[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

A Prophecy for Noxic
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Noxic, the younger sister of Fog, was so-named because of her temperament: quick to anger, argumentative, full of disdain towards authority. Indeed, it is this last quality which saw Noxic run afoul of authorities on Oriath. Consequently, Noxic too was banished to Wraeclast, just as her sister Fog was some years ago.

And yet...

And yet, Noxic is not a bad person: kind to strangers, devoted to her sister, hard working. Noxic's name and outward demeanor belie a gentle soul frequently kept well hidden from view.
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As a young girl, Noxic showed great skill in Totemry - that is, magical placement of carved-wood idols imbued with various powers. Noxic was particularly adept with dagger-totems; when summoned, these totems caused daggers to rain down from the sky, dealing great damage to any foe caught in their downpour. After a time, Noxic mastered the ability to summon three such totems at once. Few others could match her skill.

And yet..

And yet, Totemry wasn't satisfying to Noxic. Instead, Noxic longed to master the bow. Her life's aspiration was to become just like her older sister Fog - master of the poison bow.
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A short time after Noxic's banishment, the Gods sent one of their Fates - Navali - to Wraeclast.

A Fate is a demi-god, immortal and able to see visions of the future. A Fate's nature is mysterious; why the Gods sent Navali to Wraeclast, no mortal knows. And why Navali began to foretell the future for common folk in exchange for a silver coin or two, that too is unknowable: Caprice? Part of a larger plan? No one could say with any degree of certainty.
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Noxic wasn't much-impressed by the Fates. In Noxic's opinion, Fates were just figureheads for the Gods, part of the authoritarian regime she despised.

And yet...

And yet, Fates could foretell the future. And Navali was willing to reveal a person's destiny for a single silver coin.
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Noxic was desperate to know when - or indeed if - she would become a master bowman. And Navali could foretell the future! Unfortunately, Noxic was flat broke. A silver coin was as far beyond Noxic's reach as that hoped-for day long in the future when she would take up the bow.

And yet...

And yet, thought Noxic to herself, a small stone, polished smooth, and then dipped in lead would, for a time, appear remarkably similar to a silver coin. Such a lead-stone would easily fool Navali.
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And so it was, a few days later that the still-broke Noxic found herself in front of Navali.

"Oh great Seer," Noxic began, "I desire to know my future. When will I become a skilled bowman?"

"I can see your future, child," replied the Fate - at the mention of "child" Noxic nearly lost her composure. Child indeed!

"For the price of a silver coin I will reveal all," finished Navali.

Navali held out her hand into which Noxic pressed an object which appeared to be silver.

"Listen closely child, this is what I portend: you will become a great bowman, greater even than your sister Fog. But first, you must slay Steelpoint the Avenger. Then, you shall take Steelpoint's bow and fulfill your destiny." - so said the Fate Navali.

Noxic was elated! Never before had she felt such joy. She almost - but not quite - regretted tricking the Fate.

"Oh thank you great Seer! Thank you, thank you!," exclaimed Noxic while brushing a tear from her eye.
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Later that same day, Noxic set out into the thicket where Steelpoint was known to reside. Totems were summoned and a great battle ensued. Near death several times, Noxic survived only by quaffing a healing draft. Meanwhile, daggers rained down upon Steelpoint, eventually dealing mortal wounds. Shortly Steelpoint would succumb and Noxic's greatest wish would come true!

Suddenly though, the world stopped. Something was wrong!

YOU HAVE BEEN DISCONNECTED FROM THE NETWORK SERVER. THE REALM IS DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE.
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Noxic learned an enduring lesson that day: Fate is not to be trifled with.

The reason there are interwoven adventures is because I play vastly more than my guild does. The guild I am a member of is made up of all friends I have in real life who also enjoy playing this game. We have a standing ~4 hours we play together on Thursdays, mostly spent in maps or master missions. The first Thursday of the league is spot quest completion, and maps. Depending on when we get to maps there might already be a Zana involved, which is pretty convenient (esp for those with less time to spend in Wraeclast).

The league starts with KrillsonSenpaiNoticeMe pitifully flinging swords at a giant, lobbing cold orbs at the undead, and attempting to dodge some flightless birds. We get that far, and a guild-mate buys a few CA gems for me and I start leveling them. Progression continues with the cold orbs until Kuduku is slain, and a rare 2link +1 bow drops. I promptly switch, the group composition at this time is a fire trapper, a flametotem, and myself(CA and Split Arrow).

Our merry band continues on, completing random prophecies here and there on our way through Act 1. Progression in Act 2 speeds up a little as the group splits at town to collect the different waypoints. Luck is on my side as we kill Fidelitas, a 3link +1 bow drops. One more support, and I can mostly drop the Split Arrow. I find a Lochtonial Caress, switch to Frenzy and boost the damage of the party by 12% more.

Nothing much happens until we hit Cruel difficulty, trapper switches to Ice Trap, and Flametotem switches to SRS (the upgraded sounds for that skill makes me want to play on mute). A2C and we decide to call it for the night. I still have one more normal prophecy, so I double back to complete it. It is the evangelist will drop a unique, and a Tabula Rasa is obtained. First evening done, and decent progress made.

I wake up sixish hours before we agreed to meet for continuing. And this is where the I play more problem starts. I want to keep a character in the +/- five levels of the group until we all hit maps, but still want to play. Time to start a second character. Tabula Rasa + Frost Orb here we go. Leveling was super easy and in no time I am caught up to where the rest of the group has left off. My two guild-members I am playing with sign on, and I just continue playing with frost orb. We spend most of the day getting to A2M. In the down time, short lunch break, and the stop for dinner (which turned into stop for the night) I run my CA character to the the beginning of Merciless.

Sunday, and one of the guild-mates was co-opted to do errands by the ladyfriend, so I continue on with CA. Eventually the other player is on and we continue. By the end of the day I have two characters not yet to maps, CA is 66 and Frost Orb is 60. This is a folly of trying to keep with friends sometimes. But once everyone is to maps I might just make a culling set up for group play.