Failed PC Trip

Inu Teisei organized an open trip to Pathfinding Book 2 at the regular Open Hunt time. After the trip last October, I was hopeful that we could succeed again.


The group got to PC-5 without any trouble. We had three Full Mystics—Hepta, K'vynn, and Phiros—to teleport us, and the landing in PC-6 was easy.


In PC-7, we set up in the first pit and waited as a couple of people lured the rest of the large and winding snell. A lurer fell and called for help. A couple of healers mistakenly believed that she was behind us, due to the twisting of the passage. They inadvertently lured many webber noids that had spawned in PC-6. I heard from someone later that there were webbers coming from the north as well. That was the end of the trip.

I'm sad to report that some ugly cursing was shouted in frustration after the group fell. We were all disappointed, but it was a good-faith error. Open trips depend on the good will of a lot of people. There is no place for disrespect.

Anyway, the Book 2 route is rarely traveled, so I learn something every time. Next time I will have a better mental picture of PC-6 and PC-7.

OWE present: Cammie, Creed, Kalian, Noivad, Terise duMiroir, Torin, and Yor.

Orga and Darshak Battles

Cammie reports on two recent battles in and near Puddleby. The first was a clash with the new Orga tribe in East Forest. The second was a Darshak invasion that exiles repelled with help from a rebel Darshak faction.

Darshak Ambush!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Purple Haze planned a two-pronged expedition to hold both the Annulus in the Ethereal Plane and its Material Plane equivalent on Tenebrion's Island. MaryJane made it open to all, and she asked me to lead the TI group. Based on PH's recent visits to the TI Hole, we expected the TI side to be the easier mission and apportioned the exile talent accordingly. Perhaps discovering a Darshak Spy in our midst should have tipped us off to expect the unexpected, but we didn't think much of it at the time.


The TI group made fast progress with little Darshak resistance, until we reached the snell just south of the Hole. Then Darshak elites swarmed around us. Some were able to escape and regroup, but many fell in a place that soon became far behind enemy lines. I departed and rejoined others at Centaur Island.


At first we had only a small trickle of Darshak elites to fight. We made our way back toward the Hole, determined to complete our assigned task. We were driven back to the beach more than once. It seems that, in addition to the Darshaks who pursued us, more of them were spawned by their priests at the beach.

The battles at south TI beach were tough and frustrating. The small opening in the wall worked to the Darshaks' advantage, as it made getting a foothold difficult. A couple of times I was able to make a fort in the southeast corner and hold several Darshaks away from the entrance, and Zaerion and others did something similar on the western side.


I heard that the EP team had met with difficulty too, and toward the end, some of them came to TI to help. Finally, after much advancing and falling back, we reached our fallen and called it quits. The Darshaks were prepared for us, so the next attempt will have to be a more secretive affair. Many thanks to everyone for their help!

OWE present: Cammie, Creed, Eli, Jeepers, J'jh, J'nder, Kalian (with the EP team), Kryll, Natas, Noivad, and Torin.

Orga Stronghold

After a long hiatus, EAT and PAG teamed up again for a return to the Orga Stronghold. (PAG no longer holds regular hunts, but it will make an occasional planned trip to destinations that require a large force.) With four full Mystics attending (Asenath, K'vynn, Lundar, and Xel), we went to the back door entry through the Slate Caves.


We did encounter a problem teleporting. Asenath tried to port the first group -- which she had done many times before. Something went wrong, and she alone ported. Xel made another attempt, with extra attention to procedure. He too ported alone. We prayed to the gods for help and took a short break. Then K'vynn used his stone. This time everyone was teleported, though in an unusual way that showed the hand (literally!) of the gods at work.



With CJ Parker's excellent leadership, the Orga territory was no problem. When we reached Katpus, she seemed to have made a little progress in building a catapult, but we did not have the part she needed for the next step.

Our final stop was Trillbane, the master pathfinder. Unfortunately, one of the first to enter the clearing was Kani, who immediately went into the path to the waterfall snell in Dredwood. Several people followed him. The path is one-way, so some of them who wanted to train with Trillbane missed their opportunity until the next trip, probably not for a few months. Some pathfinders still with the main group did start training with Trillbane.


