The Truth of Marr Sunday, Oct 11 2009

What a wonderful fun weekend in game!

I had set my self a goal this weekend … and it was ALL about the Pallytank.

She has been 80 for an age… like well over 6 months.  I had never been inspired to push her forward on getting her Fabled epic weapon, let alone her Mythical.  

Last week as a guild we had set about getting some newer guildmates updates toward their mythicals.   We have scheduled VP for next week.  A bunch of other guildies are working on their third or fourth Mythicals … and so all of a sudden I felt a burning desire to have a new pretty for my Nanytank.

I had decided that before I even commenced the quest, I would do the pre requisites …. which were quite frankly not too difficult, but quite annoying and time consuming.  First I had to have enough faction with the Reet.   This consisted of grinding out repeatable (heroic) quests  in Sebilis to get to +40K faction.   Blessed with some very patient guildmates, we had a little giggle doing that while enjoying a Friday night beverage of choice (Champagne anyone?)

After actually getting the starter and doing a few solo steps, I thaught that on Saturday I would attempt to achieve the sub quest which is mostly in Sebelis .   I actually had a total blast tanking – even if I did have difficulty keeping aggro.  (this was expected with a totally undergeared character and inexperienced player trying to keep aggro from well geared, experienced dps with Myths) 

Not to be discouraged,  Sunday was to be Nanytanks day.   A kill in Somborn Village, a visit to the Shard of Fear, A visit to Kunzar Jungle and hey presto the fabled weapon would be hers.

At this point, I came so close to disaster.   After our trip to Shard of Fear, I mistakenly thaught that I needed to go to Jarsath Wastes.  On went the port hammer and away I went.    It turned out I didnt need to go there so …. headed back real quick to Kunzar Jungle to fight a named.  This fight would consume  the item that was dropped from Terror in Shard of Fear.   Of course,  I had forgotten to take my port hammer off …. and ported back to JW.   Fortunately for me, we had killed my named and my quest updated no more than 2 seconds before I ported out…. *phew*

Hilarity (and a few rude words from me) ensued, but within moments my girl was back to Kunzar Jungle to claim her new pretty – The Truth of Marr

Thank you so very much to my very kind and patient guildmates.  

After having had such a blast tanking, I think I would really like to do more of it.   This will give Arisha a break from tanking, and some of the other boys a chance to heal sometimes too.  It is a great change of pace – and variety is the spice of life so they say

I know Killy inside out, and I know when to pull out the emergency abilities and when to take it easy.   I think it will take patience and time for me to get to that point on Nanytank – but I am lucky to have a nice group of friends that I hope wont mind a bit.   I might also have them poke and prod me when I feel the need to retreat to the security of the character I know best lol.

Nanytya has around 145aa at the moment, so she has some work to do there.  All her spells are at expert, she has a full set of T2 shard gear, and now her epic, so I have a good base to start with.

I was looking at the Shadows AA tree this morning over coffee, and drooooooooling over some of the pretty abilities there.   I might even have a chat with my favourite Dark Elf Pally for his advice on resetting my aa – I have so much respect for him as a friend and a player after 2 years that I am happy to learn from his experience.

Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did in Norrath this weekend.  Happy hunting and crafting!

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What do I want to achieve? Thursday, Oct 8 2009

I have missed writing about my EQ2 adventures lately, and so it is my intention to get back into the habit of writing regularly.

Having said that …. I really have not much to write about from last nights adventures.    I logged on and chatted about while my dinner was cooking.    A bunch of the guild headed out to WoE, and apparently there was not enough room for my girl …. so I ended up actually heading out with the boys and starting the faction grind in JW with an aim to getting the baby dirge her port hammer.

There were three of us all on alts.   nice and low pressure to just potter about.  We didnt end up spending too much time, but the dirge earned herself a good chunk of an aa level, and inched her way just a little closer to 77. 

I was daydreaming on the train on the way into work this morning (as I often do), thinking that what I might do is write myself a list of things I want to achieve for each of my girls.

I have not had a strong desire until quite recently to get my Pally her Mythical.  In fact, I dont even have her fabled yet.   At the beginning of the week we did Levi to get a bunch of alts VP access.   Killy has been a fixture as MT cleric now for I guess around 2 years.   I am dissapointed that I just didnt log to Nanytya to get her VP access even though a few folks expressed a preference for Killy to stay and heal.

