Unfortunately, though, I had to start with the Casting Wand quest. D: I made my way to Chumimi to see what was going down but before I could have a word I was greeted with the site of Shantotto, Koru-Moru and Yoran-Oran arguing as to the reasons why the baby star trees aren’t developing properly. I listened intently to their discussion and noted how Tarus arguing is the cutest thing this side of Wuffle Land.

Chumimi then asked me who I sided with in regards to this issue. I decided to side with Koru-Moru as I find his evidently knowledgeable views on soil to be both intriguing and inspiring. Now most people would simply see that as a needless part of the quest, but not I; my support for him was taken to the next level.

But since I couldn’t really prove his theory right I decided to just make his opposition feel bad. Well…I couldn’t really bring myself to say anything bad to Shantotto because, even though she called me a total loser and clearly has attachment issues, I like her. Maybe I like the abuse; or maybe I just like the cutsey/authoritative voice Datsuki attributes to her when we read out cut-scenes together. Either way, the upshot of that was that all of my energy was to be focused on one Yoran-Oran.

I started by sending him a tell explaining why his life is a miserable failure. When that didn’t work I followed him around and carried out an assortment of tasks to make his life at least 15% less convenient. For example, I threw away all of his spoons and replaced his plush pillows with slices of ham. I also turned the dial on his toaster to five instead of three as well as filling his boots with jelly.

Even as he was calmly pleading for me to leave his home I managed to turn it against him by taking a photo of him and editing it so it seemed as though he was holding a sign that declared his idiocy and lukewarm odour.

Anyhoo, Shantotto proclaimed that she believed the problem lay in Heaven’s Tower’s dim lighting and suggested that I help out by obtaining a Glowstone; which was to be done by throwing a faded crystal into the gorge at Xarcabard which, obviously, makes perfect sense.

So, Datsuki and I – following the minister’s sage advice – headed to Xarcabard and did so. But after we faded that crystal and stuck it in the gorge good, a mob popped Dx (who’d have thunk it?). The Chaos Elemental was easy enough to defeat and, thus, I was quickly back in Heaven’s Tower to collect my reward; which was promptly thrown through Yoran-Oran’s window. \(`¬`)/ But before he could say, “I’m going to call the police,” I was off to do me some CoP.

I dare say I quite enjoy CoP. q_o Well, I have to say I enjoy it a lot more in hindsight ’cause those level caps are annoying. :x I do, however, believe that it holds the best story arc in FFXI and completing it with friends is one of those things you’ll never forget.

Our first port of call was Promy-Mea; Amith, Spankey and Kroeger were kind enough to help myself, Datsi and Weissberv in this venture. :O

But that wasn’t all the help we got for we ran into another party upon entering. I decided that it wasn’t a bad idea for us to make our way to the spire as an alliance although *someone* had a different idea. D:

However, alliance or not, I carried out my magely duties to the very best of my ability. (>_<)b

Many dead Receptacles later – some were duds D: – we found ourselves at the spire. The fight was easy enough as myself, Kroeger and Datsi had farmed animas beforehand and everyone was kind enough to implement the strategy I had devised (i.e. attack and win).

If you’d like to see a video of the fight – which you obviously do – Weissberv posted one in a blog entry of his which can be found … *rummages* … here.

After the fight Nag’molada got all up in our jazz which was a tad rude, to say the least.

I do look forward to advancing with CoP. :o

Alas, after that great success, I decided to continue with my AF hunt in order to obtain a piece of AF that is, you know, actually somewhat useful. :x So, yet again, I took my adorable self to Heaven’s Tower – it really is a beautiful zone – and attempted to have a natter with Chumimi. But once more, since the glowstone idea didn’t work, we were rudely interrupted as another ‘discussion’ took place between the three professors as to which path to take next in order to solve the problem. Koru-Moru was quite active in the conversation until Chumimi mentioned that the star trees began to wither with the beginning of the Great War twenty years ago.

It was at that point he started to spazz out and proceeded to mumble something about having met a ‘mighty cuterino’ girl named Rasusu twenty years ago who was trying to solve the hunger problem in Jeuno that had been brought about by the crawler infestation in Rolanberry Fields; and how he had suggested that he should cultivate the star trees for food. When he finally came to, covered in his own ‘sweataru’, he asked me to head to Jeuno so I could find Rasusu and ‘get-gettily’ the bag of seeds that she had ‘borrowed’ from him.

I quickly made my way there but, alas, there was no sign of her. Eventually, I came across a man named Laityn who informed me that – twenty or so years ago – Rasusu had actually followed an adventurer and his group to Crawlers’ Nest in an attempt to exterminate the queen and has not been seen since. Clearly, that then equates to me murderising elementals in Crawlers’ Nest in the hope that they’d drop a bag of seeds. Hey, at least it makes more sense than some other quests…

Unfortunately, these aforementioned elementals were a little too high in level for Datsuki and I to take as a duo. ’tis why we asked Amith to come help.

Congrats on 75 RDM by the by. :x

After having sat in Crawlers’ Nest for a good while I, ingeniously, thought that it might actually be a good idea to find out when the elementals may spawn by talking to the weather NPC in Upper Jeuno.

After having found out that they weren’t actually due to spawn for a good hour or two, Datsuki changed to Datsi and we carried out a bunch of menial tasks. Eventually, we found ourselves at the crag of Holla. As I was sitting astride a rent-a-chocobo I asked Datsi if she’d be kind enough to cast Invisible on me. She was indeed kind enough to do so. :O

After running around for a few I commented on how it would be funny if we went into the Dunes and I pretended to be a talking chocobo that had escaped from his trainer and was on a hunt for greens.

But obviously, lol, we weren’t bored enough to implement such a ridiculous idea.

*five minutes later*

We repeated this sketch with a couple of unsuspecting people. Some were all, “I don’t have any greens…”; others were sending /tells to Datsi in regards to my whereabouts. It was pretty funny watching Datsi’s log fill with /tells such as, “He’s right here next to me!” as I lamented to them in /say about how she would surely, “Slap me for days,” if she caught me.

