"Hunting" in a dungeon.

You don't. "Hunting," implies that you're seeking out, plotting, etc.

When you're in a dungeon, you're not hunting, you're just farming.

@e goes off to farm. =P

"Learned" skill in a dungeon?

This is a weird thing I've noticed ever since I started going to the 80+ hive, and it's kept up as well at the withered dungeon, and now in the eater place. I seem to go in a dungeon, and get my butt kicked but good for a while. Then, something happens. I quit taking as much damage, and it almost gets boring, insofar as I have no really health worry come up.

Wouldn't it be funny if the game allowed you to "learn" to stay alive once you were in a dungeon longer?

There's something to alliances

I just did the Library Book quest tonight, because it was last run on July 4 (not bad without Decal's Quest Timer!). I was just examing the pants which give you +11% to Run skill, when I accidently clicked on them.

In the old days, you'd get a message --> "You must remove your (whatever) to weild that."

Not now.

Except what came off were my triple life protect pants, with the low low lore of 318.

Tai's current lore until level 125, including 7s and a focusing stone = 280. Uh oh.

So I just kind of ask in @a, "Um, is there such a thing as a rare gem re Arcane Lore?" And from out of the blue, Toujours Pret mentions that he not only (1) has one, but (2) he wants to just give it to me. He wouldn't accept a pyreal for it.

Um. Wow. Wowie wow wow.

And just like that, I'm back in business. I went from thinking the night was blown to, WOO HOO!

This whole "being in an alliance" thing actually can work pretty darn well sometimes, can't it? Not as much fun being the "lone wolf," after all, is it?!

OMG. So tired. Must. Sleep.

I'm TOD'd!

Woot!

Went to (the correct) Best Buy and got my TOD box! I even got them to give me $10 off the purchase of it (you'd figure this wasn't a problem, what with me still having my TOD pre-order box AND receipt!), but that wasn't a foregone conclusion. There was an issue as to whether they'd do it, but I was firm, and here I be -- in TOD!

So I promptly went to the Withereds. :-/

No, I'm not nuts. I used up my last set of deadly lightning arrowheads, from a start of 100 (when I thought they'd NEVER run out). I think I should be done with them, at least for a while. Time to explore.

Basically, I've seen nothing different, other than making a Blue Guy just to see Sanamar. I was just way too proud of myself for finally getting and installing TOD.

I r teh fanboi. :-)

Still no TOD!

I hit the nearby Best Buy just now to see if they had TOD. Woot! They did! I ran back out to the car, and snagged my two pre-order boxes (with receipt, natch) and went back inside to customer service. Trouble is, I bought the preorders out by Dulles Airport, after a quick sidetrip related to my work. The Best Buy I just went to is in Lokkie's neck o'the woods, i.e., Falls Church, VA.

Oops.

Guess I'll be heading out Dulles-way tonight! :-D

Doesn't matter, I'm really not in a super rush, and I'm in a good mood for unrelated reasons anyhoo. :-D

@e whispers . . . owned. =P

ROFL

Owned. :-D

So close, yet so far.

I was within 60 million XP of finally getting to 280 base magic D when Sunday night turned into a bit of a blur -- ended up going out in the afternoon and staying out a touch later than I'd wanted. I'd gotten so used to 60 million being less than 2 hours of leveling, that it never set in that Sunday afternoon's Hopeslayer quest was my last AC:DM time.

Fast forward to tonight.

Withered Lugian Beach? Deserted. As in, not a single white dot anywhere.

Withered Lugian Dungeon? Ditto.

So I went into the dungeon, and stayed at the top . . . OMG this is SLOW! Dammit, where's all those XP wh0res I badmouth now that I need them?!

Ack. This is going to take a while.

Real-time impressions of TOD

Ok, loaded the graphics update this morning, and patched. Saw all worlds were down and went to work, fighting for truth, justice, yada yada yada.

Back home at 10:45pm-ish. Time to fire up TOD:

Hmm. Character screen actually sux. Way too large. And where's my 7th character slot . . . doh, that's for when I can actually BUY TOD, not just the pre-order.

I'll log in as Tai, might as well go for the gusto right off. Wow. Nice text. My covenant suit PWNES! Woot. Um, I had 3 golden gromnies in my villa's courtyard. Now they're Azure. Ack. Oh, wait, pick up and put down again, Cyrano said that. Let's try it . . . worked! My 3 "dogs" are hopping in gold once again!

@e looks around his villa . . . damn . . . NICE! Looks like my Capitol Hill rowhouse, lol (or not). Even my vases of snowflowers looks nice. . . . Gawd. Such a fanboi. Lokkie would beat my ass (I gotta remember not to like it so much!).

Interesting . . . the white dots are off of the map of Dereth. Yay. . . . Time to run outside of the house and clean up the neighborhood. . . . Wow . . . I dig seeing the mobs on the ID screen. Coolness!

Missing BS/2 already. Of course, I was like the LAST person to start using decal, so I should be able to get by. . . . Lokkie was right -- tons o' Tusker Spit. 4 out of like the past 8 monkeys I've killed. . . . OMG! I forgot! I want to go collect tons of spec/unspec gems, lol.

You say, "Shurov Thiguz"

Nothing happens. Uh oh.

You say, "Shurov Thiguz"

NOW I portal . . . that could be annoying.

OMG! Awesome looking LS, lol (like I won't be seeing a lot of THOSE!).

Holy crap . . . haven't seen this many people in the unspec temple since, well . . . never. Feared it would be a total shoving match to get gems, but it's not. Everyone's very polite tonight! Uh oh -- just noticed. The gems disappear in the September event. Ouchie. Grrrr. Including the ones I'd already had on me . . . MAJOR grrrr.

Um, is it me, or do the mobs seem to be running faster now? Uh oh. :-(

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. But I can't help it . . . I'm super excited over this.

Sigh. Fanboi city. :-(

I have to admit

I was getting killed at work this week, and (courtesy of a friendly e-mail) really liked coming back to the boards to see it exposed that Gibbon_Raver is an evader -- he's stalked tons of people on the boards in PMs (subject of an earlier blog). In fact, I'd complained about this point LONG ago (but since I'm doing this blog for me, and since no one reads it, this expose about him has gone unnoticed, lol).

Anyway, I was psyched that it came out, but I was VERY disheartened when I read Grim's take on it, which was "Well, you don't know if he was permabanned."

Um . . . read the TOS.

1. It doesn't matter if he was or was NOT. He's a banned user who has made an alternate VN name.
2. Isn't it GRIM'S job to check on that? Or is this just willfull blindness?