Raid schedule has gone up, and it is planned that we are going to VP week after next.  With the help of the boys, I know that I could very easily be ready for her Myth update as long as she can get VP Access. 

So I guess writing myself a little list of what I want to achieve will be a good way to refocus, and keep myself amused until the expansion comes out early next year    I wonder how other people keep themselves motivated and interested … and how they decide on their priorities.

There is actually so much content that I have not explored in this last expansion … for real I after 12 months I STILL have not quested in the Moors.  I am yet to explore Lavastorm, I am yet to complete RIME faction on any of my characters.   So much fun to be had, I just wish there were two of me to be able to enjoy it all lol.

Until next time – Happy hunting and crafting everyone!

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Alive and kicking Thursday, Oct 8 2009

It feels like it has been EVER such a long time since I posted … probably because it is.   I am however still alive and kicking.

The rest of my real life has been keeping me amazingly busy this last few months.   Mostly work and family stuff – and all for the good.

I can however report that while these events have interfered somewhat in my gaming habbits, that I have still been having MUCHOS fun with the boys.

While it is frustrating, we continue to hit our heads against Thet, Switchmaster, and have not even had another go at Maestro.  

I have been quite excited by the changes in the last GU.   Killy forges onward toward her 200 – being ever so close at about 197 iirc.   I have really enjoyed that a lot of stuff has become heirloom, and for the same reasons as I was excited about shards becoming heirloom.   It is not so much of an issue for me – since I really only play Killy – but I like the flexibility that it gives.    Both in grouping and raids, some folk have been playing alts – so it is nice that they can still take loot for their mains or other characters without needing to mess about switching toons.

My baby dirge is still slowly growing – heading toward 77 with just over 130aa iirc.  I dont know what you would call it – but she is getting to be a spoilt little lizard.   I decided I wanted to take her for a little run through Crypt of Agony for the aa and possible chance at a Carotidcutter.   Could I believe it when we blasted through the zone and it ACTUALLY did drop? *cheers*

One other tale I shall recount … is a very memorable trip through Crucible a wee while ago.    It was absolutely hilarious.   Two of the boys were wearing the Jewel of Animosity, and two of the boys were wearing the Bloodthirsty Choker … for the entire zone.   Certainly kept my Killy girl on her best healing behaviour that instance :p

I have run the Shard of Love a couple of times – hoping to get a set of lovely fairy wings for Killy.   Not much luck so far, but a fairly easy zone even for a small group as long as you have enough dps.

It is hard to describe – I love my EQ, I am fond of my guildmates and the boys, I love seing how far we can push Killy’s heals and still keep the group alive – but lately it really feels as though it is difficult to focus.   Really I have not been concentrating on any of my toons – on their gear, on their aa.    I am DEFINITELY looking forward to the next expansion, and already planning to take some vacation time.

Until then, I guess I focus on getting baby dirge to 80, get Killy her last few aa, then maybe look at getting the pally and the dirge a bit more aa.  I dont think the pally has set foot in Moors yet actually, so it will be fun.   Crazy as it sounds, I am also thinking about which of my girls shall be my next alt to level.  it is especially exciting with the aa slider now.   Maybe my defilier, maybe my swashbuckler.

I guess it is just all about playing what you enjoy and enjoy what you are playing!   Happy hunting and crafting

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What a difference a week makes Tuesday, Jun 2 2009

Wow … where have the last few days gone???

The weekend seemed to fly past as I made some final arrangements towards my holidays at the end of this week.   I did however enjoy a little time in game hitting some fun content with the boys.

We have been talking about it for a little while,  and finally Killy started her TSO signature quest line.  It is our intention that we all get to the same point and progress the quest line together … so Killy caught up and we all moved things right along into the start of Chapter 4 iirc.

On top of that, we also headed into one of the Guk zones – I am hopeless since I dont even remember which zone it was *giggles*.    It was nice and a whole lot of fun to hit a new zone … Discovery AA … AA for killing new named … AA for quest completion.  How lovely!