*chuckles*

Well! I’m leaving this update here for now, me hearties. But look forward to the next instalment of my blog where, as usual, I happily blabber on about pointless crap. :D…

See ya!~ (^_^)/

Sowwy~ (*>_<)

The same goes with equipment, although we’re only really talking about a Mohbwa Scarf +1 and some Magic Slacks; which I could live without ’til 50. :x

There is one piece of equipment, though, that I refused to ding 47 without. >:O

So I figured that, since I had four or so hours to spare, I’d head to LoO (once I remember how to get there :x) to see if I couldn’t rip myself that said equipment from the ear of a dead, Goblin shaped corpse. :D …

As you can tell from this rather crappy picture I had some competition to deal with so I was very happy to get the claim and drop on my first attempt. @_@;

After that it was back to the intense levelling. No mob was spared in our hurried crusade to get Datsuki to level 50 in time for her CoP battle. Along the way I managed to fully utilise the joys of MBs, Aspir and run into Serket no less! :o

There she is! :D And there’s…*stares* er…Sddshufiex fighting her like a champ. He sounds legit. :O

Anywizzles, after many long nights of levelling, Datsuki finally attained level 50 and the world could surely hear us sigh in relief.

It was after this that I didn’t play the game for a little over a month. It’s rather hard to denote the passing of time on such a scale in writing, but in an attempt to give you a feel for it I shall soon type four spaced ellipses, separated into a set of two by a picture of one man’s attempt to dance in the most dangerous fashion possible for no apparent reason. I’ll also be asking you to utilise the power of your imagination…now!

…

…

…

…

I did, of course, make my way back for the anniversary event where we all have a good chuckle at how many times we’ve died; which is 74 times in the space of four months for me, in case you’re wondering.

And how could I resist the lure of logging on to throw my money at a moogle in exchange for Mog Bonanza marbles soon afterwards? Well, I couldn’t, so that’s a rhetorical question.

It was also nice to see that the LS hadn’t changed. Amith was still bored and was still trying to amuse himself but just ended up amusing me more in the process. D:

Silly Amith.

When I finally did ease myself back into playing at the start of June, it was to camp Intulo for his Magic Slacks – the thought of an eft wearing slacks still amuses me – alas, I went 0/10 on those things so I gave up. (*^_^)b

Soon afterwards, Datsi and I decided that we should take a trip to the past; since we hadn’t yet done so on those respective characters. But just because we hadn’t travelled to the past as Tarus didn’t mean we weren’t well aware of how delicious we would seem to the high level mobs that inhabit the zones that lay beyond the ‘Cavernous Maw’ standing adjacent us. It was for that reason that a ‘debate’ took place as to who should enter first.

My argument was decisive:

But before I could shove Datsi into the maw I, myself, started to be pulled into its gaping jaws, yo.

However, so many perils have met Garcie in his adventuring career that he seems to have become somewhat reticent to the whole ordeal. I dare say I almost shed a tear as I watched his cute self be apathetically pulled into a different plane.

Once inside, we made our way to The Eldieme Necropolis [S] and then, er…made our way back. ^_^;

If anyone tells you that we came back because we were scared they’re filthy liars and you should pay them no mind.

No mind!~ *shakes fist*

It wasn’t too long afterwards when I obtained my final piece of RSE and, with the help of Datsuki, was lucky enough to bag myself a Sweet Sachet (lame pun intended); which is INT+2 in the ammo slot for those not in the know. Do I need more INT? No. But then again neither do you so get out of my face. >:O

The result of all this crazy gear was that I was able to unleash ‘cool’ MBs onto my foes once I got back into levelling, passed G1 (thanks to Millionsknives again for that. :x), hit level 51 and could subsequently tag a shiny Ice Staff into my Freeze macro.

I say shiny but, really, they’re not so shiny as I was in fact given five staves once used by Chibimoon; along with, er… a *checks notes* Red Cape +1 and a Morion Earring which I forgot to mention previously. That did indeed help me out much, money wise. Thanks to to Millionsknives/Barthezz for letting me borrow a Wisdom Ring also. *pulls collar* ^_^;

I also thought that it would be a good idea to get Garcie Aht Urhgan access since his level was slowly approaching the mid fifties. But, of course, one of the best things about gaining access is that I get to needlessly spam crappy spells during Besieged in order to cap my skills. Woo! :D

Well…I must admit that I did feel kinda bad just standing there spamming dia and bio. It was for that reason I decided to bite the bullet, hit Elemental Seal and cast Freeze on the {Mega Boss}.

Crap.

No-one else saw that, right? >_>;

Anyway! Join me next time where you’ll no doubt get to witness me do something crazy like eat a…cake…covered in…I don’t know where I’m going with this. Basically, I’m just asking you to read my next post if you’d be so kind. ~_~

Until then! Ciao and/or that and thanks for making it this far down the page!~ (^_^)/

…

Unless you’ve just skipped the whole post and scrolled down to this here sentence.

They say that you can party here as a mage at level 24 and that is true, but the problem with being level 24 and fighting Gobs in the jungle is that I get resisted to hell and back. D: But I can’t deny that, with the aid of two PLs (no idea why lol), the xp gained was hot.

This party lasted a good while and it wasn’t too long before I found myself at level 27, which I was very happy about. :D Then, after the party was done I finished purchasing the spells and equipment I’ll need throughout the rest of my jungle voyage.

I managed to get myself another good party when I logged on a few days later which resulted in me dinging level 28. I left that party a little early though so Datsuki and I could attempt to get me a pair of Mycophile Cuffs.

Wee. :D

I have to say that Datsuki did an amazing job of mitigating damage; I didn’t have to cure her once and she was only five levels higher than the mob in question. @_@

The next day Datsuki and I planned to take advantage of the fact that today was indeed Taru RSE day and we both had time to play. Since Datsuki was kind enough to help me I figured that it would be nice to make things infinitely easier for her by dinging level 29 so I could wear my Seer’s gear and, most importantly, have access to Escape; so I threw my flag up and made my way to Kazham.

