The Big Race

I couldn't do any overnight pet-levelling as the computer was ready to install some updates, so would probably have decided to do it automatically, complete with a restart, if I'd left things running. CaptainScarlet and SirPerivale had a fairly early start to their pet-levelling activities today, however, but shortly before coffee they gracefully stood aside to let JohnWellington and Galahad head for Prokion Temple on Auzura-4, to make some more use of our 24 hours of double skill exp, scheduled to run until five o'clock this evening, UK time.

I was uninterrupted there; well the rogue Missue did run in, see that Galahad had things under control, and run out again. John arrived after Gal, and left very slightly before him, but he managed to add 10.68% experience, 164 skill points, and 145 guild points, while Galahad's figures were 9.83%, 182 skill points, and 161 guild points.

Peri and Cap were back on over lunch, so that Peri's pony was moving through level 13, and Cap's drake was well into level 28. Peri kept busy all afternoon, allowing the pony to move through level 14 and reach 15 over the food break, but the newer computer had other things in mind -- such as a switch across to the Cariae server.

I'd not played my level 47 cleric Kaerella on the Cariae server seriously for many months, apart from doing a quest that I'd at last found out how to manage; when last seen she had been farming skill points from the level 46 Beast Flyers on level three of Maargadum Jail in Merac, and using pssps to get not much above 100 skill points per hour, as far as I can remember. But that was before the "100% experience freeze" was abolished, so now it was time to move on, and with the double skill exp still running, at least I could get some more sp along the way.

Kae had stopped just short of levelling up when she got "frozen", with just 3.38% to go for her new level. It did actually take quite a while to get there, but when Kae levelled up to 48, she had added 113 skill points - since the Beast Flyers gave 1980 skill exp each, that meant over 550 kills, but the useful thing about the Beast Flyers is that they do flock in to be killed, so no time is wasted. Even with her +13 armour set, though, some self-healing was needed now.

Soon after levelling up Kaerella headed down to level five of the Jail, going very carefully through the lethal-if-roused, claustrophobic level four, and killed a few of the Death Mask Soldiers, since they were a level higher than the Flyers. But soon it was approaching time to log out, and I noticed that another member of the general "solo party" I'd joined, a level 42 rogue called waiyung, who was also in the Jail (I could tell as I could see her health bar changing, which you can only do if you are on the same local map), was very low on health, so I started back up the stairs to see where she was. She had recovered a bit by the time I got to her on level two, and was sitting to regain her health more quickly, so I just gave her a couple of Quick Heals as I passed, to speed the process up.

Back in Merac village Kae had a new quest, which involved a ride out to the Pillar of Magic, adding another 0.40% experience, so that her total for the afternoon was 4.34%, 542 guild points (not that the Cariae Norcaine is short of them), and 132 skill points. I can't say that I'm quite sure what Kaerella ought to do next - perhaps try out the level 52 Giants in Dratan's north-west desert, where she would at least be able to use horse buffs.

GM Stratos was scheduled to preside over some water-races at five o'clock UK time, in the moat around the city of Randol on Auzura-3, but since that is 9:00 am where he is, we can forgive him for being twenty minutes late. There were three races in all; not knowing what to expect, but suspecting that hungry sea-monsters might be involved, I turned up as a level two rogue, RedRider, for the first one - well, she was level four by the time things started, with Healer Yabo's quests involving killing deer and foxes completed. A character that low-level doesn't lose experience if killed. As most racers were on mounts, Red didn't have a chance of winning, but it was fun to watch the race - though after a turn or two, the moat became so narrow and steeply V-shaped that the pedestrians (or "ped_estrians", as the word "pede" is apparently a naughty word that LC's chat filter bans) had great difficulty getting through, so I didn't actually see the finish.

