Also, Jazz has reported further exile interactions with the
fire-using wizard Umbrion on the Isle of Tenebrion's Keep.
This is in Jazz's journal
(022801 entry), another fine regularly updated journal with lots
of great sketches! It seems Umbrion likes to utilize firewalkers
and fire drakes as his minions. I wonder how much of Umbrion's
magic is involved in Devil's (or Fire) Island just to our west?
On the homefront, several industrious exiles gathered together
an array of creatures for a periodic attempt to turn the grassy
area in town center into a zoo. This time, in addition to the
usual exotic mix, Sala Dragon found a very rare purple tor in the
East Field. Not only that, a few more popped up all of a sudden
in the surrounding fields. Very odd, indeed. Perhaps they are
in season, or they only come out on certain days of the year. I
haven't paid close enough attention to notice a pattern.
But today was not a day for sitting around town discussing ethics
and philosophy...it was a day for action. Charlos was kind enough
to invite me along on a Dal'Noth expedition (ironically, Lorikeet
was also invited to go on a parallel expedition to a different part
of the isle, which seemed big enough for both parties on this day)
with several other skilled exiles. Raldin proved his worth by
allowing us entry and scouting out for several powerful monsters.
With the skill of professionals, Natas, Charlos and J'jh orchestrated
a hunt in which our party dispatched several very powerful Noth creatures,
including a half-dozen Xar'Noths at least. I even managed to get in
several tags while it was relatively safe to do so, and we all had
a great time. Just dangerous enough to be exciting but not so bad that
we found ourselves overmatched (due to the clever tactics and experience
of our party leaders).
I find myself useful on Noth in many respects. First and foremost, of
course, as a horus healer, which is needed occasionally (though usually
not to such a degree that I would be required). Secondly, as a rodding
or backpacking healer, which my proximus allows, though I am still
slower than just about any other healer by a significant margin. And
finally as a tagger. Sharing up with healers, mystics and party leaders,
I vanquish most Sar'Noths and anything tougher, increasing the experience
benefit for most if not all of the party, as long as I keep in mind that
my first role is to survive and heal, not to tag.
Like many hunts, though, I found myself being pulled away by the needs
of the fallens in the lands. It was particularly painful for me to
be hunting while two clawmates, Panos and Aldernon, were rotting away
and all but forgotten. Since I had to hit the library soon anyway,
I took my first chance to exit Dal, bid my party a reluctant and fond
farewell, and decided to see if I could at least help my two clawmates
before hitting the library.
Aldernon was fallen in the tree giant breeding grounds while hunting
alongside Tyndall. I was beginning to wonder if he could ever fall,
as skilled as he is with that deadly Bloodblade. I swear, when
Aldernon gets himself very wounded and holds that Bloodblade, monsters
had better look out! He has the darkus of a Large Sand Wurm, I kid
you not. Anyway, since Tyndall had Aldernon on a chain by the time
I left Dal, we agreed to meet in the north forest where Panos lay
fallen and quite rat-chewed for a few puddlehours.
I healed up Aldernon, then he, Pharazon and Tyndall, all stout
fighter clawmates, easily cleared an immense amount of junk from
the sn'ell. Then we were able to go over and heal brave Fyn
d'Evon Ray, who had earlier tried to rescue Panos while I hunted
on Dal'Noth. Ah, the wonders of horus training, I was able to heal
Panos with ease despite several puddlehours worth of sustained
rat bites. As always, Panos and Aldernon were both extremely
gracious, despite the fact that I took my time saving them.
And so to the library...but wait, Lursa is *still* fallen in noids?
The poor zo and her friends had been needing healer help for much
longer than my clawmates, and I was already fairly close (having
dropped over into Tanglewood to search for long-fallen Drax, who
was saved by others as I searched). I couldn't resist.
We faced quite a battle to reach the main chamber so that I could dive
in and chain Lursa out to safety (and again, my training paid off as
I was able to heal her despite several puddlehours of exposure to
dreaded carrion arachne). Elenis and Aldernon showed up and turned
the tide in our favor for a time anyway. Elenis sacrificed himself so
that I could get Lursa out, knowing that she needed attention quickly.
After she was up and we all healed a bit outside, we returned, and since
Elenis had effectively lured most noids out of the corridor, we were
able to run in again.
Finally, Aldernon pulled the same trick for Elenis as Elenis did
for Lursa, which helped us get Elenis out. Elenis and I both
chained Aldernon out, and his faith that we would never leave
him behind was gratifying. Finally, I tore myself away from this
final rescue and collapsed in a heap in the library after a very
rewarding day.
