Lightningsday, 2/16/1034 (part 1)

Valkurm Dunes. Levels 14 - 18. Defeats = 2

(Note: The names of anyone who is not a real-life friend of mine are withheld to protect the innocent.)

This is actually one long adventure adventures, but I will put it into two log entries. I took a break from my money making schemes to team up with my Tarutaru pals Papaya (currently a Black Mage), Pitaya (her brother, a White Mage), and Chili (a Monk). I went to my Mog House, switched to Paladin, and made my way out to Valkurm Dunes to meet them.

At first we started off slow, fighting as a party of four against Hill Lizards, Goblin Ambushers, Goblin Tinkerers, and Goblin Butchers. After an early fight, Chili reached level 14, so we were all the same level. This time around, there were a lot more adventurers running around in the Dunes. As the puller (/sigh) I noticed that there was definitely some competition for the goblins in the area. Fortunately, Pitaya recruited some other adventurers in the area to join our party so we were able to move on to stronger prey like Snippers. But first, we had to meet them. They were near Selbina, and we were near the zone to Konschtat Highlands. Now, if you have ever been in Valkurm at low levels, you know that walking across the dunes can be, well, hazardous to your health. Sadly, this was no exception for us as we made our way to Selbina. We were ambushed by a couple of goblins along the way! Of course, being the selfless, heroic, knightly, (and humble) tank that I was, I get their attention with Provoke in an attempt to save the mages. We then made a break for Selbina. (If it was just one goblin, we probably could have taken it out.) Papaya and Pitaya ran ahead of me, each taking turns to cast a timely cure spell as the goblin slashed at me with its axe. I in turn would Provoke the goblin when it turned to either mage. Luckily for us, the other goblin was a spell caster, and I think it fell behind when it stopped to try to cast spells at us. However, even with the cures my health was dropping fast and I wasn't sure if I'd make it. As we came around the last bend, I could see the safety of Selbina just ahead. Just a little further! I glanced back to make sure my friends were still alright... and felt a sharp pain as the goblin scored a critical hit. Defeat!

The next thing I knew, I awoke to find a kindly high level White Mage had just cast Raise on me. I was relived to see that my friends seemed to be alright. Then I was annoyed to see that I was only about four steps from Selbina. Anyway, I recovered from my weakness outside Selbina, then met up with my friends and our two new recruits at the Outpost. we then made our way to an Oasis to set up our camp. As it turns out, our new party members were a level 14 Mithra Corsair(/war) and a level 16 Tarutaru Black Mage(/whm). We had some minor difficulty communicating with them (both were Japanese), but with the auto-translator we got by. In fact, Pitaya and Chili even tried speaking with them in their native tongue. From what I could understand, they seemed to be impressed (and pleasantly surprised) with Pitaya and Chili's capabilities. (I can understand a bit of Japanese too, but I am much more shy about speaking. It has been about five years since I last took a class or tried to speak to a native speaker.)

But I digress. I was a little concerned about trying to tank in a party with two Black Mages. However, at the same time I was relieved to see a Corsair, who would be a more suitable puller than me. (Paladins need to rest for MP, which you can't easily do while pulling). We got started after finally convincing the Corsair to pull for us. Our primary targets were the Snippers and Damselflys. The first fight went badly. I think the Corsair had pulled with Provoke, because when I used Provoke, the enemy didn't budge off of her. Shocked, I started to cast Cure spells on her to keep her alive and try to get hate, when the Black Mage unloads with a nuke! So it went straight for him next. Then of course our healers had to cast their bigger cures to keeps us all healthy. The Damselfly was bouncing all over the place, but we managed to take it down. At this point I was really worried about my ability to tank these things, but thing went smoother after that. The Corsair started pulling with a ranged weapon, and I hit Provoke much sooner, and was much faster with my Cure spells too. (I remembered later that Corsairs can't use guns until level 15. I am not sure what she was using to pull before that.) Also, when I hit level 15 I got access to Shield Bash, with helped with hate control quite a bit.

That party went very well, and we kept fighting enemies in the are for several days (a few Earth hours). The only real problem was our puller's tentativeness. We could have gone faster than we did. But it was very safe, so I can't complain too much. Well, it was kind of safe. A mistake happened just as we were discussing moving to a different camp (our entire party had just reached level 15+). The Corsair pulled a Goblin Leecher, and it linked with a stronger Goblin Mugger! The rest of the party had started off for the next camp and had to run back into position. As the Corsair ran by, I used Provoke on the Goblin Mugger, then started casting Banish of the Leecher. I think one of the mages cured the Corsair, because the Leecher made its way toward them. The Mugger was hitting me hard (50+ damage a hit), but I ran toward the Leecher and hit it with a Shield Bash. Then the Corsair accidentally Provoked one of the Thread Leeches in the area! (I think she was trying to get the Goblin Leecher.) Naturally, the normally benign little round Leech tore her to bits just as the Goblins finished me off. Most of us ended up going down, but I think Chili and Pitaya managed to escape. Ah, good old Valkurm Dunes. It just wouldn't feel right without at least one party wipe.

