Ever so often we need to be reminded that some people don't know as much as we do. This is not their fault, it is our fault for not explaining. We assume that if something is common knowledge among our peers it is known by everyone.
I read this post today and had a good laugh. The poor guy was really hurting and I got the idea that his friend was rolling on the floor. He brought a low level to get the high ore for a ravenous sword. After finding the ore he left him with the pick to go hunt.
He got back a few minutes later and asked, "You got it?" Meaning the ore. Answer, "No, no sword, I keep getting this ore. Rats I'm at 300% I need to drop some." So I'm not making the same error as his friend I'll explain this. The ore is used to make the sword. The ore is heavy and cannot be dropped. Because you cannot move items in your inventory when your at 300% burden you cannot even equip your wand.
Fortunately the guy had a strength ring and an open slot, otherwise doing @lifestone would have been his only option. Then after 1 death he gave all but one ore to the Crier. This guy's friend should have explained it to begin with.
Are PK's the best players?
I keep hearing this. Mostly from the PK's themselves. It makes sense. The AL of monsters is nowhere near as good as a human. Then something happens to make you wonder.
I'm hunting on the island. I have gotten strong enough and over buffed enough to move off the beach. Up in the hills it is a lot harder. Many times I find myself fighting four or five Bandies at a time. Have to watch your back as Drudges like to run over and lend the Bandies a hand from time to time.
There is no one on my screen for a while. Then I get the screen tell of "Fagot." I check my radar and see a PK dot. I will call him K the Archmage. He is a PK of some repute. I sent him a message asking why he is calling me names. I have never seen him before.
I did not get an answer so I let it pass. I'm in a dead spot between several spawns. I target a Bandie and put a Yield and Vuln on it. It runs towards the beach instead of at me. I figure someone had got its attention before I did. Hate to waste spells but it would help whoever it was.
I target another and it draws into a fight. Several Bandies came running off the beach and join the fight. The problem was all of them were at one-forth health. It took me a second to figure this out and kill them. The biggest danger to a mage is several monsters at low health, nothing to drain. After this happened several times I moved toward the beach to see who was unable to complete their kills.
There was K the Archmage. I sent him a quick tell asking him to please finish off his kills. Before he answered one Bandy killed him. I did not catch his level but I'm sure it is higher than mine. Everyone knows you have to kill a Bandy quick or it will run back to its spawn. Everyone but K the Archmage I guess. A single bandy should be child's play to a good mage.
Somehow this feared PK not only cannot finish a Bandy kill but gets killed by a lone Bandy. I'm guessing there was some reason for this, most likely buff running out. I keep a timer on my desk so I know when to stop fighting and rebuff. Whatever the reason my respect for K the Archmage is not very high right now. Of course if he did not toss the "Fagot" remark I probably would not have written about it.
The Plains
I got a call from a Quren. He had a body on the plains and needed a bit if help. I said I was willing but my past excursions to the Plains were lessens in fear and adrenalin overdose. I met up with Quren and after a little buffing took a portal to BSD.
I headed outside while Quren did some buffing. I'm in my new armor and feeling good as monster are doing much less damage than before. My war has improved enough (312 buffed) so I can vuln and blast without yielding most of the time. Umbris Shadows, Tuskers, Golem and Vinnie are falling left and right.
Quren got out and we headed off. I followed and tried to stay on the far side of the spawns. Quren saw his body in the middle of a pack. As he ran to the body I ran in a circle around him. This was about as funny looking as could be.
By running in a circle the war spells were not hitting. I'm getting de-buffed in about everything you can get de-buffed for. Tuskers, Golems, Vinnies and God knows what else were trailing me around Quren. He got his body and shouted PORT.
I saw an open section and ran to it. I figured I could get clear without porting. I was not sure if Quren had got his body or not so I tried to avoid porting out.
We met back up and he told me he had the body. He was staying as he wanted to make 40 by Saturday. I wished him well and ported back to AB.
New Vinnie
After reading the notes I figured it might be prudent to not log in AB before the patch. Both Fist and Mage logged on the Island.
I heard about the new Vinnie and figured as long as I did LS recall while buffed I was not going to have much problem. I was hoping the new danger at AB was going to keep the camping mobs away, no such luck.
Menelaus sent me a tell to get to AB. He had been killing the new Vinnie and wanted to show me them. I ported into a lag fest, even worse than normal. After finally getting downloaded I headed over to the south side of town.