Originally this OS trip had been billed as the last one for PAG. However, the good turnout seems to have convinced people that an occasional expedition -- perhaps once every few months -- would be a good idea. I will certainly miss the weekly hunts, but I am glad that we can still muster some enthusiasm for the journeys that require a big army.

OWE present: Hunter, J'jh, J'nder, Torin, and Yor.

LA's Book 2 Trip

Inu Teisei and Laughing Academy organized an open trip to Pathfinding Book 2. It was well attended and turned out to be a great success. I was a little worried at first because we were missing most of the hard hitters we had last time (way back in March). We did have some close calls, but Mujin-kun, a few rangers who had studied webber noids, and a couple of blood bladers filled the offensive power role nicely. Blackhole did a great job in leading the group.


I mostly stayed toward the rear and helped with the occasional backspawn, or reinforced the front line when the fighting got heavy. I was happy to have some opportunities to practice my stonegirdle technique. The sketch below makes me look more important than I actually was. The noids lost interest in me after only a couple of seconds, and then Mujin-kun squashed them. However, my timing was good, and my judgment can only improve with practice.


Many thanks to everyone involved for a fun time!

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

The Open Hunt went to the Slime Cave and Hippie Hollow to see what remained of the new tribe of Orgas that we fought over the last two zodiacs. The Slime Cave had only slimes, which were quickly dispatched. Hippie Hollow was challenging because of its heavy lightning, but no more so than was normal before the Orga Uprising. Our pathfinders found nothing new.


We are left with a mystery: Why did the new Orga tribe retreat? It seems unlikely that they would give up so easily. Maybe they only wanted to test their new biological/magical creations and then go back to their labs to make refinements. I wouldn't be surprised to find that our next encounter with them will not be so easily won by the forces of Puddleby.

OWE present: J'jh, J'nder, and Torin.

PAG at Orga Wall and DTN

PAG went to the East Forest to check on the new tribe of Orgas. A gruesome warning left by them in lower East Field, just across the bridge, threatened a new attack soon. We discovered that, for the moment at least, their walls are unbreakable. However, we did find that there were small holes in the wall that allowed us to hit through it.


It appeared that we couldn't do much about the Orgas for now, so we went to DTN for the rest of the hunt. We had the good fortune to find a selenite crystal for Axell!


OWE present: J'jh, J'nder, Natas, Torin, and Yor.

Book 2

I organized a trip to Book 2 recently, which was a great success. An awesome group of 32 very skilled exiles breezed right through the Pitch Caves. Asenath and Ansset teleported us, and Xel lent us a stone. We made it to Book 2 in under 90 minutes, and a total of 18 people were able to begin their training of "Trillbane's Commentaries on Ways."


Many of us decided to continue deeper into the Pitch Caves, as we had such a strong group and had gotten to Book 2 so quickly. In under 90 minutes once again, we'd made it all the way to the end of the caves and picked up a couple azure spores. Then we went home through the EP, which has been quite a bit more dangerous lately, but everyone made it back safely. Thank you to everyone involved who made this such a great trip.

OS: More Plans

The monthly EAT/PAG trip to the Orga Stronghold was a success. We went through the back door, with Xel and Ansset as our porting mystics. For the first time, we captured OS 13 and thus picked up a second fragment of the Orga catapult plans. Neverthless, Katpus had nothing new to say to us.


OWE present: J'jh, Kalian, Torin, and Yor.

GMV Incursion

A group gathered in the Greymyr Village to battle a predicted ethereal incursion in North GMV. Asenath was the Mystic who placed the kyuem. We retreated several times to the safety of the Greymyr Chief's snell. The kyuem was powered enough to glow brightly before the end of the incursion, but we failed to finish the job. Anyway, it was a good effort, and each time gives us a better feel for what is needed in the particular area.


OWE present: J'jh, Natas, Torin, and Yor.

OS and Trillbane

The monthly EAT/PAG trip to the Orga Stronghold used the back door entrance from the Slate Caves. For that, we needed at least a couple of full Mystics to teleport us; we were lucky to have four FMs (Hepta, Org du Lac, Sylune, and Xel).


