Quests: Valkurm Dunes Garrison #2

A few of us decided to try the Dunes Garrison (level 30 cap) again for our Friday Night event. This week, Windurst controls the Zulkheim region, and Kiki, Grymalkyn, Elboron, and Diasuke all had managed to get their hands on a sack of Galka Fangs, so we were able to do 4 runs. We weren't terribly organized, and it took awhile for us all to gather together at the outpost, but we ended up with this intrepid band of adventurers:

Splinte WAR/NIN
Onima MNK/WAR
Tsakiki WAR/MNK
Grymalkyn WHM/BLM
Elboron WHM/BLM
Diasuke BLM/WHM
Itera RDM28/BLM -> MNK/WAR
Wendell BLM/WHM

We hadn't been certain about Wendell showing up, but I probably would have asked Diasuke to come as a WAR or PLD instead of having two BLMs, but it worked out fine, so no harm done. We learned that when Windurstians initiate the Garrison, you end up getting a bunch of Scholars to protect, rather than the San d'Orian Traders. They were mostly Tarutaru, with one or two Mithra. The Tarus all seemed to be mages, and the WHM Scholars would cast healing and buffing spells (and also Diaga, which kind of messed up trying to sleep some of the goblins).

Our general plan was to have Wendell and Splinte drag one goblin away from us to keep it slept while we rested before finishing it off and starting the next wave, but some times they had a hard time getting one away without one or more of the scholars following along and waking the goblin back up. Fortunately, we were able to get full rests every run before the fourth wave of goblins, and we won every fight. We lost a few NPCs along the way, and Elboron got killed on one run as well. He had had reraise active and we learned that when you're raised, you're not in the garrison anymore and can't assist the others. It makes sense, since the level cap is removed, but we hadn't really thought about it beforehand. Grymalkyn also used Benediction on that fight, but we somehow managed to keep her from getting killed as well. It was really helpful having two WHMs in our party - the first time we did Garrison, we just had one.

We got plenty of mannequin feet and legs, so we've really got to get serious about doing the BCNMs for the final three parts. We were quite lucky with our drops as well, getting two Military Harps (1 million each), a Military Pick (700K), a Military Gun (100K), two Military Spears (70K? each), and a Military Pole (15K). Kiki is responsible for selling everything and splitting the gil with the group. I had set one of our mules out in Rolanberry Fields overnight in an attempt to avoid the Auction listing fees, and none of the Military stuff sold, but things sold quite quickly once I put them up on the Auction House this morning.

NPC Buddies: Update

We continue to take our NPC buddies out to fight on a relatively regular basis. Balu-Falu and Wagwei are both 49, while Elboron's Siegward hit 38. Kiki's been taking Balu-Falu out without Grymalkyn, so he's got a bit ahead of Wagwei. Elboron was finally able to do the Promyvion quest with Siegward, so the three of us headed to Promyvion-Mea the other day, fighting the empty with our buddies for about half an hour. They really tear through the mobs quickly.

Balu-Falu is now staying out for 25 fights, not too long after Siegward caught up and started staying out for 20 fights. :-(

Both Kiki and Grymalkyn got the 5th weapon upgrade done, and both gave their buddies a Mythril Scythe. Grym wanted to stick with a great katana for Wagwei, but people are charging 150K gil for the 5th great katana, while we could pick up the scythes for 40K. The scythes do have the highest DPS of all the 5th weapons, so it wasn't a bad choice. Just different weapon skills.

Kiki has started the Chameleon Capers quest, but would like to wait for Grymalkyn to pick it up as well so they can do it together.

A new option in the chat menu with our buddies allows us to lock in "Fashionable" equipment. One of these days we'll have to keep calling them in a single zone and see if we can get them to the point where they're wear some interesting gear.

Leveling: LLS back to Uleguerand Range (62-63)

The LLS headed back for another 3 hours in Uleguerand Range, fighting the Nival Raptors again. We were probably a level too high at 63, but it was fast and easy. Pretty consistent Chain #5s and no rest breaks to speak of. Elboron (BRD62) and Itera (MNK63) didn't level, but Kiki, Grym, and Yobun hit 63, and Erock got to 58. Both Erock and Elboron were planning to get pickup parties to get a bit more EXP under their belts and narrow the gap.

Grymalkyn got killed again on a long pull. The raptor got her shadows off, flee wasn't up, and with three hits, the poor kitty was dead. I knew she was in trouble and ran to try to pull it off of her before the third hit, but I didn't make it in time. We ended up with about 12.5-13K exp on 3 hours worth of food.

With our static's setup (PLD, THF, THF, MNK, BRD, WHM), I'm not sure how much better we can do with per-hour exp, since we've been told without a BLM we're going to have to stick to VTs the rest of our career. It's great to have a static though, and not worry about finding people and dragging them off to little known camps, and have them leave without warning and so on and so forth. But as the amount of exp needed for each level gets bigger and bigger, it seems it will take us forever to get to 75 at 3 hours a week.

