After tea, cookies and tales in Husus house, it was time for the weekly RQ hunt. North forest was empty, and the whole clan was healthy. Not my idea of a clan hunt actually, so, I proposed the Lily Pond. In this part of the land, it´s the only place I still kill things. And it´s so much more carnage to be had! Fun! Well, I don´t remember who fell first, signaling to other exiles that it was showtime in Pond, but soon the whole place were crawling by exiles. Must have been a dull day in Puddleby, as it seemed every exile were there. So we pulled, pushed, stumbled, whacked, fell our way to the caves and the mahas. Blue wondered at one point why all Clanhunts were like this, which of course many promptly responded: Because it´s more fun! RQ is not the only one though. Just look at SDC or ELF´s clanhunts. SDC usually ends up fallen and in need of a rescue. It´s tradition for Chum´s sake!

I know, I know. I promised not to go to this place until I had enough lessons with Atkus to actually hit these masters of the art of War. What can I say, other that it was all Caddrel´s fault... I knew trouble was brewing when I saw him in townsquare. And I immidiatly checked on Departus, he will soon start to learn from learning me.. Master Ranger Caddrel wanted to go and explore. Indeed. What a surprise.. After some search we found the cloud, and made a surprisingly nice landing on the beach. Headed south though, we met that blasted Vel`noth. Caddrel and Braveheart fell, and I made it just in time into the cave again, and started messaging for help. We were of course not many enough for this kind of exploration in the first place, so falling and calling for a rescue is a method as good as any to get a party going I guess. We stumbled around down south a bit, searching for secret passages into the mountains. But then exiles started to fall on the beach, and the rescued needed to be rescuers. And I met my first Sar´Noth since Atkus started to learn me more. I don´t hit on pure luck anymore, which is an imrpovement I guess. My timing must be accurate though, still. By this time the beach was overrun with challenge-hungry exiles, and the north route was taken. A small group took off to the east , and went into the mountains. Another went further north to the town. I, went with the into the mountains. The caverns inside are vast. We were quite content exploring, and killing things for while there. I met some new beasties, a ripper -a skinny blue looking Wyrm, and a beetle of some sort. After a time we realized that we were completly lost. We had no idea where we were or how we could get back. And after that we stopped exploring, and was trying to find our way out. Or, sort of, because we ended up in new caverns all the time, so we were kind of exploring, finding our way back. I guess. sigh.

In Puddlebytime we were in the caverns for almost 15 hours. That´s right . 15 hours! Thankfully we didn´t meet any Sar´Noths down there. Or we would have been toast much sooner. Come to think of it, that might have been a good idea. To meet a Sar`Noth and fall just to get out of the place... As it were, the ending was the same as it always has been. The way back to town leads trough Purg. I have hopes that some day I might be able to get back to town in a boat. I learned much about Dal`Noth on this trip though. And about what not to do when exploring like this, and who not to explore with.. In a group every exile count. So if you run off and fall, or stray and lose the group, you are not only endagering yourself, but the group too. If we had been all that started together, we would have dispatched those 3 Vel´Noths that was our final encounter. And been able to make it out alive. As it were, we were only 2 fighters left, and no way we could deal fast enough with those beasts. On the bright side, we did find our way back. Indeed we did! When we fell we were not far away from our starting point, and we knew where we were! But it sure was nice to be back on townsquare again. I thought I would never see that place again. So, if you ever enter the caverns-be sure to have lots of time. Do not stray and activate all beasties at once. And bring some food and water. And patience. And map every step you take from the start. You will be there for quite some time..

Master Hekus has only one piece left, until the whole altar is complete. We have had some small invasions, and a day ago I wake up from studies and picked up some disturbing messages on the SS. It turned out that the Orga´s had been invading town, and the exiles were hiding in the temple, protecting the altar. After some messages back and forth I decided to make a run for it from the library to the temple. That is not far to run, but as I dived inside, I was almost fallen.. I do hope Master Hekus will finish the altar, and soon!

