Iceday, 7/17/1033

Middle Delkfutt's Tower, Upper Delkfutt's Tower . Level 40. Defeats = 0

My quest for money and equipment begins! Well, for the most part, this was not very exciting at first. I spent a few days fishing on the ferry. This was safe, but pretty boring. The only real excitement came when some Pirates attacked, but they were no threat to some of the high level adventurers on board. After I got tired of fishing for a while, I went back to the Auction House in Jeuno and put some fish up for sale. Hopefully this will bring me closer to the, like, 600k or so I need to get all the items on my wishlist. /sigh I definitely need a faster way to make some gil.

It had been a long time since I was last in Jeuno, so I decided to pay my old friend Brutus a visit. After all, he was the one to first help me onto the Path of the Beastmaster. As it turns out he had some sad news: one of his Chocobos had recently died. /cry While part of me was relieved to hear that it wasn't the Chocobo I had helped earlier, I was still sad to hear of his loss. He then told me of a mystical Guiding Bell that was "believed to guide the souls of pets to Paradise". Without hesitation, I agreed to help him find a Guiding Bell for his lost chocobo. According to Brutus, the bell was supposed to be somewhere in Delkfutt's Tower. Well, it looks like I'm going to see some adventure after all!!

After a quick side trip to Kazham to pick up some pet jugs - including some Seedbed Soil that I was eager to try out for the first time - I made my way to the Tower. I had only ever been on the first floor before, but as I looked up at the Towers as I approached, it was obvious that the tower was huge. Fortunately, I already had a map due to an earlier quest in Qufim. Really fortunate, for I soon found that it was easy to get lost, even with a map. With a wry smile, I thought that my directionally-challenged friend Suki would never be able to find her way out.

Since the tower was very tall, I will not write down every step of my adventure. I knew from past experience doing the quests for the Goblin Tailor that often valuable quest items could be found in Treasure Chests. That was as good a place to start as any. I also knew that one of the Gigas would probably hold a Key for one of those chests. I figured one of the stronger Gigas would be more likely to have it. After wandering around on the first three floors, I noticed that most of the enemies were Easy Prey or Too Weak to be Worthwhile. I could wander around those levels pretty much unharmed, as the enemies were afraid to challenge me. On the third floor, I camp upon a strange device that teleported me up to the fourth Floor, starting what was known as Middle Delkfutt's Tower.

Middle Delkfutt's Tower was pretty big, ranging from floors 4 through 9. Starting on these levels, some of the enemies would dare to attack me, even though they were still Easy Prey. Sadly, there were not many decent pets to choose from in the area, as most of the bats and such were Too Weak or Easy Prey. I was certainly glad I brought along some jugs so that I could use Call Beast to help me through the fortress. At first I used some Fish Broth to summon a Crab Familiar. (Fish Broth is just so cheap, I usually use it first.) The Crab was very strong, especially against the early level monsters, and did a good job of tanking for me as well. At first, I had problems with the goblins linking. The Crab may have been strong, but still had problems fighting three goblins at once! Soon I got used to pulling them safely when necessary, but for the most part I tried to avoid enemies. These guys were too weak for good experience; I was only there for the Key. As I approached the upper floors, the enemies got stronger and stronger (although none were yet Decent Challenge). By the time I got to the ninth floor, just about everything that could agro me would - including the Bats - so I had to make my way carefully. Moreover, there were some Elementals and potentially dangerous creatures of the Arcana System (such as Dolls and Magic Pots) that were known to agro to magic, so spellcasting had to be done with care as well. Nevertheless, I made it all the to the ninth floor where I found another strange device that took me to Upper Delkfutt's Tower.

At this point, I knew it could be dangerous to continue much further up. My familiar and I started fighting the higher tier Gigas found here, including Spirekeepers, Torturers, Bonecutters, and Stonemasons. The Crab was starting to have trouble dealing damage, and thus had more problems keeping hate off of me, so progress was slow but steady. Hour after hour we fought enemy after enemy, and I had been there so long that my supplies were starting to run low. I came around a turn in the hallway and fought yet another Gigas, but my pet was vanquished in the process. As I was about to try out a Funguar Familiar using my new Seedbed Soil, I turn around to find another adventurer giving me a quizzical look. He was clearly much more experienced than I, and from what I could tell he seemed to be a Red Mage. He said something but I had trouble understanding at first (he was Japanese) but eventually I understood that he was asking me: "Key?". It looks like he was familiar with my quest! Maybe Brutus sent someone to look out for me, for it had been several days since I left Jeuno for the Tower. I nodded my head to the adventurer to indicate that yes, I was indeed looking for the key. He then invited me to join his party. I summoned a Funguar pet, and the pet, the red mage, and I tore into the enemies with a newfound fury. (The Funguar has much better TP moves than the Crab!) As I suspected, the Red Mage was significantly stronger than me, and were were killing the enemies much, much faster that I could have ever done alone. This was a good thing too, because we cleared that floor of the Tower of all life several times to no avail (it would have taken me days to clear that many on my own). Just as I was beginning to despair, a Gigas fell, and his Delkfutt Chest Key rattled on the cold stone floor. Success!

I bowed courteously to the kind stranger who helped me and thought about retracing my steps through the tower to try and find a Treasure Chest. Just then, the Red Mage ran off. Not surprising, I thought. He must be going back to whatever he was going before stumbling upon me. But then he called out to me, and while we still had trouble communicating, I could clearly understand the phrases : "Found it!" and "Treasure Chest!" Overjoyed, I ran over and sure enough, my new friend had already located a treasure chest. I took a deep breath, opened the chest, and was greeted to the beautiful sight of the Guiding Bell in all its glory. I could not help myself and broke out into a joyous dance right there on the spot. Looking back on it now I am a little embarrassed, but that doesn't matter. All that matters is the Chocobo will be able to reach Paradise! After thanking my new friend yet again, we said our farewells. He left the party to do his own thing, and I used my scroll of Instant Warp to get the hell out of there.

Safely back in Jeuno, I sprinted over to Brutus at the Chocobo Stables and presented him with the Guiding Bell. I probably should have done it in a more dignified manner, as befitting the knight I someday want to be. Instead, I held it out proudly, grinning ear-to-ear, and I'm sure my tail was swaying happily was well. Brutus thanked me solemnly, and presented me with a wonderful reward for my trouble: a unique Beastmaster artifact known as the Barbaroi Axe!