One such evening in clockworks, I was invited to a prestige mission by one who I had befriended. Thinking that I was trying to gain prestige at a time for some silly reason, I obliged. Little did I know that at the time, my basic two star gear (sword, shield, armor, etc) would be no match for what was awaiting us.

We descended to the clockworks tunnel that greeted us with snow as the warmest welcome we could receive. While my comrades were properly suited to handle some of the stratum's greetings, I was on the tail end rightfully so, cleaning up the remains of whatever my allies left. This slowed my pacing noticeably in some occasions; instead of avoiding them, I was insistent on slaying everything else (lol) with my caliber.

Somewhere along the line, we got separated (or I got left behind) and as it turned out, my friend and then that friends friend were down for the count. The culprits were none other that the Pearl Greavers. In cases like these I normally charge myself with raising fallen allies. But those stupid Zubats got in my way.

I knew to keep my distance whenever dealing with them as stronger Greavers can be trouble even when you think you're at a safe distance. I found myself drawing to a narrow pathway that only lead to the gate we chose to close behind us (the party button) before moving forward. So I tried to bump them away while driving forward. That judgment certainly spelled my doom as a haze was cast after one dive; my shield was destroyed and I was frozen in place as a result.

You could imagine what went through my mind at the time with little defense against this threat and a weaker weapon to boot. But one state of mind I often play with is of one that refuses to die; that works out most of the time. So from there I poured on what looked to be every ounce of desperation to survive; 1, 2, 3, (typical melee pattern) repeat.

That reminded me that attacks that can knock a greaver back can also cancel its attack. So the full combo was used in succession until my shields regenerated. I needed that protection unless my consistency failed, which it was due to do just that. Apart from that pattern and the occasional bump/shield cancel (covering for ill-timed swings), there were certain factors keeping me from dying that day.

The pathway was narrow: that didn't give them room enough to dive in behind me AND evade my attacks. I was frozen: I was relying on being stationary to keep me from stepping forward, giving them a chance to slip in behind me. Eventually I was able to kill all three or four of them (I forget how many then). And while I cannot recall if we ultimately failed that regular prestige mission, I know that somehow I survived that encounter.

I would do it again if there was some sword or weapon that caused the player to freeze in place (which works for me on some occasions) but that in itself with other enemies is too dangerous to apply it to every case.

"But I'm like hot butter on a breakfast toast." B]