I am slowly improving my skills. Master Swengus told me that teaching me has taught him much. The first master to tell me that. I am still a dancer and not a bricker though. I am not a detha freak, never will be. I see new beasts that totally ignores the exile´s defense, where other trainings are more important. Since I am a Sylvan, one of those is Darkus´ lessons. I have not ignored him in the past, but the time has come to let him train me some more. I am dreaming of soloing Fury´s at night. And hunt Greymyr´s and Tree giants. And see other places than the dark chamber and hunt other beasties than undines. I helped to kill a greymyr some days ago. My first!

Finally, everything is back to normal, or almost. The altar is complete, the healers can now self-heal again, but some are complaining that their ability to do so is reduced. Did we win? I guess we did, but many questions are still unanswered. What was the spell Qual talked about that was "almost woven"? The one he used to shatter the altar with or something else? The warships the parchment reveals, have we already encountered these or are they still building them? Will we see Bartok again? I do not know.

Syndir has passed. Michael Aridfox was the one who helped him. I will miss him, indeed I will. May you finally have peace of mind Syndir. His wisdom and kindness was a blessing to those who knew him. Never has there been a Zo like him, and I doubt I will ever meet one again.

Ever since I came to the lands, I have had this dream of once be in a group hunting ´Myrs. And some days ago that dream came true. And I was useful even, as I can hit the beasts thanks to lessons with Atkus. Hunting in GMV is loads of fun, as the `Myrs piles up, rocks everywhere, and those pesky wendies that get in the way. Thankfully no rats chewing on the fallen. My first encounter with the Myr was in eastfield. It was one who was a long way from home. I never had seen one before, and I didn´t know what to do with it. I did know however that attacking it would be futile.. So I sent out a S.O.S. over SS, and was told to dump it off somewhere further from town. And I did. I lured, whirled, ran and dodged it deep into southforest. My first dance with the Greymyr...

Tigger had this strange dream , and here is his poem retelling it. The healer who dreamt of being a mystic..

Week 43

Vagile has not accepted my resignation from the Navy, I am still Mastergunner, but now in Fleet One, with My love as captain. I was however able to pay Vagile back the respect she showed me.. I heard something on the grapevine, about Vagile and a certain Thoom, and with some persuasion I managed to make her promise me a medal. Hooray!

Many things has happened in recent days. And swc has been busy with other things when I have been in the library so she have not been able to assist me. That is why my diary hasn´t been updated for awhile.

One major thing that happened was that my love was charged for theft. Indeed, theft. Gumdar the Innkeeper was missing some bottles of solvent, and charged my love for the crime. My love was found guilty and sentenced to jail. Even if I tried to convert the jury to vote innocent. In the same moment as Bellafae stated the verdict, I got a message from who else than The Black Knight! His voice in my head ringing, I ran from the courthouse to the jail, but my love wouldn´t speak to me, lost as he was in his own thoughts. As soon as he was released, he rushed down to the brambles, and fell. I did not get a chance to speak to him, as he then left. And shortly after I got an enchanted mail where he said that he had left both RQ and the Knighthood!

Nevertheless, it be not fitting that others should share in my shame and disgrace. So they be not unwittingly or unwillingly associated with one who has been convicted by his peers of such crimes, I do hereby resign from the Fellowship of the Red Quill, and from The Order of True and Gentle Knighthood. Sleipnir.

I had to do something. As soon as I sensed his presence again in the lands, I asked him several times if he would come with me to the Clan-registrar, but he refused to do so. I know that look in my beloved´s eyes when he has made a decision, but I wanted to try yet another time. So I told him I was going to charge myself of the crime, blaming it all on me to clear his name. Even that was not enough to make him change his mind, and I knew I had to save him from himself. I ran up to the townsquare, told all to Malkor, and asked him to do his duty as a citizen of Puddleby. And he did.

