Saturday, October 06, 2001

EverQuest - Vorish, High-Elf Mage Level 7

Yea! level 7 at last (of course, if I keep dying at the current rate I'll be back down to level 5 in no time). Still, given the fact that I hadn't played EQ since Sunday means that I'm not doing too bad, but I may be left behind by some of the players that I've grouped with so far. I played for a good bit on Friday night, but stopped at a decent hour after working with 3 different groups (each with different styles).

So I started playing just a little before 8pm (7pm Sat Dec 14 3214 in game time). It takes a few minutes at the start to summon all of the food & drink that I'll need for the next few hours (usually 8 pieces of food and 10 pieces of water), make sure I have a weapon (or two) to give to my summoned pets, summon my pet and then meditate to restore all the mana that I just expended. After that I headed up to the orc lift "waiting room" to see if anyone else was looking for a group to head back up to the orc camp and raise a ruckus.

I spent some time again hunting orcs along the path, and waiting for trains to come by so I could attempt to pick off one of the trailing orcs and take the heat off of the player being pursued. (This usually works well, but you have to be quick because the player is not going to stop running.) I managed to pick off on or two Orc Centurions this way, but my pet paid the price when I picked up an Orc Oracle. I think my pet stayed behind to take on another Orc while I hightailed it back to the guards at the "orc lift" of Kelethin.

The first group of the night started around 10:30pm, consisting of Knaxvos (Human Druid lvl 7), Tirston (Wood Elf Bard lvl 7) as the core group who went up to orc hill. Silvertung (a level 10 Bard) joined the group after we got up to the orc hill and were settled in. The only problem with having Silvertung in the group is that he wouldn't get experience because he was too many levels above us for us to pull in big enough critters. Zaledor (Half Elf Druid lvl 7) joined the group around midnight (just someone who was attempting to storm the orc camp by himself, heh). So it was (2) druids and (2) bards and myself (a mage) at this point. We were all doing pretty good at taking on all comers and even handling bunches of Orc Centurions (about 3-4 at a time). Charcon (Gnome Wizard lvl 4) showed up a little past midnight and joined our merry band. About quarter past 11pm it looked like everyone except Charcon and myself wanted to go up to Crushbone (the zone where the orcs live), so we left the group and I went back to town to sell the stuff that I had looted off of the orcs. The first group of the night was an okay group and it got me most of the way to level 7, but it wasn't a cohesive group (not enough communication, readiness checks, downtime to meditate while someone guarded you).

Coming back to the orc lift after doing my shopping, it only took a few minutes to join up with Ssennum (High Elf Cleric lvl 6). There was a moments confusion until we discovered that he didn't speak English very well, so we were limited to the standard "rdy?", "rdy", "60m" communications. We did manage to hook up with 1 other player at the orc lift, Grinchus (Human Warrior lvl 7) before heading back up to orc hill around 20 of midnight (we asked a few others, but they weren't interested). Charcon (Gnome Wizard lvl 4) showed up again and joined our group for about 20 minutes or so. Grinchus abandoned us around midnight, so it was starting to get lonely up on orc hill with just a lvl 6 cleric, a lvl 7 mage, and a lvl 4 wizard. The group broke up around 10 past midnight, although I think Ssennum stayed behind for a little bit. This group was a little better than the previous one, but we really needed to have 4 members to be effective although none of us died during the half hour.

I just walked over to the other group on orc hill and was taken in by Madyene (a ranger) and Elhar (High Elf Cleric lvl 7) about quarter past midnight. This group had a bit more focus, Madyene was the leader and as a ranger could spot Orcs with her tracking ability (even if you couldn't see them line of sight). We all seemed to be pretty well matched (even though Madyene had her account set to "anonymous"). It was pretty wild, because Madyene would just light out through the woods and Elhar & I would be running flat out to keep up. At first I though Madyene was just running through the woods like a wild woman, doing a random search until I remembered that Rangers have tracking ability. Madyene was having system problems on her end, so Elhar & I had to wait around in the middle of the woods for a few minutes while she logged out and reset her machine. We went back into town to sell stuff and restock once she came back online. Madyene then took us on another wild chase through the forest around the orc camp, ending up around the entrance to Crushbone in the north part of Greater Faydark. We were sorely tested in this section and couldn't keep the orcs off of us long enough to fully rest up (all 3 of us were between 50% and 75% on our health meters). Mana was starting to become an issue for Elhar & I too. So about quarter of 1am we tried to go up along the mountain wall to the right of the Crushbone entrance to find a place to rest for a bit and fix ourselves up, but we were followed by a pair of Orc Centurions and I went down for the count around a minute later. I could see Madyene shouting to Elhar, "Heal vorish", but Elhar was out of mana and was being set upon by one of the Orc Centurions and so I saw the dreaded "LOADING, PLEASE WAIT..." message again.

