This cairn was located at (5325, 5365).

Completing the achievement for quests in this zone was very difficult for me. I managed to get to 83/87 quests through the chains and then I was stuck. The remaining quests were found in several places – first, there is an escort quest called Taking the Trog for a Walk from Goorn, who spawns near Titan's Well. In the well there is an enemy that drops an item to start a quest (and there is an achievement for diving to the bottom of the Well). Another easy to miss quest is an escort quest in Far Mine Loop called Don't Touch My Grengrug.

Finally, I took about half an hour to climb the scaffolding at (5250, 5205) and pick up the Lucky Pick to get my final quest completion. Deciding that the 10 rare kills would simply take too long, I resigned from the achievement hunt after killing 50 Giants and stealing some miners' loot (which awarded me with the title "the Red Handed"). With those accomplishments under my belt, I bid farewell to the people of Stonefield and moved out of what I consider the Defiant newbie areas and into the PvP-filled zone of Scarlet Gorge.

These side items should not take away from the meat of the zone that a new player will discover. Rifts, invasion events, dungeons and quests all take up the vast majority of the zone — these other things I've listed are simply perks for the completionist for the explorer. However, I believe it speaks volumes that Trion put in all of these items to find. The secret treasure, for example, caters directly to an explorer's nature. I climbed the mountains behind Granite Falls just because I could, and was shocked and excited to find all the achievements located up there. Anyone new to the Defiants is encouraged to get out there and look around the world Trion has set up. As for me, I'm off to Scarlet Gorge for now – see you in Telara!

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