The beginning of a new week saw us hit VP once again, with hopes to clear the zone and earn mythicals for our remaining guildmates.   We knew that things may have been a little easier with quite a proportion of us now wearing Mythicals … but GOSH what a difference a week makes.

I was a little worried that we were light on healers – especially for Druushk (if we got that far).   My fears were shown to be unfounded.

While some encounters were still untidy (especially Nexona), the change from last week was astounding.   We killed every mob on the first pull, and it only took us one night to progress as far as we did in three nights last instance.  Nexona took us around 15 mins to kill instead of the marathon 40 mins from last week.

I was particularly struck with the changes in the Druushk fight too.  We were so short of healers we only had Killy and Lukwut (Defiler) in MT group.   I was worried that Arishas health would be spiking dangerously without a third healer, but we had no such problem.   Arisha even asked how the healing was feeling in voice chat and I commented that it felt nice and stable and controlled.  Killy and Luk made an excellent healing team

Last night we killed up to and including the Taskmaster.  So tonight I hope that we shall kill Milyex, Xygoz, Ashenclaw and Hoshkar … and perhaps even have time to start into the next wing.   Even if that is all we manage tonight, that will give us both nights next week to play in the final wing, to get both Silverwing and Phara Dar for our Monk, Guardian and Rangers (hope I have not forgotten anyone!)   Cross fingers for us and wish Pax good luck!!

Happy hunting and crafting everyone.

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Our new little man Wednesday, May 13 2009

 

No explanation really required – Totally perfect in his Aunty Killy’s eyes.

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Here we come Nexona!!! Monday, May 4 2009

It may not be exciting to a lot of people now, but last night was a great night for Pax.   It was our first trip into VP and I think we did FANTASTICALLY.

We were fortunate that a couple of our regular raiders have spent a lot of time in VP already.   Small hints for Arisha as we worked our way were incredibly helpful for him I think.   

Obviously, since it was our first time there, I was concentrating very much on Arishas health bar…. I was listening, and know that there are a couple of paths that you can take to clear the zone – I think we only killed one named before we faced Nexona.

To cut a long story short, we pulled her maybe 10 times or so … and IMHO we put in some good work.   One pull in particular was going really well, and then she spawned the drakes – which we were expecting.    The plan was that the Drakes were to be mezzed while we continued to burn her.   This scenario didnt quite work to plan when my favourite Coercer went smoosh … but that is OK.

By that time it was late and we were all getting tired I think.   We are planning to pretty much solidly work on VP in the short term.   Other than the mythical updates, there is still a lot of good gear for our group.

We have certainly got the strat for Nexona working well up to that 40% point where she spawns the drakes.     Now that we have seen that for ourselves and how it happens, I think tonight we will be able to better control the encounter when that happens.

The optomist in me thinks that with some more good work tonight we will see her fall.  It feels very much like the first night we conquered the twins in Kor’Sha or the Sisters in SoH  or VS – She feels like she is within our capabilities as long as we continue to work together as a team.  

If we see Nexona fall tonight, or even next week, it will be incredibly satisfying and so exciting to see our first guild mythicals.    Killy is certainly not going to be among the first to get hers, but patience is a virtue so they say!!!

In other exciting and more important news, my nephew has arrived safe and well.  My brother, his lovely girlfriend and baby all doing well.  Welcome to the world little man!!

While I spent an awful lot of time with the family and visiting our new little man, I did still manage a little bit of time in game on the bardling.  After finishing off some quests in Everfrost she has now headed into the sinking sands.   With some kind help from guildmates we finished her carpet quest.

It is amazing how much fun I am having leveling this girl.  I am struggling to stop her from progressing too fast and missing out on entire zones of content.  She has had MC gear since Level 42… I have boxed her to complete a couple of HQ’s, she has grouped maybe 4 times – the rest of her progression has been solo and a heck of a lot of fun.    This weekend saw her ding 70 almost 71aa and she is now a level 56 Dirge!!

Hope everyone else had a weekend of fun both in Norrath and outside!!  Happy hunting and crafting.

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So much fun and so little time! Wednesday, Apr 15 2009

Well I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful Easter – I know I did    I spent some time out of town visiting a friend this weekend so I didnt get in an awful lot of gaming.  But the gaming I did get in was a whole lot of fun.

