Finding My Way

I'm

I like this tonberry more than his big brothers in the den.

a happy taru today because I finally have my map to the Den of Rancor. Neyla and I went back down there and killed wave after wave of tonberries and bombs in that camp near the zone to get his key, and the only real mishap was when Neyla took the Everyone's Grudge move to the head and died. Ouch.

His key finally dropped, and we scouted around to find the coffer. Neyla let me pop it, and I stayed behind to mark several points of interest on the map before I left for Windurst. At long last, I can locate the Cloister of Tides without getting lost. Hallelujah.

Tonight's run was Dynamis-Jeuno, and I was in the main tank party. I went /SMN this time, using Aerial Armor and Carbuncle's defensive buffs to augment what Aerdrie (SMN) was already doing. It'll never be my first choice for a subjob out in the wild, but I'm getting used to the idea of using it for BCNMs and stuff like Dynamis.

This

It's good to be in a position of responsibility again.

was the night of double drops, too. Two sets of Cleric's Pantaloons (which I already have), two sets of Duelist's Tights (Neyla missed the lot both times) and assorted other goodies dropped. In addition to keeping a constant eye on Cythe's health, I kept watch on Neyla and threw some cures his way when his Sleepgas drew hate.

The last hour of the run was a post-win rescue mission to get to Gladdy, who'd done a sacrifice pull. One of our White Mages ran out to raise him and ended up aggroing a disturblingly huge horde of mobs. To our credit, we managed to fight our way out of the Auction House and get to Gladdy before we ran out of time. It was freakin' amazing. I only died twice the entire evening, too.

Cythe put new attendance rules in place to reward people who show up on time and stay for the entire run. I'm glad he did it, because I'll feel better about those Monday nights when I have to log out after the win; I can just take the penalty and be done with it. It's fair. It might take a little longer for me to get my White Mage gear from the northlands, but I'd rather it take longer than go on being a braindead zombie the rest of the week because I didn't sleep.

Neyla

The Dodomeki are stubborn about dropping their eyes.

and I finished up the night by going doing a quick sweep of the Den of Rancor coffer spots near the jungle entrance, but we didn't have any luck. We went into Ifrit's Cauldron to level our NPCs and to pull a few hecteyes. They didn't drop, but we plan to go back next week and farm our little hearts out until we get them. We'd like to have our O-Hats waiting for us when our Beastmasters are high enough to wear them.

One Down, One to Go

An emergency maintenance the other day resulted in three Besieged armies attacking Al Zahbi and the first loss of the Astral Candescence on our server. Without the Sanction bonuses, according to Neyla, people can't make their food last longer and that's why Black Sole have doubled in price to 90k a stack. That's probably it, so I jumped on the gravy train and finished the stack I'd started yesterday and then did another for good measure. I hate fishing for sole, but it's hard to turn down fast sales every so often.

We

Mousse make fine tanks.

returned to the Den of Rancor for another round of key farming. Neyla nicknamed me "Aggro Bait" because I was running into problems, but only one was seriously life threatening. I hate tonberries and I really really really hate Throat Stab because it ruins a good pet... unless it's a Mousse.

Mousse aren't great against Ninja mobs like Tonberry Slashers because of the magic damage, but they're still pretty awesome. I charmed and Familiared one, and we were on the third fight when the Slasher used Throat Stab on it. Instead of dropping it to a sliver of health, it only took it down to half life. The downside was purging the hate on the Mousse, so the tonberry turned on us until the jelly could get its attention again.

There was a team of gil sellers down there, too. They were killing the bombs near our camp, but they were only doing one at a time and we'd claim the other. I'd normally leave such camps alone... but they're gil sellers, so screw 'em.

A

It's tempting to let them snack on her.

key finally dropped, and I won the lot on it. We killed a few more after that, but then it was off to the Crawler's Nest for the escort quest.

Hadafal came with us, his first time doing it on Beastmaster. She took the shorter route this time, and when it was over I switched to White Mage and teleported us out to Bastok. Neyla ate his scroll on WHM, while Hada ate his on Ninja and I ate mine on Warrior to catch up to Neyla's Dark Knight. The three of us are now about 1k to 34 on our subjobs, so we'll ding fast. We're going to party again on Sunday. Here's hoping we can hit 37.

I'll take my key into the Den of Rancor from the jungle entrance and camp the coffer spawn locations near there. I really want that map.

