Everblog

Finding the City of Mist

2004-08-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

Reaching our 46th season was something I'd dreamed about for ages. At that point, we'd be able to step through the Plane of Tranquility portal stone and experience what the Planes had to offer. I was excited about seeing new lands - especially about visiting different planes of existence. But with Cen and I's busy schedules, our 46th season seemed impossibly far away.

There had been little time for adventuring as of late, I spending all of my time honing my fletching skills and working towards becoming a Grandmaster in the trade. Cenalorn had been spending all of his free time hunting spiders in the swamps of The Feerott and Greyhoppers in the barren moon-dusted lands of Marus Seru. Any extra time was spent in the Bazaar selling the spiderling silks and greyhopper hides he'd accumulated.

A week ago I grew weary of the tedious arrow making, and wandered into the Plane of Knowledge library for a break. As usual, I pulled out the voluminous Atlas and mark off lands in my mind that I someday hoped to travel to. My eye was drawn to the ruins of an ancient city buried deep in the Emerald Jungle. Once known as Torsis, I read, the City of Mist sat decaying at the jungle's center, surrounded by a filmy mist. I had to see this place with my own eyes.

I went and immediately came back to find Cenalorn. Talks with the few other adventurers around the area had shed some more light on this mysterious area. The experience was excellent (akin to the much-missed Paludal Caverns when we were younger) and the loot decent. I couldn't fight in there alone, but with Cen we could do well at the front entrance.

Upon returning together, we fought for long hours at the zone line, many times having to run. The golems and undead were tough, but the experience was amazing. Before I knew it, we'd both reached our 46th season. We took some time away from the ruins to travel to the Plane of Tranquility - just to check it out; it was as beautiful as we'd always imagined.

The City of Mist has been an exciting find for the both of us. Cen is now in his 49th season and I'll soon join him. I get to learn new spells at this level, and both of us are truly excited about earning our new class titles at 51. Cen will no longer be simply a Warrior, but a Champion, and I will go from being a simple Ranger to a Pathfinder.

Not only is the experience worth cheering for, the money made is considerable. Two solid hours of fighting can yield us around 300 platinum apiece.

More than anything, though, it has brought us back to doing what we love best - adventuring.

Killin' Pirates, Arrrr

2004-03-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

By Nysa

"The Gulf of Gunthak," Cen said to me as we sat opposite each other trying to warm our hands over the small fire in the Coldain camp, and our gullets with Cen's never-ending supply of Ol'tujim's Fierce Brew.

The day previous we'd spent hunting whooly rhinos and tundra mammoths in the frozen lands known as the Eastern Wastes. It had been freezing cold, but the hunting was good. Using my Snare and Panic Animal spells we were able to take on a large number of the massive beasts one after another, as "fear-kiting", as it was known, allowed us to attack without being attacked back. Around mid-day we'd grouped with a friendly human Necromancer and his skeleton pet. He introduced us to "aggro-kiting" and we were able to kill ulthorks and frost giants en masse. We'd garnered a lot of experience and decent loot.

We'd made our camp here in the Coldain camp, amongst the pale-faced and quiet dwarves. They didn't mind us sharing their fire or shelter, as long as we kept to ourselves.

"What about Gunthak?" I asked him, wondering if he'd put back one too many brews. It was doubtful - Cen's alcohol tolerance was renowned.

"We've always talked about going there," he said. "We should do it."

Though the hunting and loot was good and plentiful here, the thought of leaving this numbing cold was a pleasant one. I was used to the humid warmth of the Qeynos Hills and the Karanas, as was Cen. I opened up one of my large backpacks and fished out my huge leather-bound atlas. We'd spent some time in the Plane of Knowledge library copying down the Broken Skull Rock maps in the belief that we'd travel there soon. We had yet to do so, however.

"It's quite a journey to get there in and of itself," I explained to him as I flipped through the pages. "We've never done much exploring on the continent of Odus, but this would certainly afford us an opportunity to do so."

"So shall we?" he asked, already packing up his things.

I glanced up at him and grinned. "I'd like to stop by and check out the Kejekan people in Stonebrunt Mountains. I've heard much of their spiritual ways and have always wanted to visit their mountaintop village."

"Sounds fun," he said as he stood and belted his sword to his side. He was already ready to go. I got the hint. I packed up my things, pulled my Acrylia Studded Cloak tightly around my shoulders and cast Spirit of Wolf on us both. Running swiftly through the snow, which had just kicked up outside, was going to numb us both to the core. I was glad to be leaving the frozen wastelands.

We made a quick run to the Plane of Knowledge and went our separate ways, as was our custom, to prepare for an adventure. This usually entailed going to a merchant and selling any loot we had on us, stopping by the bank to change out heavy coin or pick up any necessary equipment. I always went and visited my good friend, the merchant Jaren Cloudchaser, to buy supplies to make a quiver full of arrows. I had learned early on it was not a good thing to be deep off in an adventure and realize you were out of arrows. It was one of the main reasons I'd taken up the skill of Fletching, of which I was now a Master. As a last stop, before I met back up with Cen in front of whichever portal we needed to take, I always picked up two stacks of some type of liquor to surprise Cen with. He never knew which spirit I'd bring along, and it gave us something to do during down time.