Madyene dragged my sorry corpse back to the orc lift, while I went through the process of rememorizing all of my spells. It took us until around 1am to run errands, loot my corpse, and get ready to set out for Crushbone (I was feeling reckless). So right around 1am, Madyene started leading us out to the entrance Crushbone, but I got separated and set upon in the middle of another group's battle (I lost track of Maydene and took a wrong turn and a couple of Orcs aggro'd on me and my pet). I was amazed at how much damage I took before going down (almost 160 hit points). Oh, I tried to run, yelling for help every few hits, and Kallend (the person who I think I aggro'd the orc centurion off of) almost managed to rescue me.

Madyene's reaction was classic when she saw me leave the group and then rejoin the group ("Um, what happened?", "died, got separated and set upon", "Oh dear."). Fortunately I was able to get a loc on my corpse from Kallend (who saw me die), so Madyene was able to drag my corpse back to the orc lift again. We all left the game shortly thereafter, but I think Madyene was feeling bad for getting me killed twice in a row like that. Ah well, such is adventure.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 1:24 PM

EverQuest - Vorish, High-Elf Mage Level 6

Last Sunday I got killed because I was adventuring by myself along the path from the orc lift to the orc camp in Greater Faydark. I had already taken on and beaten a Orc Centurion and an Orc Pawn and the next mob was an Orc Centurion that con'd white to me (even fight) so I should have been able to take it on. I think my tactical mistakes were that my pet had not fully healed yet and instead of casting spells as fast as I could I chose to attempt melee combat to improve my skills (bad choice in this case). So once the Orc Centurion made short work of my pet (Gekab) and started to work me over it was over in a matter of seconds.

