Sun Jun 3 21:57:40 2007

At 4 o'clock AM, Day of Freedom, 25th of the Month of the Frost Giant
on the Theran calendar Sekhuroth perished, never to return.

Race:	dark-elf
Class:	necromancer
Level:	47
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	SCION, the Scions of Eternal Night
Age:	614
Hours:	499

I enjoyed fighting you, even if it wasn't too often. Someday I'll learn to fight scion mages, but until then I'll keep up my bumbling.

I got the creepy drow necro sense from you without even having to look at your title, so good job on that.

I wish you hadn't deleted. I like the gamble of fighting competent necromancers, although at best all I ever did was make you run away, and then it was usually only long enough for you to reengage and teach me a lesson. On second thought, if staying meant you being a lich, I am glad you deleted. Fighting you as an undead would have been suicide for me. GLWYN.

Probably worth discussion there, not here.

I'll start the discussion.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Thu Apr 12 16:55:05 2007 by 'Baerinika' at level 47 (273 hrs):
Wow I know you *really* want lich quest, but you need to settle down with the prays and coming back earlier than you're told! These things take time!


So it takes 1 month to get a lich quest? (Look at the first time stamp) Every other 47 necromancer complained about not getting a quest, and yet this guy went 500 hours and still didn't get one of his items, in Silent Tower none the less. I can't think of a worse torture.

You deserved it man....sad to see you delete, but that's gotta be at least 3-4 months of being jerked around and watch other Scions get praised while you got jack with horrible Fortress gangs (I watched you fight I think 5-6 on more than one occasion). I'd have deleted long before...hope you come back as something ruthless, you definitely had the skill.

Moshacan/Surauk (and his bitch tranny, nice PBF cameo there)

If the person running your lich quest tells you to go away and not come back for two real life days while they work on stuff and instead you come back three hours later and start back up on your hourly prays for attention, it's annoying and worth commenting on.

Lich isn't supposed to be easy, you know.

Also, items he had so much trouble with could have been gotten fairly easily. Unfortunately, Sekhuroth was short on allies. I don't think that's really the responsibility of the person making up the lich quest to make sure each item can be gotten alone.

>Lich isn't supposed to be easy, you know.

500 hours as a drow necromancer, from a guy whose been playing 10 years, and has had a lich before...quoting "this was 100x more difficult". Nothing about Silent Tower is "fairly easy".

No offense, but I can see why people complain. This is a game after all.

If you could not run your mouth about topics where you don't know half of the facts, that would be awesome. :)

>If you could not run your mouth about topics where you don't
>know half of the facts, that would be awesome. :)

Actually, I know a lot about what happened considering he's a friend. And to watch him not get it after that much effort, sucks ass.

>Actually, I know a lot about what happened

Either:

1) You, in fact, don't or
2) You're posting things that are wrong on purpose.

I don't really care which, but it's about as helpful for anything but feeding your own craving for drama as fabricating a terminal disease.

I've never played a necromancer and never will play one for my own reasons, so I don't really understand much about the situation. But I'd still like to comment on something here.

1. Why shouldn't the item be attainable by one person alone? Why should one guy looking to attain some great and almighty power want to rely on others? Why would others even want this guy to surpass their own power?

2. Why is the item in a place like Silent Tower? I can understand if you've watched the character and have seen they go into the tower with some regularity or have gone in it before. I personally cannot be bothered to ever go back to the silent tower, because I don't really care about l33t equipment (but I'd be happy to loot it), and I don't really care for puzzles and reading comprehension to the extreme. Obviously some people do enjoy that sort of thing in a game.

3. Why should it take so long for a character to have a Lich quest available to them? I understand that other people need to set it up and all, but several months of gameplay and 500 hours seems a bit of a stretch to anyone looking from the outside in. I understand that there shouldn't be a half dozen liches running around in the game at one time. But I do think there should be at least one lich, or at the very least, a person who successfully attempts (meaning found all their items) to become a lich every six months or less, even if they do fail.



I find it more fun to play things which has little-to-no reliance on any sort of immortal interaction. Because when immortal interaction becomes a necessity for your character to succeed, I've often found the experience lacking in enjoyment, because of the lack of immortal pressence or genuine concern/care for the feelings of the player behind the character, or a combination of both.

Your work and gametime as an immortal is strictly volunteer, I know, though its because you volunteer that should make you want to be more concerned with improving a characters gameplay. And I think that overall, most or all of the volunteers (immortals) do this. But it's really disconcerting hearing about the multiple people who end up slipping through the radar, and this partially seems like one of those situations.

