Too Many Zombies

LordDarth's attempt to pet-level through the night didn't last long - it can only have been an hour or so before the horse got killed, though I'm not sure how. When I checked up, Darth was just being attacked by two death mask lancers, which don't attack pets, but presumably a death mask soldier must have been involved earlier.

So, the computers got switched off for a while, with Darth resuming his work, after paying 148,176 gold to unseal the level 28 horse, before breakfast. It was a slightly later breakfast than usual, as before LordDarth returned to action, on Cariae-5 RedRackham transferred one of the level 37 horses he'd worked on a while ago over to SirKit, so that Kit now has a mount. Red also passed over some assorted loot he was carrying, and then Kit passed that on, plus his own contributions, to MistressDomina...and then RedRydeR passed some loot across to MistressDomina too, so MD is now quite well off for moonstone boxes again, as well as physical attack potions and candy.

After breakfast, MistressDomina did a bit of window-shopping, and MistressDomino over on Auzura did some too, but none of the items I'm looking for revealed themselves. Then, since he now has a free pet slot, RedRackham on Cariae-4 took a drake egg to Lorraine, and then visited Jajan in Dratan. He then took his brand-new dragon hatchling to Merac, and headed for the bandit spot that I've used sometimes on other servers. Once he'd added it to his memory scroll, he settled in to do a little bit of pet-levelling there.

MistressDomina had noticed that someone was selling a Necklace of Earth with a 93 hit rate for just a million, which seemed relatively cheap, so RedRackham had bought it. Accessories that improve their hit rate seem the best things for pet-levellers to use. The more often they hit, the more quickly they pet-level, and the less likely their sparring partner is to attempt to wander off, if a "miss" has come up two or three times in a row. RedRackham's other two accessories give 56 and 75 to close range physical hit rate, and I'm sure that the 75 one, at least, would normally sell for more than a million.

RedRydeR's dragon hatchling was only level 10 this morning, which seems unusually low for a character that has reached level 41; the leap from level 29 to 35 when she became a "phoenix" didn't help of course, and all the time spent fighting blue-named orcs which don't give pet experience. So, the plan is for RedRackham to level this new hatchling quickly to a more impressive level, so that RedRyder's current pet can be passed across to SirKit, who doesn't yet have a companion, loot-picker pet, and RedRydeR can have the new one, with a bigger boost to her attack...and maybe to her armour as well, when she moves on to the outdoor sphinx types in southwest Dratan.

As expected there was no time for actual at-the-keyboard playing in the morning or afternoon, with me kept busy downstairs. And that meant that, by the time RedRackham had to log out for the evening, he'd got his new hatchling into level 10. LordDarth, meanwhile, had just got his horse into level 30.

RedRydeR and SirKit teamed up again on Cariae-5, in a combat party, and went to the elite frenzied berserkers, where they made steady progress, until about ten to nine. By then Red had added 48.09%, 57 skill points and 1245 pet points, while Kit was up by 18.28%, 48 skill points and 99 guild points. RedRydeR's hatchling reached level 11, in a desperate attempt to stay ahead.

LordDarth logged back in on the older computer then, while on Auzura-5 Rage headed for Dratan, where the "Zombie Invasion" was due to begin on the hour. The instructions [GM]Darasuum gave were a bit too vague, sadly, so that not enough people got to the right place to fight the zombies... and then once the area around Shuraine's oasis had been cleared, many of us returned to town, expecting the zombies to make their next appearance outside the south gate.

Darasuum had different ideas, though, and spawned more zombies along a different route that went vaguely city-wards... and then announced promptly at twenty passed that we had failed, and would get no rewards, as not all the zombies were dead.

So, that was a bit arbitrary and unsatisfactory - I assume that the GM then toddled off to the next server, but he left us with plenty of zombies to fight. There were absolutely masses congregated outside the south gate of the city now, so everyone who remained, and happened to head in that direction, settled in there to fight the ancient screaming zombies, and the ancient grey mummies.

I had intended to go to the Cariae zombie event at ten, but at ten Rage, now in a full party which actually included a healer, was still helping to get rid of the zombies and mummies. I thought at twenty past that we had killed them all - but no, there were more groups a little further along, and they took another 15 to 20 minutes to finish off. After them, I logged out relatively quickly, in case any more were discovered...

Generally I tried to provide "heavy artillery", with Flame Arrow and Snare, but quite a few times I found myself tanking a zombie, hoping that Snare would work successfully the next time it recharged, and getting through a few health potions. Those monsters are 11 or 12 levels above Rage, and Rage still only has three pieces of the 85/87 armour, so I had to keep a watchful eye on my health bar. By the end Rage had added 1231 pet points, a skill point, and 1.07% experience.

RedRackham then logged back in, to do a little bit more work on that new hatchling out in Merac; LordDarth had managed to attract two death mask lancers down in the Jail, but managed to get his horse about a third of the way through level 30 by the time he logged out for the night.