BABY JESSICA, EQ STYLE

Matewan's day started out innocently enough. After a harrowing night in Guk, he awoke from his camp outside the entrance eager to return to the more moderate climates of Northern Antonica. Trekking north across the desert and entertaining thoughts of obtaining a Shining Star of Light, he chatted idly with members of his guild.

Turns out Pudg was going to be hunting Minotaurs in Beholder, in search of the elusive level 22. Not one to turn down an invitation from a fellow "little person" (we are very PC, we follower's of Brell), and considering that Rivervale - a necessary stop in the Shining Star of Light quest - was on the way, I quickly agreed. I had visions of regaining level 20 as well.

The trip to Beholder proceeded without incident, except for the disappointment of finding out Matewan did not have high enough faction to get HoneyJum for his quest.* Matewan met up with Pudg, and we plunged into the maze. Killed a minotaur. Pulled another. And his friend. And a muddite elder. And two muddite minors. Run. Not fast enough.
"Loading..."

Upon my return to Beholder, Pudg asked if I was interested in helping a wizard named Algar in recovering his body from Runnyeye. Sure, why not, I am always up for new things to do. We hook up with Algar and he invis's all of us, then starts leading us toward his body. Gee, we are passing an awful lot of goblins. Most all con green, but still. As we are running along, I keep seeing this on my screen from Pudg:

"How much farther to your body?"

Algar remains strangely silent. Probably doesn't like being the bearer of bad news.

Well, we finally get near his bod, which is quite, quite deep in the dungeon. Turns out the last couple of goblins we will need to pass (which con yellow to me at level 19) can see invis, so Pudg and I will try and create a diversion while Algar runs past. Then he will corpse his body out as we all run for the exit. As the three of us sat there planning our strategy and surrounded on all sides by goblins, a line from the movie "Jaws" kept running through my mind...

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

Well we implement the plan and are immediately set upon by the nasties. Algar is ahead of us as we run for the exit with all of goblin-kind in hot pursuit. I cast invulnerability, but I am still getting rooted and stunned like crazy, and the inevitable happens. "Loading..."

I find out, as I begin trotting back from Rivervale, that Algar and Pudg survived, but just barely. What had been a pixel of experience to get to level 20 at the beginning of the night has become 3/4 of a bubble. Cest la vie. I get back to Runnyeye and Algar invis's us all again and down we go into the depths. I had gotten far enough out that we were not going to have to deal with any super nasty critters, but still I was nervous.

I, of course, had gotten a little off course on the run out, so we had to look a little bit for my bod. Found it! Now to get the hell out of here. I run along, tapping my handy /corpse button as I go

"Summoning Matewan's corpse."
"Summoning Matewan's corpse."
"Summoning Matewan's corpse."
"Summoning Matewan's corpse."
"Summoning Matewan's corpse."
"Summoning Matewan's corpse."
splashing noise
"Cannot summon your corpse from here."
"Cannot summon your corpse from here."
"Cannot summon your corpse from here."
"Cannot summon your corpse from here."

I had run to close to an open well, and my corpse had fallen in! Crap! Down I go (swimming skill about 22). As I sink to the bottom, I can see my corpse slowly sinking ahead of me. It was kind of like the movie "The Abyss" where Ed Harris slowly sinks into the depths after the nuclear device. Except unlike Ed, I didn't have top secret Navy technology to help me breath underwater.

I touch down on the bottom and begin too loot, keeping an eye on air remaining. Getting low, so time to head for the surface, which is... This way? No? This way? It sure is hard to see anything in this greenish liquid. Where did that ceiling come from? My teammates are pleading with me to resurface. "You are drowning!" "Loading..."

Well, at least you don't lose xp from drowning. Another run back from Rivervale (could have bound closer, but why bother when you don't plan on dieing over and over and over and over...) Down the well again. Loot a little (now 2 corpses) leaving myself plenty of time to resurface. Once again, a little disorientation, and I fear I am doomed again. But at the last minute, I see the passage up! I rocket to the surface and out of the well, gasping for breath. Pudg is beside himself with hysterics.

Now a seasoned veteran of underwater corpse looting, it only takes me 3 more trips to get the rest of my stuff. Each time I appear from the well, I am a little better dressed. Pudg can barely control himself anymore. We finally get out of Runnyeye and Algar thanks us profusely. We have made a loyal new friend.

Back into Beholder we go, and we both eventually make our levels. At that point, we were ready for a good night's rest.