Charmed, I'm Sure

I was fishing in the Sea Serpent Grotto while Veresko was trying to track down a treasure chest to obtain the map. We partied up and he bought a Silver Beastcoin in Norg to get us through the door, and the chest was in the first place we checked. He couldn't open it because he'd accidentally grabbed his Garlaige key instead; he had to outpost to Bastok to get the right one.

A 60-something Galka Paladin was shouting for help with the Utsusemi: Ichi quest. Luckily, his WHM job was Lv. 20. I had him switch it so he could use Sneak and led him through the silver door to the vault.

Once

Killing goblins in the jungle feels so good. It's been too long.

Neyla finished with family stuff, we grabbed our Beastmaster gear and outposted to the jungle. We were rusty as hell, and I couldn't even remember half the spells I could use. Getting back into the proper groove took time some time, but we were soon getting Chains 4 and 5 on the goblins roaming around that south-eastern corner of the map. We only saw one Lava Bomb the entire time we were out there.

We both hit Lv. 43 and returned to Windurst so I could grab my pearl for "Animal Farm," a BST linkshell we joined ages ago. Neyla decided to scope out the Sanctuary of Zitah, but it was obvious we needed at least one more level.

We outposted back to the jungle, and Neyla got aggro from an Overgrown Rose. It was a valiant struggle on our part, but a Bad Breath attack screwed me over royally. We died, and thankfully the Reraise effect from our earrings was still in effect. I'm glad that thing lasts longer than the White Mage spell.

We ground our way through to Lv. 44, and the only annoyance was an NPC leveler who was stampeding his way through our area and killing all the goblins. It became a contest to see if we could get to the gobs before he could.

The

The Sanctuary of Zitah should provide good hunting grounds.

return to Zitah was much more promising. The funguars don't aggro, and the leeches are charmable. I snagged a funguar and Neyla grabbed an Ogre Fly to set it on a goblin, and that fly was INSANE with the fast damage. The goblins near the outpost range from Decent to Tough, so we'll probably have to push in a little deeper and also seek out cats to kill.

Now that Neyla has an officially gimped /WHM, that'll be the goad to get us into Qufim and start leveling again. I'll settle for getting his WHM and my SMN to 25 (so we can take BST to 50), although pushing for 30 would be even better so we can level BST through our AF levels.

God, I love this job.

It's Raining Mannequins

I've had the "It's Raining Mannequins" quest active for a long time, but I never bothered with it because the individual parts -- unless obtained by BCNMs or Garrison runs -- seemed too expensive. After researching it a bit, I've discovered the reason they're so expensive is because they're worth it.

Getting the first one is the hardest, but after that you can buy them for 250k each. The best part is they only take up one slot in your safe but give you seven storage spaces. As you can have eight mannequins, that's 56 storage. For a packrat like me who never sells off old gear he might need, that's just too handy for words.

I like the idea of eventually having a tarutaru mannequin wearing my Beastmaster AF.

Cutting a Path

Truegrave's class was canceled, giving us all afternoon and evening to work on the Chains of Promathia missions.

Our first task was to take down the Disaster Idol on the first floor of Delkfutt's Tower. I've always wondered what that door in the back hallway led to. From what I'd read, the doll takes its elemental attribute from the day of the week. If you fight it on Fire Day, it uses Firaga III and Fire IV, etc. It's supposed to be a pushover on Light Day, but as luck would have it we arrived on Dark Day. The goofy thing used Drain a few times, but mostly used Sleepga. It was easy.

The

The 60-cap Pso'Xja tower is a confusing mess of one-way doors.

journey through Pso'Xja, which we were originally going to solo on our own time, became the next order of business. It's the tower closest to Batallia Downs, which meant a long damned walk through the glacier to get to it. The tower itself is a confusing network of one-way doors, stairs and ramps. There are Hecteyes, Diremites, Magic Pots and Goblins running around in there. Quieren had printed out a map, but he got us running around in circles until we finally found ourselves on a safe balcony and used Escape to begin again... from the start of the glacier zone.

