Dainty – The Rogue

As most know, in EQ1 I have a plethora of alts. Always have. I originally signed up for Nostalgia the Guild with my cleric, however we honestly had enough healers – and so I switched to my necromancer who happened to be the right level when we were lacking dps. Upon further contemplation though, I’ve decided to level up a rogue to play with our Friday night groups. The big thing for me was to play something that actually relied on having a group, since that’s exactly what I’d have. The necromancer is fun, and a lot of dps – but she can solo just as easily as she groups. Not exactly what I was looking for there.

Along comes Dainty.

She’s a gnome rogue, sporting hot pink and black armor, with an affinity for shinies (which can be said for all rogues I’m fairly certain) and a fear of blood. I plan on working out some sort of role play story for her that I haven’t concocted quite yet. I love making up background histories and what not for my characters.

Last night thanks to temperance from one Brita, and buffs continuously from one very kind druid, I managed to make my way from 1-24 with relative ease. The goal is to be 30-35 by this Friday, and geared – with my skills worked up. Maybe not disarm trap as I’d have to actually go find, you know, traps. If there are lower levels where I can do this, please someone let me know. I’m already planning on a Befallen trip to work the lock picking (thanks Tipa for reminding me what that zones name was).

Aside from leveling up the rogue, I had the opportunity to tag along with Urtog while he worked on a weapon quest for a giant ancient road sign. Or at least that’s what the end result looks like. It’s either that or a primitive spanking rod, or perhaps a fly swatter. I’m not quite sure. Either way, congratulations to him for finishing that off.

It was also the Tuesday night Nostalgia run, they headed to Unrest and you can find Tipa’s amazing write up of the event. There’s still some time to join both the Friday and the Tuesday groups – and we’re also starting up a UK group (though there’s no set day yet that they’ll be meeting, there will be shortly). The level cap for the Tuesday group is (I believe) 25, the Friday group is 35, and anyone is more then welcome to come. Friday is looking for an enchanter, but as always we want people to play whatever they enjoy. What’s the point of paying $15 a month if you’re not playing something you have fun with.

As I leveled up the rogue I read over SOE’s emails to me (each ding) suggesting places to get experience. One place was Stonebrunt Mountains, a place I hadn’t been to in ages. I couldn’t even remember any camps for this zone. It was of course, empty. I also headed over to the Overthere, which was also – you guessed it. Empty. In fact the only places that weren’t empty, were Crescent Reach, and Blightfire Moors. Not that it bothered me too much since I was just trying to catch the rogue up for Friday.

Today I’m fairly confident I can get the rogue the rest of the way to 30-35, and get her skills worked on. I am also eager to not only begin poison crafting, but tinkering. The one tradeskill I’ve rarely (if ever) delved in. I’m looking forward to it!

Not our Corpse – Stonehive Fun

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t my corpse.”

“What do you mean it isn’t your corpse, you know the people here are professionals, right? We don’t make mistakes.

“But it’s not my corpse, it’s all wrong!”

“We. Don’t. Make. Mistakes.”

“Look. If I was some two foot dwarf with NO hair, don’t you think I’d have known that before hand?”

“Perhaps you shaved, Sir. It’s not our concern to check the patrons before hand for their body hair.”

*Waving a beard around* “DOES IT LOOK LIKE I SHAVED?”

*A few feet away another discussion is going on*

“This is not my body.”

“Miss, we don’t make mistakes.”

“But look, the scales are a completely different colour, her hair isn’t even cut the same, and she’s at LEAST four times smaller then me!”

“Can you take another look? Our staff are certain this is indeed you.”

*Insert screams of frustration here*

It was late, but it was fun. Last night Tipa, Urtog, Lackey, and myself (on the cleric, not the necromancer) headed to Stonehive, a zone just off of Blightfire Moors. None of us had been there before, but Lackey had a few quests requiring the area. The mobs at the beginning were white and yellow to us. The further in we moved, the more red they became.

