Hmm, this blog was supposed to be about starting a new group of characters on Thistledown, but I just received the news that AC2 will soon close down. That bothers me quite a bit, but I will get over it eventually.

I have been playing role-playing games for around 25 years, and running games for nearly as long.

I am an avid reader, and when I am not doing something else, I will often read 2-3 books in a week, many of them in the fantasy genre. Asheron’s Call was the first online game I ever played, and I played it for four years. I have never been a particularly focused player, not caring much for limited options, so I started playing a lot of characters. I like variety, and playing numerous characters in a game was the best way for me to play.

One of the things I most liked about Asheron’s Call was the back story. It was unique. The development team did an excellent job building up the world and the graphics, while not nearly as surreal as Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, had the functionality of changing, as the world changed, in monthly updates. Asheron's Call also had the added functionality, as do all other online games, of meeting other real people, and allowing players to build friendships, which was a new perk for me. I met a number of of people from different geographic areas that I would come to consider friends, and I quite enjoyed the variety of non-programmed responses.

I wanted to move to Asheron’s Call 2 when it opened, but I had an opportunity to try to play during the open beta, and had crashed. When Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings was released, I hesitated until I had the opportunity to upgrade my computer. Then I started Asheron’s Call 2.

I first played around February/March of 2004. I enjoyed the game, and spent an unusual amount of time working on craft skills, which at the time were limited by the number of times you could resource mine per day. As a result, I developed a number of characters on Frostfell for resource gathering, turned over most of those resources to my Lugian crafter, Damacles, as I sought to develop his Lugian Armorcrafting and Lugian Weaponsmithing to the higher tiers.

The technical achievements in Asheron’s Call 2 were fantastic. Again, though not as good as in some single player games, the sights and especially the sounds, were magnificent, the graphics quality far exceeding Asheron's Call. They had also developed a strong sound system, allowing the implementation of musical instruments. Multiple players could dance, play music, or just sightsee. I was a big explorer, and loved to just go around looking at new places. I wrote several stories of my characters in that new world, some of which I posted at various places.

The mechanics of character creation were vastly different from the original Asheron’s Call.

In Asheron’s Call, a character would start out with one of three human races; Aluvian, Gharu’ndhim, or Sho. Each race accounted for 6 of the 30 points that went into the initial character skills, a weapon skill, and a craft skill if applicable. The player would then divide the 180 points available from characteristics. From there the player would choose to customize the character by choosing (training) individual skills and specializing those skills. All skills were available from the outset, if you had the points to pay for them, and almost all skills were available for use, based upon the characteristic or combination of characteristics the skill was based on.

In Asheron’s Call 2, the player would choose the race, and be given starter weapons used by that race. The character had no other skills. Initially, all characters had only a default attack, and as players increased in levels they could choose skills that would improve their abilities in combat. Crafting skills were available but were not generally tied to character level, though they were tied to resources. Generally, the higher the level of the character, the better the character's access to resources, but this could be worked around. All crafting skills started at level 1. As a character advanced, different skills opened up, based upon a tree model, such that some skills were only available if you had a prerequisite skill.

The difference in character creation and advancement bothered many players. There were also various technical issues that were addressed a bit more slowly than some players were willing to accept. With these issues, and the fact that many players had invested a significant amount of time in Asheron’s Call, several of the players that would have provided the built in market for Asheron’s Call 2, returned “home” to Asheron’s Call.

Over the course of the life of Asheron’s Call 2, Turbine continued to improve the game, and though I maintain an account with Asheron’s Call, I have not really played it in a long time. The players who continue to play Asheron’s Call 2 always hoped that old players would return, or that new players would try it. Almost everyone who tried it, after Turbine had had a chance to acquire it from Microsoft and start putting more of their stamp on it, liked it.

Unfortunately, Asheron’s Call 2 is going to close by the end of 2005, and I, among others, will be very sad to see it go. I will continue this blog, at least until the game ends, and perhaps I can document its waning days. I will also try to get a few of my more treasured characters to the level of Hero. Perhaps, should I meet another former player on a different game, as an incarnation of Gueron, or Keikorua, or Peregryne or Damacles, I will be remembered. This has happened in AC2, as Raniz Murjuri recognized the name Gueron from the character I played on Frostfell in the original Asheron's Call.

Until next time, I hope to see you in Dereth.

Gueron.