After purchasing two more stacks of Ol'tujim's Fierce Brew, I met with Cen at the portal stone that led to the Erudite city of Erudin. We would later learn it would have been quicker to take the portal stone for the evil city of Panieel, on the dark side of the Plane of Knowledge; for now we zoned into Toxxulia Forest and made our way to Paineel and through it. None of the evil creatures there bothered us much beyond snarls and hatred-filled glances. Following the map, Cen led us to the twisted and Kobold-filled caverns known as The Warrens and we emerged into the inky blackness of the forest that sat at the foot of the Stonebrunt Mountains. It felt good to be out in the damp and warm night air; only the slightest breeze could be felt here, coming off of the ocean. As we wound our way up the steep mountain, though, it got colder. Though nowhere close to the frost-biting cold of the Eastern Wastes, it was still cold enough for snow to cover the sleepy mountaintop village of the Kejekans - a Kerran-type cat people who lived a quiet and sedate life way high above everything on Odus. We spent our time conversing with the learned cats and playing with some Kejekan children under a tree.

On our way to the docks, we hunted a few pandas and granitebacks that were still tough enough to give us experience. There was no wait for the ship and we soon found ourselves standing on the rough wood that made up the Gulf of Gunthak.

We had decided, from information overheard in the Plane of Knowledge, that we would hunt pirates on Dulak's Harbor. The experience and loot was said to be above par. Still, as always, we were nervous about being in a new place and we spent a few moments roaming around the Lighthouse area before venturing over to the dangerous beach and caves that would lead us to Dulak. The harbor was an interesting place - a myriad of races resided here living the rough and tumble life of brigands and seafarers. It was shocking to us both to behold an Erudite female clad in skimpy cloths, a golden belly chain around her shapely hips, and a hoop through her lip. Her eyes were dark and her coffee-colored skin was inked with large and malicious tattoos. I harbored no doubts that this rogue Erudite had been scorned by her own proud people who usually spent their lives spell-casting and seeking knowledge while clothed in brilliant, austere robes.

We made our way stealthily to the beach and, other than being attacked by a skeleton, without incident. My Camoflauge spell kept us from being seen by the large troll lookouts, and the strange plant life in the caves.

After coming to Dulak, we spent our time near the zone line, pulling mercenaries and brigands to us and cutting them down. They were tough foes, and we had to sit and heal up between them but the loot was nice and the experience even better. Feeling braver, I Camoflauged us once more and we out into the shipyard. Cen found a small, unused dock behind the ship known as Stormwave that held only three creatures - an ogre and troll boat scrubber, and a gnome boat engineer. We snuck up on each and had the dock cleared quickly and without major incident. It was amusing to note that the little gnome engineer was a much tougher fight than either the ogre or troll. We decided this was our spot. When one spawned, we killed it and sitting here for over an hour we both gained much experience. Cen looted a sapphire off of one body and I came away with a shining fire emerald.

During a small downtime period, I pulled out my spellbook, perusing the notes I always made on the blank back pages.

"Cen," I said, pointing to a note scrawled in my small hand, "I should've gotten a new damage over time spell last level - hits for 30 points per tick over Stinging Swarm, which only hits for 13."

"We need to get it," he said to me over his brew.

"You'll never believe where we need to go to get it," I told him.

He arched an eyebrow and took another swig.

"The Gulf of Gunthak."

He laughed so hard he choked on his brew. What were the chances? Our first trip out to Broken Skull Rock and it just so happened I had a spell I needed out here. I had jotted down the name of the individual who should have it - a Guadric Stormwynd.

We made our way back to the Gulf, and found Guadric near the Lighthouse. He was looking for nifilik's, for scientific reasons, and offered a reward if we brought these to him. I was only able to track two nifiliks on the beach area, and no more. One had dropped one of the items we sought, but we were still short. We sat for awhile and I, exhausted with killing pirates all day, began to doze off. I was awakened by a shake from Cen telling me that the two nifiliks had popped again. I hoped one of them had what we needed, because I was ready to make camp and too tired to do much more killng.

Luckily, one of them did. A burst of excitement gave me more energy and we ran to Gaudric and gave him the items. After learning the new spell, Swarm of Fire, we went back to the beach and killed a poor skeleton to try it out. That was the last of my energy. I went back to the Lighthouse, giving Cen a hug, and decided to camp there overnight. Cen, ever the energy bug, left to return to Natimbi and do some more fishing before he ended his night.

All in all, it was quite an eventful day of adventuring.

Rallic Packs & Foraging Machetes, Oh My!

2004-01-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

By Nysa

"I've got everything I need to complete the quest," Cen said, again, in a pleading voice.

I looked over at him, not in the mood for questing today. "Can't we just go and kill things?" I asked. This disappointed look in his eyes changed my attitude. "Okay," I told him. "Tell me what we've got to do."

It still amazes me how he can go from utter disappointment to sheer excitement in a second. He explained the last part of the quest to me, and the idea began to sound more agreeable. We only had to kill one creature, then run to Katta Castellum and turn everything in. Katta is one of my favorite cities, though I'd only visited it twice before. It would be a pleasure to travel to the massive metropolis carved into the side of a cliff. Plus, we'd be going through zones I'd never been through before.

Using my Invisible and Levitate spells, Cen & I ran without problems through the Grimling Forest. We found the cave that led to the Tenebrous Mountains, and sat to wait for the grimling runner who held the last piece of Cen's quest. We hadn't been there two seconds when he ran by us, but Cen realized that another adventurer was waiting on him as well. We sat, knowing he'd re-appear in 90 mins, rather than steal this guy's kill. Cen suggested we kill sonic wolves and we spent the next 80 or so minutes doing so, both getting close to a full bulb of experience.

