by Age of Conan's Jan Birkeland

Days are getting ever shorter, first snow covering the northern lands under an icy blanket and Ymir’s cold breath coming down from the mountains to howl through the valleys and chill every mortal to the bone … Winter is upon us. And so is the Winter Solstice, the turning of the sun. This event has been celebrated by most of the northern Hyborian nations for countless generations and this year is no different. Aesir and even the bloodthirsty, conquering Vanir gather around their campfires each in their own ancient feasting grounds to hail the winter moon with drink, song and dance.

But this year, the Vanir’s thirst for conquest and bloodshed was not satisfied during the three first seasons of the year until Winter came. This year, a warband following their leader Gymir Bloodbeard invaded a holy feasting ground of their neighbors, the Aesir, and drove them out. This insult can not go unpunished. The Aesir need to gather their strongest fighters and strike back at the Vanir. And they will need the help of fearless, strong and daring adventurers of Hyboria to reclaim what was rightfully theirs for centuries.

After the well-received Autumn Seasonal Event “The Nights of Lost Souls”, this year we present a brand new winter event that includes two solo quests and one quest for groups. The quests will take you to the feasting grounds of the Aesir and through many regions of Cimmeria to find and gather various Aesir warriors.

As with the Autumn event there are some great fun seasonal items to acquire also during this Winter event. There’s the "Aesir Snowcatcher" social headwear, a "Pillaged Mercenary Plate" social chest armor, a fancy "Drinking Horn" social handheld item or the "Vanir Captive" social companion (even if ‘companion’ is not quite the right word for him … he is not following you of his own free will and also might use one or the other curse word to let you know how much he hates being captured). And there are even more items to get like Asgardian Stout consumables or fireworks, just to name a few.

The Winter Seasonal Event will become available in December. As soon as it's activated, we will announce it on the forums and the community portal including a short description about how to get started in the quests.