Memoirs of a Halfling...
With changes having been made this week to smooth the transition for death penalties that new characters experience it caused me to think about my years of playing EverQuest and various memorable deaths I have experienced during my journey.
My very first and probably most memorable experience was with the character I first started playing after making an account, a Dark Elf enchanter. I was happily traveling around the Nektulos Forest at level 4 and suddenly had a big bear trying to having me for an afternoon snack. Of course it quickly dispatched my sword and shield and came tearing after me as I ran away screaming like a girl! Well what do you expect, I was playing a female Dark Elf...just don't tell the folks in Neriak or she will never live it down.
Anyway as most brand new players tend to do I was running haphazardly through the trees trying to save my skinny butt when that bear caught up with me and sent me for a peaceful dirt nap. However as I quickly tried to get my bearings in the forest to retrieve my worldly possessions, I realized...I was completely and utterly lost!
After my spirit respawned in the world I set out on the journey to find my mortal remains. I must have spent hours looking with no luck. Finally, close to giving up I asked others in the forest for help. One kind soul sent me a tell saying she had found my corpse and if I would consent her, she would bring it to me. I was overjoyed and quickly sent the command to give her permission to move my corpse. It seemed to take a very long time as I waited near the entrance to Neriak for this Samaritan to arrive, but she kept in contact, telling me that something was odd and my corpse kept disappearing on her. Finally she stated my corpse had finally disappeared giving me a location where she said she had last seen it. I was devastated but thanked her as she slipped away from the world. I set out to find this location and my elusive corpse. But alas as I arrived where she said she had last seen it, I too could not find it anywhere.
Shortly after that, having given up completely and trying to figure out how I was going to continue my journey with no coin, no clothing, no food and most importantly no tiny daggers I received a tell from someone that he had found a corpse of mine and he sent me a location. I was once again overjoyed that my corpse had reappeared and went running to where he indicated. As I approached I could see my corpse but noticed it was no where near the place they other person had told me to go. I also noticed that my mortal remains appeared naked but figured it must have been something to do with the issue with my corpse disappearing until... I knelt down to retrieve my belonging and the remains were EMPTY!!! My Good Samaritan had robbed me blind of every last copper, morsel of food and tiny dagger. She even made off with my rusty dagger. You see in those days consent not only allowed someone to move your corpse from one place to another it also allowed them to loot your corpse which I did not know. The gent who finally helped me out took pity on me and gave me another rusty dagger and a silver piece or 2 to get back on my feet.
It was a hard way to learn that not everyone could be trusted...my innocence was shattered but it was a good lesson to learn and I am glad it happened early in my journey. Losing a rusty dagger, Journeyman's Robe, a few tiny daggers and some copper is not much in the grand scheme of things but at the time it represented all my wealth in Norrath. Of course it was not long after that that I realized a Dark Elf enchanter was not the right choice for my first character... but that journey is another story. Needless to say my Wood Elf druid was born soon after and remained my main character for the next 2 or 3 years. I do still have that enchanter and I've even played her a bit now and then.
Since then I have had many other memorable death experiences...
Falling in the moat around the castle in Crushbone while running from an Orc Legionnaire and his cronies and finding they swam much better and much faster then me. Have you ever noticed that an Orc Legionnaire grows when exposed to water? I swear that fellow was three times bigger as I watched him swim up and pummel the stuffing out of me.
Falling off the ramp while running from High Hold to East Karana; freefalling in the game has much the same effect on me as it does in real life. I think it took 2 days for my stomach to catch up with the rest of me!
Falling into lava in SolA and almost dying over and over again trying to swim in the lava to get close enough to the corpse to grab it and get out before the flaming liquid turned me to ash yet again.
Watching my corpse slide under a bench in the Bar in SolA and having to get a guide to come pull it out for me.
Forgetting I bound my druid in the Evil Eye room in Lower Guk and logging in only to get immediately beaten to a pulp and finding myself in a bind death loop. The night before a group from my guild and I were there trying to get Bags of the Sewn Evil-Eye for everyone and one of the group members had to log out after getting his. I bound there so I could port him out to safety then gated back in. When I logged out that night I ported the rest of the group and myself out but I forgot to rebind elsewhere. After a profitable night of hunting I went to gate back to Kelethin since my usual bind point was right outside the Kelethin bank only to find myself not looking at the bank but a very miffed Evil-Eye. My guild got a good laugh over this after I /q'd and logged in with another character to beg for help.
It is amazing that I find I can look back at these experiences of death so fondly now. It is true that things that you find to be so awful, "Life-changing" and completely frustrating will, with time become a funny or fond memory.
I hope you all can look back at experiences from your time in EverQuest and find them rather heartwarming now when they seemed so terrible back then. If you can remember those times and try to use that in the future to remember that eventually things you experience now may one day be a fond memory for you.
Until next time...
~ Kytherea