Sekhuroth to me, has always seemed like a character that contributed something to the game when he was around. And he was around with quite a bit of regularity. But in the end, he seemed to be fairly disappointed with his experience. Am I going to say that it's the volunteer staffs fault? Well, yeah, it is partially. The lich quest requires and demands immortal presence.

I will end this by asking the Immortals involved in Sekhuroth's lich quest, are you satisfied completely with how the entire quest was handled? And take into account all factors. How promptly the quest was administered, the level of difficulty, etc. These may be the wrong questions to ask, but they seem like the general concerns of the player.

>1. Why shouldn't the item be attainable by one person alone?

(Note that I gave him an avenue to do this, although I didn't write the quest. Moving on... )

>Why should one guy looking to attain some great and almighty
>power want to rely on others? Why would others even want this
>guy to surpass their own power?

I don't know what to tell you, except that I can't remember a single lich candidate (including Sekhuroth) that didn't have *some* help from other people. Sometimes that's in the form of helping look for an item, sharing area knowledge, help killing mobs or getting to a difficult area, etc.

A lich quest is a huge exploration challenge, but it's not necessarily solely an exploration challenge. Almost without exception, the coolest gameplay moments to come out of lichquests have involved would-be lichbies needing to secure the help of people they couldn't trust or people who weren't especially motivated to help them.

Exhibit A: Team Eeeevil Scion Invoker backstabbing Raheena with a counterfeit lichquest item.

>2. Why is the item in a place like Silent Tower? I can
>understand if you've watched the character and have seen they
>go into the tower with some regularity or have gone in it
>before. I personally cannot be bothered to ever go back to the
>silent tower, because I don't really care about l33t equipment
>(but I'd be happy to loot it), and I don't really care for
>puzzles and reading comprehension to the extreme. Obviously
>some people do enjoy that sort of thing in a game.

I didn't place the item, but ultimately, if you have zero explorer inclination, you probably aren't going to make it through a lichquest. It is what it is.

>3. Why should it take so long for a character to have a Lich
>quest available to them? I understand that other people need
>to set it up and all, but several months of gameplay and 500
>hours seems a bit of a stretch to anyone looking from the
>outside in. I understand that there shouldn't be a half dozen
>liches running around in the game at one time. But I do think
>there should be at least one lich, or at the very least, a
>person who successfully attempts (meaning found all their
>items) to become a lich every six months or less, even if they
>do fail.

Lately it's pretty much been the closest staff equivalent of the psychological phenomena wherein no one in a crowd of people helps a person in need because everyone assumes someone else will.

>Your work and gametime as an immortal is strictly volunteer, I
>know, though its because you volunteer that should make you
>want to be more concerned with improving a characters
>gameplay. And I think that overall, most or all of the
>volunteers (immortals) do this. But it's really disconcerting
>hearing about the multiple people who end up slipping through
>the radar, and this partially seems like one of those
>situations.

It's not a small amount of time to put one together and get it right. I'd say 5 hours is about right.

There's always a decision to be made: Do I take that time and create a lichquest for someone? Do I add a new set of edges to the game instead? Or do I do something else entirely with my time?

>I will end this by asking the Immortals involved in
>Sekhuroth's lich quest, are you satisfied completely with how
>the entire quest was handled? And take into account all
>factors. How promptly the quest was administered, the level of
>difficulty, etc. These may be the wrong questions to ask, but
>they seem like the general concerns of the player.

I wouldn't say this is me, but I'll answer anyway.

I think Sekhuroth, by his quality of character and RP deserved a lichquest; he got that lichquest. I would've liked if he could have gotten it faster. Otherwise, I think it's pretty much fair. It's meant to be a task that could take you hundreds of hours of your lifespan to complete and might force you to forge all kinds of interesting alliances to make it happen.

>If the person running your lich quest tells you to go away
>and not come back for two real life days while they work on
>stuff and instead you come back three hours later and start
>back up on your hourly prays for attention, it's annoying and
>worth commenting on.


-When exactly are you referring to? To my recollection, I was told (during the second meeting) to come back on the following Monday. I came back on that Monday (and if I came back before then, I apologize, but I really don't remember doing so...), and got no response. From that point I kept trying almost daily until something on the order of a week or three passed by. What am I missing here? How should I respond, other than praying? I think I finally resorted to sending an email. God knows if anything would have happened if I had not.

And please remember, one prayer an hour might annoy you, but what do you think two weeks of waiting after being stood-up does to a person? I wager it's quite a bit worse. And really, this is all water under the bridge, but you still seem heated about it, which is dredging up my own anger that I had during that time. I think we need to drop it.

>Also, items he had so much trouble with could have been gotten
>fairly easily.

