Oh, good!

More political fights on AC:TD.

@e gets back to work.

Woot!

Getting to 164 took forever, but damn . . . I go up so effing fast in PoTB compared to the Eggs.

165, just like that!

*dance*

Now where did I put that yellow gem?

Woo-hoo!

Es_Ruthless offered to get me flagged for the new island -- excellent! I just will likely have to find a time where Kit is also online (um, and Puffy, too, lol), and we'll glom onto Es_R's good nature!

Now if I can just manage not to ACTIVATE my gem, instead of turning it in. =/

Ribbit!

So I went on Capt Justice's KQ today (he does 3 today, and 3 tomorrow).

The good:

CJ always runs a nice quest, and with 40+ people there for all 3 Kings, the quest itself was cake. Of course, if I got 3-5 frog kills over all 3 quests, I'd be impressed, but that's only because everyone's so uber. Wyntress was very nice about keeping me in her fellow for all 3 Kings, and couldn't have been more skilled at keeping up with her folks.

Honestly, other than being part of a nice quest, I can't say there was much good. Pleasant, yes. But the good was spoiled by the "ugly."

On to The bad:

With a group this big, it's VERY hard to move folks along. I totally sympathize with CJ on this, as folks lagged, needed help with the riddles, and otherwise needed to be herded (think "meow"). He does a fantastic job of keeping everyone together, and making sure everyone gets their reward. But -- there was tremendous "down time," where we sat. And sat. And sat.

The Ugly:

With a group this big, CJ wants the quest run a specific way. I guess people are protective of him, but it was a little classless in how some of them behave. It's one thing to want the quest to be successful, but it can get a little bellicose with ANY "deviation from the norm." Here's how --

So King #2 gets whacked, and I was eaten --easily-- three, possibly four, separate times. The last time, it was when the King was in low health and I CS'd my way out JUST in time to see Mage Michellemm(something) get the kill. Woot! I grabbed a hide, and then thought I'd help out. How?

I summoned a hub portal.

Honestly, you woulda think I imp'd the King, or even recruited people into a fellowship. People went effing NUTS.

CJ "screams" out my name, then "sighs" in open chat. He then told me that he was summoning a Cragstone portal. Hrm. Ok, fine. I'm sure it's stressful to lead a large group. But that wasn't enough.

Someone named (phonetic here) "Akira Dai" offered up a very helpful, "Do you not know how to follow instructions?"

W. T. F.

Seriously. I didn't imp, or recruit. All I did was summon the hub, which, in case anyone forgets, HAS Cragstone in it.

Hell, if I'd summoned frigging KARA or something, sure, be pissed. But the effing HUB?

So for King #3, I shut my mouth, and didn't say crapola. I stayed quiet, did my thing, got my hide, and portal recalled. I sent CJ a tell thanking him for his time on the quest, and logged.

When I'm on again tomorrow (and even tonight), I'll make sure I "appear offline," and I'll pass on Kings 4, 5, & 6.

Woot!

Capt. Justice is running KQs this weekend -- and aside from working out, this weekend's pretty free!

Yee - ha!

Holy crap.

It HAS been a while, hasn't it? Ack.

I got back into the game just as things went ape again at work. Sigh. So much for that wonderous return. Something's gotta give, unfortunately it was AC. What sucks is I still really love playing, and since I suck so badly at it, lots of things are still a challenge for me. I'm still dying to do the Soul Stone quest, because I want that +12 invuln gem for my noble helm.

However, in the past week, I've gone and gotten pincers, jaws, tusks, Ishaq's key, and even made a "library book" run (naked FTW! Librarians love naked guys). Now I just have to find some more snow lillies and I'll be back on track with periodic quests.

YAY!

I just saw -- we can "reset" our alliances, so I can go (re)get my titles for Silyun (and even Sanamar, if I wanted).

Woot!

Title collection is actually kinda fun, fwiw.

Where the heck is Kaos?