I must admit that I blushed a little when I logged in.   It was lovely to know that my friends were happy to see me back. 

Firstly – we had our Leviathan part 2(b) raid in guild.   After learning some harsh lessons from Leviathan Part 2(a)…. we were eager to see him go down and flag the guild for VP.    And flag the guild we did *cheers*

After dispensing with the trash without event, it was on to killing the big boy.     We had a few people who were not with us last time, so after explaining the traps for young players Arisha pulled and we were off.

The fight was controlled and Arishas health stayed nice and consistent for the most part.    Everyone played their part, we did not send Amaijunan over to click the orb too early this time, and some 17 minutes later Leviathan was a jellyfish corpse in his chamber.  *Hoooooray for Pax*

Congrats to my guildmates who got Mythical Updates, and congrats to us all.  So now it is on to VP next week.

I also did something a little bit selfish this weekend.    Anyone who knows me will know that I am very fond of my guildmates, and that I love helping out the guild any way I can.   Regardless of this, I made myself a new little girl who is not in the guild and I dont think I will bring her into the guild.  She is going to be for the times when I feel like playing, but am feeling like being a bit selfish and not wanting to talk to anyone *giggles*

I made up a little Arasai Brigand.  After playing with the Dirge I am finding dps is a fun drug *giggles*    I guess you really need to give a class until about level 30 or so to really judge, but so far she is fun to kick back on and enjoy.

In between all this, the dirgeling also got a little more loving.  I have been working my way through the quests in Everfrost, and finding that zone much more enjoyable than when I was doing it on Kilanna.    Hats off to the developers who did such a nice job with the revamp.    Katyya now finds herself just short of level 50.    I still have not even started quests in Sinking Sands, Lavastorm, Pillars of Flame and Lesser Faydark.   

The little girl already has 63 almost 64aa.  I am guessing she is going to reach 100aa well before she reaches level 70.   I hope I understand correctly that a character can earn more than 100 aa but just not spend it before they hit level 70!!

As always there is soooo much fun to be had and simply not enough time to do it all :p

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A quiet weekend Tuesday, Mar 31 2009

I know I missed posting stories of my weekend adventures yesterday – but that was because there really was not a whole lot to post.   I spent most of the weekend feeling miserable and sorry for myself with a headcold – so found it a bit hard to get into anything much.

I know that there was some instances to help get some levelling guildies aa – Achadechism, Crypt of Valdoon, Obelisk of Blight, Vaults of Eternal Sleep, and Maidens Chamber.   If I recall there was also a shard run to Crucible in there too.   Despite not feeling the best, there was still some fun and giggles as always so thank you boys and girls

Dotted throughout the rest of the weekend, the dirgeling got some questing in too.  I completed all the solo and one or two of the heroic quests in Steamfont.   I have not done much in that zone on either Kilanna or Nanytya so it was fun to check the place out.   I have also returned to finish off some other quests in my journal dotted throughout the Shattered lands, and at the moment am concentrating on finishing Feerrot before moving to Everfrost.

I have not been wanting to miss out on too much aa as I level this little one, and so at the moment she finds herself a level 47 dirge with 57aa.  I do think that one of my next tasks will be to work through some of the Lore and Legend quests.  I did consider buying her some of the updates, but some pieces are so expensive I figured I could just spend time farming some low level mobs for updates.  The aa for these quests is certainly good

So with the weekend over and the start of a new week, we had our regular Monday night raid scheduled.  This week we thaught we would hit PR for one more person to get the greenmist orb who was not going to be in MT group and was not going to be going into Levi’s belly to kill him.  

Nothing much to report – Imzok dropped the lovely shaman wrist piece, and the zone coughed up a bunch of masters which went down well.  

It was very early when we finished, so we decided to head over to SoH real quick.  Once again, nothing really of note – but the Dreadlord did drop the Rune Etched Helm, and Master P dropped the lovely bard earring.    It was then decided that we would call it right there at Master P since time was getting on

It is a sign of how far we have come as a guild that we clear PR and the first three named in SoH in one night ….  Amazing to see how much has changed in a few months.

