At least that how Turbine billed this weekend. Another bonus xp weekend. So, I thought I'd jump in and see if more people were on than before.

Luckily, yes. I managed to join a party that was working on the Baudry Cartamon quests, and with a part of 5, we were able to breeze right through them (especially the smashing of boxes part).

The only problem I had with that is..that we breezed right through them. I think I ended up with a group of folks on their 40th alt, and so I didn't get time to savor the experience (nor hardly read the quest text).

Contrast that with anothere quest I did solo, in the Library in the lighthouse. I was able to take my time, avoid the traps, figure out the levers and all. No 'slam bam thank you ma'am' type questing.

It's like power-questing, instead of power-leveling. I really need to find myself a group that will actually play casually...

Life has a way of getting in the way of the best plans. So, there's this big xp deal, and I have other obligations, and can't play as much as I wanted to. Sigh.

I managed to get on again tonight, briefly, so I thought I'd try the crate smashing quest again. I managed to get 30 crates in 7 minutes. I need to get 50. I didn't have time to sit and wait for someone to answer a LFG call, so I just logged.

One thing that really stinks about not being a powerleveler - I lag behind the majority of the player base. While everyone else is level 10-12, I'm level 2. When they're 14 (in the next big patch), I'll be level...2.

Sigh.

It's the one year anniversary of the launch of DDO - I can't hardly believe it's been around that long! To celebrate, they're increasing the XP you gain this weekend, as well as increasing loot you find. Who can pass a deal like that up?

I logged on as my very first char, a fighter currently rank 8 (about midway through level 2). I don't have a lot of time tonight (mainly because the pain meds make me very drowsy), so I can only do a couple quests.

I last logged out in the Leaky Dinghy. So, I can do Osgood's quest - dig through his basement (ok, the sewers) and retrieve an artifact stolen from him. I also did the Smashing the Gambling Den quest - I still laugh at the guy who says "but...I was winning!" as I smash the table he was gambling on.

Finally, I talk to Baudry Cartamon. He wants me to protect a crate from kobolds, while he sets some traps to prevent them from getting in his warehouse. This is a different style of quest. I've got a timer, and I've got to prevent the kobolds from destroying the crate while the timer counts down. It's 4 minutes (I think - I didn't notice the exact time it started), and the kobolds keep coming. Fortunately, I managed to keep them at bay. It was close, tho - at one point the chest was actually on fire (stupid fireball throwing shamans). I went back to Caudry, and he thanked me, and asked me to continue to help him. So, the next phase is something simpler - smash 50 of his competitor's crates before the competitor comes back.

Simpler, but not simple. You get 5 minutes to smash 50 crates (on solo, who knows what it is on the higher settings)...the warehouse is dark, the crates are scattered, there's doors and hallways and winding... ugh. I actually got motion sickness in there, as if I were in first person mode (which is why I don't play FPS's). I managed to find 20 crates in that 5 minutes. THIS one is going to require a party, I think, where we can split up and enjoy some smashy goodness.

Speaking of parties, I was kind of saddened to see that the guild I joined at launch to get the goodie - I think it was a helm - has pretty much deserted the game. The last login was over a month ago, and the longest ago was a year. I'm glad there's solo options in this game, because it's hard to play with friends when you don't have any!

Anyway, I'm going to log in over the weekend more, so I can reap some of that phat xp!

After all that running around in the sewers, our group parted ways. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the docks, and eventually found my way into the Wayward Lobster.

Like most dockside taverns, this one was croweded with all types of people; several adventurers, but mostly fisherman. There was a room off to the side that looked like it had been set aside for formal dueling. Well, if people are going to fight, I guess fighting in controlled circumstances is best!

One patron waved me over. "I know you! You're the adventurer who killed Drexelhand under the Wavecrest. I speak for House Phiarlan when I say that we welcome all such resourceful persons to Stormreach. So...would you like to put your resourcefulness to good use?"

A House representative seeking me out? Will wonders never cease? I guess it made sense. House Phiarlan is renowned for their entertainments. I looked at him and asked "What did you have in mind?"