Kinda miss the old rube. Although I'm wavering now -- if Kaos does disband earlier than the year he was originally thinking, I might go hook up with Capt. Justice. That's a stand-up guy, and they do seem to quest every so often (meaning I'd have even more people to avoid talking to in @a chat). =P

OMG I WILL PEEKAY j00!

Am I really missing anything by turning off general chat? =/

I'm back!

That was a long hiatus. =(

Holding fast at 162. =/

I have just GOT to get flagged for the new island, and soon!

Socialism.

Suppose you worked a job.
Or, suppose you were a student.

Either way, assume you work your ass off. If you don't, you have no reason to complain.

Anyway.

You're paid well, or you receive good grades because of your work. (If you're not paid well for working hard and doing a good job, find a new job. If you work hard and don't get good grades, talk to your prof., get tutored, or take different classes.).

Anyway.

At the conclusion of one year, you have your work evaluation, or you get your final grade for the course. The moment is here! Woot! You're all set to receive your fat reward! Yay!

But your boss/Prof. walks in and says, "Well, look. I've decided to just give everyone a grade of "C" (or rate everyone's performance as "adequate"), instead of having differing standards. Thanks, buh-byeeeeee.

How would you feel, especially if you worked your ass off (see above)?

How do you think the slackers/goof-offs/fuckups at your job/in your class feel?

THAT is what Socialism is all about. Everyone gets a "5" result, no matter if you gave a "10" effort, or a "1" effort.

And (here's the kicker) . . . if you know you're getting a "5" result, no matter what you do . . . how hard are you going to work?

Best. Run. Ev-ar.

Unlike some of the shorter distance runs I've done, I deliberately didn't run this for speed, but to simply complete this distance (since, technically, every step I took after the 6.2 10K mark was farthest I've ever run in my life. I appear to be a natural X/mile runner, and where I can push it harder, or ease up as well, X minutes per mile is where I tend to gravitate right now. Not so today! I seriously took my time, and just felt fan-freakin-tastic the whole 10 miles, coming in around X + 2 minutes and change per mile . It was a little fun!

Would that running IRL were this easy!

I've got a 10 mile run coming up in a couple of Sundays, and have missed a fair amount of AC time while I train for it.

Wish I could just go up to the starting line and press "Q". =P

http://www.cherryblossom.org/

What's funny is that I kinda HAVE to do this race, and other races like the Army 10 miler, in order to keep myself motivated to run the Marine Corps Marathon in late October.

Which doesn't bode well for extra AC time. =(

Sigh.

I miss being in-game. =(

DO YOU LIKE ME? OMG CHECK YES OR NO PLZ

I didn't see this on Maggie's but by Karlun's fort, right where you pretty much start the quest is this guy who is some sort of Viamontian armorer. Anyway, he hands you this note, and asks you go to to (I think) Eastham, to the Shadow Armorer guy who's there. THAT guy gives you a note for the Karlun guy.

So, I did that.

The Viamontian/Karlun guy gave me ANOTHER note, this time for the Shadow Armorer guy in Kara. And one other one for the Gharu Shadow Armorer guy in another city.

The purpose? To find out if they could all be friends. =/

This is all very high school.

But, I ran the quest anyway. Got a few million XP for my trouble.

It looks like next month that you'll be able to make Viamontian Shadow Armor! That, or the four guys will be pretzeled up together a la "Brokeback Mountain."

Gaah!

I'm so bummed. I took Kaos' idea and ran with it, and am now trying to amass as many titles as possible. But -- I can't get either of the Hero/Champion of Silyun tokens, as these are apparently one-time quests. That sucks! >=(

Dapper suit death #202

Wearing my dapper suit yet again, I did a portal recall, thinking the last portal I hopped was to Sanamar.

Tukora Sentinel tells you, "Ooooh, nice suit!"
The force of Tukora Sentinel's assault flattens Tai Fung!

Sigh. But I so heart wearing it. =/

Hell just froze over.

