Friday 14 May 2010

The Two Faces of Prokion Temple


I had just started posting the finished blog last night when LordDarth got disconnected - and it wasn't just me, it was the whole of Last Chaos that had been cut off in its prime. Apparently there was a problem with the Katar server, and initially the GMs thought that only Katar would need to be brought down - but it all had to be axed. The forum shoutbox was busy of course, and [GM]Ozymandias apologised for the "miscommunication" that had led them to announce that only Katar was being taken offline.

Whatever the problem was, Katar apparently needed to stay down for a while, but the other servers were allowed back up after ten minutes or so, so LordDarth got back on to Hatzring-4, on the newer computer this time, and returned to level five of Maargadum Jail.

I just beat Dompteur to that location, and, after killing the death mask soldier that is often too near the entrance to avoid, started to spar with the local lancer, and we chatted a bit, though he doesn't think the other position I sometimes use is safe enough, and left after a while to play on his sorcerer. Dompteur is level 38, he said, "for armour...and to keep the pets from starving fast."

Darth got through most of the night safely, but I woke a little early, and decided to check up on him - only to find that someone had recently not just ks'd him, killing the lancer, they had lured no less that four death mask soldiers onto him. Luckily the soldiers had concentrated on Darth, and the horse was still alive and well, and even four level 47 death mask soldiers weren't able to harm my level 35 temple knight. Still, it is worrying that someone would, I assume, make a special journey down to level five of the Jail, just to try to kill a harmless pet-leveller and his horse.

Still, LordDarth continued pet-levelling until after coffee time, with his horse moving steadily through level 35; RedRackham on Auzura joined in for a little while, and got his drake to level 38. But then it was time to move some items around - stuff to sell across to MistressDomino, and Barbarienne's new +15 gloves across to her.

There was still time for a session in Prokion Temple, though, so RedRydeR and SirKit logged in on Cariae-5, level 36 rogue and level 21 knight, teamed up in a general party, and headed for my favourite back room.

There weren't any problems, and RedRydeR got slightly more skill exp per kill from the orc sergeants, and around 50% more from the orc axemen, and masses more experience - so that instead of about 4%, by the time lunch was ready Red had added 18.28%, along with 251 guild points. SirKit had levelled up four times, reaching level 25, so had not just been able to put on the last of the 25/27 armour set, now he was able to put on the gloves from the 30/32 set, and the new level 29 shield. His total experience gain was 397.71%, while both he and Red had added 233 skill points.

LordDarth did a little more pet-levelling over lunch, but for the afternoon session RedRydeR and SirKit resumed their joint efforts, after Kaerella had recruited SirKit into Discipline, and set his experience gain to 50%.

Things went pretty smoothly in the back room again; we were joined briefly by a level 23 sorcerer called Toomi, you insisted on joining our party. By then Kit had reached level 26, so was only ten levels behind Red, which meant that the party type had been switched to combat, so Kit had to be made leader to recruit Toomi. He didn't stay long; he was one of those people who don't seem to believe in using health potions, and fighting a mob of orcs while your health is at 25% or below is a recipe for disaster. When he died, he left the party, and I saw him later fighting the orc soldiers, which are the best targets for him, since they are his level.

SirKit added 119.28% during the afternoon, greatly slowed down by the 50% experience gain freeze (bringing in 198 guild points for Discipline) and the switch to a combat party; RedRydeR went up by a massive 36.40%, and 500 guild points. They each gained 373 skill points... that number was enough to get Red above the 20k mark for her total stash of unused sp.

Over the early evening food break LordDarth went back to Maargadum Jail again. A knight called xDARKSHADOWx was in the preferred position close to the entrance, so Darth moved along to the second death mask lancer, managing to get his horse into its final pre-mount level, 36, before he logged out again.

For the evening, we continued with RedRydeR and SirKit, though I'd probably have changed if someone else had been using the Prokion Temple back room. I had to finish soon after a quarter to nine, UK time, but by then Red had finished level 36, having gone through it all in the one day - this session brought her 57.67%, and 822 more guild points, while SirKit added 58.97%, and 117 guild points for Discipline. And they each got 510 more skill points.

After that I logged LordDarth back in, so that he could return to Maargadum Jail on Hatzring-4 for a bit more pet-levelling. The prime spot was free this time, so Darth was able to start making inroads into his horse's level 36.

A "Dungeon Run" was due to start on Auzura-5 at nine, set in Prokion Temple, so, as I'd missed the previous one, I wanted to take Rage along. She had to ride down from Dratan City as she doesn't have that location on her memory scroll any more, but I got there with a minute or so to spare, and used the "shout" chat option to warn the local sp-hunters that they ought to retreat, as some high-level stuff was about to be spawned.

There was a lurch of lag, and then the place was full of cube guards, lilits, reinforced troll kings, and other high-level stuff. It's an awkward place to fight, as it's so cramped, and not designed for battling level 140 foes. We did have a good turn-out, though, and though I got into trouble a few times, with my health right down, Rage managed to survive. The extra magical defence from her three +15 armour pieces probably helped, particularly with a mage quanian type which hit me with a niva-style "dark screen" hex...and right at the end a patriarch botis managed to stun me, so that I couldn't move away from its attacks, but luckily my evasion was good enough to keep me alive until I could finally run for it.

I did think the fight was over just inside an hour, but we discovered further rooms... however, I decided that I really ought to log out, before tiredness got me into more trouble than I could get out of. I used quite a few great healing potions, and mana potions too - and Rage went up 0.89%, and probably picked up a few gold coins along the way.

It had all been a bit of a shock for the sp-farmers there, really the GMs would do better to hold such events on the fourth subserver, since that is a lot less busy. It seemed to be another "set it and forget it" event, with a game master spawning the monsters and then leaving us to it - I didn't see any rewarding loot drops, and there was no sign of any GM involvement during the event. The only messages were warnings that the Katar server was having to be taken offline again, due to its continuing lag and log-in problems. Just a five-minute warning, so not ideal if one had recently started one-hour pots there, but it's the thought that counts...

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