01-16-2004, 09:10 PM
So. You want to know something about rangers. Aye, I can help with that.
First, though, if you want some story about how a ranger's life is carefree and happy, nothing but skipping through the forest singing songs and petting raccoons, you've come to the wrong place. We don't do that. If anyone's tra-la-ing through the woods, it's probably a bard, or maybe a druid who's been nibbling the fermented berries, and they've only got that luxury because there's a ranger out in front somewhere, breaking trail.
That's us, the ones out in front, kicking through the underbrush and hoping to spot whatever's hiding in it before it sees us. And the forest, well, that's where we get to hang out on a good day, if Tunare's willing and our luck is all paid up.
Imagine slogging for days through some nameless swamp, mud and weeds and things you'd rather not think about clogging every link in your chainmail, soaked to the bone, with a stone that feels like you could build a small keep on it stuck in your boot. Imagine swimming through this disgusting, brackish water with more than your own weight in armor and supplies strapped to your back. Imagine rising from the swamp with bow in hand, sending an arrow into the back of some wretched godsforsaken trollspawned freak of un-nature, then tossing off a quick spell to get the reeds and grasses to trip him up and slow him enough that you can leg it back to your party before it eats you. Imagine wading into the thick of the fight, hacking away with your blades, slamming the thing with your magic, and getting half the life torn out of you in the process, only to hear the warrior congratulated for his sword work and the wizard for his spells. Imagine your only thanks is being told to go do it again.
Does that sound appealing? Does that sound like the life for you? Better yet, does that sound exactly like what you were doing just yesterday?
Then maybe you're in the right place after all.
-- Ranger manifesto lifted from EQStratics.com
--------------------------------------------
The cavern was bitterly cold.
I couldn't entirely tell where the light was coming from, perhaps some strange ore embedded in the walls of the vast underground network.. or perhaps some inlet of natural light I.. i couldn't tell.
My companions and I, a band of 20-some Temerity were wreaking swift retribution on the Kromrif of Kael Drakkal. These monsters of men, if you could call them that, were about four times my height, meaning most of our blows, at least unless from bow or some sort of magic barraged them around the legs. I suppose that explained why they always fell forward when we slew them.
"My impression of a Ranger tanking - "I got it..... please rez me". ".
That was about the 8th or 10th Ranger joke in a row. I was about to snap. I sat down next to Bastette and whisperered to her my "delight" with the topic of conversation... if you could call such trash conversation.
Figgan whispered to me from my other side "I'd like to see one of those bastards lure a Dragon halfway across Cobalt Scar".
I smiled a little.
That was Figgan. Druid, and my longtime friend. A very smart sort of Druid, I always felt safer grouped with him. I often wondered how he managed to pack all that wisdom into such a small brain. Well. After all, he *is* a halfling.
I saw what came next. Perhaps it's part of tbe blessing of being a Ranger, since you're not as strong as other melee, you tend to keep a tighter eye on traffic control and pathing, rather than just running up and hugging a mob with your sword.
Tofu came running back towards the group, three Giants hot on his heels. One of the giants slashed out with his axe and hit Tofu broadly across the back. Tofu flew forward, his head cocked back from the whiplash as he was literally half-slashed-half-thrown by the massive giant's blade. He lifted for what must have been 10.. maybe 15 feet, then collapsed in a heap. Silence.
A moment passed. The giants spotted us.
Three of them, packed together in tight formation charged, completely without fear at our group. Our tanks charged to meet them head on. Nifurn, Build, Gnatzilla and Bull. Despite attempts to split them, the giants remained in tight formation, a smart tactic on their behalf, as it made targeting them individually more difficult.
I was still seated, furious at the prior moments events. I decided if I was so bad at melee, I wouldn't bother going in to attack. I'd sit the next few out.
Glowing strands of mana streamed from our Clerics and gently cradled the tanks in their grasp... and it seemed all was well, when the giant's strategy really paid off. Two of them targeted Gnatzilla, and he, being the dragon-slaying kind that he is, unflinching met them head on. Perhaps it was a result of the stream on him faltering just a moment, or maybe he was just taking too much damage.. the blue serpent-like wave broke from Gnatzilla as his weapons dropped to the floor.. he fell to his knees and then collapsed face-first down onto the freezing stone floor.
At this point I arose to my feet.. the situation turning somewhat like I'd hoped it wouldn't.
Build picked up one of the giants, Nifurn the other. The third ran loose through our group, attacking whomever was closest, his cruel axe brutally mauling our casters, experienced and new alike.. those who were less well armored.