From the TOS:

Update: Ban Evasion
If you log onto the VN Boards and receive a message that you have been banned, please submit an Unban Request and wait for a Vault Network Message Board moderator to get in touch with you. If you "evade" the ban, by making an alternate user name and then logging into the forum to continue to post, your ban time could be extended and the new account may be banned as well. If you are using a Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo or other "free" e-mail account, you may not receive a response to your Unban Request due to the way these services filter junk mail. We suggest you either do not use these services in our Unban Request form (preferable), or turn off all filtering on your account until you receive a response from us. If you have been banned for more than 72 hours and are not getting a response back from us, you may email us at vnboards@vaultnetwork.com

DO YOU SEE ANYTHING IN THERE DIFFERNENTIATING BETWEEN "PERMA" and "REGULAR" bans?

Nope. Boy, what was hard, wasn't it?

BS/2: Scroll of Dark Rain

So I was feeling sorry for myself after the debacle at the Withered Lugians, and went up on Tumerok Hill -- I was actually alone there! So I made my own fellowship -- "Tumerok Hill"

I hate just naming fellowships, "XP." =P

Anyway, the next thing I know, one guy shows up (and is astonished that it's just me and him -- I said something like, "Yeah, they've been coming and going all night.").

Haw.

Anyway, we make a boatload of XP for about an hour (that's usually all I can stand) there, when I have to run offline. No biggie. But when I log in, I'm nonplussed. It's been a bad week. What better activity than going on a hopeless hunt for a Scroll of Dark Rain?!

Off to the Obsidian Plains I go.

I never have really hunted there previously, and I noticed something tonight - I can definitely KILL that stuff out there. I mean, it's not even that hard to do (!). I used to be so in awe of people who could hunt there (kinda the way I am now with Caul, lol).

Regardless, I've still got to (1) find a Dark Inferno, and then (2) hope he drops the scroll. I checked on Maggie's and saw that Danier of TD had given the coords he found a DI, and worked my way there. Every so often, as I killed things, I'd do a "crazy Ivan," and double back on myself to see what beamed in (not trusting it to BS/2).

Finally, I hit the coords. Nada. I killed a couple of the mobs standing there, when, all of a sudden.

A Dark Inferno. Right there. With 2 Umbris.

I quickly fletched some deadly fires, and then attacked him. With deadly frost arrows, because I'd forgotten to actually EQUIP said deadly fires.

Finally, I wacked him. The whole time, my patron is asking me if I want her to come out and help look. Well, of COURSE not -- do you think I want ANYone else going through this misery?

I actually wasn't looking at the screen when I looted (i.e., hit the "R" key). My attention was diverted. But BS/2 went nuts, beeping like crazy.

And there it was.

On the first Dark Inferno I'd ever seen, much less ever killed.

And now that I have it, I've suddenly reconsidered using it. I'm at 277 base magic D. But what of this "get 30 bazillion points with the tesserra/scroll trick thingie?" What the hell is THAT? And will it be as useful to a gimpy archer, who probably would just as well be happy with 280 base now, and never putting a point into magic D again?

Time will tell.

Man, the Vile Sanctuary turned bad

I've been there a few times, and had a great time every instance. It's been great (but a touch boring). Anyway, I'm close to going over the top to 116, and wanted to try and get a little extra points. So I went there.

No one was at the top, but there was another person named, "Xbow Saebax." She seemed nice enough, so we both ran for the pit, where Poolrad was in there alone. And when he killed what was there, he went to peace mode. I *think* he looted, but wasn't sure. But he didn't respond to either Xbow or my own chat requests.

Xbow Saebax says, "any fellowing??"
Nothing.
You say, "Greetings-- any room tonight Pool? Sae was ahead of me, but wondering"
(I'm nothing if not overly careful)
Still no response.

Xbow Saebax tells you, "bot????"
You tell Xbow Saebax, "Perhaps -- risky!"
Xbow Saebax tells you, "i go hunt outside"

So I wait, since there's another spawn, which Poolrad clears.

You say, "Greetings-- any room tonight Pool?
Nothing.

Meanwhile, a person working the top, who neither of us saw initially, named Redbow, tells me that Dog Tired is leading the fellow, and that I should contact him to get "on list."

You tell Dog Tired, "Greetings-- can you add me to Vile list?"

Twice I sent him this.

No response.

Sigh. Tards. Every one of em. :-(

An Ancient Armored . . . Tai?

A while back, I spent pretty much all I had left on a full Ancient Armored Suit for a friend. She's not in my alliance, but is a super casual player I know IRL (her alliance is the one that made me an un-person both IG and IRL).

She totally loves the suit. I got a look at it buffed (well, I looked over her shoulder at it).

Yowza. That's freakin' amazing. I mean, I can't self-buff, so I'd have to use a buffbot, and only be good for an hour at a clip, but with my melee/magic/missle, it would be hard even for ME to die.

I'm getting back into the game, but there are just no BM quests that I can really go on, and there's still the problem of Aerlinthe (now that I've gotten 'pick back).

Maybe if I work up the courage, I can talk one of those folks into letting me sit at the Caul drop and just leech off of them while they do one of their 70 bazillion XP/hour fellows. Maybe part of the problem is that I need 4 lousy points of Magic D before I can use my complete major suit, but I'm tired of getting XP in the withered places.

Sigh. Things just haven't gone well, and I'm getting that feeling of needing to run off and be alone for a while. There's no reason to, however. I mean, it's not like I wouldn't GET alliance support if I asked for it. I'm just not one to ask. I'm one to just suffer through and work on it myself.

But it does seem like all the uber folks just keep getting more uber, and I'm just spinning in place.

HO-kay . . .

. . . so it's pretty much been a horrible seven days straight now IG.

Just can't catch a break. :-(

*slams head into desk*

Sigh.

Looted an AMAZING +10% slash rending wand the other night. High melee, work 6, nice mana C bonus. Just awesome. Ran and bought some Imperial Topaz, and off to Thurwyn I ran.

It landed. :-O

I tipped him 2 MM notes (from some quest, I forget which), and was just giddy. There was a PYI auction of one of these (WORSE than mine) going for like 25 MMDs! This one had the imbue LANDING!

I'm sooooo broke! But now I can afford a few more things I need! Woot!!

But -- I had to brag about it. In @a chat.

A co-vassal pointed out that it was better than the +9% one he uses. He's tried to look out for me in the past (although I couldn't use his stuff). So, instantly, I met him at the mansion, and just gave it to him.

I've been sick about it ever since. I could have sold it, hell, even given it to someone I know who is even more casual than I am about the game just to help her along with her frustrations. But I had to brag about it.

I'm an idiot. I'm sure this is karma, and I'll be paid back (maybe I already have), but I'm just sick over this.

Then again, since my RL friends have really shut me out as of late, I've been sick a lot in the past few days. Doing wonders for my fighting weight, at least.

Sigh.

No way I can hit 126 with my schedule before the expansion.

Phooey.

Down goes Tai!

Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.

What the hell?

I don't even know what happened today. It wasn't THAT long ago that I wrote about how excited I was to have done the 80+ hive SOLO one day, working my way down to the Matron.

Today -- 2 deaths, and I barely made it to the first ramp down, just past the entrance. Hit after hit after hit.

