Journal of 547 and Earlier
I apologize to those who read these scrolls for not updating them more regularly lately. I've been doing some pretty intense studying in here and just haven't had the time.
When I have gotten out I have been working on my ability to brick things. Thanks to my
Swengus training I can now brick island panthers fairly well, and artak cougars miss me
more than half the time, if I don't swing. I'm pretty happy with that since it makes
hunting the Highlands and Kitty Beach a lot more fun for me. I think I'll be able to
hunt in South Forest on my own once I complete my current set of lessons with Evus, maybe
a little bit before that.
I have been on some really cool hunts lately. My friend Makie invited me to the savannah
where her clan, the Order of the Mini was hunting. They're a great group to hunt with,
and I do admire their sense of style. No matter how hard I tried though, I just could
get my skirt to stayed tucked up to match them on that hunt. It really hampered me when I
had to leave the hunt, and ended up falling twice just trying to run to the marsh. As
they pointed out, the long skirt must have been getting in the way when I was trying to
run.
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The Mini hunt also went to the Maha cave that is in the savannah. In the cave there is what looks like a temple, but from the look of the place where I would assume the alter would have been placed I don't like to think what kind of temple it might have been. Underneath the temple there are hordes of undine. We spent some time fighting them. I wonder why there are so many down there, and what the temple was used for.
I went on one of the Sun Dragon Clan's open clan hunts recently. We went to the Scaramis
pen on Ash Island. It was really interesting. I didn't tag much at all since I was easily
the weakest fighter along by lots and lots. On the other hand, I was happy that I had a
full bag of kudzu and two extra seedlings along because it allowed me to contribute to the
hunt. We also saw the maze that was inside the keep there, which I understand belongs to
one of Tenebrion's brothers. I think it'll be awhile before I ever venture back there, but
I'm really thankful to the Sun Dragons for giving me the opportunity to see these things.
They're a really nice bunch of people.
I saw the opening of the newbie olympics, but sadly could not make it out of the library for any of the other events. I did get to meet Kirth Gersen, though. It was an honor to meet such a famous healer. He even took me with him on a rescue later to the trool mines in the brambles, where we met Nightbird and Drenn. They were surprised when they found out that I had fewer than 300 lessons total. I'm afraid I'm a slow learner. They were very nice though, and joked a lot.
I had a busy, fun and exciting day. To start with I somehow managed to get Ducktape to
go coinhunting with me. We headed for Kitty Beach. Dogman was already there, and he didn't
mind sharing the beach with us a bit (probably because Ducktape is a really good healer...
always bring a good healer). Of course things got a little too exciting for a bit, and
both of them fell. I hope this didn't put them off hunting with me in the future. I made
it to the grove in mostly one piece and sunstoned for help. Luna came by and pretty soon
we were all vertical again. We hunted for a while, quite successfully, even bagging a
number of boloks and a maha. Eventually it came time for a break, so we headed back to
town.
Back in town my friend Makie had some business to conduct. Apparently she was selling
something to Twilth in exchange for a pair of pearl earings. He wanted her to sign
something, which she did after counsulting Laiy for legal advice. I'm sure Makie is
happy about her new aquisition. She is very fashion concious.
After business was concluded we got a all girl hunt together and went to the passes. This was loads of fun. It was also good for Makie who is having to retrain as a fighter. I asked Laiy if she is going to stay in the Mystic guild, and she is going to stick with it. After that we put serious talk behind us and just had some great fun with the Wendies. With Aughra bricking and Viviana and Sasha healing the Wendies didn't stand a chance. After we cleared mid pass and south pass Makie had to go and Salazar joined us. We told him he had to wear a skirt to hunt with us, and he was a good sport about it.
With the passes wendy-free the hunt broke up and we headed back to town, but the days fun
was far from over. In town I met Mr.
Friendly and Fuzzy himself, Hor. We talked
about our journals a bit (his is much better than mine) and the subject of getting
interesting stuff to write about came up. Hor pretended that he had trouble with this!
Well, I said that I could go fall and he could rescue me and write about it. Well, he
pretended to think this was a good idea, so off I went. I ran to the lily pond and
sunstoned hints about where I was about to fall. I wasn't actually planning on falling,
but Hor got a bit alarmed and showed up. I was in no danger, the place was deserted.
