Last updated:22-10-99

Week 35-37


Week 35

At last! My heart almost stopped when I heard his greeting in my head. How I have longed for this moment, finally he came back to the lands and to me! Every day in the lands without him is a darker one.

Now that my love the Noble Knight Sleipnir is back, The Grand Inquisition will take place soon I am sure. To recap, Lorian has confessed some hideous crimes from her past. If those are true or not, or if they really matter in our lands right now, will be the Council´s job to decide. We all have one you know, a past I mean.... She has since her confession been under protection by the Order of True and Gentle Knighthood, and will remain so during the inquisition. Zwei had a disturbing meeting with a Sendorian from the mainland. Our time is short I fear...

A hunting party is forming. Our prey, the Large Sand Wurm...Urgelt had just told us about how he kill those beasts, trapping it against a wall. I merely pointed out that we had our own walkable wall. J´nder the Fearless One. After a short talk with Scribus, I concluded that I had helped to kill 5 of those beasts when I entered the library. Not bad. Not bad at all...

After numerous searches in the library, I found this one under a pile of large books, with a ton of small hand-scribbled notes beside him. With a distant look in his eyes, he greeted me shortly, and returned to his study. I have no idea what he is reading. All I could see was some strange glyphs and runes, much too complicated for this Sylvan to understand. I did recognice some of the notes however. It seems he finally managed to sort out all the Non-Nevyn ones... On the question if he will ever walk out again, he sort of muttered something, turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes and said, yes of course! Now begone! I will return when I am ready, he said. He then waved, told me to greet all his friends in the RQ and the lands, sent a special greeting to Aki, sighed, took a note, and hid behind some enormous large tomes. He will return, thank Gaia. I have missed him so much. We just have to be patient I guess.

For a short time last night the Island of Dal´noth was acessible. For how long I do not know, since the wind that brought us there seemed unstable. An exile which names escapes me, fell there numerous times and raised of course my curiosity. I was hunting in noids at the time but fled like the wind back to town and rented myself a little boat. Aki was in the lands, so it was natural for me to ask him if he wanted to find this isle. We searched for a long time, but to no avail. Then Aki suddenly messaged me a startled message, and with his guidance I too found myself at the shores of the Island. We were greeted by a large pack of Death vermins, and some rockos. But our main foe was a Val´Noth, a user of magic, and we had to flee its lightning bolts. Urgelt soon accompanied us, so did Magnels and many more came. The Val´Noth was struck down, and the beach was ours for a very short time. Then the Sar´Noths came...And we all fell.

These creatures are like nothing I have ever seen. Although it was hard for them to hit me, 2 lucky blows would kill me. It hits like a fury, and has a very good defense. Very good defense.... When we lay there contemplating our situation, this cloaked figure appeared.

Yes. Qual. At last I got to meet him, although I would have been more comfortable had I been standing up..This island is his home he claims. No wonder the aggressiveness of the beasts here. After his little cheering up, which consisted of hopes for our body to sun-dry, most departed and came back with a vengeance.

We got a Sar´Noth surrounded. Put healers on some Atkus fighters, and fought , and fought, and fought. Killing this beast took nearly 1 puddlebyhour. And more of these were waiting. One south, and one north. The sweat was dripping from my forehead, and the grip on my axe slipped from time to time. I didn´t hear anything else but the growl from this beast every time we struck it. Which wasn´t so often as we would have liked. But eventually it had to die. Others will tell the tale of what happened then, as I had to leave shortly after. I do hope the wind will blow us on this shore again, as i hear rumours of a wonderful castle in a nearby town. But I am not sure this is the island that Bran and Xantcha saw.


Week 36

Sendorian has yet again been seen in town. He handed over a parchment to an exile, and claimed that Vagile was in great danger, and even abducted! I have yet to confirm this. Please, if you know anything about this or other matters related to the case of Lorian, please approach a member of the Inquisition. These are, as I recall, Althepal, Urgelt, Merlisk, All full Knights in The Order of True and Gentle Knighthood, Blur, Althea and myself.

The storm that took us to the island of Dal´noth must have been a strong one as our whole land was drifting for many hours last night. I lost conscience in one of the tents in the minecamp, and when I woke again many hours later, I was contemplating in the library.

