Fordi, day 76 of Spring, 553

28 exiles ventured out today, including 2 Full Mystics and 4 Bloodbladers.

We advanced steadily right to the Pitch Caves in about 60 minutes.

The set-up in Cave 1 went quite smoothly, and we were quickly in control there. Sai unfortunately took her leave here by Pendant, as we advanced to clear Cave 2. Having 4 Bloodbladers along proved a great boon, since as one or two fall, another is ready to step in for the kill. They had a workout today, as we ran into about a dozen Pitch Arachnoids in the caves. 5 Pitch Arachnoids were lured out of Cave 2 and they were quickly killed one-by-one in Cave 1. We advanced through Cave 2 quickly, and the first half of Cave 3 seemed empty but for one quickly-killed Pitch Arachnoid. As we advanced the the far end of Cave 3, 2 Pitch Arachnoids tried to jump us unawares, but were both quickly brought down.

Moving from Cave 3 to Cave 4 has proved our undoing many times, and today was nearly one of them. We deftly handled 4 Pitch Arachnoids lured from Cave 4, and that cave then seemed clear. The call to advance went out, and the group rushed into Cave 4. Just near the bridge, a Crimson spawn appeared among the vanguard and killed a number of exiles (including 3 of the Bloodbladers). Those who could quickly retreated back to Cave 3. Before we could really recover, 3 Crimson Noids came over and killed every fighter but Natas, and then it started on the healers. It was a very frustrating moment, since I was attacking 2 of these that were red, but they kept retreating through their webs, staying just beyond my reach, while of course still attacking me. I was fuming, since I could have finished one or both if I could have just inched close enough, but I was stuck fast. Natas thankfully danced clear of the many webs and finished the 2 wounded ones, then killed one healthy Crimson to boot! We recovered quickly, but it was extremely close to disaster!

At last, we gathered in Cave 5 once again. Raldin was bearing a Strange Stone today, but Rincewind unfortunately was not.

CJ parker and Yor conferred for a time and selected a core teleport team (me, Natas, Snowlion, Thuja, Jade), who would get a cross-share from Raldin and thus be sure teleport to Cave 6. Natas and I were tasked with planting Zu at the first neck of the cave to the Northeast. The others in the group gathered in close, in hopes that they too might be swept along. As Raldin activated his stone, I was pleased to see that many of us were glowing, not just the core 6!

Raldin's teleport from Cave 5 while standing on the Teleport Booster stone set in the floor did indeed carry along more than his own 5 cross-shared exiles, since 16 exiles in all appeared in cave 6. That's quite a number! Well done!

That is great news for future exploration trips, since with 2 Mystics with Strange Stones, we should be able to bring the entire group in.

Everyone in the group should make an effort to help our Mystic members obtain Strange Stones at every opportunity!

Once I regained my senses, I immediately ran to the Northeast and found it clear, and planted a Zu wall there to prevent Noids from entering the main hall. Natas then appeared from the North side, and stepped through a small gap which he sealed behind him. I'm not sure if he appeared further North or had run there scouting a bit.

Meanwhile, the others quickly killed the few Arachnoids in the landing zone. Several folks fell to Noids or webs though. Very quickly, webs began to fly in from every direction, from outer region of the spiral cave. Apparently the "walls" between the inner landing zone and the outer spiral of the cave are no impediment to thrown webs, either.

I tried to distract the web-throwing Arachnoids that started accumulating at the Zu wall, so the healers could raise some fallens. Folks were wandering about all over, and soon much of the cave floor was littered with webs. Several exiles were unraisable with the Horus strength we had available. Jade tried to rod webs from the South, and Kyp from the Northeast, but there was a continual rain of webs throughout the cave. We could never stabilize enough to start luring and killing Noids beyond the wall, and there were far too many stacked at the wall to run past.

Eventually, Raldin tried to teleport out, and several folks gathered near him, but he fell during the attempt and we ended up jumping only a short way within the same cave (and still inside the zu wall). Natas then openned an Ethereal Portal, which I immediately fell into - since it openned right at my feet. Others gathered our fallens and headed into the Ethereal Plane too. I fell there before another Portal could be openned, as did some others, but some did escape into Purgatory.

The remaining folks in Cave 5, who didn't teleport along with Raldin, then entered their own Ethereal Portal, and searched around the Ethereal Planes to find and rescue the fallens from the Cave 6 group.

It was a stunning development, finally determining that a Mystic can indeed teleport more than 6 exiles at once, when standing on what is clearly a Teleport Booster stone in Pitch Cave 5. Raldin seemed to think that 16 might be a limit for him, and could be increased with further training.

We did not make any real progress in further mapping of cave 6, unfortunately, since no one exited past the Zu wall. Maybe a Spriggin Stick might have got someone out, away around the circle from where the Noids had collected? Or designated explorers sent out before we set the up the wall? I did get to scan for paths along the periphery of the landing zone and saw none there.

We clearly need a strategy for dealing with PC6 though.

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