Here Be Dragons

I set MistressDomina up again for overnight sales, and she kept online until morning, selling most of her items, including lots of Stars and Stripes. The total wasn't as much as yesterday's, but then, one can't sell a level 37 horse every day.

SirPerivale and SirDarth began their pet-levelling work a lot earlier than on Monday, anyway, so that it wasn't long after lunch when Darth's drake reached level 26. By that time Peri's horse was about 40% of the way into level 34.

SirPerivale took time off between coffee and lunch, so that MistressDomina could head for Auzura-4's Prokion temple back room, and use the last of her super skill pills. During its hour she added 227 skill points, so she was pretty busy, gathering big groups of the Orc Axemen and Orc Sergeants, and using Flame Storm on them. She continued after the ssp ran out for a while, so the total session added 257 skill points, as well as 8.66% experience and 743 pet points, meaning that MD is nearly halfway through level 33 now.

After Darth and Peri's lunchtime work, it seemed like a good idea to take my level 70 rogue Rage off to Egeha in her own right, rather than just being on the second computer and providing half-price travel for Chuck and Ratel. There were a number of early Egeha quests that could be sorted out - and while the experience they give isn't particularly massive, ieach is equivalent to killing a pretty much boss-type monster.

In Egeha village, Antiquities Dealer Remton wanted me to get some Accessories of the Gods, but my initial reaction was that he could wait a bit as they are found in a fairly dangerous area, as far as I remembered. Grocer Wain wanted me to kill ten Bogles, which I was happy to do - at level 65 they are still green for me, just! Once I'd reported back and got my reward, he then asked me to deliver some medicine to Beldam Juriel, a slightly tricky quest as the Male and Female AssassinBugs around there are aggressive and protective, and the Females are bosses and hard to kill.

Weapon Trader Reman, a bit of a hippy going by his "Hey dude" turns of phrase, asked me to kill three Hadeis out by the graveyard. When I was there, Ceremony Manager Renin (who might be better described as "Cemetery Manager") requested that I kill lots of Dark Bogles, until I'd picked up seven "Grave Robbers' Equipment", and after that asked me to kill three Devil Graves, which must be one of the easiest quests that actually requires some fighting, as Devil Graves are just, well, headstones, that just stand there, they don't fight back.

Those quests were generally open to anyone from level 60; but as Rage was now level 70, some others are available too, if I reach the appropriate far-flung, dangerous places. One quest-giver I did reach was Scout Terry, who tested my bravery by asking me to kill ten Azers, and then when I'd managed that, seven of the Little Scorpionmantises. His next quest asked me to kill, well he said five more of the Little ones, but he actually wants me to fight the full-size Scorpionmantises, so my first reaction was that that can wait a few more levels.

When I got to Beldam Juriel, and gave her the package of medicine, she had a new quest for me, "Old Woman's Revenge", requiring me to kill twenty of the local AssassinBugs - I think it was just the Male ones that qualified, but it was hard to keep the boss-type Female ones from getting involved. I had a spare spot on my memorising scroll, so I saved a small safe area just behind the lady, which was just as well, as after a kill or two I found myself being chased by a couple of Males, and a Female, so a "Pet Return to Village" seemed the best option.

I think there was a little bit of cross-purposes chat on the guild channel, with more than one dialogue going on, but Aszune kindly volunteered to assist me - in the person of her level 93 archer Cenaria. Cenaria doesn't get to play much now, sadly, as she has run out of skill points. She joined the party, and I used Recall to get her to Egeha, and then to Beldam Juriel's location, and, with her rather useful attack and healing skills, we settled in. I think I needed to make the actual "killing blow" for the death of a Male AssassinBug for the death to count towards the quest, as the tally didn't increase each time one died, and so we settled into a routine where she'd deal with the Females, and I'd kill the Males.

As Cenaria was 23 levels above me, I was "capped", and so got very little experience, typically 750-850 experience and 1 skill exp, but I still got my share of the loot of course, and the quest was the main thing. I stayed on briefly after Cenaria, her task completed, left, and on the two conveniently-respawned Males I then got 283,450 experience and 1100 skill experience, with the "solo party" boost from SirDarth.

Since getting to Egeha costs 800,000 gold, Rage stayed in the village there during the early evening food break, so that SirDarth continued pet-levelling solo; by this time he was giving a boost to a black pony belonging to a Norcaine guildie, SmokeinThatKush; this one started at 574/1548 of the way through level 11, and by the end of the evening was well into level 15. I'm not entirely sure how far I'm supposed to take this one, but Smokey is working on getting a few quality stones for me.