In OS, we ran into Bartok, who had master pathfinder Trillbane on a chain. We rescued and raised Trillbane, and after some delays in regrouping, he took us through a path to Orga Village. From there, it was a short jog back to Puddleby.

In town, Trillbane accepted several students for his advanced course in pathfinding. He has a great interest in books so we showed him our library. He turned out to be a snob and wrinkled his nose in disgust at even our most precious volumes. We then escorted Trillbane to Pathfinding Book 3 before he returned home through a path in Camp Dred.

OWE present: J'jh, Natas, Noivad, Shakyamuni, Torin, and Yor.

Also be sure to check out other reports of this OS trip and our interaction with Trillbane:

• Phroon's report on TMN. Phroon has made his visionstones of the whole adventure available.


• Xel's report on TMN . Xel made a transcript of our conversations with Trillbane.

Rear Admiral

Darshak have been raiding town lately, so some poor citizens of Puddleby strolling out of the library quickly found swords in their bellies. While there weren't many exiles around, those present fought bravely for hours. Puddleby was eventually reclaimed and safe to relax in. These pirates were very dangerous, as they hit hard and were difficult to hit. Darshak Carousers, Guardians, and Marauders were among the invading force, which was led by a Rear Admiral...






Yes, that's right - a Rear Admiral. This high-ranking fellow really knew how to exchange blows. He was quite the adversary. We cut him off at the bank. Perhaps he was trying to make a deposit? I squared off against him, allowing the fighters to attack him from the rear. With his hook and fist, the Rear Admiral thrusted faster and fiercer than any Darshak I've ever seen. But he couldn't handle our might and was soon slain. Natas then stuffed the Rear Admiral, mounting the pirate in his house for any who'd like to see.


So Puddleby should be on its guard. The Darshak are back.

Rejected

There isn't much else to say about the latest Orga Stronghold raid, which Torin wrote about. It was frustrating on many levels. We tried to secure a foothold in the first snell, yet repeatedly failed. A few attepts were somewhat successful, but our progress was undone by Orga reinforcements. Our final charge after 2.5 hours was driven back, so we headed home - myself 2.5k poorer and 8 departs in the hole. Many others had similar or even worse costs. The local blacksmiths certainly got a lot of business.



Here's a view from the front. This raid was so deadly due to the unusual amount of grenade lightning. Thrown behind Mephisto and I, the grenades decimated our forces. That day the Stronghold's front door ultimately proved to be too much.

OS Trip Stalled

The monthly EAT/PAG expedition to the Orga Stronghold failed to get past the OS front door snell. The group was strong, and the odds didn't seem outrageously stacked against us. A few people were reluctant to depart early in the effort. I think, however, that luck plays a huge role in whether we can advance to the rest of OS. This time the respawns were more than we could handle.


OWE present: Giga, Hunter, J'jh, J'nder, Kalian, Shakyamuni, Torin, and Yor.

PAG Opens Temple Door

Today PAG and friends moved across much of Metz Island to unlock the mystery of the Tepui Temple. From previous trips and the work of many other individuals and groups, we knew that the temple had a door that was impassable. We believed that the key to opening the door was activating the three pairs of torches, which are linked to sparkles in other temples on the island. A few days ago, Puddleby Task Force had succeeded in lighting a second pair of torches. Activating some of the sparkles in distant temples turned out to be the key that lit all three pairs of torches. We were able to pass through the door and into a large room beyond. The room had an altar, several large pillars, three large statues, and three more locked doors.

OWE present: J'jh, Kalian, Torin, and Yor.

Trillbane Found!

Today's EAT/PAG trip to the Orga Stronghold attracted a relatively small crowd — a little over 30 — compared to past trips. We proceeded anyway. We had a hard time with the front door snell, but we kept going because we could see progress. Finally we captured it.

In OS 5, we lost Hunter, who was one of the two rod points. He fell and was teleported by a Zealot. J'nder was appointed as the new Red Team rod point.

We reached Katpus, and Yor (in lieu of the absent Azriel) showed her the part of the catapult plan that we had acquired last time. Katpus, however, did not have anything new to tell us, much to our disappointment.