I play a lot of characters, and I try a lot of templates. Recently, I've been spending a lot of time on Peregryne and Keikorua, of Frostfell. Why, you might ask, as Gueron is still my main? Because of my children.

Both of my children like to watch me play, and some of their favorite characters to watch are Keikorua, with Peregryne as a close second. Keikorua is a Hive Keeper, and Peregryne (on Frostfell) is a Ranger. Peregryne very recently started capturing a lot of their attention, because she was 19th level and they really wanted to see her get a pet. A Ranger can get a pet at 20th level, so I duly put in a lot of time on Peregryne.

I was working on the Osteth Soulbound Weapons quest, and I had decided to do it the hard way, via the Fiery Crypt. I didn't realize just how hard that would be. After fighting my way to the Area surrounding the Crypt I took a leap of Faith, emboldened by a Health-Over-Time potion. I fought into the crypt and tried to fight my way through. Eventually I did get somewhere, but not having a map, since I was trying to do the quest without external support, I didn;t know where I needed to go. I kept going deeper, and deeper, fighting monsters, and I did make 20th level, right before I was killed by five creatures that were all stronger than Peregryne.

Not to worry, I got rid of the vitae, and then opened my skills panel. I went to the Missile menu, and chose Ranger skills, just waiting to click on Nature's Aid (The Lasher Skill) and found it greyed out. Nature's Aid costs two skill points, I only had one. I was somewhat put out. I went to my skill tree, and after careful consideration, I set my double-shot skill to untrain. I actually like the skill, but I could not justify keeping it based on usage. I had a lot of untraining to do, as it would cost nearly 5000 experience points to untrain.

I recalled to Cavendo, and went to talk to Kanten, getting one of the weaker quests. I had hoped for a better one, but I needed a quest so I took the business proposition for 250 experience points. I then went to Omishan, and started looking for the Darkenfowl Stray, for an incursion. Eventually I completed the quest and was able to get the skill but it was late and my children were not up.

The next day, I called my kids over and then I learned the Skill Nature's Aid, then for them I summoned a Lasher.

My kids were ecstatic. I went to play with Peregryne for a bit, and learned that I need to learn a lot more about pets. My first quest was the Drudge Potion Raid, to complete the Soulbound Weapon, but Piperyne, my lasher, drew some drudges to attack me before I had a chance to make it, and both of us were killed. We did eventually succeed though, but I find myself regretting that I have not yet the ability to heal my pet.

As for now, the problem is playing any other character when my kids are around, they always want to know how Peregryne and her pet are doing. Sigh!

One of the most interesting thing about Asheron's Call 2 is exploring. There is so much to see and a lot of places that aren't always visited. Here are a few of the places Keikorua has been to on Osteth. All of these are within the parameters of beginning travel, though some may be a bit more challenging to get to than others.

We'll start off with Millstone. This is at dawn, I believe, and is easily assessible. You can see the diving board if you look.

The next one is a place many of us long to get to. You can make by portal at 6th level, but you can make overland from Arwic in about 15-20 minutes. This is Cragstone at midnight.

If you ever played the original Asheron's Call, you probably have at least heard of the Obsidian Span. Here is the Obsidian Span, as Keikorua traveled crosscountry to it from Cragstone.

Of course it has stood for millennia, through several major upheavals of the land, so there are places that need repair.

But it is still majestic, especially at dawn.

Then of course the upheavals that have damaged the Obsidian Span have resulted in some natural wonders. This is just a portion of one of them, the Six Falls, in the Mad Crone Region.

Then of course, most people have heard of Heroes. This is the Heroes' Tower, for lack of a better term, and it is really easy to get to, out of Millstone.

If you climb to the top and take a look at the surrounding terrain, you may see these areas.

If you go inside, this is just a glimpse.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed some of the views, and if you would like to see more in the future, drop me a comment. Keikorua is now exploring Omishan, and it has its own style of beauty.

Gueron

Coming Next: A Pet for Peregryne.

It’s been a while since I last blogged, so I’ll reintroduce myself and my characters. I play "Asheron’s Call 2: Legions" and these characters are on the server Frostfell.

Achranium is an Empyrean; he was the first Empyrean I created and I decided to make him a missile specialist. As the Empyreans have been in an alternate dimension for centuries, I was considering time, so Chronos was in my mind. Empyreans are also renowned for their mental capability, so I played around with the sounds and came up with Achranium.