I was buffed, and so was my bow. My underclothes weren't, but only because the only things that ever hurt me are Muties, and they are hollow.

So, I get those two bodies, and die between the two acid pits on the way to the Matron. That's three deaths in like 20 minutes.

What the hell?

It's even worse when the members of the fellow (Shardy, Shardy's Girl, and Me Fight, who could NOT have been nicer and good natured about the whole thing) actually felt sorry for me, and two of them came to back me up. I got to my body by myself, though, and cleared the area around it. Then the 2 backups showed, and killed some extra straggler spawn around us. No biggie.

I was livid, and really upset at the same time. So I thanked them for the fellow, and bailed back to Candeth.

After running around Ayan for a bit, I decide to join my patron on the Withered Tumerok Hill. Result? Bear in mind -- I absolutely own withered tumeroks. Own them. Have a fantastic slashing bow (even for a 335 wield), and kill em like crazy.

Not this time. They were on me, like 3-4 at a time, and I just couldn't kill them fast enough. Hell -- even lugians were leaving the BEACH to come UP the hill to get me??

Finally, I lagged out, died. First. Death. Ever (on that hill).

I am Tai Flagged. :-(

Here is how it happened:

This is how it started:

I used to be in an alliance of RL friends. We were a pretty small group, underpowered but for a few people who really had lots of time to play and powerlevel.

We were all friends, in and out of game. In fact, the whole reason many of us even play AC is because the monarch all bought us the game for Christmas 1999.

Eventually, I was in a RL conflict w/someone close to me. Friends claimed to have wished us both the best. Some meant it. Some didn't. I reach a truce/understanding, even in some ways a reconciliation with the person with whom I was in conflict.

But, as it turns out, friends still don't wish you well.

This is how it happened.

You send tells to people you thought were friends when you see them online. RL friends. At first they respond, but tersely. Then they respond in one or two word answers.

Then you do an experiment. You decide to not send them a tell until they speak to you first.

They log on. They stay logged on. Of course they see you.
No messages.
You mule.
You log on.
You log off.
They log off. Nothing is said to you.

Then it keeps up. Days pass, then weeks. You're not spoken to.

Because you're no longer their friend, and they didn't even have the decency to tell you that.


This is how you have it rubbed in your face:

Members of my former alliance were meeting in RL not too far from me. Despite things that we said and did for each other years ago (I called one couple the closest thing I had to "family," at one point), I'm now an un-person to them.

Now it appears I'm like that person you just don't talk about, don't acknowledge, don't even LIKE. Without so much as a work why. I know what the LIKELY reason they don't like me anymore is, but that's a RL issue, and the RL parties involved are settled, if not more than civil. But they can't be.

Forget it -- if I'm an un-person to them, so be it. But I never would have done this to them, had the situation been reversed. I'm bigger than that. I'm better than that.

I might be a gimp in-game, but I know a thing or two about doing The Right Thing in life.

So let me get this straight:

The attention whores on the ACV TD boards are allowed to spam and spam (including of course, Kiaya, who still has to make a new thread every time she blasts gas). They're given free reign to spam the boards with OT threads, without any reprecussions.

@e re-reads the TOS.

Hmm.

One thing though -- other than Kiaya (and now PKhere), the constant OT posts have been SOMEWHAT cut down on. But not by much. However, it's noticeable enough.

Heh, what's funny (and sad) is that Kiaya still is enough of an attention whore that she is STILL "post bestower," lol.

ROFL -- Kiaya's at it again.

She's a "published author." Laff.

Her "publisher" is a POD publisher (it's called PublishAmerica). It's a "print on demand" system -- her books aren't in bookstores, until a book is requested. Oh, and EVERYONE who submits a manuscript gets accepted (see the link below). Frankly, you could just Google her publisher, and find out all sorts of stuff. I'm trying to learn to deal with the constant OT posts, but this swollen head of hers is flippin' pathetic.

She's "published" the way that "Grit" is a "magazine."

http://www.sfwa.org/beware/general.html#PA

Is it really so hard . . .

. . . to type out:

"Thank you!" or,

"Thanks,"

In the past 2-3 days, i've gone out of my way to help people. Big time outta my way. The result in EACH instance?

"ty"


Sigh.

Holy crap!

Jericho actually MIGHT be back! I'm freakin' psychic! =P

Tai's good, bad, and ugly of the weekend

I originally wanted to do a few blogs on the weekend, but I've been awfully tired as of late (work is crazed, again), and what little time I have causes me to pretty much just keep trying to earn XP (still trying to get to base 280 Magic D).

So:

The Good:
Kaos ran us through Bobo and G-Man. Hell didn't freeze over, but it sure as hell was a touch frosty -- I got the Bobo kill(!). I couldn't believe it. I'd been kicking myself for forgetting to use my CS bow (which has minor BT), but remembered this time. I casually asked Kaos to hit it with BD7 (I can no longer cast that while I'm working up XP for Magic D, long story). Bingo -- we landed in there, and I immediately just get plugging away at him -- and got 3 fingered paw! Woot!

Used all 3 on the healing kit idol. Result: 2.1 million XP into healing skill. :(

Sigh.

The Bad:
This is kinda bad, but not horrible. Basically, I went way outta my way to help this person find Aun Ralirea, because I had sent him to some coords earlier that night, only to have the landblock reset. Oops. So on my own, I decided to hit Marae Lassel and just frickin find him myself (my clan was out there on a QQ, so their eyes were open for me as well).

Note: I've found Aun Ralirea 4 times on my own. And EACH time, I've killed him, and taken the necklace/idol to "the guy," only to have my health drained 3 times because (this is true) I keep forgetting that I've already done the skill credit quest. Seriously, I don't know how I manage to find my pants every day.

Anyway. Kaos spotted Aun R., and I got the guy out to ML, where I had held the landblock long enough to help him get the skill credit. Woot. The reasons why the whole thing was "bad," should probably be left unsaid (I know this is essentially a diary to myself, but people do read this drivel, and I'd rather not have anything out there to cause more drama than normal).

The ugly:

After Bobo Sunday night, we did G-Man. I noted a couple of problems:

1. Kaos, our leader, was getting kicked offline every time he so much as sneezed.
2. I was the 2nd highest level in the fellow.
3. Which was only 5 people.

Uh oh.

So we did the quest, and Kaos stayed connected, which was good. I did the "CS" trick again (a la Bobo), but Kaos still got the kill (because this time he actually attacked -- if he hadn't, we'd STILL be there hitting Gaerlan, who would have leveled 50 times off of us all).

I hate being the weak link, but somehow, even in a gimpy G-Man fellow, I had to be healed by our "healer" like 20 times over the course of the fight. I wasn't even that fast with my own heals. WTF. :-(

So Juzam's a mod now?

I actually wish him well -- that's a good choice. I wanted to be one myself, but I (a) didn't apply, and (b) would have probably caused a ton of trouble, because I think the use of the ban stick after a warning ought to be de rigeur, rather than a rare thing.

