Darkfall Day 29-33

Lots of play days to write about but for short times each. I've done a lot of farming this week to put myself into position for some spell practice. Right now my Greater Magic is 30.1 and I need to get to 50 for elemental schools. My next training push will probably get me to just 40 unless I can buy a shitload of reagents. Otherwise I'm herb gathering and farming my friendly neighborhood trolls to gather what I need.

In more interesting developments I had my first experience as part of what I might charitably call a gank squad :) A couple of my clanmates needed to pay off their alignment debt to get blue again, so we formed a little group of four and went hunting in Mahirim lands. I've been the victim of such gank squads more often than I care to think about in the newbie areas of human and elven lands. A group of enemies on mounts will swing through and kill a few folks, loot, and move on. I don't get too upset about it as long as it's spread out enough that I get something done in between. Now I've been on the other side.

The basic tactic was to go to a mob camp, most often goblins, and kill whomever we found there. The goal was more to get my clanmates the alignment credit for having killed them than to gather loot or anything, though we picked up a little of that. Sounds are often the giveaway that someone is fighting nearby and can even provide a clue as to how many there are. We dismounted for our attacks, although I've been attacked by mounted groups plenty of times. Dismounting let us use bows and magic, though. So we'd sneak up on someone and chase them a bit till they were dead. Oddly enough, we'd sometimes kill one to find another still fighting goblins. Got to be more aware of your surroundings, friends :)

The more exciting part was when, near an NPC town and emboldened by the towers there, a good sized group of Mahirim organized a counter-attack. We'd retreat, draw a few out, and charge back in, killing as we went. My magic got a good workout throughout this. All that practice leading trolls with Mana Missile also paid off as I was able to kill a couple of folks who were doing their best to dodge the slow-assed spell. I probably did more damage with the area-of-effect splash damage provided when the spell hit the ground or a nearby object.

We also would attack lone gatherers as we travelled through the wilderness, confirming the wisdom of my usual practice to keep a mount nearby and get moving at the first sound of appraoching hooves whenever I gather in the middle of nowhere.

Overall it was a fun experience and I know with greater certainity now that most often when I get ganked, it's nothing personal.