In court I pledged them to find me guilty, thus clearing my love of the crime committed. But I fear this is not enough . Not in the eyes of my beloved, as he judges himself harsh still. I do not know what to do. This honor of his threatens to destroy our happiness, and all I can do is watch it die...sigh.. And it really was no theft at all, as we did intend to give the martini´s back to the rightful owner. Yes, not solvent, martinis. And as a matter of fact, Sleipnir has already done just that. If you wonder why, and who the rightful owner is, the answer is in my diary-if you read it closely.

The sister witches Ashe and Prue are of course delighted. Ashe even has the nerve to post this letter, stating that this whole ordeal was a birthday gift for Prue!

Keemhan , an old man, walked into town one day and said he sold stories. Spad and some others gave him coins, and he then told them the Tale of Tsrrin.

My love has moved up to the lake, and will not return until I call him. He wants me to relent he says. My words were harsh he says. He is a living dead he says. All I wanted was to matter. That my actions and words meant something. Maybe it is pride as Urgelt says it is, but when I heard that Sir Zwei had made him put his clan symbol back on, and not a word I said - I swear I was so hurt I wanted to throw myself at sea. I threatened to sue myself, taking all the blame of the theft. He was unmoved. I got Malkor to charge me for the crime, got thrown in jail - he was unmoved. And with only some words Sir Zwei succeeded in what I could not. He can stay up in the lake for awhile, contemplating. I do love him still. I do. And yet I find myself hunting in north forest every so often these days....sigh.

The feast of Tsrrin.

How to explain the madness... It all started when a costume vendor came to town, and put up his tent on the west side of town. There were many costumes to chose from, although female costumes were lacking. I was so lucky to be invited to a `Myr hunt in Greymyr Village, all in spriggin costumes. While I made my way to the passes, I was chewed on by the regular forest beasts. I tell you, I have never seen the size of a vermin before. I mean, really seen it. And those Myr´s , oh dear.. swc turned the names off, but somehow this didn´t make it to the visionstone. It´s a pity, as hunting in that group, only with a bunch of spriggins and Myrs around was a great experience.

There were this drake in the costume shop that seemed to have a taste for the sweet things in life. And, being a drake and all - he was in charge of the drake-costume. But he had to be persuaded to give it you. So, a candy hunt in town was called for. I did get that costume, and was going to make a sketch of me in it in the rocky cavern. Sadly, an earth quake got me before I could make the sketch, and Urgelt saved my carcass for the umptienth time.

I particularly liked this costume. The flashing red light when you hit something was pretty neat.. Prue made the assumption that this was the bathrobe of The Black Knight. My question is , how in Gaia´s name does she know how his bathrobe looks like...

Time for the weekly RQ hunt. And we found out that this costume was most appropiate to go and kill beasties in. We are trying to do the Conga, but failed miserably as you can see. We will never make it into the thoom conga, but then again - as Tayra so wisely stated, we can not all be Thooms. I had heard some talk about a certain kidnapping of Malachi, and several of RQ´s members were mentioned. I asked Tuan earlier, but of course all he said was that he knew nooothing.. And that Malachi probably was angry ´cause of some hitting Tuan had done, involving Tuan´s fist and Malachi´s chins. I don´t know. You can´t get anything out of Tuan if he doesn´t want to. All you get then is his phrase Yupyup, which of course tells you nooothing.. So, deep down in southforest, in the T´rool-mine, I asked Manx about this. And I was able to understand a little bit more. But don´t ask me, I will not tell. In fact, I guess I know nooothing too..

As the feast evolved and developed, strange things took place. Since we are actually celebrating the planet´s alignment, that seems to have a strange effect on the exiles. I came out of the library, only to find the whole town invaded by Undine. Not the usual kind of undine mind you, but exiles that had fallen to something, and were then turned into one. As it happened, you seemed to have your powers still. Thankfully, Slasher did not fall more than once, and when he did he departed and killed his own undine self. I do not like to depart if there is a slim chance of being saved. But my oh my, did it take time.. I am sorry to say I killed a bunch of exiles in my undine state. Although I did try to warn them beforehand. Adua fell too, and for awhile we were both trapped inside the jail. Many efforts were made to save me, but not until Slasher turned up did I fall.

