Every once in a while, the people at Sony should have their head examined. Or I should. Or something....

Xanthe's Earring of Nature: AC 5, STR 8, STA 8, WIS 10, HP 55, mana 55, sv fire 7, sv cold 7, sv magic 7, recommended level 51, effect: circle of the combines; DRU/ALL, NO DROP, LORE

Earring of the Solstice: AC 5, STA 5, WIS 8, INT 8, HP 55, mana 55, sv fire 5, sv cold 5, sv magic 5, recommended level 51, flowing thought 1, tiny, wt 0.1, ALL/ALL, LORE, NO DROP.

Mine. Mine mine mine mine mine!

Ok, let me explain to you the isheer madness behind getting these earings...

First off, you have to make nine "gifts" to the gods. (that's a hell of a first of all, by the way)

Misty Thicket Picnic - made from mandrake roots woven with steel boning. This makes the basket. In the basket you put 1 jelly sandwich, 1 jumjum spiced beer, 1 royal mints, 2 pieces of jumjum cake, and 1 jumjum salad. To make a jelly sandwich is bread and apricot jelly. which is fruit and three frostings. The salad is fennel, jumjum, lettuce and vegetables. The mints are eucalyptus and frosting. the cake is brownie bits and frosting and flour and jumjum and more frosting. The beer is water and hops and barley and jumjum and spices...

You're starting to get the idea, right? Some of this stuff can be purchased from vendors, some of it can be foraged, some of it has to be hunted down. Plus, the combines are difficult. The final combines are over 250 (keep in mind the max you can get in any trade skill is 250....) Lots of failures.

And some of these things are more expensive to make than others... the Misty Picnic, once you actually get your baking up there, is pretty cheap to make, just time consuming. Other things, like the Ceremonial Mistletoe Sickle, cost more like 500-700plat to make, even when you don't fail. And most of the trade skills are used. The only ones they didn't utilize were fletching and poison making.

Zephy - Baking 203, Tailoring 160, Brewing 168, Smithing 104, Pottery 128
Balthenie - Jewelcrafting 211, Tailoring 129, Brewing 198, Fishing 194, Pottery 144

cash outlay:
Mistletoe Cutting Sickles (3): 1750pp each (purchased outright in bazaar) -5250p
Ceremonial Solstice Robes (3): 650p, 700p (2) (purchased outright in bazaar) - 2050p
Ruby Encrusted Stiens (3): 100p each (for supplies, Khaaq crafted) - 300p
Golden Idol of Tunare (3): 700p each (for supplies, Kharq crafted) - 2100p
Blessed Fishing Rod (3): 450p (for supplies, Balthenie crafted) - 450p
Lotus Pie (3): 50p (for supplies, Zephy crafted) - 50p
Demi-Sec Champagne (3): 100p (for supplies, Balthenie crafted) - 100p
Misty Thicket Picnic Basket (3): 50p (for supplies, Zephy crafted) - 50p
Lucky Cabbage (3): 10p (for supplies, Zephy crafted) - 10p

10,360 for 3 sets of gifts... or 3453 per set of gifts. I can use both earings, so I got two sets of gifts. And that doesn't even include the cost of getting the skills up that high to begin with....

in the bazaar, you can buy a full set of the gifts for about 9,000p. So we did save money... but still... gah!

(Did I mention you have to sacrifice all these gifts to the forge in order to get your earings?)