2008-03-27 - The way of the shortblade

Log Entry for 02-08-08

Today Karl and myself performed the ceremony of initiation into the Guardian Tigers for Rocky. Normally at this ceremony a Recruit who has proved his or her self is promoted to Private.

Rocky however is an exceptional player, he has been playing for 4 or 5 weeks and has already almost completed his apprenticeship to Karl and he has managed to do so without depositing! As you know this is an incredible accomplishment and takes a lot of hard work.

Karl and myself have rewarded this degree of dedication by promoting Rocky straight to Captain.

The Guardian Tigers are proud to have a member such as this, with his dedication, humour and sense of fun he has more than earned his shirt.

By way of a welcome we went on an argo opalo hunt and even managed to score a small global together.

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?p=32913#post32913

 

Log Entry for 11-08-08

Well, it's been two dismal years since the ship I was on crashed on this the planet of Calypso. Everyone here seems to have crashed, no ships must ever return to Earth, makes me wonder why they keep sending them, can't be cheap! Ah Earth, how I miss my home planet, how I miss being able to make a living, how I miss PC games!

Still enough of all that, I decided I was gonna stab argos, I like stabbing argos, you may have noticed! I set off from Twin Mall and burnt two en-blade 5 mentors and most of an en-blade 8, got a good lump of iron from one kill and some knight thighs from another. I had a run in with a hunter and that took a few attempts to kill but was a good laugh. After the hunt I was only down about 10 PED which is amazing :).

By way of further comiseration the Soc. went on a trip down memory lane, well my memory lane anyway. Back in the early days I spent a lot of time south of PA stabbing stuff with my trusty TT knife so that's what the three of us did!

Some poor noob got a bit pissed off with us when Karl, Rocky and myself piled into an exo and exterminated it, I don't think he was sweating it at the time but I could be wrong. The Noob said "Pick on mobs your own strength", my reply was "We are!", Karl's was "Can't find any chirpy young". We headed further south to where the trees are red and continued the stabathon on the way.

We had to form several teams as MA joined in the fun by preventing us from writing to soc or team channels, at one I time I could not even select these and using /t or /s, it just told me I was not a member of a team or not a member of a Soc. We all got dumped by the server once and all relogged at various points. MA also thought it would be fun to mess with the graphics, please see the pictures. The first one shows Mr. Pilkington impersonating the Predator, completely invisible except for his blade. The second one was taken by Mr. Pilkington and is of me, clearly I am trying to achieve the same standards as Karl but all I managed was to make my hands invisible and make the rest of me look like a zombie from the original (and still the best) "Alone in the Dark" PC game (how I miss PC games).

With all the stabbing the technical problems and the distinct lack of loot this really was just like old times. My thanks to Karl and Rocky for joinning me and to MA for showing an interest.

 

Log Entry for 25-08-08

I have to say I have had an amazingly good weekend here on Calypso, this maybe just because I have been playing a lot more than I have recently and therefore a lot has happened or it maybe that I decided, was persuaded, to give mining a try. I tried mining a few times after I first crashed here but it was like throwing money into the ground back then when I had next to nothing.

I guess I should go back a few days first though. Catherine decided to leave the Tigers and join another society, I hope she does well there. Karl had been away, sitting on a beach in a tent studying coastal erosion, well that's what he told us, he was probably paralytic in a tent studying the zip to figure out how to get out. That left Rocky and myself in the society chat and we talked a little more than we normally would. Also I got up early (for a Sunday) as there was a longu fedora for sale in the auctions and I wanted it, as it turns out I was up an hour early and spent a lot of time chatting with Rocky who had stayed up late. The upshot is that I ended up being persuaded to give mining another go. Also I won the hat :), had to deposit a bit first though :( but I didn't use it all :), so I could buy bombs.

I dug my mining stuff out of storage and got 100 bombs and set off from New Oxford heading vaguely south dropping a bomb now and then on the way to Palm's Corner. It took hours and I had to do it in two sessions. On getting to Palm's I calculated I had a return of about 85% TT value, that is much better than I normally get from hunting and more disturbingly I discovered I had quite enjoyed myself. I decided to go for a celebratory hunt and managed a small global within a few minutes:-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=6302

Later Karl got back on-line, he said he was tired and that it had been an exhausting trip, I suspect he really meant he was still hungover! He wasn't up to much so we decided to update all the society information at the terminal, not that anyone will look at it (prove me wrong) :).

After that Rocky and myself went hunting Argo at Twin Peaks using our trusty opalos, we spent about two hours and 2K of ammo each to come out about even, that was fun but it was very late by then (about 0230 hours, local time) so I had to crash.
And that was Sunday.

Monday came and I had so much to do but unfortunately was in no fit state to do it (shouldn't have stayed up so late last night) so ended up playing some more. Decided on another Mining run, this one from Sakura up to Nate Valley, Whilst leaving Sakura I was accosted by an Old Atrox and managed my second small global of the weekend:-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=6305

After that the mining was a bit of a bust, picked up some ores here and some ores there but nothing of any value until I was almost at Nate when I got my first spaceship:-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=6306

That was strangely exciting, I guess it's because I knew there was 50 PED just waiting for me but I still had the opportunity to bollox it up :).