The lag was better but people were running the new Vinnie all over the hill there. I found a safe spot and did a max buffing. On the East side of AB I found a lone Vinnie and setup to kill it. I start with Yield VI. With a 327 creature skill few monsters can resist it. Four attempts, four resists. I figure Turbine did another nerf to Og mages and made them Yield proof.
I tried a fire Vuln. My Life skill is 325 so most things are de-buffed with little trouble. Three attempts, three resists. Ok, maybe a total Og nerf. With 312 war I should have a shot if it is just Creature and Life proof. Three war, three resists. By this time I'm taking a bit if damage so I port out.
I tried again later thinking it was just Turbines non-random number generator again, same result, with level VI de-buffs added in. Later I talked to Menelaus. He said you have to check their level. If over 130 someone had leveled them. After that nothing known can kill them. People with 354 skill cannot land a spell.
I have heard tales of a group of 70lv of melee getting wiped out by one. Stories on how 375 combat skills are doing 1 to 3 damage. Seem about the only way to kill them is to run them out of stamina. I'm not sure why Turbine put this monster in but I will just avoid them for now.
Powerleveling and a Bow
Menelaus is making a melee player. He asked me to powerlevel him to 15 so he can hit the Citadel. He was at Slaughterhouse and I was in Lin.
A quick run to Mayoi got me to the south Direlands portal. I buffed up and hit the portal. It was a good thing as a Veivvus was waiting for me. Rather than chance getting de-buffed I hoofed it. At the ridge road I got to work on my level VII spells a bit. It is nice to one shoot all the golems that came close.
I crossed the valley and ran to the Slaughterhouse portal. There I met Menelaus. He logged in his fighter and I buffed him. We are using a bow even though it is untrained. A bow with a mage is about as strong as you can get at low levels. If you can hit a monster it will fall quick if Imperiled and Vuln.
Most badies fell with single shots. The Iron Golems fell with two. He leveled up several times when we found a large pack of Shadows. Menelaus wanted to fight them. Problem was Umbris Shadows have a good missile defense. He asked me to put a missile de-buff on them. Somehow I never learned that spells.
Menelaus logged back the mage and tossed the de-buffs. We ran and after breaking contact he logged back the melee. I tossed Imperil on one of the Umbris but got a little more than I counted on. Two Umbris, a Pan, several LT and and handful of Shadows.
I did not want to kill them as this was a setup for the fighter. I stood there and healed and drained stamina a few times. I had not put Yield on them so I was getting a few resists. I guess they all got the same idea and the four I was facing blasted me with spells. Menelaus had got ran off by one of the shadows so I was free to take wing.
The problem was I after the set of chain casts I was at 6hp. I knew I was dead for sure. The Umbris I had in target was the one Menelaus had been shooting at. A desperation drain got me to 36hp. I was lucky twice, they did not toss spells and only chased a short time. I could not believe I have lived though it.
After that I restored my health and mana and laid waste to the shadows. Taking them at range and killing as fast as I can let me do it with little danger. The hardest part of being a mage is not killing. A mage can insure his survivability if he kills the monster before it can get to him. That is why a mage/archer combo is even stronger than mage/melee.
I would say it took us an hour to level Menelaus's melee from 10 to 15. My brother-in-law is just got his computer this week and I will be powerleveling him a lot.
Jeff Sailor Bane comes to MT
My brother in law has been playing AC for about a year. He had a 7 month break when he did a tour overseas. He is a Marine and still active.
I let him have Saturdays to play and he was having a great time. Got his Swordsman up to 27lv and feeling his oats. I told him that when he got his own computer I would help him level back.
This week he got a Dell and I ordered a copy of AC for him. Now the hard part. I honestly don't know why MS is not including the first years patch on the CD. An 82mg download on a dialup is more than a pain. We are talking over 10 hours here.
Jeff's phone or IP has a problem. He will disconnect after 3 or 4 hours. Only downloading Netzip let him get the patch at all. So after some very frustrating days we got AC up and running for him.
I logged his account and set up the new Jeff Sailor Bane. He still wanted sword and is not big into magic. The template I made for him is. 100, 10, 100, 70, 40, 10. Spec Sword, Melee, Lore. Train Item. Healing at 7, Mana Conversion at 16, Life at 60. I feel this is a strong template for sword. Having never played one I cannot be sure but it looks right.