Technical difficulties arose, however, when I came to the realisation that there was literally not one xp party in the whole region; nor were there enough people online in my level range to make one – maybe I should have checked this beforehand. :x

But, hey, I’m a black mage and they can solo xp in a sexy fashion, right? :D

“Of course they can!” is the answer that resonated in my mind as I headed to the Goblin Pathfinder camp in Yhoator. Yeah, it went wrong…numerous times. D: I set my HP in Kazham and tried my best to grind out 5,000 xp but I failed violently; so many times, in fact, that I actually delevelled to 27. >:V ’twas at that point I thought to myself, like the hard worker I am, “Piss it, I’m going back to Jeuno. @_@”.

To be honest, not having Escape didn’t turn out to be too much of a problem. We spent hours trying to get a key to drop and when one finally did I was dead so we lost it. >_o

We did keep trying though and with ten minutes to spare we got another key to drop. We frantically searched for the chest and there could only have been about three minutes left by the time I accepted Guttrix’s kind gift for the effort we had put in – Wonder Clomps.

The stress of the situation was too much to handle for Datsuki; who I found soon afterwards looking mildly forlorn and wistful of times gone by as an NPC doppelgänger did some things to her that I can’t bring myself to type. :x

During the following week after the March update I continued to attempt to seek and make parties but I was having absolutely no luck whatsoever.

Amith and Datsuki were both kind enough to help aid me as I attempted to solo my way to a higher level but I wasn’t getting anywhere fast. @_@ I have to say that I was starting to get frustrated with my stagnant position. D: It seemed that no-one wanted my sexy services and I couldn’t solo for toffee. :/ Not that I wanted toffee, I wanted xp. In retrospect both would have been nice but it’s too late for that now.

In fact, the rejection I felt in-game became all enveloping; it started to seriously effect my real life activities. For example, I went to visit a friend; I knocked on their door, they answered and we conversed a few on their doorstep. After a while I began to wonder why they weren’t inviting me into their home, “Maybe it’s because they’ve already got a Scholar in there and they don’t need me,” I thought. It was at this point I just started screaming incomprehensibly for 25 or so minutes until they let me in. After they did so I proceeded to cast Bio on their tinned food and then, with the aid of elemental seal, I Sleepga’d their family, popped Manafont and nuked their dog, two cats and a budgie to oblivion. It was at this point they kicked me out. I did, however, manage to get a chain#3 so it’s all good.

This may have been a dream.

The point is…I forget the point. However, the point remains.

The next day, after yet more fruitless seeking, failed soloing attempts and being mildly drizzled upon! I’d had my fill of slight misfortune for the day, so I decided to entertain myself by undertaking a bunch of amusing activities in Kazham. :D

*music plays* ^_^

Firstly, I offered a hefty amount of brain stew to a nearby Opo-Opo; he gladly guzzled it down. I then jumped for joy as he gazed blankly into the distance and choked to death slowly.

Woo! :D

Then I flirted with the idea of suicide!

I don’t know whether the GMs were scared or something because it was at this point that things randomly took a turn for the sexy and I received a plethora of invites which, over the space of a few days, managed to propel me from level 28 to 35.

It was actually during this time that I first had the pleasure of being in a party that would actually consistently set up skillchains for me to be burst which pleased me. But what was more pleasing was the fact that, after having reached level 35, I was now able to party with Datsi; whose WHM was at 36. ^_^

Since then, we’ve been levelling both our main and sub jobs lots. The idea was for us to level together until level 40 or so and then Datsi would be replaced by Datsuki, whose NIN was at 41. Things have been working out nicely as Datsi has managed to make a selection of awesome parties. And when there hasn’t been a party to be had we’ve duo’d xp together. Trust Datsi to take away my xp woes. *_*; Thankees again for continuing to be thoroughly awesome, mon cherry. q_o

But since Datsuki needs to be level 50 in a very short space of time for her CoP static I haven’t had the chance to keep fully up to date with some spells (missing D2 at the moment >_o). But I did manage to find the time to best one foe and claim his drop. :o

Although I would love to talk about how I managed to do this, I have to be honest; the shadow of my character in that picture reminds me of a man playing violin with an erect sword shaped penis, which is quite an interesting thought. In fact I’ve spent many hours thinking about the delectable situations that would arise during the life of such a being and I implore you to do the same before we move on. :x

…

Another problem is that our gil has been slowly dripping away. ’tis for this reason that Datsuki decided to change to Chibimoon so we could have a go at Under Observation with Barthezz (who is now in the capable hands of Squire Millionsknives).

I have to say that Chibimoon and Barthezz seemed to be a little anxious as to whether we would best this BCNM but I’ve no idea why; maybe I just have more faith in my awesomeness than they do theirs. :x~

Anywizzles, we did three successful runs but, alas, nothing worth writing about dropped. Still, it was fun and I’m glad we could do it together. ^_^

Well, I’m off now; I’ve a Ninja to assist in her quest for level 50 and Opo-Opos to kill.

Bye~

But after a level or two they decided that they wanted to go to Kazham. Now, firstly, I can’t go to Kazham since I don’t have the keys. But, also, I don’t like to rush things. I mean, granted we had a PL, but the tank was level 22 and most of the other members were 23; I don’t understand why everyone is in such a rush to move on to the next zone. As far as I recall there’s plenty of xp to be had in Delkfutt’s Tower at ~23+. Anyway, never mind, that’s just my own personal opinion and I certainly had nothing against their decision so I thanked them for the party, wished them well and warped back to Jeuno. Anyway, yar, I’m level 24 now and – as such – I’m pretty much done with Qufim without ever having to seek for party. *_*

Trixi did offer to help me attain the keys needed for Kazham access however. I say offer; they had already pencilled in a time and drafted in a friend of theirs to help. @_@;

I’m very grateful for their kindness but the suggested time was a tad too late for me. Also, I spoke to Datsuki about it and she was eager to help me get the keys herself and I can’t say no to that. :O

So…onwards to Giddeus we went!