1. I just did Aerlinthe, having NEVER done it before (although I got as far as the lower foundry a few times, only to keep missing the jump, see lots of earlier entries).

2. I got the kill.

3. I did the whole quest solo.

I mean, SURE the thing took HOURS to do alone and as a noob, but at least doing it alone I could ensure I'd get the
kill. ;-) :-P

Care for an ice-pop, Satan?

Haw. Right again.

That UNC killer driver guy wanted to kill students to avenge Muslims.

Pardon me while I snicker a little bit at the irony, not the injuries. Here's the deal: UNC is a very liberal campus. You just know (and you can verify this by looking at older letters to the editor of the student newspaper) that they have just taken a total pacifist attitude on dealing with Muslim killers, to wit, the old, "If we ignore their attacks, they'll eventually get tired of bombing us," and the "anything bad that happens is our fault" (otherwise known as the Bennish Special).

Hey! Lookie at that UNCers! Muslims will even kill the liberals, too!

I wrote this a long time ago: "And they won't spare the pacifists."

I also wrote this: "They want you dead, no matter how much you wring your hands and blame America for all the world's problems. You'll still be considered a target to them."

And now UNC students know this too. Even the liberal ones.

Wow. Lotsa H8 for USA on VN.

Lots of people I wouldn't expect to harbor utter hate for America are all jumping to this teacher's defense on some VN thread. Even -I- defend the teacher's right to say what he said. But, if you think you can have free speech without consequences, you're either stupid, or clueless.

What's disheartening about the VN thread is that NONE of them are attacking what he had to say (seems Second Chance, and even Puffy, agree with it. I knew DM would). Guess VN is a LOT more left wing than I thought.

Here's something Stip wrote: "anyone who compares anyone else to Hitler or Nazi's is immediately disregarded as being completely out of their mind."

Stip's been gone too long. Read what scum like Plasma (who seriously thinks it's totally ok to kill civilians, as long as they're American, and white) have to say.

Anyway, the point is that those on the loony left DO think Bush is the same as Hitler, Capitalism is the root of all evil, we should all become socialists immediately, and that anything bad that happens to the United States is the fault of the United States. Purely evil acts are only done by white men; any ethnic or religious "minority" that does a bad thing only did it because of the United States.

People like Jay Bennish have been around for years. They started getting more shrill post 9/11, when Ramsey Clark formed ANSWER to stop any military response to the Taliban, and they've said the things Jay Bennish have said (almost verbatim) at pro-peace rallies since (you know those rallies, the ones where they torch stuff while chanting about peace). Because, however, those folks weren't getting mainstream airplay (they weren't teachers, but just well-fed college students, and Starbucks employees on breaks), people didn't really hear a lot of what they had to say.

What is the mindset of those folks? Just listen to (or read) what the teacher said, which was, in essence:

==========
-America is the most violent nation on Earth.
(Which is why we have had to be bombed into going to wars, allow governments to constantly crap on us without retribution, and still haven't thrown the U.N. off our shores).

-Capitalism is bad.
(Yeah, it would be great if I exerted a level 10 effort every day, and got level 5 results, while looking at some bum exert level 1 effort and get level 5 results too).

-Hugo Chavez am good.
(I like the part where you get thrown in jail for criticizing Chavez. But Cindy Sheehan digs him, so I guess that's ok)

-Israel is a terrorist nation.
(Those darn Jews! I mean, those 6 million in WW2 probably were asking to be killed, maimed, and experimented on! And those Arab countries that kept on attacking it and losing land should just get that land back! After all, Israel won all those wars against it on, um, a technicality or something. Anyway, when you win a war after being attacked, and take the land of the attackers, well, that's um, not right. Or something).

-Hamas am good people.
(Suicide bombers just need a hug!).

