Cracking the Shell

Getting a party for my White Mage is a lot easier in the afternoon, that's for sure. I'd had my flag up about 90 seconds before I got an invitation from Barbiegirl to join her merit party.

We went to Mamook, where the first thing we did was take on a room full of spiders. Our Bard tried to keep them slept, but one woke up and came for me. I was thrilled to die on the very first pull. It got better after that, when we started fighting everything along the way to camp.

The

Wyverns are fond of Dispelling Wind.

clearing has plenty of puks, Mamool Ja and wyverns to keep a party busy. We were doing pretty well until the Bard noticed the NM named Darting Kachaal Ja. We decided to give it a shot and quickly realized we were screwed. The NM used Bindga, and while I was moving forward to cast Escape, he started casting Aeroga III.

"This is going to hurt," Barbiegirl winced.

We were still together for awhile, but that effectively killed the party. By the time we fought our way back to camp -- I died again to raptor aggro -- there were already two parties there. One of them decided to take on the NM and did a much better job of it, but they still wiped. Our Ninja disconnected and never came back. Meh.

A few of the other party were dead under a wyvern, and it turned out I was the only person in all three parties who could cast Tractor. That's kinda sad, yet another reason why I avoid /SMN in the wilds. We got them back on their feet and I escaped us out so we could disband.

Still, it wasn't too bad. I came out of it with another 8k in xp despite the two deaths.

Neyla was off farming buffalo hides, but sent me a /tell that Jahar needed G1 items.

I

Ah, Hexa Strike... how I've missed you.

dusted off my mage duo macros, since it's been ages since we've done anything on Red and White Mage. It was one of the easiest G1 runs I've ever seen. We got the exoray mold within the first dozen fights, hit the citadel and got the bomb ash, and then headed for the Glacier because Jahar didn't have the Xarcabard telepoint.

I suggested getting the telepoint first, so we trekked all the way through the pass and glacier to get there, then backtracked all the way back to the necropolis. A Paladin was killing bones for some reason, but he stopped to let us farm paper. It dropped quickly, too. Start to finish, including the detour to the telepoint, we had all three items in less than 90 minutes. If only it could always be that easy.

We had to leave for Dynamis-Bastok at that point. I'd hoped for a shot at the Monster Jackcoat, but Beastmaster is the only job that didn't see a piece of relic drop while we were there. The Duelist's Gloves dropped -- Neyla lost the lot again -- and enough Monk Gaiters that we were letting people lot who just planned to level Monk. I lotted them at first and would've won, but decided to pass because they'll drop again in the time it takes me to get from 41 to 71.

I

Awwwww... he's so cuuuuuute.

returned to Windurst after the run to check on my newly-hatched Chocobo. I'd tried to work out a good name during the Dynamis run. The temptation to name him "Fat Coq" or "Turbo Coq" or "Coq Burst" was overwhelming, but in the end I named him "Papa Paprika."

Pasquale was in the stable at the time. His hadn't hatched yet, and he was joking he'd make it hatch if he had to use a hammer.

Take Your Pick

As expected, Neyla and I dinged 71 off the same diremite today. He'd gotten a little ahead of me while helping camp Ose yesterday, but I'd killed a few crawlers in Aydeewa to catch up. We're now seemingly trapped in one of those transitional hell levels.

We

I hate when trolls use Diamondhide.

were sick of diremites, so we got a small buffer and decided to scope out a few new camps for future leveling. The first on the agenda was Halvung, which I'd never explored before. Most of the Magmatic Eruca are still Tough, although a few conned Even Match. We killed a few trolls, wincing every time they used Diamondhide to cut our damage to nothing. I think it might be a better place at 72 when the crawlers are easier to charm; there are charmable bats flapping around, but they don't have the damage output I'd want.

Caedarva Mire's karakul are supposed to be good against the Jnun mobs, but we didn't check that one. We decided instead to give Bibiki Bay a glance. There's a ledge to the north with several birds; I'd spent a few levels there on White Mage in the early 60s. There were only twelve other people in the zone, and one party off to the west of us where they couldn't get pissed at anything we did. Again, most of the birds conned Tough and converting them was nigh impossible.

