Listless

Today was one of those boring days with nothing to do where you wonder why you bothered logging on. I toyed with asking Neyla if he wanted to work on Decimation points, but I couldn't get excited about it. Instead, I went fishing awhile.

The

Why does the Red Mage hate me so much?

only event for the day was Dynamis-Beaucedine. It seemed certain Team Emo had messed up their shot at popping the Hydra mobs, but they rallied and accomplished it. We only fought Goublefaupe and had a rough time when we went to farm his Hydra minions. Not the most successful run, but still okay. I got killed by that damned Hydra Red Mage again.

It was Truegrave's last run with the linkshell. I'm surprised he didn't stick around a bit longer since we're going to try to take down Dynamis Lord in a few weeks, but I can't really blame him. Unless you just love Dynamis like fish love water, what's the point of going once you have the relic armor you want?

In other news, I bought a Tatami Shield from Quieren. He already had one, but his linkshell did a Gration run and he gave me a nice discount on his second. I look forward to equipping it, since I've been using the Balance Buckler since Lv. 40.

"The Tatami Shield looks like a little washboard," I told Neyla. "I can charm monsters and keep my Hauby spotless."

Points for Effort

Following a successful Crawler's Nest escort, Neyla and I headed out to the Boyahda Tree to work points for the Pick of Trials. He got there first and walked in to find Aquarius. Someone had zoned the crab and it was going after a party leveling on Deathcaps. Neyla suggested we kill it "as a public service," so we charmed spiders and pulled him out in to the open where we could throw mandies at him. The Ranger from the Deathcap party asked if he could have the axe, so we let him lot it when we'd finished.

With

Must... earn... points...

that out of the way, we settled in for a healthy dose of skill points. Neyla had found a skillchain calculator, and it said our best option was Spinning Axe followed by Raging Axe to make Fusion. We alternated opening and closing, so every two skillchains put us five points closer to the goal.

We did our work near the second pond, attacking Robber Crabs and the two Knight Crawlers near the tree. We averaged 20-30xp per kill, and we kept at it until we'd worked off 150 of the 300 points we need. Another session should take care of it, and then we can worry about the NM fight.

I hit the grotto for a bit and chatted with Ogami, who was equally annoyed by the downturn in the fish market. Nobody's buying these days, it seems. I'm hoping all the people returning to class will spur the market and drive up some prices. I have a hungry chocobo to feed and want to buy some new toys.

Ghoul

I've decided to save up a bit and purchase an Apollo's Staff, which most Beastmaster's tag as one of the more important pieces of gear for the job. I carry an obscene amount of stuff and would like to streamline a bit, and it should help.

BigKahunas

We need to pull the wings off these Enhanced Beetles.

had twelve people for today's Limbus run, so we decided to farm Temenos West for coins. It was a smooth run, other than Asmodius getting lagged out and killed by jellies as we were moving to the next floor. It was a flashback to the last time we were there and Otak died without Reraise, because he had no choice but to sit out the run and wait for it to be over so I could revive him.

Each of us received four Ancient Beastcoins, with the remaining few to be banked and distributed later as soon as we can work out a good system for it. Veresko wants a coin bank where members can spend attendance points, while I'd prefer adding them to the pot at the end of the next run and distributing them.

I obtained the second half of the White Mage upgrade items, which means they'll languish in my Mog Locker for months until I either upgrade something or throw them away. I'll have to look into the stats.

Asmodius got the second piece he needed to upgrade his Beast Trousers. He was four coins short, so I gave him mine so he can have his pants ready for pickup on Sunday. I know he'll pay me back.

While I was running around Temenos, Neyla was searching Toramarai Canal for a coffer and completing the Star Onion Brigade quests for the Promise Badge. I had nothing better to do after the run, so I grabbed my coffer key.

Neyla

Neyla found the coffer for me.

tagged along to help me search, since it's a lot of ground to cover. He found the coffer and I got the Joker Card. I finished that quest and did the next one, finally ridding myself of the shoalweed that's been gathering dust for weeks and obtaining a Promise Badge.