-9/11 was our fault. The towers were valid to hit, so was the Pentagon.
(Anything bad that happens to the United States, in fact, is our fault. Attacking civilians or military personnel while dressing like a civilian isn't a war crime or anything. It's cultural.)
==========

Now, seriously -- that kind of thing can be heard at literally every major peace rally (I'm not kidding). Check Brain-Terminal's videos section.

I hope Jay Bennish is on a hijacked plane someday. I hope he's on a plane hijacked by Muslims, who tell him that they're going to fly the plane into some U.S. building. I hope they explain to Jay how, if you really think about it, all buildings in the U.S. are connected in some way to the U.S. military, but just to be sure, the building they're targeting has military personnel in there. Jay needs to plop down in his seat, and say, "Oh well, it's a military target, I'm just a casualty of war! Too bad for me! Gee, I sure wish these guys had worn military uniforms, acted under some sort of flag, or even identified themselves instead of acting like civilians up until the last minute! D'oh! Too bad for me! But I shouldn't complain, because if I do, then someone will think I'm racially, ethnically, and religiously insensitive! Boo-hoo!"

And if the hijackers decide to behead him, he needs to kneel down nicely for them, and offer his neck. That's just how they do their killing, and if he doesn't abide by their methods, then he might be perceived as insensitive. Hopefully, they'll have sharpened their box cutters to make it painless, but probably not. Jay shouldn't scream, though, as that would offend the hijackers as well, who would think he was objecting to their lawful resistance to American aggression in a "valid" military operation.

That teacher is learning a lesson -- feel free to say what you want, but expecting that you can say what you want without real life consequences is a fantasy.

School's out.

The ups and downs of AC

I was a little tired, and had just turned in some snow lillies for another 20 millon XP. But Avy was in a PoTB, and I thought I'd stop in (she was with some folks she's known for a while, and there didn't seem like a problem with joining the fellow for a while). So I chose PoTB center, and ran to the pit. No one there -- died. So I ran back to recover that body -- died.

Lather. Rise. Die.

3 bodies. 20% vitae.

And with that, I had to decide -- what the hell was I doing? I mean, it's not like I was EXPECTING help, but I did wish I could have gotten some. But even Avy knew she couldn't do anything, and people are just busy PKLing. There were people from my alliance on, but I couldn't get any help.

And then, Avy makes it happen. From Big T's alliance. Sharif (something, I was too frantic to get his name), Rabi, and BT had moved to the main of PoTB, and were keeping the pit clear. They were only too happy to keep stuff off of me while I got everything back (all DIs, but that many is very expensive to someone like me).

Sharif pointed out that AC is all about helping people. Rabi was her usual cheerful self, and BT was gracious.

Crap. If people keep being this nice to me, it just plays total hell with my bad mood.

And now I owe Avy, big time.

Egg beaters

I've missed a lot of time as of late. And I've really missed playing. I've still got so much left to do.

So on a whim, I decided to try out the Egg Orchard -- holy crap! That's kinda fun! I mean, I blew through blunts faster than a frat boy at a Ziggy Marley concert, but still -- I didn't die!

Not bad XP, but nothing like PoTB. Overall, a good time, and it wasn't as scarey as I thought (I say that now, but I never left the "entry" area, whatever the area is not too far from the beam-in).

Titles, schmitles!

I'm an "adventurer." That's all I'll be.

Unless they do a quest for the title, "Gimp." =P

Ahem.

Mekhmet gives you Whispering Blade Boots.

Oops. Not so unknown, was it. =(

Woot! It IS a new quest!

I'm not telling. Logging it now. =)

New Quest?

I mean it this time! I think I found one -- it's out near Ayan, and full of Viamontians. I gotta check on this one. =)

Baron Overcompensation

So I had just turned in my snow lillies in Silyun (gawd, I heart that quest) when I ran up to this NPC person and was placed on a quest. This quest had several benefits:

1. It involved Viamontians, who I happen to enjoy killing (no idea why).
2. It involved an attack on the King's loyalists (they ARE the bad guys, ya know).
3. The NPC just GAVE me the coords to go to (hell, even *I* can do THAT!), and
4. OMG -- I. Had. To. Cut. Off. His. Freaking. HEAD!!!

