AF GET!

This past week has been a milestone for me in Vana'diel. It all started out with an old friend returning to FFXI after being away for a long time. Ickabob came onto Imperial randomly during the morning, and I was shocked to see someone I had not played with for over two years just pop in so randomly. He and I have been bouncing around pretty much the same ls'es our entire adventuring careers, so it was a joy to see him invited to Imperial.

Mambypamby, Thayos, and Ehrrren decided that night to head to Beadeaux to get Thayos his coffer key for PLD AF. Seeing as these folks are much more in tune with where I am at than I myself am, they invited me and I accepted, thinking I was simply helping an ls mate out. Thankfully, they knew the final step in my WHM AF required a key as well, so I managed to get my coffer key at the same time as Thayos. Just one step before I could put that key to use, and that was Fei'Yin...

Altedour I Tavnazia has been a royal pain in the ass for the last week and a half for me. This week proved a little different than my previous three attempts to take him down. What started out as a simple duo party between a JP ninja friend and myself quickly snowballed out of control into a mini-alliance. We were seriously over-geared for this, as we had been trying to kill it as a duo. I was happier than Hell to finally get out of my ugly green justacourps and into my stylish new Healer's Briault. 4/5 on WHM AF at this point.

Shortly thereafter, I finished my xp partying and hit 60. Almost immediatly after disbanding from the party, two ls members wanted to hit Darkspark for me, so how could I possibly say no? Kiabrightblade and Thayos managed to put that bomb in its place, and allow me the honor of owning my first full set of Artifact Armor. I had always wanted to see myself in a full set, though somehow always felt it was something far away and difficult to obtain. Now I realize I just needed a little more faith in my ls friends.



Immeasurably more shocking and satisfying to myself was the Return to Vana'diel drive Square-Enix is currently running. After four days (and three phone calls with S-E) my original character from winter '03 was returned to glory. In a strange twist of fate, my current mithra has outpaced my first one quite a bit, meaning Kaerwyn will continue to be my main, while Kilill will have to be relegated to alt status for crafting or farming purposes. Not exactly a full victory, but I am just pleased running around Windurst Woods and seeing the name Kilill appear above my head after two long years. One mithra for melee, one mithra for maging.