It was all a pretty standard affair; after a while the key dropped in both Giddeus and then Yughott Grotto respectively.

Things got a bit spicy once we hit Palborough Mines though; mainly because I got aggro through the gate from two Quadavs that then proceeded to link with most of the top floor…

^_^;

Did I mention I hate Quadavs? @_@

Soooo yeah, that kinda sorta got me killed and it appeared I wasn’t to be getting a raise anytime in the near future so – as we were pushed for time – Datsuki decided to break out another alternate character of hers on a different account (are we keeping up with this?) to come and raise me. So~ I guess now would be a good time to introduce you to that said character. :o

Chibimoon~

Not only did she give life back to me but she also proceeded to batter that key out of the nearby mobs and impress me with her high level Black Mage-ness. :x

Incidentally, this is my favourite character model in the game and then some. :O

Anyhoo. @_@ I quickly proceeded to warp myself to Jeuno to hand over my keys to Guddal who seemed more than happy to accept them after an inspection. What does he do with all those keys? I’ve never seen him leave the office. D:

Then, on my way back up the stairs, I bumped into my old chum Sylbianna who proceeded to poke me both violently and incessantly. >:T

She apologised and explained that she was bored; ’tis for that reason I suggested that we play a game of hide and seek using the zone that we were in at the time – Port Jeuno – as our playground. :D

I was first to hide. I decided to hide behind the wall in the chocobo stables. Yeah…that was the first place she looked. xD

Her hiding attempt was much more successful than mine which, admittedly, isn’t that much of an accomplishment. :x It really did take a long time for me to find her though. D:

The tables were turned, however, when we decided to partake in more hide and seek fun – this time in Ru’Lude Gardens – mainly because Sylbianna didn’t know the zone too well. Advantage Garcie. :x

I decided to hide next to the balcony that overlooks Ru’Lude. I’m sure that, regardless of what happened during her searching, it would have taken her a while to find me. However, it didn’t help that whenever she seemed to click on a door she was forced to watch a cutscene. @_@;

I am somewhat ashamed to say that I did take advantage of that fact. >_> When Sylbianna clicked on the audience chamber door and accidentally activated another cutscene I quickly ran around the corner. :x~

But, as I guessed, she soon honed in on my position. But, to my surprise, she didn’t spot me even though I was practically standing in her furry face. :O

I did eventually give her a big hint in regards to where I was hiding and she wasn’t pleased when she found out that she had actually walked by me.

Anywizzles, after the excitement of hide and seek was done I proceeded to take her to the dining hall for a meal…by that I mean I asked her to sit in the room while I scurried to the AH to buy a roast mushroom, a steamed crab, some choco-milk and twelve pieces of bubble chocolate. :x

As she ate we proceeded to sample the ‘art’ that enveloped us in the dining room but, I’ll be honest, it looked well crap. I can only presume this is because of PS2 limitations.

Thank you, Sylbianna; ’twas fun as always to chillax with ye. ^_^

My next venture in-game involved me grabbing some tasty Taru RSE. It’s not actually something that I’ve ever done myself even though I’ve helped plenty of people with it.

So off I went to speak with everyone’s favourite Goblin tailor, Guttrix. He informed me that, this week, he will mostly be requiring magical patterns found inside the chests of Ordelle’s Caves. “Fine!” I thought, “I’ll head there now and stuff.”

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had to trade (yet another) load of Boyahda moss to Melyon in Selbina to raise my fame high enough to be able to start the RSE quest. Datsuki was kind enough to help me with this task and I must say she was looking rather dandy in her newly obtained Jujitsu Gi and matching Elvaan RSE. :o

Er…where was I?

Oh, right…Datsuki then switched characters to Chibimoon once I had opened the quest. I’m grateful she was on hand to lend a helping…hand. Firstly, because it would have been nigh on impossible for me to, like, not die without stepping foot past the entrance. Secondly, because she basically did everything whilst I pottered about getting skill ups. orz~ :x

In fact, we weren’t in Ordelle’s Caves too long at all before she got a key to drop and, after an extensive search, we found the chest that the said key fits into. :O

I eagerly headed back to Guttrix who offered me a choice of four pieces of Taru only wear for the magical pattern I had found him. I selected the mitts, simply for the fact that I can sell them for a higher price than the others. :x

Don’t look at me like that; I’m a poor Taru and “will /panic for gilz” only gets you so far.

Not too long afterwards, Amith – everyone’s favourite bored DRK/SMN/Godknowswhat :x – had no reservations in assisting me obtain my second magical pattern of the day when I asked him if he would do so.

Now…up to this point, I hadn’t died. The world is not in balance if I’ve not died whilst undertaking anything that remotely resembles fun and/or adventure. I can only presume it is for that reason Amith chose to MPK me by popping Polevik as we searched for the chest.

No, but seriously, he clicked on the stalagmite out of curiosity and I had no problem in letting him do so. That’s mainly because, like, I wasn’t aware that he had the first PLD AF quest active. @_@;

And it was my fault that I died; I made the fatal error of throwing a DoT onto a mob that is extremely resistant to melee damage but has low HP. Nicely done, Garcie. :x

Another lesson learned the hard way. Good times. xD

Anyway! Shortly afterwards we did find that elusive chest. ^_^

Opening a chest backwards…evidently, I’m a man of many talents. :x

And look, there’s Amith; he likes to watch small people open boxes. He was all, “Yeah, that’s right; get your fingers right around the handle.”

Thanks for the help, yo. ^_^

As I knew I wasn’t going to be getting another piece of RSE before the window closed for Tarutaru M, I opted for the braccae as they’ll no doubt come in handy on my WHM.

