I have this annoying habit of missing my guild's first kill of an "epic"
mob. Not a mob that drops pieces for an epic weapon, but a mob that's a
major roadblock to progressing in EQ. For example, I logged in five minutes
too late to join a Emperor Ssraeshza raid. I had to sit and watch our
alliance channel chat as they fought the Emp for an hour before finally
taking him down. There was much celebrating, which of course I joined in
on, but with a touch of melancholy - I wanted to be there, too.
We also learn from experience. Despite getting publicly jeered at by our
server's uber-guild (they devoted an entire web update to mocking our Emp
kill and the fact that it took an hour), we did Emp again and again. The
second time, he went down in twenty minutes. Our fastest kill to date has
been just under eight minutes. It may take us a while, but we *do* figure
out how to do these kind of mobs.
Last night, I log in with much anticipation; we are going to try to kill
Rallos Zek the Warlord for the second time. Friday, I had logged on well
after our first kill, and again cheered vigorously while at the same time
fighting off disappointment that I wasn't there to share the moment.
Saturday, the uber-guild decided to kill RZtW and we could only watch.
Sunday was Easter, no raids. Monday was supposed to be a Vex Thal clearing,
except a warrior who was relatively new to being the Main Tank in VT pushed
a mob the wrong way and the whole raid got summoned by warders.
When I log on, my guild has already begun the clearing. It's too late for
me to join them, so a rogue comes and challenges me to a duel. I turn my
back on him, accept, then sit down. I get backstabbed, which forces me to
stand up, so I sit down again, and play stand-up/sit-down until I'm dead.
I'm bound *right* outside Tactics so I zone right back in while the rogue
drags my corpse to the raid. I get rezzed, loot, get buffed, and prepare
for Tallon Zek.
The Zek brothers go down without a struggle. We really do have this part
down pat by now. We move in to fake Rallos Zek and this time I don't try to
talk the druid out of succoring us when RZ despawns. RZtW is up in the
Arena, and we have surprisingly few corpses to summon. We run over to the
arena, float down, and prepare. Everyone's focused and paying attention.
Rallos Zek gets pulled - well away from the clerics - and then everyone
engages. I'm simply healing over and over again as part of our chain, and
our Main Tank is staying up. There are some impressive damage spikes, but
the spot-healing along with the chain is keeping him on his feet. At one
point, I /assist the tank to see what RZtW's health is at, and it's below
50% already. Thus encouraged, I /assist RZtW to get back to the Main Tank
and continue the chain. Adds are spawning and being dealt with - "SNARE
BOARS, ROOT WRAITHS!" In less time and with far fewer deaths than I thought
possible, RZtW goes down.
Yay!
I immediately rez the dead - all two of them. Then I do a /hidecorpse all
and look frantically around for the Planar Projection. Dang, where is it?
I ask in the raid channel and am told it's up in the center of the Arena. I
begin moving in that direction - and see a stampade of 15 boars or so
running right at me. Hastily I retreat, move to one side, and approach the
center. Two wraiths aggro and start beating on me, but I find the Planar
Projection, hail it, and get my flag. I don't even mind that I get killed
shortly thereafter. I'm flagged - huzzah!
The uber-guild must be appraised of our situation, because I get a tell from
a friend of mine in the uber-guild commenting on the drops we got. We chat
for a while; he comments that the uber-guild plans to "lock down" Solusek Ro
for a while in an attempt to keep us out of the Plane of Fire. I bristle,
but he assures me that we have an easy way to counter that - simply clear
the Plane of Water while the uber-guild clears Solusek Ro. If we do that
often enough, the leadership will give up trying to keep us out. Hmm.
Naked, I run back to the Plane of Knowledge. I run up to the top of the
library and hail the head librarian. Hmm... nothing. "I have new
information". Still nothing. I ask in guildchat and am told I need to find
the seer to unlock my memories. I run down to where she was the last time I
talked to her - but she's not there. I ask and am told a dozen different
places where people have seen her. I check them all out - no clue.
Somebody has been having fun aggroing the Seer and moving her around, trying
to make it more difficult for us to get our flags straightened out. I have
no proof of who it might be, but I have my suspicions.
