Running Lugians and Uber Tonk

Connor runs. His large Lugian frame bounces joyously as he crosses the first bridge in Cavendo, his heavy steps pounding a rhythmic cadence. Just ahead there is a second set of bridges. His twin swords gleaming in the midday sun, he ambles happily across the overpass, past the various adventurers. Soon he has reached the edge of town and surveys the branching roads that lead off to Rithwic and Shoushi. Ahead of him is the portal that can take him to the various regions of the Drudge Citadel. He contemplates for a very short time, and with a wide grin, he spins on his sandeled heels and begins the ambling trek back across the two bridges. Life doesn't get much better then this. (The above story shows the joy that only a 5-year-old can have when playing a Lugian.)

Setting up and being knocked down:
With the event of the new patch coming, I wanted to get all my timer quests out of the way, starting with the Golden Age quest. First step is to slay a Gurog Marauder; no problem there, I can take one of these down with relative ease. Second part is getting the other part of the amulet. This is trickier, but doable. Run close and get them to chase you, run a circle and grab the amulet piece before they all get back. This would have worked if I could have selected the chest sooner. I got the chest open after some fumbling and grabbed the amulet and died. The quest advanced, but I had left the mortal coil before getting the second piece into my inventory. In other words, the quest is running but I can no longer get the second piece. So I ambled off to get a second Dillo egg instead.


New patch mounts:
After reading the various flames about how useless the mounts are and how impossible they are to get, I was a little apprehensive about trying my luck. As I logged in Grasp, I found the Sanctuary was the quest I inherited. It's a short run from my lifestone in Whitebay. Upon arriving, I saw a huge throng of people and figured my chances of getting kills were going to be nil. Then I saw the scope of the area. A very large portion of the landscape has been taken over by these monstrosities. It makes me wonder what limits, if any, the First born have when it comes to power. The first new creature I came across was a Skeleton Calvary mounted on a creature I would later know as an Atur. I hear they chain cast spells and have a limitless supply of vigor. Using the proven technique of standard attacks with self heals and vigor heals, I joined in a very long battle. It was hard fought and I came out the victor. From its corpse I looted a diseased saddle and I golded the rest; a nice new feature to be able to gold or loot all. Next up was the Empower Burun Immortals. It was here that I ran into the biggest problem with soloing this quest, fighting dual creatures. Alone I can take each of these, but the Calvary seem to roam long distances and join in at the worst possible time. I can see where some people could find this frustrating. I found it a wonderful challenge. I ended up using the burnt out trees to avoid ranged attacks while still attacking the Burun. I also would scout a good battleground then lead the creatures to it before fully engaging them. I'm finding more and more ways of playing smart; I like a game that is more then push a button and watch. The Undead Serene Moarmen were the easiest of the lot. I took those out first with an occational Burun and Skel. I died four times and I would have died more if a lugian in the area hadn't decided to help me out. In return, I have been quite active in helping others getting their mounts as well. Currently, I only have the Linvak Mount left to earn.


EU server:
With all the patch day confusion, I was unable to log on for two days. While I was waiting for the AC2 people to sort it all out, I went onto the Europe server and started up a Feral. I went with Feral because at the highest levels, this seems to be a good solid solo play character. With my knowledge of the quests and pre-mapping out a route, I was able to hit level 10 in under an hour. I decided to throw everything into Mastery, Grand Mastery and Paragon as soon as I could. As luck would have it, I hooked up with a group that had done some amazing planning. The Drudge/Warder quest from January provides a great sightseeing trip for characters. You really get a feel for the game mechanics of an epic quest. However, using three higher-level characters to run the quests, they were able to complete them in about an hour and a half. While we all ran some of the more mundane quests, they played leapfrog to get to the quest starter and objective at close to the same time. Truly, it was impressive to sit there and watch the quests advance. At some point, Ill have to re-visit my little feral, see how well she can do.


Damn Undead:
I have the timer for GA clicking on Grasp, my defender. My timer is almost running out for the Icefire quest and I wouldn't mind getting Lodrog done before the timer runs out. I head up to his tower and get the quest. A ride on my new mount to the Ossuary turns out to be quite a rush. It takes some maneuvering to hit the ramp correctly, and I aim for the portal to ride through it, only to find the mount won't fit. Taking damage and being rushed by the mob, I dismount and run the final four steps to the portal with just enough health to be alive. Inside, I find two of the three bones in record time. A recall followed by a run to where the conscript revenants spawn, only to find ridge dillo's. At this point in my career, I cannot take down a ridge solo and change the spawn over. I end up not finding a single conscript until time runs out. A second failed quest.


Icefire problems:
I want to hit level 41 and the Icefire quest will get me there. I make the run out and find there is a group I can join in with. They kill the gig and I notice that I don't get a quest advance. I check and I never got the quest. It turns out failing Lodrog makes it impossible for me to get the quest. Double drat!


These boots are made for running:
After the disaster with GA, Lodrog and Icefire, I am hoping for something good to happen and it does. My Guild is getting together a group for the new boot quest, Shades of the Lost Heroes. Caerie, my patron, leads us out from the NPC in Ondekodo. We ride to the Silent City and have quite a battle. The lag is so bad, I'm a good 15 seconds behind everyone. I cannot fight like this so instead I change to healer mode. Our group has great firepower and we are able to cut a swath through the dungeon to meet up with the Lugian ghost. Next we head to the Belltower and there is even a bigger battle. The final room is nasty with perching monsters. A few times I have to run to the corner to get enough respite to heal. I was amazed at how fast we killed the last boss. My new boots are excellent and my total armor with shield wall is 177 now.