The write-up I had in front of me was much simpler: Follow the right wall until you end up in a room with a Goblin Jeweler in it, go through the door to the west, and then go south to the elevator. I got turned around at one point and Quieren died to aggro, so I had to circle around to Tractor and Raise II him. We eventually got everyone to the elevator and rode down to see the cutscene with Fenrir.

The next item was the 50-cap Mithra Tracker fight in the Boneyard Gully. Quieren, for all his griping about getting everything done in advance, hadn't done the cutscenes and had to run to San d'Oria and Windurst to set it up. That gave the rest of us plenty of time to eat snacks and do whatever. Asmodius went off by himself and got killed by an antlion; he homepointed back to Windurst before we could mount a rescue mission.

I've wanted to take a chunk out of the Trackers ever since I saw them beating up poor defenseless tarutarus in some of the earlier cutscenes. There are three trackers in the battle, but one is a Beastmaster and another is a Dragoon. That's five enemies to worry about.

Most

The three Mithra Trackers wait at the bottom of the hill.

guides say having a Summoner who can unleash Astral Flow while a Black Mage breaks out Elemental Seal + Sleepga will destroy them in no time. When your setup is NIN, RNG, BLMx3 and WHM, other strategies must be devised.

The first run was a test -- no meds, no two-hour abilities -- to see what we were in for. The trackers are tucked away in a basin area, and from our vantage point we could easily stand in a nuking line out of their initial aggro range. The BLMs slept them and started nuking away. Shikaree X died under the first assault, but it turned into a clusterfuck and we were ejected from the BCNM. The next attempt started with the three BLMs using their strongest Aeroga spell to damage them all. Again, wipeout and ejection.

The strategy we settled on was to get in the nuking line and have all three BLMs hit the same tracker with Freeze, then Sleepga the trackers and kill the pets next. If we were to die, we'd run closer to the entrance so we could Reraise and go right back at them. Shikaree X didn't know what hit her when all three Freeze spells hit her at once. She dropped like a rock. The others came for us, and I started using my Blackened Siredons to keep them from spamming their weaponskills on Truegrave.

Quieren died too close to the trackers and none of us could Tractor him (must be a BCNM rule), so Asmodius raised him so he could at least run closer to us before they cut him down. Q didn't have time to move before they slaughtered him, and then for shits and giggles they came screaming at Asmodius and killed the rest of us before our weakness had worn off. Ejected again.

We

You get a sick feeling of dread when you're the last person standing.

were primed to finish the fuzzy bitches off at that point. We went back in, used the Freeze line on Shikaree X and threw a ton of -ga spells at them to finish off the two pets before we died safely outside their range. We reraised, waited for the weakness to pass, and went back down the hill to Freeze the fur off Shikaree Y. She didn't die in the initial blast, but a few more nukes took her down. Then we went completely apeshit on Shikaree Z and won it.

The entire winning fight took us 22 minutes. To add to the fun, I'd forgotten my Lv. 50-cap pants and did every attempt in my Fisherman's Hose. I'd like to think my reeking of fish distracted them in some small way.

After that, I hit the jungle to level my NPC to 38 and did some fishing near the glacier outpost. I should be able to buy another piece of Blessed gear next week. I haven't really put in the extra time to fish for gil that I should.

Neyla and I are supposed to level Beastmaster again for the first time in ages tomorrow. I can't wait.

More Artistic Endeavors

I made a new sig for use at QCDN and assorted message boards. The setup was mostly Neyla's idea, and it only took me about thirty minutes to put together. Getting the bones to stand close to each other is easy when you use the escort mission NPC as bait.

Otak drew a new portrait of Neyla and Malystryxx. They use the same mithra character model, so the great thing about the picture is either one could be considered the foreground character. Personally, I choose to have Neyla as the one in the background because I like that post the best. Otak also made a wallpaper image. Click any of the three to enlarge.

