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This update is a total cop-out, but you know what? IT STILL COUNTS, muaha ha ha.

Here we have Clearite climbing building in Promyvion for some reason. Naturally, it's the one day she's not wearing a skirt. Er, anyway, we also have... Mimiru? Well now I'm just confused!

The first picture is a social commentary on people running wild in Ro'Maeve doing Arcane Killer, no joke, big packs of eight to ten sometimes just circling, one or two branching off to kill each mob they come across. I asked, "Are you frickin' serious?" but was cordially ignored.

And on the saddest of notes, a poor Lamia lying defeated at the hands of a bunch of jerks who ganged up on her. No doubt that vicious taru cut down the lovely maiden. So cruel! ;_;

IlluminatiElite

There you have it, my second major Linkshell dropped, because of drama on the first night, hours after getting it. A few of us new members complained, and did eventually get some weak apologies mostly relating to having the debate in public while defending what it devolved into.

(For the record, this is the same debate we mentioned as it was beginning that it should be behind closed doors. The same person they were talking about said it as well.)

And the real issue of a leader losing his cool and making unprovoked sexist, sexual comments towards another member was glossed over (and he wasn't the only person throwing out "hunny"). Apparently if someone's wrong about something it's okay to talk down and make obscene comments about them. The best we got was a "that was wrong, sowie," while the rest of the cast said it was deserved. Bending over backwards to help people, in this linkshell, seems to excuse that sort of behavior.

Hey, I'm just calling it like I see it. I went into that linkshell hoping to spend the rest of my XI time there, and that's what I was treated to. So I'm out, and the sad truth is I wasn't the only new person to leave.

July 9th, 2010:

We might try something a little different here in the future, maybe focus a little more on text. The downside being it's BORING, everyone would rather look at the pictures, but at least maybe I can get some more consistent entries up, and add some images later. They're a bit of a hassle between the resizing and the uploading!

So that's good stuff: Clearite finally hit L61, which is good, because we can do the last Adventuring Limit Break as of this writing, "Clash of the Comrades." I also got to try out the Soothing Healer setting, which was... interesting. Lots of resting to restore her MP, but it was nice getting the occasional Cure IV, V, and... I. Yeah, Cure I.

Her Protect is at III, one higher than mine, so that's good at least. Why she's got Protect III and Cure V, I dunno.

Look at that. She's making multimillion gil deals, and I'm barely getting by.

Talk about a sucky mission. Clearite's making millions and millions, Luto doesn't need me for jack anymore, and my Elvaan honey apparently has some burning desire to defeat me someday just to prove herself. Geez, I never had a desire to beat up Tamberly, or punch out Hamartia, or kick around Yunami, we're just buddies who quest and level together.

Maybe this is kinda like Rocky V, where Rocky takes the up and coming Tommy Gun on as his protege. Tommy is wildly successful, but can never get out of Rocky's shadow. So while the Italian Stallion is living in poverty, Gun is living it up, but can't deal with people accusing him of being nothing compared to his mentor.

And then after all that I MAKE HER CRY. Great, now I feel like a jerk on top of everything! What a crappy quest!

Anyway, just to cement my status as a total jerk, the video of our epic battle is below!

June 1st, 2010: Clearite's (Lack of) Fashion Show

Not a full-fledged entry, just a quick little thing. Apparently, Adventuring Fellows clothes can change even if you summon them, log off, then log back in.

Things had started off well enough. Recently she had donned this very Elfin-looking outfit. It was so incredibly decent even Tam said it didn't look completely hideous.

Needless to say, we gave Clearite too much credit. After finishing a page on the Fields of Valor, I logged off, only to return and find this...

This. Yes, maybe it was all the jokes about Elvaan women looking buff, but she apparently decided she needed to display her wares in the trashiest way possible. Needless to say, I was glad to be wearing a helmet, if only to hide my face from the leering L75s (storming Ro'Maeve, as usual!).

When I logged back in to find this, well... I was actually somewhat pleased. It makes me wonder if she wore that awful looking thing last time so she could put this on and I'd be all, "Okay, well, that's a step up!"

Great, she's officially graduated from street trash to high class ho. At least I can strut around wearing purple fur and some massive rings now.

Jokes aside, I'm thinking we're at least on the right path, and hopefully she'll regain her modesty, or at least sense of fashion.

/sigh

No, I guess it's too much to ask my NPC to wear pants in battle. Seriously, Cleary? Seriously? After all I defended you!