When we had only 10 minutes left to go, we sat and waited. I, just inside the cave where we knew he would spawn, and Cen sitting at the cave's entrance, in case he ran past me. Soon I saw the ugly little creature streak by. I jumped down and gave him a nasty slash with my Centi, and he turned to attack me. I yelled to Cen that we had him, and he came in swinging. The runner was no match for our quick swords, and fell almost too easily. Cen looted the pattern he needed from the corpse, and we began the run to Katta.

Did I mention I love this city? I was able to track down Rallic Aristos for Cen very easily and he became the proud owner of his very first Rallic Pack. He went to the bank to do some business, and I wandered around - just enjoying the scenery. I found a small Halfling woman in a large garden and struck up a conversation with her. When she mentioned that she was looking for a good forager to find some rare plants, I offered my services. She agreed to give me a Foraging Machete, something I'd always wanted, for my time.

I hunted down Cen, who was in Katta's great pub of course, and told him we had another quest to go on. Since I already had the required Dawnflower Seeds sitting in the bank (foraged on a zelniak-hunting evening in Dawnshroud Peaks), I knew the rest of the quest would be a breeze. Excited, we decided to first go to the Twilight Sea just outside the city to try and forage the first item. We relaxed on the small island across from Katta, fishing and drinking while I poked around looking for a Twilight Orchid. It didn't take long to find one, and we put up our fishing poles and headed for the Scarlet Desert. We'd never been here before; it certainly is a shock to the senses to suddenly be surrounded by all of that red sky! We killed a few sunflowers and tried to take on a scarlet cheetah, but were almost killed ourselves! Somehow, in all of the ruckus, I was able to forage up the needed Red Sands Cactus. We headed, then, to Mons Letalis - a barren, wasteland filled with large stonegrabbers and rockhoppers. I cast Enduring Breath on us so we wouldn't have to worry about the pockets of no-oxygen that we ran into. It took some time, but I was eventually able to forage up a strange vine to finish off the quest.

We returned to Katta and handed the items over to the Halfing, and I was rewarded with my foraging machete.

To celebrate our day of successful questing, Cen and I went to Katta's infamous pub and got sloshed. I remember little of the rest of the night, though fragments do come to me of Cen and I fishing once more in the Twilight Sea...naked.

A Giant Evening

2003-10-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

"Killing Hill Giants was fun," Cen told me as we walked together to the bank in the Plane of Knowledge.

We'd just come from selling for hours at the Bazaar and were ready for some adventuring. The other day, while we'd waited for Hasten to show up in the Rathe Mountains for Cen's Jboot quest, we'd felled a giant or two. Their loot was considerable.

"Okay," I told him. "After our banking business, let's kill some giants."

Cen wanted to try Ice Giants in The Great Divide first, and that sounded fun. We hadn't done much exploring on the continent of Velious, but had been talking about it. We killed two Ice Giant Scouts before having to run for our lives with a pack of dire wolves on our heels. We decided we'd best move on to Hill Giants, as we'd found a very safe spot to sit and camp while medding between kills in the Rathe Mountains.

So off we went, running through the darkened swamp of the Feerott, with all its odd sounds, and finding our way to our desired spot in Rathe. There weren't many people around, and though there was a high level wizard nuking 2 and 3 giants at a time, we were able to pull a considerable few. A Cyclops here and there broke the monotony.

We made right over 100 plat each, which was nice. As the evening came to an end, I made camp in the Plane of Knowledge, and Cen went on to set up another booth at the Bazaar. All in all, a nice but uneventful evening. At least no one died.

Cenalorn's Jboots

2003-10-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

As the sun slowly began to peak over the tips of the Butcherblock Mountains, Cenalorn and I were making our last run around the vast zone collecting goblin heads and blood. We'd been doing this for about an hour, as the items sell for almost 5 plat apiece, but as daybreak came upon us, more and more people came into the zone. The hunting was less plentiful and the camps became camped.

"Now what?" I asked Cen. Neither of us liked fighting for camps, or trying to make our way through an over-populated zone.

He thought for a moment, his blue eyes almost shut in consternation. Then he suddenly opened them and announced, "Sand giants!"

"What about them?" I queried, wondering where this was going.

"I read up on them in the library," he told me. "We might could get some experience as well as some good money off of them. You can track them. They're in the desert of South Ro."

This sounded promising, so we took off. The quickest route to South Ro, from Butcherblock anyway, was to speak to the Magus as the Wayfarer's camp. Within minutes we found ourselves standing in the almost deserted camp, surrounded by orc camps not but a few feet away.

I buffed us up and we took off in the direction of the sands of the Desert of South Ro. I was unable to track any sand giants, but Cenalorn read that they might appear if we killed all the undead we could find. It wasn't but a few minutes of killing mummies and zombies when we crested a hill to see the Ancient Cyclops running right towards us. I had just tracked the area, and he hadn't shown up; obviously he had just appeared as we came over the hill.

Though he was only a dark blue con to us, he was still tough. As the massive creature fell to the sand in death, he cried, "Oh, my precious ring!"

"What is it?" I asked, scared for a moment. The look that went across Cen's face at the moment was startling. I thought he was having a heart attack.

