OK I know we shouldn't this list for bragging, personal accomplishments, etc.
but I had such a great time in Kedge over the weekend that I have to share it
with my bard friends on this list.
Over the weekend I participated in another Kedge raid. We had 19 people in the
raid. There wasn't any enchanters in the raid and only one other bard. So once
again, even though I was the lowest level player in the raid, everyone was glad
to have me around for clarity, stamina and resist songs.
After we got all the groups organized, we moved down to the shark room (I think
thats what its called), we killed whatever shark drops a shark tooth(5/18
piercer). I got lucky and won the roll (around 10 people rolled for the item).
This was a better weapon than what I was currently wielding (thulian claws and
obsidian shard). After we cleaned out that area we moved on to another area to
prepare for the attack on Estrella. On the way, we killed a golden hair mermaid.
None of the rangers present needed the mermaid hair for the Raincaller quest so
I was given permission to loot the hair. I can now complete the Mane Attraction
(+10 charisma toupee, nice item for bards) quest.
We then decided to pull Estrella. The raid leader warned everyone that Estrella
could dispell everyone's Enduring Breath buffs so be prepared. I told my group
I would have ER and GR weaved to help prevent that from happening to us. The
main puller told everyone to focus on killing Estrella first and then whatever
else got pulled. I should have paid better attention at that point but I was
caught up in the moment and did not consider the ramifications of what he said.
I started weaving ER and GR as soon as the puller yelled INC. When Estrella got
pulled, four gloomwater mermaids came with her. Because everyone was focused on
Estrella, I quickly moved up the hate list for the other four mermaids. I ended
up dying in less than 5 seconds due to the bard hate factor. I died so fast the
cleric in my group didn't even have time to target me for a heal. I felt kinda
bad because I was the only person who ended up dying but it wasn't a big deal
coz I got an EXP res. In hindsight, it would have been smarter if some of the
tanks meleed the mermaids to get their attention. Or perhaps I shouldn't have
started to weave ER and GR until after the battle started.
The raid turned sour at that point because someone ninja looted a Rod of Drones
from Estrella. We were planning on moving on to Phingiel but a lot of people
were pissed and left. We ended up moving back towards the entrance and tried to
pull Bubble with the 9 people who decided to stay. When we discovered that
Bubble hadn't spawned, most everyone decided to split.
On the way out, I got lost and ended up dieing when a bunch of stuff attacked
me. Someone was able to pull my corpse to the zone and I got another EXP a res.
After that, me, a 38 ranger and a 45 warrior decided to pull stuff to the zone.
A few minutes later a 35 mage showed up and we added him. The warrior pulled a
fierce impaler (rare spawn near the zone) so we zoned to avoid anymore deaths.
We tried to recruit people in Dagnor's to help us kill the impaler but no one
would come. The ranger decided to call it a night. A few minutes later the
cleric who was originally in my group logged back in and heard us recruiting. He
agreed to help us and so we went back in. Thanks largely to the cleric's
Retributions, we were able to kill the fierce impaler. The group leader
/randomed 1000 to determine the range for everyone to roll for the loot. He came
up with 483. I did a /random 1 483 and almost shit my britches when I rolled a
483 on the nose. Everyone in the party said they had never seen that happen
before using that looting method. I am now the proud owner of a Gloomwater
harpoon (piercer, 9/31 +4STR, +25HP, only 3lbs), far and away the best weapon
I've ever had.
So this weekend in Kedge I was the luckiest bard on E'ci. I was the only person
in the raid who died(twice) but I came out of the raid with two weapons better
than the ones I went in with. Two deaths:two great weapons...poetic justice,
kizmet, coincidence or whatever, I'll take it :-)

If you are a 32+ bard and want to try something new, I strongly encourage you to
give Kedge a try. Your presense will be greatly appreciated. Its one helluva
zone as well.

Galtin of E'ci
34 bard

PS I made 34th level while in Kedge as well. That was icing on the cake:-)