I made it safely to Nate and figured I was about 30% up on this venture so was rather happy, once the mark up is included it should be quite a bit more.

By now both Karl and Rocky were on-line and we decided to go fisting! First we visited the old umbranoid camp East of East Scylla, here we Kerb crawled and fisted the kerbs and faucervix. Next we tried fisting Some corns and prancers at North Space Base and after that we fisted Berycled and Daiks at Fort Zeus before heading for Twin Peaks and giving the Argos a thorough fisting. We fisted until the batteries ran out! Sadly or perhaps mercifully we got no recognition for out fisting efforts but we did not lose too much and it was a lot of fun even though it's hard to type this with only a stump on the end of my right arm.

By now I was completely exhausted, my eyes hurt and my head was pounding (as well as my fist) so decided to take a break and visit the Chronicle to update stuff (which is what I am doing now) and see what else had been going on. It seems Mr. Kets has returned and that he has been "Lost in Space". He has seen just how much money he sinks into EU and is shocked by it. I have to admit I was there a few months ago when the Tigers lost their leader etc. due to financial reasons, I checked my own records and was unpleasantly surprised, I thought of other worlds but just could not be arsed to learn a new interface and all that, I decided to try and play with out depositing, this mostly meant doing something else and only playing once or twice a week, that way the entertainment value becomes acceptable, playing all the time at the edge is very expensive. Kets, I sympathise with your plight and hope you can still find your way back to Calypso occasionally.

 

Log Entry for 30-08-08

Today Karl decided to run a Soc. event. It had been a long while but for reasons I cannot make public (mysterious) but you could probably work it out from the blogs if you could be bothered.

The Tigers being small in number this event was to be a competition between Rocky and myself. We were instructed to leave all mining equipment, ores and en-matters in storage and meet Mr. Pilkington at Shinook Jungle, this we did with haste and bewilderment.

On arrival Mr. Pilkington supplied each of us with with TT mining equipment, 15 bombs and 15 probes. The idea being that we were to run to New Switzerland as a team, Rocky and myself were to mine along the way, the winner being the one who found the most. Up for grabs at this event was, for the winner all that was mined by both competitors but more importantly the coverted green beret that marks a Tiger out as the winner of the latest event. Mr Pilkington had held this since it's inception on 29-03-08, sad to say it has taken us 5 months to get an event together.

Off we went, bombing and probing as we went. Rocky went into an early lead as he kept finding stuff (although not a lot) whilst I found nothing. As we approached the one third mark of the run I managed to hit an ample, at this point know one knew who was in the lead, Rocky managed a few more finds and exhausted his supply of bombs and probes. We all got dumped by the server and when we came back we were still in a team but had no control over it anymore :). Then I hit a series of low value finds near a lake and after exhausting my supply of bombs and probes we decided to TP to New Switzerland. It's a long way that run as anyone who has done it will tell you.

The scores were totaled on top of the lighthouse and it turns out I won by about 2 ped I think, I should have noted the scores but failed miserably! I received the ores and en-matters and of course the green berets, one of which I now proudly wear. I was congratulated by Rocky and Karl, the result was close which is always a good thing.

All in all a good event, Karl did well to come up with an event in which Rocky (a player of about 2 months) and myself (a player of just over two years) were quite evenly matched, this because I do not mine much. It was fun to do which is of course the most important thing and the scores were close. Quite exciting really!

After the event I donned one of the coverted green berets and went argoing at twin. Managed to global there. We had not managed to disband the team so the global goes against the team name and not my own but so what, here it is (you will be able to see me sorting the green beret):-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=6339

I did not stay out long after that, was exhausted and needed sleep so logged. Now it's my turn to think of an event, dozed off while trying to think of one.

 

Log Entry for 05-10-08

Wow, I just realised it's been over a month since last I posted some drivel in this blog, just goes to show, September must have been quite dull!

Well that's not quite true, I didn't do too badly on the global front during September, although there were not many of them the ones I had were of quite high value which is always pleasing, I also reached 5000 in shortblades so September was actually pretty good to me by comparison with the preceding months.

So far this moths I have reached lvl 28 in knifefighter hit it now says I'm "Good", I know that's not what the argos think! I have been using en-blades for the last month or so, I regularly carry 2 of en-blade 5 mentor editions and 1 of en-blade 8 which is used when I find myself in trouble or after the 5s. A normal hunt consists of burning all or almost all of these. I have not deposited for a while and cannot curently afford the blade I need for SIB so I am making do with these and quite enjoying it.

I have also been visiting Nea's and selecting about 10 people who I try to keep alive with my FAP while they are sweating, this is not an altruistic act just practice for the upcoming beacon mission. My biggest failing there is keeping myself alive, I have a tendancy to not notice my own condition and with the amount of lag I experience there it is often too late for me to recover but the lag is good practice for a beacon mission :).

Rocky has not been on-line as much as usual he is having graphics card issues and is awaiting the arrival of a replacement when he is on line he spends his time at auction trading as that is all his current card permits him to do. Karl has been going through a very dry spell on the global front but he managed to break that yesterday, very pleasing.