Banak was a character I made to try a Lugian mage. I was reading Anne McCaffrey’s "Dragondrums" to my son at the time, and the name Banak was used for a minor character. I kind of liked it, and though it doesn’t sound Klingon, on which the Lugians are loosely based, it does sound somewhat strong.

Castin was named by my son. He is a Lugian missile specialist.

Cucarocha is a Drudge. Drudges were a nemesis race in Asheron’s Call, and only became a playable race with the release of Legions. It was a perk race that came with the pre-order of Legions, but there will be a quest in the July release (which will occur in August) to unlock the drudge. Drudges seem to multiply when you aren’t looking and it seems as if they can never be killed. So I named him after the cockroach. Drudges are all melee.

Damacles is a Lugian berserker. I had always intended this character to be a crafter. I wanted to name him Damascus, but that name was taken by a different player, so the name that came to mind was Damacles. It is possible that the legend of the Sword of Damocles was lingering in the back of my mind. The concept behind a berserker craftsman was sort of drawn from the Samurai Deli skit in Saturday Night Live. "I’ll be glad to make the items but I may be a bit angry if you feel my craftsmanship is shoddy." It always helps to have a background story in role-playing, as it can frame the character.

I like the name Darkfyre, and sort of framed it from the concept of this character being a shaman. In my mind, shamans usually have colorful names (perhaps because I’ve read too much Lackey). Anyway, the powers of Dark and Fire seemed to be a rather potent combination and would work with a Tumerok mage. The ‘fyre’ was derived because I liked the way it looked. Darkfyre is an Invoker

Darthaun is one of the characters from Coldeve. There is no real story behind the name other than the fact that I don’t like to use standard names, nor do I like to use celebrity names, so I just made one up. It is a lot more fun to make up a name, and a story. Darthaun is a Human mage.

Gascon is another character from Coldeve. I had planned him to be my primary crafter on Coldeve, and I gave him the name of “Gascon” in a nod toward my high school French teacher. Gascon is derived from garçon, French for boy, usually used as a term for waiter. Gascon, like Darthaun, is a Human mage.

Gostatha is my second Empyrean. He was designed to be melee and has now become a Templar. The name was taken from the book "The Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare" which described it as an inscription on a weapon belonging to Gil-Galad.

Gueron is my main character. In the first Asheron’s Call I made him to be an Aluvian axe-warrior, and I liked him a lot. I made a Gueron on every server, so when I moved to Asheron’s Call 2, he was one of the first characters I made. Gueron is also derived from a French word, guerrier, meaning war.

Gwenna of Coldeve is the last character I made on Coldeve. Her name there was Gwenna, and I had come to that by thinking of Wendy, which is derived from Gwendolyn. Unfortunately, Gwendolyn was taken, as was Gwen, so I chose Gwenna.

Jacintha is another name from AC1. There were several templates for characters that went on to be known as the Character’s Name templates. I invented a template that I wanted to have an interesting name for. Jacintha was the name I chose, based upon the precious stone jacinth. She is a Human mage.

Kaylith is a Human missile character. Her name came from a variation on the name Kaylee from the series "Firefly." I had always intended her to become an alchemist, and "Firefly's" Kaylee was able to fix almost anything. Kaylith is now an Alchemist, as intended.

Keikorua is a Tumerok missle specialist.When I started doing research on Tumeroks, I discovered that they were based, in part, on the Lakota, Maori-Polynesian, and Celtic cultures. Keikorua was going to be a Hive Keeper, so I spent some time with online searches, looking for references to Home, Hearth, Protector, and in the end I came up with a blended word that I liked the flow of. Thus Keikorua was born.

Peregryne is another name from the original Asheron’s Call, and is my user ID on the Warcry network as well as the Turbine forums for Asheron’s Call 2. I have always been fascinated by falcons. A peregrine is a falcon, and I modified the spelling to make it more interesting as well as to set it apart from peregrine as in Pippin. Peregryne is a Ranger.

Perrinfaile is an Empyrean. The name is derived from Robert Jordan’s "Wheel of Time" series. If you’ve read it, you are probably familiar with Faile, a female character that has a certain amount of force of personality. She ended up marrying Perrin, one of the primary characters of the series. She is a mage.

Samhuin is another human mage. The interesting thing about her is her kingdom. I had planned for her to go Dominion from the beginning, and worked entirely toward that goal. As soon as she was 10th level, she made a pilgrimage to Cragstone to begin her career in the Dominion Kingdom. Her name is derived from the pronunciation of Samhain, the traditional Celtic holiday marking the end of summer.