Money actually didn’t turn out to be a problem anyway since my alternate character, Garciewaffles, managed to sell all of his ancient beastcoins for a healthy profit. I quickly sent that money to Garcie and headed to the AH to purchase the equipment he’ll need from levels 25-31 but, as I was doing so, I got a party invite which I’ve decided to take.

And that’s what I’m about to do now as the airship bound for Kazham is here. :x

Wish me luck~ :3

As soon as they popped we were on them but they weren’t giving anything up >:I And then, to spice things up, guess what happened?

Oh ho ho, if it isn’t more pirates coming to spoil the party…again. And not only that, once they’ve boarded, they all insist on casting Ice Spikes in my face. Not. Cool. >:T

I would have shook my fist at them but I couldn’t see over the wall. ._.

No-one really seemed fussed by the pirates anyway. @_@ Datsi and I chuckled at the fact that the music had became histrionic when, essentially, everyone’s just standing there fishing. We figured that we may as well dispose of a few of those pesky pirates though since they looked bored and, evidently, this boat ride wasn’t going to yield anything else productive. :/

Anyhoo, once the boat had docked in Selbina we got back on and tried again. However, this time, Sea Horror popped. What a nice surprise! Luckily, we didn’t get aggro as a nearby SMN claimed and killed it. We were able to kill the Phantom that popped without trouble but we were still sans a scroll of Ice Spikes once it died (can the undead die? @_@).

I really don’t mind waiting; I certainly wasn’t under the illusion that this scroll was going to drop after three or four attempts and, you know, it’s not uncommon or anything to have Sea Horror pop just after pirates, yar? Okay, so that I can forgive. I’m a forgiving kind of guy!

But when we get back on the boat and Sea Horror pops again?!

This meeting with Sea Horror didn’t go so smoothly. @_@ It was going mental; whipping those tentacles about like there was no tomorrow, it was. I made the mistake of getting a tad too close. >_>;

Datsi also had the pleasure of a hefty tentacle to the face as she edged her way out of the door but, like the clever Taru she is, she had put RR up before venturing outside so – once Sea Horror had been claimed – she was able to get up and raise me.

A few minutes later a Phantom popped and there was only two minutes left until the boat docked. We realised that we weren’t going to be able to unweaken, rest and defeat the Phantom in time. But then Datsi, like the heroine she is, engaged it whilst weakened; but even that act of bravery wasn’t enough to get Ice Spikes to drop once it had been defeated. D:

Then, on the next boat ride, Sea Horror popped yet again followed by more pirates on the subsequent trip.

It was at this point that we just gave up; mainly because we didn’t want to spend all day on that mother loving boat. >_<

So, yeah, I figured I may as well just make some money and buy the scroll – which isn’t as adventurous – but, you know, it seems my adventures are to be perpetually mired in death, failure and cuteness (not in that order) so it’s probably for the best. :x

In order to make the aforesaid money Datsi suggested that we go harvesting, which we did. She gave me a guided tour of the harvesting points in Sarutabaruta along with information in regards to which items sell well and which don’t and for how much etc. ’twas an education. :O

Hold me back. The excitement is too much.

Don’t get me wrong, I do find solace in the peaceful nature of harvesting but it’s not exactly the kind of material that makes for enthralling reading, is it? @_@;

We didn’t just harvest though, we also killed the surrounding bees and crawlers.

I do love those crawlers; ever since my first xp party in Crawlers’ Nest I’ve had an urge to pick one up and hug it. :x ’tis for that reason that I’ve always wanted a plush crawler but, alas, I couldn’t find one anywhere no matter how hard I searched. D:

However! Datsuki/Datsi being the star that she is made me a plush baby crawler for all my hugging needs. His name is Crawlie; here he is aggroing a passer-by. :x

Eeee~ Thank you. ^_^ I am, in fact, hugging him right now. :D

Moving on… @_@ Once we had our fill of harvesting goodness we headed to Windy to empty our pockets in the vicinity of the AH. :x

But not before we posed for pictures under the progressing sunset and the cherry blossoms that the Doll Festival brought.

Cute. >_<

As I waited for that stuff to sell I carried out a variety of not so exciting tasks: I placed the items that were given to us by the MHMU in my Mog House, I obtained the Kolshushu outpost warp and did a little more harvesting. I completed the quest that allows you to exit to any area in Sandy through your MH also.

It’s our little secret? Yeah, it would be more of a secret if you weren’t jumping up and down and singing about it. @_@;

Then, since I had the luxury of OP’ing to Buburimu Peninsula, I figured I may as well solo a little xp there as well. :o With an Empress Band I was managing to make a little over 2,200 xp per hour, which isn’t bad but nothing to write home about. Not that I would ever write home about the amount of xp I gained in a video game. @_@

Anywizzles, not too long afterwards some money arrived in my delivery box and I bought the scroll (and some others >_>;).

That’s not exactly the exciting conclusion that befits the effort put in but, hey, that’s life, innit?

Later, y’all. :O

So, I have to try and feed this here chocobo some Gausebit Wildgrass and that Gausebit Wildgrass will, in turn, heal his wounds and then I get to ride him and his friends or something? That’s all well and good but when I tried to get close to offer him the Gausebit Wildgrass he was all:

So I left him be for a while. :x

Anyway, yadda yadda, you know how it goes; five and a half hours later I had my shiny new license because I was able to force feed a bird some grass numerous times. Those are some stringent rules you have there, Brutus. Real classy. :x

So~ what’s the first thing I did after obtaining my chocobo license? I know you’re dying to know. Well, I challenged the nearest tiger to a race of course!

Go~! :x

What does he think this is; a wedding or something?! Run, you useless sack of crap! D:

lol, look at him trying to catch up. What an utter TITBEAK!

