Oversleeping was the least of my problems today. Now it’s dark, and it’s coupled with light winds(which are hilariously in my face)! But even with the odds not in my favor, I still need to get to Glasshollow.
As I was about to sail out of the deed, Angry logs in unexpectedly and tells me that he had to take another sick day (he’s recovering from the flu). Last night, he wanted to take my Knarr and extract his priest alt, Ctrlaltdelete, from Inde. But knowing that I would need it, he decided against it. Seeing he was on, I volunteered to head there and pick him up and take him back home (and then head to Glasshollow afterwards).
And that’s what I did, yet after I left the southern canal.. I completely forgot about picking him up (and was enroute to Glasshollow). On top of it, fog is starting to form. God, this game hates my guts. Turned south and went to Inde, then had to go East to the island (as dawn was beginning to break). Angry’s telling me the alt is on the North side of the island. Finally made to the island and began to hug the coast. After telling him where I was, he said the alt was on the Northwest side of the island and apologized.
Managed to find him and picked him up. Before I was about to cross back to Cele, I looked to my left and saw the cool shadow of Jackal(setting) next to Sol. Now in Cele, I was getting a tad lost (never came back home from this angle), but after a bit, I found it.
Angry’s alt wanted to go with me to Glasshollow, but I told him that he needs to be home and stay safe(as priests are squishy). Made it back and dropped him off. He said “dont die out there” (which has to be one of the nicest things he had ever said to me). Said “you too” and then sailed out towards Xanadu.
Now it’s day, and Xanadu’s got no fog. Slowly sailed to Glasshollow(as 13.51 km/h sucks).
Glasshollow is quite a big place, and it seems to have only gotten bigger as I’m trying to find my way to the Impalong site. All I’m seeing are several Cogs named ‘GLASSHOLLOW IMPALONG 2018’ (there are rowboats also named this, which seem to be almost lighting a path to the site). This lead me to the ‘Glasshollow Public Market And Harbors'(a shock they actually use the American term for ‘harbor’ (instead of the British ‘harbour’..but I digress).
Ahead of me appears to be a cave canal. I go in and am immediately stopped by a cave dwelling, named ‘MARKET CAVE TOWN'(from what I see, it’s obviously where they’re getting their metal materials). There’s also a footpath that heads back outside and connects to the market.
Turned around and parked on the side of this canal, and try to find the Impalong. So as I said before, the market has greatly expanded. The ‘Dragon’ and ‘Lumpy’ markets however seem to have been unchanged, but there’s now a ‘Horse’ market, and a ‘Harbor’
market.
And the ‘Harbor’ market is where the Impalong will be held. At first it confused me. But the bear HOTA statues helped to show the way. The site seems to be quite small, while still having the usual places for Blacksmithing and Weaponsmithing, and a place for priests to do their sermons and enchant.
From what I’m seeing, this is going to be the first Impalong (that I’ve ever been to), that would be completely outside. Very cool.
Now that I’ve found the Impalong site and see that it has easy boat access (it’s right next to the canal, which is awesome), I need to find a safe AFK/log out building. There are a few Guest Houses to the West..but they’re all locked for some strange reason. I can only assume (and hope) that these will be unlocked once the Impalong starts. It only makes sense. Yet, why even lock them in the first place? Unless, ‘Guest’ doesn’t mean ‘Public'(and ‘Guest’ meaning the people that are volunteering to help at the Impalong).
The only public rest area I see, would have to be the Dragon Hotel(up the hill, past the Dragon and Lumpy markets, to the South and East of the Impalong site).
There is also a modestly-sized inn to the South (up the road away from the market, in the actual starter town of Glasshollow). There are also the smaller ‘Hostels’.
All there’s left to find now, is a publicly-accessed Path of Love tile. This unfortunately, I cannot even get help to locate(there’s no one in local). Plus the locals in Kchat are less than helpful, telling me to just make my own (if I can’t find one). It seems Christmas presents don’t come free around here.
