Tniaill

After doing some quests inside Qeynos and getting a few levels, it was time to visit Antonica a second time. From my initial tour some of the map was open. That place was huge. This is awesome. Comparing the lore from EQ1 and what i saw then was awesome. Just when i thought i knew everything, I would find something new. It seemed never ending. The newness, awe, and unknowing was really something. At one point i knew there had to be more. Then i accidentally ran into a big door and zoned into Thundering Steppes.

* Thundering Steppes

Awe, wonder and excitement all over again. Discovering new places. Comparing lore. It was great. Actually having to camp Bloodtalon always brought back some good 'ol EQ1 stories in a group. Finishing the Manastone HQ was fantastic. All that extra mana. We were on top of the world.

I remember amazing group members because i could open the doors at night to, i think it was called Bridge Keep because i had finished all those quests. We could pass back and forth with ease. The first time i saw the giants i laughed. I remember thinking they could have done better than giant bearded babies in diapers.

Learning the lore and realizing thats skeletons all over the river bottoms. We had a lot of fun.

* Everfrost

Mid 40's was discovering this place. Dodging Dreadwake to get to where we needed to go. I always this zone was really small. That is until one day i decided to swim the other way.

There was a cave with a named octopus in it. Cool. Wife and i died trying. By the time we got back it was gone. She noticed a ramp leading up. Neat. Its a cavern with ice giants. Like in EQ1 except they drop a lot less coin. A friend joined us and we went up and down that cave killing. We found a zone at the end where we died pretty fast. They decided to take a break. I went back myself following a group. But they did something different. The took a right and disappeared half way through the cave. Wth? What did we miss? The other half of the zone is all. Walking through that crack and coming out into that open space left me in awe. "Holy crap" i yelled to my wife. "Theres a whole other side we've been missing!" That feeling of walking into this new unexplored area was phenominal.

* Qeynos

When I first started playing, I created a ranger and named him after my lost toon from EQ1. A new life. It was amazing. I ran the Isle of Refuge like a boss. Money was very hard to come by, but seemed easy for him. I made my first plat killing goblins and selling their loot a few silver at a time. Made a friend who was interested in tradeskilling. A carpenter. For 20 silver a piece, he made my boxes for my bank. Man, all that space to store stuff. One day i decided it was time to move on. Nettleville would be my home city. I zoned in. Found a guard to point me to the mailbox. I followed that yellow line and ran into a troll who hailed me. Wait a minute. A troll? In Qeynos? Not getting attacked by guards? Wow.

This troll proceeded to tell me how he and his pregnant wife are about to move and he was looking for someone to give away all his stuff to since he was quitting. The trade window opens and gets filled. Then again. Then finally a third time with 5 plat and some gold. Holy crap i'm rich! We get to chatting about a boat load of different topics; work, marriage, kids (2 of my own), EQ1, and of course EQ2. He took me all around Antonica. Thats when it hit me how big it was. This went in for a few hours. We made it back to Nettleville, said our goodbyes and he was gone forever. That guy gave me a huge headstart just by being at the right place at the right time.

## Everquest

### Shaman/Warrior/Ranger, Quellious Server

* Blackburrow

Wow. One story from Blackburrow? Pick just about any train right when we get to the bottom of that forsaken place because some other person thought they were a badass and could solo. But, sometimes corpse runs were the best part of the night. Met quit a few friends in that zone.

* Dreadlands

Dreadlands in where my poor little undergeared ranger shined. He couldn't do much dps. He couldn't take a hit. My god he could pull. He made a name for hisself and people actually wanted him in a group! This little half elf ranger was being used in peoples sentences. Run out, bow a mob, run back and root in near the group. The tank would grab agro and kill. I would have to slow down on pulling because there would be 3 or 4 mobs rooted around the group and the healer would get nervous, unless there was a chanter in the group.

It was awesome though. Zone in and /ooc 48 Ranger LFG. Man, the tells would roll in. The zone chat would light up. People would sometimes pay me to join their group. Hours upon hours of non stop pulling. The only downfall of being a good puller is that you never got a chance to loot. I had to be the brokest ranger in existence.

* Qeynos

My first real experience with faction. Corrupt Qeynos Guards. I lost my ranger because of these guys.
It was a huge milestone for me to hit level 50. Man, i was so pumped. As always we would meet infront of Qeynos gate. I was on a little earlier than normal and decided to run to the bank. That was the worst decision in my mmo career.

I never thought i would forget that guards name. It started with a D i believe. I remember seeing my hp go down and thinking, "oh crap!" I didn't get very far. Ranger down! Oh well. Ran back to see the guard 'guarding' my corpse. /sigh. Whelp. I'll just wait for my friends to log on, have a good laugh at me for dieing and drag me away from him.

My corpse was dropped at the front gate, and thats where it rotted.

When you looted a corpse you would get on one knee. Your inventory would pop up for you to grab your items. I grabbed my first piece ... linkdead. Hmm, that's strange. Log back in and notice the ear piece i tried to grab was not there. Kneel down to try again ... linkdead. Wth? Try again but skip over that ear piece. Grab my chest piece. Linkdead. Oh hell no. My friend calls my house. I explain what happened. This went on for several hours.

After a couple of tickets submitted, my friends, my guild leaders and 3 GM's were trying to figure out what was going on. By this time, i have to be to work in a few hours. GM's tell me to meet them at this specific spot the following day.

The following day i log on. I had to work a little late. I was just wishing my gear would be on me. Naked. My guild leader and 2 GM' are stairing right at me as my screen opens up to the Qeynos gates. Tells are going back and forth with the GM's then suddenly, linkdead. I couldn't log onto my ranger! Wth!? I log onto my low level warrior. No problems. Everything is fine. I make my way to Qeynos. Still no problems. GM's are baffled.
Many more hours of swapping toons, trying to loot corpse and going linkdead. Anger and frustration had passed.

The onset of mourning had begun. My ranger would be no longer. I think my wife shed a tear. The GM's apologized, but nothing could be done. That one toon was somehow corrupted. The sadness i felt. The hatred that could not be pointed towards any direction. The disappointment in the GM's to not 'save' me. The horror of having to start over. Reality hit that i just lost a few years worth of playtime with no real reason behind it. I watched as my almost fully geared toon disappeared. The few of us that always grouped were in no way overpowered. We had to 'work' hard for the little bit of gear we had. It was a sad day for me.