White Mages Can't Jump

Neyla was off all day, but I kept myself occupied with my Monk job.

The first invite came before I could put my flag up, but the leader was hooked on crack and didn't realize they had a full party. She apologized profusely for dragging me to Jeuno, but I said it didn't matter because I'd fish until I got another invitation. One black sole later, I got it.

I was waiting on the airship to Kazham when Audino (from QCDN) walked up beside me.

"Nice subligar," he said.

"Thanks," I said. "I'm one level away from being able to wear real pants."

It turns out we were destined for the same party in the jungle. The leader was a mithra White Mage named Vignielf. The Thief was a mithra named Vignikath. Anytime I see such similar names working together I think "Gilsellers," but sometimes it doesn't apply.

There were actually two White Mages in the party, and neither were impressing me. The other was a Hume named Killroy. They didn't have Barfira, which made fighting Goblin Smithies more entertaining than it needed to be. They didn't have Barsleepra, which isn't completely necessary but would've been a nice touch. There wasn't a Regen to be had out of either one, and they spent their time spamming Cure II.

"We're great White Mages," Killroy quipped when I questioned their lack of spells.

"Great at what?" I asked. "Gimpage?"

Vignikath

This Goblin Smithy is going to die but doesn't realize it yet.

was a good puller, but she didn't understand how SATA worked because she used her first-ever SATA on me. I laughed (mandies hit fast, but they don't hit hard) and explained it works better when you use it to cement hate on the Ninja.

Killroy went afk for two or three fights without warning, so I suggested Vignielf boot his leeching ass and replace him. We got another QCDN regular, Veovis, to choco out and be our Black Mage. The party went a lot better after that. The Samurai and I got into a good rhythm doing Fragmentation skillchains so Veovis could burst for decent damage.

Vignikath left and was replaced by a new THF named Gath. He knew how to SATA, and I got to be the first voke to set it up.

Vignielf had to leave a little while later ("Can I get a Paladin to replace me?" he actually asked). The replacement White Mage, Tethren, restored my hope in the new crop of players. He had his Bar- spells and didn't have to be told to use them. He used Regen for better MP conservation. He even thanked me when I sent him a few pointers in /tell (like using DS+Curaga to top off the party after a fight).

I went from 30 to 32 in that party. They were thinking about packing it up and moving to the desert at that point to skip Garlaige Citadel altogether. I hated to leave them and log out when I was halfway to 33, but my time was up. Once I get to 33 I'll be able to wear the tarutaru RSE Wonder Kaftan and complete the Christmas elf look. I told Tethren to look me up if he had any questions or needed help. He'd be worth the trouble.

It was a fun day for me. I love playing Monk, and it was great hanging out with other players learning new abilities. The Samurai was ecstatic when he got Meditate, proclaiming it "better than Jesus juice." I met a few mediocre White Mages, but the good one made up for it.

Tenzen's Path

Hayatox made it to today's Chains of Promathia run through Pso'Xja, but Andreva did not. That solidifies their standings in the static -- one stays, the other goes. Having a second melee job (in this case, Hayatox as SAM) made all the difference in the world.

We took our time as we worked our way through the sixteen doors to find the Avatar Gate. Truegrave would linger beside each door and try to aggro whatever was on the other side so we could kill it before taking on the gargoyles. We'd rest as needed and swap out curing duties if I got low on mp. Gods, I wish we had a Red Mage along for these.

There

After many battles, we reached the elevator shaft.

was a fun moment when Hayatox clicked the door while we were in the middle of a fight with two cryptonberries; instead of spawning the gargoyle, the trap was broken and the door slid open. We were too busy fighting and couldn't go through, so of course it closed and we had to fight the gargoyle when we were finished. It would've been nasty to fight two cryptonberries and the gargoyle, so I'm glad his mistake didn't get us killed.