"Let's at least kill a dhalmel so we can say we did," I joked.

Healing Breeze sucks ass.

Our next option was the Boyahda Tree.

Neyla

The mandragoras make short work of Aquarius.

got there first and saw Aquarius was up, so of course we had to kill him. He's done the fight a few times in the last week or so, but this was my first time. I got off to a rocky start by getting aggro from a Robber Crab and having to drop my mandragora to charm it instead, but otherwise it wasn't bad.

Mysterie, from TheFlock, was leveling in the area and joined us. She mischarmed several times and almost got herself killed, but we steadily worked him down with a constant stream of mandies. It was an exciting fight, since it's best to stay as far away from him as you can due to hate management.

Aquarius dropped the axe, and I lotted it since the other two already owned it. I tossed it later on, since the stats don't impress me enough to let it eat up moghouse space.

Mysterie disbanded to resume her leveling while Neyla and I went upstairs to finish getting our buffer on Steelshells. They were easier to kill than the last time we tried it and it was a welcome change from the diremites, but killing them is slow in a duo situation. I can see why most Beastmasters do them in groups of three.

We

Brutus gives me the Pick of Trials.

eventually left and traveled to Jeuno to speak with Brutus and obtain our Pick of Trials. We'll work on points for it next week; we just have to work out a good axe-axe skillchain.

Brutus gave me the new chocobo quest, so I switched to White Mage and teleported out to LaTheine to find the Chocobo Tracks. Once I found them, I had to return to Brutus and then travel to the stables in San d'Oria. It's actually a neat little storyline, and I'm hoping it continues as they introduce more aspects of chocobo raising.

Meanwhile, Neyla decided to farm Antican Acid in the Quicksand Caves. He didn't particularly need Antican Acid, but two annoying Peacock Charm thieves were partying on anticans there and he was in the mood to mete out a little justice by killling their prey. A paladin was in the area doing the same thing. All perfectly legal. I was tempted to join him, but in the end decided against it because I wasn't the victim and had already blacklisted the little shits when they MPK'd Chiimi.

I decided to break a few more Fastwater Fishing Rods to fight temptation. I bought two stacks of Light Crystals and three stacks of Trout Paste. All that time, I only managed to get a .2 woodworking skillup. I think I'm just going back to arrows.

Before

Neyla gets in touch with his inner Cher.

he left Jeuno, Neyla picked up a few pieces of Bison gear. I'd checked the stats on it and couldn't justify spending that kind of gil when the Beastmaster AF is better for the most part, but Neyla admitted it was strictly a vanity purchase and he wanted it because it made his mithra "pretty."

And I'm the gay one in this duo. Go figure.

"It could be worse," he told me. "I could be buying the Opaline set."

"Christ, then I really would be questioning your sexuality."

Neyla's going to see if one of the leathercrafters who post at QCDN would make two complete sets of signed Biston gear and will cut a deal if we supply the ingredients. Realistically, I'd be better off buying the ingredients through fishing profits, but it would be more satisfying to farm it all.

I know it sounds downright silly to say I'll spend all that time farming for gear I wouldn't buy from the Auction House, but that's the sort of goal that keeps the game interesting.

Local Wildlife

Dajade,

Imps love to silence people.

who used to be a member of WickedWayz a long time ago, invited me on White Mage to party in Caedarva Mire. I complained yesterday about Puks and their lack of status ailments, but Imps swing the pendulum the other way by spamming Deafening Tantra and silencing the party. I was worried I'd breaking off the key for my Silena macro.

The annoyance is balanced by squishy they are. There were four or five in the camp, so we'd cycle through them with a fly added in every so often to keep the chains going. Other than a few moments when we'd get an add and I'd have to pour some extra cures into the Paladin, I never had to rest.

I had a fun moment when our RDM/WHM couldn't manage to sleep an extra imp that had flapped over to make our lives hell. I used Elemental Seal and Sleep and kept it dozing until the first imp was dead. That, my friends, is one reason I'm uncomfortable with /SMN when I'm out in the wilds.

