Stony Gaze

I logged in later tonight after spending time with Ape and helping her with her class project. I didn’t really plan to xp at all. I had enough to do with selling more party loot, the Mog Safe quest, checking out Chucho’s BLM loaner gear and giving Nanaa four items worth a couple grand in exchange for a tiny bit of Norg fame and 200 bucks.

What I didn’t expect was a Besieged almost about to begin, from the Undead this time. I had enough time to get to Jeuno, pick up my moogle’s requested gifts, and then to Windy. I took care of the Yag necklaces, trading the mantle and hat, and selling more crap. I got back to Al Zahbi with about 10 minutes to spare so I hung out with Ape some more.

On returning I find myself surrounded by people powering up – I just missed the start. I left my flag up from the Warp macro and began making ready. I soon get an invite from Nagatna who tells me (paraphrase) “You stay with me, OK?”. Echoes of Vader maybe?

In any case, this Besieged would not go down smoothly. A Lamia 34 and a Medusa were killing everyone in AoE / Ranged attack distance and our group fell repeatedly. I managed to only double-die once, keeping the Imperial reraise scrolls or my own magic in place for the other deaths.

Other than completely ignoring the log showing Mrbill dying slowly in front of me (I didn’t realize he had moved to where Nagatna and I were) I did a fair job of healing and some hasting.

This Besieged lasted about an hour and at least TWO of our Generals died! I believe that’s the first time I’ve seen anyone go, much less two in one shot. The group defending Al Zahbi next time will have their work cut out for them with only 3 seals standing between the invaders and the Astral Canscendance (that can’t possibly be right).

Not long after, while sorting out my d-box Lori invites me to rep her but I have to decline. It was a little after 11 and I knew I’d never be able to make it to work if I had gone. I thanked her for the offer and continued cleaning house.

It turns out Chucho sent me six items: a pair of Black Earrings, a Black Cape, and Seer’s Pumps, Mitts and Tunic, all +1. A quick compare between it and my RSE in those slots revealed this: Seer’s has a +2 advantage in INT and MND, but RSE has +2 MP and +48 HP. I didn’t bother checking Dark defense or overall defense because I just don’t care about that.

The INT and MND boosts are pretty good at this level but I can probably find a way to get close using rings or earrings. As a BLM under a nuking role, MND doesn’t matter anyway.

I also took the time to upgrade VanaCalc at home to the new formulas. Enfeebling is at 85% while everything else WHM hovers near 75%. Elemental is all but capped while Dark is 75%. Club, Staff and Evasion languish in the 50-60 range while Shield, Dagger and Throwing are practically single-digit… These are all from WHM/BLM levels.