Storm 319.

Current Training: Evus, having learned all Rodnus can teach me.

Donations: Helping Undrus dig to the East (40-50% done).

Exploration: Still scouring Gungla Island.

Gradi, day 23 of Winter, 553.

After several visits, I have become convinced that "gungla" must be a native Lo'Groton word meaning "snake". Certainly, one could make a strong case for renaming this place "Snake Island" after it's most numerous inhabitants. Winged Snakes, Deadly Adders, Carin Vipers, Raste Winders, Crota Winders, Boma Winders, Chami Cobras, Forest Cobras, Cave Cobras. I've seen them all, and many of each type. I've even heard tell that venomous snakes abide here too, although I have yet to encounter one.

I have not been the only one exploring the Island, as a quick glance at the beach shows. All manner of watercraft have been left there now by invading hordes of exiles, wave after wave, who mainly leave via the Khororan village dock instead of casting off into the tricky Southern surf.

I could have made a fortune renting these out on Kizmia's Island!

The most intriguing thing I have seen, however, is that the rumour that there may be a path at the Rainbow Falls, is really true. After days and days of repeated visits and close examination of the Falls, today I finally saw a path there deep in the rock wall. Of course, I was unable to traverse it, and I have heard of no others openning it either, but it is there. And it is likely to be the key to reaching the isolated North side of the Island. Although I suspect that a visit to Giayl's second book (or even Trillbane's book) for more Pathfinding training might be required.

Funny occurance: at one point I was staring so hard that I didn't notice the approach of several of the ever-present Swamp Gasses, which locked me in against the Falls (since I can't hit those to save my life). And then a Cave Cobra siddled up, but was unable to reach me because of the Swamp gas in the way. I laughed and laughed. After awhile I had to drop into a dazed dream in order to escape, and when I woke up I was some distance away and ran to safety.

In my recent visits to Gungla Island, I have noticed many other interesting things, including a Meshra Lair with numerous Blood Meshra and Deep Meshra, a cave inhabited mainly by Cave Maha and Cave Cobras, some Spear and Quiver makers, a Shieldstone trainer (who would have believed it?), an interesting scholar who likes to eat a curious vegetable, and some strange creatures called Seta Lizards. I heard some almost unintelligible mumblings from "a messenger" suggesting Seta Lizards are important somehow, but it is not clear to me just how. In any case, they don't seem venomous or particularly hazardous.

I still have yet to see a boar, oddly enough.

The one other path I have seen on the Island is a shortcut one in some rocks near the Southern beach, that hops one snell East and West. It's a shortcut with no real use as a shortcut, but just the ticket to throw persistent cave Cobras off the trail!

One quite peculiar thing I've found there was a bit unexpected, to say the least. Catsbane. I've always found Catsbane to prefer growing in extremes of temperature, like a snowy spot near a lava pool. Yet I found a very productive Catsbane patch on Gungla Island that appears to have neither excess cold nor heat, but it has yielded 3 pinches for me in 4 days. I guess I still have a lot to learn about this curious plant. It's just too bad that Catsbane is no longer the commodity it once was, since most everyone who really wants or needs a protective necklace already has one. Or two. So the price has dropped from it's original several thousand coins to almost nothing. In any case, I have enough of my own supply in storage for when my next several Necklaces wear out.

In other events, today I rescued Hatred Hollow. Well, yeah, I really did.

A small group was hunting there from Bones snell, and lost their only Pathfinder (Farhope) beyond the Wishergate. I was the only other Pathfinder awake, so I ran out to help them. It wasn't much of a rescue really, since the fallens were barely one step inside Hatred Hollow, and a quick flick of the chain was enough to drag them out to safety. Well, two quick flicks anyway. I did ruin a chain on the first attempt.

It's nice to feel really needed sometimes.

Fordi, day 88 of Autumn, 552.

Like everyone else, I rowed right over the the South side of Melabrion's Island to explore the regions beyond the new boat landing there. Landing a boat here is quite treacherous, between the swift currents, tough surf, many rocks in the way and shallow unseen rocks primed to rip the bottom off your boat! Once I figured out how to get ashore with some health left, I set out to see what there was to see. Among the highlights were these beautiful Rainbow Falls.

Wandering about, I found the ruined village of Khororan. The few remaining residents there had tales to tell of the mean green men they called the Gan Vara that had sacked and burned their peaceful little fishing village. The don't seem to know Melabrion, and instead call their island home Gungla. The survivors told of how they had shared the island with several other villages (Sul'ran in the desert, Brimoran to the far north, and the puma-worshiping Gan Vara) until the day the Gan Vara somehow became evil and perverted, and attacked the others. The villagers described how their wizard, Colmert, then created illusions at the North river as a boundary to keep the Gan Vara away from the village. I did not see Colmert there today, though, to ask him directly about this. It's always hard to be sure who was wronged, hearing only one side of the dispute, but these Khororan folk seemed peaceful enough, if quite beaten down and disspirited. Their town is certainly in extreme disrepair, and their numbers few. They are no threat to Puddleby.