A ranger uses track and finds the seer sitting next to the Paineel stone. I
run up to her, sit, and unlock some memories. I immediately get four new
character flags. Encouraged, I run back to the library. "I have new
information" produces nothing. No response, no flag. Dangit all to heck.
Have I missed a flag without being aware of it? A rez pop-up box appears in
front of me and I take it. I loot my corpse in Tactics, then zone back out
and talk to everyone I can think of in the Plane of Tranquility. Nothing
new. What am I missing?
I have no more time to contemplate this as we are told to head to Vex Thal.
Evidently, Voltron (our name for the alliance of Japanese guilds on Drinal)
didn't clear VT. They only got half-way through before they gave up because
it was too late. We CotH in, clear clear clear for hours, kill Temariel,
Mini-Aten, the blobs, and finally AHR. Once again AHR fails to drop a
priest breastplate; it's become a running joke that the breastplate is
purely mythical. The leggings drop and I wouldn't mind having those, but
our allied guild nabs that, so I gate out to try and figure out my flagging
problems.
I again hail the librarian - no flag. "I have new information" - no flag.
I try zoning into an elemental plane - but I lack the willpower. Another
guildmate of mine is having the exact same problem. We consult with each
other and the guild, but no one has any useful guidance. I wonder in
/guildsay if I forgot to get a Bertox flag in all the times we've killed
him - but another guildmate points out that I would not have been able to
zone into the Tower of Solusek Ro without the Bertox flag. I'm stumped. I
look for the seer - but she is no longer next to the Paineel stone. Someone
has moved her *again*. I ask, and am told she's now on the top floor of the
library, next to the librarian. So much for my powers of observation. I
run up and talk to her and unlock memories and guide my meditation and I am
at a complete and total loss. What am I missing?
Finally, my guildleader asks if we've asked the librarian for information
and lore. Lore? In all these hours, that's the first I've heard that word
uttered. I hail the librarian and say, "I have new lore". Suddenly I get a
flood of text from the Librarian - and a flag. My hopes rising, I once
again say, "I have new information". I get a *bunch* more text - and
another flag! I read through the text and see the Plane of Time mentioned
for the first time. That sends a small thrill through me; we are actually
further down the path now that will lead us to the ultimate end-game zone.
I gate to PoTranq and run to the nearest elemental zone line - Plane of
Water. I click, and my screen freezes. Hooray! I'm zoning into an
elemental plane! I arrive and find a zone empty except for a guildie bard
that's AFK. Happily I look around, approach the edge of the water, and
immediately four mobs aggro me. I blanch and immediately whirl around and
click on what I hope is the zone-out - and find that, thankfully, I am
correct. I do a /who on the bard, but she's all right - still alive in PoW.
Perhaps the mobs won't pursue outside of the water.
I decide to try Plane of Earth. I find the zone-in and happily click it.
When I arrive, I find a bunch of people at the zone line. This includes a
group of uber-guilders that is mostly made up of people who have left our
alliance of guilds. There's also a few people from the alliance there and
we happily congratulate each other. They want to get a group together, but
it's 2am and I have to log and get some sleep. I camp right there in PoE,
despite not really knowing if that's safe or not.
So, I'm pretty happy at this point. Another major milestone accomplished.
It'll be a while before we can fully capitalize on it - we are going back to
kill *all* the lower-tier flag mobs one last time, from A'D to Mith Marr.
That should catch everyone up on flags, and we'll likely kill RZ a couple of
more times, too. Once that's done, we'll begin attempting the elemental
mobs. Once again, we'll be in direct competition with the uber-guild for
mobs. I wonder how that's going to go. Hopefully, better than it has gone
in the past.
Rallos Zek the Warlord is dead. On to the elemental planes!
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Archon of Rodcet Nife
Winter's Light
Drinal server
This page is Copyright by Skaarak; Everquest (TM) is property of Sony Online Entertainment
All stories and art work are Copyright@ by the origial owner/writer.
Most, if not all stories, were taken from newsgroup alt.games.everquest (AGE), I recommend that anyone who gets a chance to read it should!