Sep 30 16:50:50 orc centurion scowls at you, ready to attack -- looks like an even fight.
Sep 30 16:50:53 You begin casting Burn.
Sep 30 16:50:55 orc centurion was hit by non-melee for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:50:55 Orc centurion's skin blisters and burns.
Sep 30 16:50:56 Auto attack on.
Sep 30 16:50:58 Orc centurion hits YOU for 13 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:50:58 You are stunned!
Sep 30 16:50:58 Orc centurion bashes YOU for 3 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:50:58 Gekab begins to cast a spell.
Sep 30 16:50:58 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
Sep 30 16:51:00 You crush orc centurion for 1 point of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:00 You are unstunned.
Sep 30 16:51:01 Orc centurion tries to hit YOU, but misses!
Sep 30 16:51:03 Taunting Attacker Master.
Sep 30 16:51:04 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:04 Orc centurion hits YOU for 1 point of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:06 Orc centurion bashes Gekab for 6 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:07 Your target is too far away, get closer!
Sep 30 16:51:07 You begin casting Burn.
Sep 30 16:51:07 Gekab slashes orc centurion for 10 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:09 orc centurion was hit by non-melee for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:09 Orc centurion's skin blisters and burns.
Sep 30 16:51:09 Gekab begins to cast a spell.
Sep 30 16:51:09 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
Sep 30 16:51:12 Your target is too far away, get closer!
Sep 30 16:51:12 You begin casting Burn.
Sep 30 16:51:13 Orc centurion hits Gekab for 4 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:14 orc centurion was hit by non-melee for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:14 Orc centurion's skin blisters and burns.
Sep 30 16:51:15 Gekab slashes orc centurion for 5 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:15 Gekab begins to cast a spell.
Sep 30 16:51:15 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
Sep 30 16:51:16 Orc centurion hits Gekab for 14 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:18 Your target is too far away, get closer!
Sep 30 16:51:18 Your target is too far away, get closer!
Sep 30 16:51:18 You begin casting Burn.
Sep 30 16:51:19 Orc centurion hits Gekab for 14 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:20 orc centurion was hit by non-melee for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:20 Orc centurion's skin blisters and burns.
Sep 30 16:51:21 Taunting Attacker Master.
Sep 30 16:51:21 Gekab slashes orc centurion for 10 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:22 Orc centurion bashes Gekab for 6 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:22 Gekab has been slain by orc centurion!
Sep 30 16:51:22 orc centurion says 'None shall challenge the legions of the Crushbone orcs!!
Sep 30 16:51:22 Orc centurion hits YOU for 1 point of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:24 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:25 You begin casting Burn.
Sep 30 16:51:25 Orc centurion hits YOU for 5 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:27 Your spell is interrupted.
Sep 30 16:51:28 Orc centurion hits YOU for 14 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:28 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:30 Orc centurion tries to bash YOU, but misses!
Sep 30 16:51:31 Orc centurion tries to hit YOU, but misses!
Sep 30 16:51:32 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:34 You begin casting Burn.
Sep 30 16:51:34 Orc centurion hits YOU for 1 point of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:35 Your spell is interrupted.
Sep 30 16:51:36 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:37 Orc centurion hits YOU for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:38 Orc centurion tries to bash YOU, but misses!
Sep 30 16:51:40 Orc centurion hits YOU for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:40 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:41 You yell for help.
Sep 30 16:51:43 Orc centurion tries to hit YOU, but misses!
Sep 30 16:51:44 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:46 Orc centurion bashes YOU for 3 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:46 Orc centurion hits YOU for 14 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:48 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
Sep 30 16:51:49 Orc centurion hits YOU for 13 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:49 You can't see your target from here.
Sep 30 16:51:52 Your target is too far away, get closer!
Sep 30 16:51:53 Orc centurion hits YOU for 12 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:53 Your target is too far away, get closer!
Sep 30 16:51:53 You yell for help.
Sep 30 16:51:54 You are stunned!
Sep 30 16:51:54 Orc centurion bashes YOU for 5 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:56 Orc centurion hits YOU for 14 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:56 Auto attack off.
Sep 30 16:51:56 You are unstunned.
Sep 30 16:51:56 You have been knocked unconscious!
Sep 30 16:51:59 You are bleeding to death!
Sep 30 16:51:59 orc centurion says 'None shall challenge the legions of the Crushbone orcs!!
Sep 30 16:51:59 Orc centurion hits YOU for 14 points of damage.
Sep 30 16:51:59 You have been slain by orc centurion!
Sep 30 16:52:01 Returning to home point, please wait...
Sep 30 16:52:01 LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
Sep 30 16:52:33 You have entered Greater Faydark.

Sigh, the dreaded "LOADING, PLEASE WAIT..." message. I wonder if that's what we really see when we pass to the other side?

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 12:24 PM

Thursday, October 04, 2001

New Mug Shot

Hmm, well, it's a start. Like I said, I haven't decided if I'll keep the beard or not.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:20 AM

Tuesday, October 02, 2001

Evening Wanter, er, The Evening Wander

Heh... so what have I been up to these past few days? Well, surprisingly enough, not playing EverQuest (well I did play for an hour or two on Sunday running my errands in Felwithe and Kelethin, but then my laptop had a fit and I never got back around to playing since). I may play tonight, or I may go run some pressing errands (if I don't get another phone call from work this evening to run some more numbers so one of our clients has some statistics to pull out when he's on a TV show tomorrow morning). Actually, it wasn't a big deal, only took about 2 hours to run the numbers, and the client promised to mention us as the source of the statistics (free publicity in a poor economic climate, hey!).

Actually, the funniest thing is that I think I may keep the beard that I started when i was sick and didn't feel like shaving for a few days (I've now trimmed it up and it looks neater). I haven't had a beard since my college days, so I'm not sure if I'll care for it or not (Dara says I look good with one). Since I no longer hang around with anyone from college, nobody other than family has ever seen me with a beard, so I expect some interesting comments over the next week or two. Back when I worked for UPS, we weren't allowed to have beards (mustaches were the limit), and my last girlfriend didn't care for facial hair so there was always something in the way. Like I said, I may keep it, I may not. It all depends on how good I feel that I look with it and if I feel like learning how to keep it properly trimmed up and presentable (most people would describe me as "clean-cut"). I may even post a picture up here if I'm feeling especially good looking one day (so don't hold your breath!).

