Deviations from the Norm

Neyla

We'll clear the final room of all enemies.

and I have been contemplating going back to the Crawler's Nest escort because there's less competition, but it's hard to dismiss how much easier the Necropolis experience runs. His buffer on Red Mage has been dwindling fast with all the Dynamis deaths, so he ate the scroll on that job. My White Mage buffer could use a little inflating, but I ate the scroll on Beastmaster.

We figured it would be nice to burn off a ring charge, but the options were limited. I chose Sky because I'm still kinda burned out and didn't feel like doing a lot of heavy lifting. Unfortunately, our remote detonation strategy blows now; the penalty from having a pet is pretty harsh when all the dolls are Even and low Tough. It might be more viable as a solo experience, and I'll try it at some point.

We did go in swinging with our axes for a bit, and then a Meltdown went off and Neyla got blowed up real good. Not death, but definitely sobering.

I went to check on Paprika and gear up for Dynamis. Neyla didn't go to Dynamis-Beaucedine tonight. I was tired enough to call off, but I went because I'm second on the White Mage tier and you never know when two Cleric's Briaults will drop. We didn't even get one, but we did get BLM, PLD, SMN and WAR instead.

Ajs made a fun change to the setup. The linkshell's bank has grown large enough that they decided to let the coins drop at random. I wasn't aware of the change until after the run had started since I didn't pay attention to the chat log while we were all standing around waiting. I'm not sure how long they'll keep letting them drop that way.

We

The dragons went berserk and killed everyone.

were doing well on time and decided to farm a different area before going for the win, but the Charmga action took its toll and we had a wipe.We had to sprint to the boss area after that. Demonknightx did a suicide pull of the NM lake so we could get past. Hilarity ensued when Gladdy charged off with the dragons in hot pursuit and reached the lake... which was still populated with monsters.

Needless to say, the dragons weren't in a good mood when they got back to us. They killed everyone. Ajs apologized profusely for taking us the other way and changed the schedule so we could return to the glacier on Monday to get the win for the ones who needed it. It's the sort of fuck-up that should've put me in a pissy mood for the rest of the night, but I was laughing so hard at the rampaging dragons that I couldn't really get mad.

You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith

I guess it comes as no surprised that Neyla and I are a little burned out on Beastmaster after pushing so hard these past few levels. We were going to burn off an Empress Band charge today, but the thought was anathama. We're still recovering from Monday's Dynamis, if you can believe that.

He

It doesn't get much slower than this.

went to Boyahda Tree to skill up dagger awhile, and I ended up camping the Blacksmith's Guild in San d'Oria to get my hands on some Bronze Ingots. Today's guild item, a Spiked Club, needed them in the recipe along with Walnut Lumber. Some brat taru mule cleaned them out before I had a chance to scroll down the menu, and I ended up running to the guild in Bastok's Metalworks and camping all over again.

Once I had the ingots, I traveled to San d'Oria and tried to make the Spiked Clubs. It requires Lv 5 Smithing, which of course I didn't have. I broke a few synths, but I also got some Smithing skillups. Another player there in the guild offered to synth them for me, but I finished them.

I left there and joined Neyla for some scythe skillups. He took me upstairs to demostrate the awesome majesty that is the Korrigan as a pet. Sweet lord, those black mandies rip things to shreds. Elder Goobues, Demonic Roses, Steelshells... it didn't matter. Those little guys are wicked fast and strong. We moved back downstairs, but our session was cut short by some NPC levelers.

We left there and went to Ifrit's Cauldron to level our NPCs for the first time in weeks. Gauldeval hit 59 before we finished.

Neyla

I'm going to run out of ores.

farmed Coeurl Meat in Zitah, and I decided to start leveling Smithing in earnest. There are a number of guild point synths I haven't been able to do because I lack the skill. I went to the Blacksmith Guild in Mhaura to buy Copper and Tin ores to turn into Bronze Ingots, and then started turning the Bronze Ingots into Bronze Sheets. Those sheets will eventually be turned into scales. It seems like a pretty cheap start.