I did pick up a second disciple during the month but she has since vanished from the game, infact the only time I saw her was the day she bacme my disciple!

Guess the big news is that Zack is back (you may have seen this in the chat box). He is my first disciple and I kicked off this blog when he became my disciple. The reason for his absence was a scam :( apparently he lost everything! We have carried on from where we left off and last night he completed his last task and I gave him a new one, to get Nymphtown and Miniopolis TPs by this or next Monday (his choice) don't want to tire him out too much :). I am in the process of trying to re-equip him and that seems to be going quite well. Last night he went Daik hunting and did quite well, after that we did a TP run from East Scylla to Twin Peaks. When I was starting I found Twin a good place to sell relatively small amounts of loot etc. so I hope it helps him in the same way.

I have been preparing for the Socs. next competition but more of that after it happens as I don't want to spoil the surprise for the contestants (all two of them, we need more active members, desparately).

I have been enjoying reading the posts in the current NOTM competition, it helps me to remember how things were in the beginning for me and that's always a good thing. I have been looking out for the contestants in game but so far have seen no one.

Only other thing is a distinct lack of Kets, I miss him even if he did look like John Travalta.

 

Log Entry for 06-10-08 (Monday).

On Sunday Zack had already completed the task of getting Miniopolis and Nymphtown TPs, obviously I am making things too easy for him. by way of a reward I supplied him with a set of Pixie, I do not think I would normally be this generous but I am trying to get him back to where he was before he was scammed and Pixie is not much of an outlay really.

It had been a couple of weeks since my last mining run so I purchased 100 bombs and 100 probes and set off from Sweat Camp (where I had been healing) North and West toward the PVP zone. I mined along the way and once in the zone I stayed within tp distance of the edge to make sure I could get out in a hurry should I have needed to. I then headed for Orthos West Mound mining and hunting the entire way. There were no decent finds and no decent loots.

When I was south of Orthos everything hung just as I was about to attack a couple of atrax. I relogged and found I was a few yards further south than when I had left so headed North arain but with no mobs to be seen! Suddenly they appeared, right next to me, two atrax and two molisk, I started to defend myself and it was at this point I realised that my armour had been removed during the relog! I did not last long :). Rematerialising at Orthos I overheared that similar things had happened to several players in the area, MA do like to keep us on our toes :).

I decided to head for Chimera Canyons, I had had more luck there in the past. On arrival I headed North West wandering as I saw fit, I did hit an ample Lyst. at one point and had to deal with several Armax but got nothing from them. I was in touch with Zack the entire time and decided on his Task to be completed by next Sunday, again it's TP runs this time he is to get:-

Cape Corinth
Fort Ithaca
Fort Argus
Fort Zeus
Camp Caravan
North Space Base

I hope this will prove to be a little more challenging for him and it gives me a whole week to think of the next task.

Logged out while near a group of Armax, it was getting late.


Monday, saw me first battling the Armax on my arrival and then finishing off the few bombs and probes I had left, calculated that at TT value I had lost nearly 50 PED on the mining alone.

Purchased some sweat from Zack at a slightly higer than normal rate, gotta try to make it worthwhile for him.

Off to Billy's to join in the MA TP run (see http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=6474). There were a lot of green dots but I could see no one so I relogged and then I could see at least some of them, I had to do this at every TP we stopped at which was a little annoying but the event was a good laugh and other than that the lag was not too bad. We left Billy's on the way to Camp Phoenix where I managed to score a Robot Space Craft (see http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?p=34190#post34190). The route from there if memory serves correctly was Fort Fury, Atlas haven, Atlas Island South, Tethys Creek (where the attached picture was taken), Hadesheim Outpost, South Hadesheim, Hadesheim City, Hadesheim East, One of the locations near Corinth Beach and finishing at Cape Corinth. I was amongst the stragglers at the end as I had been mining the entire way. There were lots of dead and unclaimed mobs on the route, I hunted only when there were not too many people around as it got confusing otherwise. I had been stashing my finds in storage whenever possible so I could keep up so I do not know how well I did from this run but it was a lot of fun, Zack would have certainly benefited but was not able to make it, shame. Karl did do the run but Rocky joined too late however he does have his new graphics card and could continue his hunting activities.

Logged at this point planning to come back later but on restarting my PC it decided it was time to download and install XP SP3 and that took the rest of the evening, did not even get the chance to try EU again.

 

Log Entry for 12-10-08

Been a good week, mainly because of my first HoF:-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?p=34315#post34315

I was very surprised.

Other than that it's been quite quiet. Ran out of cash today and put a load of stuff on auction now waiting for it to sell before continuing.

Met Zack today as arranged for the completion of his task. I had given him a couple of pieces of Goblin I had in store yesterday as he is upgrading his Pixie so today I purchased a 1000 sweat for 10PED to help him along, we have agreed to do this each week.

While we were checking he had the TPs I spotted a group of people at North Space Base who looked like they were going to a hanger to take off so we tagged along to watch it lift off. I got to watch it go but Zack had vanished. He had found a bug in the north wall of the third hanger from the north, by running at the windows, blast shields and jumping, if you get it just right you can get transported to the settlement on the east coast of Lake Serene. I joined him there, think I spotted a couple of TP images on the way while it tried to figure out where to put me.

