Watersday, 7/15/1034

Crawlers' Nest. Level 40. Defeats = 0
Yuhtunga Jungle. Level 41. Defeats = 0

Time to start leveling Beastmaster again! I researched the adventure logs of some adventurers that came before me and decided to try my luck in Yuhtunga Jungle. I went to Jeuno to board the airship to Kazham, but first I used the Search function to see if anyone was already there. No one. Good. I boarded the airship, arrived in Kazham, bought supplies, and went to the Chocobo lady. Checked Search again. Still no one. Good. I hopped onto a Chocobo and wandered around the Jungles for a while looking for the camp described by my predecessors. I always get lost in that blasted jungle. Anyway, I finally found he camp, only to see a level 43 Tarutaru Beastmaster already leveling there! Argh, she must have arrived a few minutes before I showed up. Dejected, I rode back to Kazham and had to think of a plan B.

I heard good things about Crawlers' Nest, so I decided to make that my next campsite. But I realized that I did not have a Magical Map for the Nest. Rumor had it that the mayor of Selbina had one. I switched to White Mage, cast Teleport-Dem and rode a chocobo out to Selbina to pay him a visit. The mayor, Abelard, wanted me to complete a task for him in return for the map. I was a little annoyed, but questing was part of my duty as an adventurer. I was to follow in the footsteps of the famous explorer Gwynham Ironheart, who created many of the maps of the mainland that we adventurers enjoy today. Ironheart inscribed accounts of his travels upon several stone monuments scattered about the lands of Vana'diel. Abelard gave me some Selbina Clay and asked me to find each of these monuments and make a Clay Tablet imprint of each monument. In my travels I had already encountered some of these monuments, including the one in East Sarutabaruta that described Mithra as "unsophisticated" (/angry). Nevertheless I accepted the quest, thinking it would be a nice change of pace from the normal slaying of monsters.

The quest was easy, but annoying and time consuming. The worst part was that I had to return to the mayor after each imprint. I pleaded with Abelard to give me more than one piece of Selbina Clay at a time, but he would have none of it (Selbina Clay is Rare/Ex). Fortunately, I had the White Mage's Teleport Spells, the Black Mage's Warp, and the ability to use the outpost teleportation services from Windurst due to having done Supply Run Missions for my nation in the past. This made travel throughout the land much faster than if I had to rely on Chocobos and boats. Still, it took my almost 4 full days (3 hours 40 minutes Earth time) to track down the necessary monuments and imprint them. A long time to be sure, but then I remembered it originally took Gwynham Ironheart over 30 years to complete his explorations. The mayor rewarded me with the Map of the Crawlers' Nest after I turned in the 15th Clay Tablet. Apparently there are still two more stone monuments out there, but I think I will require some assistance to get to them. That will have to wait for another day.

So with Map in hand, I went back to Jeuno, changed back to Beastmaster, and started back on the path to experience points! I rode to Crawlers' Nest, which is found in the southwest portion of Rolanberry Fields. It was my first time setting foot into the Nest and I did not know exactly what to expect. Well, I knew to expect Crawlers of course, but I wasn't sure what else to expect. As it turns out, there are lots of giant Bees in the area as well. Even though I had a Map, I did not want to delve too deep into the Nest, for the creatures near the entrance were already Even Match - Very Tough to me. In fact, the tunnels near the entrance seems like a good place to camp. I started using Even Match Death Jackets (bees) as pets against Tough Worker Crawlers. The good news about the area is that none of the Death Jackets or Worker Crawlers in the early section of the zone agro. The bad news is that they all link. Sometimes 3 or 4 Bees would gather together in the same area, which made fighting and charming far more dangerous. I am glad I bought a Corsette +1 before coming out here. Not only does it lift and separate, but the added Charisma made mischarms far less likely. It's really, really tight though, so I have to take it off for fighting in favor of my Tilt Belt.

It was my first time using Bees as pets and prey for experience points since my very early, pre-teen levels levels. Bees are very interesting pets. By interesting, I mean terrible. Ok, not terrible, but annoying. They have three TP abilities: Pollen, Sharp Sting, and Final Sting. Pollen is the best by far, regularly curing the pet for at least 200 hp. Sharp Sting is pretty bad. It only deals about as much damage as a regular attack. Even worse, it has terrible accuracy. My Bee pets hit two Sharp Sting attempts all day (must have missed 15+ easily). Final Sting is downright awful. If the bee uses this ability, pray that it kills the target, otherwise you're going to have to try and find a new pet. Oh, did I mention that everything in this place links? My worst nightmare was for the pet to use Final Sting early and then have to scramble through the zone trying to find another pet with an angry Death Jacket or Worker Crawler beating on me, linking with any of its buddies along the way. Luckily, my pet only used Final Sting once all session, and I was prepared with a backup pet ahead of time, so it was ok.

Bees are even more interesting prey. Again, by interesting I mean annoying. First of all, enemy bees almost never miss Sharp Sting, of course. But the most irritating thing they do is spam Pollen. The Tough Death Jackets could use Pollen and heal over 400 hp in damage! This can really extend a fight and turn a routine kill into a dangerous situation. I fought one bee that used Pollen 6 times in a row. That was over 2000 more hit points that my pets and I had the fight through. When the bees do that, you may have to turn away from the battle and find another pet in a hurry. On the other hand, sometimes the bee would use Final Sting. That was the best case scenario, because it shortens and otherwise long fight and can allow for some nice chains. The other prey and pets, the Worker Crawlers, are much more stable and reliable. They have all the usual Crawler abilities, and were my preferred targets. However, the bees were much more plentiful.

