Crafting Bug

I

I broke and repaired clothespoles for woodworking skillups.

really want a Red Hobby Bo for my moghouse, but I don't feel like paying 300k for one. I checked the crafting requirements for making them, and it turns out I'm not far from being able to make them myself.

I was mostly playing the new Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii today, but I did spend some quality time in Beaucedine Glacier this afternoon. I bought a bunch of clothespoles and started breaking them on the Emperor Fish near the outpost. Repairing them earned me a few skillups. I can get to 73 on this synth before moving on to serious Lu Shang repair; I'll probably be living in the Quicksand Caves for awhile when I reach that stage.

Depending on how much chocobo dye I get, I may have to build myself an entire set.

Starved For It

Neyla's

Neyla and I fight off invading yagudo.

eagerness to finish the new Windurst [S] quests was well-founded. I had to finish up the last one with a quick trip to San d'Oria, but I rushed to join him at the fort. An idiot tarutaru had sent the mithran forces off to join the battle at Castle Oztroja, leaving the fort largely undefended because the yagudo had developed magic-resistant armor.

The battle cutscenes were awesome, followed by a truly wild BCNM. Basically, the yags had tunnels running to Windurst, so Neyla and I had to get in there and cut them off. There were dozens of them marching around in there, but they were pathetically weak and died in one or two punches once we managed to catch up. I don't know how many we killed before Laa Yaku the Austere finally arrived, but I immediately switched over to her and started hitting. Eliminating her prevented the spawn of fresh troops, so it was simply a matter of finishing them off.

I'm enjoying the arrival of the "manthra" character. The lack of mithran males has always been kind of annoying to me, but it's always been chalked up to their society's matriarchy keeping the males at home while the women go out and fight in wars and have all the fun. It's a shame, because I wouldn't be playing a tarutaru if this option had been available.

I

Not just cute, but a chess player as well.

followed up our victory by watching the final cutscenes. Clearly the mithra are starved for cock, because they were all over this poor guy. I'm sure lots of fanfiction ink has been spilled over hot mithra lesbian action, so seeing them slobber all over him probably burst a few fantasy bubbles. Heh.

Neyla lagged out and repeatedly disconnected while trying to watch the cutscnes. I think it took him about thirty minutes before he was finally able to push through it and see the execution of the lamebrain tarutaru who put our beloved Windurst in danger.

With that out of the way, I set out to quest the new teleport scrolls. Vunkerl Inlet was hair-raising because of the Djinns clustered around the ??? at the tower, but I managed to get it without aggro. I actually felt more dread about running through Grauberg because I have a highly-toned sense of paranoia where Chigoes are concerned.

Tied in Knots

Hooray

The new teleport gate crystal in Meriphataud Mountains [S].

for the new update. It took awhile to download yesterday, so the only thing I did when I was finally able to log on was to distribute more of the gil from the Woodsman Ring sale.

Among the update highlights are major buffs to the Scholar job, the new Retaliation ability for Warriors, tweaks for adventuring NPCs, and new teleport spells for White Mage and Warp spells for Black Mage. There are also new quests added to the "Wings of the Goddess" storyline, which had me salivating.

The new teleports don't strike me as the most useful things in the game, but then again I'm not sure how the rest of the WotG storyline will play out. The one in Meriphataud Mountains will certainly be handy if I ever need a shortcut to Castle Oztroja, but otherwise... meh. I wasn't going to let the opportunity to learn new spells slip away, though.

It took awhile to find the one in Jugner because I didn't realize I'd have to work my way around a big mountain and hit it from the other side. I grabbed the Cavernous Maw while I was there, since it was the only one I'd missed when the expansion was released. When I'd finished traveling around, I rode out to Purgonorgo Island to catch a few Moorish Idols for guild points.

Neyla

Neyla acts as healer while Shmedly and I kill yagudo.

and I started on the new Windurst quests after that. We had to help a San d'Orian traveler find a 108-knot quipu he'd stolen from the yagudo, since he'd gotten himself attacked and lost it out in Sauromugue Champaign [S].

There are fortifications along the eastern side of the zone, each containing two or three beastmen. We teamed up with Shmedly and started hunting. Shmedly was eventually called away for an NM fight, but Neyla and I kept going until we'd obtained the drops and returned to the Jeuno gate for the cutscene.

I love this storyline. I was a big fan of Chains of Promathia's story -- not so much the level caps and insane BCNMs like Snoll Tzar -- but this one is rapidly overtaking it in my affections.

Catching Up is Hard to Do

I've

It's a pet parade of death.

been mostly out of the game since finishing Dancer last week. I've popped on briefly to do guild points and hit a Campaign battle or two, but mostly I've been playing other games and relaxing from the Dancer marathon.

The only real high point since then wasn't even mine. Neyla got his Jelly Ring on Tuesday, the day after we'd finished Dancer. His friend Scheetaru went with him on Thief instead of Black Mage, using Garuda's Dagger for elemental damage and had a sword in the other hand for Spirits Within.

I was on today, though. The escort went fine, and then we did "Test Your Mite." The only one missing this time was Ghaleon. We got a Woodsman Ring and a Geist Earring. It was like a pet parade, with two Beastmasters and a Dragoon. Too bad we didn't have a Summoner and Puppetmaster to complete the set.

Before logging out, Shmedly passed me some green female chocobo breeding cards. Now I just need to find a stud... and a green male chocobo.

Speaking of green things, some delightful people traded a bunch of items and took over the Gustaberg region for the great nation of Windurst. Huzzah!