Storm 329.

Donations: Helping Undrus dig to the East (60-70% done).

Exploration: Orga and Earth Wyrms.

Gradi, day 47 of Autumn, 553.

Not much to tell recently.

I did managed to kill two Forest Drakes in the South Forest in separate incidents. The first (pictured) was the usual sight-Drake, get-flamed-by-Drake, kill-Drake event, but the second was most unusual. That Drake saw me (and probably having had word that I was strong enough to finish him off) and tried to take flight instead of attacking me. I chased it over four snells, smacking at it's back until I finally brought it down. The funny parrt was that as the Drake desperately struggled for altitude, he was able to fly right over small trees and assorted critters that I had to dodge or fight through, so he had a fair chance of getting away. He never did rise out of reach of my Great Axe though. First time I've downed a flying Drake (although I have chased many a retreating Fire Drake to no avail).

I also helped Mujin-kun vanquish this Baby Plesio'don in the Gungla Island Marsh. It still hit me well enough that Sakura had a workout keeping me healthy from all the bites, but we did finish it off.

As I was leaving Gungla Island recently, I heard the twang of a Spriggin stealing my balance. Looking around, I couldn't find the little bugger in or around the village. When I finally turned to the dock to leave, I spotted him walking on the water!

Who knew they could float like that!

Lundi, day 32 of Autumn, 553.

Two days ago, I joined a very small group (just 6 of us) on a search for Orgaberries. We decided to look in the Orga Village.

We swiftly gathered at Bones' snell in Snaggywood, and then set about clearing Hatred Hollow by repeated kill runs.

After several such runs, we were able to advance nearly all the way to the Lake with little damage before finding significant resistance, and at that point we powered right past the remaining Orga and into the Orga Outback.

After collecting our breath in the Trainer Grotto, we advanced into the deep Outback using the Grotto path, and were soon threatening the Orga Village itself.

The East Village put up little resistance, and we advanced cautiously into the West Village.

At the West end of the village, we found several of the dreaded Large Death Vermine, but quickly killed these without losing a single healer.

We found an Uli flower, but no Orgaberry. Oh well, these aren't highly prized for nothing!

We then quickly found our way back to the Orga Camp using one of the many Village paths.

Today I was back in deep Orga territory again. Very deep.

Yor and Larno decided to gather an Uli flower in the Orga Village, so 6 of us (myself, Yor, Sa'Wrap, Drue'dreemi, Larno and Kyp) set out to take a look.

Instead of slowly hunting out Hatred Hollow, Yor thought we could rush right through. So instead of stopping to kill Warlocks in the Southwest pit, for example, we bypassed them. By the time we reached the Lake, we were all hurting, and Yor called out to run for the Outback. We almost didn't make it.

Rather, Yor made it, and he had to push the fallen Sa'Wrap before him to open the path to do it. We other 4 all fell within sight of the exit, but were each mired in a large crowd of assorted Orga. The exit area was far busier than usual, and we were caught in it with our laces untied. One could say we were unlucky, and we were, but we paid a price for being too aggressive and rushing into an enemy of unknown strength.

Yor managed to push Sa'Wrap through yet another path to return to Snaggywood, and chained him to town to be raised, and then to organize our rescue.

After some time, a rescue group assembled, and they advanced through Hatred Hollow much more slowly until they safely reached us. Three fallens were chained through to the Trainer Grotto and raised. Drue, however, had been chanted to the Orga Village by an Orga Zealot in the meantime.

The expanded group (sans Larno, who left using his pendant) set out toward the Orga Village to collect Drue, which we did without further incident.

Standing in the Orga Village with a much more powerful group, we began debating what to do next. Eventually, we decided to try our luck with the Dred Passage.

Using a path from the Orga Village to the deep Outback, we were soon at the Dred Passage tunnel, and began to wonder just how to approach this challenge with so few healers. We settled on trying a single rod for the side with the heaviest lightning (which turned out to be South) and Yor soaking up lightning on the other flank. After a number of fighter runs to clear the Passage of accumulated Orga, we began the slow march South toward the Foothill path.