Obviously a group had just left. I even ran into the maha den, but there were just
a couple of small arachnes there. We did find a deadly crawler in the sandy patch where
the large sand wurms are normally found, and a snake, but that was it really. Poor Hor,
he though I was really trying to fall, when I was just teasing. We did hunt for a bit
after that in north forest, and I did fall there when we came to a snell with about six
ferals in it. Hor ended up chaining me back to town when there didn't seem to be any
healers available.
A lot of discussion has been going on about the deal that the mystic council has made with Tenebrion and his brothers to trade six of the orga stones for some sort of portal to the ethereal plane. I've been learning a lot of things in the process. Most of what I've been finding out makes me more and more convinced that this deal is at best extremely unwise. To sum up, Tenebrion has a library of books made of sylvan skin, gives out weapons that apparently suck the souls out of the things they kill, and apparently uses necromancy to create undine. Taken together this does not paint the picture of someone that it is wise to do business with. I'm against the trade, given what we know about these people at this time. Delirium has publically stated that she will attempt to keep the raids for the stones from succeeding. She has some very good points about the potential dangers of the trade and I hope people will consider them and consider actively opposing the trade.
On a much more pleasant note, I met a new friend, a healer named Aylis. We hunted with
Thorin and Aughra on Kitty Beach and in South Forest. Aughra gave Aylis a cigar (she needed
the pack space), and it looks like Aylis appreciated the gift. Perhaps I'll try one sometime
if I ever get the chance. The hunt was loads of fun, and I noticed that my defense seems
to be getting better. Artaks sometimes whiff me now when I'm at full balance and I can
almost brick island panthers.
After Thorin and Aylis had to leave Aughra and I went to town and met up with Amberdrake.
We decided to hunt in one of the caves off the river tunnels, the one with the really
nasty slug-like things. After killing two of them we were joined by Sasha and her
much-appreciated caduceus.
We continues to clear up the cavern, then we went through a dark tunnel to a back cavern
that had more of the slug-like things and a really hideous creature. I don't know what it
was, and I don't know what its hide was made of but not only could I not hit it, I don't
think Amberdrake or Aughra managed either. We cleaned up everything else, though, and it
was a great hunt. It was nice to have Amberdrake back to something more like her old self.
I hunted mostly alone today.
Thorin was busy in the north west forest, which is too
dangerous for me yet, even with help, Amberdrake was busy (getting her memory back I
hear, yay!), and most of my other good friends were in the library. You never realize
how valuable help is until you don't have it. I did get a chance to hunt with Finnias
for a bit though. We cleared the highlands and then hunted in north forest for a bit.
We're getting darn good at those ferals, at least as a team. Too bad you can't take the
test with a friend, we'd pass for sure. I'd kill the vermine and he'd get the ferals.
On our way back from hunting we ran into a rescue in north field that turned into an
impromtu discussion.
It seems that Anfyr has followed Aravir's example and left the mystic guild, becoming
a fighter instead.
My good friend Makie has also left the guild, and Himitsu is said to be seriously considering
resigning. Of the mystics I know well and like, I think that just leaves Aradia, Laiy and
Rincewind in the guild. (I should mention to any full mystics that may read this that I
don't know Rincewind too well, so don't hold the fact that I like him against him.) I had been
encouraged by Hepta's promotion, but the view seems to be that it was a blatant attempt by
the council at damage control. Worldwalker and Phelps both spoke of the possibility of a
schism in the mystic's council. It seems that since it takes three full mystics to promote
a journeyman to full mystic, if you could find three full mystics to oppose the rest you
could get a rival council going. People didn't think this was likely to happen though, as
they were hard pressed to think of three full mystics who would make common cause against
the current prevailing policies of the council.
I managed to fall alone in East Forest today. I was hunting vermine and antlers and came across a wounded feral. My hunt with Finnias had made me cocky and I attacked it even though I was already wounded. I did manage to kill it, but it felled me at the same time. Luckily there were patient people around willing to search the forest, since I wasn't in one of the usual places.
Most people in Puddlyby are really nice. I tagged along on a rescue today. Poor Nettle
was in the bear caves, and the spiders and rats had been at her. She needed to be chained
back to town. When Keller wouldn't take the tip she offered him, she came back out to
north field to give it to me. I protested that I didn't do anything, but I am looking to
get a chain, so I did agree to take it so that some day in the future I can chain others
to safety.
I also hade a nice hunt with Aravir, Jeanne and Kaitlyn. We went up to the northern
beaches and the lake. It was really good experience. Of course we also talked a but
about the whole mystic issue and the deal with the 'brions. I had revised my
thoughts following the reported
promotion of Hepta to full mystic, but I must say that I don't like this idea of a deal
with the 'brions at all. They don't seem to be the sort of people you'd want to go trusting.
