Unfortunately, we didn't all make it. Along the way, Afrit and
Kaitlyn were lost somewhere, and we had no way of determining
where. So half the party went looking for them. They ran into
their own troubles along the way but were ultimately unsuccessful
in finding the two lost souls, who had been teleported to the
Orga Village by zealots. Two puddlehours wasted, which was
unfortunate, but I'm glad we spent the time trying to help them.
I do not want to be part of an expedition that leaves exiles
behind based on a simple wrong turn, a silly mistake, an
accidental sn'ell crossing.
Into the Dread Passage, and we looked to be making good progress.
So good, in fact, that it was clear enough at one point for
everyone to risk entry in an attempt to set up rod points.
Alas, two Orga Hatreds blocked our way, and we lacked the proper
combination of luck, skill and timing to trap them. During the
battle, poor Merlisk was downed and then whisked away to the
Orga Village by zealots. And this after being one of the few
to depart last night! GK for Merlisk to help alleviate the
hard luck.
And for Tarf, Thuja, Cronos, Elenis Reyav and others, who
continued to burn through chains and money reserves like dry
tinder in an effort to help exiles who fell inside. I donated
a chain to the cause for Thuja previously, so this time I
gave one to Tarf. The fallens were like a tidal wave, though.
And we simply couldn't progress fast enough to keep up, so
again, we had to admit defeat and head to the Orga Village,
where Merlisk, Kaitlyn and others had been waiting patiently
for a rescue for several puddlehours.
We made easy progress back, but then, prior to entering the
Village, we were faced with two mighty Hatreds. Since we needed
a safe place to retreat and had to wait anyway for a couple more
fallens in the DP to be chanted to the Village by zealots, Gurgi
and others made the decision to dispatch them. Easy enough, if
arduous, with such skilled healers as Thuja and J'nder rodding
the damage.
As the battle raged, I began to notice a few disquieting
things around us. First, about a dozen dark vermine spawned
and attacked the party. Now I rarely see these creatures
unless they are escorted by a host of more powerful orga, but
as the next few minutes passed, it seemed like only an isolated
event. Then I noticed east of the Hatred battle, Yor, Reye
and Mortis were busy fighting some Orga Warriors.
It didn't seem to threatening, but still. So many warriors
concentrated in such a small area. This was beginning to
look much more like the beginnings of an organized battle
rather than a random spawn. And then the next wave hit.
Mortis was beginning to take more damage, but our front was still
holding. About this time, the second Hatred was dispatched at
last and the rest of the exiles surrounding started getting an idea
as to larger events unfolding. As they rushed to fend off the
warriors, the next wave hit.
More Death Vermine came to the fore, and some lightning
from the back ranks began to hit us in force. A line of
zealots had formed, and finally, the appearance of dozens
of angers confirmed my worst fears ... an all-out attack
that we were absolutely not ready for.
Always a quick thinker, Babajaga tried to group the exiles
into a combat circle, but the orga were way ahead of us.
As roughly half the group formed around a tree facing
outward for safety, the orga had us surrounded with
warriors and angers while the locks and zealots lobbed
magical damage from a distance, whittling us down to
the point where we all fell.
Soon, the recriminations began to fly. Anger at the gods. Anger
at Gurgi. Anger at each other. The bottom line, though, is
that we simply lost. We could have won had we been more
careful right away at the first signs of approaching danger
(the dark vermine, the warriors) and retreated from the sn'ell.
Or in hindsight, we could have surrounded the Hatreds with
kudzu and gone on into the Village. But who is to say this
Orga counterattack wouldn't have hit us there instead?
In the end, no one was truly at fault, and we were all at fault.
It was a tough defeat, but a great battle, one with some lessons
for everyone, I think. I decided to break by depart streak that
has lasted over a puddleyear, and so depart #98 saw me spend
a gratifying one-half second in purgatory before I was back
in town with the others.
The worst part of the whole ordeal is not that we fell. It is
that we let down the exiles in the Village who waited for so
long, counting on us to come through for them. I wish I could
have stuck around after departing to help them, and I hope some
group does manage to save those who choose not to depart. My
heart just wasn't in the battle, and I had pressing commitments
in the library at the request of my current trainer, Lady Eva.
These last two failed DP attempts will probably make us rethink
our strategy. Perhaps we need to try with more concentrated
strength. We spent an awful lot of healing time and chains on
some (relatively) weak fighters who may not have been an asset
given the tactical situation. Not their fault, of course. They
are incredibly skilled, thoughtful and wonderful people. But
perhaps the mixture of the groups we've been trying isn't right.
Or maybe we've just had awful luck.
Ah well, it is times like these I take comfort in the lessons of
immense patience taught to me by Horus. In the big picture, the
two raids have been a fun, new experience for lots of exiles, and
that's always a plus. We'll get through this, orga be damned.
