Rifter's Defiant Level Guide Chapter IV (16-20)

Welcome to Meridian!

We're going to be making the move from Meridian to Denegars Stand as the last questing zone in freemarch before moving to Stonefield.

You'll be able to work on your professions, gather your last 5 Souls and make Meridian your Home with the Porticulum NPC!

So lets get to it!

Simple Rules

• Spend your Soul points in DPS talents throughout this guide at each level up.
• Ensure you learn your next level talents at your Class Trainer.
• Sell Junk at any Vendor you see.
• Keep an eye out for books and artifacts in buildings or laying on the ground.
• Take all quests in order they are mentioned as some quests wont be available until you hand in a particular quest to unlock it.
• Try to participate in at least 2-3 Rifts or PVP per level to help break up the questing and gain a little extra exp and planarite. If you get involved in an Event, you can quite easily gain a level very quickly doing multiple rifts.
• You will come across quests that aren't included.. this is because they are either class or racial quests. By all means take them and do them. Just look at the guide a few steps forward to see if it takes you there anyways and do the quest with the guide.
• Enjoy the scenery & have fun!

Color Code

•  Quests
•  NPC's
•  Objectives
•  Locations
•  Notes
• < Achievements > (mouse over to view)
  

Meridian

• Leave The Scarred Mire and take the road west. You'll soon see the large city in front of you.. This is Meridian! Head up the path leading toward Meridian. Pass through the Defiants Approach and head to the large tent to the left called the (1) Spirit of Rhazade.

Note: (9) - Just before the path that leads up to Meridian Is a Huge Rock with a Light in front of it. This is where Reed Bellows and his wagon spawn with several yellow NPC's. Check this spot every time you come into Meridian as there is an Achievement < Merchant of Death > to kill him. Attack him only..When you kill him everything else will despawn.

• Talk to Amado Asanu and accept his quest Sylver's Experiments. Also grab your < Race ques > and complete it before continuing with this guide as it unlocks the Storyline Quests.
• Head out of the Spirit of Rhazade and head up the huge stairs and into (2) The Training Yard.
• Head into the (3) Epoch Plaza and head left. You will see the Auctioneer.  A little to the North of you and behind that you will see the entrance to the (4) The Manufactory. When you are at the bottom, you will see a ramp to the left that leads to the College of Plana Studies. Talk to Sylver Valis to turn in Sylver's Experiments and accept The Kings Lady.
• Exit that building into the Epoch Plaza and head over to the (5) Porticulum, its that Large red device.(always grab these when you see them as they will make your travel so much easier) Talk to Sonrisa Pavlis and turn in Making the Connection. Also Bind Your Soul Here.
• Just behind the Porticulum is Sara Martins, talk to her and turn in A Final Request.
• Head  inside the building, (6) Catari Command Center and follow the tunnel down. At the bottom go to the right  and talk to Asha Catari and turn in A Haven for those Defiant, The Kings Lady, <Race Quest> then accept Meridians Promise and Let Him Down Gently.

Meridian: Part 2

• Exit the Catari Command Center, and look for  your class trainer.. you just need to talk to them to complete this step
• Directly behind the Rogue/Mage/Cleric trainers you'll see (7) Enrike Shinuas, talk to him and grab his quest Lost and Found and turn in Companion Gift if you brought the Collectors edition of Rift.. (Note.. always check Enrike everytime you enter Meridian.. this is where you turn in your Completed  Artifact collections to receive a Lucky Coin. You can spend Lucky coins with Enrike to buy companion pets etc.)
• Head to the left of Enrike and turn right to enter the building (8) Orphiels Spire. Go all the way in to the back room. In the middle of this room is a huge machine with electricity like lighting.
• Go to the  machine in the middle of the room, click the up console and go up to the second floor and speak to Scholar Dunbar. After speaking with him grab the artifact behind him. (Note .. run around the room and collect all the books)
• Go down to the 1st floor and speak with Scolar Lelith and then collect the artifact beside him. (Note: You can add these to your collection as Enrike doesn't actually take them from you when you turn in the quest.)
• Talk to Alyete Bathsube and accept Abysal Tome. These pages are scattered through this building.. you may need to run up and down a few times to find them or simply stand in the one spot when you find one and wait for it to re-spawn over and over again until you complete the quest. They have quick re-spawn times. (2nd floor on one of the desks, 4th floor on the ground, Ground floor on the ground on the western corner, take the northern or southern ramp up to find a tome on the eastern corner on the ground)
• Take the elevator to the  the top floor. Talk to the Faceless Man to complete your quest, then accept The Outlaw if you plan to enter the instance Iron Tombs (I'd recommend waiting till your 17+ before going in there). Also accept Something Rotten in Lakeside.
• Make sure you have found all the tome pages before going back to the 1st floor and talking to Alyete Bathsube to turn in the quest Abysal Tome.

