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Aside from being one of the greatest weekends in a very long time, this weekend was also quite eventful. Upon my return to Everquest, the first thing I did was clear out all the horribles from my bank. There was a lot of stuff I just couldn’t bear the throw away though, and this was trade-skill supplies. In EQ tradeskills are both fun and unforgiving. The basic principle goes something like this:
Click. Click-click. Click, click, click, click-click. Click. Click-click. Click-click. Click.
That’s how you make a pie. Yes, EQ’s trading is just a lot of clicks, combinations, and sub-combinations. The materials needed range from expensive to “PUT THAT DOWN!”. The stockpiled things in my bank ran the gamut of all available price-ranges, and so who was I to just throw it out with the bags full of mangled flesh and obsolete weapons? No, instead I decided to get to work. It was time to show the world that Kuron was a talented and accomplished smith. It was time to work on getting my Smithing Trophy.
When you reach a certain level in skill in any trade-skill, you are eligible to prove your worth to a Trade Committee member. What follows is a long and sometimes exhausting test where you need to create several items (about 25-30) completely on your own, and then later turn them in the be judged. Upon successful completion, you are given a ridiculous looking trophy that not only tells the world your exact level of awesomeness, but also grants a higher percentage of success to you in whatever tradeskill it was awarded for.
Kuron ran over to the grimy city of Freeport to visit the tradeskill committee representative for that district. She was more than happy to assign him the test, and I could see why as I skimmed over the list of things she wanted him to create. I had to make several pieces of meager armor, a few pots, some rotisserie smokers, several mining picks, a bunch of throwing daggers, shurikens, and some arrow shafts, among other things. None of the minor items were very interesting, I completed them quite swiftly, but the arrow shafts and shurikens required special metals to create. Metals that came from far, far away places.
Some of these materials were so old that people no longer regularly farm them. Baffled, I left the bazaar wondering how money couldn’t possibly solve a problem in Everquest. But then, it hit me, a gentle breeze blew through my beard and seemed to whisper “Kuurrrooonn….”. This was the spirit of adventure gracing me with her gentle caress! I decided I would get the metals myself, I would visit the old places on my own, and I would be victorious! *exciting fanfare performed by seals on bike horns*
I looked at the work order and scoffed. “Acrylia Arrow Shafts” it said. This would be an interesting adventure! Acrylia, an curious mineral, was first discovered when the intelligent races of Norrath traveled to the moon, Luclin. I too would go to this very moon in search of the wondrous yellowish metal. It is said to have the strength of dense iron, but the flexibility of a young sapling. Due to these properties artisans sought it for nearly every craft, it was a delight to carve into delicate objects, and made some of the finest blades available at the time. The entire city of Shar’Vahl, home to the cat-like Vahshir, is said to be constructed near-entirely out of this substance.
In centuries passed, it was mined it from the great Acrylia Caverns – but no longer. The mines became overrun by the Grimlings, a sinister race of tribal man-beasts. It’s hard to say what exactly their purpose is, but it cannot be seen as “goodly”. Resembling something between a small and slender man with ape-like features, it’s hard to tell if they are a missing link or something else entirely. Not that any of this matters, as the only thing that must be known is that I must to split a good number of their heads open in order to retrieve the metal I need. This was done without much trouble. I merely wandered into an outskirt of their civilization in the Tenebrous Mountains, and rabidly charged the nearest mine. Their thumbed feet couldn’t run faster than Kuron’s stout little pumping legs and before long my bag was full of bloodied Acrylia bricks.
A quick trip back to Plane of Knowledge and a visit to the forge later, and I had a few Acrylia Arrow Shafts made. Super! What’s next? *reads the list* “Forged Velium Shurikens” I scratched my chin, completely lost in thought. “Velium…” I whispered to myself over and over with pangs of nostalgia. I hadn’t held raw Velium in a long, long time. One of my favorite concepts ever, Velium is a semi-translucent blue ore from the frozen continent of Velious. The ore holds within it an amazing ability, it retains the wintry energies of it’s continent of origin. It remains cold to the touch regardless of its surroundings and, when crafted carefully, certain Velium weapons can fling shards of ice at their targets. A vertible energy sponge, this metal is also widely used in jewelry, or in any object that is to be heavily enchanted.
Found nearly everywhere on Velious, I needed to make up my mind exactly where I should go to get a load of this icy ore. Kuron steepled his fingers and thought about it, at first opting to go to the closest and most convenient location. Something slid on his finger and he happened to take notice and look down. A smile came to his face as he remembered the icy ring he always wore. How many years had it been since he’d received it? He slipped it off and held it up to admire the craftsmanship. Stunning! The runes and carvings were so intricate. The finest ring he’d ever seen, and with good reason, it belonged to Dain Frostreaver IV the honorable leader of the Coldain. Having remembered this treasure Kuron knew exactly where he’d go for all the Velium he needed.
To be continued…
