Wanted!

I´m looking for a skilled tailor who would like to settle down in or around Arilon! Skill with the needle, a steady hand and a good eye for the fine differences in the colors of Arilonians are a must-have! Long-time professional experience is nice, but no neccessity. Masters who would also take apprentices will be preferred in the casting!

PS: Renovo is a thief, not a tailor!

News about Rrohan

Yesterday i finally got some news concerning my friend Rrohan, chief of some Kyttyn living peacefully in the howling woods. The day did start well, i was finally able to buy a Harness and reinforced gloves, thanks to the nice hunt in niamph jungle the day before. I am really looking forward to fight with my new equipment, which i couldn´t really get used to until now, as Leda is so nice to glue a magic crystal on my gloves. I´m sure once i get used to the different feeling of the armour, i´ll have better chances at surviving in battles, maybe even in Birgils test.

But when i wanted to visit the Kyttyns hideout after some skinning in Kittyland, i was a little unheeding and let myself be trapped by some Varpis close to the entrance to the village. Already bleeding from several wounds i didn´t manage to escape the trap and fell. A little later i was found by Balaforn and Dolphins, but alas! Dolphins couldn´t heal me! Suddenly i heard some rustling in the leaves and Haou'tiss appeared. She´s a handsome Kyttyn living in the village i wanted to visit. She was very sympathetic with me and luckily had a red potion in her pockets which helped Dolphins enough to be able to revive me. I only had a glass of milk for Haou'tiss to show my gratitude, but appearently she liked it.

Then Haou'tiss waved goodbye and headed for the woods again. Just before she left i was remembering why i had come at all and asked her, if she knew wether Rrohan was well. She didn´t know exactly, but at least she could tell me, where he is, so my greatest fear (that he didn´t survive the great storm) has proved vain.



Another interesting thing may be the uprising of "Orgaism", a new cult. I first observed Terra Bul being a follower of it, when she tried to convince us to spare the Orga we met in Niamph. Now Ursus seems to have joined in, he refuses to kill any Orga, even those who attack him. He claims the Orga have a long, old history and are the remains of a big civilisation and ought to be spared. But having strong arms sometimes he accidently swings at an Orga, he kills them and then will pray for foregiveness. My only hope is that this cult doesn´t spread much further, as this would expose our town to the forces of the Dor'Shak, which must be avoided at all costs (even eternal punishment for killing lots of Orga).

Getting the crystal

Yesterday a big group went to the Caverns of Darkness again to explore them further. Waltraud, an Elder, had told us should try to get a crystal from there for the construction of something to defeat the Dor'Shak while she would try to decipher the parchment further.

The first caves were quickly left behind, much to my relief. Not only are most parts of the caverns flooded with water beyond sight, there are even treacherous rapids and sharp rocks just beyond the surface. Luckily i always managed to get to the next landing place without getting wet. The group which had been there last time had made considerable progress after i left and so we managed to get beyond the fourth monolith before we had to find gems again.

Luckily the islands in this part were connected by bridges, so there was not even the risk of drowning. The caves here were not inhabited by worms any longer, but by Famhair, green-clad dwarves, looking very much like Urdar. They fought more fierce than the worms, but driven by Ursus' claim that they would take our gold if they overwhelm us led to fast and bloody fights quickly decided to our favor. Of course each gem was guarded by a tougher foe than the Famhair, it were Sahmpuicean. The "Papa-Dwarves" reminded me of stone-golems, but their skin was much softer and more easily penetrated with a weapon. So we gathered all the gems we needed and finally got the last password: Gabhadh.

It led to an open space with a monolith leading back to Andoria and a big stone-door with a rusty wheel. We felt we were close to the deepest cavern where we might find what we were looking for and so the door was pulled open in a short time. Inside we were surprisedby lightening towers, which immediately began sending bolts towards us and so made battle difficult. The few Cuideaghs (crab-like creatures) were quickly overwhelmed and after reorganising with rodding the towers torn down: the beach was secured and ours! Stepping to the edge near the water brought sight of something i propably hate even more than sitting in a boat when it rains: we had to fight big monsters in boats while being the aim of unavoidable lightening bolts!

