We had plenty of fighter muscle to dispatch the Big Red Orga (BRO) that got in our way, so we were soon healed up and ready to leave, having suffered no losses. Amazingly, that's three trips to the foothills for me without a depart. Gaia must truly be watching over me these days.

We take the path home with palpable relief.

Back home, I took a few puddledays to recover in the library before coming out to see if I could help support a Full Moon Orga Camp Raid. I was under the impression that Nyssa was organizing this, asking exiles to help her acquire a stone. But the infighting in the Mystic Council (of which Nyssa was expelled as a member a while back under circumstances I'm not familiar with) made this more complex. Anyway, I headed to the Orga Camp to find a small party trying to keep OC1 and OC2 clear so as to maintain an escape route for the party.

Supporting Rel'lim against a warlock and a zerk in OC1.

Rel'lim, Leonin, Panos and I barely hung on against a few Orga warlocks and zerks to keep OC1 clear, then a group of us including Axia, Oracle, Luce, Astral Duck and several others tried to clear out OC2.

Being short on healers, I was drafted into part of the rod. Now that I have a decent amount of faustus and some limited experience, I have to say that I did an incredibly poor job of organizing the rod. Heh, live and learn. Having to take in all that lightning while simultaneously trying to stay away from BRO and stay in a position where the fighters can kill stuff while not taking lightning. Gah, it's very hard! Luce, Oracle and I held tough, but we had to retreat several times, mainly due to mistakes.

A narrow escape as I retreat with 3 on a chain.

An Orga Fury caused us all sorts of grief, even though our fighters managed to clear most of the warlocks out. We just couldn't seem to arrange it so that the Fury was on the fighters while the lightning was on us. That damned Fury kept chasing the rod! Anyway, before we could finally successfully take OC2, all the action in OC4 was over. On their way back, the much larger group swept right through OC2 without difficulty, so we all reunited in OC1 to assess the results.

A successful raid?

It turns out that the strategy for defeating the Orga Magician worked out perfectly, but then Malkor entered the room where the stone is acquired rather than Nyssa. It turns out a large part of the group went with that intention, to get Malkor a stone rather than Nyssa, and that apparently wasn't clear from the beginning. In any case, Nyssa entered after Malkor, breaking his concentration. After she left, however, Malkor was able to recover a stone, so it wasn't a total loss.

Prue declares her loyalties in her usual lighthearted manner.

It turns out that Nyssa wouldn't have been able to use the stone after all, so without Malkor there to recover it, the raid would have been a failure. Something mystic-related, so I don't pretend to understand. So now that Malkor has a stone, now what? Can we use it to teleport past the Dread Passage or to get somewhere new in the foothills? Is it useful on Lyfelidae? This healer is in the dark, I'm afraid.

Also, I learned from Tara that late at night after our successful raid on the Orga Camp, the Orga mounted a fearsome counterattack. An Orga Dredlock was spotted in our town, and this beast picked up fallen exiles and dragged them back to Orga Camp. Many warlocks, hemlocks and other BRO were around, too, to beat up on the town while most of its residents were asleep. A few zealots also transported fallen exiles to the Orga Camp (but thankfully not to the Orga Village).

At one point, the only living healer in town was Algernon, who was hiding out in the bakery, according to Veer. Somehow, the citizens of Puddleby managed to recover, fend off the invading forces and recapture the Orga Camp, rescuing all those fallen exiles from who knows what sorts of horrible rituals.

Today, a chaos storm rolled through town. Nothing new has yet been discovered in its wake, but the timing was perfect for a Full Moon Orga Camp Raid (FMOCR). In fact, one had already begun. Hearing that Yor and Neige were needing some horus in OC1 due to locks in OC2, I started that way.

Surrounded near lily.

My usual route involves a minor shortcut through the north forest to Tanglewood, but today, I got myself surrounded by vermine. Times like this remind me of my frail status as a barely qualified 3rd circle healer who just happens to have 730 Horus. Or should I say Lorikeet? I am training with my clanmate now. What an honor! Anyway, Thuja came to help me out, and then we both went to OC.

Healing fallens in OC1 as Rincewind works on his directional magic.

Rincewind's diagnostic was similar for Yor and Neige. Yor was "little more serious" for me alone to heal, and Neige was "much more severe". Easy to heal them both with the other healers present, and so we got the FMOCR raid off to a rousing start after a brief multiple-warlock setback! The group started very early in the day, figuring it would be easier to take OC4 early and hold off spawns rather than wait until time was short and fight through massive piled-up spawns. That proved successful.

The Magician falls again near his altar in OC4.