Week 44

The feast of Tsrrin brought my love and me back together again. The events in town had made him leave the farm near the lake, as he could not resist helping his friends. And meeting in neutral ground was easier for me to do, then to go up there with bowed head and relent as he wished me to.

Merlisk challenged my love to a bad-pun contest. Both in the Savanna Maha costume. And of course , Healery the Penguin, Tayra the Thoom and Tarf the Dragonfly couldn´t resist this, so the contest had five entries. And Judges too! Papa the Bear, and Tuan Jimlad the Gnome. It was bad, real bad. And they were unstoppable! Healery has a visionstone and the transcript here.

Here is a taste of what the audience had to go trough:

Merlisk says, "Papa, you know you like me best - you can't hide your lion eyes."
Sleipnir says, "Very weak, very weak"
Tarf says, "buzz off"
Papa says, "atom and tarf gotta wait"
Merlisk says, "go away, flyboy"
Papa says, "merl end of the line"
Sleipnir says, "Paw Merlisk is *bound* to lose with rubbish like that"
Papa says, "heh"
(Babajaga cheers.)
Merlisk ponders, "heh"
Healery ponders, "Hidebound?"
Tayra ponders, "Hee hee, Atomical turns on a dino"
(Marfisa yawns)
Papa says, "subtle"
(Sleipnir cheers)
Papa says, "oh my"
Prue asks, "who made you the mane lion in charge?"
Babajaga exclaims, "Nice!!"
Papa says, "next"
Sleipnir says, "Can't *hide* from my cutting wit."
(Babajaga cheers.)
Papa says, "heh"
Merlisk says, "that's 2"
Merlisk says, "only 1"
Sleipnir yells, "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha"
Draupnir yells, "Boo!"
Healery says, "Aye, you'd have to run a fur piece to get away from it."
Papa says, "no"
Sleipnir says, "Oops"
Tayra asks, "What do you mane by that?"
Babajaga yells, "Hooray!"
Papa says, "okie"
Papa says, "judges gotta talk"
Merlisk says, "wait...round 2"
Papa says, "a LITTLE room wouldnt hurt"
Tayra says, "I'd say rather the reverse"
Prue says, "hee"
Sleipnir asks, "Has Healery had her turn?"
(Healery raises a wing for a comment.)
Prue says, "beat me to it Tayra"
Merlisk says, "yep"
Marfisa says, "They're a weak bunch, in the mane. They're taking it lion down."
Tarf says, "thanks, my mane man"
Draupnir exclaims, "Get that clown off the stage!"
Telisiane ponders, "Each round should have new costumes."
Ghrr ponders, "oops"
Tayra says, "Now you can't push it"
Papa exclaims, "ha!"
Merlisk says, "you're welcome"
Papa says, "good point"
Sleipnir says, "Of claws, we don't expect any better from Merlisk."
Healery ponders, "Pfff."
Merlisk says, "Hey...my pun was purrrfect"
Tayra says, "That was a real Sleiper"
Nikolai Kyrilov says, "hehehe"
Papa says, "okie"
(Sleipnir laughs and laughs)
(Babajaga laughs.)
Tarf says, "your puns are buggin me"

etc.etc.etc.etc.. They didn´t even stop when the judges left to talk private. They just went on and on. I had to beg them to come back so they could save us from this menace. The judge´s verdict was in this order: Tayra, Healery, Sleipnir, Merlisk and Tarf. Congrats! And of course they won prizes. Chain, cluster of spores, cigars. boomerang, and coppers!

Aki has written a letter explaining the current situation for the mystics , after the mystic hut burnt down during the feast of Tsrrin. There was an accident. An exile who shall remain nameless, smashed and kicked a jack-o-lantern into the mystic hut. It´s not completly destroyed though, but they need our help in collecting stones to rebuild the thing. Another sad news is that Solome died. She was not well, as many know, and her cure could not help her it seems. Read Alllinca´s account on what happened.