Aszune had just about given up on me luring the Grand Gold Dragon, and had moved to a different sub-server. She was just saying that she was going afk for a while, as Rage battled the Baby Apes, when at last the GGD put in an appearance. Luckily she hadn't quite left her keyboard when I typed "GGD!" in hurriedly, and was able to move back across to Auzura-4, register for the party, and take Recall. With a quick "good luck", I moved off back to town, not wanting to spoil the chances of her getting some good drops.

Surprisingly, the Dragon did manage to kill Aszune, but she hurried back and finished the job. Unfortunately she didn't get a rare accessory among the drops, but the usual moonstones, tool aids, lucky scrolls, crystal of experience (greater), and so on did appear, so she probably covered the cost of the brief adventure. I had moved back from town into the general area, though I took care to keep off the compass-circle - I killed a Dark Bogle and it dropped a heaven stone for me while Aszune was fighting, and I think it may be almost as valuable as what the GGD dropped...

When Aszune left and I moved back to the Baby Apes, I found that she hadn't bothered to clear out the Cursed Weavers, so I was slightly restricted as to what I could attack, and before long headed back towards town. "Look out, there are some Cursed Weavers ahead", I warned a titan in a smart wedding-type suit (though carrying that big spiked club does slightly spoil the effect) who was heading in that direction... only to discover that it was Razva125, who I'd teamed with a few times against the Sphinx types. He briefly joined the party to demonstrate that he was level 94 now, and I was suitably impressed.

I continued to fight Dark Bogles, Hadeis, and other Egeha residents; I even managed to kill one of the full-size Scorpionmantises, meaning that I just need four more for Scout Terry's latest challenge. I moved forward into the ruins where the Accessories of the Gods are to be found, as well as plenty more Scorpionmantises and their offspring; they are a bit strange, the AotGs, as while they are visible on the ground as boxes, one doesn't just pick them up like loot, they have to be "harvested", as if one was using a knife to obtain green herb leaves. It only takes a few seconds, but if you are being attacked by an Egeha monster, that could be too long. However, I was able to find one box that was just far enough away from the nearest Little Scorpionmantises; I'd harvest it, then move back to the wall, and wait while it regenerated, then harvest it again. I needed five in all, but while I was there I got a few more, after all Kaerella will need some, and Chuck eventually too.

The Auzura "Mad Monster Spawn" began at around nine, UK time, or perhaps a little earlier; I hadn't intended to go, but this time there was a special "pet-levelling" aspect to it, with level 90 statues, as seen in Lust Trum Tower, provided for lower-level characters to do some pet-levelling on while the higher-ups were battling the Cave Spirits, Flutons, Darkmind Terrains, and so on. Actually, I saw the titan Razva125 there, and he seemed to be spending most of his time pet-levelling on a statue... But anyway, after killing some more Hadeis and Dark Bogles, Rage logged out, having added in all 15.35% experience, a very useful 35 skill points, and 2035 pet points. There'd been some nice loot too, not just heaven stones but armour and weapons - mainly titan axes, five in all, three level 65 and two level 69.

It was MistressSabina I took there, on the feeling that her pet could do with a bit of a boost. I did get killed once when I was tempted to join in the attack on a nearby level 135 Patriarch Botis - I seemed to lose more experience than skill exp, so that is very nearly a positive thing. Most of the time I was just pet-levelling, though there were two spawnings of goodies, when we all rushed forward to grab what we could. I got, as well as the minor stuff and a few tool aids, 7 large attack potions, 3 large defence potions, 4 item drop boosters, and 2 skill point boosters, so that was a nice little bonus for the day. Sabina was down 2.98% on the experience side, and 2 skill points, but her drake had added 329 pet points.

SirPerivale joined SirDarth in Merac, but I had one of my new-style disconnections soon after ten, which meant the newer computer had to be restarted - we were back in action in about 12 minutes though, most of that time being spent on milk and cookies. And at approaching eleven I saw a bit of red flapping on the screen...and when I zoomed out, it was the Grand Red Dragon directly overhead! A knight called Macmillion apologised, "Cr ap sorry man didn't know you were pet training", but it was hardly his fault if his Berserker-killing in the area had attracted the attentions of Merac's raid boss. Darth and Peri moved down the road a little - as long as nobody attacked the GRD, causing area of effect magical attacks and the spawning of angry Cerebrii, my feeling was that we ought to be okay. By the end of the evening, not only was Darth's pony passing the halfway mark in level 15, Peri's horse was past halfway in level 34.