Note: Before leaving this building, check all floors for books for your collections. There are 13 books in this building in total.

• Exit the building and turn to the left and speak to Enrike Shinuas and turn in Lost and Found and Enrke's Missing Artifacts. You can read more about Artifacts Here
• Head back to the Northern Entrance behind the Porticulum (Catari Command Center) and go back to Asha Catari and turn in Meridans Promise and accept The Saga of the Endless: On the shores of Freemarch.
• Talk to Rahn Chulumm and accept Forces of the Plane of Death.
• Return to Sylver Valis in the College of Plana Studies (Southern Entrance) and turn in Let Him Down Gently and accept The Means of the Endless.

Optional (highly recommended)

At this time I'd suggest you now start doing all your quests for your souls so you can start working on alternative Roles (Builds).  Unfortunately you can only do one quest at a time and it requires you to seal a rift (Solo or within a group) to obtain a Plane Shard. You'll then need to click this Plane Shard to summon the appropriate Master of that Soul and defeat him. You'll then return to your quest giver to receive your new Soul.

Click here to see how Souls work and how to get them.

Also if you do these quests on Death Rifts you will almost complete Forces of the Plane of Death which requires 8x Death Rifts to be closed.

If you've done these quests, with the exp from the Rifts, you should be close to level 17 by the time we leave Meridian.

Lakeside Outpost

• Leave Meridian and head South along the road until you come to (1) Ziara Altanin. Turn in your quest Something Rotten in Lakeside and accept Lakeside Investigation.
• (2) Head West into Lakeside Outpost and click on the barrel between the 2 buildings on the left to loot a Half Human Hand.
• Run across the road to 2 stalls and talk to Lena Linder.
• (4) For discovery sake.. take the road off to the right and follow it until you discover Vestige. Do not take the 2 quests at the small camp from Ebathis Menel, An Old Flame and Close the Door Behind You  unless you have or can find a group of 3 to help you with it. The quests say 2.. but these are elites and are much tougher than their levels suggest.
• Optional Group Quests: If you do decide to do these quests then kill 3x Flamewrought Horrors, 3x Wanton Blaze and 6x Twisted Aberations on your way to the 2nd building on the right on the second floor.
• Optional Group Quests: Return to Ebathis Menel and turn in An Old Flame and Close the Door Behind You.

NOTE: (3) if your lucky, the Tormented Whisps will be on the opposite side of the road.. you should kill them. They come at you as a group of 4 and must all be killed. These Whisps are part of the achievement < Freemarch Exterminator > in which you only need to kill 4 of these rare spawns.

• (5) Head East to the Docks near the 2 wagons at the top or move around until the quest Lakeside Investigations completes.
• Return to Ziara at the cross roads and turn in Lakeside Investigation, accept Abysal Secret and Eldrich Attack.
• Head back down to the Docks and kill 8x Mystics/Arcanists and collect 4x Eldrich Weaponry.
• Return to Ziara at the cross roads and turn in Abysal Secret, Eldrich Attack and accept Not Lost but Found.
• (6) Head east along the road to the Old Meadow Farm.. kill 10x Abysal Cultists and explore the farm until you get that step is complete. (Go to the back wall of the small building on the left as you face it from the road)
• Return to Ziara at the cross roads and turn in Not Lost but Found and accept Washed Away.
• Head back into Lakeside Oupost to the first house on the left.. use the Transformation Idol on Mayor Jerin and then any other 3x citizens in Lakeside Outpost.
• Return to Ziara at the cross roads and turn in Washed Away and accept I Heard a Storm was Coming.
• (7) Head back down to the Docks but enter the water before reaching them so you don't have to fight everything on the Docks. Swim to the boat on the closest warf. You'll see an Abysal Marker in the water on the floorbed, click on it to complete this step. 
• (8) Then swim directly south into the Lake of Solace to kill Fathomlord Budlopudlul. its a long ways off and you get a 4min swim speed buff. 
• (9) Swim Directly West to the other side of the 'L' in Lake (see your map) to do the puzzle. Click here for more information on how to do the puzzle. This will use up your swim buff but you will get an achievement for doing this..

