Mad Monsters

The double pet experience continued overnight, which was good news for Galahad, who kept going, down with the Gnoll Lancers, and by mid-morning had got his horse up to level 32. RedRackham joined in before breakfast, and continued through the morning, getting his drake on through level 38.

Galahad on the Cariae server gave way to ColonelScarlet over on Katar-5 after coffee, who bought new level 25 Radiant gauntlets and a supply of bloodseals, before heading out to Prokion Temple. He had already got the level 26 pieces of the armour set, plate mail and leggings - and luckily during the session he picked up the level 27 boots to complete the set.

The Colonel started at level 20, and went up by, in all, 191.85%, getting 198 skill points as well. This meant that he could get the remaining levels of Vitality Control, to increase the rate at which his health regenerates, so that the Orc Soldiers became easier to deal with, if they insisted on coming in three at a time. Getting some loot transmuted into smelting stones, and buying a couple of level 25 weapons for that purpose too, means that his armour was now all +1, at least, while a newly-bought level 25 shield, and his Light of Odin sword, are both +3. Completing a few minor quests got him another 5.48% experience, too.

After lunch ColonelScarlet continued where he'd left off, starting halfway through level 22 and adding another 303.01%, so that by the time I logged out he was halfway through level 25. His pony had gone up to level 8, too. Oh, and 277 skill points came in, though at the moment, since the Colonel doesn't really need attack skills, he didn't spend any of them. Another knight was a neighbour, WrathMaster, and, seeing how poor the Colonel was (well, he picks up all the gold that is dropped), he very kindly gave me a few of his drops, an assortment of accessories - and 200,000 gold, which made a big difference to my knight's finances. I was in the same general solo party as him later, by which time he was level 29

For the evening session, Katar's Kaerella logged in for a little while. As she and the Colonel really do need a bit more cash, I tried putting an adrenaline potion into the merchant house, and a single heaven stone. Once the event bonuses end I'll have to set up in merchant mode, and try to sell the various Hallowe'en candies and other useful drops - maybe some heaven stones too. I also need to do some mining, my pet-levellers are getting really low on quality stones.

The main part of the evening saw ColonelScarlet back in Prokion Temple. The Orc Fighters were his level now, so the most convenient place was the corridor outside my favourite back room, so that's where I fought, generally. Once I'd levelled up again I did venture into the back room cautiously a few times, just to attack a single Orc Axeman, retreat a bit, and fight the three or four others that had joined him, but it did nibble away at the Colonel's health a bit, so I generally returned to the Orc Soldiers and Orc Fighters in the corridor, who might not give as much experience per kill, but did tend to die a bit more quickly.

By the end of that session ColonelScarlet had added 134.26% more, so was getting towards the top of level 26; his pony had added three more levels, and he had another 214 skill points in the kitty. I should think that, as a pet-leveller, he probably has almost all the skill points he will ever need, so probably he will be able to create and level up a local branch of the Discipline guild before too long.

I took a few minutes off for blog-writing, and then headed for Cariae, logging in my level 101 archer Barbarienne for the local "Mad Monster Spawn" at ten o'clock, UK time. I got there early - perhaps a bit too early, as I got recruited into a less than satisfactory party, if I'd been a bit later I would probably have teamed with ChefDuPain, though she was there as a different Chef.

GM Kali arrived in good time, and the MMS began. The usual waves followed, and Barb managed to do her bit, though after wave one it's best if she waits for someone else to attract a monster's attention, and acts as long-range artillery. I did "tank" one Sphinx Commander, it's very strange how much more powerful they seem there than they do in the Tomb of Theos - a number of Great Healing Potions had to be used, and I was very glad when some other people started to help me towards the end.

I did feel the effect of the Fluton "Flame Thrower" a couple of times, to just stand there stunned and losing health, but luckily, when I was being chased by a Fluton and not wanting to get too far ahead in case its health reset to 100%, just as I was standing there helpless a rogue managed to land a Snare on it, and other people piled onto it.

The final wave was despatched with perhaps two or three minutes to spare, and our final drop of the Hands soon got snapped up. Generally I did pretty well for the goodies this time - I got17 small MP and 35 small HP recovery pots, 12 tool aids, 13 large defence and 11 large attack potions, but just 3 item drop boosters and 5 skill point boosters.

After that, Galahad logged in to get some of the last double pet experience before the server maintenance. By then RedRackham had got his drake up to lhe top of level 39, so that the drake should reach level 40 before log-out time; Galahad should just about get his horse up to 33 by then too.

I was distracted from my blog-typing by the site of a Cerebril and the Grand Red Dragon zooming past where Galahad was fighting his Gnoll Lancer, and went out onto the main path to see what was going on - a mage was fighting them, having presumably run for her life after the Cerebril spawned. She managed to kill the Cerebril, but not the GRD - its health reset to 100%, and when she vanished, it popped out of sight, resetting its location too. So Gal was able to pick up 540 gold, a reasonably good Hero's Necklace (4 strength, 11 evasion, 22 close range evasion), a "Torn Book of Life Chapter 2", and an Empty Basket, which would otherwise just have stayed on the ground until they vanished.