I finished out the evening by traveling to San d'Oria and starting a new contract with the Carpenter's Guild. While I was buying a bunch of Maple Shields and turning them in, Neyla was escorting Magix around for Porphyrion fight and then the Magicite missions for an airship pass.

MP Sponges

Somewhere near the end of the night's festivities, Neyla said we should get a WAR/NIN for Sunday's expedition to help Hadafal tank... or that I should sub NIN instead of MNK because I was taking damage and being an MP sponge.

"White

I'm glad the tunnel was still open.

Mages these days are too soft!" I protested, channeling Jesse Ventura's character from Predator. "I'll toughen them up!"

It's a neat idea, but not something that's going to happen. I hope he doesn't start cutting himself because I'm not listening to him -- always a danger with the lol emo DRK -- but we only have a few levels to go and this particular static can quietly dissolve.

I was pleased with today's results. Our goal was to reach 33, and I was able to grab a Monk, White Mage and Samurai to round out the slate. The tunnel camp from Sunday was still open, and we stayed there awhile. It started strong -- we burned off our Empress bands before the first Meat Mithkabob wore -- but the xp started slowing down when the SAM hit 32. He said he'd grab a replacement Warrior.

We decided we'd change camps when the three of us hit 32. The new guy brought along a powerleveler -- he didn't ask if we even wanted a PL, and just announced she was there to "help us out" -- and ended up disbanding in a huff when we moved camps and he died in the jungle. I'd announced we were moving camps, but it's hard to trust the observational powers of someone who had to ask if Hadfal was a Ninja when he'd been wearing paper-thin armor and using shadows the entire time.

We

The fat bats hit hard. Ouch!

lost a big chunk of time moving camps. We had to grab a new White Mage, and I replaced the dead Warrior with a Black Mage -- a first for our static. We were going to camp at the waterfall near Norg, but instead decided to try Garlaige Citadel to save ourselves possible replacement headaches and to make it easier to restock on supplies.

Once we were established, we were fine. The bats hit a lot harder than the mandies, and the beetles have that nasty evasion boost, but our new WHM did fine; he even had Erase, which made me happy. Neyla had to zone a few linked bats, but otherwise our time there was free of hassle.

With the Black Mage present, we worked out a skillchain. Neyla's Power Slash into my Sturmwind for a nice Water II magic burst usually did about 200+ damage to the bats, and eventually we switched to Sturmwind into Freezebite for a Blizzaga burst that was equally impressive.

Not a bad day, getting from 30 to 33 with only one death -- the SAM had accidentally attacked one of the two lizards in the jungle camp, leading to a link and party wipeout. We're going to do our best to finish it out on Sunday before the ENM.

At 34 I get a new Great Axe and can equip my Venerer Ring again. I can't wait.

Talks with Tonberries

I got over my fear of Ifrit's Cauldron, but the Den of Rancor still creeps me out.

Neyla and I have been talking about going in there for awhile, hoping we'd be high enough in level to farm a coffer key and get maps of the place. Neyla also wanted the map of Temple of Uggalepih, so he started farming a key while I was fishing. Toramas, it seems, eat tonberries for lunch.

I

We have to clear the room so I can use the paintbrush.

eventually joined him, and got a key a few mobs later. That was our cue to check out the Den. We charmed crawlers and turned them loose on the Temple Guardian. They would've been no match for him in a protracted fight, but it didn't matter because he blew up himself and our pets, opening the door for us.

We got aggro from one of the tonberries, so we charmed some bees and used them to keep it busy while we cast Invisible on ourselves, ran through the door and past that doll NM that patrols the room, and found a safe spot in the hallway to temporarily log out to lose aggro. It seemed better than killing the tonberry and possibly having the Temple Guardian respawn.

The canvas room has four or five tonberries, and we used FunguarFamiliars to take out two near the door. The others were clustered in a far corner away from the empty canvas, so I set Neyla as my bodyguard while I used the Paintbrush of Souls. There's nothing like having to stand perfectly still and waiting for the sound of a tonberry chirping behind you before it starts stabbing at your throat.

I really thought we'd get screwed on this one, but it turns out there's a camp right at the zone for coffer key mobs. We charmed Dire Bats and used them to kill Slashers, Beleaguerers and Bifrans bombs.

There

Gauldeval hit 57 while fighting tonberries.

were some fun moments, to be sure. I got aggro from two bats and had to do the dance of attacking, charming and releasing at the speed of light to end the problem. Neyla got aggro at the wrong moment and we had to zone. Throat Stab had us scrambling for replacement pets. Nothing too major, and neither of us died while we were there. I even managed to get my NPC to 57.

