10K PP Giveaway Contest #4 - Exploration and Journeys

[mreynert]

Back in the days when dark was dark and lanterns were a small island of security in the darkness that was Norrathian Night, I found myself staring out into the ever darkening gloom of the Greater Faydark as night began to set in. Being that I was only level two at this point and had been playing the game for just a day or two, the great unknown and expansive forest stretched out ahead of me like a dangerous beast. Apprehensive to what fate I may find out there, including death and loss of all I had worked so hard for (rusty bastard sword & cloth belt), I readied myself to step into the wilderness, trying to find decaying skeletons and other such monsters to slay and build enough wealth to afford more vital gear and the next level's song.

As I walked out, I found myself dancing with orc pawns, dodging the one centurion that seemed to be pathing nearby, and smashing many a wasp. After much tiring work, and many bruises, I stood victorious over one final orc pawn. "DING 3!" I shouted, and the very trees themselves seemed to congratulate me on reaching a new hurdle in life.

My announcement to the forest garnered another type of attention as well, now that I had proven my strength. A high elf paladin had been combating the creatures in my vicinity as well, and she as well, had just reached her 3rd level. I first noticed her approach by the small aura of light around her radiating from the small lantern she held in her hand. As it was now fully getting into night, the light stood out starkly from the contrasting shadow world around.

"Hey, you want to group up? I heard about a place up north of the city called orc hill where the rewards are much greater," she asked me. I was all too eager to join up and find this new place that neither of us had been to. We figured we could handle centurions now with our levels, and that the bounty we'd reap from it would be substantial. So off we embarked, heading back towards the PoD lift for a point of reference before heading to orc lift. From here however, our journey did not take us where we had intended.

Neither of us knowing a thing about sense heading or how to use loc, we embarked out in a path that we "thought" was north. We were horribly wrong. In my experience since I have now learned the direction that we headed was more north-west, off into the wilderness of the faydark, but still inhabited by centurions, oracles, and other nasty things.

We realized our mistake rather quickly and began frantically running around trying to find our way back, but we had gotten completely turned around. I found myself completely blind and hugging near her very closely, her lantern was our only lifeline. We found out centurions were nastier than we had hoped when we encountered them, every one a bloody red con. The orc oracle we found scared us even more.

After about 20 minutes of narrowly escaping death, cowering in the soft glow of the paladin's lantern. We stumbled upon another lost soul who had gotten completely turned around seeking the same location we had, he had seen the lantern and run towards it. He was a wood elf ranger, and we figured our odds of survival our here would go up if we brought him in, and he huddled in close to the light as well.

Minutes went on, and they turned into what felt like hours continuing to dodge death, when we came over a hill and there, staring directly at us, was an orc centurion. Blood red to all, and it too had noticed our lantern. It dove at the ranger with a bloodlust too terrible to fathom. Our confidence in our abilities now that we were lvl 3 evaporated instantly as it trucked the ranger for a quarter of his health and stunned him.

Panic set in and we all jumped on the centurion, trying to bring it down before it killed us all in the gloomy unknown. We had no idea where we had died, and had no idea if we'd ever find our bodies. The ranger was taking a beating, but thankfully he had managed to make some patchwork armor for himself before he had come up here, and it held off death longer than either the paladin or myself could, but it seemed not to be enough. His health dipped low, and he fell over, his health bar purple.

My heart sank, the orc was still around half health, and would surely destroy both of us shortly after. But it was at that moment hope was restored, because before my eyes I saw the ranger's form rise back up off the ground, bathed in a blue light, instantly restored to his full strength. After a short while longer, we managed to bring the beast down. We were bloodied, but we had survived and all was quiet once more.

After a short period of recovery, we decided that we ought to continue on, and we picked an arbitrary direction into the dark. The paladin leading the way, we followed in her wake, hoping that this direction would yield something we recognized. After a few minutes and many more dodged orcs, we at last found something promising. A path marked on the ground, worn through heavy footsteps. We figured this had to be a good sign and decided to follow it in a direction. As we crested the hill, we saw before us the soft glow of the lanterns of Kelethin, and Guard Orcflayer standing ready to welcome us back to the city.