I was thwarted by the arrival of the guild's holiday, but the airship dock in Windurst sells Copper Ores. I did a few synths there before I ran out of Tin Ores. I'll work on it again over the next few days. I'll be content to reach 15-20 skill for now, and then it'll be back to cranking out tons of arrows for more woodworking goodness.

In other news, it's been fun getting lots of /tells yesterday and today from people congratulating me for reaching 75 on Beastmaster. I'm also happy to report PapaPaprika's strength is now "Impressive," and he feels very close to rental speed.

Garuda's Dagger

Last night's Dynamis-Windurst wasn't over until midnight (no Monster Helm), and my sleep-deprived mind just wanted to log on for a few minutes to check Paprika's progress and then maybe take a long nap. That didn't happen.

Instead, we had an adventure. Arctyrael had asked for our help in defeating Garuda so he could get the dagger, so Neyla and I grabbed him and headed out to Cape Terrigan to tackle the birdwoman. We were going to try it yesterday, but I'd never bothered to claim my reward from the last Garuda fight and couldn't get a fresh Tuning Fork.

Arctyrael recently quit the game and gave away all of his possessions. Now that he's back, he's experiencing the joys of true poverty.

"That's why I'm giving away jack shit when I eventually quit," I told him.

The

Put some clothes on!

last few avatar fights I've done have been with two Red Mages, and I was curious to see how it would work with one Red Mage and two White Mages. Arctyrael has Hexa Strike and Black Halo, but the only club in his possession was his Warp Cudgel.

I wasn't sure we'd able to pull it off. Garuda kept healing herself and would knock off Neyla's Stoneskin pretty regularly. Neyla used Convert, and then it became an epic MP-conservation battle to survive the ten minutes until Convert was available again. I would've preferred to have Arc resting in the back and doing the Hastes and assorted buffs while we ground her down, but we managed.

The fun part was Astral Flow, which of course happened about two seconds after Baraera wore off. The move killed Arc and knocked me down to 4 HP. We recovered and won the fight. All three of us chose Garuda's Dagger as our reward; I'll eventually do dagger skillups on Beastmaster, and this will save me from having to buy one.

Later, while I was fishing for Shall Shells in Buburimu and Neyla went to test his dagger in Boyadha Tree, I mentioned to Quieren that we'd killed Garuda.

"Damn you," he said. "I wish you'd told me. I would've been there in a heartbeat. I want her dagger."

Heh. Indeed.

Eleven Months Later...

This day in history, Neyla and I dinged 75 on Beastmaster.

I blame Maat.

Neyla's

Flashback: Charming canyon crawlers and making them fight dhalmels in Tahrongi Canyon.

frustration at constantly having his ass handed to him by Maat for the final Limit Break on Red Mage was the reason he decided to walk away from the job awhile and take up Beastmaster. If you ask him, he'll tell you he's convinced many Beastmasters are high-level support mages who got completely burned out on the party system and want to go it alone.

My Beastmaster had been put on the back burner at Lv. 12 since there's plenty of other things to do. It was a fun level because I remember Neyla chasing around after me in LaTheine Plateau as I scrambled to find pets to throw at the assorted orcs. He decided to catch up to me and that's when we started our partnership.

That was nearly eleven months ago.

It's been a grand time, too. Most Beastmasters spend so much time eating dirt they can identify soil samples in clinical taste tests, but we've been profoundly lucky. For all the money we've spent on Reraise items, I doubt we've had two dozen deaths between us in all that time.

We fairly sprinted along in those first heady weeks, leveling at almost every opportunity. We disregarded the XP penalties from having pets and just let them fight until they were dead, knowing we'd get there no matter what.

