Riverne- Site #A01

Logged in the morning to get ready for our second attempt at this particular mission. We were scheduled to go at eight or nine o'clock, but unfortunately, Saoirse's dad wanted to take her out to dinner, and so, our start time was thus delayed to "whenever Saoirse gets back." ^^

So, the rest of us, Akanea, Seraphpdh, Krellion, Woulfgang, and myself, just bummed around the Misareaux Coast for a bit, before it dawned upon me that we could farm the various Overgrown Roses there for the Malboro Vines I need to make us some more Hi-Potions. After muling the other reagents over to Akanea, who then passed the stuff to me, we set about the long, arduous task of skilling up our various weapons (Staff for Seraphpdh and I) off the Overgrown Roses. It didn't really help that we kept doing Earth Crusher, which was AoE, and got collateral damage half the time on the Maneaters...-_-

Anyway, this went on for a while. By the time it was ten o'clock, we were all wondering where Saoirse was, since she said she'd be back by then. No matter, we continued the Rose (and Fomor) beating for a little while longer, at least, until Krellion said he had to go, around half past. More Rose beatings ensued...

By 10:30, still no sign of Sao. >_<

At 11:00, we finally got all fed up of waiting, and decided to warp back home. It's...rather irritating to waste about three hours just bumming around because of one person, although granted, these were probably circumstances outside of Sao's control. As the French would say, "C'est la vie", I guess (and I hope I spelt that right >_<).

At 12:00, Sao comes bursting in, and we go on a mad scramble to try to get a party together!

In the end, we found Johnytran, who also needed Riverne done, and so, I switched over to WHM-mode. Our party thus comprised of Woulfgang, Akanea, Seraphpdh, Johnytran, Saoirse, and myself. SAM, SAM, PLD, BLM, THF, WHM for those who wanted to keep track. ^^

Dragono was also trying to organise a second party, and I believe we were supposed to go altogether as one group, especially since with an alliance, we could save time since they wouldn't have to farm up two Giant Scales to let them through the Unstable Displacements. Unfortunately, many of their members weren't ready, and by this time, it was approaching 1 o'clock, and so we set off without them. ; ;

Since we had done this before, getting to Monarch Linn was easy, well, sans one daring maneuver by Seraphpdh that got us weaving in between three IT++ Cloud Hippogyphs. While we did make it through safely, he still got a few /slaps from us. ^^

Knowing what to expect, we formulated a new battle plan once again. This time, we had plenty of items to go around, as well as both a scroll of Instant Reraise, and a Reraiser. Seraphpdh would go in and aggro all three Mammets, but not engage them. This ensures that hate would only be on Seraph due to some AI programming, despite what the rest of us do. I would keep Seraph alive (or at least, try to) with my Cures, while Seraph did the same with his own Cures and Hi-Potions aplenty.

Akanea would Provoke one Mammet off Seraph, and then the four of them would get to work on killing that one Mammet. Our instructions to them were simple, based on our last run: No watter what happens, at least one Mammet must die before we all wipe. That way, in the event of a wipe, we could at least Reraise and rest and actually have some progress done in the BC fight. And so, they went on {Full attack!}

I don't quite remember what their plan was, but I think it involved two Meikyo Shisuis and a lot of Tachi: Enpis for multiple Distortions, which Johnytran then tried to MB on.

I, on the other hand, was fully preoccupied with trying to keep Seraph alive, and even with two Hi-Ethers (biggest waste of money, ever), two Yagudo drinks, and a Taru's MP pool, I still ran out of mana. >_< Seraph, on the other hand, was also trying his best to stay alive, and I think he counted the total number of Hi-Potions he chugged down that fight- twenty-seven o.O

However, now that we had a cohesive plan, and executed it, things went very smoothly. There were some hiccups, like when the Mammet the others were fighting used Transmogrify (absorbs all physical damage), and people's reactions were a little slow. Remember, don't lock on the Mammets so you can quickly turn your back to them! ^^

Other than that though, the fight went pretty smoothly, with only a few tense moments here and there. One by one, the Mammets fell, and some twenty minutes later, we won! ^^

We woke up to find ourselves in South Gustaberg (somehow), and Prishe wasn't terribly happy about being stuck on the mainland. ^^ We ran around trying to figure out what was wrong, and the trail eventually led to Aldo of the Tenshodo, who could possibly help us out. Unfortunately, upon entering Jeuno, we were branded as traitors due to goodness-knows what silly reason, and while the Tenshodo provided some sanctuary, we had to eventually turn ourselves into the duchy.

It seems the plot thickens though. The Emptiness has spread to other parts of Vana'diel, including the Far East, and we were the only real link they had to tracking the mysterious boy down, who we recovered at the first Promyvion. Hmmm.

Anyway, enough about that. As some of you might have noticed, I've been complaining about my computer problems for quite some time now, and well, it's about time I get it fixed. >_< Unfortuantely, I have been asked to send my computer all the way to Miami, where the people will work on fixing my computer for about 2-3 weeks. Tacking on shipping times to that, I won't be around for about another 5-6 weeks. ; ; Ah well, more adventarus to come then, I guess! ^^

8/8 ^^

Finally got around to it. Purchased an Apollo's Staff and a Neptune's Staff off the AH today, completing my HQ Staves collection. Yep, that's 8/8 HQ Elemental Staves. It looks purrrty!^^



'Course, being the miser that I am (sort of), it took a lot of self-convincing that I should get them. To be perfectly honest, the practical uses of the HQ staves are minimal, since the only staves that a BLM really needs are an Ice, Thunder, and Dark Staff. Of those three, only Ice and Thunder really need to be HQ, well, maybe just Thunder since all your nukes tend to be of the Thunder line in the endgame. >_<

Don't get me wrong, the other HQ staves have their uses. For example, I bought an Auster's Staff to help out my Aero nukes versus Kirin. Unfortuanately, other than that, I can't see any other real use for it, so meh. :P What can I say? I'm a collectaru...hee...^^

That, and I really wanted to save the 2-million I spent on the Staves to help fund my Goldsmithing. I seem to be very paranoid about this in particular, since I'm going to need all the help I can get to make it through the Goldsmithing hell that is the 70s. >_< At least I'll be on greener pastures once I get out of that...

Speaking of which, I don't know how many people noticed, but the Goldsmithing blog is up and running. Since its purpose is so specific, it does not get updated very often, but I guess any up-and-coming crafters (or experienced crafters for that matter) can always stop by to give their comments and ideas. ^^ It should be linked over on the side panel, but if something's wrong, please do check out the Goldsmithing bloggie over at http://tarugoldsmith.blogspot.com! ^^

Finally, tried Riverne - Site #A01 with TrueRune this morning. We managed to navigate ourselves to the BCNM fight, but got promptly owned when a few minor errors just added up. That, and we were up against three mobs, one of whose attacks all ended in -ga. >_<

Other than that, I think I'm going to take a short break once my plants have grown in an attempt to fix my computer. As some of you may know, my computer has been periodically crashing every now and then since last December, and it's about time I try to get it fixed. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, hopefully it's something that a reformat can deal with, but if that fails...it might be a while before I return...