I had noticed at the hangers that the entry to one of them had an invisible Squidfish highlighted but not visible, so I returned and checked all the hangers, they all had this at the entry. I know there was a thread about this a few months back, would be good to find one for real.

Zack has managed to complete 24.2% of his discipleship. I gave him his task for this week, it comes in 3 parts:-

1) Get Nate valley, Sakura City and Rei's Defense TPs.
2) Collect as many different colour paints as he can with a reward of 1 PED for each.
3) Meet me at my apartment next Sunday to complete the task, I expect him to figure out where it is for himself, should be easy.

Zack has already got the TPs :).

Spent sometime scavenging today as I had no cash and was waiting for stuff to sell, quite a lot now has so I'm set for the coming week :).

 

Log Entry for 14-10-08

A mid-week entry, something must be wrong! Quite the opposite infact. I realised last night that my enthusiasm for EU was returning. It has been a difficult few months, for all of us I think. I know I was getting tired of returning from a hunt with next to no loot but recently things do seem to be a bit better, I have been getting a 75% return instead of a 25% and that makes a lot of difference. I wonder if the darker nights have anything to do with it, certainly I can understand why more people in the Northern Hemisphere would go on-line at this time of year.

Almost all my loot and mined materials had sold when I logged in last night and it gave me enough to get another Kesmek Bett, I was not sure I should get one but then decided to go for it, this will give me a slightly quicker skill gain than the continual use of my en-blades and I may even manage to gain Serendipity by Christmas, I have about one and three quarter levels to go. In fact that seems like a good goal to aim for so I will try it :).

I think the return of Zack to the game has given me encouragement as well, it's real nice to find myself explaining stuff to someone, helping out and providing challenges, even though my challenges seem to be a bit easy for him. I am going to have to apply my mind to his next challenge and make it really tough :). I do like this mentoring lark, it is rather rewarding, I will have to make an effort to get a few more disciples I think, if there are any volunteers reading this please PM me :).

Last night the soc. was intending to go on an Equus hunt after we had all eaten (I say all even though there are only three of us). However Rocky did not make it back from eating so I went mining instead, used about half my probes and bombs and am about even on the TT values so far, I am happy with even! I got wiped out by a tribe of droids and it was late so it seemed a good time to quit.

I am looking at holding the next Soc. event on Halloween if Karl and Rocky can make it at the same time, it should be a good laugh, I am about ready for it and have one or two ways to approach this but I don't want to spoil the surprise so no more details for now other than I am hoping to encourage a few noobs into the soc. with it, again if there are any volunteers please PM me, you don't have to be noobs just available on the day and you don't have to join the soc. either :).

I guess that about wraps up my thoughts for the day, should be on again tonight but without quite as much time as yesterday and I am looking forward to it :).

 

Log Entry for 19-10-08

It's Sunday so time to check how Zack has done on his task. First we checked he had the TPs starting with Nate Valley, which isn't a valley. When I arrived I had the invisible bug and could see now one but I couls see Zack's writing in the chat window so I knew he had it. I was attacked by an attrox young, I had no armour on at the time and had to heal myself several times before i eventually defeated it, it was very nearly a global at just over 48 PED. Then we checked Rei's Defence and finally Sakura. Zack ran ahead to the Lair (my apartment) and when I arrived I allowed him entry and we checked the paints he had. To my surprise he had nineteen of them and when including the 1K sweat deal I paid up the 29 PED, hopefully this will help Zack a little.

I came up with this weeks tasks, Zack is to get the following TPs:-

Solfais Crater
Segna Forest
Oyster Island
Memorial Island

In addition he is to get as many different animal skins as he can and will be rewarded with one PED for each type. He is currently 27.4% through his discipleship so in order to encourage him I am going to give him a ped for each whole percentage point he can get over 29. Next Sunday we will meet in Thorkell's Tomb after we check the TPs.

The whole EU experience seems to have slowed down since my last post :( This has happened since the change in the name of who runs the planet although things have improved today.

I went on a Soc. team hunt yesterday, we were hunting Equus North of Solfais Crater and we all did quite well out of it, no globals but a profit was made.

Today I decided to mine the area for en-matter, I got a hundred probes and set off avoiding the Chompers on the way. Managed a global on the way back from an Equus Provider http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=6604.

By the time I had thrown fifty PEDs into the ground I had pulled out a little over fifty PEDs (TT) worth of Force Nexus plus a few other things so I was pleased, with mark-up I should be in profit on this hunting and mining trip.

When I got back to Solfais I was attacked by another avatar and killed, twice, fortunately he didn't loot me, I would have been rather fed up if he had. Decided it was best to log for a while and hope he goes by the time I return. So wandered to the shops and got some whiskey then drank some of that while writing this. Now it's time to log back in and see if I can escape.

Think I managed to write my first cliff hanger :).

 

Log Entry for 19-10-08

Well as you may have guessed I made it across the room to storage without getting blasted again and managed to keep hold of the loot and finds. Wasn't much of a cliff hanger I know, I will try harder in future.

It has and continues to be a very busy week in the real world but I did manage to log on for about an hour at about 2200 MAT or should that be PCT.