Our higher level friend Komaru came around and raised us, and we were back in business. The Corsair apologized profusely for her error while we tried to console her. I know she felt bad, but we all knew that things like that happen in the Dunes every once in a while. By the way, things like that are one of the reasons I don't like to pull. I find it even more stressful than tanking or main healing. We moved out to the west to fight the tier 3 goblins out there. Actually, I think we were overcamping a bit. I prefer to chain high Very Tough or low Incredibly Tough enemies. If the enemies get too strong, I will take too much damage and not be able to deal decent damage for hate either. But we had little choice since one of our party members was two levels higher than the rest of us. On the other hand, since we had two Black Mages, we could still readily defeat these strong enemies. Our party was well suited to take on the goblins too. With Shield Bash, Shoulder Tackle, and Barfira, the goblins' bombs were not as much of a threat. Silence could also shut down the Goblin Gamblers nicely too. We soon reached levels 16 and 17 and were ready to move on to another camp. But at this point, our new friends were starting to get tired and had to leave. We bade them a fond farewell, then had to search for new party members.

I was starting to get tired too, so this part of our adventure is a bit of a blur. I remember the pickings for new party members were a bit slim. We ended up getting a Ninja and a Warrior, both Hume males, at some point. I do remember the Warrior was really poorly equipped for his level (Legionnaire's Axe, Marine Shield, Scale Mail, and a Coven Hat) and he had no support job either. He did have a high level friend willing to power level him though. (I think he was just trying to rush to 20 so he could do both the support job quest and chocobo quest.) The Ninja was our puller for a while, but he was even more reluctant than our former Corsair. When he had to leave, the aforementioned Warrior had to take over pulling duties (also tentatively). We were fighting along the beech taking on Beach Pugils and were forced to fight as a party of five for a while. Soon, some of us started to reach level 18 and at the Warrior's suggestion, we headed off toward the so-called hidden beach. Along the way, we recruited a Galka Dragoon to join our cause.

Papaya once told me that she had never had a successful party at that beech. These words came back to haunt me as our party meet with disaster shortly after arriving. I didn't see exactly what happened (as I said, I was tired), but the next thing I knew we had goblin agro while fighting with a Pugil. Things were going badly so we made a break for the zone. I use Provoke, Banish, and Shield Bash to get the attention of our enemies, and then hit my mighty 2-hour ability, Invincible! As I see the rest of my party break for the zone, I cast Cure II on myself while the enemies blows bounced off me harmlessly. Then I ran for it as well, because I couldn't keep up my invulnerability much longer(lasts 30 Earth seconds). As I ran through the cave approaching the zone, I noticed that some of my allies had somehow already fallen. Then I remembered there some aggressive Bats in that cave as well! Argh! I keep failing at my duties as a tank. (/cry) With tears in my eyes, unable to help my fallen allies, I run for the zone. I was relived to see Papaya just ahead of me. It looked like she would make it too. After I escaped, I ventured back out to see that Papaya had fallen too! (She didn't have the expansion and couldn't zone!) But I had no time to grieve, as I saw another white mage running by with enemies hot of her tail (but she was a hume so she didn't actually have a tail). She could not escape either (also seemingly didn't have the expansion), so I helped her out with Cure spells and she managed to defeat the bats on her. After the dust settled, it looked like Chili, Papaya, and the Warrior had all fallen in battle.

After a while, the Warrior's high level Red Mage friend came back to Raise our allies and offered to Powerlevel us. I am not a huge fan of powerleveling, but I am also not one to turn down free help, either. We went back out to the beech and started fighting the pugils again. Annoyingly, the Warrior, who had been our puller, took a break, so I was forced to pull. Even more annoyingly, he refused to take up pulling duties again upon his return. Luckily, my inability to rest did not hinder our progress thanks to the presence of a powerleveler. Indeed, I pulled enemies much, much faster than we ever did previously on this adventure. (I never said I was a bad puller... I just don't like to do it.) We sailed through levels 17 and 18 quickly and most us us made decent progress into level 19. The Dragoon hit level 20 and decided to leave. At that point, we were exhausted and went on to disband our party for the day. Our next stop will be Qufim Island.