Intulo

Neyla and I hit Purgonorgo Island last night for more Beastmaster goodness, moving our camp to the southern region to fight birds and mandies and the kraken. The xp started to dry up when Neyla hit 39, but we pushed on until I dinged. Other than an asshat Dragoon who wandered in and started killing our pets in the name of farming until we asked him to leave, it was uneventful... but fun.

We finished out the evening by switching back to our main jobs and helping Mattaru (a Lv. 40 Beastmaster) get his map of Attowha Chasm. We had to return to the island to fight six NM mandies and then lead him through the chasm to Boneyard Gully. He didn't have the fame to flag the quest, so I ended up shipping him 30 cornettes from Bastok to trade.

This morning I decided to hit Bibiki Bay again on my BST to get some scythe skillups. I'd grab a pet and let it tank so I could swing away. I wandered down to the dock and saw an NM eft called Intulo, which is usually camped. There was a guy down there, but he showed no sign he was going to claim it. I deliberated for a few seconds and decided, since I was close to the zone, to go for it. I sent a raven after him.

Intulo

Intulo is kinda rough.

hits pretty hard, and he would chew through my pets. The ravens and tougher dhalmels would keep him occupied long enough for me to rest a tick of MP back, but then I'd have to charm something else and run out of range to cure myself. Then set another pet to rest the mp back.

I managed to wear off about 25-30% of his life before he smacked me hard and poisoned me while I was waiting for my pet to get his attention. I had to zone and rest to full.

When I went back in, a Japanese White Mage (Lv. 50) was fighting him. I cheered her on but then realized she was getting her ass handed to her. She called for help and I set another pet on him so she could zone back out. He hit me again, but not as bad.

I warped back to Windurst, switched back to White Mage, and grabbed a bird. I couldn't believe he was still there, so I dismounted and started fighting him. It was still pretty rough, and I know I must have used Hexa Strike five or six times. One of the other efts linked with him and I had to keep it slept while braining Intulo with my Darksteel Maul. I kept Stoneskin up and had an easier time of it than I did with Juggler Hecatomb... but not by much.

He didn't drop anything (the Japanese White Mage who called for help nixed that), but getting a little payback was nice.

Return to the Island

"With

The island's mandragoras are tough little bastards.

all the drama this week," Neyla said at one point, "I'd forgotten how much fun this job is."

The nerf on Beastmasters is somewhat annoying, but we were partying on Purgonorgo Island again and barely felt it. There are so many pets roaming around the beach that it hardly mattered if they disappeared when we'd use Leave. We fought the Toucan, mandragora and opo-opos near the dock until Neyla hit 38. At that point some of the mandies and toucans were charmable.

I managed to get myself killed by one of the mandies. We had been jumping into the fray and meleeing with the pets, and I let myself get careless about my HP and MP. A bad hit from the mandy knocked me into the red and then down I went. Reraise had worn off and I had to homepoint back to Windurst and rush out to catch the boat again. I hit 38 and got a buffer before we headed out.

Leviathan Prime

Monday's update has the Beastmaster community crying foul because Square-Enix's attempt to reduce MPK incidents has fucked us over. Monsters pulled from their normal wandering area will now vanish when we use the "Leave" command. It's going to be a serious pain in the ass for solo BSTs, although duos like Neyla and I have should feel minimal annoyance.

Soulripr

Payback, you fishy bastard!

invited me to join his party in Jeuno for a run at Leviathan Prime. That stupid fish had killed me two or three times at the Lv. 20 mini-battles, so I was eager to fight him with a full party and get some payback. We had to farm Uggalephih Keys to obtain a Paintbrush of Souls (required to enter the Den of Rancor area where Leviathan resides). Two keys dropped and I got one, so I'll get my own paintbrush later.

We kicked Leviathan's ass, and I can now use him when I'm on my Summoner job. I now need to fight Titan, Shiva and Leviathan one more time to be eligible for the Fenrir fight. The update also added Diabolos as an avatar, so I'll try for that eventually.

I've been fishing a lot for the past few days (I hit 76 Tuesday night). After trying on Quieren's Noble's Tunic, I seriously want one of my own. It'll probably take me 2-4 months of fishing to be able to afford it, but it's not like I'm sprinting to 75 on my White Mage job.

Promyvion Dem Again

I spent the majority of my Sunday time online fishing. I made a few circuits on the ferry catching Titanictus and Silver Sharks, but I didn't get any skillups. That fat galka bastard Zaldon found two tridents inside the sharks. At 20k each, that pays for a lot of bait.

Neyla takes in the view of abandoned Tavnazia.

The main event was making another run at Promyvion-Dem for Neyla. I took an hour to try and farm anima for the run by using my Beastmaster job and Courier Carrie, and I didn't have any problems. As a White Mage, it's extremely slow and I tend to get my ass handed to me. As BST, I was kicking Wanderer butt.

The promy run went much faster than I could've dreamed. It looked like another group had gone ahead of us and cleared a path, so it only took us thirty minutes to reach the top floor with the spire. Neyla went as BST for this run, using his pets to take out the Progenitor's offspring as they spawned.

When it was over, Neyla was transported to Lufaise Meadows. I hurried to join him and give him a quick tour of the Tavnazian Safehold and walk him through the map quest. Then I rushed to Gusgen Mines to help Feriz obtain another piece of his RSE before returning to Lufaise to run around a bit with Neyla.