Not much new to report today. I had a nice hunt with Thorin and a nice healer named Viviana
in south forest and north pass. It helped put me reach my current goal for training with
Swengus. I can now swing six times with my longsword before I'm out of balance. Of course
now I've switched to Atkus for a little bit so that will be going down.
After Thorin had to leave I wandered around and met up with Finnias in north field. He was
looking very fashion concious in his new muddy yellow outfit. Actually if might not have
been all that new, I haven't seen him for a few zodiacs. He's getting to be quite strong.
We had to fight off a large number of giant vermine, and then there were a whole swarm of
red myrm in east field. It was nice to see Finnias again. I expect he'll be second circle
very soon.
I started the day by hunting alone for a bit in the myrm highlands. I had a major
breakthrough and managed to solo my first artak cougar. It looked like it was a pretty
weak one, but I was still enourmously pleased with myself. When I can do this on a regular
basis I will be able to hunt alone in south forest to earn money at a good pace.
After the highlands I went to east forest to hunt large vermine and look for antlers for Ayella. I found loads of starbucks, but no antlers. I'll keep looking, at least as long as large vermine still present enough of a challenge to be worthwile hunting, and maybe longer as I did run intor a wendy or two.
Sasha and Thorin came out of the library and we went hunting with Amberdrake. I'm very
happy to see that Amberdrake is once again a Fen'neko, though I'm afraid that she's
currently as weak as a kitten. She is hoping that she will regain her former strength
soon. Weak or not, we did have a great time hunting. We started in south forest, then
went to north pass, then the orga camp on the edge of tanglewood. After that Amberdrake
had to go study, but Thorin, Sasha and I went to the bear caves and hunted bears for quite
some time. I'm pleased that I'm now tagging them a bit easier than the first time I tried
hunting bears.
After Thorin and Sasha had to go to the library I was invited to watch Mandy become a member
of the Order of the Mini. I'm very pleased for her, the Mini is a well known clan with many
good members. It reminded me that I still do not have a clan. There are two that I think
I'd be happy to join, but sadly one of them has not been very active at all and doesn't
seem to be meeting, and I think I'm not out of the library enough to be gaining the attention
of the other one. Of course I'm probably just not strong enough to be an asset to either
of these clans at the moment, but I'm hoping that if I train hard that will change.
There were some beautiful flowers in town today. They were an unusual black color. I
probably shouldn't have sat down in the middle of them, they faded rather quickly, but
They were nice while they lasted.
My vermine hunting in north field went well. The hunting was good, perhaps a little too good at times, but I definately seem to be getting a bit better. Maybe some day I'll even start to make a dent in the vermine population
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After a bit of vermine bashing I got a sunstone message from Ayella. She had a gift for
me. It turned out to be the most beautiful brown shirt. It was very sweet of her as I
know it takes costly dyes to achieve this hue. Of course she claimed that it didn't look
good on her, but that's silly because Ayella looks good in just about everything. Still,
it does go well with my brown hair, and I'm really pleased to have it. I might wear it a
bit sparingly at first until I have the hunting ability to better afford the tailoring
repairs on it. I recently had to pay Serra Lorne over 50 coins to repair the beautiful
dark green skirt that Thorin gave me, and I know that Serra's prices are much better than
what Striss in the clothing dye and repair shop charges.
After Ayella left I went hunting for a bit in East Forest in the hopes of finding some antlers for her. I ran into Connie Crete who helped me look for a while too, and said that I'd likely have best luck in the eastern half of the forest, and not on the regularly traveled parts.
I went hunting in the passes with Ayella today. I was very pleased that I did not fall once,
though we had some close calls when we were both fairly injured and had to retreat to
practice our troilus training. We only did north pass and a little bit west of there,
but it was fun. Ayella is a great person to hunt with, she has a great sense of humour and
our tactics seem to work well together.
After Ayella had to leave I went hunting with Thorin. We weren't out for long when he was
called to go on a rescue in Melabrion's mines. Apparently there was a messanger around
and this resulted in a bunch of people heading off for Melabrions mines and falling to
the very nasty things that live there. Thorin was asked to join the rescue and I tagged
along. I managed to stay up for the entire rescue, mostly because Thorin and the others
were protecting me and I didn't even try to hit anything. Those snakes that live in the
mines are nasty. I'm still not sure what it was all about. Possibly the deal that some
people are trying to make with Tenebrion and his brothers, which seems highly unwise.
