The theory is that, after an afternoon and evening session on one day, I complete my full use of a character's 24-hour boost from platinum refining stones with a morning session. In practice, since MistressDomina had already replaced her boosted weapon, gloves, boots and circlet, and her Darkpeal Jacket hadn't needed boosting because it was +15 yesterday, it was only a +1 addition to her Darkpeal Pants that was still relevant. Still, I managed to fit in a couple of hours in the morning with MD and Kaerella back in the Tomb of Theos on Auzura-4, fighting the screaming zombies.
I was surprised to find that the place was, off and on, fairly busy. Someone brought in a couple of lower-level friends via party recall, and when they left, I inherited the level 23 rogue xxxkillerrickiex, who I couldn't convince she ought to be sp-farming in Prokion temple... she already had 19 skill points, after all. One slight problem was her "neckless" accessory, which randomly applied level 3 of Venom to her target, my zombie. That may have helped her, but of course it made the zombie stronger, so I tended to take extra damage, though generally the suction of life covered it. I gave her a couple of memory scrolls so that she could get the entrance memorised, though I didn't give her large amounts of money or my level 37 horse, sometimes I can be a bit ungenerous...
MistressDomina and Kaerella both used platinum blessed irises, but no boosters or potions. During the first hour, plus a little overtime, MD gained 16.95% and Kaerella 0.01% less, and they each gained 3 skill points. I took a coffee break after that - and then in the second hour MD added 13.89% and Kae gained 0.1% more, and they each got another 3 skill points.
The only high drama occurred in the second hour, when an assassin-type rogue played the little trick of luring back a big group of screaming zombies, and a mummy or two, and then using their Death Motion skill to lose aggro. Luckily she dropped them on a specialist sorcerer called dEvil, who was helping a knight friend to level up a bit, and was well up to the task; he just happened to be fighting a little further forward in the corridor than MD. I had been meaning to go briefly away-from-keyboard to check downstairs, it was just as well I'd not chosen that particular moment.
There were various other comings and goings; a mage called CinderellA, shortly before the end of that second hour, was using Chaos Nova on a group of screaming zombies, and the one I was luring managed to get the edge of it, and so quickly got MD's health down by about a third. CinderellA herself didn't fare as well, she must have been killed by the ones attacking her, as she was next seen running back from the start. If using any debuff on Tomb inhabitants makes them stronger, then Chaos Nova, which hurts foes but increases their attack anyway, is a bit of a "double whammy"... The archer Lylja was also around for a while.
MistressDomina and Kaerella stayed in the Tomb over the lunch break; one more hour ought to get them both up to level 88, I reckoned. During the morning. MD's drake had added 1762 pet points, and SirFrancis had added 1268, while MD and Kae had each earned 6 skill points.
The afternoon session started with another pair of pbis, and still an equal party, but then the level 94 knight DARKNIGHT85 arrived, and suggested a combat party - so we switched over. I was slightly concerned that Kaerella might drop a little further behind, but that wouldn't matter in the long run, as she'd be more likely to team up with my rogue Rage than MD, and catch up that way. The knight only stayed around for about half an hour, but I stuck with the combat party configuration after that. MistressDomina had reached level 88 fairly early in the hour - and Kaerella got there too before it ended. MD added 16.80% during that hour, and Kae added 18.91%, since progress was swifter through 87 than through 88.
We kept on with that set-up for a second hour; a level 45 rogue, Skaska, asked to ks a bit, mainly on MD's target - sometimes MD and Kae shared the same screaming zombie, and sometimes Kaerella fought her own. By the end, MD had added another 17.11%...and Kae was up by 19.19, despite having a less powerful weapon. Probably MD could have kept pace if she'd used Terra Spear more, but it was a surprising result.
During the afternoon MistressDomina and Kaerella each gained 9 more skill points; MD's drake got 1934 pet points, and Kae's, SirFrancis, got 1708, which shows that Kaerella was busier in the afternoon than during the morning, with not so much waiting around while MD lured a new target into range.
Reaching level 88 meant that MistressDomina was able to spend 500 skill points on the ninth and final level of Fear, not a skill I generally use. Apparently it has a 99% chance of success, and now makes the monsters run off for 15 seconds, rather than the previous level's ten. Kaerella still had her level 86 passive skill to learn, level 3 of Vital Spot Blow 2, increasing her rate of critical hits by 10 for 350 skill points; her level 88 skill was a passive one too, Survival Training level 7, for 300 skill points, increasing her physical defence by 20.
MistressDomina transferred her old level 69 weapon over to MrChuckNorris, as it is four levels higher than the one he had been using; she transferred the gloves, circlet and boots from the 70/72 armour set as well. The circlet is +13, the same as the one Chuck is already wearing, so won't need to be transformed by Collector Ryl, but the gloves and boots are one plus higher than the ones he had been wearing. Once the two pieces of armour and the weapon had been changes from mage to titan types, Chuck's physical defence was raised from 2368 to 2418, and his physical attack went up from 1374 to 1445. Both the new figures may get raised slightly more once the bloodseals come in, of course.
The transformations cost around 1.8 million gold, which almost cleaned Chuck out, but MD was still online, and able to pass a little more gold across to him. The older armour sets that MD and Chuck no longer use were then passed across to LordRevan, a level 2 titan I've never done anything with. Wearing the titan armour and wielding the level 65 titan sword he looks pretty impresive, and even with the 90% penalty for wearing items well above his level, both his attack and defence are much improved over the basic new gear set-up.
After the usual food break, Auzura's RedRider logged in and spent her 55 skill points on the second level of flawless stone processing, then ran out of Randol to teleporter Elveen, and entered the Ebony Mine. Both level 129 cursed harpy wings and level 123 degraded golien commanders were aggressive, I found, and, helped along by the usual "double deaths", Red soon got back to the start of her level.
Then it was time for SirDarth and RedRider to team up on Auzura-5 for their promised long session in Prokion Temple. Thankfully, the back room was free, but it wasn't that long before a disagreeable specialist sorcerer called Edgesamson turned up, which made for a slight shortage of targets. He had another sorcerer with him, D4rkSpec, but luckily he mainly sat in a corner. Things got even more hectic when a titan, a healer and another specialist sorcerer barged in, but luckily they didn't stay long. Edgesamson used one of the 31-60 platinum blessed irises for triple experience, which seemed a little strange, since usually in Prokion Temple the idea is to get as many skill points as you can.
By the time the three-hour Elizabeth's Enhancement buff wore off, RedRider had added 13.59& and 35 guild points; SirDarth had reached level 38 almost immediately, and in all earned 24.24%. And they each got 223 skill points.
SirDarth returned to Randol and, as he was now level 38, was able to learn all five levels of the Telekenisis skill, as LC spells it, for 293 skill points. This means that he can teleport a monster to him from up to 20 metres away, with an 80% chance of success, which ought to be fun. The passive skill Knighthood increases Darth's physical attack by 50, as long as he has a single sword equipped, for 310 sp, so he learned that too.
That might have been Darth's last time in Prokion Temple, since RedRider needs to stay on level 27, so that they can't make a combat party again - or perhaps we can try an equal party, though I would have to watch Red's experience gain closely to make sure it didn't get too close to 100% of her level. Still, it was a productive three hours.
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