Level 5 was starting to turn out to be a hell level (a level where you can't seem to find enough things to kill to get experience without getting skewered yourself) and I was solo camping on the path to the orc camp in Greater Faydark (about halfway out) attempting to pull and kill the occasional Orc Centurion (if they "con'd" blue or white or yellow). At one point, I got lost on the way from Kelethin to Felwithe and ended up zoning into Lesser Faydark (zone entrance is -2500,-1030). Ended up back at the "orc lift" of Kelethin, standing around practicing my Sense Heading skill when the Priest of Discord shouts "Let this fool's meaningless death be a reminder to you all that the power of Discord is absolute!" (which usually means that some newbie tried to attack the PoD (a very powerful NPC) and the whole zone gets a chuckle). Again, stayed on the path between the orc camp and the orc lift, solo hunting single Orc Centurions, trying to pick trailing Orcs off of passing trains (player, usually running for their life, followed by multiple Orcs), or helping out players who were being ganged up on by multiple Orcs (and it looked like the player was starting to hurt).

Between 9pm and 10pm (about 2-3hrs in to play), a player named Guster starts spamming the zone with shouts in a whiny manner looking for someone to group with him, notifying everyone of where he's going, what he's doing, asking for this, asking for that (generally being a pest on the "shout" channel which everyone sees, not just those around you). Yizuen got into a shouting match with Guster, making things worse. It finally looked like it was going to wrap up around 10pm with the following exchange:

Guster shouts, 'Im leaving'
Yizuen shouts, 'ANd the peasents rejoiced !'
Kuvanie shouts, 'And the angels sang'
Dreml shouts, 'He's in a dbl wide in oklahoma'
Guster shouts, 'Dont think its that easy to get rid of me'

Poor Guster, he was getting zero respect... (in reference to the "dbl wide in oklahoma", they were speculating as to what type of trailer he lived in at home). About 50 minutes later, we get word that Guster has died (as he shouts to the entire zone again), then the begging begins to have us help find his body in Lesser Faydark (oh joy). I stopped paying attention to him for a while because I was getting ready to group.

About 11pm, I joined my first group with Relick (High-Elf Enchanter Level 5) and Yizuen (anonymous). In the process of forming up, I discover that an Enchanter's pet cannot use the daggers that I summon (they need a special dagger called "Tiny Dagger"), at least that's what I was told (have not verified the veracity). So the 3 of us head up the path to the orc camp, stopping about where it ends in the dell before you enter the camp, and Yizuen starts to pull Orc Centurions. We made it through the first couple of encounters with minor scratches and some mana deprivation and were sitting around medding (Enchanters have to meditate to regain mana) and mending, but I'm nervous about where we're sitting (having been jumped there the previous night by multiple Orcs) so I'm trying to hint to my party that this might not be a safe spot (it's my first group, so I'm not sure how persistent to be):

You say, 'i've been trained here before'
Relick tells the group, 'I know'
Relick tells the group, 'Me too lol'

Sure enough, about 5 seconds later we get attacked by a few Orc Centurions (at 23:07:19), Yizuen yells "Ahhh!" at 23:07:22, my pet dies at 23:07:32, I yell for help at 23:07:40 (running for my life back to the guards at the orc lift), and I'm almost to the guards (within 10 feet), when the Orcs finally do me in at 23:07:52 and I see the dreaded "LOADING, PLEASE WAIT..." message. That was the longest 33 seconds of the evening, we were not ready, I don't know if Yizuen drew something in on us or if we were stumbled upon.

So begins my first corpse run (when you die, you start out with no equipment and your corpse with all your equipment is still at the place that you died so you have to go loot it)... Fortunately, other than the time to run from Felwithe all the way back to the orc lift at Kelethin and having to rememorize spells, cast a new pet it didn't take too long because I died right by the orc lift in Kelethin. While on my corpse run, I see that Guster is still looking for help finding his body in Lesser Faydark (whine, whine, whine). I also managed to find Mianya who let me beg a bind off of her at the orc lift so I wouldn't have to run all the way back from Felwithe again. It took about 30-40 minutes to do the corpse run, rememorize all my spells, cast my pet, help a lost soul who needed to find the bank in Kelethin, find someone to bind me at the orc lift, and join back up with my group. By the time I did all this though, Relick and Yizuen were headed back to Felwithe to hit the merchants, get daggers for Relick's pet, so I ended up hunting the next day cycle by myself again. (A day in EverQuest is about 1/7th that of a real life day, maybe shorter).

So I'm standing by the orc lift in Kelethin (in Greater Faydark), practicing my Sense Heading skill from about 23:45 onward, checking out the other players in the area, waiting for daylight (it was 4AM on a Tuesday, Aug 10th in the game world), checking up on Relick to find out if he's going to make it back for daybreak to go hunting. Then I hear a shout from Westonius (another player who had been running around doing random shouts for a while) that he's gotten himself lost. Well, the easiest way to help a player like that out is to ask them their "loc" (location) and then tell them the loc of where they want to go (with a bit of blundering around, you can pretty easily figure it out from there in Greater Faydark because it's a big open forest).

