Soulflayer.

The NMs being mean, stingy, and downright disrespectful, the lack of any real intimacy between my moogle and me... It's all just... slurping up my heart and spirit like so much Jell-O. I confess: It was a long night. However, I'm not really going emo, like the title suggests. Frustrated, but not emo (yet).

I had my girlfriend suggest to the linkies that we might static party this evening, since I was out and about this afternoon. They agreed and suited up. When I arrived, I checked around and found that two friends were also seeking in our level range.

Me: PLD74/WAR37
Galbatorix: DRG72/SAM31
Dungeonwhipper: RDM72/BLM31
Sodako: WHM70/BLM35
Raikoh: SAM70/WAR35
Silentmobius: DRK74/THF37

Sounds like a lot of fun, having a nice party setup and all being friends, right? Well, Caedarva Mire was looking pretty packed. Though that's not really a favorite place to party due to the sheer irritation of the mobs, it's still good for XP. We decided to use the alternative: Mamool Ja Staging Point. Five of us made it to camp.

My g/f didn't have the Runic Portal. This is an oversight by myself, not so much her. She's a casual player in general and pretty much follows whatever I or her friends recommend for her. Due mainly to forgetting about it, we've not acquired all her Staging Points yet. No time like the present, right?

We have her head to the zone she has to sneak through to get to the Staging Point. Mamook is a dump. I really detest this zone, and I am simultaneously glad I have my staging point and saddened that I'm having to help get it for her. Sodako and I head to meet her.

An aside to this, relevant in a moment: the new frog monsters called Poroggo are cheeky little bastards. I seriously hate them, and I think adding them was the worst update SE has unleashed upon us. They are True Hearing, which is to say there is no avoiding them without running past them at far enough distance that they cannot hear you. True Hearing = Sneak spell obsolete. Poroggos cast high level magic, deadly in its own right, and they like to Charm you so you can fight your friends. The worst part of a Poroggo? They're placed directly in the path of where you have to go. There is no running around them, because the path is a narrow bridge. The frogs are on or right in front of said bridges. This is a rotten design choice, if you ask me.

Long story short, I take a death, we escape from Mamook, and it's time to relocate to Caedarva Mire. We head through the Nyzul Isle portal for the higher-end side of the Mire. And this lovely location is where one can and undoubtedly will run into Soulflayers. They're nasty, they're ugly, and they ate us for dinner.

Soulflayers are True Hearing as well. Again, magic-casters. But these particular nasties are also undead. This means they aggro sound and low HP. Add on one more fun trait, aggro to Job Abilities, and you've got a monster that just begs to be left alone. We didn't heed such a request. Our puller aggro'd Soulflayer twice at least, and with the way travel was all evening, the death count was racking up faster than we deserved.

At the end of the night, we were up about 13K EXP. Not terribly impressive, but Sodako did hit 71, so it was at least something. My Paladin rests halfway through 74, with 21K to 75. Next static session will be better thought-out, assuredly. Felt less like the Word mock-up above and more like this kid:
Like it's possible to make progress, but it sucks enough you want to spontaneously combust. Oh well, phases come and go.