The quests change a little if you've reached Rank 10 in Windurst, since the Mission storyline negates part of it. It's sad having the taru children waiting for Joker's return when, from having Rank 10, you know that's not going to happen. Ever.

"He can't keep his promise," Neyla said, "because you're a murdering tarutaru bastard."

"I'm not just a murderer," I laughed. "I'm going to sell the token of his promise for 250k. I'm a ghoul as well."

I really wish some future expansion would add new quests involving the Star Onion Brigade. I love those little tykes.

Dress You Up

Papa Paprika was crying yesterday to wake the dead. The NPC gave me a white hankerchief to carry around, and today she took it back to use for bedding. My little chocobo is much more calm now that it has the hankerchief with my unique smell on it... you know, unwashed taru socks and empty boxes of San d'Orian takeout food.

Neyla

They have a horrible drop rate on hides.

and I farmed buffalo in Uleguerand Range, and the drop rate on the buffalo hides is horrible enough to make a brave man weep. We wanted hides for a Bison synth. It was a neverending stream of animals, with Neyla tanking on Red Mage and me smacking them around with my Darksteel Maul. I used my Empress Band and was getting 20-35xp per kill, as well as many ice crystals.

We eventually moved camps and started killing the buffalo in Bonnacon's spawn area. He drops the fabled Cure Clogs, which sell for 900k these days and are still overpriced as far as I'm concerned.

Demonknightx turned up as THF/NIN to camp Bonnacon and partied up with us to give us Treasure Hunter, but the drop rate was still lousy. On the positive side, his damage output was letting us tear through the buffalo. We'd managed to get one hide before he turned up, and we got a second when Bonnacon spawned. No clogs, but at least Neyla got his second hide. I quietly vowed to just buy the damned hides.

Despite my earlier plan to farm all the stuff and have them synthed, I think at this point I'd rather buy the pieces. I don't mind helping Neyla farm the stuff for his set, but it's not as important to me.

The

Oh... my... god. You never saw me like this! Say it!

reason it's not as important to me is I asked Neyla to let me try on what he'd bought so far. Um... yeah. I'm gay and proud, and I like to flirt with the elvann boys, but I'm not a drag queen. I was hoping I'd look like Grizzy Adams in it, but instead I look more like Nellie Olson.

The Bison set has no advantage over the Beastmaster AF, and Neyla admits his interest in it is strictly cosmetic. I may pick up a set just to have it (I can alway sell it again the way a few buyers in the current auction house history already have), but I'll probably just stick with the ultra-butch Hauby and Thick gear.

My masculinity can only handle so much assault.

Death by Red Mage

The

Give us a big sloppy kiss...

Astral Candescence had been stolen yesterday, and it had just been recovered when I logged on and started putting together my search comment. I got a party about two minutes after I put up my flag -- it's handy when you're the only healer seeking in the 70s -- and hit Caedarva Mire with my group. We slaughtered everything around the Jnun pond near the staging point; the xp numbers weren't as high as they'd be in Mamook, but we were usually doing Chain 10 and it didn't matter.

I reached 74 and got a 7k buffer before our Monk had to leave and the Ninja disconnected. The rest of us made our way back to Whitegate, although I stopped to raise two guys from another party along the way.

The xp in the new zones is so fast I almost feel guilty for rocketing to 75 so quickly. I remember when Neyla was making the climb through the 70s on Red Mage, and it seemed like he was up leveling every night for a couple weeks to get there. I've heard people complain the expansion is making us soft World of Warcraft players, and maybe there's something to that. Of course, after 72 levels of White Mage I don't think there's a whole lot left to learn in that last part.

While Neyla was off farming buffalo and manticores, I collected my guild points and checked in on Papa Paprika. My little chocobo was crying a lot and was ill. I bought some wildgrass from the Windurst Auction House for 30k -- I'm going to start growing my own -- and took him for a walk. Every time I say I'm not going to get heavily involved in the chocobo raising, I get suckered in by how adorable they are.