The section of rooms with the magic pots wasn't nearly as terrible as I thought it would be. There was always plenty of room to stay out of their aggro range. It was a long trek, but not nearly as difficult as it was last week. We eventually reached the elevator shaft, used Sneak to avoid the diremites lurking at the bottom, and got our cutscene. We returned to Jeuno and got the rest of the ones we needed, and we'll do the fight in Delkfutt's Tower and the final Pso'Xja trip on Thursday.

I'm hoping we're saving the Mithran Tracker and Snoll Tzar fights for last.

"Without Andreva," Quieren pointed out, "we can start earlier in the day. We might have to switch some jobs around. Asmodius might need to go BST at some point."

"If I lose xp, it's your ass," Asmod said.

"Hey," I joked, "losing xp is always on the menu when you run with Q."

Neyla

The dryads in the Cloister of Frost are key to Summoners' Artifact Armor.

had a tarutaru Summoner named Shidosha in need of help with Artifact Armor, so the three of us traveled to Fei'yin's Cloister of Frost to battle a group of sprout-type monsters called Dryads. They were very easy to kill. Shidosha thanked us for helping him again, although neither of use could remember what we'd done for him in the past. After awhile, all those tarutarus tend to blend together.

In other news, today was the final day of the current fishing tournament. I placed 38th overall. I didn't get the Pelican Ring, but at least I got on the board this time. I'll just have to try harder next time.

Neyla Guest Entry: Dungeon Siege

The Tainted Flesh in the basement of Garlaige Citadel isn't so spooky anymore.

Yesterday's adventures were pretty much limited to leveling Yawawa and helping a taru RDM named Blaine farm his Garlaige Citadel coffer key after I saw a post at QCDN saying he still needed it. I usually refrain from coffer key hunting unless I'm friends with the person in need, but it was a good excuse to let Halifirien have some fun by stealing hate from me via Hexa Strike, not that he really has to wait that long. WHMs are awesome against bones.

From time to time I'd break up the bone-crushing monotony with ghosts, bombs and a brief foray into weapons. Blaine seemed amused people would actually melee bombs but I think Halifirien cringed every time I went out to pull and he heard me tell Blaine to get to a safe distance. I'm used to having bombs blow up in my face while farming Snolls in Uleguerand Range, but sometimes I should pay more respect other people's comfort zones.

The

RDM vs. RDM: Pull up a chair, folks, because we're going to be here all night.

least comfortable encounter for Halifirien was a fight where I pulled a skeleton and aggrod a bomb at the same time, only to have Blaine start his usual round of enfeebling and get aggro from a nearby Thunder Elemental. I was extremely low on MP at the time and had that on my mind while also dealing with Halifirien's calls for Escape after he somehow managed to draw the attention of the elemental himself. In a less heated situation I would have simply had Blaine keep sleep on the elemental while Hal fought the undead and I took the bomb solo, but I was also distracted by the other group of key hunters who had gathered around us to watch the spectacle.

If you're in the 50s or 60s, it's probably not in your best interest to be standing on top of a RDM while they're slowing whittling a Hellmine down. They're almost guaranteed to go boom.

Things calmed down a bit after I used Sleepga to deal with the elemental and cast Sleep II on the bomb, joining Halifirien on the Fallen Major and using Convert to get my MP back. Shortly after we turned our attention back to the bomb it Self-Destructed and managed to kill Blaine, who never seemed to be far enough away the times that would happen. I killed the elemental by myself while the others rested. The key dropped off a ghost a few minutes later and we managed to find the coffer with some help from Apu from WickedWayz.

Somewhere along the line I joked "Never doubt the power of the Red Mage" in a purely tongue-in-cheek manner. Halifirien calls this bravado. To an extent he's right. That's where respecting other people's comfort zones should come into play. Fighting two or three mobs at the same time isn't for everyone, even if it doesn't phase me.

