April 2008

Who Am I

stargrace April 22, 2008 1 Comment

My eyes opened as though I was shocked with fire – rushing through my veins. I remember nothing before that, except barely existing. I was being called, I felt it. I groaned with the pressure of it ringing in my ears. Stumbling, I made my way to the council of six to see what was required of me. How I even found them I know not. It passed through my mind like a blur, some unreal dream that was actually reality. I stood before them – and they refused to talk to me. Refused to acknowledge that I was even there, groveling at their feet. I practically wept in despair until a voice called me across the room.

“Vasha, Ishbel” the woman said in greeting. She explained to me that I would have to prove myself worthy of the council’s attentions first. Doing a few very basic chores. It made sense to me in some weird way, and I went off to complete my tasks. First and foremost was learning of our history. I was given the Charter of Crescent Research, where I learned about the Drakkin and the scions of the six. Children of Veeshan, we were called. Living memory of Dragon’s Nest, which was defiled by a curse. We had a purpose, as future protector’s of Veeshan, we had the right to arm ourselves, and defend the city. Crescent Reach was our sanctuary.

Quizzed and found proficient enough to stand before the council, I was granted an audience. My knees quaked at the sight of them standing there, calm as could be. Still, in the background of my mind the flames licked and burned at me and I knew I had nothing to worry about. It was my calling. I’ve no idea how other Drakkin react to their own awakenings, but mine was intense. I suppose in that way it’s meant to be, so that we don’t ever forget.

Ithakis stared at me from his place in the council, observing me as I practically cowered before him. He sneered, almost doubting that I should be there at all. Somehow, I managed to stumble out my cause. He sent me on another task, which I completed with cool ease. I still felt as though I was walking in a dream. Returning to him he said nothing but nodded his head and pointed towards a door, the lifts that would take me to my dragon kin.

How I managed to get my feet under me enough to make that climb, I’ll never know. I stood before Atathus the Red Lord and quivered, dropping to my knees. I groveled before him. I think he smiled at me, if that’s possible. Can dragons smile? He bid me rise, and told me of a great spider and a poison sac that he’d have me collect. At some time during the conversation it seemed as though he almost doubted I could accomplish this task – but again I felt the heat and flames of my heritage sparking through me and knew I’d have no problems.

I went off in search of the spider, and stuck the tip of my staff through the spongy part of her body with ease. Ignoring the stench of the ooze I collected the venom sac, and headed back to Atathus the Red Lord. I dropped the sac at his feet, and waited.

He said nothing.

I tried again, I made sure it was from the right spider, and that it was not damaged.

“I have no need of this item, Ishbel” was all the red dragon breathed at me.

How could this be? What had I done to displease him? I collapsed to my knees and began weeping on the floor. I’d never felt so lost. I knew I wasn’t wrong, I felt the flames of my heritage still licking along the edges of my mind, fanned by my emotions.. what had I done wrong..

(( The quest for my Drakkin to earn her dragon breath attack is apparently broken, as I petitioned it yesterday and got a cut and past answer that there were issues with it. No idea when it will be fixed or why they couldn’t have just granted me the ability and taken away my quest item, but anyhow, that’s what sparked this post ))

Ishbel, Drakkin of Norrath

stargrace April 21, 2008 2 Comments

Norrath’s added a new race since I played last. The Drakkin. They are the children of the dragon – or so I’ve gathered. They have tattoos of scales that cover their body in a decorative pattern, and at the character selection screen you get to figure out which dragon you’ll form yourself after. It’s for lore purposes only, and of course me being me, I don’t know anything about the lore. EverQuest was always a game I played with friends but never really delved into so to speak. Not for lack of wanting to, but that was just the way it was for me when I played. Of course now, I’m regretting it. I wish I knew everything. I won’t, there’s just too much. But I wish I did. In any case, they also have designs on their faces that represent the ‘horns’ and scales of their dragon kin. Very cool. It was only natural I play one. I’m typically an elf person, I know, how boring is that. Though I have been known to play halflings, and ratongas.

Anyhow. Since the Nostalgia group has been working on their racial armor quests I decided it was time to travel back home and see if I have any myself. I’m not sure yet, I didn’t quite make it that far before I was side tracked into viewing the six dragons that protect my home.

Even in a game as old as EverQuest, how can you NOT be impressed with dragons. They are the epitome of the fantasy genre mmo. Typically big bosses where ever you go. They’re imposing, impressive, and just plain awesome.

So now I am on my way to meet up with some people from my little town (is it little? Maybe it’s city sized, I honestly have no idea) and prove that I am one of their kin. Gain some rank with these dragon folk and tell them that I’m good enough to heal their people. Or anyone, for that matter.