"It can't be!" he cried, rushing towards the huge mound of dead cyclops on the sand in front of us. He began to loot the giant pockets and I heard him scream, "Oh my god! It is! I can't believe it!"

"What? What? What?" I cried out, running up to him. I was at a loss as to what the excitement was about.

"Jboots!" he said, running up and hugging me. Cenalorn had been wanting a pair of Journeyman's Boots (or Jboots) for some time now, but we hadn't had the time to sit down and do the difficult quest. "This is the hardest part of the quest!" he told me, tripping over his own words in his excitement and shoving the Ring of the Ancients in my face. "And we just happened upon it!"

Indeed, then, I knew we were blessed. I later learned that some people camped the Ancient Cyclops for over a week before getting him and his ring. We knew we now had to finish the quest.

Our next job was to run over to the West Commonlands and find the Shadowed Men camp. Luckily, we were the only ones in all of the W. Commonlands and after only five or six respawns, we had the next part of the quest in our hands - a Shadowed Rapier.

It was then a quick run to the bank in the PoK to grab 3250 in gold coins, and we were off to the Rathe Mountains in search of Hasten Bootstrutter.

Before going we read up all we could on the quick-footed little Gnome who gave the gift of Jboots. We sat and waited in the spot we were told he would run by.

There happened to be another adventurer, a Wood Elf Ranger who was only one level below us, who was right behind us the entire time on the quest. He sat with us to wait for Hasten and we promised to let one another know when he appeared on track.

It was almost a two hour wait. The part of the quest that was written to be the simplest was, in fact, the hardest for us. All of a sudden, I saw him on track! I yelped out to Cen, "He's up! He's up!" just as the other Ranger yelled out to me that he was on track. Suddenly a flash of something ran past us - Hasten runs like a horse with a Lvl 65 Bard speed song cast on him. Here are the three of us running after this gnome screaming, "Hail!, Hail!, Hail!". It was quite a sight.

The other Ranger was closest - we told him to keep chasing him, and Cen and I ran back to the spot we knew he'd pass again. Standing on either side, we hoped to stop him as he ran back through. We'd just taken our positions when the other Ranger yelled that he'd caught him. We hurried to him, and he was still standing there. Cen hailed him, gave him what he wanted and was rewarded with his own pair of Jboots. (Which he, throughout the rest of the day and night, kept showing off to me proudly).

And that is how we completed the Jboot quest.

Two Shamans & A Beastlord

2003-10-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

By Imarra

Sunab and I were sitting in the bank, bored off our rump. He had a few quests he'd been working on that he wanted to finish, but I just wanted to kill things.

As we were sitting there, debating on what to do, a Vah Shir our age who as a Shaman like Sunab asked us to hunt with her in Shadeweaver Thicket. Eager to have even a small group, Sunab and I went with her without a glance back.

We found the nuisances and needle clawed hoppers near the gates to Shar Vahl entirely too easy, and decided to further up the dirt road that leads to the Paldual Caverns. We were suddenly attacked by a Loda Kai Bandit, a fierce competitor much higher in level than us, but we found we were able to defeat him fairly easily.

We spent the next two hours fighing lesser shades and saurek hoppers until our friend advanced a level. She had to go soon after, and Sunab and I moved to a safer spot on the way back to Shar Vahl. He sat comfortably under a large tree, and I continued pulling creatures until we both gained our level.

Though we both wanted to go on to the goldmine of experience that awaited us in Paladual Caverns, now able to go there in our sixth season, we were too tired. We made camp in near the small stone bank outside the city. Paladual awaits us another night.

A Full Day of Adventuring

2003-10-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

I only hope that I can remember all that transpired today as I jot it down in my leather-bound journal.

I awakened early and called upon Cenalorn. It had been too long since we'd gone out adventuring together and he was more than eager to help me think of something to do. We had, at first, planned to go on a great quest and accquire a pair of Journeyman's Boots for Cen, but realizing it would take more time than we had, we settled on just working on gaining experience.

Meeting up in the Plane of Knowledge, we took the Firoina Vie portal and found our way through the maze of caverns to The Dreadlands. We tried to take on a Mountain Giant, but he proved too much for us, even though he was weaker than us both. After both almost losing our life, we began to look for other adventurers to group with. There were none to be found here, so I pulled out my book of maps. Neither of us had ever been to Mons Letalis on the moon of Luclin before, and I had read it was about our level of experience. We took off once again.

Mons Letalis proved to be more of the same - a Stonegrabber we took on would've cost us both our lives if we hadn't been close to the zone. Discouraged, Cenalorn suggested we return to the plentiful hunting of zelniaks in the Dawnshroud Peaks. As we'd had luck there before, we made the trek.

It wasn't long before we made a small group with a dashing young Human Rogue. We fought in our spot for hours, both of us finally gaining a level of experience. Our group was at times large, and others very small - as members came and went. Late into the night, I saw a small Gnome Cleric running towards us in bright red and gold armor. She wanted to join our group, but she had a pack of 6 or 7 wolves at her heels! We all made it to safety, but she perished. She rejoined us, bringing along a friend, a Gnome Wizard. We had now, when our Rogue friend returned after a brief leave, a full and powerful group. We all decided to hunt together in The Overthere.

Cenalorn and I had thought we could no longer gain experience on this barren seacoast plain, but we were wrong. We were all doing quite nicely in a quiet spot, when I heard a loud snarl behind me. I spun around in time only to see gray stone and yell out a "WTF?!" and was dead. Apparently, a dying and fleeing Dark Elf had trained two named Gargoyles and a dragoon on us. Our Cleric resurrected me and we decided to try our luck hunting down at the mudpit - as the pulls would be quicker.

