Fhox and company had planned another run on 5-2 for Stoik, Kitty and Bene (IIRC). Start time was 9 EST. I was on earlier than them so I used the time to farm and futz about with T-T runs and flagging AF2, but at 9 we started checking in. Stoik almost didn’t get in because he had gone AFK in Sandy. He did finally reply and so we were off. Kitty was leading the effort because Fhox wasn’t on and she asked me to escort Stoik to Castle Zvahl Keep, from Sandy, because Stoik still didn’t have his crystal.
OK, I can do that, right? I meet Stoik at the Ronfaure/Ranguemont Pass zoneline and we start through. About 5 minutes in (having started close to 9:30) he realizes he STILL doesn’t have 5-2 flagged, despite Kitty’s repeated invectives earlier in the week after 5-1. So he runs back and I wait. He returns to the gate at about 10, at which point Kitty mentions we have a problem. The tank she’s picked out (Jago or Jano or…) can’t stay long enough.
She asks if any of us know anyone high up enough to tank/DD the Shadowlord for us, since the rest of us are 45-60-ish. I see that Dezmo is likely free and ask if he can meet us at the Vahzl crag in exchange for a reward. He can, and I let Kitty know. Dez teles out and waits, annoyed, for about 15 minutes while I’m trudging Stoik through. Sneak and/or Invisible keep falling off him shortly after being cast but we’re pretty lucky with aggro. This is about when Kitty mentions that not only is her buddy sticking around (making 5) but that he has a friend too, filling the party.
Crap-o. So I have to tell Dez we don’t need him and I let him know that I’ll tele him out once we arrive, ETA 5 minutes. That is, until a supposed EP Demon Pawn aggros and bludgeons both of us. Pwned by a Pawn. I told Stoik to disengage and run for the crag to get crystal and then I died. Stoik dies about a minute later. Care to guess what happens next?
Now I have a dilemma – I don’t yet have Tele-Vahzl and I need to make TWO trips to the crag, one to relocate Dez and the other to return myself and Raise Stoik. So I HP, buy the scroll for 61k, tele, re-tele Dez, pay him 5k for his time, and tele again back to Vahzl. I Raise Stoik and as I STICK a Cure III, he is killed by a Lost Soul’s blizzard. >< So I tractor him to an empty hilltop and raise him again. So far so good, but knowing that weakness lasts 5 minutes and being fearful he’ll get aggroed again despite my best efforts, I tele him out to Mea to rest. Here’s the paraphrased conversation (mind you Fhox has logged in by now and is nearby):
/p We’ll rest here until weakness passes, and then I’ll tele… Oh, crap…
(Stoik) What?
/p CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP
(Stoik) WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT
/l Someone please shoot me!
/l I just screwed up bigtime.
I go on to explain that in the fog of war I didn’t realize Stoik never got his crystal, and that I basically undid all the traveling we did over the last hour. At this point it’s after 11:00 and the crew reforms, adding Fhox in Stoik’s place and dumping me. The 5-man crew continued on to 5-2 and I told them I’d take Stoik back to get the crystal so that he would at least be able to move quickly to the zone once the next run was made. Fhox said Diosa and someone else (Chucho?) still needed it so Stoik could go then.
Stoik and I actually made good time to the crag despite buffs constantly falling off him. Once I had him positively verify the gate crystal was in his permanent key items list, I teled us back to Holla and gave him 2500 for his trouble and the birds he had to use. I said my goodbyes to him. However, Stoik chose this time to start downing Bacardi 151’s and somewhat hopelessly repeated in LS tell, “So when do I start?” Kitty tried hard not to strangle him electronically but she was clearly upset.
I threw myself at their mercy knowing I had not only cost Stoik his shot but made the rest late as well. Kitty switched to private chat and we talked about it and she was very supportive of me and didn’t blame me for the accident. She was madder at Stoik for being unprepared again. I kept insisting it was at least partially my fault that he lost his shot at rank up and told her it was the curse of the WHM to care too much. She offered more kind words at which I told her she had eased the sting. She replied that it shouldn’t sting at all. /cry
It was more or less at this point in the convo that Fhox pulled his usual {Amateur} tease out and I hotly replied, “Dammit Fhox, I feel bad enough already!”
Kitty must also have said something in /tell to Fhox because he soon joined us in private, echoing Kitty’s assertions that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself and that Stoik is causing unacceptable amounts of trouble. I hopefully mentioned Stoik is going through a lot, and that his life changes were why I was willing to try so hard.
I told Fhox that I wasn’t going to bail on him or anything but that I was very upset with myself. I told him I was going AFK and that if I didn’t make it back (ahem) I’d see them all Monday.
I would be mad at myself over the next several days, in-game at least… The anniversary trip to Orlando was magnificent, and pretty much took my mind off my bungle, until Monday’s session. /sigh
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