Immediately after walking out of the library I sensed many exiles fell to a Black Widow. Curious as to what took place deep in the arachnoid cavern, I rushed there as fast as I could. This is the scene that met me. Horror, Zonk is back! I quote Argh in his tale from before the war :

This Zonk is known to be a Darshak, of the race that spawned foul and heretical religion, conspiracies, murders, and piracy. It is said that the creation of undine, death brought to foul life as a plague against the living, is a product of Darshak sorcery. Old as Zonk is, we cannot know to what extent he descends from these ancient evils, or perhaps even caused some of them. He calls no person friend. Those who are as powerful as he, or more so, he avoids; those less powerful, he seeks to dominate, or destroy. His only virtue, if virtue it be, is his unfailing politeness; or at the least, it does not fail unless he grows angry. He is often angry.

He was polite last night. Summoning black widows, with a gentle smile around his face. Gaia knows how he is when he is angry...

I fear it is true. Vagile is kidnapped. Hear the eyewitness speak:

Being near South West beach when I felt Vagile fall, I had located her and was attempting to raise her when Sendorian appeared. He approached us, bound Vagile with a chain and, against all my attempts to the contrary, dragged her away. I followed as best I could attempting at the same time to honor Vagile's shouted request to notify sir Sleipnir at once... Heccacia Aridfox

I call all in the lands to find Vagile. Sendorian is from the mainland, the land that exiled so many of us. We will not let this deed go unnoticed, and will not bow before tyranny!

Some days, I am just the luckiest, happiest Sylvan there is in the lands! Must be the constellation, or the new year, but today my luck did not seem to end. I am very proud to announce that I am now a third circle fighter! Hooray!!!!!! I have been trying and trying, and every time my weather was too unpredictable. This day it was predictable, and I finally could test out my very skillful plan on how to pass that test. I used tactic, and not only force. That makes me even more proud. Although I am still saving up for that greatsword, I could not resist buying that white belt, the symbol of my achievement. I made a complete fool of myself, I was so excited. I ran around the town, yelling , screaming and shouting.... And on top of that, one of my ores seemed to contain valuable metal, AND I found a cluster of bramble berries! Oh joy!!! So, now I have a chain, a white belt, and I am off to make myself new again..:)

Happy new year!

The Grand Inquisition had its first meeting some days ago. I was not able to attend. I hope I will be on the next Inquisition. My love the Noble Knight Sleipnir made this statement:

Last night the Grand Inquisition did meet in formal and open session to
consider the charges made against Lorian. In brief summary, we did decide
three things.

Firstly, we do wholly and completely reject any authority over Lorian
claimed by the Ascendancy. It is our duty to decide these matters for
ourselves, even at the cost of peril to one of our dearest friends, Captain
Vagile.

Secondly, we claim the right to make judgement upon the actions of Lorian,
both as they apply to past rights or wrongs, and as they apply to her
present actions.

Thirdly, we claim the right to punish Lorian, if any such punishment is
deemed necessary.

It is to be hoped that the first decision above will set a precedent for
rejection of the interference of the Ascendancy in the affairs of this our
fair Land. However, our rights in the latter two decisions are based
entirely upon the stated wishes of Lorian herself, and in no way imply any
jurisdiction of this Council, or any other, over the past affairs of any
Exile. There are few of us, indeed, who could pass such a stringent test.

There will be two more convocations of the Inquisition. The next will
attempt to establish the truth of Lorian's past and present actions. The
final convocation will pass judgement and determine punishment, if any.

I remain,

As always,

sir Sleipnir Na Gralam, Knight of the Rose

I had sworn never to enter the island of Dal´noth again. Or not until I was ready to deal with the Sar´Noths. These last days I have strangely enough found myself on the beach of that Isle many times. And the route back to town always leads trough Purgatory... What was tempting today was the group of exiles going there. Warriors like Gurgi and Arocet, healers like Magnels, Degu and Axell to name a few. Because... the Sar´noths are deadly because they take so long to kill. Few are those that can hit them reliably. And everybody needs some fast, strong healers on their back. Combine that with many Sar´Noths at once, add some Vel´noths into the mix, and you have the most dangerous combination on Lok`groton. And yes.. another thing.... add some exiles that loves to stray into the next area before the one they are in is clear. And running back to the main group screaming with a bunch of additional ´Noths chasing them. The caves underneath the isle seems vast. How large they are we do not know yet. We do not even know how large the island itself is. We went trough a camp inside the mountains first, and ended up in this little cave..