Now THAT is cool!

It turns out the dungeon isn't far from Ayan, so I recalled, buffed (even remebering to put on my armor), and ran for the place.

Awesome -- the dungeon portal is inside a castle at LEAST the size of Neydissa. Woot!! So I ran in, and just started blowing away the blueskins. Wow! This was actually kinda tough! Fun!

So I find the entry portal, and beam in. It's a pretty straight shot, and I'm fighting my way though these guys when all of a sudden, there's a huge fight in this big room. And then I notice him: "Baron (Encha-something)."

THIS is the guy who has been torturing people of Dereth and/or Ispar?
THIS is the scourge of the Silyun loyalists?
THIS is the object of my quest?

He was --I'm serious-- about 4 feet tall. No bigger than a mosswart. He might as well have been named "Baron Enchilada." Compared to the other Viamontians, he looked like he was on "Take your Viamontian kid to work day."

Well, no WONDER he's a big time torturer! He's got short man disease! Always overcompensating.

Bah. Bet he drives a big sports car too. Wish I'd looted his keys instead of his head.

The spell Flame Bane V on Teak Electric Bow has expired.

Gawd, I suck.

Coral Golem Viceroy!

Woot! Just soloed one! He wasn't even that hard.

My my my -- how far we have come. And yet PGMKs still pwn me left and right, so there's still plenty left to do! =)

Damn.

Just got a PM. I'm losing my patron, as she has some family matters. On the one hand, she's too sweet to move out from under her, over to someone else. But isn't that XP going to waste if I --DON'T-- move?

Sigh.

Heh -- "move out from under her." O=)

Holy crap!

[face_sheepish]

Um, hi everyone.

[face_more_sheepish]

I think I'll go throw up now.

Here's why I'm a retard:

(Um, reason # 571, that is).

I went to all this trouble to re-tie my secondary portal to the "Jungle Hub," from the PoTB (the POTB is still pretty quickly gotten to). Fine. So what do I do after beaming into the PoTB (and promptly dying -- again?).

I change into my dapper suit. Life will always get better in AC if I'm wearing my dapper suit.

And then, because I need Gems of Stillness, I need to run to Tufa. Jungle Hub, away!

So I cast portal recall. NOT SECONDARY portal recall.

Giant PoTB Tusker tells you, "Gawd, j00 are soooooo hawt in that suit!"

I mean, I beamed in, and just stood there in disbelief, while all the lugies threw rocks at me like they were Muslims on a Haj pilgrimage.

Make that 2 deaths in the past 30 minutes. But at least I didn't drop my suit. Which, despite everything else, things are better on Dereth when I'm wearing it.

Early night tonight

The PoTB had some folks in it, but I didn't even go there to join up with them. I'm just plain tired. Working & working out way too much. And now, just died to those Ruschks (or whatever they are). Twice. Sheesh!

@e goes off to bed.

Tusker fucking ASSAILERS?!

Tusker Assailer tells you, "MMMM, me smell no baned underpants!"
You tell Tusker Assailer, "Begone bitch! I am here for your master's tusk!"
Tusker Assailer takes out his cell phone
You say, "WTF? You bought the PINK razr?"
Tusker Assailer is ignoring Tai Fung
Tusker Assailer dials his monkey homeys
You say, "LOL! Have you SEEN my fire bow? I --AM-- God!"
Death tells you, "Hi."
You say, "Um, why are you here? Shouldn't you be meeting me in the PoTB entryway?"
Death tells you, "Have you looked at your arrow supply?"
Tai Fung looks.
Tai Fung blanches.
You're out of ammunition!

Seriously -- I had cleaned out my "arrow pack" of heads and shafts in my villa, moving them into a chest, since I needed pack space to sell notes and buy plats for Kitra.

