Wasp Flinging Blues

It was down to this, a final moment of victory or death, a final spell that will wrest the moment into the hands of fate. This Murk Drudge was one of the tougher foes young Fahrenheit had to face in this region. The fortress wall loomed ahead in the mist. Who built it, why they fashioned it and when are all lost in the murky past. It had been a long journey. Arwic's valleys seemed years past, although it was virtually only a month ago. The Murk Drudge's singed and its blood flowed freely mixing with fur and flesh, pockmarked with charred wounds. With arms upraised he sent forth a final flame bolt, which was all his vigor would allow. With this flaming missile went hopes for recovery and the ability to press on towards the citadel. The flames caresses and the Murk howled in pain. It did not fall.[/b]

Will Fling for food:

"Flinging wasps, no defense, lousy healing - this isn't what I thought it would be." Elk slumped against the wall of the tree hut. The winter-chilled breeze caused the massive tree to sway in a slow rhythm, counter pointing the rest of the trees that made up the Tumerok village. It had been a long hard road, changing from a healing mage to a hive keeper. Many Buruns had nourished the lands with their decaying bodies along the way. The thrill of being a hive keeper had been short-lived. The spear used to slay so many Burun and the skills behind it are now useless and being forgotten. Life had been much simpler earlier on. Too many choices bane an uncomplicated life.

A child of the universe

There never seems to be enough time now. By the time things at the house wind down enough to log in, I find myself lured to the recliner and the remote. The lack of anything substantial on the magical glowing box pushes me to the stack of Tom Clancy books on my nightstand. Needless to say, I haven't made any great advances in level. In the interim, I'd recommend 'The Bourne Identity'. I would caution against 'The Sum of All Fears' and I'm rather neutral on 'Signs,' which means borrow a friend's copy or wait for it to be on television rather then plunk down cash on it. On network television, the only things I find worth watching are: Enterprise, SG-1, Alias and CSI (both).

Back in the saddle

After my hiatus, I logged in to find my vitae gone from vassal experience. Also, I had started to untrain unpredictable blow. It was now completed. I still had the Moarsman quest to do. A quick banter with my guild and I was all set for the Golden Age quest. I'm picking up quite a few weapons now. I needed the amulet pieces, so we started hunting the Gurog. After ten or so of these mutated Mattekers, I got a @tell from another guild member that he had a Gurog he was holding that held the amulet piece. Next was a brief run to an old archer perch spot with a chest that held the second part. While the group kept the creatures busy, I ran for the chest, opened it, grabbed and dashed. Then I popped open the quest recipe and sautéed the amulet in a white wine sauce... or assembled it, your pick. Next up was waiting for the others to gather. Some needed the amulet, others did not. As it was, the gathering took a bit longer then I thought. I had a doctor's appointment that was rapidly approaching. After missing so much time last week, I figured logging now would put me even further back on whatever non-existent time table I was on to level, so I called upon my daughter to step in. With the group's size and power, I knew it wouldn't be difficult for her to keep me alive. As for the rest of the adventure, my daughter says it went well and she got a flail for me.

Gee Mr. Wizard.:

My robe-wearing mage is level 12 now. He is stuck trying to solo the Drudge Island, mostly because there is never anyone trying to do that quest. I'm starting to wonder if there is no one from the west coast playing this game. The game and area chat servers have been down for quite awhile now. I thought they would be a boon to gather people for quests. I hope they can get them running soon. I had lagged out of the excavation quest just before handing in the blueprints. So I still have that Quest timer counting down. I tried to clear it by joining a small group going through the quest. We made it through and when they turned in the blueprints, nothing advanced. So either I re-do the excavation quest or let it count down. I'm sick of the excavation quest, so its ticking away!

I headed into the Drudge Fort quest on the Isle of Tears. Being able to run across the ice is great for doing this quest. More of a straight run than not. I have tried to solo this a few times without much luck. I can get most of the way through, but I keep getting killed by backspawns. Catalina is my Patron and she whipped me up a great foci. Its made me much more productive, but its still not enough to get past the drudges. Another member of my guild made me a robe, AR9, that also has boosted me up quite a bit. I had just logged in and was running to the island when I met someone on the ice. It was a Tonk melee-mage mix player who needed to find the Warder. I told him where and in exchange he acted as 'captain combat' and slaughtered everything in my path. Drudge Island is now a not-so-fond memory! I helped out the Warder Scout who cannot hold onto his notebook to save his life. Then I headed to the Cobalt vault.

Headstrong with my new level, I jumped inside and tried my hand at cobalt drudges. I finished off one of them and didn't have the health or vigor to continue. My next attempt was in the company of a feral and a missile lugian. Again the grouping of character proved to be the intended method of play. We actually struck a good balance and by the time we found the key we could take down the Drudges with nary a sweat. As we hit the vestibule portal, it all went into the crapper. The Tonk warrior had already done the vault and was surprised when he couldn't head into the vestibule the second time. I lured one of the many drudges to us and we two remaining characters killed him. Next lure, all of them came running, dead mage then dead lugian.

Back up top we had to kill for a new glyph. This took quite awhile to get the drops. This did allow us to group up with a larger band of merry men. This time we got the kill, however two of our comrades didn't survive, among them was my lugian friend. I hunted outside and found him another glyph, but time for me had run out and I had to log out. I still feel bad for not getting everyone through the vault. I hope you two made it the next try!

