The Legendary 12 had challenged the Test of Strategy. Once before 4 teams had stood in the arena, ready to take on whatever strange encounters the Arena Master Mip would throw at us. This time it was a Sunday, after tier monsters spawning had consumed Saturday. The four teams gathered in the Arena, and nervously awaited the beginning.
Our challenge would cut short, as another event would be starting soon. We knew we would have to challenge the harder encounters if we wished to do our best. With the forces assembled, Mip gave us the rules and set the first "practice" encounter into motion.
Arena Master Mip addressed us; 'first welcome to the test of Strategy. Although we are starting a little late and are short on time due ot the event here at three I wanted to thank everyone for coming!'. 'This event goes in the direction you want it to. It pits you against diffrent encounters in the arena for the chance to Earn cash Items and event EXP and AA points.' he continued, ' Unfortunately though, Only one title can be given out during the Test of Strategy and Snaggle already Claimed in last time. So I cant give out a second one.'
He went on to say 'The first round is a Warmup round designed to help get your feel for the event. Each round has its own set of Goals and Rules. I will start by telling you the Rules for the warm up round.'
He began with 'WARM UP ROUND! The round consistes of Tigers spawned in the arena along the outside with a Giant Warlord in the back. your Objective is to Kill the Warlord. Agroing any Tigers will result in incurring a penalty'
Soon the fight was on. By staying calm and keeping clear heads, and the talented work of Wooddy and Noctourne we were able to make our way to the Giant Warlord and slay him without disturbing any of the Tigers. The warm up was complete, our spirits were buoyed, but we knew the next rounds were for real.
As if on cue the Arena Master appeared beside us, ready to test our resolve, 'Ok Now we enter the real thing. Snaggle gets to choose the difficulty of the next round.' The level was selected low, to give us an easy start. Snaggle tasked the trackers to tell us what was being spawned in the closed arena. The report, a swarm of Lions, Gorillas and Efreeti were being constructed to test us. We quickly decided the strategy and asked Noctourne to take us to the monster we would attack first. The combat went quickly, and we were soon running back outside the arena, victorious in our first round.
Again Mip asked us to select the difficulty of our next challenge. This time Snaggle chose 5 (with 6 being maximum). As we waited the Arena was filled with gorillas. The test would be one of skill and pulling, and again our druids would provide the key skills. We were to only attack the undead ones, killing them all without disturbing the regular ones. The Gorillas were intermixed in the arena, we had our work cut out for us.
We slowly worked our way around the outside of the arena, with Wooddy and Noctourne coordinating when to harmony, and when to pull. Each battle was carefully waged to keep well away from the Gorillas that must not be disturbed. Before we knew it, the final blow was struck. All of the undead monkeys were slain, we were victorious once more.
For our final round before the ultimate test, Snaggle selected level 6 for us. This would be our toughest test yet. There are two Dragons up in the Arena One is a clone of Nagafen the other of Vox.', he told us, "the goal is to Kill Both of them. You earn 3 points if they both die.' We quickly doned our resist items and buffed against fire and cold. We knew that once a single group of level 60 player had defeated Naggafen, but we would face them both at once. It was decided we would attack Vox first. Our strategy revolved around keeping the dragons separate, and once again positioning of the fight would be key. Although Vox tried to heal herself many times, she was no match for us. With equal speed we dispatched Naggefen, the dragons were slain. At the moment of his death, Zlandicar spawned in the center of the arena, and the fight was on to kill him before his magic and sharp teeth could finish us. Many of us died, and returned to fight. For several tense moments the battle looked lost. In the end some quick work and fast thinking from the 24 in the arena carried the day. We had perfect scores for all rounds.
The time had come, we were to face our final test. This would determine if we would be awarded prizes for our effort. For each point we had gained in the previous rounds, we were granted a boon from MIP, we could choose many thing, such as to have all of our mana or health restored, or for a foe to be death touched. Snaggle chose to seek a large number of mana returns, and smaller number of mass heals.
The final test was wave after wave of monsters, each more difficult than the one before it. At one point the Tier 1 test monster appeared in the midst of a swarm of lesser beasts. The waves grew harder, and we were hard pressed to keep up, time and again Snaggle called for mana from Mip for our forces, with 2 waves to go we had run out of mana refreshes, we were on our own.
Our comrades were falling as the final wave was bested. We were about to raise our weapons in a victory salute when a steely gray creature spawned on the central platform. In a moment of mercurial curiosity, Mip had spawned the Champion of Zek unexpectedly to test us. Taken by surprise, and low on mana the clerics hesitated to start the healing chain, and Snaggle fell in mere moments to his pummeling blows. By the time the cleric team had recovered, Berdoff was standing his ground in front of the Champion of Zek. The battle for 12 minutes, with many team members dying several times. A shout of joy rang out across the Arena as the Champion of Zek fell to a final blast of magic from Bubonik!
Congratulations to the members of Legendary 12 who took part, we were at our best this day and we were victorious.
Twice within a handful of days the Legendary 12 forces invaded the bastion of Kael Drakkel to face off against our old chew-toy the Vindicator, and his impotent icon of failure, the Statue of Rallos Zek. Our encounters with Vindicator had almost become routine, but our second session with him started badly when an eager pet charged to attack before the order was given.
With the eager ball of elemental energy corrected and put on a short leash, the second encounter went without a hitch.
Both fights with the Statue of Rallos Zek were near flawless examples of execution, which one embarrassed guild member referred to as "Textboob encounter". This member was not available for further comment at this time and is belived to be taking remedial typing classes.
In both encounters the hapless giants were looted, ransacked and run amok, leaving a good sized pile of treasure behind for us to plunder.
Congratulations and well done Legendary 12!
Items
Cloak of the Falling Stars - Vexx
Swiftblade of Zek - Aristiri
Hammer of Battle - Snaggle
Thurg Quest Plate Arms - Gentaltouch
Thurg Quest Chain Arms - Vexx
Thurg Quest Chain Gloves - Denth
Breastplate of Vindication - Mysphit
Thurg Quest Silk Boots - Mysphit
Recently our fair home server has all the stability of a two legged bar stool. No where was this fact more disappointing than in Lengendary 12's Tier raids against the Glyphed and Exiled serpents in Ssra Temple.
For those readers not familiar with their ways, the Glyphed serpent is only spawned after a complex ritual set of slayings in the basement portion of the temple. Only if the proper creatures are killed within the limited time window will the elusive Glyphed Serpent make his appearance.
Out of three attempts only one was successful, and that encounter was punctuated by Stormhammer taking a binary nap for an extended period of time. When we returned our ritual was unsuccessful.
Next time Glyphed, it will not be so easy on you!
When the Legnedary 12 is on the move, entire kingdoms run for cover. Last Sunday the Coldain lord, Dain Frostreaver IV was targeted for elimination. Our first encounter went well and he was soon assuming room temperature.
Not content to slay him once, our crack spawn management team was able to conjure him once more to assist in Fazzadien's shawl quest. With his quest components turned in, we were stuck with a surplus Dain. Not the kind of thing to leave out to spoil!. With a bloodthirsty army at the ready it was only a matter of time before he was once again giving up his king's fortune to our members.
Well done all!
Items
Frostreaver Velium Crown - Graycloak
Frostreaver Velium Crown - Zeeve
Head of Dain Frostreaver - Frubblestump
Frostreaver - Drachnyen
Shield of the Seneschal - Xlanfear
Ring of Winter - Avid
Tri-Gold Plated Tackle Hammer - Berdoff
Tri-Gold Plated Tackle Hammer - Thumbtack
Frostreaver - Slob
Head of Dain Frostreaver - Aristiri