Current Training: Balthus with Urgelt.

Circle test this week: Getting the hang of my new greataxe gets me dead quickly, twice.

Donations: Helping Cassia Allin build fortifications.

Exploration: Not much new.

Sombdi, day 30 of Spring, 550.

I have been doing a lot of hunting to get a feel for my new Greataxe.

I was pleased to find a single Young Sasquatch roaming about on the beach at Melabrion's Island, and managed to kill it alone by dodging around the rocks.

It's nice to know I can do this, although it has yet to happen in the Fighter test arena.

I also tried fighting one of these beasts alone in the Coliseum this evening, but had considerably less luck.

With no barrier to dodge behind while I recover my balance, I am an easy target for those regular, strong blows.

I quickly fell without doing too much damage, much to my embarassment.

Also at Melabrion's Island, I joined a fine group of exiles recently to kill an Angry Mother Sasquatch.

With a bit of help along, these have become fairly easy game, if not without serious hazards.

During a recent hunt at the East Cove cavern of Kizmia's Island, Mujin-kun and I found a couple dozen Harvest Lyfelidae.

Even in their nighttime form, these are not too threatening, but in large numbers even the daytime form can quickly wear down my health.

We did manage to chase all these down eventually, and accumulated quite a pile of coins from the nice pelts.

Now where do I sign up for that Lyfelidae Challenge?

One annoyance I had had quite often is that I will have some extra things in my pack to sell off, and whenever I check with Rafirr to see if she can sell it off for me, she says she is too backlogged.

I think this is because there are many more exiles awake in the hours just before I usually wake up, and they are busy filling her storage bins every day before I can get to see her.

It is very frustrating to have to keep waiting and waiting for an opening.

Sombdi, day 2 of Spring, 550.

I was recently pleased to take Freyja on as a student in the arts of balanced fighting.

Well, Winter is now gone and I am still training Balthus in hopes of finally reaching my goal of being certified as a teacher of Swengus.

It can't be far off now ...

There is much talk of "Champions" in the Fighter Hall lately, so I sought out Master (errr, Mistress?) Champus to learn the truth.

She was impressed with my general fighter training, but noted that I have never bothered to learn to use my Fell Blade properly.

Eventually I will train some with it, as it is a worthy blade, but I doubt I will ever follow the path to become recognized as Champion. It sounds like it does not suit my temperment and inclinations.

I ran into some fairly rare beasts in my coin hunts lately, the Dire Feral (North Plains) and a pair of Cinder Bears (Bear Cave).

Flush with coins, I decided to finally purchase that Greataxe I've had my eye one for so long. Witkus didn't seem interested in any discounts, but I bought it anyway. With all the Balthus and Regia I have trained in recent times, I felt I could handle one of these deftly now.

The Fighter Test arena is probably not the best place to get the feel for a brand new blade, and it showed in my performance today. I did kill both Midnight Wendecka, and it seemed it took fewer swings, but I also got hit more often too since I double-swung a couple of times. By the time I faced the Orga Wrath, I was hurting pretty badly. It only took two hits to slip through for him to finish me off.

With practice, though, I am hopeful that the greataxe will help my test performance.

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