We raked in the xp and I was surprised to reach 73 and get an 8k buffer before we disbanded. My Mushroom Stew was still active for awhile after that, so we'd basically done 19k xp in about two-and-a-half hours. Not bad at all, as far as I'm concerned.

Lordsephiroth amused me by saying "I envy you, Hali. You get a party while you're in San d'Oria and I've been seeking in Whitegate for hours." I'm not sure how Seph knew I was synthing Pet Food Zeta when I got the invitation since he was being needlessly coy on that point, but it doesn't matter. I chalk it up to Dajade knowing me. As Neyla put it: "Go-go reputation and Rank 10."

I

This poor Qiqirn has nowhere to run.

geared up on Beastmaster and waited for Neyla to turn up for more diremite destruction. We set our goal at 27k into level and reached it easily. We'll hit 71 tomorrow and get a nice buffer. Next week we'll get our Pick of Trials and take a break from leveling to unlock Decimation. It can't top Rampage, but we want it just the same.

I had an evil idea while we were killing stuff. The hallway leading to the diremites has four worms and a Qiqirn ranger in it. I said we could charm the worms and have them attack the Qiqirn, since there's nowhere for him to run. It would be like creating a minefield.

As we were leaving so I could do Limbus, we tried it. Using Sic before the worms have 100tp causes them to cast spells. We got them to cast Stonega III on it a few times, as well as Bind and Rasp. I felt sorry for the poor bastard, because he'd try to run and there would always be a worm within range to nuke him. It sucks that Sic has such a long timer. I'd merit down the recast on it, but I think Tame would be a better choice.

As for Limbus, we did Apollyon NW. Because of the Behemoths on the last floor, we decided to get as many time extensions as possible and skip a lot of the farming.

The

I feel very small.

first floor had ghosts, so I was hitting them with Banish III to knock down their physical defense. We somehow managed to run off without opening a chest, which I thought was part of the strategy but was actually just a blunder.

The second floor had buffalo, and their boss was a huge ram along the lines of Bloodtear and Steelfleece. It's always entertaining to see something that large die a hideous, painful death. Veresko used Shadowbind on the rest of the buffalo along the way to the exit. The third floor's Bugards was a repeat of killing the minimum required and booking it for the exit.

The fourth floor was populated by wyverns, which meant dispelling wind regularly knocking off my Reraise. We didn't stick around on that floor very long, but it was exciting for another reason: Fafnir. Well, a Fafnir clone named Cynoprosopi. I'd never seen the big guy before, and Quieren took great delight in showing him off to me. Jesus, he was huge. We stayed as far away from him as we could.

The last floor had Behemoths, which Quieren tanked. Each one dropped five Ancient Beastcoins. Then it was time for Kaiser Behemoth, the clone of King Behemoth.

There's

Quieren tanks a Behemoth on the top floor.

a big donut-shaped area, and Quieren kited him around that while the melees followed behind and the Black Mages stood to the sides and nuked. Kaiser Behemoth would stop every few seconds and start to cast Meteor, but he never finished the cast because he'd get pissed and start charging after Quieren again.

We finished with enough time that we'll feel safe taking sidetrips and farming a little more next time. We each walked away with two Ancient Beastcoins and a few extras that were lotted.

Neyla and I did the Crawler's Nest escort after that. Olavia died in the lizard room, and we won the second round. Unforunately, I was distracted and didn't realize we were at the end; I didn't get my certificate for the win. I shouldn't play when I'm half-asleep.

Head in the Clouds

A busy day and a return to Sky. What more could you want?

I got bored this morning and decided to unlock the Mamool Ja Staging Point. I'd never been to Mamook before, and I was amused to see green raptors running around near the zone line. I even passed an Archaic Mirror on my way through.

My

Puks kinda suck.

timing was good, because I got an invitation on my White Mage to party at the Staging Point. I haven't partied on White Mage in months and feared I'd be rusty, but I wasn't about to turn it down. We didn't learn until we arrived our Ninja didn't have that portal unlocked, so we dumped him and got one who did.

