Nomad's Requiem - The Final Battle
Entry posted by Merch Gwyar
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I was raised to believe that all things come in threes. If two people die suddenly, you're on tenderhooks waiting for the third. Two cousins announce that they're pregnant and everyone buys three Congratulations cards, because there will be a third. For good and bad, great or ill, things happen in threes. I'm now old enough to have seen this repeated enough times in reality to start repeating it to the next generation in my turn. Because I believe it like I believe this blog is in front of me, then I knew I was going to beat Nomad today.
If I could categorise my life into what was wrong, then it boiled down to three things: 1, I was out of work; 2, I didn't have a Glastonbury Festival ticket, for the first time in years; and 3, I hadn't killed Nomad.
On Friday, I saw that there were extra Glastonbury Festival tickets on sale in April. On Saturday, I got a job. On Sunday, how could I not beat Nomad? Things come in threes. Always. I went in believing with all of my heart that I not only could do this, I was going to do it. It was written in the stars. It was Fated. It was the third thing. And yes, you did just read that correctly. I have a job. :D This is the perfect moment to pass on my first thanks. To the wonderful, gallant and utterly generous Mr Fred Lay. Yesterday, he hired me as the Content Writer for his business website. I'll put up the link to that once I've written for it. :P You can't imagine what that did for my self-esteem and confidence. Merci beaucoup, Mr Lay.
I've had so much advice over the months; I've watched videos, read blogs, had long conversations with people. I knew how to kill Nomad, I just couldn't do it. Two days ago, I was smelting gold in Edgeville, when a voice called out, "Do you want tips on killing Nomad, Merch Gwyar?" I jumped out of my skin. It turned out to be a player named Wa, who graciously took the time to share all of her tips. She reads this blog, so thank you, Wa. I bumped into her yesterday as well and she asked had I beaten Nomad yet. I hadn't. It had to be today. Friday was Glastonbury Festival chance. Saturday was a job. Sunday was Nomad. The rule of threes.
I woke up this morning know that this was Nomad day. I took my time getting ready. Josh is forever trying to teach me how to look at my stats and choose the best armour accordingly. I therefore stood in my costume room trying on things. It was quite a surprise to discover that void ranger actually gave me less of a range boost than black dhide with a Robin Hood hat. I also tried every shield in my bank and arrived at the Zammy prayer book. I only got really stuck when it came to my hands. If I wore my barrows gloves, then I'd have a 5+ boost over the regen bracelet, that Karl had sold me for this very purpose. So did I want 5+ boost or faster healing? Frilly Undys, a player in Edgeville bank, settled it. He was wearing posh armour and was high levelled. He said that, with the same choice, he would go for barrows gloves. Then I started raiding Teacuptime's wardrobe. First I temporarily bought his amulet of ranging off him. Then took everything else that might help:
Until in the end, my final choice of Nomad pwning outfit was this:
Finally, as I had 'bought' all of that off Teacuptime, I was still able to borrow a Bandos Godsword off TheArcturus1.
I took Shelley with me and he was filled with Sara Brews. My bag held Arct's BGS; the diamond bolts (e) recommended by Wa; a Fire Titan; a ranging potion; 10 super restores; and the rest Sara Brews. I was ready. Nearly. That was just in-game. I logged off, rolled three cigarettes and made a cup of tea. In the meantime, I got waylaid and made to watch a snippet from Sports Relief, which was hilarious.
I was made to watch it as motivation. :D
Still laughing over that, I brought my cup of tea upstairs and announced to Canting that it was time. A last sup of a super set, I hurried inside and set my prayers at the door. Despite Wa's advice, I was still on ancient curses. Mostly because I'd forgotten to swop. I prayed leech defence and leech range. I walked in, got through the preliminaries and down Nomad jumped from his throne. My special was ready and Arct's BGS swathed through to hit 240. I had no idea if that was even good or bad. I immediately switched to rune crossbow with the ruby bolts (e) already loaded. Then I stood there.
I have no idea why I stood there. Ordinarily, I'd have scarpered to the pillars and started the whole cat and mouse thing that gets me so close normally. Instead, I just stood in front of him shooting bolts. I stayed there until the bombs arrived, then hurried backwards through the gulley. I still shot at him from that vantage point, until he said that I can't hide from his wrath. That line from the Rs Wiki always comes back to me at this point, I can and I should. I legged it, not to my usual third pillar from the top, but to the very end pillar to the west. I hid behind it as the 75 hit, then came out.
It all went a bit pear-shaped then. I don't know what was happening. In a volley of weaponry that almost got me killed, I was spam-clicking Saras and trying to drink out of empty vials and not dashing behind the pillar. I'm not sure how I survived, but I remember telling myself at the time that it's ok to fail this one. I have 1000 Sara Brews and 60 super restores. This is the first time I've fought him in weeks. I'm bound to be rusty. Yet I did somehow survive it. As the clones arrived, I was able to nip back behind that last pillar and sort myself out. That was the last time that I came even close to panicking.