Overall, the Island seemed pretty tame. I ran into a lot of snakes (Carin Viper and Boma Winder were the worst I saw) and a few Savanna Mahas, but not much else more powerful than an Artak Cougar. That is, South of the river. The other side of that uncrossable river looks a lot tougher, with what appear to be Cave Cobras. The illusions I was told of appear to work still, since green men matching the description of Gan Vara are found all along the river, to all appearances still frantically searching for the hidden way to cross it again. I hailed a few, but they refused to answer back, prefering to just glare back at me. I also found no way to cross the river myself. I saw Lundar looking for illusions, so if he was sensitive enough to detect them it may be that he can see through them to allow other folks to cross. If so, I have not heard tell of it yet.

I took the time to quickly map the island, although I have not yet searched every nook and cranny. I'm sure there will be some interesting things found there after some more careful searching, not the least of which will be a way to the deeper North across the river, or perhaps up and over the steep cliffs to the Northwest. I did find some folks who would make me a haversack or quiver if I brought them a boar, but I did not see any boars. Sounds intriguing.

Fordi, day 81 of Autumn, 552.

I continue to be intrigued by the "brushy passage" in the Southern edge of Westwood, where one can go into the trees quite a way before being blocked by heavy underbrush. In looking about the Lands, there are several places reminiscent of this "brushy passage", and they are one of two things: a one-way exit from some other area (Sasquatch Valley exit into Savanna Maha den,Wendecka Breeding Grounds exit into North Pass well, Chamelopods exit to North beach, Kizmia's Island passage from East Cove into Lyfelidae Caverns, and others) or some apparently blocked passage that has no other entrance (blocked cave in the Chamelopod pen). Most are indeed one-way exits, and this spot is on the Southern edge of the known region of the Island, consistent with an unknown area to the South. I have tried every avenue I can think to to head to that spot, but have not yet discovered one. There must be something South of Westwood/South Pass and East of the Savanna, right? I believe that the Savanna is not immediately adjacent to the Southern edge of Westwood, because one day when the Dark Cloud was in the Mushroom snell of the Savanna, I tested where else I could see it. These were: all of the Savanna and the Mine entrance, many Marsh snells, and the Old Cemetary in the Marsh. I could not see the Cloud from the Southern edge of the Greymyr Passes, Westwood, South Forest or East Field. That is too far away, it seems. I really need to enlist a Mystic with a good knowledge of the Orb of Ceasindere to try to look past this brushy spot.

Of course, I headed that way as soon as the latest Chaos Storm cleared, but saw nothing new there. I did notice though an oddity in the nearby Slime Cave (Gerag's Lair) however. Since there was a noteable absence of Slimes I looked a bit about a bit more critically than usual. Deep in the back of the cave is a waterfall, and persisting in trying to walk upstream is rather unhealthy. What was odd is that I found myself swinging my axe at the cascade! I immediately pulled my shovel from my pack to see if it helped chip away any rocks, but to no avail. Most curious though!

At nightfall, I joined Mujin-kun and Talin for a very small hunt on Kiznia's Island. You can guess pretty easily which one of us spent more time on the ground.

After stepping into a particularly nasty snell full of Cave Cobras left Talin fallen instead of me, I chained her back to the South hut, and J'jh joined us. A good thing too, because quite soon after heading back into the hunt, we ran into two Cold Lyfelidae. With a bit of luring and positioning, we vanquished them both, and I only fell to one Cold Lyfe.

I really enjoy such tight little hunts. It is definitely more challenging for me, since I can't slack off and let someone else help do the killing and must work harder at remaining healthy and useful, so feels much more rewarding. I still fell an awful lot though!

After I got back from such a nice and rewarding hunt, Mirkus informed me that I had finally learned all that Rodnus could teach me. Excellent! All those Lyfelidae vanquishes helped me finish off that last lesson quite nicely.

Mujin-kun once again had plenty of reason to suggest I train some more in defense skills (and I certainly will soon), but I decided instead to get back to training with Evus for a time. I was expecting the Rodnus lessons to help increase my Histia to 300, but didn't quite make it apparently, and I still want to train with Evus a bit more to finally reach 350 lessons with Atkus. Both goals are close, so I'll see if I can stick with Evus long enough to reach either.