Before I started my research on Tumeroks, I designed a different Tumerok, one I named Tanssiaset. Tanssiaset was designed as a Feral Intendent, the Tumerok tank. I specifically went with a female because I like the concept of a strong female. I didn’t know what culture to choose as a pattern, so I chose Finnish mythology and language. Tanssiaset is again a conglomeration of words, with meanings that I liked, which were arranged, mangled, and rearranged into a form I liked. The actual meanings of the words is not important, but they served as a starting point for a creative process which resulted in an original (I hope) name.

In role playing, names mean a lot to the development of a character. Not only do they represent the character, they can cause an immediate reaction in other players. This is particularly true in online games. In addition to the reaction of others, names also may affect the how, as well as how often, a player plays a character.

For now, farewell,

Gueron

Next blog (Keikorua’s Osteth Travelogue)

When we last left Cucarocha, he was a young Drudge in an unfamiliar world, an outcast to polite society, struck with the frightful Purple Plague, and well, still 1st level. So a little recap.

Drudges are a playable ‘prestige’ race. A Drudge starts with two weapons melee weapons; a digging tool and a board with nail, each having the same speed and damage. Drudges do not even have armor, though they do have ‘rags’ as clothing. A Drudge does not have a starter dungeon, but rather are inserted into the world before learning anything of the world, and still at a low level. Drudges do not have multiple disciplines. The only real purpose of a Drudge character is fun. Oh yes, at this time Drudges are only available to players that have purchased the Pre-order Legions, but there is a quest coming out soon that will allow players to unlock the Drudge Race.

Cragstone, a city on the Isle of Osteth, perhaps the most important city, as far as many people are concerned. It was at Cragstone, the last of the Humans, Tumeroks, and Lugians made their stand against the barabarian drudges, before finally retreating to the shelters that housed them for generations. Or so the tales would have us believe. But the tales are told by those same races, The Drudges may have their own tales, of a city fallen because of its pride or weakness.

Cucarocha left Cragstone as quickly as possible, he had picked up the Purple Plague there, a diseases that left him with little stamina. He chose Millstone, because it seemed appropriate.

Outside of Millstone, he swam to one side of the Esper river, and was attacked by a Cutter Beetle, and he could not manage to survive, it chased him down and slew him, and he found himself once again at Cavendo. He ran back through Rithwic, and Cragstone, to again make it to Millstone. This time, since I did not want to have a long run back, I tied him to the lifestone Arwic/Cragstone gateway. I swam across the river again, and found a cutter beetle, and fought it and had to run yet again, with the same result.

This time, I had noted the lifestone across the river. I tied to it, and went to fight the cutter beetle again, again dying, but this time I was on the same side of the river, and attacked the cutter beetle again immediately. It was still weakened, and I defeated it. I did this several more times, earning enough experience to make 2nd level, before deciding to go after stronger prey, edge beetles. It kind of makes sense, Drudges eat small beetles, so you would figure that they would attack the larger ones. However there were also vermin, so I decided to attack the weaker Bold Vermin Pilferer, earning a potion for an edge beetle incursion quest from one of them. I drank the potion and took the quest.

I continued this pattern, dying a bit, but also earning weapons and ever more useful rags, for a while. I did go after the higher vermin as well. From a Brave Crawlspace Vermin I was able to get a Wasp Slayer Elixir, which starts the Wasp Bane Quest. After I had achieved 7th level, I took swam across a different river to the small islet which houses the Drudge Cadre. It is also infested with Green Phyntos Wasps, the target of the Wasp Bane incursion quest. I attacked The green wasps and Drudge Outcasts. From time to time, I had to run and jump into the river to escape a monster that I was having little luck against. I eventually finished the quest, and had earned up to about 9th level. It was time to log out with Cucarocha.

I logged back I the next day with a Cucarocha, and started mining. Role-playing has always been a focus of mine, and I like to give each of my characters a hook. Drudges do not have a particular type of crafting for their gear. They can, I have discovered, use swords, as can every race, but I decided that Cucarocha’s hook would be to craft weapons. I like the crafting system, and it seemed appropriate. All of my characters have some crafting abilities, but I generally specify a crafting discipline for them. In Cucarocha’s case, He will try to equally improve all weapon disciplines. This is not efficient, but I think it will be fun.

