Fear and Loathing in Agon

So let’s get this out of the way first thing: I promised screenshots, but can’t deliver. I obviously screwed something up with the configuration of my screenshot program and it is no longer behaving. Obviously, I will have to take some time out to fix that problem before getting too far along because I would really like to accompany some of these stories with a picture or two.

Last night was my second night with Vedis, trolling about the starter human lands. This time, my friend Steve, who decided to resub his account to team up with me, joined me and provided me with some armor he crafted. Add to that a quest reward or two and I am the owner of a sparkling new set of chain mail and a wicked looking rank 10 glaive. Time to stick me some goblins!!

And there in fact, were a lot of goblins killed last night… and some fish caught and cooked… and a package delivered. I am taking the advice of many Darkfall forum-goers and getting my basic quests done before heading out into the world, and it seems to be working for me. However, you’ve already heard about my adventures with goblins and I can’t stand to fish in real life, so I can’t imagine someone telling you about their fake fishing in an action game makes for a good read.

So instead, let’s talk about killing folks… well that and getting killed by folks.

My encounter occurred before my friend joined me. Having mastered goblins for the most part, I was hunting in the thick of a goblin spawn. Scouts and fighters were falling to my spells and blade (the spiffy 2-h sword I bought). Shamans were still rough, but I could take them. As I was finishing my latest kill, I noticed another player up on the nearby hill, fighting his own beasties. I recognized the name — on one of my runs to/from the town, I saw this guy die in combat to another player. I was wary, but figured that this guy was far enough away, injured and fighting his own goblins, so he was likely not a threat.

Yes, in retrospect, I know how dumb that sounds.

In the meantime, my goblin hunting was going well, but I found myself in a bit of a pickle. I had gotten surrounded by a fighter and a scout and though I killed them easily enough, I was down some hit points and some stamina. By itself, this was nothing to worry about, but I thought I probably ought to check on my nearby PvPer. Before I could spot him, there was a flash and damage. A shaman had spotted me, zapped me once and was casting again. I rushed him and started battling, dancing back and forth in an attempt to dodge his spells. I got the combat under control, but realized that I was horribly exposed, with only a fraction of my hit points.

My would-be PKer did not disappoint me. He charged down the hillside and started swiping at me. He was injured (though less so than I was) and had no equipment but his sword. I was not going to let this guy take me down. I took a swing and then moved past him, quickly switched to my staff and fired off a heal. Then it was back to the blade. A few hurried swings later and my assailant was down. Unfortunately, that left me with a handful of health and a shaman who was more than happy to finish me off. I tried to get another heal off and run, but it was no use. I killed my attacker, but he ultimately “killed” me as well.

Which left me in a rough position. My foe had almost nothing on him, but I had a weapon, some armor, a staff, and lots and lots of crappy goblin loot. Both of us died, but he died just a tiny bit ahead of me. If he were to respawn first, he could run back to the site of the battle and loot my corpse, “winning” even though he had lost the fight. I banged on my space bar thinking, “Why won’t I freakin’ DIE ALREADY?!?”  Finally, I respawned and instead of heading to the bank to get gear, I equipped my newbie staff and started immediately to the goblin spawn, zapping my self heal as I ran.

Fortunately, when I made it to the site of the carnage, my tombstone was still there and there were no goblins in sight. I quickly looted my corpse, rushing to drag everything into my pack before anyone else arrived on the scene. Then, without bothering to search for my assailant’s body, I turned back to town. There he was, no more than 100 yards away. He obviously had come to the same conclusion that I did and had charged straight back from town. For a moment, I thought he might engage me in battle again, but he didn’t… his hit points were only about 1/3 recovered whereas my spamming of self heal had given me close to 3/4 of my health back. He exercised the better part of valor and steered well clear of me as I headed back to town.

As I passed him and gave him a “Nice fight” in chat… the “because I pwnd you, Jackass” was implied :)