Been looking through the personal ads again, I really haven't seen anyone "jump off the page" at me, but there are some possibilities out there. I'm just not feeling up to it this week yet (e-mailing someone new), even though it would be a week or three until we would meet face to face anyway. Of course, I was spoiled by the fact that the first ad generated responses within a few days (oh yeah, it's only been 2 days so far...) and I didn't have to reach out myself. Actually, doing this via the internet is pretty non-intimidating for me, because I have a good writing style I can do very well in drawing someone out and trying to present a good impression of myself. The real trick is when I have to go verbal on that first date or phone call and think "on-the-run" (something I often don't do well at, I'm a very measured speaker unless I'm really wound up or knowledgeable about a subject). Still, it's one of those things that I know I need to do (reach out and touch someone, neh?)...

Yes, I finally got my bike back yesterday and went riding after not riding for a week (shame on me). The bad news is the local gnat population has exploded in the last few weeks and trying to ride a bike path that runs along a stream is a good way to inhale a few thousand gnats per hour (yuck). So I've got to switch to riding first thing in the morning, or mid-day until we get a few frosts to thin them out some.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 6:58 PM

Monday, October 01, 2001

American Flag Etiquette

Just some links on how to properly display the flag (see today's Greystone Inn which got me curious).

Yahoo! American Flag Etiquette Category - Lots of links here

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 10:43 AM

Sunday, September 30, 2001

EverQuest - Vorish, High-Elf Mage's to-do list

Head back to Felwithe for a shopping trip:
- pickup a Gate spell
- pickup a Summon Wisp spell
- pickup a Summon Bandages spell
- price a good 1h blunt weapon and a good 2h blunt weapon
- go to guild master and train in Piercing, 1-handed blunt, 2-handed blunt

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 2:46 PM

EverQuest - High-Elf Mage Level 5-6, 1st group

Level 5 was starting to turn out to be a hell level (a level where you can't seem to find enough things to kill to get experience without getting skewered yourself) and I was solo camping on the path to the orc camp in Greater Faydark (about halfway out) attempting to pull and kill the occasional Orc Centurion (if they "con'd" blue or white or yellow). At one point, I got lost on the way from Kelethin to Felwithe and ended up zoning into Lesser Faydark (zone entrance is -2500,-1030). Ended up back at the "orc lift" of Kelethin, standing around practicing my Sense Heading skill when the Priest of Discord shouts "Let this fool's meaningless death be a reminder to you all that the power of Discord is absolute!" (which usually means that some newbie tried to attack the PoD (a very powerful NPC) and the whole zone gets a chuckle). Again, stayed on the path between the orc camp and the orc lift, solo hunting single Orc Centurions, trying to pick trailing Orcs off of passing trains (player, usually running for their life, followed by multiple Orcs), or helping out players who were being ganged up on by multiple Orcs (and it looked like the player was starting to hurt).

Between 9pm and 10pm (about 2-3hrs in to play), a player named Guster starts spamming the zone with shouts in a whiny manner looking for someone to group with him, notifying everyone of where he's going, what he's doing, asking for this, asking for that (generally being a pest on the "shout" channel which everyone sees, not just those around you). Yizuen got into a shouting match with Guster, making things worse. It finally looked like it was going to wrap up around 10pm with the following exchange:

Guster shouts, 'Im leaving'
Yizuen shouts, 'ANd the peasents rejoiced !'
Kuvanie shouts, 'And the angels sang'
Dreml shouts, 'He's in a dbl wide in oklahoma'
Guster shouts, 'Dont think its that easy to get rid of me'

Poor Guster, he was getting zero respect... (in reference to the "dbl wide in oklahoma", they were speculating as to what type of trailer he lived in at home). About 50 minutes later, we get word that Guster has died (as he shouts to the entire zone again), then the begging begins to have us help find his body in Lesser Faydark (oh joy). I stopped paying attention to him for a while because I was getting ready to group.