Maybe I should had brought Angry with me. He could had helped me find it (if there’s even one around here). I can’t bring B2 (as I control him, and I’ll end up getting one of us killed… as there are several spiders, wolves, and bears outside of the market). So this is very disappointing.
But anyway, there’s really no other point in being here. I’ve found pretty much everything (but the Path of Love tile). I honestly thought it was going to take longer, but.. maybe the market isn’t as big as I thought. I’m even surprised I found everything even with the limited time I had of getting here.
Though I decided to take the time to head up the road to the South and see what’s there. I found beauty (and mobs). There’s this one deed called ‘Silver Glass’ (with a single spirit templar guarding it). Was kiting a troll (and a literal pack of 3 wolves) down to it that I found on the road and tried to assist.. “That would be illegal here”. The fuck? Illegal to assist in killing a mob? Okay. Whatever. As this is a single templar, it would likely die (which eventually happened). Continued to kite the now bleeding troll down the hill towards Glasshollow (this one having three templars), and managed to assist.
Troll’s dead. Went back up the hill. Saw another spider just chilling up here…yet I didn’t see its bodyguard (a ven raging crock) until it took a sizable chunk out of my health. Managed to gear up quickly and took it out without too much trouble (I couldn’t run as my Stamina bar was 0, so no kiting). Used the lesser mobs I found to heal myself up. I also reached the end of this lovely three-tile road (where it splits off going East and West). Guess it’s time to go back home.
Entering Glasshollow’s southern deed border, I see someone named ‘Captrix’ in local. I’m thinking “finally, a local!” But this person is just like me; checking out the Impalong. We talked for quite some time, about how quiet it is here, the size of the Impalong itself. Just felt very odd. They also said how most of the altars here are blank and would need to be blessed. Though I’m sure that as the 22nd gets closer, this area will fill up with people. However, Captrix isn’t so sure (due to the Shrimpalong ending yesterday). I commented about how I wanted to attend both (and Shrimpiie saying last year’s lasted too long).
But we shall see.
I then mentioned how I’m looking for a Path of Love tile. The person told me something that should had come to me (to be checking the shoreline). I expected to see the tile in plain sight (instead of having to hunt for it). But that would be too easy, right?
Nevertheless, I hopped in my boat and checked the West coast while they checked the East. And after a half an hour of searching (and finding no signs that mark “I’m a love tile”), I threw in the towel and said I just couldn’t find one. They said there were just too many mobs to really look (and I could agree, with the shore scattered with a few spiders and wolves).
But before I could go back to the markets, I realized I was five minutes past my dinnertime and logged off(of course I thanked them before I did), wondering what would happen next. Though it’s funny how those words would be so ironic when I got back.
Back on and back in my boat, I continued on for the markets. Suddenly I’m not able to turn. I checked to make sure if it was just server lag and it wasn’t. Moored the boat and hopped out…nearly 100m away from my boat and with 15% of Stamina left. I knew I needed B2 to rescue me.
Logged on as him and went right there (with the wind blowing directly in his face). Finally he crossed into Xan and went past the barrier islands, found my boat and then followed its wake to find me. I logged in as DH assuming it would be a standard rescue, and found myself had teleported back to my boat. This game is going to make something snap in my brain, I just know it. Though when I looked to my left. WOW. Jackal was realistically eclipsing Sol! And I swear it actually felt like the sky was getting dark when Jackal had 95% covered it. That was wild. Sent B2 back home, and myself back to the markets.
Upon arriving, I saw a few new people in local (and these were actually people that are local to the server). I asked one of them (named ‘Azrya’) about finding a nearby Path of Love tile(thinking they would know the land much better than myself). They told me that there used to be one to the west, up a road. And sure enough after I left westward and followed the coast (past the public docks), was a pointing sign that said “Love Tile here, by Glasshollow”, pointing to a road going up. I don’t know how I was too blind to see that damn thing before. Yet I also found having a love tile on a hill very odd, because the wiki states that it has to be near water. Went up the road anyway, and I didn’t see a tile. So I went back down to tell whoever I could find that I couldn’t find it.
