{"id":1856,"date":"2026-10-10T13:52:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2026-10-15T15:08:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:08:46","slug":"rift-10-10-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/rift-10-10-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Rift 10-10-2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another trip to the Rift. Supplies packed, Bloodwalt on the lead, the captain aboard "tr" – anchors aweigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s route: from The Fortress in the northeast, through the tunnel under Maes Knoll, south across the big lake, all the way to the Rift (red marker at the bottom of the map).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mapa<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leaving The Fortress. The fortress on the cliff looks its best at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sail up, lantern filled to the brim, off we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dark water, stars and mountains on the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The entrance to the tunnel under Maes Knoll – a guard tower watches the mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the other side of the tunnel two statues greet me. Inside I passed a lava spider and a bear, but nobody was in the mood for a chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the big lake. The red pillar of the Rift is already visible in the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Light rain, fog and silence. I repaired my armour along the way – it will come in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A stone bridge over the lake, and the Rift pillar getting closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunrise over the lake. Fog still hangs over the mountains and the water is smooth as a mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anchor down, boat moored at a paved quay. From here on it’s overland – I just need to find the way. The bridge in the forest looks promising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the shore I switch to Bloodwalt and gather spare horses – a young and an older grey go on the lead. Every horse counts at the Rift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Taking a shortcut through the forest to make it in time. A huge spider fell on the way, the troll and the bear we pass by. Sunflowers and poppies in a clearing – a moment for a photo and on we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We’re here. Stone colossi guard the entrance, stumps of a cleared forest all around, and below a camp full of tents and wagons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another colossus with outstretched claws, and next to it the red pillar of the Rift – this time within arm’s reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No time left for a safe house – a tent will do. I pitch it in the woods next to the camp and leave the spare baggage in it: cotton, nails and the rest of the odds and ends. I ride into battle travelling light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A glance up – the Rift beam cuts across the sky right through the sun. Up close you can see it’s a whole sheaf of rays, not a single pillar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The last players are arriving – on horseback and in ox-drawn wagons. A dragon banner flies over the pen, and the colossi wait with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The view from behind: red armour freshly repaired, a huge axe on the shoulder and pumpkins on the pauldrons, because autumn demands it. Bloodwalt stands calmly, a neighbour adjusts his saddlebags, and ahead of us the red pillar drives into the ground between the colossi. One more moment of calm before the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the pen next to the camp, hell horses – black, horned, with lava cracking under their skin and burning eyes. Next to them an ordinary grey looks remarkably modest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A group photo before the start. The whole crew in the saddle, lined up on the meadow below the camp – still all present and in clean armour. We’re about to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It has begun! Rift beasts pour out one after another, the ground beneath us turns white, and a Fungus Trap flies into the crowd of riders. The first champion falls within seconds, I target a venerable rift beast. Someone shouts \u201eFOR XAN!\u201d in chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fight in full swing. Jackals with curved sabres and armoured wolves all around, and we’re in the middle of the cauldron. Magranon blesses the field with mass stamina, Fo heals wounds, and the beasts fall one after another. Next target: a rift jackal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I took quite a beating. The jackals decided it had to be me – over forty hits in a few minutes, in the back, the chest, the arms. The world turned red, so I retreated to the tent to bandage up. Good thing I left the cotton here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patched up, I head back into the thick of it. A huge rift beast in scale armour towers over the crowd, a horned silhouette looms in the red pillar, and a pale moon hangs in the sky. More champions fall – a beast and a jackal – and Magranon tops up our stamina again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charming fellows. A jackal in scale armour peeks at me over the fence, behind it a field strewn with corpses, and more are coming from the pillar with clubs. Everything is red again – I barely escaped with my life. On the bright side, a champion rift beast corpse lands in my backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another wave, this time with magic – rift casters and summoners with clubs, and the sky has turned greenish. Glowing mushrooms from the Fungus Trap sprout everywhere, the fallen lie underfoot. Axe up, I target a summoner, while Magranon and Fo keep us alive once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heavy fighting. The sky is running with blood, the ground is strewn with the bodies of beasts and jackals, blue spells burst along the fence, and more come out from behind the colossus with weapons raised. Red before my eyes again – the bandages go on one after another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another charming fellow, this time solo and up close. A rift summoner in purple scales, club raised over his head, red eyes glowing. Night is falling, blue spells still shine behind him. He looks as if he had picked me as his target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This time an ogre. Huge, grinning, club across his neck and a purple loincloth – he looks down as if wondering which end to start me from. Ogre mages mill around nearby, and the first rift ogre is already down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three charming fellows at once. Ogres with cleavers raised walk straight into the crowd of riders, in the night rain, right under the colossus and the red pillar. The one in the middle is already marked – let’s get to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Serious wounds. The ogres hit exceptionally hard – thigh, calf, chest, belly – and the rift warmaster adds a \u201edeadly hard\u201d to my leg. The whole world covered in blood. The gods still try to save the day: Magranon gives Frantic Charge, Vynora Excel, Fo Willow Spine. I pull back under the trees while my legs still carry me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now the warmaster – from the rear, because that’s the angle you see him best from. A huge jackal in gilded scales, a sickle in his paw, blocking out the whole sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the axe does its job: I hit him \u201edeadly hard\u201d in the right paw, and the weapon freezes him on top of that. The character screen shows what all this cost me, and there are already two champion corpses in my backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The warmaster doesn’t let up. He swung wide and slashed everyone in front of him, then started burning me – again and again, second after second. He glows all gold, and to make matters worse the Rift’s healing turret patches him up with regenerating orbs. My axe just glances off his armour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the arse end, literally. An ogre mage with a staff in his paw and a purple loincloth stands over me so that all you can see are calves, buttocks and bracers. Not the prettiest view of the evening, but a moment later the young rift ogre mage is down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s all over. The last beasts are down, Rift hearts burn by the altar, and we swap our axes for pickaxes. Rift crystals have sprung up across the field – some only give stone shards, from others I manage to mine a whole crystal. We dig until they crumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the view afterwards. Night, silence, and the whole field all the way to the camp strewn with bodies – ogres, beasts, jackals. It was tough: in an hour of fighting I took over 170 hits, and the log counted over five hundred fallen monsters. Now just butchering – meat, a rift caster heart – and burying the corpses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heading home after a hard battle. Bloodwalt on the lead, anchors aweigh and \u201etr\u201d glides back across the lake. A golden night sky, the mountain reflected in the smooth water, and a crystal and champion corpses in my backpack. Armour to repair, wounds to heal – see you at the next Rift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another trip to the Rift. Supplies packed, Bloodwalt on the lead, the captain aboard "tr" – anchors aweigh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefortress.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}