About 11pm, I joined my first group with Relick (High-Elf Enchanter Level 5) and Yizuen (anonymous). In the process of forming up, I discover that an Enchanter's pet cannot use the daggers that I summon (they need a special dagger called "Tiny Dagger"), at least that's what I was told (have not verified the veracity). So the 3 of us head up the path to the orc camp, stopping about where it ends in the dell before you enter the camp, and Yizuen starts to pull Orc Centurions. We made it through the first couple of encounters with minor scratches and some mana deprivation and were sitting around medding (Enchanters have to meditate to regain mana) and mending, but I'm nervous about where we're sitting (having been jumped there the previous night by multiple Orcs) so I'm trying to hint to my party that this might not be a safe spot (it's my first group, so I'm not sure how persistent to be):

You say, 'i've been trained here before'
Relick tells the group, 'I know'
Relick tells the group, 'Me too lol'

Sure enough, about 5 seconds later we get attacked by a few Orc Centurions (at 23:07:19), Yizuen yells "Ahhh!" at 23:07:22, my pet dies at 23:07:32, I yell for help at 23:07:40 (running for my life back to the guards at the orc lift), and I'm almost to the guards (within 10 feet), when the Orcs finally do me in at 23:07:52 and I see the dreaded "LOADING, PLEASE WAIT..." message. That was the longest 33 seconds of the evening, we were not ready, I don't know if Yizuen drew something in on us or if we were stumbled upon.

So begins my first corpse run (when you die, you start out with no equipment and your corpse with all your equipment is still at the place that you died so you have to go loot it)... Fortunately, other than the time to run from Felwithe all the way back to the orc lift at Kelethin and having to rememorize spells, cast a new pet it didn't take too long because I died right by the orc lift in Kelethin. While on my corpse run, I see that Guster is still looking for help finding his body in Lesser Faydark (whine, whine, whine). I also managed to find Mianya who let me beg a bind off of her at the orc lift so I wouldn't have to run all the way back from Felwithe again. It took about 30-40 minutes to do the corpse run, rememorize all my spells, cast my pet, help a lost soul who needed to find the bank in Kelethin, find someone to bind me at the orc lift, and join back up with my group. By the time I did all this though, Relick and Yizuen were headed back to Felwithe to hit the merchants, get daggers for Relick's pet, so I ended up hunting the next day cycle by myself again. (A day in EverQuest is about 1/7th that of a real life day, maybe shorter).

So I'm standing by the orc lift in Kelethin (in Greater Faydark), practicing my Sense Heading skill from about 23:45 onward, checking out the other players in the area, waiting for daylight (it was 4AM on a Tuesday, Aug 10th in the game world), checking up on Relick to find out if he's going to make it back for daybreak to go hunting. Then I hear a shout from Westonius (another player who had been running around doing random shouts for a while) that he's gotten himself lost. Well, the easiest way to help a player like that out is to ask them their "loc" (location) and then tell them the loc of where they want to go (with a bit of blundering around, you can pretty easily figure it out from there in Greater Faydark because it's a big open forest).

Westonius shouts, 'Im lost im lost im really really lost'
You told westonius, 'what's your loc?'
Your Location is 988.92, 243.99, -22.87
Westonius tells you, '-1098 1503 62'
You told westonius, 'loc for orc lift is 988,243'
Westonius tells you, 'Pl'
You told westonius, 'you're almost to butcherblock'
Westonius tells you, 'Really?'
You told westonius, 'butcherblock should be around -1500,2500'

I guess he made it to the mountains, because we never heard from him again that night.

Right around midnight, a huge ogre player comes running past the 2 guards at the orc lift, pulling the guards away from the lift (I don't know how far they chased the player, I got on the lift and went back into town for a minute until the guards came back):

Guard Fayfear says 'For the defense of Kelethin!!
Guard Fayfear says 'Ogres have no place in our realm!'
Guard Pineshade says 'For the defense of Kelethin!!
Guard Pineshade says 'It's Ogres like you who have ruined your own lands. You'll not ruin mine!'
Guard Pineshade says 'For the defense of Kelethin!!
Guard Pineshade says 'Filthy Ogres like you must die!'
Orgrokk was injured by falling.
Orgrokk was injured by falling.
Orgrokk shouts, 'OGRE RUN FAST FROM GUARDS !'
You say, 'right, not sticking here if the guards are gone!'