Westonius shouts, 'Im lost im lost im really really lost'
You told westonius, 'what's your loc?'
Your Location is 988.92, 243.99, -22.87
Westonius tells you, '-1098 1503 62'
You told westonius, 'loc for orc lift is 988,243'
Westonius tells you, 'Pl'
You told westonius, 'you're almost to butcherblock'
Westonius tells you, 'Really?'
You told westonius, 'butcherblock should be around -1500,2500'

I guess he made it to the mountains, because we never heard from him again that night.

Right around midnight, a huge ogre player comes running past the 2 guards at the orc lift, pulling the guards away from the lift (I don't know how far they chased the player, I got on the lift and went back into town for a minute until the guards came back):

Guard Fayfear says 'For the defense of Kelethin!!
Guard Fayfear says 'Ogres have no place in our realm!'
Guard Pineshade says 'For the defense of Kelethin!!
Guard Pineshade says 'It's Ogres like you who have ruined your own lands. You'll not ruin mine!'
Guard Pineshade says 'For the defense of Kelethin!!
Guard Pineshade says 'Filthy Ogres like you must die!'
Orgrokk was injured by falling.
Orgrokk was injured by falling.
Orgrokk shouts, 'OGRE RUN FAST FROM GUARDS !'
You say, 'right, not sticking here if the guards are gone!'

Anyway, at 00:01 it was 6am local time and starting to get light, so I headed back up the path to the orc camp to do some solo hunting (Relick was still shopping in Felwithe according to the "/who" command). Relick finally got back around 20 past midnight and started forming up a new group (Vorish (me) and Relick). We spent a few minutes at the orc lift while he med'd, and I walked to the top of the hill to watch the path for incoming Orcs (or trains). I almost scored an Orc Centurion while doing this, but when I had just about finished him off he ran away and blundered into a guard (so the guard killed him and I got no experience). Yizuen managed to join back up at this point, and we also met Qandala (High-Elf Magician, Level 7) to join the group.

The four of us worked our way out to the end of the path again around 00:35 and started hunting Orcs (it was dark, maybe 6pm or 7pm local). About 5 minutes in and we're starting to run low on mana, and we're trying to med in a bad spot again. Once again, we got set upon by multiple Orcs and while Qandala and I sounded the retreat and started running back to Kelethin, Yizuen and Relick ran the wrong way and got slaughtered.

You tell your party, '2 dead?'
Relick tells the group, 'Yup'
Relick tells the group, 'I ran the wrong way lol'
You tell your party, 'not a good place to camp, neh?'
Relick tells the group, 'Medding'
Qandala bonks Vorish on the head with a pan.
Relick tells the group, 'And memming'
Relick tells the group, 'We should have went back when i said t '
Qandala tells the group, 'If only i hade a white robe and yizuen hade a blackk one'
You tell your party, '?'
Qandala bonks Vorish on the head with a pan.

Qandala really started to get strange about this point, she's running around bonking everyone on the head, popping the question to Yizuen and running off, and basically being an emotional female for a while. Relick and I never figured out what her issues were... Relick makes himself invisible and goes on a corpse dragging run (where you run out to the corpse, and use a command that allows you to drag it towards you from 50' away). You see, if you drag the corpse, you stay invisible, but if you stop to loot the corpse and get your stuff back you lose invisibility. There was a lot of standing around the orc lift at this point, Qandala running around bonking people and slapping Yizuen, Relick was getting himself put back together after his corpse run, and I'm busy reading up on the emote commands, so we didn't start another raid until 01:20am (8am local on Wed Aug 11 3214). It was a short raid as a complete group, because the group got seperated and I ended up assisting Qandala alone the path. Then we linked up again but got mobbed and Yizuen died again:

