Splinters

Neyla sent me a message last night after I'd logged out. They eventually killed Voluptous Vivian, but there was massive death and aggravation along the way. Among other things, he ended up homepointing and is now 3,000xp behind me. He's going to be doing some soloing on Sunday to catch up.

My

That's a lot of lumber...

time this morning was all about crafting. Specifically, cranking out a ton of Arrowwood Lumber in Carpenter's Landing and then using that to make several tons of Scorpion Arrows at the guild in San d'Oria. I'd forgotten how mind-numbing it can be to synth so many arrows.

I used the entire stack of Scorpion Arrowheads and Insect Fletchings and pushed my Woodworking skill to 56. The big surprise came when I went to sell them. I spent maybe 50k for materials, crystals and advanced synthesis support to make 2.5 stacks of Scorpion Quivers... and one stack of quivers sells for 60k. That's a hell of a profit for skilling up.

The synth caps at 59, so I'll buy another stack of ingredients and push on to the cap and run through the rest to sell for profit. Then it'll be time to try something else.

I like woodworking. It fits with that rugged outdoorsman feel of a Beastmaster.

One Step Forward, One Step Back

The

The crawler roasts our crabs in their shells.

Astral Candescence has finally been restored, but its effects have been weakened during its time in captivity. Sanction Refresh normally restored my MP to around 150, but today it was stopping at 84. I was just thrilled to have it back, since the pugils spam Aqua Ball and I'm always needing a fresh Stoneskin.

The camp in Mount Zhayolm definitely started sucking when we Neyla and I dinged 73 on Beastmaster. The pugs and crawlers were all lower-level Toughs, so we got a buffer and then headed out to the Necropolis for the escort quest.

After we'd eaten our scrolls, I returned to Windurst to gear up White Mage for another run at Dynamis-Xarcabard. I stopped at the stables to check on Paprika. His speed improved, so I registered my Chocobo Whistle again so the change would be reflected when I call him in the field.

The Xarcabard run was rough. I felt optimistic at the start because that initial pull is always such a bastard and we got through it okay, but it was downhill after that. There were too many wipes for my comfort, and too many people barking contradictory orders. It put me in a cranky mood.

We

This is going to hurt...

reached Dynamis Lord with plenty of time on the clock, but the fight didn't go nearly as well. There's a luck factor involved with all the skill, and this time luck was against us. I was killed by Yang while Dynamis Lord was carving his way through the melee horde below.

The worst part, the insult to my particular injury, was after the wipe when everyone had been raised and we were preparing to leave. I'd tossed my hourglass, and about five seconds before being booted out I saw Dynamis Lord charging into our camp. He sliced me and then used Breakga as I zoned and landed dead on the other side. I don't know what idiot went up and taunted him, but I wasn't amused.

I lit out for San d'Oria after that to start making some Arrowwood Lumber. When I logged, Neyla was preparing to join a few Flock members to kill Voluptuous Vivian.

Wooden it Be Lovely?

Not a lot to report today, as it was almost non-stop Beastmaster leveling in Mount Zhayolm with Neyla. Just to switch things up when the two pugils to the north were having a mating session, Neyla would pull the Magmatic Erucas. I laughed the first time I saw one breathe fire; I had no idea they did that.

He was about 600xp ahead of me, so after we disbanded I hit the camp in Aydeewa to solo a few crawlers to catch up. We'll do the Necropolis escort tomorrow, then return to Mount Zhayolm to ding 73 and get a buffer.

The only other notable thing I did was a bit of woodworking.

The

I'm playing with my wood.

guild wanted five Oak staves, but none were up for sale and I had to make them. Earning points from the fisherman's guild spoiled me, because then all you have to do is go to a spot and cast your line for a bit. Actually buying and making stuff for points seems so alien to me, and yet I'm steadily getting there.

I'll have my Carpenter's Gloves by the end of next week, and I'm going to keep earning points until I can get my apron. I should be able to accumulate enough points by the time I get woodworking to 68.

I bought a stack of Scorpion Arrowheads so I can go on a synthesis binge this weekend. If I can grind out enough arrows to reach 60, I can break and repair fishing poles all the way to 80. Then I can make some signed staves to replace the ones I have.

I can't wait to have signed HQ staves... but that's a long way off.