Once again, I was proud to see my Killy doing her part with the healing zonewide.  I am sure that it is a combination of her wearing both the Rune Etched Helm and the Ethereal Mist Gauntlets. 

And so friends, we look to tonight.   Tonight will see us head to the Chamber of Destiny to face the Leviathan for the first time as a guild.  Once again a couple of us have seen the fight and know what to expect, so we shall lead our guildmates and colleages as we endeavour to flag our raid force for VP.

Now I know it is possible to farm vials and kill him in one night.   Whether we can do it with some DPS who has not been in his belly before … I think that would be an unreasonable pressure and expectation.   I do imagine that tonight will be more about letting our Key DPS experience the encounter for the first time and farm for vials – with an aim to heading in and killing him next Monday night.  I do believe Danonia has a few vials already with the blessing of our raid alliance partners.

More news on that front tomorrow then.

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It is not every day….. Monday, Mar 16 2009

As usual I had the most WONDERFUL weekend in Norrath.

Friday night saw Killy heal through both Najenas Hollow and Deep Forge, some shards for fun.  And then for a change of pace I braught the Pally girl and tanked the boys through Scion.   I guess that we are our own worst critic – I really enjoyed myself but have a long way to go before I would consider myself either confident or competent as a tank lol

Saturday saw us FINALLY do that trip to Deathfyst that has been on the plans for a bit.   While Kilanna got a dissapointingly miniscule amount of aa, the rest of the boys and my baby dirge lucked in big time.   I think that most of the boys got a significant portion of an aa point which was certainly welcome for them…. as for the baby girl She got almost 4aa and over 3 levels.    We had a lot of fun running around… and had a giggle when Fyst sent Arisha half way across the compount with a knockback.  Well maybe not halfway across but you get the general idea lol.  

Katyya was tantalisingly close to level 42 when we finished DFC.  After a few very quick quests she reached what I think of as a key point at Level 42.   This has seen her have an absolutely MASSIVE boost.  With the fact that she has only been doing green quests for such a long time, her quested gear has done her well.  She now sports a full set of gorgous ebon chainmail, new smacky weapons, and shiny jewel baubles.  She is ready to hit the big time. 

And now to the excitement of Sunday.  I joined a Leviathan raid as part of our Guild Alliance – hosted by the Kings Guild, not our guild.    We have had varied success with attempting this encounter over the last couple of months, and so I attended with cautious optimism.   

I felt honoured and privelaged to be placed into the MT group for much of the raid.   We were through the trash without much ado, and soon we were facing the big boy.   For a short while we farmed for some vials, and then it was time to attempt the kill.  

Some companions of raid leader had joined the raid from a high end raid guild to assist with the kill, and in we went.   I honestly dont even know how long it took because I was SOOOOO excited – but as you can maybe guess from the title of todays blog, we soon found ourselves staring at Leviathans dead body.   After all the work that the folks had put in, they were WELL pleased so congratulations Kings Guild!!   It is not every day that you earn your flag to VP, so I was one happy little dorf both for myself and for the rest of the folks on raid.  I am excited to have seen how the monster work for when Pax take him out!!!

After a short break, Killy and the boys decided to try out Ravenscale for the first time.  As always since it was my first time here I was very focused on our tanks health.  I was not sure how hard the mobs would hit, so I always tend to be very focussed any time I hit new content.   None of us really had much of an idea of strategy or what to expect, so it was fun working it out.   I didnt take in too much detail regarding the named, but a few enounters stand out.

First of all there was the encounter with like 4 or 5 named.   We had managed to get this far in the zone without a death.   We noted the class hats, and so I left it to the boys to work out the best kill order.    First time we tried to take them in the room and that did not work out so well… we were soon looking at a number of our corpses.   Second pull we braught them out into the corridor, the boys did the killing while Killy did the healing and we were soundly victorious.

Then came the second last named.   The boys noted his damage reduction, and OUCHIES to that AoE .   We were not quite sure what to expect first pull, and when he got down to about 20% or so that AoE absolutely wiped us out.  Second pull though, and Skittish (Arishas Dirge) put up bladedance around that 20% mark, and the Praector was beaten.