It was then, upon seeing this, that I intervened. I arose to my feet, motioned to Figgan that I was going in, and started to chain-cast my Flame spell on the loose giant. I was never quite sure why, but it no matter what I cast it on, always got really really mad at me. Not always a desired effect, but one that had it's uses.
The giant raged towards me, having quite successfully gained it's attention and I drew my blades - and met the foul giant head on. Or knee on, I suppose would be more appropriate.
I attacked, whirling my blades at the giant, my skin glistening with the magical buffs I carried, my armor emitting a faint, but audible hum of the powerful spells that had been cast on it, and Figgan, regular as clockwork, kept me on my feet.
So deeply engaged with the giant, I must have missed the call. The next thing I know I blacked out, and I awoke. Back just inside the massive 40 foot stone archway that marked the entrance to Kael Drakkal. We'd been evacuated. Few remained.
Of those that went in, only perhaps 9 or 10 survived, Figgan (my gate and saviour), Bastette, Clarity and a few others.
Notably though, I was the sole remaining melee to survive.
Bastette spoke up "Ok, we're going to work our way back in.. Azure is MT".
My my.
Tunare does work in mysterious ways.
Those who earlier belitted me, and the ranger class in general were now faced with the reality that I was now their sole guardian first and only line of defense.
My armor still buzzing with buffs, swords light as a feather and so well enchanted they looked more like fluorescent chrome than steel.. we ventured back into the depths of Kael Drakkal.
The first four or five giants we met - front line scouts; were nothing more than greeters, merely there to be sword practice.. and not even very good at that. Usually the Kromrif will put the greenest of their troops closest to the entrance, and slowly insert their more powerful troops as you enter further. Today was no exception.
They went down without any difficulty.
We pushed on into Kael, and soon I came across some giants in a more grey-bluish armor, i sensed these would pose a little more of a challenge. Pulling an invisibility spell out of my spellbook, I cast, and scouted around the area for any nasty surprises.. just the one guard. I ran back to the group, and took aim at the guard with the same flame spell I'd used before, the one that really gets them annoyed. It hit, and the furious giant came towards me in a fury. I casted my ensnare spell, and the roots below the stone paved floor pushed up between the tiles, and tripped up the giant, slowing him down. I took my opportunity to attack.
This giant had some skills, but our numbers, few as they were, quickly overpowered him, and we walked around the corpse, and progressed up to the bridge. We were getting closer to the Arena now. This was where our friends had suffered their fate recently.
Four giants covered the bridge, two at each end, and I knew for sure if I attacked one, the other would follow. It was then that I turned to Clarity. Trusty dwarf and Cleric (gotta love them!) whom I knew had a little something she could use to help me out with this particular giant.
Clarity, proud as a peacock, put on her little dwarvish strut and walked almost right up the giant on the right. Little bubbles and purple flowers erupted from her hands, and wisped around the giant, and after a moment the giant got a sort of distant, glazed over look, and we heard an enormous "happy sigh" come from the giant.
I chuckled a little, Clarity giggled. The giant wasn't going anywhere for a while.
The one on the left, going by his uniform looked to be some sort of senior guard. I backed up, and once again used the "annoying flame spell".
This guard though was smarter. He glared straight at me, but didn't charge. Instead, I saw thonry red thistles of lightning gather around his hands and he pointed at me. Uhoh.
I was thrown backwards by the powerful spell, my armor absorbing most of the damage, but no mistake, I was hurt. He started to cast again. Remembering my basic strategy classes in Kelethin I was required to take as a young ranger, I ran.
I know what you're thinking. Typical yellow ranger. I don't think so.
I ran, yes. But I didn't run away from the group, I ran out of casting range. The senior guards next lightning spell failed, as I was too far away. Enraged by this, he now charged at me. School had finally paid off.
I engaged the senior guard, and even with all my buffs and enchantments, I was surprised how strong he was. Already hurting, he quickly depleated my strength, and I suddenly became aware of the silence behind me. I hadn't heard a healing spell called. Darting my eyes left and right I came to the alarming realisation that noone was healing me.
In my moment of panic, the senior guard took his advantage, thrusting the sharp edge of his axe straight towards me, tearing apart my velium plate armor and mortally wounding me. My own blood sprayed all over my hands, my blades, showering the ground at my feet. My strength quickly entering an advanced state of atrophy, I wasn't more than a couple of small hits away from death.
It was then that my mind filled with the melodic chorus of Tunare.
I closed my eyes, and let my last breath pass between my lips, I could now taste my own blood as well.
Using what concentration I had left I raised my swords in front of me, pointed them skyward, and smashed my fists together, the lengths of the two blades clashing against each other, sparking violently.
"I call upon the grace of Tunare!"
