OOC: Level 75

Monday night in our static party I finally hit level 75. It's not quite the celebration I'd normally want since I'm still haunted by the shame of my underlevelled sub. But my weekend plan is to correct that, then I can show off my accomplishment to the world and stop hiding behind my /anon status.

It was also slightly amusing that my good friend Yobun had his Paladin finally hit 75 on the same day. It's amusing because Paladin was his main for most of the time we played, while White Mage is mine. We've been playing the game together since the NA release and he's passed me on several occasions with more jobs than I care to list. He stopped seriously working on his level 73 Paladin months ago and focused instead on Bard, Black Mage and Thief, getting them all to 75 first.

His initial "dream" though was to get Paladin all the way, much as mine was to get White Mage there too. It was kinda neat we both hit that goal on the same day. It was almost like coming full circle.

But it was more like finally completing a race that you've been lapped in multiple times, and crossing the finish line at the same time as the person who's been lapping you.

Either way though, I can't deny the coincidence or the coolness of it.

ASIDE: The Letters From Bardon

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Dear Dipaco-Kupaco,

I trust you are well. I apologize for the delay
in writing to you. The Bastok reconstruction
takes its toll on us Galka. Perhaps you
remember a friend I told you about? A friend
who died during the war? I wish to discuss
matters pertaining to Galka nature and a
young child. Would our arrival next Firesday
inconvienence you?

Bardon
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Dear Dipaco-Kupaco,

Thank you for agreeing to help. I will arrive
on the date you suggested. I find it difficult
to express through writing so I will elaborate
further upon my arrival.

Bardon
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Dear Dipaco-Kupaco,

I have arrived safely back in Bastok. Thank
you for listening and eagerly accepting the
challenge. If I felt i could do this I would.

Again, thank you.

Bardon
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~3 years pass

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Dear Dipaco-Kupaco,
Then I will call him Wendell as well. It sounds
like he is doing well. The Galka workload has
increased so my letters will be fewer. Life in
the mines takes its toll on us all. I do not let it
get to me like it does other Galka. Like it got
to Rushker. I will not speak of him again
though.

I look forward to your letters and tales of
how Wendell is doing. Please do not take
offense with my delays in responding.

Bardon
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~5 years pass

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Dear Dipaco-Kupaco,
How I laughed when you told me of Wendell's
magic test! I am inspired to know that he has
chosen this calm path. The reaction of the
magic teachers amused me beyond belief.
Such a thing would never happen in this city.
I am glad he is with you in your joyful city.
And the reconstruction is finished. To hear
that Windurst is healing itself makes me glad.

Stay healthy my friend.

Bardon
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~5 years pass

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Dear Dipaco-Kupaco,
This will be my last letter to you good friend.
I am ever grateful that you were able to
shoulder the burden that I could not. I am
old, and the desert calls to me. I will be
making my journey soon. Wendell and you
were the best friends I ever made. Please
continue to take good care of him. I know
that you and your city will be able to provide
him the peace that Bastok could not. Please
continue to honor my request from years ago.
I do not wish Wendell to carry around the
baggage of his past life.

I wish you both good fortune and long life.
Perhpas we can meet again in my next life.

Bardon
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STORY: Return to Bastok

Wendell stood on the deck of the airship and looked out over the railing. Despite the beauty of the landscape he was lost within his own thoughts, thinking of what led him here. Several weeks prior he had met a man who recognized the name Bardon and mentioned something of war records in the city of Bastok. However, before more could be said the Hume had to leave. Despite a promise to meet up again in the future several weeks passed with no sign of him, and Wendell decided he had put off his search long enough.

He decided to travel to the city of Bastok again, and see if he could uncover more info himself. These were the events that led him to the airship he was now riding, towards Bastok. Just thinking of the approaching city made Wendell sigh. His last experience had been brief and in many ways unpleasant. Besides the noxious smell, arrogant Humes and defeated Galka there was another thing that really bothered him about that city - the feelings it invoked within him.

With every Galka and Hume he spoke to, he could feel something welling up inside him. At first puzzled, he gradually began to recognize the feeling as it continued to grow. Anger. It was unmistakable. The more he was subjected to the attitudes of the people of Bastok the more he could feel the anger build within him. He did not understand why this feeling was growing, but it scared him into leaving after only a very short time there.

With a lurch the airship splashed down into the Port Bastok bay, nearly knocking Wendell off his feet. As the ship pulled up to the pier Wendell sighed again. He could already smell the unpleasant odor of the city. He hoped it would be a short stay here, but regardless he would stay until he found some answer. He wanted to know more about the mysterious Galka in his father’s letters.