While he was mining, a call came for help on a vault. Cucarocha already had the purple plague, but he had picked up a glyph for the Arwic vault, so he volunteered. He took another player to the Arwic Vault, and they fought through it. He was powerful enough, that he rarely had difficulties, and he finished the adventure at 11th level. I logged off Cucarocha and logged on Samhuin to finish the other vaults with the player.

I didn’t log back on Cucarocha until the double experience point weekend, May 19th-20th. He was able to get a cure for his Purple Plague and he fought against and ran from the Reed Sharks and Cobalt Drudges near Molwirth to earn 12th, 13th, and 14th levels. After I had earned 14th level, I decided to rest Cucarocha for a while. I have 18 characters now, on Frostfell, and the others needed to be played.

There is still more that has happened to Cucarocha, but I guess that will be reported in a future blog. I hope you are interested enough to check back and find out. Drudges are fun.

Cucarocha,.... er, Gueron.

Asheron’s Call 2 is a massive multiplayer online role playing game, or MMORPG for short. It takes place on consistent worlds, and involves interacting with a lot of other players. As a result, I would really like to get others to try it.

Turbine is in the midst of a massive campaign right now to bring back former players that have left. A lot has changed with AC2 since its initial release, the crafting system, the Hero system, the Kingdom system, and the class structure. In addition there is also a new race that can be played, in the Empyrean, a consignment system for crafted goods, town building, and there will soon be a quest that will set a KvK flag and as well as a quest to unlock a playable drudge race.

I would love to see some of the older players that I used to know return , but I’d be glad for new players to start playing. Why? Because I like to meet people, and if there are more people playing, there is a greater likelihood that I’ll meet more players.

Last weekend, May 20 – May 22, was a double experience point weekend. I was at work for most of it, but I was able to log in on Sunday night, after my kids had gone to bed. I decided to play Gostatha, my Empyrean melee character, and take advantage of the double experience. The experience was only rewarded for monsters slain, so I, being in the upper single digits, tried to decide where the mobs that I could fight were.

Just to let you know, Empyreans are the ancients of Dereth. The expansion pack, Asheron's Call 2: Legions, returns Empyreans to Dereth in our time. They are, in my opinion, very elvish in appearance. Gostatha is a name derived from the elvish script on the Spear of Gil-Galad, Aeglos, from Lord of the Rings. He is a melee chacracter, and one of three Empyreans I play on Frostfell. I had decided to play him during the double experience point weekend, in the hopes of bringing him to similar levels of my other characters on Frostfell.

Initially, I determined that reed sharks were out of the question, fortunately, vitae was easily eliminated when I fought an enemy. I eventually settled in the Cobalt Reaches, and spent a certain amount of time fighting Scraven, Drudge Slinkers and Drudge Prowlers, Blade Beetles, with the occasional Freshwater Armoredillo thrown in. After quite awhile, and a lot of fighting, Gostatha had advanced to 14th level. I decided that I needed to get a mount, and recalled to Cavendo, to set out for Cragstone and from Cragstone to Kehan.

In the last blog, I wrote about the Prosper Mount quest, the Lost Wish (Kehan) Mount quest is pretty much the same, except that it is targeted for lower level characters. Instead of Skeleton Rangers, Undead Scowl Drudges, and Undead Brutish Monougas the monsters are Mounted Skeletons, Empowered Drudge Outcasts, and Undead Carrion Shreths. I targeted the Mounted Skeletons and the Undead Drudges until I had looted two Undead Potions. At that point I was willing to take on the Undead Shreths and risk the falling prey to the Curse of the Undead.

I was almost done with the quest, when I ran into two young adventurers, Prometheous and Porthous. They asked for help on the quest, and I agreed. I joined their fellowship and we went through the quest. We were able, after another 45 minutes or so, to complete the quest for everyone, and Gostatha made 15th level, and promptly became a Templar. I bid farewell to my companions, and after leaving the fellowship, somehow got mixed up in the Kill the Hive Queen quest.

I was still on double experience, so I headed to the Wasp Hive. I started fighting my way through the Hive, eventually being slain when trying to take on two Green Soldier Wasps, and then decided that it was time to leave. It was already nearly 3:00 in the morning, and I had to get some rest. I fought just enough to clear my vitae, and then retired for the night, after returning to Cavendo. I had earned quite a bit of experience, and managed seven levels in about three hours of play.

