Vacations Are Fun

(Hard work rewarded)

July 28 - August 2, 2008

Wednesday night I actually got a party on WHM. It's been a very long time since I took Aer out in her WHM finery to a real party. And I wasn't really flagged up for it either. I started the three-quest series to unlock an Adventuring Fellow of my very own. I suspect parties are going to be harder to enlist for with my work/sleep schedule about to change for the worse in about a week. So, at least with a little buddy, I'll have a few choices of time-wasters: Campaign, leveling LB, skillups for Club, and crafting.

I had finished the first AF quest while flagged but on finishing it I took down my banner. I then headed out to the Necropolis for the NM fight that caps the second quest. On the way, Chikorin got ahold of me and asked if I would join them in Caedarva Mire. I accepted even though it was a little after my party "time window" - I really wanted to get back the XP I lost with Aleu and Aegis.

The party itself went pretty well. I think I was only one of two English speakers but we did all right with auto-trans and simply knowing our places. And this time I didn't even have to fight Tarbou, our RDM, for -na casts ^^ As you know, the Mire is full of True Sight Imps, in addition to Jnun. Now, go look up "schadenfreude", apply it in the context of me trying to bail the RDM out of unexpected aggro, then guess how the party would end.

The one on one fights with either Imps or Jnun were no sweat. When I needed MP, I could usually rest safely and nobody would take any serious damage, given that I'd make sure both Tarbou and Diorie (PLD) had sufficient MP. Things got complicated however, when Imps took a liking to Tarbou, four times. He'd be trying to enfeeb an add and the puller would return with the prey we expected to fight. I don't know why no one called him off or announced links, but the RDM would bite it twice as a result of too much mob and not enough adventurer.

I did my best to keep him and the rest alive and was doing well between Curaga pulls and a well-timed Benediction. And then the inevitable. *I* got aggro while resting, not long after raising Tarbou and being really low on HP. We basically wiped. I had already alerted our leader to my time remaining and the wipe happened with about 20 minutes left on my clock. I homepointed and then she called for a DB. Our puller was left dead in the Mire so I risked my neck solo to raise him and as I warped out he got taken out again. I told him to {Take care.}, hehe.

I was just about to go back once more but he either HPed or got another raise. He was talking in Japanese and not auto-trans and for the most part I kept up - It was really basic Japanese. So, with him sorted, I went to log out. Tibia, the rep who came for our monk (and an English speaker) chatted with me for a bit about the sudden end (she came late). I explained that we had already been rolling for close to an hour and a half when she was called in. As for the sudden end, I guessed it had to do with me being done anyway and no main healers looking for adventure.

Thursday, I was in Orlando, for the last major outing of the 2008 Funfest. We did both Universal Parks and totally raped the lines with our Fast-Passes. And finally got some rollercoaster riding in the dark!

On returning Friday night, I wrapped up the AF quest and got to meet Sufhi Uchnouma. She's Mithran (duhhh), brown hair and yellow eyes, and is the "small" version. I guess for Mithra the model difference is like 2 inches' height between sizes. I took her out to Western Altepa and got her XP by beating down beetles and Gobs. I tanked, despite her earnest efforts to steal hate, and threw cures her way as needed. I missed the 15 mob limit by just 3, and should have been getting max XP per.

Saturday I did two Campaign battles with Fhox and Isa. I felt bad for the Feds since I was technically fighting in Bastok, but we're all an alliance, right? Neither battle went well since there weren't enough players pitching in. We all died a lot despite our best efforts. There weren't any reinforcements in the first battle, so that was like total suicide against the amped-up quads. At least for round 2 we had some NPC support.

After that I gave the new summer event a go and was rewarded with a very nice beachy top for Aerin. After that I headed to Garlaige to try skilling up. I had to log out after a particularly good run and didn't get back in until very late that night but I went from 132 to 146 just by beating on the Fort. And then during the third battle there, I guess no one else came because I was surrounded by Yagudo. And this time they noticed me. I almost missed the death - I took like 7 hits in less than a second. And it took awhile before I felt safe enough to pop reraise. I was down for about 15 minutes and then the Yags went somewhere else. I quickly came to, raised Brothermist who had died nearby and then warped out.

Back in Windy, I went back to Huntsmans' Court and waited for Mumor to begin a show. And through spectacular levels of fail, managed to piss away 29 syncs. I got 15+, warped back to my MH to grab the top, then found out that you can't warp. Starting over, I got what I thought was 16 syncs and went to cash out. Nope, I miscounted - only 14. But I did get some fireworks >< One more pass and I finally got the bottoms. Now to make sure what I need in order to get the HQ set and the Bibiki teleport item.

Sunday, I haven't been able to log in because TheAlmighty is being stubborn.