Monday Night Static Group - Lite RP - Sarlona

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Roll call:

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL
Bruggs	Rogue	Halfling	9
Jorotte	Barbarian	Half-Orc	9
Nacolito	Cleric	Human	9
Twizzix	Paladin	Human	9
Xerxax	Bard/Fighter/Rogue	Drow	6/2/1
Zanbaur	Wizard	WF	9

The Monday-night crew took a much-needed TOEE breather. We wanted to live through a few quests to get our adventuring legs back. We ran the following on elite: The Ruins of Threnal, the Western Excavation (In Need of Supplies, The Rescue, and Secure the Area); The Pit; and Tear of Dhakaan.

Highlights of the evening:
• Zanbaur’s lead through The Pit. AWESOME!!!
• No one died!
• No mobs of 30+ bad guys.
• Jorotte’s Half-Orc dance 1 (Horc Haka).

Here’s a clip of New Zealand’s Half-Orc rugby team (tusks trimmed per International Rugby Federation rules), the All Blacks, doing the Haka:



Here's a DDO version: http://www.gamergeoff.com/images/dan...rc%20dance.gif

Next week: Into the jaws of death--back to TOEE. Watch out, Spore Queen--we're coming for you!

[Rig_O_Mortis]

TOEE, TOEE, TOEE, how I hate you…or love you; I can’t decide.

The Monday-night group traveled back to the Hall of Heroes to gain access to our new nemesis: TOEE, arguing the whole way whether to go in on hard or elite. If we chose hard, we were either cowardly or smart. On elite we were intrepid or stupid. Finally, Bruggs decided to go into the quest on hard to get a better handle on Zuggtmoy and to help us stay alive.

Holy shiitake, Batman!

In weeks past, we had beaten a path to the queen with a great deal of difficulty and carnage only to be swatted down by her in the final fight. This time, we just blew in…only to be swatted down by her in the final fight. We party wiped twice before doing her in. Mind you, this is not an inexperienced group of adventurers. Yes, Twizzix is a flower-sniffer and doesn’t know the difference between AC and DC (isn’t that electricity…or a band?), but the others are just flat-out good. Somehow we just haven't gotten a handle on this dungeon. It’s too easy on hard, yet it leaps light years into difficulty on elite—except for the final fight, and that’s always a killer. Perhaps we will revisit the dungeon at a different time, a different level, a different life.

Still shaking our heads, we headed to House J, the “healing house,” for a bit of R & R--The Drowning Sorrows Tavern seemed apropos. Xerxax, our bard, tried singing for his supper, but Bula O’loarima, the barkeep, wasn’t interested in his voice after Mr. X had downed several rounds of Ghallanda Distillate. Instead, Bula told him about someone named Chulkash who was in need of assistance and would welcome his help. I figure he just wanted a way of getting the waistrel…er…minstrel out of his hair for the evening. No matter, when Xerxax told the rest of us about this possible job, we were intrigued.
We spoke to Gatekeeper Chulkash, entered a ruined temple, did in Xoriat cultists and an assortment of bad guys, retrieved the Xorian Cipher, and called it a night.

We are now at level 10.

[Postumus]

Well we finished all the Threnal content. And I mean ALL of it. Including one quest I never knew existed.

Now Naco's got a Threnal blade and a Mantle of the Worldshaper. Look out!

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Oh what a day, what a lovely day! Unfortunately for us in the Monday group, we were stuck underground with stupid Coyle Lovell and hardly saw the light of day.

Bruggs, Jorotte, Nacolito, Twizzix, Xerxax, and Zanbaur were all on hand to travel to the Ruins of Threnal. While there, we finished The Abandoned Excavation, The Eastern Excavation, The Giant Lieutenants, and The Threnal Arena on elite.