We got a small but worthy party together and started slogging through
the Outback. Incredibly, thanks to Gurgi's leadership, Tarf's and
Rieger's bravery, and contributions from every exile (not being
dragged around), we not only fought through the hellish scene west
of the village but into and through the village itself. We even fought
off a swarm of Large Deadly Vermine, which according to Gurgi have
the very high histia and hit like a Hatred (many exiles were felled in
a single blow by those beasts).
Among the rescued were my clawmate Reye as well as Thuja and the
healer Band, who had been among the leaders of a previous rescue
of myself and others in the Village. It was a genuine honor and
pleasure to return the favor, especially having to surmount such
horrifying odds with skill, luck, bravery and (happily)
compassion.
Today was a day for rescues, and I had quite a few uneventful saves
in the forests, including a rescue of my clawmate Panos, who loves
to hunt the northern forest. This time, I had to chain him again
but I was successful at getting to the lily pond safe area! Three
rescues were quite challenging, however.
I learned from Mudgeon that McPhisto was fallen, and soon it was
noted over the sunstone network that he was fallen to a Queen Myrm.
I knew some fighters were trailing me, but I wasn't sure just how
well we could handle a pitched battle in the QC, so I entered
the old hive and ran in to the QC itself. The entrance was fairly
crowded, but I
managed to maneuver around the nobles thanks to lots of practice.
Seeing how crowded it was, chaining was the only option, but I was
nearly surrounded.
Fortunately, I spotted a narrow path between the wall and the
descending myrms and only just made it out into the clear. Once
McPhisto was safely out of the QC and healed, we were able to
clean it out with the help of a couple of other fighters. Next
on the list was a fallen in the Tree Giant Breeding Grounds.
To enter this dangerous place, one must pass through a fairly
narrow tunnel that is often filled with Giant Foxweirs and
Vixens, deadly to most every healer. Mervine was fallen in
the tunnel, but the GF's were too big of a barrier for me to
risk running around. It is all to easy to be encircled in
this tunnel, so I waited for support.
Fortunately, it wasn't long until Jannar and a few others arrived
on the scene to help out. While Jannar held off a few things at
the front of the tunnel, Cronos and I were able to run in further.
Cronos got Mervine on a chain, and our narrow escape was complete!
We then had a fine hunt with Jannar, Mervine, Peet, Hagen and
Medissa clearing out the grounds (with a fair bit of difficulty).
Before leaving for the library, I had one last rescue, a fairly
routine call for Nugget in the Northwest Forest.
Poor Nugget had fallen just a body length away from the entrance
to the NWF safe cave, so I started by making a pass to clear rats,
figuring on the next pass, I could clear the rest, push him in
and only take a few hits from the trailing monsters. Unfortunately,
a spawn of Giant Vermine had other ideas when I came around the
next time.
Though I was able to finish off the rats, the time it took me
to swing was precious, allowing giant vermine to drop down from
north of me and surround us both. Perhaps with a little more
histia I could've made those last few steps to safety, but I was
just a little sloppy. That's probably the hardest part of NWF
rescues, the spawns. I can usually deal with a large number of
creatures by chaining if needed. But when things pop up on me
unpredictably (and NWF is a major spawning area, especially outside
the safe cave), it makes it quite a challenge. Fortunately, Bubbles,
Lumpy and Paramedic soon showed up to rescue us both.
Tippy and Aries were hunting in the outer arachnoid passage when
both fell to deadly arachne. I ran over there with chain in hand
to help out, but once I got Aries on my chain, I foolishly ran back
inside for Tippy (instead of raising Aries outside in safety and
doubling our chances for success). You can see the results above.
Then poor Sheba also fell on her way to help us. Fortunately, Peet
was in the lands!
He chained us all back to town center where we were saved by
Erasmus and some healers who happened to come out of the library
at the time. As more exiles came into the lands out of the
library, word was spread that something was going on in the
vicinity of the Orga Camp. Axell called for help since several
exiles (including Arocet) were fallen in and west of the Orga
Camp.
When I arrived, Urgelt was dispatching a gigantic Orga Fury
while Axell and others dealt with lightning throwers and lots
of assorted other orga. I raised Stormtalon and Cyberbeing
and helped raise Arocet, then we went in to the Orga Camp itself
to see what was going on.
Inside were no fewer than 10 warlocks and hemlocks, adding to the
several that had already been dispatched outside. Very odd for
so many of these lightning mages to spawn in the Orga Camp so far
away from a full moon. Is this related to the invasions earlier
this month? Did we nip one in the bud? I will continue to seek
out information about further orga activity, I assure you, and
report it here as warranted.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful for me, rescue-wise. Since
it was rather slow, I took Urgelt up on an offer to join a Dal'Noth
hunt (of course, soon after we arrived, exiles were falling right
and left all over the lands, but fortunately, the rest of the clanning
exiles were up to the task of multiple rescues).