When we reached the South pit path, we dived in and killed one Dredlock close by, but then headed straight for the Foothill path. For some reason, Sunblaze did not enter the South Pit path but ran off to the East somewhere, and Elenis (who was watching the rear of our column) was too low to retrieve him, so Sunblaze was left behind. Everyone else made it safely through.

Now in the Foothills, we debated whether to press on and collect Sunblaze later from the Orga Village (for he was sure to be sent there eventually by an Orga Zealot) or to go back and snatch him out now. The consensus was to get him now, so we headed back into the deep Outback and returned to the Dred Passage tunnel for another go round.

Once more we began clearing the Passage, and eventually chained Sunblaze back to the tunnel. It was decided that since both Sunblaze and Sa'Wrap had been burned so badly with lightning, we would head home with them in tow. We had beaten the Dred Passage once already.

Once again we wended our way toward the Orga Village, and then to home through the Orga Camp. So instead of the one Uli flower we set out for, we managed to leave with two.

After some rest, Elenis gathered a group to try our luck in the Earth Wyrm cave.

It was a fun hunt, if slow, because set-up is everything in this small but busy cave. We planted a zu wall across the bottom neck of the entry area, and eventually killed all the Cobras and Rippers that had been trapped there. We then went after the Earth Wyrms themselves.

With 2 proficient Bloodbladers along, the Earth Wyrms were going to take a dive. The only questions were how long it would take to hold them at bay yet provide clear Bloodblader access for attack, and how many times the Bloodbladers would fall and need raising. Fighting in this tight space is pretty tough!

We vanquished quite a number of Earth Wyrms and killed many Lesser Sand Worms as well. I managed to tag most of the earth Wyrms, but several of them were killed awfully fast by the Bloodbladers! During all this, much falling was had, since Earth Wyrms bite hard.

Our main problem was allowing only a single Earth Wyrm into the killing zone through a hole in the Kudzu wall, and we still haven't found a really easy way to manage this. One mistake by a fighter, cutting the wrong Zu, and mayhem ensues.

In the end, we had managed to finally kill all the Earth Wyrms in the cave and were just working on the last 2 Lesser Sand Worms, when 5 Earth Wyrms appeared right in our midst in the entry area. Most of us fell, stumbling all over each other trying to get out. It was just too crowded to get past exiles and Wyrms. Talin may have been the only one to get out alive.

A rescue effort was put together, and we fallens were eventually pulled out on chains.

Once we were all out of the cave safely, we decided to call it a day, and we headed back to town for a good long rest.

Terrdi, day 14 of Autumn, 553.

Today, Shen Calin found a Sunwyrm in the Rocky Cavern, and I went there to help him hunt it.

Since Shen is quite proficient with his Bloodblade, he can easily vanquish these beasts if someone can hold it still for him. So I set out to trap the beast in a corner, tag it myself and stay alive long enough for Shen to finish it off. It seemed like a tall order!

I've done Sunwyrm hunts like this many many times, but today was the first time I tried doing the trapping myself. Usually someone I consider pretty buff does the hard job, and my role is to swing like mad in hopes I get a lucky hit. It turns out that Sunwyrms are surprisingly slippery, so that even though I thought it should be stuck fast against the corner, it wiggled free again instantly, time after time. I'll have to ask Urgelt or Silky if there's a trick to trapping them quickly.

Finally I got it wedged in tight and Shen entered the cavern to kill it in a couple of great blows.

The most surprising part of the adventure was that during the minutes I was futilely trying to position the Sunwyrm and then hold it still, it barely hit me at all. By the time Shen killed it, I was seriously hurting (as one can see), but I didn't fall - even without any healing during the all of the trapping and fighting. I didn't think my defense was anywhere near being up to this, but I guess it really is pretty ok.

Recently I noted that the Cacao tree in the Savanna seemed to no longer be bearing ripening pods, and I worried that we would be without baked chocolate goodies.

Fear not, the tree appears to be fine.

Today when I looked, I was pleased to see that it had several ripe pods in sight. When I gave the tree a good shake, a cacao pod fell down and I grabbed it.