Talia's diary

Spring Cleaning

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:01:43 -0700

Tomorrow is the Day of Burden, as noted on the official NEaB calendar. A few days ago, I was reading the holiday's description and thinking hard about how lucky I was to have everything that I do. When I was a young NEaBian, weight definitely was an issue. I remember having to sort through my inventory constantly in order to make room in my backpack for excess items, such as armor or raw materials. Thankfully, as I gained levels and subsequently gained strength, I was at last able to start hauling my possesions around properly.

Later on I acquired a dungeon and a store in the Marketplace, which also served as excellent places to sell extra possesions or keep things in. As I gained more levels and started earning more quest rewards, I began to obtain more and more possesions. Many quests required ingots and raw materials, so I started keeping several hundred or so of these with me, so that it wouldn't be too bothersome to run back and get some during a particularly exciting moment.

Later on, a generous woman residing in the Iron Isles, offered to give me cooking lessons. As I advanced towards my degree and began to learn more and more recipes, I realized that one of the best ways to learn was to keep as many ingredients as I could within my inventory and experiment from there. I also noticed that previously overlooked spots on certain islands could reveal great surprises if I happened to keep certain supplies with me - a reserve torch, for example, could light up a dark passage containing exciting secrets.

Until then, I had mostly overlooked the various shopping districts on other islands. I soon found out, however, that the shopkeepers were all so kind, displaying various goods to me and helping me to check if I needed anything. By this time it was not uncommon for me to walk around with several hundred thousand gold in my pocket, so I relented to the urge to buy and indulged in whatever I could purchase. I figured that if I had every single type of item available, I would no longer be lacking anything, whether it be recipe-making, questing, or simply indulging in needs.

Thus, I arrived at the present, armed with loads of foodstuffs, plenty of armor (even the low-leveled ones) and a dubious amount of self-worth. Did I really need all these items? Even if, for example, a future quest required a diamond ring, was it really necessary to cart 100 of them around all the time? As I looked in dismay at my scattered possesions, I realized that, contrary to what I had formerly believed, wealth was not the true way to happiness.

That was how I began my Spring Cleaning. I think I'll be doing it more often in the future, too - for the most part I'll just cart around whatever I think I need, and not have too many excesses of it. In case you're wondering, I didn't put any of it into my shop - to prevent other NEaBians from suffering the same fate as me I cast them into the void.

Or at least, I think I cast them into the void. What happens when you click 'drop' on your inventory?

Pet ponderings

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:03:58 -0700

I've been busy, as usual. There are a lot of people who have been lining up in front of my house on Jhal-Abur, asking if they can take on new responsibilities or offering to assist players in a quest. It hasn't left me much time to go adventuring, unfortunately, but whenever I have time I try to relax by visiting islands or writing something interesting. The feather pen and paper now hold much significance for me, as I spend so much of my time using them, but I realized that one of the best ways to avoid monotony is to have several projects of interest to juggle back and forth, which is basically my NEaB work schedule right now.

Recently I've also been browsing the Pet Market, in search for a new pet. Now, Kyp Durron has been a very faithful glumy, and at level 68 he does a good job of helping me finish off my enemies. Nevertheless, he does have limitations, as he only executes a fair amount of damage compared to the enemies I've been facing recently. I was considering buying a Griffon, but I've no idea what the going price is or how difficult it will be to train him.

In the meantime, Oarus was kind enough to loan me his beloved hydra, Helga. She is a beauty! It's been lots of fun, slicking her down with water to keep her three heads moist and shiny. And, as I've had chance to see, she is VERY strong, decapitating those evil Magic-resistant Necromancers with a few head-butts. I have high hopes for Helga; hopefully I'll be able to raise both our levels by the time I run out of food and must give her back. For some reason she has an affination for Moon fish, which I've been trying to store indefinitely until the time comes to use them for a Higher Purpose.

No, I don't mean Pet Sacrificing. Oh yes, I know all about the altar to the South of Soupir, and I also know how to get hints on creating combos. The problem simply is that I lack the money and time to buy all those pets, level them up, and then take a risk on the pet altar (I think I was there once when MAS started sobbing in the Lodge because of his loss). I did try sacrificing once, with a level 20 rooster I had as a younger NEaBian. I got 10 chicken meat from it. Ah wells, it did make a tasty dish.

Perhaps one day if my writing career finally takes off, making me rich and famous, I might take up Pet Sacrificing. In the meantime though, I'll just settle for buying a Griffon for someone else.

On the path to ninjahood

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:59:34 -0800

Well, I did it. Today I made it to level 140. As soon as I finished the Daily Dungeon, I grabbed my 15 million and ran over to the Magic School to learn my Mana Span spell. You have no idea how invigorating it is to zap monsters that easily. There are a number of boss monsters that I've wanted to fight for a long time, and that I finally got to put my dukes up against today...like the Evil Treasure Hunter...and those nasty barbarians...and Jones1 (not to be confused with the kind and generous Clowny Jones)...but I'm getting ahead of myself there. I guess I should wait till I've actually defeated them before starting to get delusions of grandeur.

Before this though, I read something quite sad on the blogs this morning: that Croesy is temporarily stepping down from his Dukeship. It was a bit comforting to see that he would still be popping his head into chat, but it will be sad to realize that I won't be bothering him about mundane issues anymore. I've bothered him quite a few times, actually...from pestering him to show me how to talk to Dr. Botson to magically erasing my annoying journal entries to fixing buggy quests to petitioning for new ice cream recipes...the list goes on and on.

Now that I think about it, I've bothered a lot of people, especially when asking if quests were ready, or about ficticious quest bugs that weren't really there. I suppose it's time to apologize to all the Island managers I've bothered, most notoriously Kerrik and Healer (if he's still lurking around somewhere). Perhaps little old Talia must start using her brain before she calls wolf again O_O

Anyhow, I've decided to keep my mouth shut for now and wait until I find another, legitimate, quest bug. In the meantime I have started a *super-secret ninja* quest of my own. Since Croesy has stepped aside, what is he going to do with all his free time? I shall begin my research on Sleuthville. There is a pig farm there. And from what I've heard, Croesy really, really, really likes pigs.

P.S: Did I mention that Jhal-Abur has a ninja teacher? Her name is Ziva, and she runs a training school which has trained the likes of Daycare teachers, Japanese Architects, and even...dum da dum...MY MOMMY!!!!!! Obviously, I got a few strings pulled to get lessons, but currently I'm arranging it so that anyone can learn how to be a ninja as well. I shall always remember the three S's: Secret, Stealthy and Silent.

P.P.S: Although I suppose by revealing my interest in Croesy's pigs, I just forgot all three as well.