Next was getting him over the hump of 10 endurance. After equipping him with some good armor and weapons (Family is great), a good bow and 400 GAP's we headed to Awric. I had him LS in Awric and then took the Awric Mine to Old Mine.
After I buffed him for the three attacks Lugies have (Blunt, Piercing, Blade) I buffed his stats for bow use. Then I lead off to hunt. Old Mine at that time can be empty of other players. There were more than usual there but to begin with we had it to ourselves.
Jeff leveled several times in our first trip though. He was in total amazement. His comment was 6 months work in half an hour. Of course if he had not done that 6 months I would not be doing this.
He died once which gave me a reason to have Fist there. I logged Fist and showed him the way though Awric Mine. I needed Fist there as he is tied to the Subway.
After an hour and a half we had him to 12lv. My vassal Fu' Leng took him out the next day and leveled him again. Everyone in the family is making Jeff welcome. Next up is a friend of his from his last server.
Moonheart is a 30lv+ Swordswoman Jeff met. She likes Jeff as a hunting partner and wanted to move with him. She is setting up the same template and we will powerlevel her up next.
New Armor, maybe
I got a tell from UR III the other day. He is cutting back on AC to explore a new concept called real life. He has a set of pre-patch GSA and is not going to be using it. He hopes to sell it but will only do so for a high price. ($600 or 4 Mattie Robes)
Meanwhile he is letting me use the armor. If he does not get his price I get to keep it. O'God I love this armor. Let me repeat, I LOVE THIS ARMOR. At first I felt I had a good shot at keeping it. UR had few offers and most were well below his asking price.
As time went on the offers are getting closer to what he wants and now it looks like I will have to give it up. The thought crossed my mind to keep it. After all who can make me give it up? With all my heart and soul I want to keep this armor. Slowly I resolved myself to returning it. My honor is not worth any item no matter how good.
Be nice to be rich and just write a check for $600 but I'm not. Still a chance I can keep it as the asking price is very high. Right now I grateful for the chance to use it for the time I have.
New Vassals
I have been talking to Turtle the Encharter for a while. He had a bad experance with his last alliance and was being careful. After a few days him and Silvara contacted me. We met in Lin and Turtle the Encharter and Silvara swore to Fist de Mage.
Sadly that meant the end of Maddie as a vassal. She had given everything away and was never going to play again but I was keeping her until I needed the slot.
Turtle the Archer, another player he has, swore to Fist de Yuma. A full 24 vassals now but many are inactive. I expect to be having a lot of adventures with them.
Update
Armor is gone. Ur was able to get a debt released with the armor. It was great while it lasted. I'm back to using a Mattie Robe which is not all that bad. If not for PK's that armor would still be made. I would like to thank UR III for letting me have a few days of great armor.
Return to BSD
I'm trying to get my item high enough to use level VII spells. Fist started with 30 focus and 10 self. Item was trained at 9lv so it is really expensive now. Using split pea I found I needed about 100 million in points to get 300 Item. That is the break even spot for Items spells. That means I will fizzle half the time so level VII is still going to be a pain.
So I need a lot of points. There is only one place with that kind of xp, BSD. (I hear the Plains spawns are better but have not checked that out.) The last time I was in BSD it was full of leaches, drainers and all around lamer types.
I got a pleasant surprise today. Fighters respected fights. Mages respected fights. I even met the first Archer (rather than bow user) I have ever seen in BSD. Shot in the Dark was tanking Tuskers like a trouper and we ended up watching each other's back. I know how hard Tuskers hit without a shield so he had my respect.
I met Romside who had taken time off from AC for a while. All in all it was a fun, stress free morning. My melee has gotten to the point where I'm not being hit much. Last time I was there I had to move into a corner to keep Tuskers off my back. Now even from behind I was not being hit. I'm criting Guards for 90+ about 1 in 5 hits.
Spent about an hour there and made a million and a half points. Still going to have to spend a lot of time as my goals are planned out to 86lv (312 million points). After getting my item up I'm working on adding 10 points of Strength (50 million) and 10 points of coordination (40 million). Last goal is to get my UA to 400.
Vassals that write
I tend to attract vassals who love to write. I get stories from Daring every Monday and for a while he did not want me to put them in my column. I told him today I was putting this on in and he did not object. Here is Daring's story.
This weekend after spending too much time around Teth, I decided to try for better surroundings. So I decided to get to AB to try hunting around there. Now Ive been there before with other characters but getting with T***** (name edited out) would be a bit more difficult I thought due to his slow running abilities.