-I strongly disagree with this. Strongly. Maybe if you know the end result of the riddles it's easy to reverse engineer the situation, but not so much from the other, mortal, perspective.

>Unfortunately, Sekhuroth was short on allies.

-This was probably the biggest problem. Though I did manage to get the cabal together to get one of the other items (which, by the way, was not easy. Killing all that furniture is emotionally taxing :P)

>I don't think that's really the responsibility of the person
>making up the lich quest to make sure each item can be gotten
>alone.

-I suppose that is fair. However, there was a staggering difference in the difficulty level of this quest versus the one I had, and completed, before. While I really enjoyed the thematic aspect of it, and the obvious effort put into those riddles, I think the same could have been done with less "over the top" items. Again, just my perspective. I am by no means an elite player, and I never have thought of myself that way, so maybe I should have never even tried to get the quest. What's kind of ironic though is that all of the items for my last lich quest, I could get by myself, and it still took a good month or so of solid searching to accomplish. Personally, that's a god damn hell of a lot better than having items that are harder to find and take groups to get (let alone ST, where a lot of people don't even know how to get in to even help you out...)

I'll admit it, when I saw your lich quest posted on our quest forum I cringed and said "Ick!". I wasn't trying to say your lich quest was easy or that you did something wrong with it. The religions and cabals that I run and the things I help out with behind the scenes are not likely to involve lich quest (though I did write up the items for the next two when they should happen to try and be helpful - be afraid though, I gave them to Daevryn to place!).

By allies and such, I meant...if you could have gotten all those Scions together and rocked Sardenya's world, things would have been better. It wouldn't have been that much different than organizing hell trip. I just look at the hard time Sekhuroth had with it and think of the last few attempts Empire necro has made for lich - not only the massive amount of help they received from the cabal in finding items but also the support they got in levelling to hero afterwards. You didn't have that kind of back up, and that's too bad, but it's the decisions you made with that character.

All in all, hopefully no hard feelings, I liked Sekhuroth in general. I thought you were a little weak on the cabal retrievals, which reminded me some of your last lich attempt, but I can definetly understand not wanting to throw your con away.

I was one of the imms who really thought you should get a fair shake and get the quest. That being said, I can't remember the last lich wannabe pray so much for additional hints to the items. That was a major turn off. Becoming a lich is supposed to be hard. Look at how long Palmer lasted as an undead and you can see why it is supposed to be hard. For the most part, I think you took on a truly difficult task getting to the point of getting the quest. For that I give you the props you deserve. After that, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. It sucks if you lose the items if you die, but, you know where to find them, so it is just retracing steps that you have already taken. I know what this player is capable of from seeing what you did with Sekhuroth. Becoming a lich means you have to keep it up until the end. Good luck with the next.

I think I mentioned this somewhere else, but it seems like it also applies here...

Could the distaste you had with me praying for "extra" (I'll explain the quotes in a second) hints be due to the fact that you probably had no idea what the EHP said to me when I got the lich quest? If that's the case, it's another instance of "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing...or did, for that matter." I was told that I could seek additional information once I proved my dedication. Well, I went and got two items, sunk about 120 hours into almost pure exploration, and then I hit a wall that I could not get beyond. At that point I figured it was time to ask for that extra info that the high priest said I could attempt to get from him.

Now as for "losing the item if I died"...what are you referring to? I lost one, and I went back and tried to get it (and I never prayed about it). It wasn't there.

So, I sought out that one hint, after I was told I could, and then got a pmote saying "Go fly a kite!" Hey, gotta admit, I was pretty pissed and even now I think I have a right to be. That was ####. Anyway, I went on and got on the scent of another item in the Silent Tower (and I never got the additional info). I prayed inside the Silent Tower because from an RP perspective I knew I could not kill Sardenya, and more importantly, I'd rather have her as an ally than an enemy. I only prayed once there, and I got a response. I wasn't begging for info.

I don't want to be the looney screaming from the corner about how f'd up things are, because they generally aren't f'd up. But man, I felt like I was squeezing on a tit made of granite, trying to get everything I could. It's probably largely due to a lack of communication in the Imm ranks, which I wish were not the case. You guys are all tremendously creative and capable people - if you kept some more comprehensive notes on people (aside from History comments) I think it would solve a lot of problems. And you know what's funny? I damn well knew my prayers were pissing off some people - I mean, they'd piss me off too if I didn't know what the hell this stupid little drow necro was so obstinate for! But, amazingly, the only one that seemed to ever really respond to me was Kastellyn. He knew the story because he bothered to listen, rather than assume I was being an attention-mongering jackass.


