Week 46-47

Last updated: 25.04.00

Week 46

I had never been this far in before. Orga Camp 4. I was assigned to a lightning rod, and my task was to protect the healers from beasties. I think it must be one of the wildest battle I have ever experienced. Lightning bolts zizzled trough the air, screams and yells from other exiles fighting valiantly, an assortment of beasties in large numbers, the flames from a dozen shamans. Oh my. If you see the visionstone, we made many mistakes. But learned a lot too. I hope. In the heat of battle it was easy to lose sight of your group, and left alone you would only last seconds before those warlock´s would take you down. This group was stable a long time. Alas, no mystics were able to find the portal to Orga Camp 5, or maybe we didn´t hold the camp long enough for them to search. Departus got used a lot that night...

Kudos to the Sun Dragon Clan who held the first Bard Jam in the Bard´s field. Lovely music and talented bards it was. The jury must have had a hard time deciding the winner, but they did at the end. Problem for the audience was the not all was fortunate enough to get good seats, and be able to hear all that lovely music. Perkusi won the 1.prize, closely followed by Phineas, Tonle, Trep and Sor.

There are days I feel I rather should have stayed in the library. This was one of those days. We were hunting in the rocky cavern as usual, and I had invited myself there, as usual, when a cry for help in the tree giant breeding ground came over the sunstone. The Giant foxweir´s do not look dangerous do they. Rather cute don´t you think? But a pack of those can rip trough any party in no time. Their high and quick attacks are one of the most dangerous ones in all the land. Combine that with a few vixens and some TG´s and a Willow Giant, a small and cramped tunnel, and you have a disaster.. After advice from Urgelt we all left our bodies for awhile, and came back to a nice bodywall next to the entrance. From there we slowly killed those small fast ones.

The same day as I had been fighting in the tunnel of tgbg, another disaster struck in the dark chamber. We were fighting in the tunnel, luring the beasties in, and we seemed to do ok. Then a necromancer started to summon his minions, and we found ourselves fighting detached spirits and skeletons at the entrance to the main chamber, unable to kill them fast enough so we could get to the necro inside. Soon we realized that it had to be more than one necromancer, as the exit to the tree were blocked off by another group of summoned beasties. We were cut off from an escape, and then., just to top it off, a group of wailing spirits spawned in the middle of the tunnel. Needless to say, we all fell. How many necromancers it really was in the main chamber I don´t know, but as the rescue-party entered the tree, they were immediately zapped and fell. The tree were full of fallen rescuers and summoned beasties, another group of rescuers were outside and couldn't even get in. The situation seemed hopeless. How could we get rescued when the rescuers even couldn't survive the first few minutes inside the tree? And it was not like those fallens were newborns either. Urgelt, that brave dwarf, was one of those that fell in seconds. Many departed at that point, I did not, as swc was so mad I´m sure I would have been there still if the tide hadn´t turned our way. I have no idea how the rescue-group finally were able to enter the tree, but they did, eventually. And then they met the next problem. The entrance to the tunnel from the tree, were blocked off by another large group of beasties. After fighting valiantly in the tree, they couldn´t get inside the tunnel.. Another group of fallens departed at that point.. I did not, I don´t depart easily. Not if there is a miniscular chance of getting saved. And some exiles were still trying, although it seemed hopeless. The main problem seemed to be the skeletons and wailing spirits, who do not move at all. They don´t free up a spot to enter, just stand there. After many PT hours I sensed some activity, and the Priest next to me bowed his head and muttered his unholy prayer. And then he targeted Urgelt, and I knew that rescue was near. Hooray! That patient dwarf pummeled the beasties one by one, making a path for more exiles to enter, and after a time I saw many friendly faces around me, and the healing touch of many healers. But we were not done yet. There were still fallens inside the main chamber. And as we entered, we were met by a huge force of undines. The sketch above is from the middle of that battle. And what a battle it was. It was like being in the Ripture War again, in the front line. Of course, coming this far, there were no way we would let the victory slip out of our hands-the undines didn´t stand a chance. A great thanks to all those that were persistent and kept trying even when it seemed hopeless. You know who you are, thanks!

Slyph wrote this letter to us all. Its regarding Nita, and her search for parents.

Friends,

Nita, one of my clan-mates, is a young orphan in need of parents,
and desperately so. Lately she has been staying with a Darshak family
and has been learning how to rob people and use knives. Knives!

After hearing her mutter, "Puddleby scum", a few times, I knew
that the search for parents must quicken. I would adopt her, but I am
single and often away from home. I now consider her my niece.

