Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

I cornered one of your white rats and thought that killing it would garner more XP than the pitiful rats outside. I drove my sword to the left and he dodged, drove it to the right and he dodged again. I thought if this rat is worth more XP then it might be a little harder to kill. So I weaved a web of the best sword play any man has ever weaved. I daresay I could have killed a dragon with the amount of moves and exquisite technique I used on this mouse. What does the little bugger do? He dances, dances his way around every strike, every slash, ever punch I threw as I tried in vein to knock this wingless pigeon off his dancing little feet so I could drive a sword, a knife, a pen if I had one, through his beady little heart.

Now I sit at the bar, head sunken low, not worthy of a tankard as I am swordsman who met his match in a mouse, a little dancing mouse. The mouse who dances onward and onward around the room, the tapping of his claws ripping at my heart. How will I ever defeat a dragon, if I cannot tame a mouse?

Forget about the mice, Alex. Dragons are much bigger and thus much easier to hit.

You know what? Let me buy you a beer, Alex.

Aye lass, thank you for the beer. You have done a fine job not just training the mice for entertainment, but for survival as well.

Live long and prosper, heroes.

No offense, but what do all of you people do for a living? Between work and school, I'm lucky to get more than an hour of reading a day. Even if I didn't have school, I'd only have three or so hours of reading. I still manage a book or two a week. I can read a book a day if I don't have to work, but it's been years since I've had that type of freedom.

I work for the railroad which requires a lot of time spent in hotels.

I'm married to the Navy/mother to two little boys. Not sure I would refer to that as "freedom", but you know.

I don't have kids and I read fast and a lot. I can get at least two hours a day and on the weekends it's unlimited time because who needs chores when there are books?

I work at a nuclear pharmacy.

Audiobooks/kindle on my phone are a godsend--especially while doing chromatography. Which is basically watching paint dry waiting for (radioactive) liquids to run up strips of paper.

And no, I don't glow in the dark, so I can't be my own book light.

Software Engineer here :P Mostly read way too late at night.

Morgan wrote: "I work at a nuclear pharmacy.

Audiobooks/kindle on my phone are a godsend--especially while doing chromatography. Which is basically watching paint dry waiting for (radioactive) liquids to run u..."

I'm now picturing rows of medications for sick nuclear plants and Homer Simpson.

I am a SAHM to a very active 5 year old. I am just not as fast a reader as some though I'm getting faster ;)

I am a SAHM to 4 kids...I read very early morning, nap time and very late at night :-)

Has anyone read ? I just finished it and I have a question about the story and looking for someone who may know the answer.

Sleep? What sleep?

I work a full time job and am the primary caregiver of my younger brother in the evenings. Up until May, I worked full time and also went to school full time and still managed to read. If it's something you really enjoy, you find time for it.

I am a lawyer. I read in the evenings. Audiobooks are a big no at work, I have to focus. But I listen to them when driving and doing work-out - it's only two to three more books a month but it helps with the quest a lot.

Once it's warmer I'll spend weekends on the bike. I'll be happy to read 6 books a month. I take advantage of the weather now. I need to stock up for spring and summer.:)

I'm a science teacher and tend to work 50 hours a week. I try and squeeze a couple of hours of reading in each night. I read more in winter though as I'm on a skydiving team and summer weekends will be spent training and competing.

I work in a research lab. I've been here for 4 years so I can do a lot of stuff with half my brain while I listen to an audio. I spend lots of time listening while I'm dissecting. :)

For the past 2.5 years I was also working on my masters degree while working full time, so audiobooks at work and on my commute were the only reading I had time for. Now that I'm done with school I have evenings free!

I'm an elementary school teacher with an empty nest so I have a lot of evenings free. With the cold we've had this winter, I don't like to leave the house unless I have to.

I'm a SAHM of a 3 year old and a 7 month old who barely sleeps in the day. I get all of my reading done in the evening after the children are in bed. We don't have a TV so from 7.30 pm until midnight (which is about the earliest I ever fall asleep seeing my baby still feeds every two hours at night) I read.

Kelly, Tea, any hints about the merchant caravan? When will it arrive? What goodies will it bring and what prices might we expect? Do they sell only or would they buy some of the items as well? So many questions.

It would really help with the planning. With the number of new quests I'm not sure whether to collect XP or hold onto my books till the merchants appear.

I have a question about the Health Gem ("grants +1 Max HP and Current HP"). I guess that the +1 Max health is a permanent bonus (as long as the health gem is equipped) but what about the current HP bonus? Is it a one time thing, brings + 1HP once and then it's "depleted"?

Zuzana wrote: "Kelly, Tea, any hints about the merchant caravan? When will it arrive? What goodies will it bring and what prices might we expect? Do they sell only or would they buy some of the items as well? So ..."

We're still manufacturing the goodie but they'll be potions, a special item and some books you can buy.