We were not there more than 10 minutes when Cenalorn, who was our appointed puller, yelled "'Goon!" It was a warning none of us had time to heed - for as soon as the first dragoon blow hit Cen, two more of the blasted fiends were upon us. Everyone in the party perished quickly, except for the Wizard, who ported out, and the Rogue, who was not seen as an enemy to the dark guards.

Once again, our kind Cleric resurrected us all - after the Wizard and Rogue had drug our corpses to a safe location. We re-convened just inside the great, stone hall that leads to Skyfire. It was with great merriment that we all got drunk on fine mead, and proceeded to duck walk around while levitating. I'm sure anyone who passed us had a good laugh and would've taken us all for members of the Rutabaga guild, of which my young friend, Irin, is a member.

We decided to call it a night there, and made our camp on the cold stone floor. It was one of the most eventful adventuring days I've had to date.

To the Moon, Alice!

2003-08-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

I woke up shivering on the cold, wooden pier where Icebreaker docks. Pulling my Cloak of the Ice Bear tighter around my shoulders and thankful for its heavy fur, I stood and stretched aching limbs. I was weary of fear-kiting the cougars in this frozen, barren land. It took a good bit of time to find one far away enough from the pack to pull - and more than once already I'd been killed by a wandering cougar that had joined the fight. I pulled out my fishing pole and decided to wait for Icebreaker. Surely, I thought, there were better lands that I could fear-kite in and, no doubt, they were much warmer!

After catching nothing but a few tattered sandals, Icebreaker pulled up to the docks. The massive, wooden ship never ceased to amaze me with its huge barrel paddles. It looked like something constructed by tinkering Gnomes. The sky was a brilliant mix of pale violet and midnight blue as I rode to the small island occupied by only Joshel the Large. I'd just dozed off on the cool sand, the slightly warmer air already pleasant to my skin, when Joshel called out that the raft was here. I rode back to the Northern Desert of Ro. The desert heat was a welcome change and my skin thawed even this late in the evening. I made the quick run to Freeport and found the book portal.

I breathed deeply the sweet, warm air of the Plane of Knowledge. It truly is a beautiful, lush place. Unsure where to go next, I decided to check out the library. Surely it would contain a hunting guide for Rangers somewhere in its depths. I was only there a short time when I came across just what I was looking for. The olive and forest green colored book was titled in an ornate, gold script: Interealms - The Ranger's Glade. I took the book out to my favorite gnarled, old tree and set myself high in its branches. It was a wealth of information about my class, in general, but finally I came upon what I'd been seeking. A guide on where to hunt by level of experience. There were a few choices, which I liked, but one stuck out to me more than the rest. Dawnshroud Peaks. The guide stated that zelniaks could be pulled and fear-kited at any of the entrances to this land all the way up to an experience level of around 40. Perfect! I didn't even know what a zelniak was, but I made my way to the Bank to prepare for a trip to hunt them.

I pulled out my map book, an alligator-hide-bound tome holding all the maps I'd copied from the fat, soft leather book everyone referenced in the library, The Atlas. One was not allowed to take the invaluable book from the hallowed halls itself - the hundreds of carefully drawn maps done by a man known only as Muse some long time ago were the only such reference to be found. There were other map books, but none done with such precision. Nysa had spent many long hours copying by hand the maps she desired and hoped someday to use. When the Moon of Luclin had been discovered, she'd copied all of the maps for it - eager to check out the new lands. Before that, everyone had said the maps of the Luclin Moon were the fancies of the Muse; it was a pleasant shock to realize they were real.

Getting to Dawnshroud was going to be easier than I first thought. A quick run through the Netherbian Lair, where Cen and I had hunted at lower levels, and an even shorter run through Marus Serus would take me to the city of Sanctus Seru, which I'd never visited. From there was the entrance to Dawnshroud Peaks. It took little time to get to Sanctus Seru, but always curious to visit a new city, I took a peak in before finishing my journey. It was beautiful! I lost myself in its marbled recesses for a good hour - spending some time chatting with some Seru citizens in the remarkable arena.

Dawnshroud, at least what I could see from the gates of Sanctus Seru was a lush and attractive land full of strange vegetation. The sky turned shades of pale gray to light pink, but it was never truly light or dark as was always the case on the Moon. I right away began tracking my first zelniak. If you've never seen these creatures, they are hard to explain. My best guess was that they appeared to be a part hyena and part raptor. They were tough creatures, but I took few hits as I was fear-kiting them. They were more plentiful than the cougars and I never had problems with add ons.

It was happy hunting when I got a message from Cen. Last time I had talked to him, he, too, had been stuck on Erud's Crossing.

"I'm making my way off the island now," he said, sounding happy. "The boats are working again. Where are you?"

"Hunting zelniaks in Dawnshroud Peaks."

"Hunting what where? I'm on my way."

To Cen, like myself, new lands and new creatures were just as exciting as gaining experience. I explained to him how to make the short trip and medded while waiting for him. We grouped and immediately started the hunt again. With Panic Animal being cast, Cen told me he would do all the melee work himself so that I could practice my archery. I was excited to reach a Master level with it not long into our group.

After I ran out of arrows, I asked Cen if he'd like me to show him Sanctus Seru. We made the jaunt, but he was most impressed - as I knew he would be - with the arena.