Whatever the matter, though, you can't let your fellow Puddlybians lie fallen.
On the way back from the mines rescue we stopped off at the Arena. This was the first time
I'd been there. It was a lot of fun, for a short while anyway. I discovered that Thorin
can take me from full health to "quite" for a healer with no horus in a single blow.
I went to the savannah for the first time today. I love it! Loads and loads of vermine
for me to hunt! Sadly we didn't get to stay long, as there were other people there and
Sasha and Kilamango were interested in getting a lot of coins, which is difficult to do
if there are others hunting in the same place. On the way out I got lost in the marsh.
I've decided that I do not like the marsh. Then when we were in the brambles I fell into
the marsh and got lost again. I got out ok, but it was still annoying. On the way out I
stumbled across an old cemetary; it was full of undine and I left it as quickly as
possible
After Sasha left I hunted in south forest for a while. I learned that it was indeed true,
some weird and powerfull spell has transformed Amberdrake into a thoom healer. Much as I
appreciate all healers, especially thoom, this is a terible thing. Amberdrake was a highly
skilled fen'neko fighter, and wanted to stay that way. I hope some means of conteracting
this transformation can be found soon.
Neige's mystic race was happening, but I wasn't feeling much like watching, what with the
recent controversy and all. I went hunting with Mirhil instead, which was much more fun.
Mirhil is amazingly fast... if only my balance recovered like my health does when she is
around.
After hunting I did a little business in town. I bought a rented a post office box (#2113)
so that I can receive mail, and I signed up for jury duty. I'm pretty excited about the
post office box. I've never gotten mail before. Of course, I hear that a lot of people use
enchanted mail, but I'm not very good with that. I'd much rather get actual real mail in
my mailbox.
Not too much to report today. I got a lot of good hunting done with Sasha and Makie and
various others. I had a good time, even if I couldn't follow the parts of the conversation
that went on in dwarvish when we had a couple of dwarves with us.
There are two items of news that were sad to hear though. The first is that something really bad has happened to Amberdrake. It involves some sort of spell that I don't understand, but apparently it caused her to forget everything she ever knew about fighting, and even changed her race. Sasha says that Su'uub is most likely the person responsible. I don't understand what he did or how he did it, but its horrible if its true. The other thing is that Aravir has left the mystic guild. This is sad because I think he would have made a very good mystic and because he's going to have to relearn everything now. Its part of the whole mystic controversy thing, which I have some thoughts on. He's joined the fighters guild, and I do think he'll make a very good fighter once he's settled in.
I met a great healer named Abra today and we hunted together for quite some time on Kitty
Beach and in South Forest. Abra is great fun to hunt with and very handy with a chain. I
fell several times as we hunted when the cats managed to surprise me, but Abra made sure I
was never down for long. I had a great time hunting with him, and when he had to go we
were both about 50 coins richer, which is a pretty good haul for me.
After a brief solo run in the fields north of town hunting vermine my friend Sasha came out of the library. We headed off to South Forest together to hunt. The hunting was good, which meant I fell quite a bit. Of course when you're falling, style is everything.
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Just before it was time for me to head back we met Ayella by the mirror. It was nice to
see her again.
She's a strong fighter as well as a talented bard. I'm sure she's getting very close to
passing the third circle test, though she did sound a little discouraged when I asked her
about it.
Hunting with Sasha is always such a pleasure. Today we went with a group to the passes, and
not just the outer parts, but some of the inner parts as well. Naferu is the really strong
fighter who was with us, and we had another good healer named Amarais Fina, and a Zo named
Sheb who is even newer to Puddleby thank I am. It was a lot of fun, and really goood
training for me. Unfortunately, I need to learn to dodge those rocks a bit better.
I managed to stumble straight into one once.
Fortuenately that time Sasha and Amarais had enough Horus training between them to raise
us. (By the way, Amarais Fina is really good with a chain.) Later, though, I stumbled into
and area where I fell and got hit by a whole bunch of pebbles, and that required a trip to
town and effectively ended that hunt.
Going back to town wasn't so bad. A nice bard name Ayella was around and she played a duet
with Mephisto, and then played solo a bit. She seems to be really popular, since people had
requests and everything. 