I managed to ding level 12 wandering through paludal (sp) caves with Lackey. When I used to play EQ1 that was the best place I’d ever leveled. Best for power leveling too. I’d get myself nicely buffed with druid buffs (especially the damage shield) and just stand where all the phlargs were. They have a noxious debuff called “creeping crud” that requires some curing (and lasts a REALLY long time!) but other then that.. it was great.

I didn’t want to get too far ahead of the Nostalgia group though – so I of course have an alt (I think we all have alts now). A little necromancer. I finished off the tutorial last night with help from Lackey, and then in accordance to the little mail message we received upon hitting level 10, we headed to Najena. Which is the EQ2 server I play on. How amusing. We only managed a few pulls in there though before we called it a night. LOTS of adds. Lots of mean adds. I was only level 10 (necromancer) and he was level 12. The suggestion to go there was obviously meant for either a full group, or someone twinked (which neither of us are). It was still fun though, the few pulls we got in were great exp, about 10% each kill.

Surprisingly enough – not a SINGLE skeleton of the night (and I killed at least 10-15) dropped bone chips. How am I supposed to summon my pet? I ended up buying 5 off of the broker (that’s all that was for sale) just so I could be a competent necromancer. Oh well, I’ll save that search for another time. The sad part is that I deleted my 44 shadowknight, and on her in her inventory, were 60 things of bone chips. Little did I know they’d actually come in handy when I decided to delete them. Oh wells.

Nostalgia Group – Night One

stargrace April 19, 2008 2 Comments

We were early, a lot of us. Really early. Four hours early even. We gathered around eagerly awaiting adventures. Not really sure what to expect or who would show up. A lot showed up. A lot more then I had thought would. We (thanks to our faithful leader, Tipa) organized and split off into two groups, collecting tasks along the way to complete. It started off slow, killing rats, bats, spiders. Vermin nests. Remembering to sit to meditated and regain power. Playing in first person.

I met a lot of new people, and that was great. We chattered about various things but mostly kept focused on the goal of completing the tutorial. The quests slowly changed from solo easy quests to ones that were more difficult and required a full group. My group consisted of three people, an enchanter, brave warrior, and myeslf (cleric). Cordanim was around at the beginning as his rogue, but had to leave not too far into it. For the group of three we had, we did fantastic. We had no deaths at all, and even though it took some time to take encounters down, we still did great. It of course had its mishaps. My internet decided to wreck havoc on a named encounter as I closed my eyes in real life and hopped I hadn’t just caused the group to wipe. Our brave dwarf and his faithful enchanter pulled through, despite my mishaps (I am so sorry!).

We all hit level 10 within the tutorial, and walked to Plane of Knowledge to set up the fellowship. Another one of those “uhms, what are THOSE” moments for a few people, myself included. It lets you place campfires where people can gate to, apparently. Looking forward to using them in the future.

While the night was exciting and a lot of fun, and I did get to meet lots of new people, it was slightly disappointing in some ways as well. I’d had my heart set on FINALLY getting to group up with the fabled Tipa and play with her (after all, it was just three of us who wanted to give EQ1 another go originally) but it didn’t work out that way due to the numbers interested. Not that it’s a big deal, the more the better of course. It was just one of those “dang.. oh well” moments. I was also slightly concerned that there were so many rules and restrictions we all had to adhere to – but on some reflection (and a full nights sleep) I can understand why the rules are there – mainly because there ARE so many of us. We don’t want to out level, miss content that someone may want to explore, etc. No doubt Tipa has been swamped in details.

Hopefully everyone else had an amazing time as well, and next week will be just as fun. The main goal of the evening was to leave behind the blasted tutorial. While it did better equip us for our adventures in the actual world of Norrath, it was also.. well, very much a tutorial. Next week we’ll work on getting to 15, and traveling the world a little bit. Slowly, bit by bit, more commands and bits of information are coming back to me. I mean, it has been over three years since I’ve played. A lot has slipped through the cracks.

My main impression of the evening was that – if you were looking to play an old MMO to recapture what you had felt when you played the very first time, it probably won’t happen. You’ll always be pitting the past with the future, and over time, things change. It’s much the same as comparing EQ1 to EQ2. You simply can’t, because the two games are (though EQ2 is modeled after EQ1) in the end, very different. Our experiences and personal friendships and bonds, trials and tribulations, are also different over time. We (as human beings) tend to look at the past with rose coloured glasses and remember specific events and happenings in a certain way. It’s difficult to emulate those some time down the road.

However.

That doesn’t mean we can’t all form NEW opinions of the game we once loved. Form new friendships, learn new encounters. Reminisce of course about ‘the good ‘ol days’ with an open mind and heart for the future.