GM Manhunt

That was the pileup at the finish line for Mabinogi's most recent event, the "GM Manhunt," a hybrid game of MMO hide and seek and scavenger hunt. The objective was to form a team of 8 players, and at 3pm sharp scour the entire world looking for 4 GM's. The first GM would tell players what dungeon the fourth GM was standing in. The second GM would tell players what item needed to be used to enter that dungeon. The third GM would tell players what 8 items needed to be handed to the fourth GM to complete the event. And the fourth GM was...well, the finish line.

Since the event was announced on the same day it occurred, and it started at the peculiar 3pm PST hour, nobody from Artifex was online sans a couple indifferent guildies. So, I joined one of the handful of makeshift squads forming in Dunbarton. Our communication was dreadful, and I think a couple of the party members only spoke Spanish. I was tasked to search the Bangor/Morva Aisle/Port Ceann areas, and wouldn't you know it, one of the GM's was hiding behind a House Board in Bangor! He said we'd need to hand the fourth GM Firewood, a Phoenix Feather, an HP 10 Potion, a Wizard Hat, a Pickaxe, Wool, an Apple, and a Ladle. Check, check, check, no check, check, check, check, no check. Awesome! I had or could easily nab 6 of those items and be a hero! Shortly after, one of my partymates found the GM that spilled Alby Dungeon as the hiding spot of the fourth GM, so I rode full steam northward to Tir Chonaill. When I arrived at the Alby Dungeon lobby, I found only 2 other partymates ready to enter, and about 100 of our worst enemies clearly having beaten us to the finish (see picture above).

We got nothing tangible out of the event except a collection of useless items. But we did get about 30-45 minutes of frantic excitement. I would say this event was fun and unique, but no reward except for the first 3 finishing teams (out of what seemed like a hundred teams) meant a vast majority of us Mabinogians felt a little cheated.

Later that day I received what was a serendipitous consolation prize when an elf chased me down in Dunbarton. She had recognized me from the pet AI I posted on the MabinogiWorld forums. Apparently she was using my AI. I asked her how she liked it, and she called it "godly." I felt like a million bucks! As far as I could tell, nobody used my AI (or at least they didn't mention they were using it in the forum thread), so to hear A) someone bothered using it and B) they actually loved it was a huge compliment. Thus, I met the adorable elf Fifix:
Myself and A.I. fan Fifix
A looong time ago when Pioneers of Iria was released, I gathered up the free character cards for an elf and giant. I quickly made my elf Lyrwen, but I never got around to making a giant. This could be for lack of necessity, or disinterest in the giant race. Either way it took up until a week ago for me to cash in my giant card and welcome Saffi into Mabinogi:
Saffi the Descendant of Giants
It was probably the lack of necessity that kept me from making my giant, because Saffi is now my designated Metallurgy specialist. After ranking Metallurgy to 9 on Warrensworth, I realized I'd have to sink a ton of AP into the Metallurgy skill to rank it further when there are more pressing combat skills to advance. Plus, Warrensworth's inventory is usually jammed with a variety of items that have no other home. Saffi, however, is a newbie with a virtually barren inventory (so she can hold much more ore), and can devote 100% of her AP towards Metallurgy. She camps out on Cor Beach, collecting ore fragments to fuel my Blacksmithing endeavour. All iron gets stashed into my pets (which I then can refine when I log in as Warrensworth), and the rest (copper, silver, gold, mythril, gems, and diamonds) are mailed to Hanakami to be sold to buy more iron. I am now running a multi-character operation to help me accomplish my Blacksmithing goals as efficiently as possible.

Saffi, being my second female character, has given me some time to masquerade as the opposite sex around Mabinogi. For the most part nothing's different (probably because many other people do the same), but seeing as I'm breaking Richard Bartle's "no moonlighting as a woman" MMO rule, there was bound to be awkward moments. A while ago, while I was waiting patiently at the mailbox as Hanakami, a fellow curiously stopped in front of Hana, walked away, walked back and stood adjacent to her, stepped away, then took a seat right in front of her. Then he sent me a note:
Yes, actually. Hana was designed that way.
Since I didn't want to give the easiest answer, "nu im a d00d!", I asked Mistresraven to swing by and act like Hana's lover. When she did, we exchanged some...colorful banter alluding to a girl/girl relationship, and his reply was simply, "holy crap!" and he hurried off. That was probably meaner than necessary. But I laughed so nyahh =P

If anything, experiences like this have shed some light on what it must be like for women to be hit on unsolicited by unsavory guys. Yikes.