After returning home, we all ended up going our separate ways, but not before we all agreed we'd wait at least another level before venturing out into the unknown looking for trouble again. The ranger rode up the lift into the great city, the paladin made her camp and retired from the world, and the soft light of dawn started breaking through the treetops to light my way back towards my old wasp friends. We had survived the darkest, longest night of our EQ lives...a paladin and her lantern lit the way.

(This is my oldest vivid, fond memory from EQ back in 1999 just after I started. I thought I'd share it here, as it seemed appropriate.)

[Excellio]

A Rogue makes an Offer you can't refuse.

On Christmas Day, 1999, my parents gave a gift to my brother, as is tradition, and it was a PC game. I had never been a fan of PC games. I was more interested in Final Fantasy games on consoles like the Super Nintendo and Playstation.

But after watching a few minutes of this game, I knew I had to see what it was all about. My brother was playing what he called a "Wood Elf", and he was walking around a city in the trees that reminded me of the level "Tree Top Town" from Donkey Kong Country. I was intrigued.

It was several days before my brother stopped playing EverQuest and let me give it a go. I was met by the character creation screen, and I had no clue what race/class I should be. My brother was new to the game too, so he said to just pick a human, since they're fairly easy to play and well liked throughout most of the world. I decided to play as a Rogue because I had no idea what one of those was (though truthfully, I knew nothing of any of these classes at the time).

When faced with allocating points to stats, I didn't know which were best for me. My brother told me that I should put all of my points into Charisma, because it increased the amount vendors would pay me for stuff I sold to them.

How could I possibly put the points into anything else after learning this?

After putting all of my points for my Human Rogue into Charisma, I chose to start in Freeport and I was immersed in a fantasy world unlike anything I had experienced. I was in a region called East Freeport. I wandered around for a bit, and eventually found the gates to the city, and when I left the city, I saw hoards of monsters crawling about. As I ventured further from the gate, I suddenly was attacked by "a wolf", and my brother told me to run back to the gate for help from the guards.

I ran the wrong way and the game seemed to freeze for a moment as the words "Entering North Ro" appeared on the screen. I really did believe the game had frozen. When you play EverQuest on 56k dial-up internet, you tend to suspect the game has frozen anytime you zone.

After microwaving a burrito and grabbing a soda, I returned to the computer to wait about 1-2 more minutes before emerging in North Ro. I could see Skeletons off in the distance, but my brother had told me to target them and push "C" to determine if they would attack me. When I saw that these skeletons were scowling at me, ready to attack, I decided I had better steer clear of them. I passed through a lightly wooded plain with a small hut. I entered the hut and attempted to sell the Dagger I had started with.

Imagine my dismay when the vendor emphatically stated he would give me absolutely nothing for my dagger! I wanted to ask my brother why I had put these points into charisma to increase payouts from vendors, and now a vendor was refusing to purchase from at all!

I pressed on and eventually left the calming scenery by the hut to find a few small grass huts near the edge of a large body of water. I saw a large guy standing in the water, named "Puntar Sandfisher". I presumed this was another player, and I wanted to say hello and ask for some tips as to what I should be doing, rather than wandering about like this.

Rather than pressing "H" to hail him, I accidentally began attacking him. Puntar Sandfisher immediately retaliated, killing me rather quickly.

After waiting several minutes to reappear in East Freeport, I wanted to contact this player and apologize for inadvertantly attacking him (at the time, I didn't know that you couldn't attack other players). My brother had earlier told me that to send a message directly to another player, simply use "/tell name message".

I typed "/tell Puntar Sandfisher Hey man, sorry I attacked you. I'm new to this game and still figuring it out. I hope there's no hard feelings.", and pushed enter. But he never saw my message. For you see:

Puntar was not online at that time.

[Rist]

My first character was a Dwarf Cleric named Kalalek. I had ventured through Butcherblock Mountains and into Unrest. I eventually got to level 14 before I decided that I would travel to Freeport for the first time.

When I had finished my trek to the docks, I saw my very first Erudite who happened to be killing guards and such. I was so amazed at power of the Magician class that I immediately logged out and created my very own Erudite Magician.
I spent the next few hours in Toxx forest, completely dark, and getting lost at every turn. I grouped with a Wizard who had just started and we watched the experience slowly tick by until we had finally reached the magical level of 4!