And then forgot to pick them back up.

So I had beamed into the Tusker Assailer place with (count em!) 61 fire arrows.

You say, "No worries! See this?! It's a 2-7 FIRE rending nekode! Have at you!"
Tusker Assailer pees himself laughing.

You're exhausted!
You say, "What?"
You say, "Wait a sec, I got a philtre."
Mana Philtre restores 0 points of your mana.

(That is absolutely true -- I so suck at this game)

The force of Tusker Assailer's assault flattens Tai Fung!

Shit.

Deranged sycophant? WTF?

How weird? WTF are THESE guys? They're not even bothered by fire!

AND WHERE THE HELL AM I????

Edit: Oh. I was in the Painbringer dungeon. I've ALWAYS wanted to go there, but never did. Mainly, because of the SIK turn in. So what do I do? I fight my way to Jonas, kill all (well, some. Okay, 1) of the sycophants, and then decide to see how many SIKs I'll have once I --DO-- kill those fire-resistant bastards.

SIK count: 0

I'd forgotten I'd given them all to Kaos. Well, I'll just go through my packs to be sure.

Meanwhile:

Deranged Sycophant chills you for 52 points with Frost Arc VII.
Deranged Sycophant stabs you for 71 points with Force Arc VII.
Deranged Sycophant cuts you for 75 points with Evisceration.
Deranged Sycophant stabs you for 68 points with Force Arc VII.
Deranged Sycophant runs you through!

Sigh.

I wonder . . .

. . . should I buy insider?

I mean, it's only $20 for a year, and I'd get 2 magazine subscriptions.

Hmm.

Of course, with my luck, I'd buy insider, and then AC would announce a shutdown.

Ack. That's too depressing to even think about -- I have lots still to do in AC!

Sleeping dragon FTW!

This guy, by himself, sticks it out in the PoTB with me, casting vulns on everything he sees, while I'm furiously trying to kill as fast as I can. But . . . when al the Tukora Lt. kills are yours, you hit the 250 mark awfully fast.

Almost 157! =)

PoTB badness

Wow, a poorly run fellow in the PoTB is REALLY a bad thing.

Not that the XP was low (it was -- horribly so).

But when people are (literally!) sightseeing around the dungeon instead of actually fighting, then that just sucks. At one point, I was in the corner/hallway (whatever that place is where the mages usually hide), while --count em!-- THREE lugians with rocks (all standing across) pound me and one mage. Just me and one mage against the rock throwers, and, oh, about 57 random melee lugians.

Ouchie. So I shimmy away (I am SO not losing my body because of some folks emoting throughout the dungeon, rather than fighting). Immediately, the mage starts bitching, and I choose not to debate the point that:

1. I could stand there and die and not fight anymore, or
2. I could keep moving, NOT die, and at least fight a LITTLE.
3. WHERE THE FUCK WHERE THE OTHER FOUR FELLOW MEMBERS?!

So, without saying a word, I just bailed.

And then (hi Karma) most of the people in the fellow apparently died (Doom found their bodies later), and even Sweetpea, who I thought would save the fellow by having a good influence on the place, bailed herself as well.

Grr.

A picture of DM?

I think (in that thread that got locked) someone said they hadn't seen a pic of DarkMarcsun. Think a younger, thinner, Simon Cowell (seriously).

Even though that's not a personal attack, I can't post on a locked thread!

Anyway, much <3 for DM -- he DOES crack me up daily (and I think my description isn't that off, although IIRC the photo he posted might have been of an old work ID).

Oh, he kinda looks like the tall, thin guy from the "Porky's" movies too, but I don't know the name of the actor.

But he is (I think this is an easily defensible point) pretty much the funniest guy on TD VN.

China, Google, and lame posters on VN

People around here pissed themselves on VN thinking that Google might work with the Justice Department in its attempt to make a new law aimed at curbing kiddie porn.