Trawling Outpost

• (1) Once completed.. swim North East to a fishing shack called Trawling Oupost which is on the beach. Talk to Alys White and turn in I Heard a Storm was Coming and accept Defeating the Son of Solace.
• Talk to Drix Brizzle and accept Unending Waves.
• (2) Run along the beach and kill 3x Living Oceans and use the Band of Tidal Sway in your backpack to trap 6x Living Water (small ones that spawn when 1 large one dies and you can catch 2 at a time).
• (3) Just in the water off the beach.. kill 4x Abysal Keepers and 4x Sentinels.
• Head back to the Trawling Outpost and click on the Hydrotech Vessel to complete the quest.
• Talk to Drix Brizzle and turn in  Unending Waves.
• Talk to Alys White and turn in Defeating the Son of Solace.
• (4) Talk to Porter Chadrick and accept Wayward Package and then head north to the road and east until you see a farm on the left. Directly opposite is a Rock and beside that rock is the corpse of the Wayward Courier.. click it and collect the Wayward Package.
• (5) Head a little further east along the road until you come to Wardens Rise.

Wardens Rise

Optional :(4) Behind this camp between the 2 farms another rare spawn patrols. Gogrol (Large Denihuman) for the achievement < Freemarch Exterminator >

• (1) Talk to Marius Venden and turn in Wayward Package, accept Vender's Request and Burning Down the Hill.
• Talk to Eswen Tawerd and accept No Mercy for the Merciless
• Sell Junk
• (2) Head south and up the Hill killing 12x Endless Cultists and lighting 3x Kerosene Urns under the tents. 
• (3) At the top of the hill under the tent on the right, kill Iriri the Merciless.
• Return to Wardens Rise and speak to Marius Venden and turn in Vender's Request and Burning Down the Hill.
• Talk to Eswen Tawerd and turn in No Mercy for the Merciless, accept Smith's Haven is Burning.
• Head east along the road (Ok, Ok.. be curious like i was.. take the right that leads through the gate and over the Freemarch Crossing into Droughtland  to satisfy your curisoity.. remember this is a level 35+ zone.. so don't look around too much as your only about 17) ;)

Optional :At this wall when facing the bridge, head left up the hill, a small campfire spawns where you'll find Azagamara. Grizzit is also around the path to the bridge for the achievement < Freemarch Exterminator >.

• Head back into freemarch and keep heading north along the road to Denegar's Stand.

Denegar's Stand

• Sell junk and train
• (1) Talk to March Warden Denegar and turn in Smith's Haven is Burning, accept Fire Fight.
• Talk to Philobian Mikkarz and accept Saving That Which is Sacred.
• Talk to Donald Saref and accept Undo.

Note, You need to kill a Nightbringer at some point in this area to obtain an Attunement Shard to keep for when we are about 28.

• Head North into Smith's Haven killing Endless mobs to complete your quests as you complete the following.
• (2) Head to the second building on the right.. in the back behind the bar is a Barrel (Freemarch Imperial stout)  click it to retrieve it.
• (3) Directly west in the center of Smiths Haven there is a burning 2 storey building.. go up to the second floor and click the Painting on the wall.
• (4) Head to the Northern gate and the last House on the right has the Vase upstairs, click it to retrieve it.
• Head back to the South entrance ensuring you complete your other quests killing 12x Depraved Undead and 10x Iron Fortress Undead whilse collecting 6x Endless Null Totems on your way before heading back to Denegar's Stand.
• Talk to March Warden Denegar and turn in  Fire Fight and accept This One is Personal.
• Talk to Philobian Mikkarz and turn in Saving That Which is Sacred.
• Talk to Donald Saref and turn in Undo.
• Talk to Grelyn Sevillen and accept Born to Water.
• Talk to Knight Marshal Tremaine and accept Delivered from Danger.

Denegar's Stand: Part 2

Note, Make sure you have killed a Nightbringer for the Attunement Shard.

• (2) Head back into Smith's Haven  and into the second building on the right again.. kill Sergeant Bikesh.
• (3) Exit the building and head east and go through the archway  to the end of the platform to kill Lieutenant  Ahdrek.
• (4) Come back to the halfway mark on the bridge/platform where the light pole is on the wall of the bridge. Stand on the wall and make sure your in the middle of the water lines.. Then jump off!! This is for the achievement < A Quick Escape >. 
• Follow the shoreline to the south back to Denegar's Stand.
• Head North back into the center of Smith's Haven along the road to the well and clear a path to the northern gate. 
• (5) Take note of where the fires are whilst you do this and kill Fiendlord Vendigo at the gate..
• (6) Then head to the well and click theWaterborn Orb in your backpack and run the water elemental to one of the fires. Repeat this 3 times.
• (7) Take the road to the West and you'll see a cave.. enter it to speak to Ted Powel..  You'll have to Escort a Trapped Citizen out the main gate of Smiths Haven.
• Exit the cave and hug the wall to the right and run to Denagar's Stand to complete the quest... do not let your Trapped Citizen die or you fail.
• At this point you need to be at least level 18 to open more quests here at Denegar's Stand. Do more Rifts or PVP or grind until you are 18.
• Talk to Grelyn Sevillen and turn in Born to Water and accept Uncanny Box.
• Talk to Knight Marshal Tremaine, turn in Delivered from Danger and accept Twenty is a Crowd.
• Talk to March Warden Denegar, turn in This One is Personal and accept Durgin the Keeper.
• Talk to Warden Eban and accept A Miner's Job. (As long as your 18 before we leave Denegar's Stand you can get this later)

