The Everquest Chronicles: Kithicor and Beyond

It all started in December 2000 when I purchased Everquest, the game. I have been a gamer since the early 1980s but had never played an MMO before.

In the next few weeks, @bingbabe would become an ‘EQ Widow' as I was drawn into the harsh unforgiving world of Norrath, an obsession that would last for several years.

More recently I installed the Everquest client again on my PC. It's free to play now but a far cry from the heyday of the early noughties when adventurers banded together for quests and glory.

Many zones are now deserted as players have long since left the game for other ones with superior graphics, and easier gameplay.

This is the story replayed today as my level 66 Barbarian Shaman who can now freely roam through low and mid-level zones without fear of being killed.

If you are not a gamer and have never played an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) then you may not be able to relate to this at all.

Everquest was named ‘Evercrack' due to its addictive nature and for good reason.

Other article's in this series:
The Everquest Chronicles : Halas and Everfrost
The Everquest Chronicles: The Entrance to Blackburrow
The Everquest Chronicles: Blackburrow and the Ice Giants
The Everquest Chronicles: The Bandits of Western Karana
The Everquest Chronicles: Northern and Eastern Karana
The Everquest Chronicles: HighHold Pass

Kithicor forest was the ultimate nightmare for the newbie player, by reputation if nothing else.

As dawn broke I headed to the north wall using my 'Sense Direction' ability. Game maps had to be printed on paper and unless you used this ability there was no way of knowing which direction you were facing.

I saw the north wall and made east at a run passing low-level creatures far below me. I figured they were as I received no aggro.. yet.

The lush grasses of the bank slid through my boots, yet my right boot appeared to be walking on thin air.

Ah, this was but a technical deficiency of PC graphics from the year 2000 I had to tell myself, and I could not feel those silky blades between my left toes.

I ran on feeling more comfortable and confident the closer I got to the east side of Kithicor forest without encountering any level 50 necromancers raining death spells from afar.

...'Was this it, or had I simply been fortunate?'...

Some houses close to the zone got my interest but I dared not go close as I knew the wicked minds and thoughts of the scheming evil Everquest game designers.

One step closer and a spell would come hurtling through the walls of the house and 'instadeath' would befall me.

For players, we needed line of sight for our kills; however, monsters cheated and could hit and cast through solid objects, motherfuckers!

Relieved to have made it through this anti-climatic zone, I zoned into what was formally the West Commonlands, only to find it now named ’The Commonlands’.

In my younger days, East Commonlands was for newbie players and the West for slightly older ones. It would be the West section I would be doing my killing in for a short time.

I started toward the human city of Freeport passing snakes, ghouls, wolfs all of which now ignore me as I am far too high level for them.

The Commonlands were always full of NPC's, a few aggressive and much to high level to have any right being in this zone.

The Befallen is a low-level dungeon that everyone ignored even during Everquest's' heyday. It was full of pits and traps the unwary could fall down and word quickly got around that it was not a place to visit even grouped.

Zoning in, I could see why. The would-be tank would immediately have three or four skeletons wailing on him. You need to remember that in 2000 many players were using dial-up, and zoning times were erratic.

If you as the healer zoned in after the tank, he may be dead by the time you are there and too late to heal him. They should have moved these piles of bones further down from the entrance-way.

…’human guards are positioned all over the Commonlands. The Dark Elves from nearby Neriak would camp them for experience’…

Continuing west I came across the ‘tunnel’. This now empty place was once full of players peddling their wares and was a hive of activity.

I bought many an item from another player just shouting out what he had for sale.

Every now and again some twat would pull a Hill Giant into the tunnel causing mayhem, the giant none too caring about who he would like to crush next. It was madness but crazy fun.

…'when younger I camped these Orcs regularly, there was no Chief in those days, he's an ugly bugger don't you think?'…

My journey continued east and I could see Freeport approaching, but this was not the city I remembered it to be.

Now it looks more akin to the evil races, with bats, rats, and skeletons populating the entrance.

The guards, however, are still human and at least Boomba the Big is still hanging around selling his crap that nobody wants to buy.

...'All Images are screen captures, processed manually by ME!'...

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