One exile felt something was dragging him... We should have stopped right there. Why don´t we ever stop... We entered, and was greeted by nothing less than 5 Black Widows. I repeat.. five! Some fell, some made it out.. I was dragged in again by the web of five... I had no chance of breaking that. It all happened so quickly I did not even have the time to sketch it. So, another training with Departus, back in town.. and lo and behold I found myself yet again on the beach of Dal´Noth! Voluntarily! Searching for my lost group I found another group, and after many falls and heals and battles, and some departs the first group came back too. And a red-shirted halfling named Slasher joined us there as well. Off we went, again. Heads high, hearts full of pride and bravery. This time to take the city of Dal´noth no less.

Magnels is right. A battle it was. Wave upon wave of the deadly mix. At a time there we had it almost under control. I found out what I could do to make myself useful. Kill the Val´Noths as quickly as I could, and the Dal´Noths. I do not have any problem hitting those. And brick those Sar´Noths, line them up so to speak until the Sar-hitters could come and kill them. But the towns defense was to much for us. They threw what they had into the battle.

Gurgi and Axell fled south. There were still hope. Until Axell fell. And then the Cloud that transports us to the beach closed. No rescue was coming, although many brave exiles wanted to. So, another training with Departus. I do swear again, I will not enter the beach on Dal`noth Isle before I am ready to hit those Sar´Noths.


Week 37

Town Square is an interesting place sometimes. There are usually many conversations going on at once. Here a large group is trying to hit a Tree Giant. Not kill, trying to hit is enough for most of us, while many others are having their own agendas scattered about. I just love this sketch! Because it is so.. .Puddlebian I guess ! We had to take the tree giant back into the Zoo though.

Yazza is kidnapped too. By the same Sendorian who kidnapped Vagile! Although I am reluctant to try to save Vagile, for reasons you may find in The Puddleby Navy scrolls, (Ashe bought my title Master gunner for 200 coppers!! Vagile is so easy to buy.... grrrr) I think I must.

Not only have the sister-witches Prue and Ashe totally taken control over the Puddleby Navy, but they are threatening my Noble Knight and me with court martial. The nerve! I have been the Master Gunner of Puddleby Navy from the start, and I will not sit calmly and watch while they grab the treasure chest. And what is even more hideous is that they have somehow managed to get Althea in on their evil scheme. Make no mistakes, Prue and Ashe is some of those exiles I would not meet at night in south forest. Prue has for months now been trying to get hold of Manx´s ear. I do not even dare to think about what she might want to use it for. Althea is in great danger and I have sworn to help her, as I do hope her friends will as well. Weezoh is working on contacting Vagile still, and from his last contact, it seems that those who kidnapped her is tormenting Vagile in hideous ways. They are forcing her to eat vegetables! She must be near death: no meat, and no beasties to whack.. I will continue to search for her, but my heart is heavy. I hope she is still among us.

The Inaugural Ball and Tourney will take place Saturday, the second of October 3.00 EDT. in The Bards' Field. Do participate as this will be the greatest event in this century!

Many exiles have the strangest dreams these days. Some seem to be about the current events around Lorian, and some others are even more disturbing. They forebode a great danger. Odesseus is one which dream sent a chill down my spine. And what is even worse, Robin Greyhawk could tell of a real meeting with a cloaked figure. The Darshaks seems to be even more determined in their attempt to take over our town. Darshak Blades now often can be found near west beach. I met one last night that muttered "You Puddleby Scum" all the time while I pummeled him to death. And, earthquakes seems to be back, as there have been numerous reports of these as experienced in town square.

I know that it will take a very long time before I have a chance againts these beasties. Nevertheless, I thought it would be nice with a groupshot...

I just could not resist. I was deep in the savanna when Zonk made his appearance in the Arachnoid cavern again. I fled back to town, and was just in time to fall... He is a very strange one. After summoning his beloved ones, the Black Widows, in addition to his other green minions - there were not much we could do except being dragged in this heap. It seemed almost as if he needs our fallen, warm bodies to feel alive. Or maybe he just needs some company. Many of the exiles departed at the same time, to spite him. He got actually very upset, and eager to please those remaining ones he showed us his tower. We did get some new information though, I will edit it and put if up here as soon as I can.

Syndir is now kidnapped too it seems. Will this never end? Yet we do not know if this was done by Sendorian or someone else. It seems reasonably to think that it is indeed Sendorian that again is trying to influence the council now investigating Lorians case. The second convocation of The Inquisition took place last night. Here we tried to establish the truth of Lorian's past and present actions. Many things become more clear, as there were witnesses to the events she has confessed. The defense could present views and witnesses as to why too. The third and final convocation will pass judgement and determine punishment, if any. I do believe however, that we may not pass judgement on any exiles past. We will see.