I was going to get to see my pet for the very first time. It was such a cool feeling when I began to cast my conjuration spell in Erudin Palace, 3..2..1..Missing ingredient. I was so confused. I had no idea what a Malachite was or where to get one. After sending a few random tells to other Magicians one was finally kind enough to tell me what it was, and that I would find them at the Jeweler.

I found the jeweler. Got my Malachite. Started summoning Goner again. Such a fantastic sight it was. I was so excited to go back to Toxx and lay waste to the terrors that were there. I ran out of the Palace, and zoned back to Erudin. Goner was gone. Confused again, I tried everything I could. Eventually settling on summoning another. No Malachite. I didn't realize that each summon would consume my gem.
I later learned, after asking other Magicians, that you lost your pet on zoning.

I would play my Magician as my main for many years, never really losing interest in playing him. My Cleric is still sitting at the docks in Butcherblock. He never did make it to Freeport.

[west42074]

"Why would you make up a human?" he asked me questioningly. "I know how much you like elves and Lord of the Rings and all of that mess, but here is this awesome new game and you want to make up a regular human in the most regular setting possible..."

By this time I had tuned him out. It was 1999 and my friend Jake was responsible for inspiring me to buy Everquest. Of course I had to buy a new computer first because the graphics were absolutely top of the line and my old desktop just couldn't handle all the graphics. The first time that I saw Jake play the game and watched his wood elf character running through the dark and hoary wood of Greater Fay I knew I had to get it; even if it meant the misappropriation of scholarship funds (well, I did use the computer for some school stuff so I sufficiently justified it). I set up the computer and agonized through the installation and finally made up my character: Vidden, human agnostic wizard from Qeynos.

Of course I had manufactured a whole background for Vidden. Nothing spectacular, the son of a Karana fisherman who was born with some magical talent and was sent to apprentice under Nohstala Westfend. When I explained my narrative to Jake he didn't seem to understand that either; it was simple and plain compared to the lustrous backdrop of Norrath.

"See, that's just so plain" he continued. "I'm going to go logon and I'll see you there"

I just nodded and logged in...

Much like the Shire for Frodo, Qeynos created a simple and quaint backdrop for my character Vidden. With time and more adventure he slowly radiated out from his rustic home and humble start. One of the voyages I made was to Erudin. A tall, swarthy wizard who curiously carried around an ornate stein was kind enough to give me a few pointers. He told me about a great library in the city of Erudin, filled with most of the lore I would need to become ever more powerful. I waited forever on the boat and when it finally came I climbed aboard and found a quiet place to sit down. There were several Erudites on the boat as well; they quietly kept to themselves. I'd heard that they were a bit aloof around humans, and certainly didn't see us as equals in the practice of magic.

To my surprise we made a stop at a very small island stranded amidst Erud's Crossing. I walked to the edge of the boat, curious about where we stopped and what strange island this could be; standing on the dock and staring back at me was a strange creature - a kerran - who mewed pawed at the air and glowered dubiously at me. I decided it was best to not venture onto the island. Suddenly a scream resounded in ALL CAPS and I bounded away from the edge of the boat. Running like mad across the dock was another human in robes and following close behind him were three buzzing spheres of light. I had seen them in Qeynos Hills and the Karanas but they were always so peaceful. I couldn't imagine why they were attacking him. The will-o'wisps flit against him continuously; his steps faltered and finally he collapsed at the edge of the dock, just short of the boat. He was dead. The wisps hovered ominously over his corpse then slowly drifted back toward the dusk illuminated isle as the boat lurched forward again. My stared at the corpse until the island faded from view. The Erudites whispered among themselves and cast a few chastising glances over their shoulders.

Erudin was ominous. From the magical skiff that carried me from the boat through shark infested waters to the teleportation gems that moved me through the marble halls and libraries. I decided to stay there for some time and earn the respect of the Erudites there. Toxxulia was a brutal land for a young adventurer to make a name for himself but I found close camaraderie with the folk of Erudin and joined them on many adventures against the Kerrans and Kobolds. I eventually gained the respect of the Craftkeepers, and even undertook several quests for the masters of Wizardry there. The famed city was one of my first sources of wonder in this world.

