Well Aern'd

Started off the morning deciding to beat Tenzen, but to do so I wanted more BLM-type trust NPCs, or at least ones that could cast BLM spells. I'd been getting a lot of Copper A.M.A.N Vouchers, so I looked them up and found that you could exchange them for almost any currency in the game, including Assault Points. With a jump for joy, I exchanged them all up for Assault Points and went to buy Ovjang and Mnejing Ciphers so I could summon those hilarious automatons.

After that it was off to finish Curses... Foiled Again and Curses... Foiled A-Golem so that I could obtain Shantotto. Remembered doing Curses... Foiled A-Golem back in 2005 on my old account and being well-scared of Fei'Yin. It's nothing these days, even with higher level monsters too. Finished those up quickly and picked up Shantotto.

So with Ajido-Marujido, Shantotto and Ovjang (Ovjang being a RDM, not a BLM), I went off to Sealion's Den. Entered the Tenzen fight and let rip. Shantotto spams her strongest BLM spells back-to-back, so she quickly took the hate. I used Cover on her (although I've never actually seen it work on a Trust alter-ego yet) and continued, but we only managed to get him down to around 30-something % life before wiping. I then HP'd, came back and tried again, this time, taking the time out to individually Protect IV and Shell IV each of them. Fared about the same.

Still needing more firepower, I went back to Aht Urhgan to try to complete Embers of His Past, the final Serpentgeneral quest, so that I could obtain Trust: Gadalar, and get a third BLM. Still no Hydrangeas in stock, so back I went to Mount Zhayolm to try to farm one.

I was quite lucky as after an hour or so, I managed to find the bloody key item plate thing which opens the Black Gates of Halvung, allowing me into the Hilltroll encampment in the middle of Mount Zhayolm. I went in the western door and camped behind it, cycling between the Hilltroll Warrior and the Hilltroll Puppetmaster, which had relatively quick respawn timers. These babies checked as Tough or Very Tough (can't remember) at L80 so thought I'd be in for a hard time. However, when you have only two mobs to fight, and you can afford downtime, it's more than OK to have a party of nukers. I picked Shantotto, Ajido-Marujido and Ovjang again, and absolutely annihilated each Troll. Then rested for a bit, grabbed the other one, and repeated for over an hour until the Hydrangea dropped.

A few cutscenes later (and may I just state that the final cutscene on Mount Zhayolm with General Gadalar is worthy of applause) and I had completed the chain of Serpentgeneral quests, and obtained Trust: Gadalar.

It was then back to Tenzen and I won on the first try using three BLMs. He seemed to do little else but use Firaga II and Firaga III, but then, anyone who has seen just one cutscene with Gadalar wouldn't expect anything less. A short while later and I was in Al'Taieu!

I'm sure there are many veteran players who remember that feeling the first time they landed in Al'Taieu. OK, so it's not really that difficult to get there anymore, but I remember getting there pre-nerf and feeling like I'd really achieved it. I did feel quite similar today, as I'd had to work hard to get Gadalar and beat Tenzen. I also knew that my Rajas Ring was right around the corner! So, I wandered around Al'Taieu for a bit, farming a few things and generally feeling quite nostalgic, before Warping out to do some... housework!

Later on I logged back in, and decided to try to unlock some more Aht Urhgan Staging Points. I already had Azouph Isle, Nyzul Isle and Halvung, so I went for Mamool Ja next. Got a bit lost off the beaten track and ran into two true-sight mobs (dodged the Treasurer, but had to fight the Lurker). Eventually got through Mamook and activated the Runic Seal. Next up was Dvucca Isle, which was a pretty easy one. Whilst I was there I thought I'd try my hand at a few Lamia Idolators, and man they were hard as. Dunno why, I just fancied beating them up.

Chinchii had been levelling her DRG a lot and had been talking about doing the Prime fights with me at some point. I thought that I might be able to do them at L80 so I picked up some Yagudo Drinks, Tavnazian Tacos (spot the old-schooler here) and headed out to the Cloister of Tremors to try Titan. His physical hits were relatively weak (esp. with my new Grim Cuirass), but his Enstone was nasty. Although I could hold my own, I couldn't beat him fast enough and slowly my MP just seeped away and I had to Warp out. Would have been fine with Chinchii there though, so I told her I was confident we could duo them.

The last thing I did today was to get my WAR to L50. It had been sat at L48 for two years, and I wanted to round it off. It took scarily longer than I had anticipated to get those final last two levels but eventually I dinged and could happily rest knowing I'd never have to level it again!

I was about to log for the night when I saw Meww the Turtlerider. I've got this thing about fighting Sahagin NMs (I had been working towards doing all of them as my L75 THF back in the old days), so I had to try my hand at Meww. I had DNC sub, but this guy was so hard, especially because he kept healing himself and used Benediction mid way through. But eventually I beat him and got the Oliphant, should I ever continue with BRD.