That probably came off with more heat than intended. Sorry Lyr.


Here is an excerpt from my encounter with the EHP:


You say 'I don't suppose I can bribe you into anything more precise than these....wonderful....riddles?'

The High Priest of Arboria uses the handkerchief to wipe down the altar.

The High Priest of Arboria says 'Nope.'

The High Priest of Arboria says 'Not yet.'

The High Priest of Arboria winks suggestively at you.

The High Priest of Arboria says 'Need to see progress, my man!'

You say 'Right. I thought so.'

The High Priest of Arboria says 'Need to know you care!'

The High Priest of Arboria says 'Hamsah wasn't built in a day!'

The High Priest of Arboria says 'These things take time!'

You nod wisely.

The High Priest of Arboria says 'A bird in the hand, two in the bush!'



Doesn't that sound like an invitation to come back after I've accomplished a bit? Like I said, I went and got 2 items (which, honestly, I thought WERE the hard items) and then hit a wall. That's when I went back.

In case anyone is interested in the two items:

One was on a hero-level, or higher, necromancer npc that only appears for 3 ticks per in-game month. I could just manage to kill it with a full army, and if I failed to do so in the alloted time, I'd lose any undead I had with me.

The other was inside the Octagonal Tower (you know, through the pine forest) and was stashed on a creature inside the room full of genocidal furniture. If anyone's been there you know you need a group for that (well, I did anyway).


My question for you, Lyristeon, is for all I have revealed here about the character's situation, how much did you know prior to this?

>One was on a hero-level, or higher, necromancer npc that only
>appears for 3 ticks per in-game month.

It's not quite as bad as all that. It's a pretty small window, but. . .

Sorry, 4 ticks :P

Well, I mean, don't, because it starts to get silly.

Wow, ok so it can't be more than 5. I'd be very surpised if that were the case.

Eh...?

Possibly not in one visit, mind you.

Haha The EHP doesn't sound so much like a timeless master necromancer as like a bumbling freaking idiot.

>Haha The EHP doesn't sound so much like a timeless master
>necromancer as like a bumbling freaking idiot.

Sounds like Fizban/Zifnab from the Dragonlance/Death Gate Cycle...in other words a schmuck.

I am familiar with a bit more than you might think. It was discussed and I can't recall a single imm saying, "Let's give him a hint, he has two of the items." It was more like, "If he doesn't have at least three, he is fishing and he shouldn't get another clue." The go fly a kite thing should have been your hint that you hadn't done enough to get another hint.

There are times when a player is ignored if he hasn't accomplished enough. Heck, it's even part of my religion to ignore someone seeking extra empowerment if they haven't amused me enough.

As for losing an item and getting it back, what I was stating had to do with the fact of how gung-ho you were getting to a lich quest and how conservative you seemed to have become after getting an item for it.

I am familiar with a bit more than you might think. It was discussed and I can't recall a single imm saying, "Let's give him a hint, he has two of the items." It was more like, "If he doesn't have at least three, he is fishing and he shouldn't get another clue." The go fly a kite thing should have been your hint that you hadn't done enough to get another hint.

Yeah. I didn't know there was a specific set of rules you guys had come up with (i.e., 3 items = hint, less than 3 = pest). Like I said, I hit a wall after a damn long time searching, so I tried to get the info. Maybe be more clear in the future?

As for losing an item and getting it back, what I was stating had to do with the fact of how gung-ho you were getting to a lich quest and how conservative you seemed to have become after getting an item for it.

Man I just really can't agree here. You call me conservative, and I can only assume you are talking about cabal stuff, defending, pk's, etc. I mixed it up every damned chance I could. I wish there were a stat for "raids averted" because I think you'd see what I am talking about. I was always fighting, and when I wasn't, I was trying to gather zombies or was exploring. I really don't know what you expect to see from a lich-questing spectre if this wasn't it.

I gave this character everything.

Now that I've had a second to think of what to write, here goes:

Some thoughts on the character:

When I rolled up, Kanaev was about halfway through his reign, but the cabal had what, 3 members or something? Numbers are better now, but the players are far from consistent. I don't blame anyone - we've all got lives. I just hope you all weren't playing the people I was fighting instead of playing your Scion characters. Maran has been in power for so long...and I don't mind them having lots of folks, but god damn, can we get some parity here? I played all around the clock, and instead of having "cabal wars", we have "cabal swells," where Maran will dominate for a while, then the Outlanders, then Empire, then the Village, and sometimes Scion. Can't everyone just get their asses on at the same time and have some REAL FUN?! But unfortunately I think the game has almost always been like this. Just the way of the world.

