Distractions Distractions ... I need Silencega

Since I was all decked out as WAR/NIN from the night before, I figured I'd give the Davoi Crest a go for Genkai 3. If anything I could just go for the Crimson Orb and do the last part on another night (had to be up early the next day since Zak & I trade days on getting up with Hunter...who wakes at 5:45AM sharp >.<).

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often get delayed by too much LS chatter and helping random people... Or something like that.

The LS chatter on CatastrophyCrafters slowed me down a bit as I muled around sending Silent Oils this way & that, and sending my stack of Dhalmel hides (from Khuma's EXP session) to a Leathercrafter in the shell who was close to the Dhalmel Leather stage. The LS was in a bit of a tizzy over some Allakhazam forum flack a couple of members got over RMT-friendly behavior they displayed a few nights ago, teleporting a group of RMT despite warnings from a known RMT-cop (apparently they didn't know him, but... um they could have checked with the LS instead of ignoring him -_-). They were placed on the Ifrit RMT list as helpers, and all hell broke loose. I'm still ambivalent about it, so I'll end the topic here.

Anyhow, I grabbed a couple of Warp Cudgels, a Scroll of Reraise and my three stacks of Shinobi-Tabi (yeah, I know, overkill), and headed to Davoi. Since I was doing this as WAR/NIN, I was agroless until I got to the entrance of the Monastic Cavern that leads to the central platform. Invised up and ran through the cavern, gawking at the DC orcs in what can only be a nasty hellhole if you ever get agro in that main room. Once I zoned back to Davoi, I headed to the Banishing Gate to touch it and spawn the mini-quest.

Whelp... I was having Splinter Cell flashbacks and looking for shadows to lurk in because this gate was camped by about 4 VT orcs, all alternately staring in different directions, including the damn gate.

I decided I'd bring my NPC Khuma out, in case things got nasty and I needed to buy some time to Warp. I double-checked my warp and invis macros. I also decided that using Reraise here wouldn't be all that helpful since I would probably die in a crowded spot if something went wrong. I took a deep breath, got Invis up, and went to the gate, watching for an opening.

No luck. And I had to run quite an uncomfortable distance to refresh my Invis when it started wearing (instant increase in heart-rate when you see those red warning letters, let me tell ya). Went back, and again, at least one Orc was staring in my direction the whole time. But just as the Invis started to wear off, I saw an opening. Huzzah! ... Cancelled invis, touched the gate, and watched in horror as all of my shadows simultaneously dropped while Khuma cast Stun and Flash on whatever agroed me. Damn it...

It's times like these that Chainspell would come in handy, but the Warp Cudgel did its thing, leaving me in Jeuno with about 200 HP to spare. Sorry about that Khuma! {Good job!}

Well at least I touched the gate, so I could head to the NPC on the central platform now and start the quest. I waited for my heartrate to lower, equipped the other Cudgel, and headed out again, only to be interrupted by a random {Hello!}, and questions about the Fellow NPC quest. After it started getting pretty involved I sent him a URL, hoping he'd use that as a resource, but his computer was monopolized and on another floor. Thankfully, he was a returning player, so he remembered most of the steps and was just hazy on parts here & there. But it meant a delay in getting out of Jeuno, sporadic interruptions during my trek to Davoi, and while running through the caverns.

Once I zoned to the platform area, I told him I'd be AFK for awhile and switched to /away status, just to block incoming tells. Since it was getting late, I planned to just talk to the NPC, get the White Orb, head back to the Monastic Cavern zone and log out.

I must have been more tired than I thought... I got my shadows up, but neglected to trigger my Invis macro and traipsed out to the platform in plain sight. Since I was doing this in first-person view, I didn't notice I was visible at first. And oddly enough, neither did the orcs (?!). They must have been stunned at actually seeing someone pop their stupid head out in this place(?! orc double-take). They did eventually agro however... after I'd noticed I was visible and was trying to get Tonko going. Kinda funny really. I panicked and used the other Warp Cudgel, although judging from the damage I was taking I estimated I could make it to the zone and actually tried to run for it & interrupt the Warp. Then I was in Jeuno >.<

Hey, at least I didn't die, and I'll have a fresh charge on both Cudgels tomorrow when I go orb-dipping.