Level 24 Duo, Qufim Island/Zilart Mission 5 stuff...

First off, I just wanted to share a funny name I noticed today while running around on my Windy mule:

Nice....

Ok, back to business...

Anyways, since Almeth's been leveling his NIN more lately, he's been edging ever closer to needing to level his WAR up some more so as to not be "teh gimp". We'd discussed it some last night after the ZM stuff we were doing, and decided to pair up his WAR with my RDM. It's been a while since I've touched RDM, so I was a little rusty, but I am excited to level it some...I really wanna get it to 40 for BCNM purposes, since like every damn BCNM has a strategy involving a RDM. I grabbed what gear I could piece together earlier in the day, got my macros all set up, and made my way out to Jeuno to meet Almeth and get to killing...

I'd forgotten what it's like to fear dying out here...

We had a bit of a rough start...Almeth and I decided to try and fight a worm that had spawned just a little too close to an Evil Weapon that was wandering around. We thought we would be ok, but those hopes were quickly dashed as the Weapon turned around, aggro'd Almeth, and started beating him down. I tried to stick a Bind on him so we could run...but I was too slow on the draw and Almeth got beat to death. The weird thing was that the mob despawned immediately after Almeth died...I know I cured him, but for some reason the mob just didn't feel like finishing me off. At any rate, Almeth ran back out, and we got back to it...

Worms love skillchains...

We were getting damn good exp with our empress bands, better then I expected at any rate. Our bands were spent in no time, which was actually a good thing as Qufim was fucking jam-packed. Seriously, there were duo's and trio's all over the place. The competition was pretty damn annoying, but we did get to lawl a bit as other groups rushed to out claim us, only to wipe because they didn't want to rest up between fights. I mean, worms don't move...why didn't they run away? Is keeping a claim worth a full wipe? Guess so...

With our bands finished off after like 15 mobs, we decided to work on getting a couple of the headstones done that don't require fights. We headed back to Jeuno, I changed to WHM, Almeth changed to THF, and away we were...next stop: Crag of Holla and Ordelle's Caves.

These pants don't go with my top at all, I feel like a fucking clown...

I don't think Square Enix could have made a more boring looking zone...

The trip was pretty uneventful...before long we had our Water Fragments in hand. We tried at getting Tumbling Truffle to spawn (no reason, the gear he drops sucks, but we were right there so fuck it, eh?) but he wanted to be a prick and not pop. We killed a few Napalms to try and get a Flame Degen to drop, needed for the quest Northward for a map of Castle Zvahl. Again, no dice. Finally, we killed a Stroper Chyme in a half-hearted attempt to get a Shikaree Ring, and holy shit, wouldn't you know it...one dropped. I can't even tell you how many of those stupid things we've killed...but finally we got one. I passed it to Almeth; it's a nice ring but I'm sure he'll put it to better use then I...


With spring in our step, I teleported us out to Altepa and we made our way to Quicksand Caves and the next marker...

Never catch me ridin' dirty...

"Almeth, wait for me, these monsters are scarrrryyyyyyy!!!"

I went with Ninja subbed, so I could use Tonko and Monomi, rather then regular Sneak and Invis...for some reason the regular ones I cast always seem to just suck ass and wear really quick. At any rate, we made our way through Quicksand Caves pretty safely, until...

See Almeth. See Almeth fight the Sabotender. See Almeth take 1,000 Needles to the face.

Yeah...we fought a sabotender that aggro'd without incident. Another one aggro'd pretty much immediately after, and thinking "no big deal" Almeth worked on it while I rested back some MP. I watched in horror as it hit him with 1,000 needles and one-shotted him. He was a little irritated (I don't blame him), but luckily I had just picked up Raise II the other day, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been (thank God I was WHM and not Dancer, though...that woulda sucked). He deleveled (ouch!) but he was only a few hundred away from getting it back. With sneak back up, we continued on our journey...

Almeth clicked this thing, and it sunk in the ground. I still don't know what the hell it does, though...

Finally, the Earth Fragment is ours!

Since Almeth was so close to getting his level back, we hung around and took out some of the Antican's that roam the area before heading out. It took a little while, but was a nice, low-key finish to the evening...

This guy glitched and kept wailing away at the spot Almeth was in before he ran around behind me. Pretty fucking funny...


[insert witty comment here]


Almeth wants to pull an Antican, and we know what's gonna happen...they're gonna start dry humping.


God, Blaze Spikes is fucking annoying...

A little "Paralyze" to get things off to a good start...

That was pretty much the end of our evening. Almeth got his level back and a small buffer, and we warped the hell out. So far we've got our Dark, Light, Lightning, Earth and Water Fragments done; now all that's left is Ice, Fire, and Wind. I can't wait to see how fucked up ZM6 is... ^^

In closing, here's a picture of your's truly...I was bored:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I am a sexy bitch...

Laters!