After some practice in Hatred's Hollow, our group left for Dread
Passage. Our practice revealed that our rods were rather weak.
We lacked speed training and proximus training, but we decided
to try anyway. First, the fighters spent several trips going in
and out clearing with short, violent bursts of activity. While
we waited for this downstairs, we all had some beer.
After a while, it was clear enough for us to start a rodding
strategy. We found that our rods were relatively stable, and
I spent more time helping out in the Passage itself than ever
before. Our party was stable for several minutes at a time, but
we didn't have the power, practice, patience or organization
to successfully advance.
Finally, once we decided victory on this day was hopeless, we
established a stable line, advanced as far as we could, and then
had some exiles break off for suicide scouting runs. Hunter
made it the furthest, reaching the rocky path (see the sparkle
just to his northwest?) and making it through. But there was
no safety on the other side, just another part of the same sn'ell.
At least we know now this is where some of the Dredlocks are
hiding while throwing their lightning at us.
Inside, Hunter ran as best he could past the gigantic orga, including
at least one fearsome Dredlock visible. Alas, he was unable to scout
further into the dirt path to the northeast. Note that the path
Hunter took through the rocks (to his southeast) is also sparkling,
so we have a new added complexity: a choke point only navigable by
a pathfinder. Perhaps we'll call this new area Hunter's Blind in
honor of the brave healer!
I am certain that getting through this narrow path will be our next
great challenge, and if that is a safe area just beyond, we will
have our first definite, attainable goal in our expedition. Perhaps
on our next journey, we will succeed in gathering some more potent
rodding power so that we can attempt the perilous journey from the
entrance to this new obstacle.
Today, the community of exiles has finally conquered the Dread Passage.
It all began with some very powerful exiles gathering and the usual excellent
organizational efforts by Gurgi, Tarf et al. We made a few trips up and down
and like a few days ago, found ourselves able to hold our ground successfully
for minutes at a time. And then we began to advance. It was a little chaotic,
and we lost a few exiles along the way, sadly. But after a few incredibly
tense minutes, we were at the path Hunter passed through recently. And then
we were through it!
Exiles fought bravely against the beasts back here, fending off several
large orga and at least one Dredlock. Michael and Reye fell very, very
close to the path, so once the "exit" command was called, I put them
on my chain and followed the pathfinder way through, fearful and yet
immensely hopeful.
And on the other side: silence. We entered into a sn'ell with geography
very similar to snaggywood, and some feared we may have gone backwards! But
then the shouts rang out: Rocks to the East! Indeed, we exiles had found
the foothills at long last.
Those we left behind were unfortunately lost to us. We feared that
returning West would not be two-way, and indeed our fears were
well-founded. Heading out from this entry sn'ell to the west or
south (is there an exit there, I can't recall?) leads to the Outback.
So J'jh, Manx and some others were left behind. It was a difficult
decision, but we dared not sacrifice this opportunity to explore.
Too much has been lost along the way. I know if I had been one of
the ones fallen, I would not have wanted them to return on my behalf.
Once the decision was made to explore, we gathered.
We entered a passageway to the east that looked like the way into the
ordinary passes near East Forest, but inside were some entirely new
and fearsome creatures: Dawn Wendeckas, Midnight Wendeckas and Large
Midnight Wendeckas (the latter two have a habit of throwing small rocks
that are about 1/4 as damaging as greymyr rocks).
Once they were dispatched (and they had extremely valuable furs, by
the way, in the neighborhood of 30c - 80c!), Neige found a passageway
with rocks that could be whittled down by weapons. And so we began
to dig our way through. I don't think we have the proper tools for
this, but anchors seemed to work fairly well.
As our fighters dug, we discovered that the cleared way was not stable,
and a landslide fell on some of the party, trapping them. Eventually,
we managed to get everyone free, and some even explored the far side of
the passage. Eventually, we regrouped and went back out into the forest
to explore.
North of the entry sn'ell, we discovered a safe cave, shown here by
Thuja.
We thought about scouting, and several exiles ran north before we had
a chance to plan ... and so, to our mutual agony, they found themselves
trapped in the outback! We also sent Tarf out to the West (he volunteered
to scout that way) and he also was left in the outback. With only 20 or
so exiles left, some of us parked in the safe cave for a rest while others
continued to explore.
Inside, we found a table which led us to believe we may be on the right
track toward finding the long-lost catapult. In addition, the presence
of midnight wendeckas, combined with some of the Marsh Hermit's rantings,
have led many of us to believe we might be able to find another more
advanced pathfinder trainer here, and so our search begins.