On then to the final name.   We heard that this guy had a knock up and AoE, and knew he was going to be fun and games to master.   First couple of attempts, Killy found herself knocked off the platform and into the vortex below    Once I had managed to master remaining on his platform *le sigh* we were simply healing through the AoE with the assistance of a Fury that had joined us.  He seemed to be a relatively straitforward turn and burn, but that is easy for me to say when I wasnt tanking lol.      At the end of the zone we were all feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, and we talked about attempting one of the harder zones each weekend which I really look forward to!

After another break to attend to some real life matters we reconvened, taking a new guildmate for a run through Evernight Abbey and Deep Forge.  Killy did let the team down with some pretty ordinary healing towards the end of Deep Forge, but I guess that I was just getting tired after such a wonderful day.

Thus ended another fun filled weekend in Norrath – I hope everyone else had as much fun!   Happy hunting and crafting everyone!!

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Is my memory failing me? Wednesday, Feb 18 2009

Yesterday saw me with a very busy day outside of game – so I didnt end up getting a chance to update my blog.   Not that it matters too much, since really there was not a great deal to mention from our SoH raid.   The raid went very smoothly up until the sisters, but after a couple of very shaky pulls the girls went down and our MA Sytiva now proudly wears that same ring as Arisha won recently.

Last night saw us head to the Execution Throne room to get another raider the wand to kill the Overking.  It was an incredible whirlind of smooshing and healing – in less than 20 minutes we were done.

Then on to Thuuga for the spider queen – and once again after a whirlwind of smooshing and healing we were dancing on her dead drachnid body.   Her exquisite chest held the BEAUTIFUL healer ring, but le sigh Killy missed out on her /rand roll.  Fortunately, it was to a guildmate

After this, we ran around for a few more minutes and killed all four of the Dominus contested epics before it was time to disband, some folk headed off to bed, and it was not very long to go until server down anyway.

Over the last few days I have been sneaking a little bit of time on the baby bard to work on the Shiny Halberd quest for her.   I have done this on a couple of my girls – it is probably one of the least painful of the HQ’s I remember to be honest.  It is interesting to see how much this quest has changed since Killy first did it – or is it just that my memory is failing me?

Firstly, all the Owlbears have moved to a differrent part of Nek.  Remember when it was REALLY scary to come out of the beach pass and into the start of the forest?   Maybe it is also because I am playing a completely different class, but those bears really didnt seem to hit as hard as I remembered.   And the tiny little baby owlbears are just SOOOOO cute :p

Then it was time to kill the patchwork men for the next set of updates in Gargoyle Gorge.  Previous experience had encouraged me to go to Camp Leott and kill for my update there, but not this time.   There was an absolute abundance of Patchwork Men in the area for my updates …… but where were all those Gargoyles that used to be there?

The next step of the quest was just a trip down to Beheometh pond to fill the flask and run back to the Dragoon, before killing T’Sainne.   I headed to the Gul’Thex citadel, and cleared the skellies in the courtyard.   Within a few short moments they had respawned, I killed them again and the ring event to spawn T’Sainne was started.  I easily killed the level 30 heroic encounters solo on my girl at 38.  This is actually quite impressive to me since Katyya is wearing nothing but tier 3 quest rewards at the moment and her Combat Arts are pretty much all at Apprentice one – she has had NO help at all from Killy.   Now I was looking at T’Sainne and he was a 29 solo mob with no adds????   I have painful memories of camping this mob for what seemed like an eternity, and then dying horribly to him and his adds.

Then it was back to Dragoon K”Nae, kill a couple of Ebon mask assassins and the Shiny Brass Halberd was Katyya’s – along with a whopping 75% of an aa level.   For giggles I then killed K”Nae – well it is all aa you know :p

I was thinking that I might start working the Greenhood line and the Shiny Brass Shield for Katyya when we head in to kill Emperor Fyst in DFC.  I do believe that the mighty Nanytya may need to help the poor baby bardling with those trials though :)

After our two nights of fun and games in raid, I am hoping tonight shall be a nice quiet relaxing run with the boys.  Dont really care where we go – just a wee bitty of fun will be nice.

Enough rambling for now – Happy hunting and crafting everyone.

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