So, I wondered whether or not we'd see any objections from those same folks when this story came out -- Google is working with China, a country that is outright DEMANDING censorship (you know, of pesky search terms like, "Democracy"), but we have nary a peep from those folks so far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4647398.stm

Guess doing "Nazi"-like actions, and censorship is only bad to folks like pathetic folks like Jezza and Plasma if the US does it. If someone else does it, well then that's just cultural. It's amazing how hating the United States is so chic. "America love it or leave it" is lame, but "If something is wrong in the world, find a way to blame America" is equally so.

Edit/Update:

More links!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4647398.stm
(describes what is blocked on that version)

http://www.slate.com/id/2134899/?nav=fix
(good survey of opinions, discussing the Google vs DoJ thing compared to Google getting in bed with China)

The new patch

Gawd, I'm such an AC fanboi. Love it.

Mr. Planning Guy

So I realize I have two pieces of armor I've been waiting to use: a covenant helm with major piercing ward, and covenant pauldrons with major coord. The bonus is that NOW that I can wear those pauldrons, I can ditch the covenant helm (and wear this nice ward! Woot!).

Thus, last night, I spent --easily-- 90 minutes buying salvage, using Thurwyn, finding some black plants, getting my uber gimp alchemist/cook to make dye, and then even LONGER finding a cook to dye some armor.

The moment of truth comes -- I take off that silly noble helm (with -- pfft -- only +12 to coord), and put on my new helm. This enables my major coord pauldrons to be put on. Woot!

Except one problem -- my noble helm casts bow mastery self 6. I don't have creature.

Crap.

Anyone want to buy some nice covenant armor with majors? =(

Viamontians

Silly point, but I think fire hurts those guys worse than lightning. =/

Haw.

Finally found a use for all those extra red monster seeds I've been muling.

Kinda nice to be able to help someone, even if I am no one of consequence. =P

Ok, so I'm a bit of a leecher . . .

. . . went to the 110 eaters and tried my best, but deep down I knew that for about 20 minutes or so, about 4-5 people were simply burning vitae for me. I got better as the vitae went down, and contributed a bit.

Then, those words: "Vitae penalty has expired."

Whew.

I'm not proud for basically leeching, but I'll admit it when I do it, or when I know that I'm not contributing equally to a fellow.

Nice to have all that vitae gone so quickly before the update though. =/ Or is it? Getting rid of all that vitae might well have been a tough challenge to handle. It might have really taken some hard work for me to earn back all that XP. Mighta been different.

Now I'm regretting doing it.

Guess I should go back to the PoTB and drop 8 more bodies! (Well, that or @die a few times and do it that way).

40% vitae.

Incredible.

I've known the character, "G T" (well, I've known of him) since I used to see him running around Teth, when even beaming into Teth would scare me. Anyway, that guy (without me even explicitly asking, although it was clear he knew what was up), saw that I was in deep trouble at the entry room of the PoTB (1 body dropped, and then LOTS more trying to recover the first one -- it's called a "death spiral").

G T kept the lugians in the entryway busy, and allowed me to recover all my bodies. So I got all my items back (mostly mana stones, but it's just the sting of it).

In the meantime, I'm basically half the man I used to be. Time to log. =(

Sheesh, 15% vitae . . .

I hate body recoveries.

You'd think I'd just ASK in the LFG or General channel if there was a PoTB fellow. Nooooooo. Instead, I just make that death run in the PoTB, jump off the ledge to the Pit, and run to where the mages usually stand (since by this point, I've figured out I'm in deep doo-doo, as there is NO fellow going on).

About 5 nasties followed me. 1 of them must have had a rock. Before I could hit the hotkeyed Aphus gem, I died.

And then spent a good 40 minutes getting not just that body back, but the other two as well. That friggin SUCKED.

And cost me --this is true-- 20 Aphus gems from having to pick up 1-2 items, getting down to 30-70 health, and having to crack the gem before I was about to leave yet another body. Not good.

