BDO: The Black Spirit

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

While reporting to Neruda Shen about the imminent barbarian betrayal I notice that Prince Bareeds III advisor is acting super shifty, and pretty much goes on the run when Neruda decides to question him. I chase him and his slow donkey up the coast and when I finally run him down he admits to everything: organizing the assassination of the Sausan leader, manipulating the barbarians, and being the high priest of Illezra whom he calls "the goddess of darkness".

That's certainly the largest form it's taken to date.

From a magic gem he then unleashes the black spirit (which he managed to capture somehow) in its most powerful form yet - strong enough to manifest physically I finally get to battle it properly, and it is surprisingly easy to defeat. While doing this Captain Sarma apprehends the advisor and I use the gem to re-trap the black spirit, now reduced to its original cute chibi state.

With this victory Neruda somehow convinces the barbarians to remain loyal to him, and appeases the Sausan's by giving them the killer of their leader, but not before I question him as to Illzera's whereabouts. He claims she has gone further East to the great desert of Valencia, which is also known as "The Black Desert".

Insight: Inventory weight is a thing, which is why butlers and maids who can transport one stack of items every 20 minutes to your storage is super helpful. More so as you get a handful of them for free!

BDO: Sword on a Stick

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Since I've plateaued a bit with my sword skills, I decide to learn a new weapon: the glaive Crescent Blade (aka Sword on a Stick) and it is pretty awesome since it has a lot of strong knockdowns and area effect abilities. Then, while fooling around and still getting used to the weapon I suddenly run into... Illezra!?

She was in Velia the whole time.

Anyway, apparently she was impressed by the few seconds I fought the Kzarka and wanted to see how good I actually am which leads into a surprise boss fight out in the Velia village fields! Not against her of course, instead she summons a shadow clone of myself! It is an epic duel which I nearly lose, but still come out triumphant at the end. Erm. I suppose I technically punched myself in the face?

While this isn't enough to impress Illezra who simply leaves without saying a word, it gives me great confidence as I return to the Altinova-Sausan border where I proceed to totally wreck the Sausan forces with my new weapon. I am only stopped when Captain Sarma realizes the Sausan's are in league with the barbarians Neruda Shen hired (thanks to using the same weapons, and found correspondence between them), and they are now planning to take over Altinova!

Insight: In game you can pick between Awakening or Succession skills, one focuses on giving you a new weapon to play with based on your class (losing some other abilities) while the other focuses on building up your existing skills but no new weapon.

BDO: You need to Train

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

It's tricky to reach the excavation team this time as there are some deadly golems in the way which requires some nice footwork. They agree to help quell the miners nightmares by creating relic necklaces, but in exchange I have to deal with a nearby helm orc threat. Strangely, I got to beat their "Captain America" boss early, but a new version of him from a nearby dark rift easily kicked my ass. Good thing beating him (again) wasn't a requirement for the necklaces!

When Captain Orcmerica had a spiky shield... and a mace?

My return to Altinova is short as Neruda Shen simply takes the necklaces and redirects me to the Nothern Shroud Knight fortress where a war is brewing against the neighbouring Susans Sausans, most likely because the Sausan leader was recently murdered in Altinova!

Captain Sarma leads the defense but I am of no use as even the Sausan scouts require a full skill rotation to defeat. Not interested to have another corpse, she instructs me to go train up elsewhere before rejoining the coming fight. This is probably a wise decision so I return to Velia. I am now level 57.

Insight: Dark Rift bosses are no joke as only YOU can see them. In my current state it's pointless to even attempt them! The only good part is that you lose nothing if you get killed by one.

BDO: Shen Rising

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

The arena battle is pretty cool as the death knight is the only enemy so far that can out pace me, but with potions and good dodging I still manage to kill him - which is bad because I forgot to ask about the white witch first. At least he gave me her name: Illezra.

After the match Captain Sarma Amin of the Shroud Knights and servants of the rightful lord Prince Barry Bareeds III, approaches and berates me for siding with the wannabe merchant despot, Neruda Shen. He is hurt by these accusations and so instructs me to assist the Shroud Knights in an effort to extend good will.

When player guilds can select their own emblems, you get funny flags.

