Merry Lifemas! - a sneak peek at the latest

      It's Saturday! Which means I am bored at work. So I thought, why not spread some (super) early Yultide cheer? 

      So, remember how I mentioned a new episode of That's Life! that's in the works, which is conveniently scheduled to come out at Christmas? Well, the script is currently in the works, and I must say it is turning out to be quite the adventure!       

      Anyhoo, to pique everyone's interest I would like to hash out a sample of the script. So without further ado, submitted for your approval, I present selected reading from the future special, "It's a Wonderful That's Life!" Enjoy :D‎

AUTUMN: (pacing back and forth) I can't believe someone stole Christmas!

ZACHARY: (sitting on the couch) Technically, Autumn, you can't steal Christmas because it is a day, not an object-- 

AUTUMN: The Grinch stole Christmas...

ZACHARY: ...And secondly, someone would have stolen PRESENTS. Which we did not even have--

AUTUMN: BUT SANTA--

ZACHARY: AND THIRDLY...*who* stole Christmas?

AUTUMN: WHOM.  

ZACHARY: That is...completely grammatically incorrect--

AUTUMN: And that's besides the point, because whomever--

ZACHARY: Whoever--

AUTUMN: --Did this, will be found and killed and burned and buried and killed again and wrapped in a fancy gift wrap with a bow. And then murdered.

ZACHARY: Look, Autumn, I know you like Christmas--

AUTUMN: Oh, Zachary, I don't just *like* Christmas, I *LOVE* Christmas! It's only the funnest time of year! Caroling, snowball fights, special limited time KingsIsle events... it's all so MAGICAL, don't you think?? Why, I could sing a song about it...

*Carol music swells and Autumn takes a breath in anticipation of the first notes*

ZACHARY: Aaaaand I'm gonna have to stop you right there.

AUTUMN: What??

ZACHARY: Yeah, no singing. It's annoying, and there's royalty and copyright laws and...

*Autumn cries*

ZACHARY: Oh.. please don't do that, I didn't mean to....

*Autumn sobs harder*

ZACHARY: Oh, alright. I'll help you find out who stole Christmas.

AUTUMN: (sniffles) You will?

ZACHARY: (sighs) Yes.

AUTUMN: OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK--

ZACHARY: On one condition! 

AUTUMN: What is it? Anything!

ZACHARY: No getting me into dangerous situations.

AUTUMN: Cross my heart and hope to die!

ZACHARY: And no more talk about death and killing. It's creepy.

AUTUMN: Aye aye, captain. (Singing) I can't wait for our adventure to begin....

ZACHARY: AND NO SINGING. PERIOD.

AUTUMN: Well, now that's no fun...

ZACHARY: Them's the rules, take it or leave it.

AUTUMN: Ummmmm............ fine, deal.

ZACHARY: *sighs* I know I'm gonna regret this, aren't I.

AUTUMN: If you live long enough.

ZACHARY: Wait what--

AUTUMN: I'm gonna get dressed. Last one to the top of the stairs is a rotten dragon's egg! (She runs up the stairs humming)

ZACHARY: AND NO HUMMING!! *sighs again* Yeah. I'm gonna regret this.

Progress check - We've reached evergreen Mooshu (and some other stuff)!

      Well, this post has been delayed for a lot of reasons -- mainly, life is life-ing (as Autumn and Zachary also know quite well). I could list excuses, but what I'd really rather talk about is all the cool stuff happening in my fake life :D

Only moments after rubbing Mooddha's belly for good luck

      After power-questing through Marleybone, Autumn and Zachary have made it into the lush green fields of Mooshu, and not a moment too soon. All the garbage and sound pollution of the city was starting to get to me... not to mention those snooty poodle ladies and all their purse errands... Ugh! Now it is time for open spaces, fresh clean air, and many many grave markers.

Who died? More like who hasn't died, amirite?

      I have a special place in my heart for Mooshu, not only because it is the place Professor Wu came from, but also because I have many fond memories with old Wizard101 friends there, who taught me how to play with real strategy. No seriously, I got through the first 3 worlds with my old wizards not even knowing how to play right. I mean, my first character was fire/storm, and yet I wasted so much angry energy not even realizing that those classes fizzle the most. But I digress. 

      We've gotten up to Crimson Fields in Hametsu Village, but we're taking a bit of a break because of some real life dramas, and other stuff. Also, we are a smidge burnt out, after power-questing through a lot of stuff.

 I mean, I wouldn't say this place looks intimidating but... well, you've seen it.

       As for Victoria, which I really consider my "main" character (since I find it more fun and easier to solo as a necromancer), things have been rather... difficult.

       These Ultra Dungeons (Kembaalung and the like) would on the surface appear to be a manageable enough dungeoun, much like Colossus Boulevard in Wizard City or The Ironworks in Marleybone. In fact, I did solo Kembaalung with nary a problem, and I thought perhaps this other place, Zigazag, would be much the same. I was, um... rather wrong.