I didn't use the cat and mouse pillar tactic, unless it was absolutely necessary. I know that was stupid, but it gave me one less thing to worry about. Instead, I concentrated on getting at least one shot in before each sip of a potion. I evaded each 75 hit behind the pillar and I sat out each clone event behind that same pillar, but the rest of the time, I just stood and fought. Shelley, bless him, took off during one 75 hit. I was hiding and Shelley was out there kicking butt.
Then came the second moment when I thought it was all over. Nomad and I were fighting in the arena, a step away from the last pillar and suddenly there was silence. My whole screen froze. I waited because this was a terrible thing. If I was to lag out, but die just before, would Teacuptime's millions of pounds worth of stuff be under that gravestone? I reasoned that it would be and reached to close the screen. Before I could click though, it all came back to life. I was in the centre of the arena and Nomad was gearing up for his massive hit. I was really low. I spam drank Saras and, the second my hp topped 1000, I clicked onto him. My ruby special was released straight away and a second later, he smacked me for the big one. I was alive! Moreover, he had just had to replenish his hitpoints to half. I was at the halfway point!
Thereon, it seemed to go more smoothly. Though we did most of our fighting within a step of the last pillar, I didn't slow him down by using it in general fighting. I evaded the 75 and the clones, that was all. Then suddenly he was in beserker mode. It took me by surprise! It was all too soon! Shelley hadn't given me all of his Sara Brews and so I hadn't dismissed him. My plan had been to take out the Fire Titan during the next clone event after Shelley had handed me all of the Saras. Seeing as he never ran out, I never got to summon the titan. Now here I was in beserker mode, where I always, always died. I was perturbed to say the least. >.> Ok, I was scared stupid. True story.
In my head, as if caught on a loop, was a line from 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. It went 'shine on silver, girl'. I know why. In a previous blog, I can't even remember which one or who said it, someone simply commented, 'shine on silver, girl'. At the time, I'd nodded and acknowledged it. It made me feel better. Now it was unbidden in my head. You know what I've just realised? I'd got the lyrics wrong. They are, 'Sail on silver, girl, sail on by; your time has come to shine. All your dreams are on their way. See how they shine.' I know what's happened there. In the old days, in another world, when I was top of my game in something, there was a moment when a whole forum basically responded to one of my posts with 'shine on you crazy diamond'. The two just mixed up in my head. *wipes away a little tear*
Anyway back to the fight. I was at the exact point where I usually died, but I wasn't hiding. I had the presense of mind to switch on my pre-set prayers, so that deflect melee now joined leech range and leech defence. I latched onto that reeling loop of 'shine on silver, girl' and it calmed me down. I didn't have the Fire Titan, but, beside me, Shelley was fighting beak and claw with everything that he had. I remembered Wa saying that she'd just spam-clicked Saras and somehow survived the Berserker mode. I did the same. I remembered right in the early days of Nomad's release, someone saying that as long as you got a shot in between sipping potion, you had a chance. I made sure I got a shot in, even when it was really, bloody dangerous. Five times Nomad called me 'pathetic' and it should have been over. Five times I sipped another Sara Brew just in time. Then a super restore, then a range pot, whenever it occurred to me that I'd had too much Sara. I didn't know what I was doing, I just had to survive. 'Shine on silver, girl', don't panic; spam-click Saras, don't die; get a shot in between potion sipping, give yourself a chance. And I was glad that it was Shelley there fighting alongside me, because we've been friends for ages and I don't know the titan and I was really scared.
And it was over. I had doomed the world.
I was in utter shock. IRL I just said, 'Oh my God' over and over again. I was shaking like a leaf. I tried to type 'omg' into Canting, but it all moves too fast. You don't walk out of there on your own steam, the game plucks you out and sticks you next to Zimmer-whatsit. You don't even have to click on him, because the conversation starts. I was aware of someone standing behind me asking if I'd succeeded or if I'd left. I found out later that it was TheArcturus1 and Cossack127, but at the time I had all of this conversation to go through and I couldn't take it all in. I just sped through it. Partially to answer Arct and Coss, but mostly because I was stunned. I wasn't reading it. I normally do and I'd have thought in advance that I'd have wanted to savour it, but I could barely read. My mind had gone onto utter shutdown. My sensibilities had been pre-empted. All I had was the unbelievable knowledge that I'd done it, coupled with that 'shine on silver, girl' over and over in my head.
There's no pause between the conversation upstairs and that below. You're just suddenly lifted from one to the other. I told the imp that he looked ridiculous, I know that. I finally also had the presense of mind to take a screenshot.
Click that picture to see a bigger version.
It was definitely over now. I was left stumbling into the arms of Arct and Coss, trembling from head to toe, just going, 'omg' like something demented. I think it was them who broke the news to Canting, because I had no brain to even think to do it. Arct traded me some gin. I knocked it back. After about three centuries of saying, 'omg', I thought to go into the bank and get my quest cape out. And, you know what, the rest I'm going to tell in pictures, because they say it. But thank you so much everyone who helped, supported, suggested strategies, gave me supplies, encouraged me and were just there! Thank you. :P
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