I logged out shortly after and played some [i]Call of Duty 2[/i]. It's a nice break from the magic casting I've been doing for the last year or so. Plus there's something satisfying about coming across some Nazi you've just shot up as he tries to crawl off into some dank corner to die. I always give those guys a headshot just for the hell of it.

Neyla Guest Entry: My Faithful Companion

Yawawa makes a fashion statement inspired by her copy of Prince's Purple Rain.

When I spoke with Yawawa in Windurst today she was wearing a new piece of armor, purple in color with spikes on the shoulders. I eventually figured out it was a Carapace Breastplate - a strange piece for a supposed healer. I'm amused how NPCs don't have to play by the same rules as the rest of us. I'll be giving her a hammer when the NPC in Jeuno lets me upgrade her weapon, but if I wanted I could give the pseudo-WHM an axe or a scythe. She gravitates towards San d'Orian armor, but I actually prefer the look to the magely sets from Windurst. A taru decked out in melee gear is cute like a child playing dress-up.

Yesterday

Jumping for joy on a return trip to The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah with Yawawa.

she talked about being asked to investigate the Emptiness, a sign we're compatible enough to try for a Tactics Pearl, but I put it off and today there was no mention of it. My hope is to get her talking about it again so I can go to Mea obtain the item with my BST. Any excuse to be able to call her out more and make her stronger. She's a quiet companion and quiet companions make good company as far as I'm concerned.

Whenever Halifirien and I get back to duoing BST I have a feeling Yawawa will sometimes play a role in our exploits, especially at levels where she'll benefit as well. I don't mind the extra XP hit as long as things are running smoothly. We'll hopefully start working BST again this Friday. I miss the job a lot. I'm also thinking of either taking up BRD (whoo, more Refresh!) or SAM. My RDM is essentially retired until I decide gods are worth the effort.

Key Party

I enjoy helping people, but I've come to the conclusion that I almost never do it on my own because I so rarely put myself in areas where I can be asked. I don't hang out in Jeuno or run around Qufim or respond to posts at QCDN. Without that "history" of giving aid (other than answering two or three fishing questions a day from assorted players), I pretty much depend on Neyla to be the activities director.

Today, for example, we went to Garlaige Citadel to get a coffer key for a taru Red Mage named Blaine.

It

The Tainted Flesh is disgusting to look at but fun to kill.

all fits in with my newfound love of smashing bones with my hammer. We stuck with the bones, wraiths and bombs in the circular room, although we detoured briefly to fight some weapons and "the frog" in the back. Neyla was happy to take down the doomed mob because he used to live in terror of it ages ago. It reputation has dwindled a bit since the MPK countermeasures made it less of a hazard.

The only "rough spot" of the trip was when Neyla brought back a skeleton and a Hellmine. Neyla told me to take the bones, which would be okay except for the Thunder Elemental that came after me. I started getting the hell beaten out of me and I was thinking "Yeah, I'm gonna die... pretty much." and called for Escape. Neyla busted out the Sleepga (a spell I constatly forget I have) and the situation improved dramatically.

The Hellmine blew up and took Blaine with it, so I finished off my skeleton and raised him. I had no mp at that point and rested while Neyla finished off the elemental.

"Never doubt the power of the Red Mage," Neyla said. I'm going to be eating a lot of shit over this for days, I've got a feeling.

The key eventually dropped and Apu wandered out to get us through the Banishing Gates so Blaine could get his coffer. It was a nice run. Thankfully, my modem waited until we left the citadel to conk out again.

Neyla Guest Entry: Friends to the End

Neyla and Halifirien help slay Marchelute for Jahar's Blessed Hammer.


I think it was either my first or my second night of playing as Neyla that I met a little tarutaru named Jahar in East Sarutabaruta, where we both were leveling BLM and she was looking for someone to partner up with. I wasn't too keen on pairing up with someone before level 10, but I agreed nonetheless and we went on our way killing bees, crabs and anything else feasible for paper thin DDs.

This is probably where my inability to say no to tarus began.

