The Legendary 12 has had good times and bad in the North Wing of the Temple of Veeshan. Tuesday night the guild leaders summoned the forces for an assault into the toughest area of Veeshan's temple. An earlier group had dispatched Aaryonar, opening the door for deeper exploration and assault of the zone. Rising to the challenge the Legendary 12 Airlift Command spirited the members from the far corners of the two worlds to the icy doorstep of DragonKin.

The first order of battle was to employ or skilled mages to move the army from the entrance past the hostlie drakes guarding the north side entrance. With skill and speed we quickly formed our forces and began our battle. We cleared many flurry drakes, and moved to prepare for battle with the Guardians of Veeshan. We fought well and hard, with even Huggabug landing a killing blow!

We cleared our path towards the hulking Lord Feshlak, who lay seething for us in his lair. We buffed and made ourselves ready, and then Snaggle sounded the charge. The battle raged for many minutes, with many staggering blow from vast spells and clashing blades. In the end a thunderous shot from Gavving's blow finished the brute. Our forces rejoiced, our casualties few.

Bouyed by this success, we pressed deeper into the lair. We waged a pitched battle against the crafty Dagarn the Destroyer, who was more effective against our army than the hapless Lord Feshlak. This time it was Avelyn who stood before the great wurm and absorbed his blows. Again the magic of the priest encased him in a waterfall of healing power.

The night was already a triumph, but it was decided that one more encounter would be attempted. We worked our way along the walls to face down Lord Kreizenn. Bolts of magic energy to light a dozen cities crackled overhead, lost in the great bellows of the mighty red dragon. The battle lasted long but its outcome was inevitable with Sabamiki landing the killing blow. Lord Kreizenn lay dead at our feet, another of the might guardians of the north wing had been defeated.

While drawing up plans for one last assault, the return of the flurry drakes convinced us to proudly leave the remaining dragons for another day. We exited the temple, with a pride worthy of a great guild.

Items
Ancient Tarnished Vambrances - Khazmadur
Shield of Thorns - Balinki
Shield of Thorns - Wooddy
Shield of Dragonkind - Avid
Staff of the Silent Star - Zentari
Staff of the Silent Star - Zurie
Boots of the Dead Dream - Zeeve
Dagarn's Tail - Berdoff
Bow of the Destroyer - Avelyn
Shiny Metallic Pantalons - Durason
Dawncaller, Blade of Mourning - Kalorad
Ancient Fire Etched Flamberge - Ackk
Shadow Fang Necklace - Vexx

Rumors abound that there are pictures of these raids to be had, the will be posted as soon as they arrive at the L12News pressroom!

Monday rolled around, and several major monsters were still stomping around in the world of Norrath looking for someone to fight. Two of our targets this week taunted us from their dens in the Temple of Veeshan's North wing. The army of Legendary 12 needed no further prompting to pack its gear and war fighting tools, and head for the temple.

Upon arriving we engaged both Eashen of the Sky and Ikatiar the Venom. Both of whom put up an excellent and adventuresome fight. When they fell they yielded precious treasure to our team, which we were happy to distribute to the members.

Congratulations Legendary 12!

Items
Ancient Wyvern Hide Boots - Felong
Ancient Wyvern Hide Tunic - Felong
Claw of Lightning - Frubblestump
Runed Fang Necklace - Donbe
Twisted Steel Gauntlets - Pirvan
Leather bracelet - Bubonik
Plate Bracer - Monoxcide
Silk Sleeves - Bubonik

We were looking forward to a quiet Sunday, largely focused on character development, and a raid to achieve the 8th shawl for guild wizard Isaiah. In the small hours of the night, Stormahmmer crashed and restarted. This meant that as morning broke on Sunday, the entire world of Norrath was open for hunting season with no restrictions.

This free wheeling, target rich environment made for one of the most active days in guild history. Our mettle, courage, patience and skill were put to the test.

There is no finer way to start the day than with a pair of angry snakes. It seemed only yesterday (actually the day before) that we had shared with the Rhags our own form of justice. Once again we found ourselves outside the halls of Ssra Temple. Once again we battled Rhag`Zhezum in his lair, then fought our way upward through the temple to reach Rhag`Mozdeth. He proved a bit tougher this time (the hour was early and some of our clerics were not yet on) but the results were the same. Far too much greasy snake to go around.

Items
Glowing Orb of Luclinite - Bartrose
Glowing Orb of Luclinite - Pyrafyre
Crystal of Interpretation - Quixon
Silver Lined Sleeves - Zentari
Bone Golem Vambraces - Pyrafyre
Righteousness - McKey

With the rather pathetic Rhags out of the way, we felt it only proper to pay a visit to that stuffy King of Kael Drakkel. King Tormax was strutting about like the paper tiger we knew him to be. Before we could face the King, we found ourselves talking to our friends of the guild Europa. They had also assembled at the Kael zone line to hunt. We quickly worked out an agreement, and by luck of the draw Legendary 12 got first rights.