We died a whole lot at the start (well, everyone else did. Me, I ran in true cleric form) until Tipa joined up and we dropped one very disagreeable necromancer who felt the need to tell me for half an hour how it was our fault he had died (he had unscribbed feign death for the better of the group before hand) and how it would take him hours to get all those buffs he had again. That’s part of the game, was all I could tell him. Once Tipa joined we only died once – at the very end. By that point we were knee deep in bixie parts and having a lot of fun with it. Or at least I assume everyone was, it was late and I could have been hallucinating.

The best part, is I got to play my cleric in a group. I’ve gone on about how I loved to heal and not only how I loved to but how I was GOOD at it too (wow who’d have guessed!) for some time with nothing to back it up because I’m never healing. Last night everyone brought their A game though, and we did fantastic. Especially for four of us, in a zone filled with red.

Many levels were earned. Not sure about everyone else but I went from level 30-34 (almost, I’m 10% shy which is one kill in Blightfire). Tipa hit level 36, Urtog 35, and Lackey 34. A lot of quest items dropped which made me think I should have almost grabbed them first (the quests, that is) and a new cloak for Tipa and Urtog also dropped.

Before hand I got my monk to level 20, which was nice. Duo’ing with another monk when we both have feign death is also a good thing – though it’s too low on either of us to be exceptionally effective. I’ve been having a lot of fun in EQ1, and perhaps neglecting EQ2 some what – though I did manage to quest yesterday and finish off my Jarsath Waste gate hammer (finally). When I’m having so much fun in one game (for now at least) there’s no real desire to switch back and forth.

Thanks again Nostalgia The Guild for a fantastic night!

Shepherd of the Celestial Watch

Seeress Ealaynya Ithis’s Holy Calling

Back when the gods had been silent for ages and the suffering of people of Norrath huddled together for refuge, faith seemed destined to die.

It was during this time that a young child by the name of Ealaynya Ithis started to exhibit clairvoyance and experience prophetic dreams. Even the most skeptical villagers were convinced when young Ealaynya led hunters to a crying child, having been lost for nearly a week.

She began to lead the village gatherers to hard found resources. Her retelling of her visions comforted them at the fireside. She had earned the praise of her village and brought a glimmer of faith to their forsaken lives. How could they keep such a child’s gift to their selves? She was like the harbringer of faith within this realm. Qeynos would be her pulpt!

They abandoned their village for the city of Qeynos. There they discovered the once grand Temple of Life, nearly abandoned.

The temple that awaited Ealaynya paled in comparison to the one she had beheld in her visions. Only a few acolytes of the Prime Healer remained andthe temple rested in near ruins. The beauty of the pool of Jahnda that once heald the majestic koalindl, fish from the plane of Tranquility, was now dingy and empty of life. The acolytes would not listen to the villagers’ claims, dismissing them as beggars looking for refuge in their sacred hall.

As the villagers and the acolytes argued, Ealaynya walked silently to that carts that held her few belongings. She rummaged through and reached far into a niche, having to stand on her toes to reach her prize. Her hands slowly emerged from the darkness grasping a glass bowl.

Within the bowl was a small, colorful fish. It had been a year ago that alone; she had found her way to a tiny pond in which a single, colorful fish swam within the clear, warm water. She carried the fish back to the village and fed it a morsel of bread everyday, until this day.

Ealaynya walked to the edge of the murky water of the once grand Pool of Jahnda. She began to pour the contents of the fish bowl slowly into the pool. The stream of water hit the film and broke the plane of algae on the pool’s surface.

Upon hearing this, the acolytes ran toward her screaming for her to cease her blasphemous action. Ealaynya was deaf to their cries. As they neared her the tiny, colorful fish was carried through the stream of water and swam into the blackness of the pool.

The acolytes grabbed the girl’s arms and were about to hand her some retribution for her deed when tehy were distracted by something miraculous!

Looking to the pool all present gazed as the cloudy water began to clear around the fish. This circle of pristine wtaer radiated out from the fish dissolving all that was foul within this sacred pool. The Pool of Jahnda was returned to its glory and a single fish, a koalindl, swam within its life giving water!