But Juzam's cool, and the extra help is sorely needed on the TD board.

P.S. One confession, which I've said before: So help me, if I were ever a mod, I'd unban Jericho. =P

AAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Isn't the reason we log in to get AWAY from the drama of RL?!

Screw it. Off of work for the first time in days, and no desire to log in. What's on Tivo . . . ?

@e tips hat to the self-buffers

Those folks w/Life & Creature really have it pretty nice! I just bought a complete set of Ancient Armor for someone, and she buffed/baned it up.

AL 1300 to everything. :-O

Yowza.

Somehow, those life/creature/item archers really seem pretty cool all of a sudden. I mean . . . yikes.

@e is envious.

You may now call me . . .

. . . Bill Cosby.

FOR I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS JELL-O.

I so heart killing Jellos in the VOD. I went through THREE full spawns of jellos in the VOD this morning. Cleaned em all out. Barely took a single hit from a spell, beyond debuffs and the odd drain. No wars. Woot. Only about 3 million plus XP, but it was FUN!

Bear in mind, as an archer (er, as a gimp), I can't seem to kill ANYTHING in the VOD, without it first being tied up, gagged, and otherwise lashed down to the ground like a Guantanemo inmate.

Except Jellos. I don't know why, but I freaking OWN those things with my slash rending bow. Granted, the only time I'll fight the things is when I have a grove of trees to hide in (I'm actually like a sniper then -- lean around corner of tree, shoot, quickly turn back behind it: lather, rinse, earn XP). I'm a dumbass on this game, but not SO dumb that I'll stand out in a field and do my impression of a wooden target drudge for those things.

I even like how they look. I mean, were the devs loopy on Mai-Tais (get it?) when they came up with these things? In fact, I wonder . . .

(sounds of harp music . . . cut to scene inside Turbine HQ)

======================
Developer Bob says, "Ok, we need a new monster.
Developer Les says, "But it has to be WEIRD and unexplainable! Like the success of Tom Petty!"
Developer Sean says, "(passes out face first into the 7-layer dip)"
Developer Lesl says, "Dibs on Sean's drink coupons!"
Developer Bob says, "Seriously, though -- what about, like, a BOX!"
Developers stare at Bob.
Developer Bob says, "No, really -- like just a polygonal BOX, but with color, so they can see that they're just FIGHTING BOXES, and that we've just GIVEN UP on monster design!"
Developer Kim says, "But they'll see THROUGH that! We need to give them cool lore."
Developer Matt says, "MATT DAMON!"
Developer Sandra says, "Haw -- how about "K'nath Tead?"
Developers stare at Sandra.
Developer Les says, "Death Tank? . . . you mean like the game, "Battlezone?"

HINT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Arcade-atari-battlezone1.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone

ANYWAY, BACK TO OUR LITTLE PLAY:

Developer Sandra says, "Yup! THAT! They'll NEVER get it!" And we name the TYPES of Death Tanks after US! But with our names all scramblies!
Developer Matt says, "MATT DAMON!"
Developer Bob says, "But they'll tell it's me -- K'nath obb?" That won't work.
Developer Sandra says, "Well then Bob, you will HAVE TO DIE!"
(Sandra shoots Bob just above his right eye).
Developer Sandra says, "Well Kim? Think you'll be ok?
Developer Kim says, "Um, they'll NEVER get "K'nath I'km!" (sweats profusely)

Developer Sandra says, "But we have to make them IMPOSSIBLE to fight -- just like us!"
Developer Alan says, "I just blew up Frostfell's server! All characters deleted! But they'll still keep playing! Woo-hoo! I think I'll eat some more paint chips. LALALALALALALALALA."

Developer Sandra says, "Let's have them all cast war spells, including streaks, AT WILL, and CHAIN CAST drains!"

(all Devs): "(CHEEER!) WOO HOO!"
Developer Sandra says, "There -- I just drew a box on a piece of paper -- a "long cube," really. I just designed our monsters!"
Developer Alan says, "Woot! Monthly update completed then!"
Developer Sean says, "Mmmmwhahaph? What'd I miss? Where's my drink?"
Developer Matt says, "MATT DAMON!"
======================

Hey, can I see your armor for a second?

I've never been stolen from in-game (not counting having kills stolen -- there are people playing "King's Quest I" would could outkill me right now). But anyway, me = never stolen from.

This is because (1) I tend not to trust anyone, and (2) Don't let go of my really important stuff (bows, armor, etc).

So within the past few months, as I've done up my life/creature covenant suit (with majors, as well!) I've had more and more people look at me, and say, "What kind of armor is that?" or "Nice armor." A few, however, say, "Hey, can I see your armor?"

I normally shrug it off. Isn't this something of an old scam? It sure used to be. Person asks to "see" your armor and opens trade window. Person kind of times it, and closes trade window just as it's expected that you're putting item in window, causing you to "set down" the piece. Person picks it up. Person laughs.

So I'm in the Marketplace tonight, and "Shadow-Spear," (not in my alliance) asks to see my armor. He's so insistent that while I'm pricing armor from the al-Thor bot, he's just standing there WAITING to "see" it (I know this, because he told me he was waiting for me to be done with the bot). I am all set to grill him when I'm done with the bot, to ask why he can't just "see" it from where he's standing, when an alliancemate runs into us both, and says, "Hey Shadow." Shadow greets him back?

Whatwhatwhat?

This got me thinking -- maybe it WAS an innocent request(!).

Wow. I decided not to bring it up and do anything w/the guy -- I just logged on as a mule to make my purchase (since the mule has all the cash, lol).

I guess it's interesting -- the guy could well have meant nothing by it, but isn't that funny -- he used a really vintage method that old thieves used to use, but didn't know he was doing that.

I r teh suspicious . . . but at least I've never been stolen from, lol. ;-)

RL can be rough sometimes.

So, I don't go into too much detail re my job, as it's a sensitive position, but is in law enforcement. I got a call the other morning and the person on the other line said, "(redacted) is testifying before Congress today. Why don't you meet him at Dirksen (ooops, wrong building it turned out) and brief him quickly on (my area of expertise)? It's going to come up in his testimony and he wants to cut down on subsequent written submissions."

Um, ack.

So I scramble out the door of my office, grabbing about 10 binders filled with information I really didn't need in light of the questions later asked of me. After frantic cellphone calls, I found him and his surprisingly sparse entourage (although they asked more follow-ups than HE did(!)).

In fact, that's the kicker -- I really wasn't asked that much by this person. He just listened to me explain my end of the issue he was testifying about, then eventually said, "Ok, outstanding -- why don't you sit tight here and let's see if something else comes up. Is that ok?"

Fast forward DAYS later. I still haven't logged into AC, have been completely MIA for the most part, and otherwise have spent days (finally finishing up late Friday evening) putting together briefing materials for those pesky subsequent questions. Much of today has been spent doing stuff to clear my head -- I went for a nice run (was supposed to be much shorter, but I honestly think I was so spacey I didn't even do the math right), and then saw someone I hadn't seen for about a week.