Rough Day

No heavy lifting on the Beastmaster front today. Neyla and I traveled to Mount Zhayolm again and knocked out around 7k in xp before I had to leave for Limbus.

It

Yovra are very unpleasant when you're not prepared.

was a bit of a clusterfuck at first, because Veresko couldn't be there and Quieren was unable to attend because he's down with bronchitis. It fell to me and Nomar to organize a coin-farming run with the few people who turned up.

The first surprise came when we were running to find the NM flower. Kougaiji was in the lead and then suddenly there was a huge column of flesh right behind him. He'd gotten aggro by a Yovra; I can't complain too much, since I wasn't scanning the sky and it could just as easily have been me.

We made a valiant effort, but we ultimately wiped. We got very close to killing it, but the damned thing would Charmga the melees and strip them of their TP at all the wrong moments. I ended up eating two plain vanilla Raises, which didn't help my mood.

Once I had everyone on their feet, we hit an Apollyon zone and farmed jellies, crabs, bones and weapons for coins. TheFonz got disconnected before we went in, and Kougaiji locked Divton out by pulling before he could get into the zone. That left ten of us; we got the win and each of us received five Ancient Beastcoins. I now have 42 of the 75 I need for a Brutal Earring.

I

Papa Paprika races through the dunes.

returned to Windurst to check on Papa Paprika. Finally, after a frustrating week of being rebuffed, I found the dirty handkerchief he'd hidden and was able to obtain my Chocobo Whistle. It was starting to piss me off, because every time I'd take him for a walk he'd be "happy" and I couldn't search. I was threatening to donkey punch him if he didn't give me the goods.

Once I'd registered my whistle, I took him for a test drive from the Dem Crag to the Valkurm Dunes outpost. It's great to have a tangible benefit of all the stuff I've been doing for the past month. I've heard complaints about chocobos being as slow as walking, but Papa Paprika doesn't have that problem because I've been raising him for speed and endurance. He's not as fast as a rental, but he's no slouch. Now I just have to keep boosting his speed.

While all this was going on, Neyla was up in sky for another Genbu fight with TheFlock. They didn't have as many people this time, the big turtle broke out some -ga spells and the birds were killed off by the time it was about half dead, but they managed to bring him down. The shield didn't drop.

Turtle Soup

Upon

I need tartar sauce...

learning we couldn't use the Runic Portal to reach Mount Zhayolm yesterday, Neyla and I gave up our plans to level Beastmaster. Why it didn't occur to us to run through Halvung to get there is beyond me, but that's what we did today because the Astral Candescence is still in enemy hands. We took a short detour so Neyla could quest the map before settling in to kill pugils.

The xp bonus from the Astral Candy would've been nice, but what's really annoying is the lack of Refresh. The Gaudy Harness keeps you topped off at 49mp, but the pugs like to spam Water Ball. It wasn't too bad, though. A lot of them were still checking Very Tough to us. We kept going until we were 15k into our level.

The goal is to reach 75 before Neyla's birthday next month, which I think we can manage.

Ah, but the big news of the day is Genbu.

Members

Genbu's first thought is "WTF?"

of The Flock farmed two sets of pop items for Genbu so we could finally take him on in an all-Beastmaster alliance. After last night's late Dynamis, I wasn't excited about the start time -- they wanted to gather at 9 -- but I also didn't want to miss it. Neyla and I went up early and goofed around near the entrance. I mostly went semi-afk, but Neyla charmed birds and attacked Sprinklers with them until everyone arrived.

Another linkshell was already up there, planning to do four Genbu fights. It gave everyone time to run around and gather up a Flamingo army, although at 72 most of them still checked Tough to me and I was in mischarm hell trying to get one. I finally gave up since I don't know my way around up there and didn't want to wander too far from the group.

Dejan announced money drops would be free lot and then polled everyone to see what Rare/Ex drops they wanted. I put myself down for the Genbu's Shield, which is one of the few things I've ever wanted out of Sky. My only competition for it was Neyla.

We

Neyla and I try to carve our way through his shell.

had 17 Beastmasters and one White Mage, and everyone would release and recharm their birds to keep them fresh until the other linkshell was finished. Neyla and I used Courier Carrie. Once the ??? appeared, everyone Familiarized their pets and we popped the big turtle. It was like a pink flapping cyclone, the sort of thing that would keep Alfred Hitchchock up at night.