Despite that, I met a lot of memorable people who I'll try to recall down below.

Concerning necromancers...I just can't stress enough how terribly boring, annoying, and frustrating animating zombies is. I can deal with failing to raise them. I can deal with them being destroyed. What I cannot stand is the time you have to sink into it. I think there was a time when necromancers, in general, were more potent. Now it seems like everyone and their mother can tank a zombie army pretty damned well, so while a full army of zombies is still nothing to scoff at, I don't know if it is worth the 1 1/2 to 2 hours needed to build it up. I would really like to see the timer on animate dead cut in half, if not in the lower ranks, maybe the higher ones? I know this won't happen, but I have to try. Otherwise, the class skillset if pretty cool, though once you hit 47 life just goes to #### - spells often don't work, due to the level advantage of your opponents (and the general increase in the calibre of hero range foes). Being stuck at 47 for what, 400 hours? Well, that's something of a mini-hell that I don't think I'll ever repeat. Would it not be possible to make it so that necromancers stop at level 50 until reaching undeath, or something? That way at least it's not AS much of a pain in the ass.

About the lich quest: I am sorry to whoever got pissed off at my prayers, but I think I waited, in total, over a month and a half for the quest to even get started, with a two or three week late response from the High Priest thrown in there as well. It was just maddening, since the character had virtually no cool scion interactions, no immteraction (due to a MIA Imm), and nothing was likely to happen until I hit undeath. Anyway, apologies once again. One last thing: The ingredients for my quest were god damned insane. That is all.

Imms:

Kastellyn: You were like my coach in the corner. I felt like you had my back and I am grateful for the friendly encouragement.

Eshval: The times we did interact were cool. It's a shame you weren't more of a presence though, and you seemed to disappear completely for the last month or so.

Daevryn: A lich item in ST is insane. I thank you for giving me the alternative, but still, that was just way more than I bargained for. Not sure if you assigned the item, but from the PBF I think you may have. Anyways, it was just too much.

Zesam: You were the lovely one, especially in that fetching dress. Thanks for the help.

Scions:

Haratzi: Cool cat. A force to be reckoned with.

Adobel: We probably spoke a combined total of a paragraph. I was surprised you got Advisor, but I didn't think it would be me (because it seems like I wasn't going to get much of anything unless I lich'd). Anyways, I wasn't mad at you or anything.

Victoria: Wanted to smack you a few times, but grew to like you quite a bit.

Kanaev: From what I remember you reminded me a lot of Haratzi in that you were just like "Let's go kill people!" and you succeeded very often. Not much of an explorer, and I didn't see you furthering any Scion agenda, but from ferociousness alone you were good for a leader spot. Speaking of Scion agendas...what the hell happened to quests, interaction, and general coolness with the cabal? My whole stay was as exciting as watching grass grow.

For everyone else, feel free to post and I'll respond. Too tired to make a big list of farewells.


Side note: This is the last time I am playing such a "careful" character. I am going back to massacring the playerbase with less fragile character builds.

It was always fun to fight you, but we didn't really talk much else besides that. Like all the Scions in the upper ranks, your character had a lot of style and class and general panache and devious intelligence, and I appreciated that.

I see what you mean about cabal swells.

But, I mean, I cry foul on your crying uncle. What you had isn't any worse than getting 47 necromancers killing lower level cloud giants :)
From my perspective, if the necromancer class got any more powerful or easy to play, I might as well skip playing and roll the character, suicide to con death, and move on to the next one :) I mean, you pretty much consistently brushed my character off, a bloodthirsting giant berserker, like it was nothing.

See you in the fields, and great character!

>It was always fun to fight you, but we didn't really talk
>much else besides that. Like all the Scions in the upper
>ranks, your character had a lot of style and class and general
>panache and devious intelligence, and I appreciated that.

Thank you.

>But, I mean, I cry foul on your crying uncle. What you had
>isn't any worse than getting 47 necromancers killing lower
>level cloud giants :)

Eh...killing a lower ranked cloud giant rager is one thing. Dealing with the vast majority of my range was quite another. However, I guess it's meant to be some kind of "hazing" for the potential pwnage a necro would inflict on everyone if he happened to become a lich, or mummy for that matter.

>From my perspective, if the necromancer class got any more
>powerful or easy to play, I might as well skip playing and
>roll the character, suicide to con death, and move on to the
>next one :) I mean, you pretty much consistently brushed my
>character off, a bloodthirsting giant berserker, like it was
>nothing.

Go play one man. Nothing about them is easy.

>See you in the fields, and great character!

Thanks again. I'll see you around.