      Through my endless frustrations, I neglected to take any screen caps/recordings, but I can list to you some stats. 

• Total time spent: 7 hrs, 38 mins 
• Total wizards: Just 1 -- me!
• Total times killed: 6 
• Total crowns spent on minions: OVER 9000!!!
• Total swears uttered: Also over 9000!!!!! 
• Total times D/c from server:  ~42. No, seriously. 

       In spite of it all, I managed to beat it, technically solo, and collected a lotta swag in the process. It did not dawn on me until later that I would not be able to return to Zigazag, and the 2 side rooms hidden within that I couldn't enter because I had no key are lost forever. Honestly, though, I'm so glad I finally got through it after all that happened, that I think I don't really mind.

 After judgment day came, my heart really was light as a feather

  

      Well, that's my ultra summer so far. Some exciting information about That's Life! is coming up, but I think that's an update for another post. Until then, sizzlin' journeys, young wizards!

Getting beefy beach bodies

  Greetings, young wizards!

  Well, it has been a busy couple weeks in the Spiral, what with finishing Wintertusk on my necromancer, Victoria Ravenblood. She has now returned to Celestia to continue the main story line, which I've been working on for, like, a year now :P

 At first I thought these guys were mecha-reptilians and I was like :D

 But then I realized they were eels and I was like :(

  What else is new? Well, with the imminent return of That's Life!, my fiance and I have been training up Autumn and Zachary to keep them nice and limber. After all, they'll be doing a lot of running around in the next episode. I won't say much regarding the premise, but I can tell you it will be a grand adventure. And the journey along the way is quite enjoyable too!

  For my fiance's birthday I got him 30,000 crowns (which, by the way, are on sale for 25% off for the rest of summer -- a fantastic deal!), and this will be more than enough to unlock quite a good deal of areas. Right now we are working on the rest of Marleybone, and after that we will probably be knocking out a good deal of Grizzleheim.

If you look really closely, sometimes the Queen's guard actually blink.

  So far, our journey through Marleybone is only about halfway through. We've been struggling with the burden of all the tiny ridiculous side quests. This is the most back-and-forth world of all, and I'm truly remembering why it is my least favorite place in all of the Spiral. Well, except for the sights and sounds...

 Plus, this guy has the sweetest pair of shades.

   But the cool part of coming back during the Summer is that there are plenty of activities. In fact, we've even paid a visit to the Professor recently

 We were... kind of hounding him so he was dogging us out. Hahaha, woof.

  Other than that, not much else is new! Although we're constantly on the lookout for any good gear. Anyone know of a boss that drops some tough death gear for level 66-68 necromancer? Victoria is still using Malistaire's robes and I feel like I'm way behind everyone else!

  

  Well, until next time, safe journeys everyone!

A Grendel Dance Party

ETA: I've finally made a twitter for my Wiz101 stuff! @ACuriousReagent

It has been quite some time since my last update (5 whole years, omg!!), but I've finally been getting back into Wizard101 since the recent crown sale. Had a bit of fun today while trying to get rid of some of my Grizzleheim quests. Hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed making :P



In other news, my hair has changed! Bet you didn't recognize little ol' Victoria Ravenblood, didja??

THEN:

 

 NOW:

I love a good transformation, don't you? :) Safe journeys, young wizards!

Halloween

Oooh, it's the spoooky day before Halloween! I won't be online tomorrow so I have decided to post a Wiz101 poem I wrote for the occasion early :)

It's Halloween night in Wizard City! 

The sky is dark and the stars are pretty.
A heckhound howls at the light of the moon; 

the monster hour is arriving soon!
"Take care, young wizard!" Ambrose warns. 

"For in Dark Cave the Scarlet Screamer mourns."
All around the are ghoulish creatures, 

and a Ravenwood school full of trick-or-treaters.
On every street the feet pitter-patter. 

Wandering spirits moan and skeletons clatter.
Wizards dressed as ninja pigs are running past, 

gathering up candy fast, fast, FAST!
And I, avoiding Dark Cave, have fun with the rest, 

looking around to see whose costume is best.
The spiral is alive with laughter and fright. 

Oh, Halloween... such a wonderful night!

Have a great Halloween everybody!

A Spiral special :)

You know those little comics I did called Advice from Autumn? Well, I decided to bring it back, except with a little twist to it! So, if you would like to help me out (pretty please), leave me a question about the Spiral, any question at all, and Autumn will give you some of her professional advice. Also, if you do submit a question, go ahead and leave your wizard's name as well so that I can credit you :)

Ummm... oh yeah! Here's a video for it!



Safe journeys, everyone!

A Friendly answer.

So, stingite from The Friendly Necromancer has been recruiting some people to take on a bit of his answering work load. Call it an experiment, if you will. Anyway, thought I'd give it a shot and see how I fare in the role of Friendly :P

Noah DreamBlood asks about pets, saying:

You can tell normally if its a hybrid or not depending on time it takes to hatch. School pets are 18 hrs i believe hybrids are 24 or so. And i mixed a colossus that had 54 with a stormzilla that was 53 and got another colossus that had 55, whats up with that? lol

 Aha. Unfortunately Friendly happened to give me a question with a subject that I've very little expertise in. However, I can give it my best educated guess. It's what we college kids do best. /bitter chuckle

 That and sleeping in class.