Please, if any caring couples would contact me, I'd be forever
grateful. Any interested parents should mail me.
The plight of this child, and others on the island, worries me.

warm regards,

Slyph

Zonk visited the town recently. This time he brought with him pack of his green minions. The exiles had quite a battle figthing these. Why do I always miss these happenings!! Anyway, White Wolf got to meet Zonk and visit his tower. Here is his tale:

White Wolf says, "actually, Zonk leaded me to it after I commented on his nice robe"
he told me that he had a nice tower too and took me to the south farm where it was"
Babajaga asks, "And you were up and standing?"
(White Wolf nods)
Babajaga says, "Oh my.."
White Wolf says, "it had small rooms with his pets"
Babajaga says, "I usually meet him in a fallen state.."
Babajaga asks, "Did you see his pets?"
White Wolf says, "a Black widow, many Darshak, and about 5 furies"
White Wolf says, "I then tried to cross a wall of fire, and died"
(Babajaga nods)
White Wolf says, "he came up to me and told me that I got too greedy"
Babajaga asks, "Oh he did?"
(Babajaga hums softly.)
White Wolf says, "so I told him "what do you think! I'm a Cat.""
White Wolf says, "curiosity killed the cat"
(Babajaga chuckles)
Babajaga says, "Indeed so.."
White Wolf says, "then he told me to go away, and he kicked me out"
Babajaga says, "He was polite to you ..maybe he likes Fen´s"
White Wolf says, "I don't know, I have insulted him in the past"
Urgelt says, "generally, if you are not killing his pets, and are polite, he won't harm you"
White Wolf says, "once in the noids,"
White Wolf says, "he was talking about HIS widdows"
White Wolf says, "so I told him that I didn't know he was dead"
Urgelt says, "I think they are his"
White Wolf ponders, "that pissed him off"
Babajaga says, "He breeds them.."
(Babajaga shudders)
(Urgelt nods)

My love and I just love being silly.. We have been hunting north forest for coppers day in and day out. Finally, my love had enough so he could buy a new shiny sunstone. I have not been able to convince him that my coppers could be used. I guess it´s some sort of hu man male pride. I don´t know. We are not the richest couple in the lands, but my love is determined to change that. He is now working very hard to learn what Skea can teach him, and soon we will be carrying lots of furs home from the savanna. Don´t tell that to Shamhat though. Or my love will wake up one morning and find that he is part of the Shamhat´s Walking Wallets, and she is walking around in new shoes....

Prepare for a traditional Zo wedding. Here is the invitation from Ton To.

Greetings my friends,

On the (ic) 36th day of Autumn in the Year 535 at 6:30pm or (ooc) Monday, 22
November at 9pm EST, Kren'daa and Ton will tie the knot in the Arena on
Thieves' Island.

It will be a typical Zo marriage with the wedding to be conducted in the
Arena spectator area (wedding party only). The wedding guests are invited
to watch from the participant area of the Arena.

After the wedding, the wedding party with join their guests in the
participant area for the reception where there will be a lot of talking,
yelling, music, dancing, "Zo-Pulling", head bashing, and (hopefully) kegs of
ale to be drunk. All brave exiles are welcome to attend. Be sure to bring
your favorite healer with you. ;-)

Regards,
Ton

New critters to kill, and new places to go is always something I am longing for. The last storm opened up a cave in the river, and these strange slugs are living there. Not to be hunted carelessly, because they have the attack of a bloodwyrm and are almost as hard to hit. And the histia of a bloodwyrm too it seems.

We found this strange beastie there too. It doesn´t attack at all, just jumping around. One has been killed already, but as I hear it took almost 4 PT hours... It does look like something Prue and Ashe would want to have though. The resemblance to the sister witches is remarkable...

A plea for help from Tarf. Something my love, Knight Maenygh and several others could not deny. We raided the horde first, but Tarf did not find what he was searching for. Here however, he did. Sadly the papers he found were written in a strange tongue, one neither of us knew. Why Tarf were looking for these things, it´s not my right to tell. But the things he told me, made my heart heavy with sorrow. Because, if half of what he said is true..sigh..

Trauma is raving mad. I fear the loss of his sunstone was too much for him to bear. In his madness he has turned against his friends. If you can ignore all the beer spilt on his letter, you may read it here. Poor Trauma, never did I know what this kind of forced silence could lead to. I will try to help him to the best of my abilities, if I can approach him withouth getting stoned or spit at..

