A Promise Kept… October 31, 2006
Posted by klaive in Blackmutoh, Klaive, Reeroo.1 comment so far
On the last day of September, Blackmutoh and I hit level 70. We made a promise that sometime in October, we would attain level 75. When midnight, October 31st arrived, it found us only level 74 with 15,000-ish EXP to go. Unfortunately, it also found Blackmutoh with a level 36 BLM subjob and he refused to level to 75 while gimped. Thus, he began to seek parties with his BLM and struggle in vain to hit 37.
I went to bed.
At 3:00am I woke up with my alarm clock blaring. “Reeroo!” was the first thought that popped into my head. Eagerly, I logged onto FFXI and waited for her.
Soon, she was there, bounding right up to her Elvaan (yep, that’s me), and hopping enthusiastically into my lap. I was whole again.
We talked for a while and, finding that Blackmutoh had given up and logged out, and that Darkpath was occupied, we opted to call off static and I’d powerlevel her Level 5 Beastmaster. To Ghelsba Outpost we went! She was so tiny! Just look!
We got her 5 levels in 2 hours… from 5 to 10. I got very sleepy though and was forced to say goodnight. I collapsed into bed and awoke at 9am with a start. Rushing into the shower and hastily getting dressed, I felt my excitement building. Today was the day. No, not Halloween. Yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday, but this was even more important… more vital… more significant.
This way the day Final Fantasy XII launched in America.
I arrived at GameStop and claimed my Collector’s Edition game with its cool metal case, and my Limited Edition BradyGames guide, which I doubt I’ll ever use… I just collect them. ^^ I was a bit hungry, so I hit Quizno’s and had a Prime Rib & Peppercorn sandwich, and headed back home.
When I arrived, Blackmutoh was logged onto the game and asked me to call him. I did so and found that he was partying with BLM. I proceeded to play the intro of FFXII and feel quite impressed with Square-Enix’s latest accomplishment. However, before I could really get involved in it, Blackmutoh leveled up to 37!
Time to party! …or was it?
No WHMs were seeking! And the only possible healer was a Japanese SMN who was AFK anyway! orz
But lo and behold, as we stood there wondering what to do… the undead swarm began to march towards Al Zahbi. We rushed to the bastion to defend the Astral Candescence. My second ever Level 6 besieged. ^^
So we get 1080 exp when we win, and begin trying to form a party. Now get this… Blackmutoh and I have been staticing since before level 60… we’ve tried hard to keep our exp points close and always delighted in leveling up at the same time. I was 8 exp ahead of him, and then I died and got an R3, so I was roughly 200 behind him. I soloed to catch up in Kuftal Tunnel and figured I was back near where I was before I died, so I stopped.
Our experience was now IDENTICAL. For the first time ever.
We formed a party… dealt with an intentionally DCing NIN, A JP SMN Main Healer, and some asshole Samurai… but finally, it happened.
I equipped my Walahra Turban and began working on my buffer. I didn’t quite get a full buffer before the party disbanded. I then visited the Nomad Moogle near Maat and got the key item for Meriting. The Promise was kept. And now… finally… I’m going to play Final Fantasy XII.
御休み為さい！
Bad Bird Behavior, Tender Taru Love, and Red Mage Savage Blades! October 30, 2006
Posted by klaive in AlphaMalevolent, Blackmutoh, Klaive, Reeroo.1 comment so far
Today began on a rather interesting note. It seems I’ve been a bit too caring towards AlphaMalevolent, because he has begun to act very spoiled. He was prancing around the stable, snorting and headbutting people, and being a general nuisance.
Having never encountered this sort of behavior before, I followed the only advice they gave me and proceeded to scold him.
Of course, after he hung his head in shame, I felt really bad and had to make it up to him. So I decided to take him for a long walk. I tossed him some vomp carrots and started our journey out to Jugner Forest. Upon arrival, we encountered another chocobo, Melody. AlphaMalevolent quickly befriended her.
After leaving him alone with his new-found lover, I traveled to Jeuno to rendezvous with my own.
Reeroo and I spent a while together, talking and cuddling and things of the sort. 
She was being very adorable in her little witch’s hat, and I had been missing her all weekend. I was very happy to be spending some time with my girl, and the second she ran up to me and hopped in my lap, everything stopped sucking and everything was once again right in the world.
We headed out to Rolanberry Fields and did some bazaar shopping. After several fruitless minutes of browsing, we sat together on the grass and just forgot the world together. It was just me and my little butterfly, the way I like it. ^^
Speaking of which, check this out:
So I cuddled my girl some more, kissed her little toes, all the usual stuff… until she had to go. ; ;
Well… Blackmutoh had been wanting to get Savage Blade for a while, so we decided to form a WSNM party and beat the stupid monster.