Maybe I can finally log into AC tonight. Hope I remember how to play. :-/

Oh, wait -- I was never that good at it previously! :-P

Damn . . .

. . . THAT was fun!

I spotted a post by Juzam saying he was running the "Tursh Totem Quest" (actually, I misread it as the "Tush" totem quest, and was immediately intrigued). I did a quick check @Maggie's to see what the heck it was ("Holy crap," I said, "It's an %age of XP quest!").

@e logs on and runs like hell for GW.

Juzam wasn't there, but I figured one of the people standing around was him (I'm always so impressed with folks who have like 5 126s, since I'm just well, ME, and I can't even see hitting 126 by the expansion).

Off we go, a fellowship of 7.

This was one of those quests that scare the poop outta me, because there are just TONS of debuffs

On the other hand, at one point, I was rebuffed by (two!) mages in the fellow, and I almost wanted to say, "It's cool, don't bother," because I wanted to show that even will full life/creature 6s I could survive.

The good:
There were more than a few times I beat the support mage to heals, and gave myself full heals after taking triple-digit damage (but I wasn't even debuffed!) from spells. There were also a few times where we "doubled up" (meaning I healed myself for say, 92 points, but SO did the mage(!?)). Weird. I got a LOT of kills on this trip, and I know that part of that reason was because the baddies were softened up, but that still felt good.

Oh, and I not only killed a lot of the "Big Bad Guy's"(tm) minions at the end, I killed the "Big Bad Guy"(tm) himself. Me. I even took a screenshot with my name as the kill. I wasn't even using FIRE. Just my tinked up Slash Rending bow.

You say to your fellowship, "Holy crap! I killed him!"

(At this point, there's a respawn, and I'm still too busy staring at the "killed by . . . " message. But everyone else is waiting for their Tursh Totem shard, but they can't open the body.

You say to no one in particular, except out loud to the computer, "Holy crap! I killed him!"
Computer says to you, "So open and loot, you idiot."
Oops. Which brings me to . . .


The bad:
I wasn't psyched that I had to be the one guy who had to have buffs put on him prior to the final push, as all I ended up thinking to myself was that I was having to be carried along. Like, well, a gimp. @e notices the name of this freaking blog and moves on to . . .


The ugly:
Oh, there just HAD to be a jump, didn't there? RIght at the beginning. And if you miss, there are TONS of these nasty ol' rats that do hella damage to you. So of course, when the quest leader (whom I later found out to be Juzam's alt char) told us to jump, I just --

1. Jumped full power.
2. Diagonally.

Note: The jump is onto a THIN BRIDGE. Strung between the MIDDLE parts of the ledge.

Did Tai "look before he leapt?" Um, that would be a "no." I went sailing WAY over the little thin bridge (again, diagonally, mind you), right into the pit. Someone must have told the rats that my armor was "cheesy," and they CLEARLY don't get metaphors. Because they came at me like I was freaking fermenting right in front of them.

So I ran like hell, wetting my armor and rubbing an Aphus Recall gem like it was one of Gwyd's kitties, the whole way up as I looked for some ramps (not knowing if I would even be BACK there, mind you, I just went left over and over again). I got to the top of the ledge again:

So of course, I shift/jumped from the middle, right?

@e looks at the name of this blog again. Is it ever that easy?

Seriously, it was like someone else was controlling me, because I just ran back to the top, and "CANNONBALL!" sailed over the bridge -- again. I actually thought I --WAS-- in the middle of the ledge, and well, for goodness sakes, WHY BOTHER LOOKING TO MAKE SURE?!

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The 3rd time was the charm (just like my 3 years in 3rd grade!).

So I must have learned my lesson, eh? Um, nope:

Late into the quest, there's another jump. A pit.

(Juzam's alt char) says to your fellowship, "Everyone jump in."

I'm the only one left at the top. I'm inching back and forth, left and right, with my back toward the pit, using a compass and protractor to get the jump just right. I'll show em.

You say to your fellowship, "So is this a stepping shift jump, or full power?
(Juzam's alt char) says to your fellowship, "It's a pit, just jump in."

Oops. Didn't notice that. Why? Someone again literally didn't look before he leapt.

@e listens to the grumbling of his fellow-mates as they fight for their lives in the pit, while Tai is still testing the wind with his wet finger at the top of the pit.

But even *I* can figure out a way to screw up just jumping into a pit. And I did.

@e bouncebouncebounce

>>>"You can't jump while in the air"<<< I so heart that message.

@e bouncebouncebounce
(Sounds of battle rage on below)
@e bouncebouncebounce
(Hack! Slash! Boom! Scream! Debuff! Spell! Kapow!)
@e bouncebouncebounce

ARRRRGH!

Anyway. I eventually defied all odds, and actually fell in a downward motion (seriously, I could jump off the Tou-Tou lighthouse and hit a cloud ABOVE it).

That was late in the quest. Things were smooth(er) at that point, and I got a nice chunk o' XP for the quest.

And maybe next time, just maybe -- I'll look before I leap.

Chiropractors.

Um, yuck. Can't post this on a VN thread that's already at 3 pages of mostly flames/pharming (thank you TOS, grr), but let's clear up a little bit. AynRand (who is a chiropractor, and an Ayn Rand devotee, so 2 strikes against her already) is pointing out billions of woes if you drink diet sodas containing aspartame.

Hmmmm . . .

http://www.quackwatch.org (do a search on "aspartame")

http://www.chirobase.org (points out the shortcomings of Chiropracty)

http://www.skepticreport.com/health/strokespinal.htm (even stronger article on these quacks)

I don't blame someone going if they are in pain, and want relief, but (other than attorneys and used car salesmen) I'm not sure of another profession with so much corruption, and so much utter hooey/drivel/poo driving it. And if someone's going to hold court on their views of health, let's consider the source.

Edit/Update: I just thought of something -- Gwyd posted an anecdote about a chiropractor, and I meant to point this out -- anecdotes mean JACK SQUAT in a logical argument:

http://www.skepticreport.com/print/natureanecdotes-p.htm

Show me some proof (other than chiropractors studying themselves and (gasp!) coming up with their own findings that they are helpful), and then we can talk.

WTF?!

Lokkie's banned?

Weird times in the 80+ hive as of late . . .

So two distinct incidents/weirdness in the 80+ hive as of late, and I'm not sure if it's commonplace, since I just don't go there that often.

The first involved someone named "Double Nickel," a mage. I can't say if the person's good or bad, because he simply didn't speak. As in, at all: I was in a fellow in the hive, and made it to the Matron. I saw him fighting her, and actually having a bit of a rough go at it. So I walk up behind him, and hit him with a blue healing kit for a triple digit heal.