Anyway, we couldn´t stop while the target was in reach and so a series of getting a boat, trying to hurt the Nessies swimming in front of the dock as much as possible, being struck by lightening and retreating to the beach came up until we finally managed to get some room to move. Unfortunately i fell while sitting in a boat and so i ended up wet and rather displaeased. Somehow we managed to trap the Each-Uisge, a gigantic Nessie with an impressive head adornment. It had fins the size of a Nor and its neck was so long that the head towered several meters above us! Bug still we managed to land blow upon blow and aided by magic boosts, heals and rodding finally we killed it. Joy spread when we discovered not only the hoped-for crystal, but also a chest containing 500 coins!

Being Arilonians of course we wanted to explore every last bit of this cavern, so we destroyed the remaining lightening towers on the isles and killed the remaining foes before deciding we couldn´t do anything more. I hope we will soon hear from Waltraud what else we need to get or how this crystal can be used against the Dor'Shak, which stays the main aim.

The caverns of Darness

Sunday was a very eventful day. First i decided to visit Birger for the first time and see how far my progress towards the next circle is. I was very tense, when i entered the test area as i had no idea how well i might do. As soon as i heard the gong the giant vermine came running towards me. I quickly slayed it and concentrated on the Zerk. Unfortunately the death vermine didn´t wait its turn and while quickly killing it the Zerk landed his only, but devastating hit: his fist crashed right on my left shoulder! It was no problem to finish the Zerk, but i couldn´t use my shield the way i am used to. In this state i had to face the Fury, the true challenge of the test. And so came what i was expecting. The fury deked a blow with its left, but hit with its right fist and i was staggering backwards, holding my side. Two or three more blows decided the uneven match in favor of the fury. It seems i still have a lot to learn and maybe i should focus on getting some better armour aswell.

A little while later, Lider came to town. What happened then may be too long to tell, so i will try to tell the story with some scetches i made:


































































































































Newt also wrote a little summary, if you rather want to read about it.

The secret library

Yesterday we were able to deliver the last food packages for the starving inhabitants of Dinken. Some Hyena and snakes tried to stop us, but we safely arrived the Wasteland-town, where we also learned that some of the craftsmen had already regained their strength and begun working. They´ve already created a stack of Oakbashers and Aneways, which they are selling now.

On our way back we learned that Bingro and Cleo had fallen in the Varpi passage. Of course we headed there and then decided to visit the new cave in howling woods and explore its depths. Quickly we were in the midst of huge hordes of skeletons trying to carve a way through. Usually we had only a few moments to catch our breath before we had to rise the axe again and smash another few dozen bones of freshly arrived skeletons. As they are the revived remains of very different people its impossible to tell the strength of an Undead before crossing blades with it. At one point a particularly strong warrior must have been revived, as a single skeleton killed nearly the whole group. But as we got a little more coordinated and kept together we advanced in the cave.

The center of the first cave is dominated by a burning gallow, which radiates enormous heat, that singes fur and skin alike. In the second cave we found a huge skull-like statue, with burning eyes and mouth.

Another cave leading from there brought us into a hidden library where Der'ka and Herriot watch over several dozen books stolen from King Leorics library and try to keep them hidden from the Undead. The titles suggest they are all related to blood magic or Necromantism. Maybe our mages are able to learn something from them.

When we gathered for the way back, Newt didn´t look too optimistic, but although it took some tries until everyone could breeze fresh air again we didn´t have to leave anyone behind and left the cave with some thing to ponder upon.

What a storm can change

Two days ago another storm swept the lands. You may say a storm is nothing unusual, but this one was strong enough to change parts of the landscape.

One of the biggest changes may be that it revealed lots of places where skilled pathfinders may squeeze through shortcuts to places far away. As it seems the ways to Niamph, PartyBeach and Akvumi are littered with those. To me it was a real pleasure to strafe the lands and find lots of previously unknown paths.

That same evening a call reached everyone in the lands: Abe had fallen to a skeleton! It turned out he had discovered, that the strange towers on graveyard were accessable now. They are housed by Skeletons and Zombies, which were rather quickly overwhelmed. At the top level of each tower there is a door closed with a handwheel. Behind these doors a Sammael is waiting with some Undead. Sammaels have the body of gigantic wolves, but their fur has the color of brown stained with blood. They are firece enemies, but the group brought them down.
There were also some people living in these towers and some bookshelves with interesting titles, but i couldn´t concentrate on them that evening. It remains unknown wether some passwords might reveal more of the towers. Also the statues inside these towers are definately worth a travel. I think i found some which might make for a nice decoration of the entrance of my house once i get it.