Tonight's

The Hydra is wearing Paladin gear and a pimp hat.

Beaucedine run went better than the last, since suicide squad "Team Emo" was able to take down the eye at Nue's tower and pop the Hydra mobs for attestations.

Our alliance was having a heavy discussion about previous incarnations of Final Fantasy, and Neyla cracked me up by sending me a /tell to wake him up "when you nerds are finished." I tuned out when the conversation drifted to collectible trading card games, which I've never understood.

We had our thieves doing a two-part pull for the Hydra NMs in the towers. One had to sacrifice-pull the NM so he'd pop his buddies, and then the other had to do a sac-pull so Cythe could pick the NM out of the crowd.

There's something wild about an undead mob with three jobs and a mix of relic armor. The second tower we did had a PLD/WAR/RDM named Goublefaupe. A paladin wearing a pimp hat is just... wrong. After we killed him, we decided to farm his buddies. Cythe died while Moink and I were in the middle of casting our Cure Vs, so Djrealmz and Truegrave had to tank. There was a lot of death involved and I was killed by the Hydra Red Mage.

We were almost out of time after we'd killed the posse, so we dropped our hourglasses and left. Intense fights make for a lot of fun.

I don't think I'd ever upgrade a Relic Axe to Guttler levels for Beastmaster, but I'd certainly be tempted if the attestation dropped. I doubt I'd have competition for the lot.

Many Meetings

WickedWayz officers had a brief meeting in Jeuno to discuss the recent influx of members. It basically boiled down to having sackholders keep an eye on their charges during that "introductory phase," which is what Neyla and I have been doing anyway. This was the first officer meeting I can remember, and it was nice to have a chance to clear the air on a few issues and get feedback. We should do that more often.

The

I hope they brought back Elvis.

meeting ended and most of us who were there switched pearls to BigKahunas for the Sunday run through Limbus. We were heading for Apollyon SE when we saw a party with a Yovra hovering in their midst. I've never seen one of the "UFOs" up close before, and I was surprised at how huge they are. We didn't wait around to see their fate; we ran for the Limbus entrance.

Apollyon SE was regarded by most of us as one of the easier runs we've had because the mobs died fast and we quickly cleared the floors. I think it was actually one of the messier runs because of the body count at the end. There was so much AoE damage -- jellies with Fluid Spread, bones with Blood Saber, crabs with Bubble Shower and weapons with Whirl of Rage -- that people were dying more often than usual. I was the only White Mage in the 15-player alliance, although Quieren was good about being my backup.

We won and each of us walked away with three coins. This victory gave us the final chip we need for the Omega fight, which we'll do next Sunday. This Wednesday we're going to "relax" and farm Temenos for coins and items.

I

Mamool Ja are entertaining prey when you can claim them.

got an invitation to a merit party at the Mamool Ja Staging Point a few minutes after we disbanded, and I used my ring to teleport out there to meet them. It was a "traditional" party setup: Paladin, Thief, Ranger, Black Mage, Red Mage and White Mage. The xp wasn't as fast -- compounded by a competing party outpulling us at every turn -- but it made for a nice change of pace. Our Red Mage had to leave and brought in a Bard replacement; not just BRD, but BRD/NIN for some reason.

Our Paladin was one of those unfortunate tanks who felt the need to dictate the White Mage's every move. If he got Paralyzed, Silenced or Slowed or took a tap on the chin, he felt the need to let me know. I finally sent him /tells that he needed to knock it off and let me do my job. It was getting so annoying I was ready to stop curing him unless he reminded me I needed to. I stuck it out, though. I'm now 13k away from 74.

Neyla called off "Test Your Mite" because he wasn't feeling well. I traveled to Jeuno anyway to turn in my Florid Stone and hit Bastok to flag the escort quest. I was tired and didn't mourn the lost 3k xp. I rode the boat to Al Zahbi and logged out when I hit the dock; I didn't even make it to the moghouse.