A merit party was there killing everything in sight, but stuff pops fast enough to support two groups. We mostly fought Puks and threw in a few Mamool Ja for good measure. Puks are boring as hell for a White Mage since they have no status ailments, so I was thrilled any time a Mamool Ja gave me an excuse to use Erase.

The bane of a good White Mage's existence is the Red Mage who's partied with a lot of bad White Mages, and that's what I had today. He was RDM/WHM, and I guess he planned to do the entire Haste cycle by himself. After I overwrote his Haste on the Ninja and Dark Knight a few times, he finally stopped doing it. Oddly enough, the only spell he didn't cast was Dia II. He was a decent Red Mage, but I always hate it when people expect me to be a lazy gimp.

I was rusty, though. All that time in Dynamis with plentiful MP stones made me forget about conservation. Once I got back into that mode, Ginger Cookies were my best friend. I finished up about 11k from 73, which I'll try to get tomorrow or Thursday.

I

Failure, thy name is Upyri.

hit the Diremite camp on Beastmaster to wait for Neyla, but Zoner got jacked by a bat NM called Upyri and needed a raise. I used my Tavnazian Ring to hit the Safehold and switched to White Mage and hopefully get to him before someone else claimed it. I didn't make it in time. A Ninja and a Red Mage took it down, but they didn't get the uber-expensive drop Zoner had been wanting.

Neyla eventually logged on, and we killed diremites awhile. We decided to shoot for the halfway mark and stopped at 17k into level. We're going to try for 71 by Friday.

Today was TheFlock's "Sky recon" day, where we wanted to head up as a Beastmaster alliance and see what we could pull off. We want to kill Genbu as a linkshell event, but first we needed to see what the farming conditions were like. Most of us have done Sky with other linkshells, but very few of us have done it as Beastmaster.

Miros served as our guide, since some of us still don't know our way around. I'm lost without a map, no matter how often people say "Oh, it's easy once you get the hang of it." Not true in my case. I need to mark stuff down.

Zipacna

Enkidu, you'll never be as good as your brother.

wasn't up, but we killed a few golems before deciding to farm Ro'Maeve Spring Water off the Aura Pots.

The only problem we had was when Zimzum's Sneak dropped going into a telepad. He immediately got aggro from one of the weapons. We sent in scuttling swarm of pets to take it down along with the other weapon nearby and rested up a little before moving on to the pots.

I'd never farmed for water before, and I can see why people bitch about it. The bastards refused to drop for us. It was entertaining to see that many Courier Carries at work, especially when they had Gravity on them and moved very... very... slowly. I've never been more thankful for my Gaudy Harness, since it meant I almost always had enough MP for Stoneskin, Blink or Erase.

We didn't get the Water, but I had a little over 2k xp by the time we left. Dejan had stayed behind to look for Zipacna and told us when he popped. Unfortunately, we were not able to get there in time and Taray's linkshell beat us to him. That effectively ended our Sky recon.

I

The Courier Carrie army destroys Auroa Pots.

enjoyed myself, though. I'm more interested in doing the gods as a linkshell event for bragging rights than actually getting gear (although of course I wouldn't mind a Genbu Shield). When the time comes for me to go full-tilt at Sky, I'll be after an Osode and will want a shell that can take down Kirin.

For now, I just want to have fun in Sky and enjoy the sidelong glances from other linkshells who've got to be wondering what the hell we're doing up there. LordOfTheBeast has proven Beastmasters can win against some of those gods, so now we just have to dream big and make it happen on this server.

Stable Relationships

Chocobo

The Windurstian stables look like Besieged.

raising started today, and I'm sure there's plenty of people disappointed they couldn't start riding them right away. I took the egg I'd purchased to the stable in Windurst and "watched over it" a bit before leaving to do other stuff.

From what I've read, it'll take about a month to raise a bird from egg to adulthood. I'm not too worried about the intricate details of breeding chocobos beyond getting a mount I can call with a whistle every so often. As I've said before, the possibility of teleporting to Xarcabard and being able to ride to Fei'yin is enough reason to do it.

Neyla joked that "retired" chocobos are ground up into a new recipe: Pet Food Omega.

