Afterwards, the happy couple led a parade to the banquet hall, where we all dressed up in costume for a big celebration. Perkusi, Sareth, Coriakin and Xepel put in an amazing show for us while we all enjoyed several kegs of various kinds. Keemhan seemed to have a great time. I dressed up as an orga and got drunk so as to stumble aimlessly orgalike across everyone's path. Felicity and I got to listen all night to the bards perform our favorites.

Kodel's prices put Striss to shame. My red cloak was going to cost about 280 coins to fix, but Kodel was able to perform the same repairs with under 120 coins worth of material. I'm glad there are exiles willing to devote themselves to such a thankless job, especially as I am watching coins carefully these days (considering my expensive wedding to Felicity coming up in 6-8 zodiacs and the apparent rash of chain breakage many of us are suffering).

Hunting in the Dark Chamber

I've been on a few hunts in the dark chamber these past few days. It is always fun to be in the company of Kiriel from the Winds of Dawn clan, and I hadn't seen Lard Almighty out hunting in I don't know how long. Lard is quite a fast healer now, with so much Spirtus that my health drains quite rapidly while healing him. He made a tough hunt, where we suffered big spawns of Faithless and various types of blue robes, quite routine.

A kudzu wall protects us on Umbrion's Island.

Much of my hunting/exploring time lately, though, has been spent on a few more adventures into the interior of Umbrion's Island. After going for a few puddleyears with maybe two departs, I now have two in a zodiac! Oops! Still, it is a lot of fun and worth the sacrifice to learn new information and hunt for knowledge. Gurgi recently led a group to try to determine if the Ethereal Sword could lead us through Umbrion's zodiac maze, but like the crystal, it didn't work.

Umbrion offers his help.

During the adventure, the mystic Zorton was wounded very badly, enough so that the combined Horus of all of us couldn't get close enough to raise him. Umbrion came out of his castle to talk to us and offered to heal Zorton as a show of good faith. He at first asked for an orga stone (the latest FMOCR raid turned up no stone in the power room, unfortunately), and Zorton in turn offered him some wood to help him fix his boat, but in the end, he raised Zorton quick as you could blink, then offered to talk with us inside.

Umbrion meets us in his conference room.

I asked him about his healing abilities, and he simply responded that he had been training for hundreds of years. He is quite modest about his talents. We asked him about ethereal amulets, as well. Umbrion told the mystic Neige that it would be helpful to make measurements of Ether activity across the island chains (several measurements at each location).

I also asked Umbrion about the strange Kizmia, but he didn't know too much. He isn't really sure why many exiles call the island after her name. In fact, he demanded as a show of respect that we call it Umbrion's Island henceforth. Umbrion has a weird sense of humor, so it may have been a joke. I can't imagine why he would care what we call the island.

I was so weary after the conference that I slept in the library. When I awoke, I found myself with Felicity and a few others, trapped by the fiery creatures outside. Our only way home was through a depart since we were all a bit too anxious in there to await another expedition to swing by.

I tried to help Stormtalon kill a particularly nasty Fury there the other day, but in the end we had to run. Later, I saw Aldernon fallen to it, so I went to help him out. Wow, can that Sylvan kick butt on red. Though he is vulnerable to a relatively lucky hit, I saw this warrior swing his bloodblade and hack a Fury to death in a mere three swings. It helps to have some Horus nearby when fighting on red, of course.

Another chaos storm, another outpost delay