Focusing the wonderful chorus of Tunares voice into a single point in time, I could feel it swimming through my head... I was set into a state of total awareness. Even with my eyes closed I could sense the soft air currents as the giant's blade came for the final blow towards my head.
Moving my swords deftly I parried the giants blow, to his surprise. Again, he swung, again I parried. Angering by the moment his blade came faster, and harder, and each time I executed a perfect block against his attack, and managed to land a few blows of my own.
Could I concentrate long enough?
While in this state, I managed to get out one word: "Cleric?!". The strands of mana returned several seconds later, and my wounds, critical as they were, faded away. The Clerics acted like nothing was ever wrong. Hmm.
With the aid of the group, and the healing on me refocused, we dispatched the senior guard, and those that followed him. We soon found ourselves at the arena, and without too much difficulty recovered our fallen Temerity.
Bastette came along side when we camped near the Arena again and whispered to me that I'd done a nice job. It was appreciated, and I smiled. She was, however the only one. Maybe the others were in shock.
The hunt ensued for a time, until the same three giants that had given us so much trouble before came into range. This time, the idea was to root the other two to keep them out of range, while we dispatched them one at a time.
If the wizard root is anything like the Ranger root spell, this could get messy, I thought. We engaged the first giant, when after a minute or so, the second giant broke loose, quickly followed by the third. The giants raged through our group unchecked once again, and I once again gave Figgan the signal and went in to distract one of them.
I awoke again, under the giant stone archway. The confusion quickly fading I realised that Tunare smiled upon me once more (or perhaps Figgan smiled upon me). I was severely injured, but alive. I couldn't say the same for the other melee.
Once again, I was going to be MT as we pushed back into Kael for the third time that day. Critics of the Ranger class were silent.
Another ironic twist in the adventure.
I grasped my swords tightly, adjusted my helm, and charged in to meet (aka slay) the first new "giant trainee".
I looked upwards, and in the absence of a real sky, imagined there was one above me, and thanked Tunare that she had blessed me with the calling of the Ranger. I smiled skyward and told her a joke:
My impression of a Ranger tanking: "ok.. I got it!". "Thank Tunare that Ranger is tanking, else I'd have two corpses stuck in there now".
I'd like to think she laughed.
Azure Stormbriar
Fier'Dal 60 Warder of Tunare
Keeper of the Calendar
Self-proclaimed Event-Scheduling faux-guru
First, though, if you want some story about how a ranger's life is carefree and happy, nothing but skipping through the forest singing songs and petting raccoons, you've come to the wrong place. We don't do that. If anyone's tra-la-ing through the woods, it's probably a bard, or maybe a druid who's been nibbling the fermented berries, and they've only got that luxury because there's a ranger out in front somewhere, breaking trail.
That's us, the ones out in front, kicking through the underbrush and hoping to spot whatever's hiding in it before it sees us. And the forest, well, that's where we get to hang out on a good day, if Tunare's willing and our luck is all paid up.
Imagine slogging for days through some nameless swamp, mud and weeds and things you'd rather not think about clogging every link in your chainmail, soaked to the bone, with a stone that feels like you could build a small keep on it stuck in your boot. Imagine swimming through this disgusting, brackish water with more than your own weight in armor and supplies strapped to your back. Imagine rising from the swamp with bow in hand, sending an arrow into the back of some wretched godsforsaken trollspawned freak of un-nature, then tossing off a quick spell to get the reeds and grasses to trip him up and slow him enough that you can leg it back to your party before it eats you. Imagine wading into the thick of the fight, hacking away with your blades, slamming the thing with your magic, and getting half the life torn out of you in the process, only to hear the warrior congratulated for his sword work and the wizard for his spells. Imagine your only thanks is being told to go do it again.
Does that sound appealing? Does that sound like the life for you? Better yet, does that sound exactly like what you were doing just yesterday?
Then maybe you're in the right place after all.
-- Ranger manifesto lifted from EQStratics.com
--------------------------------------------
The cavern was bitterly cold.
I couldn't entirely tell where the light was coming from, perhaps some strange ore embedded in the walls of the vast underground network.. or perhaps some inlet of natural light I.. i couldn't tell.
My companions and I, a band of 20-some Temerity were wreaking swift retribution on the Kromrif of Kael Drakkal. These monsters of men, if you could call them that, were about four times my height, meaning most of our blows, at least unless from bow or some sort of magic barraged them around the legs. I suppose that explained why they always fell forward when we slew them.
"My impression of a Ranger tanking - "I got it..... please rez me". ".
That was about the 8th or 10th Ranger joke in a row. I was about to snap. I sat down next to Bastette and whisperered to her my "delight" with the topic of conversation... if you could call such trash conversation.