After playing
in town a bit she went out with Sasha and me and gave another performance near the lake. I
got in somre more hunting in the passes, this time with Sasha, Makie and Soulsword, which was
nice. I really do like the passes, I just need to be a little more careful about those
rocks.
After hunting for a while I eneded up back in town. I've been hearing a lot of political
talk in the library lately. Stuff about mystics, and some mystics who claim that some
other mystics aren't really mystics for reasons that I can't understand.
Talk in town turned to these matters, and a halfling named Gurgi had some interesting
opinions. He seems to be sensible and very well informed. I must say that I'm a bit
upset by the whole mystic thing. Clearly they have a right to run their interneal affairs
as they see fit, but it seems like they are letting their internal disputes spill over and
mess up things for others too. Also, I'm getting the feeling that the mystic council is
hiding something, and that doesn't make me feel very good about them.
On a much happier note, I was checking my training in the fighter's hall when Kretski hailed
me by the title of Mistress. I understand that this title is conferred once you've achieved
a certain level of training, so I was very happy about that.
I'd been cooped up in the library for a full zodiac and finally managed to get out today
for a bit. The weather ended up being really bad though, so I didn't stay out long. I
should have realized it was going to be one of those days when I went hunting for large
vermine in the northernmost snells of south forest and ended up finding a bolok cougar
instead. I fell, but as always the folks of Puddleby are good about rescuing the young
and confused. Aerizith located me very efficiently, and shortly there after three healers
arrived on the scene. Probably more than I needed, but extra healers are always welcome
with me.
I was very happy to get a chance to hunt for a bit with Sasha. She also called in Rew to
help when I fell on Kitty Beach. Rew is nice and very well supplied. You wouldn't believe
the amount of food he has in his pack. The pie was just one item, he has cookies, cake,
prezels and donuts too. I think there were other things on the list, but I couldn't pay
too close attention because the cats kept trying to steal the food. Rew was having none of
that, though, the food was all for him.
I also stopped in briefly at the undine hut to drop something off. I ended up hunting there
for a little bit, since the group was kind enough to invite me. I would have liked to have
stayed longer, but I was developing one of those splitting headaches that makes it difficult
to move in a coordinated way. I hope this condition clears up soon, but its rather alarming.
I'll never forget the time last fall when I fainted dead away in the Dark Temple, or the
time it happened in South Forest, and Wod ended up paying Koppi to yell that I needed help.
At least if I am in difficulties I know I can always count on there being kind exiles who
are willing to help. Oh, and I should mention that Anfyr, the woman I met in the undine
hut just got promoted to journeyman mystic, which is great news because she seems like a
really nice person.
For now its back to the books for until the weather improves. At least that'll help me learn more from Troilus. Then I'm planning to study from Swengus some because my balance could really use some improvement. Sasha seems to think that I am getting stronger but I haven't noticed much improvement myself. I've also found that the healers I have asked can't tell that I've trained with Master Spiritus. I guess it really is just too little to make a difference.
I know I've had a good day hunting when I more sketches in my pack than I can possibly
include in this journal. I'll try to get in as many as I can. First here is one to remind
me to stay away from those goats that are suddenly all over the farms and north field.
They seem to be quite aggresive. I didn't think my sword would interest goats, they are
supposed to be herbavores. I guess they really will eat anything they can reach
When I ran into Finnias today he mentioned that he'd seen my scrolls. He also noted that
they were lacking a picture of him, so here it is. He's an excellant hunting companion and
very kind to his fellow first circle fighters, though I have reason to believe from our hunt
today that he won't be first circle for very long. But that is getting ahead of myself.
I ran joined up with him and Veer after Veer scraped me off the ground after a nasty
vermine accident. 
We headed into the
myrm highlands, but they were far too tame for a big tough zo like Veer, so we headed out
into north forest instead. Veer wanted to hunt ferals. I was dubious, since the things are
really hard for me to hit, but Finnias was eager (he's been studying hard with atkus and
has surpased me) so we went.
Before we got to too many ferals we discovered the hazards of the herpatids that live in
north forest. Its not just their teeth you have to watch out for! Their skin seems to
produce some chemical, and well, lets just say it packs quite a punch. Luckily we sobered
up eventually, but it took me a while. I guess I just don't have the constitution for that
kind of thing. 
Kilagar, one of Finnias'
clanmates joined us and we learned Veer's technique for hunting ferals. This involved
surrounding them and then waiting for them to panic before swinging. It worked pretty
well once we got the hang of it, and I tagged nearly everyone despite my lack of training.
