A Lazy Sunday

My dynamic duo of pet-levellers were as usual in action from fairly early on, and SirDarth's horse reached level 19 at lunchtime. But of course SirPerivale couldn't be allowed to monopolise the newer computer all morning, so, as soon after coffee as possible, he logged off, SirDarth moved across to Auzura-4, and MistressDomina logged in, also on Auzura-4, and the recommended solo party was formed.

I had wanted to be early, as Sunday can be quite a busy day on Last Chaos, and my "early bird" status was rewarded by an empty back room at Prokion Temple - or Procyon Shrine if you prefer, though the place seems a bit big to just be a shrine. MD started her platinum super skill pill to treble her skill exp gain for the hour, and settled in, rounding up the local Orc Axemen and Orc Sergeants and using Flame Storm so freely that there were occasions when the room was entirely clear, and she had to wait a couple of seconds for the respawns to start.

The hour brought in 486 skill points; at that stage MistressDomina was just 0.65% short of level 32, which was about what I'd been expecting, so we continued long enough for MD to level up. The total skill point gain was 492, getting her total of unused sp over 21k - but not for long, as there are a number of skills for the aspiring wizard to get at level 32. Staff Mastery's first five levels (327 sp) increase her attack by 35, and all five levels of Mana Barrier (276 sp) increase her close-range physical evasion by 25. As well as those two passive skills, there's just about the wizard's favourite single-target attack skill Terra Spear; its five levels (262 sp), attacking the target with a spear of rock, has a power of 550% of one's regular attack, and only a 6.3 second cool-down, so it gets used a lot. New levels of Weaponsmithing and Armoursmithing come available at level 32 as well, taking another 510 skill points between them. Spending 1375 skill points isn't as big an investment as Rage made yesterday, but it does put a bit of a dent in one's skill point reserve, taking it below 20k again.

During the lunch break, SirPerivale got the horse in his charge up to level 33, while Darth's horse reached level 19. And then, after moving the armour and bow Kaerella had been using over to Rage, and spending 2,765,200 gold to convert it from healer to rogue equipment, it was time for MrChuckNorris to head for the Sphinx types again.

It wasn't a very intensive session, as sometimes Chuck did have to wait for respawns in a convenient place, rather than charge in and find himself fighting four or more Sphinx Speer Men and Sphinx Fighters; a level 29 rogue insisted on partying up at one point, but, after being adamant that we should attack the Elite Speer Man, must have got scared, as we got about three others too, and she had to do some running, with her health down to about 10%, and departed abruptly. As she was capped she can't have got much experience anyway, but you just can't tell some people, it's better if they find out for themselves.

Greengem593 did get in touch, but it was gone 4:00pm by then, so it was a bit late to start a team-up. She was suitably impressed by the screenshots I had put up in the appropriate part of the Last Chaos forum! She wondered about teaming up on Boucu Demons, but Chuck's magic resistance is pretty darn low, as yet. Maybe when he has a full set of bloodseals on his armour that may improve, but generally the idea is to wait until level 53 when he can start using his new +15 sword, before trying anything too ambitious.

Chuck's experience gain was only 9.19%, plus 5 skill points and 538 pet points. His drake took quite a bit of damage, it's handy that he has a supply of the 30-point pet healing potions.

Sunday evening is always a bit strange, now that they have brought forward the Quiz time to 8:30, UK time - somehow there isn't time for anything much serious before that, and even less afterwards. So, I just sent LordElpus, my level seven sorcerer, out to battle the foxes and wolves. It's a bit of a grind, but relaxing in its way and without any danger, as long as I leap back pretty quickly when I open a Pandora's Box. Unlike the regular variety, the level 30 ghostly Sasquatch-types are aggressive, and hit hard.

The "Sunday Teatime" bonus was announced just as LordElpus was getting going, at 5:30 - a bit late, but better than Friday's "Happy Hour", apparently they forgot the Euro time zone event entirely. It ran for two hours, and, though they didn't say what it was, it turned to be 50% extra skill exp, which was useful. For many characters, 50% extra ordinary experience would be a reason to stop playing for a couple of hours, if they are trying to gain skill points.

The GMs were also a bit late opening the Quiz Room doors, and announcing the Quiz, but it started on time. Ratel had suggested Auzura-2 as a less busy, and thus less laggy, sub-server, so Kae and Rage went over there - and quite a few of Rage's guildies were there too. There were a few new questions in the mix, or ones that rarely appear - we got lucky on guessing what four foxes as a "fruit machine" type result on the moonstone statue meant, but we didn't get the right price for the hire of a particular weapon, and so everyone respawned in Randol after question 16. Still, getting 15 right meant we got not just the tool aids but the moonstones too, which is, well, better than nothing.

LordElpus went back out, and before long a "hide and seek" event was announced, with the GameSage iiAbbyii hiding somewhere on Auzura-3's Juno. As that was where I was farming, I decided to head down south from where I was, in the hopes that the small area "below" Randol on the map was a likely place for a GS to be hiding, and before too long I noticed a group of people off to the side - and, going closer, discovered that iiAbbyii was indeed in the middle of the small group. So I said "hi there", and before long got traded 5 Cake and 5 Large Chocolate, which was a nice little bonus. One gives 30% extra experience for 10 minutes, and the other gives extra attack for 5 minutes - but they seem to get offered for sale at interesting prices.

I'd asked Ratel how Elvastar had controlled, or at least influenced, his summoned spirits, saying that I couldn't change the bar from highlighting "protect" rather than "attack", but I can't say that he was a huge amount of help, he thought that perhaps LordElpus would need to reach a certain level before the control bar would work fully. Anyway, after gaining his goodies Elpus went back and killed some more foxes and wolves, so that he reached 90% of the way through his level by log-out time... and just needs another 10 skill points to maximise his level five skills. After that he starts saving up for the level ten skills, naturally, it would be nice to have enough skill points to get most of their levels right away. If he is going to become a playable character, he will need quite a lot of time devoted to him once he reaches level ten - to get from there to level twenty in ten days, in the Guardian system, and earn the sorcerer Event Weapon, while on 50% experience gain, is likely to be quite a bit of work.

SirDarth was joined by SirPerivale after that; Darth's horse may reach level 22 tonight, by which time Peri's horse ought to be approaching 40% of the way through level 33. Darth was contacted by a new character called GuildHealer, who wanted to be added to his Friends list. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" was the opening message. "Any guess on who I am?" After a moment's thought, my response was "Hmm... Stavanic, possibly, he goes in for long wordsssssss..." And that got "Dang you're good - but you must remember my name is actually Steve," so I'd guessed right. A couple of times he has shouted "weeeeeeeeeeee" as he has passed Darth, which was where I got the "long wordsss" idea from.

Steve is asking me to do some levelling work on his level 5 hatchling, so Darth will need to move either his pet horse, or his level 37 mount, over to another character. I had thought it could go to Peri, but he is already carrying two pets, which is the maximum, so it is entirely possible that LordElpus will have, at least temporarily, his own level 37 mount. Hmm, if I swapped their currently equipped pets between them as well, Darth could work on Elpus's level 8 dragon hatchling in the morning, and then do a straight swap of it for Steve's hatchling, which could be convenient.