Ealaynya rejuvenated the temple and its acolytes. The cleansing of the pool was the beginning of the girl’s life amongst by the acolytes, and the villagers had become their new congregation. Ealaynya began to have new visions and share them with the temple.

Through her visions they came to realize they were to unify the faith of the gods of light. They renamed their order the Celestial Watch.

They began to preach to the people and aid those in need. Small crusades lead them into the wilds to perform benevolent actions as they used to ages before the gods were silenced.

Seasons passed and eventually Ealaynya grew into a beautiful woman and the spiritual leader of the Celestial Watch. She became the Seeress Ealaynya Ithis, a beacon of faith, Shepherd of the Celestial Watch.

But she was destined to become more than simply a shepherd. As gods of old have reappeared Seeress Ealaynya has continued to see her visions and prophecies come true. She reassured those that expressed fear of grief over the Prime Healer’s absence that all is part of a grand plan.

“It is not our place to question the widowm of fate, nor that of the Prime Healer. The darkest of night is when the light is most welcome!”

If there was any question about her faith in a grand plan it was dismissed on the day the Temple of Life disappeared!

In the blink of an eye, all who were within the holy temple, save Seeress Ealaynya, now found themselves outside, watching awestruck as it increased its rotation speed and disappeared. There at the edge of the Pool of Jahnda they camped, in prayer and meditation waiting.

A day later, the Temple of Life reappeared with the same ease with which it had left. When its rotation speed slowed, the portal reappeared to allow entry and exit from the floating temple. But no priest, priestess, nor acolyte would enter. They knew they were witness to something of legend, something truly miraculous! They awaited a sign from their Holy Seeress that they could once again, enter the site.

Seeress Ealaynya Ithis emerged from the temple washed in light! She consoled those distraught, and praised all for their faith, stating that she had touched The Holy, and been within the presence of The Prime Healer!

She was blessed, and now so was all of Norrath, for Rodcet Nife’s Prophet walks amongst us!

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Blackburrow Gnolls Hit the Floor

Nostalgia met up last night in EQ2 for some good old fashioned Blackburrow hunting. I’ve been feeling very under the weather the past two days, so I wasn’t exactly much help, in fact barely even made it over to play having spent most of the afternoon sleeping. I really hate feeling like I’ve disappointed anyone though, so when Mayadhros gave me a few nudges (I was in EQ1 at the time just hanging out) I decided I should log over to EQ2 and play for a bit. It started out with just three of us, Dunnos (our trusty mystic), Mayadhros (the paladin with a heart of gold), and Minxe, my swashbuckler. It quickly grew though as we added Kasul (the dinner cooking assassin), Said (A conjuror with no hair as a high elf I’m pretty sure.. that just feels wrong), and Bryzon (Our bruiser who loved feigning around) logged in. We didn’t grab any quests for the zone aside from the ones that dropped (there’s the gnoll language quest, as well as a key quest and a few other things) but we did run around hunting named and smushing whatever happened our way.

It was mostly to get a feel for playing with one another, and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully everyone else did as well. Even though we were mentored to 15 (which ended up being 17 very quickly) everyone still learned aa and experience which is one of the best things about the EQ2 mentor system. There’s no worries of out leveling anyone because you can always go back and mentor them. You can always go see old world content that you missed, and there’s so much to do.

Before I relogged to my 74 templar to help out – things were hard. The trio we started with couldn’t handle the blue ^^^ heroic named because we had a white ^^^ add that was a little too much for us. Pulling was still dangerous. It was fun. I had not been in blackburrow for quite some time and it was completely empty. I remember when that zone used to be so popular and it’s actually quite small, you’d end up bumping into all sorts of people just maneuvering around.

