Corses!!! Corse you all!

Today was a little hectic for me. I managed to get myself killed twice just getting to the ENM site. It all started with my usual walking down a path while watching tv routine. Someone then shouts on the linkshell chat that a NM called Xolotl had popped. At the time, I was mildly paying attention to the chatter. I knew it was up somewhere. Going along my merry way, I noticed corses on the way there. Having traveled that way many times, I knew this was a common site during the night hours. What I failed to realize was how badly I misjudged the position of this NM. I run past it, not paying it any mind when I realize one of it's minions was casting Blizzaga 3 on me. It was then that it dawned on me that Xolotl had realized I was there and decided to have me for dinner. I further realized as I was running, I was running into the group who were shouting it's appearance in the first place.

I didn't feel like MPKing anyone today, so I just ran back the way it came. That's when the Blizzaga 3 hit, as well as 3 other bones plus Xolotl hitting me at once. Now, my character had about 1400-1450 hp, pretty beefy for a taru. I saw my HP go from 100% to 0% in a matter of seconds. Maybe having that summer wear gear on at the time didn't help my defense any.... that was death number 1.

So the story continues, people start gathering for this fight. Thinking we were ready, we started our assault. Now, 10 seconds after we started fighting, we realize that a group had teleported out of the zone...something that was overlooked. We also realized that our ninja tank was afk...again, something overlooked. However, due to the unnatural talents of our linkshell mages, they managed to kite the minions and kept Xolotl busy long enough for our ninja to wake up and start tanking. I have to say our mages did an excellent job as well as a couple of summons playing tank roles.

After the ninja takes hate, I also went in to engage. It was pretty straight forward after that. If I got hate, I turned around to wait for ninja to reclaim. It was going pretty smoothly until towards the end where it decides to charm the tank and myself. I started going after one of our black mages *coughTemjincough*. Luckily, I was slept before any more damage was done.

Finally, the ninja and I woke up from our sleep and continued to finish it. When Xolotl was at 10% hp, it decided to pay attention to me. It hit me about 5 times before I died, again...death #2

So! We finally took that thing down!! What was our big prize?! A Dark Crystal! WOW! I died twice for this? I couldn't help but laugh, then I cried when I looked at my exp loss....

Now, after we get to Boneyard Gully, we geared up and ready to go against Mr. GAK. This guy was a pushover this time. I didn't even get charmed until the very end. We didn't get the knife, but I got my 3500 limit points! After I get my next merit point, I'll be able to max out my Monk Counter rate...good times!





I have to apologize for not getting screen shots on the Xolotl battle, it was pretty crazy the whole time, I didn't have time to snap some photos..

*Side Note - I finally was able to get my high quality version of the summer wear! Yay!

Summer wear

Today, I teamed up with Guriri and we both worked on getting our summer swimsuits. This is Vana'diel's summer event, and we wanted to check it out. It involved getting 2 people in a party and talking to a moogle, who is located in 2 places in each city. The point of the game is to find certain check points around the area to see if you can find a doll. The moogle gives out clues by telling where the check point is, relative to your partner's position. This takes some teamwork because one person has to sit by the moogle guiding the partner around by telling what direction to go.

As of this writing, I only have the normal quality version. Hopefully later tonight, Guriri will come back so we can finish getting our high quality version.

Promyvion-Holla Reloaded

This event happened yesterday, but due to it's late happening, today was the first chance I had to write about it.

After two unsuccessful attempts at the Divine Might BCNM, I decided to go help out a group who needed some Promyvions done. My role was just to babysit, to make sure they get up to the top alive. Unfortunately, I was the one to die on the way up to the boss.

As we were traveling through the area, I can remember why I hated going through that place. All the mobs are true sight, they were ugly, and made no real resemblance to anything on Vana'diel. Also, since I always went as white mage, I couldn't any damage. Our damage was relied on a tin can taru, smelly galka, and gimp rangers. Alas, I was just there to be there, I couldn't complain.




However, we ran into a neat little surprise, a NM! This thing called Cerebrator was the mini version of the boss they had to fight. It dropped a couple of ra/ex drops. One was for a map of the area, and the other was to pop another monster that would drop some bow.



We finally got up to the top and I wished them the best of luck. At first it was going great, then things got ugly, fast. My chat screen filled with frantic provokes macros, and utsusemi macros. One by one, the warriors fell as I sat by the entrance, helpless. They came out dead, but not defeated. So they try again...and this time, they died and were defeated. After the 2nd attempt, everyone was tired and decided to go again another day.

Dynamis- Bastok

At first, I really didn't feel like going on a dynamis run today because all my crafting materials I put up on auction sold. However, since I was already at Bastok, and since my friend Semma was already going, I decided just to go. You know, for moral support.

So, digging through my mog safe, I dusted off my old black mage gear and joined DownTheRamp on their trip to Dynamis-Bastok. It was a very good run, 12 total drops, 8 unique pieces of equipment. Going as black mage reminded me what usually happens every Dynamis, I die about 5-6 times. As usual, there were some funny moments, as in Gaiden's lot of 10 to win a af.

Even though I didn't expect anything out of this run, yours truly got lucky and got herself the bard af gloves! Maybe I should go do more things in the name of moral support more often. The pictures can be found at Caitlin's Album

In the screenshot, you see me in my usual form, dead on the ground.

