Iceday, 5/21/1033

Bibiki Bay - Purgonorgo Isle. Level 39. Defeats = 1

I broke camp and then picked up right where I left off on Purgonorgo Isle. As usual, first I scouted out the area. It seemed that the Alraunes and Toucans were now in the Decent Challenge to Tough range. Every Jagil I saw was only Decent Challenge at this point. I saw another Viscous Clot a little a bit north of my normal camp, but it was still Tough. (Don't worry, this time I kept my distance from that nasty slime!) This time around, on the beach I saw a Kraken roaming around just over the water. It was Tough to me too. While tempted to go on a Familiar induced killing spree, without charges on my Reraise Earring I though discretion might be the better part of valor this day. With all that out of the way, I decided to keep focusing on the Alraunes and Toucans.

When I first started, the camp was set up in an almost ideal way. There was one Even Match Alraune, one Even Match Toucan, one Decent Challenge Toucan, and everything else was Tough. I bounced back and forth using and reusing each of the Even Match pets to take out the Tough enemies. My first fight was pretty rough actually, as the Even Match Toucan had a particularly hard time against a Tough Toucan, but a timely Pet Food Zeta saved the day. After that, the whole day went pretty smoothly for the most part. I hit chain #4 on that first set, and regularly hit chain #2 or #3 after that (the camp never spawned in an ideal way again, with more decent challenges breaking the chains). Every once in a while, the whole area would spawn as Decent Challenge. That was annoying, but I took those opportunities to quickly clear the enemies while skilling up Scythe at the same time.

After I capped my Axe skill about 2/3 of the way through level 39, I switched to Scythe exclusively for the rest of the level. Scythe is pretty cool. I especially liked starting with a 100TP Nightmare Scythe near the start of a battle. The Blindness helps your pet out. It's not much, but it's noticeable. Surprisingly, I found that using a weapon skill early in the fight didn't hurt my hate management too much, although I would have to turn away from the battle for a few seconds every now and then. Actually, the biggest problem with hate management I found was the Toucan's ability, Damnation Dive. If it uses this ability on your pet, your pet could be stunned for several rounds. If you're dealing damage while your pet is stunned, you'll get hate soon enough. Thus, when I saw the Toucan ready Damnation Dive, I would turn away until I saw my pet start attacking again. That seemed to work pretty well.

Soon enough, I reached level 40! Things were going very well, perhaps even routine. I am ashamed to admit that as I was going for my buffer, I started to get a little cocky. Most of the enemies were Decent Challenge now, so I kept using Scythe to skill up for the most part. My pets and I were ripping through the enemies left and right. At some point I ran out of MP, but I was in a rush to get my buffer so I just kept going. Dumb. Feeling pretty good about my pace and eager to get out of there, I go for a routine Charm of a Alraune. Mischarm! And it linked with another Alraune! Heh, no problem. Or so I thought. I hit Tame on the first Alraune and back off with the second so the first wouldn't link again. so far so good, but this Alraune was totally kicking my butt, and remember I had no MP and no Reraise. Hmmm. I wait out the Charm timer, and use Charm on the Alraune hitting me. Mischarm again!!! My first two mischarms of the day at the worst possible time. By now I'm in pretty bad shape. In desperation, I use my Call Beast to summon my last CrabFamiliar and send it after the Alraune. The stupid crab kept missing, and in short order I was face down in the sand, defeated. As my benefactor Lady Lior would say: "Absolutely disgraceful." Even thinking back on it now my cheeks flush with shame at being defeated by a Decent Challenge Mandragora. Luckily, I had just barely hit my buffer before this battle so I didn't lose level 40. I drifted in and out of consciousness while on the ground, and sadly since few people came out to Purgonorgo Isle it looked like no Raise was forthcoming. I blacked out for a while there, and when I awoke I found myself back in Windurst. The Tarutaru must have sent a rescue party after not hearing from me for a while.

Oh well. I dusted myself off and set myself back on course to complete my goals. The first order of business was getting my buffer back. fortunately, I heard of a lost Chocobo at the stables in San d'Oria. So I switched to White Mage, cast Teleport-Holla, and made my way out to the Elvaan homeland. I switch back to Beastmaster, then head over to the Chocobo Stables. Sure enough, there was a chocobo that needed to be returned to Bastok Mines. I had done this ride several times before, and the choco-gals give a nice reward if you can get the Chocobo back in a timely manner. I made the long ride to Bastok, and got there in several hours (19 minutes 12 seconds). Not my best time, but good enough (any time under 20 Earth minutes is good). ((Some guy has the record which is near 18 min, 40 seconds. I don't know how he gets there that fast.)) The choco-gal gave me the reward I was after, a Page from the Dragon Chronicles! I used it immediately and got about 900 experience points; more than enough for a buffer.

The next order of business is saving up a lot of gil for some nice equipment that opened up at level 40. I would definitely like to get a Corsette +1, and a Woodsman Ring will certainly come in handy for years to come. I'l also want a Balance Buckler, Tilt Belt, and eventually some Loyalty Rings and Puissance Rings. Later on, between levels 40 and 50, a Valkyrie's Mask, Brigandine Armor, Life Belt, and Viking Axe should all be good investments as well. /sigh I probably won't be able to afford all of that stuff any time soon, but it's best to start saving now.

I grabbed my fishing gear and trusty Halcyon Rod, and made my way to the ferry in Selbina.