The Orient Express

I fell asleep early Monday and never logged in (sick and frustrated at work) so today’s goal was to reach Aht Urhgan and set my HP there. I was all set to go when Sinz asked for help farming his subjob items in Valkurm. It was already after 11 and I knew that doing both the SJ farming and ferry trip to AU would take a long time.

But I decided to help him out. We met up near the Konschaht zoneline and I let him solo 3 flies while I PLed, getting him 200xp per. But these were taking too long and I was getting impatient so he kindly agreed to duo and we decimated about a dozen flies in short order. As midnight loomed, I told him we’d duo 2 more then he could solo one to end the night and luckily, the first of these 3 dropped the worm. Elated, Sinz stayed in Valk while I made ready to try my luck with the AU ferry.

I’m pretty sure I took out the Aragoneau Region OP at this time, leaving only Vollbow (Cape Terrigan).

I board the ferry with about 5 other players, many who appear to be low to mid level. I think at least 3 of us were Near East first-timers. Not knowing what horrors lurked in these waters, I made straight for the wheelhouse upon leaving port. Sure enough, an Ocean Kraken pops and I can hear a few ooohs and ahhs from the rest of the passengers. It checks EP to me, and feeling bold, I decide to engage it, after buffing up of course.

I manage to stick a fair number of enfeebs on it while whittling away with my staff (skillups too) and Light and elemental magic strikes. While this is going on the rest of the gang emerge from the hold to watch, and Terry, whom I’ve had the pleasure of partying with, gives cure support. I’m not generating much hate because even on measly Cure IIs the Kraken makes for her on more than one occasion but I’m able to regain its attention before any serious harm.

Other than a nasty AoE that gets two bystanders, the fight is uneventful, although very long. I’m at about 50% HP and 20% MP at the end, and all I got for my trouble was 26 XP and a Seashell. Well, and much love from the crowd. That was cool!

I thank them all for their support and PM Terry expressly for her risky help. I cure up those with boo-boos and we eventually land in Aht Urhgan’s port. I take the time to find my way to the MH, after lucking into the MH multi-exit quest NPC. That’ll prolly cost about 3k to activate… I set my HP and actually run a tele. And I dropped 10k on maps…

After a brief trip to their AH and some other minor sightseeing I have to log. Tomorrow’s plan is to start the mission series (many are easy CS or fetch-quests) and hope to learn how the Runic Portals work.