Current Training: Swengus.

Circle test this week: All-but-Sas, and depressing news.

Donations: Helping Cassia Allin build fortifications.

Exploration: Slowly examining several newly discovered caverns with vermine and arachnoids.

Sombdi, day 59 of Summer, 550.

Congratulations to Viola, Puddleby's first homegrown Champion!

I spoke to her about the experience, and she was excited yet somehow restrained. I thought it was from the effort she had expended to achieve this goal, but rather it is more from the sober realization of the long road that remains before her.

You think to Viola, "May I get a picture of you and your earthstone?"
Viola thinks to you, "I absorbed the earthstone during the ceremony, but you can get a picture of a mineral"
Azriel asks, "Have you noticed a big skill improvement?"
(Viola shakes her head)
Azriel asks, "or do you have a long road still ahead of you?"
Viola thinks to you, "I need training first, 8 new trainers"
Viola picks up a Dethite.

Mastering all of those skills could take her a very, very long time.

You think to Viola, "Do you think the champion race has hurt your reputation?"
Viola thinks to you, "Not generally, maybe with a few people."
You think to Viola, "Certainly, no one else was trying harder than you."
You think to Viola, "Will you help others with the ore requirement, since you seem to be an expert prospector?"
Viola thinks to you, "I am going to help Luther find some ore"
Viola thinks to you, "but it won't be the 20-40 lumps a day that I found so far, it will be more like 5 per day."

Viola has kindly submitted two short visionstones to the Puddleby Visionstone Repository for anyone interested in seeing her success and the interior of the Champion Hall.

Fordi, day 51 of Summer, 550.

When I awoke today, I was informed of a Slime Monster invasion in progress. The Slimes had been driven from town already, and exiles were pressing the attack back toward the source of the creatures in the Slimy Cavern near South Pass.

I never got close to there, since there were still ample Slimes wandering throughout the East Forest. I helped kill 34 Small and Tiny Slime Monsters near the East Forest Pathfinder trees, and found myself coated in gooey slime many times, before I had to withdraw to the Library.

Nightbird and I spent some time teaching each new wave of exiles to ignore the larger Slimes and concentrate on the smallest ones, to make actual progress at clearing the area of them. For some reason, folks always seem to want to hit the largest of these creatures, which makes the tactical situation worse, not better.

Others who went too deep into the forest found themselves surrounded and falling. Sagramor actually entered the Slimy Cave and survived to tell the tale, and he reported that it was so overful of Slime Monsters that he could not see the cavern floor! Baff and Baffina were not so lucky, and were eventually dragged out to safety on Darth Wader's chain.

The Slimes have been quite active lately, but I fear that no one knows why.

Sombdi, day 38 of Summer, 550.

I finally got my chance to examine the new Jade Arachnoid cavern in the Marsh.

I joined Mouser in the Marsh, and we jumped in to find ourselves instantly surrounded by a large group of Jade Noids. Naturally, we both fell very quickly while trying desperately to claw our way to the exit again. And so we began the long, slow slide to the bottom of the gravelly slope. It took a looooong time, since it is a very deep cavern.

Thankfully, a rescue group formed to help us out, since we had not bothered to ask a healer along with us (and if we had they would have died too).

After some time, we were indeed chained away and raised, and we stayed on to clear the cavern completely. Once it was apparently clear, Krandor and I took a moment to have a closer look around, and that's when disaster truck again when four more Jade Noids crawled out and blocked the narrow way to the exit. I managed to use Krandor's body on a chain and a stalactite to block blows from the Noids while hoping for a break to run out, when I was enmeshed in several thrown webs and fell. I never did see where the web-throwers were, but they were thrown in quantity from the darker depths of the cave.

Overall, I found it to be an interesting place to hunt, but one that requires a group to control properly. I was pleased to find that I killed most Jade Noids and dispatched few; on the other hand I vanquished none. I am not sure I will be in a rush to return here to hunt anytime soon though.

Fordi, day 30 of Summer, 550.

My studies have been long and intense in recent weeks, and I am glad to be able to get out of the Library once again to see the sunshine and hear the howls of defeated foes.

Much has happened since I was last roaming the Lands, apparently. At least three new caverns have been found, with vermine and arachnoids.

I continue to train with Swengus, and have passed the 960 and 970 marks without comment from Swengus about training others. I know that Kishi, who earned the most recent Ledger, did so before she had 1000 lessons, so my trial is finally nearing its end.

My efforts pursuing teacher status appear to have come with a price, however. Before my most recent (and unsuccessful) foray in the Fighter Testing arena, Cerberal gave me the depressing news that he considers most who have passed the test to be weaker than I am!

As usual, I think he is crazy. Since I still have less than 2000 total ranks, and 150 of those are in non-fighting skills, my impression is that if I did pass now it would be 'early' compared to others. In any case, while I certainly needed more Balthus and Regia training, these are - as I noted long ago - not the skillset I most need to pass this final test.

Just before I went into the library for my extended study, I helped rescue a group that had come to an untimely end in Jannar's Grove.

It was a 'normal' mix of Ferals, Spriggins and Tree Giants that day. One never knows what to expect lurking in that strange region, only that they will be there in large numbers!

I was able to whack away at the Ferals enough to clear space for me to chain the fallens away without slaughtering all the Tree Giants they had come to hunt.

I joined Urgelt hunting a Sunwyrm that had been reported at the River Tunnel cave.

I noticed right away that the river itself appeared much more twisty than it had in times past.

I had not been this way in ages however, and Urgelt informed me that the shifted riverbanks had been present for some time.

In another recent Sunwyrm hunt at the Rocky Cavern, I got to play at being the brick holding the beast while Urgelt found its exposed backside with his Fell Blade.

I look impressive, but the truth is that I switched with Urgelt after everyone else had tagged the beast and held it for just a couple minutes.

Still, it did miss me a surprising number of times.

Maybe all that Balthus is starting to give me a more impressive level of defense. Particularly, like here, if I am not swinging.

I took some time out of my usual routine to explore the recently discovered Vermine Tree tunnels in the South Forest, and found them chock full of all sorts of vermines. I whittled away at them for quite some time before the cave was clear.

I think perhaps this should be called the Gossamer Test Hall.

Curiously, as soon as I left there, I ran into an unexpected surplus of Island Panthers.

Where is that Panther Challenge lady when you need her?

I still have not managed to explore either newly discovered Arachnoid cavern. "Soon"

The other news I have heard is that many Fighters are avidly pursuing the path of Champion, and things are starting to get hotter and uglier. Apparently, obtaining the required three distinct Earth Minerals takes a lot of searching through ore. So much ore that it makes my long-past days of ore whoring pale by comparison. Viola told me that she has found and tested more than 500! ores, and obtained 2 of the 3 minerals. Urgelt told me he had tested just over 50 lumps of ore and found no minerals at all yet.

Urgelt expressed some serious concerns that the intense ore-whoring competition was negatively affecting the reputations of some fighters, and that he was going to step out of the race for that reason. I have heard similar grumbles from others as well, so I think there is a rising enmity for the leaders in the race, as if they are somehow stealing the many ores they collect. I don't quite understand that attitude, since they are present for anyone who looks to find.

Still, it remains to be seen what price the first Champion will have paid for that honor ...

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