To continue my adventures I would have to cross the Karanas. I wanted to travel to Freeport. I'd heard that it was the Jewel of the East, a cosmopolitan city where elves and humans, and even dark elves and ogres could be seen walking down the same streets together. I had never met an ogre and the prospect was exhilarating. I had found a bard, I think his name was Laay who was going to group a bunch of us together and run us across the continent. There were people who could teleport us but they were very rare - the bard was the best chance we had. We all gathered and paid our donations and the bard set off across the Karanas. The trip itself was exciting but things began get worrisome when we came to a huge gorge. We climbed a mountain pass that moved higher and higher; I clung to the walls like lichen afraid get too close to the sides. We were moving so fast as the bard continually beat his drum, setting a mad rhythm for feet that moved faster than they ever had before. Suddenly there was a scream, another ALL CAPS cry. One of the group had fallen into the chasm; I think she must have clung to the side as she fell. She was a barbarian woman named Freja I think, and I wasn't surprised she lived; she was really hurt however. Laay set us off in the opposite direction, determined to go back to the beginning of the gorge and meet the poor woman. He was determined not to abandon her.

Another ALL CAPS cry "CLEAR THE WAY, RUN!!" (I've learned to tremble at the "sound"). Barreling down the gorge floor was a small party of adventurers - I even noticed the swarthy wizard with the odd mug from ages ago among them - barreling down behind them, shaking the ground with the weight of his thunderous green legs. A cyclops. A cyclops! He charged down the chasm and before him, the fleeing party met lethal ends. We watched from the safety of our perch as one by one the party was slain. Freja ran for her life but to no avail. A single swat of his mammoth fist and Freja crumpled beneath the weight of his blow. We all stood there on the cliff edge, stunned. I was sorry that it happened but Laay said that we couldn't go all the way back now. We continued on the way, but the rest of the trip was fairly silent.

Freeport was everything that I had heard. It was huge in comparison to Qeynos. Freeport teemed with people of every type. Dark elves, ogres, trolls, elves! And the bazaar was incredible! The tunnel to the Commonlands held every type of person with every kind of magic, weapon, and spell for hire! I wide-eyed stared at ogre shamans who walked on air and dark elven enchantresses who hocked elaborate magical jewelry. I had no idea that there were that many people in the world of Everquest, and the thought that they would all convene in one place like this was mind-blowing. Freeport was the metropolis of Norrath and every wonder imaginable seemed to be available there. I spent quite some time in and around Freeport; exploring the Deserts of Ro, running the Commonlands, and even diving into the dark depths of Neriak. As a wizard with no particular religious conviction I thrilled at walking into the alien land of the Tier'Dal and laying eyes on sites that no human rarely ever saw.

After all of this though, there was still the land of the elves. The Faydark - the mystic isle where high magic reigned and immortal royalty still held court among the Fay. Once again I found myself on another boat and traveled far again and was not disappointed. Kaladim was the first. The great dwarven statue was a testament to the building power of the dwarves and their immortal home. But it was Felwithe, so perfectly blended into the forest and Kelethin raised high and hidden among the trees that won my heart. With Felwithe as my new base of operations I helped bring down the orc chieftain and his cohorts, I travelled the darkened halls of Unrest and battled the horrors in the depths, I scorched the flesh from the bones of Castle Mistmoor's dread residents . I explored the lands with wide-eyed wonder and every new sight was more wondrous than the last.

To my friend Jake. Why do I make up a human? I made up a human because I wanted to vicariously live through actions and explorations of my character. I wanted to thrill at viewing an elf, an ogre, or even a dragon for the first time with the all the astonishment and excitement of so many other heroes before me that started in the quaint and humble beginnings of their homelands and ranged far and wide in the course of their adventures. Like Frodo in the court of Galadriel or Tanis in Qualinost, I truly experienced a heroic journey. Everquest in 1999 was an incredible gaming experience for me, one that no other MMO has been able to match regardless of where I looked or what games I tried.

Anyway, last month Jake called me up and said "Hey, you've got to go to this website. Project1999.org ."

Thank you, Jake. I'm going to make up a human in Qeynos...

[sedrie.bellamie]

When the Plane of Fear came out on live there was no level restriction. So a buddy and I made up Ogre Warriors, and I remembering putting all my points in STA. There were plenty of people camping Specters in the Feerrott so we bummed a few buffs and sow.

