27Mar2009
2fishies

Early Bird Catches the Wyrm

A thunderous roar spread through the battleground and made the ground shake violently. One of our tarutarus lost his balance and fell to the ground, but was helped back on his feet by a fellow Black Mage. The air was damp, and had a disgusting smell. I looked at the others, assuring myself that everyone was there. I counted fifteen people, ready for battle. The group was a little nervous, shaken by the roar earlier.

Early Bird

My linkshell had gathered in Balga’s Dais, ready to battle with the wyrm that inhabits the area. Everyone was hoping for the ultimate rewards, but we tried to keep our enthusiasm to ourselves, trying not to get ahead of ourselves. We still had a difficult fight before us. I walked over to the tanks and stopped for a moment. I started praying for my ancestors’ blessings, before I proceeded to cast a protective shell around each of my party members. I patted Sparroweye, our main tank, on the back, telling him that we were all good to go. Brace yourself, that wyrm looks hungry, I told everyone, before me and Sparroweye approached the dragon.

Look at that thing…it’s huge! some of the damage dealers whispered, surprised by the sheer size of the dragon. It was walking around in a circle, restless—hungry. It’s wings were spread, with scars and cuts from past battles. It’s claws looked razor sharp and I’m sure they could easily rip a house apart. They were stained with blood, proof of it’s capacity for terror.

Careful, Sparroweye whispered to me, leading the way into the big circular area of the battleground. The wyrm had not sensed our presence yet, and we wanted to make sure we were all good and ready to bring our strategy to life. Sparroweye turned his head toward me and nodded affirmatively. I kept praying in my head that everything would go well. Everyone was now gathered inside the circle, ready to go.

Sparroweye, who were wielding his “chainsaw” sword, pointed it toward the wyrm as he flashed the monster with a powerful spell. You are mine! he cried out. The wyrm turned around, extremely agitated, chasing toward Sparroweye. I quickly healed Sparroweye, before I moved to the dragons left paw. I was careful not to get to close to it as I didn’t feel like getting stomped. Everyone launched a series of powerful attacks, which enraged the dragon even more.

The dragon roared at us, leaving some of the damage dealers paralyzed with terror for a few moments. I made sure the tanks’ wounds were tended, taking a few moments every now and then to cast a barrier spell against the wyrms attacks of fire. The wyrm took a few steps back before it started waving it’s enormous wings rapidly. It took off from the ground, causing dust to fly in all directions. People started coughing, but because of the danger a flying dragon poses, they decided to take cover in the tunnel.

Only me and Sparroweye remained in the circular area, and the Black Mages helped damage the wyrm with powerful spells. I focused on keeping Sparroweye alive, a task that can be quite demanding. The wyrm blast bolts of fire against our tank, but thanks to my barrier spells the fire didn’t cause much of a burn. Using it’s wings it formed a searing force of wind pointed toward the tank, reaching hurricane levels.

Angry Wyrm

Our Black Mages did a great job inflicting damage on the wyrm, forcing it to the ground. The wyrm was starting to get worn out, but it kept on defending itself, snapping at the alliance. I continued to heal my party’s wounds as the damage dealers continued to pound the dragon with all their might.

Finally, the wyrm fell to the ground with a powerful boom, revealing a chest. Wow, that was intense, someone said, clearly surprised by the amount of effort it would take to bring down such a horrendous monster. You didn’t come here thinking this would be a walk in the park, did you, questioned. Everyone laughed, before we walked over to chest and carefully opened it, finding a Juggernaut among other nice treats!

On my way out I danced happily, as we had successfully slain the wyrm that some of the locals had feared so much.

Dancing

10Mar2009
6fishies

The /random of despair

I was pretty psyched up to get some meaningful and decent experience, after having been inspired by my friend, Anexia’s, post about gaining experience as a a Black Mage. I thought joining a KS30 party would be just what I needed, as it is an event that I would like to do more both for the gil and to help my fellow linkshell members. Sadly though, KS30 runs you hear people shouting about in Whitegate or Jeuno are seldom any good.

We all gathered in the Jeuno Port, ready to teleport to the Konschat Highlands where we would take the shortcut to Gustaberg. I put my sneakers on, hoping to get there a bit sooner as it is quite a long run. The group met up in Waughroon Shrine where I thought we’d do Operation Desert Storm together.

The leader asked us to roll our dices to see who goes first, and I ended up with one of the highest numbers. Then, suddenly, the leader told us our tarutaru Black Mage was going first, even though he had the lowest number. I shrugged, thinking it was only a mistake. Boy, was I wrong. The drops from our first run was meh, so was pretty much the rest of the run’s drops.

Ready!

Afterwards, when the tarutaru mage had caught up with the rest of the party again, after having to run through half the mines, we were asked to roll our dices again. This is something that upsets me, because once you’ve rolled your dice, you should keep that order or it would be unfair.. well, again the leader insisted on the lowest number being the one using his orb, and I had just rolled the highest number. We slaughtered the scorpions, and gathered together again for the next run.

Once again we were asked to roll our dices, and this time the leader of the run won the right to use his orb. We killed some more scorpions, this time getting a pretty nice drop, but seeing as we don’t split the loot it’s not like I gained anything from it. At this point I had already pointed out that this would be my last pop, as I was fed up with how the run had been handled.

When the leader arrived again, everyone was worried if I was going to stay or not. I had been talking in private with one of the other members, stating that I’m not sure if I’m in the mood to continue. The leader tells us to roll our dices, and he gets the lowest roll again! Yes, that’s right, four of the six members being present had brought a second set, and this had not been pointed out before we departed from Jeuno. I told the party that I objected to the people who had already had their turn getting another turn before the rest gets their chance to use their orb.

The leader got quite upset and said «what ur ls» before he examined me. He noticed that I was a member of Offline, and made a disgusting remark, »ahhh, I see why.» This really upset me as you don’t judge people by their linkshell, and what he had just done was an insult. I told them that I had had enough and warped out…

In the end I didn’t get to use my orb, but I refuse to party with someone that insults me and doesn’t explain the terms of the party upfront.

I really wish that the people leading such runs would stick to the tried and true ways of doing things instead of just inventing silly systems like lowest random goes first. Also, it would be very helpful if people knew beforehand that they could bring two orbs, instead of people feeling they were cheated. And last but not least, why oh why do people insist on rerolling their dices after each run? Why not stick to the order that has already been laid out?

One thing is for sure though; I’m not doing a KS30 run with a random group ever again.