Thorn Marathon Bounty Complete -First Exotic by Gaming Grandpa (BC M109) thank you to a great Destiny Guardian community, specifically Fang Valkeri and Howling Azure for their heavy lifting help taking out Xyor the unwed to complete this bounty. The satisfaction factor was amazing seeing that thorn icon pop up on my 73" 1080p screen when Xyor dropped during the most intense warfare i have experienced as a lvl 27 Hunter. i had no idea what i was in for when i received the notice i had a special bounty offered. i wish i could have controlled my adrenaline better when i had those 3 bounty choices offered for my first exotic. i just chose the first one that said something about light. i probably should have taken the time to check the forums or googled the bounties first to see what laid in store. finding out, as the bounty unfolded, was a challenging, massive mind blower to me. 500 Hive Points, 500 Void Points in PVP ( you got to be kidding, my KD is way less than one, even though i do enjoy the competition in PVP), then take on a Epic (never seen so much hell fire coming at me at once) Summing Pit Strike to take out the reluctant Xyor who is hanging with Phogoth, Hive points increased fairly quickly, so i was thinking this didn’t seem too difficult, but what a scrub i was, thinking that completed the bounty. wow more to do, once i found out this was a marathon not a sprint, i got online and began to unpack the ramifications of committing my time, effort, emotional battery life to obtaining a somewhat ethereal hand cannon with a dubious reputation. Not able to use my primary weapon (the devil you know) in the Crucible, mentally freaked me out. my first 3 rumble matches netted me a zero progress on the Void portion of the bounty. i really contemplated folding my hand on this one. Turned off the 360, got a sandwich, read some tips from other guardians on the forums, grabbed my void shotgun and heavy machine gun, and about 6 hrs latter, watched the 500 point icon flash on my screen while my squad was dominating in control. fight with my team, no solo john wayne antics, camp the heavy ammo locations. euphoria from a game, much like the feeling of trophying in my younger days racing motorcycles off road in the desert, in SoCal. savored the moment of victory over the PVP hurdle of this climbing everest bounty. went right back to the tower, did the required exchanges to proceed to the ultimate and final hurdle to obtaining my first exotic. wow, how does a video game do this to a silver haired, built in 1955, (the summer Disneyland opened) guy. investing with enthusiasm, all this effort into achieving a exotic digital engram/ weapon. congratulations bungie. i am amazed how far gaming has come since duck hunt on the nintendo. so with gusto lets get the party started, i moved my onscreen indicator over the newly added location icon on the moon. Lvl 26 epic modifier, Xyor challenge. solo, i ran past everything once in game thinking i'll conserve ammo only to be destroyed in the second room by the hell fire wizards and nights. Epic modifier seemed crushing. tried it again that night 3 more times until my fingers were frozen to my controller. that euphoria of the 500 void point achievement was gone replaced with the twin sisters- gloom and doom. Fired up the 360 the next evening taking a deep breath and rethinking what i was about to do. Now instead of rushing my lvl 27 Gunslinger into action, i headed opposite of my indicator to get my "golden gun" super charged up and some heavy ammo hopefully by taking out some of the locals on the moon. hammered them, filled up my super, heavy ammo and ran into Fang Valkri a high level guardian while doing so. i decided to take a chance and reach out to a unknown. i messaged him asking for help on my maybe a one hour epic thorn bounty. he answered affirmative, and he joined my fireteam and we took on the most intense fire fight mission i have participated in. having someone who packs a punch and can heal you was a gift. we got through to the last room. Phogoth, and his hench men hammered us over and over again. Fang invited Howling Azure who accepted the struggle and the 3 of us not only got the Thorne unbound icon to pop up but we stayed and finished off phogoth to make the event epic. thank you bungie for the experience, thank you guardians who share this unique to our generations gaming world to enjoy it in. ps: took that thorn out for a spin through several strikes and am appreciating this hand cannon immensely. not that it towers above my devil you know sidearm, but the thing is what this six gun represents as i wield it. being my first exotic, the campaign to harvest it, this thorn’s satisfaction factor makes it a untradeable experience when utilized. Thanks for taking the time to read. Good gaming to all.

I found it. The end.