SirDarth has a mount, so he tried in the second race, and was doing pretty well until the narrow bit, where things again got a bit sticky. At least he was able to ride out of the moat at the end. For a change, it became the turn of MistressFelicia for race three, as she has custody of my red dragon. She jumped into the moat, and only leapt onto dragonback when GM Stratos was saying "SET" - and it looked to me as if she got into an early lead, flying along behind Stratos himself who led the way at a suspiciously speedy pace, though she in turn got a bit stuck on the narrow bit. From what people were saying at the end, I think a lot of people saw themselves in an early lead, the game world isn't as definitive as one likes to think, and what is seen on one player's screen can easily be a bit different from what another person sees.

However Stratos declared that everyone was a winner, and spawned a generous helping of Hands of Bravery, Protection, and the Guard for us. Some of the goodies got stuck on the steep side of the moat where people couldn't immediately reach them, but concerted efforts did manage to make sure that nothing went to waste. Felicia was on dragonback again when he spawned a few Barren Eise monsters next to us, and dismounted very quickly - at level four, her armour is very poor, and that includes the dragon when she is riding it. The other players soon killed them - and Felicia actually reached level 5 from scoring some hits on the nearest one.

The amount of booty she got was small, just an item drop booster, a skill point booster, and a large attack potion, plus a tool aid or four, but it made for a fun little event, the sort of thing that Last Chaos can be pretty good at.

But MistressDomina's week-long boost to her health and mana has almost finished now, being due to run out at about 3:00 am tomorrow (which is a bit strange as I don't remember starting it at such an unearthly hour - that must be a legacy of the server problems over the last seven days), so it seemed like a good idea to take advantage of it one last time, out with the Sphinx types, accompanied by Chuck in a Combat party, since the servers seemed to be running smoothly today. So I topped up her supply of experience boosters, trading some across from MistressDomino, bought a few health potions - and out I went into Dratan's grassy uplands.

Luckily there was nobody else around, and I only had one visitor during the two hours or so I was there. If I say that she stayed 14 minutes, you will probably guess that it was Grand Devilroad Kamira herself. My platinum blessed iris would have kept counting down if I'd changed to Rage to kill her, so all I could do was ignore her, and avoid accidentally clicking on her. She wasn't quite overhead, most of the time, but it still made things a little tricky, it is useful that MD's usual attack involves me right-clicking on the critter in question, which targets but does not start an attack, and then hitting the "F5" button, or its on-screen equivalent on the task bar, to apply Curse, to slow the Sphinx type down. If I did right-click on Kammy, then I'd just need to right-click on something else instead before using a skill.

Each hour used 40 experience boosters; the first hour added 81.24%, getting MistressDomina safely into level 59, while the second hour added 74.13%, as level 59 needs about 10% more experience than level 58 to get all the way through. Staying on for just a few minutes afterwards, until my usual log-out time (for positively playing, as opposed to afk pet-levelling), meant that the total experience gain for MD's evening was 156.74% - she still needs almost 20% to reach level sixty. Her drake levelled up at last, reaching level 38 and adding 1306 pet points. She and Chuck each added 14 skill points, but Chuck's experience gain, as the non-fighting half of a Combat party, was just 2.62%.

So it looks as if using another platinum blessed iris, but without the 40 experience boosters, might be just about enough to get MistressDomina up to level sixty, if I keep to the strategy of killing the Elite Sphinx Speer Man as soon after he respawns as I can, with usually a Sphinx Fighter and a regular Sphinx Speer Man killed in-between. That ought to get me the "player appreciation event" +5 armour set and weapons...and I see that the level sixty passive skill MD will then be able to learn, for 889 skill points, Mana Flow, increases her health and her mana by 50 each, which is mildly useful. That is the last new passive skill - at higher levels one just gets to add further levels of various skills one already has started on.

After that, it was of course time to round off the evening with a little pet-levelling - and SirPerivale's little pet, the pony, soon reached level 16, and became a rather bigger pet, a horse. CaptainScarlet's drake reached level 29 a few minutes later. If the weather remains fine in Merac, one of them may well be tempted to stay out a bit longer, I suppose.