Quests
Coldain Trial Faction Prereqs (Faction)
Early Coldain Hero / Prayer Shawl prerequisites — faction grind across Eastern Wastes and Great Divide. Velious-era.
The Coldain Trial Faction Prerequisites are the early faction-grind legs of the longer Coldain Prayer Shawl chain. Before you can hand in any of the trial items in Eastern Wastes and Great Divide, your Coldain faction must be high enough that the Coldain Hero NPCs will speak to you. This page covers that prep work.
At a glance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Faction (+) | Coldain, Stormguard Brigade |
| Faction (−) | Kromrif (giants), Kromzek |
| Required item | Multiple — giant heads, giant items, kill-credit triggers |
| Source | Kromrif and Kromzek giants in Eastern Wastes and Great Divide |
| Turn-in NPC | Various Coldain dwarves at Thurgadin and the Coldain outposts |
| Reward per turn-in | Coin + faction shift; eventual unlock of the Shawl chain |
| Faction shift | Variable — kill-credits and item turn-ins both shift faction (estimates) |
| Repeatable | Yes (prep phase); Shawl chain itself is single-pass per shawl tier |
| Recommended level | 50+ for safe Velious-giant farming |
How to obtain the kill credits and items
Most of the early prep is giant kill credit. Killing Kromrif and Kromzek giants in Eastern Wastes and Great Divide ticks Coldain faction up automatically. There are also dedicated turn-in items — giant tongues, giant heads, and giant equipment — that drop from named giants and turn in to specific Coldain NPCs at Thurgadin or the outpost camps. The Velious-era giant-killing grind is naturally combined with experience and Velious armor farming, so most groups generate prep faction without explicitly trying.
The classic farm spots: the Kromrif fortress in Eastern Wastes, the giant patrols in Great Divide, and the upper-tier giant camps near the Kael-zone-line. Each location yields different named-giant items.
Higher-tier shawl prerequisites later in the chain require killing specific named giants (Klandicar / Sontalak-area giants and the named Velious raid giants) — those are gated behind raid-tier content.
Where to turn in
Hand in giant items to Coldain dwarves at Thurgadin and at the Coldain outposts in Eastern Wastes and Great Divide. The trial-step NPCs (the ones who hand out actual Shawl prerequisite tasks) only speak to you once your Coldain faction reaches the required threshold. Hail every Coldain you pass; if they refuse to talk to you or are con-hostile, you need more giant kills first.
Thurgadin is the central hub. Outpost NPCs in the field accept lower-tier giant items; the Thurgadin in-city NPCs are gated behind higher faction and accept the higher-tier items.
Faction implications
Each kill or hand-in raises Coldain and adjacent dwarf factions while lowering Kromrif and Kromzek faction. Coldain faction is the gate for the entire Shawl chain — the Velious flagship long-quest with a permanent stat-shawl reward. It also enables Thurgadin merchant access (cultural Velious armor smiths) and Coldain Skyshrine ally pathways for non-canonical races who want to play the Velious storyline.
The faction shift per giant kill is small but compounds. Plan on hours of giant farming before any Coldain trial NPC will engage — the chain is intentionally long.
Variations and edge cases
A few things that trip new Shawl-chain runners:
- Shawl tiers gate progressively. Each shawl tier (Shawl 1, Shawl 2, etc.) requires increasingly higher Coldain faction and increasingly difficult kill credits or item drops.
- Kill credit is per-character. No raid-share trick — each character must personally kill the relevant giants.
- Some Shawl tiers require named raid-tier giants (Klandicar / Sontalak-area mobs and Velious raid giants) — those are gated behind raid attendance, not solo grinding.
- Faction window quirks. Coldain and dwarf sub-factions surface at different rates; hail every Coldain NPC to test which are speaking to you.
- Velious city access. Thurgadin entry is itself faction-gated. KOS races need positive Coldain faction before they can even reach the Shawl-prereq NPCs.
The Last Camp any-race-any-class note
Under The Last Camp's any-race-any-class doctrine, Dark Elves, Trolls, Ogres, and Iksar start at deeply negative Coldain faction. For these races, the prep grind is much longer than for a Halfling or Dwarf character. Plan to spend extra hours killing giants before any Coldain NPC will speak to you. The reward — the Coldain Prayer Shawl chain — is universally good for every class, so the grind is worth it for any character planning serious Velious play.
For canonical Dwarf Paladin / Cleric / Warrior characters, starting Coldain faction is already friendly or higher. The grind is mostly redundant for these characters — they jump straight to Shawl-tier turn-ins. For non-canonical Dwarf classes (Dwarf Wizard, Dwarf Necromancer under The Last Camp's any-class rule), starting faction may still be positive thanks to the racial weighting.
Tips
- Group the giant grind. Solo-killing Velious giants is slow; a small group clears them quickly.
- Kill credit is faction-shared per-character. No raid-share trick — each character must kill their own giants.
- Save named-giant drops. They turn in for stronger faction shifts per item.
- Hail every Coldain NPC. The Shawl prereq NPCs are scattered — hail them all to find the next chain step.
- Watch the giant fortress camps. Heavy aggro density in Kael Drakkel-adjacent areas; pull carefully.
- The Shawl chain is permanent. Each tier of the shawl is a one-shot; complete in order.
- Cross-reference the Coldain Shawl quest page. Tier-by-tier requirements live there; this page only covers the prep phase.
- Bind in Thurgadin. Once your faction is high enough to enter, bind there — the Shawl-prereq turn-ins live in the city.
- Confirm faction via faction window before each prereq NPC hail. If they refuse to talk, you need more giant kills.