As you can see, were able to handle most of the spawns, despite
the pebble-throwing ability of these Midnight Wendeckas. In addition
to their valuable furs (you can see a couple of the bounties here, and
we are fortunate to have Hunter along with his 200 skea), they
occasionally leave a chunk of ore behind when they die, much like
other creatures leave chests.
We were able to make significant progress exploring through the
dangerous passageways by utilizing some new strategy. First and
foremost, we only cleared out the narrowest of passageways through
rockfalls. It seems that the fewer rocks one destroys, the more stable
is the situation. In addition, to be on the safe side, we have
restrained ourselves from yelling when possible. We don't know if
that has an effect, but it doesn't hurt, I suppose.
Our explorations eventually led to a couple of large caves. One of
them had a pathfinder-only safe cave on the south edge with lots
of mushrooms. Entil explored that, but I don't have a sketch. In
another, we found a ladder next to a small pool of water. A climb
up the ladder led us to a dangerous new area, filled with deadly
creatures.
Among these creatures are some we had already encountered, like the
midnight and large midnight wendeckas. Some other less harmful types
of wendeckas were also present. A couple of willow and tree giants were
accompanied by deadly new Ash Giants. These powerful creatures are
the worst yet we've faced. They move lightning fast, certainly as
fast as any exile can run, and they have the darkus of the most
powerful tree giants we've encountered.
We weren't powerful enough to clear this cave or explore much beyond
it, so we decided to rest a while here in the foothills and come back
at a later time. If we can all wake up soon and get organized again,
I'm confident we'll get some good exploring accomplished. Entil'Zha
is busy making her map, so I'm sure that will soon be linked here, too.
Our best fighters were able to line up across the gap and dispatch some
very tough monsters, including an Ash Giant and an Ironwood Giant, not
to mention all the difficult variety of Wendeckas. Once the cave was
clear, our pathfinders (Entil'Zha and Hunter) searched for possible exits
with no success. So we went back outside and spent a long time mapping
the various possible routes through the narrow rocky passages.
After some time, we had to return to the safe cave so that some of the group
could leave and try to get home. Upon our arrival, we were astonished to
find an occupant in the cave: Katpus! Katpus was the catapult builder
in town who built us the fine catapult that the orga subsequently stole
away from us more than a puddleyear ago. Since the catapult's disapperance,
she has been searching for clues as to the whereabouts of it and her
building plans, also stolen by the orga.
Katpus had some very important news for us. You can see the conversation
for yourself by downloading
this visionstone (197k) of it. Here is the gist
of what she said: She has been east of the foothills and seen Trillbane,
an underground library that he lives in, and a city filled with clever
and deadly orga. Wow!
Unfortunately, though Katpus was able to make it through the foothills once
by carefully hiding and avoiding monsters, the pathways since that time have
changed due to frequent earthquakes and rockslides. So she no longer knows
the way. We asked if she knew of a hidden exit from the ladder cave, but
she said she wasn't sure if there was one (none that she saw when she
was there).
With her help and news, we left the cave with renewed hope, ready to get
past these foothills to recover Katpus' catapult plans. Unfortunately, most
of us are so completely exhausted that we can't do much else. Thuja took
advantage of her ability to pendant and returned to town.
Entil'Zha is still developing her map, but we are pretty sure that we have
searched everything there is to be searched east of the safe cave. Of
course, we will likely search it thoroughly another two or three times just
to be on the safe side. For now, we decided to head south of the safe cave
and enter in the southern foothills entry. Unfortunately, several of us
were trapped by an enormous spawn, including Large Midnight Wendeckas.
I fell hard enough that all of the remaining healers weren't enough to
rescue me. As I write this, I am waiting in the safe cave, too weak to
move without healer assistance, hoping that the group will be able to
heal me (when all are gathered for the return journey) or perhaps drag
me to town so that this wonderful adventure won't have to end in a
depart.
There are still many caves south and east of the safe cave that need to
be explored. I do not doubt that our worthy group of exiles will return
here soon to finish the job.
Small update: Entil'Zha and the rest of the group have dragged me back
to town to be healed by the town healers, and so the trip has a happy
ending for me. Unfortunately, Hunter prematurely departed in snaggy
wood while our party was returning to rescue him after an unfortunate
fall or we'd have him back whole, as well. Thanks to everyone who was
with us in the Outback. Katpus, we'll see you again soon, I promise.