Ok, so he says nothing. I've been there, I can understand furiously trying to click, press keys, and otherwise stay alive. But then everyone's dead. At this point, I repeat an invite to the fellow, and he's still playing Silent Bob.

*shrug* Recall to top, keep working in fellow.

I later found him in the hive, this time IN a fellow, but then the only time he spoke was when he had died, and another fellow member was pointing out/clearing his body (he said, "thanks," and never spoke again). Otherwise, he was silent. I'm really not chatty in a fellow either, but it just seemed weird. I thought of him tonight, because he passed me in the hive (judging by his direction) as he was headed for the Matron again (all of these times happened within the past 7 days, tops). He didn't even stop to see if there WAS a fellow (I'd have been happy to even be in a 2-person one, but no biggie).

*double shrug* Just struck me weird. I wouldn't have thought about it more, except for tonight:

This just happened. I had recalled to the top of the hive, and was not in a fellow (the one person I saw and asked if a fellow was open, said nothing, and just logged at the entrance). XP/hour = apx. 12mil/hr.

Then two people beam in, Zakfein Bonesplitter and Hope I Kancastit. The former was 126, the latter high 80s. I asked if there was a fellow, and after some fumbling by the level 80, she recruited me (no biggie, I can only imagine how hard it must be to be a mage in there). They seemed perfectly nice, although again quite silent.

So, I run off into the hive for good ol' bug-smashin.

After about 30 minutes, I look up on Infinity: XP/hour = apx 11 mil/hr.

Huh?

Look, I'm the FIRST person to bash XP wh0r3s. But this just seemed weird. Is it ok to do a "report" at that point? I spent some time just debating whether to even DO it. I decided against it, and instead looked to the fellow panel. Hmm, the 126 is --kinda-- damaged (at least noticeable), but the 80something seemed full.

I thought about it some more and made a decision -- this is the first time I've done something like this, but I just left the fellow without a word (and promptly saw my XP/hr increase). I stayed down below for a bit, and had a good ol'time, but after ANOTHER person passed me (not a member of a fellow, and didn't ask if there was one), I decided to recall to the LS and hit the 60+ hive to burn out my last arrows.

It's --ENTIRELY-- possible that I'm just wrong on this, but I thought the hives were places for fellows and general XP smashing? I have NO problem if you don't WANT to be in a fellow (in fact, I believe you still have a right to be there, even if you're just trying out/testing the waters). But do you really want to bring people into your fellow? Isn't it easier to say, "We're staying here at the entrance, just doing a shakedown cruise kinda thing." I don't blame those two at all -- it just seemed a little strange.

I wish I knew what the ettiquite on this type of thing was. :-( But then again, if I did, I'd probably be a lot higher than 109 after 5+ years at this. :-(

VOD -- bo-ring!

I must be doing something wrong, because the VOD just isn't doing it for me, XP-wise, even with a mage imp'ing everything for me. I'm using a CS bow, or a rending bow, depending on whether the mage is able to both imp & vuln, but . . . sheesh. Quite low XP. It seems like people really go out there and rack up the points, but I sure don't see it.

And those VOD Olthoi HOIT! :-O

Thought.

LOL, this is too much:

Suppose you have a person, let's call him, "David."

David doesn't get along with Mary
David doesn't get along with Tom
David doesn't get along with Harry
David doesn't get along with Bob
David doesn't get along with George

Wouldn't David start to realize that the problem wasn't with THEM, but with David?

Guess it will only take a beatdown to set things straight. :-D

@e repeats to himself, "A promise is a promise, a promise is a promise, a promise is a promise."

@e *shakefist* at Thistle. =P

Pathetic

When people make a post on VN that garners little to no replies, but then "bump" the post a day later -- that's just sad and more than a little pathetic. No one gave a rat's ass about what you had to say. Deal with it. It's even worse when a person bumps a post DAYS old. People saw it. They just didn't care.

(Excludes trade/auction/ISOs for items, vassals, etc.)

Um, I was FLETCHING!

I hit the 80+ hive last night, just to try and rev up some extra XP. I was there about 90 minutes. Fellow members came and went. There was 1 death the entire time. 3 guesses who it was.

Sigh.

I remember, as I was in a corner with every bug on the server attacking me, thinking, "Wow, I probably should fletch right soon. But in the meantime, I'm getting so low on health, so I'll just drink an elixir rather than heal."

Oops. Out of those. I wonder if I have any random health potions on me, picked up from the bugs?

Double oops. Out of those too.

Maybe I'll crack and Aphus reca

>>>Olthoi Swarm Mutilator runs you through!<<<

Oops.

Kontrolled Kaos says to your fellowship, "nooooooooooo"
You say to your fellowship, "Ah, np, that's what I get for trying to fletch during a fight."

Well, I was KIND of fletching! I mean, I did at the lifestone.

And then I forgot to pick up more health potions from home before recalling back there. I r teh smart. :-(

Oh well, that was fast.

Woke up this morning to see that Kaos has apparently passed on his membership. I guess others took a more hard-line approach to this than I did. It's just as well. He violates the VN TOS almost daily, yet remains oblivious to that fact.

Based on a prior personal request/favor from Thistle, I've agreed to leave him alone, as she's explained to me that he has a history of these obsessions, and I'm honoring her request. I can't say it's a gratifying result, but I'm also very happy to not have to step away from the alliance.

As Dereth turns . . .

So, lots of alliance related drama going on (not just mine, but other peoples' alliances). Three alliance recruiting threads, from what I can see:

1. Kaos first posted a recruiting thread. Actually quite nice to see so many people point out what a good group it is (even if it doesn't have the marquee power of Chunglee's clan, which still seems to be the gold standard of TD). There's some internal question now, because Gibbon posted that he wants to join Kaos' clan.

He's got an interesting road to go down if he wants to join since Kaos suspected Gibbon was behind a DNS attack on the clan site, since it happened the day Gibbon was sending e-mails to my home account, and posted on the clan boards (no one can prove anything, and as coincidental as it was, it's not even to the level of "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Some people saw his posts, and asked my opinion on his joining. I went out of my way in private tells and PMs to not be the deciding factor -- hell, I don't want to be ANY factor in this. I've made it clear -- my feelings on whether or not he should join are irrelevant. I really have to demur here -- I don't want to be a factor in deciding up or down on Gibbon. Honestly, I think he could be much more of an impact player than I can be. He plays far more, is higher level, and is otherwise much more available for quests and group hunts. The fact is, he has the potential to be a very positive impact on the group, unlike myself, who is awfully solitary in my time online.

Having said that, I will regrettably have to step away from that alliance, and will do so with (seriously) not an ounce of hard feelings or a bad heart. In fact, I'll remain an "alliance-friend," instead of an "alliance-mate." It's just a point of principle, but it's seriously not worth affecting someone else's gameplay (Gibbon's). Not putting him in because of my opinion makes ME the deciding factor, and the simple fact is, my departure from alliance status won't have any affect on the alliance itself.