Quests: Pulling the Strings (Mine Shaft #2716 ENM)

Kiki decided to head off to Movalpolis to try the level 60 capped solo ENM, Pulling the Strings. For this, your subjob is removed, and you face a marionette, the Fantoccini, with a Moblin Fantocciniman rolling dice and changing the status for you or the Fantoccini. The first roll, the Fantoccini was given 153 TP, which he used to Vorpal Blade on Kiki. Then Kiki got a Defense Boost, then an Attack Boost. But the fourth roll gave the Fantoccini 300 TP, which meant a 982 point Spirits Within and a dead Kiki.

Next time I think she'll take some food and an au lait, plus be ready to use Invincible. The Fantoccini wasn't taking a lot of damage either, so I probably want to up Kiki's attacks. Kiki did get .5 skillups for her shield, but I'm not sure that was really worth the 22K gil it cost to get up there. :)

Fishing: Back to Qufim

Kiki headed to the north cliff in Qufim this weekend to try to get some squid for Grymalkyn's sushi. She ended up catching 10 squid, 3 stacks of cone calamary, and a stack of bluetail (and only two monsters). She used her lu shang's and a minnow, and didn't have too much trouble. A couple of the bluetail and squid were too tough for her to catch, but not enough to be really annoying. I wasn't really keeping track, but it probably took her 60-90 minutes, and if she'd been selling all of the fish, she would have cleared 120K gil. She also got a skillup, and hit 51. Progress seems so slow, but then again, she hasn't been fishing much lately.

Monke-Onke were the fish of the day earlier this week, and Kiki and Grym caught 6 or 7 stacks of moat carp along with their Monke-Onke. They're going for 10K a stack now on Lakshmi. I'm surprised there aren't more people fishing.

Quests: More Titles to Add to the Collection

Making Amens! and Rubbish Day

For months, Kiki's been carrying around some trash from Chululu, and also has been meaning to make sure she get Ajido-Marujido's wand back before it was tossed into the incinerator, but she needed three friends to help her get to the incinerator door in Garlaige Citadel. Luckily, Grymalkyn, Elboron, and Izan were all on similar errands, and all four of them had obtained the Garlaige Key they each needed to open the Crematory Hatch, deep within the Citadel.

They made their way there without too much trouble, and everyone had a nice chat with Mashira, who works there. They all headed back to report to Chululu in Jeuno, and she was glad the task was completed. Some gil and a chain choker were their rewards.

New title: Street Sweeper

Kiki then headed back to Windurst to return the broken wand to the Orastery in Port. Kuroido-Moido and Hakkuru-Rinkuru didn't seem to remember they'd asked her to get the wand back until she'd talked with a gate guard and started her next mission for Windurst (The Sixth Ministry). She was given some gil for her efforts, and learned a bit about Apururu and her brother, Ajido-Marujido.

New title: Hakkuru-Rinkuru's Benefactor

Wonder Wands

Later, Kiki returned to the Orstery, and Hakkuru-Rinkuru needed some help with the heads of the Windurst Wizards forces. They were bickering over which type of weapons they should be using (the BLMs wanted oak staves, the WHMs mythril rods, and the RDMs rose wands). So Kiki brought one of each back to Hakkuru-Rinkuru, but Shantotto showed up just then. She took the wands and tried each one out, nearly killing Kiki in the process. If Apururu hadn't shown up, it surely would have been the end of the poor little Taru. Shantotto tried to make a joke of it and gave Kiki a pair of New Moon Armlets, but I still don't trust that woman.

New title: Doctor Shantotto's Guinea Pig

The Clue

Long ago, Rycharde in Mhaura had asked Kiki to bring him 4 crawlers eggs, but Kiki never seemed to find them when killing crawlers. She had one in storage, but just couldn't seem to find the other three he needed. Finally this weekend, she spotted some on the AH, and bought them up and headed out to Mhaura. Rycharde was very pleased. He's a very patient man.

New title: Four Star Purveyor

The Basics

The next day, Kiki returned to talk to Rycharde to see if he had anything else he needed her to do. Sure enough, he'd concocted a couscous dish, and needed someone to take it to his father, Valgeir, in Selbina to try to impress him with his culinary abilities. Kiki headed to Selbina, and was given a popoto to take back to Rycharde. The father felt his son didn't understand the basics of cooking, and needed a reminder. Rycharde seemed to understand his father's message, and gave Kiki a Tea Set.

New title: Five Star Purveyor

Leveling: Kiki's RDM58 heads to Kuftal Tunnel

Last Friday night, Kiki took her RDM out to try to get some EXP. She was joining Erock's WHM57 and Rovont's PLD57, and they picked up a THF58, DRK56, and a BLM56. We thought we'd head to Cape Terrigan, but there were too many parties there, and the Valley of Sorrows had two parties as well. So we headed to Kuftal Tunnel to fight raptors. Erock had been there with his WAR, and had a good party there.

We made our way to the camp without incident, noted that the camp was small and subject to aggro from both sides, so we had to be careful. The THF started pulling and we started fighting. For some reason, the fights seemed to take longer than they should have for the exp we were getting (maybe the two 56s were too low, I don't know), and we certainly weren't chaining.