Nah, I don’t mean that; he was cool. Cool like a fire. :x

Look…I can’t stand any mob that has the ability to paralyse me, okay? D: Seriously, paralysis annoys me so…very…much. >_<;

After that race (if you could call it that; I owned him good, it was more like follow the leader etc.) I headed back to Sandy to get myself the supplies needed to do the Norvallen OP quest. After that I warped back to Jeuno (<3 Warp) and went AFK for a few. When I came back someone had sent me a tell, asking me if I wanted to join their party. Even though I didn’t have the money for food I thought, “What the hey. :o” and joined.

Getting to camp was a slight problem though as the Dancing Weapons that patrol the tunnel in Qufim were having a monthly meet or something. D: Luckily, Amith and Spankey – my LS mates in SuicideMoogles – were passing by and they cleared a path for me. ^_^;

The party itself was awesome. @_@; We were making ridiculous amounts of xp and I hit level 22 super quick and stuff which made me a happy panda.

The members of this party were grand to me also. I’m still not greatly used to managing my MP pool when we’re pulling as quickly as we were and I need to get used to casting my WHM enfeebs more often (e.g. Paralyse. >_>) but they were understanding about it. They were also understanding when we got a link and two of us attempted to kill it but I died in the process. :x Me, die?! It’s a shock, I know. Also, I kind of slowed down xp for a few as we zoned into Delkfutt’s Tower ‘cos I was forced to watch the opening CS of CoP. Sowwy~

When I logged on the next day I decided to travel on the boat from Selbina to Mhaura as my alternate character Garciewaffles in the hopes that, when it eventually gets to 20:00, a Phantom or two will pop – I would then murederise those aforementioned Phantoms and Ice Spikes may drop; thus saving Garcie a little bit of money.

Simple enough, no? :o

Hecatomb Harness and Ninja sub?! That combination doesn’t make a lick of sense but, you know what? He looks sexy+1 so it’s alllllright~ :D

…

Having fun there Garciewaffles, are you, yeah? Think you can just arrive on a boat, swing your metal stab contraptions around and get scrolls to drop at your feet, do you?

Yup…you had no idea that – two minutes after this picture had been taken – you were going to get completely owned by Silverhook, did you? :x

He’s a sexy fool. :/

A sexy sexy fool. D:

Soooo, yeah, what actually happened was: pirates attacked, Silverhook was there, I couldn’t pull him before he casted Ice Spikes (the very spell I was after. Oh, the irony!) and then I couldn’t get fealty up in time to avoid being paralysed by it, then he started casting Freeze and I couldn’t get Utsu:Ni up in time due to paralysis. It was a short, angry battle after that. Thanks, SE. You guys really know how to make me want to throw my laptop at a small child. :x

Why I even pulled Silverhook in the first place? Meh, no-one else was high enough level to do so but I really should think these things through. >_>;

Moving on…I promptly HP’d, logged out and then switched back to Garcie so I could meet an old friend who had recently switched servers. :o

Datsi; Datsuki’s alternate character and Garciewaffles’ former partner in crime back in the day on the Shiva server. :D Needless to say; I was happy to see her. >_>;

And if the moment wasn’t already perfect enough; some random Galka Paladin came by shortly afterwards and set fireworks off in my face. :x

Cheers. :x

Anywizzles, Datsi’s original plan was for her to change nations from Windy to Sandy so we could do the rank missions together but, apparently, she’s unable to switch allegiance until she attains rank six for Windy which makes sense but still kind of sucks. :/

But not to fear! She’s been wanting to have Garcie and Datsi level RDM together for quite a while so we headed to Windy and did so. :D

*cue chocobo music*

Datsi asked me if I had the Teleport-Mea crystal and I realised that I didn’t. @_@; So we got that too before we headed to Windy. ^_^ Then, after a quick job change and a chat about how cute we both are, the violent slaughter – sorry – levelling began. :x

Levelling. :x

It went well; although Datsi was gaining more xp than my good self because she had signet active. I really didn’t realise it made that much of a difference but I guess it all adds up. :o

As is the custom with our levelling excursions, one of us messed up (i.e. me) and we died. :x

*insert sleeping with the fishes joke here*

My foray into the world of WHM started well; I ran myself into East Ronfaure and started to kill Pugs (<3) just like I did a couple of months prior as I was starting BLM; I swiftly made my way to level five as I used my Empress Band and stuff, innit?

The day after, as I was making my way to Ghelsba Outpost, I received a tell from a summoner called Cyrex who suggested – in his own special way – that we duo. To this, I said, “yes,”…true story. Also, Datsuki had offered to PL me and – of course – I never refuse her company so she came along too. :O She quickly got bored though as Cyrex and I were racking up our XP count with minimal assistance. :/

I made soooo much xp.

…

Oh, Ghelsba Outpost…I’m sorry for ever having made it out as though your choice of mob placement was anything but delightful. Yes, it’s compact, but you know what? I like it that way, really. It wasn’t your fault I died so much. I’ll be honest with you, I kind of suck. Dude, seriously D: I wasn’t in a good state of mind that day; let’s never fight again. /hugs Ghelsba Outpost.

Anywizzles, I did eventually hit level 11 a few days later at which point I headed to the Dunes to seek. :D

And seek…

And seek. :/

I did finally get a party though and a certain Mithra gave me a pleasant surprise by turning up to PL us. ^_^ Thanks to her I managed to gain a few levels which was most welcome after so much seeking. @_@

After the party finished Sylbianna watched me solo some lizards. That is all.

The following weeks after that I logged on randomly to seek now and again without any real success. I did manage to make a party once and we got some good xp but, on the whole, I found myself seeking…a lot. D:

The cycle of mindless seeking continued; until! I got myself a delicious blind invite. To be honest I don’t mind blind invites, a party’s a party, but this party was special. :o Here it is described in picture form.

A warm welcome. :x

…interesting party set-up but, you know, I’m an easy going kind of guy; this could work.