Of note:
• Bruggs was done in twice (Ice Flenser and Flesh Render)
• Bruggs was almost done in by the group for kiting the bad guys away from us
• Xerxax bit it once.
• Jorotte and Nacolito succumbed to different traps
• Jorotte: If we only had a TRAPPER, we wouldn’t be dying in traps
• Bruggs, our trapper (yeah, we have one): If you didn’t go running OFF ahead, you wouldn’t be dying in traps
• Everybody else: Eye rolls and sighs
• Several Mantels of the Worldshaper were awarded as loot
• We despair that we’ll never level up again
• Xerxax informed us that he’ll be out of Stormreach for two weeks

Next week: Nothing that contributes to leveling up (snark, snark)

[Rig_O_Mortis]

It had been a sweltering week in Stormreach. The Monday-night adventurers were hot, restless, and grumpy. Their bard, Xerxax, had fled the heat for Ataraxia’s Haven only to find that the Resort Spa had HEATED pools. Luckily, he also found a tavern with COOL drinks.

The rest of us needed to cool down, too, so Bruggs suggested we head to the Red Fens. What are a few pesky Sahuagin when their watery world might offer some weather relief?

All quests were completed on elite.

The Last Stand—We traveled to the Refuge of the Ancestors and kept Viercha Ettervs alive and well. We also spent as much time in the water as possible, only coming out to fight the waves of Sahaugin raiders.

The Claw of Vulkoor—We met up with the Priestess Ionna, who after being turned into a scorpion by the fire giant warlock, Sobrien, offered us her staff to help us get through to the top of the Claw and break the curse on the drow. We did a great job with the giants, and didn’t get one singed hair in the fire jets, but we just couldn’t get past the scorpions without being seen. Twizzix got touched with gold fever and rushed into Prince Gornard’s chamber grabbing for treasure before the others could stop her. We had to fight the giant skeleton, and we lost some XP. Twizz was over it immediately, but some of the others weren’t so happy. We jumped up and up and, finally, made it to the top of the Claw. Success!

Fathom the Depths—At last we had some clean water to swim through. The swampy wilderness area leaves a lot to be desired no matter how hot it is. The quest went well from start to gelatinous finish.

Into the Deep—We aided the rebel forces battling against the Galactic Empire in a galaxy far, far away…oh, wait…different rebels. Ours were fighting the loyalist Sahuagin determined to dominate Xen’drik. We took care of business and headed to the central pit to meet up with the optional red-named hezrou, Demon of the Frenzied Blood. He is a challenging opponent. During the fight, we lost Zanbaur, but Nacolito raised him and kept Twizzix and Jorotte from death’s door several times. We continued on to victory.

After the Red Fens, fetid swamp odor wafted off of us in waves, but we felt refreshed and ready to start the new week.

Next week: The Necropolis

Note:
• Xerxax is unavailable July 13, as he continues to languish in Ataraxia.
• Twizzix and Bruggs will be unavailable August 3. Twizz is heading to the Storm Horns for a paladin retreat, and Bruggs is headed to the House Phiarlan’s Rogue Extravaganza (Whaaat?)

[Rig_O_Mortis]

The Monday-night group (sans Xerxax) gathered on the Daedalean Kraken itching for something to do.

Bruggs: Time to go dancing with Mr. D.

Nacolito: Yes! I love the smell of the Necropolis in the morning…or evening.

Jorotte: But there are nasty undead things there!

Zanbaur: Don’t fear the Reaper, Jorotte. You’ve got a big sword, and he has a big chest, or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, it works for me.

Twizzix: *Facepalm*

The Necropolis 2 chain was in our future.

All quests were run on elite: Tomb of the Shadow King, Tomb of the Shadow Guard, Tomb of the Shadow Lord, and Tomb of the Shadow Knight

We began the night with Tomb of the Shadow King. A tricky quest filled with mobs of bad guys, illusory walls, and paths to follow worthy of a square dance caller (Outer corridor, north area, clear shrine, and do-si-do.). We fought the mobs around the torches we were to extinguish to make use of the undead-curse debuff before putting them out. Things were going pretty well-- Zanbaur was zinging magic missiles, Nacolito was turning undead, and everyone else was slashing away, when Zanbaur went down-ding. Naco raised him in a flash. In another incident, we almost had shish kaTwizz with a spike trap, but she backed up quickly enough to save herself. Other than that, all went smoothly.

Next up—Tomb of the Shadow Guard. Zanbaur ran into a spot of trouble-ding, but otherwise, things went okay. Afterwards, we leveled up (yes, we really did) to 11.