If you don’t play Asheron’s Call 2, this would be a great time to start. You see, this weekend, June 3rd through June 5th, Turbine is doing another double experience point weekend. Besides that, I would love to meet you, and there are a number of other players that would as well.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in Dereth.

Gueron

Last night, I signed on with Samhuin, still looking for an allegiance. After playing her for a little while, I realized that she had outgrown her weapons and armor. Samhuin is Human, so I decided to bring on Gueron and make her weapons and Armor.

When I logged in with Gueron, I realized that Gueron is not really capable of supporting Samhuin or my other human characters much beyond 12th or 13th level. His skill across the board, in human crafting is in the thirties, the low thirties to be fair. I decided Gueron needed to practice his crafting, but to do so, he needs resources. Gueron is good at resources, so I started the surveying-mining cycle.

While mining, I noted a general message saying that they were going to start the Drudge Citadel. None of my characters have ever done the Drudge Citadel, and I wanted to. I messaged Barunson and said that I would be there. I finished mining, recalled to Cavendo, and then asked Barunson where they were meeting. They were meeting at the Drudge Citadel Ringway entrance from Cavendo, so I quickly joined them. I was invited to join the DC Vault Fellowship. Also in the Fellowship, were Neihn and Razakius. We ran through, the portal, and then we mounted. Gueron had recently completed the first mount quest, but one of the members of the fellowship had much faster mounts. So I used the provided saddle.

I had never even started the Drudge Citadel quest previously, and just followed the leader. We were joined by Ogmios. We ran through the territory surrounding the Drudge Citadel, without fighting, just trying to stay alive. Our mounts were fast, so that helped, but some of the things we ran by, would have had Gueron running the opposite direction had he been alone. We entered the Citadel, and began fighting.

During our travels, we ran in to Gagg, and he joined the fellowship. After some time, and a lot of fighting, we entered the vestibule, and were confronted with a Drudge Dictator. The battle was joined, and just as we were about to win, Gueron died. Everyone else finished, and Gagg, I believe commented that we had lost one. That one, being me. I didn't have another glyph, so I didn't request that they go through it one more time, so I could complete.

I don't know if they would have been able to, besides Gueron is a Defender, and everyone under his protection made it. Because of this, and the doctrines, I am considering having Gueron join the Kingdom of Order.

I ran solo for a bit, to eliminate vitae, and though I ended up Dying at least three more times, I did eventually clear it. I saw Neihn post, on the general channel, for a Prosper Vault, but Gueron, not having completed the Citadel, was still 20th level. At the end of the night I had managed to improve my exotic weapon skill and finish two staves for Samhuin, to choose from. At some point, I was able to get a better shield made for Gueron. Now I just have to improve his armour which is about four levels out of date.

This morning, I logged in with Gueron again. I wanted to improve my Human Armorcrafting, but to do so, I needed iron, so I started mining. One of the mining drops, put me in Esper Reaches, the drudge outcast camp. As I found my mine, one of the Cadre attacked me, so I killed it. I noted a youthful (low-level) character, named Abryna Blue, running into the camp. After some examining I determined she was running the Cadre Slayer quest. I watched her for a bit, and communicated with her. I then followed her, just in case she needed help. She was surprised that there was a 20th level character here, and I told her it was a mining drop. When she ran into a cadre, I healed her, and took a little damage, as she continued to fight the cadre. She soon won, and I told her that I would be mining for a bit, so I would be on if she needed anything.

A little bit later she messaged me and asked if I needed the Mad Crone Vault. I asked her her level, and was told 13th, I looked through my characters, and decided on Keikorua. She was 15th level, and had neither Mad Crone nor Cobalt. She also had no Glyph, but since she is a missile character, with the Agitate Hive skill, allowing another attacker, I thought she would be the better candidate. Abryna was in Millstone, so I said I'd be right there and ran Keikorua to Millstone, Summoned the Lifestone from Cavendo, and had Abryna squared away.

In Cavendo, I checked out her weapon, and suggested that she allow Gueron to make her a staff. She agreed. Gueron made her a staff and a Foci, both 13th level, and gave them both to her. He also gave her two Bloodstone Oozes, three saddles, and a Soulbound Hive Glyph for Keikorua, which he had managed to pick up. I logged off with Gueron and then back on with Keikorua, and excahanged the equipment. Keikorua started the fellowship The Crone is Mad, invited Aryna Blue in, and then we headed to the portal in Rithwic. From Rithwic we took the Mad Crone Ringway portal, and then another, to near the Broth of Tanaka quest. We started to run to the vault, but ran afoul of a Bloodstone. Keikorua barely survived, and Abryna was slain.