"Let's duel!" he said.

We did so - with arrows only - but when I got close to dying, he stopped and came to bandage me back up. On making the run back to Dawnshroud, Cen fell into a large scrying pool. Actually, and I didn't tell him at the time, I made him fall in. He was following me, and I ran close to the pool on purpose - as a joke just so he'd get all wet. I didn't mean for him to get stuck! I cast Enduring Breath on him and kept his stamina up with my Invigor spell. Ten minutes later we had to, with chagrin, send a message to a GM to get him out.

By that time I was tired - as always Cen could've kept going for hours more. I told him I was making camp in the comfortable city after having a few drinks in one of the friendly bars. All in all, a splendid evening. I plan to keep on with the zelniaks until I reach 40.

Lessons in Fear-Kiting

2003-08-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

It was a lovely, dusky evening as I made my way to the Skyfire entrance in The Overthere. It was one of those laid back days - I hoped to find a group, and maybe level - maybe not. I was sitting at the Skyfire entrance, watching a colorful group gang up on sabertooth tigers and the lanky, lava-skinned Sarnaks. Enjoying the scene and not ready to run out and fight yet, I decided to make some arrows. The cool stone that made up the Skyfire entrance was soothing to sit on, and I had a perfect view out over the plains of The Overthere and of the setting sun.

I got so into my arrow-making, that I forgot to pay attention to my surroundings. The next thing I knew, I was being hit. I jumped up, throwing down my things and began to run for Skyfire itself - hoping to leave my attackers behind. As I stood, I caught a glimpse of my killer - a dratted Dragoon. I was already half-dead by time I stood and barely got two steps in before he felled me. Luckily, a kind Cleric standing nearby saw the spectacle, and offered to resurrect me; thank Karana.

As I was recovering and gathering my things back off of my corpse, another Ranger sent me a telepathic message. We started a nice little chat, and she toldme that, with my current level of experience, I should be "fear-kiting" cougars in Iceclad Ocean. I had heard of fear-kiting before, and had just recently realized what it was - and how to do it. There had not yet been a real chance to put it to use, but I had other Rangers claiming it was the "way to go" if you wanted to solo. Not being a people person, I like to solo as much as possible (unless it's with Cenalorn). I decided to make the trek to this dock she spoke of and try it out. I had never been to Velious, and any time I get a chance to explore a new land - I'm there.

It didn't take long before I found myself at the dock in the Iceclad Ocean, dotted with tiny gnomes. I was delighted to find a Soulbinder standing right there - but he wouldn't speak to me. I'll admit, my first few tries - well, they sucked. I died once - screaming for the Soulbinder as my last breath left me. He answered me that time - but it was too late. I made my way back - this time taking the raft from the small dock in the Oasis of Marr. It only took about four kills before I had my fear-kiting down to a fine art. I gained back the experience I'd lost and gained even more before, tired from the day's excursions, made camp on the cold dock.

Cen is planning to meet me in Iceclad this evening so that we may hunt together here. Running through the zone, I was able to track a plethora of creatures that would be a challenge, but not impossible, for the two of us. After gaining a level or so, we plan to run over to Rathe Mountains and make some money. Borum, my close Troll Beastlord friend, told us he made 800 pp in two hours killing Hill Giants! New lands - plentiful money = a trip from Nysa & Cenalorn! I'll let you know how it all goes.

More Weirdness on Erud's Crossing

2003-08-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

This island is damn buggy! I found myself sitting in Qeynos, bored off my rump, when I remembered a faction-upping quest that Cen had told me about. Helping out Nerissa Clothspinner would up our faction with the Steel Warriors - and allow us to complete the infamous Hero Bracer quest we'd started on the other night.

I was just making my over to Nerissa when a voice rang through my head, "How are you doing?" A telepathic message from someone I didn't know. Odd. I sent back that I was okay, and the mysterious fellow spoke once more, "How would you like to make some extra money, Ranger?" Well, I'm all about the plat. I asked what he had in mind. I'd been looking forward to an evening alone doing a simple quest - but money is an enticing diversion.

"Seahorse Roe" he told me. "It's found on Erud's Crossing. I'll give you 600 plat for a stack."

"I'm on my way," I sent back. I wasn't sure I'd be able to forage a stack in one evening. Cen and I had been on the Crossing for around three hours the other night, and I'd only foraged one in that entire time. Still, it couldn't hurt to try - not for 600 platinum!

He asked me to let him know when I had a stack and we'd arrange a meeting. I ran through the streets of Qeynos, and over to Translocator Sedina once more. She whisked me away to Erud's Crossing. I was the only person there.

Remembering that the guard had taken the key to pen #7 last time I'd try to do that quest, I hunted down Nomala and killed him as I tried to forage Seahorse Roe. Of course, no key. I spent a lot of time fishing and decided to try and kill seahorses - who else would have Seahorse Roe on them? (I did not know at the time that spiders and snakes on the island dropped it as well).

I was soon joined by another Ranger - a happy, little fellow who told me he was searching for Seahorse Roe.

"A man is paying me 600 plat for it," he said with a big grin.

Realizing we had the same benefactor, we laughed. He eventually took over the killing of seahorses when I ran over to kill Nomala (who had spawned again after two hours). Jackpot - Key #7. I was tempted to go and kill undead sailors - the zombie skins sell very well in the Bazaar - but decided it was enough for one night. After three hours of killing and foraging, I'd only found 9 Seahorse Roes.