Eventually both Finnias and Kilagar had to go. There was a thick bank of fog coming in over the island, and I it seemed that most people were retreating to the library. We headed back to town, and I sat down in town center, intending to chat for a bit before trying out my skinning knife on more vermine, still my prey of choice when I am on my own. It turned out that I wasn't going to have to hunt alone. Rylantar was in town and very kindly asked me to join him on a coin hunt. This was really very nice of him as I know he could have done much better on his own. He also kept apologizing when he accidentally 1-hit some creature that I hadn't tagged. I guess maybe some new exiles get upset when they haven't tagged something, but in this case I was getting so much more experience out with him than I would otherwise, a few missed tags on cats were no big deal.
I did feel bad about slowing Rylantar down as much as I did. I needed several breaks to
stop and concentrate on my Troilus training. I also had the opportunity to thank him again
for the orga eye that he gave me when I arrived in Puddleby.
On one such break he showed me some of the
contents of his pack, including some catsbane, a tuft of lyfe fur and a catsbane necklace.
It was pretty impressive, I understand from reading the scrolls of others that these items
are rare and/or expensive. Rylantar said that he was gathering ingredients for the salve.
After hunting some in South Forest, Rylantar took me up to the lake area. On the way there
we ran into a tree giant. It was no problem for Rylantar. I tried to hit it, but after
getting hit by it once, I knew a secong blow from the tree giant would end up making it
necessary to chain me to town, so I left the thing to Rylantar who clearly had no trouble
dealing with it.
We hunted near the lake for a little while, but though I'd managed to avoid falling all
for a long time, we entered a snell with a bolok cougar and a swamp feral and a bunch of
cats, and I did fall. 
Rylantar was really
nice, reassuring me that help was coming while he killed the swamp feral.
Paramedic came out to raise me, which was very nice of him considering how far it is to
come for a rescue. Luckily for him he had a short cut back. He went into the library
right after, so I owe him a share next time I see him.
After that, Rylantar had to go too, so we went back to town. I had a little more time,
and I had every intention of using it since I don't get out of the library anywhere near
as often as I would like to; I wish I read faster.
It wasn't very exciting after the hunt with
Rylantar, but I did manage to solo my first red myrm.
I also got to hunt very briefly with Mirhil. She's the fastest healer that I know, in fact
she trains speed healing,
but it seems that not many people are lining up to train with her, which
is too bad. I wish I'd had more time to hunt with her, she is very nice.
I had a good time hunting with Connie Crete today. I met up with her shortly after I'd
come out of the library, while I was hunting vermine in north field. She's a very helpful
sort and joined me in my quest to rid the fields of vermine. Not surprisingly I soon
needed a bit of healing, so we went to town to get a healer. We met up with Marko and
Innocence, both of whom joined us. Realizing that vermine, even giant ones were probably
boring to the others, I suggested maybe we try something more challenging. Connie suggested
the nearby undine hut, so we went there. Pretty soon we were down in the cellar. I'd
never been so far in before. At the far end of the cellar there is the entrance to a cave.
Standing at the entrance is a wraith who made me look like an undine when I got too close.
It was more than a little alarming.
We hunted in the cellar for quite a while. Diana joined us, and Innocence had to leave, but
luckily Blaise came to heal for us. We were doing pretty well, but then Marko wanted to
have a peek in the cave. It was pitch black inside. It was hard to tell where things were.
Diana and I both ended up falling, not
too surprising when we couldn't see where to run to get away from the undine. In the end,
Thuja ended up coming to help us. That got everyone up quickly, though it was such a
diffucult spot that she ended up falling herself, briefly. Connie's chain helped fix that
little problem. What was harder to fix was the headache I was getting that was making it
diffucult for me to move at all for minutes at a time, so soon after I decided that it
was prudent for me to go back to the barracks.
I spent all day today with Sasha, which was very nice. She needed a quick nap when I first
emerged from the library since she just returned from a hunt. After saying a quick hello
to her husband, Sauron, we went off to Kitty Beach.
We hunted a bit on the beach, then headed off on a rescue. It turned out that we were the
ones who ended up needing a rescue. Fortunately we ran into Aneiran, and a bit later
we came across Molek Jethro. We ended up hunting with both of them for some time, First
in South Forest, then on the western beaches.
I had a very good time, and everyone was very friendly, which made a nice change from the
unpleasant experience I had the last time I was out of the library. Eventually we headed
back to town.