In recent news, Lundar reports a town invasion by the Orga
back on the 58th of Spring in
his library. Perhaps
this is retaliation for our foothills forays. In any case,
the chilling news was that an exile was felled in north field
and teleported by a zealot all the way to the Orga Village!
And this with only 20 exiles out of the library. If the north
field isn't safe to hunt ... (shudder).
I'm still recovering from the physical and mental exhaustion of
the arduous journey to and exploration of the foothills, so I've
been taking it easy for this past puddleweek, recharging. In fact,
just a few days ago, I was trying to farm some kudzu in the little
out-of-the-way plot in south town near the mystic area, to build up
an arsenal of seedlings for the next DP/foothills journey.
Unfortunately, it seems as though thoughtless exiles are running
rampant through the lands these days. Just as I had a large,
healthy, carefully tended path developed, ready for pruning, along
comes a nameless young halfling apprentice mystic in the lands I've
not had a chance to interact with (in my memory). Without so much
as a "how do you do?", she starts destroying my kudzu.
I beg her to stop, explain to her that she was destroying my own
planted farm and wasting my effort, even offer her a seedling of
her own so she can start her own farm. To no avail. She continues
thoughtlessly destroying my kudzu for no discernible reason, forcing
me to prematurely destroy the rest of the crop just so I could
salvage my original investment of seedlings. After a brief
conversation revealed that her intent was simply to be rude, I
simply left.
Ah well, I suppose I should expect the lack of civility. It comes
naturally with the recent breakdowns of community spirit. It's no
big deal, not really newsworthy. But what do you expect from the
journal of a weak third-circle healer, eh? I mean, it's not like I'm
gonna go to the foothills, Noth, TK, UI or deep into Orga Camp every day!
I just hope such rudeness isn't indicative
of things to come. If dealing with snerts more often is the price
to pay for taking stands that some people don't like (but that I think
are good for the community as a whole), fine.
Time to find a more remote kudzu farm, I guess.
What is the snert solution? Sue them? I can't imagine a worse solution.
Not only do such lawsuits waste the valuable time of our community of
exiles, these trials give snerts exactly the attention they desperately
crave. Ignore them? Well, that's what I do, but then how can you know
if their behavior changes? Perhaps they have some redeemable personality
traits? Unusual, but I like giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.
Compla? Seems awfully extreme, but sometimes sadly necessary.
I made the mistake of coming out of ignore mode to talk to one today
in town. I had heard the misguided fellow thought I was harassing him.
I wanted to be sure he understood I wouldn't waste my time acknowledging
a snert. Of course, the Catch-22 is that I could not do so without
explicitly acknowledging him. Oh well.
When I say beneath contempt, I really mean it. Ignore really
means I can keep certain exiles beneath notice, and I like it. I wish
I didn't have to use it. Anyway, I probably did more harm than good by
publicly giving the snert the attention he craves, but maybe in the end
it did me more good to at least say once, clearly, that I would have
nothing further to do with him, positively or negatively. Time will tell.
Maybe I'll take the ignore back off in a puddleyear and see if anything
has changed.
On our first trip, we had no idea upon entry into the path leading
to the foothills that it would be one-way. Many of us were under
the impression that it was a safe cave, from which we could regroup
and venture back to pick up those left behind. Among those
accidentally left behind as we left the Dread Passage were Raiine,
Topaz and J'jh.
Many of us in the group had the opinion that if we were left
behind in such a circumstance, we would rather depart than have
the group risk losing their chance to explore the foothills to
come back for us. But not all shared this view, and J'jh was
understandably frustrated and somewhat upset at being left
behind. Tarf also expressed his anger at our failure to leave
the foothills to mount a rescue effort for those transported
to the Orga Village.
Moreover, as others came out of the library, we in the foothills
didn't do a good job explaining the situation to them. For
example, J'nder asked about the situation with her sister, but
didn't receive a response. Poor J'jh ended up having to depart
from the Orga Village when the non-foothills exiles couldn't
mount a rescue expedition for a variety of reasons (not the
least of which because 3 different full pathfinders couldn't
get into Hatred Hollow). And she wasn't the only one.
I was horrified upon hearing this, because I know I was one
of the ones who must have neglected to respond to J'nder's
sunstone requests (surely that must have been during a time that
I was asleep, but I do not know for sure, and it is an agonizing
possibility to consider because it is believeable that I might
have done this, we were so caught up in the excitement).
