Desert Storm

Wicked Wayz members traveled into the desert this morning to do the Savage Blade fight for Neyla and Dagry. I had the pleasure of directing folks to the assorted columns scattered throughout the desert so they could be tripped to open the gate we needed. Once we were all inside, we headed for camp and the scorpion NM fight.

We

Neyla leaps into the air with Savage Blade doing its magic on a poor demon.

cleared the room of anticans and they popped the NM. It was a pretty easy fight -- getting to him was the only difficult part.

When it was over, we went after the Sabotender Bailorina in another part of the Quicksand Caves to get the Dune Boots for Nolie. They're a Rare/Ex item for Lv. 70 Monks, and they have a hidden stat which enhances kick attacks. It's the sort of upper-tier NM which had us thinking we would wipe out, but we had no problems with it.

Neyla and I teleported out to Xarcabard for a few minutes to try out Savage Blade on some demons. It's awesome to watch Neyla leap into the air to attack. At some point we have to try doing a skillchain.

Other than our desert adventures, I've been fishing... and fishing... and fishing...

Darkness Named

I attempted Chains of Promathia's battle againt Diabolos with Quieren, Rorion, Reko, Floggn and Andreva. I was surprised at the short and easy trip through Pso'xja, since I figured it would be some hellish trek just to get to the burning circle.

We

The mysterious boy kinda creeps me out.

went inside and saw the mysterious boy turn up in the cutscene just before Diabolos arrived. The fight against the demon was going really well and we'd knocked off more than half of his HP when he cut loose with Nightmare. Quieren, who isn't used to Stun duty, didn't stop it in time. Nightmare put us all to sleep and gave us a really nasty Bio. Nobody woke me up (my Poison Potion didn't do much good), so we started dropping like flies.

It's a shame, because we easily had him down to 25%-30% before we wiped. Unfortunately, I didn't know we would be kicked out of the burning circle after the entire party had been dead a few minutes. I let myself raise up and Diabolos steamed forward and killed me again. Once we were all outside, we had no choice but to homepoint.

We're going to try again on Sunday, and this time Quieren will be more alert about his Stuns and we'll also have a Dark Knight who can stun. If you can block Nightmare and Sleepga, the fight is a cakewalk.

When it was over, I retired to the Sea Serpent Grotto for an hour or two and started fishing. Once everything sells, I should be at the 11 million mark. The Noble's Tunic is closer.

Running Around

The bonecrafters still weren't biting, so I divided my time between the Beaucedine Glacier for emperor fish and the Sea Serpent Grotto for nebimonites, grimmonites and bream. Vansing, a high-level cook I know, has told me he'll buy any grimmonites I catch. They're 15k each, so that'a a nice deal.

Neyla

You'd think sahagins would dislike fishermen.

has been camping the Sea Horror on the ferry between Mhaura and Selbina to get revenge for past deaths. I'm something of a Sea Horror magnet, so I bought some meatballs from the guild and we rode around a few times. I caught a stack of silver sharks, over a dozen titanictus and two ryugu titans (one gave me my first-ever .3 skillup), but the Sea Horror never turned up.

I went back to the grotto and saw Ogami there, still trying to get a Damp Scroll. I got one on the first cast and gave it to him. He tried to pay me for it, but those things are so easy to get I don't mind giving them to friends.

Fishing was burning me out a little after the constant grind I've been on, so Neyla escorted my cooking mule from Windurst to Selbina with about 40 stacks of millioncorn to trade for Sandy and Bastok fame. When that was finished, I saw my gavials had sold.

I finished out the evening by restocking the gavials at the Auction House and then returning to the grotto to get more grimmonites for Vansing. Neyla, when he wasn't running off to Onzozo to fight Ose with some members of the linkshell, spent his time skilling up his dagger in the Eastern Altepa Desert.

Change of Scenery

Neyla

Neyla and Halifirien accumulate more points in Cape Terrigan.

and I returned to our camp in Cape Terrigan and skillchained our way through the other 200 points he needed for the Savage Blade quest. It took about two hours and I used up the last of the Squid Sushi I've had in my moghouse for ages. I really like that camp, which is a good thing because we'll eventually be going back to get points for club and dagger skills. I'll be able to learn Black Halo in a few levels and Neyla wants to get dagger up to the Evisceration level.

None of my bonecrafters were online or in the mood for buying gavials, so I had a welcome change of scenery by fishing in the Sea Serpent Grotto. One of my fishing buddies, Ogami, was already there.

A great things about fishing is the kinship you feel toward other anglers, sort of the way Beastmasters respect each other. We chatted awhile and finally added each other to our buddy lists so we have someone to gab with when we're fishing. He had been there for a few hours in hopes of getting a Damp Scroll, but never managed to get one. I walked away with four by the time I'd finished.

Vansing met me in Norg and bought all of my grimmonites and bream, which beats waiting for them to sell overnight at the auction house. I also caught four stacks of nebimonites, which makes for an easy 100k.

I

The party takes down the last yagudo in the burning circle.

eventually left the grotto to join Neyla in Giddeus, where he organized a crew of higher-level characters who are trying to get to Rank 10. They needed the cardian fight and the yagudo BCNM battle for Rank 7 tonight. They had enough people for two battles, and I ended up in the second group with Neyla, Pandorda, Kinkerbelle (Beastmaster) and two Lv. 75 White Mages. It was a cakewalk, although Aerdrie (a Summoner) died in the first fight to a nasty Astral Flow.

I didn't join them for the run through Castle Oztroja, but instead grabbed some trout paste from the Fisherman's Guild and teleported out to the glacier to catch emperor fish (currently 15k each). If my scrolls sell, I'll have easily made my 500k quota for the day.

Neyla partied with members of the linkshell again and reached Lv. 75 tonight. I hope to join him one day.

Savage Blade

When your skill with a weapon reaches a certain level, you can undertake a quest for a special Weapon Skill. Neyla is after a skill called Savage Blade.

To

Neyla and Halifirien accumulate points in Cape Terrigan.

get it, you use a "Weapon of Trials" in order to accumulate points toward the new skill. It takes 300 points. Neyla and I went to Cape Terrigan to work on it. I opened with Skullbreaker and Neyla closed with Circle Blade to create a Fragmentation skillchain worth 3 points. We worked on it about an hour by fighting assorted bunnies, lizards and goblins in Cape Terrigan and got a little over 100 points before my modem committed treason and disconnected me again.

Once I managed to log on again, I tracked down another bonecrafter for more gavial goodness. I'm setting a goal of 500k a day from fishing until I can get the Noble's Tunic. I'm actually making 800k a day, but I like a lower projection so I can feel like I accomplished more. Thankfully, the bonecrafters camp the auction house looking for gavials. I put 14 up for sale and go back to fishing. If a bonecrafter buys them, I send them a /tell asking if they need more. It's working out very well for me.

I'm seriously going to need a break from fishing after this. Thankfully, actually having a shiny Noble's Tunic will be a nice motivation to start leveling White Mage again. What's the point of having uber gear if nobody ever sees it? I just hope I don't run out of bonecrafters first.

I reached 9 million gil today, which is such an unthinkable number to me. I'm usually pretty relaxed about earning gil -- a little over 100k a day is about where I stop most of the time -- because I'm not in a rush to buy anything. This binge started because I started working on a Penitent's Rope and Blessed Briault before it exploded with Silfer's post at QCDN asking for as many gavials as people could catch.

Seeing what I can earn when I go hardcore working for folks like Silfer, Crosis and Rooi is kinda scary, but then again that's exactly the reason I took up fishing in the first place.