So I headed to the subway and was listening to people talk when someone said they were opening a slav vault, forgive the spelling. When I asked where it was, he said it was northeast of AB and just a short 10-minute run to get there. So Im thinking GREAT, save myself a 45-minute beach run. I jumped in the portal and was in this huge room, realizing I need to get outside I hit the portal. Big mistake, I was un-buffed and there were 3 Ravs right next to me when I portaled back in, I turned quickly and ran inside the vault again. I quickly buff myself and weapon and go outside to deal with the Ravs. I pull them away and take them out quickly.
Another person popped out of the portal named Demigod, whom I asked if he knew they way to AB. He said he did, then he turned around and buffed my strength and quickness and told me to follow him, that he would guide me. I was in shocked joy. Here I was someone that he didnt know and he was taking the time to make sure I was ok and that I got to AB safely. We made the run, once stopping to hit a lifestone on the way and got to AB with only a few scratches. I thanked Demigod for his help and he said no problem, that he makes that run all the time.
Now Im in AB and hit the lifestone, all of a sudden I see this big black shape coming towards me...YIKES that damn Executor Ive heard so much about. I run away, lucky for me it was chasing someone else. I turned around and saw the damn thing level, I couldnt believe it. I had taken off everything of value to me in case I died on the run and couldnt recover. I portaled back to my mule to change and load up on acid arrows. I figured Id do some golem hunting in Metos. It was great fun, the room was empty for the first 20 minutes I was there, and I was mowing them down. Only troubles I had were the Granite Golems, but since I couldnt drag them away I just acid vuld them and sent them to hell. I picked up a ton of jewelry and each gem I found that had magic I used whether it helped me or not. I just hate seeing clutter on the floor .
In that room I truly learned why people hate bowmen so much. I was using my bow at only 1/4 of the accuracy bar and I was 2-3 shooting the irons just like I would if it was at full, only difference what that the speed was unreal. I thought I was fighting UA for a minute. I was doing so well that for 6 minutes none of the golems got close enough to touch me. I never evaded, they just didnt get close enough to even attempt to hit me. I know hunting there can be boring at times if it gets crowded but when you are trying to up a stat it is well worth it.
Another person came in, I wont name him because I feel no need to embarrass him. He comes in and starts fighting the same Golem I am. No big deal Ive been here for a while killing them alone so I can share. I had the different spawns timed so I knew that 3 irons and one of the granites were coming any second.
Here they come, so I pop off the vuls on the Granite. What got to me is this guy would go after the granite after it was vuld. He did this three times, so I decided to teach him a lesson in manners. The guy wasnt a mage so I didnt think hed know the difference in the spells. I hit the granite with cold vul 1. The guy started swinging his acid sword and realized he wasnt doing any damage. Mr. Granite turns to see who is scratching him.....3 hits, and guy is kissing the lifestone, I vuld it proper and then slew it.
At this point I noticed that a body that had been on the floor had decayed. I had tried giving the person, Kodiac a tell to let him know the area was clear, but he wasnt logged in. I picked up the stuff and saw it was valuable, a nice amuli coat al 154, an excellent helm al 303, and a master robe. I gave Kodiac a tell again to see if he was on and to let him know I had his stuff. He was on but was leaving and could I give it to him later on that night. I said sure but I would have to store the stuff on a mule till then. It was heavy stuff.
I couldnt get on at the time he said he was coming back. I came on about 45 minutes later he was still online. I asked him to meet me in AB but he said he couldnt, that he was at a 40 vitae due to the Executor. He asked if I could deliver to the subway. Now Im all for helping someone but that was asking a bit much I thought. But then I thought Im an Elder and we go out of our way for people. So I made the run to the subway and gave him his stuff. He was thankful and I went on my way.
Thats my story and Im sticking to it. R. Scott White
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Balash is the General of our PK. He also has English has a second language so some parts of this might be a bit rough. The story is too good to pass.
Tonight, I hunted a bit with Bals Bowman and played a bit with the Umbris that spawn near Ayan Baqur. I won more then I lost.
Later that night, I was tired of the Umbris, so I recall to Sotiris to hunt for a Virindi Mask. Since it was camped and I am not a patient person (Bals Bowman has Item and I only cast for LS recall and the portal recall) I decided to go outside after killing like 20 drudges.
