Day:  19

I head to Frozen Lab and it seems even red mobs are not so hard here. Plus with Kai melee-ing, they do not bother bubbling at all or he breaks it soon as it’s cast.  That’s handy.

Today I receive common item, zubei’s gaiters!  It suits me not at all and I get grade penalty anyway.

I try the binding cubic again since I’m leaning more towards healing Kai than nuking myself and it still appears to never actually land. I get my first vit herb in a while, which is good because I’m back to Vit 1 already. I earn back to 2 before it wears off.

Then I’m back to 1 in 2 mobs.  Oh well. At 96% I get another Vit herb, yay!  And a Recipe: Kaim Vanul’s Bones 60%.  Percent crafts, ewww. I hit level 49.

I head out to Aden Cemetary and take a hot one when Kai aggros too many mobs and I can’t get off my lazy butt fast enough to heal.  Then I die too.

I PM Danha and say hello and ask if that recipe is worth anything, and no probably not. We agree that without friends in this game you are basically flat out of luck for money and gear and supplies. This is truth!

I get another 20% then take a break.

A little later I remember to sign up for catas after getting a party invite from Adanedhel21 but I’m about at my exping limit for now so I log for the day.  I’m at 0 vit too.

Day 18:

I head out to AI again and hit 48. I go back to Heine and turn in my teeth for 24k this time and one map.  I learn a few skills before I run out of sp, and still have many to go. I turn in the treasure map quest and get 2 moonstones and another crappy dye, +1 dex – 3 con. Moonstones are only 750 each and the dye is 6k.

I start lagging like crazy after SOEing to clan hall in Schuttgart, so after getting sweet buffs from this person with the very fine bowler hat, I log out for maintenance.

Later when I log back in I receive a message from Captain Mouen of Oren about a kama again.  On my way out of the hall I get buffed within an inch of my life from Nefe and run into Zouboulis and say hello!

I exp a bit at Frozen Lab and get a GIANT head. I also get a Life Stone level 55 from here, first drop in ages.

As far as I can tell though, the head…  it doesn’t really help anything. Once buffs run, since for some reason player buffs don’t last anywhere near the amount of time NPC buffs from the adventurer do (which is dumb) I decide to head back to Dragon Valley and grab the quest I saw from Gilmore way back before I hit 40. This quest doesn’t earn exp, either.

It occurs to me, for the most part, one cannot see players anywhere but in towns. I kill MANY mobs before I get to some that drop quest items. No herbs drop either, at least not until deeper in the valley.  While I’m out and about I run through about 13 keys opening Treasure Chests but they are still a complete waste of time, either attacking, fading away, or giving adena I would have gotten from a level 20 mob.  Probably better of selling the keys.

The blood sword drops!  Well, not to me, somewhere far away.

I go farther down into the valley.

Exp seems to be slower and my vitality is completely gone now.  Maybe I should play less? I am getting, .1 PER MOB.  This is deathly brutal and slow and I’m only 48. I earn a respectable 107 items for my quest and receive 6,420, which totally SUCKS compared to the AI quest! My gosh.

I go to Oren in hopes of maybe mixing it up with a raid or a kama and I check the party matching system.  I’m not really sure this is what it was for.

There is nothing in my level range listed. I think maybe people don’t use this.

I run over and talk to Captain Mouen since I’m here and the quest he gives rewards  100,000 adena.  At my level that’s ehhhh not very much.  Of course, that’s not very much at level 10, either. That’s like what, 1-2 ports?  I yell if anyone wants to do a 53 kama but no response and really, there’s hardly anyone around in town in the first place. I log for the day.

Day 17:

I head out to AI again and hit 47, collecting 182 teeth in the process and 25 map pieces. As I’m out here I see something called Exterminator yell “Drive Device entire destruction moving suspension”.  Again, what? No idea what that’s about. (really, no idea)

I head back to town after leveling and talk to Trader Pele who has a Buy Dyes link.  Apparently you need 10 of each and even the “cheap” +4 -5 ones would run me like 460k.  Had I not received funds from Furrious, I would not be able to afford this, as my minus one million adena count is currently  at 410k.  Besides spending 1/3rd of ones entire income, sugar daddy or no is, IMO, unwise. However, these dyes should last me basically forever so I bite the bullet and get the WIT one (+4 WIT – 5 MEN). Then the application fee is another 258,000 adena.  That really, really puts a dent in my funds.

I run into this pimp looking chap along the way!

Oh, I am so spoiled and get more D crystals! <3

Keep in mind should someone have remained clanless and friendless (or ran into a bunch of stingies) this entire time, they would either not be able to afford the dyes at all, or would have purchased them and not have enough to actually use them.

Zouboulis sees me milling around town like an idiot and helps me find the Adventurer’s Guide for buffs. I head to Frozen Lab again and find a spawn area with 3 mobs that spawn with regularity and let Kai go at it.

The binding cubic appears to fire a lot but never land.

as buffs run again I take a break and head to Heine to turn in my quest.  This time I get 50,740 and have enough for 2 maps though you can turn them into maps at once, you can only do the end leg of the quest one at a time. Which is a nuisance considering Heine’s layout.

First turn in I get 1,300 adena and a Theme of Love. Seeing that it costs 2,100 just to port to Alligator Island this is not a great deal.  Plus the key costs about that. Next pass was 800 adena, EAD, and the theme of love.  Bleh.  I log off for the day.

Day 16:

Quiet day, more than likely most people preparing for work the next day or morning.  I hit 46 and head back to Heine to turn in my quest items. I have received 136 Alligator teeth and some mysterious maps. The teeth earn me 40,620 which isn’t too awful for doing a  boring grind anyway.  I show Warehouse Keeper Kluck the map fragment and he turns it into a Pirate’s Treasure Map. He says this is tied to Zaken, the legendary pirate. Oooh, I like that!

I go talk to Trader Espen about it and he offers me 1,000 adena for it, which sounds like a sucker deal.  He tells me a story about Zaken, Muska and a lady named Fatima from “Abella” which is clearly a misprint of Avella, wherever that is. How long has this game been out? Anyway the quest says this is a CAPTAINS treasure so damn, this should be good. (non-noob note, this is probably my favorite quest in the entire game)

While I’m at it I call out for a 46 kama but I don’t see anyone at all in town here.

I pick up a Thief Key from Trader Payel for 1,350 and then search my inventory for the Pirate’s Treasure Map it says I have received. It’s not anyone, not in quest or anything. Hm.. I check the quest tracking THEN it shows up, how weird.

I head out there and start drowning before I reach THE SHARKS.

I received 500 adena (really?), an enchant armor C, Greater Dye of DEX +1 -3 CON, and Musical Score Theme of Love. I put the EAD on my tunic, and it gives me 1 whole P.Def.  That… is not very impressive.

I swim back, again noting though my head is clearly above water I am still taking water damage.

The dyes give me something to think about though.  As I’m leaving the area I see some sieges have finished and a message “The war for has been declared.”.  Um, ok?  Engrish prease?  It’s late, I take a break.

I spend some time in Frozen Lab since it’s near the clan hall but it proves not exactly difficult but inefficient.

eXoDinC (hope I got that right) is kind enough to explain Territory Wars to me.

I return to my previous hunting area, pick up an alligator quest and gain about 60% in the rest of the hour.  Since quests do not appear to give exp, it seems the only way to get anywhere level wise is to kill mob after mob repeatedly and endlessly. … Which would prove mind numbing if I did not have excellent company in clan chat.  Hopefully I can get in raids/kamas around my level still since groups, while not exactly any more exciting in the mob department, are a nice change of pace.

I’m up too late, I go to sleep!