Coldain Ring Quests

The coldain ring quests are 10 quests bundled into one long quest, each of them awarding a gradually stronger coldain insignia ring. It is the melee-equivalent of the coldain shawl quests.

This is in no way supposed to be the ultimate guide to solo-questing the coldain rings or anything like that, merely a description of my experience with the quests so far - me being a warrior without any fancy spells or abilities.

The main quest NPC of the first quests is a coldain by the name of Garadain Glacierbane. He can be found in Eastern Wastes in the coldain camp northeast of Ry'Gorr fort (-2700, 300).

Ring 1 - Garadains Blanket

Team up with a tracker (preferable a druid for the better heals, but a ranger will do if you are able to solo the mobs) and track and kill Kodiaks and Snow Cougars in Eastern Wastes. You are looking for 2 High Quality Kodiak Pelts and 2 High Quality Cougar Pelts. Expect to spend several hours on this, as the pelts are semi-rare.

While hunting for the pelts you could consider also killing Walrusses and Wooly Rhinos, as you need a High Quality Walrus Hide and a Wooly Rhino Horn for ring 3. Also if you happen to see some black and red dots on the ground, pick them up, as they might be A Skinning Rock (no drop) which is also needed for the third ring.

When you have the pelts, combine them in a tailoring kit or a loom (trivials at 41) and hand the resulting blanket to Garadain. Alternatively you can simply hand the 4 pelts to a skilled tailor and have him make the blanket and multiquesting ring 2 with you.

Ring 2 - Garadain's Axe

Talk to Garadain and tell him "what assistance". You will get A Dull Axe, which you are to give to Boridain Glacierbane who can be found at -2400, 1500 in Eastern Wastes. Boridain will then start walking around Eastern Wastes. Your task is to make certain that he does not get killed and that his prey, A Rabid Kodiak, is killed in the end. Boridain first heads to the Giant Fort at -2000, 3000, then to the Prison at 0,0 , on to Orc Fort at -3500, 500 and returns to his spawnpoint.

We did this by having one person clear the 2-3 giants at entrance to giant fort and train them to the nearby zoneline to Great Divide a little while after Boridain started heading towards the fort. We then followed him to the prison, where you need to either kite away or kill an orc and a giant.

When Boridain starts heading towards Ry'Gorr fort, it is a good idea to warn people at the fort that a coldain is approaching, as some giant lovers might want to move out of the way first. You should also make certain that the entrance to Ry'Gorr Fort is cleared, as Boridain walks almost all the way inside the fort. Usually people are hunting at the fort, so this should be no problem.

When Boridain returns to his starting point, A Rabid Kodiak (around level 40) will appear and charge him. Intercept and kill the Kodiak, loot the pelt of him and hand it to Boridain. In return you get A Broken Axe, which you are to return to Garadain together with the first ring (this is where the multiquesting tailor from Ring 1 enters the stage) to receive the second ring.

During his walk around the zone, Boridain will be aggroed by wandering mobs. If you have a druid or a ranger around you can simply harmony both the dwarf and the wandering mob, or if you have the firepower simply kill everything that comes close.

Ring 3 - Garadains Knife

You need to make a knife for Garadain. Ally with a tracker and hunt Walrusses and Wooly Rhinos until you have a High Quality Walrus Hide and a Wooly Rhino horn. You also need to find A Skinning Rock which is a random ground spawn, looking like a big black and red dot. Combine these items in a forge (trivial at 65) to get the knife, which you hand to Garadain along with your 2nd ring.

If your blacksmithing is not high enough to make the knife, it may be an idea to get a skilled blacksmith to tag along on your hunt and have him pick up the Skinning Rock, as the rock is no drop. The knife is not no drop though, so he can just give it to you when it is done.

Ring 4 - Garadains Smithed Knife

A short distance west of the dragon bridge (bridge from Eastern Wastes to Iceclad) you can find a dwarf cleric called Tain Hammerfrost (at -4900, -2600). When you say "I will help" to him, 4 giants will come running over the hill east of Tain and charge the poor dwarf. The 4 giants consist of one named giant, Commander Ghrek, and 3 A Frost Giant. The named one drops a Frost Elixir, which is what you need. Hand the elixir to Tain to receive a Coldain Smithing Hammer, which you give to Garadain along with your old ring.