We faced the nasty OS 13 snell. This time, instead of trying to capture it, we decided to go through the path just to the north of the entrance. It led to a very small snell that appeared to be a junction of a handful of paths. In addition to the path from OS 13 were four dirt patches (often indicative of paths) — two in the north and two in the eastern part of the snell.

Sai opened the easternmost path, and several of us followed her. We fell quickly. It turned out to be the waterfall snell in Dredwood! After a while, we were ported to Orga Village, where a rescue team eventually came for us.

Another subgroup was able to try a different path. There they found the long-sought Trillbane — a Fen'neko whose hair, skin, and clothes were camouflage shades of green and brown! Elenis Reyav, Jeepers, and Mephisto began advanced pathfinding training with him. I myself didn't get to see Trillbane, but I will try to provide more details when others tell their stories of the event.

All in all, an amazing day!

OWE present: Clubby, Giga, Hunter, J'jh, J'nder, Kalian, Noivad, Shakyamuni, Torin, and Yor.

P.S. Check out CJ Parker's article on TMN. She includes a sketch of Trillbane.

Ethereal Mystery

Today J'jh was wondering whether anyone had returned to EP8, where Tenebrion had disappeared. When we had a group together, we traveled there — three snells south of where the Portal Island rift goes. The snell had several Ether Clouds, so it took a while to clear.

When we were able to get close to the center of the snell, we noticed that it had changed. We saw Tenebrion's fallen body, and the area near him was cracked. Several Clouds and other creatures were stuck inside.


The area turned out to function as a portal to our starting snell (connected to PI). We had no specialist in ether studies with us, and we could have used more healers to rod the trapped Ether Clouds, so we decided to wait for another day to investigate further. Azriel, who knows a lot more about the subject than I do, promised to send a report to ThoomCare Media Network.

OWE present: J'jh, Torin, and Yor.

P.S. Yor started a Sentinel topic, The Solution to the Ethereal Incursions?, which goes into more detail about the implications of the discovery.

P.P.S. You can read Azriel's account of the trip, as well as other events after Chaos Storm 496.

Noth Incursion

ThoomCare Media Network has an account of the ethereal incursion at Dal'Noth, so I won't repeat the full story here. I just wanted to share an additional sketch. It shows the climactic final spawn (or beginning of the final series of spawns).


Soon afterwards, almost the whole group was wiped out. Giga and J'jh escaped to the south. After they chained some of the fallen and others returned from departs or being templed, a renewed fighting force was established, and we recaptured the crucial snell in time.

OWE present: Giga, J'jh, J'nder, Noivad, Torin, and Yor.

Bartok Seen in OS

After the defeat of the Orga Stronghold raid on Sunday, people departed. (See OS 13 and OS 13 cont. for details about the raid itself.) However, some waited longer than others. J'nder and a few others remained long enough to see Bartok, the Orga leader (or god?).

Bartok chained the five exiles — Afrit, Crunch, Elenis Reyav, Janus, and J'nder — from the Razzia pit in OS 13 to a hut in OS 11. Inside the hut was a circle of campfires and stakes. Several Orga Zealots chanted and teleported the fallen to another hut or a cave.



What does it mean? How will the Bartok sighting affect plans for the next EAT/PAG expedition to OS?

OS 13 Cont.

To add to what Torin wrote, this trip was rather successful. Although we had a notably smaller turnout, we actually broke through the front door. Then we made it through the Orga Stronghold without any major snags. So for the 3rd time out of 5 attempts, the EAT/PAG force arrived at the unlucky 13th snell as we've numbered it.


The Red Halfling Rod led by myself and the Blue Thoom Rod led by Mephisto were back at it again. There was the usual explosion of lightning and fire, but we made quite a few runs in 13 this trip. However, the catapult blasts in the tight corridors were a death trap. So our group gradually dwindled in size to Razzia and even lost Mephisto. After making a couple more runs, those left decided on making a mad dash for the pit. I made it as far as pictured before Cerebs and then fire blocked me.


But a few made it all the way to pit! Azriel made it the furthest and was able to pick up part of a catapult diagram. So now we'll have something to give Katpus next time. Maybe we'll be able to build a catapult of our own? While we all departed, we still got more valuable experience in 13 and proved we can do significant damage. With luck, we'll get 'em next time.