Crafting, Fafnir, Totentaz, Oh my!

Today was an interesting day. My bank account is a few hundred thousand gil smaller, thanks to my rush to get to the next stage of goldsmithing , Journeyman. After a painful skilling session, I finally made it to level 48. My next goal is to get those guild sunglasses so I can Ballista in them.


Later that day, our linkshell got Fafnir again! Pretty good drops too! One of our paladins, McDohl, got a Hrotti, and Aegishjalmr. This fight went really smooth, no real emergency, and no need to sleep it. It was a good camp because he did us a favor and popped during his first window. It saved us the boredom and headaches.



Even later that day, the linkshell went on the weekly ENM trip to Boneyard Gully to fight Mr. Gwyn Ap Knudd. However, he didn't want us to have his dagger this time. The general strategy to this guy is just to go all out before he starts getting serious with his minions. So in my case, I turned on my Hundred Fist and let them do the talking. Unfortunately, he thought they were talking too much and decided to charm me. That's when Nynja and Tur died... I'm soo sorry. Torxim was getting hit next, but Mr. GAK died before I can do any more harm.

Monk Madness

Going through my screenshots, I found a couple from July 20th that were interesting. This particular xp party consisted of 3 Monks, 1 rusty Red Mage, 1 White Mage, and a Bard. We got lucky and got King Ranperre's Tombs all to ourselves. I think even Vtra was thinking "What's that noise?" as we pounded our way through the hapless, helpless skeletons that stood in our way. They might have just as well have a big sign over their head with "Free XP" written on it.

In this screenshot, you see the mighty heros looking to the distance, where free xp awaits them. All stand ready, except the red mage, who insists on sitting instead of healing. He claims that his timing is too good for resting. The stars include: Brucelee as Monk 1, Clay as Monk 2, Caitlin as Monk 3, Iluvitar as Rusty Redmage, Looloo as White Mage, and Vampira as Bard.

Fafnir flopped x2

On July 17th, our linkshell managed to grab Fafnir yet again! Overall, the fight went pretty smoothly, as we were able to contain it. The drops were ok, no Hrotti, Ridill, or Wyrm Beard. However, due to limited space of the lotter, we lost a couple items. Here are some shots from that battle.

Person who was lotting the items has been erased for their anonymity. The item loss wasn't so bad, but no need for pointless badgering to the person by others.

Dynamis Xarcabard

Sorry for not updating, I had some real life business to take care of for the past few days. Since I have some time now, I'm going to try to remember what I did in Vana'diel these past few days.

My Dynamis linkshell, DownTheRamp, decided to try Dynamis-Xarcabard on Saturday, July 16th. This trip was our 2nd attempt, and unfortunately, our 2nd loss to him. We had a working strategy, but we either didn't A.) have enough stunners or B.) not enough damage fast enough. The reason why is because his AoE's have very very damaging effects. But you know what they say, "Third time's a charm". He will go down next time, oh yes, he will go down....

Dynamis Lord wasn't the only thing that was disappointing, it was also an AF2-less dynamis. All we got were xp scrolls and the usual currency drops. Finally, as usual...the terrible lag makes my screen look like a slide show. My video card must hate me every time I make it go through Dynamis. I managed to take a few screen shots as well. If you're interested, please visit Caitlin's Albums

Other than that, it was a pretty good run, even though we wiped to Dynamis Lord. His bragging rights end next time we pay him a visit, that's for sure.

More Crafting

It seems that I'm progressing nicely in Goldsmithing. However, the gil I'm losing seems to get bigger and bigger. Anyways, here's a shot of me being promoted to Apprentice.

Total Totentaz

My Linkshell, Spoondaggers, go on weekly trips to Boneyard Gully to do ENMs. This week, we did one called Totentaz. The fight overall went pretty smooth, at least I didn't get charmed or get killed by a charmed person (you know who you are....). Unfortunately, this week's drops weren't as good as expected. The good news is that only 14 people showed up, so more loot for everyone.



Another unexpected surprise today, my sister came back to FFXI and just gave me 1 million gil! All I had to do was post a picture here and mention her in my chronicles. It's a good deal if you ask me.

Random randoms

Today wasn't that active of a day, so I decided to craft. Being ambitious in nature, I decided to pursue Goldsmithing. After 3 days of crafting, I finished today with a +1 synth and the rank of Novice! So, for being a boring day, it was pretty productive.

Fafnir Slayer

Today was an exciting day! After several attempts to claim Fafnir, our linkshell was finally able to. Unfortunately, the item I was interested in didn't drop. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

An introduction to a legend

As the post title says, this will be an introduction to what will be an entertaining blog. First of all, my name is Caitlin, and this is my character's blog for the game Final Fantasy XI. At the time of this writing, I have a 75 BRD, 75 BLM, 75 MNK, and various levels on all the others. I'm currently living in the Gilgamesh server and part of a linkshell called SpoonDaggers. I've been playing this game since the NA launch, so I can consider myself a veteran.

The purpose of this blog is described in the title. This will be a detailed narrative of my adventures in Vana'diel. It will include legendary material and historical events. Now you may think that having three jobs at 75 will assume that I've done it all and seen it all. However, there're so many things left for me to do. I hope you keep tuned in and enjoy my stories I bring in the future.