Karl said the Argos were being very kind and he was getting a lot of iron so I decided it would be a good time. I set off from Twin Peaks Mall and soon received a low TT mindblast chip, OK so low TT but any item is a good sign, talking of good signs I was doing a lot of critical hits. Within minutes I got a paladin mask and some knight thighs, again low TT but this time accompanied by a shed load of wool. The rest of the hunt was above average, MA or PC as I guess it should now be called were being generous and I received more animal oil than normal and another load of wool at one point. I did not get much by way of iron though also the amount of critical hits decreased significantly. After about 50 minutes I had burnt my way through two en-blade 5 Mentor editions and my en-blade 8 and returned to the Mall to cash in my chips.

Working it all out I had made about 20PED using TT values and accounting for repairs so not too shabby!

On the down side because I could not log in until quite late I had missed Zack so I'm not sure how he is doing with his tasks, always good to know these things. I'll PM him here to find out.

 

Log Entry for 26-10-08

Firstly, today is my first day back on MA time which makes it much easier to figure out when I am supposed to be where, I have a tendency to go the wrong way with the hours difference.

Highlight of the week was without doubt the EUC Beacon mission No. 2, the results of which are here:-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?t=5991&page=9

It was a really good fun mission and the second one on which we have taken a loss, hopefully third time will be the charm :).

The week has generally been quite poor loot wise, not really sure what is going on there sometimes looking at global chat there is nothing coming up for minutes, a real shame that.

Today I meet Zack in Thorkell's Tomb, he had some difficulty finding this as he had been miss-informed, I have no idea of where he was heading for. He said he had the TPs he was supposed to get and I decided to trust him on this, I figure it's about time :). Zack had managed to get seven different skins so he got a PED for each of those and we traded 1K sweat for 10 PED as per our agreement. To my surprise he had managed to get to 69.2% of his discipleship, that's an increase of 40 points and at a PED a point this weeks total cost was 57 PED, quite a lot more than I expected but I am very pleased with his progress. Clearly this is a good way to focus Zack's attention. Not sure if it's the right way to encourage someone and I will have to review my techniques for the future. I am expecting Zack to graduate soon.

Zack has created his own website to record his adventures on Calypso it can be found here:-

http://koti.mbnet.fi/wandere/

Today I went for a disasterous mining run and the hunting was not good either still the day is not over and I will be logging in again later in the hope that things have picked up. If anything happens I shall post an edit later.

 

Log Entry for 29-10-08

Been a strange day, mining was quite poor but hunting threw up quite a few items and an awful lot of no loots.

During the afternoon I logged in and found myself surrounded (See picture), the place had been deserted when I left! There were also a lot of feffs and maffs in groups, is it the so called migration again!

In the evening I went Argoing (bet that surprised you)! Had two loots for 49 and a bit PED each, that's two almost globals, even though I made a decent profit on the hunt I somehow still feel cheated :). Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining or anything it's just in one case 3 PEC would have made it 50 PED. Still I have a couple of tp chips on auction, they are at below market price, go on you know you want one :).

Didn't see Zack today, I was logged in at unusual times so missed him but he seems to doing rather well :).

Oh well got some real world stuff to deal with, if I manage to get back later and anything happens I'll update this. Talking of real world I up loaded some more pictures to my albums today.

 

Log Entry for 02-11-08

Well, what a week, what a week. For me at least, eight, yes eight, globals, I know that's only five minutes work for Una ;) but I am still pleased and they were all hunting. I have mined as well but that has been quite poor. Managed to get the first post in the Player of the Month competition so I was at least in the lead for a short while, mind you technically I was also coming last :). I also managed an additional Agility point, an additional Health point and some level increases in four professions, one and two handed clubber, the other two escape me.

Also I posted a caption competition on the forum, it provided me with several laughs reading peoples suggestions and I intend to do this again soon, I already have the picture.

Friday night through to about 0200 Saturday morning found me catching up with an old friend who had not been on in about six months, Aya Gemini Azumi (hope I spelt that right) We started with a little hunt and then chatted until the early hours about why she has been away and what has happened to us since then. It was really nice. Apparently I did not notice any soc. messages from Rocky during this time but then he did not notice any from me, maybe soc. chat was down, maybe we were just both busy when the other sent a message.

Zack has been having a hard week, he is getting fed up with poor loot and mining returns, I can't blame him for that but I have tried to expound on the bigger picture as have several of us here on EUC (thank you all for that), hopefully he will calm down a little and have some better returns soon.