Abryna recalled to the portal, was met by Keikorua, and then we ran, with only minor skirmishes to the vault. In one of those skirmishes, Kei picked up a Mad Crone Glyph. We entered the vault and began fighting our way through. At one point Kei retreated, but then after a refreshing Heal, returned to support Abryna. Down below one of the walkways, we noted Imad, a drudge, fighting alone. We jumped over the rail, helped him, even though he probably didn't need our help, and invited him to join our fellowship. He and Abryna were 13th level, Keikorua was 15th.

The fellowship fought through to the vestibule, entered it. I suggested to Abryna we take the Ooze, and then attacked the Drudge Warlord. Imad was tearing the drudge apart, and Abryna and I were doign our share. We defeated him, and entered the Inner Vault. All of us made a level when we activated the Shard, spieling the story of Bael'Zharon, and a warning to other shadows to be wary of the edge of the blade.

Imad wanted to do Cobalt Sweeps Vault, so Abryna and I agreed. I summoned Cavendo's lifestone, and we all portaled there. Imad headed out alone, I waited for Abryna as she was finishing he hop. She had been lagging off and on, since we had fellowed. Abryna and I caught up with him at the vault, using our mounts. Nudge and Pudge, two drudges, had just completed the vault.

Imad gave Keikorua a glyph, and we all entered. I lead them up, to defeat the Drudge Robber holding the key, then we ran back down, opened the door in the basement, and leapt down to the sub-level. We fought through some drudges, and finally entered the Vestibule. In my limited experience, Cobalt Sweeps is a difficult vault. The Drudge Warlord has a bodyguard, and it is always difficult. We fought, moving forward and retreating, trying to keep each other alive. Imad did a great job, and my wasps did their fair share. We finally managed to defeat them all, and I was nearly out of health. I healed, and started to hit the corner but another drudge spawned.

Imad and I rushed the corner, and headed for the Inner Vault portal, but Abryna started to rest. I suspect that Imad had run this Vault before with a different character. I messaged Abryna, urging her hurry up and enter the Inner Vault. The Drudge Warlord had already respawned, and his bodyguard were starting to. I go their attention, suiciding a wasp to the Warlord. Fortunately, I had had a chance to recover some health. Abryna realizing her danger rushed the door, when I saw her get through, I took the portal. She was down to under ten health, but she had made it. Keikorua had had a similar experience, so I understood Abryna's relief. Keikorua was down to under 70 health.

We activated the Memory Shard, learning of Asheron, and both Imad and Abryna had managed to earn 15th level. Keikorua was still 16th, but she was close. I summoned a portal to Cavendo, so everyone would be able to get out of there safely, and then I had to log off.

I'll write again soon, and as usual, thanks for reading.

Gueron

There is an aspect of PvP to Asheron's Call 2, that is not FFA (Free For All). It is called KvK, or Kingdom-vs-Kingdom. What are these kingdoms? Are they a superstructure built just for Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings? Do they have any real relevance to AC2, or are they just there?

When Asheron's Call 2 was just starting out, Kingdoms were one of the selling points. There were two KvK servers, Snowreap and Coldeve. What Kingdom allowed was a player versus player complex, as long as the player was not of your own kingdom.

There are three kingdoms that you can join, and one that you start with. Everybody starts as Neutral. This represents no particular bent. The three kingdoms that you can join are Order, Dominion, and Shadow.

Order represents something very similar to the chivalric codes of our history, but extending to all people, not restricted to nobility. This is very much the point of view to help all, that you can, and to sacrifice yourself to help others. In AC1, this path was represented by the High Queen Elysa Strathelar, her son Borelean, and Asheron.

Dominion represents a rigid structure, you are subservient to those above you, and over those below you. Harmony occurs when everyone knows their place, and remains there. In AC1, this path was followed by the Virindi, and modified by and followed by Martine.

Shadow is represented by the pursuit of power. Success is acceptable, failure is not. Personal goals are what matters the most. Bael'Zharon is an example of a Shadow, that failed. Isin Dule succeeded, and he founded this kingdom.

All of this is entrenched in game lore. There is a quest, no level restriction, that lets you go to different Kingdom shrines, and if you want, you can learn the doctrines. As a role-player, I found this quest interesting.

