| I sign on at about 4:30. I have a list as long as my arm of things
that I am SUPPOSED to be doing, but I get about 2 of them done, and
then I think "I need to relieve some stress. I'll just play a LITTLE
Asheron's Call. Just enough to kill things, relieve some work related
stress, get the kinks out, and relax. THEN I'll get back to work. |
| Yeah - that's the ticket. |
| The next thing I know, it is of course 12:30 a.m. and not only have
I got nothing else done on my list, but now I am also two and a half
hours late to bed, and know that tomorrow is going to be long. |
| I sign on at 4:30 to just play for a minute. Just for a minute.
Wait, now I remember, I still have 8% vitae. I'll just play until
I work off that 8% vitae, and then I will log off. That won't take
long. |
| Well, I am at the Mosswart Village. A place I heartily recommend.
(11.5, 58.3) There are four buildings, and in those four buildings
are HORDES of Mosswarts, including three Shamans. Shamans drop some
good stuff some times. Despite the fact that I have a good supply
of cash right now, and all the treasure I need for a successful adventure,
I just can't help it. I LIKE fighting monsters that drop good treasure.
And Mosswarts drop good treasure. |
| La la la |
| Fighting and working off Vitae and collecting treasure - what a
blast. I get down to 6% and a guy comes running up and says "Wanna
fight some Shadow Children?" And normally, I am against fighting children.
It is a lose lose situation for a level 29 axe warrior. You just don't
fight kids. That's a rule. What would the Source Members think? What
would they think if I lost? How humiliating. |
| But these are Shadow Children. And somehow, they are tougher than
normal children. A lot tougher in fact. But, what the hell, I only
have 6% vitae, what's a little more? I can't remember this guys name
for the life of me. Level nineteen, all in black. damn, can't conjure
up the name. He's a sword swinger though. Lets just call him Oceanus
for the stories ease. |
| We go running off, He eventually finds the spot where the children
are and Oceanus says "Ready?" |
| I say sure, and of course we charge. Like Warriors do. |
| I think Oceanus gets one swing off, there is a terrific blast though
my speakers, and I see lightning come out Oceanus's back. Ouch. I
keep swinging, three on one, and as luck would have it - I am able
to resist two spells. Getting a few lucky rolls in always makes for
a good day. I resist two spells, smash this child with my axe, and
finally, one of them falls. |
| That's one. |
| Oceanus msges me "They are TOUGH!" He says. "I don't think I can
help you. I 'm going to get my body and hunt elsewhere." |
| I heal myself up, and then I attack the other two left. "They are
standing ON your body right now." And then I kill another one and
run away to heal some more. |
| Long silence |
|
I run back, and the last one is very easy. One on one against a
Child isn't too tough when you get to level 29. Someday, if you
work really hard, and struggle, and spend exp wisely - you too can
beat up on children.
|
| <sigh> |
| Anyway, I kill the last one, and it's clear that Oceanus has just
finished an inventory of his belongings and has found a few things
missing. "I really need to get that body back" he msgs me. |
| "Sorry to hog all the fun, but they are all dead." And I give him
the location of his body. |
| After this, I kill some more Mosswarts; finally work off the last
point of Vitae (healing myself no less - how dramatic.) And decide
to head for town. Town is about a five minute run away, unless of
course you are at 158% burden. Then it is about a fifteen minute run. |
| During the run, Joshua I msges me. "What's up? Help me get to the
Alter tonight." |
| Joshua wants to become a PK. We'll see how he does. Joshua is a
real life friend of mine, so I feel pretty comfortable saying this.