I officially give Tamberly free reign on Clearite jokes, and the rest of Vana'Diel while I'm at it.

April 26th, 2010: Much Bawwwing About Nothing

Click individual pictures for much, much larger images, in proper proportions!

Slight format change with the images. Having graduated to Fraps, I can now get full-screen JPEGs (we're talkin' 1920 by 1080, almost four times the default in-game size!) at only a slight jump in file size (from around 50k to 140k or so).

Because Tam made me feel guilty about resizing the images instead of making smaller images for display, I've even gone so far as to make minuscule images the size of typical FFXI screenshots! It's really not that much effort, and I did kinda bug me anyway, so I guess I should be grateful!

Much rambling ahead!

Since I was already there upon logging, first up was to finally get a map of the deserts, and trade in my venom for a samurai sword I won't be able to use for who knows how long!

Next up, which the party united, I summoned Clearite, who had thankfully moved on to a different top, the same one I had wore for a while. Between the shades, the armor, and the big ol' claymore, she's lookin' pretty badass!

Things started simple enough as we knocked out a couple pages as I was half-AFK. Of course, I ended up being fully not AFK for this, heehee.

Then things got fun when out of nowhere an Eastern Sphinx Notorious Monster decided to aggro us! We fought deftly, and despite a few close calls pulled through.

Turns out it was spawned from a quest, and a trio of guys starting whining up a storm, big time, without even letting us explain. It didn't matter that we were aggroed, or that disengaging could've gotten us killed, or that they feebly sent a few /says that got lost in the fog instead of doing a /tell, which would've stayed at the top of my list, or that their stupid monster was set to respawn within 10-15 minutes anyway (and I was trying to help by pointing that out), we were jerks!

So once they flipped out, we followed suit. Even better, Israfel decided he wanted to baawwwww at Tam, who responded every single time with "Mommiiieee!" Of course, it wasn't more than seven or eight minutes before their NM respawned - they had killed it before we even finished talking! When the dude decided to cool down and let me talk, I explained things to him and smoothed things over, just to be the bigger man (and now to brag that I'm the bigger man!).

In short, we destroyed their NM, we burned them seven times over, and we came out looking like the bigger men (and woman!). I'd say THC Unlimited, Ltd., pretty much proved we're magnificent bastards.

Then it was down to hunt for a Star Spinal - er, Spinel. Things were going smoothly until, you know, I forgot to cast Sneak on myself and aggroed a couple Girtab scorpions. Their deathscissors were doing 600+ damage, so after me (and Clearite and Delphyne!) and Ham fell, Tam made a quick exit, returning shortly to sleep the scorps so we could reraise and heal!

Things genuinely did smooth out, as it only took a handful of Spelunking Sabotender to score not only the gem but also Clearite a level!

And there was much rejoicing.

With a level so close, but time ticking, we opted for one more page. I decided it was time to bring disco back to Vana'Diel. Shortly afterwards, Ham and I can be seen in pitched battle, while Tam decided to throw open her arms and soak in the rays from that glorious sun.

Oh, and I did nab L61, which was cool!

So it turns out that not only had I already activated the NPC weapon quest, I was already five levels into it, earning me a wall of text from Luto, most of which makes no sense without a weapon-giving in between! Of course, there were no Mythril Claymores on the market...

Figured I might as well start the L65 limit break, Riding on the Clouds, since it's all footwork and I could do it easily between now and 65!

I also had a nice little discussion in /shouts about Pandora's Ru'LudeMart and how it killed Rolanmart. She mentioned people moved inside the city after the Auction House taxes were removed, and Ru'Lude Gardens were a good place since Whitegate warps in right there. Fair enough.

Also turns out she's naked, but she's got a bazaar up, so it's cool.

One final shot of Clearite, having glamorized her "legs," to make her armor match much better! She doesn't show a ton of thigh like before now, but I guess you take the good with the bad, m i rite?

It was finally time to get Eireen to clear out her box, having stuff both from her partner Cinnaris and ever-helpful Tam! Between a few chests from Tam, an extra table and painting from Cin, and Cin's old bed she's rocked for a while, the house is starting to look like a home!

I think I may have to keep that little grouping of dollhouses and bonbori, though!

Royal Jelly BCNM

Just a quick little update! THC Unlimited, Ltd.'s first ever BCNM, recorded in HD for your enjoyment! Well, maybe "for our narcissism" would be more accurate, but still!

March 22nd, 2010: The Excitement of Vana'Diel

Riveting!