Fishbone Earring, Finally!

I finally got my Fishbone Earring, and it was after I thought I didn't even need it -- but as it turns out, I did need it after all.

I began the evening at the bazaar, having sold more stuff during the day.  I did an online search for Enduring Breath items to see if I could come up with something to replace the elusive Fishbone Earring.  I came across the Legendary Lodizal Shell Shield, which I found selling on the market for as little as 500 plat.  This was a little confusing -- I remember the Lodizal Shell Shield, I had one on my old shaman and was very proud of it, it's one of those things that was not easy to get at my level back then, I had help from several others, and when I left the game I passed it on to my friend and fellow shaman Roncor.  I didn't remember it being called "legendary" or having an Enduring Breath property, but for 500 plat I simply could not resist buying the Legendary version.  This shield works as a back piece as well as a shield, and has very good armor class for a cape (at least, in the old days it was one of the best AC back items a shaman could own.)

I was excited that I could own it again -- or an improved version, and especially one that solved my apparent need to breath underwater.  I bought my Legendary Lodizal Shell Shield and placed it on my back, and thought my Enduring Breath issue was solved.  (Side note:  it's a bit of a conciet that I need an item at all as shamans can cast the spell Enduring Breath, but I prefer to be able to breath underwater without digging that spell out of my spell book and casting it every 30 minutes).   However, I still felt like Hadden owed me a Fishbone Earring.  I had seen them for sale on the market for 2,000 to as much as 7,500 plat, so I could always sell it after, but I'd killed him too many times and taken too many faction hits to just walk away empty-handed.

So... I went to Qeynos Hills and killed Haden.  And this time, I got the earring.

I immediately decided to work on fixing my faction.  I conned some Qeynos Guards, and saw that I was only apprehensive to them, so that didn't seem too bad.  I entered Blackburrow and slaughtered gnolls for more than an hour.  I also took time to fish while in there, although I didn't catch the more elusive of the two unusual fish you can find there.  By the time I was done, I was at "amiable" with the Qeynos Guards and Merchants, and probably with the Jaggedpine Treefolk as well, so that part of my faction fixing was a success, but that leaves me with Antonius Bayle and Coalition of Tradesfolk to fix.

However, while in Blackburrow I fell into the water, and I decided it was a good time to test my new shell shield.  And it didn't work.  The earring worked just fine, but the shield appeared to have no effect whatsoever.  Eventually I realized that it was a level 68 and up item.  I've been fooled by this a few times now, items that are level locked can be equipped but don't do anything, and the level requirements are kind of buried in among the list of other stats in the item so it's easy to overlook.  And I had looked, but I was still working from the idea that the Legendary Lodizal Shell Shield was basically an improved version of the Lodizal Shell Shield (which it really is) and I had been able to wear the Lodizal no problem at level 50 in the old days.

So it's just as well that I got the Fishbone Earring.  I'm also not entirely clear on whether the Lodi shield will be considered a great back item at level 68, but eh, it still has the Enduring Breath effect and that's useful.

I also headed to West Karana and killed a buch of bandits there, which again helped me with Qeynos Guards, and with Karana Merchants and High Pass Guards, but not the two factions I was seeking.  I learned later that those can only be fixed via quests, but I know how to do it now (Coalition of Tradesfolk turns out to be merchants in Freeport, on the other side of the continent).  While in West Karana I killed some animated scarecrows and got more pumpkin seeds, and I fished for a while and caught a few Thunderhead Salmon (or something like that).

I almost forgot that my main reason to head to Qeynos Hills in the first place had been to hunt mammoths in Everfrost for mammoth meat (after visiting Hadden).  I spent some time doing this, and killing the occasional ice giant for exp and money, and killing the large snow spiders which occasionally drop barbarian parts (meat -- any meat from playable races can be used to make illusion potions, so any way I can get such meat without killing for it is very good).

I didn't get very much mammoth meat, which I will need to start making Halas 10 lb Meat Pies, so I will be back in Everfrost hunting mammoths again.

All of this faction work, however, makes me want to do something I'd wanted to do more than ten years ago.  Back when Kunark came out, it seemed really cool that you could improve your faction and be non-KOS in the Iksar (lizardman) city of Cabalis.  I always wanted to do that.  I have literally no reason to do it today, but I think I want to anyway.