Well met fellow Bards,

I have heard mention of the area of Lake Rathe. From what I've read, this
sounds like a fairly good zone for me to journey to.... I am currently level
18, and my normal group is between 16 and 19. I have no knowledge of this
zone at all, tho... and I'm somewhat hesitant to go in blind. I am asking
that someone with knowledge of this area could hopefully describe it... the
creatures it contains, how it's set up, etc... I like to be forwarned...
: )

An another note, I was extremelly successful (lucky) over the past week or
so in exchanging and acquiring weapons. I'll share my story.....

I had built up cash by the beginning of level 17 to buy 2 combine weapons.
I'd heard you all rave about the combine rapier so I picked up a combine LS
and Rapier. Right after buying the rapier, Dragoon's Dirk became common
knowledge on this list, hehe, and I figured I HAD to have one of those. I
made the journey to Crushbone in search of one. On the way, I figured I
might as well get a jump start on selling one of my weapons. I didn't think
the rapier would be a big success, so I figured I'd auction them both off
and sell whichever came first. Upon entering BB, I recieved a message
asking how much for the LS.. I paid 54 and change for it, so I was trying to
get minimum of 60... That was my reply. The response back was.... "How
about 20 pp and a Screaming Mace?" WOW!!! Uh... let me think about that
one....... YES! So here I am, sporting my new Screaming Mace with some
extra coin in my pocket and I realize... my 1H Blunt skill is at like 1!!!!
DOH! My piercing skill had been developing, but still was around 45 or
so.... I got a better Attack Rating without weapons than I did Dual Wielding
the Mace and Rapier... LOL

So, off I go to Crushbone... Nightmares of all Nightmares. again, I'm
reminded of the reason I left Faydwer back at level 10... CROWDS! We camped
D'vinns room and after some wonderful adventure, I end up with a Dirk. Up
till level 17 I've never wielded anything but 1H slash, and here I am with 3
very good weapons and NONE of them 1H Slash! Time to sell something, and
try to work a trade.

OTW back to Freeport, I started auctioning the Mace and Rapier, figuring I'd
keep whichever I couldn't sell... The Rapier is a hard sell since Magic
Users can't use it and most people who aren't Magic Users (or belong to this
list) hate piercing.... I got a bite on the Rapier, from a fellow Bard that
I had met in my travels before and traded it for a Crysknife and 20 pp. Not
a great deal, unless I could get 35 pp for the crysknife, cause I wouldn't
even recover my costs. But, I was feeling a little generous after my
screaming mace trade and took the deal. I figured that I would have an
easier time selling the Crysknife than the Rapier. On to Freeport and Guk
and auctioning the mace and crysknife the whole time. Skill in Mace hasn't
gone up much, heh.... I get many tells asking about the Crysknife, but no
one is interested after the stats... 4 dam 21 delay, kinda sucks.... Finally
today, my luck changes. I ask 20 pp for the Crys, get an offer of 16, which
I take, and i'm down to 2 weapons, still feeling pretty good about all the
trades even after losing about 18 plate on the Rapier trades.

I'm at the bank in Freeport and I see an Auction for 2, count 'em TWO Barbed
whips! Guy says to make offer... Hmm... I know they're worth bucks, but
let's see if I can test the waters a bit... I offer 100 pp... Guy says
"Gimme a sec, checking with my partner..." I'm getting excited and taking
this as a good sign I'd at least get it for 125 or 150.. so I auction the
mace... I get a response very fast "How much?" "Asking 100 pp" "Will you
take 80?" Yes........ and as that happens I get a tell "You can have 1
Barbed whip for 100 pp" YES!!

Disregarding the Rapier affair, which I took a loss of 18 pp, I basically
traded my Combine Long Sword for a Barbed Whip, even trade! Who woulda
thunk?? : )

Thinking about this after the fact, I feel a little guilty like I'd taken
advantage of someone... But, thinking over every single trade, EVERY person
thought they were getting a pretty damn good deal, which I guess is the best
way to do business.

On another note, I tried to sell a Damask Cape for 5 pp and was called every
name in the book.... Guess you can't please everyone. : ) (that's a very
fair price for the cape, I'm told)

Darkfox - Xegony
soon to be Darkfox Reven'tsol