Disembarking from the ship and walking into the city proper, Wendell quickly realized Bastok was no different from what he remembered. The Humes gave him the same attitudes as before, and the Galka looked just as tired and defeated as ever. He found that the feellings of hatred weren't welling up inside him near as fast as he feared they would, but they were there.

As he asked Humes and Galka alike about Bardon or some kind of war records he tended to get the same answer - no-one knew who or what he was talking about It wasn't long before Wendell found himself in the Bastok Mines, the slum district or Bastok.. There he finally received his break.

A young Galka, Gumbah, overheard Wendell asking about Bardon and the war of 20 years ago. He spoke to Wendell privately and confided that there might be someone from the war who might know this Bardon and maybe help him. A Galka named Zied. For the first time since arriving, Wendell felt his spirits lift up. Gumbah told Wendell where that he might be able to find Zied and Wendell left the slums district feeling hopeful. His loathing of Bastok and the anger that had been slowly building were almost completely forgotten.

Following young Gumbah’s hints Wendell made his way to the Palsborough Mines and proceeded cautiously through them. The place was crawling with the local beastmen, yet with his magics hiding him from plain view it was easy to move through there undetected. Gumbah’s information indicated that Zied liked to spend time here so Wendell was searching every passage of the mine he could find in hopes of running in to the legendary Galka.

That's what others referred to him as. A legend. Zied was appearantly one of the Bastokians who fought the Shadow Lord directly during the great war of 20 years ago. He also knew a great deal about the Bastok military and many of it's ex-Galka members. Wendell felt the power of his concealment spells fading. Ducking into a small alcove, he re-cast them and continued on his way.

Several hours passed with no luck. Wendell suspected that perhaps he had missed the Galka, or maybe he misunderstod the kid and went to the wrong mines. With a heavy sigh, he boarded an old boat left over from the mines more active days. It was a shortcut back to Bastok he had heard about from one of the older Galka miners.

As the small boat pulled close to shore, Wendell could see a figure standing near the shore, seemingly lost in thought. Based on the descriptions he had been given Wendell was sure this was the Dark Knight Zied. Wendell quickly went up to him and asked if he knew of a Galka named Bardon, but Zied merely replied with a disapproving glance.

After what seemed like an eternity, Zied finally broke the silence. He told Wendell he knew the Galka in question, but would not talk to a weakling such as himself. Zied pulled out a greatsword and handed it to Wendell, saying that only if he could prove himself by becoming master of this sword would he gain answers to his questions.

With that, Zied walked off, leaving Wendell standing there holding the large heavy weapon so similar to the one that haunted his dreams. At that realization he dropped it and took a step back away from it. Looking at it laying on the floor, it seemed like just an ordinary sword. Yet it was the images from his dream that the sword invoked that made him wary.

He carefully weighed his options in his mind. He could leave the sword there and never learn anything about Bardon, or take the sword with him and eventually gain some insight into his past. With a heavy sigh Wendell picked up the sword and slung it over his back. He wasn't sure yet if he would actually use the sword but he could at least hold on to it until a better solution presented itself.

OOC: I keep forgetting I have a blog

A funny thought occurred to me the other day when I was thinking of leveling up Ninja to 37 so I could dual wield clubs. Ninja’s going to need a sub job, notably Warrior. Well, with my warrior currently at 12 I’ll need to bring it at least to 18. But then I might as well go up to 20, since having a job at 20 gives me some options with BCNM 20’s. But to level Warrior to 20, I’ll need an appropriate sub. Thief really isn’t appropriate at those levels according to popular belief so I’ll need to use Monk. Well, my Monk is only level 8, so I’ll have to bring it up to at least 9 (for WAR 18) but to 10 if I want WAR 20. The funny thought was how leveling Ninja for me became a three-step process, and how when I decide to start it and begin killing things as a Monk it won’t feel anything at all like I’m leveling Ninja even though it’s the first step.

Of course I’d eventually like to get all three of those jobs to 37 so I could sub them as White Mage (/MNK would be for role-playing reasons though, so it’s last on the list). That got me thinking about other jobs I want to bring up to 37. Like BLACK MAGE. Yes, my Black Mage is still 36. The last two times I’ve tried to level it I wasn’t able to find a party in the limited amount of time I had. I’m so ashamed that I’ve been running around /anon for a while now, denying the world the ability to marvel at my accomplishment of reaching level 74.

But what of my other plans? Well, Red Mage at 37 would give me two levels of Fast Cast for my WHM, which could prove more useful than most of my Black Mage spells. Though I won’t really know how useful Conserve MP is until I spend some time without it. Then there’s Summoner, another job I’d like to see at 37 to sub for White Mage. I can’t deny the awesome MP boost it’ll give me, plus if I did have it I’d be able to stop us from getting all those adds when we’re fighting spiders by carby-puling. Refresh is nothing to sneeze at either, so it’ll be useful all around. If I want to do end game shenanigans then having Dark Knight up to 37 is important, since they could require me to occasionally have to participate in stunning.