Again, sucks you didn't pull it off. Just so you know, my area knowledge sucks so despite what I was pretending when you let me in your riddles, I would have been little to no help in you figuring them out. The only benefit would have been being another body in trying to grab them.

Vessit

Very clever and wily. It's a shame we couldn't be on the same "side". And FWIW, I'd much rather fight a necro with zombies than a necro alone.

See ya around.

You were a class act, and I was glad it was you who assassinated me over any other of the (countless) assassins that always seemed to be around. I swear though, I've developed a sixth sense for assassins over the years, and I freaking KNEW you found me at the mausoleum, even though there was no way for me to know. But hell, it didn't save me.

So feel good! You are one of 3 people to ever assassinate me in the 10 years I've played the game.

Damnit man. So much were riding on you. I was really interested in starting that new questy thing (That Kanaev shot down, you know what I mean) instead of doing the old mundane thing. We could have had some very very interesting times ahead of us had you reached undeath. I guess I have to figgure out a new direction instead.

As far as your lich quest goes: Wow they uppped the difficulty on that whole thing.

You played a very cool character. I am surprised you would delete now. It felt like we were actually getting somewhere "at ####ing last" (to quote that note you gave me when we entered the tower - that was hilarious). When I logged on I was always hoping you'd be on aswell. When we spotted eachother last evening I was actually exploring a venue for others to go to a certain place and help us. Damn.

The Chasm has suffered a loss in not only a necromancer but in ambience and an all around engaging presence.

Finally, I have to ask: You're Daurwyn, aren't you?

~

I wish it would have all worked out man. I really do. Truth is, despite really trying to pursue my role I never caught so much as a glimmer of it being reciprocated from the Immortal end. See, I think the problem was that I chose Psuchae as my patron and, wouldn't you know it, she disappeared right when this character got rolling. At that point any interactions had to come from non-patron Imms, and so they rarely did (and I think I initiated all of them). So, even if I had liched I doubt any cool stuff would have happened with it. (I could be wrong, but years of experience tells me otherwise).

And yeah, I have had a lich before and this quest was about 100x more difficult, if you can believe it. Every item was a pain in the ass to get, and at least two required groups of people - I don't think these things should require groups, because that's not in my control, especially when it comes to the Silent Tower. But I really don't want to dwell on it anymore than I already have.

I am glad you enjoyed the character though, even though I was a punching bag most of the time.

And no, I'm not Daurwyn. Would it surprise you to know this is Mek? ;-)

Hah, I thought Haratzi was Daurwyn :)

I thought you were excellently rp'd. What I liked most is that you didn't just do it for imms, but did it for players. Stuff like using the commander's zombie as a chair in front of him. Stuff like actually acting like a fool when a certain thing happened to you.

I always liked Sekhuroth. However, my role was such that I hated drow (amongst other things), so that meant I couldn't show it. Hence the fact that I tended to blow you off when it was anything other than a raid or retrieval, for a long time. It was only once we'd killed the Matron Mother that I could start to allow that to change in any serious manner.

We had some amazing fights though, I thought. Ones where I was pretty sure we had no chance and somehow we came through up on the enemy.

That silent tower thing is tough. However, I had some ideas about where to look to get the answer. I do know silent decently well, by the way. I was just rp'ing that I didn't. Was trying to decide whether it would be reasonable for me to do something bad that got us both killed, since a ST novice almost certainly would, but couldn't make myself do it there.

I remember seeing your character's name and thinking "Oh come on!" which is exactly what I think you had planned for. The roleplay on your character has always been great, and in a way I want you to croak so I can read your role! But don't do that! They need you man.

And yes, we had some great fights. I remember seeing you lashing the hides off of rager backsides and thinking "Damn, lashes of the slave in a fight against a village berserker is ballsy and cool!"

I hope you go far in the cabal, and I hope that thing in the Underdark pans out for you (where you found that one nifty weapon, remember?)

Best of luck.

I enjoyed fighting you. I don't think we ever saw the other die, but it seemed like we were always at each other's throats. Well done.

Seriously, you damned Maran dwarves are so friggin tough...you just take SO MUCH ABUSE!!! But in all honesty, it's fair that shamans should be tough for mortal necromancers, since they are pretty much impotent against undead ones.


If you noticed there for about the last month, my saves were WAY better. I geared just to deal with all you god damned shamen that were constantly trying to rot me. It worked!

God damned ram/mongoose is like the ultimate shaman killer. He accounts for like 33% of my deaths. Can't wait to see that bastard gone. I did notice that you had better saves. Blinding you became a pain. I liked you though because you were around and gave me something to hunt. I guess now I'm left with Victoria and the aforementioned freaking monramgoose.

nt

>Daevryn: A lich item in ST is insane. I thank you for giving
>me the alternative, but still, that was just way more than I
>bargained for. Not sure if you assigned the item, but from the
>PBF I think you may have. Anyways, it was just too much.