Several new exiles were with us this time, so I'm glad some new people got to see the fireworks. Thanks to the fine leadership of Veer and Yor, exiles have the Magician killing thing down to a fine art. Most of us even survived the flames, which almost seem to be getting weaker. I'm sure these raids are having a weakening effect on Orga magic. Then again, the Dread Passage seems as difficult as ever. I wonder if there are two different factions of the Orga involved?

Anyway, the goal of this raid was negotiated to be as follows: Exiles would give the mystic Nyssa another chance to enter the room and attempt to get a stone. If she couldn't do it, Raldin would be the next to try. Failing that, Malkor would go in.

Raldin enters the power room.

Well, Nyssa tried her darnedest, but couldn't seem to acquire the stone. It surely didn't help that a few less-experienced exiles ignored many requests and accidentally entered the power room, disrupting her concentration. Fortunately, that didn't seem to matter for our chances to get a stone.

Raldin went in next and had no luck either. Finally, Malkor gave his stone from the last raid to Raldin, then went in and got one himself. So now several of our fine mystics have these stones and can practice using them, perhaps someday to teleport us between sn'ells and past dangerous locations like the Dread Passage!

According to some other exiles (I missed this), there was a sizeable invasion of elite Darshak, Umbrion's honor guards, and some fiery creatures, including a dreaded Fire Drake on or about the morning of the 43rd (very early in the morning PST on 05 May '01). On two different occasions, one of the slain Darshak dropped some sort of mirror on the docks of town. Several exiles went through the mirror and found themselves inside Umbrion's castle. Soon after, the mirror broke or was deactivated somehow, and it vanished.

Well, apparently there was no way out of this castle, other than through a depart or using a purgatory pendant, but exiles explored nonetheless. They ran into many firewalkers and other creatures, and many fell, subsequently departed. A few who remained found a library, with ancient tomes that we can learn from, gaining as much experience as one of the libraries in our own town while we study (though it isn't clear how the experience compares to any of the town libraries).

Several exiles are still there, trapped, unsure of why this portal was opened or how they will get back. Topazk, Achates and Segal provided me with much of this useful information. A few who remained there (including Althea) tried to escape by running from the castle toward the exit point of Lyfelidae isle, but they couldn't make it with such small numbers and so departed. Veer and Thuja also filled me in with a perspective from those still in town. My theory is that some of the more powerful Darshak carry mirrors with them that can allow several Darshak to travel around to various places, but as a safety feature, the mirrors automatically break after a certain amount of time or a certain number of people have passed through.

This may be how the Darshak sometimes manage to appear in East Field when no one catches them sneaking on shore from town. Clearly, this mirror was intended to be their escape route to safety, but for some reason, they didn't use it. Why did it lead to Umbrion's castle, though, instead of the Horde? I will share more information as I can.

In less urgent news, I had an opportunity to hunt a bit in the savannah with my clawmate, DeathLord. We found an interesting tree in the southeast corner that I don't recall seing before. We have found no other similar trees growing there.

A new tree in the savannah?

We also found quite a few maha. In fact, near the mushroom sn'ell outside the gem mine, we ran into several at once, more than I had seen at one time in a very long time. But my clawmate has some very impressive fighting ability, including very high defense. He fended off the group much like a first circle fighter would fend off a swarm of Large Vermine!

DeathLord dispatches several maha at once in the savannah.

Another clawmate fell in the North Bear Caves on this day, and that dreaded healer trap claimed me as well. I knew that several were fallen there, and I also knew that Tippy and Tigger were nearby willing to help. But I rushed in anyway and got myself killed by a monster I had never seen before, a very powerful and deadly Chami Cobra.

A Chami Cobra near the East exit of the North Bear Caves.

That little black snake has an amazing bite. Between that, the Honey Bear and that Chestnut Bear, I was quickly trapped and killed. Peet, WormTounge,Kodo and Azriel soon jumped in from the west while Tippy and Tigger came from the east, dispatching the Cobra (a vanquish for most who hit it, I think!), and we were saved.

My final rescue of the day was very profitable. I learned that Cyberbeing was fallen in the South Pass, so I headed that way and Kodo called that he would meet me there. Right after Cyberbeing fell, the Wendeckas nearby shook an old bone loose from a crevasse in the rocky wall!

I find a bone in the South Pass!

Well, I immediately recognized it as the proper size, shape and heft to possibly be fashioned into a bone flute for bards, so I picked it up with the intention of showing it to Perkusi. Not before having a little fun with Kodo first...

I get to use Sala Dragon's little joke on a clawmate.

Striker and J'dy also showed up to help with the rescue. Striker is a relatively new healer in the lands who is trying to pick up on some rescue business. He was a little frustrated, though, since he had trouble finding out about fallens due to a lack of shares. I hope some of you will consider throwing a share his way, especially if hunting near town. Give this fine zo healer a chance to prove himself. I intend to introduce him to Mudgeon in the healer pub first chance I get.