Joshua is like Joxer The Mighty when he first meets Xena. He really,
REALLY wants to be evil, but just isn't. No matter how much he tries
to tell you how evil he is, he just isn't. His Vassals love him, I
love him, and he's just too nice to be badass. |
| He tells me how he is going to kill everyone he sees and how he
is going to be a scourge on the land and la la la. Whatever. |
|
I feel like Gabrielle and just want to reach out and pinch his
nose and say
"No. You're not. The first guy you run up to kill is going to turn
around just as you get there and say "Hi. How are you?" And you're
going to stop in mid attack and look around confused and say "um,
I'm o.k., how are you doing" To which he will reply. "Good, but
I need a fighter to help me retrieve my corpse. Can you come fight
and I will heal you if you get hurt?"
|
| And Joshua I will look around, confused, and go "Sure." And then
help the guy. |
| I can hear him now. "No! That's not it! I'm a huge guy! I'm fearsome!
I'm a PK, I'm gonna kill everyone!!! I'm gonna be a huge warlord like
my father!!!" |
| Yeah. Everyone who makes you angry. And that will be no one. Most
people will walk into town, see Joshua's red dot and go "Peace?" and
Joshua will sigh and go "Peace" and never kill anyone. |
| La la la |
| Oh well. At least now we have someone who CAN kill other red dots
if one of them is rude and obnoxious to one of our members. Sadly,
I have yet to meet a PK who was anything but polite. |
| So, I tell Joshua that I do not have time. That I need to do other
things, and he say's o.k. |
| I finish my run to town, I sell all my stuff, I look over my stats
and see that I have 250,000 of unspent exp and wonder what I will
spend it on. At 30th level, 250,000 exp is not enough to raise my
Strength even 7 points. |
| I raise my run to 199 instead. One more point and it will be 200,
and I'll never spend another exp on it. |
| I hang out in town for a bit, msg back the eight people that want
to say hello and say to Joshua "Find out where we have to go, I'm
coming to Mayoi. Chores can wait another day." |
| And then I start my run, 32,000 pyreals richer after selling all
my loot. On the way I do a broadcast to all the vassals that are directly
under me (all I can do - there is no guild wide chat. Damnit) and
tell them what I am doing, and that we need help. |
| I get to Mayoi and Rhodry and Joshua are there. Then Mutt signs
on, and then Mizu and then Garurumon. Getting quite a crew. Khali
shows up, Rach 'Mann shows up, and finally Hakeem. |
| Mutt cannot go because he does not have time. He only has a little
time to play. Instead, he heads up the road to Tuo Tuo and is looking
for a Lighthouse. Well, he finds a lighthouse. A lighthouse with ten
Liches and a Granite Golem. Ouch. And they find him too. They find
him and pulp him. |
| Mutt dies and Mizu and I head up the road to Tuo Tuo to help Mutt
get his body back. Besides, all the mages need to restock on components
in Mayoi, so they have stuff to do while they wait. Mizu and I truck
up the road, both of us at mach 198 so it doesn't take long. Mutt
is outside this Tower (having yet to actually ask any of us for help
and insisting that he can handle it.) with 8 Liches chasing him and
some lower level guys trying to help and failing. |
| You know - Mutt's a super power, and I believe that given time,
he could have got his body back. But you know - that would have taken
a long time, and a lot of quarrels. Mutt alone against 8 Liches and
a granite golem is about an hour battle. With Mizu and I and Mutt
together, it doesn't even last five minutes. We get Mutts body back,
look around inside the tower, and that's all she wrote. Nothing else
there. Mizu and I run back to Mayoi at mach 198. (I think Mizu is
actually 208 right now.) |
| Garurumon is there, and he shows us just how cool he is. You don't
get much cooler than this. |
| Everyone ready? And a portal opens up in mid air, and through it,
off in the distance, you can see the burned out lands known as "The
Dires" We step though the portal, and 45 minutes of running is compressed
into 10 seconds of purple tunnel portal space. and we are there. |
| What's this? A stowaway? |
| Oatmeal Oalish (this is not his real name, but its close. I can't
remember it.) has come with us, and asks to be a part of our fellowship. |
|
Here's how that went.
Oatmeal - "Who is the leader of this fellowship?"
Hakeem "Captain Black is"
Oatmeal "Can I be a part of it? I want to be a PK."
Hakeem "You will have to ask him"
Oatmeal "Where is he?"