He told me about a local smuggler named Osgood has been moving artifacts illegally from Xen'drik to Sharn, and that House Phiarlan would like to intercept a certain one before it disappeared forever...without being known for the ones that rescued the shipment. So, I needed to be discreet.

I could be discreet. Stormreach is a city of secrets, I'm finding out quickly enough. It's a also a city of smugglers, apparently. I could do this, and maybe gain some favor with House Phiarlan in the process - patrons of the arts for a bard are pretty important!

I headed to Osgood's basement. I found a room guarded by a couple of his thugs, who I dispatched readily enough, after summoning a celestial dog to watch my back. Handy thing, magic. No artifact, though. The smuggler must have moved it. The room appeared to be a dead end, unfortunately. Rather than giving up, I decided to search the room. Hidden in a corner, I found a lever that opened a secret door. There we go!

I headed through the passageway and found myself in..the sewer system. Was Stormreach built on the remains of a city of Giants, or a Giant sewer? I wandered through the system, fighting the currents, the stench, the slimes....which fought back, I might add. I caught up with one of Osgood's men, who took off running, closing a gate behind him.

I managed to destroy the iron defenders standing on this side of the gate, and I found the valve that opened the gate. Moving further down the sewers, I came to some points that I had to swim to get across. Every path I swam, though, reached a dead end. Except one, which had a ladder heading up. I climbed up that, dripping sewer water as I went. I found a pair of valves that I immediately opened. Knowing what happened last time, I'm sure that I opened something, because I could hear the grind and clatter of something heavy being ratcheted into place, somewhere back behind me to the west.

I went back down the ladder, and swam to one of the dead ends. Sure enough, one of the grates had lifted and I found another valve. It's amazing what hoops smugglers will jump through, to try and hide from the law. Turning this valve, I could hear stone moving against stone, as if a massive block was moving above me.

I headed back up the ladder, and climbing the stairs just beyond the ladder, I could see into a room with several smugglers and one particularly nasty looking iron defender. I quietly hummed a little tune from my childhood that always gave me inspiration, I summoned another dog, and set him to attacking the defender.

Immediately upon his attack, the smugglers noticed me, and there was a fierce battle in the doorway. Fortunately, being small has its advantages, and since the smugglers were used to dealing with larger foes, had a hard time connecting their blows. I, on the other hand, had no problems swiping at kneecaps, thighs, and other vulnerable parts. The battle was fierce, but short.

Barely breathing heavy, I wandered the room they had been keeping their goods in. I found the artifact in question, already packaged up for shipment to Sharn. I grabbed it, and headed out the door. All that wandering through the sewers had put me on the dock next to the Leaky Dinghy, so I had to slog back through town, dripping of sewer water, and smelling of worse things. I entered the Lobster, and though I got some strange looks, and people edged away from me, no one actually SAID anything. I headed over to Shir Clowenks, pulled up a chair, sat down, and casually handed him the package.

"Osgood has a bigger basement than you thought," I noted. "It includes half the sewer system. I hope you appreciate the effort!"

He nodded. "You have deprived Osgood of his ill-gotten loot. Your service to Phiarlan will not be forgotten. In fact, I have a set of armor that will replace the armor you've apparently ruined doing me this favor." He reached under the table, and handed me a large package. "Hopefully, your time in the sewers is at an end, and you can keep your armor in good shape!".

I took the package, and I stood up and bowed, thanking him for the armor. I headed up to the bar, and asked the barman if there was a place I could clean up and change. He nodded, and said "For two silver, you can use my room in the back. Just leave everything the way you found it." I handed him the coin, and headed to the back room to change. It was going to feel good to be clean again.

I hate being stood up. I even verified the time the group was supposed to get together, and nobody logged on for the hour I was on. DDO is one of those games that if you're going to group, you need a consistent group. Pick up groups are hard in this game, since the majority of active players are maxed out folks playing the high end stuff.

Me, I waited for a while, and got bored. I decided to go ahead and do a few quests. I figured I could stop them when someone logged on, and/or come back to them later.