The biggest problem I had while in Crawlers' Nest was the competition. It is a very popular zone to fight in for experience or other reasons. Normally the parties don't bother with the stuff I was fighting; they typically go a little further into the area. However, my main competition came from higher level characters who were either leveling up their NPC companions, skilling up offensive or defensive skills, or, worst of all, farming the bees and crawlers for money (silk, beehive chips, honey, etc.). After I had been there for about a half hour, a level 51 Mithra Paladin came through and started killing the bees and crawlers indiscriminately. (She had the same face as me but with blond hair... I think I may have found my evil twin.) Farmers like her were really problematic, as a few times I would need to find a new pet only to find everything in the area dead. The competition also broke any chance at decent experience chains. Near the end of my day, one guy came through and killed a few bees before he noticed me. He nicely apologized for killing my potential pets and went on his way. I think he was a Puppetmaster. I guess us pet jobs have to stick together. :)

Eventually I hit level 41 and things became a little easier. I tried to fight through the various issues I mentioned above, but the experience gain was just too slow. I was also getting fed up with the Pollen spamming Bees. I think I'm going to try to avoid fighting with/against bees for experience points in the future (farming is another story). I made just over 2000 experience into level 41 and just had to get out of there. I may come back later when I can go further into the Nest.

I did a Search on Yuhtunga Jungle, found no competition there, and decided to try my luck again. I ran to Jeuno, got on the airship, arrived in Kazham, hopped onto a Chocobo, and rode to the camp just as before. This time, there really was no one there! I jumped off my Chocobo and immediately got to work. My pets were the Decent Challenge - Even Match Soldier Crawlers in the area, and I fought the several Goblin Poachers and one Goblin Robber wandering around. The goblins ranged from Tough - Incredibly Tough. This is a really nice camp for a Beastmaster. I think there are six crawers available as pets, 2 in the cave, 2 just as you exit the cave, and two in the clearing. There are also 4 goblins to fight: one Robber in the cave, 1 Poacher just outside the cave, and 2 Poachers in the clearing. I was a little worried because some of the Goblins were Incredibly Tough, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. I had enough pets in the area to keep throwing pets at a goblin until it blew itself up with a bomb. All of the creatures repawn pretty fast too. By the time I finished my 3rd or 4th goblin, the1st one would have respawned.

It's a little tricky to make this work perfectly, and you have to be careful because one mistake can lead to defeat. The Incredibly Tough Goblins hit hard! Against the Tough goblins, I would charm a Crawler and fight with it normally, trying to stay behind the goblin. When I saw the goblin ready an ability, I would run back in the opposite direction to avoid bomb explosions. Against anything Very Tough or stronger, I avoided melee and instead threw pets at the goblin until it blew itself up or until the pets defeated it. It usually took 2-3 pets to defeat a single goblin. In battles like this, it is really important to build as little hate as possible. The last thing you want is for the goblin to ignore your new pet and continue beating on you after a pet swap. This is the reason I avoided melee. Well, that and the bombs. I tried to keep Blink up at all times in these fights too, because you'll usually take a few hits when you have to switch pets. Casting Blink actually gives you quite a bit of hate, so try to cast it either before the battle or out of range whenever possible. At first, I fought by sending a pet at a goblins until it dies, then getting a new pet until it died, then getting a new pet if necessary, and so on. Then I remembered that I have the mighty ability, Leave! If I fought the goblin in the Crawler's roaming area, I could send a crawler at a goblin until it the Crawler was almost dead, then Leave immediately releasing it as a pet; the goblin would come after me, but I would Charm another Crawler in the area and send it after the goblin. The best part is my recently released pet heals very rapidly while out of combat. So when my second pet was almost dead, I used Leave again and recharmed the first pet and sent if after the goblin. At that point, the second pet, now released, would heal rapidly while out of combat. Basically, I could reuse the same two pets over and over until they defeated the goblin. I think I have discovered the true power of the Beastmaster! The main danger of this method is a possible mischarm. Crawlers link, so if you fail a Charm on you second pet it will come after you... and so will your first pet if it is in linking range. That's the worse case scenario, where you'll have all 3 mobs beating on you. This never happened to me, but I recognized the theoretical possibility. It isn't too hard to keep your potential pets out of linking range though.

I was getting 200 experience every kill, and over 300 with the Empress Band active. I was also getting pretty good chains #2-#3, and I was being extremely cautious. After all, the biggest danger of this area is the complete lack of a nearby escape route. I think the nearest zone is Sea Serpent Grotto, which is quite a long hike with an Incredibly Tough goblin on your tail! (I cold be wrong; there might be a closer zone to Yhoator Jungle.) I may have hit higher chains if I had been a bit more reckless (for example, I could have melee'd with the Incredibly Tough goblins when they were low on life). But a lot of it depends on if the goblins blows up or not. If not, the fight can take quite a long time and break the chain. Still, the experience was excellent and soon I was level 42! However, the best parts is my support job White Mage was now level 21! I now have access Cure III and Regen! I am sure both spells will will help get me out of a jam somewhere down the line.

I set up camp at what I hoped was a safe place, and made plans to return to action soon.