There are mobs that can keep up with you with Accelerando
*with* a drum.
I (L18 bard) was visiting Surefall Glade for the first time.
All the NPCs gladly told me about the poacher problems so I
happily jaunted into the caves to rid them of the poacher
scourge. All the bears were green and threatening to me, but
didn't attack. I finally ran across a huge bear - Mammoth -
who was yellow and threatening. He immediately attacked me
(hey, thanks for the warning - real funny sending me on a
quest where the thing I'm supposed to be protecting attacks
me).
Mammoth is fast. Very fast. With Accelerando (my running
song) and a drum, I can (slowly) outrun druids and shamans
with Spirit of the Wolf.
I couldn't outrun Mammoth.
He whacked me down to two bars of life (around 150/399, so
it's not like I tried to outrun him for just a few seconds - I
was doing a pretty good imitation of the pod race scene in the
Phantom Menace going through those caves at warp speed for a
good 20-30 seconds), at which point I knew there was no way
I'd survive a trip to the zone with Mammoth in tow. I figured
my best chance was to jump off a ledge and hope I'd land in
water, which I did, and which happened. This was my first
time in Surefall so I was now completely lost, with a mad bear
I couldn't outrun presumably pathfinding his way through the
twists and turns of the caves in the shortest possible
computer-generated route to decapitating me. So I ran in any
old direction and ended up in a dead-end cave with a pool of
water.
Not wanting to backtrack, I jumped in the water and swam.
There was a small underwater passage. I figured the chances
that Mammoth, whom I'd left far above, had somehow gotten
*below* me were slim, so I took the passage. After a good
deal of swimming (my skill is around 85) I was about to start
drowning and realized this passage was not meant for mere
mortals. Fortunately, I just happened to have the Aquatic
Ayre memorized, so I started it - end of drowning problem.
The underwater passage went on for a really really long time -
I'd guess about 4-5 times the time it normally takes you to
start drowning. Finally I saw light and popped up in a room
behind the waterfall. I kicked in Accelerando again and got
the Hell out of Surefall.
Don't go in the caves unless you're a druid or ranger. :-)
--
John H. Kim
kim@...