Imagine the Marquise's surprise! She was practicing some seductive movements to impress Ihan with her quite revealing outfit when all of a sudden someone left a parcel on her doorstep.
Oh the curiosity - what could it be? Roses? Skulls? Her very own stylish tombsone?
Not quite - but a whole new shiny set of weapons of rare yellow quality. A staff, a scepter and a dagger to bring even more de Saster to Tyria. Splendid!

But who was the generous giver? Could it be ... ?  A secret admirer, exciting !!!

There was not much left to do for the Marquise in Gendarran Fields, but she had her mind set on two things: 1) finishing the zone that very day and 2) reaching level 33. She had got herself some new beautiful garb to impress Ihan and was keen to be able to don it.
Thus she wrestled with Champion Cave Trolls, fought in pits in the mountains and by chance stumbled across the "Povenic Crypt" - a ghastly place with traps and a champion spider. AND a chest in the end. Worth the hassle.

The Marquise's personal story continues. This time the Order of Whispers asked her and Tybalt Leftpaw to bring de Saster to some pirates that kidnapped Demmi, Minister Caudecus' daughter and the Orders' informant.
Tybalt had arranged for the Marquise to distract the pirates while he searched for the hostage.
And what a distraction he created - a drinking competition!! As if that wasn't already enough, he also organized a pirate costume for them. Poor Marquise.
But once she had accepted her fate, the Marquise performed great! She outdrank a human, an Asura and even a Charr, winning the competition and baffling all the other pirates.
Unfortunately their disguise then was discovered and some fighting was required to free Demmi and take her back to the Order's safehouse.

Unfortunately Ihan was not there to celebrate her succes. But the Marquise met Lady Wi and, hear hear, it turned out her mentor Tybalt Leftpaw was not as experienced as he wanted her to believe. Never trust a Charr!
So, this was a level 33 Personal Story - which the Marquise soloed at level 30/31. Not bad, Ma'am ;)

Current status of levels, zones, crafting, trading, achievements and my general impression of the game

Taari and her Sun and Stars have moved on, from the icy cold of Wayfarer Hills they travelled to Diessa Plateau. This area seems contested - not only by Charrs both friendly and hostile but also and foremost by Ascalonian ghosts, former human inhabitants of the zone  haunting the living.

In the village of Butcher's Block they came across a Champion Giant who proved to be a tough opponent but in the end had to yield to overwhelming force of numbers.

And then Taari met her hardest challenge so far: the skill point atop the castle ruin. It is only thanks to the Khal that she ever managed to get it done. Merci <3

Love does funny things to men - no matter what race. The Khal is desperately trying to impress the Taari by all available means. He tried to do the "Khalerina pirouette" (warrior whirlwind attack) but the mobs inconveniently ignored such elegance and wounded his honour. He also went for the "I'd die for you" (yes, literally) method. In the end he restored to something very basic and testosterone-driven that has worked over centuries: lifting boulders and buying her the prettiest dresses. Sweet, huh?

"The Sisterhood" has some things in common - they all like a clean death of their enemies, exploring Tyria and sending post cards to keep in touch and the others up to date. We will thus start this new "post card" series.

When she is not busy saving Tyria and its inhabitants, the Marquise does not mind doing a bit of hands on work herself. She is a skilled artificer and jeweler and provides our "Sisterhood" with earrings, rings and other accessory.

She is also a gourmeuse and enjoys good food and haute cuisine. Being transformed into a pig to search for truffels, though, is going a bit too far even for her taste.

It was her well kept secret but now she did not only  have to tell people about having lost her ancestor's warhorn at the moot - no, it also turned out the very item is a magical artifact that is helping the Sons of Svanir, servants of Zhaitan.
With the help of Followed by Night and Eir Stegalkin Nymeria readies herself to the task of winning the warhorn back.