So now I’m up to Ninja, Summoner, Red Mage and Dark Knight “needing” to be at 37. Add Warrior at 20, Monk at 10, and while I’m at it why not Thief at 25 for flee? This is all easy to do of course. Why do I know that? Because I have people who play the game for hours a day, every day tell me that it’s easy and there’s no reason I can’t get it done in a fast manner. Those people make me so mad I could punch my computer screen just in the hope they’ll feel it. Of course it’d be “easy” if I could play several hours a day, every day. These people play the game more in a week than I could in a month. It also doesn’t help that I can’t just leave my character in a place and pick up right where I left off, since I have other commitments every week that mean I need to go back to town, change out again and have at it with my main job. As anyone with so much gear they need to have mules knows, this in itself can be no easy, quickly achieved task.

So I’ve been thinking of picking up Summoner, and making it my full time job instead of White Mage. Partly because that would be the easiest way to get it leveled up as a viable WHM subjob. Partly because I am fed up with the rush to 75. And partly because I know that any day now my link shell leader will decide to pick his White Mage back up, and this town ain’t big enough for two Galka White Mages. He’s already surpassed my club skill by skilling up with a Kracken club over the last two days. 70 levels. He gained 70 stinking levels in his club skill in 2 days with that thing. I’ve spent months getting 70 points in club by skilling up when I can. It took him a week, maybe two to get his white mage to 38. I think that took me about a year. And every night we static he manages to bring up the fact that we’re not gaining experience as fast as we should be, despite the fact that there’s nowhere else to go that’s any better for our group.

But this isn’t a rant about him, or my barely disguised jealousy. Come to think of it, I don’t really know what this was a rant about. I guess the page and a half rant I typed and deleted blew all my steam.

OOC: What's after 75?

Well something I read recently made me think about Wendell. Specifically, what I will do once I get him to 75. Why am I doing this? What is there for me as a White Mage at that level? I certainly enjoy playing as a White Mage, so I know that once I get there I'll be working on merits to invest in shorter cure casting times, more MP and more HP recovered with my regen spells.

But even that raises the question, why? Why am I working so hard to "max out" my white mage? What will I do with it once that's done? I don't really have an answer for that. I contemplated doing Gods and Dynamis, but I'm put off of those for a few reasons.

1. My computer has "issues" dealing with a lot of character models on the screen. My frame rate drops to the single digits rather quickly giving me the feeling of a lot of lag, which affects my performance signifigantly. I"m still trying various solutions for this but so far I haven't found one that worked.

2. I don't have the time to dedicate myself to these linkshells like they expect their members to do. I have very specific playtimes that are relatively non-negotiable. These other shells though, they tend to schedule many of their events outside of my playtimes. They seem very rigid in that regard.

3. The drama from these linkshells is infamous.

Mostly what's going to stop me is #1. If my computer isn't up to the task, I'll perform like crap and that will negatively impact on me.

So I never really thought about what I'd do once I maxed out Wendell's white mage. I guess I'll just kind of "be there" to help out others should they need it. But as far as doing things, I realized I still have a lot of goals that tie in to Wendell ebing level 75:

• Level Black Mage to 37 (still at 36)
• Level Summoner to 37 for a subjob
• Obtain Fenrir and Diabolos summons
• Level Red Mage to 37 for a subjob
• Level Ninja to 37 for a subjob
• Skill up Divine and Healing magic skills
• Skill up Club and Staff melee skills

These goals, some of which I am very far away from, will increase my versatility as White Mage and allow me to do more things in the end game. I've heard many good things about a White Mage subbing ninja, dual weilding hammers and using hexastrike. Just to be able to do that with Wendell will involve a lot of work (Ninja's at 1 and club is around 160). Skilling up healing and Enhancing is easy, I just need to dedicate time for it. Enfeebling and Divine though require some coordination with others, or require me to be able to solo (all the more reason for levelling Ninja).

So I guess I answered my own question. I know why I'm trying to get Wendell to 75 and what I'm going to do when I get there. Hitting 75 will not be the end of a journey, but just another step. One that I am once again eagerly looking forward to.

STORY: Ashes to Ashes

"Help! Oh please mercy-wercy please somebody help me!"

Wendell was traveling through Sarutabaruta when he heard this urgent, desperate cry. He looked around frantically and saw a badly injured Tarutaru running for his life from a Yagudo, one of the local beastmen. Almost instinctively Wendell focused his thoughts and whispered the incantations to cast his healing magic on the Tarutaru. Wendell's magic healed the Taru completely, pissing off the beasman well enough that came after him now instead of its original target.

