Hey everybody,

Got to spend the last four days playing EQ thanks to the federal holiday.
Played more this past weekend than I have in the previous month. Had the
most fun I've ever had playing EQ so wanted to pass on what happened.

Thursday:

Well Thursday actually sucked. Played for about eight hours in pickup
groups that didn't really know what they were doing and ended up dying
twice. Should have cleaned the house instead of playing EQ.

Friday:

Some guildmates and I decided to go to Sol A and try and get armor quest
components. I needed the fiery vambraces and fiery boots and a cleric
needed a molten cloak. In addition to me and the cleric, also had a druid
with us. The cleric and the druid were both 35th level and we were hoping
to recruit when we got there. Zoned into Sol A around 4PM Friday afternoon.
There were a whopping 10 people in the zone. The other seven were all super
high level characters (at least four 50th level players) and were all deep
inside the dungeon. We pretty much had the entire dungeon to ourselves.

This was the first time into Sol A for both me and the druid. This was
evident by the druid falling into the lava within five minutes of our
revival. She ended up dying because she didn't have gate or levitate
memmed. Found someone who could levitate me so I got the chance to play
hero. Got the levitate, located the corpse with the song, hovered out over
the lava, and was able to pull the corpse back to near the swing blade trap.
Apparently summoning a corpse is not affected by how high you are. Think of
it as the z-axis bug actually helping you out in this type of situation. I
was ten feet over the lava and was able to summon a corpse on the bottom of
the lava pit. To say the least the druid was quite relieved and I made a
friend for life. The druid offered me free teleports whenever I wanted
them:-)

We then moved on to where the molten cloak was alledgely dropped using invis
song. Was doing OK when another guildmate arrived at Sol A. Decided to go
back to zone entrance to pick him up. Someone got out of invis song range
and all hell broke loose. Goblins were all over us. Told the cleric and
druid to gate out which they did. That left me in the middle of Sol A
completely lost with a bunch of goblins whacking on me. Time to see just
how good this fear song works. Calmly equipped the horn and started
tooting. Next thing I know goblins are running in every direction. I
started searching for my way out, screeching the entire time. The place
looked like a hornets nest. Finally got my bearings and knew how to get
out. Was about halfway back when more goblins decided they wanted to mess
with me. I just kept on Screeching. Finally made it to the zone and still
had over half my health. I think I had about 30-40 goblins pissed at me
though when I finally zoned:-)

Anyway linked up with the other two plus picked up a paladin. Went back
inside and immediately got a shout from someone saying fiery vambraces were
available for free loot. I told him I would like them but had no idea where
to find him. He came and picked me up at the zone and led me to the corpse.
The guy who gave them to me was a 50th ranger. Asked him what he wanted in
reutrn and he said to just let him know if we saw an inferno wizard appear.
They drop something for a ranger quest. Told him we would. On the way back
out, our group ran into the solusek goblin king wandering a hallway. We all
saw the word "king" and knew that we had stumbled on to something good. I
won the lottery and looted a Scepter of Flame. Can't remember the stats but
a pretty good 1HB weapon. I have been playing since April. This item was
the best I have ever looted before. Couldn't really use it though since my
1HB skill is 1. Ended up giving it to my cleric. They were amazed that I
just gave it to them. Told them I couldn't use it so why be greedy. Must
have gotten some good karma from that act because as we made our way further
back we ran into a solusek mage. Killed him and got the fiery boots on the
first try. Here I was in Sol A less than an hour and I already had both
items I came for.

Saturday:

Watched Alabama beat Mississippi State. Roll Tide. Logged on and went to
the Karanas to find a giant hunting party. Along the way (from Sol A),
shouted in each zone I wanted to buy a lambent stone. People were trying to
get 150PP for them. Told them good luck. Got to North Karana and tried a
different approach. Instead of asking to buy a lambent stone, shouted I
wanted to join a giant hunting party so I could acquire one. Got a tell
from someone saying I could have a stone for free. Thanked him and headed
to Freeport to buy some gems. Sapphires cost me 105PP a piece with
indifferent faction from the jeweler in North Freeport. Sang Carillon and
got her to amiable. Still 105PP each. Put on a +7 CHR bracer. Still 105PP.
Went ahead and bought two sapphires but was kinda pissed that I got the same
price with Carillon and +7CHR bracer as I did with nothing. Anyway ended up
getting my first piece of lambent armor, the vambraces.

Sunday:

Grouped with some guildmates and went to North Karana. Killed a griffon for
the first time and my karma from Friday carried over. Got a lambent stone
from the griffon. Will have to hold on to it for a while because buying the
two sapphires cost me everything I had. Anyway went to Upper Guk and tried
to help a guildmate get a Ghoulbane. Camped the spawn for two hours but no
luck. Good experience though. Had to camp for the night so thats where I'm
at now.

Conclusion:

1) If you go to Sol A, its a good idea to have someone in your party who
can levitate.
2) Random acts of kindness are a good thing. If you don't need an item,
give it to someone in your party who can.
3) Never pay more than 20PP for a lambent stone.
4) A few others but this has gone on for too long and I need to actually do
some work today.

Later
Galtin of E'ci