That sounds pretty lame, but I know all too well that if I left the Kaos group, there would be no loss. I just don't have any impact on it, and on balance, Kaos' group would be better served WITH a power player, than a guy who falls off cliffs. A lot.

If I do leave, there's one thing for certain -- I'll never join any other alliance. 2 of them in 5 years is plenty.


Well, with THAT happy point taken care of, my take on the other 2 alliance recruiting threads that popped up subsequent to Kaos' thread:

2. Doomherald posted a thread subsequently to Kaos. Here's the thing: I've pretty much only read Doom on the boards, since the days he was with (or close to) Masonry. I know they jumped quests back in the day, and apparently took delight in messing with others' in-game experience, but my interactions with him as of late have been nothing but upfront and honorable. Maybe he's mellowed with age? (That, or with Willow out of the picture, he's back to normal, lol). He seems very willing to help out, quest, and otherwise just pitch in. It's weird, he's being a model player, and seems to still be getting beaten up over past actions and/or rep. I'm actually thinking he might be a good fit for, well, a misfit (not me -- see #1). =P


3. One of the al-Thors posted a thread, but that seems to be going nowhere fast. *shrug* I heard it's like one guy with 5 accounts or something.

I love the "Library Book" quest.

There's this quest, called the "hidden entrance" quest, where you go and retrieve these 11 books, called "Report to Niraltah." You get 1% of your level for 10 of them (1 just gets you a no-drop "Guard Uniform," which might as well be inscribed, "Give this to a town crier immediately.").

Anyway. I love going there, because I absolutely NEVER fight a thing. Why bother? This is a LIBRARY, dammit! You ever seen librarians? They are either:

1. Freaking HAWT (once they take off their glasses, let their hair drop down to their waists, and step into whatever Whitesnake video they're about to be in), or

2. Fat and bearded, like UNIX programmers.

Technically, it's illegal to kill both (although some of the #2 class bring it on themselves).


It's LEGAL to kill librarians in Dereth, though. At least these two kinds in the Library Book quest dungeon:

1. A Tumerok, or
2. A Lugian.

Tumerok Librarian tells you, "QUIET j00 OR YOUR CARD IS REVOKEDZORED!"

Seriously, even for someone like me, that's like 8million XP (just under a mutilator pincer, and more than a Warrior pincer) for about 10 minutes' work, tops.

Except that I take a little more time than that.

I told you, I look at it like a library. So when I run through for the books, I tend to, um, type stuff out (seriously).

==================================
You say, "LIBRARIES ARE JUST PLACES FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE TO B M!"
You say, "THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM SUCKS!"
You say, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M NOT PUTTING THE MAGAZINES BACK ON THEIR PROPER RACK POSITION!"
You say, "OH SURE -- I'D LOVE TO HANDLE BOOKS PREVIOUSLY READ 35 TIMES BY BLUE HAIRED OLD LADIES"
@e knocks over the card cataloge
You say, "WHO THE HELL COMES TO THE LIBRARY ANYMORE? HELLLOOOOOOO? THERE'S THIS THING CALLED THE INTERNET!"
==================================

All of those statements are things I've actually typed out, and spammed, as I run through the quest. Why do I go to the trouble to type them? Look, if you were in a library where the librarians wanted to kill you, wouldn't you finally vent a little?

I know what you're going to say: It's not a library. But when it was first introduced, it was often referred to as the "library book" quest.

So that's what it is.

Besides, I just KNOW I've seen a hottie in the corner, with her hair in a tight bun, wearing oversized glasses. If I keep going there, maybe she'll notice me. :-D

I tried running El Tank . . .

. . . I hit "start," and it attempted to delete my character and reroll. :-(

Sigh. Tank won't even ACM or UCM me, since I suck so bad.

Why Tank?

In a fit of desperation I spec'd magic D early, untraining lockpick in the process. Over the past few weeks, I've been regularly going to the spec or unspec dungeons to get various gems "just in case," I wanted to tinker w/my template, in the futile hope that I could arrange my XP in such a way that I could have my 3D archer template in place. An additional benefit to that would be that (with enough XP), I'd have all of the relevant skills at the necessary minimums for waring my major suit.

So:

Just kind of sitting in my Villa (chez de vitae)'s basement, I did the following:

1. Untrained 'pick. (Goodbye, chances at Aerlinthe!)
2. Spec'd magic D
3. Moved lore to trained, and got a boatload of XP back, which I shunted into Magic D and/or Self.
4. Untrained Run, and got a moderate amount of XP back (I so loved having an insane Run skill, and gawd knows it certainly looked good from a role player's standpoint!).

Bottom line? I'm still, oh 1 BILLION xp away from 280 Magic D. I think. I've got melee at 364, missle at 305, but magic D is killing me.

I did some calculations: 20 million per hour over 5 hours is 100 million. 10 spouts of 100 million is 1 Bazillion-izzle. Now then, since I've eared 20/hr about, oh SIX times in the course of my AC career (and even then, the longest I'd ever played in that position was like 2 hours, tops), we're looking at me hitting 280 magic D sometime around Gwydiana's 35th marriage (figuring that each one runs about, what, 4 months?).

Pwned. :-(

Edit: One last thing. I love --no, make that LOVE LOVE LOVE-- my "dapper suit," from the Noir Assassination quest. In fact, I go out of my way to wear it when I'm not fighting. Except now, with Lore reduced to a trained skill w/ZERO xp in it, my armor can't come off until I hit the magic D level.

Double pwned.

Mana charges, anyone?

When it rains, it pours

Major bow items, that is.

Someone PM'd me out of the blue with some ANOTHER major bow covenant item (who knew ISOs were so effective?). Woot!

Now if I can just keep from blowing it up . . .

I so heart Lokkie.

I don't even know why, but he cracks me up, and I dig him.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. =P

Um, ahem.

So, I posted on the VN boards to look for a replacement of a major bow covenant item. WIthin 2 posts, someone offered me some seriously underpowered covenant bracers w/major bow.

For 50 MMDs.

Ouch.

@e counts the MMDs to his name.
@e counts up to 63.
@e remembers he owes 3 for something he bought Kitra

Down to 10 MMDs to my name.

But, for the time being, I've got major bow in my arsenal again.


===
Update: Dionysis (sp.) on the boards, out of the blue, offered me ANOTHER major bow covenant item. OMG! Awesome! He even accepted the last of my MMDs for them (had to even sell pyreal peas to make up the necessary amount). These aren't useable - yet. But I'm a-workin' towards em.

Wow. I think it was Taka Toka who wrote, "We come for the game, we stay for the people." Good observation, on balance, at least.

Because, after the 2 posts, I never bumped that thread again. Diony just PM'd me out of the blue.

Pot, meet kettle.

Here's Gibbon's most worthless vomiting -- God, I seriously have to weigh out the benefits vs. cost of just going to Florida to beat his POS ass down.