We finished off with little trouble in Tomb of the Shadow Lord and Tomb of the Shadow Knight (a rogue heaven).

Bruggs worked on disabling a trap.

Nacolito launched a fireball-like thing, making it look like the trap failed.

Bruggs worked on disabling a trap.

Nacolito launched a fireball-like thing, making it look like the trap failed.

Nacolito: That’s just the thing: First, it’s funny, then it gets annoying, and then it gets funny again.

Bruggs: I’m just waiting for when it gets funny the first time.

Next week: The Shadow Crypt and VoN. Bring your Silver Flame Amulet or Emerald Claw Trinket to upgrade.

Xerxex-let any of us know if you would like some company making up the quests. We’d be happy to help out and are looking forward to your joining us again.

[Postumus]

Bruggs worked on disabling a trap.

Nacolito launched a fireball-like thing, making it look like the trap failed.

Bruggs worked on disabling a trap.

Nacolito launched a fireball-like thing, making it look like the trap failed.

Nacolito: That’s just the thing: First, it’s funny, then it gets annoying, and then it gets funny again.

Bruggs: I’m just waiting for when it gets funny the first time.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Welcome back, Xerxax!

All quests were run on elite.

The Shadow Crypt reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book:

Wet room
Torch room
Green room
Blue room

From there to here, from here to there,
Undead things
Are everywhere!

Some are sad.
And some are glad.
But most are very, very bad.

We ran in and out of rooms gathering gears, slaying Drifting Scourges, Shrouded Terrors, Umbral Worgs, and more. When we had three gears of each color, we headed to the Banner Room to confront Brother Nerezza.

Some useful tips:
• Nacolito pointed out that torches were lit according to the waterfall patterns on the upper walls. First, we lit the torch below the waterfall coming out of the right side, then below the water coming out of the left side, and then the one below where both sides were flowing.
• Jorotte recommended targeting Nerezza when we first encountered him and leaving him in our focus orb. That way, if (when) he cloned himself, we would still be able to target the original Nerezza and get the job done more efficiently.

Bruggs was tired of the Necropolis—it’s so dead on a Monday night—so he suggested we tackle VoN.
• First, we entered the Tharashk Arena and left a short time later singing “We Are the Champions.”
• Next, we headed to the beautiful Mistress Orphne’s Haven to free the lady from the Prison of the Mind.
• Then, Gateway to Khyber/The Jungle of Khyber where we ran into some difficulty. Zanbaur succumbed to a mob of trolls just outside the J of K entrance, and we lost Jorotte to, um, something deadly in the big mushroom room inside the J of K quest. We finished off The Inevitable and headed out to make a run for our lives.
• Lastly, we went to The Haywire Foundry to find the eponymous owner. Things went okay until our ROGUE fell down the collapsible floor trap to the lava way, way below. To be fair, that trap had no warning, and Bruggs was out in front trying to keep us all safe by locating and disabling traps, but we enjoyed the irony nonetheless. He met up with us again in the large room with the catwalks. We took care of business and headed out of the foundry. Right by the drawbridge, Zanbaur went bum over teakettle, ended up in the lava below, and had to recall to get out of the foundry alive. The rest of us grabbed our loot first and then got out of Dodge.

Next week: VoN and Plane of Night (http://http://ddowiki.com/page/The_Vault_of_Night and http://ddowiki.com/page/Plane_of_Night)

[Rig_O_Mortis]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL
Bruggs	Rogue	Halfling	11
Jorotte	Barbarian	Half-Orc	11
Nacolito	Cleric	Human	11
Twizzix	Paladin	Human	11
Xerxax	Bard/Fighter/Rogue	Drow	8/2/1
Zanbaur	Wizard	WF	11

[Postumus]

To be fair, that trap had no warning,

Looks like someone *cough cough* needs to upgrade his spot skill.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Looks like someone *cough cough* needs to upgrade his spot skill.

According to the wiki: Watch out for dropping floors. Stay to the right wall as you move through. The first drop can be avoided with a trapsmith, the second cannot be avoided, so stay to the left so that you fall onto the pipes and can walk across. (http://ddowiki.com/page/Haywire_Foundry)

Would you still get a warning?