Guess I need to hit the MP and see if anyone's selling those things anymore. =(

You know what a really hard quest is even now?

This one:

http://www.thejackcat.com/AC/Hobbies/Quests/Aviator.htm


This quest is just a freakin' BEAR. I mean, those buggers just chain cast on you like crazy. ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP.

Yack.

I've tried it -- this is true -- FOUR times previously. Just getting there is a hell of a run. So this time, I pulled up AC Maps and looked at the map.

Hrm. What if I just RAN though the whole thing, whacked the Aviator, and ran out?

For the record -- even THAT isn't easy.

Use cold attack on those idiots, they seem to hate that type. Assume you'll do the entire dungeon with these debuffs on you:

Weakness 6
Vulnerability 6
Lightning vuln 6
Cold Vuln 6
Imperil other 6

This is a given -- no matter your magic D, they cast so often, that the spells will land eventually (I resisted a lot). Then they'll attack with lightning, cold, and (huh?) fire.

Even running through this place, barely stopping to fight only at the end, and I had to crack an Aphus Gem with only 27 health left (out of 355).

But I got it!

And now I look like the creepy kid from "A Christmas Story" -- the one who talked to Ralphie while they were in line to see Santa.

You think AC's still a cakewalk? Try and do that dungeon in a systematic crawl. You'll fly -- to the lifestone!

Shill bidding

It's at this point very likely, if not entirely true, that Poison Elf has shill bid in the past.

But Doomherald and "OMG PAY ATTENTION TO ME I'M A SATANIST ISN'T THAT INTERESTING" Rast's vendetta, now dragging the VN Mods into it, just serve to create sympathy for PE (and Juzam).

Fucking tools.

To merge, or not to merge

Kaos caught me totally off guard the other day when he suggested that he might merge into AS1 or Chunglee's clan. Personally, I have no problem with either of those monarchs, and consider them both credits to the server. But -- if Kaos had merged, I likely would have quit, and gone through Dereth unattached.

But what brought this on? I'm guessing it was the lack of chatter on @a, but hell -- I log on all the time, and NEVER say "Hi." Sometimes, I'm just logging on for a sec or two, and it actually seems more rude to say, "Hi/Bye" than nothing at all.

So. Here's the thing. If Kaos was to close out the monarchy, it should be for one of two reasons:

1. He's sick of being a monarch, or
2. The members of the monarchy are about to jump to other monarchies, thus imperiling (ha! AC humor) the mansion, including all its portal items, many many (many) trophies, and numerous stocks in the chests.

So I just pointed out to Kaos, that if he could honestly say that either #1 or #2 was the case, then he might well want to bail. But, the thing is that I'm personally not bothered by a rather quiet @A chat, particularly where so many clans are cross-talking in general chat. In fact, in some ways, @A is a bit obselete (unless you wish to "whisper" to alliance members only).

As Kaos noted on VN, we have LOTS of self-sufficient players in this alliance. The fact that we can periodically band together for Kings Quests, Bobo runs, whatever, is just fine, but I don't know of many people in the alliance who would log just because they couldn't talk to an alliance-mate (again, particularly now that general is so chatty).

I actually DO like when @A chat is busy -- I'm always cracking up when folks chat, but it's not a critical point for me. I think some of the quietness is from Lorna's pregnancy, Sarz's mysterious disappearance, Og's mission, and other RL matters just occupying folks as of late.

The thing is, AC is like an well-worn pair of jeans -- you can just pull em on any ol' time, and they fit, feel good, and you're back off to the races in them. But if you wear them every day, you'll shorten their life.

Ahem.

Um, anyway, that's basically my peace on it. If Kaos had moved, I was actually giving heavy thought to just going it alone in Dereth (not out of dislike for either Chung or AS1 -- both monarchs are credits to AC). But more out of a desire to just go "walkabout."

Glad I won't have to do that -- I kinda like mooning the statues at the mansion when no one's lookin'! ;-)