The mystic hut was rebuild fast. I didn´t even get a chance to help with it. The MA´s seems happy though when they come out of there. And they have gotten a new improved wand too. On a related note, Aki has achieved the rank of Journeyman Mystic. He is the first ever to get this far, my congratulations to him.

Everything seems quiet now after the feast. I am back in doing the thing I do best. Killing critters and staying alive while I do. Or sometimes fall. DC has been rebuild too, but result is not as good as the Mystic hut. The wailing spirits and skeletons are blocking the entrance now, since there is no walls holding them back. It means that it is not easy to gain access to the dark chamber , if at all. And I am back to running trough the lands again, looking for critters to kill and exiles and parties to join. And both can be hard to find sometimes. Because, it can not just be any critter any longer, which means that it can´t be any exile or party either. Without the regular hunt in DC, my learning has slowed down. And right now when I have so much to learn! Something has happened between Vagile and Prue, since Vagile now offers witch (Prue) stabbing . I do not know what though, maybe Prue offered one poisoned cookie too many.

My love has finally decided that he will be a bard-quester. Hooray! Any instrument-parts are of interest. If you haven´t heard my love´s work, ask Blue to play the Meadowdance for you in the lands, or use this. He has to wait for the full bard audition and reviews to become a quester though. These are scheduled for this Saturday (11/6) with a session at 12:00 PM (noon) and another at 8:00 PM Central.

Elenis´ quest to become a full ranger is coming to an end soon I hope. This exile has been a good friend and companion ever since I came to the lands. He was my first mentor in knowing the lands and it´s history. It will be an honor to have him among us.

It seems the reason for Vagile´s stabbing service was that Prue stole some coppers from Vagile. Hard earned coppers that Vagile would use to buy lizards with I´m sure. Strangely enough, she hasn´t had one request. She thought she was going to make a lot of coppers on this service, apparently not. I find that strange too, since I was sure that a nameless Fen´would ask for this kind of action. Ah well..

Wiktus has a new merchant in his hut. One that sells magical clubs. They seem to prevent you from swinging out. Nice to have I guess. I can´t afford one, I am busy collecting coppers for my love´s sunstone. Never mind that I need a new wardrobe, and a shiny dagger would be useful at this point, but ah well. I have never owned a Great Sword, probably never will. And I don´t need one right now. One of those Oak Basher´s would be nice, only to own something extraordinary. What I would really like is a runestick, but I have´t seen one since before the war. The merchants from Peaceton come now and then and offer weapons for a lower price than Wiktus does. Alas sunstone prices are the same though.

Just a note to let all ye who seek music know that there are eight new Full
Bards within Puddleby! Congrats go out to:

Perkusi
Roowan
Sala Dragon
Sans Sarif

Hawkthorn
Nikolai Kyrilov
Slinky
Sor

Huzzah!
Phineas

Week 45

I am now thankfully able to at least hit a TG again, although not solo it yet. Strange to think of really, I soloed TG´s a long way back. Now I can´t . But this beast is a mean one. Not so hard to hit, but it sure can hit back. Oak giant is it´s name. I met these before, as some had lost their way and walked into Puddleby months ago. TG´s is not the only thing I find hard to solo these days. It seems the trainers have been busy giving lessons to the beasties. On my list of used-to-solo-but can´t now, is the Greywyrm. And I had a quick hunt in savanna today. Those brown Maha´s have been training too it seems. Although I can solo one without too much difficulty, it hit me more than I like. So, now I am forced to hunt in groups, whether I am in the mood or not. Because, if one brown Maha can take me down to yellow, the hunt is not productive enough for me. Of course I can run , hide, rest in the camp, but with my slow Troilus it´s not worth the time. I will check back in a week or two I think. Maybe it´s yet another of those points where my training makes me vulnerable.

Sometimes, just sometimes, the exiles of Puddleby can organize. Look at this sketch. All neatly lined up in two rows, waiting for their turn to hit that Liche. And a liche"rod" in front. Nice..