We

Flashback: The Urugnites on Purgonorgo Island make decent pets.

managed to push from 12 to 35 in about a month, leveling in the Horutoto Ruins, Buburimu and Carpenter's Landing, eventually learning Leave while fighting bombs in Gusgen Mines. From there it was on to Bibiki Bay and Purgonorgo Island, going anywhere we could to advance our Beastmaster careers.

We'd only had Leave a few days before the MPK nerf hit, altering the job and destroying the viability of a few camps. Some Beastmasters quit in protest, but we were determined to stick with it. In many ways, the MPK nerf was a blessing because it made converting potential pets as easy as charming and releasing a few feet away.

It was in Bibiki Bay when I first truly embraced my Beastmaster role by trying to solo Intulo. I counted up the number of pets nearby and started chucking them at him as quickly as he could mow them down. I didn't win and eventually came back to beat him down on White Mage, but that bit of daring went a long way.

There's stuff we'll do on Beastmaster, monsters we'll kill and places we'll walk, which we'd never attempt on our mage jobs. It's lovely.

We took off for nearly two months at one point to work on Windurst missions and other endeavors. I joined a CoP static and spent an ungodly amount of time saving up for a Noble's Tunic. Neyla finally kicked Maat's ass and leveled Red Mage to 75. It was comedy of the highest order when we finally went back to the job and had to relearn most of it, but we were chugging along pretty fast after that.

We rocketed through the 50s, determined to level nearly nonstop until we could equip our Artifact Armor. We burned out at that point and took another break, although our "Test Your Mite" ENM static allowed us to go from 60 to 61 by earning that 3,000xp a week. Revitalized when we dinged 61, we started leveling again regularly. There were shorter breaks, but mostly we kept at it and now here we are.

Thanks to Maat.

The

Flashback: Save me from mischarm hell against these puks.

Al Zahbi areas and their XP bonuses have been a great asset, as have our Gaudy Harnesses and their constant Refresh. It's also been great to see the rise of the Beastmaster community; inspired by action on other servers, Quetzalcoatl's own The Flock linkshell is dedicated to nurturing the young and allowing the older hands opportunities to fight gods and HNMs in Beastmaster-style.

Neyla quickly established himself as the puller, bringing back a constant stream of monsters for us to kill with little downtime. I gravitated toward the healer role, keeping us buffed and watching our HP. Naturally, it was my own bar that needed the most attention; tarutarus may have more natural Charisma than mithras, but my mischarm rate is staggering in comparison. I also took the party-building reins and helped push his White Mage to 37.

Getting Beastmaster to 75 is a real accomplishment, and we worked it together as true partners who managed to read each other's minds after awhile. I don't know how far I would've taken the job by myself, and there are no doubt solo Beastmasters who would look down on us for taking an easier route, but fuck those guys. I had a fun 62 levels of partying with my friend, and no doubt there are many more adventures in store.

"Forty-four Red Mages at 75," Neyla said today after we'd left Sky and I was fishing in the Sea Serpent Grotto. "And most RDMs are probably /anon."

"Fifty-five White Mages visible at that level," I said after my own search.

"Only nine BSTs," he added. "It's a fucking honor," he said.

"Amen, brother."

I owe Maat.

Tantalizingly Close

I

So close... so close...

spent the weekend at my parents' house, so I wasn't online much. The big exception was late Friday night when I logged on around 3 a.m. because I couldn't sleep. Neyla was still running around, so I suggested putting the insomnia to good use by burning off an Empress Band charge in Sky.

Other than that, I only popped on to check my chocobo's progress.

BigKahunas was already in the middle of the Proto-Ultima run by the time I got home today, so Neyla and I returned to Sky for more Groundskeeper slaughter. They used Meltdown a lot, so it went really fast.

When the "Test Your Mite" ENM was over, we were 1,600xp away from dinging 75. The compulsion to go back up there and get the last little bit was overwhelming, but I was also very tired from such a long weekend. We'll ding tomorrow and start on our buffer.

In other news, I got an e-mail from Feriz. He's hoping to be back in the game in the next week or so. I was starting to believe he was gone for good.