01:37:03 --Qandala has looted a Small Cloth Wristband.--
01:37:13 --You have looted a Small Cloth Veil.--
01:37:22 Relick tells the group, 'Could i get that wristband i need one more'
01:37:29 You tell your party, '60m'
01:37:38 Relick tells the group, 'Got it thanx'
01:37:51 Qandala asks Relick to marry her.
01:37:55 Relick tells the group, 'Anyone need pants?'
01:38:02 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:38:04 Relick's image blurs.
01:38:18 You tell your party, 'shawl and veil for grabs'
01:38:26 Relick tells the group, 'Sorry qandala i am already taken'
01:38:36 Qandala tells the group, 'I HATE ME'
01:38:49 Relick tells the group, 'Take it easy'
01:39:01 Qandala tells the group, 'I HATE ME I HATE ME I HATE ME'
01:39:03 Relick tells the group, '40m medding'
01:39:13 Yizuen tells the group, 'K '
01:39:19 Qandala tells the group, 'IIIIII HHHHAAATTTTEEEE MMMMEEEEE'
01:39:27 You begin casting Minor Shielding.
01:39:29 You feel armored.
01:39:58 It is 3 PM on Wednesday, the 11th day of August, of the year 3214.
01:40:03 Qandala tells the group, 'You couldn't find a stupider person than me i this hole game'
01:40:22 Relick tells the group, '90m'
01:40:31 You tell your party, '80m'
01:40:41 Relick tells the group, 'Fom'
01:40:44 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 13 points of damage.
01:40:44 Orc centurion bashes Yizuen for 6 points of damage.
01:40:45 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:40:48 Relick is surrounded by a translucent shield.
01:40:48 Yizuen tells the group, 'Incoming'
01:40:51 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 5 points of damage.
01:40:51 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 14 points of damage.
01:40:52 You tell your party, 'Incoming!'
01:40:53 Orc centurion bashes Yizuen for 2 points of damage.
01:40:53 Yizuen begins to cast a spell.
01:40:54 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 6 points of damage.
01:40:54 You begin casting Burn.
01:40:54 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:40:56 orc centurion was hit by non-melee for 11 points of damage.
01:40:56 Orc centurion's skin blisters and burns.
01:40:57 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 14 points of damage.
01:40:58 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
01:40:59 Relick begins to cast a spell.
01:41:00 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 11 points of damage.
01:41:00 Orc centurion gasps for breath.
01:41:00 Orc centurion bashes Yizuen for 4 points of damage.
01:41:03 orc centurion says 'None shall challenge the legions of the Crushbone orcs!!
01:41:03 Orc centurion hits Yizuen for 11 points of damage.
01:41:03 Yizuen has been slain by orc centurion!
01:41:03 You try to crush orc centurion, but miss!
01:41:04 Relick crushes orc centurion for 4 points of damage.
01:41:04 Jibaner pierces orc centurion for 2 points of damage.
01:41:05 Jibaner begins to cast a spell.
01:41:05 Orc centurion is slashed by shards of ice.
01:41:07 Relick crushes orc centurion for 3 points of damage.
01:41:07 You crush orc centurion for 12 points of damage.
01:41:07 You have slain orc centurion!
01:41:07 orc centurion says 'You shall have all the Crushbone orc legions on your tail for my death!
01:41:20 --Relick has looted a Crushbone Belt.--
01:41:21 You tell your party, 'darn, lost yiz'
01:41:28 Relick tells the group, 'Yu '
01:41:55 Jibaner says 'Guarding you Master.'
01:42:27 You tell your party, '80m'
01:43:04 Qandala tells the group, 'BYE"'
01:43:05 Qandala has left the group.
01:43:11 Yizuen's spell fizzles!
01:43:12 Yizuen begins to cast a spell.
01:43:15 Yizuen's image shimmers.
01:43:27 You tell your party, 'is qan ok?'
01:43:37 Yizuen tells the group, 'No. She needs some serious counseling.'
01:43:47 You tell your party, '90m'
01:43:54 You tell your party, 'no kidding...'

A little after this we started adding and dropping members pretty quickly (basically only Relick and I stayed the entire time) and we forced our way into the center of the orc camp to a place the locals call "orc hill" which is a good spot that you can see the surrounding area and pull the Orcs to you and your group. There were between 4 and 8 players standing on the hill, and we were getting hit by 2-6 Orcs per wave every few minutes. I don't remember anyone dying during this time because we were all jumping to each other's defense. I spent most of the time letting my pet cast magic and melee while I worked on my 2 handed blunt weapon skills with a worn great staff. As a result of not casting spells, I was usually between 60% and 80% of my mana and my hit points stayed above 80% because I let the pet take the Orc when I needed to mend. Sometimes I'd jump in between a Orc and another player who was taking too much damage. My defense skill is pretty good (considering my level), so I was usually only taking 4-10 pts of damage per hit and I could back away and let the pet have it at any time. During this chaos, I lost my pet once and had to re-cast during a short break. This was a very long period of nothing but fighting, looting, and medding so it all runs together (basically, a very fun time was had by all on the hill).

Somewhere in the melee, I managed to gain my Level 6, and by the end of the night I was 20% (1 bubble) on my way to level 7. Not bad considering I had started the evening at 1 bubble into Level 5 and was thinking it would take a long time to get to level 6.

After about an hour of this we started getting into the flow and the loot was piling up faster and faster (I was becoming encumbered by the weight). So about 85 min in to this cycle (03:15am), I had to run back to Kelethin, got lost on the way, finally found the lifts, sold my stuff and worked my way back to the group in about 10 minutes (pretty quick for getting lost). We only meleed for another 10 minutes before everyone in the group started leaving and it was starting to get lonely up on the hill when Relick and I ran back to town to camp and logoff.

Quite an exciting evening of play (especially the last 2 hrs up on orc hill). I made a lot of improvements in skill. Conjuration went from 16 to 25, Channeling went from 30 to 33, Abjuration from 9 to 18, Defense from 22 to 25, Offense from 17 to 21, 2-handed blunt from 0 to 1 (yea!), Sense Heading from 3 to 5. Need to work on 2 handed blunt because I focused soley on Piercing skills up until now and if I wait too long to train in 1-handed and 2-handed blunt I'll be at a major disadvantage later in the game (have to fight too big of critters to gain skill).

Right now, I'm looking at the maps, figuring out how much longer I should continue to hunt at the Orc Camp in Greater Faydark before finding another hunting spot. Relick says he won't be on today, so I'll probably group with someone new this evening.