Beastmasters: Levels 55 and 56

Level 55 - All Over the Place

Level 55 seems to be one of those levels that's pretty hard to find a good camp. We started out in the basement of Garliage Citadel, but there were just too many people. Next we headed to Pso'Xja and dropped down behind the blue door where we used bats to fight pots, but we weren't thrilled with it. We did learn Rampage here though, and that was very exciting. It makes it a lot safer for us to get rid of the last thread of a mob's HP after we release our pets.

By this time, Garliage seemed to have emptied out, so we went back there and actually managed to fight a few hellmines with funnel bats, but a BST58 camped right on top of us and spoiled our fun, so we left for the day.

The next day we headed to the Labyrinth of Onzozo, and had a decent time fighing Flying Mantas with scorpions, at least until a mischarm and a link ended up getting us killed. We headed back to the basement of Garliage Citadel, and had a pretty good time there until it was time for us to get ready for a BCNM with Itera. There was a party fighting the beetles, so we didn't have to worry about aggro from those, and we had plenty of bats to use as pets on the Hellmines.

Behind Banishing Gate #2 (55->56)

We had been hoping for coffer keys while we'd been fighting in the basement, but didn't get any. So I decided we had to get people to help us get back behind Banishing Gate #2, and we would stay there until we both got our coffers for our level 56 Beast Helm Artifact Armor. Demin volunteered and brought Ijin along to help open the two gates, and we happily settled in. I joked about staying back there until we hit level 58, and I might have even meant it at the time.

We were a bit distressed at first when we discovered there were no bats back there, and the beetles were all level 56 or higher, but we managed to aggro the Acid Greases through the Banishing Gate, and when they came through the gate to attack us, we'd charm them and used them to fight beetles until we hit 56.

Once we hit 56, there were some even match beetles, which we would use to fight tough beetles and hellmines. The exp from the hellmines was pretty nice, even with the pet penalty. It seems like a lazy way to fight though, having two beetles hitting a bomb until they kill it or it self-destructs, as we stand back and simply watch. A coffer appeared on the stairs near where we were camping, and when a key finally dropped, it went to Grym. She ran up to the coffer, opened it up, and got her Beast Helm.

The next coffer showed up in the alcove behind an IT Tainted Flesh, which I didn't want to have any part of. However, a second key dropped, and being a bit bored (?!) with the Hellmines, I decided I could send a pet in to fight the Tainted Flesh, get my coffer, and we would warp out using our Treat Staff IIs. Another option would have been to get to a safe spot and log out, but I was afraid the pet wouldn't last long enough and we'd end up getting killed. So we equipped our staves, waited for the timer to count down on them, and I charmed a beetle, sent it to fight the Tainted Flesh, ran behind, opened the coffer and got my Beast Helm, then used my staff to warp out, while Grym did the same. Apparently using a warp item generates a lot of hate, as the Tainted Flesh turned around and hit me twice, hard, before turning back to the beetle. I made it out alive, and we happily ran around Windurst with our fuzzy helms on.

Wishing We'd Stayed Behind the Gate (Level 56)

We did a lot of running around after leaving the peace and quiet behind Banishing Gate #2, making me rue my decision to leave when getting my coffer. We went to check out Quicksand Caves (the entrance in the extreme southwest corner of West Altepa Desert (off-map)), but the lizards there were all tough. Next we headed to Toraimarai Canal, where Grym somehow got swarmed by a zillion leeches, but I managed to run away and avoided death.

We ended up back in the Oubliette for a bit of exp before we headed to bed for the night.

The next day, we got to level 57 fighting tough birds and anticans in Western Altepa, using scorpions and cactuars as pets. It was a bit slow, but pretty safe, and it sure was fun having cactuars shred the giant birds for 1250 points with 1000 Needles. After we hit level 57, we decided to check Quicksand Caves again (we were still too low), and Grym got jumped by an Antican that we swear was nowhere near her when she started recasting sneak. She soloed for awhile back in West Altepa to regain her level and get caught back up to Kiki and we continued our search for a level 57 camp.