September 2008

Ki The Fiend Hunter – Waves Breaking

stargrace September 19, 2008 0Comment

Yesterday was time for a little more diplomacy as I wandered through the Isle of Dawn in Vanguard. I again didn’t want to out level my partner in crime, and wanted to continue to explore the quests I had been working on. By the end, I hit level 9 and part way into it (in diplomacy) – once I hit 10 I’ll switch to crafting I think. Anyhow. 

The Magistrate wanted me to interview some hobgoblins (who were supporting him) on the docks of the village – they were having a tea party. That is to say, they were dumping all the tea into the water in support of the magistrate. Go figure. I had to laugh as I interviewed the last ‘hobgoblin’ who was not one at all, but a farmer down the street dressed in the skin of a hobgoblin. While I interviewed them their appearance changed and they wandered back to their farm. 

The quests got harder (understandably) but I managed without having to buy any of the expensive 1s cards that the diplomacy vendor sells. I’ve lost a few parles but nothing important. Of course I’ve played diplomacy before so that comes in handy. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that the rewards are just amazing – and I’m a little sad that my other diplomates who are off of this island (and I don’t believe there’s a method to get back to it?) will be unable to get these benefits. I’ve gotten a cloak (last time I played there were no diplomacy cloaks with stats), a bracelet (there were only one of these), a full set of gear and some other bits and pieces. I’ve built my deck heavy with flattery, and it seems to be working out well (at least on the island). 

Eventually I was sent to a little burnt down village, being invaded by floating eyes (you’ve probably seen them before in Kojani) and what not. The npc there told me they needed a special type of hunter to deal with the problem, and that they had tried to convince her to come help – with no success. 

So of course that leaves it up to you. It’s always up to you after all. The person’s name is Ki The Fiend Hunter – and the problem is that although the quest says she has a particular affinity for the evil badies, it does not tell you where she is. 

So I spent 30 minutes or so running all over the place looking for her. Then I asked in the main channels – and someone replied (woot) that I should rent a Pegasus, and fly to the temple. 

Temple? Hrms. They must mean that dark ominous looking building just North of where I was standing. I had actually created a macro that was /targetauto Ki  and as I ran around spamming it, the only thing it picked up was a King Crab from the nearby river. 

I decided what the heck, grabbed a Pegasus, flew over to the dark building with purple swirls (remember, I’m of a low adventure level so these places still scare me) and hit my macro. 

Well what do ya know, there tucked away on the left hand side in a little alcove was Ki The Fiend Hunter. Only problem is that whole little landing was swarming with level 7-9 mobs. So I hung around a little, until a few more brave adventurers went to clear their way into the temple, and then made the little trek across to talk Ki into helping the Magistrate. 

Back to the npc afterwards – where a 15 minute warning sounded that servers were coming down. I was so close to finishing my quest too! Just had to talk to the five brave adventurers who were going to help deal with this ‘problem’ they had been having, along with Ki. Dang it. 

Oh well, I guess it’s time to see if servers are back up today so I can finish off the chain! Great story so far.

Slappy The Cool – Too Cool for School

stargrace September 18, 2008 1Comment

I have to admit. I wasn’t expecting it. Then again, who would have been? 

There I was, wandering around Telon completing random quests, saving the world – when who should show up? 

Slappy The Cool.

Upon his arrival, everyone, players and npc alike – broke into some sort of odd dance move and you could hear the sounds of music being played from some magical boom box that you couldn’t quite see. At the time, I figured it was a fluke or a GM playing around with us. I was standing right beside a heavily populated quest npc and I thought nothing of it. But as I continued my quests around Telon I’d see Slappy a few more times. Each time the npc and players would break into dance and get their groove on in a small circle surrounding Slappy. 

I almost cried laughing every single time, it was that hilarious to watch. Minding my own business, my brain filled with hobgoblin and death when — OH! I LOVE THIS SONG! It’s time to get jiggy. 

So where does Slappy come from? Well, last night I didn’t want to level my adventuring too high. Kanad was not on yet, and there’s no real mentoring system in Vangard though you can turn off experience. I didn’t want to work on quests and potentially out level (or have to re-do the quests later). So I decided it would be a great night to work on the diplomacy chains.

The Isle of Dawn is great for diplomacy. They had the basic introduction quests that every starter town has, and then the story moved on from there. Unlike the starter towns – it actually gives you two carrying cases for your diplomacy junk fairly early on. Anyone who’s ever done diplomacy before understands how valuable this is. It also gives you a lot of gear with some pretty good diplomacy presence on it – another huge plus. 

So I wandered around for a bit, rallying the veterans, interrogation the hobgoblins, and gathering pieces from npc to build a flag that would help raise the moral of the troops who were fighting those hobgoblins. Mid way through one of the chains – I was sent to talk to a hobgoblin Seer, in the middle of a camp of level 9 mobs (and remember, I’m only a level 6 adventurer, so it was scary!) who should I see standing right by some totem pole type structure? None other then Slappy The Cool, of course. I hailed one of the npc by him and did the diplomacy quest they offered – and was rewarded the whistle that calls Slappy. It has a five minute recast timer, good thing or else I’d be using that whistle to get jiggy with it all the time. 

As always happens I lost track of time doing my diplomacy quests, and my diplomacy level is now actually higher then my adventure level. I love the way the Isle of Dawn lets you move the city levers with civic diplomacy so that you actually get a pretty good feel for the game and how it can affect Telon. Of course diplomacy was not integrated very nicely into the game as a whole, but it’s still one of those spheres that I just love doing. With the stories, gear sets, and random bits if information you can get (blackmail, etc) as well as just getting junk to sell, not to mention putting up buffs that benefit crafters and adventurers alike – I think it’s a wonderful aspect to the game.

Slappy just made it all that much more cool.