The Tears of a Knight

Last night's regular scheduled maintenance didn't bring any surprises; generally, if the "patch" can be added on the newer computer without me having to temporarily disable the Kaspersky Anti-Virus, then there are no great changes. I did leave both CaptainScarlet and SirPerivale pet-levelling until the servers came down, and was able to put them back up later in the night, so that they continued to make progress - and they continued at their work all morning too, as I got on with various other little jobs around the house.

At the end of the lunch break, Peri had got the new horse almost halfway through level 21, with three levels worth of Armour Increase to claim the next time he was back in town. Cap's daylight hours work on the pink drake had got it almost halfway through level 35, while overnight he had got the green one to almost two-thirds of the way through level 26. It's a cunning plan, saving the lower-level one for night work, as it can go for eight hours without being fed, and then switching to the hungrier one when I am actually around.

Ratel, or at least his prospective pet-leveller Leopardknight, was still on the Auzura server in the morning; Leo had managed to sell some items, including a drake scroll, which enables someone, purely for fun, to transform themselves into a small version of a drake and fly around in town or elsewhere. Usually he just sells them for a few gold to the NPC merchant, Geres, but this time someone actually paid a thousand or so for one. He must have sold some other items too, as he was able to come down to Merac and trade another 15 million gold across to Peri - which, as he commented, just leaves another 231 million to go.

When I returned from lunch Cap and Peri had lost their Berserkers - yes, someone had ks'd them. Luckily it was very recent, as the gold the Berserkers had dropped was still lying on the ground. It's strange that the little darlings never stop to pick up their ill-gotten loot, I suppose they do at least feel slightly ashamed of their actions.

Most of the afternoon seemed to be taken up by moving items around between characters, which was relaxing if time-consuming. Kaerella got a new addition to her Friends List, XxPaWaNVaRuNxX - well, not entirely new, as she'd been on it as "pawanvarun" before. "I was hacked and scammed", she told me sadly. I've removed the old version from my list, it is always bad when that sort of thing happens. She was asking me which character I was playing mainly these days, a question to which there is no easy, or indeed short, answer.

As he was carrying quite a few tool aids, SirDarth did some mining, in two trips getting through fifty knight-type pickaxes and acquiring 1.350 quality stones. Some of those have stayed with MistressDomino for either future distribution or possible sale, and 500 went to top up SirPerivale's supplies, which were running a bit low.

I did later in the afternoon just have time to get that new rogue of mine, RedRider, levelled up a bit. When last seen she was level 7, so the next thing to do, except for forgetting to get her into the Guardian system, was to get her out to Prokion Temple. This was pretty similar to RedRackham's run, though I had her on the older computer, already teamed with SirPerivale, and he was able to give her the Divine Shield armour buff as she ran out of the city's eastern gate. Again I triggered a potion of haste as she approached the clever foxes and sand golems, and again using the only small health potion she'd previously picked up just kept her alive to get through to Shuraine's oasis, where she added that location to her memory scroll. The potion of haste ran out only a minute away from the Temple itself, and the Divine Shield buff lasted a few seconds longer. The second half of the journey is rather easier, as the harpies aren't aggressive, and the larger harpy queens, while they are aggressive, are easy to avoid.

A small search yesterday told me that the proper name for the old-time cowboy hero would be "Red Ryder", but hardly anyone will get the reference anyway, I'm sure I've never encountered him in tv or comics - or was he in movies? Anyway, my Red rogue took up a position close to a handy bit of wall, and SirPerivale started to fight the Orc Soldiers in one of the first circular rooms on the way the the temple's main central staircases. They are one level above him, but with his pet-leveller armour give him absolutely no problems.

The Orc Soldiers gave the most experience, though with RedRider at a lower level, the level 19 mummies actually tended to give more skill exp, I found. Still, getting RedRider up to level 17, so that when convenient she will be able to team with a level 32 character, was the priority, and Peri managed that, despite having a disconnection at 4:28pm UK time and having to hurry back for the last level or so. Peri earned 40 skill points, and went up by 41% experience, so he can probably assist another character before he has to go on a kamikaze mission to get down to the bottom of level 22 again.