Eventually Jahar logged off (after joining my friendlist) and I continued on. I don't remember the next time I heard from her, but I remember it was shortly after she'd popped back into East Sarutabaruta and I'd moved well into party levels. It wasn't long before I learned how young Jahar really is - 12 or 13, I believe - and that she shares her account with her older brother, who plays as a now 50-something DRK named Plebe.

Again, I think I can trace my relationship with tarus back to this.

Over

Neyla watches Jahar show off her power as a dragoon.

time I switched from BLM to RDM and fell in love with it. Jahar would play whenever she could, bouncing back and forth between WHM and BLM mostly but with odd ventures into all the other basic jobs here and there. I leveled on and on and could basically feel her eyes grow big every time she saw me on and saw the numbers by my name. As it stands now, her highest job is 41.

I talk to Jahar almost every time she's on, even if it's just our requisite "hellos" every time she logs on or takes notice of me. I hear of every little accomplishment - whether it's questing scrolls, learning new spells or soloing something new - and it reminds me how fun and enjoyable the lower levels were the first time around...how innocent everyone was. Just like my permanent homepoint in Port Windurst, Jahar helps keep me grounded. Ninety percent of the higher level players I know don't love the game like she does.

Just yesterday Halifirien and I helped her get her Blessed Hammer by fighting the shadow Marchelute in Valkurm Dunes. She was puzzled why two higher level players would take the time to help her out. All I could say was that we remember what it was like to need help when similar fights came around for us. All I could think was that her question was a sad statement on high level players in general. You have little right to complain you're bored when someone five feet from you has been shouting for help for the last three hours.

She wasn't, but I think you get my point...

Halifirien and I are going to help her get the rest of her tele scrolls once she has enough fame for them. When we have the gear and a tank available, we'll also help with the 2-3 dragon so she can move on to Rank 3 and eventually an airship pass. If she can keep her brother off the computer long enough to get into AF levels - and if she doesn't get too far sidetracked into her other great love, DRG - I'll handle those keys and fights as well. Jahar was the second person on my friendlist (Halifirien was first) and a ton of others have come and gone since. I'll always make time for that taru.

Quiet

Neyla and I skipped Dynamis yesterday to hang out and watch movies. It was the final prompt I needed to go back to having Saturday as my vacation from the game. I'm hoping Elemmire's efforts to recruit members for lolDynamis will be successful enough to allow for Wednesday afternoon runs, because otherwise I'll have to find a different Dynamis shell to fit my schedule.

I put up my Monk flag again this morning and fished sole in Port Jeuno while waiting for a party. Firebrand, the Lv. 75 WHM Neyla and I helped to Rank 10, was leveling his Summoner and asked if I wanted to join him while he recruited other members. It was a great party, but of course I got disconnected shortly after reaching Lv. 30 and they already had a replacement on the way by the time I was able to log on again. I'd forgotten to bring a Warp scroll, so I ended up running to Norg to switch jobs.

Beyond

Marchelute is a wuss.

that, the day was quiet. I spent a lot of time in the glacier going after Emperor Fish, and I picked up a set of Blessed Pumps when I saw three were up for sale in Jeuno.

Neyla and I took Jahar out to Valkurm Dunes to kill the monster for Jahar's AF weapon. I got there first and started killing snippers to build tp and had clubbed two to death before I found out there was an xp party there. I switched over to leeches at that point. We had to wait for nightfall before we could pop the NM, so Jahar lingered near the party and cast Haste on them for a few fights.

The fight didn't last long, and Neyla gave Jahar a pearl to Wicked Wayz. Once Jahar gets her fame up a bit, I'm going to help her quest her teleport scrolls. I leveled my NPC in the jungle before I logged out.

Later...

There are two days remaining in the current fishing tournament, so I grabbed some meatballs when I woke up and logged on. I managed to catch a whopper measuring 108[lm]/521[Pz]. I'm hoping like hell I can get in the top 20 with it. I want that Pelican Ring!