[Postumus]

According to the wiki: Watch out for dropping floors. Stay to the right wall as you move through. The first drop can be avoided with a trapsmith, the second cannot be avoided, so stay to the left so that you fall onto the pipes and can walk across. (http://ddowiki.com/page/Haywire_Foundry)

Would you still get a warning?

By "avoid" I think wiki means it can be disarmed.


There is no box for the second pit trap and no way to disarm it, true, but I thought you still get a trap warning if your spot is high enough. Like you do with the crumbling floors in Chamber of Raiyum.


Now I can't remember. I'll have to ask Tesslan.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

I thought you still get a trap warning if your spot is high enough. Like you do with the crumbling floors in Chamber of Raiyum.


Now I can't remember. I'll have to ask Tesslan.

Regards to Tesslan!

I just went through on my lvl 23 arti--heroic elite (yeah, yeah, but I wanted to make sure)--I did not see a warning, but the DM gives a hint: "Even through your clothing and armor, you can feel the floor grow warmer."

I'm thinking Bruggs made his saving throw on this thread.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

The DDO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, July 27th from 3:00 AM - 4:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) for data center maintenance and to launch Update 27: Trials of the Archons. Patch notes will be available during the downtime. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon!

Additionally, DDO.com will be unavailable between 3:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT).

The first part of this work will migrate all of Turbine's billing services to a new data center. After that work is completed, we will be updating the game to release Trials of the Archons. We will keep you updated on Monday.

FYI--looks like a biggie.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

All members were present. All quests were completed on elite with zero deaths.

Hiding in Plain Sight, Sykros Jewel, Reclamation, Desert Caravan

The group is now level 12.

Next week: Bruggs and Twizzix are unavailable. Would someone please post the quests the group runs?

In two weeks: VoN 5 & 6

[Postumus]

Next week: Bruggs and Twizzix are unavailable. Would someone please post the quests the group runs?

X-man didn't show, so it was just Nacolito, JOROTTE, and Zanbaur.


We completed the following: A Relic of a Sovereign Past, Tomb of the Blighted, Tomb of the Forbidden, Tomb of the Unhallowed, Purge the Fallen Shrine


No deaths, no loot (worth mentioning), no motor cars, not a single luxury. Naco was capped after Purge the Fallen so he took level 13.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

X-man didn't show, so it was just Nacolito, Mansoor, and Zanbaur.


We completed the following: A Relic of a Sovereign Past, Tomb of the Blighted, Tomb of the Forbidden, Tomb of the Unhallowed, Purge the Fallen Shrine


No deaths, no loot (worth mentioning), no motor cars, not a single luxury. Naco was capped after Purge the Fallen so he took level 13.

Thanks for the update! I can't believe I missed the hunks of rotting flesh.

Too bad about Xerxax, but both Nacolito and Mansoor showing up is quite impressive.

Those loafers and scofflaws, Bruggs and Twizzix, will catch up as soon as possible.

[Postumus]

Too bad about Xerxax, but both Nacolito and Mansoor showing up is quite impressive.

Whoops. I meant that big half-orc barbarian Jorotte.

Thanks for the update! I can't believe I missed the hunks of rotting flesh.

Oh no. No. We saved TORMENTED for you and Bruggs and Triple X. We aren't going through that - er- torment without you guys.

[Postumus]

This was basically what transpired:


Nacolito: Heyo.


Jorotte: Bleh!


Zanbaur: Hi.


Nacolito: Soo... looks like Xerxax isn't going to make it.


Jorotte: Who?


Nacolito: Xerxax.


Jorotte: ??


Nacolito: Our bard?


Jorotte: We have a bard?


Zanbaur: Name sounds familiar... sort of...


Nacolito: Well it should sound familiar. He's only been in our party for over a year! Xerxax!


Jorotte: Nope. Never heard of him.


Nacolito: OK... well... never mind! So, uh... what do you guys want to do?


Jorotte: I dunno...what do you want to do?


Nacolito: I dunno.


Zanbaur: I heard there are a bunch of Dwarves in an adamantine mine outside of House K. We could kill them and take their stuff.


Jorotte: Sounds great!