Three Lv. 5 armies were set to attack Al Zahbi, but I was more interested in getting some xp on Monk for the first time in ages. I figured there had to be a handful of people who weren't going nuts over chocobos and all the rest.

While

It feels good to punch things again.

Neyla and the others waged battle to preserve the Astral Candescence, I put my flag up in Jeuno and fished Black Sole while I waited. I got an invitation a stack later. The leader, a Summoner who served as our main healer, only wanted to party about two hours, which was ideal for me because I had Dynamis. The Crawler's Nest was empty, for the most part. We hit the secret room and started fighting Soldier Crawlers.

The flies were a nightmare, and one of them had me firing off Hundred Fists. I only survived because Chakra restored enough HP and cured my poison to help finish it off. The tank, Skillit, called one of his White Mage friends down to do the raise, and it turned out to be Bluefrost from my linkshell. She pearled him before she left.

I managed to get about halfway to 43 before we disbanded.

We returned to Dynamis-Beaucedine, but this time we were doing an attestation run instead of going for the win. A suicide squad of volunteers was to run to Nue's tower and kill the eye there to pop the Hydra mobs while the rest of us farmed time extensions.

It

The Dynamis Stone is a huge mofo.

didn't work out that way, but it's a learning experience and they're convinced they'll pull it off next time now that they know what to expect. We got plenty of relic armor -- Manasha's Monster Gaiters dropped -- and a couple 100 coins.

In the end, we decided to pull the Dynamis Stone for shits and giggles. We killed it, but it turned into one of those "Oh, shit... drop your glasses!" kinda moments. We only had a couple minutes left on the clock, so it seemed better to do that and save ourselves from massive xp loss.

Spider Dance

We nearly had a full alliance for today's Limbus run, which touched off some minor panic on Quieren's part. There are people who can come on Sunday but not Wednesday and some who can come Wednesday but not Sunday, and he suddenly realized he might end up wait-listing some people in the future. I think it's a good problem to have.

Today's

Shake it and see what falls out.

run was Apollyon SW, which they'd attempted before while I was at my parents' house. There are four floors, and time is definitely a major factor in this one.

The first floor had fomor parties, which meant plenty of links. Ikari hadn't zoned in before we started pulling, so he got locked outside the battle. Oops. We snagged the item chest as soon as the way was clear.

The second floor was my favorite because it had treants booby-trapped with an animal inside, ready to fall out and attack as soon as its home was chopped down. I got a nice surprise while resting MP because a spider popped out and started slashing at my head. We grabbed the ten-minute time extension chest for that one.

The third floor is nothing but treasure chests, although of course many of them are mimics. The first one we popped attacked us, and the gate to the fourth floor opened once it was dead. We skipped the rest and ran upstairs.

Fourth floor was magical... literally. It was filled with Elementals of various types floating around in groups of three. We took out trios of Water, Air and Light and started working our way through Fire. We were literally down to the last few seconds when the chests popped. We learned the "trigger" elementals are based on the day's weather, so we needed to take down the Fire Elementals since it was Fireday.

It was a good run. Zoner got a Black Rivet for his Dark Knight upgrade and Otak got the second piece she needed for Bard. The final chest dropped two Monk pieces; Ikari got one and I won the free lot on the second.

I

Wulfgar joins us in all his galka glory

was still tired, so I logged out for awhile at that point and came back later for the "Test Your Mite" ENM. Nanunanoo is still off getting settled in from a recent move, so Cmdrfly came as White Mage and Wulfgar filled in as damage dealer and backup tank. I begin to realize why Woodsman Rings cost over a million gil; we've been doing this ENM for months and we keep getting Geist Earrings. Cmdrfly sold the last one and distributed the gil after we'd killed Pasuk. I get to sell the one that dropped today.

I did a little fishing when it was over while Neyla went into Pso'xja to farm a Florid Stone for next week's fight. I figured I'd put myself through the ritual humilation of camping Nue and then farm a stone of my own, but someone was already camping him and I left him to it.

Before I logged, I went to Jeuno and bought a Chocobo Egg from the little girl near the auction house on the top floor. Tomorrow's update will unlock the ability to raise birds of our own, and I'm really looking forward to it.