The toughest part about this fight is that the giants come running in one big pile, they move at near J-Boots speed and are unmezzable (as giants are). The trick to do the fight is to seperate the named giant from his friends. The most common way to do this is to have somebody get aggro from the 3 frost giants and kite them away to a zone or to a coldain camp. You can also fear the others, charm them or whatever else fits with the group composition.

If you want to take the giants head to head I suggest at least 2 tough groups there, with several tank-mezzers.

If Tain dies during the fight, simply wait untill he repops (I have heard his spawntime to be anywhere from 2 to 12 hours). The restart the quest by saying 'I will help' and hand him the elixir before the giants reach him.

Ring 5 - Garadains Intercept Quest

The biggest problem in this quest is getting the Ry'Gorr Invasion Plans which are dropped of Ry'Gorr Messenger. The messenger is a rare spawn that apparently spawn in the prison area in the north part of the zone. After spawning he heads straight to the chief inside the Ry'Gorr fort. Most of the time he is killed by hunters there or people spotting him enroute. The plans are tradable so you might be able to buy it from fort hunters.

In the camp with Garadain (-2700, 300) you can also find A Coldain Lookout. Give the invasion plans to him/her. This will spawn Scarbrow Ga'Hruk and about 8 other orcs (Warriors and Oracles). They will all spawn a short distance west of the camp, where they will stay immobilized for a short while before charging the coldain camp.

In that short time before they attack, have a high level player pull Scarbrow Ga'Hruk. We pulled him with a level 54 and only had one oracle follow him. Remember to place your force well away from the orcs and coldains as to not get caught up in their ensuing battle. The coldain camp will be wiped out by the orcs and you might have to remove the remains of the orc force.

Loot Scarbrow's Head (no drop) off Scarbrow. Loot it and hand it along with your old ring to Garadain, who will repop approximatly 15 minutes after the camp has been wiped out. Voila, ring 5 is yours.

Ring 6 - Garadains Proof

In the southern part of Eastern Wastes (around loc -8000, 3000) is a coldain camp, where a coldain ghost named Korrigain spawns at midnight every night (EQ time). Give him your Obsidian Coldain Insignia Ring - don't worry, you will get it back immediatly. NOTE: Make sure you have an inventory slot free, or you will lose the ring!. His trusty wolf, Icefang, will start running towards the Ry'Gorr camp north of the dragon bridge, make sure he gets there. If he dies enroute you need to wait untill next midnight to restart the quest.

When Icefang arrives at the Ry'Gorr camp 3-4 oracles and Poxbreath Yellowfang will have spawned in the camp, and they will attack Icefang. Stand back and watch the poor wolf be slaughtered, then gradually move closer to the group of orcs until one of them aggros on you - this will get you Poxbreath and a minimum of others, if you are 50+. Pull the aggroing orcs a safe distance away (ie near zoneline to Iceclad if you want some security) and dispose of them. A balanced group 50+ should have no problem with this, but you might consider cleaning the Ry'Gorr before talking to Korrigain. When Poxbreath is dead loot the Note From Kromrif and head to the Ry'Gorr fort.

At the Ry'Gorr fort you want to find and kill the Coldain traitor, Rodrik Tardok. He spawns inside the one-way exit from Crystal Caverns, located just outside the Ry'Gorr fort, short time after a Ry'Gorr Emissary reaches the exit. If people are camping the orcs, you may want to ask them to let the emissary go if they see him - he does not drop anything and Rodrick will only spawn if the emissary is alive.

After a short, scripted sequence the emissary leaves Rodrick to himself. Kill him and loot Dirk of the Traitor, which you need to get the 6th ring. If you also plan on getting the 9th ring, you should loot Rodricks Head also.

Head back to good, old Garadain and hand him your Obsidian Coldain Insignia Ring, Dirk of the Traitor, and Note from Kromrif to get the 6th ring, Mithril Coldain Insignia Ring.