The Beast and the Hero.

Everyone has a villan. Everyone has someone who always torments them and causes trouble. For Batman, it was the Joker. For Superman, it was Lex Luthor. For Oprah, it was beef.

I'm no different, as one of the NMs in FFXI has become my villan. This vile creature hides deep near a waterfall outside Windurst. Some say you can hear him at night, filling the night sky with... whatever sound caterpillars make when they are hungry.

His name? Spiny Spipi.

You're probably thinking "lol, this n00b thinks Spiny is t0ugh." You are not incorrect.

Pasquale -vs- Spiny Spipi; Round 1

I was leveling pld and having a pretty good time doing it. I was plowing down mandys and rarabs when suddenly I came upon a crawler that oozed pure evil. And silk. Evil and silk.

After a quick searh on Alla, I decided to fight him, and claim the Mist Silk Cape as my own. I draw my greatsword and charge into battle. We are wailing on each other back and forth for a while and it didn't look good for our hero. I used 'Inivincible' and things finally started to go my way. Just as I was dealing the finishing blow, he cast a foul poison on me. I stood triumphantly over my kill and eagerly awaited my drops.

Pasquale obtains a spool of silk thread.

Son of a bitch. I started /slap-ing where his body had been, when I realized I had 10 hp left from my poison. I haul ass towards Windy, hoping to run into a mage along the way. As luck would have it, the poison wore off at 3 hp. Relieved, I rested to get my health back so I could continue fighting. As soon as my ass touched ground, a Goblin Fisher killed the crap outta me. (Hate... Goblins... so much...)

Pasquale -vs- Spiny Spipi; Round 2

Some time later, while on my BLM, I ran into Spiny on my way back to Windurst from the Mea crag. I was a little bit higher than my PLD was this time, so killing him wouldn't be that bad.

I start by casting thunder on the unsuspecting bug.

Pasquale starts casting Thunder.
Spiny Spipi is too far away.

That big yellow pile of jerk moved and my spell got cancelled. I ran forward to see where he went, and I had seen that he ran straight into the eager arms of someone else who was camping him. To make matters worse, the other camper shouted 'yesyesyesyesyes!!! OMG MIST SILK CAPE.' Son of a bitch.

Pasquale -vs- Spiny Spipi; Rounds 3-8

By now I have started to develop a bloodlust for this damn caterpillar. Everytime I pass his spawn point I check, no matter how rushed I am. Rounds 3-8 were all the same:

Pasquale slaps Spiny Spipi.
Pasquale starts casting Freeze.
::eight years later::
Pasquale casts Freeze on Spiny Spipi.
Spiny Spipi gets kill-nihilated. (kill + anhilated = yeah I know shut up.)
Pasquale gets no drops, ever.

They usually end with a /sigh, some mild swearing and general cursing of Sarutabaruta, and then i head home.

Pasquale -vs- Spiny Spipi; Round 9

Im on my SMN now and soloing in Sarutabaruta. I wasn't really looking for massive exp, I was just kinda chilling. (Lies, I was camping Spiny, because I hate him so much.) 20 min into my camping, I notice another player come to join me. Camping is kinda boring, so I decide to strike up a conversation...

...to no avail. This guy said nothing that wasn't calling me a n00b for speaking. I then told him that if he was camping Spiny, he'd have to wait, because i had just killed him. (Lies. Lies and slander.) He gets pissed and leaves, thus leaving that sticky pre-butterfly alone to me.

Spiny spawns, gets teh raped, and yet again, drops nothing.

I fucking hate him so much. I don't even need the damn cape anymore. I just want it as proof of my conquest of the beast.

Will our hero ever defeat the evil villan and claim his prize? Trust me, if it ever does happen, there's gonna be (at least) three posts about it.