Ode to Joy

I was resigning myself to another night here:

when Feon once again rescued me from certain boredom & torture. He proposed that I come along for a WSNM fight, which I promptly accepted. I'd never participated in an Evisceration WSNM battle before and I was up for some adventure. As I ran though the Dunes, Feon also told me to bring a sleeping bag since we'd be camping Charybdis afterwards. /joy!

I remembered to drop by the event Moogle on my way to the dressing room to get my stats:

I'll probably save the anniversary ring for either my WHM leveling or BST.

The WSNM fight went very well, although the Bat was tougher to kill than I'd expected, and more evasive:

So Cozmos is now clear for the Evisceration weapon skill! Didn't know she was fond of daggers >.>

Afterward, Ishy had to log for the night, so Feon two-boxed his character as we made our way to Sea Serpent Grotto for some camping. Our group consisted of Feon on his NIN, Feon on Ishmael as BRD, Cozmos as WHM/NIN, Audessa as RDM, and myself on WAR/NIN.

We made the circuit around the spawn area, killing pretty much all mobs that had the misfortune of popping in our path.

It only took around 30 minutes of this before Feon spotted Chary, sending my heartrate into overdrive. With my luck, I was expecting a multi-day camp, which would have been unmanageable for me. Of course as soon as Chary popped, so did every damn mob on the way there, including Zuug the Shoreleaper and some cronies.

I still couldn't believe I was actually staring at Charybdis when we got to the room. But there he was, ready for our challenge.

Unfortunately my role wasn't going to be a very active one, since the fight mostly involves DoT'ing & debuffing the hell out of the mob while the NIN tanks and gradually diminishes the mob's HP, then polishing the battle off with nukes at the end.

The fight initially went well, but Charybdis spammed Cross Attack much sooner than planned and dropped Feon to the ground. I made a lame attempt at kiting but was unprepared for the speed of Chary's attacks and died as well. So we wiped and started over.

The second fight went much more cleanly. At about 50% HP, Water weather came into effect, so I and the mages moved down into the room to avoid any potential elemental pops behind the door.

A Devil Manta add wandered over at about 20% HP, which didn't present much of a problem for me to solo, thanks to Cozmos and Audessa's vigilant multitasking support.

So you've seen the post title and read this far and probably just want me to get on with it already. Yes, indeed, they killed Charybdis, something I never imagined I would have been a part of in this game. And I got it:

And I became the elated, bewildered, and grateful owner of a Joyeuse. It's just starting to sink in today that I really do own this thing, and I'm absolutely flattered that Feon, Cozmos and Audessa would risk their time and EXP to get this weapon for me. For...me! People will never cease to amaze me in this game.

On another positive note, Lexxi and Murrdoc have both returned to the game, making the server that much richer with friends whom I trust and value. I feel my life in Vana'diel has taken a turn for the better, and I still look forward to the unexpected adventures it will bring.