Zack and myself went hunting at Twin Peaks a couple of times during the week, the first one was not bad the second (yesterday) not so good. I had taken Zack to a low spawn area where I have been having some decent luck of late, there where simple instructions to follow, such as "If we meet a Hunter, I'll try and deal with it while you heal", we were using TT blades but I would switch if we found ourselves in trouble, this only happened a couple of times. The most basic instruction was "We stay in this area.", Did he follow it? Did he f***! Off he went over the mountains to an area of high spawn and little loot, I was a bit busy at the time and didn't notice until his life bar showed him out of range, remiss of me and I apologise. By the time I had finished the bunch of argos that were on me, including a hunter, he was long gone and fighting for his life against several argos of his own. He did rather well I'm proud to say but the loot was poor, we had been doing OK in the area we started with. Oh well, he's young and hot headed, give him time and he will learn patience, I hope! :)

Re-reading my previous weekend post I notice I had failed to supply the list of Zack's tasks for this week. They were:-

1) Get the last two TPs on Amethera, these being Akmul and Myrene Island.
2) Collect as many animal parts as possible, not skins, with a reward of one PED per part.
3) Gain as many percentage points toward completing his discipleship as possible, with a reward of one PED per point over 70%.
4) The meeting place would be a mystery, at least to Zack although I knew where it would be. I'm not gonna tell you just yet in order to preserve the suspense :).
5) There may be an additional mystery task after we meet, again I am keeping quite, that's two points of suspense :).

So he had quite a list to complete!

During the week Zack got himself trapped in OL9 while trying to get to Akmul and I went there to help him out, had quite a battle with the Estophyls there while trying to clear a path and after about 30 minutes managed to get him into the sea and on his way again.

When he logged in today he said he had not yet got Myrene Island and was going to try and swim from Memorial Island. I caught up with him to keep him company on this long swim. I wish I was that fit in real life. Oh well.

Having got Myrene Island I gave him the coords of our meeting location, these were Eudoria 6594,13981. That's supposed to be the highest point on Eudoria although personally I have not checked:). There are some basic shelters there a burnt out fire, a statue of a bird with a human face and more disturbingly the remains of cooked humanoids. I explained to Zack the best route was North from Orthos West Mound and that to avoid some heavy argos he would need to approach from the East, also from the East is the only way to climb the mountain as far as I know.

Earlier in the week I had visited this location and TP'd back to Orthos leaving small piles of Lyst stones at the points I TP'd to and from so I could get there easily while he ran. The first pile had gone, some lucky avatar had found five whole lyst stones at 6376,12417, it's OK you can keep them. The second pile at 6456,13193 were still there so I reclaimed them before jumping to the mountain top! Yes, I am going into un-necessary detail but if you haven't been there you now have a route :).

Zack seemed quite impressed by the location and we worked out what he had achieved:-

Six Animal parts = 6 PED.
He has reached 86.4% of his discipleship giving a further 16 PED.
In addition there was the usual 10 PED for a thousand sweat.

That adds up to 34 PED so I handed this over happily as in spite of having a difficult week he had done rather well and more to the point was sticking with it.

I then explained the additional task, finally the suspense is lifted, we were going to Twin Peaks and were going into a high spawn area. I would not be wearing armour and Zack's job was to keep me alive while I burnt a single en-blade five mentor edition blade. Assuming he succeeded we would then split the loot evenly. As I am having a try a POTM we agreed we would not team for this (just makes it easier, I think), I should say I am not expecting to win POTM but I do intend to try my best.

The additional task was to be completed later as we both needed to log for a few hours.

A few hours later:-

We met at Twin Peaks and charged off into the hills. We had a few close calls, once when I took on four at once and once with only three but we got through it OK. Having burnt one blade we decided to do another and Zack also wanted a go so he charged off, regardless of the danger and ended up surrounded by three of the little beasts, I did explain they were only being friendly, I took two of them off his back while he finished the other. After about an hour it finally came to an end when I was killed by a Robot Generation 03 whilst several Argos ran at us. Zack did manage to kill the Argo I had been working before he too bought the big one. I TP'd back to loot it but typically there was none. My repairs came to nearly 55 PED and Zack's decay was about 10 PED. the TT value of the loot was nearly 43 PED. I TT'd the ammo and a pair of Knight Thighs (The only item we got) and split the money from that, then split the rest of the loot as equally as possible and handed Zack's half over, he sold me back the iron but kept the rest.

All in all a good experience, I enjoyed it, Zack enjoyed it and he should have gained some healing skills as well. I did provide some instruction in how to draw a single mob from a herd without the use of a rifle, I hope it sunk in :). Then we both logged due to real world interests.

We both logged in later and I communicated to Zack his tasks for the coming week. He now has all the TPs so no more of those runs however there is a twist :).

1) Find at least two Noobs and take them on a TP run from PA to Billy's and Camp Phoenix and show them how the TPs work. This should give him a look at things from the other side of the coin :). This needs to be done one evening so I can confirm it has happened.

2) Get as many different animal oils as possible with reward of 1 PED for each type.

3) Get as many different ores and en-matters as possible with a reward of 1 PED for each type.

4) Gain as many percentage points over 87% towards completing his discipleship, with a reward of 1 PED for each one.

5) Again the meeting place is to be a mystery and there may or may not be an additional task next Sunday.

You see, I'm still trying to create some intrigue and suspense. Probably failing but then that's me!

 

Log Entry for 03-11-08

Just a quick entry for today. In a desperate and probably futile attempt to keep within shouting distance of Una in this months PotM competition I spent about 3 hours frantically stabbing argos, I burnt through the equivalent of 6 en-blade 5 mentors and 2 en-blade 8s in this period (had to return to auction to repair once). I received no loot of note for my efforts and only one item. I ended the evening about 80 PED down which was not too bad when compared with how things were a fortnight ago :). One piece of good fortune was that Una was not on-line so he did not increase his lead further.