I did the Smuggler's Warehouse - a quest where you need to gather 10 rubies for a shady character who's thinking of taking over the warehouse for his own. That was a tough one, even on the 'solo' level. Finding the gems is the hardest part - you absolutely must smash every crate and barrel in the place to find them. Throw in some kobolds, spiders, and scorpions, and you've got a smash-n-grab quest(tm).

I did "Information is Key" - I may have written about that quest as my first DDO blog way back when. Retrieve an artifact for House Phiarlan. Easy sounding, except when you get there, the box isn't where it's supposed to be. Now you've got go go crawling through the sewers, up and down ladders, unlocking secret doors, until finally you get to where the brigands have moved the case to. Dispatch them, the iron defender guard, and you have your basic dungeon-crawl quest(tm).

I did "Bringing the Light" - interesting concept of a quest, and a quick one. Seems the House of the Silver Flame isn't too fond of the illicit gambling den, and you get to go smash some gaming tables to 'deliver the message'. It was kind of funny, watching the commoners scatter when you barge into a room - one even said, "Dang, and I was winning, too!". Smash a few tables, kill a few guards, and their pit bull guard dogs, and Brother Augustus gives you 20 gold. That was the easiest of the bunch.

I thought about doing more, but it's getting late, and I've got other things to do. Maybe the group will actually get together next week.

Well, I don't know what happened, but no one from the group showed up tonight. I waited, and decided to knock out a few more quests. There was the kidnapped girl, the shipment protection, and one I hadn't done before, called "Sewer Rescue". In this quest, you come across a man, beaten and bleeding, who asks you to save his wife, who has been kidnapped by kobolds. Kobolds aren't too bad, although sewers are annoying.

This particular one had a running commentary - you could hear the kobolds who had taken his wife talking to each other, just out of reach. At one point, one had to open a door, so he had the other hold the hostage, warning that 'she kicks'. I had to laugh at that.

Up some ladders, down some ladders (since they raised a bridge, hoping it would slow me down), and they split - leaving me to face a hobgoblin. That wasn't fun. After defeating one, you find out that there's actually two, so you have to track down his accomplice. I found him, in a sewage drain with flowing water. I can tell you, fighting uphill, against the current, isn't easy! I did manage to defeat him (it?), although I had to use a cure light wounds potion to make it through the fight.

I untied the wife, escorted her to the exit, and reunited the couple outside. Since the group didn't show, I went ahead and went back to the Dingy, and decided to log out. Maybe they'll be there next week.

I decided to post a full size pic of my avatar - I think he looks particularly haggard, trying to survive Stormreach by himself.

As we've finished unpacking (mostly) from our Christmas trip to the in-laws, I thought I'd sneak in a few minutes of play, just to get another solo quest out of the way before I join the group on Tuesday.

I did the Arachnophobia quest. Basically, it's 'kill all the spiders'. On solo level, it's pretty easy. There's 30 spiders to kill, plus one big honkin one at the end.

Finished that up, ran to the Leaky Dinghy, and now I'll wait until Tuesday. I have no idea what's in store, but I'm looking forward to it!

I've joined a weekly casual group, and we'll be playing once a week, for only a couple hours a night...should be fun. I missed this week's session, so I created a new fighter, and...

Did the ancient scrolls quest
Did the ancient daggers quest
Did the healing elixirs quest

(and found out that Lord Gerald is still a scoundrel. His story has changed, tho - now he gives a legendary weapon from a hero...except it's pretty useless as a weapon, tho it's pretty dang handy to sell. Got 12 gold for it, I think.

Then I did

Survive the low road
Berrigan Enge quest
Explosive situation quest
warder quest
escort the dogs quest

I didn't do the spiders quest yet...I'll save that for when I get back online. Those 9 quests got me to rank 5, which is pretty much where the group ended up as well...so I'm right on track! I'm looking forward to regularly gaming with a group.

My bard? I'll come back and write her stories. I'll be doing a 'regular' blog fo this group tho - it'll be a change, that's for sure!