Mage Academy:
I have reached level 41 and I have been looking forward to this quest for quite some time now. My guild runs it regularly and the group is very familiar with it. This first time through is a whirlwind. There has been some talk about the difficulty of killing Rytheran, post patch. If he was easier before, he must have been a pushover. Our group had a plan for trapping him in a hallway that we didn't have to use. Instead, he was killed in the dead center of his room. I had two dillo's to help but they didn't even engage in battle.


Exterminating Bee hives:
Well, I logged in Elk, my hive keeper, and started working backwards back to missile. As stated before, I want to move into a Missile Feral. The best way to do this would be via the vaults. I'm level 26 now and haven't done a single vault on Omishan. The Kydi vault requires a glyph from Mimbu and I know a little village on the Mayoi portal ring. Using my hive skills, I start off taking on Mimbu and anything in the area. I must have taken out 100 Mimbu with no luck at all, other then two carapaces for crafting. Tex puts out the call for a Moarsmen run. I ask to join and I'm accepted. My skills are waning, but I make a good effort. I don't think I do more then run for my life as the upper level guys complete the quest in record time. This does allow me to train a few things on the missile tree. Next I try the broken totem quest. No one is that interested in it anymore. My calls at the lifestone and to my guild go unheeded. I am able to make it through the dungeon for the first time with Elk and now I can feel comfortable with changing from hive to spear. Two of my guild mates have Kydi glyphs. One of them meets me in Mayoi and I can finally do the quest.

On Leafcull there is a crafter named Momm. She has a good reputation and I ran into her with Elk in Ikares. I offhandedly asked if she had a Tumerok spear for trade. She had one that was for a level 27. I traded her the two Mimbu parts and headed off to the Kydi vault.

Brother Dragon, a vassal of mine from AC1, is now in game. He was earlier, but his work kept him from being able to log on. He had a character that needed to do the vault, as well as a secondary character of Niamh. The three of us did rather well and I was able to make level 27 and use my spear!


Ariaki Vault:
The next step on my Tonk Missile quest is the Ariaki River Valley Vault. This is on an interesting peninsula; it is coiled not unlike the snakes that inhabit it. Ulu and Sata Sclavi hold the glyphs here. By un-training portal summon and portal recall, I was able to get magical skills for healing. My Momm-crafted harpoon is really making the difference in hunting. I'm able to drop most things well before they get close. I'm tempted to get a better melee strike, but that will have to wait. There is an archer in the area who is waiting for people to do the vault with. He cautioned me against going through with only two people. I dismiss his concern, mostly because I recall soloing this vault with Grasp when she was an archer. Inside the vault it was a different story. The boss now has a few Sata sclavi with him. It takes time, but I finally find a spot where I can hit him and he can't kill me. My companion dies, but I get the kill. Unfortunately it's deemed unfair and when I try to go into the vault, I am denied. I barely make it around the backside in time.

Now I'm trapped and I start trying to figure out how to kill his henchmen (henchsnakes?). My archer friend comes in and tries his best and in the course of running around, I fall off the platform to my death.

I decide to restock my glyph and the archer heads off to brighter hunting grounds. In burning off vitae and glyph hunting, two more people arrive, a Lugian fighter and a Tumerok mage. I send an @tell to the archer and he returns. The four of us enter the dungeon. We have the keys so we can head straight to the big show. Inside it's very tough. The lugian runs ahead and the Tumerok healer is in the line of fire. My damage is considerable so I hurl rather then try to organize them this late in the game. Unfortunately, the Tumerok dies and shortly after the Lugian does as well. The boss is so close to dead I can taste it, so I jump to the final platform and finish it off in close quarter combat. The Lugian and the Tumerok go get new glyphs and I hold the fellowship. This way they need only get past the last creature having already been flagged for the kill. The Lugian makes it through but the Tonk Healer doesn't. He opts to not try again.


Tonk and Lumari Mount:
The prosper mount is easy enough to get and a group of my guild mates got together to hunt for the Lumari mount. O'O (lugian healer), Olief (lugian elementalist), Quake (Lugian elementalist) and myself rounded out the group. The entire outing was fun and I ended up being the last one to complete the quest. These are my favorite of the mounts. They have a hammerhead shark-eye thing going that I find smart. Now with a steed in hand, I can do the Eru tree quest. I ride to Rankari all the way up to the top of the tree, then we jump off for 11 damage. Because I have two skill points, I train Portal recall and head to the first stop. At the end of the run, I dismount and portal recall back. I make three more mount saddles and head to the second part, dismounting and recalling back. In this method I am able to nail this quest closed in record time.


Waiting for GA:
Because of my failed attempt to grab the second medallion piece and the game thinking I have retrieved it, I have to wait for my timer to fail the quest. I have over 5 hours to go. So I find a little Island near the Linvak portal. I whip out a flute and proceed to play as I turn off the monitor and head to bed. The next morning I have two hours left. I got kicked off sometime during the night. So much for my plans.


Tonk and Shrethbane:
While I'm at the Lifestone in Ikares a group is forming to run the Shrethbane dungeon. I haven't done this quest as of yet and I understand the weapon upgrade adds damage to any shreth you hit. We head back up to Rankari and get the quest, a portal hop and a run later and we run the gauntlet of shreths. Someone got the key at some point and we ended up in this huge room. It was daunting in size. Finally we found the end boss, killed him, someone grabbed his head and died in the process. We recalled and got the 4000xp and the quest recipe. It's actually a very cool dungeon and the expansive room is something you've got to see. This got me interested in doing the ghostfire gauntlets... No way can I do this at level 27. I ended up running for my life a few times, then trying something else. Maybe in two more levels.

-EE