The ship had been going straight through the island all night once again. Not surprisngly, the Translocator wasn't there either. I realized, as the ship went through the island, it had grabbed him and drug him halfway across it. This must've bothered him a good deal, because he refused to talk or translocate anything after that. Drat! I was stuck on the island again. I sent out a telepathic plea for help - but was ignored. They probably remembered my getting stuck their last night and thought, "Why'd you go back, idiot?"

I just set up a camp on the beach, and went to sleep.

The Escaped Catman Fiasco

2003-07-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

Cenalorn had been talking about Hero Bracers for some time now.

“You should get a pair, Nysa,” he would tell me. “They’d be great for you.”

This was his roundabout way of trying to get me to go on a quest with him. When I finally agreed, he was ecstatic. He spent the better part of the day finding out whom we had to talk to and what we had to get. I, ever the Ranger, was interested in the layout of the lands we’d be going to, and got ready the maps and pertinent information on the geography and creatures we’d be encountering.

We met, as always, in front of the Bank in the Plane of Knowledge. Cen couldn’t keep still he was so excited – and he didn’t even want the bracers. You know how those Warriors are. I SOWed us both and we headed to the Qeynos stone.

Naturally, Cen had to stop at The Crow’s Pub and grab a bottle of Mead. I thought this was going to be “victory mead” for when we completed our quest, but he drank it right then.

“Get some more,” I told him, “so we can have some to drink as a little victory celebration.”

He was broke, so I went to buy two more bottles – “Get a stack!” he chimed in. Ah, my little alchie Warrior.

We stopped once more to buy fletching supplies from Tanen Fletcher. I knew there would be a lot of sitting around, and I could use the time to make some extra arrows. Besides, Cen needed some.

I followed Cen to The Arena and down into its depths. There stood a guard, resplendent in shining, silver armor that was in sharp contrast to the stark surroundings of the dungeon we were in. Cen and he began to talk and he told us of Kerran catman called Nomala that had escaped from the prison with the key to cell #7. Although he told us he believed Nomala had run to his home on Kerra Isle, Cen informed that he had more recent news of the catman’s whereabouts.

“He isn’t on Kerra Isle anymore,” Cen whispered to me. “From what I’ve gathered, he is now hiding on the small island known as Erud’s Crossing.”

We had been there before – I clearly remembered drowning whilst fighting undead sailors on a wrecked pirate ship just off the shore of the Crossing. Thank goodness I had since learned an Enduring Breath spell.

The sun was setting as we walked onto the docks – the sky a beautiful pink and purple hue out over the vast ocean. A small Gnome in a pink robe stood at the foot of the docks. As Cen walked up, she told us that the boats were not sailing and that she would transport us to our requested destination.

We told the lovely, little Gnome that we wished to travel to Erud’s Crossing. There was that strange sensation that accompanies traveling the portals and we found ourselves standing in front of the huts near the docks of Erud’s Crossing. There were two catmen in the huts, selling various wares.

“Can you track Nomala?” Cen asked me.

I nodded, looking to the ground I saw fresh little paw prints and began following them to the edge of the water. As we came over a gentle slope, we saw Nomala standing at the shore – looking out over the water. Cen rushed him as I shot off an arrow. In two hits, he lay dead.

“No key!” Cen exclaimed. “And I don’t think he’ll be back for another two hours.”

We decided to try and occupy ourselves during that time. We spent a good 30 minutes fishing. Cen drank 10 bottles of the stack of mead we’d brought along and managed to break two fishing poles in that time. Now drunk, he wanted to “kill things”. I spent a good while tracking willow wisps. We then made our way back to the sunken pirate ship and killed a few undead.

It was then that things got odd.

“Look!” I heard Cen exclaim. “The ship is going through the island!!”

Sure enough, I glanced up in time to see The Golden Maiden plough through the island, as it wasn’t even there. It was rather unsettling.

Tired of hunting, we went and sat ourselves at the campfire in front of the huts. I was making arrows and chatting with Cen when he complained of lag. Next thing I knew, he was gone. He never came back so I assumed he was having problems. By this time, Nomala had reappeared. I followed him from the huts to the shoreline and once more ended his life. This time there was a key.

Ready to end the night, I made my way to the docks. There was no translocator. Panicky, I tracked the small Gnome footprints half way up a large hill. A male Gnome in a mint green robe stood there – refusing to talk to me. I hailed him a thousand times, but I might as well have been invisible. I ran back to the docks, as I saw a ship approaching. But the ship suddenly turned and came straight through the docks and the island. I suddenly found myself on board, with everything sliding towards me – I was drug by the crazy ship halfway up the island!

Having enough of this bizarre night, I sent out a telepathic message for help. I felt like Gilligan stranded on the island like that. A kindly GM whisked me off the island and to Erudin. From there I took the book portal to the Plane of Knowledge and hopped back on over to Qeynos.

I found Cen there, waiting for me.

I figured I might as well end this part of the quest. I went back to the guard in the dungeon under The Arena, gave him the key – and nothing. Cen said our faction was not high enough with the Steel Warriors to do this quest. All that work for nothing. –sigh-

At least we can’t say the night wasn’t interesting!

