Current Training: Trillbane.

Donations: Nate Autical (80-90%)

Exploration: Orga Stronghold madness.

Terrdi, day 85 of Winter, 568.

The recent PAG/EAT expedition to the Orga Stronghold was an eventful one, to say the least.

After troubles in past trips trying to break past the difficult "front door", we decided to traverse the Slate caves and teleport to the "back door" instead.

Everything went smoothly, and we advaced steadily through the Orga Stronghold toward Trillbane's glade.

When we were finally getting near, we saw something truly astounding: Bartok traipsed by, dragging the fallen Trillbane behind him. "A light snack", he said.

Well, we immediately set out after Bartok, who headed for the heavily defended main village within the Stronghold.

It took an incredible effort to overcome the defenses there and advance to find Trillbane waiting as a nearby pot warmed on the fire.

During the fight, we lost several folks to Razzia chains and Zealot chanting, and these poor souls ended up inside a truly packed hut nearby.

While attempting to clear the area and rescue these folks, I fell inside the hut as well, blocking the door, so I took a nap in hopes of waking in another spot out of the way.

Instead, I awoke in the Temple in town. That's a bit too far out of the way!

At about this time, Trillbane came out of his daze and was quickly raised by the remainder of the group in the Stronghold.

And of course, he began training all the qualified pathfinders. But not me.

Thankfully, the remainder of the group talked to Trillbane for quite some time, and finally convinced Trillbane to accompany them back to town for a tour.

On the way, he nonchalantly walked through a new path, leading the group out of the Stronghold in record time.

While he was in town there, I got my opportunity to start training with him at last, as did several other folks.

Yikes! What a scare I had.

After dismissing our Library as pathetic and our fair town as a muddy backwater (hey, it is, but it's home too), Trillbane went on a tour to the Dredwood to view one of his old books we had found, The Tao of Trillbane.

We learned that while he had owned this book, his student Giayl actually wrote it, and that he was interested in reacquiring all his lost tomes in his own library.

Thankfully, he did not take this book with him deep into the Orga Stronghold!

After some hard studying, I finally was able to learn to use the vexing path Elendil uses between the South Farms and the Meadow.

One benefit is that it is a quick hop from town to look for fresh Uli flowers.

I look forward to soon mastering all that Trillbane can teach.

I've spent some time hunting at the Earthwyrm cave, which has become one of Natas' favorite places.

With the Atkus I've been training, I can hit these quite well now, even without a clean back shot.

It's a nice spot for a small group of strong fighters, and pretty risk-free once the entry is under control.

Unfortunately, it is a relatively small hunting area and never has very many Earthwyrms in it.

I helped fight an Ether invasion in the Greymyr village recently.

Things were going pretty well, with the kyuem planted and starting to glow, when the portal closed, as if for good.

Several long minutes passed by with no portal, no ether beasts, and no ether streaming toward the kyuem.

Suddenly, another portal openned and erupted with ether beasts, driving us out of the area.

We cleared the ether beasts yet again, allowing the ether flow to reach the kyuem, but in the end it wasn't enough to power it before the final portal sealed.

It seemed we were very close to winning with the kyuem glowing brightly, but that odd lull really set us back.

Jannar's Grove is always amusing.

I interrupted a Spriggin convention there recently.

With so many Spriggin sapping my balance, I was almost unable to swing at all, only occassionally getting in a swing at the Vermine pile surrounding me.

It took quite awhile to dig myself out!

So you can understand my sense of satisfaction at whacking the odd Spriggin I find around.

Click here for my report on the previous storm.

Click here for my report on the next storm.

Click here to go to the Archive Index scroll.

Click here to go back to the Main scroll.