A bit time later, and Azrya said they were going to come up and show me where the tile was. I went back up to wait for them to arrive, instead I see this other person named ‘Togill’. Before I could ask them what they’re doing over here, a ven troll showed up without warning. With the way the terrain was shaped, there was no way I could solo it. Told the guy to run and made a mad dash back down the road (with him following me). Back on the main road, the troll stopped while still up the hill. However, Togill wanted me to follow him back up the hill for some odd reason. He (who seems to be Azrya’s obvious alt) showed me the sign to mark this a love tile. It was pretty high up, and again.. it just didn’t make sense why someone would do it up here.
But the troll was relentless, keeping us away from this spot. Togill managed to get a spirit guard on the troll (which wasn’t enough). After it died, I attempted to kite the troll down the road and to the market. Saw a tower guard and smacked my G key to call the guards, getting this thing off me (and out of my life).
About this same time, B2 had arrived back home (and angry was on). I (as B2) told him everything I’ve seen so far, and the love tile. With what he said (and correct me if I’m wrong), height doesn’t seem to be an issue. It just needs to be between 5-20 tiles away from water (and a 3×3 flat area. That’s actually surprisingly easy to understand (now (as I type this). It wasn’t back then.) And since then, anything I was doing(that lead to an issue), I relayed to angry for advice.
Back as DH, with the troll dead I went back up the hill to check out the tile. Most of the flowers are there, but two tiles have been replaced by trees. Managed to remove one of them (with the other being in a deed that I couldn’t remove). Someone named ‘Rockybalboa’ was in local, and I asked them to please remove the tree in order to restore the tile. I tried to ask others if they could either help (or point me to a new tile). But it seemed I would be forced to go back home on the 23rd in order to get Refresh.
Angry pretty much said what I was told by the locals in kchat; to just make my own. That doesn’t exactly help when the wiki isn’t that intuitive in explaining just how to do it (again, this was before I thought hard about it). So I decided to hunt the west once again for a love tile (on foot, and it’s getting dark). Half of me is saying “what the hell am I doing, traveling at night without a horse?!”, with the other half saying “I refuse to just give up like this. I have to make another tile..somehow!” With deeds pretty much everywhere (including being chased by spiders and wolves), it wasn’t easy. Did encounter a deed that reminded me of OR. Though except of the deed owner wanting to get rid of the clay, they used it as actual roads for their deed. One such road I found quite interesting, having fences on the sides with lots of lamps, and the floor was patterned with small rafts (to hide the clay).
Came up to another coastal deed named ‘The Rusty Anchor’ (having an unfinished Cog sitting on top of a structure, that served as the entrance). I saw a raised, flat area behind the deed that didn’t look like it wasn’t owned. Sure enough, it wasn’t. Had to ask Angry as B2 (again), of what was the maximum distance a love tile could be. He guessed 20. And from what I was seeing(and now thinking hard), I felt pretty confident I could pull this off. All I needed to do was gather a bunch of flowers, and then use my– wait. Why…is my rug NOT in my inventory?! Ohh fuck.
Ran back to my boat, praying I placed it in the hold. More spiders and wolves are coming out of the fucking walls as I finally make it back five minutes later. I close my eyes as I click the Open option of my boat, then slowly open them and stand there completely shocked that it’s not there.
I’m thinking the worst, that it got lost when I logged back on. Checked the Event log, praying for answers. Compared the log of what I was currently doing, and saw no results for ‘rug’ during this timeframe. So clearly I didn’t misplace it. Yet I’m swearing up and down (in my head) that I took the fucking thing with me!!
I use B2 to see if I had simply forgotten to take it with me. I thoroughly check the entire deed, and I see nothing. The anxiety just continues to build. Check my house… and found the rug next to the stairs, suddenly remembering that I placed it there before I went to bed.
HUGE sigh of relief flows through my body. I need to get him to bring my rug to me. Decide to also have him cook a breakfast. Tried to throw it in a picnic basket, and the fucking thing won’t allow the breakfast to fit. Angry was right, they are garbage.
But no matter, as breakfasts don’t start decaying as quickly as a meal does.