This is Savage Blade by the way:
So we got 10 people together, and Blackmutoh had a terrible crashing, breaking, shattering, expensive merchandise disaster of an accident at his house and had to go AFK. So we all did Teleport-Altep and he caught up just after by Outpost Warping. We then began our arduous trek to activate the four pillars that open the accursed Altepa Gate by being very confused from the beginning, having poor communication, and going in 20 different directions at once (Yes, that’s two different directions per person.) Eventually, we managed to gather together at the gate with three switches activated and less than 15 minutes left before the switches reset again. By now, the ONLY WHITE MAGE had given up and warped back to Whitegate. When asked “WTF?,” he responded that he’d return if there was some order.
I told him to get his ass out here and stop being a dumbass or to GTFO of my alliance.
He barely made it to the gate in time.
We zoned into the advanced section of the cave, killed a Notorious Monster of some sort, and proceeded to clear the spawn room of Anticans. When the time came, Blackmutoh clicked the ??? and spawned Girtablulu, which was a big bad scorpion… which died in 30 seconds. Over an hour spent in utter confusion, running around in the desert and waiting on hopeless high-level n00bs to catch up… and we beat the damn scorpion in 30 seconds. -_-
Blackmutoh and I were victorious!
After comparing AlphaMalevolent to a Galka’s Destrier on the way home, I came to appreciate my chocobo’s tail much more than ever before.
Blackmutoh got Savage Blade finally, completing his quest, and I gave him the gift of a Guespiere, which he really seemed to appreciate… though he had been hoping to obtain a Wing Sword. He explained he wants to get the Wing Sword on his own though, so I felt pretty good about the gift. After that, we traveled to Kuftal Tunnel and experimented with Savage Blade. We discovered that following Asuran Fists with Savage Blade creates Fragmentation. ^^ And that’s the new skillchain for duoing, it seems. 
All in all, it was a very productive day… and maybe it’s not even over yet! ^^ I hope to get to 75, but with Final Fantasy XII coming out tomorrow, I don’t know how realistic it is to hope for that. I guess we’ll see. ^^
Presenting Vana’diel’s Newest Destrier… AlphaMalevolent! October 29, 2006
Posted by klaive in AlphaMalevolent, Darkpath, Klaive.1 comment so far
So, I finally got my room completely clean. I have more to do tomorrow, but I finished my work tonight and decided to log onto the game.
I checked in on my dear and beloved chocobo, AlphaMalevolent at the stables, and heard the report on how he delivered packages again today.
That was your typical, run-of-the-mill report. Nothing unusual. And then… it happened!
He grew up! So I fed him a couple of Vomp Carrots, changed his care plan to include nothing but delivering messages, took him for a Long Walk, registered him to ride, tossed him a Chocolixer, and read him the Story of an Impatient Chocobo about 8 times before he was exhausted again.
I then told everyone on the Linkshell about my new grown up Destrier, and Darkpath was nearby so I decided to introduce the two of them.
It was lots of fun getting to see my first exotic Chocobo in action. Darkpath liked him, too. I think it’s safe to say that AlphaMalevolent has made a new friend.
AlphaMalevolent’s Statistics
Strength: Average
Endurance: Average
Discernment: Poor
Receptivity: Poor
Affection: Regards me as a Parent
The Beginning… Kind Of. October 29, 2006
Posted by klaive in Klaive.add a comment
After some urging from my Final Fantasy XI girlfriend Reeroo, I have decided to start my very own blog.
I am currently a level 74 Monk and am only around 10k from level 75. I have taken a break today to clean my house because Final Fantasy XII is FINALLY coming out in 3 days, and I like to play console games in a very clean environment. Given that I have a one-year old Papillon, Ninja, running loose in my house and three cats… cleaning up is a very labor intensive task. As you can see, I’m procrastinating as much as possible right now.
Anyway, I know it’s a little bit late in the game for me to discuss my monk journey here… but I have a great many tasks left to accomplish in Vana’diel before I feel in any way sufficient as an adventurer, and even more after that to set me apart from the commoners of the Phoenix server.
This blog will chronicle the life of Klaive as he adventures with Reeroo, Blackmutoh, Darkpath, and all the Devilutionaries (both current and future) to achieve goals, grow stronger, and make his mark on the world.
I have many things I intend to accomplish, the most prevalent of which is the acquisition of my Maat’s Cap.
As you can see, it’s an amazing piece of gear. Unfortunately, it is hard won. In order to obtain this legendary cap, one must level every pre-Treasures of Aht Urghan job to level 66-70, and defeat Maat, an incredibly difficult adversary.
1 down. 14 to go.
Let the challenge begin.