Yeah, this…not so much. I don’t recommend pulling leeches. Ever. Especially not at the oasis camp and, er, especially when no-one can voke. ^_^;

10 minutes of doing nothing followed by a wipe or so later…

That is the first time I have ever actually disbanded an xp party before. It was never this bad on Shiva, I swear. >_>;

The day after this a similar situation arose when I was blindly invited to a party that contained two other members. The leader thought it would be a good idea to fight lizards in the tunnel. They linked. Then he screamed at us to cure him. Then we all died. Then he got upset and said he was going to solo. :/ Well, good luck to ya ‘cos I wouldn’t have the nerve to solo a group of lizards in a small area like that; I think they kind of have a penchant for linking together or some shit. D:

/sh CURE ME!!!

After that I didn’t log back on until myself, Datsuki and Millionsknives decided to {Gather together.} both in-game and IRL. :O

We decided to trio in Dunes as BLM, WAR and COR respectively. It went pretty well and after a while Millionsknives decided to change from COR to his über RDM so he could PL both Datsuki and I which was nice. :O

I managed to get BLM to 20 which I was very happy about (woo, I get to level BLM in a new area! :D).

The day after, Datsuki and I decided to duo together as we both had WHM at 15. However, on my way to La Theine I saw something most appalling. D:

My eyes~! Seriously. D: This sickens me. For Sandy not to be in control of Ronfaure it just…I can’t find the words. @_@; Moving on (I can never really move on; but I don’t think that you, the reader, would enjoy being subjected to a 300 word analysis in regards to how utterly wrong it is that Windy had control of Ronfaure! I’m sorry…I got overwhelmed for a sec there) er…where was I? Oh, right; Datsuki and I headed to The Ephemere; our favourite levelling spot in La Theine.

I do declare it went well! Well…it did until we attracted the attention of a Water Elemental. After that it didn’t go so well. >_>;

Aaaanyway Datsuki suggested that we form a party, which we did. :o It didn’t start out so well…

Things did pick up eventually and we managed to obtain a decent amount of xp. @_@ Just as it seemed the party was breaking (view screenshot below; I don’t make a habit of meleeing. >_>) Datsuki managed to grab us a Ninja and Millionsknives decided to come along also as RNG.

Soon afterwards Kroeger and Othelia joined us. This changed our xp session from ‘party’ to a 5/6 Suicide Moogles ‘par-tay’. :O

The result of all of this? 18 WHM~ That means I can say goodbye to the Dunes for a long time as I level BLM to 37; which is a welcome development, for sure. >_>;

So~ with BLM at 20 and WHM at 18, the next step for me was to make my way to Jeuno. ^_^ Kroeger and Datsuki both offered to help and I was safe and/or sound in their company all the way to Jeuno.

Soon afterwards I bought myself a bunch of new gear; really, I did need to. >_>; Datsuki was also kind enough to buy me a Mohbwa Sash which made me, “Ee~” with glee. :x

So here’s your new look Garcie; ready to take on all of Qufim. :D

Hmm…I don’t appear to have any money for food now that I’ve bought this equipment…

And, er… I guess I should get my chocobo license first. >_>;

Maybe I should do a few rank mission before I level also…

Murg. @_@

First came the LS party I had with Millionsknives and Khaite which went well, even though I was on a different PC and had to use the keyboard which I’m not used to. Amith came along as SMN also to help PL us which was hot. :x The trend of good parties continued – even the one that decided to form an alliance to include one extra person turned out to be decent in the end. It wasn’t all peachy though. @_@ It really does take a lot to get me frustrated but this never fails to do it:

Apologies for coming across like an arse there but, you know, I worked hard to wear that Astral Ring and I’ll continue to do so, methinks. :x

Here’s another crappy picture of me standing a good 10 units of distance away from a mob so I don’t get hit by its AOE TP move.

Fun times. :x

Anyway, once I managed to ding level 17 I figured I’d get myself to Bastok to quest Warp. Easy, right? :x

So I head solo out of Dunes but as I make my way through Konschtat I get aggro, die and delevel. @_@ It was at this point that I asked the LS for help. Khaite was kind enough to make his way to Dunes and help me out. The trouble was; we were both level 16 and 17 respectively. It didn’t take us long to get aggro in Dunes – we did survive and make it to Konchtat though due to lots of Provokes and Binds. :x

But no amount of provokes or binds could save us from the Tremor Ram that we managed to get the attention of as we ran through Konschtat. I mean…I don’t even know how, I guess we weren’t paying attention or something but, yeesh, making it through Dunes and then dying in Konschtat is not something I want to make a habit out of. @_@

It, er…did happen again though when we aggroed a Gob that linked.

I couldn’t brain that day. D:

Eventually Datsuki (who else?) did escort me from Dunes to Bastok to Selbina and back and I finally got my warp scroll.

Thank yooo-

I have to say that I do love warp. :D It’s such a nice feeling to be able to warp at any time – provided I have the MP, of course. *_*

Anyhoo, after I rebuilt my macro set (I’ve made use of the /macro set <number> function so I can have all of my spells on a macro; I’ve made a main menu too and everything. D:) I decided to get myself level 18 which I did with ease after finding yet another great party. @_@

At this point I asked a couple of people to help me acquire the items needed for the sub job quest, but to no avail. ’twas at this point that I decided to just send a /tell to a random level 75 player in the hope that they’d help me, which they did. :D

Her name is Guncel (I say ‘her’, but I’ve no idea which gender they are in that so called real life. :x). Not only did she help me get all of the items needed for the sub job quest; she was also kind enough to hand me a pearl to her linkshell and offer to help me obtain the items needed for Aht Urghan access. ^_^;

Maybe she knew of my habit of dying if I attempt to do anything other than stand at the outpost. The force is strong with this one. :x

Anyway, yeah…I…don’t really know what to say other than thank you and if you ever need a helping hand doing anything in-game then please don’t hesitate at all to contact me. ^_^

Now I get to do this all again as WHM!

