There is an old saying that only hustlers get hustled. What is meant is that hustlers will present themselves as victims of the hustled. They try to make the victim feel as he is getting over, when in fact they are being hustled. They count on greed to keep it going.
As an example, I was in the Awric mage shop selling some wands after a trip to the Nest. A person messaged me asking if I would like a Matti robe. I said I did and what did he want for it? He said he was quitting the game was selling off his stuff. He just wanted enough to be sure the person really wanted it.
We dealt back and forth for a bit until we agreed on 15 keys and an item I don't recall at this time. He said his mule was in the back and to meet him there. I met the mule and he did indeed have a matti robe on. I then said I had a reputation of honesty but if he wanted we could use a trusted middleman.
At this point he started to back out. He said I have to understand, he would not just hand over an item as good as a matti robe without the trade item first. Then he did an old scammer trick, said it is sad but we cannot do the deal.
The expectation is for me to fall apart from greed and agree to give him the keys, or half of them. Instead I said thanks and walked away. A matti robe is worth far more than 15 keys. Also I did not let greed blind me to the fact that he did not act like someone quitting the game.
A bit later I heard a spam in Awric about the guy being a thief.
Solclaim
Worked Fist de Yuma (III) up the beach. Wanted to make 13lv. I was close when I ran into a bit of trouble. First I shot an arrow at a Lurker and changed to my piercing weapon. Problem is that Lurkers tend to help their buddies. Instead of one I had four. That would hard but I could handle it.
Just before the last one fell a Mud golem attacked me from the rear. I killed the last Lurker before turning on the mud. I still would have won but the mud started change casting. Four spells in a row, last one a lucky shot at my zig-zaging back.
Only problem was the bow was on the body. When outdoors I really like the range weapon. I was long way away but had time enough to get to the body. After I got the bow back I cleared vit with bow and unarmed attacks.
Now I had traveled this beach many times before. Somehow I had missed a tower in always from the beach. I headed over there and found the Advocates dungeon. After not being able to enter I found you needed to be 126 level. (Sigh, someday)
I found a few other interesting sights but not much else. I decided to go cross-country to a town I saw. I ran into a few Reedsharks and Dillos but nothing dangerous. Then after killing three Dillos a Reedshark spawned right next to me. In peace mode and with the bow, not unarmed mode, I decided to run a bit and come back when ready.
Then the lag monster got me. I ran in slow-motion, watching a Reedshark ding me for 9 to 10 points until dead.
I had tied to the lifestone next to the Advocates dungeon so I was not too worried. But I had no leggings or shoes. Not good when most of what was there was Reedsharks and Dillos. Somehow no matter what I did I could not find the body. Ran up and down quartering off sections but no luck. I'm thinking that I ran a lot further that was shown on the screen during the lag.
Finally I gave up. Nice thing about the Solclaim Fist is he does not have anything that would be hard to replace. A quick run to Cregstone got me some plate legging and new shoes.
Cliff Bowman
After putting holes in Lugies for a bit I decided it was time to go unarmed. I found a shield on the ground and that was what got me going. First I needed to build the skill. It was at 122, nothing at all having been put into it. The 20k in points I had saved got it to a level I could hit with.
It is a bit hard to see myself hitting for 8 and criting for 25 after hitting for 33 and criting for 65 with the bow. But I was taking far less damage in the meantime. Tanking three was no problem at all. Four or Five if lucky.
I started to get too brave. I headed to the jumping room. Taking on the big blue luggies was working, even though I was missing a lot. One on one I could win over time. Then I got into a fight in the room and started taking big damage. Ran but only got a few steps before dying. (Found out my blunt protection had run out of mana.)
O' rats. My armor strength V shirt is on the body. This not only gives me little upper body armor but now I'm at burden. I ported in trying to make a run to the body. No luck, to many lugies between me and it.
Now it was Jarad turn to help me. Earlier that day I had to log in Fist to help him recover his body. He is playing in one of them deadly spell casting dungeons. Jarad is Cliff Bowman's patron.
I ported back to Mayoi and got a cheap armor shirt. 50al was better than nothing. I contacted Jarad and he headed to Mayoi. I tried to see if I could get lucky. I got very lucky. I was able to run through three packs of lugies until to got to the room. A group of players had engaged all the lugies there. I ran over, got my stuff and ported out. (whooo)
Jarad then asked me if I was willing to take two of his mules for vassals. He was trying to get up in rank. He ported me to Lin and between my mules and his we got him up to rank 3. Another vassal Ibn was there. He logged in his mage and buffed Cliff Bowman up enough to get the shirt on. It requires a 212 melee defense to use. With vit I did not have the lore to put on my quick IV shoes.
