The Crashing Tide

Again I could only leave it to the pet-levellers in the morning, while I worked hard downstairs, which meant steady progress, with Galahad's Cariae-based horse reaching level 26 in the early evening. I had a little more work to do after a rather large lunch before I could sneak off, but it wasn't too long before RedRackham and Karella were busy in Cariae-3's Prokion Temple.

The session didn't last the whole afternoon, but Red went up by 20.20% and 82 skill points, while Karella added 5.09% and 77 skill points, as well as 22 guild points. A rogue called Moguri came in to share the room for part of the afternoon, and must have got a pretty powerful weapon as there were only just enough Orcs to go round while she was there.

Zenderfly got in touch, however - well, through the magic of the Norcaine guild chat channel it was Damor talking to Karella. And the suggestion was that Barbarienne should have a three-hour power levelling session with Zen in the end room, the grave room, of the Tomb of Theos, fighting the Sphinx Commanders.

This was quite a complicated thing to arrange, but Barb did have enough experience boosters and platinum blessed irises, plus mana stealers, health stealers, crit potions, adrenaline... and Keerella was able to find a couple of platinum refining stones, so that Zen could boost her +15 weapon to +16 for a day.

At level 113, it made sense that Zenderfly should be the one to run down through the Tomb - she must know the route rather better than me, too! Keerella then used a Teleport scroll to join her, and then used a Summon scroll to bring in Damor; I was going to buy a three-hour Party Recall card, but they seem to have been discontinued, so I paid out 109 aeria points for a one-day one, which took the urgency off things. I then sent it as a gift to Damor, and she Recalled Barb in.

All Keerella had to do was stand by the wall, with SkrappY equipped, in a Combat party with Barbarienne, to give that slight boost to Barb's experience gain, which would be multiplied twelve-fold by the combination of the pbi (times three) and the experience booster (times four). Zenderfly partied with her other mage Damor, and attacked a Sphinx Commander, taking Recall to lose aggro (and entitlement to a share of the experience from the kill) when its health was low, allowing Barb to finish it off.

So, I had the easier role, though over three hours things got pretty intense, and while usually a Sphinx Commander didn't do me much damage, occasionally I'd be hit hard - in the first hour I was down to 275/3283 at one point. Barb does have a "5% suction of life" Necklace of Wind, which also gives 32 dexterity and adds12 to her physical defence, but 5% was sometimes not enough, so in the second and third hours (with brief gaps between them) I used a health stealer, as well as a crit potion and the pbi of course. Zen used a mana stealer and an adrenaline potion, which I provided, each time. I did pass her crit potions too, but I think she decided they weren't useful for her, so she'll be passing those back.

The first hour added 18.30% for Barb; there were quite naturally a very few times when Zen didn't take Recall in time so that the "xpb" remained unused, but as usual as we got into the swing of things, the action smoothed out, though there were times when other people in the room made things a bit awkward. Each successful kill added about 0.27% experience for Barb. It was sometimes hard to see where Zen had gone to fight the next Sphinx Commander - Kee I could see as she was in my party, and Damor showed up on the compass-map too as she is in the Norcaine guild now, but Zenderfly, well, sometimes it took a while, particularly when other people were also fighting the Commanders.

The second hour was our best, adding 21.40%, but things slowed down in hour three, because Damor and Zenderfly both got disconnected. Zen had had a dc earlier, but Damor, with Recall, had survived, so that was over before I really noticed. This time Damor's figure remained in the game for some time, so we had to wait before she could be logged in again, and another Summon scroll used to bring her back. I did manage to kill two or three Sphinx Commanders on my own, but a lot more slowly than a level 113 mage with a +16 staff using terra spear and chaos nova.

Just before the disconnection Zen had had a bit of an altercation with a couple of other players, who had come into the room and, unlike previous people who had politely asked if there were enough targets for them as well as us, just set to fighting. This was a bit annoying, and Zen did go so far as to round up a few Sphinx Commanders as a mob, to keep them for us rather than share them out.

The gamesage ADISA also came in around then, but didn't stay long. I imagine she is a little high level for that room, like Zen. But anyway, despite the interruptions and disconnection another 15.37% got added, so that the whole session had got Barbarienne up 55.07% - and over half a level in one session at level 100 is pretty darn good. And 7 skill points too, which Keerella also got, along with a few percent. SkrappY actually levelled up, and is now level 52.

The idea is to get a bit more value from the Party Recall card, and Zen's platinum refining stone, by having another session tomorrow morning, probably starting at around ten. So, perhaps I'll be having a late lunch tomorrow. It was just as well today that I'd had an unusually large lunch, it meant that I was still feeling fairly full at my usual early evening log-out time... in fact, two hours or so later when the session was over, I still wasn't hungry, and just had a glass of milk and a couple of biscuits, after washing the day's dishes.

And that was just as well, because the "Epic Event" for Auzura, entitled "The Crashing Tide", which had been scheduled for eight in the evening, UK time, actually began half an hour earlier than that, which was a shame as Zen had hoped to come along as an observer, presumably as her Auzura healer Taldea.

I'd decided to risk attending as my level 72 rogue Rage, since the event was going to take place in the Temple of Forgetfulness (alias Forgotten Temple), where the usual local monsters are just about her level, so when I saw the announcements, I quickly logged her in, and went to Randol's north gate on Auzura-3. Just outside there were multiple teleporter npcs, ready to take everyone to the start of the Temple; most people had already gone through by then, so Rage hurried to follow.

I did actually meet Ratel there, towards the end, we both were fighting an Alma, whose health refused to go down, we just didn't have enough high-level folk on it. Ratel is level 77 now, so he is doing well. He told me a bit later that he had died once, which isn't surprising considering the level of most of the monsters we fought.

The vanguard of our people surged onwards, but it was the high-level people who led, so I didn't really see the actual showdown in the final room, though one could read the dialogue. Things seemed to take an ominous turn, with the brave, valiant GM Beatrice sounding a bit sinister towards the end - could it be that she has been affected by these encounters with evil, in ways we cannot yet tell?

Some hands of protection, bravery and the guard did get spawned at the end, once we'd cleared out the Flutons, various varieties of Cube Guard, and so on, so Rage was able to grab some goodies - mainly the small HP and MP recovery pots of course, but a couple of item drop boosters, skill point boosters, and large attack and defence potions.

Katar's event came next, so there was an hour to spare before the Cariae event - to which Barbarienne was keen to go, of course. Zen had only mentioned the Auzura event, so I wasn't sure that she'd be able to get to this one, starting at 9:30 UK time but an hour later for her - and she didn't turn up, so Barb had to do this one solo. I did actually die and have to use a resurrection scroll once, but the goodies at the end just about compensated for that, I guess, and these events are fun.

I just wish that the people who kept asking to be resurrected actually took the trouble to register for a party, as they were asked, and not just asked by me - instead they just kept on asking. A healer can only resurrect party members, and a dead body can't be clicked on - only if the player has registered as wanting to join a party can they be picked up. Otherwise, they'll just have to respawn back at the start, and run back.

Well, it was an eventful and intense day, and tomorrow may well be more of the same, at least while that one-day Recall card lasts. It's nice to wind down with a little pet-levelling; Galahad should get his horse up to level 27 before the end of the evening, so we continue to make progress.