…

>_<

*slams face onto the keyboard*

uhji6t

Ow. D:

No more! So many deaths… D: Stupid cute Tarus. :/

It wasn’t all bad though; Datsuki brought her level 15 WHM along to PL me through most of it which helped a lot and, as always, ’twas a pleasure to have her by my side. With her help I soon hit level 10 and equipped the Astral Ring that I bought with funds raised by my other character (who has now, incidentally, been transferred to Hades). I do enjoy seeing my MP so high but, like, 55HP? Not cool. : x

Luckily I didn’t have to worry too much about my sucky HP as Datsuki decided to break out her level 10 THF to duo with me. ^_^

Over the course of a few days we scoured La Theine and Konschtat and culled a good majority of its populace until we both hit level 12-

We also took a trip to Windy for two purposes. Firstly, to quest Blaze Spikes and, secondly, to obtain a Pilgrim’s Wand from *checks notes* … Nunyenunc or some shizzlé. We were successful in doing both although it did seem for a time that we would lose claim to a level 75 THF who arrived on the scene. We didn’t though, as Datsuki asked me to camp a certain spot and – sure enough – he popped in front of my eyes. : D

More fun with NMs was to be had when I ran into Jaggedy-Eared Jack whilst making my way through West Ronfaure. Ayup, that didn’t go so well. : x

For starters, I was still wearing my Astral Ring so my HP was pitiful and I decided to pull with Aero; why I didn’t pull with bind or…something, I don’t know. I hit my two hour as soon as I realised that I was in trouble but the outcome was inevitable; another death. How many is that now? @_@

Anyhoos, it was at this point that I got my first party in the Dunes. It started off terribly; which wasn’t hugely surprising with it being the Dunes. Deaths, people leaving, more deaths and disagreements – all the ingredients of your typical Valkurm party were there. I’m glad we stuck it out though because we did eventually make a decent amount exp and by the time I had to leave I had managed to gain a level. : x

I did feel a little…inactive though, which is certainly not something that I’m used to after having been a PLD for so long but, then again, that is partly why I like it – new experience and all that. o: I did take hate once or twice – mainly because the tank was failing to voke every thirty seconds – not that I mind because when I was taking my first tank job through Dunes…yeeeaaah; I wasn’t good. @_@

So, all in all, I have made some good progress and, with the help of Datsuki, I’m sure I’ll be out the Dunes in no time.

Right? D:

So why create a new character on a different server? Well, roughly this time last year I met a character called Datsuki and we instantly sparked up a friendship. She was new to Shiva so I often helped her in various ways and I always looked forward to the next time we’d see each other.

However, Datsuki was not this girl’s first character; that honour goes to Chibimoon – a black mage on Hades no less. O: Not only was Hades her first sever but she also co-leads a linkshell there with her brother that is home to real life friends of hers.

It was for those reasons that, when SE introduced the ability to switch characters to a different server, she decided to take Datsuki to Hades and make another character on Shiva named Datsi so we could still play together.

Our relationship continued to grow and at the end of September of this year I finally met the girl behind the character(s). We became a couple soon after and I have to say she is, without doubt, the most amazing person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and I thank whatever deities exist for giving me the opportunity to meet and be with such an ineffably wonderful girl.

Anyway! The point is; I figured it’s time to return the favour and make a new character on her home of Hades.

I’ve always been interested in levelling a mage job but, the truth is, I’ve always been too lazy to do so on my main character. Yes, it’s ridiculous, but I never have space nor do I have the gil needed to purchase the stuff I’d need to perform at a level I’d be comfortable with. Also, he’s elvaan.

So for my new adventure I chose to be a Taru Black Mage, of course! And this time my funds won’t take a beating from Dynamis, Sky and Limbus. That alone is nigh on 65k saved a week. Seems simple enough, right? Right? Don’t look at me like that. >_>

Naturally, I chose Sandy as my home nation – I’m comfortable levelling there and I want to get as high as I can in the shortest time possible.

So I turn in my Adventurer’s Coupon, equip my staff, read the stone scroll that was in my inventory (nice) and head out into East Ronfaure to get some levelling done. O:

It’s been so long since I levelled a job from scratch and I’ve never touched a mage job so this really is all new to me. I instinctually head for Cheval River, throw my first nuke at an unsuspecting Pug and then bludgeon it to death. I mean, that sounds rather harsh but at the time it was like art. Beautiful, bloody, exp laden art. : x

Rabbits, bats, pugs, worms – they all fall to the powerful combination of stone and my under-levelled staff skill. Before I know it I’ve reached the dizzy heights of level four. *high five*

My knowledge of all things BLM is amazing, huh?

Eventually Datsuki, who was previously busy attempting Promy Dem, comes to visit me armed with scrolls of black magic and a shiny new linkpearl for me. I equip it and say my hellos; it’s a smallish shell of good friends which, to me, is ideal. The difference between social and social/endgame is clearly evident. The people that reside on this shell actually want to be here for the sole purpose of socialising and having fun in-game rather than just showing their face because they don’t want to be deleted from the roster. That reminds me; I need to delete some people from the HopeFromAsh roster. xD

Anyway, I realise that this is what I miss about the game. I’ve never been stressed out by the responsibilities that come with helping lead an endgame linkshell; it’s just simply became repetitive and dull after six months of doing the same stuff. Not to mention the lack of acknowledgement or respect I receive at times. Basically, it is no longer fun to me – I miss being able to log on just to have fun with people that I like; not to enforce rules or churn out my duties.

Anyway, the point is, I’m having fun. It’s been a while.

That…is pretty much it for my first day on Hades. It’ll be fun to see how I’ll manage hate as Black Mage in parties what with the mechanics of hate being my bread and butter for the last year and a half. : x

Having said that, Datsuki suggested that we duo Black Mage together and I do like that idea. o: Don’t get me wrong, I’m very aware of the pitfalls that come with deciding to duo with someone and normally I would never agree to such a thing but this person isn’t some faceless online phantom – rather – she’s the love of my life so an exception can be made, yeah? : x

Truth be told, I can’t wait. : D

Now to go and study a guide on how to not suck as BLM.

Thanks for reading, yeah?