After a lore buff I got the shoes on. Then he put Invulnerability IV on me to get the shirt on. With my items installed I ported back and cleared the vit quickly. I made 27lv shortly after that. I really need to get to 35lv and pick up Mana Conversion. Tossing spells is a pain without it.
Building Fist
I was able to trade some keys for a Rej. VI ring. Getting my Stamina back after a battle is the only downtime I have. The only problem was that it had a 255 lore requirement. I buff to 254. I decided I would to get the next point by adding three points of focus. Focus was at over 700k a point so it would take a few days.
I headed to the Nest and started hunting to the bottom. On the second level I ran into Killean. He is 80lv now. He will be swearing to Elder when he can. Elder is 76lv so it will take a bit.
I found that on average a trip to the bottom of the Nest Solo will net 600k in point, a D note or more, and a few savable items.
But I'm not just hunting all night. After each trip I take any low level stuff to the newbe towns and find a worthy person for them.
It is hard to find a new player. Most are restarts with better gear than I have to give out. Last night I got lucky. I first found a totally new player. He was hunting rabbits around the starting point with a practice sword. He is now the owner if an Olthoi sword and a sword with some magic he can use later.
Next I found a new unarmed player. After giving him a new weapon we talked for a bit. I buffed it up and followed him. After my help he wanted to be in my tree. I asked him to put me on his friends list and I will place him. It was very late and none of my vassals were on.
He wanted to take on some Reedsharks. I felt his leather leggings were a bit weak for them so I gave up the 155 leggings I was going to mule.
I talked to The Saint and he is willing to take him. You will note we take vassals as a responsibility. It is not to be taken lightly.
Different ways to play and learning from them.
I met up with a 50+ level player the other day in the Nest. We passed each other a few times while hunting deeper and I said we might as well team up. He had a different style of play than I do.
I try to fight 5 or less at a time. This means drawing a few up the hallway and fighting them. He was a change into the middle and fight them all player. As he is lower than me I wondered how he lasted. I would have been out of stamina.
I found he has better armor than I do and a really outstanding shield. What he does is fight with no stamina. With his armor having his melee defense drop to zero means he will take a little damage but not enough to be dangerous.
I learned from this. The next time I was in the Nest I stopped using my stamina potions. In several fights I would hit 0 stamina with two or three soldiers left. I took about 100 damage killing them but that is just a quick heal or two from full health.
Dunderheads
Some players never learn how to play. When they play an Archer it is shoot everything that moves. When a mage it is fire spells at everything. As a melee it is attack everything. This is done without thought or plans. Their other tactic is if hurt run.
This leads to a lot of deaths by them and a lot of deaths caused by them, especially to melees. I have had several examples of this.
My Archer (Cliff Bowman) did the smart thing and put away his bow and picked up his unarmed weapon. Now he can fight 4 to 6 with out a problem. However he would rather fight them one at a time. This means setting up a group to line themselves against the wall. This is not easy or always possible. When it is successful it is a thing of beauty.
I had a line of 8 against the wall, waiting their turn to die. A melee dunderhead comes along and attacks the middle of the line. In seconds he is overwhelmed and runs. A few follow him but as I'm doing damage to their bother most attack me. Now I surrounded by them and fighting for my life. The ones that chased the dunderhead return. They either lost him or killed him, I hope the latter. I killed a few to make a hole and ran.
Another example was with Fist in the Nest. I'm in my cubby hole fighting 8 Soldiers. A Bow user comes along and shoots the one I'm fighting. It turns and attacks him, dragging me after it. Now I have 7 Solders attacking my back.
I quickly type "Don't get me dragged". His answer, "It was not intentional." Well what did he expect to happen! He had 8 targets, 7 of which did not hurt me. He picks the one that does. Dunderhead.
The last example is more greed than stupidity. I'm fighting a big blue lugie. A black one is pounding on my back. Along comes a fighter. He attacks the blue one. Of course he gets more points for it but shess. He could do the helpful thing or the leaching thing. To a dunderhead there is only one choice.
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