The only level 48 pet that I've gotten since the pet updates is the wraith for my Necromancer, and as you said the hatch time was around 18 hours (that or 17 or 11; I get my numbers mixed up sometimes). A good deal of the higher level boss drop pets I've gotten are the same hatch time, lower level ones tend to be less (around 6 hours), and gift card pets even less than that (some of them just 3 minutes). Unfortunately I've never bred one of my own, let alone a hybrid, so I can't confirm your numbers, though I believe you in the matter of their hatch times.

 "Umm... little help over here?"

As for the numbers next to their names and how it relates to breeding and such, my first guess was that it represented the number of chromosomes for each breed, which would totally have explained why the baby came out with a new number (new species means a different amount of chromosomes). But according to people on Wizard101Central, the numbers next to your pet name is its pedigree, or in other words the sum of the traits it has already manifested. You know how when you're on your pet summary page in your spellbook, and next to its abilities there are little yellow pips? Well, when all the pips -- full ones and empty -- are added together, that makes the little 54 and 53 next to your parent pets names. As for the number in the parenthases, that is based just on all the full pips -- the yellow ones -- which is why it is substantially less than the first number. There's a fascinating guide for pedigrees HERE.

Now, when you breed pets together, the baby obtains the appearance, class type, and I think even some of the abilities(?) of the parent pet that has the higher stats. Your Colossus had the higher pedigree, but it was 54 and your baby pet had 55. Clearly there is a pattern in there somewhere, although truthfully I haven't the slightest idea what that pattern is. I never really question the all-knowing MCP that is Wizard101, especially when it comes to numbers. I'm kind of numeral phobic. Maybe since you paid a lot of gold for it the game wanted to give you that one extra point. Or maybe there was an added ability from the weaker parent pet. Or maybe they were just going in chronological order (53, 54, 55). It's a complete mystery to me. The most important thing that indicates your pet's abilities is the number in parenthases, as that is a number that rises with much training and care.

The MCP knows all...

If you happen to obtain a lot of gold over the course of your journeys, you should experiment some more, with pets of different schools and stats. I'm especially interested in seeing what people discover about crown pets as they seem like they can probably make some really nifty hybrids.

Fun fact: I wrote the word "pet(s)" 15 times, including the one just now.

Anyways, good luck in your search for the truth, and safe journeys young wizard!

Success!

Well last night I got my necromancer to level 48. Victoria Ravenblood is now a Master of Death! I just finished the obsidian chest quest for her and now I'm thinking of taking it nice and slow :P I mean, no hurry now that I got one of the most important things done (the scarecrow spell). Tomorrow will be a filming day for That's Life! episode 3, as well as probably Thursday, then I will be editing it on Thurs/Fri. Busy weekend, folks, very busy.

To celebrate my newfound success I will spend the rest of the day playing Left 4 Dead 2. Woot!

Safe journeys, everyone!

This and that - A bit of news for ya.

So, I haven't logged into the game for a couple weeks, even though I'm so close... SO CLOSE... to getting my necromancer to lvl 48. This is for a few reasons, the main being that I'm burnt out on the grind of sidequesting. I know this is not so much of a problem because of the newest updates but still... just need to let this boredom run its course before getting back into the swing of things. Maybe I'll just wait till Celesita comes out so I'll have something to motivate me to finish DS lol.

The other main reason is I had an encounter with yet another "friend" who just used me to level up. Oh it just never gets old. They always find the strangest excuses to not return the favor of helping you out on quests, and then suddenly they just never log on again. Lol I'm so glad necromancy is great for soloing because I am never gonna fall for the whole "quest buddy" thing again. Seriously, I'm so over that.

But anyway, in spite of my whole misanthropy, I have indeed scheduled a filming session for my next episode of That's Life! (which you can read HERE) and I've been expediting my hashing out of the 4th script as well. Must satisfy the masses, ya know (all 3 of the people who care, I mean). We're about halfway through the series now! Thanks to the approaching addition of Celestia, it will be extended out for another episode though. Yay, I think. Episode 3 is gonna be a mystery/comedy, episode 4 is gonna be... well, I'm not quite sure. My plots become more and more convoluted as they go on :P Episode 5 will be pretty epic, I have it planned out a bit in my mind (though I really should write some of my ideas for it down so I'll remember). Episode 6 was going to be for GH but since Celestia may be out before I get to that point, I will be waiting to finish that world so I can make it the 6th episode. The last episode will be for GH, and it's not really going to have a plot (I hope)!

Anyhoodle, that's pretty much all I've been up to. What have you all been doing lately?

Safe journeys!

Oh. My. Bartleby.

Holy heckhound, the TEST REALM HAS OPENED!

Celestia, here I come!