Lots of Skeletons roaming the Howling woods also lead to the discovery of a new area. I haven´t entered it yet, but it seems the Skels are coming from a cave hidden by a lake a little northwest


of Leilahs tower. Maybe a group can enter the cave at an acceptable risk and start exploring it.

Another mystery is why the myrm have dug tunnels until right under the town center aswell as holes there, so that smaller Myrm are constantly found around the fountain. A group entering the myrmhive has found nothing unusual yet.

Yesterday i was invited to join an Ardvell hunt. Happy about the opportunity to see the region again, i joined. To my dismay i learned that the plan wasn´t to hunt in the forest, no, they wanted to try to hunt some red spiders! In itself that is no problem (well, besides being suicidal maybe), but you have to go a long way by boat! But my sense for adventure and exploration proved stronger than my fear and so i stayed with the group when each of us chose a nutshell north of the eastern temple in Kittyland. The passage through Noths was rather uneventful until 2 Tae-Su, naasty things with lots of tentacles living in the water tried to ambush us. But soon we arrived on the muddy river of the Ardvell-river.

The journey became much tougher from here. We encountered several Sekats (even bigger, nastier and more arms than Tae-Su), which we killed pretty fast after some problems in the beginning. Sadly we couldn´t land near the portal place, too many mammuth spiders were waiting on the plateau. But Abe proved to be skilled with his magic chain and some well-aimed throws captured a few of the small spiders, which he maneuvered down to us. It turned out the fighters could brick them and so we killed them rather easily (which may also have been due to the fact that the spiders had to struggle as much against drowning as against us).

Newt and me became more and more uneasy and so we proposed to land in Burh Fierlen and check wether there were less big spiders at the entrance there. But already the next snell held another nasty surprise: a Baby Ogopogo! Curious as Arilonians are we surrounded it and tried to kill it and to our surprise we managed rather well and within 2 tries we could bring down the giant beast! Abe even managed to recover the scales, worth 38 coins!

1 mile from Burh Fierlen disaster came upon us. We met another Baby Ogopogo and despite my warnings that it is bad luck to fight in a boat while it rains (can you imagine a more disgusting place than somewhere where there´s water in every possible direction?) we engaged it. Of course this one was way stronger than the first and so we had to depart after all the healers were capsized.

All in all it was a very challenging and interesting hunt, although being in a boat for such a long time spoiled my excitement a little (and it will take days to get all that mud out of my clothes and fur). I hope we can soon land earlier, even if some spiders guard the landing place.

Orgas getting more fierce

I don´t know wether one of the Orga escaped us the day before and reported to the Dor'Shak or if it was just his displeasure that he didn´t learn of any greater devastation in Arilon, but it seems the Dor'Shak is trying to get control of our home.

While all the Arilonians but Reizende were on a rescue in the Niamph jungle (or being rescued there) he sent his minions to TC where they quickly erected a hut near Locus tree and a statue near the fighter hall. It was a nasty surprise to find these buildings when coming home. This time the enemy force had also grown not also more numerous, but there were also stronger Orga around. And once more they were accompanied by some pirates, which may be a hint to the base of the Dor'Shak and also a hope, that the scroll found at the Korsaro-fortress might reveal some weakness of his.

Before we could bring down the structures, we had to concentrate on eliminating everything hostile walking around and so we battled not only the alredy common Dissens- and Frostorga, but also several Fearless, some (Snow) Zerks, but also a rage. Suddenly our ranks became a mess and everyone tried to get away. An Orga Dredlock was lose in town! After some chaos, we managed to reorganize, lure it away, kill the rest and then tear down the structures (peaceful and communicative as we are we even tried to communicate with the enemy before countering their persistent attacks). After a quick heal for everyone, we engaged the Dredlock, who can take a lot, but a dozen weapons constantly slashing his thick skin brought him down before he could do much damage. It was the end of the invasion, although i fear more will come soon, hopefully the Dor'Shak doesn´t command even stronger foes.

Reizende start fightermode!