Honestly, I expected more from Genbu. I know people call him "Genboob" and "The Gimp," but I thought we'd have birds dying and people popping jugs. I imagined we'd be using pet food like crazy to keep our pets alive. Instead, we ground him into powder. The birds pecked him to death while the crabs nipped at him with their claws. The entire thing took about ten minutes. The closest we came to a death was when TheFonz used Spirits Within and got hate, with Genbu lumbering after him while he kited.

I got my shield.

They plan to pop the second Genbu tomorrow at 7 p.m., but I'll probably miss that one because of Limbus. Neyla will be there, so hopefully he'll get a Genbu Shield of his own.

It was a lot more fun than when I did Genbu fights as White Mage. It was also a lot more satisfying on a personal level.

Later...

Zimzum has posted the video of our fight at YouTube.

Dynamis-Xarcabard Interlopers

Cythe had hoped to get off work and join us for our first run at Dynamis Lord, but he couldn't swing it. His parting gift to the shell he'd led for so long was a pretty sweet one, though: everyone who came for tonight's Dynamis-Xarcabard received a 100 Byne Bill. A few people donated theirs to Celvantes, who's in the process of upgrading to an Aegis Shield.

I'd just sold my 100 Byne from a week or so ago, and with Cythe's gift I'll be able to afford some Beastmaster goodies. I'm drooling at the thought of Creek M Mitts, but I should probably invest in a new axe and accessories.

"I don't think we're going to reach Dynamis Lord tonight," I said to Neyla, "but as far as I'm concerned this is already a win."

I

Curing from above is fun.

felt justified thinking that, considering we hadn't been able to clear out all the demon NMs during our last few visits. I figured we might manage to kill all of them tonight, but that we'd wipe and run out of time at the "wall of eyes." Progress, but hardly the big win we were hoping for.

I'm happy to say I was wrong. Sweet Altana, was I ever wrong.

It was rough, considering our Red Mages were subbing Dark Knight for Chainspell+Stun and couldn't assume their normal sleeper role, but we worked steadily through the demons and took them down. I ran after Djrealmz to cure him while he kited, and of course he died at one point because he always runs to some obscure area out of range. Poor Neyla was the only mage in the Ninja party, so he had to keep Dantin up and running.

Still, we got through the demons and nuked down the stone for a time extension. We lined kiters against the eyes and had an amazing clusterfuck of fun while the Black Mages started killing them off. The demons weren't keen on letting us do that, but we took down all the eyes before we wiped. We reraised and had Ferrious use Flee and Perfect Dodge to train all the demons while the rest of us ran past them to the ramp leading to Castle Vzahl Keep. The demons chased us for another wipe -- only Neyla and Nikolai stayed alive for that one -- and then we regrouped.

Demonknightx started pulling the dragons. The melees and tanks stayed below while the mages ranged along the top for cures. Once the road was clear, it was time to take down Ying and Yang. I thought we were goners for sure because one of the dragons missed running round the ramp and started moving for the mages, but they got it under control and the bastards went down begging forgiveness from their master.

And

Dynamis Lord's shoe size has got to be at least 64W.

let me tell you, I couldn't freakin' believe we'd made it that far. With just a little over 40 people, we'd made it to Dyanamis-Fucking-Lord. We were running out of time and knew we probably wouldn't get much more than practice, but we'd at least made it there. We were going to be close enough to touch the bastard.

They pulled him, and our first two Red Mages started Stun Gunning him while he threatened to build a wall with our corpses. The melees started hammering him while the mages nuked. Celvantes used Invincible, and when that wore off it was Djrealmz's turn. I was curing anyone I could target, all the while that enormous purple bastard is swinging his sword and trying to kill people. He even fired off Chainspell.

Dynamis Lord summoned Ying and Yang again, and the dragons started stalking through and picking us off one by one while the blitzkrieg continued. Then it happened: Dynamis Lord was defeated. Ikari, who was MNK/DRK for Soul Eater and Hundred Fists, got the killshot.

He dropped a Shadow Mantle and 100 coin, but we lost them because we ran out of time and were booted before we could get everyone up to pass. Neyla had lagged out and got disconnected during the fight, but he managed to get on just in time to click the ??? for the win. Our new titles: Dynamis-Xarcabard Interloper.