Misadventures in The Overthere

2003-07-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

By Nysa

It was late evening before I got off my lazy bum and decided to go out adventuring. I'd been lazing around in the Plane of Knowledge all day long; sitting atop the massive ancient trees and reading. There my secret is out - this Ranger is a bookworm. I have to admit that I have a love for learning about the rich histories of the lands of Norrath.

So as the skies began to grow a lighter shade, I closed my book and began to think about where I felt like traveling to this evening. I was close to advancing in my class and had good experiences with the plains on the shore of the continent of Kunark. The hunting was plentiful and the fellow adventurers I'd grouped with there had always been professional and fun.

I made a quick run to the Bank to empty my bags and pockets in order to bring back as much loot and coin as possible, and, realizing I needed arrows, went to see my favorite fletching supplier, Jaren Cloudchaser.

Ready to go I cast SOW and made my way over to what is known as the "Dark Side" of the Plane of Knowledge portals. As always, the cracked and dry grounds were clear of the hordes of people usually observed hanging around the portals. I made my quickly to the menacing looking portal for the The Overthere. The scorched and barren trees coupled with the grassless and brown earth made this nature-loving Ranger uncomfortable. The stone stood silent with its carved arms reaching up in a menacing arc over it; touching it I had that momentary sensation of being pulled from the inside out. Then there was light again and I found myself standing in front of the book portal. The salty sea air that was prevalent here, so close to the Timorous Deep, quickly filled my nostrils - even from this distance. The ground rumbled every so slightly, and I knew it was the gigantic golem on the other side of the stone wall next to me.

I closed my eyes, and chanted a few low words, and felt the spirit of the wolf coursing through my veins. A few more spoken verses and my Camouflage spell left me invisible to the naked eye. I began to run towards the giant opening to the Skyfire Mountains - having always been lucky in finding a good group there. As I neared it, I heard voices calling out petitions for open groups. An opening right at the entrance to Skyfire piqued my interest and I made my way to it.

The leader of the group was a large Barbarian Shaman - I hailed him and was allowed to join. The first ten minutes went by slowly. Our lowest level group member was pulling because the Paladin in the group claimed he "sucked" at pulling. I kept offering to pull, as my bow has decent range (100) but was just ignored. The Shaman kept yelling at everyone to make the pulls constant and there were intervals where no one did anything but stand around. Everyone in the group suddenly decided that they would like to travel to the ruins of Kaesora. Undoubtedly we would get good experience and even better loot, but there was no way I was traveling to such a place with this disjointed group; I did not trust my life in their hands (with good reason I was later to find).

This is the way of adventuring. There are good, solid groups and there are weak, disorganized ones. When you find yourself in the latter, all you can do is leave or make the best of it. I was so very close to leveling in my class, I decided to make the best of it. I took over pulling - keeping them constant. Our only healer was a Druid who was trying to kite-fear the rhinos and sabertooth tigers to reduce the hits we got - but the group didn't like this (apparently it tired them to chase the animals after Panic Animal was cast on them). Even though I'm a Half-Elf Ranger and we had a Barbarian Warrior, I was taking the brunt of the attacks. Our Druid did an excellent job of keeping us healed, however, but he had to take his leave. Not long later, a lower level Druid joined our ranks. He was doing well, also, but when all of our casters ran out of Mana, I sat for a break. What happened next is a classic in a WD group. The over-eager Warrior ran out and pulled a Stonegazer Cockatrice.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

His answer: "I'm bored."

I was angry, but tried to keep my cool. "You shouldn't pull while our casters are medding," I tried to explain to him.

He gave a typical, over-eager Warrior response, "We're not getting experience just sitting there. I can solo everything in here - no one is going to die."

Our Druid tried to tell him that people could still die - whether he could take on "everything in here" by himself or not.

Needless to say, 10 minutes later I was dead. I found myself staring at the mint green dress of the Plane of Knowledge Soulbinder. I heard nothing from my group. I tried to make a joke of it, telling the Warrior, "Can solo it all yourself, ay?", but he didn't get it ("Yeah, I can."). I had made it back to The Overthere when the ShadowKnight, one of the few in the group that I'd had no problem with, told me she could have my body resurrected for 50% of the experience I'd lost. Other than actually leveling, that was the best thing that had happened all night.

Unable to take anymore of this group, none of whom apologized for my dying or asked if I needed any help (in fact, they said nothing to me the entire time), I disbanded from them while my corpse was brought back to life by a very sweet Dark Elf Cleric who I couldn't have hugged enough. I'm still appreciative of my ShadowKnight groupmate and the Cleric I didn't even know taking the time to help me out that way.

Having had enough of adventuring and aggravating adventurers for one night, I made my way back to the Plane of Knowledge under the cloak of Camouflage. I decided I would spend the evening trying to sell some wares in The Bazaar as my trader satchels were overflowing with things I needed to either sell or destroy.

Within minutes of entering The Bazaar, filled with hundreds of people and loud with the din of merchants shouting wares and adventurers offering trades, one deep and resonance voice stood out among the others. It wasn't his deep, obviously-Dwarven voice that caught my attention, but the item that he was interested in parting with: Talisen, Bow of the Trailblazer. A definite step up from my Rough Ashwood Recurve Bow. The price was 400 platinum - which I had.

I quickly let the dwarf know that I wanted to purchase this bow, and we met in front of the Bank at the Nexus zone. Getting a new, and good, bow made all of the other petty irritations of the evening nil. With a smile on my face, I made myself comfortable atop a large wooden box and set up a my trader booth.

All in all, not a bad night.