Friday, March 20

Horse riding

Thursday my VG session ended on a sour note when my final diplomacy rewards disappeared and I had to petition. SOE has a rather weird complex petition system. It basically pops up a browser. And the website that welcomes you contains a lot of tabs and links that have nothing to do with petitioning. It took me a while to find out where I had to go. Especially since it updated like I was on a 9600 baud modem. But in the end I managed to have my petition logged. I would receive an email with a response later on. This system doesn't work very handy for "stuck in a dungeon, I need help now". But I just wanted my rewards. I had not much hope in ever receiving them but I still decided to not leave the Isle of Dawn yet, and instead I simply logged off.

Friday morning I found an email stating they have put my missing rewards in my inventory. Hooray for SOE. It was pleasant to see they helped me out rather quickly. This ought to be the normal response from a CS point of view. And I should not expect less. But I am still pleasantly surprised, and SOE scored a lot of brownie points with me.

So Friday evening I made my way to the mainland. I started at a Riftstone not too far from Tanvu, or so I thought. Some sort of walled building with warrior monks was standing nearby. And there I picked up my first quests. One of the monks actually had a whole list of things to do. Walking around some more I found a lady talking about the Gray Knights and promised me a horse if I survived a chat with them. Of course I took her up on that. And another lady tried to figure out if I was a weaponsmith or armorsmith. She didn't really care, but told me to go to Tanvu to sort it out.

There was a mailbox as well. And somehow Twanni, Coilla and Kettle all knew I was going to check it. It was cramped full with goodies from the lovely ladies. But unfortunately there was no bank, and my bags were getting really full! Also, before going on a rampage I needed to get my city banner. Glory to the Emperor! So time to go to Tanvu.

Tanvu looked still a bit off across the mountain, and since every riftstone has a flying mount vendor I rented a Pegasus and off I went. But I miscalculated the distance a bit. Tanvu was not where I thought it was. It was actually at the end of the next island. And my sightseeing flying made me drop out of the air way before I reached it. So I had to run quite a bit through the forest filled with angry bears and walking oak trees. At least it gave me a change to sharpen my blades. Only too bad I got no recognition for it since I didn't have my banner yet.

Eventually I reached Tanvu and did the usual running around lost in the city thing. It took me a while to find the city rep that handed me a banner, and even more time to find a banker. It looked like the credit crunch had hit Telon as well. Once that was all sorted out I talked to the blacksmith master to find out my options. Apparently I had to talk to some other master out on a pier. No idea why a blacksmith master is standing on a pier, but you don't question the master.

Along the way to the pier I saw the racial mounts pin. The battle lobsters look quite impressive. It made me realize that having a mount is pretty damn convinient. My legs were already getting tired. Perhaps it would be smart to talk to the Gray Knights. And perhaps it would have even been smarter if I did that before I came to Tanvu. But I had not. In stead I was on the pier talking to the blacksmith master. He asked me to make a couple of armor pieces. And since I was all pier chatty I talked to a funny looking guy on the pier on the other side of the water as well. He wanted to teach me all about fishing, but I needed a fishing license first.

So tons of stuff I needed to do, but since it probably all involved running around I decided that getting my horse was the most important. Since there were no Pegasi in Tanvu I had no other choice than to walk all the way. But I had my banner now, so anything that crossed my path would feel the wrath of the Emperor! But since I sticked to the main road nothing much crossed me. Until I reached towards the end of the island and decided to take a shortcut. I ended up in a forst full of maneaters. It sounds worse than it is. I actually had no problem fighting them of me, and I reached the shore unscratched.

On the other side, now closer to the Gray Knights, I found all the creatures the warrior monk had send me out to kill. Like poor sheep they stepped in front of my blade. By the time I had reached the Gray Knights I had all the skins and beaks and whatnot I needed. But now I had to face the dreaded Gray Knights!

As it turned out they might be mighty with a sword, but their words were pathetic. I parleyed all I needed to know from their leader with just my basic jargon. So I left them baffled and returned to the monks nearby. I was actually expecting some more hassle, but no, she promptly handed me the horse. Woohoo! I got my very own ride. I finished up a few more minor chores around there and I jumped on my horse for a fun ride back to Tanvu. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to ride a horse along the Telon roads.

The trip back to Tanvu again went by in a blur of excitement. Looking forward to my next adventures!

(sorry, no snazzy pictures to cheer it all up a bit. I kinda forgot to take any ;.)

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you had a great time.
    Just wondering, do you know what day it is Today? :-)

    The mount quest for Diplomats sure has become a lot... easier. It used to be a 5 stage quest at the Southern harbor, of which the name escapes me. Twanni will be running on her own two feet until she hits 20 I'm afraid, since she won't be going the Diplomacy road.

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