There's also currently a classified ads section that you can sell some books for gold and an open market where you can buy and sell from others.

All of these things are preliminary though so they may change as tea and I have time to think about them.

We're planning the caravan to arrive the last week in March. I also plan to cycle back in the special items in later caravans if you miss them in this one.

Zuzana wrote: "I have a question about the Health Gem ("grants +1 Max HP and Current HP"). I guess that the +1 Max health is a permanent bonus (as long as the health gem is equipped) but what about the current HP..."

Yeah, basically if you had 12/14 hp before you equipped the gem now you have 13/15 hp.

Kelly wrote: "Zuzana wrote: "Kelly, Tea, any hints about the merchant caravan? When will it arrive? What goodies will it bring and what prices might we expect? Do they sell only or would they buy some of the ite..."

*snorts*
I can't believe they still think that we know what we are planning to do.

Kelly wrote: "Zuzana wrote: "I have a question about the Health Gem ("grants +1 Max HP and Current HP"). I guess that the +1 Max health is a permanent bonus (as long as the health gem is equipped) but what about..."

Is this a one time use?

As Kelly confirmed, the current HP part is a one-time use, the max HP is a permanent +1 bonus (unless you give the gem away, e.g. sell it)

Thanks Kelly. I'm gonna stock up on some books and see what the caravan brings. I'm curious about the "classified ads section" and the open market. Sounds like fun (and plenty of opportunities for shady deals).

❀Tea❀ wrote: "*snorts*
I can't believe they still think that we know what we are planning to do. "

*snorts*
I can't believe that Tea still thinks that anybody buys her "I know nothing about the game" spiel. ;-) :-P

Zuzana wrote: "❀Tea❀ wrote: "*snorts*
I can't believe they still think that we know what we are planning to do. "

*snorts*
I can't believe that Tea still thinks that anybody buys her "I know nothing about the ga..."

Lol. They just think we plan more than an hour before it gets posted :P

Reva wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Zuzana wrote: "I have a question about the Health Gem ("grants +1 Max HP and Current HP"). I guess that the +1 Max health is a permanent bonus (as long as the health gem is equipped) ..."

You put it on and it's permanent. The current hp is just a normal hp though so it goes away with monster hits and whatnot.

Shady deals, hm . . .

Rosella wrote: "Shady deals, hm . . ."

You'll probably have to know right password for that. I They won't do business with just anybody! What if you're undercover?!

Doesn't "The White Rat" sound like a mob boss? Hmmmm.... I think we need underground thieves.

Follow the white rabbit.

Heh, that may be a different quest line. :P

So... anyone know the title of the book where there's limited magic in the world and using it leaves a dark stain that some people can see and they end up trying to get magic from other dimensions? I can't find it again and it's annoying me :-/

Ack! I found it Thief's Magic. Ok I feel better now. I hate when I can't remember which book something's a part of.

Sorry for sounding stupid but where does the Health Gem come from?

Never mind Found it as part 3 of Academy quest.

Kelly wrote: "Zuzana wrote: "Kelly, Tea, any hints about the merchant caravan? When will it arrive? What goodies will it bring and what prices might we expect? Do they sell only or would they buy some of the ite..."

That all sounds AMAZING. I'm super interested to see how the classified section and player-to-player trading works.

I can't wait till March - I'll be stockpiling gold all month!

Ack! Tea!!!! We have to make it amazing now. *chews fingernails*

No pressure huh?

Getting gold sorted fast in anticipation. LOL

I hope to have my first 10 within the week!

RebeccaS wrote: "I'm looking for shorter books to help gain some health points. I found Precious and the Mystery of the Missing Lion by my favorite author! It's marked as "childrens" but the versi..."

Any book over 100 pages in print so audio ok unless it's abridged.


Tia wrote: "I hope to have my first 10 within the week!"

Crack the code. It's a gimme.

Reva wrote: "Crack the code. It's a gimme..."

oooh! did I overcomplicate it? I've assumed we've got to read the books too...

Too many quest choices.... I'm like a dog chasing two tails

Catherine wrote: "Reva wrote: "Crack the code. It's a gimme..."

oooh! did I overcomplicate it? I've assumed we've got to read the books too..."

Yeah but the code is a quick way to gain 10 gold.

Oh darn I guess I didn't read it carefully enough. 4 books huh.

I cracked the code, but like Catherine said, I thought you needed to read books alongside solving the code. I haven't started on those books yet, but I'll probably tackle them next week.

I'm working on Lady Zuzana's quest right now - I'll have three of the four books done by the time I leave work tonight, which is awesome. I figure I can finish three to four Midas quests in March, so I should be pretty well set for the caravan when it rolls around.

If it helps, we've been trying to keep a ratio of about 4 books per Midas quest and giving 10 gold. No guarantees it always stays like that but that was our general goal. Some might be less if they have really strict requirements to meet or extra long books.