It was a long day today. The early morning opened with a large
group of us gathered in the Orga Camp, farming kudzu for several
puddlehours as we waited for an Orga Village group to make its
way back to us so that we could send reinforcements. Finally, we
managed to get the larger group to the Dread Passage, where four
fallen fighters needed help. Fortunately, we had enough horus
to raise them all, including help from Algernon (!). More on
that in a bit.
Our efforts were rewarded, and a big celebration ensued, followed
by some careful planning. After some initial forays were turned
back, we decided to settle for another mapping expedition. Some
runners were chosen, and Sala Dragon made it the furthest, mapping
both a pond in the southwest corner...
And then, he managed to run across a field of flowers (where he
spotted an uli flower, of all things!) to see what many exiles
are speculating is the entrance to a safe cave in the rocks...
Happily, we lost no exiles to departs this time, and we also earned
another bravery and compassion reward when we finally managed to
rescue the runners from their warlock keepers back in the Orga
Village. At one point on the way back to the village, we ran into
a sn'ell with many hatreds and thought all was lost. But brave
Trystran d'Ark managed to keep herself alive, and Alcon chained
many of the fallen healers to a safer place for healing.
In order to get Algernon from one place to another, it was necessary
for the party to let him fall and be dragged around on a chain. That
backfired when he was dragged into what we thought was a safe hut
but turned out to have a Hatred and three other reds inside. We
barely got everyone out of this deathtrap alive and then finally
made our way home.
But I am bothered. Are we right to be using Algernon in this way?
Yes, he belongs to the community, and he is doing something very
important for us by bringing his exceptional horus skills to bear
on the problem. But what if the Pogue Mahone clan wanted to use
Algy in this way? I don't think they would, personally. I think
they would consider it beneath them. But wouldn't we question them
for using Algy in this way?
And is it really fair to take Algy into such danger, going to
such lengths as to force the poor fellow to fall multiple times
so that he can be dragged around like an old shoe? I don't know.
I don't know Algernon. I've kept my distance from him and
remained rather neutral on his existence. On the one hand,
I am *very* happy to have more horus on hand, especially for
times that I cannot help out in DP, and I am glad to see his
presence makes extended DP exploration much more practical.
But is it fair? I have to ask myself: Would I willingly take
Algernon into danger like this? Would I allow myself to be helped
by an automaton rather than achieving a goal on my own? My
answer must be "no". I feel certain there will eventually be
a bitter lawsuit over this sort of use of Algernon, and I fear
some exiles will be too blinded by their need to conquer DP
to see that what they are doing is perhaps not a good thing.
But maybe I'm wrong about exiles or wrong about what Algy would
want. I will have to think on this.
Over the past few days, I've missed a couple of major DP
expeditions due to commitments in the library, but I gather that
we are learning more and more how to handle that area. Now it
is just a matter of organizing a big enough party, and we will
own it. Meanwhile, in response to concerns expressed by myself
and others, Yor has promised to consider Algy's situation and
perhaps try to communicate on some level with him. Perhaps
as his clanmate, Yor can plumb Algy's depths and resolve whether
or not it really is a good thing to take him along on these trips.
In the meantime, I had another rewarding hunt in noids with
one of the rising stars in the lands, a female Zo warrior by
the name of Lursa. Hunting with some of her companions,
including the other Zo's, SnowLion and Rel'lim, is a real joy,
and my Proximus skills continue to pay dividends in noids.
The real action of the day (a place that has seen a lot of
action lately) was in and around Tenebrion's Keep.
While on a rescue in the North Forest, I learned that my clawmate
Kodo and a few others were fallen in the courtyard of Tenebrion's
Keep. That's a risky area to rescue, as Tenebrion's guards have a
habit of surrounding visitors who enter from the poppy field, but
with Lursa alongside for fighter support, I decided to risk it.
I barely escaped my initial entry while the others fell, so I
wandered around outside again, hoping for another chance. While
walking through the poppies, I saw a glowing object.
I picked up the small crystal fragment and began to examine it
when the scent from the poppies overwhelmed me and knocked me
out. Of course, the undine wandering around made short work
of me, and my fallen body was soon dumped into the courtyard
with the others. Fortunately, Magnels and Topaz soon came
to help. And Thirteenth Rat also showed up to provide fighter
support.
Thirteenth Rat fought bravely for several minutes against
a swarm of creatures and guards, and he was then supported
by the cadding skills of Magnels and Topaz. Soon, though,
we were all just about overwhelmed, so Magnels made a
chaining run.
Thanks to Magnels' skilled chaining, we managed to get enough
exiles on their feet to have a fighting chance against the
swarm of guards. By the time the Captain of the Guard was
roused to the defense of the keep, we were ready for him.
He was dispatched, and the chest he held containing a large
crystal fragment was picked up by Ippon (I think).
I gave my fragment to Indigo since I would do nothing with it
save use it as a paper weight while writing my journal. Perhaps
she and Ippon will eventually learn the secret of these things.