Few healers in the lands have my respect
and admiration like J'jh and J'nder. The thought of either
of them being left behind on an expedition has left me in a
dark mood. Indeed, it is hard to write about to this day.
For the majority of us in the foothills, remaining there was a
decision made with a very heavy heart. On balance, we felt that
it would be better to take this opportunity to explore rather
than leave and hope we could return. Anyway, from this point
forward, we as a group seem to have agreed (after some
discussion) that everyone we starts an expedition as part of
the group *will* end in the foothills if any of us do. If
that means going back for a single fallen exile when all others
have reached the foothills, so be it. We should have set those
ground rules from the beginning.
Back on the rescue beat, I heard that Sgeulaiche was in trouble
on Kitty Beach, and I arrived to discover his fallen body at
the feet of a Maha Ruknee and a Bolok Cougar. Fortunately, he
was close to the narrow passage outward, so I was able to do
this rescue without chaining (though it was pretty close).
On a much more difficult level, I soon learned that several were
fallen within the Dark Chamber, including my good friend Tara, so
I rushed to help. With the help of Arkin, Afrit and some other
skilled fighters, we managed to rescue everyone (no small feat
considering a backspawn of 8 Greater Wraiths and the presence
of a few Lesser Spectres). I am really starting to notice my
improved speed on backpacks these days thanks to the Eva training
I've mixed in. Unfortunately, my own health is going down
considerably faster as I heal, so it looks like I will also need
to get some Respia as I train Eva to stay balanced.
Back in town, I learned Gimli was fallen in the savannah. I found
him south of the gem mine entrance, along with several large mahas.
Fortunately, I've been restocking my chain supply since the last
foothills expedition (where shortage of chains was a critical
issue for us), so I was able to get Gimli to safety without too
much difficulty. Soon Eyeball showed up for a heal, too. I
wanted to stay to help both of them, but I learned Althea and
Slyph were fallen in the North Bear Cave for quite some time.
On my way back, I heard Tarfette yell for help near the rat
hut in East Field. There was a minor invasion of a few dozen
White Wendeckas in the field. I ran them for a bit before
several fighters showed up from town center to disptach the
crowd. Meanwhile, Kira was sweetly inquiring as to the location
of the fallen Slyph and Althea for quite a while. I figured
she must have found them by now, and I didn't want to miss
the fireworks going off amidst this explosive trio (the pie
fights and sniping in town square are always amusing).
Upon my arrival, I found the threesome all fallen, and poor
Kira was passed out. Crystal was already there assisting Ugh
and Baltok in clearing out lots of snakes and spiders, which
was a good thing. I don't think I could've chained them all
safety with that much junk around. Besides, Crystal isn't a
big fan of using chains on rescues, feeling it kinda ruins
the challenge and can get in the way of what would otherwise
be a fun rescue.
I tend to agree with her in some cases, which is why I often don't
use my chain when it would clearly be the safest alternative.
However, there are times like with Gimli in the savannah where
the alternative is to convince many exiles to trudge all the
way through the marsh to fight off 4-5 big maha. Not really
worth the trip. And I might be endangering them. Not to mention
having to leave Gimli fallen for who knows how much longer.
Anyway, it is a judgement call. I've yet to hear a fallen exile
complain about being chained (by me, anyway).
Click here to go forward in the archive
to Spring 541, Part 5.
Back to Koric's Journal Archives
Click here to go backward in the archive
to Spring 541, Part 3.
Dilvish provided a keg for the hard-working healers.
Hunter makes a run for the rock path Sala Dragon saw earlier.
Hunter scouts inside this new area. Is there safety northeast?
On the other side of the gap in the rocks, we face the unknown path.
Into the unknown.
My first sketch of the foothills. Just after entry.
Our party faces Large Midnight Wendeckas for the first time.
Thuja points out the Foothills safe cave.
Catapult plans in the safe cave!
Fending off Midnight Wendeckas in the foothills.
Ash Giants and Large Midnight Wendeckas chase us to the exit.
We have a solid defensive position inside the ladder cave.
Katpus provided our group with two helpful digging shovels.
Thuja returns to town.
Trapped by LMW's as rocks fly in to worsen my condition.
After Entil'Zha chained me home, I was healed by the community of exiles in town.
J'nder and J'jh consider their options.
Pushing Sgeulaiche to safety on Kitty Beach.
Battling undine deep within the Dark Chamber.
Helping Gimli in the savannah.
Minor Wendecka invasion in southern East Field.
A rescue ends well in the North Bear Caves.