Finally got a 2-5 event for the LS to actually work.. sort of. Of course, I didn't need 2-5 by this point, but I did want to help others get through it.

We farmed Firedrakes and go 6 some odd scales. It was very productive. The Firedrakes were kind of a pushover as we were so 1337! ....ahem... anyway... We made it to the top and did the battle. Unfortunately, we didn't win it after 4 or 5 attempts. We had some "issues" with certain people messing up and we also never had enough fire-power (usually because we'd lost someone's 2 hour sometime earlier in the night). Alas. Well, was a good learning experience and we will try again.

I then got my Mannequin done... YAY! YIPPEE! HOORAY!

Here he is with his Scorp Harness and white white panties...

Once again...

Frilly panties from the back...

...And a close-up for the ladies...

Well, I've decided to give Monk a break for a while now. Basically, I'm having no luck getting through the Zilart Missions with my schedule (I'm having better luck with the Promathia Missions) so I don't yet have Sky access. Additionally, I've been sitting on an Eye cluster for a couple weeks now for my Optical Hat, but short of abandoning my crew and joining an HNMLS, I can't seem to get a way to actually use the cluster and get my hat. So, until either one of these things get done, I wont be leveling up Monk any time soon.

So, I started leveling Ninja again. Ninja was only 19 at the time (was under-leveled for my WAR sub and as a sub for the CoP missions past the Aqueducts). Managed to get it to 23, which I was pleased about. But the one thing I was most proud of was the fact that I managed to cap my Ninjitsu! Ninjitsu is notoriously difficult to keep capped because it costs money to do so and the spells you start out with are pretty weak for damage. Thus, most Ninjas don't have their Ninjitsu remotely capped... I certainly didn't at 19. But through spamming the elemental wheel I was able to not only cap it but also enfeeble the enemy and occasionally magic-burst (which was a rush :-) I knew all of this was possible, obviously... I just never had done it myself.

After that, I met back up with Rank, Gordon, and Ash for our next CoP chapter. This may or may not turn into a static CoP group simply because my schedule makes me slower than they'd like. But thus far it's worked pretty good.

So Rank and I headed out to uncapped Pso'Xja to farm for the chip I needed for the mission. Rank is a THF so we managed to get the drop on our second Diremite.

We then gathered in Jeuno and headed back for the mission. On our way there, a couple of people caught Aggro so I dealt with them. Once back inside Pso'Xja (capped), we wound our way through the maze. Pso'Xja really is a pushover compared to the earlier places we had to traverse in CoP. It also was a visually stunning locale with shimmering walls, glowing portals and ornate architecture. We got to the burning circle easily.

Really, CoP is interesting because the trips keep getting easier and easier. Running up the Promies was quite difficult since everything was true sight. The Aqueducts were tricky because of the true sight Taurs, the Fomor hate issue, and the complexity of the map, but was much easier than the promies. Riverne was easier still with its only tricks being the Dragon Scales and learning which displacements to take. Pso'Xja was just running around with no sneak from zone to zone until you get where you need to be. Pso'Xja took less than 10 minutes to get through for a group of people who'd never even been inside it before...

....but I digress.

We entered the circle and found ourselves on the platform over Diablos. We buffed up, then ran in to start fighting. Diablos himself was pretty darn weak. We kept up Poison Potions to keep us awake and just pounded away at him until we killed him. Anyway, now I'm on Chapter 4 and I am officially much further along in CoP than I am in RoZ.

Rounded out the weekend by trying to help Marta with her WHM AF3. It was late, and I was grouchy, but I was willing. We got to the spawn in Fei'Yin and cleared the area of shadows and other stuff that could cause us problems. We rested up and Marta popped the NM for us to fight. This NM was a mean bastard, and the fight was hard. We actually got him down to a sliver of live but a certain WHM was late with his 2 hour and we wound up wiping. This WHM, FYI, was the same one that mis-fired his 2 hour last week in the CoP 2-5 Mammet fight and cost us the battle. I wont name any names, but I am getting a bit tired of him always firing his 2 hour too late :-/

Spent some time in the Misareaux Coast with Liabelle. It seemed to be a pretty good area to level her up, but she is now 42 so it's usefuless may be at an end.

Thersty's ENM static was, as usual, successful. I really don't mention them much any more because they are so predictable and boring. But I mentioned it this week because I took a screenshot :-)

After this, I got with a group of people willing to help wrap up ZM5. By now I only needed Cape Terrigan and Ifrit, but I tagged along with the others again just to show support. The Shadow in Cape Terrigan was kind of cool, and we managed to journey through Ifrits to the jungle quite easily. The battle there was a pushover but somehow I missed or incorrectly clicked on the Headstone after the battle and did not get the key item. DAMNIT! Of course, I didn't discover this fact until well after I left Ifrit. My current running theory is that I was cured just as I clicked the stone and so, even though I got the text saying I picked up the stone, the event of actually picking it up was cancelled.

Next, Darkkit and I took Dayum out on his first BCNM run. Here we are at the burning circle. We fought the Royal Jelly one trying for my Utsusemi: Ni scroll. Unfortunately it didn't drop for me. It did drop for Darkkit, however, so I was able to purchase it from her.