I bear no responsibility for your lich quest items (which explains in part why you got yours as "fast" as you did; see Isabaeux for an example of what happens if some poor ####er has to wait for me to do it), only the alternative.

I'm sort of surprised that that item beat you, though. I mean, I don't know what the clues were, but you correctly guessed where it was. At this point, you had a few options:

1) Brute force. Solo Sekhuroth IMHO didn't have a prayer at making that work pre-lich, but I've seen Scion put together some high-end exploration groups lately that could have done this.

2) Getting at that container one of a few other ways, any of which would have required a member of one of a few other classes. I thought I came across you writing a note to a person who qualified about doing it, so it seemed to me like you had the idea and were trying to implement it. (I'm not exactly sure which angle you were trying to work there, but I think it would've worked.)

3) The alternative. I think I was at work when you went looking for that, and I didn't have a lot of time so I was sort of on the spot there. The mob asked for something in trade that, in her character, she would want, something I thought would be difficult but not impossible for you to get alone (which'd be an upgrade from #1) and probably not that bad to get with a group. Probably, you also could have initially presented a different, easier-on-you deal and gotten her to take it.

Maybe it was just hundreds of hours of fatigue of playing a d-elf necromancer setting in, I don't know. I didn't think this particular hurdle was one you were going to have trouble clearing, once you figured out where the item was, which you had.

I'm sort of surprised that that item beat you, though. I mean, I don't know what the clues were, but you correctly guessed where it was. At this point, you had a few options:

1) Brute force. Solo Sekhuroth IMHO didn't have a prayer at making that work pre-lich, but I've seen Scion put together some high-end exploration groups lately that could have done this.


After checking Trothon off the list I was pretty sure where it was (and I was ####ing dreading it...that's a kind of compliment for your area). As soon as I confirmed it by a key word (ivory), which I _vaguely_ remembered from years ago, I knew I hit paydirt. However, as you pointed out, brute force was a non-option. I talked to Haratzi about getting together a crew to handle business that way, but from rumor alone I have heard that if you fight an archmage you get ixnayed from the tower; I wanted to exhaust all options before even going there. Later, I realized it'd be damn near impossible to even get such a crew together again, because other Scion's play times were anything but predictable (with a couple exceptions)...and if we did, well, no one can even cast in the damned place. Everything I learned in ST was done in-game (with an exception being the staircase movement rules I figured out with a character years ago), with this character. I learned a lot, and I think I knew the general route of getting permission to speak inside the place...but getting permission to speak and suddenly being able to whack an archmage are two vastly different things.

2) Getting at that container one of a few other ways, any of which would have required a member of one of a few other classes. I thought I came across you writing a note to a person who qualified about doing it, so it seemed to me like you had the idea and were trying to implement it. (I'm not exactly sure which angle you were trying to work there, but I think it would've worked.)

Yes, I was trying to get a thief to pick the damned chest, thus cheating my way out of Sardenya's crazy friggin request :P. Unfortunately, I think I got a response and in mid-sentence the thief in question logged out and I never saw him again. He was the only one capable of it. The other thief I intended to try (Geren) could not get into the Tower through any of the routes I suspected might exist, so that was impossible.

3) The alternative. I think I was at work when you went looking for that, and I didn't have a lot of time so I was sort of on the spot there. The mob asked for something in trade that, in her character, she would want, something I thought would be difficult but not impossible for you to get alone (which'd be an upgrade from #1) and probably not that bad to get with a group. Probably, you also could have initially presented a different, easier-on-you deal and gotten her to take it.

Honestly, thank you so much for that, even though it didn't work out. It's those kind of off-the-cuff interactions that I always remember. Anyhow, I had no idea how to get what she asked for (except for getting to Ayerthl Zelaath, which, I just remembered, I ALSO remember from years ago). I got to the shadow place, which seemed likely, but died there. I wanted to press a bit more in that meeting with Sardenya - I really did. However, all the forced interactions from my side (and even the emails I had to send to get things moving), really left me feeling like I was the biggest ####ing nuisance in the world, and so I kept it as short as possible. No one likes feeling like a pest.


As a side note, the area is very cool and someday I am going to figure it all out. I think I got a good start with Sekhuroth, but there is so much more to learn.

I wish I could have helped you more, but you knew of one of my hurdles with that. You seemed to be on at times when I was, but we never really got together other than that one time. I typically figured if you didn't say anything, you were in ST trying to get that item. Hope your next is fun for you.

