Week 4-6: Spartan Training, Lazy Days, and Hiatus

Well, for this, err, three-quarters of a month, I decided to write one log that covers all the events during the said weeks. The family mainly continued their quest to Expert-hood by busting open a 15-day unlimited ticket to Ancient Territories. Ten characters made it to Expert over two weeks of "Spartan" training at Gree- I mean Ancient Castilla, Temple: Team Canciri (Canciri, Andromeda, Brunie), Team Catherine (Catherine, Bellatrix, Ralph), Team Triang-relations (Gavin, Selva, Edward, duh.), and (emo) Grandice. Grandice also had the luxury of getting her Expert stance Hanging Guard maxed, plus getting trained to Expert 5. The family level went up to 47 through the training.

Raids were kind on these weeks, with Fury raids giving a Siren's Scale, Symbols of Cancer and Pisces, and a Recipe-Dragon Heart. Nothing good came up with the Silent Maze raids though, and the family opted to miss one out of three runs. The family didn't go to that many daily raids those weeks, opting to focus on training. Due to this, Team Arena only gave us a Symbol of Virgo. The family also tried Ureaus raid for the first time, obtaining a Gemini from the only Constellation Box it gave us.

Alliance Wars was the usual, with Viki again representing the family. First week we got shipped to Souveran to lounge around the home town of Auch, gaining the most points in a war we ever got (40k, twice the previous record), next two weeks were spent with fellow factionmates in Esmero's Culverts. We also recruited Claude for the wars on one of those wars for a massive point boost, eventually achieving Tier 5 on Pegadilla: Advanced Soldier. We also got the Brash Chain Victor medal for winning two wars in a row, a result of getting shipped to Souveran two times in a row, and the Immortal Old Soldier, for having no deaths for three wars in a row. We got up the rankings to Rank 4, passing Runia and former comrade PantherRH. The family however wasn't satisfied by this, since we did have difficulties securing a spot on the second week of the wars.

The family also went on a mini-hiatus during the third week, with the entire family going back to Vespanola for a vacation, however the return trip to Granado Espada did take a bit of difficulty due to ships being overbooked. It did refresh everyone in the family for more exploration and pioneering.

This week will see the revival of weekly raids (Griffon and Ureaus), and the start of training the 5 noobs we have left. Existing Veteran teams will also be reshuffled with the exception of Team Irawan (Irawan, Claire, Hellena) who's already slated to start training the moment we step inside Ancient Castilla, Temple. The family also is seeing to finally start on Lisa+Adelina (hot females in action, yes?) series of quest, to finally get Lisa's exclusive Blitz Assault stance.

Regards,
Sebastian Schwarzburg

The Mercenary's Log: Week 3 - Enchantment Blues, Siblings, and Giant Eagles

My apologies for having this past week's log has came in late, there has been quite a ruckus in Ustiur, the base of operations of the Schwarzburg family. The Phablewchenque Sisters Daria and Natalie have finally arrived from Illier. "Imouto" Natalie was first to join the family, "oneechan" Daria needed quite a lengthy discussion with Natalie in order to get convinced to join her. Claire also finally introduced her last sister, Cleo, to the family. Cleo was a little bit too energetic though, dragging Viki everywhere. Viki, however, was, well, his red face should explain everything. The family level rose to 46, with these new family members getting introduced to the fold, and the intense training the main team had inside Sacred Chaos Requiem Dungeon.

Leaving that behind, the family's deadly assassin Kurarin finally got her armor, Elite Le Blanc (Fighter), enchanted to DEF Rating+3 option, after roughly 400 chips. The family's coffers' focus are now switched to enchanting Valeria's lovely gown, Elite Ruidestencia. The family also enchanted one of it's Elite Echo of Steels to ATK32/ASPD27 options, and Raphael decided to keep it as his main-hand pistol for Team Arena runs.

The family took a "cruise" to the Sacred Chaos Requiem Dungeon, with the intention of training Valeria to Master, as well as mastering her Enhanced Tactics stance. With Kurarin luring 5 Sacred Vespanola Soldiers, and Asoka killing them with little effort, Valeria shot her way up from Expert to Master in just 5 hours, Asoka and Kurarin from Master Lv.6 to Lv.10 as well. They also killed the Dungeon Boss while inside, with some difficulty (first time encountering the guy anyway), and they got a Symbol of Taurus out of it. The family decided to trade it for a Symbol of Leo, for Grandice's and Andromeda's stances.

Raids have been quite dry this past week, with some trolls sleeping on front of most raid entrances, barring anyone enter. Team Arena only gave us Capricorn and Gemini last week as an effect of these trolls. Fury Raids however was generous on me for this week, giving the family a Siren's Scale gem to the family after just two of them. Einwind was not so kind however, deciding not to give a single Lightning Series weapon on anyone on the faction. The family decided to try Griffon this week too, but someone was a little too excited he forgot to buy Tofu. We did manage to take down the giant eagle thingy, and it gave us Aries and Virgo (ugh), and both were sold for upkeep.

Alliance Wars had us running in a wild goose chase, with Gerard Loren having us join Souverans for this week, however, shipping us directly to Reboldoeux instead, causing Viki to die in a mob. This didn't sit well for "drama destroyer" Bai Hu, who went on to kill these "bullies." It didn't end there though, Viki was still suffering from "Cleo syndrome" by the time the war's on full swing, and kept on randomly fainting in Auch. This cost us another place down the Pegadilla standings, this time to comrade Runia. We gained a lot more points (20k) than any other week though. Gerard Loren was sympathetic about the mistake however, and he gave us 10 Hrin's Potions to cover the damages.