At one point, Kiki used convert and the THF pulled right away. Since I was worried about pulling too much hate curing myself, I tried to go to the other end of the camp to avoid any AOEs until I could get my HP back up. Another raptor spawned and noticed me. I tried sleeping it, but the DRK decided to fight it. Rovont ended up dying, and I escaped 4 of us out (the BLM was too far away, but he lived through it). We made our way back to Rovont, and Erock raised him. While we were waiting for Rovont's weakness to wear, the BLM got aggro'd by a raptor, and Erock and Rovont both got killed. I think. We escaped again, and on the way back, the DRK got aggro'd and maybe killed, the BLM got killed, and the THF died zoning out to West Altepa with 14 HP and a huge train in tow. I raised Erock and he raised Rovont, and Erock got aggro'd again while healing. The BLM died again at the zone, playing with a Manticore.

Anyway, we finally gave up on the party. I think Kiki got 1K, maybe 1.5K exp, and was the only one to not die. Looking back on it, it's a bit comical, but at the time, it was just plain discouraging. Probably more so for the people who kept dying. It was almost as bad as some of the parties my DRK had in the Dunes over a year ago.

Notorious Monsters: Sewer Syrup

In the darkness of the Bostaunieux Oubliette, there lurks a jelly by the name of Sewer Syrup. This notorious monster is known to drop a jelly ring when defeated. The jelly ring is rare and exclusive, meaning anyone who desires it needs to at least be in the sewers with a party killing it. It can be worn by anyone level 63 or higher, and reduces physical damage taken by 5%, though increases magical damage by 5% as well. Every Paladin wants one of these rings, and as Kiki approaced 63, Erock told her he could help her get the ring if she had a few more people help. As a RDM75/NIN37, he could easily solo the monster, but he would need a small team to help make sure he didn't get any links while fighting with it.

So last night, Kiki rounded up her friends, and they headed deep into the Oubliette. Erock came as RDM75/NIN37, while the clean-up crew consisted of Elboron BRD62/WHM31, Itera MNK63/RDM28, Grymalkyn THF62/WHM31, and Tsakiki PLD62/RDM31. We snuck to the area where Sewer Syrup is known to hide, and then killed the nearby Werebats and Mousses. Itera called his fellowship partner, Fhig, to join us as well.

We killed three or four Mousses (for some reason, the plural for Mousse seems odd, probably because of its homonym, Moose, not having a plural) and then had to wait a bit. Another two Mousses appeared, and we dispatched those as well. Then the Sewer Syrup spawned. We buffed up, Erock pulled him, and we commenced fighting. The jelly was very resistant to physical damage, so it took us a long time to whittle him down. Kiki hit it with Holy two or three time, for over 220 damage each time, but her sword hits were generally closer to 10 points each. Erock enfeebled, nuked, and slashed away, maintaining hate for the most part. Itera and Elboron both used their two hour abilities, which hastened the Sewer Syrup's demise.

Fluid Spread was a bit hard on those of us without stoneskin up, but we were never in any real danger, and we defeated the Sewer Syrup before any of its Mousse friends returned. The Jelly Ring dropped, and thanks to Kiki's friends, she has another nice piece of equipment for her job as a Paladin.

Leveling: LLS in Uleguerand Range (62)

This past Sunday night, Diasuke couldn't make it again, and after an hour of trying to find a healer for our static, we finally talked Erock into joining us. His WHM was only 55 while we were all 61-62, but that really isn't much of an issue for a healer.

We did a quick search for the camps at our level, and decided to head to Uleguerand Range to fight Nival Raptors. The camp was fairly easy to get to, though we did need sneak and invisible for it. We camped on a down ramp at J-10, and had plenty of Raptors to pull from both the top and the bottom.

The Raptors were mostly VTs, but there were a few ITs, and we pretty much kept up with Chain #5s. The raptors are very fast, and usually would knock Grym's shadows off and even get a hit or two in before getting back to camp if her flee wasn't available. Other than that, we didn't have too many issues. They hit hard and fast, and the paralyze attacks were annoying, but Erock kept on top of everything, and Elboron got to do all his Bard stuff for a change.

Towards the end of the evening, Grym's Flee macro didn't work properly on one pull, and the poor Mithra got killed in 3 hits. We weren't quite ready to call it quits for the evening, so after her R2 (Erock had hit 56), we waited and killed a couple more raptors. Elboron hit 62 on one of these, so it was good we didn't just pack it in for the night. Yobun also hit 62, so other than Erock, the rest of the static finished up the night at 62. Kiki was about 3K tnl, having gained about 11K for 2.5 hours (1K from her Empress Band).

Erock had let Kiki borrow his Haubergeon, and she swapped it in for a few fights with the VTs where Itera was pulling more hate. I didn't really notice much difference in her attacks, but the loss of the VIT from her AF did make a difference in how much damage she was taking. I'd still like to get a Byrnie some time and see how that works.