Nacolito: Hmmm... I don't know. Killing Dwarves?


Zanbaur: Well technically they're Duergar.


Nacolito: What's that?


Jorotte: A fancy name for "Dwarf."


Nacolito: Yeah... Thing is, Dwarf killing isn't really why I became a cleric. And I'm pretty sure the Silver Flame wouldn't approve.


Zanbaur: Does it help if they hate the Silver Flame?


Nacolito: Well! That changes everything! Dwarves are one thing, but HERETICS! Yeah, yeah I've been sent to purge Eberron of those! Let's get cracking!


Jorotte: Wait one sec... uhm... so a "heretic" is anyone who doesn't worship the Silver Flame?


Nacolito: Pretty much. But without the air quotes. But you guys know that already being adherents of the SF yourself, right?


Jorotte: Well...


Zanbaur: Hmmm...


Nacolito: Wait, whaaat? You both DO worship the Silver Flame, don't you?


Jorotte: Well, you see...


Nacolito: Because if you don't worship the Silver Flame, I certainly can't be wasting my mana healing or buffing you.


Zanbaur: Since you put it that way...


Nacolito: And I certainly can't be raising you from the dead.


Jorotte: Go Silver Flame!


Zanbaur: Silver Flame! Yayyy!


Nacolito: That's what I thought... Now lets go kill some Dwarves and take their stuff!

[Rig_O_Mortis]

081015 Group Roster

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL
Bruggs	Rogue	Halfling	12
Jorotte	Barbarian	Half-Orc	13
Nacolito	Cleric	Human	13
Twizzix	Paladin	Human	12
Xerxax	Bard/Rogue/Fighter	Drow	9/2/1
Zanbaur	Wizard	WF	12
GUESTS
Ajantisa	Paladin	Elf (?)	14
Risarr	Barbarian	Human (?)	15
Talllgeese	Favored Soul	WF	14

The MNG (Monday Night Group—super creative name, right?) got together for its first ever elite practice run of Vault of Night and Plane of Night. Oh yeah, we were on fire! Of course, that was at the very end with Velah, but still…

Bruggs had been itching to do VoN 5/6 for weeks. He’d asked Nacolito to lead since the cleric had the most experience with the quest. He’d placed a guild message inviting others to join us with plenty of time for them to get flagged. As it turned out, guests could just run all four flagging quests while the rest of us practiced trapsmithing and (un)coordinated lever pulling.


Nacolito: On the count of three, pull the lever, light the rune, and shoot the target. One…what the heck, Xerxax? Can you count to three?

Xerxax: I needed to practice first.

Nacolito: Okay, on the count of three—one, two, three. Gaaa-who didn’t get the job done? Twizzix? Xerxax?

Twizzix: Wasn’t me! See? My rune is lit up like a Festivult tree.

Xerxax: Course not! I practiced earlier—remember?

Nacolito: Okay, on the count of three…


Nacolito: Bruggs, there are a zillion traps down this hall. Go get ‘em.

A few minutes later…

Bruggs: Got ‘em.

Nacolito: I beg to differ. I see an unopened trap box from here.

A few minutes later…

Bruggs: Got it.

Nacolito: I can still see that unopened box. Let’s try again, shall we?


By this time, Talllgeese was laughing uncontrollably; Risarr had left, run 20 other quests, and rejoined us; and Nacolito had developed a tic in his right eye.


Finally we made it to Arach d’Kundarak and forced him to open the Gate of Night.

And then there was Velah.

The pillars were no problem. We only had to practice that part once before we timed it right.

And then there was Velah.

We hit her. We stood behind rocks. We healed our wounded. We raised our dead.

And then there was Velah. No one else was left standing.


Great practice, everyone!


Our guests left for other adventures; Bruggs was exhausted after dealing with so many traps and left the party, too. The rest of the group made a quick dash to Menechtarun and finished off the night with elite runs of The Chamber of Kourush and The Chamber of Rahmat.


Next Week: VoN 5/6 redux

VoN 5: http://ddowiki.com/page/The_Vault_of_Night

VoN 6: http://ddowiki.com/page/Plane_of_Night

Velah: http://ddowiki.com/page/Velah