Members of TheFlock turned up for an O-Hat run. I don't have my cluster yet, but I was pleased they'd scheduled it for 7 p.m. since most of their activities start late in the evening when I'm getting ready to log off. The six of them have decided to set up a little sideline business for themselves, killing Hakutuku for two million a pop for people who can't pull together an alliance or who want to avoid a lot of drama. I'm still working out how I feel about that.

We were only in there and hour or so and didn't get our key, so we'll probably go back on Thursday if we're not leveling subjobs.

Sidetrips on Route 37

Today was very busy, and it started on a good note because I could finally afford my Brown Belt. I'm broke now, but I'm excited and can't wait for a chance to level Monk again.

We

Surrounded by enemies, there's still time for a group photo.

got off to a late start on the Promyvion-Dem run, and I was almost hoping my services wouldn't be required so I could go back to sleep. Veresko asked me if I could come along as Summoner, so I snagged all my Seer's gear from my mule and prepared.

Dewson, Lepruvian and Lordsephiroth needed the win. Xylea and Hoiy didn't, but decided to come along to add extra muscle for the climb to the top. We'd gathered in Jeuno and spoken to the NPC for the key item to enter the ENM fight for the handy 3,000xp at the top while we were there.

I've never done a promy run as SMN before, and I had a lot of fun trying out the different avatars depending on the elemental weakness of whatever mob we'd pulled. I liked using Ifrit on the Memory Recepticles for Double Punch.

The

We accidentally got Gorger aggro on the top floor.

ENM was easy, although Xylea couldn't go in because he joined us late and didn't have the key item. It was also nice practice for the actual boss fight, which went down without a hitch. My Diamond Dust macro didn't work right and it took me longer than necessary to pop one off and take out the boss and its children, but we managed. Hell, I didn't even have time to use my animas.

I think we're going to do another one next Sunday. If we had a group willing to do the ENMs every week, I'd drag Neyla along and get our WHM and SMN jobs to 37 that way. Yes, I'm just that lazy.

Neyla, Hadafal and I were set to level our subjobs an hour or so later, so I decided to spend the time working on my fishing guild points. The guild wanted Bluetail, which are easy to target with a Minnow Lure in Buburimu. When I turned them in (I only needed to catch six), I finally had enough points to purchase my Fishing Hole Map. I couldn't wait to run back to my moghouse and put it on the wall next to The Big One. It looks awesome, even if it's not doing anything for me because the mannequins drown it out with Moghancement: Light.

And

The Fishing Hole Map looks great with my other fishing stuff.

then... the jungle. This week's "Test Your Mite" was called off because our Ninja had football practice, but I didn't mind as much because it meant two more uninterrupted hours with the subjob static.

The road to 37 has been relatively smooth, and I've got to wonder if our luck will run out before we get there. For example, the party I pulled together today stayed together the entire evening. I snagged a White Mage named Hotchik about three seconds after she put her flag up, and she pointed me to a Dark Knight named Beric with whom she'd partied the night before. The final member of our party, Freciont, was a Warrior. It seemed like a great setup to me.

That's not to say there weren't snags. We wiped to a nasty goblin encounter and Neyla homepointed back to Kazham to return as Red Mage to Chainspell Raise us. That's something I've only heard about but never witnessed... very handy. For safety, I let Hotchik use my Reraise Earring, but she'd never used one before and it took us a few minutes to explain how it worked.

The WHM's internet connection was spotty, too. She disconnected several times -- never for longer than two minutes -- and we joked that her modem was made of two cups and waxed string... or that she was possibly using smoke signals.

The

Mandragoras are no match for our collected might.

xp eventually slowed down, so we crutched along until Neyla, Hadafal and I dinged 28 and then moved to Yhoator Jungle's cave camp with the two lizards inside. Neyla did a great job of pulling without getting aggro from the goblins patrolling on either side. He'd pull the Goblin's Bee, and our party cracked up because the WHM and I dinged on two different bees and the 40xp they gave.

We managed to reach Lv. 30, and we're going to party again later in the week when Neyla gets a time worked out with Hadafal. I'm hoping we can hold out until Wednesday, because I need to do some hardcore fishing and make some gil. My armor for Warrior is eclectic, at best. I'm hoping I have some old stuff from Beastmaster lying around that will work.