BDO: Case Closed

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Thankful for my previous aid at the Northern wheat plantation, Elina Leight - who happens to be its owner and knows of my interest in Illezra, sends word via Nella that the Shen merchant guild is in possession of another of Illezra's "rings" and so I quickly buy it from Neruda Shen in exchange for a magical Dreighan blade (magical in name only I think). This one is the earth ring which I hand in again to the Tarif sorcerers who put me back on the case.

As they already found one in my absence I am sent to locate and retrieve the water ring from its ocean resting place (right beside Altinova) and then am sent to get the ring of wind from a very sneaky, and very strong, monstrous bandit who I can't seem to hurt! It turns out he is invulnerable to everything... except water balloons blessed by the Church of Elion. Yep, I literally use holy water balloons to win this boss fight, which is annoying since you can't dodge while holding them.

Handing these rings in reveals that the lead sorceress on this case is none other than Illezra herself, having used someone else's body to avoid detection. With all the rings in her possession, she turns into Captain Planet a huge skeleton/mud golem thing who is weak to one thing: easily craftable magic bullets. With rifle in hand it only takes three of these to end the miserable witch, and as a bonus the person she was hiding in is freed, unharmed and back to her younger self - with no memories of anything she had done. Probably the best result.

Kinda sad I don't get to fight her white witch form...

Insight: The holy water balloons and magic bullets are only useful in their respective quests. I tried them on random wild life afterwards and they did zero damage.

BDO: Isobelle and Elina

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Elina next sends me to the mining village of Keplan to try secure a trade agreement. The miners are hesitant to agree so I first foster some good will by culling the junk golems and petrifying diseased miners in their quarry (really, don't get sick in this world), and then pushing back the clan of giants trying to reclaim the dig sites which used to be their home. Some of these guys are a little dangerous!

Bwahahaha! Now I have two swords!

Finally with the trade agreement in hand I return to Elina who is again happy with my work. She then reveals Lady Isobelle is under investigation for being a traitor to Calpheon, and that as someone who worked for her - I might be implicated unless I pledge my loyalty to Leight guild.

So, I attend the inquisition hearing and proclaim my loyalty to Isobelle, much to Elina's displeasure. Luckily Lady Isobelle arrives at that moment with proof of her innocence. Her wealth that was initially thought to be going to the Heidel "rebels" was actually simply to buy a tavern in that city, the receipt/deed of which seems to appease the inquisition fully. I mean, I'm no lawyer but that still could be supporting the Heidel rebels... but whatever. I'm in the clear!

Anyway, since I didn't pledge my allegiance to Elina she dismisses me from service. Lady Isobelle also fires me when she learns I helped Elina win the trade agreement from Keplan which used to be hers. Furthermore, Isobelle reveals it was Elina's henchmen that poisoned her during our travels - a fact Elina doesn't deny. In this world all is fair when it comes to making money.

Insight: The yellow dots on your radar are your quest targets.

BDO: Into the Leight

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Calpheon City is ridiculously huge and hosts many people: from the protesters in the slums, merchants in the artisan districts and finally the nobles, church and knights in high town but they all share a single passion: getting other people to read books for them in the hill top library that is really a pain to walk to. Guess which sorry sap gets to do that chore? :P

There's always something to protest about.

Eventually I find the council chambers to deliver the report on the troll war, and once council lady Elina Leight is so impressed that she asks me to work for her merchant company and I accept. The first job is to help the Church of Elon Musk Elion at a nearby refugee camp where some refugees have become contaminated by rabid dogs (or something). After dealing with the sick (by killing them because a dead one has 0% transmission rate) I move on to investigate some really poor quality chimeras blocking the nearby road.  

These seem to have gotten loose from a nearby laboratory, and after fighting my way in discover that the flesh golem lab assistant in charge has become possessed by the black spirit. I defeat this new form and cull as many of the chimeras as I can before reporting back to a very pleased Elina.

Insight: Calpheon is where I learned that city quests are fricking endless, and where I decided to stop trying to do everything especially since there's a limit to how many active quests you can carry at a time.