I still can't believe it, but I'm happy as hell. Now all we have to do is streamline a bit and speed things up so we can get to him and have more time to actually claim the physical rewards. The glory and bragging rights, however, are already ours.

Undersea Explorations

Neyla and I were thwarted in today's xp attempt because the Astral Candescence had been stolen by the Undead Swarm yesterday and still hadn't been recovered. As a result, the runic portals had been shut down to "conserve energy." I'd hoped we could fake them out by getting Assault orders, but it turns out you can't leave the portal area. Bah.

We teleported out to Bibiki Bay to see how the birds rated, but a party of gilsellers was there and Neyla wasn't in the mood after spending most of his day in migraine hell. He logged out, and I rode the ferry back to Al Zahbi.

On

Ugh. Get this this thing some breath mints.

a whim, I spoke to Naja for the next round of Aht Urghan missions. I had to travel out to some undersea ruins at the north-west corner of Bhaflau Thickets before returning. I'm seriously enjoying where the story is going so far.

For the next part, I needed an item called "Jody's Acid," which drops off the ameretats outside town. The tigers rip them up pretty well, and I got one on my second kill.

The acid went to a Qiqirn in Nashmau, who whipped up a batch of perfume to pop a fomor NM in Caedarva Mire. I thought I'd give it a shot, since the graveyard is pretty close to the Nashmau zone. I charmed a bird and had it ready.

The fomor hits hard, and the bird's went down fast. It would've been okay, but he'd hit me and knock me into the orange before my new pet could hit him and establish hate. I knocked off a good quarter of his health before I decided to haul ass for town. Two Beastmasters could kill him easy, since he'd always have a pet keeping him occupied.

I was going to help some linkshell members do a Samurai AF fight for Lepruvian, but I had to bail to get ready for Dynamis.

Beastmaster Enhancements

BigKahunas

Quieren kites Proto-Omega around the arena.

went after Proto-Omega today, and for the first time we had enough people that we had to turn someone away. Arthur had been in the linkshell early, but then he vanished for a good 30-40 minutes and didn't get back until after we'd built a full alliance and teleported out.

The fight went better than the last. Quieren tanked him at the start, kiting him all over the place. I died when the first gunpod exploded in my face; I ran out of range to rest and wait for my weakness to wear off. Quieren died and ended up joining me while Dantin kited it on Ninja. I was eventually able to get back in there and stayed alive until it was dead.

We got the Homam body and two head pieces.

As soon as Quieren dismissed us, I used my Olduum Ring to run for Al Zahbi to change jobs and gear up my Beastmaster.

Neyla and I returned to Mount Zhayolm for more xp goodness. He'd died helping TheFlock with some O-hats after Friday's Dynamis and ended up 2.5k behind, so I didn't use my Empress Band to help close the gap.

It was an easy repeat of the day before, charming Wootzshells and fighting the pugils. At one point he linked the last two pugils and picked up a new one on the way back to camp, which meant three Very Tough pugs itching to take a bite out of us. We did our normal thing of soloing one each, and the third stayed linked to Neyla's pet until he did a swap. It despawned at that point.

We had a death to a later link, since I had some fun mischarming action. Other than that, it was smooth and we dinged 72. I can finally wear the Panther Mask +1 and Tatami Shield; my beloved Balance Buckler, which I've been using since Lv. 40, is now on my mannequin for use in level-capped stuff like "Test Your Mite."

Best

Neyla is one step closer to being a complete hippie.

of all, we can use Dia II and the basic teleports now! We kept going until I had a 4k buffer, and I used Teleport-Mea to leave while Neyla stayed behind to solo the last 1k he needed to catch up.

I took the airship to Jeuno to fish some Black Sole -- the gil sucks, but it's been awhile since I got any skillups. On a whim, I checked the auction house for the Bison Kecks Neyla's been trying to buy for ages. There was a pair up for sale, so Neyla rode a bird into town and bought them. His hippie look is almost complete.

As for my own "look," I'm loving the Panther Mask. I might use it as my "walking around" piece (it matches my Fishing Apron), although I kinda like having the Beast Helm on so people know what job I am as soon as they see me. It'll do until I get a Monster Helm.