Hakeem "He hasn't come though the portal yet. Wait here, he'll
show up soon"
|
| We all laugh in our little secret tell to fellows way. ;-) |
| That Hakeem. Almost as funny as my court Jester Muttfyre. |
| Oatmeal is allowed in to our fellowship, and he is going to come
with us to become a PK. We let him think that we are all going to
become PK's and have a free for all right in the Alter room. We're
a cruel group sometimes. J |
| So, we go running down the hill past the mighty Fort Tethana and
attune at the lifestone. |
| Here's the best part about the Dires. The lifestone is NOT a safe
haven. We have gone down to attune at the lifestone and there have
been shadows GUARDING it. Standing not ten yards away from it. There
is NO PLACE that is safe in the Dires. I don't think there is anyone
I know that has spent three days at Fort Tethana, and not died IN
TOWN. Drudge Ravenors walk the streets of Fort Tethana and attack
those too intent on the wares to pay attention. Silver rats will be
led in and Mountain rats spawn right inside the fort. It 's a dangerous
place. Not for the faint of heart. I remember Cronson telling me he
had 20% vitae. Then he died again. And when he came back to the lifestone,
there was a silver rat there eating on him AS HE MATERIALIZED. Know
what happened then? That's right. He died. And materialized IN THE
SAME SPOT and died - yes, again. Cronson got up to 32% vitae this
way I believe. |
| This time, we are lucky. We only have to kill one Shadow to attune
(didn't we? I am sketchy on this part. I think we killed a lone shadow
right after we attuned. |
| Now it was time for the long trek across the Dires to the PK Alter
to turn Joshua into the nicest PK ever. |
| We start to run, and we avoid some monsters, and we fight a couple
of others. But mostly, we just run. |
| We run until these horrible words flash across my screen "Your fellow
Oatmeal Oalish has Died!" |
| Damn. |
| Well, we all keep running until we get to a safe spot and then we
gather everyone. Then we start to make our way back to where Oatmeal's
body is. |
|
Oh look, how entertaining. Oatmeal's body looks like a pile of
treasure that a monster is sitting on. Oatmeal has died at the exact
spawn spot of TWO Penumbras Shadows. Wonderful. Oh well, we are
the Source, and even though Oatmeal is not really part of us, we
did give him permission to come. You don't leave someone that has
been let into your group. Let me give you a hint. If you are ever
in a tricky situation, and you do not know what to do?
|
| DO THE RIGHT THING!!! |
| It's a simple rule. Follow it. |
| So, do we lead the Penumbras off? Or do we. |
| A blast of lightning goes SCORCHING past my head and I see a GOLD
PHYNTOS WASP perched on Khali's shoulder, shooting lightning down
his neck like a spring shower. Khali turns and starts to blast the
thing. I pull out my trusty axe and pray for a critical hit. |
| Gold Phyntos Wasps pack some MEAN magic, and are one of the few
things avoided by the hardiest adventurers. I've been at full health;
just trying to RUN PAST a swarm of the gold plated fiends, and died
as six level 5 spells smashed into me in less than 10 seconds. Not
good. |
| I swing my mighty axe.. |
| We can't afford to lose Khali. One body lost in here is enough.
And I don't want him to have to run back from the lifestone too. That's
more danger, and more time that we have to stand in the middle of
these wretched plains where we find ourselves. Waiting for Oatmeal's
return. So, |
| I swing my mighty axe.. |
| Have I told you about this axe? Right after Yrkkon gave me an AMAZING
axe for NOT joining his alliance. (Cool guy huh?) Joshua finds a nice
axe FOR SALE IN YANSHI!! And you know what? Unbelievably, this axe
is BETTER than the one that Yrrkoon gave me. |
| Sitting in a weapons shop in Yanshi. How lucky is that? |
|
This is the "Axe of Coordination" it says on it. And it really
is.