Do kingdoms affect anything other than PvP? Unfortunately no. KvK has not yet reached the level that was hoped for in AC2, and now there are no KvK servers. At this point, KvK is limited to specific areas on non-Darktide servers, but soon, Turbine has said, they will be making a quest to allow server-wide KvK. Many of us are looking forward to this, but for now KvK has little major impact on the game. On a side note, Darktide is full FFA server, so KvK does not have a direct impact on the game.

Kingdoms are interesting, though. They may have an affect as far as roleplaying and they offer a little bit in the way of resources. There is Kingdom chat, and I have been known to use Kingdom chat for advice. It is not as effective as allegiance chat, but it can still be useful. Perhaps, when kngdoms are once again server wide, this will be more useful.

Today I ran Samhuin, she is a human and follows the discilpline of magic use. She also is of the kingdom of Dominion. I originally logged her on, to see if I could get her into an allegiance, but before I really had a chance to start looking in to it, I saw a post trying to drum up a group for the Cobalt Sweeps Vault. Samhuin had only completed the initial three vaults, as discussed in Character Hopping, and needed the Cobalt Sweeps Vault. I checked out her level, and found that she was 12th level, the minimum level required for Cobalt Sweeps. I also found that Samhuin had a glyph to Cobalt Sweeps so I replied to Snowlock, and said I was on my way, reporting that I was just at the lowest level to qualify, and that I already had a glyph.

I was in Cavendo, Cobalt Sweeps is outside of Molwirth, so I took the Shoushi Portal, and then the Molwirth Portal. I ran through an area infested with Reed Sharks and Cobalt Drudges. For a twelfth level character, Reed Sharks are scary, as are Cobalt Drudges. Fearing a long journey back, I tied to a lifestone in the area, and then continued on, fighting a few reed sharks, just in case. I soon arrived at the Cobalt Sweeps Vault.

I was the second of the three confirmed characters to arrive. Snowlock the Empyrean invited me in to the fellowship. A Tumerok, 14th level, whose name I neglected to record also joined, and then Aryk arrived. We entered the Vault. We fought our way up through the vault, killing the Cobalt drudge prowler that held the key to a door allowing us entrance to the depths of the Vault, and then fought our way back down.

Another character Divinri, had fought the drudge mystic that guarded a door to the lower level. Divinri was invited in to the fellowship, and we opened the door, and leapt down. We fought our way through to the vestibule, and entered it. Here we fought the Drudge Warlord, the boss monster of Cobalt Sweeps Vault. I had targeted the Warlord, and kept my distance, but I had done enough damage that I was targeted by it. I did not realize, until it was almost too late, that I was taking a lot of damage. I started to back away, and then saw the message that I had killed the Drudge Warlord. Fortunately, the Warlords bodyguard had been slain by my party. We entered the Vault room, and using the crystal heard the story of Asheron, the last Empyrean. According to the history, he sacrificed himself after the Golden Age, to allow the Isparian Derethians to escape to the Vaults.

We came out of the Vault, and Samhuin was, surprisingly, 14th level. My first words, "Snowlock, you are Empyrean, no?" I then said "Asheron was a fool, he was the strongest, and those under him should have been sacrificed not him."

The Vaults fellowship continued on and decided to do the Mad Crone Vault. I did not have a glyph for this one, but Snowlock gave me one. I then ran to Cavendo, tied to the Cavendo Lifestone, and then ran back to the Portal loop, and took it to Rithwic. From there I tool the Mad Crone portal, and after one more hop, ran to the Mad Crone Vault. There I met the rest of the fellowship and entered.

This vault was not as difficult. It has a more complicated structure, but the drudges do not seem to be as strong, though they may be more numerous. Also, everyone had earned at least one level. In the Vestibule, the Drudge warlord is without bodyguards so he had virtually no chance. At the end, the shard tells the story of Bael'Zharon, the path of the Shadows, and warns against losing control of one's self.

At the end of this Vault, Samhuin was 15th level, and I now have the opportunity to choose a class.

The fellowship wanted to do Prosper, but that is a 21st level vault, and none of us were 21st level. They decided to start with Rashan's Revenge, but I unfortunately had to leave the fellowship, as I needed to deal with a real life situation. So at this point, I will conclude this blog.

Thanks again for reading, and I'll write again soon.

Gueron