When I appear outside, Elder was there, camping a Steel chest, we talk a bit then I saw a Dual fragment. I killed it in 2 arrows. Then I ran to loot it, not seeing the bunch of shadows. As they close, I ran back and enter Sotiris to heal. I got a tell from Elder saying "Dont attract those Hehe ". When I mentioned I killed a dual and want to see the corpse, he understood. I try to make a stealthy approach to the corpse. All goes well until I saw 4 tuskers and 4 shadows closing. I remember what Elder had said. I am a loyal follower so I try to jump the cliff to make them track me. When I try to jump I hit the wrong key. I hit B that is mapped to lie down. So I slowly, very slowly, laying down and 3 shadows + 2 turskers are on me. They're bashing me but to my surprise I evaded some of them.
When I finally stand up (I had the impression it have take 2 minutes) I jump down with 44 health. When I land, I took enough damages to be at 16 health. I start running in the opposite direction of our monarch, when he tell me " Come back you goof :)" with 2 tusker and 2 shadows tailing me, no way I will try to reply. I run like a mad man and finally shake them.
Later, when I talked to Elder explaining about the B key adventure, he laughed.
Hehe So like I always say the only difference between Stupidity and Crazy is that a stupid ones die where the crazy ones survive.
Balash
News group tales
Got a lot of storied saved up that I need to get out of the way. These two fit as both are about the new islands.
[Kruge the Warrior]
I (after over four months) finally turned my back on the now boooooring Qalbar Citadel and proceeded to simply wander around the countryside, get some fresh air and stuff. I even made it back to Stonehold that, when I still was on DT, was full of life and friendly ppl (probably because its hard to reach and because of that quite safe from raids).
How disappointed was I when I found out, that the town was completely empty on MT...
Anyway - after getting his revenge on some local Tuskers which finally got me to overcome my trauma. (You remember the incident with that male Tusker who wore suspenders and high heels?) I met a nice guy who told me about the new Islands.
"Well", I thought, "Why not? The weather should be better than here and I *could* use a sun tan...".
The journey itself, taking the route via Bandits Castle, went quite smooth - after almost a year now I know my way around - at least on the non-Dires part of the map. Then another nice fellow (heck - I *always* forget names of folks I meet!) even showed me the way to Kryst and the Lifestone on Island 2...
What a lovely place! The landscape really looks cool (ok, granted - youve got to like beaches and trees) and the background noise really is a treat: Jungle birds, sometimes some mysterious drums (I assume thats some strange Mosswart ritual going on somewhere in the jungle) and these *really* scary screams that had me looking over my shoulder for a T-Rex sneaking up on me more than once...
Even better: The XP and the loot are quite something, especially when you concentrate on the beach - those Island Armoredillos and the Shallows kick ass. Literally. And then they bite. And disembowel. Ouch.
Anyway - I just had decided to stay there for a while when I got a @tell by some guy from Stonehold (I got some Potions and Mana stones for him via subway, Stonehold is quite an expensive place for that kind of stuff...) who told me to come to Qalbar once more - there he gave me a *really* nice sword: Base 6-10, BD IV, HS IV, Speed 42 as well as another blade with Speed 32 and base 7-13 and Melee defense +8% - "Thats great for the Bandit Hilt quest", he said.
Wow - the first blade really has some teeth - Up to that point my best sword (dont laugh) was an Olthoi that I buffed with BD3, HS2, SK3 and DEF3 - with that I was able to fight one Shallow Destroyer or even an island Armoredillo at a time - that new blade now had me going against two (and once even three) at a time and survive. Nice touch. :o)
My first encounter with those idols was: Hey cool! Whats that statues doing there? Looks kinda "Mosswartish" to me...
I later on that day met two Mosswart Idolators who stood in front of such a statue. I was quite amused at their puny "Fire vulnerability" spells they threw at me over and over again - after all there wasnt any fire around.
At least until that Idol opened its eyes and started breathing fire in my direction! Ouch once more! But again thats points for good style. Now I know that all the Idols can turn on you when youre unlucky, but in that first case the fact that it only did so *after* the Mossies cast on me really added to the general feeling. :o)
Did I tell you that the first Idol I finally got to *kill* actually carried an Idol gem? Well, it did. And I even found someone who explained to me what to do with it and where to go. Well, my Sword skill is at about 210 right now, but I guess after staying on the Island a little longer thats going to change pretty fast. Then Ill go to that Meteos place another guy told me about to get an Iron heart and then... Myuahahah! My *first* quest *ever*! :o)
After all its been a good decision to finally leave the Cit and get out - last weekend held more fun (and adrenaline pumping action) than the last three months altogether. If youre in your twenties and need some changes, check the islands.