Figgan whispered to me from my other side "I'd like to see one of those bastards lure a Dragon halfway across Cobalt Scar".
I smiled a little.
That was Figgan. Druid, and my longtime friend. A very smart sort of Druid, I always felt safer grouped with him. I often wondered how he managed to pack all that wisdom into such a small brain. Well. After all, he *is* a halfling.
I saw what came next. Perhaps it's part of tbe blessing of being a Ranger, since you're not as strong as other melee, you tend to keep a tighter eye on traffic control and pathing, rather than just running up and hugging a mob with your sword.
Tofu came running back towards the group, three Giants hot on his heels. One of the giants slashed out with his axe and hit Tofu broadly across the back. Tofu flew forward, his head cocked back from the whiplash as he was literally half-slashed-half-thrown by the massive giant's blade. He lifted for what must have been 10.. maybe 15 feet, then collapsed in a heap. Silence.
A moment passed. The giants spotted us.
Three of them, packed together in tight formation charged, completely without fear at our group. Our tanks charged to meet them head on. Nifurn, Build, Gnatzilla and Bull. Despite attempts to split them, the giants remained in tight formation, a smart tactic on their behalf, as it made targeting them individually more difficult.
I was still seated, furious at the prior moments events. I decided if I was so bad at melee, I wouldn't bother going in to attack. I'd sit the next few out.
Glowing strands of mana streamed from our Clerics and gently cradled the tanks in their grasp... and it seemed all was well, when the giant's strategy really paid off. Two of them targeted Gnatzilla, and he, being the dragon-slaying kind that he is, unflinching met them head on. Perhaps it was a result of the stream on him faltering just a moment, or maybe he was just taking too much damage.. the blue serpent-like wave broke from Gnatzilla as his weapons dropped to the floor.. he fell to his knees and then collapsed face-first down onto the freezing stone floor.
At this point I arose to my feet.. the situation turning somewhat like I'd hoped it wouldn't.
Build picked up one of the giants, Nifurn the other. The third ran loose through our group, attacking whomever was closest, his cruel axe brutally mauling our casters, experienced and new alike.. those who were less well armored.
It was then, upon seeing this, that I intervened. I arose to my feet, motioned to Figgan that I was going in, and started to chain-cast my Flame spell on the loose giant. I was never quite sure why, but it no matter what I cast it on, always got really really mad at me. Not always a desired effect, but one that had it's uses.
The giant raged towards me, having quite successfully gained it's attention and I drew my blades - and met the foul giant head on. Or knee on, I suppose would be more appropriate.
I attacked, whirling my blades at the giant, my skin glistening with the magical buffs I carried, my armor emitting a faint, but audible hum of the powerful spells that had been cast on it, and Figgan, regular as clockwork, kept me on my feet.
So deeply engaged with the giant, I must have missed the call. The next thing I know I blacked out, and I awoke. Back just inside the massive 40 foot stone archway that marked the entrance to Kael Drakkal. We'd been evacuated. Few remained.
Of those that went in, only perhaps 9 or 10 survived, Figgan (my gate and saviour), Bastette, Clarity and a few others.
Notably though, I was the sole remaining melee to survive.
Bastette spoke up "Ok, we're going to work our way back in.. Azure is MT".
My my.
Tunare does work in mysterious ways.
Those who earlier belitted me, and the ranger class in general were now faced with the reality that I was now their sole guardian first and only line of defense.
My armor still buzzing with buffs, swords light as a feather and so well enchanted they looked more like fluorescent chrome than steel.. we ventured back into the depths of Kael Drakkal.
The first four or five giants we met - front line scouts; were nothing more than greeters, merely there to be sword practice.. and not even very good at that. Usually the Kromrif will put the greenest of their troops closest to the entrance, and slowly insert their more powerful troops as you enter further. Today was no exception.
They went down without any difficulty.
We pushed on into Kael, and soon I came across some giants in a more grey-bluish armor, i sensed these would pose a little more of a challenge. Pulling an invisibility spell out of my spellbook, I cast, and scouted around the area for any nasty surprises.. just the one guard. I ran back to the group, and took aim at the guard with the same flame spell I'd used before, the one that really gets them annoyed. It hit, and the furious giant came towards me in a fury. I casted my ensnare spell, and the roots below the stone paved floor pushed up between the tiles, and tripped up the giant, slowing him down. I took my opportunity to attack.
This giant had some skills, but our numbers, few as they were, quickly overpowered him, and we walked around the corpse, and progressed up to the bridge. We were getting closer to the Arena now. This was where our friends had suffered their fate recently.