Unfortunately, I had to leave shortly after this for the library,
but I know some exiles went further in and faced a tough battle
with Umbrion's Honor Guard. I hope they survived to tell the tale.
Kitty beach seems to be a real favorite for new exiles these days,
and I'm not entirely sure why. I think too many difficult boloks
spawn here (along with the occasional maha ruknee) to make it a
good place to hunt unless you can handle that sort of thing. When
Siri was first starting out and could kill young rockodiles easily,
he hunted almost exclusively on "NN beach", two north of the west
gate. The spawns there usually consist of lots of young rockodiles
and large vermine.
That gives pretty good experience, and with the occasional panther
or artak cougar, lets you earn maybe 20-30 coins per puddlehour.
Not nearly as good as you can do in the Northwest Forest (or even
kitty beach on a good spawning day), but at least you can survive
there more easily. The terrain also has a few useful traps,
bottlenecks and escape hatches. I rarely see young fighters hunt
there anymore. Too bad.
Soon my rescue hunts led me to look for Hrothgar, fallen to a corpse
warrior. I checked inside the undine hut, and there was a good
old fashioned undine bash in progress with a couple of healers and
several novice characters. Fortunately for me, they needed another
healer so I joined the fun.
For a successful hunt, a group needs a few decent healers, a brick
(the *most* important element so you have a place to dump the undine
when the going gets rough) and some exiles who get good experience
and are willing to share with those making it possible. Elenis
and Shen made good bricks while Sargon and I took on the bulk of
the healing duties. My Proximus allowed me to keep up with the
wildly running fighters who were trying to tag everything. It was
a nice change of pace from rescues.
I'm glad to see some action in this hut again. For the longest
time, it seemed that the undine cavern saw very few spawns, and
no one could figure out why. That doesn't seem to be a problem
now, and the geometry of the situation makes it easy to lure a
few up at a time. Of course, getting involved here means it is
tough to leave when so many are depending on you and the action
is so fast and furious. Fortunately, many other healers were
on rescue patrol today, and I sent a lot of gk their way.
Meanwhile, I find myself needing some money to keep my chains
in tact and my sunstone tuned, so I hunted a bit with DeathLord
in the North Bear Caves today. With my feeble backpacking, he
was more than a match for even a pair of Cinder Bears. Kyloter
and PureHeat were hunting nearby, and I imagine that between the
four of us, we emptied out the caves to a level not often seen.
Back in town, I used my new wealth to restock metal and chains.
Not many rescues to be had today, so Lorikeet, Thuja and I all
went off and foolishly risked ourselves trying to save poor
Polerand, who had gotten smacked with rocks while napping in
one of the passages leading to GMV. Of course, Thuja got there
first and had him on a chain heading out of the place as Lorikeet
and I huffed and puffed and barely avoided getting surrounded
by all those troublesome Night Wendeckas.
Still, it is always better to have too many healers in the lands
willing to go out on rescues than too few! Later, I took another
advantage to hunt some undine with novice exiles in the hut with
Coeur's able assistance. It brought back wild tagging memories
from my first days in the lands, but I think it will be a while
before I hunt again. After hunting too much, it gets harder
and harder to dutifully ignore those rescue requests over the
sunstone network. Besides, I do not (usually) clan for experience,
but rather for the reward of rescue healing. The experience is
just a nice occasional bonus.
Click here to go forward in the archive
to Winter 541, Part 4.
Back to Koric's Journal Archives
Click here to go backward in the archive
to Winter 541, Part 2.
A town zoo, including a rare purple tor.
Raldin scans Dal'Noth town for monsters.
J'jh bravely rods a Xar'Noth while we await our chance to jump it.
Rising Claw's newest fourth circle fighter, Aldernon!
Rising Claw to the rescue.
Elenis Reyav bravely fends off a dozen noids to allow me to save Lursa.
The final rescue of the day.
Rescuing some very patient fallens in the Dread Passage entry.
This is something I've not seen in over a puddleyear.
Is that a passage in the Southwest corner or a cul-de-sac?
Perhaps there is a safe cave in that notch in the rocks?
Rescuing Algernon from a hut filled with immense danger.
Hunting in the arachnoid cavern.
I spot a glowing flower ... or is that a fragment behind the flower?
I find a potentially useful fragment.
Thirteenth Rat fends off a fire vermine and some guards.
Magnels chains several exiles to safety.
The Captain of the Guard is defeated, giving up his treasure.
Abby holds off several young rockodiles so that I can heal Keller.
Hunting with Elenis, Shen, Sargon and several novices in the hut.
Hunting with clawmate DeathLord in the North Bear Caves.
A dangerous run through the Greymyr Village with Lorikeet.