Anyway, at 00:01 it was 6am local time and starting to get light, so I headed back up the path to the orc camp to do some solo hunting (Relick was still shopping in Felwithe according to the "/who" command). Relick finally got back around 20 past midnight and started forming up a new group (Vorish (me) and Relick). We spent a few minutes at the orc lift while he med'd, and I walked to the top of the hill to watch the path for incoming Orcs (or trains). I almost scored an Orc Centurion while doing this, but when I had just about finished him off he ran away and blundered into a guard (so the guard killed him and I got no experience). Yizuen managed to join back up at this point, and we also met Qandala (High-Elf Magician, Level 7) to join the group.

The four of us worked our way out to the end of the path again around 00:35 and started hunting Orcs (it was dark, maybe 6pm or 7pm local). About 5 minutes in and we're starting to run low on mana, and we're trying to med in a bad spot again. Once again, we got set upon by multiple Orcs and while Qandala and I sounded the retreat and started running back to Kelethin, Yizuen and Relick ran the wrong way and got slaughtered.

You tell your party, '2 dead?'
Relick tells the group, 'Yup'
Relick tells the group, 'I ran the wrong way lol'
You tell your party, 'not a good place to camp, neh?'
Relick tells the group, 'Medding'
Qandala bonks Vorish on the head with a pan.
Relick tells the group, 'And memming'
Relick tells the group, 'We should have went back when i said t '
Qandala tells the group, 'If only i hade a white robe and yizuen hade a blackk one'
You tell your party, '?'
Qandala bonks Vorish on the head with a pan.

Qandala really started to get strange about this point, she's running around bonking everyone on the head, popping the question to Yizuen and running off, and basically being an emotional female for a while. Relick and I never figured out what her issues were... Relick makes himself invisible and goes on a corpse dragging run (where you run out to the corpse, and use a command that allows you to drag it towards you from 50' away). You see, if you drag the corpse, you stay invisible, but if you stop to loot the corpse and get your stuff back you lose invisibility. There was a lot of standing around the orc lift at this point, Qandala running around bonking people and slapping Yizuen, Relick was getting himself put back together after his corpse run, and I'm busy reading up on the emote commands, so we didn't start another raid until 01:20am (8am local on Wed Aug 11 3214). It was a short raid as a complete group, because the group got seperated and I ended up assisting Qandala alone the path. Then we linked up again but got mobbed and Yizuen died again:

01:37:03 --Qandala has looted a Small Cloth Wristband.--
01:37:13 --You have looted a Small Cloth Veil.--
01:37:22 Relick tells the group, 'Could i get that wristband i need one more'
01:37:29 You tell your party, '60m'
01:37:38 Relick tells the group, 'Got it thanx'
01:37:51 Qandala asks Relick to marry her.
01:37:55 Relick tells the group, 'Anyone need pants?'
01:38:02 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:38:04 Relick's image blurs.
01:38:18 You tell your party, 'shawl and veil for grabs'
01:38:26 Relick tells the group, 'Sorry qandala i am already taken'
01:38:36 Qandala tells the group, 'I HATE ME'
01:38:49 Relick tells the group, 'Take it easy'
01:39:01 Qandala tells the group, 'I HATE ME I HATE ME I HATE ME'
01:39:03 Relick tells the group, '40m medding'
01:39:13 Yizuen tells the group, 'K '
01:39:19 Qandala tells the group, 'IIIIII HHHHAAATTTTEEEE MMMMEEEEE'
01:39:27 You begin casting Minor Shielding.
01:39:29 You feel armored.
01:39:58 It is 3 PM on Wednesday, the 11th day of August, of the year 3214.
01:40:03 Qandala tells the group, 'You couldn't find a stupider person than me i this hole game'
01:40:22 Relick tells the group, '90m'
01:40:31 You tell your party, '80m'
01:40:41 Relick tells the group, 'Fom'
01:40:44 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 13 points of damage.
01:40:44 Orc centurion bashes Yizuen for 6 points of damage.
01:40:45 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:40:48 Relick is surrounded by a translucent shield.
01:40:48 Yizuen tells the group, 'Incoming'
01:40:51 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 5 points of damage.
01:40:51 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 14 points of damage.
01:40:52 You tell your party, 'Incoming!'
01:40:53 Orc centurion bashes Yizuen for 2 points of damage.
01:40:53 Yizuen begins to cast a spell.
01:40:54 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 6 points of damage.
01:40:54 You begin casting Burn.
01:40:54 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:40:56 orc centurion was hit by non-melee for 11 points of damage.
01:40:56 Orc centurion's skin blisters and burns.
01:40:57 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 14 points of damage.
01:40:58 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
01:40:59 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:41:00 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 11 points of damage.
01:41:00 Orc centurion gasps for breath.
01:41:00 Orc centurion bashes Yizuen for 4 points of damage.
01:41:03 orc centurion says 'None shall challenge the legions of the Crushbone orcs!!
01:41:03 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 11 points of damage.
01:41:03 Yizuen has been slain by orc centurion!
01:41:03 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
01:41:04 Relick crushes orc centurion for 4 points of damage.
01:41:04 Jibaner pierces orc centurion for 2 points of damage.
01:41:05 Jibaner begins to cast a spell.
01:41:05 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
01:41:07 Relick crushes orc centurion for 3 points of damage.
01:41:07 You crush orc centurion for 12 points of damage.
01:41:07 You have slain orc centurion!
01:41:07 orc centurion says 'You shall have all the Crushbone orc legions on your tail for my death!
01:41:20 --Relick has looted a Crushbone Belt.--
01:41:21 You tell your party, 'darn, lost yiz'
01:41:28 Relick tells the group, 'Yu '
01:41:55 Jibaner says 'Guarding you Master.'
01:42:27 You tell your party, '80m'
01:43:04 Qandala tells the group, 'BYE"'
01:43:05 Qandala has left the group.
01:43:11 Yizuen's spell fizzles!
01:43:12 Yizuen begins to cast a spell.
01:43:15 Yizuen's image shimmers.
01:43:27 You tell your party, 'is qan ok?'
01:43:37 Yizuen tells the group, 'No. She needs some serious counseling.'
01:43:47 You tell your party, '90m'
01:43:54 You tell your party, 'no kidding...'