Four giants covered the bridge, two at each end, and I knew for sure if I attacked one, the other would follow. It was then that I turned to Clarity. Trusty dwarf and Cleric (gotta love them!) whom I knew had a little something she could use to help me out with this particular giant.
Clarity, proud as a peacock, put on her little dwarvish strut and walked almost right up the giant on the right. Little bubbles and purple flowers erupted from her hands, and wisped around the giant, and after a moment the giant got a sort of distant, glazed over look, and we heard an enormous "happy sigh" come from the giant.
I chuckled a little, Clarity giggled. The giant wasn't going anywhere for a while.
The one on the left, going by his uniform looked to be some sort of senior guard. I backed up, and once again used the "annoying flame spell".
This guard though was smarter. He glared straight at me, but didn't charge. Instead, I saw thonry red thistles of lightning gather around his hands and he pointed at me. Uhoh.
I was thrown backwards by the powerful spell, my armor absorbing most of the damage, but no mistake, I was hurt. He started to cast again. Remembering my basic strategy classes in Kelethin I was required to take as a young ranger, I ran.
I know what you're thinking. Typical yellow ranger. I don't think so.
I ran, yes. But I didn't run away from the group, I ran out of casting range. The senior guards next lightning spell failed, as I was too far away. Enraged by this, he now charged at me. School had finally paid off.
I engaged the senior guard, and even with all my buffs and enchantments, I was surprised how strong he was. Already hurting, he quickly depleated my strength, and I suddenly became aware of the silence behind me. I hadn't heard a healing spell called. Darting my eyes left and right I came to the alarming realisation that noone was healing me.
In my moment of panic, the senior guard took his advantage, thrusting the sharp edge of his axe straight towards me, tearing apart my velium plate armor and mortally wounding me. My own blood sprayed all over my hands, my blades, showering the ground at my feet. My strength quickly entering an advanced state of atrophy, I wasn't more than a couple of small hits away from death.
It was then that my mind filled with the melodic chorus of Tunare.
I closed my eyes, and let my last breath pass between my lips, I could now taste my own blood as well.
Using what concentration I had left I raised my swords in front of me, pointed them skyward, and smashed my fists together, the lengths of the two blades clashing against each other, sparking violently.
"I call upon the grace of Tunare!"
Focusing the wonderful chorus of Tunares voice into a single point in time, I could feel it swimming through my head... I was set into a state of total awareness. Even with my eyes closed I could sense the soft air currents as the giant's blade came for the final blow towards my head.
Moving my swords deftly I parried the giants blow, to his surprise. Again, he swung, again I parried. Angering by the moment his blade came faster, and harder, and each time I executed a perfect block against his attack, and managed to land a few blows of my own.
Could I concentrate long enough?
While in this state, I managed to get out one word: "Cleric?!". The strands of mana returned several seconds later, and my wounds, critical as they were, faded away. The Clerics acted like nothing was ever wrong. Hmm.
With the aid of the group, and the healing on me refocused, we dispatched the senior guard, and those that followed him. We soon found ourselves at the arena, and without too much difficulty recovered our fallen Temerity.
Bastette came along side when we camped near the Arena again and whispered to me that I'd done a nice job. It was appreciated, and I smiled. She was, however the only one. Maybe the others were in shock.
The hunt ensued for a time, until the same three giants that had given us so much trouble before came into range. This time, the idea was to root the other two to keep them out of range, while we dispatched them one at a time.
If the wizard root is anything like the Ranger root spell, this could get messy, I thought. We engaged the first giant, when after a minute or so, the second giant broke loose, quickly followed by the third. The giants raged through our group unchecked once again, and I once again gave Figgan the signal and went in to distract one of them.
I awoke again, under the giant stone archway. The confusion quickly fading I realised that Tunare smiled upon me once more (or perhaps Figgan smiled upon me). I was severely injured, but alive. I couldn't say the same for the other melee.
Once again, I was going to be MT as we pushed back into Kael for the third time that day. Critics of the Ranger class were silent.
Another ironic twist in the adventure.
I grasped my swords tightly, adjusted my helm, and charged in to meet (aka slay) the first new "giant trainee".
I looked upwards, and in the absence of a real sky, imagined there was one above me, and thanked Tunare that she had blessed me with the calling of the Ranger. I smiled skyward and told her a joke:
My impression of a Ranger tanking: "ok.. I got it!". "Thank Tunare that Ranger is tanking, else I'd have two corpses stuck in there now".
I'd like to think she laughed.
Azure Stormbriar
Fier'Dal 60 Warder of Tunare
Keeper of the Calendar
Self-proclaimed Event-Scheduling faux-guru
