Finally, I managed to get my hands on another very rare steel pot the other day, also found in T'rool Town. Some of you may recall several puddlemonths ago, I found a steel pot and promised to give some bards a chance to prove themselves worthy but in the end gave it to Perkusi amidst a little confusion on my part about how these parts worked with Hendrux, etc.

At the time, I really regretted not giving Frozen Shade and Rasta a chance at the pot. We know a little more about Frozen's ability as a bard and her history, and we've listened to so many of her songs, including her fantastic duet for gitor and flute. So we surprised her with the pot in the meadow. She took it to Hendrux, and he approved of it! We were all so happy. Frozen Shade did a really amazing dance, which included several outfit changes, kinda like a dance of the seven veils or something. Wow. It is so fun to see her happy. She's a treasure in the lands for all of us.

Lorikeet and I are both crawling slowly toward 800 Horus at last. I'll probably get there a little sooner thanks to the little bit of Horus training Eva is throwing me while I have been training a few ranks with her. Despite the Eva/Respia I've been throwing in to the mix, I still haven't healed poor Glory more than halfway in the 4th circle healer test.

Malkor can cast a cloud over just about any situation.

Lex showed us some neat spots to hunt on Fire Island, including a sn'ell north of the southern beach with lots of cats and zerks. We soon ran into a firewalker who almost killed us all, and we soon decided to head over and whack some Darshak since we were having fun battling them on the eastern part of FI. They quickly surrounded us when we got to Henryk's cove (where you can find axes and the occasional dropped cigar), but we were up to the challenge.

Headed into Sasquatch Valley with Rising Claws and friends.

Soon it was time for the RC hunt, but we had to help out with a rescue against a Greater Death in the dark temple first. From there, we convinced Reye, Shadowfire, Zippy, Ledward Vicious and Mad Mark to join us on a Valley hunt (since no mystics were around who could open Dal'Noth Isle). It took us some time at first to coordinate in the entry cave. There were 8-10 beetles there waiting for us, but we eventually cleared them out as well as a backspawn of a few nasty cave cobras.

Group tactics are the only way to win against Stinging Beetles

After this fierce battle, we peeked outside, and our whole party was nearly wiped out by two valley panthers. Yes, just two. We made the mistake of trying to fight two at once instead of keeping one busy with a runner, and one of the two was probably the fiercest VP I've ever seen. Incredible defense, atkus and darkus. It took us a long time to wear them both down separately once we regrouped and started using proper tactics.

Then we tried to advance east, only to run into more cats. After many advances and retreats, the first sn'ell respawned on us with about eight deadly Cave Cobras. Well, we tried to put up a good fight, but we just couldn't seem to get a good run/lure situation put together.

Ghrr chains a group away from deadly cobras.

I tried a few times to get a fallen body on a chain as a shield, and I was able to run a few of the cobras, but we were spread out all over the sn'ell. Soon, inevitably two runners crossed paths since we couldn't really communicate easily and run at the same time, and we would both fall. Oh well, shows the merits of planning and practice together, which we need a lot more of.

Eventually, we fled the cobras and hopped to the safe cave two east of the entry sn'ell, making it in one piece as an entire group without falling, a minor miracle if I may say so. We were fortunate no Angry Mother Sasquatches were roaming the valley on this day. We were able to dispatch about a dozen Young Sasquatches before attempting to make our escape through the deadly exit cave.

We all cringed in fear as we entered, hoping there wouldn't be more deadly cobras blocking our path. Fortunately, when we entered, some relatively harmless dust arachne were lurking, and we cleared them out easily and got the heck out of the valley. All in all, a risky but fun hunt, kinda like our last big adventure on Dal'Noth. No departs. My only regret is that a foothills expedition was en route at the same time as our hunt, so I missed a chance to take part in that.

I hear a big group made it and got to explore a fair bit before meeting their demise in Ash Valley amidst a huge spawn of nasties. Oh well, I'm sure we'll go back soon and keep trying to root that elusive Trillbane out of hiding. I can't wait to find him and perhaps eventually the path to the Orga Stronghold that Katpus talked to us about.

She's such a kind and cute little kid. I'm glad to see more of her around in the lands these days. She's asked me to help sponsor her membership in the Rising Claw clan, and it will be an honor to do so. What a fine addition she would be. I've been out and about a little more myself these days, finally feeling in the mood again to start writing more in my journal. Felicity and I are looking for ways to earn money for the wedding we're planning. Still no definite date, but I promise when we know, I'll say it here.

Galadriel bravely squares off against a fearsome Forest Drake at the mirror.

With 797 pure trainings in the art of healing those closer to death, my more limited dalliances with Eva have given me enough skill for Master Horus to acknowledge my new increased effectiveness. I know Lorikeet is very close to this level as well, and in fact probably has 800 pure Horus ranks by the time you read this.

With 100 more ranks to go before I get a new message from the master, it'll be at least a few puddleyears, so I am settled in for a long wait. In the meantime, events in the lands may help speed along my progress.

A new expensive underground library is open for business.

It seems while working on expanding the advanced library, diggers have unearthed some very rare and valuable books. Maintenance is quite expensive, but the experience we learn while studying there is a bit more effective. It is not clear to me whether it will be worth the increased price, but I will give it a try for a while.

I'm sure this will make coin-rich areas much more popular in the lands. Many fighters are very good at solo-hunting for coins but no good at all at solo-hunting for pure experience. I worry a little that this change will encourage too much solo-hunting and even over hunting of areas such as Herpetad Forest and South Forest, and it will certainly change our tiny island economy. Oh well, it's here now, and we'll see what happens.

Expanded tunnels underground.

While looking for a fallen Lundar, Felicity and I stumbled across a new building front underground that is apparently still under construction. From the looks of the emblem on the door, I have some hope that perhaps this will be a shop to sell exiles shovels that we desperately need to explore the foothills further. Perhaps those eager to see the underground tunnels expanded even further can help out!

Rising Claw with a new purpose.

In other news, many in my clan have offered to dedicate a little more of their time to rescue operations for those in need. I look forward to helping and being helped by members of my clan on rescues when we are out and about. So much more fun than boring old hunting. Though I still like to solo rescue on occasion, working side-by-side with Felicity has given me a real appreciation for sharing more of everything in my life, especially something as rewarding as helping other fallen exiles.

A tentative wedding date is set.

It also helps reduce chain breakage expenses, which is important since Felicity and I are trying to check out the underground library *and* save up for our wedding at the same time. Why would we need money to hold a wedding? You'll see. Heh.

We've finally taken the step of setting a tentative date, and we're hoping a lot of bards can make it to our planned site for the wedding, the Bard's Field (of course) on the 19th of Spring 543, about four zodiacs from now, just after midnight. We have so many friends and well-wishers. We hope everyone can make it to the wedding and the party afterwards, which will likely be held in Orga Country.

This will be my last update for a couple of zodiacs as I will be doing some extensive studying in the library. Once I'm back, I hope to resume a more regular journal update schedule, at least once every puddleweek.