Iron Fortress

• Take the road south west and up to Iron Fortress  killing Wardens x8, Beserkers x4 and Guards x8.
• (2) Enter the first tower on your left and work your way to the top. Click on the Uncanny Box.
• Continue back downstairs again killing what you need to complete your quests heading up towards the Fortress Stairs.. but do not go up the stairs.
• (3) Take the path leading to the left all the way to the western tower..
• Work your way to the top and kill Durgin the Keeper. 
• Head back the same way you entered, ensuring you have killed the required mobs for your quests on your way back to Denegars Stand.
• Talk to Grelyn Sevillen and turn in Uncanny Box.
• Talk to Knight Marshal Tremaine and turn in Twenty is a Crowd.
• Talk to March Warden Denegar, turn in Durgin the Keeper and accept The Towers Ablaze.
• Talk to Donald Saref and accept The Death of Freemarch.
• Talk to Philobian Mikkarz and accept Pages of History.

Iron Fortress: Part 2

Note: Ensure you actually stop on the top of the towers to get the achievement < I just came for the View >.

• (2) Head back up to the Fortress Gates.. just inside there is a book with a quest Unholy Alliance, accept it. 
• (3) Head forward into the yard and kill 5x mastiffs as you head left to the smaller west ramp to the tower.(Note ensure you pick up 6x Ancient tombs in your travels.)
• (4) Head up to the top of the West Tower, click the Alter of the Walking Dead.
• (5) Head back down to the mid level and take the southern route to the Southwest Tower. Go all the way to the top.
• (2) Head back down to the mid level and then east to the Entrance Tower.
• Head to the top of the Entrance Tower and click the Alter of Despoiled. 
• (6) Head down the tower and  east to the South East Tower and go to the top.
• (7) Then return to the mid level and head North to the East.Tower.
• In the East Tower, head to the top and click on the Alter of Sacrifice 
• (8) Return to the mid level and head North around to the Keep East Tower.
• Go to the top and kill the mobs up there.. make sure you're actually walking on the top of these towers.
• (10) Head back down and to the West to the Keep Entrance Tower but do not go up to the top of this tower yet. Head down the ramp and click on the Brazier of Torment then kill Legil.
• (9) Head back up to the mid level and then west to the Keep West Tower.
• Head up to the top, then back down and back to the Keep Entrance Tower and run up to the top. Click on Jakub's Alter.
• Turn in The Tower Ablaze and accept King for a Day.
• (10) Head back down to the mid level and out the northern door to the North Tower. Head to the top and as long as you actually stepped onto the top of the towers, you should have received the achievement :
• < I just came for the View >.
• Whilst at the top of this tower.. use the March Edge in your backpack in front of the Idol of Regulos to summon Jakuv the iron tyrant.
• Jump through the portal that spawns (Purple round circle on the ground) and kill him quickly as he has 3 mobs spawn over the course of the fight.
• Head back through the portal and back down the tower.

Note: If you have completed all of your quests in the Iron Fortress.. then simply jump of the bottom level of the North tower and find your way down the cliff to the south without having to fight anything. Otherwise Head back into the yard of the Iron Fortress and kill what you need as you head out hte main gate (the way you came in.

Note2: There is a body in the North Eastern corner of the yard, this is for the saga questline that you should have.. however he is guarded by a 20 elite, and as i found out.. 2 shot me at level 21. If you have atleast 5 players in your group then go ahead and kill the elite and click the body otherwise leave it till later in the next guide.

• Head back to Denegars Stand and talk to Donald Saref and turn in The Death of Freemarch.
• Talk to Philobian Mikkarz and turn in Pages of History and Unholy Alliance.
• Talk to March Warden Denegar and turn in King for a Day and accept A Debt of Gratitude.
• Talk to Philobian Mikkarz and accept Assistance for Granite Falls.
• Talk to Knight Marchal Tremane then head back in the tent to talk to March Warden Denegar and turn in A Debt of Gratitude.
• Run through the passage to Nights Stand and port back to Meridian.
• Go to the Catari Command Centre and talk to Fahn Chuluun and turn in Forces of the Plane of Death (You have been closing Death rifts x8 right? If not don't panic.. just turn it in next time your in Meridian.. at this stage there is no follow up.)

If you followed the guide so far then you will have received the following achievements:

• < No More Kings >
• < Freemarch Warden >
• < The Long March >

Congrats! We'll be heading into Stonefield for the next Guide!