Aomiern

Me, the player, sitting at my computer screen, seeing this (paraphrased, I don't have the log handy):

Sekhuroth tells you 'What if, instead of taking your vaunted blood oath, I were to make you a very generous offer in exchange for your services?'

And seeing you had died twice recently...

I'm like "Ah, crap. Sek found a lichquest item he can't get himself."

I'd have ####ing *LOVED* to help you with it (and I'm pretty sure it'd have been fairly doable) but, as I told you, I was pretty sure there would be some DGoE smackdown.

Your response to my suggestion of "getting the Dark Gods of Empire to tell me it's all right" was awesome. I actually always loved our (admittedly short and very long distance) chats.

It's too bad you had such trouble. See you around!

Your response to my suggestion of "getting the Dark Gods of Empire to tell me it's all right" was awesome.

I think I said "I'd rather burn out my eyes with lye." Hehe

Yeah, you always seemed super cool (but I wish you would have fought me in Arboria dammit! I was so ready to take your ass down! :P

In retrospect, I think I would have absolutely _needed_ Hunsobo to get the item by force. Even then, it was probably a longshot.

>Your response to my suggestion of "getting the Dark Gods
>of Empire to tell me it's all right" was awesome.
>
>I think I said "I'd rather burn out my eyes with lye." Hehe
>
>Yeah, you always seemed super cool (but I wish you would have
>fought me in Arboria dammit! I was so ready to take your ass
>down! :P
>
>In retrospect, I think I would have absolutely _needed_
>Hunsobo to get the item by force. Even then, it was probably a
>longshot.

Yep. It was an awesome remark (many of your quick little tells were) - I got caught up in something at that point, I can't remember if I replied to that (My initial response was to say something like "So yous a lyer?" but I don't know if I said it or not.)

As for Arboria, it was sorta funny, I'm like "ok, he's got a FP, probably druktar, plus zombies, plus I have to run through a maze to get to him (or let him summon me)...EXIT, STAGE RIIIGHT..." I'm curious how long you actually waited for me to come out, since I told you I'd be right out. You told me IC you were bored almost immediately and left or something - was that true? Just curious.

The lowbie ranks were very entertainig. I probably could have made it pretty damn high up in the ranks but I had some issues that caused me to delete.

Yeah, thank God you were around because I definitely had the "necro can't get a group" blues for a while.

Too bad you didn't stick around, 'cause we could have torn up some Maran.

Dang. For some reason I thought for sure Sekhuroth would be the next lich-- probably due to the calm evil coolness you seemed to exude in my few interactions as well as your consistency. I have to say I actually felt bad after killing you and your armies during our first meeting (knowing what a pain those zombies are to raise)- but you stayed completely cool and didn't complain one bit about what a coward I was for attacking like that (like most people did heh) but instead seemed to show an odd sort of respect toward Nihkorzhebus. Even though I know-- and Nihk assumed-- it was all just lip service. You'd try and kill me any chance you got I'm quite certain.

I mostly avoided you (though I watched you running around doing your thing more than you know heh), partly due to the fact that I-- the player-- sympathized with the lone outnumbered dude running around mostly by himself, and mostly because I felt you would be one of the only types of characters who could turn the tables on my cowardly drow transmuter tactics no matter how prepped I would be. Volley really could have screwed my only real trick ;-). Then I'd be slept and we all know the drill after that..

Anyways best luck with your next, man.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

If it means anything to you, I was definitely *very* wary of your character, to the point where I'd randomly fog places just to make sure you weren't around.

It was kind of a bummer you went all aggressive, 'cause it would have been nice to have an ally...but that's cool too. Evil is evil, not "team evil".

And yeah, I was so gonna kill you if the chance came up. }(

I really did want to see you get that quest. There were quite a number of times darkness would be in sway, and I would sit there wondering if I should tell someone. Then we could kill you, take your objects and be happy darkness wouldn't have such a strong hold in the future. As a player, I simply could not bring myself to do this. Believe me, I thought it over several times. You're gift of the dress was most appriciated. It opened up a nice bit of rp for myself. I wish we could have roamed around more together. Everytime you would ask, I'd always have to say if the balance calls for it. Then after your army was ready, darkness seemed to always be in sway. I wonder if it was your cage as I called it, that was the final object holding you up?

Overall a fine character, and I wish you well on your next.

Zezy

Surprisingly enough, I actually liked your character. WHY I like Scions I dunno. Prolly has something to do with my inability to play a believably "Evil" character. Good deal of respect for you, and for Scions in general.

Good luck in the future.