Monday 27 December 2010

A Flock of Kamiras

My characters started their attendance half hours in the usual way - and, in the usual way, reports came in of another Cariae server crash shortly before 10:00am UK time. These reports were followed by the usual disconnections on other servers a little after ten - my characters lasted until almost 10:30 before they too were kicked out.

CaptainScarlet hurried back to his death mask lancer; I noticed that he didn't lose any pet points, all he lost was a few minutes working time. By then Cap's drake was just approaching 30% of the way through level 48, and by lunchtime he'd got to a third. RedRackham logged in too, to level his pink drake, and managed to move it a bit further through level 22.

Rage checked before lunch, and found that the Auzura Tomb of Theos was set to 100% easy, for a pleasant change. So, after lunch MrChuckNorris, Kaerella and Rage headed over there, in a combat party. It was Rage I wanted to give a "power hour" to, so we headed for the anubis spear men, and the first corner after their main room. Luckily, while the earlier parts we passed through were busy, that area was quiet, so we were able to settle in, and Rage was able to use the two spear men on that corner, and the next one along too, just about uninterrupted. The skill Controlled Shooting is very useful, even if it does mean that Rage can't move while it is active, and so has to make sure that her next target is within crossbow range. A typical critical hit without that buff dealt 7317 damage; with it active, it moved up to around 9587.

The two to three o'clock dungeon time hour (by UK time) saw Rage use 59 experience boosters, and add 36.48% experience, which took Rage well into level 99. The spear men are seven levels above her now, which means they have started to give ignition...they don't give much skill exp though, only 4 skill points were gained, though Kaerella and Chuck got those too. Kaerella kept busy fighting the sphinx fighters, while Chuck generally just gave his two buffs.

Once the hour was over, my trio ran across to the ancient grey mummies, and spent just about an hour there, so that by the time I took a slightly early break, Rage had added 37.78% in all, plus 12 skill points and 2299 pet points. Kaerella had earned 2.48%, the same 12 skill points, and 1756 pet points, while Chuck, who doesn't have the 10% attendance bonus, got 1.34% and 11 skill points.

My trio headed back to my spear man corner, which was still vacant, and took up possession a few minutes ahead of the next dungeon time hour, the five to six o'clock one. The day's special event, the "Low Level" Mad Monster Spawn for level 46 to 90 characters was due to start at six, so I made sure to begin promptly, hoping that I'd be able to switch characters and ride there in time for at least the main waves. Rage had earned an ignition run, which she took fairly early in the hour, and that helped her to get through 63 boosters this time, to add 35.62% in level 99 - and 4 skill points again.

The Auzura "Low Level" Mad Monster Spawn was a couple of minutes late starting, luckily, which gave MistressBlaze time to get there. The first wave was pretty minor, with nothing above arcane golems, but the second wave included a big flock of Kamiras. I'd taken up my position at the lake end of things, where the slightly sunken village is now, so was able to concentrate on the Kamiras to start with - I wasn't the only person doing that of course, but I killed a few. As a wave of other monsters came across and I had to temporarily retreat and use a couple of health potions, I didn't get a chance to pick up much, only about a single Kamira's worth of the regular items, but it was good, if brief, fun. There was a third wave with the wight flairs, mimic crods, endemic demons - and I even saw a boucu witch, I don't know where they come from! After that, some loot was spawned for us, but it wasn't very generous, and we got the single announcement "Low Level MMS is over." Which it was... still, MB got a couple of item drop boosters, a skill point booster, two large attack pots, and 3 large defence pots, as well as the moonstones, lucky scrolls, and crystal of experience (greater) etc from Kamira.

Zenderfly had been in touch just as the MMS was starting, asking if I could help per new money-farmer mage Cinetic, who is level 37 now, to level up. We agreed to meet after the MMS; I logged Cariae's Kaerella in, and we tried fighting a black pudding in Strayana, but there must have been some misunderstanding, I thought she wanted me to use "pet return to village" to leave her to do the actual kill... really, level 37 is a bit low for that deal. She could just have ks'd, but decided in the end that just fighting the Dratan desert deer solo was a faster way to level. At least, unlike the Tomb, we didn't have to pay to get in there, so no harm was done. I helped her transfer a drake from Zenderfly to Cinetic; Cinetic returned the level 53 weapon as she'd managed to buy one of her own, so I traded back 300 of the experience boosters.

Kaerella had got up to a red ignition run, so she and MrChuckNorris headed back across to the ancient grey mummies. With Chuck's buffs, and him safely out of compass range, Kae did her run, getting 10,450 skill exp per kill and managing to add 11 skill points before the ignition buff ended. So, for that early evening session, Rage had gained 35.89%, 5 skill points in all, and 1339 pet points - which took her drake into level 51. Kaerella gained 1.95%, 16 skill points, and 1056 pet points, while Chuck added 0.98% and 5 skill points.

CaptainScarlet returned to his death mask lancer in Maargadum jail once the excitement was over; and it was time for my Auzura archer Kaerella to get the first two levels of the Bless Arrow skill, to increase people's maximum health and mana, for 160 and 400 skill points. When eight o'clock was approaching I logged Rage in to ask in the guild chat if anyone, preferably with party recall, needed a "sitter" for dungeon time, and Dropkick, our guild adviser and level 114 temple knight, took me up on the offer, so I changed over to MistressDomina, to be within ten levels of him.

Dropkick's first couple of spots were taken, but eventually he recalled me to a place in the Tomb of Theos, outside the final section, where a couple of sphinx commanders spawned - they did not respawn quite quickly enough to be ideal, but Dropkick seemed happy with the experience they gave him, with someone seven levels lower than him in a combat party. I spent the hour fighting the sphinx fighters, anubis spear men, and anubis archers that were close by; I picked up a couple of heaven stones along the way, and MistressDomina ended up adding 0.82%, 5 skill points, and 842 pet points. With his running around to find a spot that wasn't in use, he'd started his power hour a few minutes late; he didn't finish the pbi etc, stopping when the dungeon time ended, but must have added 25% or so I think.

CaptainScarlet kept working through that hour, and by the end of the evening had just reached the 45% point in level 48. The platinum pet experience potions put in a triumphant, if temporary, return to the item mall today, with two packs of 25 for the price of one as one of the day's "BOGO" offers, which must be a relief to pet-levellers everywhere.

It was a shame that the Mad Monster Spawn today was a little lacking in character; I did hear someone mentioning [GM]Darasuum's name, but if it was him, he was rather more subdued than usual. I don't have suitable characters currently for that event on any other server besides Auzura... but, wonder of wonders, I see that we get a second GM-hosted event this week, with "Storm the Castle" tomorrow, so I have high hopes for multiple adventures then.

As you may know if you have seen the "archive" section of this blog at kaerella.com, December is the last month for this endeavour...which means only four more reports to go. Given the relatively low response, I think it's time I tried making a different use of my writing time, but I'll still be in-game, or lurking around the Last Chaos forum shoutbox, and may make occasional minor updates to the kaerella.com front page. So you've not seen the last of me, don't worry!

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