Sarma is hesitant at first but welcomes the assistance as I take down a base of Illezra worshiping rogues and an army of manes (gnolls) threatening the small, sorceress filled village of Tarif. Thanks to my efforts, Prince Bareeds III (who turns out to be a kid) appoints Neruda Shen as Steward of Altinova while he seeks asylum at Valencia until he comes of age. Way to put off problems of the realm till later kid.

Neruda then asks I help the miners who are having horrible nightmares and after consulting with the sorceresses at Tarif, I am directed to find my old friends: the excavation dig team, who are now working on a ruin in this region! These guys certainly work fast!

Insight: My bonus beginner bag space ran out at this point, and if you are wondering - any items left at the bottom at the bag are now locked and held hostage until you can unlock more bag space, either through payment or by completing quests. I'm obviously going for the latter

BDO: A Song of Barbarians

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

The road East is long and the first stop is by a small elven sanctuary, who claim something is happening underground which is causing trouble for their trees so I head to the nearby Omar Lava Cave where goblins have pushed out the miners who worked there. Since there is a wizard (player) training there, it is relatively easy for me to reach and defeat the goblin boss.

The thankful miners then point me to the direction of Altinova city, which hold the best odds of me finding a clue to the white witch's whereabouts. Alas, despite the bustling markets, tight streets and people every where the best lead I get is from some barbarian drinking song so to find out more I head to their base which is a not so abandoned quarry where they are using slaves to mine some black crystals.

Since they don't want to talk and I dislike their work ethic, much blood is spilled. Ultimately it is Altinova merchant lord Neruda Shen that resolves this though. Since he wants my support in taking control of the city he simply hires the barbarians and legalizes slavery! In exchange they tell me that their boss is a servant of the witch and is the reigning Altinova arena champion. He also happens to be a death knight.

The death knight looks pretty cool.

Insight: The tall barbarians with the long spears are especially dangerous since in a crowd you might not realize you aren't hitting them (it looks like you might be in range, but you aren't).

BDO: The White Witch

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

The forbidden tome sheds some pretty damning light on the Church of Elion, which is reluctantly confirmed by the head priest at a local monastery when shown the torture chambers in the haunted monastery basement. It turns out a radical sect of the Church is still into preserving still living Kzarka tentacles and kidnapping then sacrificing people in hopes of resummoning the creature so Nella and I head to their mountain temple and kick their tentacle loving asses... Uh, that might have come out wrong.

Hello, ugly.

Anyway, we reach the main sacrifice chamber at the exact moment they summon Kzarka but before we can fight it properly a magic spell cast by a white witch knocks us away. She then proceeds to one hit kill-steal the creature and takes its soul before teleporting away.

Since such a powerful individual could be a threat, Nella tasks me with chasing her down - with the only hint being her clothing resembling that worn in the Eastern lands of Mediah. She does provide a tier 5 horse to assist in this task, which is awesome as it means I don't have to sprint everywhere anymore. Yeah, I probably should have bought a horse much earlier huh?

Insight: The shadow knights in that monastery hit really hard, fortunately they are very slow to draw/summon their weapons so kill them quick before they are ready! Just don't try it on the purple rank ones in the hidden corridor. Eek!

Remnant: from the Ashes - Sweet Dreams Mothra

[Part of our Remnant from the Ashes story]

The dreamer (who looks like Doc Ock or a Matrix squiddy) likes summoning Root to defend him but they are the least of our concerns as he has some nice attacks of his own that also wipe out his own adds. Bombardment is countered by sprinting, and his vacuum spin/slam combo as well as his one/two fire punch can dodged. Hit him in the head enough and he goes into phase two... Mothra HP sponge mode!

This second mode is really boring as he only has one telegraphed fireball attack and magic wave that throws us into a nightmare arena (with clear portal exits) against Root that drains HP the longer you stay inside. It took us awhile before learning we needed to stay in that nightmare mode to kill some root as it gives an incredible damage buff, which really needs to be on when shooting Mothra dreamer to do any significant damage. We even made it a point NOT to attack him if the buff is off to save ammo, and we still used a lot of ammo crates.

Hurting him enough stuns Mothra, leaving the human dreamer exposed to receive incredible amounts of damage. Since automatic weapons work best in this fight Jim and I went back to the beam rifles here and upgraded them and our submachine guns which do the job nicely. And so, with the dreamer's death the spread of the Root is over... as is the game, unless we play it again but that's not really our style.

That's a good enough ending for us. The end!