There were a bunch of people in town when we got back, including Frucesca and Bumbleton. It was especially nice to see Frucesca since I haven't seen her for a while. It looks like she is still interested in giving a certain fen a bath. She mentioned that she'd seen my scrolls! I was sure that they were collecting dust on the shelf and that no one ever bothered with them.
After chatting in town for a little bit, Sasha and I headed to the highlands for a little
bit with Bumbleton. We ran right into a swarm of giant vermine in the north field. I had
to duck out rather quicky as I was badly wounded, and ended up running for the safety of the
ladies house in north farms. It turned out that I had exactly 300 coins on me, which I
took as a sign. I purchased my purple blouse while waiting for help.
Sasha soon had the situation under control. We hunted for a little while longer, then it
was time for me to study.
Today was not such a great day...
It started well enough. I went out looking for
coins and managed to solo a giant vermine for the first time. I hunted on my own in the
fields for a little bit, and the upper reaches of south forest. Then I decided to take
a peek into the highlands, which is often a good place to find island panthers without
having to worry about large number of vermine. I found more than I had bargained for;
there were two boloks there! They both chased me as I ran. I was hoping that I could
could reach some safe place, but just as I was reaching the snell with the brown pants
vender I fell. Luckily people started looking for me immediately.
Twilth had seen me in the highlands,
and Thuja asked about me as soon as I fell. They both found me at about the same time.
Thuja is amazing, she had me on my feet before I could even see her!
After Thuja had me on my feet again, Twilth and I decided to see about those boloks.
Twilth is much tougher than I am, so the boloks were soon vanquished. After that we went
off hunting. Twilth showed me around a bit in the underground, and introduced me to a
trainer named Diggin who can teach me to see some of the pathfinding routes that so
many people use. 
. Then we went to
south forest where we were joined by Bumbleton. We had a good hunt there until it was
time for Twilth to head back to town.
That's when the incident that ruined my day happened. I was hunting in the fields again, hoping to pick up a few more coins. (50 more coins and I can afford a purple blouse!) I heard someone shouting for help in the south part of east field. Of course I shouted back immediately, having been in need of help plenty of times myself. I quickly located Xebo near the entrance to the marsh, and sent out a general sunstone saying that Xebo was fallen in the south east field as I ran up. I killed the two rats that were on him and said that I'd stay and keep the rats off until a healer showed up. He thanked me, and it looked like a situation that was well in hand. Then, less than a minute after I'd arrived, Xebo departed. I was startled to say the least! I sunstoned him and asked why he'd departed, if he was in a hurry to study I would have expected him to say something before departing. He sent back, "You know why." I said that I didn't but he went into the library without saying anything else, and I felt someone curse me. I suppose he must have asked someone else to as well, because I felt someone else curse me as well several seconds later. After a while I got cursed twice again, and I noticed that he'd ducked out of the library and back in again. I was so troubled by it that I asked Sabastien about it, but he was just as puzzled as I was. I'm glad I had someone to talk to about it who could remind me that most people in the lands are nice and much easier to understand.
I had an excellent day today, though I forgot to take sketches of some of the best parts, I was having too much fun.
I finally managed to pay Sasha back
today! I'm really happy about that because I know that healers generally have more
trouble making money than fighters with the same amount of training. I also didn't
want to prevail upon her kindness too much. Sadly, I caught her just as she was heading
into the library, so I didn't get to hunt with her. I did find out that she has
recently been knighted. I am very happy for her. I also got to talk to Thorin a little
bit. He'd been hunting with Sasha, and was on his way into the library. Then it was off
to Kitty beach with Sauron and Aughra. We weren't there too long before we got an
invitation to join Rylantar at the lily pond. Off we went, but out hunt there was
delayed a bit because Rylantar had to go help out Hunk, who was also joining us. By the
time they got back, Panos had come in and had started hunting there. Not to be
discouraged we went off in search of other hunting grounds. This ended up taking a while.
First we went to the tree giant breeding grounds, but there were no tree giants, only
spriggins. Next we tried the rocky cavern, but it too was lacking in good beasts to
hunt. Finally we went to the river caves. We fought two blood wyrms there, and numerous
large crawlers. I found out the hard way that the red crawlers are too be avoided by
people like me who are lacking in Histia training.
After the last crawler was smashed
we went to another cave with lots of things that looked like slugs. These are not slugs.
They also move too fast for slugs, so its easy to get surrounded, at least for me. I
think the sketch says it all.