Week 47

Sylpha, a new healer-trainer has arrived. This is what Tam wrote:

Earlier this evening a new healer trainer wanded into to. To be exact, she (Sylpha) wandered off the docks, into the forests, and fell in the Old Cemetary. A hardy band of exiles, somewhat confused but guided by Stonesa and Awaria, set off in search of Sylpha. Needless to say, after much wandering, swatting of leeches, and considerable skrystaling, some of us found her. The rest spent a lot of time trying to find us. <grin>

Three visionstones describing the events mentioned above can be found here.
Tam, the leeched

Althea is back. Or as Lorian writes in her account, sort of.. back. As some may remember, Althea was never found when we rescued Vagile and Yazza from Ash Island. This was the last we saw of Sendorian too, as he escaped us before we could charge him with the crimes. Rising Claw was quite willing to accuse me of having something to do with Althea´s abduction. They have not been willing to apologize for making these wrongfully accusations. I do not know whether they still think I plotted together with Sendorian, although the recent events should make them think otherwise. I admit we were not the best of friends Althea and I at the time of the kidnapping. But from there to actively plot against another Sylvan exile, working together with a group of murderers... Me? Babajaga Vanimalda the Fleet? No, although I am a vain one and have many other faults I am sure, I could not do this.

A very bad time for fainting. And that is excatly what I did.. sigh. I was chaining Rieger, on my way to pick up Aki and then head south again, when my whole body just collapsed. When I woke up, I was under some rocks near the south - fallen of course. It was RQ´s weekly scheduled clan meeting/hunt. We were hunting maha´s, and at this point the rest of the group was on southern dunes. As I sensed both Aki and Rieger fell, I thought it would be smart to go alone, instead of the whole group. And maybe it would have been too, it the rest of the group didn´t scatter - but we are RQ what do you expect. As soon as I fell, Sleipnir of course went all frantic and ran away.. And maybe others followed him, I don´t know. The result was, that all RQ´ers with guests except one were fallen, scattered about the savanna. The one still standing was Ghrr, Gaia bless him. The good healer Klur also made his way to the savanna, and with the help of these two, we were all saved. Which is new I think, that we managed to rescue ourselves this time. We are getting better, I hope. The rest of the hunt went well, we just had to find a fallen Journey man every so often. Hmm.. no, two actually. Two Journey men kept falling down there constantly. I have no idea what they were doing. They wandered around, muttering strange phrases. Ghrr was awarded with a medal - from Capt´n Vagile no less.

I was hunting in the rocky cavern when I heard there were a Greater Wraith in eastfield, and Lilit was in the undine hut performing her rites. Not only were the cavern beneath filled with the regular undine, this time with a new undine I have never seen before. Lesser Spectre, a Wailing Spirit look alike. I never managed to hit one, as my axe seemed to hit the air when I tried. It went right trough me, but it sure could hit back. I fell to this being many times that night. Many times I went down to try to chain Lilit out - to stop her rites as the damage she did was severe. I fell every time, and when I at last succeeded she departed. The Lesser spectres vanished then too. My heart is heavy, and filled with sorrow. Such sorrow it´s been a long time since I have felt. I know what I must do, but it pains me so much. I can´t tell all here. Not yet. Not now. Troubled times are ahead, and I will need all my strength to face it.

Last night a fleet of warships, well 3 at least, met our proud Puddleby Navy in a long lasting battle at sea. We won of course. In the end. A Culcan and those nasty Giant Planktons made our battle an interesting one too. Other than that the last days have been quiet. I tend to my training as usual, but I learn slow these days. I am dreaming of the abyss as a new hunting ground, but I fear that it will take a long time before my dream comes trough. A small party had yet again tried to take the place. But the Abyssal Hunters are more fearsome than ever. Those who had been there were convinced we would need an army of high-leveled fighters and healers to succeed. I hope we can gather a force soon, as i would love to see the place again. Yes I know.. longing for a battle in the abyss sounds strange, but beofre the war I was never very useful in that place. One that could kill the demonic vermins and otherwise be a fallen brick. I would love to test my strength again against one of those Abyssals.

Althea is back. I met her in the tree giant breeding ground, and she seemed to have control over her mind. I asked her if she sleeps well. She said she sleeps, but wouldn´t go into if that sleep is a good one. She said she remembers everything. I wonder, will she charge herself of crimes as Lorian did. Alhea was one of those eager to confront Lorian with her past, will she do that now when it involves herself? And maybe, just maybe she pushed so hard against Lorian because she saw some of the same in herself. I don´t know, and I don´t know if she can be trusted. It´s a pity, because Althea-despite our history, would be a good ally to have in the times to come.