Yesterday Jazzmertize and me where dozing a little in TC, when we were suddenly surrounded by a mass of fast-grown wake-me ups. Luckily there was soon help coming out of the Meditower and even Reizende left her tree to watch order being restored and heal us. While we were busy she often looked as if she herself would like to join the fight (or to say it with zyrober: Reizende start fightermode!)


Later that evening the Dor'Shak "visited" Arilon once again with 2 Zerk bodyguards. After he killed all of us he demanded that we should leave "his" town. Jazzmertize threatened him, but he laughed and said a piece of paper couldn´t hurt him. Hopefully the parchment will reveal some weakness of him he is not aware of. Afterwards he threatened to come back with his army soon to clean Arilon of us.
With his remaining bodyguard he left then, but if his army is similar as the small raid force he left us in town (including some Warlocks, some Frost Orgas and a Fearless) i have no fear for our home.

Thanks to Lafaborn i was able to purchase Mynna Bracers today! He was so kind to help me get to Mynna, which i wouldn´t have dared alone. Thanks! They weigh a little more due to the additional layer of leather, which seems to take me a little off balance, but if they are a real improvement only some battles can show.

A little later i went to Snowland to help Terra Bul and Lafaborn to find and raise Rion Taur'ar. As there were some beasts lurking on the plateau we decided to ahve some fun. First we tried to bring down a bear, but some incoming Lyfelidaes made that fight tough. I lured some away and Terra decided she´d like a nice snow-white fur for warmth. Of course i couldn´t reject that request and so i was able to recover the fur of a Lyfe which was worth 22 coins! We managed to get the bear eventually aswell and his fur was worth 17 coins aswell, so the battle at the ladder to plateau paid off well. I hope Terra won´t freeze anymore when going into Snowland from now on, i handed the Lyfe-fur to her back in TC, it had amazingly few little cuts from the fight.

Lots of boats and some good news

In the past weeks i´ve meditated quite a lot, which i noticed right away when hunting again. Meditating is just not as refreshing as a good catnap, you always come out of the tower with some aching muscles from the hard floor and your reactions are rather slow in the beginning.

Anyway, when i left the Meditower, i could participate in a number of interesting hunts in the last days, including killing some Wendies, Wildhorses (yay, i finally found my first 2 leather!) and some hunts on Mirrin Islands. Luckily we had some nice groups, otherwise i wouldn´t have dared taking one of the small boats Roderick is renting at Partybeach.

One of these hunts first led us through the Barwidgee Forest, where i was asked to look for a path leading to Aroona, but i couldn´t find any. So we had to go to Mynna and take a boat (*sigh*) to Aroona, but luckily the waterways on the Island itself are rather smooth. When we finally landed at the teaseller-safe, we crossed the bridge and headed south. We had a nice group and even bigger packs of Tigris were overwhelmed by us. Of course i took the opportunity to recover some of their nice furs, lots of them were worth more than 10c. In the south we turned east and headed for the strange tower some of the group had already seen from the water. Reaching it turned out to be not much of a problem, but leaving the plateau again did, as lots of Aroona Pather were awaiting us. But thanks to some well-done chainruns and kudzuplanting we were able to slowly gain the upper hand again and head toward the Aroona lake, which we crossed again by Kyttyn-unfriendly means, by boat. My relief to land again was only a short one. We came to a little village, but most of the houses were either empty or closed and at the far end of it i already saw what had become familiar: a dock. Only the still impressive size of the group convinced me that nothing bad would happen and so we finally got back to Partybeach through miles of dangerous rocks sticking out of the water and currents wanting to smash my little boat on them. But this last boat trip also made for something new to me: a trip to Aroona and back without a depart!

Yesterday i was invited to come along to another Barwidgee hunt by a much smaller group, but i agreed nevertheless, i think i am slowly losing my fear of that ocean, which in itself is scaring me. I don´t think i´ll ever come to like it, but maybe i´ll one day be able to take a boat even alone without being too scared to take the paddles. It turned out to be a good decision, as we found enough Wolffur for me and Newt to get thick leather. Now i only have to wait for an opportunity to get to Mynna with a group and take some more coins, so i can have my bracers reinforced once more.

Although my search for items runs well at the moment i´m still a little uneasy when coming to the little Kyttyn village in the howling woods. Since the big storm i have found no sign at all from Rrohan, i begin to fear something has happened to my old friend. I´ll continue to inquire wether i can find any signs or news of him.