We thanked them and ceded the Vindicator to them, and focused our attention on taking care of the tall king. Our pulling was excellent, and before long we found ourselves face to face with Tormax. The fight was long, and a bit more rocky than our norm. In the end it could only conclude one way, with Tormax face down in the mud at the entrance to his domain. Congratulations to all who fought him!

Items
Bow of the Huntsman - Zerapheus
Cloak of the Maelstrom - Torain
Crown of the Kromzek Kings - Zerapheus
Head of Tormax - Wooddy
Boots of the Storm - Zerapheus
Ring of Lightning - Glasgow

At this point, on a normal day we would be done. But it was barely past noon in the Pacific, and with the rest of the members coming on line, it was time for the next challenger. Our friends at Europa had quickly assembled to take out Klandicar before we could get there, so we turned our sites to Dozekar in the Halls of Testing. What should have been a routine enter and kill was complicated by some friction with the team there working towards armor of their own. After many deaths and a lot of frustration, Snaggle was able to rally the army of Legendary 12.

We stood outside his room, waiting to strike. At the time of our choosing we gave him a proper thrashing as we are known to do. He fell with a minimum fuss, giving up several precious tears for our members. Well done!

Items
Platinum Tear - Snaggle
White Tear - Kristofos
Runed Tear - Tanu

At this point, we had been going non stop. Yes yes, it was time to take a break and get a drink, or a bite to eat. While we were busy taking care of our earthly needs, Stormhammer capitulated once again.

An hour later it was back up, and once again it was open season on the full spawn. The core army of Legendary 12 returned to Kael to do battle with the Vindicator, in hopes of coaxing the Statue of Rallos Zek to come out and play. Alas this was not the case, but we killed Vindicator anyhow.

Items
Treasure to be published shortly!

The hour was growing late, but there was one last foe to face. Our old nemesis Zlandicar was stinking up Dragon Necropolis once more, and the peaceful Pabela had called on us to take out the wretched cannibal once more. Along the way we visited the resident dragon shade, to create new Sleeper's Tomb keys for two our our members (congrats Avid and Bubonik!). Then it was on to Zlandicar's lair.The fight was as short and violent as we could make it, and in under 2 minutes he lay dead. We were blessed by his dragon hoard, and we divided the loot among the members.

Items

First Brood Talisman - Zurie
Gauntlets of Mortality - Pirvan
Zlandicar's Heart - Pyrafyre
Frakadar's Talisman - Balinki
Zlandicar's Talisman - Vexx

Well done Legendary 12 for a full and exciting day!

I wanted to take a moment and explain where the guild is headed in November and December.

First, we will be switching faction back to Council of Veeshan (CoV) faction officially on November 1st. We are doing this to keep our promise to those who have been working on Halls of Testing (HoT) and Dozekar quests since the guild began. If you remember, we abandoned CoV faction 5 weeks earlier than planned. This was done to accommodate our Tier 5 agenda and North Temple of Veeshan (NtoV). On November 14th, we will re-evaluate where we are on CoV faction, who still has quests to complete, and if there is value in remaining on CoV faction. Our current plan is to drop CoV faction again after Nov 14th, so that we can focus on NtoV once again.

A few things might alter our faction plans. If Planes of Power (PoP) provides us with an alternative to NtoV that yields a higher Loot-Per-Hour (LPH) for the guild than NtoV, then we remain on CoV faction. This is unlikely, but expansions have done this before.

One final faction alternative I am considering is keeping a group of 24 volunteers on CoV faction. This would be our group that clears the HoT entrance and allows the rest of the Kill-On-Sight (KOS) to CoV faction players to Call of Hero (CoH) to the pit in HoT - saving us the 90 minutes it takes to clear through the hub into HoT.

Next, I would like to discuss recruiting. Wooddyxx is in charge of recruiting now. Helping him will be Evlowchim and Gangrene. We will always target clerics as a high priority for recruitment. Other high priorities for us at the moment are Shaman, Magician, Enchanter, and Beastlord. Within the next month I will also be acquiring some experienced leaders from older guilds that I feel will make very valuable regular members. I want to focus on getting more veterans of high-end Luclin encounters dispersed through the ranks.

When PoP is released, I want us to switch our primary focus to leveling. Many of the new planes are being designed for non-raid groups that actually just want to level. Also, the new /army commands that are on Test Server will make scheduling large-scale experience raids realistic. The level cap of 65 will allow us to catch up to Vexare, Leviathan, and Township Rebellion (TR) much faster than anything else. It will, in effect, serve to level the playing field much faster, but only if we take advantage of the opportunity.