Defending the Dillo:

Empath, Grasp's Monarch, sent me a @tell. It seems some of his buddies are going Tyrant hunting and could use my help. I was more then a tad skeptical. I think he was being nice because he is 20 levels higher than I am. Being one for adventure, I meet him at the appropriate lifestone and join in the fun. The group is large and powerful. I can't do much more than follow and support. I get a good run all around the valley and get to see and be stepped on by many different tyrants. I think they were gathering tyrant blood for pet gust tyrants. I was limited in time and I ended up having to bail before seeing them conclude their quest. I would have liked to see that. When I next logged on, Empath took me to the ice chasm to hunt mountain dillo's. This is a prime fellowship xp spot. True to its name, it's an ice cavern with spots where golden scintillating beams of light filter down from the roof. Some of the vistas and dungeons on Dereth are quite stunning. The next few nights I kept on killing dillo's until I leveled to 39. Along the way I untrained Laying on of Hands. This is a nice huge heal (700+) but it's a one-time deal because of the timer on it. In its place, I have bash and my newest skill, expulse. This skill lets me knock opponents back a good distance. I was able to clear a dillo out of the path and later knocked mimbu off of the bridge on the Broken totem quest. Life is good.

Run Tonk Run:

I have a little problem transitioning between my Tumerok and my Human. I tend to take on too much stuff with my Tonk. I decided to do the broken totem quest to get a run boost. Being a headstrong kind of hive keeper I went forward solo. Inside the Darkenfowl pens I was kicking mimbu butt and taking names. All at once, some archer sprints past me. With all the creatures in his wake, I decide to follow and use him as a human shield. This sounds like a good plan but its not. You see, the creatures get tired of chasing him and start heading back to their spot for the next tour group. If they see you there is a chance they will decide you're a juicy morsel and try to eat you. So suddenly I'm on a stairway with the entire dungeon jumping up and down upon me. I waited till the timer was up and tried again. This time having the ties in place made it much easier. I was working my way through the mobs and made it down a level. Slow and steady progress, good hard work was paying off. Then a group of two people go sprinting past me with a hoard of creatures. Death again! Niamh, one of my guildmates, was up for the quest but both of our timers hadn't finished counting down. We found someone ready to do the statue run (who bragged about being able to run the entire dungeon), I spun a portal and off we went. By the time Niamh and I had worked our way down to the 2nd level, our comrade was turning in the totem.

Run Defender Run:

I took my Defender off to run the Broken Totem quest. I broke down and tied to Omishan for the first time since day two of the game. I know the route to Linvak and its not all that tough anymore. I asked my guild if anyone needed the quest. I got one response, Tao Tie. He joined me in a fellowship and I received the quest. This is where I learned that you don't have to run the quest or be in close proximity to get the quest. Tao ran off to help a vassal with the slave taker quest while I ran the gauntlet. I got to try out expulse on the Mimbu that occupy the bridge after the first set of doors. I knocked each of them off of the bridge to the room below. It provided a chuckle. Needless to say, nothing posed a problem and I was buffed for running.

Golden Aging:

With too many Dillo's dead and my Golden Age timer up, I inquired among my guild about the possibility of getting a group together to do the quest. After no luck that direction, I tried my hand at soloing Marauders for the quest. It turns out that I'm a good match for them until they start smacking me like Mark Mcguire. I can heal up in time, the problem is where I get hit too, and what agro's on me. Suddenly having a Dillo chewing on my rear means a trip to the lifestone. About this time, I run across a Tumerok who is hunting for the quest as well. With him and a Lugian, we have a good time killing shreths, dillos and Gurogs. After the fourth Gurog, I have the quest part in hand. With the timer ticking, I logged off in the hopes of finding a group the next day. The next day had zero luck as well. I decided to take my chances and run to the chest for the second piece. This used to be a cakewalk. Perchers along the ruins kept the Gurog population under strict control. Now it's a Gurog AA meeting, "My name is Guntog and I'm a Lugiankill-aholic".

I ran down my survival list: Shield wall? Check. Heal over Time spell? Check. Run buff? Check. Self selected for healing? Check. I ran directly at the group, strafing all the way. As I got within two rings, I broke south and drug most of them towards me. There are some rocks and trees that I ran through in the hopes of bogging some of them down. My run buff allowed me to quickly outdistance them. I ran a large circle towards the chest. With mouse pointer out, I opened the chest, double-clicked the item, and hit Q and the spacebar. This bolted me forward quickly and I was over 400 health from the encounter. One heal later, I had advanced the quest and was clear of Gurogs.

Now I figure I will head to the dungeon and log off there. As I enter, I note a single hunter in the depths. A quick @tell and I find out he is indeed doing the quest with a group. The freshly slain Gurogs are all that block my path and I catch up with the party at the second spiral downward. As we move our way forward, I find that this party is well equipped for battle, so my healing is more needed than my sword. As we run down the final hallway, a Tactician in our party sets up an icewall. Seeing as the dungeon is in a KvK area, this effectively blocks one other and myself from continuing onwards. I am not totally unprepared though. I target the wall and expulse it down the hallway. This lets us get around the far edge and join up with the group. The quest was a success and I decided upon a bow. Playing soccer with tactician walls is quite a rush, though.