+4% to melee defense
Coordination Self FIVE
Blood Drinker FIVE
Heart Seeker THREE
|
| This axe makes me a viable character in the Dires. It allows me
to actually hit things in the Dires. Thanks Joshua. I love this axe.
|
| So I swing my mighty axe.. Remember, I have to hit for a LOT or
Khali will probably die. |
| "You mangle Gold Phyntos wasp for 108 points of slashing damage!!"
flashes across my screen. |
| 108!!! A new Record!!! |
| I am very proud. Then Hakeem says, "um, I gave him Axe Vulnerability
IV" |
| Damn. |
| Oh well, I am still very proud. 108. That's a lot. |
| Oatmeal shows up, and we go about the task of taking down the Penumbras.
Since Shadows are almost 100% magic resistant, Mizu is going to take
one. Joshua and I are going to take one. And all six mages are going
to heal us as we fight. Two mages per fighter. |
| I edge forward over the lip, intent on getting there attention,
then bringing them all back to where we are all standing. The Black
Ladies (The Penumbras are floating female black shadows riding on
clouds) start to glide towards me - murder in their eyes. I turn to
run back to the group, and find them right behind me. Everyone is
not five feet from me. Oh well. I guess I should tell people the plan,
huh? I turn back around, and startled, right in my face, is a lady,
swinging an axe at my head! |
| The battle is joined!!! |
| The dark and eerie plains of the dire lands light up as the Penumbras
start blasting us with spells. Within seconds "Your fellow Joshua
I has died!" flashes across my screen. Mages are rapidly healing me,
one right after another as my super axe of coordination sings its
mighty song. The Ladies are grunting and screaming as my Axe bites
in, time after time. Mizu's bow twangs over and over to my right and
he screams "BRING IT!!!" |
| And the ladies do. |
| Despite the best efforts of the mages, my health dips from one
hundred and fifty into the fifties, then the teens. A surge from Rhodry
and I am back to 50, then I get smashed again by another ladies spell.
Back down to 5, then Garurumon kicks in a heal and I am back to thirty,
then to fifty, and my mighty axe of coordination is singing its glorious
song of death. |
| "BRING IT!!!" I scream and my starless night lady lets out a last
moan, and there is a glorious thump as one of the floating ladies
falls at my feet. |
| So long has this battle taken that Joshua has returned from the
lifestone. I am out of stamina and the mages start to replenish that
as I stand for a moment, gasping. Joshua runs up over the hill, a
murderous, vengeful gleam in his eye and starts to mercilessly pound
on the remaining lady. Fists as hard as hammers rain down on the lady
with startling ferocity and frequency. The Mages heal me up to full,
and I rush to help Mizu and Joshua take down the last one. As I get
there, the eerie plains light up again as the lone remaining Penumbras
blasts Mizu with lightning for all she is worth. Mizu screams his
will at her defiantly "SHAN'T SAVE YOU!!!" and another of his arrow
thuds into her liquid black hide. I get in another biting slash, Joshua
hammers her thrice with his iron fists --and finally, she falls. |
| There was great rejoicing, back slapping, cheering and hugging.
|
| We had done it!! |
| Oatmeal grabs his body, we loot the ladies and off we go again.
|
| The rest of the way was uneventful. We run up some mountains, we
find the dungeon with the alter. Inside we go, and all that is guarding
it is some Undead and some Liches. No one even drops below half health
getting to the alter. |
| The alter itself is amazing. A huge glowing red ball on a pedestal,
and when you click on the ball to become a PK, a huge red demon with
massive wings envelopes you and then laughs and lets go. |
| Oatmeal and Joshua become Pk's. |
| Gar shows us all how amazing and cool he is. Instead of having to
slog all that way back to the castle, A blue portal opens up right
in the room, we step in, oh look, and we're home. How convenient.
|
| An awesome night. |
| Thanks mostly to the Mages. Without their selfless Heals, we boring
old warriors never would have been able to do it. I love when a plan
comes together, and taking down those two penumbras was about the
most fun I've had in a while. |
| Thanks for a good night group - |
| Druss |