All too soon the hunt came to an end and
we headed back to town. At least I got a chance to thank Rylantar again for the orga eye
that he gave me when I was freshly arrived in Puddleby. (OK, I still pretty freshly
arrived.) Too bad it didn't help when the deadly crawler got me, but at least that way
I got to meet Sausage and Zarr.
Once we got back to town I found that Aughra was back out of the library; she'd had to
go study for a bit while we were searching for a hunting ground. After a bit of chatting
and a bit of teasing Sauron the three of us headed back out to Kitty Beach. I must say
that the beach certainly lived up to its name! We killed a maha, a several boloks, and
many many island panters and artaks.
I had a very good day, or night rather as it was after dark when I left the library. I
ran into Caravagio outside the barraks, and we decided to go hunting together in the
highlands. Just as we were preparing to leave, Viola came by. I met Viola on the
Sisters of the Sun hunt. She is a really strong fighter, and loads of fun too. I didn't
think she'd want to hunt with us, but it turned out she did! After a very brief swing
through the highlands we went to the bear caves. I tried to be careful, but I mistimed one
of my swings and fell. Luckily Aleena came and raised me, then stayed with us for the rest
of the hunt. 
We skinned tons of bears, and
I made lots of money (at least for me). At times the bears got pretty fierce, and even
managed to hurt Viola, but usually she only got hurt when there were three bears jumping
on her at once. I learned that I needed to let her lead them well away from the walls
before trying to tag; I was overeager once and caused a bit of a bad situation.
Most of the bears where brown bears or
grizzlies, but we met one cinder bear and one honey bear. The grizzlies are the only ones
that I can hit reliably, but I managed to get a hit in on most everything, including the
cinder bear.
Once Viola had to go Caravagion and I went to Kitty Beach, where he'd be invited to join a friend of his. I hunted there for a while, then left when the others wanted to go elsewhere.
Rylantar sunstoned me and asked me if I wanted to come along on a mapping trip of
Devil's Island. I was pretty excited about that, though I was dubious about how helpful
I'd be in such a tough place. 
The Order
or Akara was doing the mapping. My good friend Sauron is in the clan, I found out that
he'd joined just a Zodiac ago. I'm really happy for him, I like everyone I know in that
clan. Rylantar is a great guy, and he gave me my orga eye, Amberdrake was the very first
person I met in Puddleby and gave me some good advice before showing me where the rat
towers are, Perrin has healed me more times than I can count, and Hunk bricked for me and
some others in the undine hut on a really fun early hunt. The mapping expedition was
really interesting. We were in a place where you had to be really careful not to run
into the walls, which were covered with razor-sharp rocks. I actually felt useful in a
silly sort of way; as I have no pathfinding training I was a good indicator of where
the non-path portions of some corridors ended. I can't wait to see the finished maps! I
was really sad when the time came for me to leave.
I came out of the library today trying to put my studies to good use. I hunted in the
fields for a bit, hoping for large vermine. I still owe Sasha 400c, which she loaned me
so that I could buy a sun stone. Large vermine are about the largest furry creatures that
I can hunt and skin consistantly, so I was hoping to earn a few coins.
Instead I found some wild kudzu growing. I worked
on harvesting it for a little while, but I'd only gotten one seedling when I was forced to
give it up so as not to fall to the hooded corpse and the feral that came by to hamper my
farming efforts.
After that I wandered aroudn the nearer reaches of South Forest, looking for easy fur.
At first I found more than I bargained for, but I managed to outrun the maha!
I got invited along on a run through south forest, but just as we were nearing the mirror I
fainted. That happens to me sometimes, its very annoying. When I woke up I was fallen, but
it seemed that people were already aware of my plight and help was fast in coming.
I returned to more civilized parts of south forest and managed to successfully solo
an island panther for the first time. 
Actually,
it wasn't that hard, but usually I only see IPs when I am with a group.
Speaking fo groups, I met up with Finnias on Kitty Beach. We hunted there for a while,
and then Thorin turned up and bricked for us. Thorin is a very strong dwarf. He can
accidentally kill a bolok in one blow!
Thorin is a really generous guy, and fun to hunt
with. We hunted together for a while, and were eventually joined by Lucus. Lucus had
been considering whether or not to become a mystic, but he's made up his mind and is now
a healer. The healing certainly came in useful on the beach
I obtained shelf space in the Puddleby Scroll Archive!!! Many thanks to the kind librarian!