Arod told me and my beloved a sad tale some days ago. One claiming to be from Peacton wanted to sell a Great Sword. Here is what he told me :

..I was conned by one the other day, a zo named Brak'trin. Now I must sell my SD to repay J'nder. This Brak'trin had a GS for sale for but 5000 coins...I borrowed some money from J'nder, arranged a cash and item trade, but Brak ran with the cash...as he fled he muttered something about needing the money for his master to buy "new slaves. I heard recently we exiles may have sunk a slave ship of some kind...perhaps these events are related. I was unable to chase Brak'trin...he vanished too quickly to be an ordinary exile. Arod

Brak'trin may have lied of course, about being from Peaceton. Never the less, be careful to deal with this Zo, and/or charge him if he tries another of his tricks.

Eep. My sunstone shuddered. Not broken yet, but I fear it will soon. And just as my treasure fund was growing too. After helping my love with his SS, if I can convince him to accept the coppers that is, I will still have a small amount left. And I am busy skinning things I can skin too. I don´t learn so much from doing that of course, I am not one of Skea´s best students, but I like to think I have some coppers in the bank. Still, I am feeling wealthy enough. I am the proud owner of 3 clusters of bramble berries, and 3 pieces of metal!

Last night I fell to a vermin again. But so did Urgelt and Fuzz too. Don´t believe me? Hear this.. We had been hunting wyrms in the cave and wanted to do the regular TG check up in Urgelt´s grove. When running around the sn´ell, we must have disturbed this year´s vermin convention or something, because we were jumped by hundreds of vermins. I mean, and repeat, hundreds. Equipping my dagger, trying to dance the beasts - stringing them out, I was eventually surrounded and fell in seconds. I saw Urgelt valiantly fight the horde, but he had to bite the dust too. As we toggled for help, Urgelt counted how many he had killed. 230 he said. 230! My effort was not like that at all, merely 50 of those had I killed before I fell. A group came and carefully killed them off, and we got raised thankfully. But oh dear, now I know what 500 vermins can do. They keep us humble I suppose...

Weezoh made it! He is now a Journeyman! Congrats and hooray!!

Under a recent depart tour to the island of Dal´Noth, we met this ´Noth. I have no idea what this means, but here it is anyway. Maybe a wiser mind than me can understand what he is talking about.

The Sun Dragon Clan will host a jam session in a few days. The prizes are high. I think the 1 prize was around 5000 coppers! Here is the letter from Speedier.

I write this in honor of one of the bravest rescues I have seen in a while. Jackie has always been controversial. Complaints you hear often is that she fights more than she heals. She trains Hardia and Higgrus before anything healer specific. If you are one of those that cry loud about this way of training for a healer, look at this sketch. She is taking hits from a wraith while healing Fuzz. Some in this party said : Get more Faustus Jackie! . If she had had more faustus, she couldn´t do what she did. Other healers stayed in the tree to the east, and healed her up when she was low red. Then she came back. Patient, one at a time we all got up. There is many other situations where such a healer is needed. Where no one else can rescue. Before the war, Jackie was the one saving exiles who fell in the lava room. The only healer who could walk over the lava, fight those skeletons, and get the fallens up. Jackie is the Tank-Healer. And we need her and her way of training too. Love the diversity, and stop complaining.

Pirates! At the dock! Early one morning we heard pirate glam from the west. We searched the shores but found nothing. They must have taken another route, as we soon were invaded by Darshak Blades and their ilk. They even dared to enter our harbor! Speaking of ships, remember Toolsa´s translation of the Ash-Parchment? The warships? Not one day goes by without a warship at sea. I guess "The Alliance" got what they asked for.

Lovely beasties, aren´t they. Sun wyrms they are called. A newborn could easily solo one of these, I have never actually seen it hit anyone. It´s hard to hit though, and needs to be trapped. And by the way, I can now solo the Grey Wyrm again. Hooray! I just have to dance it a bit. And be lucky...