Michael Briel
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Peter Duniho is a long time contribtor to the newsgroup. Here is his story about the new islands.
So, as part of my ongoing exploration of Dereth, and my current sub-goal of the Vesayan Islands, I took it upon myself to learn more about a dungeon that I had come across earlier in my travels. The Treacherous Tunnels.
I had heard tales of a portal inside that would take one to another dungeon. Beyond that, I really didnt know much at all about the place.
Upon entry, I discovered a Slithis guarding the entrance. Fortunately, it couldnt attack me while I was still in portal space, and of course once in, I was able to dispatch it easily.
I found a ramp that led down a little, where I came across a Rank Moarsman. Just around the corner, he had a couple of friends. My first thought, after knocking them down with the back of my hand as I scratched an itch, was that I hoped the dungeon would prove more interesting. After all, I hardly considered Rank Moarsmen "treacherous" in the "hazardous" sense of the word (though of course I wouldnt trust them any further than I could throw one).
After a brief search, I found the secret switch to allow me to pass some sturdy iron doors, beyond which were...MORE Rank Moarsmen. Hmmm...I was starting to see a trend develop.
To make a long story a little shorter, I explored that level and found passage to lower depths of the dungeon beyond another Slithis. At this point, I began to run across some Foul Moarsmen. Things were starting to look up.
Little did I know that what was really happening is that I was quickly starting to get in too deep over my head. Continuing down, I found more Foul Moarsmen, guarding passage to a room in which was contained a writhing version of the Slithis that I had never seen.
My spelling fails me...it had a "u" where I expected an "i" in the name, and I will call it Sulthis without regard for whether thats the appropriate spelling or not. I quickly discovered that this beast was quite different from the push-over Slithiss that I was used to. Not only was it quite skilled at evading my attacks (surprisingly so, given that it was rooted firmly in the ground), but the Eye Stalk was able to cast quite powerful Drain and Harm spells. When it became clear that I was not going to make headway, and I turned to retreat a bit so I could heal, I found that it was still quite able to deal out deadly blows from its fixed position, even when I was around the corner in a place I had expected to be safe. Having been drained of half my Health, another quarter was gone in a blink of the eye.
Well...these seemed quite dangerous to tangle with, but they couldnt chase me. Perhaps it was better to just run past, and continue my exploration.
On the other side of that room, the floor sloped downward, leading to another passage even lower. After killing a straggling Foul Moarsman, I found that below lay several Putrid Moarsmen. They didnt wait for me to come down, choosing instead to avenge their compatriots death proactively.
I had never seen a Putrid Moarsman before either. They proved much more challenging than the Rank and Foul variety, but not more difficult than say, a Shallows Devourer or an Olthoi Soldier. However, as it turns out, being attacked by three Putrid Moarsmen while still within range of a Sulthis can be quite deadly. Unable to fend off the spells draining my health, stamina, and mana, the Putrid Moarsmen took advantage of the situation, and quickly brought me to my knees. Before I knew it, I was back in Sawato, licking my wounds.
As luck would have it, a good friend was nearby and volunteered to help with corpse recovery. I suspect I could have handled it alone, but it would have taken a lot more care than Id shown the first time through, and I still ran the risk of dying again. I accepted his offer of help with enthusiasm.
Not long after we returned to the Vesayans, just outside of the Idol Spawning Grounds where I began to work off my vitae penalty, our monarch showed up looking for trouble. Explaining that we had trouble a-plenty, we invited him along. In the process, I lost my wits, and allowed a Shallows Devourer to hit me hard from the rear; without my shield to protect me, I died a quite embarrassing death right at the feet of my helpful friend.
Still, vitae penalty does not last long in the Vesayans. He and I proceeded along the beaches, working our way toward the Treacherous Tunnels dungeon, and I quickly reduced my vitae penalty. Before too long, we were at the dungeon, I had only one percent of the penalty left to work off, and our monarch was ready to join us. Since he and my friend are both attuned to the lifestone in Ayan Baqur, my friend tied to the dungeon, and recalled to Ayan to pick up our monarch.