There are some book quests that drop randomly from mobs that I’d hoped to pick up but alas none dropped while I was there. I’ll be taking Minxes back to Timerous Deep to finish up some chains there and catch her back up to Dunnos level wise. So far the swashbuckler has been a lot of fun to play, and I’m hoping I can actually stick with her. We’ll see how it goes. The coercer is still there too, I need to get her another level and get going on that epic so I can actually complete it one day (maybe).

Butcherblock LDoN Still the same Great Place

Last night was our weekly meeting of Nostalgia, and though we had a booming show up the week before with almost two full groups – this week we were reduced down to just barely 7 people. It happens, unfortunately. People get busy, life happens, they decide they don’t want to play any more (even though we’ve got the lightest schedule invented) that’s just the way it works out. It could have been disappointing were it not for the fantastic attitude of those who did show up. I of course have a pet peeve with not knowing when someone is going to show up. I understand things often happen that are beyond our control, but when a group of people rely on you – let them know some how you won’t be there, so they’re not waiting all night wondering. I have so much appreciation for people who managed to let us know they’re going to be missing for the evening. It also seemed to be the night for incidents – Aerrik had to leave early due to a sick wife (hope she’s feeling better), Relm left to help some friends in WoW, Urtog had a family dinner to attend, and I can’t remember what else happened but DESPITE all of that – we still had a blast. Lost Dungeon Of Norrath – butcherblock style, has always been one of my absolute favorites.

Of course, there was the theory that SOMETHING had to go wrong. Last week it was me dragging around Malfi’s corpse right out from under him, and then being agro to the clockwork and wiping the group. This week? It was that half our group were physically stuck in the instance until the completion timer went off. That’s right, attempting to use the door brought about nothing at all. Dying of course moved you out of the instance – but who wants to pay to retrieve a stuck corpse? So we waited it out. Laughing Fearful for our lost comrades. The LDoN’s appeared to give roughly the same experience as they did two weeks ago. A level or so. More for the hard ones vs. the easy which of course makes sense. I only did two of them and sat the third out (had to eat, plus we had 7 people again anyhow so they could make a full group) and got two levels on the necromancer, reaching level 32.

Which, is fantastic. It means I can wander around Blightfire (which is still a hot zone) and attempt some of the quests in the zone without having to worry about leveling past my 35 level cap for this week.

Last night I also managed to track down my second account, holding Ellithia – a 68 cleric (with her epic) who I had three years ago. I splurged, and spent the $50 to move her to my main account (no need to box, I have station access and don’t want two accounts) exceptionally happy. I haven’t tried looking for a group (yet) but I’m hoping I can drag Kragnn (necromancer) or Kuron (warrior) around for some experience. I doubt there’s really anything I can solo. I tried to wander around Goru’Kar Mesa (a zone off of Blightfire) last night in an attempt at obtaining artifact pieces for a quest – but it was slow going without invis and the guards around the humble town I was wandering across hated me, badly.

There’s nothing quite so embarrassing as getting beaten down by a small swarm (2-3) of gray guards.

Next week we are off to Mistmoore Castle – it should be a blast. We could still REALLY use a second tank, a rogue, and an enchanter. If anyone’s interested, please check out our forums here and let us know you’d like to join. If you’re afraid about being behind (Our levels this week should range from 30-35) I will personally help you get to that level by Friday — if you’ve got the time and are dedicated to playing with us. Please don’t let the level 35 current level range deter you if that’s all it is. Experience really is quite fast still and we really could use a few more players before we hit the more ‘difficult’ levels (which I assume are going to start mid 40’s low 50’s.. but I could be wrong).

Since I have two clerics now, and haven’t played Ishbel in Nostalgia at all – but also have a 31 druid who’s a lot of fun, I’m thinking of deleting Ishbel. Not just for the sake of deletion of course, but I really don’t need / want two clerics. I have a 31 druid who’s in range for Lackey / Nostalgia purposes, and I also have a 40 shaman should the need ever arise. I’m at 10/10 characters, and I wouldn’t mind having the freedom to make someone new if I wanted. I’ll contemplate it a little more today first before making the decision I suppose.