Has my lucky streak rolled to an end or is this just a temporary glitch? Don't touch that dial!

Zack reports he will probably finish his discipleship this week, with a current shortblades score of 1830 and needing to get to 1900 I would be surprised if he does not make it before the weekend. Looks like I will be looking for a new disciple soon, any volunteers?

I received a PM (here) from Kets (we miss Kets). I had PM'd him a few days ago in the hope he had the e-mail options sent, either he did or it was just a fluke but I got a message, was good to hear from him and he is planning a visit later this week, probably Wednesday.

Tuesday evenings I am normally unable to play due to real world commitments, this week however I am not committed so I should be stabbing stuff with a vengeance this evening (04-11). In truth, as you can probably tell, I am really enjoying this contest, I feel it has added something to my experience of EU and win or lose, ultimately that is all that matters :).

 

Log Entry for 04-11-08

The big news is that Zack has reached 1900 in shortblades, big congratulations to him on that achievement. I hope he continues to find playing with knives a rewarding pass time, rewarding in the sense that it's fun but hopefully that it's profitable for him as well. The system has not yet updated to the extent that it has informed me but hopefully that will happen tomorrow sometime.

In my quest to acquit myself well in PotM I went out stabbing stuff again, I must have spent four and a half hours maybe longer chasing argos, allos, estos, atroxos and finally argos again. It was a truly miserable experience, I loved every second of it :). The returns were appalling, I did get a decent amount of iron stone but with the price of that dropping like, well like a stone as it happens, there was not much mark-up to be had from that. The over all cost was in excess of 400PED and the return was about 65%, the best loot, almost 30PED, consisted of the only two items I received during the entire hunt. At the end I did not have enough cash to repair my equipment so have stuck some stuff on auction, hopefully I will sell enough within 24 hours to enable me to hunt again tomorrow. At the moment it is looking like Cee's lucky streak has come to an end, no matter it was great while it lasted and in time I'm sure I'll see another:).

 

Log Entry for 05-11-08

I did not get much time today due to the real world but I did login for about an hour between 1730 and 1830 MA, this was to release Zack from his discipleship and to see if I have any money with which to continue my spree.

I did release Zack form his discipleship but we have agreed to meet again this Sunday so he can complete the current task and we can take some screenies. Zack said he has done rather well today hunting and managed to get himself a pistol from a mob that he intends to use as back up when his blade is burnt.

I also have money :). Looks like pretty much everything sold last night so I am in a good position to continue my stabathon for at least two more evenings :), providing I am careful.

I did not get a chance to log back in until about 2330 MA. I took the mentoring gift and repaired it to full value and I have put it in the Lair on what I hope will become the wall of disciples :). I then went to Twin Peaks where I stabbed away for about 15 minutes in the hope of getting something before midnight, I failed but I am glad I tried.

 

Log Entry for 06-11-08

Another dire evening :).

I started on argos, in several sessions, these were providing very poor returns, less than 50% every session and sometimes significantly worse.

Later I moved on to atrox, I can take up to providers without too much trouble so am somewhat limited. I tried near to Nate Valley, Fort Ithaca and Cape Corinth. Hunting atrox showed me just how poor the loot had become, normally it is unusual to get a no loot message from an atrox, I managed to get these almost every other one. Again the losses were large but not as large as from the argos from earlier in the evening.

I find myself wondering just what to try next and where to try it! Suggestions are welcome :).

 

Log Entry for 09-11-08.

I didn't get much opportunity to play again until yesterday (Saturday). I started early and managed a single global before having to log and enter the real world for a while. Got back in the afternoon and had an excellent time, a Nexus global and then while waddling home I was hunting equus and they were paying out more than they were not :). I managed another global on these. Saturday turned out to be a very rewarding day for Cee! A total of three globals left me having to decide which two to post for PotM.

Sunday (Today), again I logged in early and started hunting, no luck there! Shortly after Zack logged in, although he completed his discipleship during the week we had agreed that he should finish his task, so we meet in the caves between Limnadian District and Zychon Citadel. Zack had done very well with his tasks, if memory serves he had found thirty different ores and en-matters, six different animal oils, he had gained thirteen points over the eighty seven he had last week and with 1k of sweat on top of that the grand total came to 59 PED, it's a good job he graduated, not sure I can afford this for much longer :). Anyway it should help him on his way.

We discussed him getting a higher level blade and looked at several possibilities, with the amount of damage he wants to do he is looking at an en-blade 6 or a Cleric 2C which both have similar stats. He placed a bid on a 2C at auction but unfortunately later in the day someone paid the buy out price. I did have a look at making one unfortunately I do not have this BP and could not find one on auction but will continue to look. It's been a long while since I tried my luck at manufacturing (I think the last time was making a few blades for Una) so it would be a good idea to have another go soon.

Talking of manufacturing I may be having a go at making some Kesmek Biks soon. Karl and Rocky are looking at upping our Soc. hunts from Opalos to something with more omph and it's looking like Biks are the thing for me to use at the level they want to go to. I could of course buy them or skill some more in rifle to get to the appropriate level but manufacturing is an option.