Thanks to Urgelt's mighty defense and smart luring tactics near
the town east gate, all of us got to tag some
very difficult 'noths, including several Hel'Noths and Xar'Noths.
Achates' great healing speed was a huge benefit to the party, and
my proximus also came in handy (as well as my Horus skills, when
poor Freyja got smacked hard by a Xar'Noth while red).
In town, we were beseiged by several difficult Gar'Noths. This
time, Mujin-kun acted as the main brick while the rest of us ran
around whittling away at the monsters. While Achates supported
the others with his moonstone, I was able to cad-heal Mujin-kun,
keeping her just healthy enough to remain in the fray. Though I
left her room to run out of the Gar'Noth trap, she had the defense
and stamina to withstand it.
This wasn't true for the whole trip. There were a few instances
in which most of the party fell, especially when we were attacked
by numerous Kal'Noths simultaneous. Fortunately, Urgelt kept a
level head and calmly cleared things so we healers could get in
and pick up the fallens. This was one of the longest Dal hunts I've
been on, and it was great fun!
Anyway, I came out of the library on this day to find that Axell was
fallen on Fire Island and needed my horus skills. Cutlas offered
to escort me, and we found Axell fallen (and several other standing
exiles) outside McBolie's cavern, a couple of sn'ells south of the
north entry to Fire Island, on sn'ell F2. You can see it here
on the Fire Island
Map. That map is courtesy of Lundar, who by the way was recently
promoted to full mystic, as detailed in
his journal. Congrats!
I raised her, then all of us went into the narrow, dark
cave to explore what was beyond.
Fortunately, Valtrim had a good map. I recall a few puddlemonths ago
when Bubbles tried to lead Tara, myself and several others through
here, but we kept getting lost. Probably a good thing, because what
awaited us when we emerged from the tunnel was this...
Fortunately, we had many very strong fighters with us as well as
Axell and Thuja, so we were able to fend off the fire drake and all
the other junk and do a little exploring. Yor has led a group
composed of his clan here before, so he and some others knew their
way around. After a brief tour, we came along the south edge of
this region to a cavern entry surrounded by the mysterious little
Voolcons.
After some discussion, we tried to communicate with the Voolcons,
but they didn't understand us. In fact, they repeatedly took
swings at us, but I don't think they ever hit. Maybe that's another
form of communication. Anyway, south we went...
We entered a large cavern that appeared to be a dead end. The way
back out is marked by those rocks seen on the north edge. Throughout
this dangerous place were flame bursts, like the one seen over to
the left here. We didn't find any paths or other ways out, but we
did run into a type of monster I had seen before but didn't know
the name of.
These large cats, similar in many ways to large island panthers, are
called Pumaces. They have modestly valuable fur and aren't too
dangerous for a 3c or better fighter, it seems. They are often found
in fiery regions like inside the volcanic chambers on Fire Island.
We left without finding anything new (but also without getting in over
our heads and being forced to depart)
Back in town, I decided to take advantage of Zorton's presence and some
of my recently accumulated wealth (thanks to Siri) to tune my sunstone.
He was kind enough to tune it twice for just under 1000 coins.
Click here to go forward in the archive
to Spring 541, Part 3.
Back to Koric's Journal Archives
Click here to go backward in the archive
to Spring 541, Part 1.
West of the Village, two hatreds appear.
Dark vermine appear, never a good omen.
Holding off a small contingent of warriors.
Orga reinforcements arrive, along with Death Vermine.
The Orga counterattack escalates dangerously.
I foolishly separate myself from the party and pay the price.
A line of zealots polishes off the remaining exiles.
Large Deadly Vermine in the Village posed a significant threat.
The QC exit blocked by three powerful noble myrms.
A narrow corridor leads to escape with seconds to spare.
The narrow tunnel is packed with deadly Giant Foxweirs.
Cronos chains Mervine to safety.
Clearing the rats off a fallen outside the NWF safe cave.
A rescue that didn't quite work out so well.
Trapped in the outer noids chamber.
All of us were chained to safety by Peet.
Axell is greeted by several lightning bolts as she bravely runs ahead.
I get to tag a fearsome Xar'Noth.
Cad-healing Mujin-kun gives her an escape route.
Valtrim leads us through the deadly tunnel to the caverns within.
A fire drake, dark vermine, NW's, wasps face us as we emerge.
Perhaps we'll learn their language someday. Note entry south edge.
A very abyss-like chamber deep inside Fire Island.
The party fights off Pumaces.
Zorton tunes my sunstone while Cutlas and Babajaga share a moment.