Now there had not even been a fear clear yet and we did not get far. We would die and run back and just zone in get feared or meleed to death. Eventually we got the idea to try a variety of invs's and having one person train a little bit.

During of these I was able to run right up on the Dracoliche and get merked.

We did this for a while that it attracted the attention of some others and then there was a small stream of ogres rushing the portal.

It was quite a bit of fun. Get a sow, zone in, run around, die. The monsters were like nothing we had seen before. The sky raid blood. It was really impressive for the first time.

[revkaine]

Originally Posted by west42074 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

"Why would you make up a human?" he asked me questioningly. "I know how much you like elves and Lord of the Rings and all of that mess, but here is this awesome new game and you want to make up a regular human in the most regular setting possible..."

By this time I had tuned him out. It was 1999 and my friend Jake was responsible for inspiring me to buy Everquest. Of course I had to buy a new computer first because the graphics were absolutely top of the line and my old desktop just couldn't handle all the graphics. The first time that I saw Jake play the game and watched his wood elf character running through the dark and hoary wood of Greater Fay I knew I had to get it; even if it meant the misappropriation of scholarship funds (well, I did use the computer for some school stuff so I sufficiently justified it). I set up the computer and agonized through the installation and finally made up my character: Vidden, human agnostic wizard from Qeynos.

Of course I had manufactured a whole background for Vidden. Nothing spectacular, the son of a Karana fisherman who was born with some magical talent and was sent to apprentice under Nohstala Westfend. When I explained my narrative to Jake he didn't seem to understand that either; it was simple and plain compared to the lustrous backdrop of Norrath.

"See, that's just so plain" he continued. "I'm going to go logon and I'll see you there"

I just nodded and logged in...

Much like the Shire for Frodo, Qeynos created a simple and quaint backdrop for my character Vidden. With time and more adventure he slowly radiated out from his rustic home and humble start. One of the voyages I made was to Erudin. A tall, swarthy wizard who curiously carried around an ornate stein was kind enough to give me a few pointers. He told me about a great library in the city of Erudin, filled with most of the lore I would need to become ever more powerful. I waited forever on the boat and when it finally came I climbed aboard and found a quiet place to sit down. There were several Erudites on the boat as well; they quietly kept to themselves. I'd heard that they were a bit aloof around humans, and certainly didn't see us as equals in the practice of magic.

To my surprise we made a stop at a very small island stranded amidst Erud's Crossing. I walked to the edge of the boat, curious about where we stopped and what strange island this could be; standing on the dock and staring back at me was a strange creature - a kerran - who mewed pawed at the air and glowered dubiously at me. I decided it was best to not venture onto the island. Suddenly a scream resounded in ALL CAPS and I bounded away from the edge of the boat. Running like mad across the dock was another human in robes and following close behind him were three buzzing spheres of light. I had seen them in Qeynos Hills and the Karanas but they were always so peaceful. I couldn't imagine why they were attacking him. The will-o'wisps flit against him continuously; his steps faltered and finally he collapsed at the edge of the dock, just short of the boat. He was dead. The wisps hovered ominously over his corpse then slowly drifted back toward the dusk illuminated isle as the boat lurched forward again. My stared at the corpse until the island faded from view. The Erudites whispered among themselves and cast a few chastising glances over their shoulders.

Erudin was ominous. From the magical skiff that carried me from the boat through shark infested waters to the teleportation gems that moved me through the marble halls and libraries. I decided to stay there for some time and earn the respect of the Erudites there. Toxxulia was a brutal land for a young adventurer to make a name for himself but I found close camaraderie with the folk of Erudin and joined them on many adventures against the Kerrans and Kobolds. I eventually gained the respect of the Craftkeepers, and even undertook several quests for the masters of Wizardry there. The famed city was one of my first sources of wonder in this world.