A little after this we started adding and dropping members pretty quickly (basically only Relick and I stayed the entire time) and we forced our way into the center of the orc camp to a place the locals call "orc hill" which is a good spot that you can see the surrounding area and pull the Orcs to you and your group. There were between 4 and 8 players standing on the hill, and we were getting hit by 2-6 Orcs per wave every few minutes. I don't remember anyone dying during this time because we were all jumping to each other's defense. I spent most of the time letting my pet cast magic and melee while I worked on my 2 handed blunt weapon skills with a worn great staff. As a result of not casting spells, I was usually between 60% and 80% of my mana and my hit points stayed above 80% because I let the pet take the Orc when I needed to mend. Sometimes I'd jump in between a Orc and another player who was taking too much damage. My defense skill is pretty good (considering my level), so I was usually only taking 4-10 pts of damage per hit and I could back away and let the pet have it at any time. During this chaos, I lost my pet once and had to re-cast during a short break. This was a very long period of nothing but fighting, looting, and medding so it all runs together (basically, a very fun time was had by all on the hill).

Somewhere in the melee, I managed to gain my Level 6, and by the end of the night I was 20% (1 bubble) on my way to level 7. Not bad considering I had started the evening at 1 bubble into Level 5 and was thinking it would take a long time to get to level 6.

After about an hour of this we started getting into the flow and the loot was piling up faster and faster (I was becoming encumbered by the weight). So about 85 min in to this cycle (03:15am), I had to run back to Kelethin, got lost on the way, finally found the lifts, sold my stuff and worked my way back to the group in about 10 minutes (pretty quick for getting lost). We only meleed for another 10 minutes before everyone in the group started leaving and it was starting to get lonely up on the hill when Relick and I ran back to town to camp and logoff.

Quite an exciting evening of play (especially the last 2 hrs up on orc hill). I made a lot of improvements in skill. Conjuration went from 16 to 25, Channeling went from 30 to 33, Abjuration from 9 to 18, Defense from 22 to 25, Offense from 17 to 21, 2-handed blunt from 0 to 1 (yea!), Sense Heading from 3 to 5. Need to work on 2 handed blunt because I focused soley on Piercing skills up until now and if I wait too long to train in 1-handed and 2-handed blunt I'll be at a major disadvantage later in the game (have to fight too big of critters to gain skill).

Right now, I'm looking at the maps, figuring out how much longer I should continue to hunt at the Orc Camp in Greater Faydark before finding another hunting spot. Relick says he won't be on today, so I'll probably group with someone new this evening.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:28 AM