Because of our successful Mammet run last week, several people needed the next leg of the journey. I was home sick from being scoped that morning, so I stuck around to help Trix and a few others get through the next mission.

We slaughtered the Marlboro in Carpenter's Landing, then road the boat for a bit. We were trying to get back to the Sandy exit, but had no luck with the ride, so, when we got seperated from Darkkit, Ava teleported us to Dem and we just walked.

The next leg was back to Attowha Chasm, where we killed the bug again. The fight was easy when I did it with Trix and company, but much harder when I came back later to help Cyc. 71MNK and a 74BRD just don't have the firepower to kill this bug easily before he reheals to full. We convinced Avayr (75DRK) to join us and we destroyed it with one well placed skillchain. After the bugs demise we climbed the mountain and wrapped up Cyc's stretch of the mission. Now, many people are ready for Diabolos, which I plan on leading up soon.

Once finished with the Mission, Avayr and Cyc wanted to get the map to Attowha Chasm (since they had been so lost) so I helped them start it and we headed to Bibiki Bay and Purgonorgo Isle. On the Manaclipper, Cyc fished up the NM Cyclopean Conch. Cyclonus and a Cyclopean Conch... heh. Anyway, we barely made a dent in this thing because we didn't think to not use weaponskills when he was in his shell. So we maybe got him down to 75% before the boat docks and the fight was over.

Once on the island, we headed out and killed us some Peerifools. We then headed back to Attowha Chasm where I took Avayr and Cyc to Boneyard Gully and they completed the quest. I stayed behind levelling up my NPC and generally marvelling at how awesome my Vampiric Claws were.

Finally wrapped up by running with Trix to start a series of quests. These quests involved running around in Oldton Moval., so Cyc tagged along and we killed Moblins. We also helped Trix get his map for the area, which required Cyc and I to head into Newton to flip a gate for Trix (his chest spawn was someplace more complex). Inside Newton, Cyc and I used our NPCs to clear mobs. Somewhere in here Liabelle dinged 42.

I then went and soloed the NM for the next stretch of the quest, Bugallug. Bugallug looks a lot meanier than he really is and I managed to destroy him easily.

Started out with a little Garrison action in the clan. Here I am farming between battles. As you can see, I had to come as the kiter. Honestly, just kiting and not leading is pretty sweet. You just have to keep one sleeping mob focused on you. It's cake.

The Garrison was well executed and we had little difficulty with it. Luna was my sleeper so we spent a lot of time standing off to the side with a drowsy mob.Here is Thersty and Vervane between battles. We did 8 runs or so, and it was a good night.

After Garrison, I headed out to Oldton to help Trix and Cyc with their Bugalug. And went to Promy to do the NPC quest with Cyc and his NPC.

Soon I was back leveling NIN in the Jungles. Made it to 27. I found that the Mandies were really only bad when we didnt keep them enfeebled. Blinded, slowed, and gravitied they were no real trouble tanking with only Ichi.

Then, Sunday as I was getting ready to level NIN again, Cyc told me there was an O.Hat run starting up in Jeuno. Since I had been sitting on my Eye cluster for a while now, I decided to go. Cyc even joined me to help out.

The trip there was only mildly annoying since no one had a map or knew the way. I, of course, had the map and knew the way so I wound up having to go back for people to keep everyone together. But we eventually got there and fought the Hakutaku.

We fought many different battles before actually fighting mine. My Hakutaka fight was a bit hard because we were down to not many people. But alas, that's the price you pay for going last.

See, for most Hakutaka fights you wind up having a lot of people needing the fight. So, you wind up doing the fights over and over and over again. Our particular run took around 7 hours to get through everyone who needed it.

The problem is once you get your hat the only motivation you have to stay and help everyone else is to pay them back for helping you. Unfortunately, as we have seen time and time again, human nature is to be selfish and not care about the people who helped you.

So, if you look back at the first few pictures you will see people not there in the latter pictures. This is because those wankers ditched us as soon as they got their hats. By the last couple fights we were down to less than 10 people for the battle. We still managed to do it, but the battles took 30+ minutes each. I was nice (too nice) and I went last to make sure everyone else got theirs (and as a show of faith).

I did get my hat, but it was hard earned. Ta-da!!! Bah, you can't see my eyes.... I look like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert. AH, there we are... here's my eyes. I guess it's the perfect thing to cover up my balding head.

After the Hakutaka fight, a group of people remaining wanted to go fight Leviathan, so I tagged along. Here we are approaching the crystal. And here we are resting before the fight.

There is a long and winding path leading to Leviathan. Once there we had to battle the beast. This was not without peril but we ultimately prevailed.

After Leviathan was vanquished, we travelled to Norg to complete the quest and obtain our avatar. Here I am with my new avatar, Leviathan. Pretty sweet, no?

Finally wrapped up the weekend helping Cyc camp an NM. This NM drops a cloak he wants, but it never actually spawned while I was there. So we wound up just leveling our NPCs and calling it a night.