I went ahead to the entry room, to clear out the Slithis that sits there. Not that it would have proved dangerous, but simply as a courtesy to the new arrivals.
We retraced my steps, laying even more waste to the inhabitants than I had in my original trek through. Until we reached the first Sulthis. Intrigued, my companions suggested we attempt to subdue it. With the additional help, I figured it was worth a try. Well, after one disorganized first attempt, we retreated again to lick our wounds, and to come up with a more robust plan.
Except that my spear-wielding friend had overextended himself, and managed to get Harmed to death. Since he was tied to the dungeon entrance, his re-arrival took only moments, but now there were two corpses in the dungeon to retrieve. Around this time, yet another friend and member of our little allegiance inquired as to our whereabouts, and volunteered her assistance.
Quite the dangerous axe-wielder she is, her assistance would be welcome. Unfortunately, we neglected to ask her to bring along her crossbow, as that would have proved handy against the Sulthis as well, we expected. Still, surely with the four of us, one mage, one sword swinger, one spearman, and one axe warrior, we could accomplish the goal. Right?
Eventually she arrived. Our spearman had to make yet another trip back to Ayan to pick her up, and he led her down to where our monarch and I waited. We had made another brief attempt, using some more powerful magic against the creature, but I alone was not sufficiently deadly to be effective.
With the four of us all there, we started anew. Our monarch called out for spell requests. Most of us choose the relevant attack Mastery spell, an Armor spell, and at least a Heart Seeker on our weapons. I directed the de-buffing, asking for an Imperil and Vulnerability against the eye stalk, with similar spells against the tendrils and tentacles as time and mana permitted. We waited, as he cast over and over, trying to get the first harmful spells to stick.
Finally, the eye stalk was as weakened as he was able to make it. We attacked. The fight started out most unpromisingly. For every strike we landed against it, it was able to drain enough health to recover. But we could see it starting to tire. Three attackers, even with distractions from the tentacles and tendrils, were taking its toll. The eye stalk started casting fewer spells; eventually, it seemed to stop altogether. While none of us could delve deeply enough into its soul to know exactly how much mana it had left, it seemed apparent that it was running quite low.
At the same time, we managed to land a couple of serious blows. The axe especially cleaves deep, and I was using a well-made kaskara to carve steadily into eye stalks trunk. A couple of lucky hits, and it dropped suddenly from over half health, to just over a quarter health. We would have taken a moment to hold our breath, waiting for a drain, hoping it wouldnt come, but we couldnt afford to let up yet. Thankfully, no drains came, and the eye stalks health was no longer recovering.
At the exact moment that it died, our spearman reached his 46th level! It was just the morale boost we needed! With the eye stalk gone, the rest of the beast didnt stand a chance. With renewed vigor, we each took up our own target, hacking and slicing like there was no tomorrow. By this time, our monarch had also managed to land the necessary Imperil and Vulnerability spells on each, and we made quick work of them.
Our spearman retrieved his items from his corpse, while some more Foul Moarsmen showed up to give us trouble. Of course, after battling the Sulthis, they seemed like butter under our hot weapons.
The group paused, just before heading further below, to cast new spells for protection and skills. Only another six or eight Putrid Moarsmen stood between us and my corpse at this point, and I had no doubt that with the three of us, plus our magic-casting monarch, we would have no trouble reaching it. It was unlikely that any of us would even need to be healed along the way.
Sure enough, getting to the corpse was a walk in the park. The Putrid Moarsmen didnt know what hit them. Sometimes, when youre a Moarsman, it just doesnt pay to get up in the morning.
Despite the successes we were now having, that was as far as we were to go in that dungeon this evening. Our axe wielding partner-in-crime had every intention of completing her search for Hamuds katar, and soon. The corpse recovery had been a fun distraction for her, but now it was time to leave and regroup in Sawato for that quest.
I still have no idea if the rumored dungeon-to-dungeon portal can be found in the Treacherous Tunnels. But I do at least know that the dungeon can live up to its name.
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Relevant character stats for anyone who cares:
Sword: Level 39, attack of ~300, defense of ~250
Spear: Level 45-46, attack and defense unknown to me, but likely at least a bit higher than my Sword skill, since he had a very steady diet of Olthoi for quite awhile
Axe: Level around 40, give or take a level or two, attack and defense unknown to me
Mage: Level 44, Im not sure what magic schools buff to, but hes an Og mage, and probably is pretty close to standard skill levels for a L44 Og mage.
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