Wendell watched as the little Tarutaru ducked into some tall grass in an attempt to hide, now that the Yagudo was no longer threatening his life. The Yagudo ran towards Wendell, chanting ancient words of power as it did so. Wendell prepared to rush it before it could finish the spell. He grabbed the hilt of his war hammer but paused for a moment at the thought that suddenly ran through his mind: "Too weak to be worthwhile." Before he could ponder why he would think something like that, the beastman had finished its Black Magic and stones rose from the ground under Wendell, pummeling him all over his body.

Only bruised from this low power magic, Wendell let go of his war hammer and began chanting different words of power that he knew, words that drew power from a more pure source. Wanting to finish this quickly, he altered these words to increase their effect, and cast his banishing magic on the creature. The power of white magic surged through the creatures body, and it was obviously much more than the creature could take. With a guttural cry it fell to the ground defeated.

Walking over to it, Wendell wondered what it might have felt like to have used a large weapon to defeat this monster. Would he have enjoyed it? As he stared at the rapidly decomposing corpse he could vividly picture the image from his dream, the image of cleaving a monster in two and having its blood spray everywhere. Was he really the kind of person who could do something like that? He did defeat the monster rather quickly on purpose. And where did that thought come from that ran through his mind? These questions ran through his mind as he sat down to rest and recover his spent magical power.

The Taru that had been hiding cautiously peeked out of the bushes. Seeing that it was safe now, he bowed in thanks to Wendell as he ran off to practice more magic on the hapless rarabs overpopulating the area. Wendell waved his farewell. He felt good knowing that he had helped the little Taru out. But a nagging thought tugged at his mind. Would he have felt more satisfied by defeating the Yagudo with his weapon rather than with magic? He pushed this thought and all the others aside as he stood up. The day was young, and there was still much he could do.

Wendell walked off, on the lookout for anyone who looked like they might need assistance. After all, helping those in need was what he did. The beastman corpse he left behind him was nothing more than a fading memory to him. It had already crumbled into ash. As the wind blew it picked up the ash with it, slowly erasing the last evidence of the beastman's existence from the face of Vana'diel.

STORY: Doubts

The sounds of battle are intense. Everywhere around him there are people fighting beastmen. The Galka, already disappointed that he missed out on the fun of being here at the beginning, does not hesitate at all in readying his Great Axe and jumping into the fray. He's mad. Mad at... something. He focuses this anger onto the beastmen who stands in front of him. One good swing cleaves the monster in two, spilling its blood all over the Galka. He laughes then, as he knows this will be a satisfying fight. With little pause between enemies, he loses himself to the berserker rage that comes to him so naturally...

Wendell awoke with a start. He sat up in his bed and tried to push the images the dream evoked out of his mind. He never had violent dreams like this. At least, not until after his mentor Dipaco-Kupaco passed away and Wendell had found those old letters. Thankfully the dreams weren't every night, but they still alarmed him. He sat in his bed for a few minutes and tried to clear his mind of that dream. It took him a little while, but he was finally able to do it.

Wendell got up from his bed and lit the lamp. It was still dark out. He pulled the box of letters out from under his bed and stared at them. The Galka who wrote them, Bardon, was a mystery to Wendell. His mentor had never spoke of him. Yet from the letters it seemed this mysterious Galka was somehow linked to himself. Wendell reached for one of the letters to read it again, but stopped himself and pulled his hand away. He already knew them by heart. Reading them again would gleam nothing new.

The letters were puzzling only because Wendell's mentor had always refused to talk with him about his past. Whenever he asked, Dipaco-Kupaco would simply tell him, "The person-werson who looks only to the pasty-wasty can'taru see where he's going-oing." That thought brought a smile to Wendell face now. The Tarutaru on whole had a fun way of speaking, and even thinking of it could help lift his spirits. But if Dipaco didn't want to dwell on the past, then why did he save those letters? That was one of the many questions these letters raised.

Still, if the letters were puzzling, the dreams were downright disturbing. He is a healer, a helper to those in need. The thought of enjoying fighting to such an extent scares him. Is this what lurks deep down inside him? Are these flashes from a past life, flashes of a hidden nature that will only begin to grow stronger? Wendell is not sure, but he's afraid the answer is yes. It makes him leery to even draw his war hammer, the healer's weapon, in times of need.

Wendell yawned and looked out his window. The sky was beginning to brighten outside and it looked like there wasn't much point in trying to get back to sleep now. He started getting ready for his day. Helping others, healing those in need, these activities usually keep his mind off of his troubles. He's already traveled to Bastok to try and find this mysterious "Bardon," but the people there were not very helpful to him. It seemed like even in the town of his origin, he was considered an outsider. Wondering if he'll ever find a place he truly belongs, Wendell left his house to begin a new day, one that he hopes may contain answers to the questions he seeks.