I was rather busy in the real world for the rest of the day and did not log in again until about 2330 MA, by the time I had got myself to Twin Peaks to have a crack at some argonauts and caught up with the socs. luck today I had eight minutes left in the day in which to get an entry for PotM. I tried and of course failed but it was worth a go :).

 

Log Entry for 12-11-08.

I have two days to cover here.

Tuesday ( 11-11-08 ).
At login I spent a couple of hours getting back from the previous days mining and hunting trip, I was quite heavy again and could only waddle after the equus, loots were reasonable but no more globals from them, the mining was poor. On the upside I did find some dung that brought me to over 2K in dung since I started over two years ago! The thread containing this achievement can be found here:-

http://www.eu-chronicle.com/showthread.php?p=34932#post34932

Once back to civilisation I put a few items on auction before repairing and logging for a while.

Upon my return I went to Twin Peaks to have a bash at the argos, to start with things were quite good for me, getting some decent quantities of oils and a few items, although both Karl and Rocky were reporting that things were very poor. It got that way for me later, as I have had too many late nights recently trying to fit in that last global before bed time I decided on an early night but not before finding a cheap Cleric 2C on auction which I snapped up for Zack. I logged out about 2300.

Wednesday ( 12-11-08 ).
I informed Zack of the acquisition of the Cleric 2C via a PM on this site. The reply I got surprised me. He tells me he will not be needing the blade as he has quit :(, he has chipped out and gone. Have to say I am rather surprised and disappointed but I can understand the decision. Being a mentor was fun and challenging and I think I learned a lot that will come in handy for future disciples, Thank you Zack. Looks like I get to add a Cleric 2C to my collection :).

Speaking of future disciples, anyone looking for a mentor?

In the evening I first went to the land marker in LA15 (think it was 15) to register for Friday's events, the ones for avatars of feeble health. I only arrived about an hour after registration opened but all the places were taken :(. Having run there from Wolverine Hope I decided I would run on to Palm Springs and tackle mobs on the way if I thought I could and avoid them if not. I came across a group of argos (I think they are following me) and berys, some of the argos were of higher strength than I am used to so I skirted the group and took out a few berys and a few argo guardians. Managed to loot a couple of bits of armour from a bery before being taken down in a surprise attack by an argonaut leader.

After reviving slightly nearer to Palms than where I was terminated I continued my journey, only to find it blocked by another argo leader, it was near to the revive so I decided to have a crack, it took me two goes but I managed it, no loot of course :). On reaching Palms I TP'd to Twin Mall and went and took out some argonauts, there were a lot of no and low loots but eventually I managed to get a decent lump of iron. I returned to the Mall to repair, store, sell and auction. So far that was a loss of about 10PED and two loots in the 40 PEDs area, normally I would be very happy with these but I wanted more :)!

Off to Segna Forest where I went mining and equus hunting, heading North then East to avoid the bacon, I spent about three hours on this run, I burnt through three mentor 5s and my 8 and was down to using the Bett when midnight came around. I had scored another two in the 40PEDs but no global. I was up too late again :) so decided to crash, I will work out how well I did tomorrow although at a rough guess it's a bit of a loss. PotM is definitely inspiring me to achieve more and I will continue as long as I have funds and don't pass out :), hopefully I will manage a score tomorrow :).

Note to self, take more blades!

 

Log Entry for 16-11-08.

It has been a tough week. I have been out at every opportunity and have done rather badly, I have managed a few loots in the 40 PED range but these have been few and far between. I am beginning to get the shakes, I need a global bad man! It's been about a week now and I have been chucking PED into it like nobodies business and I have been losing it hand over fist, it does not seem to make any difference where I go or what mob I try the returns are in the 20% region. I guess it's just my turn to be in a lull, all I can do is hope it's not a very long one :).

I have seen Zack again since he quit but only once, he went sweating I guess he got bored with that :).

Today I tried taking some ambus as Nea's, they are quite easy with the Bett but the loot was poor, I have frequently received more from exaros :). Later I showed up for the EUC SEG hunt but only Mora was their, a disappointing turn out. So that was a no go. I decided to try Atrax Beech, it had been a while and I soon remembered why, I have never had a decent loot from and atrax, I suspect they don't like me but why should they :). After that I went back to the good old reliable argonauts, maybe that should be argonoughts as that was pretty much what I got from them.

It's looking like I am going to have to deposit again, really don't want to do that, as I am in the England and the value of Sterling is very low at the moment it means PED now costs me 34% more than it did six months ago.

This entry sounds like one big complaint :). Sorry about that.

I'm still trying to get some entries for PotM, looking at posts from some of the other competitors I am in trouble there but very well done to those who are participating, not gonna give up though :).

Karl and Rocky reported a good hunt from early Sunday morning (might have been Saturday morning), they managed four globals in a very short time, so there is some good news :).

No takers on the disciple front, still looking for one if anyone is interested?

Looks like I made a mess of auctioning the ESI I received from an Equus a week or so ago, I should have checked it's percentage TT value before I put it on auction at the normal mark-up, the thing is virtually worthless! It's a proper noob mistake :), guess I was just too excited :).