Like Old Times

It wasn't a particularly early pet-levelling start this morning, but SirPerivale's dragon hatchling had reached level 13 by coffee time, and CaptainScarlet's pale blue horse was around two-thirds of the way through level 35 by then. It's very nice not to be getting through the quality stones as quickly as before, so that one's visits to keep the pets well-fed don't have to be as frequent as they used to be.

One thing I was able to do in the morning was log in as MrChuckNorris, the World of Iris's manliest titan, and ride down through the Dratan desert to the entrance to the Forgotten Temple, sometimes known as the Temple of Forgetfulness. It's a lot further following the roads than an "as the crow flies" route would be, passing by Prokion Temple on the way, but that is the way one has to go. It was an uneventful ride, except when Chuck encountered a level 50 Pandora's Beast. Dratan ones are ghostly Larva types, and give only small cash drops, maybe 300 gold, unlike the more generous Merac ones.

Back in Randol, Chuck was able to trade across some of the healer armour that the Bogles dropped for him recently to Kaerella, so that she is now once again colour-coordinated at least in the "Serenity" armour set. Some heaven stones and moonstones were traded across to MistressDomino, and, seeing that MistressDomino (my merchant, and not to be confused with my wizard, MistressDomina) did have three extreme stones in storage, I traded those and a pair of chaos smelting stones across to Rage, and upgraded her armour a bit - her hood was already +12, and her shirt and pants +11, so now all three pieces are +13, though the gloves and boots remain at +8. That is the highest-level set which Collector Ryu can convert between classes, so in due course Kae, Chuck, and MD will also feel the benefit.

For the afternoon session, MistressSabina headed out to Prokion Temple. The Auzura-4 back room was in use, so I had to switch Sabina, and CaptainScarlet as he was providing the solo party, over to Auzura-3, where we settled in, and got down to work using a platinum super skill pill for triple skill exp. The first hour went well, adding 420 skill points, but early on in the second hour both Sabina and Cap had a disconnection, so Sabina didn't get full value from that pssp, having to hurry back from Randol - 366 skill points was all we got that time. The full session added 788 skill points, 36.07% experience, and 1734 pet points.

As I do want to get as many skill points as possible before MistressSabina levels up, I didn't continue beyond the end of the second pssp, so there was time for MistressDomino, since she has most of my gold reserves, to do a little shopping in Auzura-1's Randol. I didn't see any rogue armour of a suitable level for Rage's next set; as usual prices varied widely, but in the end I did buy one necklace accessory, with 5% suction of life, 58 hit points, increased critical hit chance 30%, and physical defence 6, which I thought Sabina might find useful. It was a rogue called MinimalTech that I bought it from, for 100 million gold; she also had a twice 5% suction of life necklace for 80 million, it was hard to choose between them.

CaptainScarlet had, meanwhile, got the pale blue horse into level 36, so that pet is now on its final level before it becomes a mount.

The evening session had its ups and downs. Rage was in charge, with Chuck along with her, and first of all they went to the Forgotten Temple. The good news was that, with horse buffs, they were both able to run to the far end, the room with the level 75 Blood Terrain boss monster, where there is a handy little area to one side where nothing aggressive spawns, so Chuck could stand there without any problems. The bad news was that that room made the older computer's innards bleep incessantly, something it does sometimes, though it can usually be cured just by shifting the viewpoint around. I think that the Boucu Demon spot in Egeha may have that problem too, though as it is outdoors, it may be possible to swing the camera round into a non-bleeping position.

So, Rage and Chuck went back to town, and teleported to the Sphinx Fighters, and Sphinx Speer Men, instead - our "plan B". It was like old times, really, with Chuck standing at the side, and applying his buffs when they ran out, and Rage fighting the sphinx types - though rather more speedily than when she was at a lower level. Now that she is five levels above the Speer Men, they are blue-named for her, and wouldn't be worth fighting...if she wasn't conveniently teamed with Chuck, who is lower than them. So, good experience, and some useful skill exp too.

In all, the evening session gave Rage 10.67% experience, and Chuck 37.45% - and that was without any kind of boost. Rage got 46 skill points, which was a useful addition to her total, and Chuck got 43... since the critters were blue-named, Rage didn't get any pet points, though she did have her drake equipped to pick up loot, and give the additional attack and defence buffs.

So, Chuck is two-thirds of the way through level 55 now - though if he is going to reach level sixty in a reasonable amount of time, it does rather look as if trips to the Tomb of Theos will be needed.

Anyway, the evening wound down with SirPerivale and CaptainScarlet back at work, while Stavanic rushed around killing the other Berserkers and Bandits, hoping to lure the Grand Red Dragon. Peri will soon be loaning his hatchling to one of Ratel's characters, Thabitha, while Peri boosts her existing pony a bit - it looks as if it will have reached level 16 at least by then, and become a drake, Cap's blue horse has a way to go before level 36 is finished, but is at least a quarter of the way in now.