Two Mad Monster Spawns

Yesterday's entry must have been about the longest I've ever made. And I didn't even mention that Ratel came along to where RedRackham was faithfully pet-levelling, while Barbarienne was at the Epic Event, and was able to pay off all the remainder of the loan. He said that being able to have three computers online at once, with his new router, made things a lot easier, I imagine he was keeping at least one character in merchant mode most of the time. With Barb's deadly-dangerous surroundings in Misty Canyon I couldn't manage much more than a "ty" in response.

RedRackham kept pet-levelling overnight, and was joined for a time in the morning by SirPerivale, but still nobody else in the DeathBringers guild was online. And after coffee I switched across from Auzura-4 to Cariae-3, to give XxGALAHADxX and Enchantrella another trip to Prokion Temple, and my favourite back room.

This was to be a short visit, however, as a special "night-time" (as far as the US was concerned) series of Mad Monster Spawns had been announced, and the Cariae one was, we were told, due to start at around eleven o'clock, UK time. So, Galahad logged out, leaving Enchantrella in Prokion in case there would still be some pre-lunch time for further grinding. By then he had added just 4.62%, 32 skill points, and 63 guild points, while Enchie had gained 1.54%, 27 skill points (as usual she arrived a little after him, once we knew the room was clear), and a mere 10 guild points.

Barbarienne logged in, and rode out to the usual spot in Juno for the MMS, which was to be conducted by Aeria's new "night shift" GM, Xandermere. There was a surprisingly large turn-out, with some rather tired US types as well as the European contingent, and no doubt people from other parts of the world as well.

Unfortunately, when the first Hands of loot were spawned, after wave one, I found myself unable to equip my pet horse, and then unable to pick up anything, though other people still seemed to be running around. Before long it became clear, though, that it was a mass "server crash" disconnection - and any attempt to log back in got the "account ID already in use" window.

It probably was about twenty minutes before the problems were fixed - Enchantrella finally got the "disconnection" pop-up, so instead I logged RedRackham in to start his lunchtime pet-levelling early, while, once Barbarienne got back in, I headed back out to the MMS location, where GM Xandamere restarted the event.

I did have to use one more resurrection scroll, as I foolishly targeted one of the "cave spirits" that wasn't already in combat with someone, and suddenly had a whole bunch doing something immediately fatal. But apart from that, things went well, and the GM was generous with the Hands spawned. We managed to kill off the final Boss wave in fine style... and the GM went on to Katar, while I went off to a slightly delayed lunch.

The timing was pretty good, as when I got back the announcements for the Auzura version of the MMS were up, so it was Memree's turn to go out to the appropriate location in Juno. This time, we didn't have any crashes, the GM had assured us that he didn't think the MMS itself had had anything directly to do with the problem, and the Katar event had run smoothly. Memree did die once, but that was just a matter of respawning back in town, using Self Heal a bit, reapplying horse buffs, and using a memory scroll to teleport back. My offers to resurrect people got the level 11 mage NatashaFinn into a precedence-type party with me (so that we both kept what we picked up, rather than sharing it), and I must have resurrected her at least three or four times.

By the end, Memree had picked up 3 item drop boosters, 10 large defence and 12 large attack potions, 9 skill point boosters, and lots of tool aids and small HP and MP recovery potions. Some people may aim to pick up the best items they can see, but I just keep my finger on the "pick" key, and pick up whatever is nearest at top speed.

Then it was time to get back to Enchantrella and Galahad over on Cariae-3, to make up for the abrupt end to their earlier session. By the time I took my early evening food break Gal was up another 9.07% in that Prokion Temple back room, plus 61 skill points and 124 guild points, and Enchie had added 3.18%, 58 skill points, and 20 more guild points. It was a short break, so they stayed in the back room, and then continued; I had a visit from a level 51 royal knight, pknubbb, who had a red name, so it was just as well Cariae-3 isn't PvP-enabled. I'm really not sure why he visited, but he was friendly, said "Hi", killed a few Orcs, and gave Gal the Divine Shield and Concentration buffs. He'd asked what my level was... I was surprised when he said "Hi" again, but then saw that he was talking to Enchantrella now, who was able to say she was level 28 and in a Combat type party. He was rather disconcerted when she mentioned that SkrappY, the cat-like "human tribe" pet she had equipped, was also level 51, and left soon after.

Eventually, Enchantrella reached level 29, after adding another 6.94%, 128 more skill points, and 42 guild points. So she immediately logged out, and my level 25 rogue Karella logged in in her stead, and, after signing up for the Combat style party, hurried to join Gal in Prokion. She was actually the first character I ever made in Last Chaos, but lost out to Kaerella and Keerella for attention. The session didn't continue for a very long time after her arrival; she only needed 0.02% to level up, as when last played we had been able to rely on a 100% experience freeze to keep her at that level as long as we wished. In all she added 4.61%, 58 skill points, and 18 guild points, while Galahad added another 8.80%, 60 skill points, and 120 guild points.

Karella had brought some more food for SkrappY, who gets hungry very quickly when equipped by a lower-level character. With Enchantrella at level 28 and him at 51 it was 13 hunger points per five minutes, and then when Karella took over, at level 26 it moved on to 14 hunger points per five minutes. The Ichi and Scra-Chi "new" pets are expensive beasties to run, but at least they look cute.

Back in Randol afterwards assorted loot was passed across to my merchant, MistressDomina, including Barbarienne's spoils from the Mad Monster Spawn and the recent Events. Karella was able to get Lorraine to open her level 26 "treasure chest", and got 30 Candies, which were also passed to MD. And Galahad spent 550 skill points on upgrading the ForceWithin guild; that left him enough for the first four levels of Wall of Belief, but he will need to get 138 more before he can get level five. It doesn't effect his work in Prokion Temple, as that passive skill only works when a shield is equipped, and against the Orcs he doesn't need to use one. It will be nice if he can farm enough skill points for Divine Shield too, as it is handy to be able to give people an armour buff.

After that it was time to move back to Auzura-4 for the pet-levellers. SirPerivale did log on briefly to see if Lylja, or anyone else, was online in DeathBringers, but it was CaptainScarlet and RedRackham who headed for the Berserkers. Cap should get his drake a third of the way through level 28 by log-out time, while Red's horse, for Lylja's cleric FemeiaVraci, may well just reach level 36 by then. Just that one final level to go, there.