The "lag spike" problems that SirGalahad was encountering last night in Maargadum Jail while I was writing yesterday's blog weren't a local problem, it seems. Shortly after I "went to press", at around 10:30 UK time an announcement came up that everyone should log out, as to counter lag-related problems the servers needed to be shut down briefly for a reset. I just got Gal out before the shutdown - and then watched as the shoutbox on the forum got pretty busy, with people who had been using masses of expensive pots and potions at the time complaining loudly. Needless to say the servers didn't pop back up quickly, after half an hour the game still wasn't back up, so my plans to have SirGalahad pet-level overnight had to be abandoned. I had been intending to have MistressDomina do some overnight selling on Tairen-1, too...
Anyway, things appeared to be back to normal this morning, and SirGalahad hurried back to Jail before breakfast, soon getting the pony into level 10. Then after coffee Rage and RedRyder went to Prokion Temple, and, finding the back room free, settled in for a longer-than average morning session. By the end, Rage had put on 7.58% and 168 guild points, which were enough to take her total guild point contribution over the ten thousand mark. RedRyder had added 5.41% and 25 guild points, and they'd each gained 156 skill points.
After SirGalahad's lunchtime session back in Jail, Rage and RedRyder returned for the afternoon, to get things finished, and Red did indeed reach level 31. This brought down the experience that Rage got per orc sergeant dramatically, it was about a quarter of what it had been before - but the skill exp wasn't greatly changed, so it seemed reasonable to continue to the end of the session.
The back room had been in use, so I'd moved on to what I call the corridor room, which has the advantage of slightly more level 29 orc sergeants, and less level 27 orc axemen, though the total number of orcs is a little lower. I did well there, until a knight called VicelorD turned up, and started to treat the room as his own.
We started off with the usual "don't ks", "well don't steal my room", "well I didn't see your name on the door", "noob", and so on, but gradually got to chatting...which had the advantage of slowing down our kill rate so that there seemed to be enough orcs for both of us. In fact, I'd probably have left a bit earlier if we hadn't been busy chatting, and VicelorD is now on Rage's Friends list.
By the end of the session, with only a couple of "hours" (or five minutes) left on the Elizabuff, Rage had earned a further 11.68%, which meant another 258 guild points for Discipline, and RedRyder was up by 8.26%, along with 39 guild points. They had each obtained another 208 skill points, as well.
Anyway, RedRyder had reached level 31, and the new +10 set of rogue armour, and the crossbow and daggers, arrived safely, which was the main thing. Red traded the new armour set across to Rage before logging out, and Rage put it on, instead of the +11 set she had been wearing. The +11 set was then, back in Randol, traded across to Kaerella, so that she can enjoy the relative safety of a good set of armour at last. When Kae in turn reaches 31, it will be MistressDomino's turn to get good armour - unless Rage outgrows the 30/32 set before then, and starts wearing an expensive higher-level armour set.
SirGalahad logged in, and before heading for Maargadum Jail, was able to spend 550 skill points, 2.5 million gold, and 18,000 guild points on moving the Discipline guild up to level 7. The next step will be an "expension" of the maximum number of members, which will require another 5,000 guild points, and some gold.
VicelorD had mentioned that the Merac Castle Siege was due to start at seven in the evening, and would be on Tairen-1; the guild he was in, TheEmpirE, had high hopes of recapturing the castle, currently held by XxPATTONxX. So, I decided that it would be a good idea to go along and watch - though, as PvP combat was involved, it seemed best not to complicate things by going there as a PvP-enabled player. Players below level 15 are not able to attack other players, or be harmed by them. My mage Enchantra was level 5, so I gave her a brief outing into Juno to do a few early quests and get some skill points, and then, at level 6, she ran down through Merac to the Castle location, and got a convenient spot onto her memory scroll.
There was time after that for Rage to catch up on her available quests, which included a bit of wedding gift movement in Merac, and quests to kill highlanders and gnoll soldiers there. There were quests in Dratan too, involving the rough deer of the desert and the poison mists, which make ideal targets for Rage at level 39. Once the quests were completed I stayed a little longer to kill a few more poison mists, and the elite one, but the countdown to the Castle Siege had started, so it was soon time to switch back to Enchantra. By then Rage had added another 29.11%, much of it from quest rewards, plus 103 guild points and 76 skill points. Most of her armour had got a first bloodseal sorted out, too.
Enchantra logged in on Tairen-1, and teleported down to the approaches to Merac Castle. Members of the DarkSociety, TheEmpirE, and UNIONxxLATINA guilds, and a few others, were congregating by the spawn points, and soon they were fighting each other. I was in low-level armour, and had unequipped my weapon, and kept well back - but it was just as well I'd not gone as a character above level 15, as quite a few people, mainly it seemed members of the UNIONxxLATINA guild, did attempt to kill me. It was quite funny, to see the efforts they made and the skills they used - I suppose it was fair enough to try once to check I was too low-level to be a combatant, but some people were a bit persistent.
Some people occasionally engaged PvP, or PK, mode, which is a bit naughty at a Castle Siege, as it causes glitches. I saw VICELORD, who I assume was VicelorD's higher-level character that he had mentioned in passing, in the thick of the action - he may or may not have recognised me, the "Discipline" guild tag would have been a bit of a clue.
The battle then surged towards the Castle itself, and by the gateway to the inner courtyard were a couple of giant statues, of the type that [GM]Stratos tends to conjure up as his "signature" if he hosts a monster spawn... and while they stayed by the gateway, they were involved in the fighting. I did think they were fighting each other, but they may just have been defending themselves from their attackers.
The attacking guild members finally managed to destroy the statues, which, with a little general fighting, led on to the final stage, in the throne room, with the current holders of the Castle, the XxPATTONxX guild, trying to protect the throne, "The Seat of Power", which, like those warrior statues, was level 100 and had a health bar. The deadline was eight o'clock, an hour after the start, and as the throne still had at least 80% health then, the defenders retained their title, and the Castle.
So, after all this time I've finally seen a Castle Siege. I didn't actually do much else after that, but Kaerella is now wearing the +11 "Goddess" armour set, after Collector Ryl changed the rogue items into healer ones. That increases her physical defence from 489 to 766 - which is little more than half SirGalahad's stat, so she'd better not try to visit Maargadum Jail yet. The +10 Pheonix bow ought to be useful too, though she can't use that without a penalty until she reaches level 29.
MistressDomino set up shop for her delayed overnight session on Tairen-1, and SirGalahad had got his pony into level 15 by the end of the evening.
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