Peri and Cap were busy during the food break, and then it was time to take MistressBlaze and MistressSabina out to the Sphinx types again, in Dratan's sunny, grassy uplands. I don't know why that place is so quiet these days, at least on Auzura-4, perhaps everyone is going straight to the Tomb of Theos, but I had the place to myself, and, with MistressSabina just supplying the occasional Mana Recovery boost, which adds 6 mana regeneration per second for thirty seconds, MistressBlaze set to work keeping down the local population of Sphinx Fighters and Sphinx Speer Men, and definitely staying well clear of the Elite Sphinx Speer Man.

And then at 7:23pm UK time, Grand Roadboss Kamira the Monster arrived, so Sabina retreated into a corner, and MB logged out, to allow Rage, my level 72 rogue, to log in and hurry over. Horse buffs were applied, and the usual level 12 magical defence mineral was started, plus a fresh lucky scroll and item drop booster, and the battle commenced. As Kamira was pretty much clear of the Sphinx types, the fight was easier than sometimes - it helped that Rage's Snare skill seemed to work every time, cutting down on the attacks that Kamira could make, so that she generally managed to keep herself healthy just using the medium size health potions

It wasn't long before Kamira crumpled to the ground, and the level 35 Death Goddesses she spawns were dealt with, so that the usual loot was lying on the ground ready to be picked up, after one Sphinx Fighter in the area was despatched. Lucky scrolls, moonstones, a "medal of honor" of course, experience crystal, the usual resolutely ordinary accessory - I couldn't see anything particularly interesting, even though I had muttered "C'mon, it's my Birthday today" under my breath during the fight. I was using the usual short-cut button to pick things up, and seeing the text appear for each item - and then I read "tears of knight"...

Wow, the most valuable item in the game - now that's what I call a Birthday present, and there was me thinking Kammy had forgotten. I think the price on Auzura has fallen a bit, but at one time they were over a thousand million gold each. Rage quickly passed it over to MistressSabina before logging out, so that there'd be enough time left on the lucky scroll for another Kamira visit. MistressBlaze logged back in, and there was time for a little more Sphinx type fighting before my early Wednesday finish, back in action after a bit of a summer lay-off.

By the end, MistressBlaze had gone up 14.30%, plus 458 pet points, and MistressSabina had added 38.51%; they had both levelled up, MB reaching level 45, so that she could equip the level 50 pair of gloves, and Sabina reaching level 37. Back in town Sabina bought a golden magnifying glass for a million gold, and "identified" the Tears of Knight: it adds 12 to physical prowess (strength), 16 to close range physical attack, and 168 to the close range physical hit rate, so it is an ideal accessory for a knight to use - perhaps the "tears" are tears of joy? I transferred it across to SirDarth, who was already using a Chain of Tiger, giving 16 to physical prowess and 8 to close range physical attack, a Pierce of Wind, giving 16 to swiftness of reflexes (dexterity) and 78 to close range evasion, and an Origin of Land, adding 6 to physical fortitude, 12 to all types of physical defence, and 100 hit/health points. Darth kept the CoT and the PoW, to go with the ToK, but traded the OoL across to Sabina, who has now equipped it herself, though it may end up, at least for a while, with MistressBlaze if she is the one doing the actual fighting.

So, a pretty good evening, which concluded of course with CaptainScarlet and SirPerivale going back out to Merac, and their usual Berserkers. It looks as if the horse Peri is working on will be about halfway through level 22 by the time the lights go out, while Cap's pink drake should be about two-thirds of the way through level 35. I checked up on the levels of drake that my various characters have currently, and SirDarth's one, at just level 24, seems to be the lowest at the moment; MrChuckNorris and Rage both have level 37 ones, while MistressDomina leads the pack with a level 38 one. Kaerella's drake, SirFrancis, is currently only level 34, so he deserves a bit of a boost some time.