To continue my adventures I would have to cross the Karanas. I wanted to travel to Freeport. I'd heard that it was the Jewel of the East, a cosmopolitan city where elves and humans, and even dark elves and ogres could be seen walking down the same streets together. I had never met an ogre and the prospect was exhilarating. I had found a bard, I think his name was Laay who was going to group a bunch of us together and run us across the continent. There were people who could teleport us but they were very rare - the bard was the best chance we had. We all gathered and paid our donations and the bard set off across the Karanas. The trip itself was exciting but things began get worrisome when we came to a huge gorge. We climbed a mountain pass that moved higher and higher; I clung to the walls like lichen afraid get too close to the sides. We were moving so fast as the bard continually beat his drum, setting a mad rhythm for feet that moved faster than they ever had before. Suddenly there was a scream, another ALL CAPS cry. One of the group had fallen into the chasm; I think she must have clung to the side as she fell. She was a barbarian woman named Freja I think, and I wasn't surprised she lived; she was really hurt however. Laay set us off in the opposite direction, determined to go back to the beginning of the gorge and meet the poor woman. He was determined not to abandon her.

Another ALL CAPS cry "CLEAR THE WAY, RUN!!" (I've learned to tremble at the "sound"). Barreling down the gorge floor was a small party of adventurers - I even noticed the swarthy wizard with the odd mug from ages ago among them - barreling down behind them, shaking the ground with the weight of his thunderous green legs. A cyclops. A cyclops! He charged down the chasm and before him, the fleeing party met lethal ends. We watched from the safety of our perch as one by one the party was slain. Freja ran for her life but to no avail. A single swat of his mammoth fist and Freja crumpled beneath the weight of his blow. We all stood there on the cliff edge, stunned. I was sorry that it happened but Laay said that we couldn't go all the way back now. We continued on the way, but the rest of the trip was fairly silent.

Freeport was everything that I had heard. It was huge in comparison to Qeynos. Freeport teemed with people of every type. Dark elves, ogres, trolls, elves! And the bazaar was incredible! The tunnel to the Commonlands held every type of person with every kind of magic, weapon, and spell for hire! I wide-eyed stared at ogre shamans who walked on air and dark elven enchantresses who hocked elaborate magical jewelry. I had no idea that there were that many people in the world of Everquest, and the thought that they would all convene in one place like this was mind-blowing. Freeport was the metropolis of Norrath and every wonder imaginable seemed to be available there. I spent quite some time in and around Freeport; exploring the Deserts of Ro, running the Commonlands, and even diving into the dark depths of Neriak. As a wizard with no particular religious conviction I thrilled at walking into the alien land of the Tier'Dal and laying eyes on sites that no human rarely ever saw.

After all of this though, there was still the land of the elves. The Faydark - the mystic isle where high magic reigned and immortal royalty still held court among the Fay. Once again I found myself on another boat and traveled far again and was not disappointed. Kaladim was the first. The great dwarven statue was a testament to the building power of the dwarves and their immortal home. But it was Felwithe, so perfectly blended into the forest and Kelethin raised high and hidden among the trees that won my heart. With Felwithe as my new base of operations I helped bring down the orc chieftain and his cohorts, I travelled the darkened halls of Unrest and battled the horrors in the depths, I scorched the flesh from the bones of Castle Mistmoor's dread residents . I explored the lands with wide-eyed wonder and every new sight was more wondrous than the last.

To my friend Jake. Why do I make up a human? I made up a human because I wanted to vicariously live through actions and explorations of my character. I wanted to thrill at viewing an elf, an ogre, or even a dragon for the first time with the all the astonishment and excitement of so many other heroes before me that started in the quaint and humble beginnings of their homelands and ranged far and wide in the course of their adventures. Like Frodo in the court of Galadriel or Tanis in Qualinost, I truly experienced a heroic journey. Everquest in 1999 was an incredible gaming experience for me, one that no other MMO has been able to match regardless of where I looked or what games I tried.

Anyway, last month Jake called me up and said "Hey, you've got to go to this website. Project1999.org ."

Thank you, Jake. I'm going to make up a human in Qeynos...

Nicely done..

[Labyrrinth]

I love every single one of these stories!!! <3 You guys rock!

[CBG]

^ Oldest EQ story, ever. Can't write something original to win pp?

[teekanc]

So, there's this clueless guy who has a 50+ monk in our guild. He's a cool guy, but.. tends to nom on shrooms and swallow acid. Zoned into Rivervale one day, and hes gettin' his ass beat, running around being chased by guards. Instead of feign death, hes running around saying "get off me *****, get off me"...


Not entering this, just sharing.

[kazroth]

Originally Posted by revkaine [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Nicely done..

Excellent read, wow... gratz on ur 10k! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]