With the release of PoP, we will quickly identify the zones that yield the great LPH for the guild. We will also identify any unbalanced loot drops or exp rewards and try to take advantage of them before they get nerfed. As anyone who has been through multiple expansions knows, there is always some zone that drops too much loot or gives a great advantage that the GMs nerf within a few days or weeks. Being a smaller, flexible guild, with fewer demands on our time, we can move more quickly to take advantage of these opportunities in the early days of PoP.

I also want to be prepared for the stress that is going to accompany people wanting to level vs. raid, and people wanting to explore the expansion vs. do "old world" stuff. These are normal issues a guild has to deal with every time an expansion is released. We have not had to deal with this pressure yet, but I want us to be prepared for it. Pursuant with these preparations, I only want officers calling pickup raids, and then only after speaking with the other officers to confirm all is well. I will be scaling back some of our Tier Calendar encounters if that is what it takes to allow more Character Development (CD) and exploration. The first month of expansion (Oct 22nd ? Nov. 22nd) we will allocate at least two days per week to exploring the new planes. These will be scheduled events and will appear on our calendar.

I wanted to take a moment to thank Evlowchim for the many "behind the scenes" updates he has been implementing for the officers to adjust DKP and member information. He was able to quickly learn the database and improve upon my PHP applications that allow us to manage to day-to-day record keeping of the guild. I also want to thank Vexx for his continued hard work keeping the web page updated.

As PoP is released, I would like to stress for everyone to keep a level head. At these times people want to run in 20 different directions at once. The guild is not here to monopolize your time in EQ; I want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the expansion on his or her own terms. However, in those instances where we call a guild raid, especially a scheduled calendar raid, I would like to see everyone on the same page and working without distraction. As with many things guild related, we will seek to create a balance between raid time and CD time.

Speaking of balances, I would like to stress again that our guild encourages a healthy EQ/Real Life Balance. This means I do not want to see people burning themselves out on EQ, losing their jobs, wives, scholarships, or whatever for the sake of a hobby. Any time that you need to take for yourself to achieve this balance, you should do so. I force myself to make time to do things in RL, no matter how much I want to log into the game. In the long run it keeps me sane and cultivates a healthy attitude towards the game. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Thank you for taking the time to read my update. I am extremely excited about the next month or two; I foresee great adventures and exciting explorations for the guild within PoP.

Your Leader,

Snaggle "the Strategist" Tooth

The Legendary 12 had defeated all of their foes this week save one. While we waited on the Lord of Fear to show himself, we passed the time by assisting two members complete their epic weapons.

First we traveled to Skyfire mountains to spawn Ragefire for Lexy’s epic. As in this past this rather meager bag of scales proved little more than a fine source of skirt steak for our cookouts. We defeated him quickly and Lexy soon held her prized water sprinkler, and the guild could proudly claim another cleric had been equipped.

While fillet of Ragefire had whetted our appetite, we were really in the mood for seafood. Semuvan was next up on our list, and his tasty target was Faydedar. The biggest challenge of this fight was finding the remote location, and getting the members in place. He proved no more of a challenge (but a much better meal) than Ragefire. Before long the leaves were blowing from Semuvan’s weapon, and we all congratulated him on a job well done.

Thanks to all who helped, and congratulations to Lexy and Semuvan!

The Legendary 12 has been remiss in its duty to Norrath. While we have worked hard to rid the world of the tasty dragon menace, we have left the moon, and its rather unpleasant snake broods be. After weeks of anticipation it was finally time for us to pay the Rhags of Ssra temple a call.

Word travels fast, even on Luclin, and they were none to happy to see our army amassing in their entry hall. We plowed through the lower level snakes and servitors to stand before Rhag`Zhezum. We engaged him in battle, making a few mistakes but suffering no losses.

With the first serpentine menace dispatched, we wormed our way through the narrow corridors of the temple towards the elevator tubes that would grant us access to the second tier. We fought a pitched battle at the outlet, and the stones became slippery with their black blood. The way to the second high priest of this temple was lined with danger and traps, and our cunning was put to the test.

We stood before the dias of Rhag`Mozdeth, mocking him and using his guards for target practice. With the call to attack from Khazmadur the battle was on. It raged for many long minutes and in the end we were victorious with a final mighty blast of Uban's magic.

Both snakes rewarded us for our efforts, and the members welcomed the upgrades

Well done Legendary 12!

Items
Righteousness - Lexy
Glowing Orb of Luclinite - Garreet
Silver Lined Sleeves - Fazzadien
Glowing Orb of Luclinite - Isaiah
Talisman of Evasion - Graycloak
Sword of Nochular - Donbe