Watersday, 6/29/1032

Konschtat Highlands. Level 10. Defeats = 0.
Valkurm Dunes. Level 11. Defeats = 0.

Hey good news! I was on my way to Eastern Altepa Desert to continue my adventures as a Beastmaster when I checked my Linkshell, FunnyBunny, as I usually do. But this time, my Tarutaru friends Papaya and Pitaya were adventuring! I had not seen them for many months. It was fun catching up on old times through the magic of the linkshell. They were out in Konschtat Highlands advancing in their respective support jobs. That is, usually Papaya is a White Mage, but she was working on Black Mage today. Likewise her brother Pitaya was a White Mage when he usually prefers the dark arts of black magic.

I was almost at Eastern Altepa Desert and I still wanted to check it out. When I arrived I was shocked to see that everything in sight was Incredibly Tough! This couldn't be right. As it turns out, there are two zones into the desert from Korroloka Tunnel. One leads to Western Altepa Desert with several Desert Spiders, Desert Dhalmels, and other too strong monsters, while the correct zone, Eastern Altepa Desert, leads to the Giant Spiders and Sand Beetles I was searching for. I quickly corrected my mistake and tried a few of the Decent Challenge and Even Match spiders vs other spiders. I don't like fighting spiders. They have very strong TP moves, including Acid Spray, a very nasty poison, Sickle Slash, and perhaps worst of all, Spider Web, an area Slow effect. Still, that wasn't so bad since my spider pets had those same moves. But the real reason I didn't like Eastern Altepa Desert was because the enemies were waayy to spread out. It reminded me of my brief adventure in Meriphataud Mountains. I needed to use Wide Scan to find the next prey, which was much too slow for my tastes. There might have been a better location, but I quickly lost patience and decided to move on. I'll probably go back to Qufim Island or maybe Gusgen Mines to continue leveling Beastmaster.

But my friends were adventuring, so it was the perfect time to join them. They were not very far away from Bastok, so meeting them would not be difficult. They were around level 10, and the only job I had at level 10 was Paladin. But that worked out well, since I had been meaning to level Paladin. In fact, I want to be the tank in our little static party. But I only had Beastmaster equipment available, so I had to coordinate a rushed effort from my cohorts in various cities to get some decent Paladin gear in a short period of time. They came through as usual, and I soon had a passable set of normal quality tank gear for the level. You know, Scale Mail, Maple Shield, Spatha and the like. I also had a couple of nicer pieces, like Legionnaire's Mittens and Bee Spatha +1 (for when i hit 11). The most expensive thing was the food. Rice Dumplings are excellent food for a Paladin tank who also wants to deal some damage. But they are probably too expensive (13-14k per stack) to use at such a low level. Still, it was a special occasion so I wanted to pull out all the stops.

I soon arrived at Konschtat Highlands, we partied up, and started to fight the Mist Lizards in the area. The lizards were typically Even Match - Tough. Our first lizard was Tough, and our little party of 3 made short work of it. We had not been together for a while, but we instinctively worked together like a well oiled machine. Just like old times! I had to both pull and tank, which was a little annoying because it was harder to rest for MP, but other than that things went really well. We quickly added Mad Sheep to our prey, and our party was able to reliably hit chain #2-#3 (and once hit #4). We might have done even better, but the enemies in Konschtat Highlands are very spread out too, and my MP was a limiting factor as well. Soon enough, were we all level 11, and the enemies dropped to Decent Challenge - Even Match. It was time to move on.

We then made the short run to Valkurm Dunes to try the Hill Lizards there. There was another party there when we arrived. The other party was slightly higher level and had a PL to boot. Luckily, they were mostly focusing on the stronger lizards and the goblins, so we could usually take on the weaker ones. The lizards were all Tough - Incredibly Tough, so the fights were much more difficult here. We started on the Tough lizards and did very well. However, there were too few Tough lizards to reliably reach chains (only #1-#2 at best). Eventually, we tested our mettle against a Very Tough lizard, and also defeated it with only a little more pain. Things took a turn for the worse when during a pull another lizard spawned at our camp. I tried to pull the lizard we were fighting away from our camp and it seemed to work at first. But about halfway through our fight the second lizard linked and agroed Papaya. Annoyingly, I had just used Provoke the second before the additional attack. I cast Cure on Papaya as she ran away to buy her some time. In retrospect, I should have cast Banish on the second lizard to get it's attention. I thought of that option too late though, and Papaya was soon out of range of my spells. Pitaya and I quickly finished the first lizard, and I ran off to try and save Papaya. The lizard bite into the little taru just as I was moving into Provoke range. She was defeated, and I wept in sorrow for my fallen comrade.

The party survived however, and soon Papaya revived and we were back in business. Soon, we were joined by another friend, Chili. Chili is Sukiyuki's younger sister, and has a tendency to be a little wild. She arrived at our party as a Monk though. I think Suki might have been trying to instill a little discipline into her sibling. I don't know if it'll work though; Chili likes material goods a little too much to adapt to the humble life of a Monk, I think. Nevertheless, she has a good heart, and selflessly volunteered to pull the enemies in my place so I could rest between battles (even though Monk is not the best puller either...).

With four party members, we were also able to take on some of the Incredibly Tough enemies in the area. Those fights were difficult, but still no match for the Taru Beatdown Squad! (+one Mithra) At some point, the other party left the area, probably to move deeper into the dunes. Hence, we had more problems with the goblins since now no one was killing them off. A couple of times one of us would get random agro from a goblin and have run for the Konschtat Highlands. And once Chili was defeated when she accidentally got a lizard link during a pull and couldn't make it to the zone. Aside from those relatively minor snags, things progressed smoothly and before I knew it, we were all level 12!

Sadly, we soon had to go our separate ways and halt our adventure for the day, as we each had outside obligations to attend to. But I definitely hope to join my friends on the field of battle again sometime soon!

In the meantime, I think I might try to camp some nicer gear for my Paladin. I have always wanted stuff like a Clipeus, Van Pendant, and especially an Auriga Xiphos .