B2’s back on the ocean. Told Angry that he would return soon. Who knew ‘soon’ would nearly be two hours, huh? More on this a bit later.
So B2’s enroute to Xanadu, attempting to fight the bad wind in order to get as much good wind in the sail. In Xan, all I could do was wait for him. Decided to go back to the market as there was really nothing I could do. Rockybalboa, the guy I asked if they could help me, PMs and apologizes for the tree and says they’ll chop it down for me. So this is really awesome. Told angry about it (as B2.. still trying to get to the SW island in order to make the turn).
Back as DH, I made my way back to the love tile, and sure enough he did what he said what he would do, even went as far as planting new flowers to reactivate the special tile. He had his own mat in order to test it out. Everything seems to be working. He says the ‘this is indeed a special place’ tile is infront of the sign. He allowed me to use his mat, and sure enough it worked for me!
WOOT! Refresh by the 23rd, here I come! 😀
With that, I felt ready to return home (having learned everything I needed to know about the site). Yet with B2 still coming, I decided to meet him halfway at the barrier islands. While I waited, once again Jackal’s preparing to eclipse Sol. Yet this one, it only covered like 25% of it. Seems it had reached its peak totality when I saw it before.
B2 arrived, but I had him lead myself back home. This would prove to be a HUGE mistake (mainly for not checking my compass first). First it felt like it took upwards of nearly an hour of sailing away from the massive server until we were able to transfer to Cele.
In Cele, we turned to what I assumed was the South coast (only that it wasn’t), thinking I was heading to the south canal. Instead, we were getting horribly lost to the point I was really getting scared, that I would never see home again. Even areas I remembered using before, were leading us to dead ends. Nothing was making any sense!
Discovered we were on the ‘west’ side of the server (instead of east). On top it, it’s now night again and I can’t see shit with this secondary monitor (due to the glare). Went to Exo to try to use it as a dimensional slingshot, only for it to hit me.. please, just someone slam your fist into my face. I deserve it.
We shouldn’t had transferred. I was on the CORRECT FUCKING SIDE BEFORE!! AHHHHH!!!
Nothing MADE SENSE!!! We were getting a SW breeze which was against us. It would had made sense if we were on the South side! And all I was doing was getting us lost more! FUCK ME!
What was worse, is angry went to Inde and back to Cele with no problem. This is fucking inexcusable!
…ENOUGH with your bullshit, Wurm! I am going home, NOW!! This time I carefully went over how to get back, and used Deli’s west side to get us back to Cele’s east side. Sure enough, this got us to Kami Canal. FINALLY going the right away. Again I had to fight the wind to get to the north canal, and made it. back. home! If I had the ability, I would be kissing the ground. Holy HELL, that scared the shit out of me. I hate not knowing where I am at all times, especially when the map says one thing and where I am says another! It reminded me of a similar thing of Old Inde (of trying to get back to where I was staying after picking up B2 from Samling).
I was going to get back to work with prepping the redesign project (until the evening of the 21st), but I feel exhausted after that mayhem. I feel that I’m still out there, getting horribly lost out at sea (and nothing makes sense anymore).
I feel a good night’s rest will help calm the nerves, and get me back on solid ground. And as for the Impalong, I don’t feel confident that this is going to be a good one this year. The fact I didn’t really see (and feel) a lot of “we’re ready, let’s do it” as the main factor. It’s almost like this is Glasshollow Market’s first Impalong (and I highly doubt it as there was one last year)
But, we shall see. Maybe I might be right, or maybe this would even top 2015’s Inde Impalong (giving free marble statues to take home, and having lots of fun games to participate in).
Every Impalong has the potential to impress me, but only 2010’s and 2015’s have done it(2011’s to the 2014’s could had as well, but I wasn’t playing then). But I still have one question… where is the arena that Enki would be setting up fights? Unless, this is going to be similar to 2010’s Impalong (where Freedom Market was under attack by zombies). THAT..would be interesting, watching newbies running away in fear. 🙂 ..PLEASE let that happen again.