For the next week, we decided to open the Premium Package we got... from the sky(?). Veterans will be training to Expert for the next two weeks. The lowbies are also slated to start training to Veterans this Friday, to eliminate the trips to Rion Dungeon Hollow and Prison de Joaquin, Gehenna Bridge (those places are so full of damned robots, I hate them).

Regards,
Sebastian Schwarzburg

The Mercenary's Log: Week 2 - Temples, Prisons, and Flying Musketeers

Another week has passed, and first for this week's is "baka-nii" Lionel has reached Master courtesy of training food we got this past Alliance Wars. The family also experienced our first Prison de Joaquin Basement mission, all the while hoping for an Innocentio book for our little innocent Valeria, who seems to have forgotten how to use it.

As promised last week, we entered Ancient Castilla, Temple this week for some stance training, Michael, Romina, Kurt, Claude, and Rio mastered their stances, with Michael mastering 2 stances, his ecstasy about it still lingering, as he can now "fly". Valeria didn't master her Enhanced Tactics, Ciel and Regulus were quick to comfort her, saying Enhanced Tactics indeed is a very hard stance to master. Lisa seems to be pleased with all the happening at the Temple, with Level 88 Equipments raining down to make her "gift" for "auntie" Adelina.

The family's daily trips to Team Arena this week was fruitful, with us bagging two Aquarius, a Libra, and a Capricorn. We decided to apply a new route this time, like Kurarin suggested. We are still getting used to it however, as skipping King of Greeds isn't Asoka's style (she likes killing anyway), but since it's a faster and more efficient route to take, it seems that we will apply it from now on. We also opened one Constellation Box from World Cross PvP this week, which yielded another Scorpio (third in a row for those who didn't keep track). Superstitious Gracielo didn't like it at all, taking it as a bad omen in the near future.

This week's Alliance Wars was a pain in the ass. Viki was again appointed to represent the family, however, he would become scared stiff by the time he gets transferred to Cite de Reboldoeux that he wouldn't respond for a few seconds, then faint (ahh, blasted Souvs, you even dare bully a sweet little boy), getting kicked out of the Wars in the process. This happened at least 6 times, much to the chagrin of Coimbra representative Antares. Because of this, the family only gained around 5000 points, getting kicked to 4th place in Pegadilla rankings by fellow factionmate Kridace (I'll beat you next time Kirby!). It was ok in the end though, since the family got promoted to Mercenary Soldier, and receiving a medal for losing 10 wars in a row, which Ciel reluctantly received.

This week, the family plans to explore the inner sanctums of Montoro's (un)humble abode, the Lucifer Castle Secret Garden. The end of this week will see another boat pass to Sacred Chaos Requiem Dungeon burnt to finish off Valeria's training and get her to Master level. A great week of exploring lies ahead of us!

Regards,
Sebastian Schwarzburg

The Mercenary's Log: Week 1 - Lionel and Ludin, and Lucky Streaks

A very tiring but productive week has passed, and finally we, the Schwarzburg family re-acquired Lionel from a very good ally of the family, the Revancher family, in turn being able to finish Ludin's recruitment quest. Lionel was Master Lv.1 when Revancher used a Mercenary Contract, went down to Expert Lv.8 after "mercing." Lionel is now Expert Lv.10 after feeding him Expert "Food" from the Alliance Wars and Pioneering Quests. Ludin was also created, after much anticipation for the cute loli, rising the used barrack slots to 72. Valeria was also boosted to Expert Lv.1, after feeding her the family's collection of Veteran "Food". The Family Level was raised to 45, thanks to all these acquisitions and boosting.

This week finally, the family made it to Silent Maze Sanctuary, after 2 weeks of failures (1st week was a failure after getting lost in the maze due to Asoka's poor sense of direction, 2nd week was plagued by Ciel having frequent cramps on the way to Einwind's room, with the gates closing down before he can make it, Kurarin itching to shoot him in the head with her crossbow). Nothing very nice came out of this week's session though, unlike last week's Recipe - Elite Le Noir Wizard, with a faction mate only getting Cumolonimbus (Lightning Shield). The family also went to Lava Leaf once this week, getting an Infernal Hearts Shield, which the family decided to keep as collection.

Favor on this week's Bounty Hunter Raids is neutral, at best, with the family acquiring 3 e92 Pistols, Le Noir Wizard, and various e92s, most of which are sold for upkeep. Daily Team Arena runs gave the family Aries, Pisces, Gemini, Scorpio, and 2x Cancers, which means that the family's (mainly Kurarin's) lucky streak is back again. The family also opened 2x Constellation Boxes this week, from World Cross PvP. Scarily, the boxes both gave the family Scorpios, to which Ciel commented on about getting 5 Virgos in a row in the future. The faction only went for Fury Farm and Rafflesia this week, due to time constraints. The family didn't get anything shiny this week from them.

Alliance Wars was the usual this week, with the entire faction getting shipped to Esmero by Gerard Loren for the umpteenth time. Viki was enthusiastic to join this week, but his overenthusiasm had him summon his giants in crowded places, causing inconvenience to ally families. Nevertheless, even though the Souverans won this war (again) the family gained around 12000 points for the wars, plus a medal for not dying in Alliance Wars twice in a row. Viki happily accepted this medal with his dog Tary.

This week, the family decided to take a trip to Ancient Castilla, Temple for much-needed Expert stance training. Michael in particular was excited about this, can't blame him, he has 2 stances needed to train. Valeria however, was reluctant to join, thinking the mobs inside the place are fiercer than her "bodyguards" in Prison de Joaquin. However, "oneechan" Romina convinced her to join, stating that her Enhanced Tactics stance is much needed for the main team's stability.

Here's hoping to a great week ahead of us!

Regards,
Sebastian Schwarzburg