"It is one of the banes of the internet. People relish in the fact that they can be rude, crude, insulting, vile-spewing mega-gits with absolutley no worries about consequences."

--Gibbon Raver, Berek Heartthew in AC:TD.

Who is the BIGGEST violator of this? Who engages in the MOST personal attacks, second only to Wash Chines? Yup.

Pot, meet kettle.

@e adds another reason against ever logging in again.

Maybe deleting isn't a bad move.

Why do I bother?

I worked for over a WEEK, staying up late, doing nothing but slagging through olthoi while burdened to get my missle D to 305 base (yes, that's accurate -- it's the 3D archer template) so I could weild the major bow greaves Doomherald gave me. The only problem was that they had a rank requirement.

They just blew up on the silk tinker, with the tinkerer claiming a 90% chance of it landing. The person who was tinking them did NOT wait for me to brill, however. He just saw me pull out the stone (which was out of mana). As I was charging it, he attempted the tinker, and blew up the one item I was building this template around, the one item that had actually given me optimism about maybe being able to experience some of the higher-end aspects of the game.

This was to be the cornerstone of me getting back into this game, and actually trying to make a template where you didn't have to buff, but just made do with level 6s (plus majors). Instead I'm left with a gaping hole. In fact, now I'm stuck with (1) missle D raised up high (which only allows me to wear one item I need -- is that truly worth spec'ing missle D?), (2) I had just swapped out lockpick for magic D, and (3) an absolute feeling of: Why bother?

It must make the loot/fate gods happy to know that while UCMers, griefers, and d00ds are soloing the planet, one casual player who was just trying to get by has had his teeth kicked in. When I hit 305 base missle (around 4pm), I was completely rejuvenated, and thought, "Hey, things are really looking up! Let me go dye and make these things useable."

Wow, that happiness lasted what, like 30 minutes?

Newsweek did it on purpose.

They knew the story was false, and printed it anyway. They did it deliberately to make money on sensationalism and to make money.

What? Is that unreasonable? Overstating a mistake? You say that Newsweek was given faulty info they believed to be reliable? You say that as long as Newsweek reviews its internal procedures to figure out the intelligence failure, all's well?

But, somehow it's ok to say that Bush "knew" there were no WMD's in Iraq? Somehow, it's ok to say that Bush deliberately went to war in Iraq just for (insert conspiratorial reason here)?

Hi. Welcome to KarmaVille.

@e prints "Newsweek lied, people died" posters.

Woot! Life suit completed!

Swingblade (HR_Puffinstuff from the VN boards) just came through BIG for me.

He traded me HIS full life outfit (two clothing items and one bracelet) for MY full life outfit.

I've got room for my health necklace now! Wooooo-hooooo!

I r teh happy.

You know what's not a good move?

@e notices that he's down to 4 arrows in total, and is happy, since he wants to recall to Villa anyway.
@e takes off all his armor and puts on Dapper Suit to conserve mana.
@e notices Crystal Golem over there.
@e thinks, "What the hell, only 4 deadly fire arrows anyway."
Crystal Golem evaded your attack.
Crystal Golem evaded your attack.
Crystal Golem evaded your attack.
Crystal Golem evaded your attack.
@e notices Crystal Golem is next to him now . . .
You say, " . . . "
Tai Fung is recalling home.
Crystal Golem stops and looks at the floating, slowly spinning Gimp.
Crystal Golem tells you, "Much <3 for Rotisserie"
Crystal Golem beats Tai Fung to a lifeless pulp!

One hit.

Why wasn't this a good move? Let me 'splain it to you:

Tai's villa location: 36.1N 36.1W

Your corpse is located at 35.8N 36.5W

I was THAT close to the house. Why exactly did I do @house recall?

Oh yeah -- because I'm an idiot. :-(

There's a reason it's called the Valley of "DEATH," Tai!

Ok, so I'll admit it: I'm a VOD Virgin. Never been there.

Why?

It's a very complex series of reasons, mostly because of time problems, committments, and . . . oh, screw it -- that's not why.

I've never been able to find it.

Look, I *know* there are directions on how to get there, they usually involved:

1. Mansion portals (I wasn't a member of a monarchy)
2. Caul (if you think I had THAT portal up until recently, you're nuts).
3. Aerlinthe (ahem).

So, anyway, I finally decided to go. Once and for all. @e makes little trumpet sound with his lips. Figured I'd see what all the fuss was about.

I get "there" and promptly spend the next hour running "West then South," as described by my patron (I gotta give her credit, though -- she pointed out that if you just paid the D note, and then took portal after portal, ones where NO running was involved, you could get to the "VOD Lifestone." Now THOSE are route instructions I can handle!

Anyway, I take the portals, and per her instructions, run "West then South." Only to find Drudge Bloodletters, some (gasp!) Sinister Shadows, and LOTS of Imperial Mu-Miawhatevers. So, I recalled, and re-thought. "Hmm," I thought, "Maybe I'll try a LITTLE west, THEN South."

Silver Tuskers. :-/

Hmmm.

The whole time, I'm chatting with my patron, trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. She keeps telling me that I'll know a VOD thingie when I see it.

You say to your Patron, "Oooooh -- look at GREAT Revenant! Is that one?"
Your Patron (name redacted to protect the innocent) says to you, "Um, no. That's a monster most people can kill by the time they leave the training hall. Where ARE you?"
You say to your Patron, "I went west then south, right past the lifestone like you said."
Your Patron (see above) says to you, "That's weird. You should be in the thick of it."
You say to your Patron, "Maybe they're afraid to spawn now that I'm all uber-ified."
Your Patron says to you, "Sorry, just trying to figure out why Tai can't find the broad side of a barn in the middle of an empty room."
Your Patron says to you, "mt"
You say to your Patron, " . . . "

So I do what all good men do when they're lost . . . I pulled up a map (heh, we just TELL women we navigate by feel). ACMAPS.com, specifically.

Wow. Look at that. TWO "VOD Lifestones."

One on the North end, one on the South end.

I've been running West then South. Which LS have I been at?

Yup.

Oops.

Let's try "East then North."

I run along, and all of a sudden, there's this group of baddies over there. Hmm. "Lich Oppressor." Oooooh! THAT sounds cool! Let's ID him.

Your base assess creature skill is now (still) pathetic!

Humph. Bah, let's just try a fire arrow.

You know that scene in "Finding Nemo," re Dory's attitude with the baby jellyfish? That's the tone I'm setting here.

Remember (wtf was Nemo's Dad's name?) that guy's attitude when the million BIG jellyfish wanted to turn him into slightly braised clownfish?

It wasn't pretty.

But it WAS fun. I gotta get back there.

Now if I can only remember how . . .

@e wipes a tear . . .

And now Juzam just goes out of his way to make a trade for me for ANOTHER incredibly useful piece of armor for me.

Zoikes.

Suddenly, last week's letdown over failing Aerlinthe (again and again and again) isn't as tough on the soul.

It's that whole Karma thing. Again. ;-)